"A Pigeon and a Boy" by Meir Shalev

A Pigeon and a Boy is a literary fiction novel by a renown Israeli writer Meir Shalev. The novel follows two separate timelines alternating between the present day Israel and Israel on the brink of and at the beginning of its War of Independence in the 1940s. Ultimately, it is the story of two boys and two love stories. Slowly, deliberately, Shalev allows us to see how the stories are connected. What I liked about his writing is that he does not spell things out to the reader. He has confidence his readers can infer and figure things out on their own. The book also includes some of the most lyrical passages I've ever read in literature. Here is one of my absolute favorites:

"Migrating birds have winter homes and summer homes"... "But which of the two is the real one, the one they come home to?"
"The whole world's their home," Tirzah said. "When they fly down to Africa all they're really doing is moving from room to room" (p. 151).

This quote moved me to tears. As someone who has moved quite a bit and always struggled with the idea of "home," this passage is quite liberating on so many levels. We all just move from room to room. That is so beautiful!

The one thing that did not quite work for me in this book were the sections focused on the physical relationships between characters. Instead of being beautiful, innocent and touching, I thought they were extremely awkward and I tended to skip over them. Fortunately, there weren't that many.

Overall, if you like well-written novels with well developed characters and a slowly emerging plot line, I would definitely recommend this book. 4 out of 5 stars.

2019 Reading Goals

Happy New Year!

In 2019, my main reading goal is to read the books I want to read. Many times I feel obligated to read an ARC for review or a bookclub pick, and it really ruins the joy of reading. So in 2019, my goal is to have fun. I am also going to set my Goodreads challenge goal a bit lower as I do want to read some longer books without worrying about the number of books I am reading. Finally, since reading classics has proven to be a real struggle, I found a classics-focused reading challenge online, which I will try to follow. The categories in this challenge are pretty broad so I should still be able to stick to the plan of "reading the books I want to read" while ticking of specific challenges. And here is the overall list:

1. Read the books I want to read
2. Read 80 books in 2019
3. Read more classics. Here is the classics challenge I have chosen:

2019 Back to Classics Reading Challenge

_ 1. 19th Century Classic. Any classic book originally published between 1800 and 1899.

_ 2. 20th Century Classic. Any classic book originally published between 1900 and 1969. All books in this category must have been published at least 50 years ago. The only exceptions are books that were published posthumously but were written at least 50 years ago. 

_ 3. Classic by a Female Author.

_ 4. Classic in Translation. Any classic originally written in a novel other than your native language. You may read the book in your native language, or its original language (or a third language for all you polyglots!) Modern translations are acceptable, as long as the book was originally published at least 50 years ago. Books in translation are acceptable in all other categories as well.

_ 5. Classic Comedy. Any comedy or humorous work. Humor is very subjective, so if you think Crime and Punishment is hilarious, go ahead and use it, but if it's a work that's traditionally not considered humorous, please tell us why in your post. 

_ 6. Classic Tragedy. Tragedies traditionally have a sad ending, but just like the comedies, this is up for the reader to interpret. 

_ 7. Very Long Classic. Any classic single work 500 pages or longer, not including introductions or end notes. Omnibus editions of multiple works do not count. Since page counts can vary depending on the edition, average the page count of various editions to determine the length.

_ 8. Classic Novella. Any work of narrative fiction shorter than 250 pages. 

_ 9. Classic From the Americas (includes the Caribbean). Includes classic set in either continent or the Caribbean, or by an author originally from one of those countries. Examples include Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston (United States); Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys (Jamaica); or One Hundred Years of Solitude (Columbia/South America). 

_ 10. Classic From Africa, Asia, or Oceania (includes Australia). Any classic set in one of those contents or islands, or by an author from these countries. Examples include Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz (Egypt); The Makioka Sisters by Junichiro Tanizaki (Japan); On the Beach by Nevile Shute (Australia); Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe (Nigeria). 

_ 11. Classic From a Place You've Lived. Read locally! Any classic set in a city, county, state or country in which you've lived. Choices for me include Giant by Edna Ferber (Texas); Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser (Chicago); and Buddenbrooks by Thomas Mann (Germany). 

_ 12. Classic Play. Any play written or performed at least 50 years ago. Plays are eligible for this category only.

Happy Reading!

Checking in on my 2018 reading goals

It is that time of year! With just a couple more reading days left in 2018, I decided to review how I did on my reading goals.

2018 goals	Status
Read 100 books	Completed. I read 111 books this year. However, I also listened to a lot of audiobooks and was able to meet this goal only because of listening to books during my commute to and from work.
Read mostly the books I already own	Completed. 61 books out of 111 were from my own shelves/e-reader. The rest were borrowed from my local library.
Read 10 classics I've never read before	I only read 6.
Re-read 10 books	I only re-read 6 books.
Finish off 5 series I had started prior to 2018	Completed.
Read and review 7 ARCs	I read and reviewed 12 ARCs, so significantly exceeded this one.
Read 5 non-fiction books	This year was definitely a year of non-fiction for me. I read 14 non-fiction books. For someone who used to read none, this is a great accomplishment.

So, no big surprises. I did very well overall. As in previous years, the one area where I struggle is reading classics. I did read 10 classics overall in 2018, but only 6 were new to me, the other 4 were re-reads. Here is the snapshot of my year in books from Goodreads. I do like this feature and always look forward to reviewing it at the end of each year.

"An Anonymous Girl" by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen

I received an e-ARC of An Anonymous Girl from NetGalley. The book is officially coming out in the US on January 8, 2019. This is a psychological thriller focused on love, guilt, jealousy, obsession as well as the issues of honesty and deceit. Since a big part of reading a psychological thriller is experiencing the sense of suspense, I cannot summarize the plot without revealing too much.

However, here are a few essentials: the main character - Jessica Farris - is a 28-year old make-up artist living in New York who decides to earn a quick $500 by participating in a morality and ethics study conducted by a psychotherapist at NYU. We slowly learn more about Jessica, as well as the guilt and secrets she harbors.

The other voice in the book is that of the psychotherapist conducting the study. The chapters alternate the points of view between the subject and the researcher. Jessica's chapters are written in the first person, whereas the researcher's are constructed in the second person - you - addressing the subject.  All the actions performed by the psychotherapist are described in clipped passive voice sentences that sound clinical and precise (e.g. "a beverage is offered" instead of "I offered her a beverage").

I devoured the book in two days, which is an impressive feat for me (I am not a fast reader). In the beginning, I had doubts about whether the book would be able to pull me in. Mostly, this was due to the fact that I did not like the main character. She immediately struck me as someone who makes questionable moral choices and I could not easily relate to her. On the other hand, such emotional divesting allowed me to focus on the plot and not feel anxious while reading. (I do feel anxiety when I read thrillers if the character seems like someone I could really relate to).

A couple of warnings: the books is focused heavily on cheating, jealousy and romantic obsession. If those are the topics you'd rather not read about, I would pass this book. 4 out 5 stars overall. A good choice to read over a weekend or on a long airplane ride.

Christmas Readings

Every December I try to read a book that is either set during Christmas or has something to do with the holiday season. This year, I picked up a non-fiction title, Christmas: a biography by Judith Flanders. Overall, this was a very interesting read and I learned a lot about the history of various Christmas time rituals and traditions observed in the Western world. The book is fairly short (245 pages) and is very easy to get through. I did have a couple minor issues with it:

1 - the book is almost entirely focused on Northern European traditions: English, German, Dutch Scandinavian and then by extension, North American.

2 - even though the book is divided into 13 chapters, the chapters have no titles and it is thus sometimes difficult to figure out the theme/subject of every chapter. The book is written in a roughly chronological order starting from the earliest known pre-Christian celebrations of the winter solstice to the present day. However, the author does not always follow a strictly linear timeline which makes it confusing. In addition, some chapters have a very clear theme: Christmas trees, Santa Claus or caroling. Thus, I do feel this book would benefit from chapter headings that would outline a clear structure of the book.

Overall, the book started out a bit slow, but then got markedly more interesting and entertaining. By the end, I was sure I will be keeping it in my home library and will probably revisit it at some later day.

I also recommend reading it alongside A Literary Christmas by British Library which is an anthology of poems, short stories and excerpts from famous literary classics. Flanders refers to many of them in her book, and I found this combination highly informative. A Literary Christmas also has beautiful illustrations that make the stories come alive for the reader. I highly enjoyed both books. 4 out of 5 stars.

Favorite Reads of 2018

It is the end of December and I am looking back at what I read in 2018. I must say I read a lot of books that were kind of middle of the way for me: neither great nor terrible. Here are five that stood out (in no particular order):

The Book of Dust by Philip Pullman
I was not a big fan of the original Golden Compass trilogy. It dragged and I struggled to get through the books. Pullman's newest release The Book of Dust was a complete opposite. I flew through the book. It is very engaging and has a likable main character. I highly recommend this book.

At the Water's Edge by Sarah Gruen
This was the first book by Sarah Gruen that I read and I fell in love with her writing. This book in particular had all the elements I like: it is historical fiction, set in Scotland near Loch Ness, there is a bit of a mystery, a forbidden romance, and a likable female character in search of redemption.

The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham
I did not appreciate this book when I first read it at the age of 18. You have to have had a bit more life experience to understand the plot and characters. This time around I was completely blown away by the story and Maugham's writing. His books seemed boring when I had to read them for school. Now, I cannot wait to revisit more of his novels.

Roadside Picnic by the Strugatsky Brothers
This is a Soviet sci-fi classic that was the basis for Tarkovsky's film Stalker. A must read for any sci-fi lover, this short novella packs quite a punch and tackles deep philosophical issues. I loved it.

Evicted by Matthew Desmond
This is the only non-fiction on the list. Evicted changed the way I look at homelessness and poverty in America. It had a huge emotional impact on me and gave me new insights into issues I never thought about before. A must read for all Americans.

"Shadow of the Fox" by Julie Kagawa

Shadow of the Fox is book 1 in a new YA fantasy series inspired by Japanese folklore and culture. I enjoyed this book much more than I initially thought I would. It is basically a quest story. A young girl who is a half shape-shifter (she can turn into a fox) and was was raised in a remote monastery, embarks on a mission to deliver a piece of an ancient and very valuable scroll to another monastery whose location no one seems to know. On the way, she makes new friends, encounters dangerous situations, and learns about the outside world.

The book reads like a fairy tale. There are supernatural creatures, and magicians. There are also skillful shinobi, samurai, and ronins. I had a great time reading this book. I think what makes it different is the Japanese inspired setting. I felt immersed in a different culture and the world, and will definitely be reading book 2 when it comes out next year. 4 out of 5 stars.