The Sunday Salon and Anticipation...

Welcome to The Sunday Salon! It's that day of the week we sit back and talk about one of our favorite subjects… BOOKS! Yes, and this week there's some great books I want to share with you from some of our favorite authors!

Don't you just love it when an author you love reading is coming out with a new book?! I get excited… will it be as good as the last book? Will I love the characters? Will the writing take me away to places I can only dream of? It doesn't what genre you're favorite author write's in, it's all about the anticipation...


Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami...  From Publisher's Weekly: Living a simple, quotidian life as a train station engineer, Tsukuru is compelled to reexamine his past after a girlfriend suggests he reconnect with a group of friends from high school. A tight-knit fivesome for years, the group suddenly alienated Tsukuru under mysterious circumstances when he was in college. For months after the break, not knowing what had gone wrong, he became obsessed with death and slowly lost his sense of self: “I’ve always seen myself as an empty person, lacking color and identity. Maybe that was my role in the group. To be empty.” Feeling his life will only progress if he can tie up those emotional loose ends, Tsukuru journeys through Japan and into Europe to meet with the members of the group and unravel what really happened 16 years before. The result is a vintage Murakami struggle of coming to terms with buried emotions and missed opportunities, in which intentions and pent up desires can seemingly transcend time and space to bring both solace and desolation. 

If you are a fan of Haruki Murakami, you will be chomping at the bit for this one! It's been 2 years since we heard from this wonderful author, whose quiet, yet insightful writing makes us think and almost listen to each word he puts on the page. This is the English translation of the same book that has sold a millions the first week it came out in Japan. The book has gotten 5 star reviews all around, so I can't wait! If you are new to Murakami, you should be able to enjoy this book as well. Coming out August 12th...

The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell… Following a scalding row with her mother, fifteen-year-old Holly Sykes slams the door on her old life. But Holly is no typical teenage runaway: A sensitive child once contacted by voices she knew only as “the radio people,” Holly is a lightning rod for psychic phenomena. Now, as she wanders deeper into the English countryside, visions and coincidences reorder her reality until they assume the aura of a nightmare brought to life. For Holly has caught the attention of a cabal of dangerous mystics—and their enemies. But her lost weekend is merely the prelude to a shocking disappearance that leaves her family irrevocably scarred. This unsolved mystery will echo through every decade of Holly’s life, affecting all the people Holly loves—even the ones who are not yet born. A Cambridge scholarship boy grooming himself for wealth and influence, a conflicted father who feels alive only while reporting on the war in Iraq, a middle-aged writer mourning his exile from the bestseller list—all have a part to play in this surreal, invisible war on the margins of our world. From the medieval Swiss Alps to the nineteenth-century Australian bush, from a hotel in Shanghai to a Manhattan townhouse in the near future, their stories come together in moments of everyday grace and extraordinary wonder. 

David Mitchell, whose list of  popular books could fill a page plus, and who wrote Cloud Atlas, which was made into a movie (which does not make it a great book, but does show it's popularity) is coming out with what seems to be another great tale, where fantastic stories come together for an incredible wrap up.  His stories always appeal to me, but I have yet to crack the spine on any. One of those in the TBR pile that should make its way up. I'm putting this in my TBR pile and making sure I don't forget it because this sounds amazing. Coming Sept. 2, 2014

The Children Act by Ian McEwan… Fiona Maye is a High Court judge in London presiding over cases in family court. She is fiercely intelligent, well respected, and deeply immersed in the nuances of her particular field of law. Often the outcome of a case seems simple from the outside, the course of action to ensure a child's welfare obvious. But the law requires more rigor than mere pragmatism, and Fiona is expert in considering the sensitivities of culture and religion when handing down her verdicts. But Fiona's professional success belies domestic strife. Her husband, Jack, asks her to consider an open marriage and, after an argument, moves out of their house. His departure leaves her adrift, wondering whether it was not love she had lost so much as a modern form of respectability; whether it was not contempt and ostracism she really fears. She decides to throw herself into her work, especially a complex case involving a seventeen-year-old boy whose parents will not permit a lifesaving blood transfusion because it conflicts with their beliefs as Jehovah's Witnesses. But Jack doesn't leave her thoughts, and the pressure to resolve the case—as well as her crumbling marriage—tests Fiona in ways that will keep readers thoroughly enthralled until the last stunning page.

Ian McEwan is such a wonderful storyteller and writer. His writing is not all about furiously turning the pages, but wrapping yourself around the words and characters. I read just a small sampling of this book courtesy of the publisher and want more! He has won the famed Booker Prize and other writing awards, so it's no wonder that lovers of great fiction should make a note of his latest offering here, coming Sept. 9, 2014. Definitely on my TBR list!

What author's do you long for a new book from? I got some some of my wish list taken care of here, but there are plenty of great authors coming out with books this fall. AND next Sunday Salon, I'll be back with some more amazing new books from new authors coming our way (you won't want to miss them!)

Happy Reading… Suzanne

Haruki Murakami fans are in for a treat...

Are you a fan of Haruki Murakami? Then you need to pick up this weeks The New Yorker Magazine!

Haruki Murakami writes fiction filled with bits of surrealism and humor; themes dealing with isolation and loneliness. And somehow he is able to open up his characters and show us parts of ourselves. His writing is wildly popular! Not only in Japan, his birth place, but all over the world. When there is something new written by Murakami, word spreads fast. A prime example of his popularity is his forthcoming book, IQ84, which was a novel published in three volumes in Japan between 2009 & 2010. The first printing sold out in one day, and sold one million copies in one month. We've been waiting in the U.S for the translation of the novel to come our way for over a year, but will finally have our chance to read it in October 2011.

What can we expect in The New Yorker Magazine? A short story, U.F.O. in Kushiro, written by Haruki Murakami that's described as "Short story about a Japanese man who attempts to piece together his reaction to his divorce by taking a trip north to bleak Hokkaido." Such a matter of fact group of words put together to describe something written by a writer that deceptively uses the everyday to surprise us with the unbelievable.

If you subscribe to The New Yorker, you can access U.F.O. in Kushiro from The New Yorker website via their digital online edition. If you don't subscribe, don't forget to pick up your March 28th, 2011 copy of The New Yorker where ever magazines are sold!

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami... a Review

What an amazing memoir, but not quite a memoir! What I Talk About When I Talk About Running is the memoir of Japanese author Haruki Murakami. But even Murakami admits that it's not a "traditional" memoir, and in fact his original concept was to publish it as a book of essays. The story has its roots in Murakami's training for the New York City Marathon, but what makes this story so interesting is his veering off the track to share thoughts about his life, career, his childhood, music, and love. He reflects on living in Boston and Hawaii. He shares his views of the world around him, and in doing he innocently gives the reader food for fodder for our own lives. And all cleverly linked together by his training.

"Once you set the pace, the rest will follow. The problem is getting the flywheel to spin at a set speed - and to get to that point takes as much concentration and effort as you can imagine."

What's particularly interesting to me is the insights he gives on writing and the origins of his writing. Not knowing much about Murakami except for his being a brilliantly popular writer, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running really let me get to know the man behind the writing. The bar owner turned writer, who loves to run even though his aging body is slowing down. And even a book "about running" in the hands of Haruki Murakami is beautifully written. It's inspiring, it's humbling.

"Sometimes when I think of life, I feel like a piece of driftwood washed up on shore."

I listened to the audiobook of What I Talk About When I Talk About Running as part of the Haruki Murakami Reading Challenge, which includes listening to audiobooks. But I enjoyed the story so much I intend to buy a copy of the book! The audiobook itself is a little over 4 hours, and is narrated by Shakespearean actor Ray Porter, who has an extensive audiobook background. Although the voice of the narrator is pleasing, at first I was a little taken aback, because I really expected a different type of voice to represent Murakami, but I slowly got use to Mr. Porter, who did a great job with all the subtleties of sharing the story with us.

I would definitely recommend What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami to any runner or athlete, because it's a wonderful love story to the hard work of training for any event, but it's also a love story of living. There are so many other reasons to praise this book- it's inspiring, it's beautifully written, it's a great way to get to know the man behind the wildly popular books you can find in any bookstore. I loved it for all those reasons. And, if I could I would put on a pair of running shoes right now and go out running!

The Japanese Literature Challenge 3

Our journey begins,

the masters bid you welcome--

attend to their words.

Magical Mystical Teacher

The Japanese Literature Challenge 3 marks the start of another reading adventure! That is what a challenge is meant to do- challenge you to read some of the books you've been meaning to read or challenge you to step out of the box and try something new.

Japanese Literature is usually defined by the beautifully written prose and poetry. And Bellezza of Dolce Bellezza has organized this challenge to begin July 30th, 2009 and end January 30th, 2010! "All you have to do is read one work of Japanese origin. It can be literature of course, but don't feel confined to that. You may choose to read poetry, biographies, short stories or even manga. If you are willing to read one such piece, you've met the challenge." All the readers who are participating in the challenge have a link at Dolce Bellezza to their announcement of their participation and their reviews HERE! There are some wonderful prizes for participating too! For all the details about the challenge and prizes head over to Dolce Bellezza HERE and read all about it. Bellezza also has a list of reading suggestions. (click on "reading suggestions" to be taken to the list!). Anyone can sign-up to participate and last look there were 67 people up for the challenge already!

This challenge gives me the nudge to read Haruki Murakami, famous for The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles, Kafka on the Shore and a long list of other books. He is well known for mixing the mundane with the bizarre. One of my choices to meet the challenge is to read The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle ... "Bad things come in threes for Toru Okada. He loses his job, his cat disappears, and then his wife fails to return from work. His search for his wife (and his cat) introduces him to a bizarre collection of characters, including two psychic sisters, a possibly unbalanced teenager, an old soldier who witnessed the massacres on the Chinese mainland at the beginning of the Second World War, and a very shady politician." I'm eager to finally read this author! Thanks Bellezza for giving me the nudge!

One of my other choices is Be With You by Takuji Ichikawa..."When Takumi's wife suddenly returns from the grave, he can't believe his eyes. How could such a thing be possible? Is she here to stay? Has love miraculously triumphed over death? As Takumi starts looking for answers to these questions, he discovers the secret of his wife's appearance is somehow linked to the past...and the future". This love story "captivated millions of Japanese readers", inspired a blockbuster movie, a TV series and a best-selling manga. It also took me into the manga section of Borders to find it. I love a good ghost story and this seems to blend both a love story & ghost story into something very special. The opening paragraph hooked me:

"When Mio died, this was how I thought.

Whoever made our planet must have made

another planet at the same time,

somewhere in the universe.

That would be the planet where people go when they die.

The name of that planet is Archive."

As I finish these books and maybe a few others ( I know I'm being a bit over ambitious here now!) I'll be putting up my reviews. I'll have a link to my reviews here!

Before I end today's post, I just wanted to point out the beautiful photograph that we are all using for our Challenge! It is from Tanabata, writer of In The Spring It Is The Dawn blog. She currently lives in Japan and took the photograph. She writes, "That photo was taken on the island of Miyajima, near Hiroshima. The shrine on the island is called Itsukushima-jinja and is a World Heritage site. The torii gate is considered one of the three great views in Japan." I think it is just an amazing photograph! I wanted to thank her for creating it for Bellezza and for allowing us to all share it for the challenge!

Up for the Challenge? Have you read any Japanese literature? Share some suggestions here!

Reviews for the Japanese Literature Challenge:

(Click on the Title to read the review)

Be With You by Takuji Ichikawa

Strangers by Taichi Yamada

Happy reading....

Suzanne

Sunday Salon... Books with Buzz, a Reading Challenge, and a Book Download Freebie!

What is the Sunday Salon? Imagine some university library's vast reading room. It's filled with people--students and faculty and strangers who've wandered in. They're seated at great oaken desks, books piled all around them, and they're all feverishly reading and jotting notes in their leather-bound journals as they go. Later they'll mill around the open dictionaries and compare their thoughts on the afternoon's literary intake....

So the past week has been a great one for reading... I finished Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford! What a wonderful story! A childhood romance, a story that demonstrates the horrors of a time in history with internment camps, and the story of family. I'll be posting my review this week... This week has also been a great one for finding some new books to put in the TBR pile...

This week I received a copy of Mr. Darcy, Vampyre by Amanda Grange. Vampires are all the rage these days and Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice now has it's own! The book starts where Pride & Prejudice leaves off- the morning of the wedding of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy. Written in the same manner as the era it represents, it has gotten great buzz from Austen fans as the prepublication has hit the road! Mr. Darcy's aloofness is finally explained as he tries to keep his secret - he's a vampyre! The cover is perfect too! And I can't wait to read this! If you are a Austen fan and love a good vampire, Mr. Darcy, Vampyre will be on the shelves this tuesday Aug.11th! You can read more about the book at the blog Mr. Darcy Vampyre!

Another book with a lot of great buzz is The Sister by Poppy Adams! The story of two sisters who reunite after being estranged for 50 years! "Virginia is the sensible older sister who stayed, carrying on the family tradition of lepidopterology (the study of butterflies), while the reckless and free-spirited Vivien left to lead a cosmopolitan life in London. The story, told from Virginia’s eerily limited perspective, involves their parents’ descent into sadistic and capricious behavior, an accident in Vivien’s youth that left her unable to have children, and a plan that she had for her husband to impregnate Virginia instead. Adams creates an engrossing atmosphere of gothic mystery"... I picked this book up this week and can't wait to crack it open! I had heard some "If you Like The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield you'll like The Sister." And if you haven't read The Thirteenth Tale, it is a good story, with a gothic air of mystery in a run-down house, with dark secrets & lies, and sisters...

Also this week I picked up a couple of books by japanese authors. One of which was The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami, who is a critically acclaimed author of japanese literature. His work tends to mix the mundane things of everyday life with the bizarre. His writing is described as being poetic and his stories never boring. And so, I picked up The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle... "Bad things come in threes for Toru Okada. He loses his job, his cat disappears, and then his wife fails to return from work. His search for his wife (and his cat) introduces him to a bizarre collection of characters, including two psychic sisters, a possibly unbalanced teenager, an old soldier who witnessed the massacres on the Chinese mainland at the beginning of the Second World War, and a very shady politician."

Picking up the book by Murakami was perfect timing because as I was reading Bird Book Dog a blog by my friend Harvee Lau, I saw she joined a reading challenge! The Japanese Literature Challenge! There are many "reading challenges" on the blogs. It's a fun way to try reading something new, nudge you into reading something on your TBR pile, and a great way to meet other people who love to read! The Japanese Literature Challenge is organized by Bellezza at her blog Dolce Bellezza . Anyone can sign up for the challenge, which is to read one book of your chosing of a Japanese author. She has reading suggestions too! I'll be posting about the challenge this week on the blog. In the meantime, you can check out Docle Bellezza and Bird Book Dog by clicking on their names, I've linked it to their blogs.

And a quick note here for my Kindle readers! And anyone who loves a free book! Simon & Schuster is offering a free download of Uglies by Scott Westerfeld until Sept.5th. It's a YA book that I've been wanting to read for a while. Uglies is the first in the trilogy. It's about this future world where at the age of 16 you must get an operation to become "beautiful". The Uglies are the pre-sixteen girls who are tend to play tricks and get into mischief as they wait their turn. But of course not everyone wants to go thru with this procedure and there is a rumored rebel settlement and there is a reason behind the required transformations too... Lots of great buzz and thanks to Simon & Schuster for the free download. And Thanks to Debbie of Debbie's World of Books for sharing the information about the download on her blog! The free download is in celebration of Scott's new book Leviathon, which is the start of a new series for him. You can check out his blog HERE! And click on "free download" above to get your PDF of Uglies. I already put this on my Kindle DX without a problem this time!

Happy Reading... Suzanne