Destined to Live - Sabina Wolanski

Destined To Live - One Woman's War, Life, Loves Remembered - Sabina Wolanski is my first book completed for the Non Fiction Five Challenge.

Sabina has written the book in collaboration with a well known Australian author, Diana Bagnall and it tells the story of her life growing up very happily in Poland before, at the age of 12, the Nazis invaded and World War 2 consumed her town and her family.

I feel Sabina writes very honestly, not only about the events that happened to her and her family, but also about her feelings and reactions to those events - it was very engaging.

Sabina survived the war but her parents, beloved older brother and most of her extended family and friends did not. Sabina talks about the loss of these people in her live and it is clear how these losses have impacted on her throughout her adult life.

Sabina was chosen to give the opening address for the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin in 2005 and a copy of her speech is included in the book. Sabina states that she is "The voice of the six million tortured and murdered Jews of which one and a half million were children, and I am also the voice of the lucky few - the voice of the survivors".

I found Sabina's early and later story honest and compelling.

Careless - Deborah Robertson

Careless by Deborah Robertson was my third book for the Orbis Terrarum Challenge and (I think) the first book to come from an Australian author and geographic location.

I have had this book in my "to read" pile for quite some time now - I have been holding off starting it mainly because of the topic area - I knew it was a book that dealt with death and some intense grief and loss issues in many forms. As a previous Bereavement Counsellor I sometimes feel my personal reading needs to steer away from this area to give myself a bit of a break from the loss but I have to say, after having finished Careless I am sorry I kept away from it for so long.

Careless tells the story of a number of characters - all brought together and linked by a tragic event involving the sudden death of a number of children in a local park.

The deaths impact on each character in a different way and to a different degree. There is 8 year old Pearl who has lost her younger brother (and crux of her world), Riley. Adam, a selfish, egotistical artist attempting to create the design for a lasting piece of art that will stand as a memorial to the dead children. Sonia, the widow of a famous Australian furniture designer, grieving for the loss of her husband and the removal of her sons to countries far away from her and Anna, a mother whose adult daughter was murdered by her partner a number of years ago.

Each of these characters have a distinct and individual voice - I enjoyed hearing each of their stories and seeing how they overlapped and impacted on the other characters.

The book is heartbreaking in many ways, there is intense pain being experienced and narrated, but I never felt depressed or overwhelmed by the story or the emotions it provoked. In fact, I couldn't get enough of the story. I read the book quickly and was left wanting more of the story at the end of the novel. That is not to say that I don't think the story was wrapped up well at the end, it was. I just wanted to stay in the world with these characters and find out where they went next.

The book contains many metaphors linking the artistic world and material objects to feelings of connections and links with people - particularly following death or loss. I enjoyed this symbolism and feel I would need to work through the book again to really take these on board and truly appreciate them.

Careless was shortlisted for the 2007 Miles Franklin Award in Australia and I am eagerly awaiting the author's next novel!

The Classics Challenge

Trish has started the Classics Challenge sign up. The Challenge runs from July - December and there are several challenge/reading options but I think I will stick to the first option which is to read 5 classics in the time period plus a bonus sixth book which can be chosen from the selection of "should be" classics on the challenge site.

My 6 options (at the moment!) are:

1. The Waves - Virginia Woolf

2. Howards End - E.M. Forster

3. For Love Alone - Christina Stead

4. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte

5. Bleak House - Charles Dickens

6. Small Island - Andrea Levy

Juliet Dove, Queen of Love

Juliet Dove, Queen of Love By Bruce Coville was the latest selection for our Bookclub.

Quite an unusual choice but the night the genre was chosen we were eating "dove" chocolates and someone decided to throw in a genre called "a book with the word dove in the title"! Obscure, yes!

Juliet Dove, Queen of Love is a book written for the 9 - 12 years age group and at 190 large typed pages was quite an easy one to get through.

The Juliet of the title is a self-confessed shy girl who has moments of extreme temper when she is pushed by her classmates. One day following an argument with her blonde haired nemisis Juliet wanders into a magic shop and is given an amulet to wear by the strange woman behind the counter. Juliet is drawn to the amulet and wears it but soon realises that it can not be taken off and that it's effects seem to be causing the boys of her class and neighbourhood to fall madly in love with her.

What follows is a journey of mystery involving Juliet's friends and family, gods and goddesses and two winged rats to discover the magic that will remove the amulet from Juliet's neck and hence, the love spell.

Was I excited by this book - well, no - not really. But I can imagine it would have been something I would have enjoyed as a 9 year old.

The Spare Room

The Spare Room By Helen Garner was a book I had been waiting for for quite a while. Helen Garner's last few books have been non-fiction and while I have enjoyed them I have been looking forward to another novel.

You would probably call The Spare Room a novella - I finished it in a day and I would have finished it in one sitting if my life plans would have allowed for that! I was on a bit of a time restriction too as I am going to be listening to Garner speak at the Sydney Writer's Festival this weekend and I wanted to have the book completed by then.

The Spare Room is told from the perspective of "Helen" - a character that shares a lot of similarities with her author namesake (apparently the author has said that the book is not autobiographical). Helen is a woman in her early 60's living in Melbourne, Australia in a house beside her daughter, son-in-law and 2 young grandchildren (including a gorgeously precocious 5 year old, Bessie).

The book opens as Helen is preparing her spare room for the arrival of her friend Nicola from Sydney. Nicola has been diagnosed with a fatal cancer and is coming to Melbourne to be treated by an alternative health care clinic. Helen is extremely dubious and skeptical of the benefits Nicola will actually receive from this treatment and this scepticism really forms the crux of the story as the tension builds between the doubting Helen, who is providing constant care to her extremely unwell friend, and the ever hoping (some would say in denial) Nicola.

The story moves fast and yet as the reader you never feel rushed, the story seems to unfold as it needs to. I was with Helen the whole way and could feel her frustration with and sadness for Nicola - and herself.

Towards the end of the novel the tension within Helen has reached breaking point and as she trys to take some time for herself while Nicola is at the treatment clinic she writes;

"My heart was full of holes. Everything strong and purposeful was draining out me".

Such simple writing really but so strong and honest.

I loved this book - I was moved to tears by the ending and I am greatly looking forward to hearing the real life Helen talk about her work this weekend.

Classics Challenge Meme

Thanks to Trish for suggesting this meme - something to tempt our classics tastebuds before the challenge begins!

1. My favorite classic is either Jane Eyre By Charlotte Bronte or Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen - please don't make me pick a sole winner!

2. The classic I had the toughest time finishing is a number too large to mention I think! I remember struggling hugely with Jane Austen when at high school but somehow when I got to University I "got it" and now she is my favourite author. I can't think of any classics titles off the top of my head at the moment for this question but I know I have a lot of trouble with books that have HUGE descriptive content rather than focusing on character.

3. I would recommend any Jane Austen book to someone who doesn't like/read classics. I think Jane Austen novels are fun, character driven and still relevant in a lot of ways to today's society.
I would also recommend a book called Classics - Books For Life By Jane Gleeson-White. The author talks about 62 books she sees as the classics of literature and within the book famous authors also list and talk about their favourite classics. I have found this book to be a helpful guide when choosing classics to delve into.

4. To me, a classic book is one that moves the reader and stands the test of time. I think a classic should be readable across time and (hopefully, culture and society). A classic is a book you want to go back to again and again.

5. The type of relationship I have with classics is as an in awe friend! I would like to say I have an "equal" relationship/friendship with the classics but I know this is not the case. I often struggle to read books labeled as classics but I find the journey rewarding when I give it a go.

My Reading Life

I have been away from the blogging world (and the internet world in general really) this week as I have been travelling around the place for work. My reading has also been a little sporadic but I have managed to delve into My Reading Life By Bob Carr. This book is one I have selected for the Non Fiction Five Challenge and I am finding it to be a book you can just dip in and out of (which was good while I was travelling and finding it hard to concentrate on anything other than driving a car for long periods!).

As I have mentioned before Bob Carr is a past Premier of the state of New South Wales in Australia and well known for his love of all things literary. I must admit although I was really looking forward to this book being released I was also feeling a little daunted as to how accessible the reading Bob Carr refers to in the book may actually be to me. After having read the first 100 pages or so I'm not feeling as daunted now!

As the title of the book suggests Bob Carr talks about the books that he has read, enjoyed and been moved by in his reading career. I was particularly interested in the first chapter of the book which discusses the book If This Is A Man By Primo Levi - a book that outlines the author's experiences as a prisoner in Auschwitz. Bob Carr describes this book as the most important book of the twentieth century because "it is the best of all the books in the literature of testimony. Because it is a monument to all who were killed in the last century by totalitarian dictatorships. Because it tells us what humans are capable of ".

I have heard of Levi's book before but I will certainly be seeking out a copy now. Has anyone read this one?