Mailbox Monday - August 31

Only two books in the mail this week: Julie and Julia by Julie Powell and The Imposter's Daughter by Laurie Randell. I'm looking forward to reading Julie and Julia immediately followed by Julia Childs' My Life In France.

Sunday Salon--Giveaway

I'm very excited this weekend to go over 50 followers. When I was at 49 the other day, I told my mom I would have a giveaway when I hit 50. Which I hit the next day. So here's the giveaway:

I have gently read (as in I read them only once and didn't tote them around in my purse!) copies of "The Story of A Marriage" by Andrew Sean Greer; "Two Years, No Rain" by Shawn Klomparens; "Unaccustomed Earth" by Jhumpa Lahiri; and "The Dogs of Babel" by Carolyn Parkhurst. Contest runs through September 7th. Here are the rules:













1. Giveaway is open to U.S. addresses only
2. One entry if you leave a comment letting me know which book(s) you're interested in and a
way to contact you.
3. One entry if you are a follower or become a follower.
4. One entry if you add something about the giveaway on your blog (leave me a permalink)
5. One entry if you Twitter about the giveaway (leave me a link).
6. One entry if you Stumble the giveaway (okay,I really don't even understand Stumble; but if
you figure out how to do it let me know and I'll figure it out!)

Thanks to all of my followers! I would be having fun doing this if I were the only one reading it, but knowing that you're out there makes it so much better!

Ahh--I'm Blushing!

Thanks to Natalie, from The Book Inn, for the Proximity award.

Being a recipient of this award affirms that this blog invests and believes in the Proximity – nearness in space, time and relationships.

This blog receives this great award as a further way to re iterate that it is exceedingly charming, and aims to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement! Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers!

I'm sending this to:
Devourer of Books
Susan at Win A Book: West of Mars
Nadia at A Bookish Way of Life
Gwendolyn at A Sea of Books
Kim at I Smell Books

Deb, from Book Magic, was kind enough to award me the Super Comments Award. This one gets passed on to the following people who always leave such nice comments:
Jill at Rhapsody In Books
Cindy at Thoughts and Reflections
Kathy at Bermuda Onion
Mari at Bookworm With A View
Mari at MariReads

I got the Humane Award from Heather at Gofita's Pages. This award is to honor certain bloggers that are kindhearted individuals. Rule: Nominate 10 bloggers you feel deserve the Humane Award. This way is going out to:
Jo at Diggin' Around
Lori at The Coffee Girl
Sarah at Enjoy The Little Things
Sandra at Fresh Ink Books
Molly at My Cozy Book Nook
Milka at Read, Read, ReadBonnie at Redlady's Reading Room
Thauna at Silly Fluff n Stuff
JessiKay at Tangled Up In Blue
Holly at Three Wishes
Dar at Peeking Between The Pages

And last but not least is the Beautiful Blog BINGO award, given to me by Michelle at The Book Addict. This award means that this blog is:

B: Beautiful
I: Informative
N: Neighborly
G: Gorgeous
O: Outstanding

This one is getting passed on to:

Diane at Bibliophile By The Sea
Heidenkind's Hideaway
Trish at Trish's Reading NookJay at The Quickie Book ReviewKelly at The Novel Bookworm
Again, thanks to all of the bloggers who gave me the awards. It's such a wonderful community to be a part of! Please be sure to take some time to check out all of these great blogs!

Gilead by Marilyn Robinson

Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
256 pages
Published November 2004 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Reverend John Ames is 77-years-old and in ill health in 1956 when he begins writing a letter to his young son, hoping to tell his son, through the letter, all of the things he would have told him if he'd lived longer. In the letter, Ames writes about the two generations of Ames preachers before him, he talks about the death of his first wife and daughter, life in a small town, life in the Midwest and religion. While writing the letter, he is confronted with one of the biggest crises of his life when his namesake, and son of his best friend, returns home. In trying to come to an understanding of the younger man's previous actions and to find forgiveness in his heart, Ames must also face questions of his own self worth.

I am not a good reader when it comes to books that should be read slowly. If I love a book (and I loved this book), I want to devour it. Robinson will not let the reader plow through Gilead. It is simply too beautiful; there is simply too much to be absorbed. The writing is spare and thoughtful. The book has a quietness.

"I was struck by the way the light felt that afternoon. I have paid a good deal of attention to light, but no one could begin to do it justice. There was the feeling of a weight of light--pressing the damp out of the grass and pressing the smell of sour old sap out of the boards on the porch floor and burdening even the trees a little as a late snow would do. It was the kind of light that rests on your shoulders the way a cat lies on your lap."

Ames spends a great deal of time contemplating faith but the book never reads as "preachy." Robinson raises questions but does not attempt to leave the reader with easy explanations or answers.

The Washington Post says: "one feels touched with grace just to read it." The New York Times called it "demanding, grave and lucid."

I had started reading this book when Amy, of My Friend Amy, asked for bloggers to review the fifty books that Newsweek had declared "Books of Our Time." Each of us was to decide if we felt the book we had read was a book of our time. Gilead is not only a book of our time, but I felt that it really is a book for the ages. To see reviews of all of the books, check them out here.

The Dogs of Babel by Carolyn Parkhurst

The Dogs of Babel by Carolyn Parkhurst
288 pages
Published June 2004 by Little, Brown and Company

I read this book as part of The Literate Housewife's Dog Days of Summer.

The book opens with the death of Lexy Iverson. She's fallen from a tree in her backyard while her husband, Paul, is at work, with only their dog, Lorelei, as a witness. Paul is devastated but can't help but wonder if the police pronouncement that the death was an accident is correct. Did Lexy commit suicide? Paul notices a few things in the next couple of days to make him believe that maybe she did. Only Lorelei knows and she's not talking. But Paul, who happens to be a professor of linguistics, wonders if maybe she can't be taught to talk so that he can get some answers. He's heard some stories previously that leads him to believe it might be possible so he takes a sabbatical and begins trying to teach Lorelei to speak. At the same time, Paul looks back on his relationship with Lexy.

Two pages in, this book had already grabbed my attention. Then I got to the talking dog business. And I began to wonder exactly what it was that originally convinced me to pick this book up some months ago. "Is this supposed to be a black comedy?" I wondered. Nope, it's completely serious and more than once I almost put the book down. But the book alternates chapters between the look back at Paul and Lexy's relationship and the teaching-dog-to-talk chapters. And I was enjoying the relationship chapters so I stuck it out. Then Paul became involved with some "Very Bad People" who do surgery on dogs to try to make them talk. Yes, you read that right; there is a whole organization of people doing this. And it did get a little tense during some of those parts. But it was still strange. As was Paul's fascination with a television psychic. And the part where Lexy was making masks for the families of dead people. Yep, the more I write about it, the more bizarre this book sounds.

Yet, I can't say that I didn't like it. I did find the relationship between Paul and Lexy interesting. I understood a love so deep that Paul would do anything to try to find some answers. And Parkhurst deals with Lexy's mental illness beautifully. But I can't think of a single person to whom I would recommend this book. Seriously, how would I sell it? "Hey, you wanna read a book about teaching dogs to talk?"