Monday, March 5, 2012

~ Mailbox Monday ~

Welcome to Mailbox Monday, a weekly meme originally created and hosted by Marcia of A girl and her books and hosted this month by Anna of Diary of an Eccentric. Below are the titles I received for review, purchased, or otherwise obtained over the course of the past week.

The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng (for blog tour review from Myrmidon publishers)

Malaya, 1949. After studying law at Cambrige and time spent helping to prosecute Japanese war criminals, Yun Ling Teoh, herself the scarred lone survivor of a brutal Japanese wartime camp, seeks solace among the jungle fringed plantations of Northern Malaya where she grew up as a child. There she discovers Yugiri, the only Japanese garden in Malaya, and its owner and creator, the enigmatic Aritomo, exiled former gardener of the Emperor of Japan. Despite her hatred of the Japanese, Yun Ling seeks to engage Aritomo to create a garden in Kuala Lumpur, in memory of her sister who died in the camp. Aritomo refuses, but agrees to accept Yun Ling as his apprentice 'until the monsoon comes.' Then she can design a garden for herself. As the months pass, Yun Ling finds herself intimately drawn to her sensei and his art while, outside the garden, the threat of murder and kidnapping from the guerrillas of the jungle hinterland increases with each passing day. But the Garden of Evening Mists is also a place of mystery. Who is Aritomo and how did he come to leave Japan? Why is it that Yun Ling's friend and host Magnus Praetorius, seems to almost immune from the depredations of the Communists? What is the legend of 'Yamashita's Gold' and does it have any basis in fact? And is the real story of how Yun Ling managed to survive the war perhaps the darkest secret of all?

The Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard (Flea market purchase!)

An exhilarating meditation on nature and its seasons -- a personal narrative highlighting one year's exploration on foot in the author's own neighborhood in Tinker Creek, Virginia. In the summer, Dillard stalks muskrats in the creek and contemplates wave mechanics; in the fall she watches a monarch butterfly migration and dreams of Arctic caribou. She tries to con a coot; she collects pond water and examines it under a microscope. She unties a snake skin, witnesses a flood, and plays 'King of the Meadow' with a field of grasshoppers.

The Weight of Heaven by Thrity Umrigar (Flea market purchase!)

When Frank and Ellie Benton lose their only child, seven-year-old Benny, to a sudden illness, the perfect life they'd built is shattered. Filled with wrenching memories, their Ann Arbor home becomes unbearable and their marriage founders. But an unexpected job half a world away offers them an opportunity to start again. Life in Girbaug, India, holds promise—and peril—when Frank befriends Ramesh, a bright, curious boy who quickly becomes the focus of the grieving man's attentions. Haunted by memories of his dead son, Frank is consumed with making his family right—a quest that will lead him down an ever-darkening path with stark repercussions. Filled with satisfying real characters and glowing with local color, The Weight of Heaven is a rare glimpse of a family and a country struggling under pressures beyond their control. In a devastating look at cultural clashes and divides, Thrity Umrigar illuminates how slowly we recover from unforgettable loss, how easily good intentions can turn evil, and how far a person will go to build a new world for those he loves.

Wise Blood by Flannery O’Connor (swap with a friend!)

Wise Blood, Flannery O’Connor’s astonishing and haunting first novel, is a classic of twentieth-century literature. It is a story of Hazel Motes, a twenty-two-year-old caught in an unending struggle against his innate, desperate faith. He falls under the spell of a "blind" street preacher named Asa Hawks and his degenerate fifteen-year-old daughter, Lily Sabbath. In an ironic, malicious gesture of his own non-faith, and to prove himself a greater cynic than Hawkes, Hazel Motes founds The Church of God Without Christ, but is still thwarted in his efforts to lose God. He meets Enoch Emery, a young man with "wise blood," who leads him to a mummified holy child, and whose crazy maneuvers are a manifestation of Hazel's existential struggles. This tale of redemption, retribution, false prophets, blindness, blindings, and wisdoms gives us one of the most riveting characters in twentieth-century American fiction

13 comments:

  1. Great mailbox. I have The Weight of Heaven on my shelf but haven't read it yet.

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  2. I recently received Umrigar's newer book. I haven't read anything by her yet but I am sure looking forward to it!

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  3. I STILL need to read something by Umrigar. Great books this week!

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  4. I loved The World We Found, I have The Weight of Heaven. I hope to read it soon.

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  5. Nice mailbox! I just discovered Umrigar last year.

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  6. Have a great reading week.

    http://tributebooksmama.blogspot.com/2012/03/mailbox-monday.html

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  7. The Weight of Heaven is such an awesome book, and I can't wait to hear what you think of it. Out of all of Umrigar's books, it's one of my favorites. The others are new to me, but they look very interesting as well. I hope that you enjoy them all!

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  8. You are in for such a treat with The Weight of Heaven - I think you will love it.

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  9. I LOVED Weight of Heaven...it was excellent. I hope you enjoy your books.

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  10. Oh Amy, great variety but all really great sounding literary works. I have several F. O'Connor books that I want to get to soon --enjoy

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  11. Unusual mix of reading here. Always the best kind.

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  12. The Garden of Evening Mists sounds really good. Enjoy your new books!

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