* Top 10 Most Read Books in the World

 I saw this interesting list of facebook today for the Top 10 Most Read Books in the World in the last 50 years.  Not sure how valid the information is, but it looks like the guy put a lot of research into it.  Gone with the Wind and Harry Potters are two of my favorite books of all time and the bible is still at #1, but I was a little surprised at Twilight.  Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the books as well - the same way I enjoy reality TV shows when I'm card making - but making it on to the top 10 list?  There are soooo many other great books out there!!!  Plus I'm wondering how they accounted for multiple books in a series like with Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings.

Anyways, here's the list:

1. The Holy Bible

2. Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-Tung (Mao Tse-Tung)

3. Harry Potter (J. K. Rowling)

4. The Lord of the Rings (J.R.R. Tolkein)

5. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)

6. The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)

7. The Twilight Saga (Stephanie Meyer)

8. Gone with the Wind (Margret Mitchell)

9. Think and Grow Rich (Napolean Hill)

10. The Diary of Anne Frank (Anne Frank)

I've also read some of Lord of the Rings and The Diary of Anne Frank, but they were before I started keeping track in 2004, so they are not on my blog.  This list was also another constant reminder that I need to read the Bible one of these days!

Major Pettigew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson

★★★★

"The world is full of small ignorances.  We must all do out best to ignore them and thereby keep them small, don't you think?"

"Life does often get in the way of one's reading."

This novel was really cute!  Essentially a love story between 68-year-old retired Major Pettigrew and a 58-year-old shopkeeper from Pakistan named Mrs. Ali. Brought together by their love of literature and drinking tea, the unlikely individuals become friends in a small villiage in England.  Fighting pressure from their family and neighbors, the friendship begins to blossom into something more as the two struggle to find love at an older age.  It got a bit slow in the middle, but this charming novel is a wonderful tale of life lessons and finding just what you need at a later age in life.

The Light in the Ruins by Chris Bahjalian (audio)

★★★★

"He looked up at Christina and with the umbilicus of siblings sensed instantly what she was thinking.  Not the precise details, not the particular images.  But the lines around her eyes were all grief, and he knew that behind them was a memory."

I really enjoyed this book!  I first came across Chris Bohjalian about a month ago when I read The Sandcastle Girls.  I love his writing style - it's the perfect blend of historical-fiction, mystery, and drama.  The Light in Ruins tells about a unique perspective of World War II.

This novel begins in 1943, where a young women named Christina lives with her family in the hills of Florence, Italy.  Born of nobility, Christina has grown up in the ancient villa without a care in the world.  She spends her days roaming the land and looking after her young niece and nephew.  As the Nazis begin continue to invade Italy, the family is thrown into a world of chaos and uncertainly.  In the mist of it all, Christina begins to fall in love with a Nazi soldier.

Fast-forward twelve years and Christina's sister-in-law has just been murdered. Sarafina, a young detective with the Florence police department, begins to investigate the murder.  She learns about Christina's family she learns of the secrets of the war and discovers that her own tragic story may play a part in the mystery.

Tigerlily's Orchids by Ruth Rendell (audio)

★★

I didn't really like this book all that much.  I don't know...maybe I just don't get British humor.

I liked the concept enough: A young man throws a housewarming party for his neighbors, all who have their own story to tell.  Three college roommates, a reunited elderly couple, a recently divorcee who want to drink herself to death, a history phanatic, and the care taker and his wife.  Intertwined in the story our the new neighbors. Tigerlily and her husband / brother / uncle (no one is quite sure!)  The stories were interesting enough, but in the end, I didn't really care all that much what happened to any of the characters...which is probably good considering many of them did not even life to see the end of the book.  

The Night Strangers by Chris Bohjalian (audio)

★★★ 1/2

"My mother used to talk about passages and, once and awhile, about ordeals.  We all have them; we are all shaped by them.  She thought the key to find the healing in the hurt."

This is the second book I've read by Chris Bohjalian (the other one was The Sandcastle Girls).  I really like his writing style and characters.  Plus my local library has a lot of his books on playaway!!!

The Night Stranger was pretty good.  After a devastating plane crash that kills 39 people, the pilot Chip relocated his wife Emily and twin daughters to New Hampshire.  The old Victorian house that they move into holds many secrets - a door bolted shut in the basement and stories of a young boy committing suicide years before - the family is for more then they bargained for.  The story gets stranger as Chip meets some of the dead passengers from the plane crash in his basement and the herbalist neighbors begin to take a strong and almost obsessive interest in the twin girls.  This modern-day ghost story is full of town secrets and and the strange people that live there.

* Christmas List Books for 2012

Finally finished all of the books that I got for Christmas last year!!!

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe

Rules of Civility by Amor Towles

The Shoemaker's Wife by Adriana Trigiani

The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

The Street Sweeper by Elliot Perlman

The Street Sweeper by Elliot Perlman

★★★ 1/2

 "The best historians...take a thorough knowledge of the evidence of their subject and combine it with a sharp intellect, the warmest understanding of people and the highest imaginative powers."

I first started this book last March and had to re-start in about a month and a half ago because I couldn't remember where I left off.  It was also one of the seven books I got for Christmas last year.  The novel was over 600 pages and it took me about a month and a half to finish once I started it again.  It is an epic novel that intertwines a survivor's account of the holocaust with modern-day characters and story-lines and a wonderful testimony to the importance of oral and first-hand accounts of history.

I first got really interested in the holocaust and World War II sometime in early high school.  I don't exactly remember why exactly, I have always liked history and historical fiction and found the time period to be extremely interesting.  The holocaust was a horrific event and is often very hard to read about, but I became fascinated with personal accounts of those involved and learning about how people survived these unthinkable tragedies.  In high school, my senior portfolio centered around music in the holocaust and in music college music history course, I wrote a paper about this as well.  It focused on the children's opera Brundibar that was produced and performed by prisoners at Theresienstadt, a concentration camp that was used for Nazi propaganda and contained many prominent Jewish musicians, writers, artists, and scholars.  I've completed a lot of extensive research and try to read as many books on the subject as a I can (you can see my complete list here).

That being said, Elliot Perlman's portrayal of the Nazi death camps and gas chambers were the most graphic I have ever read.  The author gave a great amount of detail on the procedures of death camps.  The descriptive and graphic language created an simple comparison between the camps and factories - which, essentially it was.  A factory solely designed for killing as many people as possible.  I guess I was just being naive, but I did not give much thought to what happened to the prisoners once they entered the gas chambers.  I guess I just assumed that they were killed instantly.  And while this was a tragedy in itself, it was nothing compared to the pain and suffering that they had to endure in the minutes before their deaths.  

This was a great story, but it had A LOT of different characters and story lines: a ex-convect searching for his daughter, a elderly holocaust survivor, a historian on the verge of losing his career and relationship, a psychologist research personal accounts of concentration camp survivors in the mid 1940s - just to name a few.  While all of these stories ultimately fit together, there was a lot going on and a lot of keep track of. Normally I don't mind lots of complicated story lines, but the author seemed to go back and forth between each one around every other page.   I might have to read this one again because I feel like I missed some important detaiils while trying to keep everything straight!

This book was #8 on my top ten list of 2013.