Knowing yourself and living with your choices are major themes explored in way that has broad appeal despite the story’s focus on spirituality which would normally limit the audience.

What drew me to the book

Quite simply, this description is what drew me to the book, “An American housewife is transformed by an intriguing manuscript about the Sufi mystic poet Rumi.” Hey, this is a book blog, so of course I like the idea of being transformed by a book (I’m still looking for the one that will transform me into a happy skinny millionaire ).

If you’re not familiar with this book, the short plot synopsis is that a housewife gets a job evaluating unsolicited manuscripts send to a literary agency. In an extreme bit of good luck (seriously, if you’ve ever read from a slush pile you’ll know how unlikely this part of the book is), she is handed a manuscript submitted by a writer half way across the world that is not only good but also life changing. As she starts reading the manuscript, she realizes that the manuscript story mirrors her own and is inspired to start a correspondence with the author. She starts to believe that the author is playing the role of the mystic in her life (as Rumi does to a character in the manuscript she reads) come to set her free from a life she is realizing she really does not like.

My thoughts on the book

I really like The Forty Rules of Love: A Novel of Rumi. It is very well written and will appeal to many people, especially those who feel stuck in their lives or are looking to transform themselves like the main character.

The 40 rules of the title are actually the rules of religious love. It’s a good thing that was left out of the title or I would not have considered reading it. As presented, these 40 rules are really the rules for loving yourself which is what makes the appeal of this book broad rather than narrow.

The book has two stories, one that takes place in the past and is presented as the novel that the main character in the present is evaluating for a literary agent. Normally when I read books that have two stories like this, I find that one or the other is not engaging and, in fact, one story could be removed entirely without affecting the book too much. In The Forty Rules of Love: A Novel of Rumi both stories interested me and came across as two indispensable halves of a whole.

The main character is a woman who is waking up to the fact that she has been living for other people, just making do, and not really questioning what she is doing with/getting out of her life. I was surprised by the way her story turned out (in a good way, but I won’t spoil it for you). I simply could not figure out where the author was going to take this woman’s story and I’m glad that there is no cop-out happily-ever-after in this book.

About the book author

Elif Shafak has written several other books, including The Flea Palace, Bastard Of Istanbul, and The Saint of Incipient Insanities. Elif Shafak can be found online at her official site.

Find this book online

The Forty Rules of Love: A Novel of Rumi: Amazon US * Amazon Canada * Amazon UK

Not only is the family of Greek gods living in a run-down townhouse in London, but they’ve all got jobs. Not high-powered, glamorous jobs you would expect immortal all-powerful beings to have. No, these gods have decidedly pedestrian jobs: Artemis (god of hunting) is a dog walker, Apollo (god of sun) is a TV psychic complete with toga, Aphrodite (god of beauty) is a phone sex operator, Eros (god of love) is a convert to Jesus, and so on. All of this breeds boredom, irritability and pranks. And when gods take out their boredom on each other, only human help can save the mortals caught in the crossfire.

Marie Phillips‘ Gods Behaving Badly is not the sort of thing that I would usually pick up. In fact, while I was waiting for my review copy I wandered into a bookstore to kill time and saw the Canadian cover (see left–very similar to the UK cover). I don’t know how that one was chosen, but based on the cover I would never have even picked up the book to see what was inside. The American cover is more representative of the book; the Canadian cover is much too … literary looking. I’m glad I didn’t go by the Canadian cover because I really enjoyed this book.

Gratuitous photo of Anysia siddling up to Zeus in Nemrut Dagi

My knowledge of Greek mythology is pretty sparse (I think I did a fifth grade report on them, but haven’t had the chance to study them since … though I did once put my hand in Zeus’ ear to satisfy camera-happy parents). As a reader you don’t need a knowledge of Greek gods though I’m sure it would add depth to the book that I probably missed. The story is funny, fast-paced and somewhat twisted (you can read the first chapter on the publisher’s site). You may have been part of sibling rivalry, but never like this.

Gods Behaving Badly is also a love story between two mortals caught up in the hijinks of the Greek gods and their reluctant quest to save the world. Phillip’s heroes are reluctant heroes for even the quietest, geekiest, bookwormiest reader to identify with: an office cleaner and her meek geek boyfriend.

There is a readers’ guide included that lists questions about issues of immortality and religion. There could be an interesting group discussion about this book, but be careful if you choose this book for a book club: there is profanity and sexual situations in the book. While these are perfectly appropriate in the story, they may not be for all book groups. I’d like to discuss religion and immortality with some book readers I know, but they would have trouble getting past some of the content (and that would be a shame, because it is a good book).

You can find Marie Phillips’ books at bookcloseouts.com, amazon.com, amazon.ca, and amazon.co.uk.

The Retreat by David Bergen is set in Kenora, Ontario, during the ’70s, specifically the summer of the Objibway occupation of Anicinabe Park. The story follows the Byrd family, a white family from the big city that comes to Kenora to stay at a commune-type compound known as ‘The Retreat.’ This is the place that Mrs. Byrd is convinced will make her right and her husband is willing to try anything if only his wife would return to the way she was before their last son was born and she lapsed into a post-partum depression. While the adult Byrds are dealing with their own problems, their 17-year-old daughter Lizzy is left in charge of her three brothers, which is the usual state of affairs.

The book centers on Lizzy and her brothers as they come to deal with their mother’s inability to cope, their father’s unwillingness to take action, and the changes in their own lives that are the inevitable result of growing up and figuring out who you are. Lizzy in particular learns of love and heartbreak when she becomes involved with a local Ojibway boy.

This book is very much focussed on character development at the expense of plot. I’m not a particular fan of books that choose one over the other. If I had to pick, I would pick plot. It’s not that I’m not interested in character development, I am. In fact, I am equally disappointed in books that neglect character development in favour of plot. It’s just that I don’t find character development in and of itself interesting enough to sustain a book.

The plot in this book takes a backseat to the characters. As a consequence I never found myself particularly worried about the characters or interested in their inner turmoil. I wanted the occupation of Anicinabe Park to feature more prominently in the novel, but it was more of a backdrop that was barely there. It was frustrating, because the book is almost there in balancing the two, but misses it by a hair. Having said that, this actually a very good book and I’m sure many people will enjoy it and find it satisfying. Confused? Keep reading and I’ll explain.

My preference for the balance between character and plot is a personal one and there are all kinds of readers who prefer a different balance (Oprah comes to mind). I can tell that this was a good book because I enjoyed reading it (though I did find it put-downable) even though it turned out not to be my kind of read. I’ve read a number of books either by accident or by cohersion that focussed on character development which were agonizing to get through, but this wasn’t one of them.

If you don’t mind books that focus on character development, and even seek them out, then you might quite like this book. There are certainly other book bloggers who did.

A Monk Jumped Over A Wall is a lovely read. On the surface, it is the story of J.J. Spencer, a newly minted lawyer reluctantly climbing the corporate ladder. A few minutes, a simple act of kindness during a chance encounter, result in J.J. Spencer losing everything. He’s beaten, arrested driving drunk, fired and then it gets bad. But the book is not about that.

The book is about what happens after. It is about finding what you need out of life and what happens when you don’t go out and look for it.

I really enjoyed this book. If you read it just for the story that’s enough. But if you find yourself somewhere other than where you wanted to be in your life right now, it will speak to you on a deeper level without bludgeoning you with any morals or ideals.

To give you an idea of the writing, here is my favourite passage:

“I no longer inhabit a world that tolerates people born without the capacity to deceive. The world I’ve chosen regards such people as children, with no idea of how the world really works. These children, meanwhile, regard the inhabitants of my world as pitiable cynics who happened one day upon their last remaining hope clinging by its fingernails to the edge of the abyss, adn decided with great weariness to just stomp the damn hand. If only I felt at home in either world, maybe I wouldn’t be sitting here right now.” (pg. 71, ARC)

I picked this book up because I’m searching right now, and I’m sick of reading non-fiction on the topic. I wanted an escape. I wanted a fictional world for a while where the problem has been thought through and orchestrated by the author. I wanted to see how someone else worked the problem out, another perspective since it’s such a universal search.

I’ll be reading the book again both for the story and the reminder to go out and find what I need out of life. Highly recommended.

I’ve decided to share my finds and the excellent reviews of my fellow book bloggers each Monday. Leave a comment with a link to your post or a trackback if you decide to play along.

The fourth book to catch my eye in my book blog browsing was A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini reviewed by The KoolAid Mom over at In The Shadow of Mt. TBR.

What caught my attention?

The KoolAid Mom wrote a lengthy review so it’s hard to pick out one thing in particular that caught my attention. This paragraph sums up what piqued my interest:

A Thousand Splendid Suns is a visceral account of life in a war zone, the horror, the sounds and the bodies. It is beautiful at times with poetic passages and loving moments between characters, while revealing the life of oppression women were forced to endure during the Taliban rule in Afghanistan. It is haunting, depressing, joyful, and hopeful.

There’s quite a bit more to this thoughtfully written review, so I encourage you to check it out.

I’ve decided to share my finds and the excellent reviews of my fellow book bloggers each Monday. Leave a comment with a link to your post or a trackback if you decide to play along.

The third book to catch my eye as I skimmed my >120 RSS feeds (yeah, I need to prune) was The End of East by Jen Sookfong Lee mentioned by Erin over at A Book Every Day.

What caught my attention?

This one wasn’t so much a review (since Erin wasn’t finished reading when she posted), but rather a comment on Lee’s writing style (beautiful and poetic) along with an example. This is a book set in a part of the country that I still visit several times each year (in fact, thanks to post-dated blog posts, I’m in that region as you’re reading this). I once lived on the West Coast of Canada and the paragraph of Lee’s writing that Erin posted is so evocative of winters there that I’m interested enough to read Lee’s book.

I’ve decided to share my finds and the excellent reviews of my fellow book bloggers each Sunday Monday. Leave a comment with a link to your post or a trackback if you decide to play along.

The second book that caught my eye is Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell reviewed at the Shelf Love Blog with this review, written by Jenny who tag-team blogs with Teresa. The eagle-eyed may notice that the picture to the left is actually of The Cranford Chronicles (there is a reason for that, which I’m getting to).

What caught my attention?

This review is one of the reasons that I love book blogs. Cranford is a book that I would never look twice at: it’s not the genre I read, the cover doesn’t excite me, and the author has been dead for more than a hundred years. And yet, I’m enticed to read it after reading Jenny’s review.

The thing that caught my attention was that it was the story of a town primarily populated by spinsters and widows and the society that they had evolved. I’ve read modern science fiction where it’s been imagined, why not check out how it was imagined a century ago? I won’t say much more because Jenny’s was a short review and worth reading (and go read it now, I’ll wait for you).

Did you read it? Good. While I was poking around Amazon¹, I found that Gaskell actually wrote three novels about Cranford: Cranford, Mr Harrison’s Confessions, and My Lady Ludlow. All three are collected in The Cranford Chronicles, which is what I’ll pick up when my TBR pile grows small enough to add to (can you hear the hysterical laughter? That’s MOH (My Other Half) laughing at the mere thought of that ever happening).

Anyway, the point I would like to make is that this review convinced me to put this book on my reading list when it’s not even remotely the kind of book I would normally touch. Now, I may not end up liking it, but I was convinced to consider it in spite of that. That’s pretty cool, I think.

There’s still time to pick up some books for $1 at Bookcloseouts, if for some reason your TBR pile is looking anemic.

¹ Yes, I do realize many people hate or dislike Amazon. I have some issues with them myself, but that’s another post, for another day, and I do buy from them on occasion.