"Each Bird Must Fly On Its Own Wings": Gaile Parkin

"Baking Cakes In Kigali" (Amazon) is a book about many things. But mostly, it's a book about people. The book takes place in Rwanda, sometime after the genocides-I believe around 2000. I'm not entirely sure. It tells the story of Angel Tungaraza and her community. Though she is not from Rwanda herself, she has many encounters with those who survived the genocide.

Gaile Parkin did something amazing with this book. It covers many heavy topics-AIDS, genocide, genital mutilation-without being heavy. At no point did I want to put the book down because it was too depressing or upsetting. All of these topics are handled very gracefully, and presented as facts of life, albeit facts of life that Angel is struggling to deal with.

Unfortunately, I could not find any contact information for Gaile Parkin. If I were to send her an email, I would tell her that I found her work beautiful and inspiring. It was a book about people surviving, but it was light enough that it wouldn't be out of place as a "beach book." Not once did it feel preachy. Instead, it is up to the reader to form opinions and decide what lessons they want to take away.

Well, this is the last of the books in my possession. Tomorrow I'm supposed to get another couple of books delivered, so there's that. However, I have something else to talk about tomorrow, so there will definitely be a post!

"A Great Artist Can't Belong To Just One Person; She Belongs To Everyone": Ludmilla Petrushevskaya

Today's book is "There Once Lived A Woman Who Tried To Kill Her Neighbor's Baby" (Amazon). Ludmilla Petrushevskaya is a Russian author who is currently 73. She has had quite the life, as the introduction to this book points out. She lived in the Soviet Union and dealt with her works going from being banned to highly respected. Her work shows many signs of her personal struggles in life. Now, I cannot find any contact information for Ludmilla Petrushevskaya, so I'll just elaborate on my thoughts on this book. If anyone stumbles across a way to contact her, I'd love to know.

Apparently this collection won the World Fantasy Award for Best Collection last year. I have no idea who else was nominated, or even if that award works that way, but I have to say, I can see how this would win. The stories are often rather chilling. In some of them, you don't even realize how terrifying the concepts are until a few minutes after you're done reading.

Sometimes the writing style seems very... the best word I can think of is "stark." Very no nonsense and bare bones. However, I think that may be the result of being translated from Petrushevskaya's native Russian. I don't think it necessarily detracts from any of the stories, it just isn't my preferred writing style.

Overall, most of the stories were the kind that stopped and made you think. The one that affected me most was probably "Hygiene," which was a story about a disease and a family's paranoia leading to their downfall. To me, the concept of destroying yourself from within because of fear is a fairly chilling concept. However, some of the stories had happy, or at least satisfying endings, such as "Marilena's Secret" and "The Cabbage-Patch Mother."

This book is definitely correctly classified as a "horror" novel. However, it's not the kind of horror I'm used to. Don't pick it up expecting Stephen King or anything like that. Ludmilla Petrushevskaya has a voice all her own, one definitely worth listening to.

The next book is "Baking Cakes in Kigali" by Gaile Parkin. It will definitely be a change of pace from "There Once Lived A Woman Who Tried To Kill Her Neighbor's Baby." I'm not going into work tomorrow, so I'll have plenty of time to read, and there might be a post then. After that though, the posts are definitely going to be less frequent, as I'll have less free time.

"Interesting Things Seem To Happen Around Paper Books": Neve Maslakovic

"Regarding Ducks and Universes" (Amazon) was originally entered in the 2009 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest. Though it did not win, Neve Maslakovic was later contacted by AmazonEncore (something I will probably be using to find new books) and the book was published in February of 2011.

I really enjoyed the writing style of this book. It actually reminded me a lot of Jasper Fforde. The book follows Felix Sayers, resident of Universe A (Universe B having split off in 1986) and his quest to find his alter (the Universe B version of himself). Along the way he meets various people researching the split, who suspect that he has a lot more to do with the branching of the universes than anyone realized.

The following is my email to Neve Maslakovic:
"I just finished your book, Regarding Ducks and Universes. I just wanted to tell you that I really quite enjoyed it. Your writing style and concept remind me a bit of Jasper Fforde, another one of my favorite authors. The lighthearted nature of your narrative, that stayed consistent even during the darker parts of the novel, was really enjoyable to me. I enjoyed the entire "what if" nature of the work as well. Also, Felix's struggles to sit down and just begin a novel is something many aspiring authors can relate to, and provided a nice subplot.

I saw on your website that you're writing your second book. I will definitely keep an eye out for it. Good luck with your writing!"

I'm not entirely sure what book to read next-I have two to pick from. However, both are relatively short, so I'll probably finish one in the next day or two. So expect a post then! By the way, any recommendations of books to read would be great. Leave a comment!