the 999 Challenge - March

This has been a really busy month for me but I still managed to do a little reading so here are my books for March.
The Reader by Bernhard Schlink (Books made into movies) This story is set in three parts. The first part is when Michael a fifteen year old boy meets Hanna a thirty six year old woman on his way home from school when he takes ill and Hanna helps him. When Michael goes around to thank Hanna they start an affair. As part of their routine when they meet Michael reads to Hanna. One day Hanna disappears without a trace and Michael is left with the memory of Hanna that taints all his relationships with other women. The second part sees Hanna on trail for a war crime of letting a group of women in transit between camps that she is guarding, burn to death in a locked church. Michael is following the trail for his law studies. During the trail Michael realises that Hanna is illiterate. Hanna is sentenced to prison.
Part three sees Michael recording all his favourite books on to cassette and sending them to Hanna in prison. The prison governor writes to Michael to tell him Hanna is to be released and would like Michael to visit, which he does for the first and last time.
This is a book about the horrors of the Holocaust, consequences of illiteracy and hopes for forgiveness. I really enjoyed the book now looking forward to seeing the movie.
Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell ( Classic reading) Cranford started out as a series of stories published in the magazine Household Words. Later it was compiled into a book. It certainly lacks a plot but has some funny moments in this quaint English village set in the mid nineteenth century. The town seems to be full of unmarried or widowed women living in idyllic domesticity. The story mainly centres around Miss Matty Jenkyns and her sister Miss Deborah two middle aged spinsters living with dignity in reduced circumstances. It is dominated by the friendships of the women in the town. It is quite different from the television series that was made up from the book Cranford and two of Mrs Gaskell's novelas, Mr Harrison's Confessions and My Lady Ludlow.
It was a charming book well worth a read but I enjoyed the television series better.
Bad Karma: confessions of a reckless traveller in South East Asia by Tamara Sheward (Word of mouth) This story tells of two young girlfriends who decide to travel to parts South East Asia where hardly any other foreigners would be, it would be exciting and beautiful. This a hilarious account of their travels and what can go wrong, does. Very enjoyable and funny read.

So now I am on a roll of reading humours books the next two are biographies on Australian women comedians. I have almost read my quota of 9 books in the biography category which is my favourite group.

All that happened at number 26 by Denise Scott (Biography) In 1983 Denise with her husband, new baby, his circus equipment, a futon with no base and no savings moved into number 26. It was the worst house in the worst suburb. The daily challenges of children with eczema, a mother with Alzheimer's, the circus equipment that kept multiplying, the futon that went mouldy and on top of all that Denise was trying to forge a career in comedy and keep the husband and children happy. This is a funny book that also touches the heart at times. Another funny read.
The Lucy Family Alphabet by Judith Lucy (Biography) Judith Lucy has built her career on telling jokes about her family life until one day someone asked did she despise her family, Judith was shocked, as really deep down she loved them. Ann and Tony Lucy her parents were quite dysfunctional. Dad wore his pajamas to work under his suit and wore makeup claiming it was sunblock. Mum glad wrapped everything in the house and lived on ford pills. alpine cigarettes, ryvitas and cottage cheese as she was obsessed with dieting. After one drunken Christmas (of which there were many) her sister in law told her she was adopted, she was twenty five years old. Her parents were never going to tell her. She wrote this book to enable her to make peace with her relationship with her parents. The book is set in random chapters of dysfunctional alphabet hilarity. Some of the chapters include C is for cleaning, H is for heart attack, N is for nuts (to do with a falling out over testicles, R is for review ( to do with the nuts). Judith tells it straight, very funny and extremely moving at times. I loved it.