Friday Finds 07/17/09

Welcome to another week of Friday Finds. Six books weaseled their way onto my TBR list over the past seven days ... that's less than one book per day, so I'm happy!


Lavinia, by Ursula le Guin - According to Bookreporter.com, "To make a long story ridiculously short, after the Greek victory in the Trojan War the legendary warrior Aeneas escapes to Latium, a then-obscure region of pre-Roman Italy. Lavinia, the local princess, is to be married off to a puffed-up, self-important suitor, but prophecy insists that she will wed a foreigner --- and Aeneas is the obvious candidate. Fighting ensues. There is only the briefest mention of Lavinia in Virgil’s original (unfinished) poem; it is Le Guin’s notion to re-create and complete this chapter of THE AENEID with her as the protagonist, not a mere pawn in men’s games of war and power. " I first heard about this last spring but it didn't go on my TBR list until I read Nymeth's excellent review.


The Firebrand, by Marion Zimmer Bradley - Nymeth mentioned that she's waiting to receive this book and since I love this author, I was interested. In her post she says, "Ursula Le Guin's brilliant Lavinia left me in the mood for more epics from the point of view of women, and this is the Trojan War from Cassandra's perspective." Considering that 1) I'm listening to The Iliad (about the Trojan war) now, and 2) LAVINIA is also on my TBR list, I'm thinking that this will be a great book for me.


Where the Wild Things Were, by William Stolzenburg - "It wasn’t so long ago that wolves and great cats, monstrous fish and flying raptors ruled the peak of nature’s food pyramid. Not so anymore. All but exterminated, these predators of the not-too-distant past have been reduced to minor players of the modern era. And what of it?" This book examines the consequences of too few predators ... and its addition to my list gets blamed on Alyce.


Come On Shore and We Will Kill and Eat You All, by Christina Thompson - "In this involving, compassionate memoir, Christina Thompson tells the story of her romance and eventual marriage to a Maori man, interspersing it with a narrative history of the cultural collision between Westerners and the Maoris of New Zealand." This one also gets blamed on Alyce - she was very bad for my TBR list this week.


Mary, Queen of France, by Jean Plaidy - I've heard lots of good things about Plaidy's books but I've never read anything by her. This novel is about Mary, the sister of Henry VIII. Swapna reviewed it and said it is "brisk and engaging! Mary was an absolute gem in this novel and really made it enjoyable. She was clever and very funny. Plaidy really makes the reader care about this charismatic and endearing woman." I'm sold!


Annie's Ghosts, by Steve Luxenberg - The author "grew up believing his mother, Beth, was an only child. About five years before his mother's death, he learned that she had a sister who was institutionalized when they were both young children. He never spoke to her about it, but when she died in 2000, the family learned that Beth's sister, Annie, died in 1972 at the age of 53. Luxenberg wondered how it was that he and his siblings knew nothing of their aunt and why there was no evidence at all of Annie's existence -- other than the notice from the cemetery about placing flowers on the family graves, which triggered the investigation into his mother's past." Anna had lots of good things to say about this book!

So tell me, did I add to any of your TBR lists this week?

You can see more Friday Finds at Should Be Reading.