1. Black Swan Green, by David Mitchell (read in 2006)
2. The Inheritance of Loss, by Kiran Desai
3. Suite Francaise, by Irene Nemirovsky
4. Half of a Yellow Sun, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (completed 3/26/07)
5. Old Filth, by Jane Gardam (completed 3/31/07)
6. Beasts of No Nation, by Uzodinma Iweala (completed 4/13/07)
7. One Good Turn, by Kate Atkinson (completed 5/25/07)
8. The Translator, by Leila Aboulela (completed 5/28/07)
9. Alentejo Blue, by Monica Ali (completed 6/17/07)
10. Gate of the Sun, by Elias Khoury (completed 7/25/07)
11. Arthur & George, by Julian Barnes (completed 8/26/07)
12. The Road, by Cormac McCarthy (completed 9/2/07)
13. A Woman in Jerusalem, by A.B. Yehoshua (completed 10/7/07)

Favorite Book of the Challenge: This is a real toss-up. I enjoyed Suite Francaise, Half of a Yellow Sun, and The Road the most.
Least Favorite Book: One Good Turn. This crime mystery was a pretty light read compared to the others on this list.

What I learned through this challenge: Every one of these authors was also new to me, and many of them are from outside the United States. This challenge really opened my eyes to the wealth of great literature in the world, and has inspired me to continue seek out authors from around the world.

A Woman in Jerusalem
A. B. Yehoshua
236 pages

First sentence: Even though the manager of the human resources division had not sought such a mission, now, in the softly radiant morning, he grasped its unexpected significance.

Reflections: An anonymous woman is killed in a terrorist attack in Jerusalem, and her body lies unidentified and unclaimed. A recent pay stub is found among her belongings, and a news weekly publishes an article, calling the company uncaring and negligent. The elderly owner calls on his human resources manager to uncover the truth and salvage the company's reputation.

The human resources manager, recently divorced, is dealing with problems of his own. But he has no choice. Researching personnel records, he discovers the woman was an immigrant from one of the countries in the former Soviet Union, and had come to the city for religious reasons. Although trained as an engineer, she was employed as a cleaning woman on the night shift. She was recently let go, but an apparent clerical error resulted in her continuing to receive wages. The human resources manager meets with her supervisor, learns some interesting details, and finds himself personally committed to locating the woman's family and making arrangements for burial. This becomes a journey of atonement and, while it was initially intended simply to clear the company's name, the human resources manager begins to view it as a personal quest, even though he did not know the woman personally.

Yehoshua's prose is terse and understated. The characters do not have names. Yet I found myself caught up in the story, sympathizing with the human resources manager, and mourning with the woman's family. I couldn't put this down and finished it in an afternoon. ( )

Go ahead, he said. Don't let it get cold.
What do I eat first?
Whatever you like.
Is this coffee?
Yes. Here. You put the butter on your biscuits. Like this.
Okay.
...
Do you think we should thank the people?
The people?
The people who gave us all this.
Well. Yes, I guess we could do that.

The most haunting aspect of this book was the boy's mother's death. She apparently committed suicide when it became evident the world as she knew it would be destroyed. She preferred to end her life; the man chose to remain with his son and try to survive. When considering what path I would choose, I realized how difficult this decision could be. There really is no correct answer.

This is a beautifully-written book that will remain with me for a very long time. ( )

46 / 50 (92.0%)

Gate of the Sun
Elias Khoury
539 pages

First sentence:  Umm Hassan is dead.

Reflections:  One of the most valuable lessons of my adult life has been realizing that the history we learn in school is just one point of view.  As Elias Khoury writes, "I'm scared of history that has only one version.  History has dozens of versions, and for it to ossify into one leads only to death."  In Gate of the Sun, Khoury tells of Arab - Israeli conflict from a Palestinian perspective. 

Khalil Ayyoub is a doctor caring for a man named Yunes, his mentor and father figure who has fallen into a coma after a stroke.  Although the hospital director has declared Yunes will not recover, Khalil maintains a bedside vigil, talking to Yunes in the desperate hope that this will bring him back.  Khalil recounts Yunes' youth prior to the formation of the Israeli state in 1948, the displacement of Palestinians, and Yunes' work as a freedom fighter from that point onwards.  Yunes is forced to live apart from his wife, Nahila, and their children, because he will be killed if found.  His rendezvous with Nahila take place in a cave near their village, the only place they can spend time together.  They lived this way for years, with Nahila bearing several children and raising them on her own.

Khalil also tells stories of his own life, including his love for a woman named Shams, who is a sudden victim of the violence surrounding them.  Shams' story, and that of their relationship, unfolds gradually throughout the novel.  The book proceeds with Khalil sitting by Yunes' bedside weaving tales day after day for nearly seven months.  Through these stories we gain an understanding of this period in history as seen by Palestinians; a very different perspective from that of the US government and media.

Khoury writes beautiful, descriptive prose:  "A woman walking alone through the rubble of her village looking for the stones that were once her house. A woman alone, her head covered with a black scarf, hunched up in that emptiness that stretches all the way to God, among the hills and valleys of Galilee, within the circle of a red sun that crawls over the ground, passing slowly and carrying with it the shadows of all things."  Yet I found the stream of consciousness style a bit difficult to follow, and had trouble keeping names, places, and events straight.  In the end, I was ready to finish this book so I could get on to my next read.

37 / 50 (74.0%)

14,691 / 15,000 (97.9%)

Alentejo Blue
Monica Ali
226 pages

First sentence: At first he thought it was a scarecrow.

Reflections:  This novel is in effect a series of character sketches, set in Portugal's Alentejo region, a southern agricultural area just north of the Algarve, the popular tourist destination.  The book begins in the middle of Mediterranean summer, and Ali vividly evokes the languor of oppressively hot days.  The village of Mamarrosa is a sleepy hamlet with the usual local cafe, butcher, shop, church, and village square.  An enterprising villager has just opened an Internet cafe, but the information superhighway comes slowly in these parts:  "It was an internet cafe without the Internet, and nobody expected any better." (p. 123).  The hopes of many villagers are pinned on a prodigal son, who is scheduled to return to the area any day.  It is rumored he will be opening a large hotel, raising hopes of employment and prosperity.

Mamarrosa is populated by locals, British expats, and a few tourists, and we meet them all in turn.  There's a poor and dysfunctional English family, whose teenage daughter is well known around town:  "The Potts girl walked into the cafe preceded by her reputation so that everyone was obliged to stare." (p. 14).  A local girl, Teresa, has just been presented with an opportunity to leave the region for London, and wrestles with her decision and the potential impact on her family and boyfriend.  Vasco, a widower, married an American and lived in the United States until her death.  He now runs the local cafe & bar, and resists the competitive threat of the Internet cafe.  Eileen, a mid-50s British tourist, is on holiday with her husband.  Their relationship is strained; she has chosen the holiday destination this year and it's not quite to his liking.  But for her, it's just right:  "I like it better than all those delightful Tuscan towns we 'did' the year before last.  All that history and architecture -- it gives you a headache, just shuffling past on sore sightseeing feet, trying to blot out the English voices everywhere."  (p. 81).

While there are tiny threads linking chapters together, it's the characters, not the plot, that are the beauty of this book.  Ali has written an enjoyable, if not particularly complex or thought-provoking, book.

30 / 50 (60.0%)

10,937 / 15,000 (72.9%)

Old Filth
Jane Gardam
290 pages

First Sentence: The Benchers' luncheon room of the Inner Temple.

Reflections:  Edward Feathers, or "Old Filth," is a Raj Orphan, the child of a British couple living in Malaya, who is sent back to England around the age of 5, ostensibly for his own good.  He is first cared for by a foster mother, then sent away to school, and informally adopted by his best friend's family, spending all of his holidays with them.  The experience leaves a scar:  "All my life, from my early childhood, I have been left, or dumped, or separated by death, from everyone I loved or who cared for me." 

The book is set in the present time, when "Old Filth" is well into his 80s and very wealthy, having had a successful law career in Hong Kong.   Recently widowed and quite a curmudgeon, he is learning to manage on his own.  He spends much of his time remembering the past, and gradually tells the story of his childhood.  I found these parts of the story quite sad.  On the effect of the "Raj orphan" experience:

"They say it suits some.  They come out fizzing and yelling, 'I didn't need parents,' and waving the red, white, and blue.  Snooty for life.  But we're all touched, one way or the other."

"Most of them learned never to like anyone, ever, their whole lives."

"If you haven't been loved as a child, you don't know how to love a child."

Back in the present, "Old Filth" sets out on a journey to visit two cousins with whom he shared his first foster home.  He has not travelled in years, and his household staff believe he is unfit to drive.  But he's stubborn, so he does it anyway.  There are some poignant moments as he encounters everyday modern conveniences which are foreign to him, and reunites with the cousins, each of whom have had very different life experiences from his own.  Later, he visits another part of the country where he spent time during World War II, and again reconnects with memories and people.  Along the way he makes peace with himself and comes to terms with his childhood experiences.

"Old Filth" is a quirky and memorable character who makes this book enjoyable. 

15 / 50 (30.0%)

5,609 / 15,000 (37.4%)

Half of a Yellow Sun
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
433 pages

First Sentence: Master was a little crazy; he had spent too many years reading books overseas, talked to himself in his office, did not always return greetings, and had too much hair.

Reflections:  This book takes place during the Nigeria-Biafra War of 1967-70, when the southern part of Nigeria seceded and formed its own state, known as Biafra.  We see the conflict through the eyes of the main characters, who are Biafran:  Olanna and Odenigbo, well-off and well-educated academics; Ugwu, their houseboy; Kainene, Olanna's twin sister; and Richard, a British expat and Kainene's partner (and the only one who is not native to the country).  We get to know them before the war, becoming familiar with their "normal" life, and watching with horror as the war's violence and atrocities come closer and closer.

"The world has to know the truth of what is happening, because they simply cannot remain silent while we die."

Why do human beings do this to one another?  Why is war considered an effective method of resolving conflict?  And why do powerful, economically advantaged, nations stand by and allow crimes against humanity?  It is too easy to distance ourselves from the conflict and the people, as if they are not real.  Adichie's writing makes it real.  We can identify with the characters, their day-to-day routine and concerns.  As their lives are torn apart by war, as they lose their livelihood and have to fight for housing and food, as they witness and experience violence and fear, we realize that yes, this does happen to real people.

"...the rule of Western journalism:  One hundred dead black people equal one dead white person."

And despite this reality, those of us living in predominantly white cultures do not hear or read enough about it.  War, violence, poverty, and famine rage in Africa and the Middle East today, and there are not enough calls for humanitarian relief and action that will bring an end to the conflict.  In the United States, gun violence is escalating and is especially devastating in the poor areas of our cities.  But the news media quickly tire of these stories, unless one of "our own" (usually white, American) is at risk.  

Are we not all one people?  What would it take to bring unity and an end to violence?

14 / 50 (28.0%)

5,319 / 15,000 (35.5%)

The Inheritance of Loss
Kiran Desai
324 pages

First sentence:  All day, the colors had been those of dusk, mist moving like a water creature across the great flanks of mountains possessed of ocean shadows and depths.

Reflections:  The Inheritance of Loss won the Booker Prize in 2006.  The novel is set in India during the 1980s, and the plot centered around political conflict.  I'm sure if I had more knowledge of the situation in India at that time, I would have appreciated the novel more.  Kiran Desai's prose is lyrical and beautiful.  It was her writing that held my interest.  

I failed to identify with most of the characters.  Each of the main characters is an outsider:  for various reasons they are not in their home country or have spent so much time away from India that they feel out of place.  For example, two elderly women who spent extensive time in England, ensure they always have on hand "familiar comforts" such as English foods and clothing.  This I could relate to, having spent 4 years away from my home country.  Although it was a fantastic experience, many times I felt like an outsider and knew I would never be fully part of the local community.  I've been surprised to feel even more of an outsider since returning "home."  Living abroad changes you in many ways.  It's made me stronger and more thoughtful, and increased my curiosity about other cultures.  Unfortunately there are few I can share this experience with so it remains a somewhat hidden part of who I am ...

8 / 50 (16.0%)

2,954 / 15,000 (19.7%)