I am at present busy with a project to catch up on the books that I have read since January 2009 when I started with my 36 books a year challenge. This blog documents what I have in a hand written book journal in order to give other book fans the chance to share in my challenge and to have access to reviews of books they might be interested in. Please leave a comment or link to your book blog if you have one.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

November 2009: Book no 33


Book 33 : People of the book by Geraldine Brooks.

I can with all honesty say that this book will definitly find its place in my top 20 books of all times.

A very valuable and old Haggedah (Jewish prayer book) is saved twice by Muslims in Sarajevo - once right below the nose of the Nazis in the second world war and once during heavy shelling in the Bosnian war in the 1990's. But this is not the first time that this very special book has been saved from fire or other destruction. On these two instances of true life rescues Brooks base a long lifetime of stories for the earliest illustrated haggedah ever discovered.

Elegantly written with stunning true to life characters, it is truly exceptional. I can not wait to read it again. I will also make sure that I read more of her books.

Cat's opinion: a rare 10/10

2 comments:

  1. This book has been on my Amazon wishlist for ages but i keep buying other books instead. Thanks for the review. I'll def bump this one up. :)

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  2. Just found your blog - and agree that this is what I call "Caviar" book (or 5/5 rating vs 'greasy hamburger' type stories).
    The 'James Bond' type incident at the end jarred with the elegance of all previoius vingettes - but overall, a fabulously rich read.

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