Flashback Friday: Fail-Safe

Posted in Flashback Friday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Flashback Friday is my own little weekly tradition, in which I pick a book from my reading past to highlight — and you’re invited to join in!

Here are the Flashback Friday book selection guidelines:

Has to be something you’ve read yourself
Has to still be available, preferably still in print
Must have been originally published 5 or more years ago

Other than that, the sky’s the limit! Join me, please, and let us all know: what are the books you’ve read that you always rave about? What books from your past do you wish EVERYONE would read? Pick something from five years ago, or go all the way back to the Canterbury Tales if you want. It’s Flashback Friday time!

My pick for this week’s Flashback Friday:

Fail-Safe by Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler

(first published 1962)

From Goodreads:

Something has gone wrong. A group of American bombers armed with nuclear weapons is streaking past the fail-safe point, beyond recall, and no one knows why. Their destination — Moscow.

In a bomb shelter beneath the White House, the calm young president turns to his Russian translator and says, “I think we are ready to talk to Premier Kruschchev.” Not far away, in the War Room at the Pentagon, the secretary of defense and his aides watch with growing anxiety as the luminous blips crawl across a huge screen map. High over the Bering Strait in a large Vindicator bomber, a colonel stares in disbelief at the attack code number on his fail-safe box and wonders if it could possibly be a mistake.

First published in 1962, when America was still reeling from the Cuban missle crisis, Fail-Safe reflects the apocalyptic attitude that pervaded society during the height of the Cold War, when disaster could have struck at any moment.

Fail-Safe is one of many Cold War era novels which vividly portray the fear of living in a nuclear age. Concepts like Mutually Assured Destruction were real and terrifying, and to Americans, the Soviets were the ultimate big bad. Fail-Safe perfectly captures the paranoia and helplessness of a populace facing potential annihilation at a moment’s notice.

The title refers to systems that ensure the success of a mission — but when the systems fail, there’s no way to intercede, and politicians world-wide are left to scramble for a solution to a situation that appears to have no ending but the utter destruction of mankind. As the world teeters on the brink of nuclear devastation, both sides work frantically to find a solution to what appears to be a hopeless situation.

I remember reading this book on the edge of my seat, finding it harder and harder to breathe as it went along. Fail-Safe builds in intensity and tension, page by page, until it’s practically unbearable. And oh, that ending!

I won’t give anything away, but if you want to read a book that truly conveys the terror of the Cold War and nuclear brinkmanship, Fail-Safe is an awfully good place to start.

Note from your friendly Bookshelf Fantasies host: To join the Flashback Friday fun, write a blog post about a book you love (please mention Bookshelf Fantasies as the Flashback Friday host!) and share your link below. Don’t have a blog post to share? Then share your favorite oldie-but-goodie in the comments section. Jump in!

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Do you host a blog hop or book blog meme? Do you participate in a meme that you really, really love? I’m building a Book Blog Meme Directory, and need your help! If you know of a great meme to include — or if you host one yourself — please drop me a note on my Contact page and I’ll be sure to add your info!

25Jul2013

Flashback Friday: Tales Of The City

Posted in Flashback Friday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Flashback Friday is my own little weekly tradition, in which I pick a book from my reading past to highlight — and you’re invited to join in!

Here are the Flashback Friday book selection guidelines:

Has to be something you’ve read yourself
Has to still be available, preferably still in print
Must have been originally published 5 or more years ago

My pick for this week’s Flashback Friday:

Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin

(first published 1978)

From Goodreads:

San Francisco, 1976. A naive young secretary, fresh out of Cleveland, tumbles headlong into a brave new world of laundromat Lotharios, pot-growing landladies, cut throat debutantes, and Jockey Shorts dance contests. The saga that ensues is manic, romantic, tawdry, touching, and outrageous – unmistakably the handiwork of Armistead Maupin.

Author Armistead Maupin originally wrote this book — and the next several in the series — as a serialized column appearing in the San Francisco Chronicle beginning in May of 1976. (You can read the first installment here.) Each chapter represents one newspaper column’s worth of story — so each is quick, zippy, full of fun, and perfectly bite-sized.

This book and the books that follow capture life in San Francisco at a particular time, blending hippies and disco, sexual freedom and discovery, the city’s aristocracy and the bohemian fringe. It’s fun, often hilarious, surprisingly touching, and must have been, for its time, a real shocker — at least for those not a part of the San Francisco “scene”.

There are now eight published volumes in the series, with a ninth, The Days of Anna Madrigal, due out in 2014. (‘ll ‘fess up and admit that I’ve only read the first six books; someday, I intend to catch up!)

Tales of the City continues to fascinate. Since its publication as a newspaper serial, it has been published as a novel (obviously), became a very successful PBS TV production in 1993, and in 2011 debuted on stage as a musical (which I was lucky enough to see — it was wonderful!).

Tales of the City is a ground-breaking portrait of 1970s San Francisco — and also just a really entertaining piece of fiction. Check it out!

11Jul2013

Flashback Friday: The Far Pavilions

Posted in Flashback Friday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Flashback Friday is my own little weekly tradition, in which I pick a book from my reading past to highlight — and you’re invited to join in!

Here are the Flashback Friday book selection guidelines:

Has to be something you’ve read yourself
Has to still be available, preferably still in print
Must have been originally published 5 or more years ago

My pick for this week’s Flashback Friday:

The Far Pavilions by M. M. Kaye

(first published 1978)

From Goodreads:

After the death of his parents, young Ashton Pelham-Martyn is brought up as a Hindu in a remote corner of British India. As an adult soldier he returns to India, where his love for a princess and his dual heritage make for an epic story of adventure and romance.

This is a huge book, somewhere around 1,000 pages depending on which version you pick up, so in terms of bookshelf space and usefulness as a doorstop, right up there with the Game of Thrones books (yes, I know that’s not what they’re called, but it’s quicker to type) and my beloved Outlander series.

I remember absolutely loving The Far Pavilions when I read it so many years ago. It really is a perfect blend of historical fiction — depicting life and society in India under the British Empire — with a stirring, romantic tale of forbidden love. Ash is a wonderful character, a British boy raised by his Indian nurse after his own parents’ death, with conflicting loyalties and a confused identity. We see him through his youth, his return to British society, and his military service, and his reunion with a long-lost childhood love and his desperate attempt to save her from a cruel fate. The love story of Ash and Anjuli belongs among the ranks of the best tortured, tragic, against-all-odds lovers in fiction.

The Far Pavilions was published during a decade in which big, sweeping historical sagas were dominating the bestseller lists. In a time in which Shogun by James Clavell, The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough, and War and Remembrance by Herman Wouk were all hugely popular, it makes sense that so many were drawn to The Far Pavilions as well.

4Jul2013

Flashback Friday: Dinner At The Homesick Restaurant

Posted in Flashback Friday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Flashback Friday is my own little weekly tradition, in which I pick a book from my reading past to highlight — and you’re invited to join in!

Here are the Flashback Friday book selection guidelines:

Has to be something you’ve read yourself
Has to still be available, preferably still in print
Must have been originally published 5 or more years ago

My pick for this week’s Flashback Friday:

Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant by Anne Tyler

(first published 1982)

From Goodreads:

Pearl Tull is nearing the end of her life but not of her memory. It was a Sunday night in 1944 when her husband left the little row house on Baltimore’s Calvert Street, abandoning Pearl to raise their three children alone: Jenny, high-spirited and determined, nurturing to strangers but distant to those she loves; the older son, Cody, a wild and incorrigible youth possessed by the lure of power and money; and sweet, clumsy Ezra, Pearl’s favorite, who never stops yearning for the perfect family that could never be his own.

Now Pearl and her three grown children have gathered together again–with anger, hope, and a beautiful, harsh, and dazzling story to tell.

I went through a period in the 1980s/1990s when I just couldn’t get enough of Anne Tyler’s books, and this was the one that started it all for me. No matter the plot, Anne Tyler’s books tend to be about ordinary people just dealing with life, its joys and its disappointments, but full of warmth, honesty, and a fresh tone that makes her writing totally accessible. Soon after reading Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant, I also read A Slipping Down Life, The Accidental Tourist, and Searching for Caleb, and have read other books by this author in the years since.

What makes Anne Tyler’s books memorable are the flawed characters and the challenges and crises they face — some more successfully than others. Her books are not large in scope, but rather portray small slices of life that feel real and possible.

20Jun2013

Flashback Friday: Misery

Posted in Flashback Friday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Flashback Friday is my own little weekly tradition, in which I pick a book from my reading past to highlight — and you’re invited to join in!

Here are the Flashback Friday book selection guidelines:

Has to be something you’ve read yourself
Has to still be available, preferably still in print
Must have been originally published 5 or more years ago

My pick for this week’s Flashback Friday:

misery

Misery by Stephen King

(first published 1978)

From Goodreads:

Novelist Paul Sheldon has plans to make the difficult transition from writing historical romances featuring heroine Misery Chastain to publishing literary fiction. Annie Wilkes, Sheldon’s number one fan, rescues the author from the scene of a car accident. The former nurse takes care of him in her remote house, but becomes irate when she discovers that the author has killed Misery off in his latest book. Annie keeps Sheldon prisoner while forcing him to write a book that brings Misery back to life.

I was thinking about Stephen King this week. Because, why not? He’s everywhere! Last week, I happened to catch him on The Colbert Report. This week, I received my copy of his newest book, Joyland. I have Doctor Sleep on preorder for the fall. And I just set my DVR to record Under The Dome for the next several weeks. See what I mean? He’s everywhere!

For Flashback Friday, I thought I’d go back to the late 1970s for the super creepy but not at all paranormal thriller Misery — about fandom gone horribly, horribly wrong. Do you think Stephen King was worrying about his legions of devoted fans when he wrote this? I loved the psychological terror of this book, in which an author is forced to do endless rewrites to please his public — as represented in this case by one psycho lady with an axe. Whoa. Just thinking about it gives me the chills. It may be time to dig up a copy and reread Misery. There’s nothing more satisfyingly scary than a really scary Stephen King book.

A brief housekeeping note: Flashback Friday and other weekly features at Bookshelf Fantasies will be on a wee break next week. (Woo hoo, it’s vacation time!) Check back in two weeks for the next Flashback Friday!

14Jun2013

Flashback Friday: Les Miserables — the book!

Posted in Flashback Friday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Flashback Friday is my own little weekly tradition, in which I pick a book from my reading past to highlight — and you’re invited to join in!

Here are the Flashback Friday book selection guidelines:

Has to be something you’ve read yourself
Has to still be available, preferably still in print
Must have been originally published 5 or more years ago

My pick for this week’s Flashback Friday:

Les Misérables

Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

(first published 1862)

From Goodreads:

Introducing one of the most famous characters in literature, Jean Valjean – the noble peasant imprisoned for stealing a loaf of bread – Les Misérables (1862) ranks among the greatest novels of all time. In it Victor Hugo takes readers deep into the Parisian underworld, immerses them in a battle between good and evil, and carries them onto the barricades during the uprising of 1832 with a breathtaking realism that is unsurpassed in modern prose.

Within his dramatic story are themes that capture the intellect and the emotions: crime and punishment, the relentless persecution of Valjean by Inspector Javert, the desperation of the prostitute Fantine, the amorality of the rogue Thénardier and the universal desire to escape the prisons of our own minds. Les Misérables gave Victor Hugo a canvas upon which he portrayed his criticism of the French political and judicial systems, but the portrait which resulted is larger than life, epic in scope – an extravagant spectacle that dazzles the senses even as it touches the heart.

I’m just imagining how many people in the new few years will say, “Les Misérables? Great movie!” — but how many would actually consider picking up the book?

Yes, it’s massive. (The Signet edition, listed above, has 1,463 pages). And guess what? I’ve actually read it. (Patting self on the back right now…)

Way back when in the dark ages (otherwise known as the late 1980s), during a brief visit to London, I had the opportunity to see the then-new musical Les Mis, from several balconies up and with no knowledge of the plot details ahead of time. I enjoyed the show tremendously, but boy, was I confused. Because I had time on my hands, I decided to read the book. Not the abridged version, thank you very much, but the whole huge doorstop of a book, all 1000+ pages.

And it was worth it. Granted, I probably learned a lot more than I ever wanted to know about the Parisian sewer systems and daily life in a convent, but I also gained the richness of Hugo’s detailed descriptions, so that I finished the book more or less understanding not just the events of the plot, but the feeling of the time and place.

There’s a reason (many reasons, to be more accurate) that Les Misérables is a classic. It’s a compelling portrait of a man’s life, as well as a study of human nature, the good and the bad, courage and weakness, and what it means to take a stand and do right. Beautifully written with unforgettable characters, Les Misérables shouldn’t be missed.

6Jun2013

Flashback Friday: How I Live Now

Posted in Flashback Friday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Flashback Friday is my own little weekly tradition, in which I pick a book from my reading past to highlight — and you’re invited to join in!

Here are the Flashback Friday book selection guidelines:

Has to be something you’ve read yourself
Has to still be available, preferably still in print
Must have been originally published 5 or more years ago

My pick for this week’s Flashback Friday:

How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff

(published 2004)

From Goodreads:

“Every war has turning points and every person too.”

Fifteen-year-old Daisy is sent from Manhattan to England to visit her aunt and cousins she’s never met: three boys near her age, and their little sister. Her aunt goes away on business soon after Daisy arrives. The next day bombs go off as London is attacked and occupied by an unnamed enemy.

As power fails, and systems fail, the farm becomes more isolated. Despite the war, it’s a kind of Eden, with no adults in charge and no rules, a place where Daisy’s uncanny bond with her cousins grows into something rare and extraordinary. But the war is everywhere, and Daisy and her cousins must lead each other into a world that is unknown in the scariest, most elemental way.

A riveting and astonishing story.

I absolutely fell in love with this book when I read it, pretty much from the very first page. While I’ve seen it described as “dystopian” fiction, I’m not sure that I’d categorize it in quite that way. One of the most spellbinding aspects of this story is that it feels completely contemporary — and yet also timeless. It’s easy to imagine these events taking place in today’s world, not necessarily in some unknown future. The story of Daisy and her cousins, unintentionally left on their own to at first enjoy their isolation and then struggle to survive, is moving, beautifully written, and emotionally powerful. I’ve since read all of the author’s other works for young adults, and while How I Live Now remains my favorite, I just can’t help being impressed by the richness and variety of all of her novels.

How I Live Now was the recipient of the 2005 Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature.

And — whoa! In looking up information on How I Live Now for this post, I just discovered that there’s a movie version in production starring Saoirse Ronan! (Jumping up and down in glee… sorry, can’t type any more!)

30May2013

Flashback Friday: Ice Bound

Posted in Flashback Friday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Flashback Friday is my own little weekly tradition, in which I pick a book from my reading past to highlight — and you’re invited to join in!

Here are the Flashback Friday book selection guidelines:

Has to be something you’ve read yourself
Has to still be available, preferably still in print
Must have been originally published 5 or more years ago

My pick for this week’s Flashback Friday:

Ice Bound by Dr. Jerri Nielsen

(published 2000)

From Goodreads:

During the winter of 1999, Dr. Jerri Nielsen, the only physician on a staff of forty-one people, discovered a lump in her breast. Consulting via satellite e-mail with doctors in the United States, she was forced to perform a biopsy and treat herself with chemotherapy in order to ensure that she could survive until conditions permitted her rescue. She was eventually rescued by the Air National Guard. Dr. Jerri Nielsen’s story of her transforming experiences is a thrilling adventure and moving drama. Since the publication of Ice Bound in hardcover in January 2000, Dr. Nielsen has inspired people throughout the country, met hundreds of fans, received numerous awards including Irish American of the Year, which was presented to her by Hillary Clinton, as well as tremendous praise from the media.

I don’t generally read a lot of non-fiction, but I’m always thrilled to encounter a memoir that transports me into another place or another life. Ice Bound is just such a book. I’m sure many people are familiar with Dr. Jerri Nielsen’s incredible story, which received a great deal of media attention as it was actually happening. In Ice Bound, the author writes about her personal struggles and challenges with honesty and humor. But it’s not just her battle with cancer that makes this book such a remarkable read. In Ice Bound, Dr. Nielsen also invites us into the little-known world of “wintering over” at the South Pole, describing with great detail and heaping doses of humanity just what it means to spend months in isolation in Antarctica, what kind of people sign up for this unique experience, and what it takes to get through it all.

Sadly, Dr. Nielsen passed away in 2009. If you enjoy reading about strong women who make a difference, I encourage you to give Ice Bound a try.

23May2013

Flashback Friday: A Yellow Raft in Blue Water

Posted in Flashback Friday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Flashback Friday is my own little weekly tradition, in which I pick a book from my reading past to highlight. If you’d like to join in, here are the Flashback Friday book selection guidelines:

Has to be something you’ve read yourself
Has to still be available, preferably still in print
Must have been originally published 5 or more years ago

My pick for this week’s Flashback Friday:

A Yellow Raft in Blue Water by Michael Dorris

(published 1987)

From Goodreads:

Michael Dorris has crafted a fierce saga of three generations of Indian women, beset by hardships and torn by angry secrets, yet inextricably joined by the bonds of kinship. Starting in the present day and moving backward, the novel is told in the voices of the three women: fifteen-year-old part-black Rayona; her American Indian mother, Christine, consumed by tenderness and resentment toward those she loves; and the fierce and mysterious Ida, mother and grandmother whose haunting secrets, betrayals, and dreams echo through the years, braiding together the strands of the shared past.

Telling one story through three sets of eyes, A Yellow Raft in Blue Water moves backward chronologically through the generations of a family to reveal their secrets, their hopes, their pain, and their disappointments. It’s a beautifully written tale, heavy at times but worth the emotional investment. Read it for the portrait of a family; read it for yet another painful lesson on the Native American experience and how its history echoes until today.

16May2013

Flashback Friday: The Handmaid’s Tale

Posted in Flashback Friday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Flashback Friday is my own little weekly tradition, in which I pick a book from my reading past to highlight. If you’d like to join in, here are the Flashback Friday book selection guidelines:

Has to be something you’ve read yourself
Has to still be available, preferably still in print
Must have been originally published 5 or more years ago

My picks for this week’s Flashback Friday:

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

(published 1985)

From Goodreads:

Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. She may leave the home of the Commander and his wife once a day to walk to food markets whose signs are now pictures instead of words because women are no longer allowed to read. She must lie on her back once a month and pray that the Commander makes her pregnant, because in an age of declining births, Offred and the other Handmaids are valued only if their ovaries are viable. Offred can remember the years before, when she lived and made love with her husband, Luke; when she played with and protected her daughter; when she had a job, money of her own, and access to knowledge. But all of that is gone now…

Back before “dystopian” was a fiction genre (as in the enthusiastic exclamation I came across recently: “I ♥ dystopians!!”), Margaret Atwood wrote this chilling look at a remade United States, in which religion is now law and women are subjugated into the Biblical roles that the men in charge deem appropriate. With no monetary, legal, or political power, Offred is stripped of everything she once had, including a name of her own, and forced into servitude as a vessel for producing offspring.

The Handmaid’s Tale is an unforgettable look at life in a totalitarian society, in which individual rights no longer exist — including the right to one’s own body and one’s own family. It’s a frightening cautionary tale as well as a powerful piece of speculative fiction, written in Margaret Atwood’s always spectacular literary voice.

My Wishlist Wednesday book this week was the author’s upcoming book, MaddAddam, due out in September of this year. Margaret Atwood’s fiction is always different, always beautifully written, and always powerful. What are your favorite Atwood novels? Leave your thoughts in the comments!