Two books that I have on my reading list were reviewed this weekend by the New York Times. I am on the waiting list at the library for Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See. To me a woman's life in China, at least historically, seems rather brutal. Where else in the world has a woman had to mutilate her feet in the name of beauty! Interestingly a book just crossed by desk at the library where I work called Every Step a Lotus by Dorothy Ko. It is a book about shoes made for bound feet! I would have checked it out, but a professor had already requested it.
A Woman in Berlin: My City in Ruins by Anonymous has been on my Amazon Wishlist for ages. It is finally available. This was originally published in the 50s, but it has been long out of print. It looks very interesting, but it does not look like easy reading. It is the diary a woman kept after Berlin fell to the Russians at the end of WWII. The Russians essentially took revenge on what was left of the population of Berlin, which by that time was women and children. And in war this always seems to take the form of brutal rape. Even after her death (in 2001) she did not want to be named. Now that it has been published I think I will have to place a little Amazon order. Am I the only one who reads such depressing books?
Finally over at Bookslut I read about a teacher who is planning on reading all 17 books on the Booker Prize longlist! He has 28 days to get them all read. I felt pretty good that I had read one!