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I cannot believe it’s September! This is a terrifying month for me. My dissertation is due and I’m actually moving, not just talking about and dreading it. Most of the wedding planning is now under control at least, barring my immigration (of course), so I may actually be able to spend more time blogging again in a few weeks, at least until the time comes for my job hunt. I also had a bit of a computer hiatus due to wrist pain recently, but that mostly manifested itself through me avoiding twitter, which is far too addictive for its own good.
As might be expected, I read considerably less in August than throughout the rest of the summer, but still a good amount, 19 books. I read:
Historical Fiction
Romance
- A Duke of Her Own, Eloisa James
- The Treasures of Venice, Loucinda McGary
- What Happens in London, Julia Quinn
General/Literary Fiction
- Dragon House, John Shors
- The Wilderness, Samantha Harvey
- Burnt Shadows, Kamila Shamsie
History
- Blood and Roses, Helen Castor
Fantasy
- Club Dead, Charlaine Harris
- Bone Crossed, Patricia Briggs
Young Adult
- Prophecy of the Sisters, Michelle Zink
Looking at this list, the most worrying thing is how many of these books I haven’t reviewed yet. I have eight reviews to write and while I’ve had more, I’ve never let so long go without at least reviewing the earlier ones. I’m actually running out of reviews. I just hope I can catch up after my draft is in tomorrow even though I have tons of other bloggy stuff to do.
So, I’ll leave you with a lovely relaxing picture of the rainforest biome at The Eden Project in Cornwall and escape back to the million things occupying my time.
 How was your reading month?
 In besieged Sarajevo, a cellist, gazing out his window, sees more than 20 people die from a bomb while waiting for bread. In mourning for them, he decided to play at that exact spot for 22 days, to honor all of the dead, putting his life at risk. Meanwhile, Kenan ventures out most days, embracing danger to get water for his family and inexplicably the neighbor, an old woman whom he has never liked. Dragan feels a burden on his family, his wife and son sent away before the war, and finds some comfort in his job at the bakery. Arrow, a sniper, is determined to wreak revenge on the people in the hills who are killing so many of her townspeople. Together, these characters weave a picture of a city under siege, somehow seeking hope but not yet hopeless.
My favorite character, to whom I wished the narrative would keep returning, was Arrow. She is the most interesting of all of them, a killer, but somehow one that we can love and empathize with even as she chooses her targets and plans her strategy. She’s a murderer who has blocked off her heart somehow, drawing a direct line between the girl she was and the sniper that she is now. I can’t imagine not feeling for her. The other characters were less compelling, especially Dragan, who seemed obsessed with a variety of things and complained too much. The cellist didn’t have much of a personality. Kenan was also a compelling character and I enjoyed the discoveries he made and the thoughts he had over the course of the novel.
Perhaps the only problem I had with it is that I liked it while I was reading it, but now that it’s been a while since I finished, its core meanings have not stayed with me particularly well. War is wrong and savage, and it’s lovely that the cellist brought hope into its midst, but I have read other books about Sarajevo and I’m not sure this stands out as much as perhaps it should. I enjoyed its ruminations on survival while people are out to kill you, how the city holds together as one being, and Arrow’s protection of the cellist, but I’m not left with a desire to reread this one, perhaps because I just never developed a deep relationship with the characters.
I am glad I read it and I would recommend The Cellist of Sarajevo, particularly if you enjoy bleak stories about war with a light shining through the darkness.
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