Really Random Tuesday #20: A Book Winner and a Very Cute Cat

Congratulations to Bellezza from Dolce Bellezza, the randomly selected winner of my book giveaway. She's won a paperback copy of Beatrice and Virgil by Yann Martel, compliments of Random House.

If you didn't win this time, don't despair! I have many other wonderful giveaways posted on the right side of my blog, so please feel free to enter those if you haven't already done so.

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My mother has the cutest cats, four in all. This sweet creature is Cloud, I think, in both photos, although one picture might be of Cotton, his brother. It's hard to tell because the cats look a lot alike, especially when they are sitting like this, sleeping peacefully. I know that this cat, although adorable, has little to do with books and reading (I could have placed some books in the photos--this is a book blog, after all--but didn't). Still, for some reason we book bloggers seem to have an affinity for cats, and cannot resist putting their pictures in our blogs occasionally. Why? Maybe because cats are so impossibly cute. So beautiful. So seemingly wise and introspective. The sight of a sleeping cat entices me to curl up with a book nearby. Books and cats just seem to belong together. Avis from she reads and reads has included her own cat, Cairo, in some of her Really Random Tuesday posts, and I've seen many a cat on Yvonne's blog, Socrates' Book Review Blog. In fact, Socrates is a cat! Additionally, Mel's blog, The Reading Life, features a photo of his blog editors, Charles and Yoda, who happen to be fantastic felines. How would you describe the connection between books, blogs, and cats?

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Can it really be the twentieth edition of this meme? It feels like I just started Really Random Tuesday, a meme of my own creation. I don't post this meme every Tuesday (in keeping with the random nature of the meme), but I post it fairly often. Special thanks to all of you who have done this meme. I truly appreciate your efforts, and hope you've enjoyed doing it. For another Really Random Tuesday post, please visit Kim's blog, Page After Page.

Really Random Tuesday is a way to post odds and ends--announcements, musings, quotes, photos--any blogging and book-related things you can think of. If you're inspired by this idea, feel free to copy the button and use it on your own blog. Leave a link in the comments if you’re participating and I'll add it to this post.

Thanks for reading!

Beatrice and Virgil: Review and Giveaway

I haven't read Life of Pi but I've read so much praise for it that I jumped at the chance to read a newer novel by bestselling author Yann Martel. Published in 2010, Beatrice and Virgil sounded interesting to me in an offbeat way right off the bat. The main characters in the book are a writer named Henry, an elderly taxidermist, and two wild animals who speak, Beatrice, a donkey, and Virgil, a howler monkey. It may sound kind of light because of the animals, but the book features a very serious subject: the Holocaust.

Early in Beatrice and Virgil, Henry is excited about the book he's just finished writing. It's a book that's two books in a sense, a flip-book about the Holocaust; one part fiction and one part nonfiction. Henry believes that there's a lack of fiction about the Holocaust and that more stories about it will contribute to its preservation and meaning. Much to his dismay, though, his latest unpublished work is not well-received by his editors nor others, as he learns over a dinner of flavorless, over-refined foods in London.

Henry sets aside his book about the Holocaust and his writing career, and starts a new life in an unnamed city with his wife (who later becomes pregnant with their first child).

"During this time in the city, Henry's earlier existence as a writer was not entirely forgotten. Reminders gently knocked on the door of his consciousness in the form of letters. By the most roundabout routes, often months after their writers had posted them, he continued to receive letters from readers."
~Beatrice and Virgil, Yann Martel

Before too long, he receives a mysterious envelope that contains a short story by Gustave Flaubert, The Legend of Saint Julian Hospitator, along with a request for help. The request is from a taxidermist, also named Henry, who is writing a play called Beatrice and Virgil. Henry is soon drawn into a relationship with the taxidermist, and a new adventure begins.

Henry's visits to Okapi Taxidermy discomfited him, and at times this book perplexed me as well. I know Life of Pi also contains animals, but I don't understand why the author used animals in this story to tackle such a difficult subject. The Holocaust was a human event. Although Beatrice and Virgil kept my attention, I did not "get" the book at times; it was hard for me to comprehend the connection between the Holocaust or the "Horrors" and two talking animals, the characters in the taxidermist's play.

Maybe this ambitious author was trying to do too much in his latest novel: discuss literature and the writing world, create Holocaust fiction, talk about taxidermy, present a play in the process of being penned, and anthropomorphize personable animals who philosophize. If you ask me, that's a lot to tackle in a single novella! The Holocaust in and of itself is a major theme. I felt confused at times during my reading because there was so much going on, on multiple levels, and I was left with a sensation that I was missing something.

Despite my issues with the book, though, Beatrice and Virgil grabbed my attention from the first page, and I read it eagerly and quickly. The author has written a creative and highly original story that refers to works of literature, and features the writing of a play and a final chapter that could never be described as run-of-the-mill. Yann Martel believes, like Henry-the-writer in the book, that the Holocaust deserves more attention and that fiction is a way to give it a fresh and memorable voice, and this is exactly what the author attempts to do.

Random House is generously offering one copy of the book as a giveaway to a reader (U.S. only this time--sorry!).

• To enter this giveaway for Beatrice and Virgil, simply leave a comment.
• For an extra chance at winning, become a follower of this blog, or let me know that you're already a follower, or that you subscribe in Google Reader.
• For an additional chance, post about this contest on your blog, Facebook, or Twitter.
• For another chance, name a book about the Holocaust, either fiction or nonfiction, that has made an impact on you.

Enter by 5PM PDT on Monday, March 14. The winner will be chosen randomly and announced on Tuesday, March 15.


Special thanks to Lisa from TLC for sending me this book. For other reviews please visit TLC's Beatrice and Virgil book tour.

Mailbox Monday: Catching Up

I've been remiss in posting about the books I receive in the mail. Today's "mailbox" is my opportunity to catch up. The first set are books that I won on other blogs, and the second set are books for future online tours that I'm happy to participate in.

I won Charlotte Collins by Jennifer Becton on Laura's Reviews, Darcy's Voyage by Kara Louise and Outside the Ordinary World by Dori Ostermiller on Anna's blog, Diary of an Eccentric, and Amy Inspired by Bethany Pierce on Renee's blog, Black 'n Gold Girl's Book Spot. If I can win books, so can you; I have several book giveaways posted on the right side of my blog if you're interested in trying your own luck.

Three books arrived from TLC for upcoming book tours, two novels and a memoir: The Postmistress by Sarah Blake, Beatrice and Virgil by Yann Martel, and Half in Love, a memoir by Linda Gray Sexton. Please stay tuned for my reviews.

I know some book bloggers get this many new books each and every week, but for me, this is a lot of new books, which I've received in the mail over the past couple of months. I'm extremely appreciative and excited about all this book loot. (I do, though, worry about actually reading all of the books I'm collecting. At some point, I may need to take off some time from blogging in order to read!)

Created by Marcia from The Printed Page, Mailbox Monday is currently on tour. This month’s host is Rose City Reader. What new books have you added to your shelves recently?