If only objects could share their story with us, what would they tell?
351512
Ivo Andric describes the history of ex-Yugoslavian region through the building and a life of a bridge. Let this not fool you. The book is not devoid but infused with emotions, feelings, and will leave the reader in cold sweet. The brutality of the life in the historical perspective of the region is given much detail. Those who have weak stomach should be careful about reading the first few chapters. You will, when you finish reading this book, understand the region and the people a bit better. And maybe by understanding the region and the people, you will get a glimpse at the volatile soil of ex-Yugoslavia, grasping the centuries of fighting, all in hopes for freedom. Some questions of recent conflicts might be answered. And you will definitely pose many more questions.

Andric received his Nobel Prize for this book, and the fact that it is one of few books written by an Yugoslavian author, which has been translated into many languages, shows its value in the international community of readers. It will hold you and it will fascinate you. You will want to throw up and it will make you cry. But, you will leave knowing that there is always a bridge leading you into realms unknown...is it heaven or hell? that is yours to decide.
1274246
This short book captivates with pivotal stories of our past.

Most of us have grown up knowing the terms Eastern Standard time or Pacific Standard time, but it was not all that long ago each locality measured time by the sunrise and sunset.  Only until the railroads needed a standard to measure by did the world create standard time. Similarly at one time, who controlled the water had the power. Many mills relied on waterflow to power their machines and whoever was upstream literally had the upper hand. Now we think of property rights as the rights over bodies of water. However some of these bodies of water were manufactured and the rights over the water itself can be owned by someone else.

These are two of the stories in this book that deals with years past. Similarly the life and death of a family story tell the story of progress, or is it?  Then there the play that shows  the bucolic simple life that beckons in a play, that many fondly imagine as the past, but few including the actor that created it, had.

This is an interesting book that wanders over time, from it's passage in daily logs and how we measure it, to what we remember as the past and also what we would like to forget.
3475303
It was interesting to find out about the lives of the characters, but i wish it was in story form versus being written as a static, mundane report.
3739606
I would recommend this book for those curious about the topic. It is a story simply told that inspires reflection and discussion. Whether you believe or question the Near Death Experiences of others, this is a good read. The author tells her experiences in a clear, non-judgemental way. I feel it is worth reading if for no other reason than to generate reflection and discussion on the topic of NDE's.
1102555
So much more could be told about them all.  Thank you, KMM for bringing this part of your imagination to the world.  Thank you for giving them to us.
3201475
The best part of reading this book is to help one question what one is hearing and seeing with what one observes and feels. We all have heard various statistics quoted and seen complicated models used which we need to question and this book helps you.
3468933
Stories that have been told for generations.  Fun to pass on and explain events to the inquisitive mind of any child.
4138299
I find the mysteries of things from one generation to another fascinating. To see something intriguing  and pull and investigate, knowing there is something to connect with, and someone taking up the challenge to see it through.  Often these events can pull families together.  It isn't always such a small word but rewarding when it does happen.  Events can pull families together or connect people of the past to a destiny fulfilled.
1237664
This is not really a book that is a memoir, as you and I may think of it, a story just put out on paper to the masses. Rather, and most engagingly so, it's a personal conversation--one that flows, to ask a question, to stop to check for understanding. It is as if the writer was sitting across table from you, cups of coffee steaming as they stir up ghosts, simply stating  "I have a tale to tell you, would you like to hear?"  Written with an honest clarity, I was not able to stop reading it until I finished, laughing at some moments, stopping to just sit for a while,at others.  In what appears at a quick glance to be simple stories and truths, are deep emotions and moments of stunning brilliance. It was shorter than I had expected, but I understand. Writers tell their story, and when they are satisfied with it, it's time to chase the next one. Bravo Larry!  LB Johnson - Amazon Best Selling Author of The Book of Barkley
3352318
As I sit here to write a short review of this book, I realize that I will be sifting through these stories and recollections for some time.  Initially you may want to read this book to gain an insight into the Oklahoma City bombing and the extent of its tragedy: these are only three of the 168 lives lost that day, a multiplication of loss that leaves one reeling.
But Maria Ruiz Scaperlanda's book is not only about loss--it is not even mainly about loss.  Instead, it is a telling of the gifts these three young people were to those around them.  This gathering of recollections is, in turn, a gift to all of us beyond the circle of Valerie's, Mark's, and Julie's immediate influence.
Through this book, Valerie's, Mark's, and Julie's lives speak a profound truth to us: it is not always our calling to do great things, but we are all called to do little things with great love.  In this book, friends and family treasure the "little" things these three did in their daily lives.  Their stories come together in a beautiful mosaic of caring and compassion.
Inevitably, readers will find themselves wondering: what impact do we have in the lives of others?  In the rush of our daily lives, how might we do little things with great love?  If we were to die today, what would the people in our lives cherish about us?
Our reflections and answers to these questions are the gifts that Valerie, Mark, and Julie still offer us.  I thank Maria Ruiz Scaperlanda for being a channel for those gifts.
2652028
Not only a story within a story, but thought provoking
4286585
What can one say to a delightful and empathetic experience in watching these small creatures in their daily  trials and tribulations of life, and their joys too. It does expand one's mind set and field of vision in recognizing that other creatures sharing this planet with us have as much entitlement to it as we humans.
1620655
The stories tie together in the same way our life stories occur, each piece is like a close encounter, and no one has the whole picture.  In the end happenstance sometime draws some of the threads together, and a sort of symmetry appears. We realize we are connected to people and events we have never known, and it sometimes helps us feel more complete.
3808586
I would love to be able to see some pics of what the inside looks like. I can't review because I haven't seen the inside or bought yet. But I'm very interested and love the concept.
2305846
STORIES WE TELL opens with an extended shot of Michael Polley (director Sarah's father) reading out a prepared script in a recording studio, with his daughter facing him.  This sequence serves as a metaphor for the entire film, which concentrates in depth on the nature of story-telling.  It is fundamentally an autobiographical detective story, as Sarah interviews various members of her extended family to discover something about her late mother's life.  We learn that her mother used to be an actress and performer; a vivacious soul who married Michael (a British actor) after having experienced a disastrous first marriage.  Her marriage to Michael works fine for the first few years, but then things start to go wrong, and her mother ends up having an affair with film producer Harry Gulkin (one of Polley's interviewees).  Michael and the family are based in Toronto; Gulkin in Montreal.  As Sarah investigates more about this love-affair, she discovers something shocking about her own life that changes her perspective for ever.  As she conducts her interviews, Polley realizes that different interviewees have different versions of 'the truth,' shaped not only according to their perceptions, but also by what they want to reveal on camera.  Only by comparing different interviews can Polley reach at least an approximation about what 'really' happened to her mother and Gulkin, and the effect of their love-affair on Michael.  One reviewer of this film has already asked "what is it REALLY about?"  The answer to this question becomes clear: there is no such thing as a 'real' or 'definitive' interpretation of the past.  We can only listen to different accounts, and make up our own minds, while realizing that our interpretation is no more or less definitive than other interpretations.  Polley's film is both uncompromising yet sympathetic to the interviewees; sometimes they are prompted into revealing truths about themselves (which perhaps they had not previously admitted), but Polley - who appears on screen as well as directing the entire film - makes no judgment on them.  This absorbing piece is essential viewing for anyone interested in the relativity of history, whether personal or otherwise.
107500
A extraordinary story about an ordinary object, a sewing machine. What can be said about a sewing machine that would make a good story? Natalie Fergie answers this question overwhelmingly with her story of the little Singer machine, from the time it was being made in the factory, through 100 years of use, and handed down through generations. This is the story of the women and men that used this machine, the way they are all connected and intertwined seemingly by the threads of the machine.

My favorite part was the journals kept by the people sewing/mending/creating projects, one page in a small book dedicated to each project, a line of sewing on the page with a small scrap of the fabric and notes as to what was made, for who, etc.  I actually got choked up visualizing this, notes in little books going back 100 years.

The Sewing Machine is a new favorite book of mine, a reminder of the importance of family, of passing down through generations the tools and skills and stories that make up each family's history.
1011724
This is a story about stories . . . about experiences . . . and about the memories that connect them. On the surface, it appears to be nothing more than a quirky little mystery, prompted by the disappearance of a beloved author. Look a little deeper, however, and it soon reveals itself to be a story about the people behind the stories, and a story about where the stories come from. It's a story which is almost solely concerned with spilling the truth behind those stories, the reality behind those memories, but one which spills no truths of its own, leaving the reader to decide what the stories mean.

While I think the story could have been a bit tighter, and I found the premise of 'The Game' a bit artificial, I can't deny that the story hooked me early on, and kept me reading right through to the end. What happened to Laura White? What's up with the 'plague' of altered library books? Who was the mysterious tenth member? What's with all the mythological statues? Some mysteries are solved outright, while other solutions are merely hinted at, but it all makes for a satisfying read.

In terms of characters, Ella is a bit cold and distant to serve as a truly engaging narrator, but her distance does serve its purpose. As for Martti, Ingrid, Aura, and the other Society members, their eccentricities are their personalities, and even if they're really just pieces of a human jigsaw puzzle, it's thoroughly entertaining to see how those pieces fit together. I didn't necessarily buy some of the relationships, particularly that of Ella and Martti, but that discomfort of a part of the overall story experience. As for Laura White herself, she's both the most enigmatic and most fascinating character in the whole tale, and the more we learn about her past, the more we almost want her to remain missing . . . lest her return somehow damage the memories we've created on her behalf.

Go into The Rabbit Back Literature Society looking for a straightforward bit of narrative prose, and you're likely to be disappointed. Prepare yourself instead for a multi-layered character study, and a sort of imaginative treatise on the act of writing (and remembering), and you'll find a lot to appreciate here. It's quirky and odd, as likely to make you raise your eyebrows as curl your lips, but it really does work. The ending is just about perfect, tying up some loose ends I was sure had been forgotten, but never forgetting that, for each reader, it must end just a little bit differently.