So many of you people in the 50 book challenge are holding down jobs. So if you can work & still read 50 books, i who am retired & stay at home all day should be able to manage at least 100.

Starting New Year's Eve when I babysat some grandchildren:
The country girls book 1 of Edna O'Brien's Country Girl trilogy. These are short, thin books so New Year's day I finished The lonely girl & later Girls in their Married Bliss. The country girls was the best. The others went down hill. My favorite Irish author is still Maeve Binchy.

Fraud of the Century by Roy Morris Jr.
The stolen election of 1876 when Rutherford B. Hayes (whose presidental library & estate are in the county next door) was awarded the presidency over Samuel Tilden of NY who actually won it. Well written & interesting.

Truth about Lorin Jones Alison Lurie. I like her books, this was on the discard cart, a quick read.

Grace, Eventually Anne Lamott. Not one of her better efforts, it was disappointing, some of the essays had appeared in Salon. She's written better.

Hunting Badger A Tony Hillerman Navaho mystery that I couldn't quite get into. I kept waiting to be transported to the desert Southwest, but it never happened. (It did in the book, it just wasn't enough for me.)

When the Mississippi flowed backwards see review.

A Civil ActionJonathan Harr
Really good. Big, thick book, but every page is worth reading. Deserves all the praise & awards.

Leave me alone, I'm reading by Maureen Corrigan. My kind of title.

Leaving Brooklyn Lynn Sharon Schwartz Another prize from the discard cart.

Night Falls Fast Kaye Radfield Jamison

Dead Man's Ransom one of Ellis Peters Brother Cadfael mysteries. They can take me to another world when I need to leave this one for a while.

Blood of the earth, the battle for the world's vanishing oil resources by Dilip Hiro. Not a sensationalist, just the facts & they are enough.

Wide Saragasso Sea Jean Rhys
My TBR pile went down a bit. A good read, I liked it better than Jane Eyre.

Dr. appointment tomorrow so I will drive to town & stop at the library.

Message edited by its author, Feb 5, 2008, 12:10pm.

Margaret Lawrence A jest of God
When I saw this book in the used book store, I grabbed it because Ms. Laurence 'sA Bird in the House had been so moving. A Jest of God is not a traditional family story, it is about a small town schoolteacher, approaching middle age who still lives with her mother. The people, the town, the atmosphere of the story are portrayed so well & so seemlesly, it is another work of art. I will to continue to search out books by Margaret Laurence.

After reading Margaret Laurence, another Canadian woman writer's book arrived in the mail. it was my ER copy of Sitting Practice by Caroline Adderson. My review is posted in the review section
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A stop at the library in the bigger town yieldedEndangered Species by Stephen M. Younger. A scientist who helped produce the atomic bomb & other nuclear weapons, he has hope for the future of humanity & offers his suggestions on how nations should work together.

On Tuesday it snowed all day & I started & finished The story of Lucy Gault by William Trevor. Really good. At first the plot sounded preposterous, but as I read it all became perfectly logical, though tragic.

Next Born on a Blue Day by a man who has Aspergers .
Usually if I read a book from the UK, I will try to follow it with a book from someplace else. But in this case, I was curious to see if his symptoms matched those of some of the members of our family.
They did.

Message edited by its author, Feb 13, 2008, 8:17pm.

Every sunday by Peter Pezzelli. A feel good book, some plot, romance, humor. It reminded of Fannie Flagg's books only set in Rhode Island instead of the south & Italians instead of Southerners & lasagna instead of grits.

About Alice, Calvin Trillin's tribute to his wife

Fast Food Nation I've heard a lot about this book & decided to see what is going on behind the scenes at the fast food places. My kids & grandkids have worked at many of the local shops, but never thought there were problems. Interesting book, though.

Say When Elizabeth Berg. Yes, Elizabeth Berg back in her best form. The last couple of her books were so-so, but this one provoked a sniffle or 2 (or3 or 4).

Rogue Nation by clyde Prestowitz. His theory about why the US is not on good terms with the rest of the world & what can be done to better the situation.

The Snow Geese by William Fiennes.
Inspired by Paul Gallico's book The snow Goose a young Englishman decides to follow the wild geese actoss the US, Canada & the Arctic. He fills in with knowledge of birds, their migration & also flashbacks to his boyhood in England & his family's interest in birds. A philosophical & informative journey.

Re Rogue Nation -- jeez, I can answer that in one word!

Snow all day Tues. & I stayed insdie & read & finished The remains of the Day. So the TBR bookcase went down a little bit. That was a good book, I felt sorry for the main character -- he wouldn't be called a "hero" exactly, but in some ways...
I've also finished Mary Gordon's memoir about her mother Circling my mother describing her mother's life in relation to people & events --her job, her family, the times she lived in. Not the typical biography, but a more multi-layered portrayal of an interesting life.

I had looked forward to Annie Dillard's new novel The Maytrees Itr was beautifully written. I love nature writing & poetry & Dillard is among the best. Unfortunately, the book 's characters & plot were not well drawn, they did not act as real people might under those circumstances, & the circumstances were well, hard to believe. A disappointment.

Next was The World without Us another well-hyped book, but in this case, deservedly so. The author has done his research but the subject of all human life disappearing left me feeling a bit uneasy.

A Good Distance A novel about family life today by Sarah Willis I read Ms. Willis's first book Some things that Staybecause I had heard her read & she is from Cleveland. She is such a good writer... better than Elizabeth Berg & Jody Picoult who use the same subjects. I'm already looking forward to her next book.

Getting a little behind in the posting.
Circling my Motherby Mary Gordon i remember writing this on a post, but can't find it here.
Also Woman at the Washington Zoo by marjorie Williams. Her essays, from her newspaper columns collected by her husband after her death from cancer.
Flame trees of Thika it was sitting on my TBR pile long enough. If I had known it was so terrific, i would have read it sooner.
Fall of the House of Bush Not soon enough.
Life & Times of Chaucer by John Gardner. Another from the TBR.
Writing to change the World by Mary Pipher. Another of those authors that I have to read everything they wrote.

Empire Falls by Richard Russo. i can't believe this is the 1st. time i've read Richard Russo! He is so good. And he has a lot of other stuff I haven't read yet.
Richard, where have you been all my life?

The Irish soldiers of Mexico by Michael Hogan. The US invasion of Mexico in 1847 has not received much attention from historians. One of those "Dirty Little wars" best buried in the layers of history. The story of the Irish (& surprise! German-American )soldiers who fought with the Mexicans should interest anyone interested in examining the little-mentioned but all-too-true stories of the American past.

A Three Dog Life by Abigail Thomas. A story of what can go wrong in an ordinary life & how one woman survived, one day & one dog at a time.

13 ways of looking at the novel by Jane Smiley. Jane
Smiley is a really good writer. I tried to read everything she wrote until her last 2 novels, which I din't find interesting. But Moo is one of the funniest stories I've ever read & A Thousand Acres well deserved the Pulitzer it won. So I settled in with Ms. Smiley's advice, but we parted company on her list of 100 novels that either "work" or "don't work" according to her criteria. I haven't read all of them & quite a few, I don't intend to read. There were some, tho that we agreed upon.

The Pilgrim of Hate by Ellis Peters. A Brother Cadfael medieval mystery. Time to lose myself in the Middle Ages with a trip in Ms. Peter's never-fail time machine.

The Fall of the house of Bush Why are we finding out all this stuff now & not before he became president?

The House of the Spirits Isabel Allende's ist. novel. I read Eva Luna fisrt. It was good, bu the House of the Spirits is tremendous, the writing is on a scale with War & Peace. It started out very quietly, slow, low-key, then very gradually took over. When I cam to the last 2 chapters, I stayed up until 2:00am in order to finish it. A "Knock your socks Off" book. Now I will have to read everything Ms. Allende has written.

From the sublime to Walmart. Just finished The Wal*Mart Effect by Charles Fishman. Everything you suspected about Wal-Mart is true. An interesting read.

The age of fallibility by George Soros. Short & interesting.
Body Surfing Anita Shreve's new book in one of her familiar settings.
Ex Libris Heard so much about this book & the library didn't have it so I ordered it from Amazon. Glad I did, it's one of those you go back to every now & then.
The Bush Tragedy The library had this on the display rack. The author compares George W. Bush with Prince Hal of Shakespear's HenryV. Interesting comparison. Never read Henry V (the former Prince Hal) but the conclusion sounds logical.

The Creation by E.O. Wilson The famous scientist seeks the help of Creationists to save the earth.

On Chesil Beach Ian McEwan. A beautifully written book. But did you ever want to take 2 characters & knock some sense into their heads?

Ex Libris Anne Fadiman A fun book to read, essays about books & reading. Glad I bought my own copy.

Ladder of Years Anne tyler --speaking of knocking sense into characters -- this was a good read, I love Anne tyler, but was the plot really plausible? I still enjoyed reading it.

You have a very interesting list so far! I'm starring this topic so I can come back later.

A couple of really thick books.The Proud Tower by Barbara Tuchman is a history of England, France & Germany in the years 1890-1914, ending with the outbreak of WW1. She follows trends in the arts, social life & brief biographies of the important people of that time. She also include the US & Russia, but not in as great detail. In her introduction she writes "This book is an attempt to discover the quality of thee world from which the Great War came." She does this, very thoroughly. Any one interested in how today's world came about will be interested in reading this.

The other Big Book which is really 3 books in one is Edith Pargeter's The Heaven Tree Trilogy It includes the books The Heaven Tree The Green Branch & The Scarlet Seed Any one who has any interest at all in the medieval world should read these books. They are very hard to put down. MS. Pargeter writes the Brother Cadfael Mysteries under the name Ellis Peters. Her knowledge about the medieval world is amazing. It's like she has a secret door she opens & then sits there in the nmiddle of the middle ages, writes her stuff, then returns back to the present.

I also read the ER book by Joan Silber The Size of the World. It is a story told by different narrators who are slightly connected but who all end up living in different parts of the world from where they started. It's an interesting book & well written. I've read 2 of Ms. Silber's other books which is why I requested that one.

Amy Tan The Opposite of
Fate This is a series of essays which Amy Tan has written giving some background information on her books. I am a big fan of Amy Tan's & have read all except for her latest which I hope to read soon.

Dead Reckoning by David C. Treadway came from the library sale shelf. It is a gloomy read & took a long time to get through because I kept picking up magazines to read. It is a memoir of a psychiatrist who gets his start by a tragedy in his family & he becomes the family "Nurturer"

Another not too engrossing read Bequest& Betrayal iby Nancy K. Miller is about the writing of memoirs about members of one's family. She quotes a lot from Susan Cheever memoir of her father John Cheever. I have read the book Home Before Dark & I thought it was well written & respectful & do not agree with Ms. Miller's conclusions & probably those of the other books she cites which I haven't read.

The Gathering by Anne Enright. An interesting story, well written but I thought there were a lot of extra flourishes & digressions that took away from the main story. Just my opinion. The book won a famous prize & I enjoyed reading it.

The End of Iraq by Peter Galbraith. What sets this books apart from many of the others that chronicle our latest disaster is that the author goes back in time to the history of US dealings in the mid-east from the break-up of the Ottoman Empire at the end of WW1 through the Eisenhower & especially the Carter & Reagan administrations. One of his suggestions is that we recognize an independent Kurdistan. Considering the background, this makes sense.

i have to look up The End of Iraq -- it seems like a very interesting account by an authoritative source. i've only read of his involvement with policies and rather strong views on Iraq and the Balkans elsewhere.

Elizabeth Berg The Year of Pleasures I like E. Berg's novels, they're predictable, the characters are well drawn, some are better written than others. The Year of pleasures is about a woman recently widowed after a long marriage & because I've been in that position, I read this book a little more closely. It was O.K. Ms. Berg has studied her subject well, but it she emphasis the positive quite a bit, perhaps too much. It was still a good read.

The West's Last Chance, will we win the clash of civilizations by Tony Blankley. Mr. Blankley believes that the clash between the West & the Islamic world is inevitable & if Islamic terrorist obtain nuclear weapons the expansion of Islam that was halted in Vienna in 1683 will be revived & continued . Those who share Mr. Blankley's political beliefs will applaud his efforts, those who do not will see this book as sensational & not well referenced.

Undue Influence Anita Brookner I am beginning to search out Ms. Brookner's works. Her characters are very well-drawn & tho her plots are not world-shaking, I enjoy receiving the world in small doses.

Fixing ClimateBy Broekner & Kunzig Although the threat that climate change presents is much worse to our civilization than the threat of invasion by Islamic terrorists, this book is much more low-key. Facts thoroughly investigated & histories of the scientist involved take up most of the narrative. A book to be taken seriously.

Summer visitors - grandchildren & their children & babysitting while their parents island hop, visit Cedar Point & all the local attractions & Gramma & her new kitten watch the little ones. Waaa-aay behind on reading...

The White Lantern & other pursuits by Evan S. Connell A collection of essays by the author of Mrs. Bridge & Son of the Morning Star both really good books, but with the essays, I can pick them up & read them over a period of time & also other stuff in between. They are mostly about geology, world history, the earth through time, ect.
Enchanted April Elizabeth Von Arnhim The plot sounds like "chick lit" -- bored housewives rent a villa in Italy & discover --enchantment, what else? A classic, well told.
The Shock Doctrine: The rise of disaster capitalism by Naomi Klein. This could have been the plot of a futuristic horror movie made in the 1950's. People would have left the theater saying thank goodness it's only a movie. Unfortunately, we do not have that option. It's here, it's now, & it isn't getting any better. What seemed at first like a series of mistakes were, it seems actually planned to turn out that way. A big, thick book filled with things I wish were make-believe.

Message edited by its author, Jul 24, 2008, 3:29pm.

The New Yorkers by Cathleen Schine. See book review.

Still behind on the reading, but determined to catch up
I'll Know it when I see it A memoir about being Irish-American & leaving her home on Fire Island & remodeling an old house in County Clare, Ireland. Thoughtful look at being part of 2 cultures.

A Dangerous Age Ellen Gilchrist.
I usually enjoy Ms. Gilchrist's books & this was OK but it seemed she relied on the headlines of the past 5 years to move her story along.

Nemesis Chalmers Johnson Another book about what a mess we are in. It's the 3rd in a series, I read Blowback but not The Sorrow of empire He's a good writer, sticks to his facts & well researched. Guess I'm just tired of current events which keep happening whether we want them to or not.

The Writing on the Wall by Lynn sharon Schwartz. Ms. Schwartz has joined my list of "have to read everythifng they've written." This book was about the attacks in NY City on 9/11. The narrator has gone through a few disasters of her own & the author does a good job of tying things together without using current events too much.

Home to Holly Springs Jan Karon A friend told me about the "Mitford" books. She reads them when she needs something light with a happy ending but still a well-written story. so I tried this latest one & it wasn't bad. I'll probably read more of them as an anti-dote to the gloomy books on current events.
Long Life Mary Oliver. Essays & some poetry by one of my favorite poets. Her comments are interesting. Her poetry still moving.
The English patient Michael Ondaatje Haven't seen the filem, but it should be interesting. Nice, descriptive writing.
The Big House George Howe Colt. A cottage by the sea where his family has spent summers for over a century. The upkeep is too much & the family members have decided to sell. George Colt (Who is married to Anne Fadiman} tells the history of the house & members of his family. Nice reading, you can almost smell the sea.
An Escellent Mystery Ellis Peters. Another trip into the medieval world with Brother Cadfael.
I have started Kristin Lavransdatter I read it 25 years ago, but wanted to read the new translation.

I finished Kristin Lavransdatter week before lasst & I'm still trying to write a review of it. It is such an overwhelming experience - experience is the word - not just "read" What can you read after such an experience? Well, I caught up on my Newsweek mags so I could pass them on to my son. I am going uptown for physical therapy & there's a bus that picks you up & brings you back, so I found a small sized book to fit in my purse so I could read while waiting. Book #1 was Reading in the dark by Seamus Deane - a coming-of-age story. A young boy living in Derry, N. Ireland at the time of the "Troubles" I hadn't realized how much people's every day lives were affected by the struggle, a book hard to put down when the bus arrived.
Also a book of poems by Robert Bly Sleepers holding hands I've been to aRobert Bly reading & the man is amazing.
And a book of essays Best Person rural Noel Perrin. I've read & enjoyed his other "person, rural books." this was easy to pick up & put down.
Then another big"Knock your socks off " book. City of Refuge the lives of 2 ordinary families living in New Orleans & how their lives are torn apart by Hurricane Katrina. The story follows them into the places they fled to where they attenpted to make some kind of life in completely different circumstances while suffering the after-shock of the disaster.

I forgot to mention Fareed Zakaria's book The Post-American World this is not a book about the declining of America. Rather it tell about all the developing nations who have raised their living standards & are now competing with us for resources -- like oil, for example. Great book for learning about what we used to call "The 3rd. World."
Thee isn't any touchstone for this book.

I feel bad about my neck by Nora Ephron. For women my age who no longer look in mirrors. Ms. Ephron has a humorous takae on a variety of subjects. A small book that fit easily in my purse so I could read while waiting.
I started Gail Godwin's Queen of the Underworld Gail Godwin is an author that I try to read every thing they wrote, but alas, this book did not make it. I put it away in my "To be finished later" file.
The birdhouse chronicles by Cathleen Miller. A city-couple-moves-to-country story, but told in a refreshing, humorous manner.

The summer of 1787 by Daniel O. Stewart is the history of how the US constitution was written, Actually, written is much to simple a word to describe the process of putting a government together that would rule according to the will of the people - with certain restraints. The 50+ gentlemen from the 13 colonies that had freed themselves from British rule toiled for more than 4 months to work our all the hows and whys & whens & how manys of a group of colonies that had different interests, types of populations, & geography. Plus the quagmire of slavery which the majority of delegates wanted to ban, but the interest of the large southern planters prevented any kind of agreement & the whole question was pushed aside for later generations to settle -- which was done in a bloody civil war.
My interest in this book is my great (4x) grandfather, John Dickinson of Delaware. He & Jefferson had many disagreements over the slavery question & he walked out of the room & refused to sign the Declaration of Independence. He didn't exactly "sign' the constitution, but that's part of the story.

Emmaby Jane Austen. I wanted to read a well-written book with a happy ending. So far,Emma is my favorite Austen book.

A Redbird Christmas Fannie Flagg. Another small, happy book to read while waiting forthe bus.

Blue Water Manette Ansay A disappointing book - if it was from the library I woouldn't have finished it, but I bought it -2nd. hand so I stayed with it.
Time and again Jack Finney This was a really good book, time travel with a twist.
the Gulf Stream Stan Ulanski Explains the Gulf stream, then tells how it was used in history. The section on pirates was really intersting.

One Sunday morning Amy Ephron

Time and again Jack Finney. A time travel book, but different from what I expected. It really takes you right into the setting, almost as good as the other time travel book

Blue suburbia Laurie Albanese a memoir told in the form of poems.

This came to a total of 91 books. I was hoping to read 100. Maybe I'll sign up for the 75 books in 2009. I like the idea of keeping track.