I will read less in 2009. I should end up 2008 with 165 books or so finished. That's too much for me. It wasn't uncomfortable but it did consume a little too much time that cut into other activities that I enjoy. 75 to 100 seems to be my natural range for the last few years. So we'll see where I end up.

I think I'll start 2009 with 2666 by Roberto Bolano and The Superorganism: The Beauty, Elegance, and Strangeness of Insect Societies by Bert Holldobler and Edward O. Wilson. They won the Pulitzer for their ant book. I can hear Richard Dawkins screaming already but I am interested in what they have to say.

I also was notified today that I snagged Circumference by Nicholas Nicastro from the ER program. If it shows up in a timely fashion then I'll have that to read in January also.

Sounds like you have some great reading planned out already. Thanks for joining us. We look forward to seeing what you read over the course of the next year!

You've already added to my TBR list--my husband is an entomologist and I'm anxious to see what you think about The Superorganism. If it's good I'd like to read it and than give it to him. Circumference was a book I tried for and I'll wait to hear from you if I should go ahead and get it. I'm looking forward to see what else you read next year!

alcottacre, glad to be here for 2009. drneutron, thx for the welcome. MusicMom41, I'll probably post a comment or two and maybe the rating I give a book as the year progresses. I have high hopes for The Superorganism. I have it ordered but haven't received it yet.

>3 MM, I had to read that title twice, especially after reading the second sentence!

- TT

*snort*

TT

oooh! You are naughty! ;-)

wow, I thought it was just me.

Everyone!!!! Eyes forward and sit up straight in your desks!!!! Don't make me rap knuckles!

*shoots spit wad at blackdog*

Explanatory note- I count books in the year I finish them even if I started them in a different year. They won't get a number until they're finished. I tend to end up with quite a few unfinished books every year. I'm going to track started books in this thread along with finished ones so I'll have a list of unfinished ones at year's end. I will also have several books going during the same time period. IOW, this won't be a neat one book at a time thread. It'll be kind of messy with some books having a long lag between start date and finish date. For instance, it took me 18 months to read On Food and Cooking (2nd revised edition). BTW, I highly recommend it. So here goes the 2009 schedule.

Started- 2666, Roberto Bolano

Started- The Structure of Evolutionary Theory, Stephen Jay Gould. I bought this book when it came out 5 and 1/2 years ago. Or about 2,000 days ago. And it's sat on the shelf since then. Well, now it's got a bookmark in it. It's only on page 12 out of nearly 1,400, but dammit, it's got a bookmark in it. Ahhh.... I feel better already.

#11: I am like you, VG, I count books in the year I finish them - I figure they will all balance out in the end anyway. I also do not count books until I am actually finished with them, so although I have laid out a list of books I want to read in the coming year, I have not counted them since I have not completed them yet. I also read multiple books at a time as you do (at least 4 and as many as 7), so I have staggered starts and stops, too.

#12 VG: You have to start somewhere and page 12 sounds like as good a place as any :)

I found a sales receipt in Structure of Evolutionary Theory. I've had it for 6 1/2 years or about 2,375 days. What's worse is that I think I have some books that I bought at an earlier date that I've never read. Yikes!

Anyway, since it's not a light breezy read I started another non-fiction book that will be easier to make some progress in.
Promised Land: Thirteen Books that Changed America, Jay Parini.

1. Awesome, Jack Pendarvis

Awesome is a narcissistic, robot making, philosophizing, randy giant. He gets stood up at the altar by a normal sized woman when he comes up with the most obnoxiously funny wedding vow ever. It only gets weirder from there. It won't appeal to everyone but might to those that like satire, absurdity, and goofy phallic humor.

Tags Applied: Read In 2009, Fiction, Humor, Satire, Absurdism, Intellectual Mischief, Giants, Narcissism, Robots, Debut Novel

Rating- 4 stars

ETA- 196 pages

Message edited by its author, Jan 2, 2009, 2:55am.

2. November 22, 1963, Adam Braver

The blending of the mundane details that had to be handled along with the big events was very well done. The book's main character is Jackie and it imagines her struggle on the Dallas to Washington trip and a few hours beyond the landing. Smaller characters that had to deal with details are also given a voice which makes a familiar story seem new and poignant. It kept me completely involved.

Tags Applied: Read In 2009, Fiction, Historical Fiction, America, John F. Kennedy, Jacqueline Kennedy, Assassination, Dallas, Microhistory, Grief

Rating 4.5 stars

206 pages

Looks like you have made a good start to the year, VG!

I've added Awesome to my wishlist - sounds just strange enough to appeal to me :)

VisibleGhost, I've added The Superorganism (which I'd heard of) and Circumference (which I hadn't heard of) to my wishlist. Sigh. It's not as if I'm lacking books to read. I too bought The Structure of Evolutionary Theory when it first appeared, and I too have not yet read it -- the size is daunting. If you don't already know, a bunch of ScienceBlogs folks read and blogged about it last year (I do not offhand see more general links than these):
http://scienceblogs.com/gnxp/2008/01/the...
http://scienceblogs.com/laelaps/2008/01/...
http://scienceblogs.com/laelaps/2008/01/...
http://scienceblogs.com/strangerfruit/20...

alcottacre, yes, I'm cruising down the 2009 highway of reading with nary a speedbump in sight.

scaifea, I hope you get a laugh or two out of Awesome.

qebo, I read the posts from scienceblogs that you linked to and it was interesting to see how others were reading Structure. Gould was so erudite that he touches on a little bit of everything. I think he must of read a little of everything. Structure is information dense. I don't think there's anyway to read it quickly. I'll be on it for who knows how long but I am enjoying the reading from a diverse mind that left us too early.

3. Once Again to Zelda, Marlene Wagman-Geller

Zelda is what I call a bathroom book or a book to have about when you only have time for a few minutes of light reading. It tells the stories behind the dedications of fifty books. You'll know most of the books if you're familiar with English language classics. Most feature a mini-bio and run from three to five pages long. As is the case with these types of books some are more interesting than others.

Tags Applied: Read In 2009, Non-Fiction, Non-Fiction Featuring Books, Dedications, Mini-Bios, Fifty Books, Reference, Authors, Classics, Short Essays

Rating- 3 stars

313 pages

4. Jesus' Son, Denis Johnson

I was impressed with Johnson's epic Vietnam novel, Tree of Smoke, when I read it in 2007. I wanted to try some of his earlier short stories since he's done a lot of work at that length. Jesus' Son features throw-away males at a loss of how to function in a society that doesn't fit them. It was interesting to see the germs of those personalities show up at greater length in Tree of Smoke. These short stories are about as nitty-gritty and fatalistic as they come. I wouldn't read all his work in one sitting because it would batter one's soul. There needs to be time between his books to recover. He is a powerful gut-punch writer. Others I would put in that category are Octavia E. Butler and James Ellroy. I did decide I preferred his novel-length writing a bit more than his short work.

Tags Applied: Read In 2009, Fiction, Collection, Short Stories, Addiction, American, Poverty, Youth, Drugs, Death

Rating 4 stars

160 pages

I will be reading Tree of Smoke in the next month or so. Glad to see you liked it.

5. The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins

A dystopian future where twelve districts of what used to be the US is ruled by an iron hand. The thirteenth was utterly destroyed in the past to put down a rebellion and left in ruins as an example for the other districts not to get too independence minded. One of the tools the State uses to impress upon the populace its power is the Hunger Games. Two teens, aged twelve to eighteen, one male and one female, are chosen from each district in a lottery to participate in a huge arena the State controls in a fight to the death. The lone survivor wins and is showered with perks. The landscape inside the arena is changed every year. The up to weeks long contest is televised and viewing is mandatory.

The plausibility of these Hunger Games to control the masses leaves a lot to be desired. If one doesn't think too hard on the effectiveness of such a strategy the book will read all right. It's a pageturner and the first in a series that ratchets up the tension fairly well.

Tags Applied: Read In 2009, Fiction, Science Fiction, Young Adult, Dystopia, Hunting, Reality TV, Archery, Survival, Poverty

Rating- 3.5 stars

374 pages

I think I will check out The Hunger Games. Thanks for the review!

Thanks for the review of The Hunger Games. I just got it in the mail yesterday. It will be added to my TBR pile and hopefully read before the end of the year.

I haven't been in the mood to finish any books but I have been in the mood to start several books. I do that sometimes. Probably more than I should.

Finally got The Superorganism started. Beautiful book.
Also have a fair start on Lies My Teacher Told Me Revised and Updated Edition, The Lost Gospel of Judas Iscariot by Bart D. Ehrman, and The Snowball, the sprawling Warren Buffett biography.

2666- Taking my time and savoring it.
Promised Land- About halfway done.
The Structure of Evolutionary Theory- Slow progress and I do mean slow.

I am interested in your thoughts on Promised Land when you finish it. It looks as if I would enjoy it. On the other hand, The Structure of Evolutionary Theory would probably put me to sleep on page 1, lol.

I happened to catch Jay Parini on CSpan last weekend discussing his book. He has some very interesting choices for the 13 books that changed America. I wish I had time to read the 8 volumes or so of Lewis and Clark's journals. What do you think of Parini's choices?

alcottacre, it would make a good homeschooling book for Americans. Assign it to your kids but don't tell them I told you to. ;)

arubabookwomen, I still have a few books to go but I'm tending to agree with his choices. I'll list the 13 in my wrap-up so if anyone doesn't want to know them in advance, skip that post. He also lists 100 more influential books at the end of the book, some of which surprised me.

#31 VG: I can probably keep it from my older daughter, but my younger daughter is in the group and reads the posts, so I do not think I have a prayer of keeping it from her. I will have to find a copy of it, though, because it definitely looks like something they could read to supplement school this year. Thanks for mentioning it.

6. The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life, Alice Schroeder

I have an interest in wealth creation without the desire to become rich myself so I read books like Snowball. It is a thorough biography of Buffett's life up until last fall. Some of the books I've scanned through tend towards hagiography when the subject is Buffett. Schroeder manages to capture the complexity of his personality fairly well. He doesn't come off as a saint but he's no Donald Trump either. Some of the people around Buffet were/are almost as interesting as he is.

The book might lose some readers because it delves pretty deep into the arcana of investing theory. Especially that of Ben Graham. It also follows some of his investments ups and downs with some detail. I found it very interesting but some might not. It is done in a very understandable manner though, if such subjects appeal to the reader.

Tags Applied: Read In 2009, Non-Fiction, Biography, Warren Buffett, Business, Capitalism, Investing, Financiers, Notes, Photographs

Rating- 4 stars

960 pages

Message edited by its author, Jan 13, 2009, 11:00pm.

I bought this for my husband for Christmas, and hope to read it myself at some point. Thanks for the review.

7. Wesley the Owl, Stacy O'Brien

Now I know more about barn owls than I did before I read this book. Who knew they smelled like butterscotch? And I know what an owl pellet is. Wesley was an owl that couldn't be released back into the wild because of nerve damage on one of his wings. He was adopted by the author when he was four days old and spent his life with her. Along with their tale there is also quite a bit of known facts about owls included. A quick entertaining read.

Tags Applied: Read In 2009, Non-Fiction, Memoir, Nature, Biology, Barn Owls, Animal Behavior, Animal Communication, Southern California, Caltech

Rating- 4 stars

229 pages

#35: I want to read that book very much. I have now had it on hold at my library for approximately 4 months - every time I check it is still "In Processing". Wahh (says Stasia the owl lover)

#35: Awww I found out about that book when I was browsing for something else... as soon as I saw it I said "Oh my goooosh, I neeeed tor read this book!!!"... and am I right in assuming I'd need a box of tissues? I'm a sucker when it comes to animals... I saw a trailer last night for Disney's new film 'Earth' and out came the waterworks...

Oh, also... I'm not surprised they smell like butterscotch! My parrot smells like... well, sometimes a bit like flowers (can't pinpoint which kind, I'm not very good with flower knowledge), or other times just like something very soothing and pleasant... Okay, I confess, I'm a bird sniffer!

#38 dk: I confess, I'm a bird sniffer!

I think that may be more information than I need to know.

dk_phoenix, it's hard to predict which animal books will induce tears or lumps in the throat for individual readers. The author of Wesley mentions this and says when she reads such stories sometimes she reads the final chapter first so she could then go back and enjoy the book instead of dreading the ending.

Some animal books I've read recently get this part over with in the first chapter or at least prepare the reader for the end. Alex and Me used this technique ( non-fiction) as did The Art of Racing in the Rain (fiction). Alex brought a tightness to my throat and Racing just about killed me but for some reason Wesley didn't affect me that way. I'm not saying Wesley won't have such effects on you as each reader processes emotions differently. Wesley had a delightful personality though and his story is intriguing.

VG

8. Noir, Olivier Pauvert- Translated by Adriana Hunter

Pauvert's debut novel is transgressive fiction. It's a genre that many are uncomfortable with and those that feel such feelings should probably stay far far away from this book. It begins with the classic trope of Who Am I? The main character wakes up at the site of a horrific murder after a night of drinking and drugging struggling to remember anything about that night. Looking around, he is even having a hard time making sense of his previously ordinary world.

The setting takes place in a Far Right Wing near-future France. There is a blend of science fiction, the supernatural, mystery, and even horror. I was along for the ride because I wasn't sure where the author was taking me. A nice tidy tie-up is not in the offering as is the case in some of these books dealing with the human condition. In this case the ambiguity enhances not detracts.

Tags Applied: Read In 2009, Fiction, Transgressive Fiction, Noir, France, Translated From The French, Totalitarianism, Supernatural, Hell, Debut Novel

Rating- 4.5 stars

256 pages

Noir sounds like a book I want to add to my list, but what is transgressive fiction? Thanks.

arubabookwoman, transgressive fiction can have graphic depictions of behavior that violates socially acceptable norms. It can be pessimistic and nihilistic. Sometimes it focuses on an individual but often the characters are a commentary on society. It takes an unflinching view of the ugly side of humans. Some of the authors mentioned on the backside of Noir are J.G Ballard, Michel Houellebecq, Kathy Acker, and Louis-Ferdinard Celine. It's not exactly utopian literature.

9. Dead Pool: Lake Powell, Global Warming, and the Future of Water in the West, James Lawrence Powell

Cadillac Desert by Marc Reisner is one of my favorite books of all time. It covers water and dam building issues in the Western US. Dead Pool is an update on some of the issues in the Colorado River Basin. The CRB is one of my favorite places in the world. I love the emptiness and spaciousness of most of the area. It's a place to go and feel small in the wilderness. Glen Canyon was flooded before I was old enough to visit its beauty and I feel the loss of its pre-flooded state.

Dead Pool is a good update on the CRB. It covers evaporation rates, the never-ending legal battles, and the continued increase in demand for the water in the CRB. As of now, the demands for the water are unsustainable. Something has to give. If this subject interests then Cadillac Desert is a better starting point with Dead Pool being a worthy follow-up.

Tags Applied: Read In 2009, Non-Fiction, Western USA, Colorado River Basin, Water, Dams, Global Climate Change, Agriculture, Glen Canyon, Lake Powell

Rating- 4 stars

283 pages

VG - Cadillac Desert is a magnificant book that changed the way I look at the world. I agree, it's a great starting point with understanding water in the American west.

Would you read another book by James Lawrence Powell? I have Grand Canyon: Solving Earth's Grandest Puzzle pencilled in on by To-be-read list. Although I'd have to find a copy first.

dchaikin, I would probably read another James Lawrence Powell book. He doesn't have the polish of a non-fiction writer like John McPhee but I found his case was made competently.

#46 Thanks for the note.

10. Promised Land, Jay Parini

In the front of promised is the oeuvre of Parini. His work comprises novels, poetry, literary criticism, and biographies of literary figures. I assume he has spent most of his life in the literary realm. This book arises from his thoughts and opinions from this experience. The subtitle is Thirteen Books That Changed America not The Thirteen or The Thirteen Most Influential Books. He states he could have chosen thirteen different ones. I think his argument that this baker's dozen was/is influential holds up.

It is not a case for the best written nor a case for literary value but influence. Some of the books have waned in popularity and influence and only served a certain time period while others have become ingrained in part of the definition of being an American. His view of most of the books covers the positive and negative aspects of each. I had heard of all but one of the books and read some of them. The book that inspired the title- Promised Land by Mary Antin was the one I was unfamiliar with.

The List of Thirteen.
1) Of Plymouth Plantation
2) The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
3) The Federalist Papers
4) The Journals of Lewis and Clark
5) Walden
6) Uncle Tom's Cabin
7) The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
8) The Souls of Black Folk
9) The Promised Land- Mary Antin (Touchstones don't seem to like two books with the same title in a post)
10) How to Win Friends and Influence People
11) The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care
12) On the Road
13) The Feminine Mystique

There is also a list of 100 more books at the end of the book. There were several on that list I was not aware of. All in all, I liked the book but like all books of this nature it is subjective.

Tags Applied: Read In 2009, Non-Fiction, Non-Fiction Featuring Books, Literary Criticism, American Literature, History, Politics, Society, Influence, Photographs

Rating- 4 stars

385 pages

#48 VG: I am going to look to see if I can find the Parini book. If you have a chance, you ought to find a copy of the Antin book - I think it is well worth the read.

Oh no, not another book-list book! VG, you're totally enabling my list addiction!

Message edited by its author, Jan 22, 2009, 8:12am.

11. The Solitary Vice, Mikita Brottman

Uh-Oh... Reading and readers kinda suck. So do authors. Not that many decades ago an overindulgence in reading was considered a near-sin, or at least an unproductive use of time by many. Now reading is universally acclaimed to make one healthy, wealthy, and wise, while also rendering intestinal gases odorless. Non-readers are almost considered non-people by some of the reading zealots.

Such are some of the views offered by Brottman in this book. It has a bit of memoir to it but it's mostly commentary on reading and literature. She gives her thoughts on several genres that aren't widely loved by critics, like true crime and bare-it-all memoirs.

So. Did I like her book with some criticism of readers? I did. She has a biting sense of sarcasm with wicked sly humor. Some of the chapters were insightful. A couple of them produced thoughts like, " Good Lord! What's she on about now!" It is a oner that only a life-long reader could have written.

Tags Applied: Read In 2009, Non-Fiction, Literary Criticism, Essays,The Reading Life, Reading Lists, Psychology Of Reading, Gossip, Addiction, Illustrated

Rating- 3.5 stars

233 pages

#51 VG: She has a biting sense of sarcasm with wicked sly humor.

Sounds right up my alley! Thanks for the review and recommendation.

12. The Book of Unholy Mischief, Elle Newmark

A bibliomystery. Venice in 1498. Antiquarian books. Food. Food presentation. Chefs in the doge's palace. Chefs as the keepers of forbidden knowledge. Political intrigue. The early years of the printing press. Romance. Cats. The Gnostic Gospels.

With those ingredients, did it work? It's not horrible but it's quite unremarkable. The food part is done well, the biblio part is weak. The history is so-so.

Tags Applied: Read In 2009, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Fiction Featuring Books, Bibliomystery, Venice, Food, Chefs, The Gnostic Gospels, Keepers Of Knowledge

Rating- 2.5 stars

372 pages

13. Daemon, Daniel Suarez

It's been awhile since I had such great fun reading a book. People start getting killed over the internet and then events ramp up from there. This book starting showing up on some of my online recommendation lists last year. It was privately published with the author's name reversed- Leinad Zeraus. By then it was out of print and used copies were expensive. Luckily, a major publisher bought the rights and there will be a sequel. I gather there are some differences between the two editions.

Daemon is kind of a cross between Bruce Sterling, Neal Stephenson, and a top thriller writer. The format is thriller, a genre of which I only like about 20% of the ones I try, but this had enough other information thrown in to keep my attention. It'll make a helluva movie. I will be waiting for the sequel.

I've been dipping in and out of Planet Google and one of the thoughts running through my head while reading Daemon was, " Do I really trust Google not to be evil?" Great stuff for a debut novel.

Tags Applied: Read In 2009, Fiction, Technothriller, Information Technology, Gaming Culture, Robotics, Economics, Civilization, Cyber-Warfare, Debut Novel

Rating- 4.5 stars

432 pages

Wow! Sounds like a great read, VG. On to the Continent it goes.

Very cool! I just put it on reserve at my library.

14. The Edge of Medicine, William Hanson

A look at the current state, near-future, and a little bit farther out in the realm of the way medicine is practiced. While you're reading this, somewhere in the world a robot is assisting in a surgery. " Docs in Boxes" are monitoring several dozen ICU rooms spread over different geographical areas from a centralized location. The interpretation of the human genome continues apace. Every day hundreds people leave medical facilities with pieces and parts they weren't born with. An informative read.

Tags Applied: Read In 2009, Non-Fiction, Medicine, Futurism, Technology, Telemedicine, Robotics, Speculation, Nanotechnology, Proton Beam Accelerator

Rating- 4 stars

248 pages

#57: Sounds like another interesting read of yours, VG. Makes me want to check into the hospital and have myself replaced. On to the Continent it goes.

That's not a bad idea. Maybe I should schedule a body replacement next week.

Having just finished Oryx and Crake, I am a little leery - I might end up worse than I am now!

Thanks VG; another one for the wish list!

15. Doctor Olaf Van Schuler's Brain, Kirstin Menger-Anderson

This is an odd quirky book that traces a family of New York City doctors from 1664 to the present with interconnected short stories. The stories have a diverse range of voices that span the spectrum of familial relations. There is a tie-together at the end that wasn't too difficult to spot. I'm going to call this one a half-and-half book. Half the readers won't like it but the other half will enjoy its differentness. I had a good time with it.

Tags Applied: Read In 2009, Fiction, Interconnected Stories, Doctors, Family, Generations, New York City, Phrenology, Mesmerism, Debut Novel

Rating- 4 stars

290 pages

January Recap: Rating Scale Tops Out At Five

1) Awesome-4
2) November 22, 1963-4.5
3) Once Again to Zelda-3
4) Jesus' Son-4
5) The Hunger Games-3.5
6) The Snowball-4
7) Wesley the Owl-4
8) Noir-4
9) Dead Pool-4
10) Promised Land-4
11) The Solitary Vice-3.5
12) The Book of Unholy Mischief-2.5
13) Daemon-4.5
14) The Edge of Medicine-4
15) Doctor Olaf Van Schuler's Brain-4

My favorites for the month? I'm going to stick with my 4.5s- Noir, November 22, 1963, and Daemon.

#60 stasia

What did you think of Oryx and Crake? I absolutely could not get into it despite liking Atwood's other books, including her 'futuristic' The Handmaid's Tale and also books such as The Road etc. I tried to read it 3 times and all 3 times I only got about 100 pages in before stalling.

#64: Lunacat, I have never read any of Atwood's other books, this was my first, and I liked it and it is one I would re-read. I rather enjoy the 'end-of-the-world' type of books and this book felt to me almost like a modern day rendering of Robinson Crusoe. Sorry you did not care for it, but like I always say, not every book is for every body.

#62: That looks like one I should at least try, VG. Thanks for the mention.

16. The Master and Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov, Translated by Diana Burgin and Katherine Tiernan O'Conner, annotations and afterword by Ellendea Proffer

An editor and a poet are sitting in a park in Moscow discussing their atheism. A stranger joins them in their conversation and is quite upset that they don't believe in Satan either. The devil has arrived in Moscow with some deadly results to follow along with some very humorous ones.

The novel has more than one layer but it can be appreciated with even a literal reading. Bulgakov worked on Master for several years and the results shine through. It bumps up against the illusory perfect novel score.

Tags Applied: Read In 2009, Fiction, Allegory, Satire, Magic Realism, Moscow, Russia, Translated From The Russian, Religion, Pontius Pilate, Stalin Era, Faust

Rating- 5 stars

372 pages

#67: I find your tags for The Master and Margarita fascinating: Faust and Pontius Pilate?!

I'm moving this book and Heart of a Dog from my wish list to my "Buy Now" lists!

alcottacre, I found the portrayal of Pontius Pilate touching.

kidsdoc, I'm beginning to worry about you. ;) That's two books I've mentioned that you've added to your lists. Following my reading might take you down some strange paths. =:0 I did find the annotations in Master and Margarita by Ellendea Proffer very helpful.

17. The Next 100 Years, George Friedman

Futurism and geopolitics both appeal to me. In geopolitics there are no permanent solutions and in futurism there are no 100% accurate predictions. It's a strange combination to be attracted to but there you have it.

Right to the conclusion. Friedman posits that the United States of America is not in decline but just starting on its ascendancy in world power. I'll post some of the reasons below. They can be skipped if one wants to read the book without knowing beforehand.

American culture is the manic combination of exultant hubris and profound gloom. They tend to think their best days are always somewhere in the past. Ask 100 Americans how the country is doing and 98 of them will tell you the country is going to hell in a hand basket and then proceed to give 98 different reasons why its best days are bygone. At the same time they think anything can be accomplished with a little elbow grease and discipline. This creates a frenetic energy to do something. Anything. Volunteer. Start a company. Declaim. Declare. Begin a religion. Action and the practical overrules metaphysics.

The US is a bizarre mixture of overconfidence and insecurity. The populace always feels they are falling behind and the rest of the world is going to overtake them. But never fear. If enough committees, money, political willpower, education, and so on is put on the problem then it can be solved.

This creates an energy where a lot of effort is wasted on going down the wrong path but it also creates some things that go on to produce huge amounts of capital and wealth for some and funds the government.

Population density- Japan has 338 inhabitants per square kilometer, Germany has 230. The US has 31. An economy consists of land, labor, and capital. There is still a lot of room for growth.

It wasn't until the 1990s that transpacific trade overtook transatlantic trade in monetary terms. Nations between the two zones have an advantage. US, Mexico, Columbia.

Control of the seas and a head start on control of space.

It's hard to know how to judge such books predicting the future especially when it comes to geopolitics. Some areas are just going to be in the power struggle century after century because of geography. Turkey for one. Poland always has to worry about Russia or Germany or both at the same time. Friedman extrapolates from history into the future but the waxing and waning of power can reverse a single country's fortunes rather quickly.

The book is speculative but was very readable and did get the cogs in my brain turning. That's all I ask of books like this. I'm about to finish another book that I'll post of soon that comes to the opposite conclusion. The US is on the decline not rising in power. The strangest thing about Friedman's book is that Canada was not mentioned once that I can remember. Mexico takes up pages. The book lacks an index for some goofy reason.

Tags Applied: Read In 2009, Non-Fiction, Futurism, Geopolitics, 21st Century, International Relations, Forecasting, Military Power, Robotics, Space Economics, Speculation

Rating- 4 stars

253 pages

Message edited by its author, Feb 9, 2009, 5:33am.

18. The Limits of Power, Andrew J. Bacevich

The US has peaked due to three areas of crisis according to the author.

Profligacy- Too many decades of living beyond means at every level- federal, state, local, and consumer. The debt hole is too large to get out of.

Political crisis- Executive power is near unlimited. Congress and the courts are feckless and have no will to change this. All efforts are used to get a candidate from one's own party elected so 'their' executive and party has the power. It's not a recent development. It started with FDR and has worsened with each succeeding administration .

Military Crisis- With the end of the draft the concept of citizen-soldier has gone away. Soldiers are more of a professional class isolated from the general populace most of the time. This leads to private contracting of military services and is shifting towards mercenary for profit roles and corporations when needed. Or wanted.

Tags Applied: Read In 2009, Non-Fiction, Politics, Government, American, Executive Power, Credit And Debt, Military Power, International Relations, Empire

Rating- 4 stars

206 pages

I heard Bill Moyers interview Bacevich about this book a few months ago. Bacevich is thoughtful and does not overstate his case, but his conclusions are chilling. I haven't read his book yet but intend to do so. Thank you for the review.

19. Traders, Guns, and Money, Satyajit Das

What the hell are financial derivative anyway? How can the monetary value of derivatives floating around out there exceed world GDP by several orders of magnitude? Why does Warren Buffett call them financial weapons of mass destruction? Can an ordinary person understand derivatives? Or are they akin to quantum physics in that just when you think you're starting to understand your brain explodes? Can a book about derivatives make you laugh? That is, when you're not crying?

TG&M turned out to be way more readable and entertaining than I thought it would. The author worked several sides of the derivative game in his career. He's a good explainer. Here's a small excerpt to give potential readers an inkling if they'll like the book or not.

" I used to be responsible for showing the trainees around the trading floor. "Look it's quite simple," I said, breaking down the hierarchy of the trading floor. "There are salespeople- they lie to clients. Traders lie to sales and risk managers. Risk managers? They lie to the people who run the place- correction, think they run the place. The people who run the place lie to shareholders and regulators." I remembered our quantitative colleagues. "I forgot the quants- our fabulous rocket scientists! When last heard from, they were trying to develop a model for lying."

'And clients?" one of the trainees asked tentatively. I thought about it for a few seconds. "Clients. They lie mainly to themselves!" To enter the world of derivatives trading is to enter a realm of beautiful lies.

Tags Applied: Read In 2009, Non-Fiction, Finance, Economics, Derivatives, Capitalism, Investment Banking, Mathematics, Quants, Humor

Rating- 4.5 stars

331 pages

Message edited by its author, Feb 11, 2009, 9:11am.

I've fallen behind on my intentions of listing started but unfinished books in 2009 as per post # 11. I know I end up with dozens of unfinished books every year. I'm not trying to correct that habit, I'm just trying to get a number on how many that might be. I've read this way for years and just decided that's how I am. Some of these I will finish but by no means all of them.

Non-fiction started:
The Superorganism
The Structure of Evolutionary Theory
Lies My Teacher Told Me
The Lost Gospel of Judas Iscariot
Life in the Valley of Death
Nothing to be Frightened Of
Don't Sleep, There are Snakes
Planet Google
Giuseppe Panza: Memories of a Collector
The Ten-Cent Plague
Outliers

I'll post the fiction later.

I have the same habit to a lesser degree. I generally have about three books going at once. And even so, I get mixed up -- I'll pick up a book and read a few paragraphs and get strange mental associations before I realize that I'm thinking about a different book. I am trying to correct the habit, not of reading several books at once, but of abandoning midstream -- it's not intentional rejection, I just shift to a new book and the old book gets buried. I'm listing books I've started in the 999 challenge, noting when I finish, and not listing them in the 75 challenge until then.

qebo, I'm writing some thoughts on abandoning non-fiction in another window. It's not directed at any one person. It's an amalgamation of thoughts that have been running through my addled brain for awhile. I'll post it in a minute and then prepare for the rotten egg and vegetable throwers.

One quarter of a manifesto on non-fiction reading.

I see people post on LT and hear people in the real world set goals to read more non-fiction. Usually, it's because they think they should for many reasons; to be more informed, learn of a subject in which they have an interest, learn about something they've vaguely heard of, and many, many others. Then it seems like a chore to slog through some of those books, many which are not quick reads and can have a lot of pages with hundreds of notes to go through besides. Days pass. Then weeks. Then months and finally years. Not much NF reading gets done and the vague feeling that one should read a bit more of it continues.

That's perfectly human and understandable and no reproach should be burdened upon those readers. I'll offer a heretical view for getting some NF reading done for those with a desire to dip their toes into the NF water more often.

A lot of NF will begin with a preface or introduction. Many times this is the most interesting part of the book. Often the first chapter will continue with an overview of the subject. Then the book can bog down in history of the subject or details and minutia in later chapters. The book can be abandoned at this point for pleasure readers. The book gods won't smite thee.

This can be done with NF book after NF book. Don't feel guilty. Find another one and read the preface and first chapter. Then another one. They can even be on the same subject. If a book is attention-grabbing then it will be no problem to keep reading it. If not, then read the preface and first chapter of a different one. This can be done with little time commitment for most books.

Let's say this continues for a whole year and not a single NF book is read deeper than the preface and first chapter. Is the reader a failure? Far from it. If this approach is tried on several books, the amount of knowledge, factoids, points of view, subjects covered, and so on, can be immense, rejoiced on, and celebrated. All from reading just the preface and first chapter.

Obviously, if this goes against the grain of your personality and is going to awaken dormant psychological battles, then don't do it. For others, it might be a strategy to try. I have learned something from every unfinished NF book I've started this year. I expect to learn all kinds of things from many more unfinished NF books during the year.

I hereby throw flowers! My 2009 challenges are experiments. In general, I consider my nonfiction books to be reference books -- I read the intro, or a chapter that particularly interests me, or a section that I found via the index when I had a question. I used to read such books in their entirety, and then my income increased (if I'm buying and keeping a book, why do I need to finish it now?) and the internet arrived (changing the norm from straight to meandering path). As I push myself to finish nonfiction books this year, I am pleased to encounter details that provide connections and nuances, but I am also seeing diminishing returns -- I want to know about a subject, but maybe not that much. I don't remember most of the details, so to what extent is it useful to read them? Different folks will have different answers (and maybe better memories than mine).

20. Charles Darwin: Voyaging Volume One of a Biography, Janet Browne

The problem with choosing to read a biography of Charles Darwin is picking from one of the hundreds, if not thousands, out there. After searching around I decided on the Janet Browne two volume biography. She has a background in biology, zoology, and the history of science. Volume one did not disappoint. Her writing style kept things moving and she captures the complexity of Darwin very well. Volume one brings Darwin to the writing of On the Origin of Species before his fame phase. I zipped through the book faster than I thought I would. I'm looking forward to volume two- The Power of Place.

Tags Applied: Read In 2009, Non-Fiction, Biography, History Of Science, Charles Darwin, H.M.S. Beagle, Natural History, Evolution, Volume 1, Photographs

Rating- 5 stars

605 pages

Unfinished fiction-2009

2666- I only get to read this for the first time once so I'm savoring it and making it last.
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society- I can see the puppet strings and it's bugging me. Heck, I could pull them myself. Sometimes, this doesn't bother me but this time it does.
The English Major
Implied Spaces
The Woman in White- I know this is sacrilegious, but I just am not getting into it. 2nd try
Liberation- SF by Brian Slatterey
Salmonella Men From Planet Porno- short stories
Last of the Old Guard
The Blue Manuscript

Yikes! This is worse than I thought. I have more unfinished books than finished ones. Amazing what one can find out when 'writing' it down. I need to join the 75 unfinished books challenge to go along with this one. To be honest, it doesn't really bother me. I gave the idea of having to finish every book I started years ago. Plus, I like sampling a wide variety of writing.

>78: love your manifesto :)

I'm certainly trying to read more non-fiction this year because I am aware that I am horribly underinformed about just about every major conflict and politicial situation out there (I'm doing much better about Afghanistan though now...). Left to my own devices, I'd choose fiction every time - not because I don't find I enjoy non-fiction reading; it's rare that I abandon a book - to escape from it all.

Your approach seems very sound though. I should have given up much more quickly on a book I tried to read last year about the Medicis.

FlossieT, I'm glad you found something useful in the 'manifesto'. I let it sit on my monitor for about five minutes before clicking the submit button. I wasn't sure if I could express my thoughts coherently enough to be understood. Or if it would be useful to anyone other than myself.

Happy NF reading to you.

#78 - Power to you. I tried that once for a mixture of NF and F. For fiction books I would read the 1st 25 pages or so. What was nice is that I learned about a lot of authors, book styles and subjects very quickly. But, alas, eventually I had a ton a books I now really really really wanted to read, all of which seemed much better than what I was actually reading. sigh... I'm back to one at time now. :) ...having said all that, I think it works a lot better for NF than F.

ha! I didn't care for Woman in white either, nice to know I'm not alone.

>82 yep, same here, I try to make myself read some nonfiction every now and then. I enjoy some kinds of nonfiction books (for example literary criticism, or dramatic/literary/political theory) more than others. Biographies tend to bore me and I'm not really keen on historical books either - but I DO have to get my history knowledge somewhere so now and then I'll pick one of those what-happened-in-this-or-that-war books, only to abandon it after 50 pages. I wish I could work up a longer attention spam where those kind of books are concerned :(

Message edited by its author, Feb 18, 2009, 8:04am.

dchaikin, agreed. It works better for NF than fiction. I really don't make it back to much of my unfinished fiction.

beeg, are we safe admitting we don't care for Woman in White? Maybe the Wilkie police are keeping their eyes on us.

girlunderglass- It's official. I'm going to adopt the phrase- attention spam. };->~

haha whoops :) I meant span

I know, right? maybe we should get a secret handshake to be on the safe side.

21. Salmonella Men on Planet Porno, Yasutaka Tsutsui, translated by Andrew Driver

This collection of short stories is best described by a word on the dust jacket. Off-kilter. People are pursuing their mundane lives when something sort of fantastical happens to them. It's usually something subtle but it takes them out of the ordinary. I don't remember an author using the theme of laughter so often. Many subjects in the stories are subjected to laughing fits. Not small short ones, but prolonged roll on the floor laughing until it hurts fits. Strange, but it conveys an atmospheric feel not found in many other places. Like many short story collections, it pays to let a little time pass between reading the individual stories.

Tags Applied: Read In 2009, Fiction, Collection, Short Stories, Thirteen Stories, Translated From The Japanese, Japan, Laughter, Satiric Fantasy, Contemporary Life

Rating- 4 stars

252 pages

You certainly read an interesting variety of books! I've added a whole bunch to my TBR pile. I like your idea of keeping track of books you start but don't finish... I'm kind of afraid to do that for myself, though!

Loved your manifesto on nonfiction. It makes me feel a lot better about some of my nonfiction reading habits!

allthesedarnbooks, thanks for dropping by.

Still enjoying my journey with Charlie (Darwin), got a hankering to get physics-ical so started-
The Age of Entanglement- I like what the author is doing. Kind of a mash-up thing with the old quantum guys.
The Black Hole War- battles between the new physics players.

I like the blurb on the back of Louisa Gilder's book from Matt Ridley. " Louisa Gilder disentangles the story of entanglement with such narrative panache, such poetic verve, and such metaphorical precision that for a moment I almost thought I understood quantum mechanics." Exactly!

22. Charles Darwin: The Power of Place: Volume Two of a Biography, Janet Browne

Not only does Janet Browne have a background in biology, zoology, and history of science, she also spent eight years or so editing Charles Darwin's letters, notebooks, and other writings. Some have called her biography of Darwin the definitive biography of his life. I find no argument against that position.

She kept me interested in his whole life and captured his foibles and strengths equally. Her two volume biography is lengthy and comprehensive. Darwin and Fitzroy, the captain of the Beagle were both Jane Austen fans. Darwin loved reading fluff. Give him a pretty heroine and and a happy ending and he was pleased as punch. Some of his children wondered in their writings why he spent so much time reading such literary fare. Other tidbits such as this illuminate his essence very well. He wasn't a genius like Isaac Newton but an intellectual plodder that could take years to come to a conclusion on a subject. Even then, he had doubts whether he had considered all angles and always wanted more facts to solidify the conclusions. I found this biography very edifying.

Tags Applied: Read In 2009, Non-Fiction, Biography, History Of Science, Charles Darwin, Down House, Natural History, Evolution, Volume 2, Photographs

Rating- 5 stars

591 pages

Wow! Two months of 2009 are already past.

February Recap: Rating scale tops out at 5
16. The Master and Margarita- 5
17. The Next 100 Years- 4
18. The Limits of Power- 4
19. Traders, Guns and Money- 4.5
20. Charles Darwin: Voyaging- 5
21. Salmonella Men on Planet Porno- 4
22. Charles Darwin: The Power of Place- 5

Favorites for the month? The Darwin biography and Master and Margarita.

Year to date: 22 books finished and 22 unfinished. Some of the unfinished are- abandoned, abandoned with prejudice, in progress, set aside, on the back burner, waiting for the right mood and so on. Maybe I'll get that updated one of these days.

All in all, a great reading year so far.

I agree with you, VG - you have had a great reading year so far. I look forward to following your thread throughout the rest of the year.

23. The Sun, the Genome, and the Internet, Freeman J. Dyson

Freeman Dyson is one of those scientists that don't mind engaging in vaticination. Many are leery of trying their hand at future speculation. This thin volume is based on lectures given at the New York Public Library in 1997. I like to read some futurism books several years after they first appear to see how the predictions have fared. Overall, this one is doing alright. Freeman made some in 1985 that were way too ambitious. This one was more conservative and progress is still being made in all three areas. A quick entertaining read for those that have an interest in such musings.

Tags Applied: Read In 2009, Non-Fiction, Science, Futurism, 1997 New York Public Library Lectures, Internet, Solar Power, Genetic Manipulation, Genomics, Speculation

Rating- 3.5 stars

124 pages

24. The King's Last Song, Geoff Ryman

Cambodia. A land that's had more than its share of troubles. A book written on gold leaf is unearthed in modern Cambodia with the story of a 12th century king. Ryman uses dual timelines in this book that switches back and forth from the 12th century to the late 20th and early 21st century. Sometimes, this leads to one period being more interesting than the other but both eras were done well.

Tan Map, a character in the modern story, is damned and he knows it. He fought for the Khmer Rouge, then switched sides and fought some more. His hands are dripping with blood. He's tough, cynical, has a devil-may-care attitude towards life and authority and doesn't really care whether he lives or dies. But he hasn't quite given up trying to perform an atoning act or two even though he knows the scales will never balance. His story was haunting and engaging.

The King's story is also one of a person striving to do good but failing at it more than once. He was a Buddhist king trying to imprint Buddhism over Hinduism.

Ryman does include an afterward in the edition I read which explains the historical accuracy of his novel and what was fictionalized. Which is good because there was a lot to keep track of.

Tags Applied: Read In 2009, Fiction, Fiction Featuring Books, Historical Fiction, Cambodia, 12th Century, Dual Timelines, Khmer Empire, Angkor Wat, Buddhism

Rating- 4 stars

434 pages

#97: Another interesting read you have turned up, VG. I am on the hunt for this one as well.

I am adding The King's Last Song to my TBR list--it sounds like a wonderful read. Thanks.

25. True Crime: An American Anthology, Edited by Harold Schechter

The Library of America put out this anthology of true crime so the appeal is probably greater in the US than elsewhere. It has pieces by Cotton Mather, Benjamin Franklin, Abraham Lincoln, Mark Twain, Edna Ferber, Zora Neale Hurston, and many more.

It covers a period of roughly 350 years. It is interesting to see the changes in attitudes about horrific crime over the centuries. There are 50 cases, well, 49 cases and one section of crime ballads. The writing styles are widely varied as expected in such an anthology. Some of the crimes were familiar to me, like The Black Dahlia , and others were unknown. A few were pretty creepy and caused a shiver or two. The editor did pick fairly well from the annals of crime.

Tags Applied: Read In 2009, Non-Fiction, Anthology, True Crime, Edited By Harold Schechter, Library of America, American, History, Crime Ballads, 50 Cases

Rating- 3.5 stars

788 pages

Adding both of your most recent reads to my TBR list!

26. Wired For War: The Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the 21st Century, P.W. Singer

A good futurism book doesn't earn its mettle unless it scares your pants off at least once. After finishing this book, I may be pantless for a week or two. The problem is that 90% of the things mentioned in this book aren't even in the future, they are in the present. And development continues at a furious pace in every corner of the globe, including non-state actors.

Singer writes in an entertaining fashion with lots of pop-culture references but goes deep into the issues military robotics is facing. Robots are being deployed at breakneck speed and the rules are bubbling from the bottom up. There are no military doctrines at the top of the pyramid dictating the overall strategy and ethics of robotic combat which is leading to many strange happenings. Like commuter warfare.

He also covers many of the debates taking place in robotics. One of the groups covered is the refuseniks, which turn down military money for research. It almost doesn't matter because their findings can be weaponized within weeks of their research being released. That's also what the groups with little money do. Let someone else pay for the research with money, blood, sweat, and tears and co-opt the results for unintended purposes of the original researchers. For example, there have been over 90 ways identified so far to trigger IEDs in Iraq. There will be more. The money and resources being poured into this field is staggering. The world may become unrecognizable to those of us born in the dark ages. Say before 1990 CE.

Tags Applied: Read In 2009, Non-Fiction, Futurism, Robotics, Speculation, Warfare, Artificial Intelligence, Technology, Strategic Planning, Ethics, Photographs

Rating- 4.5 stars

499 pages

#102: Sounds like a good read, VG, in spite of your lack of pants. I will look for it. Thanks for the recommendation!

indeed, sounds like a fascinating read!

After dreaming about robots coming to vaporize me, I needed something to wash autonomous armed robots out of my brain. So I started The Raj Quartet by Paul Scott. I am gobsmacked by his writing. Okay, maybe gobsmacked isn't the right word to describe Scott. Insert your favorite word that means impressed with something that's really really good.

'Gobsmacked' works for me. One of these days, I will make it to The Raj Quartet. Maybe I should put it on my must read list for next year . . .

Message edited by its author, Mar 20, 2009, 6:06pm.

VG

Found you and spent an enjoyable morning reading the thread. Unfortunately it won't fit into my 999 challenge! :-D

You've read a lot of interesting books and my TBR is already toppling so I had to be very choosy--but two of them I', putting on my "must read" list: Janet Browne's 2 volume biography -- Charles Darwin: Voyaging & Charles Darwin: The Power of Place and The King's Last Song by Geoff Ryman. And I think I'd better start writing down my "must read" list like alcottacre does to keep track of it.

The Wilke Collins Police have arrived! Trust me, if you've tried twice to read Woman in White and failed give it up! His writing style is over the top Victorian and if you can't take the first 100 pages it only gets "worse!" And I like this book--I've read it 3 times in my life, first as a teenager, then when my children were young and lastly in 2008. If you want to take a second stab at Collins, try The Moonstone. A lot of people, including me, like that one better. It's not quite so "Gothic." I'm planning a reread of that one soon since it has been several years now since I read it.

I love your "manifesto!" That's pretty much the way I pick the NF that I buy. Hubby and I go to B&N and spend several hours and I read the Intros of all the books I'm considering while drinking coffee. It's like a "date night" for us. :-)

I'm on book 26 for this year and hope to finish tonight when I get home. I've starred you and will be back for more wisdom and book ideas soon.

MM41, My Victorian gene only expresses itself intermittently. All the planets have to be in a certain alignment along with several other factors for me to appreciate Vic writing.

Upthread, you asked about The Superorganism. I still haven't finished it. It is a wonderful and detailed work. However, it does push the limits of a layperson, of which I am one, to understand. It does have a glossary in the back that helps but even then I have to struggle with some of the concepts. It is interesting but not what I'd call a quick and easy read. I'm not sure if your husband likes the ants, bees, and wasps, but if so, he would probably have an easier time digesting it than I am.

VG

Thanks for the update. Although I remember a lot of discussions about ants, bees and wasps (and also houseflies!) around the dinner table when he was in graduate school his career has been spent with "critters" who try to infest stored products (he's a research scientist) so I'm not sure if he would consider Superorganism recreational reading. I will check it with him first--he might though, because he much prefers nonfiction to fiction for "light" reading! About the only fiction he encounters are audio mystery books when we drive long distances!

27. The Raj Quartet, Paul Scott- Book One: The Jewel in the Crown

Jewell is a book that deserves its well-favored reputation. Scott's descriptive, character, and psychological writing is just delicious. He employs very little dialogue in this novel. Several strands of the story are introduced early and then are slowly weaved into a captivating story. While historical and political, it doesn't get bogged down in these subjects. Instead, individual lives are the focus of being caught up in the India of World War II and the coming of independence.

There is tragedy. There is hope. There is hate. There is love. There is selfishness. There is selflessness. There is squalor. There is beauty. A snapshot of humanity between the covers of a book.

Tags Applied: Read In 2009, Fiction, Historical Fiction, India, Mayapore, British Empire, Colonialism, Raj, WWII, Politics

Rating- 4.5 stars

488 pages

28. Global Catastrophes and Trends: The Next Fifty Years, Vaclav Smil

Another one to feed my never-ending fascination with the BIG question: Is humanity on the road to inexorable progress or on the path of unavoidable collapse? For the record, I'm firmly at 50/50. Some days I'm optimistic, other days, I'm pessimistic. Smil goes for the statistical probability of certain events occurring. He presents his thoughts and statistics with a level head and is not subject to histrionics. The info is presented in a dry, dusty, academic way. Only for those that have an interest in such subjects. There is one section on future geopolitics, a game many are playing today. No new ground or outlooks broken here.

Tags Applied: Read In 2009, Non-Fiction, Futurism, Speculation, Secular Apocalypticism, Geopolitics, Pandemics, Global Climate Change, Probability, Charts And Graphs

Rating- 3 stars

307 pages

#110: One of these days I am going to make it to those books . . .

#111: . . . but I think I will give that one a pass.

I'm so glad you liked The Jewel in the Crown. The others are just as good, if not better. He also wrote what might be called a sequel, although it is totally unrelated in character and mood, called Staying On, about an elderly British couple whose circumstances forced them to stay on in India after its independence.

abw, I hope to get to the rest of The Raj Quartet this year. It's always nice to have books in the TBR pile that I know I will enjoy.

29. Hunting Eichmann, Neal Bascomb

Adolf Eichmann's role in the holocaust, his fugitive life, and his capture has been told in many other books. Bascomb has brought some new details to the story due to declassification of some events. He keeps the story tense even though the outcome is known. The book focuses on the capture of Eichmann not the resulting trial. I kept turning the pages and finished it rather quickly.

Tags Applied: Read In 2009, Non-Fiction, History, Adolf Eichmann, Mossad, Israel, Germany, Argentina, War Crimes, Photographs

Rating- 3.5 stars

390 pages

#110 re Raj Quartet

I know and have read very little about India so I want to make that a category to explore in the near future. I'm waiting to hear how you like the rest of the series because I can't decide if I should read Passage to India or Raj Quartet as my "fiction by a non Indian author" -- I plan the rest of the category to be either nonfiction or books by Indian authors. I would like opinions by anyone who has read these. I realize Paul Scott's work would entail a lot more reading but if it is that much better for finding out about India I don't mind.

#111

"For the record, I'm firmly at 50/50."

VG, I truly admire someone whose willing to take a firm stand for what he believes in! ;-D

MM41, have I got a lineup of non-Indian authors writing about India for you? ;-) Passage to India, A Jewel in the Crown, Shantaram, and River of Gods. They cover India in the early 20th century, mid-20th century, late 20th century and mid-21st century. All by non-Indians trying to describe India. The latter is SF but the other three capture eras that are now in the past. The Jewel in the Crown is not a cliff-hanger so one could take time to get to the other books. I'll let someone else recommend Indian authors writing about India. I've read some but I'm sure others have a better handle on that niche. India is an ever-fascinating place. It won't be hard to fill up your India category.

Music Mom--The other books in the Raj Quartet, taken together, give you an extremely comprehensive view of the end of the colonial period in India and the beginning of independence of India.

Another good book by a non-Indian is The Siege of Krishnapur by J.G. Farrell

I am currently reading Confessions of a Thug by Philip Meadows Taylor, who was some sort of police commissioner in India in the mid 1800's. At that time there apparently existed a group of highwaymen or robbers roaming the country who brutally murdered people to rob them. They were called "Thugs" (and this is apparently the origin of that term). This book was based on a confession given to Taylor by a captured thug. It is considered the first "true crime novel," and a predecessor to Wilkie Collins's The Moonstone. It is of course a mid-19th century book, and is somewhat dense reading, but is fascinating.

Visible Ghost--Along with Confessions of a Thug, I have just started River of Gods. Did you like it?

As I think about it, Confessions of a Thug is mid-19th Century India, The Raj Quartet is mid-20th Century India, and River of Gods is mid-21st Centur England (imagined). Siege of Krishnapur is sometime in the 1800's, not sure of exact time.

Ian McDonald is doing a kind of around the world SF tour. Brazil, India, Africa. I liked River of Gods but for non-SF readers who aren't familiar with the different Artificial Intelligence tropes it can be confusing. I've seen that complaint. Tendeleo's Story (Africa) is probably my favorite McDonald to this point.

Another India series I'm planning to get to when it's finished is the one in which Sea of Poppies is the first book. Amitav Ghosh claims it will be a trilogy. That's the problem with LibraryThing. I just keep finding out about more and more books. It never ends.

#118: That's the problem with LibraryThing. I just keep finding out about more and more books. It never ends.

How do you think my Mount TBR became Continent TBR? And it keeps growing every time I visit your thread!

119 aa, I've seen others scheduling a no new books month. Maybe I need to schedule a no LT month. =:-0~ Finished two more before March closed out.

30. Playing with Planets, Gerard 't Hooft, translated from the Dutch by his daughter Saskia

Speculation from a Nobel laureate particle theorist. He's a no-nonsense physics guy with a dislike for anything that even smacks of FTL travel for anything including messages. So no matter how much time goes by humanity is pretty much stuck in the solar system.

Physicists like BIG projects and he has one to combat hurricanes. Build huge chimney vents in warm waters where hurricanes get their strength and take some of the energy up the vents. He likes asteroid mining and asteroid art. An artist could claim one and shape into whatever just for art's sake. Electricity generating kites, reclaiming deserts, and new forest creation like the Columbian ZERI project are other ideas on the list. The book is not so much an authoritative text but is more like text capturing the author thinking aloud.

Tags Applied: Read In 2009, Non-Fiction, Speculation, Futurism, Physics, Nobel Laureate, Space Exploration, Robotics, Global Climate Change, Space Telescopes

Rating- 3.5 stars

143 pages

31. Palimpsest, Catherynne M. Valente

Valente is a new author for me and she made a positive impression on me. She wrote a two book series called The Orphan Tales that I gather is a retelling of some of the 1001 Nights stories. I'm quite fond of such 1001 Nights books so I'll have to get hers.

Palimpsest is fantasy with roots in Urban Fantasy and the New Weird. New Weird deals a lot with descriptive grotesquerie and a lot of people don't like it. Many times the grotesquerie is a symbol for something in society the author is criticizing. A big theme is usually capitalism, consumption, and corporations. Sometimes it's hard to figure out just what the author is on about. But the grossness is part of it.

Valente tempers her grotesqueness but doesn't abandon it. For instance, there is a vermin factory that churns out insects and rodents. But they are made with glass wings and jewels and other things. In other words, pretty little pests. Sexuality is also used. Valente writing is sensual but doesn't quite ramp up to erotica though she gets close to that border.

She has created some beautiful descriptive passages. She plays with words and their placement and you can just tell she is having fun doing so. The whole doesn't come together with as much power as some of the individual passages but Valente has writing talent to spare.

Tags Applied: Read In 2009, Fiction, Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, New Weird, Sex, Surreal, Dreamscape, Cityscape, Four Travelers

Rating- 4 stars

367 pages

Let me know how the 'No LT for a month' experiment goes. I would die of withdrawal symptoms I fear.

32. Decade of the Wolf: Returning the Wild to Yellowstone, Douglas W. Smith and Gary Ferguson

This is the story about the wolves return to Yellowstone National Park in the US west. It tells the story of the wolves once they were released into the park. It mentions the huge political battles that were fought over the wolves reintroduction but doesn't dwell on them. Other books cover that angle.

Smith is a biologist that helped implement the program. The book covers the first ten years of the wolves in Yellowstone. He relates many of the changes the wolves caused in the behaviors of the park's other wildlife and the changes in the plant life also. Every year something new was learned about the wolves. Pack behavior varied widely from pack to pack. There is still a mountain of data to analyze with more coming in all the time. The writing style is aimed for general audiences. Some of the wolves have/had fascinating personalities.

I read the hardcover edition which also contains some beautiful color photographs of these magnificent animals. To me, one of the most impressive sounds in nature are the howling of wolves and coyotes in the night. Hopefully, later generations will also get to hear experience these unforgettable sounds. I have gone twice to see and hear the wolves. That, along with going to the Grand Canyon to see the reintroduced Condors are memories that will stay with me for life.

Tags Applied: Read In 2009, Non-Fiction, Nature, Wolves, Yellowstone National Park, Biology, Conservation, Wildlife Management, United States West, Photographs

Rating- 4 stars

212 pages

#123: Ooh, I have to track down a copy of that one for my oldest daughter. She loves wolves. Thanks for the mention.

33. The Well and the Mine, Gin Phillips

This book will vie for a position on my best of the year list. It's an impressive debut novel. A great piece of Americana. Phillips can say a lot with very few words. If possible, read the first three pages of the book before reading the description on the front flap or the introduction. It won't really take away from the book if you don't but some might like to enter the story without knowing the theme that runs through the book. Not much to go on to decide if you'll like the book, I admit. Let me try this. If you liked To Kill a Mockingbird, there's a solid chance you'll like The Well and the Mine. I devoured it in a day.

Tags Applied: Read In 2009, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Alabama, Coal Mining, Poverty, Coming Of Age, Family, Racism, Debut Novel

Rating- 5 stars

251 pages

#125: I loved To Kill a Mockingbird when I read it last year, so The Well and the Mine definitely interests me, and if it is going on your best of the year list, VG, I want to read it! Thanks for the recommendation.

#125 Great comments. You got my attention. I'm trying to resist putting more books on the list, but...

dchaiken, The Well and the Mine shouldn't be a problem for most readers to squeeze in. The way the pages are numbered it only has about 237 pages to read. It's just straight-forward character, place, and era. No post-modern tricks or pretensions. It's not often I read a book that should appeal to the vast majority of readers. Everyone from your most prim and proper grandmother to your pierced and tattooed relatives. Ages eleven to a hundred and two. It's a good 'un.

I amm way behind trying to catch up on all the posts!

Thanks you VisibleGhost and arubabookwoman for the great suggestions for my next year's reading about India. I'm making a list in my reading journal so I won't lose them. This makes a very good start for me to tackle an area that will be quite new.

I have a feeling that over the past 8 months that I have been reading and posting in the LT groups I have been subtly brainwashed by infiltrations from the Globally Reading Group even though I haven't joined it. I keep getting these urges to start reading about areas of the globe I've never even thought about before! The Americas, Western Europe, and Russia are areas in which I am fairly widely read but my horizons have really expanded this year--and I'm loving it! (Sorry--I tend to get carried away when I'm excited!)

VG both Decade of the Wolf and The Well and the Mine are added to my TBR. They sound really interesting. Good reviews.

VG I've added The Well and the Mine to my mooch wishlist. Thanks! and thanks for explaining what your burger was over on lindapanzo's thread. Now I'm getting hungry thinking about beef and blue cheese. Dinner time here...

Thanks for the tip on The Well and the Mine. Sounds great! You won me over with this: "It's not often I read a book that should appeal to the vast majority of readers. Everyone from your most prim and proper grandmother to your pierced and tattooed relatives. Ages eleven to a hundred and two." :)

Wow!! The Well and the Mine is going to be an April 09 Early Reviewer book! It was published in 2007, but, I'm happy to see it there. I am curious to see how many requests it gets.

34. Q, Luther Blissett, translated from the Italian by Shaun Whiteside

Q was written by four pseudonymous authors that purportedly are anarchists. Luther Blissett was a footballer whose name was used for several projects in something called The Luther Blissett Project.

Q is a historical novel covering the Protestant Reformation in the first half of the 16th century. The history seems well researched and the book is bloody and violent as the period was. Some of the reformers were absolute madmen and tried to establish movements and followings that were little more than one 'prophet's' view of how the world should be. Others such as the Anabaptists settled into longer lasting religions as time went on. Behind some of the revolutionary fervor of the times were also plenty of reforms aimed at the poor, cities, regions, and the guilds.

Q is not quite traditional historical fiction. It uses profanity (lots of it) in a modern vein. It also employs a terse, sentence fragmented style in places. It's almost like a blend of James Ellroy and Neal Stephenson. I'm not sure if historical noir is a genre, if so, then that's what this is. It probably has to do with the authors backgrounds and intentions.

Somehow, the book works. The narrator tells his story over the decades as he watches protestant movement after protestant movement he joins get wiped out. On the other side of the battle is Q who is working for the Catholics. Their respective stories unfold over the decades in a turbulent time and over the landscape of Europe.

Tags Applied: Read In 2009, Fiction, Historical Fiction, 16th Century, Translated From The Italian, Protestant Reformation, Anabaptists, Europe, Inquisition, Martin Luther

Rating- 4 stars

750 pages

574 copies on LT

I like that: "historical noire." Maybe that's the tag I should put on Hambly's Benjamin January books...

jadebird, I have to admit that I hadn't heard of Hambly and the Benjamin January series before your mention. I clicked on the touchstone you provided and one of the recommendations that was listed for that book was something called New Orleans Noir. Interesting.

I really enjoyed Q but never considered the noir feel until you mentioned it, it's a really good description for it and now I have a hankering to read it all over again. Anyway thanks for the reviews (I am way behind) you've helped with my decision to try The Master and the Margarita.

clfisha, poking around the internet, I've found the authors of Q wrote 54 under the author name of Wu Ming next. Supposedly it means no name in one of the Chinese dialects. It covers the cold war period of the 1950s and continues the class struggle theme. The authors ( I think) have an interesting review on LT about the difference between European and American reception of their books on the 54 works page. There's at least one more book following 54.

Hi VG, just caught up on your thread today and picked up 6 books from Noir to Palimpsest. Enjoyed your NF reading manifesto as well! I'm always carrying on about how long it usually takes me to read NF. Usually, though, I'm really happy that I made it through, and I've always ended up enriched in someway, which makes it worthwhile. Thanks for your always interesting reviews and comments.

wow thanks for the info, I think 54 will be in amongst my next lot of book purchases! Their LT review was quite interesting so I quickly checked Amazon for reviews on Q but the UK/USA seemed to mirror each other quite closely. Most people enjoyed it but a few actively loathed the book but I think that's typical of most star ratings on Amazon. After a quick scan enjoyment seemed to be down to the reviewers expectations of what an historical novel should be, it certainly divided my household!

LisaMorr, thanks for visiting and the kind compliments. Happy TBR list building and reading to you. Which reminds me- I need to reorganize my online and offline TBR lists. They're outta control again.

clfisha, I did pick up a copy of 54 but it'll be a bit before I get to it. I'm looking forward to reading it.

35. One Second After, William R. Forstchen

One would think I would tire of reading apocalyptic tales after doing so for as a long as I have, but noooo, I see one sitting in the new release section and pick it up. Like Pavlov's dogs it's a conditioned behavior that publishers take advantage of. They say, if we print them the apocalyptic junkies will read them. OK, awareness is the first step of behavior change. So the next time I see one in the new release section I'll ............... cross that bridge when I get to it.

This apocalypse is brought on by an EMP (electromagnetic pulse) burst over the US and other parts of the world by unknown parties. Everything with chips and the electrical grid goes dark. Chaos and collapse follow. Forstchen writes in the introduction that he wrote the book as a warning. And it shows. He should have wrote the story first then used EMP as the trigger. The book is disjointed and preachy at times. Some of the so-called good guys are no better than the bad guys. Some of the solutions to jumpstart a new society are bassackwards. There are some heart wrenching moments but the characters are so stereotyped for the most part they become boring. And turning one of the roving marauder gangs into Satanists is just over the top lazy plotting. Well, I did finish it but that's probably just because of my attraction to the genre.

Tags Applied: Read In 2009, Fiction, Science Fiction, Apocalyptic, Electromagnetic Pulse, North Carolina, Survival, Societal Collapse, Starvation, Family

Rating- 2 stars

350 pages

38 copies on LT

haha that'll teach you to stay away from them...for a while at least. Hope your next apocalyptic read is better ;)

#140: As an apocalyptic book junkie, I am glad to see one I can give a pass to. I am currently reading Alas, Babylon and it sounds a whole lot better than that one!

Since you enjoy apocalyptic stories, have you read the classics? A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Always Coming Home by Ursula LeGuin, The Postman by David Brin, Emergence by David R. Palmer?

>142: There's also Merle's Malevil, which was quite good. I'm sure you've read On the Beach...don't I remember you were a Shute fan from last year?

I have Stewart's Earth Abides on my TBR pile; I'll get around to it at some point.

ronincats, I've read all those. What an apocalyptic geek are I. ;) I try not to read as many as I used to. But I am still swayed when I see a new one likeOne Second After. Canticle is one of my favorites.

Girlunderglass- haha is right. But I doubt my lesson learned is permanent .

Stasia- the book actually has a pretty high rating on Amazon. The LT rating is more muted. You might not want to give up on it just because of my thoughts. The author admits using Alas, Babylon as a template.

TadAD, Earth Abides is another favorite of mine but for very different reasons than Canticle.

#144: Shute's On the Beach is one of my favorite books. Yes, I was a Shute fan last year, your memory is correct, and I am still a Shute fan this year :)

#145: I will see if my local library has it - I am certainly not going to buy it!

36. Born Under a Bad Sky: Notes From the Dark Side of the Earth, Jeffrey St. Clair

Born Under a Bad Sky is radical environmental muckraking journalism. It's a collection of St. Clair's writing that has mostly appeared in CounterPunch. Muckraking journalism has declined over the years. There is a cornucopia of political polemics shouted back and forth over cable TV and blogs but that's not muckraking journalism. Some of the articles are brief but there are some long ones. I read it over a period of time instead of straight through.

It's a savage philippic that skewers a little bit of everything. Like the ANWR (Arctic National Wildlife Refuge) situation. Ted Stevens, the former Alaskan senator, was upfront about his desire to see ANWR drilled. He considered it an ugly desolate place and thought it a crime against humanity not to drill the hell out it. No surprises there. The Sierra Club uses ANWR as a cash cow. Every time a new proposal to drill there is revealed, new fund raising letters and internet campaigns are launched to defeat Big Oil. The money pours in. Staff and payrolls increase. Little serious efforts are made to permanently declare it a no-drill area. That would kill the cash cow. ANWR is not an issue it's an industry resembling an snake swallowing its tail. It becomes hard to determine where the interests overlap but the money never stops flowing into the opposing camps.

St. Clair can turn a mean clever phrase. The writing is not antiseptic and boring. By no measure do I agree with everything he says but I am attracted by his passion and style. I'm glad to find muckraking journalism still hanging around. Some of the writing is descriptive nature and landscape writing in the tradition of Wallace Stegner and Edward Abbey.

Tags Applied: Read In 2009, Non-Fiction, Collection, Environment, Muckraking Journalism, Western USA, CounterPunch, Politics, Anarcho-Primitivism, Nature

Rating- 4 stars

459 pages

13 copies on LT

#147: I am intrigued enough by your description to throw that one on the Continent, VG. I am a fan of Wallace Stegner, so your description of St. Clair's writing being in his tradition makes me want to give the book a try. Thanks for the review and the recommendation!

>135 There are several books in the "City" Noir series, they're made up of short stories about the particular city, I think they are all written by writers from the city as well. I read DC Noir a couple of years ago and it was pretty good. In addition to DC and New Orleans, I think there are books from Boston, Brooklyn, Manhatten, Another DC, and LA.

sgtbigg, thanks, I checked further into the Akashic Noir series and it looks like there are 27 books set in cities around the world.

37. Four Freedoms, John Crowley

John Crowley is not an undiscovered author but he is an underappreciated one. His subtle airy style is one that is not easily duplicated. It works well in the fantasy genre he has traditionally plied. Four Freedoms is not fantasy, it's historical fiction. His underlying style is still there with hints of deeper meanings. He won't knock one over the head with obviousness, instead, he just reveals glimpses of a bigger picture. Just one example: long-time readers of Crowley's will notice there's another character named Violet and that she's tall.

The novel takes place in a fictional aircraft manufacturing plant set in Ponca City, Oklahoma during World War II. Rationing is in effect and times are trying. So many males have been called up for military duty that there is a shortage of workers in the traditionally male dominated industrial facilities. Women, the disabled, and others on the fringe of American society at the time enter these places of works by the tens of thousands. Changes are set in motion that started remolding attitudes and gender roles.

Four Freedoms is broken into four sections that focuses on four different people that found themselves just hanging on in the depression years just before this period. They all find themselves caught up in this burgeoning industrial ramp-up. Life throws up obstacles along with the new opportunities. It is historical fiction based on the lives of everyday men and women not the power brokers of the time. They get shifted around the chess board in ways that such people always have been.

Crowley does very well in the historical fiction arena although at times it seems he wants to jump out into a bigger picture format. He doesn't though. He stays within the boundaries albeit with his usual flair.

Tags Applied: Read In 2009, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Oklahoma, Ponca City, Airplanes, Wartime Industrial Production, Rationing, WWII, Disabilities

Rating- 4 stars

24 copies on LT

#150: As a lover of good historical fiction, I will add Four Freedoms to the Continent. I confess I have never heard of John Crowley, so he will be a new author for me to try as well!

You mentioned that he writes fantasy as well, VG. Are there any books of his in particular in that genre that you would recommend?

Stasia, Little, Big is as good as anywhere to start with John Crowley. It's considered a fantasy classic by many. If you do decide to read it remember these words- subtle, gentle, and ethereal.

#152: My local library has that one! I will give it a go and try and keep your words in mind :)

38. The 100 Most Influential Books Ever Written, Martin Seymour-Smith

I have worked on this book for the past two years. It doesn't need to be read in a short time frame. Seymour-Smith was a fusty, crotchety, curmudgeonly academic. And a poet and critic. He was buddies with Rudyard Kipling and Thomas Harding. To say he's opinionated is an understatement. But that's OK. He can be funny, even when he's not trying be, erudite, and sometimes shows thinking that is so far out of the box that he leaves conventionality far behind. It's quite a messy presentation. I am glad such approaches exist though.

The case for this list is influence and influence alone. Not readability nor popularity. There is very little fiction. The books are presented in chronological order of their appearance. Number one is the I Ching, number twenty-five is Confessions by Augustine, number seventy-five is First Principles by Herbert Spencer. The time line is drawn out over the centuries.

Don't expect a light reading list. There is lots of religious books, philosophy, scientific theories, and lots of political treatises. Some of them are rarely read but they spawned numerous works in their stead which is why Seymour-Smith considers them influential. He claims there would be consensus on about seventy of them and argument over thirty of them. I would agree with that.

Each work receives a two to six page essay on that work. Of course, some were a lot more interesting than others. If you have a need to read all 100 books in their entirety than you probably are a fusty, crotchety, curmudgeonly academic or on the road to becoming one. For me, a few pages on each of the 100 books sufficed.

Tags Applied: Read In 2009, Non-Fiction, Non-Fiction Featuring Books, Humanities, Philosophy, Reading Lists, Illustrated, Literary Criticism, Reference, History Of Ideas

Rating- 3 stars

498 pages

131 copies on LT

#154: I would like that one - I am a fusty, crotchety person all over the place!

39. Cutting for Stone, Abraham Verghese

Cutting for Stone will take the reader on a trip that covers decades in a family's life. Along the journey one will learn a little bit on the topics of the practice of medicine, surgery, dedication, Ethiopia, food, politics, organ transplants, poverty, familial relationships, religion, and other topics. The novel covers a lot of territory. It will not be a tedious trip but one that is more than interesting.

Verghese has a style that keeps the reader engaged and curious as to what will transpire next. Some things are expected but others will hit the reader out of the blue that were not expected. It is character driven fiction that succeeds. Even minor characters are written with great care and affection. It would take a fairly hard-hearted Scrooge-like reader not to have their emotions tugged on at all.

Tags Applied: Read In 2009, Fiction, Medicine, Doctors, Surgery, Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, New York City, Family, Debut Novel

Rating- 4.5 stars

541 pages

224 copies on LT

#156: I just read Verghese's My Own Country and enjoyed it. I have both his Cutting for Stone and The Tennis Partner on Continent TBR. I agree with you about his style - he is very readable and I cannot wait to get to his other books.

#156 - it's on my Kindle...waiting...

Along the journey one will learn a little bit on the topics of the practice of medicine, surgery, dedication, Ethiopia, food, politics, organ transplants, poverty, familial relationships, religion, and other topics. The novel covers a lot of territory.

ooooh salivating! love those kinds of books! the more topics/issues it deals with, the better! :D

40. The Radetzky March, Joseph Roth, translated from the German by Joachim Neugroshel

A fictional take on the waning days of the Habsburg Empire with four generations of fathers and sons that served the empire. The relationships between them are outwardly emotionally spare but nonetheless run deep. Roth, through his characters thoughts, captures the decline of an era. Individuals and their relationships with the state also come to the fore.

With some books that have attained classic status, I try to decide if they deserve that title. With this one I had no doubts from the very beginning. The writing created a comfortable sorrowful cocoon that lasted through the whole book.

Tags Applied: Read In 2009, Fiction, Translated From The German, Fathers And Sons, Habsburg Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, WWI, Vienna, Franz Joseph I, Aristocracy

Rating- 4.5 stars

331 pages

554 copies on LT

Alcottacre, dchaikin, and girlunderglass, I'll bet you each a Krispy Kreme donut that you'll like Cutting for Stone.

Way back in message one I stated that I would read less this year. How am I doing? At the end of April 2008 I had finished 64 books. End of April this year I have finished 40. Yay me!

Message edited by its author, May 1, 2009, 6:29am.

#161: No bet from me on that one, VG.

Congratulations on making your goal of reading less!

I seem to buying just before you read them - The Radetzky March arrived in mail three days ago. I'm looking forward to it.

Sorry, you only get the doughnut for a book I pick up after you review it. ;)

41. B is for Beer, Tom Robbins

Six year Gracie Perkel's world has gone to hell. She didn't get the cute pink cell phone that does everything for her birthday nor a puppy. Her dad and mom aren't getting along. Her uncle stood her up for a birthday date. Flu is going around so none of her friends can come over. So, she drinks a can of beer. Along comes the beer fairy and they are off on an educational beer tour.

Yep, it's Tom Robbins doing his Tom Robbins thing. The concept of this book is a comment on the blurring of adult and children's books. It's a grown-up book for children and a children's book for grown-ups. Says so right on the cover. There are puns, word plays, goofiness, and zaniness. A line from the acknowledgements page sums up Robbins' mindset. " ...other parties were warning that I couldn't or shouldn't, or wouldn't bloody dare."

Tags Applied: Read In 2009, Fiction, Humor, Illustrated, Beer, Seattle, Satire, Philosophy, Whimsy, Sunday School

Rating- 4 stars

125 pages

21 copies on LT

42. The Mystery of Grace, Charles de Lint

Grace is nearly alone in life. She lives to rebuild old cars. She also likes tattoos and ink covers a lot of her body. Events occur which put her in contact with a spirit world which she struggles to understand.

I had mixed feelings about this story. I really liked parts of it. It had a non-formulaic feel to most of it. Other parts I wasn't quite so enamored with. If you require a neat tied-up ending then this probably isn't going to work for you. Overall, I did enjoy the book though.

Tags Applied: Read In 2009, Fiction, Fantasy, Ghosts, American Southwest, Hot Rod Culture, Tattoos, Rockabilly, Gearheads, Bruja

Rating-3.5 stars

269 pages

62 copies on LT

43. The House of Wittgenstein: A Family at War, Alexander Waugh

Good Lord! Is there a term that is three orders of magnitude beyond dysfunctional family? If there is it should be renamed Wittgenstein syndrome. The children don't like their parents. The parents don't really like the children. The children sure as hell don't like each other much. Most of the children don't like themselves either.

Just some interesting tidbits from the bio. Ludwig and Adolf Hitler attend school together. The teachers don't think highly of either one and expect little from them in life. Ludwig and Adolf don't think much of the teachers either.

Ludwig gives his money away because he believes it is corrupting. Admirable. He then takes a teaching job in a poor town village. Again admirable. He boxes some of the students about the head so hard that they bleed out of their cranial orifices. Not so admirable.

Paul is 47 and wants to teach students with talent some piano lessons. Admirable. He immediately impregnates an 18 year-old student. She gives birth nine months after her first lesson. Not so admirable.

There is a suicide theme running throughout. I counted about fifty of them over the course of the book. It got to the point that it was making me snicker when another one occurred. I'm not sure that was Waugh's intention. Maybe I wasn't supposed to be adding them up.

Because the book covers so many family members it does jump around in places and feels a bit disjointed. Waugh does well following the family over the decades as a unit. But what a messy family unit it was.

Tags Applied: Read In 2009, Non-Fiction, Biography, Wealth, Suicide, Austria, WWI, WWII, Music, History

Rating- 3 stars

333 pages

41 copies on LT

Message edited by its author, May 5, 2009, 6:27am.

That one has been on the Continent for a while now. Based on that review, I think I am permanently taking it off the Continent!

I'm with you, alcottacre, The House of Wittgenstein sounds too grim to be endured. I think you are very brave VisableGhost. I just set aside Dressed for Death because, though I liked the strong beginning, the story was drifting into the mundane. I don't know why, but that always depresses me in a mystery story.

alcottacre & jadebird, there were parts of the story that were not so grim. Paul's life had some enduring struggles that he managed quite well even though he remained a difficult person for many that interacted with him. Some of the sisters had good qualities along with the bad also. But I would say it is definitely not a feel-good comfort read.

Message #165
I very much like the writing of deLint. I'm adding The mystery of Grace to my tbr pile.

opps...I found that it already is on my tbr list. I'll try to move this one up some notches.

#166 - Contrary to a few here, I'll be adding The House of Wittgenstein to my wish list. Thanks for the review, it sounds fascinating!

Whisper1, I'm forever adding things to my TBR lists that are already on one or more of them. To my credit I have been trying to clean them up lately. I might not ever get them copacetic but I'm giving it an honest effort. ;)

petermc, here's hoping you find The House of Wittgenstein an interesting read.

I am trying to make a concentrated effort to read books on my tbr list....but the only way not to add more is to stop visiting the threads. And, that is not an option.

In other words, just dropping by to say "Hello!"

44. The Age of the Unthinkable: Why the New World Disorder Constantly Surprises Us and What We Can Do About It, Joshua Cooper Ramo

This is the type of book that Malcolm Gladwell made popular. It picks fascinating tidbit after fascinating tidbit from the ceaseless goings on of what makes our world tick. Everything that happens creates more complexity. The speed of the complexity also increases. Everyone struggles to understand just what is going on.

Ramo uses Per Bak's sand piles as a metaphor for the world. Bak (some of his peers called him the " most American of Danish scientists" because he liked to argue and invent at the same time ) worked on describing the actions of a sand pile where one grain of sand was added at a time. Could it be predicted when the next grain of sand would cause an avalanche? Not really. Sometimes one more grain would create instability and sometimes it would still be stable after a thousand more grains were added. It was a simple problem that turned out to be devilishly complex. The sand pile reaches a state of organized instability. The next grain could cause it to slide. That's our economic, political, military, international, and health state of the world according to Ramo. Nobody is sure what the next grain of sand dropped onto the pile will do. There are many. many intriguing examples of this from all the areas mentioned above, plus some.

Where most of these books tend to go down a notch or two in quality is the solution part of the book. As this one does. It is interesting as hell but the 'and what we can do about it' is the weak part. As it is in some of Gladwell's books. I enjoy these kind of books though and Ramo doesn't spend the majority of the book on 'solutions'. He does understand that the world is even more complex now than it was when he wrote the book and will be even more so in the future. I'm sure a publisher would balk at the idea of offering a 'problem' book without the 'solutions' which is one reason this formula is being followed by so many. Overall, a very enjoyable read for anyone interested is such things.

Tags Applied: Read In 2009, Non-Fiction, Complexity, International Relations, Santa Fe Institute, Per Bak, World Politics, Organized Instability, Economics, Strategic Planning

Rating- 3.5 stars

279 pages

22 copies on LT

45. All the Living, C.E. Morgan

I read some books for plot. Some for action. Some for dialogue. Some for great lengths of time covered. Some for ideas. Some for verbosity.

All the living is none of those things. It is stark, spare, and beautiful. Not much happens. Very little time progresses. More communication happens by non-communication than with it, if that makes sense. Think of some of Cormac McCarthy's males communicating with each other except here it happens between a young man and a young woman.

It's a strong debut novel that appears effortlessly written but underneath that sheen I'm sure a lot of effort took place. I started it to sample her style. I kept reading because I was taken in by her artistry of painting the words on the pages.

Tags Applied: Read In 2009, Fiction, Kentucky, Tobacco Farms, Debut Novel, Communication, Relationships, Pianos, Country Churches, Hardscrabble Life

Rating- 4.5 stars

199 pages

24 copies on LT

sounds wonderful and it's short too - I'm putting it on my wishlist!

#177: I am adding it to the Continent, too.

Bother! I've put off reading your thread for a while because I only found it when there were already zillions of posts and I knew I'd only end up adding loads to my TBR piles. Yep. I was right... I'm quite relieved that at least some of them were already on my list for the year (Raj quartet and a reattempt at The Master and Margarita), otherwise it would be ridiculous! Thank you for some potentially very exciting new reads anyway!

Incidently I too like your Non Fiction manifesto - very sensible...

Hi flissp, thank you for dropping by. Glad you found something to add to your TBR list(s). I've been organizing mine. I swear they weren't this bad before I joined the 75 group. I've come to associate the word books with the word inexhaustible.

46. Shambling Towards Hiroshima, James Morrow

James Morrow is an author that is not appreciated by wide audiences. His most accessible work for a general audience is The Last Witchfinder. His black humor, philosophizing, satirical writing voice can be pretty intense in some of his other books. He can make a reader squirm.

Shambling Toward Hiroshima is typical of his output. There are funny lines, lines that make one think, and some uncomfortable passages. Syms Thorley is a B-movie actor making monster movies in Hollywood during WWII. The powers that be recruit him to a project designed to end the war in Japan early. Work on weapons of mass destruction are going on at places besides Los Alamos and in different fields other than physics. It gets goofy but it is trademark Morrow.

Tags Applied: Read In 2009, Fiction, Science Fiction, Satire, B-Movies, Monster Movies, Hollywood, WWII, Weapons Of Mass Destruction, Fan Conventions

Rating- 3.5 stars

170 pages

41 copies on LT

#182: That one certainly looks interesting. I will see if I can locate a copy. Thanks for the recommendation, VG!

ditto, I have never heard of James Morrow and that sounds a good place to start. Thanks.

VG - thanks for so many more nice reviews. Your description of All the Living makes it sound very appealing - another to add to this list.

47. Callisto, Torsten Krol

I picked this up because of the author information on the back cover. In its entirety: Torsten Krol is a writer. Nothing further is known about him.

Odell Deefus, a Forrest Gump like character, stumbles into misadventure. Where Forrest could fall in a pile of manure and come out smelling like a rose, Odell has no such luck. He gets deeper and deeper into the pile as events escalate and smells nothing like a rose. There is a body that won't stay buried. Odell has a crush on Condoleezza Rice. He has read The Yearling sixteen times. He thinks long and hard about the situations he finds himself in but comes to the wrong conclusions. He is well written character.

The book has been compared to Catch-22 and A Confederacy of Dunces but I think it's a notch or two below their quality. Some of it is about as subtle as using a sledgehammer to crack open eggs. It also doesn't have a timeless feel. It's as if the sell-by expiration date has already passed. Odell is a oner but the rest of the characters tend toward caricature of a one dimensional nature. It was a flawed but enjoyable read.

Tags Applied: Read In 2009, Fiction, Kansas, Politics, Televangelists, War On Terror, Homeland Security, Humor, Extraordinary Rendition, Condoleezza Rice

Rating- 3 stars

437 pages

46 copies on LT

#186: I think I will give that one a pass, VG, although I do love the author information!

48. Descent Into Chaos, Ahmed Rashid

Keeping abreast of the happenings in Pakistan is rather discouraging at times. Rashid points out that it has been a nation that has felt insecure about its prospects in the world since Partition. Since then, much of the time has been spent with the military in control of the government. At times, democracy will move a few steps forward but then clamp-downs rear up again.

He explains the complicated area that is the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. The governments of Pakistan or Afghanistan have never fully controlled these areas which predate the current border by centuries. It is mostly an area beset with poverty and limited resources. Festering grievances with those who weld power over them such as warlords or repressive governments have given rise to new movements that promise relief, like the Taliban, which usually end up with a new form of oppression.

Since 2001 the US and then later NATO have been waging war in the region. Alliances have shifted and continued to shift leaving anything but a stable region. The number of tribes, movements, NGOs, countries, and politicians mentioned in the book are nigh impossible to keep track of. Rashid does a good job of pointing out and trying to describe all the parties involved trying to shape the region. There are thousands of cooks in the kitchen. It is a brutal place though. The author didn't really offer a lot of hope for the near future and claimed it might be generations before the situation improves. It is a sobering but informative book.

Tags Applied: Read In 2009, Non-Fiction, Central Asia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, International Relations, Taliban, Politics, Current Events, War On Terror

Rating- 4 stars

484 pages

86 copies on LT

Another of Rashid's books to add to the Continent!

This sounds like an important book to read in these times. Thanks for bringing it to our attention.

#188 - Thanks for the review. This book is slowly coming to the top of my reading list. With the recent release of the paperback, I hope more people will take the opportunity to look at it. Last month, I sneaked a read of the first chapter and it comes across as an immensely readable work on an important topic.

#188 - I've added it to the never shriking tbr list/pile. Thanks for the review.

Looks like an informative book, added to the TBR mountain. Thanks

>177: I finished All the Living last week and found it a thought-provoking read - think it would be interesting to read alongside On Chesil Beach (which I did NOT enjoy) for the different ways of handling the story of a marriage with serious communication problems. My one real complaint is that the last few pages, and Aloma's final reactions, seemed like a bit of a cop-out after the emotional intensity of the rest of the book.

>48: I have Rashid's Taliban in my TBR-soon pile, and have just printed off his NYRB article on Pakistan, so it's good to hear that Descent into Chaos is worth reading.

189, 190, 191, 192, & 193- I was following the news on Pakistan today and was uncomfortably wondering, where does this situation end up? I sure don't know.

FlossieT, I haven't read On Chesil Beach. That's an interesting comparison. I had the feeling that Aloma's mindset at the end was liable to change again in the future. The book took them to that point and no farther. That being said, I really don't think I want a sequel to find out how they fared over time. It's hard for me to describe why I like an author's writing style but I really was caught up in hers.

49. The Coming Convergence, Stanley Schmidt

A so-so futurism book. Not much Earth shattering here. It's more of a rehash of other's ideas. Schmidt is the long-time editor of the science fiction magazine, Analog. He did include his Fermi paradox possibility which isn't half bad. It first showed up in a 1998 essay of his.

The Fermi Plague
1. As technology advances to the point where small groups or individuals can control very large amounts of power, it becomes possible for one malevolent or deranged person to do a great deal of damage- up to and including wiping out the population of a city, continent, or planet.
2. As population grows larger and larger, it becomes increasingly likely that such a person will arise.

Tags Applied: Read In 2009, Non-Fiction, Futurism, Forecasting, Speculation, Nanotechnology, Biotechnology, Technology Convergence, The Fermi Plague, Photographs

Rating- 2.5 stars

270 pages

9 copies on LT

#196: I think I will pass on that one!

#160 Just catching up on your thread The Radetzky March sounds interesting, I've seen it around and wondered what it was like now I'll look out for it.

Message edited by its author, May 29, 2009, 11:16pm.

I just flicked through your thread a second time as I caught an early mention of 2666 being read. Did you finish this or is it still a work in progress?

Hi avatiakh, thanks for visiting. I am still working on 2666 and thoroughly enjoying it. I haven't lost the threads or overall feel of the book. It is sticking in my mind. I also took quite a long time to read The Savage Detectives. Bolano mentions an amazing number of works, authors, and poets in both books. I have jotted down such things as I'm reading then went on Google and Wikipedia searches to check them out. Which has led to even more obscure subjects that sidetrack me for a time. 2666 has turned into a long and winding journey for me but it has been and still remains a very interesting one.

50. Cities of Salt, Abdelrahman Munif, translated from the Arabic by Peter Theroux

It is the 1930s in an unnamed Persian Gulf country. Life in the harsh desert climate hasn't changed much for centuries. Social mores have arisen to survive in such a place. The young men travel from place to place in the region in attempts to make their fortune or at least enough to marry. The oasis communities can't support large populations so there is movement from area to area to relieve environmental pressures. Into this mix, strange people start showing up, asking strange questions, bringing in really strange big yellow machines that make a lot of noise and rip things up with great efficiency. Oil has been discovered in the region.

Cities of Salt is a clash of cultures novel in the same vein as Things Fall Apart. Some people adapt to a degree but some do not adapt at all. Some adapt for personal gain. Seeds are sown for future conflicts. Cities is the first book in a trilogy. I think a reader could read this as a stand-alone though. The translation comes across in English well and seems to capture the ambiguities and nuances of the language and culture. Not that I read or understand Arabic. It has a cadence in the translation that feels right though.

Tags Applied: Read In 2009, Fiction, Translated From The Arabic, Historical Fiction, 1930s, Middle East, Clash Of Cultures, Oil, Bedouin, Postcolonialism

Rating- 4 stars

627 pages

156 copies on LT

When I read Cities of Salt several years ago, it was one of my best reads of the year. The depiction of the effects that the exploration for oil in the Middle East by the West had on their lives from the point of view of the nomadic tribes and others native to the region, was so real, original, and eye-opening.

The two following books in the trilogy are also well-written and worth reading, but were not as compelling for me a Cities of Salt.

Great review, VisibleGhost. I hadn't heard of this book or author, but I'll look for it this week.

#200 Thanks for your update on 2666, I finally finished The Savage Detectives earlier this month and have 2666 but I think I'll leave it till later in the year. Quite nice to have one leisurely read to keep going back to, I always have several books on the go at the same time.
Cities of Salt sounds fascinating and I'm going to have to look out for a copy.

Thanks to all that have visited this thread. It does warm the cockles of my heart. I think I'm going to start a new one for June onward. One last post for this one because it did happen before June.

This is one reason why I never catch up on my reading. Yesterday I put a twenty dollar bill in my pocket and went book hunting. I thought, how much can I get for a twenty anyway? Not even one new hardcover if I find one I can't live without. And even then it would have to be discounted from list price.

Score!!! Here's what I came home with after hitting a dollar store, a used bookstore, a new and used bookstore, and a Waldenbooks with a dollar rack and a bunch of remainders.

The Sagas of Icelanders, edited by Robert Kellogg
Rocket Man: Robert H. Goddard and the Birth of the Space Age, David A. Clary which turned out to be a signed first edition.
The Lizard Cage, Karen Connelly
Human Smoke, Nicholson Baker
The Perfectionist: Life and Death in Haute Cuisine, Rudolph Chelminski
Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Vincent Bugliosi- This was the expensive one at $9.99. All the others were on $1.00 clearance racks. A monster. 1612 pages PLUS more endnotes and source notes on a CD_ROM.

After sales tax I still came home with three dollars and change.

#205 - The Chelminski book is brilliant - enjoy!

#205: I read Human Smoke last year. I will be interested in your comments on it.

Sounds like you had a terrific haul, VG!

VG - please post a link to your new thread, or I may never find it. Thanks again for your reviews. I've written Cities of Salt down on a list of books I can't resist at least noting...it's list I've been trying to avoid adding to. ;)

I read The Lizard Cage earlier this year, hope you enjoy.

dchaikin, I meant to post a link to thread number two but it slipped my mind as I looked up my new acquisitions on LT to see what the ratings and so forth were like.

http://www.librarything.com/topic/65865

Thanks, you're starred now.