Cushla's 2011 books - Chapter 1

Currently reading:

War and Peace - p 320 (V2, P1, VII)
Freedom by Jonathan Franzen - p 300 - stalled because it is so icky - abandoned?!
Nixonland by Rick Perlstein - stalled for W&P and fluffier books
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson

____________________

Ooh, how exciting!!

Will be back in the morning when I've had a strong coffee with a list of books I want to read in 2011.

OK, I've had two coffees and a think about what I want to read in 2011. I don't expect to get to 75 books and I am going to aim for 25 tomes and whatever else I squeeze in.

I tend to read things on a whim, which means I have tons of long books that are sitting here waiting to be read. Some of the ones I want to get through this year include:

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann
A Place of Greater Safety by Hilary Mantel
Nixonland by Rick Perlstein
Rough Crossings by Simon Schama
Citizens by Simon Schama
This time is different by Carmen Reinhardt and Kenneth Rogoff
Life and Fate by Vassily Grossman
Testament of Experience by Vera Brittain
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
The rise and fall of the 3rd Reich by William Shirer
Germany 1945 by Richard Bessel
Masters and Commanders by Andrew Roberts
The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver
The Children's Book by A S Byatt
Death by a Thousand Cuts by Michael Graetz and Ian Shapiro READ IN DECEMBER 2010

I don't expect to get through all of these, but I will try to come back to this list before getting sidetracked by other books! I am also planning on reading 1 or 2 books for Orange January, and will probably get through a few more Donna Leon mysteries and Andrea Camilleris. Most other books will be TIOLI picks.

I am also going to TRY to keep out of the bookshops over here and not go onto Book Depository too often...

Edited to say that I forgot to leave a spare post for a book list. oops!

January
1. Case Histories by Kate Atkinson - 4 1/2 stars - Orange January and TIOLI first in series
2. As Always, Julia by Joan Reardon - TIOLI Christmas present - 4 stars
3. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot - TIOLI top LT books of 2010 - 4 stars
4. A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers by Xiaolu Guo - 1 star
5. Manhattan, When I was Young by Mary Cantwell - 3 1/2 stars
6. Dissolution by CJ Sansom - 4 1/2 stars

February
7. Dark Fire by C J Sansom - 4 1/2 stars
8. A Fork in the Road: A Memoir by Andre Brink - 4 stars
9. An Unfinished Business by Boualem Sansal - 4 1/2 stars
10. God's Philosophers by James Hannam - 3 1/2 stars

March
11. Mornings in Jenin by Susan Abulhawa - 4 1/2 stars

Source of books:
1. Bought in 2010 - 3 books (1, 4, 8)
2. Present - 2 books (2,5)
3. Bought in 2011 for book club - 1 book (3)
4. Bought in 2011 for no good reason... 4 books (6,7,9,11)

Welcome back!

Cool! Cushla's in!

Glad to see you here again, Cushla! You had me worried for a bit there.

hi Cushla,
wishing you a great reading year, I will try to keep up ;-)

Hi and thanks for visiting (I LOVE visitors to my thread!)

Anita, it won't be hard to keep up here, because I think I am going to set myself a target that is well below 75 to make myself read some really big books.

Yay, found you!

I really loved Anna Karenina - will be interested to see what you think!

After following you on Twitter this year, I'm back to LT-stalk you in 2011 - What's up first for January?

I'm awfully behind on your 2010 thread, but at least I have you all starred in preparation for 2011. :)

Just had to stop and say Hi and hurray for Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. I loved that one.
Good Luck!

Hi Cushla, found your thread and cam by to say hi

Hi - I will come and visit all your threads soon (really soon, if the kids continue to cooperate by playing Super Mario on the Wii...)

Cait - nice to have a friendly stalker! I just found your CR thread for 2011 and have starred it- are you going to be in both this year? I don't know what's up first yet. War and Peace, maybe, while motivation is high, or The Lacuna for Orange January. But I have the kids home till the 10th, so peaceful reading time will be scarce as hens' teeth.

I'm doing Orange January as well this year - I have picked A Spell of Winter by Helen Dunmore and The Help by Kathryn Sockett - both books are on my shelf ready to go

#13 - Yep, I'm in both groups this year - hopefully I can keep caught up!

Just stopped by to say hi and to star you!

Hey there, Cushla ... I was trying to resist coming to the 2011 group until the New Year, but ... ok, I admit it, I'm weak, dammit, I'm weak!

Hi, Cushla. Looking forward to following your reading next year.

Hi Cushla, just dropping in to star you. After wandering about the forums for awhile to figure out who reads what, I'm sure you'll be adding books to my TBR pile next year :-)

OK, it's time I did another wander through the thread garden to find you all.

We are about to leave on holiday (skiing!!! I am very very excited, not that I know how to ski really...but surely in Switzerland it will come naturally to me, right?) for a week, back Christmas Day, and I'm sure by then the group will be back to its usual unmanageable but lovable size...

#20: surely in Switzerland it will come naturally to me, right?

Not holding my breath on that. Do not break anything important while skiing, Cushla!

Unmanageable? Us? You must be thinking of some other group. lol

#20: surely in Switzerland it will come naturally to me, right?

Well, I guess the same thing happens to me in New Zealand when attempting to shear sheep, right?

It's great to ski, so enjoy every bit of it - don't show off, just ski safely

Hi Cushla, have you starred now. Have fun attempting to ski. Hopefully, they have bunny hills in Switzerland;-)

Cushla- That's an impressive and challenging list! Good luck! I would also like to get to Nixonland. I have a copy of Before the Storm, which I should get to first.

Have a great trip, Cushla, and take lots of pictures!

Just echoing everyone's sentiments - have a great time skiing. And as per #21, try not to break anything! It'd totally put a crimp on your Christmas.

Have a fantastic time, Cushla ... and ditto what Pat said. Wear well padded jackets and pants ...they cushion the falls better so who cares if you look like the Michelin Man?

That's quite an impressive looking list you've got there. I read 'Anna Karenina' this year and really enjoyed it, but I don't feel ready to tackle 'War and Peace' yet. Good luck with those!

Cushla, I'm going to sneak into your coat pocket and swoosh down the slopes with you, so no falling, lest you smash me. Oh what fun we'll have!

Hey Cushla, I lost your thread sometime last year. I am glad I found you again. I hope you made it to your destination. Seems like half of Europe is shut down, Surely they know how to deal with snow in Switzerland.

Hi cushla...I too somehow managed to lose you last year, so I'm starring this and hope to follow your progress through that ambitious but inspiring list of books. I'd be proud of myself if I managed to finish even one of them.

I'm still going on books for 2010, but am unlikely to read anything that makes it into my best ones of the year, so here is my list of favourite books for 2010. These are my 5 star reads. There were a lot of 4 1/2 stars that nearly made it, but this list is long enough!

Fiction:

Every Man Dies Alone by Hans Fallada
A Dry White Season by Andre Brink
The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
1984 by George Orwell
The Heather Blazing by Colm Toibin
Der Minister-Praesident by Joachim Zelter
The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa

Non-fiction
Too Big to Fail by Andrew Ross Sorkin
Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain
Death by a Thousand Cuts by Michael Graetz and Ian Shapiro

Best book read in 2010: Testament of Youth.

#32: Great list, Cushla!

Cushla- I hope you had a nice holiday and I agree Every Man Dies Alone is a masterpiece!

I concur with Mark on Every Man Dies Alone; it made my Top Ten for 2010 as well. You have some titles there that I need to look into including the Toibin I've never heard of.

Thanks Stasia!

Mark and Donna, Every Man Dies Alone was nearly my top book for the year. Have you read any of his other ones?

Happy new Year Cushla!

Happy New Year! Hope you had a great night last night.

Cushla, good list plan. I think I need to set some book specific reading goals too. Thanks for the inspiration.
Anna Karenina will definitely be on mine as well. Happy Reading!

Happy New Year Cushla! I have a gift card from B&N that I intend to use for Testament of Youth among other titles. Every Man Dies Alone is already on my shelf.

Happy New Year, Cushla! I'm so glad I have Every Man Dies Alone to look forward to. And I've already added Testament of Youth onto my new wishlist, so I'm happy. Did I hear that Mark wanted to read Nixonland too? I sort of zoomed through the first half of that book (well, as much as one can zoom through a book like that) and then never finished it. And it was really good too. Maybe we can get Mark to do a GR of it?

Happy New Year, Cushla.
Ok, I get the hint and have pushed Every Man Dies Alone up to Must-Read in 2011 status.

Here you are!
Hiding in plain sight...

What Kerry said -- it's either on my Kindle or hanging around in a pile of books.

Looking forward to reading The Magic Mountain at the same time as you!

Happy new year everyone! Am really happy to see my LT friends thinking about reading some of my 2010 favourites.

Bonnies, we could do a GR of Nixonland, except that I am pretty useless at sticking to timetables. I think Mark wants to read another one of Perlstein's first.

I finished my first book for 2011 and it was excellent...



Case Histories by Kate Atkinson - 4 1/2 stars

This is the first book by Kate Atkinson that I've read, and I don't know what's taken me so long. This was a really good mystery with 3 interwoven stories. I read it for Orange January - it was on the longlist in 2005 - and didn't know much about it before I started, which is lucky, because I would have avoided it if I'd known that spoiler alert, but nothing worse than the blurb will tell you one of the stories is about a 3 year old girl who has been missing for 25 years.

I thought the characters were really well written and the way the stories gradually unfolded were excellent. I guessed one of culprits pretty early on, and I am usually quite slow to manage that, but it didn't matter at all for my enjoyment of the story.

I have the second Jackson Brodie book here and will read it soon.

Case Histories has been on my wishlist for a while. I love a good character-driven mystery. I really must see about getting it into my library soon. Sounds like it would provide good company for all my other TBRs!

I really like Kate Atkinson, too. I like her earlier, pre-Jackson, books better, though, like Behind the Scenes at the Museum - full of unexpected plot twists, good stories, good writing. I hope you enjoy reading more of her works.

>45 cushlareads:: Cushla, as you know I liked this book too, but found each of the stories gut-wrenching (not just the one you mentioned in your spoiler). After the first three chapters describing each case, I was just wiped out. But I thought the unraveling was really well done.

>47 JanetinLondon:: good to know, Janet. I have Behind the Scenes at the Museum on my shelves.

Glad you liked Case Histories, Cushla. I also read and liked the second Jackson Brodie book, One Good Turn.

I have Behind the Scenes at the Museum on my shelves too so I'm happy to see you recommend it, Janet.

OK, Case Histories just became my first post-book ban purchase! (Kindle, only $5...)

Hi Cushla- just spotted your thread!

I really enjoyed Case Histories too but One Good Turn a little less. Don't let that put you off, though. I didn't read Human Croquet for years because my friends all told me it wasn't as good as Behind the Scenes. I eventually read it and adored it- I think it's my all time favourite Kate Atkinson!

I enjoyed Case Histories there is another one with Jackson in it as well which I enjoyed too - I didn't enjoy Behind the Scenes at the Museum so much

I'm with Janet--I like her early work more than her detective stories. I loved Behind the Scenes at the Museum, and also Human Croquet. I thought Emotionally Weird was just ok.

I like her early work more than her detective stories. I loved Behind the Scenes at the Museum

Ditto!

I'm pretty sure I have Behind the Scenes at the Museum and When will there be good news in boxes in NZ (only a year till I can open those boxes... that will be a good day!). I bought them at the big second-hand book fair - I never really knew what she was like, but she was pretty popular at home.

Suzanne, eeee, I hope you like it! I am trying to stick with the book ban this year, at least around here (the franc is SO strong, it is insane. A Starbucks coffee here is 6 francs, which is at least 2 better coffees back in Wellington.) So any new books will be coming from Book Depository, and only for very good reasons (like the Henrietta Lacks book which should be here any day now, for a RL book group.)

I needed something lighter to read, so I've started my husband's Crhistmas present to me, As Always, Julia. So far it's just what I'm in the mood for - a lot of interesting letters about cooking and the US in the 1950s.

I'll have to read Case Histories after reading all these enthusiastic responses. I've read One Good Turn and Behind the Scenes at the Museum and enjoyed both.
I haven't started my Orange book yet, still finishing off my library books that are due back. The Julia book looks good, my husband used to buy me cookery books every year for my birthday, he stopped about 10 years ago after I bought him one for his birthday!

I own Case Histories. Maybe this will be the year I finally get it read!

oooo, you got me twice, Cushla. One with Every man dies alone and again with Case Histories.

ETA: ah ha! Only once, as I already have Ever man dies alone from Donna's review. This book is really making the circuit.

Atkinson does seem to go up and down, but I think I'm loyal fun whatever the case.... they are always worthwhile.

Hi Cushla-Found you! Glad your 2011 reading year is starting off well.

Ohh some good books are being discussed here! I'm adding Every Man Dies Alone to my wish list, and, I am planning on reading Case Histories at some point this year as well.

Cushla- I'm so glad you liked Case Histories. The other 2 books in the series are very good too!
Yes, I do have a copy of Before the Storm, that I was planning to get to first but it probably doesn't matter that much. I probably wouldn't be able to do a GR of Nixonland until later in the year. Would be interesting though.

You have some good reads planned for this year...

Nixonland by Rick Perlstein
- I'm planning on reading this after my current read - the Robert A. Caro bio on Lyndon Johnson (do yourself a favour and check out this superb series) - The Path to Power, Means of Ascent, and Master of the Senate.

The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William Shirer
- Read this years ago. No plans to read it again, instead I'll be going with the Richard J. Evans trilogy - The Coming of the Third Reich, The Third Reich in Power, and The Third Reich at War.

Germany 1945 by Richard Bessel
Masters and Commanders by Andrew Roberts
- Will look forward to your opinions on these two books,

Rough Crossings by Simon Schama
Citizens by Simon Schama
- I have Schama's The Embarrassment of Riches: An Interpretation of Dutch Culture in the Golden Age, but have failed on several attempts to read it :(

The Richard Evans trilogy is excellent, if dense (dense in the GOOD sense).

I'm sure it will be fine, Cushla -- and it was only $5 or so on Kindle, so no harm done!

Hi Cushla, glad you enjoyed Case Histories, I'm just about to start that one.

I'm struggling to keep up here, and get a few pages of books read!! I love it when LT is this busy though. I am going to try to follow everyone who visits my thread, but it's going to take me a while. The kids are back at school next week...

Kerry, that's funny about your husband and the cookbooks - does he cook? We both love cooking, and I've been known to buy mine cook bokos for his birthday, but he likes it. We just don't do anywhere near as much as we used to.

Peter, it is great to see you back on here. I have one of the LBJ books at home in NZ, so it will be waiting when I get back. I don't know if I'll get through all these this year- I doubt it! And I've read one by Simon Schama, his History of Britain vol 1, and liked it, but I do find him quite... dense. So we'll see.

I am enjoying Julia Child and Avis de Voto's letters a lot, and am learning heaps about life in the US in the 1950s. Grossest fact so far: spinach was sold (sometimes, in some parts of the US...) with little packets of MSG. You put the MSG packet in the water while you steamed the spinach. Ugh! And it's funny reading about Julia's experiments with knives and early food processors. But there's a lot of chit chat, and I can't read 400 pages of it at once, so I've started another book: Der Geliebte der Mutter by Urs Widmer, who is either a well-known Swiss author or a really famous one. The book is a favourite of my German teacher, and was a present from her for Christmas, so I want to read it before my next lesson.

Cushla, I'm with you in the struggle to keep up with the explosion here on LT. It's fun but time consuming.

In answer to your question way upthread, I haven't read anything else by Fallada. I'm so glad you liked Case Histories. I have a bit of a crush on Jackson Brodie, but as far as the books go, I'm with those who liked Behind the Scenes a bit better. I need to check out more of Atkinson's early works.

I ordered four copies of My Life in France at the el-cheapo online B&N post-Christmas sale. I have a birthday luncheon with some friends who have January birthdays coming up mid-month, and I thought they'd make good gifts for three real readers - and one foodie who would probably like to read a food-based memoir. Hmmm....I do have a point here...oh yes. I'm interested in how you end up liking the Julia Childs' letters book. Have you read MLiF?

Wishing you much happy reading in 2011.

Cushla, I too am enjoying As always, Julia It's just the right mix of life in the 50s, food info and fascinating glimpses into two very intelligent, energetic women. I have it on my Nook, and I'm taking it very slowly, savoring the letters---like smelling a good boeuf bourginnon as it simmers away.

#67 Donna, I haven't read My Life in France but I'd like to. It sounds like a great present for your friends. My husband looked for it for me for Christmas but says it wasn't available (I think that was Amazon Germany).

I tried to figure out where his good ideas for books for me have been coming from (there have been lots, and quite different). I googled and triumphantly discovered his source... shhh... it's the Goodreads monthly newsletter. I thought that was pretty funny.

#68 Tina, that's a good way to read it! It's amazing how much work they put into the book and how massive the chapters were (I've just read the bit saying the sauces and poultry chapters came to 500 pages unedited!)

Just stopping by to say a quick hello Cushla, I'm still playing catch up after the holiday thread explosion. I have you starred.

I enjoyed My Life in France, Cushla. I am anxiously awaiting your review of the book you are currently reading!

Hi Cushla, after reading Donna's review I started on "Freedom" last night and read till page 60. Are you planning to continue in January?

Yes, just read your thread and was about to post on it!
It fits the vowels challenge, woo hoo.

I am 150 pages from the end of my Julia Child book so should be into Freedom by tomorrow, with luck... Then it'll be The Lacuna for Orange January, then Henrietta Lacks if it ever arrives from Book Depository...I need to have it read by Jan 20th so it'd better hurry up.

After reading way too many pages during the read-a-thon I put "Freedom" aside now. I am now on page 200 in the 2004 section and I'll wait for you to catch up. So far - without spoiling the plot - I find it easier accessible than The Corrections, which doesn't mean it's better. If it goes on like this it might be quite a quick read. So far I didn't need any "fremdschäm"-breaks.

On the TIOLI Donna and I listed it under challenge #1 (average rating between 3,8 and 4,2).

Nathalie, I finished by Julia Child book so picked up Freedom again last night. It's a fast read - I chugged through another 20 pages really quickly - but it's icky! (I'm up to Chapter 2 of the autobiography, where she is at college with Eliza). I have 2 extra children in the apartment this morning but if they play nicely I will keep going... I think I said this last year but it feels like watching Desperate Housewives.

That's exactly what I thought yesterday! The first chapter could be a what's-her-name voice-over.

I flew through the second (Patty) part and started part three that seems to be centered around Richard, that's where I am taking a break now. I am beginning to see the book's strenghts and maybe also weaknesses. Franzen is an amazing observer, but I don't know if I really want to see all those things. I can't put it into words, but so far I think I will end up liking this one less than The Corrections.

Woah! too many messages since I last checked in. Re Atkinson, I did love Behind the Scenes even more than Case Histories, but the other detectives ones have grown on me. I never read Human Croquet and I abandoned Emotionally Weird a couple of years back, it wasn't really grabbing me, but I ought to give it another try some time. I've certainly found the Brodie books eminently readable.

Re The Lacuna up next - I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Hi Genny, Alana, Nathalie and Stasia - nice to see you! Genny, I can't keep up on here at the moment either.

I've finished Book 2 - As Always, Julia .



I've given it 4 stars and recommend it with reservations. It's a collection of the letters between Julia Child, who revolutionised American cooking in the 1960s with her books and TV shows about classical French cooking, and Avis de Voto. I'd never heard of Avis but she was clearly a very interesting, bright woman. Her husband was Bernard de Voto, a well known author of books about the American west (including one that won a Pulitzer and one that won the National Book Award). He also had a column in Harper's Magazine for many years, and wrote one about the poor quality of knives in the US. Julia Child replied to him offering to send him some good ones from France, and Bernard's wife Avis replied on his behalf. From this, a great friendship was born, and without it, her book probably wouldn't have been published. Avis ended up being a publishing scout for Knopf for a while, and had lots of contacts in the publishing business.

The book is a dense 400 pages, and I couldn't read too much at one go, but I was glad I kept going. It goes from 1952 - 1960 or so, up till the publication of Mastering the Art of French Cooking. As well as lots of really interesting stuff about cooking and US politics in the 1950s, there is plenty of day to day detail about their families. At times this got boring - who cares what was happening with Avis' wax flooring? - but it did show how the friendship built up to be very important to both women. And it was interesting, as an ex-pat living in a foreign country, to read about Julia and Paul Child's experiences in France, then Germany, then Norway (Julia learnt all 3 languages pretty well - Norwegian - gulp!!) There was tons about how to get a book published in the 1950s, Boston society goings on, setbacks with Hougton Mifflin, and trouble with the co-authors. Both women were ardent Democrats, and the Republicans could do no right. So if this is going to annoy you, it won't be a 4 star book! The recipes were discussed a lot, and most oozed butter but/and sounded delicious.

Joan Reardon edited the letters and put in an introductory few pages at the start of each section. This told you everything that was about to happen in the next 100-odd pages, and there were lots of spoilers. It might be better to read her sections at the end of the letters!

And for 75ers who are fans of Wallace Stegner (I have yet to read anything by him but am keen to), there is a bit about him in here - he was a good friend of Avis's husband and later wrote a biography of him.

Great review, Cushla, and chock up another chunkster for the queen of tomes!

Nah, it was only 400 pages... have started Nixonland and felt like I was making good progress, but am on p 14 of about 750!!

Found you over in Club Read, and will come in and read properly tomorrow.

Cushla....I'm about 1/2 through As Always, Julia and agree with you about taking it in pieces. I have it on my Nook and it's great to be able to pick up and read a couple letters at a time whenever I want a breather from other more intense or faster paced reading. It's one of the reasons I enjoy reading books of letters...the pace of life back in the days before the IM, was much slower and deliberate and reading about that life can proceed at the same rate.

Thumbed your review of As Always, Julia, Cushla. You're on a good start with your books this year. Can't wait to see what you think of Nixonland. I've had that in my obese wish list for a while now and am thinking of getting the book this weekend.

Hi Cushla, I have about 20 pages to go to finish Case Histories which I loved. I have three more by her on my shelf to get to and it looks like I should start with Behind the Scenes at the Museum.

Impossible to keep up on LT anymore so I just satisfy myself to get to a few threads a day.

#81 Tina, you're right that reading the letters slowly works well. My mother is a great letter writer (now email) and for years would write to her parents and Dad's every week. I wish they'd kept them but they've all gone! I used to sneak a look at what she said about us.

#82 Caroline, your thread has about 60 unread messages on it and I am way behind! I hope you're reading some good books. Nixonland might be a good aeroplane book for you if you want something solid for a long long flight.

#83 Bonnie, it's so good isn't it? I'll look forward to seeing what you say about it.

I have started yet ANOTHER book and it's not The Lacuna. I just don't feel like reading it, even though I read 50 pages of it easily on the train at the weekend. Henrietta Lacks has arrived and I need to read it by next Thursday, and it's really hard to stop reading it, even though it is very grisly. The squalor of her early life, and the details of the radiation treatment she went through, are really awful. And I've just finished a section about the lab where her cells were cultured, and the guy who runs it would get blood from a chicken (to use in the cell culture) and then sometimes take the same chook home and fry it for dinner. Ugh!

Before LT and when I started trying to count books, this was how I read - lots at once. The last few years I've cut it back to two or three at most, but I think my natural reading personality is fighting its way out again. It's the same reason I'd never do an 11-11 challenge that involved planning. We'll see how many of them I get finished soon, but it's because I get so many ideas from on here!

I'm exactly the same Cushla - different books in different places and for different moods. I do seem to be getting worse with LT though!

Hi Cushla, my cold doesn't let me sleep much so I read some more "Freedom" last night. I'm now on page 348 in a 100page Walter chapter which both disgusts and depresses me. Depression of the 'there's no hope for mankind' type. I still can't help thinking that Franzen is an amazing writer and that "Freedom" indeed is a great book, I just wish he had observed something else, not those people. I don't like it if an author makes me uncomfortable and nothing else.

I was about to post on your thread - will do so in a minute. You're not making me want to rush back to Freedom!!! How can it get worse than Patty's self-loathing? (Patty is my least favourite but I suspect that's about to change...) I'm in the bit where Richard is building roof decks in New York and eyeing 18 year olds. Nice. I have to find out what happens, there's no way I'm giving up - but Henrietta Lacks is even more gripping. (And it too is too awful to read before I go to sleep. Nixonland is the least icky.)

Hope your cold's better soon.

#78: My local library has As Always, Julia 'in processing' which means I could get it any time in the next 10 months or so.

I read Child's My Life in France last year and enjoyed it, so I am looking forward to this newest book as well. Thanks for the review and recommendation, Cushla!

I'm glad you liked the Atkinson. I've enjoyed all of hers that I've read.

I've got Henrietta Lacks as an ebook from the library so I think it will be the next thing I read. I've heard so much about it I hope I 'like' it as much as everybody else does.

#89 It's so hard for me to enjoy a book that I've heard so many raves about. I end up analyzing my reactions to everything instead of just getting involved in the story.

#84 I think I'm going to cut back on the number of books I read just because everyone else is reading them. I've ended up with some real clunkers lately, plus it takes some of the fun and spontaneity out of reading for me. I used to just browse my shelves and pick whatever jumped out at me. Now I have so many books that I've wishlisted and get from the library that I don't have time for those "just because" picks. It's a good problem to have though, too many books.

I could never do the 11-11 either. But I am enjoying the TIOLI Challenge that you introduced me to. I don't plan ahead to read books that fit the challenges, but I enjoy trying to fit the books I am reading into one of the categories.

Wow, so many posts. The Julia Childs book looks very interesting and I'm glad I've found you again.

#88 Stasia, up to 10 months?! How come? Is it because there'll be a list of people wanting it?

#89 Nancy, it'll be good to compare notes - hope you enjoy it too.

#90 Lisa, I went so crazy buying books this year that I have shelves full of great unread ones. A lot are LT recommendations. It's going to be really good to have the library at home again next year, and it's close enough that I'm feeling pretty disciplined about sticking to what I've got here already, or can mooch. At home I also buy lots of books second-hand and get lots of random good ones that way.

#91 hi!! Thanks for visiting and I will go and find your thread now (are you in here again?)

#92: The reason I say 'up to 10 months' is because the last book I put on hold that was 'in processing' I just picked up at the library this past Tuesday. I had put it on hold last April.

I think I'm going to cut back on the number of books I read just because everyone else is reading them. I've ended up with some real clunkers lately, plus it takes some of the fun and spontaneity out of reading for me.

Lisa, I've had similar feelings. I've also realized after being on LT for a couple of years now that conversations and reviews here have made me more aware of books sooner--because people are talking about books in hardback--but, really, I would be reading pretty much the same books, just 6 months to a year later when I saw them on the front tables at Third Place Books. Lol! I realize now that those books are often prize-winners and very well, and thoroughly, reviewed, so it's not like I was discovering anything. But I felt like I was!

On one hand, I really love the discussions here, including hearing about interesting books/authors well before I see them in stores, or hear about them anywhere else. On the other hand, by the time I see the books in paperback, so many of them seem like old news even though I really try to not learn too much about the books I think I'm going to be interested in. I've seen the title, the book cover, heard comments Yay and Nay, and read reviews at least partially about almost all of them. There's almost no discovery anymore. An example, I was excited about reading The Room when I first heard about it here, and I think it's just the kind of book I would really like (e.g., childhood narrator), but I've read so much about the story now--even as I'm trying desperately to avoid doing so--that now I don't know if I even want to bother.

I can't figure out how to have the fun of talking and discussing on LT while also finding a way to rediscover books for myself.

#94 - Maybe there should be (or even is?) a group that avoids discussion of new books altogether, but talks about older (or even just slightly older) books people are reading/discovering. Then you'd hear about authors and books you didn't know, but could avoid too much about the very new ones you want to discover for yourself.

Just looking in to say hi -- I seem to have lost track of you last year. How is Switzerland treating you?

I've ordered "As Always, Julia" a while back, so thanks for the spoiler warning.:) I'm not interested in cooking at all (and French cooking especially) but I love letters, particularly between interesting women, and am curious about the zeitgeschichte aspects, so thought I'd give it a go anyway.

Susan in Berlin

Hi Susan - I lost you too! Have you got a thread in here this year? We are having a great time in Switzerland, and doing heaps of travelling while we're here. It's so great to be in the middle of Europe. We only have 11 months left though! Hope you like As Always, Julia too - there is a lot of cooking in it, so you might want to skim those bits!

Bonnie, I think it depends how much you were reading before you found LT. I'm reading a lot more fiction - and finishing a lot more books - than I used to, and buy far fewer clunkers. So it hasn't really taken the fun or spontaneity out of the new books for me.

Janet - that's one of the reasons I really like the VMC group (apart from the lovely people!). Those books are all old, and I'm finding some great overlooked authors. And whenever I see a secondhand bookshop there's the thrill of the hunt.

I've finished Book 3 - The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks .



I gave it 4 stars. I added this one to my wishlist last year after Stasia recommended it, and lots of other LT friends, and bought it from Book Depository because it's the first book for the book group I'm joining with some other parents from school. (I'm letting myself buy book club books!) I'm about the last person on here to read it so am not going to add a review.

I thought it was an excellent read, and gave it 4 stars. What was most disturbing about it to me, though, was not the taking of the cells from her tumour without consent - that was bad enough, even if it was not out of the ordinary for the 1950s. It was the utter poverty and deprivation of the Lacks family from the 1930s till today, lack of education, lack of access to health care or the legal system, generation after generation, the racism, and the isolation from the parts of society that could have helped them.

The parts about Elsie, one of Henrietta's children, were the worst to read for me. And the appalling lack of communication from the doctors to the family in the 1970s when they were trying to get the family to agree to blood tests, not explaining what had happened so far and what they wanted their blood for.

New Zealand has had its own huge ethical problems with cervical cancer and informed consent, and they were in the back of my head while I read this book. From 1966-1987 a professor at Auckland University, Herbert Green, did a study of carcinoma in situ in which some women were not treated and some were. The women were not told that they were in the study. The number who did not get treated had significantly higher rates of invasive cervical cancer and death. In the end there was a Commission of Inquiry and a report that led to many improvements in patient rights and ethics procedures. Green also swabbed baby girls' vaginas for other research without parental knowledge. I was probably one of those babies - my mum had Green as her obstetrician and to this day will not hear me say a bad word about him.

I think this made me slightly less sympathetic to the Lacks family down the track - the lack of informed consent by Henrietta was terrible, but it was not out of the ordinary for black or white patients at the time. She got treated at the best hospital in the world. The other parts of the story made me much angrier.

#97: I am glad you liked the book, Cushla.

>98 alcottacre:: me too, Cushla. And I agree the story of the Lacks family is quite disturbing. And unfortunately, I don't think it's all that uncommon.

I finished Book 4: A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers and I give it 1 star. It will almost certainly make my worst books of 2011 list! I read it for Orange January.



The cover had some nice embossing on it, and some of the Chinese English jokes were ok for a while. And I did like how the language improved by the end. But that was it.

Lots of people on LT have liked this book - Darryl and Joyce both did - and its average rating is a decent 3.48 stars.

What does this tell me? I think I need to find the plot credible, and the characters plausible. I have taught many Chinese students, and none had Z's naivety or implausible outright stupidity. Perhaps I missed some great metaphors, or romance, but that's not how I read books. Ick.

**spoilers**

Um, the first few weeks you're in England you leave a movie theatre, start talking to a guy who's 20 years older and there on his own (that part I do not find out of the question!), stand at the traffic lights with him, and within a week or two take your suitcase to his house and move in .

I got over that and suspended disbelief quite well for another hundred pages.

Where it dropped from about a 2 1/2 star read to a 1 was when she went off to Paris, Amsterdam (guy offers her coffee on doorstep, starts discussing meaning of life, asks her to stay, runs to train station to see her), Berlin (meets Klaus on train, goes to Klaus's house, Klaus gets fever, she sleeps naked next to him), Faro (meets strange guy for half an hour, says she wants to have sex with him, removes jeans on a rock), then does not have visa for Dublin, but somehow is smart enough to have a Lonely Planet Lisbon... then comes home to guy whom she loves desperately.

**end of spoilers **

I think it was the blend of naive stuff with all the sex. It just felt hard to believe. OK, now I am sounding like a total prude!! I'm not, honest!

I know exactly what you mean about books like that. I always want to be told a good story so that what happens in it, whether it's sex or hopping onto trains, seems plausible and to have some kind of point. If the warp and weft isn't good, the individual threads are just tatters in the wind.

Cushla

I'm way behind on everyone's 2011 threads as I didn't have much internet time at the end of the year and didn't want to come over here too early anyway.

I thought I'd let you know that I'm planning to put Alon Hilu's The House of Rajani on Bookmooch at some point in case you're interested, if you'd like it I can reserve it for you there or just post it to you anyway. You might like it better than I did.

Sorry you hated the Chinese Dictionary bit, I heard bits on the radio and have a copy through one of the swap sites.

I'm slightly embarrassed to admit it but I liked A Concise English-Chinese.... Not enough to warrant the four and a half stars I gave it, I think but that was when I was new to LT and a bit more generous with my stars!

I think it worked for me because a (younger) part of me actually related to Z at the beginning of the book. The first time I lived away from home, when I was in my late teens, I was in a completely different continent and culture (Southern Africa) with a minimal support network and I had no idea! I remember completely latching onto this totally inappropriate guy and getting into a ridiculous relationship which Z's actually reminded me of!

However I do remember being put off the book when she starts to "experiment". As you say, Cushla, not because I'm a prude but it didn't seem consistent!

I found the book moving overall but in retrospect it probably didn't deserve the 4+ rating!

Hi! I'm getting a new project started to get together great recommendations for books by themes. I've called it Books By Themes (BBT) and your suggestions are most welcome! Here's the link.

I didn't like it either, Cushla, for all the reasons you said, but also I was more critical of the author's representation of her English over the span of the novel. It was not developmentally consistent. Maybe I'm more aware of it, because I use my knowledge of linguistics, spelling, and vocabulary/comprehension in my teaching, but you're in a very situation in that you're in a foreign country, and needing to communicate in that language. Didn't you think her errors/progress were inconsistent?

Tui, I like how you said that. And I might have to work 'warp and weft' into my conversation today!

Luci, I am way behind in threads as well, and trying to get books read!! But that would be great if you want to reserve it for me. Did you see they're changing the way the do the mooch ratio with international books? (Not the points). There's a big thread over in the Mooch group. My ratio just got hammered, from 0.48 to 1.32, and I don't like that it's retrospective with no warning - I should be able to stay below the required ratio of 2, but I think it's going to reduce international trading a bit and I'm going to stop listing books for a while (have a massive 50 points to spend!)

Soup, I think if I'd let myself get an attitude adjustment i'd have found the last parts moving, and I did like some things (the structure was nice, the words were quite cool and some of the Chinese ways of looking at things were interesting.) and it was totally coloured by my first experience of living overseas, which was sooooo much easier - at grad school in the US. Which country were you in? No wonder you liked the book - you could relate to her and I just couldn't. And my LT stars have got much less generous in the last year, but still suffer from grade inflation sometimes. I have so many clustered around 4.

I am still wading through Freedom but have relegated it to my 'in the car before school pick-up' book. and I um, bought 2 books yesterday, from Book Depository. Oops, that didn't last long!

I didn't know about the Bookmooch change, that is a pain, as I've mooched rather more books than I've sent out but my ratio was more respectable thanks to posting internationally. But I rather like sending European mooches, and I could do with building up some points. I've taken today off work to try and make the house look less horrible, and move some of the boxes of books out of our sitting room. I have quite a few books that are available for swapping so I'll try and put them up today, and put the big books I don't want to post up on Freecycle or something! I would take them to a charity shop but I don't have a car, and it's very hard to park outside charity shops in London even to deliver boxes of books, as generally they're located in such busy shopping areas.

Have fun with the house... I did a Lego clean up yesterday and it was quite satisfying!

Let me know when your books are up on Bookmooch and I'll have a look to see if there are any others that look good.

# 97: Glad you enjoy Switzerland -- time flies when you're having fun! I've never been to Berne but I had a great time in Zurich in the early 1990s, as well as a phantastic week spent in the breathtakingly beautiful Engadin (it was like walking into the Heidi cartoons I used to watch as a child).
I can only admire how people here manage to keep with all the threads; they must be so organized. I do have one this year, it's at http://www.librarything.com/topic/105986.

I am sorry you didn't like the 'Dictionary' book. I had it on my watchlist because the basic idea seemed original, but I might give it a pass now.

About Freedom: I am sure the book was responsible for at least some of my headaches last week. I wonder what your thoughts about the ending will be...

I reread the first 20 pages of War and Peace, because I had already forgotten all the characters and how they are related. I set myself a goal of 50-max. 100 pages a week, so it's going to be a loooong read. Will you continue from where you stopped last time?

No I'm going to start from the start again, to get the characters straightened out, and that pace seems about right to me. I'll aim for 10 to 20 pages a day. Cool!! I got to about p 200 last time I think.

I just checked the BlackHole and found that I already had A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers on my 'Do Not Read' list. Good thing!

That's funny, Stasia! With all the books you read and hear about, having a "do not read" list makes total sense! I just downloaded another book because I thought everybody was saying good things about it, then I immediately started noticing bad reviews. Sigh!

Days behind, but...

I felt like you about Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers: I didn't think the character was plausible, and couldn't understand why Z acted as she did through the book. Some of the early incidents, possibly, but the continuing pattern of behaviour through the book, no. I couldn't sense any reason within the story or the character for her to do what she did. Plus, I found the boyfriend horribly creepy. Weird and unpleasant.

I did quite like the language development (although I have no idea how realistic it is) and it had its good moments, but not one that I'd recommend.

Continually playing catch-up....

Glad you liked the Henrietta Lacks book but I have to agree with you on the sympathy thing. I kept vacillating back and forth between sympathy and anger but, in the end, I really liked the book.

>94 bonniebooks: I'm with you Bonnie on the trouble keeping up with the new books. Case in point, Unbroken which I happened to get for Christmas because I loved Seabiscuit and added it to my Amazon wishlist. But since I got some other books for Christmas too, I haven't gotten to it yet and feel like I'm now behind the 8 ball. Similarly, I was ecstatic to recently read Case Histories and The Girls; everyone had read these ages ago, and thus they weren't popping up everywhere; but they were new to me and more satisfying reads.

I think a "do not read" list is brilliant.

#113/116: If a book gets generally mixed reviews in the group, I will give it a shot. If the majority of the reviews are bad though, a book ends up on the 'Do Not Read' list. Saves a lot of aggravation that way!

I have a mental "do not read under any circumstances" list in my head and also a "only if you see it for 50p in a charity shop" list. Only problem is remembering which book is from which list!

>106 cushlareads:: I spent a year teaching in Botswana before starting university. It was the first time I'd been away from home and I was clueless! The education system in Botswana had just changed to allow fourteen year olds free education for the first time so they had a temporary but extreme shortage of teachers. This resulted in people like me with only an A level in English Lit being taken on. It was an amazing experience but I think I would have gained even more and been able to contribute more if I had been just a little older and wiser!

Hey,

Thanks for posting on my thread the other day, have been making the most of the Xmas/summer break - from now on will be back to my slower pace .... not that its a bad thing.

tortoise reading is more my style ...

I don't think I have a formal do not read list. It's more that there are authors and genres that simply don't appeal under most circumstances. And if I try an author and loathe him/her, I'll put that individual's books on a mental list, I suppose. But I've often founded I've been underwhelmed by books others have loved, and vice versa, so I'm more interested in knowing why someone didn't like a book than the fact that they didn't. It's not even consistent from reader to reader -- some of Stasia's fave books I've loved, but by no means all.

I love to read others' opinions of books but after 10 years or so of talking about books online, I don't rely solely on reviews. I think I probably take more notice of positive comments than negative ones, in the sense of, ooh this is a book I'd really like to read, this review/these comments give me a bit of an excuse to buy it or place a library reservation.

I will give more weight to reviews of people I know with similar tastes, but at the same time, before I bring a book home with me, the cover has to appeal to me as well. Odd I know, but I find if I don't like the cover, I'm more reluctant to buy the book, even if it's received rave reviews. But then this only applies to dead tree books and not e-books since they don't have covers.

Going back a bit:

#97 About Henrietta Lacks: "What was most disturbing about it to me, though, was not the taking of the cells from her tumour without consent - that was bad enough, even if it was not out of the ordinary for the 1950s. It was the utter poverty and deprivation of the Lacks family from the 1930s till today, lack of education, lack of access to health care or the legal system, generation after generation, the racism, and the isolation from the parts of society that could have helped them." - Me too. It was interesting to hear your comments about similar situations in New Zealand.

#100 I think I will also skip A Concise Chinese English Dictionary.

Cathing up again...

#105 Bonnie, I didn't even see your post about the errors that Z made in the last book being inconsistent. I didn't notice that, but probably because I was too busy getting irritated by everything else. Language acquisition can be so random, too - most days over here I will yabber away, making myself understood pretty easily (in high German, not Swiss German), then sometimes I will just have a total block and have the person switch to English for basic things like doctor appointments!

#123 Heather, I have the book group for Henrietta Lacks tonight so it'll be interesting to hear what other people thought (I'm pretty sure most people will be glad they've read the book though).

Caroline, the cover of the book affects what I pick up in the bookshop if I'm in a hurry. But otherwise, what I buy or borrow comes out of a funny mix of what I've read on here, in the papers, and randomness.

Speaking of bookshops, I had a very very very nice day and bad bookshop lapse on Saturday. I went to Zuerich and can no longer say that I'm not buying any books. I went crazy in Orell Fuessli, which is a chain here (not in Basel) that has what they claim is the largest English language selection in continental Europe.

I came out of there with 9 books...and when I came home my daughter read me out the ISBN numbers, and I typed them into LT. Not bad for 4! Here's the scoop:

-February by Lisa Moore - because of LT reviews (Darryl, I think, liked it) and hype last year, when it was on the Booker list
-Black Mamba Boy by Nadifa Mohamed - LT friends, and the Guardian Books Podcast, and a nice yellow cover (there you go Caroline, covers do matter)
-The Wasted Vigil - had heard of it on here, set in Afghanistan, blurb looked good
-Miral by Rula Jebreal - set in Jerusalem, never heard of it, looked like an easy fast read
-36 Arguments for the Existence of God by Rebecca Goldstein - never heard of it or her, looked interesting, might be a bit heavy-going (fiction), blurb appealed
-Revolution by C J Sansom - all because of LT, have been looking for first in series for ages, vg so far
-The Other Side of Silence by Andre Brink, because I loved A Dry White Season, which in turn was a random library find last year
-Captain Blood by Rafael Sabatini - because the guy in the shop raved about it to me, and I love it when people working in bookshops do that

Oops!!!

Oh dear, but I was never part of that book buying ban because I knew it wouldn't work! You have good taste in books, they all look interesting. I also picked up a copy of 36 Arguments for the Existence of God last year for the same reasons, it gets good reviews so I hope we both like it.

And just in case anyone here or lurking is interested, we have started a group read thread for War and Peace. It's over here:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/108451

I'll post my W&P comments in the Group Read threads - we are doing about 100 pages a week, so my other reading should be able to fit around that pretty well.



I finished Book 5: Manhattan, When i was Young by Mary Cantwell and gave it 3 1/2 stars. It was part of my lovely Secret Santa present in the Virago Modern Classics group from Paola (aluvalibri), and if you've ever lived in NYC I think you would like it.

Cantwell started out writing for Mademoiselle, and later ended up writing for the editorial team at the New York Times. It's the story of her life from leaving college, through her marriage and even, 2 kids and divorce in the 1960s. There is a lot in it about her struggle with depression, dependence on her husband, and lack of confidence. I could have read a bit less of these parts, but overall it was well written and wove together the story of the apartments they lived in with her life. And I gasped when I was reading along and then about 3/4 of the way through she described their second baby's eczema and food allergies. This was a really big part of our life before we figured our our son's allergies, and it was strange but somehow lovely to read her words from 50 years ago - the stupid and unwanted advice from acquaintances and strangers, the looks, the not knowing what to do, useless doctors, and then the relief and happiness when you find a doctor who will listen and really help. For anyone else, this is a couple of pages of the book that you probably won't remember. Recommended if you love New York and want to read about what it was like in the 50s.

#124: re languages - thank God I'm not the only one! Back in my old job there were days when I thought I was quite fluent in English and the next day I was struggling for every single word and colleagues had to help me out. So embarrassing! In the end when I had to speak more English than German during work I finally got over it. But now that I have almost no opportunity to speak (except for my landlady who is English), I fear it will happen again the next time I have to deal with English speaking people. I understand, but I just can't speak.

I went crazy in Orell Fuessli, which is a chain here (not in Basel) that has what they claim is the largest English language selection in continental Europe

I have to check how far it is from Merano to Zuerich... (nonono - I have to start using the library!!)

Some nice acquisitions there, Cushla! That sounds like a a fairly modest lapse, I think: it may have been several books, but it was only one transaction.

it may have been several books, but it was only one transaction.

I like the way you think, Caty!

I have never considered a book buying ban because I'm pretty sure it would backfire and make me want to buy books even more. Sort of like a diet often makes me want the things that are off-limits.

I haven't read and for the most part haven't even heard of the books you bought recently, Cushla, so I'll be interested in what you think of them. I bought A Dry White Season after you recommended it last year but still haven't gotten to it. Good luck with all your chunksters this year. I'm going to check out the W&P thread--maybe it will get me to try it. I'm usually put off by really long books.

Yes, thanks Caty with rationalising my new books. It was pretty bad even for me.

Pat, I always think of you as reading lots of big hard books! I thought of you at the bookshop on Saturday because they had a book by Wallace Stegner. It made it into my hands, but the blurb made me think it'd be one that sat on the shelf for ages - plus I'm sure Wellington library will have lots by him when we're home... although that goes for nearly everything I bought. I've just looked at all his titles, and I can't remember which one it was!! Not one that you've talked about... gaaaah.

I was remarkably good with last year's book ban -- only two violations, once in Paris (which didn't count!) I am trying very hard to buy far fewer books; to think more consciously about what I buy and whether I can get it free elsewhere.

LOVED the CJ Sansom books -- hope they are appealing to you, too. Lukewarm about February, however.

Suzanne, I'm loving Dissolution so much that I just bought Winter in Madrid by Sansom this morning...

I read Winter in Madrid last year, it's quite good. I loved Sovereign and always meant to go back and read the other Shardlake books.

#124: Nice haul, Cushla!

#130 Cushla, I'm flattered that you think I read "big, hard books" but I had to chuckle because there are quite a number of books you've read that I'd be afraid to even attempt.

Glad to see you're loving Dissolution. After Suzanne recommended it highly, I've been on the lookout for it every time I go to a used bookstore. I was able to pick up a copy of Winter in Madrid at a library sale.

Hope you eventually get to read something by Wallace Stegner. So far Crossing to Safety is still my favorite.

Cushla, my favorite outing is combining eating and books, so your trip to Zurich sounds great to me. And, it's not like you're out there buying shoes or purses! You're buying books, for heaven's sake--what could be more virtuous? Love the image of your little girl reading out the ISBN numbers for you. :-) So, there's another W & P group read? I bought my new translation of W & P just so I could participate in last year's group read--or was it two years ago?

Manhattan When I was Young sounds a bit too 'girly' for my son, but if you have any other suggestions of book titles for people who live in, and love, NYC, I would love to hear them.

Bonnie,
Is he the right age for When You Reach Me? Last year's Newbery winner took place in New York.

I have bought the Shardlake books over last year, to read them myself, but ended up being loaned out to my mum etal, They are on my list this year, if I don't buy too many more new books :)

BTW I have had rave reviews on them all, so am looking forward to a good read there

Black Mamba boy is also great read, loved it myself

#136 Bonnie, I'm trying to think of other good New York books. I agree that Manhattan, When I was Young probably wouldn't be his thing. I didn't like The Emperor's Children much - I think I gave it 3 stars but the characters were unlikeable. I have Jay McInerney's Bright Lights, Big City at home in NZ, and will let you know what it's like when I get to it!

#138 Alex, glad you enjoyed Black Mamba Boy - I'm looking forward to it. And if you get time, you should get the Shardlake books back because the first one was so, so good:



Book 6 - Dissolution - 4 1/2 stars , and tied with Case Histories for my best book of January. This is the first in a series of historical crime novels set in Tudor England, in 1537. Anne Boleyn has been beheaded, and Jane Seymour has just died. The main character, Matthew Shardlake, is a lawyer with strong ties to Thomas Cromwell. Cromwell is in the middle of closing down the monasteries, and the country is in the middle of religious upheaval, with Henry VIII now head of the church and Roman Catholicism outlawed. Cromwell sends Shardlake to Scarnsea monastery, on England's south coast, to investigate the murder of the previous commissioner sent down there to ferret out anything illegal in the monastery and close it down.

I couldn't put this book down - Shardlake, a hunchback, was a sympathetic main character, and all the characters were made interesting. I thought I knew who'd dunnit and I was wrong till it was blindingly obvious. If you loved Wolf Hall or The Name of the Rose, you will almost certainly like this. I'm going to buy the next one on Book Depository now!

#139: I enjoy the Shardlake series too, Cushla. I am glad to see it has found another fan!

Stasia, it was one of those books I'd never have picked up without LT - I don't tend to browse in the crime section much. Have you read all of them so far? I've just ordered the next 3, and the 2nd will fit one of the February TIOLIs too!

#141: I have read the first couple in the series, but not any further than that, although I do own the first four, I think.

Great Review! That sounds like a book I'd really enjoy.

Hi Cushla
I am not able to keep up with all the LT stuff I 'should' read. Just wanted to say hello again. I did some CT stuff on LT but not much reading nor keeping up with any of the threads.

Anyway I read a booklet about the Schwundgeld they once issued in Wörgl (Austria). Do you know anything about that? It's an interesting concept that the money cannot be taken out of circulation - would solve us some problems, I guess.

Cranford is still waiting for its owner. And do still want to read Zauberberg? Let me know when and if this group read should get off the ground.

I've read Dissolution though, like you, I don't really read crime. And I loved it as well! I can't wait to find the others second hand :)

I loved Wolf Hall so therefore I should love Dissolution? Ok I'll add it. I do like some crime novels.

>136 bonniebooks: Bonnie, i assume he''s already read Let the Great World Spin?

Yes, Bonnie, I gave him that book last year and he did like it--more than I did in fact. I thought he would really like Incredibly Close and Extremely Loud, but he said that brought 9-11 back to him too much (though his girlfriend said he really did like it and it was one of her favorite books of the year.)

P.S. You make Dissolution sound really good, Cushla, and I am not big on mysteries at all. Sometimes I'm happy just to enjoy people's comments about a book, but I just might pick that one up at the library.

I put Dissolution on my WL after reading Suzanne's comments about the series. In the Sunday NYT book review yesterday there was an article about historical fiction books and they raved about the Mathew Shardlake books. Apparently, there's a new one out. Needless to say, this pushed me over the edge and I ordered a copy of Dissolution. Glad you liked it, Cushla.

>139 cushlareads:: just ordered the first 3 books in the Dissolution series, Cush. You are a mighty persuasive reviewer!

>148 phebj:: I read that article too, Pat. I got hooked when it said that Sansom has a doctorate in history. Sounds like he knows his stuff. I was a little leery of the series because of some of the earlier romancy-type mysteries set in this period. I've had it up to here *perpendicular hand at eyeball level* with those type of books.

Thanks, Cushla, for another vote of confidence. I'm adding this one to the wish book. By the time I get to it, maybe the rest of the series will be out.

#139 I am very lucky I have all 5 books back on my shelves, think they will be perfect for Autumnal/Winter reading - though may weaken before then ....

Sounds like you have created a whole new set of readers there :)

Eeek, I hope you all like it!! Alex, I think I am just the recommending straw and everyone here is now a camel with a sore back.

Pat, I saw there was a 5th one when I was clicking away on Book Depository but I will wait - it was 17 Euros and hardback. I will look for the NYT article later to see what else it says.

#144 Hi Paul, it's nice to see you back on LT! I have been keeping up much less with threads too but am slowly catching up. No, I haven't heard of Schwundgeld. Yes, I am still keen for Der Zauberberg, but not till we've finished the group read of War and Peace and I've had a breather - I think that won't be till around April or so, maybe May... want to join us in a German translation of W&P first?!

Reading crime is one of my reading habits where LT has had the most effect. I said further up I don't browse in the crime section, but I do buy lots of crime - but they are all series friends on here have recommended! Like Philip Kerr, Donna Leon, Andrea Camilleri (although I've only read one of his), Henning Mankell, Arnaldur Indridason and Steven Saylor. I haven't bought a Krimi without a LT rec for a loooong time now!

Casually strolling through LT... I'm blindsided by your review of Dissolution, Cushla and blam! just like that! My determination not to add more books to my obese wish list today fizzled away. *sigh*

>152 cushlareads: I will be in Korea in April, so not much time for Zauberberg, but May will be okay.
"a German translation of W&P": wow, what a task! I have an old two-volume-copy here, but never read it from cover till cover - I had to read parts for school and wasn't intersted back then to finish the whole book, yeah, why not? Do you read it in German? How far did you get already?

No I most definitely do not read W&P in German! In English, with some chunks of French, but translations at the bottom of the page. It's surprisingly easy to read, just long (and I have 1100 pages to go).

OK, let's aim for May for Der Zauberberg. And let's have lunch soon too - I'll PM you.

Hi Cush. Okay I've joined the group and will start to post. Hopefully I won't screw it up. I'm really sorry about Freedom. I was going to put that on my Facebook list as the most over-rated book I read in 2010. But I forgot to do that. Perhaps I could have spared you the pain. I am very curious to hear from someone who liked it and find out why.

hi Cushla
Dissolution sound good and the library HAS a Dutch translation ;-)
I might join in reading Der Zauberberg, I did read Buddenbrooks last year and enjoyed it.

Hi There

I'm compiling a list of birthdays of our group members. If you haven't done so already, would you mind stopping by this thread and posting yours.

Thanks.

http://www.librarything.com/topic/105833

#153 Caroline, I hope you like it when you get to it - it'd be a good aeroplane read for one of your long trips.

#157 Anita, great that there is a Dutch translation! And cool that you might join in The Magic Mountain. I'm going to need lots of encouragement I think.

#156 Lori!!!!! Yay! (Note to everyone else: Lori is one of my best friends from grad school. That's 2 RL friends I've got on here in 3 weeks!) Have you started a thread? You can't really screw it up. Just make sure to put your name in the topic, otherwise people won't find you or remember where you are. There's an introductions thread in here where it's nice to go and post a quick blurb and a link to your thread, and there's also a useful post about basic HTML. To get the books to show up in blue, put around the title. It'll usually work. Then you'll see a little "Touchstones" box to the right, and you can check that LT found the right book.

Edited to add: here's the intro thread:
http://www.librarything.com/topic/104688

And here's the Wiki for the group, which is full of useful stuff.

http://www.librarything.com/wiki/index.php/Groups:75booksin2011

I know some people on here liked Freedom but I also know there were a lot of icks. If you click on the title, you'll see all the reviews... I am going to finish it but other books just keep grabbing me first.

I have a bug and so does my daughter, so not much reading is happening here. But I discovered that I can read W&P in bed and am chugging away at the first war part.

Hi Cushla, I'm trying my hardest not add so many books to my ginormous wishlist but I've got to get Dissolution as I love the time period and Wolf Hall was one of my memorable reads last year. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

ETA: My wishlist is sooo huge I just noticed it's already there due to Stasia but thanks for the reminder.

I am another fan of the Shardlake books. I read two and have two more on the book tower!

I'm hoping to get to Dissolution very soon. This is one of the very few new authors/series that I've heard about recently NOT via LT but elsewhere: I think it was last summer when the latest book in the series was due out, there were guite a few interviews and radio spots with Sansom which made it sound very interesting. Then of course I started to come across the positive reviews on here too... Looking forward to it, especially after Wolf Hall last November.

The very thought of the Shardlake series makes me do a happy dance. 'nuff said.

I can't believe I have neglected my own thread for a whole week!! Ive been really sick and still have a very bad cold. Have read less in the last few days than since we were in the middle of the move over here.

In happy news though, the next 3 Shardlake books have turned up from Book Dep and I have even managed to start the 2nd one - Dark Fire. Genny, some time when I can muster the energy (which should be in a few days, SURELY!) I might have a google for the interviews with him.

aw Cush, I remember those days of trying to look after babies and oneself with a bad head all at the same time. I'd run some soup over if you weren't on the other side of the ocean.

Sorry you haven't been feeling well, Cushla. I assumed you were deep into War and Peace.

I got Dissolution a couple of days ago. After you and Suzanne both raved about it, I couldn't resist anymore. I'm not sure when I'll get to it but I did read the first couple of pages and it looks great. I'll be eager to hear what you think about the next one.

Hope you're feeling better soon!

Sorry to hear about the cold, Cushla! I hope you are over it now.

Feel better -- or at least, better enough to look after munchkins and read!

Hope you're feeling better Cushla.

I am sorry you are ill. Try to keep warm (I was wearing a cap even inside for several days, it helped) and get well soon!

I think it was your thread where I first read about Wolf Hall. I am half through it - what a great book!

Awww thanks for all the nice messages (and Tui for the virtual soup - that's about all I'm eating!). Have been back to the doctor and have got a lung infection and am on antibiotics, so at least I know why I feel so bad. Hopefully they will start to kill the bugs tonight. And I'm 100 pages through Dark Fire already, but behind on W&P, but I'll catch up when I'm better.

Nathalie I'm glad you're loving Wolf Hall! Auf Deutsch?

Hooray for antibiotics! To be avoided when not required, but boy do they work when they are needed! I hope you feel better soon - W&P is not the same without you.

Nein, auf Englisch. Und ich finde es relativ schwierig (so viele Thomas, so viele 'he'). Aber es gefällt mir sehr! :-)

Your flu sounds like mine, so it's good your doctor put you on antibiotics. I hate them and as usual got some side effects, but in the end they really helped, and I hope they'll work quickly for you as well.
This seems to be some kind of infection making its rounds in central Europe. My mum in Germany had it and I've heard it from many people here, too. It's like a heavy cold that doesn't go away and kind of settles in the lungs.

I finished part 3 of W&P this morning before work and will now take a short break to read some more of Wolf Hall.

>173 Deern:: the "viele Thomas, veile he" thing is challenging even if English is your first language! Good luck with the book !

Cushla, sorry to hear you're unwell. I hope the anti-biotics do the trick soon and you start to feel better. I'm glad you've got all the Sansom books to look forward to. I can't remember where I heard the interview(s) with him - it would probably have been on one or more of the arts programmes on BBC Radio 4.

#173 Nathalie, it may help, if you have not already realised it, that nearly always when Mantel writes 'he' in Wolf Hall, it is Thomas Cranmer rather than anyone else who is referred to.

I just started Dark Fire as well. It is the last of the Sansom books that I have read. I am waiting for the most recent book to appear in paperback. I find that I didn't mind reading the books out of order.

Hope your feeling better soon Cushla!

Hi Cushla, are the antibiotics working? I hope you are getting some rest and are better soon!

I set up a new thread for the W&P group read, is that okay for you?

#174: thank you, this really helped! :-)
So if it's Thomas C. and some other Thomas in a scene, 'he' will be Thomas C. and 'Thomas' is likely to be the other one. I think I am getting used to it.

I can't believe you are reading W&P AND Wolf Hall at the same time! You are going to have arms like Arnold Schwarzenegger!

Nathalie, thanks for setting up the new thread. I'm getting better but still not very onto it! I think I'll be back into W&P tomorrow though (have to finish Dark Fire first but have whipped through 150 pages today!)

Janet, yes, hooray for antibiotics! They are working nicely I think - have more energy than in 2 weeks.

Cyrel, good to know that you don't need to go in order, but I'm funny about that and hate it when I start in the wrong place. Hope you're enjoying Dark Fire as much as I am.

Tui I'm not reading both at once - I am not that crazy, it's Nathalie! But all this Thomas Cromwell portrayed less sympathetically in the Sansom books makes me think a re-read might be on the cards before she does the sequel.

Glad you are feeling better...infections really wear you down to the nub. Aha re the books. The Sansom books, the first three, are due to land in this week.

Hop you'll soon be feeling much better Cushla.

Glad to know you are on the mend, Cushla. I hope you are back to full strength soon!

I've finished a book!!!!! Ein Wunder. Geez, it's February 15... I feel like I just lost 2 weeks of my life!



Book 7 was the excellent Dark Fire, the second in C J Sansom's series set in Tudor England. In this one, set 3 years after the first, Matthew Shardlake is trying to live a quiet life in London as a lawyer, but gets dragged into 2 cases at once: one for an old client whose niece has been thrown into the Hole in Newgate prison for murder, and another for Thomas Cromwell. Cromwell's power is on the wane in this book, and if you know that going into it, it makes it scarier because it's harder to see a happy ending.

Cromwell insists that Shardlake has a minder and helper called Jack Barak, and I really enjoyed watching their relationship change. There were even more near misses and threats to their lives than in Dissolution, but it all felt believable at the time. And there was lots more Tudor politics - in this book, Henry VIII is onto Wife #4, Anne of Cleves, chasing after Catherine Howard, the niece of the Duke of Norfolk, and getting older.

I stayed up till 11.30 reading this last night and have the 3rd one calling my name...but I have a fair chunk of War and Peace to catch up on first.

Got very behind on your thread. Sorry to hear you haven't been well, I hope the antibiotics help and you feel better soon.

I have the first two Shardlake books in the TBR mountains. Maybe next month?

Heather that is nearly the fastest response ever!! Hope you like the Shardlake books too.

I have a lot of thread catching up to do...

I am Tudor-infected now, so I'll certainly give this series a try soon.

Cushla, I bought Dissolution after you reviewed it but haven't gotten to it yet. Now that you're on to No. 3 in the series I feel like I'm behind and I haven't even started! Glad you seem to be on the mend.

#186 I actually started writing my post before msg #184 was up!

CJ Samson, check. Now on the wishlist, those books look really good. Hope you're feeling better.

Geesh, I wish those would get here! I'm dying to dive into them.

I need to get back to the Shardlake series. . .

I've finished another book at last - the very good A Fork in the Road: A Memoir by Andre Brink.



I enjoyed this very much and recommend it if you're interested in life in South Africa under apartheid, or if you have read A Dry White Season. The best bits for me were the first 100 pages or so where he describes life growing up in an Afrikaner dorp (village), and the last 50 pages where he rips into the current South African government. These were worthy of 5 stars. The middle bit pulled it down to 4 overall.

Brink starts out life as a typical Afrikaner kid, confident in his belief that black and coloured people are inferior, a firm believer in the God of the Dutch Reform Church, and even joins the Broederbond while he's at university. His father is a magistrate. Once he leaves university and starts writing and spends time as a grad student in Paris, his view of the world is turned on its head.

There is lots in here about the repressive regime from the 1960s through till its end, about the censorship of his books and the secret police surveillance. Those bits were excellent and made me think that a lot of A Dry White Season came from his own life. But there's also quite a bit that dragged for me, maybe because I don't know enough detailed history of South Africa - and the descriptions of all the loves of his life bored me after a while. I have another novel of his waiting, The Other Side of Silence, but it promises to be even bleaker than A Dry White Season so I will need to be in the mood!

Hoping all is well with your family and friends back in NZ.

I came here to say the same thing, lab, so I'll just echo those best wishes for your loved ones, Cush.

Thanks - that is lovely. We are really lucky - my Dad grew up there, and both his parents were there for 70-off years, but thankfully Pop died early last year before he had to survive the hell of what's happened. He was very old and sick - I can't imagine what it would be like to be in a rest home yesterday.

My cousin and his wife were lucky, out by the airport when it struck, and got put up by some lovely strangers overnight and are on their way north now. And friends and their families have been ok.

Despite all that, I have spent 2 days sitting here hitting F5 on the newspaper reports and crying at some of them - it is terrible what's happened and I wish I was home at the moment.

And Lisa - I think you'd like the Andre Brink book! I thought of you while I was reading it.

So glad to hear that your friends and loved ones are OK. I've never been to NZ, but lots of my family has. My uncle's family lived in Nelson for 6 years. My parents spent 4 months in NZ when I was in college and they visited Christchurch while they were there. My father was just sick to hear about the loss of life and the damage to the cathedral, which he remembers vividly.

Also glad to hear your friends & loved ones are doing all right. It's so sad.
The Brink memoir sounds interesting ...

Glad to hear that your family and friends are alright.

Such an awesomely beautiful country and such devastation. So glad you are safe in Switzerland, Cushla, and that your family back in NZ is also safe.

Yesterday was such a horrible news day with the earthquake and the uprising in Libya. One of my "fellow students" is from Libya. Safia was quite upset yesterday because she hasn't been able to contact her family. I may have to take a break from watching the world news today.

Glad to hear your family is okay. You must be in a state of shock. Some weeks it seems like everything is just going wrong.

I'm glad your family and friends are safe, Cushla.

I bought a copy of A Dry White Season after reading your review and am looking forward to reading it.

Great to hear your family nad friends are safe, Cushla. I've also spent the last 2 days glued to the internet, and the TV and my cellphone.

Also great to hear that your family & friends are safe. We are also following all the news reports. Sounds really dire now with the water problems about to kick in. All water must be boiled before drinking but there is no electricity or gas in many homes.
I've worked with several of the children's writers/illustrators and children's literature people from Christchurch and I hope that they are all ok. I know that Margaret Mahy who lives in Governor's Bay is safe and staying with family now.

Cushla, I'm very glad to hear your family and friends are safe. I've been following the events on the news and the scenes shown are horrific.

Cushla, my grandad is in a resthome in Cashmere and they do have a generator but no water, no working wastewater anywhere in the city and I heard today they've started to evacuate a few of the resthomes. Apparently, their nursing staff are amazing though. Good to hear your family are ok.

Glad to hear your loved ones are ok.

My mum has cousins in Christchurch, thankfully everyone is physically ok at least.

Thanks for all your lovely messages and for the NZers and Luci the honorary NZer, I'm so glad to hear that all your loved ones are safe. Leonie, that must have been terrible for your grandfather but great that he is all right.

Donna, is your classmate's family ok? What's happening there is horrific (at least NZ does not have to deal with Qaddafi).

On a happier note, my immediate reaction to the earthquake was to stumble into Bider and Tanner and buy some books. I came home on Tuesday with Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, The Postmistress, and The Imperfectionists (out in cheapie paperback, yay!). Then yesterday I went into one of the other ones and bought An Unfinished Business by Boualem Sansal (also published as The German Mujahid), which I'd never heard of but is so far really good - set in Algeria and France. The author's books are banned in Algeria because of criticism of the government. And I'm also getting back on track with W&P.

Buying books is good for the soul: very cathartic.

I have Major Pettigrew on my TBR very soon shelf, and I have been looking everywhere for The German Mujahid. I'm glad it's starting off well. I'm passing for now on The Imperfectionists because of some reviews I heard, but I look forward to your thoughts.

Just finished I Shall Not Hate: A Gaza Doctor's Journey and must recommend it to one and all. Amazing book about a Gazan doctor who works in Israel and the difficulties (and horrors) of being a Palestinian. Despite all, he still actively promotes peace through dialogue.

Glad to hear your family is safe Cushla; just terrible pictures coming out of NZ.

Loved Major Pettigrew and The Imperfectionists made my Top 10 last year and I want to get to The German Mujahid. You've got some good reading in store :)

I have to second that recommendation of I Shall Not Hate: A Gaza Doctor's Journey. I read it only about 3 or 4 weeks ago, and absolutely loved it. Abuelaish is an amazing man.

209 (labfs39): I Shall Not Hate is now added to my list...

#211 and #210, I nearly bought I Shall not Hate instead of A German Mujahid but it was 28 francs, and my new rule is nothing over 20 francs. Hmmmm...Book Depository time!

I finished another book, and it was a good one to put this week's terrible news in NZ into perspective.

9. An Unfinished Business by Boualem Sansal - published in the US as A German Mujahid.



I bought this thinking I'd never heard of it on Wednesday and read it straight away. The subject sounded really interesting, if depressing, and I haven't read any books by Algerian authors. But then I came home and checked on the conversations tab, only to find that Tad and Cyrel both liked it last year!

The author, Boualem Sansal, is Algerian, but his books have been banned in Algeria. This one was published in 2008 but only translated into English last year by Frank Wynne. I'll be looking for more by both the author and the translator.

**spoilers follow, but only what's in the blurb**

This is the story of two brothers, Rachel and Malrich. Their father, Hans, was German, and their mother Aicha was Algerian. They were born in Algeria in a village called Ain Deb, but both were sent to France to live with family friends on one of the "Sensitive Urban Area"housing estates near Paris when they were little. Their parents stayed in Ain Deb. Rachel, the older brother, grew up, went to university and managed to succeed as a French citizen. Malrich is still on the estate and not going anywhere much. On the first page we learn that Rachel, the older brother, has committed suicide. Pretty soon we learn that it's because of what he learnt about their father's Nazi past when he went back to Algeria to visit his parents' graves - they've been massacred, along with the rest of the village, by Islamic jihadists.

There are 3 stories woven through the book, which is narrated by Malrich, with big chunks from Rachel's diary:
- their father's history: he was an Opergruppenfuehrer in the SS and a chemical engineer in Auschwitz, Dachau and Buchenwald;
- life in one of the housing estates in the banlieues of Paris, and the impact of fundamentalist Islamists on Malrich's life; and
- the repressive Algerian government and the Islamic jihadists there and the murder of their parents.

If this sounds really grim, it's not - I couldn't stop reading. Malrich is about 18, very likable, and his voice comes through really clearly. It's easy to see why the book was banned in Algeria - the government and religious leaders would hate the way it portrays them. The French government doesn't look too great, either. Malrich believes that the imam and his followers on the estate have a lot in common with the Nazi party.

4 1/2 stars.

If you're in the UK and looking for the work page, you need to search under A German Mujahid.

>213 cushlareads:: I'm glad you enjoyed it, Cushla. It does sound much grimmer than it reads.

Cushla

I hope you are feeling much better. I'm ever so glad your family is safe and sound.

I love Tudor history. I've added Dark Fire, the second in C J Sansom's English history series. Is it necessary to read the first book before reading this one?

Hi Cushla, I'm glad your family is ok. So is mine and my friends.

Just had to comment on your reaction to buy books - I wanted to as well! I managed to not buy any books (saving to buy a house) but still the urge was strong. Buying books (from the lovely Timeout Bookstore in Mt Eden) is like chicken soup - comfort!!!

#213 Tad, I think I lost your thread last year because I'm sure I'd have wishlisted it properly from you. I've read another book in which a grandson goes hunting down his grandfather's Nazi past, this time in the Belarus (Rachel Seiffert's The Dark Room), and that one was harder to read. I think the mixing up the 3 stories helped, even though none of them were happy.

#214 Linda, I am completely better and loving it, thanks! I don't think you have to read Dissolution first, but I always like going in order if I can. Some of Shardlake's attitudes to Thomas Cromwell would make more sense if you'd read the first book. Hope you like it.

#216 Kiwiflowa, so glad you are all ok. And that Mt Eden bookstore is the main reason I'd live in Mt Eden if we ever moved north! It's great.

Cushla, I'm sending healthy thoughts your way. I hope you're on the mend, and I'm glad to hear that your family is okay. So many awful things happening in the world these days, it's hard for me to think on it for too long at a time (a cowardly reaction, I know).

I'm glad your family is ok--the pictures of the earthquake damages and some of the stories are so disturbing.

I've already had The German Mujahid on my wishlist, so I'm glad to hear you liked it so much.

Cushla, I am so relieved your family and friends are okay! I remembered from your old thread that you have no direct family there, but you never know...

How is W&P going? Yesterday I realized that I am already over page 500, which means I've almost read half of the book. And there so many open storylines (and so much more war to come)!

Nathalie, I've just finished God's Philosophers and now feel a big chunk of W&P coming on. I'm behind though, but will catch up. Am on about p 230.

Do you want to start the new thread for the part you've just finished?

Also, in my edition Moscow is mentioned on p 17 so it fits the main TIOLI for March, yay! (You'll finish in March for sure and even I might yet make it...)

I started a new W&P thread. Do we collect the thread links somewhere? Not sure if I'll finish it in March, but it's tempting having it as a TIOLI read...

#222 Nathalie, I put the first thread into the wiki but though we could just put the subsequent threads into the Intro message. I've added it to the March TIOLI wiki because I want to get through it and not stall like I did last time!

I finished Book 10: God's Philosophers: How the Medieval World Laid the Foundations of Modern Science by James Hannam.



I bought this after reading Janet's thoughts on it back in January, and I'm glad I did. I gave it 3 1/2 stars. I enjoyed his writing style, and learnt a lot about the history of science from about 1000-1600 AD. His argument is (roughly) that there were lots of breakthroughs in scientific knowledge during the middle ages, and that the Catholic church has had an undeservedly bad reputation for stamping out dissent.

I felt like he really hammered his thesis too much, so much that I stopped believing him and started to get annoyed. As a series of stories about key scholars who developed Western thought, it was really interesting, but now I want to read something on the other side of his argument - like The Closing of the Western Mind by Charles Freeman, which I have owned for 3 or 4 years. Freeman has written a scathing review of God's Philosophers over here:

http://newhumanist.org.uk/2416/why-gods-philosophers-did-not-deserve-to-be-short...

(Edited to add that I suspect Freeman's book is going to take me forever to read, even if my natural prejudices make me more likely to agree with it. I've tried twice already and got stuck after Chapter 1. One of those times was during my son's swimming lessons surrounded by noise, but still...)

There's a response from James Hannam on the site too.

I feel like I need to read many more books to figure out what I think. If you're reading about this for the first time and are interested, go and have a look at JanetInLondon's January thread for much more detail.

223: This looks really interesting. Thanks for the review, and the caution, and the recommendation of JanetInLondon's thread.

Oh good, I'm glad you enjoyed God's Philosophers, and thanks for plugging my thread :) You know I agree with you - he protests too much - not sure I will have the energy to look for alternative points of view (or the interest, although I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that, because it sometimes seems we should all be interested in following up everything all the time....)

#224 qebo, I hope you enjoy it and thanks for visiting!

#225 Janet I know exactly what you mean and often my wild enthusiasm flags when I realise how many unread books I have. But on this one, there was a book Genny mentioned (and you) that sounded good... must go back to your thread and see what it was again.

No books finished here, just German homework, but for any London LT friends lurking in, I have booked my trip to London and I am so excited!! I'm coming over from May 19 and back on May 24. So that leaves me with Fri-Monday to plan a LT meet up. I will go and post on the London thread as soon as I find it, which might be tomorrow! I will be going to Kent to see a friend on one of those days, and hopefully Cambridge too, and seeing non-LT London Kiwi friends,but otherwise am flexible and really looking forward to meeting some of you!! (oh yeah and buying some books...)

Oh, I'm envious of your London trip. Was there last fall, spent a day and a half in the V&A and hit most of the bookshops. The London Review bookshop, near the British Museum is wonderful!!!

Oh great, I am happy for you, Cushla!
I would have loved to take a trip to London this year, but now my business keeps me in Italy with the occasional visit to my German clients. Maybe I'll sell something in the UK one day, then I can take frequent business trips...
*dreaming of London book shops*

Very jealous of the London trip, it sound amazing. Plus the chance to meet some LT people, what a great opportunity.

Sounds like you've got a great few days in London all lined up.

#223 I also ordered a copy of God's Philosophers following Janet's comments although I haven't started reading it yet. The Charles Freeman book and the blog link look interesting although I find that more often than not after finishing a book I get distracted by something else rather than staying on the same topic. However, I will try and remember to at least read Mr Freeman's review of the Hannam's book even if I don't manage to read his book.

And yay for the London trip!

#227 Catarina1, thanks for the reminder about the London Review Bookshop - I haven't been there but have seen lots of LT people talk about it. I will put it on the book crawl!

#228 Nathalie, Italy is pretty cool too...ok maybe not for the bookshops but for everything else.

Kerry and Leonie, it will be great to be over there without the kids, much as I adore them - and probably the last time I'll be there for a good few years. It's just so far from NZ and we will be ready to stay home for a while once we're back. So I will try to squeeze some normal sightseeing into the catch ups with NZ friends...one of them has been giggling that I'm excited about the bookshops already.

Heather I am really looking forward to meeting you! Hope you like God's Philosophers.

I've just finished Book 11 : Mornings in Jenin by Susan Abulhawa - 4 1/2 stars



This is the first novel I've read set in Palestine, and it is very good. It's the story of one family that is forced out of their village, Ein Hod, in 1948, during what the Palestinians call "El Nakba" - the catastrophe. They settle in the Jenin refugee camp. Abulhewa tells the family's story over the next 50 years, with parts in Jenin, Jerusalem, Beirut and the US. It is a very sad and moving book, and it has made me even more pessimistic about the Israel/Palestine mess. It's also very controversial, like anything written about Israel and Palestine, and I've just spent the last hour googling it and reading nastiness on both sides of the discussions. Abulhawa is not trying to write a neutral kind of story here - if that can be done in this context. She wants the world to see what's happened in Palestine. Lots of Israelis would disagree vehemently with her interpretation of what happened, from how much settlement there was before 1948, to where the boundaries were, to how much military brutality there has been, but it fitted pretty well with the little that I've read (Tom Friedman's From Beirut to Jerusalem, with its memorable descriptions of the 1981 Shatila/Sabra camp massacres in Lebanon by the Phalangeists, A Wall in Palestine by Rene Backmann about more recent developments, and http://www.librarything.com/work/41547 Sharon and my Mother-in-Law by Suad Amiry). Some individual Israeli characters, like Ari Perlstein and David, are presented as really thoughtful, decent people, but mostly the Israelis in the book are soldiers intent on killing and torturing Palestinians. It's kind of like reading Leon Uris' Exodus, only much better written, less of a soap opera, and the other way round (and I *loved* that book when I read it a long time ago).

I dinged it half a star because she chops and changes narrators in a way that I found annoying.

Recommended, but my next book is giong to be Major Pettigrew's Last Stand for something easier.

I'd also like some recommendations for some good history books from the Israeli perspective...

Great review of Mornings in Jenin, Cushla; I'll add it to my wish list.

I can't recommend it (since I haven't read it yet), but I am planning to read A Tale of Love and Darkness by Amos Oz later this year.

Mornings in Jenin sounds very good Cushla; onto the pile it goes.

Good review, Cushla. I've had to add that to my obese wish list.

You're in for a treat with Major Pettigrew .. ;-)

Darryl, I also have Gate of the Sun to read, thanks to your recommendation in 2009, but not yet!!

Bonnie and Caroline, hope you like it! And Caroline, I am really enjoying Major Pettigrew, but hoping his pratty son gets his come-uppance SOON.

I just bought Mornings in Jenin and have just started reading it.

Loved Mornings in Jenin when I read it last year, but I'm also hoping to read an account of the event from the opposite perspective. I'd like to see what happened from both sides.

I tried to read Gate of the Sun last year and found it very confusing to get started and ended up taking it back to the library unfinished. It's had great reviews so I wonder if I just wasn't in the correct frame of mind for that one. Will be interested to hear what you think when you get round to it.

236: Pratty, huh? I like that word. I didn't like Major Pettigrew's son very much either, but there were a few times when The Major just had to make sure his son knew that he (The Major) was right or better which helped me to understand why his son sometimes felt/behaved the way he did.

Hi Bonnie! I can see that the Major would drive many children mad at times. So far I'm only in Ch 3 and Roger has just missed his uncle's funeral with the girlfriend.

Right, back to school lunches. And maybe a chapter of Major Pettigrew if the kids stay asleep another half hour.

Mornings in Jenin just went onto the wishlist!

#232 Although it is also set in Palestine, I would highly recommend I Shall Not Hate. It is a different perspective because Dr. Abuelaish is a Gazan who "commuted" through the checkpoints to Israel every day. He worked in an Israeli hospital and has many Israeli friends. Some terrible things happen to his family in Gaza, but his attitude is one of hope and reconciliation. He acknowledges atrocities and provocations on both sides. Dr. Abuelaish has been touring the US lately speaking at churches and synagogues. I'm very disappointed to have missed him when he was here. He has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. I can't recommend the book highly enough.

Dr. Abuelaish will be at the Auckland Writers and Readers Festival this May, so I should have a chance to hear him talk as I'll be a volunteer again. Will have to request I shall not hate and Mornings in Jenin to read later in the year.

Cushla, I'm late to the party, and you have way too much going on for me to catch up. I just wanted to say that I hope you're 100% well, and I can't wait for Dissolution to come my way from PBS. Soon!
I'm glad that you're enjoying *Major P*. You deserve some light reading after all the serious stuff you've been getting through. I'm in a minority in that I enjoyed it but didn't adore it. Oh well.

Hi everyone - Lisa, I am definitely going to read I Shall not Hate. I keep seeing it over here for 28 francs, and I'm back to not buying things. Even on Book Depository.

#244 Kerry, you'll have to tell us all what his presentation's like. Next year I might come up if there are some authors I like.

Peggy you are just in time for the next party, because I'm starting a new thread!

It's over here:
http://www.librarything.com/topic/111924

I'm in the majority on Major Pettigrew, have just finished it and I loved it.

I'm currently reading Mornings in Jenin - thank you Cushla, and to anyone else who may have previously mentioned it.

Yay Luci, I love it when people read books I've enjoyed.