KIWIDOC TAKE 2 - reading 2009

Tiffin cannot read my previous thread anymore, unless she makes a coffee and mops the floor while waiting for my verbal diarrhoea to load.

My first thread is here

I think I will continue to post the summary list of books read here continuing on from March, but won't re-iterate my silly goals, which are not going too well anyway after the first two months. *sigh*

Thanks for putting up with me!!

MAY:

79. The Visit of the Royal Physician by Per Olov Enquist
78. A Universal History of Infamy /Historia universal de la infamia
by Jorge Luis Borges
77. The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears by Dinaw Mengestu
76. The Daily Coyote by Shreve Stockton
75. The Believers by Zoe Heller
74. The Radetzky March by Jospeh Roth
73 The Curious Case of Benjamin Button by F.Scott Fitzgerald
72. The Ancient Shore by Shirley Hazzard
71. A Mountain Year by Chris Czajkowski

APRIL:

69. Women by Annie Leibovitz and Susan Sontag
68. The Mistress’s Daughter by A.M. Homes
67. The Seventh Well by Fred Wander
66. Running in the Family by Michael Ondaatje
65. Annie Leibovitz at Work by Annie Leibovitz
64. Lady Windermere's Fan by Oscar Wilde
63. Towards Another Summer by Janet Frame
62. Molly Fox's Birthday by Deirdre Madden
61. The Haunted Bookshop by Christopher Morley
60. Flush - A Biography by Virginia Woolf
59. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
58. The Man in the Picture by Susan Hill
57. The Children's Bach by Helen Garner
56. Miles From Nowhere by Nami Mun

MARCH

55. Intuition by Allegra Goodman
54. 1434 by Gavin Menzies
53. A Civil Contract by Georgette Heyer
52.Books v. Cigarettes by George Orwell
51. Why I Write by George Orwell
50. Snakes and Earrings by Hitomi Kanehara
49. The Fish Can Sing by Halldor Laxness
48. Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson
47. Monkey Grip by Helen Garner
46. A Man Without A Country by Kurt Vonnegut
45. Somewhere Towards the End by Diana Athill
44. The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives by Leonard Mlodinow
43. Wittgenstein's Nephew by Thomas Bernhard
42. Death in Venice by Thomas Mann
41. The Great Crash by John Galbraith
40. The Blue Fox by Sjon
39. The Spare Room by Helen Garner
38. This Blinding Absence of Light by Tahar Ben Jelloun

Hey, I like your verbal diarrhoea! And whoa this was fast! ;)

kiwidoc--I'm glad you found This Blinding Absence of Light as impressive as I did. I had a Saturday night outing to Half Price Books this past weekend, and I scored three other books by Tahar Ben Jelloun for 70 cents each! Looking forward to reading those soon.

Welcome to the 2-thread gang, kiwidoc! Got you starred again so I know where to find you.

kiwidoc, if you ever yearn to relive the seventies, Monkey Grip will help. Garner paints a memorable picture of inner-city Melbourne - the streets of Carlton, grotty, shared, terrace houses, the Fitzroy pool. It has been years since I read it, but I can still remember the local flavour. Helen Garner is a Melbourne identity.

The reviews here said that The Spare Room was based on fact. She has also written some controversial non-fiction. I am planning to read more of her books because of your glowing review.

Hallo Kiwi Vol. 2.
I fully concur with your opinion of This Blinding Absence of Light. And I will now go off on a search for stuff by Helen Garner feckit.

That tiffin is only trying to get out of mopping the floor.

*snort*
mopmopmopmopmopmopmop

Hi Karen - just found you! Tiffin I am not mopping my floor either - but I bet yours doesn't have lego, crayons and a few decaying raisins.

Pamelad, I have Monkey Grip on my mooching WL because I've heard good things. I'm in the middle of The Time they Have Taken by Steven Carroll for my online Aussie book group and it too is about Melbourne in the 70s. It's the third in a trilogy that started with The Art of the Engine Driver. Have any of you read it? I'm 150 pages in and it needs to pick up soon... at the momeny there's lots of "lyrical prose" but not enough plot for me.

Right, the floor is calling me and the kids are watching some high quality TV...

cmt, just had a search through LT looking for your home. How are you going with The Fortunes of Richard Mahony?

Have not read any Steven Carroll and am pleased to read your comments because lyrical prose and not much plot are not my cup of tea either.

Hi Karen, returning your thread to you now.

ETA Found you cmt.

I read the Carroll book, cmt, at the end of last year - kindly sent by a very good LT friend as it is not easily found in Canada.

I thought he had a good prose style, but frankly, I did not enjoy his book as much as hoped. Having read Helen Garner, and other Aussies I was surprised he won the Miles Franklin Prize.

Hmmm.... thanks for the comments on The Time We Have Taken. I'm contemplating the Time I have Taken so far on it and if it weren't for a book group I might abandon it at 190 pages! But nooooo I will finish the thing tonight or tomorrow.

Just read your review of This Blinding Absence of Light. It sounds amazing, but I'll need to be in the right frame of mind.

Thanks for visiting, Cushla. I may also have abandoned it, but a great friend sent it to me, and I wanted to get to the end.

Tiffin - I am glad to have a clean-up in here. Thanks! Ignore that Kelly girl!!

Pamelad - Monkey Grip is next on my list from the library, thanks.

Aruba - I think you are the one that put me onto This Blinding Absence of Light, if I remember rightly. I love visiting your thread.

Alcottacre - thanks for the star. Nice to see you here.

CK - I hope you don't find the Garner opinion the same as my Grenville opinion. I think there must be some Aussies we can find to your liking!!!!!

Being in the middle of a nasty stretch of too much work, my reading has been confined to snatched moments in the middle of the night!! But all four of these next books are worth a look.

40. The Blue Fox by Sjon, translated by Victoria Cripp.



A slim novella from Icelandic poet Sigurjón Birgir Sigurðsson, this book seems to stretch the divide between poetry and prose with elements of a fable and the magic of a fairy tale. (The author uses a penname Sjón, which translates to mean 'sight'.)

Starting in a spare poetic style, with scarcely a paragraph on each page, this quickly slows the reader into a contemplative mood. The effect of this pacing is to makes every word count, to emphasize the weight and meaning of every phrase, as when reading a poem.

The beauty and splendor of Iceland is captured in the spare, delicious descriptions of landscape. Set in 1883, it is a book about nature, Icelandic culture and history, and the power and flux of nature. There is much visual evocation of the landscape - for example the ‘blueness’ of snow, as well as the visceral chill of the North. The magic, simple yet powerful world he describes seems so grounded, so real, so immediate, that the story takes on a reality that you would get as a child reading a fantasy fairytale.

Although I am not a great fan of fantasy or magic in my reading, I enjoyed this book immensely. It managed to create the sense of connection that we have to the earth, animals and the underworld. However, I suspect that I am missing some of the cultural nuances of this story (the hunter and the hunted share the same name in Icelandic, for example).

The author spins a light puff of creative magic as he finishes, yet retains the concrete effectiveness of his prose – all this being well captured in the translation. A recommended read

(I am also set to investigate the publisher – Telegram. I liked the sturdiness of the paperback cover and suspect I will like some of the other works that they publish.)

Category: Fiction. Icelandic
Pages: 122
Published: 2008 this translation, originally 2004.

The Great Crash by John Kenneth Galbraith



Can any reading be so relevant as this book is in today’s changed economic climate? Galbraith effectively summarizes the causes and patterns of economic trading on Wall Street that lead to the crash of 1929. Having just lived through 2008, the book is incredibly prescient, and despite some differences, has many frightening parallels.

Encouragingly, he does say that it was not necessarily a foregone conclusion that a depression would follow such a crash. He also points out that most predictors are incorrect, so who is to know what will happen to our futures in the next 10 -20 years. (all I know is that I will not be retiring for a very very long time!!) At the end of chapter two he states: “Perhaps it is worth being poor for a long time to be so rich for just a little while.”

He also has a little time to discuss woman playing the stock market, when on page 75 he illustrates the concept of ‘failing to visualize the extent of one’s innocence”. For example, when talking of Steel in the market, she thinks not of the ‘association with a corporation, and certainly not with mines, ships, railroads, blast furnaces, and open hearths. Rather it was with symbols on a tape and lines on a chart and a price that went up. …….….The lady operator had discovered she could be rich. Surely her right to be rich was as good as anyone’s. One of the uses of women is that their motivations, though often similar, are less elaborately disguised that those of men.”

Well, it was written in 1955!

This is an excellent book for the layman wanting to understand the underlying cycles of economic booms and busts, and is written in an engaging and accessible style.

Category: Economics
Pages: 206
Published: initially in 1955, and republished continuously since.

41. Death in Venice by Thomas Mann translated by Michael Henry Heim



Such a well-known book perhaps defies any review, but suffice to say this book is a powerful read – the story of a man’s obsessive regard for a beautiful boy, spiralling to his ultimate doom.

(Another one of my ‘goals’ for the year completed.)

This newer translation is very accessible and I enjoyed the prose much more than when I read it 30 years ago. Is it my age, or the translation, or perhaps both? I found it much less stiff and sombre - and much more atmospheric.

The foreword by Michael Cunningham is also excellent, and mainly dwells on the impact of various translations on the reader.

Category: Fiction. German
Pages: 142
Published: Originally in 1912. This translation in 2004

Hi Kiwidoc.
Interestingly, I noted your most recent read in Barnes and Noble this evening where there was a display of books dealing with economic crisis.

I almost bought The Great Crash by John Kenneth Galbraith and now after reading your review, I wish I would have.

I'll read this one soon.

Thanks for your great comments.

Hi Whisper - thanks for popping in. It is a worthwhile read, and there is a discussion thread happening on Project 1929 (Citizenkelly's group) that is well worth a peek.

42. Wittgenstein’s Nephew by Thomas Bernhard



Bernhard details his friendship with the mad genius Paul Wittegenstein (nephew of the famed philosopher). The author is confined to the ‘lung diseases’ wing of a hospital while Paul frequents the ‘mad’ wing of the same, and this is where he examines their complex friendship in the context of mid-century Vienna.

I LOVE Bernhard’s style – he casts a caustic shadow over Viennese society, the medical profession, the elite and even the literary intelligentsia of his time. His intense irritation at the misunderstandings of the 'stupid' public figures bestowing on him a book prize, is a good example of his tragic-comedic genius.

His tone is deprecatory and filled with the loneliness and hopelessness of misunderstood genius, the depressed and ill, the rejected participants and patrons of a wealthy complaisant society.

Paul Wittgenstein is Thomas Bernhard's salvation, until Paul inevitably self-destructs.

This slim book is brilliant. It gets the full 5 stars.

I will be reaching for this author’s other books in very short order.

Category: Memoir/semi-fiction
Published: 1988
Pages: 100

#16: Looks like yet another great recommendation, Karen. I should be avoiding your thread like the plague, but I cannot seem to help myself :)

> 13

I recently picked up The Great Crash by John Kenneth Galbraith, together with The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression by Amity Shlaes. I'm planning to read these back to back - old and new. Maybe this month...

Hi Karen,

I really feel like I should read the Galbraith book. Trouble is, I read finance and econ at work all day and then come home and want something else!

I am going to try to put some thoughts together for the P 1929 thread but would like them to have more substance than they do right now. But the most obvious thing that exacerbated the 1930s depression was the severe restriction in trade - it made things much worse, not better. So far, that hasn't happened, at least nowhere near as much as it did back then. And exchange rates can move - in the 1930s the gold standard held them fixed. (I need a page to say more about that and it's quite boring unless you're an economist!!)

Peter, as usual, that book looks excellent. Stop!! I think I need a long commute like yours. Did you see that she's on LT too?

# 19 Cushla - I hadn't noticed Amity Shlaes was on LT, so I had a look-see. Unfortunately, she looks to be a non-active member.

Cushla - I think that is why the book is amenable to the lay public - it does not dwell heavily on economic theory. He does, however, hint at wider causation when he comments on the presence of Churchill on the day of the crash. Churchill put his currency onto the gold standard several years before, made the pound very expensive, etc.

I would need to read around the subject to grasp the nuances/causation better, but I just have so much else I want to read. Economics is fascinating, though.

I do think the world is in for hard times in the next ten years - just how hard is the real BIG question?!?! Galbraith admits that trying to predict the future is pretty futile.

Thanks for the suggestion of the Shlaes book, petermc. I had not heard of that one.

Stasia - Bernhard was perhaps more famous for his plays, so I was surprised to find this prose gem.

#21: I checked last night and none of my local libraries has it, so I put a 'wish' for it out on PBS. I hope I can find it because it sounds very good.

Stasia - if I owned a copy I would send it to you, but I loaned it from the library. Sorry about that.

#23: No problem, I appreciate the offer, though. I figure one will come winging my way when the time is right :)

All of those books sound interesting; I'll definitely put The Great Crash and Wittgenstein’s Nephew on my wish list.

To all who are interested in The Great Crash, I read it recently and highly recommend it. Galbraith is a wonderful writer, and has a biting wit. I am told that economists consider him a better historian than economist.

The Blue Fox, The Great Crash of 1929 and Wittgenstein's Nephew all sound like must-reads. For starters, I've ordered The Great Crash of 1929 from the library. I'm older than you Kiwi and I've certainly had to put my retirement plans on hold.

Does Wittgenstein's Mistress by David Markson have any relation to Wittgenstein's Nephew? I've never read either--just curious if you know.

(P.S. Thanks for visiting my thread).

aruba - Bernhard was friends with Paul Wittgenstein "in real life" and I suspect that he wrote this book as a eulogy as he was very sorry not to have attended his funereal. He stated that he felt very guilty about this.

The Wittgenstein family had a strong 'madness' gene in their family with a very high suicide rate, I believe. It sounds like Bipolar disorder from reading this book. I remember vaguely reading that Ludwig lost most of his brothers to suicide.

The Markson book sounds very different - more of an experimental fictional book, although I cannot comment as I have not read it.

Yes - I just checked on Wikipedia and 3 of 4 brothers of Ludwig Wittgenstein committed suicide!!

The Wittgenstein sounds like a worthy read. Thx for the mention. I hadn't heard of it before. There is a recently released epic family novel about the Wittgensteins called The House of Wittgenstein: A Family at War by Alexander Waugh that I'm hoping to get to one of these days.

#27: The Great Crash is on order from the library too.
#29: yoicks, Karen - you know your family is dysfunctional when...

just popping in to say hello :)

Visibleghost - I have looked at the Waugh book and think that is a definite TBR. The Wittgenstein family looks anything but boring!! Thanks.

Tiffin and mckait - thanks for popping in.

44. The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives
by Leonard Mlodinow



Now for a bit of nonfiction – for anyone interested in mathematics and its application to daily life, this is a wonderfully engaging book (all math phobic readers should move swiftly on).

This book deals with randomness – skillfully applied to our everyday lives to make the read very enjoyable. This book has a very light touch and is never boring.

If you have studied probability, random selection and chance at school or University, most of the concepts will be familiar. He broadens, illustrates and adds historical interest to cleverly illustrates these concepts. There are examples from our lives, the lottery, the stock market, disease prediction, legal evidence, and so on.

He illustrates the point that probabilities are often counter-intuitive and our brain, no matter how much schooling it received, is not good at dealing with these ‘odds’ - showing that even the best scientists can be fooled or left floundering.

Here is an example:

*You are playing in a game show with three doors. Behind one lies a maserati car – pick that door and the car is yours!

*You pick a door. Then the host picks a door and shows you that there is a booby prize behind that one. This leaves one door.

*The question posed is: “Do you stay where you are, or do you switch to the other door”? Which choice gives you better odds?

Take a quick think on that one!

There are quite a few intriguing examples of our difficulties intuiting risk and probability. Mlodinow has a very accessible style of writing, he is fun and the concepts are not bogged down in dogma. It is very accessible for the layman (read it almost in a sitting).

And by the way, are you thinking the choice of doors above is a 50:50 proposition? I did. It seems the most intuitive.

If you are not going to read the book, the answer is…………..that your chances of winning actually improve if you change doors. (The key is that the host did not chose the door by random). A good pointer the next time you are a contestant and faced with the dilemma on a game show!!

Pages: 252
Category: Science, Mathematics
Published: 2008

45. Somewhere Towards the End by Diana Athill



Diane Athill wrote this book when she was 89! She is an English woman, well known in publishing, who has written several previous books on memoir. This won the 2008 Costa Prize.

Athill talks about it (with the other Costa winners) here

This book deals with her living as an ‘old person’. It is a remarkably lucid and honest account of her life – and discusses her sexuality, physical frailty and other changes that she encounters as she ages. It is remarkably unsentimental and quite frank and I found it engaging and enjoyable. The best of the books I have read of hers and can give it a hearty recommend. I hope I can be as lucid and sharp when I am 90!

Pages: 192
Published: 2008
Category: Memoir

Nice reviews, kiwidoc. The review of The Drunkard's Walk is especially intriguing, and a bit of a tease! This won't even make my wish list; it's on my "buy at Borders this week (once I get my 30% off coupon)" list. Somewhere Towards the End is already on my wish list.

I've had The Drunkard's Walk on my list for a bit. Sounds like it's time to bump up the priority!

I am putting The Drunkard's Walk on the Continent, too. Like kidzdoc, Somewhere Towards the End is already there. Great job on the reviews!

46. A Man Without A Country by Kurt Vonnegut



Ashamed to say that I have not read any works of Vonnegut, but now that I have read this little gem, I am off to seek him out.

Deceptively simple in construct and tone, this little book covers topics close to the heart of the man – destruction of the planet, divorce, the art of writing, music, politics and so on. Below the conversational style and intimate simplicity of the language, Vonnegut supplies some deeper philosophical reasoning and fist-shaking liberal viewpoints.

He is sharp, humorous and quite uplifting. Yet he frequently rants and the mood of the tract varied between elation and sadness, negativity and hope, light humour and serious portents.

Some quotations:

I think that novels that leave out technology misrepresent life as badly as Victorians misrepresented life by leaving out sex.

“We are all addicts of fossil fuels in a state of denial.”

“Foreigners love us for our jazz. And they don’t hate us for our purported liberty and justice for all. They hate us now for our arrogance.”

“We are here on Earth to fart around. Don’t let anybody tell you any different.”

This does not take long to ingest and is likely to be one of those books you will return to - to pull out when you need a kick up the behind.

Category: Memoir. Ideas
Pages: 145
Published: 2005

Everyone's going to have their opinion on which Vonnegut you should read next, but I think Cat's Cradle is his best novel.

>39 wunderkind: I will absolutely agree with wunderkid on that one!

Also, (>33 kiwidoc:) that mathematical probability thing with the three doors is also mentioned in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and you're absolutely right, I could not for the life of me wrap my brain around it!

Chiming in on The Drunkard's Walk -- I read it last year and found it both interesting and readable.

I'm adding The Blue Fox to my wishlist. Thanks for all the fabulous reviews!

Kiwi, I was a huge Vonnegut fan, back in the day, reading them as he published them so it seemed to me that there was a kind of chronology to his work, even if perhaps there really wasn't. Must find this one and give it a read.

I have never read any Vonnegut, but I think A Man without a Country makes number 3 currently residing on the Continent. I better start reading some of his books!

I've been inspired by this review - my next "commute" book will be Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut!

kiwidoc, what are good web sites to read reviews of newly released books by Canadian authors?

>46 kidzdoc: - hey kidzdoc, you might want to try Quill and Quire's website - it is a Canadian book review magazine, and posts a good portion if each magazine on the web, plus you can search it for past reviews as well.

For other ideas, check out the Giller Prize and the Governor General's Awards - these books are usually fairly good bets, although not always (the Giller winner for 2007, Late Nights on Air was underwhelming, IMHO). As well, Canada Reads picks five books every year to promote, though they are not always new books, and the Ontario Library Association has a yearly reading program that splits books into categories based on target age - the adult books are under the category "Evergreen" and the YA books are "White Pine".

I have to say, I was never very impressed with the White Pine selections when I was in high school--they tended to be books that I would have read when I was about 11, or books that I wouldn't have read at all because they were depressing, boring, and moralizing --this guy has a gambling addiction, this girl was raped and is pregnant, he's doing drugs, her whole family was killed in a car accident, blah blah blah. Looking back at my list of books read in Grade 11 and Grade 12, I can say that the White Pine ones were easily the least memorable.

(Sorry for the random rant--I just have a lasting dislike of White Pine)

Cait86 - thanks for the information on Canadian books. I have taken a peek at Quill and Quire magazine in the past - but did not subscribe. I think it is probably because the bookstores in Canada promote Canadiana pretty aggressively anyway. The website is here but they do not give full access.

I also read the Globe and Mail book section on week-ends, although it is not 100% Canadian content, of course.

The two award sites give you some fodder each year, too, although after reading The Drunkard's Walk it has made me skeptical about 'true worth' and 'recognition' for any award allocation.

...and thanks for the imput re. Vonnegut. He is always an author that I dismissed without trying to read which is a terrible sin.

My hubbie suggests Slaughterhouse Five, but Cat's Cradle seems to be a big favourite, thanks wunderkind. I think I might try one of these two and then decide if I will submit to a chronological read as suggested by Tiffin?

I know that he died a couple of years ago - I see his quotes everywhere these days.

Thanks Cait86! The review of Not Yet: A Memoir of Living and Almost Dying by Wayson Choy caught my eye; I'll add this to my wish list.

47. Monkey Grip by Helen Garner



After reading The Spare Room and really loving it, I rapidly sought out more of Garner’s fiction.

Monkey Grip is Garner’s first novel, published when she was 35 in 1977. It is set in 1975 (I was 16 then!) and tells of a 30 something woman with a child in elementary school and her life through-out a year of free-love, commune-style living.

The atmosphere of the book took me right back to the first few years of my University – perhaps without the drugs and promiscuity described (New Zealand was quite culturally conservative in the 1970s), but the language, the scene settings, the ambience – well, it all came flooding back.

- VW vans, small hippy spectacles
- Dylan and Joni Mitchell
- Lee jackets
- The Godfather
- The Golden Notebook
- Bead fly curtain
- Simone de Beauvoir
- The Golden Notebook

And the antipoedian language – dunny, thump you, mozzie, pozzie, a dag, fair dinkum, good day mate, whacker, dingbat, press-studs.

Written at the end of the hippie era, Garner describes a raw, gritty, shocking world of free-love, 'drug–tripping’, commune-living, promiscuity and feminism. Relationships are casual, immature and intense. The central lover, Javo, circles in and out, returning to the protagonist in ever tightening circles, drugged out and messed up.

Even her young child, of perhaps 6 or 7 years, is witness to the chaotic social and sexual freedom.

I can recognize Garner’s great talent for prose, but this was not a great read for me. It read like a diary of disjointed sexual encounters and conquests, with a mélange of characters moving in and out of her daily life, all pre-occupied with immediate sexual gratification, drugs, alcohol and relationships. It is free-spirited, young and rebellious. Responsibilities, societal expectations and restraint are all pushed aside. Love is developed through a haze of drugs and mutual sharing of the sexual act.

I know this was hailed as a great book in Australia, but I find myself unable to recommend it, mainly because of the structure of the novel.

Category: Fiction. Australian.
Pages: 245
Published: 1977

Thanks Kiwidoc. I'll skip this one. I never did find the 70's all that alluring, and I was in college during that time. Fast forward to my social work days when I met many adults who were still stuck in the 70's, blaming everyone, their parents, society, on and on. The lack of personal responsibility, in my opinion is why we are in such a mess economically, socially and morally.

Kiwidoc--Have you ever thought about rereading The Golden Notebook? (I have). I'm just wondering what it would read like now as compared to then. :)

>54 arubabookwoman:: I read The Golden Notebook for the first time last year and found it very hard going, I must admit. Took me ages to get through.

Did you hear about the Golden Notebook project at all, though? That looked quite interesting, although I started following and quickly stopped as I realised that the perspectives of the six readers were distorting my own view of the book. I think personally I'd rather read a good review at the end than discuss as I go.

Whisper - it is a powerful thing to read back on a time and place and realize the enormous change in culture and also your own outlook - so even though I cannot recommend Garner's book, it was a minor revelation reading it. In my case, moving across the world (again) to a different culture and moving 30 years on, makes my University time seem like a completely different world. So carefree, yet busy with school-work and stressful and lonely, coping away from home for the first time.

arw and Flossie - ?The Golden Notebook - that is one I read in my student flat 30 years ago, with my two feminist flatmates and a lot of discussion. It would be great to read it again in my more conservative mid-life and reflect. I must admit that I hardly remember it.

Thanks for the post on the project, Flossie - that really looks interesting but I agree it is tough to read a page and then reflect on the ideas each time - it makes the reading rather interrupted. I suspect if I reread, it would be a very good resource, though. Thanks for posting the link - I appreciate it.

kiwi, I was thinking exactly the same thoughts about "The Golden Notebook" - read it in my younger incarnation with the same fervent (fevered?) discussions and really can't remember it either. My thoughts about it is that it served its purpose in the day, that there is so much ahead that I haven't read and that I'm feeling that the time left is definitely finite so I think I'll continue forging ahead with the new and unread.

I think you sensible ladies have just relieved me of the need to experience The Golden Notebook for myself----another book that can slip off MT.TBR . There are plenty more where that came from.

Kiwi, was it last year that you read Choke? We were having a discussion on another thread about it and I wondered what you had thought about it.

I don't think I have read Choke yet, Tui. I was planning to, but never felt the time was right. He is a very punchy writer.

48. Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson



This biography of Einstein is LONG.

Long on detail, scientific explanation and pages. I have been struggling to finish it for weeks and finally did so last night.

I enjoyed reading the information on how Einstein visualized his ideas, and have a better idea of his personal views on religion, war and pacifism, Yet his personal life was less than interesting and there were several times I thought of abandoning the book due to boredom, too much cluttered detail and too little artistry.

I generally love science books, and biographies, but the somewhat stilted language of Isaacson did not measure up to the high intellectual rigour of his research. I found his style of writing lacked energy and interest, and creative interpretation. It takes me back to reading the Pulitzer Prize winner Jared Diamond, who has an even more uninspiring style which I explained in my review on Guns Germs and Steel.

Interestingly, in both of these books, it seems that I veer markedly off the course of public opinion.

I cannot fault this book for content or rigour, but found it a struggle to read to the end.

Category: Biography. Science.
Published: 2007
Pages: 704

49. The Fish Can Sing by Halldor Laxness



I should perhaps have started reading this author with his famous Independent People, generally considered his best book. However, The Fish Can Sing is beautifully written – essentially a coming of age story about an orphan boy raised near Reykjavik. It is a series of character sketches and evokes a strong sense of Icelandic culture in its light-hearted tone and witty child’s perspective.

The most wonderful aspect of this read is the wisdom and solidity that he gives to the ordinary folk of the town. The descriptions of the village life, fishing, and the eccentric characters all adds up to create a visual picture of early 20th century Iceland – the mundane and the common-place. He suffused that reality with the Viking sagas and heroic legends of the country, and hints at the tensions between his country and the Danish.

There is very little plot to hang your hat on, so the pleasure is to be gained from his wonderful prose – his delicious descriptions of the eccentricities of the characters, their stoical dispositions, dignity, and the humour of their absurdities. He is a champion of the little man, and gently satires the social climbing and elitism of the society.

A recommended read.

Category: Fiction. Icelandic.
Pages: 246
Published: 1957 with this new translation by Magnus Magnusson in 2000

#61: I read the book last year and echo your sentiments. While it was an interesting study of Einstein, some of the book was just overly detailed.

#62: I have Iceland's Bell by Laxness home from the library now. Have you had a chance to read that one yet, Karen? If so, what did you think?

Nice reviews, kiwidoc. The Reading Globally theme read for July is Polar Regions, so I'll plan to read The Fish Can Sing, The Great Weaver From Kashmir (recently published by Archipelago Books in the US), and Independent People.

Hmm...I was planning to read the Einstein biography later this year, so that I could hand it off to a good friend and his wife. Maybe I'll let them read it first.

Hi Stasia - this is the first Laxness book I have read. I have two or three others on my shelves waiting!!! Reading about Laxness, it is interesting that during his lifetime he was thought of in less than glowing terms - especially for modernizing the language of the sagas, etc. Now he is a cult hero.

Hallo - Kidzdoc. The Blue Fox, which I just read, is also Icelandic fare, if you are looking for that country specifically. I would be interested to research the Danish role in their politics, etc, after reading Laxness and his side-ways comments.

I would hate to put others off reading this Einstein book - the other reviews are all excellent. I always defend myself by saying that the book was not entertaining enough when it does not hold my attention. Sometimes I think these tomes need a good hard edit and an injection of humour and interesting analysis - to show the talent and deftness of the author.

Hi Karen

I would add The Fish Can Sing by Halldor Laxness to my tbr pile, but it is already there. Your excellent comments tempt me to move it up closer to the top. But, alas, I now have 75 library books that I accumulated in the last few weeks. A friend of mine visited Iceland twice and fell in love with it.

The Fish Can Sing sounds good. I'll add it to the wish list. I have attempted to read, twice, Independent People. I even took it on vacation to Iceland with me hoping I'd be more inspired to read it there. I couldn't get passed the seemingly endless chapters about sheep, sheep poop and sheep diseases. This book sounds more interesting.

Hi Violetbramble - I suspect that if you do not like Independent People, this will not be to your liking. It is not plot-driven and depends upon its descriptions of people and place to provide the allure. I heard Independent People was his best.

Thanks for visiting, Whisper. I am also very intrigued to visit Iceland now - it has a colloquial appeal if it's literature is anything to go by, and I am intrigued to meet the real genetic descendents of Vikings. (being a very Celtic looking person myself).

#68 Thanks. Maybe I'll scratch Laxness off my reading lists for good.
Iceland is amazing. I can't wait to go back. If you do ever go be aware that everything is VERY expensive there.

Great tip - VioletB. I wonder if their expense is related to their recent bankruptcy? Perhaps they are counting on tourists to pay off their debt?

I last visited in 2005. Long before the bankruptcy. They import almost everything so it all costs more. Icelanders use credit cards for almost everything. I've heard stories of people charging gum or a soda to their credit cards. That and getting involved in foreign banks hurt them alot and led to the bankruptcy. In 2005 they were planning on becoming energy self sufficient by 2010/2012 - using the geo-thermal energy of their naturally occuring hot springs/mud to heat all homes and businesses and requiring all cars to run on water (I think it was water, something renewable and readily available to them). The hotel I stayed in was geo-thermally heated. Everything smelled like sulphur. You got used to it after awhile.

There was an interesting article about the collapse of the Icelandic economy in a recent issue of the New Yorker that talked about some of the issues with credit cards and borrowing money abroad; you may have to be registered with The New Yorker to view this article, though.

Thanks for the posts, VB and Rebeccanyc. Geothermal power is quite interesting as a power source - we have a neighbour at our cottage on Vancouver Island who has installed it (at great expense). It is done somehow in the sea and creates a heat gradient - much like a fridge, I suspect.

Sorry I could not read the article - Rebecca. I might be forced to online subscription.

I think I get the subscription free because I subscribe to the print version. I know people who've done geothermal near NYC -- it has to do with the relatively constant temperature of the earth once you get down to a certain level and then exchanging heat back and forth.

Kiwi, I think you'd get a kick out of this, if you haven't already read it:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090320.waathill21/BNStory/E...

Thanks so much for the post on Athill, Tiffin. I read it in the print paper and they had a picture of Athill looking about 60. She is quite amazingly youthful for 91!! I don't know many 91 year olds who can sprint up four flights of stairs.

Did you read the book yet? There was a very long hold at our library for it and I had to wait a month or two.

It hasn't come in yet in inter library loan. I am looking forward to it.

50. Snakes and Earrings by Hitomi Kanehara



This is a Japanese book, sent as a gift when I bought another. It won the Akutagawa Prize – whatever that is? It tells of a 20 something girl who crosses a cultural divide into the social underworld of Japan, into a world of alcohol, sex, tattoes, and violence.

I can read disturbing content and usually integrate it into a prose piece, but the s&m, and violence and tongue forking and……….well that was the content that bound together the book and I found it very uncomfortable to read!! But if you can look past the content, the overall feeling of loneliness, societal detachment and alienation is quite powerful.

Kanehara has a very elegant and simple style and her writing is very good, if you can bring yourself to read such content.

Category: Fiction. Japanese.
Pages: 120
Published:2005

51.Why I Write by George Orwell


Pages: 120
Published: 2004
Category: Social commentary

52. Books v. Cigarettes by George Orwell


Pages: 126
Published:1946
Category: Social commentary

Penguin publishes these two books under their ‘Great Ideas’ series. They have vintage covers, which is appealing. Although they both cover political idealism, the second book is lighter and chattier.

Both are delightful reads. Orwell wrote most of these essays in the last ten years of his life (he died at 46 of TB). They cover such topics as clarity of writing, buying books, memories of bookshops, reviewing books, the reasons for writing and so on. The first book has a longer essay on totalitarianism, and gives his views on the politics and social hierarchies of Britain in 1940 at the outbreak of war.

Both highly recommended.

53. A Civil Contract by Georgette Heyer



I have seen others on LT reading Heyer and noticed one of her books in a ‘must’ read category. Perhaps not a favourite genre for me, this was a Regency romance with very good period detail and language. I did quite enjoy it, and it was a light interlude between tongue forking, politics and Eastern exploration.

Pages: 325
Category: Fiction, Romance, Historical
Published:

54. 1434 by Gavin Menzies



I have not read his earlier book 1421, which may have been relevant. However, this was interesting. I am not sure how much of his ideas would stand up to rigorous historic analyses, and his research is fodder for thought and perhaps opens up debates in the hallways of academia. Menzies himself does not come over as a historian but his ideas open up our ecocentric western views on historical events.

Menzies discusses the Chinese role in Western history. He points out that Columbus, Magellan, and others were working off maps supplied to the Italians and Portuguese by the Chinese. He also discusses the likely possibility that the Chinese were a significant catalyst for the Renaissance, and that even Leonardo Da Vinci could have been supplied with ideas for his machines (I thought that was a leap of faith) and so on.

It is fascinating to think that the Chinese had already discovered the art of navigating by the stars, having supplied the West with detailed cosmic stars as well as geographical maps of places such as the Americas and Australasia.
Menzies, not a historian, but rather a retired submarine captain, makes good use of the Web for his research and ongoing information gathering. It is an example of the future of collaborative information gathering - and he acknowledges this fact willingly.

Recommended if you have an interest in history.

Category: History
Pages: 384
Published: 2008

Thanks, kiwidoc! I've had Books v. Cigarettes on my Book Depository wish list for awhile, and I'll add it and Why I Write to my next order.

The two Orwell books look interesting.

I read a Japanese book, Toddler Hunting (I can't recall the author's name), several years ago that sounds similar to Snakes and Earrings. It was a book of short stories in which all the protagonists (female) were involved in s&m relationships--very uncomfortable to read.

I too was tempted by the wonderful cover of "Why I Write" when I saw it at a bookstore, but I didn't have any money with me so didn't buy it. The whole "Great Ideas" series has great covers. Also some of Penguin's "Great Journeys" books have amazing covers. I'm lusting for many of their sets and have spend many hours just browsing through them (here ). Ah, now I sound like I'm advertising, so I'll stop. They do look gorgeous, though.

>80 kiwidoc: I am just finishing up Sprig Muslin, my first Georgette Heyer novel. I now understand why she is so popular :)

I think the Orwell and Menzies books are already on the Continent, but I need to check. If not, I am adding them!

I liked your summary of Snakes and Earrings. I put this on my TBR list because I always want to find more "out-there" books, and more Japanese writers. It's always hard to choose modern books from other languages.

Thanks to everyone for visiting.

GUG - that website is DANGEROUS. I wish they gave a hefty discount for buying a series - it is so tempting. I just might have to press CHECKOUT!!

(I love the covers, and in Canada the books are only 9.99 but I wish they would make them in a sturdier cover/hardback 'cos these books are re-reads and browsing books.

No kidding, Kiwi - I bookmarked it and FLED for my life.

>87 kiwidoc: & >88 tiffin:: The Book People in the UK had the whole 'Great Journeys' series ludicrously cheap last year - never picked it up as I already had most of the ones I wanted....

Crumb, that was the one I wanted. Well, one of the ones...

#88, Tiffin, I laughed right out loud at your comment...
I checked the site and quickly book marked and closed it....

I went a little overboard on purchasing Dover Publications, many of which are classics with beautiful covers.

What the heck, here is the site. On your mark, get set go...start running and fleeing once again...

http://store.doverpublications.com/

#87 Kiwidoc.. I visit your thread often. You are one of the major culprits to the fact that my tbr pile is so high.

Kiwi is one of my tbr culprits too, Whisp. And I love Dover publications. Their paper and fonts are always gorgeous too.

ETfix: I had "she's one of mine too" and could hear my mother's voice saying "who is she, the cat's mother?" so I had to change it.

I confess that I am a Kiwi thief, too. I keep stealing books from her thread to put on Continent TBR. Maybe we should have her declared a Canadian national treasure or something?

I LIKE that idea. A Kiwi thief: great term.

#93 great idea! I just finished The Frozen Thames, a book she recommended.

Karen
Thanks VERY much for posting information regarding The Frozen Thames. I finished it tonight and it is a gem.

I read 1434 earlier this year too, and I thought Menzies had some very interesting ideas... if I had more time and energy, I'd probably go and check out some of his references, but alas, who has time like that? Lol. I'd also be interested to see, like you say, how many of his assertions stand up in the halls of academia. Now that I think of it, there must be some reviews around somewhere from professional historians who have a thing or two to say about it...

Thanks to you all for visiting!!

Tiffin - you are a hoot!! Always good for a laugh.

... and Kiwi thief is right - I have nicked many excellent recommends from all your threads!!

Glad you enjoyed The Frozen Thames, Whisper. I have been meaning to get to her other books, amongst my hundreds of other TBRs!! Thanks for posting the Dover site link, too.

dk phoenix - thanks for visiting. I see you are also a Canuck! I had the same impulse to check out his facts, but so much else to read!!!

Last read for March.

55. Intuition by Allegra Goodman



Reading about the latest Orange Prize long-list on the Prizes thread, this was one of the few available in my library.

The subject: Scientific research, office politics, romance, and thriller?

Goodman examines scientific honesty, ambition, and the politics of research-based jobs. She uses quite a large cast of characters which failed to rise into my imagination with any dimension, sympathy or clarity.

If you have problems with animal research, the first few chapters are quite upsetting – the research models are mice and she has some very graphic descriptions. I was upset. We were asked to do an experiment with mice in medical school which was totally without merit - I will not describe it here. I was horrified at the needlessness of it and refused. That is my only exposure in training.

There are glimmers of very clever prose. Goodman definitely has a gift and a well-read intellect. But overall, I was bored, struggling to keep on track and frankly, wanting to get on to my next read.

Honestly, I don’t think it will win the Orange. I think this writer could be capable of producing a wonderful novel – I wonder if she is driven to make her stories and prose ‘marketable’ thereby selling her talent short for the marketability factor? I gave her three stars, possibility out of guilt or doubt. I thought 2 1/2 stars might be a bit harsh because she is talented and I did not hate it. So if you have a long TBR, you might want to skip this one.

Pages: 344
Category: Fiction. American. Research. Science.
Published: 2006

phew. my TBR is safe from you this once!

Many reviewers seem to agree with you, Karen. I will definitely give this one a miss...and I was somewhat disappointed with her The Family Markowitz, after absolutely LOVING Kaaterskill Falls.

GUG - Fear not, I am reading a much better one now!!

Linda - The problem with reading one book only by an author, such as Intuition, is that it creates a bias towards her other work, and I am likely to miss something that might be worthwhile. If I had read Monkey Grip before The Spare Room, for example, I would have missed a very good read by Helen Garner, whose talent combined with maturity really produced a winner in her later book.

>98 kiwidoc:: To be honest, I'm a bit of a lurker... I've been reading your thread all year so far, and just never got around to commenting. LOL! That's what I get for trying to read everyone's threads! Gah! Yes, I'm over here in Ontarioland... I see you're in lovely Vancouver! It's been quite awhile since I visited out there, though I have several friends who like to brag about the weather a *lot*. Haha.

#102
I tend to read more than one book by a specific author. I can always count on Joyce Carol Oates to twist and turn a plot darkly. Janet Evanovich is usually great for a belly hurting laugh.

I understand what you are saying though because you come to expect a certain quality or certain way of writing.

I recently finished The Frozen Thames by Helen Humphreys after reading Wild Dogs. These two books were excellently written, but very different in subject and style.

I enjoy your thread tremendously. Great conversations are generated here!

dk - I went back to New Zealand for holidays and I like to brag about the weather there to folks here. (Nickelini was keeping me abreast of the snowfall and storms while I reclined on a sunchair for two weeks!!) It is all relative!! Thanks for emerging from lurker status; nice to meet you!!

Linda - thanks for visiting. I am honoured to have you drop by, being such a 75 celeb as yourself!!

Oh my, I cannot ever attempt to live up to that status, but I do thank you for your kindness.

>99 kiwidoc:: thanks for the heads-up on Intuition. The Grauniad reviewed it very positively at the weekend and it's one I know there's a copy of at work so I was considering it... but I think I'll pass for now after your comments! May revise my view if it makes the shortlist, but it doesn't sound likely. (Mind you, I thought at least one of the Booker-shortlisted novels last year wouldn't make it past the longlist stage and was truly amazed when it did. So I'm clearly not prize-judge material.)

>99 kiwidoc: Well, I would disagree with your assessment of Intuition, I thought it a better book than you suggest; however, I don't think it would win the OP.

>79 kiwidoc: I much agree with your comment on Snakes and Earrings. While an interesting portrait of the punk culture in Japan on one level, it is, as you say, quite disturbing. I left my copy with amanda in OZ...

Thanks for popping by, Flossie and Avaland.

I agree that some/many might enjoy Intuition, Lois. I am not fond of the narrative style that she employs, I felt I waded heavily through her prose and I thought her large cast of characters lacked depth for me. I am a fan of spare writing, and much preferred the style of my next read, Miles From Nowhere. However, I am obviously outvoted by the Orange Prize panel, who must have loved it.

So great to see a post from you Lois!!!!

You are missed.

56. Miles From Nowhere by Nami Mun



This is a gritty, taut and spare novel. I gather that a lot of the experience is personal memoir - this Korean immigrant lived as a street person in her teen years after her family disintegrated upon arrival in America. It tracks the life of a 13 year girl abandoned to the streets, who meets an array of eccentric characters and evolves a survivalist life from prostitution, thievery and wits.

Mun has a very engaging and effective prose style. Despite the sordid nature of her existence, the reader feels an affinity for her almost immediately. I think Mun is a writer to watch.

Category: Fiction. American.
Published: 2008
Pages: 304

57. The Children’s Bach by Helen Garner


I thought I would give Garner another try after loving The Spare Room and then picking up Monkey Grip and having trouble with her earlier style.

The book, written between the two above, is half way between. I still did not enjoy it terribly much, although her style has become much more controlled and less frenetically spoiled by over-writing and too many characters. Garner is a definite talent. Yet when compared with the Mun book above, the characters are not likeable, there is an underlying selfishness to them all, and a harsh callous edge that makes the reader feel not sympathy, but irritation at the entire cast. Too hard, too mean-edged, too cold for comfort. It all comes down to personal taste.

Category: Fiction. Australian.
Pages: 96
Published: 1984

58. The Man in The Picture by Susan Price


This is really more of a short story in length. I read it while visiting my cabin alone. A bit of a mistake to take up a horror story - a ‘Victorian Gothic Horror’ – while alone in a very solitary place. My imagination ran away with me in the quiet of the night after reading it.

Fun, effective and spine-chilling, Susan has a talent for making the spiders crawl on the back of your spine. I will not spoil the plot. Recommended.

Category: Fiction. Horror. English.
Pages: 145
Published: 2009

59. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf


Perfect pitch portrayal of English upper crust society of the 1920s, through the eyes of Clarissa Dalloway. The reader follows a day in her life, culminating in a party which brings together her characters at the end of that day. The observations, interactions, and commentary bring together the social evocation of an era and a rendering of ‘Englishness’ as it emerges from Victorian constraints. A wonderful novel.

Category: Fiction. English
Pages: 216
Published: 1925

ok, that salts it: Mrs. Dalloway is going to be one of my classic rereads this year. You reminded me of how much I loved it and that it's due for a reread. Pitch perfect indeed!

Never could get into Mrs. Dalloway, unfortunately. Didn't even finish it, which is very rare for me. I do plan to try again someday, though.

Eliza, I definitely didn't like Woolf so much when I was younger. I found her style made me impatient then. Now that I am half way through life (50), it was a much much better read - so maybe you might want to return to her in a few decades??

#113
I read this book last year. It really was creepy and well written.

#114
I've never read any Virginia Woolf novels and after reading your description of Mrs. Dalloway, I'm tempted to give it a try.

Have you also read To The Lighthouse? I read somewhere that while Mrs Dalloway is more well-written, To The Lighthouse could be considered the "better" novel because of its wider scope. I've read (and love) both, and I think I have a slight preference for To The Lighthouse, although that could be because it's the one I read more recently.

Linda - I must get some more of Susan Hill's books. I seem to remember her writing children's books also??

Wunderkind - sorry to say this is my first Woolf book. I am poised to read her little piece on E.B. Browning's spaniel dog, Flush - a Biography. I had so much fun reading Thomas Mann and his doggy memoir Balshan and I, so this might be fun. To The Lighthouse is on The Pile.

Karen

Here is a website listing some of her works:

http://www.susan-hill.com/

I've got Flush too, but I haven't read it yet. I have read A Room of One's Own, which I didn't like very much, and some of her short stories, which were a mixed bag. I'm going to try to read some of her earlier novels this year, starting with Night and Day. I gather her earlier stuff was more conventionally plotted, so we'll see how that goes.

Thanks so much for the link, Linda.

That IS the same Susan Hill that my kids read. I would like to read the other horror story that was made into a film. (Off to the library now when I should be getting the dinner ready instead!!!)

I liked To the Lighthouse very much, and The Waves. Loved A Room of One's Own. I have Flush sitting there tbr. Most of it I read yonks ago in a course on the modern novel, so my memory is foggy (except that I kept my paper on "The Waves", so have it as a reminder). It will be interesting to do a reread of Mrs. D., to see how it lands almost four decades later, kiwi.

Just missed your post, wunderkind, with simultaneous messages.

I bought her 'Common Reader - series one and two', this weekend in a second-hand store, which looks really interesting. I did not realize how much of a literary critic she was. It is packed full of her essays and commentary on artists, etc. I really want to read A Room of One's Own for the 1929 group.

Oh, and there you are, Tiffin!! Let me know how you find Mrs D second time round. I am about to crack open Flush- a biography but it should be a really quick read, being only 100 pages!

Tip for kiwidoc- try taking nature reading to remote places in the wild. It's much less frightening to imagine bears, wolves, and mountain lions coming to get ya than supernatural creatures or that most dangerous of all critters, unhinged humans. };->~

I loved Flush, since you liked Bashan too, I am sure you will enjoy Flush as well.
Anita

Tip definitely taken for next time at my cabin, Visible Ghost. NO horror stories - needless to say I was severely sleep deprived the next day. Nothing about creatures, either, as I was imagining every sound to be something 'breaking in' to get me - Bears, Cougars, Rats, etc. I will select better next time.

FAmeulstee - being a dog lover, I am sure to enjoy Flush.

Kiwi, have you read Woolf's Orlando? I remember being really taken with it as well. Quite wry.

ETA: NEVER read anything scary when you are alone in the wilds. That's comfort read country, ma'am. Bears and vampires can't break the shield around a comfort read.

Tiffin - I am severely lacking in Classical Literature Education, spending my youth poring over Gray's Anatomy, Harrison's Text, etc.

Woolf is someone I approached (like GUG) when I was younger and could not identify with. I am going to have to read all her output now. (I still don't have my goals sorted from the beginning of this year yet). I need more TIME!!!!!!!

I guess I'm going to have to try Woolf again too. I tried several of her books back around college age and never could understand them. Maybe I'm old enough now.

I used to use Gray's Anatomy for art class. :) Don't ask me where anything is now though (especially on this corpus). And you aren't lacking by any stretch of the imagination...you read gobs more than I do and are right up to the minute with what's going on globally with writing.

Did you also use Netter's Atlas of Human Anatomy, or just Gray's Anatomy? We also used Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine, and I keep the current edition in my office, just in case I need an adult reference text.

kiwidoc, was reading the comments about Virginia Wolf and noted that you are planning on living to 100. A toast to your longevity!

Years ago I read and enjoyed all the Wolf books mentioned except Orlando, which I could not get into, and Flush. Looks as though a re-read of Mrs Dalloway would be worthwhile.

About to start Garner's The Spare Room. Was interested to read your review of The Children's Bach because I recently read Cosmo Cosmolino and found its prose purplish too.

abw - I am not the best one to advise you on Woolf and palatability. I have only read one so far! Good luck with your foray!

Tiffin - thanks. Art was never my forte - I am way too anal retentive to be creative.

Kidzdoc - I trained between 1976-1982 and we only had Gray's plus the dissection room. At this recent conference they gave a good online site for anatomy for use in the office perhaps. It is here and is at www.anatomyatlases.org if you want the address. (The talk was on imaging for MSK pain and very useful, too.) Most of my referencing is now online - Up-to-date etc.

Pam - don't we all think we are going to have loads of time in the future. I have big plans for all my future accomplishments, once life responsibilities wane!!!!! Can I ask what 'purplish prose' is? I like the term.

Kiwi, purple prose comes from Horace. Our high school literary newsletter used to be called "Purple Patches" from a quotation from Horace - apparently he was telling someone that his writing was good except for bits which were purple patches. It's ornate, flowery, overly descriptive writing.

Lots of people can draw an arm. Not everyone can fix a broken one.

I liked Orlando for its gender bending, its early take on magic realism, its feminism. I read it (in my early 20s) without knowing at the time that it was also a look at her relationship with Vita Sackville-West, so it stood on its own for me without that knowledge.

ETA: sorry Pam, she asked you, not me. Ms. Buttinsky.

>112 kiwidoc:: interesting to read your comments on The Children's Bach - I put this on my wishlist on the strength of a Guardian review of The Spare Room, which said it was criminal that The Children's Bach was so hard to get hold of. But I'm not very good with books stuffed with unlikeable characters... Might move it down the list a wee bit.

Dove into "Mrs. Dalloway" last night and it was 2 a.m. before I noticed. Your recommendations are dangerous.

Oh, I love Mrs. Dalloway. It's worth following up with The Hours by Michael Cunningham, which is an homage of sorts to the Woolf novel and its structure, set in modern times. Virginia is one of the characters in the interwoven stories; another is a housewife who discovers Woolf's novels; and a third is a woman nicknamed "Clarissa," in part because she's an adept social organizer comparable to Mrs. Dalloway.

I have always wanted to read Woolf, but never thought I was in that headspace or mature enough? What would people recommend as the one to start with? I've always wanted to read Orlando but Mrs. Dalloway seems like it could be an easier trek.

I love both Orlando and Mrs Dalloway and would recommend both. Orlando has a more straightforward, conventional narrative style, but I think Mrs Dalloway is more engaging. I'd probably start with Mrs D.

I agree: start with Mrs. Dalloway.

Flossie - #138 - if you had to choose, I would pick The Spare Room over The Children's Bach

Thanks for the discussion on Woolf, everyone. I have just finished a second of hers which was great fun.

60. Flush by Virginia Woolf



Short and humorous, this book holds many delights. The premise is observing the Barrett-Browning romance through the eyes of a pampered Cocker Spaniel called Flush. Woolf conjures up a perfect picture of mid 19th Century London; the class-ridden world explored through the nose, eyes and ears of Flush.

Woolf ‘s biographical foray brings to life the world of Elizabeth Barrett, in a free-floating manner that conjures up the physicality and inner workings of their environs. Flush is adopted as the adored pet of Barrett, he is kidnapped, he suffers jealous attacks on Robert Browning when he visits, and eventually is won over in his affections.

Flush is described as a snobbish dog, highlighted by his required adjustment when the couple moves to Italy to marry.

‘but here in Pisa, though dogs abounded, there were no ranks; all – could it be possible? – were mongrels……..Flush felt himself like a prince in exile. He was the sole aristocrat among a crowd of canaille.

In Italy he suffers fleas, finds love, and learns of the carefree life in the sunny climes of the South, where he explores the streets and sights and countryside of Italy in charming fashion.

Delightful, physically palpable realism is tucked into this parable about English society, with a humorous and oblique glimpse at the famous love affair from the perspective of a canine. Her portrait of Flush gives the well-known story a whimsical and fantastical bent.

Just lovely to read.

Published: 1933
Pages: 112
Category: Fiction. Biographical. English.

62. The Haunted Bookshop by Christopher Morley



A book about the bookseller’s art, this was a charming and fun read. The mystery plot was rather silly, and it was overall rather too sentimental and verbose for my taste. The little pearls on book selling, bibiliophilia and so on were the best part.

Quite fun to read. Not a classic.

Pages: 253
Category: Fiction. American.
Published: 1919

....and thanks to Tiffin for defining purple prose, another literary term to add to my armatarium. Horace and his contemporaries were very enamored with the colour purple.....

>144 kiwidoc:: The Spare Room just sounded really harrowing - it was in the ER programme for the UK a couple of months ago and I wasn't sure I could cope with it, emotionally, however well written. May need to give it a few years before attempting Helen Garner, then, by the sound of it!

Flush had wiggled its way up pretty close to the top of my 'ME NEXT' pile before I saw your review, Karen. Now I'll be sure to pick it up soon.

Coming in a little late for the Mrs. Dalloway conversations....

I am in the middle of it as we speak and finding again and again she captures a familiar feeling or reminiscence with such precision. I definitely agree with an earlier poster - age is advantage for the reader because there is such a strong strain of remembrance, of the desire (or lack of) to recapture and remake the past in the story.

Two comments/questions - I am a huge admirer of The Hours, both novel and movie and I am wondering how much this affects my appreciation of Mrs. D. Anna Quindlen lamented that an entire literay generation would think now of Nicole Kidman with nose as Woolfe and I find that I do to an inescapable extent. Not to mention juxtaposition of Meryl Streep/Clarissa Dalloway.

Woolfe was 43 when she wrote Mrs. D. I know she was already struggling with her mental demons but lived 16 more years before plunging herself into the Ouse. Is it safe to assume (or is there record) that the delusions and hallucinations she created for Septimus were similar to her manifestations of illness?

edited for spelling - phonetic speller here :-(

Chiming in on the Mrs. Dalloway conversations. I did not read the book as yet, but a few days ago rented the movie. It is was very good.

(edited for typos)

My next two books share a coincidence of character type. They both involve women that struggle with introversion and inability to connect deeply with others.

63. Molly Fox’s Birthday by Deirdre Madden


Fiction writing seems to fall into two main experiences. Firstly the narrative novel that contains a large amount of action and speech, and whose ideas are transferred by these actions. The second type is that which contemplates and ruminates over ideas, using memory and recalled circumstances to illustrate its philosophies.

I seem very drawn to the second form, and this Orange Prize long-listed novel is a wonderful example. Somewhat reminiscent of Barbery’s Elegance of the Hedgehog, it is acutely astute and providing sharp commentary on social interaction, the nature of intimacy and friendship.

Molly the actress is almost never seen directly, but we understand from the narrator that she struggles with shyness and forms shallow personal relationships, despite being a famous actress and loyal friend. The narrator is staying at Molly’s Ireland house for the weekend and meditates on her relationship with Molly and others.

This is a book about three main friendships, between people who leave their Irish homeland to provide a more appropriate identity for themselves. It is also about the intimacies and secrets that are held between friends.

It is deeply nostalgic and I loved it. It was one of those books that I was rushing home to read, and held me through its entirety. Despite some of the philosophical intensity of Madden’s observations which may not appeal to all, and some slightly contrived coincidences, it was a lovely read for me. I was sorry that it finished. I would have to say that it is a 'girly book', full of contemplation of friendship, etc, so the audience will likely self-select.

Pages: 200
Category: Fiction. Irish. Orange Prize Long list.
Published: 2008

64. Towards Another Summer by Janet Frame


This is a posthumous biographical novel by a New Zealander, written in 1963 after she moved to the UK. It describes her visit from London to the North to stay with a Kiwi journalist and his family for a few days, and reflects on her homesickness for NZ in a gray and dark Northern town of the UK.

The intense homesickness of Grace, the main character, is coupled with her excruciating shyness, anxiety and withdrawal. She lives in a world of poetic thoughts and sad reminiscences and her isolation is heart-rending. All the more so, when you reflect on the autobiographical content and the fact that Frame considered the book too personal to publish in her lifetime. Indeed, it must be asked if she ever really desired this book to be published.

It describes a writer who wants to transform herself into a bird, perhaps to fly back to her former country. Her intense anxiety at being unable to communicate with friends is contrasted with her rich interior world. New Zealand life as a child intersperses the pages of the awkward and unhappy woman stranded in a cold Northern UK town for a few days. It is deeply felt, poetic, and has a sad, tragic atmosphere of loss and loneliness and despair. There is an underlying sense that the writer is struggling to define the limits of sanity, depression and anxiety in her musings.

For a New Zealander, the references to the landscape, birds and culture of NZ is recognizable and understated. I am not sure if it would resonate so much with those who are not from NZ. It beautifully captures the thoughts that fly through a Kiwi’s mind when separated from the landscape and climate of that country.

The most striking feature of this writing is the intense shyness, anxiety and awkwardness of Frame’s external character, Grace Cleave. Her acute sensitivity is painful to witness. There is anticipatory anxiety about communicating with others, which is so strong that it often makes her mute. Despite this outward discomfiture, Grace has a rich, lyrical and poetic inner world that is very alive and palpably vivid. She reminds me of Virginia Woolf in her stylist use of prose (probably because I have just finished Mrs. Dalloway). There are elements of magic realism, poetic interludes and metaphorical allusions to her prose – she uses these techniques to highlight the vast differences in her inner fantasy world and outer reality.

I have not yet read her autobiographical works, which I understand are her crowning glory, but this is a writer that was diagnosed as suffering schizophrenia in NZ and scheduled to have a lobotomy. The only thing that prevented such a catastrophe was the fact that she won a literary prize. Indeed, it is now surmised that her diagnosis was high functioning autism, and this article supports that idea.

Pages: 216
Category: Fiction. Memoir. New Zealand.
Published: 2008 (Posthumous as written in 1963)

65. Lady Windermere’s Fan by Oscar Wilde


I listened to this play on audio. It was a wonderful production by Naxos, suitably English with appropriate period music and just the right tone to the voices. Full of Wilde’s wittisicms and aphorisms, it is very prescient – a study of society’s social judgements and rules for admission and rejection.

Great fun to listen to this particular recording. I also remember watching a film adapted from the play, which was good too, but cannot remember the name of it.

Category: Play. Audio. English.

excellent reviews, Karen. Molly Fox is going on the wish list for sure.

66. Annie Leibovitz at Work by Annie Leibovitz



Interesting discussion about how Annie created her photographs, her techniques and of course some great photos. Her photos have concentrated a bit too heavily on movie stars and famous people for my taste, but nevertheless are wonderful to look at.

This is an interesting article in the Guardian on her recent financial problems that I saw as I researched her online. I was actually trying to figure out her relationship with Susan Sontag, and also to understand how she could have had three biological kids in her fifties – Sarah was born when she was 51 and twin girls a few years later by surrogacy.

Published: 2008
Category: Photography. Memoir.
Pages: 240

#155 - Nice to see this book being reviewed. I picked up a copy some months ago, but other than a quick look at the pictures and reading the chapters WAR, THE QUEEN and EQUIPMENT, have yet to seriously read it from cover to cover.

I love the following quote from the book, "The first thing I did with my very first camera was climb Mt Fuji. Climbing Mt Fuji is a lesson in determination and moderation."

I love it because I see Mt Fuji everyday (weather permitting), and despite being an amateur photographer, have absolutely no (nil, zilch, zip) desire to climb the damn thing. Perhaps that's a clue as to why she's so famous and I wallow in obscurity ;)

Thanks for the comments, Tiffin and Petermc.

Mount Fuji seems like such an iconic symbol of Japan - perhaps you would enjoy climbing it, Petermc, just to be able to say you have DONE IT?

I love to take pictures, but have yet to master the digital side of the equation. I used to have a dark room which was great fun. I just need to invest more time in the techie side of it all.

There is a program on TV called The Genius of Photography, which is an excellent overview of the history of photography and it has sparked my interest.

There's a pretty good film version of Janet Frame's An Angel at My Table. She overcame--and at times succumbed to--a lot in her life.

I had the pleasure of seeing Lady Windermere's Fan onstage in London a few years ago. Joely Richardson played the title character. If we're thinking of the same film version, I thought it was just OK; Gillian Anderson was Mrs. Erlynne.

Molly Fox's Birthday sounds wonderful! I, too, am drawn to those types of novels. And having just finished TEOTH, I know just what you mean about rushing home to read!

You're killing me, Karen. Do you ever come across a BAD book?? I'm going to start a separate pile just for "Karen's Recommendations".

Did you see the special on Leibovitz that aired on one of the educational channels last year? (Can't remember which one.) It had a nice mixture of her history from trailing around the Rolling Stones to the present, a look at how she does her work and interesting glimpses into her personality. I particularly enjoyed her work with Queen Elizabeth, especially the oh-so-subdued clash of two strong wills on whether "that crown" would be in the picture (Her Majesty: Yea, The Photographer: Nay—the Yeas have it). :-)

This is always a dangerous thread to my tbr pile.

As usual, I'm adding quite a few, including book # 63, 64, 65!

Tad - I would love to see the TV show on Leibovitz. She is a strong willed person and talks about her photographing the Queen in her book. She described being very nervous and said the Queen was grumpy but steadfast - her photos are wonderful. The BBC 1 Head had to resign after they falsely reported/edited the taped to show that she stomped out on Annie.

I think it is incredible that Annie has pawned all her work, past and future, for $15 million that she needs re. debt.

*edited to add 'million' to the $15*

#163: that's kind of sad, Kiwi. I had no idea that she was in financial trouble.

It is amazing how many celebs are caught in this financial downturn, isn't it. I don't understand why these people need to own so many houses, though? Maybe she was a Madoff casualty, like Kevin Bacon.

Deborah - how wonderful to see Lady Windermere's Fan 'in the flesh'. Joely Richardson is wonderful to watch!!

#160: I completely understand how you feel, Linda! Maybe should boycott Karen's thread? Nah . . .

I'm adding Molly Fox's birthday to the TBR list.

and I have (where is the tiny font size) not read any Janet Frame yet, but I will! Perhaps I should set myself a deadline...

Believe me, Cushla, there are hundreds of really good Canadian (and NZ) authors that I have not read either. Perhaps the most glaring omission for me is A Fine Balance, which I have had for years and not yet read.

Stasia and Linda - if I promise to read dreck, will you keep coming back?

>168 kiwidoc: Funny, I've also had A Fine Balance on my shelf since it came out in paperback but haven't gotten around to it yet, despite raves from people I trust. I've even read Mistry's next book (can't recall the title, but it's the one about the elderly professor; something with "Family" in the title, I think).

Family Matters and it was a fine book too. hehe

Family Matters is a very good book, but A Fine Balance is miles above it.

OK - that does it!! A Fine Balance is my next read after I finish the two I am reading.

I bought A Fine Balance on last week's secondhand bookshop trip!

I just loved A Fine Balance!

Maybe time for a reread...must have been over a dozen years ago now.

>151 kiwidoc: I've had a copy of Molly Fox for a while but it's been a victim of Deposition by Acquisition and slipped far down the pile. Sounds like a serious error. Hey, and it's Orange too.

Everyone Must Read A Fine Balance. It's in The Rules.

I would be interested to hear what you think of it, Flossie. I think it is a difficult book to acquire in the US - I bought mine on the internet from Ireland after Citizenkelly gave it a recommendation.

Flossie's "Book of Rules" eh. I would like to get my hands on that one.

67. Running in the Family by Michael Ondaatje



I thought I would try this non-fiction meditation on Ondaatje’s family roots, and see if I jelled better with his memoir style.

I am sorry to say, that despite recognizing his prose brilliance, he is not an author that I love to read. He is poetic, musical and creative but I don’t enjoy him. I had better not continue on, 'cos I know I am the only person in the world who finds him a slog.

Category: Memoir. Canadian
Pages: 207
Published: 2007

{whispering...make that two of us}
and I keep trying too

68. The Seventh Well by Fred Wander



OK, so I am a bit obsessed with Holocaust literature, which is perhaps not a great thing for my mental health, but this is a new author that I recently discovered to add to my armatarium.

His origins stem from poorer stock than Levi or Weisel, and he was very street-savvy by the time he was interned (in no less than 20 camps in WW2!). However, his eloquence is no less than any of the best writers who suffered these degradations.

Cynthia Ozick describes him on the back cover:

"Among the most significant chroniclers of the Dark Age of the Holocaust, Elie Wiesel is the prophet, Primo Levi the scientist, Paul Celan the poet. And now, in 'The Seventh Well, here is Fred Wander, yet another voice risen out of the ashes, who embodies what we might call the Adversarial Conscience of that merciless night....he is even more intent on illuminating the 'stainless transparency' of the violated."

Wander approaches the portrayal of the victims of Nazi concentration camps in a different style - he flits back and forth in time, and his focus is to describe his compatriots and their struggles. There is no great self-reflection or dwelling on the atrocities of the enemy, but rather a studied portrayal of the personalities and characters of the victims.

He has a beautiful style, but I found the flitting about in time and place somewhat chaotic. Essentially a set of short stories tied together with a common theme and characters. All in all, a very powerful read.

Category: Holocaust literature.
Pages: 160
Published: 2005

Tiffin - thank goodness there is one other person out there!

Do you think they'll kick us out of the country?

#180 - I'm adding this one to my TBR for sure - thanks for the great review!

Karen, congrats on your 100th review, by the way. I read ALL of your reviews.

ETA: AND you got a hot review of the day for your Molly Fox review. Brava!

69. The Mistress’s Daughter by A.M. Homes



This memoir outlines the process of reunion of adopted A(my).M. Homes when her 'natural mother' contacts her in her 30s, and her experience meeting both her 'natural' parents. It destroys her childhood dreams of the 'perfect' missing parent, and shatters her childhood idea that this would add the definitive dimension to her life.

Homes goes on to describe the frustrations of learning about these people, as well as her great disappointment in their personalities and behaviours. Her birth mother seems overly dependent and incapable of daily living; her birth father like a predator whose selfishness damages those around him.

Homes has an angry tone at times; often puzzled, never reconciled. She also drew some conclusions that were not based in fact - like the idea that her 'natural mother' left home because she was being abused by her stepfather.

But I liked her writing style, and her lack of sentimentality. All in all, I would recommend this read.

Category: Memoir, Adoption. American.
Pages: 240
Published: 2007

I've wondered about this one . . .

Thanks everyone for visiting.

Tui - I think my review only garnered a single thumb up, so cannot see it in any hot review category. But thanks for the unflinching support; and sending you a virtual hug to say thanks.

Homes also wrote an interesting novel that is somewhat the flip side of this, In a Country of Mothers, in which a psychiatrist finds herself coming to believe that one of her patients is the daughter she gave up for adoption as a young woman. It's a quick read, kind of a pyschological character study. I liked it enough to read a couple of other novels by Homes--looks like I'll have to check out her memoir now.

Thanks ABW - I will have to check that title out. It sounds good.

I have one other book by her called This Book Will Save Your Life and I mooched it because it was published by Granta - a publishing company that I generally can rely on. Of course, I have not yet read it so cannot comment!!

Her style is more English than American, in that it is quite spare and lacks (dare I say it) the sentimentality of some American writing. I think one review on LT called her 'soul-less'. I think she is talented, and I watched her talk on a BBC interview and was impressed with her intelligence.

#180: Thanks for the review and recommendation of The Seventh Well, Karen. I am adding that one to the Continent.

Hi Stasia - The Seventh Well is a difficult book to recommend to a general audience and I think some will love the writing style and others will find it challenging for its diffuse way of bringing together the characters he portrays. The subject matter is, of course, upsetting in the extreme.

All in all, Primo Levi still speaks to me the most vividly in this area of literature.

#191: I just saw my copy of Survival in Auschwitz peeping out at me in my library today. Time to pull it out again, I think.

The Seventh Well is probably going to be waiting for me for a while since my local library does not have it. Thanks for the additional info!

I've just checked the Wgtn library and it doesn't have The Seventh Well either. I'm surprised by that but will keep my eyes out for it.

>189 kiwidoc:: I adored This Book Will Save Your Life - that rarest of things, an uplifting and generally positive read, in which damaged people feel their way to something like recovery. It's like a big warm hug on a cold day after a brisk walk on crunchy leaves. Not poetic or literary, but funny and cheering - an excellent holiday or pick-me-up sort of a book.

Flossie - good to hear so I will get to the Homes book soon. I had not heard of her in Canada (perhaps she is more popular in the UK).

Cushla/Stasia - I got my copy of The Seventh Well from the library, so I am sorry that I cannot send it to you both!

As I was reading this one, apart from Albert Speer and his memoirs, I thought that I don't know of any Nazi who has written about his experiences. The motivation for that would be very different indeed.

Hi.

I see that you have a "hot review" for your excellent comments re. Molly Fox's Birthday It is listed on today's home page along with the hot review of Tiffin, TadAd and Kidzdoc...Way to go 75 challenge group!!!!!

Congratulations to all!

Whisper:

Thanks. I haven't managed to catch myself in the hot lights - I think I was pushed out pretty quickly by Tiffin and others, but that is nice to know. Thanks for all the Thumbs, everyone.

>197 kiwidoc:: kiwi, your review is still "hot" -- you just have to edit your settings to see more reviews. It's #5 or so on the list as I post this. Way to go!

and here are the number of thumbs up given for your review.

http://www.librarything.com/work/6068390/reviews

Another embarrassing moment for the technophobic kiwi. Thanks, Laura and Whisper.

Whoa! You're reading at a furious pace! (I'd lost you there for a while--between your new thread and my insane busyness). Lots for me to catch up on here. Looking forward to seeing what you have to say about all these books.

Tip definitely taken for next time at my cabin

Oooh, you have a cabin. How lovely! Where abouts is it? We're campers--our favourite spot is Rock Creek-Kettle River, which is past Osoyoos. I have magical memories of curling up in my sleeping bag and reading Anna Karenina with coyotes yip-yipping in the distance.

Hi Joyce - nice to see you here!! I am actually reading quite slowly this month, because I have had the flu and work is closing in, and the kids are at the end of the year with exams and projects........

We have a little cabin on Vancouver Island - it is lovely to visit and my hubbie likes to boat. Getting to it enough is the real challenge!!

Karen
It sounds like you are pulled in many directions.

Good luck with all of this and I hope you get to that cabin for R&R real soon!

Aaagh, the Island. I just love it over there. Lucky you!

Yes - the Island is my favourite place in BC, Joyce.

70. Women by Annie Leibovitz and Susan Sontag



This was the perfect book to round off a busy evening on call. Visual treats from this talented photographer - quite stunning and depicting women in a diverse range of activity, age and demeanor. It is not a book of nudes or beauty or glamour – she portrays lawyers and prostitutes and artists and politicians and doctors and kitchen workers and body builders.

The pictures speak for themselves, and Susan Sontag adds that political feminist angle to make us cogitate some more.

Susan Sontag writes a characteristically intelligent essay to start off the book, with her razor sharp and agile mind, describing the ‘post-judgmental ethos gaining ascendancy in societies whose norms are drawn from the practices of consumerism.”

She also explores stereotypes that are still attached to the expected role of women – beauty, power, economics, domestic violence, and so on. She states; "A man ages into his powers. A woman ages into no longer being desired."

Sontag ends her essay in summary: “A book of photographs; a book about women; a very American project; generous, ardent, inventive, open-ended. It’s for us to decide what to make of these pictures. After all, a photograph is not an opinion. Or is it?”

If you enjoy Sontag’s intellectual acrobatics, or Leibovitz’s honest and compelling photography, this is worthwhile.

Category: Photography
Published: 1999
Pages: 247

That sounds excellent, Kiwi.

Just stopping by to say that Penguin's Great Journeys are back in the Book people's catalogue:

http://www.thebookpeople.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_10001_10051_511...

but it looks like they only post to the UK :-(

but it looks like they only post to the UK

so not fair!!

>209 girlunderglass: How about The Book Depository? http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/search?searchTerm=Penguin+Great+Journeys+&se...

Book 69 sounds heart breaking. It must be a very crushing blow to find that the fantasy that you may have built up about your birth parents is not at all what they turn out to be.

I want to comment on a lot of what you've been reading but there are so many great books on there that all I can say is "whoa" and add to the growth of my wish list.

I don't know much about Annie Leibovitz except that I like her photography. I do(or should I say did since she is now late) greatly admire Susan Sontag and I remember reading some of her stuff for my War and Media class a few years ago. I remember it being very thought provoking and powerful.

>210 digifish_books: arghhhhhhh! first petermc with his Polysyllabic Spree and now this! are you people all part of some giant conspiracy to make me spend ALL my money on books? I'm still in college for goodness's sake! I don't even work yet!! Have mercy!

(or course I'm very grateful for that link digfish. deep deep down. :P)

"If I have a little money, I buy books; and if any is left, I buy food and clothes." Erasmus

tiffin..true, very true.

bookcloseouts.com is a very dangerous site for me.

#213 As a matter of fact, I went clothes shopping on Saturday and came home with 4 new books and nothing to wear! I'm ok with that.

#215 - Loriephillips--I can so relate to that!

#214 So I probably shouldn't tell you that bookcloseouts.com is having a 99 cent sale?

>217 Cariola:: I got that email this morning! And promptly deleted it. And then 5 minutes later opened a Firefox tab for bookcloseouts.com. *sigh*

Cariola

All I can say to your question is THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

Ohhh Kaaaaaren....I'll be watching tonight's game... guess who I'm cheering for?? :D

Seriously, it should be interesting. I'm intrigued to see how the Canucks and Luongo are going to respond to letting in 6 goals last game. And if you would like to know, the Canuck I despise the least is Mats Sundin. I even have him in my playoff pool. LOL, how do I know I'm addicted to hockey and reading? I read while I watch games... but not during Flames games!

We are tuning in for tonight's game, Cauterize. My kids got to go to that second disaster of a game (while the parents worked). I was annoyed that people wanted medical attention while they could have been watching the game. It's quite unbelievable how inconsiderate patients can get!!

Anyway, the first game was GREAT and Sudin saved the day with only 16 seconds to go - so that was the game we should have had the tickets for. They had better not slack off in the third period tonight - or I might just get very annoyed!

Thanks for all the comments above. Having just discovered the free shipping option on the Book Depository, I am seriously damaging the plastic again. (Who was responsible for that one??)

I have been taking a gardening 'break' and this has cut into my LT time severely. Watch for some more book postings soon, though!!

Addendum: in case you need to know who to cheer for (ignore Cauterize, she is cheering for a non-Canadian team!!) GO CANUCKS GO!!

Well, you got my favourite player from the Leafs. Go Mats! (I won't cheer for the Leafs any more - pfffbbllllt)

71. A Mountain Year by Chris Czajkowski



This women is quite inspirational. She lives in the interior of Northern British Columbia and built her own cabin several years ago. Battling quite extreme climatic conditions, she lives alone and communes with nature. This diary of a year is peppered with her drawings of birds, wildlife and flowers. It is a delight, even if her writing is not her strongest suit.

To get an idea of the area she lives in, visit her website here

The photojournals are lovely.

Published: 2008
Category: Nature. Diary. British Columbia
Pages: 176

Be sure to share the results of your gardening at our thread:
Garden and flower pictures

I really can't watch the Canucks. Ultimately, it's just too disappointing. I was at my daughter's lacrosse game tonight, so I missed all the action. As for gardening, I finally have time, but now the weather has turned! Perfect weather to stay inside with a good book, I'd say.

Ronincats - thanks for the link. I will have to get my camera out.

72. The Ancient Shore by Shirley Hazzard



Hazzard is an Australian who has lived in Italy and New York for much of her life. Her book, The Great Fire, is languishing on my TBR pile.

She has had a longstanding love affair with Italy and here is a short philosophical tract on her reasons. She presents the city of Naples as neglected but charming, shabby but warm-hearted.

I also love Italy. She forgives the Neapolitan shabbiness and decay and explains the character and historical context so vividly that this reader is now biting at the bit to explore it for herself.

Her late husband is also given a chapter to describe an incident of bag snatching where he is quite badly injured. I was worried that his style was not up to par in the first few pages, after her sharply intelligent observations, but he managed to engage me just as sympathetically.

This is a book to enjoy, but should not be considered wide sweeping or an extensive examination of the Neapolitan – it is a sweet sample taken from a much bigger candy shop.

Pages: 129
Published: 2008
Category Travel. Italy

73. The Radetzky March by Joseph Roth



One of those great epic books that no one should miss. Roth describes three generations of a military family, living at the end of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It is an impeccable book, beautifully written. An absolute classic.

Pages:331
Category: Fiction. German
Published: 1932

74. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button by F.Scott Fitgerald
Illustrated by Kevin Connell



I got this little graphic novel out of the library, curious to read it before (possibly) seeing the movie.

I thought the book was good - the graphics were lovely, and they managed to stay true to Fitzgerald's text. I can recommend this one.

Pages: 127
Published: 2008
Category: Fiction. Graphic Novel. American.

Addendum to Kiwidoc's Addendum: No true Flames fan will cheer for the Canucks... the only time I will cheer for Vancouver is when they are playing against the Oilers. And even then, it's a choice between the lesser of two evils! Flames Forever!

And argh... it's now a 2-1 series for you. I will have to concentrate more focusing power for Thursday.

um, but Caut, the Flames aren't in the playoffs. The Canucks are it, for we Canucks.

CANUCKS FOREVER!! Another win (3-1 win tonight) Another game closer to the finals.

LOL, Tiffin... but the Flames did make the playoffs. Leafs haven't been in for years, so I guess you guys are used to cheering for other Canadian teams ;) And none of the Western Canadian teams like each other, it's just a fact. If the Oilers were the only team left, I'd give my left arm and all my books up before I'd cheer them on... mwhahahah

I also have personal reasons to keep the Canucks out of a Cup... all my extended family from both sides lives in Vancouver, so our mutual ribbing gets quite huge... I love rubbing it in to them that they are Cup-less while we are not :)

So.... that would be all your books but not your arm if the Canucks win, Cauterize? I will await that large book shipment in the next few weeks!!

(Tiffin and I are happy to share your library between us, although she is going to have to straighten up and start waving the Canucks flag on her car to qualify).

LOL, I could be induced to give significant part of my library if I could get a guarantee that the Canucks will never, ever win the Stanley Cup! Sort of like a Boston Red Sox or Chicago Cubs curse.

What may be more appropriate is a little friendly bet... I'll send you 5 books if you even make it to the Finals and vice versa if you don't!! I have confidence you won't even win the Western Conference *smirk*

The Curious Case of B. Button as a graphic novel?? How strange! I've never heard it was released in that form...

(yes, d**n it, I can't comment on your Canucks + Chicago Cubs etc conversation as I'm not American and this sport is way beyond me. Give me soccer - now that I understand.)

Blackhawks!!!

As a Chicago child who begged to go to a hockey game for my birthdays in the 1960s (when there were only six teams, no conferences, and only two NHL teams in Canada) I am praying to see the Stanley Cup back in Chicago where it belongs. Canucks, say goodbye.

You are on, Cauterize - but maybe just one book is punishment enough!!

#224 A Mountain Year sounds like my kind of book. I love books with a nature theme. Thanks for the rec!

Edited to fix touchstone

lorie - you might want to start with her book Cabin at Singing River, which described her building her own cabin in the wilds.

I don't think she is a great writer, but she sure is an adventurer. The area she built her cabin is exquisitely beautiful, at the foot of the Coast Mountain Range in BC. I am very tempted to take a trip up there in the summer and check it out for myself.

I would be on benzodiazepines if I lived there full-time alone - thinking about the bears and the wolves and worrying about being trapped there in the winter months due to the weather. If you needed medical attention, that would be the end. She is braver than me.

#238: You're on! I'm not worried about what the Canucks can dish out!

BTW, I did check out that website for A Mountain Year. I thought it was super cool that the author made those cabins by herself. I always harbour strange fantasies of living off the grid in some remote cabin, writing my manifesto. The author's nature pictures were spectacular, but I, sadly, am not the biggest nature person. So manifesto writing, it will be :)

#240 Thanks for the recommendation. I'll add it to the TBR pile. I like to read about nature but wouldn't want to have to deal with it on a daily basis! I'm not tough enough. BC is a beautiful part of the world and I expect to enjoy Czajkowski's work even if she isn't a great writer.

#241 - Brave, brave words. You might end up getting a book on Canucks hockey stars (LOL).

Ummm. Hello. The Penguins need to redeem themselves and bring Lord Stanley's Cup back home where it belongs.

(I am an eternal optimist when it comes to Pittsburgh's sports teams)

Oh, I thought it belonged in Detroit.

I don't think it is awarded to Canadian teams anymore. Have any of them won the Cup since Gretzky was traded to the Kings?

*ducking to avoid numerous pucks thrown at my head*

Last time I visited, Detroit was still in the US. Although the econominc situation may change that before long . . .

Actually that comment was directed toward my friend kiwidoc (although she may choose to differ with that sentiment at this time). I meant to ask if any Canadian teams had won the Cup since the Gretzky trade. The last Canadian team to win the Cup was Montreal in the 1992-93 season, according to Wikipedia.

*ahem* I cheered for the Sens, not the Leafs. Before that, the Canadians. Now that all hopes are dead for the right side of the country, I'll happily cheer for the left.

shaddup kidz

My theory is that the Americans have stolen it. It obviously belongs in Canada, though I don't mind too much if one of the original six US teams wins it.

Poor kiwidoc--her thread hijacked by hockey fans.

The original six NHL teams were:

Montreal Canadiens
Toronto Maple Leafs
Chicago Blackhawks
Detroit Red Wings
Boston Bruins
New York Rangers

Those were the days when they skated and handled the puck. Penalties were not good things, and if someone got a 5 minute penalty it was a really bad thing. And really, hockey in Atlanta, Anaheim, Florida, Texas, Phoenix?? Darn, I am really old!

Kidzdoc, I think the Canadians are spending their time curling.

Now I had better duck.

Kiwi started the hockey talk! Industrial Canuck fan, she is. Hope that "duck" isn't a Mighty Duck, Lisa.

That is a shatteringly pitiful statistic, kidzdoc. Over 15 years ago, the last win for Canada!?!?! Well, if that is not an excuse for EVERY Canadian here to yell for the Canucks, I don't know what is!

(Peeking in after the second period, with the Canucks 1, Chicago Clunkers ZERO!

#253: LOL, *Caut thinks this remark may have been aimed her; Caut's anti-Canuck stance still isn't not going to budge* :) BTW, the series is now TIED... mwhahahaha!

Tiffin is a Senator's fan? I can be friends with her... The Sens is the only Canadian team I have nothing against. I also wouldn't be against a potential Hamilton team, either. Go Blackberry Guy!

Whoo hoo! Fell asleep before it was over, but woke to see the "mighty Blackhawks" pulled through.

Ducks playing hockey--just picture it.

>254 Cauterize:: Seriously, someone should just give Balsille a team and let it be. He's tried this, what... 5 times before in the past few years? Give him an 'A' for effort, the guy is persistent like a rash and I don't see him giving up even if this one falls through. He wants another team in Southern Ontario, and the NHL be darned if he doesn't get one!

Well, after that last game, I am moving back to book talk!!!

75. The Believers by Zoe Heller



Heller wrote Notes on a Scandal a few years ago, which was nominated for the Booker Prize. I thought it was a good read so I went ahead and bought her second book.

Heller has a gifted style of prose, but what an annoying book this was. Most of her characters were frankly awful, very unlikeable, whiny and intolerant sycophants. Do people really talk to each other in such nasty, curse-filled rants? The main character, Audrey, is narcissistic, angry and cruel. Indeed, the overall feel of the book is one of emotional violence, spitefulness and finally hopelessness, as no redemption avails itself to rescue the tone.

I can recognize that Heller is attempting to create a farcical portrayal of the American (Jewish) family. But she looks at political and social motivators in a fragmented and contradictory fashion, providing little focus or direction to form any cohesive opinion.

The book is about a family of left-wing socialist activists, testing their ideas in New York's political arena in the 1960-90s, rubbing shoulders with the rich and famous, and yet submitting to the weaknesses of the flesh and temptations of the celebrity culture.

I think that Heller is trying to create a post-modern narrative novel that accurately reflects modern American sentiment, filled with the cynicism, anger and self-interest of the political aspirant. I did not like the atmosphere one bit - it left me feeling quite desolate about the nature of families, the fragmentation and the self-interest/narcissism of the individual in their social framework. It was, frankly, an upsetting and irritating read.

Here is a more balanced review of the book in the Guardian.

Category: American fiction.
Published: 2009
Pages: 335

#257: Interesting review, that you liked one book from the author and completely hated another. I've also been curious about Notes on a Scandal because two of my favourite actresses were in the move. BTW, the link to the Guardian review doesn't work?

Hey, you hit 75 already! Shame it wasn't with a book you enjoyed a bit more :( I'd actually left it off my list on the strength of that 'balanced' Guardian review - I think that review said pretty much what you've just said but in not such strong terms. (Although it's a shame that the favourable comparison to The Emperor's Children led me to pick up that book, which made me really really cross...)

Here's hoping for a better read next time.

I thought Notes on a Scandal was a brilliant book - although again, utterly dislikeable characters. Very well done though.

Congratulations on reaching the 75 challenge goal!
Way to go!

glitter-graphics.com

Thanks Whisper and Cauterize and Flossie.

I think I fixed the link to the Guardian - sorry about that.

I loved Heller's first book and I think she is a talented writer, but this book was not my cup of tea.

What was your beef with The Emperor's Children, Flossie?

Congratulations, Karen! I just wish it had been a better book for you.

Wow, 75 already. That's amazing! And a very interesting set of books too. Congratulations!

#259, Flossie, I didn't like The Emperor's Children either; it really really annoyed me, with its irritating characters (just wanted to shake them and say "grow up") and its completely gratuitous 9/11 twist. And now I know to stay away from The Believers.

I like the look of The Radetzky March so hopefully I'll come across it at some point.

#257 I had wondered about this one. Now, I think not.

Congratulations on getting to 75!

Another to hit the 75 book mark! Congratulations!

Congratulations! I hope to get there sometime next month.

Are the Canucks playing tonight?

Yes, definitely congrats on hitting 75! If you haven't, you should add your name to the thread Stasia made for people who hit the target.

Congrats on hitting the big 75!

75 books read so far-congratulations!

>261 kiwidoc: & >264 rebeccanyc:: kiwidoc & rebeccanyc, rebecca puts it well - just wanted the characters in The Emperor's Children to grow up!! Messud writes beautifully, but oh my.... her characters' complete self-absorption was just breathtaking. Rebecca, I think you said when I reviewed it last year that it felt to you like the characters were acting as if they were just out of college rather than in their late 20s/early 30s, and I think that's exactly it.

Congrats on reading 75 books so far! And for moving the conversation back to books, lol. I might be thrown out of the country for saying this, but I am one Canadian who has absolutely NO interest in hockey whatsoever.

Thanks everyone - I appreciate you coming over.

Flossie & Rebecca - It seems like a trend in woman's lit these days to portray mature women acting like teenagers. The Kate Christensen book The Great Man was like that - with 70 year olds swearing and carrying on like they were 15. It was all very distressing and unreal and annnoying. Kate won an American prize for her effort, too. I gave it 2 stars.

(Kidzdoc - there is a game tonight)

The worst part (for me) in The Emperor's Children wasn't that they were swearing or carrying on but that they were irresponsible, at loose ends, and still dependent on parents and others -- in their 30s!

But I agree with you that there's a trend, particularly among younger writers, both male and female, to have their characters remain teenager-ish for a long time, and also to show off how clever they (the writers are). That's why I find it refreshing when younger authors are able to write about more complex characters, for example Jennifer Haigh in The Condition, Mary Swan in The Boys in the Trees, and Stefan Merrill Block in The Story of Forgetting

Well if it wasn't for Cauterize lurking around this thread, I would say I have given up on the Canucks!

Rebecca - thanks for those books you mention. I haven't read any of them although the Swan book is on my TBR.

76. The Daily Coyote by Shreve Stockton



I checked this book out of the library after browsing her captivating photography. This is the story of a young women who makes a life change and moves from New York to Wyoming after passing through on her Vespa (crossing the continent from LA to get home.) She moves to Wyoming and starts a new life, living in a 12x12 ft log cabin and adopting an orphaned coyote.

Her recollections are light and easy reading, but her photos are excellent and the real highlight. Her story is quite invigorating - relapsing at times into over-sentimentality, but really a quick fun look at cowboy life. Animal lovers might enjoy her adventures and her evident attachment to Charlie the coyote, although they are mostly quite commonplace events.

She has a web blog which displays more of her photos here

Category: Memoir. Animals
Pages: 287
Published: 2009

Karen
Thanks for posting comments regarding The Daily Coyote. I have a friend who would love this book and I'm going to get it for her for her birthday....
Thanks for solving the problem of what to get someone who already has almost everything!

>277 kiwidoc:: what a strange coincidence! LT member writestuff just introduced me to The Daily Coyote blog. I agree the photography is amazing!

How can you not love a book called The Daily Coyote? However, I'm not sure if it's the book for me, even though I once (very very briefly) thought of moving to Wyoming.

It is an 'animal memoir' book, Rebecca. I am an armchair country girl so the idea of living in such a place is appealing; that is until I cannot get my Americano 'to go' for a few days!!!

Her other blog here has some good pics on it as well, although I think it is not currently active.

#277: LOL, I haven't been 'lurking' around. It might be more accurate to say I'm 'stridently vocal' about how you shouldn't be a Canucks fan :) You can always convert to being a Flames fanatic...

Trust me, it just doesn't work to be a Flames fan in Vancouver.

#277: Another one to add to the Continent!

Ooooh I've had Daily Coyote on my TBR list for quite some time... glad to hear it's as good as I suspected!

77. The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears by Dinaw Mengestu



This book examines the immigrant experience, in this case the African immigrant in America battling cultural reorientation and economic struggles.

The book I immediately think of in comparison is Rose Tremain’s The Road Home, which describes an Eastern European man adjusting to life in England. Unfortunately, it is not in the same 5 star category - in my opinion, the Tremain book had more depth and character development. In both cases there is the struggle with memories of home and family, a search for regained dignity and parameters – both social and cultural.

Stephanos is the narrator and he describes an isolated world, trapped between his African heritage and the world of the American.

The title reflects the writer’s struggles to leave behind a hellish world and emerge into a more beautiful space. It is an immortal line from the epic poem by Dante, telling of his escape from hell with his guide Virgil:

“We climbed up, he first and I second, so far that through a round opening I saw some of the beautiful things that Heaven bears; and thence we issued forth to see again the stars.”

These issues of the immigrant experience are important and necessary to examine, and the underlying struggle is one of poverty, disconnection, and loneliness. The Dantian revelation suggested by the title does not appear to emerge through the book. Instead, there is disillusionment, reflected in scenes of racism and social intolerance.

It was a smooth and gentle read, filled with satisfying narrative and important issues. Perhaps too littered with aphorisms for my taste, and a tad too distracted and disjointed in the second half, it was nevertheless a worthwhile and laudable first novel.

Category: Fiction. American
Pages: 228
Published:2008

#286: I bought that one earlier this year on Richard's recommendation, but have not yet read it. I am definitely going to have to get to it!

Stasia - you would enjoy this book so I recommend you do read it!

Cauterize - I have to admit failure as the Canucks lost and are ousted. Did you watch the carnage as Luongo let in all those goals. He was actually crying about it after the game. I felt quite sorry for him. I owe you a book (or 5).

#288: I did see the highlights and the crying. Actually, I left you a message about it on my thread. As much as I don't like Luongo, I always feel sympathetic to hockey players who cry because they care so much. Oh well, now you and I can feel united in our antagonism towards the Blackhawks. And when I said the five, I really had used books in mind (as the equivalent to one new book) - but don't feel you have to take any of that seriously! I'm just used to S#$t-talking when it comes to hockey :)

Caut - it is coming your way soon, and may be titled "Why the Canucks deserved the Stanley!!!" Luongo is the local hero, and of course he is emotional (he is Italian!!)

78. A Universal History of Infamy /Historia universal de la infamia
by Jorge Luis Borges



Whenever I take up a set of short stories, I am tempted to sit and read them as a novel, straight through with no breaks, a repeated mistake which often renders me awash in pieces of each, and muddled about the theme. I think the short story form, like the poem, needs a different approach, pausing with each one as you would a book upon finishing.

These short stories (except Hombre de la esquina rosada) are fictionalised accounts of seven real criminals, written in 1935. (Sources listed at the end of the book).

He takes unsavoury, ‘infamous’ characters out of history, adding his own interpretation of motive and intent – eg. Billy the Kid, The Widow Pirate, Lazurus Morell, etc. The stories are spare, clever and modern, adding fictionalized interpretation of motive and intent as well as a touch of magic realism and illusion – to reinvent the character.

T. S. Eliot's dictum that each new work of art alters the perception of previously existing works of art is certainly true of Borges.

I recommend this read highly, although suggest you savour the prose and read it in small chunks.

Category: Short stories. Argentina.
Pages:146
Published: 1972 in English translation. 1935 in Argentina.

Ooh, I'd never heard of this Borges book. This is definitely one for the wish list!

Just back from the book store to find (not buy though) new books by Sarah Waters, A.S. Byatt and Anne Michaels. Anyone read any of these? I did not buy them but would appreciate any feedback on them before I choose (I am leaning heavily in the direction of the Waters book at present).

I am about 1/3 through the Waters at the moment. I've never read any of her books before (although I've seen the dramatizations of three of them), so I may not be the best judge. It's good, but it isn't dazzling me. I've gotten this far along and the first mysterious event has just occured; the first third mainly built up a history of the narrator and the Ayres family members. Is she usually so slow paced?

I've read good reports on LT regarding the Michaels; I believe that avaland gave it a very favorable review a short while ago.

Thanks Deborah - I remember reading Fingersmith and thinking it was a fun read, not hugely literary but good solid fun. I thought her atmosphere in the 19th Century was effective, too. But I was disappointed in her next two.

I haven't read Possession: A Romance yet, so I would feel guilty launching into her next book first.

Oh, Possession is the best! I also loved Angels and Insects.

I'd never heard of the Borges either, and have added it to the tbr list.

I'll second Cariola's recommendation of Possession--it's a great read.

Karen -- I have the new Anne Michaels. Haven't had a chance to read it yet, but I can lend it to you and you can read it first. I'll contact you.

#291: I need to look for that Borges book. The only one I have read by him was A Personal Anthology which I really enjoyed. Thanks for another great recommendation!

>293 kiwidoc: I finished The Winter Vault last week and it is an amazing book - it took me ages to read because I just wanted to savour every minute. Incredible unity of style and theme, wonderful language, very moving. I would cast as many votes as I am allowed to in its favour - plus it's half the length of the Byatt!! The Globe & Mail included Michaels in a generous chunk of author podcasts recently:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090515.podcast_openhouse051...

which I have downloaded but not yet listened to...

I know you're a Guardian fan too so you may have already seen this, but A.S. Byatt was on the Guardian Book of the Week podcast just over a week ago, reading from and discussing The Children's Book:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/audio/2009/may/07/as-byatt-childrens-book

Never read any Waters (yet) so can't offer an opinion there.

Rachael
With a recommendation like the one above, I simply must add The Winter Valut to my evergrowing tbr pile.

Flossie - thanks so much for the postings of the links. I had to check your location again after you posted the Globe - I started to think that you must be a Canuck!! Great encouragement for The Winter Vault, thanks (Secretly, I have already bought a (signed) copy of that one, so I have not excuse not to read it. I might look for the other two in the library.

Borges may not be up everyone's alley - so perhaps borrow it from the library and see what you think first!

>302 kiwidoc: Globe & Mail is a new discovery, thanks to their Twitter account. They post links to all their new online content and there's a LOT of good stuff going through!

Karen and Linda both, I hope you like The Winter Vault. I haven't read Fugitive Pieces, although I have a copy, but I had to pick this up first - really it's avaland's review earlier in the year that had me putting this near the top of my list.

This thread is now closed:

New thread here