Janet's 2010 Books Part 4

Welcome to my fourth thread for 2010. This first post lists the books I have read for the 75 Books Challenge. The next post lists those I have read since then.

1. Brooklyn - Colm Toibin
2. Dreams of Rivers and Seas - Tim Parks
3. Howard's End is on the Landing - Susan Hill
4. The Pattern in the Carpet - Margaret Drabble
5. Free Food for Millionaires - Min Jin Lee
6. The Post Office Girl - Stefan Zweig
7. Engleby - Sebastian Faulks
8. Twenty Four Hours in the Life of a Woman - Stefan Zweig
9. Mystery Man - Bateman
10. Last and First Men - Olaf Stapledon
11. Beware of God - Shalom Auslander
12. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight - Simon Armitage (trans.)
13. Felicia's Journey - William Trevor
14. Al Qaeda and What it Means to be Modern - John Gray
15. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Stieg Larsson
16. The Girl who Played with Fire - Stieg Larsson
17. Travels with Herodotus - Ryszard Kapuscinski
18. Miracle at Speedy Motors - Alexander McCall Smith
19. Imperium - Robert Harris
20. The Long March - Sun Shuyun
21. The Book Thief - Markus Zusak
22. Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers - Kwame Anthony Appiah
23. A Conspiracy of Paper - David Liss
24. The Canon: The Beautiful Basics of Science - Natalie Angier
25. On Beauty - Zadie Smith
26. The Recruiting Officer - George Farquhar
27. The Blank Wall - Elisabeth Sanxay Holding
28. The New House - Lettice Cooper
29. Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card
30. The Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing - Richard Dawkins
31. Fine Just the Way it Is - Annie Proulx
32. Palace Walk - Naguib Mahfouz
33. Trust Me - Peter Leonard
34. The Complaints - Ian Rankin
35. The Heart of the World - Linda Barnes
36. The Coffee Trader - David Liss
37. U is for Undertow - Sue Grafton
38. The Rings of Saturn - W.G. Sebald
39. The Little Mountain - Elias Khoury
40. American Purgatorio - John Haskell
41. Red Dust - Ma Jian
42. China Road - Rob Gifford
43. Peace - Richard Bausch
44. The Radetzky March - Joseph Roth
45. Love Medicine - Louise Erdrich
46. Small Wars Permitting - Christine Lamb
47. Black Water Rising - Attica Locke
48. The Soccer War - Ryszard Kapuscinski
49. Magician - Raymond E. Feist
50. Postcards from No Man's Land - Aidan Chambers
51. Three Cups of Tea - Greg Mortenson
52. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan - Lisa See
53. The Tears of Autumn - Charles McCarry
54. Noah's Compass - Anne Tyler
55. Still Life - Louise Penny
56. The Family Tree - Sheri S. Tepper
57. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest - Stieg Larssen
58. According to Ruth - Jane Feaver
59. In the Falling Snow - Caryl Phillips
60. Prosperity Without Growth - Tim Jackson
61. Doctored Evidence - Donna Leon
62. Chasing Goldman Sachs - Suzanne McGee
63. The Road Home - Rose Tremain
64. The Honey Siege - Gil Buhet
65. Maps and Legends - Michael Chabon
66. Raven Black - Ann Cleeves
67. How to Live: A Life of Montaigne - Sarah Bakewell
68. Nada - Carmen Laforet
69. The Uncommon Reader - Alan Bennett
70. Dead Cold - Louise Penny
71. A Distant Shore - Caryl Phillips
72. Family Album - Penelope Lively
73. Fallen - David Maine
74. Remainder - Tom McCarthy
75. The Aeneid - Virgil (translated by Robert Fagles)

Books I have read since completing the 75 Book Challenge (mid-August):

76. The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
77. Nine Lives by William Dalrymple
78. Finger Lickin' Fifteen by Janet Evanovich
79. The Cruellest Month by Louise Penny
80. Hallelujah Junction by John Adams
81. The Monkey's Raincoat by Robert Crais
82. Permutation City by Greg Egan
83. Lustrum by Robert Harris
84. Death at La Fenice by Donna Leon
85. What Came Before He Shot Her by Elizabeth George
86. When Rain Clouds Gather by Bessie Head
87. The Long Song by Andrea Levy
88. World and Town by Gish Jen
89. The Murder Stone by Louise Penny
90. Kindred by Octavia E. Butler
91. Such a Long Journey by Rohinston Mistry
92. Chess by Stefan Zweig
93. A Small Death in Lisbon by Robert Wilson
94. White Nights by Ann Cleeves
95. The Double Comfort Safari Club by Alexander McCall Smith
96. The White Family by Maggie Gee
97. The Seven Sisters by Margaret Drabble
98. Lavinia by Ursula K. LeGuin
99. Both Ways is the Only Way I Want It by Maile Meloy
100. Beware of Pity by Stefan Zweig
101. The Odyssey by Homer (audio)

I had a reminder today of just how spaced out I was when I was in the hospital on a million painkillers. I was reading some comments about Ann Cleeves on someone’s thread, and wanted to check back what I had thought about the books when I read them. I knew I had read both the first two in the series – Raven Black and White Nights, because I remembered saying I didn’t like Raven Black all that much, and others convincing me to try again with White Nights, which I did like better. But when I went back I couldn’t find anything about White Nights on my thread, not a review, not a mention, not even a listing. And it wasn’t in my little notebook list of “books read”, either. I know I read it in the hospital, so I can only imagine it was in that period of September when my brain was truly elsewhere most of the time, and when I came to write the list I just blanked it out. Wow, talk about chemo brain. Anyway, now my whole nice numbering system is messed up, so I’ve just added this as number 94 (next available number in little notebook), and I’ll comment on it when I get there (if I can remember anything about it!)

Found you again, Janet!

No worries about your whole nice numbering system. If you had not told us, who would have known? :)

Well, true, but like everyone else here, I am a bit OCD about this sort of thing!

Hi Janet. :)

Hi, Stephen - you were quick, but not as quick as You-Know-Who (and this is NOT a Harry Potter reference).

She Who Must Not Be Blamed for her cyborginess?

#5: There are at least 2 missing from my list. I am not worrying about them :)

I've moved your star over here!

Following!

Hi, Janet!

Hey, Janet! Hope you are continuing to feel stronger and better and ever more clear-headed!! Isn't it great to be at home? (and have to worry about what to eat and cleaning, etc.)

Hi Janet - found you again. So good to see you posting and reading.

Hiya -- welcome back to bibliomania!!

Hi, Peggy, Becky, Pat, Roni, Heather, Suz!

It definitely is nice to be able to spend more time here, and actually not run out of energy in 10 minutes. (I DON'T like having to worry abut food, though, Roni! My husband takes care of the main meals, but I have to think about lunch and lots and lots of snacks every day and I just keep messing it up.)

I had a major adventure today - walked all the way to the Oxfam bookshop (normally 10 minutes, more like 20 today!) and bought 3 books! That's the first bookshop I've been in since August. It was a real thrill. I bought:

Both Ways is the Only Way I Want It by Maile Meloy (recommended by porch-reader)
Lavinia by Ursula LeGuin (recommended by Berly)
A Sea of Troubles by Donna Leon (I am trying to collect as many of hers as I can, so I can read them in order eventually)

I still have lots to read before I get to any of these, but it was exciting to find things I wanted.

Now to try to catch up a bit on stuff I have already read:

89. The Murder Stone/A Rule Against Murder by Louise Penny

This is the first book I started when I came home from the hospital. I thought I needed a comfort read, nothing too intellectually taxing.

For those who don’t know, this is the fourth book in the Three Pines mystery series. I liked the first two, but didn’t really enjoy the third as much, and I was wondering whether I would have to join the small but hardy band of Penny-skeptics. It’s not the language, or the multiple and ever-changing points of view that bother me, as I know is the case for others. It’s more the characters themselves – I just don’t like artistic “in groups”, smug, self-satisfied, looking down on others they consider less poetic, less artistic, less talented, less “interesting” than themselves, and I really feel that the main group of characters in these books verge on that. If you’re not a famous and eccentric (and rude) poet, or a great artist, a fantastic cook, they don’t really want to know you; you are seen as too boring (I think I mean they would find me too boring!). Where are the teachers, the office workers, the truck drivers, etc. – normal, everyday people, possibly just as intelligent and educated, certainly at least as nice to know, but not as “creative” or “clever”? I guess none of these live in Three Pines, and I almost feel like they have zoning laws to keep them out. However, leaving this to one side (and since much of this one didn’t take place in Three Pines itself, it felt less obvious), I did like The Murder Stone better than the previous one, and I do feel motivated to read the later two in the series, as soon as I can find them.

Where are the teachers, the office workers, the truck drivers, etc. – normal, everyday people, possibly just as intelligent and educated, certainly at least as nice to know, but not as “creative” or “clever”? I guess none of these live in Three Pines, and I almost feel like they have zoning laws to keep them out.

I had never really thought of this but you're right--everyone seems to be exceptional in some way and they all ended up in Three Pines. I've only the read the first two books and didn't like the second as much as the first so have been dragging my feet getting to the third. But everyone raves about 5 and 6 so I want to continue.

Really enjoyed your review. Off to give it a thumb.

Thanks, Pat, but I didn't post it as a review, since it doesn't feel like it is one to me.

I kind of see what you mean but it was an interesting discussion of the Penny books. Did you end up rating it?

Yeah, I gave it four stars. This is within the context of other mystery books, not all books in the world (because in general mystery books don't quite tackle as wide a range of issues, or use as wide a range of writing styles, so I don't want to downgrade every single mystery because of that).

Congratulations on getting out and about today, Janet! Nice haul too.

I notice bailbondsmen do not live in Three Pines either, but I bet they have them :)

I just finished A Fatal Grace and had small thoughts along the lines of yours. The unbelievably cute bistro is what does me in. Am I disbelieving or just envious? And where do the less fortunate people go to get coffee and a donut/croissant?

I liked A Fatal Grace about the same as Still Life -- Gamache is a great character and his staff, really, are the ones who interest me and the political machination in the Surete.

Congratulations on getting out today, Janet! That's wonderful news.

Hi Janet--I have total empathy for the drug-addled brain syndrome. Just let it go! Haven't read any of the Three Pines series (am I the only one?), but I will someday. Interesting thought about the characters diva-ness. Glad you enjoyed your walk to the bookstore.

Congratulations on a successful journey and book haul, Janet. Did you go to the Bloomsbury Oxfam bookshop on Bloomsbury St (or is it Gower St at that point)?

22- I've already found myself wondering where everyone gets the money to pay for all the glorious food they eat in that bistro! :)

Delighted to hear that you're getting out, Janet! Wonderful! I also have an unread copy of Lavinia that I'm moderately eager to get to. Motivate me! I feel that same emotional detachment from the monied folk in Three Pines. Very nice, but not very realistic in my experience. I'm reading #2 on and off and not thrilled nor repulsed. Like you, I'm counting on finding the newer ones better. Unlike you, I still have some problems (which I can't define this moment) with the writing.

I assumed when I read this that Janet went to the lovely Oxfam bookshop near where she lives in Crouch End which I think is superior to those in central London.

So it seems like I did touch a bit of a nerve on the Three Pines front after all :)

#21 - Stasia, if they don't have bailbondsmen they should, they obviously need them at the rate crimes happen around there!

#25,#28 - Luci is right, I went to the one in Crouch End, which I agree is very good, although smaller than the central one you mention, Darryl.

#22,#26 - right. It doesn't seem like they sell plain cheese sandwiches there, does it?

#27 - Peggy, I am just finishing a book in the next couple of days (Seven Sisters by Margaret Drabble) and then I am going to read Lavinia next. I thought I/we should read it sooner rather than later, while I/we still remember most of the Aeneid. If I read it next week, will you?

Way to pin me down, Janet! Let me see --- Yes, at this point I don't think it much matters what I finish when, so I'll join you for Lavinia next week. That will let me finish The Dervish House and In Praise of the Stepmother which is not at all what I expected from Vargas Llosa. (I don't have much basis for expecting anything from VL, and I'll say in my defense that I chose this one because it was the shortest that I own and that I wanted to honor the Nobel Prize winner.) (And I wish that I were about to wrap up Seven Sisters. It's on Mt. Bookpile.)

Let me know when you discuss Lavinia. I just read it last month and I really enjoyed it!

Janet

Thinking of you and sending all good wishes for good health. Thinking of you and continuing to hold you in my prayers.

Hi! I'm just racing by for now- catching up reading soon.

Happy Thanksgiving, Janet! I'm curious to know how you celebrate the day as an expatriate.

I will wish you a Happy Thanksgiving as well, Janet! I hope you have just a lovely day.

Happy Thanksgiving from me too. Will you be doing much by way of celebration?

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you, too (even Genny!)

We don't celebrate it at all, sadly. When we first came to London, we made proper Thanksgiving dinners, on the Saturday, as everyone worked on Thanksgiving itself. We knew lots of American grad students and some young workers who weren't going home for it, so always had at least 8 people for the meal. Then, gradually, they all either went home, or formed families of their own, or started having enough money to go home to see their parents and we couldn't be bothered making all that food for people who didn't really have it as their tradition (I say we, but I mean I, as my husband is English). And we didn't want to do it just for ourselves, because it should be a shared thing.

We couldn't go to the US, because my husband was a teacher, so couldn't just take off random days, then once he stopped being a teacher we had our own kids, and we didn't want to take them out of school for it.

Sometimes we had turkey related meals that night. Then, we became vegetarian, so it al just started to be kind of pointless. So we stopped. But I do love it, and do miss it, and a couple of times we have managed to get to the US for it. Maybe next year.

Anyway, Lavinia, yes, I'll shout when I'm ready to start.

Hi Janet. Have a Happy Thursday! Maybe you could just celebrate with pumpkin pie. :)

Well, see, it's not so easy to get real pumpkin pie here and I never learned to make my own because my mother never made it because most of the family didn't like it. But I'm going to the cafe for coffee with a friend tomorrow (big adventure for me!) and I'll have a piece there if they have it (one of the owners is American, so they might!).

Meanwhile, we're having a Thai take-out for dinner tonight, as all of us had a really busy day.....oh, and maybe vanilla ice cream, does that count?

Ice cream always counts! :)

Have fun tomorrow!

Hope the big adventure to the coffee shop goes well!

>37 JanetinLondon:: interesting evolution of your Thanksgiving (non-)celebration. Thanks for sharing that!

Thanksgiving celebration in London = Thai take away??? IMO it counts only if you had turkey Pad Thai.

Have a great time with your friend, Janet!

Don't worry Janet- I'm having home made pizza (plenty of jalapenos) so dont feel left out- although I dont normally celebrate Thanksgiving anyway as a New Zealander :-) I have a Canadian friend here who is aghast at having Thanksgiving on such the lovely warm day it was today! It must be weird being out of your "zone".

Hope you have a nice time today, Janet. :)

Well, I never did get to the cafe. It was so cold, and I had a pretty slow start to the day, so I just asked my friends to come to my house instead. They brought cake, but it wasn't pumpkin pie. Still, it was nice to see them. They also brought a copy of Last Night in Twisted River, which I don't actually want to read. I was too polite to say no, so I said I shouldn't really take it today, as it would be at the back of quite a long queue. But they insisted, saying it didn't matter how long I kept it. It could be here a very long time.

#43 - No turkey in the pad thai, Darryl, we are vegetarians! (do they even have turkey in Thailand?) I was pretty excited to see big orange vegetables in the other dish - a sort of "monk's vegetables" tofu/veg thing - since I know they do do pumpkin curry there (which we didn't order since no one likes it), but they were only carrots.

#45 - it isn't weird any more, as I've been here over 30 years, but Thanksgiving is the one day it comes close to being a little teeny bit weird.

I have actually written a couple of reviews today! One follows shortly.

90. Kindred by Octavia E. Butler

This book was recommended to me by my sister, I think because it is about slavery, and I had told her I was reading The Long Song. I had never heard of Butler before, but she is a prize-winning author, and this is a prize-winning book.

Dana, a woman living in California in the 1970’s (when the book was written), has some sort of fainting fit and wakes up in a woods, where she sees a boy drowning in a river and she saves him, before another fit returns her home. Soon afterwards, the pattern is repeated – faint, save the boy (the same boy, but now older, and a different threat), go home, and then it happens again. She gradually realizes she has some sort of spiritual link with him – she is a sort of “fairy godmother”, who saves him from death repeatedly during his youth. This is all very well, except that Dana is black, and the boy, Rufus, is the son of a slave-owning white family in pre-Civil War Maryland.

Rufus’ family recognize her magical role in his life, but still, she is black and therefore they do see her as a slave. They try to keep her with them, to protect him better and also to work for them. Dana can’t control her transitions between the two worlds, so she has no choice but to live as a slave when she is in 19th Century Maryland, as she certainly can’t go wandering around, without any papers or other proof that she is anything but a runaway slave. She doesn’t know how long she will be there on any given visit, so she has to make the best of it.

By the device of having Dana’s visits set years apart (although they seem only days or weeks apart in 1970’s time), we see how life develops on the plantation – the slave children she meets on early visits grow up, marry, have children, or are less lucky and are sold away from loved ones, or try to run away (usually unsuccessfully). Rufus develops from a boy who behaves reasonably decently towards black people (including Dana, of course, who tries to encourage his better behaviour) into a man who is as callous, selfish and brutal as his father was before him. There’s also a side plot involving Dana’s modern day husband, Kevin, who is white, and who has accidentally accompanied her to Maryland as he was holding on to her when she time-shifted. They get separated; he winds up staying there much longer than she does, and is changed by his experience of being a white man in that time, and one who is against slavery.

It’s a good story – I was always interested to see how things had changed each time she went back, and how she would cope, even though it was all pretty depressing. The ending also made sense, providing closure to the story. It’s a fairly quick read, and I think pretty much anyone would enjoy it.

That actually sounds interesting, Janet. I've added it to my wishlist. Are you going to post it as a review? (I went to thumb it but didn't see it.)

Pat, I saw there were quite a few reviews there already. Not sure mine adds much? But I probably will post it, just not right now as it's bed time :)

I read John Irving's Last Night In Twisted River, Janet, and I loved it. Iriving is a writer who is so up and down, but I think in this book he has come back to his best writing self. I don't know what other Irving books you've read (or abandoned), but this is a good one!

I loved Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler when I read it (twice, 20 years ago and 10 years ago) and have bought several of Butler's other books including the sequel Parable of the Talents as well as Kindred - some time I actually need to get to reading them.

I have a couple of Butler's books here that I need to get to some time. Great review of Kindred, Janet!

Yes, great review of Kindred. It is now on my tbr pile

Wow. Great review just up there, Im going to check it out. Thanks

#48 Great review of Kindred Janet. I've heard good things about Butler but never read any. Can I second Pat's request to add your review to the book page so we can thumb it.

Great review of the Butler, made me want to look for one!

It is a fine review, Janet! I had started Wild Seed just before I joined LT, put it down, and have never gotten back to it. Now I'll try a little harder.

Thanks for all the nice comments about the Kindred review. I have posted it on the book page now, and would be flattered if you thumbed it.

#43 - Becky, I liked many of Irving's earlier books, especially Garp, but not so much Owen Meany, which I know everyone else loved. Then I thought they all got a bit same-y, and I thought I outgrew them. But my friend also liked this one, and I see that you and others thought it was a return to form, so I will probably give it a chance, just not yet!

I have started Lavinia, for those who are caring about this, and will post something shortly.

Thumbed the review! I'll have to look for that one, it sounds interesting :)

Hi, there, Kittybee, nice to see you (all together now, British Brucie fans......). thanks for stopping by.

Yay, Janet! I've started Lavinia too and have read your 40 pages for day 1. I am liking everything about it, especially L's relationship with "the poet." I'll wait eagerly for your first post.

I started reading Ursula LeGuin’s Lavinia today, and I said I would post my thoughts as I read it, so I could share with Peggy (LizzieD) and of course with anyone else who cares to do so. There are no chapters in this book (the “reading group questions” at the back of my copy including asking why this might be, so it must be significant!), so I am going to read 40 pages a day if I can manage it.

So, my first thoughts:
I think I’m enjoying it so far. I like that it stays close to the characters, places and events of the Aeneid, while fleshing out Lavinia’s “back story”. The writing style, with its evocative descriptions of the countryside, and its mystical descriptions of religious worship, also seems in keeping. I like how it starts with Lavinia musing on her continued existence as the act of a poet, almost thanking Vergil for her life. She is convinced he would have given her a bigger role if he had lived to complete his re-writes. She feels he has given her a more far-seeing role than Aeneas has – she can interpret the events on his shield better than he can, for example, and sees that the future “glory” of Rome involves a lot of death and human sadness.

I’m not sure, though, what someone completely unfamiliar with the Aeneid would be making of it at this point. Is it easy to follow the story, figure out who’s who, get the chronology right? If not, does it matter? Does it matter not knowing “what happened next”? It reminds me of Fallen, by David Maine, which I read earlier this year, a pretty faithful re-telling of the Adam and Eve story – would it make sense, or be interesting to read, to a reader who didn’t know the bible story?

Certainly, LeGuin makes references that invite us to think about the original, for example when Lavinia describes Maruna, a girl she is going to teach her religious duties, as “pious”, and defines this as “responsible, faithful to duty, open to awe”. It’s an obvious jump to thinking about Vergil’s description of Aeneas as pious, and to considering whether we think the definition is the same, but not if we haven’t read Vergil. So it raises an interesting question – does a book have to be accessible to every reader? In the same way?

But I have to say, a bigger question I have at this stage is whether I’m actually enjoying this book for itself, or just enjoying how clever it makes me feel. I need to read more before I decide.

Oh, I am just having fits over on this side of the Atlantic! Lavinia is on my Christmas list and I know my DH ordered it..... so then it is going to be hidden somewhere in his room for the next 25 days...... ow ow ow.

Here and there I have read books that said, 'If you get me, you are sooooo clever and well read,' but I can't imagine LeGuin doing that. It's a great question -- is it ok to write a book that really requires being familiar with another book? The Odyssey/Ulysses, A Thousand Acres/King Lear, the Philip Pullman His Dark Materials series/Paradise Lost and so on and so forth...... I don't think there is anything at all unfair riffing off, being inspired off stuff from the 'canon' and I think it is reasonable to expect readers go to out and fill the gaps. I can't think who but I remember one writer saying he liked to end books with a word that would send readers scurrying to their dictionaries. Nabokov, maybe? Anyhow, of the three I've mentioned (of hundreds, I'm sure) perhaps Ulysses suffers the most, I think, if you haven't read The Odyssey already and have a decent familiarity with it. You can read Ulysses but you'll miss a lot. Whoops, a pot is boiling over on the stove, ta ta.

Great question which didn't occur to me, Janet! I don't know - I think maybe just knowing that Vergil wrote Aeneid and that Lavinia was his Latin wife would be enough; I'm not sure.
I know that I am liking the fleshing out of the characters, especially Lavinia's parents. I'm intrigued by Lavinia's relationship with Vergil himself - a lovely concept. I am also appreciating ULG's accuracy in the little that I know about ancient Latin religion. So, I have to say that I am definitely enjoying the book beyond any thought of just being a clever boots for having an acquaintance with Vergil.
My edition doesn't have discussion questions, so be sure to quote the interesting ones. I know I won't read 40 pages tomorrow - taking Mama to see her brother for the day - so I'll already be behind. Oh well.
(Lucy, maybe you could ask for a special dispensation when your copy arrives?)

>63 JanetinLondon: But I have to say, a bigger question I have at this stage is whether I’m actually enjoying this book for itself, or just enjoying how clever it makes me feel.

That is a great question Janet, unfortunately its one I rarely have to ask myself! :-)

Actually, Janet, I did read the 40 pages yesterday but only about 30 so far today. It really clips right along. So I have the Trojans arrived, but I don't want to say any more in case you're not where I am...... My "likes" remain the same: the parents and Vergil.

Lavinia - pages 38-79

So, I see that yet again I have been too ambitious in my reading plan. I do want to read around 40 pages at a time, but I don’t think I’ll be able to do that every day, not and write something even vaguely intelligent about it as well. (So, Peggy, that will probably suit you better anyway, I guess). Here’s what I thought after I read pages 38-79 of my edition.

I really liked this section, and I think it was for itself, not for making me feel good (see my previous post), so that’s good. LeGuin talks about the concept of “awe” – it’s inspired by religion, but also by nature, and is linked to poetry, which can invoke it. I found this very interesting, because one of the reasons given for making all children study religion in schools here (not just in the sociological sense, but actually religiously) is to enable them to experience this feeling of awe. As a non-believer, I would rather not have religion in schools, but I still want my children to encounter this concept and feeling, and I like the thought that other experiences, particularly nature and poetry, can induce at least some of the same feelings.

Anyway, Lavinia escapes the pressure of visits from suitors by spending time at Albunea, a holy place and “entrance to the underworld”. There, she encounters the spirit of the “dying poet” (he is not named, and I’m wondering why?), who gradually tells her the whole story of the Aeneid (so non-readers are brought up to date). She is fascinated, and asks some of the questions modern readers ask – Why didn’t Aeneas look for Creusa in the underworld? Why are the innocent babies condemned to suffering? Why did the story end so sadly, with a death? Why do the gods get so involved in human affairs, and behave so badly? (On this last one, Vergil says it’s because of poets – I guess he means Homer!). Vergil admits the poem isn’t finished, and, as he is dying, he knows he won’t finish it. He also knows he won’t be able to prevent it being published in its unfinished state – it no longer belongs to him.

LeGuin has some fun here, which I really enjoyed, getting Vergil to comment on some aspects of the poem:
- he tells Lavinia the ending, but then says “that isn’t the right ending”, although he can’t, or won’t, tell her what is
- he explains why he couldn’t give more time to her relationship with Aeneas – “You can’t have two love stories in an epic. Where would the battles fit?”
- and, in my favourite bit of all, when Lavinia says she has never heard of Camilla, Vergil says “Well, I suppose I did invent her, but I liked her.” He then goes on to say “O Lavinia, you are worth ten Camillas, and I never saw it”.

Then the story just carries on a bit more….

Peggy, I have read the next 40 pages, past where the Trojans arrive, so if you want to say something about that, please do. I’ll try to write about it today, but it will probably be tomorrow.

Janet, you are doing yeoman's work here getting your thoughts out into objective black and white. "...one of the reasons given for making all children study religion in schools here (not just in the sociological sense, but actually religiously) is to enable them to experience this feeling of awe." I find that both interesting and curious. I assume that teachers are not proselytizing, but the idea of studying any sacred text for its use as an agent of awe strikes me as bizarre. I need more instruction..... As a believer, I think I would also prefer not to have that kind of instruction in schools, putting me firmly in the "separation of church and state" camp.
So. Lavinia had determined to marry Turnus and never to return to Albunea, and then, in a ceremony of family worship, her hair appears to be burning - and, in fact, the border of her ritual toga is charred. She persuades her father to go once more to the sacred wood in hopes of his hearing his father's voice say that she should marry a foreigner. Latinus agrees, but pronounces his interpretation of the omen: "War...Bright fame, bright glory will crown Lavinia. But she brings her people war."
Lavinia speaks to Vergil once more as he is dying (he has given her enough of his name for her to recognize the "Maro" part, right?) and he compresses all the deaths of the war to come in a couple of pages. Latinus hears the prophecy. Lavinia and her friend Silvia sneak out to spy on the Trojans, whose envoys soon arrive at the court of Latinus. He asks that Aeneas himself meet him for a treaty which will include giving A. Lavinia as his wife.
Amata goes crazy, but she is also expressing the doubts of the Latins at the wisdom of giving his power into the hands of a stranger. Amata remains adamant that Lavinia shall marry Turnus; he is her kin and she has transferred her frustrated love for her dead sons to him (at least....Do you feel, Janet, that Amata would have Turnus for herself if only she could?). Lavinia is her tool for binding him to her. So, she kidnaps Lavinia in the night to take her to a Rutulian women's rite....And that's as far as I've read. Now, I hope I've spared you a little.....

Hmm, I don't ever remember feeling awe during RE lessons

#70 - what can I say? ;)

I am enjoying your discussion of Lavinia as I read it just a month or two ago. Please continue!!

Lavinia pp. 79-120

Nice summary, Peggy. Yes, I agree with you about Amata probably fancying Turnus. But I’m thinking, from her point of view, why wouldn’t she? He is from the same home town. She is probably not a lot older than he is. I think the book says she married at 18, so if Lavinia is 18 now, Amata is still probably under 40, and he’s probably in his 30’s. She clearly hasn’t found Latinus a satisfying sexual partner. Turnus is good looking, and has paid a lot of attention to her (and who’s to say he doesn’t fancy her a bit, too? He’s hardly even set eyes on Lavinia, after all). The whole situation reminds her of that brief period of “courtship” of her own youth.

You’re right about the name thing, too, she does know his name. And I guess he “hasn’t been born yet”, so she wouldn’t know who he is anyway. But for the reader, it seems odd. Maybe it’s because “the poet” is more, well, poetic.

A couple of things which jumped out at me in this section, to do with LeGuin’s writing:
- Vergil tells Lavinia that her father has seen the vision, and she will not be marrying Turnus.
“What will happen?”, she asks.
“War”, he says.
“Why must there be a war?”
“Oh, Lavinia, what a woman’s question that is! Because men are men.”

-Then, in what I think is an amazing bit of writing, LeGuin has Vergil list for Lavinia all the deaths of the second half of the Aeneid. The names and descriptions of each death are straight from the original (well, I haven’t checked, but it feels like they are), but all the poetry, descriptions of countryside, horses and weapons, back stories of the individuals, breaks for discussions amongst the gods, etc., have been removed, so it’s just a long list of gory and graphic deaths, a bit like the “begats” in the bible. It’s much more vivid and horrible this way, and I found it much harder to read than in the original. “What do you think of my poem now?” he asks when he finishes. Nothing poetic about war and death, LeGuin seems to be saying.

At the end of this section, Amata takes Lavinia away to the woods for a female-only ritual. This is LeGuin’s first real departure from the story, and it really did make me start to re-think. All along, I’ve been buying into the main line – Lavinia must follow her fate, to marry Aeneas, even if it causes war. She must obey her father, and the spirits of his traditional religion. Well, here I started to think, “why?” Why shouldn’t she consider the needs of the local people, who want to avoid war? Why shouldn’t she honor the existing quasi-agreement with Turnus? Why shouldn’t she look to her mother’s tradition for answers? Yes, her mother is mad, and possibly has her own motives, but does that automatically make her wrong?

Hi Janet

I hope you are feeling stronger each and every day!

Thumbs up from me on your review of Kindred

Hugs to you!

Thanks, Linda, I hope you are, too! I'm trying to be stronger each day, but some days I just give up, especially with this cold weather. Thanks goodness for good books, which keep my brain working, even if my body can't be bothered!

I know that Lavinia arrived yesterday.... because I opened the box by mistake....oops..... but I am going to save all yr comments for after xmas when it will be the first xmas book I pick up!!!!!

I haven't read much past where you stopped, Janet. I do agree about the impact of the deaths laid out like a laundry list. And I hadn't thought about the why of Lavinia's following the oracle-line except that I just don't think that she likes Turnus. He's handsome, strong, virile, etc., etc., but she sees him too clearly, and he is not pius. A little further along she compares him with Aeneas (after she has gotten to know A.). Turnus lives completely in the present; he makes a quick decision, acts on it without considering where his action may lead, and then, just as quickly, backs out. A., on the other hand (as we well know), agonizes over the ramifications of every decision. Then, when things are clear, he acts and follows through to the end. In fact, I suppose one way to look at The Aeneid is as the story of A's following through to the end.
In my reading so far, I've seen Lavinia quote Vergil to herself in gentle mockery, "What a woman's question that is!" I also loved her comment to herself that she could do without heroes since heroes don't exist without war.
(Oh! Another touch I liked in that same first discussion with Vergil was the throw-away reference to Dante, which I can't find now.)
Lucy, you are a woman of iron will!
I'm only maundering here, so I'll stop.

Just wanted to say that I enjoy your discussions on Lavinia, Janet and Peggy. So much that I got the book. I have some other books to finish first, but I am looking forward to starting this one soon and then going through your comments again.

#78 - gosh, I feel flattered. I hope you like it as much I as I do (so far).

Now, just for you non-Lavinia/Aeneid readers, here is another review:

91. Such a Long Journey by Rohinton Mistry

This book was published in 1991, but has recently come back into the spotlight. I guess it has just been reprinted, as I have seen it in some bookstores. And it has also been involved in some controversy, when it was removed from a syllabus at Mumbai University after a complaint that it slandered Shiv Sena, a far-right Indian political party. It came up in my LT “recommendations”, and I remembered that I had liked his previous books, A Fine Balance and Family Matters, so I thought I’d add it to my list. Then, when Darryl mentioned that it had been banned at the university, I decided to read it right away, on principle. To be honest, I couldn’t see anything in it that anyone could object to politically, but then I’m probably not as sensitive to the nuances as the objectors were. (Even so, I’m completely opposed to this type of censorship.)

Such a Long Journey is basically the story of a decent middle aged man, Gustad Noble (I don’t think the surname is an accident), and the everyday pressures on his life in 1971 Mumbai. Things are getting worse in India – everyday goods are harder to find, higher cost and lower quality, the government seems to be getting more distant and corrupt, and now it looks like there will be war with Pakistan (the war which led to the creation of Bangladesh), only a few years after a war with China. On top of that, Gustav’s son, Sohrab, has refused to take up the place he has earned at a presitgious technical college, his daughter, Roshan, is ill, his best friend has mysteriously disappeared and may be in serious danger, his favorite workmate is dying, his flat is in desperate need of repairs, the local government wants to expand the road alongside his block of flats, eating into their small yard, and his relations with his neighbors are not all as positive as they might be. Yet through all this, Gustad maintains his dignity, stays true to his family and friends, practices his religion faithfully and carries out his job conscientiously. He also has to make a critical decision whether or not to help his friend, which could have some serious consequences, but again, his basic principles and goodness stand him in good stead, as they do in the many minor interactions throughout the book.

Although I really wanted life to get better for Gustad, materially, I felt uplifted by his perseverance and sheer endurance. I was also fascinated by all the details of daily life – the early morning prayers in the courtyard, the women queuing to buy adulterated milk, the artist who paints a different religious scene, from a different tradition, on the pavement each day, and many more. I don’t know anything about 1970’s Mumbai, so I can’t say how true to life the book was, or how well it has aged. But it was interesting and heartwarming to read, and I recommend it for anyone (except maybe Shiv Sena members who might feel insulted!).

Hi, Janet. Great review of Such a Long Journey and a thumb from me. It brought the book back to me (I read it two years ago I think). I really liked the slice of life feel to the book and also gave it 4 stars.

One of the things I remember being horrified about was the vultures circling the funeral "facilities" and dropping body parts on the residents in the new high rise condos. Sorry to bring that up but that image has really stayed with me. The other one that did was the march at the end when they demonstrate against losing more government services.

I had not heard of Such a Long Journey before. Thanks for the review, Janet. I will see if I can locate a copy!

Fine review, Janet! I've read only A Fine Balance, but it seems that inspiration in the face of staggering material deprivation must be a trademark.
I didn't read any Lavinia this weekend; I'm not sure what I did with the time, but I hope to be back on track tomorrow.

#80 - thanks, Pat. Yes, the scene with the vultures was really graphic, even though wasn't it only a discussion about it or did he see it himself when he was at the funeral. I love the way the funeral guys tried to pretend it was something else, not that at all. The demo was also good, but you just knew it was going to go wrong somehow or other. Seems like they are fated for things to go wrong (again I just don't know how true to life this is).

#81 - I hope you can, Stasia, as I'm pretty sure you'd like it.

#82 - Thanks, Peggy. Yes, I think that's what his books are all like. Not just material deprivation, but the massive indifference of officialdom. It's like that everywhere to a degree, I know, but nothing like what all these guys have to put up with. I didn't read any Lavinia either, and was about to apologize for being such a bad reading buddy, but let's see if we can move forward on it today or tomorrow.

I've moved on a little, Janet, through the final battles which are depressing as all battle scenes are, and Amata's end, to Lavinia's marriage at last with Aeneas. How could she possibly have preferred that arrogant, very young man Turnus to the complete human being that Aeneas is? I hope to have something to say when I've read a little more and have had time to think about it.

No time to stop today. Just wanted to say I have spent a lot of the day thinking about John Lennon. I was having a "quiet day", so hadn't played any music, but was pleasantly surprised and impressed when my 16-year old daughter came home from school, put "Imagine" on her ipod speakers and said "Mom, I thought you might like to listen to this with me." Nice to see the younger generation has some respect, and some knowledge.

aaaaaah

#85 - 30 years now and I'm sure everyone who was alive and aware then still remembers the day John Lennon died. Good to know the young people know their history.

I was 2 when he was killed and I remember my parents watching the news, crying, and putting on their Beatles albums. I didn't understand what was happening, but I definitely remember that. The classic rock station in Milwaukee, 96.5 WKLH, is airing Lennon's last interview at 7:00 CST tonight. If I remember correctly, he was interviewed just a few hours before his death.

You can listen online at www.wklh.com, if you're interested.

Finally caught up with you Janet and I can see I have to add Such a Long Journey. I've read and loved A Fine Balance so I think I'll like this one as well.

I remember, I remember.
Janet, I just finished Lavinia, but I'm too tired to produce anything more than how happy I am to have read this book. I thought it got better and better as it neared the end, a thing I also thought about The Left Hand of Darkness, the only other ULG that I have completed.

Janet

Simply stopping by to affirm once again that you are very much in my thoughts. You have been through so darn much. I hope you are doing well.

All good wishes to you!

#89 - Bonnie, if you loved A Fine Balance you should definitely enjoy Such a Long Journey.

#90 - Peggy, I'm so glad you went ahead and finished it. I have been so behind, not so much on reading it, but on thinking what to say. I am about to post some thoughts on the bit up to the end of the war, and after that I might just race ahead and read the rest, and not sweat about what to say about every few pages. I, too, loved The Left Hand of Darkness, although it's such a long time ago that I read it (as in, in the '70's) that I don't remember much about it. Amazing what a long writing career LeGuin's is.

#91 - Thank you, Linda, as you are in mine.

Lavinia pp. 120-182

This section follows the course of the war, from Ascanius’ killing of Silvia’s “pet” deer to Aeneas’ final battle with Turnus. In addition to the main battle scenes, LeGuin really brings to life, in a way that Vergil didn’t try to, some of the very human aspects of the war as seen by the non-combatants, such as:
- the feeling of watching fighting, very close by, which will determine the course of your life, yet being unable to influence the outcome
- the piecemeal hearsay about what is going on further afield
- the constant to-ing and fro-ing of wounded men, people carrying supplies, families searching for their loved ones
- the panic as the townspeople prepare for the possibility of being overrun, burying treasures, stockpiling food, barricading houses

It was interesting how much worse Turnus comes off here than in the Aeneid. His various disappearances from the field of battle, explained by Vergil as divine intervention, here are seen as inexplicable and perhaps cowardly absences. He is seen as selfish, rash, perhaps not caring as much about the broader picture as he should, but only about his own role. Aeneas, in contrast, comes off better. In the Aeneid discussion, we talked about how his impetuousness, his lingering desire to be a Greek hero rather than a Roman one, his failure to spare Turnus, are flaws, which make him a great epic character but not necessarily a great leader. Yet here he is seen as very thoughtful and considering in all his actions.

I also liked the way the story of the war was punctuated by short episodes which take place a year or two later, where Lavinia and Aeneas discuss the events and review Aeneas’ thoughts and feelings at the time. This adds considerably to his improved image, setting him more starkly in contrast to Turnus.

And then, the war, and the poem, end, suddenly and in silence. There are still 100 pages left in the book, so I will be interested to see how Lavinia plays out her life, and how she accounts for its continued existence, since she accepts fully that Vergil created her, and she knows he never wrote any of the story past this point.

Janet, I think that those last 100 pages were my favorite part of the book. I'll say again that I really feel ULG's Aeneas as a 20th century hero. (You characterized the Vergil Aeneas as "impetuous," but in this telling, Lavinia notices that he takes his time to evaluate a situation as opposed to Turnus who always knows what he wants immediately and goes after it. Maybe we're talking about two different situations.) He is remarkably sensitive to other people's needs and to his own moral/ethical foundation. He agonizes over killing Turnus and shrinks from defining his blood lust as an integral part of his makeup. (You probably haven't read that yet, but I don't think it's a real spoiler.) I also love Lavinia's looking back at her younger self and evaluating her understanding or lack of it.
You captured ULG's strength in empathy for the women especially, who wait and watch a battle while frantically trying to deal with the wounded and prepare for the worst.
And you'll be happy to know that LG does deal with Lavinia's continued existence even as she acknowledges her debt to Vergil.

I am really going to have to bump Lavinia up the stack!

Lavinia has been all over LT lately, I might have to look into it!

I've read nearly all of the rest of Lavinia, and I agree, the last part is the best, where LeGuin is freer to take off on her own and make Lavinia and Aeneas whatever she wants them to be. I see that she has made Aeneas sensitive, moral, etc. He really wants to try to help Ascanius develop these characteristics, but he (Ascanius) is really just too limited, too liking of his own powers, too insecure of his position. Lavinia says she will figure out how to live after the end of the poem, because she understands where Vergil was coming from, and that gives her guidance. I like that. Just one more bit from the end of the war really stood out for me, too. Just after the war ends, Lavinia describes how every family is in mourning, everyone has lost someone. The really striking line is when she says that every single one of the young men who came to her house as a potential suitor is now dead.

As for Aeneas as thoughtful v not, I just meant that when we all read the Aeneid we didn't see him as particularly thoughtful - LeGuin has drawn out that side of him more.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing what happens to Lavinia and to Silvius, although not looking forward to beeing done with the book.

So, I have finished Lavinia and really liked the rest of it - LeGuin is a great writer - hard to believe the first work of hers I read was 35 years ago, and this is only the second!

I had a few little bursts of mental energy this week (not so much physical, sorry to say) and have started to catch up my reviews, so hopefully I'll finish book 100 and review 100 before 2011.

92. Chess Story by Stefan Zweig

I love Stefan Zweig. I only discovered him last year, and I am gradually working my way through his writings. Most people who have read Chess Story seem to have liked it a lot, and I am no exception.

Chess Story is a long short story/novella, which reminded me of lots of Somerset Maugham stories – the ones where the narrator meets a fellow traveller who tells him an interesting tale. In this case, the travellers are on a ship sailing from Europe to New York. One of their number is a famous chess champion, and the others challenge him to a match. He is beating them easily, contemptuously even, until another traveller starts to get involved and it suddenly gets much tighter. This other man is not a professional, and in fact says he has hardly ever played the game. How can he be so good? The rest of the story answers this question, and it is fascinating (no spoilers here – it’s short, go and read it.) I’m sure this is all some sort of deeply meaningful political allegory, but I didn’t spot any of that. I just enjoyed an interesting story, well told.

I can see, though, that both Richard (rderus) and Suzanne (chatterbox) have recently read and reviewed this one. Both their reviews are more insightful than mine, so you might like to have a look. Richard’s is on the book page (he didn’t like it much), Suz’s is on her last but one thread (she liked it): http://www.librarything.com/topic/102390#2349648

I’ve been waiting a while to read Beware of Pity, Zweig’s big masterpiece, and now I’m thinking I’ll make it my 100th, and last, book of this year. I am currently reading #99, so I should just about make it.

Hi Janet, I finished Lavinia just a few minutes ago. I read almost two thirds of the book last night, somehow I couldn't stop, so there remained only about 10% for today (the Kindle doesn't give page counts). It has been an excellent read. Thank you for discussing it here with Peggy in such detail!

I read Chess Story for the first time about 25 years ago and have since reread it several times. I am glad you liked it.

Hi Janet. I also really liked A Chess Story. I read it as part of a short story collection called The Royal Game and Other Stories. All of them were good. I own a copy of Beware of Pity but haven't read it yet so I'll be interested in what you think. Congratulations on getting so close to 100.

Janet, thank you for letting me read Lavinia with you. I appreciate your insights and look forward to doing it again sometime with something else. Take care. I'm not even having little bursts of mental energy. *sigh* And I haven't discovered Stefan Zeig, so thanks for putting him on my mental map.

Hi Janet

Good luck as you read book #99 and then move on to #100.

I hope you are having a good day, a healthy day, an energy filled day.

Hi Janet,

I enjoyed Chess Story last year and found it to be absolutely riveting. I hope to get to more Zweig next year too.

Looking forward to hearing what you think of A Small Death in Lisbon - it was a group read for 4 Mystery Addicts a few years ago and I think the group was quite divided, a lot of people really didn't like it. I did.

#98: I do wish you would post your review so that I can give it a 'thumbs up,' Janet!

I bought Chess Story for my birthday this year. Maybe next year I will actually read it.

#99 - I'm glad you liked Lavinia, Nathalie.

#100 - I have read The Burning Secret, which my library had as a standalone edition, but not the others in that collection. I'm sure I will get to them, though.

#101 - You're welcome Peggy, and thank you, too. I find it kind of hard reading this way, because I feel guilty if I can't think of anything to say, and in this case it was especially hard, because there were no chapters so I couldn't always think in neat units. (By the way, of all the "reading group questions" in the book, that was the only interesting one - why did she write the book without chapters? - I honestly have no idea.) I'd still be willing to do it again, but maybe as part of a bigger group read, like with the Aeneid, so I don't feel bad about potentially holding people up (although in this case I know I didn't, as you just raced ahead sensibly). Also, I cannot believe that I know about an author you didn't, as I usually think of you as so much more widely read than I am. Well, one for me, a million for you.....

#102 - Hi, Linda, actually I am having a much better day today (but not counting on it lasting all day), thanks. Hope you are, too.

#103 - Bonnie, have you already read other Zweigs? Which ones did you like best?

#104 - In fact it will be my very next post, Luci. I'd love to know what divided your book group and what each side thought. I could definitely have done with a bit of a discussion about it.

#105 - Stasia, you could read this book over a cup of whatever it is you like to drink. It is very short. Thanks for the compliment, but I don't think I will post my review because it isn't very thoughtful compared to lots of better ones already there.

Janet, The Burning Secret was one of the "other stories" in The Royal Game and Other Stories. I liked it but my favorite was probably Letter From An Unknown Woman about a famous novelist who receives a letter in an unknown handwriting addressed only "To you who never really knew me." There is no return address and no signature. It turns out to be a long letter from a woman who has loved the novelist since she was 13 years old. The big question is whether the novelist will figure out who wrote the letter.

Saying hi. I have read no Zweig, and must, I think.

I am wracking my brains trying to decide on a book to buy for my husband for Christmas. For 30+ years, we have bought each other a new, hardback novel each year. It's a fantastic tradition, and we now have quite a few hardback first editions because of it. We don't buy memoirs, biographies, short stories, or "the next in the series". We try to be a bit literary. But I am really struggling this year. I want him to really enjoy it, and so many novels now seem just not his sort of thing. I got him to tell me a couple of current authors he really likes - William Boyd, E.L. Doctorow, Jonathan Franzen - and one he doesn't - Peter Ackroyd. He says he prefers books with big stories and big characters. Nothing too "introspective" or "relationshippy" - in other words, nothing that could even remotely come under the "chicklit" banner or be seen as "girly" (this is me talking, not him).

So, any thoughts out there? I am thinking maybe "A Thousand Autumns......"? Or "The Slap"? Other suggestions?

Hi Janet. The only book that immediately comes to mind is: Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War by Karl Marlantes. It came out this year and has gotten terrific reviews on LT and on Amazon. I have a copy but haven't read it yet so can't tell you how I personally liked it. Does it have to be a book published in 2010?

I really loved Roddy Doyle's The Dead Republic but if your husband would be turned off by Irish history (which some English people don't want to read at all), I think the David Mitchell sounds like a better choice than The Slap, though of course I haven't read either (and The Slap is a trade paperback). Another Booker longlist one is the Damon Galgut, I just read the description and it sounds quite interesting. I quite liked Jonathan Coe's most recent book, The Terrible Privacy of Maxwell Sim.

How about something by Jonathan Safran Foer? I loved his Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close but it was not published this year. I guess I would echo Pat's question in #110 as to whether the gift has to be a book published this year or not.

I'm going to think hard about this -- my DH is similar, plus he likes sci-fi and fantasy. Do you always get something new?

Thanks for all the suggestions for a book for Rich. I will check them all out. Would still welcome more, as I suspect I will find it hard. And yes, it dos need to be published for the first time this year. Rules are rules!

Janet, what a great idea! I have no idea whether he would like Richard Powers, but Generosity: An Enhancement came out this year. It certainly will have big ideas.......
You think that I have read more than you, Ms. 99 Books So Far and Reading (to my 75)? I don't think so! Or if so, only because I'm older and have had more time to read. *sigh*
Back to Middlemarch!

#115 - maybe not MORE than I have, Peggy, but more broadly, I think. And this year is a real exception for me, because I have been off sick and without much else to do (not allowed to go out much, a lot of time in the hospital) - if and when I get to go back to work, the reading will drop right off, I fear.

Okay, still catching up with reviews. I know I wrote something about #93, A Small Death in Lisbon by Robert Wilson, but can't find it at the moment. Maybe on the other computer. Strangely, can't find the touchstone either. Weird.

I didn't write about #94, White Nights by Ann Cleeves, because that's the one I actually read a while ago and forgot to add to the list. Because I've forgotten some of it, and because I read it in a morphine-induced haze, I'm not trying to recreate any thoughts. I liked it enough to carry on with the rest of the series.

So here is #95 for now, and I'll go back to the Wilson when I find it.....

95. The Double Comfort Safari Club by Alexander McCall Smith

This is the latest instalment in the “No.1 Ladies Detective Agency” series. I have been a big fan of this series from the beginning. I like the characters. I like the setting. I like the whimsical, almost incidental nature of the stories. But I’m very sorry to say that this one is not up to the standard of the earlier ones. It feels very rushed and unloved, as if the publisher said “Alex, we need something quick, to keep the series in the public eye”. (He is writing a lot of books in multiple series at the moment, so it probably was written quickly.) The stories are even slighter than usual, and less engaging, and there seems absolutely no depth to any of the characters, with some of the most interesting “regulars” appearing only in passing, just long enough to display their “trademark” characteristics, but adding nothing to the story. Frankly, I was bored. So, I might be at the end of my love affair with Precious Ramotswe and her world. It was nice while it lasted, though.

#116: I have never gotten on with the "No.1 Ladies Detective Agency” series for some reason. I am sorry to hear that your love affair with it might be coming to an end though.

ETA: Perhaps this would be helpful in finding the perfect book for Rich: http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/book-news/awards-and-prizes/article/...

Thanks for the link, Stasia, I will be checking some of those out. As some people know, I am temporarily back in the hospital, only for a few days hopefully, nothing serious or unexpected, just one of the many blips I was told to expect. I am on IV part of the day (yes, those dreaded poles again!) but the rest of the time I am allowed out to my heart's content. And I am ALMOST strong enough to walk to the several bookshops near the hospital, so I might actually get to go and look at books for Rich in real shops, not just online, which should make it easier to choose one. Of course, if they let me out TOO soon I won't manage it, but I think that's a trade-off I could live with.

I'm no help at all, although I have Martin Amis on my Xmas list because so far I have either enjoyed or downright loved all of his books and I got myself the David Mitchell recently and feel confident that it will be an excellent read..... I don't like recommending books I haven't read though and Amis is not to everyone's taste. I liked The Corrections a lot also and will no doubt read the new Franzen. I'm always several years behind is my problem!

I'm lucky that my spouse reads so much sci fi -- I can get him the new Iain Banks and he's in heaven. He'll read 'real' books too, but that's his first love.

#118: Sorry to hear you are back in again, Janet. Did they at least paint the pole for you this time?

Hope they let you out again soon, Janet.

I'm several books behind in the Ladies' Detective Agency series (I think the last one I read was The Good Husband of Zebra Drive) but I'm disappointed to hear that Double Comfort is not up to the usual standard. I'm not surprised it seems rushed though: I have no idea how he can produce the volume of books he does.

I hope that your hospital stay is a short and relatively uneventful one, Janet.

A sudden wind is blowing snow in great blobs and sprays of powder off the tree branches..... and for some reason I have to say this in french; it can be such a sweet language: je t'envoies toutes mes meilleurs pensees, mon amie. Sois tranquilles.

Probably have spelled things wrong, I speak much better than I write in French....

Thanks for all the nice messages. This hospital stay is nothing compared to the last - just allowing me to have some IV treatment. It's done by lunchtime, and I'm allowed out, so able to look in shops and so on. Even managed to buy a couple of books in a discount store close to the hospital (surprise surprise). It's all going well, and I do hope to be out by Sun/Mon/Tues latest.

They didn't paint the pole, Stasia, but they did clean it! (Well, it has a big sticker on it saying it has been cleaned anyway.)

Your French is clear enough for me, Sib, thanks.

And thanks, too, for the ideas for Rich. I gave up thinking about it and ordered the David Mitchell today. I think he will like it, and I can keep the other ideas in reserve for his birthday or whenever, when we have no rules at all.

And the other good news is.... I found my review of A Small Death in Lisbon -here it is (but still can't get a touchstone - is it also called The Silent and the Damned?):

93. A Small Death in Lisbon by Robert Wilson

Let me start by saying I didn’t really enjoy this book all that much. It tells two parallel stories, which come together by the end, as you know they must. One story is about police inspector Coelho investigating the murder of a teenage girl in modern day Lisbon (the book is written/set in the early 1990’s), the other about smuggling of commodities and gold between Portugal and Germany during World War II. Each is reasonably interesting, but I found all the characters in the WWII story so unpleasant, and their behavior so disturbing and distasteful, that I couldn’t enjoy these chapters at all. Also, both stories have quite a lot of graphic, violent sex, involving men behaving very badly towards women, as well as some graphic violence generally, involving men behaving very badly towards men. These were relevant to the story, but still somewhat off-putting. I am not at all a prude about sex in books, but here it felt unnecessary a lot of the time, as well as not brilliantly written.

This is the first book I have read by Robert Wilson, but I know he is highly rated by many here on LT, so the jury is very much out. I have The Blind Man of Seville on my shelf, which is highly regarded, so I will probably read that one before making a final decision on Wilson’s place on my long term TBR list.

Are you in University College Hospital? If so, which discount bookstore did you go to?

>123 sibylline:: I love French, too. Some things just sound so much better that way.
>124 JanetinLondon:: Hope you're outta there soon, Janet.

Sorry they did not paint the pole, but glad it is clean! I hope you are out very quickly.

#125 - yep, in UCH. Went to a small one down Tottenham Court Road. And TODAY I went to the Oxfam shop you thought I went to last time and to a little discount store near there which is closing down and had nothing. There is another one, or actually two, on the Euston road near the British Library, but I haven't walked that direction yet. Maybe tomorrow, if it doesn't snow too much.

Yes, I went for a big walk today and I bought FIVE BOOKS. This was my first real booking expedition, or any kind of expeditiion, since August, so I was very thrilled. And the 5 books cost £13 - $20. I got:

2 Donna Leons - I am buying them as and when I find them, so I can read them in order - I got Death in a Strange Country (no. 2, which is good, because I have read no. 1) and The Girl of His Dreams
Ransom by David Malouf - an Iliad related story, to follow the Aeneid related Lavinia
Sugar Street by Mahfouz - part 3 of a trilogy - I have read no. 1, currently have no. 2 on loan from a friend, so now can complete the trilogy at my leisure
China Shakes the World byJames Kynge, which has been on my list for a bit

Plus the other day I got God's Philosophers by James Hannam, a book I really really want to read. So, a great haul, almost making up for being in hospital (but not quite....)

The Euston Road one is fantastic. There are two shops run by the same company, one has art books and hardbacks which are a bit more expensive, I found a Hermione Lee biography of Edith Wharton there, but usually I just go to the other one where everything is £2, and it has a mix of stuff - literary books, genre fiction, a lot of books about music, but some really good things. I haven't read them yet but I think my best finds have been two books on Spanish Civil War history, a biography of Dodie Smith by Valerie Grove....

Hope you get "sprung" soon.

I've read both the David Mitchell and The Slap, and I'd choose the David Mitchell hands down over The Slap.

#128: Nice haul, Janet!

#130 - yep, that's exactly what I decided, too. Have ordered the David Mitchell. Hope he likes it (if not, I probably will!)

Quite heavy snow at the moment, so might not get down to the other bookshops today. Well, let's see how it goes.

Meanwhile here's another review:

96. The White Family by Maggie Gee

This is the story of an “ordinary” white working class family in northwest London in the second half of the 20th Century, and of the changes in their world during that period. As the book opens, Alfred, the father, has just suffered some sort of “event” – stroke, heart attack, not made clear at first – in the park where he has been park keeper for 50 years. This crisis prompts him and the rest of the family – wife May and three grown children – to reflect on their lives and to revisit memories. They never do this together, but separately, internally, in different chapters. In fact, they hardly ever speak to each other at all. Gradually, we learn a lot about each of them, the events that have shaped their lives and the ways in which they have responded.

Alfred is an archetype – war veteran, hard working, loyal, uncomplaining, but also racist, homophobic, ultimately frustrated by his small life and unable to cope with change and difference. He sees himself as a “good” father and husband, but it is clear he has damaged and abused all his family members, both mentally and physically.

May, his wife, is also a “type” – married the first man who ever kissed her, kept the home, took care of the children, never interfered with Alfred’s approach to “discipline”, put up with a certain amount of abuse because, well, he worked so hard, didn’t he? She has, however, read a lot, and the indications are that she “could have made more of herself” if circumstances had permitted.

The three children are less “typical” (perhaps Gee thinks the next generation is less likely to be typical) but also, I thought, less realistic, and therefore less interesting. Each has responded to their restricted, bullied upbringing in different ways, none has really found happiness or fulfilment.

Most of the book is spent learning about these characters, plus a few friends and neighbors, as well as describing the park where Alfred works, a metaphor for London and the world. This was all great, and I waited eagerly to see how it would play out. Unfortunately, there’s a whole second story line to do with racism, ultimately leading to violence, which winds up providing the climax and denouement of the book, and which I didn’t like at all. For a start, these sections were less well written and less involving. Also, although they included most of the same characters, I thought the link was forced – yes, Alfred was a racist (never a violent one), yes, that lead to certain reactions by his children, ultimately leading to the main violent event, and yes, Alfred’s and May’s reactions to this are very interesting. But it was a separate story to the one of Alfred and May, their lives after the war and their difficulties with change. To keep the two in one book, the book needed to be longer, to give the second story more time to develop.

So, although there was some great writing in there, and some interesting insights, ultimately I was a bit disappointed.

Darryl (kidzdoc) recommended this book more highly, so if you are intrigued and want to get another, more positive view, go have a look at what he said about it, too.

#132: I ordered that one on the strength of Darryl's review. I hope I like it more than you did, Janet :)

I enjoyed your excellent and thoughtful review of The White Family, Janet, and thumbed it as well. After reading your comments I do agree that the characters of Alfred's older, successful son and daughter could have been better developed, although I did think that the portrayal of the conflicted and tortured younger son was a convincing one. I thought that Alfred did not express his racist views in a violent manner, in contrast to white racists in the US in the post-WWII era and to current day white Britons, because of the cultural differences between the US and UK in the first case (with Britons being more restrained than their boisterous and aggressive American counterparts), and the intergenerational differences between baby boomer Britons and whatever the generation of youth in the 1990s calls itself. The younger White also seemed to me to be representative of post-Thatcher Britain, a less tolerant and meaner society with less opportunities for its youth and less value placed upon them in general, but especially working class whites, who expressed their frustration with random acts of brutality and violence. I thought that Gee did a masterful job of portraying him (the younger White) as a realistic and sympathetic though unlikable and pitiable character, but, as you said, his character would likely have benefitted from a longer and more thorough development. I probably should knock off half a star from my initial 5 star rating, but I think it remains one of my top 10 books of the year.

Well, I didn't NOT like it, just not quite as much as I had hoped. I wasn't sure about the portrayals of the black characters - I guess because it's harder for me to know if they were realistic (I don't know any black people quite like the ones in this book, although I do know some of those white boys). And I thought the denouement was a bit manufactured - what are the odds of it being that combination of characters, exactly?

It was "refreshing", if that's the right word, to read a portrayal of this neglected (if distasteful) segment of society. The whole "working class white boys" issue is huge here - they do less well in school than girls, and than many minority ethnic boys, tend much more towards violence, unemployment, aimlessness, etc., etc. Because they are of the "majority", and because of the often unpleasant nature of their response, people assume their problems are less important, or less worthy of addressing, but they do have a massive impact on the whole society. Obviously society can't just let them have what they (think they) want, but how to bring them along better? I'm still very glad I read it.

Right, I saw that you gave it 4 stars, so I knew that you did like it. Good point about the black characters; they were clearly secondary to the Whites, and I don't remember any of them to be able to comment on whether they were realistic or not. And, after thinking about the denouement and the unlikely combination of that set of characters in the wrong place at the wrong time I have to agree with you.

The best and most (as you said) "refreshing" part of the book was the (IMO) spot on characterization of the white working class Britons. I'm eager to read more of her books, several of which cover similar ground from what I understand. Have you or anyone else (Luci? others?) read any of her other books?

How much snow are you getting in London? I was looking at Facebook, and saw several posts related to the bad weather in the capital and in Europe.

Well, not much snow here in the center of town, but I think a lot more further out. Flights out of Heathrow are all delayed until after 5:30 I believe, and most other airports are worse, with many flights cancelled. My daughter is due to fly INTO Heathrow overnight from DC, so I'm hoping the plane she needs isn't sitting here in London now, or she will have a pretty long delay I guess. Oh well, a young introduction to the pleasures of being an international student.

Don't think I have read anything else by Maggie Gee, or other similar books - I'll have to look back through my library and have a think.

Janet, I just thumbed your review of The White Family which I read at the end of October thanks to Darry passing on his copy of the book.

I'm hopelessly behind on my reviews but this will definitely be one of my favorite books of the year. I would have given it 5 stars except for the ending (which I'm deducting 1/2 star for). It seemed like it was written by someone else. Up until the last 10 pages I was totally capitivated by the book. I still think about it and want to know what happened to the characters after it ended. It seemed like there was lots of trouble ahead for them (particularly Shirley, who was saddled with being related to so many different people).

I think the best part was that you were able to feel sympathy for Dirk, who often seemed like just the worst kind of person and someone you would never want to encounter. I also thought it was interesting to see more subtle forms of racism in some of the other characters, like when May fell and Winston came to her aid but she was fearful of him because he was black and didn't recognize at first that he was trying to help her.

Gee is a fantastic writer and I'm actually surprised I never heard of her before Darryl brought the book to my attention.

If anyone is thinking about participating in Orange January and is looking for something to read for it, I would strongly recommend The White Family. It was shortlisted for the Orange Prize in 2002 or 2003.

You're right, it's the ending that lets it down. I, too, wanted to know "what happened next" - a book that would have benefited from being longer, maybe.

I agree with both of you about the ending, and I have dropped my rating down to 4-1/2 stars.

I hadn't heard of her before my trip to London earlier this year, and I only bought The White Family after I saw it on display at the London Review Bookshop.

ETA: BBC London is forecasting 4-6 inches of new snow for the capital, with as much as 10 inches in greater London.

Yeah, my daughter's flight in overnight from DC just got cancelled. Luckily, she isn't at the airport, but with my brother and his family in Maryland. She will get home eventually.

I'm listening to BBC London 94.9 online, and it sounds as though all arriving and departing flights from the BAA airports have been cancelled until at least tomorrow.

Aaarrrgh I hope your daughter is able to get home. I also hope my stepsister will be able to get home to Ilkley from New York City, and that my sister and I will make it up from London.

Good luck to your stepsister and to you, Luci.

For us, we don't actually celebrate Christmas too grandly, so it's more of a case of getting to spend as much time as possible with her over her break - she's scheduled to be home for a whole month, so even though I am distraught at the delay, a few days with her aunt/uncle/similar age cousin in Maryland won't be the worst fate that could befall her, I guess.

Correction: Heathrow is closed for all flights until at least tomorrow. There is limited service into and out of Gatwick with significant delays, but British Airways has cancelled all long haul flights to and from there until at least tomorrow.

I thumbed your review and have put The White Family on my wishlist. Thanks, Janet. Hope your daughter arrives soon and you have a lovely visit.

Hope your daughter manages to get home to you soon and you can get home too.

For me it's about getting to spend time together (with my sister and other family as well) and with our mum, after a difficult year since my mum was diagnosed with bowel cancer in February.

Thanks, Becky and Heather. She just phoned me in floods of tears, but she will be fine.

Luci, I can really see why you want to get that family time together. My mother's had the same disease so I have some idea how distressing and difficult this time must be for you all. I really hope it is all sorted out by Weds (be optimistic).

Looked up the East Coast website, trains appear to be running although delays, so long as you don't want to travel north of Perth. So Sian and I might be ok to get home for Christmas, but I'm worried about Miriam, our stepsister currently in NYC, she normally comes home in time for a birthday meal on the 23rd (though I don't know if she had the same plan for this year as it's her 30th).

I am living in the absolutely weirdest little time and space bubble. I know outside everyone is rushing around sorting things out for Christmas, or stuck at home unable to get out because of the snow. But here in the hospital, I have absolutely nothing to do all day, and there's hardly any snow in central London, but because of the snow where I live, it's hard for my family to come see me, which I don't mind, but it's very quiet. I can't even finish my Christmas cards so they'll just have to wait. Meanwhile, my daughter Kate is STILL stuck in DC - she was supposed to fly home Saturday night, then tonight, but has been cancelled again and is now due to fly Wednesday during the day. So we're on hold regarding seeing her, too. Luckily she is with my brother and his family, so having a relatively ok time compared to thousands of other people. Luckily, too, she'll still have a few weeks once she does get here, again unlike lots of others caught up in the weather, but still, it's a bit sad for her after just her first semester of college to have this delay in getting home. And even LT seems a bit "on hold", with some having already jumped to 2011 and some still here in 2010. Plus I have finished my 100th book and don't want to start another one yet so am trying out some audios instead. I feel like I'm holding my breath waiting for normal life to resume! I'm going home tomorrow, probably, so that'll be a start.

Meanwhile, I'm going to try to wrap up my reviews so I'm ready when 2011 does start. Here's my next one:

97. Seven Sisters by Margaret Drabble

This book is about a lot of things – loneliness, friendship, disappointment, families, story telling. I don’t feel I can pull together a coherent short review. So here’s a short description, which might be a spoiler, so if you are thinking of reading the book, skip the spoiler paragraph -sorry, I don't know how to strike through - if someone advises me, I will edit.

50-something Candida Wilton, recently divorced, has moved to a flat in London, where she knows no one. She joins an evening class discussing the Aeneid, and although she makes a few friends there, she doesn’t really see them outside the class, or go out much at all. The class closes, its building turned into a health club, so she starts going there instead, again not really making friends. She keeps a diary, which is what we are reading, at least at first. Her life ticks along.

SPOILER PARAGRAPH BELOW
Then she inherits some money, and invites the women she considers friends from different parts of her life to accompany her on a tour of the sites from the Aeneid. They go, they have a (mostly) good time, and her life returns to normal, albeit with closer friends and improved relationships with her nearly-estranged children.
END OF SPOILER PARAGRAPH

What makes the book interesting is the hope it holds out that exciting changes canhappen to older women, and also the way the story resolves itself and the book ends. Also, Drabble’s writing style, with later sections not from the diary, provides unexpected shocks which keep reminding the reader that every story is someone’s version of events.

I enjoyed the book, although, as I say, I don’t feel at all able to summarize it or decide what its overall message is. I think a book group would find a lot to discuss here.

I am glad the end is finally in sight as far as your hospital visit, Janet. I hope all of the other things work themselves out as well.

I am one of those still in the 2010 group, but I am checking out all of the 2011 threads as well. We have some new people joining in the fun, and that always gets the new year off to a good start!

Hi Janet! Sorry to hear about your daughter's further delay in getting home. Hopefully the weather will improve over the next day or two.

I'm also still in the 2010 group, as I still have a few books to read before the end of the year. I won't migrate to the 2011 group until New Year's Eve or so, after I'm nearly done with this month's reads.

Janet, I hope the weather settles down and allows your daughter to get home!
I haven't moved to the 2011 group yet either. I have every intention of doing so but am not ready to be inundated with all the new threads. And my strategy is similar to Darryl's. My remaining 2010 reads will be posted in the 2010 group, and since all I'd be doing in the 2011 group is setting up my first thread, there's no rush.

Hi Janet, glad you'll be going home tomorrow and hope your daughter makes it out on Wednesday.

I will still be on my 2010 thread until the end of December. I'm having enough trouble catching up with some comments, if not reviews, on my 2010 reading to even think about setting up a 2011 thread yet.

Wonderful that you go home tomorrow, and then, if all goes well, your daughter Wednesday. That makes today the last quiet day, innit?

I feel I am great company with all the stubborn end-o-year threaders!

I liked Seven Sisters I found it a bit rambly, like she knew what she wanted the book to be about but took awhile to figure out how to make that happen?

I am visiting the 2011 'bio' 75 thread a lot.

Glad to see all the support for sticking with 2010! And thanks for wishes for Kate. As long as she's safe, I'm not too worried. She'll get here when she gets here.

Sib, I agree about Seven Sisters - rambly is exactly the right word. It was fun to read.

I seem to have read quite a few books recently about middle aged ladies trying to move on with their lives. Am I trying to tell myself something? Most of them don't end up particularly positively, though, I have to say, especially not the English ones. The American ones (like World and Town) are more upbeat, but not necessarily realistically so. Is there really so little hope for fulfilment if you are unlucky enough to not have a living situation of your choice? I do, at the moment, but the point of these books seems to be that you never know.

Janet, I'm glad you're going home tomorrow and trust that Kate will be joining you safely soon. I do love Drabble, but I haven't read *7 Sisters* yet and will probably not push it since my monitor is sitting on it to keep me from hurting my neck as I hang out here! Meanwhile, I am enjoying The Children's Book - still!

Aargh, last minute gift disaster! I bought The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet for Rich, based on several recommendations, but never looked at it, just ordered online. Came today - I had no idea it was written in the present tense - he hates that. So now need a last minute desperate dash to local bookshop to see what else I can get! Any last minute thoughts?? Fiction, published this year, and NOT in present tense!
thanks.

Oh dear! I was just browsing around some Best Book list or other and saw a book I hadn't notice by Charles Yu called How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe that looks like a lot of fun. It is science fiction, but ..... not in the usual way. In fact, I ordered it for my spousal unit. We both like Gary Shteyngart, Allegra Goodman and Jennifer Egan too, all of whom have new books out even though I can't directly recommend any of their books. I thought Egan's last was her best yet. Anyhow, hopefully it is not written in the present tense!!!!!

Well, I am nearly done for the year. I read my 100th book - Beware of Pity by Stefan Zweig, which I saved specially for the occasion. It was great - review follows shortly. I am not reviewing #98 - Lavinia, because I commented as I went, or #99 - Both Ways is the Only Way I Want It by Maile Meloy, because I don't really know what to say about short stories - I liked some of them, not all of them. So once I review the Zweig I'll be "done". After I read that, I listened to the Odyssey on my ipod, but I'm definitely not reviewing that one, and now I'm trying to squeeze in Freedom before the end of the year so that I can start my Christmas book present on New Year's Day as is my tradition. I doubt I'll review that, either, since there must be dozens if not hundreds of reviews of it already.

Meanwhile, I'm home from hospital, Kate finally got back from the States last night, only 4 days later than scheduled, and all but one of our deliveries of presents have turned up (and I'm still hopeful for that one), so we can close up shop for a while and just enjoy hanging out with the kids. Still haven't sorted a book for Rich, but he might just have to try A Thousand Autumns and live with the present tense.

Hi Janet. I'm so glad you will be home for Christmas and that your daughter finally arrived. London must be beautiful with a coating of snow - at least until it gets to the "slushy" stage.

Congratulations on reading 100 books this year. I approve (not that my approval is necessary!) of your choice of Freedom to wrap up a fine year of reading. That will probably be my wrap-around book...one that begins at the end of the year and is finished in time for the No. 1 spot on my 2011 list. I've heard good things about it and need to get it returned to the kind friend who loaned it to me.

That is disappointing about your choice for Rich's special book. What a great tradition you have there. There are so many plusses about Jacob de Zoet that perhaps he can overlook the present tense drawback.

Happy Holidays to you and your family. I hope you enjoy the best of health and some more excellent reading and sharing of books in 2011.

Thanks, Donna, best wishes to you, too. Yes, London is looking good, but already very slushy and then it freezes overnight so also pretty treacherous for walking. But it doesn't happen often, so it's nice to look on the bright side.

Looking forward to seeing you over on the "other side".

Hi, Janet. Glad both you and your daughter are home and congratulations on reading 100 books for 2010. I have a copy of Beware of Pity but haven't gotten to it yet so will be eager to see what you thought of it. I read Freedom a couple of months ago and really liked it. Happy reading and Happy Holidays! I'll definitely see you on "the other side" too.

Congratulations on finishing your 100th book, Janet! I look forward to your review of Beware of Pity, as it was one of the two books by Zweig that I own but won't get to this year. I'm glad to hear that your daughter finally made it to London, and arrived before Christmas Day. Hopefully your husband will enjoy The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet as much as I and several others did.

One hundred books! Marvelous -- for a bit I thought I might make 90, but that's going by the wayside, unless I cheat and only read novellinis for the next week.

Glad you have all your brood gathered in!

Here the snow is working towards a foot deep..... ola!

I'm delighted that you and Kate are both home safe and sound! Enjoy! I share Rich's dislike of present tense narration, but I refuse only first person present. I really hope *Jacob* is not that.
Congratulations on 100!!! That's how much I need to read to get to everything in my library if I live to a reasonable age --- I'm not doing it. I'll hope to have 80 or 81 by year's end, a bit fewer than last year but more substantive books. At any rate, well done!

Hooray, 100 books and Kate is home! Have a wonderful holiday, Janet. Fingers crossed that Rich likes Jacob.

Congratulations on reaching the 100 book mark. I'm so happy to hear that you are home, and that Kate made it there too. Merry Christmas!

Glad you and Kate have both made it home, and I'm sure that will be what counts for your husband too.

I hoped to get to your local bookshop one last time before it closes tomorrow, as I understand the owner is shutting up shop, and I used to like Prosperos. It's not the easiest place to go with a buggy in tow, and we have a closer and more accessible independent in Wood Green (Big Green Bookshop).

Popping in to say Happy Christmas to you and your family! I'm so glad that you and your daughter are both at home and feeling well. Have a wonderful holiday weekend!

Janet

I'm ever so glad you are home from the hospital. I've been concerned and now I'm relieved.

Congratulations on getting out of the hospital, hitting 100 books for the year, your daughter getting home, and all the presents but one showing up!

Have a wonderful holiday, Janet!

Stopping by to say hi and wish you a very merry christmas at home with your family.
Congratulations with reaching 100 books also!

I'm glad you've made it out of hospital for Christmas, and that your daughter has made it home too. Happy Christmas!

ETA: I dislike present-tense narrative, too, but it hasn't bothered me with Jacob de Zoet. I've barely noticed it. Although, I've had it on to go for a ridiculously long length of time for no discernible reason. I really ought to get that book finished.

Great to read you are home and your daughter arrived safely. I wish you a wonderful Christmas!

Oh - and congratulations on reading 100 books!

Thank you all! I decided to get Rich another book as well, just in case, and chose Jenny Erpenbeck's Visitation, on strong recommendation from the Guardian newspaper. No idea if he will like that one, either, but it is very short, and at least he will know I thought about it. So now he gets two books, and if he hates Jacob I will probably like it anyway.

>170 elkiedee: - Went to Prospero's yesterday, but no sales - they are just tranferring all the books they have left to their main shop in Muswell Hill. Disappointing that I won't have a walkable new bookshop any more, but Muswell Hill and Wood Green should both be more feasible for me in the new year once I'm allowed on buses. And I buy most of my books in Oxfam anyway, so not a terrible problem.

Zweig review below - it's a long one, so if you want the short answer, it was a 5 star read!

100. Beware of Pity by Stefan Zweig

This is a story about how “doing the right thing” and trying to be kind can lead to terrible, unintended consequences, and about how difficult it is to choose between the unselfish “should” and the more rational, selfish “want”.

Anton Hofmiller, a young officer in the Austro-Hungarian army, is invited to dinner by a rich landowner in the small town where he is stationed. After the meal, to be polite, he asks the teenaged daughter of the house to dance. But he has not noticed she is “crippled” (this is the term used in the book). She is upset and he is embarrassed, and he rushes away. But the family invites him again and again, so he decides the least he can do is keep her company when he can, and he becomes a regular visitor to the house. She, of course, takes it for much more than he does, and is soon fantasizing of their being together once she is “cured”. (We, the readers, realize this will never happen – it is not clear what the various characters believe). He is horrified to learn of her strong feelings, and is also further drawn in by knowingly but unthinkingly fanning her hopes of recovery after a conversation with her doctor. He doesn’t love her, and he knows she will never be cured. He is torn between, on the one hand, his guilt at letting things get this far, coupled with his certain knowledge that the truth could, literally, kill her, and on the other hand his desperate desire to escape the situation by whatever means possible. He goes back and forth, basing his words and actions on these opposing desires. As the book is set in the summer of 1914, we do in fact know how he “escapes”, but we don’t know how the relationship and the story end until we get there.

In addition to the story, the setting is also great. The small provincial town, the army garrison, constantly training, never fighting. The dinners, the cafes, the card playing, the uniforms, the horses, the regulations, the streets, the boredom, and the mix of nationalities that made up the empire. All very evocative. It reminded me strongly of The Radetzky March, which I also read this year.

What really makes this book great, though, is the style. The story is a story, being told some 20 years after the events. Told in the first person by Hofmiller, it isn’t to us, but to another character we meet briefly in a prologue, never to be seen directly again. In fact the whole book begins with a different story, with the narrator telling us that he met a friend who, spotting Hofmiller, told the narrator that he was a famous WWI hero, and told him the story of that heroism. When the narrator meets Hofmiller subsequently, Hofmiller bitterly describes his real, unheroic self, and this is the story of the book. Along the way there are many other “story” episodes – someone tells Hofmiller how the landowner came by his wealth, the girl’s doctor tells of the various cures he has tried on her, another tells how the doctor has married a blind patient he could not cure but did not want to abandon, an ex-colleague who has left the regiment and become rich tells Hofmiller of his terrible troubles along the way, trying to dissuade him from following the same path, and Hofmiller finishes by telling the narrator of his experience of the war and subsequent events. I personally find this a very powerful style, which Zweig adopted very well from his other, all much shorter, works to this, his only long novel. I loved it.

I don’t know if there is more than one translation, but the one I read was by Phyllis and Trevor Blewitt.

Okay, that's me over and out for the holidays! Happy Christmas to anyone who stops by. I'll check this thread again once more before New Year's, then switch over to 2011. Thanks for everything, everyone, it's been a great year for me, despite my health issue, because of all the support and all the books I've got here. All the best.

Merry Christmas Janet! Glad to hear both you and your daughter made it home for the holidays.

So glad you're home from the hospital Janet!

Happy Christmas.

Great review of Beware of Pity, Janet. I didn't realize that it was Zweig's only novel. I'm looking forward to reading this as soon as I can.

Janet

I pray that 2011 is a very healthy year for you. I admire your courage and fortitude. You are an inspiration to so many.

Much Love to you today..and always.

Very nice review of Beware of Pity, Janet. I bought my copy at Foyles last year, which I assume is the same edition and translation that you have (Pushkin Press). I hope that you had a Merry Christmas!

The Zweig is going right onto my wishlist. I'm sold. Good review.

Belatedly catching up on a months worth of posts, just before the year's end! I hope you enjoyed your Christmas celebrations and I'm glad that your daughter managed to get over here in time, and that you've got her for a good long stay. Well done on finishing all your reviews - I've still got quite a few to write up before the end of the year (I've also read 100 books this year). I look forward to following your reading over in 2011 shortly, and wish you a happy and healthy new year.

Right, a last post here to say thanks for the comments on the review, and for the holiday wishes.

Happy New Year to anyone who stops by at the last minute.

My 2011 thread is at http://www.librarything.com/topic/105962 -hope to see you there from tomorrow!