Prop2gether's Act I

Okay, a marker for my markers. I'll be back.

For 2010 comments, http://www.librarything.com/topic/94150




November

Proven Guilty
Sword of the Rightful King
The Song of Mavin Manyshaped
Blast From the Past
The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas (2011, 1001 Must Read)
The Historian (75 Halloween Substitution)

October

L.A. Confidential
Castle of Crossed Destinies (2011, 1001)
Moll Flanders (2011, 1001)
The Big Burn (2011)
Scavengers (75 Halloween Read)
7 Steps to Midnight (75 Halloween Read)
Back Street (2011)
Mercy (75 Halloween Read)
The Edge of Reason (75 Halloween Read)
Cabal (75 Halloween Read)
Dead Beat
Blood and Guts: A Short History of Medicine (75er Recommendation)
Blood, Bones and Butter (75er Recommendation)

September

The Big Nowhere (2011)
Clementine's Letter
Smokin' Seventeen
When the Snow Fell
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
Pere Goriot (1001, 2011)
Aunt Dimity and the Family Tree
Humpty Dumpty was Pushed
L is for Lawless (2011)
Thunderball
William Shakespeare's King Lear
Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!
The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner's Dilemma (2011)

August

Spotlights & Shadows (LT)
Clouds of Witness (2011)
Monstrous Regiment (LT, 2011)
For Your Eyes Only
Running Loose
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1001, 2011)
Sizzling Sixteen
Road Kill
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret
Clementine
Extra (Ordinary) People (2011)
Hamlet's Blackberry (2011)
The Yo-Yo Prophet (ER)
The Radetzky March (1001, 2011)
The Talented Clementine
Math for Grownups
Triple Crossing (ER)

July

First Families (2011)
Cobb's Legion Cavalry (ER)
The Mysterious Benedict Society (2011)
Herland (2011)
The Love Song of J. Edgar Hoover
The Apple (ER)
Aunt Dimity Slays the Dragon
The Handmaid's Tale (75er Group)
Steig Larsson: Our Days in Stockholm
The Family Under the Bridge (LT)
We Who Are About To . . . (2011)
The Monstrumologist (LT, 2011)
Space Vikings
Heroes Adrift (2011)
Angry Management
The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey (2011)
Chinese Handcuffs
Aunt Dimity Down Under

June

Deadline
The Laughing Policeman (2011)
Woman on the Edge of Time (75er Group)
The Fire Engine That Disappeared (2011)
Death in a Strange Country (2011)
What Time Devours (2011)
Going Bovine (2011)
The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing: Volume II (2011)
IPhone: The Missing Manual
The Female Man (75er Group, 2011)
The Complete Paratime (2011)
The Lilies of the Field (2011)
Mockingjay (2011)
Athletic Shorts (2011)
Abraham Lincoln: A Life (Presidents, 2011)
Miss Eutropia and the Adam Bomb (ER, 2011)

May

Felicia's Journey (1001)
Aunt Dimity Goes West
Aunt Dimity: Vampire Hunter
Gibbon's Decline and Fall (75er Group)
Bobby Darin: A Life (ER)
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (2011)
The Girl Who Played With Fire (2011)
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (2011)
Ironman (2011)
Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes
God Bless John Wayne

April

Conspiracy in Death (2011)
Loyalty in Death
I'll Cry Tomorrow (LT)
The Unnameables (2011)
Goldfinger
The Sledding Hill
Kew Gardens
The Reformed Vampire Support Group (2011)
Before the Frost (2011)
The Pyramid
The Behemoth
The Tenth Circle
Pollyanna
The Last Escape (2011)

March

Cowlgirls
Transit
Vathek
The Bellarosa Connection
Whale Talk (LT)
Fools of Fortune (1001)
Swallows and Amazons (LT)
Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar
The Immoralist (1001)
1000 Fabulous Knit Hats
The Illusion of Return (LT)
William Howard Taft: The President Who Became Chief Justice (Presidents, 2011)
Manga Shakespeare: The Tempest
The Forest in the Hallway (LT)
A Bottle in the Gaza Sea (LT)
The Frozen Thames (LT)
Sultry Moon
The Wild Hunt
Backup: A Story of the Dresden Files
The Fruits of the Earth (1001)
Winter
Girls in Their Married Bliss (2011)
Tears of the Desert (LT)
Aunt Dimity and the Deep Blue Sea
Miss Buncle's Book (LT)

February

Woman at Point Zero (2011, 1001, LT)
Famous Last Words (LT)
Cloud Atlas (LT, 1001, 2011)
Movie Icons: Connery
Fighting Words
Henry Von Ofterdingen (1001)
Punkzilla (2011)
Brisinger (2011)
William McKinley: Stalwart Republican (2011, Presidents)
Lullabies for Little Criminals (LT)
The Dangling Man (1001)
When the Emperor was Divine (LT, 2011)
Native Tongue (LT Group, 2011)
The Lonely Girl (aka The Girl With Green Eyes) (1001, 2011)
My Swordhand is Singing (LT, 2011)
The House of Sixty Fathers (LT)
Leviathan (LT Group, 2011)
Knit Kimono
Knit Kimono Two
The Parable of the Blind (1001)

January

Dragon's Blood (2011)
The Enormous Room (1001, 2011)
The Country Girls (1001)
Bunner Sisters (1001)
The Son of Tarzan
Heart's Blood (2011)
A Sending of Dragons (2011)
Marvel 1985 (2011)
The Storm in the Barn (2011)
Uncle Silas (1001, 2011)
The Invention of Hugo Cabret (LT, 2011)
What the Great Ate (2011)
Shipwrecks, Monsters, and Mysteries of the Great Lakes (ER)
85A (ER)
Frozen in Time (LT, 2011)
Chester Alan Arthur (Presidents, 2011)
Every Bone Tells a Story (2011)
Aunt Dimity and the Next of Kin (2011)
McKinley Monument Memorial (pamphlet)
Star Trek The New Generation: Forgiveness

Marker 2 for books found on 75er threads (or otherwise 75er recommended) (and, BDB, for the record, I finished quite a few Stephen King books in 2010--he just keeps writing!)

alcottacre: My Wars are Laid Away in Books
blackdogbooks: all the rest of Stephen King
TadAD: Random Harvest
TheTortoise: Who Moved My Blackberry?
mamachunk: Triangle
alcottacre: The Climb
ThePam: Now the Drum of War
torontoc: Famous Last Words (February)
TheTortoise: Heavy Weather
porch_reader: The Invention of Hugo Cabret (January)
dfreeman2809: Click.....
missylc: Book of Lost Things
aethercowboy: The Mac is Not a Typewriter
Severn: Dancing in a Distant Place
LisaLynne: The Spanish Bow
Cait86: Hitler's Willing Executioners
fannyprice: The Anglo Files
TadAD: Three Day Road
nancywhite: The Elegance of the Hedgehog
kiwidoc: The Grass Arena
kiwidoc: Kate's Klassics
mlake: Never Heave Your Bosum in a Front Hook Bra
ronicats: Speed of Dark
paghababian: The Lost Painting
KarenMarie: What Time Devours (June)
nancyewhite: Lullabies for Criminals (February)
TadAd via drneutron: Holmes on the Range
rebeccanyc: The Book of Chameleons
porch_reader: A Thread of Grace
drneutron: Ending an Ending
drneutron: The Gun Seller
TheTortoise via kiwidoc: Oscar's Books
fannyprice: The Female Malady
Kat32: The Good Ghouls' Guide to Getting Even
Awilkins: Brighton Rock
Awilkins: Whale Talk (March)
fantasia655: A Girl of the Lumberlost
kiwidoc via kidzdoc: A Journey Round My Skull
rachbxl: Woman at Point Zero (February)
LisaLynne: Down to a Sunless Sea
lindsacl: The Road Home
Kat32: Real Vampires Have Curves
Kat32: High Stakes
gregtmills: The Ayatollah Begs to Differ
sanddancer: The Boy Who Kicked Pigs
rebeccanyc: Freedom From Fear
kethonna: Luna
enheduanna: Thus Was Adonis Murdered
kidzdoc: The Illusion of Return (March)
kidzdoc: Mishima's Sword
Pummzie: The Mischief
cjji955: The House on the Strand
LT 75: The Book Thief
shewhowearsred: Predictably Irrational
mckait: Society of S
mckait: The Tricking of Freya
mckait: Skeletons at the Feast
drneutron: Let the Right One In
drneutron: The Various Haunts of Men
LT 75: Looking for Alaska
gregtmills: Catapult: Harry and I ....
tokyoadam: The Forever War
seasonsof love: Dying by the Sword
Deedledee: Every Man Dies Alone
TheTortoise: I'll Cry Tomorrow (April)
RebeccaAnn: Frozen in Time (January)
RebeccaAnn: The Lies of Locke Lamora
amarie: The Box...
whisper via kiwidoc: The Frozen Thames (March
WillowRaven: The Forest in the Hallway (March)
Trystorp: Pandora's Star
kiwidoc: The Great Crash
drneutron: Afraid (November)
browngirl: Annie's Ghosts
kidzdoc: Golpes Bajos
kidzdoc: Burnt Shadows
kidzdoc: The Fat Man and Infinity
kidzdoc: The Invention of Everything Else
kidzdoc: Plants Don't Drink Coffee
laytonwoman3d: In the Fall
meanderer: If Pirate I Must Be
FlossieT: The Gone-Away World
TadAD: Cooking with Fernat Branca
tututhefirst: Plato and a Platypus Walk...
LT: Mistress of the Art of Death
Bridget770: The Plague of Doves
TadAD: Battle Cry of Freedom
dihiba: The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher
whisper: The Adoration of Jenny Fox
aquascum: The Very Bloody History of Britain
sjmcreary: Code Black
avatiakh: The House of Sixty Fathers (February)
avaitakh: Bloodtide
avaitakh: My Swordhand is Singing (February)
avatiakh: A Bottle in the Gaza Sea (March)
avatiakh: Swallows and Amazons (March)
SqueakyChu: What the Deaf-Mute Heard
Landshark5: Red Thunder
laytonwoman3rd: The Hero's Walk
tiffin: Georgiana....
loriephillips: Little Bee
mamachunk: Our Guys
davidw: Epileptic
saraslibrary: While You're Down There
sgtbigg via petermc: Wolf of the Deep
porch_reader: The Rope Walk
saraslibrary: Frankenstein Moved in on the Fourth Floor
porch_reader: When the Emperor was Divine (February)
RebeccaAnn: Captain Francis Crozier
daddygoth: The Infected
gregtmills: An Utterly Impartial History of Britain
TheTortoise: Lincoln's Melancholy
drneutron: Johannes Cabal the Necromancer
Banoo: Salmonella Men on Planet Porno
whisper1: The Day the Falls Stood Still
booksontrial: The Brain That Changes Itself
boekenwijs: Never Hit a Jellyfish With a Spade
kiwidoc: Skating to Antarctica
laytonwoman3rd: Jenny Wren
beserene: Old Friends and New Fancies
kidzdoc: Blood and Guts: A Short History of Medicine
torontoc: Galore
drneutron: The Book of William
alaskabookworm: The Magicians
alaskabookworm: Emily's Ghost
Loosha: Dancing With Rose
Banoo: Magnetic Fields
booksontrial: Losing My Virginity
suslyn: Gremlins Go Home
laytonwoman3rd: The Bird Artist
avatiakh: Dear Alison
judylou: The Year of the Flood
marise: The Incredible Charlie Crewe
snat: The Order of Odd Fish
judylou: After the Fire, A Small Voice
cyderra: His Majesty's Dragon
womansheart: The Earth Hums in B Flat
avatiakh: The Family Under the Bridge
avatiakh: Tender Morsels
girlunderglass: Dawn of the Dumb
cushla: The Dark Room
TadAD: Children of the New World
TadAD: The Ivankiad
lbucci3: Wolf Hall
jbeast: The Phoenix and the Carpet
jbeast: Miss Happiness and Miss Flower
arubabookwoman: History of the World in 10-1/2 Chapters
TadAD: Miss Buncle's Book (March)
beeg: The Warded Man
lauranav: Tears of the Desert (March)
beserene: The Sorceress of Karressc
ALK982: Tough Guide to Fantasyland

Oh darn! I started reading threads again!

stanleybalsky: The Boy Who Would be Shakespeare
bohannon: Majestie:....
susanj67: Wedlock . . .
Future Women: Native Tongue (which has 2 sequels!) (February)
TadAO: Blood, Bones, Blood and Butter (October)
tututhefirst: Room
drneutron: Atlantic: The Biography
drneutron/nancyewhite: Monstrumologist (July)
TadAO: From the Land of the Moon

Glad to see you back, Laurie!

And yes, another marker for a 999 challenge--or is it an 11-11 challenge. Last year I got involved in two 75 group reads, and also read the Gunslinger series, so I didn't finish up--I guess that means I have a head start for 2011 in my book lists.

This year's "list" has been modified to include two sections of 1001 Must Read books plus an "Unfinished" list. Most of these 27 books are "leftovers" from earlier 999/1010 lists, but which I reeeaallly do want to read. I'll post as I finish.

Unfinished 2009-2010
First Families by Bonnie Angelo (July)
Missouri Writer: Back Street by Fannie Hurst (October)

1001-2
Uncle Silas by Sheridan le Fanu (January)
Bunner Sisters by Edith Wharton (January)
Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe (October)
Pere Goriot by Honore de Balzac (September)

Trilogies Completed May 2011
Pit Trilogy: Dragon's Blood by Jane Yolen (January)
Pit Trilogy: Heart's Blood by Jane Yolen (January)
Pit Trilogy: A Sending of Dragons by Jane Yolen (January)
Country Girls Trilogy: The Country Girls by Edna O'Brien (January)
Country Girls Trilogy: The Lonely Girl/The Girl With Green Eyes (February)
Country Girls Trilogy: Girls in Their Married Bliss (March)
Millenium: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson (May)
Millenium: The Girl Who Played With Fire by Steig Larsson (May)
Millenium: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Steig Larsson (May)

Young Adult/Teen Angst Completed June 2011
Brisingr by Christopher Paolini (February)
The Unnameables by Ellen Booraem (April)
The Reformed Vampire Support Group (April)
Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld (February)
Going Bovine by Libba Bray (June)
Punkzilla by Adam Rapp (February)
Every Bone Tells a Story by Rubalacava/Robertshaw (January)
Marvel 1985 by Millar/Edwards (January)
The Storm in the Barn by Matt Phelan (January)

75er Recommendation Completed October 2011
What Time Devours by A. J. Hartley (June)
Frozen in Time by Beattie/Geiger (January)
The Edge of Reason by Melinda Snodgrass (October)
Illusion of Return by Samir El-Youssef (March)
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick (January)
Woman at Point Zero by Nawal El Saadawi (February)
When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Ostuka (February)
My Swordhand is Singing by Marcus Sedgwick (February)
A Bottle in the Gaza Sea by Valerie Zanetti (March)

Presidents
William Howard Taft: The President Who Became Chief Justice by Bill Severn (March)
Chester Alan Arthur by Zachary Karabell (January)
Abraham Lincoln: A Life by Thomas Keneally (June)
William McKinley: Stalwart Republican by William Carl Spielman (February)

Complete And/Or Return
Octavian Nothing, Vol. 2: The Kingdom on the Waves by M. T. Anderson (June)
Hunger Games 3: Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins (June)
The Last Estate by Conor Bowman (April)
Heroes Adrift by Moira J. Moore (July)

Mysteries: NIS (Next in Series) Completed October 2011
Clouds of Witness by Dorothy Sayers (Lord Peter Wimsey) (August)
Conspiracy in Death by J. D. Robb (Eve Dallas) (April)
L is for Lawless by Sue Grafton (Kinsey Millhone) (September)
The Laughing Policeman by Sjowall/Wahloo (Martin Beck) (June)
Before the Frost by Henning Mankell (Kurt Wallender) (April)
Dead Beat by Jim Butcher (Harry Dresden) (October)
Sizzling Sixteen by Janet Evanovich (Stephanie Plum) (August)
Death in a Strange Land by Donna Leon (Commissario Brunetti) (June)
Aunt Dimity and the Next of Kin (Aunt Dimity) by Nancy Atherton (January)

SABG/Strikes My Fancy Completed October 2011
What the Great Ate by Jacob/Jacob (January)
Blood, Bones and Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton
Ironman by Chris Crutcher (May)
The Fire Engine That Disappeared by Sjowall/Wahloo (June)
The Lilies of the Field by William E. Barrett (June)
Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (July)
The Radetzky Waltz by Joseph Roth (1001 Must Read) (August)
Hamlet's Blackberry by William Powers (August)
The Castle of Crossed Destinies by Italo Calvino (1001 Must Read) (October)

Potpourri Completed September 2011
The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart (Trilogy, Book 1)(July)
The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey by Trenton Lee Stewart (Trilogy, Book 2) (July)
The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner's Dilemma by Trenton Lee Stewart (Trilogy, Book 3) (Setpember
Native Tongue by Suzette Haden Elgin (75er Group Read) (February)
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell (75er Group Read) (February)
85A by Smith by Kyle Thomas Smith (Early Reviewer) (January)
Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher (LT Recommendation) (March)
Fools of Fortune by William Trevor (1001 Must Read) (March)
The Immoralist by Andre Gide (1001 Must Read) (March)

Bonus Set + 2 = 111 Books in 2011 Completed October 2011
Bobby Darin: A Life by Michael Seth Starr (ER) (May)
Gibbon's Decline and Fall by Sheri S. Tepper (May) (75 Group Read) (May)
The Female Man by Joanna Russ (75 Group Read) (June)
The Complete Paratime by H. Beam Piper (June) (Caught My Eye) (June)
Miss Eutropia and the Adam Bomb by George Rabasa (June) (ER)
The Apple by Penelope J. Holt (July) (ER)
The Montrumologist by Rick Yancey (July) (LT)
We Who Are About To. . . by Joanna Russ (Caught My Eye) (July)
Monstrous Regiment by Terry Pratchett (75 Group Read) (August)
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (1001 Must Read) (August)
The Big Nowhere by James Ellroy (September)
The Big Burn by Timothy Egan (October)

LOL! I haven't finished 2010, but have been nudged by a couple of people to set up my new year's thread. See you!

Good people those nudgers :)

Welcome back!

Welcome back...AND happy almost birthday -- two days from now right?

Happy New Year Laurie!

Thank you--although I have to LOL because my birthday was in November. However, I had a terrific time entering a new decade (yes!), and got to spend Christmas with both my children although the celebrations were about 2000 miles apart! Went to Christmas Eve lunch with my daughter and her honey at my brother's, then flew to St. Louis Christmas morning to spend a couple of days with my ex. Our son drove down from Appleton, then the guys went to the football game on December 26. On December 28, I returned with my son and his honey to Wisconsin, seeing my son's new apartment and chilling down to 15 degrees. I returned last night to a comparatively warm 30 degrees in the LA area. Wonderful visits all around. There is a bit of sadness, though, in that my second elder cat, 3D, took ill just before Christmas and passed away on New Year's Eve. This morning I took her to the vet for cremation. It's sad, but she was over 14 years old, and never seemed to perk up after her dental work last fall. Her sister, Spicey, is hale and hearty, and we are looking forward to the new year.

So sorry to hear about your cat. Its so sad to lose a pet. Her name was 3D? I like that...

Oh dear, I am so sorry about your cat. Here's to happier things in the coming year, eh? And hooray for your otherwise lovely holiday. :)

Sorry to hear about 3D, Laurie.

Thanks for all the kind notes about 3D. S/he was a delightful mixed-up cat who arrived, with her sister, about 14 years ago. A friend had a cat which had kittens---I don't have to tell what happened when I visited with my children. At the time, I had several cats in the house, and my daughter was naming all the cats with "S" names (Sydney, Serabi, Spicey), but my son demanded his right to name the kitten--so 3D was duly named (partly in honor of Star Wars). Both kittens were supposed to be short-haired (HA!) and 3D developed into a walking grey fluffball. There was so much fur that we thought 3D was a boy and Spicey was a girl--but when the time for spaying rolled around--we had two females. By then, we'd all gotten in the habit of referring to 3D as "he" and it stuck. Friendly, talkative, cuddly, and highly curious, 3D was a delight for all his/her life, and will be missed.

And so far this year. . . .

Dragon's Blood by Jane Yolen
The Enormous Room by E. E. Cummings (1001, 2010-999)
The Country Girls by Edna O'Brien (1001)
Bunner Sisters by Edith Wharton (1001)
The Son of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Dragon's Blood by Jane Yolen is the expanded story found in her book on dragons. It's the first of the Pit Trilogy, wherein a young bonder named Jakkin steals a hatchling dragon and trains it to fight in the pits. Jakkin stands to earn his master's fee out of bond if his dragon is a winner. Yolen is very good at this type of fantasy and I enjoyed the novel as I had enjoyed the earlier story.

The Enormous Room by E. E. Cummings (and the introduction says, yes, you initial cap his name, not his poetry) is on the 1001 Must Read list. Cummings and a friend were ambulance drivers in WWI and, due to a censor's misreading of a letter, both were jailed as enemies of France in a prisoner camp. This is the story of Cummings' incarceration in the "enormous room" which was living quarters for the men at the camp. It's a fascinating read, both outside of Cummings's poetry, and as a commentary on the life in the camp itself. The book starts with letters from his father to President Wilson demanding the return of his son, who is a patriot and not a traitor, and also an apology for the fact that the French "lost" the boys. They were initially identified as dead, then in camp, then, frankly, lost in the bureaucracy for over three months.

The Country Girls by Edna O'Brien is another of the 1001 Must Read novels, set in Ireland, told by one of the two "country" girls who end up in the city. Harsh, funny, poetic, and sexually charged, it is the first of three written by O'Brien on the subject. I'm looking for the Girl With Green Eyes next.

Bunner Sisters by Edith Wharton is a 1001 Must Read novella, which, for some obscure reason I had great difficulty locating. I eventually downloaded it from Penn State Electronic Classics and it is a winner. The Bunner sisters run a small shop and a man enters their lives. The story is intense and I thoroughly recommend it.

The Son of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs is not "Boy." He is Jack Greystoke until he ends up in the jungle his father grew up in, and while there, he becomes Korak, the Killer. By story's end, he's back in London with his parents and a wife, but the adventure between was great--beasts, villains, dangerous situations, kidnapping, murder, ransom demands, and tragic deaths. What more could you want?

Happy New Year, Laurie! Sorry to hear about 3D--we lost one of a pair of sisters last summer at 14 years. Luckily, Sugar has rebounded after dental surgery and is terrorizing the younger cats again.

I thought Dragon's Blood by far the best of the trilogy, but I do like Yolen's writing a lot overall.

OMG!

And have you seen this?

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE70460O20110105

A Twain scholar is issuing Huckleberry Finn with politically correct language, and plans to do the same with Tom Sawyer.

Would Mr. Clemens roll over in his grave, please? Doesn't Huck learn what a hurtful and hate-filled term he's been using?

Sounds a whole lot like Newspeak is coming upon us here.

sheesh!

Just heard about that myself from David this evening and almost threw something against a wall. It's not that I want kids to use the particular words that are being changed, but they are a part of the original context of the novel and, as you say, a part of the message of the book -- hello, the POINT -- wherein we all learn important truths about hate and reality.

This new reissue is ridiculous. It's one thing to issue an abridged illustrated children's classic version (always clearly labeled as such) with the language changed (as, I believe, has been done before) for an audience of nine year olds, but to simply reissue -- and I did not see any mention of labeling the version as abridged or excised -- as if that hatchet-job was the author's doing is a travesty upon one of the great works of American literature.

I find it doubly shocking that this is the work of a supposed scholar. As the article points out, part of the novel's purpose is to make the reader uncomfortable -- any genuine scholar would know that that purpose and its accompanying strategy should be a part of the novel, as originally intended, otherwise we are simply removing the teeth from someone else's genius in order to allow ourselves to remain in our own comfort zones.

Grrr. That about sums it up.

*steps down from smashed soap box*

#15: Lots of good reading there, Laurie. Those not already in the BlackHole have been duly added.

#17: I have seen this mentioned on several threads. The whole thing to me is beyond ridiculous!

I heard about this on the radio yesterday. It's absolutely ridiculous, and that seems to be the best word for it. Unless, of course, 'ridiculous' offends anyone, in which case we should revise all these posts.

...*melodramatic eye roll*...

This opinion, about the new Huck Finn edition, is right on.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2011/jan/05/censoring-mark-twain-n-wor....

Love this Mark Twain quote the author of the piece pointed out.
"The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter – it's the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning."

#21 Love the quote!!

Heart's Blood by Jane Yolen
A Sending of Dragons by Jane Yolen

Both books are on my "999" list as part of the "Trilogies" choices, and they complete the Pit Trilogy. Roni--you're right, the first is the best, and this is the second or third trilogy of Yolen's where I find that's the case. The sequels don't quite come up to the original. Still-she writes better for this age group than many in the genre. Story? Basically a boy and his dragon, adding a girlfriend, rebels, and cave dwellers.

I've also had a small issue in that I am reading Brisingr by Paolini to complete that trilogy of, guess what, a boy and his dragon. Enjoying it, but gads! It's a very large book.

Also got Tad's very generous loan of Blood, Bones, and Butter to read for my RL book club's theme this month. So far, it's delightful.

I will be curious to see your assessment of Brisingr when you are all the way through. I gave Paolini the benefit of the doubt when his first book was derivative and sloppy -- since he was a kid when he wrote it -- but I gave up before reaching the third book because the years of experience didn't seem to be improving his writing. Would love to know whether or not he got it together.

Uncle Silas: A Tale of Bartram-Hough by J. Sheridan Le Fanu is a lively Victorian mystery which is on the 1001 Must Read list and I originally started "reading" this on a Librivox recording. I found it easier to carry the book than finish the recording, but the recording got me started. I'm a fan of Wilkie Collins and Charles Dickens and this novel fits nicely into the best of their work (although Sheridan laments his writing does not compare to Scott's). The edition I read had an introduction by Elizabeth Bowen, which almost stopped me reading the novel, so I recommend you try a later edition with a different introductory writer.

The story? Your basic Victorian, slightly-Gothic, romance-mystery: The young heiress, orphaned before she reaches her majority, is bound by her late father's will to live with her Uncle Silas. Uncle Silas, however, has a dark history (there was a mysterious murder in a room with barred windows which was locked on the inside years ago), an infamous marriage, and two children of his own (Milly, who is about Maud's age) and Dudley. Uncle Silas has been maintained for many years on a property now part of the estates owned by Maud. Is Maud in danger? Are her companions friendly or sinister? She is the narrator of the story, so there is some idea of how everything ends, but . . . . I did enjoy this one.

#24: Unfortunately, my local library has the same edition that you got hold of, Laurie.

So skip the introduction--it's not really necessary in any way. You don't actually meet Uncle Silas until about halfway through the book, but you certainly hear about him. Or, read it after the novel--I've done that with other reads from the same period. Some introductory writers seem to be trying awfully hard to prove how different the Victorians were from today's society. Duh. The story carries itself quite nicely.

#26: Will do!

Two more on my 2011 (999) challenge:

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
What the Great Ate by Matthew Jacob and Mark Jacob

The Invention of Hugo Cabret is all over LT, but I was first intrigued by porch_reader's review about a year or so back. Then I couldn't get up the reserved list at the library, and the price ($25) for a children's book appalled me. Happily, due to a combination of sales, coupons, and discounts, I got a copy of this graphic novel aimed at children. It has been reviewed extensively in LT, but, in case you missed it--it's the story of a boy who loves machinery and the movies, and who is trying to make a mechanical man rescued (by his father) work again. Told in alternating sections of narrative and drawings, it is a beautifully assembled story. I'm not so sure what age this would appeal to, since the story involves cinema in its earliest form, which most children today have never seen (what--black and white and no sound? Horrors!) and non-battery driven toys. However, it was a charming tale, and, while I recognize the cost factors involved in producing the book for public sale, I seriously hope that a paperback or lower priced edition may come to the marketplace.

What the Great Ate by Matthew Jacob and Mark Jacob is a "nibble" book. It's full of anecdotal information about the food the famous and infamous ate and how it was prepared. Because the authors tried to use real or authenticated materials, some of the stories are astonishing, some are appalling, and some are hysterically funny. There's some very funny stuff in here and I enjoyed it. It's a fast read, and is one of two I'm completing for this month's RL book club meeting on the theme of "Food."

I'm not usually a food book person, but the Jacob book sounds fun. Thanks for the rec!

I loved The Invention of Hugo Cabret, Laurie. I am glad to see you were able to get your hands on a copy.

next on the finished list:

Shipwrecks, Monsters, and Mysteries of the Great Lakes by Ed Butts
85A by Kyle Thomas Smith
Frozen in Time by Owen Beattie and John Geiger
Chester Alan Arthur by Zachary Karabell

Two Early Reviewers, one LT recommendation, and one in the Presidents list--all before the end of January.

so for the review stuff (touchstones not working). . .

Shipwrecks, Monsters, and Mysteries of the Great Lakes by Ed Butts was an Early Reviewer book telling several true stories (about the shipwrecks) and a couple of purported stories (about the monsters) written at about a middle-school level. The true stories emphasize the hazards of sailing on the five lakes and are a good introduction to the history of the lakes. The stuff about the monsters was actually somewhat tedious and repetitious and not nearly as entertaining in the long run. As an introductory work, it was pretty good.

85A by Thomas Kyle Smith is another Early Reviewer, touted by the publisher as Holden Caulfield meeting Johnny Rotten. Not quite up to those standards, it is still an interesting coming of age for a teen in Chicago--basically, you ride with him and and his flashbacks as he heads for school one day on the eternally late 85A bus. The language is deliberately foul, especially at the beginning, but it's shock value diminishes greatly with overuse. Not something I'd go out of my way to recommend, but a decent read.

Frozen in Time: The Fate of the Franklin Expedition by Owen Beattie and John Geiger has been on my "LT" list for nearly two years, based on a review I read by RebeccaAnn. Having read the fictionalized The Terror by Simmons and a couple of other histories of this Arctic expedition, I was fascinated by this factual account of the research trips made in the 1980s. The edition I read has an introduction by Margaret Atwood which was entertaining, but the tracking of the expedition and its disasterous consequences was well worth the read.

Chester Alan Arthur by Zachary Karabell is another in the American Presidents series edited by Arthur Schlesinger, and it is a very balanced account of the second man to succeed to office because of an assassination. This series is a great introduction to the presidents and I would recommend this to anyone interested in reading about the man who signed the first civil service act, set about reinvigorating the navy, and who kept regular office hours.

Ooh, adding Frozen in Time to the wishlist - sounds really good!

#33--Need to add that I would not have found or read this except for RebeccaAnn's review a couple of years back. I enjoyed it very much.

Lucky you, I wanted Shipwrecks, monsters and mysteries but didn't get it. Maybe my library will get it at some point.

#35 Leave me your address in a private comment on my profile and I'll send it to you. No problem.

Hi There

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

Thanks.

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

Somehow I missed starring your thread. Sorry.

Anyway, What the Great Ate looks like a lot of fun. Food + hysterically funny is a good combination.

ack! did I sound like I was begging? if you thinks it's worth the read and the postage then I'll be happy to take you up on the offer.

#39 LOL! Begging-oh no. I'm learning to pass books on to others to enjoy.

#38 So Tad, I'll send it to you when I return yours.

I already have Frozen in Time in the BlackHole or I would be adding it again. I am glad to see that you liked it, Laurie!

I was hoping the Great Lakes book would be, well, great -- I have an idle interest in such things, being a Michigander (or Michiganian, depending on whom you ask). Is it worth buying or more of a local-library item, in your opinion?

Hi--

#43--The Great Lakes book was fun, and I, too, have an "idle interest in such things," and possibly expected too much from it. It was an interesting short read, but nothing stunningly fabulous. I'd probably be reading from my library to find if I wanted to keep it on my shelves.

*groan* shelves! I need more, or much better discipline about my retaining books. Resolved to try harder, but . . . .

So latest list of completed reads:

Every Bone Tells a Story by Jill Rubalcava and Peter Robertshaw (2011)
Aunt Dimity and the Next of Kin by Nancy Atherton (2011)
McKinley Monument Memorial prepared by the South Park Commission (1905) (Presidents)
Star Trek The New Generation: Forgiveness by David Brin and Scott Hampton
Woman at Point Zero by Nawal El Saadawi (1001 Must Read, 75er Recommended)
Famous Last Words edited by Ray Robinson
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell (75 Group Read)
Movie Icons: Connery by Alain Silver
Fighting Words edited by James Charlton
Henry Von Ofterdingen by Novalis (1001 Must Read)
Punkzilla by Adam Rapp (2011)
Brisingr by Christopher Paolini (2011)
William McKinley: Stalwart Republican by William Carl Spielman (Presidents, 2011)

The touchstones are acting up, so I'll come back and try to reenter them.

#44: I need more, or much better discipline about my retaining books. Resolved to try harder, but

I echo that sentiment, Laurie!

I try to make it a habit to go through and get rid of any books I've rated 2 stars or less (unless part of a higher rated series or collection). I won't ever read them again and just because they weren't my style doesn't mean someone else won't love them.

The library at the college I work at is hosting a book sale to raise money for some new equipment. I think I'll be taking a box or two of books down to them as a donation to see if they can sell them.

##45-46 LOL! If I had the discipline to always rate the books I read, I wouldn't have half the problem. I think part of my possessiveness goes back to a single incident: I had spent a good part of my allowance for some years reading and collecting comic books, mostly DC and Marvel, and boxing them up. My dad pitched the lot when we moved from that house because there was no room for them. Turns out that first editions of Spider-Man, X-Men, some really good Justice League, Superman, and Batman, might have been worth the space. *sigh* In any event, I find it terribly difficult to give up my books, but I'm trying really hard this year to pass them on. Unless. . . .

Reviews are due:

Every Bone Tells a Story by Jill Rubalcava and Peter Robertshaw is an introduction to archeology for middle school level readers. I found this one on the best non-fiction list from the ALA, and it was quite good for its intended audience. Full of great photographs as well, the chapters each tell the story of the discovery of bones which appear human and the process of detecting if they are what they appear to be.

Aunt Dimity and the Next of Kin by Nancy Atherton is the next Lori Shepherd mystery--light reading and very cozy.

McKinley Monument Memorial prepared by the South Park Commission and William McKinley: Stalwart Republican by William Carl Spielman were read for the Presidents group. The first is the official program for the 1905 dedication ceremonies of the statute of McKinley in a renamed Chicago park. It was fascinating to read how contemporaries praised the assassinated president. The program, the prayers, the songs, and the budget were all included (including the allowance in the budget for recycling the copper reused from a statue of Columbus). The second reads very much like a term paper or doctoral thesis. It is repetitive but energetic in covering McKinley's term and a bit.

Star Trek TNG: Forgiveness by David Brin and Scott Hampton is the graphic novel he was working on several years ago. The story was just fine, but I didn't like the artwork at all. Taking such familiar characters and rendering them nearly impossible to identify has to be an art of some sort by itself.

Woman at Point Zero by Nawal El Saadawi is on the 1001 Must Read list, but I was intrigued by rachbxl's comments a couple of years back. An Egyptian female journalist is granted an interview with a woman condemned to hang for murder of her pimp hours before the event. The story of the woman's life is intense, sobering, inspiring, and frightening all at once. Highly recommended.

Famous Last Words edited by Ray Robinson is just that--as close to fact as possible listing of deathbed comments by the famous and infamous. A niblet sort of book, it's just fun. Fighting Words edited by James Charlton is the same kind of silliness, only this time it's writers talking about other writers.

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell is a 1001 Must Read and I joined the 75 Group Read for this one. Similar is set-up to Calvino's If on a winter's night a traveler, where story segments end abruptly and later recommence, Mitchell set up his tale in sextets (six stories; six interrelations between the stories; and so forth). I enjoyed most of the segments and characters, but it could be a very frustrating read for someone wanting a clean storyline. This isn't a straightforward novel.

Movie Icons: Connery by Alain Silver was a Christmas gift, and is a book written in English, French, and German about Sean Connery's movie life. Lots of pictures, little text. Blissful.

Henry Von Ofterdingen by Novalis is a 1001 Must Read about a naive young man on his journey of discovery. Similar in tone to Candide, Henry listens to stories along the way to his mother's hometown. All have a point, all are designed to show Henry how to improve some situation in his life, but the novel is not for everyone. It's interesting as a style form for German prose (it has been argued that Novalis wrote it to disprove the lessons of Goethe's Young Werther) and it had some interesting lessons, but you must be interested enough to get to the end. Novalis died before he could complete a second part, so it's quite possible the full novel would have been more intriguing.

Punkzilla by Adam Rapp is another from ALA list, this time from fiction, and is a diary/epistolary novel of a young man traveling to his dying older brother's home. Interspersed with Punkzilla's entries are letters from his school, his parents, and his brother, which usually predate events just discussed. The overall picture is of a very confused young man who is trying to get it together. It's well written, but there is lots of profanity and explicit description, so be prepared.

Brisingr by Christopher Paolini is the third of what was supposed to be a trilogy, but is really now a quartet of Eregon's adventures with Sapphira, his dragon. This book, immense at over 700 pages, still manages to try to close up at least five subplots before surrendering to the fact that Paolini has mashed too much together. I'm still intrigued by the teen who imagined all this, even through the derivative storylines (Star Wars, every fantasy around, etc.), but I really do wish he had editors who would not coddle him.

Now for later review, finished includes:

Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O'Neill (LT)
The Dangling Man by Saul Bellow (1001)
When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka (LT)

I really enjoyed When the Emperor Was Divine. I anxiously await your review of that one, Laurie.

Need to get to my reviews, but went with a friend to a Superbowl sale at the local yarn shop--you know, instead of eating fat foods in front of a telly, I ate cookies as I shopped for 60 percent discounted yarns. *sigh* So now I not only have more books (because I found two pattern books), but I also have more yarns.

Oh, and Spicey has a new companion, a four-year old neutered male who's been renamed Teddy, short for Theodore. (He was originally Simba, and really, who would do that to a tortoise shell colored cat?) He hid for nearly a week, then snapped at us and hid again, and now is wreaking havoc. What fun! Not a kitten, but entirely entertaining and into everything--including that yarn I mentioned.

Laurie...do you listen to audio books while you knit?

Congrats on the addition of Teddy to the family! :)

Good gravy! I've been adding bits and pieces, but missed entering an entire month's set of books. Here are March's reads (and reviews will follow):

Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O’Neill (LT Recommendation)
The Dangling Man by Saul Bellow
When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsaka (LT Recommendation)
Native Tongue by Suzette Haden Elgin (LT Group Read)
The Lonely Girl (US title The Girl With Green Eyes) by Edna O’Brien (1001 Must Read)
My Swordhand is Singing by Marcus Sedgwick (LT Recommendation)
The House of Sixty Fathers by Meindert DeJong (LT Recommendation)
Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld (LT Group Read)
Knit Kimono by Vicki Square
Knit Kimono Too by Vicki Square
The Parable of the Blind by Gert Hofmann (1001 Must Read)
Cowlgirls by Cathy Carron
Transit by Anna Seghers (1001 Must Read)
Vathek by William Beckford (1001 Must Read)
The Bellarosa Connection by Saul Bellow
Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher (LT Recommendation)
Fools of Fortune by William Trevor (1001 Must Read)
Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome (LT Recommendation)
Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar by Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Immoralist by Andre Gide (1001 Must Read)
1000 Fabulous Knit Hats by Annie Modesitt
The Illusion of Return by Samir El-Youssef (LT Recommendation)
William Howard Taft: The President Who Became Chief Justice by Bill Severn (Presidents)
Manga Shakespeare: The Tempest by William Shakespeare and Paul Duffield
The Forest in the Hallway by Gordon Smith (LT Recommendation)
A Bottle in the Gaza Sea by Valerie Zenatti (LT Recommendation)
The Frozen Thames by Helen Humphries (LT Recommendation)
Sultry Moon by Memo Giardinelli
The Wild Heart by Jane Yolen
Backup: A Story of the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher
The Fruits of the Earth by Andre Gide
Winter by John Marsden
Girls in Their Married Bliss by Edna O’Brien
Tears of the Desert by Halima Bashir with Damien Lewis (LT Recommendation)
Miss Buncle’s Book by D.E. Stevenson

I'm not sure all the touchstones will follow, but I'll try to include them in the batched reviews.

Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O’Neill (LT Recommendation)
The Dangling Man by Saul Bellow
When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsaka (LT Recommendation)
Native Tongue by Suzette Haden Elgin (LT Group Read)
The Lonely Girl (US title The Girl With Green Eyes) by Edna O’Brien (1001 Must Read)
My Swordhand is Singing by Marcus Sedgwick (LT Recommendation)
The House of Sixty Fathers by Meindert DeJong (LT Recommendation)
Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld (LT Group Read)

Lullabies for Little Criminals was a recommendation from nancyewhite’s list as a good first novel. It’s a coming of age novel about a young girl living in some pretty horrid circumstances with her addict father, as told by the girl who has dreams of a much better life. I enjoyed the read, although the ending seemed a tad prescribed for “happy ending.”

The Dangling Man by Saul Bellow is the second really short novel by Bellow I’ve read, and I’m finding his short work more entertaining than, say, Adventures of Augie March which go on and on and on and on. Here, a young married man is waiting for approval to join the army—it turned out when he went to volunteer that he was actually a Canadian. He has no other goals and is spending his time waiting—and dangling.

When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsaka was a find on porch_reader’s list and it was an amazing short novel about the internment of a Japanese family during WWII. Each of the five chapters is a progression in the story, but each is told by a different member of the family. It is stunning, heartbreaking, funny, and recommended.

Native Tongue by Suzette Haden Elgin was the first in a year’s group read on Future Women in the 75er threads. Much discussion on the group threads about all the deep and deeper meanings of language and its creation and usage. While I enjoyed following most of the discussions, and I’ve studied language and rhetoric extensively in my past, I simply read the book for the story of the women, the men, the families, and the languages which divide all of them. Actually, I enjoyed the book just as a futuristic novel.

The Lonely Girl which was released in the USA as The Girl With Green Eyes by Edna O’Brien is the second in the Country Girls Trilogy, which is part of my 2011 reading and is on the 1001 Must Read list. In this installment, the girls are out of school, on their own, experimenting with life, sex, men, and love. No wonder it got banned!

My Swordhand is Singing by Marcus Sedgwick was a recommendation found on avaitakh’s thread some time back, and I thoroughly enjoyed this young adult novel, which retells vampire myth from some original sources. It is thus both more chilling than most modern vampire novels and more entertaining.

The House of Sixty Fathers by Meindert DeJong was also to be found on aviatakh’s thread and is a children’s book about a young Chinese boy who gets separated from his family during the Japanese invasion. He doesn’t understand the politics around the fighting, but finds himself in a situation similar to the Dondi comics of years back—the young “orphan” adopted by American soldiers (or flyers in this case)—who are the sixty fathers. It’s still entertaining and I’ll be passing this recommendation on to William.

Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld was an LT Group Read—teen angst, marvelous graphics between a very fast and furious text of a Steampunk version of WWI. No great depth, no great characters, but stunningly beautiful graphics, and a story you will fly through.

And there’s more to come . . . .

Knit Kimono by Vicki Square
Knit Kimono Too by Vicki Square
The Parable of the Blind by Gert Hofmann (1001 Must Read)
Cowlgirls by Cathy Carron
Transit by Anna Seghers (1001 Must Read)
Vathek by William Beckford (1001 Must Read)
The Bellarosa Connection by Saul Bellow
Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher (LT Recommendation)
1000 Fabulous Knit Hats by Annie Modesitt

Okay, four knitting books, because they were on deep, deep discount at the Borders closing near me: Knit Kimono and Knit Kimono Too by Vicki Square; Cowlgirls by Cathy Carron; and 1000 Fabulous Knit Hats by Annie Modesitt. The kimono books have some gorgeous kimono patterns, most amazingly using yarn and needle sizes I usually use. I’m really tempted to start something other than a hat or scarf with these books. Similarly, Cowlgirls is nothing but cowls (which my daughter, when I made one for her years ago, referred to as a “hole” like the holes in Roger Rabbitt). Again, some good stuff here. However, 1000 Fabulous Knit Hats is a thorough cheat if you are looking for patterns for the fabulous hats. It seems the 10 winning patterns are in the book, and 990 other hats are shown by picture. Argh!

Transit by Anna Seghers is on the 1001 Must Read list and is an interesting study of a man in Marseilles working his way through the transit process to leave occupied France during WWII. Having read some historical biographies of the process, and a couple of fictional ones, this novel was the first to actually make the process, as ridiculous as it was, understandable to someone outside of the situation. If historical novels, especially about the WWII situation in Marseilles is something you are interested in, this novel is a good starting point.

Vathek by William Beckford is on the 1001 Must Read, touted as the inspirational source for a bunch of other authors who wrote about decadence and hedonism. Originally written by Beckford in French and then translated by him to his native English, it is a curious piece of allegory/fable/whatever about a young man who is, essentially, trying to impress the devil. Vathek is a prince with a mother who is more ambitious, a kingdom he is destroying to earn his way to the devil, and, there wasn’t much redemption for him at the end. I’m bemused by the quotations from authors extolling this work—I just don’t see the grand masterpiece.

The Bellarosa Connection by Saul Bellow is another short novel, this one about a man who spends much of his life trying to thank Billy Rose for saving his life during WWII. It was funny, it was sad, and I enjoyed it a lot.

Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher was on awilkins’ thread, and wow! It is one of the best novels, let along young adult novel, I’ve read. The Tao Jones (TJ Jones—the “J” is redundant) is trying like mad to survive his senior year at high school. His foster parents are good people—hippies from the sixties who evolved into a lawyer and a biker who are actively involved with their foster son. TJ finds himself forming a swim team in order to stay off the football team—and his teammates are not your average swim squad. Crutcher’s writing is exactly on point telling TJ’s story—and amazingly, no swearing, no absent parents for the narrator, and a well-told story. I keep recommending this one.

And there's more. . . . (but I can't get the touchstones to work)

I have been gone the entire month of March, Laurie, so I am just going to try and keep up with you from this point forward :)

Wow! That's an impressive list already, and there are more? :)

56- I know...I was thinking the exact same thing! Your reading is very prolific - I'm jealous (in a good way :)

Thanks ladies, LOL, but I read everywhere and all the time. I also count almost anything sold as a book, so where others may be more discrete in their listings, you get just about everything I read except for magazines (Reader's Digest every month; National Geographic; and People) and the occasional knit/crochet project booklet.

And yes, there were more. I'm usually reading two or three books at time of very different genres, because, as mentioned in earlier postings, I am definitely a mood reader. If I want history, I'll be reading that or a biography; if I want to escape, then it's probably going to be fantasy or mystery; and so forth. Whatever hooks my brain first will be finished first.

And where do I read? On the bus, waiting in line, at meals (if I'm alone), and various rooms of my apartment. Curiously, though, I don't read in bed--it just puts me right to sleep. Which, I think, is an old high school habit from reading my chemistry text in bed.

Ouch! I've been under the radar for some time now. The past several months have been chock full of doctor visits for various ailments, crazy weather, cats, a new landlord coming in, and lots of other events too trivial to be discussed.

However, I have managed to finish my reviews of books through mid-March today, so here goes the first batch for interested readers:

Fools of Fortune by William Trevor
Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome
Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar by Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Immoralist by Andre Gide
The Illusion of Return by Samir El-Youssef

Fools of Fortune by William Trevor is a 1001 Must Read, another story of the Irish war with the British involving individuals caught up in events which overwhelm them and affect the family beyond the single instance told in the story. I very much enjoy Trevor’s works and this one is certainly worth the read.

Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome is one of a series of children’s books recommended by avatiakh some time back. This is the first of a fairly long series of adventures of the Walker children and the Blackett girls in their respective sailing ships. It was fun and relatively tame by today’s standards. However, it would be a perfect adventure read for a third to fourth grader because the children sail, camp, engage in pirate wars, and rescue a pirate captain.

Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar by Edgar Rice Burroughs, wherein Tarzan as John Clayton must return to Opar for jewels to recoup financial losses, gets hit on the head and loses his memory, where his faithful servants try to deal with the evildoers who attack Clayton’s home and kidnap Jane, and where a fortuitous blow to the head restores Tarzan’s memory. Just fun reading.

The Immoralist by Andre Gide is a 1001 Must Read about a young man who develops tuberculosis, used his wife as a procurer of young boys in North Africa, travels constantly, finding happiness in some locations and finding despair in others, and generally “finding himself” throughout the novel. As banal as that outline sounds, the story was readable because of Gide’s writing. I had a version where the introduction/notes compared Michel’s self-discovery to that of Gide, and I think the enhancement helped in the reading. There were sections which were painfully slow reading, but I am glad I read the book.

The Illusion of Return by Samir El-Youssef was a recommendation made by kidzdoc some time back. It is the story of a Palestinean refugee who escaped from Lebanon in the midst of the 1980s fighting and ended up in London. Many years later, he reluctantly agrees to meet with an old friend who is returning to Lebanon after spending the same period of time in the United States. The novella explores the difference between then and now, our memories with our facts, and is generally effective. I did find some of the writing extremely slow, but, again, a book I am glad was mentioned in someone’s thread.

and on to the next installment . . .

and more from March . . .

William Howard Taft, the President Who Became Chief Justice by Bill Severn
Manga Shakespeare: The Tempest by William Shakespeare
The Forest in the Hallway by Gordon Smith
A Bottle in the Gaza Sea by Valerie Zenatti
The Frozen Thames by Helen Humphreys
Sultry Moon by Mempo Giardinelli

William Howard Taft: The President Who Became Chief Justice by Bill Severn reads like a theme paper, but had some interesting information about the man. Taft is a distant cousin and I hoped this short biography would be more involved than it was. However, as an introduction to a man and his dream job, it was certainly adequate.

Manga Shakespeare: The Tempest by William Shakespeare and beautifully illustrated by Paul Duffield was a full-text version of the play using the Manga technique to entice new readers. I liked the presentation.

The Forest in the Hallway by Gordon Smith was a recommendation found on willowraven’s thread about a young girl named Beatriz whose parents disappear one day and she travels through the forest of the title with several companions, including at various intervals, Death. I was interested in the idea presented, but thought the writing fell flat when the story arc was peaking. I’m glad I read it, but I’m not sure I’d recommend it.

A Bottle in the Gaza Sea by Valerie Zenatti is another recommendation from avaitakh and it was marvelous and touching and I highly recommend it. A young Jewish girl in Israel asks her soldier brother to drop her note in a bottle in the Gaza area where he is stationed. She wants to know if someone will find it and respond to her note. A young man from the camps does, and their correspondence is the story.

The Frozen Thames by Helen Humphries is a series of stories written about each of the recorded times the Thames has frozen. Found on whisper’s thread who thanked kiwidoc, the stories were fascinating, unnerving, wistful, and upsetting. Some are very short, some stories are longer, but all are based in some historical fact—i.e., Matilda escaping across the river with three knights, all dressed in white to camouflage themselves against her cousin’s army.

Sultry Moon by Mempo Giardinelli was a pull from the library shelves when I was looking for another book. Extremely short, it is a non-stop thriller about a rape, a murder, and an escape, told by the murderer. It was one of those thrillers that catch you in the first two pages and doesn’t let go.

and yet there's more to come . . .

and this ends March. . . .

The Wild Heart by Jane Yolen
Backup: A Story of the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher
The Fruits of the Earth by Andre Gide
Winter by James Marsden
Girls in Their Married Bliss by Edna O'Brien
Tears of the Desert: A Memoir of Survival in Darfur by Halima Bashir
Aunt Dimity and the Deep Blue Sea by Nanacy Atherton
Miss Buncle's Book by D. E. Stevenson

The Wild Heart by Jane Yolen is yet another retelling of a folk tale about why the seasons change. Yolen writes so well most of the time, that when I am disappointed with her work, it is unnerving in a way. I did not care for the story line and found it more confusing than it needed to be, but I did enjoy the illustrations.

Backup: A Story of the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher—okay, a side story about Harry’s brother, the vampire. Not much to it, but fun, especially if you’re a fan.

The Fruits of the Earth by Andre Gide is another 1001 Must Read is really not much more than a series of epigrams about living life. Some witty, some funny, some depressing, but certainly all “fruits of the earth” to ponder.

Winter by James Marsden is the story of a young woman who has returned home to reclaim her property and discover her family history. Marsden’s work has been interesting, and this novel was certainly engaging, even when Winter was annoying. It’s a teen angst and coming-of-age novel and I’d recommend it.

Girls in Their Married Bliss by Edna O’Brien is the closing novel of the Country Girls Trilogy which begins with the The Country Girls and The Girl With Green Eyes (U.S. title), both of which are on the 1001 Must Read list. This final third novel is not on the list, and it should not be there. Character narration has shifted; both girls have made bad marriages in different ways; and neither is capable of moving on. As something of a completist with lists, I read this novel, but did not enjoy the read.

Tears of the Desert: A Memoir of Survival in Darfur by Halima Bashir was found on lauranav’s thread is a mesmerizing story of a woman who lived to tell the story of rape, massacre, murder, and anarchy in her homeland. It is horrifying, illuminating, and, ultimately, hopeful. I’m glad I was introduced to it through lauranav’s thread.

Aunt Dimity and the Deep Blue Sea by Nancy Atherton is the next-in-series in this very cozy mystery series. This time Lori Shepherd and her sons end up as guests in a Scottish castle on an isolated island to escape death threats. Plucky Lori and her companions will win the day, you know, and go on to further adventures. Still, a nice comfortable read for a rainy day.

Miss Buncle’s Book by D. E.. Stevenson was found on TadAO’s thread and this was a delight. Miss Buncle is the modest central character in a small English village who writes a novel about what she knows—her village and her neighbors. It is published under a pseudonym and all heck breaks out. It reminded me of “Sitting Pretty” where Clifton Webb excoriates the townspeople in his novel, to the delight of the audience. Miss Buncle’s offering is less obnoxious, but causes just as great an upheaval. Thanks, Tad, I really had fun with this one.

And here's part of April reading . . .

Conspiracy in Death by J. D. Robb
Loyalty in Death by J. D. Robb
I'll Cry Tomorrow by Lillian Roth
The Unnameables by Ellen Booraem
Goldfinger by Ian Fleming
The Sledding Hill by Chris Crutcher
The Reformed Vampire Support Group by Catherine Jinks

Conspiracy in Death and Loyalty in Death by J. D. Robb are the next-in-order in the Eve Dallas series. I love this series—it is so totally mind candy thriller.

I’ll Cry Tomorrow by Lillian Roth was originally found on TheTortoise’s thread, and is Roth’s autobiography (with a ghost) of her battle with alcohol and drugs up through the mid-fifties. The story, as told, is a bit disengenous, but considering it was powerful enough to be a film which included an Oscar nomination for Susan Hayward, it’s worth the read.

The Unnameables by Ellen Booraem is on this year’s ALA list for teen reads, and it is the first book I’ve read from these lists that I find myself unable to recommend highly. Every thing and every person has a name which delineates form or function and no deviations are permitted. In basic structure, this novel reminded me greatly of Ella Minnow Pea where language is seriously restricted. On another level, it’s a coming-of-age story which uses a deus ex machina to solve the problems, to slightly annoying effect.

Goldfinger by Ian Fleming is more Bond, James Bond or spy versus spy in the Cold War.

The Sledding Hill by Chris Crutcher is another assault on bigotry, disabilities, death, and teen angst. I love this man’s work.

Kew Gardens by Virginia Woolf with “decorations” by Vanessa Bell is a short story involving a bed visited by four different groups of people one summer day. Interesting, but I wasn’t overwhelmed.

The Reformed Vampire Support Group by Catherine Jinks was another find from the ALA teen reading list, and this one was fun, all the way to the end which clunked for me. However, getting there was a fun ride. A group of Australian vampires (together with a Catholic priest and the narrator’s mother, both non-vampires) have formed a support group to keep the members from actually acting on their vampiric tendencies. They love and dislike each other in about equal measure, but work together to solve the mystery of the death of one of their own. It was entertaining.

There's the rest of April and of May, but that's all for today.

wow, you've caught up on a lot today. I've just started the Eve Dallas books, the first one last week.

That's a bursting log jam...

Glad you liked the Stevenson. I've tried a couple more of her books, the first two of the Mrs. Tim series. They're stories about an Army wife dealing with things in pre- (Mrs. Tim of the Regiment) and beginning-of World War II (Mrs. Tim Carries On) and are fiction based upon Stevenson's own diaries of those days. They're not exactly the same as Buncle—a little less "quaint British" is the only way I can think to describe them—still amusing though and I'll pick up the third (Mrs. Tim Gets a Job) some day.

You're (re- ??) reading the Bond. What do you think of Daniel Craig as Bond? I think he's much truer to the books that his predecessors in terms of being hard-bitten.

Wow, Laurie! When you catch up you really catch up!

I hope your health issues have been resolved :)

Roni--hope you like Eve Dallas. I find her great for those "I want to blow up the world" moments.

Tad--I did like Miss Buncle, and will look for others by Stevenson. This is my first reading of James Bond, and it took a while for the library to have Goldfinger back on the shelf (I'm trying to read them in order). I do like Craig for exactly that reason. He is more like the written Bond than the screen adaptations started with Niven (yes!) and Connery. I also liked Dalton, but I'm way in the minority here. His films were stinkers, but I liked the actor.

alcottacre--thanks for the good thoughts. I think most of the stuff is at least under control. If I could just get the weather to cooperate for my sinuses, we'd be ahead of the game. *sigh*

Ad I have two months "catch up" coming to you because, as you can see, I have not stopped reading. . . .

so for the rest of April, we have:

Before the Frost by Henning Mankell
The Pyramid by Henning Mankell
Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld
Tenth Circle by Mempo Giardinelli
Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter
The Last Escape by Conor Bowman BEWARE: Touchstone not correct

Before the Frost by Henning Mankell is the next-in-order Kurt Wallender story, this one focusing on his daughter, Linda, who has just joined the police force. I really like this series, the writing, and the characters. Mankell may be getting tired of them, but I now understand why fans of Sherlock Holmes demanded that he return from the dead.

The Pyramid by Henning Mankell is a collection of five Kurt Wallender stories, supposedly, by the blurb. about his pre-detective days. Actually, the stories are spread across the spectrum of his career, as outlined in the Wallender books, starting with his patrolman days through the present. The stories gave some depth to a character I’ve enjoyed reading.

Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld and lushly illustrated by Keith Thompson is the second in his steampunk Leviathan series. It’s a middle-of-series book set in Constantinople/Istanbul mostly, with a slightly less manic pace than Leviathan. The third novel is just out and I’ll get to it.

Tenth Circle by Mempo Giardinelli is another short, catch-you-by-the-throat murder thriller by the author of Sultry Moon. His novels are unnerving, but they are very, very seductive in the telling.

Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter is the children’s classic about the “glad girl” who came to live with her taciturn aunt and ended up changing a town’s perspective of itself. The Disney movie is actually quite close to the novel until the end, but I hadn’t read this in years and enjoyed it very much.

The Last Escape by Conor Bowman was an Early Reviewer loaned to me by picnicgal. The coming of age of Christian involves his teacher, Vivienne, and the dark stories of their individual lives. It tackles the elements of the story with sensitivity and I recommend this novella.

and then there's May---

I have a collection of some of the older children's series, and I have both Pollyanna and Pollyanna Grows Up in it--yes, enjoyable reads.

#68--Yep. Me too. Lots of them and now I'm reading more of them because William's mom (my sister-in-law) wants me to introduce him to writing other than say, Captain Underpants. So reading some old, some new, and making recommendations here.

I still have my May and June to date reading to add into this thread, but I've been reflecting a bit on my reading. I like the 75er groups I've read with (or lurked through), but I have sooooooo many stacks of books of my own and recommended finding, that I'm going to try to cut back on the library use for a couple of months and just read what I have in hand. LOL! Every time I try that system, I just end up with more books. I have a 2011 list (which is my variation on the 888-999-1010 reads, but not in those groups), and I'm working my way through that list. It has a lot of past group reads, classics, and my mix of genres (teen, mystery, strikes my fancy, and so forth), and I'd like to get most of these books read.

*sigh* If it isn't one temptation, it's another. I did get the magnet from the library which is orange and black and says "BOOK JUNKIE."

So here is part of May's reading:

Felicia's Journey by William Trevor
Aunt Dimity Goes West by Nancy Atherton
Aunt Dimity: Vampire Hunter by Nancy Atherton
Gibbon's Decline and Fall by Sheri S. Tepper
Bobby Darin: A Life by Michael Seth Starr

Felicia’s Journey by William Trevor is from the 1001 Must Read, another Irish to English story, about a young woman who leaves home looking for the man who jilted her. She ends up lost and alone in a town where Mr. Hilditch offers to help her. Mr. Hilditch has some secrets of his own, frightening and slowly unraveled for the reader. Reading this book is much like watching the best of Hitchcock—you know evil when you see it and you want to shout at the heroine to watch out for this man. The ending is unsettling and, having just discovered it was made into a film, I’m curious to see how the film carried the story.

Aunt Dimity Goes West by Nancy Atherton has Lori Shepherd recuperating in an American mountain retreat from “the deep blue sea” adventure. The town and is population are dopplegangers for Lori’s Fitch and its population. Aunt Dimity: Vampire Hunter has Lori back home in Fitch trying to prove her newfound neighbors are vampires. A nice pair of cozy, cozy mysteries.

Gibbon’s Decline and Fall by Sheri S. Tepper is part of the 75er Women of the Future read, and is wildly out of order for that group. I got totally bogged down in the second book of the read, by Ursula LeGuin, and not bothering to check the amended order, read this next. I really enjoyed it. It’s dated, it’s hugely feminist (as only the writing in the 1960s and 1970s could be), about a group of college women who meet regularly to share their lives. When a crisis hits, they join ranks and the mayhem begins.

Bobby Darin: A Life by Michael Seth Starr was an Early Reviewer biography of the showman, known especially for singing an iconic version of “Mack the Knife” from “Threepenny Opera.” The biography did not add much to what I knew about Darin, the photos were stock, but I was especially annoyed by bad proofreading again. This edition was originally printed several years ago and you would think that someone along the way would have figured out how to spell Jean Simmons’s name—it’s “Jeanne” in the text and index. There are several other small, but telling, errors throughout the text, so I have to wonder how carefully other facts were checked. Just saying . . . .

And yes, there's more to come. . . .

>66 Prop2gether:: I was a Dalton fan, also. I liked his grittier Bond, though I think Craig is better. I wonder if Dalton would have enjoyed more popular success if the writing hadn't gotten so stupid starting in the Roger Moore days and continuing into him. Did you know Dalton was Broccoli's choice to succeed Connery but the two sides couldn't agree and it went to Moore?

Moore was really my least favorite. That slickness was fine as The Saint but just wasn't Bond. Of course, I read the books before ever seeing one of the movies, so my mental image was well-set.

Don't recall that about Dalton being Broccoli's choice, but makes sense at the time. Dalton was "up and coming" and he certainly has the rough-edged but sly aura which fit the character. Moore is also my least favorite, but mostly because he seemed to smirking at the character as an onlooker and, really, the scripts were totally lame. Oh well, so many films, so many Bonds to choose from. I absolutely love Dalton as Mr. Rochester in a British TV adaptation of "Jane Eyre." It's one of the series of classics which were inadequately funded (the walls move), but the script was good and the story's well filmed.

Here's the end of May's reading:

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson
The Girl Who Played With Fire by Steig Larsson
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Steig Larsson
Ironman by Chris Crutcher
Staying Far for Sarah Byrnes by Chris Crutcher
God Bless John Wayne by Kinky Friedman

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest by Steig Larsson—OMG, I inhaled these books, reading all three in about 10 days, which is a lot of pages. There’s lots and lots of reviews online, in print, and in LT, but I loved the entire story arc, the characterizations, and the politics. It is such a shame that Larsson died before he could complete his outlined series, but at least there are these three thrillers. Each can stand alone, but read in sequence, they have an overall storyline that is fascinating to watch unfold.

Ironman by Chris Crutcher is a teen story of a young man at war with his father and, to some extent, the world. He is assigned to take anger management classes to curb some of his hotheaded classroom behavior. Like all of Crutcher’s teen books, this one is quite real, in scope, language, and action. I absolutely love his writing because it is the most honest I have read about today’s teens. And this book will be a gift, together with Whale Talk, for both of my adult children.

Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes by Chris Crutcher—another gem from Crutcher about a young man on a swim team whose best friend since they met is Sarah Byrnes. Sarah only goes by her full name because her face was badly burned by an overturned pot of spaghetti as a toddler and her father refused to let anything more than immediate care be given—no corrective surgery, no counseling, no nothing. After all, she’d learn her lesson this way. Highly recommended, as are all of Crutcher’s books.

God Bless John Wayne by Kinky Friedman is yet the next-in-order for the Kinkster’s mysteries. While not clinically “cozy,” these mysteries are fluff and fun with this very non-PC non-detective. If you read the series in order, however, you will note that this book is way more PC than the first one was!

Whew! Now I'm nearly current again.

#73: I inhaled these books, reading all three in about 10 days, which is a lot of pages.

Yes, it is! I have read the first two but have not made it to book 3 yet.

Wow! Lots of interesting reading happening around here. Thanks for sharing your insights and I hope that things are settling down for you.

I feel like I'm the last person on the planet who has not read the Stieg Larsson books. Doesn't his girlfriend have the manuscript for a fourth book in the series? Hmmm... do I read them or do I wait 20 years for that rumored #4 to surface? Decisions! :)

#75 Funny, I thought I was one of the last who hadn't read the Larsson books. These three form one complete story arc, so I'm not sure it would be worth the wait. I've heard good things about the Danish films, too, but the new English version trailers look good.

Trust me Laurie, you are not the only person who has not read the Larsson books. Graphic violence does nothing for me, so I probably WILL end up being the only person knocking at the pearly gates w/o a book review of tatooed ladies under my wings.

tutu, it's good to know I'll have company for what I have not read. LOL.

Since we're at mid-month, and because I got all caught up last week through the end of May, here' the first of my June reading:

Deadline by Chris Chrutcher
The Laughing Policeman by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo
Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy
The Fire Engine That Disappeared by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo
Death in a Strange Country by Donna Leon
What Time Devours by A. J. Hartley
Going Bovine by Libba Bray

Deadline by Chris Crutcher is another tale by a master of the teen novel. This one involves a young man who discovers at the beginning of his senior year that he is dying from a fast-acting, non-identified disease. He's 18, short, weighs 183 pounds soaking wet, has a younger brother in the same grade who's his best friend, and a dysfunctional/functional family life. He's of age, so he invokes doctor-patient privilege and refuses to tell anyone about his disease. He's decided to live as much as he can during this last year, starting with playing on the football team with his brother (who is the quarterback). There's a lot of interesting thinking about all the basics--family, friends, living, dying--in a tale told with lots of humor to temper the pathos of the situation. I started reading Crutcher based on a 75er recommendation, and I absolutely love his stuff.

The Laughing Policeman and the The Fire Engine That Disappeared by Sjowall and Wahloo are the next-in-order in the series featuring Martin Beck. The first was rewritten for a Walter Matthau movie, and the second is considered the best in the series of ten. These are procedural police investigations where, often, not a lot happens until everything comes together. If you read the series, read it in order, because characters develop--and I'd certainly recommend it.

Death in a Strange Country by Donna Leon is the next-in-series for the mysteries of Commissario Brunetti in Venice. An American serviceman is found dead in the canals. I am a mystery fan and this is a solid series.

Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy is one of the Future Women reads in this group. Consuela (Connie) is committed, once again, to a mental ward by her brother. While there, she is contacted by Luciente, a time traveler. The novel explores the position of women in both times (turns out both women can "travel"), and ends with a medical report on Connie. Written in the 1970s, it's full of feminist sensibilities and hopes, and sometimes a bit over-the-top in its style. However, as part of a series of reads on the topic of women, written by science fiction writers, it's a fascinating study.

What Time Devours by A. J. Hartley was a read I found on KarenMarie's thread. A high school English teacher, who almost doctored in Shakespearean studies, finds himself in a murderous chase to discover a copy of the "lost" play "Love's Labour's Won." It's a thriller, involves Shakespeare and Shakespeare scholars (now there's an oxymoron!), and well written. Perfect escape reading.

Going Bovine by Libba Bray is a prize-winning novel from the ALA Teen Reads for this year. Cameron is diagnosed with the human form of mad cow disease and decides to live his life to the fullest (see Deadline above). This one involves a high school junior, a dwarf, a yard gnome who thinks he's a Viking god (yes, the gnome talks), and an angel who dresses punk, has pink hair, and tells Cameron he is responsible for saving the world. In style, it reminded me of Youth in Revolt, but it is a fun read on its own.

and I'm reading. . . .

I struggled through 50 pages of Going Bovine and tossed it aside. The book just did not do anything at all for me. I am glad to see that you enjoyed it, Laurie.

My local library does not have the Chris Crutcher book but does have others of his. Are there any that you particularly recommend?

Good to know you are still reading!

alcottacre,

Reading Going Bovine after Deadline was probably not the wisest choice for theme, but I did stick to it a bit longer because I liked Crutcher's approach and wanted to compare the contemporary writers. Going Bovine was a bit "too cute" for much of the action, which is why it reminded me so strongly of Youth in Revolt.

As for recommendations from me, top of the line is Whale Talk followed by Ironman. Sledding Hill is told from the perspective of a dead teen (again, see above), and somewhat of a lesser read than the first two. I also did enjoy Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes, though again, just a tad less than the first two listed here. I have a collection of short stories (Athletic Shorts) by Crutcher from the library to get to this month.

My local library has Whale Talk and Sledding Hill of the books you mentioned, Laurie, so I will start with those. Thanks for the input!

So here's second batch of June reading:

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume 2: The Kingdom on the Waves by M. T. Anderson
iPhone: The Missing Manual by David Pogue
The Female Man by Joanna Russ
The Complete Paratime by H. Beam Piper

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume 2: The Kingdom on the Waves by M. T. Anderson is the sequel to the first volume about Octavian's early life as an experiment in a research house, and the beginnings of the American Revolution. This continues his life story, through his diaries and letters from others, as a member of the Ethiopian Regiment of Lord Dunmore during the Revolutionary War. The first was not the easiest read because Anderson used archaic and irregular spelling to bring you into the era. This volume is more "modern" in its language, but no less easy. It's long, the idioms are often difficult to follow--when I can follow the battle plan more easily than the character reaction to it, it says a lot. These two volumes complete Octavian's story through the demise of the regiment, but unless you are both a history buff and willing to take a slow approach to the story, you will probably not enjoy it. I did, but it took a long while to first find the second volume, and then to actually get through it.

iPhone: The Missing Manual by David Pogue is for my newest appendage. I love my iPhone 3G, but the "official" manual that came with the phone is a pamphlet. Argh! So I ended up reading reviews and looking for manuals, and this was the best of the best for me. Of course, the only reason I actually could work the phone in the first place was because my daughter let me play with her iPhone 4, but we won't worry about that detail.

The Female Man by Joanna Russ is part of the Future Women Group read in this group. It's interesting in the telling, but I was confounded for some period of time trying to keep the characters straight. It's also a bit of a screed very much in the style of the mid-70s when it was written. First, it's by a female science fiction writer who didn't disguise her sex by use of a pseudonym, and secondly, it's blatantly feminist in the best form of the time (as in the theory that for a woman to succeed, she must be more of a man than a man is a man--oh wait, we're still there!). There are essentially four women involved (although one does not show up until close to the end): Janet, Jeannine, Joanne, and eventually Jael, and four time periods or time lines. Each of the women tells the story, but they shift perspectives without warning and from first to third-person narrative. And--just as I was ready to give it up--it got interesting.

The Complete Paratime by H. Beam Piper is a two-part collection of the short stories and novella directly involved with the Paratime police, and the novel Lord Kalvan of the Otherwhen which is a story of a specific individual and the Paratime phenomenon. Actually, reading this at the time as The Female Man which involves time-shifting and parallel time periods, worked well in following the theories here. I absolutely love Piper's Fuzzy novels, and these stories were quite fun for me.

Still a week in June to go . . . .

I absolutely loved The Female Man...which might be weird for someone of my gender, but whatever...

I'm also a big Piper fan and thought I liked all of his stuff. However, I've been finding some of his short stories that weren't published in anthologies and they aren't quite as good. I guess that's why they didn't get republished beyond their initial appearance in the pulps. :-)

#83--ROFL because I loaned The Female Man to picnicgal (who works in my office) who loaned to a man in the office. He called her after a page and a half raving about how fantastic the book is. Curious, yes.

And I've loved the Fuzzy novels since I was a teen, but Piper's other stuff was not easy to find. This one was on the library shelves and I liked the idea of time travel police (ala "Time Cop," I suppose, but whatever) making sure that everything worked as it should. In any event, these ones were fun, even if we came from Mars.

So this past week includes:

The Lilies of the Field by William E. Barrett
Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
Athletic Shorts by Chris Crutcher

The Lilies of the Field by William E. Barrett is the novella upon which the Sidney Poitier film was based. It is a lovingly told story of the black ex-GI who meets up with a group of German nuns in a desert--and builds them a chapel. It's more "spiritual" than the film, but the film is a tribute to this work. Amazingly, when I read the LT reviews associated with the book, I don't think any of the readers had seen the film. Oh well--they tended to be more literal than the work demands, and especially in light of the narrator saying this is a fable which grown over the years.

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins is the third in the Hunger Games series and I can't say I liked the ending that well. It's logical and follows a very clear path, but I would have wished something more or something else for Katniss and her friends after all they endured in the first two books. *sigh*

Athletic Shorts by Chris Crutcher are six short stories about high school jocks and non-jocks dealing with issues which are more fully explored in most of his novels. However, I liked the punch of the stories.

Still a bit over two days left to the mid-year moment. . . .

Well, June ended and I was surprised by the fact that I'm almost "on track" on my 2011 list of books I wanted to read this year. I'm also keeping my library books down to a level where I can mostly finish them within the renewal time frames. The last of my June reading:

Abraham Lincoln: A Life by Thomas Keneally
Miss Eutropia and the Adam Bomb by George Rabasa

Abraham Lincoln: A Life by Thomas Keneally is a great introduction to the life of our 16th president. It's not burdened with footnotes or forewards, introductions, or afterwords--it is simply--a life told from birth to death. Now Keneally, who wrote Schinder's Ark gives a brief synopsis of his research and recommended works, but the story is all Lincoln's and ends with his death. I liked the brevity--it actually intrigued me enough to check out some of Keneally's resources.

Miss Eutropia and the Adam Bomb by George Rabasa is an Early Reviewer novel, ostensibly written for the teen set. However, in style and story, it reminded me of both David and Lisa and Youth in Revolt, combined. Adam is telling the story of his meeting Pia (Miss Eutropia) on the way to the 'Tute (institute) for disturned teens. Adam becomes fixated on Pia and the rest of the novel is his version of his resolution. It was an interesting read, and, while not the best of this genre, it was a good read.

July is coming. . . .

And so far, we have:

First Families: The Impact of the White House on Their Lives by Bonnie Angelo
The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart
Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilmore
The Love Song of J. Edgar Hoover by Kinky Friedman

First Families: The Impact of the White House on Their Lives by Bonnie Angelo is a "leftover" from my 1010 Challenge last year. I anticipated a dense, family by family, discussion of living in the White House, but found a breezy description of the various presidents and their families from Washington through George and Laura Bush (the picture of a twin sticking her tongue out at the press is delightful). Instead of sticking to a historical timeline, Angelo has chosen to tell stories based on themes (children/no children; weddings and deaths; spousal partnerships; education; and so forth), which means you never quite know what era you'll be reading about in the next paragraph. It was a fun romp.

The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart was a recommendation from my daughter (LT member kbergfeld) who loved this book and enjoyed its sequels. She especially enjoyed the fact that these four children who form the Mysterious Benedict Society were chosen for their special skills and abilities and were encouraged to work together to solve Mr. Benedict's urgent mysterious mission. It was fun, and I do intend to read the sequels.

Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a fascinating trip through a previously undiscovered country where there are only women. Three men (Terry, Jeff, and Van, who is the narrator) crash land on a plateau and find themselves in a civilization where everything seems to work well--and there are no men. Terry is the "man's man" and is absolutely convinced that this type of living can only be accomplished by men, or women who worked with men. Jeff adores women and the world he has literally fallen into. Van is more thoughtful about all of it. A novella, it was a perfect addition to the Women of the Future reads, written by a woman about a utopian vision. It was fun.

The Love Long of J. Edgar Hoover by Kinky Friedman is the next in the Kinkster's adventures, totally not politically correct, and a guilty pleasure sort of reading. Besides, where else will you find out exactly where Al Capone hid his treasure?

I need to get back to the Stewart books. The last time I checked though, my local library only had the first book in the series. Thanks for the reminder that I need to check again, Laurie.

And last week's reading (which ended yesterday) includes:

The Apple: Based on the Herman Rosenblat Holocaust Love Story by Penelope J. Holt
Aunt Dimity Slays the Dragon by Nancy Atherton
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

Okay, you regular readers, this is one of my rare lengthy reviews: The Apple; Based on the Herman Rosenblat Holocaust Love Story by Penelope J. Holt was an Early Reviewer book from 2009:

A curious thing happened on my way to reading and reviewing this novel "exposing" a memoir hoax--I packed the book in my baggage for a family trip and then could not find it when I returned home. I checked the four local libraries I have access to for over a year trying to find a copy to read, but not one of them (even the ones with Holocaust sections and include fiction). Finally, almost a year later, I found the book and read it.

Thus, I missed most of the reviews from other Early Reviewers, but I also missed the Oprah controversy about Herman's memoirs. I found Holt's "expose" by novel of a non-published "memoir" ironic in its set-up and still compelling in the attempt to lay out Herman's story and reasoning for including his wife's, Roma, recollection of tossing an apple to a boy she presumed was Jewish when she herself was hiding as a Christian.

Herman connected with Roma's story and felt that she had tossed the apple to him as an angel sent by his mother to keep him alive. Over the years, it became his rationale for finding Roma and for finding life after living through the Holocaust. He blended facts from two memories into one and it became real to him. Quite like many of us do in our everyday lives--who does want to tell the absolute and complete truth about some events? No one I know, including me.

The most amazing "fact" to me is that Herman, and three of his brothers, survived purges, ghettos, and camp after camp after camp, to still be alive and together at war's end. Reuniting with their sister, five siblings made it to a life after the horrors of WWII.

Holt tells the story in a semi-dream style which can be annoying and her writing is not the best around, but she manages to include all the pertinent information and then begs the question of the reader, "understand" the story that Herman was trying to tell. The apple is literally the core of Herman's existence after the war, the picture for him of how he survived and how he found his life's love in Roma.

If an adroit editor or reader had simply asked Herman to say the Roma told him a story that he took to heart, there would have been no controversy. It would have been the "love story of the ages" that Oprah talked about, and the book would have been published.

Herman Rosenblatt is a stiff-necked old man, who cannot understand why others cannot accept his truths--and his version of the apple story. This is a book simply written, tailored more to a young adult audience, and in that capacity, it offers an opportunity to learn about how facts can twist themselves into our memories and change them for our benefit.

Aunt Dimity Slays the Dragon by Nancy Atherton wherein Lori Shepherd has attempted to reform her overactive instincts after the vampire fiasco when a Renaissance Faire comes to Finch. Always cozy reading.

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood is part of the Future Women Read in this group and I'll talk more about it later.

Gotta run. . . .

Laurie

I'm sorry to be so far behind on your thread. I read the first book in the Aunt Dimity series and I really enjoyed it. I hope to read the others soon.

All the best,

I have not yet read Aunt Dimity Slays the Dragon. I need to get to it. I still need to read The Handmaid's Tale too!

Whisper and alcottacre, the Aunt Dimity series is such fun and lighthearted fluff that it's a real nice change of pace. The mystery's secondary to all the action Lori generates around herself. It's very pleasant reading for an evening or two. I liked Charlene Harris's Shakespeare series for similar reasons. She got herself all wrapped around Sookie Stackhouse and has written in the other series, which I miss.

Recently finished:

Steig Larsson: Our Days in Stockholm by Kurdo Baksi
The Family Under the Bridge by Natalie Savage Carlson

Steig Larsson: Our Days in Stockholm by Kurdo Baksi is a memoir of a colleague of Larsson (best known outside Sweden for the Millenium trilogy) and the work the two men did in Sweden fighting various forms of intolerance, most notably racism and growing xenophobia, as well as crimes against women. Baksi, himself an immigrant from Kurdistan, deftly outlines the dangers faced by both men and their colleagues, and discusses in some details the work he and Larsson collaborated on over the course of their friendship. It was an interesting look at another side of this man who wrote such entertaining fiction.

The Family Under the Bridge by Natalie Savage Carlson and illustrated by Garth Williams was found on avatiakh's thread some time back. It is a delightful children's book around a homeless old man named Armand who returns to his "place" under a Parisian bridge only to find it usurped by three redheaded children who are waiting for their mother. The story is set at the Christmas holiday season and has some subtle lessons on tolerance, expectations, and outcomes. I very much enjoyed this one.

I still need to get to The Family under the Bridge. Thanks for the reminder, Laurie!

Haven't discussed The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, one of the selections for the Future Women Group Read here, but I did reread it, and find it just as relevant as when I first read it many years ago. If anything, the story of just how easy it is to slip into a world where women are less than second-class and not citizens, especially by electronic means, is more scarifying today than it was when I first read the novel. Offred's story is no more convoluted than say, V For Vendetta, and offers some very real parallels to how governments can use "emergency" services to curtail established laws and rights. I want to watch the movie again as well. I initially enjoyed it much more than most reviewers did, but then again, I did the same thing with The Postman. In my opinion, both films carried their messages, even with muddling some of the story lines. This is not really a "review," but more of a surface comment because the group is still deciding whether or not to have a discussion thread.

In other reading, I've finished:

We Who Are About To . . . by Joanna Russ
Montrumologist by Rick Yancey
Space Viking by H. Beam Piper
Heroes Adrift by Moira J. Moore

Joanna Russ was a new-to-me author in the Future Women group read, with another book, The Female Man. That novel was entertaining enough for me to look up other works of Russ. I was introduced to science fiction in high school by two sources: Ray Bradbury graduated from my high school and David Brin was a classmate. I fell into the genre with recommendations and read everything I could find of Bradbury, Heinlein, Herbert (including his non-Dune books--check out The Santaroga Barrier or Eyes of Heisenberg some time), and other "classic" writers. I didn't care for LeGuin, and didn't discovery other women writers for some time. Russ and Marge Piercy were two I missed. That said, We Who Are About To . . . is another diary-form novel written by one member of a group of people who accidentally strand themselves on a planet where they will never be found. She is not a believer in the "plucky survivor will be saved" idea, and finds herself at complete odds with her fellow strandees. To tell more is tell the story. The jacket blurb has Samuel Delaney extolling this novel as one of the best he's read, though, and I agree.

Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey was found on drneutron's thread mentioning nancyewhite and is ostensibly a teen novel featuring a doctor who specializes in monsters, as told in the notes/diary kept by his assistant, a pre-teen orphan named Will Henry. When Henry dies of extreme old age, the author bookends the reading of three volumes to determine if Will Henry was, well, sane. The volumes tell the story of how the doctor, Will Henry, and some others dealt with a clutch of Anthropophagi in the neighborhood. Tells you a lot of my history to say I recognized the term from Othello, not from the earlier classical listings. It's horror, pretty specific, but a fair amount of humor as well, and, apparently, the start of a series about the good doctor's exploits, as recalled by Will Henry. I didn't read at night or in the dark, though, and I have to say, I did enjoy it.

Space Viking by H. Beam Piper is, I am sure, a re-read from long ago, the story of a man who becames a space viking (essentially a pirate) prince in order to find the man who murdered the prince's new bride. Spot-on political discussions, ala Heinlein in The Moon is a Harsh Mistress and great derring do--it was fun.

Heroes Adrift by Moira J. Moore is the third in her Heroes series, just enough tongue-in-cheek to be fun about a Shield (Lee Mallbrough who narrates) and a Source (Shintaro Karisti) who find themselves on assignment on an island. I like the characters, I like the fun of the stories, but I am nearly in tears every single time I read "It took Taro and I . . . " or "it was given to Taro and I . . ." because Moore is so grammatically correct everywhere else in her writing. Such a small thing is such a huge irritation that I have to put the book aside by the tenth time it happens. Silly, but true.

Glad you liked The Monstrumologist!

Space Viking was always one of my favorite of Piper's books; I've reread it a few times. Lately I've been trying some of his short stories from the early SF pulps. I can't say they're very good...perhaps that's why they haven't been republished in an anthology.

#95, yeah, enough to see if the sequel is available yet. *sigh* One more series!

#96, I've always like Piper's books, but haven't seen too any of the short stories. Maybe he just needed the extra pages to reel everything into the boat.

So, this week's reads include:

Angry Management by Chris Crutcher
The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey by Trenton Lee Stewart
Chinese Handcuffs by Chris Crutcher
Aunt Dimity Down Under by Nancy Atherton

plus on the cusp of finishing Hamlet's Blackberry, romping through Monstrous Regiment, and thoroughly enjoying the unabridged (and very, very, very long) The Count of Monte Cristo at about 100 pages into the story (only about 1300 more to go!).

I enjoyed Piper's Little Fuzzy, so I will have to give Space Viking a try.

Angry Management by Chris Crutcher is one of his latest books to be banned. The irony of this banning is that if the father who pushed to pull the book from his son's reading list had bothered to actually read it--well, his rationale is the basis for one of the three novellas in this book. Several of Crutcher's characters from other books have an opportunity to do or say or be more. I love this man's writing, especially for teens, especially for troubled teens.

The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey by Trenton Lee Stewart is the middle book of the series. It was not as exciting as the first, but was a nice little romp with the members of the Society on a quest to save Mr. Benedict.

Chinese Handcuffs by Chris Crutcher tells the story of a boy and a girl from similar, but not, backgrounds. It is hard to talk about these books without giving away the entire story, but the picture of the finger cuffs (those flexible finger locks so popular at a certain age) and the image that the harder you pull, the tighter the lock is integral to the story.

Aunt Dimity Down Under by Nancy Atherton wherein Lori Shepherd goes on a mission to find the Pym sisters's nearest living kin in New Zealand. Something of a breathless travelogue as she chases the clues across the country (and experiences her first ever earthquake), it is a nice addition to the series.

I have to laugh--I am just 11 pages into The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey, reading it while waiting for my computer to load pages!

#99: I need to get to Aunt Dimity Down Under. Thanks for the reminder, Laurie.

The Mysterious Benedict Society is an interesting treatment of "gifted" kids whose special talents are appreciated by adults around them. I understand why my daughter likes the books, especially the first, where they prove themselves. I have the third ready to go, but . . . so many other books!

Since August started, I've completed:

Spotlights & Shadows: The Albert Salmi Story by Sandra Grabman
Clouds of Witness by Dorothy Sayers (A Lord Peter Wimsey Mystery)
Monstrous Regiment by Terry Pratchett (75er Future Women Read)

Spotlights & Shadows: The Albert Salmi Story by Sandra Grabman was a member giveaway book I won. Being of Finnish heritage and living through the end of high school and college with my grandmother, I heard often about the actor most Finnish-Americans were proud to claim as their own. He was a well-respected character actor, married once to Peggy Ann Garner, and next to the woman he died with in a murder-suicide many years later. This was an interesting essay into his life, especially as seen from a cultural perspective of how "Finns" act, both privately and publicly. It was worth the read.

Clouds of Witness by Dorothy Sayers (A Lord Peter Wimsey Mystery) is the second in the Lord Peter Wimsey series (this time his brother is accused of murder), and it was much better paced than the first. I found myself enjoying tagging along for the resolution of the story, and look forward to the next-in-order.

Monstrous Regiment by Terry Pratchett was on the list for the 75er Future Women Read. I've had Discworld and Pratchett recommended, and read that although this novel is far along the storyline, it is also independent of the other Discworld novels. It was a fun romp following a young woman who disguises herself as a man to enlist in the army (she wants to find her missing brother). It's a nice blend of satire and fantasy, and reminded me a bit of Richard Armour's humor mixed with the "Myth" series by Asprin or Moira Moore's "Heroes" series. It was a good read for the end of the list as well, because, while certainly genderbending and politically-sharp, it was not quite as "in your face" as some of the earlier reads. I liked it.

#102: I just re-read Clouds of Witness recently too, Laurie, and I agree with you - it is better paced than the first. I also liked how much Parker was involved in the story this time around.

LOL--Someone promised that Lord Peter gets more interesting as the series progresses and told me to keep reading. It worked--I'm hooked.

#104: I am currently reading The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club and my main complaint thus far is the lack of Parker. I know that the Lord Peter books are mainly about him, but the relationship between him and Parker worked so well in Clouds of Witness that I am sad to see it not built upon in this book.

105- Uh oh. I don't think I'd like that either. I've only read the first few in the series, and Parker is one of my favorite characters! I like the relationship between him and Lord Peter.

#106: I am less than halfway through the book, Angela, so things may change!

Okay, spent my weekend August 12-14 chaperoning my teen niece and pre-teen nephew around, first, Disneyland, and next, California Adventure. Managed to fall curbside in Toon Town (scared the heck out of our guide) and make a 5-point landing (both knees, both hands, my cheekbone) shatter the frame on my glasses. However, I was okay, except for the bruised knee that resulted. What happened? I missed the fact that a painted curb went from a step up to a handicapped plane. Great! Over the two days, I also managed to blister both feet, but we had a great time, especially with a couple of the shows.

So here's the latest batch:

For Your Eyes Only by Ian Fleming
Running Loose by Chris Crutcher
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Sizzling Sixteen by Janet Evanovich
Road Kill by Kinky Friedman
Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
Clementine by Sara Pennypacker

For Your Eyes Only by Ian Fleming is the next-in-published-order for James Bond, and is a collection of short stories, several of which have been adapted into films. I'm enjoying reading the books and stories much more than I expected to, and will be eventually finishing the series, as written by Fleming. I'm not sure I want to read the successor novels, but we'll see what happens.

Running Loose by Chris Crutcher is another excellent teen novel, again focused on sports and relationships. This man's work is amazing. He's regularly banned because he handles some tough topics (sex, bullying, parents and peers) in a pretty straightforward manner.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams is the first in the five-volume trilogy, and was a lot more fun to read than I remember the movie. My copy had an addendum about the production of the film, but I abandoned that after two or three pages. The novel had been so much fun that reading about the trials and tributions of movie production was just not necessary. I do have the second in series on my shelf. Oh, and it's a 1001 Must Read as well.

Sizzling Sixteen by Janet Evanovich is the penultimate in series, and I laughed heartily in this one. The men in Stephanie Plum's life are merely borderline entries in this escapade which features Grandma with a broken foot, and the "girls" of the bail bond office trying to rescue Vinnie from kidnappers.

Road Kill by Kinky Friedman in the next-in-order in this politically incorrect series, this time featuring Kinky trying to keep Willie Nelson alive from a murderous curse. Fun, but Kinky's not for everyone.

Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume is the novelist's perennial entry on the banned book lists. It's Margaret's story of trying to find her way through school when she doesn't belong to a church (her father's Jewish and her mother's Christian), hasn't blossomed into a bra yet, is just discovering that boys are "to die for," and is looking forward to her first menstrual period. Margaret regularly talks to God about her life and I thought it was excellent.

Clementine by Sara Pennypacker was a hoot! Clementine is in the third grade, is constantly in trouble because she's so amazed by most of the world around her. As an example, she doesn't feel it's fair her baby brother has a non-food name, so she calls him various vegetables (Radish, etc.). This was just fun reading and I hope the sequels are as entertaining.

I loved Are You There, God? It's Me Margaret. I read it in 1976 when I was in sixth grade. I had to planned to re-read it for a challenge last month called( re-read childhood favorite books ). Hopefully, I will get to before the end of the year.

#109-I recall the brouhaha when Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret was published, but never got around to actually reading it. It was excellent.

Here are the latest on my completed list:

Extra (Ordinary) People by Joanna Russ
Hamlet's Blackberry by William Powers
The Yo-Yo Prophet by Karen Krossing

Extra (Ordinary) People by Joanna Russ is a collection of five short stories connected by a student/tutor dialogue. I first read Russ in the books for the Women of the Future group read and found her interesting. These stories, like her novels, are very feminist-driven, and I didn't care for a couple of the stories. However, the first, "Souls," which won a Hugo award was pretty amazing, and I enjoyed thoroughly the last, "Everyday Depressions." In the first, an abbess tries to save her people from savaging at the hands of invaders; in the last, a diary-style discussion of creating a novel and characters is the story itself.

Hamlet's Blackberry by William Powers was an obvious choice (as a Shakespeare buff, how am I going to miss this one?) from the popular shelves at the library. Powers uses seven different real and fictional persons to discuss how technological changes over the centuries have affected how we deal with others and ourselves. The message is clearly to turn off all the devices for a period of time long enough to regain "self" awareness, but it was cleverly presented and I was suitably impressed with Powers's observations.

The Yo-Yo Prophet by Karen Krossing is an Early Reviewers book, about a ninth grader named Calvin. Calvin has lots of problems (he's short; he's mixed-race; he's not doing that well in school; his mother died; his father fled; he's living with his grandmother who is selling her business and quite ill) and he's found that he can deal with most everything if he can yo-yo. The novel's pace is full speed ahead, with Calvin, as narrator, often irritatingly short-sighted. Through various machinations, he becomes a yo-yo star busking on the street, on YouTube through a blog and the local media, and, with the help of a pushy classmate who sets herself up as his manager, a prophet of minor predictions. It's written for middle-school, reluctant reader-types, and would work very well for that audience. Most high-schoolers would find it predictable but easy-to-read. It was enjoyable for what it was--a young adult (on the younger side) novel.

Almost through Pere Goriot and The Radetzky March, both on the 1001 Must Read list, and have a couple of Early Reviewers to complete this month.

The Radetzky March by Joseph Roth
The Talented Clementine by Sara Pennypacker
Math for Grownups by Laura Laing
Triple Crossing by Sebastian Rotella

The Radetzky March by Joseph Roth is from the 1001 Must Read list and is an intriguing novel--it follows three generations of men in an Austrian family through the start of World War I where basically nothing much happens directly to them, but much is happening in the world around them. That said, it was a fascinating set of character studies from the first Trotta who saved the Kaiser's life in war through his son, who becomes an administrator, to his grandson, who is routed into the military. The decline in Austria's fortunes in the world at large is reflected in the lives of the three men. They are connected by and through Strauss's Radetzky March, an anthem for the military and the country. Very slow, very meticulous, and fascinating.

The Talented Clementine by Sara Pennypacker is the sequel to Clementine, and still as outrageously entertaining as the first book. In this one, Clementine must discover her talent for the talent show at school, and it's a huge task for someone who knows she has no talent.

Math for Grownups by Laura Laing is a delightful find from a bookstore table. I teach certification testing classes for adults, and one section of the exam covers math exercises. Since most of these students have not been inside a classroom in decades, having a timed math test is terrifying. This book is basic, sensible, and ties into the real world around us. I loved it and have highly recommended it to my class.

Triple Crossing by Sebastian Rotella is an Early Reviewer thriller about the California/Mexico border plus much more. Rotella is a journalist and in his first novel, it is very apparent in the first few chapters that he's trying to create a total scenario for the reader. However, once the action gets serious, it was a wild ride through Tijuana, the Triple Crossing in South America where the borders are porous and lots of smuggling (human, drugs, money, etc.) happens between nations and gangs. The ending was a bit pat, but for a first novel, it was satisfying.

whew, caught up with you - nice bunch of books you got going

I really need to get to the Joseph Roth book some time!

#113--I'd recommend the translation version I read--it was clean and easy to read and Gordimer's introduction was actually readable (unlike several I've skipped in other books).

Since September 1, I've read:

The Big Nowhere by James Ellroy
Clementine's Letter by Sara Pennypacker
Smokin' Seventeen by Janet Evanovich
When the Snow Fell by Henning Mankell
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams

The Big Nowhere by James Ellroy is the second in his L.A. series, which started with The Black Dahlia. It's been some time since I read The Black Dahlia, but it was not integral to reading this fast-paced novel of police and crime in Los Angeles in the 1950s. Focusing on three characters (Danny Upshaw, Buzz Meeks, and Mal Considine) who are or were part of the police and sheriff's department, it involves two investigations which overlap: a particularly brutal murder and a rigged investigation for "Reds" in the studio unions. I recalled Buzz Meeks not being a savory character in the film version of L.A. Confidential, but corrupt ex-cop that he is, he is ultimately heroic in this novel. I was surprised at how much I despised Dudley Smith and why.

Clementine's Letter by Sara Pennypacker is the third in this delightful children's series. This time, Clementine's teacher is a contestant for a study trip to Egypt. Clementine and her class have to write letters saying why he should win the prize, and she just is having the hardest time doing that--she wants him to stay and finish the year.

Smokin' Seventeen by Janet Evanovich is the latest Stephanie Plum. Okay, but I liked that last one much, much better. It had more Grandma, more action by the ladies in the office, and was far funnier.

When the Snow Fell by Henning Mankell is the third in his Joel Gustafson series. Joel has grown from boyhood to teenager--now 14, he has goals (including seeing a woman dressed all (and only) in veils. He's angry at his father for lots of teen-type reasons, and his hormones are all over the place. Still, Mankell is soooooo good. There's not a lot of plot, but there's a lot of growth.

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams is the second in the five-book trilogy and continues the adventures and misadventures of Arthur Dent and his new friends. Some of the satire is laid on with a trowel, and some is very subtle. This book reads, to me, as a middle book--just enough plot to get you to the next point, but we'll see what happens with the next-in-order.

Just about to finish Pere Goriot, so next week. . . .

I'm glad you liked The Monstrumologist. Reading your blurb about it reminded me that I need to get to The Curse of the Wendigo.

Great thread. I've stalled at 15 with the Stephanie Plum series, but perhaps I'll at least move onto 16 soon since I already own it.

#115, LOL--I'm trying to finish some others before I hit The Curse of the Wendigo, but it'll be on the list.

And I had a great time with Stephanie Plum in number 16. I find the books, like the Twilight series, extremely easy to read and forget. But when Evanovich is on form--they are very, very funny.

And I hit the quarter-way through the book mark with The Count of Monte Cristo this week. I'm in the middle of a section which I've never seen in any of the films or read in abridged/graphic versions, so it's interesting to know what's been edited out on a regular basis. Nonetheless, it is great reading.

Jury duty (and dismissal from the panel) for two and half days followed by two days of very bad sinus/cold, but I have finished:

Pere Goriot by Honore de Balzac (2011, 1001)
Aunt Dimity and the Family Tree by Nancy Atherton
Humpty Dumpty Was Pushed by Marc Blatt
Law is for Lawless by Sue Grafton
Thunderball by Ian Fleming
William Shakespeare's King Lear by Gareth Hinds

Moving slowly through The Count of Monte Cristo, but have a couple of cute children's books on hand to leaven the reading.

Egad! October already and no end of reading in sight!

Pere Goriot by Honore de Balzac has been on my 2011 reading list as well as on the 1001 Must Read list. Once I got past the first 30 pages of set-up and descriptive narrative, the story of a man who gives everything to his two daughters, only to be abandoned by them, was worth the read. The story has been compared extensively to King Lear, without the third daughter (although a male boarder in the same house serves much the same function as Cordelia), but it is as much about the life and times Balzac was writing about as the Shakespearean tragedy. The reader follows Goriot's decline from the first floor of the boarding house to the attic just as his daughters work to climb the social ladders of Parisian society. I skipped any discussion and had a difficult time with the opening, but ended up enjoying the read.

Aunt Dimity and the Family Tree by Nancy Atherton is a romp with Lori Shepherd and her father-in-law, who has purchased a home in Fitch. He is the eligible bachelor, and the home needs serious repair work. No murders, some minor larceny, and hoax played on the village. Nice cozy stuff.

Humpty Dumpty Was Pushed by Marc Blatt is a debut thriller/mystery, blurbed as the "first hip-hop" mystery because it centers around a hip-hop group and manager. Blatt chose to write in hip-hop jargon, to enhance the atmosphere, but it was exasperating to try to understand it, especially in the beginning. There's the misunderstood detective, a bunch of fugitives, drugs and guns all mixed up. I was snookered by the title, but did finish the story even though I'd guessed who was who long before the end.

L is for Lawless by Sue Grafton is a return for me to the Kinsey Millhone mysteries (and thus part of my 2011 NIS (next-in-series) reads). Grafton was back on form for me, and while this is less of a mystery and more of a chase from point to point, I had a good time.

Thunderball by Ian Fleming was distinctly a yawner for me. After so much fun with the earlier books, I found myself bored by this adventure.

William Shakespeare's King Lear by Gareth Hinds is a graphic novel presentation of the masterwork where a king gives away all his kingdom to the two daughters who praise him and rejects the daughter who truly loves him. Hinds is a fine artist, but he has freely edited the work (okay, okay, lots of directors do as well), but the presentation of one of the harshest tragedies written is presented in pastel colors. I can't say more than that.

I hope you feel better soon

And two more books to round out September:

Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! by Laura Amy Schlitz
The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner's Dilemma by Trenton Lee Stewart

Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! by Laura Amy Schlitz is a Newbery-winning series of 17 monologue/dialogues of tweeners (12-17 YO) in a medieval village. Each monologue is a character of interest in the village and, what the style reminded me most of was Edgar Lee Masters' spectacular Spoon River Anthology where the characters speak of themselves and their lives and how it all interconnects. I found Schlitz's presentation somewhat lacking, however, because it really was so disconnected. It is not my favorite Newbery read.

The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner's Dilemma by Trenton Lee Stewart closes the trilogy when the children must save the town. Non-stop action, but hardly non-stop characterization propel this closing volume. However, I do like the boys and girls of the Society and it was nice to read that they were able to resolve this dilemma.

And into October, I've completed L.A. Confidential, The Castle of Crossed Destinies, and nearly finished Moll Flanders. I saw the back-to-back TCM presentations of Back Street, and am about one-quarter through Ray Smith's story. Hmmm. October looks to be an interesting month.

Laurie....what a great batch of reading in September. Now that autumn is fast upon us, the weather gives us a perfect excuse to curl up inside and read a good book.

Pere Goriot was one of my French A-level (final year high school) set texts - I hadn't thought of that book for years!

So . . .

L.A. Confidential by James Ellroy
The Castle of Crossed Destinies by Italo Calvino
Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe

L.A. Confidential by James Ellroy is the third in his L.A. Quartet series which includes The Black Dahlia and The Big Nowhere. Ellroy's works are fascinating studies of the city of Los Angeles, and specifically, the entertainment industry as it involved the various police departments in the County. There are a series of continuing characters (Buzz Meeks, the corrupt cop/hero of The Big Nowhere is a blip in the action here, but Dudley Smith is a slightly more refined version of his loathsome persona. The major characters are familiar to anyone who's seen the excellent movie (and now I understand why the book was considered "unfilmable"), but the book--oh my, the book is so much richer in detail and smarminess and evil. There are glints of good, but this is a dark story. Especially recommended to read in order.

The Castle of Crossed Destinies by Italo Calvino is on the 1001 Must Read (although I didn't realize that when I picked it up) and is my second read by this author after if on a winter's night a traveler. Calvino loves to play with plots, characters, and words. In this case, he states in an afterword, he published the work to stop rewriting it. Travelers met (in a castle in the first half and in a tavern in the second half) and sit to share a meal. They find themselves mute, unable to speak, and in an attempt to tell their individual stories to each other, resort to pulling cards from Tarot decks (an Italian deck at the castle and a French deck at the tavern). Because each of the cards (which are pictured) can be interpreted and re-interpreted many times, the narrator offers the most reasonable or logical explanation for each story. The possibilities are, quite literally, endless, and you are left to decide how true the narrator's version might be. My knowledge of Tarot is practically non-existent, so some of the cards were baffling and some of the stories bizarre. But it was thought-provoking.

Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe is on the 1001 Must Read list, and, while I left Moll stranded in Virginia months ago when my reading was diverted to other works, I did finish her tale. No wonder she is consistently banned as a read--prison, slavery, lechery, thievery, not to mention incest, adultery, and abandoned children, with only superficial regard for religious practices. Moll is involved in all of these activities over her nearly 80 years. The return was worth the read.

Just finishing up Back Street by Fannie Hurst, What My Mother Doesn't Know by Sonya Sones, and some others on various banned books during Banned Book month.

So finished:

The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire That Saved America by Timothy Egan (2011)
Scavenger by David Morrell (75 Halloween Read)

The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire That Saved America by Timothy Egan was a very slow read until the action moved back to the fire. Egan writes very well and this history started off at the scene of the much of the action involving forest rangers, but it shifted for nearly one-third of the book to a political history involving Teddy Roosevelt, Gifford Pinchot (the first Chief of the US Forest Service), William Howard Taft, the Gilded Age, politics involving the concept and creation of a parks system to be a "conservation" of our lands for future generations, and wild and wooly politicos and politics. All of the background certainly makes it easier to understand what happened during the fire, but, compared to the narrative of the fire itself--well, the text was terribly unexciting. However, once the narrative returned to action in Wallace, Avery, and the hills where ill-equipped rangers, together with conscripted fire crews, the Buffalo Soldiers, and unlikely heroes, worked to save towns and a burn area that was larger than the state of Connecticut and burned in less than 72 hours--well, it was nearly impossible to put down.

Scavenger by David Morrell is one of the reads on this year's Halloween thread, and is the sequel to last year's Creepers. I found Creepers an okay read, but I enjoyed Scavenger as a fast-paced thriller. Frank Balenger and Amanda return as the protagonists who find themselves through a scam involved in two parts of a "obstacle and scavenger hunt." The hunt is for a time capsule, involves video gaming, lots of electronics, and lots of horrific punishment for losers of the game. Frank and Amanda attend a lecture on time capsules which ends with both of them blacking out. Amanda finds herself in a group of five survivors (a Marine pilot; two Everest hiker/guides; and a woman who survived on a raft for a long period). Amanda, of course, survived Creepers. The group is outfitted in colored jumpsuits, wool socks, hiking boots, and headsets, plus GPS handhelds. They are told that any non-participation (trying to escape, remove the clothing or equipment, or simply refusing to participate) will result in punishment, including death. They are on a quest to find a time capsule. Balenger finds himself still in New York/New Jersey. Both groups have a time limit to resolve the "game" and win their lives. While some of the situations were awfully coincidental and there was some lag in the storyline, the information on time capsules and millenium fever was fascinating. I enjoyed this one much more than the first novel.

Good to know, I wasn't a huge fan of Creepers either, well I hated the last part but did find it to be a fast page turner. I'll check out Scavenger and see if it's a better fit.

#125--In reflecting, some my antipathy to Creepers (although certainly not all) is that I am claustrophic enough to be given Valium for MRIs and my acrophobia keeps me quite a distance from the windows on the 42nd floor on which I work. LOL! Much of the action in Scavenger is in the wide open space. However, I found this story cleaner, the special focus on video gaming, time capsules, and millenium fever more interesting--and the lead characters are more well-rounded. It's also a very fast read.

Glad that Scavengers was a better read than the first one.

Finished two of the several books I'm reading this week:

7 Steps to Midnight by Richard Matheson (75 Halloween Read)
Back Street by Fannie Hurst

7 Steps to Midnight by Richard Matheson, listed for the Halloween Read this year, was a serious disappointment to a fan of Matheson's writing. The story is either too short or too long, depending on which way Matheson resolved the "thriller." After an interesting premise, wherein a mathematician in a government project suddenly finds a doppelganger in his home, his friends and family not knowing him, different sets of bad guys (government? mob? reincarnated killers?) chasing him from Arizona to London to Rome to Lucerne and mostly back again, our hero falls in love, solves his "block" about the problem he working on when the chase started, gets kidnapped, doped, finds illusive references to "steps to midnight," and then the story just stops while a deus ex machina steps in to explain it all away. That is, with the exception of the illusive title. I was extremely frustrated by this story by a master of suspense and very chilling short stories. Argh!!!! Matheson is just mostly so very much better than this novel.

Back Street by Fannie Hurst was an entry on my private 2011 reading list, in a category which includes "failed to complete in several past years's lists). It was listed in a category of authors in each of the states on the classic Route 66, and Fannie Hurst was my choice for Missouri. Back Street and Imitation of Life are her two best-known-today novels, mostly because both have been made into numerous films. The novel itself is relatively simple: Ray Schmidt, a young woman with a mind of her own, who runs her father's trimmings shop in Cincinnati, enjoys spending her time with men. She never steps over the line of sexual activity, but she is a consummate flirt. While many young men want her, only one truly loves her, but she cannot return the love except as affection for a friend. Then one day she meets a young Jewish man and they fall into love, spending much time together talking and walking and planning. When circumstances prevent Ray from meeting Walter on a critical day (she was to be introduced to his mother), her life changes forever. He marries and she moves to New York. They reunite five years later in a chance meeting on the street, and she becomes his "back street" wife. Over the next more than 25 years, the novel follows their relationship from her perspective. She realizes that she is giving up her life for his time and pleasure, but she cannot resist the connection, although she tries several times to move forward. In the end, she is left with nothing.

I was about one-third of the way through the novel, when TCM showed the 1941 and the 1961 film adaptations of the novel back-to-back. The entire back story of Ray's connection to her step-niece was totally eliminated from both versions. The first version, made earlier, starred Irene Dunne, but the 1941 version with Margaret Sullavan and Charles Boyer was close to the novel's storyline. Boyer's "foreignness" replaced the Jewish references, but the characters and story were true. It is a three-hanky type of film. The 1961 version with Susan Hayward and John Gavin irritated me so much I was talking back to the screen. Ray has a highly successful career (eliminating any financial reliance on Walter necessary to the lessons of the story); Walter's wife is given rant and rave time and discovers the affair (Corinne is totally ignorant of it in the novel); Walter's children are much, much younger; and a sickly happy ending is stitched so everything works out. Argh!!!!!!

So, now I'm immersed in several books: continuing The Count of Monte Cristo; historically connected to John Adams: Party of One; and chilling with Halloween reads Mercy and Cabal. Oh and learning about Gertrude Stein from her Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas.

I really have to read the unabridged version of The Three Musketeers. I've seen the five major English-language film versions now (starting with Walter Abel in the 1930s and ending with the latest version in theatres now), and a couple of the not-so-major versions, and sigh a lot. I think Dumas would have laughed with delight at the latest romp through his story, which includes airships and interactive maps, and fighting on the roof of Notre Dame, and which is set for the sequel. But when I want something close to the storyline, I go back to Richard Lester's version with Michael York as D'Artagnan in two films-even if Raquel Welsh is playing Constance (who thought that would be good fit?). Oh well, this one is fun and lively, and has a fabulous Richelieu. Orlando Bloom as Buckingham is fun, but really, having Milla Jovavich strip to her undies to steal the necklace, after having outfought 10 guardsmen on a palace balcony? Just enjoy the ride.

I agree, the film was entertaining but not the best.

The film was a little on the lame side. I think they should have really gone all the way with the steampunk elements. That would have made it worthwhile. It was as if they chickened out in the final cuts of the script.

True, but I sat there laughing because it looked like Dumas and Verne had concocted a new twist on French historical fiction. I did like the trio (Athos, Porthos, and Aramis) and I thought this was one of best Richelieus I've seen in these films. I really do have to read the full version of the novel.

Me too!

I've never been a particular Michael York fan but that version did seem to take some interest in what Dumas actually wrote. I haven't seen the latest one—somehow, the trailers with Jovavich wielding a sword had me saying, "Really? Is that really where you want to go with this?"

Jovavich is completely out of place. The best bits are with the three main Musketeers, but there is far too little of them.

I have not yet seen this new one (oh, hello, how are things, been a while, etc.) but can it really be worse (or, from my teenaged eyes back in the day -- better) than the Chris O'Donnell/Charlie Sheen/Kiefer Sutherland film? Although, I must say, I always did like Oliver Platt. :)

Hi there! De-lurking to comment on 2 of your reads from October--Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! sounds like something that would be interesting for my class to work on (I teach youth theatre). I'd never heard of it before, but it turns out that it is available at my library.

I read Back Street about 20 years ago. I remember it zipping along and then by the end I was so mad at what happened to Ray. I watched the 2 versions on TCM, too. I agree that Charles Boyer worked well as Walter, even though he wasn't Midwestern. I loved Margaret Sullavan as Ray. I HATED the 1961 version, too. Laughable. Especially the end when his children come to see her. Oh well, I enjoyed the fashions!

Sandy K