elkiedee in 2011, thread 1

I'm Luci, and I live in London, England.

I've no idea how many books I'll read in 2011 - my aim isn't necessarily to match last year for quantity (319 books!), for various reasons.

1. I read a lot more from the beginning of last year than in 2009 when I read 49 books - I was in maternity leave until late October after my second son was born. My reading rocketed when I received scary news in February, as my mum was diagnosed with cancer and I responded by burying myself in books. She's made a good recovery, but I hope it won't come back and that this will be a better year for us all.

2. I've always been a night owl but last year was beyond ridiculous, I need to get to bed earlier. Today was New Year's Day and I still have 2 non work days, so it's ok to stay up late, but from Monday night on I have to aim for more sleep, that might mean less reading.

3. I'd like to review more of what I read better. Last year I had a goal of reviewing at least 52 books for the Bookbag, and managed 57 - 6 were children's picture books which don't take long to read but require as much effort to review for me. I received 2 more, one read to review, one current read.

My goal is again to write at least one a week, but if I can manage more - I'd also like to keep up better as I've slowed down in writing the reviews in the last few months, and that's not fair.

I also had books through ER (9 books, 2 months when there was nothing I wanted to read) 2 books still to read, 3 to review - and for newbooks mag, W H Smith's website (4, 1 still to read and review), Waterstones website (2, 1 to review) and newbooks mag (a magazine/website - 7 books, 2 to read and review).

I've posted a few reviews of books I borrowed from the library on LT and on opinion sites, ciao and dooyoo - there have been a few books I aspired to review but had no obligation to as I'd bought or borrowed them myself in the last year, and this year I'd like to review more of these properly.

I'm hoping there may be other ways of receiving books for review (ones I really want to read).

Hello. Happy 2011.

Welcome back!

Here you are! Starred, etc...

Thanks

Aaaarggh

I lost a long post about reviewing and reading goals

1. 75 books or more - let's just see how many I end up with - no set target

2. 52 Bookbag reviews (1 a week), across a wide range of genres and including at least one non-fiction book a month

3. to continue reviewing books from other sources of books for review - including LT ER, Waterstones and W H Smith online, newbooksmag.com, Twitter wins. I've applied to be part of a First Look scheme for Virago but I don't know if I'll get anywhere

4. to review books occasionally which I've borrowed or bought from the library just because I want to rather than because I have a review obligation - there were probably about 20 such books I really, really meant to review and have written about 5 of them in 2010.

I intend to read at least one book a month in each of the following categories:

1. Akashic Noir anthology, continued from 2010
2. Virago Modern Classic, continued from 2010
3. Persephone Classic, continued from 2010
4. A Joan Aiken book, continued from 2010
5. a book set in Italy
6. an LGBT (lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender) book - defined by author/topic/characters

1-3 will probably continue indefinitely as there are 90 Persephones, about 40 Akashic Noirs and more than 500 VMCs. The books I already own will take me into next year. 4 started with JA's series of children's alternate history novels for children which starts with Wolves of Willoughby Chase but I have continued, I don't know if this will last all year because I'm not sure how many more books I own by her and since she died 6 years ago she isn't publishing new work.

5 and 6 are from reading challenges set up by Silvia aka Brightonblogger at her Book after Book blog - I thought they sounded interesting and I have more than enough books I want to read for both challenges.

http://bookafterbook.blogspot.com/2010/12/italy-in-books-reading-challenge-2011....

http://bookafterbook.blogspot.com/2010/12/lgbt-reading-challenge-2011.html

1. 03.01 Alison Uttley, A Traveller in Time (4.8)

2. 05.01 Joanna Biggar, That Paris Year (3.6)

3. 08.01 Cathi Unsworth, Bad Penny Blues (4.5)

4. 09.01 Anna Politkovskaya, Nothing But the Truth (4.7)

5. 10.01 Catherine Hall, Days of Grace (4.4)

6. 10.01 Philip Kerr, March Violets (3.9)

7. 14.01 Patti Smith, Just Kids (4.6)

8. 14.01 Winifred Holtby, South Riding (4.5)

9. 15.01 Gianrico Carofiglio, Involuntary Witness (4.2)

10. 16.01 Kate Harrison, The Secret Shopper's Revenge (4.4)

11. 17.01 Ellie Levenson, 50 Campaigns to Shout About (3.9)

12. 18.01 Denis Mackail, Greenery Street (3.7)

13. 19.01 Joan Aiken, The Last Slice of Rainbow and other stories (4.0)

14. 20.01 Veronica Henry, The Beach Hut (3.7)

15. 21.01 ed Tim McLoughlin, Brooklyn Noir (3.8)

16. 21.01 Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility (4.2)

17. 22.01 Marina Lewycka, A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian (4.2)

18. 23.01 Gyorgy Dragoman, The White King (4.0)

19. 24.01 Declan Hughes, The Wrong Kind of Blood (4.1)

20. 28.01 Julie Orringer, The Invisible Bridge (4.9)

21. 28.01 Ben Pastor, Lumen (3.8)

22. 29.01 Lisa Moore, February (4.7)

23. 30.01 Kate Harrison, The Secret Shopper Unwrapped (3.9)

24. 31.01 Anna Dale, Spellbound (4.2)

25. 31.01 Stella Duffy, Beneath the Blonde (3.8)

26. 02.02 Mike Gayle, The Importance of Being a Bachelor (3.0)

27. 04.02 Sam Eastland, Eye of the Red Tsar (2.4)

28. 04.02 Dervla Murphy, Silverland: A Winter's Journey Beyond the Urals (4.7)

29. 06.02 Carson McCullers, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (4.6)

30. 07.02 P L Travers, Mary Poppins Comes Back (4.1)

31. 08.02 Eleanor Catton, The Rehearsal (4.0)

32. 10.02 Kader Abolah, The House of the Mosque (4.1)

33. 10.02 Joolz Denby, The Curious Mystery of Miss Lydia Larkin and the Widow Marvell (4.0)

34. 10.02 Barbara Pym, A Glass of Blessings (4.2)

35. 11.02 Susan Maushart, The Winter of Our Disconnect (4.3)

36. 12.02 Eva Petulengro, The Girl in the Painted Caravan (3.9)

37. 12.02 Nella Larsen, Quicksand (4.1)

38. 14.02 Ariana Franklin, Mistress of the Art of Death (4.7)

39. 14.02 Nella Larsen, Passing (4.6)

40. 15.02 Mary Norton, Bedknob and Broomstick (4.1 - 3.9/4.3)

41. 15.02 Joan Aiken and Jan Pienkowski, The Kingdom Under the Sea and other stories (3.8)

42. 16.02 Sarah Blake, The Postmistress (4.2)

43. 17.02 Linda Grant, We Had It So Good (4.1)

44. 18.02 Paul Smith, Twitchhiker (3.7)

45. 18.02 Aimee Bender, The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake (4.4)

46. 19.02 Charles Emmerson, The Future History of the Arctic (4.1)

47. 20.02 Gail Jones, Five Bells (4.0)

48. 20.02 Karen Russell, Swamplandia! (4.8)

49. 21.02 Margaret Atwood, Writing with Intent (4.6)

50. 21.02 Elizabeth Berridge, Tell It to a Stranger (4.8)

51. 22.02 Lucy Maud Montgomery, Emily Climbs (4.7)

52. 24.02 Christopher Fowler, Full Dark House (4.2)

53. 25.02 ed Tim McLoughlin, Brooklyn Noir 2 (3.4)

54. 27.02 Sam Eastland, The Red Coffin (2.7)

55. 27.02 Jackie Kay, Red Dust Road (4.4)

56. 28.02 Lisa Lutz, The Spellman Files (4.1)

57. 03.03 Doris Lessing, Mara and Dann (4.2)

58. 04.03 Esther Freud, Lucky Break (4.4)

59. 05.03 Suzanne Ruta, To Algeria With Love (4.4)

60. 07.03 Sarra Manning, You Don't Have to Say You Love Me (4.6)

61. 07.03 Amy Chua, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother (4.3)

62. 08.03 Rachel Hawkins, Raising Demons (3.5)

63. 09.03 Barbara Mitchelhill, Run Rabbit Run (4.4)

64. 10.03 Mary Doria Russell, Dreamers of the Day (4.4)

65. 11.03 Kalinda Ashton, The Danger Game (4.5)

66. 11.03 Jane Shilling, The Stranger in the Mirror (4.0)

67. 12.03 Ruth Eastham, The Memory Cage (3.8)

68. 14.03 Susan Abulhawa, Mornings in Jenin (4.0)

69. 15.03 Rhiannon Lassiter, Ghost of a Chance (4.3)

70. 16.03 Molly Keane, Taking Chances (4.1)

71. 16.03 Mohsin Hamid, The Reluctant Fundamentalist (4.2)

72. 17.03 Johan Therin, Echoes from the Dead (4.1)

73. 18.03 Doris Lessing, Time Bites (4.1)

74. 19.03 Sarah Winman, When God Was a Rabbit (4.6)

75. 19.03 Diana Gardner, The Woman Novelist and other stories (4.1)

I'm going to copy this list and post my reviews on a 2nd thread.

Found and starred you. Look forward to hearing about the remaining Aikens, among other things - I'm still quite a few behind you...

Hey Luci!!!!!

Found you and starred you :)

Great! Glad you are back with us again, Luci!

Happy New Year Luci. Looking forward to seeing which Persephones you read this year.

Looking forward to following your reading, Luci. Sounds like there will lots of "goodies". I remember reading Joan Aiken in my early teens and am planning to read Midnight is a Place soon.

I enjoyed Midnight is a Place as a child and enjoyed a reread last year. I was interested to see how she returned to the same themes, particularly in Is and Cold Shoulder Road, two of her later books featuring Dido Twite's younger sister, which I read for the first time last year (they hadn't been written when we were kids, as I think you're close in age to me).

I read her Armitage Family collection The Serial Garden last year and liked it's old fashioned magical feel.

It will be the first time I read Midnight is a Place. Funnily enough I didn't read any of Aiken's books as a young child but I borrowed a couple of her collections for teenagers when I was a bit older, from a friend - I don't remember much about them except thinking they were weird in a good way! I suppose they'd be labelled Young Adult now. I think I also recognise some of her younger children's books from Jackanory!

I found an old Puffin edition of Midnight is a Place at our local scouts jumble sale last month and couldn't resist. I always meant to read the Wolves of Willoughby Chase series with my older son but I have a feeling he'll consider himself too old now. He'll be thirteen this year. My younger boy is ten but less keen on reading, though they might be something I could try with him. I'll probably just end up reading them myself!

I like the sound of The Serial Garden collection. Another one to look out for!

If you do persuade one or both of your sons to read them, it wouldn't hurt them to start with Black Hearts in Battersea - it was the first book I read and it works as well as a starting point as its predecessor. The advantage is that a young man, Simon, perhaps late teens, is the main character. He appears in The Wolves of Willoughby Chase too and has been invited to come to London by a friend from that book and study art. This book also introduces Dido Twite, who reappeared in later books because readers liked her in this one and the author was persuaded to change her original intention.

I bought The Serial Garden when I found out it existed, as well as several collections of stories secondhand that I hadn't known about before (because of my age when they were published or the fact that they never came out in Puffin and I would have only found them otherwise if I'd seen them in the library).

I've finished my first book of the year this morning:

1. 03.01.11 Alison Uttley, A Traveller in Time 4.8*

TIOLI: Popularity lower than 10,000

A reread of a childhood favourite, though lots I'd forgotten. Penelope and her brother and sister visit her aunt and uncle's farm, where she falls in love with the present day home and enjoys the lifestyle, but finds herself carried back in time on a number of occasions to the 1580s, where the old house is occupied by the aristocratic Babington family, and a young man is involved in plans to help Mary Queen of Scots escape imprisonment. Penelope has her present day knowledge of how it ends - the execution of Mary and of her supporters for treason (plotting against Queen Elizabeth I). My rating includes a sentimental favourite element but it stands up well to rereading as an adult too. I'd like to write a more detailed review of this when I've caught up with my review commitments.

Welcome back Luci!

#22 I've had that one wishlisted since Suzanne (chatterbox) read it for the time travel challenge back in November. I may get it out of the library and see if I can also squeeze it in this month...

I've finished my second book

2. 05.01.11 Joanna Biggar, That Paris Year 3.6*

Early Reviewer book - still to be reviewed (rather late)

Jan TIOLI: Proper noun in title

5 young American women in Paris in the early 1960s - the story is told by one of them and framed by her talking to some US college students as a former student at the same place herself - she reports her own experiences, her observations of her friends and some stories they've told her.

This is from a small press which makes me wary, and came with a letter proclaiming lots of grand French literary influences which made me warier. Really not a bad read, but the author might benefit from a more commercial publisher and editor/appropriate publicity, as this is a perfectly entertaining way to pass the time and could do well as chicklit about college girls.

Thinking about a proper review!

23.01: Review now written:

This is the story of 5 young American women spending a year studying in Paris, in 1962. JJ, the narrator, is recounting their experiences 10 years later, in a talk to students at her fomer US college.

The appearance of the book was a bit contradictory, a thick trade paperback with an attractive cover but rather nasty thick, poorly cut paper inside. I liked the artwork which drew me to the book, but I was very put off by the blurbs on the back and inside covers, signed by writers or critics I’ve never heard of with references to Proust, Malraux, Colette, Camus, Sartre, de Beauvoir (no Zola, Mauriac, Sagan?) I really like some of those French literary greats but this seemed unlikely to be a new addition to the canon.

It turned out to be quite a good read – no literary masterpiece despite the references, and I don’t even remember there being much about the writers mentioned in the novel. This is a sort of coming of age story, with a bit of Parisian atmosphere, love affairs, future dreams and teenage angst. It’s quite long and some of the presentation doesn’t make sense – how would someone have time to tell the whole story in one talk. While reading, I cared what happened, although I’ll soon forget it.

With a better known publisher and a tough editor to rein in some self indulgence, I think Biggar could write intelligent commercial fiction.

Here's an outrageously late LTER review of Pereira Maintains, a book I read in November and have decided that I need to reread soon:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/100468#2350117

and on the book's LT page

http://www.librarything.com/work/142748

Oh, I love, love, love, love that book, Luci!! (A Traveller in Time, I mean.) I didn't actually re-read it for the challenge, because I can't lay hands on it at present (gulp).

Hope you are ok Luci - from something you said on the Readathon thread yesterday. Whatever the real life pressures are at present, I hope you manage to escape for a bit with some good reading.

Thanks Genny. I'm a bit upset because we're having a lot of rows, and when I posted yesterday we'd had one of our worst ever. Reading does at least calm me down a bit, but I'm still quite upset, especially as I got another load of nastiness this evening. Then C took a while to settle, and I fell asleep with him for a bit.

I hope things calm down for you soon, Luci. ((Hugs))

Sorry to hear that Luci. Hope things settle down soon.

I'm sorry it's been so hard lately. Hope things improve for you.

Sending trans-Atlantic hugs, my dear. Hope all this is transitory.

Thanks for all your kind messages.

Today's been a bit better, though we came home a bit late from our friends' party where the kids were taken under the wing of the older ones and Danny had to be prised away. Then I had great difficulty settling Conor to sleep, dozed off myself and had a bad dream which was a sort of scene from the denouement of a crime story but I resolved the way you deal with a demented toddler - I somehow got the gun out of his hands and we put it on top of a high cupboard out of his reach! Then I realised I didn't have to be in this rather unpleasant dream and woke myself up.

I'm a bit disappointed that I can't post on the Readathon, though my final tally is only 13 more pages, a total of 235.

I bought 5 books from Big Green Books today (3 for me, 2 for the kids), not the cheap ones in the sale but they were giving 10% off RRP and they have a loyalty scheme where you get a point for every £5 and then get £5 off when you get 10 points. 10% reward can't be bad and I must go back there more often and support my local indie bookshop. Nearly all the other London indies I used to love have gone. We had a chain bookshop which was taken over by Waterstones for a while in Wood Green, then they closed it down and Big Green Books opened up a while later, nearly 3 years ago I think.

I also bought 5 books from a charity shop.

My haul:

The Big Green Bookshop

Christobel Kent, A Time of Mourning
ed Bo Tao Michaelis, Copenhagen Noir
Geraldine McCaughrean, The White Darkness

Helen Nicolls & Jan Pienkowski, Mog in the Fog and Meg Up the Creek

Charity shop

Margot Berwin, Hothouse Flower
E Arnot Robertson, Four Frightened People - the one Peggy hated but I still couldn't resist a VMC I don't have in quite good condition and for £1
Louise Wener, Goodnight Steve McQueen
Michael Morpurgo, Friend or Foe
Alan Warner, The Sopranos - I have this one already but this is better condition, I think

3. 08.01.2011 Cathi Unsworth, Bad Penny Blues 4.5*

TIOLI: (14) Colour in title

Crime novel set in 1960s London, mostly around Notting Hill. An ambitious young policeman is chasing a serial killer, but things keep happening to key witnesses and evidence. A young woman developing a career in fashion design, whose family were spiritualists, keeps having nightmares which reflect what is really happening to the murdered prostitutes, and gets really frightened.

The plot sounds stupid but what works really well in this novel is the evocation of 60s atmosphere and attitudes of the time and the characterisation is done well. Cathi Unsworth is a music journalist and the novel and its chapters take their titles from songs of the time.

Recommended.

#34: Nice haul, Luci! The only one of the books that you picked up that I have actually heard of is Four Frightened People, which I did not hate. I cannot wait to see what you think of the others you bought.

I am glad to hear that today was a bit better for you.

Hello for 2011- the chain book shops always seem to weedle their way in dont they? Its nice to try to support the independent ones, but prices can be prohibitive sometimes. I still like browsing though :-)

Some interesting books in your haul, I haven't heard of most of them, but my family were big fans of Meg and Mog back in the day. Bad Penny Blues sounds interesting.

Hope you're doing okay today. (((Hugs)))

The new Meg & Mog books went down very well with Danny and Conor.

Hi Luci. I hope things are going well today. Nothing like a bit of book shopping to lift the spirits!

I love Meg and Mog! I used to read them to the children in my class when I was a primary school teacher and then to my own kids. I still have the books even though my boys have moved on to the Manga stage and I don't teach little ones anymore!

I've been looking out for Bad Penny Blues (ie hoping for it to turn up in a charity shop) since reading Dtorres's review on her blog a few months back. I've not been lucky yet but I have found a copy of The Not Knowing which I think is Unsworth's first novel.

Hello Luci, glad to hear you've done some book shopping! I don't know most of those, but I love Jan Pienkowski's illustrations of fairy tales etc. I'm glad Danny and Conor like their new books.

4. 09.01.11 Anna Politkovskaya, Nothing But the Truth: Selected Dispatches

to be reviewed for the Bookbag

TIOLI: Popularity below 10,000

Anna Politkovskaya was murdered in October 2006, aged 48 - she was a journalist who had incurred the wrath of a number of people for her writings, particularly about the wars in Chechnya. She was quite critical of nearly everyone involved, deservedly if from what I've read in this collection of her journalism, mostly from the last 6 years of her life.

This is brilliant and important writing but some of the content is grim reading, as there is a lot about Chechnya, including children seeing their mothers and all their families being killed in front of them.

I finished this this afternoon - I thought it was going to be a 5 star read but I was a bit disappointed by the amount of space at the back given to words about her rather than to her work. Her husband's piece was interesting and so was her friend's, but her writings end at page 386 of 458 pages, then there are 60 pages of other people's writing (of which 17 are really interesting), then a 4 page list of all the journalism awards and other honours she received, and I thought this was a bit excessive and they could have included more of her work. I think 4.6.

Formal review for the Bookbag pending, it will probably include this comment.

Updated: review is now up at the Bookbag:

http://www.thebookbag.co.uk/reviews/index.php?title=Nothing_but_the_Truth:_Selec...

#43: Thanks for the recommendation of that one, Luci. I will look for it.

She was such an intrepid journalist; she had to know what would happen, and yet she persevered. If we all could find ways to be as courageous as she was in the face of evil and corruption...

5. 10.01.11 Catherine Hall, Days of Grace 4.4*

TIOLI 1: Rating 4.03 (I think but it's within range) - would also fit Proper Noun Challenge as Grace is a character name

An elderly woman is dying of cancer and remembers her experiences as a wartime evacuee with a middle class family in Kent and her friend Grace. In the present day, she befriends a young single mother. I really enjoyed reading this novel, but I'm struggling to explain why in more detail without spoilers.

#46: My local library has that one. I will have to check it out some time. Thanks for the recommendation, Luci!

Hope things are going better there for you :)

Conor refused to go to sleep until quite late last night and Mike got very cross but we managed to avoid a full scale row and it was ok in the end, thanks Stasia.

I am glad the full scale row was avoided, Luci.

Hi, Luci. Sending peaceful vibes your way! I'll be interested to see what you think of Four Frightened People! I did hate it, but I think Elaine hated it even more! Anyway, she wrote a devastating review that you should probably save for after you've read it yourself.

You may have a long wait, as I suspect I might not get round to reading it for a while, lots of other VMCs I want to read or reread more.

I hope this evening has been more peaceful for all of you, Luci.

6. 10.11.01 Philip Kerr, March Violets 3.9

TIOLI 1st in series

I've been meaning to read this for a while, as well as Suzanne here one of my online and offline crime reading friends has talked a lot about books in this series positively.

I thought the concept of a PI series set in Nazi Germany was interesting and liked reading the story, I quite enjoyed the mimicking of American PI fiction of the period, was a bit disturbed by the idea of Goering as a Dashiell Hammett fan. I didn't quite believe in the ending, but am looking forward to continuing with the series - just as well as my copy of this is part of a 3 book omnibus edition, Berlin Noir. I'm not starting #2 straight away because there are other books I need to prioritise.

I participated in the latest readathon from 9 pm Sunday to 9 pm Monday my time- actually from some time after midnight with last pages read at 8.45 pm, as we were running a bit late with bath time etc. I read 262 pages, including a good chunk of South Riding, 40 pages of The Secret Shopper's Revenge and bits of 4 other books. I didn't expect to finish anything during the readathon as I'd finished reading 2 books in the previous 24 hours and South Riding is a long book. Conor has slept this evening but won't be moved into his cot.

Hi, how old is Conor? (just creating a picture for myself) Sleep refusal is so hard, good luck for upcoming nights :-)

He'll be 2 in 3 weeks time. He was tricky before he went to sleep tonight, but did go to sleep and I managed to get him in his cot, for the time being. Now when we hear noises upstairs it's wondering if Danny's getting up or C's climbed out of his cot!

My latest Bookbag review is up, for book 318 for 2010, which I finished reading before the New Year. It's for a controversial Israeli novel set in 19th century Palestine, Alon Hilu's The House of Rajani, which won a prestigious literary award, the Sapir Prize, and then it was withdrawn.

I thought it was interesting but found the writing style and the characterisation difficult to get on with.

http://www.thebookbag.co.uk/reviews/index.php?title=The_House_of_Rajani_by_Alon_...

7. 14/1 Patti Smith, Just Kids 4.6

TIOLI January: LT best books of 2010

Patti Smith's memoir of a relationship between soulmates, artist Robert Mapplethorpe and herself. They were lovers for a time but they never stopped being good friends. Beautifully written and many of the illustrations are photographic portraits taken by Mapplethorpe (who died of AIDS in 1989). I cried at the end.

Highly recommended.

>58 elkiedee:: I heard some of this on the radio last year and wondered about adding it to the wishlist. I think I will now!

I heard most of the radio serialisation, but there was a lot in the book that wasn't included (not surprisingly given the time). Also, the book contains some beautiful photos. I think it might have just come out in paperback (I read a library hardback).

#58: I am debating whether I should reveal that I have no idea who Patti Smith is.

#61 Stasia, it's not just you. I had to look her up when her book started getting reviewed all over LT! And now I've forgotten, but a singer.

Luci I haven't been here for ages but as usual have really enjoyed reading your reviews. That Palestine one sounded like it had my name in flashing lights, until I got to the bit in your review saying you didn't like the prose or the characterisation. Never mind. And great review!

I read March Violets and have the next FOUR waiting. (I blame Suzanne.) I enjoyed it too, and agree about the ending, but it didn't matter by then because I liked the main character.

Our daughter has been a troublesome sleeper since she was born, so you're not alone. It's so stressful when you're exhausted and the kids are not. She's 4 now and much better but ends up in our bed most nights - but at least she sleeps now. And she doesn't need much sleep, which means evenings are non-existent - she's usually awake till 9. Is your bigger son a good sleeper?

#62: I am glad to know it is not just me. I had never heard of her before.

Patti Smith became most famous as a musician, mainly of albums. I suspect her best known hit single isn't typical of her work although I love it - Because the Night was actually written by Bruce Springsteen, though she only mentions it in passing, that Bob (Mapplethorpe) was pleased when this was so successful. I think her typical work is more alternative in style. I have a vinyl copy of her most famous album, Horses, but reading Just Kids has made me want to get a couple of CDs. When she married and had children she took some time out, but has since been widowed and seems to travel over here regularly. She's doing some public appearances in London soon, but most of them have been sold out, including the one at Rachael's work (the LRB bookshop).

For a lot of the period this book focuses on though, she was doing a lot of art, and she wrote poetry before getting involved in music.

The Patti Smith book sounds very interesting - I think that is one I may have to buy. She was married to Fred 'Sonic' Smith from the group the MC5 (although I imagine that people who haven't heard of Patti Smith are unlikely to have heard of MC5, but I quite like them)

Just Kids was one of my favorite reads last year. When Patti Smith won the National Book award for nonfiction she gave a tearful speech about how she loves books,books as objects, real books that you can hold in your hand. She got a standing ovation.

#62 Stasia -- Patti Smith is known as the punk poetess. I've heard her described as the queen of punk rock, although that is debatable. Most famous for her band The Patti Smith Group from the mid 70s to early 80s. She started recording again in the early 90s after the death of her husband. In between, and since, she has published many books of poetry.

Cushla, I was going to put The House of Rajani up on a swap site, but let me know if you'd like me to send you it. Are you on Book Mooch? I've promised 75ers a couple of other books through BM, and I'm sorry I haven't done it yet but I will (a spare copy of Archer's Goon which was 25p and clearly needed a good home for Heather I think, and something for Genny which I can't remember at the moment but will.

8. 14.01 Winifred Holtby, South Riding 4.5

TIOLI Jan 11 challenge 1, av rating 4.0

A reread of a book I remembered enjoying years ago but not much of the detail. Yorkshire didn't have a South Riding, at the time this book was written and set (1935 - it was published after the author's death in 1936) the area would have been East Yorkshire, as it is now again (it's been through a lot of reorganisations). It was interesting, as a council worker, to read a novel set in local government.

The most significant characters are a 40 year old teacher, Sarah Burton, and two local politicians, Emma Beddows, who is 72 and the only female alderman, and Carne, a man whose wife has been in an asylum for many years.

My comments on it are very much a personal opinion, not an attempt at a review. It's hard to describe the story and it doesn't sound like much to sustain nearly 500 pages but it goes by really quickly and I found it fascinating. The only Labour Party representative on the council (presumably) is referred to as a socialist, and he isn't one of the main characters. Local government has been affected by cuts and privatisation/outsourcing here for at least 3 decades and it's sort of odd to read about a world where the politicians share a commitment to public service and the council is building and setting things up, and anyone looking for a profit is one of the corrupt characters.

Current reading:

Denis Mackail, Greenery Street
Persephone reprint of a 1925 novel about a young couple's first year of married life. Witty but the author tells enough that you can draw your own conclusions and then decides that you might have missed the point so tells you anyway, a bit irksome at times.

Ellie Levenson, 50 Campaigns to Shout About
ARC for review for New Books Mag - the book gives reasons for a campaign existing and why people should join it, how to get in touch with the campaign, and talks to existing workers and volunteers in the campaigns, including being nice to refugees, the living wage. I'm reading it the way I am because I need to review it, it's the sort of book you'd normally browse/use for reference/read selectively rather than straight through.

Veronica Henry, The Beach Hut
Another chicklit novel, freebie sent to me with The Secret Shopper Unwrapped to comment on/rate.

ed Tim McLoughlin, Brooklyn Noir
Akashic short story collection anthology

Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility
A reread for a group read discussion

Marina Lewycka, A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian
My own TIOLI challenge on migration and a shared read

If I can find my copy of A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian I will join in that challenge too.

I thought briefly that I wasn't going to be able to find Tractors myself. I've also lost my copy of The Beach Hut - just as well it's not the sort of book I normally keep, and the library near work had a copy in on the shelves. Last time I lost a book in the mddle of reading I ended up having to pay fulll cover price in a hurry (fortunately that was a book I wanted to keep).

#71: I went through a book search last week, tearing up my house trying to find a cookbook that my husband had moved - of course, he claimed he never touched it - and finally located it under one of the end tables in my living room. I hate when books go missing!

9. 15.01.11 Gianrico Carofiglio, Involuntary Witness 4.2

TIOLI first in series, set in Italy, though I could arguably have listed it under my own challenge

I'm planning to try and read/review a book set in Italy each month and this was one I bought years ago after hearing the author speak. Though I borrowed it from the library as I'm not sure where my own copy is....

This is not meant as my review, just a bit of waffle, will come back with a review soon.

Guido is a defence lawyer and he takes on an apparently hopeless case of a Senegalese immigrant accused of murder of a 9 year old boy. He and the reader are convinced of the man's innocence but the system is stacked against him, and this book (by a man who is known as an anti Mafia judge) takes a very critical perspective on the Italian legal system and its institutional racism (and bias against poor defendants).

Guido is quite depressed about his own life and his failures particularly in personal relationships, and spends a lot of time thinking about the past and smoking lots of cigarettes.

I've probably made this sound really dreary but I enjoyed it, and look forward to reading the other two in the series (I own #2 and even think I know where it is).

10. 16.01.11 Kate Harrison, The Secret Shopper's Revenge 4.4

TIOLI first in series

Chicklit, and a really fun read. Bookmooch acquisition. I've been sent the sequel to this (and another free book) with forms to fill on with my ratings for a project, which is part of a shortlisting process for a romantic comedy award. 3 women from very different backgrounds find themselves working as a team for a mystery shopping firm to assess the behaviour of shop workers towards them. Strong characterisation, women getting together to solve their problems, funny.

11. 17.01.11 Ellie Levenson, 50 Campaigns to Shout About 3.9

TIOLI, popularity below 10,000 (in this case, below 2 million, but then I have the only copy on LT and it's not due to be published for 4 months yet!)

ARC for review for newbooksmag - you have to make 3 choices when you request a book and I think this must have been my 3rd choice. Saying that, it was interesting enough. It's clearly not written to be read straight through, it's a reference/ideas book.

Ellie Levenson is a journalist and Labour Party member, and has chosen 50 good causes, some are quite political and controversial, others are more widely accepted and more charitable in nature - they include campaigning for abortion rights (pro-choice), against low pay, child labour, various discrimination, supporting parents, joining a trade union. There is advice on press releases, lobbying politicians, getting other people involved. Each campaign only gets 4-5 pages at most so it's not in depth. I liked that each campaign included talking to someone active in that area, including the author's husband in a couple of cases.

The emphasis is very much on campaigning to influence politicians and individual decisions on consumer choices (bottled water, plastic bags) and being a campaign volunteer. The book is focused very much on would be campaigners here in Britain. There isn't much on how to get involved in, for example, direct action, student occupations (big issues here at the moment) or industrial action. But I will probably keep it as there's some useful information in it.

I remember reading the Secret Shopper series -- just avoid the third book, which is Christmas themed and should never have been printed (IMO...)

I have a feeling that's the second one, Suzanne, which is the one I've been sent to assess. It's Christmas themed. The third one isn't officially published yet. I'll let you know what I think.

Checking in -- finally got back online! xox

Hi there!

#77; whoops, have a feeling that you're right. Hope I haven't spoiled it for you... The author's other books have all been reasonably entertaining chick lit, too.

12. 18.01.11 Denis Mackail, Greenery Street (3.7)

Persephone reprint, TIOLI colour in title

First published in 1925, this novel is about young newly weds living in Chelsea. It's sort of charming in a way, and sometimes funny, but suffers sometimes from the author being unable to resist reinforcing his point to check you've understood. They're quite well off but don't see it that way, and when Felicity's not worrying about how to hide her overspending from her husband she's worrying about the servants. I found her silliness quite annoying.

Like many Persephone reprints, it is a fascinating look at how a certain social class lived at a certain time.

Although they do read for entertainment, the account of how Felicity chooses library books for them made me feel she's not really a bookworm, as does her ownership of just 24 books including childhood ones and presents that she's never likely to read.

One aspect I did really like is the portrait of the shifts in the relationship between Felicity and her big sister Daphne.

Enjoyable but flawed, hence rating which is more than 3.5 but less than 4.

I finally made time to read your thread (starred it at the beginning of the month so as not to lose it). You've undertaken quite a lot of reviewing commitments with two little boys to ride herd on!

Incidentally, I almost embarrassed myself totally by asking you what the numbers between the book number and the title were - then realized it was the more rational method of writing the date! Whew - saved.

Here's hoping the rest of your month goes calmly and you get great pleasure from your reading and your boys.

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

83: What a great idea - I really like doing themed challenges. There's a link at the bottom of the Take it or Leave it Wiki to a TIOLI Wiki index from when we started - you can go into each month's Wiki and see the books that were listed for the themed challenges, and links to the threads where more books than anyone could actually get read were mentioned. I suggested Education, Policing (lots of crime and mystery novels but it would be good to find some non fiction for the list), the two World Wars (books about fighting and about the effects on people in any of the countries involved) and migration (both immigration and emigration), I think Joyce suggested Sex (and there was a terrific reading list for that, which I'd like to go back to some time).

That's lots of books read already Luci! I do enjoy reading your thoughts/reviews about the Persephone reprints, even the flawed ones. I've yet to spot any of those in my local Oxfam shop, clearly they are not what the people of Gosforth are reading (or if they are, they are holding on to them).

I've found 2 secondhand Persephones so far - Bricks and Mortar in perfect condition for £4 in a secondhand shop, Miss Buncle's Book in Oxfam Books Crouch End rather battered which I had already but bought for my mum (her husband loves Persephones because they're so gorgeous to look at too). I've borrowed 2 from the library, and I've bought the rest new from the shop which is a 15 minute walk from work. I think the flawed ones are still well worth reading, I did enjoy and find Greenery Street interesting but annoying.

I need to take a look at the Persephone list - I haven't seen those books yet.

13. 19.01 Joan Aiken, The Last Slice of Rainbow and other stories 4.0

Another collection of her short stories that I only learned existed recently. Lots of fun and recommended, though no standouts - there are no Armitage family stories in this collection, but the usual tales of very ordinary children and royal ones coming into touch with magic.

14. 20.01 Veronica Henry, The Beach Hut 3.7

TIOLI: Popularity below 10,000

The stories of a group of people who have beach huts in the same place - old secrets, love affairs etc. Jane has been widowed and has decided she whas to sell her beach hut, much to the dismay of some of her family.

I was sent a copy of this one, and another book, and asked to fill in a form giving it marks out of 10 for comedy, romance and a good story. These forms will be used to help draw up a shortlist for an award (in the chicklit genre). Will post more when I get the news about that award.

Not at all funny (I don't think it's meant to be), not that romantic but the storyline is fine and it was a good enough read - I missed it when I lost the copy sent to me in the middle of reading and had to borrow another copy from the library.

I generally have enjoyed Veronica Henry's books as good chicklit (thumping good reads) but that one I found a bit ho hum. The premise sets up an overly predictable plot, I think. Not romantic, but sentimental in the sense that all kinds of relationships are explored, not just 20-something romance. I liked it, didn't love it. Need to find some good chick lit as the last ones have been subpar...

#68 A copy of South Riding arrived for me this week. No idea when I will get round to it but I'm looking forward to it.

#81 She only owns 24 books?! Definitely not a bookworm...

I've caught up on reviews of review books I've read, briefly (I still have 2 on the go and 4 TBR). And my second romantic comedy book also on the go to read and evaluate.

Am now 4 books behind for this year on comments, will try to catch up soon.

Thought I'd cross post this.

Finished this week

Marina Lewycka, A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian

Gyorgy Dragoman, The White King

Now:

Declan Hughes, The Wrong Kind of Blood
Ed Loy returns home to Ireland after 20 years as a PI in America, because of his mum's death. He is asked to investigate something and comes across a whole heap of trouble. Not especially original but a great read and I look forward to reading the others in the series.

Julie Orringer, The Invisible Bridge
A young Hungarian Jewish architect is studying in Paris. The story starts in 1937. Very good indeed so far.

Ben Pastor, Lumen
Nazi occupied Poland, 1939. An abbess is murdered. Billed as a first in series with the main character a soldier in the German army. Review book for the Bookbag. I'm intrigued by where this is going - Martin Bora doesn't appear to be a committed Nazi. The author was born in Italy and has lived in the US for 30 years.

Lisa Moore, February
Booker longlist last year, review copy for the Bookbag.

Kate Harrison, The Secret Shopper Unwrapped
Chicklit, sequel to The Secret Shopper's Revenge which I loved. For evaluation as a romantic comedy (more of both than The Beach Hut.

Anna Dale, Spellbound
Children's book

Stella Duffy, Beneath the Blonde
Quirky crime novel, 3rd in Saz Martin series about a south London PI - I loved the first 2 books in this series

I am in awe at how many books you manage to read, Luci!

I might buy The Beach Hut for my mum. She has her own beach hut on the South Coast and they do seem to have their own little beach hut community down there!

I have February from a charity shop, but I'm waiting until February to read it - how sad is that!

15. 20.01 ed Tim McLoughlin, Brooklyn Noir 3.8

TIOLI Proper Noun, and my Akashic anthology for the month

The first Akashic Noir anthology - there were some good stories in it, but there were some that just felt to me trying too hard to be noir and shocking, or something.

16. 21.01 Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility 4.2

TIOLI 1 - rating of 3.8 to 4.2, Stasia's Jane Austen read/reread

At least the third time I've read this, not my favourite Austen (is it anybody's?). But I liked it better than the 2nd time I read it 7 or 8 years ago. Of the central characters, Elinor seems a little dull and Marianne is a rather silly young woman (but then she is a teenager, she's not really grown up, is she?) The best bit of this novel is the cast of truly awful characters who say outrageously unpleasant things.

Thanks to Stasia for starting this series of Austen group reads.

Lumen comes out here in May, so I've wishlisted the Kindle edition; it looks intriguing.

17. 22.01 Marina Lewycka, A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian 4.2

January TIOLI 13: Migration

I bought this years ago because I was so intrigued by the title, and can't believe how long it's taken me to get to reading it.

Nadezhda is dismayed when her elderly father, widowed a couple of years before, announces his plans to marry again, to a woman of 36. She and her older sister discuss how to stop it, and when it goes ahead, they worry about how to protect their father. In the process, Nadezhda learns about many of the darker family secrets of how her own family came to settle in Britain, and their experiences back in Ukraine.

I found the book quite witty, as I expected, initially, and then really quite uncomfortable to read in a way that surprised me as it developed, as the social comedy turns into a story of elder abuse.

I found it interesting that Nadezhda, as the substantially younger daughter (10 years or so) and the member of her family who doesn't remember being an immigrant herself, is the one of the sisters who normally holds liberal or more left wing sympathies (her father has called her a Trotskyist) while Vera has no qualms about regarding Valentina as a gold digger. I found the part where they start contacting the Immigration Service the most uncomfortable.

Interestingly, this book is one of several I've read this month with eastern European characters and history, and WWII, as key aspects of the story.

(My own view on immigration - to give context to how I read this book: I support rights to both refugees/asylum seekers and economic migrants to come and live in my country - I think a lot of the problems and the costs of the current system could be resolved by allowing immigrants rights to be treated the same way as people born and brought up in this country, for example, allowing people to work. Our current system is appalling, and a lot of European countries are even worse).

#96: I am glad you are enjoying the Austenathon, Luci. I hope you will stay with us the entire year.

18. Gyorgy Dragoman, The White King 4.0

TIOLI Hungary challenge

Although this is by a Hungarian writer, this is apparently set in Romania under Ceaucescu (that is never stated). It's a story about a boy growing up. His father has been taken off to a labour camp and although he's initially told that, he hears various scary things, and doesn't know whether his father's even alive. In the meantime, he gets into various conflicts and gets up to various escapades at school. I liked reading this, but it was another book where I found the sentences and paragraphs sometimes a bit long.

19. Declan Hughes, The Wrong Kind of Blood 4.1

TIOLI first in series

Ed Loy comes back to Ireland after his mother's death, he's been working away for 20 years. He is hired to investigate a disappearance, things get nasty and the case turns out to have a deeply personal dimension for him. I've been wanting to read this for a few years since I heard the author speak at a crime fiction conference, as I love PI fiction and I like books set in Ireland. It's always interesting to see how writers bring this American dominated sub-genre back to their own countries. Nothing particularly original, but I enjoyed reading this and found the 2nd in the series in a charity shop this month too. Hopefully it won't take me so long to get to reading it.

#101: That looks like one I would enjoy. Thanks for the recommendation, Luci.

Like you, Luci, I found Tractors an uncomfortable read, and not really very funny. I, too, am completely in favor of immigration, of the firm belief that it strengthens countries and cultures, and I didn't find it helpful to read such negative stereotypical views. Not sure I will read any of her other books now.

I've seen other reactions like yours, Janet, but I don't think the first person narrator is anti-immigration (nor her creator) - she's anti-Valentina, and she also feels uncomfortable as her reaction to her dad's wife clashes with her values, as shown in the way she refers to herself as Mrs (deport them) - I don't have the book with me so will have to check what she says. I read it as her mocking her own attitudes. The relationship shown is very exploitative.

Current reading Part 1:

Mike Gayle, The Importance of Being a Bachelor - review copy from WH Smith website - chicklit/ladlit novel - 3 late 30s sons from the Bachelor family deal with their relationship problems and worry about why their parents seem to have split up. It's the second book by him I've read and don't recommend it, he's a very clunky writer.

Sam Eastland, Eye of the Red Tsar - I have the second in the series to review through ER so borrowed the first from the library (my OCD kicks in). The main character worked for the Romanovs and has been imprisoned, his brother works for the Stalinist state and has got his brother out of prison to help him solve the mystery - the Romanovs weren't really shot by the Bolsheviks but they disappeared and Stalin needs to find out what happened. Not my thing, really, and not that well written.

Current reading Part 2:

Dervla Murphy, Silverland: A Winter's Journey Beyond the Urals - I've been wanting to read this for ages, finally bought a secondhand copy (I still think I might have another copy stashed away somewhere but can't find it or remember whether I actually bought it. Murphy travels across Siberia on a slow moving train and revisits people she met on an earlier trip, as well as meeting new ones, considering the effects of changes under Russian capitalism and the potential damage caused by cars. Lots of polemic mixed with the travel writing then. And she was in her mid 70s when she made the trip she writes about here (she'll be 80 this year). When I grow up I want to be Dervla Murphy. Or maybe I just need to read more of her books.

Carson McCullers, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
TIOLI shared read for challenge 1
I think I might have read this 20 years ago but have been wanting to read or reread it since Darryl raved about it last year.

Current reading Part 3:

P L Travers, Mary Poppins Comes Back TIOLI 2nd in series, the first was such fun that I wanted to read more

Eleanor Catton, The Rehearsal TIOLI 1st challenge (there) and shared read - and a book I've wanted to read since it was longlisted for the Orange Prize, especially as it's a debut by a Kiwi author (I've never been there but my mum's parents came from New Zealand).

Margaret Atwood, Writing with Intent - I just read her afterword to an edition of Anne of Green Gables

20. 28.01 Julie Orringer, The Invisible Bridge 4.9

TIOLI LT top rated books 2010 and shared read

(more comments later)

21. 28.01 Ben Pastor, Lumen 3.8

TIOLI: 1st in series, reviewed for the Bookbag

This book was a bit overshadowed by reading it at the same time as The Invisible Bridge, but it's another that I've upped my rating a bit when writing my review (I tend to do that) - I dithered for a while about rating it 3.5 or 4, and I've gone for the higher side of the borderline. I liked the moral ambiguity, and really hope Bitter Lemon will reprint her second book in this series, set in Italy in 1942.

Here's my review;

http://www.thebookbag.co.uk/reviews/index.php?title=Lumen_by_Ben_Pastor

22. 29.01.11 Lisa Moore, February 4.7

TIOLI: Rating between 3.8 and 4.2 (rating was 3.99 on Wiki, now 4)

Reviewed for the Bookbag

When the phone rings in the middle of the night, Helen thinks it must be bad news again. Nearly 27 years ago her oil rig worker husband died at sea on 14 February 1982 (Valentine's Day), leaving her with three children and a fourth on the way. This time, no one has died – her son John is travelling round the world but a woman he had a brief fling with is pregnant with his baby. He was phoning from Singapore. What should he do?

February is Canadian novelist Lisa Moore's second novel (she has also published two collections of short stories) and was longlisted for the Booker Prize. It is a thoughtful, contemplative book about coming to terms with the past and a different future from the one the characters envisaged. The narrative shifts between Helen and John, and also Jane, the pregnant woman. This is not a tightly plotted story – it is a narrative of thoughts, and while the characters have family and friends to interact with, they spend a lot of their time here alone with their thoughts. It's difficult to explain how all this reflection can make for such a compelling novel.

Full review here:

http://www.thebookbag.co.uk/reviews/index.php?title=February_by_Lisa_Moore

23. 30.01.11 Kate Harrison, The Secret Shopper Unwrapped 3.9

TIOLI less popular book, sent to me to evaluate

(I expressed interest in helping to read contenders for the Melissa Nathan romantic comedy awards (chicklit) - Melissa Nathan was a chicklit writer who died of breast cancer aged 37 a few years ago)

This is the second book about these characters and it was fun though not as good as the first - 3 women worked together doing mystery shopping - 2 20 somethings, single mother Emily and career woman Sandie, and an artist's widow from Italy, Grazia.

I found it entertaining though not as good as the first. The thing that bugged me about this book is that Grazia was obsessed with her age - only 45 - and I found some of her behaviour farfetched - I understand her concern about going out with a much younger man, but found the stuff about wrinkles etc a bit OTT.

(So much so that I've been searching online to find out KH's age - I guessed that she's within 3 years of my age and eventually found something that suggests she was born in 1968 (the same year as Adrian Mole, the year before me) and would have been 41 when writing this novel (my age now).

24. 31.01.11 Anna Dale, Spellbound 4.1

TIOLI Vowels in title alphabetical order, children's fantasy

I enjoyed another book by Anna Dale, Magical Mischief which I reviewed for the Bookbag last year. I'd consider this to be an older children's book, say 7/8 upwards. Athene (12) is really annoyed by her pesky 6 year old brother Zach, but when she tells him to climb into a tree and he disappears, she starts to miss him enough to go looking for him, finding herself in a strange and scary environment where she needs to make friends who can help her find Zach and get him safely home.

A really sweet story

25. 31.01.11 Stella Duffy, Beneath the Blonde 3.9

TIOLI 14: Colour in title, an LGBT author/character challenge from Book After Book blog

I still have to catch up with writing a review of this as part of the challenge, I've missed the January deadline but I'll still try to read/review at least 12 LGBT books this year (I actually read two which would fit the challenge last month as Just Kids is a memoir about a (heterosexual) relationship then friendship with a famous gay artist, Robert Mapplethorpe.

Saz Martin is a south London lesbian PI, and in her latest case she's asked to find out who is behaving in a threatening way to the singer in a band, Beneath the Blonde. I enjoy Duffy's writing style but didn't like this as much as the first two, thogh it was still a good read. There are quite a few sex scenes in this book as in the others - the first time I heard her speak, she said that she is unhappy about books where the violence is much more explicit than the sex so she tries to include plenty of sex in books too, and not to shy away from being explicit.

I do recommend reading in order, starting with Calendar Girl then Wavewalker.

Breakdown of reading for the month:

3 non-fiction books - one memoir, one a collection of journalism

3 children's books, including 1 reread

5 by men, 19 by women, 1 anthology of stories by men and women edited by a man

7 sent to me "for free"
3 for review at the Bookbag (and 1 read in December, reviewed in January)
1 LT early review book, one reviewed for NewBooksMag
2 filled in a very short evaluation form rather than reviewed

6 reviews written - 2 Bookbag, 2 LTER, 1 Waterstones and 1 NewBooks Mag

Settings: Italy, Poland 1939, France/Hungary 1930s to 1940s, 1980s Romania, 1930s Berlin, 1960s Paris, 21st century Russia/Chechnya, late 60s and 70s NYC, present day Brooklyn NY, 21sst century Canada, 1930s/16th century England, England in the early 19th century, the 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1960s and the present day, England/NZ present day.

3 books read in translation from other languages - Maygar, Russian and Italian, the rest originally written in English

Acquisition dates of books read: 4 in 2011, 9 in 2010, 1 in 2009, 1 in 2007, 7 older, 3 not owned

Acquired in January 2011 - 63 books including 5 for Danny and Conor

1 Bookmooch acquisition

to be passed on: 4

#114: Looks like you had a great reading month in January, Luci!

Nice review of February, Luci; I'll have to get to it later this year.

Diana Norman's obituary from the Guardian, written by another crime writer, Laura Wilson:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/feb/04/diana-norman-obituary

Oh no, Oh no... Diana Norman CAN'T be dead. She's not ALLOWED to be dead. I need more Adelia Aguilar. I need more of her historical fiction... Whimper whimper.

She wrote some fabulous books; I hope the older ones will become more readily available. I recommend the Makepeace series starting with A Catch of Consequence, in particular.

OK, on to your other books (my, you've been busy, Luci!) I admit I didn't find February as compelling as you did -- I thought it was beautifully written, but I never really connected with it. Thank you for saving me from Sam Eastland (I was dithering) and for hooking me on Ukranian Tractors (I can't type the full title; my head is hurting), which will arrive (free! gratis!) from paperbackswap -- I'm curious, given that my 75-year-old father has fallen for a 42-year-old Lithuanian woman! Lumen has been preordered for my Kindle (it will appear here in May, by which time I'll have received my $350 Amazon gift certificate!!)

Melissa Nathan's early death was sad; she had written several quite funny chicklit novels which I had enjoyed and which I own.

Apparently there is another completed Ariana Franklin which the family hopes to get published. I'm going to start reading Mistress of the Art of Death tomorrow.

According to my LT cataloguing, I own two of the Makepeace books, but not A Catch of Consequence - but I think I might have that one stashed somewhere too. I haven't read those ones but I remember especially loving The Vizard Mask.

Everyone else seems to have liked Eye of the Red Tsar more than I did, and a few people in the 75 group including me have The Red Coffin aka Shadow Pass as an ER book (the UK title only offers one wrong touchstone). Don't buy it but see if you can get a library copy. Both books already seem to have been ER on your side of the Atlantic. I don't really like plots about the Romanovs in the first place.

121. Mike Gayle, The Importance of Being a Bachelor 2.8

Reviewed for WH Smith

My review posted on the website (may not be up yet):

Three brothers in their thirties worry about finding the right woman to settle down with, or whether they are even the right type to get married. Then their parents drop a bombshell – Mum has thrown Dad out and he ends up staying with Adam.
I enjoyed the Manchester setting. Despite touching on some serious issues about marriage, commitment, fidelity, wanting to have children or not, this remains a very light novel. It was a quick, easy and entertaining read but I found it a bit bland. Gayle never describes his characters’ appearance, and somehow this contributes to the brothers (and the others) remaining rather two dimensional.

3.0 is my meh rating - not necessarily the most terrible book but nothing much to like about it.

Comments not in WHS review

I wasn't sure about the best way to say this when reviewing, but Mike Gayle's a black man, and it bothers me in his books that he seems to deliberately avoid mentioning his characters' skin colour. It's not that he should be writing about race relations or anything, but the studied avoidance of any mention of appearance irks me. EVen in chicklit, I'd like to know something about characters' identity and who they are. There are other black writers (and white ones) in this genre who don't really write about race as such but they mention it - Roopa Farooki for example, and Kate Harrison (Secret Shopper books) is white but one of her main characters is British and black from a Jamaican background. Dorothy Koomson is black but I haven't read any of her books yet.

Current reading update, since I've finished 6 of the 7 books I was reading (I'm deliberately maintaining a slow pace with the Atwood).

Kader Abdolah, The House of the Mosque
ER book, translated from Dutch, by an Iranian who has lived in the Netherlands for 20 years. Set in Iran from the 1950s to the revolution in 1979, it's a good read, I'm about 2/3 of the way through.

Barbara Pym, A Glass of Blessings
VMC and TIOLI shared read - embedded word lasso in title. Social comedy, I'm enjoying it and looking forward to the other Pyms I've collected recently. And I've found my own copy of this one just after starting to read a library book.

Joolz Denby, The Curious Mystery of Miss Lydia Larkin and the Widow Marvell
Bookbag review book, quirky short novel which is a change in direction in some ways for the author - she's had 4 crime novels published by mainstream publishers and 92319::Billie Morgan was shortlisted for the Orange Prize. Two women living next door to each other, one has special powers and they are trying to help a boy whose mother has joined a fundamentalist religious sect. It's different!

Susan Mauschart, 10161152::The Winter of Our Disconnect
TIOLI for my own challenge which is about people challenging themselves. A single mother of 3 teenagers in Western Australia decides the family should turn off their laptops, the TV and smartphones. Hard because everyone has been living their life online and with technology. Interesting and thought provoking reading though I'm not about to try the experiment myself.

Eva Petulengro, The Girl in the Painted Caravan
Bookbag review book, memoir of a Romany traveller about her and her family

Ariana Franklin, 1718023::The Mistress of the Art of Death
TIOLI - embedded word is heart
Historical mystery - I've been wanting to try this for a while, more so since I found out she was Diana Norman whose historicals I loved.

Nella Larsen, Quicksand
TIOLI African-American woman writer

Margaret Atwood, Writing with Intent
TIOLI embedded word (within)
Am planning to try and read something like this each month, a bit at a time - collection of reviews, introductions and afterwords, other collected prose. Last night's reading included memories of a family visit to Afghanistan, tonight's was a review of various books on Dashiell Hammett. Recommended, especially to Atwood fans.

#122: Lots of good reading there, Luci!

Oh no, I didn't recognise the name Diana Norman, but I've read the first Ariana Franklin about Adelia and really enjoyed it - sorry to hear the series is now finite...

Re Sense and Sensibility - I enjoyed my re-read too. I've always been quite fond of it, but really loved those glimpses of all the supporting characters this time especially.

I thought I'd read all the Pym novels, but I don't recall A Glass of Blessings - could it have been published under another title in the US?

eta to fix touchstone

Other people seem to know it as that title in the US, and there's nothing on LT suggesting alternate titles. My library copy and the copy that I found on Saturday in a charity shop are both quite recent VMC reprints in rather chicklit style covers - although this is a nice strong purple rather than a pastel lilac.

Wilmet is married to a senior civil servant and has a life of leisure with no kids. She is a churchgoer and has friendships with various people linked to the church, both clergy and female volunteers.

27. Sam Eastland, Eye of the Red Tsar 2.7

TIOLI 1 - embedded word "there" - I have the 2nd book in the Pekkala series, The Red Coffin aka Shadow Pass as an ER book to read. Pekkala worked with the Romanovs and has been brought out of exile by Stalin to investigate rumours that there may be a living Romanov.

First, I have a bit of a prejudice against the White Russian fantasy involved here. Then, it wasn't a terrible read but I just couldn't get into it. The hero didn't seem real to me.

I've seen a much more positive review by someone I know from other lists on the brilliant Eurocrime website, so I'll post it, as I don't want to stop people who might like it better than I would.

http://www.eurocrime.co.uk/reviews/Eye_of_the_Red_Tsar.html

#127: I have that one here to read. I hope I like it more than you did, Luci.

28. Dervla Murphy, Silverland: A Winter's Journey Beyond the Urals 4.7

I really enjoyed every page of this piece of travel writing about travelling around Siberia, mostly by slow moving BAM trains (slow moving deliberately to see things). Murphy's previous book was Through Siberia by Accident - a fall on a previous train journey had meant she had to abandon her original plans to cycle, I think in another former Soviet republic but it's a few years since I read it. So in this one she visits old friends from previous trips and talks to a lot of them, and new people, about the state of where they live. There's a lot of social and political comment too - she's concerned about the impact of the car and the Soviet version of capitalism on the society and environment here.

I think after this I need to reread Through Siberia, read some of her others and get her latest book about Cuba.

I'm also very impressed that she's not letting age cramp her style though it sometimes changes how she does things - she was in her mid 70s at the time of the trip here (2005, published 2006 I think) and celebrates her 80th birthday this year. When I grow up I want to be Dervla Murphy!

I want to be her too!

I'm reading Colin Thubron's new book about his trip to Tibet right now, and he realize he would have been nearly 70 when he completed it. Inspiring, really..

29. 06.02 Carson McCullers, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter 4.5

TIOLI embedded word (salon) and maybe shared read

A number of people in a southern town and what befalls them. I hadn't realised how political it was and that McCullers so clearly aligned herself at this point with the leftwing writers of the 30s. Mick is a young girl growing up and it's a stunning and moving portrait of her experience. The experiences of a black doctor and his family, a man with a disability, and the loving relationship of two men are striking for a novel written in 1940.

Must read more McCullers soon.

30. 07.02 P L Travers, Mary Poppins Comes Back 4.2

TIOLI #2 in series

Mary Poppins returns to the Banks family, just in time as Mrs Banks is about to have her 5th child. It starts off with a wonderful opening story where she sees off Mr Banks' former teacher, an unpleasant woman who tells everyone what they should do and how terrible the house, the children etc all are. Thank goodness for Miss Poppins. I've ordered a secondhand copy of Mary Poppins She Wrote as I'm curious about the inspiration and creator of such a subversive series of books for kids.

Current reading (1):

Too many books at the moment, as I have 2 new review books and 2 more on their way for Bookbag, and several other review books from other sources too.

Ariana Franklin, Mistress of the Art of Death
A woman trained as a doctor in Italy comes to Cambridge to investigate who has been killing children. Will finish this in the morning, and am looking forward to 3 more in the series and perhaps a 5th to be published posthumously.

Nella Larsen, Passing
A black woman is living as a white woman, and married to a virulently racist man. The story is mainly told from the viewpoint of another lightskinned black woman. I've read this one before but am glad to be rereading.

Mary Norton, Bedknob and Broomstick
Another slightly oldfashioned children and magic story and a reread for me - would be enjoyed by those who like Edward Eager and E Nesbit.

Sarah Blake, The Postmistress
Story set during WWII - have seen mixed reviews but am enjoying it so far

Linda Grant, We Had It So Good
Story of the baby boomer generation touching on issues which have been hotly debated by politicians here in the last few years. Kindly sent to me by Dee. I don't think I'm going to like it as much as When I Lived in Modern Times or The Clothes on Their Backs.

Paul Smith, Twitchhiker
A man is trying to travel relying on others' generosity with transport, accommodation - entertaining but I have reservations - the reviews I've read have been quite critical but I was curious to read it myself.

Current reading (2):

Joan Aiken and Jan Pienkowski, The Kingdom Under the Sea
My copy is falling apart which is sad because these books of stories with illustrations by Pienkowski are gorgeous. I don't like the stories as much as her other stories - they are eastern European folk tale retellings and they're a bit grim, but Pienkowski is becoming one of my favourite illustrators.

Charles Emmerson, The Future History of the Arctic
for review at Bookbag - history of the Arctic - couldn't resist as I loved the Sara Wheeler book on the subject I read last year.

Gail Jones, Five Bells
Bookbag review book by Australian novelist

Margaret Atwood, Writing with Intent
Book of reviews etc

Wow! You have a lot on your 'currently reading' plate right now, Luci!

I'm falling behind - 10 books now.

31. Eleanor Catton, The Rehearsal 3.9

TIOLI 1: embedded word "there" and shared read, Orange Prize longlist

Debut novel by a young New Zealand writer (my mum's parents came here from NZ and were literary types so I like to look out for writers from there)

The characters include a male drama student and female pupils who have music lessons at a girls' school. I enjoyed reading this but was sometimes a bit confused as the narrative jumped back and forth in time and I would think I'd missed something when I hadn't. I did like the settings though - education, NZ -and will definitely want to read more by this author.

I still haven't read The Rehearsal but will wait till I go home (there are sure to be multiple copies in the Wellington library system!).

Am really looking forward to seeing what you think of The Postmistress, because it's the book for my book group in April or May.

I'm really enjoying The Postmistress - there's a cover blurb from Kathryn Stockett, author of The Help and it seems apt, though I didn't like The Help as much as many peopkle did and I think I will rate this book higher. They're both of that good read nature.

OK, that's great! I was in the "didn't love The Help and felt like it was made for a movie but still couldn't put it down" category.

I'm afraid I'm the camp of really feeling that The Postmistress was tremendously overrated. The Help was fine for what it was, but it wasn't great literature, more just thumping good read. The Postmistress didn't even do that for me; I felt that so much of it was terribly contrived.

141: I know someone else online with that opinion, Teresa, a book blogger I talk to on Twitter (we seem to end up reading a lot of the same books although not always having the same view!)

I definitely want to read the Ariana Franklin series. You are reading a lot of interesting books!

And more review books turned up today - I asked Sue at the Bookbag about The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake as the publisher was offering review copies on Twitter, and 9772025::Swamplandia!, the first novel by the author of one of last year's really great reads, St Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves. She let me know they'd both arrived at the weekend and posted them today.

I've also joined a Transworld crime challenge where they will send you 3 books for review chosen from a list of 12. When you write and post the first review they'll send you a second one. My first is Full Dark House by Christopher Fowler. I've not chosen it because I own it already, but Mistress of the Art of Death is also one of the books.

I've already read the first 40 pages of Lemon Cake, I can see why people wouldn't like it but I'm quite liking it so far.

#144: I will be interested in seeing what you think of Swamplandia when you get to it, Luci.

I'm now 60% of the way through my first 75 books of the year, having finished 45 books. Of course, I'm way behind on comments/reviews.

32. 10.02 Kader Abdolah, The House of the Mosque 4.1

LibraryThing Early review book

This novel tells the story of an Iranian family in the late 20th century. The story opens in 1950. The house of the mosque is a very large house with 35 rooms, and a wealthy and influential extended family live there – 3 cousins and their families. They are the family who serve the mosque, as imams and religious leaders. This appears to be a hereditary responsibility as the same family has lived there for centuries.

Over the years a variety of social and economic changes affect members of the family, then comes the revolution of 1979, when the Shah of Iran is overthrown only to be replaced by the Islamic state ruled by Ayatollah Khomeini.

There is a huge variety of characters and a constantly changing political background in the story, but it is a very engaging good read. Apparently, the treatment of historical fact in the novel is not that accurate, but I think his concern is to tell a story of the effects on the individuals and the increasingly divided family. The family has prospered under the Shah, and some are very unhappy and scared at the changes of 1979. One is a left wing activist, and others become keen supporters of the Islamic regime, including Zinat, the woman who becomes a torturer.

I was interested in the portrayal of women’s roles in the novel. They are not exactly great feminist heroines, and mostly, not really fully-fledged as characters in the way that the men are, but they find a range of ways of asserting their own identity, and they are certainly not just the passive women behind the veil that are often a stereotype of modern Iranian society.

The book includes a brief glossary at the end and a family tree at the beginning (in the form of a picture of a tree with birds on it). However, I didn’t look words and other references up when reading, I just enjoyed the story, and I didn’t even notice the family tree until well after I’d finished reading. Still, it adds a nice touch to the book for readers who like to spend time getting all the details of a novel straight.

I found the writing style, even in translation, very atmospheric and the story flowed very smoothly.

Thanks to the Early Reviewers scheme for introducing this author to me, and I’ve already brought another of his novels home from the library.

33. 10.02 Joolz Denby, The Curious Mystery of Miss Lydia Larkin and the Widow Marvell 4.0

Reviewed for the Bookbag

A quirky novella set in Bradford, England, in which two women set out to rescue a child from the religious cult leader whose influence his mum is under.

Although the author has had previous novels published by Headline and Serpent's Tail, and was longlisted for the Orange Prize with Billie Morgan, this is self-published.

Sadly the title is too long for the 12 word challenge.

Review here:

http://www.thebookbag.co.uk/reviews/index.php?title=The_Curious_Mystery_of_Miss_...

I'm looking forward to your review of The House of the Mosque.

Current reading:

I believe I've finished 7 books since I last posted and started 3 more.

Charles Emmerson, The Future History of the Arctic
for review at Bookbag - history of the Arctic - couldn't resist as I loved the Sara Wheeler book on the subject I read last year. Looks at the politics and history of Arctic exploration and development for countries including Russia, the US, Norway and others - quite dense but very interesting, and even more topical as one of the big issues is the Arctic as an alternative source of oil and whether this can offer oil security compared to the Middle East.

Karen Russell, Swamplandia!
TIOLI second book
To be reviewed for the Bookbag - A story about the children of a Florida theme park family. 12 year old Ava is aiming to take on her dead mum's role as an alligator wrestler. I loved the author's first book, a collection of short stories, St Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves and I'm really enjoying this so far.

Gail Jones, Five Bells
TIOLI: Touchstone confusion
Bookbag review book by Australian novelist

L M Montgomery, Emily Climbs
TIOLI: 2nd in series
2nd in the trilogy

Elizabeth Berridge, Tell It to a Stranger
TIOLI embedded word "toast", Persephone reprint
Collection of short stories from the 1940s. Excellent but quite chilling so far, especially the first story Snowstorm set in a wartime mother and baby home.

Margaret Atwood, Writing with Intent
TIOLI embedded word "within"
Book of reviews etc

How do you manage to read so many books at the same time?? That is really impressive! I can barely keep track of everything when I am just reading one book. I blame it on baby brains. :)

I don't know. I also plan to start reading Christopher Fowler, Full Dark House either tonight or tomorrow - I've joined the Transworld Crime Caper challenge, where the publisher is offering 3 free books to read and review - you get #2 when you finish and review #1.

I am looking forward to your review of The House of the Mosque too, Luci.

Congratulations on being 60% through with the challenge already!

34. 10.02 Barbara Pym, A Glass of Blessings 4.2

TIOLI embedded word (lasso) and hopefully shared read, Virago Modern Classic

(comments to be added)

35. 11.02 Susan Maushart, The Winter of Our Disconnnect 4.3

TIOLI Personal challenge

A mother of three teenagers decides to turn off the internet and other modern communications technology, and the TV etc for a number of months. She documents her and their reactions. She also does a lot of reading into studies on the impact of such technology on children, teenagers, young people etc. I first heard some of this serialised on the radio and really wanted to read the rest.

I hope to come back to this and add further comments, maybe a proper review.

36. 12.02 Eva Petulengro, The Girl in the Painted Caravan: Memories of a Romany Childhood 3.9

Bookbag review book

memoir of gypsy life in the mid 20th century. A good read if occasionally a bit sentimental. Here's my review, just up:

http://www.thebookbag.co.uk/reviews/index.php?title=The_Girl_in_the_Painted_Cara...

#154: I have not yet read that one by Pym yet, but as I am trying to read all of her books, limited though they be, I will get to it.

#155/156: I will have to see if I can find copies of both of those.

Thanks for the recommendations, Luci!

Also looking forward to your thoughts on The House of the Mosque.

#155 The Winter of our Discontent also sounds very interesting although I really think I would struggle to manage without internet access! TV wouldn't be quite so hard but how would I manage without LT?

37. 13.02 Nella Larsen, Quicksand 4.1

TIOLI book by an African American woman

38. 14.02 Ariana Franklin, Mistress of the Art of Death 4.7

TIOLI embedded word in title (heart)

39. 14.02 Nella Larsen, Passing 4.5

TIOLI book by an African American woman

40. 15.02 Mary Norton, Bedknob and Broomstick 4.0

TIOLI originally published as two separate books

41. 15.02 Joan Aiken and Jan Pienkowski, The Kingdom Under the Sea 3.8

TIOLI embedded word (these)

42. 16.02 Sarah Blake, The Postmistress 4.2

43. 17.02 Linda Grant, We Had It So Good 4.1

TIOLI Touchstone confusion

Dee kindly sent me her copy of this one after she'd finished reading.

44. 18.02 Paul Smith, Twitchhiker 3.7

TIOLI A Personal Challenge

45. 18.02 Aimee Bender, The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake 4.3

TIOLI Book tournament

Reviewed for the Bookbag

Behind the eye-catching title and the rather gimmicky concept, I quite liked this coming of age story. Here's my review:

http://www.thebookbag.co.uk/reviews/index.php?title=The_Particular_Sadness_of_Le...

I hope to come back and post comments - I may even write longer reviews for some of these if I ever catch up on my priority review books - that is, those books which I've been sent free in order to review them.

Read and need to review to fulfil commitment: 4 books

Currently reading and need to review: 3 books

To read and review pile: 5 books

Hopefully in post to me: 3 books

#165> I want to read that one, but I've taken the book back to the library as reality has set in that I can't read everything all at once.

Reality? What's that?

I've finally reviewed The House of the Mosque at message 147.

Current reading update:

Finished today (well, yesterday here, actually)

Christopher Fowler, Full Dark House - 1st in series of 8 (gulp) sent to me free by Transworld for the Great Crime Caper - aimed at bloggers it's also open to anyone who reviews online - they send you a choice books from a list to review - I get 3 from a list of 12, 1 at a time. Full Dark House is a quirky part historical (London in the Blitz), part present mystery set in a theatre.

Now reading:

ed Tim McLoughlin, Brooklyn Noir 2: The Classics

Sam Eastland, The Red Coffin (aka Shadow Pass - ER book, yawn

Jackie Kay, Red Dust Road - memoir by a writer, brought up by adoptive parents, who travels to Nigeria to meet her birth father

Lisa Lutz, The Spellman Files - I bought this recently and discovered that a favourite online discussion group is having a group read of this, so I'm hoping to jump in at the end or read the discussion after the event at least.

Doris Lessing, Mara and Dann - magazine review book for feature on Doris Lessing's work

Esther Freud, Lucky Break - Read and Review book for Waterstones, I was really delighted when this turned up yesterday. About several people who study drama then embark on an acting career.

Doris Lessing, Time Bites - essays, recommended on this group last year

Suzanne Ruta, To Algeria With Love

Sarra Manning, You Don't Have to Say You Love Me

You are just flying through the books. I'm interested in what you think of The Spellman Files, I put it on my to-read list after positive comments here last year or even the year before.

I can't keep up with you! Can you please tell us when you've put your comments up? I want to see what you thought of The Postmistress and the Linda Grant one - bought The Postmistress on Wednesday and eyed We had it so good (touchstone, grr!) but resisted.

And good to see from your rating that you really liked Mistress of the Art of Death (grr again!). I must find the second one...

I'll be interested to hear what you think of The Spellman Files - it was recommend to me a while ago and I thought it sounded like something I would like, but I didn't like it at and gave up on it pretty quickly.

I'm enjoying The Spellman Files so far.

I'm not sure I can keep up with me at the moment.

Wow, your total books read this year (so far) is amazing!

Hi Luci, I enjoyed your review of The House of the Mosque. Is the book you got out from the library My Father's Notebook?

I've also finished The Red Coffin (grr - Shadow Pass for touchstone) and also found it fairly yawnsome. How did the author manage to make Stalin's regime seem so tame and uninteresting?

I haven't quite finished The Red Coffin but will do tonight or tomorrow morning. It's actually a slight improvement on The Eye of the Red Tsar though interestingly I had to give that back to the library. Someone I know through crime fiction stuff really loved both books.

Yes, I got out My Father's Notebook, also published by Canongate.

46. 19.02 Charles Emmerson, The Future History of the Arctic 4.0

to be reviewed for the Bookbag

I'm very behind on commenting and I urgently need to write 3 Bookbag reviews and at least 2 others. I'm reading 3 more books for review and have 8 in the pile. That's not counting books that I haven't been sent for review purposes but would like to write a formal review of.

I finished The Spellman Files today and quite enjoyed it, not great but fun, and it's set in my favourite US city, San Francisco. Rating 4.1

#181 Eek - that's a lot of reviews to write! Hope you find some time soon.

Last year Justine and I both read A Freewheelin' Time by Suze Rotolo and I felt really sad to learn about this from Twitter. The book was a memoir about her late teens/early 20s in Greenwich Village and the 60s - and Dylan, but that's not at all all she wrote about or all she was. She died of lung cancer last week, aged just 67.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/feb/28/suze-rotolo-obituary

Oh no, I hadn't heard that. That is really sad. She was such an inspiring woman in her own right, so much more than just the girlfriend of someone famous. I would have liked to have read more about her life after the Dylan period, but sadly there won't be a follow-up now.

46. 19.02 Charles Emmerson, The Future History of the Arctic 4.0

See full Bookbag review here, first two paragraphs and last one below:

Charles Emmerson examines the past history of Arctic exploration, economic exploitation and development and the policies of governments of countries which include Arctic territory (and others), with the aim of understanding the present and predicting the future better. He explains the apparently contradictory title in some detail in the Introduction. While history is about the past, ideas about the future have changed over time. Also, the future of the Arctic will be shaped by its history.

Although the author does mention travel and visits to the Arctic, this is not really a travel book; it is about the politics of the region, and the back cover describes it as “Current Affairs/ International Relations”.

Generally in his writing style, I think the author is attempting to describe things from what he considers to be a very objective position. However, his background includes working for the European Commission and the World Economic Forum, and I think it should be said that his perspective is looking at the threats and opportunities for international capitalism. One telling example of an expression of personal opinion is the first mention of Stalin as a dangerous criminal. I found this an interesting and informative read, which clearly drew on an array of detailed research, and am grateful to Vintage for sending a copy to the Bookbag. However, my favourite books about the Arctic and Siberia, by travel writers such as Sara Wheeler and Dervla Murphy, come from a rather different social/political perspective, and are more open about it.

I'm glad I read this, but would also recommend Sara Wheeler's The Magnetic North for a different perspective and Dervla Murphy's Silverland on Siberia.

47. 20.02 Gail Jones, Five Bells 4.0

http://www.thebookbag.co.uk/reviews/index.php?title=Five_Bells_by_Gail_Jones

It is a lovely sunny day in Circular Quay, a tourist hotspot in Sydney, Australia. This novel is about the thoughts and memories of four people, three women and a man who visit the place that day. None are locals. Ellie and James were teenage lovers in Western Australia, and are meeting up again after not seeing each other for years. Catherine has recently come to the city from Ireland. Pei Xing is a Chinese immigrant, now settled in Sydney. The novel is full of descriptive visual imagery from the first page onwards, and it is significant that three of the four characters are seeing Circular Quay for the first time.

full review at Bookbag

There are 3 other novels available from libraries here so I'll probably try to get them out some time.

48. 20.02 Karen Russell, Swamplandia! 4.9

Ava Bigtree is a teenage alligator wrestler. Her older sister Ossie is in love with a ghost. They have grown up on a Florida island theme park with their parents, their grandfather and their big brother Kiwi. Now though, all they have known is threatened. Their mother Hilola was the star attraction, but she died a few months before, not in the jaws of an alligator but of ovarian cancer. As well as being the glamorous figure on billboards who everyone came to see, she ran the show and did all the jobs that needed to be done, and the family is lost without her.

This is a story about grief and sadness and of a young girl growing up too soon. At the same time, it is startlingly funny. A lot of the story is told by Ava in the first person, a bright and knowledgeable girl but still very innocent in many ways. She aspires to take on her mother's role, not realising that the family business (and her childhood home) are about to close down.

This is Karen Russell's first novel, but she previously wrote a collection of short stories, St Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves, including the story Ava Wrestles the Alligator, which can be seen as the origin of this novel. I was looking forward to Swamplandia! and I wasn't disappointed. I found this novel beautifully written and very witty, yet often extremely sad too.

See full review here:

http://www.thebookbag.co.uk/reviews/index.php?title=Swamplandia!_by_Karen_Russel...

I'm about half way through Swamplandia at the moment. I found a review copy in Oxfam - they aren't supposed to be resold, but lucky for me it was. Liking it a lot so far.

Naughty, but at least someone donated it to Oxfam rather than getting money for it - I know a couple of places where review copies are sold, and the Bookbag sent out quite a detailed email to all its reviewers about it (don't do it because those publishers that mind might not send the site the best books).

And if you review it here on LT, at least Karen Russell and Chatto/Random House (the publisher) will get another review out of it.

Talking of reviews, I was sent a link to an author article on book bloggers this morning, by Sue of the Bookbag (who is mentioned in the article). The article, the comments and the negative review are well worth reading (I have a copy of The Other Hand aka Little Bee but haven't read it yet).

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2011/feb/21/writers-met-bloggers-lunch

49. 21.02 Margaret Atwood, Writing With Intent 4.7

50. 22.02 Elizabeth Berridge, Tell It to a Stranger 4.8

TIOLI embedded word in title (toast)

51. 22.02 Lucy Maud Montgomery, Emily Climbs 4.7

TIOLI 2nd in series

52. 24.02 Christopher Fowler, Full Dark House 4.2

I'm an accessory to the Great Transworld Crime Caper!

http://www.between-the-lines.co.uk/?p=260

Meet Arthur Bryant and John May of the Met’s Peculiar Crimes Unit, a section of the police force which is perhaps aptly named in more ways than one. The story shifts between the 21st century and 1940 – I enjoy stories set in the upheaval and uncertainty of wartime London so that was part of the attraction.

In their 80s in the present day of the story, Bryant and May are the oldest working police officers in the Met, and have been working together for more than 60 years. Then the PCU office blows up, and May reels with shock and grief at his friend’s death in the explosion. Before his death, it seems Bryant was writing something about their first case, in code, and May starts working on a transcription. Can he make sense of what happened by remembering the past?

I really enjoyed lots of aspects of this story – Bryant and May are interesting characters both as young and old men. Bryant is 3 years older and inducted May into his own quirky style of doing things. The nature of the Unit offers them an autonomy and a freedom from day to day police bureaucracy. They are in no hurry to conform to a stereotype of old age – May is still pursuing attractive women, and is comfortable using modern technology such as laptops and mobile phones. I liked the way in which Fowler establishes a sense of place – the setting of London through the years, and also the scene of their first murder investigation, a theatre.

Alongside his male protagonists, Fowler also offers the women in the story an interesting role – DS Janice Longbright answers the phone call on the first page reporting the explosion, and she assists May in his investigations. As many men were away fighting in WWII, Fowler takes the chance to cast women in key roles – alongside Bryant and May at work, and running the theatre.

Full Dark House isn’t a particularly fast paced novel and I’m not sure I kept up with all the twists and turns of the plot, but I thoroughly enjoyed encountering this detective duo and will read more in the series (which now runs to nine books).

Thank you to Transworld for sending me this book to review as part of their Great Crime Caper challenge.

Oooo. Full Dark House is definitely on my wishlist now!

Swamplandia! has been wishlisted and I enjoyed the link to the Guardian article about book bloggers.

I have updated the thread including extract and link to full Bookbag review of The Future History of the Arctic at message 185.

I've now read 62 books and have lots of proper reviews and comments to catch up on.

53. 25.02 ed Tim McLoughlin, Brooklyn Noir 2: The Classics 3.4

AND Full Dark House is on its way to me from PBS! Talk about instant gratification. This is as good as it gets!

I hope you like it and it's not a huge disappointment. I think I'm going to have to see if I can find the next couple in the series online tonight - the older ones are not that readily available from libraries for some reason.

>197 elkiedee: 62 books! Yikes. I've just hit 12 for the year. Well, at least that's more than one a week.

A little excitement this morning - I received an email inviting me to join Amazon Vine. I'd wondered how you get those emails and kept resolving to post a few more reviews, and I had added a few, and got a few more votes for them (mostly positive). But I thought I would have to have far more votes/positive votes and a higher ranking (97/107 and below 8,000 ranking - I was pleased to have moved back into the top 10,000 as New Reviewer).

More bizarrely, only one of my first two choices is a book. The other is a big pack of baby wipes I like but only buy in small amounts because they're at least 3 times the price of the supermarket own brand ones. Nature Baby are supposed to be more ecofriendly, and they don't put insane quantities of perfume that makes me sneeze in. The cost of the wipes even at Amazon prices is more than twice that of the book I wanted, so I might just buy the book at some point....

I've chosen When God Was a Rabbit by Sarah Winman. My other choice would have been The Paris Wife but I will still acquire or borrow a copy to read at some point.

202- Oooh...congratulations...I'm a little jealous! I've been wanting to be invited to Amazon Vine for a while now.

I've been posting all my reviews there, for books read, and I also review movies and the furniture I recently bought and put together. Currently I rank about 6,000 in the new rankings and I'm gradually moving up. I think my percentage is in the high 80's for helpfulness.

Keep us posted on what you get! :)

Well, my experience shows you never know when you might get lucky - I'm in the UK so the next batch of US invites might be at a completely separate time, remember.

Maybe lots of us should go and give you one or two helpful votes to boost your ranking (I think it's probably more effective just to do one or two as if someone goes and rates all your reviews they see a pattern and start to discount it). I've seen a couple of Twitter conversations about it - including a few other newbie invitees - and it looks as if there's people who've been overlooked who deserve it far more than me!

204- Thanks for the offer, I was actually going to ask friends here to do that, but I was afraid that would be too much self promotion!

Here's the link to my amazon profile if you want to give me a couple helpful votes:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/A2GRDQJ4Z7053K/ref=cm_aya_pdp_home

Does the link work?

I'll be the first to admit, my reviews have improved greatly since the first ones I posted at amazon. Some of my earliest ones are not as helpful as I'd like, but I feel like I've hit my stride now and I have a better idea of what amazon customers want to know.

(I've also learned, sadly, not to post too many negative reviews of books or you get punished with negative votes. That's a real shame, isn't it?

Luci, that is fantastic! (And funny about the wipes.)
Angela, I've just given you a couple of thumbs. I never post any reviews there... anyone know if they do Vine in NZ/Switzerland?

Aww...thanks Cushla I appreciate it!
Maybe I'll put a note on my thread about it too...I just don't want to take advantage of my LT friends in any way. Well, I guess if they are doing it voluntarily, it's not taking advantage. :)

Eta...Sorry, I don't know if the Vine program operates in NZ and Switzerland. It would be nice if they did.

Another lovely surprise today - I asked for a Twitter giveaway the other day and assumed that since I'd heard nothing that was that.

Until a huge volume of Nadine Gordimer's collected non fiction writings Telling Times (700+ pages) from Bloomsbury Books turned up.

Cool!! I've had 2 Twitter wins now - must get back into the habit...

Congrats, that Telling Time book looks really good. I never knew Twitter did book giveaways.

It's actually the publishers who do book giveaways, but Twitter seems to be a popular way for them to do so. Some also use Facebook but I don't/can't use that as much/easily. I don't know if NZ publishers do it

Penguin NZ has three FB pages and do giveaways/comps. They have one on the Puffin page right now for a Puffin toy.

>212 avatiakh: cool, im so about to check that out now (sounding about 20 years younger with that very expression!)

I've reviewed Five Bells by Gail Jones - see 187 for link to full review.

Finished on Thursday: Mary Doria Russell, Dreamers of the Day 4.5

Finished Friday: Kalinda Ashton, The Danger Game 4.6
Debut novel set in Melbourne Australia, review for www.bookmunch.com pending

Jane Shilling, The Stranger in the Mirror 4.0
Memoir about realising you're middle aged.

Current reading:

Ruth Eastham, The Memory Cage - review copy through Twitter
YA novel - Alex, an adopted orphan from Bosnia living in England, tries to help his adopted grandfather, and uncovers a story going back to WWII

Susan Abulhawa, Mornings in Jenin - family saga novel about Palestine/Israel from a pro-Palestinian viewpoint

Rhiannon Lassiter, Ghost of a Chance - YA novel, ER book

Molly Keane aka M J Farrell, Taking Chances

Johan Theorin, Echoes from the Dead - Transworld Crime Caper programme

Mohsin Hamid, The Reluctant Fundamentalist

Henry James, The Portrait of a Lady

Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

Doris Lessing, Time Bites

Wow, you can fit so many books into your life, and you've got some great titles on the go at the minute.

Ooh, you liked Dreamers of the Day more than I did - looking forward to your comments. My memory is blurry but I think I found some of the things that happened to the main character implausible... loved the setting though.

Just catching up, Luci! That's great news about being asked to be an Amazon Vine reviewer! Free books and free nice wipes- sounds good to me!

I'll be interested in your thoughts on the Jane Shilling book. I have it on my wishlist, having recently realised I'm middle-aged myself!

The Jane Shilling book was an interesting read - I'd thought it sounded vaguely worth reading when it was on offer as a Bookbag review book, but I can't ask for everything that intrigues me. Then it was serialised on the radio - there's a nonfiction Book of the Week at 9.45 am and 12.30 am. It's at least the 3rd BOTW I've read this year (and they were all on this year too).

She's a few years older than either of us, it's about her late 40s/turning 50 and the memoir elements are interspersed with lots of stuff about the portrayal of middle aged women in literature and in popular culture.

Just before they arrived in the post on Friday (I was off work on annual leave and as it turned out looking after a sick toddler), someone warned me on Amazon Vine forum that the wipes were just one pack - I probably would have picked another book if I'd known. The ARC of When God Was a Rabbit seems to be a bound typescript and it's in a weird font, but still, it's a book I wanted to read and I'm looking forward to being on Vine.

Excuse the cross posting:

Here's the Orange Prize longlist, announced today:

Lyrics Alley by Leila Aboulela (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)
Jamrach’s Menagerie by Carol Birch (Canongate)
Room by Emma Donoghue (Picador)
The Pleasure Seekers by Tishani Doshi (Bloomsbury)
Whatever You Love by Louise Doughty (Faber and Faber)
A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan (Corsair)
The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna (Bloomsbury)
The London Train by Tessa Hadley (Jonathan Cape)
Grace Williams Says It Loud by Emma Henderson (Sceptre)
The Seas by Samantha Hunt (Corsair)
The Birth of Love by Joanna Kavenna (Faber and Faber)
Great House by Nicole Krauss (Viking)
The Road to Wanting by Wendy Law-Yone (Chatto & Windus)
The Tiger’s Wife by Téa Obreht (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)
The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer (Viking)
Repeat It Today With Tears by Anne Peile (Serpent’s Tail)
Swamplandia! by Karen Russell (Chatto & Windus)
The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives by Lola Shoneyin (Serpent’s Tail)
The Swimmer by Roma Tearne (Harper Press)
Annabel by Kathleen Winter (Jonathan Cape)

Of those, I've reviewed 3 for the Bookbag, (Swamplandia!, Whatever You Love and The Birth of Love, read 3 more (Room, The Invisible Bridge and The Pleasure Seekers) and liked all of them, I've bought at least two more and want to read most of the rest. I think this is going to be a very interesting Orange Prize year.

Which books have you read? Which books do you want to read? Tips for shortlist or winner? I'll be surprised if Donoghue isn't shortlisted, I imagine she'll be bookies' favourite to win.

Oh is it that time of year already? How exciting!

I've only read Room and Whatever You Love but think they both deserve to go onto the shortlist. I agree Room would be an obvious favourite. I borrowed The London Train from the library but had to return it before I got round to starting it. The Carol Birch is on my wishlist. I love her contemporary novels but still haven't read any of her historical ones, despite having two that are calling me from my TBR shelves.

Must pop over to Jill's Orange thread and see if anything's happening...

I am so behind, I've read absolutely none.. shocking statistic. I really want to read Room first though as I just keep hearing about it.

I have a few of those books in Mt TBR but haven't read any. I actually have Jamrach's Menagerie by Carol Birch from the library as I was listening to some BBC Podcasts a few weeks ago and Carol Birch and A.S. Byatt were discussing books set in a vistorian era. Byatt highly praised Jamrach's Menagerie and just based on that podcast I requested it from my library :)

I've acquired another Orange Prize longlist book through a Twitter competition, though I have to asay Anne Peile's Repeat It Today With Tears looks a bit disturbing.

I've also won yet another draw on Twitter, for a book by Jonny Steinberg on two men living in Little Liberia in New York City.

The book offerings on Vine this week weren't exciting, and I've chosen a YA book before realising that it's by a previously Kindle only author and published by some sort of Amazon scheme - a sort of self publishing? Still, it's only short and I've loved my first Vine book. More excitingly, a box of Duplo, toddler sized Lego, was on offer and it has letters on so we can practice those with Danny.

Current reading update:

I've now read 73 books and am very near the end of nos 74 and 75, will finish them at breakfast if not tonight. Am reading:

Sarah Winman, When God Was a Rabbit
to review for Amazon Vine - about a childhood in an eccentric family and then a more difficult adulthood. I like this a lot although I may be the first person not to have given it a 5* rating on LT (seriously, 4 5* ratings and no lower ones when I last looked).

Diana Gardner, The Woman Novelist and Other Stories
Persephone collection of short stories from the 40s and 50s, some set during and before the war

Anna Lawrence Pietroni, Ruby's Spoon
To review for the Bookbag - 1930s in a Black Country town (the West Midlands of England - an industrial area) Ruby's life is disrupted when a woman comes to town who claims she's looking for her much younger sister.

Annalena McAfee, The Spoiler
Review book for the Bookbag, it's 1997, two female journalists of very different generations and interests meet

Amy Chua, World on Fire: How Exporting Free-Market Democracy Breeds Ethnic Hatrred and Global Instability
This book by the author of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, borrowed from the library, actually looks at wealthy ethnic minorities, in the Soviet Union and in developing countries. Not quite what the title suggests but very interesting.

Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

Henry James, Portrait of a Lady

53. 25.02 ed Tim McLoughlin, Brooklyn Noir 2 (3.4)

54. 27.02 Sam Eastland, The Red Coffin (aka Shadow Pass) (2.7)

ER book - interestingly, because I reviewed it too late, I think, the ER logo doesn't show up on the review - the same thing has happened to Heather who reviewed it a few days before me.

TIOLI 2nd in series

This is the second book in a series featuring Inspector Pekkala, set in 1939, shortly before World War II.

Before reading this one, I borrowed The Eye of the Red Tsar from the library and found it a rather frustrating read, with a convoluted and improbable plot – I really don’t like novels based on speculation that at least one of the Romanov family somehow survived and escaped from Communist Russia. I am pleased to say that I thought The Red Coffin was quite a lot better, though not so much so that I’m likely to read any further instalments in the series. I do prefer to read series in order, but I don't think it's essential in this case, particularly as Eastland repeats quite a bit of his character's backstory.

Pekkala is an odd series character. Born in Finland, he worked closely with the Tsar before the Revolution of 1917, and spent most of the 1920s in prison, before being released on condition of helping Stalin. The love of his life escaped to Paris and he has been told that she eventually met someone else and had a baby, putting an end to his dreams of going to find her. This is one of many things that we are told several times to remind us that he is a very principled man, to the point of self-sacrifice. He is brave and stoical. I think I prefer more flawed heroes, ones who get angry at what has been done to them, and ones who even make mistakes, in my crime fiction.

The Red Coffin is the name of a special tank, developed as a secret weapon which the Soviet Union hopes will help them win if they have to go to war. In this book, it turns out to have been used as a murder weapon, but who buy. Knowledge about the tank is limited to a select few people, and one of them must be guilty. That is the mystery investigation plot in this.

At 357 pages in trade paperback, this is quite a long novel and Pekkala faces many twists and turns before he can uncover the truth. I found it easy enough to read, but not particularly compelling.

Eastland’s approach to writing historical fiction is to provide a lot of detail designed to remind the reader that they are in another period. I prefer books set in the past which explore how people think and feel, which try and immerse the reader in the characters’ mindset and belief systems, and this never does this. Also, some of the historical details may be realistic but I kept noticing things I wasn’t quite sure about – would people in Soviet Russia in 1939 have had access to certain types of equipment/gadgets etc? Perhaps they would, but the effect of this was to pull me out of the story. Also, I don’t really get a sense of how the characters think and feel – in Pekkala’s case we are told, but we are not really shown, and this means even the hero remains two-dimensional to me. Also, everyone is presented as expecting to go to war with Germany, and I’m not sure this was the case in 1939 – after the pact between the Soviet Union and Germany had taken place, did war seem so inevitable? The Soviets didn’t join the war until June 1941 when Germany invaded.

I wanted to like this series set in the USSR, but with flat characterisation and a tell not show approach to detail, I still found this book disappointing.

I have World on Fire on my shelf but have yet to actually read it (when I bought it several years ago I was intrigued by the concept). With all the hype over Tiger Mother I have been looking at it with greater interest.

I can't believe how many books you've managed to read!!

I second that, your 2011 list is very impressive. The Amy Chua book does sound interesting, a very specific and unusual topic.

I finished my 74th and 75th books on Saturday morning. (They were When God Was a Rabbit - want to review this week - and The Woman Novelist and other stories).

Congratulations on completing the 75 books challenge in March!

Wow, you really read fast, and all interesting books too.

Wow, 75 already!! Well done.

I'm curious about the Amy Chua book but I've read quite a few interviews with her about her parenting techniques, and am not sure I want to increase her wealth by even a few cents! Geez, I think I can be quite strict with my kids but I am a million miles away from her. My husband's Chinese and we've followed the story with interest. His mother did make him learn piano for 13 years before he liked it much but that's about where the similarities end.

The Orange longlist looks really good. I haven't read any of them yet but have ordered The Swimmer, The Secret Lives of Baba Yegi's Wives and The Pleasure Seekers from Book Depository. I'd also like to read The Invisible Bridge but it's long and I have so many other long books sitting here unread.

Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother isn't really a parenting manual - it's a memoir of her attempts to impose a style of parenting on her children. It's not my style at all, but I really don't think she's arguing that anyone else should do this (and I got the impression it was a how to book from the press coverage too).

The Invisible Bridge is long but it's a fantastic book. I've borrowed it from the library but it finally has a mass market paperback publication date in the Uk - I think July this year. Perhaps you can get it then.

Congratulations on meeting the 75 book challenge!

Oh, and thanks for your thumbs up on amazon.com. I was invited to Vine this week (hooray!), although the selection wasn't very good. (I suspect it was because it had been picked through by the time I got to it.) I requested one book, though, and I'm really happy about it!

Angela, that's great news. So far I've had one book I really wanted and I did think it was very good, When God Was a Rabbit by Sarah Winman, one which doesn't look so great, the baby wipes (I won't make that mistake again) and a box of Duplo (slightly bigger Lego for toddlers though still good fun for bigger kids). The Duplo is an addition to an existing collection but Danny's really enjoying it. It's an alphabet collection with a brick for each letter of the alphabet so maybe it will be useful in teaching him his letters, but the main thing is that it's a great toy.

Well done on making 75 books already! I agree, you do read fast.

55. 27.02 Jackie Kay, Red Dust Road (4.4)

56. 28.02 Lisa Lutz, The Spellman Files (4.1)

57. 03.03 Doris Lessing, Mara and Dann (4.2)

Review for New Books Magazine/website feature on A Life's Work

Some time in the future, perhaps 50 years or a thousand years away, two very young children set off on a journey north across Ifrik (Africa), one of two continents in the world not to be totally icebound. This seems even more topical now than when the novel was first published, given concerns about global warming.

The journey will take them years, and they face all the trials of growing up along the way, as well as the problems of drought, getting food, separation, illness, drug addiction, war, love and sex and others.

Mara is just 7 at the start of the novel, but already she is taking on a caring and protecting role for her 4 year old brother. She grows into a courageous and intelligent teenager and young woman. Dann is more ambiguous – Mara loves him but sometimes he is not very likeable, and can she rescue him from some of the situations he gets into? By the time she wrote this, Lessing had moved away from feminism but I was very interested in her portrayal of women's role in society and all the related issues through Mara.

Along the way they encounter lots of societies at various stages of development, some seem better than others, but there is always a threat of conflict and war.

Mara and Dann is fascinating and thought provoking, with very memorable protagonists, and it has made me want to reread and read more of Doris Lessing’s many other writings.

There is lots of material for discussion here, about the environmental and other issues explored, about the characters, the problems and dilemmas they face, and about their quest for somewhere to settle.

58. 04.03 Esther Freud, Lucky Break (4.4)

Ballet Shoes for Grown-Ups?

In 1992, a group of students start at drama school. Lucky Break focuses on three of them over the next 14 years.

Freud captures well some of the highs and lows of the training and career, or lack of it.There is no shortage of disillusionment and disappointment for actors, and this is never glossed over. There are also some very thrilling moments. I found the portrayal of the cruelty of the training particularly powerful, especially at the point when many of the students’ training comes to an abrupt end.

Of the three main characters, Nell is the most fully drawn. She is plump, freckled, and finds herself stuck with the bit parts and servant roles, has a crush on Dan and is awed by the beautiful, glamorous Charlie. I found myself rooting for her as the underdog. Dan and Charlie seem more likely to be future stars, but Dan and his girlfriend Jemma soon find themselves with a family to support. Charlie too has her issues.

Freud alternates the narrative between her three main characters in a way which I sometimes found frustrating when narrative shifts left one of the storylines on a cliffhanger.I was intrigued by the mixture of the very practical, prosaic portrait of acting life with some more fairy tale elements.

I found Freud’s portrayal of her main characters, and their friends and lovers, quite engaging. Often too, the novel is very funny.

Freud trained as an actor before becoming a writer, and is married to a successful actor. She admits to drawing on many experiences and anecdotes for the novel, and I found it a very believable portrait of that dream job.

I would recommend this novel, particularly to anyone who loved Ballet Shoes and other stage school stories – here is a version for grown ups.

This review was written for the Waterstones Cardholder scheme (thank you to Waterstones for sending me a review copy)

Ooh, Lucky Break sounds rather enjoyable. I'll add that one to the burgeoning wishlist! Thanks for the review, and congratulations on exceeding 75 books so quickly.

Congratulations on reaching 75 so quickly, Luci!

Yay! 75!! wowsers.

Congrats!

RIP Diana Wynne Jones, one of my all time favourite children's writers. I feared this news was coming since last summer when I heard she'd decided to give up chemo for lung cancer, but it's still a shock when it comes.

So sad about DWJ, I've been reading some of the online tributes to her.

I may still update parts of this thread and add new posts, but I'm going to add any comments reviews and from no 61 onwards on a 2nd thread.

Please come and post here, I'd love to hear your thoughts on what I've read/what I've said!

http://www.librarything.com/topic/112926#2602947

mini-Review of 57. Mara and Dann by Doris Lessing at post 239 above

59. 05.03 Suzanne Ruta, To Algeria With Love (4.4)

TIOLI 17 letter title

An American woman looks back on her time in the early 60s living with an Algerian man in France, the permanent legacy and the secrets. I really wanted to read this one when I read about it in Virago's catalogue of forthcoming books, and I managed to snaffle one of the library's brand new copies. Recommended.

60. 07.03 Sarra Manning, You Don't Have to Say You Love Me (4.6)

TIOLI (have to look up which one!)

I don't usually rate chicklit novels so highly but I enjoyed this one. Neve is looking forward to the love of her life returning from the US after 3 years there. She used to be very very fat but has lost a lot of weight through diet and exercise, but she hasn't gained any self esteem as she has lost weight. When she meets Max, a colleague of her sister, she assumes wrongly that he can't possibly fancy her. Still, she agrees to a sort of pancake practice relationship with him.

Neve is very naive and silly, and sometimes I found that exasperating. From William's letters and phone calls to her, it's clear that he's a total creep, whereas Max sounds like much more fun and obviously really fancies her. The misunderstandings and messing around lasts for over 500 pages but I flew through it. Is this book soppy? Absolutely. But it's also very very funny.

I also enjoyed the setting in Finsbury Park, very near where I live.

>250 elkiedee: "I also enjoyed the setting in Finsbury Park, very near where I live."

I totally get that. I read one really delightful SF book set in College Station, TX. I grew up there, and I'm sure I enjoyed it more because it was like visiting home :)