Jaidelle's 35 book challenge for 2011

First of all, aiming to read the books I have standing on my shelves... they look so lonely... :P




1. Apteeker Melchior ja Oleviste mõistatus by Indrek Hargla
2. Blood of Elves by Andrzej Sapkowski
3. The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski
4. Apteeker Melchior ja Rataskaevu viirastus by Indrek Hargla
5. The Egyptian (in Estonian) by Mika Waltari
6. Last Argument of Kings by Joe Abercrombie
7. French ja Koulu Tarbatus by Indrek Hargla
8. Imede saar by Karl Ristikivi
9. Slaughterhouse-five by Kurt Vonnegut
10. Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman
11. Gun Control on Trial by Brian Doherty
12. The Fry Chronicles by Stephen Fry
13. Apteeker Melchior ja timuka tütar by Indrek Hargla
14. First Love, Last Rites by Ian McEwan
15. Medic!: The Story of a Conscientious Objector in the Vietnam War by Ben Sherman
16. Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
17. Hundipäikese aeg: Metsiku jahi algus by Tamur Kusnets
18. Coming of Age in Mississippi by Anne Moody

Lots of luck with this year's challenge!

Thanks :)

Hope you'll make it. :)

Remind me, what's your aim for the year :P Maybe we should have a competition... and if you win, I'll get you another book :P

50. And you're on! :P Same deal - if you win I'll get you any book you want. :D How do we determine the winner, though?

(Love your ticker, by the way. =))

Any book I want... you should never say that to someone in need of all of those John Benjamins books on discourse and what not :P
As to deciding the winner... let's see how we do and then solve the problem when we actually get that far (or we could start thinking of an algorithm right now :D)

(And the ticker almost suggested itself after I excluded everything to do with pregnancy, childbirth and debt :D:D)

That's more or less exactly why I said it. :D You have serious needs - I only need more fluffy books. :P

You mean YOU could start thinking of an algorithm. You know I'm hopeless at maths. :P

Hargla is my most read and most loved Estonian author. His "Apteeker Melchior ja Oleviste mõistatus" is the first Estonian Gothic crime novel, the bloody events of which take place in Tallinn in the 15th century. Brutal murders disrupt the otherwise peaceful life in the city and Apothecary Melchior is called upon to help find out whodunit.

Hargla's ability to take fairly typical characters and ideas and use them to create something unique and familiar at the same time is what I probably most enjoy about his books.

Awesome!

Slightly in reverse order, but it didn't hurt the reading :D

I finally finished Mika Waltari's The Egyptian (or Sinuhe, as it is titled in Estonian). It was originally the first book that was supposed to be listed as part of my challenge for the year, but somehow it dragged on and on and on...
Having said that, it's actually a great book. Waltari has created a realistic and tangible world based on an era one (or at least me) rarely meets in novels. From the vivid descriptions of medical procedures in the Ancient Egypt to the mostly unhappy relationships of the protagonist, the text moves in a melancholic and meditative rhythm inviting the reader to pause often and contemplate Sinuhe's observations and experiences. The Finnish text is written in an archaic style and the Estonian translation by Johannes Aavik (from the 1950s already) has not changed that, making the reading of the novel a strange experience linguistically as well.
Due to lack of time and other more easily consumed books (as well as, sadly, work), I read the book for a few months and still had to scan through portions of it to really get anywhere... But I will still count it as a book read: of the almost 700 pages I definitely read at least half :P
And I would still recommend it!

Joe Abercrombie's Last Argument of Kings concludes The First Law trilogy. It has been a good few years since I enjoyed a fantasy novel as much - it was probably Hobb's first trilogy that created a similar feeling of withdrawal whenever I had to put the book down. I am not entirely sure what it is that captured my interest... probably the fact that, at times, it reads like someone's Dungeon&Dragons chronicle: there are a handful of main characters with fairly clear-cut roles, quest-based logic to the story-line and sudden (I mean, awesome!) changes to the characters' lives (not to mention the witty writing). The significant lapses in the protagonists' moral judgement make more avenues possible and events unpredictable - just like in a good role-playing campaign where people are not overly worried about their alignment :P
I have to, however, agree with people who are not crazy about the ending of the trilogy - in my opinion, the characters actually deserved a better finale. As it stands, the ending is in rather a stark contrast for me in comparison with the atmosphere of the previous 2.7 books... but perhaps now there is a chance of continuing the story with at least some of the characters.

Karl Ristikivi's Imede saar (Island of Wonders) is a book I have had for almost a decade but it is only now that I got round to reading it. I usually have a very strange and, often, misplaced distrust of Estonian authors, meaning I frequently expect to be bored. Ristikivi definitely did not bore me. I found myself annoying my sister with sections of the book that rang incredibly true for today's society - somewhat surprising considering that Ristikivi's novel was first published about half a century ago. It is also a curious book to read in terms of what the novel is, was or could have been saying about the Soviet rule in Estonia way back when. The utopian/dystopian island is something to be admired; it causes amazement and confusion, and the story constructs layers upon layers of social criticism/propaganda etc.

Stephen Fry's autobiography is exactly what one expects - utterly delightful and polite, sufficiently odd and revealing and, all the while, completely captivating.