Sanddancer's 2011 Challenge

Joining in again this year. Last year I managed 157 books and I doubt I'll top that this year, so I'm not setting a specific number to reach (apart from reaching 75). However, I have the following aims so far:

- Read more books by women - men tend to dominate my writing although last year I increased the female authors I read and would like to continue on this track this year.
- Read at least one non-fiction book each month.
- Continue working my way through the 1001 Books to Read Before You Die list

Welcome! Nice goals for the year. You may want to keep an eye on the "What are we reading - nonfiction" thread for some suggestions. If you're looking for a nonfiction book for January, I'm in the middle of Simon Winchester's Atlantic: The Biography of an Ocean. It's a pretty good history of humans' interaction with the Atlantic Ocean organized rather topically than as a strict timeline.

Thanks Drneutron. Atlantic: The Biography of an Ocean looks interesting. Doubt I'll get hold of a copy during January to read, but I'll certainly look out for it during the year and look forward to seeing what you thought of it.

Finished by first book of the year.

1. Solar by Ian McEwan
After Saturday almost put me off reading for half a year, I wasn't in any great rush to read Ian McEwan's latest books (I had read most of his early work), but this was my book club's choice for January, intended to be a fairly light read to ease us into the year.

Thankfully, I enjoyed it more than Saturday although it had similiarities - an incredibly successful and intelligent, but not particularly likeable male protagonist and intricate detail of its subject matter - here it being physics and solar energy solutions to the energy crisis. But this is a "comic" novel - not side-splitting funny or surreal funny, but for all his intelligence, the lead character is a buffoon and the serious things that happen in his life are treated with a light touch and the reader is encouraged to enjoy his downfall. I'm not entirely sure why the author went down this route - admittedly a serious piece of fiction about global warming doesn't particularly appeal to me either - but this seems an odd combination of topic and style. On balance, I am left fairly indifferent to the book, but it has made me less hostile to the thought of reading more of his work than I previously was.

Hi!
I read Solar last year and I really enjoyed this satire and its dark humour... watching the inevitable self-destruction like a train wreckage in slow-motion...
In his books preceding Saturday McEwan proved his talent in describing "complicated" relationships - I liked that, too.

And concering your reading goals: I noticed, too, that I read far more books written by male authors than by female ones, and I want to change that this year. So I'll come back from time to time to get some inspiration!

Persephones - I used to consider Ian McEwan one of my "must read" authors so am glad that I enjoyed Solar more.

2. Atmospheric Disturbances by Rivka Galchen
Leo, a psychiatrist, is convinced that the woman living in his home is not his wife, although she looks like her and knows a lot about their life together. But certain little details, like her returning home with a dog, make him certain that she is an imposter. One of his patients, Harvey, has also gone missing. Harvey believed himself to be a secret agent for an organisation that maintains the unpredictability of weather, and Leo begins to suspect that this may be connected to what has happened to his wife.

I was immediately hooked by this intriguing situation and although the book contained plenty of "big ideas" about reality, identity and weather, I read through it quickly because I wanted to know more. Slight spoiler alert - this isn't the sort of book that neatly explains and resolves everything - I think I understood what had happened by the end, but it could be open to interpretation and all a bit odd. However, that wasn't really an issue for me as I enjoyed the journey. Leo was a sympathetic narrator and I found the writing style incredibly engaging and humorous in an odd way.

Rivka Galchen was one of the authors on the New Yorker 20 under 40 list, which I'm working me through and generally enjoying. One the basis of this book, I can see why she was included as this was an impressive debut.

Looks like your reading year is off to a great start, Justine!

Yes, I'm attacking my reading with renewed enthusiasm and looking forward to lots more to come.

3. The House of the Mosque by Kader Abdolah
This is a book I received through the Early Reviewers programme - so thanks to Librarything and the publisher for the copy.

The book is about an extended family of three cousins, who live in the house attached to the mosque in a town in Iran. The central character is Aqa Jaan, a wise and respected man, who runs the household and the town bazaar. when the story begins, it is 1950 and Iran is under the rule of the Shah, and the imam of the mosque is the ineffectual Alsaberi. But things will change dramatically. There is unrest at America's influence over the Shah, and the increasing Americanisation of Iran through radio, television and cinema, which conflict with the traditional Muslim way of life.

My edition has a chart showing the main characters in the front and a glossary of Arabic words in the back - two things that make me groan - I like to read uninterupted without having to flick back and forth for explanations and reminders. But I needn't have worried, as the characters were, on the whole, well-formed and distinctive so I didn't really need the extra help.

The book covers an important and fascinating part of recent history, a story which should be told in the West, where perhaps not enough is known about it. The first part of the book which introduces Persian customs and the relationships across the family was an absolute delight - I particularly liked the part about the Grandmothers who want to go to Mecca. However, when the story reached the time of the revolution and the fictional characters came up against real life events and people, I found that rather than being the exciting climax I was expecting, the book lost its way somewhat. Too much bland historical information was given, breaking from the flow of the narrative about the characters. It would have been better if this could have been integrated better with the story, rather than reported blankly. That's not to say that I didn't enjoy the book - it is just that that flaw made it just a good read rather than a great one.

#9: I will have to look for that one once it is out. Thanks for the review and recommendation.

4. I'm with the Band by Pamela Des Barres
A memoir by the infamous groupies, who hung out with the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Jim Morrison and Gram Parsons. It starts in the early 1960s when Pamela first became interested in boys and became obsessed with the Beatles. Then she discovers the Rolling Stones, and through a friend, meets Captain Beefheart, which opens her up to the hippie scene. She starts hanging out on Sunset Strip, meeting bands and falling in love with musicians.

Her story has sex, drugs and rock n roll in equal measures, but it still have a certain innocence about it. I expected the tales of excess to be more shocking, but actually the only bit that caused me any slight moral outrage was a bit about an 11 year old boy. Although her ambition was to marry a musician, it was because of a genuine passion for music and love of creative people, rather than being money-motivated. These early "groupies" (a term she dislikes because it has become a negative) believed themselves to be muses and an integral part of the music scene, with the fact that she remains friends with so many of the people mentioned, seeming to confirm this.

Pamela is a charming narrator, with a great line in self-deprecating wit. She manages to capture the spirit of the time and the innocence of her youth, assisted by extracts from the journals she religiously kept during this period. Recommended reading for anyone interested in 1960s culture or classic rock music.

>6 sanddancer::
Hi sanddancer! May I ask you, why you consider him a "must read" author? Is it like because you liked the first books you have to read the others? Or because he is quite a popular writer? Or...? (Sorry, my question sounds stupid - maybe it's just a language problem...)

Persephones - By "must-read", I was meaning entirely for me, nothing to do with how popular or respected they might otherwise be (although in Ian McEwan's case, he is both of those things). I considered him a "must-read" because I like his first books so he became an authors whose new books I always looked out for and bought. But this was a few years ago when my reading tastes were much more limited than they are now - back then if I like an author I would immediately try to read everything by them, often sickening myself of them. Now I try to spread out reading books by the same author so I have more variety.

5. Seaside by Scarlett Thomas
The third Lily Pascale mystery, where Lily is officially hired as a private investigator for the first time. A young woman is found dead, apparently a suicide, but is a twin and no one is exactly sure which twin she is. The suicide note is signed Laura, but the twin still alive claims to be Laura too. Mixed in with this, Lily meets yet another mysterious gorgeous man, who immediately falls in love with her.

I liked the mystery part of the book, with its references to film noir and anything to do with twins always intrigues me (I'm not a twin myself but have sisters who are twins), but as with other books in the series, the romantic sub-plot irritated me. Lily seems to meet so many mysterious gorgeous men who fall instantly in love with her that it stretches credibility. In the first book it could be excused as another part of playing with literary conventions with the man being Heathcliff-like, but in this one, it just seems like wish-fulfillment on part of the author.

I haven't read any of your books so far but 3 are on my want to read list.

9: I also received an ER copy of House of the Mosque and am glad to see you and a lot of other people have really liked it so far.

11: I've always been curious about Pamela Des Barres as I quite like a lot of the bands she errrrrrm, hung out with! I borrowed that book from the library before but someone else reserved it before I got to reading it. I remember it had a striking cover - did you read it on the bus to work? (I think I might have been a bit nervous about reading it on the tube).

14: I bought the 3 Lily Pascale books ages ago from a bookclub, as I'm always on the lookout for crime novels with a female investigator, and enjoyed the first one but never got to the other two.

Yes, I'm with the Band does have a very "interesting" cover which I wasn't expecting. I was quite embarrassed collecting it from the library but the librarian told me he had read it years ago and how she was still looking good even now, so I felt a bit less seedy after that. But I was still wary of reading it on the bus, so read it in the safety of my own home this weekend.

I think I liked the second of the Lily Pascale books best, but they were all a light read.

6. Anagrams by Lorrie Moore
This is the first book by Lorrie Moore that I've read, but I have seen a stage adaptation of one of her short stories. The blurb on the back of the book described it as being about Benna, a woman who makes anagrams out of words and her life, which intrigued me.- but the book bore little relation relation to this, which seemed odd. There is a lot of word play with misheard words or twists on well known expressions, but not much in the way of anagrams (unless they were done so subtley that I didn't notice - always possible!).

The book is structured into five parts, four chapters, followed by a fifth sectiion of novella length. Each part features a woman called Benna and a man called Gerard, but their nature of their relationship differs in each. I thought that perhaps the final section was supposed to be real with the other situations being alternate lives that Benna has imagined, but I wasn't sure.

The writing style is what I imagine has been described as "sassy" and I thought it might be in danger of seeming a bit dated (the book is from the 80s), but I did find lots of it very funny, which saved it for me. The third chapter, Yard Sale, I found particularly amusing and there were little bits throughout that made me chuckle to myself. Overall, I enjoyed the book, but would be interested in hear other people's opinions on it to see how they understood it.

#17: All I have read of Moore's books is one of her books of short stories, so I am not going to be helpful regarding Anagrams. Sorry, Justine.

Which short stories collection did you read? Was Self Help? It was a story from that collection that I saw in the theatre.

No, I read her Birds of America.

Bit behind with my updates

7. Groupie by Jenny Fabian and Johnny Byrne
Groupie is a fictionalised version of the 1960s exploits of Jenny Fabian, written with assistance from Johnny Byrne. The narrator is 19 year old Katie, who first has a dalliance with Ben, the enigmatic lead singer with the group – a very thinly disguised Syd Barrett and Pink Floyd. She is then determined to only date band members, and ha s couple of liaisons with others, although for much of the book she is involved in a humiliating relationship with a band manager. She takes a lot of drugs and gets busted by the police a couple of time, perhaps the most interesting scenes in the book (of which there weren't many).

I read this as a comparison with I'm with the Band, but unfortunately, it suffers by comparision. Katie/Jenny has none of Pamela Des Barres wit or charm, and although she spouts a similar line about really being into the music, her actions don’t really support this and she seems incredibly shallow. Because I knew it had some basis in truth, I was also distracted by trying to figure out who the characters were supposed to be.

Shocking in its day, now just shockingly bad.

8. Going Out by Scarlett Thomas
I didn't intend to read two Scarlett Thomas books so close together, but my reservation from the library on this one came through really quickly and after the monotony of Groupie I needed to read something I was pretty much guaranteed to enjoy.

The main characters are Luke, a 25 year old who is allergic to sunlight so has never been outside of his house, and his best friend and neighbour, Julie, who is wracked with fears and hang-ups about all sorts of things. It is 2000 and Luke has decided that he will find a cure before 2001, so when he contacted by a healer called Wei, he is determined to travel from his home in Essex to Wales to meet the healer.

Luke does eventually embark on his journey, but not until around page 250. Up until then, we are introduced to an assortment of characters and given an insight into Luke and Julie’s everyday lives. All of Scarlett Thomas’ usual obsessions are in here – new age beliefs, mathematical theories, story telling and at times I did wonder if she was cramming too much in, but in the end I really enjoyed the story and liked the characters. In particular, the parts about Luke’s life were quite touching and I really felt for him – most of what he knows of the real world comes from books or television shows, which is, at times, amusing, but also manages to be moving too. It was an easy read, not as complex as her later novels, but better than the Lily Pascale crime series, and I liked it alot.

9. Chrome Yellow by Aldous Huxley
Another one ticked off the 1001 Books to Read Before You Die list! This was Huxley's first novel, written in the 1920s and is very much a product of its time. A young poet, Dennis Stone, is a guest at a country house, where other fashionable artists, writers and thinkers gather and generally spout their various theories about life and art. Dennis love Anne, who doesn't seem particularly interested, whilst Mary is determined to find passion with someone.

It is obviously a satire on the obsession and preoccupations of the day, but that time is long past so what probably seemed very clever and witty then has lost something over time. There are still some entertaining parts - the owner of the house has written a book about its history and these stories are still amusing, as is a chapter about the word "carminative" - but generally it wasn't really my sort of thing.

One character, Mr Scrogans puts forth theories about the future of science where machinery will be highly developed and there will be no need for human contact. This is interesting to see the seeds of the ideas here that will be so important in Brave New World.

#22: It might be interesting to read Chrome Yellow and Brave New World consecutively.

10. Invisible by Paul Auster
Paul Auster is undoubtedly one of my favourite, if not my absolute favourite, author. Luckily he is a prolific writer, so I still have quite a few of his books to read. True to form, I enjoyed this one enormously. It isn't my favourite of his, but there is a lot of tough competition there.

Like most of his books, there is a preoccupation with the boundaries between fiction and truth. It is mainly the story of Adam Walker, a bright literature student, who in 1967, meets a strange man who offers him a large sum of money to create a magazine for him. Then something happens that alters his life.... The first part of the story is told from Adams point of view. Then the next chapter is an old friend of his in the past day, who has received a chapter of manuscript from Walker. This takes up where the first chapter left off, but from here on, we aren't so sure about whether what we are reading is supposed to be true or is made up.

As ever, I found the writing to be so seductive. I was drawn into the story and wanted to know what would happen. I found myself slightly disappointed (although not surprised) that it wasn't resolved more at the end, but this was only because I'd come to care so much for Adam that I wanted to know more. Another slight warning - this one contains more sex than I think Auster's work normally does (I don't remember much in other books) and some readers might be put off by it, but the sex scenes are well written and he deftly handles writing about taboo areas.

I loved Invisible and how Auster played with the whole author-narrator-protagonist universe!

As far as the sex scenes are concerned: At the beginning I was a little bit like "Oh, is really necessary that they see it through?" ...but thinking about it I came later to the conclusion that what Auster wrote is quite comprehensible and not at all obscene or judgemental.

11. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
I thought I already knew this, but it turned out I was confusing it with The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde. It is a children's classic that somehow managed to pass me by, but it definitely falls into the category of something that can be appreciated just as much by adults. When his plane has broken down, the unnamed narrator meets the Little Prince, who has landed on earth whilst travelling away from his little planet. It was a very sweet story, but quite poignant too - perhaps a bit too sad for some children. The illustrations were charming and really added to the text.

12. The Story of Forgetting by Stefan Merrill Block
I took a chance on buying this, but am so glad that I did. Based partly on the author's own family history, it is about a teenage boy trying to cope with his mother's diagnosis of Early Onset Alzheimers. Interwoven with his story, is the story of Abel, a hunchback who falls in love with his twin brother's wife, and the folktale-like stories about a mythical place called Isadora.

I wondered if it would be too depressing, but although it was very sad, the wonderful writing, brilliant characters and how the three different threads worked together, kept it from getting too bogged down in the tragedy of Alzheimers. There is also quite a bit of information about the nature of the illness itself, but even this is skillfully incorporated into the book so it never becomes too dry a read.

This is the author's first book, but I shall definitely look about for future books by him.

Hello,
on the same theme there is the book The wilderness by the English author Samantha Harvey. I would like to read something on Alzheimers but i am already hesitating for a while to decide which one of these two i would read.
Now .... if you could also read The wilderness you would be a very good source to tip me on which book i should choose ;-)
Don't thank me, i'm just helping you out if ever you would not know anymore what to read, my pleasure ;-)
Lunar18

Hi There

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

Thanks.

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

Lunar - I shall look out for The Wilderness although I probably don't want to read another Alzheimers book so soon.

Whisper - I have posted my birthday on the thread as requested.

#27: That one looks terrific. Thanks for the review and recommendation, Justine!

Quite a few to catch up on

13 Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi by Geoff Dyer
My book club read for February, which we will be discussing tomorrow evening Another odd choice and I'm not entirely sure there is much in here for discussion, except if people have visited the two places in the title and want talk about that.

The book is more like two novellas, although the narraator is the same person in both Jeff is a journalist, superficialy successful, but he knows that he just churns out meaningless copy on unimportant subjects. In the first part, he goes to Venice for the Biennial, an art fair, which is overshadowed by the associated parties and free drink. Here he becomes obsessed with an American woman he meets and they spend a few days together. Presumably this is a reference to Death in Venice which I attempted to read first, but struggled with.

In the second part, Jeff is sent to India to Varanasi, a sacred place associated with death. He is only supposed to stay a little while to write a travel feature, but decides to stay on and gradually cuts his ties with his old life. Whilst the first part was an easy read, but superficial, I didn't enjoy the second part at all. Although it was arguably "deeper", concerned more with spirituality and modern western man's place in the world, I really didn't care.

14. Zoololgy by Ben Dolnick
A sweet coming of age story about a college drop-out who goes to spend the summer in the New York, living with his brother and working at the zoo. He falls in love with a girl in his apartment block and spends time with her at the zoo and in the city. The narrator is naive and sometimes you feel annoyed at the way he behaves or his inability to see things as they are, but he is overall likeable and you want things to work out for him. Any coming-of-age story, particularly one set in New York is always in danger of comparisons with Catcher in the Rye (I've seen this mentioned in reviews of this book), but really it is quite different - it isn't anything groundbreaking or life-changing, but it was an enjoyable read.

15. Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach
Very short novella that is something of a cult. It is about a seagull who wants to fly fast and higher than the rest of the flock, but this leds to him being banished It is a simple fable with the message of not being afraid to follow your dreams. It was a quick read and a positive message, but perhaps too simplistic for my tastes, and I thought it felt rather dated and very much a product of 1970. In a similar vein, I much preferred The Little Prince which I read last month.

hi, referring to your message nr 30, i was only joking.

16. Adventures on the High Teas by Stuart Maconie
In the counterpart to his travels through the north in Pies and Prejudice, Maconie goes to look for middle England, a concept and way of life as much as a geographical location. Middle England has become associated with bigotry, petty small-mindedness and Daily Mail readers, but Maconie discovers that there is more to Middle England than this and actually, most of it is rather nice and still has many admirable traits. For anyone who isn't British (I assume the Welsh and Scottish will understand the concept as much as the rest of the English), the idea of Middle England may be hard to understand - geographically it is essentially the parts of England that aren't the big urban areas and not the north or too far south west, but in attitude it is very much middle class and conservative.

He travels around the country and looks at the subject by different themes, beginning with the geographical centre of the country, then looking at food, music, literature etc. I particularly enjoyed the chapter on the dark side of middle England, which was partly about television detective shows and partly about Fred West. Despite being from the north myself, I actually enjoyed this book more than his northern one.

#34: I think I will have to skip that one, as I am not British of any stripe.

I don't think it would appeal or much much sense to people outside of these isles.

Yeah, it did not seem like it from your description.

Still more to update - I've fallen behind a bit.

17. The Suicide Shop by Jean Teule
A short and quirky book with a very dark sense of humour. In the future, the world is a place of natural and environmental disasters, wars and all round misery. In this world, the suicide is rate is up, but to save people from failed suicide attempts that will only make their live more miserable, there is a Suicide Shop, a family-run shop which is there to sell you the products you need to do the job properly. The couple who run the shop take their work very seriously and have named their children after famous people who committed suicide with the characters of their older children living up to their names. But the youngest son, Alan, is relentless cheerful, seeing the good in everything, much to his parent's horror. I really liked this book, but I suppose enjoyment of it would depend on being able to get over the initial reservation about treating suicide in a humorous way.

18. The Importance of Music to Girls by Lavinia Greenlaw
Any book about devotion to music is inevitably going to be compared with Nick Hornby and that is probably what I was hoping for. But it is very different - it could possibly be argued that this is a female version because females are supposed to eschew the traditional linear male narratives. Whereas Nick Hornby's books offer lists and precise details about the music he loves, this has an all together more vague style. It is more about her personal responses to music, rather than the music itself - but somehow it manages to still be oddly unemotional. With other writers (male) about music, there is usually something universal in what they are saying and they make me crave music and want to listen to it as I read, but this didn't. It is more a memoir about feelings of alienation, whch you might then expect music to make her feel differently about, but it didn't. She can certainly write beautifully and evocatively, but the word that comes to mind most about her style is "floaty" and it feels as if she isn't quite there.

19. The Olive Readers by Christine Aziz
Interesting story behind the publishing of this book - it won a competition on the Richard & Judy Show to have your book published. This wasn't my reason for reading it - it simply caught my eye in the library, but it does perhaps have some bearing on the quality of the book itself. It is a dystopian novel (of which I have read many) set in a the future where a few large companies rule the whole world, old countries have ceased to exist and instead lands are described by what they produce. In the Olive Country, a family are distraught when the body of their youngest daughter is washed ashore and as events unfold the older sister finds herself involved with an underground resistance movement, who have a hidden store of ancient books. It was an easy read, although there wasn't anything particularly original in her vision of the future - banned books often come up in these worlds and they didn't add much to the plot here.

WOW..19 books read thus far. You are on a roll.

Your post regarding Jonathan Livingston Seagull brought back many memories.

You are right, it was a book that was cult like in that many people were very enamored by it...including me.

Here is a beautiful song from the movie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDbToBxhZUo

Whisper - thank you so much for posting the link. I love Neil Diamond (I was brought up listening to him) but have never heard the film soundtrack before.

Two very different books, but both good ones:

20. Disgrace by J M Coetzee
The next book for my book club and finally one that I was impressed with - given the dark nature of it, I can't say I enjoyed it, but I thought it was brilliant. David Lurie is a middle-aged university professor, who has an affair with a student. When it comes to light, he leaves his job and disgrace and goes to live with his daughter out in the country This being South Africa, it is a place filled with tensions between the previous white masters and the black population who are taking back the land. Lurie sn't a particularly sympathetic character and the world he inhabits is harsh and morally ambiguous - but what a powerfully written book.

21. I play in drums in a band called okay by Toby Litt
The fake memoir of a drummer in a (made-up) fairly successful Canadian indie-rock band, covering the length of the band's career, with the inevitable drugs, groupies and ego tensions. It is written as a series of short stories, sometimes in the style of a music interview, but mostly as personal confessions. Some of the stories of life on the road are funny, but what shines through most is the cameraderie between band members. Reads very convincingly like a real music memoir. Brilliant stuff.

I have Disgrace waiting for me on my shelf. Glad to know it's a good one.

I also have Disgrace at my home waiting for me to read it.

I read Disgrace end of last year and yes it's nature is certainly dark and again yes, it is very powerfully written. As i mentionned in my post of my 1010 challenge, i wonder if South Africa has evolved since Coetzee's writing of a number of novels that have the racial tension and the social chaos as a theme.
If you didn't read other novels by Coetzee and if you haven't been scared off by the darkness of Disgrace you should try Life and times of Michael K.
In this novel a black man is the main character and for me it is the answer to all the people who think that Coetzee himself takes the wrong position in the racial question.

Lunar - I thought I remembered you reading Disgrace. This wasn't my first of his books - I've also read Slow Man which was ok, but probably not the best place to start with his work as it involved characters from other novels, so I will definitely read more of his in the future. Thanks for the recommendation of Life and times of Michael K.

Thus far, Life and Times of Michael K is the only book of Coetzee's I have read and I found it to be very good.

Happy Almost Birthday.

I hope the 16th is a very special day for you.

Happy Birthday, Justine!

Happy birthday Justine

Happy Birthday!!! Hope you get lots of cake and plenty of books :D

I wish you a very happy birthday ! Enjoy every single day by reading a good book with a fine Belgian beer ;-)
PS : for tips on the beers, one address !

Happy Birthday Justine.

Thank you for all the kind birthday messages. I did have a lovely day (even though I was at work for most of it). I received 4 books and a voucher for Amazon which I'm still trying to decide what to spend it on.

#53: Four books and more to come sounds pretty good to me!

22. Stalin ate my homework by Alexei Sayle
A memoir by the comedian, about growing up in Liverpool as the only son of communist parents. As is the way with these memoirs of unconventional childhoods, his parents' beliefs caused a mixture of amusing stories and painful incidents for Sayle as a child, although with him being a comedian, it leans towards the funny rather than the emotional. It was entertaining enough and certainly his family background is an interesting one, but the book didn't quite hang together right for me - it was pretty much just a series of incidents and it didn't provoke any particular emotions in me.

23. Their Eyes were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
A classic of African-American literature, which I'll admit that I hadn't even heard of before I saw it in the library. It follows the marriages of Janie, who is married off to an older man when she is still a teenager, then her second marriage to another man and finally her finding real love. It is mainly written in the dialect of the characters, which was often hard to read, but some of the descriptions, particularly Janie's emotions regarding love and life, are beautifully written. I was surprised at how old this book is as it seems more contemporary and I can see why it is well regarded, but overall, it was a bit too meladramatic for my tastes.

24. February by Lisa Moore
Helen's husband Cal dies when an oil rig sinks, killing all of the men on board. Years later, her son rings her to say he was got a woman pregnant. The book moves back and forward between the present, the time of Cal's death and the period in between as Helen brings up 4 children on her own. It is one of those books where not much really happens, but I liked her writing style and liked the characters too. I thought her writing about grief and about the disaster were particularly powerful. I can see that this wouldn't be the type of book for everyone, given its slow pace, but I liked it

56: I'm glad you liked February too, your comments on it were similar to my thoughts and what I said in my review.

55: I found Stalin Ate My Homework in the library yesterday - though it wasn't right for you, your post did remind me I wanted to read it. I think it was Book of the Week on the radio last year.

I thought you had a similar reaction to February although a lot of other weren't so receptive to it.

I still think Stalin Ate My Homework is worth a read, especially if you want something light - but I somehow expected it to be a better,

I need to get to February soon. Off to check and see if the local library has it yet.

25. Letter from New York by Helene Hanff
I loved 84 Charing Cross Road so picked this up in the library and I actually enjoyed it just as much as her most famous work. In the late 70s/early 80s, Hanff did a monthly spot on the BBC radio's Woman's Hour, which was a little snap shot of her life in New York. Some years later, a publisher friend read her original scripts and published them as a book. It is her life living in a tiny New York apartment, in a building with various friends and neighbours - and their dogs. She writes with such warmth about people and places - it made me really want to go to New York again, especially the parts about Central Park. Utterly delightful.

26. The Fire Gospel by Michel Faber
This is another in the Canongate Myths series. The myth that this is inspired by is the story of Prometheus who steals the secret of fire from the gods and gives it to human. The connection to this myth is looser than in the other Myths series books I've read. Theo, an expert is Aramaic, finds some hidden scrolls in a museum in Iraq which he steals. These turn out to be a fifth gospel, by Malchus who witnessed Jesus' death and then converted to Christianity. Publishing the gospel brings Theo fame, but understandable it upsets many religious people. The book doesn't have anything particularly deep or new to add to the debate about religion, but it is actually more of a satire about the modern publishing industry - I found the chapter about user reviewers on Amazon very funny and pretty accurate.

27. In a Strange Room by Damon Galgut
Not really sure what to make of this. It consists of three stories about the narrator, also called Damon, and three experiences he had whilst travelling. In the first, The Follower, he mets a mysterious German man who he goes travelling with. In the second, The Lover, is meets a group of people whilst travelling around Africa. Then in the third, The Guardian, he takes Anna, a friend suffering from severe depression, to India to try to help her get better. The first story I found rather odd - like the German character, it had a detachment to it. The second I found rather dull. The third was more powerful - the depiction of the friend in the grips of mental illness, like a possession, was terrifying. With the main character being called Damon, you are left wondering how much is fiction or is it biography.

28. How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff
15 year old Daisy from New York is sent to stay with her aunt and cousins in England. The world is on the brink of a war and her aunt goes away leaving the children alone. The cousins are strange but Daisy finds herself falling in love with Edmond. Then war breaks out...

I was rather disappointed with this book as I'd heard rave reviews of it and the comparisons with The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time as a cross-over YA book appealed to me. I will say that I'm not a big reader of YA books, so perhaps do judge them too harshly against adult books standards, but really I didn't see that there was anything special about this. The sexual relationship between the cousins didn't particularly shock me, but I found it hard to care.

29. God is Dead by Ron Currie
I'll admit I picked this up due to the controversial title, but it proved a good choice for me - not sure if others of a more religious nature would enjoy it quite so much though. It is structured as a series of loosely connected stories, which develop from the first where God is in war-torn Darfur, disguised as a woman and gets caught up in the conflict there. This God is unusual in that whilst being omnipotent, they are pretty much powerless. The stories that follow offer possible answers to the question of what would happen to the world in which God was declared dead and include tales of despair, mass suicide pacts, the worship of new gods and new conflicts.

The stories that stood out for me where the opening one "God is Dead" (particularly the "character" of Colin Powell), "Indian Summer" about the deaths and hopelessness that followed the news, "False Idols" about adults worshipping children and a man whose job it is to remind parents that their kids are ordinary and "Interview with the Last Remaining Member of the Feral Dog Pack which Fed on God's Corpse" whose title pretty much explains its contents. I was impressed by the bold premise of the book, the questions it asked and variety of the stories.

Lots to update...

30. Where They Were Missed by Lucy Caldwell
A coming-of-age dysfunctional family story set against the backdrop of the troubles in Ireland in the 1970s and 1980s. It begins in Belfast where 6 year old Saoirse plays with her younger sister, Daisy during the hot summer, not understanding the conflicts around them and between their parents. The second part of the book moves forward 10 years and to southern Ireland, where teenager Saoirse is unhappy, but just beginning to understand what has happened. I thought the troubles would play a bigger part in this book than they did and I didn't find the older Saoirse particularly likeable as a central character. A little bit disappointing.

31. Swamplandia by Karen Russell
The debut novel following her fantastic short story collection - which has actually been developed from one of her stories. It is set in the Swamplandia theme park, run by the Bigtree family where the star attraction is the mother's alligator wrestling show. When she dies, the park is in financial trouble and the family begins to fall apart. I loved the setting and the details about the attractions and their promotion, and its new rival hell-inspired theme park, The World of Darkness. I was a little bit disappointed with the ending, but otherwise a very good read.

32. Short Girls by Bich Minh Nguyen
A light read and closer to chick lit that my usual tastes, but I liked this. It is about two sisters of Vietnamese heritage in the USA, who are very different Their eccentric father is an inventor of gadgets to help short people with everyday tasks. I enjoyed most of the book, although again, I found the ending a bit weak.

33. The Unnamed by Joshua Ferris
Very different in tone from his debut Then We Came to an End so anyone who didn't like that, should still consider giving this a go. Tim suffers from an unexplained illness where he will be gripped by the uncontrollable urge to walk. When he has bouts of this, he walks until he is exhausted, gets lost and finds himself in dangerous situations. His wife and daughter try to help him but the mystery illness threatens their relationships. The unusual syndrome makes it similar to The Time Travelers Wife but the style is very different and while The Time Travelers Wife is overwhelmingly romantic, the response here is much more realistic - that despite loving someone, this will tear you apart. I loved this - it didn't offer any explanation for his condition, but remained fascinating and was absolutely heartbreaking.

I really liked Where They Were Missed and was very excited about Swamplandia!. I want to read Joshua Ferris' books and am glad to see a more positive review of one of them.

I quite liked Then We Came to an End when I read it last year. It had an odd first person plural narration style i.e. "we", which was odd and took a bit of getting used to, but in the end I rather enjoyed it, but I was even more impressed with The Unnamed.

34. Pop by Kitty Aldridge
(touchstones not working)
Its 1975 when 13 year old Maggie is sent to live with her grandfather in the West Midlands when her mother dies. He is obsessed with winning the local pub quiz and enlists Maggie and his friends to help. The title refers both to his preference for being called Pop and Maggie's references to pop music. I liked bits of this, but wasn't as charmed by it as I expected to be.

35. 1933 was a bad year by John Fante
A novella about 17 year old Dom, who wants to be a professional baseball player, rather than follow in his father's footsteps as a bricklayer. It is set during the Depression and his family are poverty-stricken, so his dreams look futile. It is written in Fante's usual sparse style and I felt compassionate towards Dom, but it was so short that there wasn't much time for things to really develop - I'm not sure but think it may have been his last book so was perhaps unfinished. So it was good for what it was, but not as good as the Bandini books I've read.

36. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
Another novella and my first Ernest Hemingway. The quality of the writing is undeniable, but it failed to really ignite my interest.

37. The Believers by Zoe Heller
Joel is a successful left-wing civil rights lawyer in New York, married to Audrey for 40 years. Their offspring are far from happy - Karla is overweight and in a loveless marriage, Rosa has turned to Orthodox Judiasm (much to the disguest of her atheist family) and Lenny, their adopted son, is a drug-addict waster. When Joel has a stroke, it increases the existing tensions. The family are pretty awful bunch, with Audrey being an absolute monster - so vile that her harsh words do sometimes seem comic. The rest of the family don't have much to recommend them either, so it is a testament to Zoe Heller's writing that I really enjoyed this book, and whilst I wouldn't say I cared about the characters particularly, I wanted to know what would happen.

38. Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
My first taste of Gladwell and I really enjoyed it. This one is subtitled The Story of Success, but is not a self-help title about achieving success, but rather an extended theory debunking the typical success story attributed to just hard work and talent. Gladwell brings together various theories from different spheres that show that our backgrounds, where we are from, how we are raised and when we are born affects our chance of success. Some of these theories might be controversial (and I'm not sure the one about Jewish New York lawyers entirely holds up) but on the whole it made a lot of sense and made me feel a bit better about my lack of success! I found his writing style very easy to read but really made things interesting, so I'll definitely be reading more by him.

39. Cider with Roadies by Stuart Maconie
This one is more of a memoir than the other two books I've read by Stuart Maconie, and specifically relates to his interest in music and eventually becoming a music journalist. There were some good ancedotes about bands and his early life, but in the later stages, when he was a successful music journalist, I felt he was holding back on the detail.

40. Anthropology by Dan Rhodes
A collection of 101 very short stories all on the theme of love and relationships. Each story consists of 101 words, they are arranged alphabetically by title and all involve a girlfrield with an exotic name. The stories are either about how much he loves the girlfriend, splitting up with the girlfriend or a girlfriend dying. Some are silly and read like jokes building to a punchline, whilst others, although still odd, are quite touching. It is a very quick read and I did enjoy some stories and liked the idea, but by the end, I found it a little repetitive.

Been too busy to update and too tired to read that much recently, but still a few to add.

41. Skippy Dies by Paul Murray
A vast semi-comic novel set in an exclusive Irish boys school. Skippy dies in the prologue, then two thirds of the book led up to that event, then the rest deals with the aftermath. It takes in music, child abuse, alternative universes and anorexia. Not as obviously funny as his first novel An Evening of Long Goodbyes but that is hardly surprising given that list of subject areas. I enjoyed it, but couldn't help feel that it really didn't need to 650 pages long and could have been done in half that without losing too much.

42. The Quiet American by Graham Greene
Another book club choice and for the second month in a row, a choice I enjoyed. I've read plenty of Greene's stuff before and this covers familiar grounds - expats in exotic locations, conflict in foreign country, cynism vs idealism and faith.

43. Travel Writing by Peter Ferry
Picked this up at random in the library. It is about a creative writing teacher, called Peter Ferry, who tell his class a story about a car crash he witnesses and how he comes obsessed with the woman involved in it. It is never quite clear whether he is just making up the story or if it is real, then another layer is added by the character sharing the author's name. There are a couple of bits of travel writing thrown into the mix. I found it really interested at first and I do tend to like these meditations on the nature of storytelling, but I found it started to drag a bit and in the end I didn't love it quite as much as I thought I would at first.

44. Bright Young Things by Scarlett Thomas
I think I have now read everything by Scarlett Thomas. This is, I think, her first "proper" novel outside of her crime fiction. It is set in 1999 and is about a group of young people who all respond to an intriguing job advert asking for "bright young things". They don't know each other and are all very different, apart from being recent graduates. They attend the interview, then find themselves together on a mysterious island, wondering how they got there. As with her other books, I found it enormously readable and I raced through it (there is a lot of dialogue which also makes it a quick read), but I ultimately I found it unsatisfying. I didn't like the ending and was left feeling cheated. The other thing is that it is very much of its time, the characters very much typical 20-somethings of the late 1990s (which I was too!) and whilst it was probably very much the zeitgeist when it was written, it seemed a bit dated now. Not that I disliked it, but I would have probably loved it if I'd read it back when it was written.

45. Moon Palace by Paul Auster
Another favourite author, although he is rather prolific so I think I've still got a few of his left to read. Very typical of Auster's work, it involved mysterious people with strange backgrounds, storytelling and lots of coincidences. I didn't feel as moved by this story as I have by some of his other books, but as ever, I enjoyed the way he writes and lost myself in the story.

I read Bright Young Things soon after publication and wasn't that impressed.

I am very behind on threads, Justine. Hopefully I can keep up with you for the remainder of the year though.

Stasi - no need to apologise - I'm hardly even managing to keep my own thread up to date myself!

46. Kevin McCloud's Grand Tour of Europe by Kevin McCloud
I picked this up in the library at random. I didn't know Kevin McCloud or that this was the book of a television programme, but was drawn to the idea of the Grand Tour, which has come up in other books I've read. It turns out Kevin McCloud presents the programme Grand Designs which is about architecture and that is the main focus of his Grand Tour. He is following the footsteps of early aristocratic tourists (in particular the Romantic Poets) in visiting European cities in search of inspiration from classic times. He visits France, Venice, Rome and the Alps, and looks at how the styles of architecture (and in the Alps, the awe of nature) inspired architects in their work back in Britain. I have a vague interest in architecture without knowing very much about it, so this book was at the ideal level for me - if you are already an expert on classic and gothic architecture, then it would probably not be detailed enough, but it was an interesting introduction to the subject. Since finishing it, I've found myself staring up at buildings and naming their styles!

Hello Sanddancer, i also read a book last year entitled Grote Europese Roman by the Flemish writer Koen Peeters who visits a large number of cities in Europe, all with a particular story happening in or linked with the city in question. Here the pretention is to do business everywhere but the main character is more struggling with himself then actually concentrated on the job. Don't know if it is available in English.

Hello there. I love the cover of that book with the man with the clockwork key in his back. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be available in English - Amazon does have it in Italian, which still isn't any help to me.

47. The Sixties Unplugged by Gerard DeGroot
It is an ambitious project to attempt to cover the whole of a decade in one book and it felt like rather a big task to just read it. DeGroot's central premise is that the 1960s weren't the idealistic revolutionary decade that is looked back through rose tinted glasses and its legacy isn't necessary the things most people immediately think of. In his introduction, he admits that he can't include everything and whilst the USA forms the most of his text, he does cover events in other places too. For the most part I enjoyed the book and I think his assessment is very fair and well reasoned.

Probably one of the most interesting aspects of the book for me is the idea that rather than left-wing liberal ideas, it was the conservative movement that really took hold in this decade and would have the biggest impact on the future - this was the decade Regan went into politics which is an interest chapter here as is the part of conservative youth politics. I also found the chapters on the Provos in the Netherlands and Cesar Chavez interesting as I didn't know anything about them.

The weakest parts of the book were mainly the ones which I already knew quite a bit about. The chapter on mods was poorly written with the author seeming to confuse various English seaside towns as if they were one in the same place. Having read Mark Kurlansky's 1968 The Year that Rocked the World , I wasn't as interested in the sections on 1968. But these are small grumbles and overall I'm glad I read this book as it offered a different perspective on a well-worn subject.

48. Divinity Road by Martin Pevsner
Thank you to the Early Reviewers programme for this book.

The narrative of Divinity Road is split into four, with chapters focusing on two couples, who have been divided by tragedies. It begins with a chapter about Greg, who appears to be the sole survivor of a plane crash. This startling event might appear improbable, but it was an exciting start to the book and it grabbed my attention quickly.

The story then moves to Aman, an Eritrian separated from his family through a different type of tragedy, who finds himself in England, hoping to gain asylum. The other strands of the book are their wives, Nuala and Samira, who are brought together later in the story and give the book its only shreds of optimism and hope.

I was concerned at first that the subject matter might be too worthy, but the characters and plot were well-crafted so it didn't feel like an agenda swamped the story. To find fault with it, this subject matter has been covered before and it didn't feel hugely original, but I liked the characters and enjoyed reading it

49. Seventies: The Sights, Sounds and Ideas of a Brilliant Decade by Howard Souness
Whereas The Sixties Unplugged by Gerard deGroot (book 47) looked at a decade that is normally remembered fondly and said it wasn't that great after all, this book looks at a decade that is often ridiculed and points out that some great happened culturally in the 1970s.

The book covers an extensive range of sopics, taking in high and popular culture; art, literature, architecture, music, television and cinema. Specific subjects include Monty Python, David Hockney, Apocalyse Now, Jaws, punk, Warhol and Studio 54, Woody Allen, Alexandr Solzhenitsyn, Iris Murdoch, Pompidou Centre, Syndey Opera House and Diane Arbus - quite a mixed bunch but I found it all equally interesting. The author is particular adept at drawing parrallels or contrasting subjects and moving seamlessly from one subject to another. I enjoyed this enormously - highly recommended.

So much to update, although not the best reads, which is perhaps why I haven't felt compelled to write about them.

50. Leviathan by Paul Auster
Starts off interestingly with the narrator talking about a friend who has been implicated in a bombing. Then it goes back over his relationship with this friend, both being writers as is typical of Auster's characters. It was engaging enough, but I think I read it too soon after Moon Palace and it seemed rather similar without much to distinguish it. The friend being involved in setting off bombs felt weird to read about given that this was written before 9/11.

51. Troubles by J G Farrell
Another poor choice for our Book Club - there were only two of us who managed to finish it. Recovering from his war efforts, the Major goes to stay with his fiancee, Angela, in the hotel her family run in Ireland. He has no memory of how he came to be engaged to her, but they have been writing to each other. He arrives to find the hotel decaying and Angela elusive. It begins amusingly enough but is way too long with the middle section going on and on without much really happening. Ireland's fight for independence is brewing in the background and it takes a very nasty and dramatic turn at the very end of the book, but this jars with the tone of the rest of the book. The Major and the hotel are obviously extended metaphors for the British Empire in decline, but I would have still liked some believability in the way the characters acted and the whole thing could have been much shorter without losing anything.

52. The Wilderness by Samantha Harvey
I'd heard great things about this book, but again wasn't overly impressed. It is about a man suffering from Alzheimer's who remembers bits and pieces of his past life about his wife, lover, mother, son and daughter. I had heard it described as beautifully written, but I found it over-written in places and the dialogue particularly with his wife and mother unrealistic - I don't think this was supposed to be because they were memories or because of his condition. The parts I found most moving where the bits in the present day where he is struggling with his mind, in particular where he forgets who the woman is who lives with him and a scene at the doctors where they are testing him.

53. Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
Much needed light relief after the book before it. Much of the satire was probably lost on me as I'm not really familiar with the rural melodramas it parodies, but it was still an entertaining read. I particularly loved a line about how the heroine loved Victorian novels because they were the only books you could read while eating an apple!

54. Diary of a Nobody - by George Grossmith
Another comic classic that I'd never read. It is the diary of Charles Pooter, a rather dull bank clerk, who writes a diary because everyone else seems to. It was originally published as a series in Punch, although I think it works fine as a book too. Pooter has become a recognised satirical type (petty, boring, old-fashioned etc), but I didn't find him an unlikeable character and I often felt sorry for him when things don't go well for him. An amusing quick read.

55. Guardian Style
The Guardian newspaper's style guide - not the sort of thing people normally read for pleasure, but I was brushing up on my grammar for a job application test and this is considered a good authority. I intended to just dip into it, but found it interesting and much more amusing in its style than I expected, so I ended up reading it in its entirety. It lists common misspellings, the Guardian's style for words with various possible spellings, how it uses capital letters, and words and phrases that misused or are cliches to avoid. What was particularly interesting was its advice regarding issues such as disability, asylum seekers etc and how to avoid writing in tabloidese - I wondered whether a comparative style guide exists at tabloid newspapers to explain how to write in as offensive and sensationalist style as possible?

Well, I fell behind on threads once again *sigh*

#86: I bought Diary of a Nobody a couple of years back. I need to locate my copy and give it a read. Thanks for the reminder, Justine!

Hello Sanddancer,
on The wilderness, reading your comment i guess that you liked more the other book on Alzheimer disease The story of forgetting ?
Lunar18

Lunar - yes, I did enjoy The Story of Forgetting more, although I think The Wilderness has received more praise from critics and other readers, so my opinion might not be the same as most people's.

56. Lucky Girls by Nell Freudenberger
A collection of five short stories that, I think, was the debut publication by this author. Each story is about a woman in unfamiliar surroundings or unusual circumstances. The first is about an American woman living in India, where she had become of the lover of a married man, who has subsequently died. Another is about the relationship between a college-bound girl and her tutor, and another about a woman reflecting on her unconventional upbringing (the characters here reminding me a bit of Hideous Kinky). My favourite was the story called Orphan about a woman whose daughter is working at an Aids orphanage in Thailand. The final story, which was the longest and the one most reviews singled out for praise, is an odd tale written by a 17 year old girl, but about a male author and his books, the exotic location in this story coming from his tour of Vietnam. This story seemed likesomething Paul Auster might right combined with Graham Greene. Overall, I enjoyed this book, but wasn't a blown away by it was the reviews suggested - I'd say it was solid, but unspectacular.

57. Irma Voth by Marian Troews
I received this book through the Early Reviewers programme, so thank you for that. It is set in Mexico in a settlement of the Mennonite religious group and is narrated by 19 year old Irma. She has been disowned by her father when she married a Mexican man, but he has since walked out on her. A film crew has come to make a film set in their community which sets off a chain of events that leds to Irma leaving her home. I like the character of Irma, although at times it was hard to remember that she was 19 as she seemed more child-like, which was probably intentional due to her sheltered upbringing. I found my interest in the film-crew and this part of the story waning, so I was glad when the story moved on from here, and I really enjoyed the part about Irma away from home.

#91: I will have to look for that one. Thanks for the recommendation, Justine.

58. The Terrible Privacy of Maxwell Sim by Jonathan Coe
Maxwell Sim is a middle-aged man, whose wife has left him, moving to the other end of the country with their daughter. His relationship with his cold, distant father isn't much better and he envys the intimacy and intellect of others. A meeting with an old work colleague leds to him taking part in a promotional event for a new brand of toothbrushes, which involves driving to Scotland. This description makes the book sound like a fairly typical middle-life crisis story, but what elevates it above this is its literary allusions and interesting structure. T S Eliot's Four Quartets is mentioned and the book follows this structure, constructed in four parts named after the elements. Within each main section as narrated by Maxwell, there is another story that is connected to the overall narrative but written by someone else, for example a short story written by his wife and a college report by an old family friend. The first of these interludes is about a real life person Donald Crowhurst, an amateur yachtsman who attempted to circumnavigate the world for a competition in the 1960s, but turned out to be a fake. Maxwell feels a kinship with Crowhurst and his own life starts to mirror Crowhurst's. There are also references to The Rise and Fall of Reginald Perrin here with a similar bitter-sweet humour. I can't make up my mind about whether I liked the way the book ended or not, but I enjoyed the rest of the book so much that I won't hold that against it.

59. Trouble with Lichen by John Wyndham
Sci-fi is just not my sort of thing, but I love John Wyndham and am gradually working my way through his books. In this one, Diana, a bright, beautiful but unconventional bio-chemist accidently discovers that a lichen possess the powers to slow the aging process. Her boss and mentor has also discovered this secret, but while he doesn't quite know what to do with it, Diana puts into place a masterplan that she hopes will change society forever. The book was published in 1960, so some of the dialogue and the attitudes expressed by some characters about a woman's role seem a bit dated, but, as with his other books, the big ideas about the implications of science of still relevant today. The book poses the question of what would happen if people lived longer - although we aren't reaching 200 years old, recent medical advances mean that an aging population in a very real issue in our society today and the other issue of women's limited years of fertility has also become more of an issue in recent years as woman have careers and delay becoming parents. Many other reviewers have said that it isn't his best work, and whilst it isn't a classic like Day of the Triffids or The Chrysalids, I still thought it was thought-provoking and a good story too.

#94: Trouble with Lichen was the first of Wyndham's books that I read and I liked it the least. I really liked his Day of the Triffids though.