japaul22 reading off the shelf for the second half of 2011

Hi everyone! I'm joining you late because I finished my modified 11 in 11 challenge (4 in each category) way earlier than I thought I would. I decided that for the rest of the year I should try to get through some of the books on my shelves and on my kindle.

Just wanted to add that my version of "off the shelf" or on my kindle includes anything there as of starting this challenge. I won't count anything I buy or receive after now. I only have about 20 books on my shelves I haven't read since we have a small place without a lot of room for storage, but I have about 50 books on my kindle I haven't read yet since I keep downloading all of these freebies I find!

My goal is 12 books off the shelves and 8 from my kindle.

*****New idea! ******
And I hope this is final! I've decided to amend my challenge a bit. I've listed every book on my shelves that I've not yet read and will put the date by it when it's completed. Because I have relatively few books that I've not read, I think this will work well. I added my kindle books also - anything purchased (not the tons of free books I've downloaded) that hasn't been read yet. I'm not going to put a definite timeline on this challenge, but I hope it will keep me reading books I already have. I will update the lists with acquired books once or twice a year.

Off the shelf books
1. Faceless Killers by Henning Mankell - 8/16/11
2. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck - 9/2/11
3. The Help by Kathryn Stockett - 9//22/11
4. Summer Light: A Walk Across Norway by Andrew Stevenson - 10/26/11
5. Silas Marner by George Eliot
6. Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
7. Faust I & II by Goethe
8. The Sorrows of Young Werther by Goethe
9. The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan
10. Detective Inspector Huss by Helene Tursten - 11/14/11
11. Collected Poems by Emily Dickinson
12. Home by Julie Andrews
13. A History of the Vikings by Gywn Jones
14. Half Broke Horses by Jeanette Walls - 12/2/11
15. Annals of the Former World by John McPhee
16. Armageddon by Max Hastings
17. Retribution by Max Hastings
18. A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking - 11/19/11
19. Bringing up Boys by Dobson
20. Journey to the End of the Night by Celine - 11/27/11
21. The Reivers by William Faulkner
22. Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
23. The Red and the Black by Stendhal
24. Don Quixote by Cervantes
25. The Letters of John and Abigail Adams

Kindle books
1. Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese - 9/15/11
2. Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson - 10/2/11
3. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith
4. Outlander by Diana Galbadon
5. Home: A Novel by Marilynne Robinson - 12/5/11
6. Autobiography of Mark Twain

Welcome aboard, japaul22, and best of luck with the challenge!

Thanks staffordcastle!

Off the shelf book #1: Faceless Killers by Henning Mankell
This is another of those now popular Swedish mysteries. This book was written in the early 90s, but wasn't published in English until fairly recently. I guess now you always have to compare any Swedish mystery author to Steig Larsson. I would say that this book was better written, but less exciting. I think it was a more realistic look at police work and I liked the main detective, Kurt Wallender. It didn't blow me away though. I will most likely read any others in the series that my mom lends me (she gave me this one), but I wouldn't necessarily seek them out. A nice diversion though. Also, I think there might be PBS mystery movies based on these books, and if so, those I would like to see.

Off the shelf book #2: The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
This book has been sitting on my shelf staring at me since junior year in high school. I tried to read it for my English class then and only made it through about 150 pages. I just didn't like it and I have to say that it did not improve with age. This is the story of the Joad family, a poor family trying to survive the great depression. They leave their home state of Oklahoma for California where they hope to find work, but instead find no work and horrible living conditions. Steinbeck alternates the Joad's story with chapters that are general in nature and show that the Joads are just one family among thousands who experienced this. These parts in particular really annoyed me. I thought the personal story of the Joad's was much more effective and the general parts just felt like political rhetoric to me. Man vs. tractor, big mean corporations vs. the little guy, etc. It was a really depressing book and I also didn't like the ending. You never really find out what happens to the Joads although you can assume it won't be good! If I hadn't read East of Eden, which I really enjoyed, I'd be tempted never to read any Steinbeck again.

Kindle books #1: Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
This is going to be a difficult book to review. It's an epic novel (700 pages) that covers the life of a twin growing up in Ethiopia who becomes a surgeon. You find out in great detail about the life of his biological parents, his adoptive parents, several other adults in his life, his brother, his love, life in Ethiopia, life as an immigrant to America, and detailed medical procedures both in Ethiopia and in urban America. Just to name a few things. ;-)

I felt like the book could have been better if it was edited a bit, but that being said, I did enjoy it. The writing is beautiful and the subject matter is fascinating. Just know that you'll need a bit of patience and time if you decide to read it.

Off the shelf book #3: The Help by Kathryn Stockett
I feel like I'm the last person I know to read this book. It has been sitting on my shelf since my MIL lent it to me months ago. Most of you probably know the basic plot. Set in Jackson, Mississippi, a young, white woman works together with the black maids of Jackson to write an anonymous book about the relationships between white women and their black maids. I enjoyed this book and understand why it's a best seller. It is easy to read and deep enough to make you think, but not so deep as to alienate the average reader. The subject is obviously not light, but the writing style is. It was a welcome diversion from slogging through The Autobiography of Mark Twain, vol. 1, which I think I may never finish!

Wow, Mark Twain's auto is that long??? & perhaps it's slogging because he's being honest. I don't know. Haven't read it... or The Help! You aren't the last one. Good review of it. & yes, everyone I know has been recommending it too. Maybe, I'll read it, but when that many people start recommending a book to me I feel like I need to run away!!!

Yep, Volume 1 of the 3 volume Twain autobiography is almost 800 pages long. The hardest part is that it includes every attempt he made to write his autobiography so I feel like I've been reading forever and haven't even gotten to the actual autobiography. It's all very "stream of conciousness".

The Help was good, but I felt the same way as you about starting it. That's why it sat on my shelf so long! I always resist reading popular books.

Interesting isn't it that publicity on a book can acutally turn readers off. I've resisted many times but don't really have a good reason for it.

I'm still running from The Help. Twain would be mortified to know that his autobiography includes all his false starts. Is there a "Twain's Choice" version? Obviously, he must not ever have finished it. The experience sounds deconstructionalist or meta-something. I think I'll go for a biography of his before touching his autobiography. How brave of you to slog through all that.

I wouldn't rush to read The Help. It was good, but not fantastic. There are lots of other things out there to read!

Kindle Books #2 Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson.
This is a book I heard about on LT and I'm sure I would not have read it if it hadn't gotten such good reviews here. This book is about Major Pettigrew, who is a retired Major from the British Army, and the small English town that he resides in. The book delves into his love life and his relationship with his adult son. I have to admit that I usually steer clear of books/movies about older people. It sounds terrible, but I usually get pretty turned off by the themes of death, nostalgia, loneliness, that often go along with the topic. But Simonson does a great job of creating this character and dealing with topics that go along with aging without getting overly sentimental or dark. I LOVE Major Pettigrew. He has a fantastic sarcasm and I loved reading his thoughts. My favorite relationship in the book was between Major Pettigrew and his adult son, Roger. It was so amusing to read about the relationship of father and son after they are both adults from the parent's perspective. I also thought alot about how this female author was able to create such an in-depth older male character. I wonder if there was a specific person that she based him on. I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it.

Major Pettigrew is another one that's getting so much love that I'm starting to run away from it! It's been on my wishlist for eons, and is even in my wl category of 12 12. Hopefully, I'll actually read it sometime before 2013!

Off the shelf book #4: Summer Light: A Walk Across Norway by Andrew Stevenson
Another book lent to me by my mother that I just hadn't gotten to. This is a travel book about the author's trip hiking across the mountains, fjords, and valleys of Norway. He walks (mainly) from Oslo to Bergen with his girlfriend. Interspersed with vivid descriptions of the scenery are details of Norway's history, culture, and politics. This was a pretty book to read, but would be prettier as a documentary. I wanted so badly to actually see the scenery he was depicting. I read this book because my mom lent it to me. Her grandfather and grandmother emigrated to America from Norway and we still have family there that we keep in touch with. I also got to go there with my family when I was 18 - still my favorite trip. Can't wait to take my own family there one day.

So I've decided to amend my challenge a bit. I've listed every book on my shelves that I've not yet read and will put the date by it when it's completed. Because I have relatively few books that I've not read, I think this will work well. I added my kindle books also - anything purchased (not the tons of free books I've downloaded) that hasn't been read yet. I'm not going to put a definite timeline on this challenge, but I hope it will keep me reading books I already have. I will update the lists with acquired books once or twice a year.

That's a dainty list! I own enough books to keep me reading for over a year at a pace of one a day!

I know! The combination of having a small place and a limited budget has made me very good about purchasing books. I spend a lot of time at our library and I have many books on my kindle.

Off the shelf book Detective Inspector Huss by Helene Tursten.
This is another of those Swedish mystery series that have become so popular. I really liked this one. The main character is Irene Huss and she has a supportive husband, teenage twins, and a much more balanced life than most of the detectives in this kind of series (thinking of Wallender or Harry Hole). She gets into some life-threatening situations and actually takes the time afterward to work through it. She also doesn't totally ignore her family for her job and is still a dedicated detective. It was really refreshing. The plot was fast-paced and interesting. All around I really liked it and would like to read more from the series. My only reservation was that I didn't particularly like the translation. I looked up the later books, though, and there is a new translator for subsequent books. I was happy to see that and will be reading them as well.

Side note: What's with all of these swedish books and drinking "light beer" or "strong beer"? They seem to imply different alcohol content. In the US, light beer is fewer calories, but not less alcoholic. I'm confused.

I think the US the correlate to "light beer" would be "near-beer" - what used to be called "small beer" in the 16th century. It was a very low alcohol content, and therefore not very intoxicating, but much safer to drink than the water in those days.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low-alcohol_beer

Thanks staffordcastle! To my knowledge, we don't have low alcohol beer in the US. We have non-alcoholic beer and brewers have to specify if a beer is higher than a certain percentage (maybe 5%) alcohol, but other than that I'm not aware of gradations in alcohol content. Interesting - thanks for the explanation!

Back in the dark ages (the 60s), we underage college freshmen used to make a run for the Kansas border where we could legally buy 3.2 beer. I'm assuming this still happens, college freshmen being the adventurous creatures they are.

Another book off the shelf - Stephen Hawking's A Brief HIstory of Time. My main reaction was . . . Huh???!!!! My background in science ended in my undergrad with a course in physics. This was easy physics though and most of what I remember was the study of acoustics (probably since I'm a musician). Currently most of my scientific knowledge comes from Science Friday on NPR. So this was a stretch for me. But, this book was fascinating. I can't pretend I understood most of it, but it really is very readable and well-explained with nice pictures and graphs and amusing anecdotes. I recently heard an interview on NPR with a nobel prize winning scientist who talked about how you have to enjoy having your mind boggled to enjoy physics and mathematics today. I tried to keep that in mind while reading this!

One side note. I have a good friend who lives in NYC and is friends with some very smart people - mathematicians, physicists, etc. You know what they are doing now? Working on Wall Street making lots of money figuring out complex ways to make money off the stock market. That's sad. I hope they make their money and then turn to studying the universe so that we continue to learn about it. I think it's fascinating, but don't have the brain power to do it myself.

Off the shelf book - Journey to the End of the Night by Celine.
This novel was written in 1932 and was very popular with the French public and also the critics. It is the story of Bardamu and is told kind of like an autobiography. Bardamu is a soldier in WWI when he is 20 and his experience there shapes his life dramatically. He struggles with mental problems from the war and travels from place to place (West Africa, New York, Detroit, Paris, Southern France, etc.) without making any real connections to anyone. The writing in this novel is really interesting and kind of saved this book for me. Bardamu is dark - he's pessimistic and makes horrible decisions. There are no characters in this book that really have any redeeming qualities, but Celine's writing is so stark and there's something so electric about it that the novel still works.

Off the shelf book - Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls.
Meh. I didn't like Glass Castle and I didn't like this book either. This is a "true life novel", based on the life of Lily Casey Smith, Walls's grandmother. She rode horses, taught in one-roomed schoolhouses, lived on ranches, etc. This book just didn't grip me, though you'd think it would be exciting from the description. For some reason, it was on the NY Times best 10 books of 2009, but if you want my opinion, I'd say skip it.

kindle book, "off the shelf"
Home: A Novel by Marilynne Robinson
I think I waited too long after reading Gilead to read this companion novel. Gilead sucked me in from the moment I picked it up. The writing felt so new and so old at the same time. Home took me longer to give in to. Part of it may have been the closed circle of characters and the sadness, regret, and misunderstanding that permeates the entire novel. This novel views most of the same events as in Gilead, but from the Boughton's perspective, specifically Glory, Jack (the prodigal son), and their father. I found Jack just so sad and it made me so mad that he was so polite and passive and always apologizing and laughing nervously when I felt that though he had failed his family, they had failed him as well. The vision of him as a little boy, sitting up in the tree or out in the barn, listening to his family living their lives inside, and knowing that they were thinking he was off causing serious trouble somewhere - it's heartbreaking.

Again, I love Robinson's writing, it's just beautiful and really sucks you in. And she's amazing at developing characters without letting you know she's doing it. Things like, regarding Jack, And his head fell, and it was real regret. He was so tired of himself. Overall, I loved this book though not quite as deeply as I loved Gilead. Some day I'll read them again back to back to see if I feel differently.