Nickelini's 2012 Reading, part 1

April

18. Homesick, Roshi Fernando
17. The Water Children, Anne Berry

March

16. Writing with Intent: Essays, reviews, personal prose 1983-2005
15. The Accidental Tourist, Anne Tyler
14. The Preservationist, David Maine
13. Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens

February

12. Sugar Bush & Other Stories, Jenn Farrell
11. Still Alice, Lisa Genova
10. The Book of Lies, Mary Horrlock
9. The Undrowned Child, Michelle Lovric
8. Hey Nostradamus!, Douglas Coupland

January

7. We Need to Talk About Kevin, Lionel Shriver
6. Girls of Slender Means, Muriel Spark
5. The Hiding Place, Trezza Azzopardi
4. Cutting for Stone, Abraham Verghese
3. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee (reread)
2. Decline and Fall, Evelyn Waugh
1. Olivia and the Little Way, Nancy Carabio Belanger

Reading Goals 2012

My main goal this year is to reduce my TBR piles. As part of that goal, I also want to read one really old TBR book each month, which means by the end of the year I will have cleared out 12 of the oldest books in my closet. So while everyone chats excitedly about the latest releases and award nominees, I'll take notes for future years, but continue to read my old books.

Since I did a big book read last year, this year I'm going to switch gears and focus on short stories and essays. I'm going to be a rebel and list any of these that are particularly interesting here on my ClubRead thread.

I'm also going to start posting book covers and along with that, commentary on the covers. I find book covers to be endlessly interesting, and I think it would be fun to keep track of that too.

Oldest Books in My Closest

January:

My main reading project from 2011 was to read at least one big book from my TBR a month. A big book was any book that I tended to pass over because it was too long, too heavy or the writing seemed very dense. But you can't skip them forever, so 2011 was the year I tackled 16 of them (and abandoned one more).

What did I learn with this project? I was hoping that big books would become something I loved. But no. I still prefer a good 150 - 200 page novel, thank you very much. Still lots of big books in my TBR, and I will chip away at them, but they won't be my focus this year.

In summary, the whole year looked like this:

Number of books read - 75
Fiction reads - 55
Non fiction reads - 20

number left on TBR pile - that's classified information. An obscene number. But I did REMOVE 39 books from my TBR

Male authors - 28
Female authors - 44
anthologies - 3

Authors new to me - 50
More than 1 work by an author - I read 4 books by Margaret Atwood and 2 by Roma Tearne

Country of origin -
Canada - 15
UK - 16
US - 28 (and I actually try to NOT read US authors--how's that for cultural imperialism?)
Australia - 2
Sri Lanka - 3
and books by authors from: Russia, Japan, South Africa, India, Somalia, Bangladesh, Columbia, South Korea, Chile, France & Ireland

Ratings (number of 5 star 4 star reads etc)

My 5 star reads:
Lullabies for Little Criminals, Heather O'Neill
Cannery Row, John Steinbeck
Some Country Houses and Their Owners, James Lees-Milne
Daisy Miller, Henry James
The Evil Garden, Edward Gorey

My 4.5 star reads:
Funny Boy, Shyam Selvadurai
February, Lisa Moore
The Dark, John McGahern
Sultana's Dream, Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain
Woman in Black, Susan Hill
The Devil You Know, Jenn Farrell
Packaging Girlhood, Sharon Lamb
Good Bones and Simple Murders, Margaret Atwood

and my 1 star reads:

Party of One: The Loners' Manifesto, Anneli Rufus
Please Look After Mom, Kyung-sook Shin
Does My Head Look Big in This?, Randa Abdel-Fattah

Saving a seat, popping the popcorn now.

Speaking of popcorn, my family brought home kernels that the Scouts were selling--it was awesome popcorn (we're an all airpop house here). And real butter. Yum. I'll make the second batch.

that's cool!

I just popped over to your profile page and see that we share more than 110 books! I had no idea! Will be interested in following your reading going forward!

I've now gone back to posts 2 & 3 and filled in my goals for this coming year, and my summary for 2011.

#8 Thanks, Poquette! I saw your favourite books for 2011 and you had a few favourites that are books in my TBR that I find daunting. So that gives me hope!

1. Olivia and the Little Way, Nancy Carabio Belanger

2008

Comments: What a bizarre choice for my first book. My 11 yr old received this, and its sequel, as a gift recently. As an avid reader, she was thrilled to open books, but her face fell when she saw the cover. I immediately recognized it to have the religious publisher didactic look to it, but didn’t say anything and just watched how she’d react. I remember receiving gifts of poorly written, boring books that hit you over the head with their Biblical message on How to Be a Good Christian, and this appeared to be of that ilk. After reading the description on the back cover, she asked me if she had to read this book. I told her of course not, although she might want to try it to see if it was as bad as she was assuming. A few days later she brought them to me and emphatically told me she wasn’t interested.

Just to see if these were as bad as the Bible fiction I’d read as a child, I started reading Olivia and the Little Way. Instead of preaching Biblical principles, this book’s purpose is to inculcate the reader with the tenets of Therese of Lisieux, and 19th century Catholic nun who is also known as the Little Flower. Olivia’s grandmother teaches her to pray to the saint, and to follow St. Therese’s “Little Way,” which is basically practicing random acts of kindness and a secret self-denial. Except Therese doesn’t do this out of unselfish altruism, but instead to garner points with God, as her goal was sainthood.

Olivia sets out to follow this Little Way, but of course she’s human and has struggles. In two instances, the author has Olivia “successfully” practice in a way that I find morally questionable and I certainly don’t want my child to do. One involved a self-sacrifice based on an unfounded judgement of a person and situation, and the second involved taking punishment for something she didn’t do. Ah, no, neither of those is “a good thing.”

Literature in service of a cause is always problematic, and children’s fiction from religious publishing houses is generally drivel—poorly written, flat, clichéd, and predictable. One of its hallmarks is a dearth of complexity. Further, the world view is exceedingly simplistic, and reinforces gender stereotypes. Olivia and the Little Way falls under this description. Its message to proselytize for Therese of Lisieux is without a trace of subtly. Yet, it’s not the worst book I’ve ever read. Olivia was drawn realistically enough that I could sympathize with her challenges and she wasn’t an annoying goody-two-shoes.

Recommended for: nuns.

Rating: 1 star. Because it’s not the worst book I’ve ever read, I’ll be generous. I actually had some fun reading this one, in a sort of perverse way. And my reading can only get better!


Cover: Well, as I said in my review, based on the cover, I could immediately tell that this book came from a low-budget religious publisher. From an art and design perspective, I rate the cover “really horrible.”

Well, your first review got a few giggles from me! At least I don't feel compelled to add it to the TBR list! Kudos to your daughter for not wanting to read it but asking first if that was ok!

Oh, good, I made someone laugh today. The day can't be a write-off then! Thanks for dropping by, Jennifer.

Literature in service of a cause is always problematic

I agree wholeheartedly. Reading your review just causes me to shake my head. Sounds like you have a very perceptive daughter.

I just thumbed your review. What a way to begin the new reading year!

I enjoyed your review of Olivia and the Little Way. Well done for reading it and then making some excellent points.

And the author decided to give herself not 1 but 2 5-stars rating on the work page.

*shaking head*

Found you and starred you again. I'm looking forward to following your thread in 2012!

And the author decided to give herself not 1 but 2 5-stars rating on the work page.

*shaking head*

Annie - ha ha! I did not notice that! Off to copy my review to Amazon . . .

Paruline- welcome back!

The star count was way too high so decided to check what's up.

Be ready for thumbs down in Amazon though -- I dared to post a bad review of a not so popular book -- and was promptly voted as non-helpful :) Same review did pretty well here in LT. And one of the 5 stars review for that one is from the mother of one of the authors. Oh well :)

Yeah, that whole voting reviews as not helpful at Amazon is just silly. People don't seem to understand (or care) that negative reviews can be very helpful and positive reviews can be useless. Oh well, thumbs down from those people doesn't threaten my ego :-)

Regarding The Beauty of Humanity Movement- I read it this January as my book club will be discussing it at the end of the month. I'll tell you about my group's reaction!

Hi Joyce! Starred you! I 'm currently reading my Orange book - The Siege by Helen Dunmore. Excellent book about the Siege of Leningrad. Just thought I'd pop by and say hi!

This year I'm also going to track and write about the short stories I've read. Here is the first one.

"Nine," Aryn Kyle
source: The Atlantic Special Fiction Issue 2008

The "Nine" of the title refers to the events that happened to Tess around her ninth birthday. I enjoyed this story very much because of the voice the author uses to tell the story of this somewhat troubled and precocious girl. In many ways the story reminded me of the novel Lullabies for Little Criminals, mostly because of observations and insights of the child character. Oddly enough, both stories involve motherless girls being raised by a not-all-together dad. And both stories are funny and sad at the same time.

One thing I like about reading short story collections is finding new authors who I've never heard of before. Aryn Kyle is now on my radar, and I'll be on the lookout for more of her writing.

This is a nice addition to your thread Joyce!

Aryn Kyle's The God of Animals was a fovorite among our booksellers back when it came out, although I didn't read it.

2. Decline and Fall, Evelyn Waugh

1928


Cover comments: You can't really see the full appeal of this cover from this shot. "Evelyn Waugh" is in silver foil, and the spine is silver, which is a very 1920s colour, and goes smashingly with the black and white photo. As for that photo itself, while it has a sort of 20s feel, it really doesn't relate to the story in any strongly meaningful way. This is a Penguin Evelyn Waugh Centenary Edition.

rating: 4 stars (I didn't like it quite as much as Vile Bodies, but still, very good)

Comments: This is Waugh's first published novel. Based on its title, and having read his second novel (Vile Bodies), I pretty well knew to expect a satirical, funny-with-a-message book about the atrophy of the British Empire. Ten points for Gryffindor!

But really, isn't all post-WWI British lit about the decline of Empire? Playing off Gibbon's History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Waugh wasn't even trying to be subtle. And so church, the educational system, and the aristocracy fall victim to his scathing pen and wit.

Anyway, with one caveat, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. As The Atlantic says, Waugh has created a "riotously anarchic cosmos." How can you not have fun with a book where characters are named Sir Alastair Digby-Vane-Trumpington; Lady Circumference; Lord Pastmaster; Clutterbuck; Colonels Slidebottom, Shybottom and Sidbotham; Hon. Miles Malpractice, Sir Humphrey Maltravers, and Lord Parakeet. Trust me, I could go on. Great fun.

The caveat: I try not to judge older books by today's standards. And it's no secret that the British ruling class of the 1920s had utter disdain for anyone who was not them. And further, Waugh is satirizing the ignoramuses making the comments. But still, the racism (against 3 different groups, but mainly Africans) was very uncomfortable to read. So, if this bothers you, rather than miss an otherwise lovely novel, just skip chapter 9 entirely. It's one short chapter out of 26, and may increase your enjoyment of the novel. You won't have missed any story.

Recommended for: Waugh is a must-read for all Anglophiles. If you don't like British humour, this one isn't for you.

Why I Read This Now: I thought this would be a breezy, short book with some meat to it, which is what I needed to start the New Year. I was right, and it fit the bill perfectly. And it's one more off the 1001 Books list.

Would love to read Decline and Fall sooner rather than later. In fact, I'd like to inhale all of Waugh. Have only read Brideshead Revisited, but saw a hilarious BBC version of Scoop way back in the seventies, I think. Loved your review!

I love Evelyn Waugh, but have the same reaction to the racism. Scoop is absolutely full of it, so beware, Poquette.

Thanks for the heads up, pamelad!

~26 great Joyce and I am liking your cover thoughts, recommends and why I read it now! Never read this one but was and always have been a huge Brideshead Revisited fan - both the book and the BBC dramatisation.

Nickelini - Enjoying your cover comments! I sometimes don't appreciate the good covers until a couple really bad ones come along. There are also a couple bad book cover sites that are great for laughs.

I have to agree with the too-much racism/stereotypical characters in Scoop - I read A Handful of Dust and enjoyed it, but Scoop put me off Waugh for a number of years. Other people have vouched for Brideshead Revisited so it's sitting on the pile now.

Recommended for: nuns - love it! There was a point when I copied your 'recommended for' on my reviews, but I stopped, I think because I had real problems trying to find recommendations for books that left me 'meh'. It's easier when a book is interesting but flawed or if for some other reason you could imagine some people liking it.

I think I got 40 books off my TBR last year so I am ahead of you!

I've also only read Brideshead Revisted and LOVED it. Decline and Fall is moving up the TBR list, especially since it's on 1001 books too.

Added Vile Bodies to my wish list. Thanks, Joyce!

I hate to admit it, but I haven't read anything by Waugh. He's on my wish list now.

I enjoyed Decline and Fall as well, though it's been several years since I read anything by Waugh. Scoop is one of the funniest books I've ever read. Handful of Dust is a more biting satire like Decline and Fall. Now I need to read Vile Bodes.

In enjoy your assessment of books covers. I may borrow the idea myself.

Nice review of Decline and Fall, Joyce...and thanks for the warning about it. I think I'll still add it to my wish list (and avoid chapter 9).

Have caught up and loved your review of the St Terese book! Urg. I was confirmed at the ripe old age of 9 (go figure... Of course 9 year olds have thought about what they believe) and half th fun was picking a saint to be my patron. I ended up with Lucia of Fatima but read loads of Lives of the Saints before I decided... Have yet to fish them out of Mum and Dad's basement for a re-read.

I bought Scoop a few weeks ago and now I'm seeing very mixed comments - guess I'll have to see for myself.

Well, you are off and running for 2012. I admit that I never look at Amazon reviews, outside of, say, a PW review. I suppose it's because their past credibility has been somewhat checkered. I didn't realize that behavior has moved into LT.

>3 Nickelini: I also enjoy a good 200 page novel or smaller novella. There is something about its succinctness. And a really good one, is like a Tardis - the world is bigger inside than it looks on the outside. However, I have really come to appreciate the many forms fiction takes and how each is used. Oates's Bellefleur could never have been told in 250 pages, nor could Middlemarch, and conversely The Last Brother would have been lost in more pages... (and it seems the perfect form for a story about an intense, very brief friendship.

just catching up here, very very entertained by your first review. But your review of Decline and Fall is excellent, and makes me want to read it. Waugh is one of those authors I really should read sometime.

Well, thank you, Dan.

3. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee - 1960 - Reread


1. I have the lovely "deluxe gift edition" of this book. It's a hardcover with a silky ribbon marker, and the dustjacket is a reproduction of the artwork on the original edition. It fits into a cloth slipcase. A beautiful object on any bookshelf.


2. This is the 25-cent used hardcover copy my daughter is reading (her book habits preclude her from touching my nice edition, above). I find the cover art on this 1965 edition pleasing and interesting. The tree and bird make sort of a cross-symbol, and although this isn't a Christian novel, it is highly moral, so that sort of ties together. The top orange bit in the centre is a small rip into the bird, which mirrors the symbols of the destruction of the innocence in the novel.


3. This is the edition I bought my mother-in-law when I was in Italy a few years ago. I find the translation of the title so fascinating. Instead of a direct translation, which would have tied to two or three references in the novel itself, for some reason they decided to call it "Dark Over the Hedge."
-----

Why I Read This Now: I read this in grade 10 English, and my 15 yr old daughter is now reading it for her grade 10 English class, so I thought I'd brush up on it so we can discuss it.

Comments: This really is an excellent novel, and I can see why it is so widely taught in North American schools. Scout, Jem and Atticus are some of the most likeable characters I've come across in ages.

Recommended for: I think this is a must-read, not just because it's an interesting and meaningful story--and a good read--but even if just for the cultural references alone.

Rating: Based on my earlier reading and probably also two viewings of the movie, this was already in my library with a 4.5 star rating. I think I'll keep that.

We have a copy like your first version, although ours isn't in nearly as good a shape. When I read TKaM a few years ago I made sure to use a different copy...because of my own books habits.

Our copy looks like this:


ETA - hmmm, actually our copy is quite different...It's a 1960 edition from J. B. Lippincott, Seventeenth Printing.

I re-read To Kill a Mockingbird last year and was happy to find that I still loved it. I think it is an almost perfect book. I loved Scout's voice, in particular. It's a shame that Harper Lee didn't write more.

With such a large TBR pile looming, I'm not big on the reread. However, I agree that it's a great book and stands up well. Scout is a fabulous character, and I love Jem too. I wish even one of my older brothers had been him!

The last time I "read" it was a few years back when my daughter and I listened to Sissy Spacek's reading, which was quite wonderful. Still one of my favorite books.

Sissy Spacek would be a wonderful reader of this novel! What a good match.

The movie is one of my favorites, too. Gregory Peck as Atticus... *swoon*

Jennifer - It's been a while since I saw the movie. I definitely should watch it again. I know last time I saw it I didn't really know who Gregory Peck was, but since then, I've watched Roman Holiday about five times, and now I definitely do! (Wow, that means it's been a very long time since I watched To Kill a Mockingbird!)

I have not actually read To Kill a Mockingbird, but I watch the movie whenever it turns up on TCM. The characterizations by all the actors are wonderful.

I am probably the only person in the world who finds Atticus insufferable, and I had mixed feelings about TKAM when I reread it a few years ago, stimulated by a thought-provoking New Yorker article about the book and the limits of liberalism in the pre-civil rights South. I did think it really reflected its time, but still the only African-Americans we get to know have to be exceptional in some way and the poor white people are as stereotyped as the black people.

Rebecca - I hear you, and I've heard some of those criticisms. It's not a book I would have reread if my daughter wasn't studying it. But I think it is a good read, and worth reading once for because of its cultural significance.

Having said what I said in 51, I still think Scout is a wonderful, wonderful character, I love the way the children explore their world, and I think it is beautifully written. I just think, as I said in my review, that I'm not sure the book presents a model for today's world. I was glad I reread it, so I could form my own opinions in relation to the ideas in the New Yorker article.

>46 theaelizabet:, 47 I also "reread" this sometime in the last couple of years by listening to the Sissy Spacek audio. It was wonderfully done.

rebeccanyc - thanks for mentioning that new yorker article. I found it online and it is very interesting. I'm one who has always loved TKAM, but I never thought about some of the racial elements in the way that the article does. I think because it's told through Scout's voice, I've always thought of Atticus through her eyes and viewed his actions as they would be seen through the eyes of a child, thinking that we may not have the whole picture of his beliefs because we're hearing Scout's voice. The article brings another side to the book that I need to consider more closely. Thanks! (and sorry for hijacking your thread, nickelini!)

I'm not sure the book presents a model for today's world.

I should say not . . . my world is nothing like that, and wasn't even when I was Scout's age in the late 60s and early 70s.

(and sorry for hijacking your thread, nickelini!)

this isn't hijack, it's conversation!

Japaul22 - can you give us the link to the article? Would love to read it!

Sure! Here it is, anyway I'm guessing this is the one referred to in rebeccanyc's post.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/08/10/090810fa_fact_gladwell

Yes, that's the one. I used the phrase "model for today's world" because the book is read in so many schools and there must be some implication that it's more than just literature.

Rebecca - ah, I see what you mean. Yes, I've been wondering what it is that makes it so widely taught. I don't have a problem with it--but I'm not sure why every grade 10 student in North America needs to read this.

4. Cutting for Stone, Abraham Verghese, 2009


Cover: This cover suits the book well—it's pleasant enough, but actually quite boring. I have no idea who this person is or why he or she is standing in this field (or is it a forest? I can’t really tell). Zzzzzzzz.

Comments: I had been warned that Cutting for Stone takes a while to get into, but I didn’t realize that that meant the 666 page novel was going to be an excruciating bore up to at least page 340. And I didn’t realize that the first-person narrator wasn’t even going to be born until page 116. The author takes pages to describe scenes that sometimes shouldn’t even be in the book at all. And even when he describes events that should be interesting —such as driving through a rioting crowd (something that I’ve personally experienced and found terrifying)—the writing is so flat that I just can’t spark any emotion. After page 340 it definitely picked up and there were some interesting bits. But the whole thing was just too long and drawn out. One of the highlights was the medical details and stories, although some of them went into way too much detail; overall, though I liked what they contributed to the story.

Rating: I was going to rate it one star, but the second half wasn’t quite as dull as the first, so I bumped it up to two stars. Usually when I rate a book so low, it’s because I strongly disliked it. But in this case it’s simply that I found it boring.

Recommended for: everyone but me? I seem to be one of the few people so underwhelmed with this novel.

Why I Read This Now: It’s my book club selection for this month. And I’m the person who suggested it, so I felt obligated to finish it. Believe me, if I could have chucked it with good conscious, I certainly would have at any point.

What? You didn't love Cutting for Stone??? Heresy, I say! ;-)

Agreed: Thou shalt not disparage thy neighbour's popular book.

Btw, your reference to "chucking" the book reminds me of a quote by the esteemed Dorothy Parker: "This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force."

>63 dmsteyn:: oh, I love that quote!

I like your review of Cutting for Stone! I read it last year and I did not hate it as much as you but I didn't love it either. I felt that Verghese just went in depth on way too many characters and events. It needed a much tighter focus. I'll be curious to hear what your book club thinks and how many people made it all the way through it!

And I also love the Dorothy Parker quote!

mm- I have the book in my book tower- ( now a TBR plastic bin) -thanks for the warning!

#66 - Cyrel - I'm sure you'll love it. Most people do.

I did like the book quite a lot--but I agree that it was too long, meandered into unnecessary digressions, and needed a tighter focus. And I have to say that I don't remember too much about it now . . . not one that really stayed with me like, say, On Chesil Beach.

Entertaining review Joyce, nut unfortunately against an unread book on my kindle. I'll keep all this in mind.

Really, Dan I feel bad about giving it such a low rating . . . I think it was just me. In fact, last night I was encouraging my sister-in-law to track down a copy because I'm sure she would like it (she likes long books, exotic locals, and medical details).

Btw, your reference to "chucking" the book reminds me of a quote by the esteemed Dorothy Parker: "This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force."

I do know that feeling! Many years ago it took me four years to read Emma, and that's exactly what I did when I was finished. And it felt so good. And here's someone's take on that concept with To the Lighthouse http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SE4bSvOcBnY&list=FLWd7UeV-rb5aAUSlHJADNJA&amp...
(I love the book, and Virginia Woolf is probably my favourite author, but I still find this amusing. Warning: others find it troubling)

5. The Hiding Place, Trezza Azzopardi, 2000

Cover:



This cover art is very curious. There are three girls, standing around a kitchen in stork-like poses. I think their legs look weird--the girl in the centre, and the girl to the right look as if their bent legs are too high on the standing leg. In fact, the girl on the right doesn't appear to actually have a left leg. I thought this was bad photoshop work, but my 15 year old says she would stand like that. I'm not sure.

But the figure on the left is the strangest . . . If you look carefully, between the girl and the wall there is another pair of feet on the ground. Now I thought this looked like some more very sloppy photoshopping; however, someone on the review page suggested it might be purposeful and those feet belong to the youngest sister (who is hiding, and who's hiding place is an important element at the end of the novel). What say you?

I'd like to increase the size of the cover, but the instructions I have on how to do that don't have any affect. If anyone can share the proper directions for adjusting the size of my picture, I will adjust it so you can see what I'm talking about.

Anyway, back later with my actual review of this wonderful book.

Ok - I need to find my copy to look at the cover. I have only owned the book for 12 years. Why haven't I read it yet?

Joyce, this might help--but probably only if you upload your covers to photobucket.

To adjust your photo size to where you want it: in the html code from photobucket, between border="0" and alt, put the following: space width=200 space

You can play with it....200, 250, 300, 400 etc., until it is where you want it.

Thanks, Deborah . . . I've redone it. For some reason this is as large as I can get it.

But if you look carefully behind the girl on the left you can see another pair of feet. Mistake or purposeful?

Dang - can't find my copy. Did I give it away sometime in a purge, thinking if I haven't read it already, I probably wouldn't?

Oh oh. I think you might have liked this one, Nancy! If it doesn't surface, I'll send you my copy.

Here is a link where you can see the original Gedney photograph:

http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/gedney_KY0008/

The photo was taken in 1964 and it looks like the only thing they did to it for the book cover was give it a sepia tint.

It is easy to tell when you zoom in that there is indeed another child standing behind the girl on the left. The child's knee shows next to the crook of the girl's left ankle and the top of what appears to be a blond head of hair is behind the girl's neck and obscuring the window pane.

From the same page if you click on the link that says "Subject Cornett Family" you will see other photos in the collection showing the same family with its twelve children including a couple of little blonde-haired ones who could be the owner of the mystery feet.

(edited to fix typos)

Steven - Wow, I'm really impressed! Are you already familiar with this photo, or . . . ? That's very interesting. I found myself quite fascinated by the cover, even before I started seeing the feet and legs wonky.

The other thing that's interesting about this picture is that there is a copy of the Last Supper hanging on the wall. This was never mentioned in the book, but it's something I could see this family hanging on their wall. And to think it was a real family living in Kentucky at around the same time!

Wow. Something about the real picture is...mesmerizing. Almost surreal. Thanks for sharing!

#78 - No, but I have the book too and just out of curiosity decided to google the photographer's name.

That is a great photograph.

It looks a lot grubbier in black and white, doesn't it?

Could it be that what grabs us about this photograph is the subconscious metaphor of, as Proust put it, "young girls in flower"? Their single legs converge like the stems of flowers in a vase beneath the foliage of their flared skirts. The one on the left in the radiance of the sun is in "full bloom," the others progressively less so.

5. The Hiding Place, Trezza Azzopardi, 2000

Rating: 5 stars

Comments: This has been a lesson in reading for me. I attempted to read The Hiding Place in 2010, but chucked it at page 50. I couldn’t get into the story, and I found the writing style odd. I was bored, and despite all the rave reviews, and despite the Booker Prize and Orange Prize nominations, I just couldn’t get interested enough to make more effort. I gave the book away. But the person I gave it to brought it back and told me it was really very good, so I thought I’d better give it one more chance.

What a difference a change in mood and frame of mind makes. This time the story and the writing grabbed me right away. Azzopardi uses a complex structure and sophisticated style that demands the reader’s careful attention. But for that reader , the book is highly rewarding.

The main part of the story is set in 1960 in the Maltese immigrant community of Cardiff (who knew there even was one?), and most of the story is narrated by Dolores (Dol), the youngest of six daughters. Her mom was a working class Welsh girl who ran away and then met Dol’s father, who had jumped ship in Wales at the end of WWII. He’s ne’er do well, a gambler, and an all-round nasty individual. Theirs is an extremely dysfunctional family. Dad gambles away the rent money, Dol is disfigured in a house fire, one daughter is given away to settle a debt, one daughter is a pyromaniac, and mom suffers bouts of crippling depression (hmmm, I wonder why!). At age five, Dol’s family disintegrates permanently and she goes into foster care.

Most of the story is told by the now-adult Dol, as she tries to piece together the events of her traumatic early childhood and make sense of the bits of memories. This, of course, makes her a highly unreliable narrator, and I see Azzopardi using this as an experiment in memory. Part of this, and what is key to the novel, is the use of silences—what is not said is usually more important than what actually is said. With each revelation that Dol uncovers, the story shifts a little, building toward a version of what really happened . In the end, some questions are left unanswered, because, well, sometimes life’s like that.

Recommended for: This is a fabulous book for the reader who can pay attention and pick up on the subtleties. Also, you have to be in the mood for this grim world of grinding poverty (I know sometimes I’m not). Despite their bleak lives, Azzopardi treats her characters with dignity. And although the ending isn’t particularly depressing, it’s also not a hopeful feel good story. Because, well, sometimes life’s like that.

Why I Read This Now: It’s Orange January, and it was the oldest Orange prize book on my shelf.

6. the Girls of Slender Means, Muriel Spark, 1963



Cover comments:
I suppose this is meant to be one of the girls of slender means—probably Selina.

Comments: The Girls of Slender Means opens with “long ago in 1945 all the nice people in England were poor . . . “. This is my second book in a row about young women living in poverty in the UK. Compared with The Hiding Place, the lives of Muriel Sparks characters are positively genteel, and there is a feeling that they will muddle through and come out just fine, thank you very much. After all, most people in Sparks world are witty, even in adversity.

I feel it’s a little unfair for me to make comments on this book because I know that my reading of it was unfavourably coloured by the book I read right before. Ideally, I should have taken a break between books, but I was stuck waiting in a car, in the rain, so what’s a book lover to do? So I’m sure that Girls of Slender Means would have made more of an impression on me if I had read it at another time.

Why I Read This Now: several reasons. First, I was traveling and The Girls of Slender Means is a slender book indeed. Second, there is a reading challenge at the ClubRead group to read a book published the year you were born, and I had this one in my TBR pile. And finally, it’s a 1001 book.

Recommended for: Anglophiles, readers interested in WWII culture.

Rating: 3 stars. Perhaps I would have rated it higher if I read it in a different mood.

Excellent review of The Hiding Place, Trezza Azzopardi Glad you stuck with it so that you could review it for all of us. It can be difficult to change your mood when you move from one book to another, especially if you have really been caught up with the previous book.

yes, Joyce, excellent review of The Hiding Place. I've had the same experience with books and moods. If I'm not in the right state of mind for that particular book, I can never get into it.

>85 Nickelini: Sometimes you just have to be in the right 'place' (right time, right frame of mind...etc) for some books.

Hi Joyce, I saw on the WAYR thread that you're reading We Need to Talk About Kevin. I hope you're "enjoying" it. I positively devoured it when I read it a few years ago. I thought it would be a book I'd never re-read, but now I think I'd like to see whether I have different take on it second time around and now that I'm a parent.

#90 - the world does seem to change after you become a parent...

#91 - Yes, it does. In general, I'm far more easily upset by horrible things on the news, for instance. With regard to WNTTAK, the film was shown at a parent and baby screening at my local cinema in November. I didn't manage to go, but I was hoping that the parents (mainly mothers) who attended weren't too traumatised at the end!

>63 dmsteyn: — Wonderful Dorothy Parker quote. I'm making a note . . .

>85 Nickelini: —Your review of The Hiding Place really sells the book. I am almost convinced, except that I have soooo many other books ahead of it. But thanks for the heads up.

>86 Nickelini: — and The Girls of Slender Means has been in the back of my mind for a while. It's going on the wishlist for sure.

93 - The write-up in 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die that discusses Girls of Slender Means is much better than mine--you should check it out. I really didn't give that book enough of my attention because I think it's really quite excellent.

7. We Need to Talk About Kevin, Lionel Shriver, 2003


This somewhat boring cover doesn't do the book justice.

Comments: Well, isn’t this a surprise! I really didn’t expect to think so highly of this book. I expected it to be manipulative and ultimately trite. I thought it would be a potato chip book --one of those books that is interesting and compelling to read at the time, but makes me feel sort of queasy after I’m done. Indeed, the book was compelling, but I wasn’t expecting it to be so well written, and for all the biting observation of our culture.

Readers looking for a book on school shootings may be disappointed in We Need to Talk About Kevin, because at its heart, that’s not really what this book is about. Instead it is about the murderer’s mother Eva’s torment on her own culpability in the tragedy. Her son, Kevin, is clearly a psychopath. How much did her lack of natural mothering skills contribute to his personality? WNtTaK is often cited as a nature vs. nurture debate, but I think this is a little simplistic. What the novel does fabulously is explore the cult of motherhood, and what happens when women don’t live up our society’s standard. The other thing that really stood out for me was Shriver’s gift for describing moments or small scenes, and her sentences and paragraphs are both lovely and unique. Clearly she is a gifted writer worth watching.

Eva tells the story entirely n a series of letters directed at her husband, who is distanced from her. Until about chapter 3, I found this distractingly awkward, but then I realized that she wasn’t really writing to her husband at all, and I was sure that she never mailed any of the letters. Instead, she was journaling her thoughts to try and process her experience raising an impossible child. She chose this format over the straight-forward diary entries because her husband was more often her adversary than her support, and because she never stopped loving him. However, because we’re only hearing her version of events, it raises questions about what is and isn’t true.

Based on several reviewer comments, I expected to dislike Eva. I admit that around page 76, I was growing a little tired of her voice. However, I realized that she was working through some extreme grief, and my annoyance disappeared. She occasionally repeats herself, and belabours some points, but I think it added to the story more than it distracted. Overall, I was surprised at how much I liked her. I also don’t for a heartbeat think that Eva’s parenting was the cause of Kevin’s extremely troubling behavior. I personally know people who didn’t bond with their babies, and people who didn’t bond with their mothers, and there isn’t a mass-murderer, or even a delinquent, in the lot.

As much as I liked the novel, it wasn’t perfect. I had a number of questions or concerns. Is it possible for a small child to be as nefarious as Kevin was? There was enough misbehaviour that was witnessed by others to see that it wasn’t her imagination. He seemed too much like Daemon from “The Omen.” I also had problems with her husband, and find it hard to believe that she would continue to love someone who treated her with such relentless condescension . Right from when she conceived, he stopped viewing her as a human being. I vehemently hated him. I would have liked to see her leave him with his precious son and see how he’d cope (and I’m not talking about a Saturday afternoon). Also, I find it hard to believe that she would ever leave her daughter alone with Kevin. And finally, I thought her forgiving and hopeful attitude toward Kevin at the end of the story was another bad decision. Having exhausted other options, I think he was just telling her what she wanted to hear. He’s still a psychopath.

Rating: 4 stars. I considered giving it 4.5 or 5 stars, but there were a few too many things that bothered me about the book. First, because of the somewhat false epistolary structure, it took a while for the book to click. I understand why Shriver chose this structure to tell this specific story; however, until I was wrapped up in the characters and story, it felt contrived and artificial. Second, while most of the parents’ poor decisions were explained quite well, there is no good explanation why all three of them didn’t go to therapy. Not that I think there was a cure for Kevin, but they may have averted several tragedies. Of course then there wouldn’t have been a story.

Recommended for: Because people have different takes on this, and because everyone who reads it needs to talk about it, We Need to Talk About Kevin is a fabulous book club selection. Also, it’s a book that a large majority of its readers deemed worthwhile (and an interesting number of the readers who rated it poorly didn’t read past page 50, if you can make it that far, you’ll probably be glad you did).

Why I Read This Now: Because I’m a huge Tilda Swinton fan, I know I’ll see the movie as soon as I have a chance, and I really wanted to read the book first. I think the casting of Swinton and John C. Reilly as her husband was excellent. And of course Orange January seemed like the perfect time to read this Orange Prize winner.

I don't think I've ever written a review this long!

Great review of We Need to Talk About Kevin. I'll follow your suggestion and recommend it to my non-LT reading group.

I agree with steven an excellent review, and as it's my choice for our book clubs next book, this one will be high on my list.

Maybe I need a RL book club to convinced to pull this one off the shelf. Excellent review. I really appreciated all your personal thoughts about the book and characters.

I'm glad you liked WNTTAK more than you thought you would! It's definitely not a potato chip book.

8. Hey Nostradamus!, Douglas Coupland, 2003


cover comments: This cover was designed by the author himself. It's clean and crisp, and suits the book.

Rating: 4 stars

Why I Read This Now: Because I have so many of his books on my TBR pile, I knew I'd read something by Coupland this year. Then I found out this one is about the aftermath of a school massacre, so after reading We Need to Talk About Kevin, I thought it should come next.

Comments: I love Coupland's writing. In every one of his books I've read at least one sentence or paragraph that I think he could only have written for me--that only I could understand the layers of meaning. Of course this is utter nonsense, as he's a best-selling author with rave reviews from all over the globe and books translated into many languages. But I really think he's writing for me.

Anyway, this is a story told by four distinct narrators who all have a connection to the school shooting. It's rather odd, sometimes very funny, sometimes deeply introspective, sometimes quite sad, sometimes unlikely.

Recommended for: I haven't been able to figure out who the Coupland reader is yet, but I'll just say that at my book club last night we spent about 10 minutes talking about the book we read (Cutting for Stone), and then went off on a very animated and enthusiastic tangent about Coupland for about half-an-hour, which was way more fun.

I think I've got a Coupland book on the shelves somewhere, I'd better go and dust it off!

>95 Nickelini: Great review and I agree pretty much with all of it. And bravo! I know I couldn't have even attempted to write down what I thought of it for at least a few days after I finished it.

I don't really have much interest in seeing the movie.

Well, if it didn't star Tilda Swinton, I wouldn't be interested in it either.

>103 Nickelini:: yes, I think she'll be an amazing Eva.

9. The Undrowned Child, Michelle Lovric



Isn't this just the most fabulous cover! I love everything about it.

Comments: Set in an alternate Venice in 1899, The Undrowned Child is a highly unique story. Subversive mermaids, winged lion statues that move, magical cats . . . every page offers delightful images and ideas. The author also delights in language, and is not shy to use difficult or unusual words.

Unfortunately, the novel's weaknesses were just as strong. In a word, I found it frantic. The pacing was frantic as Lovric rushed the reader from one high-tension scene to the next. Her transitions between scenes, and even between sentences, was more often than not very rough, and this led to a confusing and exhausting reading experience. The author simply tried to cram in too many words and too many ideas. The novel would have been much stronger if she had kept only the pieces that strengthened the story, and save all the many others for another book.

Recommended for: Despite this, I think this book will be a huge hit with its target audience, that being book-loving 11-14 year olds who like adventure, fantasy, and a little history. Some books are written in a way that can be enjoyed equally by adults and children; I'm disappointed to say that this is not one of them--it definitely felt like a children's' novel throughout. However, due to the sophisticated vocabulary, it's really geared toward an older, decidedly bookish, child or teen.

Rating: As this isn't an adult novel, I'm not going to rate it as I truly see it--my 11 year old daughter loved it, and when I was 11 I would have loved it too, so I'm giving it 4 stars.

Why I Read This Now: My 11 year old asked me to read it. There is a movie coming out next year and we will be first in line to see it.

Charlotte just showed me the website for The Undrowned Child. It's very snazzy and clever, and anyone interested in selling books really should take a peek: http://www.undrownedchild.com/

Wow, that's quite a website. Although what came to mind was the word you used to describe the book: frantic.

I have a book by this author, The Floating Book in my stacks. It might stay there for awhile . . .

Joyce, what an imaginative website! Some of the pages are rather slow to load, but I like the overall look of it. You have just about convinced me to read some Lovric.

10. The Book of Lies, Mary Horlock, 2011


I rather like this cover--I find the colour and artwork to be pleasing, and in real life there are textured areas.

Rating: 4 stars

Why I Read This Now: I'm not going to say much because I'm reviewing this for the next issue of www.Belletrista.com

Comments: I really liked this debut novel, set on Guernsey in the Channel Islands. There are two alternating storylines and they sort of come together at the end of the book. The main story, set in the 1980s, follows a teenage girl struggling with mean girls, crushes on boys, partying, and the stifling boredom of living in a small town. What makes this special is her humorous voice. The second story follows her uncle's teen years during the German occupation of WWII.

Recommended for anyone interested on life in Guernsey, WWII, and mostly, readers who enjoy a unique and funny narrative voice. And if you want to know more, check out the next Belletrista.

Revised Dec 27th - this was a 5 star book--I've thought about it all year.

the stifling boredom of living in a small town, Hmm........... that sounds like Guernsey. It used to be my Aunt''s favourite holiday destination and I spent many a week there. It is only slightly less boring than the isle of Wight, but only slightly.

Yes it is a nice cover.

That's funny. I always think of the Channel Islands as exotic--just because they're pretty obscure. Reading this book though, I can see that every teenager there must be in anguish.

Just catching up here with all of your great reading.

I particularly enjoyed the discussion of the cover of The Hiding Place. I stand like this all the time, as does my younger sister. Perhaps it's genetic. :)

Your review of We Need to Talk About Kevin is one of several that have me considering reading it.

Your review of We Need to Talk About Kevin is one of several that have me considering reading it.

I sat on the fence on that one for a long time too! Anyway, I'm glad my review makes you consider it.

11. Still Alice, Lisa Genova, 2007


Cover art comments: I find this quite pleasing, but then I like blue book covers and I like butterflies. It's not just random prettiness though--there is a blue butterfly necklace in the story. Also, I think the blurred image, and the ghost image that isn't even a butterfly anymore represent Alice's lost cognition. The cover paper is pearlized, and the title lettering is a particularly attractive colour. I just noticed that the title is capitalized, except the letter "i", which also happens to be the middle letter of both 5-letter words in the title. This is significant, as the main point of the story is that underneath the Alzheimers that has stolen Alice's life, she is still there--she is the "I" of the story. (Cover design by Anna Dorfman, and I say, good job Anna!)

Rating: 4 stars

Comments: This book has been popular with book clubs and on best seller lists for a few years already, so I think most readers are familiar with this novel, told in the first-person, about a Harvard professor who gets early onset Alzheimers.

I had my reservations about reading this one--I wondered if it would be saccharine and manipulative. So I was happy to find that it really wasn't. Instead, it's a quick, compelling read that at times is really sad, and overall is somewhat depressing. Although I thought I knew as much about Alzheimers as I needed to know, the novel really did make me think and reflect.

Why I Read This Now: my book club's February selection.

Recommended for: I highly recommend this book for almost all readers: it has an average rating of 4.5 stars here at LT. I don't recommend it for book snobs and for those who only read books that are literately complex and deserved of the highest literary prizes. Read it for what it is, and you'll most likely get something out of it.

I was just looking for some reviews on Still Alice for my book club and I learned that this book--which was on the NYT bestseller list for ages--was self-published. Apparently she was turned down by over 100 publishers. The thought it was limited to the "Alzheimer's market." Whatever that is.

Joyce, you may have already seen this: http://www.hensher.ca/best-book-cover-designs-2011

Some nice ones there!

I don't think I dare recommend Still Alice for my book club, what with the average age being close to seventy. Sounds a good book though.

Joyce, you may have already seen this: http://www.hensher.ca/best-book-cover-designs-2011

Tania, I hadn't seen that, so thank you very much! I especially love We, the Drowned, although there are lots of fabulous others. Every time I see Perfect at the bookshop, I want to buy it just because of the cover. For some reason I thought it was about vampires, so I've passed on it. My teenage daughter doesn't read anything vampire. But I looked at the tags here at LT and not a vampire on the list, so I think I will succumb to its siren call . . .

I don't think I dare recommend Still Alice for my book club, what with the average age being close to seventy.

Well . . . it IS about early onset Alzheimer's. I see your point though.

Oh, I'm always tempted by We, The Drowned whenever I go into shops. :) Haven't seen Perfect in the shops, maybe it's not out here yet or it's got a different cover (which would be a shame).

Having read We, the Drowned, I suspect the cover is better than the book.

Having never heard of We, the Drowned, I looked it up. Favourable comparisons to Patrick O'Brien make me agree with you, Rebecca. (I know O'Brien has a huge fan base--just not me).

Well, I looked forward to reading it, and parts of it were compelling, but the author just tried to do much too much and too muchof it was downright boring and unbelievable. (I have never read Patrick O'Brien, but I adored The Long Ships, which is about Vikings, so I'm not completely against seafaring novels.)

I really liked Still Alice, though the topic scares me. I'm enjoying your discussion of the book covers too. I'm very much influenced by book covers nd am happy to admit it.

12. Sugar Bush and Other Stories, Jenn Farrell, 2006


This cover suits the book.

Rating: 4 stars

Comments This collection of short stories covers much of the same territory of the Farrell collection I read last year (The Devil You Know). The characters are usually likeable, or if they're not likable, I can at least relate to them on some level. However, they tend to make unfortunate decisions, that lead them into unfortunate places. Most of the characters work at minimum wage jobs, and most of them are sexually indiscriminate, smoke pot and drink hard liquor. Often when I think Farrell has pushed the boundaries too much with a particular story, she throws in a zinger of an ending, and I know she's done it exactly right.

But really, a lot of these stories just made me want to take a shower.

One more thing-- one of the strongest stories in the bunch is only one page long. I don't know how she does it.

Recommended for: readers who enjoy unusual, edgy stories.

Why I Read This Now I'm reading short stories as one of my reading projects this year.

Joyce, we've been discussing Still Alice over on the 100 Books group - there are some negative comments there that have been quite interesting.

http://www.librarything.com/topic/130442#3221596
http://www.librarything.com/topic/132287#3249511

Thought you might be interested, you're often pottering around over there. :)

thanks for those links, Tania. I really predicted that I'd react to the book like that too, but I found something worthwhile in there anyway.

13. Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens, 1838


This cover is the 2005 movie tie-in. I don't have much of an opinion on it either way.

Comments: Oliver Twist is deeply ingrained in our culture ("Please, sir, I want some more"), and I've seen Oliver! both on stage and on screen, so I pretty much knew what to expect.

what I liked: I do so very much like how Dickens describes the filthy, depressing, dark setting of nineteenth-century England. I also really liked the social commentary in this one. He carried this off especially well by using clothing and appearances to reveal and conceal character. And I like how the title, and Oliver's surname "Twist", play on Oliver's identity (since you learn in the beginning that it's not his real name).

what I didn't like: Dickens can be very funny, but there was little (if no) humour in this book. And it dragged on in bits. Not a long book compared to many of his, but it said in the introduction that he made up the story as he went, and I could see in places where he lost direction and just sort of prattled on.

Two common complaints about this book are the unnuanced black and white characters (except Nancy), and the unrealistic perfection of Oliver himself (okay, for some reason he has impeccable character, but how did he come to speak upper-class English?). Also, the story depends on "outrageous coincidences," as Philip Pullman points out in the introduction. At times I remarked out loud "Oh, isn't that convenient!" . Yes, problematic. To enjoy this story, you really have to decide not to look at it as realistic fiction, but as a story of social satire using a lot of symbolism.

Another thing I didn't like was the harsh antisemitism around Fagan. Wow, this is my sixth Dickens novel, and I wasn't expecting that! I try not to judge yesterdays books by today's standards, but Chuck buddy, not cool!

also: My edition was the Modern Library Classics edition, which had a very pleasant feel (that sort of thing is important to me), the original illustrations by George Cruikshank, an excellent introduction by Philip Pullman, decent notes, and a good six-page explanation of "Dickens and the Poor Laws."

Recommended for: its cultural significance, 19th century literature fans.

Rating: Definitely not my favourite Dickens, but glad I read it. 3.5 stars.

Why I Read This Now: I read a Dickens a year, and this was the oldest one in Mnt TBR.

Interesting review of Oliver Twist. I haven't read any Dickens in literally decades, but have seen scads of movie and TV adaptations in the meantime. I like your idea of reading one Dickens a year. That makes conquering the entire oeuvre seem less daunting!

I like your idea of reading one Dickens a year. That makes conquering the entire oeuvre seem less daunting!

It's worked really well. I got through most of Jane Austen that way, a whole pile of Margaret Atwood (I usually read a few of hers a year), Henry James, Thomas Hardy, Ian McEwan. Some people find an author they like and zip through a whole stack of their books, but this works better for me.

>128 Nickelini:: an unexpected Davy Jones memorial there.

Laura - I'm missing it! Please explain.

I believe that young cute Monkee was also in "Oliver!" on stage.

Joyce, its been a long time since I read Oliver Twist, I seem to remember how violent it was in parts. Great idea to read one book a year of your favourite novelists. I tend to pick a novelist for the year and read as much as I can in that year.

>132 Nickelini:, 133: Sorry Joyce! Nefore he was a Monkee, Davy Jones played the Artful Dodger in "Oliver!" both in the West End and on Broadway, and was nominated for a Tony Award in 1963.

133, 135 - Oh! I had no idea. Thanks!

14. The Preservationist, David Maine, 2004

Oh, my ... this is just one of the most clever covers ever. My copy is a first edition hardcover.


This is the book with its dust jacket. The jacket covers the bottom 3/4 of the book, and the top edge is jagged and cut along the top of the waves. Noah's ark is on the book itself, peeking out from underneath.


Removing the dust jacket reveals this beautiful etching -style picture of all the animals coming off the ark (including a pair of unicorns, although they aren't mentioned in the novel). The inside of the book is cleverly designed too, with a surprising black and white photograph of some wild ocean waves --black & white of course because colour film hadn't been invented during Noah's time period. The photo motif heads each chapter too. And the story is divided into three parts: "Clouds," "Rain," and "Sun."

Rating: with such a surprisingly delightful book design, I hoped that the story itself would live up to its promise. Not disappointed--a 4.5 star read. This book got a lot of good press when it was published in 2004, but has sort of disappeared since. I picked up this copy off a remainders table in 2005 and was excited to read it at the time, but alas, it's languished in Mnt TBR. I love it when these dusty old TBR books turn out to be gems.

Comments: Yes, this is a retelling of the Noah's ark story. There are a million ways the author could have approached this, and it's interesting to see the choices he made. My favourite was the strong daughter-in-law characters--they definitely carried the story. I think the thing that strikes me most about his approach is how utterly human he makes these Bible characters.

Recommended for: readers who like retellings of myths and fables. I'm actually learning that I'm not a big fan of retellings (thought I was and I have lots of them in my TBR), but I really liked it anyway. It's a quick yet thought provoking read.

Not recommended for people who demand their Bible characters to be unblemished and pure. These people question God, occasionally swear, and have sex. While I enjoyed their humanity, I know others would be uncomfortable with it (in which case I warn them against reading the Old Testament). Not recommended as a read outloud for any fourth grade Sunday school classes.

Why I Read This Now: trying to read some of the older stuff in Mnt TBR.

edited to fix spelling error -- I described Noah's ark as "peaking" out at the top when of course it was "peeking" out. Funny thing though the PEAKS of the waves are what it's PEEKINg out from.

Hmm, I tried to read something else by David Maine--another Biblical retelling--and was bored stiff and couldn't finish it. But this one sounds promising. Every author is entitled to one clunker, no?

Joyce, The waves reminded me of an engraving of the open ocean by Barry Moser in my edition of Moby-Dick. But I checked, and it's not the same.

I am fascinated by your fascination with book covers and I find myself looking for something interesting to send you. Eventually, it will happen . . . ;-)

137 - I'm sold, if only based on the cover.

Deborah - sometimes it's your mood. I can see at different points in my life being bored with this, and probably all the books I've read this year. Right time, right book.

Suzanne - looking forward to it!

Jane - it's nice just to have on your shelf! but I liked the story too.

Love the cover, too! Haven't heard of this one before, so am resisting because I already have too many books to read... But you do make it sound enticing!

Hi Joyce, having just read (listened to, in fact) my first ever Dickens, I really like your idea of a Dickens a year. Interested to see you note the lack of humour in Oliver Twist, as the humour in Great Expectations came as a revelation (I was put off Dickens at an early age and had no idea he could be funny). What would you recommend as my next Dickens-with-humour?

My favorite Dickens is Bleak House, and I know it has some humour in it, but I can't remember how much. Nicholas Nickleby is definitely funny though.

No Place for a Lady: Tales of Adventurous Women Travellers, Barbara Hodgson, 2002


Excellent cover for the subject matter.

Abandoned

Comments: This non-fiction book about women traveling the world before 1900 sounds like it would be my cup of tea. But it's sat in Mnt TBR for at least seven years, and still, I just can't muster the interest to actually read it. I got through the introduction and had no desire to read on. Too bad, because I've really enjoyed the author's illustrated novels.

However, I am not getting rid of this book. It is lavishly illustrated--pictures on every page--and is worth keeping for that alone. It is also indexed, so I am going to put it in my reference library for the future. I don't expect to read it cover to cover, but I'm sure I'll read bits that pertain to my expected interests.

Why I Tried to Read This Now it's one of the oldest unread books I own.

>144 Nickelini: Thanks - noted!

Coming in late, but the Preservationist sounds interesting, and in theme for me, so I ordered a copy from my library...then I read #138...hmmm.

Well, if it's from your library, at least your risk is small ;-)

I do agree, No Place for a Lady does sound good, although it's a shame it didn't draw you in. I've got her Trading in Memories, which is a beautiful book and I did read that one cover-to-cover in one day.

In post 109 I mentioned the wonderful Book of Lies. Here is my review in Belletrista: http://www.belletrista.com/2012/Issue16/features_2.php

Great review!! Book of Lies is going on the TBR pile.

>150 Nickelini: Speaking of which...which cover do you think best communicates what the book is about? Just curious. I enjoyed gathering those together.

152 - oh, what a great question! And I'm glad you had fun gathering them--you know me--the cover is very important (as are all the physical features of a book).

I really like the edition that I read. It also felt really nice, which you can't tell from the picture. But I think the artwork itself captures a certain element of the story. There were several scenes at the cliff edge, and the school uniform somehow speaks to the book. I also like that it's not your same-old, same-old art.

I also really like the red one--it's quirky like the book, and the airplane at the bottom ties in the WWII storyline.

The one with the girl flying off the cliff catches the eye. However, when Nicolette went off the cliff, it was night, and she certainly wasn't wearing a slip of a dress. Although this is quite an attractive cover, it doesn't really feel right for the book, and it's definitely unoriginal. It looks like every other book in the store.

The dark one is too dark for me to really see, but I suppose it captures the dark side of the story. Most of the book is set in December, so it fits in that way. I can't really tell, but it looks sort of boring. Maybe I'd change my mind if I held it in my hands.

Great review, Joyce.

Just loving your reviews, especially the comments about the covers. And I've sent my 11-year old niece, who's a fanatical reader, a Kindle sample of The Undrowned Child.

Thanks, everyone! I enjoy writing reviews, so I'm glad I can share it with others.

Back in January, I promised (threatened?) that I would record all my interesting reading, not just report on the books I read. I have been reading essays and short stories, but they've all been part of a larger project, so I haven't written about them yet. However, yesterday I went off on a mini-project ....I was doing a creative writing exercise that had me play with a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood, and since I hadn't read the story for a long time, I went off to remind myself.


One of the most famous Red Riding Hood illustrations, by Gustave Dore

Luckily, I have a wonderful reference library. From Folk and Fairy Tales, by Martin Hallett and Barbara Karasek, I read:

"Little Red Riding Hod: Loss of Innocence", and "The Twentieth Century: Dealing with the Dark Side," which is literary critique by the authors
"The Story of Grandmother" (an early version of the tale)
"Little Red Riding Hood" Charles Perrault 1697
"Little Red Cap" Bros Grimm 1812
"The Chinese Red Riding Hoods" Isabelle Chang
"The Wolf and the Three Girls," Italo Calvino
"The Company of Wolves," Angela Carter
"Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf," Roald Dahl (a delightful poem that has Red wearing a wolfskin coat at the end), and,
"Little Red Riding Hood" from Bruno Bettelheim's Uses of Enchantment, which is a Freudian critique of the tale.

This is a very old story, and written versions of it can be found as far back as 1023. Scholars think it's much older than that though.

It's been a fun adventure. I've always liked the story, which was one of the earliest fairy tales I knew. Apparently Charles Dickens wrote: "Little Red Riding Hood was my first love. I felt that if I could have married Little Red Riding Hood, I should have known perfect bliss." I used to like to play LRRH in my backyard, so I guess I always wanted to be her (although Snow White was my first choice, although now I see her life as nothing but drudgery. And that voice! But I digress....).

There is some wonderful imagery for Red Riding Hood that I found on the internet:


Howard Dee 1890


photo by Sarah Moon




Arthur Rackham

Wonderfully varied pictures and list of versions of the fairytale. Interestingly I just read a story by Angela Carter called "The Werewolf" which turns the Little Red Riding Hood story on its head in typical Angela Carter fashion. This was originally published in The Bloody Chamber and collected in Burning Your Boats, which I am currently reading. It's a very short story. Check it out.

Very interesting about all the different versions and how far back it goes. I loved fairy tales as a child.

>158 Poquette: I read Burning Your Boats a few years ago during my Angela Carter jag. Loved it. I also bought the movie "The Company of Wolves" because Carter wrote the screenplay based on her story (special effects seems corny, but I just had to see it...)

Very interesting about all the different versions and how far back it goes.

Indeed! I just found The Trials and Tribulations of Little Red Riding Hood by Jack Zipes on Amazon. Apparently it's 405 pages long and includes 35 versions of the story. I think I need it.

Suzanne and Lois -- I have problems with Angela Carter. She writes beautiful sentences, but I don't like her stories. She leaves me cold, but I'm willing to try her some more because she seems like someone I'd like.

special effects seems corny, but I just had to see it... There's also a film called Red Riding Hood starring Amanda Syefried (I'm not a fan of her!) and Gary Oldman (I love him). It's supposed to be really, really bad, but the visuals look great, so I wouldn't mind suffering through it once.

I also found an interesting article: Dances With Wolves: Little Red Riding Hood's Long Walk in the Woods, by Catherine Orenstein, published in Ms. magazine in 2004.

>161 Nickelini:

About Carter - try to read a few stories in a row. The first couple of stories left me cold but after 3 or 4, I started appreciating all of the ones I had read so far. Although I am more a fan of her language than the stories themselves (plot-wise or character-wise)...

I came to Angela Carter through Saints and Strangers, which in my humble opinion is a masterpiece. The stories are all very inventive and none take that ugly dark turn that so many of her other stories take. I picked up Burning Your Boats on the strength of S&S. But I am finding that many of the other stories I'm reading don't please me as much as that original collection. But I am determined to soldier on and finish. As you said, Nickelini, she writes amazing sentences, and Annie's point about her inventive use of language is quite unique.

There is a great "politically correct" spoof of Little Red Riding Hood, where Red is a feminist who spells women, "womyn", and gets angry at the woodsman for trying to save her. The woodsman is called a "wood chopper person", and Red bring her grandmother bottled water and healthy snacks. At the end, Red, the wolf, and the grandmother all live together in an "alternative household". It's really quite funny - we teach it in a short story unit in grade 10, I think, as a way to talk about humour and parody and irony.

Actually, I've also used the Grimm version with my grade 12s, when doing Feminist Theory.

I really enjoyed the images you included. Did you find any striking differences in the various versions you read?

Did you find any striking differences in the various versions you read?

The article I linked to in post 161 says it much more eloquently than I can, but there are definitely differences that I will try to define here.

The first, and oldest, story--The Story of Grandmother-- is probably my favourite because Red saves herself at the end. In the Charles Perrault version, no one thinks that the wolf is actually an animal. He even included a moral at the end--basically, if nice girls fall in with the wrong men, bad things will happen. And sometimes the worst wolves are the ones that seem the nicest at first. Hardly subtle. Oh, and the story ends with the wolf eating Red, after devouring her grandmamma.

In the later Grimm version, the anxiety wasn't sex, but obedience, and they introduced the woodcutter (male) to come save the day. Grammy and Red get eaten, but he cuts open the wolf and they fill him with stones and he dies when he runs away.

I came to Angela Carter through Saints and Strangers, which in my humble opinion is a masterpiece.

Okay! That will be the next Carter I try then. Thanks for the recommendation.

Delurking to say I love the discussion about "Little Red Riding Hood" or "Rotkäppchen" as I know it. I didn't even know there were different versions - I read only the Grimm one, which scared me terribly when I was a child. And you're right, it's about obedience (don't go astray), but it also has this hidden sexual meaning (which as a child you don't see, there's just the wolf eating grandma and LRRH). I still remember LRRH's last sentence: 'I'll never get off the right way again, when mother has forbidden it'.

I'd love to read the pc version, just for the fun. Must see if I can find it somewhere.

How about the version where grandma is a werewolf which is slain by Red Riding Hood who lives happily ever after alone in grandma's cottage?

What an interesting project. I wonder just how many versions of the story there are out there. Great to be able to read it through the ages.

Great photo by Sarah Moon

Last week's episode of the television series Once Upon a Time was a retelling of "Little Red Riding Hood." Interesting twist in it, which I will not reveal in case anyone who watches the show is behind and doesn't want to be spoiled. (A predictable twist, I thought, but still interesting.)

#169 - My daughters and I have been working our way through the episodes of Once Upon a Time that are sitting on our PVR and we got to the Red Riding episode right when I was in the middle of this little project. So that was sort of fun. I didn't find the twist predicable, but I usually don't with that show (not that I think about it all that much). We really enjoy the Red/Ruby character--she's our favourite. Love her costumes.

167 - Hadn't come across that one ....fun!

166 - I still remember LRRH's last sentence: 'I'll never get off the right way again, when mother has forbidden it'. I hadn't come across that line either! Great double meaning.

There is a great "politically correct" spoof of Little Red Riding Hood, where Red is a feminist who spells women, "womyn", and gets angry at the woodsman for trying to save her. The woodsman is called a "wood chopper person", and Red bring her grandmother bottled water and healthy snacks. At the end, Red, the wolf, and the grandmother all live together in an "alternative household". It's really quite funny - we teach it in a short story unit in grade 10, I think, as a way to talk about humour and parody and irony.

Is that found in Politically Correct Bedtime Stories? I have that book around someplace, but I think it's in storage. Must look .....

The first chapter of The Great Cat Massacre gives the story as found in Le Conte Populaire Français (unfortunately out of print and unbelievably expensive as used book):

One a little girl was told by her mother to bring some bread and milk to her grandmother. As the girl was walking through the forest, a wolf came up to her and asked where she was going.
"To grandmother's house," she replied.
"Which path are you taking, the path of the pins or the path of the needles?"
"The path of the needles."
So the wolf took the path of the pins and arrived first at the house. He killed grandmother, poured her blood into a bottle, and sliced her flesh onto a platter. Then he got into her nightclothes and waited in bed.

"Knock, knock."
"Come in, my dear."
"Hello, grandmother. I've brought you some bread and milk."
"Have something yourself, my dear. There is meat and wine in the pantry."
So the little girl ate what was offered; and as she did, a little cat said, "Slut! To eat the flesh and drink the blood of your grandmother!"
Then the wolf said, "Undress and get into bed with me."
"Where shall I put my apron?"
"Throw it on the fire; you won't need it any more."
For each garment - bodice, skirt, petticoat and stockings - the girl asked the same question; and each time the wolf answered, "Throw it on the fire; you won't need it any more."
When the girl got in bed, she said, "Oh, grandmother! How hairy you are!"
"It's to keep me warmer, my dear."
"Oh, grandmother! What big shoulders you have!"
"It's for better carrying firewood, my dear."
"Oh, grandmother! What long nails you have!"
"It's for scratching myself better, my dear."
"Oh, grandmother! What big teeth you have!"
"It's for eating you better, my dear."
And he ate her.

The tales in Le Conte Populaire Français were collected by folklorists roughly between 1870 and 1914. Darnton writes "Thus in 1874 Nanette Levesque, an illiterate peasant woman born in 1794, dictated a version of "Little Red Riding Hood" that went back to the eighteenth century..." and "In a study of "Little Red Riding Hood", for example, Paul Delarue compared thirty-five versions recorded throughout a vast zone of the langue d'oïl. Twenty versions correspond exactly to the primitive "Conte de la mère grand" quoted above, except for a few details (sometimes the girl is eaten, sometimes she escapes by a ruse). Two versions follow Perrault's tale (the first to mention the red hood). And the rest contain a mixture of the oral and written accounts..."

Well isn't that just charming! Really, anyone who drinks a bottle of blood and thinks it's wine deserves a nasty end!

All these different old versions are so fascinating.

>171 Nickelini:: My copy of Politically Correct Bedtime Stories was easy to find, and, yup, it's the first story in there.

Sample quote:

So Red Riding Hood set off with her basket through the woods. Many people believed that the forest was a foreboding and dangerous place and never set foot in it. Red Riding Hood, however, was confident enough in her own budding sexuality that such obvious Freudian imagery did not intimidate her.

174 - Ah, very clever. I vaguely remember that. The author obviously read Bruno Bettelheim.

15. The Accidental Tourist, Anne Tyler, 1985


This cover really doesn't tell you a thing about the book--I know because I've had this book for a zillion years and every time I looked at it I thought: "??". Now that I've read the book, I see that the winged armchair is the main character's business logo. As a picture itself, I do like it though.

Comments I really don't have a lot to say about this book. Although I think Anne Tyler is a good writer, and she's very talented at character, reading this book was a somewhat humdrum experience. Part of the problem was that it was too long, and the second was that although the character of Muriel was amusing, she got to be rather annoying and I didn't like her stalker-like antics. I found the ending fairly unbelievable.

rating: I was going to give it a 3.5, but then it dragged on and the ending completely didn't work for me, so it dropped to a 2.5. I feel a little guilty, because it's probably not that bad a book, but it just isn't what I enjoy at this point in my life. I think 10 or 15 years ago I would have liked it better.

recommended for: people who like books with quirky characters.

why I read this now: one of the oldest books in my closet. I don't even know where this used copy came from, it's that old.

I think I've grown out of Anne Tyler. I used to love her books, but the last few I read just didn't do anything for me.

That's how I feel too--like I've grown out of her.

>176 Nickelini: I think I read that in the late 1980s. I wonder if I might find it dated now (did I say this before?). When you think of what books from the mid-80s are still being read here on LT, I think of The Handmaid's Tale...

Lois - with what's going on lately in US politics, I think The Handmaid's Tale is more timely than ever!

16. Writing with Intent: Essays, Reviews, Personal Prose 1983-2005, Margaret Atwood


A fairly boring cover, but really, what CAN you put on a collection of essays? The fountain pen on the M is a nice flourish.

Comments: As the title explains, this is a collection of Atwood's non-fiction writing--fifty-eight pieces, to be exact. They cover a vast range of topics, as one would expect from this author of vast interests. And as expected, she covers these topics with her usual deft way with words, her sly humour, and her calm wisdom.

Some of the pieces that stood out for me:
"Laughter vs. Death" (originally published as "Atwood on Pornography" in Chatelaine, Sept 1983
"In Search of Alias Grace: On Writing Canadian Historical Fiction
"To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf" (Originally published as "The Indelible Woman", the Guardian, Sept 7, 2002.)
"Letter to America," (originally published in the Nation, April 14, 2003)

Why I Read This Now: I've actually been reading three or four pieces a week for several weeks as part of my 2012 project of reading essays.

Recommended for: people who like to read intelligent non-fiction cultural pieces.

Rating: 4 stars.

Joyce, it a lovely idea to read a collection of essays as you have done, taking them slowly over a period of time.

Writing With Intent sounds like one I would enjoy, Joyce. I have read and liked a number of Atwood's novels, although more her earlier than later ones.

17. The Water Children, Anne Berry, 2011


This cover doesn't do a lot for me, artistically, although it's not horrible. The boy looks like one of the main characters as a child, so I guess it's appropriate.

I preferred this cover, which depicts one of the other children's stories:


Rating: 4 stars

Comments: Am reviewing this in the next issue of www.Belletrista.com. About half way through this I was asking myself if I liked it or not, but suddenly I decided that I did, very much. It's different, anyway.

I'm just starting Homesick, by Roshi Fernando. I can't tell you much about the book yet, but I want to point out the fabulous covers available for it:


I think this is fabulous--the book is a novel formed from a series of short stories about Sri Lankan immigrants in the UK. This is clearly an old family snap shot--three little girls, dressed up for an outing at the Tower of London, but, darn, it's chilly out there, so throw a jacket over those nice dresses. Oh, and dad, or uncle, or whoever you are, you get in the picture too. And it has that sorta outa focus look, like it was taken with a Kodak Instamatic. Great stuff.


Well, isn't this just utterly gorgeous! A stunning eye and Mehndi.


This is super gorgeous too, and interesting as well.

I love that all three of these covers are different from all the other book covers out there. Well done, book designers!

Fascinating variety in the covers — and all for one book. I share your delight.

I just came across blog post from one of my favourite authors, Roma Tearne on book covers. Since linking to blog posts can be tricky, I will copy and paste it here:

An interesting thing is happening. People are asking me about my book covers. It started about a year ago at a Literary Festival I went to.
'Do you design your own?' someone asked.
'No,' I told them in a slightly tight-lipped manner.
'Really? But I read somewhere that you're an artist.'
'Listen,' I said, leaning forward so the microphone made a hissing noise, a bit like a snake about to strike. 'They tell me I don't know what sells. The covers are not my business.'
I paused. 'Apparently.'

This was a conversation that was to run again and again. Finally someone popped the question for which I had been waiting. The question that needed asking. The question which, like a marriage proposal, had to be asked first before an answer was required. It came at a lick.
'D'you like your covers?'
'No!' I shouted. 'No! No! No!'
The microphone whined nastily and died. I felt as though I had killed something. A dragon, perhaps? One that was antiquated, and needed slaying?
'I loathe my covers,' I said. 'I loathe them with a passion that is almost as much as my passion for writing. Why,' I continued, pausing only for breath before beginning to bellow again, 'do these people think they can design a cover in three seconds for a book that took at least TWO YEARS to write?'
In the stunned silence that followed a member of the audience stood up and ripped off the cover of the book she had brought for me to sign.
'Thank you!' I told her, speaking with feeling, but without the microphone, and above the applause.

That incident really happened, and more and more I have found myself talking to audiences about the cover stories to which I have been subjected. Why does the British book-buying market have such appalling covers thrown at them?
As an author I have been told that my covers sell books. Really, why am I complaining? My answer is simple. Think how many more books would sell if the cover was tasteful.
The hard back edition of my second novel had the pink palace in Jaipur, India on it. It was a novel about Sri Lanka. When I questioned the wisdom of this I was told,
'Oh no one will notice!' thereby confirming my belief that not only was I being treated like an idiot but so were my readers.
But this sorry state of affairs is not confined to me and my books, alone. Here are a few more ridiculous, old-fashioned cover ideas in circulation, currently.

1. If the author has a foreign sounding name or hails from The East then the cover of his or her book must have gold on it. A couple of mangos would be good too and maybe even a woman with a sari around her HEAD! (because we women from the east always cover our heads, don't you know?)
2. Books for women should have some pink on the cover. Or at least something pinkish. (did our mothers fight for the vote for this sort of stuff?)
3. Books that are meant for men can have a more 'butch'-like font, and splashes of red/black or, (wait for it), unpleasant mustard-gas yellow.
I could go on but before I come out in a heat rash I would like to mention my hero Steve Jobs, that incredible designer, lost now, to the world. What made him his millions was, amongst other things, his fantastic design sense. His attention to detail, his care over the kind of fonts he used on his Apple Macs, his packaging...oh I could go on. In short, his presentation of the object, as much as everything else.

What we need in this ailing market is a similar shake up of all things visual. We, the real book buyers should not be fed those tired old categories, those tasteless, hastily cobbled together bits of card that look as though they have come from the pound shop. We the writers should not be pigeon-holed.
Especially now, with badly designed kindles fighting with the-book-as-an-object, what we need to make us want to buy and to own books are their covers. Hurrah! Yes! So come on, publishers, give us things of beauty, give us something we'd love to touch, to keep on our shelves forever. Till we're old and sightless! It doesn't have to cost more. All it needs is a little talent and some thoughtfulness. It's what I bang on about to my students all the time.

I'm now with a new publisher. They seem sensitive and interested in my latest book and I'm crossing my fingers and holding my breath...

Good stuff by RT. Those cover rules are really sad.

>187 Nickelini: That's funny and, sadly, true. I have heard a lot of sad and horrific cover stories from authors over the years. And it's only the big authors who get any say in it, at least with the bigger publishers. I think sometimes covers are done quite well, but I HATE the gendering of covers either way. Generally, I tend to like the American covers over the British, but certainly not always.

I enjoyed that blog post

What I thought was funny about the blog post is that I actually like the covers of her books that I own.

1. Her first book is Mosquito.

Flip flops and sandals lined up against a concrete wall, and a water mark of a flower and bird over top. I also like the title and author's name, both the font and colour. In fact, I like all the subtle colours, and how the green flip flop stands out a bit--like a tropical leaf.
But the covers for other editions of this book are awful!:


2. Her second book:

I think this is the one she discussed in her post. It's okay, but I always thought it looked Indian rather than Sri Lankan, and now I know I was right! See, readers DO know. Also, it makes the book look more like a "woman's novel."
The other covers for the novel:

The first has that required head covering she mentioned, the second one looks like an academic book on Sri Lanka.

3. Her third:

This is the cover I have and I think it's lovely. The inside cover is nice too, and apparently designed by the author.
The other cover for the book is this. I don't get it, and I don't remember a monkey in the story.


4. And finally,

Maybe not the best cover ever, but not terrible, and my copy says that she did the cover artwork (but not the photo), so I'm not sure what she's complaining about.
Other covers for The Swimmer:

I don't know. Not exciting, but not gold and pink, headcovered mangoes.

Actually, I like the middle Mosquito cover (lilac with outline of beach) but that's because looking at it immediately makes me think of Sri Lanka, where I have spent some time. I have no idea whether it fits with the book contents though - and the flip flops cover looks more like a book I'd pick up. Otherwise, completely agree, and thanks for posting her comments. It must be so frustrating to write a book and then hand the cover over to people who are working on such simplistic marketing principles.

The lilac with the silhouetted beach, to me, looks like a war novel. Which Mosquito actually is . . . so I guess it does fit! But it looks like an ugly war novel--and her writing is so evocative and beautiful, ..... so to me it doesn't fit.

I suspect Europa might have been going with more gender neutral covers (I think theirs are the lilac Mosquito, and the orange Bone China covers).

Ah, the inevitable headless/faceless woman cover!

Fascinating discussion about Roma Tearne, the covers of her books, and the clueless lot that decide what covers are most appropriate for books. I have all four of Tearne's novels. For Mosquito I have the last cover you posted, with the woman in the blue dress. I hate it; it looks like a chick lit book. My copy of Bone China is the one with the red cover and the gold dragon; it's okay, but that's it. I have the same cover for my copy of Brixton Beach as you, and it's easily my favorite of the four. You're right about the other cover; there are no monkeys that I can remember in the story! I didn't like the cover of The Swimmer, as the man was swimming in a river, not an ocean or other large body of water, as the cover would suggest.

As we mentioned in our Belletrista discussion of Annabel, covers do make a huge difference to readers. I have a strong visceral response to book covers, and I'm loath to look closely at a book whose cover is overly girly, macho or otherwise unappealing (e.g., one with "Oprah's Book Club" or "Richard and Judy Book Club" on it, not counting removable stickers), unless it's one that I'm specifically interested in. I haven't thought about this before, but I think I'll start sending e-mails to publishers of books I've purchased whose covers are particularly appealing or revolting.

The faceless woman book cover. It's lazy. It says this book will be just like the last six books you read. I loathe it. And am vaguely insulted but if you asked me, I wouldn't be very clear as to why.

I didn't love The Sisters Brothers, but it had a fantastic cover design. So the paperback has been issued with a lackluster cover that tells us it will be a humdrum historical novel.

197> I can't quite figure out why that concept has so taken off. Like the dress is more important than the face? (It's usually a gorgeous, elaborate dress.) Or maybe the reader supposedly identifies more with the heroine if her face isn't shown? I don't get it.

You're probably insulted b/c it implies that women are all the same from the neck down--a real sexist viewpoint!

Ah, the inevitable headless/faceless woman cover!

Would I be wrong in suggesting that they don't pull that kind of stunt on male writers? Of course, they have different stunts. Cases in point:



Apparently I am wrong. Here are some headless faceless men!



As kidsdoc said, the cover makers in so many cases are "a clueless lot."

>196 kidzdoc: Darryl, I have done that twice, both regarding SF covers, one for a love I thought well done, the other for a cover that I found offensive (can you tell which one was which?). I told the latter that I would not buy the US edition, and bought the UK edition instead. The 'excuse' I heard for the boobalicious US cover is that it's a Pixar designed female robot, so it's okay):



Sorry, first cover is hard to see...

Oh, yuck! That second cover is awful!!

Homesick, Roshi Fernando, 2010

comments: seventeen powerful short stories that together make what the publisher calls a composite novel. The setting is London, the characters are a linked group of Sri Lankan immigrants, and the topics and themes are broad and wide.

Fernando won the 2009 Impress award for new writers, which enabled her to write this book.

See post #185 above for the discussion on this book's fab covers.

Rating:Highly recommended. 4.5 stars.

Why I Read This Now: Will do a proper review in the next issue of www.Belletrista.com

Catching up on our old conversation about book titles . . .

196-Thanks, Darryl--I was wondering if I was losing my mind about monkeys in Brixton Beach.

197, 198, 199 - headless or faceless women covers. I was ready to go off on a rant about this six months ago or so, but then I went and looked through my books and I found lots of covers with faceless or headless men. However, the covers with male subjects were done in many more styles and varieties; the covers with female subjects all fell into two or three distinct looks.

200 - Lois, both those book covers would make me stay far away from that book, but of course the second one is significantly more egregious.

There are so many fabulous graphic artists working, and an amazing array of tools available to them --there is no excuse for lousy book art!

Okay, I'm going to start a new thread. For more reading and book art discussion, please join me at part two. I believe LT will give you a link below.