TBR@55 Robertgreaves's challenge for 2012/3

My challenge year runs from birthday to birthday, so here I am starting a new thread the day after my birthday. For the story so far see this thread. I am currently reading The Naked Olympics by Tony Perrottet.

Unlike most people I count books as off the shelf when I start them rather than when I finish them. This book was started in the previous thread, so counts as book 0. The TBR pile is 61, though that's physical books. Ebooks don't count as for the most part I only actually buy those when I want to read them. I feel they will always be there so I don't need to grab books in case they disappear.

This time last year the TBR pile was 60 books, so it seems the TBR pile will always be with me.

Happy Birthday, Robert. Here's to another great year of reading. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), that TBR pile will always be with most of us LTers.

Thanks for dropping by Kirconnell.

No problem. I'm enjoying my weekend off just reading through the threads.

Happy Birthday, Robert! Oh, to have a TBR pile with only 61 books in it.....

Happy belated birthday!

Thank you, Tina.

Starting book No. 1 for this thread Anthony Trollope's Doctor Thorne, which brings the TBR pile down to 60.

Starting my No. 2, C. W. Ceram's Gods, Graves and Scholars: The Story of Archaeology, which brings the TBR pile down to 59.

My review of Doctor Thorne:

Mary Thorne, the poor and illegitimate niece of the Greshamsbury doctor, and Frank Gresham, the local squire's son whose family keep telling him he must marry a rich wife to restore the family fortunes, are in love, but how can they marry?

An enjoyable read, though at times it does seem Trollope was padding his writing out to achieve his daily word total until we reach the predictable happy ending.

Starting my No. 3, Paul Bahn's Archaeology: A Very Short Introduction, which brings the TBR pile down to 58. I'm reading this now for the TIOLI challenge and as a follow up to No. 2.

My review of Gods, Graves and Scholars: The Story of Archaeology:

Classic history of archaeology that I remember reading as a teenager. It was written in the late 1940s with a second edition in 1967.

The subtitle is a clue. This is very much a collection of uncritical stories of heroic figures, grouped into fields of exploration: Part 1 covers Pompeii and the Aegean littoral, Part 2 Egypt, Part 3 Mesopotamia, and Part 4 Central America, with Part 5 as a short epilogue on material that could have been included but didn't fit the author's schema. It's all very enjoyable and a good overview for any budding Indiana Jones or River Song out there before they reach an age where something more detailed or reflective becomes appropriate.

Starting my No. 4 Edmund Crispin's Holy Disorders, which brings the TBR pile down to 57.

My review of Archaeology: A Very Short Introduction:

A very entertaining, quick read which only took me a couple of hours. There were one or two spots where the relentless puns got a bit too much, but on the whole it was an enjoyable snapshot survey of what present day archaeology covers.

Starting my No. 5, Michael Siebler's Greek Art (Basic Art), which brings the TBR pile down to 56.

My review of Holy Disorders:

In a small cathedral town in the west of England during WWII, the cathedral organist is poisoned and the Precentor is crushed beneath a falling tombstone. Is it the work of Satanists or German spies, or just a squabble about a family inheritance? Professor Gervase Fen, who happens to be visiting the town, investigates.

A perfect blend of high and low comedy and detection.

Starting my No. 6, Jack London's White Fang. This is a freebie from the ereader program on my tablet so doesn't reduce the TBR pile. I think I read it before when I was a 10 or 11 year old but I don't remember anything about it. I'm not even sure if it was the original I read or an adaptation for children.

My review of Greek Art (Basic Art):

Nice colour pictures of Greek pottery and (mostly) Roman copies in marble of Greek bronzes. The translation from German of the accompanying text isn't always clear.

Starting my No. 7, Dostoevesky's The Idiot, which brings the TBR pile down to 55.

My review of White Fang:

The story of White Fang, a dog and wolf mix, and his change from wild to domesticated animal and his sufferings until he finds a master who loves and appreciates him.

I had my doubts about this book when I put it down after the first two or three pages to go to bed, but it won me over and I thoroughly enjoyed this gripping adventure story.

Starting my No. 8, Gary Corby's The Pericles Commission, which is an ebook and so does not affect the TBR pile.

Starting my No. 9, Nico's next adventure The Ionia Sanction.

My review of The Pericles Commission:

Nicolaos (Nico) is walking along in 5th century BC Athens when a body falls out of the sky onto the path in front of him. The body was Ephialtes, who had been shot with a bow and arrow and fallen off the rock of the Areopagus. Pericles, an up and coming politician and one of Ephialtes's possible successors as leader of the recently introduced democracy, impressed with Nico's, handling of this unexpected situation, asks him to find out who killed Ephialtes.

A witty and exciting journey through the murky underworld of politics in the world's first democracy.

Starting my No. 10 Norman Solomon's Judaism: A Very Short Introduction. I added two books to the TBR pile (one new, one to re-read), so it now stands at 56.

My review of The Idiot:

Prince Myshkin returns to Russia having spent much of his life abroad being treated for epilepsy and mental development problems. He visits General Epanchin, whose wife is a distant relation, as he has no nearer relations still living. Myshkin is torn between two women, General Epanchin's youngest daughter, Aglaia, and the beautiful Nastasya Filippovna Barashkova, who when the story opens is working herself up to break off her relationship as the mistress of one of General Epanchin's friends.

Despite long discussions by the author and by the characters themselves about their motivations, most of the time I had only the vaguest idea of what was supposed to be going on or why the characters were doing what they were doing. Baffling.

I found your thread!

Happy Belated Birthday! I knew that it was around the Fall, but I wasn't sure exactly when.

I loved your review of The Idiot. It goes well with the title, I think. I have been wanting to read that book and Crime and Punishment for a while now, but I just haven't taken the plunge.

Starting my no 11, a freebie ebook version of Treasure Island.

My review of Judaism: A Very Short Introduction:

Clear and interesting account covering history, religious thought and practice, home and family life, modern denominations, and responses to modern issues -- and all in 135 pages.

Starting my No. 12, Voltaire's Candide, which I put in the TBR pile to re-read after hearing the "In Our Time" discussion about it. This brings the TBR pile down to 55.

My review of Treasure Island:

The story was too familiar to really grip me. I think I've read it before but I don't remember struggling with the nautical terminology so much before. Perhaps it was a children's adaptation or perhaps I just let it go straight over my head.

Starting my No. 13, Vicky Alvear Shecter's Cleopatra's Moon. An ebook, so not from the TBR pile.

My review of Candide:

In the face of one disaster after another, Candide tries to hold to tutor's philosophy that everything is for the best in the best of all possible worlds.

Very so-so, I thought. I suspect I missed some of Voltaire's targets, and an annotated edition might have been better.

Starting my No. 14, Ruth Rendall's Portobello. This brings the TBR pile down to 54.

Starting my No. 15, Lionel Casson's Travel in the Ancient World, which brings the TBR pile down to 53.

My review of Portobello:

Joel Roseman has a heart attack in the street and loses some money which is found by Eugene Wren. When Eugene advertises his find, Lance Platt tries to claim the money is his. The story follows the consequences for the three men and their friends and relatives.

Ruth Rendell screws maximum tension out of everyday scenes and actions which I read with mounting dread, though not everything I feared occurred. Excellent.

Starting No. 16, Terry Pratchett's Guards, Guards. This is a re-read, and so doesn't change the TBR pile.

My review of Travel in the Ancient World:

Part 1 covers travel in Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Greece; Part 2 covers travel in the Roman Empire; and Part 3 covers tourism in the Roman Empire.

Starting No. 17, another Discworld novel, Men At Arms. This is an ebook and so doesn't affect the TBR pile.

Another Discworld book, Feet of Clay, is my No. 18. No change to the TBR pile.

My review of Men At Arms:

As Samuel Vimes's wedding to Lady Sybil approaches, the Watch has been ordered to integrate minorities into its personnel. The new recruits are a troll, a dwarf, and a woman with a secret. There is also a plot to restore the monarchy involving a new and unique weapon, a gonne.

Not as laugh out loud funny as "Guards! Guards!", but still very enjoyable.

Hi, Robert!
I have been feverishly cleaning my house as my dad and stepmom and my daughter and son-in-law are coming for the big meal. Housework is not my strong point. The dog thinks I am nuts! We are having turkey and all the trimmings. Cooking is not my strong point either, but I think as the years go by I might get better at it. I wish I had two ovens. I used to rent a place that had two. That makes all the difference on Thanksgiving.

I must admit that I have switched to shorter reading to give me a fighting chance to hit 75. I thought about leaving the 75 book challenge since I am not around as much, but I think I will give it at least one more year. I think that I will be more on top of my job in another year. And I am learning so much.

While cleaning I ran across my copy of Silver Pigs that I got when you were reading the series and I thought that I should pick up a book or two every so often so that I will have the complete set. Also I think I might have a book or two of Discworld.

I haven't read Treasure Island, but I think I might have an old copy around here somewhere. I wonder if I will find it, because I have been wanting to read it for a while. I found my old copy of Scurvy Dogs, the short memoirs of gunship sailors that has been missing quite a while. Actually, I have come across lots of books what with the cleaning. I really should do it more often.

Let me know if you think of something you want to read over Advent. We have an extra week this year with Thanksgiving arriving so early. (At least, it just seems that way to me since Advent and Thanksgiving usually fall on the same weekend.)

Take care and God bless!

I haven't got anything with a particular Advent or Christmas theme but I could promote Henri J. M. Nouwen's The Return of the Prodigal Son, which I was saving for Lent next year.

In the meantime, if I don't see you before then, Happy Thanksgiving.

Starting no. 19, R. S. Downie's Ruso and the Disappearing Dancing Girls. This is a re-read and not from the TBR pile.

My review of Feet of Clay:

The Ankh-Morpork Watch has to deal with murders where the most likely suspect is a golem and an attempt to poison the Patrician.

The usual mixture of knockabout comedy and satire with the added bonus of a police procedural mystery with the addition of a forensics officer with a secret to the team.

Starting No. 20, the next Medicus story Ruso and the Demented Doctor, which is a re-read for my online Roman history and fiction reading group and so does not affect the TBR pile.

My review of Ruso and the Disappearing Dancing Girls, which I've read before but didn't review then:

Ruso, a Roman army doctor who has newly arrived in Britain, wants to know more about a strangled girl found in the river with her hair shaved off. She turns out to a prostitute from a bar/brothel catering to off duty legionaries, where some of the girls may not have been acquired through legitimate channels. Ruso and his newly acquired slave, Tilla, are drawn into investigating further.

Enjoyable mystery with a well-rounded detective and side-kick, each with their own personal baggage to deal with, and interesting minor characters as well.

Onto my No. 21, Ruso 3: Ruso and the Root of All Evils, which brings the TBR pile down to 52.

My review of Ruso and the Demented Doctor:

A Roman army trumpeter is murdered in a back alley in Coria, a town where Hadrian's wall will one day be built, and decapitated. An army doctor confesses to the crime, but the powers that be think the doctor is insane and seem determined to pin the crime onto a native basket-weaver who was involved in an altercation with the victim shortly before his death. Ruso and Tilla get caught up in all this.

This all made much more sense after re-reading it when the first book was fresh in my mind. Ruso is a good man doing his best in politically very muddy waters.

Next up is my 22, Ruso 4: Ruso and the River of Darkness.

My review of Ruso and the Root of All Evils:

Ruso is summoned back to the family home only to find a lawsuit which could ruin the family is about to be launched by a creditor. The creditor is then poisoned while visiting Ruso's family. Ruso is of course the main suspect.

Dragged in places but still a worthwhile read.

Starting No. 23, Philip DePoy's The King James Conspiracy. This was borrowed from a friend and so doesn't affect the TBR pile.

My review of Ruso and the River of Darkness:

The tax collector from Verulamium and his brother are missing -- and so are the taxes. The Procurator asks Ruso to investigate.

Good story exposing the murky side of small town politics in Roman Britain. Although Ruso and Tilla are now married their relationship is just as difficult as ever. It's getting tiresome.

Onto my No. 24, Lise Kristensen's The Blue Door, lent to me by a friend and so not affectinwg the TBR pile.

My review of The King James Conspiracy:

One of the translators working in Cambridge on what is to be the Authorised/King James Version of the Bible is murdered. Is the mysterious figure enrolled to find the murderer and protect the other translators quite what he seems? What is the connection with certain very secret documents also entrusted to the translators?

The premise of the book -- suppose the translators of the AV/KJV had been given copies of gnostic and other gospels that didn't make it into the Bible -- deserves a much better piece of speculative fiction than this tosh. The author shows profound ignorance of the religious make up of Jacobean England. One of the translators is described as "a friend of England's notable rabbis". Since except for one or two specifically exempted individuals, Jews were not allowed back into England till the Protectorate, there wouldn't have been any English rabbis, notable or otherwise. What is a monk doing wandering round openly dressed in such a way that people can immediately see that he is a monk or priest? I very much doubt the Pope would have been referred to by ordinary people in England as "His Holiness" or that they would have cared much about his opinion on the translation. Other anachronisms include the Pope referring to the translation (not yet completed) as the King James Version and to the Anglican Communion, two terms that wouldn't start being used till much later.

The translators themselves do not come off well, being assimilated to the most ignorant tendencies in American Christianity. I really can't see that these scholars, expert in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, would have been so flurried to find that Jesus was called Yeshua in Hebrew, or that there were textual and translation errors in the manuscript tradition.

I borrowed this from a friend, expecting something a lot more entertaining and intelligent. Fortunately he didn't pay the full price for it, just a dollar. Even so, I think he was robbed.

Darn! Sorry to hear that book was a disappointment, especially with such an interesting premise. Hope your next read is better!

Thanks for dropping by, rabbitprincess.

On to my next book. No. 25, Edwin John Wintle's Breakfast With Tiffany is another one lent by a friend.

My review of The Blue Door:

Harrowing memoir of a little girl imprisoned in a Japanese POW camp on Java with her mother and younger siblings.

Breakfast With Tiffany is a memoir by a New York gay man who fostered his 13 year old niece. 25 pages in I realised I was close to wanting to do the author a physical injury I found him so irritating, so have given it up.

My new No. 25 is William Beckford's Vathek, which brings the TBR pile down to 51.

Starting No. 26 David F. Ford's Theology: A Very Short Introduction. This brings the TBR pile down to 50.

My review of Vathek:

An Arabian Nights style tale about the Caliph Vathek, written in 1782 by a 21 year old Englishman who was reputed to be the richest man in England in his time.

A weird rambling story about Vathek and his mother's insatiable curiosity which leads them to dabble in the black arts and eventually to eternal damnation. Bears absolutely no relation to the historical Caliph of the 9th century.

Starting my No. 27 Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, another freebie that came with an ereader program, and so does not affect the TBR pile.

My review of Theology: A Very Short Introduction:

After a couple of introductory chapters in which Ford clarifies that he is going to talk about Christian theology rather than a general study of comparative religion, he goes to on to show what he thinks are the key issues in theology in a book that raises questions rather than attempts to answer them. The main issues he highlights are God, worship and ethics, evil, Jesus, and salvation. He rounds off with some examples of how to do theology -- its roots in history and epistemology and hints of its inter-relation with many other subjects. Not bad going for 175 pages.

Starting my No. 28, Barbara Pym's Excellent Women, which brings the TBR pile down to 49.

Starting my No. 29, Kim Knott's Hinduism: A Very Short Introduction, which brings the TBR pile down to 48.

My review of Excellent Women from the last time I read it:

Mildred Lathbury's new neighbours in the flat downstairs are an anthropologist married to an Admiral's Flag Lieutenant. Unfortunately, the marriage seems to be somewhat shaky, while the vicar is enamoured of a widow who has also just moved into the parish.

Classic Pym.

"I should never know exactly what had passed between him and Allegra Gray. There are some things too dreadful to be revealed, and it is even more dreadful how, in spite of our better instincts, we long to know about them."

Starting my No. 28, Charles Dickens's Little Dorrit. I'm re-reading this after watching the TV serial adaptation where there was a lot going on that I didn't remember from the last time I read the book. This brings the TBR pile down to 47.

My review of Hinduism: A Very Short Introduction:

Interesting guide to Hinduism, covering a range of issues, taking an outsider's perspective but giving room to insiders' views as well.

Hi, Robert!
I have been catching up on what you are reading. I am sorry the King James Conspiracy was not too good.

I heard that the US is working on a Bible translation now that the Missal has been retranslated. I want to buy a new Missal, but I guess I will wait to see what happens with the Bible translation.

I have just been reading Advent reflections (one of the books is by Nouwen). I quite like that one. I am sorry that I did not get back to you before Advent started. I attended Advent by Candlelight at Church and the speaker writes a blog on spiritual reading. She wrote a book with a five year plan to read the entire Bible (with the Gospels and letters of St. Paul twice) plus a number of spiritual books. Most of them I had never heard of, but one in particular was The Imitation of Christ, which I have. She is covering that book on her blog, so I am trying to read along. I am not a member, though, just a lurker.

Merry Christmas!

Starting my No. 27, John Mullan's What Matters in Jane Austen?, borrowed from my father and so not affecting the TBR pile.

Merry Christmas everyone. We're having the big family get together with my parents, siblings and assorted nephews and nieces tomorrow, so today is a quiet-ish day reading.

Starting my No. 28, Stephanie Dray's The Princess of Egypt Must Die, a freebie downloaded to start off my new Kobo, so not off the TBR pile.

My review of What Matters in Jane Austen?:

Fascinating combination of social history and literary criticism exploring such subjects as money (How Much Money is Enough?) from the aspect of a) how much money was worth in Jane Austen's day and what sort of income the sums she quotes represent, and b) what the characters' attitudes to money reveal about them.

Other topics covered are the characters' ages and appearance, how they address each other, illness and death, the seaside, the weather, sex, the lower classes, and many more.

Starting my No. 29, John Guy's Thomas Becket: Warrior, Priest, Rebel because today is the anniversary of his death. This is an ebook I was given as a birthday present for the Kindle app on my tablet, so doesn't count for the TBR pile.

My review of The Princess of Egypt Must Die:

Novella about Arsinoe, daughter of King Ptolemy of Egypt and a secondary wife, who is married off to the elderly King Lysimachus of Thrace, but has fallen in love with his bastard son, Cassandra. Part of what made her the ruthless queen of her later years.

This very enjoyable and well researched historical novella is let down by its rather Mills & Boon-ish cover. If I hadn't seen enough of the author on FB to trust her historical sense, the cover would have been enough to deter me.

Reading my No. 30, The Science Fiction Megapack a SF anthology I got on my Kobo, as a filler to read in spurts when another book I want to read is too heavy to carry or needs a dictionary or whatever.

Reading my No. 31, Eric Shanower's Age of Bronze: A Thousand Ships.

My review of Thomas Becket: Warrior, Priest, Rebel:

A biography of the 12th century Archbishop of Canterbury who was murdered in Canterbury Cathedral.

Not an easy read and it felt a bit of a slog (perhaps it would have worked better as a physical book rather than on a Kindle app). The subject matter was interesting and corrected some false impressions I had about the timeline.

Reading my No. 32, Iris Murdoch's Under the Net, which is an ebook and so does not affect the TBR pile.

My review of Age of Bronze: A Thousand Ships:

The first of seven projected volumes telling the story of the Trojan War in the form of a graphic novel.

The author is trying very successfully to reconcile all of the different stories about the Trojan War, not only in the ancient sources but also in mediaeval and modern accounts, and archaeological information as well. This first volume takes up to the gathering of the Achaeans' fleet at Aulis. Can't wait to get the second.

Nos 33 and 34 are The Second Science Fiction Megapack and Karen Armstrong's A Short History of Myth, both ebooks which do not affect the TBR pile.

My review of The Science Fiction Megapack:

An anthology of SF short stories, some good, some bad, some instantly forgettable.

My review of Under the Net:

Jake Donaghue, translator and aspiring writer, finds that he is pretty comprehensively wrong in his ideas about his relationships with various people in his life.

Having read one Iris Murdoch novel at school and come away with the idea that she was a difficult and philosophically demanding author, I approached this book with some trepidation, but found it for the most part very readable and enjoyable.

Starting No. 35, Ursula Leguin's Four Ways to Forgiveness, another ebook.

My review of A Short History of Myth:

A disappointing book. The first two chapters deal with the paleolithic and neolithic periods, claiming that certain myths (those with a questing hero and an Earth Mother date back to this time. Unfortunately, Armstrong writes as if this was an established fact rather than a speculation. But this cannot be an established fact since the stories told before the invention of writing are unknowable.

Armstrong defines myth as a story about something which happened in the past and is experienced through a ritual context which makes it a present reality for those who believe in it. This runs into problems with the Abrahamic religions which stress the historicity of certain events such as the Exodus, the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, and Mohammad's receipt of the Koran. I couldn't help but wonder whether she was taking the speculations and ideas of an intellectual elite as typical of the experience of the mass of people who went on performing rituals and believing in the historicity of events.

She then claims that ever since the European re-discovery of Greek philosophy in the Renaissance and the Enlightenment rational thinking (logos) and mythic thinking have been seen as opposing rather than complementary ways of thinking, to humanity's detriment even in the religious sphere.

Her final conclusion that the modern myth-makers are artists and novelists struck me as a bit too pat for a book which serves as an introduction to a series of novels based on myths.

To Part 2.