Chatterbox's 2013 Adventures in Bibliomania -- Episode One
This topic was continued by Chatterbox's 2013 Adventures in Bibliomania -- Episode Two.
Talk 75 Books Challenge for 2013
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1Chatterbox
I start out all my threads with a poem, chosen at random or carefully, depending on my mood whenever it's time to start a new thread.
Decided to start a new year with a work by a newish/youngish poet, that in some ways is about the passage of time. I think this was published in one of her first two collections.
Fragments for the End of the Year
by Jennifer K. Sweeney
On average, odd years have been the best for me.
I’m at a point where everyone I meet looks like a version
of someone I already know.
Without fail, fall makes me nostalgic for things I’ve never experienced.
The sky is molting. I don’t know
if this is global warming or if the atmosphere is reconfiguring
itself to accommodate all the new bright suffering.
I am struck by an overwhelming need to go to Iceland.
Despite all awful variables, we are still full of ideas
as possible as unsexed fruit.
I was terribly sorry to be the one to explain to the first graders
the connection between the sunset and pollution.
On Venus you and I are not even a year old.
Then there were two skies.
The one we fly through and the one
we bury ourselves in.
I appreciate my wide beveled spatula which fulfills
the moment I realized I would grow up and own such things.
I am glad I do not yet want sexy bathroom accessories.
Such things.
In the story we were together every time.
On his wedding day, the stone in his chest
not fully melted but enough.
Sometimes I feel like there are birds flying out of me.
Decided to start a new year with a work by a newish/youngish poet, that in some ways is about the passage of time. I think this was published in one of her first two collections.
Fragments for the End of the Year
by Jennifer K. Sweeney
On average, odd years have been the best for me.
I’m at a point where everyone I meet looks like a version
of someone I already know.
Without fail, fall makes me nostalgic for things I’ve never experienced.
The sky is molting. I don’t know
if this is global warming or if the atmosphere is reconfiguring
itself to accommodate all the new bright suffering.
I am struck by an overwhelming need to go to Iceland.
Despite all awful variables, we are still full of ideas
as possible as unsexed fruit.
I was terribly sorry to be the one to explain to the first graders
the connection between the sunset and pollution.
On Venus you and I are not even a year old.
Then there were two skies.
The one we fly through and the one
we bury ourselves in.
I appreciate my wide beveled spatula which fulfills
the moment I realized I would grow up and own such things.
I am glad I do not yet want sexy bathroom accessories.
Such things.
In the story we were together every time.
On his wedding day, the stone in his chest
not fully melted but enough.
Sometimes I feel like there are birds flying out of me.
2Chatterbox
Back for the fourth year in the 75 group, even though I typically read far, far more... I'm going to modify my expectations for 2013, after falling miserably short in my goals for 2012. I also participate in the 1010/11 in 11/12 in 12 and now 2013 category challenge, at least in part because it's fun to push myself to read more diversely than I might otherwise, and the categories ensure I do that. Although I tend to move the goalposts toward the end of the year!
The bottom line: I like to balance my reading between non-fiction and fiction; between "serious" tomes and more frivolous fluffy books that provide great entertainment if little in the way of nutritional value. I'm a big mystery fan, I read historical fiction and chick lit and am tip-toeing into the worlds of fantasy and sci-fi, although VERY selectively. Any kind of book can be a "thumping good read"; I'd rather read a mystery that falls into that category than a much-acclaimed or buzzed-about book that I find pretentious or self-conscious (one in which the author seems more intent on telling the world how smart he or she is than on capturing the reader's full attention.) Good writing, good characters, a great plot are the keys to a good writing -- all need to be present and accounted for. When it comes to non-fiction, my expectations are a little lower -- I can cope with more clunky writing if the story being told is fabulous. This year, I'm going to try to keep my non-fiction reading to about 25% of the total.
Here's the running tally of the books I've read in total for 2013:
And here's the ticker for the 75-book challenge:
Below you'll find the usual list of what I have read for the 75-book challenge. I'll comment on everything that I'm reading in this thread, although I'll only log the non-2013 category challenge books in the list below.
A guide to the ratings, which are highly subjective:
1.5 or less: A tree gave its life so that this book could be printed and distributed?
1.5 to 2.7: Are you really prepared to give up hours of your life for this?? I wouldn't recommend doing so...
2.8 to 3.3: Do you need something to fill in some time waiting to see the dentist? Either reasonably good within a ho-hum genre (chick lit or thrillers), something that's OK to read when you've nothing else with you, or that you'll find adequate to pass the time and forget later on.
3.4 to 3.8: Want to know what a thumping good read is like, or a book that has a fascinating premise, but doesn't quite deliver? This is where you'll find 'em.
3.9 to 4.4: So, you want a hearty endorsement? These books have what it takes to make me happy I read them.
4.5 to 5: The books that I wish I hadn't read yet, so I could experience the joy of discovering them again for the first time. Sometimes disquieting, sometimes sentimental faves, sometimes dramatic -- they are a highly personal/subjective collection!
Stars/scores are given in brackets after the book details.
Asterisks (*) mark books that I have re-read. I'll be trying to keep re-reads to 5% of the total this year. I'd like to think that I'll acquire fewer books than I read, but I also am resolving not to be delusional about anything in 2013, so... Audiobooks will be marked as such.
Average Rating for all books to date: 3.91 stars
1. The Futures by Emily Lambert (3.3), STARTED 12/26/12, FINISHED 1/2/13 (non-fiction)
2. The Boyfriend by Thomas Perry (3.4), STARTED 1/2/13, FINISHED 1/3/13 (fiction)
3. The Sound of Broken Glass by Deborah Crombie (4.2), STARTED 1/2/13, FINISHED 1/4/13 (fiction)
4. On Saudi Arabia by Karen Elliott House (3.8), STARTED 1/3/13, FINISHED 1/5/13 (non-fiction)
5. I, Jane: In the court of Henry VIII by Diane Haeger (3.0), STARTED 1/4/13, FINISHED 1/5/13 (fiction)
6. Cold: Adventures in the World's Frozen Places by Bill Streever (4.5), STARTED 1/4/13, FINISHED 1/6/13) (non-fiction)
7. Frances and Bernard by Carlene Bauer (4.5), STARTED 1/5/13, FINISHED 1/7/13 (fiction)
8. Blood Sisters by Sarah Gristwood (4.1), STARTED 1/4/13, FINISHED 1/7/13 (non-fiction)
9. Late Nights on Air by Elizabeth Hay (4.35), STARTED 1/2/13, FINISHED 1/8/13 (fiction)
10. *The Warden by Anthony Trollope (4.25), STARTED 12/30/12, FINISHED 1/8/13 (fiction)
11. The Mao Case by Qiu Xiaolong (3.6), STARTED 1/9/13, FINISHED 1/11/13 (fiction)
12. The Big Truck That Went By by Jonathan Katz (4.8), STARTED 1/9/13, FINISHED 1/12/13 (non-fiction)
13. The Testament of Mary by Colm Toibin, (4.3) READ 1/13/13 (fiction)
14. The Dead of Night by John Marsden (3.7), STARTED 1/13/13, FINISHED 1/14/13 (fiction)
15. WikiLeaks: Inside Julian Assange's War on Secrecy by David Leigh (3.9) STARTED 1/12/13, FINISHED 1/14/13 (non-fiction)
16. Taj by Timeri Murari (3.7), STARTED 1/12/13, FINISHED 1/15/13 (fiction)
17. The Ophelia Cut by John Lescroart (3.4), STARTED 1/15/13, FINISHED 1/18/13 (fiction)
18. A Killing Frost by John Marsden (3.5), STARTED 1/17/13, FINISHED 1/18/13 (fiction)
The bottom line: I like to balance my reading between non-fiction and fiction; between "serious" tomes and more frivolous fluffy books that provide great entertainment if little in the way of nutritional value. I'm a big mystery fan, I read historical fiction and chick lit and am tip-toeing into the worlds of fantasy and sci-fi, although VERY selectively. Any kind of book can be a "thumping good read"; I'd rather read a mystery that falls into that category than a much-acclaimed or buzzed-about book that I find pretentious or self-conscious (one in which the author seems more intent on telling the world how smart he or she is than on capturing the reader's full attention.) Good writing, good characters, a great plot are the keys to a good writing -- all need to be present and accounted for. When it comes to non-fiction, my expectations are a little lower -- I can cope with more clunky writing if the story being told is fabulous. This year, I'm going to try to keep my non-fiction reading to about 25% of the total.
Here's the running tally of the books I've read in total for 2013:
And here's the ticker for the 75-book challenge:
Below you'll find the usual list of what I have read for the 75-book challenge. I'll comment on everything that I'm reading in this thread, although I'll only log the non-2013 category challenge books in the list below.
A guide to the ratings, which are highly subjective:
1.5 or less: A tree gave its life so that this book could be printed and distributed?
1.5 to 2.7: Are you really prepared to give up hours of your life for this?? I wouldn't recommend doing so...
2.8 to 3.3: Do you need something to fill in some time waiting to see the dentist? Either reasonably good within a ho-hum genre (chick lit or thrillers), something that's OK to read when you've nothing else with you, or that you'll find adequate to pass the time and forget later on.
3.4 to 3.8: Want to know what a thumping good read is like, or a book that has a fascinating premise, but doesn't quite deliver? This is where you'll find 'em.
3.9 to 4.4: So, you want a hearty endorsement? These books have what it takes to make me happy I read them.
4.5 to 5: The books that I wish I hadn't read yet, so I could experience the joy of discovering them again for the first time. Sometimes disquieting, sometimes sentimental faves, sometimes dramatic -- they are a highly personal/subjective collection!
Stars/scores are given in brackets after the book details.
Asterisks (*) mark books that I have re-read. I'll be trying to keep re-reads to 5% of the total this year. I'd like to think that I'll acquire fewer books than I read, but I also am resolving not to be delusional about anything in 2013, so... Audiobooks will be marked as such.
Average Rating for all books to date: 3.91 stars
1. The Futures by Emily Lambert (3.3), STARTED 12/26/12, FINISHED 1/2/13 (non-fiction)
2. The Boyfriend by Thomas Perry (3.4), STARTED 1/2/13, FINISHED 1/3/13 (fiction)
3. The Sound of Broken Glass by Deborah Crombie (4.2), STARTED 1/2/13, FINISHED 1/4/13 (fiction)
4. On Saudi Arabia by Karen Elliott House (3.8), STARTED 1/3/13, FINISHED 1/5/13 (non-fiction)
5. I, Jane: In the court of Henry VIII by Diane Haeger (3.0), STARTED 1/4/13, FINISHED 1/5/13 (fiction)
6. Cold: Adventures in the World's Frozen Places by Bill Streever (4.5), STARTED 1/4/13, FINISHED 1/6/13) (non-fiction)
7. Frances and Bernard by Carlene Bauer (4.5), STARTED 1/5/13, FINISHED 1/7/13 (fiction)
8. Blood Sisters by Sarah Gristwood (4.1), STARTED 1/4/13, FINISHED 1/7/13 (non-fiction)
9. Late Nights on Air by Elizabeth Hay (4.35), STARTED 1/2/13, FINISHED 1/8/13 (fiction)
10. *The Warden by Anthony Trollope (4.25), STARTED 12/30/12, FINISHED 1/8/13 (fiction)
11. The Mao Case by Qiu Xiaolong (3.6), STARTED 1/9/13, FINISHED 1/11/13 (fiction)
12. The Big Truck That Went By by Jonathan Katz (4.8), STARTED 1/9/13, FINISHED 1/12/13 (non-fiction)
13. The Testament of Mary by Colm Toibin, (4.3) READ 1/13/13 (fiction)
14. The Dead of Night by John Marsden (3.7), STARTED 1/13/13, FINISHED 1/14/13 (fiction)
15. WikiLeaks: Inside Julian Assange's War on Secrecy by David Leigh (3.9) STARTED 1/12/13, FINISHED 1/14/13 (non-fiction)
16. Taj by Timeri Murari (3.7), STARTED 1/12/13, FINISHED 1/15/13 (fiction)
17. The Ophelia Cut by John Lescroart (3.4), STARTED 1/15/13, FINISHED 1/18/13 (fiction)
18. A Killing Frost by John Marsden (3.5), STARTED 1/17/13, FINISHED 1/18/13 (fiction)
5maggie1944
Suzanne, I enjoyed reading your intro and found myself thinking, "ah, I should star this girl's thread". So, I'm doing that. I like ellipses as do you and I can sometimes find myself at the end of a sentence I do not know how to quit....
Happy 2013! Your thread is a star in my constellation.
Happy 2013! Your thread is a star in my constellation.
8PaulCranswick
Suz - Hopefully this will be the year that one or both of us strike it rich and can sidle off to Fowey to live amongst books - can't imagine wanting to sell any though? Can dream of course.
Diana, Suz would be disappointed to only reach 425 I am sure!
Diana, Suz would be disappointed to only reach 425 I am sure!
9richardderus
If Robert's going to be The Wombat, I wanna be The Okapi:
10Chatterbox
I'm going to end up with a menagerie -- and in a Brooklyn apartment, no less!!
Yes, I'm afraid that 425 or so will be underperforming -- or in the eyes of some others, being less obsessive about books. Last year was closer to 450/475, and 2010 was north of 500. I'm getting old...
Karen, thanks for joining the ride in 2013! I just picked up a few books in Strand bookstore to add to Mt. TBR (which needs no such help...)
Yes, I'm afraid that 425 or so will be underperforming -- or in the eyes of some others, being less obsessive about books. Last year was closer to 450/475, and 2010 was north of 500. I'm getting old...
Karen, thanks for joining the ride in 2013! I just picked up a few books in Strand bookstore to add to Mt. TBR (which needs no such help...)
12PawsforThought
We're chosing animals now? In that case I'm going to be a tawny owl.
13Chatterbox
Oooh, really like that owl... No wonder they are known for their wisdom. And look at those feathers!!
14richardderus
What a gorgeous owl!
15PawsforThought
I love owls. I'm not much for birds in general (the combination of beak, claws and staring eyes weird me out) but I love owls more than almost any other animal.
We had one living across the road this past summer and I was as excited as could be.
We had one living across the road this past summer and I was as excited as could be.
16PaulCranswick
In reading terms Suz - I would have to put you up as a gazelle - that elegant speedster of the animal kingdom, although in fairness not noted as a migraine sufferer:
17maggie1944
Oh, and so beautiful and delicate looking.
18Chatterbox
Well, I wouldn't qualify as either beautiful or delicate looking, but merci du compliment, mon cher Paul...
19richardderus
*snort* ...said the possessor of two of the loveliest blue eyes around...
20labwriter
I think your reads and what you have to say about them are simply fascinating--you are one of the main reasons I have returned to the 75 group for 2013. Best wishes for a great year, and I will be following your reads with interest.
21Chatterbox
#19 *blush*
#20 *blush*
Awww, thanks y'all...
Starting a readathon over there in 2012 land, between now and the end of the year!
#20 *blush*
Awww, thanks y'all...
Starting a readathon over there in 2012 land, between now and the end of the year!
22Whisper1
Hi Suz
Happy Almost New Year. Wouldn't it be wonderful to be migraine free in the next year?
I fell behind on threads in 2012, but hope to have more time to visit you.
If we are choosing animals, I'll vote for the stately, beautiful giraffe
Happy Almost New Year. Wouldn't it be wonderful to be migraine free in the next year?
I fell behind on threads in 2012, but hope to have more time to visit you.
If we are choosing animals, I'll vote for the stately, beautiful giraffe
23PawsforThought
Giraffes are great. Love them.
25paulstalder
*eye wink* *splash*
26Chatterbox
Ooooh, Paul -- glad to see we're branching out into amphibians. I hereby promise not to turn you into turtle soup...
27PawsforThought
Only mock turtle soup will be accepted here.
28tungsten_peerts
I told myself I would not, but alas. I give you
the slow loris
the slow loris
29Chatterbox
Liking the Loris! although I think someone needs to bring a three-toed sloth to the thread. Especially as I still chuckle when I think about the outraged comment by Stephen Maturin to Jack Aubrey in one of the Patrick O'Brian novels I have read in 2012, when Maturin discovers the naval captain has been giving the creature sips of rum or wine: "Jack, you have debauched my sloth!"
30richardderus
I think an Olde-Englishe Pubbe needs to be founded, one with an Aubrey-and-Maturin theme, called "The Debauched Sloth."
31Chatterbox
Heavens, yes. Paul Cranswick and I can open its doors in Fowey when we stage our leveraged buyout of the local bookshop there...
32richardderus
Pervection! I mean, perfection!
33PawsforThought
30. YES! Please, let someone start a pub with that name! Please. (This from someone who hasn't read any of the O'Brian books. I've started but got side-tracked.)
34PaulCranswick
Our business empire is sprouting wings Suz! A Public House as well as the bookshop to end all bookshops! Well if I can continue to pick up jobs like last year who knows and you can get a decent royalty cheque or two.
I was going to say that we would of course name the place "The Debauched Sloth" in honour of RD but his activity on the threads is anything but slothful at present.
I was going to say that we would of course name the place "The Debauched Sloth" in honour of RD but his activity on the threads is anything but slothful at present.
35alcottacre
Checking in on your zoo, Suz. My animal was stolen (that would be the owl, BTW), but since there are many varieties of owl, I will post another, lol. This is the bobook owl. Kind of appropriate for LT.
36Chatterbox
There's room for more than one owl here, Stasia!! Especially when this one is so cute and so appropriate...
I tell you what, Paul -- you put the money down, I'll open the places and run 'em while writing a series of mystery novels based in Fowey. (This is something I have already been pondering...) Sound like a plan??
I tell you what, Paul -- you put the money down, I'll open the places and run 'em while writing a series of mystery novels based in Fowey. (This is something I have already been pondering...) Sound like a plan??
37OMBWarrior47
Lol cute
38OMBWarrior47
Wow 425 books? Slightly jealous of your large numbers, I feel out ranked. I'll keep an eye on your list ;)
39brenzi
Hi Suzanne, looking forward to all your insightful reviews in 2013 and your recommendations. The animals are an added attraction;-) Happy New Year!
40alcottacre
#36: I am glad you approve of my addition to the zoo ;)
41lkernagh
Marmota vancouverensis, otherwise known as the The Vancouver Island marmot, checking in and starring your thread Suzanne!
I am looking forward to another great year of following your reading!
I am looking forward to another great year of following your reading!
42mjs1228
425? That's frighteningly impressive.
Compared to that if I'm going to pick an animal to represent myself here it would be a sloth of some sort.
Maryann
Compared to that if I'm going to pick an animal to represent myself here it would be a sloth of some sort.
Maryann
43Chatterbox
Maryann, a sloth would be an EXCELLENT choice -- then you would get to come to Cornwall, and reside in a delightful seaside cottage in a town with a fabulous bookstore and the pub that Paul C. and I will open, to be dubbed "The Debauched Sloth". Not that I'm casting aspersions or anything of that ilk, of course! (If you see above, it's a reference to a phrase in a novel that caused many guffaws and a fit of the hiccups a month or so ago...
45LizzieD
I wish you the best year yet, Suzanne - and that includes a lot of reading! (I am a Libra native, and therefore, totally unable to settle on one animal debauched or otherwise.)
46PaulCranswick
Suz - it does indeed sound like a plan! You start fleshing out the thrillers; I'll start saving up the dosh!
Happy New Year my prolific and gifted friend.
Happy New Year my prolific and gifted friend.
47Chatterbox
Happy New Year to you all -- it's now official in my corner of the world. Kinda wish I was in Times Square -- but it's cold and CROWDED and very rowdy.
I hereby declare this thread officially open for business...
I hereby declare this thread officially open for business...
48cammykitty
I love your rating system & your opening poem is fantastic. I'll be looking forward to hanging out here with you and all the animals.
50paulstalder
(my last feed, now I am asleep - so, don't disturb my beauty sleep)
Happy new year
52PersephonesLibrary
Happy New Year, Suzanne! People seem to let out their wild, animalistic side in your thread...Why, I don't want to step out of line... 
53calm
Happy New Year Suz. Looking forward to following you for another year of books and life:)
Took me some time but found something to add to the menagerie:)
Took me some time but found something to add to the menagerie:)
54Carmenere
Wow, this place is a virtual zoo! Because of my horribly slow reading ability I think this little guy is appropriate 
Best wishes for a wonderful and productive new year, Suzanne!
Best wishes for a wonderful and productive new year, Suzanne!
55ChelleBearss
Happy New Year Suzanne!
Adding to your Brooklyn Zoo too :)
I'm a big frog lover and I think this fella is just lovely
Adding to your Brooklyn Zoo too :)
I'm a big frog lover and I think this fella is just lovely
56drachenbraut23
Hello Suzanne,
just stopping by to wish you a wonderful New Year! I will be lurking on your thread again :)
just stopping by to wish you a wonderful New Year! I will be lurking on your thread again :)
57tangledthread
Happy New Year, Suzanne...
Just checking by to star the thread and begin as a lurker.
Looking forward to checking in on what you've read.
Just checking by to star the thread and begin as a lurker.
Looking forward to checking in on what you've read.
58rosalita
This will be my first year following your reading adventures, Suzanne. Here's my inquisitive contribution to your growing menagerie:
60Chatterbox
The menagerie is really expanding here!! I may have to sell some books to make room for them all and to buy the various exotic foodstuffs... Loved the hedgehog, Paul -- reminds me (of course) of Mrs Tiggy Winkle!! And I would really love to know what happened to the photographer about 3 seconds after he/she snapped the photo of that charging tiger...
Very quiet day today; feeling very lethargic. Got up only because I have some work to do. Listened to some of the most recent Aubrey/Maturin novel by Patrick O'Brian via audiobook (Patrick Tull, the narrator, may have single handedly converted me to the genre; when I was in Strand bookstore Thursday evening, I spotted several books in the series available for far less than the audiobook costs me, and I confess I turned up my nose at them...
Off to make some grilled cheese sandwiches with bacon, and do a bit of work. Must write a column; must edit some bumph for a website. Must start thinking of new content for YCharts.
Very quiet day today; feeling very lethargic. Got up only because I have some work to do. Listened to some of the most recent Aubrey/Maturin novel by Patrick O'Brian via audiobook (Patrick Tull, the narrator, may have single handedly converted me to the genre; when I was in Strand bookstore Thursday evening, I spotted several books in the series available for far less than the audiobook costs me, and I confess I turned up my nose at them...
Off to make some grilled cheese sandwiches with bacon, and do a bit of work. Must write a column; must edit some bumph for a website. Must start thinking of new content for YCharts.
61dk_phoenix
Stumbling through, squeeing over the animal photos as I drop off a star! If that's not enough cuteness for everyone, here's what's been occupying faaaar too much of my time these days: http://www.sandiegozoo.org/pandacam/
62Chatterbox
...I think the pandas are asleep... ! :-)
64Chatterbox
The menagerie to date:
A wombat (Robert started the ball rolling)
An okapi (Richard, who gave it a big kick)
A tawny owl
A gazelle
A giraffe
A Shetland pony
A turtle
A slow loris
A bobook owl
A Vancouver Island marmot
A kiwi (the bird, not the fruit...)
A hedgehog
A cartoon something or other??? (amiable dinosaur??)
A tiger (Siberian tiger)
A fluorescent blue frog
A baby pig (which I fear will grow into a mammoth sow in my backyard
A caterpillar
Wow -- eclectic!
I'm working on my "best of 2012" list. And trying to do some work...
A wombat (Robert started the ball rolling)
An okapi (Richard, who gave it a big kick)
A tawny owl
A gazelle
A giraffe
A Shetland pony
A turtle
A slow loris
A bobook owl
A Vancouver Island marmot
A kiwi (the bird, not the fruit...)
A hedgehog
A cartoon something or other??? (amiable dinosaur??)
A tiger (Siberian tiger)
A fluorescent blue frog
A baby pig (which I fear will grow into a mammoth sow in my backyard
A caterpillar
Wow -- eclectic!
I'm working on my "best of 2012" list. And trying to do some work...
66ronincats
Shucks, I was going to grab a shot of our baby panda, but Faith got to him first! I'll default to the feline family, then.
67richardderus
That's a snake, not an amiable dinosaur! I can't remember which Disney snake it is. I think it's Naga, from The Jungle Book, but those memories are old enough to have grandkids so I don't entirely trust them.
68Chatterbox
Well, it looked a bit like a diplodocus to me -- you know, the critter with the long long neck and tiny head. But I spent no time with Disney movies at all as a child, I'm afraid. Unless "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" was a Disney movie? I suppose I saw "Snow White", but I certainly don't remember it.
69PawsforThought
That snake is Kaa from The Jungle Book. Kaa is an Asiatic reticulated python.
70elkiedee
I think Bedknobs and Broomsticks was Disney, based on two children's novels by Mary Norton.
71rosalita
Let's pretend that baby pig I dropped off in your backyard is a miniature variety, eh? They're really only cute when they're little. Full-grown pigs, in addition to being massive, can be quite ornery as well.
72PawsforThought
71. And excrutiatingly loud. Take it from someone with pigfarmers in the family - pigs can make your ears bleed within seconds.
73Donna828
Suzanne, I'm loving the turn your thread has taken. I didn't realize you were such an animal lover! Here's a another one for your menagerie...
74gennyt
All this activity so early in the New Year is pretty exhausting. I'm going to take a leaf out of Ty's book (my sleepy hound):
75Chatterbox
Rosalita, phew. That's a relief. I was becoming a bit worried. Messy, and ornery, and loud. Really, really bad combination!
Donna, thanks for the literary-minded bear!
Sigh, who knew I'd start 2013 with a menagerie??
Back later with a book update. Because this is all about books, right?? :-)
Donna, thanks for the literary-minded bear!
Sigh, who knew I'd start 2013 with a menagerie??
Back later with a book update. Because this is all about books, right?? :-)
76mjs1228
I'm not sure I qualify as "debauched" quite yet, but it is something I would certainly like to aspire to. Let's just reserve the name "Vaguely Disreputable Sloth" for the time being. ;-)
77mjs1228
It turns out my sloth name is "Slack The Swinging Straggler" so you're spoiled for choice when it comes to naming that pub.
If anyone else is in need of a sloth name, and who isn't, check out this site.
If anyone else is in need of a sloth name, and who isn't, check out this site.
78Chatterbox
Book #1 of the year!
1. The Ionian Mission by Patrick O'Brian is the latest in this series (I think #8) featuring Stephen Maturin, spy, natural scientist and naval surgeon, and his best buddy, Jack Aubrey, British navy captain, as they seek to defeat Napoleon in their various ways. I'm listening to these on audio, as the narrator is fabulous and creates a great sense of personality for the two main characters (simply a shift in tone of voice is enough to tell me who is speaking!) and it's my "bedtime listening" these days. My faves in the series have been those books that combine the seagoing stuff with shenanigans on land, especially the two most recent, and this one was a bit underwhelming -- Jack sails here or there, gets into some confusing political negotiations with Turkish beys that flummoxed me even though I do know a bit about the Ottoman empire of the era -- so note my fave. I'll give it 3.8 stars. I have already started listening to the next in the series, Treason's Harbor, which kicks off with the daring duo in Malta, and the HMS Surprise in dry dock. There are spies stalking them, so this may be more to my taste than the episodes dealing only with naval battles... This is for my 2013 category challenge.
1. The Ionian Mission by Patrick O'Brian is the latest in this series (I think #8) featuring Stephen Maturin, spy, natural scientist and naval surgeon, and his best buddy, Jack Aubrey, British navy captain, as they seek to defeat Napoleon in their various ways. I'm listening to these on audio, as the narrator is fabulous and creates a great sense of personality for the two main characters (simply a shift in tone of voice is enough to tell me who is speaking!) and it's my "bedtime listening" these days. My faves in the series have been those books that combine the seagoing stuff with shenanigans on land, especially the two most recent, and this one was a bit underwhelming -- Jack sails here or there, gets into some confusing political negotiations with Turkish beys that flummoxed me even though I do know a bit about the Ottoman empire of the era -- so note my fave. I'll give it 3.8 stars. I have already started listening to the next in the series, Treason's Harbor, which kicks off with the daring duo in Malta, and the HMS Surprise in dry dock. There are spies stalking them, so this may be more to my taste than the episodes dealing only with naval battles... This is for my 2013 category challenge.
79Chatterbox
Oh, my! My sloth name is: Slowpoke The Chillin' Dummy. Love it....
80rosalita
Oh my goodness! That sloth!
I need to try the O'Brian series again. I started listening to the first book on audio but it didn't capture me. I'd like to try again in print.
I need to try the O'Brian series again. I started listening to the first book on audio but it didn't capture me. I'd like to try again in print.
81lunacat
Apparently I'm......
Mossy The Unresponsive Slouch
Sums me up pretty well I reckon!
I will join you, having been visited by Father Christmas. Yes, that is me posing with him and his silly hat.
Mossy The Unresponsive Slouch
Sums me up pretty well I reckon!
I will join you, having been visited by Father Christmas. Yes, that is me posing with him and his silly hat.
82richardderus
My sloth name is Terry The Three-Toed Folivore, which is a bit ho-hum.
I want a barstool at The Debauched Sloth...go look in my thread, I posted book porn of a Breton bookstore-cafe that looks like a perfect model!
I want a barstool at The Debauched Sloth...go look in my thread, I posted book porn of a Breton bookstore-cafe that looks like a perfect model!
83mjs1228
#81,
One would think that "unresponsive" is pretty much a given for sloths. I guess you are the very essence of sloth.
I love that in your picture it really looks like the baby elephant is telling Father Christmas what's on his/her list.
One would think that "unresponsive" is pretty much a given for sloths. I guess you are the very essence of sloth.
I love that in your picture it really looks like the baby elephant is telling Father Christmas what's on his/her list.
84ffortsa
I can't decide on a sloth name - it depends on what format of my name I type in. For instance, I could be
Drowsey The Cross-Eyed Goliath
but I'm hardly a Goliath! Or I could be
Tiny The F**king Unau. Oo - maybe a bit too graphic, although closer in size. Or how about
Sid The Flea-Ridden Slouch. ick. Or maybe
Terry The Camoflauged Monkey.
Hm. What's an Unau? I'm off to look it up.
Drowsey The Cross-Eyed Goliath
but I'm hardly a Goliath! Or I could be
Tiny The F**king Unau. Oo - maybe a bit too graphic, although closer in size. Or how about
Sid The Flea-Ridden Slouch. ick. Or maybe
Terry The Camoflauged Monkey.
Hm. What's an Unau? I'm off to look it up.
85Chatterbox
On a slightly more serious note:
Some of you will remember that last summer I spent a bit of time with a close friend from my high school days in Belgium. He is Dutch, but with his English wife and his three kids, now lives in the greater Toronto area. Diagnosed in his 30s with the congenital heart problems that killed his father when Rienk was only a small boy, his heart has been failing steadily for several years. Finally, a few years ago, it became clear that the only hope was a transplant. Just before Christmas, after 21 months on the transplant list, Rienk finally received his new heart, and so far, so good...
I chivvied you all into signing organ donor cards back then, and would just urge anyone who hasn't done so to act. It's because of someone who did that Rienk now stands a far better chance of living to see his children grow up, and perhaps even meeting his grandchildren.
OK, the public service announcement is over....
Some of you will remember that last summer I spent a bit of time with a close friend from my high school days in Belgium. He is Dutch, but with his English wife and his three kids, now lives in the greater Toronto area. Diagnosed in his 30s with the congenital heart problems that killed his father when Rienk was only a small boy, his heart has been failing steadily for several years. Finally, a few years ago, it became clear that the only hope was a transplant. Just before Christmas, after 21 months on the transplant list, Rienk finally received his new heart, and so far, so good...
I chivvied you all into signing organ donor cards back then, and would just urge anyone who hasn't done so to act. It's because of someone who did that Rienk now stands a far better chance of living to see his children grow up, and perhaps even meeting his grandchildren.
OK, the public service announcement is over....
86paulstalder
another sloth: a two-finger-sloth
and a large butterfly
and a large butterfly
87katiekrug
Good to hear the news about your friend, Suz.
(Sorry, I don't have a fun animal picture to add...)
(Sorry, I don't have a fun animal picture to add...)
88lunacat
I have been on the donor list since I was old enough to make the decision, and always made it clear to my mum that it was what I wanted. One of the options being bandied about for my dad was a transplant but at the time it was mentioned he wasn't ill enough to be on the list. And then he passed away. Somewhat ironic, but there you go.
A young lad I trained with was killed in a car crash when he was twenty. The sad thing about it (other than the obvious) was that we always predicted that was how he would go, and he just laughed. But at least he was a donor, and able to save others lives.
I hope your friend continues to progress and recover well, and that he has many more years to enjoy.
A young lad I trained with was killed in a car crash when he was twenty. The sad thing about it (other than the obvious) was that we always predicted that was how he would go, and he just laughed. But at least he was a donor, and able to save others lives.
I hope your friend continues to progress and recover well, and that he has many more years to enjoy.
89Chatterbox
It is Rienk's 54th birthday today; hence the decision to post...
It is a tragedy when anyone loses their life, and it's sad to know that someone did die to help give him this next chance. I'm so grateful, as are all of his other friends. It's such a generous decision by any individual and by their families.
It is a tragedy when anyone loses their life, and it's sad to know that someone did die to help give him this next chance. I'm so grateful, as are all of his other friends. It's such a generous decision by any individual and by their families.
90avatiakh
I go with the idea of being at the top of the food chain.
I'm going to be having a week in Paris in February and have already printed out all your suggestions to Darryl from his old threads. Will be there with my son who is a history buff. Very excited as the last few times in Paris I've had younger children with me.
92richardderus
I couldn't be happier that Rienk has his opportunity to live, and while someone lost their own life to make it possible, they chose to create hope from loss. That is the most honorable thing I can think of to do.
93Chatterbox
Incidentally, y'all will be delighted to learn of the forthcoming publication of "A Little Book of Sloth", due out in March. The description says "Hang around just like a sloth and get to know the delightful residents of the Avarios Sloth Sanctuary in Costa Rica, the world’s largest sloth orphanage." I gather it's primarily a picture book. Needless to say, I have pre-ordered...
94richardderus
I sense a mascot back-story in the making.
95maggie1944
A sloth orphanage! That is a scene for the imagination.
Congrats on an excellent new thread, filled with lovely pictures.
Congrats on an excellent new thread, filled with lovely pictures.
96lunacat
I would like to set up a sloth orphanage in my house. I wonder how one goes about these things. Perhaps I could train the cats to bring home lost sloths instead of live ducklings from the pond? We're running out of room for ducks!
97Tanglewood
>78 Chatterbox: I've read the first 3 or 4 in that series. I'm hoping to finish it up this year.
And my sloth name is Sluggo The Passive-Aggresive Tree-Dweller :)
And my sloth name is Sluggo The Passive-Aggresive Tree-Dweller :)
98Tanglewood
Glad to hear your friend is doing better. Last year one of college friends' husband needed a transplant to save his life. It was very shocking since was only in his early thirties.
99PersephonesLibrary
#67-68: Thanks for the clarification: Yes, it's the snake Kaa from "The Jungle Book".
#85: That's a really touching story about your friend and I'm glad to hear about the happy ending. I can't imagine how these 21 months must have been for the family. It's like a death sentence and you're waiting for the moment you're pardoned.
#93: Is there anyone who doesn`t like sloths? :) "An orphanage for sloths" - wouldn't that make a great title for an animated children's series?
#85: That's a really touching story about your friend and I'm glad to hear about the happy ending. I can't imagine how these 21 months must have been for the family. It's like a death sentence and you're waiting for the moment you're pardoned.
#93: Is there anyone who doesn`t like sloths? :) "An orphanage for sloths" - wouldn't that make a great title for an animated children's series?
100LizzieD
I didn't like my first sloth name (Terry the Swimming Turtle - what??), so I went to another site and found Slowpoke the Cuddly Algae-Covered Shoot-Eater: much better.
101ffortsa
Suz, I'm so glad your friend got the transplant. It's quite amazing what can be done, especially if people are generous. My whole family has always felt that whatever parts we have that can be useful should be used.
102Chatterbox
Who knew that there were so many ways to channel one's inner sloth?!?
Jenny, given the size of those sloths, you may need to acquire a Maine Coon cat to do the dragging home part. Or else the sloths will come home dragging the cats! The good news? Most of 'em seem to be vegetarian...
Trying not to be slothlike, I finished a second book today.
2. The Futures by Emily Lambert is a book that I've had on my Kindle for a while but only just got around to reading now, as I'm in the final stages of researching a magazine feature on the Chicago markets, and specifically the Chicago Merc. It was very useful for that, and certainly is an accessible history of the evolution and transformation of the world of futures trading, from grain to pollution emissions. It would be a great book for precisely the reason I read it, but it's an oddly pedestrian account, a monochromatic picture of what is, in reality, a very colorful world. 3.3 stars. Recommended only if you're curious and want to understand this world, or as a gift to a college kid pondering a career in finance.
Jenny, given the size of those sloths, you may need to acquire a Maine Coon cat to do the dragging home part. Or else the sloths will come home dragging the cats! The good news? Most of 'em seem to be vegetarian...
Trying not to be slothlike, I finished a second book today.
2. The Futures by Emily Lambert is a book that I've had on my Kindle for a while but only just got around to reading now, as I'm in the final stages of researching a magazine feature on the Chicago markets, and specifically the Chicago Merc. It was very useful for that, and certainly is an accessible history of the evolution and transformation of the world of futures trading, from grain to pollution emissions. It would be a great book for precisely the reason I read it, but it's an oddly pedestrian account, a monochromatic picture of what is, in reality, a very colorful world. 3.3 stars. Recommended only if you're curious and want to understand this world, or as a gift to a college kid pondering a career in finance.
103richardderus
I understand one thing about futures: It's gambling.
xo
xo
104lunacat
If the sloths would bring me home Maine Coon cats, that would be bliss. I love big cats. Or small cats. Or any cats.
I also want a giant house bunny and a Newfoundland dog but have been told no on both :(
However, I am allowed an axolotl when we can work out where to put a tank for one. How can you resist a creature that smiles ALL the time?!
I also want a giant house bunny and a Newfoundland dog but have been told no on both :(
However, I am allowed an axolotl when we can work out where to put a tank for one. How can you resist a creature that smiles ALL the time?!
106lunacat
#105
So cute, and incredibly awesome. Sadly we've got five cats so my chances of another one are close to nil, but I can always dream, right?
So cute, and incredibly awesome. Sadly we've got five cats so my chances of another one are close to nil, but I can always dream, right?
107PawsforThought
194. My cat is big but not because he's a Maine Coon (he's just an ordinary housecat - or "European Shorthair" as the official name is), he's just fat. On a diet, in fact as we're worrying about him possibly getting diabetes. Very cuddly tummy, though.
109mjs1228
Archie, my cat, was probably the runt of his litter. He is a total snuggle bunny.
#107, a cuddly tummy is the sign of a perfect cat. I adopted Archie from a shelter and they had named him "Tum Tum" because he would show anyone his belly. He still does.
#107, a cuddly tummy is the sign of a perfect cat. I adopted Archie from a shelter and they had named him "Tum Tum" because he would show anyone his belly. He still does.
111PawsforThought
I'm not as big a fan of sloths as everyone else here seems to be. If I had to pick a lazy, tree living furball there is only one for me:
And they have the best breath in the entire animal kingdom.
And they have the best breath in the entire animal kingdom.
112Chatterbox
Welcome to the bears! You can join the grizzly, the baby panda and the literate polar bear up top...
And yes, that is a very sweet Koala face.
And yes, that is a very sweet Koala face.
113PawsforThought
112. Well, I've already picked the tawny owl as my animal, but maybe I can alternate...
Koalas are the best. I have rarely cried so much in my life as I did watching a koala documentary with my mum ages and ages ago. There were forest fires and beside the many koalas that died there were lots of orphaned baby koalas that needed care and injured ones that needed help and nursing. One poor thing had the balls of her feet burned and had have them rubbed with ointment every couple of hours. Poor sweet thing.
Koalas are the best. I have rarely cried so much in my life as I did watching a koala documentary with my mum ages and ages ago. There were forest fires and beside the many koalas that died there were lots of orphaned baby koalas that needed care and injured ones that needed help and nursing. One poor thing had the balls of her feet burned and had have them rubbed with ointment every couple of hours. Poor sweet thing.
114Tanglewood
>113 PawsforThought: National Geographic had a heartbreaking article about the number of Koalas killed by cars and dogs. One of the pictures showed koalas that were recently taken into a rehabilitation center but didn't make it. A lot of them were babies.
115PawsforThought
114. :,(
116Chatterbox
Well, so far I have read two books -- and acquired 13 -- in 2013. The good news is that the only books acquired ytd that I had to pay for were two Kindle sale books and two other Kindle books. The others are all galleys (Amazon Vine or NetGalley; 2 of the former, four of the latter) or from the library. So it could be worse.
Indeed it was worse. From my book acquisitions last year (not counting library books, but including galleys from publishers, directly or via GR, LTER, Vine, or NetGalley), I still have 374 unread. I'm going to try and read half of those this year -- not just 187 books, but 187 from that specific list. Since I didn't include audiobooks, neither of my first two reads was on it. Oh, dear.
Keeping tabs on my year-to-date acquisitions for 2013...
... and trying to keep up with reading them! Here's the number of those acquired in 2013 that I have read so far this year:
Indeed it was worse. From my book acquisitions last year (not counting library books, but including galleys from publishers, directly or via GR, LTER, Vine, or NetGalley), I still have 374 unread. I'm going to try and read half of those this year -- not just 187 books, but 187 from that specific list. Since I didn't include audiobooks, neither of my first two reads was on it. Oh, dear.
Keeping tabs on my year-to-date acquisitions for 2013...
... and trying to keep up with reading them! Here's the number of those acquired in 2013 that I have read so far this year:
119Chatterbox
Thanks, all...
One more book finished, read to avoid buckling down to some rather tedious work.
3. The Boyfriend by Thomas Perry was fairly predictable but quite entertaining fare, at least for me. Perry's books tend to fall into two categories: either the good guys are being stalked by and eluding bad guys (his excellent Jane Whitefield series of mysteries -- see Vanishing Act -- which first attracted me to the author's work), or the good buys are stalking the bad guys to stop 'em from wreaking more havoc on the world. The latter books tend to be less successful, although there are still some standout thrillers in this group, too, like Death Benefits. This latest one (I got an ARC from NetGalley; the book will be out in March) falls in the middle on the latter camp -- it's intermittently suspenseful, but the puzzle at the heart of it just never reaches the level of being a really intriguing one. Oh, the plot revolves around investigator and former homicide detective Jack Till taking the case of a murdered up-market escort -- and discovering that behind her death lies something still uglier and further reaching. 3.4 stars, for the author's fans only. If you're curious, read the Jane Whitefield series, which are still amongst my favorite mystery/suspense books.
One more book finished, read to avoid buckling down to some rather tedious work.
3. The Boyfriend by Thomas Perry was fairly predictable but quite entertaining fare, at least for me. Perry's books tend to fall into two categories: either the good guys are being stalked by and eluding bad guys (his excellent Jane Whitefield series of mysteries -- see Vanishing Act -- which first attracted me to the author's work), or the good buys are stalking the bad guys to stop 'em from wreaking more havoc on the world. The latter books tend to be less successful, although there are still some standout thrillers in this group, too, like Death Benefits. This latest one (I got an ARC from NetGalley; the book will be out in March) falls in the middle on the latter camp -- it's intermittently suspenseful, but the puzzle at the heart of it just never reaches the level of being a really intriguing one. Oh, the plot revolves around investigator and former homicide detective Jack Till taking the case of a murdered up-market escort -- and discovering that behind her death lies something still uglier and further reaching. 3.4 stars, for the author's fans only. If you're curious, read the Jane Whitefield series, which are still amongst my favorite mystery/suspense books.
120richardderus
My latest review was a ~meh~ one, too. Since it started out to be a nastygram, I think that's a good thing.
121Chatterbox
OK, drum roll please...
It's now time to unveil my favorite books of 2012. I've tried to group those I loved most toward the top of these lists, but really, they are all there because I loved them. As always, don't interpret this list as some kind of Chatterbox Literary Merit award; they include thumping good reads (TGR, for short!) as well as books I think are simply excellent on all fronts. I've broken them into three categories again -- general fiction, mysteries (since I read so many of 'em) and non-fiction)
FICTION'S TOP TEN OF 2012:
Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel
I mean, really, how could it not be? Mantel could have rested on her laurels, but by tweaking her style and focusing on a more compressed time frame, delivered just as powerful a novel as Wolf Hall.
The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng
Well, I loved the Cameron Highlands when I visited them eons ago, but even without them, this Malaysian tale would have captured my attention. So Mantel won the Booker; this could have been a tie, IMO.
Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh
I finally got around to starting this proposed trilogy of books in 2012, and what a great narrative to start with. Ghosh gives distinctive voices to each of his very different characters.
Doc by Mary Doria Russell
OK, I still loathe the idea of Westerns, but this novel is one I couldn't put down. Russell may have a softer spot for Doc Holliday than the historical record my indicate, but her take on life in a Western frontier town was fab.
The Line by Olga Grushin
This falls into the category of "delightful surprise". It's ostensibly the story of a line in Soviet Russia that exists for more than a year, as its occupants wait for the right to tickets to a concert. But there's a lot more to it than that. Elegant, lovely writing.
Gillespie and I by Jane Harris
What a fabulous yarn; Harris grabbed me by the throat and didn't let go. By the end of her unreliable narrator's tale, I had trouble discerning which way was up!
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern is the kind of book that normally leaves me underwhelmed -- fantastical, romantic, relying on style rather than substance to carry it forward. But this time it worked. *shrug* Who knew?
Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller was a book that I think I loved more when I read it than I do looking back on it (not the pattern among these books.) Still, she was able to breathe life into Homer's characters.
Above All Things by Tanis Rideout is out in Canada, and will be released in the U.S. this spring. It's a look at George Mallory's doomed Everest exploration, told elegantly and crisply through the eyes of his wife, Ruth, and Sandy Irvine, his climbing partner.
In the Shadow of the Banyan by Vaddey Ratner was sad but beautiful, a buzzed-about book based on the author's real experiences under the Khmer Rouge that transcended the trite genre of memoirs/ memoir-based fiction.
Honorable mention to The Headmaster's Wager by Vincent Lam, The Watch by Joydeep Roy-Bhattacharya (which I greatly preferred to The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers) and yes, the controversial The Forgotten Waltz by Anne Enright.
NON-FICTION TOP TEN OF 2012:
Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo
I was skeptical, having read a lot about the ugly underside of modern, high-growth India by Indian-born authors, but Boo's ability to tell powerful stories of her Mumbai subjects really made me see them vividly.
Winter King by Thomas Penn
Henry VII gets short shrift from the public; either he's the nasty interloper who slew that nice Richard III, or just Henry VIII's father. Penn brings him to life.
Catherine the Great by Robert Massie
An immensely readable bio of a fascinating woman that played to my interest in the Enlightenment era.
The Graves Are Walking by John Kelly
Kelly deftly avoids getting into the whole issue of whether the Irish famine was a genocide and instead spends his time chronicling and analyzing what actually happened. It's chilling and compulsively readable. If you want to understand Ireland, read it.
The Man Without a Face by Masha Geesen
The author doesn't like Vladimir Putin -- not one little bit. But while that POV is very evident, and affects her conclusions, the research is thorough and the book is not only tremendously readable but very informative.
Plutocrats by Chrystia Freeland
One of my final books of the year was also one of the best, as Freeland does an excellent job of delving into what I think is one of our most serious problems: the massive and worsening wealth gap. Yes, a wealth gap will always exist, but read this and you'll understand -- from the POV of someone who is a business journalist and believes in free markets -- why the trend is risky.
Ayn Rand Nation by Gary Weiss is a good companion piece to the above. I had always wondered what it was about Rand, as I found her novels literally unreadable and her philosophy -- a tenet of which is that philanthropy is immoral -- distasteful. At least I understand a bit more of the hubbub, and Weiss does a good job of being dispassionate while making his own perspective clear.
Stories About Storytellers by Douglas Gibson was a great look at the world of Canadian literature and authors, from someone who has published many of the greats. From Stephen Leacock right up to Hugh MacLennan to Alice Munro, and if you don't know who the first two are, well, you could read this book.
White Gold by Giles Milton is the story of the Barbary slave trade and the English, French, Spaniards and Americans who toiled to build the walls of some great Moroccan cities, like Meknes. Compulsively readable.
People Who Eat Darkness by Richard Lloyd Perry is the kind of true crime story that rises above the genre and takes a look at the ugly underside of Japan's glossy exterior. It was a finalist for the Orwell Prize.
Honorable mention to: Two other Orwell Prize finalists, Hood Rat by Gavin Wright (must reading for anyone who thinks England is still the land of civility, harmony and great writing), and Darkmarket by Misha Glenny, which made me utterly paranoid about cyber-security. Also Maphead by Ken Jennings, a much more lively and engaging look at the world of geography nerds than I could ever have imagined.
MYSTERY/THRILLER/SUSPENSE TOP FIVE OF 2012:
Trapeze by Simon Mawer belongs in this category, IMO, because the heart of this novel is really the psychology of suspense that flows from the story of a woman agent in Nazi-occupied Europe. One of the best and most suspenseful chase scenes EVER.
1222 by Anne Holt won me over in spite of the fact that 'locked room' mysteries tend to frustrate me and I'm becoming wary of Scandicrime authors. A chilling tale, this one turned out to be.
Before the Poison by Peter Robinson is a great standalone book that is based as much on well-written characters as anything else -- it's split between past and present as a contemporary character investigates what may have been a miscarriage of justice.
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn is one of those books everyone seemed to be reading suddenly. Personally, I loved the "he said, she said" element to this -- a reminder that each of us has their own view of the world. And the shift midway through was a real shocker. Pity the other book of hers I read didn't come close to living up to this.
An Agent of Deceit by Chris Morgan Jones, published under another title in the US. It's a story about an oligarch's front man who runs into trouble, and I found it fascinating and compulsive reading.
Honorable mention to: Defending Jacob by William Landay and Slash and Burn by Colin Cotterill, the latest Dr. Siri mystery.
It's now time to unveil my favorite books of 2012. I've tried to group those I loved most toward the top of these lists, but really, they are all there because I loved them. As always, don't interpret this list as some kind of Chatterbox Literary Merit award; they include thumping good reads (TGR, for short!) as well as books I think are simply excellent on all fronts. I've broken them into three categories again -- general fiction, mysteries (since I read so many of 'em) and non-fiction)
FICTION'S TOP TEN OF 2012:
Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel
I mean, really, how could it not be? Mantel could have rested on her laurels, but by tweaking her style and focusing on a more compressed time frame, delivered just as powerful a novel as Wolf Hall.
The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng
Well, I loved the Cameron Highlands when I visited them eons ago, but even without them, this Malaysian tale would have captured my attention. So Mantel won the Booker; this could have been a tie, IMO.
Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh
I finally got around to starting this proposed trilogy of books in 2012, and what a great narrative to start with. Ghosh gives distinctive voices to each of his very different characters.
Doc by Mary Doria Russell
OK, I still loathe the idea of Westerns, but this novel is one I couldn't put down. Russell may have a softer spot for Doc Holliday than the historical record my indicate, but her take on life in a Western frontier town was fab.
The Line by Olga Grushin
This falls into the category of "delightful surprise". It's ostensibly the story of a line in Soviet Russia that exists for more than a year, as its occupants wait for the right to tickets to a concert. But there's a lot more to it than that. Elegant, lovely writing.
Gillespie and I by Jane Harris
What a fabulous yarn; Harris grabbed me by the throat and didn't let go. By the end of her unreliable narrator's tale, I had trouble discerning which way was up!
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern is the kind of book that normally leaves me underwhelmed -- fantastical, romantic, relying on style rather than substance to carry it forward. But this time it worked. *shrug* Who knew?
Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller was a book that I think I loved more when I read it than I do looking back on it (not the pattern among these books.) Still, she was able to breathe life into Homer's characters.
Above All Things by Tanis Rideout is out in Canada, and will be released in the U.S. this spring. It's a look at George Mallory's doomed Everest exploration, told elegantly and crisply through the eyes of his wife, Ruth, and Sandy Irvine, his climbing partner.
In the Shadow of the Banyan by Vaddey Ratner was sad but beautiful, a buzzed-about book based on the author's real experiences under the Khmer Rouge that transcended the trite genre of memoirs/ memoir-based fiction.
Honorable mention to The Headmaster's Wager by Vincent Lam, The Watch by Joydeep Roy-Bhattacharya (which I greatly preferred to The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers) and yes, the controversial The Forgotten Waltz by Anne Enright.
NON-FICTION TOP TEN OF 2012:
Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo
I was skeptical, having read a lot about the ugly underside of modern, high-growth India by Indian-born authors, but Boo's ability to tell powerful stories of her Mumbai subjects really made me see them vividly.
Winter King by Thomas Penn
Henry VII gets short shrift from the public; either he's the nasty interloper who slew that nice Richard III, or just Henry VIII's father. Penn brings him to life.
Catherine the Great by Robert Massie
An immensely readable bio of a fascinating woman that played to my interest in the Enlightenment era.
The Graves Are Walking by John Kelly
Kelly deftly avoids getting into the whole issue of whether the Irish famine was a genocide and instead spends his time chronicling and analyzing what actually happened. It's chilling and compulsively readable. If you want to understand Ireland, read it.
The Man Without a Face by Masha Geesen
The author doesn't like Vladimir Putin -- not one little bit. But while that POV is very evident, and affects her conclusions, the research is thorough and the book is not only tremendously readable but very informative.
Plutocrats by Chrystia Freeland
One of my final books of the year was also one of the best, as Freeland does an excellent job of delving into what I think is one of our most serious problems: the massive and worsening wealth gap. Yes, a wealth gap will always exist, but read this and you'll understand -- from the POV of someone who is a business journalist and believes in free markets -- why the trend is risky.
Ayn Rand Nation by Gary Weiss is a good companion piece to the above. I had always wondered what it was about Rand, as I found her novels literally unreadable and her philosophy -- a tenet of which is that philanthropy is immoral -- distasteful. At least I understand a bit more of the hubbub, and Weiss does a good job of being dispassionate while making his own perspective clear.
Stories About Storytellers by Douglas Gibson was a great look at the world of Canadian literature and authors, from someone who has published many of the greats. From Stephen Leacock right up to Hugh MacLennan to Alice Munro, and if you don't know who the first two are, well, you could read this book.
White Gold by Giles Milton is the story of the Barbary slave trade and the English, French, Spaniards and Americans who toiled to build the walls of some great Moroccan cities, like Meknes. Compulsively readable.
People Who Eat Darkness by Richard Lloyd Perry is the kind of true crime story that rises above the genre and takes a look at the ugly underside of Japan's glossy exterior. It was a finalist for the Orwell Prize.
Honorable mention to: Two other Orwell Prize finalists, Hood Rat by Gavin Wright (must reading for anyone who thinks England is still the land of civility, harmony and great writing), and Darkmarket by Misha Glenny, which made me utterly paranoid about cyber-security. Also Maphead by Ken Jennings, a much more lively and engaging look at the world of geography nerds than I could ever have imagined.
MYSTERY/THRILLER/SUSPENSE TOP FIVE OF 2012:
Trapeze by Simon Mawer belongs in this category, IMO, because the heart of this novel is really the psychology of suspense that flows from the story of a woman agent in Nazi-occupied Europe. One of the best and most suspenseful chase scenes EVER.
1222 by Anne Holt won me over in spite of the fact that 'locked room' mysteries tend to frustrate me and I'm becoming wary of Scandicrime authors. A chilling tale, this one turned out to be.
Before the Poison by Peter Robinson is a great standalone book that is based as much on well-written characters as anything else -- it's split between past and present as a contemporary character investigates what may have been a miscarriage of justice.
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn is one of those books everyone seemed to be reading suddenly. Personally, I loved the "he said, she said" element to this -- a reminder that each of us has their own view of the world. And the shift midway through was a real shocker. Pity the other book of hers I read didn't come close to living up to this.
An Agent of Deceit by Chris Morgan Jones, published under another title in the US. It's a story about an oligarch's front man who runs into trouble, and I found it fascinating and compulsive reading.
Honorable mention to: Defending Jacob by William Landay and Slash and Burn by Colin Cotterill, the latest Dr. Siri mystery.
122DeltaQueen50
Happy New Year, Suzanne. Just stopping my to drop my star for this year. I am looking forward to all the great recommendations I always get from your thread.
I crave comfort and warmth at this time of year, so I can't help but identify with this animal:
I crave comfort and warmth at this time of year, so I can't help but identify with this animal:
123phebj
Hi Suzanne. I loved your 2012 list and will be marking it a favorite so I can refer back to it.
124katiekrug
What a great list! And the groaning, over-burdened wish list says "Yeah, thanks a lot. Humph."
125Chatterbox
#122 -- love that entitled feline, Judy!! Mind you, he/she looks extremely comfy, albeit a little smug. Indeed, the life of a pampered house cat really appeals at this time of year, although it would be tough to give up reading...
Tks for the kind comments re the lists. Although, Katie, you are far from guiltless when it comes to book bullets...
Tks for the kind comments re the lists. Although, Katie, you are far from guiltless when it comes to book bullets...
126AnneDC
Belatedly dropping off a star here (and can't contribute an animal as I'm posting from my phone). I'm pleased to see so many favourites in common (but now I'm surveying the ones I have yet to read with rising anxiety). Happy new year!
127Chatterbox
Anne, surely not anxiety -- just anticipation, right?? (And hey, it's not as if you've never been responsible for a book bullet....)
the book du jour:
4. The Sound of Broken Glass by Deborah Crombie may actually be the best book in this long-lived series that I had feared a few books back was losing its "oomph" completely. Then I read No Mark Upon Her, the prior one, and I began to suspect that Crombie either had found a new editor or a new lease of life, and now I'm sure of it. This is a deftly written, nicely plotted mystery that is just intricate enough to have kept me in suspense throughout, with just enough emphasis on the characters but a good balance between the puzzle & the people. When guitar player Andy Monahan gets a gig at a pub in South London, no one can realize that it will revive some old ghosts and lead to at least two murders, at first apparently unconnected until Gemma James and her team figure things out. 4.2 stars, would have been higher had it not ended on a bit of a professional cliffhanger for one of the characters, which is a kind of trick that I loathe... Recommended!!
the book du jour:
4. The Sound of Broken Glass by Deborah Crombie may actually be the best book in this long-lived series that I had feared a few books back was losing its "oomph" completely. Then I read No Mark Upon Her, the prior one, and I began to suspect that Crombie either had found a new editor or a new lease of life, and now I'm sure of it. This is a deftly written, nicely plotted mystery that is just intricate enough to have kept me in suspense throughout, with just enough emphasis on the characters but a good balance between the puzzle & the people. When guitar player Andy Monahan gets a gig at a pub in South London, no one can realize that it will revive some old ghosts and lead to at least two murders, at first apparently unconnected until Gemma James and her team figure things out. 4.2 stars, would have been higher had it not ended on a bit of a professional cliffhanger for one of the characters, which is a kind of trick that I loathe... Recommended!!
128PaulCranswick
Joe has the cafe my dear whilst you seem to have become the Zoo Keeper!
I loved your review of the best of your reading last year - the breadth of which is simply awe-inspiring.
Have a lovely weekend Suz.
btw I will not countenance, nor will the local municipality, all those animals in Fowey!
I loved your review of the best of your reading last year - the breadth of which is simply awe-inspiring.
Have a lovely weekend Suz.
btw I will not countenance, nor will the local municipality, all those animals in Fowey!
129weejane
Just now making way your to your menagerie. . . errr. . .thread. I love all the different animals! Not sure which I would choose. . . .probably an orca.
130brenzi
Boy I really wish you hadn't posted your 2012 Favorites Suzanne because the ones I haven't read (I've read and loved most of your fiction list) I really want to read NOW but especially The Man Without a Face and People Who Eat Darkness. Oh why not admit it...I want to read them all! Gah!
131Donna828
Great list of faves from 2012, Suz. Your first two fiction books were on my list as well. I'm currently reading In the Shadow of the Banyan and I see the appeal after reading only the first few chapters.
132Chatterbox
Bonnie, I'm sure you'll survive, even if your book-buying budget doesn't... *cue evil chortle*
Donna, yes, that was such a difficult book to read and to say I 'enjoyed' it makes me realize that we don't have a word for appreciating things that are still difficult to really 'enjoy'.
#129 -- Not sure where I'd stash an orca in my backyard -- I live in part of a Brooklyn brownstone, so I may have to solicit the help of my neighbors. But then -- whatever you choose! All are welcome...
Paul, I think we could probably strike a deal with the regional council and set up a small zoo somewhere off toward Mevagissey, near the Eden Project. They've gotta see the logic in it... You know, this whole idea is growing on me. *sigh* Too bad I have no capital. I do think a collective of LTers could do a great job managing BookEnds.
For those who don't know what the heck we're talking about, this is the bookshop that Paul and I want to acquire in a leveraged buyout:
http://www.bookendsoffowey.com/
and here are some pics: http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?_adv_prop=image&fr=yfp-t-701&am...
Donna, yes, that was such a difficult book to read and to say I 'enjoyed' it makes me realize that we don't have a word for appreciating things that are still difficult to really 'enjoy'.
#129 -- Not sure where I'd stash an orca in my backyard -- I live in part of a Brooklyn brownstone, so I may have to solicit the help of my neighbors. But then -- whatever you choose! All are welcome...
Paul, I think we could probably strike a deal with the regional council and set up a small zoo somewhere off toward Mevagissey, near the Eden Project. They've gotta see the logic in it... You know, this whole idea is growing on me. *sigh* Too bad I have no capital. I do think a collective of LTers could do a great job managing BookEnds.
For those who don't know what the heck we're talking about, this is the bookshop that Paul and I want to acquire in a leveraged buyout:
http://www.bookendsoffowey.com/
and here are some pics: http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?_adv_prop=image&fr=yfp-t-701&am...
134Chatterbox
Brit, LOL -- if we relocate the menagerie to the Cornish coast, there will be plenty of room for your orca and indeed, an entire pod to keep you company, in the ocean nearby...
5. On Saudi Arabia by Karen Elliott House is a good book to read about the country if you haven't really been following what has happened there over the last five to ten years, as the author does a comprehensive job of discussing the fresh tensions created by the depleting oil fields, Iran's growing regional strength and the uncertainty unleashed by the 'Arab Spring'. There is a tendency to repeat the same factoids, and little here will be novel or surprising if you have kept abreast of what's happening there or in the Middle East in general. It's somewhere between a "here's a behind the scenes look at ordinary life", and a policy summary, but never really clicks as either. By all means, read if you're looking to understand what's afoot there as it's well-informed and analytically solid. Little here really grabbed my attention as new, since I've read about programs like the Saudi efforts to deprogram former Islamist terrorists, the growing inequity, etc. Still, 3.8 stars.
6. I, Jane: In the Court of Henry VIII by Diane Haeger was at times unintentionally funny, when the author forgot she wasn't writing in the 21st century and included phrases such as "I did not know you cared!" (by Thomas Cromwell, to a hanger-on). There are a lot of moments like that, or awkward phrases that really jarred, or spots where she forgets how her characters are addressed (a knight is addressed by "Sir" followed by his first name, not his last name, but Haeger seems to alternate between the two styles at will; meanwhile, the queen is addressed as "your highness", another gaffe.) Jane Seymour is the overlooked queen of the six that Henry VIII had; I read two solid novels featuring her waaay back in the 1970s but since then only two utterly dire books by Carolly Erickson and Laurien Gardner (both of which should be shunned at all costs) so was curious enough to pick this up from the library. There was one interesting element to it that didn't sound anachronistic, and that was Haeger's portrayal of Edward Seymour as a cold, ambitious man who ignores and shuns his sister until the day he realizes she can be useful. That alone gets this to 3 stars. If you're curious about Jane, try Jane Seymour by Frances Clark. Oh well, it was a quick read and my curiosity is now satisfied. Let's just say this is to Bring Up the Bodies what a Harlequin romance might be to Pride and Prejudice.
Not sure what I'll move on to next, but I'm hoping for something good -- my batting average has been lower than I had hoped so far this year!
ETA: My average rating for books read so far this year is only 3.58 stars.
5. On Saudi Arabia by Karen Elliott House is a good book to read about the country if you haven't really been following what has happened there over the last five to ten years, as the author does a comprehensive job of discussing the fresh tensions created by the depleting oil fields, Iran's growing regional strength and the uncertainty unleashed by the 'Arab Spring'. There is a tendency to repeat the same factoids, and little here will be novel or surprising if you have kept abreast of what's happening there or in the Middle East in general. It's somewhere between a "here's a behind the scenes look at ordinary life", and a policy summary, but never really clicks as either. By all means, read if you're looking to understand what's afoot there as it's well-informed and analytically solid. Little here really grabbed my attention as new, since I've read about programs like the Saudi efforts to deprogram former Islamist terrorists, the growing inequity, etc. Still, 3.8 stars.
6. I, Jane: In the Court of Henry VIII by Diane Haeger was at times unintentionally funny, when the author forgot she wasn't writing in the 21st century and included phrases such as "I did not know you cared!" (by Thomas Cromwell, to a hanger-on). There are a lot of moments like that, or awkward phrases that really jarred, or spots where she forgets how her characters are addressed (a knight is addressed by "Sir" followed by his first name, not his last name, but Haeger seems to alternate between the two styles at will; meanwhile, the queen is addressed as "your highness", another gaffe.) Jane Seymour is the overlooked queen of the six that Henry VIII had; I read two solid novels featuring her waaay back in the 1970s but since then only two utterly dire books by Carolly Erickson and Laurien Gardner (both of which should be shunned at all costs) so was curious enough to pick this up from the library. There was one interesting element to it that didn't sound anachronistic, and that was Haeger's portrayal of Edward Seymour as a cold, ambitious man who ignores and shuns his sister until the day he realizes she can be useful. That alone gets this to 3 stars. If you're curious about Jane, try Jane Seymour by Frances Clark. Oh well, it was a quick read and my curiosity is now satisfied. Let's just say this is to Bring Up the Bodies what a Harlequin romance might be to Pride and Prejudice.
Not sure what I'll move on to next, but I'm hoping for something good -- my batting average has been lower than I had hoped so far this year!
ETA: My average rating for books read so far this year is only 3.58 stars.
135tiffin
Tootles The Swinging Straggler dropping by to wish you a very belated but sincere Happy New Year! Love that 2012 list you compiled, which I am going to shamelessly excavate for me own reading pleasure. Agree completely about Bring Up the Bodies. What will she do with the last book, we all wonder? Good health, Suz!
136cammykitty
I looked at your top ten lists and that, ha ha!!! Safe from book bullets because she's already hit me with these before. My wishlist is safe! ... famous last words...
137Chatterbox
Well, Katie, I have a few hundred more opportunities between now and December, don't I?? :-)
*cue evil chortle*
Wowza, Tui/Tootles! I've just been reading about underwater mammals, although more along the lines of whales, in a book that is all about Cold: Adventures in the World's Frozen Places. It's excellent, especially given that it is one of this month's Kindle sale books.
*cue evil chortle*
Wowza, Tui/Tootles! I've just been reading about underwater mammals, although more along the lines of whales, in a book that is all about Cold: Adventures in the World's Frozen Places. It's excellent, especially given that it is one of this month's Kindle sale books.
138alcottacre
#77: I am sitting at my office laughing at my sloth name: Hairy The Flea-Ridden Straggler
Good thing I work alone. . .
Good thing I work alone. . .
141ChelleBearss
Love your favorites lists! Some are already on my wishlist and I've added more now :)
143Chatterbox
The book du jour:
7. Cold: Adventures in the World's Frozen Places by Bill Streever is the first book that I have read so far this year worthy of going on to my tentative "best books of 2013" longlist. Reading it is like sitting and chatting to someone with a wide-ranging curiosity, a tremendous reserve of fabulous stories and immense charm and personality. Streever begins each month/chapter, and each section within it with a date/place/weather check -- i.e. It's the day after Candlemas, or Groundhog Day, and wherever he is, this is how cold (or warm) it is. From that starting point, he's off -- to discuss anything from new textiles aimed at keeping old the cold, to the fate of arctic and antarctic explorers (hypothermia, starvation, frostbite), ice ages and woolly mammoths emerging from the tundra (believe it or not some scientists actually tried to eat the meat from a mammoth dead 20,000 years. They said it tasted like it had been left in the freezer too long...). Streever writes about construction in the arctic, and its wildlife; about the fact that different humans tend to have different tolerances for cold. (An aboriginal Australian can sleep outdoors in the cold on the ground, almost naked, and go into a kind of nightly hibernation; a white Australian couldn't do the same the thing.) I found this not only fascinating but captivating, as in spite of all the knowledge clearly crammed into Streever's skull, the effect was one of sitting down and listening to stories pitched at a curious but general reader. It walks precisely the right line between being chatty and scholarly -- hard to accomplish. Yes, global warming is at the back of this, probably, but Streever, happily, doesn't seem to have an agenda. It's as if he wants us to stop and think about what is meant by "cold" and question our own assumptions. 4.5 stars.
Oh, and as mentioned above, it's currently only $2.99 on Kindle....
7. Cold: Adventures in the World's Frozen Places by Bill Streever is the first book that I have read so far this year worthy of going on to my tentative "best books of 2013" longlist. Reading it is like sitting and chatting to someone with a wide-ranging curiosity, a tremendous reserve of fabulous stories and immense charm and personality. Streever begins each month/chapter, and each section within it with a date/place/weather check -- i.e. It's the day after Candlemas, or Groundhog Day, and wherever he is, this is how cold (or warm) it is. From that starting point, he's off -- to discuss anything from new textiles aimed at keeping old the cold, to the fate of arctic and antarctic explorers (hypothermia, starvation, frostbite), ice ages and woolly mammoths emerging from the tundra (believe it or not some scientists actually tried to eat the meat from a mammoth dead 20,000 years. They said it tasted like it had been left in the freezer too long...). Streever writes about construction in the arctic, and its wildlife; about the fact that different humans tend to have different tolerances for cold. (An aboriginal Australian can sleep outdoors in the cold on the ground, almost naked, and go into a kind of nightly hibernation; a white Australian couldn't do the same the thing.) I found this not only fascinating but captivating, as in spite of all the knowledge clearly crammed into Streever's skull, the effect was one of sitting down and listening to stories pitched at a curious but general reader. It walks precisely the right line between being chatty and scholarly -- hard to accomplish. Yes, global warming is at the back of this, probably, but Streever, happily, doesn't seem to have an agenda. It's as if he wants us to stop and think about what is meant by "cold" and question our own assumptions. 4.5 stars.
Oh, and as mentioned above, it's currently only $2.99 on Kindle....
145Chatterbox
I have started another book likely to end up on the longlist of 'best books' -- Frances and Bernard. It's not out until early next month, but about 40 pages in, it not only is overcoming all my wariness (epistolary novel; two writers writing to each other as characters; loosely based on two real-life writers...) but is catching me up in its flow. I find myself wishing that I were receiving letters like the ones the author has imagined for her characters.
146Tanglewood
Both the paperback and hardcover of Cold are also listed as bargain books. Well, I made it 6 days into the new year without buying a book :(
147Linda92007
Glad to see how much you enjoyed Cold: Adventures in the World's Frozen Places, Suzanne, as I grabbed it and a good number of others in this month's Kindle sale. Your reviews are always interesting and informative, and your best of 2012 lists have reminded me of some I must get to soon.
148richardderus
To go with the Philosoraptor meme. And the thread theme of animalia in all the abundance and diversity. Poor Tigger, what *will* he make of the philoslothical sloth?
149Chatterbox
Love the philosloth, who fits in quite nicely to the theme of my next book, which I really liked.
8. Frances and Bernard by Carlene Bauer isn't a book for everyone. It's an epistolary novel, full of letters between two writers and thinkers, whose intense friendship morphs into love of a kind, but these are the kind of characters I can see some people looking at disapprovingly and saying, my, they over-think and over-complicate everything. (Oh, there's also a dose of religion in here, as Frances is Catholic and Bernard a Catholic convert wrestling with the idea/nature of God in his poetry early on.) This is supposedly loosely modeled on or inspired by the correspondence between Robert Lowell and Flannery O'Connor, although since I've read relatively little biographical material on either, I read it on its own merits and without trying to shoehorn a literary invention into the framework of a different real-life correspondence. I loved the fact that Bauer has captured the peculiar kind of intensity that can exist in a friendship/relationship that starts off through a bond that is "other" -- I can't find a better way to phrase it right now, not being gifted with Bauer's descriptive ability. The way the relationship ebbs, flows, morphs over time, is utterly convincing, and unusually, the author has been able to craft very distinct voices for her two main characters, with a handful of peripheral characters present to slip in crucial facts or serve as a kind of Greek chorus. I found it convincing and moving, read it in slow bits and pieces and will undoubtedly come back to it again. 4.5 stars. Recommended cautiously, with the above caveats in mind.
8. Frances and Bernard by Carlene Bauer isn't a book for everyone. It's an epistolary novel, full of letters between two writers and thinkers, whose intense friendship morphs into love of a kind, but these are the kind of characters I can see some people looking at disapprovingly and saying, my, they over-think and over-complicate everything. (Oh, there's also a dose of religion in here, as Frances is Catholic and Bernard a Catholic convert wrestling with the idea/nature of God in his poetry early on.) This is supposedly loosely modeled on or inspired by the correspondence between Robert Lowell and Flannery O'Connor, although since I've read relatively little biographical material on either, I read it on its own merits and without trying to shoehorn a literary invention into the framework of a different real-life correspondence. I loved the fact that Bauer has captured the peculiar kind of intensity that can exist in a friendship/relationship that starts off through a bond that is "other" -- I can't find a better way to phrase it right now, not being gifted with Bauer's descriptive ability. The way the relationship ebbs, flows, morphs over time, is utterly convincing, and unusually, the author has been able to craft very distinct voices for her two main characters, with a handful of peripheral characters present to slip in crucial facts or serve as a kind of Greek chorus. I found it convincing and moving, read it in slow bits and pieces and will undoubtedly come back to it again. 4.5 stars. Recommended cautiously, with the above caveats in mind.
150phebj
Hi Suzanne, I just went to Amazon to look at Frances and Bernard and read your much longer review over there which I thought was excellent. I've put the book in my cart so I don't forget about it and will probably just go ahead and order it since it comes out just before my Thingaversary. Thanks for the recommendation.
151rosalita
Onto the wishlist with that one! It must be quite new; only 5 people have catalogued it on LT. Has it not been published yet?
152Chatterbox
Julia, it will be out on February 5; I got an ARC from Amazon via their "Vine" reviewer program and in keeping with one of my new year's resolutions, picked it up to read it promptly rather than leaving it hanging around forever!
Pat, tks for the kind words re the review. It's hard to comment on a book like this that some will like a great deal and others may find offputting for reasons that have little to do with 'literary merit' or lack of same.
One more to add to the list and then I must go do some work, and then finish the evening with another few chapters of The Warden ahead of Wednesday evening's book circle meeting...
9. Blood Sisters by Sarah Gristwood is a kind of group biography of seven women who played a role in what are today referred to as the Wars of the Roses, the 40-plus years of conflict between Lancastrians and Yorkists that culminated with Henry VII's quashing of a final revolt circa 1497. I'm not sure that her group fits together all that well -- Anne Neville, for instance, is hardly in the same league as Cecily Neville, much less Margaret Beaufort, and Elizabeth of York's role was more on of genealogical importance or potential influence rather than real impact outside the 'traditional' sphere of royal/noble women. I read it as I'm slowly starting work on a historical novel set in that area about two real life sisters who shall, at this point, remain nameless, but who played rather critical roles even thought they are far from household names. Gristwood never really lives up to her pledge to deliver a different kind of history focusing on the real daily lives of these women, as she rapidly segues into the power struggles of their menfolk -- and perhaps that was an unrealistic ambition. I did catch her in a few slightly erroneous comments, such as referring to the princesses of Spain and Portugal's descent from John of Gaunt as having come from his early marriages to foreign princesses rather than his third marriage to his former mistress, Katherine Swynford (whose children may have been legitimated later, but who were barred from the throne). In fact, his first wife was an English noblewoman, not a foreign princess. There are a small number of such tiny errors; not enough to really discard the book but just enough to make me grateful that Gristwood wasn't trying to build a controversial case of any kind but merely to take the known facts and present them in a different way. This is quite readable, if you're looking for background to Shakespeare's "history" plays, for instance. 4.1 stars.
Pat, tks for the kind words re the review. It's hard to comment on a book like this that some will like a great deal and others may find offputting for reasons that have little to do with 'literary merit' or lack of same.
One more to add to the list and then I must go do some work, and then finish the evening with another few chapters of The Warden ahead of Wednesday evening's book circle meeting...
9. Blood Sisters by Sarah Gristwood is a kind of group biography of seven women who played a role in what are today referred to as the Wars of the Roses, the 40-plus years of conflict between Lancastrians and Yorkists that culminated with Henry VII's quashing of a final revolt circa 1497. I'm not sure that her group fits together all that well -- Anne Neville, for instance, is hardly in the same league as Cecily Neville, much less Margaret Beaufort, and Elizabeth of York's role was more on of genealogical importance or potential influence rather than real impact outside the 'traditional' sphere of royal/noble women. I read it as I'm slowly starting work on a historical novel set in that area about two real life sisters who shall, at this point, remain nameless, but who played rather critical roles even thought they are far from household names. Gristwood never really lives up to her pledge to deliver a different kind of history focusing on the real daily lives of these women, as she rapidly segues into the power struggles of their menfolk -- and perhaps that was an unrealistic ambition. I did catch her in a few slightly erroneous comments, such as referring to the princesses of Spain and Portugal's descent from John of Gaunt as having come from his early marriages to foreign princesses rather than his third marriage to his former mistress, Katherine Swynford (whose children may have been legitimated later, but who were barred from the throne). In fact, his first wife was an English noblewoman, not a foreign princess. There are a small number of such tiny errors; not enough to really discard the book but just enough to make me grateful that Gristwood wasn't trying to build a controversial case of any kind but merely to take the known facts and present them in a different way. This is quite readable, if you're looking for background to Shakespeare's "history" plays, for instance. 4.1 stars.
153Fourpawz2
Small errors in a biography would be a problem for me. Once discovered, I don't think I would be able to trust any of the rest of the book. Sounds as if her intent was good - trying to tell the story of the daily lives of these women - but, let's face it, noblewomen of their time, for the most part, had only one important role in their society - producing babies to secure the dynasty. I suppose it's no wonder that Gristwood had to give in to talking about the men's doin's in order to complete her book.
154Chatterbox
Charlotte, yes, that normally would be a big problem for me. But on the other hand, she nailed a lot of other obscure stuff that others often don't acknowledge. For instance, she notes (correctly) the rather oddly intriguing events of 1478: even as Edward IV is marrying his younger son off to Anne Mowbray, the only Norfolk heiress, he is preparing to do away with his own younger brother, who was a close friend of the bride's late father, and Gristwood correctly notes a concern that Edward may well have had about the impact of that friendship on his own interests. It's something I had noted, but I've never seen a biographer actually make that link until now. So I kind of weigh the relatively small number of errors, their nature and significance (eg, offhand reference to 'foreign princesses') against Gristwood's ability to spot, emphasize and correctly explain more complex nuances that others overlook or get wrong. I wouldn't trust her if she were arguing a radically new view of events based on some fact she had uncovered, but that wasn't the case. In any event, I'll be reading or re-reading some more standard books by various authors on these events over the coming months, so we'll see... :-)
Nearly finished with The Warden, and finally making significant headway with Late Nights on Air by Elizabeth Hay, which was slow going at first but is gathering momentum now. It is interesting to read this -- set in Yellowknife, NWT -- immediately after the book about cold, ice, etc...
Nearly finished with The Warden, and finally making significant headway with Late Nights on Air by Elizabeth Hay, which was slow going at first but is gathering momentum now. It is interesting to read this -- set in Yellowknife, NWT -- immediately after the book about cold, ice, etc...
155tiffin
I'll be interested to read your review of Late Nights. Elizabeth Hay was our guest author in our Writer's Reading Series when I still worked at the uni (this was when A Student of Weather came out) and is just a lovely person. I've had Late Nights sitting here for yonks.
156Chatterbox
Tui, this is growing on me, especially now that four of the characters have embarked on what may become a problematic wilderness exploration in the footsteps of an earlier, doomed party.
Hay's descriptions of the landscape are amazingly vivid. In winter in Yellowknife: "On the lake the ice was green, the snow lavender. On the far shore the gold mine nestled into the bay. Smoke flapped out of chimneys."
And on the trip: "And then they were beyond the ice. The colour of the water changed -- deep blue, violet green -- platinum where it was shallow over sand."
Hay's descriptions of the landscape are amazingly vivid. In winter in Yellowknife: "On the lake the ice was green, the snow lavender. On the far shore the gold mine nestled into the bay. Smoke flapped out of chimneys."
And on the trip: "And then they were beyond the ice. The colour of the water changed -- deep blue, violet green -- platinum where it was shallow over sand."
158Chatterbox
Finished the novel, which really kept me glued to the page in the final 100 pages or so.
10. Late Nights on Air by Elizabeth Hay is a Giller Prize-winner that I've had hovering around for quite some time now, intending to read it since at least 2010. I'm very glad that I picked it up and persevered as, in spite of a slow start some occasional bumps along the way, this was a beautifully written and very evocative novel. It's set at a particular moment in time in Canada's north, with the main narrative running from the summer of 1975 until the autumn of the following year, when Justice Thomas Berger was conducting his famous (in Canada) inquiry (aka Royal Commission) into the question of whether and under what terms to construct a pipeline to transport natural gas and oil down the Mackenzie Valley into the south of Canada, where the vast majority of the population lives within a few hours' drive of the U.S. border. Yellowknife, in the Northwest Territories, is thousands of miles from anywhere. The main street has two traffic lights; the city boasts a Hudson's Bay store and a movie theatre with "third-rate movies and (a) fifth-rate popcorn machine". It has two operating gold mines, a lot of mosquitoes and flies in summer and a lot of snow and cold in winter. And the population and culture is changing, as 'whites' from the south increasingly move into the city. The focus is on a group of characters at Yellowknife's CBC radio station; middle-aged Harry, hostile to television, disillusioned and prone to drink too much, who is yanked off the 'late night' shift of the title to become acting manager; Dido, a Dutch-born newcomer and seemingly born to broadcast with her cut-glass voice and her poise and confidence; Eleanor, the receptionist, the 'lifer' who despite finding grounding in religion still feels there is something human missing from her life, and Gwen, the young woman who drives into town one day, talks her way into a job and flounders trying to find her feet. All are caught up in the north's mystery and enchantment, especially Gwen, who ends up in Yellowknife because of a radio play about a doomed Arctic exploration she heard as a child. (The culmination of the story is the six-week long odyssey she and three others take in two canoes to visit the remote spot in 'the Barrens' where the three explorers died.) As we learn more of Gwen, and see Harry's helpless love for Dido, the narrative becomes more compelling, but not all of its plot strands are as powerful and some kind of fizzle. Still, the caliber of the writing and the author's ability to link the backdrop of the Berger inquiry (the justice becomes an occasional caller to Gwen's late night show; Dido becomes caught up in white "solidarity" with the Dene tribes even as her boyfriend, who gets her involved in this cause, exploits them to build his own photographic career) with the fictional narrative. Worth reading because of the writing and the sense of both time and place. I'd definitely read more by Hay, and in fact went and ordered Captivity Tales: Canadians in New York just because I happen to be a quasi Canadian! (And in part because in the final pages, one of the characters describes walking down Euclid Avenue in Ottawa, a whopping 2.5 blocks from the only house I've ever lived in that I would consider/describe as my "home". As a child first in London and then in Brussels, I used to close my eyes when I was homesick and I used to imagine I was walking along these streets to go to school, to the Ottawa South Library, to the Mayfair Theatre, to Haddad's, or flying down my bike to Echo Dirive...) So, 4.3 or 4.4 stars.
10. Late Nights on Air by Elizabeth Hay is a Giller Prize-winner that I've had hovering around for quite some time now, intending to read it since at least 2010. I'm very glad that I picked it up and persevered as, in spite of a slow start some occasional bumps along the way, this was a beautifully written and very evocative novel. It's set at a particular moment in time in Canada's north, with the main narrative running from the summer of 1975 until the autumn of the following year, when Justice Thomas Berger was conducting his famous (in Canada) inquiry (aka Royal Commission) into the question of whether and under what terms to construct a pipeline to transport natural gas and oil down the Mackenzie Valley into the south of Canada, where the vast majority of the population lives within a few hours' drive of the U.S. border. Yellowknife, in the Northwest Territories, is thousands of miles from anywhere. The main street has two traffic lights; the city boasts a Hudson's Bay store and a movie theatre with "third-rate movies and (a) fifth-rate popcorn machine". It has two operating gold mines, a lot of mosquitoes and flies in summer and a lot of snow and cold in winter. And the population and culture is changing, as 'whites' from the south increasingly move into the city. The focus is on a group of characters at Yellowknife's CBC radio station; middle-aged Harry, hostile to television, disillusioned and prone to drink too much, who is yanked off the 'late night' shift of the title to become acting manager; Dido, a Dutch-born newcomer and seemingly born to broadcast with her cut-glass voice and her poise and confidence; Eleanor, the receptionist, the 'lifer' who despite finding grounding in religion still feels there is something human missing from her life, and Gwen, the young woman who drives into town one day, talks her way into a job and flounders trying to find her feet. All are caught up in the north's mystery and enchantment, especially Gwen, who ends up in Yellowknife because of a radio play about a doomed Arctic exploration she heard as a child. (The culmination of the story is the six-week long odyssey she and three others take in two canoes to visit the remote spot in 'the Barrens' where the three explorers died.) As we learn more of Gwen, and see Harry's helpless love for Dido, the narrative becomes more compelling, but not all of its plot strands are as powerful and some kind of fizzle. Still, the caliber of the writing and the author's ability to link the backdrop of the Berger inquiry (the justice becomes an occasional caller to Gwen's late night show; Dido becomes caught up in white "solidarity" with the Dene tribes even as her boyfriend, who gets her involved in this cause, exploits them to build his own photographic career) with the fictional narrative. Worth reading because of the writing and the sense of both time and place. I'd definitely read more by Hay, and in fact went and ordered Captivity Tales: Canadians in New York just because I happen to be a quasi Canadian! (And in part because in the final pages, one of the characters describes walking down Euclid Avenue in Ottawa, a whopping 2.5 blocks from the only house I've ever lived in that I would consider/describe as my "home". As a child first in London and then in Brussels, I used to close my eyes when I was homesick and I used to imagine I was walking along these streets to go to school, to the Ottawa South Library, to the Mayfair Theatre, to Haddad's, or flying down my bike to Echo Dirive...) So, 4.3 or 4.4 stars.
159richardderus
Late Nights on Air = A HIT A PALPABLE HIT with that'un
Neither of the others has much claim on me. Wonderful reviews, as usual.
I'm noodling my review of The Warden.
Neither of the others has much claim on me. Wonderful reviews, as usual.
I'm noodling my review of The Warden.
160tiffin
Hooray! I'll move that up the pile then. Had a lump in my throat at you walking along Euclid.
161cammykitty
Late Nights on Air sounds very, very Canadian. My cousin is a prospector in Canada, and everything you said made me think of him. Great review.
162Chatterbox
Tui, there was one summer (I think I was 12?) where I walked up and down every street in that neighborhood selling boxes of chocolate candies for the Ottawa South Community Association. All the way from the Rideau River to the canal; from Bank Street to Bronson!
163tiffin
awwww that is too dear! One of my lads moved there recently so I'm looking forward to rewalking those streets myself.
ETA: er, maybe I should have worded that differently...walking on those sidewalks myself.
ETA: er, maybe I should have worded that differently...walking on those sidewalks myself.
164rebeccanyc
Thanks for your review of Late Nights on Air. I picked it up many times in the bookstore when it came out and never bought it, but with your recommendation I might give it a try.
166sibylline
Many things since I was last here, the menagerie (wonderful) your Best of 2012 list (always worth reading with interest) and the review of Cold which somehow strikes a chord with me at the moment, hm, wonder why????
167Chatterbox
Ugh, got a migraine, not nearly as bad as the epic one in December, but enough that being on the computer is bothering me. Annoying, as I'll probably have to bail out of the reading circle meeting tonight, and I only have three chapters of The Warden left to read.
Meanwhile....
11. Five for Sorrow, Ten for Joy is Rumer Godden's "other" book about nuns, much less well known than either In This House of Brede or Black Narcissus. I suppose I can understand why, as the narrative arc doesn't become apparent until unusually late, even by Rumer Godden's standards. It's the story of Elizabeth Fanshawe, aka Lise, who, after murdering her boyfriend (a pimp and owner of a 'maison' for high end prostitutes in Paris) serves time in prison, only to join an order of nuns she encounters there -- and then finds she hasn't really left the past behind as she believes. I'm not religious, but still have found these novels moving, dealing as much with characters and the quest for a kind of stability and sense of purpose as with religion itself. This was a re-read for me; I probably hadn't read this in more than a decade, but like most of Godden's novels for adults, it retains its power to capture my attention. I first discovered her when I was 14, with The Peacock Spring, and while this wouldn't be one of my all-time faves of hers, it's still enjoyable to rediscover. A re-read for my 2013 categories challenge.
Rebecca -- hope you like this. I was very ambivalent for the first third of the book, but found it had crept up on me...
Ellen -- *waving hello* I am already far behind on everyone's thread, and whenever I see dozens of unread posts, I start feeling overwhelmed.
Lucy -- glad to have you join the menagerie (maybe a Corgi in honor of Ms. Posey??) Yes, reading a book about the cold somehow seemed very appropriate. It's striking how nicely it dovetailed with Late Nights on Air, and I'm glad that I read them back to back.
Probably will move on to some mysteries when I finish the Trollope; also, The Stone Carvers by Jane Urquhart is calling to me.
Meanwhile....
11. Five for Sorrow, Ten for Joy is Rumer Godden's "other" book about nuns, much less well known than either In This House of Brede or Black Narcissus. I suppose I can understand why, as the narrative arc doesn't become apparent until unusually late, even by Rumer Godden's standards. It's the story of Elizabeth Fanshawe, aka Lise, who, after murdering her boyfriend (a pimp and owner of a 'maison' for high end prostitutes in Paris) serves time in prison, only to join an order of nuns she encounters there -- and then finds she hasn't really left the past behind as she believes. I'm not religious, but still have found these novels moving, dealing as much with characters and the quest for a kind of stability and sense of purpose as with religion itself. This was a re-read for me; I probably hadn't read this in more than a decade, but like most of Godden's novels for adults, it retains its power to capture my attention. I first discovered her when I was 14, with The Peacock Spring, and while this wouldn't be one of my all-time faves of hers, it's still enjoyable to rediscover. A re-read for my 2013 categories challenge.
Rebecca -- hope you like this. I was very ambivalent for the first third of the book, but found it had crept up on me...
Ellen -- *waving hello* I am already far behind on everyone's thread, and whenever I see dozens of unread posts, I start feeling overwhelmed.
Lucy -- glad to have you join the menagerie (maybe a Corgi in honor of Ms. Posey??) Yes, reading a book about the cold somehow seemed very appropriate. It's striking how nicely it dovetailed with Late Nights on Air, and I'm glad that I read them back to back.
Probably will move on to some mysteries when I finish the Trollope; also, The Stone Carvers by Jane Urquhart is calling to me.
169Chatterbox
First bad one in nearly 3 weeks, Judy, so not such a grim thing, but I'm sorry I won't make it to discuss the warden.
171Chatterbox
Sent G a few comments, not sure how articulate they are, but if he doesn't offer 'em up voluntarily you can prod him.
172richardderus
I've written my review of the 155th book we've read together since 1994: The Warden. It's in my thread, post #16. Peruse as the migraine permits.
175Carmenere
Hope you're feeling better this morning, Suz. I pick up The Buccaneers from the library tomorrow. Good weekend viewing in store.
177Chatterbox
I heard that it went well -- am glad! Herewith my comments...
12. The Warden by Anthony Trollope is the first in a series of six novels set in the fictional cathedral town of Barchester; quintessentially mid-19th century Victorian setting and subject matter. While Dickens' social critique is often over the top, Trollope is a gentler, even calmer observer of his world. Even Archdeacon Grantly is portrayed in ways that lead one to roll one's eyes and chuckle than to despise the man -- sure, he is a hypocrite, hiding himself away in his study to read Rabelais and pompously declaiming on what is good and evil, blinkering himself to nuances. In contrast, Septimus Harding, the warden of the title is a fundamentally good man placed in the impossible position of having to recognize that for all his good intentions, he may really be in the same position as some higher-profile clergymen who have pocketed income to which they weren't entitled. No one gets off easily, but no one is merely a caricature, either. I think more than Dickens, this is set in the world in which Trollope was writing, and requires work or knowledge on the part of today's readers to appreciate fully, while his contemporaries would instantly have caught the allusions and laughed aloud. I'm comfortable enough with the broad trends, if not the inside jokes about personalities, to relish it, however. This was a re-read for me for the book circle; I had read the first three in the series about 20/25 years ago and then stalled. It did make me want to revisit Barchester Towers, however, which I recall being the best of what I did read. 4.25 stars.
Lynda, thanks, the head started clearing at about 5 or 6 a.m., so not enough sleep to function well today, but at least no major pain. Tired & sleepy, so probably off to bed soon. Enjoy "The Bucaneers" -- I look forward to hearing your thoughts! I may have to order a copy myself as I enjoy it so much.
Tks for the link to the review, Richard, and the good wishes, Diana.
See you all later...
12. The Warden by Anthony Trollope is the first in a series of six novels set in the fictional cathedral town of Barchester; quintessentially mid-19th century Victorian setting and subject matter. While Dickens' social critique is often over the top, Trollope is a gentler, even calmer observer of his world. Even Archdeacon Grantly is portrayed in ways that lead one to roll one's eyes and chuckle than to despise the man -- sure, he is a hypocrite, hiding himself away in his study to read Rabelais and pompously declaiming on what is good and evil, blinkering himself to nuances. In contrast, Septimus Harding, the warden of the title is a fundamentally good man placed in the impossible position of having to recognize that for all his good intentions, he may really be in the same position as some higher-profile clergymen who have pocketed income to which they weren't entitled. No one gets off easily, but no one is merely a caricature, either. I think more than Dickens, this is set in the world in which Trollope was writing, and requires work or knowledge on the part of today's readers to appreciate fully, while his contemporaries would instantly have caught the allusions and laughed aloud. I'm comfortable enough with the broad trends, if not the inside jokes about personalities, to relish it, however. This was a re-read for me for the book circle; I had read the first three in the series about 20/25 years ago and then stalled. It did make me want to revisit Barchester Towers, however, which I recall being the best of what I did read. 4.25 stars.
Lynda, thanks, the head started clearing at about 5 or 6 a.m., so not enough sleep to function well today, but at least no major pain. Tired & sleepy, so probably off to bed soon. Enjoy "The Bucaneers" -- I look forward to hearing your thoughts! I may have to order a copy myself as I enjoy it so much.
Tks for the link to the review, Richard, and the good wishes, Diana.
See you all later...
179Chatterbox
Thanks, Diana...
I think what I was trying to describe was that while Dickens's characters are often larger than life, Trollope keeps his very human-sized, with very ordinary human faults and foibles. That makes for less melodrama, but it's simply a different way of commenting on their society. I'd say that if Dickens is an oil painting (by someone like El Greco!) then Trollope is crafting pen & ink portraits or Old Master drawings -- full of fine detail, yes, but if you don't pay attention you'll miss the fact that they contain just as much drama.
I think what I was trying to describe was that while Dickens's characters are often larger than life, Trollope keeps his very human-sized, with very ordinary human faults and foibles. That makes for less melodrama, but it's simply a different way of commenting on their society. I'd say that if Dickens is an oil painting (by someone like El Greco!) then Trollope is crafting pen & ink portraits or Old Master drawings -- full of fine detail, yes, but if you don't pay attention you'll miss the fact that they contain just as much drama.
180Chatterbox
finished one more last night:
13. Treason's Harbour by Patrick O'Brian is the latest (#9) in my audiobook voyage of discovery of Napoleonic seafaring and battles in the company of Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin. As I am finding increasingly, the books and parts of these books that I enjoy most are those where there is character-driven suspense rather than seafaring details -- I'm still not sure I either know or care about the difference between different sails or can appreciate the fine points of navigation, which strike me as tough to convey in a book anyway. In this book, that is definitely the case, as the seafaring/adventures feel kind of pointless and rambling, while those portions of the narrative set in Malta and involving espionage are quite suspenseful indeed, especially the need by one of the characters at the end to do a midnight flit... We learn fairly early on of a surprising traitor in the ranks, and it's equally surprising that Stephen appears a bit blind to this person's identity. Indeed, the fact that this plot line wasn't resolved but ends with a kind of cliffhanger has made me move right on to the next book in the series rather than pausing, as I had intended, to listen to another audiobook (part 1 of The Balkan Trilogy by Olivia Manning, which I read in book format abt 20 years ago and that I now want to listen to.) So, this one gets 3.9 stars, and it's on to The Far Side of the World. This is for my 2013 Categories challenge.
ETA: Last night I also located my copy of Alone in the Classroom by Elizabeth Hay, so am going to have to find a way to get that read quickly after liking Late Nights on Air so much. Perhaps this will turn into the year of the Canadian novel for me??
13. Treason's Harbour by Patrick O'Brian is the latest (#9) in my audiobook voyage of discovery of Napoleonic seafaring and battles in the company of Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin. As I am finding increasingly, the books and parts of these books that I enjoy most are those where there is character-driven suspense rather than seafaring details -- I'm still not sure I either know or care about the difference between different sails or can appreciate the fine points of navigation, which strike me as tough to convey in a book anyway. In this book, that is definitely the case, as the seafaring/adventures feel kind of pointless and rambling, while those portions of the narrative set in Malta and involving espionage are quite suspenseful indeed, especially the need by one of the characters at the end to do a midnight flit... We learn fairly early on of a surprising traitor in the ranks, and it's equally surprising that Stephen appears a bit blind to this person's identity. Indeed, the fact that this plot line wasn't resolved but ends with a kind of cliffhanger has made me move right on to the next book in the series rather than pausing, as I had intended, to listen to another audiobook (part 1 of The Balkan Trilogy by Olivia Manning, which I read in book format abt 20 years ago and that I now want to listen to.) So, this one gets 3.9 stars, and it's on to The Far Side of the World. This is for my 2013 Categories challenge.
ETA: Last night I also located my copy of Alone in the Classroom by Elizabeth Hay, so am going to have to find a way to get that read quickly after liking Late Nights on Air so much. Perhaps this will turn into the year of the Canadian novel for me??
181EBT1002
I love your comparison of Dickens and Trollope to oil painting and Old Master drawings! I've not (yet) read Trollope, but now I'm intrigued.....
I hope your migraine has faded and stays away.
I hope your migraine has faded and stays away.
182Chatterbox
Thanks, Ellen! Thinking further about the analogy, I'm not sure that it holds up perfectly; both authors are masters of the telling small detail, after all, while the oil painting implies an emphasis on the bigger picture.
14. The Mao Case by Qiu Xiaolong was a reminder that this is an author who did his best writing while he was working with an editor at Soho and his move to a bigger (and presumably higher-paying) publisher hasn't been all that great for his books. In this book in the mystery series, Shanghai-based Inspector Chen is told to investigate something that doesn't even seem to be much of a crime: the possibility that a young woman owns some kind of object left to her by her grandmother, one of Mao's lovers in the post-revolutionary period. Shang, the grandmother, had committed suicide after the Cultural Revolution Red Guards publicly denounced her; Qian, the daughter, died young, living young Jiao the final member of the family... The problem? The plot is full of ends that tail off into nowhere; we are halfway through the book before there is actually any kind of crime, and there is a lot of rambling around that leaves the whole book feeling rather unfocused. Sigh. I think I have the remaining two books in this series to read, but I'm in no hurry at this point. 3.6 stars.
14. The Mao Case by Qiu Xiaolong was a reminder that this is an author who did his best writing while he was working with an editor at Soho and his move to a bigger (and presumably higher-paying) publisher hasn't been all that great for his books. In this book in the mystery series, Shanghai-based Inspector Chen is told to investigate something that doesn't even seem to be much of a crime: the possibility that a young woman owns some kind of object left to her by her grandmother, one of Mao's lovers in the post-revolutionary period. Shang, the grandmother, had committed suicide after the Cultural Revolution Red Guards publicly denounced her; Qian, the daughter, died young, living young Jiao the final member of the family... The problem? The plot is full of ends that tail off into nowhere; we are halfway through the book before there is actually any kind of crime, and there is a lot of rambling around that leaves the whole book feeling rather unfocused. Sigh. I think I have the remaining two books in this series to read, but I'm in no hurry at this point. 3.6 stars.
183PaulCranswick
Lovely varied reading as usual Suz. Slowly meandering through Barchester Towers and you do its predecessor good service with a nicely balanced review. The subject matter is one strange to be one to capture present imaginations but Trollope rarely slips.
I have ordered the first in the series of Qiu Xiaolong and wonder when it is her goes off the boil? Your Patrick O'Brian reads are slowly but surely edging me to give him another chance.
Have a lovely migraine-free weekend.
I have ordered the first in the series of Qiu Xiaolong and wonder when it is her goes off the boil? Your Patrick O'Brian reads are slowly but surely edging me to give him another chance.
Have a lovely migraine-free weekend.
184weejane
I agree with Paul - seeing you read the Patrick O'Brian series is certainly making me want to try them again!
185Chatterbox
Paul, there are seven books in this series, of which I have now read five, and the first three are very good -- A Loyal Character Dancer, Death of a Red Heroine and When Red is Black. Apparently the one after that is A Case of Two Cities, which was his first book for Minotaur after leaving Soho. I struggled with both that and with Red Mandarin Dress, which I completed in December 2010. The fact that this is the first time I have gone back to the series since then will tell you something... There is one more book, which I did get for my Kindle, and I'll see what it's like. Back in mid-2011, I talked to the folks at the Soho booth at BookExpo and said how disappointed I had been with the newer books. Reading between the lines, he felt as if he had been over-edited. All I can say is that the later books have rambled and lacked the intense focus and character development that characterized their predecessors.
OK, onto my latest crop of completed books! The first two are for my 2013 Categories challenge, both in the category I've labelled "I Can't Give You Anything But (the books I) Love, Baby", reserved for "book bullets". The first of the book bullets came from Judy (aka DeltaQueen); the second, from a college friend of mine who now lives in Manitoba and keeps me full of ideas of great new Canadian writers and novels. He was the one who told me, after I had read Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden, that Through Black Spruce was even better. I was skeptical but he was right, so now I trust him on books...
15. Tomorrow When the War Began by John Marsden is the first in a series of dystopian YA novels. It doesn't measure up to The Hunger Games or some others I have read, and with a plot revolving around a group of high school students taking to the wild and hiding out after a sudden invasion of their country by a foreign army, it's perhaps uncannily like the first film version of "Red Dawn" featuring Patrick Swayze, to be seen as fresh or new. (Indeed, I found myself anticipating -- correctly -- some of the situations based on my recollections of that film.) Still, Marsden's teens are less gung-ho and more thoughtful, and more like bona fide teenagers than war games-playing kids eager to start taking out the enemy. I'll be reading the sequel. 3.8 stars.
16. The Best Laid Plans by Terry Fallis is a hoot. It's not literary fiction, and sometimes the humor is a bit strained, but I ended up not caring, because the spirit at the heart of this wry insider's look at Canadian politics (well, at politics...) is both affectionate and satirical. Daniel Addison has had enough of politics, serving as a speechwriter to the top folks at Canada's Liberal Party, especially after discovering his girlfriend in flagrante delicto with her boss. ("let's just say she was enthusiastically lobbying his caucus", Fallis writes, going on to cloak the descriptions of their antics in entirely parliamentary prose; I may never be able to hear the words "royal assent" to a bill without chortling.) Nonetheless, even after taking a teaching job at the University of Ottawa and moving to a nearby Ottawa River town, Addison somehow finds that he has agreed to find a Liberal candidate to run against the local incumbent in an upcoming election, the most popular Tory in the country and seemingly unchallengable. He ends up drafting his new landlord, a crusty and recently widowed engineering professor whose passions are for building a hovercraft, chess, and his late wife. Angus McLintock, however, has only agreed to run if Daniel takes over his "English for Engineers" course and on the promise that he'll never win and won't have to campaign. It's a shock for Daniel. "No lawn signs in an election campaign? It's like Trudeau without the rose, Diefenbaker without jowls, or the Leafs winning the Stanley Cup. It's unnatural," one character says. But strange things happen... Maybe a bit predictable, but funny. And if you want an inside glimpse into what makes Canadians "Canadian", well, here's a book you can read. Nope, it's not literary, but who cares? 4 stars.
17. And on a far more serious note, we have The Big Truck That Went By by Jonathan Katz, which I finished Saturday, the two-year anniversary of the Haiti earthquake that is the starting point for this book. It's an impressive achievement, as Katz somehow manages to corral a chronicle of the quake and the aftermath with a thoughtful and devastating critique of disaster relief and the whole idea behind foreign aid. It's going to take some time for me to sort through my thinking in order to do a thoughtful review for Amazon, but the core of this is the very straightforward point that elections without institutions isn't democracy; that aid commitments that serve as stimulus for the country making the pledge isn't really aid (he details spending on things like campaign ribbons for US servicepeople deployed in Haiti post-quake that came out of the "aid" budget); that well-intentioned but uninformed donors can make matters worse. This is something that I've been fascinated by since a college friend of mine went off to Chad in the early/mid 1980s, and wrote to me about what she saw there: that big giveaways of foreign grain meant that once a drought abated, farmers who went back to plant found they couldn't sell their crops because grain was being handed out free even after the crisis was over. The next year, those farmers didn't plant -- logically -- and the crisis got still worse. Writing about philanthropy later on, I found a lot of issues surrounding NGOs imposing their own agendas on donors, on funding programs at the expense of ensuring they have the infrastructure to keep it all going (and sometimes the opposite, with some groups sending only 25% of donor dollars to programs), on crowded areas of funding, on lack of coordination, etc. Katz does a good job pointing out what worked in Indonesia in the wake of the tsunami and identifying why it didn't work well in Haiti, and pointing out the consequences of infantilizing a country and replacing its political leaders (even after praising the fact they were elected) by heads of NGOs, or Bill Clinton, or someone else who flies in and out and doesn't fully grasp what is going on. For instance, one of the key obstacles to rebuilding in Haiti was that no one knew to whom land belongs -- and even when their had been records, the land registry was destroyed in the quake. So, no ability to rebuild. An OAS proposal to tackle land ownership questions never got funded -- not as exciting as sending food or tarps, etc. I'll link to my full review when I have had a chance to process this fully, but this is a book that should be read. 4.8 stars.
OK, onto my latest crop of completed books! The first two are for my 2013 Categories challenge, both in the category I've labelled "I Can't Give You Anything But (the books I) Love, Baby", reserved for "book bullets". The first of the book bullets came from Judy (aka DeltaQueen); the second, from a college friend of mine who now lives in Manitoba and keeps me full of ideas of great new Canadian writers and novels. He was the one who told me, after I had read Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden, that Through Black Spruce was even better. I was skeptical but he was right, so now I trust him on books...
15. Tomorrow When the War Began by John Marsden is the first in a series of dystopian YA novels. It doesn't measure up to The Hunger Games or some others I have read, and with a plot revolving around a group of high school students taking to the wild and hiding out after a sudden invasion of their country by a foreign army, it's perhaps uncannily like the first film version of "Red Dawn" featuring Patrick Swayze, to be seen as fresh or new. (Indeed, I found myself anticipating -- correctly -- some of the situations based on my recollections of that film.) Still, Marsden's teens are less gung-ho and more thoughtful, and more like bona fide teenagers than war games-playing kids eager to start taking out the enemy. I'll be reading the sequel. 3.8 stars.
16. The Best Laid Plans by Terry Fallis is a hoot. It's not literary fiction, and sometimes the humor is a bit strained, but I ended up not caring, because the spirit at the heart of this wry insider's look at Canadian politics (well, at politics...) is both affectionate and satirical. Daniel Addison has had enough of politics, serving as a speechwriter to the top folks at Canada's Liberal Party, especially after discovering his girlfriend in flagrante delicto with her boss. ("let's just say she was enthusiastically lobbying his caucus", Fallis writes, going on to cloak the descriptions of their antics in entirely parliamentary prose; I may never be able to hear the words "royal assent" to a bill without chortling.) Nonetheless, even after taking a teaching job at the University of Ottawa and moving to a nearby Ottawa River town, Addison somehow finds that he has agreed to find a Liberal candidate to run against the local incumbent in an upcoming election, the most popular Tory in the country and seemingly unchallengable. He ends up drafting his new landlord, a crusty and recently widowed engineering professor whose passions are for building a hovercraft, chess, and his late wife. Angus McLintock, however, has only agreed to run if Daniel takes over his "English for Engineers" course and on the promise that he'll never win and won't have to campaign. It's a shock for Daniel. "No lawn signs in an election campaign? It's like Trudeau without the rose, Diefenbaker without jowls, or the Leafs winning the Stanley Cup. It's unnatural," one character says. But strange things happen... Maybe a bit predictable, but funny. And if you want an inside glimpse into what makes Canadians "Canadian", well, here's a book you can read. Nope, it's not literary, but who cares? 4 stars.
17. And on a far more serious note, we have The Big Truck That Went By by Jonathan Katz, which I finished Saturday, the two-year anniversary of the Haiti earthquake that is the starting point for this book. It's an impressive achievement, as Katz somehow manages to corral a chronicle of the quake and the aftermath with a thoughtful and devastating critique of disaster relief and the whole idea behind foreign aid. It's going to take some time for me to sort through my thinking in order to do a thoughtful review for Amazon, but the core of this is the very straightforward point that elections without institutions isn't democracy; that aid commitments that serve as stimulus for the country making the pledge isn't really aid (he details spending on things like campaign ribbons for US servicepeople deployed in Haiti post-quake that came out of the "aid" budget); that well-intentioned but uninformed donors can make matters worse. This is something that I've been fascinated by since a college friend of mine went off to Chad in the early/mid 1980s, and wrote to me about what she saw there: that big giveaways of foreign grain meant that once a drought abated, farmers who went back to plant found they couldn't sell their crops because grain was being handed out free even after the crisis was over. The next year, those farmers didn't plant -- logically -- and the crisis got still worse. Writing about philanthropy later on, I found a lot of issues surrounding NGOs imposing their own agendas on donors, on funding programs at the expense of ensuring they have the infrastructure to keep it all going (and sometimes the opposite, with some groups sending only 25% of donor dollars to programs), on crowded areas of funding, on lack of coordination, etc. Katz does a good job pointing out what worked in Indonesia in the wake of the tsunami and identifying why it didn't work well in Haiti, and pointing out the consequences of infantilizing a country and replacing its political leaders (even after praising the fact they were elected) by heads of NGOs, or Bill Clinton, or someone else who flies in and out and doesn't fully grasp what is going on. For instance, one of the key obstacles to rebuilding in Haiti was that no one knew to whom land belongs -- and even when their had been records, the land registry was destroyed in the quake. So, no ability to rebuild. An OAS proposal to tackle land ownership questions never got funded -- not as exciting as sending food or tarps, etc. I'll link to my full review when I have had a chance to process this fully, but this is a book that should be read. 4.8 stars.
186Chatterbox
On deck now -- will be reading in the next few weeks:
A Question of Identity by Susan Hill
The Chess Men by Peter May
WikiLeaks by David Leigh
Taj by Timeri Murari
Funeral of Figaro by Ellis Peters
Travels with a Tangerine by Tim Mackintosh-Smith
The Life of Objects by Susanna Moore
The Thursday Night Men by Tonino Benacquista
The Ophelia Cut by John Lescroart
The Stone Carvers by Jane Urquhart
The Round House by Louise Erdrich
Last Will by Liza Marklund
The Lighthouse by Alison Moore
The Gift of Rain by Tan Twan Eng
The Missing File by D.A. Mishani
Former People by Douglas Smith
Bride of New France by Suzanne Desrochers
Also, hoping to get to a book about Syria, and Michael Feinstein's book about the Gershwins.
...as well as the sequel to the Terry Fallis novel, the next "Tomorrow" book by John Marsden, and following the misadventures of Aubrey & Maturin via my nightly forays into audiobookland!
A Question of Identity by Susan Hill
The Chess Men by Peter May
WikiLeaks by David Leigh
Taj by Timeri Murari
Funeral of Figaro by Ellis Peters
Travels with a Tangerine by Tim Mackintosh-Smith
The Life of Objects by Susanna Moore
The Thursday Night Men by Tonino Benacquista
The Ophelia Cut by John Lescroart
The Stone Carvers by Jane Urquhart
The Round House by Louise Erdrich
Last Will by Liza Marklund
The Lighthouse by Alison Moore
The Gift of Rain by Tan Twan Eng
The Missing File by D.A. Mishani
Former People by Douglas Smith
Bride of New France by Suzanne Desrochers
Also, hoping to get to a book about Syria, and Michael Feinstein's book about the Gershwins.
...as well as the sequel to the Terry Fallis novel, the next "Tomorrow" book by John Marsden, and following the misadventures of Aubrey & Maturin via my nightly forays into audiobookland!
187PaulCranswick
Amazing that that is a couple of weeks reading!
Thanks for the Inspector Chen - I will soon have the first one and will watch out after number three.
Thanks for the Inspector Chen - I will soon have the first one and will watch out after number three.
188Fourpawz2
Loved your thoughts on The Big Truck That Went By - helping people in the wake of disasters isn't as easy as it seems and the way it's been done for the last upteen years, seems highly flawed. Can't just throw stuff at people and expect everything to be all hunky-dory, it would seem.
189lunacat
Interesting about the aid that countries give. I have know for a long time that the way things is done is often flawed and can be counter effective, but I have to wonder about the alternative. It's easy to criticize such things but to fix them is far more of an issue.
My simplistic view says isn't it be better to be doing something than nothing, because some aid work must help some people. Perhaps wrong, but I'm certainly not qualified to comment any more.
And I added Tomorrow, When the War Began to the wishlist, as I'm always up for some YA dystopia, even if it's not of the highest standard.
My simplistic view says isn't it be better to be doing something than nothing, because some aid work must help some people. Perhaps wrong, but I'm certainly not qualified to comment any more.
And I added Tomorrow, When the War Began to the wishlist, as I'm always up for some YA dystopia, even if it's not of the highest standard.
190rosalita
You've convinced me to put 'The Best Laid Plans' on my wishlist — I'm a sucker for political books, especially funny ones, and I've never read much about Canadian politics so that will be interesting.
I also enjoyed your thoughts on 'The Big Truck That Went By' even though I don't think I'll be reading it.
I also enjoyed your thoughts on 'The Big Truck That Went By' even though I don't think I'll be reading it.
191sibylline
Glad your head is feeling better.
I think I'll add a chipmunk, one of my favorite critters - also one of Miss Posey's favorite critters.
I think I'll add a chipmunk, one of my favorite critters - also one of Miss Posey's favorite critters.
192Chatterbox
Love the chipmunk, Sib! I remember camping in Northern Ontario (well, not far north, but up around the north shore of Lake Superior, like Marathon, Ontario) and one day a very curious chipmunk hopped on to the picnic table when we were about to have breakfast. Before my mother realized what was going on, he had fallen in the pot of porridge. Happily, he hopped out again, and headed out of Dodge at quite a clip...
18. The Testament of Mary by Colm Toibin is a fascinating, imaginative and beautifully written little novella that I can see driving many Catholics, especially, to distraction. I remember reading in the Rumer Godden novel that I just completed, a character -- a nun -- noting that Mary, the mother of Jesus, used only about 23 or 26 words throughout the whole New Testament, that's all. Well, Toibin has created a whole "gospel" of sorts by imagining himself into her head and conceiving what it must have been like to be a contemporary of Jesus and see the whole groundswell build, without really understanding. (Have you ever seen a friend succumb to mental illness? I have, to a form of manic depression, and Toibin captures the same kind of incomprehension, fear and wish to make everything 'right' again that accompany that on the part of a witness.) To Mary, her son's grandiose pronouncements sound false and stilted: "I could not bear to hear him, it was like something grinding and it set my teeth on edge." The crowd that follows him is "like a carnival with every malcontent and half-crazed soothsayer following in its wake." We get her view of the miracles involving Lazarus and Cana, but with a twist. Lazarus is feared by his fellows, and isn't what he was before -- he has come back from death and violated the laws of nature. Then there is the crucifixion, the reality versus the version inscribed by the apostles, two of whom appear as nameless bullies in Mary's new home and refuge, encroaching on her space and demanding that she sign off on their version of reality. It's an imaginative tour de force that is all too possible. Oh, and Toibin's prose, as always, is beautiful, spare yet elegant. 4.4 stars.
19. A Question of Identity by Susan Hill gets going only slowly, as we read first of an old trial, an acquittal and a man who gets a new identity -- and then learn about what has been happening in the fictional cathedral city of Lafferton, home to DCS Simon Serailler, his widowed twin sister Cat Deerbon, his father and his stepmother. One thing that I love about this series is that it really is a series of novels that happen to revolve around crimes, but in which the characters are important. Simon struggles with his romantic relationship; Cat has to deal with what may happen to the hospice where she works and to addressing conflict between her two elder children and understanding why her stepmother is suddenly aloof. Because I've read other books in the series, I didn't get impatient with the slow start, knowing that Hill would eventually get the novel going full throttle, which indeed is what happens with the first death of an elderly woman in Lafferton that appears uncannily close to the earlier Yorkshire crimes. Def. recommended to series fans, and if you like mysteries but haven't tried this series, what are you waiting for? But do start at the beginning; Hill has no compunction in turning her recurring characters' lives upside down, and if you start midway through, there will be too many spoilers. Excellent series, 4.25 stars. For my 2013 categories challenge.
18. The Testament of Mary by Colm Toibin is a fascinating, imaginative and beautifully written little novella that I can see driving many Catholics, especially, to distraction. I remember reading in the Rumer Godden novel that I just completed, a character -- a nun -- noting that Mary, the mother of Jesus, used only about 23 or 26 words throughout the whole New Testament, that's all. Well, Toibin has created a whole "gospel" of sorts by imagining himself into her head and conceiving what it must have been like to be a contemporary of Jesus and see the whole groundswell build, without really understanding. (Have you ever seen a friend succumb to mental illness? I have, to a form of manic depression, and Toibin captures the same kind of incomprehension, fear and wish to make everything 'right' again that accompany that on the part of a witness.) To Mary, her son's grandiose pronouncements sound false and stilted: "I could not bear to hear him, it was like something grinding and it set my teeth on edge." The crowd that follows him is "like a carnival with every malcontent and half-crazed soothsayer following in its wake." We get her view of the miracles involving Lazarus and Cana, but with a twist. Lazarus is feared by his fellows, and isn't what he was before -- he has come back from death and violated the laws of nature. Then there is the crucifixion, the reality versus the version inscribed by the apostles, two of whom appear as nameless bullies in Mary's new home and refuge, encroaching on her space and demanding that she sign off on their version of reality. It's an imaginative tour de force that is all too possible. Oh, and Toibin's prose, as always, is beautiful, spare yet elegant. 4.4 stars.
19. A Question of Identity by Susan Hill gets going only slowly, as we read first of an old trial, an acquittal and a man who gets a new identity -- and then learn about what has been happening in the fictional cathedral city of Lafferton, home to DCS Simon Serailler, his widowed twin sister Cat Deerbon, his father and his stepmother. One thing that I love about this series is that it really is a series of novels that happen to revolve around crimes, but in which the characters are important. Simon struggles with his romantic relationship; Cat has to deal with what may happen to the hospice where she works and to addressing conflict between her two elder children and understanding why her stepmother is suddenly aloof. Because I've read other books in the series, I didn't get impatient with the slow start, knowing that Hill would eventually get the novel going full throttle, which indeed is what happens with the first death of an elderly woman in Lafferton that appears uncannily close to the earlier Yorkshire crimes. Def. recommended to series fans, and if you like mysteries but haven't tried this series, what are you waiting for? But do start at the beginning; Hill has no compunction in turning her recurring characters' lives upside down, and if you start midway through, there will be too many spoilers. Excellent series, 4.25 stars. For my 2013 categories challenge.
193cammykitty
The Testament of Mary sounds really interesting, thoughtful and rich.
194Chatterbox
It's fascinating -- it takes the concept of the "Blessed Virgin Mary" and makes her what feels like a very real woman of her time -- confused, grieving, irritable. Leaving aside the questions of faith/belief, etc., it's hard not to find this version of Mary eminently believable/credible.
195LizzieD
I'm wandering away overwhelmed again. Since I'm not Suzanne and call myself "reading" 5 or 6 things already, I am not yielding to bullets. When I do though, *Mary* goes on the list. The Susan Hill is there.
196brenzi
So much to inhale here Suzanne. I love your comparison of Dickens and Trollope and quite agree with you on that. If you're at all interested, Liz did a tutored read of Barchester Towers right here. I'm reading it and following that thread right after I finish my present book. Then in March they are moving on to Dr. Thorne in another tutored read. There's a good-sized group doing that.
I have the first two books in the Qiu Xiaolong series so it's good to know that at least those two will be something good to look forward to. Too bad about the problems with the new publisher. Hope to start the Simon Serailler series this year.
Finally, added Testament of Mary, The Best Laid Plans and The Big Truck Went By to the teetering tower.
I have the first two books in the Qiu Xiaolong series so it's good to know that at least those two will be something good to look forward to. Too bad about the problems with the new publisher. Hope to start the Simon Serailler series this year.
Finally, added Testament of Mary, The Best Laid Plans and The Big Truck Went By to the teetering tower.
197richardderus
Sunday-night *smooch* of gratitude that you've saved me from Chen, reinforced my sense that the world is full of rotten-souled mouth-breathing fools in gummint, and made me yet again pine to be Canadian. Ten years ago. Before the current crop got in.
198Chatterbox
Glad to oblige, Richard! Although I'd have to point out that Harper is probably closer to Obama than the GOP, politically. For instance, I doubt he'd ever publicly question the philosophy behind "socialized" healthcare, while Obama has to dance around the concept to avoid treading on politically sensitive ground. Which reminds me I need to find some more reading this year about the "founding fathers" and the philosophical underpinnings of the constitution in order to better frame/develop my own ideas. I do think, having read some of Paine's writings as well as biographies of the man himself, that it's deeply ironic that the United States may well owe its existence to a man who espoused views most today would find deeply repugnant. (His publications during that first horrible winter when Washington was on the Delaware may well have been the first significant turning of the tide.) I'm not, however, surprised by the fact that Washington is completely without any monument to Paine...
I did read over the tutored read of The Warden and may do the same with Barchester Towers. Am not sure when I'll want to forge ahead with Trollope, however. I want to read Tolstoy this year, and may embark on either Zola or Balzac as well.
Peggy, I'm not reading a dozen or so at a time, I promise! Right now, I'm concentrating on the WikiLeaks book as my non-fiction read, will forge ahead with Taj and start one of the mysteries tonight. My priority is keeping a list of books on hand that is diverse enough that there probably will always be something I really WANT to read, and thus won't feel as if I've prescribed it for myself as medicine. I do want to go back to The Magic Mountain, but maybe not for another few days...
I did read over the tutored read of The Warden and may do the same with Barchester Towers. Am not sure when I'll want to forge ahead with Trollope, however. I want to read Tolstoy this year, and may embark on either Zola or Balzac as well.
Peggy, I'm not reading a dozen or so at a time, I promise! Right now, I'm concentrating on the WikiLeaks book as my non-fiction read, will forge ahead with Taj and start one of the mysteries tonight. My priority is keeping a list of books on hand that is diverse enough that there probably will always be something I really WANT to read, and thus won't feel as if I've prescribed it for myself as medicine. I do want to go back to The Magic Mountain, but maybe not for another few days...
199richardderus
Paine would've been besties with that tragic gummint bullying suicide, Aaron Swartz, and out there with the Occupy folks. His arrest and FBI harassment would be assured, and his media profile would be equivalent to Jane Fonda's during the Hanoi Jane years.
Gotta love a man like that.
Gotta love a man like that.
200Chatterbox
But unlike some of the current Occupy folks, Paine thought through his positions, based on logic and knowledge. What worries me about Occupy rhetoric is that it is in many ways just as knee-jerk (responding to already-formed opinions) as the Tea Party rhetoric at the other end of the spectrum. Both sides start with the conclusions, and set out in quest of evidence to support them. That drives me bananas. It's one of the reasons I appreciated Plutocrats so much; Freeland started with data, examined it, questioned it, stood it on its head, shook it, evaluated it and followed where it led. There is a rigor with works of that kind, just as there was with Paine. (And of a kind that was common among the ranks of Enlightenment philosophers, even when it led them to different conclusions -- eg Burke.)
OK, off to do some work...
OK, off to do some work...
201SandDune
The Testament of Mary sounds an interesting read - added it to the WL.
203lunacat
I'm hopeless. All the sensible grownup talk and all I can focus on is the chipmunk in the porridge. Poor little guy! Would love to have seen that.
204labwriter
Thanks for the words about the Susan Hill books. I will definitely give her a try. I'm currently reading Voices by Indridason, and I'm not finding myself super-enthralled. The little bit he puts into the book about Iceland is interesting, and if he would write more about the country, I think his books would be better. My big problem with this book is that I'm ho-hum, don't care about the victim. From reading about Hill's books on her website, it would seem that she strives for a victim people care about--
I also wanted to make sure that the victim or victims is someone about whom the reader can care. The ‘body in the library’ at the beginning of a story is just that – a body, not a real character. But if we have got to know the victims, even a little, then we find their murder more moving, distressing, involving - we care about them, as readers.Happy Monday, Suzanne!
205tiffin
I have had The Best Laid Plans sitting here since it won the "Canada Reads" award. Must get at it.
The Toibin sounds fascinating. I'd be madder than a hornet if one of my lads went around orating, healing and getting himself crucified as the Messiah, so what a premise!
The Toibin sounds fascinating. I'd be madder than a hornet if one of my lads went around orating, healing and getting himself crucified as the Messiah, so what a premise!
206ffortsa
>Voices did start out slow for me, but it got a lot better, and I ended up giving it four stars.
207Chatterbox
Jenny, yes I agree with you about the chipmunk. Wouldn't you love to have heard his thoughts on that experience?!?
I'm listening to WNYC, now doing a segment on the Haiti quake's third anniversary, and oddly, the two invited guests (both of which have written books, natch) do not include Jonathan Katz, even though the theme is the mixed blessing of international aid, squarely on topic... (WNYC is my local NPR station) Just reminds me that these guys tend to be terribly biased (esp. on this show) in terms of who they invite on the show. EG, a Wall St Journal reporter will break a story (for which they later win a pulitzer or other award) and the person invited on to discuss it is from the NY Times... *eyes roll* Moreover, the points they are making aren't as significant or relevant as those in the book. True, the book isn't out yet, but that has never stopped them before this. Sigh.
Going back to that discussion, yes, it's a complex subject, especially because it's hard to criticize all the good intentions behind them. But when people don't think before they donate, and respond emotionally, it can distort the process of rebuilding. If we want a country to improve, the initiatives have to come from within the community and not from well intentioned outsiders who don't speak the language, haven't lived within the community. You have to tackle the problems they identify, and trust them to do that. I'll post a link to my full review when I finish it for Amazon.
Tui -- yes, exactly!! It's like, OK, so you think you want to be a Messiah when you grow up? Well, kiddo, let's make sure you live to grow up. Oh, and by the way -- that virgin birth stuff?? (sorry, don't want to offend anyone who believes in that literal truth, but then, this is an integral part of the story that Toibin tells, questioning the literal veracity of underpinnings of theology. It does make me wonder, too, about the whole concept of theology. We like to venerate relics and saints, but if -- as the Catholic church has shown (and I'm thinking of an episode in The Leopard here, these prove not to be bona fide or if the saints never existed at all, what does that say about the core concepts of Christianity? Does it really shake faith? Faith in those saints or those objects only, or by questioning those does it shake faith itself? And if so, why? Because I think this can be extrapolated, and here is what makes Toibin's imaginings so fascinating to me. He's writing a novel, not making a theological case. But if you accept that his novel has as much validity as that which hews closely to the orthodox line, then it follows logically that whether or not the water was turned into wine, we should still be able to accept Christianity's core truths and core messages, no?? I suppose the fact that I can think about the book in this way is proof that the Catholics who are going nuts about this have logic on their side.
Out of curiosity, I went to look at just what has been said, and a random Google search pulled up this review on Catholic World Report. "Colm Tóibín’s book won’t tell you anything about Mary. It will tell you plenty about its very sad and very angry author," is how it begins. The novel is called "Catholic-hating detritus" and the reviewer goes on to say: "the book is a by-the-numbers hatchet job written in sensitive, spare, and poetic diction for the delectation of UK and New York Chattering Classes and dipped in a bath of relentless, willful sadness and bitterness. The basic premise is that it has been 20 years since the crucifixion, and Mary is one nasty hag, sounding for all the world like a nun in iron grey, short-cropped hair and sensible shoes who has seized the microphone in a We Are Church group process breakout session and is now on the third hour of an extended free association monologue, grousing bitterly about the patriarchy." I don't know anything about the publication or its status within the church, but am kinda reeling from that.
Meanwhile, it seems as if Fiona Shaw will star in a Broadway version of the story starting in March; it has already appeared in Dublin.
Finally:
20: The Dead of Night by John Marsden is the second in a series of seven books in the tomorrow series, to which DeltaQueen/Judy appears to have gotten me addicted. They are dystopian, fast reads and don't require a lot of introspective thought (unlike the two books discussed earlier in this message) and so are fun to to intersperse with my other reading. As previously noted, this deals with the adventures of a group of Australian teens after their country is suddenly invaded while they are off in a camping trip in the bush. In this episode, they encounter a group of adults, which makes them realize that a longing for adults to take charge may be kinda futile -- one of those landmarks of growing up, when you realize that simply getting older doesn't make people smarter or give them some kind of understanding. Two ruminations: firstly, these books make me think about what it must have been like to be catapulted into the midst of WW2 at the time, when no one knew what would happen, and be forced to make life and death decisions, both practical and moral. Then there is wondering over how different they would be if they had been written today, when cell phones, the Internet and smart phones are ubiquitous. They were written in the 1990s, when it was quite different enough for me not to wonder at one point, well, why don't they just... 3.7 stars.
I'm listening to WNYC, now doing a segment on the Haiti quake's third anniversary, and oddly, the two invited guests (both of which have written books, natch) do not include Jonathan Katz, even though the theme is the mixed blessing of international aid, squarely on topic... (WNYC is my local NPR station) Just reminds me that these guys tend to be terribly biased (esp. on this show) in terms of who they invite on the show. EG, a Wall St Journal reporter will break a story (for which they later win a pulitzer or other award) and the person invited on to discuss it is from the NY Times... *eyes roll* Moreover, the points they are making aren't as significant or relevant as those in the book. True, the book isn't out yet, but that has never stopped them before this. Sigh.
Going back to that discussion, yes, it's a complex subject, especially because it's hard to criticize all the good intentions behind them. But when people don't think before they donate, and respond emotionally, it can distort the process of rebuilding. If we want a country to improve, the initiatives have to come from within the community and not from well intentioned outsiders who don't speak the language, haven't lived within the community. You have to tackle the problems they identify, and trust them to do that. I'll post a link to my full review when I finish it for Amazon.
Tui -- yes, exactly!! It's like, OK, so you think you want to be a Messiah when you grow up? Well, kiddo, let's make sure you live to grow up. Oh, and by the way -- that virgin birth stuff?? (sorry, don't want to offend anyone who believes in that literal truth, but then, this is an integral part of the story that Toibin tells, questioning the literal veracity of underpinnings of theology. It does make me wonder, too, about the whole concept of theology. We like to venerate relics and saints, but if -- as the Catholic church has shown (and I'm thinking of an episode in The Leopard here, these prove not to be bona fide or if the saints never existed at all, what does that say about the core concepts of Christianity? Does it really shake faith? Faith in those saints or those objects only, or by questioning those does it shake faith itself? And if so, why? Because I think this can be extrapolated, and here is what makes Toibin's imaginings so fascinating to me. He's writing a novel, not making a theological case. But if you accept that his novel has as much validity as that which hews closely to the orthodox line, then it follows logically that whether or not the water was turned into wine, we should still be able to accept Christianity's core truths and core messages, no?? I suppose the fact that I can think about the book in this way is proof that the Catholics who are going nuts about this have logic on their side.
Out of curiosity, I went to look at just what has been said, and a random Google search pulled up this review on Catholic World Report. "Colm Tóibín’s book won’t tell you anything about Mary. It will tell you plenty about its very sad and very angry author," is how it begins. The novel is called "Catholic-hating detritus" and the reviewer goes on to say: "the book is a by-the-numbers hatchet job written in sensitive, spare, and poetic diction for the delectation of UK and New York Chattering Classes and dipped in a bath of relentless, willful sadness and bitterness. The basic premise is that it has been 20 years since the crucifixion, and Mary is one nasty hag, sounding for all the world like a nun in iron grey, short-cropped hair and sensible shoes who has seized the microphone in a We Are Church group process breakout session and is now on the third hour of an extended free association monologue, grousing bitterly about the patriarchy." I don't know anything about the publication or its status within the church, but am kinda reeling from that.
Meanwhile, it seems as if Fiona Shaw will star in a Broadway version of the story starting in March; it has already appeared in Dublin.
Finally:
20: The Dead of Night by John Marsden is the second in a series of seven books in the tomorrow series, to which DeltaQueen/Judy appears to have gotten me addicted. They are dystopian, fast reads and don't require a lot of introspective thought (unlike the two books discussed earlier in this message) and so are fun to to intersperse with my other reading. As previously noted, this deals with the adventures of a group of Australian teens after their country is suddenly invaded while they are off in a camping trip in the bush. In this episode, they encounter a group of adults, which makes them realize that a longing for adults to take charge may be kinda futile -- one of those landmarks of growing up, when you realize that simply getting older doesn't make people smarter or give them some kind of understanding. Two ruminations: firstly, these books make me think about what it must have been like to be catapulted into the midst of WW2 at the time, when no one knew what would happen, and be forced to make life and death decisions, both practical and moral. Then there is wondering over how different they would be if they had been written today, when cell phones, the Internet and smart phones are ubiquitous. They were written in the 1990s, when it was quite different enough for me not to wonder at one point, well, why don't they just... 3.7 stars.
208Chatterbox
On a separate note: yes, I have acquired 30 books so far this year (excluding library books). The good news? I paid "full price" for only a dozen of them; the rest were ARCs, e-galleys or Kindle sale books!
209Fourpawz2
Re: #207 - I wanted to read The Testament of Mary this morning when I put it on my wishlist, but now I really, really, really want to read it. Don't usually buy books so soon after publication, but am thinking this might be a good one to get early. Thingaversary is coming up relatively soon, so this will probably be a candidate...
210richardderus
Wow! What a screed from the Catholic World Report! Now this book is a must-read. Anything that makes the Cat'licks this mad must be good.
211Chatterbox
What I find very funny about that review is that the publisher could get an excellent pull quote from it that makes it look as if the reviewer endorses it: "sensitive, spare and poetic diction". While removing the bit about being a by-the-numbers hatchet job...
#209 -- one note -- this is a novella, only 81 pages on my Kindle, so you may want to think twice about paying full price for it. The full retail price is $20, which strikes me as excessive. I'm not one of those furious opponents to book prices above an arbitrary level, but... The Kindle price currently is $8, which seems reasonable (and is less than I paid on the book's release).
#209 -- one note -- this is a novella, only 81 pages on my Kindle, so you may want to think twice about paying full price for it. The full retail price is $20, which strikes me as excessive. I'm not one of those furious opponents to book prices above an arbitrary level, but... The Kindle price currently is $8, which seems reasonable (and is less than I paid on the book's release).
212richardderus
I just reviewed 420 Characters and had the same thought: $22 for ~30,000 words?! But the production job is so lovely, I decided to belt up. And I would have missed so very much reading the book on my Kindle.
Heh, good point re: CWR's provision of a pull quote.
Heh, good point re: CWR's provision of a pull quote.
213Chatterbox
So, I was nosing around online, my curiosity sparked by the discussion on Darryl's thread about changing Atlanta, and here about my childhood home in Ottawa. I can still remember every bit of it, even though we only lived there a total of four years of the 20 or so my parents owned it. Apparently, it has been torn down by developers to build this: http://www.remax.ca/on/ottawa-real-estate/na-860-a-colonel-by-dr-na-crea_801632-.... (See my comments on #158, above)
The former place? Scroll down to the fourth message in this chain -- it's the house on the right.
https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en&fromgroups=#!topic/ottawasouthhistory...
It was build in the late 19th century, and was home to one of the 'Confederation Poets', Sir Charles GD Roberts, aka the father of Canadian poetry.
I feel sick to my stomach. Literally.
The former place? Scroll down to the fourth message in this chain -- it's the house on the right.
https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en&fromgroups=#!topic/ottawasouthhistory...
It was build in the late 19th century, and was home to one of the 'Confederation Poets', Sir Charles GD Roberts, aka the father of Canadian poetry.
I feel sick to my stomach. Literally.
214richardderus
Awful. A loss indeed.
215avatiakh
Suzanne, I recently read My name was Judas which seems to cover similar ground to Toibin's book but from the pov of Judas, who is ostracised by his fellow disciples as he looks at the 'miracles' of Jesus and sees simple truths being wildly exaggerated. It was published a few years ago but recently a BBC World Book Club book. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p010z9zl
I'll be looking out for Toibin's novella, looks like it'll be from the library at those prices.
I read most of the Marsden series many years ago when they were first coming out. More recently I read the follow on Ellie Chronicles and really enjoyed that too.
I'll be looking out for Toibin's novella, looks like it'll be from the library at those prices.
I read most of the Marsden series many years ago when they were first coming out. More recently I read the follow on Ellie Chronicles and really enjoyed that too.
216elkiedee
213: scary stuff - the new building just doesn't look like a home to me! Sorry, Suzanne.
217tiffin
Aw Suz, that makes me really sad. My grandfather's house was of the same era as your original one.
218EBT1002
Suz, as always, your thread is dangerous.
I'm adding The Testament of Mary and The Big Truck that Went By to the WL.
I'm also reminded to find the second in the Susan Hill series as I enjoyed the first one quite a bit.
Your reading for the coming weeks looks terrific! I have The Gift of Rain at my bedside, and I really want to find a copy of The Lighthouse and purchase a copy of The Round House.
I'm adding The Testament of Mary and The Big Truck that Went By to the WL.
I'm also reminded to find the second in the Susan Hill series as I enjoyed the first one quite a bit.
Your reading for the coming weeks looks terrific! I have The Gift of Rain at my bedside, and I really want to find a copy of The Lighthouse and purchase a copy of The Round House.
219Chatterbox
It looks like a series of glass boxes, doesn't it, Luci? I hereby pledge that if I win the lottery, I will buy this complex, tear it down and rebuild the original house as best I can. I feel like I have lost a sense of home, as this was the only place that was ever really anything more than a transitory home. Yes, I owned a house in Toronto, but it never felt like home, and I've lived in my current (rented) abode for a long time without it ever feeling like home except in a transactional sense.
Ellen, I take pride in my high DQ (Danger Quotient).... :-)
21. WikiLeaks: Inside Julian Assange's War on Secrecy by David Leigh. (In a moment of abstraction, I almost typed privacy in place of secrecy -- a Freudian slip??) This is the Guardian's view of their short-lived partnership with Assange and WikiLeaks, which covers the release of the data obtained by the latter from Bradley Manning, still awaiting trial. As best as I can judge it's an even-handed approach to its subjects, inadvertently revealing the Guardian's lack of sophistication in the world of technology & big data analysis, even as it also reveals the arrogance and grandiosity of the WikiLeaks folks. It's a good recapitulation of the whole affair, for anyone who doesn't recall all the details or who is looking (as I was) for some thoughts on the whole freedom of speech, anti-secrecy campaigning and how it might relate to the traditional media world. New business models are being developed for the media in the Internet age, and somehow they will end up jostling alongside the traditional ones -- as WikiLeaks found, established newspapers with a defined approach to what is news and an awareness of how to 'curate' and present news can help them address the complexity of big whistleblowing cases like this. If the Guardian's rather snide comments about Assange grate on occasion, so, too, does Assange's callousness -- if someone is willing to talk openly to an American diplomat, he suggests at one point, they should be prepared to have their name made public and face the consequences, even in dictatorial regimes where this could mean imprisonment, torture and death. Redacting details like names was something Assange had to be convinced to do... I came away from this with a lot of thoughts about the overlap/clash between old and new reporting styles, and what kinds of issues we'll face in the future. I was startled to see Chomsky adherents and other WikiLeaks crusaders argue that no one should buy or read this book (hey, I thought they were fully in favor of an open market of ideas??); to me, it appeared a relatively straightforward chronicle, with little in the way of bias beyond a certain degree of triumphalism on the part of the Guardian writers. The narrative ends in early 2011, so it feels a bit dated now, but a starting point in light of Aaron Swartz's suicide, for anyone curious and not that knowledgeable about this "open information" push. 3.9 stars.
Ellen, I take pride in my high DQ (Danger Quotient).... :-)
21. WikiLeaks: Inside Julian Assange's War on Secrecy by David Leigh. (In a moment of abstraction, I almost typed privacy in place of secrecy -- a Freudian slip??) This is the Guardian's view of their short-lived partnership with Assange and WikiLeaks, which covers the release of the data obtained by the latter from Bradley Manning, still awaiting trial. As best as I can judge it's an even-handed approach to its subjects, inadvertently revealing the Guardian's lack of sophistication in the world of technology & big data analysis, even as it also reveals the arrogance and grandiosity of the WikiLeaks folks. It's a good recapitulation of the whole affair, for anyone who doesn't recall all the details or who is looking (as I was) for some thoughts on the whole freedom of speech, anti-secrecy campaigning and how it might relate to the traditional media world. New business models are being developed for the media in the Internet age, and somehow they will end up jostling alongside the traditional ones -- as WikiLeaks found, established newspapers with a defined approach to what is news and an awareness of how to 'curate' and present news can help them address the complexity of big whistleblowing cases like this. If the Guardian's rather snide comments about Assange grate on occasion, so, too, does Assange's callousness -- if someone is willing to talk openly to an American diplomat, he suggests at one point, they should be prepared to have their name made public and face the consequences, even in dictatorial regimes where this could mean imprisonment, torture and death. Redacting details like names was something Assange had to be convinced to do... I came away from this with a lot of thoughts about the overlap/clash between old and new reporting styles, and what kinds of issues we'll face in the future. I was startled to see Chomsky adherents and other WikiLeaks crusaders argue that no one should buy or read this book (hey, I thought they were fully in favor of an open market of ideas??); to me, it appeared a relatively straightforward chronicle, with little in the way of bias beyond a certain degree of triumphalism on the part of the Guardian writers. The narrative ends in early 2011, so it feels a bit dated now, but a starting point in light of Aaron Swartz's suicide, for anyone curious and not that knowledgeable about this "open information" push. 3.9 stars.
220Chatterbox
For anyone who uses NetGalley and is interested in reading Frances and Bernard (see post #149, above), I noticed that Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has made it available for NetGalley users/reviewers/bloggers to request...
221ChelleBearss
#213 that's so sad! I would have thought they would have had to keep it as it's a historical building. Sorry Suz :(
222Fourpawz2
#211 - I noticed the Kindle price, Suzanne and that is the one I am planning to go with.
Such a shame about your house! That thing they are/have put up is an architectural horror. I've been so dismayed, of late, to see the popularity of so-called 'mid-century modern'. I grew up (and sadly still have to live in) a mid-century modern house and they are just plain butt-ugly. Can't imagine anyone really wanting to live in such a characterless collection of boxes piled one on top of the other.
Such a shame about your house! That thing they are/have put up is an architectural horror. I've been so dismayed, of late, to see the popularity of so-called 'mid-century modern'. I grew up (and sadly still have to live in) a mid-century modern house and they are just plain butt-ugly. Can't imagine anyone really wanting to live in such a characterless collection of boxes piled one on top of the other.
223Chatterbox
Only in Brooklyn... Could you walk into your local bakery (the place that Richard loves because it makes his 'Christmas crack' -- matzo covered with chocolate and then bits of peppermint candy) and chat with the young woman that you chat to whenever you go in there -- and then discover that she is Christopher Hitchens' daughter. Oh yeah, and that Martin Amis apparently has just moved into the 'hood, too...
225vivians
My oldest son is moving to Brooklyn! I grew up in NYC and never once went to Brooklyn as a kid but now it really seems the place to be. Sounds like you're in a great neighborhood!
226LizzieD
Brooklyn does sound great. It sounds great when my cousin's child talks about it too, but I doubt that he's in quite such a rarified atmosphere. On the other hand, I also recall your issues with the street last year, so what do I know?
And I'm sick about your old house too. That's character!
I'm glad that you keep reading though; you're The Source!
And I'm sick about your old house too. That's character!
I'm glad that you keep reading though; you're The Source!
227ffortsa
I was born in Brooklyn. Of course, I haven't lived there since I was 2 years old, but it's in the water, it never leaves you.
228richardderus
Suz, since it was at your behest that I read it, I'll tell you too: I've reviewed a very successful read of Howards End is on the Landing, a reader's memoir through books by writer Susan Hill. Quite a lovely trip through her home library. Review is on my thread...post #263.
229Chatterbox
I find the whole uber-literary thing very funny. Most young writers these days seem to live in Brooklyn, and then there's Auster up in Park Slope, about 20 minutes away in one direction, and I guess Amis is moving into a place in Cobble Hill, about 20 mins in the other direction. I could reel off a list of others who live nearby, but I'm beginning to realize that I'm just not up to snuff! Dunno how rarefied the atmosphere really is, but I admit to wondering if there's a pub or bar where Jonathan Lethem hangs out with Paul Auster and where Martin Amis will now join them to chat in the evenings??
Richard, delighted to know that was a hit. Have you read Susan Hill's mysteries, perchance?
Judy, aha, so the born in Brooklyn thing explains it all...
Peggy -- the "source"????? good grief!
22. Taj by Timeri Murari is the book to read if you don't want to spend the time it will take chomping your way through the three stronger novels by Indu Sundaresan that cover the same story of the rivalry between the Mughal Emperors Akbar, Jahangir, Shah Jahan and the latter's sons. The focus of this is on the love story between Shah Jahan and Arjumand Banu, his empress, whose tomb is what is known as the Taj Mahal. Murari jumps back and forth between a narrative about the construction of the monument to the Mughal emperor's great love for his wife, and their own story, but it doesn't always work. There's an interesting attempt to link them through the fictional character of Isa, Arjumand's lifelong servant, who has an unexpected connection to the construction of her tomb, but also a clumsier effort to mirror the father/son and sibling rivalries in the chapters set later on, after Arjumand's death, as Murari spells out the tragic aftermath of the love story. As Shah Jahan mourns, "What I love, God destroys", but Murari's tale is one of a strong but willfully blind man whose inability to see truths that even his brother (literally blind, after being blinded after a failed revolt against their father) can see. If you don't know the story but are curious, try The Twentieth Wife, Feast of Roses and Shadow Princess; the trilogy I mentioned earlier. Just shun the over-romanticized and historically inaccurate novel by John Shors set against the same backdrop. This novel falls somewhere in between. 3.7 stars.
Richard, delighted to know that was a hit. Have you read Susan Hill's mysteries, perchance?
Judy, aha, so the born in Brooklyn thing explains it all...
Peggy -- the "source"????? good grief!
22. Taj by Timeri Murari is the book to read if you don't want to spend the time it will take chomping your way through the three stronger novels by Indu Sundaresan that cover the same story of the rivalry between the Mughal Emperors Akbar, Jahangir, Shah Jahan and the latter's sons. The focus of this is on the love story between Shah Jahan and Arjumand Banu, his empress, whose tomb is what is known as the Taj Mahal. Murari jumps back and forth between a narrative about the construction of the monument to the Mughal emperor's great love for his wife, and their own story, but it doesn't always work. There's an interesting attempt to link them through the fictional character of Isa, Arjumand's lifelong servant, who has an unexpected connection to the construction of her tomb, but also a clumsier effort to mirror the father/son and sibling rivalries in the chapters set later on, after Arjumand's death, as Murari spells out the tragic aftermath of the love story. As Shah Jahan mourns, "What I love, God destroys", but Murari's tale is one of a strong but willfully blind man whose inability to see truths that even his brother (literally blind, after being blinded after a failed revolt against their father) can see. If you don't know the story but are curious, try The Twentieth Wife, Feast of Roses and Shadow Princess; the trilogy I mentioned earlier. Just shun the over-romanticized and historically inaccurate novel by John Shors set against the same backdrop. This novel falls somewhere in between. 3.7 stars.
230Chatterbox
Ugh, the woman I report to directly for my biggest piece of freelance work has been laid off. She says it shouldn't affect me or the ongoing project (editing website content), which is good as this now accounts for about 2/3 to 3/4 of my income, but it's worrying. It's one of the world's biggest media companies, and they'll have more layoffs on Friday. I do expect, however, that they will cut back my contract in terms of $/hours. Good thing that I have picked up the YCharts work in recent months... But I'm very sad about Jeanne, who is very smart, focused and one of the most collegial people I have ever worked with. At least I will be able to keep her as a friend, I hope. Blech. OK, back to work...
231richardderus
Boo hiss on the layoff, sorry to hear that.
I am avoiding the Hills...I disliked The Man in the Picture and laughed out loud at The Woman in Black, so I suspect I'm a poor fit for her fiction.
I am avoiding the Hills...I disliked The Man in the Picture and laughed out loud at The Woman in Black, so I suspect I'm a poor fit for her fiction.
232EBT1002
Rats, that is bad news. I hope it has only a minimal impact on you (as I say that, I know better because even if it doesn't reduce your work allocation, these things always affect the work and the mood).
233Chatterbox
I suspect it will lead to some kind of cutback, and would be surprised if it didn't. Since I don't work in an office, I am less worried about something like morale, but it does surprise me that they felt they could do without Jeanne. It's certainly going to make my work harder and less efficient.
234EBT1002
It's certainly going to make my work harder and less efficient.
Well, that is your morale..... and I take your point. As one who works in (and directs) a large department of mental health professionals, I tend to think about staff morale a lot.
Well, that is your morale..... and I take your point. As one who works in (and directs) a large department of mental health professionals, I tend to think about staff morale a lot.
235ffortsa
Too many times, management cuts back on people in such a way as to make the work more difficult to do. I just found out that both people who mediate between me and the database technicians have been let go, so now I have no idea who is going to vet/consult on design, assure design quality, etc. And I have a sinking feeling that the database design package I use is on the way out too, since they were the heaviest users of it. And it's not cheap. Sigh.
I hope your layoff-related news doesn't impact your income much, and that you get along with whoever will be the new contact person.
I hope your layoff-related news doesn't impact your income much, and that you get along with whoever will be the new contact person.
236Chatterbox
So, here's something slightly more upbeat. I was checking Facebook, and found that a friend of mine had signed up for some courses (free, university-level) at coursera.org. There are actually some very, very interesting ones, and I signed up for one from Wesleyan, The Modern and the PostModern, which starts in mid-February. There's one from Brown, "The Fiction of Relationship", that looks very appealing, another on modern American poetry (well, 20th century, anyway...), another on science fiction & fantasy from University of Michigan, a couple on ancient Greeks, and a University of Edinburgh intro to philosophy course that I may well try later. It's a real hodge podge, and I didn't even really look beyond the humanities & social siences -- but go to www.coursera.org.
237sibylline
Oh I am so sympathetic about the house. The house I grew up in the Philadelphia suburbs has been torn down too - it sat derelict for a few years - for sale for too much money and no takers - just not a house that people wanted to mess with even though it was built around 1900 and had some incredible woodwork and bookshelves to die for everywhere; the previous owner had lived there since the mid-60's when she bought it from us and had done literally NOTHING but fixes since then. The worst was just when I was finally ready to take my daughter to see it .... it was gone. The site looked so small, so nothing. I felt so terrible that she never got to see it. I lived there from 1 to 11, a pretty good stretch, with one year away when my father was on sabbatical.
238Chatterbox
Sib/Lucy, it's funny, but occasionally I'll dream that I go back there. I had recently resolved that next time I was in Ottawa, I would ring the doorbell and ask to see around the place. Guess that isn't happening... It has kind of triggered an existential crisis, since as long as the house existed, it was a proxy for a sense of home, if that makes sense. And now I actually feel homeless. At my age, it's way too late to start putting down roots, and where would I do? *angst attack*
239richardderus
See this is exactly why we need the Tome Home to come to fruition!
240Chatterbox
I have been told I will learn more about the future of this big website project that has been accounting for so much of my time & income over the last year within 2 weeks -- which is about the time I would submit my next invoice...
I suspect quite strongly that the best case scenario will be that they cut my income back. I hope that I'm wrong. And I really hope that they don't decide either to axe the project or take it completely in-house to save money, either of which would be VERY bad news.
23. The Far Side of the World by Patrick O'Brian is a quite good entry in the Aubrey/Maturin series, still being listened to as audiobooks, narrated by Patrick Tull. At points, especially the concluding 'pages', it's very suspenseful -- Maturin falls out of the boat one evening and when Jack dives out to save him, they realize there is no boat trailing behind as usual and the two are left behind as HMS Surprise sails merrily off toward the horizon.... Surprise & its crew are chasing an American ship, the Norfolk, that is preying on British whalers, but they get a "surprise" when they finally catch up with her. This involves rounding Cape Horn, and sailing on both coasts of South America, including a visit to the Galapagos. Oh yes, and a sloth makes another appearance. Or at least, a sloth-like creature languishing on a verandah in Brazil that Maturin comments might have been mistaken for a fuzzy mat, had it not sneezed at one point. 4 stars. Moving on to #11, as this one ended on a cliffhanger of sorts -- and with a postscript warning that O'Brian plans to abandon purely linear time. I had wondered how he was going to manage to keep the series going. Book 1 began in 1802; we are now in about 1813 and book 10. And yet we don't get to Napoleon's 100 days until book #19, which means we somehow cram 8 books into a mere 18 months -- hard to imagine when each involves months of sailing... I'll be trying to forget this sleight of hand as I read on, but I am looking for a place to pause for a month or two so that I can switch to listening to The Balkan Trilogy by Olivia Manning. For my 2013 Category challenge.
I suspect quite strongly that the best case scenario will be that they cut my income back. I hope that I'm wrong. And I really hope that they don't decide either to axe the project or take it completely in-house to save money, either of which would be VERY bad news.
23. The Far Side of the World by Patrick O'Brian is a quite good entry in the Aubrey/Maturin series, still being listened to as audiobooks, narrated by Patrick Tull. At points, especially the concluding 'pages', it's very suspenseful -- Maturin falls out of the boat one evening and when Jack dives out to save him, they realize there is no boat trailing behind as usual and the two are left behind as HMS Surprise sails merrily off toward the horizon.... Surprise & its crew are chasing an American ship, the Norfolk, that is preying on British whalers, but they get a "surprise" when they finally catch up with her. This involves rounding Cape Horn, and sailing on both coasts of South America, including a visit to the Galapagos. Oh yes, and a sloth makes another appearance. Or at least, a sloth-like creature languishing on a verandah in Brazil that Maturin comments might have been mistaken for a fuzzy mat, had it not sneezed at one point. 4 stars. Moving on to #11, as this one ended on a cliffhanger of sorts -- and with a postscript warning that O'Brian plans to abandon purely linear time. I had wondered how he was going to manage to keep the series going. Book 1 began in 1802; we are now in about 1813 and book 10. And yet we don't get to Napoleon's 100 days until book #19, which means we somehow cram 8 books into a mere 18 months -- hard to imagine when each involves months of sailing... I'll be trying to forget this sleight of hand as I read on, but I am looking for a place to pause for a month or two so that I can switch to listening to The Balkan Trilogy by Olivia Manning. For my 2013 Category challenge.
241gennyt
Indeed, we need that tome home! I'm sorry to hear of your angst about home, Suz; I'm very sensitive on that theme too and it pops up in the most unexpected ways. I remember being overwhelmed with nostalgia for a lost home when I stayed with friends in Brussels, because the suburb where they lived though new to me was so reminiscent of the parts of Holland where I grew up. Then I got home and found my actual home had been burgled while I was away, which compounded the sense of having no safe or lasting home.
I shall look out for The Testament of Mary. Not read any Toibin yet. I have also now got the first two O'Briens lined up, hearing your continuing enthusiasm, though like you I shall probably skim over the sailing details in favour of human intrigues. Look forward to getting to this latest one featuring Malta, following my recent stay there.
Edited to add: not the latest which you posted as I was typing this, but the one before that. Interesting about the linear time problems...
I shall look out for The Testament of Mary. Not read any Toibin yet. I have also now got the first two O'Briens lined up, hearing your continuing enthusiasm, though like you I shall probably skim over the sailing details in favour of human intrigues. Look forward to getting to this latest one featuring Malta, following my recent stay there.
Edited to add: not the latest which you posted as I was typing this, but the one before that. Interesting about the linear time problems...
242Chatterbox
What a horrible invasion of privacy, Genny -- I'm so sorry about the burglary! It happened a few times to me in Toronto, but not since, thankfully, and while losing the stuff was a pain, it was the sense that someone had been prowling around my home freely that really freaked me out.
This was my third Toibin novel, and all have been excellent, if quite different in their subject matters and approach. I quite liked some but not all of one of his recent story collections as well, although generally I'm less of a short story fan.
This was my third Toibin novel, and all have been excellent, if quite different in their subject matters and approach. I quite liked some but not all of one of his recent story collections as well, although generally I'm less of a short story fan.
243ronincats
I can also empathize about the lost home. The house I grew up in was a farmhouse in the river bottom. I lived there from 1-1/2 until I left home after college. My folks sold it and moved into Abilene a few years after that. It got flood damage and was torn down along with the surrounding buildings except for the barn. It's hard to believe that it now exists only in my mind. I wander around the rooms remembering details mentally, wistfully. It wasn't even that great of a house, but it was mine.
Fingers crossed about the project work, Suzanne!
Fingers crossed about the project work, Suzanne!
244PawsforThought
Jeez. I felt bad enough when I returned to my old hometown and discovered that the new owners of our old house had painted it a completely different colour, cut down two of our trees (we planted them) and put up an awful fence at the front of the house. :/
Can't imagine what it'd feel like to have it knocked down.
Can't imagine what it'd feel like to have it knocked down.
245Mr.Durick
The google maps pictures show shrubberies and trees gone that should still be there at my parents' house, where I spent my first 17 years. I dream of it sometimes even though it is best for me to be long and far gone from there.
Robert
Robert
246Chatterbox
It's odd to think that the farmhouse built by my great-great-great grandfather just outside Ingersoll Ontario still exists for his descendants to go back to each summer. I suppose I should be thankful for that!! He was a largely illiterate blacksmith & farmer, whose sons went on to become principal of a Stratford, Ontario collegiate institute and (in the case of my great-great grandfather), a telecom entrepreneur and member of the Ontario legislature.
247Chatterbox
Some adequate, if not tremendously compelling books read:
24. The Ophelia Cut is the upcoming novel by John Lescroart, the latest in a very long series of mysteries set in San Francisco. This one was a rather weak entry, alas, so although it reunited most of the characters he has introduced over the years -- attorneys Dismas Hardy and Gina Roake, DA Wes Farrell, homicide inspector Abe Glitsky, PI Wyatt Hunt -- the plot felt a bit stilted and Lescroart kind of avoided the opportunity to do anything to spice it up. Several of the characters have a big secret to hide (dates back a few books) and now the arrest of Hardy's brother in law, accused of murdering his daughter's rapist, raises the prospect that the secret will come out, ruining all their lives. All the good guys have good intentions, blah blah. That's OK when there's enough bona fide tension, but Lescroart dropped the ball on this one. 3.4 stars.
25. A Killing Frost by John Marsden is the third in the "Tomorrow" YA series. The Australian teenagers who have thus far been successful in keeping clear of the invading forces that have occupied their country plan their most daring sabotage raid yet. The action sequences are very good; the introspection is becoming very "same old" at this stage. I'll probably wait before reading #4, especially as the Kindle versions are rife with the most bizarre typos I have ever seen. Still, creative. Not sure how the author got to 7 books in this series without it sputtering, though. We'll see. I have #4, but subsequent books will come from the library. 3.5 stars.
Probably will start Angel by Elizabeth Taylor this weekend, and I'm eager to read some better mysteries.
24. The Ophelia Cut is the upcoming novel by John Lescroart, the latest in a very long series of mysteries set in San Francisco. This one was a rather weak entry, alas, so although it reunited most of the characters he has introduced over the years -- attorneys Dismas Hardy and Gina Roake, DA Wes Farrell, homicide inspector Abe Glitsky, PI Wyatt Hunt -- the plot felt a bit stilted and Lescroart kind of avoided the opportunity to do anything to spice it up. Several of the characters have a big secret to hide (dates back a few books) and now the arrest of Hardy's brother in law, accused of murdering his daughter's rapist, raises the prospect that the secret will come out, ruining all their lives. All the good guys have good intentions, blah blah. That's OK when there's enough bona fide tension, but Lescroart dropped the ball on this one. 3.4 stars.
25. A Killing Frost by John Marsden is the third in the "Tomorrow" YA series. The Australian teenagers who have thus far been successful in keeping clear of the invading forces that have occupied their country plan their most daring sabotage raid yet. The action sequences are very good; the introspection is becoming very "same old" at this stage. I'll probably wait before reading #4, especially as the Kindle versions are rife with the most bizarre typos I have ever seen. Still, creative. Not sure how the author got to 7 books in this series without it sputtering, though. We'll see. I have #4, but subsequent books will come from the library. 3.5 stars.
Probably will start Angel by Elizabeth Taylor this weekend, and I'm eager to read some better mysteries.
248PaulCranswick
I am also able to empathise about losing homes. My own looking back on my threads at the area I grew up in leaves me oftentimes wistful to say the least if not a little homesick from time to time.
I think it is great Suz that you are able to trace back your family so many generations. Have a lovely weekend with an Angel by your bedside.
I think it is great Suz that you are able to trace back your family so many generations. Have a lovely weekend with an Angel by your bedside.
249Chatterbox
My demented landlord strikes again. He told us he'd renew our leases for a final year before renovating on his September visit. Then, at Thanksgiving, he blew up on a visit to NY when he saw bags of recycling that hadn't been picked up outside the door. There hadn't been a pick up since Hurricane Sandy, but he was obsessed by the idea that this would depress the value of the property in the eyes of an appraiser (he is refinancing) and threatened not to renew our leases. He finally calmed down, and 10 days ago I got a copy of the new lease, which will give me one final year here (which I need). Now I get a new e-mail saying that the appraiser will be visiting within the next 3 weeks; that he plans to do a "walk-through inspection" before that and that renewal of my lease will depend on his opinion of the apartment at that point. Basically, he's threatening not to countersign the lease... For the third time in four months, I have to devote hours of every day to making sure my socks are lined up in drawers (he once opened them) and that all closets are clear of anything that HE might deem to be clutter. It doesn't matter what I think or even what the appraiser thinks.
I think I'm getting an ulcer.
I think I'm getting an ulcer.
250PaulCranswick
Sounds like a prime arsehole (or should that be primate arsehole). SWMBO refused to move to the house I bought which was away from her pals and we are still in our same pad where I had a lease buy arrangement which I had to go to court to enforce when they tried to raise the price by 25%!
Drink a nice warming cognac over ice. Don't know whether it will help or aggravate your ulcer but you won't care for very long afterwards. x
Drink a nice warming cognac over ice. Don't know whether it will help or aggravate your ulcer but you won't care for very long afterwards. x
251Fourpawz2
I've never rented. Is this the usual kind of crap renters have to put up with? Doesn't seem right to treat people this way.
252paulstalder
Oh, Suzanne you have some difficult thins ahead in the job and at home.
We also had our bad experiences when renting a flat. We have to pay a fee (the amount of two-month-rent) in advance. When we left the flat the owner didn't want to return the deposit so we had to go to court and after three years we got the money back - but all the hassle ah, I got sleepless nights...
We also had our bad experiences when renting a flat. We have to pay a fee (the amount of two-month-rent) in advance. When we left the flat the owner didn't want to return the deposit so we had to go to court and after three years we got the money back - but all the hassle ah, I got sleepless nights...
253ChelleBearss
#249 how did you refrain from shoving a sock down his throat when he opened your drawers?!
254streamsong
I am so sorry about your landlord. Is it truly worth staying there another year? Is it legal for them to look through drawers? At the minimum, I think I would have a friend there with me to video the inspection.
Delurking because you mentioned the coursera courses.
The intro to philosophy course you mentioned looked enticing so I signed up about a month ago. (I have a huge cobwebby empty closet in my brain where a basic knowledge of philosophy should be--and who could resist a nice Scottish accent?)
Their emails say that much to their surprise, there are almost 80,000 people worldwide already signed up for that course. They plan to start organizing people into small (?) discussion groups this next week. I can't imagine 80,000 people trying to access the weekly one and a half hour lectures! I'll give it a shot, but if it doesn't work, it doesn't work.
I also signed up for the China and technology class later this spring.
Delurking because you mentioned the coursera courses.
The intro to philosophy course you mentioned looked enticing so I signed up about a month ago. (I have a huge cobwebby empty closet in my brain where a basic knowledge of philosophy should be--and who could resist a nice Scottish accent?)
Their emails say that much to their surprise, there are almost 80,000 people worldwide already signed up for that course. They plan to start organizing people into small (?) discussion groups this next week. I can't imagine 80,000 people trying to access the weekly one and a half hour lectures! I'll give it a shot, but if it doesn't work, it doesn't work.
I also signed up for the China and technology class later this spring.
255gennyt
Your landlord is beyond appalling and well beyond rational and I don't know about the legal situation re landlord/tenant rights in the US but what he requires doesn't sound very legal either to me. Huge sympathies being sent your way, not that that is a lot of practical help...
256ffortsa
Suz, I assume this isn't a stabilized lease, as the building sounds too small for regulation, but you might want to call the city housing services anyway and get a line on what the landlord can legally inspect regarding your belongings. It's bizarre beyond thinking that he opened your drawers, or even your closets (although he might have some rights to closets in case people shove stuff in there before inspection, but even then, I'm doubtful).
Fourpaw2, many people rent without interference, but there's always some crazy landlord somewhere. My landlord stopped by a few years ago after someone in the building had a fire in her apartment. Chiefly, I think he was making sure I wasn't a hoarder as she seems to have been, since that constitutes a fire hazard (duh). He walked two feet into my apartment, said - oh, you're fine, and then we had a little talk about the possibilities of buying the place - too expensive. I'm better off renting. but that is only because I have a regulated lease. If the lease were to become unregulated, I couldn't afford to stay in Manhattan.
Fourpaw2, many people rent without interference, but there's always some crazy landlord somewhere. My landlord stopped by a few years ago after someone in the building had a fire in her apartment. Chiefly, I think he was making sure I wasn't a hoarder as she seems to have been, since that constitutes a fire hazard (duh). He walked two feet into my apartment, said - oh, you're fine, and then we had a little talk about the possibilities of buying the place - too expensive. I'm better off renting. but that is only because I have a regulated lease. If the lease were to become unregulated, I couldn't afford to stay in Manhattan.
257PawsforThought
251. I've always rented and never had an issue with a landlord or -lady. Quite the opposite, a couple of them have been absolutely lovely - to the point of inviting me over for dinner (I was the only tenant) and helping out with moving etc.
Most of the time I've only seen or heard from them when it was time to move (because they needed to check that it was properly cleaned and than I hadn't torn any walls down or anything) or if there was an issue with the flat (something broken that wasn't caused by me).
Most of the time I've only seen or heard from them when it was time to move (because they needed to check that it was properly cleaned and than I hadn't torn any walls down or anything) or if there was an issue with the flat (something broken that wasn't caused by me).
258Chatterbox
I've been saving in order to finance the move. Since I'm self employed, there's no chance of getting a place without a broker. That means that in order to move, I will have to have first, last and a deposit in hand, plus 12% to 15% of the annual rent for a broker fee, plus the moving expenses (it cost me $6,000 or so to move here -- yes, really, but that is New York...) Now, if you add this up and figure that if I'm lucky I might be able to cut my rent back to $2,500 a month, well, you see the problem... Add to that the fact that the process of moving might require me to put all my work to one side for three full weeks to find some place and move, noting please the self employment issue, and that's the other problem. Do-able with enough notice -- and the remaining year is enough notice -- but not 60 days, especially after he had told me twice he would renew for a year and then sent me a lease. I'm going to try to find a lawyer to advice on the latter point. If he offers me a renewal and then reneges, I think that could be a problem. But he's a very volatile character; if I have someone here, if I video the inspection, or otherwise do anything to piss him off, if I tell him he doesn't have the right to do such and such, he goes ballistic. That's what happened when I made the mistake of mentioning that the place hadn't been painted since I moved in (at that point, 8 years ago). Part of the issue is that he thinks he is a really responsive, thoughtful landlord -- and if you do anything that he interprets as questioning that, he goes ballistic. An example of the level of nonsense: when he first saw the bags of recycling (under the stairs outside the house) he sent us (me and neighbors) an e-mail, including the question "who do they belong to?" Now, the access to the building is surrounded by a nine-foot-high fence and a locked gate. Neither of us answered that question; we figured it went without saying that we weren't rounding up the neighbors' stuff and they weren't dumping it there. He became furious, and thought we were being sarcastic at his expense; we were simply assuming it was a rhetorical question.
Part of the issue is that his definition of tidy is a bit absurd. A magazine on table, he frowns at. He lives in Germany, in a very modern place, he no longer works (much less working from home) and he has an inherent dislike for clutter. I am not allowed to keep a book on the floor anywhere in the house, for instance. And yes, I do feel that this place isn't my own.
Let's leave aside the question of whether the appraiser is going to care about ANY of this stuff.
Part of the issue is that his definition of tidy is a bit absurd. A magazine on table, he frowns at. He lives in Germany, in a very modern place, he no longer works (much less working from home) and he has an inherent dislike for clutter. I am not allowed to keep a book on the floor anywhere in the house, for instance. And yes, I do feel that this place isn't my own.
Let's leave aside the question of whether the appraiser is going to care about ANY of this stuff.
259cammykitty
Good luck with that landlord - I (forgive me if I offend the one exception) personally think all landlords are demented. I had a similar landlord, who also insisted that he remembered things about an imaginary adjustment to a lease and that his memory was infallible, even though he'd had a stroke between the time of the alleged memory and this conversation. & there's an alcoholic secretary and an ugly divorce that goes along with the building's history too. & btw, there "were no rats" in the building even though the back door didn't close properly and the trash dumpster was just a few short steps away from it.
260Chatterbox
Paul -- does this mean that you now have an empty house available?? *grin*
The two "paws/pawz"s: This is NYC, but even so, it's above and beyond. It's the mutual incomprehension that is the hardest, since I never seem to know -- even after a decade -- what will set him off. In late November, he accused me of refusing to provide neighbors with his contact details, which is absurd. (He couldn't even tell me who he thought had requested them...) I've had four landlords in NY, and while the first one was also batty (she was a caretaker for a childhood friend, who owned the building; she was abusing her -- we could hear the screams in the basement -- and when Ann, the owner came upstairs to ask us to help, we called social services and did what they suggested we do, which was to change the locks. Within two days, Ann had let Pat in again, the screaming started again, and both my downstairs neighbor and I lost our homes. The other two landlords I've had were eminently rational, and one that I lived upstairs from in another brownstone was lovely (although the place was quite small, making life somewhat cramped.)
Streamsong: 80,000? wowza... I'm not surprised, though. I am curious to find out how they are making the $$. It seems odd to me that the colleges would be paying -- they hardly need the PR. I shall have to look into this.
Judy: Yes, it's a two-unit brownstone, so all bets are off. Pretty much zero rights, except as provided by the lease. He deems the existence of my books as a fire hazard...
Chelle: only the knowledge that the next step would have been me becoming homeless stopped me.
The two "paws/pawz"s: This is NYC, but even so, it's above and beyond. It's the mutual incomprehension that is the hardest, since I never seem to know -- even after a decade -- what will set him off. In late November, he accused me of refusing to provide neighbors with his contact details, which is absurd. (He couldn't even tell me who he thought had requested them...) I've had four landlords in NY, and while the first one was also batty (she was a caretaker for a childhood friend, who owned the building; she was abusing her -- we could hear the screams in the basement -- and when Ann, the owner came upstairs to ask us to help, we called social services and did what they suggested we do, which was to change the locks. Within two days, Ann had let Pat in again, the screaming started again, and both my downstairs neighbor and I lost our homes. The other two landlords I've had were eminently rational, and one that I lived upstairs from in another brownstone was lovely (although the place was quite small, making life somewhat cramped.)
Streamsong: 80,000? wowza... I'm not surprised, though. I am curious to find out how they are making the $$. It seems odd to me that the colleges would be paying -- they hardly need the PR. I shall have to look into this.
Judy: Yes, it's a two-unit brownstone, so all bets are off. Pretty much zero rights, except as provided by the lease. He deems the existence of my books as a fire hazard...
Chelle: only the knowledge that the next step would have been me becoming homeless stopped me.
261Fourpawz2
Am officially appalled. Have always thought it must be amazing to live in a New York apartment. Hurriedly revising opinion.
262Chatterbox
Charlotte -- it can be, if you can afford to buy a nice place. But even then, you're dealing with a co-op board. If you do get a good landlord, odds are that you're still in a tiny place and spending thousands a month for rent. Most of the places near me that are 1 bed apartments are now $2,500 to $3,000. I'm at the top of that scale now, for a 2-bedroom. Good space, but... * eyes roll *
263PawsforThought
262. I used to pay about £170/month for a studio flat (good size with a terribly small "kitchen". That was the place where mylandlords invited me over for dinner. They'd invite to drinks sometimes too, and pick me up with their car in town (this was just outside of town) if I'd been away so I wouldn't have to drag my bags on the bus.
264elkiedee
Yikes. My house is tiny, bearing in mind that there are 4 of us here, it's in one of the last cheap areas of London, and we have a cat in hell's chance of ever being able to move, in London (I'd love to move back north, but Mike will never go for it). But we are so lucky that my mum was able to help me to buy in 1998, just before house prices rocketed again - about 75% in the following 18 months, more than 100% when I remortgaged in 2004. Our mortgage is quite small and is no more than 15% of the value of the house. My mortgage interest is about £100, I used to try and pay £500 a month though I'm not doing that just now - people renting a room in a shared house probably have to pay over £700 and flats would be over £1,000 even in this area, I don't know how anyone can rent or buy anything at all these days!
When I was renting my non-resident landlords were eminently sane in most cases, I never even met one of them - but I had so many disasters with resident landlords and flatmates.
I really hope that you can find a sensible, professional landlord next time, Suz. It sounds like your neighbours might miss you, especially the 4 year old who goes to the library with you.
When I was renting my non-resident landlords were eminently sane in most cases, I never even met one of them - but I had so many disasters with resident landlords and flatmates.
I really hope that you can find a sensible, professional landlord next time, Suz. It sounds like your neighbours might miss you, especially the 4 year old who goes to the library with you.
This topic was continued by Chatterbox's 2013 Adventures in Bibliomania -- Episode Two.
