Xieouyang, aka Manuel, persists-- will hit 75 one day

I am looking forward to another year of very interesting and stimulating comments from you, my fellow "75 Books Challenge" readers.

The sheer number of participants ensures that, again, I will find a wide range of books as well as views. And that I also will enjoy the camaraderie and friendliness among the group's members.

This is the list of books read this year:
January reads:
1. Essays in Biography by Joseph Epstein
2. Your Republic is Calling You by Young-ha Kim
3. The Bridge on the Drina by Ivo Andric
4. The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
5. Shipwrecks by Akira Yoshimura
6. Self Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson
7. The Love Song of A. Jerome Minkoff: and Other Stories by Joseph Epstein
8. 1222 by Anne Holt

February reads:
9. Pulse by Julian Barnes
10. Therese Raquin by Emile Zola
11. Reminiscenses of Abraham Lincoln by Frederick Douglass
12. The Swerve by Stephen Greenblatt
13. Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville
14. Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser
15. Parsifal in Wagner Nights by Ernest Newman

March reads:
16. An Enemy of the People by Henrik Ibsen
17. Driftless by David Rhodes

April reads
18. The Searchers- The Making of an American Legend by Glenn Frankel
19. Hazard by Richard Hughes
20. The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham
21. The Four Feathers by A. E. W. Mason
22. Defeat by Pilippe-Paul de Segur
23. The Secret Sharer by Joseph Conrad
24. The Nose by Nikolai Gogol

May reads
25. Orchard by Larry Watson
26. The Stranger by Albert Camus
27. Algerian Chronicles by Albert Camus
28. Ghosts by Henrik Ibsen
29. An Ideal Husband by Oscar Wilde
30. Vergara by Benito Perez Galdos

June reads
31. Fortunes of War by Olivia Manning
32. A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka
33. Lady Windermere's Fan by Oscar Wilde
34. The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde
35. The Spoilt City by Olivia Manning
36. Friends and Heroes by Olivia Manning
37. (Selected Stories by William Trevor
(1) "The Piano Tuner's Wives"
(2) "A Friendship"

July reads
37. Selected Stories by William Trevor...continued
(3) "Timothy's Birthday"
(4) "Child's Play"
(5) "A Bit of Business"
(6) "After Rain"
(7) "Widows"
(8) "Gilbert's Mother"
(9) "The Potato Dealer'
(10) "Lost Ground"
(11) "A Day"
(12) "Marrying Damian"
(13) "Three People"
(14) "Of the Cloth"
(15) "Good News"
(16) "The Mourning"
(17) "A Friend in the Trade
(18) "Low Sunday, 1950"
(19) "LE VISITEUR"
(20) "THE VIRGIN'S GIFT"
(21) "DEATH OF A PROFESSOR"
(22) "AGAINST THE ODDS"
(23) "THE TELEPHONE GAME"
(24) "THE HILL BACHELORS"
(25) "SITTING WITH THE DEAD"
(26) "TRADITIONS"
(27) "JUSTINA'S FATHER"
(28) "AN EVENING OUT"
(30) "SOLITUDE"
(31) "SACRED STATUES"
(32) 'ROSE WEPT"
(33) "BIG BUCKS"
(34) "ON THE STREETS"
(35) 'THE DANCING-MASTER'S MUSIC"
(36) "A BIT ON THE SIDE"
(37) 'THE DRESSMAKER'S DAUGHTER"
(38) "THE ROOM"
38. My Life as a Fake by Peter Carey
39. Hypocrites & Half-Wits by Donald J. Boudreaux

August Reads
Continuing 37. Selected Stories by William Treovr
(39) "MEN OF IRELAND"
40. Storm Rider by Akira Yoshimura
41. The Interrogation by Norman Manea
(42) "AN AFTERNOON"

September Reads
37. Selected Stories by Wiliam Trevor
(43) "AT OLIVEHILL"
(44) "A PERFECT RELATIONSHIP"
(45) "THE CHILDREN"
(46) "OLD FLAME"
(47) "FAITH"
(48) "FOLIE A DEUX"
42. The Iliad by Homer
43. Daniel Deronda by George Eliot
44. Our Kind of Traitor by John Le Carre
45. El Heroe Discreto by Mario Vargas Llosa
46. Antigone by Sophocles
47. Medea by Euripides
48. History of the Pelopponesian War by Thucydides
49. Euthyphro by Plato
50. Apologia by Plato
51. The Acharnians by Aristophanes
52. Ford County by John Grisham - (Seven short stories)

December Reads (what happened to October & November? I don't think they were in my calendar this year)
53. La Reine Margot by Alexander Dumas
54. Fatelessness by Imre Kertesz
55. Ward #6 by Anton Chekhov
56.The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling
57. All Were Counted, 1st of The Transylvanian Trilogy by Miklos Banffy

Good to see you again. Sorry I dropped out last year. And the first half of 2013 looks busy, but I hope to be around more. Also, I am hoping to travel north later in January--maybe at that time we can meet up? Only a year's delay, but not forgotten.

Welcome back!

Thanks.

Good to see you again! I always enjoy following your reading, even if I don't often comment.

Hello Manuel, I finally found your thread! Have a happy reading year!

Book # 1 - Essays in Biography by Joseph Epstein

Although I had read most of the essays contained in this book last month (December), I finished the last three today so it counts as my first book in 2013!!! Despite the exclamation marks I won't get too excited about such rapid success since tomorrow I go back to work and my free reading time will be severely curtailed. Oh, well, ce la vie.

Epstein is a great essayist- following often times the classical definition of an essay as an exploratory work of an idea. All of these essays are about people he either knows or finds of general interest.

His approach is to offer very balanced opinions about the individuals. Sometimes they center on the individual's achievements, others about the personality or character, and most often combines both. But, in the end, most of the essays are a joy to read because of Epstein's domain of the language and his ability to draw meaningful conclusions about the people he writes.

I found the book valuable because it introduced me to some writers that I should consider reading, such as George Santayana and Ralph Ellison. Some wrtiers that I've read before but should read more, such as Bernard Malamud. And writers that I, or anyone else for that matter, should not pay attention to, such as Susan Sontag or Malcolm Gladwell

Well, look at you, Manuel! You're already one up on me! :0) Happy New Year!

Hi Manuel! Congratulations on finishing your first book in 2013!
I'm not so much an essay-reader... maybe because I had to read so much for my studies during the last years. But that one looks worth a try!

#8 - Lynda, Thanks. I am already falling behind!! Not much reading done yesterday and don't expect much today or through the weekend either. I'll catch up next week when I am going to Austin with my daughter- I'll help share the driving and then will spend the weekend there and will return by train (plenty of reading time then).

#9 - Kathy, thanks. I guess another reason I like essays is that they are short and can finish them within the short time I may have available.

Book # 2 - Your Republic is Calling You by Young-Ha Kim

Hey, I'm on a roll. It's only the 5th day of the year, early morning, and I've already finished my second book!!! Nothing is preventing me now from reaching that elusive 75 book goal.

Your Republic is Calling You is the story of a North Korean who is sent out to live in South Korea as a spy. He is part of an effort to infiltrate the South. He moves South, becomes a South Korean (all planned before his departure from NK) and lives there for 20 years until he received the notice to return to the North. The book's narrative centers on the day when the main character, Ki-Yong, receives the notice to return, with flashbacks to fill in the story. By this time, he is married and has a teen-age daughter, and has a small company with one employee. A pretty mundane, middle-class life one may say. I will not delve any deeper on this because I think one of the values of the novel is discovering the final resolution- the story is (sort of) a thriller; but a subdued thriller.

I gave the story three and a half stars, even though the story is interesting in of itself. But his writing style is fairly pedestrian- the narrative flows through but there were not many sentences or paragraphs that made me want to read again either because there were beautifully written, or because they had interesting points or insights. Despite this, I would recommend this book as a good way to pass the time, and learn a little more about the tactics of the hermit kingdom and the lifestyle of South Korea.

Hi Manuel, that's great! Congrats on book number two! But Your Republic is calling you is totally fictional, isn't it? Or is it based on real events?

It's fictional but some of the acts and events are not far from the truth. For instance, North Korea planting spies among people who escape is not unheard of; also kidnapping people from South Korea, as they've done from Japan is also not news.

Book #3 - A Bridge on the Drina by Ivo Andric
This is a book that i've wanting, for a few years, to read again since I had read it right after Andric won the Nobel Prize in 1961.

It is a wonderful story on the lives and struggles primarily of the people who lived in the town of Visegrad and its surroundings. The bridge was built in the middle sixthteenth centry when the Ottoman empire ruled most of Eastern Europe- Visegrad being located in today's Bosnia. From its beginnings when Mehmed Pasha Sokolovic orders the bridge built, we read about the friendships and contacts between the predominant ethnic/religious groups who live in the area: the dominant Turks (who are muslims), Christians and Jews, as well as a few Roma (gypsies). Contrary to what we see today, there are no conflicts between these groups, each knowing well their place in the societal structure.

The bridge, which is standing today, consists of 9 arches and a wide area in the middle of the bridge, called the kapia, where people congregate to talk and rest. This serves as the center of the story on many occasions since important discussions occur in the kapia.

Changes in the people and their behaviors are seen when the Austro-Hungarian empire defeats the Turks and pushes them out of the area, including Visegrad of course. Later on, nationalistic movements fight the Hapsburgs (Austro-Hungarian ruling dynasty). The integration of Visegrad to the Austro-Hungarian empire allows young people in town to go to Vienna and other European cities to study, bringing back nationalistic ideas. But conflict arises from outsiders forcing new rules and laws into the town, rather than from the townspeople themselves.

This is a book I'd recommend for both its educational significance on the history of the area, and for the large variety of characters. Andric captures and relays the personalities, feelings and thinking of the three ethnic groups through a multitude of persons traced in the novel.

It is a sad epilogue that the people of Visegrad survived 400 years, or more perhaps, without any intrinsic conflicts. But during the Serbian ethnic cleansing operations in the early 1990s, the town was the location of one of the worst massacres of people during the Serbian-Bosnian conflict under the leadership of Miolsevic.

Book #4 - The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery

I picked up this book, along with several others, at the Half Price bookstore in Austin. The cover and nice binding, even though it's a paperback, caught my attention; also the strange title was an attraction. Who'd associate elegance with a hedgehog?

It turned out to be a fascinating novel. The story centers around the characters who live in a luxury apartment complex in Paris. The building has only 6 units, all the residents are very wealthy but also very shallow. The exception are the three principal characters who do not fit the norm. One is the concierge- a woman who hides her above average knowledge partly because she does not want to stand out, also because the wealthy people do not expect a concierge to be well educated. The second character is a young girl, who is also very smart but hides her intelligence so as not to be bothered by her family, who think she's not very smart. The third character is an elderly Japanese person, who very quickly after moving in the building realizes that both the concierge and the young girl are worthy of being his friends.

The fun parts of this book are reading how the three characters find each other, relate to each other, and through their acquaintance transform their lives. The novel has a tragic ending for one character, but the other two see their world with different eyes afterwards.

This is definitely a five star book for me. Although the philosophical, literary and other erudite references may put off some readers I'd recommend it highly.

Thanks for the review of The Elegance of the Hedgehog- it is one of those books that I started once and never finshed. Your review has inspired me to get it out again.

Book # 5 - Shipwrecks by Akira Yoshimura

Yet another book that I got in Austin and read on my return trip (a train ride from Austin to Milwaukee gives a lot of free time.)

This is a tragic story narrating events in a small fishing village in Japan. The village is fairly isolated and its residents are very poor, depending on fishing, which may or may not prove fruitful in any given year. They complement their fishing by capturing the cargo of ships that accidentally hit the reefs around the village- the fishermen then go out to bring the cargo to the village which is then divided by the village elder according to the number of people and children in every family.

Now the catch is the ships do not crash accidentally, but they are actually lured to the reefs by the fishermen who set up fire underneath two large cauldrons by the shore, in such a way that ships who get caught in storms at night see them the fires and think that it's safe to reach the shore. When they inevitably run into the reefs, the fishermen come to the ship, kill any sailors that have not drowned, and collect the cargo. In the end, most of the villagers, men, women and children, die because they captured one ship where all the crew members were wearing vivid red clothing, that the villagers took and brought to their homes to wear. It turns out that this particular ship was loaded with people from another area who had caught small pox, and that town had placed all the sick people in the ship to get rid of them. The village gets retribution for all the killings they had inflicted.

Naturally, the story is much richer than what I have depicted above. Family relationships take center place. The main character is a young boy just 10 years old, Isaku, who is forced to become the head of the family when his father assumes bondage for a three year term in order to get some immediate income for his family- otherwise they would starve to death. Sacrifices such as this are made to maintain the cohesion of the family and the village. But outsiders can be sacrificed for the benefit of the family or the village.

What I found disturbing in this story is that there is very little contrition among the village people from the killings of innocent sailors. Although Isaku is surprised when he finds out the real purpose of the cauldrons, he does not dwell on the morality of the situation. He just does as he is instructed, perhaps because he is just a boy. Nonetheless, adults do not mind the killings- they continue to participate and even pray for ships to come by so they can obtain their cargo.

Book # 6 - Self Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson

OK, this is not really a book but an essay. However, since I had to read it two times and do a lot of thinking to get its meaning it counts as a book! (for me at least).

The central emphasis of the essay is individualism, that people should not be followers but trust their own instincts and be guided by their own thoughts. Not to be influenced by what others say, whether spoken or written. Broadly, he propounds two traits for self-reliance. One is to be a non-conformist- not to conform to tradition, existing practices, or just fitting in. The second one is not to be consistent- he suggests that by being consistent a person restrains his/her creative abilities since the consistent bent eliminates the possibility of being creative which, by its nature, implies some kind of break with the past.

At the same time, Emerson suggests that people should be less dependent on physical possessions. After all, Thoreau, who shunned worldly possessions, was one of his friends. A fulfilled life does not come from acquiring more and more things but, on the contrary, by having fewer of them.

He points out several examples of people who fit this mold: Pythagoras, Jesus, Martin Luther, Socrates. They were non-conformists, not necessarily consistent and followed their own instincts. However, I find it very easy to use them as example because they were truly exceptional men, but following that mold is very difficult for the rest of us.

Good evening, Manuel. Wow! I'm very impressed with the amount of books you've finished. If you can continue to read six a month, and January is not even over yet, you'd be on track to read 72! Then too, with retirement on the horizon, I'd say 75 books is very doable for you this year!
I've not read Emerson but if his writing style is as dry as his buddy's, I'll just read your reviews.

Nice reviews of Shipwrecks and Self Reliance, Manuel.

Thanks Darryl- I don't seem to be able to find your thread. Can you show me the link here?

Book # 7 - The Love Song of A. Jerome Minkoff and Other Stories by Joseph Epstein

I had enjoyed reading Epstein's Essays in Biography so much that I decided to look for other books that he wrote. This one is a collection of 14 short stories about Jewish people the majority of them lving around the Chicago area (I am not sure if some of them are real people, he makes them so vivid and alive). For most of them, he traces their life in a few paragraphs bringing out the essence of their lives. The focus of the stories, though, is the last years of the subjects. Old age is the recurring theme; Epstein brings out the self-examination and wondering done at that stage, when very few things can be changed but still, through meeting other people, lives can be changed for the better. In some of the stories, for instance "Casualty" or "My Brother Eli," he shows us the main character as a really nasty person. Nasty because they are focused on themselves and do not care what others think or want, even making the lives of others miserable.
But the best part of the stories is Epstein's writing itself. He is a very intelligent and smart person, and has the ability to write sensitively about human beings.

>21 xieouyang: You can find my new thread here:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/148953

Book #8 - 1222 by Anne Holt

This is another read assignment from a book club at the library. It's a mystery written by a Norwegian author. This is the second mystery that the current leader at the book group has selected; the other one was an Agatha Christie novel.

I have never liked reading mysteries and getting through this one confirmed my dislike, perhaps stronger now. I guess one of the reasons I do not like them is that they are always so formulaic. A crime or crimes occur, the heroic person who solves the mystery is somehow in the middle of the thing, there is always a group of suspects that the person either questions, observes or gets info about, then they will all be in a room and the criminal is found out by clever questioning. I certainly hope this is the last I ever read- but never say never.

I won't say much about the novel except to point out that the main character, a former police officer named Hanne Wilhemsen, reeks of political correctness. For one she is handicapped and moves around in a wheel chair, because she was shot during an arrest. she is a lesbian of course and her house mate (or spouse) is a very enlightened Muslim woman who is a PhD or something like that. It feels like the author went through a dictionary of stereotypes and built their opposites into the novel.

The good news for me is that, for the first time since I joined this group two years ago, I am making good progress on the 75 books goal (pat yourself in the back Manuel!)

Good evening, Manuel!

These are some great reads and reviews. (helping patting your back)
I think that I have already heard about The Bridge on the Drina when I was in Croatia last year. I decided not to buy it back then because it was a real chunkster and looked very challenging. But your review makes it sound so interesting that I might give it a try.

I've already read and heard so much about The Elegance of a Hedgehog - and only positive aspects. I start thinking that I need to borrow it from my mom.

The Emerson and Epstein books again look very tempting.

Concerning mysteries/crime novels: I know what you mean. I also read very little of the genre, and if I do, it's important that the crime itself is not too central. I like e.g. Mankell's Wallander-novels because they are so dark and melancholic, or Bruen's Jack-Taylor-novels, because they deal more with the inner struggle of the protagonist. Still I do plan to read the Sherlock-Holmes-novels and stories, so I cannot generalize it.

Have a lovely week!

Book # 9 - Pulse by Julian Barnes

I do like short stories, plus I had read one of Barnes' books recently (Arthur & Geore), thus I was expecting much better from this one. It was a total disappointment- the majority of the stories are rather worthless. They do not stand out either in terms of the theme, not memorable, nor the writing itself. Additionally, he has four stories that are strictly dialogue- they take place as in a dinner party, and the are several people conversing. One story like that could be interesting, if the dialogue is worthy, but having four separate stories is a bit too much.

After reading this book I place Barnes at the bottom of the recommendation pile.

Wow Manuel, 1222 really did cover all the bases. Diverse and all-inclusive. Come to think of it, I really do not read many mysteries. I liked James Patterson when I first discovered him but he quickly grew tiring. Agatha Christie, now and then. Oh, I do enjoy James Hillerman simply because he described the Southwest so beautifully
How sad that your second Barnes was such a disappointment. Speaking of pulse, I hope your next read is far better and gets yours racing.
Have a nice and relaxing weekend.

Some great reading going on here, Manuel! I loved both The Bridge on the Drina and The Elegance of the Hedgehog when I read them.

I am going to have to see what my local library has of Joseph Epstein's books.

I'm sorry that Pulse was such a disappointing read. I do plan to read more books by Julian Barnes, though, particularly A History of the World in 10-1/2 Chapters, which I already own.

Enjoying your reviewa. I really liked Shipwrecks, and have read several other books by Yoshimura which were also excellent.

Daryl--I hope you get to A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters--it is very engaging, and very funny in parts. It's one I want to reread, even though I haven't really cared for other books by Barnes that I've read.

Darryl, I definitely will stay away from Barnes, forever. Oh, well, maybe for a while.

ANd, yes "aruba" I want to read more of Yoshimura's works.

Book # 10 - Therese Raquin by Emile Zola

This is unquestionably the darkest and most depressing book I've ever read. It beats by far any of Dostoyevski's novels. The story is very simple and straightforward. Therese is taken to live with her aunt Madame Raquin when she was but two years old. Her aunt is a widow and has one son, about Therese's age, Camille, who is very sickly and frail. Both Camille and Therese grow up together and, as everybody thought, they eventually married when they became of age. Therese never really loved Camille, she tended to be very quiet and docile, thought it was her duty and what was expected of her. Actually she disliked Camille and despised him. The three of them, Madame Raquin, Camille and Therese move to Paris where Madame opens a mercer shop, a trade she had in her hometown.

Then enters Laurent, who became friend of Camille, and actually becomes a close friend of the family. Inevitably Therese and Laurent fall in love, sort of. They became close to each other- she because of her hatred of her life and of Camille; he because of his boredom and lack of direction in his life. They concoct a plot to get rid of Camille and Laurent throws him in the river Seine one day when the three of them go boating. From this point on, the story gets sordid- focusing on the mental deterioration of both Laurent and Therese as they repent for their crime, and incidentally blame each other. This is accompanied by the physical deterioration of Madame Raquin who eventually turns into a totally invalid person- unable to do anything, not even talk. But she is able to watch the continuous figthing and accusations between Therese and Laurent.

I said above that this is a dark novel, some examples of the writing that prevails throughout the book are- I just picked these at random from the first few pages:

At the beginning, describing the place where the Raquins live, "To the left are obscure, low, dumpy shops whence issue puffs of air as cold as if coming from a cellar"

Camille when young had "a tedious childhood of constant suffering"

When they move to Paris, Madame Raquin purchased a shop by the Pont Neuf that "When Therese entered the shop, where in future she was to live, it seemed to her that she was descending into the clammy soil of a grave"

And it goes on like this. Except that towards the end this writing sense prevails.

However, despite all the gloom, it's a great novel worthy of being read. Of course it does not come to the level of other realist novels such as Madame Bovary or Anna Karenina.

And the best thing is that this is my 10th book for this year, and it's only the beginning of February!

I am reading through Zola's Rougon-Macquart series in order (20 books). I am a bit more than half-way through. Therese Raquin is not part of the series, but I have read it and agree that it is very good and very dark. Most of Zola's novels are. If you liked Therese Raquin, I would recommend reading more. The Rougon-Macquart novels are each stand-alone, and you can pick and choose, based on which subjects interest you. Some of the better ones in my view (they are all very good) are: Germinal (coal miners); La Terre farmers; Nana courtesans; The Kill (real estate speculation). (Of course, the subject descriptions are given only in the most general terms.)

#33, I agree about the Rougon-Marquart series. In fact, the first Zola novel that I read was Germinal. As you did, I also read Nana and The Fat and the thin. But unlike you I have not read them in order- perhaps I should.

Hello Manuel, congratulations on finishing your 10th book!
I haven't had the courage to start with Zola. Somehow I've got the impression that I first need a little bit more of Hugo, Dumas and others - don't ask me why. I am a bit intimidated by him. But your review of Therese Raquin (which is great by the way) slightly changed that.

Book #11- Reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln by Frederick Douglass

This is a short essay, one of many included in a book titled Reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln by Distinguished Men of His Time edited by Allen Thorndike. I got this essay from the Library of America "Story of the Week." For those who don't know, the Library of America is an effort that started in the early 1980s to published the best American literature in well-edited, well-printed editions that issues all the writings for each author selected. The "Story of the Week" is typically a short story that the LoA emails weekly, taken from one of its publications. This week's story is Frederick Douglass' reminiscences.

Reading this brief essay again, reminds one of the coincidence of these two exceptional men living and crossing paths at that time, Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Douglass. We know the stories and lives of both but what is remarkable about this essay is the true humanity, fairness and respect that President Lincoln had for Frederick Douglass. Douglass reminisces the times he met Mr. Lincoln, two of them in the White House. The first time was when Mr. Douglass went to see the President with the request that black soldiers, who Douglass was recruiting to fight for the union, be given the same salary and treatment as white soldiers. Mr. Lincoln did not hesitate in agreeing to all of Douglass requests- even though some of them could be politically troublesome for Lincoln. The second time is when Douglass goes to the White House for the President's second inaugural celebration. Douglass says that Lincoln asked him what he thought of his (the President's) acceptance speech, that he did not value anybody else's opinion more than his (that is Douglass).

This is an essay worthwhile reading both to be reminded about the greatness of character of President Lincoln as well as the beautiful writing of Frederick Douglass.

I am reading a biography of the Italian poet Petrarca (Petrarch) by Thomas Campbell written in 1879, and ran into an anecdote that made me think of many of you. Here is the story.

Because Petrach was spending too much time with his books, reading and writing, his friend the Bishop of Lombes feared for his health, so he went and ask Petrarch for the key to his library which the poet gave to him (to the Bishop that is) who asked him to abstain from reading and writing for ten days. On the first day Petrarch "was seized with ennui, on the second with a severe headache, and on the third day with symptoms of fever; the bishop relented and permitted the student to return to his books and papers."

How many of us would go through the same unhealthy state? How many of us would be willing to risk it?

By the way I am reading this biography as an introduction to reading Petrarch's Canzoniere, the series of sonnets inspired by Laura- the women of his dreams that he could only admire from afar (she was married!). I've read only a few isolated ones over the years but I've been wanting to read the full set.

Book #12 - The Swerve by Stephen Greenblatt

This is a wonderfully written book. Greenblatt, a very erudite literary critic who teaches at Harvard, is able to communicate very clearly, in elegant and enticing prose, the story of the rediscovery of Lucretius work On the Nature of Things and how it changed thinking about the world and man's place in it. Lucretius book, which can be seen as a most beautifully written poem is also an expression of Epicurianism. Lucretius, who was a Roman contemporary of Cicero, lived around 100-50 BC. This piece was originally very influential but because of its propounding of ideas that were inimical to religious thought, it was suppressed by the Church. It was not until the early Renaissance when a book collector named Poggio Bracciolini found a manuscript copy in a German monastery. According to Greenblatt he did not realize how momentous was his discovery, Poggio's interest was more on the fact that it was an antique manuscript (several centuries old perhaps). But as others started copying the poem and, after Gutenberg's arrival on the scene with his printing press, disseminating the ideas.

From that point on many influential individuals have referenced the book over time, including Galileo, Sir Thomas More, Leonardo, etc.

Lucretius book is one that I have wanted to read for a while. After reading Greenblatt's book, I purchased a copy of On the Nature of Things which I will start reading shortly. However, reading it is going to take a while since it requires slow interpretation (at least for me).

#36: I wish I had access to that book, Manuel. I would love to read that essay.

I like Stephen Greenblatt's writing in e.g. Shakespearean Negotiations, in which he tries to explain why Shakespeare's works are still fascinating - even nowadays. The Swerve has been on my mental wishlist since its publication.

The Swerve looks very interesting, Manuel. I'll include it on my wishlist and hope it pops up somewhere.

Nice review of The Swerve, Manuel.

Kathy, after reading The Swerve I have a couple of Greenblatt's books on Shakespeare on my radar. I was intrigued when Will in the World came out a couple of years ago but resisted buying it because I already have 19 books about Shakespeare (yes, I counted them in my LT collections), mostly criticism but also some biography, etc.

Nonetheless, I'll probably give in an get one of them soon.

Manuel! Thanks for enlightening me! Will in the World has been on my wishlist for ages and I hadn't noticed that it was written by THAT Stephen Greenblatt. I will pursue both now with greater diligence.

Book #13 Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville

Although I've been wanting to read this book for a long time, the assignment we read in a reading group that I belong contains only excerpts from the book. This made it a much easier and more compact reading; getting through the two-volume set is a more serious undertaking, that I still want to do sometime in the future.

A great book it is, no question. His observations of American democracy, as is well known, are insightful and on the mark. A great appreciation is derived by the comparisons he makes of American democracy against that of the French (at that time in the 1830s), as well as England and other countries. Also, of great merit are the comparisons of the advantages of a democracy against an aristocracy. Aristocracies, for instance, can be more efficient in the imposition of laws but do not reflect the common purpose, which is one their main defect.

Book #14 Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser

I can't believe the progress I've making so far on my reading! Naturally this is because I'm using the home-time that I used to spend on work activities. I've reduced the amount of work done at home substantially - since I'm retiring this year.

I was not familiar with this author, who lived around the late 19th, early 20th century, but spotted this novel at Barnes & Noble. It's published in B&N's classics series that I like because they are very reasonably priced. They seem to be well edited- very rarely I find typos or other mistakes and they contain an introductory essay by a modern individual, typically a college professor that is an expert in that author's works and life.

Sister Carrie is an interesting novel that traces the life-paths of two individuals. Carrie, whose life progresses from a poverty background growing up in Wisconsin (yes, it felt like home to me), to become a successful actress in New York City. And George Hurtswood who is the manager of a respectable bar and whose life ends by killing himself after his last years spent in poverty and destitution in New York City.

Although Carrie is presumably the central character in the novel, after all it's named after her, Hurtswood may be the more interesting person. His gradual descent into deprivation, while remembering his former wealthy station, is depressing reading some times. Reading this reminded me one memorable verse from Dante's Inferno, when Dante meets Francesca da Rimini in the second circle of hell, and she tells him that:

"Nessun maggior dolore
che ricordarsi del tempo felice
ne la miseria; e cio` sa 'l tuo dottore"

Longfellow's translation is: "There is no greater sorrow/ Than to be mindful of the happy time / In misery, and that thy Teacher knows"

(reason I am putting this quote is because when I was reading La Divina Commedia a few years ago, that I read in Italian with an English translation side by side, this segment impressed me a lot- one of those that I wrote down for future reference)

In any event, Francesca's statement fits very well the state that Hurtswood saw himself from time to time, as he descended into the hell of his own creation.

I don't want to spell out the plot and its details, I let any person who wants to read the novel find it by him/herself. If you want to read an entertaining novel that carries (no pun intended) and keeps you interested for a couple of days, but has no overall redeeming value or no real discussion or consideration of ethical or moral issues, this is a good one for you. Also, I'm no prude but I find it refreshing to read a novel without overt sex and extreme use of foul language such as seems to be prevalent in most modern fiction.

Manuel, what an outstanding review of Sister Carrie. I immediately went to give your review a thumbs up but noticed it wasn't there. You really should post it to the book's page because the few reviews I read of the book pale hugely in comparison to your review.
I've told my son that people use foul language because their vocabulary is not extensive enough to express their feelings in any other way. I feel the same way about an author's gratuitous use of it.
Happy to see you've begun to progress into retirement. Do you feel the weight being lifted off your shoulders?

Thanks Lynda. I'll try to post those comments in the 'review' section of the book.

Yes, life is a little easier now. I don't spend every waking hour working or worrying about work. Although I must admit that I enjoyed the work I did all these years- otherwise I would have done something else. The only problem right now is that one of my employees will be taking maternity leave in April, for a couple of months, so I can see the burden increasing somewhat during that time. We'll see what happens. And I don't see my replacement being hired soon.

Great Manuel, found it and thumbs up!
I think, with your dedication, you may be a difficult person to replace .

Book # 15 Parsifal in Wagner Nights by Ernest Neuman

This book, Wagner Nights, contains essays on each of the 11 operas that Richard Wagner composed. The selection I read, Parsifal, deals with his last opera, and one that I will see this Saturday as one of the "Met at the movies in HD" productions. For those of us who love opera, but don't have ready access to live opera productions (the disadvantages of small town living!) the relaying of live opera shows from the Metropolitan Opera in New York to a large number of theaters throughout the world, is heaven sent. But this is another story.

The Parsifal that Neuman writes about is a recap of the medieval story of Parsifal, or Percival as sometimes he is called. Neuman traces the version that Wagner made up in his opera to the two main written sources. One is the Percival of Chretien de Troyes, a story of the search for the Grail. The other is written by the German knight and poet Wolfram von Eschenbach. Wagner's version apparently relies more on the German one.

The story centers around king Amfortas who, after yielding to temptation, receives a wound from a poisoned lance as punishment. His wound would not heal but the sight of the Holy Grail keeps him from dying. There is a prophecy that an innocent young man would come voluntarily ask for the cause of Amforta's suffering, then he would cured. Parsifal actually comes and sees the king but does not ask the question, hmmm, but then apparently he is forgiven afterwards.

Well, my free reading time seems to have vanished, because I'll have to continue working for a few more months and postpone my retirement date. The company hasn't found a replacement yet, partly because they are thinking about whether to keep the department with the same structure or organize it differently.
So it looks like around July may be the earliest I could retire- moving the date up from the planned end of this month, but it could be longer yet. The good thing is that I don't mind to continue working since I do enjoy the job- plus I may get to do more traveling to Europe and Asia in the next 2-3 months.

Book No. 16 - An Enemy of the People by Henrik Ibsen

I can't believe it's been 10 days since my last post, on my thread (I think I made comments in some other readers' threads). Work indeed takes most of the day, by the time I get home and we are done with dinner there is little time left for reading. But I'm trying to keep up with the required readings for the local library book club groups I joined. This play, An Enemy of the People, is one of them. Although I had read it a while back, like several other Ibsen play, I enjoyed reading it again. I think I saw a DVD version of it too; but I've requested a BBC production from Netflix that I'll watch in a few days. Normally I don't like to see movies before reading the book upon which they are based; the personification of the characters in a movie gets ingrained into my brain wheres reading the story before enables my brain to form those characters in my own way. I'm running on and on here, I better make some commentary about the play itself.

A Dr. in a small town in Norway, who is in charge of some therapeutic baths that were opened just a couple of years before, discovers that the bath waters are contaminated. Instead of healing the people that the baths attracts from other town, is making them sick. Although nobody has realized that the few people sick were caused by the baths, the doctor wants to demand that the piping system should be changed. The whole story revolves around the changing opinions of several of the town's characters who initially sided with the doctor. But when they realize that fixing up the problem will be costly, plus the baths may lose their appeal to outsiders and thus lose the revenue, they begin to oppose him. In the end, the Dr. Is labeled an enemy of the people. (I don't want to go into too much detail since I think seeing the development of the story the first time is more enjoyable).

The issue that the play brings forth is whether truth survives when faced by the opposition of the masses. This is a very relevant point today, when many people today assume there is wisdom in the masses. Simply because a majority think in a certain way does not make it true. The masses or majority could be, and often are, tragically wrong.

Hi Manuel, Ibsen is on my list as well. I read A doll's house when I was in school, so it would be a good idea to refresh my Ibsen experience.
I hope your job situation will clear up soon. Even if you like your job, I can imagine that it would be nice to have some kind of time frame. To be able to plan. But having the chance for some travelling doesn't sound too bad... Have a wonderful week!

What a very interesting book, Manuel. This indeed sounds relevant as I just joined the discussion on Pat's thread regarding fracking. It is a hot issue in my county and like with the therapeutic baths, fracking sounds like a money maker so the powers that be tell us there's nothing wrong with it, yet so many others offer evidence to the contrary. Thus, An Enemy of the People sounds like a timely piece.
Hope you're having a wonderful Sunday. Has the snow melted?

Lynda, that's an interesting association you made of Ibsen's baths with the fracking issue- I wish I had thought of that! I would've looked so smart at the book discussion meeting.

Kathy, regarding my continuing to work, it's not that bad. Actually, I tell my wife on Sundays (like today) that I am looking for Monday to get back to the office and rest. There is so much stuff to do around the house and she has back problems that make her standing up for a while a painful experience. So Monday is my sabath- day of rest!

Book #17 - Driftless by David Rhodes

This novels starts with a drifter who's been attacked, and finds himself with everything he owned stolen. He is in an isolated road with nothing within sight. He starts walking and hitches a ride- the farmer who picks him up is going to Wisconsin so the drifter goes there. Driftless, however, refers to an area in Southwestern Wisconsin that was spared by the glacial period. The farmer lives near a town named Words but the man asks to be let out before they go into town.

The drifter, we find out later he goes by the odd name of July Montgomery, plays a pial role in the novel. The novel centers on the struggle of life in a small town and the rough life of small farmers. It pits farmers against the big cooperatives or big government- with the former always coming up short in the struggle.

The novel has a number of interesting characters, hard-working farmers who are trying to do the correct thing. One of them is a lonely farmer who hasn't been able to get over the death of his wife for more than 11 years but who, suddenly, finds himself deeply in love with the female preacher of a local church. This preacher who, although she grew up in the area, acts as an outsider focused on her religious work; because of a cruel father who abandoned her and her mother when she was young, she has built a wall around herself.
There is also a woman who has been crippled for most of her life and is taken care by her older sister. We really don't know who dominates whom. The crippled girl has her sister at her beck and call all the time, and carries on pretending she is still cripple even after she starts regaining movement in her legs. The older sister controls the crippled girl's activities and social life.

The author of the novel, David Rhodes, had shown promise in the early 70s when he published three novels. He had a motorcycle accident in 1976 that left him paralized from the waist down. He did not write, or publish rather, anything until 2008 when Driftless was published.

Happy Easter greetings, Manuel!

Dang, you find the most unusual and interesting books I've never heard about! Driftless goes onto the wishlist as well. Very dangerous thread you have here.

I can't take the credit Lynda- it was selected by the leader of one of the book clubs I belong to locally. But then, the author is a Wisconsin native so it's more natural for us to select him I guess.

Book # 18 - The Searchers - The Making of an American Legend by Glenn Frankel

Very rarely I purchase books the same year they are published, mainly because I wonder if they will stand the test of time, and have inherent long-lasting value. The subject matter of this book, however, merited breaking this unwritten rule of mine. The book is about a John Ford movie of the same name; it's very likely many of you have seen it. I have seen it, of course; many times in fact as it is one of my favorite movies. I couldn't resist from the day I saw it had been published. And it's been worth.

The book covers several aspects related to the movie. One is the original story, extremely terrible and sad, of the invasion by whites on Indian lands with the resulting massacres, retribution and vengeance. A central point in this part of the story is the taking of young American women by Indians during their raids, after killing all other whites, and taking them to live as Indians. The Searchers is the story of one of those women, Cynthia Ann Parker, who was taken when she was only 9 and lived with Comanches, eventually marrying one man named Peta Nocona. She has several children by him. The author traces very well the story of Cynthia Ann and her son Quanah, who later became known as Chief of the Comanches. Frankel dedicates a whole section of the book to Quanah.

Then the book deals with a novel written by a well-known, at the time, author of Westerns; Alan Lemay is his name. He wrote the story The Searchers upon which the movie's plot is based on. The novel, naturally as a novel, fictionalizes many of the events surrounding Cynthia Ann, and invents others to make it more interesting.

The final part of the book deals with John Ford and the making of the movie itself. Although John Ford may have been a great movie director, especially for this movie, he was not a nice man. In fact, he was truly a horrible man- a drunkard, abusive, rude, etc. But he was much admired by the actors who worked with him, such as John Wayne of course, but also Henry Fonda and others of such caliber. Apparently they put up with his abusive and demeaning behavior towards them so they could work in his films. Definitely, John Ford appears a person that I want to see his movies but would not want to meet or be around him.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It is well written and absorbing from cover to cover. It appears to be well researched and is balanced in the way he treats the subject- does not make excuses for bad behavior. It gave me an even greater appreciation for the movie too. I recommend it.

Book # 20 - -Hazard by Richard Hughes

I can't believe that I am already on my 20th book, and it's only April. I should be able to hit 75 this year, hopefully.

Also, my retirement date has been moved to August, from the previously agreed March deadline. But it's work is going to chew on my reading time since two of my staff will be absent for personal reasons in May-June. I already told the rest of the staff that we'll have to pull extra work and, needless to say, they all received that news less than enthusiastically. Back to the book.

This is a story of a ship, the Archimedes, that gets caught in a violent hurricane in the Caribbean. The event takes place in November 1929, when the hurricane season was over. But from time to time, hurricanes develop in that areas after season. The captain was thus confident and caught by surprise. The novel, which is gripping at times. goes through the 5 days when the ship is beaten about by the hurricane. The narrative of what's going on in the sailors' minds at the time is sort of interesting; so is the narrative about the destruction that the hurricane is inflicting on the ship, with the crew not knowing whether they will survive or not. The novel is suspenseful at times.

I guess if you like sailing and the sea, this novel may be of interest. But I wonder whether landlubbers would find it attractive reading.

Book 20...I know I'm late to the party but that seems like a very daunting lead. Perhaps I should coast this year so I can hit the ground running in 2014...although the events of this weekend leave me so bouyed up, I'm tempted to risk starting now.

Confusion-- Book #20 should be The Painted Veil and The Hazard is #19

Book #21 - The Four Feathers by A. E. W. Mason

I spotted this book while browsing shelves at B&N- it caught my eye because I had seen a movie by that title- one that miraculously I remembered since typically I have little recollection of movies I've seen.

All in all is a good book. A story of cowardice and heroism during Great Britain's imperial times. The story takes place mostly in the Sudan (the region, not necessarily the country of today) and England. Several friends join the British army- a normal way at the time to make a career and gain prestige. One of them, Harry Feversham the principal character, joins because of his family long tradition of being army men. But he has always been afraid of dying while fighting in a faraway region of the world. When his unit is called to action and told they would be leaving for the Sudan, he suddenly resigns from the army. Three of his friends label him a coward by sending him a packet with three white feathers- the white feather symbolizing cowardice. His fiancee Ethne (I love the name) adds a four feather when she finds out.

The bulk of the novel narrates Harry's efforts for redemption by involving himself in the war in the Sudan- without making his friends or anybody else aware of his actions. In the end, he is able to get his friends (the two who survived) and Ethne to retrieve the feathers. Intertwined are also the adventures of one of his friends, Jack Durrance, who was not aware of the feathers incident but is in love with Ethne and becomes her fiancee; mainly because Ethne feels sorry for him since he'd lost his sight in the war.

I found this novel and enjoyable and generally well written novel, with both action and romance.

Four Feathers was one of my favourite aunt's favourites...and I liked it as well. You might also like The Moonstone (if you haven't read it). It's a book that belongs to another generation as well.

Hi Manuel, I know I have The Painted Veil on my bookshelf. I think I purchased it because the cover was simply beautiful. Now, I'm hoping what's behind the cover is just as absorbing.

I've also seen the movie version of The Four Feathers but can hardle remember the premise. So to refresh my memory I bought it for Kindle @ $0.00. Yeah, that's my kind of price!

OK - retirement in August, that's alright, it will be that much sweeter.
Off to catch up to you, I'm working on book #21

Book #22 - Defeat by Philippe-Paul de Segur

This book is a witness account of Napoleon's failed invasion of Russia in 1812. The version I read, published by the New York Review of Books is an abridged version of the original issued in two volumes in France in 1824. The book itself is a hard read. Not because the writing is stodgy or cumbersome; actually it's very well written and the narrative flows easily, given its structure as story of military action. The hard part is the suffering of the French troops that were defeated by the terrible Russian winter.

The campaign was started optimistically in the Spring of 1812, with Napoleon's troops exceeding 600,000. Napoleon was counting on using this massive army to confront the Russians and win decisive victories. However, the Russians played a different game of mostly avoiding direct confrontation. In only a couple of instances there were formal battles, most famously in Borodino. This is one that Tolstoy features in War and Peace. For the most part, Napoleon saw himself forced to chase the eluding enemy troops, all the way to Moscow. By the time they get to Moscow, cold Winter had already started. Moreover, along the route, the Russians had destroyed cities and crops, making Napoleon's efforts to feed and hose his troops more difficult. This was brought to a head in Moscow, that Napoleon finds empty and abandoned and partly burning.

The toughest part of the campaign, is the failed return to France, by the defeated Napoleon. Although he does not admit this, it's evident by the gradual losses of his troops, party to the brutal climate and starvation from lack of food. Also, all along the way, Russian forces are inflicting losses on the French army.

Would I read this book again? No, definitely not. It's interesting if you care about history or military history, which I do. But a much better read, and more enjoyable, is to go directly to War and Peace, that I should have read instead. I have the latter in my list of books to read again.

Hi Manuel,

I have just come across your thread. I love your reading list so far this year! I have just added Essays in Biography to my 'must read' last based on your response to it.

Cheers!

Regards,
Charles

Book #23 - The Secret Sharer by Joseph Conrad

This is one of Conrad's shorter novels, a short story really, that I just read for my library's book club group. It has a similar nautical theme as most of his other novels. The main character has been recently appointed captain of ship that is navigating around the islands around Siam. The captain is new to the ship and to the crew- so he is uncertain of his ability to command those experienced sailors.

On his first night aboard he instructs the first mate that he, the captain, will do the first niight watch. This is extremely unusual and makes the captain feel more insecure about his position. He makes up by shouting his orders. While on the watch he sees a naked man that is hanging on to one of the rope ladders alongside the ship. He calls on the man and asks him to come up. For some unknown reason, he brings the man stealthily to his cabin, where he gives him his night sleepwear and food. The mystery man, named Leggit, tells him that he just swam from a shipt that is nearby because he had been kept prisoner since he'd killed one of the sailors. He succeeds in keeping him in his cabinet without the first mate or any other sailor finding about him.

Later on, he instructs the first mate to take the ship dangerously close to an island, to allow Leggit to swim to shore. He'd given Leggit some money and clothing, including his hat for protection from the sun once he reaches shore. The captain then sees his hat on the water and realizes that Leggit has jumped from the ship and is on his way to freedom perhaps.

This novel, like most of Conrad's novels, deals with moral issues and the choices that man must select when facing them.

I do like Conrad's story telling and, thus, recommend reading any of his novels. Although Heart of Darkness is his most often read novel, many of his other books are just as good, although may not be as strongly powerful.

Book #24 - The Nose by Nikolai Gogol

This is a satirical story that we don't know if it's a dream or intended for a reality. A barber in old Russia, is eating his breakfast bread in the morning and discovers a nose. Immediately, he fears that it was himself who cut it off one of his customers. He didn't know it if he cut it off while he was drunk. After all, "like every other Russian tradesman, Ivan Jakovlevitch was a terrible drunkard." Anyway, he needs to get rid of the nose. He tries several ways but either someone is watching him or he can't do it. Finally, he throws it off into a river but a policeman sees hiim and asks him what is he doing on the bridge.
Next, we learn Kovaloff, a member of the Municipal Committee wakes up and tells his valet to bring him the mirror. He discovers, to his great astonishment, that his nose is missing, it's gone. There is only a flat space where the nose should be. He does not know what to do- he can't show himself in public, after all, he is somewhat important. He decides to go out to search for it and actually runs into his nose, that is in full military uniform. But the nose gets into a coach and runs away. He can't follow it. He thinks about going to the police but changes his mind and goes to place an advertisment for a missing nose. But the fellow at the paper office refuses to take it.
The story ends with things falling back in place. Gogol says that strange events happen in this world, events which are sometimes entirely improbable. The same nose that created so much sensation, was found one morning in its proper place, between the cheeks of Kovaloff. So he can go out and mingle with people, and be himself again.

Although the story is funny, I think it rather falls in the weird category. Noneteless it's told amusingly and can be enjoyably read in a short time. (I'll use all means to reach 75 this year!)

Nice reviews of Defeat, The Secret Sharer and The Nose, Manuel. I'll take your advice and read War and Peace. The Nose sounds interesting, so I'll keep my eye out for it.

Book # 25 - Orchard by Larry Watson

Again, another book read because it's a library reading group selection. The group leader chose it because the events take place in Door County (Wisconsin). But after getting through it, I think this is about its only merit- that it takes place in Wisconsin.

The story itself is kind of interesting. It's about an artist who uses local women as models and usually has relations with them, but finally is destroyed by a jealous husband of one of those models. She is a young, beautiful but naive, woman who he uses surreptitiously as a model. Her husband initially is not aware of her modeling job until one of his friends tells him about seeing his wife naked posing for the artist. This, naturally, enrages him and brings about the novel's denouement.

But I found his writing is less than stellar. Not that mine is, but I expect to read books where the writer expresses his thoughts clearly in beautiful, engaging, or entertaining prose. Watson's is, for the most part, rather pedestrian and sometimes cumbersome and stilted, such as this statement:

“The sound of the gunshot, because it had, for echo’s effect, the box of the house and the emptiness of the surrounding fields, was both persuasive and clanking”

Also he often uses metaphors that one wishes he hadn't, such as:

“silence lasting as long as ten ticks of the clock hanging over the stove”

Writing like these two statements is what turned me off against this novel.

I agree, use of language is one thing I look for in a writer. Thanks for steering us away from this one. There are plenty of others out there...as yet undiscovered. 'hope you find one of those next; as a palate cleanser, if nothing else.

Wow, those examples are truly terrible. : /

>71 xieouyang: Ouch. I'll be staying away from that book.

Book #26 - The Stranger by Albert Camus

I purchased this novel, that I've never read before, at the same time that I purchased Algerian Chronicles also by Camus. The latter was just published as the first translation into English of the book originally published in France in 1958. I'll comment on it later when I finish it. Now back to The Stranger

Despite Camus fame, I have read only The Plague a few years ago, but my interest on Camus this time was piqued by a review of Algerian Chronicles in both The Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times a couple of weeks ago.

The story is narrated by Meursault, the central character in it; the novel takes place in Algeria (Camus' birthplace) and is divided in two parts. In the first he tells certain events in his life- his mother's death and funeral; meeting the girl Marie with whom he goes swimming, has an affair and who loves him and wants to marry him; meeting with his friend Raymond and his help writing a letter to Raymond's girlfriend who is Arab and whose brother is after Raymond; going to meet one Raymond's friends at the latter's beach house on a Sunday afternoon; seeing the Arab and one of his friends in the beach who beats Raymond up but is scared off by Raymond's gun; finally Meursault going back to the place where they saw the two Arabs and shooting the girl's brother for no apparent reason.

The second part deals with Meursault's imprisonment, trial and the death sentence by guillotine. There are a lot of absurd events while he in prison and during the trial. Absurdities also abound in the first part.

The only constant throughout all these events is Meursault's lack of interest and response to these events. There is no emotional reaction on his part but, rather, takes all the events as things that happen and he is just like an unattached observer. He has no preconceptions, no morals but only physical desires, up to a point. This is well illustrated by the novel's first paragraph, when he starts narrating about his mother's death:

"Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don't now. I got a telegram from the home: 'Mother deceased. Funeral tomorrow. Faithfully yours.' That doesn't mean anything. Maybe it was yesterday"

So the book starts with his mother's death, to which his reaction is indifference, and ends with his upcoming death to which he is also indifferent. He is cold and unfeeling throughout the novel. Despite this character that is not very appealing, I think the novel itself is very good. Mainly because it makes you think about life in general and the importance of events throughout one's life.

Greetings Manuel. I read The Stranger back in January of this year and your feelings about Meursault certainly mirror mine. His ambivalence can drive the reader crazy, yes? It didn't stop me from giving the book five stars because Camus seems to have the ability, by his writing style, to place me in his weird world and visualize the setting as it would appear to Meursault. I would like to read another Camus to see if it has the same effect.

Manuel: I enjoyed your review of The Stranger, which I read several years ago. I felt somewhat similar, as I recall.

Carmenere: If you want to try out another Camus I would recommend The Plague. It covers similar themes but it's somewhat more engaging and with a larger array of characters. Again, it represents somewhat a laboratory of human emotions and behaviour in an uncertain, disinterested and hostile world.

p.s. I assume you are a fan of the Carmenere grape? I loved drinking that wine while we were in Chile earlier this year.

Cheers!

Charles, as soon as I finish Algerian Chronicles I want to tackle again The Plague, which last I read in college a few years back (a few?)
Now that you mention that Carmenere grape, the first time I saw it was in a Chilean wine that I purchased locally. From time to time I pick it up.
Lynda, is that really behind your pseudonym?

Hi Charles and Manuel. I had to chuckle when I read your posts regarding my moniker. A few years back my husband and I were enthusiastic about discovering Chilean wines, introduced to us by our friend Carlos, a native of Chile. The Carmenere grape has a very interesting history and produces outstanding wine. No surprise that it has become my favorite.

Thank you for suggesting The Plague. I'll certainly try to slip it into my reading this year.

Your discussion of this author caught my eye. One of the ways my parents enticed my brothers and I to become readers was a floor to ceiling bookcase in our dining room whose lower shelves were devoted to fabulous books. My favourite of all was a wonderful book called Old French Fairy Tales by the Comptesse de Segur (illustrated by Virginia Sterrett) that had been given to my mother by her grandfather in 1920. The name is unusual enough to make me wonder if the two were related in some way. Phillipe Paul lived from 1780 - 1873 and the countess, a Russian emigree, from 1799 - 1874 - so definitely contemporaries but not husband and wife as Phillippe Paul devoted his life to the military. All this may, or may not be interesting to you, but was a lovely little excursion for me.

Tajar, thanks for the hint about this book. Although it looks like a children's book, I downloaded it from The Project Gutenberg- the same edition you mentioned above. The illustrations by Virginia Sterrett are great. I added it to my Nook collection but I can see why it'd have attracted you are a child and still have fond memories of it.

Book #27 - Algerian Chronicles by Albert Camus

A review of this book in the Wall Street Journal is what enticed me to purchase it, as well as The Stranger which I finished reading right before starting this one. The Algerian Chronicles is an edition compiling Camus' newspaper writings while he was living in the French Colony of Algeria in the late 1930s and early 1940s. It also contains articles and letters that he wrote in the mid-1950s, during the upheaval in Algeria to break away from France to become an independent country.

Camus, who was born and raised in Algeria, is both a French citizen and an Algerian. He shares the country with another million Frenchmen who may have been there for at least 100 years, plus about 9 million Arabs. For the most part, his position is that Algeria should not become an independent Arab country, nor remain a colony. Rather, he emphatically states, France should give all the population French citizenship and make Algeria part of France; perhaps as part of a federation.

The first part of the chronicles, those articles written in the 1930s, bring to view the plight of the Algerians, particularly the Arab ones. Poverty and destitution prevail, the rigors of being a colony put them at a disadvantage compared to the French population. But the French population in Algeria is also suffering from poverty. All caused by the central government policies emanating from France. In the latter writings, he realizes that independence is inevitable, particularly since the brutal Algerian war of independence is in full swing (from 1954 through 1962.)

The writing style in Algerian Chronicles is radically different than that of his novels, such as The stranger, where sentences are shorter, more abrupt and the characters seem sometimes devoid of any feelings.

Book #28 - Ghosts by Henrik Ibsen

The principal characters of this play are Mrs. Alving, a widow who is trying to spend all her husband's inheritance by building an orphanage to assuage for his philandering; her son Oswald who returns home after the father dies, but is dying from siphilis he apparently inherited from his father; Mrs. Alving's maid, Regina, with who Oswald falls in love with but later on his mother breaks the news to him that it's his half-sister sister because Regina was an illegitimate daughter of his father. Two other characters are Pastor Manders, who appears to be interested in Mrs. Alving and is helping her work on building the orphanage, and Jacob Engstrand, who is the putative father of Regina- Jacob married her mother to help her out of the situation of having a child out of wedlock.

The drama centers around Mrs. Alving trying to get rid of all her husband's money so her son does not inherit any of it, and perhaps avoid having problems with it. And also the interaction of Mrs. Alving and her son, as he slowly understands the whole situation; as well as Mrs. Alving to realize that the father's sins are passed on to the son.

The ghosts of the story are apparently her husband who she sees in several actions by her son.

Book #29 - An Ideal Husband by Oscar Wilde

I learned about this play when I started watching a movie by the same name, that mentioned being loosely based on Oscar Wilde's play. Thus I stopped watching the movie since I felt that anything that he wrote would be much better than the movie. I don't think I was wrong, even though I still have to watch the movie.

Like other of Wilde's plays, it's a great comedy of British upper class behavior in the late 19th century. Totally full of witty retorts and statements; phrases that are a pleasure to read. Of course what's more enjoyable is reading about the absurd excesses and rather idiotic remarks he puts in some of the characters mouths. He often tends to be very iconoclastic, in dialogues such as this one right at the beginning of the play:

Mrs. Marchmont. "I come here to be educated."
Lady Basildon. "Ah! I hate being educated!"
Mrs. Marchmont. "So do I. It puts one almost on a level with the commercial classes, doesn’t it?"

And so it goes. Rather than continuing to read my comments, I just suggest you go straight to the play and get a good couple of hours of enjoyment (you can get a free download from Project Gutenberg)

Nice review of Algerian Chronicles, Manuel. I didn't find it at City Lights yesterday or in Philadelphia last week, but hopefully I'll locate it this week or next month in Cambridge.

I haven't seen an Ibsen play performed live, but hopefully I'll see one soon.

I took your advice and downloaded the free version of An Ideal Husband onto my Kindle just now.

Well, I watched the movie An Ideal Husband last night and although the overall plot followed Wilde's An Ideal Husband it was not Wilde after all. For me it would have been more enjoyable not to pretend that it was based on the play. Taken as a straightforward movie it could be enjoyable, but I found myself continuously comparing its scenes to the play, and I felt they fell short.
To compensate, I've ordered from Netflix a version of the play recorded by the BBC in its series "Play of the Month." It should be better, I hope.

If you are in a Wilde mood, audible has a very inexpensive dramatization of 'The Importance of Being Earnest' that is lots of fun...and not 'adapted' by Hollywood. While you're there, you might look at Stephen Fry (a great Wilde scholar) reading some of his children's stuff.

Thanks, I'll take a look at that- although I have never listened to a book or play being read.

Ahhh...new experiences are everywhere. You might like it. To me, this was like attending a play without being able to see the actors.

Book #30 - Vergara by Benito Perez Galdos

This is the 27th novel of Perez Galdos series of novels about life in Spain during the late 18th and 19th centuries. The focus of the is mostly the poltical dynamics of the period covered in what he called "Series." The First Series covered the years when Napoleon, through his inept brother, ruled Spain until the defeat of the French forces. In the Second Series, the novels deal with the tumoltuous reign of Fernando VII, when he reigned with absolute powers. Vergara is the 7th novel of the 3rd series, covering the continuous conflict between the forces of regent Maria Cristina (for her daughter Isabel the presumed heir to the throne) and those of the King Fenando's brother Carlos who assumed power as Carlos V. The novel itself, like all others of the Episodios Nacionales, narrates the story through the life of a young person who becomes actively involved with the principal political characters.

The name of the novel, Vergara, refers to the town where the peace agreement is signed between the leaders of the two armies- Carlistas or followers of Carlos V and Cristinos, the followers of the regent Maria Cristina. The laying down of arms put an end to six years of bloody conflict between the two armies.

The central character for this series is Fernando Calpena, an adventurous, romantic young man who among his qualities is the ability to be able to communicate between the two factions- the Carlistas and the Cristinos. He goes back and forth bringing messages between them, leading eventually to the laying down of arms by the Carlista general Maroto. I am not well versed in Spanish history but it appears that Maroto left a bad reputation which Perez Galdos tries to redeem somewhat.

In my opinion, this is not a novel that can be read in isolation but, rather, in chronological sequence to the others in the series. Fernando, for instance, is introduced in the first novel of the series, Zumalacarregui, as well as other characters critical to the series development.

Wow, thanks for bringing this series to my attention, Manuel. I have an interest in Spanish history so I think I will try to seek them out.

Charles, you can download for free the all 46 Episodios Nacionales novels in the series in the website "epub bud."

The link is

http://www.epubbud.com/search.php?q=perez+galdos&Search=Search

I have several of them in my Nook, but have the full series printed in 5 volumes (the 5 series) recently published by Editorial Destino; I picked them up in Spain. I also have many of them in loose volumes that I've picked here and there over the years.

Thanks Manuel, I am going to download those books. Thanks for the tip! I also expect to be in Spain later this year so maybe I will pick up some of the hard copies too.

Book #31 - Fortunes of War by Olivia Manning

This is the first book in the series The Balkan Trilogy, by the British author Olivia Manning. In this trilogy Manning follows the wartime lives of several characters, mainly Harriet and Guy Pringle, as they move from one country to another avoiding the Nazi invasion. The Fortunes of War finds Harriet and Guy living in Bucharest, he a teacher of English and she a housewife. They are recently married and she is new to Romania although he has been teaching there for a while. They are surrounded by an interesting cast of characters, mainly British although a few are Romanian or other nationalities.

Their lives develop in the time that Nazi Germany began to flex its expansionary muscles and started invading one country after another. We hear the news as they came in to Bucharest, confusing and never very clear. Some people continue to believe that Romania would be spared, since the Nazis were focusing North (Poland, Denmark, Netherlands) and East (France). But the country is supplying great amounts of feed to Germany, thus the latter is highly dependent on Romania. A few other characters are more realistic and know that Romania will eventually fall in the grasp of the Nazis.

Manning portrays her characters very well, and they are interesting to follow. Harriet is a plucky British girl, with a bent towards independence, although she gives up to her husband even though she often knows that he is wrong. Guy, on the other hand, seems a more flighty character. He is talented and has a good heart, but tends to ignore the long-term consequences of events that are unfolding around him (mainly the German threat). Both of them, however, appear to be fit well together.

I am eagerly anticipating what will happen in the next novel in the series, The Spoilt City.

Olivia Manning followed The Balkan Trilogy with a second one called The Levant Trilogy. I am curious to find out about it, and it seems that it's not as popular as the first one since it's not mentioned as frequently in LT.

Hi there Manuel! Oh my goodness! You've surpassed me on the books read meter. I must step on it as I've been quite the slacker this year.
I have tried audio books many a time and I have found that if it is non-fiction I'm able to enjoy them and follow along very well. I am unable to listen to a book of fiction. For me, the plot and characters become a palette of grey mush. I've come to the belief that some brains are wired for audio and some, like me, are not. It wouldn't hurt to check it out, you may find them to your liking.

Nice review of Fortunes of War, Manuel.

Book #32. A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka

This is a funny book that I picked up at Half Price Books a couple of days ago; among many others. The cover, paper and printing gave the feeling of old soviet shortages. I also thought it would be a good time to read something totally relaxing- although most books should be read for relaxing I always feel that I should be getting something out of them; so they turn almost like homework.

This book is funny indeed, even though it has sad parts; also many are infuriating. All in all it's a good, easy and enjoyable read. It's the story of two sisters born in Ukrainia but brought to England very young by their parents right after the war. And it's the story of their father, an 85 year old Ukrainian airplane engineer who worked on a tractor factory in Ukrainia. The story begins with the father,Nikolai, announcing to one of the daughters, Nadya, that he is getting married. His wife of 60 years had just died two years before, and the bride is none other than a 34 year old Ukrainian, who is married with a son, and wants to get married to Nikolai so she can get a British passport. From this point, the story hinges on the two sisters, who incidentally have been fighting between themselves all these years, trying to first stop their father from getting married and, after the wedding, trying to get him separated from the wife Valentina. They succeed in the end, after many funny incidents where many other interesting and shady characters intervene.

Interspersed in the novel are many paragraphs of the history of tractors that Nikolai is writing, in Ukrainian. So, if nothing else, the person who reads this book learns a little about tractors, John Deere, Ferguson, and other tractors that were prominent in Europe during the first half of the 20th century.

Nice review, Manuel. Glad you enjoyed the book.
My tractor story - My grandfather migrated to the US from Romania in the late 1800's leaving his entire family behind. Apparently, his relatives thought that by coming to America he was guaranteed riches and constantly asked him to send over a tractor. Needless to say he was scraping out a living in New York with odd jobs and the tractor was never sent.

Lynda, funny. There are so many stories like that. My great grand-father, on my mother's side, migrated from Spain and also left the family behind with promises to send for them when he became rich. Also needless to say, he never sent money so his wife, my great-grandmother, sent her oldest son when he turned 16 to search for his father. The boy trekked to Cuba first where his father was supposed to have arrived. He wasn't anywhere in Cuba but he was told that he had gone to Guatemala. So the young boy, my grandmother's brother, took a boat to Guatemala and started searching for him. He finally found his father living in a small village in the Western part of the country (incidentally the village where I was born), he had opened and was running a general store . But he also had already started a new family-- hmmm. Trouble ahead for him of course when his wife (my great-grandmother) found out about it and somehow traveled to Guatemala with the rest of the children. I don't know how the wife and the mistress got along though.

Manuel and Lynda - I love to hear stories like that! So fascinating. Thanks for sharing. Unfortunately I don't have anything remotely add interesting to contribute.

Cheers,
Charles

I, too, love those stories. One from our family doesn't, unfortunately, involve tractors. My great, great grandmother came from Essex, England where she married a second son(in a country of primogeniture). The man turned out to be a drunk and a philanderer so she took her two young children and came to America without any idea how she would live once she got there. Fortunately, she found a job as the housekeeper for one of the rich families of New York and was able to raise her children in safety. I'm just blown away by how tough that must have been; she's really my hero.

Books #33 - Lady Windermere's Fan by Oscar Wilde

This is another simple but amusing play by Oscar Wilde. I won't narrate the plot only to say that it has the usual characteristics of things appearing not what they really are, confusion among some characters, seeing things not as they are but as what one wants to see, etc. In the end, revelations that clarify everything and everybody goes on to happy lives, and a happy ending.
As usual, typical of Oscar Wilde, the best parts are the witty, quotable sayings that he puts in the characters' mouths, sSuch as:

"In this world, there are only two tragedies. One is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it"

'"No, we are in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the starts"

A favorite of mine "I can resist everything except temptation"

"History is merely gossip. But scandal is gossip made tedious by morality"

Book #34 - The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde

Another Oscar Wilde that I've read because it's short and not very involved mentally- I'm traveling (Copenhagen nonetheless) and don't have much time between meetings and sight-seeing so a short story or a play is the right one.

Wilde takes a humorous turn to the old idea of a house that is hunted by a ghost. An American family rents a house from Canterville, a house that has been hunted by a ghost for over 300 years. Previous renters have been scared out of their wits, and some of them died as a consequence but the Otis family, being pragmatic Americans (note this was written in the late 19th century), have no concern about ghosts. In fact, between Mr. Otis and his two twin sons, make practical jokes on the ghost that frustrate him terribly. He is not able to scare them and do the typical things ghosts do, and becomes very depressed. But to the rescue of the ghost comes the teenage daughter of the Otis who meets the ghost and apparently spends the night with him. That solves the problem and the ghost is in the end given a proper burial.

I don't think my comments do proper justice to the story. My only remark is that this is an amusing short read that is worthwhile for a quick, entertaining read.

I think I've seen more than one tv/movie adaptation as a child but I never realised it was from a Wilde story! I am definitely going to have to seek out the original.

You can download it directly from The Gutenberg Project, free of course (http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14522)

Thanks!

Hmmm. Lady Windermere's Fan involves the same sort of misunderstanding among the characters as does Othello...without all those tragic consequences. I do love Wilde.

Good point, except that in Othello the misunderstanding is driven by jealousy and in Lady Windermere it's more good intentions going bad.
I watched last night a BBC version of the play, filmed about 10 years ago. Although I like to read plays, there is nothing like seeing them represented. Especially with good actors or actresses, like this one.

#97: I really need to get that one read. I have owned it for several years now!

Book #35 - The Spoilt City by Olivia Manning

This is the second novel of Manning's The Balkan Trilogy, a series of novels following the lives of a young married couple living in Eastern Europe at the onset of the second world war. In this story, the German threat is becoming very real and gradually those who can escape leave Romania. At the same time, people are flocking into Bucharest from the Northern parts of the country, as well as other countries.

We find the two main characters, Guy and Harriet Pringle trying to maintain a semblance of normalcy. Harriet, being more aware of her surroundings, is becoming more and more concerned about their future in Romania. Guy, on the other hand, continues to be oblivious to anything except his duties of teaching English at the University. Since the majority of his students are Jewish, the classes begin to get smaller and smaller. Guy expects that at the beginning of the next term, everybody will turn up.

In his eagerness to help others, guy brings home one day Sasha, the young son of a rich Jewish banker who is currently in jail to be tried for treason- mainly so they can get hold of him wealth. His family has disappeared but Sasha had joined the army and then became AWOL. Guy brings him home and he stays hiding there until the day their apartment is raided, while Guy and Harriet are vacationing in another town, and Sasha is gone.
With the Nazis virtually occupying Romania and the English becoming less acceptable, Guy persuades Harriet to leave the country with the promise that he'll follow her shortly. His duty is to stay, even though many members of the British legation have already left. Several are killed or beaten up.

The novel ends with Harriet finding herself alone, in a strange city, trying to communicate with Bucharest to get news of her husband, since the Nazis seem to have invaded Romania.

Of course in my comments I fail to capture the large number of characters that Manning puts in her novel. Nor their personalities and the way she describes them and their relation to each other.

I found this second novel a worthy follow up to the first one, The Fortunes of War. And I am looking forward to the next one in the series.

Besides, I just realized that I am nearly halfway the 75 books. This is good even though work keeps me away from reading as much as I want- but last week's trip to Copenhagen gave me some free time while on the plane.

Book #36 - Friends and Heroes by Olivia Manning

This is the third novel in Manning's The Balkan Trilogy; I read the other two earlier but I thought this is the best of the three. It follows the same cast of characters, mostly English, who now are in Athens, after escaping Romania and the Nazi threat.

More so than the other two novels, it seems to me, Harriet Pringle and her vicissitudes is the focus of this one. She has to make a way by herself, since her husband Guy always spends more time and pays more attention to his job and others, than he pays to her. While in the 2nd novel, The Spoilt City, she throws all her attention and care first on a cat and then on Sasha, a young Jewish boy who they hide in the apartment for several months, here she meets Charles, a young English soldier who falls in love with her. She meets with him often while he's stationed in Athens, and it appears that she's fallen in love with him, but their relationship remains platonic. She remains loyal to her husband Guy, despite his inattention to her.

In this novel, her personality is more pronounced. She is caring, is aware of events and takes action; unlike Guy who seems to live in an imaginary world. One cannot but fall in love with her. She remains strong, mostly, as the Germans move down into Greece, and Harriet, with all other foreigners, has to flee Athens to Egypt.

The novel has a large cast of characters, many of them carried on from the previous two novels. It's an English community living away from England but who maintain an Englishness to their surroundings and, naturally, behavior. Some of the characters, perhaps many, are almost stereotypical British. The class divisions are very pronounced, even in the midst of war.

All in all, I'd say, that these novels are very worthwhile reading. Among the reasons is that they give, at least to me, a different perspective of the War. Typically I read novels about the 2nd world war from the perspective of the victors- how the allied forces face the Nazis and eventually vanquish them. In these books, we see things from the point of view of the vanquished, but they are the vanquished who did not deserve it. The Romanians first, then the Greeks, did not ask for the war. Instead the war came to them, unwanted. Although most of the perspective is from the British view, one can see the hard times and struggles that the Romanians and Greeks had to go through in order to survive.

Book #37. Selected Stories by William Trevor - "The Piano Tuner's Wives"

(I am not counting this short story as a 'book,' but rather will continue to list each story under Book #37 as a I read them. The book has 48 short stories in all)

This is a story about jealousy, love forsaken and, perhaps, subtle revenge.

Owen Dromgould is a blind piano tuner who marries twice. The first time when young, he marries Violet and rejects Belle- even though Belle was more beautiful, something he wouldn't know since he was blind. Violet served as his eyes during their many years of marriage- she told him about the colors of things, the way things and people looked, etc. But two years after she dies, he marries Belle. Belle had not married since she was in love with Owen, and always felt that Owen had taken the wrong wive when he married Violet.
After their marriage, Belle finds herself constantly reminded of Violet. Everything that Owen knows, does, and "sees" is because of Violet's influence. Even though he does not mention Violet, her presence is there all the time, and Belle resents that. But then Belle begins to erase the memories of Violet by contradicting everything that Owen knew or "saw." It was a battle between the living (Belle) and the dead (Violet). The story ends by Trevor saying that "Belle would win in the end because the living always do. And that seemed fair also, since Violet had won in the beginning and had had the better years."

I'd love to read something about WWII from the Romanian point of view, Manuel. I'll check my library for Friends and Heroes. I found the French perspective in Suite Francaise very enlightening.

ETA: got the trilogy on my iPad through the library. Now, with 5 books already lined up for July, I'll try to slip this one in.

Carmenere, I, too liked the Suite Francaise: one of the few books I've read about France during the war (excuse me for revealing my age; I mean WWII) that allows characters on both sides to display 'human' characteristics. Others tend to make the characters on one side three dimensional and those on the other distinctly two dimensional.

Book #37 Selected Stories by William Trevor - Story 2 - "The Friendship"

This is a story of how love to spouse and family is greater than a friendship. Loyalty to one's immediate family overrides other relationships.

Margy and Francesca have known each other, and have been friends, since they were two. Now that they are older, Francesca is married with two young boys while Margy remains single, their friendship continues. They get together frequently for lunch, and Margy comes often to Francesca's house. But Philip, Francesca's husband, does not like much Margy- he thinks she's a bad influence on Francesca. Distracts her and thus the children often do wild things. Like the time that Francesca was not watching and the children took advantage of workmen doing some work with concrete around the house, the boys took buckets of concrete and pour it into Philip's golf bag, one can easily imagine what happened when Philip so his golf clubs embedded in concrete.
One day Francesca and Margy reminisce about a young man they knew, Sebastian, and Francesca decides to call him; under the guise that he would make a good husband for Margy. As things turn out, Francesca begins to have an affair with Sebastian which, when discovered by Philip, is put to an end. Further, Philip demands that Francesca end all relations with Margy, that she not see her ever again. Francesca decides that her love for her husband, despite her short infidelity, trumps the great friendship to her long time friend. They have a last lunch together, in the same restaurant as always, where Francesca tells Margy the husband's request, to which she abides. Margy says she understands. They part in different directions

Lynda, which iPad model do you have? I've been thinking about getting one but, other than remaining undecided whether to purchase or not, I don't know whether I'd need the one with greater memory, etc.
How did you decide?

Not Lynda, but I have an iPad - I got the least memory and wifi only because I only use it in places where there's wifi and I don't have a lot of video stored on it. I'm also not a huge collector of game apps, which also tend to take up room.

Like Jim, I purchased an iPad (a mini) with the least amount of memory, 16GB and wifi only. I have had an iTouch for the past 5 years and wanted the iPad for the larger screen, keyboard and camera. I delete pics from my iPad after I download to my desktop which frees up memory.
As of today, I have over 300 songs, 100 Kindle books and I love it! I checked out other tablets but because I was accustomed to my iTouch and Apple apps it was an easy transition. Let me know if you have any other ?'s.

Book #37 - Selected Stories by William Trevor - Story 3 - "Timothy's Birthday"

This is about taking life as it comes, without questioning things as they happen, much less rebelling against them.

This is a story of an old couple, Odo and Charlotte, whose son Timothy comes once a year for his birthday celebration. The parents live alone in an old, large mansion that is falling in disrepair; both inside as well as the gardens. They can't maintain it but continue to live in it using less and less of its space. But they do love each other and are mutually dedicated They do not condone the son's lifestyle, he lived earlier with an older man, a Mr. Kinnarly, who left Timothy the flat he lives in, its contents, the car, etc. But they also do not condemn his life, they are only glad he comes once a year for his birthday. Charlotte prepares the same meal every year.

But this year, Timothy does not want to come. So he sends the younger man he's living with, Eddie, to give an excuse. The parents live some distance. Eddie comes to give the excuse but sees an opportunity- stays for the meal and steals a few items (such as silverware, etc.) which he peddles as soon as he leaves the house. After getting some money for the goods, he just leaves the car in a parking lot and disappears.

In the end, they realize that they were the cause of their son's rejection. However, they take it as part of life- not taking any blame for it.

Book #37 = Selected Stories by William Trevor - Story 4 - "CHILD'S PLAY"

The more of Trevor's stories I read, the more I like them. Also, I don't have much free time for reading now since I'm still working, and short stories seem to be the only thing I can tackle.

This story is an innocent narration of an adulterous relation, and subsequent divorce and marriage. Innocent because it's seen from the eyes of the children.

In this story two children, Gerard who is 10 and Rebecca who is 9, are thrown to live together due to the infidelity of their parents. Actually, Rebecca's father is having a relationship with Gerard's mother. When they are discovered in flagrante delicto (I always wanted to say this) by Rebecca's mother, the couples separate and Rebecca's father marries Gerard's mother. The two children are to live with them, since Rebecca's mother can't cope and it's the best for the children.

The children start playing a game of re-enacting the parent lovers' trysts, and also the agrieved parents' complaints (naturally). We learn the full story through the children's eyes. With the twist that many aspects are not fully understood by the children.

I'm glad to see that you're reading Selected Stories, Manuel. I plan to read this book in August or September, so I won't look at your reviews until after I've read it.

Book #38. My Life as a Fake by Peter Carey

I just finished reading this book but because of the celebrations I'll write comments later today, or tomorrow.

Great reviews of the last two books in Manning's The Balkan Trilogy, Manuel. After having it on my wishlist for a very long time, I decided a few days ago to purchase it for my Kindle.

I am also enjoying your Trevor short story summaries. I own his Collected Stories and have read a few. I like to buy complete short story collections, but then tend to sample sporadically from them, rather than read them in their entirety. I should borrow your approach of discussing stories individually, in order to have a record and a jog for my memory.

Book #37 - A BIT OF BUSINESS by William Trevor

Two young friends, Mangan and Gallagher, are petty thieves- they live off robbing houses of small items, mostly cash. On this day, the day the Pope visited Ireland, one of the houses they rob is the Herlihys' house, that is being watched by one of their friends, Mr. Livingston. He usually does that because they are his friends, even though they pay him. He is watching the Pope parade on TV when the young thieves come into the house. Mangan is going through the things in one room when Gallagher calls him telling him there is a man in the house. He has Mr. Livingston sitting in front of the TV- he realizes that it's foolish to move or do anything, so he stays put. Mangan comes in and ties Livingston with a tie, puts one around his mouth and tells him to not to say anything or he'll come back and kill him.

The boys then go out and ran into two girls- they go for drinks, with the money they robbed and then they go to the beach. They have a good time and in the end they agree to meet again. Mangan keeps thinking whether he should have killed Livingston. Both of them in the end wonder if killing a man is something you acquire.

Book # 37 Selected Stories by William Trevor - Story #5 "A BIT OF BUSINESS"

Two young friends, Mangan and Gallagher, are petty thieves- they live of robbing houses of small items, mostly cash. On this day, the day the Pope visited Ireland, one of the houses they rob is the Herlihys' house, that is being watched by one of their friends, Mr. Livingston. He usually does that because they are his friends, even though they pay him. He is watching the Pope parade on TV when the young thieves come into the house. Mangan is going through the things in one room when Gallagher calls him telling him there is a man in the house. He has Mr. Livingston sitting in front of the TV- he realizes that it's foolish to move or do anything, so he stays put. Mangan comes in and ties Livingston with a tie, puts one around his mouth and tells him to not to say anything or he'll come back and kill him.

The boys then go out and ran into two girls- they go for drinks, with the money they robbed and then they go to the beach. They have a good time and in the end they agree to meet again. Mangan keeps thinking whether he should have killed Livingston. Both of them in the end wonder if killing a man is something you acquire.

>123 Linda92007: - Linda, you are right, that's the way I keep track of the stories, writing down brief synopsis. I am reading one or two a day- to give me time to mull over the story after reading it.

Book #37 - Selected Stories by William Trevor - Story #6 - "AFTER RAIN"

Harriet, a girl who's broken up with her boyfriend, decides to come back to Italy and stay at the Pensione Cesarina, instead of going to the island of Skyros as she had planned with her boyfriend. She comes to the Pensione because this is the place that her parents used to come for vacation every year. She has fond memories of the place- until they stopped coming one year because her parents separated. then the Pensione was the domain of English people only- but now there are German, and Dutch and French vacationers.

She is now alone, and every time she comes to the dining room she reminisces the times with her parents And how the people now are different.

Book #37 - Selected Stories by William Trevor - Story #7- WIDOWS (July 4, 2013)

The story begins with Catherine waking up, and finding that her husband has died overnight. She takes his death with grace- they were a good, loving couple. After the funeral, and everybody has left, we find Catherine living at home with her sister Alicia who is also a widow, although for more than 20 years already. There is an uncertain animosity between the two sisters- Alicia was much more beautiful but Catherine had married the better husband. Alicia's was a good-for-nothing one.

One day, not too long after the funeral, Thomas Pius John Leary comes to her house. He is a local painter whose work is not very good, but people use him because he is cheaper than others. He also has a reputation in town of being unreliable and untrustworthy. He brings Catherine a bill for 260 pounds that he claims wasn't paid by Mathew, Catherine's now dead husband. But Catherine knows that the bill had been paid because she herself took the money out of the bank and gave it to her husband. Leary, the painter, wanted to be paid in cash to avoid paying taxes. However, she couldn't find the receipt for payment.

Alicia insists that Catherine shouldn't pay the bill - the guy is a cheater. Catherine is undecided but does not want to fight it- she feels that her name will be dragged through the mud, even though her husband was always very punctual and honest. In the end, she opts for paying Leary, demanding a receipt, and at the same incurring her sister Alicia's jealousy.

Book #37 - Selected Stories by William Trevor - Story #8 'GILBERT'S MOTHER"

Rosalie Mannion, 50 years old, lives with her son Gilbert. He is unemotional (autistic?) but observes everything. He talks to her about everything he does- his work, co-workers, etc. But there is something about him that scares her. She's been divorced for a while but her husband left her the house, since she was to take care of Gilbert. Gilbert has a job working in an architectural office; he has had other jobs before but they were boring to him. This one he likes better.

Gilbert has the tendency of disappearing often from the house. While he is away the mother reads news about crimes in the paper, and she thinks that Gilbert has committed them. But has no proof, other than her instinct. One day he came back with a car, which she thought was stolen. But she is helpless, she has no proof of any crimes.

The story starts with the appearance of a dead young girl, who's been raped before being killed. Rosalie suspects her son but there is no evidence. She fell asleep the night of the crime, but her son had already come home. She did not hear him going out afterwards. But that's no proof since she was asleep. She has to live with the fear that her son is the criminal, even though all the evidence she sees- his behavior, should lead one to know the opposite is true.

Book #37 - Selected Stories by William Trevor - Story #9 "THE POTATO DEALER"

Ellie, a young farm girl, becomes pregnant with the local priest. The priest was in the church just for the summer but managed to net Ellie. She is living with her mother and her uncle; her father had died a few years before. The uncle decides that the best thing is to get her married, and he just knows the person- Mulreavy, the potato dealer.

Soon after he sees him in the road, and tells him the proposal. There will be some money if he marries Ellie. Since Mulreavy was going through some financial difficulties he, after some thought, agreed to the arrangement. So they get married and when the child is born, a girl, everybody in town did not question the parentage, only that it was a little too soon after the wedding. But that's something that can be forgiven and forgotten easily.

When the child is 10, Ellie has an urge to the child her true parentage. She did not feel good about deceiving the child- the child does not know anything, always has assumed that Mulreavy is her father. After she is told, she continues to treat Mulreavy as her father- there was not a negative reaction on her part. Only the adults reacted negatively. Ellie's mother and uncle objected to the revelation, and everybody in town spoke about it a lot. But Mulreavy was not bothered much by the revelation, he continued to treat Ellie the same as always.

Book #37 - Selected Stories by William Trevor - Story #10 "LOST GROUND'

Milton Leeson lives with his parents in their farm and helps his father do the farming. His two older brothers are married have left the farm for the city, and his two sisters have also married and live away. The youngest child lives also in the farm, but he is mongoloid. One of the oldest sons is involved with the Irish rebellion, involved in killings perhaps. One day, walking around the orchard, Milton sees a woman who approaches him and gives him a kiss. She then walks way- he does not know who she is, but he is sure that he is dead. She only tells him that she is St. Rosa. The next day he sees her again. He is afraid to tell his mother or father about it, but can'ts stop thinking about the woman. He does not tell anybody about it although the images won't leave him. He won;t even tell his best friend.

Once a year, all the farmers and townspeople in the area get together at one of the Leeson's fields and march towards the town, pass by the catholic church and return via a different route. Then they have a picnic. They are protestants marching through a catholic area. Milton decides to tell the Reverend Cutcheon. The reverend dismisses the apparition as a young man's lustful thinking of girls. The reverend tells Milton to forget about it, put it away from his thoughts. Since his obsession continues, he decides to visit a catholic priest, Father Mulhall. Who helps Milton identify the apparition as St. Rosa of Viterbo.

But Milton can't stop thinking about ti- he feels the pressure to start preaching. He goes to a town nearby one day and starts telling people about the St. Rosa apparition. A week later he goes to another town. By this time, he's told his mother and father about it- they think he's lost his head. So they decide to keep a close watch on him; not to let him continue preaching. They lock him in his room at night and, during the day, his father keeps a close eye on Milton while they are working on the farm. When he is milking the cows, his father puts a lock on the door.

Finally, one day when the family is away to church, and Milton left behind locked in his room. Some people come to the house and Milton sees a man he does not recognize but also sees his brother Garfield getting out of the car. The family comes back to find Milton shot dead.

Book #37 - Selected Stories by William Trevor - Story #11 "A DAY"

In this story we see Mrs. Lethwes thoughts throughout the day. They range from the mundane and routine, getting up, seeing her husband, etc. to the more troublesome, the child she could not have, the woman who her husband is having an affair. Through this process of following her thoughts on this day, we find out a lot about her. She has a cleaning lady who comes three times a week; she does not like to listen to her conversation, especially about her daughter who does not want to marry some young man. We find out that she drinks a lot- she even uses a bathroom glass to pour her drinks because it holds more liquor. We learn that they go to France once a year for vacation. And it was one of those times when she learned about Elspeth, the other woman.

Elspeth is a musician that travels a lot and lives alone in an apartment- Mrs. Lethwes imagines. She thinks that Elspeth wants to have a child- the same as she did. But even though Mrs. Lethwes knows about Elspeth, she does not confront her husband. She likes things as they are.

Book #37 - Selected Stories by William Trevor - Story #12 "MARRYING DAMIAN"

The narrator's daughter, Joanna, had said when she was five that she would marry Damian. Damian was her father's and mother's friend- but he was already 40 years older. The narrator and his wife Claire thought it was amusing when Joanna made the announcement.

Over the intervening years, from time to time, Damian would come to visit them, always unexpectedly and at odd hours. He'd tell them briefly of his troubles, and the several women he'd married over the years. They never met any of his wives, but imagined them. They knew that Damian was unreliable, man of few words, who nonetheless had a way with people. He never had money or any belongings- they always helped him. He'd then go on his way.

But this time it was different. Joanna was working helping prisoners rehabilitate. They knew that this time, now that Joanna was in her early twenties, she'd end up marrying Damian.They didn't object to it, in fact they do not even address the issue when the next day Joanna goes to work, and they are drinking coffee with Damian.

Book #37 - Selected Stories by William Trevor - Story #13 "THREE PEOPLE"

Vera lives with her father, Mr. Schele, in the house he's lived all his life. She is older now and she never married, apparently partly because earlier she was helping take care of her cripple sister Mona. But one day. sometime before, she had been killed by an intruder, while Mr. Schele was out working, and Vera had gone out to the cinema. During the inquest nobody came forward to say seeing her at the cinema. Except for Sidney, a handyman of little means, who apparently had had his way with her in the theater- at least that's what her father had thought.

And now Sidney comes to their house to do maintenance work. This is always an opportunity for Vera to be nice to Sidney- offering him tea, inviting him to stay for supper, etc. Her father perhaps would like her to get married to Sidney, but doesn't say so; neither do Sidney nor Vera. Her father thinks of the time in the future when he's gone and she'll be alone. But for now they are three together, sometimes.

Book #37 - Selected Stories by William Trevor - Story #14 "OF THE CLOTH"

(I keep writing these brief synopsis of each short story as a reminder to myself- hopefully I'll be able to discern a common, unifying theme underlying these stories. Although in the notes I am mostly writing down the basic elements of the story.)

The Reverend Gratan Fitzmaurice is in charge of three small parishes in the Church of Ireland. But the Church of Rome has taken over most of the people in the area, and his church attendance has dwindled. He is old but continues, carrying on the work of his father. He is a good man. A few years ago, he helped a young man called Con Tonan, who had lost an arm in an agricultural accident and could not work anymore. Rev. Gratan gave him the job of tending the parish's garden, even though Con did not know anything about flowers. But he learned from the reverend. He used to come three times a week, balancing on his bicycle, to work on the garden, until one day he could not do it anymore. He was too old. But the Reverend understood that.

The Catholic parish is busy, has many parishioners. Two priests are in charge of it. When Con Tonan dies, being a Catholic, the service is held in that Catholic church. Reverend Gratan goes and meets the priests. Then, one day, one of the priests, Father Leihy, comes to visit Reverend Gratan. He does not know why but perhaps it's because both are men of the cloth. They talk about several things- Gratan ponders about the changes that have occurred, especially in people's mores. They are not a religious. When the priest is visiting, Gratan sees the copy of the Irish Times newspaper with a photo of a pedophile priest on the table and turns the paper over- not to embarrass Father Leahy. But they are both aware of it. The visit brings a lot of memories to Reverend Gratan- of times past.

Maybe there is no underlying theme, perhaps they are just vignettes...little observations about people's reactions to events in life.

Perhaps 'underlying theme' is not the correct phrase. There is a general feeling and a sense of familiar relationships, or just relationships, that seem to carry from one story to the next. There is no connection in the narrative; the stories are all independent. But I get the same feelings internally when I am reading them- maybe I am too dense (too dense? my wife would say)

Book #37 - Selected Stories by William Trevor - Story #15 "GOOD NEWS"

Bea is trying for a part in a TV show; her mother Iris had done that in her youth, and had gotten a few parts, but was not doing that now. Iris had Bea when she was 40, and she had thought it was too late- her father is Dickie who is in unclear terms with Iris. He does not live with them but travels a lot, calls every so often, and see Bea infrequently.

When Bea learns she got the part she told Dickie, who was very glad and excited about her. It was great even though it was a non-speaking part. They go through all the rehearsals and the final filming; and Bea keeps longing for Dickie to be with her mother- that's her secret She does not tell anyone about it. The last few times that Dickie had come, Iris did not invite him in- neither does she this time after the filming was over. DIckie came to the post-filming party, and Bea sees both her parents together, but Iris did not invite DIckie into her apartment once they came back home.

I'm glad you're enjoying looking for the connections amongst Trevor's Selected Stories, Mr. Speedy Gonzalez!
Are you still on track for an August retirement?

My retirement has been moved to mid-September tentatively, but definitely not in August. I am meeting with the HR manager at the end of this month to look at options. One thing I don't want is to leave my department without a replacement to head it; it's a group of people who are very productive and get along well, believe it or not. I am concerned that if I leave with no person to head it, the group could slowly disintegrate and all the good work they are doing and capable of doing would be stopped- a clear loss to the company.

Let's see what happens.

Book #37 - Selected Stories by William Trevor - Sotry #16 - "THE MOURNING"

Liam Pat Brogan is a young Irishman working for a builder, he works behind a mixer shoveling the cement. it's hard work, not promising. Even though Liam Pat is not very smart, he wants something better. He decides to go to London- and an acquaintance gives him a name of a person in London that will help him get a job. In London the contact helps him find a place to live, and a job. Also in construction. But his boss does not treat him well; it seems that he is the butt of all the boss's abuse. Also, the people in London are not very friendly to him- because he is Irish.

Feeny puts Liam Pat in contact with a Mr. Tighe- who after two meetings offers him a job. It turns out that the house he is staying in is owned by Mr. Tighe, and now Liam Pat is the only one living there- although from time to time he sees other people stay but for a few days only. Feeny shows Liam Pat bomb material hidden under the boards of one of the rooms, and it becomes clear that Mr. Tighe wants Liam Pat to be a bomber. He is fed up with London and wants to go back to Ireland, then Feeny tells him about the job he is to do. Take the bomb and place it in a building, to be detonated. On a Sunday when there are no people around so the only destruction will be to property.

But as Liam Pat is going to the site, with the bomb in a bag, he starts remembering another young man, in similar circumstances, who was killed when the bomb exploded. As he approaches the place where he is to leave the bomb he becomes more scared and finally drops the bag with the bomb from a bridge.

Last we see him back in Ireland, working in the same old job. But now with the memories that he could be the young man killed.

Book #37 - Selected Stories by William Trevor - Story #17 - "A FRIEND IN THE TRADE"

Clione lives with James, her husband of many years. They had three children but they are now gone. Both are in the publishing trade, and publish short stories and poetry of fashionable poets. They get along very well and have both always been very faithful. One of their neighbors, however, is kind of an oddball. Michingthorpe is his name. He deals in odd manuscripts and rare books. He gets around searching for them, and frequently comes to visit Clione and James. He spends his time telling them about his experiences, books he bought, people he saw, things he did. But he never listens to what they have to say.

Michingthorpe depends on Clione and James a lot, on their strange friendship. Clione is sure he is in love with her. But she does nothing to find out if her thinking is true.

Clione and James decide to move to the country- and found a house they like. The purchased it and then tell Michingthorpe about it. Without any comment he goes to see the house and when Clione and James come to their new house (they haven't move in yet) the former owner tells them of the visit from their friend. And also that the friend had told him that he was going to move with them. This is a surprise to them since nothing like this has been talked, much less invite him. In any event, the day the move is the last day they see him, since he can't drive he is not able to visit them in their new house. They discuss how he'll find a new person to tell his stories.

Book #37 - Selected Stories by William Trevor - Story #18 - "LOW SUNDAY, 1950"

Philippa and her brother, Tom, live together in a small town in Ireland. This is a year of peace and as the day passes, they both separately reminisce the struggles and sufferings around their family and town in the recent years of turmoil and fighting. Mostly she remembers the accidental killing of a young man, confused to be a rebel by a soldier in the yard of their house.

Life is quiet in Ireland on this Sunday, but the past lingers on. How they came to live together, brother and sister, and how neither got married. It's totally a story of reflection.

Book #37 - Selected Stories by William Trevor - Story #19 "LE VISITEUR"

Guy comes once a year to the island, to visit the Buissonnets, and spend two weeks vacationing with them. They have a farm. He's been doing this for about 20 years, ever since he was thirteen. First, his mother would take him to the pier for him to take the boat to the island where Mrs. Buissonnet would be waiting. His mother never showed any interest in the island or the Buissonnets. On the last day, he takes them to dinner at the hotel in town- they have a nice dinner with wine and talk about the farm, and the works that it's being done there. It becomes apparent that Mr. Buissonnet is Guy's father, prior to his marriage because he'd never be unfaithful to his wife.

On this day, at dinner, there was a couple sitting next to them. An American couple where the husband gets drunk and passes out. This was about the time that Guy and the Buissonnets were finished with dinner and said good by- Guy would be going back to his mother now. But Guy stays and helps a waiter take the American and his wife to their room. Guy felt he had fallen in love with the girl. They put the husband to bed and then they make love on the floor. Afterwards, she goes to take a bath but when Guy knocks on the bathroom door, she simply tells him that she is taking a bath. Implying that it should be her husband knocking. Guy understands and he lives. Life in the island continues to be quiet.

Book #37 - Selected Stories by William Trevor - Story #20 "THE VIRGIN'S GIFT"

Michael lives with his parents in a farm but one day, in a dream, he see the Virgin. She somehow commands him to leave home and walk all of Ireland. He knows that he can't walk all of Ireland but he leaves home and first goes to live in an Abbey. He finds contentment there, although thoughts of his parent's land that no one will be tiling it after he's gone continue to come to him. Sometime in the abbey, the Virgin appears in another dream that instructs him to leave the abbey- he finds his way to live alone in an island. He lives initially in a cave and then builds himself some shelter. His habit becomes all tattered and torn, but he finds peace in the solitude of living alone.

After many years, a final dream of the virgin comes to him and the virgin tells him to leave the island. Again, he picks up and starts walking. All this time he also thinks of Floda, the girl he knew when he was a child and he never saw again. On his way now he stops by a house where he is given food and shelter- the lady of the house is a widow, he thinks she may be Floda. But he continues on his walk. Until he ends up, unplanned, back in his parents' house. His father is there, blind now but recognizes Michael. His mother too. The Virgin brought the son back.

Book #37 - Selected Stories by William Trevor - Story #21 "DEATH OF A PROFESSOR"

A hoax is played by someone on professor Ormston. In the obituary page of the Saturday newspaper a note of on his death appears. His wife brings the paper in and see it, takes it to him. As some of his colleagues from the university begin to come into the house, coming for the funeral, the relationships between them emerge. Mostly jealousies among those professors, and the envy that he had married the department secretary, Vanessa, who was beautiful and much younger than him. Ormston takes it all in good stride.

But the obituary triggers a lot of memories, for him and Vanessa. He even goes out for a while to a public bar, for the first time in his life, and has several drinks. It's an opportunity to think about the obituary and his life. When he returns home both he and Vanessa realize that they have had a good life. And they would not change it.

Book #37 - Selected Stories by William Trevor - Story #22 "AGAINST THE ODDS"

Mrs. Kincaid is deciding which town to visit next. She usually goes to towns in the six counties around Belfast- only one time she went as far as Glasgow and she regretted it. From that time, always went to closer towns. When she arrives in the town, she finds rooms to stay, and rents one above a shop. Then goes to a restaurant for lunch but because the place is crowded she shares a table with a man. That's Mr. Blakely who is a widow. He lost his wife and daughter in a bombing accident- her car was confused with somebody else, who they intended to kill. Blakely has been alone since then. He raises turkeys.

Mrs. Kincaid continues to meet Blakely in the restaurant and strikes conversation with him. One day she is walking and begins to rain. Blakely offers her a ride and takes her to his farm- she is walking with no special place to go to. A few days later she stops by with a bottle of whiskey, for the favor he made to her by giving her a lift. She prepares food for him and the relationship begins to bloom. One day she tells him she is going back. He offers her to stay with him and marry him. She says it can't be done, he is used to live alone. Besides he doesn't know her well enough to trust her. He offers to give her a two thousand pound check to show his trust. He demurs but finally accepts the check. She lives with the assurance that in a month's time she'll come back. She goes back and immediately cashes the check, even though it was implicitly promised she would not. He covers the check and a month later goes to the hotel where they are supposed to meet. He waits for an hour and then goes home. That's the way she made her living- by swindling lonely old men in random towns where nobody knew her.

I can't believe I've only just discovered your thread, Manuel! Especially because you've been reading some books I loved (as well as, of course, books I now want to read!). I loved The Bridge on the Drina, Shipwrecks, The Balkan Trilogy, and the books by Zola that I've read. On the other hand, I couldn't get into The Elegance of the Hedgehog , which you thought so highly of, and really enjoyed In Hazard (although it's not up to A High Wind in Jamaica), which you didn't like. And I'm appreciating the introduction to Trevor.

Glad I found you, and now I'll be keeping up with your reading.

Thanks Rebecca. As you know, I've been reading closely your reviews which I always admire (and envy)

Book #38 - Hypocrites & Half-Wits by Donald J. Boudreaux

This is a compendium of letters to the editor, and to individuals or bloggers, who Prof. Boudreaux has written over the last 10 years or so. Each of the letters, which are obviously brief, responds to a misconception or wrong understanding of basic economic principles made by a person.

The number of subjects covered in these 100+ letters is very large and comprehensive. The common thread is Boudreaux's emphasis on free markets, individual freedom and removal of the coercion of government as counterarguments and clarification for muddled thinking and biased opinions.

I think people should read these letters because using simple language he dispels a lot of myths and misconceptions that exist among our population regarding economic issues.

Boudreaux is the author of the daily blog Cafe Hayek (www.cafehayek.com).

Book #37 - Selected Stories by William Trevor - Story #23 "THE TELEPHONE GAME"

Tony and Liese are going t get married the next day. Tony is Englishe and Liese is German, and she insisted that the wedding take place in London, the place they first met. Even though this will be a great inconvenience to her parents and relatives coming to the wedding. Tony's parents died a few years ago in an airplane accident, when two juPmbo jets crashed on the tarmac of an airport. Liese's family makes gloves- for several generations. They come from different backgrounds and from two countries that have been enemies and went through two wars. Nonetheless they love each other.

The night before the wedding, Liese insisted on a joint party, rather than the traditional way of the groom partying with his boyfriends and the bride with her girlfriends. This was better she thought. At the party someone suggests to play the telephone game- the Germans in the party, including Liese, did not know this game. They explain that the game is played by dialing a number at random and then keep the other person on the line- the one who can keep the other person longest wins. So they start dialing, even though it's at night. To keep people in the line, they mention a dangerous situation in their house, such as the water main is broken and they need to check the valves otherwise their flat will be flooded, for instance. When Tony's time comes to play, he tells the lady who answered to go up in the loft and check the valve. The lady, who says she lives alone and is 73 says she needs to get a ladder. Tony instructs her to do so. They waited for her to come back to the phone but doesn't come. The party ends and everybody goes away- the phone is still silent, the lady does not respond. They only hear a cat. Liese is getting upset and thinks that something bad may have happened to the lady. In the end, after long hours of waiting, Liese is able to get a response. It's unclear what really happened.

The wedding takes place and both Tony and Liese are happy. But Tony knew all along that he was right, that the lady was OK. But Liese is concerned that they may be heading to an area that is not foreseen.

Book #37 - Selected Stories by William Trevor - Story #24 "THE HILL BACHELORS"

I am truly enjoying these short stories by William Trevor. I have been writing brief summaries of the stories, mostly for my own benefit so I'll remember what they are about. But I can't capture the wonderful writing and the beautiful depiction of people, their relationships and their surroundings. These stories are to be read and savor, that I am trying to do by reading one or two a day.

Paulie comes to the family farm for his father's funeral; his mother will now live alone in the farm. His two brothers and sisters also come, one by one more or less. The question is clear immediately of what will happen to the farm, their mother can't run it by herself There are the fields to clear and plant, and the cows to tend. Paulie starts doing some of the work, and between conversations it seems that he is destined to quit his job and come to the farm. To live with his mother and take care of the farm. None of the his brothers would do, they have jobs in the city, they like city living. Besides their wives would not like to live in a farm.

Over time, Paulie begins to find that no woman would marry him, for no woman wants to live away in a farm. It's lonely out there and nothing much to do. In the end, it is the hills that captured him.

Book #37 - Selected Stories by William Trevor - Story #25 "SITTING WITH THE DEAD"

Emily's husband has died. She had married him to get married as she was getting older, and she knew he married her for her 40 acres. He did raise horses to race them, but they never amounted to anything. He had lost all before marrying, and then had lost most of the land since the marriage. But Emily did not resent that. He was dead now and she had to go through the procedures. The doctor comes in and talks for a while- she wants to be alone. Then the two Geraghty sister came in and Emily let them in. The sisters would visit people who were dying, and they would sit by to keep them company. Emily knew that her husband would not have allowed that when he was alive, but now he was dead. Emily did not let them go to the room where his body was laying.

They talk for a while, drink tea and after several hours they leave. They are aware that Emiliy did not let them sit by the dead body. But when they leave, one of them tells the other that "it was the dead we were sitting with." Meaning that Emily was behaving as a dead person.

Book #37 - Selected Stories by William Trevor - Story #26 TRADITIONS"

Friends in the school are keeping jackdaws, feeding them and trying to teach them to speak. But the birds' sounds are hard to figure out. At the beginning the boys come to the place where they keep the birds caged and find that they had been killed, their necks snapped. They try to figure out who'd do such a dastardly deed. They think of one boy or another but Olivier thinks it was the girl. One of the girls who works in the school. They go to classes and then to eat at the mess hall. But Olivier keeps thinking it was the girl, one of the girls who serves the food.

The headmaster spoke after lunch, as always, and emphasized the value of tradition. Of doing things as always. But Olivier thought the opposite may be true. In the night, he thinks of the girl- her calm mood when she was waiting for Grace to be said before the meal.

Book #37 - Selected Stories by William Trevor - Story #27 JUSTINA'S PRIEST

Justina lives with her sister. She is slow and does a few tasks for her sister. Her sister's husband does not think much of her, and Maeve, her sister, also thinks she is a burden. But Justina has a good heart. She goes to confession every two or three days and tells the priest about Maeve and her husband. Also about her friend Breda who had left for Dublin. Breda was a troublemaker when she was in town- now in Dublin she is a streetwalker. The priest is worried that Justina may get on a bus one day to go visit Breda, but Maeve is sure she will not. She does not have the money for the bus fare.

The priest is seeing the slow decadence of the church. Fewer and fewer people come to church. In the old days, people were poorer and more humble, and they would come to church. But nowadays they are better off. Perhaps this is better thinks the priest, although he longs for the old days when the church had a bigger role in town.

Book #37 - Selected Stories by William Trevor - Story #28 "AN EVENING OUT"

Two people meet in a bar; they are there through an arrangement with a dating company service. He picked the place, next to a theater because he knew that the place would be empty. When she arrives the bar is full of people. While she waits the announcement comes in that the play is about to being, everybody rushes out to the theater, and she is left alone. She waits for her date, who comes apologizing for being late. The conversation begins, both of them thinking what to ask and trying to remember what was in the other person's description sheet.

He is a photographer who is currently photographing all the areas in London- he talks about a book that is supposed to be published, over a thousand pages. He talks about all his cameras and it turns out that he is looking for a woman with a car, that will help him carry his equipment from one place to another. She does not mention this until the end. She is 51 a few years older than him. He suggests that they go to dinner to a restaurant, but he does not have the intention of paying. A couple of times the dates have complained to the company because he left the restaurant after dinner and left them stranded with the bill. He claimed he was drunk. But this time he comes clean and after dinner tells her that he does not have money to pay, if she'd mind picking up the tab. She does. She realizes that this is not the man for her (obviously!). They go their separate ways.

Book #37 - Selected Stories by William Trevor - Story #31 "SACRED STATUES"

Corry has an innate ability to carve statues. Years before, Mrs Falloway had come to the town and purchased a house- visiting churches she was struck by the low quality and state of many of the statues and took it upon herself to try to improve that. She wrote to priests and bishops, and found that Corry was good at carving. She convinced Corry to move to town and sold him a house. Corry changed profession and started carving sacred statues. He was living with his wife Nuala and several children. But he never could make a living out of carving- their income was meager and they were desperate for money.

Corry goes to visit Mrs Falloway hoping to get some money, even though he's never paid a penny owed on the house. He finds Mrs Falloway is also in dire straits. He returns home unsuccessful. Nuala goes to visit the Rynners, who are well to do but don't have any children. She makes an offer to Etty Rynner to sell her forthcoming baby, Nuala is pregnant. But Etty, though childless, does not want to do that. She tells Nuala that she won't tell anybody about the offer- which would be a bad thing if they did it. Nuala returns home and looks at all the statues that Corry has carved and have not sold. She feels that they have not failed, it's the world that has failed them.

Book #37 - Selected Stories by William Trevor - Story #32 "ROSE WEPT"

Rose is going to university and for the last year or so she has been tutored by Mr. Bouverie. The story takes place at her parents house, they are having a dinner party to celebrate the fact she will go to school. But it's also the end of Mr. Bouverie tutoring her. While the dinner is going on, she has remembrances of her past visits to his house for the lessons. She realizes that while he is tutoring her, a man comes to the house and goes upstairs with Mrs Bouverie. It seems she has a lover and they take advantage of the distraction of Mr. Bouverie's lesson to make love upstairs.

Rose discusses this with her friends- and they react differently. But Rose feels a sadness. A sadness that makes her weep for Mr. Bouverie who knew about his wife's unfaithfulness. She weeps for her mother, for her father, for her young life ahead of her.

Book #37 - Selected Stories by William Trevor - Story #33 "BIG BUCKS"

Fina and John Michael are in love. Even though he has been a fisherman he does not want that as a career- it's too dangerous for one thing, several people he knows have drowned. Also, there is the farm that his uncle owns that they may get if they get married. But they have greater ideas- they aspire to move to America and make big money. After his mother dies, they agree. He will go first to America and after 200 days he will come back to marry her and take her with him.
He leaves Ireland and letters start coming, slowly. First he has to find a job. Then he says he does not have a permanent address, since he does not want to spend money renting, better save it. But Fina still expects to get married, and starts making plans. Her mother buys material for the wedding dress.

One day he calls. Tells her that it's going to be difficult for him to come back to fetch her. Perhaps it's better if she comes and they can get married in America. But for her to go is difficult- there is no amnesty. After the second or third call, they are expensive to make (this is before the telecom revolution that lowered prices and made telephoning available to everyone), she starts thinking that she does not love him anymore. He calls and she tells him that- he says he loves her, but she says no, she does not. The wedding is of. She goes back to her daily routine working in the bar. Her dreams remain that, just dreams. But she is not unhappy.

Book #37 - Selected Stories by William Trevor - Story #34 "ON THE STREETS"

This is a strange story. Arthurs works as a waiter serving at breakfast time. He will sometimes follow a customer after work and find out where she lives. Then, later on, he would come and pretend to be from the electric company, go into their house and steal things. It seems that a couple of times he also killed the person. There is a woman who lives in the same building and develops a relationship with him- but it's unclear what kind of relationship. This was kind of a muddled story, very unlike some of the others that are more straightforward.

Book #37 - Selected Stories by William Trevor - Story #35 "THE DANCING-MASTER'S MUSIC"

Brigid was only 16 when she went to work for the family in Skenakilla Hill. She was assigned to work in the sculleries initially and could not see any other part of the kitchen, much less the house. Her work area was restricted to those two rooms. There are several other servants working in the house, but there is a distinct pecking order. In the fall a musician comes to the house, and he is to give performances and teach lessons to the children in the house. Only one day Brigid heard the music from the piano being played, when one of the doors was momentarily open as one of the servants went to another room.

But one day she heard that all the servants were invited to listen to a performance. It was the last day that the dancing-master was going to stay in the house and the family had agreed to have a special second performance for the servants. They brought their chairs to the great room- Brigid had never seen it, nor had she ever seen a room with two fireplaces, and a grand piano The pianist walked into the room and played for an hour and a half. At the conclusion, he stood up and bowed. The audience, all servants, not knowing what to do stood up and bowed too. They all leave.

After a few years, some of the servants are dead, and Brigid is not working anymore. The family has fallen on hard times so the house has fallen in disrepair. But Brigid remembers the music she heard that day, and thinks that the music still remains in the house after all these years.

Good work on reading Selected Stories, Manuel. Depending on how my Booker Prize reading goes I may get to this in September or October.

I'm continuing to enjoy your Trevor short story summaries, Manuel, but experiencing some frustration, as I have been looking unsuccessfully for my copy of his Collected Stories. For the time being, I guess I will have to simply enjoy your reading of them!

I am enjoying reading them a lot- but find difficulty in coming up with an overarching theme or way of putting them together. He has a unique way of capturing the inner feelings of relationships between the characters- often a husband and wife. Through all of them you can feel the Irishness of the characters and the hardships that they go through.

Book #37 - Selected Stories by William Trevor - Story #37 "THE DRESSMAKER'S DAUGHTER"

Cahal is working in the garage with his father, he is the only son. His sisters are all married and moved away but he stayed and works on cars and serves gas at the pump whenever there is a customer. He is a man of few words, he communicates little. One day a Spanish couple come into the garage and ask if he would drive them to see the Virgin of Pouldearg, they are tourists but do not have a car. A man in Dublin had told them about the miracles of the Virgin- when penitents would come to her she would she tears if one of them was forgiven. Many people used to come but one day the bishop and a couple of priests proved the miracles to be fake. The tears were just rain drops that gathered in small hollows that the statue had under her eyes. With the myth dispelled, the people stopped coming; so it was strange that the two Spaniards were asking to see her. But they offered to pay Cahal 50 Euros if he took them, and he didn't want to miss the opportunity.

Cahal has had a girlfriend for several years now, Minnie. But there is no talk of marriage even though they get together everyday. And many times at night they go behind a shed, where nobody in town can see them and they spend some time together.

He takes the Spaniards to see the statue, the roads are bad and one of the tires is losing air. He stops and pumps some air into the tire. When they get to the place where the statue is, he changes the tire while the Spanish couple go and see the statue. They come but have to wait a while until he finishes changing the tire. When they take off is dark already. While he is driving he thinks that he'd rather be with the Spanish girl in the back seat than with Minnie. Also he thinks about the rumors on the dressmaker who lives alongside the road, and her daughter who chases cars sometimes. As he is driving he sees a white shape that bumps against the side door of the car. He continues driving but sees in the mirror a white dress on the road. He ignores it and takes the Spanish back to their hotel.

From then on he thinks about the girl, and he expects the police coming looking for him,. But nothing happens for a few days, until he hears that the police has found the girl dead in a quarry. Apparently she had fallen. From this day on, however, the dressmaker starts following him. He sees her in the cafe while he is talking to Minnie, on the street, etc. One day she approaches him and tells him to come with her, that she won't tell anybody about her daughter. He becomes more morose and Minnie ends up marrying a vet. He is repenting and goes to see the statue of the Virgin; he sees the tears and puts his finger to it, tastes it and is not salty. But it does not matter. On the way back he sees that the dressmaker is tending her garden, he continues but he knows that one day he will stop.

Book #37 - Selected Stories by William Trevor - Story #38 "THE ROOM"

Katherine is having an affair with a man who's left his wife. He also has children but can not handle it anymore. They met at a bar and went dancing, the affair blossomed from that encounter. He is renting a room, that has all his belongings- just a bed, and a sink. But they meet there every time he can get away from work. Katherine is married but has no children. She knew she couldn't have children, but her husband took it in stride.

One day she reveals to her lover that her husband had been accused of murdering a young lady, Sharon Ritchie. The police had come to the house one day and questioned him; they asked her at what time he'd arrived on that day two weeks before. She said the usual time. There was a trial and one old lady who lived in the same floor across Sharon recognized him. She was the witness, but as the trial dragged on, her memory started fading. The defense attorney slowly chipped on her testimony. At the end of the day the judge dismissed the case.

But Phair, that is Katherine's husband's name, wondered why Katherine said he'd come at the usual time, when in fact he'd come 30 minutes later. Their conversations never mentioned the girl, other than one day Phair saying that he only talked to the girl. After 6 months Katherine knew her love affair with the man was over. He goes back to his wife and Katherine stays with Phair. Not really knowing why.

Manuel, I'm beginning to believe that Selected Stories is one massive tome. Carry on, I'm enjoying your summaries.

Lynda, it's not a massive tome. It's that I just don't have that much free time. In fact each story is probably only about 15-20 pages and the font size is not small. It takes only about 15-20 minutes to get through each. I am reading them slowly to enjoy them, and not become confused. But I have trully enjoyed them.

By the way, I just firmed a retirement date at work. It'll be at the end of September, although my last day will be September 11, by chance since that day will mark 34 years and 1 day with the company. I picked the extra day to beat the company's CFO who retired about a month ago with 34 years- heck, I thought, I can easily do better than that. And he won't be able to beat me at that, ever.

However, I will probably do some consulting work with the company- a few hours a week. To give the department a sense of stability until a replacement is found.

I am happy about this.

Book #37 - Selected Stories by William Trevor - Story #39 "MEN OF IRELAND"

Donal Prunty is returning home to Ireland, going to his hometown of Gleban. He has been in exile in England for more than 15 years, after an incident. He was always in trouble as a young man; stealing money, telling lies. He would not correct. When he gets off the ferry he hitches a ride with a truck driver, who was going in the same general direction. On the way he wonders if he should ask the driver for money- he is begging. The driver gets him off the truck and tells him he does not have money.

Prunty walks towards the town and stops by the parish, where the old priest lives. He is sleeping but is awakened by the housekeeper, Rose. Initially the priest doesn't remember Donal, but after some prodding he does. He remembers how he was always in trouble, how he'd stolen the cancer money box. Donal reminds the priest of the sins of the priests- how one of the had gotten pregnant a young girl in town, and more. The priest says they were all unfounded rumors. But that was the shame of the Church of Ireland. Then Donal asks the priest for money, and continues asking until he obtains it all. Then he leaves, and he also leaves the town. Not stopping at the bar, just getting away.

Are you sure you don't want to make it two extra days? The CFO may remember that odd extra day somewhere to trump you ace. Contemplating life without the defining matrix of work is an interesting exercise; I've picked 2015 to cut the cord. As the French say, 'On verra par la suite des choses...'

No more days. Since the company has not hired a replacement yet, after all it's been only more than a year since I initially told them that I would retire this year, we talked about doing some consulting for the company afterwards. But I don't think they will come up to what I am asking (high enough to discourage them hiring me).

Are you still reading WiW? I was thinking yesterday about that wonderful scene between old Mr. Fairlie and Count Fosco: two colossal egos with completely different styles. It's an interesting dance.

Yes, I am and enjoying it. Although I have not been able to do any reading the last week or so. I am on the board and Treasurer of the local Economic Club and we had our annual board meeting right before I went to Austin. So I had a lot of work to catch up. Plus I also landed a consulting job for after I retire next month- it turns out the company needed some economic analysis and projections for next week so I spent a few hours the last few evenings/early mornings on that.

Right now my last day at work will be Friday 13th, that has freaked some people around the office. It worked that way because of vacation days i have not used yet. I'll continue consulting afterwards, but not very heavily.

The love birds are very happy and looking forward to their honeymoon trip next month- we are glad they found each other because she is very happy. I hope they find a bigger apartment soon.

Ha! Now you will trump your CFO by 3 days! Yeah!
Will your consulting job be with your current company? Well, no matter, you'll be able to pick and choose your work schedule and as always your diligence will be an asset.

"Love birds"? "Honeymoon"? Has someone married? A daughter? If so, my heartfelt congratulations!

Hi Lynda, I should have been a little more explicit in that message. Tajar happens to be the mother of my daughter's husband (they married on April)- my daughter is very happy (they both are) and live in Brooklyn. However, their apartment is very tiny and they started looking for a bigger one. But thanks. I guess I should've mentioned it back in April; but I am sometimes reticent to disclose personal information...only sometimes.

I am in talks with my current company about doing some consulting with them, but I am waiting to see if they agree to my hourly rate. But I already have an agreement with a different company in Milwaukee. It'll make the transition easier, especially since I want to continue doing work in my field (economics) that I enjoy.

I had thought that the proximity to my retirement would mean less work, but it has been the opposite. I've been busier and have not had much time to read- except for the novella The Interrogation by the Romanian author Norman Manea. The novella is in a book of four titled Compulsory Happiness, which we immediately can conclude that it takes place in a totalitarian regime Where else would you be forced to have happiness?

Book #41 - The Interrogation by Norman Manea in Compulsory Happiness

A young woman, a nameless artist, is in prison, in solitary confinement. She in the worst possible conditions one can think of- sleeping on a cold floor, interrupted frequently day and night to disturb her rest, light shining on her face, cold and damp, etc. Suddenly she is brought to another room in the prison that is more spacious, has light and windows, is warmer, she is brought food and generally appears to be treated relatively well.

But then the interrogator comes in. He talks and talks and does not let her sleep- the brutal vocal mistreatment, without being abusive, is relentless. Little by little he wears her down, to the point that she is very confused and does not know right from wrong. Or even whether she committed a crime, but we know well that there was no crime on her part.

The story brings to light and reminds one of the brutality of the Soviet Communist regime. Of the deception and lies upon which such a regime was founded, and continued to exist until its demise brought down by the fortunate combination and moral leadership of Reagan, Thatcher and the Polish Pope John Paul II. Sadly, there are still several countries being run under the same system, and with the same inhuman methods, such as North Korea and Cuba for instance. And more sadly yet, the fact that many misguided people think highly of those leaders, particularly of the Castro brothers.

I have two books by Norman Manea but haven't read either. Love the title Compulsory Happiness!

Well, I'll be......................I've started reading a book entitled My House in Umbria by William Trevor. It hit me this afternoon that perhaps this Trevor is your Trevor. I read the author's info and lo and behold he is the same author! In any event, I'm thoroughly enjoying the book and love Trevor's writing style.
Hope you've had a good holiday weekend!

Yep, same guy. I am still reading the book of short stories, called Selected Stories, but nearly finished.
However, I signed up for one of those free internet courses offered by an outfit called Coursera, on ancient Greece. Well, this week's first assignment, other than about one and a half hours of lectures, is to read a number of chapters from both The Iliad and The Odyssey- aargh, that's going to keep me busy!

Brief synopsis of a couple of William Trevor's short stories:

Story #44. A PERFECT RELATIONSHIP

Prosper and Chloe have been living together for a while now. Ever since she started learning a Italian and he was the teacher at the night school, and they became friends, and then lovers. But he is quite older than she and, although it seems she loves him, one day she decide to move out. She wants to be on her own, and not with him anymore. She cleans the apartment, quietly packs her things and leaves in a taxi. Se does not tell him where she is going.
He is lonely without her, he misses her. Starts remembering all the times, the events and little things that brought them together. One day he decides to visit her parents, to find out anything about her, even though they never liked him. Partly because he was older. Her parents are polite, but don't tell him where she is living now, perhaps they don't know.
But not shortly after, she finds that she has the key to the ate, so decides to return it. Her intention is to return turkey, buying reality iris apparent that she wants to go back to him. Which she does. They are perfect for each other.

Story #45. THE CHILDREN

Connie's mother has passed away, after an illness that gradually took her away. She is only 11 and lives with her father, Robert, in a farm. The farm came to him when he married and, even though he had never farmed before, he became adept to it, and make the farm flourish. Connie grew up with the daughter of Teresa, who lived a couple of miles away. Teresa had been abandoned by her husband a few years back, who didn't want the children, or her. But Teresa would come a lot to the farm to pick up Connie to take her to school. Robert hardly ever saw Teresa.

But at the funeral Teresa was there. And after the funeral Teresa would come to pick up Connie and fell in love with Robert. And Robert with her. So two years after the funeral of Connie's mother, they decide to get married. Everything is going well except that Connie begins to act funny. She does not say why but it's apparent that she is against the idea of her father marrying Teresa. Also, she did not like that a lot of her mother's furniture had to be sold to make room for Teresa's.

Robert and Teresa decide to postpone the wedding. Perhaps after the Summer it'll be possible.

Story #46 - OLD FLAME

Just one more story from William Trevor, here is a brief summary:

Zoe has been reading the love letters that Audrey sends to her husband Charles, even after their 50 years of marriage. The last one is announcing that Grace, Audrey's friend and roommate all these years, has passed away. The letter brings all kinds of memories to Zoe; of her first marrying Charles; of being told about Charles' co-workers, particularly of Audrey and Grace; of being told by Charles after only 5 years of marriage that he is in love with Audrey, that they love each other; of Charles deciding to stay with Zoe for the children.

Charles calls Audrey and asks her to meet, at the old place they used to meet. She asks him to bring her a packet of her old cigarettes, which he does. They meet but there is only friendship left, and memories. Charles does not feel anything for Audrey. And Zoe, alone in the house watching a movie, initially thinks she does not care Charles is meeting with Audrey. But then she realizes that she loves Charles, and she is glad that he stayed with her.

Story #47 - FAITH in William Trevor's Selected Stories

Bartholomew lives with his sister Hester, who dominates him. Although he has been ordained in the Protestant Church of Ireland, he does not have a parish, but helps in other ones. She pretty much runs his life, and he goes along. He had been engaged at one time, but his fiancée broke off right before the wedding, she was afraid of Hester. Many people were but did not say so. Bartholomew never understood.

Hester found out about the Oscary priory, there is no preacher and a lady had left some funds to maintain it. Because of this people in the neighborhood had to go about 70 miles for services. Hester tells Bartholomew they are going to Oscary- as usual, she does not tell him the reason for the trip. Only when they get there, the purpose becomes clear to him. He takes the job, and they move to Oscary. Until one day, she finds out she is sick and going to die. In her usual way, she takes it very stoically and let's Bartholomew take care of her until her death, that comes soon. He has memories of her but they appear not to be sentimental. Her faith carries her through. But throughout his life, he has had faith in his sister.

Story #48 - FOLIE A DEUX in William Trevor's Selected Stories

This is the last of the short stories contained in this collection. As I think back, I can only say that they are all wonderful, moving stories of human relationships. Events that impact and influence those relationships are related in a very subtle way that somehow brings out the human in the people covered in the narrative. Trevor has an ability to weave all the words together so that the stories are very taught; there are no extraneous words or sentences. More pleasing for me, there is no gratuitous use of vulgarities or sex scenes just to excite a reader- I don't mind and may even enjoy them, of course, if they are vital for the development of the story.

FOLIE A DEUX

Two boys who are good friends when young, Wilby and Anthony, share many experiences. They discover the world and find out things, either from Anthony's father talking about various subjects during lunch, when Wilby would come to Anthony's house, or when they were playing together, often around the beach. Near there, they had found a cave and started using it as a retreat. Anthony had a dog, Old Jericho, who followed them always.

One day they found a lilo washed up from the sea and they take it to cave. They did not know what a lilo was but used it for bed. They did not talk much to each other, both seem to understand the other well. One day they decide, for not know reason, to see what the dog would do if he were put on the lilo on the water. So they watched the dog sitting on the lilo, slowly moving away from the beach. They see him farther on the horizon and can only hear his wailing. And then he disappears. The next day the dog is washed up on the beach, naturally dead. The boys don't say anything.

Anthony is becoming more and more isolated into himself. And one day he disappears- simply goes away. Never communicates with the family. They think he is dead. But many years after Wilby is in Paris, in one of his visits when he spends time in quiet cafes, and recognized Anthony working as a dish washer. He tries to talk to him, but Anthony does not say much. The only thing that ties them now is the recognition that they had killed the dog, without guilt and without knowing or full aware of what they were doing

Book #42. The Iliad by Homer

I read several chapters for a Coursera internet class on Ancient Greece. I've read it a few times before and the only thin I missed this time is that, because of time, I only had to read 5 of its chapters.

It's always a thrill to read it.

Friday the 13th has come and so has my retirement, finally! Yes, today is my last day of work (well, actually I'll go to the office a couple of hours only) and I am free with lots of time to do things that I want. Except, of course, for all the activities that my wife may have in mind. Perhaps I shouldn't have told her that today was the day to give me some extra wiggle room.

And you, Darryll, and all other voracious LT readers have somebody to challenge them. Although I really doubt I will be able to finish 100s of books as some of you do. But I'll do my best.

Congratulations, Manuel! I know you've been waiting for this day.

>183 xieouyang: Congratulations on your retirement, Manuel!

I look forward to the challenge!

Woo Hoo, Manuel! A hearty fist pump and cheers to a long and happy retirement!!

You will certainly be a force to be reckoned with when it comes to moving books from your TBR stack to completed shelf. I'll look forward to reading of your achievements!

Congrats on retirement! Only 15-20 years to go for me... :)

Today is Friday the 13th and I'm thinking about your last at work. I hope there are some nice surprises that pop up to mark the occasion. We all invest such a huge part of our lives in work, one wonders how we all lost our equilibrium.
I totally agree about the LBs (their new name) and I share your hope about their living arrangements. I think that space would be perfect for Mr. Bun and the editing equipment. If we want the size of the family to increase, they'll need a bit more space.

Good one. I go back to Homer and LOTR periodically and find that, as I evolve, I see more each time.

Congratulations Manuel. As I did when I retired 3 years ago, I'm pretty sure you will find that the things you want to do expand to fill (and exceed) available time.

Thanks a lot "aruba" - it's been only two days and I am already running behind what I wanted to do. But it's OK since I am doing the things that I like and want.

I just received in the mail the latest book by Vargas Llosa, El Heroe Discreto. I am looking forward to reading it but I don't know how soon i'll be able to do so. Despite my retirement last Friday, my days are already filled with all kinds of things to do, such as getting through the two Coursera classes that I, optimistically, signed up for.

my days are already filled with all kinds of things to do

Congratulations on your retirement, Manuel! It is endlessly rewarding to reach the time in life when you can do what you truly wish to do. I have not regretted my retirement for even a single day.

Looking forward to your reading the new Vargas Llosa. Off to check when it will be translated into English.

Book #43 - Daniel Deronda by George Eliot

What a wonderful writer is George Eliot. For the longest time, most of my life?, I've been wanting to read one of her books but their sheer size always kept me away. Although that didn't stop me from reading equally prolific writers such as Tolstoy for instance. Nonetheless, I purchased this book a couple of weeks ago and took the plunge- I'm very glad I did.

I won't go into the details of the story, or stories, within the novel; other people in LT, such as RebeccaNYC, can do a much better job than I. I want to say only that Eliot's descriptions, both physical and emotional of her characters are unsurpassed. Also she populates the novel with a range of characters that blend and contrast each other very well. More importantly, though, is her treatment of Jews and what I think she calls the "Jewish question." i don't recall at the moment any 19th century novel that deals with Jewish people so sympathetically and understandably.

Finally, I should add that Eliot impressed me by her erudition and vast knowledge. This starts with all the quotes at the head of each chapter. Aside from quoting Shakespeare, that is fairly common, she mentions writers ranging from Walt Whitman, La Fontaine, Shiller, Dryden, Goethe and renaissance ones such as Dante, or classical as Suetonius. Many of them are in the original language, French, German, Latin, etc. since she dominated several languages.

Book # 44. Our Kind of Traitor by John Le Carre

After having my brain running in all 8 cylinders, George Eliot, I moved to an author that barely requires one cylinder. This is a read strictly for distraction and entertainment. This is a far cry from Le Carre's better works, such as obviously The Spy Who Came in from the Cold or The Taylor from Panama. But it still is typical Le Carre although in this case he brings the story to reflect current problems by making his main character a Russian oligarch who launders money- huge amounts of money. Well, the character is not really an oligarch, I just wanted to use the word oligarch.

If you like spy thrillers and want to let your brain rest for a while, then this is a novel for you.

Well, I'm blushing, Manuel; thank you for the compliment. You make me want to read more Eliot; I've only read Middlemarch. I am a big fan of Le Carre's cold war fiction, especially the Karla trilogy and my all-time favorite, A Perfect Spy, so I was really disappointed by Our Kind of Traitor.

Book #45 - El Heroe Discreto by Mario Vargas Llosa

This is the latest novel by Vargas Llosa just published earlier this year in Spanish, of course. I'd think an English translation will be forthcoming fairly soon given his popularity. The good thing is that I was able to purchase it through Barnes & Noble for about $15, whereas if I had purchased it in Spain, as I used to do through my daughter when she was living there, I would've paid $25 (about 18 euros is the price in Spain). Why is it cheaper here than in Spain you say? Well, it's printed in the U.S., an identical version to the Spanish one. So, the Spaniards have 'exported jobs' to the U.S. by printing it here- this is how trade works. Vargas Llosa gets his royalty payment, the published gets its money, and I get a book at a lower cost. Hurray for trade! Well, enough of this, back to Vargas Llosa.

Vargas Llosa has written another good novel where he brings some characters that we've known from previous novels. The action takes places in two cities: Lima and Piura. In each of them the center is a family that is going through internal conflict. In Piura it's Felicito Yanaque who is married to a woman he doesn't love, he was forced to marry her because she'd gotten pregnant although he suspects that the child is not his (big telltale sign- the child is white, tall, blond and has blue eyes while Felicito is short, black hair, brown skin, and black eyes) but he treats him as his son, the same as his second son Tiburcio. He has a mistress that he loves a lot. He is a very honest, hard-working man who follows the advice of his father to do that. The novel starts with Felicity receiving a threatening letter asking for "protection" money and he going to the police. This is where we meet Lituma, hero of the eponymous novel (I've always wanted to use this word, eponymous) "Lituma de los Andes," who is a police sargent in Piura. The story in Piura then revolves around trying to find the culprit or culprits- that in the end turn out to be unexpected persons.

At the same time, in Lima Rigoberto is invited to lunch by his boss, Ismael Carrera. Rigoberto thinks it's probably because he is retiring and Ismael will ask him to stay longer. But it turns out that Ismael breaks the news that he plans to marry his maid; his wife died a couple of years before and the maid, named Armida, will make a good wife, despite the 40 year difference between them. Besides Ismael's two sons are good for nothing that are waiting for him to die so they can to the rest of the inheritance. The Lima story revolves around the wedding, the sons trying to undo it, the disappearance of Armida after ismael dies, etc. In the end there is a familiar thread uniting both families.

All in all it's a good novel and a much better execution than The Dream of the Celt

Nice review of El Heroe Discreto, Manuel. I'll buy it as soon as the English translation is available here.

I too will buy it as soon as the English translation is available. It will be nice to see Lituma again. I was very disappointed in The Dream of the Celt, although I learned a lot from it.

I've been unable to keep up, despite my retirement and having presumably more free time. My wife had lung surgery last week, and we chose a hospital in Madison, about 2 hour drive from home, so i ended up driving back and forth every day. I prefer that to staying in a hotel overnight, with nothing to do. My wife is recovering and the test results were negative, which is a good thing at least for the immediate future.
Hopefully I'll be able to start reading again shortly.

Well. I'd say you have a good reason for not reading so much. Hope she gets well soon!

Ooo, so sorry to read of your wife's recent surgery, Manuel. Hope all recovery continues to go well. No doubt, not the start of retirement you imagined so a redo is in order.

Glad to hear your wife is doing well, and hope she continues to improve.

Thanks Lynda and Rebecca- she's is slowly improving which is a good thing.

Books read over the last two weeks (for a Coursera class):

#46. Antigone by Sophocles
#47. Medea by Euripides
#48. History of the Pelopponesian War by Thucydides
#49. Euthyphro by Plato
#50. Apologia by Plato
#51. The Acharnians by Aristophanes

I am not writing any comments on them but should say that they are all worthwhile reading. The three plays (Antigone, Medea and The Acharnians) bring aspects of ancient Greek culture and thinking. The first two are tragedies and are very hard because of the brutality. For instance, Medea because her husband has abandoned (divorced?) her and taken another wife that is not a 'foreigner' like Medea, ends up killing the new wife and her own two children.
The two Plato stories, dialogues actually, are valuable because of the exploration of concepts such as "piety" in Euthyphro and "guilt" perhaps in the Apologia.
Finally, I read only parts of Thucydides although I have read this book two times before. One time in college and the last time about 10 years ago. The main issue was the struggles and wars between Athens and Sparta in ancient Greece. How, for the most part, they did not attack each other's city but rather fought by attacking the allies of one or the other. It's uncanny how the Cold War in our age and the struggles between the U.S. and the Soviet Union paralleled those discussed by Thucydides 2500 years ago. Two powers fighting for world dominance who fight in the territories of their allies; e.g., Vietnam, Nicaragua, etc.

I loved Daniel Deronda. Eliot really takes us into the world she lived in. Human nature has changed little but the way we express ourselves has changed a lot. I was at a party last weekend during which our hostess said she hated Jane Austen (another of my faves) because no one said what they meant. hmmm. And I had always loved that ballet of correct social intercourse.

Catching up after a long time in the RW... I am so sorry to hear about your wife's surgery. I do hope her energy will be better after she is well.

Book #52 - Ford County by John Grisham

This is a compendium of 7 short stories by the renowned writer who concentrates mostly on (I think) on thrillers with a legal twist. I have read several of Grisham's books, mostly to let my brain rest since they are like twinkies for the brain. Below are brief synopsis of each of the stories, but all in all I don't think they are worthwhile reading except maybe one or two. The dates in parenthesis are when I read each story.

1. BLOOD DRIVE (Oct 27, 2013)
Bailey is seriously injured at the construction site where he works in Memphis. News of it arrives quickly to Box Hill, his hometown. His mother, at 400 pounds is semi-invalid and can't do much, not even call the hospital to inquire. People start coming into the house, speculating about the accident. Then word comes out that blood is needed for Bailey, so the queries about who can travel to Memphis to give blood go around. Finally, Aggie, his name was Wayne Agnor, volunteers to drive to Memphis and give blood. Then, Calvin Marr say he will go along too. To make a threesome, a man offered Roger, his son, to go. There is some quiet hesitation since Roger was known to take drugs and drink. But they agree to take him too.
On the way, riding in Aggie's pickup, they stop at a shop on the way, and Roger comes back with a six-pack. He starts drinking and assuring them that beer does not affect the blood; in fact, it makes it flow out faster. Further down the road, when the beer is gone, Roger tells the other two that he has to pee, so they stop at another station. Roger gets out and comes back with two more six-packs. They continue down the road but at one point, Aggie gets distracted and crosses the yellow line, just at the time a car is coming the other direction. And it's a police car that turns around and starts chasing them. Aggie guns the engine and is able to lose the cop by turning into a country lane that leads to a farm house. They stop and Roger gets out to pee, while there the man of the house comes out with a gun and they run away in the truck. When they stop a few miles down the road, Roger realizes that he's dropped his wallet. They have to go back, even though the farmer is there with a shotgun. They drive back and stop around 1/2 mile from the farm; they tell Roger he has to go back and get his wallet. They find Roger and continue on their way to Memphis.
When they arrive in Memphis, around 10 PM, they decide to stop by a strip club. Some adventures there, spending for ultra-expensive beer, Calvin getting exposed for the first time to some naked flesh, etc. They drink and finally leave and try to go to the hospital. Problem is they don't know the name of the hospital or even the name of their friend- except that he's called Bailey.

2. FETCHING RAYMOND (Oct 28, 2013)
This is the story of the Graneys, a dysfunctional family living in Mississippi. A mother and three sons, one of whom still lives with the mother even though he is 38 years old. All three sons have been in jail, at one time or another. At the time the story begins, the youngest one is in jail; in death row in fact. The story starts with one of the brothers borrowing a van from a local businessperson, it's unclear what's going on; why he is borrowing it and why most of the people in town would object to it. He goes to pick up his mother and brother, and start driving. It's kind of funny; the conversation in the van, the smoking, the relationship to their mother, etc. They arrive at the prison, where the warden knows the brothers because they've all been there. Slowly we realize that the family has come to the prison because Raymond is in death row, and that tonight is going to be the execution. They meet him, talk to him, listen to him tell stories about how how is going to be reprieved, watch him eat his last meal. Then he's taken away. His brothers watch the execution but his mother does not, she's told that it's better if she does not. After the execution they return home.

3. FISH FILES (Oct 30, 2013)
Mack Stafford, a small town lawyer who is down on his luck. He was never able to get big cases, and his life is slowly passing with him not making progress. Small office with only one secretary. He handles divorces and other small cases. He has a wife and two children, but his family means little to him by now. But one day he gets a call from a New York lawyer, asking about some claims that he had made a few years back against a company whose equipment had caused injuries. But that case came to nought, and he couldn't get anything. The New York lawyer tells him that the company, Tinzo, is being bought out and wants to clear all old claims. He offers Mack several hundred thousand to clear the six claims. Mack sees a way out of his misery. He finds several of the injured, and tells them that he will be able to get twenty-five grand to settle. They accept, individually of course, and without telling anybody about it. He drinks ore and one evening comes home late and falls on the sidewalk cracking his head. This is the end of his family life; the wife initiates divorce proceeding that he does not contest. He has his sight on the Tinzo money. Plans everything, closes his practice, agrees to the divorce, collects the money and flies to Belize. The easy life.

4. CASINO (Oct 31, 2013)
Bobby Carl Leach was a hustler, always involved in shady deals until the the time he came up with the idea of the Indian casino. But first he obtained fake papers showing his ancestry to be part Yazoo indian- and belong to a small tribe, really non-existent, in Ford County. He convinced Chief Larry, who owned a grocery store and was an Indian, that they should open a casino; and cash in on the furor over gambling. He sets up the organization, borrows money and opens the casino, and a cheap hotel. Money starts flowing in.
At the same time, Stella is married to Sidney who she finds extremely boring. After many years of marriage, and a daughter, she decides it's time to leave Sidney. She divorces him and moves to Clanton, where the new casino is located. She manages to attract the attention of Bobby Carl and they become a pair. He likes her because she's different from the women he is used to in the past. She likes the more exciting life with Bobby Carl. Sidney, meanwhile, after some time moping on his bad luck and missing Stella, takes up gambling and finds out that he has a knack for winning at the twenty-one table. He goes around looking for Stella and hopes to see her in the casino.
Bobby Carl and Stella, take some winners on a cruise on the Caribbean. This is the time that Sidney comes to play to the casino and after two days gambling he makes enormous wins. That the casino can't pay because it doesn't have the money. He sues the casino, Bobby Carl flies back from the cruise to face the suit. But they lose, they are forced to pay Sidney and declare bankruptcy. A few days later Bobby Carl uses a couple who are experts in arson, and the casino disappears in flames.

5. MICHAEL'S ROOM (Nov. 1, 2013)
A trial lawyer, Stanley Wade, finds himself abducted by the family that he had defeated a few years back on a legal case. The father of the family, Jim Cranwell, actualy abducted Wade when the latter had stopped by an all-night shop to pick up a pizza to take home for dinner with his wife. Jim drive Wade in his truck to his home, where he shows him his son Michael, who is totally incapacitated because of mistreatment when his mother was pregnant with him. Thus the lawsuit against the doctor who tended Michael's mother, and who lawyer Wade defended successfully. Over the next couple of hours, Jim goes through all the legal proceedings reminding Wade of his treatment of his son during the trial, diminishing the severity of the damage, and finally convincing the jury that jim Cranwell was only after money, that he saw this as an opportunity.
In the end, after making him suffer through without knowing he'd be killed by Jim, he takes Wade back to the parking lot where he picked him up three hours before. Leaves him with the ominous words to watch out after Michael dies. The unwritten message is that he'll come looking for him. But perhaps it's a lie the same as all the lies that Wade told during the trial.

6. QUIET HAVEN (Nov. 3, 2013)
This is a story of a swindler who makes his money by getting jobs in nursing homes, ingratiating himself with the patients and the staff, discovering cases in which the nursing home is abusing patients or doing something illegal, passing the information to a lawyer of his acquaintance who threatens the headquarters of the nursing home with a lawsuit. Needless to say, the company will settle in order to avoid the bad publicity or risking a real legal case.
Nothing more than what is commonly called a shake-down, except that it's elaborate in that the main character spends time working in the nursing home accumulating evidence. This is similar to what Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton have been doing for years, except that the latter do not necessarily spend time gathering much evidence.

7. FUNNY BOY (Nov. 4, 2013)
One of the better stories in this book. Adrian, a young gay man who'd left Clanton when he was 15 because he couldn't bear living in such an environment. He returns years later, after he's contracted AIDS and is on the throes of death. He is gaunt and very sick. His family, who is relatively wealthy, does not want to much with him, so he is placed to live in the black section of town, in one house owned by his family. In fact, the house had been rented by a single, black woman over the last 25 years, who agreed to take Adrian in exchange to getting title to the house once he dies.
During the time that he's with Emporia, that is the black woman's name, we start to see how her black friends start shunning her. Even her pastor called her one day to talk to her about it, and actually to ask her not to come to church- people are thinking that they will get infected.

Greetings Manuel. Hope you and Mrs. Manuel are doing well.
I read a few of Grisham's legal beagle books but I think I'll take a pass on Ford County.

I've been absent for a couple of weeks- with my wife having had two surgeries (one late September and the second one this past Monday) I've been busy at home helping out. Fortunately I just retired so I have the time to do all the house chores, including cooking! Her las surgery was a rotator cuff one- so she won't be able to drive for a while. Or virtually do any other work.
Needless to say, I have not been reading much fiction, except an Alexander Dumas novel that I will post below. However, I've been making sure that i am doing all the readings required for the courses I'm taking online. I am taking a world history one with Coursera, that will end in a couple of weeks. Also, just about finished is one on Kierkegaard with Coursera too (this made my brain hurt a lot!). Finally, I started one on China history with EdX that will last a full year. This one is lighter since I've been reading a lot of Chinese history over the last few years.
I think that I will have more time in the next few weeks, as my wife's health and abilities improve.
But I've been trying to read your posts, that I always enjoy. I learn a lot and keep discovering new books to read from many of you.

Book #53 - La Reine Margot by Alexander Dumas

I was attracted to this novel by Rebecca's comments (RebeccaNY - http://www.librarything.com/topic/155763). In fact, her review was not only comprehensive but also as always very entertaining to read, that I really can't add much.

However, I should say that I enjoyed the novel thoroughly- Dumas is a great story teller. Plus you learn a lot of history along the way even though this covers only a couple of years in the history of France. But they were very dramatic years since the novel begins around the infamous St. Bartholomew's day massacre, when the French catholics at the instigation (orders?) of the king and his mother, Catherine of Medici, assassinated a large number of protestants. This led to the eventual massacre of upwards of 30,000 Hughenots (thus they called the protestants) over the following weeks. Naturally, Dumas takes a lot of liberties with the historical events to accommodate a better story. I purchased an Oxford World's Classics edition that has copious notes that proved to be extremely useful (prevented me from having to rely on google or wikipedia to confirm or learn about some facts).

Obviously, this is a novel that I'd highly recommend if you are looking for some adventure and enjoyable time.

Thanks for the compliment, Manuel! It was a fun book and probably just the kind of book to read when you need distraction from real life. I am glad your wife is doing better.

Manuel! I'm so glad you're back! Sorry to read of your wife's second surgery but it sounds like she's in good hands.
Hmmmm, didn't Margot pen The Heptameron? In any case, The Dumas is definitely going onto my wishlist and if you found the OWC edition useful, I'll try to obtain that one.

Lynda, you are correct about Queen Margot. I didn't connect the name even though about a year ago I had downloaded The Heptameron from Gutenberg Project to my Nook- planning to read it sometime in the future. Maybe I should bring it up and try to read it now.
Thanks for bringing it up.

Book #54. Fatelessnessby Imre Kertesz

This is a fairly autobiographical story of the author's life in a Nazi concentration camp around 1944-45. An Hungarian writer, who was awarded the Nobel Literature prize in 2002, was rounded up with so many other Jews when he was only 14 years old. He survived Auschwitz because of his good health, he was of value to the Nazis as a worker. After a while in Auschwitz, suffering the conditions to which the Nazis inflicted at the concentration camps, he was moved to Buchenwald. Towards the end, he is suffering an infected knee and is taken to a hospital. It's unclear why they would try to save a person they wanted to eliminate, but apparently there was a hospital in Buchenwald where prisoners would be treated.

Unlike other writings on life at concentration camps, I found Kertesz's very grabbing by the way he tells the story. At all times, one feels with the author the ignorance and lack of knowledge as to where things are going, what's happening to him and others in the camp, and much less why it's happening to them. Also, his writing does not display any anger towards the Nazis, his primary concern is survival. This is a book almost for meditation and thinking about the events, rather than simply reading and learning about events.

Book #55. Ward #6 by Anton Chekhov
I love Checkhov's stories- he is probably the master teller of short stories. This one is the story of a doctor in a hospital that ends up being a patient in its mental ward. Along the way, he has serious discussions about the meaning of life, the existence or not of an afterlife, etc.

Here is a brief synopsis of the story, to which I am not doing justice.

Doctor Andrey Yefimitch is in charge of the small town's hospital that also contains the so-called Ward #6, where mentally ill patients are kept. He is fed up with the townspeople who he thinks are rather brutish and have no intellectual or philosophical interests. He finds that one of the mental patients, Ivan Dimitrich Gromov, is a person of great education and intellectual development. Andrey Yefimitch starts visting the mental ward more frequently and spending more and more time in discussions with Ivan Dimitrich, talking about subjects such as the futility of life, the non-existence of immortality and other such weighty matters. Soon the people in the hospital and the town begin to suspect that Andrey Yefimitch is coming unhinged. They bring a doctor from another town, Hobotov, who along with others judge Andrey Yefimitch to be insane. They lure him to the ward and he finds himself to be a patient in his own clinic. Shortly after he dies.

I love Chekhov too. Thanks for reminding me to get back to him.

Ha, it's amusing to see that an out of town doctor judged Yefimitch insane just because he enjoyed discussing the meaning of life with Gromov. Rather than declare Yefimitch insane perhaps, just maybe Gromov was more rational than first thought and should have been re-evaluated. (I usually have an odd way of looking at things)
I've not read the story but it sounds thought provoking, one I will add to the wishlist.

BTW: when I click on Ward #6 above, it links me to Sense and Sensibility. I found Ward #6 under Anton Checkhov

Lynda, that is weird about the link because I didn't do anything other than type the title. I think the problem is because the story is in a larger book called My Life and Other Stories, which will probably link you to a different book...
By the way, Lynda, I got copies of the texts recommended for that Constitutional Law class and they are heavy- each one around 600 pages! Lots of reading coming up.

Nice article about libraries and the book/ebook dilemma in today's Financial Times...http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/0a031eee-5dc1-11e3-95bd-00144feabdc0.html#slide0

Book #56 - The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling

I slogged through this novel only because it's one of the assigned books in my local library fiction reading group. Otherwise I would not have purchased it, much less read it. I never read any of the Harry Potter's books thus I already had no intention of getting through this one- but I did (I guess duty is a powerful driver!)

In any event, I felt that while I was reading this novel I was not into great literature, or literature in fact, but rather it felt as just a gossipy column. Gossip seemed to pervade the whole book. The story narrates the lives of a few people in a small town in England- but people who not only dislike each other but also are constantly trying to fight each other, plus of course gossip about each other. I will not go into further details, but only want to point out that it was hard to continue reading, I had to be very persistent to finish it.

As a side note, I just read that in a survey of British readers in 2012, nearly one third of people who purchased The Casual Vacancy (32%) did not read it at all. So it stands in good company with Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses that is also a best seller with equal numbers of people who don't read it.

I think that there are many other wonderful books that one should read, rather than waste time on The Casual Vacancy as I did.

Manuel! Wishing you and yours a very merry Christmas. Thanks for all the fabulous rec's and reviews this past year.

Manuel, I realise why I keep missing your thread as the link to it on the threadbook goes elsewhere. Wishing you a wonderful festive season.

Book No. 57 - All Were Counted, 1st of The Transylvanian Trilogy by Miklos Banffy

Looks like I won't make it to 75 books, again!, this year. But I am getting closer I think. In fact, if you read the numbers from right to left, as if it were Arabic, then you get exactly 75 books. Voila! I made it- pat on the back.

Back to the book. This is the first of three novels written by the Hungarian aristocrat Miklos Banffy around the 1940s. He is depicting life among the Hungarian aristocracy at the turn of the 20th Century. When the old regime was beginning to disintegrate and the aristocracy began to lose their privileges and their wealth. In this first volume Banffy narrates the story of several young aristocrats and their families, but primarily two who were cousins and friends- Balint Abady and Laszlo Gieroffy, both of them Counts. Towards the end of the novel, their lives are already changing dramatically. Laszlo has lost his fortune and is pretty much in disgrace, while Balint is in love with a married cousin of his, but his fortune is fairly intact it seems. I will not recount all the events and the myriad characters that populate the novel though. I will only say that this is a great novel, a pleasure to read with rich language. Banffy goes into great detail on the palaces, houses, balls, etc. that these rich aristocrats enjoyed. The intricacies of relations among them and the rigid rules that they must follow for parties, dinners, etc. are interesting- the author really brings all these things to life.

I have ordered the next volume of the trilogy, that in the edition I purchased (Everyman's LIbrary) includes the 2nd and 3rd novels. I am looking forward to continue with the saga.

Nice review of All Were Counted, Manuel. I have the trilogy on my Kindle and am looking forward to reading it one of these days.

I enjoyed that trilogy too, Manuel. Happy new year.

Thanks for your review of They Were Counted , Manuel. I look forward to your reviews of the remaining two books in The Transylvanian Trilogy.

Happy New Year to you!