Nathalie's (Deern's) Reading in 2013 - Part 3

Welcome to thread #3 in 2013!!




Merano is not just part of Europe's biggest area for apple-growing, it's also famous for its wines.

This picture was taken on a Waalweg leading through a vineyard. Waale are historical artificial water ditches used by the farmers. Nowadays thanks to the tourists the Waale are still maintained. The paths along them are mostly even and therefore easy and the children and dogs love to play in the water.

Read, but not yet reviewed:

Books finished and reviewed here:

September reads:
116.Five Star Billionaire by Tash Aw - Kindle - EN - 442p (BP2013 LL) - 3.5 stars
117.Unexploded by Alison MacLeod - Kindle - EN - 337p (BP2013 LL) - 3.5 stars
118.The Female Quixote by Charlotte Lennox - online book - EN - 530p - 3.5 stars
119.Absolute Zero Cool by Declan Burke - Kindle - EN - 238p - 3.5 stars
120.The Military Philosophers by Anthony Powell - paperback - EN - 244p - 4 stars
121.The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri - Kindle - EN - 352p (BP2013 LL) - 4 stars
122.Castle Rackrent by Maria Edgeworth - online book - EN - 76p - 3 stars
123.Ivanhoe by Walter Scott - free Kindle - DE - 357p (1,001) - 4 stars
124.E² by Matt Beaumont - Kindle owned - EN - 3.5 stars
125.Il libro del riso e dell'oblio by Milan Kundera - paperback - IT - 273p (1,001) - 3.5 stars
126. Der Stechlin by Theodor Fontane - free Kindle - DE - 372p (1,001) - 4 stars
127. Vathek by William Beckford - free Kindle - EN - 120p (1,001) - 2.5 stars
128. The Interesting Narrative by Olaudah Equiano - free Kindle - EN - 167p (1,001) - 3 stars
129. Mai più terroni by Pino Aprile - hardcover - IT - 127p - 4 stars

October:
130. It by Stephen King - Kindle - EN - 1396p - 4 stars
131. The Bell by Iris Murdoch - Kindle - EN - 340p (1,001) - 4 stars
132. Books Do Furnish A Room by Anthony Powell - paperback/audio - EN - 241p - 4.5 stars
133. The Kreutzer Sonata by Leo Tolstoy - paperback - DE - 128p - 3.5 stars
134. Caleb Williams by William Godwin - free Kindle - EN - 452p - 3.5 stars
135. Anton Reiser by Karl Philipp Moritz - free Kindle - DE - 420p - 4 stars
136. Rameau's Nephew by Denis Diderot - free Kindle - EN - 56p - 3.5 stars
137. Heinrich von Ofterdingen by Novalis - free Kindle - DE - 158p - 3 stars
138. Die Erfindung der Currywurst by Uwe Timm - Paperback - DE - 181p - 4.5 stars
139. The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain - Kindle - EN - 114p - 4 stars
140. Jacques the Fatalist by Denis Diderot - free Kindle - DE - 256p (1,001) - 4 stars
141. Nana by Émile Zola - free Kindle - DE - 464p (1,001) - 4 stars
142. The Xenophobe's Guide to the Italians by Martin Sally - Kindle - EN - 94p - 3.5 stars
143. Ricordi di un vicolo cieco by Banana Yoshimoto - Kindle - IT - 35p - 3.5 stars
144. Delta of Venus by Anais Nin - hardcover - DE - 322p (1,001) - 2 stars

November:
145. Gedankenmedizin für Schisser: Wie wir unseren Zweifeln die Macht nehmen by Giulio Cesare Giaccobe - paperback - DE - 178p - 4 stars
146. Clouds of Witness by Dorothy Sayers - Kindle - EN - 198p - 3 stars
147. Corporate Rats - What big companies choose not to tell you by Robin Good - Kindle - 65p - 2.5p
148. Who Was Leonardo Da Vinci? by Roberta Edwards - Kindle - EN - 116p - 3 stars
149. The Man in the Brown Suit by Agatha Christie - audible credit - EN - 292p - 3.5 stars
150. Temporary Kings by Anthony Powell - paperback - 280p - 4 stars
151. Table Talk by A.A. Gill - Kindle - EN - 352p - 4 stars
152. Father and Sons by Ivan turgenev - online book - EN - 224 p - 4 stars
153. Der 15. November by Ludwig Tieck - free Kindle - DE - 65p - 3 stars
154. Der Fremde (The Stranger) by Albert Camus- paperback - DE - 159p - 3.5 stars
155. Can You Forgive Her? by Anthony Trollope - free Kindle - 702p - 4 stars
156. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes - paperback, online book, audio - DE/EN - 1119p - 5 stars
157. Christiane F: Mein zweites Leben by Christiane Felscherinow - paperback - DE - 329p - 3.5 stars
158. Il Postino di Neruda by Antonio Skarmeta - library book - IT - 121p - 3.5 stars
159. Der blaue Express (Mystery of the Blue Train) by Agatha Christie - paperback - DE - 194p - 2.5 stars
160. 11/22/63 by Stephen King - Kindle - EN - 890p - 4 stars
161. Nessuno scrive al colonello (No One Writes To The Colonel) by Gabriel Garcia Marquez - hardcover owned - IT - 83p - 3.5 stars
162. The Light Years by Elizabeth Jane Howard - Kindle - EN - 418p - 4 stars
163. What was the Battle of Gettysburg? - by Jim O'Connor - Kindle - EN - 128p - 3.5 stars
164. Rumpole at Christmas by John Mortimer - audible credit - EN - 148p - 3.5 stars
165. Ragazzi di vita (The Ragazzi) by Pier Paolo Pasolini - paperback - IT - 251p - 4 stars
166. Marking Time by Elizabeth Jane Howard - Kindle - EN - 468p - 3.5 stars
167. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz - paperback - EN - 335p - 3.5 stars

December:
168. Hearing Secret Harmonies by Anthony Powell - paperback - EN - 272p - 4.5 stars
169. I Viceré (The Viceroys) by Federico De Roberto - free Kindle - IT - 632p - 4 stars
170. Invitation to the Dance by Hilary Spurling - Kindle - EN - 354p - 3.5 stars
171. Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol - free Kindle - EN - 432p - 3.5 stars
172. Transit by Anna Seghers - Kindle - DE - 280p - 4.5 stars
173. Der Streit um den Sergeanten Grischa by Arnold Zweig - Kindle - DE - 480p . 4 stars
174. The Stupidest Angel by Christopher Moore - Kindle - EN - 306p - 3.5 stars
175. Le radici del cielo (The Roots of Heaven) by Romain Gary - library book - IT - 487p - 4.5 stars

Books reviewed in my 1st thread http://www.librarything.com/topic/147127:

Books finished and reviewed here:
January:
1. The Mysterious Affair at Styles (Das fehlende Glied in der Kette) by Agatha Christie - paperback owned - DE - 192p
2. A Question of Upbringing by Anthony Powell - paperback - EN - 230p - 3.75 stars
3. A Game of Thrones By George R.R. Martin - Kindle - EN - 861p - 4 stars
4. Der Wunschpunsch by Michael Ende - Kindle - DE - 240p - 3.5 stars
5. La Conquete de Plassans by Emile Zola - free Kindle - FR - 451p - 3.75 stars
6. Falling Man by Don de Lillo - Kindle - EN - 274p - 4 stars
7. Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion - Kindle - IT - 216p - 3.5 stars
8. Simplicissimus by von Grimmelshausen - free Kindle - DE - 1050p - 4.25 stars
9. trattato di culinaria per donne tristi by Hector Abad Faciolince - paperback - IT - 133p - 4 stars
10. Sudtirolesi by Benedetto Masi - paperback - IT - 230p - 3.25 stars

February:
11.La coscienza di Zeno by Italo Svevo - free Kindle - IT - 598p - 3.5 stars
12.Il gioco delle tre carte by Marco Malvaldi - paperback - IT - 208p - 3.5 stars
13.The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing - Kindle - EN - 688p - 4.5 stars
14.Tacchino farcito by Alda Bruno - paperback - IT - 93p - 1.5 stars
15. Italiani di Domani by Beppe Severgnini - hardcover - IT - 165p - 3.5 stars
16. Les Misérables by Victor Hugo - Kindle - EN - 1488p - 5 stars
17. Die Aufzeichnungen des Malte Laurids Brigge by Rainer Maria Rilke - free Kindle - DE - 193p - 4 stars
18. A Buyer's Market by Anthony Powell- paperback - EN - 274p - 4 stars
19. The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks - audible credit - EN - 194p - 3 stars
20. Il ladro di merendine (The Snack Thief) by Andrea Camilleri - Kindle - IT - 247p - 3.5 stars
21. The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman - Kindle - EN - 504p - 3.5 stars
22. La grammatica ti salverà la vita by Massimo Birattari - library book - IT - 156p - 3 stars
23. Il Re dei Giochi by Marco Malvaldi - library book - IT - 192p - 3.5 stars
24. The Art of Happiness in a troubled World by Dalai Lama - Kindle - EN - 336 p - 3.5 stars
25. A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole - audible credit - EN - 405p - 4 stars
26. Beatrice e Virgilio by Yann Martel - library book - IT - 190p - 3.5 stars

March:
27. Krabat by Otfried Preussler - harcover - DE - 256p - 4.5 stars
28. The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes - paperback - EN - 150p - 3.5 stars
29. Il Giardino dei Finzi-Contini by Giorgio Bassani - paperback - IT - 214p (1001) - 4 stars
30. Nachsommer (Indian Summer) by Adalbert Stifter - free Kindle - DE - 768p - 4 stars
31. The Acceptance World by Anthony Powell - paperback - EN - 214p - 4 stars
32. In 80 Tellern um die Welt by Peter Menzel - hardcover - DE - 4 stars
33. Il culo di Sacchi by Gene Gnocchi - borrowed book - IT - 98p - 1.5 stars
34. Allegro ma non troppo (The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity) by Carlo Cipolla - borrowed book - IT - 112p - 2 stars
35. Eugenie Grandet by Honoré de Balzac - free Kindle - FR/EN/DE - 268p - 3.5 stars
36. Framley Parsonage by Anthony Trollope - free Kindle - EN - 652p - 3.8 stars

Books reviewed in my 2nd thread: http://www.librarything.com/topic/152316

Books finished and reviewed here:
March reads:
37. Die Sünde des Abbé Mouret by Émile Zola - free Kindle - DE - 391p - 3 stars
38. Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood - Kindle - EN - 482p - 3.5 stars
39. Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel - Kindle - EN - 268p - 3.8 stars
40. Il Piacere by Gabriele D'Annunzio - free Kindle - IT - 466p - 3 stars

April reads:
41. The Sea, The Sea by Iris Murdoch - Kindle - EN - 555p - 4.5 stars
42. Inverni Lontani by Mario Rigoni Stern - library book - IT - 44p - 3.25 stars
43. Seine Exzellenz Eugène Rougon by Émile Zola - free Kindle - DE - 363p - 3.25 stars
44. L'Assomoir by Émile Zola - free Kindle - DE - 409p - 3.8 stars
45. Surfacing by Margaret Atwood - Kindle - EN - 249p - 3 stars
46. Fratello Mare by Sergio Bambarén - library book - IT - 198p - n.r.
47. Autosole by Carlo Lucarelli - library book - IT - 119p - 3 stars
48. The Summer Book by Tove Jansson - Kindle - EN - 160p - 4 stars
49. 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami - paperback - EN - 1,157p - 5 stars
50. At Lady Molly's by Anthony Powell - Paperback - EN - 234p - 3.8 stars
51. Cecità/ Die Stadt der Blinden by José Saramago - paperback - IT/DE - 350p - 3.5 stars
52. Where'd you go Bernadette by Maria Semple - Kindle - EN - 331p - 3.5stars
53. The Marlowe Papers by Ros Barber - Kindle - EN - 407p - 4 stars
54. La Signora Harris by Paul Gallico - paperback - IT - 180p - 3.5stars
55. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood - Kindle - EN - 311p - 4 stars
56. Mr Norris changes trains by Christopher Isherwood - Kindle - EN - 218p - 3.5 stars
57. Goodbye to Berlin by Christopher Isherwood - Kindle - EN - 218p - 3.5 stars

May reads:
58. Ein Blatt Liebe by Émile Zola - free Kindle - DE - 209p - 3 stars
59. The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid - Kindle - EN - 191p - 3.5 stars
60. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick - audible credit - EN - 4 stars
61. Casanova's Chinese Restaurant by Anthony Powell - Paperback - EN - 229p - 4 stars
62. What a Carve Up by Johnathan Coe - Kindle - EN - 531p - 4 stars
63. A ciascuno il suo by Leonardo Sciascia - paperback - IT - 151p (1,001) - 3.5 stars
64. At The Mountains Of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft - free Kindle - EN - 120p - 3 stars
65. Le Braci (Embers) by Sándor Márai - Paperback - IT - 172p - 3.8 stars
66. The Third Policeman by Flan O'Brien - audible credit - EN - no Rating
67. The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky - hardback - EN - 615p (1,001) - 4 stars
68. Tre Uomini in barca by Jerome K. Jerome - audio book - IT - 222p - 3.5 stars

June reads:
69. Das doppelte Lottchen by Erich Kästner - library book - DE - 172p - 4.5 stars
70. Emil und die Detektive by Erich Kästner - library book - DE - 157p - 3.5 stars
71. The Kindly Ones by Anthony Powell - paperback - EN - 254p - 4.5 stars
72. The Godfather by Mario Puzo - Kindle - EN - 595p (1,001) - 4.5 stars
73. The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling - library book - DE - 122p - 4 stars
74. The French Lieutenant's Woman by John Fowles - Kindle - EN - 436p - 4 stars
75. Decline and Fall by Evelyn Waugh - Kindle - 320p - 3.5 stars
76. I mostri nel mio frigorifero by Stefania Cecchetti - paperback - IT - 197p - 3 stars
77. Underground by Haruki Murakami - Kindle - EN - 357p - 4 stars
78. Atonement by Ian McEwan - paperback - EN - 364p - 4.5 stars
79. They Shoot Horses, don't they? by Horace McCoy - Kindle - EN - 112p - 3stars
80. A Pale View of Hills by Kazuo Ishiguro - audible credit - EN - 183p - 3.5 stars
81. Memoriale del Convento by José Saramago - Kindle - IT - 319p - 4 stars
82. The Nose by Nikolay Gogol - ebook - EN - 32p - 3 stars
83. Money A Suicide Note by Martin Amis - paperback - EN - 402p - 4 stars
84. Bei uns in Schilda by Otfried Preussler - library book - 127p - 3.5 stars
85. Schande (Disgrace) by J.M. Coetzee - library book - DE - 285p - 3.5 stars
86. Il Castello dei destini incrociati by Italo Calvino - hardcover - IT - 120p - 2.5 stars
87. l'amore molesto (troubling love) by Elena Ferrante - Kindle - IT - 178p - 3.5 stars

July reads:
88. The Valley of Bones by Anthony Powell - paperback - EN - 243p - 4 stars
89. I fantasmi di pietra by Mauro Corona - borrowed book - IT - 347p - 3.5 stars
90. The Small House At Allington by Anthony Trollope - free Kindle - 664p - 4 stars
91. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley - Kindle - EN - 384p - 4 stars
92. The last Chronicle of Barset by Anthony Trollope - free Kindle - EN - 972p - 4 stars
93. Il giornalino di Gian Burrasca by Vamba - audio book - IT - 288p - 3 stars
94. The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino - audible credit - EN - 320p - 3.5/3 stars
95. A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth L. Ozeki - Kindle - EN - 422p - 4 stars
96. L'immoraliste by André Gide - free Kindle - FR - 144p - 3 stars
97. The Marrying of Chani Kaufman by Eve Harris - Kindle - EN - 321p - 4 stars
98. Nel cuore del paese (In the Heart of the Country) by J.M. Coezuee - library book - IT - 199p - 3.25 stars

August reads:
99. The Soldier's Art by Anthony Powell - Paperback - Kindle - EN - 228p - 4 stars
100. The Kills by Richard House - Kindle - EN - 1014p - 3.5 stars
101. The Man of Property by John Galsworthy - free Kindle - EN - 352p - 3.5 stars
102. In Chancery by John Galsworthy - free Kindle - EN - 336p - 3.23 stars
103. The Testament of Mary by Colm Toíbin - paperback - EN - 104p - 2.5 stars
104. Transatlantic by Colum McCann - audio book - EN - 312p - 4.5 stars
105. To Let by John Galsworthy - free Kindle - EN - 352p - 2.5 stars
106. Harvest: A Novel by Jim Crace - Kindle - EN - 320p - 4 stars
107. The Spinning Heart by Donal Ryan - Kindle - EN - 160p - 3.5 stars
108. The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton - Kindle - 852p - 3.8 stars
109. Almost English by Charlotte Mendelson - Kindle - EN - 288p - 2 stars
110. The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells - free Kindle - EN - 302p - 3.5 stars
111. The Confessions by Jean-Jacques Rousseau - free Kindle - EN - 672p - 2.5 stars
112.We Need new names by NoViolet Bulawayo - audio book - 304p - 3.5 stars
113. Terre al crespuscolo/Dusklands by J.M. Coetzee - library book - IT - 169p - 3.5 stars
114. Deutschstunde/The German Lesson by Siegfried Lenz - paperback - DE - 500p - 5 stars
115. Amok by Stefan Zweig - paperback - DE - 62p - 3 stars

Acquisitions January - August 2013:

January:
- The Song of Ice and Fire (Die Herren von Winterfell) by R.R. Martin - paperback - DE - 545p - read
- Il gioco delle tre carte by Marco Malvaldi - paperback - IT - 208p - read
- A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin - Kindle - EN - 861p - read
- Italiani di Domani by Beppe Severgnini - hardcover - IT - 165p - read
- Mai più terroni by Pino Aprile - hardcover - IT - 127p - read
- I mostri nel mio frigorifero by Stefania Cecchetti - paperback - IT - 197p - read
- Sudtirolesi by Benedetto Masi - paperback - IT - 230p - read
- Venuto al mondo by Margaret Mazzantini - paperback - IT - 529p
- trattato di culinaria per donne tristi by Hector Abad Faciolince - paperback - IT - 133p - read
- Un filo d'olio by Simonetta Agnello Hornby - paperback - IT - 266p
- Tacchino farcito by Alda Bruno - paperback - IT - 93p - read
- Fisiologia del gusto by Anthelme Brillat-Savarin - paperback - IT - 244p
- Falling Man by Don de Lillo - Kindle - EN - 274p - read
- Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion - Kindle - IT - 216p - read
- Mancarsi By Diego de Silva - paperback - IT - 98p

February
- Invitation to the Dance by Hilary Spurling - Kindle - EN - 354p - read
- Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole - audible credit - EN - 405p - for 1001 GR March (1001) - read
- Il Giardino dei Finzi-Contini by Giorgio Bassani - paperback - IT - 214p (1001) - read
- Cecità (Blindness) by José Saramago - paperback - IT - 276p - read
- Il ladro di merendine (The Snack Thief) by Andrea Camilleri - Kindle - IT - 247p - read
- Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes - audio book - EN - read
- Il Sistema Periodico by Primo Levi - paperback - IT - 251p
- Thérèse Raquin by Emile Zola - paperback - IT - 234p (1001)
- The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz - paperback - EN - 335p
- The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes - paperback - EN - 150p - read
- Krabat by Otfried Preussler - harcover - DE - 256p - read
-In 80 Tellern um die Welt by Peter Menzel - hardcover - DE - read

March:
- The Moviegoer by Walker Percy - Kindle - EN
- Die Abenteuer des starken Wanja by Otfried Preussler - hardcover - DE - 191p
- Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick - audible credit - EN (1,001) - read
- Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood - Kindle - EN - 482p (1,001) - read
- Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel - Kindle - EN - 268p (1,001) - read
- The Sea, The Sea by Iris Murdoch - Kindle - EN - 555p (1,001) - read

April:
- Surfacing by Margaret Atwood - Kindle - EN - 249p (1,001) - read
- The Summer Book by Tove Jansson - Kindle - EN - 160p (1,001) - read
- The Marlowe Papers by Ros Barber - Kindle - EN - 407p - read
- Die Stadt der Blinden by José Saramago - paperback - DE - 396p - read
- Il Vangelo Secondo Gesù Cristo by José Saramago - paperback - IT - 351p
- Le città invisibili by Italo Calvino - paperback - IT - 157p (1,001)
- Underground by Haruki Murakami - Kindle - EN - 357p - - read
- The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood - Kindle - EN - 311p - read
- Mr Norris changes trains by Christopher Isherwood - Kindle - EN - 218p (1,001) - read
- Goodbye to Berlin by Christopher Isherwood - Kindle - EN - 218p (1,001) - read
- Where'd you go Bernadette by Maria Semple - Kindle - EN - 331p - read
- La Signora Harris by Paul Gallico - paperback - IT - 180p - read
- La Concessione del telefono by Andrea Camilleri - paperback - IT - 268p (1,001 IT)
- Il viaggio della regina by Noel Coward - paperback - IT - 315p
- La costituzione spiegata a mia figlia by Giangiulio Ambrosini - paperback - IT - 165p
- La poesia salva la vita by Donatella Bisutti - paperback - IT - 248p
- A ciascuno il suo by Leonardo Sciascia - paperback - IT - 151p (1,001) - read
- La versione di Barney by Mordecai Richler - paperback - IT - 484p (1,001 IT)
- Le braci (Embers) by Sándor Márai - paperback - IT - 172p (1,001) - read

May:
- The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid - Kindle - EN - 191p (1,001) - read
- What a Carve Up by Johnathan Coe - Kindle - EN - 531p (1,001) - read
- Berlin Alexanderplatz by Alfred Döblin - Paperback - DE (1,001)
- Libro dell'inquietudine by Fernando Pessoa - hardback - IT (1,001)
- A Pale View of Hills by Kazuo Ishiguro - audible credit - EN - 183p (1,001) - read
- The Third Policeman by Flann O'Brien - audible credit - EN (1,001) - read
- Tre uomini in una barca (3 Men in a boat) by Jerome K. Jerome - cheap audio book - IT - read
- Il giornalino di Gian Burrasca by Vamba - audio book - IT - read
- Sotto la sabbia by Luca Masini - audio book - IT
- Memoriale del Convento by José Saramago - Kindle - IT - 319p (1,001) read
- The French Lieutenant's Woman by John Fowles - Kindle - EN - 436p (1,001) - read

June:
- Il Profeta by Kahlil Gibran - paperback - IT - 119p
- Viaggi e altri viaggi by Antonio Tabucchi - paperback - IT - 253p
- La Lama del Rasoio by Massimo Lugli - paperback - IT - 125p
- Aforismi by Oscar Wilde - paperback - IT - 120p
- Il borgomastro di Furnes by Georges Simenon - paperback - IT - 227p (1,001 IT)
- The Godfather by Mario Puzo - Kindle - EN - 595p (1,001) - read
- Decline and Fall by Evelyn Waugh - Kindle - EN - 320p (1,001) - read
- They Shoot Horses, don't they? by Horace McCoy - Kindle - EN - 112p - read
- l'amore molesto (troubling love) by Elena Ferrante - Kindle - IT - 178p - read

July:
- The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino - audible credit - EN - 320p - read
- Brave New World by Aldous Huxley - Kindle - EN - 384p (1,001) - read
- A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth L. Ozeki - Kindle - EN - 422p (BP2013 LL) - read
- The Kills by Richard House - Kindle - EN - 1014p (BP2013 LL) - read
- Transatlantic by Colum McCann - audio book - EN - 312p (BP2013 LL) - read
- The Marrying of Chani Kaufman by Eve Harris - Kindle - EN - 321p (BP2013 LL) - read

August:
- Harvest by Jim Crace - Kindle - EN - 320p (BP2013 LL) - read
- The Testament of Mary by Colm Toíbin - paperback - 104p (BP2013 LL) - read
- We Need new names by NoViolet Bulawayo - audio book - 304p (BP2013 LL) - read
- The Spinning Heart by Donal Ryan - Kindle - EN - 160p - (BP2013 LL) - read
- The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton - Kindle - EN - 852p - (BP 2013 LL) - read
- Almost English by Charlotte Mendelson - Kindle - EN - 288p (BP2013 LL) - read
- Five Star Billionaire by Tash Aw - Kindle - EN - 442p (BP2013 LL) - read
- Absolute Zero Cool by Declan Burke - Kindle - EN - 238p (no Booker!) - read

Acquisitions September - ? 2013:

September:
- Unexploded by Alison MacLeod - Kindle - EN - 337p (BP2013 LL) read
- Il libro del riso e dell'oblio by Milan Kundera - paperback - IT - 273p (1,001) read
- The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri - Kindle - EN - 352p (BP2013 LL) read
- pret-a-gourmet by Gianluca Biscalchin - hardcover - IT - 139p
- It by Stephen King - Kindle - EN - 1396p . read

October:
- The Bell by Iris Murdoch - Kindle - EN - 340p (1,001) read
- The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain - Kindle - EN - 125p (1,001) read
- Die Entdeckung der Currywurst by Uwe Timm - paperback - DE - 181p (1,001) read
- Amerika by Franz Kafka - paperback - DE (1,001)
- Stiller by Max Frisch- paperback - DE (1,001)
- Der Fremde by Albert Camus- paperback - DE - 159p (1,001) - read
- Das Delta der Venus by Anais Nin - paperback - DE - 322p (1,001) read
- Gedankenmedizin für Schisser by Giulio Cesare Giaccobe - paperback - DE - 178p - read
- Christiane F: Mein zweites Leben by Christiane Felscherinow - paperback - DE - read
- The Xenophobe's Guide to the Italians by Martin Soly - Kindle - EN - 94p read
- Ricordi di un vicolo cieco by Banana Yoshimoto - Kindle - IT - 35p read
- Table Talk by A.A. Gill - Kindle - EN - 352p - read

November:
- Clouds of Witness by Dorothy Sayers - Kindle - EN - 198p - read
- The Man in the Brown Suit by Agatha Christie - audible credit - EN - 292p - read
- Who Was Leonardo Da Vinci? by Roberta Edwards - Kindle - EN - 116p - read
- 11/22/63 by Stephen King - Kindle - EN - 890p - read
- Rumpole at Christmas by John Mortimer - audible credit - EN - read
- The Light Years by Elizabeth Jane Howard - Kindle - EN - 418p - read
- What was the Battle of Gettysburg? - by Jim O'Connor - Kindle - EN - 128p - read
- Marking Time by Elizabeth Jane Howard - Kindle - EN - 468p read
- Transit by Anna Seghers - Kindle - DE - 196p (1,001) read

Dezember:
- Der Streit um den Sergeanten Grischa by Arnold Zweig - Kindle - DE - 480p (1,001)- read
- Halbzeit by Martin Walser - hardcover - DE - 650p (1,001)
- The Stupidest Angel by Christopher Moore - Kindle - EN - 306p - read
- La promesse de l'aube by Romain Gary - Kindle - FR - 380p (1,001)
- For whom the Bell tolls by Ernest Hemingway - Kindle - EN - 490p (1,001)
- Die Erziehung vor Verdun by Arnold Zweig - Kindle - DE - 559p

BOOK STATS

Currently reading:

Normal books (where there's a chance I might finish them in the next two weeks):
- Le Radici del Cielo by Romain Gary - library book - IT - 486p (1,001 GR) p353


Very Slow reads/ temporary holds 2013:
- The 120 Days of Sodom by De Sade - free Kindle - EN - too many pages - 35%
- Gedichte fürs Gedächtnis by Ulla Hahn - hardcover - DE - 278p - on hold
- Virginia Woolf by Hermione Lee - Kindle - EN - 944p - on hold
- Arabian Nights: Tales From The Thousand and One Nights - free Kindle - EN - 32% in/ 572 (of 1001??) nights read - finished volume 5!! (February 25, 2013) (1001)

***********

Planned books 2013:

Some of the more difficult 1001s I want to get off my tbr:
- Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak
- Simplicissimus by Hans von Grimmelshausen

Janet memorial reads planned:
- Palace Walk Trilogy by Naguib Mahfouz - bought - EN
- Staying Alive: real poems for unreal times by Neil Astley ==> planned one poem per day - bought - EN

August Stats:

Books read in August: 17
Pages read: 6,327

Fiction: 17
Non-fiction:0
Plays: 0
Short Story Books: 0
Poetry books: 0

English: 14
German: 2
Italian: 1
French: 0

Audio books: 2 (2 bought)
Kindle books: 10 (5 free, 5 bought, 0 owned)
Real books: 5 (2 owned, 2 bought, 1 library, 0 borrowed)

Books purchased this month: 8
Of which read in the same month: 6

*******************************

Summary 2013:

Books read 2013: 115
Pages read: 3,7829

Fiction: 106
Non-fiction: 9
Plays: 0
Poetry books: 0 (but 62 poems)
Comic books: 0
Short Story Books: 0

English: 63
German: 19
Italian: 31
French: 2

Audio books: 10 (10 bought)
Kindle books: 58 (24 free, 30 bought, 4 owned)
Real books: 47 (14 bought, 17 owned, 13 library, 3 borrowed)

Books purchased 2013: 92
- of which read in the same month: 40
- of which read in the same year: 59

Hope I'm not jumping in too soon Nathalie to give congratulations on your new thread?

Happy New Thread, Nathalie!
I wonder when you will get into Palace Walk. I have so much going on, but it begins to draw me again. If I can finish something, I may push it to the front again....

#9 Paul: not too early, just right! Thank you! I didn't think I'd ever make it to #3 this year

#10 Peggy: thank you - and: soon! If you like we can start it now in September. I should get through The Female Quixote this week and maybe also through the Powell and Unexploded.

Love the grapevines, Nathalie.

How fine that you are reading Janet memorial books - I fell away from that and I shouldn't have.

Doctor Zhivago is a great read - so are the Mahfouz.

Yes, well done on reading a book in honor of JanetinLondon, Nathalie. She's still one of my LT friends (in spirit), so I'll look to see what books we share now, and plan to read at least one of them, or a book in her library that I don't own, before year's end.

ETA: As it turns out I've read several books that are in both of our libraries: The Redundancy of Courage by Timothy Mo, Philadelphia Fire by John Edgar Wideman, The Singapore Grip by J.G. Farrell, and A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry. Of the 112 books we share I haven't read roughly 45 of them, so I'll probably read One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez, and either Family Matters or Such a Long Journey by Rohinton Mistry.

Lovely new thread, Nathalie. I need to finish catching up with your last thread, but I thought that I would let you know that I was here. Hoping today is a good one!

Happy September, Nathalie! Thanks for the pic of Merano's grapevines and interesting remarks concerning the water ditches. I just finished My House in Umbria with it's lovely descriptions of the area. I think it is in central Italy and you're north but do you know this area? And what is this grappa they're always drinking?

#12 Lucy and 13 Darryl: I wanted to read both listed "Janet memorial" books last year, but then I couldn't join the Palace Walk GR due to my work and some of those survival poems were hard to bear (just thinking that a book with the title Staying Alive had been among the last books Janet read and never finished makes me sad), so I put that book on hold for a long while.

Sometimes when I'm looking for reviews in my old threads I find Janet's comments and I realize how I still miss her. Did I ever tell you she died on my birthday?

I hope to get to Doctor Zhivago later this year, Russian books are best read in winter. :-)

#14 Mamie: thank for your visit. I'm still not yet fully back, and I feel bad for having missed so much. I'll visit your thread very soon. Have a great week!

#15 Lynda: Happy September to you as well!
Yes you're right, Umbria is in the center of Italy (the only regione in the boot part of Italy not bordering with the sea) and I am way up North. It's really very German/ Austrian here, sometimes too much so for my liking. I am trying to meet more Italian people through cultural activities, now that I am finally able to have short conversations without feeling like an idiot for stumbling over all those beautiful words. :-)

Just a quick speak, Nathalie - "hello" - I just as well go ahead and start *Palace Walk*; I'm trying to read everything else all at once. The big bear for me is The Civil War, which I pledged myself to read this year (that is to say, I pledged to read the first of the trilogy). I'm making a little headway, but it's time-consuming and very big, and not exactly what I'd choose if I hadn't set myself up for it.
I agree about reading the Russians in winter!

That is sad that Janet died on your birthday, Nathalie.

I never met her, unfortunately. One year she was in hospital at the time of my visit, and the following year I was sick with a cold, and I didn't want to expose her to the virus I had in her immunocompromised state. We promised each other in late 2010 that we would definitely meet up the following year, so word of her death in early 2011 was shocking and deeply saddening to me.

#18 Darryl: I hope I didn't express myself "stupidly" re. my birthday. When I read that post on her thread a couple of days later, I thought "oh dear, so she died on my birthday" in the sense of "I'll never forget her death date", and this year it was just normal to think of her, to remember her on that very day.

That year when she met some of the other LTers and when the photos were made (2010), I had intended to travel to London as well, but then the company problems got so bad, that I simply couldn't afford the flight and hotel stay.

#17 Peggy: er... I'm sorry, but I'm "lost in translation". :-(
I just as well go ahead and start *Palace Walk* means you're going to read it as well or do you want to finish your *Civil War* first?
Sorry, so immersed in my Italian studies, my English is suffering.

(I'm not really sure what I mean, Nathalie. I won't be finishing *Civil War* anytime soon, but I just as well start *Palace Walk* too since I'm not going to finish anything for a long time anyway. I guess that still doesn't make sense.)
Let me know when you start reading it, and I'll try it again too. I won't read it very quickly though, I'm afraid, so enjoy it at your own pace without worrying about me.

#20 Peggy: I took the book off the shelf last night and read the first chapter, just to get an idea. God, it's heavy. I can't take it to the office, so it will take a while to get through the first book. I still read lots of paper books, but for the big ones I now really prefer the Kindle.
I'll try to finish The Military Philosophers this weekened and make some progress on the Italian version of The Book of Laughter and Forgetting by Milan Kundera this weekend (both paperbacks) and then start seriously on Palace Walk.
The Lowland will be released here tomorrow and I'll have to read that one quickly, but it's on Kindle, so I can take it with me.

116. Five Star Billionaire by Tash Aw (BP 2013 LL)

When this year’s LL was published I ordered Kindle samples of all the books then available. I liked this one best, but the price was so high that I decided to wait with the purchase. Now that I read it I found that it didn’t fulfill my high expectations, although it is a good book.

It tells the story of 4 Malaysians trying to become successful in Shanghai. There’s Phoebe, hoping to find a rich husband by pretending to be a successful business woman. Gary has won a talent competition/ casting show and has a great career as a pop-star until he can’t take the pressure anymore. Yinhui has successfully left her first business failure behind and made a restart with a chain of lingerie shops. Justin is different – he starts out as the rich heir of a family dynasty making their money with real estate, but when the family loses everything in the crisis he struggles to find a new way for himself. The four stories, told in episodes, are interrupted first by extracts from a “how to get rich” self-help-book, then with background information of the author Walter, told in first person. It quickly shows that there are interconnections between the now 5 characters, some paths are due to cross or already crossed in the past.

I had some difficulties with the timelines here – characters often remember experiences from the past, and also their “now” is not simultaneous. This becomes difficult when we start seeing their interrelations – for example 2 characters briefly meet in the narrative of the one, but in the narrative of the other one it is already a memory. In fact I saw this as a strength of the book, it shows there are no simple solutions, how easy it is to miss something/ someone that might be good for you.

On the other hand I would have preferred it if the stories had not been linked at all. So it was just another book of fates crossing and each character lost a bit of their own strength as soon as it was clear how they were related to the others.

I have to say something about Walter: FAT Spoiler warning:
He freaked me out from the very first moment, because he reminded me very much of a person I know from RL and who caused considerable damage in my personal life. So early on I had a clear idea where this was heading. It also slowed down my reading speed and I wasn't able to finish the book in August as planned, starting to squeeze in other books where possible.

Rating: 3.5 stars

117. Unexploded by Alison MacLeod (BP 2013 LL)

Booker rant:
Maybe I’m Booker-weary, but the more candidates I read the more I just want to return to the classics section of the 1,001 list. Most of the candidate books are so exerted (?), they want to tell me too much on too few pages, want to be original and stylistically special. Can anyone please just give me a decent, well-told story? The Luminaries’ first 75 - 80%, before the structure took the reigns, were a great example for what I miss in the other books. The seemingly effortless balance of fiction and history in Transatlantic was another great experience, and – although that book should not have been listed at all!! – The Marrying of Chani Kaufman is a clean-cut romance story, enjoyable exactly because it doesn’t pretend to be more than it is.

With this book I already had issues when I read the Kindle test chapter, although I couldn’t say what it was I disliked. Now that the book is finished I know what it is, but the explanation will be a bit lengthy. Sorry in advance!

I am reading Powell’s Dance to the Music of Time and just started the third of three books set in Britain during WWII. It is certainly strongly influenced by Powell’s own experiences. The books manage to remain quiet yet are impressive. There’s Powell’s special beautiful language and he knows how to set his effects. When a bomb finally falls with devastating results, the stage has been prepared perfectly and the impact on the reader is very strong.

Then I just finished Siegfried Lenz’ The German Lesson and rated it with 5 stars. In a very limited setting (a tiny village on the German North Sea coast) Lenz succeeds to place everything that made WWII and the Holocaust possible, without even once mentioning the words “Jew”, “Hitler” or “Führer”. He takes two opposed characters and a “Malverbot”, a painting ban. Then he gives those elements all the room they need and the whole conflict of the German population is laid open.

Now Alison MacLeod tries to squeeze the following into her 337 pages:
- fear of invasion
- Blitzkrieg
- anti-Semitic and/or Hitler-friendly British people
- the British anti-spy program (the terrible prisoner camps for foreigners)
- cyanide capsules as last exit
spoiler warning for later chapters
- marriage crisis
- double “cross-racial” cheating
- degenerate art
- concentration camps
- medical experiments with children
- Mussolini mention
- counterfeit money
- neglected bored British children
- a story from the old testament (which yay!! unites the Christians and the Jews) as pattern for the whole private drama.

She must have been checking off a list (I had the same suspicion with the author of We Need New Names in the first half of that book). The whole look on the history is modern and therefore judgemental, and nothing remains subtle or is hinted at, she throws everything at our feet and we have to wade through it.

While the characters don’t speak with each other, the reader always knows who feels and thinks what and when. There’s nothing to discover as in the books mentioned above, nothing that gives you that sudden chill, makes you think “oh dear, now I understand… I had not expected that…”.

Btw. this is the second point I often don’t like about historical fiction, next to the “woman’s voice” – authors can’t let their characters be the way they should be in their historic setting without judging them. The hero/ine is usual a modern thinker with the correct values.

Another issue in this book is “Virginia Woolf”. Early in the story Mac Leod’s writing reminded me much of Mrs Dalloway and then I saw that her main character Evelyn is in fact a great admirer of Woolf, always schlepping her books around, reading from them, even visiting a lecture at some point. But MacLeod can’t keep up the Woolf-like writing, because that style simply doesn’t go well with too much action and all those dramatic feelings. Now it is courageous to play with an admired author’s style, but it is also risky. It works okay here in the quiet beginning but is then mostly abandoned and the remaining parts clash with the rest of the writing. I’d assume that Woolf went endless times over her texts until they sounded right for her. This should have been done here as well.

I rate the book with 3.3 stars because it wasn’t terribly bad, it was just another case of wanting too much.

118.The Female Quixote by Charlotte Lennox (1,001 # 287)

The September GR book in the 1,001 group was one of the funniest classics I ever read. It doesn’t get more than 3.5 stars because it was also too long and had some annoying parts.

Arabella, “the female Quixote”, grows up without contact to other children, just with her father, her mother having died after her birth. She’s extremely pretty and extremely smart, but she has a vice and that’s "badly translated low quality French romance novels". When she reaches a marryable age, her head is full of strange ideas of how love must be and that leads to many hilarious situations. Every man seen from afar is a potential “ravisher” who might “carry her away”.

This might remind you of Austen’s Northanger Abbey where another heroine was spoiled by having read too many romances and yes, there are small similarities, but overall the Austen is the much better balanced book. This book however had an abundance of really funny scenes that often made me laugh out loud, so in the end the rating for both books is the same.

What astonished me it that the main story didn’t really get boring over the 500+ pages. Even the 100th potential ravisher encounter was funny. What annoyed me however were Arabella’s numerous retellings of her beloved romance novels which were boring and interchangeable, written in overblown language. By half of the book I started skipping those and sure didn’t miss a thing.

While Arabella’s behavior was bordering on full insanity and I admired the patience of those around her, I had to admit that even nowadays, thanks to the rom-coms and too much chick-lit, there’s probably a bit of Arabella in many of us.

3.5 stars

119.Absolute Zero Cool by Declan Burke

Well… how did I find this book? I read reviews for this year’s Booker candidate The Kills and there was a reviewer on amazon who explained in detail why he thought that book was badly written. That same reviewer highly recommended this book here and I found mainly positive reviews for it. Now I don’t know what to think. It certainly is well written and well-thought. But I can’t say it left a very deep impression on me or that I’d rate it as an outstanding novel.

One thing I read in a review is certainly true: it shouldn’t be read ‘on the go’, i.e. in a waiting room or as a nightstand book. It requires concentration; otherwise you can’t appreciate the strategic fights between the two main characters, the novel author and his muse Billy.

But the promised crazy ending left me completely cold and somewhat disappointed. Maybe I simply didn’t get it.

For a more coherent review please look at the book page, there’s just one very good review posted that also tries to summarize the plot.

Rating: 3.5 stars

120.The Military Philosophers by Anthony Powell (Dance to the Music of Time #9/12)

I feel a bit undecided about the book. It had wonderful bits, but then there were also two deaths, handled unceremoniously and somewhat disappointingly. The first was announced just in form of a side remark. The information about the second was however timed perfectly, at a moment when everything seemed finally well again, when peace was almost there. But then it was again just mentioned and this made me quite sad.

Then there is quite a lot of Widmerpool again, and he does something which isn’t exactly out of type, but something I thought he’d grown out of many years ago.

The other Widmerpool scenes however are great, especially when he concedes to be in need of power, even now after the war. At the same time he remains a grotesque figure in the eyes of Nick, especially obvious when he describes him in his new admiral’s uniform.

4 stars, because I loved the 1st and 4th chapters and because I liked it better than the last one

I'm just starting *Military Philosophers* now, Nathalie, and looking forward in a weird way to Pamela Flitton.
That's a great review of *Female Quixote*, and I am ashamed that I had never even heard of Charlotte Lennox. Now I'm debating whether to spend the full $1.99 to get 6 novels on my Kindle. I expect I will.
Oh dear. *Palace Walk*. Let me finish my Mitford/Waugh letters, and I'll join you. It will take me quite a long time to read this one unless I really get into it.

Nathalie, it was high time I visited your new thread, though in doing so I realized I hadn't finished your last thread and fully intend to because there is always so much interesting material you cover, and cover very well. Your review of The Female Quixote got me intrigued enough to put it on my wishlist and I'm sure I'll get the Kindle version sooner or later. As for the Anthony Powell books, I don't remember if you'd seen my comment on my thread on the fact I hadn't much enjoyed Spring on audio, largely because of Simon Vance but also because I missed a lot, so I got A Question of Upbringing to read over on Kindle and At Lady Molly's as a follow up and if I enjoy those I'll continue with the books individually as you are doing.

In other notes, looking over some of the books you've read so far this year, I was glad to see you enjoyed Ivanhoe, as I just last week got both the Kindle and Audible versions in one of those deals where if you get both, the audio only ends up costing $1. I got a bunch of other classics that way on the same day and will look for more (will be happy to tell you which if you're interested because you have to really look for them).

I'm glad you enjoyed Game of Thrones, and always find it so encouraging how varied your reading tastes are, which makes me feel right at home. You've also reminded me that I'm really lagging on the Zola front as haven't read a single book of the Rougon Macquard books this year, though Nana is next for me, a book which I loved both times I read it so far, but which I want to read again in the context of the series order. Finally, I've gotten the whole of Les Misérables on audio from the library in the original French of course, which comes in five separate tomes of two MP3 CDs each. I just got the last two tomes recently and have #5 in my laptop as I write this (on the iPad), still waiting me to copy it. It seems like such a huge enterprise to take on, but am very glad to see you loved it, besides which I've been doing quite well with huge tomes this year, several of which I undertook with much less trepidation than formerly when I decided not to concentrate on my reading totals so much this year. Besides which, it's so much more easy to get through those huge bricks when I can put in 3-6 hours of listening time during the daytime when I'm up and about!

Hope all is going as well as can be for you, and I'll soon finish up reading your last thread so I can really be up to date with your reading.

#24 And a firm 'up' on my TBR it goes :)

#23 authors can’t let their characters be the way they should be in their historic setting without judging them. The hero/ine is usual a modern thinker with the correct values. - that annoys me so much as well!

#27 Peggy: I was a bit confused at first as to why Pamela Flitton got so much space in the book, until... well. :-)
I am hoping for interesting scenes in the next book.
I had never heard of Lennox either before the book was selected for the GR. Interestingly some of the others especially enjoyed the part I had skipped (a very long retelling of a character's life in "romance language"). I hope you'll enjoy the book!
As for Palace Walk: it still stares at me from the coffee table, but I haven't really started yet. I am reading 2 shorter books for my alphabet challenge which are both surprisingly slow-going, so no need to hurry with PW.

#28 Ilana: Maybe you remember that I had the same issue - I absolutely couldn't listen to the *Dance* audios. Those books are written for eye-reading imo. When we started the GRs this year it was a completely different experience. Here's the link to the main thread and from there you'll find the separate book threads: http://www.librarything.com/topic/147074.

Re Ivanhoe: I haven't written the review yet, but I'd like to warn you that it is in parts quite anti-semitic. The book is set around 1100 or 1200 I think and it's clearly written by an 1800s Protestant author who has a terrible opinion on Catholics and also his time's prejudices against Jews. The problem is that he wanted to write a believable MA story, so he applied MA prejudices, far worse than those in the 1800s. I don't know how to explain it well... he gives characteristics to the Jew Isaac (avaricious, dishonest, etc.) which are clearly MA and at the same time shows his own more modern "tolerance" by making Isaac's daughter the true heroine of the novel. The Catholics on the other side are written as most ridiculous characters, so both sides are getting it.

Yes, I'd be interested in those "combi classics". I never tried the Kindle/audible deals yet because for the modern novels they cost a lot. But if they are cheaper for the classics I'd love to try some.

Nana will be my next Zola as well, I am planning to read it as part of my alphabet challenge either this month or next.

#29 Bekka: I'd recommend reading it in small portions, so the fun doesn't get boring and to skim forward whenever Arabella starts one of her romance summaries.

#30 Rhian: thank you, so at least I'm not alone with this. It was extreme in Song of Achilles imo where Patroclos was made a pacifist, 100% 21st century PC in all areas. Even to the point that Miller made him younger so he couldn't be accused as a paedophile.

My parents are here for a week and then the following weeks will be very busy (always that time of the year for the dairy sector with plannings for the next year), so my reading will slow down.
I am now reading The Stechlin by Theodor Fontane for the alphabet and 1,001 challenge, it's one of those good but very slow German classics. Book #2 is Mai più terroni about the Southern part of Italy, very interesting but also slow-going. I'd like to start Palace Walk once I'm through with these 2 and I guess that will be it for the month.

The Female Quixote sounds very funny!

I loved Palace Walk - I think you will be absorbed by it once you start.

I don't bother with any of those Booker books - truly - I wait to see what books seem to have 'lasting' power.

And don't be worried about having let us know that your birthday was the same day that Janet died - I am glad to know. Our wedding anniversary is September 11, which is also the birthday of one of my sisters and millions of others no doubt share that ambivalence (or whatever it is) with us now. We had been planning a 20 year bash for the following year (married in '82) and we never did anything and really, have barely done anything on that day ever since.

I'll write up a list and post it here soon Nathalie, in case anyone else is interested. I read the Cairo trilogy some years back and really was fascinated by the story and characters. I should think you would be too, though of course the treatment of women, and wives especially is unacceptable from our modern Western perspective. No worries about the treatment of Jews and Catholics in Ivanhoe, but thanks for warning me all the same. I remember when I revisited Oliver Twist a few short years ago being really offended at the treatment and characterization of Faggins, but since then have read and learned enough about classic works of fiction (thanks in large part to Liz/lyzard) to know that one needs to put all these things in context.

Lucy -- I can certainly understand why you would have felt you couldn't celebrate your anniversary, but when one thinks about it, there have been so many horrors committed in the world over time that if we were to stop ourselves celebrating because of past horrors on certain dates, we would never celebrate anything at all. I'm especially conscious of this because of my Jewish heritage and how so many things are tied into the war (which is always WWII) and how many things need to be mourned over and yet not talked about. Bah! Life goes on*. This is me talking as a professional melancholic sharing some survival skills.

eta: *which doesn't mean we forget the dead, though most of them would probably not want to see us miserable all the time.

Can anyone please just give me a decent, well-told story?. Hear you, Nathalie :)

Thanks for bringing my attention to The Female Quixote - have just downloaded it from the Kindle Store - the usual 0.99 (don't you just love the quick, easy access to the classics?) - I'm always looking for a leisurely, funny book to read in between the more serious literature. And I haven't heard of this author, so I look forward to it.

I was wondering if it is a retelling of Don Quizote or maybe it just allude to that in some way?

Nathalie - To give Sir Walter Scott his due a little bit he does imply criticism of the treatment of Isaac by the enemies of Richard and Ivanhoe and his treatment at the hands of the latter allied to the protrayal of Isaac's beautiful daughter redeem the author of criticism a little I think.

I agree with you wholeheartedly about the literary posturing in a lot of fiction these days. I want to be told a story too and that skill is absent in many works recently published by writers trying to affirm their cleverness and just being boorish.

Have a lovely weekend.

Nice review of Unexploded, Nathalie. I put it aside toward the end of last month, and I may not read it since it wasn't chosen for the shortlist and after reading your comments about it.

Have you read the entire shortlist? And the longlist? If so I'd be interested in seeing your rankings. I'll set up a Booker Shadow Jury thread soon, as I'll probably complete the shortlist this coming week, after I get my hands on The Lowland on Tuesday.

#35 Lucy: It is funny if you skip the boring parts. And there were some readers in the 1001 GR who especially liked what I thought was boring. The humor might be a little flat, but I enjoyed it and felt a bit reminded of the bits in "Bridget Jones" where everyone follows the advice of self-help books blindly instead of thinking and judging themselves.

I still haven't really started with Palace Walk, but as Long as my parents are here I have almost no reading time at all.

"Lasting power"... maybe the Catton. I even doubt the Crace has it.

#36 Ilana: and one more recommendation for Palace Walk - I am determined to get started with it latest in October! It's on my alphabet challenge list, so I have to read it! :-)
I got the impression that Walter Scott didn't feel good about writing Isaac the way he did but that he thought he had to. I just wanted to make sure you wouldn't get some bad surprise if you started it unwarned.
Historical context is sometimes hard to swallow, but it's still better than books that are "PCed" centuries later. Sometimes it's also important to see we made some positive progress.

#37 Carsten: the heroine in The Female Quixote has read too many French romance novels and believes them to be true - just as Don Quixote has been reading all those knights' tales. While he confuses wind mills with enemies, Arabelly sees in every approaching and even in a harmless young servant man a "ravisher who wants to carry her away" which leads to some hilarious situations. She hasn't learned the normal social code of conduct and does the most unexpected things. For example she refuses to read letters she believes to be sent by admirers and returns them unopened, but in the next moment asks a complete stranger to escort her home because she suddenly distrusts her friends and runs away from them.
Just make sure not to read it too quickly, because (as with DQ) it is always the same joke in 100 variations which can get boring. In small daily portions I enjoyed it a lot.

#38 Paul: I think I got it the way Sir Walter Scott intended, but only once Rebecca made her first entrance. It is obvious that the task of writing the Jews was a complex one while he could have open fun with the Catholics.
Have a great week!!

#39 Darryl: yes, I read them all all before the SL was published. I just haven't posted my review for The Lowland yet. I still see Crace as the winner, although the Catton by now is my personal favorite.

My parents decided to stay a little longer, so my daily reading has been reduced to almost zero.

Still reading The Stechlin which is good but a little too slow for my liking. I'm wondering if I should see it as a kind of "German Barchester Novel". There's much politics and religion and it's all set in the country. It's also humorous, I only wish there was a little more action.

No progress at all on Mai più terroni which contains some interesting facts but imo is overall not well written and already overrun by new developments.

I downloaded a couple of pre-1800 classics from the 1,001 list and am half through Vathek which is... confusing and boring and strange and thankfully short.

Stopping by. I hope you've had fine weather to get out and do some nice things with your parents, at least.

#43 Lucy: my parents have left again, but while they were here, we did much together, so I was at home mainly for sleeping. We even did some easy walks together and they really had a great time.

Now I'm drowning in work and even have to travel a bit (not far, so it's always by car). Was near Munich yesterday, next week it's Innsbruck. Horrible driving weather yesterday with dense fog on the Brenner pass and rain, thankfully no snow yet. I need to load some easy-to-listen audio book to my ipod, so I can at least "read" a bit while driving. Making very slow progress with all my books and I think I'll have to extend my ABC challenge into November.

Hope you have managed to secure arm bands to avoid drowning Nathalie and I hope to have you swimming to a post some time soon. Have a restful Sunday.

I'm glad too that you and your parents had such good times together.
I haven't started The Palace Walk again either, but it is calling me more loudly. Oh dear. Oh dear.

How terrific that you had a lovely visit with your parents. I hate foggy driving, I had to do a little this weekend too.

Hope work settles down soon.

Sorry for neglecting LT again. I've been to Sicily last weekend with a friend and returned to a lot of work and the outbreak of a nice little stomach bug which also brought some fever and 2 days of bedrest. So far I managed to finish one! book this month, that's the worst output ever!

The Sicily weekend stay had been planned for ages and postponed again and again, so I never announced it here in case we'd have to cancel again. I'll try and write something this weekend and also post some pics although those will all be greyish because we had rain and thunderstorms - not exactly what you'd expect. But the food was great and I saw enough to know I want to return soon and with more time.

My region got the first snow last night. We had quite a storm and temperatures dropped to almost 0 degrees (Celsius). It's better again now, but I can't remember that winter ever made such an early visit.

Yay for Sicily - booo for bugs :(

That does seem awfully early for snow! Our temps have plummetted but its pretty much just WET at the moment.

September Stats:

Books read in September: 14
Pages read: 4,147

Fiction: 13
Non-fiction:1
Plays: 0
Short Story Books: 0
Poetry books: 0

English: 10
German: 2
Italian: 2
French: 0

Audio books: 0 (0 bought)
Kindle books: 11 (6 free, 4 bought, 1 owned)
Real books: 3 (1 owned, 2 bought, 0 library, 0 borrowed)

Books purchased this month: 5
Of which read in the same month: 3

*******************************

Summary 2013:

Books read 2013: 129
Pages read: 41,976

Fiction: 119
Non-fiction: 10
Plays: 0
Poetry books: 0 (but 62 poems)
Comic books: 0
Short Story Books: 0

English: 73
German: 21
Italian: 33
French: 2

Audio books: 10 (10 bought)
Kindle books: 69 (30 free, 34 bought, 5 owned)
Real books: 50 (16 bought, 18 owned, 13 library, 3 borrowed)

Books purchased 2013: 97
- of which read in the same month: 43
- of which read in the same year: 63

Still trying to remove some of the grey from the Sicily pics and meanwhile posting some of those reviews I wrote weeks ago:



121.The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri (BP2013 LL)

In the beginning I expected this to be just another (good) book about India or about Indian immigrants in the US or the UK, probably with a dose of post 9/11 experiences, because the characters are also Muslims. When the story begins with two brothers who, despite their age difference of 15 months, grow up more or less like twins until they decide for different colleges, I had a clear expectation of the story waiting for me. I thought: ”one of them will become politically radical or religiously radical and the other one will be West-friendly and there will be all the usual problems, probably also with a love conflict thrown in and someone will die”.

And then while some of these things happened, still the plot went a different way and whatever I’d write here would be big spoilers.

There were some flaws in the story build-up (a very sudden development and then time races by and we don’t see the really important things happening and within a couple of pages it’s 20 years later), but I was positively surprised that most of the usual conflicts were avoided, that Lahiri delivered a book dealing with family problems experienced by an Indian family in the US, not a book about Indian problems of Indian people in India. That would also have been an interesting book without a doubt, the India chapters are really well-written. But I liked it that she wrote something that goes against our usual expectations. Maybe I liked it in the same way I liked the second part of We Need New Names. Maybe there is a new generation of immigrated writers coming up – they don’t deny their roots, but they make clear that their focus is on their new home and they are no longer willing to invent stories set in a country they have left ages ago.

In both cases I admit I had expected something different and then I thought “but who am I to demand that an author of Indian/ Zimbabwean origin has to remain with her story in the country she has left? Who am I to demand that at least certain conflicts (racial, religious) have to play a role if the book is set in the new country?” Okay, you can argue whether the author then still qualifies for the Booker Prize (old rules), but that’s not an issue in my review and the rules have now been changed anyway.

I found this book refreshingly different!

4 stars

122.Castle Rackrent by Maria Edgeworth (1,001 # 288)

It’s a 1,001, it’s really short (app 80 pages without all the introductions), really old (published 1800) and it’s even kind of amusing. And I almost forgot the rest, but I remember it is famous for being “the first family saga”. The first and surely the shortest. The story is told by the main servant of the Castle Rackrent in Scotland who has seen 4 masters come and go again. Those masters are of very different character, and I am glad I never met any of them.
This is a book you don’t have to read if you’re not following the list. But if you do (follow the list) it is one of the easier classics, although it’s not likely to leave a lasting impression.

Rating: 3 stars



123.Ivanhoe by Walter Scott (1,001 # 289)

Having finished Castle Rackrent I was in the mood to read a real knight’s tale. I really liked this book, although several reviews had warned me it would be boring with too many lengthy descriptions of landscapes and characters’ looks.

I had not read any story spoilers before, so I was surprised and delighted when “Robin Hood” (here simply called Locksley) turned up during a knights’ tournament and later even played a bigger role. I remember the book was once called in German “Ivanhoe –Der Schwarze Ritter” (Ivanhoe – the black knight), and so up to a certain point in the story I believed that Ivanhoe and the black knight were the same person. But no, they were two very different heroes fighting for the good.

I don’t feel like describing the plot; if you’re in mood for a knight’s tale with a happy ending, this is surely a nice one.

Rating: 4 stars, another easy classic off the 1,001 list



124.E² by Matt Beaumont (reread)

I first read and reviewed this book in 2009, I'll add the link (when I find it).
I needed some brain candy to help me get through the Kundera and it worked well.

3.5 stars

125.Il libro del riso e dell'oblio / The Book of Laughter and Forgetting by Milan Kundera (1,001 # 290)

There’s a German GR group, and in September they read The Unbearable Lightness of Being. As I had read that one only last year, I thought it might be a good occasion to check the second Kundera off my 1,001 list.

To say it in brief: this feels like an exercise for what would a couple of years later become TULoB. It has countless elements that appear again in the later novel plus some really abstruse ideas which thankfully didn’t make it into that novel. TULoB imo is the much better, more mature book. This book isn’t really a novel, it’s a collection of episodes evolving around the concept of “forgetting” – on a personal level through age and illness, but also the manipulated political forgetting (when for example opponents were removed from official pictures and the history books as if they had never existed, Orwell-like). I much enjoyed the first half, then it was still okay for a while, but I really didn’t get around the last two episodes, especially the one where a character who wishes to forget her former life is brought to an island inhabited by “cruel yet just” children who later rape her repeatedly and then mercilessly watch her drowning in the sea. TULoB has the chapter with the executions which I guess is a development of the original idea, but much better done and not as uncomfortable as the idea of those raping children on an island.

3.5 stars



126. Der Stechlin by Theodor Fontane (1,001 # 291)

It isn’t a big spoiler to say that in the end „an old man dies and two young people get married“ – the book is best known for this short plot-wrap-up. And really, not much more happens on those 400 pages. I admit that at times I was a little bored. And still I really liked this slow book, because Theodor Fontane is such a wonderful writer. I felt a little reminded of Trollope and the basic setting is not so different although the Stechlin is later. The book gives a general idea about life in the märkische region (Brandenburg around Berlin) in a period when “times were changing”, when the centuries-old order slowly made way to new rules and political movements that promised modernity and more freedom, but as we now know also lead to war and destruction. But in this book everything is still quiet and peaceful. The old count Stechlin lives alone in his country house, his son Woldemar serving his military years in Berlin. In the beginning Woldemar visits with two friends and the gap between the “modern” young men and the “old country” becomes obvious, in a peaceful way. Stechlin is a great character: he’s from the old order, but has an open, liberal heart, especially for the woes of “his” country people. There’s an election episode and if you’ve read Trollope it might be interesting to see the differences. Stechlin is the new conservative candidate, but will he make it against those modern and fresh social democrats who promise that one day a coach driver could own a castle?

Then there’s Woldemar, courting one of count Barby’s daughters, but it takes a while before the reader (and everyone else) finds out which one he’s interested in: the divorced, smart and lively Melusine or the pale and quiet Armtrud? The Barbys have spent many years in London and their connection with and longing for England are often discussed. In the late 1800s there was a strong pro-English movement among the German city people, based on the connection with the Victorian royals, and I never saw it as strongly emphasized as in this book.

The writing is truly wonderful in German, light and humorous. As the book has an average rating on LT of > 4 stars I assume that the English translation must be a good one.

So if you’ve read and enjoyed your Trollope and feel like reading a nice and quiet German classic in a similar setting and if you’re prepared to accept a lack of action, this might be the book for you.

Rating: 4 stars

127. Vathek by William Beckford (1,001 # 292)

Vathek manages to be strange and crazy and boring at the same time. Okay, I don’t like most Gothic books, although The Monk was hilarious. This here is Gothic mixed with “Arabian Nights” (I guess that’s where the “special literary value” is hidden that secured its place on the 1,001 list?) and I can frankly say that this combination is not for me. At least it’s short. The plot? I have no idea. There’s an evil Caliph and his more evil mother on “the road to destruction”, sacrificing people and children to ghosts (genii and dives and stuff) without end. I also didn’t really get the English in this case and I admit I didn’t make much of an effort. Someone wrote that the book was perfect for being read aloud, but I can’t test that in the office.

Rating: 2.5 stars



128. The Interesting Narrative by Olaudah Equinao (1,001 # 293)

The Interesting Narrative was interesting for about 60% of the book before it started focusing on the narrator’s efforts to become a perfect Christian. During the read I developed serious doubts on the authenticity of the text and the author (and found those doubts half-confirmed in the 1,001 book), but then I decided it doesn’t really matter. If it was possible to publish a book in 1794(!) that quite realistically describes the atrocities of the trading and keeping of slaves, it doesn’t matter if it really has been written by an African-born ex-slave or by an Afro-American (is that correct??) freeman.

The narrator claims to be born and to have passed his childhood in Africa, in Benin. He describes the rites and the order of his tribe and it’s interesting to see that he is quite elitist about it (“the men from Benin are the best and most disciplined workers”). He and his sister are kidnapped and soon separated. Olaudah is sent to the West Indies on a slave ship. He is then lucky to go through the hands of comparatively fair masters both in the US and the UK, he quickly learns the language, even learns to read and write and travels a lot on the oceans. At some point he is able to earn enough money by trading (permitted by his master) to buy his freedom, but can’t find an employment to sustain his life and is forced repeatedly to return to the trade ships where he often just very narrowly escapes death. To a certain point the book sounds much like an adventure story and I am convinced that the author didn’t really experience all of those travels and hardships. Then the book takes a turn when Olaudah begins his struggle to keep all 10 commandments. That was also the point when I started skimming through the remaining pages. This is a very old book and the anti-slavery content certainly was revolutionary. Somehow the religious part feels like a justification, as if the author wanted to say “dear doubtlessly white readers, this black man is a true Christian, a follower of the Church of England, not just some godless heathen, so you can trust his word”. It probably was an elegant trick then, although for the modern reader it makes that last part a bit tedious.

Rating: 3 stars

129. Mai più terroni by Pino Aprile

“Terroni” is a bad name for the people in the South of Italy, although it has never been clearly defined where that South begins. For those in Tuscany it’s around Rome, for the Romans it’s Naples, for the Napolitani it’s Puglia, etc. Pino Aprile is sick and tired of always hearing the same old arguments that “the South holds us back, just costs money, people there are lazy, the infrastructure is bad, all money is soaked up by the mafia”. He shows that much of the South’s misery has been caused by actions of the Northern regions since Italy was unified in 1862.

Maybe Aprile’s arguments are a bit one-sided as well, but this was the first time someone presented me that other side of the problem and I can’t help it – I believe much of what he says. It certainly is in the interest of the industrialized northern regions to keep the southern parts of the country poor and underdeveloped. The mafia(s) remain a big issue, but Aprile gave some encouraging examples of towns building a successful resistance against the force and violence.

The book is not exceptionally well written and the main argument (the internet and the social media will be successful in removing the mental borders we built up throughout the centuries) is not that strong anymore with the NSA scandal and the need to secure your personal data instead of openly sharing it with the world. But I liked its insights and the examples he gives and I’ll do some more research to get better informed and maybe to support some of the projects, if only by signing petitions and buying more products from the South.

Rating: 4 stars

#52 Ivanhoe is definitely a nice read, I remember rating it 4* myself. And like Bekka, you are doing quite nicely on the 1001 list as well.

Some fun reviews!

I trust that you're feeling back to normal. Meanwhile, I really enjoyed the reviews. I'll hope to get to Kundera before I die, but maybe not the *BoLaF*. I've read only the short excerpt of Equiano's middle passage experience and had no idea what the rest of the book was about. Thank you, Nathalie!

Hi everyone, just waiting for a Russian client and sneaking into LT for a minute during work... I know, I'm bad!

I wrote my Sicily and Bavaria reports in Word and will send them home to post from there. Then there are loads of reviews to write... if this weekend is a quiet one as I hope and no stupid virus comes to visit I'll dedicate at least half a day to LT to catch up on the 75 threads. I've lately been active only in the 1,001 group a bit, but I knew in advance October would be another difficult month...

Wishing you all a lovely day! :-)

Still waiting for the client who doesn't answer my messages, so I can as well post the older reviews in the meantime:



130. It by Stephen King - contains some spoilers

In a German forum members were discussing movies/shows/books that scared them back when they were kids. Pennywise the clown won the voting hands down. And I thought that after 25 years I should revisit this book, this time in English. I learned an interesting fact: The German translation Es was published 1985 before the US book and so was the worldwide first edition. Between the version used for the translation and the later US book King still made some changes. Well, after 25 years I didn’t notice any differences, but I looked them up, and they are all irrelevant for the story.

It had been my first King book and was then in the next 2 years followed by many more (what else could you read as a teen in the 80s?). After a while I felt like bloated and didn’t read any King until last year. I tried however – I don’t know how many first pages of new novels I read and put the books down again in the bookshop. I loved the ideas of The Dome and of 11/22/63 but couldn’t even get through the test chapters. King is a great storyteller, but somehow I can’t cope well anymore with the extreme length of most of his books and the repetitiveness of the characters. They work fine for a couple of books and they are really well written, but there’s a point where I can’t read anymore about the drunk and abusive father, the over-violent school bully, the brutal older brother, the racist sheriff, etc., it all becomes predictable.

Then "the American smalltown life" in King's virtual towns with its rites (countryclubs, highschool proms, etc.) is quite different from the environment I grew up in, so I don’t feel at home in King’s world, although watching it is fascinating for a while.
Difficult to explain, but when "the evil" turns up in whatever form, for me it never feels like it's breaking into my own safe home which I guess forms much of the fascination for American readers. Carrie for example: while I really liked the book, the shower scene at the beginning couldn't have happened like that in my school and I never felt part of the story; I was always watching from outside. (among other reasons we didn't shower after gym lessons, there were no cheerleaders, no sanitary dispensers, no "popularity ranking", etc).

It always stood out for me. I remembered almost everything from my first read, so I could well compare my teenage reactions to those of now. Not so different, except for all the horror scenes which shocked me only the first time. I had never before read any horror and I’ll never forget how terrified I was after reading Georgie’s death.
The characterizations in this book are spot-on and it was now almost the same gripping read it had been back then. I skipped the two pages that had traumatized me in the 80s and which I knew I’d never ever want to read again: Patrick Hockstaetter killing a cockerspaniel puppy in a fridge. When King writes about monsters there’s usually a bit of “fun” involved in all the blood-splattering horror. But when he gets “real” (as he also does in some of his short stories) he gets too scary for me. He must have seen many bad things in his life.

Even 25 years ago I wished King would more often leave the solutions vague. I HATE spiders, but even in 1988, having worked my way through more than 1,000 pages, it was quite a letdown when the monster took on the form of a spider. Okay, a big one. Why not an orange cloud? Why giving it a form at all?

I still prefer It, but now I understand why it was The Shining that made it onto the 1,001 list. The remote setting, the concentration on three characters only and the lack of “monster-letdown” probably makes it the better book.

Btw: when in the end they all forget so ridiculously quickly, did anyone else wonder if the new-formed couple might wake up in Nebraska after a week or so not remembering who’s that person in the bed next to them?

And something else: in 2012 27 years had passed since the great showdown. Why give that “spider thing” eggs just to stomp them all dead a minute later if there’s not the idea for a sequel looming in the writer’s head? What will be the plot of "Revival"?

Rating: 4 stars

131. The Bell by Iris Murdoch (1,001 # 294)

This is one of the books that make me feel I read something great and important without being able to say why.

It’s an early Murdoch and the second one I read after the much later written The Sea, The Sea. In the reviews for that book some readers had complained that Murdoch’s motives and plots are repetitive, and I am getting an idea what they might mean although I am far from complaining.

On the surface this book deals with Dora who leaves her (it is implied aggressive and violent) husband Paul, but returns to him because she’s even more scared of him when he’s away. Paul is doing some scientific work on the mysterious history of a bell that once belonged to a Benedictine monastery. For this purpose he is living with a lay community at Imber, a country estate near the abbey. Dora joins him and the focus switches to the members of the community, especially to Michael, their leader, who is hiding a dark secret.

spoilers coming
Like TSTS the book has a long slow start and then builds up to a point of complete frenzy. Like TSTS there’s the element of water, youth and innocence, and there’s an innocent youth extensively swimming in that water. Like in TSTS there is a man reflecting the sins of his past and like in TSTS there’s a married couple in difficulties. A couple with a seemingly weaker wife and an aggressive husband. But in the years between the books clearly the values changed and in both cases Murdoch takes a stand that’s probably different from the public view. In this older book she lets the wife take a step off by herself, in order to do some self-definition and then to decide on her own if a return into marriage might be possible. In TSTS when separation and divorce were more widely tolerated, she lets the wife stay with the husband. In both cases it’s the wife to decide, the husband to accept the decision.
spoiler end

Of the two books I preferred TSTS, but this one was very good as well and I am looking forward to the next Murdoch reads.

Rating: 4 stars

2 short ones to make up for the King:



132. Books Do Furnish A Room by Anthony Powell (Dance to the Music of Time 10/12)

Probably my new favorite. As a reader I’m almost in love with Pamela Flitton/Widmerpool. If I were among Nick’s friends I’d probably like to kill her.
We meet many old friends from the first three books, there’s much book talk (as could be expected from the wonderful title).
I’ll be sad when the series ends…

Rating: 4.5 stars



133. The Kreutzer Sonata by Leo Tolstoy (1,001 #295)

I have no idea why I left this short book (127p in German) unread on my shelf for such a long time, it was read so quickly (although it needs some concentration). It is a sometimes surprisingly modern but also hopelessly bitter view on “love and marriage”, using the example of a marriage that ends in jealousy and murder. The theories Tolstoy puts into the mouth of his narrator most certainly are his own and the bitterness almost succeeded in dragging me down to a very low point on that rainy Sunday afternoon. I don’t know if this book is a must-read, it’s certainly not in the ranks of Anna Karenina or War And Peace.

Rating: 3.5 stars

134.Caleb Williams by William Godwin (1,001 # 296)

Another 1700s classic. The pre-1800s are an interesting bunch. Some real famous ones (Goethe, Austen), some books that would probably be unpublishable today (DeSade), some marathon books (Clarissa), some decidedly strange ones (Vathek) but also many books that are not overwhelmingly great when read today, but are real discoveries and well deserve their list status. I’d see Caleb Williams in this last category and I learned from wiki that the book was already in its own time an overwhelming success and caused great controversies for its open critic on the law system.

Caleb Williams is a young man who works as a secretary for the squire Falkland. Falkland leads an extremely solitary life and seems to be deeply depressed while otherwise being an extremely nice and fair master. After a while Caleb finds his master’s dark secret: he has been suspected of a murder many years ago when still a young man. Now for whatever reason Caleb doesn’t rest, he needs to find out the truth. This changes his life forever and subjects him to such a succession of terrors that the reader can only wonder how he is able to keep a sane mind. The story is famous for its criticism of the British law system which was then famous for its justice towards all ranks, but according to Caleb doesn’t even try to offer persons of low rank the opportunity to defend their honor against a gentleman.

My main critic here is in the completely unfitting and unrealistic ending which also wasn’t the original intended ending if I can believe wiki. Like most of those older classics it has some lengthy sections, but I needed those to get a break from Caleb’s otherwise hair raising misfortunes.

Rating: 3.5 stars

135.Anton Reiser by Karl Philip Moritz (1,001 # 297)

I liked this book, but don’t know if I can recommend it. “A German psychological novel, written in the 1700s” – doesn’t exactly sound like a fun read?
Well, I can’t say it was fun, but it was surprisingly interesting and not a bit bland. Anton Reiser’s childhood and youth are told in length before the book quite abruptly ends without coming to a conclusion. The reasons for Anton’s numerous failures in life are analyzed in detail and are (as far as I know) quite conform with modern psychology.

Grown up without getting much positive attention from his parents (instead getting lots of pressure and contradictory feedback) he can’t find his place in the world. Both parents are strictly religious, but follow different paths, so Anton is also lost in the question of faith and tries to compensate his lack of orientation with phases of strictest obedience to the one or other direction. He gets lost in books at an early age. His father sends him to Latin school where he is very successful, but when he hears his father plans to remove him again to let him learn a simple profession instead, he immediately stops all efforts and lets himself fall back to the lowest ranks in class. He tries to adapt to every new environment by copying others, but is never successful for a long time. Whenever he reaches a point where he can’t fall any lower he is put back on his feet by some outsider whom he impresses with his smartness. Then follows a phase where he is flying high almost effortlessly, and just when he is on the point of succeeding, his lack of self-confidence and self-direction drags him down again. I guess nowadays you’d call that bipolar narcissistic behavior.

Anton’s character and the influences from the outside are extremely well observed and this book remains one of the positive surprises of the 1700s section of the 1,001 list.

Rating: 4 stars

136.Rameau’s Nephew by Denis Diderot (1,001 # 298)

I hadn’t read any Diderot yet and this one’s short, so I thought it might be a good start. Well, it was interesting, but my mind wasn’t as involved as it should have been. It’s a philiosophical dialogue between the nephew of the famous musician and composer Rameau and our narrator. The nephew leads a chaotic epicurean life and argues with the narrator mainly on the question if persons with a considerable talent should bring sacrifices during their lives hoping to be forever remembered for their work after their death, or if it wouldn’t be better for themselves just to lead ordinary lives filled with physical pleasure, i.e. “live the moment”.

I am now reading the longer Jacques the Fatalist and his Master which is a much easier read, but not less philosophical. I think Diderot might become one of my great discoveries thanks to the list.

Rating: 3.5 stars

137.Heinrich von Ofterdingen by Novalis (1,001 # 299)

This short work consists mainly of the 1st chapter and a fragment of a later chapter of what was clearly planned to become a giant work of romantic storytelling. I usually don’t get along well with the German romantic literature, each book is a long and hard fight, so in this case I was grateful for its shortness and incompleteness.

The story was planned as a retelling of a famous tale of knighthood and minnesong.
Heinrich/Henry, the main character, is a "fair youth". The book begins with H's dream of the "blue flower" (the "romantic knight of the blue flower" became a famus expression in Germany, maybe also elsewhere?). H. travels to Augsburg with his mother to meet his grandfather, a man who loves to party and who presents H. to the lovely Mathilde in whom H. immediately recognizes the blue flower of his dream. It also becomes apparent that young H. is a talented poet. Then comes a later chapter where H. is already an old man and Mathilde has apparently died.

I must read up on wiki, because honestly, I just didn't get the book. To call the language "rich" would be an understatement, but in small bits I can take it and sometimes even enjoy it.

Rating: 3 stars

138.Die Entdeckung der Currywurst/ The Invention of Curried Sausage by Uwe Timm (1,001 # 300)

For most of my read I wondered why this book – of which I had never heard in Germany and which was almost impossible to find – had been put on the list. It felt like the perfect easy amusing pool-/beach side holiday read. The tone is light, modern, the language (most of it the narration of the old Mrs Bruecker) is the typical slang of Hamburg. You can read this short book only on the surface and be completely happy with it. But if you take a closer look you'll find so much more. And be warned that in any case you will be craving a currywurst!

The story: the author, having grown up in Hamburg and now living in Munich, from time to time returns to his old and decaying neighbourhood just to eat a currywurst at Mrs Bruecker’s stall. Business is bad, curried sausage is out of fashion, her clients are mostly bums.

Side note: the book was published in 1993 when the author couldn’t know that his town quarter would be gentrified in a few years and that the old currywurst would as well have an incredible revival, becoming the favorite lunch snack food of bankers and other business people fed up with take-away sushi and wraps.

Mrs Bruecker claims to have invented the curried sausage in 1945, long before the now famous first stall in Berlin had been opened. The next time the author returns, Mrs Bruecker’s place is gone and she lives in an old people’s home, having lost most of her eyesight, but leading a content life, knitting sweaters with complicated patterns from memory. He starts seeing her regularly, bringing cream cake, and she tells him the story of the curried sausage which is also the story of a middle-aged German woman during the last days of WWII.

Having been left by her unfaithful husband years ago she manages her life quite well by working in the canteen of the national radio station where the main chef, an Austrian, regularly poisons the newsspeaker with emetics when new war successes are due to be broadcast.

During those last days of war, she meets Bremer, a young (married) soldier on his way to sure death as part of a defense squad. They hide from the UK bombings in a cellar, she takes him home and he decides to stay with her to wait out the war, to go AWOL. Unknowingly he becomes her prisoner when she doesn’t tell him later that week that war has in fact ended and when she keeps hiding him in her apartment to grant herself what she knows will be the last bit of love she’ll get in life. Telling here how this sad love story, the loss of his gustatory sense, her striving to make a living on her own, her inventiveness, her organizational talents on the black market and her dealings with her new English bosses finally result in the very first Currywurst would lead to far. It’s a warm-hearted, life-affirming yet honest story that also gives a good idea of the immediate post-war times, not leaving out the shocking revelation of what really happened to the Jews.

Rating: 4.5 stars

139.The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain (1,001 # 301)

This book has been making the rounds in the 1,001 group lately, getting exclusively positive reviews. I wanted to make it my #300, but then the very German “Currywurst” took its place. But 301 ist just as important a milestone – 700 more to read!

Well, everyone has read this short book anyway or watched one of the movie versions. For me it was all new, and reading it was, for the most part, great, great fun. I wasn’t happy with the ending though, although (or because) it was predictable from the very beginning. I think it’s the language that makes it so great, the story is somewhat clichéd.

Rating: 4 stars

Sometimes I am really stupid... On Saturday I went to town, I was in the mood for something "nice & cute". So I went to the bookshop (where else) and there I found a great selection of do-if-yourself sets of all kinds. I ended up buying two chrocheting kits - one for a multi-colored cap, although the nice colors were already sold out, and one for "crocheted food". That last one is hard to imagine. The box contained a booklet with manuals for 12 food thingies (cupcakes, burgers, sandwiches - all in wool with smiling faces), 3 balls of wool, a crocheting needle + plastic eyes and some yarn for nose and mouth. This seems to be quite popular in the US, I found loads of pics googling for "crocheted food" and almost nothing for "gehäkeltes Essen". You can see here how my cupcake should ideally look like: http://signedwithanowl.blogspot.it/2013/01/yummy-crochet.html
Those thingies look a little like the Muppets, you'd expect them to start singing at any moment. (I am going through a childish phase ...)

Well, by yesterday evening I had finished the cap after 2 restarts, half a chocolate donut on 5th try which has about half the size it should have (my stitches were too tight) and half of the frosting of the strawberry cupcake, after having started and undone the pinkish cupcake numerous times.
Then I remembered LT and started going through the threads and guess what? I couldn't type! My hands had become claws. It took forever to get them relaxed again (not to speak of my shoulder muscles), and in the end I visited at least some threads. I'll try and do more tonight.

The next 2 crocheting sets are already ordered from the cap company. Their manual was clear and needle and wool were of great quality. I guess I'll have to get new wool and a better needle for this food book. I'd like to crochet a bacon sandwich with salad, it's so cute in the picture!

I finished only one book over the Weekend, Jacques the Fatalist by Denis Diderot, but I listened to some Don Quixote.

Nathalie, I looked at the page you linked and I love the corn on the cob one! Though I don't know if you eat corn on the cob in your neck of the world?

I hope you'll consider posting pictures of some of your creations!

Love it Nathalie! Just brilliant :)

#70: Haha, certainly not of that mini donut that looks as if it hadn't risen! :-)))
I might restart that one tonight. Or do some LTing instead...

Corn on the cob became popular in those places in Germany that had a KFC (i.e. army bases) and I know some people who integrated it into their standard BBQ fare, but I haven't seen it in Italy yet.

#71: Yes, I saw it in the shop and I just had to take it. How to resist a smiling cupcake?

I love your crocheting story! We all take on daft things from time to time, so enjoy!

Loved your description of the action building to 'a complete frenzy' - that is the IM M.O. by the way, but each frenzy in each book is different enough to hold my attention. I like The Bell better - perhaps because of Dora and generally stronger women characters???? I do recognize that TSTS might be the overall 'better' book.

#73 Lucy: thanks for saying that... when I told a friend last night about the cupcake project, she just asked "but what is it good for???"
Made a little progress with the frosting but that last round sounds so complicated that I thought I'd better save it for today. Then I'll try to get to the cupcake's body if the pink wool allows me another try.

I ordered a little blanket (baby size) and a doormouse from that other company. The doormouse is one of those long sausagelike things you place behind your door to keep the draft out.

*****
I bought and started 2 new books in order to get through my ABC quest before November 1st:
for X The Xenophobe's Guide to the Italians and for Y Banana Yoshimoto's very short Ricordi di un vicolo cieco. Then I'll need to finish for N Anais Nin's Delta of Venus which is also a 1,001 and which I hate. Getting through this last one in just 2.5 days is a real challenge. I don't know how much is the fault of the translation (which is clearly very bad), but if the plot is non-existing and the characterisation is terrible, even the best translation can't help much.

140. Jacques the Fatalist and his Master by Denis Diderot (1,001 # 302)

After having read Rameau’s Nephew I wasn’t sure what to make of Diderot. Experimental, philosophical, somewhat amusing yes, but I didn’t get really invested in that one. Now JtFahM was different, and maybe it helped that I am parallely reading Don Quixote where another master and servant pair travels the world having amusing adventures and discourses. In this book the master is playing the minor role. He asks questions or causes problems (for example by falling asleep and having his horse stolen) to which Jacques invariably answers/ reacts in an ingenious way.

There are also lots of digressions that reminded me of DQ when stories are started and never continued or only many pages later. Often there are several layers when Diderot first directly addresses the reader, then Jacques starts telling a story, is interrupted by some event, then someone else starts a story which is again interrupted by some action, etc.

This is a wonderful book and I enjoyed it very much. Now I’ll soon read The Nun which I expect to be totally different again.

Rating: 4 stars

141. Nana by Émile Zola (1,001 # 303)

I can see how Nana became such a famous work. It is a great read, maybe so far the one with the most action of those I read from the Rougon-Macquart series. It is also the most over-exaggerated book yet. In Le Ventre de Paris, when Zola describes les Halles, there’s a similar voracity and exorbitance, but there the protagonist is poor and can only watch, not enjoy the goods. Nana however brings it to a peak. She becomes an insatiable monster (I had to imagine a gigantic serpent with a huge and ever open mouth, swallowing all the goods that come into her way – money, jewellery, furniture, dresses, castles, woods, etc.) without even looking at them.

Although the Zola books can be read as stand-alone works, in this case it’s helpful to have read L’Assommoir that deals with the lives of her parents, both sluggish characters drinking themselves to death. Knowing her upbringing helps to understand Nana’s desultoriness in life and her greediness to be finally seen and acknowledged, to “be someone”, but also her incapability to keep things on a stabile and permanent level. I couldn’t help feeling sorry for her and not a bit sorry for her men.

Zola depicts the better Parisian society as a bog of lost morals and continuous excesses, with the war against Prussia and therefore the end of a historic period of safe wellbeing looming in the background.

I am quite in awe with Zola and this enormous work by now. I will continue, having by now read 11 out of the 20 books that form the RM.

Rating: 4 stars

142. The Xenophobe’s Guide to the Italians by Martin Solly

I needed a book with ‘X’ in the author’s name or in one of the main title words for my alphabet challenge. I had read The Xenophobe’s Guide to the Germans many years ago and remembered it was amusing, exaggerated, but also quite true. And – very important in this case – a very quick read.

And again I have to say that this book is full of truths. Sure, it is a bit old now and many things have changed like the feelings of the Italians towards the EU and also politics, but the overall description of the Italians as a people of individualists is imo absolutely true. This is also the reason why we Northerners keep shaking our heads in disbelief when looking at Italy, saying “but why don’t they simply……?”. The answer is infallibly “because they are individualists who in the end only trust themselves and work for themselves and maybe for their nearest and dearest”.

Zapping through Italian TV in the evening you’ll either find cheap TV shows bought from the US or Germany, quiz shows where an old, bald and overweight man moderates the show while skimpily clad girls are dancing around in the background or you’ll find a political discussion. And those last ones are maybe worst to watch for a non-Italian, because so obviously everyone there is delivering a one-(wo)man-show, pretending to be worried about the people and wanting only their best (they even put their hand on their hearts) while in reality trying to look good to get elected into parliament where they’ll enjoy benefits that by far exceed those they’d get in most (or all?) other EU countries. The Italians know that, because… they are all individualists and know that no politician is likely to do anything for others unless it brings him some return. And they know nothing will change independently from the party that has the majority today. (There was some hope when the “Movimento 5 Stelle” came up, but by now it is clear that their leader Beppe Grillo is not really interested in realizing quick improvements by working with other parties; if they had agreed to a coalition with the PD, Berlusconi could be history by now instead of dictating the headlines on every single day and blocking every positive development. Instead Grillo is looking for the majority and the “sole reign” and therewith has become just as untrustworthy as all the others. If I were Italian, I wouldn’t know whom to vote for).

So they just keep going, trying to live as good as they can in a situation they can neither change nor leave. And while we Germans for example as a people are in a constant state of unhappiness, stress and angst (yes, those prejudices are also quite true) despite the political and economic stability of our country, permanently fearing a change for the worse, the Italians manage to be quite happy and enjoy life whenever possible in what might look like a chaos from the outside.

For 4 years now I have been working on becoming more Italian, but I can tell you, it’s a long and stony way for a typical Teuton. Maybe I should give up the “working on it” part and just relax and eat well? :-))

Rating: 3.5 stars

143. Ricordi di un vicolo cieco by Banana Yoshimoto

Banana Yoshimoto is incredibly popular here in Italy. I guess all of her books have been translated, you’ll find a big selection in every bookshop and entering her name into the search field at amazon.com the search first brings up the Italian books instead of the English versions.

I got this one for the ‘Y’ in my alphabet challenge. It had only 35 pages and seems to have been published originally as part of a short story collection. But as it was available as single book with an own ISBN, I’ll count is as such.

Typically for BY it is again the story of a young woman in a crisis and again the crisis is caused by an unfaithful man, her fiancé. With the help of the young chef of her uncle’s little restaurant in a town quarter of which the translated name is “blind alley”/ vicolo cieco, she reflects her life and sees that she has never grown up, that she wanted to continue her childhood by getting married to a man who should protect her from the disagreeable things life might bring. She gathers strength and regains a positive view on life, for the first time seeing the possibilities it offers and so is able to leave her own “blind alley”.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Yay, I finished my 2-months-alphabet challenge a day early and can finally concentrate on other books! :-)

I had originally planned to read as many on-the-shelf books as possible for this challenge, but naturally in the end the list has mainly new books, though at least many of them were free Kindle classics.

I think that apart from getting to #150 I won't take up any more challenges this year. I am planning to participate in the Can you Forgive Her? GR this month and I'll finish the Powells and maybe read some more of the books I have bought this year, mainly Italian ones. With all the Booker candidates and the ABC challenge I have also neglected my Italian reading because it takes so much longer.

Apart from reading, I am trying out the typical hobbies of a middle-aged woman: I started a lunch-break yoga class last week and yesterday I signed up for a painting class that starts in 2 weeks. I wanted to try painting for a long time but never knew how to start. Then I'll continue with the crocheting and hope that my order arrives soon.
Much to do for me in the cold months it seems.

Nice reviews, Nathalie! I was interested in your review of 'Xenophobe's Guide to Italians' since that is my family background, although I've never lived in Italy and have only visited once (mostly Rome and Florence, but also Naples a bit). In one of my university Italian classes we read 'A Fine Italian Hand' which I think outlined some of the same ... idiosyncrasies ... of the Italian people and their attitudes toward politics, etc. It was very interesting. I wonder if anyone can ever really "become" Italian, given how very different most Italians are even from each other. There is no ultimate goal of Italianness to shoot for, it seems.

Haha, "ultimate goal of Italianness" sounds great! :-)

Long text following on my experiences in this special place. I became aware of my Germanness since moving here. Before that, I had always felt "European".

I live in a very interesting region (Alto Adige) where both cultures CLASH in capital letters.
Almost all of the "real Italians" here come from all other regions of Italy, though there's probably a majority from the Veneto. Many families were transferred here in the Mussolini years when the original Tyrolean (Austrian) German speaking population was horribly suppressed. People were punished for speaking German in public, public offices (also teacher jobs) were only given to Italians, factories were opened only for Italian workers, etc.. Understandably the Tyroleans didn't welcome them with open arms. There was so much open hostility over a very long period including some terrorist attacks and only since the late 1970s when autonomy was finally granted, the situation has improved. But still there are 2 parties:

The German speaking majority with an Austrian-German background and values. Most of them absolutely don't feel Italian and don't see their region as part of Italy. They learn Italian in school but most of them try to avoid speaking it. There are separatist movements and right now those parties are getting more votes in elections. For me the Tyroleans seem a bit 'über-German'. But I understand they are trying to shelter their culture and are scared to be merged into what they call the "Italian chaos".

The Italian minority lives mainly in the bigger cities, i.e. Bolzano (the only place with an Italian mayor) and my town Merano. Most of them wouldn't move anywhere else because they love the order and the tidyness, the efficiency and other things, for example the schools are better than in most other regions. But over 3 Generations they were unable to form an Alto Adige identity. Just like in the book they feel rooted to the place where their ancestors lived, i.e. Venetian, Napolitan, etc. They are a bit foreigners in their own region whenever they leave their cities and drive into the valleys. They have their seperate "Vereine" (clubs) for culture and sports, their own travel agencies, etc.. I think there's not a single Alto Adige Italian playing in one of the local brass bands.

I noticed that in my generation there are not many "cross-culture" friendships. For me as an outsider it is strange that so many people give away such an opportunity of being bicultural, really bilingual, etc.. It seems to be a bit better with the younger generation, at least in the towns. On the other hand, it's the young ones from the valleys /villages who most strongly support the separatists and fear to lose their Tyrolean identity with too many influences from Italy (though they happily accept espresso, pizza and pasta).

As a foreigner, I have the freedom to look a bit here and there, because I don't belong to any of the groups anyway, so no-one feels betrayed. I have friends from both groups now (+ an English landlady), I read books in both languages and try to follow Italian TV. I try to participate in Italian cultural things, sadly there aren't that many in Merano. Generally, the Tyrolean community is more closed and getting in a Verein invariably means drinking a lot which I don't like.

I found that, should I have to decide for the one side or the other, I'd rather live and feel Italian than Tyrolean and should the separatists ever succeed and split from Italy, I'd probably move further South and "face the chaos". :-)

Moving this here to get it out of the "currently reading post" on top:

September/ October alphabet challenge which should have helped me clearing my shelves:

A Pino APRILE: Mai più terroni - off the shelf
B Declan BURKE: Absolute Zero Cool - new book
C James M. CAIN: The Postman Always Rings Twice - new book
D Denis DIDEROT:Jacques the Fatalist - new free Kindle
E Matt Beaumont: E² - reread
F Theodor FONTANE: Der Stechlin - off the shelf
G William GODWIN: The Adventures of Caleb Williams - new free Kindle
H Novalis: HEINRICH von Ofterdingen - off the shelf
I IRIS Murdoch: The Bell - new book
J JHUMPA Lahiri: The Lowland - new book
K Milan KUNDERA: The Book of Laughter and Forgetting - new book
L LEO Tolstoy: The Kreutzer Sonata - off the shelf
M Karl Philipp MORITZ: Anton Reiser - new free Kindle
N Anais NIN: Delta of Venus - new book
O OLAUDAH Equiano: The Interesting Narrative - new free Kindle
P Anthony POWELL: The Military Philosophers - off the shelf, GR
Q Charlotte Lennox: The Female QUIXOTE - new free Kindle
R Denis Diderot: RAMEAU's Nephew - new free Kindle
S STEPHEN King: It - reread
T TASH Aw: Five Star Billionaire - new book
U UWE Timm: Die Entdeckung der Currywurst - new book
V William Beckford : VATHEK - new free Kindle
W WALTER Scott: Ivanhoe - new free Kindle
X Martin Solly: The XENOPHOBE'S Guide to the Italians - new book
Y Banana YOSHIMOTO: Ricordi di un vicolo cieco - new book
Z Émile Zola: Nana - off the shelf

End result:
6 off the shelf
2 rereads
8 new free Kindle books
10 new books!!!

Hm... not exactly as planned.

October Stats:

Books read in October: 15
Pages read: 4,657

Fiction: 14
Non-fiction:1
Plays: 0
Short Story Books: 0
Poetry books: 0

English: 7
German: 7
Italian: 1
French: 0

Audio books: 0 (0 bought)
Kindle books: 11 (6 free, 5 bought, 0 owned)
Real books: 4 (2 owned, 2 bought, 0 library, 0 borrowed)

Books purchased this month: 12
Of which read in the same month: 6

*******************************

Summary 2013:

Books read 2013: 144
Pages read: 46,633

Fiction: 133
Non-fiction: 11
Plays: 0
Poetry books: 0 (but 62 poems)
Comic books: 0
Short Story Books: 0

English: 80
German: 28
Italian: 34
French: 2

Audio books: 10 (10 bought)
Kindle books: 80 (36 free, 39 bought, 5 owned)
Real books: 54 (18 bought, 20 owned, 13 library, 3 borrowed)

Books purchased 2013: 109
- of which read in the same month: 49
- of which read in the same year: 70

Well done on your A-Z reads! That's an interesting challenge I'd like to try someday.

And thanks, too, for your thoughts on living in your part of Italy as a non-native. It can be hard to remember sometimes that not all Italians fit the stereotype. It seems there are many places in the world where national boundaries seem to be in the wrong place if you look at a region's indigenous culture.

Oh Nathalie! You've made my day with your review of your book X on Italianess. I loved it and I love your attitude. Of course, one has to simply give oneself up to the chaos, one can't study it or aspire to it or anything that organized!

I also read with fascination about the Alto Adige situation. There are so many of these uneasy communities - all goes well as long as the political and social situation remains stable.

As I sit here looking out my window at the wild and severe November landscape I do feel wistful..... it sure isn't Italy here today! It is warmish but impossible windy - probably the last day over 60 degrees F. (15-16 C) for several months....... but so windy that being out in it isn't much fun. Po of course, loves being out in anything. But even this might bother her as little bits of grit and leaves blow around a lot. But staying in the woods can be foolhardy too.

I'm also fascinated by your experience in a multi-cultural situation. I live in the town where I grew up with a husband in the house where he grew up. This was not my life plan, but it has worked so far. Your sense of adventure seems to be working for you. Thanks for giving us a glimpse!

#84-86 Julia, Lucy and Peggy: Thank you!! Last night I had "language tandem". We started with Italian and talked about politics (and about the Xenophone book). At some point I said about the politicians "Ma... alla fine non importa perché sono tutti uguali" (in the end it doesn't matter because they are all the same sort) and my tandem partner Claudio exclaimed happily (naturally in IT): "Congratulations, you are becoming a real Italian!" :-)

I never really thought about the differences before, but here I am getting them served on a plate on a daily basis and then you automatically start asking yourself where your own tendencies go.
Last week one of my colleagues (Tyrolean) had his 50th birthday and celebrated just with us colleagues on the very day, having planned another party for the next day. I asked him why he hadn't invited his hunting friends from his village together with us and he said "well, they'll be drinking much and then there might be problems when they notice that some of the colleagues are Italians". It's incredibly sad sometimes...

***********

We had a holiday today and the weather was almost like in summer, hot and sunny. It's strange to wade in leaves but having to take off your (thin) jacket. But it should get colder and start raining tomorrow, I am hoping for a reading weekend.

Statistics, stellar reviews and the vagaries of crochet!

Nice to catch up here as always Nathalies and a timely reminder given to read some Diderot as soon as.

Have a lovely weekend.

#88: I am a week late, but thank you, Paul, and a wonderful new week to you! And thanks for bringing A.A. Gill back to my attention - I know it's many weeks since you read his book, but the mention in your thread made me get his older "Table Talk" and it was such a happy nostalgic read! Those good old times when his restaurant reviews were still available online for free! The one about Germany he'd like to see flooded by the North Sea! The one on Tex-Mex food!! I'll soon post the review here.

**********************

I sure must be mad. Just 10 days ago I wrote this "I think that apart from getting to #150 I won't take up any more challenges this year."

Then on that same day I looked at the November TIOLI and thought "Why... it's almost 1.5 years now that I managed to read a book for every challenge...Time to try again". And then I went and signed up for I think by now 15 books of which I already finished 10.

Okay, most of those were short (200-300p) to very short (2 had 65 p only), but I also signed up for 3 monsters, Don Quixote (1120 p), Can You Forgive Her? (700p that feel like 1,000) and today I started 11/22/63 (900p). So when these 3 are done, the average page number should be more than okay.

I don't think I can make it, but I also can't just simply stop and remove the entries and it annoys me because my work also keeps me very busy and I've got Italian and painting class starts on Tuesday and I try to keep up with my yoga and meditation not to forget the crocheting and it's just getting too much. It can't be that I am that stressed in my free time and I don't even have a family, so I should have plenty of time for myself and be all relaxed.

So it's time for some very early new-year's resolutions:

If I am so obviously challenge-addicted, I must try a totally different challenge for 2014: staying as far below 150 books as I can! I still want to get to 75 and I want many of those to be from the 1,001 list. Maybe I'll concentrate on difficult pre-1800 classics that take more time to read. But I must read less or at least differently. More Italian literature, more library books, more audio books, not reading more than 4 books parallely... and above all do more other things. Like cooking and eating healthily. And sit down at my table to eat. Because this is something I quite gave up this year. Not that I eat much junk food, but it's mainly bread, cheese, yoghurt, fruit and, okay, cookies. Because that's stuff that doesn't keep me from reading. And doing yoga while listening to an audio book might be nice for the muscles but doesn't exactly do much for the mind. That's not yoga, it's just exercise.
And I so want to spend more time on LT again, going through all your threads and posting there instead of just updating my stats and be off again to read.

****
But now for the good news: I should get my work contract renewed this week! I don't know if I posted it here, but I was quite worried, because I only had a one-year contract, so my job has been on trial all that past year. This is an incredible relief after 4 years of constant business worries and money issues!!

Also my wonderful landlady lowered my rent a bit last week. It's still high, but the difference could already pay for a short holiday (or better go into my savings account).

So now I don't need to distract my worried mind with the dramas of fictional characters any longer and can finally try some new things for myself. I just hope that painting class won't be too embarrassing...

Nathalie, many congratulations on your contract being renewed, and your lower rent. Those are both great things to celebrate — with a book!

I think it's wonderful that you are taking a painting class. I took a watercolor class when I was in my 30s but quit because I wasn't great at it immediately. Don't make my mistake! I so wish I had stuck with it and just enjoyed the process.

Congrats on the renewal of contract and the lowering of rent - wish my landlord was so considerate - my lease is up for renewal in March and I am quite sure he will again be making a demand for 10% increase.

What a great landlady!

And I so much enjoyed reading your resolutions.

Sometimes I walk around while reading...... I can walk and read and eat cookies simultaneously I am so clever.

Nathalie, what good news all around! I hoped something like this for you last year when everything was bad, and now you are being rewarded for sticking the bad time out!
I am impressed by your urge to read less and better. Also impressed with your trying all the TIOLI challenges this month.
I used to have a little step up in my main reading room. I'd stand there and step up, step down, step up, step down, step up, etc. while I read. I ought to be doing something similar these days.

Hi Nathalie, I have not noticed the fruit thingies in the US, maybe if I went to more craft shows I would have noticed the chocolate chip cookies that jumped out at me from your picture.
How I envy your location, where jumping into a car will take you to so many wonderful destinations in a relatively short amount of time.
Congrats on completing your ABC challenge. I think I will attempt it again next year, it's a great way to get those old books off the shelf.
Have a wonderful day :0)

Yay visitors! :-)
I'll post some pre-written reviews now and will respond to your posts from home where I don't have that auto-correct problem.



144. Delta of Venus by Anais Nin (1,001 # 304)

If this book were not on the 1,001 list + quite famous, if I had just found and read it, I'd probably have rated it with 1 or 1.5 stars. As a listed book however, and as a translated book (I read the German edition which was also full of typos) I left some 'room for doubt'. Still can't make up my mind between 2 and 2.5. The last chapters were a little better and show the book was written in the days before WWII which might explain some things and also added some atmosphere.

Well... erotica on the 1001 list, difficult to rate. While writing this review I wonder what other erotica I've read to compare this book to. From the list I know only Fanny Hill which is dishonest and a bit boring, but better written. I don't see Tropic of Cancer or Lady Chatterly's Lover as erotica. And don't get me started on the 120 Days of Sodom....
This book here clearly is erotica and nothing else. Yes, those women all want 'liberation', but not politically or economically, it's purely sexual. Help comes usually in the form of a very masculine, dominant man. The men are often deeply disturbed, but they serve their purpose more or less. The stories are mostly strange and a bit dark and that they were not a bit exciting could have been at least partly the translator's fault. But even the best translator couldn't put more sense into the episodes, improve the characterization, etc.
I don't know how true the introduction is where Nin says she had been asked to keep her stories rough, without much plot. But as bad plot seems to be the main weakness, I don't think more of it would have improved the book.

Rating: 2 stars

145. Gedankenmedizin für Schisser: Wie wir unseren Zweifeln die Macht nehmen by Giulio Cesare Giacobbe

An unusually entertaining self-help book that tries to cure from what the author calls infantine neuroses, i.e. neuroses induced because something went wrong very early in your life. The results are often unfounded fears and anxieties, phases of depression, eating disorders, the inability to commit. Instead of talking things through for years in psychotherapy, Giacobbe wants to “construct a new memory” in the reader for quick improvement. He differs between 3 forms of self: child, adult and parent and describes a way to calm the ever-present panic-stricken child and to bring the adult to the surface. The patient should find a perfect adult role model and incorporate it into body and mind while at the same time the parent self cares for the child and keeps it quiet. Sure this should be guided by an experienced therapist and if there has been real trauma you’ll need different approaches.

I liked the style which is extremely repetitive, but that’s just part of the trick. If a thesis is put in front of you just once, you might think “hey that’s true”, you might even highlight it, but then you read on and it’s forgotten in an instant. Giacobbe wants to hammer his ideas into his readers’ heads and is quite successful with it.

This book can’t substitute a therapy, but it might help along the way and encourage you to give less room to the lost child and to find out who you want to be as an adult.
Added also to the November TIOLI #1 (change challenge)

Rating: 4 stars

146. Clouds of Witness by Dorothy L. Sayers

Read for the TIOLI “inklings” challenge #14. I like the Sir Peter Wimsey novels, but it was a mistake beginning with a real good one (Murder Must Advertise) and only then to start reading the series in order. This one was a solid murder mystery, but honestly, I was a bit bored. And if this is only 200 pages in print, those pages must be covered in tiny font, they felt like 400. When you keep staring at the % in the corner of your Kindle screen, thinking it must be broken, it’s a clear sign that the story hasn’t got your attention.

The setting is perfect for a whodunit: a murder in a remote country house during a hunting weekend in the Yorkshire moors, a clear group of suspects, contradicting statements, etc. The victim is the fiancé of Wimsey’s sister, the suspected killer his own brother. But somehow this promising set-up quickly fell flat for me. It began with the protocol of the inquest, written like a play. This is something I simply don’t like. Then all those sometimes amusing, often annoying side remarks against anything that’s not perfectly English, from central heating compared to a good fire over manicure for men to uncomfortable chairs. Then there was the original Yorkshire accent. I really made an effort, but I was lost and from the reviews I take it that even native speakers had their problems here. And when around 65 or 70% it was clear what must have happened, I still had to go through the whole long trial scene.
I will keep reading the series, but only slowly, there’s no hurry anyway.

Rating: 3 stars

A very long review for a book I didn't like:

147. Corporate Rats – What Big Companies Choose Not To Tell You by Robin Good

Read for TIOLI #10 (Exposé). I searched for “exposé” on amazon and then chose a short and free ebook that sounded half amusing. Well… short and free it sure was. It was also quite badly written and had the author not repeated all his arguments on the last maybe 10 pages it would have been even shorter. I mean – if you only have arguments for about 50 pages, sure you can publish them. But then you should assume your readers will go through these pages in one go and don’t need an extensive wrap-up of the things they read 10 minutes ago.

I think the book was written with a good intention and I didn’t have to pay for it, so I still rated it with 2.5. I am wondering however who the intended readership is. I have been working for 12 years in a multinational company and I have experienced everything the author describes here. The book is, sadly, absolutely true. But what are you to do with this truth? If you are just leaving college and start looking for jobs, the multinationals and especially the consulting companies will still look attractive because they pay well and (at least in Europe) jobs there come with granted holidays, pension plans and extra insurance. And it’s a business that (as he rightly says) creates its own jobs, so you can well stay with one company until retirement.

I left my employer just for the reasons he gives here. For 12 years I felt like I was “playing being at work” and the stress-level (daily long hours, countless weekends and nights) was too high for the result that was produced in the end. And I was lucky to always work on projects that actually did go live! How many of my colleagues sacrificed weekends and holidays for projects that were later cancelled. Ever new and not always useful regulations first drove me to switch departments and when it became even worse there and all my attempts at self-brainwash (participation in countless extra activities and qualification programs) couldn’t convince me of the usefulness of my work, I just had to leave. There were other, bigger things of the moral type that didn’t agree with me either. It simply was time to leave.

So yes, the book is true. But what are the alternatives? Mr Good suggests working for a charity (and only mentions in a side remark that you need qualifications there as well). Or you could start your own company (he forgets to mention the “no holidays, no insurance, can’t-stay-home-when-sick”, and "what if you fail and lose all your money?" issues which are usually underestimated). Or you could contract yourself as an independent consultant to your old company (in my experience those multinationals don’t work with independent contractors anymore, you’d need to work for one of those temp-work agencies. You could go into teaching which is very useful for future generations. But if you feel an inclination to teach, you’ll probably already be doing it. Or, best idea of all: you can write a book! And guess what: you can write that book while already working for the charity!!

Well, you see where my problem lies. True, but not a bit helpful.

Rating: 2.5 stars

148. Who was Leonardo Da Vinci? by Roberta Edwards

Okay, it’s a children’s book and so is light years away from any comprehensive “His Life and Works”. But the TIOLI challenge #8 asked for a book with “Doctor” or “Who” in the title and searching for “Who” I found the “Who is/was …?” series. It’s fantastic!

There’s also a J.F. Kennedy volume for the JFK challenge and I am sure I can also find a veteran there. Maybe even something with “Father” in the title? Can I do a whole TIOLI month just with this series?

The books are quite cheap (3.44 USD for me, surely below 3 USD for US citizens) and give you quite a good idea of the person’s life. And works. I even looked up several LdV paintings on the internet. And I hadn’t known about the giant bronze horse. The book also doesn’t avoid sidesteps. When it tells of Leonardo’s art studies, it gives an extra box with text in capital letters, explaining the organization of a typical studio in renaissance Italy. Other similar boxes tell something about L’s contemporaries Raffael and Michelangelo, about the types of painting then in fashion (only portraits and religious, landscape and still life came much later), materials used for brushes, etc. I wouldn’t have liked to read a long book about LdV now, but this was interesting and I am considering getting some of the other ones. They are great for a first impression and then you can decide if you feel ready for one of the big and serious bios.
And the sketches are cute!

Rating: 3.5 stars

149. The Man in the Brown Suit by Agatha Christie (audio book)

Read for TIOLI challenge #13.
Quite different from the usual Christies. Not bad at all, but different. And yes, I prefer the classical whodunit in a typical English setting, and I don’t really like crime fiction written in diary form (with the exception of The Murder of Roger Akroyd).

The storys starts with a Russian err… singer/dancer whatever confessing to a mysterious man that she is planning to rob “the colonel” (who seems to be a kind of mafia boss) off several diamonds she simply kept after her latest coup. And she will be helped in that by her husband who is due to arrive by ship. The reader will wisely assume that the Russian lady might not enjoy her life much longer.

Then the story switches over to Anne, a very young, very lively woman, an orphan since her father, a scientist, died recently and left her next to nothing. Anne is craving “the adventure”, has clearly read too many bad novels (this is now the 4th book within weeks that starts with a character “spoiled by too much bad reading”) and instead of looking for employment as assistant for some elder lady, quickly gets herself into danger. Standing on the platform waiting for the tube she witnesses the death of a man who falls onto the railtrack where he’s electrocuted. She is convinced his misstep was taken out of fear, when he recognized another passenger, “the man in the brown suit”. She quickly connects this case with the murder of a young woman that happens the same day and within a couple of days finds herself employed as a journalist and on board of a steamer towards South Africa. Among the passengers she believes to recognize the man in the brown suit.

Anne’s diary is interrupted by the diary entries of another passenger, Sir Eustace, who quickly becomes an admirer of Anne. Many hair-raising adventures follow, even in the djungle (Agatha Christie??) and more than once Anne escapes only narrowly some traps into which she usually happily jumps wherever they open.

Rating: 3.5 stars

As usual posting from the GR thread:



150. Temporary Kings by Anthony Powell (Dance to the Music of Time #11/12)

I absolutely wanted one of the Powell books to be #150. I thought it'd be the last one, but now I got to 150 so early that it had to be this one. Also read for TIOLI challenge #6.

I much enjoyed it, but don't know yet what to make of some of the stories around the Widmerpools. I am still not sure
- what exactly Kenneth did (politically)
- what exactly Pamela did between chapters 5 and 6 (the outcome is clear, but although I reread chapter 6 I am not sure how it came to that).

Sigh... the series really comes to a close now. Such a time jump. Nick is now older than me!! And then 3 chapters abroad! Was this really the first time Nick took us abroad since la Grenadière?

I found it hard getting through the first chapter - again too many new characters and you don't know yet who might be important. His narration style has changed in the same way our own way of telling stories changes over the years. When it used to be just observing and commenting, it is now first recalling older events and only then starting commenting the actual ones.

Powell has become much more sexually explicit. When in book 3 I had to reread a certain section several times and was still unsure whether Nick and Gypsy had done it, now he lets others, mainly women, be quite frank about it. Isn't it still the 1950s?

The penultimate chapter was wonderfully bittersweet. Moreland's bout of nostalgia was such a true and honest moment. All that reminiscing when you're meeting old friends, it's wonderful, but sometimes also very sad.

Widmerpool spoiler coming:
I can't say I am happy about the development. He had it coming in a way, and he's still standing, but he always was a character who with a great instinct simply made his way without looking left or right. I don't really want to see him where he is by the end of chapter 5, reduced to a sad little man with "unusual interests".

Rating: 4 stars

151. Table Talk by A.A. Gill

Listed in TIOLI challenge #15 (I am thankful for ...).
You’ll either love or hate A.A.Gill’s style. I don’t think there’s anything in between. Many people hate the verbosity of his columns, his self-importance and most of all the fact that he insults everyone and everything. The fans love the verbosity of his columns, his self-importance and most of all the fact that he insults everyone and everything.

To enjoy this book you have to accept 2 things: A.A. Gill is the contrary of PC. And he writes weekly columns, so collections like this one are not meant to be read in one go. This would be too much of a good thing even for the greatest fans.

I am SO happy that Paul brought him back to my attention. Since "The (Sunday) Times" charges the readers for the online edition, I completely stopped reading it. For the news there are enough other papers offering that service for free. What I miss are the weekly style and culture sections, but I wasn’t ready to pay just for those. (Which reminds me that I should check if they made their payment model a bit more flexible, i.e. offering certain sections now instead of just the whole package).

I discovered Gill’s restaurant reviews during my internship in London in 1996. This was also when I first heard the expression “It-Girl” which then applied to Tara Palmer-Tomkinson who also had a weekly column in those days. Anyway… there are probably not many people who can say this, but I owe much of my love for the English language to the A.A. Gill restaurant reviews. When I got my first internet connection, searching the archives of “The Sunday Times” for old reviews as far as possible and then printing all of them was among the first things I did. And then I read them all, of yourse. I had 2 fat folders of Gill reviews and kept them for many years. I think I only finally threw them away when I moved to Italy. Of those in this book I knew quite many and it was such a happy reunion. The one about Germany… and the one about the most expensive meal… then all those about American food and Americans. They are all incredibly offensive(!!!), but rest assured: we Germans got it worst, at least he never expresses a wish that the US and its citizens should be flooded by an ocean.

A.A. Gill loves good food, despises bad food and adores the English language. He just had to become a reviewer. I once heard a story (never checked the truth) that he used to be dyslexic and once this was treated correctly he started writing like crazy? He is also a recovered alcoholic and (a least in those old reviews) often spins in anecdotes from those time in which he never ever makes himself look good.

While I love his writing, I am a bit scared of him as a person. He seems to be great with his family and close friends, but I don’t know if I’d be able to cope with his special honesty (don’t want to call it “rudeness”) in RL. He’d doubtlessly call me a humorless Hun. :-)

Rating: 4 stars

152. Father and Sons by Ivan Turgenev (1,001 #305)

This book fit perfectly into challenge #16 (Variation of "father" or "son" in title)!

This was a great book, although I don’t think it will stay with me for very long. But while I was reading it, it was quite intense and made me feel melancholic.

You know me – all those Russian names had vanished from my memory a minute after I had closed the book. So there’s Father #1, a nice but impractical widower who lives with his brother (“Uncle”) in the country. At the beginning of the book he’s waiting impatiently for his son Arkady’s (a name, yay!) return from St. Petersburg where he finished university. He hasn’t told him yet that he lives with a young woman and actually fathered another child. Arkady turns up but brings a friend which dampens the joyous reunion a bit. Said “Friend” is a nihilist, studies medicine, is idolized by Arkady and his views quickly clash with those of Uncle. After a couple of weeks Friend leaves to see his parents and takes Arkady with him. On the way they meet and stay with a young Widow and her Sister. Both men fall in love with the Widow and she feels an attraction towards Friend as well. Friend escapes to his parents (with Arkady) where within 2 days he is suffocating from the extremely devoted love of his father (Father # 2) and Mother, so the men return to Arkady’s place.

It felt painful to me to read about the high though different expectations these two fathers put into their sons, the enormous hopes for their future. On the other hand there’s the “black-and-white” idealism of the sons, who, away from university, have to cope with a reality that quickly starts bending their revolutionary ideas.

I thought this was a wonderful book. It’s also quite short and a quick read.

Rating: 4 stars

153. Der 15. November (November 15th) by Ludwig Tieck

Read for challenge # 9.

I found this book looking for a free Kindle for the TIOLI date challenge. Short and easy I’d say, certainly no high literature.

Very strange story as well about a young man who quite lost his mind during a stroke when aged 11, since then spends his time building a ship in his parents' garden and suddenly, many years after the stroke when he's an adult and the ship's completed, on the 15th of November, it all makes sense.

Spoiler:
This is set in the Netherlands. The ship is finished and the same night a dam breaks and the town is flooded. The young man saves family, friends, even his enemy. And then he's cured. It was all an act of God!! But the book is not really religious or indoctrinating, it's something between the story of Noah and a more heathen fairy tale.
Nothing you must look out for.

Rating: 3 stars

154. Der Fremde (The Stranger) by Albert Camus (1,001 #306)

Read for the centenary challenge #19

Okay, so this is one of the most famous works of existentialism. I think I am not a great fan of existentialism then. I can see what Camus was doing here, and while the book is short and quickly read, it was also very intense and sad. But I really, really didn’t like it. Not at all.

This is only a little reflected in my rating – had I liked it better it might have got 4 stars, but as it is a great book I don’t want to go below the 3.5 grade. The atmosphere reminded me of Tabucchi’s Declares Pereira where a similar man living an isolated life suddenly takes action, though a very different one. I don’t think Tabbuchi’s book is existentialist, but it also describes an emotionally handicapped man, someone who functions on the outside (eats, sleeps, goes to work, greets the neighbours), but is not really part of the world, someone who doesn’t react the way most others do. For me personally the Tabucchi is the better book. In the Camus book, once the “action” is taken, the situation takes a Kafka direction where the individual becomes a helpless victim of an all powerful government. Even when he tries to speak, his voice isn’t heard.

Well, as I said, the experience of reading this was intense, but no… I prefer his The Plague and I don’t think I’ll ever revisit this one.

Rating: 3.5 stars

155. Can You Forgive Her? by Anthony Trollope (Palliser Series # 1/6)

Read for TIOLI #2 and as preparation for Phineas Finn which is the 2nd book in Trollope’s Palliser series and listed as a 1,001 book.

I am somewhat undecided on this book here. Some thoughts:
- it is by far the darkest Trollope I have read yet – I loved that because the first 2 Barsetshire novels were much too sweetish for me, quite reaching the Cranford sugary levels.
- it is also the Trollope with the most complex characters so far
- my modern brain is outraged at the way Trollope describes female behavior here. “Fool(ish)” must be among the most-used expressions here, I believe mainly towards women and rightly so
- as good and gripping as this got after many chapters, it is too long and I find I am always at some point losing my patience with Trollope’s books. When everything is finally cleared up there will always follow another five long chapters to let it all fade out oh so slooooooowwwwlyyyyyy…. And I invariably catch myself skimming paragraphs in the last chapters, so I always close his books with the feeling that it has all been a bit too much

This book starts out with Alice Vavasor. She has inherited 10,000 pounds which she “can use as she likes”. She is engaged to John Grey, a good-looking, wealthy, reliable, though somewhat boring man who owns an estate in some remote place. Before meeting John, Alice had been engaged to her first-grade cousin George Vavasor, the future heir of Vavasor Hall. “Something unforgiveable” happened and Alice was forced to break the engagement (we can assume she caught him with a mistress). Yet they remained friends and Alice still feels an attraction for his wild ways, his political ideas, his overall liveliness although she is clearly in love with John Grey. She is also best friends with Kate, George’s sister. As a last act of freedom before being married and 'imprisoned' in Grey’s lonely country estate, Alice sets out to a tour to Switzerland with Kate and George, which predictably isn’t such a great idea as Kate clearly plans to get Alice and George back together. This is the main storyline and it develops basically as could be predicted after reading 3 chapters.

The second storyline is centered on Glencora Palliser, the wife of the same Plantagenet Palliser many readers met already in The Small House at Allington. The reader learns that Glencora has been deeply in love with a handsome but useless young man, Borgo Fitzgerald, but was talked out of the relationship by many “well-meaning friends” worrying about her immense fortune. In her marriage with the successful politician PP she feels lonely and neglected and nourishes her dreams of a romantic escape with Borgo. She and Alice become close friends.

Storyline #3 deals with the widow Greenow, Alice’s aunt, and her two “lovers” (in the old-fashioned sense). This part has surely been added to grant some comic relief and also as page filler (those weekly instalments…). I didn’t care much about it and could well have done without it.

The 3 young women in this book (Alice, Kate, Glencora) have some character traits in common: they are smart, intelligent, balanced and responsible as long as they are dealing with the issues of others (with the exception of the early Kate), but completely and I mean completely useless when it comes to their own affairs. In the end it needs the clear-headedness of a couple of really well-meaning men to “save them from themselves”. I know that this book was written in the 1800s and probably even tried to give its readers “modern women”. But reading it today I was often terribly annoyed about the, yes, FOOLISHNESS those women constantly showed. How many men were involved again to save Kate and Alice from throwing ALL their money at the feet of a not-so-great-guy? At least 3!

Those various foolish acts of the 3 women made it incredibly difficult for me to get into this book and I was hooked only around chapter 30 of 80. From then I couldn’t put it down until the endless fading-out started around chapter 75. But how often did I think “yes, now finally I like her (you can put in any of the 3 names above)!”, just to shake my head again in desperation a couple of pages later.

In the end I really enjoyed the book, maybe more so than the Barsetshire series, and especially the insights into politics, but I can’t rate it with more than 4 stars.

Rating: 4 stars

156. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes (1,001 # 307)

Read for TIOLI challenge #20.
It took me years to get through the first 20 chapters of book 1, but now I got quite well through the remaining 900 pages. Can I say that, seeing when this was published, I am in absolute awe of Miguel de Cervantes?

I didn’t love the story to 100% - there were the too romantic love stories in part one with the endless coincidences and the Duke’s and Duchesses’ “Funny Games” in part two also became too much at some point. There’s also a clear break between the books – the Don Quixote of book 2 is less crazy and Sancho is much smarter.

But Cervantes treats his two characters so lovingly, especially Sancho in part two. And the book is so modern and intelligently funny in so many respects… it is a book you can read again and again and will you'll invariably find new things. A wonderful, timeless classic and one of the few true must-reads on any book list!

I read a German edition and listened to the English audio book and enjoyed both, maybe even the audio a bit more.

Rating: 5 stars

Nathalie, I'm awed by your reading and thinking, and that's all there is to it.
Read on!

#90 Julia: Thank you!
"not being great at something immediately" - that's just my issue. I don't think this class really is for me (I'll write more in another post), but I'll attend and try to get as much fun out of it as possible.

#91 Piyush: I know I am very lucky! But she had reasons... my rent has been very high from the beginning and the crisis finally seems to have arrived here as well. Then her other 2 tenants just moved out, she's put her own appartment on the market and is buying a new house. That's so much work that she simply didn't want to add another appartment to let to the list. Plus we have become friends over the years and she wants someone she likes to have the place. :-)
Yes, she is great! And her little dog Floh is adorable.

#92 Lucy: I am relieved! Another one who walks and reads.... I can do that as well, although it must really look weird to others. Now when I walk into town on Saturdays I'm usually listening to an audio book on my ipod.

#93 Peggy: thank you for the good wishes! I'm afraid I don't trust those rewards yet completely, or I fear something new and bad might happen soon. This is not ungratefulness, on the contrary. I am just a born pessimist and working hard on becoming more optimistic, because I am also convinced that a negative attitude will bring negative results.
The step is a great idea. I tried walking around in my house while reading, but a step is much better. I've also become quite good at doing stretching exercises, with the book placed strategically on a table/ chair/ the floor so I don't have to interrupt my reading for too long.

#94 Lynda: the ABC challenge was fun, but it didn't really help me in getting books off my shelf. In the end I had bought so many new ones... :-)
You remind me I still haven't finished that cup cake yet. There was a part of the frosting where I just didn't understand the manual. Maybe I'll just leave that out and complete the rest this weekend. I am now crocheting a little blanket for babies. No babies here, but I liked colory and style and want to put it on my favorite chair.

As for the region where I live: you're right, that's the advantage of living in Central Europe, and I am aware of and grateful for it. It's terribly crowded almost everywhere you go, but you can get to a different country with different language/ food/ culture so quickly. Especially we Germans are used to it with so many countries bordering with us.

On the other hand, when we come to the Americas, Australia or "elsewhere big", we are so amazed at the sheer vastness and the distances. It's almost impossible to get "real nature" where I live, there's almost always some village or at least some huts within the next 2 miles.
When I was driving in Western Australia some years ago, the planning of fuel stops was a totally new concept for me. :)

I was just thinking about that - the long stretches with nothing - even in the Northeast there are plenty of stretches where you'd better fill your gas tank. I just took my daughter down from Vermont to very near New York City - and there is a network of roads (for you locals, the Taconic, to Sprain Brook and Bronx River Parkways) that you can get within a half-hour of the Big Apple by train without feeling you are close to that urban immensity. We did notice - right after entering Westchester Cty a big change in the way people drove. More nutcases whizzing around in very expensive little cars. But we were still in a little alley of trees and grass and winding river.

I was so used to traffic in the Rhein-Main region, to those motorways with 4 lanes per direction and no speed limit. Now when I return from Italy (limit a relaxing 130 km/h) and Austria (mostly limited to an annoying 100 km/h + numerous speed cameras), the aggressive German traffic always gets me into a little panic.

I am a driver who always watches the rearview and side mirrors and I never block the left (fast) lane, using it only when overtaking other cars. I drive a regular 150-160 where I can. But there are always those big cars fast approaching with 200 or more, not slowing down a bit and instead blinking to force you to make room for them. I used to love driving on the autobahn, now I am always relieved when it's over.

****

There was another little delay, but on Friday I finally signed that work contract, starting December 1st (when the current one runs out). Now with the fixed contract I also automatically get additional company health insurance, even some dental treatments are paid.
There's the standard 30 days trial period in the contract, but as I have been working with them for almost a year now, this shouldn't worry me.

****
I have now finished 20 of 21 TIOLI challenges. The last book, as expected, is the hardest to read, Ragazzi di Vita by Pier Paolo Pasolini. It's not bad, it's just really difficult, in Roman dialect. But I should be able to get through those remaining 60 pages in the remaining 6.5 days.

#111 the aggressive German traffic always gets me into a little panic - I have to admit that of all the motorways in Europe it is the German ones that I've found most scary. Not so much because of the lack of speed limits, more the lack of speed limits combined with the volume of traffic. And the slip roads are so short (at least on the ones I've derived on so you have to get up to speed so quickly). France gets my vote for nicest driving conditions.

Nathalie, I haven't been around LT as much as usual. I just wanted to say I applaud your goals for next year. Challenge-addicted...yup, that's me, too. It's so much fun but then it can turn into a chore which is not why we read. Saying that, I'll have to admit that I won't get the November dance in. Too many life interruptions. But I will read the last two episodes next month together which means I'll get to finish with a bang! I've enjoyed reading it with you and the group over the course of this year. One of the best challenges ever! ;-)

#113 Donna: well, I haven't been around much either, but I'll try and visit your thread later today, not having been there for weeks...
Don't worry about that "November Dance", there shouldn't be any pressure at all!!

157. Christiane F. : Mein zweites Leben by Christiane Felscherinow

Read for TIOLI challenge #4 (Title has more than 14 letters).
Christiane F. is Germany’s most famous junkie. I think it was 1978 when the first book about her, Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo, was published and became an instant und unexpected hit, was translated into many languages and soon became also a successful movie. It was the story of a 15year old neglected girl from Berlin who had started smoking pot at 12, taken her first sniff of heroin aged 13 during a David Bowie concert and prostituted herself at 14. At 15 and after countless detox attempts her mother had forced her out of Berlin and moved her to the grandmother in a small town in Northern Germany. Some reporters from the weekly magazine “Stern” noticed her shortly after when she witnessed during a trial against a punter(?) and did a first interview with her. Christiane had so much to tell that they soon decided to publish a book. Christiane’s openness, honesty and fatalism fascinated many. Now Christiane is over 50, alive, but far from well, after many relapses finally stabilized on methadone. She suffers horribly from hepatitis C and openly speaks about death. She has a teenage son who was taken from her (although she was clean/ substituted since his birth) some years ago and who lives with a foster family. She successfully reclaimed custody, but decided that, also due to her grave illness, his life might be better with the other family.

She looks back on the many years since the first book. She had earned much money of which she was able to save large parts through clever investment. The first years after the book were promising – she stayed clean from heroin for 5 years, travelled a lot promoting book and film abroad (she spent much time in the US), met many of the real big celebrities of music and literature (Patricia Highsmith, Friedrich Duerrenmatt, Loriot, David Bowie, a really famous rock band of which I just forgot the name). She tried singing and acting… but in the end she had that first relapse and while still moving in the VIP world for a couple of years, she couldn’t get away from the drug until she became pregnant.

This is a terribly sad book. The first book kept many youths from the harder drugs, but also fascinated and reportedly attracted others. That book ended with a young girl, finally clean, starting a new life, but already feeling oppressed by the small-town atmosphere around her. This second book ends with a middle aged woman who has next to no hope to survive the next 5 years. It shows the impossibility to “master the drug” even if money is no longer an issue. I don’t think anyone can feel attracted to Christiane’s second life. It’s a hopeless world and the worst part isn’t even the hepatitis, it’s the constant paranoia she suffers from. While she was certainly treated unjustly when her son was taken from her, her firm belief that she is watched 24/7, that people break into her house and take stuff when she’s away, that it all happens on command of her mother is what’s really worrying, because up to this point Christiane had always been so rational in her views though not in her actions.

Both books should in future be read together (the first book became part of the syllabus in many German schools), as this one here gives a much stronger warning.

Rating: 3.5 stars

158. The Mystery of the Blue Train/ Der Blaue Express by Agatha Christie

Read for TIOLI challenge #18 (featuring character with moustache) as a shared read.

For me this is one of the weaker Poirot books. I had read it only once before, decades ago, and certainly wouldn’t have reread it now were it not for the shared TIOLI points. Why don’t I like it? There are many characters with their individual stories and Poirot becomes almost a side-character. He comes in late and even then there are many scenes without him. The murder happens on the Blue Train, the classical holiday train to the French Riviera, but it’s not such a closed cozy setting as in Murder on the Orient Express. Questionings take place everywhere, there are big time jumps and even the classical scene where the killer is uncovered is different.

Rating: 2.5 stars



159. Il Postino di Neruda by Antonio Skármeta

Read for TIOLI challenge #21 (real author featuring in a novel).
I admit I never fully watched the Oscar winning movie, I just saw the 2nd half months ago on Italian TV. But from that I got quite a clear idea about the story and was surprised at how different the book is. Except for the basic idea that there is a nice but simple-minded postman on an island (book: in Chile, movie: in Italy) who delivers the daily high quantity of letters to the poet Pablo Neruda and manages to become his close friend, there’s not much left they have in common. I liked that the book has such a strong political background and I would have rated it with 4 stars, but the very ending was far too dark and unexpected for me. I must reconsider – maybe I was just disappointed because the movie ends so completely differently. But the book’s ending didn’t seem “right” although everything else in the story did. And I need to get the movie on DVD to decide which version I like better.

Rating: 3.5 stars

160. 11/22/1963 by Stephen King

Read for the TIOLI JFK challenge (#7).

My own JFK story:
When this book was published and got all those great reviews, I got the Kindle test chapter, but quickly felt this book wasn’t for me. Born 1971 and outside the US I couldn’t fully understand the trauma the US nation had suffered after the Kennedy assassination. I was never interested in all those theories that quickly formed and never wondered if the world would be a better place had he lived longer.

I grew up in the US occupied part of Germany and my Dad, born in 1946, always was a great fan of everything US. When I was 3 I remember I wanted him to build a snowman – a nice standard one with a carrot nose and coal eyes and a black hat. Instead he built “Kennedy”. I was disappointed. There still exists a picture in my parents’ place and yes, that snowman did look like Kennedy, my Dad had some talent.
I also remember the first time he told me about the cold war – it was surprisingly simple: the Russians were the bad guys, the Americans the good guys. No shades of grey here back in the early 70s. My own cold war experience was a different one. When I started reading newspapers, the situation was critical, but stabile. No-one really wanted a nuclear war, but should it ever happen, we Germans knew we’d be in the middle of it. My generation was quite fatalistic, also regarding the separation of our own country. We were called the “No Future Generation” for a reason. Cold war was a fact and somehow I still can’t fully grasp that it ended so suddenly. And I never knew how great and how realistic a war at the own front step had seemed to the Americans during the Cuban crisis.

This book and a great Kennedy documentation broadcast on German TV just this weekend, for the first time opened my eyes to that era. And while I had known that Kennedy had been a great hero for the German people for his Berlin speech I didn’t know how much they had loved him even before. They showed those news reports from his 1963 visit to Germany (Cologne, Bonn, Frankfurt, Wiesbaden and then finally Berlin) and I have never seen anything similar. The enthusiasm of the people was overwhelming; there were millions on their feet! For the first time I got an idea what his untimely death had really meant to my parents’ generation and for the first time I understood the motive behind King’s book. It’s not (just) some cashing in on a 1960s myth – it is a way to cope with a nation’s trauma.

Now to the book - contains spoilers!!:
First of all I was EXTREMELY relieved when Al the barman in the early chapters clearly says that in King’s kosmos there wouldn’t be a conspiration, just the one killer (with a 99% certainty).

For me this book had two levels. There was the main plot: the political story mixed with the time-travelling. That was incredibly well and lovingly done! And then there were the usual elements King just couldn’t resist mixing in, and they annoyed me here, in this great book, more than anywhere else, because the book could have worked at least as well without them.

To a certain point the story is predictable and it has to be. Jake/George will have to succeed somehow in his mission, because it’s important for the drama. But then he has to undo it, because that’s where we, the readers are now: in a reality where JFK has been killed by Lee Harvey Oswald. If he has to undo it, the results of his interference have to be grave enough to justify it – so I expected Jake’s return to an apocalyptic 2011. The only spoilers I had seen somewhere were about a romance and a crossover with characters from It. The romance part was okay (and the outcome was predictable as well), maybe a bit too cheesy and could have been shortened a bit. I am among the few who actually loved the Derry part. I just wished he’d have checked the internet later for Bevvie and Richie, because I always wanted to know what happened to them after 1985.

Despite the predictability I enjoyed the main story enormously and I was mostly able to overlook the extreme glorification of that era. Jodie was an unrealistic paradise where (I guess due to the lack of black families living there) racism was not an issue and women were treated comparatively well as long as they were housewives, teachers, librarians and didn’t try any other career steps.

The annoying bits, also because they were so repetitive, were: abusive, alcoholic, mad husbands, that idiotic betting story (as soon as Al gave his warnings I knew what I’d get) and then the endless “time doesn’t want to be changed” thing. That last part became actually boring and somehow 11/22/63 for me was the most boring part of the book, the one where I skipped pages, because I simply wasn’t interested in reading about yet another super-narrow escape. I am grateful however he didn’t add any “evil” element into the Jodie part. How easy would it have been to make “coach” his adversary? Thank you SK, for avoiding that step!

Sometimes the book also became a little too detailed. Great that he did all that research, like on electric equipment available in the early 60s, and I am sure there are some experts among the readers that checked every word in those chapters, but for me (and I guess for many others) this was of minor interest. I don’t like to call long books “too long”, but this here could have been 50-100 pages shorter without losing much.

So, as usual with King, it’s not exactly my world he describes, but I like to be a visitor from time to time. I’ll need a longer break now.
Reading about time travel into the past is a cozy thing and feels less threatening than a sci-fi dystopian novel.

Rating: 4 stars

161. Nessuno schrive al colonello/ No One writes to the colonel by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (1,001 #308)

I am not sure if I am meant to be saddened by this story or amused – probably both. I read on wiki that GGM was inspired for writing this by the RL example of his granddad, a retired colonel who never ever received his promised pension. The story starts with the colonel dressing for a funeral. The young village musician has died, and it has been the first natural death for a long time. It is mentioned that the colonel’s son died this very year, being executed when identified as a supporter of the revolution. The colonel’s wife is suffering from terrible asthma and often can’t leave the bed for days. The colonel himself is of poor health which he blames to the rainy period. They have no money left after having sold their son’s sewing machine. Nothing else seems saleable, except for the son’s fighting rooster which is admired by the whole village and expected to win in the January fights.

This is a heartfelt story, very well written, free of GGM’s usual magical realism. I guess it’s listed to show a different side of his writing.

Rating: 3.5 stars

#118 There are so many GGM books which invite little attention, I picked up two such books earlier this year on a random bookshop visit, while I don't remember the names (they invite little attention, remember?) and me being too lazy right now to search my bookshelves for those books, I am reasonably sure No One writes to the colonel is not one of them. I am thus glad to have located another GGM book, which, as per your review, is different and hence all the more worth reading.

#119 Piyush: it was similar with this book, I found it in the giveaway books basket at my library and then didn't even know it was a 1,001. I just thought "Oh, GGM - why not, it should be good!"
This edition contains some more very short stories which I'll read over the next weeks but probably not review.

Posting the remaining reviews (as usual... sorry for the length, I am unable to Keep them short and concise):



162. The Light Years by Elizabeth Jane Howard (Cazarel Chronicles 1/5)

This book was recommended by Peggy and I liked the Kindle extract so much that I bought and read it immediately. It was also a nice shared read for challenge #5 (brightly colored cover).

In this first book Howard takes her time to introduce all her characters properly and to set them up for the war events to follow. It's a big family and it took me a while before I could read without continually having to check family tree or character list.

Howard is using stream-of-consciousness writing that reminded me of the earlier works of Virgina Woolf, but also, when it came to the children’s POVs, of her The Waves. She writes the children extremely well. The plot is more a selection of days (and one long holiday) than a story, where we follow the various family members from early morning until bedtime. This was sometimes a bit tiring, but strangely I always had to pick the book up again quickly after only a short break. Howard manages to fully stay in tune with her writing style, and this is something I admire. (side note: sadly this changes in book 2 where she mostly follows one character over a certain period and where she neglects the side characters, focusing on a small group).

She must also have done an immense research on life in the upper middle class in the 1930s and she shows it. I didn’t mind (others did), I loved all those descriptions of house work, the list of tasks to be done in a kitchen to prepare just the lunch for a big family, the information on the average personal hygiene in the worlds of the masters and the servants, etc. I wouldn’t like to live in those good old times without a fridge, where you always had to be aware that milk might turn in humid weather and a salmon might go bad if it isn’t poached immediately, but I loved reading about it. Reading about a world where smart girls are educated at home (this is the late 1930s!) with the only future prospect of becoming wives and mothers, while their brothers are automatically sent to good schools was less pleasant.

In Alison McLeod’s Unexploded I read earlier this year, which also deals with Britain in WWII, I complained that the author touched too many issues and then wasn’t able to handle them all evenly. This is where Howard’s chronicle idea is much better – there will be time and pages enough to get it all done. Although I must say that there are too many possible story threads as well. The book is at its strongest where the family seems just normal. Yes, there were those well-hidden dark spots in many families, but some of them here felt like “added because this has to be mentioned nowadays”. Some are issues that now it seems have to be part of every book about the British and WWII (: Holocaust opportunity by making Sid and Evie half-Jewish, half-hearted Hitler support, subtle British anti-semitism.. ), some of them seem to be incorporated in any modern novel that’s not strictly comedy ( incest where it doesn’t fit in at all, half-hearted homosexuality, etc. ). It’s the simple every-day things that makes readers enjoy this book, and I really hope those will remain in focus throughout the next 4 books.

I already downloaded and started the 2nd book, Marking Time. Because the series is somewhat addictive, but also because now that I learned all those characters, I don’t want to start all over again in a couple of months, then no longer remembering who Edward is married to and if Mrs Cripps is a cook or a teacher.

Rating: 4 stars

163. What was the Battle of Gettysburg? by Jim O’Connor

I know… another cheap way to get a TIOLI challenge covered (#17, veteran/ conflict challenge). I’ll try to make up for it by finishing Marking Time (486p) in November, and I calculated that now the average length of my TIOLI books is > 300 pages, thanks to the 3 “monsters”, so I hope that’s okay.

As a German I knew next to nothing about the battle of Gettysburg, except for the bit that’s covered in Gone with the Wind: big battle, almost everyone dies, young ladies being forced to do hospital work. This one is a book mainly for children, but as the others of that series, can also be informative for grown-ups. This is really very well done, giving bios of the generals on both sides, showing battle lines, giving Abraham Lincoln’s address to the people at the memorial inauguration and even showing several original battlefield photographs. On a personal note, it also contains the letter one of the soldiers (who didn’t survive the battle) had sent home, the author’s grandfather’s uncle.

Sure the reasons given for the breakout of the Civil War must be incomplete and too idealistic, but that’s me and my European cynicism speaking who can’t believe that it was all done for the liberation of the slaves in the South and for the reunification of the country “because we must be one”, and that business interests and the wish for more power didn’t play a role. I must read up on that… Anyway, another nice book from this series of which I’ll sure try some more.

Rating: 3.5 stars

164. Rumpole at Christmas by John Mortimer

Read for the holiday theme challenge #3.
This audio book helped me getting through the depressing Pasolini and it was just what audio books should be for me: easy to follow, somewhat undemanding. The narration was okay as well. This is a collection of Christmas-themed short stories about the barrister Horace Rumpole, who seems to be quite a famous character with a whole series of books. The main theme here is that the Rumpoles, or better Hilda Rumpole – “She Who Must Be Obeyed” (hm…. Where do I know that expression from? :-) ) – decide that “this Christmas must be different”, resulting for example in the booking of a stay in a health farm, a solid country hotel or a trip to old friends. But in all those places his job catches up on Rumpole and there will be some kind of crime to be investigated.

Not as good and bloody as Poirot’s Christmas, but nice and easy and very British entertainment.

Rating: 3.5 stars

165. Ragazzi di Vita (The Ragazzi) by Pier Paolo Pasolini (1,001 # 309)

Read for the TIOLI 2nd chance challenge #11.
I had two reasons for putting this book on temporary hold back in early June: it was too difficult on the language side and it was too depressing on the plot side. The language was still difficult now, but I made an effort, read long passages aloud and that helped a bit. The plot never stopped being depressing and so I am quite glad it is now finished.

On the other hand this is a beautiful book. The language, where it is descriptive and therefore easy to understand is a heartbreaking mix of harshly realistic and poetic. Where there is dialogue, Pasolini uses Roman dialect which is clearly simplistic (when you understand it at all), because it is extremely repetitive and seems to consist only of a couple of phrases, and is full of vulgarities which are not fully printed.

The plot tells episodes in the life of the “ragazzi”, a group of boys growing up in post-WWII Rome, following them over several years from childhood to adult age. There is nothing only remotely nice or romantic about their life. They are neglected already at an early age and have to find ways to survive. Those ways consist of stealing, cheating where possible and even (this is hinted at) prostitution. The money they make is again spent on cheap female prostitutes, and it doesn’t matter if those are old, dirty or even pregnant. Nights are spent in the open because turning home (for those who still have something like a home) they’d only find drunk and abusive fathers, vulgar uncaring mothers, terrorized sisters, nothing to eat and dirt, dirt, dirt. But looks are important and so a couple of chapters are set by the river where they play, swim and wash and comb their hair. The boys are always hungry, some of them fall gravely ill, some die over the course of the book. There’s no help from the state, on the contrary. At one point the main character “the Ricetto” is so weak from hunger that he falls asleep in front of a house, not knowing that this house has just been broken in. The police pick him up as a suspect and he is sentenced to 3 years in prison.

On its main, plot-driven level, this is an absolutely hopeless book, and it doesn’t help much to think that “those times are over”. There are always too many places in the world where those times are the present and where there’s no future to look forward to for the children.

But this book has an additional level. Yes, the ragazzi are terribly miserable and if you offered them a bowl of soup they’d still doubtlessly rob you of your last coin without thinking twice. But there’s also a strange fascination emanating from them and the completely uninhibited life they are leading. I didn’t feel actually drawn to their world, but as a woman I wasn’t meant to. Their world is strictly male and secretly, unspokenly gay, as was Pasolini’s world. There’s clearly something in their unscrupulous, often shameless behavior that strongly attracts him and although I can’t say I am a fan of him, I admire how he was able to hide this ever so subtly that the book in the end had to be published, because nothing is ever said openly. The homosexuality is like an invisible, additional humming that can’t be grasped, just sensed and I have to imagine how moralists back then must have searched and searched the text in vain to find something that would give them a reason to ban the book.

I’d recommend it, if you don’t shy away from an unpleasantly honest read and if you’re willing to look for the beauty hidden in all the misery. Pasolini succeeded in adding something so tender and fragile to his brutal, over-realistic descriptions that I really feel I have read a literary work of art that could be compared to a great painting or a musical composition. I hope this has been transferred into the English translations.

Rating: 4 stars, I am considering a later upgrade to 4.5 stars

Ah, the reasons for the American Civil War. There are quite a number of differing opinions on that one, not surprisingly often divided along North-South lines. Many Confederates would have the world believe the war was fought to preserve the notion of state's rights — that is, the idea that individual states could set their own laws without interference from the federal government. Many Northerners would insist that ending slavery was the primary reason, though the evidence is scanty for that view at least at the beginning of hostilities (certainly by the end of the war freeing the slaves was a primary goal). In the end, like most wars, there probably was no "one" reason. You'll find plenty of reading material if you choose to pursue the topic.

166. Marking Time by Elizabeth Jane Howard (Cazarel Chronicles 2/5)

*sigh* It could have been so nice… if only Howard had kept up her style from book 1 all through book 2 as well. I still enjoyed this book very much and will soon read #3, but I thought this one was clearly weaker than the first part. Why?
1. Because without a single surprise all the main events could be expected after the set-up in book 1
2. Because too many characters were moved into the background while the focus was put on the obvious ones.

It is still a good book, but it has become more interchangeable, more like other books about a family experiencing WWII.

Okay, I’ll put parts of what follows into Spoilers - and they are big ones!!!
Looking at the 3 main families, Hugh’s, Edward’s and Rupert’s, it was to be expected that one of them would be left intact for now, because there’s already enough conflict potential, that is Edward with his affairs, Louise with her ambitions and Villy with all her own stuff and her unbelievable naivety. It was very likely that both of the other families would be broken up: Hugh’s by letting Sybil die because this would hurt most, Rupert’s by letting him be killed or go missing, leaving Zoe with the responsibility for the stepchildren she never wanted.

While Clary and Polly are among my favorite characters (what’s not to like about them?) and I enjoyed following them, I was disappointed that others, mainly the boys were so neglected. Probably Howard wasn’t able to connect with the boys’ lives as she could with those of the girls. There’s mention of bad grades and bullying at school, but not once in this book do we see the boys’ thoughts, and especially in Neville’s case this would have been most interesting. Teddy has almost completely left the family stage it seems, Simon as well, they are either "at school" or "away with the bikes", and of Jessica’s 4 children, 2 don’t appear at all while the other 2 don’t get enough space. I see that it would have been difficult keeping up with all of them, but that’s just what made the 1st book so exceptional for me, the many side characters with their small issues, while the story is now concentrating on the big things: the dangers war brings, coping with illness and loss, variations of adultery. The most interesting Miss Milliment and Sid get some paragraphs while I believe Rachel in this book is only seen through the eyes of others. I would also have liked to see much more of Zoe, her storyline has so much potential.

The book ends in winter 1942, so the next one will probably cover the remaining war years, and I expect the focus will remain on Polly, Clary and Louise.

Rating: 3.5 stars (more like 3.4 while the 1st book was 4.1)

Read your stories about Kennedy with great interest. Love the story of your Dad's snowman! I might try the King - the only thing of his I've ever read is an autobiographical piece (included, I think, in a book he wrote about writing) - I can't stand horror stuff. Probably from the library though.....

I've got the Howards on my wishlist - it's a long series - so maybe things will pick up in Book 3, let's hope so!

Hi Nathalie, I've still got 51 posts to get through, but as it'll take me a while since I don't want to skim through I thought I'd do my usual thing and skip ahead to say hello in the meantime. I imagine you must be very busy these days since you haven't posted in a while, but then maybe you said you'd be gone a few posts up and I simply haven't gotten there yet. Hope you're well. I really enjoy your reviews, so keep it up!

Nathalie, trust that your two weeks away are due to the pleasures of work!
Have a lovely weekend.

2 weeks??!! Oh dear, I am sorry!!!! Yes, I am very busy this month. The tasks at work are a bit monotonous, but time-consuming and tiring.

And then there are my new activities which I am trying to pursue regularly. 2 of them will end after Christmas - the painting class and also the German-Italian tandem. I am a bit sad about the tandem, but in the last couple of months it was also straining, always taking place in the evening when I was tired already, and then usually on a Thursday, and that's when I also see my therapist and my head is often filled with difficult things and I can't relax. With my colleagues now I have so many more occasions to speak Italian, maybe I'll get along without starting a new tandem.

About the painting class... it was certainly helpful, to get a first idea about the materials needed and the basic techniques. And it was fun being in that group. However I don't think I'll book the advanced class as our teacher said it would merely deal with the application of "structures" and that's the part I like least. I'd like to get more into "real" painting, i.e. with brushes and colors and nothing else, though not necessarily realistic. I never much liked producing collages though and the playing with structure pastes and gels doesn't really interest me (yet). Maybe I'll find an alternative class somewhere.

Yoga in a group is a great experience which I will continue after Christmas, I already booked the follow-up class. It's also a lunchbreak class, so I don't have the usual issue of being tired after 7pm.

I finally got all my Christmas presents ready. This will be a very different Christmas in that respect. I won't write more in case anyone I know is reading here. Maybe after next week.

******
Reading:
After finishing my 23 November books the reading part of my brain fell into a kind of slumber and hasn't woken up yet. I am reading, or better trying to, but every sentence is a fight, no matter what language. Maybe I should just give up for the month.

I only finished

Hearing Secret Harmonies by Anthony Powell and thus completed the "Dance to the Music of Time" series

Invitation to the Dance by Hilary Spurling - the great reference book for the Powell series

The Viceroys by Federico de Roberto which I started back in October

I started:
Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol which I guess is an easy read, but for me it's a struggle.
Tirant Lo Blanc by Joanot Martorell, which everyone but me seems to enjoy
The Roots of Heaven by Romain Gary, where I never got over page 50 and which I'll have to return soon
The Case of Sergeant Grischa by Arnold Zweig in German which thanks to its impossibly old-fashioned and "out of place" language is another difficult read
Transit by Anna Seghers which is the only one I feel confident I'll like

I'll now post the November stats and then some individual responses. Then I'll check how far I got with the remaining reviews, I think I prepared sth for Oscar Wao back in November.

November Stats:

Books read in November: 23
Pages read: 7,217

Fiction: 17
Non-fiction:6
Plays: 0
Short Story Books: 0
Poetry books: 0

English: 14
German: 6
Italian: 3
French: 0

Audio books: 2 (2 bought)
Kindle books: 11 (4 free, 7 bought, 0 owned)
Real books: 10 (6 owned, 3 bought, 1 library, 0 borrowed)

Books purchased this month: 9
Of which read in the same month: 8

*******************************

Summary 2013:

Books read 2013: 167
Pages read: 53,850

Fiction: 150
Non-fiction: 17
Plays: 0
Poetry books: 0 (but 62 poems)
Comic books: 0
Short Story Books: 0

English: 94
German: 34
Italian: 37
French: 2

Audio books: 12 (12 bought)
Kindle books: 91 (40 free, 46 bought, 5 owned)
Real books: 64 (21 bought, 26 owned, 14 library, 3 borrowed)

Books purchased 2013: 118
- of which read in the same month: 58
- of which read in the same year: 83

167. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz

This book won the Pulitzer price and was added to the 2010 edition of the “1,001 Books to read before you die” list. I see it on the list, because I don’t believe that the Dominican Republic has so far taken much space there, and as for the Pulitzer… you can see some political significance in it, given that the Trujillo regime was among those dictatorships which for a number of years was supported by the US and other Western countries, before they changed idea when Trujillo became too violent against his own people and maybe also less useful.

This story of young Oscar of whom we know from the title that he won’t make it to the last page is described as “heartwarming and funny”. I can’t really confirm this. Oscar lives with a mother and sister who don’t really show their love. There’s much aggression, much oppression and the mother repeats the patterns she herself suffered from when young. Oscar falls in love (better obsession) several times, and those episodes aren’t heartwarming either.

And as for funny… basically, the story is very sad. Telling it in a deliberately sloppy way and adding vulgarities in Spanish doesn’t make it funny. It softens the edges a bit, which is a great idea, because extremely graphic scenes of violence as in Mr. Pip or The Other Hand – realistic as they might be – have the disadvantage that they leave the reader too shocked to appreciate the rest of those books. But “funny”? Certainly not. Intelligently done? Yes definitely. You want your readers to follow you to the ending and not to abandon the book because their hearts are broken and they just can’t continue.

small spoilers following
I am sure glad I read it because I knew nothing about Dominican history. But I couldn’t help wondering about the overall tone of this book. While life as a second generation immigrant might not be all roses, Junot Diaz makes the Dominican Republic of the 1980s sound much worse. People are generally described as (still, decades after Trujillo) mostly unreliable, corrupted and hopelessly superstitious. Violence rules. The problems Oscar is facing in the US however are imo not directly related to his Dominican background, but to his mother’s impossible behavior and his resulting nerdiness. I learned from US TV and movies that life for boys like him is difficult in high school and college, and Oscar is a typical example. Lola however seems fully capable of making her way once she has successfully cut off the ties with her mother. Then there’s the narrator “Yunior” who seems to be Junot Diaz’ alter ego, in love with Lola though constantly cheating (another typical Dominican characteristic if we can believe the book), from time to time looking after Oscar, but – yes - unreliable. So there are four story threads and when the book ended I didn’t feel the story was fully told: the mother’s first and important years the US with Lola’s and Oscar’s father were completely left out, the fuku (curse) idea didn't really hold the book together as planned, and I didn’t get the point of Oscar’s actions towards the ending. And when did the mother and Lola become all friendly and the mother told her life story?

I was also a bit annoyed with all the Spanish. If it had been the odd expression, fine with me. But whole sentences should have been translated. Maybe they decided against it because much of it were vulgarities and swear words. But with all the internet spying I am not keen on looking them all up in some online dictionary either.

Rating: 3.5 stars

#125 Julia: thank you for posting this. Almost a month later this issue still interests me, so I'd like to (half-)plan reading up a bit on the pre-CW situation. I am sure there must have been strong economic interests as well on both sides for wanting/ not wanting a secession.

#127 Lucy: I'll see if I can find the picture of the snow-Kennedy at my parents' place, now that my Dad finally owns and learned how to use a scanner.

Don't worry about the King, apart from that time-travel idea it's free of supernatural horror. "Just" a good dose of domestic violence which is another basic element of King novels and a detailed description of the effects of a stomach bug (which I read while suffering from one which wasn't great..).

#128 Ilana: Don't worry, it's the same for me with your thread. I don't want to skip, so I'm always saving it "for later".

#129 Paul: I am so ashamed that I couldn't follow your thread through the year as I wanted!! I've quite given up on the year now and hope for a better start into 2014. I am planning to read less so should have a bit more time for LT and for staying in contact with my friends here.

****

2014 resolutions - UPDATE:

- read no more than 50 1,001 books (this year I'll be somewhere between 76 and 80)
- read no more than 120 books alltogether
- plan 15 minutes a day for visiting friends' LT threads
- read still more Italian
- but also watch more Italian movies which will again reduce the reading time

I am just trying to get SKY Italy which is a surprisingly difficult task and I am close to giving up. They have a great promotion this week with "movies and shows on demand" without additional fees which is just what I need, because on free TV the main shows/ films all start far too late for me. This would also give me access to all those reality shows like "Master Chef" or "X Factor" which are easy to follow in Italian.

I WISH YOU ALL A WONDERFUL WEEK!

So glad to see you posting here - sorry about the reading funk - sometimes it is only a matter of the right book, something delicious that sweeps you away.

I would feel exactly the same way about the advanced painting class- I'm sure there is plenty to learn but I would be impatient to get on with it too!

My 'shopping' is done, more or less, but now I have wrapping to do, and I've been quite bad about mailing things to various rellies (relatives) - and some are far far away, as in Australia, so there is no hope of the things arriving. I never get it all together, that is for certain.

#130 Dead Souls is a good book, and from what I remember, not much of a difficult read either.

#133 Okay - that is the first time I've seen someones resolution being to read less books. I completely understand, but given the 75ers as a whole, it gave me a chuckle :)

#134 Lucy: I really think it was just tiredness. Getting better already, and I guess once I'm with my parents for the Christmas Holidays I'll be back to my usual reading Speed.

#135 Piyush: it took me terribly long to accept that it's satirical. The beginning is so mysterious, was expecting a Drama - and then those ridiculous dialogues started. In the end I really enjoyed it and was sad about ist unfinished state.

#136 Bekka: Yes, I know... and it will be a difficult resolution to keep!! :)

I just felt I needed to plan time for other activities instead of seeing them as unwelcome interruptions of my reading. It's okay to think "I don't want to go out because this book is so great and I want to finish it first", but too often this year I thought "I can't go out because I must finish this book today in order to complete that XYZ challenge".

Posting two more (long) reviews before leaving for Germany tomorrow:



168. Hearing Secret Harmonies by Anthony Powell (Dance to the Music of Time #12/12; 1,001 #310)

This 12th volume concludes The Dance to the Music of Time, and with parts of the 7th and last chapter Powell manages a connection to the very first pages of book #1, A Question of Upbringing. The work feels complete, there’s nothing more to add.

Although…
I’d really like to know what went through Powell’s head when he decided on Widmerpool’s fate. Where did I read that he wasn’t all that happy with this character’s success with the readers? Maybe he was taking revenge. As much as I can rely to Widmerpool’s actions in the first 3 chapters, what remains of him later is such a sad creature that I wish Powell had chosen a different path for him.

Another 10 years have passed since book #11. The time setting of the last 2 books disturbs the flow of the series a bit where usually the gaps between volumes were much shorter. Book 10 ends in 1946 and then we take 2 time jumps of 10 years each. The last one propels us into the 1960s where Nick, Isobel and friends are “officially old” and don’t understand the younger generation anymore. I don’t think a single mention was made of Nick’s own children, so we don’t see how well they turned out. The offspring of other old acquaintances however is clearly in a rebellious mood – following obscure cult leaders or throwing paint balls at their university director (Widmerpool) as a form of protest against the establishment. Seeing said establishment together in chapter 3 I couldn’t but support the kids. In a world where parents turn away in embarrassment at a reception when their young twin daughters (peacefully at first, but wearing jeans) enter the room and only care that no-one guesses their connection, I’d be a rebel as well.

I don’t want to get any deeper into the plot and that strange cult story with all its repulsive rituals, because that was the level where the book didn’t work for me. I enjoyed the numerous scenes of reminiscence which left me contented without craving for more. I could well imagine a reread of the series every 10-20 years.

So… why again is this work called “England’s answer to Proust”? Because it’s long and tells society stories? For me those are two very different approaches, both in their ways perfect.

If I had to decide which one I liked better I’d still chose the Proust, although at times I despaired with all those endless society scenes and that Albertine storyline and never understood how the ever-suffering Marcel managed to be universally liked. That work has more layers, is carried by a feeling of longing and sadness. It has a special beauty and I am looking forward to rereading those 7 books in the next couple of years.

The Powell however, as the title implies, is a round dance, with characters entering, leaving, returning, waving from the sidelines, finding new partners, separating again. Altogether lighter, more elated, although the third installment is set in dark times. Nick is always observing, not getting personal, stays on the surface of things while Proust takes us into his very soul.

Rating: 4.5 for the book. For the series? Something between 4.5 and 5. I must see how it sets.

169. The Viceroys/ I Viceré by Federico de Roberto (1,001 # 311)

This family saga is different from your standard one, in good and bad ways. The setting is Sicily, Palermo, in the 1800s before, during and after Italy’s unification. The Uzeda family are also called “the viceroys” – centuries ago when Sicily had a Spanish king, their forefather received this title and they remain one of the – if not the - most influential family in Sicily. So this setting is promising.

Then the family is huge! In the first chapter the old principessa dies and the fight for the inheritance begins. Interestingly those noble Sicilian families with many children and possible heirs followed certain rules: the firstborn son was the heir of title, estate and most of the wealth. He also had to marry young and produce another male heir. The second son was often “given to the church” already as a boy. All following sons were worth “nothing”. Of the daughters one was allowed to marry, at least one sent to a convent, one kept at home. This way it was ensured that the patrimony wouldn’t decrease and the family’s influence remained stable. The heir was also expected to marry a wealthy woman, preferably a cousin. When the story starts it is implied that this practice of continuing the family only through the eldest son and of intermarrying has produced certain negative character treats. Some of the Uzeda children are “strange”, mentally unstable, almost all are ugly, there’s usually only one per generation who assembles all the good looks of his forefathers. The one characteristic they all have in common is greed. They look with envy at those who have more, are constantly spinning intrigues and building alliances with other neglected family members, only to change sides a minute later again.

The principessa’s will holds a surprise: the inheritance will be split equally between the first son Giacomo and her darling, the third son Raimondo, the handsome one. Also, Raimondo has been allowed to marry, an absolute novum in the family. The others get next to nothing and the principessa’s brother-in-law and sworn enemy, Don Blasco, who also as a kid was condemned to the fate of the second son and forced to become a monk, tries to get the other nieces and nephews to take action against the will. His sister Ferdinanda is another very strong character. Forced by her family to remain unmarried, she managed to make an own fortune and now her and Don Blasco’s sole activities seem to consist in spinning intrigues against everyone else, supporting the one, condemning the other.

Long descriptive, also political, parts alternate with surprisingly direct and open dialogue. Vulgarities are normal and not always whispered. Life in a Benedictine monastery, filled with second sons of noble families is described very openly. I was at times fascinated yet often put off by the extremely poisonous atmosphere in that family which clearly is unbearable for any outsider, as the reader soon sees when the story deals with the wives.

So this book was informative, certainly a must-read for Italians, often very entertaining. But then again I needed frequent breaks because I couldn’t bear those people anymore.

I enjoyed the third and last part most which describes how one of those super-nobel Uzedas makes a political career as a pseudo-liberal. That part is (sadly) absolutely timeless.

Rating: 4 stars

#137 I actually really agree with that - I stopped doing various challenges because, instead of stretching me and making me read more, they were just stressing me out. I've really enjoyed this year, just mixing 1,001s with fantasy/YA etc. I keep thinking I should read more Non-fiction, then I think... why??? If I find one I want to read thats fine, but not just becasue I feel I should!

Also, massive congrats on finishing the Dance to the Music of Time! I think that can wait a bit for me.

In happy hopes that 2014 will bring ever greater pleasures to your reading world, Nathalie:



Celebrate the return of the light with feasts, merriment, and gratitude for all the wonders of this wide green earth.

RMD

Hi Natalie - I laughed at your line I just felt I needed to plan time for other activities instead of seeing them as unwelcome interruptions of my reading.

The last three books are ..... unsettling, and especially Widmerpool's end, but I bought it hook line and sinker, point being that Widmerpool adapted to whatever the most high profile thing that was going on around him, be it business, the military, or spiritual awakening. I detected a wistfulness - that rather than observing like the narrator and leading this quiet seamless life under the radar, Widmerpool flung himself into the latest thing with gusto and often quite successfully. He was too old and worn out to survive this last, however.

#140 Bekka: I know the "I should read more NF" resolution... I took it every year and failed and now I accept that I simply prefer novels and that's fine as well.. :-)

#141: Thank you Richard!!! (Belatedly) The same to you!
For the first time this year I did celebrate solstice. I arrived at my parents' place in Germany half an hour before, having heard the exact hour CET on the radio. So we had a glass of champagne to celebrate my arrival, to say goodbye to winter and to welcome spring.

#142 Lucy: I didn't count on Widmerpool surviving the last book, but hey - he made it to the last (or penultimate?) page!
I was surprised that he so readily followed the "cult guy" (Yes, I forgot the name. Already) and didn't fight more for the leadership.

Hi Nathalie,
I just wanted to say happy Christmas and I hope you have a lovely holiday. Good luck with reading fewer books next year - maybe I will be able to keep up better with your latest!

I won't even start looking for the new group before my return to Merano on the 29th and not start a new thread before the 30th or 31st. I'll try to post the remaining reviews here and start the new thread with the first book finished in January.

Well... I am finally ready for Christmas! Yesterday afternoon soppy me watched "Little Lord Fauntleroy" and almost cried my eyes out like every year. Tonight I'll do the same over the "Muppets Christmas Carol" DVD.

I inspected and gift-wrapped all the presents I had bought on the internet and directly sent to my parents. Hopefully I'll see happy faces tomorrow night (German tradition - we get our presents on the evening of the 24th). Today we went into town to buy all the food and visited the Christmas market, had some Gluehwein and enjoyed the overall atmosphere. No snow to be expected, we'll get the usual rain, mild temperatures and green fields.

I'll start right now to make my Christmas rounds here in the group. But as my mum keeps me very busy with the preparations I don't know yet how far I'll get before tomorrow noon. So should I miss anyone,

I wish you all and your families a very HAPPY CHRISTMAS - HAPPY HOLIDAYS - GOOD TIMES!!!
Big {{{hugs}}}

#144 Cushla: Thank you very much, the same to you in sunny NZ! Or are you still in Europe? Leaving right now to visit your thread...

#145 I love the ability of Christmas films to make one weep like a child. The end of Home Alone gets me every time. Also loving the pic - makes me rather homesick for the german christmas market they have in Southampton every year. I was there for 5 years and always loved it - the SMELLS! *drool* We have a French one but it's not the same - more smelly cheese less Christmas spirit.

Anyway, my burbling aside, wishing you a Merry Christmas and a VERY Happy New Year. I'll probably be on reduced internet after Sat too so see you on the flip side. :)

Hi Nathalie! Thanks for sharing that beautiful pictures of the Christmas market. Practically feels like I'm right there.
Wishing you and yours a very merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year!

As you come towards the end of a very productive year, Nathalie, I want to take this opportunity to say how much I always enjoy keeping up with you here. Have a lovely Christmas. xx

Hi Nathalie,

Merry Christmas Natalie!

Nathalie, have a great Christmas and New Year!

Nathalie, I love the Kennedy snowman story about your dad. I'm glad someone took a picture of it! I also like your reading goal to spend 15 minutes a day on other people's threads. I hate it when I get so far behind on what my friends are reading and doing. Enjoy your Christmas with family.

Merry Christmas Nathalie, and happy holidays :)

I successfully scanned our 1974 "Kennedy" snowman, built in Austria 1974 by my dad. All those 70s pics are of bad quality, the scan looks even better than the original.

And as you might guess, it's my mum, dad and 3 year old me on the second picture, posing with Mr. Kennedy.

Thanks all for visiting and leaving Christmas wishes and even some ale! Those corgies are incredible, they remind me of the one Christmas in the 80s when we dressed our cocker spaniel as angel with wings. She did everything for a slice of sausage. :-)

I am still at my parents' place and posting from my own notebook. Seems my dad has had DSL for a while now without knowing what it means. I bought my parents an ipad with 4G, because my dad swore he didn't have DSL/WLAN. Then we had a closer look at the modem box yesterday, and there was everything, even the key on a sticker put on the back of the box. So now I connected my notebook, the new ipad and everyone is happy! :-)

We had a lovely and unusually peaceful Christmas. Many friends and neighbours turned up for a short visit (and a glass of champagne, wine or port) and we shared so many great memories....
On the 24th we had our Heiligabend dinner (very simple with Schnitzel and mashed potatoes) and then Bescherung (gift giving). On the 25th we always have dinner with my grandma at a restaurant, an old castle surrounded by vineyards near the Rhine. This year they had some problems with the kitchen and lunch with 3 courses took us 4 hours, which was a bit uncomfortable for my grandma who later declared that she's "done now with restaurants" and in future wants her Christmas lunch at home. Which is fine with us, but until last year it was she who insisted on going out.
It was raining all through the week, so we didn't do anything yesterday. Tonight we'll drive to Wiesbaden where there's a Christmas ice skating rink with a couple of food and drink stalls, to get a last bit of festive atmosphere.

There will be terrible traffic tomorrow with all the people going skiing over New Year, so I was planning to return to Merano on Sunday, but now the forecast promises snow for that day, so I might be forced to drive tomorrow.... On my way here I faced a good 50km of jams southbound, so it's nothing to look forward to. Maybe I'll decide to drive through the snow with less traffic instead, we'll see.

Love the pics - and your Christmas sounds great. I also think my parents had a similar wifi issue until their two sons in law took control (they can't bare being unconnected even for a lunch visit)!

Have a safe drive back to Italy, Nathalie! So glad to hear you had a good Christmas.

#157 Bekka: Our neighbour's son told us that when he moved back home for a couple of weeks after college he paid 4G fees for most of the time before he noticed his parents had got DSL in the meantime and were not aware of it. I assume the German Telecom automatically switched all those old ISDN contracts in our village into DSL a while ago when those high-speed lines were laid.

#158 Julia: Thank you! Having checked the traffic news and seen that today I could expect a good 80 km of traffic jams I decided to drive back tomorrow... praying that then it won't snow too badly and that the streets won't be frozen...

Just finished book #174 and if I get through Le radici del cielo as planned, I'll finish the year with 175 books read of which 80 were from the 1001 list (2008 edition). Nice round numbers and a good point to stop, or to start the January books.

Mini reviews of books 170-174 to follow soon....

170. Invitation to the Dance by Hilary Spurling

This was a nice accompanying book for the "Dance to the Music of Time" series. It alphabetically lists all the characters and their appearances in the 12 volumes. You'll also find references to all the books and paintings mentioned. I didn't use it that much however because it is also full of spoilers. If you're looking up a less important character (one with a short entry) it's possible you'll accidentally see when he's going to die and how. I got a bit too much information too early and so I only really browsed it after finishing the series.

Rating: 3.5 stars



171. Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol (1,001 #312)

I enjoyed this book once I had accepted it as satire. It starts quite dramatically with a stranger coming to a small Russian town, soon becoming friends with everyone, until he starts visiting farmers to buy "dead souls" (peasants who died but are still officially listed as alive) from them. When suddenly the tone changed and conversations became quite absurd, I was really confused. And then, just when I liked it, I found out it's incomplete because Gogol committed suicide before finishing it. There are many great philosophical ideas to be found which I wish had been elaborated.

3.5 stars



172. Transit by Anna Seghers (1,001 #313)

Anna Segher's writing style needs some getting used to. I had some difficulties as well with her other famous work, The Seventh Cross, and it was the same here. Strangely detached, factual and also old-fashioned, but once I was settled with the story I didn't notice it anymore and even found it strangely fitting. This isn't a direct sequel of TSC, but in a way the books go hand in hand. In TSC a German political prisoner escapes from a concentration camp in 1936. In this book a German ex-prisoner, now imprisoned in a French camp, again escapes when the Germans are arriving and makes his way first back to the occupied Paris, then to Marseille.
I wasn't aware of Marseille's history as the last free harbour, the last place of hope for countless refugees, and I also wasn't aware of the nightmarish difficulties those people were facing. You needed a visa from your destination country (like Mexico), then a transit visa from the countries you were passing on your way or the seas of which you had to cross. You needed a ticket for a ship, while it was unsure if and when a passenger ship might arrive. You needed a permit to stay in Marseille and to leave Marseille and something like an all-clear from the Germans and the Spanish governments. So Marseille was filled with stranded people who queued all day at the various consulats, offices and departments, often only to find out that one document had just become invalid when all the others were finally complete. It's a Kafkaesque absurd world Seghers describes here and it was fascinating to watch the nameless protagonist (who didn't even plan to leave) slowly being drawn into the whole frenzy to the point where he becomes and expert of procedures.

4.5 stars

173. Der Streit um den Sergeanten Grischa (The Case of Sergeant Grischa) by Arnold Zweig (1,001 #314)

spoilers for the first 30% of the book:
The true story of a Russian POW in 1917 who runs away from the German camp in Poland eastward to see his wife and child again. He is captured months later, pretending to be a Russian AWOL soldier of a different name. He is sentenced to death following a brand new law that presumes every deserter from the enemy's side must be a spy. He reveals his true identity as an ex-POW and seems safe, but then administration decides the first sentence must be executed. What follows is a long political struggle. And while everyone admits how ridiculous it is that German high officials spend so much energy trying to save the life of a Russian while sacrificing thousands of soldier lives without thinking twice, it becomes apparent that Grischa's case stands for so much more: the necessity to be able to believe in the own country's system of justice. A war demands victims, it is agreed, but if the government allows a death sentence for an obviously innocent man, all values are in question and the country is lost.

Another important element of the book are the numerous reflections on Jewish life. Seen that this novel is set in 1917 and was published in 1927, pre-Hitler, pre-Holocaust, it gives an open and unspoiled account: conscience-ridden German officials in the army who are widely accepted, poor Russian Jews living in small communities suffering all kinds of repression and still managing to keep their faith and following their religious laws. Reading this almost 100 years later, knowing what is going to happen, was quite terrible. There's so much hope for more liberties, for a better time after the war....

This is a very wordy novel that's also written in a partly satirical style which in the beginning clashes (horribly) with the story and went against me. I don't know how else to express it, it seemed almost "Disney-fied". Chapters begin often with extensive descriptions of nature (a female lynx searching food for her cubs, enamoured squirrels jumping from branch to branch...), before they finally turn to the starving fugitive hiding in the forest. Only when Grischa is imprisoned again and the many philosophical and political contemplations begin, it all starts making sense and it becomes quite a great book.

Rating: 4 stars



174. The Stupidest Angel by Christopher Moore

An archangel visits the Californian town Pine Wood on Christmas day to grant the wish of one child. But because he is such a stupid angel, he completely misinterprets the wish and absolute chaos breaks loose.

This book is far from being your usual cosy holiday read. There are drugs, sex, brain-sucking zombies, there's murder, an ex-filmstar losing her mind and turning into a warrior, a talking fruit-bat. It alternates between hilarious and boring, because stories like this one usually work much better as film or graphic novel. There's just too much crazy action going on that needs pictures and sounds. It was a fun and easy read however that helped me get through all those war-related books I've been reading this month.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Wow, Nathalie, 175 books is a great accomplishment! I have read 162, and I expect to finish one more for the year. It's the most I've read since I started tracking my reading in 2011.

Just finished my 175th book, the 80th 1,001 for this year and the 315th 1,001 of the 2008 list. Can't believe it worked out with all those almost round numbers. I also can't believe that I even read more this year than in 2012 when I could get to 150 only by reading a couple of very short children's books in December.

Preparing stats and the last review now and then I can move over to 2014. I already visited some threads there but haven't posted yet anywhere. I am always getting a little overwhelmed with the January frenzy and last year I already lost track in those first days.

My drive back yesterday was great, almost no traffic and so the snow on the Brenner (Alpine pass) wasn't a problem. I arrived in Merano in the early afternoon. Met my neighbour in the hallway and was invited to his New Year's Party. I suggested we could all watch the fireworks from my bigger balcony which is facing townwards and only later, when I looked at the post-travel chaos in my appartment, I realized that means about 15 people from Milano and Napoli whom I never met will walk through my living room. So I'll have some work to do today and tomorrow tidying up. And tomorrow I'll have to work until noon. But maybe their critical eyes will be soothed by midnight with all the wine they had through the evening? I should better bring some extra wine.... :-)

December Stats:

Books read in December: 8
Pages read: 3,243

Fiction: 7
Non-fiction:1
Plays: 0
Short Story Books: 0
Poetry books: 0

English: 4
German: 2
Italian: 2
French: 0

Audio books: 0 (0 bought)
Kindle books: 6 (2 free, 4 bought, 0 owned)
Real books: 2 (1 owned, 0 bought, 1 library, 0 borrowed)

Books purchased this month: 5
Of which read in the same month: 2

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Summary 2013:

Books read 2013: 175
Pages read: 57,093

Fiction: 157
Non-fiction: 17
Plays: 0
Poetry books: 0 (but 62 poems)
Comic books: 0
Short Story Books: 0

English: 98
German: 36
Italian: 39
French: 2

Audio books: 12 (12 bought)
Kindle books: 97 (42 free, 52 bought, 5 owned)
Real books: 66 (21 bought, 27 owned, 15 library, 3 borrowed)

Books purchased 2013: 124
- of which read in the same month: 60
- of which read in the same year: 87

175. Le radici del cielo (The Roots of Heaven) by Romain Gary (1,001 #315)

Maybe one of the most Christmassy books I’ve ever read, the perfect December read, a book with a message that is so actual that I can’t believe it is out of print. Yes, that’s the bad news… It is available on Kindle in French, on paper quite fresh from the press (2009) in Italian, but for whatever reason the English speaking countries and Germany don’t print it anymore. But it seems the people from the 1,001 GR had no problems finding it at 2nd hand sellers, so it’s not impossible to get.

I got my Italian edition from the library, and for once I needed the full 4 weeks to read it although with 487 pages it is not extremely long. But it is a very slow book as was confirmed by everyone on the GR. It’s the story of Morel, a French environmentalist and ex concentration camp prisoner, set out to preserve the elephants in French Equatorial Africa from extinction. This is his one and only mission, and simple as it sounds, no-one is willing to accept it. The French government believes him to be a nihilist, a misanthrope, a terrorist. African revolutionists, fighting for independence, support him to profit from his popularity, but turn against him when he again and again declares to be apolitical. Morel’s efforts are carried by an indestructible belief in humanity; in “the good and responsibly acting” part in us all that in the end will prevail. Morel has some true followers with whom he has in common that they all suffered a lot during war and that they arrived at a point where they want to believe in mankind again and where they want to preserve the innocent fauna from further thoughtless destruction. There’s Minna, a young German woman, abused by her uncle, raped by Russian soldiers, forced to work as prostitute, who finally wants to believe there still exists something “clean”. There’s Abe Fields, a famous photographer whose family was killed in Auschwitz – a cynical unfeeling man who suddenly starts seeing a sense in life again. There’s Forsythe, a young American deserter, first condemned by his country as a whistleblower after telling the Coreans about biological weapons, now loved for his support for Morel.

The story is told in countless fragments, it’s all hear-say and viewpoints are changing, events are told repeatedly by different people with something new being added or some information missing. This makes it so difficult to read more quickly, but although I couldn’t manage more than 50 pages a day, the book was constantly on my mind.

Rating: 4.5 stars

So... back from shopping where I spent a fortune on things I thought I'd need tomorrow night. My neighbour said there wouldn't be any dolce/ Dessert, because "it doesn't go with wine". I don't agree. But he's someone who offered fish soup, salads and raw vegetables and cut fruit for his 50th birthday 2 years ago, so when he plans a party, people shouldn't expect to get simple carbs. He asked me to prepare a huge vegetable platter for tomorrow, but as much as I like vegetables - when there's alcohol involved I need more solid food or I'll be drunk after the first glass of wine. So I suggested cheese and bought some Emmentaler, Gorgonzola, Roquefort, Gruyère and some local Parmigiano type cheese. Plus grapes and oranges.

Found an interesting recipe for an Italian cake that looks like Brownies and is made with lots of melted chocolate, ground coffee and almonds. I bought twice the ingredients because I am sure I'll spoil the chocolate on my first try, it always happens. I am planning to serve that together with some cream and fresh pomgranate on my balcony at midnight. And I am sure it will be eaten. :-)

Nathalie, if I was on your balcony, that chocolate cake would definitely be eaten!

Wow! 175 books is a lot! Almost a 100 more than me :D

#167 Julia: Thank you! I'd send a virtual slice (picture), but I am without camera at the moment. The recipe worked out fine without the usual melted-chocolate-egg yolk -clotting-desaster, maybe because this time I was smart enough to cool the chocolate down before mixing it into the yolks... :-)
The result looks and tastes exactly like an espresso brownie, so it should be just the right thing after dinner. As usual I only used 2/3 of the sugar, but it's still quite sweet.

#168 Piyush: Yes, I can't believe it myself. And now I have to resist the temptation of getting to 200 next year. Better down to a relaxed 125... :-)

**********

I started my new 2014 thread yesterday: http://www.librarything.com/topic/163025.

I wish you all a HAPPY NEW YEAR, see you in the 2014 group!!