Markon dives into 2014

Canciones de me padre


For sentimental reasons

I admire Linda Ronstadt because she didn't let herself be pigeonholed into one genre of music. Brief comments on her bio Simple Dreams in message 61.

Happy 2014 everyone!

Last year I kept reading, but due to some personal issues did not post regularly or keep up with a count of books read. I don’t even have a list of top 5 books to include! But I’m still here, and while I plan to post more regularly this year, I make no promises to keep track of everything I read.

Here are some favorites from the past two years:

The garden of evening mists by Tan Twan Eng
Beautiful mystery by Louise Penny
Tender Morsels by Marg Lanagan
The collected poems of Lucille Clifton by Lucille Clifton
Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu
River of smoke by Amitav Ghosh

Here is a link back to my 2013 thread.

Goals

My goals this year are to have fun! (lots of science fiction, fantasy & mystery) and to pay attention to MENA (a group on another site that is focusing on reading from & about the Middle East, particularly Iran, Iraq & Turkey). First up is Iran, so if you have read any good fiction by Iranian authors, please let me know.

I plan to read Persian Requiem (also known as Savushan) by Simin Daneshvar, and possibly House of the Mosque by Kader Abdolah.

Other novels I have read from this part of the world are Blood of Flowers by Anita Amirrezvani, Moonlight on the avenue of faith by Gina B. Nahai and The Septembers of Shiraz by Dalia Sofer.



The Azadi Tower, in Tehran, was erected in 1973 to commemorate the 2,500th anniversary of the first Persian empire. (via CNN)

Non fiction
On the non fiction front, MENA (Middle East – North Africa) will be reading one book my library owns and one that I will probably buy. We’re slated to read When Baghdahd ruled the Muslim world by Hugh Kennedy in January, but I may push that one off until later in the year.

The one I will buy is the Shahnameh: the Persian book of kings by Abolqasem Ferdowsi, most likely the abridged version translated by Dick Davis, Penguin Classics © 2007. This is an epic poem giving the mythic/poetic/historic saga of the Persian empire until the Islamic conquest in the 7th century BCE.

Muslim Journeys: American Stories

In addition, the public library I work at is hosting an exploration of Muslim Journeys: American Stories in January-April 2014, and I hope to attend. Sponsored by the National Endowment for Humanities (NEH), the American Library Association (ALA), and other organizations, these programs offer an opportunity for people to explore Muslim beliefs, practices, and culture through focused readings and discussions. The reading list for the series hosted at the Tucker library includes the following non fiction titles:

Prince among slaves by Terry Alford
The Columbia sourcebook of Muslims in the United States edited by Edward E. Curtis IV
Acts of faith by Eboo Patel (This is the only one I’ve already read)
A quiet revolution by Lelia Ahmed
The butterfly mosque: a young woman’s journey to love and Islam by G. Willow Wilson

Creativity and Spirituality

In addition, I’m slowly working my way through What we ache for with my creativity group, and Being with dying for my personal use. I plan on visiting (and possibly joining) the Voices of Love threshold choir. And a few people from my faith community are gathering to see how we can support each other while we support our aging parents and the decisions, conflicts, and caring that are part of aging.

So it promises to be an interesting year!

Ratings and Lists

I read for entertainment and self-education. I throw 1-5 stars at books I read for fun based on what I think at the moment, and may write a paragraph or two about the book. I rarely do a full blown review, though I do participate in the early reviewer program.













May
61. Messenger by Lois Lowry (audio) *** (YA dystopia)
62. One of ours by Willa Cather *** 1/2 (fiction)
63. Little Green by Walter Mosley*** 1/2 (mystery)
64. Dumb witness by Agatha Christie *** (Mystery)
65. Froi of the Exiles by Melina Marchetta (YA fantasy) ***1/2
66. The death class by Erika Hayasaki ***
67. Archetype by M. D. Waters *** (sci fi)
68. Fire Sale by Sara Paretsky (audio, mystery) ***
69. Cold is the grave by Peter Robinson *** 1/2 (mystery)
70. Burning Paradise by Robert Charles Wilson ***1/2 (scifi) >168 markon:

April
39. The song of the lark by Willa Cather (audio) ***.75 >133 markon:
40. My beloved world by Sonia Sotomayor **** (audio) >134 markon:
41. Quiet Revolution: The Veil's resurgence, from the Middle East to America by Leila Ahmed ***1/2 >150 markon:
42. Dust by Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor***** >135 markon:
The Round House by Louise Erdrich *****duplicate entry >142 markon:
43. Drawing from memory by Allan Say *** (read in january, not listed) >27 markon:
44. Forge of heaven by C. J. Cherryh *** (read in January, not listed) >28 markon:
45. Bless me Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya (read in February, not listed) **** >101 markon:
46. Taken by the wind by Ellen Hart (Read in March, not listed) >124 markon:
47. Eye of the Raven by Eliot pattison **** (Read in March, not listed) >124 markon:
48. Original Death by Eliot Pattison **** (Read in March, not listed) >124 markon:
49. Invader by C. J. Cherryh *** (science fiction) (read in March, not listed) >124 markon:
50. Pure by Julianna Baggott **1/2 (science fiction, YA)
51. The coal black asphalt tomb by David Handler *** (mystery)
52. Precursor by C. J. Cherryh *** (scifi)
53. Defender by C. J. Cherryh *** (science fiction)
54. Pretender by C. J. Cherryh *** (science fiction)
55. Destroyer by C. J. Cherryh *** (science fiction)
56. Deliverer by C. J. Cherryh *** (science fiction)
57. Conspirator by C. J. Cherryh *** (science fiction)
58. Explorer by C. J. cherryh *** (science fiction)
59. The divorce papers by Susan Rieger ***
60. W is for Wasted by Sue Grafton *** (mystery)
61. Finnikin of the rock by Melinda Marchetta *** (YA fantasy)

March
29. Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry *** 1/2 (Y) >106 markon:
30. Earth and air by Peter Dickinson *** 1/2 (Y fantasy) > 107
31. Bone Rattler by Eliot Pattison**** (mystery) >108 markon:
32. Foreigner by C. j. Cherryh *** (science fiction)
33. Fortress of eagles by C. J. Cherryh ***1/2 (fantasy) >107 markon:
34. Inheritor by C. J. Cherryh *** (science fiction)
35. The Roundhouse by Louise Erdrich ***** (audio) >142 markon:
36. The secret language of sacred spaces by Jon Cannon ***
37. the beggar's opera by Peggy Blair (mystery) **.5
38. the Columbia Sourcebook of Muslims in the United States edited by Edward E. Curtis IV ***1/2 >100 markon:

February
12. Rainbow's End by Vernor Vinge ***
13. We who are about to . . . by Joanna Russ ***
14. A Persian Requiem by Simin Daneshvar **** >128 markon:
15. The giver by Lois Lowry (audio) ***
16. How the light gets in by Louise Penny ***1/2 >101 markon:
17. Spider woman's daughter by Anne Hillerman ***
18. Death of a cozy writer by G. M. Malliet **
19. Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson ***1/2
20. Mr. Churchill's secretary by Susan MacNeal **
21. Eon by Greg Bear ***
22. Intruder by C.J. Cherryh ***
23. Alliance Space by C. J. Cherryh ***
24. Cardinal Valley by Earlene Fowler **
25. Summer Morning, Summer Night by Ray Bradbury ***1/2
26. The Days of Anna Madrigal by Armistead Maupin ***
27. Fortress in the eye of time by C. J. Cherryh ***
28. Kittyhawk Down by Garry Disher (mystery) ***

January
1. The tilted world by Tom Franklin and Beth Ann Fennelly *** >29 markon:
2. The hired man by Aminatta Forna**** > 44
3. The dream thieves by Maggie Stiefvater ***1/2 >48 markon:
4. Necessary ill by Deborah Taber *** 1/2? > 98
5. Primary inversion by Catherine Asaro *** > 49
6. Simple dreams by Linda Ronstadt *** >61 markon:
7. Tolkien and the Great War by John Garth *** >62 markon:
8. The second-chance dog by Jon Katz ***1/2 >67 markon:
9. Mr. Penumbra's 24-hour bookstore by Robin Sloan > 68***
10. When the devil doesn't show *** >69 markon:
11. Prince among slaves ***1/2 >78 markon:

Hi Ardene! What interesting reading goals you have for this year! I haven't read many Iranian authors, so I will be interested in what you find on that front. I'm also interested in your thoughts on Being with Dying. We lost my grandmother two years ago and my dad last year. This sounds like a book that would have been useful to have on my shelf.

Hi Ardene! I echo all of Amy's comments. MENA sounds like a really interesting project and I'm looking forward to seeing what you read. I love the pictures you posted.

Ardene, I love your reading plans for 2014. I'm looking forward to following your adventures again this year.

I too would like to read more about Iran, so I'll look forward to hearing more about MENA. Please do share your reading lists.

Here is a list of the best Iranian books I've read (rated 4-5 stars):

Iran Awakening: From Prison to Peace Prize: One Woman's Struggle at the Crossroads of History by Shirin Ebadi.

Honeymoon in Tehran: Two Years of Love and Danger in Iran by Azadeh Moaveni. This is the second of two memoirs that the 20-something journalist and Irani American wrote. Lipstick Jihad comes first chronologically, but isn't quite as good, IMO, and they don't have to be read in order (I didn't).

The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi (A wonderful graphic novel memoir, even if you don't think you like graphic novels. They've also made an animated movie of it).

Prisoner of Tehran: A Memoir by Marina Nemat

The bathhouse : a novel by Farnoosh Moshiri

I've read some others, if you are interested, but these are my favorites.

Hi Ardene! Great reading plans. The only Iranian novel I can think of that hasn't been mentioned is Children of the Jacaranda Tree. I read it earlier this year and it was quite good, while not life-changing.

Hi Ardene!

Hi Ardene--I was like you last year--little posting, much reading. Hope to do better this year.

A couple of Iranian books that are considered classics: My Uncle Napoleon by Iraj Pezeshkzad and Missing Soluch by Mahmoud Dowlatabadi

Happy New Year, Ardene!

#14 I can see this thread is going to be a killer for my TBR list!

Hi Ardene!! Love your colored stars!

Happy new year!

Your first pictures augur a spectacular 2014, Ardene. Wishing you a Happy and Book filled new year.

#8 Amy, I am finding Being with dying helpful so far. It is written from a Buddhist perspective, and has a meditation in each chapter. While it is written primarily for professionals working with the dying, I am finding it helpful as a layperson whose mother is slowly approaching the end of her life.

I'm sorry to hear of your dad's and grandmother's passing.

#9 & 15 Good to see you here Pat! I got my first novel about Iran at the library today: A Persian Requiem by Simin Daneshvar focuses on an Iranian family in occupied Persia at the end of World War II.

10 & 13 Julia & Diana, hi - happy new year!

11, 12, 14, 16: Lisa, Kerri, Deborah, thanks (I think) for all the suggestions. I'm posting them in a list onf my brand new Global reads thread so I can come back to them if I have time for more.

17: Hi Tina! I "stole" the stars from Tad's thread.

18: Hi Paul, a a happy book-filled new year to you also!

I love your Iran list on your other thread and starred it for my reference too!

Happy New Year and New thread! It looks like you have some good reading ahead of you.

So sorry to hear about your mom. That is a tough journey. My mom died 11 years ago now, and I still miss her.

Happy New Year Ardene. Interesting list of Iranian books. I'm very poorly versed in iranian literature so I will note with interest what you have to say about those you choose.

23: Lisa, good for you! I've started A Persian requiem & it's good so far.

24: Rhonda, I do have some good reading. Although my mom was in hospice most of last year, she is still with us. Physically she's declined, but mentally she's still all there. I make trips to see her when I can since we know our time is limited.

25: Bonnie, I'll let you know what I actually get read, and what I think.

Drawing from memory by Allen Say
A fascinating story of the artist's childhood in words and pictures. It's hard for me to imagine knowing what I wanted to do at the age Allen Say did, or that someone would teach a pression to an adolescent, yet that's what apprentices did I guess. Or that a parent would let a middle school child live by himself.

The book itself has a straightforward, yet dreamlike feel to it. Thus it tells what ahppened, but not what emotions accompanied events. It aslo left me wondering what happened in the next phase of the artist's life.

Copyright/Year of original publication: 2011
Publisher: Scholastic Press > Scholastic, Inc.
Date finished: Dec. 2013
Source: public library
Genre: juvenile biography
Rating:

Forge of heaven by C.J. Cherryh
Connected only thinly to the first book in the seies, but still a smashing good story.

Copyright/Year of original publication: 2004
Publisher: Harper Collins Publishers, Inc. > News Corp
Date finished: Dec. 2013
Source: public library
Genre: science fiction
Series: Gene wars (book 2 of 2)
Rating:

The tilted world by Tom Franklin and Beth Ann Fennelly

I liked Crooked letter, crooked letter a lot, and this one didn't meet my expectations in consequence. Don't get me wrong, it's well plotted and well written. If you're looking for a story about the flood of the Mississippi in the 1920s with a more or less happy ending, this is it. I expected more grit and a less tidy ending.
Copyright/Year of original publication:2013
Publisher: Harper Collins Publishers > News Corp
Date finished: Jan. 2014
Source: public library
Genre: fiction
Rating:

I think I'll see if the library has Allen Say's books. Maybe my daughter would be intrigued. I've heard good things about them before.

Hi Ardene!

#28 - I'm still trying to decide if I should try a different C.J. Cherryh series. I wasn't taken with the Chanur thing, but I keep an open mind with her.

I look forward to your comments on The Hired Man, as I loved it. I actually plan to post some comments about it too one of these days.

Hi, Ardene! Happy New Year, and happy reading! I have you starred.

Ooh, I need to add the Say book to my wish list - I love his children's books very much.

30: Lisa, hope you like them. I liked the bio, and hope to try a novel one day soon.

31: Kerri, I also liked The Hired Man, but I have to sit down and figure out what to say about it.

32: Happy New Year Terri! I'll stop by your thread soon.

33: Hi Amber, thanks for stopping by! Which Say book is your favorite?

I haven't read all of his stuff, but I'm a big fan of both Grandfather's Journey and Tea with Milk.

35: I will check out Grandfather's Journey first.

Movies & book purchases
I don't go to movies often because I have issues with the sound, but have seen two I was interested in recently because of books. One was The Desolation of Smaug from Tolkein's The Hobbit, which I sat through two times. The second was Saving Mr. Banks, which was lovely. I went into it knowing nothing about P. L. Travers except that she was the author of the Mary Poppins books, and that she was a contributing editor for Parabola magazine. The movie added depth to my understanding of both the books and the movie Mary Poppins.

So, of course, I now have to have the biography of P.L. Travers to try and sort out fact from fiction in the movie. Which led to my first book purchases this year, two new & two used.

New
Shanameh: the Persian book of Kings by Abolqasem Ferdowsi, translated by Dick Davis (mythological/epic poetry about Iran's prehistory up to 7th century CE for MENA's group read)

Mary Poppings, She Wrote: the Life of P. L. Travers by Valerie Lawson

Used
Ruby slippers, golden tears edited by Terri Windling and Ellen Datlow: a fairy tale collection for bedtime reading.

a novel about the Mexican war of independence whose title escapes me, and I can't find it with a tagmash either.

Oh! Dick Davis is a friend of mine! I'm so excited to see him listed here! He's an absolutely lovely person, and brilliant, of course. I hope you enjoy his translation - he's the best out there in his field.

37: Amber, that's cool! My copy of Shanameh shipped today, so I hope Ill have it next week sometime.

I met him when I was a grad student at Ohio State, where he's on faculty. He took the summer Beginning Latin course that I was teaching. Talk about intimidating, to have such a mind in my course, but he couldn't have been more gracious about it, and we've remained friends ever since.

Ardene, it is very good that you are going to concentrate on FUN reading, because all your non-fiction and geographical goals are awesome in scope! I will be watching your reading with great interest.

I have not read any books in that Cherryh series--it's good to know that they are good. It is certainly shorter at this point than the Foreigner series, which I was planning to start after finishing up the remaining Alliance books. I may have to reconsider.

It's funny--I'm not much of a movie person either, but I went to see Saving Mr. Banks with my family while home, and we just saw the second Hobbit movie yesterday. The Hobbit was a sure thing--about the only things my husband and I can agree on in movies are Tolkien, Narnia, Indiana Jones, and Harry Potter--but he would never have gone to the first if the whole family hadn't been going. He loved it. I don't know if, from the trailers, I expected such a serious movie, but I thought it was truly excellent. I also checked out the biographies available after seeing the movie, but decided against them at this point. I'll see what my library has. You chose the one I would have gotten, though, had I gone ahead.

{{{{Ardene}}}}

39: Amber, that would have been intimidating to have a faculty member in your class as a grad student. Sounds like he's a gracious person as well as intelligent.

40: Ronni, Mary Poppins was one of my heroes as a child (movie & book versions). I saw the movie when I was about 4, and read the books when I was older. I'm looking forward to getting better acquainted with P. L. Travers.

I also admire what Peter Jackson & company have done with Tolkein - it's hard to create something that you know rabid fans are going to critique, and I think they've done very well.

Have a wonderful weekend, Ardene!

Duro was the first name of a neighbor who lived down the road from us when I was a child, so the narrator of The hired man was easy for me to like. My neighbor Duro and his wife Evelyn were pictured on the front page of the Des Moines Register one day when I was in college, along with an article about contamination of groundwater by runoff from fertilizer and other farm chemicals.

What does any of this have to do with The hired man? Nothing, literally. Figuratively, I make an emotional connection between the sadness/grief/anger Duro Kolak feels at the damage done in his hometown of Gost, Croatia in the 1990’s and my sadness and anger and grief at what our attempts to make the land produce more food and income have done to the soil and our water supply.

The difference is that the Duro of the story is still living in his hometown. He does what he can to restore the house and car that belonged to his friend, neighbor, and former lover Anka when an English family arrives with the goal of restoring and flipping her house. He takes pleasure in the restoration, in paying work, and in befriending Laura and her children Grace and Matthew.

Of course, that Grace’s restoration of the mosaic and fountain created by Anka irritates Anka’s brother Krešimir is a pleasure to Duro as well. And that the physical resemblence of Laura to Anka when she cuts and colors her hair disturbs the bar owner Fabjan is pleasant as well. Duro doesn’t want them to forget what happened to Anka, her husband, Javor, and to others in the village.

By the end of the novel (the end of the summer) Laura and her children are returning to England, planning (hoping) to return to Gost the following summer. And the entire village of Gost is stirred up, memories and echoes of events from the previous decades reverberating.

I like this book because there is bitterness and sweetness in Duro’s life, and because he refuses to retreat from his home turf. As Duro says at the end of the book, “Probably you wonder how we all stand each others as I do sometimes, but the truth is we have no choice. In towns like this there is nothing to do but learn to live with each other.”

43: Hi Diana!

Well, I promised myself fun reading, and here are three titles I enjoyed recently. Comments to be added later, I hope.


Necessary Ill by Deb Taber (science fiction)

The dream theives by Maggie Stiefvater (YA fantasy)

Primary inversion by Catherine Asaro (science fiction with a romantic entanglement)

I read and liked the Memory of Love, but I haven't tried any of her other works. I'll have to rectify that.

Glad to hear you liked The Hired Man, Ardene. I have a copy patiently waiting to be read.

The dream theives by Maggie Stiefvater (YA fantasy)

Copyright/Year of original publication:2013
Publisher: Scholastic Press, Inc.
Date finished: Jan. 2014
Source: public library
Genre: fantasy (young adult)
Series: The raven cycle
Rating:

The raven cycle is a better-than-average young adult fantasy. Dream thieves, book 2 in Maggie Stiefvater's series, suffers from too many story arcs, too much character development, and the introduction of two new characters, but I still enjoyed it and look forward to the publication of the next two books.

Gansby's search for Glendower continues, as does Blue's angst over whether her kiss will result in the death of her one true love. Adam's chip on the shoulder becomes a problem. But the book is primarily about Ronan and some secrets. Ronan knows where his family's money comes from, and you will find out in the course of the book. And Ronan's ability to occasionally turn dreams into reality (birds, car keys, monsters)creates problems. Who is Ronan Lynch, really?

Primary Inversion by Catherine Asaro

Copyright/Year of original publication:1995
Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates, Inc. > Holtzbrinck Publishing Group
Date finished: January 2014
Source: public library
Genre: science fiction
Series: Saga of the Skolian Empire
Rating:

I read Carnelians, one of the most recent books in the series in December and decided to check out some more of this author's work.

The main character, Sauscony (Soz) Valdoria, is a Primary of the jagernauts (bioelectronically enhanced soldiers of the Skolian Empire), half-sister of the Imperator Kurj, and a Rhon psion. While on leave on a neutral planet, Soz meets a Trader Aristo, Jaibriol, who doesn't act like a sadist Aristo and later discovers he is heir to the Emperor of Eube, the Skolian Empire's arch enemy. But he is also a Rhon psion, which is incompatible with his supposed genetic heritage. Action & soul searching ensue. A space opera romp.

Muslim Journeys: American Stories - Prince among slaves


Last night was the kickoff for the reading and discussion group my library is hosting on Muslims in America. We had about 30 people present, and I am excited about being able to participate in the group. We ate together & watched the beginning of the film Prince among Slaves, which also happens to be the book we are reading for our discussion in February. Imam Pleman el Amin, Imam Emeritus of the Atlanta Masjid is our discussion leader for the first two books we're reading.

Your reading and discussion group sounds wonderful! The two reviews on LT of Prince among Slaves have quite different opinions; I'll look forward to hearing yours. It sounds like an interesting story, and your discussion leader should add a lot to the meetings. Keep us posted!

Hi Ardene! Sorry it's been a bit since my last visit. I just got an email from the Ga Center for the Book... Are you going to be there tomorrow night? I've never even been to the Decatur library, but surely I can find it...

I would love to see Laurie Halse Anderson AND get to meet you at the same time!!

I'm happy to see that you liked The Hired Man. I loved Ancestor Stones when I read it a few years ago, and I hope to read The Memory of Love sometime this year. I'll have to add this one to the WL as well.

I just read the second in the Skolian Empire series and liked it a lot, although I had some reservations too. She's so close to being really top-rate, it's a bit maddening.

It's bit confusing - was Primary Inversion a 2 1/2 or a 3 star book for you.....?

Your discussion group sounds amazing, look forward to hearing more.

#44 - Glad that you liked, The Hired Man, Ardene! It was a favorite for me last year. Nice personal story tie-in too.

51, 54: Lisa & Lucy, Prince among slaves is interesting so far (I'm only on chapter 2, although I read the preface and the epilogue as well, the story of how it was written & its reception in 1977 is interesting too).

Yes, Lucy, I enjoy Asaro, it's just that there is something flat about it so far. I'd call them a three star read, except when I compare them to other 3-star books, they're not as fun? deep? I can't seem to get LT to give me a 1/2 star rating, so I've rounded up & given a 3 on the "official" rating.

52: Tina, thanks so much for reaching out - I had a great time last night, and am happy to have now met someone from LT in person! I've checked out my first Laurie Halse Anderson (Twisted was on our shelf this morning). Hope I will see you and Lisa again in the future.

53 & 54: Carrie & Kerri - I like everything I've read by Aminatta Forna though this one is my favorite so far. I'm going to buy The devil that danced on the water one of these days, because my library doesn't own a copy.

More finished books to comment on someday:

Simple Dreams: a musical memoir by Linda Ronstadt

Tolkien and the great war by John Garth

The second-chance dog by Jon Katz

Mr. Penumbra's 24-hour bookstore by Robin Sloan

Looking forward to hearing more, especially about Tolkien and Mr. Penumbra.

Popping in to say that I'm SO glad you agreed to meet us! I had a wonderful time meeting you and talking with you! I've posted our picture over on my thread! :)

Ooooh, please do give details how you enjoy Twisted, as I've not read that one! I'm trying to get through my current reads so I can read the two I snatched on Friday! ;)

Simple Dreams: a musical memoir by Linda Ronstadt

Copyright/Year of original publication: 2013
Publisher: Simon and Schuster, Inc. > CBS Corporation
Date finished: January 2014
Source: public library
Genre: autobiography
Rating:

An autobiography that covers Ronstadt’s family and musical roots in chapter 1 and the various styles of music and mentors in her professional life. I’m a fan and admire how she hasn’t let herself be pigeonholed in one musical genre. If y ou’re looking for details of her personal life, look elsewhere. This is also not analysis of Ronstadt’s musical legacy, but is an accessible overview from the artist’s point of view.

Tolkien and the great war by John Garth

Copyright/Year of original publication: 2003
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Company > Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Date finished: January 2014
Source: public library
Genre: non fiction, biography & literary criticism
Rating:

This book includes an account of the friendships of the TCBS (tea club and Barrovian society), particularly of four schoolmates, including J.R.R. Tolkien, and their service in World War I at the battle of the Somme.

John Garth interweaves Tolkien's experiences of World War I with the long development of the mythology and languages of Middle Earth which for many readers culminate in The Hobbit (1937) and The Lord of the Rings (LOTR, 1954 & 1955). He argues that most of this material was developed after World War I and that Tolkien's work uses an older epic/Romantic literary form to express a conflict between good and evil that literature that came out of the trenches of World War I (Robert Graves, Siegfreed Sasson, Wilfred Owen) or modernism (T. S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, etc.) could not express, being focused the horrors of war and disillusionment of modernism.

Recommended for fans of Tolkien who have read parts (or all ) of the history/mythology underpinning LOTR.

Tolkien and the Great War sounds like an interesting aside for those doing WWI reading and who enjoy Tolkien (like me). But I notice that you only gave the book three stars. What didn't you like about the book? Is his argument not well supported? Just wondering if I would like it.

Linda Ronstadt has always been one of my favorite singers. The memoir doesn't sound like one I'll want to buy, but I've added it to my public library wishlist.

64: Carrie, yeah, I'd want something I bought to have a bit more analysis, but it was interesting to see things through her eyes.

63: Lisa, you always make me read deeper and think further.

First of all, a three is average for me - doesn't mean it's bad, just that there wasn't anything wonderful about the writing (IMO). And the biggest reason I gave Tolkien and the great war a 3 is the writing - I found it dry, and wouldn't have kept reading if I wasn't so interested in Tolkien's work. The writing has to draw me in to get a 4 or a 5, and this didn't. The content is good though.

It is primarily a work of description. The first section contains information on the TCBS, their relationships & writing.

The second section, which I found the most interesting, is about their experiences at the Battle of the Somme, and then describes the rest of Tolkien's World War I activities interspersed with the work he did on what I call the Middle Earth mythology at the same time. (Tolkien didn't see more front line action due to illness.)

The third section (& the shortest) describes his life post World War I. (Other bios have covered this well.)

Garth's argument is actually in a postscript and epilogue, which seems odd to me. But I think it's important. Since The Hobbit was published in 1937 on the eve of World War II, and LOTR was published almost a decade later, a lot of people have thought LOTR came out of those experiences. But when you understand how much work went into the creation of Middle Earth, and how much of it was done during and after World War I, it becomes apparent that LOTR grew out of those experiences. If you do look at this sometime this year, I'd be interested in taking a 2nd look at it with you.

The second-chance dog by Jon Katz

Copyright/Year of original publication: 2013
Publisher: Ballantine Books > Random House, Inc. > owned by Bertelsmann AG
Date finished: Jan. 2014
Source: public library
Genre: memoir
Rating:

I follow Jon Katz' blog. I admire his focus on the healing and transformational power of creativity, and his willingness to share his own journey in this area. This book is Katz' story as the life he thought he had disintegrates, as well as his meeting with and courtship of Maria Wulf and her (over)protective dog Frieda. This is a story for when you need to be reminded that in hard times it is possible to keep growing and creating and hoping.

Mr. Penumbra's 24-hour bookstore by Robin Sloan

Copyright/Year of original publication: 2012
Publisher: Farrar, Strauss and Giroux > Macmillan Publishers > Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck
Date finished: Jan. 2014
Source: public library
Genre: fiction
Rating:

Clay Janson has lost his job as a web designer, but finds one working the night shift at Mr. Penumbra's 24-hour bookstore, where the few customers don't buy books, but borrow them. Why isn't Jason allowed to look inside the books he finds for customers? What is the importance of the log books that describe clients and track what they borrow? How does the store survive financially when hardly anyone buys anything? Attempting to answer these questions leads Jason and friends on a strange journey. A lighthearted literary adventure.

When the devil doesn't show by Christine Barber

Copyright/Year of original publication: 2013
Publisher: Thomas Dunne > St. Martin's Press >Macmillan > Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck
Date finished: Jan. 2013
Source: public library
Genre: mystery
Series: Lucy Newroe
Rating:

I have mixed feelings about this mystery set in Santa Fe, New Mexico, probably because it's darker than I expected from the cover and the blurb. I like dark, but I was hoping for mystery light when I picked this up.

Lucy Newroe, a volunteer EMT/firefighter who earns a living working at the local newspaper, finds three bodies at a home fire. Two men have been shot in the head, and a third burned beyond recognition. Detectives Gil & Joe begin investigating, and then another home fire with shooting victims occurs. There is depth in characterization and I'll probably read another by this author. This was the third in a series.

#66 Thanks, Ardene, that helps. I think that, like you, I would find the description of his war experiences interesting and how they influenced his development of Middle Earth. But now that I know the writing is dry, I'll save it for a time when I feel I can stick with it and not get distracted. My library has it. I think I'll put a suspended hold on it for the moment.

Mad Tolkien fiend that I am, I don't know that I feel the need to read this - the bio of him by Humphrey Carpenter seemed very thorough to me and was so well written!!!

*lurk*

I have created a thread to discuss the book Five Days at Memorial. Please join me there if you have read the book and would like to discuss it.

70 & 73: Lisa, I found it interesting. But then, I periodically read parts of the books his son Christopher has edited, and I continue to be amazed at the complexity of the world he created.

I'll be following your 5 days thread with interest, though I'm not sure when I'll read the book.

71: Lucy, this one just focuses in on his war experience and gives a lot more detail of when certain parts of the mythology were begun in relation to events in Tolkien's life.

72: Hi Roni!

My daughter and I have joined a parent-child Dungeons and Dragons group. She loves being in a created world and taking on a persona so different from her own. The more complex it gets, the more involved and entranced she becomes. Tolkien's world is so compelling, I believe, because it both takes us out of our own world and reflects upon it. I think there is something vitally important about the heroic quest and hence the fascination it holds for us. Few, if any, in the modern era have managed the heroic quest as well as Tolkien did.

75 - beautifully expressed!

75: Yes, and that is one of the points that Garth makes - that after World War I, a lot of people thought quest literature was dead, but Tolkien took an old form and breathed new life in it.

Prince among slaves: the true story of an African prince sold into slavery in the American south by Terry Alford

Copyright/Year of original publication: 1977,
my copy 2007
Publisher: originally Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc. (now Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), reissued by Oxford University Press in 2007
Date finished: Jan. 2013
Source: public library
Genre: biograhpy
Read for Muslim Journeys, American stories discussion at my local library
Rating:

Prince among slaves provides not only an outline of Abd al Rahman Ibrahima's life, but a glimpse of the local politics of the late eighteenth century in the area we now know as Guineau, into slavery as practiced in Mississippi in the late 18th-early 19th century, and into the stumbling blocks to repatriating an African to his homeland.

Ibrahima, the son of a Fulani ruler, is educated at Timbuktu. At age 26 while returning from battle he is captured and sold into slavery, ending up in Natchez, Mississippi on the plantation of Thomas Foster. He rises to act as overseer for Foster, is married to another slave, Isabella, and they raise 9 children.

After about 30 years in slavery, a repatriation effort full of errors in communication eventually results in Ibrahima and Isabella being sent to Liberia.

This is more and less than a biography. I say it's less because there isn't as much documentation of what Ibrahima thought (and said) as I'm used to seeing in a biography. (Of course, that's because he didn't write English, and not many people valued his words enough to record and keep them.)

It's more than a biography in that it focuses more on the context in which Ibrahima lived because that is more easily documented, and on how and why he was eventually released from slavery, yet how who he was and where he was from weren't understood by the people who helped him.

I also enjoyed the foreward ("Why") that told of how Alford ran across a document related to Ibrahima's life as a graduate student and the years of research and writing that went into the book, as well as the afterword discussing the (non) reception of the book by the academic community.

We had a very interesting discussion last night at the Muslim Journeys gathering. I was glad that even though there were 20-30 people present, everybody who wanted to got to say something.

Extraordinary story! Does it say how the family fared after they went to Liberia?

I'm glad you had a good discussion of Prince Among Slaves. 20-30 is a pretty good turnout!

It must have been an interesting discussion. What were some of the ideas that were raised?

Hi Ardene! Lots of great comments! I'm definitely going to try Mr. Penumbra's 24-hour bookstore on audio. Sometimes a "lighthearted literary adventure" is just what I need.

I'm also intrigued by Prince Among Slaves, and look forward to following your Muslim Journeys group reading this year.

Gah! I've just had 3 days off from work because of an ice storm. Can you say stir crazy? I did get a lot of reading done though.

79: Lucy, it doesn't have any information about his descendants, but one of the presenters said that one of his descendants from Liberia came to a family reunion in 2006, I think it was. So the family from the US & from Liberia do have some contact.

80: Yes Carrie, there has been an incredible response to this series here.

81: Lisa, I think the most interesting discussion (for me) centered around people's perceptions of how Ibrahima was treated by his supporters on his fund-raising tour. His supporters were primarily abolitionists, and some people thought they shouldn't have kept him speaking as long as they did, and were simply using him to stir people up.

I'm sure they were, but I also think Ibrahima was trying to raise a lot of money - he + Isabella + 9 kids & their kids & spouses? Thomas Foster expected to be paid for each person that left the plantation, and I don't know how you decide which ones to take with you .

how you decide which ones to take with you

I can't imagine. Is that what happened? Not everyone could go? Wow.

85: Yes. Abd al Rahman Ibrahima & his wife Isabella sailed to Liberia. He wrote a letter to relatives in Africa, but died before he heard back from them. Two of his sons, Simon & Lee, and Simon's family, were purchased from Foster & sailed to Liberia where they met up with their mother. (I don't think Lee had a family when he sailed.)

Thomas Foster died in the same year, and his estate, including the remaining seven children, were split between his heirs and remained in slavery.

I wish we could know what Isabella thought of all this. I think it would be hard to leave and go to a place you knew nothing about & leave children behind.

82: Hi Kerri! Hope you enjoy Mr. Penumbra's 24-hour bookstore when you get to it.

The next book we're reading for the Muslim Journeys group is The Columbia sourcebook of Muslims in the United States edited by Edward E. Curtis, IV. I'm going to have difficulty finishing this one, I'm afraid. It is short pieces from throughout the history of the United States.

I am appreciating the introduction to each section, which sets up historical context for the writings in the section. I had not realized the breadth of Islam in the US.

I. Whispers & Echoes, American Muslims before World War I
II. Contact and Divergence: Immigrant and African American Muslims from World War I to 1965
III. American Islam after 1965: Racial, Ethinc & Religious Diversities
IV. Women, Gender and Sexuality in American Islam
V. American Muslim Politics and Civic Engagement after 9/11
VI. American Muslim Spirituality and Religious Life

You've had some good reading lately, Ardene! The Curtis book looks interesting.

Prince Among Slaves seems to have brought up some really interesting issues. How very, very tough to have to decide wither to go and leave kids behind.

Hey Ardene! Haven't seen you in a bit so I'm coming by to check on you!

Hope you fared well in the storms...

Did you ever get by the thread to check out the pictures from our Laurie Halse Anderson night?

Did you finish Twisted?

Gah! Ran my legs off Friday & Saturday at work. (We were closed for three days prior due to an ice storm.) Came back this morning and did a walk through to figure out how many computers were down - 9! We must have had a power surge during the storm. I think at least 5 of them will have to be replaced. That definitely wasn't in the budget!

91: Hi Tina! sorry I've been absent. Haven't had a lot of computer time. Yes, I read Twisted, and liked it. Hope to comment soon. And I think I peeked at the photos on your thread, but I might go back and steal one to post here.

90: Yes, Rhonda, I can't imagine leaving even adult children behind and not knowing if you'll ever see them again.

89: Julia, the first section of the Columbia sourcebook was tough, I think because the writing style is so different from what I'm used to. But the 2nd & 3rd went much smoother, and I feel I'm getting a sense of a breadth of Muslim experience in the US that I wasn't aware of.

Sorry work has been so crazy. This winter has been crazy.

I have a book somewhere that looks into some of the 'underground' groups in the US from the very earliest days and the small communities here and there made up of escaped slaves, displaced native americans and others who didn't and wouldn't fit in to the mainstream. I can't remember the title, so I'll have to scope around and try and find it for you. It covers a wide range but I believe there were some Muslims.

Also, here and there as I look into Vermont history, I've gotten the impression that there were more black people living quietly up various 'hollers' in the 19th century than is ever mentioned. Recently they put up a sign for a community that was very near where our house is (well, three or four miles, but that's close enough). All this to say that there is so much that gets left out of 'regular' history!

Found it: Gone to Croatan James Koehnline - I can't remember how or when or why I came across this book, and I would be, perhaps, a little skeptical of the depth of some of the scholarship, but nonetheless I think it is a fascinating look the 'other' cultures living side-by-side with the one accepted as 'the norm' and going their own way, stubbornly. In fact, now I want to read it again!!

Lisa, you're right, its' been a crazy winter. We're still catching up, but most of the computers are back. Today we have a weeks worth of expired holds to process. I am looking forward to some daffodils! I wonder if I could ever live in the Midwest again. . .

Lucy, Gone to Croatan sounds like an interesting read.

Well, I hope to write a couple of review this weekend. Bless me Ultima is on a hold list, and I've used my time, so it has to go back to the library, and I owe Tina a review of Twisted. I also want to review A Persian requiem but I'm trying to wait until I finish reading the legend of Seyavush in the Shanameh, since it seems highly related to the plot in the novel.

I'm looking foward to a Voices of Love rehearsal tonight, and then my weekend starts. Hooray!

Have a great weekend, Ardene!

Thanks Roni! I'm going on my first sing with Voices of Love, and I'm nervous. But it'll be fine.

Necessary Ill by Deb Taber

Copyright/Year of original publication: 2013
Publisher: Adqueduct Press
Date finished: Jan. 2013
Source: public library
Genre: science fiction
Rating:

Necessary Ill tells an interesting story of an underground (literally & figuratively) network of neuts (humans born without genitals or sex hormones) in a world rapidly approaching the point at which resources on the planet can’t support the human population.

Driven underground initially because gens (gendered humans) react with repugnance, and often violence, when they discover an individual has no gender, the neuts have created a worldwide, though decentralized, network.

Since they do not reproduce, the neut’s drive towards survival of the species leads many of them to design and spread plagues to try and kill enough of the population that it will stay under the carrying capacity of the planet. They hope that eventually humans will figure out how to limit themselves to a population and a lifestyle that will allow humanity to survive. Other neuts are artists, “passing” as gens when out in the gendered world.

The story is told primarily through the eyes of Jin, a neut spreader, and secondarily through the eyes of Sandy, a gendered woman rescued from sexual violence by another neut.

I enjoyed reading the story, and thought it opened the door to a lot of speculation about gender and how it is constructed and perceived, as well as the role of creativity and art in human lives, and whether humans are capable of moving toward a sustainable way of life. The biggest logical flaw for me was that the spreaders had no plan to teach or encourage gens to learn how to live sustainably or to control population on their own. Secondarily, the neuts all read as male to me, and I would have liked some discussion of how the GLBTQ population fit into neut & gen categories. In this hypothetical world, are they considered neuts or gens? In addition, I think creative expression plays a more central role in human life than it does in the novel.
This is Taber’s first novel, and I’ll keep my eyes open for more writing to see how her themes develop in further stories.

Ardene, sorry to hear of your library issues. We've been shut down by weather quite a bit this winter, and it's so easy to fall behind in processing things. Fortunately, I don't think it messed up our computers (any more than usual, anyway).

Terri, thanks. We've got all but one computer back up and running.


Discussion of The Columbia Sourcebook of Muslims in the United States last night was difficult - how do you discuss 53 separate essays? I found this one a slow starter, but as I moved into it, I found it fascinating. I have a few essays left to finish, but hope I can put it on my list of complete books for February later this week, and then write a review.

The sections on women, gender and sexuality & civic involvement after 9/11 evoked the most comments. I suspect our April discussion of Leila Ahmed's A Quiet Revolution will be interesting.

Standouts for me were the WPA interviews of immigrants from Syria who settled in North Dakota, discussion of Islam and Latino converts, a sociologist looking at the experience of Muslims in Toledo, Ohio who control the liquor industry there, an excerpt from Leila Ahmed's memoir A Border Passage and her encounter with feminists who were intolerant of her faith tradition, discussions of women's rights in Islam and reading the Qu'ran from a woman's perspective, & Omid Safi's article "Being Muslim, Being American After 9/11."

I was most disturbed by Laila Al-Marayati's article "American Muslim Charities: Easy Targets in the War on Terror."

February reading - I was able to stock up on fun reading before our second ice storm, so I had a couple of days of science fiction & fantasy this month. Greg Bear, Joanna Russ, C.J. Cherryh . . . Great fun!

My favorite reads this month were
A Persian Requiem by Simin Daneshvr
Bless me Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya and
Summer morning, summer night by Ray Bradbury.

Somehow I'd missed this Bradbury collection of stories from Green Town, IL. Almost as good as Dandelion Wine.


Bless me Ultima is the story of Antonio, his family, his community and the special relationship he has with Ultima, the cuarandera (healer) who lives with the Mares y Luna family. Set in New Mexico, the novel begins when Antonio is 6 and ready to start school. Antonio loves his family and is concerned about what he will eventually choose - farming, like his mother's family? the priesthood (his mother's desire? I especially enjoyed the depiction of spiritual paths - Ultima's, the traditional path of some of Antonio's friends, and Roman Catholicism.

I plan to do longer comments on Persian Requiem, but it was a good combination of some complex characters trying to be true to themselves and keep their family safe in occupied Iran in the 1940s.


I finally read Louise Penny's How the light gets in, and though I liked it, I have to say that some of the plot was too over the top for me, and that after she went to the trouble of making **** a drug addict, his cure was way to quick for me.

As usual, I have too many books on my plate. In addition to my fun (lighter) reading, I'm enjoying the following at a slower pace:

The Shanameh translated by Dick Davis: legends & folk tales from Iran
Dust by Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor (historical fiction in Nigeria)
The Columbia Sourcebook of Muslims in the United States edited by Edward E. Curtis IV
The Secret language of sacred spaces by Jon Canon
Acts of faith by Eboo Patel (Muslim Journeys)
Round house audiobook by Louise Erdrich

I read Bless Me, Ultima a few years ago when our local public library chose it for its Big Read. I didn't go to any of the programming, but I did read the book! I liked it quite a bit, but didn't love it.

My library just got a copy of Dust and it immediately went on my TBR list.

Thank you for catching us up on all your wonderful reading. So many good titles. My book club is going to be reading Round House in May, and I'm looking forward to it.

Bless Me Ultima is a favorite of mine. I am thinking about doing a re-read later this year.

Carrie, & Rhonda, I enjoyed Bless me Ultima a great deal.

Lisa, hope you like Round House. I'm enjoying it so far. I usually (but now always) like Louise Erdrich. I'm listening to it on audio, and like the voice/accent the narrator is using is part of the attraction and, at times, distracting. I'm curious about how close it is to a North Dakota &/or Ojibwe accent.

This weekend included a plethora of reading (although, of course, I still want more reading time).


I listened to an audio of Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry. I'm not sure why this is considered a sequel to The Giver since it includes none of the characters or places from that novel. I find that frustrating. I guess it's because all four communities in this series have evolved out of some catastrophic event that ended civilization as we know it, so they are all dystopic novels.

However, I enjoyed this story that included the main character, Kira, questioning the role art & artists play in a community, as well as her questioning how/whether you can harness the joy & creativity in art without losing the "play."

I wish another novel would explore what happens further in this community between Kira & Jameson, and whether/how Kira and Christopher are able to communicate, whether Kira gets to talk with the singer privately. etc.

Earth and Air by Peter Dickinson was a lovely collection of fantasy stories (OK, a couple of them were creepy, but they were good creepy stories).


Fortress of eagles by C. J. Cherryh was also enjoyable, the 2nd in the fortress series about Tristan, the working or shaping of Mauryl. Called back by his friend & servant Uwen at the end of the previous book, Tristen is still trying to figure out who/what he is and learn about the world he is in. Political maneuvering at court forces King Cefwyn to send Tristen from the court back to Amefel as it's soverign.

My favorite was Bone Rattler by Eliot Pattison, a reread of a mystery/historical novel set in North America during the French Indian Wars (or the Seven Years War). The story opens with Duncan McCallum, a Scottish convict, on a ship bound for the new world. Before it ends McCallum is involved with a British colonist politicking to be governor, his daughter who was raised as a captive to the Iroquois (now allies of the British), and an elder/shaman. Now that I've reread it, I can continue with the two that have been published since I ran across this one.

Of particular interest to me this time was the historical note and the timeline at the end of the book showing how the events in the novel fit in with actual events. I was not aware of the rangers in this conflict that are the origin of some US special forces.

Bone Rattler has been on my TBR list for too long. I need to bump it up on the list.

What an interesting attempt Necessary Ill seems to be - odd that the neuts read as men. I would think, in personality they would be all over the place?

I adore Cherryh - but so far I have only read the SF - I'm hoarding a pile of fantasies for a rainy (or should I say icy?) day!

109 & 102: Carrie, I like Pattison's writing. This series is dark, but so were the times. I hope you like Dust. The opening scene/sequence was powerful, and I'm finding the writing dense and complex (in a good way.)

110: Lucy, I think you were the one that made me aware of Cherryh. I'm enjoying her worlds so far. Though the fortress series has plenty of action, there is also a lot of politics & lots of Tristan's though process as he tries to understand the world he's in, and figure out his place in it. I'm waiting on book two of the Foreigner series, and hope Bren gets a better understanding of the Atevi culture so that I can too!

I read Gathering Blue earlier this year and, like you, was frustrated that it was called a sequel. My daughter and I read the third one, Messenger, which does start to tie things together. We haven't yet read the last.

Lisa, I liked the book, but it was not a sequel in my opinion. I gather messenger will flesh out two characters that were in Blue, but I would sure like to hear more about Kira and her cohort too.

>101 markon: - Bless me Ultima has been on my TBR pile for ages. I really must read it. Good to hear so many positive comments.

Do you know the novel Cities of Salt? It's by Abdul Rahman Munif, a Jordanian-born Saudi author? I'm going to get to it very soon. Maybe next.

Hi, Ardene!

>101 markon: I have to say that some of the plot was too over the top for me, and that after she went to the trouble of making **** a drug addict, his cure was way to quick for me.

That's very much how I felt!

114: Kerri, I've heard of Cities of Salt and have it on my TBR list. I wonder how it may compare with Oil on water by Helon Habila. (Although Oil on water is not about colonial powers taking over oil resources, it does demonstrate issues related to the British petroleum industry in Nigeria at the mouth of the Niger river, near Port Harcourt.)

Edited to fix punctuation.

115: Terri, I think Louise Penny's writing and characterization are wonderful for the most part. I'm not personally familiar with drug addiction, but I've had several alcoholics in my life, and it's not my experience that the problem just goes away. I hope the next book(s) will continue to explore this. I also think I felt disappointed because I usually expect more nuanced characterization of the "bad" people from Penny than I experienced in this novel. What drove *** & **** to this long term (over decades no less) plot to destroy something that will cause so many deaths?

Choices, choices! It's time for my MiddleEasternNorthAfrican reading group to choose a fiction read from Iraq. Here are the books that have been nominated so far.

Tobacco Keeper by Ali Bader
Absent & Sky so close by Betool Khedairi
Long way back by Fuad al-Takarli
East winds, west winds by Mahdi Issa al-Saqr
World through the eyes of angels & Saddam City by Mahmoud Saeed
American granddaughter by Inaam Kachachi

Naphtalene (Mothballs in the UK) is not on our list since the group read it last year.

I'm having trouble making up my mind who to vote for.

I haven't read any of these, so I'm no help I'm afraid. Several look good though.

Maybe my votes would be 1. Saddam City 2. East Winds, West Winds 3. Absent

I haven't read any of those books either, but they all look good.

I'm no help here either, but I will read your review with great interest!

119-122: Lisa, Rhonda, Lucy - I think I'm voting for (and buying ) Long way back. In part because I'm interested in the story, in part because I know very little of Iraq's history, and this is set in the late 50s/early 60s just before Saddam Hussein comes to power, and partly because I think this one and East winds, west winds are the ones my public library is least likely to purchase.

I was disturbed that in a library in a major metropolitan area of the US that we have no fiction in English by an author of Iraqi origin. (We have a novel by Salim Hamid in Arabic). We also have Farewell Babylon by Naim Kattan, translated from French listed as fiction, but on Amazon I see it is called a memoir? Going to have to check on that.

ETA, per our head of cataloging, Farewell Babylon is listed in OCLC as as French-Canadian fiction and classified as fictionalized memoir by the author.

Taken by the wind by Ellen Hart
©2013, St Martin’s Press > Macmillan Publishers > Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck
Genre: mystery
3 ½ stars

Taken by the wind is a sad story. I have a vague recollection of reading a few of the earlier books in this mystery series, and was drawn in initially to this one by the title and the cover. A host of characters to keep track of, but none of them stick figures, thankfully. (Cordelia is a bit over the top, but I’m willing to go with it, and Juliet – well, I’ll wait and see.) Two 12-year-old boys go missing after (during?) a night spent camping on the lawn of their Midwestern home. Have they run away? Or has something more sinister happened? As the story unfolds, we discover the financial stress and emotional wounds of several people in the small town of Winfield, Minnesota. No one is left unscathed.

I can’t give it four stars, though I’d like to. It seems, somehow, the story of a struggling small town, and two families with roots there, on which the trappings of a mystery novel intrude. Don’t know if that makes sense, but that’s how it seems to me.



Eye of the raven and Original Death by Eliot Pattison
©2011 (ER) & 2013 (OD)
Counterpoint Press, Berkeley, CA, distributed by Publishers Group West, a division of Perseus books group
Genre: mystery,
4 stars

I’ve now read all three of Eliot Pattison’s mysteries set in colonial North America. I’m trying to puzzle out what these have in common with the series set in Tibet. I think they provide a protagonist at war with people in power who identifies with the culture and spirit of a completely different group of people. I appreciate Pattison’s inclusion of the spirituality of the Tibetans and the Iroqouis as an important part of the story. Like Inspector Shan, Daniel McCullam had been physically removed from his home territory and his people, and, like Shan, McCullam has found strength in the religious practices of the “undeveloped” culture those in power look down on.



Invader by C. J. Cherryh
©1995, DAW Books, Inc. > Penguin Group, Inc. > Pearson plc
Genre: science fiction
3 stars

C. J. Cherryh continues to entertain me. I think I owe Lucy (sibyx) thanks for the introduction. Invader, the second book in the foreigner series, was action packed, introducing a third party into the dynamic between humans and atevi with the return of the starship Phoenix after 200 years. Bren and I still haven’t figured out aetevi man ‘chi, but Bren is still alive and, at the moment has three humans on the ground with him in the Western Association. I look forward eagerly to book number 3.

Iraq is a super-interesting country, too, so that is disturbing. I will be interested to see your review of whatever your book group chooses.

I'm hoarding the Foreigner series Cherryh's!!! Glad you are liking them.

125: Rhonda, I've passed on some recommendations to the committee that chooses books we can order. I think there are a couple that would appeal to a broad section of readers (not just those of us who seek out translated fiction), so I hope we'll add one or two to the collection.

126: Lucy, I'm sure you'll enjoy them when you decide it's time to read them. I'm pausing to take a breath before I start the next trilogy. (And to try to catch up with some reading I'm committed to with others.)

A Persian Requiem by Simin Daneshvar
Copyright: Translation ©1991, original ©1969 Savushun
Publisher: Translation published by George Braziller, Inc.
Genre: fiction (translated from Farsi)


I found A Persian Requiem a fascinating glimpse of life in occupied Iran during World War II. Told primarily from the view of Zari, it tells the story of what occurs when her husband, Yusef, continues his resistance to selling his crops to the British army for the third year in a row, trying to keep back enough for the peasants who work the land to eat. Yusef’s brother, Abol-Ghassem Kahn, takes a more pragmatic view, hoping that in cooperating with the British he may earn a place in the governing classes (and a chance to increase his wealth), while protecting his family at the same time. The situation is further complicated by the request two friends of Yusef from a nomadic tribe make for him to sell them food for their people.

In my reading, Zari understands and agrees with her husband’s argument that Persia should be governed by Persians, but I think she has a clearer sight than Yusef of the consequences of not cooperating. She yearns for the safety of her household over and above what might be morally/ethically “right,” as might many of us in a situation where choosing a larger good may inflict suffering in the immediate future on those close to us.

The story has added depth for those who have some familiarity with the story of Seyavash/Siyavash in Ferdowsi’s epic poem, the Shanameh, and I’m sure this contributed to its being a bestseller in Iran. I did find that many of the secondary characters in the story seemed rather one-sided. However, the family – Zari, her husband, brother-in-law & sister-in law and her son Khosrow - and the conflicts Zari finds herself facing were depicted well.

Information about the author gleaned from Wikepdia and online obituaries:

Simin Daneshvar was born in 1921 in Shiraz, and was educated at a bilingual school. She started college at the University of Tehran in 1938 and was in college during the occupation of Iran by the Allied forces during World War II, which is when her novel Suvashan/Persian Requiem is set. In 1941 her father died, and she began supporting herself by writing & translating for Radio Tehran and local newspapers. In 1948 her first collection of short stories was published. She completed her PhD in 1949, and in 1950 married another Iranian writer, Jalal Al-e Ahmad. In 1952 she went to Stanford University in the USA on a Fullbright scholarship and studied with author Wallace Stegner. When she returned to Iran she joined the faculty of the University of Tehran.

In 1968 Daneshvr became the chair of the Iranian writers union. Her novel Suvashan was published in 1969, the same year her husband died. It is the first novel by a woman published in Iran. Suvashan refers to an ancient mourning ritual. In addition to teaching and writing, Daneshvar also translated works from English. She resigned from the University of Tehran in 1979. She died in 2012.

>124 markon: I checked, and I have the first of Eliot Pattison's books on my TBR list. It sounds like an interesting series, but I'll want to read it in order, if possible.

130: Lori (thornton37814), I hope you enjoy them when you get to them. I do recommend reading them in order - Bone Rattler has a lot of backstory for Duncan McCallum, the main character.

Favorite books so far this year (all fiction):

A Persian Requiem by Simin Daneshvar
The hired man by Aminatta Forna
The round house by Louise Erdrich
Dust by Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor

Honorable mention for
C. J. Cherryh's Foreigner series, of which I have several left to read
&
A Quiet Revolution: the veil's resurgence, from the Middle East to America by Leila Ahmed which I just finished and am taking awhile to digest.

edited touchstone

>131 markon: I really loved The Round House, Ardene!

I was sick with a cold/sinus/allergy gunk last week, and so I managed to listen to two audiobooks when I wasn't asleep.


The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather (Recorded Books, Barbara Caruso narrating)
I enjoyed this somewhat autobiographical novel about Thea Kronborg, her life as a child in Moonstone, Nebraska and her development as a singer. My favorite parts were her early life in Moonstone, and her reflections back on that life with Dr. Archie toward the end of the book.

I suspect that someday I'm going to do a more thorough read of Cather. I've picked up her novels here and there and enjoyed them, but someday I'd like to read them in order, or at least re-read my favorites. I still haven't read all of them, so I'm placing here a link to a list of her works from the Willa Cather Foundation. Maybe One of ours is next for me?

My beloved world by Sonia Sotomayor
©2013
Publisher: Random House Audio > Bertelsmann AG
Genre: autobiography
Source: Public library


I liked this better than I expected to. Sonia Sotomayor tells an intimate story of growing up in the Bronx. I like the mix of fact and insight as she weaves a tale of her family, her Puerto Rican heritage, and the people and events that motivate and teach her. The story opens with a gripping tale of her mother trying to teach her father how to give her an insulin shot (she was diagnosed with Type I diabetes at age 7) and ends with her appointment to a federal court in New York State.

Dust by Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor
©2014
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf > Random House LLC > Bertelsmann AG
Genre: fiction
Source: public library


Dust is a symphony of memories, love, and grief. I savored the reading, the language, the story – and I also had to read slowly lest I be be overwhelmed.

Ostensibly the story is of a family and what happens when Odidi, the adult son, is shot. Dust is also the story of the hopes, dreams, achievements and disappointments of Odidi and Ajany, their parents Nyipir and Akai, of Galgalu, of Isaiah’s search, of a wandering trader, and of two policemen, Petrus and Ali Dida Hada. It is also the story of Kenya.

I knew this one would be a good read when I read the prologue, and, in spite of knowing what happens from the dust jacket, was pulled in immediately and kept reading, reading and hoping for a different result. And in spite of Odidi’s death, found the prologue beautiful.

The book is stunning, dense, and complex. And I’m going to leave it at that. Perhaps after I familiarize myself more with Kenya’s history and reread the book I could provide a more thorough analysis, but I don’t want to do that right now. This is a wonderful book. Read it!

132: Terri, I did too, just have to take time to write some comments.

Thanks for the review of Dust. It is definitely on my wishlists.

How did you like My Beloved World?

137 banjo123: I liked it quite well Rhonda. I really enjoyed how she told her story, her family's story, and how they illustrated some of her struggles and the strengths she developed as a result.

>134 markon: I've heard good things about the Sotomayor biography from people who have read it in our library.

Beautiful and tempting review of Dust - I'm thinking that might be a good one to recommend to our library.

>139 thornton37814: thornton37814: I liked it a lot. I also liked the matter-of-fact way she talked about her diabetes, and how her response to it and her parents becomes emblematic of her response to life.

BTW, how do you do that link to an individual post?

> 140 sibyx: Well, I would certainly recommend it, although you know your audience much better.

The round house by Louise Erdrich
©2012
Publisher: Harper Audio (Harper Collins Publishers) > News Corp
Genre: fiction
Source: Public library


The round house of the story is a building on an Ojibwe reservation in North Dakota where people gather not only to socialize but also to dance and celebrate their sacred traditions. It is also the setting of a horrific crime in the summer of 1988.

Joe, the narrator, is a young adolescent at the time the crime occurs. He tells of how the crime shatters his sense of safety, and how, with the help of his friends, especially Cappy, he tries to discover the perpetrator of this crime in hopes of putting his family back together again.

But seeking justice is never simple. Land ownership is an issue, jurisdiction is an issue, and in the small world of the reservation and North Dakota old grudges are an issue. When Joe’s mother Geraldine finally talks about what happened, we discover that the roots of this crime run deep indeed. Joe and his father are angry. Geraldine is frightened and angry. And healing and justice are not the same thing.

I especially liked the slow pace of this story, as we become acquainted with Joe, his father, his friends and the network of family and relationships Joe is sustained by. I also liked the way in which Mooshum & his stories give Joe insight into how to proceed, as well as filling in the history of the round house and providing some much needed laughs.

This is a richly textured novel, and well worth the read.

>141 markon: You just put the greater than sign followed by the post number!

Ardene, lovely review of The Round House. I loved that book when I read it last year, and it inspired me to seek out my current read, Bury Me at Wounded Knee which is sad beyond belief. A shameful time in our history, to be sure.

> 143 Cool Lori!

Uh oh, now that I've gone up to my list of books to add links from the titles to my comments, I've discovered several I commented on that I forgot to list!

> 144: Julie, I've never made it through Bury my heart at Wounded Knee because I get too angry. The way that book is written really pushes my buttons.

I have my first reading bingo of the year!

Non fiction: Tolkien and the Great War
A book set on a different continent: A Persian Requiem
Free Space
Short stories: Summer Morning, Summer Night
One-word title: Twisted

And even though I'm only one book away from two others, I am not, not not going to go looking for a book based on a true story or a book your friend loves! Well, maybe I'll ask Sally about one she loves tonight . . .

>143 thornton37814: Also, make sure you don't put a space between the symbol and the post number. It doesn't work if there is a space in between.

>145 markon: I think message 148 was really for your benefit!

>148 cbl_tn:, >149 thornton37814: Got it! Thanks.


A Quiet Revolution: the veil’s resurgence from the Middle East to America by Leila Ahmed
©2011
Publisher: Yale University Press
Genre: non fiction
Source: Muslim Journeys (American Stories)


A Quiet Revolution: the veil’s resurgence from the Middle East to America is a fascinating and frustrating book.

Leila Ahmed, currently teaching at Harvard, writes from her perspective as a Muslim women born in the 1940s in Egypt and raised during a time when it was normal for women of her family (upper middle class, educated, urban) not to wear hijab (head covering). Thus, her experience of the advocacy of many Western-educated Muslims’ advocacy of a return to a “pure” form of Islam, coupled with an increase in the wearing of hijab as a sign of this return is not welcome. In Ahmed’s understanding, the rise of hijab is coupled with the rise of a type of Islam that calls for political activisim on the part of its practioners.

I found Ahmed’s account a content-rich description of the combination of political and religious activism of Muslims in Egypt and, to a lesser extent, Saudi Arabia in the last decades of the twentieth century. In addition, it covers the influx of students and later immigrants to the USA from majority Muslim countries in the last half of the twentieth century, and the development of several organizations in the US. This was the fascinating part.

Unfortunately, the entire discussion is laced with the word Islamism, which is never clearly defined. This makes it difficult (impossible?) to be clear about what Ahmed’s position is. At the first use of the word Islamism (page 3, Introduction) Ahmed states the appearance of hijab signals, to her, the presence of Islamism, a political form of Islam which she associates with the Muslim Brotherhood and, by implication in the next four paragraphs, with violence. Thus the word carries a negative connotation. On page 9 she refers to Islamism as a term that becomes popular in the 1990s to describe a wider continuum of movements, from moderate to militant.

The confused meaning of Islamism coupled with a lack of thesis statement made this book disappointing.

I do appreciate Ahmed’s attempt to put the rise of hijab in historical and political context. This is, to me, a very helpful way of looking at it, and a perspective I haven’t run across before.

Very fine reviews here, Ardene!

>146 markon: I know what you mean. I can only read it in small doses because I get so appalled, ashamed and horrified at what the European settlers did to the indigenous population. A horrible stain on our country's history.

152: Julia, my impression (it's been a few years since I looked at it), is that the book is written in a way to tug/trigger an emotional reaction. This makes it doubly hard for me, apart from the factual material covered.

>153 markon: Thanks Terri. I'm also on a C. J. Cherryh binge, but I'm not doing reviews of that - it's strictly fun reading (science fiction). Great for the plane ride to Iowa this morning for example.

Happy Easter!

Celebrating my mother's birthday with family today. Looks like it's going to be a beautiful day outside.

>154 wilkiec:: Thanks for the Easter wishes Diana.

Ardene...
Have a

I hope you had a wonderful celebration with your mother yesterday. Spring is a wonderful time of year for birthdays.

Congrats on the Bingo!

Another fine review of A Quiet Revolution. Islamism as opposed to Islam..... it does kind of convey that there is a 'derived' piece. And I think in our culture '-ism' applied to anything at all tends to have the connotation that something about it is extreme??? Anyhow, I appreciate your thoughtfulness.

I suppose he is reluctant to take a stand one way or another about the return of the veil? It sure is controversial....

>156 TinaV95: >157 cbl_tn: Thanks Tina & Carrie! I did have a lovely visit with family. Mom continues to do well. She did ask me to sit with her and type up some comments she wants to provide to whoever does her memorial service.

My Dad is hoping to move to a smaller (& less costly) apartment sometime this year, so my sisters and I went through some photos, etc. to try and empty out some furniture that he will pass on to my brother & sister-in-law.

Got to see all four nieces & nephews and played some pinochle. Any other card players out there?

I got part way through mowing the lawn yesterday and ran out of gas, so that's on my to do list tonight. At least buying gas - it's rained a bit this afternoon so I think I can put off the mowing another day.

>158 sibylline: Yeah, I the word Islamist seems to be used in academic discourse to refer to "political Islam," "fundamentalist Islam" and to be pejorative (terrorist Islam) in many newspapers.

Here are some more books I bought recently:

For the plane ride -

Pretender (#8)
Deliverer (#9)
Conspirator (#10) of C. J. Cherryh's foreigner series (science fiction)
I have one left to read from the library, then I will have to find the rest somewhere . . .)

Tracks by Louise Erdrich

For MENA (Middle East/North Africa)
Long way back by Faud al-Takarli (Iraq)
East winds, west winds by Mahdi Issa al-Saqr (Iraq)
The king by Kader Abdolah (Iran)

Currently reading:

Long way back, Tracks, Shanameh

Hi Ardene! Hope you are having a lovely weekend.

162> Thanks Anne! I spent some time at the Atlanta Arab Festival Sunday afternoon and had some yummy food.

Three more books I picked up at the library today - I know I'll zoom through the Atwood, but given the other things I'm reading, not sure about the other two. They sure look interesting though.

Maddaddam by Margaret Atwood
The Muslims are coming by Arun Kundnani
Our America by Felipe Fernandez-Armesto

I finally caught up on your thread, Ardene. I'm sorry to have gotten so far behind. Great reviews of interesting books. I think we read Round House at the same time! Glad you had a nice visit with family.

164> Hi Lisa, no problem. Real life takes time. I'm glad you enjoyed Round House.

I decided to collect that whole Foreigner series before starting it - I'm almost there! But I generally avoid getting sucked into a series in the months of better weather and so will save starting them for next winter, I think. (I hope!)

I'm glad you had a good visit with your mom, Ardene. I hope the next time you come this way we can connect!

Belated waves to Lucy & Julie - thanks for stopping by!

Some fun reads lately were:



Archetype by M. D. Waters (science fiction) & the beginnings of a better than average YA fantasy series Finnikin of the rock & Froi of the exiles by Melina Marchetta.


And Burning Paradise by Robert Charles Wilson
© 2013
Published by: Tor: Tom Doherty Associates, LLC > St. Martin’s Press > MacMillan > Holtzbrinck Publishing Group
Genre: Science Fiction


Quote from the frontspiece:

It is natural for the mind to believe and for the will to love; so that, for want of true objects, they must attach themselves to false.
Blaise Pascal

This disturbing and thought provoking read is a variation on the invasion/manipulation of humanity by an alien life form and humanity’s (or, in this case, a segment of humanity’s) response. In this instance, the alien is a mindless colony in the atmosphere manipulating communications and occasionally sending lifelike simulacra to interact with humans. The simulacra have almost mastered the art of deception of humanity, how thoroughly we don’t realize until the end of the action.

The appearance and accidental death of one of these simulcrum precipitate Cassie and her brother Thomas hitting the road with Leo and Beth in an attempt to meet up with Leo’s father and figure out what’s going on and what to do next. At the same time, Cassie’s Uncle Ethan is visited and he and their Aunt Ris start looking for answers as well.

While the story starts from Cassie’s point of view, it alternates with her Uncle Ethan Iverson’s perspective. It’s action packed and intense, and in that sense is a great read. It also is full of reflection/questioning about who to trust, whether humans by themselves are capable of peace (whatever ‘peace’ means), and how to respond to a known danger. The answers to these questions aren’t clean or clear, and the response Cassie and Ethan eventually make has long-term repercussions.

Some questions I’m left pondering:

Did Cassie and/or Ethan make choices based on true or false objects of belief or love?

Does it matter whether their choices were based on truth or falsehood ; on love or anger or hope or revenge?

What is the significance of the quote from Ethan’s book:

Biological mimicry blurs the distinction between a monster and a mirror.

Is evolution mindless? What is the point of being self-reflectively human? How does (or doesn’t) this serve evolution?

ETA correct typos & hyperlinks

Sounds like a thought provoking book.

Hi Lisa, looks like we cross posted.

Did you read the John Scalzi series, Old Man's War? One of the alien races is far more technologically advanced and deliberately manipulates another species to see how they will evolve by giving them a technology that catapults them into the big leagues, but they haven't evolved individual consciousness yet. Then a human intervenes and gives them a vicarious consciousness. These external interventions in evolution have unforeseen consequences, of course. Makes me wonder what the results of our current manipulation of genes and DNA will be.

Lisa, I'd forgotten about the vicarious consciousness in the Scalzi series; thanks for the reminder.

I also wonder about long term consequences of genetic manipulation, though I don't think we'll start to see them until our generation is much older.

What I'm most aware of short term is affects of technology on our attention spans. A friend was telling me about her experience at a theater event recently - said the whole auditorium lit up at intermission because everyone was texting/emailing. I love the instantaneous communication, but sometimes I wonder if it isolates us more than puts us in touch each other.