XIEOUYANG - will I beat last year's paltry record?

1. Old Filth by Jane Gardam
2. The Transylvanian Trilogy: They Were Found Wanting by Miklos Banffy
3. The Transylvanian Trilogy: They Were Divided by Miklos Banffy
4. Tortilla Flat by John Steinbeck
5. Dark Invasion: 1915 by Howard Blum
6. America's Constitution: A Biography by Akhil Reed Amar
7. Arcadia by Lauren Groff
8. Light in August by William Faulkner
9. Off Keck Road by Mona Simpson
10. The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann von Goethe
11. The Mountain Lion by Jean Stafford
12. The Collected Stories of Stefan Zweig
13. Goodbye, Columbus by Philip Roth
14. El castigo del pense que by Tirso de Molina
15. The Professor and the Siren by Giuseppe Tomasi Di Lampedusa
16. Off Keck Road by Mona Simpson
17. Tortilla Flat by John Steinbeck
18. Alexander the Great by Buy Maclean Rogers
19. Quien calla, otorga by Tirso de Molina
20. Oedipus Rex by Sophocles
21. The Odyssey by Homer
22. Agamemnon by Aeschylus
23. Alexander: The Ambiguity of Greatness by Guy Maclean Rogers
24. The Conversion of the Jews by Philip Roth
25. Danton- a life by David Lawday
26. Saturday by Ian McEwen
27. Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
28. The Portrait of a Lady by Kuswant Singh
29. The 100 year old man who climbed out the window and disappearedby Jonas Jonasson
30. The Merry Wives of Windsor by William Shakespeare
31. A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare
32. An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser
33. Henry V by William Shakespeare
34. Household Words by Joan Silber
35. 1000 Years of Annoying the French by Stephen Clarke
36. Vita Nuova by Dante Alighieri
37. The Woman in White by William Wilke Collins
38. Carry me down by M. J. Hyland
39. The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare
40. The Collapse by Mary Elise Sarotte
41. Macbeth by William Shakespeare
42. Carry me Down by M. J Hyland
43. Othello by William Shakespeare
44. Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin

Book No. 1 - Old Filth by Jane Gardman

I had purchased this book right before Christmas, despite not being aware of the author, but because it was published by "Europa Editions" that I knew to be an excellent publishing house. I am glad I did.

Filth turns out to be an acronym for Failed In London Try Hong Kong, and it refers to Sir Edward Feathers, a successful British lawyer who works in Hong Kong. They call him Old Filth now, but the novel develops his life story from his birth in Malaysia, son to another lawyer expat who rejects him from the moment he is born. His mother dies shortly after his birth and Old Filth does not really have the love and affection of a mother or father. While young, around 5, his father ships him to England to be in the home of a "foster" mother who is abusive to the kids. Then he goes to live with some relatives for a few years and off to boarding school, then Oxford, etc. He marries but has no children and moves to work in the East, like his father. After many successful years, he inexplicably retires in England, rather than staying in the East where he lived practically all his life. He is the classic cold, reticent Englishman.

Reading this novel I learned about the "Raj Orphans," who were children of British who lived in the Raj (India primarily) but who were shipped back to England when very young to get a proper British education. They grew away from their parents, obviously lacking any emotional support or family upbringing.

This is a well-written novel, that seduces you to keep reading. If combines both seriousness and humor; its characters are well defined. It makes me want to read more of her books, which I will order shortly.

Welcome back! Sounds like a good one.

Manuel - Pleased to see you back again. Will try to keep up a little better with you in 2014.
Wishing you a happy new year.

Welcome back, Manuel! Nice review of Old Filth; I enjoyed it as well.

Hey there, Manuel. Glad to see you are still busy reading and writing excellent reviews. I hope you are enjoying retirement. I'm sorry I haven't managed to visit in the past 2 years. I really cut back on out-of-town trips for health reasons that really haven't improved, and in fact, incrementally worsened last year. So now I need to concentrate on improving health. I'm off to a good start this year, and might even have tied my LT nonaccomplishments of last year. Sorry to come to your thread and talk all about myself. Just wanted to say hello and touch base. If you're ever in my area visiting my daughter, please let me know. I'd love to buy you lunch and give the gift I prepared for you a couple years ago. I'm going to try to be more of a presence this year and follow your reviews.

Happy New Year, Manuel! It's so good to see you back for another challenging year, I just can't believe it took me three weeks to find you.
I've heard many good things about Old Filth and your review makes it even harder to resist, well maybe it's time to stop resisting.

Hi Lynda, for some reason I have not been able to catch up on LT, must less read and update on what I've read. One thing is those Coursera and EdX internet courses that are keeping me busy. Also, helping my wife took some time although she is much better and, in fact, this past week she was finally allowed to drive.
You'd think that with all the snow falling this year I'd have more time to read, but no.

Hi Manuel! How are you doing? :)

Hi Kathy, and all. Things haven't been going too well around my house unfortunately. My wife had to have another surgery (3rd one in four months!)- this time on the left lung. Although she is recovering well; she is right now in rehab where she's been the last week. Hopefully she'll be out within one or two weeks. Couldn't bring her home yet because we live in a tri-level house with many stairs, so until she is strong enough to climb stairs she will be released.
On top of this we had decided to do some remodeling in the house- bad timing! So far they've carpeted the living and dining room, next week they'll come to paint those two rooms and the kitchen. Next are the bathrooms. So, not to sound like a cry-baby, but I've spent my days hanging around the hospital/rehab facility and my nights packing books (I can see the advantage of having all your books in a Nook now) and removing paintings from walls, things and trinkets that are all over the place. I want to get it all done before she returns.
I've been reading a few books still- can't get me away from that. One of these days I will post them on LT. But I should mention that this is the first time I peek into LT in over a month, I'll come back more frequently though because I enjoy the group.

De-lurking to say that I'm sorry that you're having a rough time right now, and that I'll keep you and your wife in my thoughts.

I'm sorry to hear about that. I hope that your wife and you are facing better times soon! I wish all that energy to get through this to you both.

Sorry to hear about all that. Best wishes to both of you.

Greetings Manuel! Glad to see that your wife is recovering from her recent surgery. I've learned from my mom's experience that rehab is a wonderful thing, for patient and family. Hope that she'll be home soon if not already.
I'm happy someone is remodeling! Things move slowly at my house. Remember that tub of mine? We rec'd estimates of $4000 to replace and they'd have to tear out the surround, the floor etc. Husband nixed that idea and found a way to patch the crack. So far, so good and it looks decent too.

News Alert!! Today is your Thingaversary! 6 years! I hope you have time to purchase your versary books today, 6 + 1 to grow on.

Happy Spring too

Happy Thingaversary, Manuel!

Manuel, I hope your wife is doing better. Being the caretaker for a loved one can be challenging, especially as the weeks pile up, so I hope you are taking care of yourself too. I hope the remodel is all finished by now and that you are happy with the result. We had an exhaust fan installed in our main bathroom last weekend, but the job didn't quite get finished, so we're spending this week without electricity to that bathroom until the final bit can be resolved this weekend. But it'll be a great improvement once it's done. Cheers, and may you find time to read.

Hi Lynda, Kathy and Chris. Thanks for your comments, my wife is doing better but it's been very time consuming, The worst part was when she was in a rehab facility that, even though it's supposed to be the best in town, was quite depressing. The staff were admirable and very helpful and good spirited, but it's depressing to see some of the other people there in very difficult situations. But my wife is back home now and improving quite nicely. Still gets tired when she walks too much but it's all forward and positive from now on.
Needless to say, I have been away from LT. However, I've been reading books all along that I will update shortly. One of my jobs ended but I have still a consulting job with a company in the Milwaukee area. I like it because I do most of the work from home and meet with them only occasionally. And the job is rather interesting.
And, oh yes, the remodeling job is not done yet. Carpeting and painting on the living/dining area and kitchen are done (no, no carpeting in the kitchen!) but still to do is the family room and the bathrooms. They are supposed to do one of the bathrooms in about 2 weeks, but they should be able to finish in 2 days or so.
The difficult part in all of this is that I had to box all the books and put them away so they could do the work. Between my wive's and my books I probably boxed over 2,000 and still haven't finished the family room. The good thing is that we are finding some books that can be donated to the library.

I will try to catch up on the posts, and will post the books read over the next few days.

These are the books I recall reading over the last three months. I will try to write a commentary later.

2. The Transylvanian Trilogy: They Were Found Wanting by Miklos Banffy
3. The Transylvanian Trilogy: They Were Divided by Miklos Banffy
4. Tortilla Flat by John Steinbeck
5. Dark Invasion: 1915 by Howard Blum
6. America's Constitution: A Biography by Akhil Reed Amar
7. Arcadia by Lauren Groff
8. Light in August by William Faulkner
9. Off Keck Road by Mona Simpson

Glad your wife is feeling better.

I loved The Transylvanian Trilogy -- will be interested in your comments. I guess you read They Were Counted already.

I'm also glad to hear that your wife is doing better, Manuel.

Thanks to both- the wife is healing albeit more slowly than one wants.
Things are getting back to normal although my "consulting" jobs are keeping me busy. I don't mind since I am enjoying them tremendously.

Book # 11. The Mountain Lion by Jean Stafford

First of all, let me say that I've been away from LT for a while, even though I have continued to read of course. I have been spending some time taking care of my wife, and carrying all the household duties (turns out that I enjoy cooking, go figure) and have not had much time to dedicate to keep up with LT. But now I think I can start catching up.

Review of the book.
I found this a very enjoyable read. It's very well written.

A young boy, Ralph, and his sister Molly are growing up in California. Even though they have a mother and two sisters, their relations with them are not very close. In fact, they seem to hate them. Their mother appears to be more into herself and not aware of their needs.
During the summers they are sent to Colorado, to spend time with their uncle Claude at his ranch. Eventually, they spend a whole year with him while the mother and the two sisters do a world tour.
Ralph and Molly have a love-hate relationship, typical of siblings. Molly is the more intelligent of the two, and wants to become a writer. As they grow to their late teens, they become more and more estranged, even though they live and travel together.
The story has an unexpected but tragic end.

I loved The Mountain Lion and it led me to read a book of stories by Stafford as well. I found it very disturbing and thought Stafford brilliantly packed a lot into a relatively short level.

It's nice to see you back, and I'm glad things seem to be improving at home (based on your having time for LT now).

I just added books #13 through #18 that I've read over the last few months. I will write commentary on them as time permits. As well as adding other books I've read...

Book #20. Oedipus Rex by Sophocles
I just re-read this play as one of the readings for an internet course on Greek & Roman mythology. I don't think there is any need to recap the story, as it's well known. However, I must say that reading it after listening to a lecture by the professor, Peter Struck from Penn, gave me a deeper understanding of the tragedy.
Incidentally, one of the reasons I've been away from LT is these internet courses that I am taking. They've been very interesting and a lot of fun. But they do take a lot of time, especially if you are like me and want to take as many as possible!

Oh, interesting about the internet courses. What are some of the other ones you're taking?

Currently, besides the Greek/Roman mythology one, I am taking a course on the French Revolution. This has been a real eye opener because, previously, I only had a faint recollection of some of the key events. But getting into the details, the involvement of the people at all levels (the famous Three Estates: Clergy, Nobility, Common people) and how events and missteps by key individuals led gradually into the infamous terror.
Very much worthwhile.
Also, I am taking a year-long course on Chinese history, but thankfully we are now in Summer break.
I would recommend you look into it. The two outfits I use mainly are Coursera and EdX. But there are several others. Free! It doesn't get any better.

I would love to take online courses but I don't feel I have the time to really take full advantage of them. The French Revolution course must be fascinating; I got interested in it after reading first A Place of Greater Safety by Hilary Mantel and then Citizens by Simon Schama. I can highly recommend both of these books.

Interestingly, a couple of people taking the class commented on the Schama book but felt that it was biased (I think the commentors were French, naturally a British writer should be biased in their view)

Well, Schama does say he takes a "revisionist" point of view, but it made sense to me as I read the book. And he's a wonderful writer. Aren't most books biased (or "biased")?

Book# 26. Saturday by Ian McEwen
This book was a disappointment to me. I was expecting something as well written and entertaining as Atonement, but turned out to be the opposite.
The premise of the book was promising, following the events of a doctor's life on a Saturday- his day of rest and relaxation. A fairly boring but easy day. One of his plans is to have a game of squash with one of his colleagues at the hospital, but on the way he has a minor accident with some young thugs. The accident leads to him getting beat up, but not before he diagnoses that the principal guy has a degenerating ailment. The doctor's reveals this to the hoodlums that makes the principal guy, Baxter is his name, lose face and his dominant position with his friends. Although the doctor manages to escape and continue with his life, you can imagine that the thugs are not happy, and are probably looking for him. This is the final part of the story. But in the mean time he goes to have the squash game with his partner- where McEwen spends an inordinately amount of time narrating the game, the hits, the misses, and the frustration of the doctor. This, to me, was the most boring part of the novel even though I used to play handball (i.e., squash without the rackets) when I was in college.
I certainly hope that the other McEwen novel that I purchased on my latest trip to Austin turns out better- so I can keep my faith on him. The novel is Enduring Love: A Novel

I must say I am not a McEwen fan, having been one of the few people who disliked Atonement and then reading excerpts from both Saturday and On Chesil Beach in the New Yorker. Your review doesn't make me change my mind!

Manuel! So nice to see you posting again! Yes, the online courses are amazing. I have learned I need to fight the temptation of registering for everything I see! June and July! Bad time to take four courses. I finally decided to drop all of them as they deserve much more time than I allotted them.

I'm very much looking forward to The Fiction of Relationship. It looks great with many books on my To Read List while others will be a quick refresher.

McEwen. Well he offers up some surprises in his writing. Sometimes it hits me, other times not. I failed to record my reviews on LT but I can tell you I rated Saturday and Chesil Beach quite highly. I recall not enjoying Atonement in the least. Nonetheless he takes you places.

Have a wonderful holiday weekend.

I'm a McEwan fan, and I was fond of On Chesil Beach and Saturday; I'm sorry that you didn't like that latter book, Manuel. I haven't read Atonement yet, nor Enduring Love, though.

It's interesting that the three people whose opinion on books I respect highly, have different opinions on McEwen. Which way should I lean? Hmmm.
Actually, it's a good thing that I hadn't rad any commentary on Saturday before reading it, other than the back cover blurbs.

Yes, Lynda, I run into the same problem with the internet courses. I do sign up to courses, sign, sign, sign; but then I go, drop, drop, drop.
I am getting to be a little more judicious with my choices now- but the temptation is always too great.

Book #27. Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
This is one of those books that I read, at least once, when I was in school. And following the advice of a teacher of mine that there are some books that one must read once when young, and then again when old, i went ahead and read it again. It's time well spent.

One of the things I really enjoyed this time, and I had totally forgotten, are the chapters that Steinbeck interspersed every so often, covering the general feelings, problems, predicaments and overall injustice that migrant workers faced. These chapters truly gave a sense that the Joad family were not the only ones, but were only exemplary of the situation suffered by thousands, tens of thousands, of migrants desperately fleeing the "dustbowl."

There are some books that truly deserve to be called great literature. Grapes of Wrath clearly falls in this group.

Book #28. The Portrait of a Lady by Kushwant Singh
This is a collection of presumably all the short stories that Kushwant Singh wrote. He just died in March of this year at the respectable age of 99 years 1 month after a prolific life as a write and newspaper columnist.
These are a wonderful set of stories, covering all kinds of individuals- most of them are Anglicized Indians, or better yet, Indians who naturally were influenced by the years of British colonialism. Although in many of them there prevails a keen desire for the Hindu traditions to overcome the British influences.
There many stories where the interactions of Indians with different religious background conflict- Hindu, Sikh (Kushwant was a Sikh), Mulsim and Christian. The latter two are touched in a few stories but only peripherally. Mostly, when religion plays a role, is either Hindu or Sikh.

Hello Manuel! The big trip to my mom's happened, and now the goal is to stay home until Thanksgiving. So I am afraid that the side trip to see you must be postponed yet again. Sigh. I'm afraid we're out of cope and haven't had much left over for fun. Now that I've told my mom I am on hiatus for a few weeks at least, my dad is now calling for me to step up and help out that side of the family more. The joys of aging parents, I guess.

Anyway, I am glad that you're enjoying the online courses. I took an introduction to databases course a few years ago that I really liked. Still haven't progressed to designing my databases yet, but at least got a sense of the territory. And I just finished up one on medieval Spain: Deciphering Secrets: Unlocking the Manuscripts of Medieval Spain. It was essentially a crowd-sourced transcription project that entailed an overview of relevant history and basic paleography. Lots of fun. I still have the books I checked out for supplementary reading and trying to figure out whether I have the oompah to finish them beyond the few chapters assigned for the class.

Plus, Ta-Nehisi Coates is doing a group read of The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander at his blog right now, and it's so tempting to rush out and buy the book and join in. But I have a costuming project that I need to focus on, that's already been put on hold for various emergencies and community projects in the last few years. Sigh. So many books, and tough choices must be made.

As always, I enjoy reading your reviews. And I hope your wife is now much recovered. Enjoy the last days of summer and the change of leaves. It's a nice combo right now.

Book #29 - The 100-year-old man who climbed out the window and disappeared by Jonas Jonasson
I have been remiss in keeping up with this group, or any other in fact.
I just finished reading this book, assigned in a library reading club, and found it one of the funniest and most hilarious books that I've read in a long time. Following the adventures and misadventures of Allan Karlsson, the 100-year old man, is an enjoyable trip as he goes around the world in a series of encounters with most of the major leaders and key events of the 20th century. It's all fiction, of course, but truly enjoyable fiction. It's also, at the same time, a nice recap of 20th century world history.

Books #30 and #31 - The Merry Wives of Windsor and A Midsummer Night's Dream

Both of these plays are some of the ones assigned for an internet class on William Shakespeare that I am taking. The course is offered, appropriately because of the short distance to Stratford, by the University of Warwick. Aside from the plays themselves, which are both very enjoyable, the lectures add an interesting dimension since they focus mostly on events and objects around Shakespeare himself. The lecturer is associated with both the University and the Shakespeare Birth Trust, so he has wide knowledge about Shakespeare, plus access to a lot of information and objects from the Trust itself.
So far, this course is one of the most worthwhile I've taken so far- including the reading of eight of Shakespeare's plays.
I would highly recommend looking into some of these courses. There are so many organizations offering classes in such a large variety of topics, that anybody is bound to to find something of interest no matter how obscure it may be.

Book #32 - An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser

I received this book recently as part of the Library of America series. I had read last year Dreiser's Sister Carrie I did not expect much from this book, although I liked Dreiser's writing style. After reading An American Tragedy I moved him up to my list of favorite writers. I was enthralled throughout the story, his writing kept me gripped and couldn't put the book down. He doesn't use gimmicks to get the reader's attention, such as Stephen King or many modern writers do. But it's rather his ability to tell the story rather well and to capture the inner, psychological and moral feelings of his characters.

The story revolves about the life of Clyde Griffiths, a young man who is raised by a poor family whose parents do a lot of preaching on the streets and have a deprived church. Clyde does not like that at all, neither does he like the severity of his parents. He aspires to much more; this is what leads him to the tragedy. After a stint working at a hotel as a bell-boy, and then a club, he moves to the East Coast and finds work with his father's brother, who owns a factory making collars. His uncle and the cousins really don't want anything to do with him; in fact, they initially object to the father hiring Clyde since he comes from such a low background.
While working at the factory, Clyde violates one of the company's tenets by initially dating and then having a relationship with one of the factory girls. Worse yet, the girl was working in the department that Clyde was manager. Clyde maintain the relationship with Roberta Allen, that's the girl's name, a secret, and convinces her that it's important that it be kept secret. At first he is in love with her, as she is very beautiful even though she also comes from a very poor background, and her family are farmers to boot.
Soon after Clyde meets and starts hanging around with some of the town's elite- even though his uncle and cousins still don't want to deal with him. But some of the other young, rich kids like Clyde and assume that since he's a Griffiths he should be OK. Clyde falls in love with one of the rich kids, another beautiful young girls named Sondra Finchley. So he meets with Sondra and her friends many days and evenings; but many nights he goes to visit Roberta. Eventually Roberta becomes pregnant and this poses a problem for Clyde. He obviously does not want to marry her, even though she wants to. Plus she wants to cover the shame of having a day out of wedlock (ah, those were the days when such things were rare).
This situation, Roberta pregnant and insisting that he marry her, leads Clyde to think about getting rid of her. An article in a newspaper about a young couple who drowned on a lake when their boat overturned gives him the idea. To make this story short, they go on a trip to presumably get married although he has the intention of drowning her (previously she had told Clyde she couldn't swim). On the way to the lake Clyde is having second thoughts so we are not sure if he changed his mind or not. But in the end she drowns, he swims to shore, hides and joins his rich friends.
The police investigation is very swift, because of the number of clear clues that are left and he is aprehended. A most interesting part of the novel is the process through which he goes trying to gain his freedom and avoid capital punishment. This he gets at the end.

>42 xieouyang: I recently read this one for the first time, too. I can't say that I *enjoyed* it - too bleak for that - but I do appreciate Dreiser's writing.

I've never read any Dreiser, but I feel I should . . . Thanks for your review.

Amber, I think I misused the word enjoyed- yes, you are correct there is no joy to be derived from the book. However, I did like the book a lot.

Book #34 - Household Words by Joan Silber

I picked this book at Half Price Books while seeking by another one by the same author that has been assigned in my library reading club. Since the one assigned wasn't available I decided to get this one and see what this author is all about.

As I expected, this is a novel where women predominate- males, to my disappointment, are mostly on the background and really not worth much. Although the husband of the main protagonist, who dies early in the novel, has some redeeming qualities. The novel is set mostly in the 50s, thus the typical stereotypes of both males and females are de rigueur- no problem for me there.

Throughout the novel a lot of things happen to the main character, that she seems to take in good stride but oftentimes I was thinking "get a grip woman!," rather than just let all these things happen. For one, she has two daughters who become more and more detached of her as they grow up, and more rebellious in a disobedient way. But again, she seemed to me unable to handle them. Maybe being a single mother made it more difficult, I wouldn't know that of course.

In the end, were it not that Silber's Ideas in Heaven had been assigned for reading in the Spring, I would not read it. So I must cheerfully look forward to it.

>45 xieouyang: It's difficult to describe how we feel about these sorts of books, isn't it? They're so well written, but they don't exactly make you feel happy. Ha!

Book #35 - 1000 Years of Annoying the French by Stephen Clarke

I picked this book at Heathrow airport in London, waiting for my flight to Paris- maybe not a good idea to purchase such a title before going to France.

If you are French, your ancestors are French, or have affinities to French people, then stay away from this book. it'll only drive you nuts and will make you angry.

If you are not any of the above, then proceed to read it and enjoy a totally politically and socially incorrect book. But also extremely humorous from beginning to end. The author follows a chronological overview of English-French relations and incidents over the last 1000 years. Needless to say, as it's implied in the title, the French are the "butt of the jokes." Starting from everything that the French claim to be truly French (think champagne, baguettes, the guillotine, etc.) Clarke shows that their origin is not French, in fact it's mostly British. All the conflicts between France and England are won by the Brits, except perhaps the American Revolutionary war when the French fleet was successful in defeating the Brits. However, Clarke's out is that, in the end, winning the war resulted in France's acquiring a huge debt, selling Louisiana to the U.S. and seeing its empire be reduced.

Finally, even inadvertently, British manage to insult the French in many different ways. Such as, for instance, when the Chunnel was built underneath the English Channel (there you go, again, naming a channel with a British rather than a French name), the original station where the Eurostar train ended on its way from Paris to London was Waterloo, named after the British victory over Napoleon! The French coming from Paris are immediately reminded, upon arrival, about their loss to the Brits 200 years or so earlier. Also, when President Sarkozy arrived in London for an official visit, he is taken to the National Gallery and proudly shown the two prized paintings at the gallery, huge depictions of the Waterloo and Trafalgar victories- both against the French.

The author goes on and on with examples, all of them told in a very jocular way. I didn't read this book in one sitting but, rather, read it over several months a few pages at a time. It's funnier that way.

>48 xieouyang: Sounds like a very entertaining book. I'll put it on the list. thanks

Book No. 36 - Vita Nuova by Dante Alighieri

Dante wrote Vita Nuova and published it when he was thirty- it's the first book he published even though he had written many poems previously that were circulated among his friends and acquaintances.

This is a wonderful little book; wonderful in the true sense of the word because it makes you really wonder. It's a love poetry book; but a very unusual one. I read it about 20 years ago when I curiously picked it up because it intrigued me to know other books that Dante may have written, aside from the Divina Commedia that he wrote late in life. And I remember thinking at the time how unusual this book was- there may be others similarly written but I never encounter them before, or since.

The book consists of 42 small chapters, some of them only a brief paragraph or two. Most of the chapters have a poem, nothing unusual here. But the strange thing about the book, is that many times he goes on to explain the reasons and circumstances why he wrote the poem. Furthermore, he provides some analytical explanation of the poem; how the poem should be read and interpreted. This approach is both unusual, as I said, plus very helpful. I like to read poetry, but oftentimes the poem is very obscure and difficult to understand- this leads the reader to think "what's the point?" Not the case with Vita Nuova. The explanations gives you the context of the poem, and helps you appreciate it and enjoy it much better.

Through the poems he narrates his encounters with Beatrice from the time he was nine years old- Beatrice, the one who will guide him through Paradise in the third part of the Divina Commedia. So it is a lovely introduction to the Divina Commedia. I've read it again because of a MOOC course that I am taking on the Divina Commedia; it surprised me to see that we read this as the beginning of the course, but I am not surprised anymore.

Book No. 37 - The Woman in White by William Wilke Collins

I started reading this novel last year, downloaded to my Nook. But for some reason i stopped halfway and never got back to it until now. The reason is that I saw a hardbound copy of the book on a visit to Half Price Books, published by Everymans Library. I still much prefer paper books to electronic ones. Proof of that is the fact that I started it again a couple of days ago and just finished it now.

This is a 19th century novel written with a richness of details and a multitude of characters and lots of confusing events, typical of novels of that time. I was not an English major but I would categorize the novel as a Gothic-Romance, or perhaps Romantic-Gothic novel. It's an entertaining read with both good and bad characters, that are delineated clearly. The novel is in the spirit of Charles Dickens, Anthony Trollope and authors of that ilk.

I am not going to retell the story. But if you want to read a novel that will keep you entertained and engrossed for a couple of days, this is it.

Book No. 38 - Carry me down by M. J. Hyland

This is a terrible book. Not terrible in the sense of bad writing, but terrible in the sense of bad things happening, or going to happen. Although they do not really happen in the end.

The story revolves around an 11 year-old boy, who initially lives with father, mother and grandmother in the town of Gorey, Ireland. The story is narrated solely from the viewpoint of the child who is obsessed with the Guinness Book of Records and who thinks he can tell when people are lying. He tries to develop his skill at detecting liers through the story. He is very large for his age and the reader is not sure if he is all well, perhaps he is bordering on insanity.

There is a sense of extreme tenseness in the family from the beginning of the novel. The mother and father don't seem to communicate much, and the son thinks that something is going on that he does not capture. There is a strain of violence in the father, perhaps restrained violence I should say although at one point he hits his mother; and later on he also has a struggle with his wife. There is an underlying attraction between the mother and son that borders on the unnatural, although it does not get to be even sensual, much less sexual.

I think this book is a worthwhile read- it's suspenseful throughout without being gory or having much violence.

Book No. 40 - The Collapse by Mary Elise Sarotte

On this 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall (it's been 25 years!!!) I thought that it would be a good time to get a deeper understanding of the causes and forces underlying the decline and disappearance of the fearful East German regime. Among the many books available on the subject, this one seemed to be the best balanced and most worthy of reading.

We all remember, at least I do, the excitement of seeing those people dancing on top of the Berlin wall on that cold November 9th, 1989. Also, the gradual hammering away at the wall to break it down or, as president Reagan famously said, tearing it down. Also, we remember or have images of the dreaded Stasi, the East German police that kept tabs on everyone and who would take one away for the slightest reason. However, Sarotte's book explains that a lot more was going on. Yes, the Stasi were dreaded but also not entirely efficient. They may have been brutal but also they were not able to respond quickly to changing circumstances. During the previous month, in October, a number of huge demonstrations took place in various cities throughout East Germany. Some of them, such as one that took place in Leipzig, was estimated at more than 300,000 people and were entirely peaceful. The Communist government did not know how to react. They seemed to be waiting for instructions from above and, at the fateful events of Nov. 9th, they were actually waiting for a response from Moscow.

Sarotte explains that a lot of misinformed people in the East German government, policemen, Stasi, border guards, members of the Politburo, etc. did not communicate very well with each other and misunderstood instructions. Plus in many instances, nobody wanted to make a decision. This ended up with the East German people piling up on the borders, primarily around the wall in East Berlin demanding to be allowed to go to West Berlin. A surprise to me was that many of them, if not most, only wanted to go to the West to visit, they wanted to return to their homes in East Germany.

It's amazing, even after so many years from the event, that things evolved so rapidly. The wall came down in Nov. 9th, 1989, and with it the East German Communist regime. A year later the process of reunification with West German was well underway. A great ending to a story that could've ended tragically. Sarotte tells the story very well.

Book No. 41 - Macbeth by William Shakespeare

What can I say about this tragedy better than what's been said already? Not much. Why read it again? In my current case because it is one of the assigned readings in a MOOC class I am taking- this is the fourth one so far, four more to go.
Aside from the class, however, I should say that I've read and watched this play several times before- each reading is different from the other. And each one strikes me differently too.

I also remember that fateful day 25 years ago, Manuel. What a beautiful site to behold. So fortuitous that it ended relatively violence free.

Which MOOC are you enrolled in which includes Macbeth? I love the literature courses and wish to take more.

Hi Lynda, I've been out of LT for a few days, lots actually, distracted by MOOCs and some consulting work. Plus a lot of cooking and baking that I continue to do while my wife recovers but I enjoy.
The course on Shakespeare is called "Shakespeare and his world"- clever title! Jesting aside, it's put by the Shakespeare Birth Trust in Stratford and hosted by a teacher from the University of Warwick. We are reading 8 plays/tragedies. It's a really interesting class because the way the teacher is interweaving materials, stories, texts to put each of the stories within a historical context. It's the same material that you would read in a typical introduction to the plays, but it's made much more vivid. Finished Ohello last week and am finishing Antony and Cleopatra this week. The last play is The Tempest, that incidentally I saw it performed in Stratford about 10 years ago.
By the way, I was disappointed when I visited Stratford because even though we stayed in the town for a week, the only play being performed was The Tempest. I was hoping to see more than one. And I was back there a couple of more time, for business, and didn't have a chance to go see another play.

Thanks for the info, Manuel. I've registered to be alerted for the next session.

Merry Christmas, Manuel!

Happy Holidays!

Happy New Year! I reached my reading goal, but completely failed LT participation goal...I've enjoyed catching up on your book reading account. See you in 2015, I hope.