RidgewayGirl Reads in 2015 -- Part Two

Having reached mid-March, my goal of reading a larger proportion of books by women is going well. Slightly more than 70% of my reading has been books written by women. As John Scalzi says, books by men will still be there when I want to read them.

This year's goal is to increase the percentage of women authors to at least 60%. And that's it. My reading has been a mixture of the noteworthy, the proven classic and pure junk. I don't expect that to change.

In addition to book reviews, I'll also be posting reviews of art exhibitions and museum visits. Munich has a quantity of excellent art museums, from the enormous to the tiny, with an busy schedule of temporary exhibits. Writing about what I've seen keeps me from mixing them up and forgetting what I saw.



Currently Reading



Recently Read



Recently Acquired

Read in 2015

January
Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
The Handsome Man's Deluxe Cafe by Alexander McCall Smith
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace by Jeff Hobbs
In Matto's Realm by Friedrich Glauser
Lovely, Dark, Deep by Joyce Carol Oates
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer
The Prestige by Christopher Priest
Being Mortal by Atul Gawande

February
All the Birds, Singing by Evie Wyld
After I'm Gone by Laura Lippman
A Thread of Grace by Mary Doria Russell
Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill
The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith (J.K. Rowling)
Adam by Ariel Schrag
Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
Broken Monsters by Lauren Beukes
Us by David Nicholls

March
The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
Longbourn by Jo Baker
Stone Mattress: Nine Tales by Margaret Atwood
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
So You've Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson
The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters
Bad Feminist: Essays by Roxane Gay
Outline by Rachel Cusk
Sushi for Beginners by Marian Keyes
Ghettoside by Jill Leovy

April
Let Me Go by Chelsea Cain
Bitch in a Bonnet by Robert Rodi
The Mad and the Bad by Jean-Patrick Manchette
Our Daily Bread by Lauren B. Davis
The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher: Stories by Hilary Mantel
Stoner by John Williams
A Land More Kind than Home by Wiley Cash
Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
A Small Indiscretion by Jan Ellison
The Northern Clemency by Philip Hensher

May
The Uninvited Guests by Sadie Jones
The Day of Atonement by David Liss
MaddAddam by Margaret Atwood
Like a Charm edited by Karin Slaughter
Addition by Toni Jordan
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
Hausfrau by Jill Alexander Essbaum
First Frost by Sarah Addison Allen
Iphigenia in Forest Hills by Janet Malcolm
Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town by Jon Krakauer

June
The Girl Who Was Saturday Night by Heather O'Neill
Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson

Books Read by Year of Publication

I thought it might be interesting to see where this leads. Two of the books I'm currently reading were first published in the 1930s. I think that most of the books I read this year will have been published in 2014 or 2015, but it will still be interesting (to me, at least) to see it laid out.

1814 Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
1932 Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
1936 In Matto's Realm by Friedrich Glauser
1965 Stoner by John Williams
1969 Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
1972 The Mad and the Bad by Jean-Patrick Manchette
1995 The Prestige by Christopher Priest
2000 Sushi for Beginners by Marian Keyes
2004 Like a Charm edited by Karin Slaughter
2005 A Thread of Grace by Mary Doria Russell
2008 Addition by Toni Jordan
The Northern Clemency by Philip Hensher
2010 Bitch in a Bonnet by Robert Rodi
2011 Iphigenia in Forest Hills by Janet Malcolm
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
Our Daily Bread by Lauren B. Davis
2012 A Land More Kind than Home by Wiley Cash
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
The Uninvited Guests by Sadie Jones
2013 All the Birds, Singing by Evie Wyld
Let Me Go by Chelsea Cain
Longbourn by Jo Baker
MaddAddam by Margaret Atwood
2014 Adam by Ariel Schrag
After I'm Gone by Laura Lippman
Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer
The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher: Stories by Hilary Mantel
Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay
Being Mortal by Atul Gawande
Broken Monsters by Lauren Beukes
Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill
Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
The Girl Who Was Saturday Night by Heather O'Neill
The Handsome Man's Deluxe Cafe by Alexander McCall Smith
Outline by Rachel Cusk
The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters
The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace by Jeff Hobbs
The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith
A Small Indiscretion by Jan Ellison
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
Stone Mattress: Nine Tales by Margaret Atwood
Us by David Nicholls
2015 The Day of Atonement by David Liss
Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson
First Frost by Sarah Addison Allen
Ghettoside by Jill Levy
The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
Hausfrau by Jill Alexander Essbaum
Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town by Jon Krakauer
So You've Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson

And the compulsion to compile more and more statistics of negligible meaning continues:

Nationality of Author

American
Sarah Addison Allen (First Frost)
Chelsea Cain (Let Me Go)
Wiley Cash (A Land More Kind than Home)
Jan Ellison (A Small Indiscretion)
Jill Alexander Essbaum (Hausfrau)
Atul Gawande (Being Mortal)
Roxane Gay (Bad Feminist)
Jeff Hobbs (The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace)
Jon Krakauer (Missoula)
Erik Larson (Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania)
Jill Leovy (Ghettoside)
Laura Lippman (After I'm Gone)
David Liss (The Day of Atonement)
Janet Malcolm (Iphigenia in Forest Hills)
Madeline Miller (The Song of Achilles)
Celeste Ng (Everything I Never Told You)
Joyce Carol Oates (Lovely, Dark, Deep)
Jenny Offill (Dept. of Speculation)
Robert Rodi (Bitch in a Bonnet)
Mary Doria Russell (A Thread of Grace)
Ariel Schrag (Adam)
Jeff Vandermeer (Annihilation)
Kurt Vonnegut (Slaughterhouse Five)
John Williams (Stoner)
Jacqueline Woodson (Brown Girl Dreaming)

Australian
Toni Jordan (Addition)
Evie Wyld (All the Birds, Singing)

British
Jane Austen (Mansfield Park)
Jo Baker (Longbourn)
Rachel Cusk (Outline)
Stella Gibbons (Cold Comfort Farm)
Paula Hawkins (The Girl on the Train)
Philip Hensher (The Northern Clemency)
Sadie Jones (The Uninvited Guests)
Hilary Mantel (The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher: Stories)
David Nicholls (Us)
Christopher Priest (The Prestige)
Jon Ronson (So You've Been Publicly Shamed)
J.K. Rowling (The Silkworm)
Alexander McCall Smith (The Handsome Man's Deluxe Cafe)
Sarah Waters (The Paying Guests)

Canadian
Margaret Atwood (MaddAddam, Stone Mattress: Nine Tales)
Lauren B. Davis (Our Daily Bread)
Emily St. John Mandel (Station Eleven)
Heather O'Neill (The Girl Who Was Saturday Night)

French
Jean-Patrick Manchette (The Mad and the Bad)

German
Friedrich Glauser (In Matto's Realm)

Irish
Marian Keyes (Sushi for Beginners)

Italian
Elena Ferrante (My Brilliant Friend)

South African
Lauren Beukes (Broken Monsters)

There are a few in your recently purchased pile that are really intriguing me, Kay. Looking forward to finding out what you think of them. You are doing the size of my wish list no good at all you know, lol!!!

>1 RidgewayGirl: OMG! That cartoon is hysterical!!!!
Remember the "I Love Lucy" episode where she made the commercial for vitamins? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2Z264w9_2Q

>1 RidgewayGirl: That's my trouble, I just haven't been taking my vitamins! It's just that I don't want to get *too* cute.

Alison, whether or not I read a book soon after I buy it or whether it languishes on a shelf for a good while is unrelated to how much I believe I want to read the book when I pick it up in the bookstore. In other words, I hope I read them all soonish.

Too funny, avid. At least it avoiding the more virulent strains of misogyny found in far too many ads.

It's probably for the best, Meredith. You don't want men showering you with vacuum cleaners and sets of pots, no matter how romantic that sounds.

>1 RidgewayGirl: Wow. These adverts are completely bonkers.

I need to get me some vitamins, clearly.

Interesting to see your reading in terms of year of publication; I'm curious to see mine now (mostly very recent, like yours).

>10 charl08: Advertising/packaging is still pretty bonkers. There's a trend of using pink and female figures on anything reduced fat, for instance (even more sinister on products that are largely consumed by children, like this string cheese).

I think those "vitamins" were mainly amphetamines, back in the day.

Charlotte, I completely agree. Of course nowadays we have special pens for women-something our delicate hands can hold.

Rachel, I'm a little embarrassed by how concentrated my reading is on recent books and on books from the UK and the US.

Meredith, the packaging that currently bothers me is the stuff that tries to say that something is healthy when it really, really isn't. It's like you can't trust what's on the wrapper.

Good times, Rebecca.

>14 RidgewayGirl: Not to mention the toys - I follow the let toys be toys campaign on twitter, and just maddening the amount of things marketing people try to hawk as 'for girls' or 'for boys' - lego seems to be going backwards, for example. So frustrating.

>15 charl08: Well, a lot of parents are pretty invested in the concept as well, excusing one child's violent behavior with "boys will be boys" or being tremendously upset whenever their son likes a toy that was intended for girls. It's this endless loop that feeds on itself.

Sarah Waters sets her latest novel, The Paying Guests, in suburban London in 1922. Frances Wray and her mother are still recovering from losing not only both of the sons in their family, but also Frances's father, who died leaving much less money than either woman had anticipated. Faced with her mother's helplessness, Frances set aside her own plans and stayed at home to do the work of the servants who were let go and to prepare the house for lodgers, which Mrs Wray calls "paying visitors" so as to keep up appearances. Leonard Barber and his wife Lilian move into the house, which is uncomfortable at first for the Wrays. Slowly, Lilian and Frances become friends, despite the class difference.

The Paying Guests is a book that takes its time, preferring to pace itself on the slow tempo of life in a quiet, upmarket neighborhood, where although everything is observed, not much happens. Frances is being strangled by her life in her mother's house, doing all the housekeeping and budgeting while her mother frets about how things look and wonders when the servants can be rehired. Still, she's going to do the right thing, even as she slips away to walk the streets of London and visit friends her mother disapproves of. Lilian is a breath of fresh air to her, and they share an enjoyment of Anna Karenina and a longing for more.

For a book encompassing lesbian sex, a secret love affair and murder, The Paying Guests proceeds at an outrageously measured pace. I was in the odd position of both being able to set the book aside for days at a time, and to be unable to put the book down when I was reading it. The specific atmosphere of London between the wars permeates every page of the novel. Frances is a fascinating character; brave enough to want to let go of propriety and live as she longs to do and yet responsible and loving enough to set all that aside for a parent who is not altogether appreciative, or even fully aware of Frances's sacrifice. I enjoyed The Paying Guests quite a bit despite its slow and deliberate pace.

Enjoyed your review of The Paying guests

>17 RidgewayGirl: I understand what you mean about being able to walk away from the book for a long period of time; then being unable to put it down! Enjoyed your review. Sounds like an interesting book. Is it part of a series?

Thanks, Bas.

No, avid, it's a stand-alone. I don't think Waters has ever written connected books. If you like books that evoke an age, then you might like this, unless you need a lot of action. Things happen, but it doesn't get exciting until midway through.

Enjoyed your review of The Paying Guests and as I've enjoyed other books by Waters I'll probably get to it eventually, maybe when it comes out in paperback.

With Bad Feminist: Essays, Roxane Gay has written a combination of memoir, pop cultural critique and a series of essays on serious subjects like racism, sexism and rape culture. It has to be the first book to discuss the Sweet Valley High series, comedian Daniel Tosh, competitive Scrabble and being on the tenure track. It's more like a late night conversation, moving from topic to topic, sometimes serious, sometimes funny, but always involving. Gay is interested in the world around her and she often likes problematic things like danceable songs with terrible lyrics.

Among my favorite parts of Bad Feminist are the parts where Gay discusses the books she's read, and it's clear that Gay reads as voraciously as anyone here. She's even read Fifty Shades of Grey and her comments on the series are tremendously funny. Gay also writes about writing and the publishing industry (there is really very little not touched on in this book.)

If readers discount certain topics as unworthy of their attention, if readers are going to judge a book by its cover or feel excluded from a certain kind of book because the cover is, say, pink, the failure is with the reader, not the writer. To read narrowly and shallowly is to read from a place of ignorance, and women writers can't fix that ignorance no matter what kind of books we write or how those books are marketed.

If you're looking for a textbook on feminist theory or for something unrelentingly serious, this isn't the book for you. Of course, this is also the wrong book if you just want something light and easy and amusing. Gay's book may be a hodge podge, and she may consider herself to be bad at feminism, but this is very much a book worth reading, whether or not you consider yourself a feminist.

>17 RidgewayGirl: Enjoyed your review of The Paying Guests more than I did the book - but I've loved her others, especially The Night Watch so will look out for her next one nonetheless.

Appreciate your review of The Paying Guests. I've only read her book The Night Watch, but didn't particularly love it (I felt like I barely knew any of the characters). The so-so reviews of The Paying Guests had made that slip lower on my to-read list, but I don't mind a slow, quiet book, so it's bouncing back up.

Charlotte, it was missing the impact of her other books, I felt. Even with all the drama and the murder, it still felt muted, which fit, I think, the setting and the way Frances felt trapped.

Meredith, Fingersmith is the most exciting of her books, although it's been described as Dickensian, which seems to turn some readers off. I loved it.

Outline by Rachel Cusk follows a woman teaching a week-long writing class in Athens, Greece. Or rather, we follow what other people tell her about themselves during this week. Faye, newly divorced, is figuring out the new shape of her life. She's being deliberately passive, allowing events to happen to her rather than trying to shape her experiences. And she's allowing other people to talk to her, without requiring that they then listen to her, which turns out to make them quite talkative, from the man in the seat next to hers in the plane on the way to Athens, to the teacher taking the apartment she's been staying in after she leaves.

Outline has the feel of a writing exercise. It should feel like less than a novel, being essentially a collection of monologues tied together by Faye's listening presence. There's no plot and little structure, although most of the pieces had to do with relationships and how we frame them when describing them to others. Since it only encompasses a week, and many of the people only speak to her once, there's an unfinished feel to them. Despite all of this, I found Outline to be both beautifully written and compelling in an odd way. I missed my train stop because of this book, which never happens. Despite the fact that each segment was just a portion of a person's view of their life and that none of the characters who spoke to Faye had any real connection to her or any of the other characters, each story was utterly fascinating.

Many thanks to Cariola for drawing my attention to this book.

>26 RidgewayGirl: Thanks for the review! I've been wanting to read this book and I'm glad to hear you liked it.

>26 RidgewayGirl: Outline sounds like a book I would enjoy. Onto the wish list . . .

I'd be interesting in finding out what you think of Outline, Florence and Poquette!

I'm off for a week of much needed vacation. We're driving south to Tuscany, to a rustic farmhouse which should have indoor plumbing, but will not have wifi. But we can bring the dog and get there in a reasonable day's drive, even given that after being stuck in one of the long tunnels through the Alps one time, we now take the longer drive over the pass. I've packed books, enough so that if Italy doesn't have all the cool stuff anymore, I won't run out.

See you next week!

Sounds like a great vacation. Have fun!

Nice review of The Paying Guests, Kay. I have it on list of books to read next month.

Enjoy your vacation in Tuscany!

I'm glad to see your review of The Paying Guests, as I have it waiting on my Kindle. Enjoy your vacation. I just got back from mine, and I'm back to reality.

Tuscan farmhouse, sounds wonderful. Enjoy!

Flowers For Algernon! Amazing. I remember weeping over that in my teens. There was also a movie, which I think stuck fairly close to the book. Can't remember who was in it. One seldom sees reference to it now. What inspired you to pick it up?

I just found a new ad for you . . .



" . . . pant & mate"

(Editing my original comment here:) What does that even mean? I know what it means, but what is the pun? I'm drawing a blank, but feel like I saw this ad in the 70s, understood it, and it didn't bother me (because back then I wouldn't have caught the meaning that is obvious to me now).

>35 Nickelini:. That is sooooo bad!

Well, that's tasteful, Joyce.

Thank you all. We had a wonderful time with good weather and the hill towns we visited were largely empty of tourists so early in the year, although we didn't go anywhere touristy except Florence, where I bought a beautiful purse since that seemed to be the appropriate thing to do. The kids want to move to Italy, so they liked it, too.

Darryl and Colleen, I'm finding a lot of people disliked The Paying Guests, finding it slow and less exciting than one would expect a book involving murder and sex. It had Victorian pacing, which is to say that the reader has to wait along with the characters for each exciting bit, and then spends the meantime quietly writing letters or catching up on housework. But I remain a big fan of the book and will love it forever.

O, I got Flowers for Algernon from my SantaThing santa. I love getting books I would not necessarily chosen for myself and each year has been so much fun.

Marian Keyes writes pure chick-lit, but with more substance than most. Her characters are three-dimensional and interested more in shopping and boys. She's my go-to choice for vacation reading. Sushi for Beginners is one of her lesser works, but it's still easy reading despite that.

Lisa's an ambitious editor at a London fashion magazine who has her sights set on New York, but she's sent to oversee the launch of a new magazine in the fashion hinterlands of Dublin, Ireland. Ashling is hired as her new assistant. Ashling feels compelled to help out wherever she sees a need, from handing a band-aid to her new boss to worrying about the homeless guy who sometimes sleeps in the doorway of her apartment building. Clodaugh has been Ashling's best friend since they started elementary school. She's got the life she wanted; married to a great guy with two kids and a big house, but she's dissatisfied with the pattern of her days.

Sushi for Beginners follows each woman as they find their way through daily life, struggling with failed marriages, depression and the ups and downs of relationships. While Keyes has written better books (Rachel's Holiday, Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married) this was still fun if you like that kind of thing.

> 37 Well, that's tasteful, Joyce.

Indeed! Now that we've all seen it, would you like me to remove it?

(I can't believe I used to read magazines with ads like that and not blink)

Taking part in the group read of Mansfield Park gave me an excuse to get a copy of Robert Rodi's Bitch In a Bonnet: Reclaiming Jane Austen From the Stiffs, the Snobs, the Simps and the Saps (Volume 1). Along with Mansfield Park, it also contains his witty, opinionated and intelligent commentary on Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice. Reading each chapter in Austen followed by Rodi's commentary was like having an animated discussion with a good friend. He made me look at Mansfield Park from a different angle. I disagreed with him on some things (he dislikes Fanny Price!) and found myself agreeing with him on others.

I had thought to save the other commentaries for my next reread of those books, but found myself unable to do so, having had so much fun with Mansfield Park. Rodi, who is very familiar with Austen's personal correspondence as well as her published books, sees her as not the genteel romantic she's stereo-typed as, but as an astute observer of social practices with a cutting wit that would make Mary Crawford blush. He points out the sly humor and finds both Elinor Dashwood and Lizzie Bennet to be utterly hilarious and charming women.

This is an excellent companion for any reread of Austen, but also great fun for those who are familiar with her novels.

How could anyone resist a classic French noir called The Mad and the Bad? I couldn't and for the most part Jean-Patrick Manchette's novel lived up to my expectations. Published in 1972, Manchette was influenced by American hard-boiled tales and wrote one of his own, adding a certain French sensibility to the genre.

Julie is released from a psychiatric institute in order to care for the nephew of a creepy, entitled businessman who ended up in charge of both the nephew and an enormous fortune when his brother dies. Julie's not someone one would naturally choose as the caregiver to a young child. There's that whole "just been released from a psychiatric institute" thing, but also her tendency to drink or take any drugs she finds available and an apparent lack of any nurturing skills. In her first encounter with the admittedly uncharming Peter, she slaps him while his guardian stands back and observes. This is not a book where the characters will bare their feelings or anything heartwarming will occur. And, sure enough, by the following day the reader is treated to a full helping of bad events when Julie and Peter are kidnapped.

There's a cinematic feel to this book, with chase scenes set inside supermarkets and large countryside houses that seem designed for film. There's not much down time, with some really bad guys chasing a surprisingly adaptable young woman and her charge through the south of France, bullets flying. This is a noir in the classic sense, with lots of attention paid to what's happening and less to the motivations, reasons and development of the characters involved.

Thank you to Rebecca for the discussion in her thread about Manchette.

>41 RidgewayGirl: Thanks for the thanks, and how could anyone pass up a book called The Mad and the Bad?

>41 RidgewayGirl:: sounds interesting. I saw on Amazon someone complaining about the translation quality - did you find any issues with that?

Rebecca, the title was the deciding factor!

Alison, I thought it was fine. The book has an old fashioned feel to it and that's reflected in the language, which had it's own off-kilter charm.

>44 RidgewayGirl: It was the deciding factor for me too, since I hadn't been wild about the previous book I had read by Manchette, Fatale (also in an NYRB edition).

>22 RidgewayGirl: Roxane Gay sounds terrific. Noting

-26 interesting about Outlines. It was published in parts inlast years Paris review. I've read the first two of four parts...

Rebecca, I'll probably wait, then, before I try to hunt down Manchette's other titles.

Daniel, Roxane Gay is fun. Feminism as light reading while still tackling some substantial issues.

I've added a new slacks ad. Not sexist at all this time. At all.

Bitch In a Bonnet: Reclaiming Jane Austen From the Stiffs, the Snobs, the Simps and the Saps (Volume 1) sounds very enticing. Added to the wishlist.

I guess I read the wrong magazines when I was younger as I missed ads like these back then. What I remember are the good-little-wife and the brawny-guy ads that annoyed me in the extreme.

>48 RidgewayGirl: Holy crap, could there be a more sinister ad?

>48 RidgewayGirl: unbelievable!

>48 RidgewayGirl: Oh my! What were they thinking?

I can't believe that ad!! I've stared at it till screensaver cut in and I still don't get it! Like NanaCC, I simply cannot figure out what they were thinking, and as mabith, so utterly sinister. Aside from the hideousness of the ad, there's also something about those tucked in turtleneck sweaters...

>48 RidgewayGirl:
This is creepy. Beyond creepy.

I've been thinking of what the message of the ad it, beyond "gang rape is just good wholesome fun!"

Maybe that if you buy these slightly too short slacks, you'll find some friends and a hobby?

Let Me Go is the sixth installment in Chelsea Cain's series about a serial killer and the cop who has been involved with her in many ways. I've enjoyed this series quite a bit, but it's becoming clear that it has run its course. The characters are less vivid than they've been and Gretchen Lowell, the serial killer, has slowly changed into someone who can do anything, manipulate anyone and go anywhere undetected despite being extraordinarily beautiful. It's boring. Even Susan, the disorganized journalist with amazing googling skills and a quirky personality, was flat. The actual plot was interesting enough, even if it took Gretchen acting as a sort of Deus ex Machina to resolve things. Really, this one is only for the die hard fans who have trouble letting go.

Ghettoside: A True Story of Murder in America by Jill Leovy is about the murder of a police officer's son in South Central Los Angeles and the investigation into his death. It's also about that part of Los Angeles, where the murder rate remains high and the victims are disproportionately young African American men, how these murders receive less resources than murders in other parts of the city and less attention than other policing strategies that are more visible and play better with voters. Leovy spend years embedded with the detectives of the 77th Street Division and her familiarity with and respect for the detectives and the residents of the area are apparent throughout this book.

Ghettoside would be a good companion book to The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander. Leovy posits that the high murder rate is caused by the failure of the authorities to call murderers to justice. Crime is deterred not by the severity of the potential punishment, but by the certainty an offender will be called to account. With just a third of murders leading to an arrest, the solve rate is dramatically lower than in other parts of the city. Police resources are concentrated on popular prevention initiatives, which leave residents feeling both targeted and unprotected. The detectives who work these cases are largely rookies and will leave the area for better positions before they are fully effective. Still, there are a few cops who have decided to remain, buying their own office supplies and working long hours in order to serve a community they value.

Leovy's book concerns one area in one city, but what she learns and takes from her experiences are important and should influence how we police our communities in every part of the country.

>57 RidgewayGirl: Such a fascinating book - and as you say, should be read and reflected upon. Hopefully will be by those who make decisions about policing. I was impressed with her willingness to spend years on the research for the book (even when her 'police beat' site was cancelled) - the level of detail she achieved was powerful.

>57 RidgewayGirl: Since I was very impressed by The New Jim Crow, this sounds like a book for me. Did it address what proportion of the cops are African American themselves?

Charlotte, it amazes me when authors will spend a decade building a book. Columbine took Dave Cullen a good ten years to write, too. There's so much more depth when the author is immersed in the subject. It's interesting how many books on the subject are now being published (The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace by Jeff Hobbs is another, although it's not as deep a study). There are a few more books I'd like to read soon.

Rebecca, it doesn't. It's more a microcosm than a broad study, although she does look outward as well.

Our Daily Bread by Lauren B. Davis is set in a small community in New York state. The town's residents fear and are contemptuous of those who live on the mountain. The story centers on a town family that is falling apart. Tom Evans went all the way to the city and brought back Patty, who is, years later, still viewed with suspicion as an outsider. She's struggling to cope, while her husband watches helplessly. Her ten-year-old daughter is being bullied at school but finds a refuge of sorts with the widow who runs an antique store. And her son, Bobby, a teenager, finds a new and exciting friend in Albert, who is 22 and one of the Erskine clan who live on the mountain.

This novel starts like a firecracker, combining a rural noir setting that Donald Ray Pollock and Daniel Woodrell would envy, pulling no punches as she describes what life is like for the Erskine clan through the eyes of Albert, who would dreams of leaving, but is trapped by both the family code of honor, where no one snitches and no one leaves, and his inability to leave the children trapped there to their fates. His uncles have decided to start making meth, which increases the level of danger for everyone in their small community. Add to this an End Times church with an outspoken, firebrand pastor and the scene is set for a dark and fascinating story.

And then Davis retreats. She moves the story into the small town at the base of the mountain, where everyone may be in each other's business, but they are respectable and law-abiding. The story of the Evans family is a good one, but after the raw power of that first chapter, it feels like a milder, less interesting story than what is happening a few miles away. Davis returns to the mountain at the end of the book, but by then that hard-edged approach feels tacked on for the shock value. This is a good book lessened in impact by the killer first chapter, the ending a disappointment of easy solutions. I'd love to see what Davis could write if she let herself go for an entire book. And the central story was interesting and worth reading, but so overshadowed by the framing chapters that its impact was lost.

>61 RidgewayGirl:: interesting book - I enjoyed your review. Disappointing to hear it lost pace in the middle, but still perhaps one for my wish list.

Just downloaded Bitch in a Bonnet to my Kindle -- thanks for the review. 99 Cents for anyone who's interested.

Bitch in a Bonnet is available in two volumes as Nook Books, one for ninety nine cents and the other for two dollars and ninety nine cents.

Robert

Nice review of Ghettoside, Kay. I haven't read The New Jim Crow yet, so I'll read it before I get to Leovy's book.

Ghettoside sounds important. Glad to have discovered it here.

Alison, I'll be watching for more by Davis, as she shows promise and certainly knows how to write and create complex, breathing characters. I wonder whether she'll continue to develop or move in the other direction and just write comfortable stories of families in conflict. While I long for the first, the second is probably much more lucrative.

Jane and Robert, I've downloaded the second to read with the books later in the year.

Darryl and Daniel, Ghettoside is an important book, I think. There should be more like it. It does make for uncomfortable reading at times. And I'll be interested in what you think about The New Jim Crow, Darryl.

Excellent review of Ghettoside

Thanks, Bas.



The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher: Stories is my first encounter with Hilary Mantel's short stories, as well as with her writing outside of her historical novels. She's good at them, if anyone was wondering about that. The stories here range from the odd and off-beat to stories which feel personal, as though they closely mirror events in her own life (I have no idea if that is actually the case and, really, it's unimportant. The important thing is that they feel real). They were all different and all very good, from the story of a young woman living as an expat in a Muslim country, to a marriage ending, to the title story, where a woman waiting for the plumber has a surprising day. The stand-out story in this collection was a quiet story called How Shall I Know You?, which seemed until the very end like the kind of story that rambles on, just narrating a few days in a particular woman's life, until the final lines, which turn the story over and into a tightly written whole.

>69 RidgewayGirl: I really want to get to this one at some point this year. I've seen a couple of 'meh' reviews, but far more positive ones.

>69 RidgewayGirl: I've read a lot of Mantel, and I didn't feel her earlier story collection was up to her novels, so I'm eager to read this one but I'm waiting for the paperback.

Rebecca, I'd only read her historical novels. If this didn't have the same name on the front cover, I'd never guess this was the author of Wolf Hall or A Place of Greater Safety. I'm now eager to read her contemporary stuff. I have Beyond Black on my TBR.

Colleen, I'd be interested in what you think of it. I picked it up based on SassyLassy's review.

One of the things I love about Mantel is that she doesn't always do the same thing, and sometimes what she does doesn't work so well, but I do admire her for trying new types of writing. I ended up really liking Beyond Black, but a lot of people don't: among her non-historical novels, my favorites are probably The Giant, O'Brien (which is sort of historical), Fludd, and A Change of Climate. I also really liked Vacant Possession, which is a sequel to Every Day Is Mother's Day which I didn't like as much.

Loved this collection too - as you say, they felt real, although very different settings. I have A Change of Climate out from the library at the moment, can't wait to get to it.

John Williams's novel Stoner is a difficult book to review. First published in 1965, Stoner tells the story of a quiet man who becomes an associate professor of English at the state university in Missouri, living a quiet and dignified life that makes no lasting impression. I know, right? You want to run to the bookstore right now and get your own copy.

Yet this low-key book packs a punch. Stoner may keep his emotions to himself and his life may be a routine and expected one, but the story is oddly gripping, how a boy from dour parents farming dying land went to college to study agriculture and ended up falling in love with literature and language, how he belonged at that university and how he ordered his days to reach something approaching contentment.

>75 RidgewayGirl: I'm glad you enjoyed Stoner. I read it last year on holiday and loved it. I really fancy trying Butcher's Crossing and Augustus by John Williams too.

Alison, I saw that NYRB has released a few more of his novels and I was tempted...

They've both got really good reviews on Amazon. Very different subjects to Stoner, but both sound fascinating.

>75 RidgewayGirl: Love your description of Stoner. This book has been on my wishlist for a while.

>75 RidgewayGirl:. Interesting review of Stoner, Kay. Chris has it marked as one of her favorites for 2014. Between the two of you, the recommendations say that I should get to that one.

Nice review of Stoner, Kay. I've seen nothing but positive reviews for it, but I'm still not tempted to read it.

I keep meaning to get to Stoner . . .

>75 RidgewayGirl: Stoner sounds interesting. I like low-key books that pack a punch. I'll keep it in mind.

Stoner is a hard book to describe. It's quietly powerful?

Louise Bourgeois. Structures of Existence: The Cells

"Every day you have to abandon your past or accept it, and then if you cannot accept it you become a sculptor."

Louise Bourgeois is an important artist who was among the first to embrace the idea of installations, although she did not begin creating her most famous installations, which she called "cells" until she was 75. This exhibition at the Haus der Kunst in Munich puts the largest number of them together in one place, using cells created for different exhibitions.



The cells were fascinating to look at. They were often created from doors and other materials salvaged from an old factory she had studio space in, and included materials like glass, fabric and found objects, as well as her sculptures. She grew up in a house attached to a tapestry works in Paris, her mother, who was in poor health, repaired old tapestries, and they show up in her work. She saw spiders as maternal; creatures who nurture and protect.



The cells are the size of small rooms. Some are surrounded by a metal mesh, but others are surrounded by old doors, allowing the viewer to look inside only by peeking through the gaps, through dusty, scratched windowpanes or through wider spots accessible to only one or two people at a time. While the cells are intensely personal, they are also atmospheric and fascinating.

There were other artworks, including paintings and her portraits; three-dimensional sculptures made of fabric, as well as other sculptures which were often organ-like.

Wow. Fascinating post. Love the spirals in the second image.

>85 RidgewayGirl: How fantastic and creepy her work is!

Love your idea of charting when the books were written. I might try that, especially this year, when I'm catching up on some classics.

Entertained by the dangling half human, half softserve (or, more likey, worse)

Loved your comments on Stoner.

The Louise Bourgeois exhibition was fantastic. It's impossible to describe how much more interesting and powerful her cells are when viewed in person.

Today I'm planning a trip to the Sammlung Goetz in order to see the exhibition of Cindy Sherman's photography. Munich has so many museums that host so many special exhibitions that I'm constantly distracted from the permanent collections. It's a great problem to have.

Love your museum reviews.

A Land More Kind Than Home by Wiley Cash tells the story of the Hall family. Growing up north of Asheville, North Carolina in the Appalachian mountains, Jess loves his father, a tobacco farmer, his mother and his older brother, nicknamed Stump, who doesn't talk, but who is his constant companion. His mother is involved in the local Church of God with Signs Following, a small, secretive pentecostal congregation led by a charismatic pastor. In this rural community, everyone knows everyone else and what their parents did. And then one event precipitates another and things go badly wrong.

This is a book whose sum is greater than its parts. Yes, there's fantastic atmosphere and a solid sense of place. And the characters are complex and even the secondary ones are fully fleshed out. The plot is well put together and moves with a sort of inevitable speed toward the conclusion, but this book just works. There are a few false notes. Cash missed a step by not fully exploring the beliefs of the church, which are more complex than he set forth, but as a whole, this was a fantastic book that fully deserves its reputation.

Sometime in my early teens, I tried to read Catch-22 and gave up partway through. Somehow, I've had the idea that Slaughterhouse Five was even odder and more difficult to understand, leading me to ignore it until now. Slaughterhouse Five is an odd book, to be sure, but also entirely readable and one that brings the horrors of war in general, and of the bombing of Dresden specifically, to life in an oblique, almost humorous way.

The protagonist, Billy Pilgrim, endures much in his life, from being a prisoner of war to being abducted by aliens, he experiences his life in a non-linear fashion, switching back and forth between the different events in his life, but always he's taken back to those dying days of the war. It's an unusual structure and one that works in a way a more straight forward accounting would not.

There's a lot to think about regarding this book, from the nature of war, to the nature of time to how Billy's personality and life experiences were shaped by the war. Also, Kurt Vonnegut makes a funny comment about Norman Mailer.

>93 RidgewayGirl: I was surprised at how easy to read Slaughterhouse Five was, considering that it's sometimes jumped around in time more than once in a single page. That must take some writing skill. I read the majority of the book in one sitting, which rarely happens for me.

valkyrdeath, I also thought the chapters that bracketed the book told from Vonnegut's perspective made the book more meaningful, although at first I wondered if what I'd heard about the book had all been wrong.

Did you ever go back to Catch 22? one of the funniest novels IMO

Not yet, bas. It looks like I should try again, and I will.

I was able to take a tour of the Cindy Sherman exhibit at the Sammlung Goetz last week. This is a very small museum of works collected by Ingvild Goetz, who is still collecting. The museum is now public, but as it's located on the grounds of her house and in a residential neighborhood, it has very limited opening hours and you have to book ahead of time. I took a guided tour of the Cindy Sherman exhibit and got to briefly visit an exhibit of Nathalie Djurberg's sculptures.



It was abundantly clear how little I know about photography when the guide mentioned that the museum has been busier than usual since everyone is familiar with Cindy Sherman's work. I hadn't even heard of her. Of course, Saturday I was downtown and a woman passed me carrying a shopping bag with one of her photos reproduced on the side.

Cindy Sherman is an American photographer who primarily photographs herself, not in self portraits, but as characters of various kinds. She became successful early on and has had a long career. This exhibit had photographs taken from many of her series, beginning with several taken while she was still in art school.

Her photographs tell stories, although what those stories are is up to the beholder. Here are a few pictures from the exhibit:





Her series are very different from each other, but also clearly the work of the same artist. This one is from her history portraits:



I won't say much about her photography as it was clear I was the last person to encounter her work for the first time. It was fantastic and it will be fun to look for her work elsewhere, now that I'm aware of it.

>98 RidgewayGirl: Wow, thanks for this. Her work is certainly intriguing. What a remarkable face she has!

Fascinating photographs; thanks for posting them.

I saw this article and thought of your thread -

http://pictorial.jezebel.com/forever-alone-how-midcentury-movie-magazines-sold-m...

(horrifically sexist ads from the 30's and 40's - and I didn't even know that scalp odor was something women had to worry about)

>98 RidgewayGirl: - I saw a Cindy Sherman exhibit several years back and was very impressed. It's great to see them live just because they're so big and a little overwhelming.

Also heard that Cindy Sherman emoticons are a Thing

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/11/cindy-sherman-emoji_n_6839976.html

Thanks, reva8 and Rebecca, I really enjoyed the collection and posting about what I see here does make me think about and remember more about what I saw. I hope to visit another special exhibition today, this time the German artists August Macke and Franz Marc. I've been to it once, when it first opened, and I'd like to see it again before it closes in a few weeks, especially to get a second look at the works normally in private homes or in museums I might not get to visit.

DieF, that's so much fun!

So Gone Girl was wildly successful and ever since new books have been compared to it, with the hope that we'll all buy just as many copies. A Small Indiscretion by Jan Ellison is one of those books. It does share a certain similarity to Gone Girl; the author is female and the book is a psychological thriller type story involving relationships and the main character is not easy to like. Beyond that, the comparison is tenuous.

Moving back and forth in time, A Small Indiscretion tells the story of Annie Black, who spent time working in London when she was a young woman, but who has since settled happily down in the San Francisco Bay area, married, raising her three children and running a small, successful store. The book is told from Annie's point of view, with the conceit of it being the story she is writing down for her son, who at the beginning of the book, was in a car accident which sent him into a coma. Annie's love life in London was complicated and things happened, which not only explain things in her present but are also revealed slowly, as the events triggered by them unfold as she tells her story.

It's a good enough story, although any tension relies wholly on the reader not being privy to what happened earlier; events that the protagonist narrator withholds from the reader. Hints are laid about liberally, but she skips over the missing information, sometimes clumsily. The book is suspenseful because the main character is being coy, not from any tension naturally arising from the plot. There is a big, dramatic conclusion, but with the big reveal from Annie's past coming just pages before the dramatic conclusion, there's no time to explain how x caused y. What happened in Annie's past was a little tawdry, but she was less an actor than a passive bystander and much too tangential to make the reverberations in her present make sense.

This wasn't a bad book; it just wasn't a good one, either.

>98 RidgewayGirl: I'm aware of Cindy Sherman's fame but have never seen an exhibition. I have to admit I'm not very tempted, but I should try to see one.

>103 RidgewayGirl: Thanks for the review. Doesn't sound like a book I would like. I keep hearing about Gone Girl, should I add it to my wishlist?

Florence, I read Gone Girl right when it was first published, because I like the author. Sharp Objects is a book I loved. If you enjoy a book in which there are two people who are manipulative and unlikeable and the plot keeps flipping over and twisting, than you'd enjoy Gone Girl. It's a fun, entertaining, page-turner with more intelligence and unpredictability than the average domestic thriller. Crime novels are what I read at the end of a long, stressful day or just want to be entertained without having to read closely. Which is the long way of saying that from what I know of your reading, I'm not sure you'd find enough substance there to satisfy you.

And I was glad to see Cindy Sherman's work and I'm sure that I'll be excited when I see her stuff out in the world. It's so instantly recognizable.

Cindy Sherman was a name I maybe knew, but what really caught me attention was a profile of her "Untitled Film Stills" series on a radio program. I was so disappointed to learn that the art discussed was no longer on exhibition in NYC:

http://www.studio360.org/story/american-icons-untitled-film-stills-05-15-2014/

Thanks, Eliz_M. I think that article needed more of her pictures. I hadn't known this before, but the guide told us that for photographs, museums get a showing copy made and the original is kept safely in a vault. There are photographers where, because the original (or original copy?) is so large and vivid or the artist uses techniques that don't really show in a book of reproductions, it's a much different experience to see the work in person, but Sherman's works are fairly small and I think the effect of them would be almost as good in a book with good reproductions.

The Northern Clemency by Philip Hensher begins in 1974 and follows two families living in Sheffield, England for the next twenty years. The Glover family holds a party, to which many in the neighborhood are invited. When Katherine conceived of the idea, it was with the assumption that the empty house across the street would have new owners, but it isn't until later that the Sellers family arrives from London to take up residence. Over the years, the two families become more entwined as they experience the changes brought by those two eventful decades, from the miners' strike to the changes caused by their children growing up and beginning life as adults.

I love novels like this, where ordinary people live ordinary lives, relationships strengthen or fail under adversity, children struggle through adolescence and find a place in the world, events swirl around them, some affecting them greatly, others barely noticed as they go about their lives.

For the most part, this was an excellent book. Hensher writes with compassion and understanding for the weaknesses and desires of his characters. It's only at the very end, when the least fleshed-out character behaves oddly and is treated unsympathetically by the author that I felt my interest flag a bit. It's like the author needed an event, for something more dramatic than the usual family crises, when the novel's strength lies in just those mundane affairs and relationships. Still, this was a solid novel and I look forward to reading more by this author.

>108 RidgewayGirl: I liked your review, and this sounds like an interesting book. I loved your description of novels "where ordinary people live ordinary lives."

I'm a fan of ordinary life novels too, and will definitely look for The Northern Clemency.

reva8 and Meredith, I take no responsibility for what you think about it, but I liked it. Setting the book in Yorkshire, in the heart of coal mining country, was another thing I liked about this book. So nice to read a book not set in New York or London!

I've put up a new sexist ad. It's depressing to say, but there are no shortage of ads that try to make gang rape sexy.

Living in a coal mining area myself, that's part of what makes me want to read the book.

That is just a terrible ad for jeans. I mean, you can barely see them. I can immediately think of at least two other ways they could have done a similar 'sexy' ad that would have been less creepy.

Gee, that's not rapey at all.

What were they thinking!?!?

I always go to "first unread," so I had to scroll to the top to see what you all were talking about! Calvin Klein jean ads were always considered very gay, as far as I knew, so that was an eye-opener.

Meredith, because The Northern Clemency follows two middle class families that were not directly affected by the strikes, it's not a major theme, but given the time and place where they live, it still features, especially concerning one person who briefly joins the strikes. It's very interesting and I'd like to read David Peace's GB84, for a more in depth treatment. And, yeah, creepy is a good word for that ad.

Joyce, not rapey at all! Colleen, I think they were being "edgy" and, having exhausted the usual sexual set-ups, decided to go for "sexy rape" which is actually not a thing. Rebecca, I think I'd prefer a little homoerotica, but that may just be me.

>116 RidgewayGirl: GB84 is a wonderful book, but not an easy read.

There was a nice article in yesterday's edition of The New York Times about the opening of the Documentation Center for the History of National Socialism in Munich:

Munich Museum Is Another Step in Acknowledging the City’s Nazi Past

Rebecca, I'm enjoying his Red Riding Quartet, which is not for the faint of heart.

Darryl, thanks for that link. I didn't know it was now open. There's a section of the Munich city museum about National Socialism in Munich that I need to visit as well. I've downloaded the walking tour from the Documentation Center and will have to do that, too.

>119 RidgewayGirl: I agree that The Red Riding Quartet was wonderful, but definitely not for the faint of heart. How far are you into it?

I'm halfway through. After finishing the second, I wanted to go back and reread the first, but I think I'll read them all before starting over. I need a few months between books - they're certainly intense.

>119 RidgewayGirl: >120 NanaCC: It was Deborah/arubabookwoman who recommended The Red Riding Quartet to me (well, she reviewed it and it jumped out at me). So there's an LT connection! I read the quartet before I read GB84.

>121 RidgewayGirl: I read them all one after the other at the recommendation of Chris and Deborah(aruba..). I needed light, light reading afterwards. That was where my Lord Peter Wimsey binge started.

>93 RidgewayGirl: There is a lot to reconstruct after reading Slaughterhouse Five. I'm not sure if that is a good thing or not. I thought it had a non-fiction feel. Even though one never considers Pilgrim real, there is something real about capturing the experience through him.

You made A Land More Kind Than Home appeal. I don't believe i had heard about it before. The Nothern Clemency sounds quite good too. Enjoyed those reviews.

>105 RidgewayGirl: OK, yes, I'm not sure I would like Gone Girl either. Fantasy and romance are what I usually turn to for comfort reading. I read several books by Ruth Rendell / Barbara Vine before I finally figured out that I DON'T enjoy psychological thrillers, especially if they involve manipulative people. I hope I learned my lesson now, so I don't think I will try Gone Girl.

Nicholas Nixon : Forty Years

Boston-based photographer, Nicholas Nixon, began photographing his wife and her three sisters together in 1974. Every year, another picture is added. The effect of forty pictures, all hung in chronological order, is striking; a tender look at aging and at the connections that tie us together.

I had a shorter amount of time to play with yesterday, and so chose this, thinking it would allow me to get home on time, which would have worked had not the exhibition been shown in a room adjacent to where a few artists I'm interested in have works displayed. I was not very late.







http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/nov/19/nicholas-nixon-40-years-brow...

>126 RidgewayGirl: Love those pictures, and that you were "not very late".

Those pictures are wonderful.

It was a wonderful thing, to see the years accumulate as I walked through the exposition. It made aging look beautiful, which is not a message commonly given to women.

Wonderful photos. As you say, it's not often that aging is shown in such a positive way.

Love the photos - the relationship between the sisters is a powerful thing.

I love those kinds of photo projects, but admit to sometimes feeling a bit boggled about the "Wait, they manage to all get together EVERY year?" part. Growing up my mom's sisters all lived far away divided between two and then three states. We saw them individually every year, but getting all four sisters together wasn't so common.

It's worth seeing, Vivienne and Charlotte.

Meredith, they all live in Massachusetts, if I understood correctly. That's not a huge distance to travel.

The Uninvited Guests is the first book that I've read by Sadie Jones. I read it knowing nothing about it, but that Jones is a well-respected author, the cover is striking and it was there on the English language shelf at the local bookstore. This is the kind of book which should be read all in one go, or as close to that as possible. It has the feel of an Oscar Wilde play, were Wilde to have written about a disastrous birthday party.

Emerald is turning twenty. Her stepfather, whom she does't love, but also doesn't hate the way her brother Clovis does, won't be there. He's on his way to Birmingham in a last ditch attempt to get the money that would allow them to stay in their beloved home. But her best friend, Patience, will be there, along with her brother. The housekeeper has prepared an elaborate menu, everyone is dressed up, including Clovis and Emerald's much younger sister, Smudge, and the celebration is about to begin when news comes of a horrible train derailment on the branch line, and the survivors are to be sheltered at Sterne until the railroad can collect them.

What follows is an unusual evening, where the celebrants try to continue as though nothing is different, and despite one of the travelers having insinuated himself into their festivities. The survivors, sequestered in the morning room, are growing increasingly unhappy and, it seems, numerous. And Smudge has brilliant plan of her own.

This is pure entertainment, of the kind involving crossed communications and new reactions to old friends, but also high comedy and an increasing feeling that things are very much not right.

>134 RidgewayGirl:. The Uninvited Guests sounds like a good one, Kay. I'm adding to my wishlist.

Well, I just checked, and I already have it on my kindle. :)

>134 RidgewayGirl: sounds good. I've read The Outcast, but haven't got to any of Sadie Jones' other books yet.

>134 RidgewayGirl: The Uninvited Guests is now on my wishlist :-D

Colleen, I love it when that happens.

Alison, I have a copy of The Outcast and hope to get to it soon. In the acknowledgements, Jones talks about how The Uninvited Guests is very different from The Outcast.

Florence, I think you'll like it, there is a touch of Heyer about it.

>138 RidgewayGirl: Yes, that thought crossed my mind when I read your review!

Dark Pop

Brandhorst Museum

This is an exhibition drawing from the large contemporary art collection of the Brandhorst Museum, looking at the dark side of Pop Art. A guide I really enjoy was giving a free tour as part of an open house event, which also had art students lurking beside various works, offering to give short talks about them (which, in my opinion, worked wonderfully. A lot of contemporary art requires a bit of background and knowledge of the artist's intentions in order to fully appreciate it and the art students were both knowledgeable and excited about the work they were discussing).

The exhibition opens with a lot of Warhol, who is inescapable when you're looking at Pop Art. Some of his early work was political, and included in this show a silkscreen of a smiling Jackie Kennedy, from a picture taken a few hours before her husband was assassinated.



And this work based on photos originally published in Life magazine called Mustard Race Riot.

There were also works by Damien Hirst, Cady Noland, Jeff Koons and German artist Sigmar Polke in the first half of the exposition. This part was heavily influenced by what was going on in the US between the mid-sixties and the early eighties. The second half was edgier and focused on Bruce Nauman, who had been in and out of psychiatric institutes and had had electric shock therapy. His works felt very raw and hard-edged, without being overtly shocking.



Mean Clown Welcome Bruce Nauman

And on Mike Kelley, whose works were so fascinating - in one, two plush polar bears touch noses on a blanket, with a boom box playing dialog between the two, which begins as a discussion about democracy and ends with the smaller bear screaming, "Fuck you, fuck you."

I wouldn't have thought that pop art had a dark side!

There is a Bruce Nauman retrospective here at the Fondation Cartier. I know his name but nothing more about him. Well, now thanks to you I know a bit more :-)

Florence, I've been reading up about him and Mike Kelley. Nauman apparently is very interested in psychological issues, but was never, as far I could see, in a psychiatric institution. He did play around with electric shocks, so maybe that was what the student meant, although she seemed pretty set on him having issues.

I don't know if you like contemporary art, but I found him worth seeing. More substance and less penises-for-the-sake-of-penises, if that makes sense. I have nothing against them, but it does lessen the impact that the artist was going for when they are in every single painting (and, yes, Georg Baselitz, I am talking about you).

Inttriguing exhibit. We went to the Andy Warhol museum in Pittsburgh a couple of years ago, and there is definitely a dark side to some of his work.

>140 RidgewayGirl: Love the Mike Kelley piece. Being able to visit exhibits like these must be one of the best parts of living in Munich.

Jane, Warhol is one of those artists who become more interesting the more you know about him. I'd love to visit the Andy Warhol museum.

Vivienne, it really is. And I'm taking the long weekend to visit Berlin's museums. I leave Thursday morning. My list is unrealistic, but aspirational. Not to mention English language bookstores.

I'm not sure I "get" a lot of art at times. And, like a good joke, it looses something in the explanation.
The series of pictures, however, that appeals to me much more.

I think most of us have, tucked away in the family album, a series like that (although much less regular and much more adhoc). In our case it's 5 cousins. The latest has me apparently stood in a hole while they all tower over me. I'm the oldest, I deserve some respect - or a box!

Fascinating comments on the art galleries. I've recently heard of cinema tours of the big galleries (Van Gogh was mentioned, one I missed it when I was in Amsterdam). Wondering whether to give it a go - I'd love to visit Bilbao, Tate St Ives, and many others, but not sure I'll get to them all any time soon!

Helen, the Nixon stuff is immediately appealing. The other photos of his that I've seen were deceptively ordinary pictures of Boston in the 1970s, usually shot from a high vantage point. They weren't of tourist sights or points of interest, but of ordinary things; a parking garage in winter, or an entrance to the turnpike on the edge of the city. Very real, just like the pictures of the sisters. Like this:



Art, in my opinion, becomes more interesting the more I learn about it. Knowing about what was going on in the world when a piece was created, the artist's influences and history as well as the story of that work all enhance, for me, the experience of seeing it. There's something really exciting about coming across a painting and recognizing the artist and seeing the themes and commonalities it has with their other work and how it was influenced by other art. It can also be interesting to see how an artist's work changes and develops over time. I think it might be the same with music, but that's not a subject I know enough about.

It would be worth going to one to find out, Charlotte. I have a friend who really enjoyed the Van Gogh one.

The Day of Atonement by David Liss is set in Lisbon in the mid-eighteenth century. The inquisition, having wound down in Spain, is still going strong in Portugal. New Christians, those Jews whose grandparents converted long ago, are still carefully watched and are restricted as to what professions they can enter and who they can marry. The British are there in order to make money, and New Christians often lend them money for their financial transactions. Sebastian was thirteen when his parents were taken in for questioning and he was smuggled out of the country by a British businessman. Now, a decade later, he returns to Lisbon, to find the priest who arrested his parents and to kill him. But it all ends up becoming more complicated, as he discovers more about what happened to his parents and the friends they had.

This is an action-filled thriller with a protagonist who shares his skill set with Jack Reacher or Jason Bourne. He's young and often misled, but he can always fight his own way out of a bad situation, or successfully rescue whomever needs rescuing. Despite this, there was clearly a great deal of research that went into this book, and it was a fun way to learn about what life was like in Lisbon at that time.

>149 RidgewayGirl: I haven't read anything by David Liss, but have A Conspiracy of Paper on my bookshelf. Your review makes me think that I should try to get to that one.

Colleen, from what I've picked up on, The Day of Atonement has a character in common with A Conspiracy of Paper.

I spent last weekend in Berlin, and would like to recommend it. It was certainly the friendliest big city I've ever visited and the museums were impressive. I also managed to visit two bookstores. One was called Another Country and it was a charmingly ramshackle place near a Nepalese restaurant that sold used books and ran an informal lending library. They offered to let me check books out, reasoning that I'd get back to Berlin someday. There, I bought these books:



I also went to Dussmanns, a giant store that calls itself a KulturKaufhaus. It's ginormous, with four floors, each larger than any B&N I've been in. There's an entire English language bookstore inside and they were kind enough to let me bring home these books:

>149 RidgewayGirl: & >150 NanaCC: Both of those titles look intriguing. On the list they go...

>151 RidgewayGirl: What a haul! Your Berlin trip sounds like it was a big hit.

Nice haul!

Now that the semester is over, I can finally catch up on my LT friends' reading.

>17 RidgewayGirl: I tried to read The Paying Guest but got too frustrated with the pacing. It's not something I should have tackled during the school year.

>26 RidgewayGirl: So glad that you enjoyed Outline. It left me wanting to read more by Rachel Cusk (although I haven't yet).

>69 RidgewayGirl: I've had the Mantel book on my wish list since word of it first got out. For some reason--maybe because I so love her historical fiction and didn't at all care for one of her creepy contemporary novels--I've been putting it on the back burner. Time to push it up front again.

75> Stoner was one of my first reads of the year. Loved it. Shows that a book doesn't have to be all splashy to be enjoyable.

126> The New York Times published a good number of those photos in the Sunday magazine awhile back. Such a fascinating exhibit. Lucky you to see all 40 photos.

Looks like you've been having a stellar year in both books and art!

>151 RidgewayGirl: I only visited Berlin twice but I loved it both times (last time was a couple of years ago). It feels very different from other German cities I know, but it's been a very long time since I visited Germany and it has probably changed a lot since then.

>152 VivienneR: Some beautiful covers there (love the 'they were kind enough' comment). The Exiles Return in particular caught my eye.

Vivienne, my weekend in Berlin was wonderful. I want to go back. And the other book by David Liss that I've read was The Whiskey Rebels, which was also a big adventure romp, but set during the years after the American Revolutionary war. It was both a huge amount of fun and well-researched, historically speaking.

Thanks, Rebecca. I was in a mood to buy books, and constrained only by the need to be able to carry them back to the hotel. I also picked up three graphic novels for my daughter and those things are heavy!

Deborah, The Paying Guests has Victorian pacing. I also have to be in the right frame of mind to enjoy a book that moves as slowly as life in a genteel suburban neighborhood. I tried reading another of Rachel Cusk's books years ago, but didn't finish it. I should try it again. I just finished another book about a woman who lacked agency, but in this case it wasn't a conscious choice. I'm not sure what I think about that. And I am having a good reading year and the art stuff is becoming more and more rewarding the more I learn and see. I'm looking forward to finding out what you're reading, now that you'll have more time for it.

Florence, I wonder if anyone visits Berlin and thinks, "meh. Not for me."? In its own way, it's as singular as Paris or London, with many fewer tourists.

Thanks, Charlotte. It was a fun evening of browsing.

Like a Charm is a collection of short stories based on a common premise; a charm bracelet that brings something terrible on its possessor. They stories follow chronologically, with the bracelet passing on to the next unfortunate owner at the start of each new story/author. There's a solid collection of authors participating, from Karin Slaughter, Laura Lippman and Lee Child to Denise Mina and Emma Donoghue, but the result is uneven. In general, the stories are best read on their own, with a good pause before the next, as there is a feeling of sameness to many of the chapters. Still, it was fun to read something new by a few favorite authors and get a chance to sample a few writers I'd never encountered before.



Addition by Australian author Toni Jordan is the surprisingly charming story of Grace, who's need to count everything and to regiment her life means she can no longer work as a schoolteacher. Instead, she spends her days carefully consuming her meals in precisely the correct number of bites, of counting her footsteps and in thinking about her hero, Nikola Tesla. Then she meets Seamus, who destroys her careful scheduling in a way that she doesn't even mind.

What's fun about this variation on the usual chick-lit novel is that Grace doesn't shop, she measures. And falling in love doesn't cure her, but provides a catalyst for her to work toward a less constrained existence which, in the end, may well not include Seamus at all.

I first heard about Jill Alexander Essbaum's novel, Hausfrau, when it was mentioned as the next Fifty Shades of Grey, which pretty much made me dismiss it out of hand. Then I began to run into laudatory mentions, including in The New York Times Book Review podcast, and a review here by a reader whose opinion I think highly of. So when I saw it in the bookstore, I had to pick it up and read it right away.

It really, really is not like Fifty Shades of Grey. The protagonist, Anna, lacks agency, preferring to just go along with whatever anyone with a stronger personality suggests. She gets married and has three children without putting much thought into it and, now living in Switzerland, near Zurich, she lives as a stay-at-home mom, not so much by choice, but simply because she hasn't made an effort to do anything on her own. She neither drives nor has a bank account. Her mother-in-law does a large part of the childcare duties, leaving Anna adrift and depressed. She eventually, at the urging of her husband, begins therapy and, after nine years in Switzerland, begins learning German. She falls into various affairs, and it's here that things begin to get messy for Anna. She keeps the affairs to herself, of course, but they adds a level of chaos to a life she already has no control over.

Hausfrau is told solely from Anna's perspective, which is often frustrating and myopic. She's entirely consumed by her own unhappiness, and is unable to care about the feelings of those around her. Essbaum manages to pull this off; Anna is not a sympathetic character but she is understandable and her actions, or lack of action, make sense. And Essbaum's descriptions of being a foreigner in a strange land are written with the eye for detail of someone who has been in that position.

The story jumps around in time, but this works well. What is less effective are the scenes between Anna and her therapist. Sometimes the writing in these snippets is extraordinary, but too often the questions Anna asks are so trite as to be silly. Anna's no deep thinker and is committed to living an unexamined life, which is an integral part of her character, but it does make these encounters the dullest moments of the book. There's a watching-a-train-wreck-happen feel to this book, as from the inside of her head, the reader sees Anna fail to take action or fail to express herself over and over again.

Sarah Addison Allen writes heartwarming books full of charm and set in perfectly preserved small towns full of quirky and whimsical people. Which should make me avoid her novels like my cat avoids worming treatments, but somehow they work for me. I think it's because Allen has a sly feminist streak and an ability to feel compassion for even her most hostile characters. She also writes with a light touch that lets her add odd, magical elements without making her books feel twee.

In First Frost, Allen returns to the world of Bascom, North Carolina and the Waverley family from Garden Spells, continuing their stories and adding their children to the list of characters. The premise is that until the magical apple tree blossoms, at first frost, the female members of the family are unsettled and liable to commit rash acts.

It's a fun read, as are all of her books, but this one, with so many characters to corral, ends up giving far too few pages to each individual. What results is a series of vignettes instead of a coherent story. It was fun, but too insubstantial even for an escapist read.

I've added a new advertisement up at the top of my thread. Same message, slightly more subtle.

>162 RidgewayGirl: I noticed. Niiice.

I think that's possibly the worst of your ads so far! Nice books recently - I think a few of these will be going on the groaning wish list.

With that one, I'm astonished that this was given the go-ahead. Sure, I can see a few guys thinking it was hilarious, but someone responsible had to look at that and not find anything offensive for an ad campaign that has been, well, targeted to all ages.

>165 RidgewayGirl: - I wonder what year it's from. It doesn't look that old. To me it looks like they were trying to be edgy and see if they could either get away with it, or create hub-bub (there's no such thing as bad press).

eta: as you replace the images, are you storing them somewhere?

Wow, yes, that's awful, and yes, even worse considering how recent it must be--wasn't the "Got milk" campaign started in mid-to-late nineties? Presumably that particular version was reserved for he-man mags and such--can't see it getting placed on the side of the buses.

The fact that anyone decided that was a good way to sell milk is just... I can't even begin to imagine the logic behind that. When they try to use sex to sell clothes (which is pretty ridiculous and absolutely unnecessary already), at least there's a bit more connection between attraction/dating and the clothing. But milk?!

Ad men seem to think that sex will sell almost anything, to men at least. There was a recurring ad in the local newspaper when I was a teen (in the 70's). It showed a woman in a bikini holding a chainsaw, with the title "La reine de la forêt" (Queen of the Forest).

>168 mabith:

Well. You do know where milk COMES FROM. ;)

What I find odd--and not a little comical--is the notion that associating milk to sperm would work to stimulate male dairy consumption.

>170 LolaWalser: the notion that associating milk to sperm would work to stimulate male dairy consumption.

Ah ha ha ha. Okay, I'd like to see this: the group that came up with this ad on one side of the table, and the group of us on the other. We get to ask the questions. And watch them squirm. That would be fun.

Out of interest what country is that ad from?

That milk ad is most likely not an actual ad at all. It's becoming quite common practice for people on the internet to practice their skills (or show them off) by creating sexualized versions of popular slogans and brands. Considering the got milk? ads are not even formatted in that way, I'm pretty sure this is one of those fake ads. I would link to you other examples of this but being at work, I'm not going to make that search.

>173 lilisin: Now that makes sense! I think you're right. On a similar note, I've seen some hilarious Golden Book covers that are just so wrong.

You're right, lilisin. It's from Funny or Die. Here's an article about it - they were created in response to other sexist Got Milk? ads.

http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/6-got-milk-ads-even-more-sexist-pms-ones-133555

Here are the real ads:

>175 RidgewayGirl:

I wondered whether it was a put-on...

The actual ones are just terrifically vicious, though. "Milk can reduce the symptoms of PMS"? Yeah, everything that goes wrong with your model of woman is due to her scary crazy chemistry. Medicate.

Don't get me started, Lola. It makes me awfully ranty. I read an article about these ads and then looked at the comments even though that never ends well. It didn't.

The thing is, I know I've seen real ads for other things with similar motifs. There was this one, which is less graphic, but this is a legitimate way to sell food, really?

I debated posting that one, Meredith. I think that there is a difference between the usual "sex sells" with women in lingerie posing with chain saws or car batteries, and the ads that imply sexual domination.

Here are some examples of the marketing material of Stihl, the company that sold la reine de la forêt. Notice the calendars. The ad I used to see was much tamer, and is not on that page. It was only a tiny black-and-white photo.

>180 FlorenceArt:

LOL @ the phallic chainsaw! I hope whoever thought that one up slept with porcupines.

>178 mabith:

I was gonna mimic *jaw drop* then thought better of it. ;) Really, that's as bad--worse, actually--than the Got Milk parody. It ran.

I am very happy that My Brilliant Friend is just the first book in Elena Ferrante's trilogy about two girls from Naples, Italy. Lena and Lila live in the same building, and first encounter each other as small girls. Lila is skinny, fearless and fiercely intelligent and the more ordinary Lena is challenged to keep up with her, first in acts of daring, then in excelling at school. But Lena's life, despite being the oldest daughter of a porter, is easier than Lila's, the daughter of a cobbler. Lena is allowed to continue beyond elementary school, while Lila stays home to help her mother and in her father's workshop. Lila never stops planning and dreaming of more and it's her determination that fuels Lena, until events conspire to take away Lila's hope as well.

This trilogy has been described as an Italian soap opera, and it is that, set in a colorful working class neighborhood where feuds between families are common and finances hang on shoestrings. Both Lena and Lila are wonderful characters and I'm eager to see what happens next in their story.

Is that your first Ferrante? I think it slights it to call it a soap opera. But then my only notion of soap operas are the telenovelas.

Of course, nothing could sabotage those books more than those horrendous covers. I can't begin to imagine what they were thinking. I tried to see some supremely ironic commentary in them, but it doesn't work.

>182 RidgewayGirl: Another BB! This time a trilogy!

Glad to see another great review of a Ferrante book! The covers really do make me think "Here's a self-publisher using free stock image sites and their cousin's nephew who's been dabbling with photoshop..."

>185 mabith:

Yes, exactly! And I bet they mislead potential readers all over the place. If I weren't a fan already, I'd never pick up books with such covers. While someone attracted to the covers is likely getting a ruuuuude surprise...

Lola, I mean soap opera here in the best sense; jammed full of people and things happening, lots of yelling and waving of arms in the air. And it is my first Ferrante. The final book, Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay has gotten so much attention, with people feeling really passionately about it, so I thought I better start at the beginning. But don't you think the woman picking up the book based on the cover might not just be surprised in a very good way?

You'll like it, Vivienne.

The cover is terrible, Meredith. It's just lazy.

>187 RidgewayGirl:

Well, I certainly hope that might happen, but anyone looking forward to a pretty romance is going to feel disappointed. And the covers are just too too... words fail me.

If you don't mind, the covers of the volumes after the one you posted:

  

The design of several previous books by Ferrante, with the same publisher, while not particularly inventive, made a definite point to "bite", to signal something disturbing--headless women, a broken doll... these are just so, not only wrong, but incredibly bland. As mabith says, stock photography. And yet it can't be a financial issue, when she's getting to be notorious enough for murmurings about Nobels in the future.

Just a puzzle.

I'm pretty sure that I could find better covers in a lunch hour and a few stock photo sites. What's missing is the sheer grittiness of the world Ferrante describes.

Lol! Gritty, you say! Would you believe it, I read a dismissive post about Ferrante by a male Italian journalist wondering why she's gained so much attention abroad, and he concludes that it's nothing more than pandering to the bad taste of stupid Americans (no special mention of Europeans), enjoying pretty picture postcards of Naples and Capri. Not only is this person incapable of gauging the quality of the critical reception Ferrante has received, he CAN'T have read her books!

Nope. But when has that stopped a dedicated mansplainer?

Speaking of sexist exploitation, Salon has published an article by Brooke Arnold, " I could have been a Duggar wife" -- really creepy: http://www.salon.com/2015/05/28/i_couldve_been_a_duggar_wife_i_grew_up_in_the_sa...

>182 RidgewayGirl:. My Brilliant Friend has hit my wishlist.

>192 janeajones: Creepy indeed!

Edited to say that I already have the first two books in this trilogy on my kindle. Yay!

Wow! So much creepiness on this thread! Enjoyed reading about the Ferrante -- I've been avoiding it because I'm wary of being swept into a trilogy when I have so many other books I want to read, but you're making me think this over.

Yeesh, some of those ads!

All the good reviews of My Brilliant Friend are making me think I should read it sooner rather than later. I quite liked The Days of Abandonment although was more mixed on Troubling Love.

That Duggar stuff, Jane. There are sites run by people who've left the Quiverfull movement (that women should have as many children as possible and homeschool them, as well as be submissive to their husbands, etc...) and those who were homeschooled for religious reasons and they are eye-opening.

Colleen, I look forward to finding out what you think of it. Once I dig myself out of the pile of books I'm currently reading, I plan to read the second book.

Yes, Rebecca. I'm the one with the creepiest thread. Yay! And I avoided the Ferrante for the same reason. But there are so many people who'v loved it and it's always notable when an author who doesn't write in English gets a buzz.

DieF, I hadn't even heard of her before Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay started being shortlisted everywhere.

I recently bought My Brilliant Friend based on all the literary buzz. I did, however, look around to see if there were alternate editions published because I disliked the cover so much. No luck. I generally like Europa editions - the Jane Gardam Old Filth trilogy is a really nice set - but I don't know what they were thinking with these.

AS we're heading off on a road trip, I downloaded My Brilliant Friend unto my Kindle ($2.99 from Amazon if anyone is interested) -- don't have to worry too much about the cover there ;-)

>192 janeajones: >196 RidgewayGirl: I highly recommend Quiverfull: Insid the Christian Patriarchy Movement, by Kathryn Joyce. After I read it a few years ago I started following two survivor blogs. Fascinating stuff.

...she couldn't have done it and she must have done it.

Iphigenia in Forest Hills: Anatomy of a Murder Trial tells the story of the trial of Mazoltuv Borukhova for the murder of her ex-husband Daniel Malakov, a trial that hit the newspapers because the couple were part of a small community of Bukharan Jews. Borukhova and Malakov had an acrimonious divorce, in which the point of contention was custody of their daughter. While Malakov was fine with Borukhova keeping primary custody, the law guardian hired to represent the child disliked Borukhova and was able to get primary custody awarded to Malakov. Borukhova grew increasingly desperate and is alleged to have hired a hit man to kill her husband.

Janet Malcolm covered the subsequent court case for The New Yorker, along the way speaking to as many of the people involved as she could. The culture of the Bukharan Jews, Russian-speaking immigrants who are considered outsiders even among the predominantly Jewish population of Forest Hills in Queens. Malcolm is curious and interested about their lives and they respond to her interest by speaking with her. While the book doesn't answer the question of why or if she did it, it does look at why a woman would behave in such an off-putting way as to alienate the people who make decisions about custody and how this whole mess has affected their daughter.

Thanks to Rebecca for putting Janet Malcolm on my radar. I'll definitely be reading more by Malcolm.

Ooooooh - that sounds like an interesting read. Off to look up Janet Malcolm on Amazon...

I'm glad you liked Iphigenia in Forest Hills. It was a celebrated case here in NYC. Reading the book a few years ago got me back into reading Malcolm.

Wow. I've been getting back into LT this past week after about a month mostly away, and have 138 posts here to catch up on!

Way back at Hilary Mantel. I would have to say that Beyond Black was definitely my least favourite of her books, although after reading the rest of the thread, I wouldn't discourage you from reading it.

I read Stoner last November and have to agree with you about it; it still lingers. I thought Butcher's Crossing was excellent. Like Mantel, his books all seem to be completely different, albeit from the outsider's point of view.

Interesting discussion of Ferrante. I too have been put off by the covers, but now will reconsider!

You've also added another to my list: Iphigenia in Forest Hills. I hadn't seen that, but have liked the Malcolms I have read to date.

It's amazing you find time to read at all with the wonderful museum and gallery going. Keep posting those images!

It was interesting, Alison. I'm going to be reading more by Malcolm.

Rebecca, I had the sense, as I was reading Iphigenia in Forest Hills, that I'd heard about the case while it was going on. Maybe I picked up a copy of the NYT on just the right day.

SL, I know! I'm behind everywhere after a scant week away. But it's no bad thing to have reviews to read in my future. I picked up a copy of Butcher's Crossing recently in a bookstore, but didn't buy it since it sounded so different from Stoner. I'll go ahead and get it next time. I think you'd like the Ferrante. I haven't been to any museums in a few weeks, but I was in Berlin in the middle of May and saw so much, including a special exhibition from the Tel Aviv Museum of Art which was fabulous - and I'm not sure I'll ever get to Tel Aviv, so I felt very lucky to have had my trip coincide with the show.

I abandoned the Days of Abandonment about half way through, convinced that all the hype was somehow mistaken. But from the description of her other books, perhaps I should try her again. I did listen to a fascinating discussion of her choice to remain anonymous on the radio 4 books programme. Kind of amazed she has managed it 'in this day and age' (Edward Snowden etc).

>205 charl08:

If you didn't care for The days of abandonment (her best book and one I'd recommend as the first book to anyone reading her for the first time), you almost certainly won't care for the rest.

(ETA: I can't speak to the quality of translations. I've seen somewhere complaints about some English version, which I hope are unfounded.)

>200 RidgewayGirl: Just catching up on your thread after many days, and its always a pleasure to read your reviews and the interesting conversation here. I'd heard of Ferrante, but not Iphigenia in Forest Hills, have added both to my TBR.