****Favorite Reads for Q1 2015

As much as I am having trouble believing it, we are nearing the end of the first quarter, so it is time to think about the books you've read during the past three months.

What were your favorite books during January through March? Did you have any five star reads?

Have you discovered any new authors that you want to share with the group?

Were there any books that you really disliked, or that you were unable to finish?

I have read 16 books this year so far (way behind, but I'm also reading a ton of short stories). My only 5-star book this year was a surprise to me: The Girls at the Kingfisher Club by Genevieve Valentine, a young adult retelling of the twelve dancing princesses.

I've had a couple of 4 and 4 1/2 star books.

I've stopped reading 8 books so far this year. The one I disliked the most was METAtropolis, an audio book anthology. To be fair, though, I only listened to one of the five novellas.

Baldwin: Collected Essays by James Baldwin
My Antonia by Willa Cather
Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather

I just got back from vacation, and need to play catch up and put my thoughts together. I just wanted to push this up to the top for comments.

My favorites:

The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt
Gunnar's Daughter by Sigrid Undset
Can you Forgive Her? by Anthony Trollope
Old Filth by Jane Gardam
The Birds by Tarjei Vesaas

Honorable mentions because I'm still thinking about them:
Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak
A Pale View of Hills by Kazuo Ishiguro

I've read 23 books this year, but only two of those are nonfiction. That ratio is a little off compared to my norm. I've listened to five audiobooks, which is one reason why I've read more books than normal this quarter.

I've acquired 14 books and have read 14 books off of my shelves. My goal this year is to read 10% more books off the shelf than I acquire, so at least I'm close!

I have read 18 books this quarter - much better than last year.
My standouts:
All My Puny Sorrows - novel
Honeydew - stories
There's Something I Want You to Do - stories
Our Souls at Night - novel
Long Life - essays and poetry
The Red Notebook - novel

17 books in quarter 1, no 5 star reads.
Closest so far has been Brideshead Revisited at 4.5

Then some 4 star reads:
Jamaica Inn, Daphne du Maurier
Death in the Stocks, Georgette Heyer
Dead Man's Ransom (re-read), Ellis Peters
Footsteps in the Dark, Georgette Heyer

The two Heyer books are both mysteries, which has been my discovery of the quarter - had no idea she'd written in that genre.
My one stinker was Fingersmith and I've decided not to bother with Sarah Waters again if that's typical of her work. Lazy writing.

This quarter I only finished 5 books, though I have 8 in my "reading now" list (some of them since way more than three months).

It's hard to pick a favorite. Not that I haven't enjoyed my reading, on the contrary, especially in the non-fiction department. La Philosophie by André Comte-Sponville was probably my favorite, and I also enjoyed hating Gorgias.

As for fiction, I finished A l'ombre des jeunes filles en fleur, which as usual with Proust, was at times beautiful, at times funny, at times boring. And I read a lot of short stories, some of them beautiful. Here are my favorites:

From The O. Henry Prize Stories 2013:
Your Duck Is My Duck - Deborah Eisenberg - Fence
Lay My Head - L. Annette Binder - Fairy Tale Review
They Find the Drowned - Melinda Moustakis - Hobart: another literary journal
The Particles - Andrea Barrett - Tin House

And from the current issue of Granta:
Night by Alice Munro
Othello Sucks by Upamanyu Chatterjee

I've read 15 books this year, and although none of them were horrible, on the other hand, none of them sent me dancing into the streets, either. I think the one I had the most fun with was Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, which I read in one sitting. I suspect that the reason I liked it though had more to do with expectations--the movie was pretty terrible, so the book sat in my basement for 10 years before I picked it up. It turned out to be significantly better than the film, so it was a pleasant surprise.

I hope I have more to report next quarter.

Of 12 books read, I have to mention four, in order of reading:

Too Much Happiness by Alice Munro
When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr
Paradise by Abdulrazak Gurnah
A God in Every Stone by Kamila Shamsie

Plus some outstanding pieces in 2 issues of Granta (129 & 130).

If I had to pick an absolute top read, it would be the Shamsie.

Well, I guess I'm not going to finish the book I'm reading today, so here are my favorite reads of the quarter, in reverse order of reading (i.e., most recent first).

Pushkin Hills by Sergei Dovlatov
Clear Light of Day by Anita Desai
The Three Leaps of Wang Lun by Alfred Doblin
Russian Short Stories from Pushkin to Buida edited by Robert Chandler
The Manuscript Found in Saragossa by Jan Potocki
The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope
Honeydew by Edith Pearlman

Runners-Up
The Discreet Hero by Mario Vargas Llosa
Can You Forgive Her? and Phineas Finn by Anthony Trollope

I didn't do very well at reading from my TBR. Only 5 of the 18 books I read this quarter were really from my TBR, and another 5 sneaked in because they arrived in my home on December 30! And since I've bought 22 books so far this year, my TBR is still growing.

I also didn't do too well at reading globally. Twelve of the books were from non-English-speaking countries, but that includes five mysteries by Janwillem van de Wetering. Only three books I read were written by authors not from Europe or the US.

And only two of the books I read were written by women.

I didn't really have any bad books for Q1, although I have decided not to continue the Bess Crawford series by the Charles Todd team.

My favorite books for Q1:

The Long Ships by Frans G. Bengtsson
Coventry by Helen Humphreys
Passion: A Novel of the Romantic Poets by Jude Morgan
Emma by Jane Austen (a re-read)
The first 6 of the Peter Wimsey mystery series by Dorothy Sayers (also a re-read, which I am continuing)

Of the 22 books I read, 6 were audio books, and 12 were by women (although 6 of the 12 were by the same woman - Dorothy Sayers).

Since I don't think I'm going to finish any more by the end of the day, here's my list. I'm going by books I gave 4.5 stars or more to.

What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions by Randall Munro
Confessions of a Sociopath: A Life Spent Hiding in Plain Sight by M. E. Thomas
I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel (my only 5-star read of the quarter)
Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Promise by Gene Luen Yang
Sweetland by Michael Crummey

Well. That is a motley collection of books. Motley, but satisfying.

My numbers say 24 this quarter, but only seven were regular old books. Of those:

1. Outer Dark by Cormac McCarthy
2. The Orchard Keeper by Cormac McCarthy (though I hesitate to recommend this. It's not an easy fun read. On the plus side, its lacks any gore)
3. HHhH by Laurent Binet (while this actually is an easy fun read, fun being a strange word for it, but it seems to fit)

And I went through eight audio books, including these three gems, all recommended

1. Serial : Season One, Fall 2014 (Podcast) by Sarah Koenig
2. All Joy and No Fun : The Paradox of Modern Parenthood by Jennifer Senior, read by the author
3. The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson, read by the author

An amendment to my post #9. Just under the wire, I read the graphic short story collection Through the Woods, by Emily Carroll and gave it 4.5 stars.

No five-star reads this quarter, but several 4½ stars. The standout for the quarter was The Decameron of Boccaccio, followed by Michael Dirda's collection of literary reviews Bound to Please and Plato's Gorgias. The Charterhouse of Parma and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? were memorable. I also enjoyed my detour into Ecclesiastes.

I have finished all books I started, although I really wanted to drop The Flanders Road by Claude Simon after about 25 pages. But I soldiered on just in case . . .

The biggest disappointment was A Place of Greater Safety by Hilary Mantel. Two books I thoroughly disliked were Stay, Illusion by Lucie Brock-Broido, a collection of poetry and The Floating Book by Michelle Lovric.

Altogether I read 13 books, but there were some tomes in there, so that's my excuse.

I read 36 books Jan through March. Some of these were J and YA novels.

16 of the books were from the TBR shelves. Goal is for half the books this year to be TBR - read and set free!
20 books were by women.

Favorites were:

Station Eleven
All the Light We Cannot See
Ladies of Missalonghi Colleen McCullough, suggestion by LT member
Rosie Project also due to LT comments
Whirligig by award-winning author Paul Fleischman
Pearl That Broke Its Shell by Nadia Hashimi. Women in Afghanistan.
On the Beach
The Hollow Land by Jane Gardam. LT suggestion.
Brown Girl Dreaming Woodson
A Man Called Ove Gardam. LT suggestion
Homer's Odyssey by Gwen Cooper. LT suggestion
The Snow Child Eowyn Ivey

So, many thanks to LT for all the comments and suggestions!

What were your favorite books during January through March? Did you have any five star reads?

Cat Daddy by Jackson Galaxy
The Lost Dogs by Jim Gorant
The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown
American on Purpose by Craig Ferguson
Between a Heart and a Rock Place by Pat Benatar
I, Robot by Isaac Asimov

Have you discovered any new authors that you want to share with the group?
I was surprised at how much I enjoyed Asimov's writing.

Were there any books that you really disliked, or that you were unable to finish?

There were two books I started and couldn't and/or didn't finish: My Age of Anxiety and The Moose that Roared.
I plan on going back and finishing (or at least trying to finish) these two (library) books.

Both of my favourite books from Q1 are part of my Margaret Atwood project: Stone Mattress and Lady Oracle.

I started a ton of books that I didn't finish, but nothing so horrible that I'll never return to it again - oh, except for Call the Midwife, which was just way too detailed for an audiobook!

I only read 12 books in the first quarter, and I didn't give any of them more than 4 stars. If I had to choose a couple of favorites they would be A Golden Age by Tahmima Anam, and Clock Without Hands by Carson McCullers.

What were your favorite books during January through March? Did you have any five star reads?

The Brothers Karamazov

Four-star reads:
The Bridge of Beyond by Simone Schwarz-Bart
Five Days at Memorial by Sheri Fink
Nothing to Envy : Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick
The Time of the Hero by Mario Vargas Llosa
Too Much Happiness by Alice Munro

Have you discovered any new authors that you want to share with the group?
Garden, Ashes by by Danilo Kiš was beautiful and lyrical. His work may be hard to find, but if they are anything like this novel, worth it.

Were there any books that you really disliked, or that you were unable to finish?
I really disliked Cut Throat Dog about half-way through, but eventually was able to accept it was not the easy-going mystery I wanted to read and started to enjoy the weirdness of it.

(ETA a forgotten four-star book)

>18 avidmom: >21 ELiz_M: I forget to add new authors to introduce to the group until I read your posts, so consider this an addendum to >11 rebeccanyc:.

I will definitely read more by Sergei Dovlatov, Anita Desai, and Anthony Trollope. all of whom were new to me this quarter.

What were your favorite books during January through March? Did you have any five star reads?

No five-star reads.

:
Proud to be a mammal. essays on war, faith and memory by Czesław Miłosz
Reflections in a golden eye by Carson McCullers
Moments of being by Virginia Woolf
Angst en schoonheid. Louis Couperus, de mystiek der zichtbare dingen by Bas Heijne

Have you discovered any new authors that you want to share with the group?
Vladimir Odoevsky Early Russian Gothic Literature from the early 19th century
Kim Hunter Gordon Creative, young, journalistic writer about history of China

Were there any books that you really disliked, or that you were unable to finish?
The Indian summer of Gabriel Murray by Gabriel Murray Boring.
History of the Rain by Niall Williams Excellent idea, but poor execution.
After the plague by T.C. Boyle Bland.
Transatlantic by Colum McCann Nice as short stories / novellae, but not a novel.

Abandoned:
How It All Began by Penelope Lively Tried to read it twice, and got stuck without a clue.

I don't have that much to pick from, but the clear stand-out so far has been the non-fiction The Arsenic Century: How Victorian Britain was Poisoned at Home, Work, and Play by James C. Whorton.

I have enjoyed several books this quarter:
Epitaph: a Novel of the OK Corral
Station Eleven
A Tale for the Time Being

I am leaving some titles out. If I can recall them, I will include them.

I'm a bit late to this discussion.

I read 24 books in Q1 (which vastly exceeds my annual total for the past 20 years), and enjoyed most of them. Standouts for me were:

The Mayor of Casterbridge
The Hours
To the Lighthouse
The Easter Parade