Chatterbox's Serendipitous Reading Adventures in 2016 -- Part I
This topic was continued by Chatterbox's Serendipitous Reading Adventures in 2016 -- Part II.
Talk 75 Books Challenge for 2016
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1Chatterbox
I'm ba-aack... for more reading, and more book chat, in a new year.
I'm Suzanne, living in Providence with (alas) only two cats, Molly-cat and Cassie, both of whom now qualify as geriatrics. I'm in a long-distance relationship with D, who lives in Atlanta, which is a bit of a juggling act; we'll see how that works out this year... We were in high school together in Belgium, got to know each other again a few years ago and things moved onward from there. (He convinced me to give audio books a try, and now I'm a selective fan, but he is not an avid reader at all, and my reading does tend to take a big dip downward during the weeks we spend together.) D's elder daughter is convinced that the wall of books in my living room (I have a double parlor as well, the front part of which is my office) is a branch of the local public library...
I'm a freelance journalist and with one solo book to my credit and one co-written one, am beginning work on a new co-written one, to be published in the spring of 2017 by Regan Arts. (An investment book aimed at women.) The portfolio of work is shifting around a lot, and that tends to cause a lot of anxiety and stress, alas.
Those of you who do know me, are aware that I'm a slightly obsessive and voracious reader. I'm also somewhat indiscriminate... While I think of myself as being a serious reader, in that I value excellent writing, creative minds and intelligence, that doesn't stop me from reading fluff and genre fiction. Equally, I'll delve into serious non-fiction. This year, I'll be hosting a monthly non-fiction challenge; we're kicking off in January by reading biographies, so please join us!
I'm a big mystery fan, so you'll see a lot of mysteries and thrillers on my list, and read a lot of narrative non-fiction, with an emphasis on current affairs (for want of a better phrase). I love books that make me look at the world in a different way, or where you end up wishing you hadn't read the book yet so you could read it again for the first time. While I like discovering new authors, I tend to take a wary view of the "insta-classic": the novel by a previously unknown writer who is suddenly hailed as the next Salinger/Kafka/Bellow/Thomas Mann/Tolstoy/whoever. The publishing industry has a strong incentive to promote this kind of stuff; I've got an equally strong instinct telling me that about 75% of this stuff will be merely OK reading and only some of it will survive to earn the title of classic in 50 years' time. In the world of non-fiction, I look for a strong narrative arc and a clear, coherent voice and thesis -- and readability, above all. I tend to shun polemical stuff -- there's enough of that flying about elsewhere.
This will be my seventh year with the LT 75 group, after having joined LT in 2007. I tend to treat my thread as a bit like a literary salon: everyone is welcome to hang out and participate in a lively and civil conversation, primarily about books and related topics -- what we're reading, and ideas they contain and stuff that flows from that. I try to keep real life drama, gossip and such like to a minimum. I ended up testing my own resolution last year, of course, which saw the deaths of a beloved cat, a still much-cherished ex-bf at a young age, and several older friends and relatives. So it was a pretty difficult year, and I ended up being less visible on LT as a result, I think.
I value civility, and online there seems to be a higher risk of misunderstanding one another, so I just ask that people think before they post something in the heat of the moment that might be misunderstood. Thank you! Otherwise, I look forward to a lively discussion with LT friends new and old, and a more active presence in 2016.
I'm Suzanne, living in Providence with (alas) only two cats, Molly-cat and Cassie, both of whom now qualify as geriatrics. I'm in a long-distance relationship with D, who lives in Atlanta, which is a bit of a juggling act; we'll see how that works out this year... We were in high school together in Belgium, got to know each other again a few years ago and things moved onward from there. (He convinced me to give audio books a try, and now I'm a selective fan, but he is not an avid reader at all, and my reading does tend to take a big dip downward during the weeks we spend together.) D's elder daughter is convinced that the wall of books in my living room (I have a double parlor as well, the front part of which is my office) is a branch of the local public library...
I'm a freelance journalist and with one solo book to my credit and one co-written one, am beginning work on a new co-written one, to be published in the spring of 2017 by Regan Arts. (An investment book aimed at women.) The portfolio of work is shifting around a lot, and that tends to cause a lot of anxiety and stress, alas.
Those of you who do know me, are aware that I'm a slightly obsessive and voracious reader. I'm also somewhat indiscriminate... While I think of myself as being a serious reader, in that I value excellent writing, creative minds and intelligence, that doesn't stop me from reading fluff and genre fiction. Equally, I'll delve into serious non-fiction. This year, I'll be hosting a monthly non-fiction challenge; we're kicking off in January by reading biographies, so please join us!
I'm a big mystery fan, so you'll see a lot of mysteries and thrillers on my list, and read a lot of narrative non-fiction, with an emphasis on current affairs (for want of a better phrase). I love books that make me look at the world in a different way, or where you end up wishing you hadn't read the book yet so you could read it again for the first time. While I like discovering new authors, I tend to take a wary view of the "insta-classic": the novel by a previously unknown writer who is suddenly hailed as the next Salinger/Kafka/Bellow/Thomas Mann/Tolstoy/whoever. The publishing industry has a strong incentive to promote this kind of stuff; I've got an equally strong instinct telling me that about 75% of this stuff will be merely OK reading and only some of it will survive to earn the title of classic in 50 years' time. In the world of non-fiction, I look for a strong narrative arc and a clear, coherent voice and thesis -- and readability, above all. I tend to shun polemical stuff -- there's enough of that flying about elsewhere.
This will be my seventh year with the LT 75 group, after having joined LT in 2007. I tend to treat my thread as a bit like a literary salon: everyone is welcome to hang out and participate in a lively and civil conversation, primarily about books and related topics -- what we're reading, and ideas they contain and stuff that flows from that. I try to keep real life drama, gossip and such like to a minimum. I ended up testing my own resolution last year, of course, which saw the deaths of a beloved cat, a still much-cherished ex-bf at a young age, and several older friends and relatives. So it was a pretty difficult year, and I ended up being less visible on LT as a result, I think.
I value civility, and online there seems to be a higher risk of misunderstanding one another, so I just ask that people think before they post something in the heat of the moment that might be misunderstood. Thank you! Otherwise, I look forward to a lively discussion with LT friends new and old, and a more active presence in 2016.
2Chatterbox
I tend to start each thread with a poem. Here's my first one for 2016, and because I'm starting to feel aged (my birthday will be Feb. 1), it is:
Doggerel by a Senior Citizen
by WH Auden
On earth in 1969
Is not the planet I call mine,
The world, I mean, that gives me strength
To hold off chaos at arm's length.
My Eden landscapes and their climes
Are constructs from Edwardian times,
When bath-rooms took up lots of space,
And, before eating, one said grace.
The automobile, the aeroplane,
Are useful gadgets, but profane.
The enginry of which I dream
Is moved by water or by steam.
Reason requires that I approve
The light bulb which I cannot love.
To me more reverence-commanding
A fish-tail burner on the landing.
My family ghosts I fought and routed,
Their values, though, I never doubted:
I thought their Protestant Work-Ethic
Both practical and sympathetic.
When couples played or sang duets,
It was immoral to have debts:
I shall continue till I die
To pay in cash for what I buy.
The Book of Common Prayer we knew
Was that of 1662:
Though with-it sermons may be well,
Liturgical reforms are hell.
Sex was, of course, -- it always is --
The most enticing of mysteries,
But news-stands did not yet supply
Manichean pornography.
Then conversation was an art,
Like learning not to belch or fart:
I cannot settle which is worse,
The Anti-Novel or Free Verse.
Nor are these Ph.Ds my kith,
Who dig the symbol and the myth:
I count myself a Man of Letters,
Who writes, or hopes to, for his Betters.
Dare any call Permissiveness
An educational success?
Saner those class-rooms which I sat in,
Compelled to study Greek and Latin.
Though I suspect the term is crap,
If there is a Generation Gap,
Who is to blame? Those, old or young
Who will not learn their Mother Tongue.
But love, at least, is not a state
Either en vogue or out-of-date,
And I've true friends, I will allow,
To talk and eat with, here and now.
Me alienated? Bosh! It's just
As a sworn citizen who must
Skirmish with it that I feel
Most at home with what is real.
Doggerel by a Senior Citizen
by WH Auden
On earth in 1969
Is not the planet I call mine,
The world, I mean, that gives me strength
To hold off chaos at arm's length.
My Eden landscapes and their climes
Are constructs from Edwardian times,
When bath-rooms took up lots of space,
And, before eating, one said grace.
The automobile, the aeroplane,
Are useful gadgets, but profane.
The enginry of which I dream
Is moved by water or by steam.
Reason requires that I approve
The light bulb which I cannot love.
To me more reverence-commanding
A fish-tail burner on the landing.
My family ghosts I fought and routed,
Their values, though, I never doubted:
I thought their Protestant Work-Ethic
Both practical and sympathetic.
When couples played or sang duets,
It was immoral to have debts:
I shall continue till I die
To pay in cash for what I buy.
The Book of Common Prayer we knew
Was that of 1662:
Though with-it sermons may be well,
Liturgical reforms are hell.
Sex was, of course, -- it always is --
The most enticing of mysteries,
But news-stands did not yet supply
Manichean pornography.
Then conversation was an art,
Like learning not to belch or fart:
I cannot settle which is worse,
The Anti-Novel or Free Verse.
Nor are these Ph.Ds my kith,
Who dig the symbol and the myth:
I count myself a Man of Letters,
Who writes, or hopes to, for his Betters.
Dare any call Permissiveness
An educational success?
Saner those class-rooms which I sat in,
Compelled to study Greek and Latin.
Though I suspect the term is crap,
If there is a Generation Gap,
Who is to blame? Those, old or young
Who will not learn their Mother Tongue.
But love, at least, is not a state
Either en vogue or out-of-date,
And I've true friends, I will allow,
To talk and eat with, here and now.
Me alienated? Bosh! It's just
As a sworn citizen who must
Skirmish with it that I feel
Most at home with what is real.
3Chatterbox
Since I inevitably read far more than 75 books a year, I just keep a single ticker to track my total reading. I'll start new threads (as usual) when the total number of posts hits between 250 and 300. I will do my best to keep the list current and to keep up with mini-reviews of the books I read, with capsule comments.
If you want to see what I've been reading in real time, your best bet is to you to my library, and look at the dedicated collection I've established there, under the label "Books Read in 2016. As I complete a book, I'll rate it and add it to the list. I'll also tag it, "Read in 2016". You'll be able to see it by either searching under that tag, or clicking on https://www.librarything.com/catalog/Chatterbox/booksreadin2016.
I'm going to try to read serendipitously this year. My TBR mountain has been growing rapidly; I still have ARCs from BookExpo last May and I'm planning to go to the ALA midwinter show in Boston in early January, at which I may well acquire more... Clearly, this needs to be addressed!!
My guide to my ratings:
1.5 or less: A tree gave its life so that this book could be printed and distributed?
1.5 to 2.7: Are you really prepared to give up hours of your life for this?? I wouldn't recommend doing so...
2.8 to 3.3: Do you need something to fill in some time waiting to see the dentist? Either reasonably good within a ho-hum genre (chick lit or thrillers), something that's OK to read when you've nothing else with you, or that you'll find adequate to pass the time and forget later on.
3.4 to 3.8: Want to know what a thumping good read is like, or a book that has a fascinating premise, but doesn't quite deliver? This is where you'll find 'em.
3.9 to 4.4: So, you want a hearty endorsement? These books have what it takes to make me happy I read them.
4.5 to 5: The books that I wish I hadn't read yet, so I could experience the joy of discovering them again for the first time. Sometimes disquieting, sometimes sentimental faves, sometimes dramatic -- they are a highly personal/subjective collection!
The list!
1. The Unquiet Dead by Ausma Zehanat Khan (3.3; Finished 1/1/16)
2. News of the World by Paulette Jiles (4.2; Finished 1/3/16)
3. Killers of the King by Charles Spencer (4.15; Finished 1/3/16)
4. Spy Games by Adam Brookes (4.2; Finished 1/4/16)
5. One of Us by Åsne Seierstad (4.5; Finished 1/6/16)
6. Jane and the Waterloo Map by Stephanie Barron (3.6, Finished 1/8/16)
7. A Christmas Escape by Anne Perry (3.2, Finished 1/8/16)
8. Finding Fontainebleau by Thad Carhart (3.75; Finished 1/11/16)
9. The Coffee Trader by David Liss (4.7; Finished 1/12/16)
10. The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy (4.2; Finished 1/13/16)
11. Romantic Outlaws by Charlotte Gordon (5; Finished 1/23/16)
12. Poles Apart by Terry Fallis (3.5; Finished 1/24/16)
13. Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly (2.6, Finished 1/25/16)
14. The Wolves by Alex Berenson (3.6, Finished 1/27/16)
15. Excellent Daughters by Katherine Zoepf (3.9, Finished 1/29/16)
16. And After Many Days by Jowhor Ile (4, Finished 1/29/16)
If you want to see what I've been reading in real time, your best bet is to you to my library, and look at the dedicated collection I've established there, under the label "Books Read in 2016. As I complete a book, I'll rate it and add it to the list. I'll also tag it, "Read in 2016". You'll be able to see it by either searching under that tag, or clicking on https://www.librarything.com/catalog/Chatterbox/booksreadin2016.
I'm going to try to read serendipitously this year. My TBR mountain has been growing rapidly; I still have ARCs from BookExpo last May and I'm planning to go to the ALA midwinter show in Boston in early January, at which I may well acquire more... Clearly, this needs to be addressed!!
My guide to my ratings:
1.5 or less: A tree gave its life so that this book could be printed and distributed?
1.5 to 2.7: Are you really prepared to give up hours of your life for this?? I wouldn't recommend doing so...
2.8 to 3.3: Do you need something to fill in some time waiting to see the dentist? Either reasonably good within a ho-hum genre (chick lit or thrillers), something that's OK to read when you've nothing else with you, or that you'll find adequate to pass the time and forget later on.
3.4 to 3.8: Want to know what a thumping good read is like, or a book that has a fascinating premise, but doesn't quite deliver? This is where you'll find 'em.
3.9 to 4.4: So, you want a hearty endorsement? These books have what it takes to make me happy I read them.
4.5 to 5: The books that I wish I hadn't read yet, so I could experience the joy of discovering them again for the first time. Sometimes disquieting, sometimes sentimental faves, sometimes dramatic -- they are a highly personal/subjective collection!
The list!
1. The Unquiet Dead by Ausma Zehanat Khan (3.3; Finished 1/1/16)
2. News of the World by Paulette Jiles (4.2; Finished 1/3/16)
3. Killers of the King by Charles Spencer (4.15; Finished 1/3/16)
4. Spy Games by Adam Brookes (4.2; Finished 1/4/16)
5. One of Us by Åsne Seierstad (4.5; Finished 1/6/16)
6. Jane and the Waterloo Map by Stephanie Barron (3.6, Finished 1/8/16)
7. A Christmas Escape by Anne Perry (3.2, Finished 1/8/16)
8. Finding Fontainebleau by Thad Carhart (3.75; Finished 1/11/16)
9. The Coffee Trader by David Liss (4.7; Finished 1/12/16)
10. The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy (4.2; Finished 1/13/16)
11. Romantic Outlaws by Charlotte Gordon (5; Finished 1/23/16)
12. Poles Apart by Terry Fallis (3.5; Finished 1/24/16)
13. Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly (2.6, Finished 1/25/16)
14. The Wolves by Alex Berenson (3.6, Finished 1/27/16)
15. Excellent Daughters by Katherine Zoepf (3.9, Finished 1/29/16)
16. And After Many Days by Jowhor Ile (4, Finished 1/29/16)
4Chatterbox
A Big Problem for me on an ongoing basis is trying to keep down the number of books that I acquire and must read. At least the library books all must read and removed within six weeks or so (Providence Library rules: one renewal max) but the ARCs are so easy to acquire... Not to mention NetGalley and the e-ARCs, even if they don't take up physical space....
So I'm going to shame myself by listing the books that come in the house, one way or another (except the library books that will rapidly leave again) and try to get to them rapidly, unless they are Kindle Sale copies of classics that are already in my library (meaning I can discard them) or books that I know I want to read one day and for which paying 99 cents or 99p today is just too good a deal to pass up. The rest of them, however, should be at least half read by the end of 2016.... in spite of my habit of hoarding books for a rainy day.
1. The Blue Line by Ingrid Betancourt (Amazon Vine ARC)
2. Jane and the Waterloo Map by Stephanie Barron (Amazon Vine ARC) Read
3. Poles Apart by Terry Fallis (Xmas gift) Read
4. All of Us And Everything by Bridget Asher (Amazon Vine ARC)
5. Rain Dogs by Adrian McKinty (UK Kindle -- $$)
6. The Arrangement by Ashley Warlick (Amazon Vine ARC)
7. The Year of Reading Dangerously by Andy Miller (Kindle -- $$)
8. Elephant Complex by John Gimlette (Amazon Vine ARC)
9. The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Tolstoy (paperback -- $$)
10. Worlds Elsewhere: Journeys Around Shakespeare's Globe by Andrew Dickson (UK Kindle - $$)
11. The Darkest Secret by Alex Marwood (UK Kindle -- $$)
12. 1606: William Shakespeare and the Year of Lear by James Shapiro (UK Kindle - Sale price - $)
13. Nemesis: One Man and the Battle for Rio by Misha Glenny (from publisher; e-galley)
14. Contraband by Dennis Wheatley (NetGalley)
15. The Ex by Alafair Burke (Amazon Vine ARC)
16. The Night Bell by Inger Ash Wolfe (Amazon Canada, paperback, $$)
17. The Mirror Test: America at War in Iraq and Afghanistan by J. Kael Weston (from publisher -- e-galley)
18. Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi (from publisher via e-galley)
19. Nitro Mountain by Lee Clay Johnson (from publisher -- e-galley)
20. You May Also Like: Taste In an Age of Endless Choice by Tom Vanderbilt (from publisher -- e-galley)
21. Dear Fang, With Love by Rufi Thorpe (from publisher -- e-galley)
22. Best American Short Stories 2015 (Kindle -- sale price $)
23. Best American Mystery Stories 2015 (Kindle -- sale price $)
24. Best American Nonrequired Reading 2015 (Kindle -- sale price $)
25. Best American Travel Writing 2015 (Kindle -- sale price $)
26. White Sands by Geoff Dyer (from publisher - e-galley)
27. The Gilded Years by Karin Tanabe (NetGalley)
28. Flight of Dreams by Ariel Lawhon (Amazon Vine ARC)
29. Try Not to Breathe by Holly Seddon (Amazon Vine ARC)
30. The Girl in the Red Coat by Kate Hamer (Amazon Vine ARC)
31. The Decent Proposal by Kemper Donovan (Amazon Vine ARC)
32. Sweetbitter by Stephanie Danier (from here to #82 inclusive, all are from ALA Midwinter; all are free ARCs)
33. A Certain Age by Beatriz Williams
34. The Girl from Home by Adam Mitzner
35. Georgia by Dawn Trip
36. In Search of Buddha’s Daughters by Christine Toomey
37. Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond
38. The Last Painting of Sara de Vos by Dominic Smith
39. Before the Fall by Noah Hawley
40. City of Secrets by Stewart O’Nan
41. Gold of Our Fathers by Kwei Quartey
42. Diana’s Altar by Barbara Cleverly
43. City of Thorns by Ben Rawlence
44. Maestra by L.S. Hilton
45. Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld
46. Spain in Our Hearts by Adam Hochschild
47. All Strangers Are Kin: Adventures in Arabic and the Arab World by Zora O’Neill
48. The Madwoman Upstairs by Catherine Lowell
49. The Existentialist Café: Freedom, Being and Apricot Cocktails by Sarah Bakewell
50. Paper: Paging Through History by Mark Kurlansky
51. Villa Triste by Patrick Modiano
52. Vinegar Girl by Anne Tyler
53. Country of Red Azaleas by Domnica Radulescu
54. 300 Days of Sun by Deborah Lawrenson
55. Jane Steele by Lyndsay Faye
56. Rare Objects by Kathleen Tessaro
57. The Singer from Memphis by Gary Corby
58. The Considerate Killer by Lene Kaaberbol & Agnete Friis
59. The Woman in Blue by Elly Griffiths
60. The Honeymoon by Dinitia Smith
61. The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu by Joshua Hammer
62. The Murder of Mary Russell by Laurie King
63. Fixers by Michael M. Thomas
64. The Summer Before the War by Helen Simonson
65. Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue
66. Three-Martini Lunch by Suzanne Rindell
67. The Translation of Love by Lynne Kutsukake
68. The Never-Open Desert Diner by James Anderson
69. The Loney by Andrew Michael Hurley
70. The Versions of Us by Laura Barnett
71. Find Her by Lisa Gardner
72. Imagine Me Gone by Adam Haslett
73. The Excellent Lombards by Jane Hamilton
74. All is Not Forgotten by Wendy Walker
75. Gone Again by James Grippando
So I'm going to shame myself by listing the books that come in the house, one way or another (except the library books that will rapidly leave again) and try to get to them rapidly, unless they are Kindle Sale copies of classics that are already in my library (meaning I can discard them) or books that I know I want to read one day and for which paying 99 cents or 99p today is just too good a deal to pass up. The rest of them, however, should be at least half read by the end of 2016.... in spite of my habit of hoarding books for a rainy day.
1. The Blue Line by Ingrid Betancourt (Amazon Vine ARC)
2. Jane and the Waterloo Map by Stephanie Barron (Amazon Vine ARC) Read
3. Poles Apart by Terry Fallis (Xmas gift) Read
4. All of Us And Everything by Bridget Asher (Amazon Vine ARC)
5. Rain Dogs by Adrian McKinty (UK Kindle -- $$)
6. The Arrangement by Ashley Warlick (Amazon Vine ARC)
7. The Year of Reading Dangerously by Andy Miller (Kindle -- $$)
8. Elephant Complex by John Gimlette (Amazon Vine ARC)
9. The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Tolstoy (paperback -- $$)
10. Worlds Elsewhere: Journeys Around Shakespeare's Globe by Andrew Dickson (UK Kindle - $$)
11. The Darkest Secret by Alex Marwood (UK Kindle -- $$)
12. 1606: William Shakespeare and the Year of Lear by James Shapiro (UK Kindle - Sale price - $)
13. Nemesis: One Man and the Battle for Rio by Misha Glenny (from publisher; e-galley)
14. Contraband by Dennis Wheatley (NetGalley)
15. The Ex by Alafair Burke (Amazon Vine ARC)
16. The Night Bell by Inger Ash Wolfe (Amazon Canada, paperback, $$)
17. The Mirror Test: America at War in Iraq and Afghanistan by J. Kael Weston (from publisher -- e-galley)
18. Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi (from publisher via e-galley)
19. Nitro Mountain by Lee Clay Johnson (from publisher -- e-galley)
20. You May Also Like: Taste In an Age of Endless Choice by Tom Vanderbilt (from publisher -- e-galley)
21. Dear Fang, With Love by Rufi Thorpe (from publisher -- e-galley)
22. Best American Short Stories 2015 (Kindle -- sale price $)
23. Best American Mystery Stories 2015 (Kindle -- sale price $)
24. Best American Nonrequired Reading 2015 (Kindle -- sale price $)
25. Best American Travel Writing 2015 (Kindle -- sale price $)
26. White Sands by Geoff Dyer (from publisher - e-galley)
27. The Gilded Years by Karin Tanabe (NetGalley)
28. Flight of Dreams by Ariel Lawhon (Amazon Vine ARC)
29. Try Not to Breathe by Holly Seddon (Amazon Vine ARC)
30. The Girl in the Red Coat by Kate Hamer (Amazon Vine ARC)
31. The Decent Proposal by Kemper Donovan (Amazon Vine ARC)
32. Sweetbitter by Stephanie Danier (from here to #82 inclusive, all are from ALA Midwinter; all are free ARCs)
33. A Certain Age by Beatriz Williams
34. The Girl from Home by Adam Mitzner
35. Georgia by Dawn Trip
36. In Search of Buddha’s Daughters by Christine Toomey
37. Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond
38. The Last Painting of Sara de Vos by Dominic Smith
39. Before the Fall by Noah Hawley
40. City of Secrets by Stewart O’Nan
41. Gold of Our Fathers by Kwei Quartey
42. Diana’s Altar by Barbara Cleverly
43. City of Thorns by Ben Rawlence
44. Maestra by L.S. Hilton
45. Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld
46. Spain in Our Hearts by Adam Hochschild
47. All Strangers Are Kin: Adventures in Arabic and the Arab World by Zora O’Neill
48. The Madwoman Upstairs by Catherine Lowell
49. The Existentialist Café: Freedom, Being and Apricot Cocktails by Sarah Bakewell
50. Paper: Paging Through History by Mark Kurlansky
51. Villa Triste by Patrick Modiano
52. Vinegar Girl by Anne Tyler
53. Country of Red Azaleas by Domnica Radulescu
54. 300 Days of Sun by Deborah Lawrenson
55. Jane Steele by Lyndsay Faye
56. Rare Objects by Kathleen Tessaro
57. The Singer from Memphis by Gary Corby
58. The Considerate Killer by Lene Kaaberbol & Agnete Friis
59. The Woman in Blue by Elly Griffiths
60. The Honeymoon by Dinitia Smith
61. The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu by Joshua Hammer
62. The Murder of Mary Russell by Laurie King
63. Fixers by Michael M. Thomas
64. The Summer Before the War by Helen Simonson
65. Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue
66. Three-Martini Lunch by Suzanne Rindell
67. The Translation of Love by Lynne Kutsukake
68. The Never-Open Desert Diner by James Anderson
69. The Loney by Andrew Michael Hurley
70. The Versions of Us by Laura Barnett
71. Find Her by Lisa Gardner
72. Imagine Me Gone by Adam Haslett
73. The Excellent Lombards by Jane Hamilton
74. All is Not Forgotten by Wendy Walker
75. Gone Again by James Grippando
5katiekrug
Hi Suz! I'm stalking the 2016 group and dropping stars so I don't lose anyone :) I plan to participate in your NF challenge, so thanks for organizing that. I read your intro with interest and discovered lots of tidbits that make me very happy for you and pleased that maybe this not-so-good year is ending on a slightly better foot for you. And I'm glad you are continuing with your thread-topping poems. The one on your current 2015 thread is one I keep reading out loud and which never fails to move me.
All the best for the new year, my friend!
All the best for the new year, my friend!
7PaulCranswick
Lovely to see you back, Suz and amen to the comments on civility. I will be following your reading and thread as usual - the former in awe the latter a civilly as can be expected of working-class Northerner. xx
8maggie1944
I will also drop a star and look forward to following your progress!
9SqueakyChu
Stopping by to wish you happy holidays, Suz. Maybe our paths will cross again at another LT meet-up!
10heathrel
I love all of this, Suzanne, and am working with the notes to get my html in order for an addition to the biography list. As a former English grad student and aspiring novelist, this all makes me so happy...Just one question, though. What is an ARC?
Heather from Berkeley
Heather from Berkeley
11Chatterbox
>10 heathrel: Hi Heather, and welcome to my thread! An ARC is jargon for an advanced reader copy -- publishers put 'em together and hand them out to avid readers who blog or review to promote new books. I get some via Amazon Vine (and have finally caught up on reviewing for them, so will be getting more from that source!), get some e-galleys for my Kindle (ARCs in electronic form) from NetGalley, and go to BookExpo each May, where I usually emerge with a few dozen (I have absolutely no willpower/resistance...) I just requested ARCs from Amazon for a cluster of books that include a few that have already been published (now I won't need to buy them, or try to get them from the library), including News of the World by Paulette Jiles, the new thriller by Alex Berenson, City of Secrets by Stewart O'Nan, The Stargazer's Sister by Carrie Brown, The Portable Veblen by Elizabeth Mckenzie (a kind of modern day novel of manners) and "Finding Fontainebleau" by Thad Carhart.
My name is Suzanne, and I am a biblio-holic....
My name is Suzanne, and I am a biblio-holic....
15Chatterbox
>13 weird_O: Thanks!
>14 ffortsa: Well, Judy, you've got your own... :-)
Spending some time thinking of New Year's Reading Resolutions...
>14 ffortsa: Well, Judy, you've got your own... :-)
Spending some time thinking of New Year's Reading Resolutions...
16abergsman
I love your comments on civility. And the Wall of Reading.
The description of your reading style sounds just like me! Serious reader? Check. Mysteries? Check. Fluff? Check. Genre fiction? Check. Non-fiction? Check. Therefore, I can't wait to see what you are reading this year!
The description of your reading style sounds just like me! Serious reader? Check. Mysteries? Check. Fluff? Check. Genre fiction? Check. Non-fiction? Check. Therefore, I can't wait to see what you are reading this year!
17Oberon
>1 Chatterbox: I can see why that might be mistaken for a public library branch. Amazing.
18Chatterbox
>16 abergsman: since you ask...
I've decided to set myself some challenges. Some of them are to clean up the TBR mountains that keep sprouting up around here, unchecked and unconstrained. Some of them are to push my reading in different directions. Every year I find myself saying, oh, I want to read, or finish, xxxx -- and never do. So this list might help. If I achieve half of what I set out to do, I'll be pleased. I don't want it to dictate what I read, but merely give me someplace to turn on those days when I reach a point when there isn't a book sitting there and begging, "read me next!" I've divided it into some categories, some of which should be logical to anyone who has followed my reading. 99% of these books I already own...
Apologies in advance, the touchstones are a mess today and are all defaulting to Harry Potter titles, so will take me a while to sort out. Let me correct that statement -- the touchstones aren't working AT ALL -- so when you see numbers in front of the titles, that's my attempt at getting the correct title, but the touchstones aren't registering at all, when I save the message, for unknown reasons. They show up correctly along the side, but when I post the message, they all vanish. Can't do anything more about this, I'm afraid, so folks will have to live with it for the time being.
2016 Reading Challenges
Canadian Content
Poles Apart by Terry Fallis Read
Close to Hugh by Marina Endicott
Swann by Carol Shields
The Rebel Angels by Robertson Davies
The Heart Goes Last by Margaret Atwood
15463075::Punishment by Linden Mcintyre
16109521::The Hesitation Cut by Giles Blunt
Solomon Gursky Was Here by Mordecai Richler
A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews
The Night Stages by Jane Urquhart
Classics I should have read or completed
(keeping this list short!)
The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann
Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
Vanity Fair by Thackeray
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Books by Authors I’ve Discovered/Read for the 1st Time Since Joining LT
Shame and the Captives by Thomas Keneally
The Emperor’s Children by Claire Messud
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
15614209::Arcadia by Iain Pears
Apostle: Travels Among the Tombs of the Twelve by Tom Bissell
The Potter’s Hand by A.N. Wilson
Burnt Shadows by Kamila Shamsie
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
Netherland by Joseph O’Neill
Land of Marvels by Barry Unsworth
The Emigrants by W.G. Sebald
The Coffee Trader by David Liss Read
NetGalley Tower of Shame
Unread e-Galleys (and thus unreviewed; the horror and shame...)
The Dream Lover by Elizabeth Berg
The Monopolists by Mary Pilion
The Barefoot Queen by Ildefonso Falcones
How to Ruin a Queen by Jonathan Beckmann
13027472::The Heart Has Its Reasons by Maria Duenas
14442307::The Anatomy Lesson by Nina Siegal
The Objects of Her Affection by Sonya Cobb
Give War and Peace a Chance by Andrew Kaufman
The Figaro Murders by Laura Lebow
Everyone Brave is Forgiven by Chris Cleave
My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout
The Age of Reinvention by Karine Tull
The Kindness of Enemies by Leila Aboulela
16010916::the Japanese Lover by Isabel Allende
The Sisters of Versailles by Sally Christie
Twain's End by Lynn Cullen
Books by Authors Of whom I Possess at Least Two Unread Works:
Reading one or the other is fine; so is reading both!
Once Upon a Revolution by Thanassis Cambanis
A Privilege to Die by Thanassis Cambanis
Baghdad: City of Peace, City of Blood by Justin Marozzi
South From Barbary by Justin Marozzi
14840096::Blood on the Water by Anne Perry
Death on Blackheath by Anne Perry
Sweet Sunday by John Lawton
The Unfortunate Englishman by John Lawton
The Dead Student by John Katzenbach
13285667::Red 1-2-3 by John Katzenbach
Crossing on the Paris by Dana Gynther
The Woman in the Photograph by Dana Gynther
Thirteen Ways of Looking by Colum McCann
Dancer by Colum McCann
16827110::Shadows of War by Michael Ridpath
13784938::Traitor’s Gate by Michael Ridpath
14878685::Thursday’s Children by Nicci French
Friday on My Mind by Nicci French
Children of War by Martin Walker
The Dying Season by Martin Walker
17190685::Fatal Pursuit by Martin Walker
Harbour Street by Ann Cleeves
The Moth Catcher by Ann Cleeves
Book Bullets
Em and the Big Hoom by Jerry Pinto (non LT friend, Sanchia)
The Year of Reading Dangerously by Andy Miller (katiekrug)
The Secret History of Wonder Woman by Jill Lepore (torontoc)
Mystery Backlog
A Murder at Rosamund’s Gate by Susanna Calkins
A House of Knives by William Shaw
Rubbernecker by Belinda Bauer
14522688::The House of Dolls by David Hewson
14852283::The Lying Down Room by Anna Jacquiery
Bitter Remedy by Conor Fitzgerald
426590::Babel by Barry Maitland
The Ghost Shift by John Gapper
Arab Jazz by Karim Miske
The Murderer's Daughter by Jonathan Kellerman
The Case of Lisandra P. by Helene Gremillon
The Soul of Discretion by Susan Hill
A Dark Redemption by Stav Sherez
The Innocence Game by Michael Harvey
The Italian Secretary by Caleb Carr
15686602::Down Among the Dead Men by Peter Lovesey
Europa!
Books published by Europa Editions
14921248::Life, Only Better by Anna Gavalda
15991828::The Eye Stone by Roberto Tiraboschi
In the City of Gold and Silver by Kenize Mourad
Just Call Me Superhero by Alina Bronsky
Revolution Baby by Joanna Gruda
The Thoughts and Happenings of Wilfred Price, Purveyor of Superior Funerals by Wendy Jones
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
The Thursday Night Men by Tonio Benacquista
The Paul Johnston Series Challenge!
(re-reading both the Edinburgh dystopian novels and the Greek mysteries, and catching up on new books in both series)
Body Politic
85142::The Bone Yard
Water of Death
The Blood Tree
The House of Dust
Heads or Hearts
A Deeper Shade of Blue
The Last Red Death
The Golden Silence
The Silver Stain
13249217::The Green Lady
14069759::The Black Life
15109376::The White Sea
Stuff I've Missed/Passed By and Really Want to Read or Re-Read:
The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton
Moriarty by Anthony Horowitz
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton
9382214::Bloodlands by Timothy Snyder
The Long Ships by Frans Bengtsson
Books in French
Because I need to keep up my French reading skills, which are slipping badly
La vie des elfes by Muriel Barbery
06h41 by Jean-Philippe Blondel
Retour indésirable by Charles Lewinsky
Le grand Coeur by Jean-Christophe Rufin
Les enfants d'Alexandrie by Françoise Chandernagor
I've decided to set myself some challenges. Some of them are to clean up the TBR mountains that keep sprouting up around here, unchecked and unconstrained. Some of them are to push my reading in different directions. Every year I find myself saying, oh, I want to read, or finish, xxxx -- and never do. So this list might help. If I achieve half of what I set out to do, I'll be pleased. I don't want it to dictate what I read, but merely give me someplace to turn on those days when I reach a point when there isn't a book sitting there and begging, "read me next!" I've divided it into some categories, some of which should be logical to anyone who has followed my reading. 99% of these books I already own...
Apologies in advance, the touchstones are a mess today and are all defaulting to Harry Potter titles, so will take me a while to sort out. Let me correct that statement -- the touchstones aren't working AT ALL -- so when you see numbers in front of the titles, that's my attempt at getting the correct title, but the touchstones aren't registering at all, when I save the message, for unknown reasons. They show up correctly along the side, but when I post the message, they all vanish. Can't do anything more about this, I'm afraid, so folks will have to live with it for the time being.
2016 Reading Challenges
Canadian Content
Poles Apart by Terry Fallis Read
Close to Hugh by Marina Endicott
Swann by Carol Shields
The Rebel Angels by Robertson Davies
The Heart Goes Last by Margaret Atwood
15463075::Punishment by Linden Mcintyre
16109521::The Hesitation Cut by Giles Blunt
Solomon Gursky Was Here by Mordecai Richler
A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews
The Night Stages by Jane Urquhart
Classics I should have read or completed
(keeping this list short!)
The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann
Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
Vanity Fair by Thackeray
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Books by Authors I’ve Discovered/Read for the 1st Time Since Joining LT
Shame and the Captives by Thomas Keneally
The Emperor’s Children by Claire Messud
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
15614209::Arcadia by Iain Pears
Apostle: Travels Among the Tombs of the Twelve by Tom Bissell
The Potter’s Hand by A.N. Wilson
Burnt Shadows by Kamila Shamsie
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
Netherland by Joseph O’Neill
Land of Marvels by Barry Unsworth
The Emigrants by W.G. Sebald
The Coffee Trader by David Liss Read
NetGalley Tower of Shame
Unread e-Galleys (and thus unreviewed; the horror and shame...)
The Dream Lover by Elizabeth Berg
The Monopolists by Mary Pilion
The Barefoot Queen by Ildefonso Falcones
How to Ruin a Queen by Jonathan Beckmann
13027472::The Heart Has Its Reasons by Maria Duenas
14442307::The Anatomy Lesson by Nina Siegal
The Objects of Her Affection by Sonya Cobb
Give War and Peace a Chance by Andrew Kaufman
The Figaro Murders by Laura Lebow
Everyone Brave is Forgiven by Chris Cleave
My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout
The Age of Reinvention by Karine Tull
The Kindness of Enemies by Leila Aboulela
16010916::the Japanese Lover by Isabel Allende
The Sisters of Versailles by Sally Christie
Twain's End by Lynn Cullen
Books by Authors Of whom I Possess at Least Two Unread Works:
Reading one or the other is fine; so is reading both!
Once Upon a Revolution by Thanassis Cambanis
A Privilege to Die by Thanassis Cambanis
Baghdad: City of Peace, City of Blood by Justin Marozzi
South From Barbary by Justin Marozzi
14840096::Blood on the Water by Anne Perry
Death on Blackheath by Anne Perry
Sweet Sunday by John Lawton
The Unfortunate Englishman by John Lawton
The Dead Student by John Katzenbach
13285667::Red 1-2-3 by John Katzenbach
Crossing on the Paris by Dana Gynther
The Woman in the Photograph by Dana Gynther
Thirteen Ways of Looking by Colum McCann
Dancer by Colum McCann
16827110::Shadows of War by Michael Ridpath
13784938::Traitor’s Gate by Michael Ridpath
14878685::Thursday’s Children by Nicci French
Friday on My Mind by Nicci French
Children of War by Martin Walker
The Dying Season by Martin Walker
17190685::Fatal Pursuit by Martin Walker
Harbour Street by Ann Cleeves
The Moth Catcher by Ann Cleeves
Book Bullets
Em and the Big Hoom by Jerry Pinto (non LT friend, Sanchia)
The Year of Reading Dangerously by Andy Miller (katiekrug)
The Secret History of Wonder Woman by Jill Lepore (torontoc)
Mystery Backlog
A Murder at Rosamund’s Gate by Susanna Calkins
A House of Knives by William Shaw
Rubbernecker by Belinda Bauer
14522688::The House of Dolls by David Hewson
14852283::The Lying Down Room by Anna Jacquiery
Bitter Remedy by Conor Fitzgerald
426590::Babel by Barry Maitland
The Ghost Shift by John Gapper
Arab Jazz by Karim Miske
The Murderer's Daughter by Jonathan Kellerman
The Case of Lisandra P. by Helene Gremillon
The Soul of Discretion by Susan Hill
A Dark Redemption by Stav Sherez
The Innocence Game by Michael Harvey
The Italian Secretary by Caleb Carr
15686602::Down Among the Dead Men by Peter Lovesey
Europa!
Books published by Europa Editions
14921248::Life, Only Better by Anna Gavalda
15991828::The Eye Stone by Roberto Tiraboschi
In the City of Gold and Silver by Kenize Mourad
Just Call Me Superhero by Alina Bronsky
Revolution Baby by Joanna Gruda
The Thoughts and Happenings of Wilfred Price, Purveyor of Superior Funerals by Wendy Jones
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
The Thursday Night Men by Tonio Benacquista
The Paul Johnston Series Challenge!
(re-reading both the Edinburgh dystopian novels and the Greek mysteries, and catching up on new books in both series)
Body Politic
85142::The Bone Yard
Water of Death
The Blood Tree
The House of Dust
Heads or Hearts
A Deeper Shade of Blue
The Last Red Death
The Golden Silence
The Silver Stain
13249217::The Green Lady
14069759::The Black Life
15109376::The White Sea
Stuff I've Missed/Passed By and Really Want to Read or Re-Read:
The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton
Moriarty by Anthony Horowitz
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton
9382214::Bloodlands by Timothy Snyder
The Long Ships by Frans Bengtsson
Books in French
Because I need to keep up my French reading skills, which are slipping badly
La vie des elfes by Muriel Barbery
06h41 by Jean-Philippe Blondel
Retour indésirable by Charles Lewinsky
Le grand Coeur by Jean-Christophe Rufin
Les enfants d'Alexandrie by Françoise Chandernagor
19Chatterbox
Now LT is chewing up entire posts. Sigh.
Trying again.
>17 Oberon: In addition to the Wall of Books, I have the Book Corner, in my rear parlor:
I am in mourning for the demise of Workbench, which made the bookshelves on the "Wall of Books" and the "Book Corner". They are wonderful; some are now 20 years old or more. All contain double rows of books. Workbench closed its doors 20 years ago.
I have two glass-fronted book-cases in the same room, another bookcase in the front parlor (my office), one in the rear parlor; three very large bookcases in my spare bedroom and several more smaller ones in my own bedroom and hallways (about 8 in total) and scattered elsewhere throughout the apartment. There are books everywhere...
Trying again.
>17 Oberon: In addition to the Wall of Books, I have the Book Corner, in my rear parlor:
I am in mourning for the demise of Workbench, which made the bookshelves on the "Wall of Books" and the "Book Corner". They are wonderful; some are now 20 years old or more. All contain double rows of books. Workbench closed its doors 20 years ago.
I have two glass-fronted book-cases in the same room, another bookcase in the front parlor (my office), one in the rear parlor; three very large bookcases in my spare bedroom and several more smaller ones in my own bedroom and hallways (about 8 in total) and scattered elsewhere throughout the apartment. There are books everywhere...
20tungsten_peerts
Hi, S. Sorry to hear 2015 was a tough year.
I'd like to keep in better touch with you in 2016, so I will do my best to pop up here and post something obscure from time to time.
I'd like to keep in better touch with you in 2016, so I will do my best to pop up here and post something obscure from time to time.
22charl08
Hi, great to find you here (it's so busy already on the group) read all your challenges and (of course) love your bookshelves.
I will look forward to finding some more great books as in 2016 thanks to your recommendations. I'm hoping there's another Major Holmes novel in the works.
I will look forward to finding some more great books as in 2016 thanks to your recommendations. I'm hoping there's another Major Holmes novel in the works.
23Chatterbox
>22 charl08: If by Major Holmes novel, you're referring to the Robert Ryan series, you're in luck! There is one due out in the next few weeks -- The Sign of Fear. At least, it's out in the UK, where the last two books are on sale for Kindle right now.
>21 ffortsa: I know; it's practically heresy by now, isn't it??
>20 tungsten_peerts: I'll look forward to your visits!
>21 ffortsa: I know; it's practically heresy by now, isn't it??
>20 tungsten_peerts: I'll look forward to your visits!
24Smiler69
Suz, had fun looking over your reading plans. Les enfants d'Alexandrie jumped out at me because it was one of the recommendations from La bibliothèque RTL, a reference book from which I noted over a hundred excellent French novel recommendations (although they also recommend books from international sources). I have the French version audiobook from the library and look forward to getting to it. Maybe you'll decide to join in TIOLI again by the time you get to it so we can have a shared read... one can always hope! ;-)
In any case, I've decided I WILL like it and already reserved book 2 in the series, Les dames de Rome.
In any case, I've decided I WILL like it and already reserved book 2 in the series, Les dames de Rome.
25Chatterbox
>24 Smiler69: Ha, I hadn't realized that the Chandernagor books were on Audible! (though I'm amazed and pleased at how many French books are there...) I wishlisted the second book on Audible. But my ability to listen to French isn't suffering from disuse as much as is my ability to read -- between radio (thank you, TuneIn.com!!) and movies, I get an adequate amount, if not as much as I did when I had a circle of francophone friends around. So I may still end up reading it. A great feature of Amazon.co.uk, is the ability to add French books to my Kindle -- cheaper and easier than ordering them via Amazon.fr.
Although now there is the (relatively) new French bookstore in NYC, Albertine. Their customer service is rather snotty, but their collection is great. I may pick up some of the books I've been eyeing, like Boualem Sansal's new offering, and the Goncourt winner, Boussole by Mathias Énard. I read his last book, Parle-leur de batailles, de rois et d'éléphants, which won the Goncourt de lycéens several years ago, and I liked it, and the theme seems to be similar. So I suppose I can add those to the TBR list? (I also have Harraga by Sansal on my TBR tower of shame, so I should add that to the list of "must be read this year...)
No immediate plans to return to TIOLI. I'd like to structure my reading myself a bit more, avoid the pressure to share reads and avoid some of the silliness there to which people who take it too seriously can succumb. I'll take my own reading seriously, but not any LT challenge, and I don't want to be in a position where that becomes an issue again. On my own thread, if people don't like what I read, or get in a huff, they can just leave.
Although now there is the (relatively) new French bookstore in NYC, Albertine. Their customer service is rather snotty, but their collection is great. I may pick up some of the books I've been eyeing, like Boualem Sansal's new offering, and the Goncourt winner, Boussole by Mathias Énard. I read his last book, Parle-leur de batailles, de rois et d'éléphants, which won the Goncourt de lycéens several years ago, and I liked it, and the theme seems to be similar. So I suppose I can add those to the TBR list? (I also have Harraga by Sansal on my TBR tower of shame, so I should add that to the list of "must be read this year...)
No immediate plans to return to TIOLI. I'd like to structure my reading myself a bit more, avoid the pressure to share reads and avoid some of the silliness there to which people who take it too seriously can succumb. I'll take my own reading seriously, but not any LT challenge, and I don't want to be in a position where that becomes an issue again. On my own thread, if people don't like what I read, or get in a huff, they can just leave.
26michigantrumpet
Dropping my star, Suz! Also hoping to be more of a presence on the 75er list this year.
Responding to your PM on your profile page.
Responding to your PM on your profile page.
27maggie1944
Oh, I am just learning tune-in on my new radio. Which "station" do you listen to in French? I have very little French but a part of me wants to keep practicing and learning and I'd like to try listening from time to time.
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year!
28Tanglewood
Thanks for stopping by my thread. Looking over your reading plan, it looks like we have similar intentions for classics. I am hoping my 1001 challenge will help me on track, but I am so very easily distracted by the new and shiny. I've already started looking at Europa editions ;)
29Crazymamie
Dropping off my star, Suz.
30Smiler69
Suz, I only discovered fairly recently that they carry a great selection of French titles on Audible. I wonder if this can be a recent development, or whether they always had a selection of "foreign language" books on offer; I only seem to have taken notice of this about a year ago. Every time I see a title in French I'm interested in there, I look it up at our library first, as they do have a fairly decent selection of audiobooks on offer here. Unlike you, I'm a slow reader, only averaging 75 seconds per page at best, so listening to audiobooks during daytime hours while I'm busy on other things helps me get to a lot more titles than I would otherwise. I've become very keen on the x1.25 and x1.5 listening speeds though.
I really loved Énard's Parle-leur de batailles, de rois et d'éléphants (again, on audio) this year, and it's definitely made me want to read more of his work. I reserved his Rue des voleurs from the library yesterday (another audiobook), when I first read your message, thinking I'd also get Boussole while I was at it, but with 126 reservations on 47 copies, I think I'll wait a little before reserving it. I rarely, if ever purchase French books because they are so incredibly expensive compared to English language ones and can usually be had at the library, but of course I imagine that's not the case for you in the US. I spend so much money on books as it is, much more than my reasonably comfortable budget allows, so that I do try to get them for free whenever possible.
I hadn't heard of Sansal before. I'll wait to see your comments on him I think.
I'm sorry you had such a poor experience with the TIOLI challenge. Sort of boggles the mind, because you'd think the "or leave it" spirit would prevail, and I must say that's been more my experience of it. I tend to select a good part of my reading options before the challenges go up and then slot in my selections where I can, and then get inspired to share a few reads here and there. Seems silly to take it so seriously that anyone would go and start harassing another participant, but I guess you've been unlucky with that. I've had a few unpleasant run-ins in my 5 years with this group, a couple of them quite spectacular and rather public, but am grateful that those have been very unfortunate exceptions to the rule of generally very pleasant exchanges. I guess anyone who is very outspoken about their views as you happen to be, and I can be too at times, is bound to attract criticism once in a while. I'm glad you've decided to stay with this group all the same and find your own comfort zones. I'll still miss sharing reads with you on TIOLI, but it won't stop me from getting riddled with book bullets from you anytime I visit your threads!
I really loved Énard's Parle-leur de batailles, de rois et d'éléphants (again, on audio) this year, and it's definitely made me want to read more of his work. I reserved his Rue des voleurs from the library yesterday (another audiobook), when I first read your message, thinking I'd also get Boussole while I was at it, but with 126 reservations on 47 copies, I think I'll wait a little before reserving it. I rarely, if ever purchase French books because they are so incredibly expensive compared to English language ones and can usually be had at the library, but of course I imagine that's not the case for you in the US. I spend so much money on books as it is, much more than my reasonably comfortable budget allows, so that I do try to get them for free whenever possible.
I hadn't heard of Sansal before. I'll wait to see your comments on him I think.
I'm sorry you had such a poor experience with the TIOLI challenge. Sort of boggles the mind, because you'd think the "or leave it" spirit would prevail, and I must say that's been more my experience of it. I tend to select a good part of my reading options before the challenges go up and then slot in my selections where I can, and then get inspired to share a few reads here and there. Seems silly to take it so seriously that anyone would go and start harassing another participant, but I guess you've been unlucky with that. I've had a few unpleasant run-ins in my 5 years with this group, a couple of them quite spectacular and rather public, but am grateful that those have been very unfortunate exceptions to the rule of generally very pleasant exchanges. I guess anyone who is very outspoken about their views as you happen to be, and I can be too at times, is bound to attract criticism once in a while. I'm glad you've decided to stay with this group all the same and find your own comfort zones. I'll still miss sharing reads with you on TIOLI, but it won't stop me from getting riddled with book bullets from you anytime I visit your threads!
31Chatterbox
>30 Smiler69: I really liked The German Mujahid, though it has been several years now since I read it, and it remains the sole Sansal novel I've read. I have Harraga (in English) on my Kindle. I think the Audible-in-French phenom is relatively new. French books in the library?? Lol. Not here. Portuguese, Spanish, Chinese and even Russian, yes, but not French. And certainly not new books. I'll be spending a week in NYC in January, so I'll visit the Albertine and see what I can find. Cheaper than buying them for my UK Kindle; their pricing is pretty good.
None of us, myself included, is immune from saying or doing things that in an online forum can be far more easily misunderstood or misconstrued than in an in-person group where people know each other and/or can more readily interpret non-verbal cues that accompany words. Hence my (repeated) requests for civility and (even more important) for people to pause sometimes before they post. What someone types in the heat of the moment can be the fuel for just the kind of run-in you describe, and the last thing I want is for anything that happens on my thread to be the catalyst for one of those, going forward. This is, or should be, about what we share -- a love of books and reading -- and I decline to get caught up in cliques or be an aggrieved party or play host to aggrieved parties venting frustrations. That's why I left TIOLI, and that's why I'm not going to discuss it further at this point. Drawing a double line underneath it, and moving on.
In the process of lining up books for the New Year's readathon. I'll probably include the second Adam Brookes spy thriller, since I just enjoyed the first one and don't want to forget the plot threads. Also, I'm reading a debut mystery by Ausma Zehanat Khan, set in Toronto, and just got an ARC of the second in the series, so that may make the cut. Staying with the sequels theme, I'm reading Toby's Room, and there is a third book in that cycle, Noonday, although that is more of a long shot. I may start Asne Seierstad's book, One of Us, and Romantic Outlaws, which I'm reading for the non-fiction challenge. Then I still have a stack of library books due back in early January, including The Monet Murders.
None of us, myself included, is immune from saying or doing things that in an online forum can be far more easily misunderstood or misconstrued than in an in-person group where people know each other and/or can more readily interpret non-verbal cues that accompany words. Hence my (repeated) requests for civility and (even more important) for people to pause sometimes before they post. What someone types in the heat of the moment can be the fuel for just the kind of run-in you describe, and the last thing I want is for anything that happens on my thread to be the catalyst for one of those, going forward. This is, or should be, about what we share -- a love of books and reading -- and I decline to get caught up in cliques or be an aggrieved party or play host to aggrieved parties venting frustrations. That's why I left TIOLI, and that's why I'm not going to discuss it further at this point. Drawing a double line underneath it, and moving on.
In the process of lining up books for the New Year's readathon. I'll probably include the second Adam Brookes spy thriller, since I just enjoyed the first one and don't want to forget the plot threads. Also, I'm reading a debut mystery by Ausma Zehanat Khan, set in Toronto, and just got an ARC of the second in the series, so that may make the cut. Staying with the sequels theme, I'm reading Toby's Room, and there is a third book in that cycle, Noonday, although that is more of a long shot. I may start Asne Seierstad's book, One of Us, and Romantic Outlaws, which I'm reading for the non-fiction challenge. Then I still have a stack of library books due back in early January, including The Monet Murders.
32thornton37814
I hope those NetGalley books don't expire on you before you complete them. Dropping my star so I can follow along!
33Chatterbox
>32 thornton37814: Ha, no, I can transfer them to my Kindle and they don't expire there... (I can't re-download them from the NetGalley site, but can keep uploading them via Amazon's documents file...) So the guilt lives on...
34thornton37814
>33 Chatterbox: I've been trying to keep the NetGalley books down to just a few books and trying to be more selective there. It's easy to overcommit to reviews with all the "shiny new books." I'm trying to avoid visiting there until I get a few other things read. I have two books I need to review before January 5 when they are archived at NetGalley. I don't really see a problem with getting to them. Both are nonfiction, and I don't think either will take me too long to complete.
35Chatterbox
>34 thornton37814: I am completely overwhelmed. Crown, my own publisher, has auto-approved me, and so have the nice folks at Bloomsbury and Atria. Add that to the fact that every month I get an e-mail from the publicity department at Knopf, inviting me to download a bunch of titles (it's how I got the new Peter Mayles book, a new Jo Nesbo (now reading) and the posthumous collection of short stories by Maeve Binchy, as well as the ARC of Arcadia by Iain Pears and lots of great narrative non-fiction and some interesting novels by new-to-me authors (all also still unread), and you've got a recipe for disaster. The doorbell just rang, and five new Amazon Vine ARCs arrived, including the new thriller by Alex Berenson, an intriguing looking historical novel set in the Enlightenment, and a novel called The Portable Veblen, which is a bit of a gamble on my part. Mostly fluff, but it's nice not to have to spend $$ on fluff, or on trying out new authors.
OK, must go do some work. I have been very lazy!
ETA, apparently I'm "another pro-Clinton fraud journalist". For the record the only true statement in that is the final word. (I'm a registered independent who is equally exasperated with all presidential candidates from both parties, but when it comes to Wall Street, thinks that Sanders is focusing on far too narrow a segment of what's going on AND doesn't understand what he is talking about too often. I don't trust him to design policy for the financial sector, even if his motives are pristine. Here's the column that has aroused the kerfuffle: http://www.theguardian.com/money/us-money-blog/2015/dec/27/wall-street-hillary-c....
Oy vey. No death threats this week, though. Yet.
OK, must go do some work. I have been very lazy!
ETA, apparently I'm "another pro-Clinton fraud journalist". For the record the only true statement in that is the final word. (I'm a registered independent who is equally exasperated with all presidential candidates from both parties, but when it comes to Wall Street, thinks that Sanders is focusing on far too narrow a segment of what's going on AND doesn't understand what he is talking about too often. I don't trust him to design policy for the financial sector, even if his motives are pristine. Here's the column that has aroused the kerfuffle: http://www.theguardian.com/money/us-money-blog/2015/dec/27/wall-street-hillary-c....
Oy vey. No death threats this week, though. Yet.
36thornton37814
>35 Chatterbox: I'm auto-approved for several publishers too. I'm trying to be good. I'm not thrilled with the candidates of either party either. I think I'll write in one of my kittens. ;-)
37Chatterbox
>36 thornton37814: Hmm, yes. Sadly, Cassie is terrified of humans, and Molly-cat would simply demand more food. Thus giving an entirely new meaning to the phrase pork barrel politics.
39tungsten_peerts
Suz,
Your list had the name 'Sebald' in it somewhere, so I serendipitously picked up a copy of The Rings of Saturn at the Arlington Library this morning. Verrrrry interesting.
Your list had the name 'Sebald' in it somewhere, so I serendipitously picked up a copy of The Rings of Saturn at the Arlington Library this morning. Verrrrry interesting.
42ronincats
Always glad when you post a link to one of your articles here, Suz, 'cause then I immediately go and read them! Very interesting and articulate, as always.
43Carmenere
Happy New Year, Suzanne!
I miss and mourn the loss of Workbench too. Such sturdy, high quality furniture! We purchased our kitchen table from them about 25 years ago. Still going strong except the white tiles in the center are cracked but nothing that a table cloth won't fix.
I Look forward to your, always, stimulating reviews but this year I am book bullet resistant! Honest!
I miss and mourn the loss of Workbench too. Such sturdy, high quality furniture! We purchased our kitchen table from them about 25 years ago. Still going strong except the white tiles in the center are cracked but nothing that a table cloth won't fix.
I Look forward to your, always, stimulating reviews but this year I am book bullet resistant! Honest!
44qebo
>1 Chatterbox: This year, I'll be hosting a monthly non-fiction challenge
I've already lined up a book for January; I like the flexibility of it.
Happy 2016!
I've already lined up a book for January; I like the flexibility of it.
Happy 2016!
45Chatterbox
Happy new year to all! I'm focusing the new year on working rather than reading, thus far... Hope everyone is enjoying the early hours of New Year's Day, however!!
46labwriter
My name is Becky, and I am a biblio-holic. I can prove it by all the boxes I dragged from Missouri to Colorado--and which now reside, at least for a while, in the boxes in the basement. I can't wait to see what you're reading this year, Suzanne.
47Chatterbox
>46 labwriter: Hey Becky!! Welcome back to the fray!! I look forward to see what you drag out of your boxes... Do come and join the non-fiction challenge; I know you're more of a close reader than many of us but that may force some of the rest of us to slow down and pay more heed to some of the details of what we read, which would be a good thing!
49ffortsa
Hi, Suz. Nice article in the Guardian - it expresses my concerns quite clearly.
I assume you'll be in for the book circle. Staying after that? Let me know; I'll be taking a little time off when my sister comes in the end of that week. Maybe, if you're not already scheduled to the gills, we can get together. You might even get to meet my very educated librarian sister.
I assume you'll be in for the book circle. Staying after that? Let me know; I'll be taking a little time off when my sister comes in the end of that week. Maybe, if you're not already scheduled to the gills, we can get together. You might even get to meet my very educated librarian sister.
50LovingLit
*starred*
Hi there! Loving the new year LT glut of posts. :)
Cheers to civility, here and in the world, for 2016.
Hi there! Loving the new year LT glut of posts. :)
Cheers to civility, here and in the world, for 2016.
51Chatterbox
>48 Mr.Durick: Thanks for my critter, Robert!! a Grumpy Cat! Kind of expressed my mood today, too! :-) (The thread was feeling a bit nekkid without one of your critters...)
>49 ffortsa: I will be coming into town on the 12th, and staying until the 23rd! D is arriving the morning after the book circle, and staying until the 21st, when he flies home. Not scheduled to the gills, but I do need to arrange a trip to Brooklyn to visit with young Theo and take him his Xmas gift. We will be apartment/cat sitting for a friend of mine on the upper east side, as she heads off to Burma. Meanwhile, I'm going to be in Boston for the ALA before that, and I have a PILE of work to get through, so I have barely even thought that far ahead...
>50 LovingLit: welcome back! Yes, it is a glut... Already I'm having a hard time keeping up, New Year's resolutions (and vacation time) notwithstanding. But I'm going to cling fiercely to my civility resolution, come what may!!
>49 ffortsa: I will be coming into town on the 12th, and staying until the 23rd! D is arriving the morning after the book circle, and staying until the 21st, when he flies home. Not scheduled to the gills, but I do need to arrange a trip to Brooklyn to visit with young Theo and take him his Xmas gift. We will be apartment/cat sitting for a friend of mine on the upper east side, as she heads off to Burma. Meanwhile, I'm going to be in Boston for the ALA before that, and I have a PILE of work to get through, so I have barely even thought that far ahead...
>50 LovingLit: welcome back! Yes, it is a glut... Already I'm having a hard time keeping up, New Year's resolutions (and vacation time) notwithstanding. But I'm going to cling fiercely to my civility resolution, come what may!!
52lindapanzo
Happy New Year, Suz. Here's to 366 days of great reading.
53Chatterbox
The current reading lineup, kicking off the new year:
Two of these are for my non-fiction challenge, and the Pat Barker novel is one I intended to read last year. The Ausma Zehanat Khan mystery is one I started reading on New Year's Eve; amusingly, it is set, in part, right on the street in Scarborough, Ontario, where my brother and sister-in-law live. I just received the ARC of the second one, so have an incentive to keep reading... Finished Night Heron, the first Adam Brookes thriller, just a week ago, so want to read that soon. A total of four are Amazon Vine advance reader copies (ARCs), which will require reviews in a timely manner.
I reserve the right to throw this reading plan into utter chaos should the whim strike me...
Two of these are for my non-fiction challenge, and the Pat Barker novel is one I intended to read last year. The Ausma Zehanat Khan mystery is one I started reading on New Year's Eve; amusingly, it is set, in part, right on the street in Scarborough, Ontario, where my brother and sister-in-law live. I just received the ARC of the second one, so have an incentive to keep reading... Finished Night Heron, the first Adam Brookes thriller, just a week ago, so want to read that soon. A total of four are Amazon Vine advance reader copies (ARCs), which will require reviews in a timely manner.
I reserve the right to throw this reading plan into utter chaos should the whim strike me...
54thornton37814
>53 Chatterbox: I reserve the right to throw this reading plan into utter chaos should the whim strike me...
LOL - I think we all share that sentiment on our own. On another note, literally, I went to a concert the other night where Pat Barker sang bass for what is called The Second Half Quartet. I'm certain it isn't the same person, but we all loved his singing!
LOL - I think we all share that sentiment on our own. On another note, literally, I went to a concert the other night where Pat Barker sang bass for what is called The Second Half Quartet. I'm certain it isn't the same person, but we all loved his singing!
56nittnut
Happy New Year!
I had some fun looking over your reading list up at >18 Chatterbox:. Good luck with A Portrait of the Artist. :P
Had you read The Luminaries, and is it a re-read, or not? For some reason I feel like I talked about it with you way back... about whether the astrology stuff made a difference. Could have been someone else. Anyway, I liked it. I just read The Colour, which was much shorter and much less involved, but had some interesting parallels.
I had some fun looking over your reading list up at >18 Chatterbox:. Good luck with A Portrait of the Artist. :P
Had you read The Luminaries, and is it a re-read, or not? For some reason I feel like I talked about it with you way back... about whether the astrology stuff made a difference. Could have been someone else. Anyway, I liked it. I just read The Colour, which was much shorter and much less involved, but had some interesting parallels.
57Chatterbox
>56 nittnut: Happy New Year to you, as well (and to Roni!)
Nope, shamefully, I bogged down in The Luminaries and never felt motivated enough to go back to it. So this will be the year...
Joyce, I want to read. Generally, I want to read more modernist fiction.
Nope, shamefully, I bogged down in The Luminaries and never felt motivated enough to go back to it. So this will be the year...
Joyce, I want to read. Generally, I want to read more modernist fiction.
59PaulCranswick
Have a wonderful bookfilled 2016, Suz.
60magicians_nephew
When you wish upon a star. . . . . :-)
>1 Chatterbox: Yes I think if anyone could update Shaw's "The Intelligent Woman's Guide to Capitalism and Socialism" you and your partner could do it.
Sort of envy you reading the Joyce - have you done "Dubliners" yet? That was my gateway drug for the "Portrait"
A good book on the Borgia Popes and little miss Lucretia would be welcome - there have been so many bad ones with axes to grind.
Looking forward to learning from you this year as I always do.
Love ya kid!
>1 Chatterbox: Yes I think if anyone could update Shaw's "The Intelligent Woman's Guide to Capitalism and Socialism" you and your partner could do it.
Sort of envy you reading the Joyce - have you done "Dubliners" yet? That was my gateway drug for the "Portrait"
A good book on the Borgia Popes and little miss Lucretia would be welcome - there have been so many bad ones with axes to grind.
Looking forward to learning from you this year as I always do.
Love ya kid!
61Chatterbox
>58 nittnut: I read that as "very steamy" -- lol!
>59 PaulCranswick: Thanks, Paul!
>60 magicians_nephew: Jim, have read bits of Dubliners a while ago -- maybe 20 years back? Perhaps I should try again, and then move on? Not sure if Christopher's book would meet your definition of a good book - I suspect, based on his previous ones, that it will be fairly standard historical fiction, as in a 21st century rendering of Jean Plaidy.
Is anyone else going to ALA in Boston next weekend??
>59 PaulCranswick: Thanks, Paul!
>60 magicians_nephew: Jim, have read bits of Dubliners a while ago -- maybe 20 years back? Perhaps I should try again, and then move on? Not sure if Christopher's book would meet your definition of a good book - I suspect, based on his previous ones, that it will be fairly standard historical fiction, as in a 21st century rendering of Jean Plaidy.
Is anyone else going to ALA in Boston next weekend??
63EBT1002
I have a copy of Dubliners lying about but have not even approached it yet. Maybe this will be the year.
64LovingLit
Oooh, that Anders Breivik book will be harrowing, I assume. Good luck, I await your thoughts.
65Chatterbox
So, I've decided to set my reading target for the year at 444 books -- a nice kind of symmetrical number.
And I'm going to create a new blog dedicated to a year of reading, and that target. Can anyone think of a suitably punchy title and subtitle?? A year in the life of an obsessive reader?? Anyone?? I'd like to get it up and running in the next day or so. I'm hoping if I create it separately from my old one, my stalker won't follow me... :-)
And I'm going to create a new blog dedicated to a year of reading, and that target. Can anyone think of a suitably punchy title and subtitle?? A year in the life of an obsessive reader?? Anyone?? I'd like to get it up and running in the next day or so. I'm hoping if I create it separately from my old one, my stalker won't follow me... :-)
66abergsman
A goal that is more than reading a book a day? That's impressive! I could never even begin to read that many, I tend to take copious notes, esp. when I am reading non-fiction.
67Chatterbox
>66 abergsman: I think I have always read more than a book a day, although it wasn't until I joined this group that I really began to track my reading at all. Last year was down significantly from the year before -- 383, vs. 461. There were reasons for that, but I thought I'd pick an ambitious goal, and one that sounds kind of symmetrical -- 444. It also divides nicely -- 37 books a month. I doubt I'll make it, but it's aspirational! And it's all about what happens on the journey, anyway.
Blog title suggestions, anyone??
Blog title suggestions, anyone??
69katiekrug
Diary of a Providential Reader
Providential for your location and because the second definition on dictionary.com is "opportune, fortunate, or lucky" and because you don't really plan your reading so one could argue the first definition ("of, relating to, or resulting from divine providence") also kind of works.
Providential for your location and because the second definition on dictionary.com is "opportune, fortunate, or lucky" and because you don't really plan your reading so one could argue the first definition ("of, relating to, or resulting from divine providence") also kind of works.
70Chatterbox
>69 katiekrug: That kind of works -- although I want to get the 444 books in 365 days in there, too -- the idea of a kind of outlandish target. And combine the details of the reading specifics, i.e. the books, with ruminations about reading in general.
72Chatterbox
>71 _Zoe_: It's right around the corner from where you used to work, too!! D and I will be cat sitting for a friend of mine on E. 88th, so...
74Chatterbox
I'll be there from the 12th till the morning of the 24th; D flies up on the 14th and will stay for a week.
75Chatterbox
Hmm, I tried a simple 444books.blogspot.com, but that's taken. I wanted a simple address, and 444books365days is too long and complicated. Harumph. Maybe I'll have to modify my expectations -- 401books.com??
Anyway...
1. The Unquiet Dead by Ausma Zehanat Khan
I want to love this mystery. Not only is it set in Toronto and Scarborough -- for heaven's sake, one of the characters lives on the same street that my brother and sister in law live on in Scarborough, and the action takes place in their neighborhood, near the bluffs, and parks overlooking Lake Ontario! -- but it's an interesting plot, hinging on two characters investigating the politically sensitive question of whether a war criminal might have been admitted to Canada and whether his past has now caught up with him and left him dead. Or was his death really just the accident it appears to be? That said, while it intends to be emotive and to grab me, it never does. I'm told that a bond forms between several main characters, but never felt it -- in fact, I was surprised to learn that from the author. The answer was still puzzling to me even after it was revealed. This was a good idea in search of a better author, I fear, which leaves me slightly dismayed that I requested an ARC of the sequel from Amazon Vine before reading this one... and now must read and review it. Oh dear. 3.3 stars; I'm being generous because it was interesting, if not accomplished.
2. News of the World by Paulette Jiles
A much more appealing book than the last book of this author's that I read, Lighthouse Island. It's a short and perfectly constructed gem, the tale of an elderly soldier turned printer turned news reader in his 60s in post Civil War Texas. He has raised his own daughters, and is just passing time until he dies, riding from town to town and reading about faraway countries and exotic doings there -- the difficulties of taking a census in countries where social and religious mores forbid women from uttering the names of their husbands. He refuses to read the news of local Texas politics -- it's too contentious. Then he's asked to return a 10 year old girl, captive for four years among the Kiowa, to her uncle and aunt. She's the sole survivor of her own family, and has few memories; she sees herself as Kiowa, not white. And yet, over the course of an unlikely journey, filled with moments of violence, danger and humor, she forms an unbreakable bond with the man she calls "Keh-pun" or the Kiowa word for grandfather. Then Kidd, the Captain, discovers that her uncle and aunt have a reputation for using their young relatives as indentured servants and working them to the bone. What can or should he do, when all he wants is a peaceful old age? Highly recommended -- it captures a place and an era perfectly. 4.25 stars, and many will probably rate this even more highly when it's published in the spring. An Amazon Vine book; a reminder not to overlook a book simply because you didn't like another by the same author.
3. Killers of the King by Charles Spencer
This was my first book for my own non-fiction challenge -- January's focus is on biographies, and this is a kind of group biography of the regicides who put Charles I on trial and then beheaded him in 1649, bringing to an end the first phase of the English Civil War and (they thought) the English monarchy. They were wrong, and 11 years later Charles II, the king's son, took the throne after Oliver Cromwell's death, promising reconciliation. There were lots of weasel words in his pledges, and within weeks, it was clear those promises didn't apply to the regicides: a wave of blood (literally) would follow amidst a wave of judicial murder. There are some eerie parallels between the rush to predetermined conclusions (death was the desired verdict in both cases) in both the king's case and those of his judges: some 80 men who had brought him to trial and even the soldiers who had stood on the scaffold and formed the execution party. I wanted to read this, I confess, in part because of the author's ambivalent relationship to the current royal family: Charles Spencer is the uncle of two sons of the Prince of Wales and brother to the late Diana, Princess of Wales, and might be said to have an antipathetic relationship to royalty. At the same time, he is a member of the establishment (to put it mildly.) He clearly admires the principles of the regicides (if not Cromwell himself), and their willingness to die for their cause (hung, drawn and quartered -- an exceptionally brutal end.) The first third of the book was slow going, and felt as if it covered too much ground I was too familiar with, from reading about the civil war and after reading another book about the regicides, The King's Revenge: Charles II and the Greatest Manhunt in British History by Don Jordan. If you want a fictional take on the aftermath of the regicide tale and the manhunt, try The Traitor's Wife by Kathleen Kent, set in New England. Fascinating, for what this story says about justice versus revenge, and governance versus ruling. 4.15 stars.
Anyway...
1. The Unquiet Dead by Ausma Zehanat Khan
I want to love this mystery. Not only is it set in Toronto and Scarborough -- for heaven's sake, one of the characters lives on the same street that my brother and sister in law live on in Scarborough, and the action takes place in their neighborhood, near the bluffs, and parks overlooking Lake Ontario! -- but it's an interesting plot, hinging on two characters investigating the politically sensitive question of whether a war criminal might have been admitted to Canada and whether his past has now caught up with him and left him dead. Or was his death really just the accident it appears to be? That said, while it intends to be emotive and to grab me, it never does. I'm told that a bond forms between several main characters, but never felt it -- in fact, I was surprised to learn that from the author. The answer was still puzzling to me even after it was revealed. This was a good idea in search of a better author, I fear, which leaves me slightly dismayed that I requested an ARC of the sequel from Amazon Vine before reading this one... and now must read and review it. Oh dear. 3.3 stars; I'm being generous because it was interesting, if not accomplished.
2. News of the World by Paulette Jiles
A much more appealing book than the last book of this author's that I read, Lighthouse Island. It's a short and perfectly constructed gem, the tale of an elderly soldier turned printer turned news reader in his 60s in post Civil War Texas. He has raised his own daughters, and is just passing time until he dies, riding from town to town and reading about faraway countries and exotic doings there -- the difficulties of taking a census in countries where social and religious mores forbid women from uttering the names of their husbands. He refuses to read the news of local Texas politics -- it's too contentious. Then he's asked to return a 10 year old girl, captive for four years among the Kiowa, to her uncle and aunt. She's the sole survivor of her own family, and has few memories; she sees herself as Kiowa, not white. And yet, over the course of an unlikely journey, filled with moments of violence, danger and humor, she forms an unbreakable bond with the man she calls "Keh-pun" or the Kiowa word for grandfather. Then Kidd, the Captain, discovers that her uncle and aunt have a reputation for using their young relatives as indentured servants and working them to the bone. What can or should he do, when all he wants is a peaceful old age? Highly recommended -- it captures a place and an era perfectly. 4.25 stars, and many will probably rate this even more highly when it's published in the spring. An Amazon Vine book; a reminder not to overlook a book simply because you didn't like another by the same author.
3. Killers of the King by Charles Spencer
This was my first book for my own non-fiction challenge -- January's focus is on biographies, and this is a kind of group biography of the regicides who put Charles I on trial and then beheaded him in 1649, bringing to an end the first phase of the English Civil War and (they thought) the English monarchy. They were wrong, and 11 years later Charles II, the king's son, took the throne after Oliver Cromwell's death, promising reconciliation. There were lots of weasel words in his pledges, and within weeks, it was clear those promises didn't apply to the regicides: a wave of blood (literally) would follow amidst a wave of judicial murder. There are some eerie parallels between the rush to predetermined conclusions (death was the desired verdict in both cases) in both the king's case and those of his judges: some 80 men who had brought him to trial and even the soldiers who had stood on the scaffold and formed the execution party. I wanted to read this, I confess, in part because of the author's ambivalent relationship to the current royal family: Charles Spencer is the uncle of two sons of the Prince of Wales and brother to the late Diana, Princess of Wales, and might be said to have an antipathetic relationship to royalty. At the same time, he is a member of the establishment (to put it mildly.) He clearly admires the principles of the regicides (if not Cromwell himself), and their willingness to die for their cause (hung, drawn and quartered -- an exceptionally brutal end.) The first third of the book was slow going, and felt as if it covered too much ground I was too familiar with, from reading about the civil war and after reading another book about the regicides, The King's Revenge: Charles II and the Greatest Manhunt in British History by Don Jordan. If you want a fictional take on the aftermath of the regicide tale and the manhunt, try The Traitor's Wife by Kathleen Kent, set in New England. Fascinating, for what this story says about justice versus revenge, and governance versus ruling. 4.15 stars.
76charl08
Ah, well you've saved me some cash there. I was keeping an eye on The Unquiet Dead to come down from (to me) crazy prices for a kindle book. But if the characters aren't that engaging, the great premise of all those crime solvers with such interesting international backgrounds is a bit pointless. Not to say I won't give it a go if it turns up supercharged somewhere, but you've stopped me feeling deprived!!
77rosalita
Have you considered using Wordpress? I just checked and 444books.wordpress.com is available. I've used both Blogger and Wordpress and found them both pretty simple to set up and maintain.
78Chatterbox
>77 rosalita: I hadn't used Wordpress before, perhaps because Blogger is linked to Google, and I've got a gmail account, etc.
Any thoughts on the relative merits??
Any thoughts on the relative merits??
79katiekrug
Re: the blog name, do you want to tie it to a specific year's goal? What happens when your goal changes? Or is the blog designed to just be a year-long project?
80rosalita
>78 Chatterbox: I think they are pretty similar. In the end I went with Wordpress because I thought they had a larger variety of (free) themes to customize the look, and the interface was simpler and easier to use (though it has been quite a while since I used Blogger so they might very well have caught up).
About the only drawback I found with Wordpress is that you can't use certain types of plug-ins due to security risks, which unfortunately includes not being able to use the LT book widgets that run (I think) with Javascript.
You might want to go ahead and claim your preferred URL at Wordpress and then play around with it a bit to see how you like it. You can always delete it if you decide Blogger works better for you. Or, if you have content already in Blogger, it's easy to import it into Wordpress.
About the only drawback I found with Wordpress is that you can't use certain types of plug-ins due to security risks, which unfortunately includes not being able to use the LT book widgets that run (I think) with Javascript.
You might want to go ahead and claim your preferred URL at Wordpress and then play around with it a bit to see how you like it. You can always delete it if you decide Blogger works better for you. Or, if you have content already in Blogger, it's easy to import it into Wordpress.
81Chatterbox
This particular blog is one that I'm tying to a particular project, Katie. That said, I could modify my expectations, AND tie it to Providence, by making it 401 books... *grin*
If it works out, I could then morph into a longer term thing. We'll see. But right now, I'm envisaging a one-year book journal/book blog, to start right now and run through to New Year's Eve. Hence the impetus to get going with it...
I've been taking a look at Wordpress, and they have a LOT more free themes. I don't use LT book widgets on my Blogger stuff, anyway.
If it works out, I could then morph into a longer term thing. We'll see. But right now, I'm envisaging a one-year book journal/book blog, to start right now and run through to New Year's Eve. Hence the impetus to get going with it...
I've been taking a look at Wordpress, and they have a LOT more free themes. I don't use LT book widgets on my Blogger stuff, anyway.
82Chatterbox
OK, a preliminary list of my top books of 2015. It was a MUCH better reading year for non-fiction than fiction, and overall, not a stellar reading year, with fewer books that I simply fell in love with. I'll post more detail comments on these later.
Non-fiction:
Ravensbruck by Sarah Helm
Ostend: Stefan Zweig, Josef Roth, and the Summer Before the Dark by Volker Weidermann (only available in ARC form still, 2016 publication date)
Our Man in Charleston by Christopher Dickey
All Who Go Do Not Return by Shulem Deem
H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald
The Rival Queens by Nancy Goldstone
The Utopia Experiment by Dylan Evans
Losing the Signal by Jacquie McNish & Sean Silcoff
Victoria: A Life by A.N. Wilson
When Books Went to War by Molly Guptill Manning
Limonov by Emmanuel Carrère
The Cosmopolites by Atossa Araxia Abrahamian
Fiction
Napoleon’s Last Island by Thomas Keneally (out in the US only in audiobook)
Music for Wartime by Rebecca Makkai
The Orenda by Joseph Boyden
Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather
The Moor's Account by Laila Lalami
The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald
Life Class by Pat Barker
Single Carefree Mellow by Katherine Heiny
The Meursault Investigation by Kamel Daoud
In the category of thumping good reads that I couldn't put down, if not great literary works of staggering genius:
The Strangler Vine by M.J. Carter
The Dead Can Wait and A Study in Murder by Robert Ryan
The Day of Atonement by David Liss
The Wicked Girls by Alex Marwood
Night Heron by Adam Brookes
The Improbability of Love by Hannah Rothschild
There were a lot of disappointments, underwhelming books, or books I simply never got around to reading. Sigh.
Non-fiction:
Ravensbruck by Sarah Helm
Ostend: Stefan Zweig, Josef Roth, and the Summer Before the Dark by Volker Weidermann (only available in ARC form still, 2016 publication date)
Our Man in Charleston by Christopher Dickey
All Who Go Do Not Return by Shulem Deem
H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald
The Rival Queens by Nancy Goldstone
The Utopia Experiment by Dylan Evans
Losing the Signal by Jacquie McNish & Sean Silcoff
Victoria: A Life by A.N. Wilson
When Books Went to War by Molly Guptill Manning
Limonov by Emmanuel Carrère
The Cosmopolites by Atossa Araxia Abrahamian
Fiction
Napoleon’s Last Island by Thomas Keneally (out in the US only in audiobook)
Music for Wartime by Rebecca Makkai
The Orenda by Joseph Boyden
Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather
The Moor's Account by Laila Lalami
The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald
Life Class by Pat Barker
Single Carefree Mellow by Katherine Heiny
The Meursault Investigation by Kamel Daoud
In the category of thumping good reads that I couldn't put down, if not great literary works of staggering genius:
The Strangler Vine by M.J. Carter
The Dead Can Wait and A Study in Murder by Robert Ryan
The Day of Atonement by David Liss
The Wicked Girls by Alex Marwood
Night Heron by Adam Brookes
The Improbability of Love by Hannah Rothschild
There were a lot of disappointments, underwhelming books, or books I simply never got around to reading. Sigh.
83michigantrumpet
Just signed up for the ALA conference. Let's talk about arrangements?
Also, dropped my star...
Also, dropped my star...
84labwriter
>82 Chatterbox: Thanks for posting the list!
>75 Chatterbox: News of the World looks like I book I should be sure to grab.
>75 Chatterbox: News of the World looks like I book I should be sure to grab.
85Chatterbox
>83 michigantrumpet: Just reading over the Library Journal lookahead. Two ARCs that I absolutely must have, both nonfiction. One is by Sarah Bakewell, The Existentialist Cafe; the other is The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu. The latter may be hard to nab, but one of us should be able to do it... Let's do some strategic planning on the phone tomorrow evening? My cousin Nancy will be in town from Palo Alto, too -- she is a music librarian. Really hoping to meet up with her; maybe we could all have dinner on Saturday or Sunday if she doesn't have other plans?
86flissp
Hi Suzanne - just dropping by to say Happy New Year! I'll look forward to your book blog...
87EBT1002
Well, I am absolutely not the person to help with a blog title but I love the 444 goal and that it is divisible by 12. Symmetry. Gotta have it. It is indeed a lofty goal for the year but I bet you make it. And, you know, we'll help! :-)
Death Comes for the Archbishop is an all-time favorite of mine and I also very much enjoyed The Orenda and The Moor's Account. I have Fitzgerald's The Bookshop on the stack and definitely plan to read it this year.
Have fun at ALA! I wish I could be there to help with book-nabbing strategizing.
Death Comes for the Archbishop is an all-time favorite of mine and I also very much enjoyed The Orenda and The Moor's Account. I have Fitzgerald's The Bookshop on the stack and definitely plan to read it this year.
Have fun at ALA! I wish I could be there to help with book-nabbing strategizing.
88michigantrumpet
Most definitely need to do some strategizing. Just saw from Caroline that she and Edd are planning on attending as well.
89Chatterbox
>88 michigantrumpet: Excellent! Haven't heard from Nancy yet, so sent her an e-mail.
90evilmoose
Stopping by to drop a star - and note that it's a leap year, so you have a whole extra day to read 444 books.
91Chatterbox
>90 evilmoose: Ha, well, I've trimmed it to 401 books. And I've set up the blog at Wordpress, though there is no content there yet, just the rough layout, with my illustration on it.
4. Spy Games by Adam Brookes
This is the sequel to Night Heron, which I read and enjoyed in the final days of December; journalist Philip Mangan, reeling from being pulled into espionage in China and now persona non grata in that country, has washed up in East Africa after escaping by the skin of his teeth from the perils he faced as an accidental spy for Britain's SIS. But it seems as if neither espionage nor China will let go of Mangan. He may be in Addis Ababa, but the Chinese are staking a big claim in Africa: building infrastructure and trying to convert the African population into an even cheaper and more obedient workforce than the one at home. A mysterious Chinese man reaches out to him and provides unbelievably excellent intelligence about terrorists at work in the horn of Africa -- and insight into Chinese politics. But what's his real agenda? There's a parallel story line involving two Chinese families whose scions are both studying at Oxford, which has promise but isn't fully developed. It's a hard-hitting and cynical narrative that doesn't quite deliver the punch it could, but is still good. It just isn't as good as I hoped or as good as was Night Heron. Still, a thumping good read, but don't try it as a stand alone book, or it will disappoint; you need to know and understand the characters, and Brookes doesn't provide enough of the backstory for you to do that. 4.2 stars. I'll keep reading this series; it's better than the vast majority of other spy thrillers out there right now.
4. Spy Games by Adam Brookes
This is the sequel to Night Heron, which I read and enjoyed in the final days of December; journalist Philip Mangan, reeling from being pulled into espionage in China and now persona non grata in that country, has washed up in East Africa after escaping by the skin of his teeth from the perils he faced as an accidental spy for Britain's SIS. But it seems as if neither espionage nor China will let go of Mangan. He may be in Addis Ababa, but the Chinese are staking a big claim in Africa: building infrastructure and trying to convert the African population into an even cheaper and more obedient workforce than the one at home. A mysterious Chinese man reaches out to him and provides unbelievably excellent intelligence about terrorists at work in the horn of Africa -- and insight into Chinese politics. But what's his real agenda? There's a parallel story line involving two Chinese families whose scions are both studying at Oxford, which has promise but isn't fully developed. It's a hard-hitting and cynical narrative that doesn't quite deliver the punch it could, but is still good. It just isn't as good as I hoped or as good as was Night Heron. Still, a thumping good read, but don't try it as a stand alone book, or it will disappoint; you need to know and understand the characters, and Brookes doesn't provide enough of the backstory for you to do that. 4.2 stars. I'll keep reading this series; it's better than the vast majority of other spy thrillers out there right now.
92Carmenere
Suzanne, I just noticed that the name of your thread is very similar to what I intended to use but did not. Carmenere Seeks serendipity in 2016. I continue to look for it but not my main goal ths year. Now isn't that serendipitous?!
93ffortsa
oh, so envious of the gathering in Boston.
Suz, make sure to save some time for us in NYC. My sister will be with us until MLK Day, and I suspect you two would get along.
Suz, make sure to save some time for us in NYC. My sister will be with us until MLK Day, and I suspect you two would get along.
94Chatterbox
>93 ffortsa: Ok! (erm, when is MLK Day??)
95_Zoe_
I'm going to be in NYC from this Friday until approximately MLK day, which is Monday the 18th.
96avatiakh
Sounds like a lovely start to the year, a trip to a book fair and a week or so in New York.
My husband and I have been doing some genealogy research and I was left with a desire to read a historical novel set in Minsk but can't find anything. Wondered if you had come across something. I just read about visiting Belarus and it sounds like a red tape nightmare.
My husband and I have been doing some genealogy research and I was left with a desire to read a historical novel set in Minsk but can't find anything. Wondered if you had come across something. I just read about visiting Belarus and it sounds like a red tape nightmare.
97Chatterbox
Well, there is the book circle, and I'll see you there, Judy, won't I? D arrives the next morning (14th). I think we're going to get Philharmonic tickets on Saturday, and Thursday/Friday might not work. Mebbe a Sunday brunch down around Union Square? Let me talk to him, though, and we'll see what we can work out.
98michigantrumpet
>97 Chatterbox: Did I mention I played second trumpet with NY Phil in October?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFDxmBRi6xk
They were on the front of the football field while I was little more towards the rear, but I think it still counts, don't you?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFDxmBRi6xk
They were on the front of the football field while I was little more towards the rear, but I think it still counts, don't you?
99Chatterbox
>98 michigantrumpet: It definitely still counts!! Was Alan Gilbert conducting?
100michigantrumpet
Gilbert was definitely there to conduct! Here is his tweet showing him in his "Gilbert 1" jersey:
https://twitter.com/GilbertConducts/status/652989652769636352
"Definitely one of the coolest podiums I've ever had a chance to stand on"
Sorry to see Maestro stepping down in 2017.
https://twitter.com/GilbertConducts/status/652989652769636352
"Definitely one of the coolest podiums I've ever had a chance to stand on"
Sorry to see Maestro stepping down in 2017.
101cbl_tn
Paulette Jiles is an author I haven't yet tried. I'll keep this one in mind! And the Charles Spencer book sounds interesting. I remember when he made regular appearances on Today (or was it Good Morning America?) years ago.
I see I'm too late for the blog title suggestion. I was going to throw 1.2 Books a Day into the mix.
I see I'm too late for the blog title suggestion. I was going to throw 1.2 Books a Day into the mix.
102LovingLit
Sorry I missed all the blog title conversation. I'm glad you found one anyway...
Looks likes you are (nearly) on target for 444.
(goingfor444@blogname.whatever?)
Looks likes you are (nearly) on target for 444.
(goingfor444@blogname.whatever?)
103magicians_nephew
is it too late to suggest keepingit444.com ?
104Chatterbox
I can always come back to those next year, guys -- thanks!! :-)
I still have to put some content on this site. I've been too busy trying to get caught up with work -- editing intractable verbiage for a client. Argh.
I still have to put some content on this site. I've been too busy trying to get caught up with work -- editing intractable verbiage for a client. Argh.
105Chatterbox
5. One of Us: The Story of Anders Breivik and the Massacre in Norway by Åsne Seierstad
This is primarily a biography of Anders Breivik, who committed Norway's sole act of terrorism and then tried to justify it as an attack on "cultural Marxism" and multiculturalism. Given the recent events in Paris, I wanted to read this; Breivik is part of that zeitgeist; the folks in Europe who believe European culture is under siege by Islam. Except that, as Seierstad deftly points out, he came to that view more as a result of being a misfit himself. As a child, he had friends among the immigrants, who ended up fitting in better in Norwegian society than he did and making their way in life more successfully than he did. As his life fell apart, however, he turned to Norwegian society's permissiveness, and the Labor Party, as the culprits for all that was wrong. As the anti-immigrant sentiment rises, I worry that the world is going to end up spawning more Breiviks among the disaffected, and this book didn't do much to ease those fears; that said, it was an excellent biography and recounting of events. A few small flaws -- Seierstad sometimes skips over a few years in Breivik's life if she feels that nothing happens worth mentioning, which feels jarring (and although she also juxtaposes his life with those of some of his victims, and though the contrast is quite telling, the chronology is off). She also doesn't give the reader enough of a context of the Norwegian justice system to understand what's happening in the trial -- Breivik is suddenly before a panel of five judges, including three lay judges -- but who are they? What's a lay judge? Seierstad is assuming a lot of knowledge of the legal system of a small Nordic country among English language readers , when a few paragraphs could have been inserted, just as she did when providing political background. She makes similar assumptions when mentioning the name of Norway's WW2 collaborationist leader, Vikdun Quisling, in passing and presuming that everyone will know precisely who he is and what fate he met. There's a reference to Breivik passing a statue that appears to be famous, but not mentioning which one it is, etc. All that stuff knocked it back to a 4.5 star book, which is still pretty good...
This is primarily a biography of Anders Breivik, who committed Norway's sole act of terrorism and then tried to justify it as an attack on "cultural Marxism" and multiculturalism. Given the recent events in Paris, I wanted to read this; Breivik is part of that zeitgeist; the folks in Europe who believe European culture is under siege by Islam. Except that, as Seierstad deftly points out, he came to that view more as a result of being a misfit himself. As a child, he had friends among the immigrants, who ended up fitting in better in Norwegian society than he did and making their way in life more successfully than he did. As his life fell apart, however, he turned to Norwegian society's permissiveness, and the Labor Party, as the culprits for all that was wrong. As the anti-immigrant sentiment rises, I worry that the world is going to end up spawning more Breiviks among the disaffected, and this book didn't do much to ease those fears; that said, it was an excellent biography and recounting of events. A few small flaws -- Seierstad sometimes skips over a few years in Breivik's life if she feels that nothing happens worth mentioning, which feels jarring (and although she also juxtaposes his life with those of some of his victims, and though the contrast is quite telling, the chronology is off). She also doesn't give the reader enough of a context of the Norwegian justice system to understand what's happening in the trial -- Breivik is suddenly before a panel of five judges, including three lay judges -- but who are they? What's a lay judge? Seierstad is assuming a lot of knowledge of the legal system of a small Nordic country among English language readers , when a few paragraphs could have been inserted, just as she did when providing political background. She makes similar assumptions when mentioning the name of Norway's WW2 collaborationist leader, Vikdun Quisling, in passing and presuming that everyone will know precisely who he is and what fate he met. There's a reference to Breivik passing a statue that appears to be famous, but not mentioning which one it is, etc. All that stuff knocked it back to a 4.5 star book, which is still pretty good...
107Fourpawz2
Good to know that News of the World is a decent read as I have a copy from Early Reviewers in the to-be-read-soon pile. Always dangerous here, Suzanne!
109rosalita
>105 Chatterbox: I bought that one last year (at an LT meetup, funnily enough) and I'm glad to hear that you found it worthwhile. Like you, I am worried about the rising anti-immigrant sentiment all over the world, precisely at a time when more and more people will become migrants due to economic, socio-political, or climatic catastrophe reasons.
As I was reading your criticisms about not enough background on some things, like the Norwegian justice system, etc., I was thinking about how much less I mind that sort of thing in the Age of Google, when doing some quick research is so much easier. It's still disruptive to reading and much better for the author to include the information to begin with, but it does make reading such books easier.
As I was reading your criticisms about not enough background on some things, like the Norwegian justice system, etc., I was thinking about how much less I mind that sort of thing in the Age of Google, when doing some quick research is so much easier. It's still disruptive to reading and much better for the author to include the information to begin with, but it does make reading such books easier.
110abergsman
>105 Chatterbox: Book bullet!
My master's thesis was an argument for a new class of refugee protection, based on socioeconomic conditions. Amartya Sen's book, Development as Freedom was one of the key inspirations for my thesis, and I still argue fiercely that many economic migrants should be treated as sympathetically as refugees fleeing war. Sadly, both migrants and refugees are now the target of extreme anti-immigrant sentiment.
Whether it is political or religion-based, I think that many extremists are lured to fundamentalism due to failings in their own life. Extremist groups often give off a message of fear and grieving to potential recruits that can be very attractive to someone who is insecure and unhappy about themselves and their situation.
My master's thesis was an argument for a new class of refugee protection, based on socioeconomic conditions. Amartya Sen's book, Development as Freedom was one of the key inspirations for my thesis, and I still argue fiercely that many economic migrants should be treated as sympathetically as refugees fleeing war. Sadly, both migrants and refugees are now the target of extreme anti-immigrant sentiment.
Whether it is political or religion-based, I think that many extremists are lured to fundamentalism due to failings in their own life. Extremist groups often give off a message of fear and grieving to potential recruits that can be very attractive to someone who is insecure and unhappy about themselves and their situation.
111elkiedee
>105 Chatterbox: I believe Åsne Seierstadt writes in Norwegian. I just looked up the Amazon listing for the book and it mentioned a translator, Sarah Death. Perhaps translated editions need an extra section, but the book was written for a Norwegian audience.
112Chatterbox
>106 DianaNL: Thanks, Diana! Sending that wish right back at you, though I don't have such a cute image to accompany them... :-)
>107 Fourpawz2: I really did like it; my rating may even be on the low side as I find it is sticking in my mind in a way that good books do.
>109 rosalita: You're very right about that. I found that in many cases I was turning to Google; on the other hand, I was rather resenting having to do so! (Quisling I knew...) Other things -- like the statue, and bits and pieces of offhand geographic knowledge -- there simply was no way to check online. How to look up a statue that is described as if it's iconic, but not named, with no specific location given? Sigh. On the non-fiction/biography thread, PawsforThought was kind enough to give me more detail on the lay judge system, but I did have to do a lot of reading up about the Norwegian criminal justice system to make sense of the process -- it clearly wasn't a Code Napoléon based-system, but on the other hand, not an Anglo-Saxon system either. Which is fine, but the need for me to do the research would have required so little effort on the author's part. And yeah, as a writer, I judge any writer who assumes knowledge on the part of the reader. It's lazy, and requiring people to go to Google, even if it's possible, just isn't "best practice".
>111 elkiedee: I agree, I realize it was written for a Norwegian audience. But I've read the occasional crime book about events here, published in the US for US readers that lays out the details of court procedure or readers. It's a basic rule for journalists not to assume knowledge among your readers, and she is first and foremost a journalist. She doesn't do it with stuff that a Norwegian might be MORE likely to know -- such as the political history that brought Gro Harlem Brundtland to power -- so it flummoxed me as to why she did it with all this minor stuff scattered throughout. The examples I've cited were the ones that jumped out at me, but there were many more. All of which could have been addressed with a phrase, a sentence, or half a paragraph, with little to no effort.
>110 abergsman: Wow, that's a provocative argument for a master's thesis! At its best, that new class of refugee protection would be the best possible catalyst imaginable for serious efforts for effective development assistance, wouldn't it? (To the extent that top-down development assistance can ever really be effective; I have some concerns on that score, and if you read Nina Munk's book, you'll have a sense of some of the reasons, even though her book only deals with some examples.)
I think there would be an interesting debate over where you'd draw the line -- what level of economic deprivation/poverty would qualify someone for refugee status? Ironically/tragically, perhaps, some of those in the most dreadful need are too desperate to figure out where the next meal is coming from to begin to think of traveling to the next town, much less undertake a longer journey; nor could they begin to afford the smugglers' fees or bribes that too often are required. So the people who can make the journey often are those with some assets, but whose countries are in economic collapse.
I definitely agree that the current categories of refugee protection are too narrow and too rigidly defined, leading to a lot of game-playing by a lot of those involved. And the results can be incredibly random. At the other extreme, while I'd love to say an open door policy is the ideal (and in a sense, serves us right for going in and destabilizing other countries, directly or indirectly), but it can also prove disruptive. It's akin to offering a prize to someone for getting there, and also encouraging the rather dreadful trade in people smuggling. I'd be more open to saying that ONLY those who are registered at refugee camps or other facilities in countries adjacent to those suffering from wars or acute economic disruptions should be considered. Even so... so many of the folks I've tutored in English really just wanted to stay where they were born. I wish that instead of uprooting people, we could find more effective ways to enable them to stay safely and productively in the places where they were born. Not because it's better for us, but because it might also be better for them in many cases. Then, those who do migrate do so not out of fear of persecution or economic disaster, but because of a genuine quest for something new that can only be found in a different place, and perhaps only temporarily. Thinking out loud here...
OK, must get back to work!!
>107 Fourpawz2: I really did like it; my rating may even be on the low side as I find it is sticking in my mind in a way that good books do.
>109 rosalita: You're very right about that. I found that in many cases I was turning to Google; on the other hand, I was rather resenting having to do so! (Quisling I knew...) Other things -- like the statue, and bits and pieces of offhand geographic knowledge -- there simply was no way to check online. How to look up a statue that is described as if it's iconic, but not named, with no specific location given? Sigh. On the non-fiction/biography thread, PawsforThought was kind enough to give me more detail on the lay judge system, but I did have to do a lot of reading up about the Norwegian criminal justice system to make sense of the process -- it clearly wasn't a Code Napoléon based-system, but on the other hand, not an Anglo-Saxon system either. Which is fine, but the need for me to do the research would have required so little effort on the author's part. And yeah, as a writer, I judge any writer who assumes knowledge on the part of the reader. It's lazy, and requiring people to go to Google, even if it's possible, just isn't "best practice".
>111 elkiedee: I agree, I realize it was written for a Norwegian audience. But I've read the occasional crime book about events here, published in the US for US readers that lays out the details of court procedure or readers. It's a basic rule for journalists not to assume knowledge among your readers, and she is first and foremost a journalist. She doesn't do it with stuff that a Norwegian might be MORE likely to know -- such as the political history that brought Gro Harlem Brundtland to power -- so it flummoxed me as to why she did it with all this minor stuff scattered throughout. The examples I've cited were the ones that jumped out at me, but there were many more. All of which could have been addressed with a phrase, a sentence, or half a paragraph, with little to no effort.
>110 abergsman: Wow, that's a provocative argument for a master's thesis! At its best, that new class of refugee protection would be the best possible catalyst imaginable for serious efforts for effective development assistance, wouldn't it? (To the extent that top-down development assistance can ever really be effective; I have some concerns on that score, and if you read Nina Munk's book, you'll have a sense of some of the reasons, even though her book only deals with some examples.)
I think there would be an interesting debate over where you'd draw the line -- what level of economic deprivation/poverty would qualify someone for refugee status? Ironically/tragically, perhaps, some of those in the most dreadful need are too desperate to figure out where the next meal is coming from to begin to think of traveling to the next town, much less undertake a longer journey; nor could they begin to afford the smugglers' fees or bribes that too often are required. So the people who can make the journey often are those with some assets, but whose countries are in economic collapse.
I definitely agree that the current categories of refugee protection are too narrow and too rigidly defined, leading to a lot of game-playing by a lot of those involved. And the results can be incredibly random. At the other extreme, while I'd love to say an open door policy is the ideal (and in a sense, serves us right for going in and destabilizing other countries, directly or indirectly), but it can also prove disruptive. It's akin to offering a prize to someone for getting there, and also encouraging the rather dreadful trade in people smuggling. I'd be more open to saying that ONLY those who are registered at refugee camps or other facilities in countries adjacent to those suffering from wars or acute economic disruptions should be considered. Even so... so many of the folks I've tutored in English really just wanted to stay where they were born. I wish that instead of uprooting people, we could find more effective ways to enable them to stay safely and productively in the places where they were born. Not because it's better for us, but because it might also be better for them in many cases. Then, those who do migrate do so not out of fear of persecution or economic disaster, but because of a genuine quest for something new that can only be found in a different place, and perhaps only temporarily. Thinking out loud here...
OK, must get back to work!!
113rosalita
>111 elkiedee: This is a good point that the original Norwegian text probably had less need for explanation in those areas. On the other hand, I personally feel that part of a translator's job is to catch and illuminate exactly those sorts of things. As an example, I recently read The Three-Body Problem which was originally written in Chinese by Cixin Liu and translated into English by Ken Liu. The translator Liu provided footnotes for a number of passages in the opening section (which was set during the Cultural Revolution) explaining some of the historical perspective or context that would help non-Chinese readers understand what Cixin Liu was getting at. It seems the same thing could have been done with the English Translation of One of Us as well.
114Chatterbox
>113 rosalita: Or even in a postscript or afterword. The reader is plonked in the middle of this scene and struggling to make sense of it. It happens reasonably often, in smaller matters, throughout the book, but this was the only time it annoyed me, because it mattered to the book's outcome. Who decided whether or not Breivik was sane or not, and how and when was the determination made? The reader didn't know until it was actually announced in court. I could even see a Norwegian might not be familiar with the intricacies of that process, for that matter. She kind of glides over some details, and it detracts from the book's coherence, if not from the "storytelling" aspect.
115Chatterbox
Just quick notes before I dash to the train station to Boston for ALA Midwinter. No images yet as I can't be bothered with finicky stuff. Both are series novels.
6. A Christmas Journey by Anne Perry
A library book for me, as all of these will be; I can't rationalize spending lots of money on tiny little novellas that take a few hours or so to read and have slight plots. On the other hand, I needed something relatively mindless to cleanse my palate after the intensity of Anders Breivik and the massacre in Norway, and this little book did its task. Charles Latterly travels to a volcanic island off the coast of Italy for Christmas and, surprise, the island erupts, trapping him with a group of fellow guests, one of whom is a murderer, surprise. He solves the murder -- surprise -- and is jolted out of his anomie and finds new meaning in life (surprise). Formulaic, but fine. 3.35 stars.
7. Jane and the Waterloo Map by Stephanie Barron
To my own surprise, I've grown to enjoy this series, to which I'm a late comer, in spite of the use of arcane spellings (for heaven's sake, it's not the same thing as era appropriate dialog, even if it is written as a faux journal by Ms. Austen herself...) Jane Austen is a sleuth, it turns out, and solves all kinds of crimes. These are deftly done, and walk a clever line between being cozy and being adventurous, and blend what we know of Austen's life and works, and the era, with imagination. Waterloo has been fought, Austen is editing Emma, and a murderer poisons one of the battle's heroes in the Prince Regent's own London home, right under Austen's nose. I didn't see the twist coming... 3.75 stars. Good fun.
OK, racing for the train now...
6. A Christmas Journey by Anne Perry
A library book for me, as all of these will be; I can't rationalize spending lots of money on tiny little novellas that take a few hours or so to read and have slight plots. On the other hand, I needed something relatively mindless to cleanse my palate after the intensity of Anders Breivik and the massacre in Norway, and this little book did its task. Charles Latterly travels to a volcanic island off the coast of Italy for Christmas and, surprise, the island erupts, trapping him with a group of fellow guests, one of whom is a murderer, surprise. He solves the murder -- surprise -- and is jolted out of his anomie and finds new meaning in life (surprise). Formulaic, but fine. 3.35 stars.
7. Jane and the Waterloo Map by Stephanie Barron
To my own surprise, I've grown to enjoy this series, to which I'm a late comer, in spite of the use of arcane spellings (for heaven's sake, it's not the same thing as era appropriate dialog, even if it is written as a faux journal by Ms. Austen herself...) Jane Austen is a sleuth, it turns out, and solves all kinds of crimes. These are deftly done, and walk a clever line between being cozy and being adventurous, and blend what we know of Austen's life and works, and the era, with imagination. Waterloo has been fought, Austen is editing Emma, and a murderer poisons one of the battle's heroes in the Prince Regent's own London home, right under Austen's nose. I didn't see the twist coming... 3.75 stars. Good fun.
OK, racing for the train now...
116Tanglewood
>53 Chatterbox: I love the cover for The Stargazer's Sister. I'll be interested in your thoughts on it when you read it (if you get to it - I am very good at creating reading lists but not so good at sticking to them).
117thornton37814
>115 Chatterbox: The Perry Christmas book was formulaic, but it was fun. I'm usually in the mood for that type of book around Christmas. Although it was not as Christmas-y and some Christmas books, it still was a nice break from the busyness of the season.
118DeltaQueen50
Hi Suzanne, I have dropped a star and I am looking forward to all the book bullets you will be delivering this year. I've already taken one for News of the World by Paulette Jiles. I have previously read her Enemy Women and remember really liking it.
119Chatterbox
Finished day one at ALA Midwinter. Total book haul: 74 books, of which four will go to my young friend Theo. Marianne (michigantrumpet) ended up with FAR more books than I did (well, at least 81 of them, 3 of which were for her husband and 3 of which she says she got for her nephew.) That leaves us with a net count of 70 for me and 75 for her. But I wouldn't have gotten many of the books that I most wanted without her help, so I shouldn't needle her too much... :-)
(she says I would be dead without her. She is dictating this over my shoulder as I type... She fails to understand hyperbole in the context of book addiction and book festivals like ALA... Sigh, what can one one do...)
Anyway, it has been a fun day, and tomorrow we are off to the museum and then back to ALA at least briefly, then I'll head home!
(she says I would be dead without her. She is dictating this over my shoulder as I type... She fails to understand hyperbole in the context of book addiction and book festivals like ALA... Sigh, what can one one do...)
Anyway, it has been a fun day, and tomorrow we are off to the museum and then back to ALA at least briefly, then I'll head home!
120michigantrumpet
It was such a wonderful day! Loved spending time with Suzanne, Caroline and Benita. If anyone wants to see a pro at work, follow Suzanne around to the various publishers' booths.
(And I'm threatening to copy and paste her email to me to show just how much is hyperbole. Seriously, she said she would *DIE* if I didn't get certain galleys for her. Who am I to question? Suzanne is pretty intense when it comes to books!)
(And I'm threatening to copy and paste her email to me to show just how much is hyperbole. Seriously, she said she would *DIE* if I didn't get certain galleys for her. Who am I to question? Suzanne is pretty intense when it comes to books!)
121PaulCranswick
>119 Chatterbox: 74 books? I wouldn't sniff at that, Suz - good going. 81 for Marianne? I shiver and shudder to think what I would get up to in your company. xx
122michigantrumpet
>121 PaulCranswick: Paul, I'm afraid we may have egged one another on somewhat
123PaulCranswick
>122 michigantrumpet: mmmm somewhat!
124LovingLit
>105 Chatterbox: wow, sounds like a worthwhile read. And scary as predicted. Did the book avoid a detailed and harrowing description of the actual shootings
>119 Chatterbox: >120 michigantrumpet: lol!
>119 Chatterbox: >120 michigantrumpet: lol!
125elkiedee
I'm just sorry that the titles aren't visible in your FB photos. Hopefully you'll detail your haul soon!
126avatiakh
Gosh how do you move that sort of book haul around the place? I can't wait to see which ones you ended up with.
127labwriter
>112 Chatterbox: I wish that instead of uprooting people, we could find more effective ways to enable them to stay safely and productively in the places where they were born. Agreed. I imagine that so many who are fleeing their countries, if given the chance, would so much rather stay put if we could help them do that. I can't begin to imagine their feelings of up rootedness and culture shock when they do finally get to a new country. Who really wants that? Probably only a small percentage.
The ALA sounds like great fun. I had the same question as >126 avatiakh:. What a haul!
The ALA sounds like great fun. I had the same question as >126 avatiakh:. What a haul!
128EBT1002
>105 Chatterbox: I will look for that one; it looks like a worthwhile read.
I'm impressed with the book hauls -- both yours and Marianne's! Will you be shipping them back to yourself in boxes?
:-)
I'm impressed with the book hauls -- both yours and Marianne's! Will you be shipping them back to yourself in boxes?
:-)
129Chatterbox
Detailed comments and book list to come. Am back safely, with big thanks to Marianne (and her husband John) for their hospitality and help nabbing a couple key ARCs for me on the first day before I got there!
Just made it home and am exhausted. Left Marianne at the convention center; who knows how many more books she had acquired by the time she quit the field? When I left today, I had added another 14; she was up an additional 24... *grin*
Just made it home and am exhausted. Left Marianne at the convention center; who knows how many more books she had acquired by the time she quit the field? When I left today, I had added another 14; she was up an additional 24... *grin*
130michigantrumpet
It was wonderful to have you! We're pretty tired here, too.
Book Galley Hunting is an Olympic event with Suzanne. I learned a lot watching her at work. I'm thinking I managed to display some game, but Suzanne is the gold medal winner! You should have seen her -- talking multiple languages, dropping names of editors and authors, charming "hidden" galleys into her capacious book bag. I bow to the Champ!
Book Galley Hunting is an Olympic event with Suzanne. I learned a lot watching her at work. I'm thinking I managed to display some game, but Suzanne is the gold medal winner! You should have seen her -- talking multiple languages, dropping names of editors and authors, charming "hidden" galleys into her capacious book bag. I bow to the Champ!
131Chatterbox
I confess I'm pleased that I coaxed a copy of Sweetbitter by Stephanie Danier into my bag. A much buzzed about debut novel. But nothing could get a copy of Louise Erdrich's new book for either of us.
The environment at ALA is more sympathetic/accessible than at BookExpo, where the publishers are so intent on selling and striking deals that they don't really have time to talk about the books. I think there might be fewer big books here, but there are fewer maniacs chasing them, too. and generally it's a tradeoff. Lineups that would have been a hundred people long were (at most) 15 people at ALA. Startlingly different.
Now Marianne understands what I urged her to bring a suitcase on wheels.... (She filled hers completely...)
The environment at ALA is more sympathetic/accessible than at BookExpo, where the publishers are so intent on selling and striking deals that they don't really have time to talk about the books. I think there might be fewer big books here, but there are fewer maniacs chasing them, too. and generally it's a tradeoff. Lineups that would have been a hundred people long were (at most) 15 people at ALA. Startlingly different.
Now Marianne understands what I urged her to bring a suitcase on wheels.... (She filled hers completely...)
132The_Hibernator
Hope you had a good weekend! Thread starred!
133Chatterbox
>132 The_Hibernator: It was great!
So it's easier to find, here's the first list -- what I brought home with me. Marianne has another batch of books, which she will mail to me when I get back from NYC.
Sweetbitter by Stephanie Danier (don't even ask how I managed this one; the folks at Penguin Random must really like me...)
A Certain Age by Beatriz Williams
The Girl from Home by Adam Mitzner
Georgia by Dawn Trip
In Search of Buddha’s Daughters by Christine Toomey
Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond
The Last Painting of Sara de Vos by Dominic Smith
Before the Fall by Noah Hawley
City of Secrets by Stewart O’Nan
Gold of Our Fathers by Kwei Quartey
Diana’s Altar by Barbara Cleverly
City of Thorns by Ben Rawlence
Maestra by L.S. Hilton
Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld
Spain in Our Hearts by Adam Hochschild
All Strangers Are Kin: Adventures in Arabic and the Arab World by Zora O’Neill
The Madwoman Upstairs by Catherine Lowell
The Existentialist Café: Freedom, Being and Apricot Cocktails by Sarah Bakewell
Paper: Paging Through History by Mark Kurlansky
Villa Triste by Patrick Modiano
Vinegar Girl by Anne Tyler
Country of Red Azaleas by Domnica Radulescu
300 Days of Sun by Deborah Lawrenson
Jane Steele by Lyndsay Faye
Rare Objects by Kathleen Tessaro
The Singer from Memphis by Gary Corby
The Considerate Killer by Lene Kaaberbol & Agnete Friis
The Woman in Blue by Elly Griffiths
The Honeymoon by Dinitia Smith
The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu by Joshua Hammer
The Murder of Mary Russell by Laurie King
Fixers by Michael M. Thomas
The Summer Before the War by Helen Simonson
Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue
Three-Martini Lunch by Suzanne Rindell
The Translation of Love by Lynne Kutsukake
The Never-Open Desert Diner by James Anderson
The Loney by Andrew Michael Hurley
The Versions of Us by Laura Barnett
Find Her by Lisa Gardner
Imagine Me Gone by Adam Haslett
The Excellent Lombards by Jane Hamilton
All is Not Forgotten by Wendy Walker
Gone Again by James Grippando
The Maximum Security Book Club: Reading Literature in a Men’s Prison by Mikita Brottman
Dodgers by Bill Beverly
The Unfortunate Englishman by John Lawton
Joe Gould’s Teeth by Jill Lepore
Dinner with Edward by Isabel Vincent
Not all Bastards Are from Vienna by Andrea Molesini
King Maybe by Timothy Hallinan
So it's easier to find, here's the first list -- what I brought home with me. Marianne has another batch of books, which she will mail to me when I get back from NYC.
Sweetbitter by Stephanie Danier (don't even ask how I managed this one; the folks at Penguin Random must really like me...)
A Certain Age by Beatriz Williams
The Girl from Home by Adam Mitzner
Georgia by Dawn Trip
In Search of Buddha’s Daughters by Christine Toomey
Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond
The Last Painting of Sara de Vos by Dominic Smith
Before the Fall by Noah Hawley
City of Secrets by Stewart O’Nan
Gold of Our Fathers by Kwei Quartey
Diana’s Altar by Barbara Cleverly
City of Thorns by Ben Rawlence
Maestra by L.S. Hilton
Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld
Spain in Our Hearts by Adam Hochschild
All Strangers Are Kin: Adventures in Arabic and the Arab World by Zora O’Neill
The Madwoman Upstairs by Catherine Lowell
The Existentialist Café: Freedom, Being and Apricot Cocktails by Sarah Bakewell
Paper: Paging Through History by Mark Kurlansky
Villa Triste by Patrick Modiano
Vinegar Girl by Anne Tyler
Country of Red Azaleas by Domnica Radulescu
300 Days of Sun by Deborah Lawrenson
Jane Steele by Lyndsay Faye
Rare Objects by Kathleen Tessaro
The Singer from Memphis by Gary Corby
The Considerate Killer by Lene Kaaberbol & Agnete Friis
The Woman in Blue by Elly Griffiths
The Honeymoon by Dinitia Smith
The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu by Joshua Hammer
The Murder of Mary Russell by Laurie King
Fixers by Michael M. Thomas
The Summer Before the War by Helen Simonson
Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue
Three-Martini Lunch by Suzanne Rindell
The Translation of Love by Lynne Kutsukake
The Never-Open Desert Diner by James Anderson
The Loney by Andrew Michael Hurley
The Versions of Us by Laura Barnett
Find Her by Lisa Gardner
Imagine Me Gone by Adam Haslett
The Excellent Lombards by Jane Hamilton
All is Not Forgotten by Wendy Walker
Gone Again by James Grippando
The Maximum Security Book Club: Reading Literature in a Men’s Prison by Mikita Brottman
Dodgers by Bill Beverly
The Unfortunate Englishman by John Lawton
Joe Gould’s Teeth by Jill Lepore
Dinner with Edward by Isabel Vincent
Not all Bastards Are from Vienna by Andrea Molesini
King Maybe by Timothy Hallinan
134Oberon
>133 Chatterbox: Impressive haul. Spain in Our Hearts looks a BB for me.
135thornton37814
>133 Chatterbox: That's definitely a huge haul!
136katiekrug
I had to look up Sweetbitter, which sounds like it could either be very good or very trite.
Others of high interest: the Stewart O'Nan (of course), the Lyndsey Faye, the Sittenfeld (which comes out on my b-day so I will be pre-ordering it and then reading it furiously, as she will be speaking in Dallas a few days later), and the Elly Griffiths.
I will have to look at the others more closely...
Nicely done!
Others of high interest: the Stewart O'Nan (of course), the Lyndsey Faye, the Sittenfeld (which comes out on my b-day so I will be pre-ordering it and then reading it furiously, as she will be speaking in Dallas a few days later), and the Elly Griffiths.
I will have to look at the others more closely...
Nicely done!
137michigantrumpet
Just heard from Caro who went back again today. She's says Sweetbitter was all out by the time she got there. As you recall, the author was doing a signing this morning. Apparently the galleys all went quickly for that.
She's waiting for a couple of the booths to disburse the display copies. She has one in particular she's interested in from Soho...
So yes, you are a very lucky one! And yes, I'm holding you to your promise for a loan of Sweetbitter!
She's waiting for a couple of the booths to disburse the display copies. She has one in particular she's interested in from Soho...
So yes, you are a very lucky one! And yes, I'm holding you to your promise for a loan of Sweetbitter!
138michigantrumpet
>136 katiekrug: Don't know how I missed out on the Lyndsay Faye, because I was big fan of the Gods of Gotham series. Like I said, Suzanne is the pro!!
139Chatterbox
If you are in touch with Caro -- my text function isn't working... -- can you ask her to look out for "The Fall of Moscow Station" at the Simon & Schuster booth? (the display copy...) by Mark Henshaw...
140cbl_tn
>133 Chatterbox: Lots of interesting books on that list! I am looking forward to the Curtis Sittenfeld and Anne Tyler books since I'm reading the Austen Project and Hogarth Shakespeare series.
141nittnut
Impressive book haul. Some day I am going to this event. Just walking around would probably make me happy.
142Chatterbox
A lot of the displays are strictly kids' boys -- you have to look for the part of the display that has the adult books. It's a small portion compared to the BEA segment, and some publishers (like Bloomsbury) aren't there at all with adult titles or (like Europa) aren't there at all. On the other hand, BookExpo is so focused on selling that they don't have as much time to talk to readers, so big displays don't mean as much in terms of # of books or willingness to give 'em to you and I, it seems...
But yes, walking around is enough to make a book person happy. Heck, just looking down at the display floor will make you high. And it's a legal drug -- imagine!
But yes, walking around is enough to make a book person happy. Heck, just looking down at the display floor will make you high. And it's a legal drug -- imagine!
143tututhefirst
>1 Chatterbox: Hi Suzanne....finally getting aaround to visiting 2016 threads. Definitely dropping a big star on your thread - my kinda reader. Love that you're hosting the non-fic reading...I really want to do more of that this year. I have several bios sitting on my tablet or my MP3 (like you many are courtesy of Net Galley or library) so I'm going to try to read the Wright Brothers this month.
I think you're so right about so much stuff being hyped by today's publishers as being only OK. I'm having to plow through a lot of so so ick to sort out really good books for my work on the Maine Readers Choice award (www.mainereaderschoiceaward.org). looking forward to see what you discover this year.
I think you're so right about so much stuff being hyped by today's publishers as being only OK. I'm having to plow through a lot of so so ick to sort out really good books for my work on the Maine Readers Choice award (www.mainereaderschoiceaward.org). looking forward to see what you discover this year.
144charl08
Looking forward to hearing about these books as the year progresses. Some very tempting sounding titles. (And the Mary Russell? What a plot spoiler?!)
145Chatterbox
>143 tututhefirst: Welcome!! And welcome to the nonfiction read, as well. It's certainly getting me motivated and focused on my own non-fiction reading as well, which I always enjoy. I'm trying to interpret it as liberally as possible, and hope others will as possible.
>144 charl08: I hope and trust that the author's apparent spoiler of a title will turn out to have a complete twist as the plot unfolds.
Trying to get myself organized ahead of my departure for NYC, as I'll be gone for 12 days! D doesn't fly up from Atlanta until Thursday, which is lucky, as today he is stuck in bed with the flu -- TheraFlu, and, I quote, five blankets, a thermal jacket a hat and probably two pairs of socks as well. I don't think I know anyone who feels the cold as badly as he does. I'd be wandering around in a t-shirt. OK, maybe a long-sleeved t-shirt. Still, horrible; hoping he feels a bit better by Thurs.
>144 charl08: I hope and trust that the author's apparent spoiler of a title will turn out to have a complete twist as the plot unfolds.
Trying to get myself organized ahead of my departure for NYC, as I'll be gone for 12 days! D doesn't fly up from Atlanta until Thursday, which is lucky, as today he is stuck in bed with the flu -- TheraFlu, and, I quote, five blankets, a thermal jacket a hat and probably two pairs of socks as well. I don't think I know anyone who feels the cold as badly as he does. I'd be wandering around in a t-shirt. OK, maybe a long-sleeved t-shirt. Still, horrible; hoping he feels a bit better by Thurs.
146Copperskye
>133 Chatterbox: Yowzah! That's truly an amazing haul! I picked a good time to stop by and say hello. Now I have another list of new books to check out!
147Carmenere
Hi Suzanne, the ALA sounds very exciting and I congratulate you on a successful book haul! I have a questions as I'm unfamiliar as to how this conference enables people to bring home 70some books. Does one need to be known by the publishers/authors? Do you need to whisper sweet words in their ears, promise to write a timely review? Is it strictly for professionals or can the average booklover attend. Maybe, just maybe this will one day come to Cleveland and I'll be ready *fingerscrossed*
149Chatterbox
>147 Carmenere: I think you just need to know that these conferences exist and have the ability to get in the doors. In the case of BookExpo, that means being a blogger and being willing to pay $150 plus (whatever they are charging these days) to get in (and having them approve you). In the case of ALA, I'm much less sure; folks like Benita or Mark, who have been to more of these, could probably give you more insight. Once you're there, they assume that you are a bookish person, and will read and chatter wildly about the books they give you, thus generating sales for them. The fact is, there aren't a lot of people like us, and the "book bullets" we shoot around the place are of some value. I suspect there are some titles that are much more scarce, and that are held in reserve for favored people, but schmoozing will even get those into your hands, sometimes, unless they really only are a single display copy. (eg my ability to score a copy of the Stephanie Danier novel.) But if something was available, and wasn't being held for a signing, I was surprised at how easy it was to get, vs the BEA, where the emphasis was more on getting it to a bookseller who would place orders. Readers/book fans were second best.
>148 LizzieD: Ha, don't hold your breath! I'm off to NYC, hoping to have a good week there. D is battling a cold/flu though and generally is in a grumpy/depressed mood, for some reasons yet unknown as well as for some reasons I do know. So I'm hoping that by the time he arrives on Thursday, things are looking better. Right now, this doesn't augur well.
Meanwhile, have a work meeting at 5 p.m., and must read my book circle book, too.
>148 LizzieD: Ha, don't hold your breath! I'm off to NYC, hoping to have a good week there. D is battling a cold/flu though and generally is in a grumpy/depressed mood, for some reasons yet unknown as well as for some reasons I do know. So I'm hoping that by the time he arrives on Thursday, things are looking better. Right now, this doesn't augur well.
Meanwhile, have a work meeting at 5 p.m., and must read my book circle book, too.
150Carmenere
>149 Chatterbox: Thanks!
151Fourpawz2
Am well and truly floored by the number of books you-all scored. Perhaps it is just as well I had to give it a miss as I can't imagine where I would put them all.
152ffortsa
What irks me more than the sheer number of books you snatched is that I recognize so few titles and authors. Ok, the titles are new - but the authors? I've got to get up to speed.
153Whisper1
>1 Chatterbox: Well said! I agree regarding not liking dramatic posts. Overall, I think this group is very civil and kind.
Happy New Year! And, congratulations on your recent incredible book haul.
Happy New Year! And, congratulations on your recent incredible book haul.
154LovingLit
>133 Chatterbox: maximum security book club. I like the sound of that one....it seems that some people can only get access to things they might never have access to otherwise...in prison. Or is it just that they are a captive audience?
Tell me, did the Anders Brevic book detail the actual massacre, or was it more his life and the trial?
Tell me, did the Anders Brevic book detail the actual massacre, or was it more his life and the trial?
155Chatterbox
>152 ffortsa: Of those, 17 writers are either new to me or debut writers. One or two had had some buzz around them. A few others I know of, but hadn't read anything by them.
>151 Fourpawz2: I have NO idea where I will put them.
>154 LovingLit: Yes, there were a lot of details of the actual massacre. It was quite chilling; a very suspenseful blow by blow description. Including the fact that law enforcement bungled their response to the initial bombing in Oslo and to the reports of the shooting, enabling Breivik to murder far more students than would otherwise have been the case. He even tried to surrender twice via cell phones he found there, only to have flummoxed cops not now how to handle the calls; he gave up and went back to killing.
I will report back to you on that book on Maximum Security books!!
Very, very tired today.
>151 Fourpawz2: I have NO idea where I will put them.
>154 LovingLit: Yes, there were a lot of details of the actual massacre. It was quite chilling; a very suspenseful blow by blow description. Including the fact that law enforcement bungled their response to the initial bombing in Oslo and to the reports of the shooting, enabling Breivik to murder far more students than would otherwise have been the case. He even tried to surrender twice via cell phones he found there, only to have flummoxed cops not now how to handle the calls; he gave up and went back to killing.
I will report back to you on that book on Maximum Security books!!
Very, very tired today.
156LovingLit
>155 Chatterbox: I had heard some of those things, not that he had attempted surrender though. What a tragedy. I was up breast feeding Lenny very early in the NZ morning when the Olso bombings came to air on BBC news. And then I had no idea what he'll was about to unfold on that island. I though about it a lot from my hormonal maternal place back then.
157Chatterbox
>156 LovingLit: Probably a book that you'd find very difficult to read, from that context. The author does track the lives of two of the teenagers on the island, moving back and forth between their experiences growing up in Norway and contrasting it with Breivik's. It's a bit heavy-handed and perhaps overly emotive, in the sense of deliberately trying to conjure up emotions well past the point when a reader would have understood the point she's trying to make -- that they were finding ways to become productive citizens at a young age, while he seems never to have made much of an effort to become much of anything other than a drain on society, but it does work as an effective contrast.
158abergsman
>127 labwriter: I wish that instead of uprooting people, we could find more effective ways to enable them to stay safely and productively in the places where they were born.
I completely agree with this as well. My thoughts on the topic at the time I wrote my thesis did lean towards an intense focus on economic assistance, and repatriation at some point rather than permanent resettlement in another country. I also focused extensively on micro-loans and social entrepreneurship, rather than top-down economic assistance, as one way to address the issue. The agency I worked with during and after grad school was very much of the "giving a hand up, not a handout) mindset, and starting to pioneer the way in micro-loans. This also happened to be at the same time that a friend of mine was just in the early stages of developing what has turned out to be a wonderfully innovative nonprofit, Kiva.org. She happens to have a wonderful Ted Talk, her name is Jessica Jackley.
My advisor's main criticism of my thesis happened to be that I had many great ideas, scattered all over the place, lol. It's turned into a life-long habit!
I completely agree with this as well. My thoughts on the topic at the time I wrote my thesis did lean towards an intense focus on economic assistance, and repatriation at some point rather than permanent resettlement in another country. I also focused extensively on micro-loans and social entrepreneurship, rather than top-down economic assistance, as one way to address the issue. The agency I worked with during and after grad school was very much of the "giving a hand up, not a handout) mindset, and starting to pioneer the way in micro-loans. This also happened to be at the same time that a friend of mine was just in the early stages of developing what has turned out to be a wonderfully innovative nonprofit, Kiva.org. She happens to have a wonderful Ted Talk, her name is Jessica Jackley.
My advisor's main criticism of my thesis happened to be that I had many great ideas, scattered all over the place, lol. It's turned into a life-long habit!
159benitastrnad
#147
In the case of this last conference. I had established a relationship with the LT Gods - Tim Spaulding (the founder) and Abbey (the first full time employee) of the company back in 2007. A small group of us (4 people) met that year at Cafe DuMonde for breakfast. Since then LT has offered free Exhibit Hall passes to the conference. I e-mail Abbey about a month before the conference and ask her for the link and she sends it to me. I post it here on various threads and see what the response is. Then I try to let people know how to function on the Exhibit Hall floor and what is acceptable behavior and what isn't. From now on I will let Suzanne take over those duties. She is a pro.
The Exhibit Hall passes cost $50.00 per person and are good for the entire conference. The conference is always on a weekend and is in the bigger cities, and always in the off season. Thus, Boston in the winter. Orlando in the summer. The Exhibit Halls open at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday an close at 2:00 p.m. on Monday. The conference doesn't end until noon on Tuesday. Anybody who loves books can get the Exhibit passes if they pay for them. The group that went to the one in Boston all took advantage of the LT offer for the free passes.
One other thing to remember is that the ALA conference is where publishers trot out their new authors, or authors that they think need a wider audience for their books. For this reason, bestselling authors are not the majority of the free books, or the speakers for events at the conference. That is why Suzanne ended up talking to the publisher reps so much. You have to question them to find out what the books are and why they are trying to get you to read them. Publishers really want librarians because they are good at getting the word out about books. That is also why they want bloggers and people who read to get these ARC's. A perfect example of this is the book Heft by Liz Moore. This book is very good, but it was never on the bestseller lists. However, through word of mouth and library book discussion groups it ended up selling very well. It would never have done so without getting that book out into the hands of librarians. The ALA conference is held twice a year and that is the primary vehicle for getting ARC's and new authors out in front of the librarians. I have attended ALA conferences for 20 years and it is very rare that bestselling authors are at ALA. It is more likely that Liz Moore will be at ALA. However, this conference, Val McDermid was there, and to have somebody that well known is unusual. The last time the conference was in Boston Tom Perotta and Chris Bohjalian was there. I think the reason famous authors are in Boston is that so many of them live in New England and it is easy to get to Boston. Most of the conferences don't have that many famous people living that close.
In the case of this last conference. I had established a relationship with the LT Gods - Tim Spaulding (the founder) and Abbey (the first full time employee) of the company back in 2007. A small group of us (4 people) met that year at Cafe DuMonde for breakfast. Since then LT has offered free Exhibit Hall passes to the conference. I e-mail Abbey about a month before the conference and ask her for the link and she sends it to me. I post it here on various threads and see what the response is. Then I try to let people know how to function on the Exhibit Hall floor and what is acceptable behavior and what isn't. From now on I will let Suzanne take over those duties. She is a pro.
The Exhibit Hall passes cost $50.00 per person and are good for the entire conference. The conference is always on a weekend and is in the bigger cities, and always in the off season. Thus, Boston in the winter. Orlando in the summer. The Exhibit Halls open at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday an close at 2:00 p.m. on Monday. The conference doesn't end until noon on Tuesday. Anybody who loves books can get the Exhibit passes if they pay for them. The group that went to the one in Boston all took advantage of the LT offer for the free passes.
One other thing to remember is that the ALA conference is where publishers trot out their new authors, or authors that they think need a wider audience for their books. For this reason, bestselling authors are not the majority of the free books, or the speakers for events at the conference. That is why Suzanne ended up talking to the publisher reps so much. You have to question them to find out what the books are and why they are trying to get you to read them. Publishers really want librarians because they are good at getting the word out about books. That is also why they want bloggers and people who read to get these ARC's. A perfect example of this is the book Heft by Liz Moore. This book is very good, but it was never on the bestseller lists. However, through word of mouth and library book discussion groups it ended up selling very well. It would never have done so without getting that book out into the hands of librarians. The ALA conference is held twice a year and that is the primary vehicle for getting ARC's and new authors out in front of the librarians. I have attended ALA conferences for 20 years and it is very rare that bestselling authors are at ALA. It is more likely that Liz Moore will be at ALA. However, this conference, Val McDermid was there, and to have somebody that well known is unusual. The last time the conference was in Boston Tom Perotta and Chris Bohjalian was there. I think the reason famous authors are in Boston is that so many of them live in New England and it is easy to get to Boston. Most of the conferences don't have that many famous people living that close.
160benitastrnad
Here is the schedule for Book Expo America. It will be in Chicago May 11 - 14, 2016 at the McCormick Place Convention Center. I am not sure how much it costs to attend BEA, but it won't be with a free pass from LT.
Event Hours
Wednesday, May 11
9:00 am – 5:30 pm CIROBE Remainders Pavilion Open (Entire exhibit hall opens at 1:00 pm)
9:30 am – 5:30 pm BEA Content & Digital Conference
12:30 pm - 1:30 pm Opening Day Spotlight
1:00 pm – 5:30 pm Exhibit Hall
8:00 am – 5:30 pm Press Room Hours
1:00 pm – 5:30 pm International Rights Center
Thursday, May 12
8:00 am – 9:30 am Adult Book & Author Breakfast (Ticket Required)
8:00 am – 5:30 pm Press Room Hours
9:00 am – 5:30 pm BEA Content & Digital Conference
9:00 am – 5:30 pm Exhibit Hall
9:00 am – 5:30 pm Exhibitor Meeting Rooms
9:00 am – 5:30 pm International Rights Center
Friday, May 13
8:00 am – 9:30 am Children’s Book & Author Breakfast (Ticket Required)
8:00 am – 5:00 pm Press Room Hours
9:00 am – 5:00 pm BEA Content & Digital Conference
9:00 am – 5:00 pm Exhibit Hall
9:00 am – 5:00 pm Exhibitor Meeting Rooms
9:00 am – 5:00 pm International Rights Center
3:30 pm – 4:30 pm Audio Publishers Association (APA) Author Tea (Ticket Required)
Saturday, May 14
BookCon
10:00 am –6:00 pm Show Floor Hours
11:00 am – 6:00 pm Panel Hours
Event Hours
Wednesday, May 11
9:00 am – 5:30 pm CIROBE Remainders Pavilion Open (Entire exhibit hall opens at 1:00 pm)
9:30 am – 5:30 pm BEA Content & Digital Conference
12:30 pm - 1:30 pm Opening Day Spotlight
1:00 pm – 5:30 pm Exhibit Hall
8:00 am – 5:30 pm Press Room Hours
1:00 pm – 5:30 pm International Rights Center
Thursday, May 12
8:00 am – 9:30 am Adult Book & Author Breakfast (Ticket Required)
8:00 am – 5:30 pm Press Room Hours
9:00 am – 5:30 pm BEA Content & Digital Conference
9:00 am – 5:30 pm Exhibit Hall
9:00 am – 5:30 pm Exhibitor Meeting Rooms
9:00 am – 5:30 pm International Rights Center
Friday, May 13
8:00 am – 9:30 am Children’s Book & Author Breakfast (Ticket Required)
8:00 am – 5:00 pm Press Room Hours
9:00 am – 5:00 pm BEA Content & Digital Conference
9:00 am – 5:00 pm Exhibit Hall
9:00 am – 5:00 pm Exhibitor Meeting Rooms
9:00 am – 5:00 pm International Rights Center
3:30 pm – 4:30 pm Audio Publishers Association (APA) Author Tea (Ticket Required)
Saturday, May 14
BookCon
10:00 am –6:00 pm Show Floor Hours
11:00 am – 6:00 pm Panel Hours
161Chatterbox
BEA is tougher to get into, though BookCon, on the Saturday, will be easier -- it's designed for the general public (and will have a more limited array of books, etc.) If you can legitimately describe yourself as a blogger or a book club facilitator or leader (and they will want evidence of some kind...), the cost for a three-day pass this year will be $188, if you book before April 26. But they have gotten tougher over evidence of status... I'm only going because I'll get a free press pass this year. It may well be my last year, however -- though it will be back in the Javits Center in NYC by 2017 at least...
Book update to come later.
Book update to come later.
163Chatterbox
Thanks, Diana!
We hit (aka visited) the Albertine bookstore today. Met a clerk there whose ambition it is to own a bookstore in Providence -- in which I encouraged him!! And acquired another four books, en français... Also was approved for a couple of books on NetGalley that I acquired at ALA Midwinter -- embarassment of riches!!
Off to the symphony tomorrow. Watching advance DVDs of a new Showtime series, "Billions", tonight.
We hit (aka visited) the Albertine bookstore today. Met a clerk there whose ambition it is to own a bookstore in Providence -- in which I encouraged him!! And acquired another four books, en français... Also was approved for a couple of books on NetGalley that I acquired at ALA Midwinter -- embarassment of riches!!
Off to the symphony tomorrow. Watching advance DVDs of a new Showtime series, "Billions", tonight.
164benitastrnad
I was surprised that I didn't see as many non-fiction ARC's as usual at ALA. However, I admit that my time in the exhibit hall was limited and the ARC's being handed out is often time sensitive. What did you think?
165EBT1002
Impressive book haul, Suz. It sounds like quite the adventure and I bet you're exhausted.
I recently snagged an ARC of Dodgers, too, which I will try to read before its release in April.
I recently snagged an ARC of Dodgers, too, which I will try to read before its release in April.
166michigantrumpet
Assuming you're still out of town? Hope you are having fun!
Found out there is a group here for LTers who also, knit, crochet, etc.
http://www.librarything.com/groups/needlearts
John and I think you need to join and post pictures of your progress!
Found out there is a group here for LTers who also, knit, crochet, etc.
http://www.librarything.com/groups/needlearts
John and I think you need to join and post pictures of your progress!
167Chatterbox
>166 michigantrumpet: yes, am still in NYC; David leaves tomorrow, alas...
We did visit Soho Purl, a lovely knitting/craft/yarn store in, yes, SoHo. D lasted a whopping 90 seconds before bolting to visit the guitar store next door to ogle the very cool guitars once owned and played by masters. I stocked up on some skeins of wool for a cowl, but did not start work on THE project.
As for posting pictures of my progress -- LOL. John is just trying to needle me. Pun fully intentional.
No books completed at all this week; surprise surprise.
Trying to figure out how to get home on the weekend ahead of what promises to be Snowpocalypse 2016. I have committed to stay until late Sat/early Sunday to care for the cats, but that's the height of the blizzard (a foot of snow expected...) and I'm worrying about the trains being disrupted. Plus, my ability even to get to the station with a big suitcase.
>164 benitastrnad: I got several non-fiction ARCs, but some of 'em, at least, because I asked about them (such as the upcoming book by Adam Hochschild). City of Thorns was non-fiction, as was The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu; there was a book about Buddhist nuns in Tibet; one about poverty, The Existentialist Cafe and some that I didn't pick up. I can't really compare to other ALA shows though.
>165 EBT1002: Yup, I'm exhausted, and wondering how to juggle the reading with work and real life!!
We did visit Soho Purl, a lovely knitting/craft/yarn store in, yes, SoHo. D lasted a whopping 90 seconds before bolting to visit the guitar store next door to ogle the very cool guitars once owned and played by masters. I stocked up on some skeins of wool for a cowl, but did not start work on THE project.
As for posting pictures of my progress -- LOL. John is just trying to needle me. Pun fully intentional.
No books completed at all this week; surprise surprise.
Trying to figure out how to get home on the weekend ahead of what promises to be Snowpocalypse 2016. I have committed to stay until late Sat/early Sunday to care for the cats, but that's the height of the blizzard (a foot of snow expected...) and I'm worrying about the trains being disrupted. Plus, my ability even to get to the station with a big suitcase.
>164 benitastrnad: I got several non-fiction ARCs, but some of 'em, at least, because I asked about them (such as the upcoming book by Adam Hochschild). City of Thorns was non-fiction, as was The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu; there was a book about Buddhist nuns in Tibet; one about poverty, The Existentialist Cafe and some that I didn't pick up. I can't really compare to other ALA shows though.
>165 EBT1002: Yup, I'm exhausted, and wondering how to juggle the reading with work and real life!!
168elkiedee
The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu is a very intriguing title!
169cbl_tn
>167 Chatterbox: I hope you're able to work out alternate travel arrangements to avoid the Snowpocalypse. I was supposed to fly through DC this coming Sunday. It took 3 hours of waiting on hold, but I was able to get a different flight that doesn't go through any of the airports in the path of the winter storm without paying a change fee.
170Chatterbox
>168 elkiedee: It's an intriguing story, and may get read on Saturday, which seems likely to be a Snow Day!
>169 cbl_tn: I've booked my travel home for midday on Sunday. By then, the storm should be over and cleanup underway -- I'm hoping that with a confirmed seat on an Acela train at noon, there is at least a 50/50 chance I'll get where I'm going. The problem may be at the DC end of things, from what I gather. At any rate, there are no back up care plans for the kitties here in NYC, so the backup plans will have to be at my end.
>169 cbl_tn: I've booked my travel home for midday on Sunday. By then, the storm should be over and cleanup underway -- I'm hoping that with a confirmed seat on an Acela train at noon, there is at least a 50/50 chance I'll get where I'm going. The problem may be at the DC end of things, from what I gather. At any rate, there are no back up care plans for the kitties here in NYC, so the backup plans will have to be at my end.
171michigantrumpet
>167 Chatterbox: "John is just trying to needle me." Ha!
Sorry you have to see D head back out. Seems he is leaving Dodge right ahead of the sheriffs .. ahem .. snow storm. Fingers crossed it all works out for you (and kitties) as well.
Sorry you have to see D head back out. Seems he is leaving Dodge right ahead of the sheriffs .. ahem .. snow storm. Fingers crossed it all works out for you (and kitties) as well.
172thornton37814
I didn't have to wait on hold 3 hours to change my plans. I took the offer that United sent out offering to change flights if flying through certain cities and got it changed at the airport in under 5 minutes. Of course, the airport wasn't busy when I arrived, so I was the agent's only customer with no line behind me.
174michigantrumpet
Fingers crossed you are able to get out of the City when you wish!
175Chatterbox
>174 michigantrumpet: Well, the plans have changed. I'm now going to get a ride home with friends who live on Cape Cod and who have been here over the weekend. They'll pick me up around 6 p.m., by which time (hopefully), the cleanup will be well underway. (Snow is still pelting down now...) Have gotten a refund for my ticket. With the ban on private vehicles on the streets and all the snow, there was no way I could have gotten my self and my bags from here to Penn Station tomorrow...
Book update, long, long overdue:
6. A Christmas Escape by Anne Perry
Another in the apparently endless series of Christmas novellas. Overpriced, so don't buy it, unless you are absolutely addicted to Anne Perry! In this slim volume, the brother of Hester Latterly (the main female character in Perry's William Monk mystery series) heads off to a volcanic island off the Italian coast for Christmas, seeking to recapture a sense of meaning, purpose, etc. etc. He finds an ill-assorted/dysfunctional group of fellow guests and lots of tension, and then a volcano erupts and a dead body is found. But the death is murder and the volcano isn't the culprit. As the survivors pick their way down to safety, Signor Latterly must deduce the culprit. Thin fare. 3.2 stars.
7. Finding Fontainebleau: An American Boy in France by Thad Carhart
This was an ARC from Amazon Vine, so thankfully not a book I paid real money for, though I wouldn't have minded reading a library copy. It is billed as a book about rediscovering one's childhood and about the palace, but the palace is really the backdrop to some rather choppy, if evocative, memories of a few years of childhood in France in the mid 1950s. It's reasonably good, but not great or compelling: it kind of rambled hither and yon and I kept waiting for some kind of focus to emerge, or something to grip me, as happened in memoirish books like The Hare with Amber Eyes or The Lost Carving by David Esterly, both of them books where the author's passion for a building or place really emerges vividly. This was OK as a series of vignettes, so will appeal to nostalgia fans, but even measured on that score, I sometimes found myself wondering why I was reading it. 3.75 stars.
8. The Coffee Trader by David Liss
Almost the last of the unread historical novels by Liss for me, so he'd better hurry up and write some more!! A twisting and turning tale of double-dealing and deceit in 17th century Amsterdam, involving the attempt by Miguel Lienzo, a Portuguese Jewish trader, to reestablish his fortunes by trading in coffee futures -- a commodity still almost unknown to the Dutch, who favor tea and chocolate. But to do so will require him to pull off an elaborate juggling act -- defying the Jewish council's rules on not dealing with Gentiles, finding a way to deal with a disgruntled and poverty stricken former partner who blames Miguel for his plight, coping with the machinations of his envious brother, who may be in league with Miguel's worst personal and professional rival. It's tremendously entertaining and fascinating, and the product of tremendous knowledge and insight. 4.7 stars.
9. The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy
Read for my book circle; a novella about a life lived as if to society's prescription and then the deathbed agonies of the man who lived it as he recognizes the futility of that life. It's a hard work to evaluate; on the one hand, as a work to force one to ponder mortality as a theme, it can't be bettered, and some structural elements are simply superb -- as the story's focus narrows from the broadest (the external pov, to a general "outer" narrator, to a more personal perspective, where we get more of Ilyich's thoughts, and finally to his internal agony, where we literally see inside out). On the other hand, Tolstoy's philosophy rules his writing to such an extent that I can rarely love it, I find, and less so as I grow older. It interests me, but also makes me irritable. 4.2 stars.
10. Romantic Outlaws by Charlotte Gordon
This was an absolutely fascinating and brilliantly constructed dual biography of a mother and daughter. The mother was Mary Wollstonecraft, author of A Vindication of the Rights of Women and many more works of political philosophy, a major thinker of the late Enlightenment. She outlived her daughter, Mary Godwin Shelley, by only ten days, but as the author shows, that didn't prevent her from having an outsize impact on that daughter's life and thinking. Gordon chooses to alternate chapters, leading to some eerie and interesting parallels, such as juxtapositions between those in which she chronicles how William Godwin mourned his wife, Wollstonecraft, and how Mary Shelley coped with the loss of Percy Bysshe Shelley (and how both treated their respective obligations to preserve their spouses' literary legacies). Loss is one common element -- the loss of love in Wollstonecraft's case; in Mary's case, the death of three of her children as infants, and that of her elder sister to suicide. So, too, is depression, to which both mother and daughter seem to have been vulnerable. A brilliant dual biography, and very insightful and analytical. I valued it, in particular, for what I learned about Wollstonecaft, and will try to add something by her to my reading this year. (Meanwhile, will try to read the Virginia Woolf essay about her soon...) The full 5 stars!
So, now I'm up to date!
Book update, long, long overdue:
6. A Christmas Escape by Anne Perry
Another in the apparently endless series of Christmas novellas. Overpriced, so don't buy it, unless you are absolutely addicted to Anne Perry! In this slim volume, the brother of Hester Latterly (the main female character in Perry's William Monk mystery series) heads off to a volcanic island off the Italian coast for Christmas, seeking to recapture a sense of meaning, purpose, etc. etc. He finds an ill-assorted/dysfunctional group of fellow guests and lots of tension, and then a volcano erupts and a dead body is found. But the death is murder and the volcano isn't the culprit. As the survivors pick their way down to safety, Signor Latterly must deduce the culprit. Thin fare. 3.2 stars.
7. Finding Fontainebleau: An American Boy in France by Thad Carhart
This was an ARC from Amazon Vine, so thankfully not a book I paid real money for, though I wouldn't have minded reading a library copy. It is billed as a book about rediscovering one's childhood and about the palace, but the palace is really the backdrop to some rather choppy, if evocative, memories of a few years of childhood in France in the mid 1950s. It's reasonably good, but not great or compelling: it kind of rambled hither and yon and I kept waiting for some kind of focus to emerge, or something to grip me, as happened in memoirish books like The Hare with Amber Eyes or The Lost Carving by David Esterly, both of them books where the author's passion for a building or place really emerges vividly. This was OK as a series of vignettes, so will appeal to nostalgia fans, but even measured on that score, I sometimes found myself wondering why I was reading it. 3.75 stars.
8. The Coffee Trader by David Liss
Almost the last of the unread historical novels by Liss for me, so he'd better hurry up and write some more!! A twisting and turning tale of double-dealing and deceit in 17th century Amsterdam, involving the attempt by Miguel Lienzo, a Portuguese Jewish trader, to reestablish his fortunes by trading in coffee futures -- a commodity still almost unknown to the Dutch, who favor tea and chocolate. But to do so will require him to pull off an elaborate juggling act -- defying the Jewish council's rules on not dealing with Gentiles, finding a way to deal with a disgruntled and poverty stricken former partner who blames Miguel for his plight, coping with the machinations of his envious brother, who may be in league with Miguel's worst personal and professional rival. It's tremendously entertaining and fascinating, and the product of tremendous knowledge and insight. 4.7 stars.
9. The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy
Read for my book circle; a novella about a life lived as if to society's prescription and then the deathbed agonies of the man who lived it as he recognizes the futility of that life. It's a hard work to evaluate; on the one hand, as a work to force one to ponder mortality as a theme, it can't be bettered, and some structural elements are simply superb -- as the story's focus narrows from the broadest (the external pov, to a general "outer" narrator, to a more personal perspective, where we get more of Ilyich's thoughts, and finally to his internal agony, where we literally see inside out). On the other hand, Tolstoy's philosophy rules his writing to such an extent that I can rarely love it, I find, and less so as I grow older. It interests me, but also makes me irritable. 4.2 stars.
10. Romantic Outlaws by Charlotte Gordon
This was an absolutely fascinating and brilliantly constructed dual biography of a mother and daughter. The mother was Mary Wollstonecraft, author of A Vindication of the Rights of Women and many more works of political philosophy, a major thinker of the late Enlightenment. She outlived her daughter, Mary Godwin Shelley, by only ten days, but as the author shows, that didn't prevent her from having an outsize impact on that daughter's life and thinking. Gordon chooses to alternate chapters, leading to some eerie and interesting parallels, such as juxtapositions between those in which she chronicles how William Godwin mourned his wife, Wollstonecraft, and how Mary Shelley coped with the loss of Percy Bysshe Shelley (and how both treated their respective obligations to preserve their spouses' literary legacies). Loss is one common element -- the loss of love in Wollstonecraft's case; in Mary's case, the death of three of her children as infants, and that of her elder sister to suicide. So, too, is depression, to which both mother and daughter seem to have been vulnerable. A brilliant dual biography, and very insightful and analytical. I valued it, in particular, for what I learned about Wollstonecaft, and will try to add something by her to my reading this year. (Meanwhile, will try to read the Virginia Woolf essay about her soon...) The full 5 stars!
So, now I'm up to date!
176Chatterbox
On deck for reading...
with an eye to the non-fiction history challenge looming in February:
with an eye to the non-fiction history challenge looming in February:
177PaulCranswick
>176 Chatterbox: Oooh some interesting titles there, Suz - a new Graham Swift is always something to look forward to.
My thoughts are also starting to turn to next month's book planning - maybe The Zimmerman Telegram for me by Barbara Tuchman for starters.
My thoughts are also starting to turn to next month's book planning - maybe The Zimmerman Telegram for me by Barbara Tuchman for starters.
178magicians_nephew
>175 Chatterbox: the gal who wrote Romantic Outlaws did a pitch at the Boston Book Fest - made me want to know more.
>177 PaulCranswick: would plump for the Tuchman - it's a lovely gracefully written book and the history is fun!
179benitastrnad
#175
I read Coffee Trader several years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. Since then I have wanted to read more of his historical fiction. I hadn't thought about it, but it has been some time since I have seen one of this books among the new books. I do have a copy of Conspiracy of Paper somewhere on my shelves. A long winter may give me time to get to it.
I read Coffee Trader several years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. Since then I have wanted to read more of his historical fiction. I hadn't thought about it, but it has been some time since I have seen one of this books among the new books. I do have a copy of Conspiracy of Paper somewhere on my shelves. A long winter may give me time to get to it.
180Chatterbox
>177 PaulCranswick: That's one of the Tuchman books I haven't read; if I'm not mistaken, I think that's one of her early books, that helped her make her name and reputation. I do hope you read it so that I can decide whether to follow in your footsteps!!
>178 magicians_nephew: Really, it was the model of a perfect literary biography of its kind, with the caveat that you'd need to have an interest in these individuals, their times and the issues that preoccupied them (the radical politics; the shift from Enlightenment to Romantic ideals; poetics, etc.)
I'll probably be reading my Robertson Davies title in February (or at least, finishing it then...)
As per usual, spending a week with David interrupted my reading, but that's OK. We don't get to spend too much time together, alas, and when he had work to get done, I did, too, so when we were both free, we were both out and about or catching up with the stuff that we do share, like favorite TV shows & movies online. Then their were evenings out with one or two of my friends or his friends, and a night at the symphony. So now that he is back in Atlanta, I'm back with my books. And watching the snowpocalypse!
>179 benitastrnad: I've only got the middle book of the three in the Benjamin Weaver series left to read; I've also read The Whiskey Rebels and his book set against the backdrop of the Lisbon earthquake. The character of Weaver is based on the real life pugilist, Mendoza, who, in a twist of fate, is an ancestor of (try to follow this...) the ex-husband of a former close friend of mine. I used to spend all my Xmases and Thanksgivings with them when I first moved to New York. Blythe disapproves of my journalistic coverage of Wall Street these days, however... pity. (And Danny now lives in the Channel Islands, making kajillions of dollars trading commodities.)
>178 magicians_nephew: Really, it was the model of a perfect literary biography of its kind, with the caveat that you'd need to have an interest in these individuals, their times and the issues that preoccupied them (the radical politics; the shift from Enlightenment to Romantic ideals; poetics, etc.)
I'll probably be reading my Robertson Davies title in February (or at least, finishing it then...)
As per usual, spending a week with David interrupted my reading, but that's OK. We don't get to spend too much time together, alas, and when he had work to get done, I did, too, so when we were both free, we were both out and about or catching up with the stuff that we do share, like favorite TV shows & movies online. Then their were evenings out with one or two of my friends or his friends, and a night at the symphony. So now that he is back in Atlanta, I'm back with my books. And watching the snowpocalypse!
>179 benitastrnad: I've only got the middle book of the three in the Benjamin Weaver series left to read; I've also read The Whiskey Rebels and his book set against the backdrop of the Lisbon earthquake. The character of Weaver is based on the real life pugilist, Mendoza, who, in a twist of fate, is an ancestor of (try to follow this...) the ex-husband of a former close friend of mine. I used to spend all my Xmases and Thanksgivings with them when I first moved to New York. Blythe disapproves of my journalistic coverage of Wall Street these days, however... pity. (And Danny now lives in the Channel Islands, making kajillions of dollars trading commodities.)
181ronincats
The Coffee Traders has been in my tbr pile for nearly 6 years now. I picked it up at a Kansas City meetup in 2010 after it had gotten a lot of positive comments here on LT.
182Chatterbox
>181 ronincats: Liss is one of those authors who seem to benefit from word of mouth, which I think is great. He's not a perfect writer or stylist, but his plots are so fascinating and distinctive that often I find myself not caring all that much!
183benitastrnad
#182
I agree with that statement about his plots. Coffee Trader was a perfect vehicle to learn about the beginnings of the modern stock market. Liss has a way about writing that makes these obscure beginnings very interesting and helps the reader to know why they are vital bits of knowledge to have.
I agree with that statement about his plots. Coffee Trader was a perfect vehicle to learn about the beginnings of the modern stock market. Liss has a way about writing that makes these obscure beginnings very interesting and helps the reader to know why they are vital bits of knowledge to have.
184EBT1002
Oh, I had read a review of Romantic Outlaws a while back and thought it sounded interesting. Your comments (and five-star rating!) are sending it straight to the Thingaversary shopping list!
I need to start thinking about the history NF February options, too. Must peruse the TBR shelves as a first step.
Stay warm and safe out there, Suz!
I need to start thinking about the history NF February options, too. Must peruse the TBR shelves as a first step.
Stay warm and safe out there, Suz!
185charl08
I was keen to read Passionate Outlaws before but your comments on the structure whet the appetite further. I am about halfway through Claire Tomalin's bio of the older Mary. I wish she had a bit more tolerance for her social/ romantic misadventures, given the period, but other than that quibble as well written as you would expect.
Underwhelmed by The Late Scholar despite having enjoyed Paton Walsh's other Wimsey novels: perhaps it was the setting being so similar to Gaudy Night that made the comparison more obvious to the original.
I too am a Graham Swift fan, will look forward to your comments.
Underwhelmed by The Late Scholar despite having enjoyed Paton Walsh's other Wimsey novels: perhaps it was the setting being so similar to Gaudy Night that made the comparison more obvious to the original.
I too am a Graham Swift fan, will look forward to your comments.
186elkiedee
I have a Netgalley version of Romantic Outlaws so looking forward to it. Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, written as a response to Jean-Jacques Rousseau's exclusion of women from the rights he thought men should have, impressed me greatly when I first read it. I'd like to read some of her writings about living in other countries.
187benitastrnad
There might be a bit of confusion here. Mary Wollstonecraft did not outlive her daughter. She died when Mary Wollstonecraft Shelly was only 10 days old.
Mary Wollstonecraft died from childbirth complications. A killer that killed 50% of all women who had babies back in that time period. That statistic alone should have made a woman think twice about even letting a man get near her. Perhaps that is why the romances in Jane Austin are so much fun -- they pretty much take sex out of the picture.
Mary Wollstonecraft died from childbirth complications. A killer that killed 50% of all women who had babies back in that time period. That statistic alone should have made a woman think twice about even letting a man get near her. Perhaps that is why the romances in Jane Austin are so much fun -- they pretty much take sex out of the picture.
188Carmenere
Quite a lot of good reading on deck! Isn't it just a little difficult to decide which book is next?
Hope your trip home is smooth sailing.
Hope your trip home is smooth sailing.
189Chatterbox
>187 benitastrnad: profound apologies for my clumsy wording. I had intended, of course, to say that she outlived the birth of her daughter... if only briefly.
Spent a few hours today wandering through Central Park, along with thousands of others. The day after a big snowstorm is always vastly more fun than the blizzard itself, if you're going to be outdoors. It's still pretty, and you don't have wind whipping ice crystals into your face.
Packing up to head out. Waiting to see whether my friend (whose cats I have been caring for) will make it back from Burma (and JFK) before I head out on the road. We may cross paths at the front door...
I may end up adding Age of Wonder by Richard Holmes to the reading list, given my recent reading about Wollstonecraft, Shelley, etc. and my upcoming ARC of a novel about William and Caroline Herschel. And of course, Joseph Banks featured prominently in the Patrick O'Brien novels that I devoured a few years ago. So it just seems that it might be time to pull that one down off the shelf.
>188 Carmenere: So Lynda, that one may come out very, very soon, along with some Amazon Vine ARCs. And The Unfortunate Englishman, because I had such fun with its predecessor...
>186 elkiedee: I'd like to read Wollstonecraft on the French Revolution.
>185 charl08: So disappointing that Tomalin is of the breed of biographer that gets impatient with Mary the individual. When you think of what she accomplished, and the time she lived in -- wow... She was doing what few women had ever done. Yes, OK, Hester Piozzi and a few others, but even they were married and had backing from prominent men of letters (Dr. Johnson). Wollstonecraft "did it her way". Just... wow. Charlotte Gordon is definitely a fan of both women, but backs up that admiration in a scholarly manner; I think you'd find a lot to admire in this book. I came to it with a neutral perspective (having read a reasonable amount about Mary Shelley and having particularly liked Daisy Hay's book on the Shelley Circle, Young Romantics), but knowing little about her mother beyond the bare biographical details -- the works, Imlay, Godwin, her death, etc.
I'm hoping that it has been long enough since I've read Gaudy Night that, in spite of the fact that it's my fave Sayers, the comparison will not be so glaring. I really enjoy Paton Walsh as a writer, and I'm listening to it on audio rather than reading. Not sure I can recommend the narrator, though... He is improving, but sounds a bit too pedantic. Sigh.
Shall be picking up Swift "swiftly". Pun fully intentional. Quick, someone stop me before I pun myself to death...
Spent a few hours today wandering through Central Park, along with thousands of others. The day after a big snowstorm is always vastly more fun than the blizzard itself, if you're going to be outdoors. It's still pretty, and you don't have wind whipping ice crystals into your face.
Packing up to head out. Waiting to see whether my friend (whose cats I have been caring for) will make it back from Burma (and JFK) before I head out on the road. We may cross paths at the front door...
I may end up adding Age of Wonder by Richard Holmes to the reading list, given my recent reading about Wollstonecraft, Shelley, etc. and my upcoming ARC of a novel about William and Caroline Herschel. And of course, Joseph Banks featured prominently in the Patrick O'Brien novels that I devoured a few years ago. So it just seems that it might be time to pull that one down off the shelf.
>188 Carmenere: So Lynda, that one may come out very, very soon, along with some Amazon Vine ARCs. And The Unfortunate Englishman, because I had such fun with its predecessor...
>186 elkiedee: I'd like to read Wollstonecraft on the French Revolution.
>185 charl08: So disappointing that Tomalin is of the breed of biographer that gets impatient with Mary the individual. When you think of what she accomplished, and the time she lived in -- wow... She was doing what few women had ever done. Yes, OK, Hester Piozzi and a few others, but even they were married and had backing from prominent men of letters (Dr. Johnson). Wollstonecraft "did it her way". Just... wow. Charlotte Gordon is definitely a fan of both women, but backs up that admiration in a scholarly manner; I think you'd find a lot to admire in this book. I came to it with a neutral perspective (having read a reasonable amount about Mary Shelley and having particularly liked Daisy Hay's book on the Shelley Circle, Young Romantics), but knowing little about her mother beyond the bare biographical details -- the works, Imlay, Godwin, her death, etc.
I'm hoping that it has been long enough since I've read Gaudy Night that, in spite of the fact that it's my fave Sayers, the comparison will not be so glaring. I really enjoy Paton Walsh as a writer, and I'm listening to it on audio rather than reading. Not sure I can recommend the narrator, though... He is improving, but sounds a bit too pedantic. Sigh.
Shall be picking up Swift "swiftly". Pun fully intentional. Quick, someone stop me before I pun myself to death...
190wandering_star
I've wishlisted The Coffee Trader...
191Chatterbox
Just got home after a very speedy and easy drive -- hurrah. Now to unpack and finish Poles Apart by Terry Fallis. Not quite as good as his previous books, but still entertaining.
194AnneDC
Glad you made it home with minimal effort and I'm pleased to be back on your thread! You may have gotten me with Passionate Outlaws --5 stars! In general my wish list and TBR piles have benefited from a protracted absence from LT.
195Chatterbox
Adding comments on two books. One actually belongs in spot #6, but I skipped over it. Whoops... Neither are terribly demanding; both were mildly amusing.
11. Jane and the Waterloo Map by Stephanie Barron
This series is proof positive that you don't have to start at the beginning of a mystery series; I jumped in somewhere close to what is now the middle and have kept reading since, with varying degrees of interest and enthusiasm. It's a "Jane Austen as sleuth", which is mildly convincing and mildly entertaining. It works, because Austen's own novels are so much based on the fact that she is so observant of human foibles and human nature; so why, if she encounters criminal behavior, shouldn't she be as good as, say, Miss Marple, at ferreting out the evil doers? Of course, the problem is why Miss Austen would keep encountering corpses and entangling herself with stuff of this kind, and here you'd have to decide for yourself whether to suspend your credulity. In this case, she's in London nursing her brother when she discovers a dying man on a visit to the Prince Regent's library at Carlton House. I do like the way that Barron adheres (more or less) to Austen's known movements, and entwines the story with her own literary endeavors (here, she is editing Emma's galleys...) 3.6 stars.
12. Poles Apart by Terry Fallis
A Canadian author, former political apparatchik and student activist (who I know is friends with writerly/journalist type friends of mine, and now suspect has connections to politically-minded ones as well, after reading this, given the dates during which he was involved in national student politics in Canada), Fallis won the Leacock award for humor with his two books about the political scene in Ottawa (which remain the best the books he has written, IMHO.) This is the fourth of his five novels that I've read (I still have No Relation sitting around somewhere) and they are starting to fall into a bit too much of a pattern: a youngish guy, good at heart and with sound political beliefs but a tendency to trip over his own feet, gets embroiled in something that spins out of his control, but that turns out with all his dreams (and more) coming true (including the girl). In the two-book series, he accidentally gets his Liberal MP candidate (a curmudgeon of the highest order) elected to Parliament and has to manage him, but it turns out that the guy ends up almost reforming Ottawa. In the other book I read, it's all about how a PR job promoting space travel ends up with him being able to be principled (in PR, mind you) and helping an elderly woman achieve her lifelong dream and deliver their comeuppance to the bad guys. This book is all about feminism: our by now familiar hero is sent to Orlando by his mother, a superachieving CEO, to look after his father and her ex-husband, as the latter recovers from a stroke. To pass the time, Everett decides to write a blog about feminism, inspired by his encounter at the rehab facility with one of his early feminist icons. But -- a male feminist? So he decides to remain anonymous. Until one of his targets decides he shouldn't be... Had this not been so familiar a formula by now, the rating would have been significantly higher. As it is, 3.5 stars max. I wish Fallis would break out of his rut; his heroes actually are starting to sound alike, and there were moments I started confusing space travel guy with feminist blog guy.
11. Jane and the Waterloo Map by Stephanie Barron
This series is proof positive that you don't have to start at the beginning of a mystery series; I jumped in somewhere close to what is now the middle and have kept reading since, with varying degrees of interest and enthusiasm. It's a "Jane Austen as sleuth", which is mildly convincing and mildly entertaining. It works, because Austen's own novels are so much based on the fact that she is so observant of human foibles and human nature; so why, if she encounters criminal behavior, shouldn't she be as good as, say, Miss Marple, at ferreting out the evil doers? Of course, the problem is why Miss Austen would keep encountering corpses and entangling herself with stuff of this kind, and here you'd have to decide for yourself whether to suspend your credulity. In this case, she's in London nursing her brother when she discovers a dying man on a visit to the Prince Regent's library at Carlton House. I do like the way that Barron adheres (more or less) to Austen's known movements, and entwines the story with her own literary endeavors (here, she is editing Emma's galleys...) 3.6 stars.
12. Poles Apart by Terry Fallis
A Canadian author, former political apparatchik and student activist (who I know is friends with writerly/journalist type friends of mine, and now suspect has connections to politically-minded ones as well, after reading this, given the dates during which he was involved in national student politics in Canada), Fallis won the Leacock award for humor with his two books about the political scene in Ottawa (which remain the best the books he has written, IMHO.) This is the fourth of his five novels that I've read (I still have No Relation sitting around somewhere) and they are starting to fall into a bit too much of a pattern: a youngish guy, good at heart and with sound political beliefs but a tendency to trip over his own feet, gets embroiled in something that spins out of his control, but that turns out with all his dreams (and more) coming true (including the girl). In the two-book series, he accidentally gets his Liberal MP candidate (a curmudgeon of the highest order) elected to Parliament and has to manage him, but it turns out that the guy ends up almost reforming Ottawa. In the other book I read, it's all about how a PR job promoting space travel ends up with him being able to be principled (in PR, mind you) and helping an elderly woman achieve her lifelong dream and deliver their comeuppance to the bad guys. This book is all about feminism: our by now familiar hero is sent to Orlando by his mother, a superachieving CEO, to look after his father and her ex-husband, as the latter recovers from a stroke. To pass the time, Everett decides to write a blog about feminism, inspired by his encounter at the rehab facility with one of his early feminist icons. But -- a male feminist? So he decides to remain anonymous. Until one of his targets decides he shouldn't be... Had this not been so familiar a formula by now, the rating would have been significantly higher. As it is, 3.5 stars max. I wish Fallis would break out of his rut; his heroes actually are starting to sound alike, and there were moments I started confusing space travel guy with feminist blog guy.
196Chatterbox
>194 AnneDC: Wait, you WANT skinny, anaemic wish lists and TBR piles??? What kind of odd bibliomaniac are you, anyway???
197Chatterbox
A view of many (but not all) of my unread non-digital books. Not counting those that Marianne has chez elle after our assault on ALA Midwinter, or those that have been hanging around in my bedroom, OR the 250 or so unread Kindle and NetGalley digital books. I'm prepared for the Worldwide Book Famine.
199ffortsa
>197 Chatterbox: That should hold you until February, right?
200Chatterbox
13. Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly
One of the best books that I read last year (if one of the most harrowing) was Ravensbrück by Sarah Helm, which is brilliant. So, along comes the offer from Amazon Vine to read a novel based in part on some of the events and characters involved -- including a woman who is little known but who fought to bring Polish survivors of medical tests there to America after the war for treatment. So, I took it, and got the ARC. Sigh. It's told by three women, in the first person, in alternating chapters. One problem is that two of those women never actually meet. One is in the US throughout the war, so not really a 'war heroine', as the promos bill her. One never leaves Germany. You see part of the problem? One is a Polish underground member, sent to Ravensbrück; one is a doctor who is the sole women among the physicians at the concentration camp (Hitler didn't like women being doctors) and who does all kinds of evil stuff and rationalizes it, and the third is Caroline Ferriday, the American woman, who is indeed fascinating -- so why give her a rather half-hearted fake love affair? This novel rubbed me the wrong way throughout. The characters are wooden, the book is full of exposition (which I hate) at the expense of character development. It does a disservice to the dramatic and important events and characters it represents, even though I think the author meant to pay them tribute. Don't say I never did you any favors, but avoid this. It's not that it isn't interesting; the final 25% or so was new to me and intriguing, if pedantic and leaden in writing style. I'm just not sure that there aren't better books, and that the padding you have to wade through to get there is worth it. 2.7 stars. Most underwhelming book so far this year.
One of the best books that I read last year (if one of the most harrowing) was Ravensbrück by Sarah Helm, which is brilliant. So, along comes the offer from Amazon Vine to read a novel based in part on some of the events and characters involved -- including a woman who is little known but who fought to bring Polish survivors of medical tests there to America after the war for treatment. So, I took it, and got the ARC. Sigh. It's told by three women, in the first person, in alternating chapters. One problem is that two of those women never actually meet. One is in the US throughout the war, so not really a 'war heroine', as the promos bill her. One never leaves Germany. You see part of the problem? One is a Polish underground member, sent to Ravensbrück; one is a doctor who is the sole women among the physicians at the concentration camp (Hitler didn't like women being doctors) and who does all kinds of evil stuff and rationalizes it, and the third is Caroline Ferriday, the American woman, who is indeed fascinating -- so why give her a rather half-hearted fake love affair? This novel rubbed me the wrong way throughout. The characters are wooden, the book is full of exposition (which I hate) at the expense of character development. It does a disservice to the dramatic and important events and characters it represents, even though I think the author meant to pay them tribute. Don't say I never did you any favors, but avoid this. It's not that it isn't interesting; the final 25% or so was new to me and intriguing, if pedantic and leaden in writing style. I'm just not sure that there aren't better books, and that the padding you have to wade through to get there is worth it. 2.7 stars. Most underwhelming book so far this year.
201charl08
>200 Chatterbox: Oh what a shame. Such a horrendous context clearly doesn't work for everyone to inspire powerful fiction. I am ambivalent about Martin Amis but did think his latest concentration camp set novel The Zone of Interest the real stuff, nightmarish.
Good luck with that enormous pile of books. How fun!
Good luck with that enormous pile of books. How fun!
202benitastrnad
#195
I have a friend who keeps recommending the Stephanie Barron Jane Austin detective series to me, but I have kept resisting. I might rethink my position them, so thanks for the review.
Your walk in Central Park sounds lovely. Nothing like the brilliance of fresh snow and the sounds of people enjoying it.
Your unread books pile makes mine look so much more manageable - even though two stacks of them fell off the bedside table sometime Sunday afternoon. When I went in to go to bed they were laying on the floor. They must have been like the leaning tower of Pisa and finally leaned over to far.
I have a friend who keeps recommending the Stephanie Barron Jane Austin detective series to me, but I have kept resisting. I might rethink my position them, so thanks for the review.
Your walk in Central Park sounds lovely. Nothing like the brilliance of fresh snow and the sounds of people enjoying it.
Your unread books pile makes mine look so much more manageable - even though two stacks of them fell off the bedside table sometime Sunday afternoon. When I went in to go to bed they were laying on the floor. They must have been like the leaning tower of Pisa and finally leaned over to far.
203Chatterbox
Picking up with my library additions here from >4 Chatterbox:, since after a certain # of books are entered, it seems to garble all the touchstones, turning them into a classic, with the only alternatives being Harry Potter titles. They eventually become unfixable. This is what happened in my post in >18 Chatterbox:.
So here is where I'm at as of today. Being accountable is rather disconcerting. The only saving grace is that I paid money for so few of these. The way I'm choosing to look at this is that I have paid the full price for fewer than 30 of these books...
76. The Maximum Security Book Club: Reading Literature in a Men’s Prison by Mikita Brottman
77. Dodgers by Bill Beverly
78. The Unfortunate Englishman by John Lawton
79. Joe Gould’s Teeth by Jill Lepore
80. Dinner with Edward by Isabel Vincent
81. Not all Bastards Are from Vienna by Andrea Molesini
82. King Maybe by Timothy Hallinan
83. Chaucer's Tale: 1386 and the Road to Canterbury by Paul Strohm (US Kindle -- $$)
84. The Pleasure of Reading by Antonia Fraser et al (US Kindle -- $$)
85. The Afrika Reich by Guy Saville (UK Kindle -- Kindle Sale $)
86. Man by Kim Thuy (US Kindle - $$)
87. Encore - Hakan Gunday (Albertine bookstore, NYC, $$)
88. Juste avant l'oubli - Alice Zeniter (Albertine - $$)
89. La fin de l'homme rouge - Svetlana Alexievitch (Albertine -- $$)
90. Boussole - Mathias Enard (Albertine - $$)
91. Quick and the Dead - Susan Moody (NetGalley)
92. The Ides of June - Rosemary Rowe (NetGalley)
93. The Fairbairn Fortune - Una-Mary Parker (NetGalley)
94. Bond Street Story - Norman Collins (NetGalley)
95. Dear Emma - Katie Hearney (NetGalley)
96. The Sign of Fear - Robert Ryan (UK Kindle - $$)
97. The Darkness Knows - Cheryl Honigford (NetGalley)
98. The Grand Tour - Adam O'Fallon Price (NetGalley)
99. Our Own Country -- Jodi Daynard (NetGalley)
100. The Relic Master -- Christopher Buckley (Audible audiobook $$)
101. Fracture: Life and Culture in the West 1918-1938 - Philipp Blom (Audible audiobook $$)
102. An Illuminated Life: Belle da Costa Greene's Journey from Prejudice to Privilege - Heidi Ardizzone (Morgan Library purchase $$)
103. The Daughters of Palatine Hill - Phyllis T. Smith (NetGalley)
104. The Coffin Road - Peter May (UK Kindle $$)
105. The Final Silence - Stuart Neville (Audible audiobook, 3 for 2 sale, $$)
106. Seveneves by Neal Stephenson (Audible audiobook, 3 for 2 sale, $$)
107. My Struggle by Karl Ove Knausgaard (Audible audiobook, 3 for 2 sale, $$)
108. The Storm Sister by Lucinda Riley (NetGalley)
109. The Verdict by Nick Stone (US Kindle $$)
110. Pacific by Simon Winchester (Barnes & Noble; hardcover $$)
111. Excellent Daughters: the Secret Lives of Young Women transforming the Arab World by Katherine Zoepf (US Kindle, $$) Read
112. The Wars of the Roses: The Fall of the Plantagenets and the Rise of the Tudors by Dan Jones (Barnes & Noble, paperback, $$)
113. Short Sentence by Parker Bilal et. al. (UK Kindle, freebie)
114. Harlequin's Millions by Bohumil Hrabal (US Kindle, Kindle sale, $)
115. Gate of the Sun by Elias Khoury (US Kindle, Kindle sale, $)
116. The Last Anniversary by Liane Moriarty (US Kindle, Kindle sale, $)
117. The Blooding by Joseph Wambaugh (US Kindle, kindle sale, $)
118. The Value of the Novel by Peter Boxall (US Kindle, $$)
119. Walden and Civil Disobedience by Thoreau (Barnes & Noble, paperback, $$)
120. Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly (Amazon Vine ARC) Read
121. What Lies Between Us by Nayomi Munaweera (Amazon Vine ARC)
122. Be Frank With Me by Julia Claiborne Johnson (Amazon Vine ARC)
123. We Were Feminists Once by Andi Zeisler (ARC from publisher)
124. The Immortal Irishman: The Irish Revolutionary Who Became an American Hero by Timothy Egan (ARC from publisher)
125. The Trader of Saigon by Lucy Cruickshanks (UK Kindle, Kindle sale, $)
126. Mr. and Mrs. Disraeli by Daisy Hay (UK Kindle $$)
127. The Fall of Moscow Station by Mark Henshaw (Edelweiss e-Galley)
128. Not Buying It: Stop Overspending and Raise Happier, Healthier, More Successful Kids by Brett Graff (NetGalley)
129. People Who Knew Me by Kim Hooper (NetGalley)
130. The Road to Rangoon by Lucy Cruickshanks (UK Kindle, Kindle Sale, $)
131. I Am No One by Patrick Flanery (NetGalley)
132. The Noise of Time by Julian Barnes (UK Kindle, $$) Read
133. The Invisible Guardian by Dolores Redondo (NetGalley)
134. Outpatients: The Astonishing New World of Medical Tourism by Sasha Issenberg (Kindle - $$)
135. All the Single Ladies by Rebecca Traister (NetGalley)
136. Still Here by Lara Vapnyar (NetGalley)
137. June by Miranda Beverly-Whittemore (NetGalley)
138. Makers and Takers: the Rise of Finance and the Fall of American Business by Rana Foroohar (NetGalley)
139. Lost Cat: A True Story of Love, Desperation and GPS Technology by Caroline Paul (Kindle, Kindle Sale, $)
140. The Midnight Assassin: Panic, Scandal and the Hunt for America's First Serial Killer by Skip Hollandsworth (NetGalley)
141. City of Jackals by Parker Bilal (NetGalley)
142. The Golden Son by Shilpi Somaya Gowda (Amazon Vine ARC)
143. Everybody Behaves Badly: The True Story Behind Hemingway's Masterpiece The Sun Also Rises by Lesley Blume (ARC from publisher)
144. The Crow Girl by Erik Axl Sund (e-galley from publisher)
145. Fatal Pursuit by Martin Walker (e-galley from publisher)
146. Everybody's Fool by Richard Russo (e-galley from publisher)
147. The Romanovs 1613-1918 by Simon Sebag Montefiore (from publisher)
148. Everything Explained that Is Explainable by Denis Boyles (from publisher)
149. Mystic Summer by Hannah McKinnon (NetGalley)
150. The Altogether Unexpected Disappearance of Atticus Craftsman by Mamen Sanchez (NetGalley)
151. Jefferson's America by Julie M. Fenster (NetGalley)
152. A Place We Knew Well by Susan Carol McCarthy (Amazon Vine ARC)
So here is where I'm at as of today. Being accountable is rather disconcerting. The only saving grace is that I paid money for so few of these. The way I'm choosing to look at this is that I have paid the full price for fewer than 30 of these books...
76. The Maximum Security Book Club: Reading Literature in a Men’s Prison by Mikita Brottman
77. Dodgers by Bill Beverly
78. The Unfortunate Englishman by John Lawton
79. Joe Gould’s Teeth by Jill Lepore
80. Dinner with Edward by Isabel Vincent
81. Not all Bastards Are from Vienna by Andrea Molesini
82. King Maybe by Timothy Hallinan
83. Chaucer's Tale: 1386 and the Road to Canterbury by Paul Strohm (US Kindle -- $$)
84. The Pleasure of Reading by Antonia Fraser et al (US Kindle -- $$)
85. The Afrika Reich by Guy Saville (UK Kindle -- Kindle Sale $)
86. Man by Kim Thuy (US Kindle - $$)
87. Encore - Hakan Gunday (Albertine bookstore, NYC, $$)
88. Juste avant l'oubli - Alice Zeniter (Albertine - $$)
89. La fin de l'homme rouge - Svetlana Alexievitch (Albertine -- $$)
90. Boussole - Mathias Enard (Albertine - $$)
91. Quick and the Dead - Susan Moody (NetGalley)
92. The Ides of June - Rosemary Rowe (NetGalley)
93. The Fairbairn Fortune - Una-Mary Parker (NetGalley)
94. Bond Street Story - Norman Collins (NetGalley)
95. Dear Emma - Katie Hearney (NetGalley)
96. The Sign of Fear - Robert Ryan (UK Kindle - $$)
97. The Darkness Knows - Cheryl Honigford (NetGalley)
98. The Grand Tour - Adam O'Fallon Price (NetGalley)
99. Our Own Country -- Jodi Daynard (NetGalley)
100. The Relic Master -- Christopher Buckley (Audible audiobook $$)
101. Fracture: Life and Culture in the West 1918-1938 - Philipp Blom (Audible audiobook $$)
102. An Illuminated Life: Belle da Costa Greene's Journey from Prejudice to Privilege - Heidi Ardizzone (Morgan Library purchase $$)
103. The Daughters of Palatine Hill - Phyllis T. Smith (NetGalley)
104. The Coffin Road - Peter May (UK Kindle $$)
105. The Final Silence - Stuart Neville (Audible audiobook, 3 for 2 sale, $$)
106. Seveneves by Neal Stephenson (Audible audiobook, 3 for 2 sale, $$)
107. My Struggle by Karl Ove Knausgaard (Audible audiobook, 3 for 2 sale, $$)
108. The Storm Sister by Lucinda Riley (NetGalley)
109. The Verdict by Nick Stone (US Kindle $$)
110. Pacific by Simon Winchester (Barnes & Noble; hardcover $$)
111. Excellent Daughters: the Secret Lives of Young Women transforming the Arab World by Katherine Zoepf (US Kindle, $$) Read
112. The Wars of the Roses: The Fall of the Plantagenets and the Rise of the Tudors by Dan Jones (Barnes & Noble, paperback, $$)
113. Short Sentence by Parker Bilal et. al. (UK Kindle, freebie)
114. Harlequin's Millions by Bohumil Hrabal (US Kindle, Kindle sale, $)
115. Gate of the Sun by Elias Khoury (US Kindle, Kindle sale, $)
116. The Last Anniversary by Liane Moriarty (US Kindle, Kindle sale, $)
117. The Blooding by Joseph Wambaugh (US Kindle, kindle sale, $)
118. The Value of the Novel by Peter Boxall (US Kindle, $$)
119. Walden and Civil Disobedience by Thoreau (Barnes & Noble, paperback, $$)
120. Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly (Amazon Vine ARC) Read
121. What Lies Between Us by Nayomi Munaweera (Amazon Vine ARC)
122. Be Frank With Me by Julia Claiborne Johnson (Amazon Vine ARC)
123. We Were Feminists Once by Andi Zeisler (ARC from publisher)
124. The Immortal Irishman: The Irish Revolutionary Who Became an American Hero by Timothy Egan (ARC from publisher)
125. The Trader of Saigon by Lucy Cruickshanks (UK Kindle, Kindle sale, $)
126. Mr. and Mrs. Disraeli by Daisy Hay (UK Kindle $$)
127. The Fall of Moscow Station by Mark Henshaw (Edelweiss e-Galley)
128. Not Buying It: Stop Overspending and Raise Happier, Healthier, More Successful Kids by Brett Graff (NetGalley)
129. People Who Knew Me by Kim Hooper (NetGalley)
130. The Road to Rangoon by Lucy Cruickshanks (UK Kindle, Kindle Sale, $)
131. I Am No One by Patrick Flanery (NetGalley)
132. The Noise of Time by Julian Barnes (UK Kindle, $$) Read
133. The Invisible Guardian by Dolores Redondo (NetGalley)
134. Outpatients: The Astonishing New World of Medical Tourism by Sasha Issenberg (Kindle - $$)
135. All the Single Ladies by Rebecca Traister (NetGalley)
136. Still Here by Lara Vapnyar (NetGalley)
137. June by Miranda Beverly-Whittemore (NetGalley)
138. Makers and Takers: the Rise of Finance and the Fall of American Business by Rana Foroohar (NetGalley)
139. Lost Cat: A True Story of Love, Desperation and GPS Technology by Caroline Paul (Kindle, Kindle Sale, $)
140. The Midnight Assassin: Panic, Scandal and the Hunt for America's First Serial Killer by Skip Hollandsworth (NetGalley)
141. City of Jackals by Parker Bilal (NetGalley)
142. The Golden Son by Shilpi Somaya Gowda (Amazon Vine ARC)
143. Everybody Behaves Badly: The True Story Behind Hemingway's Masterpiece The Sun Also Rises by Lesley Blume (ARC from publisher)
144. The Crow Girl by Erik Axl Sund (e-galley from publisher)
145. Fatal Pursuit by Martin Walker (e-galley from publisher)
146. Everybody's Fool by Richard Russo (e-galley from publisher)
147. The Romanovs 1613-1918 by Simon Sebag Montefiore (from publisher)
148. Everything Explained that Is Explainable by Denis Boyles (from publisher)
149. Mystic Summer by Hannah McKinnon (NetGalley)
150. The Altogether Unexpected Disappearance of Atticus Craftsman by Mamen Sanchez (NetGalley)
151. Jefferson's America by Julie M. Fenster (NetGalley)
152. A Place We Knew Well by Susan Carol McCarthy (Amazon Vine ARC)
204LizzieD
Glad you're home and posting about books again. I've favorited your list above for future reference. I hope some of them will be wonderful!
205bell7
>200 Chatterbox: Well, darn, the premise sounds like it could've been a good one too.
I started reading Ravensbruck last year and just had too many books at once to be able to read it then, but I do want to get back to it. I'm glad to hear it was such a good read for you.
I started reading Ravensbruck last year and just had too many books at once to be able to read it then, but I do want to get back to it. I'm glad to hear it was such a good read for you.
207thornton37814
>203 Chatterbox: Nice hauls!
208EBT1002
>197 Chatterbox: I know this is weird but that photo makes me salivate.
209Chatterbox
>208 EBT1002: Well, that is ... interesting. I confess I feel equally excited and overwhelmed. I'd like to have some downtime just to relax and read, but right now I feel as if any time I spend reading is going to be stolen from work stuff, so not so great. Next week I start a new gig -- curating one of those lists of top stories that gets e-mailed out to people -- two mornings a week, and I'll need to be up by 5 a.m. for that. Doesn't help that my alarm clock seems to have stopped letting me change the time, so I can only set it for 9 a.m. The button I press to change the time isn't responding. Oh dear. So dreary work vs non-dreary books, but no time to really savor the latter. Actually, I think I'm battling a wave of winter depression anyway, so that's just the icing on the cake, so to speak.
Meanwhile:
14. The Wolves by Alex Berenson
This was a perfectly adequate tenth book in this long-running series featuring former CIA agent John Wells. It follows seamlessly from its predecessor, so you shouldn't even think of reading this unless you've read Twelve Days. Here's the thing: I like Wells as a character more than too-good-to-be true spy heroes like Daniel Silva's Gabriel Allon, but I'm starting to find dynamics of these novels a bit too predictable. Wells finds new foe or variant on old foe, does battle and returns victorious. (Come on, you didn't really think there was that much suspense about the outcome, did you?? that this bit of info would be a spoiler??) The only question is how that victory is obtained and what happens along the way and whether Berenson can sustain the pace. The final question here, that of pace, was critical for me, and it didn't really always work. The focus of the novel shifted a lot, from Wells to that of his target, the mastermind that had tried to push the US into war with Iran in the prior book, which was necessary for Berenson to tell the story but that didn't sustain the level of tension required to keep me reading convulsively. It's not bad, just not completely unputdownable. More readable, less long-winded and less self-important than Silva, but less intriguing (IMHO) than less formulaic books by the likes of Charles Cumming and a new fave, Adam Brookes. So, 3.6 stars.
Meanwhile:
14. The Wolves by Alex Berenson
This was a perfectly adequate tenth book in this long-running series featuring former CIA agent John Wells. It follows seamlessly from its predecessor, so you shouldn't even think of reading this unless you've read Twelve Days. Here's the thing: I like Wells as a character more than too-good-to-be true spy heroes like Daniel Silva's Gabriel Allon, but I'm starting to find dynamics of these novels a bit too predictable. Wells finds new foe or variant on old foe, does battle and returns victorious. (Come on, you didn't really think there was that much suspense about the outcome, did you?? that this bit of info would be a spoiler??) The only question is how that victory is obtained and what happens along the way and whether Berenson can sustain the pace. The final question here, that of pace, was critical for me, and it didn't really always work. The focus of the novel shifted a lot, from Wells to that of his target, the mastermind that had tried to push the US into war with Iran in the prior book, which was necessary for Berenson to tell the story but that didn't sustain the level of tension required to keep me reading convulsively. It's not bad, just not completely unputdownable. More readable, less long-winded and less self-important than Silva, but less intriguing (IMHO) than less formulaic books by the likes of Charles Cumming and a new fave, Adam Brookes. So, 3.6 stars.
210Crazymamie
Loved your review of Romantic Outlaws, so I am adding that one to the list. Thanks, Suz!
211Chatterbox
>210 Crazymamie: Always happy to score a book bullet!!
15. Excellent Daughters: The Secret Lives of Young Women Who Are Transforming the Arab World by Katherine Zoepf
The subtitle dramatically overstates what this book delivers, unfortunately, so the net result is that I felt that it overpromised and under-delivered. Still, it's a modestly interesting book that picked up where Nine Parts of Desire by Geraldine Brooks left off, since the latter book would have been written a generation ago. It's not as well written as Geraldine's book, and is very uneven sometimes, including segments about her life in Syria that she doesn't seem to have bothered to rewrite to address the fact that there has been a massive civil war there for the last four years, and that things might have changed. (Other than a sentence here or there.) It relies too heavily on that dated Syrian content, which would have worked had the book been structured chronologically, but it isn't -- she's writing thematically. Oh well. It's still interesting, and it's particularly interesting to read at this point in time, with all the hubbub about women and hijab -- to wear it in solidarity or not? There's a big difference between women in the west who may actually choose to wear it and countries where choice isn't an option, but on the other hand I also think it's valuable to hear these women speak for themselves, through the author, without being dismissed. We're hearing ordinary women, not the fundamentalists who take to the Twitterverse and argue, which makes these POVs so valuable. So, interesting and worthwhile to read, without being remarkable or noteworthy to someone who follows these issues or stories on an ongoing basis. Nor is the writing/style, etc. particularly impressive. 3.9 stars. Read if you are interested in the region, or women's issues, but I'd suggest the library.
15. Excellent Daughters: The Secret Lives of Young Women Who Are Transforming the Arab World by Katherine Zoepf
The subtitle dramatically overstates what this book delivers, unfortunately, so the net result is that I felt that it overpromised and under-delivered. Still, it's a modestly interesting book that picked up where Nine Parts of Desire by Geraldine Brooks left off, since the latter book would have been written a generation ago. It's not as well written as Geraldine's book, and is very uneven sometimes, including segments about her life in Syria that she doesn't seem to have bothered to rewrite to address the fact that there has been a massive civil war there for the last four years, and that things might have changed. (Other than a sentence here or there.) It relies too heavily on that dated Syrian content, which would have worked had the book been structured chronologically, but it isn't -- she's writing thematically. Oh well. It's still interesting, and it's particularly interesting to read at this point in time, with all the hubbub about women and hijab -- to wear it in solidarity or not? There's a big difference between women in the west who may actually choose to wear it and countries where choice isn't an option, but on the other hand I also think it's valuable to hear these women speak for themselves, through the author, without being dismissed. We're hearing ordinary women, not the fundamentalists who take to the Twitterverse and argue, which makes these POVs so valuable. So, interesting and worthwhile to read, without being remarkable or noteworthy to someone who follows these issues or stories on an ongoing basis. Nor is the writing/style, etc. particularly impressive. 3.9 stars. Read if you are interested in the region, or women's issues, but I'd suggest the library.
212nittnut
>211 Chatterbox: Well, that's disappointing. I really liked Nine Parts of Desire and had this on my list hoping it was similar. I may still read it, but will note the outdated content.
213Chatterbox
>212 nittnut: It's still worth reading and is reminiscent of Geraldine's book, but reads more like a collection of anecdotes than anything else. I'd still recommend reading it if you liked Nine Parts of Desire because in many ways this deals with the next generation, although not from the same regions, always. The author focuses on some very specific regions and overlooks others altogether. What interested me most was the glimpse at Saudi Arabia, since I know one or two Saudi women, as well as some non-Saudi women who have lived there. The Syrian stuff was intriguing but felt very dated -- like reading about Germany pre-1933 in about 1945. And while she's trying to make it relevant by addressing the Arab Spring, that doesn't work, since there is nothing here about women in Tunisia (which is North Africa, not the Arab world.) Mind you, technically, Egypt really isn't "Arab", either, but North Africa... I kept wondering why not try to include women from a slightly wider range of societies, even within the region, like Jordan and Turkey. But she was clearly taking the reporting work she had already done, and turning it into a book. Hence my niggling dissatisfaction...
214Chatterbox
... and one more (Well I have to pick up the pace somehow! I'm way behind my usual reading rate; blaming D., as usual...)
16. And After Many Days by Jowhor Ile
This was a thoughtful, almost introspective novel, ostensibly revolving around the disappearance of 17-year-old Paul Utu in its opening pages. While the reader (and Paul's other family members) do learn what has happened to him in the book's final pages, the disappearance and the havoc it wreaks in the family really serves as a kind of a bookend or a framing device of some sorts for a different kind of tale. What Jowhor Ile has written isn't a story of suspense or any kind of whodunnit, but rather a novel that tells, through the eyes of Paul's younger brother, Ajie, and the experiences of his family members and extended circle, what it was like to live in Port Harcourt in the mid-1990s, as the unnamed Company that develops the region's oil reserves tightens its grip on its fortunes and as the corrupt central government becomes increasingly oppressive.
After the reader learns of Paul's disappearance, Ile immediately moves back in time, to tell the story of the Utu family's life and background: to give us the context. We may not know what happened to Paul, but we will come to know who he is or was, through these tales, and at the same time, become aware of a growing shadow creeping across the family's world. Interspersed with the tales of pillow fights, sibling rivalry, holiday festivals and friendships, are a growing number of indications that something more than just the perennial NEPA power cuts are wrong. But this happens only slowly, so only a patient reader and one who has some interest in the setting (and in savoring Jowhor's vivid writing and word portraits of this region of Nigeria) will be willing to wait until the point, with only about 100 pages left to go, the tension starts to climb slightly.
Even then, this remains more of an elegy than a book of suspense. It's a look back at a time of relative innocence, at themes of corruption and power as scene through the eyes of an adolescent beginning to understand his family's legacy at the very time when external forces are reshaping it and his identity in a violent manner. Don't look for big, bold dramatic declarations here: this novel is the height of subtlety and the only way to appreciate what Ile is trying to do is to approach it at that level. 4 stars. This was an Amazon Vine ARC; the book will be published Feb. 16. Worth reading; whether it's a "must buy" depends on your taste. I could see revisiting it to savor the language and look for layers amid layers, but it's not as immediately compelling as some Nigerian novels I've read, and the sloooowww pace and domestic focus will cause some readers' attention to flag.
16. And After Many Days by Jowhor Ile
This was a thoughtful, almost introspective novel, ostensibly revolving around the disappearance of 17-year-old Paul Utu in its opening pages. While the reader (and Paul's other family members) do learn what has happened to him in the book's final pages, the disappearance and the havoc it wreaks in the family really serves as a kind of a bookend or a framing device of some sorts for a different kind of tale. What Jowhor Ile has written isn't a story of suspense or any kind of whodunnit, but rather a novel that tells, through the eyes of Paul's younger brother, Ajie, and the experiences of his family members and extended circle, what it was like to live in Port Harcourt in the mid-1990s, as the unnamed Company that develops the region's oil reserves tightens its grip on its fortunes and as the corrupt central government becomes increasingly oppressive.
After the reader learns of Paul's disappearance, Ile immediately moves back in time, to tell the story of the Utu family's life and background: to give us the context. We may not know what happened to Paul, but we will come to know who he is or was, through these tales, and at the same time, become aware of a growing shadow creeping across the family's world. Interspersed with the tales of pillow fights, sibling rivalry, holiday festivals and friendships, are a growing number of indications that something more than just the perennial NEPA power cuts are wrong. But this happens only slowly, so only a patient reader and one who has some interest in the setting (and in savoring Jowhor's vivid writing and word portraits of this region of Nigeria) will be willing to wait until the point, with only about 100 pages left to go, the tension starts to climb slightly.
Even then, this remains more of an elegy than a book of suspense. It's a look back at a time of relative innocence, at themes of corruption and power as scene through the eyes of an adolescent beginning to understand his family's legacy at the very time when external forces are reshaping it and his identity in a violent manner. Don't look for big, bold dramatic declarations here: this novel is the height of subtlety and the only way to appreciate what Ile is trying to do is to approach it at that level. 4 stars. This was an Amazon Vine ARC; the book will be published Feb. 16. Worth reading; whether it's a "must buy" depends on your taste. I could see revisiting it to savor the language and look for layers amid layers, but it's not as immediately compelling as some Nigerian novels I've read, and the sloooowww pace and domestic focus will cause some readers' attention to flag.
215katiekrug
>214 Chatterbox: - Appreciate your review. I'm on the holds list for this one at the library - didn't realize it wasn't published yet and was getting frustrated that it seemed to be "On-Order" forever! Oops.
I know and work with several people who live in Nigeria, so Ile's book is of great interest to me. Two of my friends/colleagues here in Dallas spent a week in Abuja last August - I had very much wanted to go but couldn't justify it in our current budget-slashing environment.
I know and work with several people who live in Nigeria, so Ile's book is of great interest to me. Two of my friends/colleagues here in Dallas spent a week in Abuja last August - I had very much wanted to go but couldn't justify it in our current budget-slashing environment.
216LovingLit
>197 Chatterbox: that is a very attractive image. :)
Your thoughs on the Death of Ivan Ilyich up there somewhere made me want to read it. Even though you were irritated by it slightly, I'm in a philosophical frame of mind lately, so I wonder if the time might be right.
Your thoughs on the Death of Ivan Ilyich up there somewhere made me want to read it. Even though you were irritated by it slightly, I'm in a philosophical frame of mind lately, so I wonder if the time might be right.
217nittnut
>213 Chatterbox: Thanks for sharing more of your thoughts on Excellent Daughters. I can see how some of those omissions would niggle. But I will keep it in the pile for sure.
218sibylline
Catching up. Don't know how it happened but you fell off my radar screen.
So first, Happy New Year to you and it looks as if it is off to a good--if not terrifying, bookwise--start. Them's a lot of books!
I was glad to see that at least six of your 'best of' 2015 were books I also read and liked.
So first, Happy New Year to you and it looks as if it is off to a good--if not terrifying, bookwise--start. Them's a lot of books!
I was glad to see that at least six of your 'best of' 2015 were books I also read and liked.
219Chatterbox
>215 katiekrug: Yes, I have become a wee bit paranoid about spending money (even on books! you will note how few of those acquisitions are full priced purchases!) But that doesn't mean that I can't read about the places that I'd like to visit. Hence, The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu.
>216 LovingLit: Well, I confess that I would find the philosophical thoughts teetering on the verge of being morbid, but then to some extent, it depends on your tolerance for Tolstoy at his most uber-philosophical. Mine, I confess, is low. I love his detailed observations of society, but his epiphanies struck me as a bit banal.
>217 nittnut: Shall keep my eyes open for your thoughts!
>218 sibylline: Glad I am back on the radar! But... only six? :-)
Finished the new Julian Barnes novel, just out in the Uk, which I really, really, really liked. I can understand the comparisons to his previous little novella -- The Sense of an Ending -- but to me this was vastly more interesting, because the main character is wrestling with more than the pedestrian problems of a middle aged white guy who wonders what it's all about (ok, yes, I realize I'm distilling it down to a ridiculous extent, and overlooking the author's elegant writing, but the novel really irritated me as much as I enjoyed the prose.) This time, Barnes is writing about Shostakovich, and his struggles with being a coward, which seem to become more intense every other leap year. It's essentially an interior monologue, which will annoy some folks, but I loved it. Will come back and write some more about it later.
For now -- well, my new gig, putting together one of those "top ten stories" e-mails twice weekly, starts tomorrow. It means getting up at 4 a.m. So I'm going to bed in about an hour, so that I stand a chance of getting up and working an 18-hour day tomorrow. *cue hollow laugh* Because my editing client needs a report done too and those usually take six or seven full hours to complete. So much fun, and it's my birthday, so you know how'll I spend it. After working the whole weekend on other stuff. I'm tired and grumpy, so I'm off to bed.
>216 LovingLit: Well, I confess that I would find the philosophical thoughts teetering on the verge of being morbid, but then to some extent, it depends on your tolerance for Tolstoy at his most uber-philosophical. Mine, I confess, is low. I love his detailed observations of society, but his epiphanies struck me as a bit banal.
>217 nittnut: Shall keep my eyes open for your thoughts!
>218 sibylline: Glad I am back on the radar! But... only six? :-)
Finished the new Julian Barnes novel, just out in the Uk, which I really, really, really liked. I can understand the comparisons to his previous little novella -- The Sense of an Ending -- but to me this was vastly more interesting, because the main character is wrestling with more than the pedestrian problems of a middle aged white guy who wonders what it's all about (ok, yes, I realize I'm distilling it down to a ridiculous extent, and overlooking the author's elegant writing, but the novel really irritated me as much as I enjoyed the prose.) This time, Barnes is writing about Shostakovich, and his struggles with being a coward, which seem to become more intense every other leap year. It's essentially an interior monologue, which will annoy some folks, but I loved it. Will come back and write some more about it later.
For now -- well, my new gig, putting together one of those "top ten stories" e-mails twice weekly, starts tomorrow. It means getting up at 4 a.m. So I'm going to bed in about an hour, so that I stand a chance of getting up and working an 18-hour day tomorrow. *cue hollow laugh* Because my editing client needs a report done too and those usually take six or seven full hours to complete. So much fun, and it's my birthday, so you know how'll I spend it. After working the whole weekend on other stuff. I'm tired and grumpy, so I'm off to bed.
220EBT1002
>209 Chatterbox: "I think I'm battling a wave of winter depression anyway..." It sounds that way and I can totally relate. Today is Sunday, supposed to be a good one. This morning I just felt So. Blue.
P and I did get out of the house, went to the zoo and saw some pretty good Sumatran Tiger activity and I made eye contact with a Great Gray Owl (actually, he made eye contact with me and I'm just here to tell you, you haven't been looked in the eye until you have been looked in the eye by a Great Gray Owl!). Anyway, I hope it eases and I totally relate to the experience.
Getting up at 4am is something I only like to do when I'm getting ready to arrive at the airport for an early flight --- bound for someplace vacation-ey. I hope it ends up being a rewarding gig, anyway.
And Happy Birthday!!
P and I did get out of the house, went to the zoo and saw some pretty good Sumatran Tiger activity and I made eye contact with a Great Gray Owl (actually, he made eye contact with me and I'm just here to tell you, you haven't been looked in the eye until you have been looked in the eye by a Great Gray Owl!). Anyway, I hope it eases and I totally relate to the experience.
Getting up at 4am is something I only like to do when I'm getting ready to arrive at the airport for an early flight --- bound for someplace vacation-ey. I hope it ends up being a rewarding gig, anyway.
And Happy Birthday!!
221The_Hibernator
>203 Chatterbox: Wait. I don't understand. Is that a list of books that you acquired in January?! If so. Wow. And I haven't read any of them, though I've heard good things about several. :)
222charl08
Oh, I am hoping the Barnes turns up at the library soon. I'm 17th in the queue, but fortunately 16 libraries in the system have ordered a copy so not too much patience required!
Hope tomorrow (today?) goes smoothly - and wishing you well for your birthday.
Hope tomorrow (today?) goes smoothly - and wishing you well for your birthday.
223Chatterbox
>222 charl08:, Well, I'm up and working, which is a big plus!! I'm functional, which is even better. The cats are puzzled and annoyed. But I woke up at midnight and then struggled to get back to sleep and stay there. Sigh.
>221 The_Hibernator: Yes, those are the books acquired year to date, I'm afraid. The vast majority are advance review copies, and of those, the vast majority came from ALA Midwinter. I suspect the pace will slow down dramatically between now and May, when BookExpo will drive the # up substantially again...
OK, now back to my writing/morning e-mail list composing!
>221 The_Hibernator: Yes, those are the books acquired year to date, I'm afraid. The vast majority are advance review copies, and of those, the vast majority came from ALA Midwinter. I suspect the pace will slow down dramatically between now and May, when BookExpo will drive the # up substantially again...
OK, now back to my writing/morning e-mail list composing!
225michigantrumpet
Wishing you a happy birthday, Suzanne! And cake!! As Julia Child says, a party without cake is just a meeting!
226Crazymamie
Happy Birthday, Suz! Since you liked him so much on Katie's thread, I thought I would bring him over to you to wish you happy.
227Chatterbox
>226 Crazymamie: It's Maxwell, come to wish me happy birthday! Thank you!! Wheeeeee.... (sorry, clearly I'm in my second childhood...)
Thanks all...
Thanks all...
228PaulCranswick
No pigs from me Suz but a happy birthday wish conveyed from the tropics with affection. xx
229michigantrumpet
>226 Crazymamie: I love that Commercial! Maxwell gave such a superlative acting performance in that one!
230ronincats
Happy Birthday, Suz! Sorry that it has to be such a work-loaded one, but on the other hand, that does keep the funds coming in.
232lindapanzo
Happy Birthday, Suz!!
233ffortsa
Happy Birthday, Suz. I can't quite believe you have the same birthday as a man I came within three weeks of marrying, back in my panicked youth, but it's true. I hope you had time to nap between the first job and the second, or at least read.
Winter can be very down for me too, but I seem to be reviving. I hope we all make it through February with a minimum of dark clouds.
Winter can be very down for me too, but I seem to be reviving. I hope we all make it through February with a minimum of dark clouds.
234Chatterbox
Nope, no time to nap or read in between. I did get the work done though -- 13 hours, almost non-stop except for breathers to eat lunch, put laundry in the machine, etc. Am now going to collapse. David is working flat-out on his own project in Atlanta, too, with crazy-making clients.
235LizzieD
Happy Birthday, Suzanne!!! Floreas!!!
You're going to do 13 hours of work twice a week! GOOD GRIEF!!!! or ----- You GO, girl!
You're going to do 13 hours of work twice a week! GOOD GRIEF!!!! or ----- You GO, girl!
236LovingLit
>226 Crazymamie: I second the pig! Happy birthday!
Good luck with the work schedule. Sounds like you'll need it, or at least something at the end of the tunnel.
Good luck with the work schedule. Sounds like you'll need it, or at least something at the end of the tunnel.
241thornton37814
Happy belated birthday! Hope you enjoyed it!
242Chatterbox
Thanks for all the birthday wishes! I slogged for 13 hours (nearly 14 hours) and was so tired after getting up at 4 a.m. that I fell asleep with a book in my hands at 8:30. I had some comfort food (shepherd's pie) and a treat (raspberries) and that was that. Other than a blizzard of birthday greetings on Facebook, it didn't feel much like a birthday! And then I woke up with a migraine, which I'm only beginning to shake off now. Piffle. And tomorrow I do the early morning start again, and am dreading it. At least I won't be quite so exhausted to start with??
This topic was continued by Chatterbox's Serendipitous Reading Adventures in 2016 -- Part II.
