jfetting's 50 book challenge - 2008

Well, since its already April, I think I'll list the books I've read so far this year. I have actually been keeping track the old-fashioned way (paper, pen) so this should be an accurate tally.

1-3 Living, Loving, Party Going by Henry Green which counts as 3 on the 1001 list, and therefore as 3 on my list!

I liked these books, but I didn't love them. I liked Loving the best, followed by Party Going and then Living.

4 Perfume: the story of a murderer by Patrick Suskind whose touchstone appears not to be working.

Oooh, I loved this book. So very much. Suskind's prose is just beautiful - lush and descriptive. It has to be difficult to express scent in words, and he managed to do just that. I enjoyed how he made the murderer seem almost sympathetic - you get so drawn into the story that you almost root for Grenouille (possibly spelled wrong) to get his prize victim.

5 Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

I bet if I was a 12-year-old boy living while Stevenson was writing, I would have loved this book. Sadly, I am not. It was mildly entertaining, at best.

6 Possession: a Romance by A.S. Byatt

Another winner! Byatt is a wonderful writer, even the poetry in the book (her own) is not to be missed. I really loved this novel. I need to go buy it now.

7 The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow

This is the second of Bellow's books I've read. I didn't like this book at all. Maybe he just isn't for me. Then again, I read Augie after spending December reading U.S.A. by John dos Passos and The Studs Lonigan Trilogy by Farrell, so its possible I'm just burned out on the 1920's American-boy-makes-bad stories.

8 The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

This was a very long book. As historical fiction, it was pretty interesting. I got a little tired of the badly-written sex scenes. As it was a very long book, it had many badly-written sex scenes.

9 King Solomon's Mines by H. Rider Haggard

Oh goody! Time for an old-fashioned, colonialist, racist, jingoistic adventure story with lots of war! And killing off of innocent characters to avoid inter-racial romance!

I know, I know, it was written in and for a different time. I still didn't like it.

10 The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark

Now that's more like it. A really fun read, and very short. I loved it.

11 Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel

Yay! Two good ones in a row. I tore through this book in about an hour and a half. The recipes look yummy, the story is enchanting, and I just couldn't stop reading. The movie is good, too.

12 Marie Antoinette: the Journey by Antonia Fraser

Why do the author touchstones never load? I don't understand.

Anyway, a good, complete, detailed account of the life of Marie Antoinette.

13 The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain

Is there such a thing as book noir? Because this would be it.

14 Nostromo by Joseph Conrad

I am very much looking forward to getting all the Conrad out of the way on the lists I'm working through. The last 100 or so pages of Nostromo were exciting. The first 300? Not so much.

15 Night Train to Lisbon by Pascal Mercier

I really wanted to like this book. It sounded great. In reality, I hated the writing, thought the pseudo-philosophy was pretentious, and didn't buy the plot. Why would all these people help this completely random Swiss guy drag up memories of what must have been an incredibly painful time for all of them? Why is he sleeping in a deserted school? Actually, never mind. I don't actually care.

16 The Wives of Henry VIII by Antonia Fraser

I saw The Other Boleyn Girl, and wanted to know the real history. This was a great book - more detail is given to those queens about whom more is known (lots of Catherine of Aragon. Less of Katherine Howard).

17 On Love and Death (touchstone wrong) by Patrick Suskind

Can a 78 page essay count as a book? Its bound as a book. A very small book.

Interesting read, non-fiction

18 The Sea by John Banville

Wonderful book. He reminds me a bit of Nabokov.

19 Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson

Finally finished! Beautiful book - I love the way Robinson writes. She should write more quickly, so I can read another of her books.

jfetting, I wish she would write more quickly, too! Did you read the conversation about Housekeeping in the NYT Reading Room yesterday?

#12> jfetting, What other Conrad have you read? Nostromo is particularly difficult because the first 100 pages or so are all exposition although, and then things are slow developing after that, although, as you say, once the story finally gets going, it's a good one.

Conrad's not everyone's cup of tea, but at least with the other novels, you don't get all that long exposition up front. The Secret Agent and Lord Jim are my favorites.

#20 A Dance to the Music of Time (the whole series)

Whohoo! I finished! What an amazing piece of work. Powell is a genius. I'm recommending this book to everybody right now. Absolutely brilliant.

#21 A Pale View of Hills by Kazuo Ishiguro

My lit-crush on Ishiguro grows stronger... I loved this book. You know a book is amazing when you are disappointed to reach the end. I wanted it to keep going and going - I STILL don't know enough of the narrator's story to make me happy. Did her parents die when the bomb dropped on Nagasaki? Has she always smarted off to her father-in-law like that (so funny! I never think of Ishiguro as funny but he can be!)?

The ending came as a shock - I didn't see that coming at all.

#22 The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells

I've decided to count audiobooks, too. This was a Librivox recording, read by a guy named Alex something with the coolest voice. I really enjoyed the story, although why are all the scientists in late-19th century novels crazy and evil?

#23 The Trial by Franz Kafka

Wow. Such a bizarre story - and scary.

#24 The Call of the Wild by Jack London

A librivox recording. I hated this book. "Hate" is a strong word, but it really doesn't do my feelings justice here. It nauseated me - an actual physical feeling of sickness. I want to wash my brain and make it go away. All those descriptions of beaten and mangled dogs - I couldn't handle it. I finished, but barely.

#25 Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner

Fantastic book! I almost wish I had read it more slowly to make it last. Such beautiful descriptions of the West, and I also really liked the organization - the stories from the past told as though part of a history book. The ending came as a surprise. Endings always come as a surprise to me.

# 26 The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad

I'm happy to report that Conrad redeemed himself in my eyes with this book. What a great story! In, of course, a dark and depressing sort of way.

jfetting - are you referring to his book about Africa Heart of Darkness as the disappointment when you say he redeemed himself?

I read The Secret Agent last year and really enjoyed it. I think he is rather a dark and depressing writer, but excellent. What amazed me also, was that he was not writing in his native tongue.

I read it last year, too, and it really grabbed me! I have another of his books, Chance, that I will try to read this year. The main character is a woman and it also sounds a bit on the dark side.

So far, I've read Lord Jim, Heart of Darkness, and Nostromo. I just couldn't get into them, and Nostromo made me want to beat my head against a wall until the last 100 pages or so (when things start to happen). I recognize his ability as a writer - I suppose I just didn't much like his stories, or subject matter. I didn't realize he wasn't writing in his native tongue. That's impressive.

Until, that is, I read The Secret Agent. Which was great.

# 27 Kim by Rudyard Kipling

A librivox recording, same reader throughout, who did voices! Some things about this book I liked, some I did not. At this point in my life, the idea of picking up and wandering the roads of India, watching a sea of humanity go by, meeting and learning from people from all different cultures is incredibly appealing.

#28 Edith Wharton by Hermione Lee

Are biographers paid by the word? This is a long, comprehensive look at the life and work of Edith Wharton. It focuses on her literary inspirations, her friends, and her interests. To be honest, I like Wharton's novels, but I would not have liked her much as a person. Very much a product of her age and social class, I am sure she would not have liked me either.

#29 An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro

Ishiguro's second book, and one of his best. The narrator really struck me - as usual, Unreliable Narrator, and I was aware of that as I was reading, and I was still surprised at the end. Ishiguro's writing is, as always, beautiful.

#30 In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

A very interesting and very different book. I enjoyed it, but I'm glad to be moving on to something a little lighter.

# 31 Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller

This was a strange book. I'm not sure if I like it or not. I certainly haven't read anything like it. It reminded me a lot, actually, of the beat poets. The story (if you can call it that) of the life of an American ex-pat in Paris between the wars, it depicts a different side of Paris than that described by Fitzgerald or Dos Passos - the Paris of the dirt-poor artist. This book was banned for obscenity in the US for a long time after it was published in Europe. I don't know about obscene, but its absolutely disgusting - descriptions of lice and filth and yuck. Just yuck. But interesting, and gripping. So, I'm torn. Don't like it, don't hate it, but it was certainly a book that left an impression.

#32 If on a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino

Another very strange book, but completely enchanting. It was organized like no other book I've read - told in the second person, the hilarious first chapter draws you in, and I found the book impossible to put down. The main character is in search of the missing chapters of a story, and each time he thinks he's found them, it's a brand new story. Each story, of course, is of a completely different genre (I especially liked the mock literary criticism chapter) and no story is ever completed. I'm looking forward to reading more Calvino.

#33 In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan

A much shorter, much less dense follow-up to The Omnivore's Dilemma, expanding on what we should be eating. His advice is good and easy - eat real food. I wish I could afford to live the Pollan lifestyle, but that'll have to wait until after grad school. Also, I like breakfast cereal! However, I am horrified to discover that my 100% whole wheat bread has high-fructose corn syrup in it. If I'm going to consume high-fructose corn syrup, it had better be in Coke form. Mmmm, Coke.

A good book, overall. I like Michael Pollan.

# 34 The Inimitable Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse

This was a fun one. I've never read Wodehouse before, and I'm beginning to see what all the fuss is about. Absolutely hilarious. Luckily, Wodehouse wrote about 37,000 books, so I have reading material for a long, long time.

Luckily, Wodehouse wrote about 37,000 books, so I have reading material for a long, long time.

REALLY??

Slight exaggeration. He certainly wrote many.

# 35 Three Plays: Blithe Spirit, Hay Fever, Private Lives by Noel Coward

No one is funnier than Noel Coward. No one is wittier and cleverer than Noel Coward. No makes me giggle like Noel Coward. No one makes me want to get up and start acting out his plays like Noel Coward.

This is a perfect little collection of three of his most famous works. My favorite is whichever play I have just finished reading, so at the moment it is "Hay Fever". An hour ago it was "Blithe Spirit". Last Sunday it was "Private Lives".

You have made me realize that although I have enjoyed Noel Coward in many films (about to see him in Our Man in Havana on TCM) and many films based on his plays, I haven't actually read any of his works! I have a copy of "Hay Fever" which I have moved to the top of the TBR pile. I also have a novel by him, Pomp and Circumstance which I need to read - have you read it by any chance?

marise, read "Hay Fever"! It's quick (too quick!) and hilarious. I haven't yet read Pomp and Circumstance, though. It's on the TBR pile, though. If you read it, let me know what you think! I'm sure it'll be wonderful.

You know, I've seen a couple of Noel Coward films, too, and they are really dissimilar from the plays I've read. The plays are funny and snarky and witty and banter-y. The movies are much more serious. For example, I loved "Brief Encounter", but it was so sad!

"Hay Fever" will be next up!

# 36 Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse

More adventures of Bertie Wooster. Wodehouse is a bit like the literary equivalent of crack. As soon as I finish a book I'm looking for the next fix. I can't believe it has taken me this long to get around to reading him. And why don't I have a Jeeves? Life would be much easier if I had a Jeeves.

# 37 Zuleika Dobson by Max Beerbohm

It took me awhile to get into this book - I put it down to read Noel Coward. I put it down to read Wodehouse. I put it down to read the newspaper. Then about 1/3 of the way through the story takes off, and it is an almost magical book. The author makes no attempt to hide the ending.
Essentially, the plot (and I'm not calling this a spoiler because the ending is mentioned in the first chapter) revolves around an exceptionally enchanting woman (the title character) who is so bewitching that the entire undergrad population of Oxford, plus a Duke, drown themselves for love of her. I ended up really, really enjoying the book. The edition I read had illustrations, the author's own sketches, scattered about in the margins and on full pages.

# 38 The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett

Oh, this was such a fun read. It's a novella, about the Queen of England and her evolution from non-reader to avid reader to writer. Bennett is a clever, engaging writer, and this was a joy to read.

I read The Uncommon Reader at the beginning of the year and thought it perfectly charming. I wish I knew of more books like it, really. A comic novella seems to be a rare thing.

Yeah, I don't know of any books like it either. I may look into some of the collections of Bennett's plays. Earlier in the year I saw a performance of The History Boys which I really enjoyed, so I bet the other plays are good, too. Plays are such a nice length.

# 39 The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides

I've had such a run of funny, upbeat books, so maybe this one seems like much more of a downer in comparison. Eugenides is a very good writer, and I did like the book, but not as much as I liked Middlesex. As a first novel, The Virgin Suicides is impressive, however.

# 40 Two Old Women by Velma Wallis

This short book is based on a Native American legend (don't know which tribe - one based in Alaska) about two old women who are abandoned by their tribe one winter for being burdens. While the tribe expects them to die, they pull themselves together and persevere and show great courage and don't, in fact, die. It is inspirational and uplifting, and can be read in about 20 minutes.

Incidentally, I am changing my challenge. I had never kept track of how many books I read in a year, and I'm not reading any more or less than usual but I'm going to hit 50 by the end of June, so I think now I'll just try to keep track of how many books I read total, and use that as my baseline for my challenge next year.

# 41 Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

It hurts me to say anything bad about Austen's work, which is brilliant etc. etc. Unfortunately, it has to be done. Fanny Price is so not my kind of heroine, and Edmund Bertram is so not my kind of hero. Hello? A heroine who spends all but the last 3 pages of the book pining away after her cousin, who spends all but the last 3 pages of the book confiding in her his deep, undying love for the only interesting person in the whole book? (hint: not Fanny!)

I support this sentiment on his part (again, only interesting person in whole book - well done, Edmund!) but he then goes and, in about 3 sentences, falls in love with Guess Who? The dullest heroine ever. She is good, and kind, and gentle, and has no opinions, and God forbid she ever speak, and can only walk for a quarter of a mile before she is overly "fatigued" and has to sit down. She practically bursts into tears when anyone looks at her!

Poor Mary Crawford. I wanted her to get Edmund, even though he is a drip. I also wanted Henry to reform, but that didn't happen either.

I read somewhere (possibly in the introduction in the book) that Austen wrote Mansfield Park after Pride and Prejudice, and thought P&P was too "light" and wanted to write something less happy and more tedious and moralistic, or something. She succeeded.

# 42 The Wapshot Chronicle by John Cheever

My main impression after finishing this novel is Standard American Novel. I read it because I have been working my way through the Modern Library top 100 books of the 20th century list (for the past 10 years!) and this is one of them. Apparently the Modern Library board really, really likes this type of novel because there are at least 4 versions of essentially the same story on the list.
In this book, two New England boys leave home to make their fortunes. They have adventures, and misadventures, find jobs and love. It isn't a new story. Cheever is a surprisingly good writer (some of his sentences knocked my socks off), but I think I'd prefer his short stories.

I've now read 84 of the 100. I'm hoping that this is the last of the "Great American Novel" type books on the list.

# 43 The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles

A man, his wife, and a friend travel to Saharan Africa for kicks, and everything goes horribly wrong. This was a disturbing book, but well worth reading.

# 44 Main Street by Sinclair Lewis

I liked this book a lot, much more than I thought I would. It's the story, set just before WWI, of an educated, cultured woman who marries a small-town doctor. She rebels against the small-mindedness of the town's leading citizens, and the pettiness and the gossip and the anti-intellectualism. What came as a surprise to me is how very little things have changed since 1920, when the book came out. Lewis is cynical, and dry, and occasionally very funny.

# 45 A High Wind in Jamaica by Richard Hughes

A story about pirates! Or, alternatively, a story about how children react to and cope with terrifying events, things entirely beyond their control, and manipulation by adults. Very good story.

That one looks interesting, jfetting. Thanks for bringing it to my attention!

# 46 My Mistress's Sparrow is Dead, edited by Jeffrey Eugenides

This book is a collection of short stories - love stories, to be precise. The contributing authors include Nabokov, Faulkner, Munro, Chekhov, de Maupassant, Joyce, and a bunch of incredibly talented lesser-known (to me, anyway) writers. All the stories are solid, many are exceptional, and a couple blew me away. Nabokov's "Spring in Fialta" is brilliant (what a surprise!) and Alice Munro's story "A Bear Came Over the Mountain" is heartbreakingly sweet - a man puts his wife of almost 50 years into a nursing home (Alzheimers), and watches as she forgets him and falls in love with another patient, and he doesn't interfere. Her happiness is more important. I cried.

I really enjoyed these stories, and highly recommend the book.

# 47 A House for Mr. Biswas by V.S. Naipaul

It took a little while for me to get into the book, but I ended up really, really liking it. It's the story of a man from an Indian family living in Trinidad (kind of like, you know, Naipaul) and his marriage and his life spent struggling against his in-laws. Mr. Biswas is an incredibly well-drawn character - sometimes I was completely on his side, sometimes I wanted to smack him. I liked this book much more than A Bend in the River.

# 48 She by H. Rider Haggard

This was a librivox recording. I'd listened to King Solomon's Mines up in message 7, and loathed it. So part of me wondered what on earth I was doing listening to another Haggard book, but I'm glad I did. This one was really good. It would make a great movie - it reminded me a little of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, actually. Super fun adventure story. Maybe Haggard isn't so bad after all.

# 49 Seize the Day by Saul Bellow

My favorite Bellow story so far, and the shortest Bellow I've read so far. These two things are directly related. I give up. He is not for me.

# 50 The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon

I liked it. I have no idea what was going on, but I liked it. This one may require a re-read.

# 51 From Here to Eternity by James Jones

Another Modern Library top 100 book. 847 pages of soldiers (or, soljurs, as Jones so charmingly puts it) on Oahu in the months leading up to Pearl Harbor. I'm not really a fan of this book. I am coming to the conclusion that I am really squeamish, and just can't take gory descriptions of beatings. People, dogs, whatever. However, this means that I have read 89/100. So close to being done with this particular goal!

# 52 Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow

Such a great book! It's set around 1908 (the same year my beloved Cubbies last won the World Series, as the announcers for today's game keep reminding me.) This is one of those books that doesn't really have a plot as such, but instead tells interweaving stories of the lives of different people. Some of these people really existed (Houdini, J.P. Morgan, Henry Ford) but their actions and encounters are fictionalized. It's a lot of fun.

One of those books I always meant to read and now it's back on the wishlist! Thanks for the reminder!

# 53 In the Country of Brooklyn by Peter Golenbock

This was an ER book, so my longish review is found on the book's page. Overall, I liked it. It was organized by decade, and instead of focusing on specific events Golenbock uses interviews with real people (mostly in their own words, which was cool) to illuminate important movements in 20th century America (labor, civil rights, etc)

# 54 Thank You, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse

Wodehouse makes me happy.

# 55 Hemingway & Bailey's Bartending Guide to Great American Writers by

A handy-dandy guide to the lushes among American men and women of letters. Each writer gets a page, which includes an excerpt from their writing that addresses drinking, the recipe for their favorite cocktail, and funny stories about their exploits when liquored up.

I really enjoyed this - funny and irreverent. I'd seen it on someone else's 50 book challenge (can't for the life of me remember who, and I couldn't find it when I looked) but I'm very happy they brought it to my attention.

jfetting in reference to message #59
She has been made into a movie several times, 1925 silent version is very good.
The 1935 one with Randolph Scott is excellent. I think Steven Spielberg had to be familiar with this one due to Harrison Fords outfit is almost the same as Leo Vincey (Scott's) in this one.

Oh, I didn't know that! I'll add the 1935 one to my Netflix queue. I love old movies.

Back to books...

# 56 This Land is Their Land by Barbara Ehrenreich

Ehrenreich fans (and I am one) will love this book. Her particular flavor of political snarkiness works well with the state of my country, 2008. If you are a liberal, you will nod your head in agreement with everything she says. If you are not, you will roll your eyes - I'll admit she does a lot of "some people say" without stating who those people are.

# 57 The Gathering by Anne Enright

This was a Booker prize winner, and I ended up liking it. To me, it seemed more about the relationships among siblings, particularly among a close-in-age brother and sister, than about What Happened To Liam back in 1970ish (what actually happened to Liam is pretty easy to guess). It was a sad book, and maybe the writing was a bit show-offy. The author plays around with time, and what may or may not be the truth, but it in a "look how clever I am" way that got a little old. However, the exploration of the relationships among family members is really well done.

# 58 Finn by Jon Clinch

The story of Huck Finn's father, before Jim finds him dead in the house floating on the river. Finn is Not A Nice Man, barely human, and this is a very dark and disturbing story. There are really two villains in the book - Finn and his completely evil father The Judge. Despite the darkness and the ickiness of the story, I did like the book a lot. Clinch is a great writer.

# 59 Justine by Lawrence Durrell

The first book in The Alexandria Quartet, and it's fantastic. It took me awhile to read for such a thin book - his sentences are so complicated and the narrative jumps around a lot and he does a lot of referring to events that haven't yet occurred (the whole thing is told in flashbacks). Instead of being annoying, this just sucked me right in. Now I have books 2, 3, and 4 on hold at the library.

# 60 The Magus by John Fowles

Engrossing, confusing, and a little bit like Kafka's The Trial without the Kafka genius and with more sex. It was very easy to read, which was a nice change after Justine, especially since I'm heading into the rest of The Alexandria Quartet, along with Bleak House. I will definitely be hunting up Fowles's other books.

# 61 Balthazar by Lawrence Durrell

So this is the second book in the Alexandria Quartet, and it's just as good as Justine. The only problem is that this book contradicted everything (plot points, character motivation, etc etc) from Justine so now I have even less of an idea what is going on. Really fun though! Again, beautiful beautiful writing.

# 62 Mountolive by Lawrence Durrell

Book 3 in The Alexandria Quartet is told a little differently than 1 & 2. The narrative is much more straightforward, so the plot makes a lot more sense. I miss Darley as the narrator, though. Unreliable as he may be, and confusing as the plot sometimes is, Justine and Balthazar are beautiful, almost like poetry, and Mountolive was just a story. On to Clea!

# 63 Amsterdam by Ian McEwan

How could the same man who wrote the little piece of wonderful that is Amsterdam also write the self-indulgent piece of *&% that is Saturday? Has he started phoning it in these days?

lol. your comment makes me hopeful. I've been recommended Amsterdam over and over again, but have kept putting off because I found Atonement frustratingly self-indulgent.

# 64 Clea by Lawrence Durrell

Loved it, loved it, loved it. The whole series is fantastic, and I think Clea caps it perfectly.

# 65 How Dogs Think by Stanley Coren

According to Mr. Coren, flat-coated retrievers are among the most trainable and sociable dogs. So, MY flat-coated retriever, who is incapable of fetching a ball (though she CAN run after it perfectly well) or "leave it!" despite my best efforts, is obviously disobeying on purpose.

# 66 Love and the Incredibly Old Man by Lee Siegel

Another Early Reviewer book - I had a streak of 4 ER books in a row, which I suspect will come to an end in the August batch because I wasn't really excited about any of them. My longer review is on the book's page.

The digested version:
A raunchy, hilarious book in which Ponce de Leon not only discovers the Fountain of Youth, but is actually still alive today and looking for a ghostwriter to write his memoirs. The only stories he's interested in telling are all the love affairs he's had through the centuries.

I liked the book, mainly because the Ponce character is really well done - the scenes where the ghostwriter (conveniently called "Lee Siegel") and Ponce bicker about what would make a good story are my favorites. I wouldn't have read this book w/o the ER program, and I'm glad I was selected to get this one.

# 67 Three Stories and a Reflection by Patrick Suskind

Three excellent short stories, and a funny meditation on forgetting the books you've read. I really like Suskind's writing.

Jfetting . . . your comments are highly entertaining. Keep them coming!

Well, thank you! I'm always pleasantly surprised to find that other people read this.

# 68 The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer

I loved the epistolatory style (right word? for "told in letters"? I hope so) and all the characters and the thoughts about books. The love story seemed forced and unnecessary - if there absolutely had to be a love story, it should have been between Juliet and a different character. The guy who turned out to be gay. But really, there was enough there to skip it. Overall, a light, fluffy, fun read.

I read your challenge thread, too! I'm sure there are many others.

marise - I know you do! :)

#69 The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells

This was a librivox recording, so I listened to it yesterday and today while stuck in a tiny dark windowless room staring alternately into a microscope and a computer.

I'd never actually read this or seen a movie version or even heard the Orson Welles (sp?) radio broadcast, so I had no idea the kind of carnage the aliens inflicted. Also, H.G. Wells was a student of The Great One (who would be T.H. Huxley, grandfather of Aldous) so he knows his natural selection.

#70

Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman

I checked this out from the library after seeing it mentioned over in Name That Book. The poster was looking for a story about Susan Pevensie all grown up, and since I've always wondered about Susan too (just what exactly did she do, the real-life Susan, to make Lewis declare her "no longer a friend of Narnia"? Can't just be lipstick and parties) I picked it up.

I am so very glad I did, because wow. It's a fantastic collection of short stories. Stayed up WAY too late last night finishing it. Now I'm going to have to read everything else he's written.

:) I'm going to have to make sure it stays toward the top of my too-tall tbr pile now--let me know what you think when you get to Neverwhere and Anansi Boys...

msg 76

I really loved Saturday, but hated Atonement. If you want to read another McEwan gem, try On Chesil Beach. Very short. Very precise.

Love your list.

sushidog

jfetting, I'm enjoying your posts too. Fragile Things is a real gem and started me on the road to all things Gaiman! I just loved Anansi Boys too.

But am I one of the few who enjoyed both Saturday and Amsterdam though? I have really liked everything I've read of McEwan so far, but have not read Atonement yet - I'm a bit scared that after all the hype, it won't be that good!

sushidog - I've been avoiding On Chesil Beach - the reviews were so overwhelming negative when it first came out, but you're right. It is short, so even if I don't like it at least it won't take long. Unlike Augie March, for example. Back on the TBR!

judylou - I think if you liked both Amsterdam and Saturday you'll enjoy Atonement. I liked it a lot, but to be honest I hadn't heard much hype before I read it. And I just put Neverwhere on request at the library - it's always so fun to "discover" a new author.

# 71 Some Experiences of an Irish R.M. by Somerville and Ross

Much better than I expected - it was really funny, although there were way too many hunting stories.

#72 The Ginger Man by J.P. Donleavy

This was one of the worst books I have ever read in my entire life. The Modern Library board should be ashamed of itself for putting this on its Top 100 books of the 20th century list.

# 73 The Executor: A Comedy of Letters by Michael Kruger

A story about a man who, after his famous-writer friend commits suicide, takes on the job of sorting through the writer's papers. This isn't a plot-driven novel at all - it's more about writers and books. I liked it.

# 74 Bleak House by Charles Dickens

It took me a month to read this book. Part of the problem was my short attention span. The other part was the language - it has been so long since I've read something from the Victorian era that I'm not at all used to the sentences, and so read it very very very slowly. I'm glad I did, though, because if I'd zipped through it I'd have missed out on a lot. Bleak House is a wonderful book, and completely makes up for David Copperfield.

# 75 Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh

I was lucky enough to score an ER copy of one of my favorite books in the world, in an edition that I was going to buy (although not the movie tie-in. I didn't even realize that the picture was supposed to be of Emma Thompson, it's so photoshopped). So my longish review is on the book's LT page. In short, I love love love this book. The first part is the best, when Charles is at Oxford and Brideshead with Sebastian. Waugh wrote the novel while a soldier during WWII, stationed somewhere not-Britain, and his homesickness and nostalgia for the pre-war time is strong enough to make this midwesterner long for the good old days of 1920s England.

Chance. A tale in two parts was the first Joseph Conrad I read some years ago and I was completely caught up by it. He would now be one of my all time favourite authors, for his wonderful language, crystal clear descriptions and fully formed characters

soxyfleming - yeah, I remember that marise listed Chance: a tale in two parts in her 50 book challenge and she liked it and that bodes well for books. There are just so many books I want to read, though, that I'm not sure I want to give any more precious reading time to an author who is batting .250 in my book. I'll keep it on the "maybe someday" list.

# 76 Ironweed by William Kennedy

Not bad. The story is about a guy, Francis Phelan, who after much bad luck is a bum on the street, who sees the ghosts of people he once knew hanging about, and by the end of the book he has achieved... something. This is one of the books where I think I'm missing something. I liked the language, and the writing, and the ghosts.

This makes ML100 book # 94 for me. 6 more! Two of which are James Joyce, though. Eek.

#77 Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

Every bit as good as everyone has said, and possibly better. The marquis de Carabas is one of the best characters I've encountered recently. I just loved this book. I'm so sad it's over. Maybe if I bombard Mr. Gaiman with emails he will write a sequel?

#78 Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

Well. Strout's writing is excellent, and I loved the organization of this book - it is almost exactly like Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson. That said, I really did not like the story at all. It's just such a depressing book, and not in a good, Ishiguro way. Story after story about the suckiness of aging and the fear of death. No, no, no. I had to go read some Noel Coward afterward to cheer me up.

So which Noel Coward did you choose to cheer you up? Hope it worked!

I re-read Private Lives - Amanda and Elyot always cheer me up!

#79 The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

I'd never heard of this book before I started hanging around LT, and everyone was raving about it. With good reason - this book was amazing. I haven't cried this hard at the end of a book since I read Bridge to Terebithia in 5th grade. Depressing, but in a good way.

Interesting factoid about me: my dad was born in Germany in 1940, and when he was about 3 the house he and my grandparents and my aunts were living in was destroyed in an air raid. Obviously, they made it (I'm here, after all) but I found the air raid scenes surprisingly difficult to read.

#80 Tobacco Road by Erskine Caldwell

Another ML100 book, about a dirt-poor family in the south in the 20s or 30s, who have no money and no way of getting any. Such a sad way of life - no education, no skills, lousy land, no food, no hope. It was ok. I have no interest in reading it again, or reading any more of Caldwell's work. This brings me up to 95 of the ML 100 books.

#81 Scoop by Evelyn Waugh

A satirical, hilarious book about newspapers and journalism and bumbling oafs. I loved it.

#82 The Letters of Noel Coward by Noel Coward edited by Barry Day

LOVED it. This is how all biographies should be. His letters are every bit as bitchy and witty and clever as his plays. Barry Day does a wonderful job adding commentary and explaining the little references in the letters we wouldn't otherwise understand. Lots of pictures, too.
I highly recommend this book to:
1)Noel Coward fans
2)biography readers
3)film history buffs
4)theater history same
5)my fellow Anglophiles
6)readers

Oh, and I learned something. Did you all know that Cary Grant was bisexual? I didn't.

Oh, so envious, jfetting! I covet that book! Your enthusiasm just convinces me I must have it!!!

Yes, CG lived with Randolph Scott for many years and they were accepted as a couple in the film community, as I understand.

marise, you'll love it. In addition to his letters, Barry Day includes a lot of letters from other actors to him. Apparently everyone in Hollywood was bestest friends with Noel, so there are all these really personal letters from people pouring their hearts out to him. Marlene Dietrich talking about Yul Brynner, both Vivien Leigh AND Laurence Olivier on the breakup of their marriage...

There is also a good bit about Noel's role in the British secret service in WWII, so now I'm going to have to read The Irregulars about Roald Dahl.

Also, did you know that the BSS knew that Leslie Howard's plane was going to be shot down, but to prevent the Germans from finding out that the Allies could break their code they had to let it happen? Poor Ashley Wilkes!

Thanks jfetting. Two more to add to my ever-growing wishlist (The Letters of Noel Coward and The Irregulars).

>107 jfetting: Yes, I had read that about Howard's plane, but wasn't sure if it was true. How very sad. He was a very nice man from everything I have read about him. Humphrey Bogart felt he owed his film career to him as he insisted on Bogart repeating his stage role in the film of The Petrified Forest. He didn't want to play Ashley, you know.

>108 christiguc: Same here, christiguc!

How terrible for Leslie Howard. I fell in love with him when I saw Intermezzo on the TV during my teenage years, and Ingrid Bergman is still one of my favourite actresses.

I've always wanted to see the 1938 version of Pygmalion with Howard and Wendy Hiller, but haven't yet.

I had no idea he didn't want to be Ashley - why did he end up playing the part? Was it a studio system thing?
The Irregulars is a book I just heard about for the first time this week but it's heading straight to the top of the list once I get a copy.

#83 An Assembly Such as This by Pamela Aidan

I don't usually read this sort of thing (re-tellings of Austen novels by non-Austen writers) but after 100 pages of Finnegans Wake, I needed fluff. This is certainly fluff. However, its really, really fun fluff. P&P from Darcy's perspective, the writing only makes me cringe in places, and it's just adorable.

It's a trilogy, though. Which means that I have to get the next two volumes.

Reading based off a list, like I'm doing with the ML100, is mostly fun and exposing me to many fantastic authors (cough Lawrence Durrell cough) I wouldn't have read otherwise, but there is a shortage of sweet, sappy love stories on the list. I'll make up for that after I finish it.

Re: Leslie Howard as Ashley Wilkes. He made some kind of deal with Selznick whereby he would be able to direct films at his studio, as I recall. Here is a quote I found on his role as AW: "I look like the sissy doorman at the Beverly Wilshire, a fine thing at my age."

#84 Finnegans Wake by James Joyce

Wow. That was one of the most difficult books I've ever read, if not THE most difficult book. Maybe if I had 18 years, and a team of assistants including Samuel Beckett working with me, I'd understand all of it. I was really frustrated at first, and then just sorta sat back and admired the prose, and consulted the introduction to get an idea of what each chapter was "about".

#85 Duty and Desire by Pamela Aidan

book #2 in the Darcy series. It's candy. Book candy. I love it.

Thanks for the heads up about Finnegans Wake. I think that one will stay off my TBR list.

I think Finnegans Wake is one of those books that are better when read in a class setting, with someone knowledgeable around to explain things.

#86 These Three Remain by Pamela Aidan

Oh no! I'm finished! And trying to restrain myself from reading P&P for roughly the 95th time.

#87 The Assault on Reason by Al Gore

I don't even know where to begin. A month away from the election, I probably shouldn't try since I don't want to offend anybody. Suffice it to say that I agree with everything Gore says, I am outraged by the direction in which the current administration has taken my country, and I hope that whoever wins on Nov. 4 will take steps to repair some of the damage.

Oh, dear. That wasn't at all neutral and unbiased, was it?

#84 -- I used to work in an independent bookstore in Colorado (still my dream job), and as part of the hiring process, we would ask the prospective booksellers to read and summarize the first paragraph of Finnegan's Wake. It was a childish "just for fun" test, but it was telling that some people would just quietly return their application and leave!

Donna - that's hilarious. They really could have made up just about anything, couldn't they?

Also, I'm so envious that you got to work in a independent bookstore, in Colorado. Dream job, dream location...

I agree with your few brief comments on the Assault on Reason. I don't think you should worry about being offensive though, after all it is your thread.

Anyway, my fear is not that the current administration will win the election, but that they will win the election by default because Obama-Biden throw up their hands and say "we don't want to have to clean up your mess!" (Cringe)

True - it is my own thread. Plus, I'm a bit of a political junkie, and it's hard for me to lay off. So...

They had better not just give up! If for no other reason than upcoming Supreme Court judicial nominees. cnn.com updates their electoral map every few days, and earlier this week they changed Missouri (aka Where I Live Now) from "leaning McCain" to "tossup". So all the lovely Saturday afternoons I have spent making phone calls, knocking on doors, and doing data entry have maybe done some good.

While I was reading The Assault on Reason, I kept thinking about what the US and the world would be like today if Gore had been allowed to take office won back in 2000. He's so thoughtful, and so knowledgeable, and so decent and honorable. I mean, the book was really well written and researched, and far more balanced and reasonable than I'd be able to be.

October is going to be way too stressful.

#88 Enemy Women by Paulette Jiles

Not my usual thing - a historical fiction novel set in the Civil war which I read as part of the Missouri readers group read. The love story didn't do much for me (didn't buy it, I'm afraid) but the descriptions of life for people in MO back in that time and their sufferings were really well done. The beginning of each chapter was prefaced by two or three excerpts from letters, journals, and whatnot from real Civil War soldiers and their families, and these were wonderful.

edited because commas are not my friends.

#89 Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips

I'm so glad that the library was taking so long to get me this book that I gave up and bought it for myself because it is wonderful! Entertaining book about the Greek gods who now live in London (good deal on housing back in 1665) in total squalor. They interact with some mortals and hilarity ensues. Really. This book is laugh-out-loud funny. I love it.

I'm so glad to hear that Gods Behaving Badly is a good one! I bought it a few months ago but haven't got to it yet. I'm studying Greek mythology this term, so I thought it would be a great end-of-the-term read. Looking forward to it.

#90 A Fraction of the Whole by Steve Toltz

This is one of the books on the Booker prize shortlist this year, and it's a fantastic book (especially for a debut novel). Dry, dark humor with well-drawn, provoking characters, and then a bit of depth at the end. There is no way a book this funny will win the Booker prize, but I look forward to Toltz writing more.

#91 Schooled by Anish Lakhani

An ER book, so my official review is on the book's page. There isn't a whole lot of substance to my review, or to the book. It's a nice, light, fluffy read. The Devil Wears Prada covered similar territory (though with fashion, not teaching) in a much better way.

I had a really hard time working up any sympathy for the main character, Anna. I'm sorry, but if upon seeing your first apartment, your father declares "Anna, we are taking you to Crate and Barrel immediately to get you some furniture" then YOU ARE NOT POOR. So her "oh poor me! I can't afford cabs and unlimited Starbucks and designer clothes! I can only afford Ann Taylor!" doesn't work for me. Try grad school, honey.

#92 The House at Riverton by Kate Morton

I'll read anything set in Britain between the wars, so of course I thought this was fantastic. I'm happy that Morton acknowledged her debt to Ishiguro and The Remains of the Day.

#93 Living Buddha, Living Christ by Thich Nhat Hanh

When things in the lab get way too busy and stressful, and committee members and "mentors" are breathing down your neck, it is helpful to read a book in which the author tells you to slow down and breathe and chew your food 30 times. Probably should follow this advice before you end up on the couch sick as a dog, but hey. Live and learn.

All whining aside, in this book Brother Thay provides a nice comparison/contrast between Buddhism and Christianity without pulling any punches about what my tradition gets wrong.

#94 Ulysses by James Joyce

There has been a lot of hating on Ulysses in the LT groups I hang out in. However, of the 1084 LTers who have rated it, 846 (78%) gave it 4 stars or better.

As did I. Simply put, this book is amazing. If I wrote fiction (I don't) Ulysses would make me give up in despair. I absolutely understand why the Modern Library folks put it at the top of their list. I read it with Ulysses Annotated by Don Gifford, which helped with details (Irish politicians, Dublin landmarks, etc) but left me alone to figure out the good stuff. Wow. Wow wow wow. Molly's chapter blew me away (note: I like stream-of-consciousness. A lot. Molly Bloom is now up there with Quentin Compson in my Favorite Characters Ever list.)

The word I see most frequently associated with Ulysses is "pretentious". To paraphrase Barry Bonds, it's not pretension if you're really that good. Joyce is.

ETA: In my opinion, of course. YMMV. Especially if you don't like stream-of-consciousness.

Wow. Inspiring. And you did it without taking a class. Good job. How long did it take you?

Excellent! You have given me hope for making my own journey through Ulysses some day.

Nickelini - it took me a little over a month. I'm sure a missed a lot, but with a book this complex (how many graduate theses are written on Ulysses? Dozens? Hundreds?) that's part of the fun - knowing that next time I read it (and it'll get a reread in a few years) there'll be new things to pick up on. I'd love to take a class on it, actually. Maybe someday.

marise - thank you! it's worth the effort. I'm ridiculously proud of myself - like I ran a marathon or something!

congratulations -- i hope to get through Ulysses myself one day... and yes, u are right to be (ridiculously) proud of urself!

#95 The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith (audiobook)

Nothing makes a long car trip up through the middle of Illinois bearable like an audiobook. Especially one as enjoyable as this. Light, fluffy, superfun. The last three sentences made me so happy - I'd been shouting at Mma Ramotswe for about half an hour that she should really say what she ended up saying. So nice when fictional characters take my advice.

#96 The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga

This year's Booker prize winner. It's good, I liked it but certainly not enough to ever read again.

#97 The Time Machine by H. G. Wells (audiobook)

In an attempt to keep myself away from the internets today, I listened to this Librivox recording. It's much shorter than I expected - but interesting and enjoyable. Wells has an unbelievable imagination.

I had a little problem with this recording. While most of the readers were fine to great, one drove me nuts by mispronouncing every 3 syllable word. These weren't complicated words, either.

#137. In UK we pronounce some words differently to people in USA, putting the stress on a different syllable.
Perhaps this was the cause - not wrong, just different. Glad you enjoyed it apart from that.

lol! No, I am aware that words are pronounced differently in the UK and other non-US places (laboratory? aluminum? amino acid?). The reader that bugged me was definitely from the USA.

Totally off-topic, whohoo! Congratulations to President-elect Obama! I'm so happy.

#98 The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz

One of those books that deserves every bit of praise it has received. Wonderful writing, heartbreaking story (this book actually is a heartbreaking work of staggering genius). I really knew nothing about the Dominican Republic before this book (no idea they had an evil dictator, for instance), so it was really interesting to learn a little about the history. Also, I can't speak Spanish, so I didn't catch a lot of the slang in the book, but context helped me figure out what they were saying.

#99 The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry

Sebastian Barry was robbed. Seriously. This book was way better than The White Tiger. Booker committee, why? I mean, I know that last year's selection was also a sad Irish book about death and dying and families and the sea, but still. That's no reason to punish Barry.

I loved this story, about a 100 year old woman who was committed to an insane asylum when in her 20s. The commitment wasn't voluntary, and the book tells her story. The book has everything - unreliable narrators, surprises at the end (which I loved!), etc etc. Sad, but beautiful.

#100 The Post-American World by Fareed Zakaria

First 2/3s of the book: Omigod! Omigod! The Chinese are coming! And the Indians! Omigod! Their economies are going to leave the US in the dust! Oh noes! Their growth is never going to stop! The US won't be the most importantest ever!

Last 1/3 of the book: the author realizes that since he wants to sell books to Americans, he needs to talk about US some more. He sticks in a digression about how the British lost their empire (bad economics, apparently). Then he goes back to America and how we've lost our moral standing and everyone hates us. The he re-remembers he needs to sell books to Americans. So then a bit about how great our universities are, and how our economy isn't totally going to tank (obviously written before the end of September), and how everyone hates our government not our warmth and charm. And do you know what the real problem is? Regulation. Let the markets take care of everything! They never fail!

It's like a debate with my brother the libertarian.

Overall, meh. The people who need the wake-up call are not going to read this book. For anyone who has been paying attention at all in the past few years, there are some (few) statistics to go with what you already know.

This book doesn't have a work page in English, and I don't know how to make one, so no touchstone.

And I read 100 books this year!

Great review! Now I know I don't have to read that one.

And congrats on reaching the 100 book mark.

#101 Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh

It is NOT FAIR to end a book like that! I know this is the first book in a trilogy, but to keep me hanging like this, waiting to find out what happens, is cruel. I'm quite attached to the characters, at this point.

#102 What God Can Do For You Now by Robert Levine (almost certain the author touchstone is wrong)

My October ER book. My long and well-thought-out (I hope) review is on the book's work page. My opinion, condensed: Good for the target audience, not for anyone else.

Great review!

You've got a great list here, much for me to steal for TBR.

Might I suggest an end-of-year awards show? ;-)

that's an idea... my categories won't be anywhere near as clever as yours, though!

You can have some of mine. You came up with a bunch of them anyway.

#103 The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie

So, I'm sure that technically Midnight's Children is a better book than The Enchantress of Florence, but I have to admit that I liked Enchantress much, much better.

********************************************************
My end-of-year awards show will take place in December. I have a feeling that two books I'm reading, Outlander and Mists of Avalon will be in a close race with Pillars of the Earth for The Are-You-Sure-This-Isn't-Porn? award for the most excessive, gratuitous, and graphic sex scenes in a work of historical fiction. I want to finish them so they can be included.

And yes, Avalon is fantasy and not so much historical fiction but it takes place long ago, so I'm counting it.

Looking forward to it. :-)

I have a feeling that two books I'm reading, Outlander and Mists of Avalon will be in a close race with Pillars of the Earth for The Are-You-Sure-This-Isn't-Porn? award for the most excessive, gratuitous, and graphic sex scenes in a work of historical fiction.


OK, that made me crack up.

#104 84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff

I picked this up from the library this afternoon when I returned some books. Started reading it right away and didn't stop until I finished. What a wonderful little book. I'm still smiling. Now I want a copy. Of course, I don't want just any copy. I want a clean, secondhand copy that I ordered from a secondhand book shop in London.

#105 Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader by Anne Fadiman

I really enjoyed this collection of essays about a love of books, especially the essay about the two types of book lovers: courtly (treat books gently and well) and carnal (read 'em to shreds). I totally fall into the courtly camp - it hurts me to see other people leave their books open, face down. If I catch such a person treating a book I lent them in that fashion, they don't get to borrow any more from me. I'm also not ok with dog-earing books anymore, although I used to be.

I do write in them, though. Paperbacks, hardcovers, whatever.

#106 Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

Fun, trashy historical fiction that is almost as long as Ulysses. I'll probably read the next couple in the series someday, but I'm in no hurry.

#107 The Beak of the Finch by Jonathan Weiner

Weiner is really good at getting biology across in non-technical language. Here, he uses recent-ish research to demonstrate how Darwin wasn't just making it up, and how evolution and natural selection are testable. The Grants, over the years, have put together a compelling story and if you are at all interested in evolution or birds or science this is a great book.

The Grants just came to my university to talk. They give a tag-team lecture (Peter first, of course. And of course he got 40 minutes and Rosemary only got 20. Naturally.) They do amazing work.

So, naturally, it evolved that Peter got 40 minutes and Rosemary only 20? ;)

marise - lol! You could also say that the fact that Rosemary got to speak at all, and not just type up papers, is a sign that science has evolved since Darwin's day.

#108 Tears of the Giraffe by Alexander McCall Smith (audiobook)

Another trip home, another audiobook, and the further adventures of Mma Ramotswe. I'm getting to be quite a fan.

#109 Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

A very disturbing book, but I found it hard to put down. Some of the mental images were almost too much.

#110 Speak, Memory by Vladimir Nabokov

I don't think I've had a chance to gush over Nabokov on my challenge thread yet this year, although I have other places on LT (like, whenever anyone anywhere brings up Lolita. Can't resist. It's a problem). How wonderful is he? So very wonderful. Speak, Memory is an autobiography of sorts (although not the standard, first-this-event-then-this-one type of autobiography). He talks about his family, and his unbelievably privileged boyhood in Russia, and his flight and subsequent exile when the Soviets came. His writing is as beautiful here as it is in his fiction. My favorite chapter was chapter 15, when he talks about his son and his love for his wife Vera and his son Dimitri just shines through every word. The book ends when he, Vera, and Dimitri board the ship to take them to the US and safety.

I loved every minute of this book, even the butterfly parts, and am now entirely convinced that Nabokov is the greatest writer ever. Ever!

Wow. That's quite the endorsement, Jennifer. I'll have to add that to my TBR list. So it sounds like more of a memoir than an autobiography then? I've only read one Nabakov, Bend Sinister, and at the time I thought it was pretentious garbage. But then I had to write a paper on it, and reread it, and on the second reading it was like I was reading an entirely different book. It was absolutely brilliant. I definitely want to read a lot more of his work, now that I know what to expect.

yes, "memoir" is a much better word to describe the book. I haven't read Bend Sinister yet, although I will. I think my next of his books will be Strong Opinions, which (I gather) is a collection of writings and interviews and whatnot in which he expresses said strong opinions. He gives us a taste of that in Speak, Memory - we learn he is not a fan of Freud. Or Thomas Mann. Or Henry James (!) or Dostoevsky. So I think it may be fun.

In the intro to Bend Sinister you learn he's not a fan of George Orwell, either. He didn't convince me--I think Orwell is brilliant too. Interesting characters, these authors are!

#111 The Old Wives Tale by Arnold Bennett

This is the story, or rather the two separate stories, of two sisters. One runs off to Paris, one stays home and behaves herself. Eventually they get old, and die. Bennett has a surprisingly snarky and sarcastic tone at times when illustrating small town life.

Overall, it was just ok. I liked the occasional flashes of dry wit, and Sophia's story.

#112 The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling

A fun little book of wizarding fairy tales! I've missed Harry's universe, so this was a fun trip back to it. I love fairy tales (always have), and footnotes (Dumbledore's are fantastic - especially the slightly arrogant ones).

#113 The Birds' Christmas Carol by Kate Douglas Wiggin (re-read)

I read this children's book every year at Christmas. Most years it makes me tear up. I can probably recite it by now. Love the Ruggleses-in-the-rear.

#114 A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (re-read)

Another yearly re-read that I love as much as ever. We watch the Alistair Sim version every year on Christmas eve after church, so I get a double dose of the story. Of course, this means that in my head Scrooge has always looked and sounded like Sim.

The Alistair Sim version is my favorite, too!

#167 - Scrooge has always looked and sounded like Sim.
----------------------

You mean there is an alternative? I thought they were one and the same. That movie is so old looking and grainy that I have to remind myself that it wasn't filmed in the 1800s by Dickens himself.

The graininess is part of its charm!

#115 The Death of the Heart by Elizabeth Bowen

The last book of 2008! This was a difficult book to get through - parts I liked, parts I didn't. I thought that Bowen did a wonderful job describing a naive teenage girl falling in love for the first time and all the confusion and obsessing and heartbreak that comes with that. The reaction of Portia's family infuriated me, and I hate her sister-in-law.

So, with reflection, I like it more afterward than I did while reading it.

The graininess is part of its charm!
-------------

Yes, I totally agree!

The First Annual End of the Reading Year Awards Show (2008)

I'm shamelessly stealing both the idea and several categories from citigirl, who is far more imaginative than I am. Nominees and winners are:

Best fiction book: Perfume: the story of a murderer, A Dance to the Music of Time, Possession: a romance, Ulysses, If On a Winters Night a Traveler, An Artist of the Floating World
Winner: An Artist of the Floating World

The "Bonfire of the Vanities" award for Worst Fiction Book: Nostromo, The Ginger Man, Call of the Wild, The Adventures of Augie March
Winner: The Ginger Man

Biggest "Ick" Factor: Tropic of Cancer, Call of the Wild, From Here to Eternity
Winner: Tropic of Cancer (ewwww)

The Are-You-Sure-This-Isn't-Porn? award for the most excessive, gratuitous, and graphic sex scenes in a work of historical fiction:
Outlander, The Mists of Avalon, Pillars of the Earth
Winner: Outlander just barely edges out The Pillars of the Earth. Barely.

Best author new to me: Neil Gaiman, Anthony Powell, Lawrence Durrell, A.S. Byatt, Patrick Suskind, Italo Calvino
Winner: PowellThis was a really hard category to pick a winner.

Best author not new to me: Jane Austen, Kazuo Ishiguro, Vladimir Nabokov
Winner: a three-way tie between Austen, Ishiguro, and Nabokov

Best looking author:Neil Gaiman Sole nominee, and winner. And smoking hot.

Best protagonist: Bertie Wooster (from the Jeeves books), Darley (from The Alexandria Quartet), Mma Ramotswe (from the No 1 Ladies Detective agency), Stephen Dedalus (Ulysses), Leopold Bloom (Ulysses)
Winner: Bertie Again, a difficult category to just pick one

Best villain: Widmerpool (from Dance to the Music of Time), Grenouille (from Perfume), the Invisible Man, Finn (from Finn), the Judge (from Finn)
Winner: Grenouille

Most irritating protagonist: Fanny Price (from Mansfield Park), Augie March (from Augie March), Sebastian Dangerfield (from The Ginger Man), Raimund Gregorius (from Night Train to Lisbon)
Winner: Fanny Price

The Bergman award for the most relentlessly depressing novel: Ironweed, The Gathering, Olive Kitteridge, Tobacco Road
Winner: Ironweed the novel with the take-away message "why bother? we're all going to starve to death in a ditch anyway"

The Jekyll and Hyde award for the craziest depiction of a scientist: The Invisible Man, The Time Machine
Winner: The Invisible Man

Lifetime achievement award (most unreadable novel): James Joyce, for Finnegans Wake and, to a lesser extent, Ulysses

The Mel Brooks award (for funniest novel): Three Plays: Blithe Spirit, Hay Fever, Private Lives, The Inimitable Jeeves, Gods Behaving Badly, The Uncommon Reader
Winner: Three Plays of course. By the Inimitable Noel Coward

Best Nonfiction: Letters of Noel Coward; Speak, Memory, 84 Charing Cross Road, Ex Libris
Winner: The Letters of Noel Coward, of course.

Literary crush: Neil Gaiman, Vladimir Nabokov, Noel Coward, Patrick Suskind
Winner: Noel Coward (a literary hat trick!)

Best sidekick: Jeeves (from the Jeeves books), Mma Makutsi (from the No 1 ... books)
Winner: Jeeves

The "Whoa...I So Did Not See That Coming": An Artist of the Floating World, The Secret Scripture, A Pale View of Hills, Perfume
Winner: The Secret Scripture

Book (fiction) that Everyone Should Read: An Artist of the Floating World, A Dance to the Music of Time, Speak, Memory,
Winner: A Dance to the Music of Time Powell is underrated

Most Unreliable Narrator: Darley (from the Alexandria Quartet), Esther (from Bleak House), any narrator in any Ishiguro novel ever
Winner: any narrator in any Ishiguro novel ever

That's just too fun. You've inspired me to try something similar over the coming weekend (if I can find time).

hehe.... awesome! :D

It's interesting that Artist of the Floating World is a favourite fiction book AND by an author specialising in unreliable narrators :)

Wonderful! I'm going to check some of these out for 2009 reading. And I'm going to steal the Most Irritating Protagonist category for next year. And maybe Most Relentlessly Depressing Novel, too. And the Funniest, too. Oh, so many ideas! Thanks! Again!

Nickelini, I'm looking forward to your show!

Thanks all! And Nickelini, I'm looking forward to your show too!

Now that it's 2009, I'm moving over to the 100 challenge thread

2009 thread

Hope to see you there!