dchaikin part 4 - Chaucer at last

from the Corpus Christi College Cambridge manuscript of Troilus and Criseyde by Geoffrey Chaucer, created circa 1415-1425
(A high-quality digital version is available here: https://parker.stanford.edu/parker/catalog/dh967mz5785 )

Currently Reading


Currently Listening to

books read this year


Audiobooks completed

Read in 2023, by date read

(these links go the review on my part 1 page)
1. **** Case Study by Graeme Macrae Burnet (read Dec 22, 2022 – Jan 11, 2023, theme: Booker 2022)
2. ***** Uncle Tom's Children by Richard Wright (read Jan 13-15, theme Richard Wright)
3. ** The Marne by Edith Wharton (read Jan 11-15, theme: Wharton)
4. **** A Far Cry from Kensington by Muriel Spark (read Jan 16-18, theme: TBR)
5. **** The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka, read by Shivantha Wijesinha (listened Jan 1-24, theme: Booker 2022)
6. n/a Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Basic and Beyond, Third Edition by Judith S. Beck (Read Nov 17, 2022 – Jan 25, 2023)
7. **** The Book of Eels by Patrik Svensson (read Jan 3-26, theme: Naturalitsy)

(these links go the review on my part 2 page)
8. **** The Life and Writings of Geoffrey Chaucer (The Great Courses) by Seth Lerer (listened Jan 25 – Feb 1, theme: Chaucer)
9. *** Chaucer: A European Life by Marion Turner (read Jan 16 – Feb 6, theme: Chaucer)
10 **** The Trees by Percival Everett (read Feb 6-8, theme: Booker 2022)
11. **** City Lights Pocket Poets Anthology edited by Lawrence Ferlinghetti (read Dec 4, 2022 – Feb 10, 2023)
12. *** Poseidon's Steed: The Story of Seahorses, From Myth to Reality by Helen Scales (Read Feb 1-16, theme: Naturalitsy)
13. ****½ The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother by James McBride, read by JD Jackson & Susan Denaker (listened Feb 4-18, theme: random audio)
14. **** By the Sea by Abdulrazak Gurnah (read Feb 11-20, theme: TBR)
15. **** Winning Fixes Everything: How Baseball’s Brightest Minds Created Sports’ Biggest Mess by Evan Drellich, read by Mike Chamberlain (listened Feb 20 – Mar 4, theme: random audio)
16. ***** The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton (read Feb 13 – Mar 7, theme: Wharton)
17. ****½ Native Son by Richard Wright, (read Feb 20 – Mar 11, theme: Richard Wright)
18. **** Under the Sea Wind by Rachel Carson, read by C. M. Hébert (listened Mar 5-14, theme: random audio)
19. **** After Sappho by Selby Wynn Schwartz (read Mar 15-25, theme: booker 2022)
20. **** Treacle Walker by Alan Garner (read Mar 26-27, theme: booker 2022)
21. **** Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan (read Mar 27, theme booker 2022)
22. **** The Photograph by Penelope Lively (read Mar 28 – Apr 1, theme: TBR)
23. **** The Romance of the Rose (Oxford World's Classics) by Guillaume de Lorris & Jean de Meun, and translated from Middle French by Frances Horgan (read Mar 3 - Apr 7, theme: Chaucer)
24. ***** The Sea Around Us by Rachel Carson, read by Kaiulani Lee (listened Mar 14 – Apr 8, theme: random audio)
25. *** Collected Poems by Donald Justice (read Feb 11 – Apr 9, theme: TBR)
26. *** Geoffrey Chaucer: Love Visions (Penguin Classics), translated with introduction and notes by Brian Stone (read Apr 5-16, theme: Chaucer)
27. ***½ The Edge of the Sea by Rachel Carson, read by Kaiulani Lee (listened Apr 10-29, theme: random audio)
28. ***** Black Boy by Richard Wright (read Apr 16-30, theme: Richard Wright)
29. ****½ The Glimpses of the Moon by Edith Wharton (read Apr 11-30, theme: Wharton)
30. ****½ A Closed Eye by Anita Brookner (read May 1-7, theme: TBR)
31. ****½ Africa Is Not a Country: Notes on a Bright Continent by Dipo Faloyin, read by the author (listened May 2-11, theme: random audio)
32. **** A Sense of Where You Are: A Profile of Bill Bradley at Princeton by John McPhee (read May 14-15, theme: none)
33. **** Stay True by Hua Hsu, read by the author (listened May 11-18, theme: random audio)
34. *** Florence: The Biography of a City by Christopher Hibbert (read May 22-29, theme: Italy)

(these links go the review on my part 3 page)
35. **** A Brief History of Venice: A New History of the City and Its People by Elizabeth Horodowich (read May 25 – June 3, theme: Italy)
36. **** The Nymph of Fiesole by Giovanni Boccaccio, translated by Daniel J. Donno (read May 29 – Jun 9, theme: Italy)
37. ***** Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison (read May 7 – Jun 12, theme: Richard Wright)
38. ****½ The Hamlet by William Faulkner (read Jun 10-29, theme: group read & Faulkner)
39. **** A Son at the Front by Edith Wharton (read Jun 30 – Jul 15, theme: Wharton)
40. **** Sixty Years of American Poetry: Celebrating the Anniversary of the Academy of American Poets (read Apr 9 – Jul 21, theme: poetry)
41. ****½ G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century by Beverly Gage, read by Gabra Zackman (May 19 – Jul 24, theme: random audio)
42. **** The Incredible Unlikeliness of Being: Evolution and the Making of Us by Alice Roberts (read July 1-27, theme: Naturalitsy)
43. ****½ One Hundred Poems from the Japanese by Kenneth Rexroth (read Jul 22 – Aug 5, theme: poetry)
44. *** The Town : Volume Two, Snopes by William Faulkner (read Jul 8 – Aug 16, theme: group read & Faulkner)
45. ***** In Ascension by Martin MacInnes, read by Freya Miller (listened Aug 1-18, theme: Booker 2023)
46. ***** Fatelessness by Imre Kertész, translated by Tim Wilkinson (read Aug 13-22, theme: TBR)
47. **** A Spell of Good things by Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀, read by Ore Apampa, Babajide Oyekunle (listened Aug 19 – Sep 1, theme: Booker 2023)
48. ***½ The Mansion by William Faulkner (read Aug 23 – Sep 7, theme: group read & Faulkner)
49. **** Old God's Time by Sebastian Barry, ready by Stephen Hogan (listened Sep 1-12, theme: Booker 2023)
50. ****½ The Polish Boxer by Eduardo Halfon (read Sep 20-22, theme: TBR)
51. **** Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures by Merlin Sheldrake (read Sep 2-24, theme: naturalitsy)
52. ***½ If I Survive You by Jonathan Escoffery, read by Torian Brackett (listened Sep 13-27, theme: Booker 2023)
53. ****½ Old New York by Edith Wharton (read Sep 3-28, theme: Wharton)

(links here go the review on this page)
54. ***½ Walden by Henry David Thoreau (read May 2 – Oct 3, theme: naturalitsy)
55. ****½ These Precious Days by Ann Patchett, read by the author (listened Sep 28 – Oct 10, theme: random audio)
DFN **? A Council of Dolls by Mona Susan Power, read by Isabella Star LaBlanc (listened to 1st 3 hours Oct 10-15, theme: random audio)
56. **** The Man Who Lived Underground by Richard Wright (read Oct 4-15, theme: Richard Wright)
57. **** The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng, read by David Oakes and Louise-Mai Newberry (listened Oct 17-26, theme: Booker 2023)
58. **** Ghosts by Edith Wharton (read Oct 9-27, theme: Wharton)
59. ****½ Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk (read Oct 16 – Nov 3, theme: TBR)
60. **** Sky Above Kharkiv: Dispatches from the Ukrainian Front by Serhiy Zhadan (read Nov 3-5, theme: random)
61. ***½ The Patron Saint of Liars by Ann Patchett, read by Julia Gibson (listened Oct 27 – Nov 10, theme: random audio)
62. **** ½ Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett (read Nov 5-15, theme: TBR)
63. ***** Troilus and Criseyde (Broadview Editions) by Geoffrey Chaucer, edited by James McMurrin Dean & Harriet Spiegel (read Sep 8 – Nov 19, theme: Chaucer)
64. **** The Land of Green Plums by Herta Müller (read Nov 15-23, theme: TBR)
65. ***** A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway (read Nov 20-24, theme: TBR)
66. **** Elizabeth Costello by J. M. Coetzee (read Nov 24-29, theme: TBR)
67. **** Enon by Paul Harding (read Nov 25 – Dec 3, theme: Booker 2023)
68. ***½ The Bee Sting by Paul Murray, read by Heather O’Sullivan, Barry Fitzgerald, Beau Holland, Ciaran O'Brien, and Lisa Caruccio Came (listened Nov 10 – Dec 8, theme: Booker 2023)
69. **** The Passenger by Cormac McCarthy (read Dec 2-14, theme: TBR)
70. *** Italian Backgrounds by Edith Wharton (read Dec 5-15, theme: Wharton)
71. **** All the Little Bird-Hearts by Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow, read by Rose Akroyd (listened Dec 10-17: theme: Booker 2023)
72. **** This Other Eden by Paul Harding (read Dec 9-19, theme: Booker 2023)
73. **** Stella Maris by Cormac McCarthy (read Dec 19-21, theme: TBR)
74. ***** Prophet Song by Paul Lynch (read Dec 21-25, theme: Booker 2023)

Read in 2023, by year published (links are touchstones)

1275 The Romance of the Rose by Guillaume de Lorris & Jean de Meun
~1345 The Nymph of Fiesole by Giovanni Boccaccio
1385 Troilus and Criseyde by Geoffrey Chaucer
~1387 Geoffrey Chaucer: Love Visions
1854 Walden by Henry David Thoreau
1905 Italian Backgrounds by Edith Wharton
1918 The Marne by Edith Wharton
1920 The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
1922 The Glimpses of the Moon by Edith Wharton
1923 A Son at the Front by Edith Wharton
1924 Old New York by Edith Wharton
1937 Ghosts by Edith Wharton
1938 Uncle Tom's Children by Richard Wright (expanded 1940)
1940
Native Son by Richard Wright
The Hamlet by William Faulkner
1941 Under the Sea Wind by Rachel Carson
1942 The Man Who Lived Underground by Richard Wright (published 2021)
1945 Black Boy by Richard Wright
1951 The Sea Around by Rachel Carson
1952 Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
1955
The Edge of the Sea by Rachel Carson
One Hundred Poems from the Japanese by Kenneth Rexroth
1957 The Town : Volume Two, Snopes by William Faulkner
1959 The Mansion by William Faulkner
1964 A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway
1965 A Sense of Where You Are: A Profile of Bill Bradley by John McPhee
1975 Fatelessness by Imre Kertész
1988 A Far Cry from Kensington by Muriel Spark
1989 Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett
1991 A Closed Eye by Anita Brookner
1992 The Patron Saint of Liars by Ann Patchett
1993 Florence: The Biography of a City by Christopher Hibbert
1994 The Land of Green Plums by Herta Müller
1995 The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother by James McBride
1996 Sixty Years of American Poetry: Celebrating the Anniversary of the Academy of American Poets
2001
City Lights Pocket Poets Anthology edited by Lawrence Ferlinghetti
By the Sea by Abdulrazak Gurnah
2003
The Photograph by Penelope Lively
Elizabeth Costello by J. M. Coetzee
2004 Collected Poems by Donald Justice
2008 The Polish Boxer by Eduardo Halfon
2009
Poseidon's Steed by Helen Scales
A Brief History of Venice: A New History of the City and Its People by Elizabeth Horodowich
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk
2013
The Life and Writings of Geoffrey Chaucer (The Great Courses) by Seth Lerer (date guessed)
Enon by Paul Harding
2014 The Incredible Unlikeliness of Being: Evolution and the Making of Us by Alice Roberts
2019
The Book of Eels by Patrik Svensson
Chaucer: A European Life by Marion Turner
2020
Cognitive Behavior Therapy: Basics and Beyond, Third Edition by Judith S. Beck
Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our by Merlin Sheldrake
2021
Case Study by Graeme Macrae Burnet
The Trees by Percival Everett
Treacle Walker by Alan Garner
Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
These Precious Days by Ann Patchett
2022
The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka
After Sappho by Selby Wynn Schwartz
Africa Is Not a Country: Notes on a Bright Continent by Dipo Faloyin
Stay True by Hua Hsu
G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century by Beverly Gage
If I Survive You by Jonathan Escoffery
Sky Above Kharkiv: Dispatches from the Ukrainian Front by Serhiy Zhadan
The Passenger by Cormac McCarthy
Stella Maris by Cormac McCarthy
2023
Winning Fixes Everything: How Baseball’s Brightest Minds Created Sports’ Biggest Mess by Evan Drellich
In Ascension by Martin MacInnes
A Spell of Good things by Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀
Old God's Time by Sebastian Barry
The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng
The Bee Sting by Paul Murray
All the Little Bird-Hearts by Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow
This Other Eden by Paul Harding
Prophet Song by Paul Lynch

Some stats:

2023
Books read: 74
Pages: 15,519 ( 563 hrs )
Audio time: 232 hrs
Formats: Paperback 21; ebooks 21; Audio 19; hardcover 13;
Subjects in brief: Novels 39; Nonfiction 24; Classic 21; Science 8; Nature 7; Poetry 7; Memoirs 7; History 5; Journalism 4; Biography 4; Essays 4; Speculative Fiction 3; Short Story Collections 3; On Literature and Books 2; Anthology 2; Religion/Mythology/Philosophy 2; Crime 1; Visual Art 1;
Nationalities: United States 39; England 12; Ireland 4; Scotland 3; Nigeria 2; Sri Lanka 1; Sweden 1; mixed 1; Tanzania 1; France 1; Italy 1; Japan 1; Hungary 1; Guatemala 1; Malaysia 1; Poland 1; Ukraine 1; Romania 1; South Africa 1;
Books in translation: 11
Genders, m/f: 44/27 (mixed 3)
Owner: books I own 71; amazon-unlimited 3;
Re-reads: 0
Year Published: 2020’s 25; 2010’s 5; 2000’s 9; 1990’s 6; 1980’s 2; 1970’s 1; 1960’s 2; 1950’s 6; 1940’s 5; 1930’s 2; 1920’s 4; 1910’s 1; 1900’s 1; 1800’s 1; 1300’s 3; 1200’s 1;
TBR numbers: -6 (acquired 64, read from tbr 70)

All stats - since I started keeping track in December of 1990
Books read: 1320
Formats: Paperback 679; Hardcover 269; Audio 215; ebooks 119; Lit magazines 38
Subjects in brief: Non-fiction 512; Novels 433; Biographies/Memoirs 225; Classics 209; History 195; Religion/Mythology/Philosophy 138; Poetry 101; Journalism 98; Science 96; Ancient 76; On Literature and Books 69; Speculative Fiction 69; Nature 68; Essay Collections 52; Short Story Collections 50; Drama 48; Anthologies 47; Graphic 46; Juvenile/YA 34; Visual Arts 28; Interviews 15; Mystery/Thriller 15
Nationalities: US 739; Other English-language countries: 288; Other: 287
Books in translation: 223
Genders, m/f: 825/396
Owner: Books I owned 955; Library books 285; Books I borrowed 70; Online 10;
Re-reads: 27
Year Published: 2020’s 66; 2010's 276; 2000's 290; 1990's 183; 1980's 123; 1970's 62; 1960's 55; 1950's 35; 1900-1949 84; 19th century 21; 16th-18th centuries 38; 13th-15th centuries 13; 0-1199 21; BCE 55
TBR: 652

side notes:
- milestones this year: 200th audiobook, 100th ebook, 500th non-fiction book, 400th novel, 200th classic, 100th book of poetry, and 800th book by a male author.

links to all my old threads:

2009 Part 1, 2009 Part 2, 2010 Part 1, 2010 Part 2, 2011 Part 1, 2011 Part 2, 2012 Part 1, 2012 Part 2, 2013 Part 1, 2013 Part 2, 2013 Part 3, 2014 Part 1, 2014 Part 2, 2014 Part 3, 2015 Part 1, 2015 Part 2, 2015 Part 3, 2016 Part 1, 2016 Part 2, 2016 Part 3, 2017 Part 1, 2017 Part 2, 2018 part 1, 2018 part 2, 2019 part 1, 2019 part 2, 2019 part 3, 2020 part 1, 2020 part 2, 2020 part 3, 2021 part 1, 2021 part 2, 2021 part 3, 2022 part 1, 2022 part 2, 2022 part 3, 2022 part 4, 2023 part 1, 2023 part 2, 2023 part 3

I'm deep in Chaucer, well, at least for 20 or 30 minutes each morning I am. I'm enjoying it. But I'm not enjoying all my reading lately. Joe's thread left me pondering my emotional connection to books, and my lack of emotional connection to some books I think are very good. I mean, sure, we like or don't like books for random personal reasons, but that's a very iffy way to actually evaluate a book. You can't pin it down. It has no qualitive association. These emotional connections are arbitrary and thinking about them or through them undermines any sense of objectivity. It's almost as if it's not fair. They are not only unique to each person, but random and ephemeral within the person. But what's more important about a book to us than our emotional connection to it?

>8 dchaikin: This is an interesting question. In my mind, like you say, the quality of a book is sometimes completely independent of my emotional connection, and the dissonance can make it hard to objectively rate a book. On the one hand, I want to acknowledge my appreciation of the book as literature, but on the other hand, if it doesn't resonate with me, I have a hard time rating it an excellent book. And vice versa. I might love a book, but know that it's borderline garbage. For me it boils down to this: I am reviewing and rating books mainly for myself (with an eye toward my fellow CRers), so my personal feelings and thoughts trump. I try and acknowledge my biases in my review, but ultimately all book reviews are subjective, are they not? While historians and journalists must strive to be as objective as possible, and I rate the quality of their writing partly based on this objectivity, when I read a book review, I am looking for impressions, the emotional residue a book leaves behind. I like Joe's criteria of "I have to tell people about this book", because it gives a sense of the reviewer's urgency in translating a book's power to others through a review.

Happy new thread, and happy Chaucer reading!

I love all your lists. I like to slice my reading up in lots of ways as well. Cheers, and best wishes for a happy reading Q4.

>9 labfs39: Great response to an interesting question!

"I am reviewing and rating books mainly for myself (with an eye toward my fellow CRers), so my personal feelings and thoughts trump."

Yes, this, although, as Lisa also acknowledges, we know that some books "as literature" are important within the evolution of the art form. An author who used point of view in ways never tried before, or who expanded the narrative form in other ways. These writers may be considered classics but still not resonate with us personally at all. For me the prime example of this is Henry James. I fully recognize his importance to European/American literature but cannot stand reading his books. C'est la vie.

But, >8 dchaikin: "These emotional connections are arbitrary and thinking about them or through them undermines any sense of objectivity. It's almost as if it's not fair. They are not only unique to each person, but random and ephemeral within the person. But what's more important about a book to us than our emotional connection to it?"

I don't feel that our emotional responses are "random and ephemeral." They are, rather, important markers reflecting the lives we've led and the experiences and perceptions that have become important to us. To my mind, there's very little that's random about them. If it's hard to deal with art purely objectively, well, I see that as a feature rather than as a flaw. The whole purpose of art, for me, is to create an emotional reaction.

To me, for us here on LT (as opposed to professional reviewers publishing for a wider range of public consideration) there's nothing more important than our emotional reaction to the books we read. But most of us here on CR are experienced, relatively mature readers. The "objective" quality of writing in any book we read, in terms of language, storytelling and even cultural relevance, or at least how each of us perceives such factors, will be baked into our emotional experience of most books, anyway. A book poorly written on a sentence level, or portraying characters in an unrealistic or objectionable way, are much less likely to evoke the sort of emotional experience that makes a book memorable or particularly enjoyable.

If a book makes you uneasy or even angry because its protagonist is misogynist in a way that the author doesn't seem to be even aware of, or maybe doesn't seem to care about, well, there's nothing un-objective to me about that uneasiness and/or anger, even though both anger and uneasiness are emotions. (Sometimes books make me angry because they are poorly written but got published anyway. Sometimes lots of my LT neighbors like those books. Waddaya gonna do?)

"my lack of emotional connection to some books I think are very good."

If in your review you provide for us the reasons that you think a book is very good, but also tell us that the author and/or the subject matter of the book failed to engage you emotionally and tell us why, that's a darn good review as far as I'm concerned. I know that your comments had to do with your own reactions to your reading and not to your reviews, per se, but I do find that I often can work through my reactions to the books I read, both emotionally and "objectively," during the review writing process itself. I start writing a review not really knowing, or being able to articlulate, why I've reacted to the book in the way I have, but come to a realization about it all during the writing process itself. Reviews as therapy! :)

>8 dchaikin: But what's more important about a book to us than our emotional connection to it?

yes, indeed. I think thats what was troubling me on the book I just reviews bread givers is that everything about this book: Jewish immigrants in early century lower east side, the traditional family, yearning to becojme more american, succeding but still yearning for tradtion in a different was, should have made this book perfect for me. And she succeeded in hitting each of those parts; but it left me rather emotionless. Too melodramatic, characters being unlikable and over the top..just left me a bit cold. But this as really the authors memoir, and reading the section about her and how her book was rediscovered and released, made me really care about it and thankful that I read it, as if I was acting as a witness to the authors experience. so is there an emotional connection? Its complicated

This is an interesting question and I'll have to think about it.

>11 cindydavid4: I obviously am missing something that you and Dan are getting at, so apologies in advance for being a blockhead. In the case of your reaction to Bread Givers, the over melodramatic writing and character portrayal, though largely typical of the era in which Yezierska was writing, is very hard for a modern reader to really click with, and it didn't click with you (I'm in the same boat about a lot of her writing). But the subject matter, the importance of the writing within its own historical era and context and the back story about the book's rediscovery and rerelease resonated with you historically and culturally. All that "made {you} really care about it and thankful that {you} read it, as if {you were} acting as a witness to the authors experience." That sounds really understandable and quite clear to me. Can you help me to understand better what about that is troubling you?

It seems to me that you're struggling to understand whether your reaction to the book is emotional or is intellectual. (I don't want to put words in your mouth, though. Apologies if I'm misreading your comments.) But assuming I'm in the ballpark, my own take is that it doesn't really matter whether we label a reaction "emotional" or "intellectual" or anything else. The label to me is less important than having clarity about what does or doesn't move us and/or entertain us about a book. You seem to have quite a lot of clarity about Bread Givers. But, as I said up top, I have a bad feeling that I'm missing an important element of all this.

>13 rocketjk: first I edited my post above to this, hopefully its clearer " think thats what was troubling me on the book I just reviews bread givers is that everything about this book: Jewish immigrants in early century lower east side, the traditional family, yearning to becojme more american, succeding but still yearning for tradtion in a different was, should have made this book perfect for me. And she succeeded in hitting each of those parts; but it left me rather emotionless. "

i dont care for the whole intellectual vs emotional conversation, and I dont think thats what were talking about (apologies to Dan, not speaking for him) there is usually shade of each of those in what we read, as well a whole lot of different reactions to books. But I do think when I am reviewing and rating a book, I usually listen to what my gut is telling me, the emotional reaction. if I cant find that I am liable to rate th book lower. you see my confusion over my * rating , Im justifying why Im rating it three different ways. The more I thought about it, th more I realized I was feeling guilty. Thats what is troubling me.

Im feeling guilty for not liking this book more. As I said, it pushes all of those positive buttons but the styling is off (and yes Im sure i has to do with the time period and how things were written then. IIRC from theatre class, the melodramas started out in the late 1800s, so I can see someone growing up in that era writing that way as an adult.) so why and to whom I feel guilty? is silly, its my own reaction to the book. But your comments about my review show that I was able to explain myself, why I chose what I did, that makes me feel much less guilty, Thank You (yes reviewing is therapy!)

>9 labfs39: >10 rocketjk: >11 cindydavid4: >13 rocketjk: >14 cindydavid4: wow. Such great and interesting responses.

>12 RidgewayGirl: i’d love to see your take

>9 labfs39: sometimes I think about reviews in terms of personal vs useful. These overlap, but i can force a division where i imagine myself as reading the review. (Personally, i want reviews quick and to the point. I don’t want anything off topic or incomprehensible in meaning or purpose up front. If the review has more to say, i want it to win me over to reading more. 🙂 But, alas, my own reviews don’t manage to accomplish these things. This parenthetical comment breaks those rules.) Anyway, the part about how I enjoyed a book, or not, is the personal part. The part my imagined reader takes away, if anything, is the useful part. That could be my enjoyment (and therefore their implied potential enjoyment), or factual info, or some evocation. (If it’s good and the right reader is motivated, that’s super useful.) (Was this readable?)

>10 rocketjk: “To me, for us here on LT … there's nothing more important than our emotional reaction to the books we read.” - I really agreed with you when I was posting. Now I’m rethinking. Sigh. How valuable is the raw info, and the raw exposure? What if, for example, a dull or negative reading experience helped later lead to an enjoyable experience in a different book? (Or movie, or relationship, or nature walk or whatever) Then, which is more important? Please don’t feel I’m criticizing your perspective. I enjoy your perspective regardless. But also I’m kinda debating myself here.

>11 cindydavid4: >14 cindydavid4: I think you might be bringing up a nuance - a book we appreciate and value, but maybe didn’t enjoy (in this case, maybe it was poorly written). At least this is an experience I have had a lot, and never love those mixed feelings.

Another element that I might bring to this discussion I would categorize by the general question, "Why am I reading this book at all?"

I am finding very frequently in my reading answering the question by dropping the book. When I get to that stage in a book, which has all the literary qualities I like, and possibly even a favorite author, it is my emotional response to the story. Thoughts like 'do I care about these people, or the outcome?' often lead to dropping the book.

I believe that my answer today would be far different from what it would have been in earlier reading years. I realize that my current age has me thinking more along the lines of 'would this book be one that illuminates my thinking about life?'

When I look at my reading during 2023, I find the most memorable books for me pertain to aging in some way, or another. My current TBR has about 15 books which touch on aging in some way. I don't have all of those books on my current short list for the end of 2023, but any book that isn't there will come in as I finish reading, or dropping books on my short list.

I need to clarify that these books are all fiction. I have zero interest in non-fiction books about how to deal with end-of-life issues.

I prefer learning about how fictional, but realistic individuals dealt with their own issues.

I regret breaking into this terrific discussion about emotional and other reactions to a book, but I have a digression. NYT Book Review has a piece about ghost stories and the authors #1 choice is Ghosts by Edit Wharton. You are the only member I know that has the book and I am wondering what your thoughts are.

>17 JoeB1934: your welcome to break in any conversation here. 🙂 I’m reading Ghosts now. They are mostly her early stories, written before her major novels. Wharton had an elegant readable prose that soothes any anxious reader quickly. I find myself quickly taking to her writing regardless of what I might otherwise be preoccupied with in my head. That aspect is in the stories I’ve read here so far.

>16 JoeB1934: Enjoyed your post. It had me thinking how i find for myself the most important drive for reading is curiosity. I mean, I like being in a state of reading. But I have a sort of curiosity/impatience balance. The drive for reading comes from that curiosity, when it’s larger than my impatience. The best books aren’t necessarily the ones that capture my curiosity of the moment, but I’m a better of them than of any other book.*

(*eek, please don’t grammatically analyze this sentence. Hopefully my meaning is clear.)

>18 dchaikin: I'm reading Ghosts on and off as well. A friend sent it to me a couple of Halloweens ago, and I've been picking it up and reading a few stories every October since. They're fun, absorbing.

>19 dchaikin: Thank you for that very special word 'curiosity'.

For my whole reading life, I have been classified as a 'mystery' reader. Unfortunately, most readers jump to the conclusion that a mystery always means crime, which of course it doesn't. When I look back on my reading the ingredient of curiosity comes far closer to defining a book of interest to me.

The book I am reading today is In the Distance by Hernan Diaz. I am engrossed by the incredible plot and my curiosity with the book as the author goes along toward a destination that I can't foresee.

>16 JoeB1934: >14 cindydavid4: >8 dchaikin:
Why am I reading this book at all?
Interesting topic @JoeB1934
I’ve recently been discarding books more frequently than I used to. This is partly because it’s so easy as I only read audio (of necessity) and I get most free so it’s easy to discard if I don’t get gripped by chapter three-ish.

When I was young I used to browse bookstores and would check out books I’d been recommended. I’d do the “opening line test”. I also avoided books written in the present tense or in the first person.

At the end of middle age I avoided books with end-of-life or coming-of-age themes. I still avoid coming-of-age books but quite like books about very old people.

I used to love sci-fi by have not read of it much since Asimov and Philip K Dick when they were current.

This year I am finding it hard to take to any Booker prize long or shortlist except Old Gods Time.

I usually will find a book I like and binge read any book that the author has written, but have been disappointed. Especially with writers whose best years peaked in the late 20th century. Doris Lessing really dropped off and at one time she was my all-time favorite.

I would put good writing above emotional appeal, though usually a good writer will achieve both.

>20 lisapeet: I'm so happy you're reading from Ghosts too. And that's a great way to read these stories. How far along you? We read The Lady's Maid's Bell last. And the general favorite so far is Afterward, although I did take to All Souls'.

>21 JoeB1934: I stumbled upon that sort of realization a couple years ago, trying to understand my inconsistent reading drive. I do some reading specifically to create curiosity in other books I haven't read but want to. I sort of try to set the mood in my head. :) It works. Also, I don't know anything about In the Distance. Noting.

>22 kjuliff: interesting! When I using library audiobooks, I was checking all sort of stuff and ruthlessly discarding them. It was actually nice, but I came across so much junk. A nutrition book turned out to be all conspiracy theory stuff, and an American history book turned out to be doctored for right-wing homeschoolers. But I also found so many pleasant surprises, and that was quite special. I've lost that with audible, but I ran out of options at the library. My problem with audible is that I don't want to waste my credits. So there are few surprises, and too many high expectations. Part of why I use the Booker longlist is to have "forgivable" misses (you know, like, ok, it wasn't good, but at least I learned something about the Booker longlist)...and therefore some surprises too. Disappointment and surprise go together sometimes.

>23 dchaikin: I only use Audible for books that aren’t available in my local library or in BARD (as audio) and never go straight to Audible for a book. I am fortunate as I am a member of BARDMobile - talking book for the blind, so there are far more book titles available there, plus they are free for me.

There are the old CD books moved to the internet, plus the early “Talking Books” where volunteers would dictate books to tape, and many have been digitalized.

Interestingly I vas a “Talking Books” volunteer and recorded books in my thirties, completely unaware I’d ever become unable to read and would need them.

Re Booker long-list, I like your idea of “forgivable misses”. I somehow feel morally obliged try to read every book available to me on the Booker lists. I still feel guilty for not even trying Shuggie Bain which is available on audio but I just can seem to want to read it.

>24 kjuliff: I liked Shuggie Bain, but it’s a lot long and a bit slow.

>25 dchaikin: I was walling to stick with the length because the story revealed dimensions to my Scottich ancestr which came from a village near Glasgow with relatives still living there. Talk about an emotional response to a book

>26 JoeB1934: I’ve been similarly drawn to books set during the Great Irish famine because that’s where my maternal ancestry starts. Some of the uniquely Irish sayings though spoken in English are still used in my mother’s side of the family. I’m reading The Secret Scripture now and I’m so drawn to the people. I can see my grandmother in the main character. I was looking for the post where you and I discussed this book earlier this year, but I can’t find it.

>27 kjuliff: I’ve been reading Grace by Paul Lynch which takes place during the Irish potato famine. Grace is a 14 year old girl. The book is brutal - not sure I’ll finish it. He also wrote Prophet Song which is on this year’s Booker short list.

>28 dianeham: Let me know if you finish Grace - I thought it looked a bit to bleak from some reviews. I enjoyed Paul Lynch’s The Black Snow.
Prophet Song isn’t available in audio yet so I can’t read it.

Did you print read Shuggie Bain or listen? I had trouble with the Scottish accent when I sampled it. But I couldn’t understand anything they said when I visited Scotland, so that’s not surprising.

>29 kjuliff: I got a hardback copy of Prophet Song from England. Haven’t started it yet.

>25 dchaikin: Who was the reader for Shuggie Bain? I really liked it, but you would really have to have someone more than proficient in Glaswegian to do justice to it in audio format. I read it, and could hear those accents in my mind throughout.

>26 JoeB1934: Shuggie Bain is a great look at 1980’s Glasgow.

>29 kjuliff: >31 SassyLassy: I wouldn’t know a Scottish accent beyond cartoon level. But I didn’t have any issues with the audio reader.

>32 dchaikin: >31 SassyLassy:
I went back to Audible and listened to a sample of Shuggie Bain and I didn’t find it so hard to understand after all. I may have found the problem after listening to so many Irish novels. Or remembering my time in Edinburgh.

But here are the narrators’ details -
“Angus King is a Scottish actor based in London & Glasgow. He trained at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and works regularly on television, Motion Capture and the West End and his voice can be heard in audiobooks, political campaigns, radio drama, corporate videos, computer games, ADR and much more.”
https://angusking.net

>25 dchaikin: I read and... it feels weird to say "liked it," since it's such a dark book. But it was a good reading experience for me anyway.

>23 dchaikin: I'm not very far in, unless I'm just not keeping track well. I think I'm up to "Afterward," so I'm glad it's one you liked.

>34 lisapeet: waving hello. Shuggie Bain is pretty dark. And cool, on Ghosts. (I'm finished story 8 today, "Bewitched")

54. Walden by Henry David Thoreau
OPD: 1854
format: public domain Kindle ebook (~280 pages)
acquired: May 2 read: May 2 – Oct 3 time reading: 16:01, 3.4 mpp
rating: 3½
genre/style: classic essays theme: Naturalitsy
locations: Concord, MA around 1850
about the author: 1817-1862. American naturalist, essayist, poet, philosopher, and a leading transcendentalist.

so, hmm. Part of me wants to rant at poor Thoreau, gut all his arrogance, or worse, faux-humble arrogance. That's my emotional reaction. It's not a fair reaction. This stands as an emblem for nature writing, and for independent spirit, and for combining the two together. I like the nature writing effort, and the touches of history, and the attempts at an open mind, the perspective of an abolitionist during deep slavery. I didn't like the independent mind. It was incoherent to me and much too...maga-like. Maybe I would have felt differently ten years ago.

As an aside, I hadn't really thought about how tightly these two ideas are interwoven in nature writing - this bond with nature tied to an angry independence of spirit. Edward Abbey was like this. It's a long trail.

But, back to this book. It has interesting aspects and high points, especially when he ponders deep winter and his isolation, or he rapturously captures Spring; and it has its natural observations and local character observations. But largely it's about guy randomly doing stuff in a self-made hut a short distance out of town. It's random and wandering. A lot more sane than Desert Solitaire; and more optimistic than most latter nature writing, usually having a nature-is-doomed stuff aspect, like Goodbye to a River. The prose of its time and softens a lot of the literary drama. It moseys along. Maybe that's ok. Somehow I was hoping for something more.

>36 dchaikin: Thank you for your thoughts on Walden. Now I don’t feel so guilty about not being able to finish it. It was a big thing, a must read, when I was at university back in the Dark Ages.

>36 dchaikin: Interesting thoughts on Walden. I have hesitated for a long time in reading this book which is highly praised in connection with mindfulness meditation which I (try to) practice, but it seems a bit daunting to me. Your comments do not make me want to rush and read it. ;)

Much to........... maga-like would annoy me I think, but I have toyed with reading the book. interesting comments.

>37 kjuliff: well, it took me five months to finish it. 🙂 I was never really committed and also never missed it, but would pick it up again here and there until as some point i saw the end was insight.

>38 chlorine: hi. I’ve meant to comment on your thread. Nice to see you here. interesting about mindfulness. Thoreau would have appreciated that, and probably deserves credit for some inspiration. I’m not sure you will really find your own inspiration in the reading itself. It’s not something he writes about, but more like a next step on where he might be going. I mean, I’m guessing and thinking out loud. I would only recommend this if you’re curious about specifically about Thoreau.

>39 baswood: I think you would get more out of this than i did. It had its curiosities and charms. (My maga-like comment, by which I mean super-confident incoherence, really applies to his essay, On Civil Disobedience, which was tacked on my ebook copy and which I found ranty and logically insensible. But, looking backwards on the book after the essay, I can see that mindset throughout.)

>38 chlorine: Thanks for your thoughts on Walden. I'll keep it in mind for a future time when either I really want to read it or I'm out of things I'm more eager to read.

>36 dchaikin: Interesting review, and following comments on Walden. I did not manage to finish reading this book, as I felt the man was so arrogant and full of contradictions.
I understand the importance of the book and Thoreau has had some influence, for sure, but I feel this is so based on a fraud that I could not keep reading...
I feel better knowing I'm not the only one having some issue with his book, despite being braodly in agreement with what he stands for.

BTW, after so long away from LT and fellow CR members-thread, I'm happy I finally managed to catch up with your thread!

55. These Precious Days by Ann Patchett
reader: the author
OPD: 2021
format: 11:14 audible audiobook (336 pages in hardcover)
acquired: September 28 listened: Sep 28 – Oct 10
rating: 4½
genre/style: personal essays theme: random audio
locations: Los Angeles, Nashville, and New York
about the author: American author born in Los Angeles in 1963, who grew up mainly in Nashville.

I loved these essays. After an interesting intro, her essay her "three fathers" sets a strong tone that lingers. Patchett's mother married three times, first to her father in Los Angeles before running off to Tennessee with a physician with his own family. She, Ann, had deep connections with all three of them, despite her mother's marriages being more-or-less unhappy. All three were deceased before she wrote the essay. This is also an essay collection that addresses her friendship with Tom Hanks, but mainly through her much deeper friendship with Hank's main assistant.

Patchett is a curiously relaxed confident writer who either doesn't have many issues or doesn't share them. She does talk about herself and her experiences, good and bad, as a child, writing student, novelist, wife, semi-famous bookseller and friend. She is a thoroughly enjoyable writer of personal essays. And she reads these herself perfectly, imprinting the work with her actual voice and distinct pacing.

DNF. Council of Dolls by Mona Susan Power
reader: Isabella Star LaBlanc
OPD: 2023
format: 11:15 audible audiobook (304 pages in hardcover)
acquired: October 10 listened: Oct 10-15 (listened to 2:57)
rating: 2
genre/style: Novel theme: Random audio
locations: Chicago and South Dakota
about the author: American author, member of the Stand Rock Sioux Tribe, born in Chicago (1961)

I think three hours is enough. I wasn't at all interested in the way this was told. It just felt really simple and unrewarding.

The premise is generations of Native Americans, beginning in Chicago in the 1960's, and going backwards. The first narrator is a very young child, using very simple language. I made it through that part on audio hoping it would get better when the next narration took over, but it didn't and, already impatient with it, I bailed there.

(This is on the NBA longlist for literature. I feel I should acknowledge that indicates some readers must like this. I don't know what quality the NBA judges saw and liked. I'm not going any deeper into their list.)

56. The Man Who Lived Underground by Richard Wright
afterward Malcolm Wright (2021)
OPD: 2021 (written 1941-1942, with a shortened version published in 1944)
format: 228-page Kindle ebook
acquired: October 3 read: Oct 4-15 time reading: 5:44, 1.5 mpp
rating: 4
genre/style: Novel theme: Richard Wright
locations: unknown American city, probably southern
about the author: American author born on a Mississippi plantation, 1908-1960

This for me was a curiosity, part powerful, part quirky. Wright takes a close look at police brutality against African Americans (a point noted in his publisher's rejection documentation) and then an almost surreal look at a refugee living in American sewers. Fred Daniels, a good church-going upstanding person and expectant father, is arrested for a murder he knows nothing about. He's not questioned, but beat-up by an all-white police force demanding a confession. It's not clear where his mind was before this happens, but he gets rattled, and it seems his mind is never able to settle down. Instead, in the sewers he tunnels, and he stumbles across apparent odd truths about the basics in life - religion, death, money, entertainment, etc.

Maybe think Plato's cave. It's a combination of Wright's creativity and what I see has his semi-super-aware, semi-blind romantic mindset. It makes an odd combination of strange guy in a strange place doing strange things that don't quite make sense. In a long afterward, which Wright intended to be published with the novel, he explained the novel as a response to the stubborn illogical religious faith his grandmother followed and depended on, a source of conflict between he and his grandmother, his main parent during his older childhood.

This is a lost novel. Wright wrote it written during WW2, in 1942, but it was rejected for publication by his publisher. A shorter version was published in a journal, and later in a posthumous collection. Wright moved on, composing Black Boy, his classic published in 1945. There he goes directly into his grandmother's religion and state of mind, and its impacts on him. The full version of this novel was first published in 2021, after Wright's grandson, Malcolm Wright, pushed for it.

I should add, that's probably it for me and Richard Wright. I find him a curious author. He was creative, but in a very specific kind of way. He was not, to me, a naturally open-minded author, but more like one determined to re-shape the world as he saw it. That's a criticism. However, I think the books I read were very powerful and I enjoyed them all. I feel a kind of completeness in what I've read.

>43 dchaikin: I just love her. Had seen a part of it in the NYer and I knew this was going to be good. I have her latest one, tom lake that Im having troubl with probably coz Im deep into a few other reads. Ill try agai; she rarely fails me. Glad you liked that one

I just found this picture

>47 cindydavid4: My Three Fathers was a NYer piece. I want to read Tom Lake. I trialed audio a didn’t like the reader (a famous actress whose name I can’t think of just now). So i’ll have to actually read it.

Coming in late on Thoreau, as I was away and offline for most of the weekend. I've never read any of his books all the way through but did read a collection of excerpts from a cross section of them (as selected by Theodore Dreiser!). I did't care for the writing much. I respect his place in the evolution of nature writing, but his attitude (i.e. ego) bugged me, and I found a lot of it tedious.

I was sitting at a table in front of a restaurant in the small town I lived in in California, working away at that book. A friend came by and said, "Oh, Thoreau. How are you liking it?" I said, "I'm having trouble getting through it. He sure did think a lot of his own opinions." She laughed and said, "That's the Transcendentalists for you. Not a self-effacing one in the bunch."

>49 dchaikin: yup that was the one.

>50 rocketjk: your friend has an elegantly stated and probably perfect analysis. 🙂

Thanks for sharing your experience on trying to read Thoreau. Tedious and arrogant.

>52 dchaikin:Tedious and arrogant. Your doubling down on Thoreau

I’d like to put in a good word for Walden, I admit I’m a little surprised to find so many negative reactions. I have loved Walden for a long time and used to reread it regularly. I probably did not love it when it was required reading in a 19th century American lit class, and I sometimes skip the first chapter, which is about half the book, but the least rewarding. I’ve not reread it in several years now, not because of its tediousness or any objections to Thoreau’s personality, but because it saddens me to read a book that is free of today’s necessary concerns with the destruction of the earth that greed and technology have now wrought. Instead, Thoreau offers a very strong criticism of the negative impact of greed and technology on the human soul. I miss the mysticism of the book. I am overdue for a reread and now may be the time for a new look. And I’ll start with the first chapter.

That’s a great post Diane. Thanks. It does take confident mindset to get that kind of point across. You have given me pause.

( >53 baswood: i guess so. I was inspired by Jerry’s take. )

>54 dianelouise100: I’m glad you posted that. Though I could never get into Walden, my cohorts of my university days were all Thorea admirers. So much so that I rebelled and had a very negative attitude. I was the same about two other iconic American books that were must-reads at the time. Catcher in the Rye and Kerouc’s On the Road.

I think overall it was me being perverse plus the general culture of the time in Australia. The climate was definitely anti-American. The only American books allowed in my father’s house were To Kill a. Mockingbird and Richard Wright novels.

It’s interesting how off-hand comments of others can turn you off a book to the extent that you’re unable to give it a chance.

Can the problem and perception of Thorea as being arrogant have anything to do with the writing style of the time? As with those people who find Middlemarch pompous?

>56 kjuliff: speaking for myself, it was the logical breakdowns that got to me. He would make his pronouncement, I would think, “but what about…” and a long list would tumble out. I never felt that way with Melville, for comparison. In a sense, Thoreau has a right mindset and a wrong one, but the right one doesn’t always make sense. Melville was charmed by different mindsets. (That wraps of my tiny knowledge of anything related to transcendentalists.)

I thought of you today Dan as I'm currently on holidays in London. I visited Westminster's abbey and saw Chaucer's tomb.

I know I read walden in HS, and dont remember much of it, except that the teacher was relating the book to the environment and the difference in out lifestyl, asking if we could really live like that. I should probably reread it, Im sure Id have a different look at it, but I have recently read about the transcendentals like Louisa May Alcotts father and saw their arrogance and mistreatment of others, that really went against the movements statement of " the belief in the inherent goodness of people and nature"which is lovely but "making a virtue of self-reliance" is what Ann Raynd and many of her conservative followers admire And then there is the comment about civil disobedience " “That government is best which governs not at all”. Well we are now seeing what happens when our government is not governing at all, with the House unable to pass any bills. So no, I probably will not bother.

>59 cindydavid4: I have a real problem with the small government people. There are too many areas of life where group action on a large scale is needed. Roads, international relations, health care, education. Taken to extremes we get the individual ruling. The Unibomber comes to mind.

I agree, but I dont understand the Unibomber reference

>61 cindydavid4: in his manifesto Kaczynski wrote that “This system destroys nature and suppresses individual freedom.” By “system” he was talking about the post Industrial Revolution sociopolitical order. Just a bit of lateral thinking on my part. Individual freedom/love of nature…

Apparently I’m halfway through Troilus and Criseyde. They are in bliss, the main three characters all somehow more than in Boccaccio. Criseyde is much more entertaining, Pandarus much instrumental and intimate, and Troilus much more endearingly ridiculous…but finally happy. They story running in place with joyful dialogue. I’m thoroughly entertained

Some phrases I enjoyed:

- “Do we as the leste.” - we’ll do as you please

- “Lord, al thyn ben that I have!” - may all i have be yours

- “What manere wyndes gydeth yow now here?” - what kind of wind guides you here now

- “Now lat m’alone, and werken as I may”

- “how sore that me smerte” - however sorely it pains me

- “For wyse ben by folew harm chastised” - for the wise are warned by damage done by fools

- “That it bifel right as I shal yow telle” - that it happened exactly as I shall tell you.

- “Than al the good the sonne aboute gooth” - then all the things that the sun circles around

Wow. Do you have a bilingual edition or can you read all that on your own? Every time I’ve tried to read works in old french, I ended up confused and frustrated.

>63 dchaikin: I’m so glad you’re enjoying the Troilus. I seemed to have been sidetracked every time I’ve started this year, but I’ll get there eventually. Some of the lines in Middle English are quite beautiful, I wish there were an audio with a good reliable reader of Middle English. I can no longer read it aloud with any proficiency, and Chaucer’s writings were meant to be heard.

>64 FlorenceArt: good notes. 🙂 My edition is the original spelling and language with lots of translation notes. It’s about 50% readable without the notes, so i’m very dependent on them.

>65 dianelouise100: I was wondering if you were progressing. It takes a mindset, no? I wouldn’t be able to follow on audio, but some samples are helpful. I’ve come across a few, but could use a good one. The actual pronunciation is always a little different, and more entertaining, than how I imagine it.

>66 dchaikin: Ah yes, notes are important.

One big problem with old French is the words that have changed meaning, so you may think you understand them but in fact they mean something else.

I read a book from Rabelais some years ago, but I can’t remember if I read the original text with notes, or if I gave up and read it in translation. Notes are not always very accessible in ebooks. In a case like this they should be on the same page and immediately visible. That doesn’t work with ebooks.

>67 FlorenceArt: completely agree. I think this would be impossible for me as an ebook unless the notes and text could be displayed together. English words changes to, but usually it’s more of a shift in meaning than a full change. The grammar, however, has changed a lot. So phrases come across oddly and i need to reconstruct them in my head. However, this kind of change can be charming…

>66 dchaikin: I like your method of allotting a set amount of time daily and will probably try that on my next attempt. I do find the Broadview edition helpful, not to mention gorgeous, but unfortunately my vocabulary has diminished sadly over the years and I have to look up a lot of words—many of her glosses are of words I do know. Hope you’ll keep posting about Troilus, it does inspire me, thank you.

>69 dianelouise100: I have a bookmark in the book's glossary. I use it a lot (and too many words aren't there, or have so many variations, the one I'm looking for isn't there). I finished Book 3 this morning. Chaucer is clearly in love with Pandarus. I don't think I'll be too upset when Troilus' luck turns.

Troilus and Criseyde - opening of Book 4

But al to litel, weylaway the whyle,
Lasteth swich joie, ythonked be Fortune,
That semeth trewest whan she wol bygyle,
And kan to fooles so hire songe entune
That she hem hent and blent, tratoure comune!
And whan a wight is from hire whiel ythrowe
Than laugh she, and maketh hym the mowe!

My attempted non-poetic modern translation

But all for naught, woe be the while*
That such joy lasts, thanks to Fortune
Who seems most true when she beguile**
And can to fools her song sing
That seizes and blinds them, traitor (she is?)!
And when a person is from her wheel thrown
Than she laughs, and makes faces*** at them

*time
**deceives
***grimaces

I agree that it’s often hard to find the word you want in whatever glossary is available!

I think line 5 above is addressing Fortune, “That seizes and blinds them, common traitor!” Just as Chaucer seems to love Pandarus, he surely despises the goddess Fortuna. I’ll be interested to see what you think of the character of Chaucer’s narrator by the end of the poem.

>72 dianelouise100: "common traitor" makes perfect sense now that you point it out. :) Also, so far I love the narrator and his straight-faced descriptions...and his refusal to spell out directly how pathetic poor Troilus really is (here).

57. The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng
readers: David Oakes & Louise-Mai Newberry
OPD: 2023
format: 11:15 audible audiobook (320 pages in hardcover)
acquired: October 17 listened: Oct 17-26
rating: 4
genre/style: contemporary fiction theme: Booker 2023
locations: 1910 & 1921 Penang in Malaysia and 1947 South Africa
about the author: Malaysian author of Chinese descent who studied law at the University of London. He writes in English and speaks “mainly English, Penang Hokkien, and some Cantonese”. He was born on Penang in 1972.

I was surprised to see this is Eng's first book in 12 years. Back in 2014 I listened to Eng's The Garden of Evening Mists, a book that relished in the multicultural world of Malaysia overtime, capturing Chinese, Japanese, British and Dutch aspects (which sort of means neglecting, to an extent, the majority Malay, and also the large minority Tamil-Indian aspects). There he touched on the complexity of WWII and its aftermath, with distinct, curious, and quietly defiant characters. It was not a perfect book, but it was an experience.

So what has he been doing these last twelve years? Apparently reading some W. Somerset Maugham.

House of Doors bookends WWI, mainly taking place in 1921 British Penang, but with extensive memories back to 1910 British Penang. Our main narrator, Leslie Hamlyn, is Penang-born British housewife. Her husband, who survived being gassed in WWI, was once a friend of W. Somerset Maugham. So when the author stops by, he stays in their house. Leslie and her husband are surprised to find Maugham's male secretary is also his lover. Maugham, meanwhile, is looking for stories, and somehow gets Leslie to tell about her close relationship with Sun Yat Sen, who stayed Penang in 1910, and also about her experiences in a friend's murder trial.

I'm not familiar with Maugham's writing or life. (or Sun Yat Sen's, for that matter.) So everything was new and plausible to me. He really did visit Penang, and write a story collection based on his experiences there, called The Casuarina Tree (1926), which includes a version of the murder trial--a married woman, only 23, shooting dead a man in her home, claiming he attempted to rape her. Eng is having a dialogue. Maugham heard his version of these stories, then wrote his fictional version in these stories. And Eng is here digging into them with his own fictional versions of what happened behind them. But there is no all-knowing narrator. Everything is told by a character, each with their own perspectives and secrets.

Eng has a way of making a scene present and fully involving various senses of the reader, including those of mystery, curiosity, along with the feel of the weather, and sense of the walls of the homes, the views, wind and sea. His scenes are patient and compelling, characters and atmosphere both drawing the reader.

The Garden of Evening Mists was weakened by some cheap plot tricks. Eng evades that kind of thing here. No simple tricks, no neat ties. We are left to wonder, leaving a stronger book, I think. I enjoyed this thoroughly, smitten from beginning to end. I liked the idea literary dialogue, and the inspiration he leaves me with to go read Maugham's stories.

This didn't make the Booker shortlist, but I'll give it my own recommendation.

>74 dchaikin: I squinted as I read your review, as I want to read this with a fresh mindset. I was, however, surprised by your comments on Garden of Evening Mists. Although I didn't like it quite as much as Gift of Rain, I still thought it was wonderful, and it has remained with me longer than GoR. I found the examination of history, both personal and national, to be fascinating. I reread your review of GoEM, and in it you made no mention of cheap plot tricks but seemed to have been moved by the novel. To what are you refering?

>75 labfs39: Fair enough. My issue, kind of in hindsight, was the tattoo map that solves a mystery and unravels some character motivations. It's one of those things that didn't bother me until later when I tried to find the core of the book and couldn't find anything but that. Although, goodness, I don't remember enough plot details now. When I finished it, I was in its spell, wrapped up in the storytelling. So, it was only later I sort of softened on it.

>76 dchaikin: LOL, and I don't remember that at all. You can read my review here.

58. Ghosts by Edith Wharton
OPD: 1937
format: 253-page Nook ebook
acquired: October 2 read: Oct 9-27 time reading: 10:37, 2.5 mpp
rating: 4
genre/style: short stories theme: Wharton
locations: New York, Dorset, Kent, other places in Europe,
about the author: 1862-1937. Born Edith Newbold Jones on West 23rd Street, New York City. Relocated permanently to France after 1911.

I don't want to leave the wrong impression. Wharton was a lovely writer, with vivid characters, and a sense of place, especially opulent places. That is all here, making this a nice little collection. And I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's not, mind you, a collection of amazing, or of particularly haunting stories.

Each story, well except maybe one, but mostly each story drew me in, and had me curious, and sometime tensely turning pages. And then each finished in a way that was little unsatisfying. But yet, even knowing this, I would happily hop into the next story.

This is recommended for anyone who wants a light fun sample of Wharton's writing.

>77 labfs39: I enjoyed your review and your takes on memory. I had already thumbed it, so I must have liked it once before. :) (it's from 2012)

>74 dchaikin: I discovered Maugham when my book group read painted veil and fell in love with his writing, think Ive read everything he wrote.(the movie is beautifully made, but they change the ending.)Ill have to take a look at this book

Dan - thought you might be interested in this Wharton related story - https://apple.news/Ad-KwtdbZSYyJNsPRvp-jhw

>80 cindydavid4: wow. Cool, and very encouraging about Maugham.

>81 dianeham: ok, that’s really funny. Undine is quite a character. I think she’s potentially a wonderful character for our time, if done well.

>82 dchaikin: I went back and read your review to see what you thought of her before I shared that. Now I want to read the book.

>83 dianeham: I’m flattered. It’s a great book.

>74 dchaikin: Interesting about the Maugham plot, as I just read his Up at the Villa, in which a young engaged woman shoots a man she has invited into her bedroom. It was written some 20 years after The Casuarina Tree, so I'll have to find that and compare. Recycling maybe?

>43 dchaikin: Thanks for reminding me about Ann Patchett, a writer whose work I invariably enjoy but never think to seek out (I seem to remember that we read The Dutch House at around the same time a couple of years ago). I see one of my libraries has These Precious Days so I’ve put a hold on it.

>74 dchaikin: Nice review of The House of Doors, which I’m hoping to read soon (waiting for a library hold to come through…

Thanks for the excerpts from Troilus and Criseyde. I always admire your reading projects which make you work for the results, if you see what I mean.

>85 SassyLassy: how interesting! What was the setting?

>86 rachbxl: thanks for such an encouraging post. My plans have mixed payoffs. Wright was interesting, but Chaucer’s T&C has been a pure joy, in bits and pieces. … These Precious Days has me thinking about working through all Patchett’s novels. I adored The Dutch House. … And I hope you enjoy historical Penang and House of Doors.

>87 dchaikin: It was a spot you would love - a villa in the hills just outside Florence. I was slightly off on the publication date. It was 1941.

I’m looking for my next audio book - one that is more than six hours reading time, to use points. I remember you mentioning you use Audible for long books. I only use it for books I cannot get elsewhere.

Do you have anything you can suggest for me?

I just finished Euphoria which I borrowed from NYPL. I’m glad I didn’t buy it. Started of promising but went downhill. I will do a short review later on my thread.

>88 SassyLassy: ooh. yeah, that appeals.

>89 kjuliff: Oh, Kate, that's a tough task. I can recommend books I would like, but I certainly can't promise you would like them. I adored In Ascension. I've become a bigger fan of Ann Patchett fan and took especially to The Dutch House, read by Tom Hanks. Randomly, Momento Mori by Muriel Spark comes to mind, because it was a nice audiobook. And Frankissstein by Jeanette Winterson, if you want to smile at oddball things. Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively has its own kind of appeal, especially if you happen to like historical trivia of the slightly more meaningful sort. Have you come across Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli, who reads herself because she's a beautiful reader? I haven't tried Salman Rushdie's latest, but Quichotte was fun on audio. For a touch of Africa there's An Orchestra of Minorities by Chigozie Obioma. Ali Smith is clever and quite something in How to be Both. I'll stop there. That's all fiction. If you're looking for nonfiction flavors, I have other ideas, and maybe more reliable ones. Fiction is very dependent on the reader/listener.

>90 dchaikin: Thanks Dan. We have a number of books in common and that also lead me to ask you about getting bangs for the buck in Audible.
I’ve taken note of your suggestions

Thank you for taking the time.

I remember The Dutch House discussion and how much you liked it. I didn’t, but I generally like what you read. I bought In Ascension with points but can’t get into it. Will try later. I think I’ll try An Orchestra of Minorities and Quichotte. Rushdie seems such a lovely person. I used to see him in restaurants in SoHo before he was attacked at the Chautauqua, and he seemed so jovial dining with friends.

Right now I’m reading our Lady of the Nile which is promising.

>74 dchaikin:, >80 cindydavid4:, >85 SassyLassy:

If you're looking for books including Maugham as a character, the 11th book in Philip Kerr's Bernie Gunther series takes place post-WW2 with Gunther as a house detective in a hotel in the French Riveria in the same town where Maugham has a villa. It turns out Maugham is being blackmailed and . . . there are spies! Short review here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/347158#8246120

ETA: Whoops! The title of the book is The Other Side of Silence.

>92 rocketjk: thanks, Ill look for that!

>91 kjuliff: It was fun to give suggestions. I do hope it comes out helpful. I'm curious about Lady of the Nile

>92 rocketjk: If I go that way, towards detective novels, I'll keep The Other Side of Silence in mind... especially if I get into Maugham. (I have a few mystery-like novels around the house, waiting for the right time)

>94 dchaikin: I actually returned Our Lady of the Nile as I couldn’t get into it, and I checked if and LT friends had reviewed it. Found a lukewarm review by @banjo123 so decided to ditch as Study for Obedience had just come of hold at NYPL.

>94 dchaikin: The Other Side of Silence would do OK as a standalone, I think, but if by some chance you're able/interested in starting the Bernie Gunther series from the beginning, you'll be richly rewarded. The first three novels are relatively short: March Violets, The Pale Criminal and A German Requiem. They were also republished in a single volume called Berlin Noir. Historic fiction/crime novels set in Berlin just before, during and after World War 2.

>95 kjuliff: ooh. Enjoy. I will get to Study for Obedience, probably next year.

>96 rocketjk: thanks Jerry. These sounds good.

>95 kjuliff: I found Our Lady of the Nile underwhelming as well. I read it earlier this summer.

>98 labfs39: Study for Obedience is proving to be a gem. Savoring every word.

>97 dchaikin: I finished Study for Obedience. It’s a gem, beautifully written and deserves/needs to be read again.
I made notes on it on my post here

>100 kjuliff: Great to see that, and glad you found the right book.

My reading slide continued in October. I got in 35 hours of reading. Can't seem to get myself on track to read more either mentally or in how I'm structuring my day. Of course, 35 is a lot more than not reading at all. I put the most time in Troilus and Criseyde, at 12.5 hours, and I enjoyed all this time. It's odd and playful in many ways. The accent keeps coming in my head in some drunk-sounding version, which isn't accurate to the true sound, but seems to fit the tone in an endearing way. Another 10.5 hours went into Wharton's Ghosts, which was kind of light, fun reading. The rest went into finishing The Man Who Lived Underground by Richard Wright and starting Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, Olga Tokarczuk's playful response to William Blake. And I finished the last bit of Walden in October. That's only three books completed for the month.

Audio, on the other hand, was good. Roughly 25 hours. I adored These Precious Days by Ann Patchett and The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng. And I started The Patron Saint of Liars, Patchett's first book. I'm thinking about using audio to go through all Patchett's novels.

>92 rocketjk: I’ve put The Other Side of Silence on my TBR. I’m currently reading my first Maugham Of Human Bondage - I had to put off The House of Doors because of my non-euphoric experience with the fictionalized Margaret Mead in Euphoria.

>103 kjuliff: Enjoy! It's not the best of the Bernie Gunther novels, but it is still good fun.

59. Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk
translation: from Polish by Antonia Lloyd-Jones (2018)
OPD: 2009
format: 274-page hardcover
acquired: 2020 read: Oct 16 – Nov 3 time reading: 8:44, 1.9 mpp
rating: 4½
genre/style: contemporary Fiction theme: TBR
locations: contemporary rural Poland
about the author: “A Polish writer, activist, and public intellectual”, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2018. Born in western Poland in 1962.

A curious fun book. Astrology, vegetarianism, hunting and murder (or is it revenge?). Logic is really not the main thing on the surface here. We follow Mrs. Duszejko's narrative, and she thinks about what the star charts say about when we will die, and the inheritance of acquired experience, and about all those innocent hunted critters in a hunting community. She also tears people down in narrative, privately to us, while kindly serving them comforting warm tea on a winter day. Anger is a theme.

We're in rural Poland, a short diving distance outside a small town where hunting is part of the culture and economy. In the rural area there are about 8 homes, and three residents who stay through the bitter winters, including Mrs. Duszejko, who doesn't like her first name or any names given at birth. She calls people by whatever feature about them strikes her. In the opening, Oddball tells her Bigfoot has died alone in his home, and so on.

Olga Tokarczuk is listed on Wikipedia as an activist, although I don't know anything about what that exactly means for her. But usually in implies some effort to against the grain. Independent minded Mrs. Duszejko goes hard against the grain, connecting to society really only through teaching school children English, and helping a friend translate William Blake into Polish. The book's title is from a William Blake poem, Proverbs of Hell, (It's paraphrased. The poem is a list of about 80 strange and unconnected proverbs. See here: https://poets.org/poem/proverbs-hell ), and each chapter is headed with a line from that poem. There are a lot of games with Blake working through the text (and I certainly didn't pick up on most of them.)

Despite the fun, it's also an uneven pace, sometimes grounding to a very slow pace. It rewards most in completing, leaving us to wonder what to make of Mrs. Duszejko. She is, perhaps, a modern-day witch. And I assume that says something about our cultural crimes today, and those who try to speak out about them.

Overall this wintery book of dead men leaves us in warm place, smiling a little, and noting a whole lot going on. Not sure where this sits in terms of her Nobel Prize, but I'm happy to have read it, and hope to read more by her.

60. Sky Above Kharkiv: Dispatches from the Ukrainian Front by Serhiy Zhadan
translation: from Ukrainian by Reilly Costigan-Humes & Isaac Stackhouse Wheeler (2023)
OPD: 2022 (on Facebook)
format: 195-page hardcover
acquired: October 24, sent by avaland! read: Nov 3-5 time reading: 3:47, 1.2 mpp
rating: 4
genre/style: journal theme: random
locations: Kharkiv, Ukraine, Feb 24 to Jun 24, 2022
about the author: A Ukrainian poet, novelist, essayist, musician, translator, and social activist, born in 1974 in Starobilsk, Luhansk oblast, Ukraine.

Although Israel has taken over the headlines, the unprovoked Russian invasion of Ukraine continues, Ukraine's unexpected offensive stalled.

Zhadan is a poet and band leader in Kharkiv, Ukraine. On February 24, 2022, as Russia began to invade Ukraine, immediately intending to take or siege Kharkiv, he started posting encouraging posts on Facebook. And he kept going, posting sometimes a few times a day, documenting his own aide efforts, raising money for supplies for soldiers and civilians, and occasionally performing to raise money or morale. This book is his Facebook journal, composed in real time, and simply collected here. It's a positive boost of energy, but one can feel the war come, and ebb, and stall. Zhadan was constantly active, prominently, through this period. According to the book editor, he continues to post daily on Facebook (in Ukrainian). This is a powerful document of a city of Russian and Ukraine language, culture, and history, unified in war, and not yet taken.

61. The Patron Saint of Liars by Ann Patchett
reader: Julia Gibson
OPD: 1992
format: 14:10 audible audiobook (352 pages in print)
acquired: October 27 listened: Oct 27 – Nov 10
rating: 3½
genre/style: Novel theme: random audio
locations: centered on 1968 San Diego & Kentucky, and 1983 Kentucky
about the author: American author born in Los Angeles in 1963, who grew up mainly in Nashville.

Ann Patchett's first novel. After an opening with a touch of Catholic-like mythology, Rose narrates her leaving her husband in 1968, without telling him she's pregnant. She doesn't give a reason, and he hasn't done anything wrong other then be really dull. But Rose takes the car, leaves San Diego and drives east for Habit, Kentucky and a Catholic home for unmarried pregnant women. That's part one. Son Abbott narrates part 2 and Rose's daughter narrates part 3.

Rose is the subject of this book. She is somehow mysterious without really being mysterious. Her voice is strong, showing Patchett's power of clarity (for the first time). That makes Part one really good. There is psychological drama, literary games, Catholic themes and subversive themes. There's a lot going on. When the narrator switches, the book loses much of this dynamic, becomes just a story. It's not bad, and I wasn't tempted to bail. But the remaining 2/3 of the book felt a lot like a very very long epilogue.

A few extra notes. Patchett has some significant autographical elements here. She herself did runoff from a marriage. As did her mother, in a way, leaving southern California for Nashville, TN somewhere in the vicinity of 1968, when Patchett was young (but very much born).

I'm glad I read Patchett's first novel. I enjoyed it and I like having had a chance to get this window into her early writing.

Interesting reviews.
I've seen many reviews of Drive your plough over the bones of the dead recently and it is definitely an intriguing book.

I read that book after reading Bel Canto which I adore. Liked this one enough, but hardly remember it, and probably should reread it

>105 dchaikin: I loved your review of Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead. I read it this past summer and was intrigued. I chose it because of the unusual title. Also because I thought at the time Tokarczuk was Hungarian and I generally enjoy novels by Hungarian writers.- Magda Szabó, Imre Kertész to name my favorites.

Drive Your Play was as eccentric as my choice in selecting it. Though I must admit Olga Tokarczuk’s large number of literary awards played a part.

A few chapters in I managed to get into protagonist Mrs. Duszejko’s mind. I liked the way she gave people made-up names that describe them, almost Dickens-like. I didn’t see her as a witch, more an eccentric independent feminist making the most of what could have been a bleak life in an isolated and human-unfriendly environment. I liked that she read William Blake. I liked the way she described men. I liked her.

I didn’t review Driving the Plow because I couldn’t find the words to do it justice. Glad you found them for me.

>108 chlorine: drive your plow is rewarding

>109 cindydavid4: I’m hesitant to revisit Bel Canto. I enjoyed it so much, but i was such a different reader. Will i still like it? It was her breakthrough book. My suggestion is instead of rereading Patron Saint, check out her essays.

>110 kjuliff: Drive Your Plow is a tricky book to capture, playing as it does with logic and murder mystery tropes. That was a nice complement from you. Thanks. As far as my witch comment…I like it, but it’s iffy. I suspect through much of history witches were often simply “eccentric independent feminist”s of their time and place. She’s not called a witch, but she is called a crazy old woman.

>105 dchaikin: I read this book last year and I must say that, in your usual outstanding reviews, you have produced an excellent summary of this story.

Like you say, "I'm happy to have read it and hope to read more by her."

I plan to read other of her books but haven't quite gotten there. At the end of the story, I was a mix of perplexed, and pondering where reality exists. In some ways it reminds me of stories passed down within indigenous communities where animals, mother earth, and humans interact in ways we have lost.

>105 dchaikin: Great review of Drive Your Plow. I've read it one or two years ago and the book left me unsure. Unsure about the purpose, about the logic of it, about the message if there is one...
Same as you, I'm happy to have read it, but different from you, I don't know if I'll read more from her, and I can't say if it'a an author I would or coule enjoy or not.

>105 dchaikin: Excellent review! I’ve had this book on my TBR shelves for longer than I care to remember, and I’ve read numerous positive reviews in that time. Yours tells me more what to expect, though, which is what I need since in theory WHEN (not if) I read it I’ll read it in Polish. Knowing that there are plays on Blake, which in Polish (and probably in English too, who am i kidding?) will go straight over my head, is really helpful, for example (and the made-up names Mrs D uses for the other characters). I have been feeling Drive your Plough creeping up on me recently, but now you’ve made me really want to read it. Thanks (I think…)

>107 dchaikin: I enjoyed reading your thoughts on The Patron Saint of Liars too - I don’t know this one.

>112 JoeB1934: >113 raton-liseur: >114 rachbxl: first, thank you 🙂

>112 JoeB1934: very interesting about what i might call the folk tale aspect of Drive Your Plow. I think the book manages to hover in reality while bringing in a different way of thinking. Might call it occult, or just a morality.

>113 raton-liseur: I suspect if Plow had a clear purpose it would be a much less satisfying book. It’s nuanced. As for the logic of it, well… it’s maybe playful? I think there is a serious side to the book, a deep discomfort with society, among other things

>114 rachbxl: how nice to be able to read it in Polish. One mildly awkward aspect was she toys with different translations of Blake - so we read three or so different English translations of English language Blake. It surely makes more sense in Polish where that discussion belongs. Patron Saint is really for completists, imo.

62. Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett
series:Discworld Book 8
OPD: 1989
format: 355-page HarperTorch mass market paperback, 2001 edition
acquired: 2002? read: Nov 5-15 time reading: 11:05, 1.9 mpp
rating: 4½
genre/style: humor/fantasy theme: TBR
locations: Discworld
about the author: English author born in Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire (1948-2015). The UK’s best-selling author of the 1990’s.

A Discworld at its best, when Pratchett was rolling.

As an aside, it struck me how much the intense cleverness and humor built-in slows the pace of these books down. A challenge becomes not how to make it funny, but how to manage the humor. Here he does a lot of stuff to keep it flowing, and it mostly works.

But, to the point, this is one of Discworlds best. Vimes, Carrot, Nobby, Colon and Vertinari are all, I think, introduced. Errol is a wonderful little dragon, and our noble dragon and villain are entertaining too. Pratchett just did everything right here. Humor and charm managed with a well-worked pacing. And scattered little enlightening observations on life. Terrific stuff.

Discworld was wacky for the 1980's and 1990's. It's a sort of specific kind of semi-intelligent kitchen-sink-ish humor. So mainly recommended to anyone who likes that kind of specific sort of wackiness that hasn't already read this.

>116 dchaikin: Though I loved Pratchett's Diggers series I never could really get into discworld. I've read three or four or five and found them so-so.
I'm tempted to give Guards Guards a try as I keep hearing it's one of the best. I think it can be read even if you haven't read the books before?

>117 chlorine: I think you can read any of the Discworld books in any order, but Guards, Guards is the first of the City Watch series, so yes.

>118 FlorenceArt: Thanks for confirming this!

>117 chlorine: i agree with Florence. You can start anywhere. Characters reappear, but their essential elements are in each book. I’ve read several other City Watch books without having read Guards! Guards! first, and they were just as fun.

From A Moveable Feast, Paris Spring

With so many trees in the city, you could see the spring coming each day until a night of warm wind would bring it suddenly in one morning. Sometimes the heavy cold rains would beat it back so that it would seem that it would never come and that you were losing a season out of your life. This was the only truly sad time in Paris because it was unnatural. You expected to be sad in the fall. Part of you died each year when the leaves fell from the trees and their branches were bare against the wind and the cold, wintry light. But you knew there would always be the spring, as you knew the river would flow again after it was frozen. When the cold rains kept on and killed the spring, it was as though a young person had died for no reason.

In those days, though, the spring always came finally but it was frightening that it had nearly failed.

>74 dchaikin: Eng has a way of making a scene present and fully involving various senses of the reader, including those of mystery, curiosity, along with the feel of the weather, and sense of the walls of the homes, the views, wind and sea. His scenes are patient and compelling, characters and atmosphere both drawing the reader.

I totally agree. I waited till I’d read the reviews before I read HoD which I now have. Interesting to read your review now. Mine is on my thread and you can see how differently we experienced the book, though we felt similarly on how Eng brought Penang to life.

Did you understand the Latin and French quotes?

My review is here.

>116 dchaikin: My first Pratchett. The rest is history… :)

>122 kjuliff: Was HoD so different for us? I can relate to your review, but my focus was a little different. As for the Latin and French, it just sorta rolled by...but I think I did look up the one French poem that kept getting referred to. I never check up on the Horace.

>123 AnnieMod: Guards! Guards! is a really good entry point. Mine was Small Gods. :)

>124 dchaikin: Yes, I agree. Hod wasn’t so different for us, we just looked at it from different perspectives. We noticed or placed more importance on different aspects. I really liked the way Eng so subtly had a dig at the British. I find the colonial English annoying especially those in books written in the 1920s. They were so unaware of their privilege. I will always remember Sebastian taking his teddy bear to Oxford in Evlyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited.

Were they really as bad as all that? I suspect Eng thinks so.

Re the Latin and French - I know a little Latin and could sort of understand the French poem but couldn’t find it by googling and I thought it may have been important as it was referred to on several occasions.

63. Troilus and Criseyde (Broadview Editions) by Geoffrey Chaucer
editors: James McMurrin Dean & Harriet Spiegel (2016)
OPD: 1385
format: 450-page oversized paperback with the original text and notes on the same page.
acquired: April 2022 read: (Aug 26) Sep 8 – Nov 19 time reading: 34:48, 4.6 mpp
rating: 5
genre/style: Middle English epic poetry theme: Chaucer
locations: Troy
about the author: Chaucer (~1342 – October 25, 1400) was an English poet and civil servant.

extended excerpts:
- Le Roman de Troie by Benoît de Sainte-Maure (c1160), translated from French by Robert K. Gordon (1934)
- Il Filostrato by Giovanni Boccaccio (c1340), translated from Italian by Robert K. Gordon (1934)
- The Testament of Cresseid by Robert Henryson (1532). Translated by the editors (2016)
- Metamorphoses by Ovid (7 ce), translated from Latin by Rolfe Humphries 1961
- Ars Amatoria (The Art of Love) by Ovid (3 bce), translated by Rolfe Humphries 1957
- The Consolation of Philosophy by Ancius Boethius (524), translated from Latin by Victor Watts (1969, 1999)
- On Love by Andreas Capellanus (c1190), translated from French by P.G. Walsh (1993)
- Romance of the Rose by Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun (c1230/c1275), translated from French by Charles Dahlberg (1971)
- Canzoniere Sonnet 132 by Francesco Petrarch (c1370), translated from Italian by A.S. Kline (2002)
- Commentary on Cicero's Dream of Scipio by Macrobius (c400), translated from Latin by William Harris Stahl (1952,1990,2009)
- excerpts from Lovesick in the Middle Ages: The Viaticum and Its Commentaries by Mary Wack (1990)
--- Viaticum by Constantine the African (1000s) - a Latin translation from Arabic of Zad Al Mussafir by Ibn Al Jazzar (900's)
--- Glosses on the Viaticum by Gerald of Berry (c1236), translated from Latin
--- Treatise on the Viaticum by Bona Fortuna (c1320), translated from Latin

Well. I can't possibly review this. What I can say is that this Broadview Press edition is fantastic. It has the original language with some spelling clarifications, along with notes. And Chaucer is readable enough today that that is enough information and allows the reader to enjoy the poetry, especially play of sound. I don't think Chaucer is readable without help (or extensive knowledge of the London dialect of Middle English).

Also, I really enjoyed this. It's a highlight of my year. I read it in the morning for 20 to 40 minutes and relished it, reading only six or so pages at a sitting. The plot is simple. The text is largely dialogue, one character speaking for pages at a time. I never felt in danger of getting lost and I never worried about breaking off at any point, or about pressing on until some conclusion.

Also, it's humor. I never felt the need to take anything seriously, even Chaucer's philosophical side points. This surprised me a little because everything I read about this led to me expect some deep Christian-era-friendly thoughts. This is supposed to be Chaucer's big serious effort at artistry and reputation. But this is funny, elegant and funny. And, also, it is not clean. The tone is always playful, as playful as the language.

I think the language and linguistic play is the main point here. I enjoyed this aspect so much.

The best character is Pandarus, the uncle of Criseyde and friend of Trojan prince, Troilus. He is a gamer through and through. The game is how to get his niece linked to the number one bachelor in Troy. I couldn't help imagining that Chaucer saw himself in Pandarus, but that's my impression. The character Troilus, meanwhile, is comically ridiculous. He's spineless and roiling in bed suffering from lovesickness. When Pandarus sets the world up for him, and the world is his in Book 3, he comes alive a little. He is thoroughly tragic in Book 4, and it's almost moving until we remember him in bed in back in the early books. Criseyde (maybe pronounced "Christ-eyed", but the pronunciation, based on the rhymes, seems ambiguous) is ultimately practical. She's a convincing lover, and I was left thinking I never got her right, that it was never clear where her true feelings lay. Somehow Pandarus makes the match, but he gets no benefit from it or its tragic end. The more Pandarus was present, the better Chaucer's writing was, in my opinion.

I wish I could conclude. One for the brave, thoroughly rewarding.

>124 dchaikin: so was mine. but actually that was only one of two discworld books available at the time in the US, so the next one was Soul Music which I still love (actually I read good omensbefore this , which made me search out for the authors works.)

>125 kjuliff: The French poem is L'heure exquise by Paul Verlaine. Here is a link with the original and a translation: http://www.poemswithoutfrontiers.com/LHeure_Exquise.html

As for the English in Penang, I didn't find Eng straightforward. I sensed he has issues and also affections. Penang was, as I understand, uninhabited when the English came. So unless the book is dwelling on lost nature (it wasn't), there is a lingering sense of creation, a British one. And I really like that he chose a Penang-born Brit as his main character. But the British in Penang and Malaysia probably were as bad as that. :)

>127 cindydavid4: I haven't read those other two yet (Discworld's Soul Music or Good Omens). Next for me will be Discworld Book 9, Eric. :)

>128 dchaikin: Thanks for the Verlaine link. I can see now it was important to the mood, not the plot.

I don’t think Penang was uninhabited when the British came. They always say that.
They said that about Australia when they colonized it. In 1770 Captain James Cook claimed possession of the East Coast of Australia for Britain under the doctrine of ‘terra nullius’.
They used the principle that the land was uninhabited in order to colonize it.

Yes they did create a new structure in Penang, as did the Chinese. The Chinese culture is as much in HoD as the British one.

Perhaps my views are colored, in regard to English colonialism. I am an American but spent most of my life in Australia where the Head of State is the King of England. They started colonizing Australia in 1788 after America had the good sense to boot them out.

>126 dchaikin: I’m so glad you read this and liked it so well, reading it in manageable time slots. I’m going to do that when I attempt it again. A book at a time was NOT working.

I love your review. It shows that Chaucer can still be read today with pleasure by serious readers, not wanting to miss something so fine as this poem, and willing to spend the time necessary. I’m sure you’ll love The Canterbury Tales.

(“Criseyde” is pronounced “cri-SAY’-duh.” E at the end of most ME words has the soft “uh” sound, which helps to know for rhythm’s sake.)

>130 kjuliff: I scanned through the Wikipedia history of Penang and got very confused. 🙂 Seems it was never uninhibited.

>131 dianelouise100: thanks. I’m thinking about when to begin Canterbury Tales. Whether I should start next week or finish my year with easier books and start Jan 1. Thanks for the note on how to pronounce Criseyde. I didn’t find anything authoritative online, but the less-reliable sources I found had at least three different pronunciations (including the one you explained).

>132 dchaikin: The British ruled the states of Malaya (now known as Malaysia as Singapore is now a separate country) from the late 18C to mid 20thC.
Penang is a Malaysian state. It has two parts: Penang Island and Seberang Perai on the Malay Peninsula. - Wiki

The history of modern Penang was shaped by British colonialism, beginning with the acquisition of Penang Island from the Sultanate of Kedah by the British East India Company in 1786. - Wiki, but well documented elsewhere.

I can see why you could get confused as everything was rearranged once countries achieved independence after WW2. Singapore on the Malay Peninsula was not separated from Malaysia till 1965. I remember this well as I was at school when many Chinese emigrated to Australia after this.

>92 rocketjk: Thanks. I’m listening to a sample now.. Maugham seems to be cropping up everywhere lately.

>133 kjuliff: Kate - that's the easy part about Penang. :) But interesting about the Chinese emigration, which I wasn't aware of. Cutting out Singapore to ensure a Malaysia majority was a curious move by Malaysia.

>135 dchaikin: I only know about it from memory of all the Chinese girls turning up suddenly at my school. I became enamored of their culture and had a schoolgirl crush on one. She took me to “Chinese school” in Chinatown where I failed calligraphy.

To read about the Singapore/Malaya unrest and ultimate division, this is quite a good article. Singapore separates from Malaysia and becomes independent.

>135 dchaikin: I meant to add on >136 kjuliff: re Malaya reorganized as two countries. As well as the economic differences there were political ones. The grossly imbalanced Malay-Chinese population in both countries made each vulnerable to communal prejudices which were played up by political leaders.

Still it was all resolved relatively peacefully with riots rather than outright war, and the two state solution which has worked well to date.

I think the reason that so many Chinese left was that they were fleeing the uncertainty and also had in general more resources to do so than the Malays.

Interesting, Kate. I imagine it would have been an uncertain and scary era to live through in Malaysia.

64. The Land of Green Plums by Herta Müller
translation: from German by Michael Hofmann (1996)
OPD: 1994
format: 242-page hardcover
acquired: 2013 read: Nov 15-23 time reading: 6:59, 1.7 mpp
rating: 4
genre/style: Novel theme: TBR
locations: Communist Romania ~1970’s
about the author: Romanian-German novelist, poet, essayist and recipient of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Literature. Born in Nițchidorf in Romania in 1953.

A series of sketches of the life of college-educated political dissidents in Romania under Ceaușescu. They deal with constant harassment, abuse, economic strain and suicides.

This being Müller, it's a Swabian perspective. The Swabians are a German minority in Romania. Our main character is the daughter of an SS veteran who came back to Romania after WWII, remaining outrageously sympathetic to Hitler.

I think that hints at the swirl of dark stuff in here. It is relentlessly bleak. This 1994 novel was rejuvenated when Müller won the Nobel Prize in 2009. It is powerful, but tough going and I struggled through (but felt it!). I think there are times I would have lapped this up. But I found myself impatient and beaten down. I never got lost in it and read it mainly in 20-minute sessions, stopping in exhaustion. It will, despite or because of all that, hang around.

This is my 4th novel by Müller. I feel like each was harder to read than the last one. I think her anger at Communist Romania is most present here of all her works I've read. In an odd way, I feel that her act of expressing all that bitter anger has a cathartic element. It's powerful, but I'm not sure who I would recommend this to.

65. A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway
OPD: 1964
format: 211-page Hardcover, dated 1964
acquired: 2006 read: Nov 20-24 time reading: 4:40, 1.3 mpp
rating: 5
genre/style: Memoir theme: TBR and Hemmingway
locations: Paris 1921-1926
about the author: (1899 – 1961, born in Oak Park, Illinois, outside Chicago) An American novelist, short-story writer, journalist, and the 1954 Nobel Prize Laureate.

This is such a terrific little book. A collection of sketches of his life in 1920's Paris among authors, cafes, his wife and horse racing. Poverty and hunger play a romantic role. The wine and spirits an evocative one, the way they are enjoyed and abused. This is Gertrude Stein's Lost Generation of American writers in Paris. And Hemmingway is in their midst, working with all of them. Stein, Ezra Pound, F. Scott Fitzgerald & Zelda, Ford Maddox Ford and others a brought to life with a permanence, with affection, humor and brutal critique. The sum affect was magical.

It's not a simple memoir. We don't know how much is factual, verse bad memory, vs outright fiction. And it's not nice. Hemmingway is pretty clear he's going to say what he says in a straightforward way, regardless of your feelings, or his own. What comes across is both mean and affectionate. He somehow creates a sense of brutal honesty that somehow comes out wonderful. There is magic whatever he's talking about. But when author's we know come up, it's riveting. It feels so honest. His affection for Fitzgerald feels so moving, that it was only after I finished the book that I realized how terribly he gutted the poor guy's personality. But the gutting was so thoroughly entertaining!

This book has come up a lot and reviews have a constant praise about them. So my commentary is just one of many before. I'll add one thing I missed in all those reviews - it's really short and flies by. You can read this on a lazy Sunday and never be bored until you put it down.

>141 dchaikin: This is a nice and affectionate review for a book I've been considering reading but have not yet.
You might have said this before, but I was wondering why you decided to read it.
It became very popular in France after the Bataclan terrorist attack 8 years ago, but I always felt the title was misleading. In French, it is translated as Paris est une fête (Paris is a party) so reading it was seen as an act of resistance against the values conveyed by the terrorists, but I am not sure the content has anything to do with it. Maybe the idea of free spirited individuals living a life without rules or limits?

>126 dchaikin: I agree Dan, you have got to have a copy of Chaucer's original middle English writing when reading Troilus and Criseyde - the beauty is in the poetry.

>143 baswood: yes, exactly. You must have a review around this place somewhere. ??

66. Elizabeth Costello by J. M. Coetzee
OPD: 2003
format: 231-page paperback
acquired: May 2005 (from now-defunct Borders) read: Nov 24-29 time reading: 8:32, 2.2 mpp
rating: 4
genre/style: almost contemporary fiction theme: TBR
locations: it perambulates
about the author: A South African and Australian novelist, essayist, linguist, translator and recipient of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Literature. He was born in 1940 in Cape Town, South Africa to Afrikaner parents.

hmm. (Dianeham warned me.) This is a collection of lectures and essays, many of which Coetzee had actually given or published, made into a novel. He even included (very thoughtful) critical responses to his work. I didn't know that. Blind, I opened with a very interesting chapter on Realism. It's terrific. But the heart of the essays seems to revolve around veganism from a moral perspective, which I tried very hard to care about. Nothing was concluded, in any essay. And some are odd and sometimes very slow. The last essay is like a bio-fictional confrontation with a writing legacy.

I think it's important and admirable that the essays were all intelligent. All the thought processes on all sides were well put, argument and criticism. And that I did appreciate. But does it make a good book, or a bore? I haven't decided yet. And if you asked me to read it again, I imagine I could be convinced. So, it works in its way. It still might be a bore.

>145 dchaikin: Fascinating, as it sent me to the review page for this novel. Then I went to my thoughts on it ( https://www.librarything.com/topic/337305 post 9) and considered how much I had missed by reading it as a novel, while everyone else seemed to pick up on the "real" lectures and essays.

I do like Coetzee a lot, but this novel (I still think of it as such) didn't really appeal to me.

>145 dchaikin: I was a great Coetzee fan and had eagerly awaited publication of Elizabeth Costello. I was very disappointed with it, and couldn’t work out why he seemed to write so differently. On investigation I discovered his change in writing style appeared to coincide with his move from South Africa to Adelaide, Australia. Being Australian I have strong views on this small parochial city. Did it influence Coetzee? It would influence me.

I don’t speak emoji but if I did I’d put a “tongue in cheek” one here.

>146 SassyLassy: power of wikipedia. :) It's a weird novel. Elizabeth Costello is apparently an routing alter-ego of his. But still, an iffy choice

>147 kjuliff: Hmm. I don't know anything about Adelaide. I can imagine it must have been difficult to be creative shortly after a move from his native country to some other place, cutting bonds and having few, if any waiting. But I don't really know anything about it one way or another. I do hope the move didn't derail his writing.

>148 dchaikin: >146 SassyLassy: I don’t know how much time passed from Coetzee emmigrating to Australia and writing Elizabeth Costello - which I too read as a novel - but it was certainly a let down for me. From Wikipedia it seems the move may have been for his wife’s professional reasons, though recently many white South Africans have moved to Australia.

>148 dchaikin: Adelaide is a small city known mainly for its fringe arts festival. It is the capital of South Australia which is mostly dessert and the site of many Outback movies. My remarks on Adelaide were facetious but it’s no cultural hub.

November was a decent month for me. I finished seven books, including Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde, a highlight for my year. Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead was terrific and interesting. And I had two other fun reads, A Moveable Feast, by Hemmingway, and a great Discworld novel, Guards! Guards!. I found Elizabeth Costello interesting enough, and I'm glad I finally read Coetzee. I got in 53 hours of reading.

Audio was less fun. I finished The Patron Saint of Liars by Ann Patchett, which is ok. And I got half-way through the 26 hours of The Bee Sting by Paul Murray, which I'm feeling down on because there are so many braindead characters.

Anyway, I'm optimistic for December and for 2024. (I have drafted a plan for next year!) Watching the Booker Award presentation live got me excited for the Booker books. I ordered five books afterwardd, and they are in route. And I've read Enon (I just finished, so December), which means I'm ready for This Other Eden, which I already have in the house. The only one left to get is All the Little Bird-Hearts, which is released on audio Tuesday (December 5). So, if I ever finish The Bee Sting (or Beesting?), I'll try that on audio.

>149 kjuliff: Thanks, re Adelaide and the Coetzee move.

>150 dchaikin: I too am halfway through The Bee Sting and had to take a break - just because it’s so long.im reading a collection of Sedaris stories right now which I’ll review on my thread. They are so good, he’s such a smart and perceptive humorist.

Re The Bee Sting - I don’t see the characters as “brain dead”. Impoverished, uneducated, yes. But there are people like that. I actually have. relatives like that. Of course I couldn’t wait to be old enough to get away from them, but I don’t understand how the natures of the characters could make you feel down. It’s a slice of life. Maudlin drunk Irishmen are the stuff of many a great Irish novel.

>152 kjuliff: What makes me say braindead is he has us hang around in their heads, and there is nothing going on in there. I know people can be uneducated or well-educated and blind, or naive or foolish to extremes, but all these people still have working brains and working awareness. They all can calculate, even if it comes out wrong. Murray's character's brains are just much more vacuous than I associate with humans. I'm much happier when we are not inside of one of his character's heads and I can wonder at all the possible internal complexities.

>153 dchaikin: But their brains aren’t “working”. They have been ruined by alcohol, bad food and centuries of ignorance. Don’t get into their heads. There’s only maudlin emotion and gut impulse there. Just observe.

Do you mean ALL the characters?

I think the book is brilliant. I know nothing of sport. I don’t even know what football they were playing - rugby or soccer, but Murray had me at the match, following every second of it.

>154 kjuliff: yes, all. This is an opinion, so I'm not saying you're wrong and Murray is wrong. I'm saying it's not working for me.

It's kind of hard to explain, but our minds are very active. We have lots of feelings and thoughts going on, on different levels. We do lots of stupid stuff, but not in a brain vacuum. But, Cas, PJ, Imelda and Dickie don't do that. They have very simplified thoughts on the surface, sometimes dumb sometimes not. And that's it. Meanwhile they have deep-level feelings they don't address consciously, that are never stated, and that are in striking contrast. We have these extremes, but there is a world of stuff in-between. And Murray doesn't make me believe he captures that.

Many books work based on failure to communicate. It's silly. If character A had just sent that text, there is no problem and no drama. My take on Murry is the characters fail to talk to themselves in normal ways, and that this is essential to his book.

/rant :)

>155 dchaikin: “ My take on Murry is the characters fail to talk to themselves in normal ways, and that this is essential to his book.”

But these characters do talk to themselves in ways that are normal to them. It’s just not your normal or my normal or most members of LT’s normal.

These are not sophisticated people. Their whole world is narrow. If someone like you or I were to communicate our inner thoughts to them they would have no idea what we were talking about.

They are as far from us as Margaret Mead’s Sepik River tribes. Believe me Dan, such people exist. I’ve known them. We’ve both seen them on TV.

They have limited lives that they can’t escape from. It’s not about Sliding Doors or the path not taken. It’s not a matter of choice, though sometimes chance takes a part.

>156 kjuliff: hmm. I guess I just don’t believe that. I think thinking in complex ways is innate. Communicating complex thinking requires a language of some sort. But it’s there nonetheless.

>157 dchaikin: But all the characters in The Bee Sting have a language. I agree the ability to think in complex ways is innate. But I believe people need to learn to use it. Without it they still make decisions but act mostly on emotion. Just look at the mobs of football fans in Europe especially. Look at people in isolated areas who never has the chance to read a book or to have a discussion other than what to eat that night. Look at all those women who are not even allowed to make a decision.

>158 kjuliff: I believe we learn to use it, without books or formal education. It’s just part of growing up. Mobs are in a mob mentality. That’s temporary.

>141 dchaikin: While I'm not a fan of declaring a favorite book, if pressed A Moveable Feast is mine.

>159 dchaikin: I agree that we can learn without education or books. But we cannot learn from people like those characters you describe - the “brain deads”.

>160 RidgewayGirl: oh, I can see that. It really is that kind of book.

>161 kjuliff: of course, the center of my issue is that I don’t believe brain-dead people like Murray’s main characters exist (not even in deep sterile suburbia). At least, that’s what I’m struggling with as I work through the book. Whether we can learn from them is a different discussion. 🙂

>162 dchaikin: Well then, we have no common ground on this Dan. The very part of the book that you are finding unbelievable, I am finding so very believable. Imelda’s father - forget his name - with his front yard full of broken carburetors, disintegrating tires and other car parts, a car on stumps for more years than his own daughter has been alive, standing at his front door beer in hand, fog-brained - I’ve known that man. Well, more than one.

Their usual habitat is in isolated rural places - Outback Australia, remote Irish villages. The “sterile” suburbs are not fertile ground for them, as it’s the lack of variety of social contact that feeds and breeds them.

I look forward to comparing both out reviews.

>163 kjuliff: right, we see it differently. But I think, and hope you agree, that that’s a good thing. I’m glad we both have independent perspectives and read our own ways and can discuss. Maybe Murray could enlighten us more about his own thinking.

>164 dchaikin: >163 kjuliff: What an interesting exchange! I’ve moved The Bee Sting up to next on my list. Thank you both for such thoughtful comments.

>164 dchaikin: Yes it is a good thing. I’ll write more in a separate post about the difference between American and Australian audiences. There is a difference in how unpleasant events are understood, and this has been noted by film and literary critics outside this group. It might throw some light on how you and I see the same book so differently. Australians and American cultures are both influenced by the Irish, but I feel the Australian culture is more so. But that’s for another topic.

I’ve enjoyed our discussion.

This very interesting exchange between @dchaikin and @kjuliff is an absolutely perfect demonstration of the reality that each reader has their own reaction to every book. I suppose that my age makes me ask the question

Why am I reading this book? when I start a book.
Increasingly it comes down to
Do I want to spend 8-12 hours with these people?

Increasingly I am deciding not to continue a book. I am not a reviewer so the only person losing out if I foolishly drop a good book is myself. But I have 300 other books I have identified that appeal to me, so I cn quickly move on.

well, I'm now constantly thinking about The Bee Sting. Had it on my mind all day. :) Of course, the latest section I listened to was engaging and had none of the issues I complained about above (end of section X).

>165 dianelouise100: thank you Diane. Curious how it goes for you.

>166 kjuliff: yes, I enjoyed it too. I once read that American Southern culture is largely defined by "borderlanders", immigrants from the England/Scotland borderlands. It's an entertaining mythology, if nothing else.

>167 JoeB1934: oh, Joe, this one is a 26-hour commitment. I ask these questions too. But for whatever reason I still have tolerance for stuff I maybe don't want to spend that time on, just because I want to get through the whole thing...too much tolerance for it.

>168 dchaikin: well Dan, it’s been on my mind all day too, and the more I think about it, the more I think it’s a cultural thing. I’ve noticed this difference between us before, but only in minor instances.

The difference between American and Australian/UK/Irish reactions to film and literature have been pointed out by critics before. If you head over to my thread you’ll see references to two films, the latest of which “The Royal Hotel” was received quite differently in the US than in Australia where it was made.

>169 kjuliff: I will catch up on your thread. And I'm curious where you take this idea.

>170 dchaikin: Yes I will be writing more on this on my thread. For sure.When I finish it. Sedaris keeps dragging me away. I’m now on Part 2 chapter VII. The numbering system is a bit odd. I keep having to bookmark where I start or I can miss my place in the book.

I’m wondering how far in you are in The Bee Sting. I think I’ll name the title of my review after Muhammad Ali and his “Stingg Like a Bee”.😉

>171 kjuliff: “float like a butterfly” has extra meaning here too, with the Dublin bar.

I have 2.5 hours left. It’s ramping up to some intensity.

>172 dchaikin: Oh yes. I’d not heard of that use of butterfly, but worked it out.
2.5 hours to go. I’m encouraged. We deserve medals.

>173 kjuliff: 🙂

dan, was it you or jerry reading up on the singer brothers? reguardless this weeks issue of the NYer has an exellent article about them (looked like there was a new biography but missed the name)

>175 cindydavid4: You're probably thinking of me. I'm not really "reading up on the Singer brothers," but I am reading two Isaac B. Singer novels per year.

>175 cindydavid4: talk to the DJ ( >176 rocketjk: ) 🙂

>177 dchaikin: thanks the DJ just answered :)

>176 rocketjk: thats kind of what I was thinking, that you were doing some reading on him, just didn't state it so well. Think you might find it interesting

>174 dchaikin: well I’ve finished The Bee Sting and reviewed it on my thread - Fly Like a Butterfly. After all our prior discussion the perception of the brain-dead characters seemed no longer an issue once I was well into the novel.

I’m looking forward to your review.

On the discussion we were having re brain-deads - I still would like to continue it at some stage. I have an Australian friend who lives part time in NYC. She is a film director and a reader, and with us both knowing both the U.S. and Australia we’ve often talked about how American audiences have different views on the male-female dynamic. I can do no better than to quote her from an interview on her new movie, Royal Hotel.

“ It’s funny how these men are being perceived — in Britain and Australia, people say to me, you’ve given real vulnerability and warmth to the male characters. In America, they’re like, the male characters are such villains! I can’t figure out why. We tried to make sure — these male characters are struggling for connection, they’re all reaching out. They’re all just failing miserably, because of alcohol, because they’re not able to control their anger.” A Filmmaker’s Fraught Specialty: Women at Work and the Men Who Scare Them
Of course this is a film, but we’ve also seen it in Australia books.

An aside, when I started my first job in America the receptionist said to me, “Oh, you’re an Australian ; how could you stand the men?” 🙃

>179 kjuliff: that’s an interesting quote. And says something about US larger cultural and media.

I finished The Bee Sting today. I’m so annoyed at the end cut. 🙂 I need to think about it more. What does the name Casandra mean within this story that plays so hard with prophecy? Is he playing greek themes? Should we literally imagine Cassandra within a homeric/trojan war context? Who was Orestes, Clytemnestra, Agamemnon, Aegyptus, or Elektra?

With surviving brother taking dead brother’s partner, and ghosts hanging around, were there Hamlet themes? Who was Hamlet?

Maybe there were Irish themes, and the story of the man with fairies is just a tip of some larger Irish mythological games? (I wouldn’t know)

If I work any of that out, or any variation, does it change the book, compensate for what I didn’t like? Does the ending compensate for the weaknesses elsewhere? Do the apparent weaknesses actually play well within the full story arc? Things I’m puzzling on. Also, I’m just not sure how i feel.

>180 dchaikin: well Dan, I was surprised at your reaction and can’t wait to read your review. Let me know when you’ve had a chance to read mine. I’d like to discuss our different takes.

>126 dchaikin: Congratulations on reading and enjoying Troilus and Criseyde! Sounds fun.

Also, thanks to you and >181 kjuliff: for your discussion of The bee sting. It has been interesting and thought provoking.

>180 dchaikin: I was angry about that ending for DAYS. And it astonished me that more people were not. There does seem to be a new tendency to end a book a chapter early these days -- Emma Cline's The Guest does the same thing, although I think she pulled it off.

>183 RidgewayGirl: I didn’t think The Bee Sting ended early. Just as you are surprised that more people were not angry at the ending, I was surprised that so many were. I just saw the ending as ambiguous. There’s another 2023 Booker out there with a “chopped off” ending but I don’t want to do a spoiler tag.

Kay, this is what I don’t get - take Pride and Prejudice. Do you really think we know what happened with the marriage of Darcy and Lizzie? It’s just like, let’s end it here. There are different possible endings but we all really know what happened; we just don’t know HOW.

>184 kjuliff: Traditionally though, novels don't end just before the scene the novel has been building toward, like ending P&P before the reader knows if Lydia is rescued and before Darcy and Lizzie reconcile.

>185 RidgewayGirl: Point taken. I picked a bad example. But I still think we know what happened. Just not the how. And what scene was the novel building up to? Did you have a scene in mind? I think we all knew it wasn’t a nice thing.

I do get the frustration. Not at the ending, but in the was previous chapters have hinted at something bad but in the following chapter all is good. Such as the pedophile one, the end is chilly with the hand resting on PJ’s shoulder. And then, as in so many other cases, it turns out it was just his sister’s. So we are being trained to think there may be a happy ending.

Spoiler…

Well, two thoughts on the end of The Bee Sting. One is at the ending stuck with me, so it was effective. The other is to think of it in light of climate change. It’s a theme in the novel, knowingly careening to disaster. There are a lot of near disasters, but something intervenes somehow; there’s always a possible non-disastrous answer. The end of the Bee sting leaves that option open, an hard but non-tragic way, but the tilt isn’t that way. In light of climate change we’re in a parallel. We can do things to avoid catastrophe but we’re not directed that way. My second thought is that i think it’s an intentional parallel. His fear of consequences are like our fear of destroying our gas economy. His effort to avoid them a parallel to what we are doing to avoid ours. Maybe. ??

>187 dchaikin: I think so. Certainly climate change was a major theme and many of the events travelled in parallel with atypical weather. The characters ignore the storms and plough through regardless. And then at the end the different threads converge. So on individual levels there’s a semi-survival but when all the scattered motives and actions lead to one place … I’m not quite sure.

>182 markon: hi. Thanks, re Troilus and Criseyde. And it's been fun chatting The Bee Sting

>183 RidgewayGirl: I kind of realized he would do that, end that way, a little before the end. And then spent the last couple minutes, listening, saying to myself, "he would not!". I've noted the tendency to do that lately too. That kind of end is more involving then neatly tied off stories, which can be categorized done and set aside (in our heads). I was able to forgive him, after some initial serious exasperation.

>188 kjuliff: I'm still thinking about it.

67. Enon by Paul Harding
OPD: 2013
format: 255-page paperback
acquired: April read: Nov 25 -Dec 3 time reading: 7:56, 1.9 mpp
b>rating: 4
genre/style: Contemporary Fiction theme: Booker 2023
locations: Massachusetts
about the author: American musician and author who grew up in Wenham, Massachusetts, north of Boston. Born 1967.

I really liked Tinkers when I read it back in 2010. Finally, I got Harding's second novel from 2013. I was motivated by his third and latest novel, This Other Eden making the 2023 Booker longlist (and shortlist). I've started that one.

In the opening section Charlie tells us of the death of Kate, his only daughter, at age 13 in an accident. And of his wife's leaving afterward. The rest of book is in this context. Charlie breaks down. His breakdown then goes on further and further, propelled by painkillers and then whatever drugs he can find. Despite awareness, he continues to pursue this. He almost seems to try to find a place between life and death, a halfway place to reach his daughter. And, well, where does this end? The prose is the draw of this book. And it's free to drift between reality and hallucination, which it does wonderfully, while digging deeper into Charlie and his grief.

This is a beautiful book. In some ways it's a little simple, the writer setting himself a context where his writing has free reign, without any threat to the book. That's actually a harsh, but hopefully nuanced criticism. I got into this, enjoyed the moods and textual games (as far as I got them), the ideas explored, the sentences going many different ways and doing many different things.

One extra thing. My edition had an interview at the end. Harding talked briefly about some of the philosophical ideas in the text, but then he added this: "Fiction works best when written and understood in terms of character, in terms of the human soul, the heart, and consciousness. To my thinking, everything else is a predicate of character—secondary, tertiary, even—must be given its proper weight relative to that he proper subject, this particular man. Any theoretical reading is bound to prove deficient, therefore, because it makes the man a predicate of some generalized ideal."

I would love to hear anyone's thoughts on that quote.

68. The Bee Sting by Paul Murray
reader: Heather O’Sullivan, Barry Fitzgerald, Beau Holland, Ciaran O'Brien, and Lisa Caruccio Came
OPD: 2023
format: 26:10 audible audiobook (656 pages in hardcover)
acquired: November 10 listened: Nov 10 – Dec 8
rating: 3½
genre/style: Novel theme: Booker 2023
locations: contemporary Ireland
about the author: Irish novelist born in 1975

Well, ymmv. This one generates some split responses.

The novel is on the fall of the Barnes family, owners of a Volkswagen car dealership in a small Irish town that financially staggers under a recession. Thematically big, but largely spoken within characters minds, moment by moment, but in 3rd person.

I think the reader's make or break point with the novel is how you take to this moment-by-moment mental catalogue. It's a YA trick. It's challenging because how does one capture our mindset any one particular moment. There is a vastness there, whatever we may be aware of. Murray selects a narrative of conscious thoughts, ignoring all levels of subconscious thinking. Well, not ignoring it exactly, he just doesn't state it. Speaking for myself, I hated it. I mean, I could listen to it, but I got really annoyed too. I kept thinking these character's brains aren't active. It felt simplified to me, and that made the drama of the moment, inside our characters' heads, of course, feel contrived.

As the book evolved, I took to it better. First, I noticed i got into it when I thought about the other characters, the ones whose mental printout aren't getting documented. Later I lost that simplified and contrived sense. Characters thoughts started to seem quite complete to me. And, as it comes to its startling climax, the last 90 or so minutes of audio, I was pretty attentive and free of critical thoughts. So, there's that.

Thematically this book is doing a lot. There is a Greek tragedy feel, or maybe a Hamlet feel, as we watch characters passionately misstep towards catastrophe. There is a poor forlorn princess, and brother taking his brother's lover. And a character named Casandra. (After you finish, be sure to go back and re-read the first couple paragraphs from Cas.) One Irish myth with a curse of fairies is repeated twice and referenced several times. And there is a string along the theme of how the end of civilization is nigh. The economy crashing, climate fluctuating, overwhelmed infrastructure aging. Climate change is a heavy-handed theme. This is interesting stuff, and it's built into the novel in interesting ways. One is the way Murray plays with disaster. Characters are always careening towards disaster in ways the reader can see but they can't (but, maybe they should .../rant). But Murray doesn't reward all our darkest wishes. Some things fall out ok. And, just maybe, everything can, if only we are willing to face immediate costs. Or maybe they can't, and we should fear the worst. Fill in climate change.

I'm not sure where to conclude on all that. Speaking for myself, as much as I like thinking about the thematical games, I really haven't forgiven the brain-dead feel of the heart of the book. That puts an annoyed taint on all my thoughts on the book.

>190 dchaikin: Nice review! I love Paul Harding's work.

>190 dchaikin: I agree with it; thinking back on my fav books over the years, there were sustatined by strong character study. But Im not sure I understand what hes saying in the second part. could you translate for me?

>193 cindydavid4: Not sure i can translate. 🙂 The “man” is his book’s main character. His point is roughly that any philosophical or other ideas (or arguments) built into the novel should be secondary to the character, and dependent on the writing of that character. Otherwise the character is lost, becomes generalized instead of independent, because it becomes only an illustration of the ideas.

>194 dchaikin: Really well put. An excellent summary of Harding's point, I think. I'll have to move his books up a bit on my "looking out for" list.

>194 dchaikin: Oh I get the character, just wasnt sure about the rest. but yes, your rewording was just perfect and I totally agree. thx

>191 dchaikin: >183 RidgewayGirl: >189 dchaikin: Well my view does vary. :). I thought this was one of the better books I read this year. And I was reluctant to read it because I've tried more than once to get into his earlier book Skippy Dies, and just haven't been able to. Re the "moment-by-moment mental catalogue," that's a good way to describe it. Have you read any of Knausgaard? (My Struggle, The Morning Star)? A similar description might apply to his works.
And the ending! I found the way he shortened the episodes, cutting back and forth between characters, etc. created incredible tension. And in my mind, I think I know how it "really" ended, but since he doesn't tell us, in my heart I can hope it went the other way.

>190 dchaikin: Interesting quote. I can read a novel/story of ideas but I much prefer the ones where characters drive the action (as opposed to action driving the characters). Which does not mean character growth and change - I am just fine with Hercule Poirot for example - even if he never changes, he does drive the story (him and the rest of the characters - some of these novels can be read as character studies in addition to being mysteries).

Which is why I tend to read a lot of series - they need to have a focal point and it usually ends up a main character (or a group of them).

>192 avaland: thanks. Harding has a lovely prose. I’m getting into This Other Eden.

>195 rocketjk: i would like your take. Have you read Tinkers?

>196 cindydavid4: good. 🙂

>197 arubabookwoman: i had imagined Knausgaard as 1st person, which is quite different than 3rd person. In 1st person, it’s ok to only tell the reader part of what’s on your mind, or even simply outright lie. But in 3rd person there is an expectation of omniscience. 🙂 I agree, the ending was very effective. As for the very end, well I don’t want to spoil, but if Dickie is symbolic of our climate-mangling economy, i’m not optimistic about our future.

>198 AnnieMod: yeah. I hadn’t really thought of it from this perspective before. I completely agree with you (well, I don’t read many series)

>197 arubabookwoman: I completely agree with you about the ending.

@dchaikin, Can you imagine if Paul Murray had spelled it out. Would it have been a better book? I doubt it.

>191 dchaikin: Re the “brain-dead” characters: there do exist people of limited experience and education. Of poor moral coded and inability to control emotions.

Did you see all of them like this, or only Casandra’s family? Don’t such people have a place in literature? I’m really confused with your stand on this. I can’t wait for you to read and comment on Prophet Song

>202 kjuliff:
Can you imagine if Paul Murray had spelled it out

Yes, I think i can imagine it, and I think it becomes a softer book. I think he did the right thing.

Did you see all of them like this, or only Casandra’s family? Don’t such people have a place in literature? I’m really confused with your stand on this.

I think it’s the style, not the specific character. I don’t think he can write any character that way for me, and have me buy in. It’s, if you like, my odd personal response to this style.

>199 dchaikin: "Have you read Tinkers?"

No, nothing by that author, yet.

covid sucks as much the second time.

69. The Passenger by Cormac McCarthy
OPD: 2022
format: 383-page hardcover
acquired: April read: Dec 2-14 time reading: 14:11, 2.2 mpp
rating: 4
genre/style: Contemporary Fiction theme: McCarthy & TBR
locations: New Orleans circa 1980 and bunch of other places.
about the author: 1933-2023. American author born in Providence, Rhode Island, who grew up mainly in Tennessee.

I've read everything by McCarthy except Stella Maris, which I'm reading now. I loved reading through his works. It might not seem like I rushed out to read this, but in my own way I sort of did.

On facebook I saw someone post this might not really have been ready for publication. And that makes sense to me. There are just so many unresolved aspects, important ones. So, either I missed a whole lot (quite possible) or it really doesn't work out enough explanation for various aspects. But regardless, I enjoyed it.

It‘s terrific up front as we wander around New Orleans (~1980). Bobby Western has given up academia and research to become a deep-sea diver for contract. In the opening he entering a private plane sitting at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, near the Mississippi shore, looking for survivors. Except the plane has been there some days, so the nine bodies are very dead. One body is missing, as is the plane's black box. Bobby notices it doesn't make the news. This starts a serious of trouble for Bobby, who has demons in his past, a father who helped develop the atomic bomb, a genius younger sister he adored who committed suicide. The book veers self-reflective, with lots of conversations, sometimes with (apparently?) imaginary figures. That's all good, I think, and makes for fun reading in McCormac's hands. It does evolve poorly, becoming less fun as it moves along. It‘s ok for a character to go off on their own and try to find themselves, but Bobby tries like 3 times here. Still, it was mostly an enjoyable read.

As my own review goes askew, I'll mention the I was surprised to see McCarty revisit aspects of Suttree. The book's atmosphere is a merge of several previous Corma novels, his prose a lot like that in Cities on the Plain. But the Suttree-like elements was interesting to me because it hints at something autobiographical in some way. It's very different - New Orleans mostly, circa 1980, not 1950's Knoxville; but the feel is there in a way, maybe a more distant, less passionate, more fictional way. It was on my mind. I also told myself the atmosphere was "spectral", but I don't exactly what I meant to myself, other than that the conversations, especially his sister's in her cameos, seems a little untethered from solid reality in interesting ways.

Anyway, in the scope of McCarthy novels, this is falls low. But that's a soft criticism. Within the scope of 2022 novels, it's pretty good; thoughtful and fun, if a little frustrating.

Ouch :( Hopefully you get better quickly! Although I would have taken Covid compared to the flu/cold/whatever I got around Thanksgiving -- that was worse and took longer than my Covid last Thanksgiving...

>206 dchaikin: Nice review. I really need to read some McCarthy - I know I know, I am probably the only person who had never gotten around to him. :)

70. Italian Backgrounds by Edith Wharton
OPD: 1905
format: 118-page Kindle ebook
acquired: October read: Dec 5-15 time reading: 6:31, 3.3 mpp
rating: 3
genre/style: Travel theme: Wharton
locations: Italy, notably the Italian Alps, Parma, Rome and Venice
about the author: 1862-1937. Born Edith Newbold Jones on West 23rd Street, New York City. Relocated permanently to France after 1911.

This is a travel book where Wharton's lovely prose makes up, to some extent, for a lot of dull observations on landscape, architecture, and art. Ok, I might exaggerate a little. And I should mention that there is wonderful chapter mixed in here where Wharton writes simply on thinking about the lives of those hermits who lived isolated in caves in the Italian alps. As for the rest of the then off-the-beaten path Italy (less off the beaten path today, but still "off" it), well it's mildly interesting, but not great reading. There are hidden gems. And then there is Parma and Caravaggio, Venice and Tiepolo. Rome and ... well, I forgot... I'll leave it there. Know that she expects her reader to know about these artists. She was writing to a classically well-educated and very privileged reader. The word "snob" came up a lot in our Litsy discussions.

This was my first nonfiction by Wharton. I'm not sure it will be my last, but I'm looking forward to going back to Wharton's fiction.

>207 AnnieMod: hi Annie. That sickness sounds sucky. Glad you're past it. I hope you find a McCarthy calling you somewhere along the reading way. I think you will like him.

>209 dchaikin: He had been calling my name for years and I even have a few of his on my shelves. Somewhere in the house anyway - not sure if they are on a shelf or somewhere in a box just now.

He is suffering from my "I know I will like him so let me try something new and different instead" way of reading. :) Which I am trying to get better with - so hopefully next year.

>210 AnnieMod: oh... I can relate to that. i have a whole lot of those. ... I should use it as a tag.

>205 dchaikin: oh no! I know theres a different variation, wonder if thats going around
Hope the healing happens faster then the first

Sorry to read about your second dose. Once was enough for me. Here's wishing for a quick recovery.

>212 cindydavid4: >213 rocketjk: thanks guys. I picked this up traveling to Florida. Worse, I was there for a funeral because my aunt passed away.

>214 dchaikin: When it rains, it pours, doesn't it? Sorry about your aunt :(

71. All the Little Bird-Hearts by Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow
reader: Rose Akroyd
OPD: 2023
format: 9:14 audible audiobook (304 pages in hardcover)
acquired: December listened: Dec 10-17
rating: 4
genre/style: contemporary fiction theme: Booker 2023
locations: An English village
about the author: English author with autism. Born in 1974 and living in Kent.

This is why I read the entire Booker longlist. Otherwise I never pick this gem up. A novel narrated by an autistic mother trying to navigate her daughter‘s teen years. The whole perspective is quirky, but it works elegantly. We learn about ourselves as our narrator tries to understand the people around her. But her emotions are a mother‘s and we feel them too. There‘s a lot of interesting stuff going in here. It's well written, and well structured. I found it terrific, moving and rewarding.

>215 AnnieMod: thanks Annie. It's just always a risk to travel these days.

>216 dchaikin: Sounds terrific. Not one I've heard much about.

>217 dchaikin: A real surprise to me, a special one. And a unique book. The title had me worried, and i wish she had chosen a better one, even if it fits the contents.

72. This Other Eden by Paul Harding
OPD: 2023
format: 214-page hardcover
acquired: April read: Dec 9-19 time reading: 8:34, 2.4 mpp
rating: 4
genre/style: contemporary fiction theme: Booker 2023
locations: Maine 1911/1912
about the author: American musician and author who grew up in Wenham, Massachusetts, north of Boston. Born 1967.

Harding uses the idea of Malaga island, whose mix-raced population was evicted in 1912, seemingly as an excuse to explore prose. He seems especially interested in mental textures, blending memory, environment and circumstance. His prose is masterful. A book to read with phone off, and clocks and goals and life stuff hidden away.

The story of Malaga Island is that it is just one of many rocky islands off the Maine coast, but one that was populated by squatters from several different cultures, including ex-slaves. The mixed-raced aspect left a racist-driven negative perception of the island, although the state of the community was not that different from other impoverished Maine communities. The years 1911-12 saw a coalescence of the American eugenics movement and optimistic moneyed development ideas. The island was cleared off, and all residents fared badly, many dying within a year. It was never developed.

Harding, however, did not seem to me to be especially interested in the true facts of the island. What seems to have interested him the most was forced reflection on a 100 years of settlement coming to nothing, a requiem of sorts. This is a slow book and demands patience. The reader stands in place a lot. Not a fun read. But beautifully done.

73. Stella Maris by Cormac McCarthy
OPD: 2022
format: 190-page hardcover
acquired: April read: Dec 19-21 time reading: 5:26, 1.7 mpp
rating: 4
genre/style: contemporary fiction theme: McCarthy & TBR
locations: Black River Falls, WI, 1972
about the author: 1933-2023. American author born in Providence, Rhode Island, who grew up mainly in Tennessee.

Expecting to be lost in complex ideas, instead I found this thoroughly enjoyable. It's all a conversation between a genius who has given up math, and now entered herself into a psychiatric ward, and a doctor who questions her and records the conversations, with her approval. I just found it fun to spend time here. The last 20 pages were a little tough, but otherwise it goes by on a quick dialogue pace the whole way. You can follow as well as her doctor can, who isn't a genius. So, it's very accessible. It's like McCarthy's comfort zone as writer.

On a side note, I was intrigued by the doctor, whose name is Michael, leaving me with the impression of St. Michael guarding the gates of heaven, or here the gates of the psychiatric ward. He has to play a perfect role to make this book work. Not entirely professional, but seemingly so. He has to be worthy listener. It works, and Alicia's confessions flow out in ways that allow the reader to think and enjoy (while knowing from The Passenger the tragedy around this.)

>220 dchaikin: This is still my favorite of the 2023 Booker nominees. Glad you liked it.
>216 dchaikin: Thanks for this review. It goes on my TBR for early next year.

>216 dchaikin: Thanks for this review. I'd kind of just skipped over this one, having not heard that much about it and I am trying to not be such a joyless completist about my reading these days. But this sounds like something I would very much enjoy.

Sorry about the covid. It really seems like funerals and milestone birthday parties for elderly family members are superspreader events. Maybe because no one wants to skip one just because of a cold (which isn't always a cold).

There is a terrific article on the inaccuracies in This Other Eden from November from the Portland Press Herald.

https://www.pressherald.com/2023/11/12/amid-literary-praise-for-this-other-eden-...

>222 dianelouise100: I hope you enjoy All the Little Bird-Hearts. I have five more from the longlist to go. The Other Eden is the only one I’ve read, instead of listened to. I’ll read the rest.

>223 RidgewayGirl: i would have skipped it too. I knew nothing about All the Little Bird-Hearts going in, except that the title seemed unpromising.

And that’s true about funerals. You don’t think, you just drop everything, buy a ticket and go. I had dinner with my dad where he explained he wasn’t feeling great but tested himself and was covid-negative. Maybe he was wrong and my 83-yr-old dad was be my source.

>226 dchaikin: How is he doing? I worry so much about my Dad (who is 84) coming down with something (rsv, covid, etc...) but fortunately he mostly stays in his retirement community or at my house. He got a chest cold a few years ago that took him months to shake.

>227 RidgewayGirl: he’s doing much better than i am. Weird. But good.

>224 dchaikin: I found that article irritating. I read it when I was doing more research on Malaga Island. To me, it was a tempest in a teapot by a few who would prefer Malaga remained hidden in the past, safe from even a very literary exposure.

>229 labfs39: that’s interesting. Can you tell why?

Sorry, I had hit enter before I finished writing, then posted before I read your comment.

What did you appreciate about the article?

>231 labfs39: Oh. Yeah, there’s more there now…

>229 labfs39: I thought the article pulled out several different perspectives. I don’t think any one person quoted had a full spectrum opinion, each was narrow focused. But in sum, a lot comes out. So i found it overall a nice scope and it gave me a lot to mull over. That’s not easy to do in an article like that. That’s the main thing I liked. And I also appreciated the weight given to Harding within the context of people very upset by the book.

One big takeaway is Harding accidentally played into the incest myths without realizing it was part of the propaganda and not historians’ understanding.

One thing not directly addressed in article, yet clearly shown by the article’s existence itself, was that Harding brought a lot of attention to this crime. That’s a really good thing. And he did it by writing a beautiful book.

Covid update. I haven’t read a page since i took my first steroid yesterday afternoon. But I’ve watched a whole lot of random fb videos.

>233 dchaikin: Ugh. I was hoping to hear you were feeling better today. Did you take Paxlovid? Which steroid? I'm curious because I just know I'm going to end up with another bout of covid. I seem to be a magnet.

>233 dchaikin: I’m the same. On prednisone but not for Covid. Haven’t read anything for days. I’m listening to Podcasts

>234 labfs39: prednisone too, i think. I’m feeling better today than anytime since this started. Last time i took paxlovid and had a rebound. Negative 3 days, then positive again. I didn’t ask for it this time, but also my doctor didn’t offer. I think the steroids help both short and long term effects. I’ve read a little this afternoon. Having trouble getting into Prophet Song. I also opened A Confederacy of Dunces and was entertained a bit. 1960’s New Orleans

>235 kjuliff: wish you well!

>237 dchaikin: Thanks. And to you too. It so weird not to be reading anything.

>238 kjuliff: l’m really sorry. It’s such a odd frustrating thing. I did find a way through. Maybe even found a zone for Prophet Song.

>238 kjuliff:, >239 dchaikin: Hope both of you are feeling better than the last time you posted.

>240 markon: The steroids are doing the trick with me but still crook. Note “crook” is Aussie for sick. I’ve decided to get back some of my Aussie, so watch out for more slang.

My 2024 thread is more optimistic - see Kate Jumps Puddles

>241 kjuliff: In Maine we say "peaky".

>241 kjuliff: >242 labfs39: I just say sick. :)

>240 markon: Thanks for checking in. I tested negative yesterday and I'm working from home today and this week. Feeling relieved. My daughter came home yesterday.

This is in that great reads thread but copying here.

What stood out:

1. Troilus and Criseyde by Geoffrey Chaucer (1385) - because I got lost in the language
2. A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway (1964 posthumous) - because it was a complete joy to read
3. The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton (1920) - because Wharton does her parents generation, her childhood era, and it comes out sparkling
4. invisible Man by Ralph Ellison (1952) - because it's so out there
5. Prophet Song by Paul Lynch (2023, Booker winner) - because i'm still grinding over it
6. In Ascension by Martin MacInnes (2023, Booker longlist) - because it was my best audio experience in a while, and i could listen again, to any moment.
7. Black Boy by Richard Wright (1945) - because I felt this
8. Fatelessness by Imre Kertész (1975) - because...well, no words
9. By the Sea by Abdulrazak Gurnah (2001, Booker longlist) - because Gurnah has magic
10. The Color of Water by James McBride (1995) - because this a just a wonderful memoir

and also...
Stella Maris by Cormac McCarthy (2022) - because it was fun and i'm thinking about imagination in our unconscious
A Far Cry from Kensington by Muriel Spark (1988) - because it's there, in my head
All the Little Bird-Hearts by Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow (2023, Booker longlist) - because I was moved, and it's fun and well done.
The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng (2023, Booker longlist) - because Eng does settings as well as anyone
The Polish Boxer by Eduardo Halfon (2008) - because it was quirky fun and I like that.

>243 dchaikin: >242 labfs39: >240 markon:
In the north of England they say “poorly”. Sometimes in Australia they say “butchers”

And here are what I consider my biggest accomplishments. Tough stuff i never though I would read

1. Troilus and Criseyde by Geoffrey Chaucer (1385)
2. Walden by Henry David Thoreau (1854)
3. Sixty Years of American Poetry: Celebrating the Anniversary of the Academy of American Poets (1996)
4. The Romance of the Rose by Guillaume de Lorris & Jean de Meun (1275)
5. The Snopes Trilogy by William Faulkner (1940, 1957, 1959)
6. Native Son by Richard Wright (1940)
7. invisible Man by Ralph Ellison (1952)
8. The Sea Around Us by Rachel Carson (1951, audio)
9. Collected Poems by Donald Justice (2004)
10. The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton (1920, turned out to not be very hard)

and myabe:
G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century by Beverly Gage (2022, audio)
City Lights Pocket Poets Anthology edited by Lawrence Ferlinghetti (2001)
Chaucer: A European Life by Marion Turner (2019)
Florence: The Biography of a City by Christopher Hibbert (1993)

>244 dchaikin: Appropriate verb for Prophet Song. I will never forget that book. How far through are you? Adió or print?

>246 dchaikin: I finished yesterday. It was on my mind all night...

>248 dchaikin: it lingers. I’m only just starting to feel free of it.

>246 dchaikin: What a great idea to list reading accomplishments. They'll be different for all of us, but I think it's really important that we challenge ourselves to read like this.

Just catching up on your thread, Dan—hope you’re feeling better by now. Great conversation and reviews, and I’m bumping The Bee Sting up my invisible pile because you all have me fiercely curious as to what I’m going to think.

If you haven’t read Tinkers, I highly recommend it. It’s a… quiet read, in a good way.

>250 SassyLassy: thank you. 🙂 Appreciate the affirmation. It felt good to make that list.

>251 lisapeet: hi. I’m feeling better. Just need to get back into my routine again, you know, like actually leaving the house occasionally. (I worked from home this week). I would love your take on The Bee Sting. I read Tinkers sometime shortly after it won the Pulitzer, and I loved it.

74. Prophet Song by Paul Lynch
OPD: 2023
format: 309-page hardcover
acquired: December 4 read: Dec 21-23 time reading: 9:33, 1.9 mpp
rating: 5
genre/style: Contemporary Fiction theme: Booker 2023
locations: Dublin, Ireland (near future?)
about the author: Irish novelist, born in Limerick in 1977

Upon finishing I thought this was fantastic. It took me a while to sink in, maybe 100 pages. But through the second half I was all in. I just got instep and brain aligned. I'm happy with the book. I finished devastated by it, a little exhausted, and thinking over a paragraph with the title in it near the end, and the opening line, which is haunting in hindsight. It hung with me a few days. I week later I'm little out of tune with it. But it's an easy five stars.

You may read synopses and wonder how a book on an Irish authoritarian state breaking into civil war ready could be taken seriously. And whether its Trump and covid and Syrian refugee inspiration really works? Or you may think it timely. But the way it's written forces you to sit on these questions. The book is written in text blocks that kind of resemble paragraphs, except that within the text block is an assort of stuff, including entire conversations, without any dialogue grammar, or even a carriage return. It's not challenging to follow, but the reader is suffused with details. The book follows a mother of four dealing with the disasters mostly alone. She's overwhelmed, and so are we, the reader. She's trying to use momentary breaks to think, and the reader is left to do that do too. Actually, Lynch manages his readers well. He flushes us with information that overwhelms our questions and doubts, and then, when he's ready, the details thin out, the reader is allowed to think, and ask all our hard questions. Of course, we can put the book down. But once you pick it back up, you dive back in. Once I got into this, it was easy appealing powerful and emotional reading. It has its brilliance.

A book for a reader with some patience, but it really rewards and does some special stuff.

-----

It looks now like this will wrap up my 2023.

My 2023 physical books on a shelf

>254 dchaikin: So neat! I like the way all your books stand up like soldiers!

>253 dchaikin: on reading your review of Prophet Song it all came back to me. Now I have PS PTSD! I’m totally with you on Prophet Song. Personally I found it to be a masterpiece.

>255 kjuliff: they’re a very disciplined bunch. 🙂

>256 kjuliff: thanks. And it’s really that kind of book, the ptsd.

I always like seeing other people's bookshelves, to the point of blowing up images with shelves in the background so I can read the titles, so thanks for that, Dan!

>254 dchaikin: I love the image. Great idea. Mine are scattered throughout the house now that I'm done with them.

As for book PTSD, I just finished At Night All Blood is Black. Yikes. Amazing book, but not an easy read. I have Prophet Song lined up for January.

>260 labfs39: I see At Night All Blood Is Black. I’ve put it on my TR list as it’s a short read - I tend to read really long books and need some novellas to help me appreciate the longer ones that can become all-consuming.

>253 dchaikin: excellent review and it is now on my wishlist.

>253 dchaikin: Great review, and I agree with your judgment of “appealing, powerful, emotional, and brilliant,” — but I’ll not be rereading it. Too old for a book that gives me nightmares. And I love your thoughts on how he achieves his impact.

>263 dianelouise100: I didn’t have nightmares after reading Prophet Song though it was disturbing and it stayed with me. I did get PTSD after reading Dan’s excellent review which brought the book back to life for me.

I’m reading Stasiland now which I actually find disturbing in another way. It’s about a bad time in German history - GDR - but it’s just ugly. The book doesn’t have the brilliant writing so evident in Prophet Song. It is interesting but only in an informative was - so I may as well feed about the Stasi in non-fiction.

>259 lisapeet: 🙂

>260 labfs39: I’m interested in ANABiB. Glad you enjoyed, and i just saw it’s your number 1 for 2023. (And >261 kjuliff: Kate - I hope you take to it too.) I hope Prophet Song rewards, Lisa

>262 ELiz_M: Thanks Liz.

>263 dianelouise100: PS does live on, doesn’t it. I completely understand.

>264 kjuliff: Stasiland does not sound uplifting. Good luck with it.

I sincerely wish you health, happiness, contentment and many exciting books.

>266 Ameise1: thank you! It's a lovely wish.

Before I go on to 2024, some concluding stuff.

First - DECEMBER. My 2nd Covid experience led to a great month for reading. I got in over 63 hours, finishing six books, the highlights being Prophet Song and Stella Maris. But I also enjoyed The Passenger and Paul Harding's Enon and This Other Eden. I'm glad I read through Edith Wharton's 1905 Italian travelogue, Italian Backgrounds, but it wasn't the great.

Audio suffered with my covid. But I finished one long book I'm mixed on, The Bee Sting, and one book I adored, All the Little Bird-Hearts, by talented autistic author Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow. I have Ann Patchett's Taft on idle. I'll restart tomorrow on my drive into work.

After I finished Prophet Song, I sort of stalled out on three books that are, so far, ok. I started A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Tool, got halfway through and it's still just ok. I picked The Control of Nature by John McPhee for the first time since September (?). I got into it a little. And, for the first time since August, i picked up Ahead of All Parting, an anthology of Rainer Maria Rilke, translated by Stephen Mitchell. I'm halfway through his Duino Elegies, but I'm not getting that much out of them. So today, January 1, all three of those books are going to be set aside, as I try instead to find something I really enjoy.

for the year, 580 hrs reading (95 minutes a day), and 223 hrs listening to audio. That led to me finishing 74 books, 55 read, and 19 listened to. That's my 4th best year ever in number of books, and the most since 2016.

Although my previous years are less precise, i read roughly 100 hours more in both 2021 and 222 (roughly 660 hours, or 108 min/day). So my actually reading was down a step. My audio time was the highest since 2018, but that time doesn't vary too much, year to year.

Some other random stats
21 ebooks - my most ever
22 "classics" - my 3rd most ever
0 library books - first time in since 2003

My highlights are in >244 dchaikin: & >246 dchaikin:

Congrats on a great reading year, Dan. I'm glad you were able to read, despite the covid. Now that I'm a free range reader once again, I'm eager to dust off my e-reader.

>Thanks Lisa! Covid messed with my head, but it also kept me from working. So my clear-headed windows went towards reading.

My "this thread is closed" notice. :) My new thread in the 2024 group is here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/356616