Kiwidoc's 2008 books

As I have changed my user name, I am posting any further books on this thread. My old thread is here

I just could not ignore the 36 books read so far - not that I am competitive or anything?!?!

Hey, I'm at 36 also! Do you have a 100 target?

Hi Teelgee........ Wanna race???!!!!!!!

- I honestly don't have a target but it would be good to read 100 plus. With my current work-load it will probably be less.

The last few books have been rather laborious, so if you want a race, I will pick some thin copies!!

I'm just amazed at how much you read considering what you have on your plate. I have no kids at home and work a 32 hour week. I'm a woos compared to you!

Why thank you Terri.

37. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by Simon Armitage

This is a reworking/translation/reinterpretation of the well-known ancient English poem by the poet Simon Armitage. This is, of course, the 14th Century romantic Arthurian tale of heroism.

I thought it was a wonderful, much alliterated delight and I really enjoyed it. I wish it had been longer. I am now off to read his other work, starting with his interpretation of The Odyssey.

OK, you two, I just posted #37 as well!

So kiwidoc, would you recommend that I teach Sir Gawain and the Green Knight in my Brit Lit class next fall? It's a survey, up to 1789. I always do Beowulf and Canterbury Tales, but maybe this would be something fun and diffferent.

Hm...Cariola, I am perhaps not the one to advise an expert like you.... but it was a fun read.

I also read Beowulf 'translated' by Seamus Heaney and that was interesting too. But as Armitage pointed out in his introduction, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is really a completely different era - 400 years later than Beowulf and half way between Beowulf and today. It is perhaps a good example to illustrate the development of literature with the foreshadowing of the novel?

For someone like me, who wants to be entertained after a hard day's work, I like reading accessible works. I cannot imagine trying to read it in the old english original, that would be like translating a work as you read.

I also read The Odyssey last year and now am quite excited to read Armitage's take on the epic.

Don't mean to take over your thread here, but I read Sir Gawain and the Green Knight for a second-year English survey course. It was one of the most popular selections with the other students (I personally focused on Beowulf, but would have been happy to work on Sir Gawain too). If you want any details, Cariola, come to my profile page.

#8 Thanks, that's helpful. I don't teach in the original Old English, and I'm always interested in what non-expert but good readers (like you and--hopefully--my students) think about particular works.

I found this course really difficult to teach this semester, mostly because the students have a real resistance to anything written before Jane Austen. Times have changed; I don't think many of them get any poetry in high school anymore, and it seems that most of what they've read is 20th-century short stories and novels (which sets a real bias against anything else). There's a real move on to make everything "relevant". My problem with that is that if you focus learning on what is "relevant" to an 18-year old, education is pretty stunted. Some in my university even want to drop the requirement for Shakespeare and to allow students to choose two out of three of the current four survey courses (and you can bet most of them would NOT choose Brit Lit I).

Sorry for the rant! It's just so frustrating to try to teach wonderful material like Sidney's, Shakespeare's and Donne's sonnets, a great Restoration play like The Way of the World, etc., and to have students totally tuning out before you even begin. (These are English majors, by the way!)

Well just to say, I would give my eye teeth to be in one of your classes, Cariola!!

Aw, thank you. I just keep recalling how totally swept away I was when first introduced to Donne's poetry when I was seventeen. (sigh!) Times do change.

#7: Cariola, I'd highly recommend the Tolkien translation if you do. It's wonderful - possibly the best I've read. And yes, I'd teach it, as it's a wonderful morality story, as well as being a romance and an adult fairy-tale. Tolkien captures beautifully the languid, easy language of summer versus the more clipped, hard language of winter, without being over the top. (I did it in the original Middle English and we looked at a lot of translations.) I haven't read the Simon Armitage version, however, and must hunt it down.

ETA me too re Donne! He still knocks my socks off.

Oh... I am so flattered to have you all visiting me and I love this kinda conversation. Thanks...

Tiffin - I will have to source out the Tolkein translation - I think that as well as reflecting the author's skill, it also reflects the times and the Armitage translation is very current, recognizably 2000s era. It would be cool to take a few different translations and compare them, perhaps?

Kiwidoc--the translation that I read for Sir Gawain and the Green Knight was the Norton Anthology of English Literature version. Probably a pretty standard translation. If you take the 3rd year early English lit course at SFU, and they do Sir Gawain, they read it in Middle English.

kiwi, it is fun to compare different translations. It's amazing how varied they can be. We had to do our own translations of a section, so I did a serious one but covered it up with a Sir Gawain takes to the streets version. Nearly gave my prof heart failure.

Nickelini - I don't think I would past the SFU course - reading Middle English would be too difficult for my impatient brain. Did you do that course?

Tiffin - that would also be a cool basis for a language course - take an epic, translate it and give it a modern twist, although maybe profs would find it stressful having a gallant knight facing modern day dilemmas.

Kiwi, I haven't taken the course yet, but I have to take either Medieval English or Chaucer. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is often studied in the Medieval English course, but not every term. I had actually registered for it this term, but thought better of it, decided I want summer off, and dropped the course. But one of these terms I'll take it. Middle English does get easier the more you work with it--like any challenging writer (for example, Shakespeare).

Thanks, everyone. I will look into the various editions, but if I do put it on the syllabus, they will likely read the version in the Norton Anthology. Considering the price of that textbook, I don't like to make the students spend extra, unless it's for something that's not in the textbook. They are getting a free copy of Norton's Restoration Drama critical edition, which contains plays that are a lot more fun than The Way of the World, the only one in the anthology.

Nickelini, I always found it helped to read it out loud, as with Shakespeare, because when you could hear the words, they often made perfect sense, while reading them left them muddy. I loved Chaucer too!

Cariola, we worked with photocopies of various translations, in addition to the core one (probably in Norton).

tiffin, unfortunately, there's a bit of a clamp-down on photocopying due to bedgetary constraints, so that's not a likely possibility for a class of 30 students, except perhaps a few pages excerpted. I could post pages on Blackboard, but again, that's not too practical as I've found that most of the studnets don't print out material for class discussion. Not sure whose translation is in the most recent Norton; they do update sometimes, as they did with the Heaney translation of Beowulf.

Tiffin -- yes, that reading out loud is a great trick, isn't it. It almost sounds like modern English then. See, Kiwidoc, you can do it too! No denying it, it's more work though.

I already loved the story of Sir Gawain (I'm 22, so still reasonably young - there are some of us about. And John Donne will ALWAYS connect with some) and SImon Armitage's poetry so it made sense for me to read his translation. I thought it was wonderful, but of course, how could I tell? I was pretty predisposed to liking it already. I didn't know he'd done the Odyssey too, which I like more than The Illiad. I'm not sure how All Points North would work across the pond, because the essays seem steeped in a kind of northern Englishness, (my family are from Stockport) but it's my favourite of what I've read of his.

Sorry to derail the thread!

38. Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast by Lewis Wolpert

It was a nice break to read some non-fiction. This was an interesting book about the evolutionary origins of belief. I really enjoyed it and it reinforces my own very scientifically biassed belief system.

The ideas were very very interesting to me in the medical field - they included a discussion on the resistance of the layman to scientific ideas and the frustration of the medical profession getting patients to understand their construct.

"Almost without exception, any common-sense view of the world is scientifically false" Think about the sun across the sky.

He talks about why people seek explanations and treatments from homeopaths or psychoanalytics, because they have representational explanations for things that appeal to the commonsense, yet have no scientific basis or proof.

Basically, Wolpert argues that our search for causal reasoning goes back to the time we were hunters and gatherers and there was a genetic imprint in our brains, necessary to evolve from monkeys and increase our technological advancement.

I was also interested to read some of his statistics - in fact 50% of Americans still reject Darwinism, as opposed to 10% of British people!! Now that is hard for me to believe!!!!

i can highly recommend this book - it is logical, accessible and most of all, scientifically rational!!

My review is here

50% of Americans still reject Darwinism I don't find it hard to believe - the current administration is proof enough that we're not evolving! Not to mention reality television, Walmart and Hummers. ;o)

Terri - I think that the Darwinism belief reflects the strong religious belief systems of many Americans, and this reinforces the propagation of belief systems which contradict scientific fact. I thought that Wolpert put his ideas across in a very tolerant and gentle way - and I think that he was provoked to write the book by his religious son, as a way to present his ideas without being dogmatic.

Other books touching on the same subject are The God Delusion by Hawkins and the Christopher Hitchens book - neither of which I have read.

I liked the fact that Wolpert touches on more than religion - he discussed science, health, paranormal phenomena, and moral issues. Most of the facts and ideas are familiar, but it was the conclusions and discussion around the ideas that was very interesting.

the current administration is proof enough that we're not evolving! Not to mention reality television, Walmart and Hummers.

....and these issues are related more to stupidity that to beliefs, IMO. (and that is my belief system talking!!). Here I am not being tolerant like Wolpert.

One more book to pick up and put in the tbr pile! On the same lines though, I teach a multi-disciplinary class that covers both global warming and evolution. I've tought it for about six semesters now, and it never fails that when exam time comes around, I'll get some very intelligent-sounding essays on both subjects, which end in some form of the following:"this is what I'm supposed to have learned, so I'm giving it to you here, but you should know I simply don't believe it and it shouldn't be taught since you're just teaching liberal propoganda". Come to think of it, it's not usually phrased all that intelligently, but their end comment always includes aspects of that last....

I am wondering who and what age group you teach Caroline. I also wonder if you live in an area with a high level of religious belief. Perhaps you should make this book part of the curriculum, as it is gentle yet clear about the way the ideas are put forward and the reasoning is totally comprehensible yet not didactic.

WRT to global warming, I can recommend the book The Weather Makers by Tim Flannery which scared the pants off me, for sure. I just finished reading it recently (my #35 read) and it is very up to date.

Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast sounds great--it's going on the wishlist. A couple of years back, I saw some articles on a study that had compiled surveys on public acceptance of evolution in 34 Western countries. The US was second-to-last, just above Turkey.

National Geographic article is here.

Medellia12 - thanks for the article. It is rather fascinating really.

I am thinking that if 8 of 10 Americans do not believe in evolution - then that ratio of Americans on LT will be similar?? Interesting.....

hmm--well, I think you're talking to me (my name is jennifer, but i do Teach in Carolina). I teach at a fairly conservative university, though I'm about to move north so this current term may be the last time I teach this course for some time. But yes, I am in the Bible belt though some of my students are from up north. If I teach this again, I may incorporate part of the book once I read it...the problem is that it's STS (science and technology in society), which is a fun course, but it covers so much material we can only spend a little time on each topic :( on a happy note, though, I plan on making a trip to the bookstore Monday to pick up this and a few other LTer recommendations...

So sorry, Jennifer, why did I think you were Caroline??? Excuse the mistake.....

Canada wasn't on there but although I like to think we'd be up near Iceland, I fear we'd probably be somewhere in the middle of the pack.

39. The Principles of Uncertainty by Maira Kelman

This is a whimsical book that takes an artist's look inside her life, with random and slightly interconnected comments and pictures. A visual journal.

Maira is a NY illustrator - she did The Elements of Style by Strunk.

This book succeeds, and perhaps should be one of those 5 minute perusal books, picked up for a few pages to enjoy and meditate upon. Of course I had to read it all front to back, but it will sit on my coffee table for a few weeks more.

40. Nothing to be frightened of by Julian Barnes

I have always looked out for new works by Barnes - having discovered him many years ago with Flaubert's Parrot and A history of the world in 10 1/2 Chapters, both of which delighted me for their originality and intelligence.

This is a non-fiction meditation on death - all 250 pages of it!! After the first 2 chapters I decided it was a definite navel-gazing obsessional work. By the end, it was more a pit-gazing neurotic diatribe of disjoined musings on the subject. Barnes has a razor-sharp intellect, is appropriately self-deprecating and obviously mentally devoted to exploration of all facets of the death process. But I was so glad to be finished it. It was all a bit too much for me.......

My review is here

Karen, try Arthur and George if you like Julian Barnes. It is a moving novel, with two very interesting main characters: Arthur conan Doyle of sherlock holmes fame, and an anglo-Indian lawyer, son of a vicar (George).

Oh yes, I quite enjoyed Arthur and George...!

Thanks Almigwin and Lindsacl - that is the one Barnes book that I have not yet read. It was somewhere on the Booker list one year I think?

41. The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher by Kate Summerscale

This is an engrossing nonfiction read. The author revisits the circumstances of a murder in a Victorian household in 1860 - I will not say more as the story unfolds in chronological order.

Summerscale manages to keep the story moving well right to the end. She enlivens the book with references to the emergence of detection, the literature that proceeded along side the case, anecdotal snippets which really kept me interested and overall societal reactions of the day. A very interesting read - well constructed and beautifully rendered.

As an example, the word 'clue' derives from 'clew', meaning a ball of thread or yarn, It had come to mean 'that which points the way' because of the Greek myth in which Theseus uses a ball of yarn, given to him by Ariadne, to find his way out of the Minotaur's labrinyth".

Enthusiastically recommended.

42. Poe: A Life Cut Short by Peter Ackroyd

Ackroyd sets the stage with this gothic rendering of a gothic figure. The strained, sad and alcoholic life of Poe is recounted with Ackroyd's signature morbidity and flare for conjuring up the atmosphere of the time and the person. Enjoyable and recommended.

Have your dictionary at hand. For example:

threnody (a song, poem or speech of lamentation),
animadversion (unfavourable or critical comment),
ratiocination (logical reasoning),
verisimilitude (appearance of truth, seeming to be true),

to name a few!

It really reads so very quickly--it only took me two days, with work in between. It's been one of my favorite ones I've read for Early Reviews :)

Thanks angrystar - I appreciate the encouragement for The 19th Wife!

43. The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

I had to read this after the Summerscale book tells me that Sergeant Cuff is modelled off the true-life detective in her book. The missing linen and several other 'clues' are also used by Collins.

I have seen The Moonstone on BBC or some other porduction so it was not a build up who-dunnit for me. Still a great read.

Interesting to understand the emergence of detective fiction - this novel being one of the first.

It also tied nicely into the Poe biography, as Poe wrote perhaps the first true detective story and his work is filled with morbidity and death. Ackroyd tells that Poe is the 'Newton of the criminal world', the forerunner of such 'ratiocinations' as Sherlock Holmes, Sergeant Cuff and Father Brown - the word 'detective' not being coined until 1843.

44. The Outcast by Sadie Jones

This English writer has an easy tight flow to her prose and displays definite talent. This her first book, she writes cleanly and sparingly. The protagonist, Lewis Aldridge, is the highlight of the book - a tragic, likeable character damaged by his circumstances and lack of understanding from his father. As a mother, my heart went out to him.

The topics covered are predictable in dysfunctional family life - incest, violence, drunkenness......all hidden in the conformist society of the 1950s. I enjoyed the read, although felt at times that it could have benefitted from some witty relief. Some of the prose did not quite work, and sometimes things went a bit too far, such as the Lewis/stepmother thing (don't want a spoiler here) but overall I can recommend it.

45. Bachelor Brothers Bed and Breakfast by Bill Richardson

Thanks to Nickelini, I pushed this read to the top of my (room of) TBRs.

Reading some Canadiana was a good change. I really enjoyed the witty repartee of Bill, who up until now had been more familiar to me on his talk show than on paper.

Bill Richardson is a CBC (Canadian Radio) broadcaster, and raconteur. He tells the story of two bachelors operating a bed and breakfast on an island near Vancouver.

This book is great fun and some parts of it made me laugh out loud. One episode, where the protagonists are driving to a party, dressed elaborately as chickens while warming caramel for apples on the car engine, made me giggle. Predictably the caramel spills over the engine and stalls the car.

"Imagine, if you will. Three middle-aged people, stumbling down a dark, deserted road, dressed as chickens, wandering through an environment populated by skinks, the occasional cougar, and other animals known to be sometimes hostile to poultry.............

Even better, the characters are eccentric bibliomaniacs, so lots of book references, too. Recommended to those who want a witty and pleasurable diversion.

That one sounds like fun, Karen. May I please have the summer off, just to read? PLEASE?

Laytonwoman - of course you have my permission!!

Oh..... to be freed from the shackles of life's business, non?

Kiwidoc -- glad you enjoyed the Bachelor Brothers too. And Laytonwoman3rd, it's a quick read, so you only need to call in sick for a few hours to read this one.

#49 Get thee behind me, Satan! All I need is the slightest encouragement!!

#46: I loved that book, Kiwi. I've had the sequel on my must buy list for ages now. It made me laugh too.

You have some good books here Karen. Interesting.

Thanks Amandameale - I keep on changing genre and weightiness based on my mood. When I was younger I would have spend several months on one author or theme. No longer have the time!!

I think different countries have a different stamp on their humour, so if you want to appreciate Canadian humour - Bill Richardson is a good start.
(It took me a while to find Canadian humour when I arrived here, as the Kiwi's are more 'out there', and the Brits have a darker side to their wit oftentimes. I got into trouble a bit, at the start!!

Luckily I live with one of the funniest men in Canada, IMO

#47 Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell

I made the mistake of watching the TV dramatization first - and I was quite surprised by the liberties taken by the BBC. The TV show presents the events in a different way - and adds several subplots not seen in the book. I wonder if it is an amalgam of some of her other work.

Overall enjoyable. Describes a small English village dominated by mostly spinisters, the customs and mores of the times, and the humour of the small events and eccentricities of people.

Most importantly, despite the gossip and social stratas, it emphasizes the social net of the females. It is a commentary on the times - almost a satire.

I preferred North and South overall because it had more of a plot-flow to the story, although both books deal with social commentary.

Recommended.

#48 The Master Bedroom by Tessa Hadley

This is an advanced reading copy send to me.

It was a quick and easy read, a book about a 40 year old female who retires from her hectic London job to look after her elderly mother in a small country village. Relationships develop from there.

I was not overly impressed and, although there was some good prose, I don't think I will pick-up any other books by her. It was not believable enough, not intense enough and just a bit irritating. The ending fell flat for me, too.

My review is here

Hi Karen ~ I haven't seen the TV adaption of Cranford yet, but I believe it is based on three of Gaskell's books - Mr Harrison's Confessions, Cranford and My Lady Ludlow. A few months ago I read Cranford Chronicles (a tie-in edition), which has all three stories in the one volume. Hoping to see the TV series one day, when it comes to Australia :)

Digifish - that totally explains it all. The TV series did have two or three subplots, so it makes sense. (It is worth watching - Judy Dench plays Matty beautifully and it is quite humorous).

Thanks for the enlightenment, Digifish - I will need to get hold of the other two reads, now.

49. The Book Of Lost Things by John Connelly

This is not the sort of read that I would normally be interested in, but I didn't realize this until the protagonist's fantasy life started. I persisted and quite enjoyed it in the end. It is a mix of 'Shrek' and 'The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe"! It deals with death of a mother, maturation of an obsessive compulsive child, and the fantasy land of books and fairy tales.

After the death of his mother and the remarriage of his father, David feels alone and unloved. He retreats into a fantasy world of fairy tales as he searches for his dead mother. In the process he encounters various fairy tale characters, surviving violent encounters, as his search continues. Not as engaging as the C.S. Lewis, it was aimed at an older audience and was definitely worthwhile, despite the fantasy-type genre which is not one of my favourite.

50. Swann's Way by Marcel Proust

This book is the famous first part of his Remembrance of Things Past, a sublime and innovative reflection of childhood memories based on seemingly random events and things. A very introspective and contemplative work.

Congratulations Kiwidoc! I realize there are many more volumes of Proust to go, but just getting through the first one is a significant accomplishment!

Karen: I felt the same way about The Book of Lost Things - not my genre but was pleased I read it.
And Swann's Way - one of my top 5 most beloved books of all time.

I have such mixed feelings about Proust--it's like giving up my manual transmission--I feel like reading him would be a concession to middle age. But if Amanda loves him, I must be wrong, wrong, wrong!!
(Still, I'm NOT giving up my manual---no, no, no.)

Thanks, Lindsacl. It was one of those books you 'have' to read and then have a surprising reaction to.

Amanda - I really did nearly give up on The Book of Lost Things when all the trolls and harpies and dwarves emerged. Fairy tales really are violent and graphic, non? However, it was good. I am wondering what your other 4 top beloved books might be??

Laytonlady - Proust seemed terribly class conscious, a true 'stuffed shirt', but a wonderful, melodious and gifted writer he undoubtedly is!! I did not realize I was conceding my youth when I read it, though.

When my husband and I were in college, he had a marvelous music professor whose home we sometimes visited. We stayed in touch with him over the years, although now we haven't seen him in 7 or 8 years because he went into an assisted living facility out of state, close to one of his sons. He had a shelf of Proust, in nicely bound editions (I think he may have inherited them from someone), and he would often say, "I think I'm ALMOST old enough to start reading Proust". Doing some mental math, I figure he was still saying that when he was well into his 70's, so...

>62 laytonwoman3rd: re: concession to middle age ... My husband was inspired to read Proust after attending a lecture by Alain de Botton, author of How Proust Can Change Your Life. He must have been about 43 when he started ... and 46 when he finally finished all 7 volumes. I'd call that middle-aged. There are worse mid-life crises however so I'm glad his was only Proust!

>63 kiwidoc: re: 'have' to read ... and yes, he is constantly pushing Proust on me. I have yet to give in.

>61 amandameale:: but when amanda says it's in her top 5, I start paying attention!

>65 lauralkeet: Did Proust change his life? Or just slow it down for awhile? ;)

>66 Cariola: LOL ... as far as I can tell he's the same guy I've always known !!

51. The Words - the autobiography of Jean-Paul Sartre

My first foray into Sarte, this was a meditation on his development into a writer and a contemplation of his early life influences. The book has two sections - his pre-writing life to about nine titled 'Reading', and his life thereafter, 'Writing'.

Speaking from childhood perspective, we see the development and influence of his family on his early development. It was poignant, thought provoking and frank. I enjoyed it.

I was lucky to have read Swann's Way in college, in a discussion section led by a novelist named varent najerian. Later, I gave in to pressure from my second husband, and after reading the whole thing in English, tackled it in french. I say tackled, but it felt like it tackled me. I conquered some of each of the volumes, but gave up on all of them. The french was beautiful, like Flaubert's was beautiful, but the characters were horrid.

Proust had an all encompassing eye for the foibles of french society, but the disillusion, unhappiness, and general dysfunctionality of the characters was for me a big pain. I realize the language was gorgeous, but I felt like - who the hell cares about these people.

Cripes, Almigwin. Most hubbies have less demanding requirements of their wives that reading Proust in French. Unbelievable.

I enjoyed Swann's Way but I did find the style rather pretentious. Hoewever, I am no Proustian scholar and the writing was beautiful.

Karen, I nagged that husband to learn french, because he loved french literature and french opera so much. He tackled it seriously with college courses at night, and became much more proficient than I.

He then proceeded to throw away all the books we had in english translation and replace them with the french originals in good editions. I had agreed to the process in principle but chickened out later. He threw away my whole set of Balzac, and I had to buy it again! Luckily it wasn't expensive. I have a set in Florida also.

He was really a nice guy, but a little compulsive where the library was concerned. He was constantly replacing paperbacks with hardcovers, and bad editions with good editions. He really LOVED our library, and I miss him a lot.
He bought me all the Isaac Bashevis Singer in Yiddish that he could find!

My current husband doesn't read or know a foreign language but he is a lot easier to live with.

For me Proust is not so much about the characters as the way things are told. Everything is in detail, but a kind of dreamy detail - as if the decsriber is there in the world but at the same time apart from it (perhaps living more in his own mind than in the reality of the moment).

I think you can get an idea of how you will react to Proust by reading the beginning of Swann's Way where the disconnect between waking/sleeping/waking is described over (from memory) about 4 or 5 pages.

If you are still reading after 5 pages and looking forward to what is coming next, you will probably be about to embark on a long but fruitful journey.

If you are thinking what the #@** is going on here after page 3, it is probably not for you.

Interesting reading by the way kiwidoc, forgive me for just barging in.

YEs zenomax - I totally agree with you on the dreamy detail comment. Thanks.

.....and you are not barging in at all - nice to have some dialogue!! (and always welcome to meeting expat Kiwis).

Almigwin - sounds like a wonderful library, though I would not forgive a 'book discarder' very easily.

I wondered why your thread was so busy, Kiwi, and now I understand: Proust! I have The Remembrance of Things Past in a boxed set sitting here looking at me. Winter reading. My French has lapsed too much to tackle it in the original, so a translation will have to do. I like your approach: a book of it at a time, every now and then. Well done, you!

LTW3rd: I read Swann's Way when I was c. 39, NOT OLD!! I did have to slow my reading pace drastically but for me it proved worthwhile.

Karen, I wanted to mention No Exit by Sartre which is a wonderful play and gives you a picture of his philosophy in very condensed form. There is also a study of Sartre by Iris Murdoch Sartre Romantic Rationalist that she wrote when very young, but it is still well regarded according to Peter Conradi her biographer.

Almigwin - thanks for the suggestions, which sound like a good way to introduce myself to Iris! I will look those up!

Amanda - I am not going to ask you to define old as I am ignoring a half century in one month!!

Tiffin - reading Proust in my first language was enough of a challenge! I will aim to do one of his Remembrance collection each year - I have a pristine Folio set waiting for me.

52.The Smoking Diaries by Simon Gray

This is a memoir by playwright Simon Gray. It is self-deprecating, funny and witty. He seems to be a master of rambling long sentences which add humour and depth to a witty remark.

I really enjoyed it for a humorous aside. However, the lightness of the wit cannot disguise some quite dark undertones to the book - cancer, debt, loss of youth. It felt quintessentially British - and all the better for it. I would highly recommend this read and am on the look-out for his others.

(He wrote A Month in the Country in play form!)

53. The Painted Veil by Somerset Maugham

Wonderful story. Wonderful writer.
Intend to read his other books now.

54. The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry.

This is the second book I have read by Barry (the first being A Long Long Way). This book ties in with A Long Long Way with characters reappearing from a different perspective.

He has a wonderful way with words - often poetic, always engaging. Strong Irish themes run through his books, this one touching mostly on the Catholic Church's role in Irish mores, the uses and abuses of the Lunatic Asylum and societal attitudes towards non-conformists. It also beautifully highlights the tool of memory and variable recall in the structure of the novel.

Highly recommended.

The Painted Veil seems to be everywhere I turn lately. I'm intrigued. Do you find him challenging to read?

Be sure to read The Razor's Edge, kiwidoc!

Nickelini - some of us are doing The Painted Veil as a group read. I have read Maugham as a teen and revisiting him 30 years later is a delight. I think you would like him, Joyce. I am going to reread ALL his stuff.

and thanks, Marise. The Razor's Edge will be next on the list.

55. Nixon and Mao by Margaret Macmillan

I needed a non-fiction break again and picked up this Canadian author on a whim. I have previously read her book about women and The Raj - a look at the place of English women in India during the English colonization. I enjoy her writing style which is entertaining and incisive.

This topic of Americo-China relationships in the 60s and 70s is perhaps a less appealing topic to me. It was rather laborious in the end. She is kind to the reputations of Kissinger and Nixon for sure.

If you have a desire to learn about the Chinese power structure coming out of the Cultural Revolution and the interactions with US top government people in that era, this may be for you. Interesting but not captivating.

#77 Karen! I didn't mean that older than 39 is old!!! I'm nearing the half-century myself, and we're both utterly fabulous.
Enjoying your reviews, as usual.

Of course - Amanda. I appreciate the moral support.

Reading has been taking a back seat to domesticity this month but managed a few books:

56. Modernism by Peter Gay

This is an erudite look at the Modernism movement in the arts over the last century. I know that the book was criticized on several levels by the experts - mostly for omissions (particularly the lack of females mentioned). However I found it a very interesting read - discussing modernistic architecture, writing, visual art, theatre and cinema. I like his writing style a lot.

57. Cold Cream - my early life and other mistakes by Ferdinand Mount

I read this book because of it's placement on the Samuel Johnson longlist for 2008. It is a memoir of the writer's early life - involving the intelligensia of England in the 1920-30 period.

I found it quite disappointing and ended up feeling I was reading a collection of short and dislocated gossip columns. Despite some interesting tidbits and a writing style that was easy and chatty, it did not do it for me at all.

58. Netherland by Joseph O'Neill

I had not heard of this writer until I picked up his book, although he did write a NYT Notable memoir called Blood-Dark Track before this book.

I really enjoyed the writer's style and the perspective that he is able to take on New York, American corporatism and post - 9/11.

He spends quite a bit of the early part of the book engrossed in cricket, which may not appeal to all but I am rather a fan of the game myself. I could never understand why the game was not ubiquitous in the USA and this book gave me a perspective I enjoyed. I may have enjoyed it even more if I had been more familiar with NY - as there is the two main perspectives he provides of NY: the fast paced commercial and business aspect, and the immigrant subcultures and their communities.

Well worth the read. Highly recommended.

59. Beasts of No Nation by Uzodinma Iweala

I probably would not have picked up this book if I had fully understood the author's agenda and content - mainly because I hate reading about brutality, violence, rape and child exploitation. So beware if this is a hard topic for you.

This writer is actually born and bred in NY city. However, as he explains in his postscript, he stays tightly connected to his Nigerian past.

The book takes the perspective of a young boy caught in civil war and pulled into a rebel army. In this context he lives a life surrounded by violence, rape and fear. It is short, thankfully and this is a smart move on the author's part as such childish intensity and shocking brutality could not be sustained in a longer prose piece.

kiwidoc, I agree with your thoughts on Beast of No Nation. It packs quite a punch ... and is not my usual cup of tea, either. I actually preferred A Long Way Gone, which was a personal memoir along the same theme.

Back from summer holidays and a frenetic two months.

Read a few books.....

60. The Story of a Marriage by Andrew Sean Greer.

This is the new book by the author of The Confessions of Max Tivoli. It was an engaging read, if not somewhat frustrating considering the passivity of the female character Pearlie. I understand it has received high accolades from the reviewers. It incorporates American culture in the 1950s and revisits the era from the perspective of war, sexual repression and the social confines of that time.

61. What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami

This Japanese writer moves way from his superlative fiction to write a short memoir incorporating his obsession with running. It was a great read and interesting to get into the mind of the writer's world. You don't have to be a runner to enjoy his reflections.

62.The Lemur by {{Benjamin Black

This book was sent to me as an advanced reading copy. This is John Banville, reaching out to a different audience with his mystery pseudonym.

I am a great fan of Banville so I was feeling chuffed at getting this ARC. But, although the prose was great as always, the mystery premise fell a little flat. He persists in creating atmosphere and character depth but the genre demamds more wrt narrative and plot development.

Worth the read but Banville should perhaps stick to what comes best. (maybe that doesn't pay the bills as well!!)

Karen-- Good to see you back. I read an article by Murakami in recent New Yorker magazine titled What I Talk About When I Talk About Running. I didn't realize it was a book--I guess I read an excerpt (?). One day I'll get around to reading some of his novels. Hope you had a great summer!

Joyce - thanks for the welcome back. I cannot believe what a busy summer I had. I am exhausted being on holiday and all!!!

Murakami is an excellent writer IMO- but definitely someone you either like or do not. He does have some magic realism in his novels but I like the way he uses this technique.

63. Dear American Airlines by Jonathan Miles.

This is a debut American novel - it made me feel quite old reading this, with the youngish lingo and the hard-edged cynical whine. A tad overpoweringly raw for me, even with the display of obvious talent and humour.

The flawed alcoholic protagonist was rather life weary (? is there some autobiography here). There was humanity and some uplifting moments to it all as well.

Interested to hear what others think of this new writer.

64. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer

After hearing a lot of good things about this book on LT I pushed it to the top of my TBR. It was interesting but not great. A light and entertaining read about the people of Guernsey during the Second World War.

I am never that partial to the format of letters which is how this is writen - although it works to interconnect a fairly large number of characters seamlessly. I also felt that the pace and structure of the book changed dramatically at the end - possibly when the writer's niece stepped in to finish it. I know the writer died before publication.

Overall an average to good read. Recommended for a light interlude.

65. The Time We Have Taken by Steven Carroll

This book won the Miles Franklin Award in Australia and was kindly sent to me by a wonderful Australian LTer, friend and bibliophile. Thanks so much, Amanda.

It was a lovely read, quite lyrical, and a social commentary on the structure and evolution of the suburb. Worth getting hold of, although I am not sure about availability in North America.

Karen, you always seem to read the most topical, "now" books. I'm so many years behind, trying to catch up. (Spent a lot of my misguided youth--into my 30s--reading a lot of non-fiction and mass-market type stuff and missed a lot of the really great books). I think I'd do well just to follow your library and ratings, because we tend to have the same tastes on the books we've read. Unfortunately, considering my SFU load this fall, I won't be able to follow you until at least December. :-)

Joyce - what a sweet thing to say, although I am not sure it is true. I do have great advisors on LT!!

\I have watched your thread in this group and you have some great books on your list. I have picked up several great reads from your thread so the feeling is mutual. I am following you around too!! Are you reading any good books at SFU?

Reading

66. The Northern Clemency by Phillip Hensher.

While I cannot claim to have finished this 700+page saga yet, I am enjoying the read so far after 200 pages or so. This is one of the Booker shortlisted finalists this year.

Have not posted for a long time due to family issues, so catch-up here:

67. Eva Moves the Furniture by Margot Livesey

I know everyone else loved the Guernsey Pie book, but I preferred this one if I had to pick. I thought Livesey had a great talent for prose and the presence of ghosts and 'unseen companions' worked for me in this lyrical contemplation on love and family. Recommended

68. Thunderstruck by Erik Larson

An engaging account of an early 20th century murder interwoven with Marconi's development of wireless and the new world order that followed. A good non-fiction interlude.

69.Crime and Punishment by Dostoyevsky

A great re-read which kept me sane on a long flight to NZ. Can there be anything better than a Russian 19th century novel when you need distraction. A great classic worth many re-reads.

70.Lush Life by Richard Price

Stepped out of my usual picks to read this gritty NY cops book. Although it was not my cup of tea, it was illuminated by some startlingly vivid narrative. A really visual writer who makes the plot seem to pass in front of you. If you like crime and grit with unputdownable narrative, this would be for you.

71. The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery

Moving from one extreme to the other with this very engaging and funny book that packs a punch of philosophical thought on modern day life and the Parisian elite. Just up my street. Filled with literary references, it was a poignant read and I finished it quickly,regreting that it was over so fast.

Barbery's book was published by Europa Editions and I rushed to their website to check out some of the other European authors there. Will delve into a few in the future for sure.

Hey, Karen

Sorry to hear you've had family issues, but it's great that you're still reading! I'm feeling really gipped this fall because I have so much school reading and little time for recreation books. Hope everything is okay with you.

I just noticed your comment: "can there be anything better than a Russian 19th century novel when you need a distraction." No there isn't!

In June 2007 my elderly mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer, and she died in early August. I drove almost every day to see her out in Abbotsford, and after a few weeks I got tired of the radio and all my CDs, and so I got Anna Karenina from the library. It was a little haven to escape to during those drives. I ended up buying the book too to read when I wasn't in the car. It was the perfect tonic. A close friend of mine did a similar thing when her mom was dying, but with the complete works of Jane Austen. Maybe it's quality 19th century lit in general (?).

Thanks Nickelini!

Yes, I have a feeling that I will be working through quite a few Russian novels in the next few months. Unfortunately my father is very ill - but the dilemma is that he is far away in NZ. The distance provides really difficulty with me. Anyway - I did retreat to Crime and Punishment which is such a powerfully written piece.

Keep up the good work at school - you are probably reading things that I will never access. Recreational reading can be highly overrated but if you have some spare time try my #67 and #71 above. They were fun.

I picked up Thunderstruck recently at my lovely indie bookstore; glad to see that you enjoyed it. *pushes book nearer top of TBR pile*

Yes, LW3rd, it was interesting and I always need a non-fiction break after a run of fiction.

72. Man In The Dark by Paul Auster

If you are an Auster fan, I think you will be very disappointed with this slim novel, which really should be called a novella. The book is about a 70 something man who has a sleepless night thinking over his life, his family, his fantasies with parallel worlds, etc. While I am a big fan of Auster's early work, this was not as good. It felt to me that he had lost his way in the story. The reflections and ideas didn't pin themselves onto the character well enough. I thought he probably was having writer's block.

Too bad, 'cos he is such a talent.

Having said that, I still enjoyed it and read it quickly in a hour or two.

73. Out of the picture - Volume 1 is a lovely big art book from animation and cartoon artists. Great art and a great perusing book for some visual punch.

Some good stuff here, kiwi. I'm going to keep my eye open for the hedgehog book. Haven't read Dostoyevsky since my teens....wonder if I'm up to it now!

Having read Crime and Punishment last year for the second time, I had to laugh at your comment, "Crime and Punishment kept me sane . . . "

Don't get me wrong, it's a great book of course and I very much enjoyed reading it and discussing it with my wife (we read it together), but I wouldn't count on Crime and Punishment to "keep me sane" in any environment! Just tickled my funny bone, is all.

Thanks Tiffin - the Hedgehog book is worth reading.

rocketjk - perhaps sanity is not the right word! But I am a big fan of emotional violence and grit so it filled the bill.

74. The Blue Flower by Penelope Fitzgerald.

I was inspired to read this book after a fellow LTer posted this very interesting article about Booker judges comments. Several of the judges commented on the omission of this masterpiece of a book (Susan Hill, Francis King) so I was curious to read it.

It is indeed a fine book, about many things. The brilliance of the book is the way she captures the Saxony period in the 1790s, how she portrays the genius of the poet Fritz and his family life. It is a book that has many layers yet is deceptively spare in style. Highly recommended.

75. The Not-So-Very-Nice Goings-On at Victoria Lodge by Philip Ardagh.

This is a silly book where the author - an English writer of children's humour - fails at his task to provide a witty/funny story based on late 19th Century illustrations from 'The Girl's Own Paper". It did not work.

I've yet to read Blue Flower, though it's on my TBR list. The Bookshop by Fitzgerald is also terrific. After reading it, I decided to read all of her work, though, at this point, the only other one I've read is The Golden Child. It's interesting, mainly because it was her first fiction book and she wrote it, rather late in her life, to entertain her husband, who was dying at the time. Will keep reading her until I get to Blue Flower!

Thanks for your comment, theaelizabeth.

Fitzgerald is an example of a female writer who starts very late in life, due to her responsibilities raising three children, etc. It goes to the idea that it is very difficult to write and have a conventional family life, especially in the middle class.

I am looking forward to her other books now.

theaelizabet and kiwidoc: I am also a a very big fan of Penelope Fitzgerald. A book of her wonderful short stories was published posthumously in 2000 called Means of Escape.

Here are her novels:

# The Golden Child (1977)
# The Bookshop (1978)
# Offshore (1979)
# Human Voices (1980)
# At Freddie's (1982)
# Innocence (1986)
# The Beginning of Spring (1988)
# The Gate of Angels (1990)
# The Blue Flower (19

I loved them all, but mostly the Beginning of Spring with its very odd setting - an English family in pre-revolutionary Russia and a troubled marriage,

The Gate of An gels with its charming romance,

At Freddie's which is a drama school modeled after one she taught at along with A. S. Byatt, who told her that her daughter had a touch of genius!

Offshore is great fun with its setting on a houseboat.

In the Blue Flower, I found the story of Novalis and his nymphet hard to understand. A Lolita without any sex, and just full of purity and beauty, (and tragedy)

almigwin - thanks for your very helpful comments on this author. I appreciate the precises! It looks like I will have to read Beginning of Spring next.

I did not realize that she had died.

The Blue Flower story seemed to fit the era, with selection of the wife at a very young age, in this case 12. I took the attitude that Fritz (Novalis) was looking for someone to fit his view of purity and mesh with his philosophical and poetic ideals. He recognized this in Sophie on first sight, and never wavered.

It is interesting that people around him did not have a similar view of Sophie and she was portrayed as a rather plain girl with average intellect.

There was a lot of anticipation - the preparing for pre-anaesthetic operations, the waiting for marriage, the sibling rivalry, the blossoming genius of Fritz.

Fitzgerald keeps the general tone of the book above raw depictions of sex and violence and overt jealousy and outright despair - such simmering control with such spare prose.....

She portrayed Novalis as a totally irrational person. Sophie was a flibbertigibbet and hardly the saint he saw. I think people who see things that don't really exist are nut cases, even if they are poets. The book was touching and beautiful just the same, but i didn't believe it for a minute.

I think Gandhi married at that age in India, and later in life gave up sex entirely.
He indulged heavily in his youth, and his wife suffered from the rejection later. It is hard to live with a real saint.

Miriam, thanks for your comments. It is wonderful to get feedback on a book recently read - makes it so much richer. I can always rely on you to discuss almost any book I read!

#116: I think that's the first time I've ever seen Gandhi and sex in the same sentence.

76.Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

A re-read which needs no review or discussion. A pleasurable interlude.

77. Sea Of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh

Enjoyable saga of merging characters caught up in the poppy trade and sea faring life of 1800s India. Recommended. A Booker shortlist finalist.

>119 kiwidoc: kiwidoc ~ I started reading Sea of Poppies about an hour ago, so I feel encouraged by your positive comments about it :)

Hope you enjoy it, Digifish. Let me know....

More reads:

78.We Bought a Zoo by Benjamin Mee

This book was sent to me as an advanced reading copy. I understand that there is also a BBC TV series about this zoo, but I have not seen it.

I was unimpressed by this book. Through-out, I felt like the author was attempting to create the 'human drama' of the reality TV show, but unfortunately not meeting the mark. It was disappointing in almost all respects. I only finished it because of the obligation of early reviewers.

It probably doesn't help that I am completed unimpressed by the concept of the zoo - even with the author's expressed interest in breeding of endangered species and references to Attenborough and Durrell.

79. Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

Continuing on my quest to read some of the classics, this was a wonderful read and a good interlude from mediocrity. Even though the story is well known, the reading of it was a delight.

80. Nature's Little Wonders - Bees by Candace Savage

This Canadian has spun another entertaining delight in her whimsical exploration of those fascinating creatures "Bees". Her books are not inclusive or greatly detailed, but entertaining and very pretty. Recommended for visual interest, an engaging topic, presented beautifully.

Ooh, lots of interesting books here. Thanks for the reviews

81. Telex from Cuba by Rachel Kushner



Cuba in the 1950s is bought to the reader from many perspectives, taking you through their revolutionary times with great skill. Kushner has a marvelous way with words and she beautifully evokes the period, the stress and conflict of revolution and the changing status of the Americans within Cuba.

My difficulty was the scattered feeling to the book - with no main narrator and many different character developments. There was an almost journalistic quality to the structure which made it difficult to centre myself in the book.

Recommended.

82. Waiting for the Barbarians by John Coetzee



A small masterpiece not to be undertaken by the down-hearted or depressed. A dark, black allegory on the downfalls of the Empire. Explores the dark side of human nature, love, fear and the need to conform as a group. Highly recommended.

83. Telling Tales by Alan Bennett



A short and very sweet tribute to this wonderful writer's parents and young life. A snap shot of World War 2 England from the point of view of his childhood recollections. Recommended.

84. Other Lulus by Philip Hensher



Discovering this author with his Booker nominated The Northern Clemency this (much) shorter book showed off Hensher's talent for sparse and fluid prose. I had some difficulty understanding the relationship of the protagonist and her teacher/husband, which seemed very flat, uninvolved and disconnected, but that seems to be the style of this writer. He fosters antagonism and disinterest in many of the main relationships. It was oddly effective, however.

Recommended.

85.Unfeeling by Ian Holding



A powerful novel about Zimbabwe (perhaps) which describes the turmoil surrounding the loss of white supremacy in that country.

Describes the take-over of a farm with the brutal murder of the owner and his wife, and portrays the grief and anger of the orphaned teen who has to come to terms with such horror.

Overall, a 'Coetzeesque' style narrative, although not perhaps quite as talented or as unremittingly bleak , but nevertheless defo. a recommended read.

(It is unfortunate for these African writers that they have Coetzee as their bench-mark).

What a beautiful cover photo !! Nicely done kiwidoc.

Why feel badly for the Africans? All the novelists in the world can be compared with Tolstoy, and Dostoevsky, and Dickens, and Thackeray, and Henry James, and Balzac, and Flaubert, and Proust, and Joyce, and George Eliot. And yet they still put pen to paper (or hit the keyboard of the PC).

Thank you Lindsacl!!! I had some very good helpers.

I guess you are right - Almigwin - I just finished a Coetzee so it was a comparison staring me in the face.

I'm confused by your statement though -- do you mean Coetzee is that good? I just bought a Coetzee book, have not read him yet.

Hi Terri - yes it is good to be obsure cos no one can hold you to anything. I mean to say that he is excellent and a very hard act to follow. Having said that, you may find him unremittingly bleak and dark, so it is all down to personal taste in the end.

Terri, to add my 2 cents, I think Coetzee has written masterpiece after masterpiece. I especially liked The Life and Times of Michael K., Waiting for the Barbarians, The Master of St. Petersburg, Disgrace and Elizabeth Costello. I think he is the greatest living writer.

Wow, what an endorsement. I'll move Disgrace higher up the stack and look for Michael K. Bleak I can do.

I have to agree that Coetzee is genius material. He will be read in three hundred years, I am sure.

86. The Dying Animal by Phillip Roth



This is a philosophical tale of sexual desire, the sexual revolution of the 60s, aging and mortality. Although clever I did not enjoy it at all. It was too graphic, just too much. It felt like I was overhearing a dirty old man ramble on about his dirty secrets.

I way preferred the Julian Barnes take on dying Nothing to be Frightened Of

Hmm. Easy to say I'll skip that one!

Hi - just wondered whether you are going to do a 'best of' list for your 2008 reading?

There are some very interesting books here - and it would be nice to know which have been your favourites.

Joyce - I would skip the Roth, but I know that it is a personal taste thing and this book was OTT in my opinion.

zenomax - thanks for dropping in. That is a good idea, doing a surmmary of the top five perhaps. I think I will wait until end of December and wrap up this thread with that. Thanks. *waves to fellow Kiwi abroad*

87. The Vertigo Years by Philipp Blom



A wonderfully rich book about the 'golden' decade and a half before the First World War.

If you enjoy reading history, this is a wonderful read. Each chapter starts with a thematic event, but his overall synthesis of ideas encompasses many different facets of this decade and events leading up to it, including the emergence of feminism and suffragettes, modernism in art and literature, eugenics, the Boer War, the horrors of the Congo, the battle for supremacy of the waves, the rise of the machine, and the change in world order of power.

Machines, speed, feminism and sex are the overriding themes which make the period so vertiginous.

Blom is a gifted writer who entertains as he informs. His overriding thesis is that all the major sociological and political changes of the coming century are foreshadowed in this decade, despite the commonly held view (by me at least) that this was a glorious age of contentment and stability before a tumultuous thirty years ahead. Wow, was I wrong about that.

(I did not know that England was one of the last countries to allow woman full voting power in the 1920s, and that the last forced sterilization of a person was performed in 1983 in Oregon!)

That sounds absolutely fascinating. Another one for the wishlist!

I agree, this is a book that wasn't on my radar but sounds great!

It is certainly a fascinating time in history - pivotal for development of the modern world. A definite recommend, wandering-star and zenomax.

I had it on my TBR list after reading Peter Gay's Modernism, this being a more focused book about modernism/arts in around the same time period. I enjoyed the wider historical aspect of Blom's book more, though they are both recommended.

88.The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins



Excellent, rational and crystal clear. Covers all the bases and scrapes under the mystic non-touchable aura surrounding theism. Pulls no punches while doing so, which I wholeheartedly appreciated.

89. Through Black Spruce by Joseph Boyden



It took me a few chapters to get into this book, and I was initially a tad confused about which narrator's voice was speaking, chapter to chapter. The second half of the book was more engaging.

This is the story told by two narrators (Will and Annie). It is well-paced and captures the spirit and mood of the Indian Peoples in Northern Canada beautifully.

I really liked the descriptions of Northern 'bush' life, the rhythm of it, the interaction and dependence on nature. In this way, the older character Will spins a very realistic and engaging story.

Annie, the younger girl, goes South and becomes a model in New York. I thought the attempt to contrast Indian country living with the fast city life was commendable, but the idea of her becoming a model just did not sit well.

Overall, a very good read, well paced, recognizably evocative of the Indian way of life, touching on some of their social hurdles yet not moralizing. A well crafted book. Recommended.

90. At A Loss For Words by Diane Schoemperlen



This Canadian author, who I have previously admired for her innovative fiction style, did not impress me much this time. Detailing the rise and fall of a relationship thirty years after a teen romance, she portrayed her ideas in a stream of consciousness style which was definitely effective. The reader is shuffled through random thoughts and ideas on overcoming writer's block, living in the head of a forty-something woman obsessively attached to emails and the internet during her long-distance relationship.

Some of her prose was very evocative of the love pangs we all feel when falling in and out of love. But some of it was too much, too gushy. It felt like the book was marketed to a shopping aisle romance reader at times. I was disappointed after her great earlier pieces. Maybe I just was not in the mood.

Wow, just ten away from 100! You're gonna make it!

Such intelligent and thoughtful readings, Kiwi. I always enjoy a visit here to see where you've been lately.

You're reading at a furious clip, woman. I don't see how you do it!

Thanks for dropping by, Terri, Tiffin and LW3.

I don't think I will reach 100, 'cos I have a really hectic schedule in the next month, but maybe some judicial choices (slim volumes) might do it??

I usually have a fiction and a non-fiction on the go at the same time - so it may seem like a fast clip but some of these have been on the go for over a month.

91. Great Granny Webster by Caroline Blackwood



What a gem of a little book. The narrator relives her experiences visiting her austere, humorless and unforgiving Gt Grandma, her flippantly suicidal aunt and her crazy psychotic grandmother.

A delightful expose of an aristocratic family, I was amusingly reminded of my own great aunt when reading this book, an aunt that brandished an umbrella and used it liberally as a weapon again myself and my siblings. As well, my aunt had much of the same qualities as Aunt Lavinia. The culture of the English 'breeding' in the Victorian, Georgian and post war English is marvelously portrayed, emphasizing the generation gaps of a decaying Empire. For such a small book, it packed a mighty punch.

oh this one looks right up my alley, Kiwi. Going to plop that one in the basket right away. I love stories about slightly mad English families.

ETA got a good condition used copy on Amazon for $2.02...what an odd price! But a good low one. Hooray.

That does sound delightful. One of my great grandmothers was deemed crazy by her family, but what I think is that she was independent, had some feminist beliefs and a strong personality, and didn't want anything to do with men after her husband died, thank you very much! Of course, it made others uncomfortable, hence the crazy label.

92. Gentleman Jim by Raymond Briggs



This is a delightful graphic novel, and one of the first of its genre. Originally published in the 1980s, this re-publication is the first time I have had the pleasure to read it. It is a poignant study of a man who lives by cleaning toilets, who dreams of other ways to spend his life. Despite its simplicity, it sends a powerful message about class barriers, and education and opportunities.

It took me back to other graphics from this wonderful English illustrator - Fungus the Bogeyman, The Snowman and Father Christmas.

Highly recommended.

93. Apples and Oranges - my brother and me, lost and found by Marie Brenner



This is a memoir about a difficult relationship between Jewish siblings - the author discussing her relationship with her older brother who dies prematurely of lung cancer.

I picked it up after reading some excellent reviews on the book - but what a disappointment. It was fragmentary, poorly constructed, with little to offer except some banal observations of a difficult personality.

The obvious comparison book would have to be the much superior memoir about Susan Sontag by her son David Rieff called Swimming in a Sea of Death: A Son's Memoir. This book covered much the same ideas; the search for a cure to incurable cancer, the difficulties coming to terms with mortality, the strains and stresses of relationships. But done with so much more sensitivity; just so much better, more insightful and ultimately a much more meaningful tribute. It succeeded on all the levels that Apples and Oranges failed.

A couple of interesting picks here, kiwi! Have you read Ethel and Ernest by Raymond Briggs? It's the story of his mom and dad (and peripherally himself) before and during WWII. Stellar book.

Thanks Terri - I cannot remember if I have read Ethel and Ernest so I will go back and revisit.

I discovered Briggs reading with my kids - the Father Christmas book is laugh out loud funny. He makes Santa into such a grumpy and 'human' character - it is my favourite Christmas read.

94. The Lost Daughter by Elena Ferrante



I certainly had to sit down for a while and think about this novel after finishing it. It is the study of one woman, divorced, forty-eight with grown children, who takes a beach holiday and contemplates her life as a mother. It reads like a psychological thriller.

The character is selfish, in fact so selfish you cringe as she relates with brutal honesty her failings, her awareness of these failings and her inability to change.

Her maternal instincts few and far between, and the reader struggles to find any sympathy for her character as she contradicts the ideal of a caring and nurturing mother. If fact, she plainly states, "I am an unnatural mother". Impulses that most mothers may only imagine, she acts upon. She relates this all with brutal honesty.

A very engaging writer, who grabs the readers attention rapidly and pulls us through a psychological wringer. Recommended.

We love The Snowman--especially the DVD version with it's haunting soundtrack. And I forgot that Fungus the Bogeyman is also Briggs. I'll have to look up these other books because they all sound great, especially Gentleman Jim.

Kiwi, I love the Briggs books. The first we discovered was Fungus the Bogeyman. We still say "boibye Mould" to each other when we leave for somewhere. I did a review of Ethel and Ernest here. And yes, the Father Christmas ones come out each Christmas...including Father Christmas taking a holiday. Merry Christmas, Cat. Merry Christmas, Dog.

Karen: I LOVE your reviews.

#129 teelgee: Yes Terri, Coetzee is that good.

Tiffen - I love, love the Briggs books too - he was a wonderful Christmas reality check for my kids. We all way preferred his books to, say, The Grinch. (whose story made me feel just miserable and annoyed 'cos it lacked humour)

...and thanks Amanda for pumping up my ego!

95. The Year of the Jouncer by Simon Gray



I discovered Simon Gray when I had a bout of Granta mania - reading any and all titles by this publisher for a while. I read The Smoking Diaries earlier this year - a hilarious, laconic and self-deprecating look at the playwright's life, interspersed with amusing anecdotes and self-confessional moments. Presented with a kind of lazy, intimate and conversational 'stream of consciousness' style. Hilarious stuff.

Two further books have been published. The Year of the Jouncer is the second, and this year a third - Coda. I know there will not be any more as the author died in August this year from an aortic aneursym (and not lung cancer as many presumed.)

I can heartily recommend this book to all who enjoy delving into the mind of a very clever sixty-something Englishman. It is exclusively English in the tone and wit - so bear that in mind if you chose to read it.

Now that sounds just perfect. I do love delving into the minds of clever sixty-something Englishmen. hoho

Well, Tiffin, I have a bit of anxiety "recommending" books as what is good for one is poison for another.

96. The Transposed Heads by Thomas Mann



Much less well known, to me anyway, is this shorter book by the German Nobel Prize winner. Thanks to A-musing for pointing it out to me.

There is so much to contemplate in such a slender volume, ‘The Transposed Heads’ retells an Indian myth of lust and desire and love and identity. Two men fall for a beautiful woman - the intellectual one becomes love-sick' and takes her as his bride.

The philosophical core of the book is the dilemma of choice and desire, ‘brawn’ versus ‘brain’ in this instance, where the woman falls for both men, one for his body and the other his ‘head’.

Visiting a temple, the men cut of their heads and the Goddess of the temple instructs the woman to reattach them, making sure that the heads are facing the right way. However the heads are mixed up and become attached to the wrong bodies – perhaps slightly intentionally as Mann hints later.

The rest of the fable deals with the moral dilemmas of monogamy, friendship, identity and lust. Who is her husband? What are her loyalties and responsibilities? What are her desires? Read this book and find out how it plays out.

97. Minotaur by Benjamin Tammuz



Another Europa Editions book discovered, and this time an Israeli novelist!

Spy novel does not quite fit the description of this novel, as it has a quiet and contemplative pace. Cleverly constructed, with some beautiful prose, Tammuz poses questions of imagined, unrequited and obsessive love. He enters the minds of three men, recounting the central events from three overlapping angles, and for the most part ignoring the physicality of love. It is a very good read.

98. Maus a Survivor's Tale - my father bleeds history by Art Spiegelman



A superlative graphic novel, recounting events in Jewish ghettos and concentration camps of WW2. The author's father recounts his experiences and the author interprets the horrific events - the mice being the Jews and the cats assuming the evil outline of the Nazis.

Recommended highly. I will find the second of these novels in very short order.

99. Maus II: A survivor's tale - and here my troubles begin by Art Spiegelman



Wonderful graphic novel, although overall I preferred the first one. The theme of the Holocaust and his father's life are continued and concluded.

100. The Days of Abandonment by Elena Ferrante



The author maintains her tone of detachment and selfishness in the second of her books I have read. Ferrante is a truly talented writer, and the protagonist writes of the weeks following her husband's sudden departure to live with a younger woman. The rage, self-pity, depression, anger and final acceptance are a roller coaster ride for the reader. The protagonist again appears to ignore and resent her children, and is certainly not a nurturing mother. Although the general tone of the book may not appeal to many, it was a very worthwhile read, albeit slightly shocking in parts.

101: Atmospheric Disturbances by Rivka Galchen



I loved this book. The protagonist, Leo, is a 50 something psychiatrist, married to a younger, beautiful women, Rema. One day Leo realises that the woman living with him is a doppleganger, a simulacrum, an ersatz figure. The first line of the book is:

"Last December a woman entered my apartment who looked exactly like my wife."

This is an intricate novel, with a medical/scientific bent, and a twist of psychosis and confused identity adding a touch of magic realism, yet the story is so scientific, so grounded. Each page was a delight of verbal acrobatics and deceptive wordage. It must be reread for missed meanings. One of my favourite reads of the year.

Sounds like my kind of book. I read Ian McEwan's Saturday as a kind of neuropsychological stream of consciousness. Atmospheric Disturbances sounds like it would be on a whole new level. Great reading kiwidoc!

Congratulations, kiwidoc!!!! 100, no 101 books!!! woooooo hooooooo!!!!!!!

Yes, kiwidoc, well done.

100 books? I am in awe. Congratulations!

Congratulations!!!!

How did you hear of Atmospheric Disturbances?

Atta girl!!!!!!! BRAVA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow. 100. That's amazing!

Excellent, Kiwidoc!!!

I am intrigued by your description of Atmospheric Disturbances. Will check it out in 2009.

Wow - it looks like a party happened while I was at work. Thank ye all so very much for the attention and congrats. Those fireworks are awesome, Terri! It does not get lonely around here.

Atmospheric Disturbances was pointed out to me by an author that I correspond with in the States. I think I enjoyed it (aside from the prose of course), because of the medical intrigue of psychosis. It really is a study in the psychotic state and there is quite a lot of medical and scientific terminology tucked into sentences. I have had numerous letters from psychotics in my career and they have a very similar quality - so rationally irrational!!

Holy jumping Annie, a 100 party! Way to go Kiwi. Take the rest of the month off *grin*.

I think your suggestion to reread Atmospheric Disturbances is a good one. I was frustrated by it because I didn't like it as much as I wanted to, partly because I felt I was missing a lot. So a reread might be in order.

The way I found it was because it was on the main fiction display table in my favorite independent bookstore, and it looked interesting.

Congratulations, kiwidoc! A great list with lots of variety.

Thank you all very much.

I am gratified to have so many interested comments - inspired me to keep reading.

Next year I plan to note my list of reads at the top of my thread, and maybe a list of bests towards the end of the year. However, I am not sure where I will post my reads.

I love being on the 50 Challenge with lots of friends - where are you all going to post next year. Let me know!!

There's been some interest in a 100 Challenge group and I volunteered to start it, so that's where I'll be!

>178 kiwidoc: kiwidoc ~ I'm contemplating moving to the 75 Book Challenge (or maybe the 100) for 2009 but haven't made my mind up completely. Like you, I have also thought about placing a list of books (tbr) at the top of my thread but am not sure quite how I would go about organising/annotating the ones that get read. And my list of tbrs is constantly changing....

>178 kiwidoc:: I think I'll move to the 75 Book Challenge in 2009. I will read about 80 books this year, but I have no real desire to strive for 100 in 2009.

I'll be going to the 75 book challenge too, lindsacl and digi. With still working for much of this year, 60 has been a push for me (might not make the last 5) but I'm pretty sure I can do 75 now that I'm retired. 100 would feel too much like a have-to and feeling pressured to have to read isn't the way I want to read. Too many other projects on the boil.

I'm also moving to the 75 challenge group. I always seem to read about 85 books a year. I didn't know about the group when I joined the 50 book challenge this year, otherwise I'd have been there already. I know I won't read 100, so I'll just have to visit that group.

I'm definitely going to post on the 75 Book Challenge next year. 100 isn't feasible for me, as others have said---too much pressure. This is a pleasurable activity and I just like to keep track. But my pace seems to be in the 75 range so that's where I'll go.

I think I am moving to the 75 book challenge in 2009, since I managed that goal this year. 100 would be too much pressure.

Excellent idea about listing the books for the year at the top of the thread, kiwidoc.

I've averaged 10 books a month so far so I'm moving to teelgee's 100 book challenge.

I wonder if you can be in three different challenge groups at once - nah, probably too much work!!!

Thanks for all your feedback. Looks like the majority of you are moving to the 75 group!!

102. The Writer's Desk by Jill Krementz

A fascinating photographic tour through the homes of writers and their desks, p each photo accompanied by a short paragraph from the writer about their vocation. Recommended. Jill Krementz is the wife of Kurt Vonnegut.



103. The Burma Chronicles by Guy Delisle

A graphic novel about the author's time in Burma with his wife who works for Doctor's Without Borders. Snapshots of his experiences.

A very worthwhile read, although Maus is such a hard act to follow.

Oh good! The Writer's Desk fits in one of my categories on my 999 list. Thanks!

104. Bartleby and Benito Cereno by Herman Melville



After falling in love with Moby Dick last year, I decided that I would work slowly through the rest of his work, choosing one work a year. Now near to the end of this year, I picked up this volume of perhaps his most well know short stories.

The stories are both beautifully written and engage the reader in dilemmas of the time.

The first story is an allegory about the capitalist exploitation of workers.

The second deals with the slave trade and oppression/heroism/racism. It reflects the vocation of Melville and his seafaring occupation. It is strangely unsettling to read the word 'Negro' used as a commonplace word and realize the strongly ingrained acceptance of racism and human domination in that era. It must be remembered that these stories were written over 150 years ago.

Heartily recommended for all you Melville lovers!!

105. Travels with Herodotus by Ryszard Kapuscinski



This is an interesting and meditative read about the illustrious journalist and traveller, as he maps journeys in the footsteps of Herodotus. His observations of culture, conflict and community are wry and intelligent, as the parallels with the ancient world are made.

Truthfully it highlights my ignorance of the ancient times, and as a result I need to further explore this period. I preferred the author's reflections on his own experiences, in truth.

Well worth reading, especially if you enjoy history of the ancient world.

Oooh - I haven't read this one of his yet, but I loved The shadow of the sun. Have you read it? I have Imperium on my bookshelves waiting for me.

You've read the most interesting books this year. I almost hate to check out your challenge because it adds too many books to my tbr list!

cmt - I haven't read any others of Kapuscinski yet - but I have both those two you mentioned at home, so will do someday!

theaelizabeth - thanks for visiting! I suspect my taste can be described as eclectic these days.

106. A Far Cry From Kensington by Muriel Spark



The new format of Virago books is very appealing, and this one caught my eye in the bookstore. It has a very pretty cover and is hardcover without dustjacket. Nice size too.

The story? This is a great read; light yet clever, entertaining yet with a serious central message, conversational yet vividly capturing the atmosphere of post-war Britain and the shenanigans of the publishing houses.

Spark has a detached aura, and her character is authoritative and strong, sending out words of advice and judgement upon the reader and other characters. There is an edge of humorous satire to all the dealings surrounding the protagonist, a Mrs. Dawkins, who evokes a 'help-columist' demeanor. She is a large, bossy and self contained women, happily dispensing advice and pronouncing the evil character as a 'pisseur de copie' - pissing hack journalism, urinating frightful pose. Why is this phrase not more mainstream today? It is such a useful and evocative term, n'est pas?

Despite the apparent lightness of the story, it is indeed quite a philosophical tract on truth in journalism and publishing.

Highly recommended.

I am so glad you liked it, Karen. It is one of my favourite books.

Wow, Paola - you are right there!! I hadn't even finished getting the post together. Thanks for the comment. It is a fab read. Have you seen the new book style? It is quite lovely.

Yeah, we're stalking you kiwidoc! hehe... ;D

;-)

Yes, Karen, I have Excellent Women and The Eye of Love in the new Virago format.
Although I love the old green ones (which I am frantically trying to collect), I must admit the new ones look pretty good too.
Look out for Nightingale Wood by Stella Gibbons. Apparently, Virago is going to publish it in the Spring. That is another book I really enjoyed.

Paola - although it is about 3-4 dollars more for the hardcover, it is going to be a very durable format. I love hardcovers for my favourite books, so this fits the bill.

PS: I am flattered to have the Phenomenally Popular Paola visit my thread. A cybergraph (an internet autograph) to show off to everyone. (Maybe that is why digifish is stalking the thread!!)

#199 I could only find one other one here in Vancouver, and that was an Elizabeth Taylor title. I notice that the Spark book above is #30 in the new series so I wonder where the rest are?

Haven't seen any of the new format yet. And I did love A Far Cry from Kensington too, Kiwi. Very subtle look at an aberrant personality. I did a review of it but it's hard to keep spoilers out to give a book like this its due.

I read your excellent review, Tiffin. Thanks. It was beautifully done. (*rushing over there to star it*).

107. Love's Civil War by Elizabeth Bowen and Charles Ritchie

Edited by Victoria Glendinning.



This book was sent to me as an advanced reading copy. Glendinning does a very good job editing the letters of Bowen to Ritchie, and intertwining them with the diaries of Ritchie to Bowen. Her footnotes provide just the right amount of information to fill in the gaps.

This is their correspondence over the period 1941 to 1973, finishing the year Bowen died from lung cancer. It is a revealing and interesting portrayal of their love affair - an affair that was sustained for 32 years despite separation by the Atlantic Ocean and marriage to others.

I enjoyed this book, and can recommend it, especially those interested in Elizabeth Bowen and her life - full of the English gentry and artists of the time. It was never dull, and her letters are suffused with lively prose and ascerbic commentary. It acts also as a social commentary of the times, and places her books into the chronology of her life.

My overall feeling reading between the lines of her letters, is she needed to maintain a romantic interest at a distance as part of her 'raison d'etre'. It fed her imagination, her artistry and her soul.

oh good, kiwi, as this is my Christmas reading. Very much looking forward to it.

Another for my wishlist!

Hi Karen
I agree with you about Bowen's intent in Love's Civil War. Although she wrote constantly about places that she referred to as "their's", Bowen knew that Ritchie would never live with her permanently. The friction between them, with the planning and longing for the next meeting, was part of the relationship.

Hey, Karen How are you enjoying the snow? I can't remember when I last saw this much of it! The snow on my patio table is as high as the patio railing. Are you able to cosy up at home with a book today?

Tiffin - if you enjoy letters and diaries, this one is for you. I got a bit bogged down in the middle, but otherwise thought it was excellent.

Cyrel - I agree with your comments. I am in awe of the lives of artists, and Elizabeth really did have a most privileged life, even with the financial strain of her ancestral home, Bowen Court. Her life seemed one big party.

Hi Joyce - I am meant to be at work this very moment, but cannot get there!!! But, evidently, neither can the patients! Socked in because of slippery hills not plowed, just everywhere is stuffed with snow. Will read and walk and help my son with his Romeo and Juliet essay.

Merry Xmas to you too, and everyone visiting my thread of course.

108. Disquiet by Julia Leigh



A disturbing dark and dreamlike novella from this Australian writer. Essentially a study of grief and acceptance.

This writer has a very spare and sharp style of prose - giving almost a stream of consciousness flow to the work, like reading poetry. Detached yet with quite a devastating and violent undertone.

Recommended.

109. The Mezzanine by Nicholson Baker



This guy is OCD, for sure, with a touch of autistic over-focus. His acute observations of the minutiae of a day at the office provide a philosophical review of a day, transforming the mundane to intricately fascinating trivia.

An engrossing read for me - life really does centre around the details. From shoe-laces and milk cartons, to pop dispensers and social conventions at the office, Baker holds the readers attention with his clarity, intelligence and wit.

A great read from a like-minded obsessive.

AND that is just about the end of THIS!!

I am starting my new Challenge thread for 2009 here, on the 75 Challenge thread. Please drop by next year when the posting starts again.

Thanks for all the comments and support received this year. It is has been a pleasure.

Kiwi, one reviewer described the Baker book as "Proust with Aspbergers". hehe

Tiffin - that is a clever observation. I would say that is a very good description of the book.

Thanks for providing an entertaining and thought provoking set of books this year.

The Mezzanine seems to be a good book to finish such a list.

I do have a latent fascination for obsessive detail as well. Can't quite work it out as I usually like 'big themes'.

Anyway, anything that can be linked to Proust has to go on my list.