Tiffin's 75 for 2009

...and it really isn't going to start until 2009!
BOOKS READ



TOTAL PAGES



READING GOALS 2009

1. Read and review more Canadian Lit.
2. Read five unread classics this year.
3. Reread some classics I read so long ago that I can't remember them.
4. Continue to explore literature in translation from other cultures
5. Don't worry one iota if I don't reach 75; it's what I read and how much I enjoy it which really matters.
6. It isn't a competition, it's an exploration. Some books need time to settle into me, their impact and message staying with me for days after I read them. Diving right into another book doesn't work for me while I still have the tendrils of the previous one wrapped around my grey matter.
7. Reviews: review more frequently and in more depth.

JANUARY
1. Embers by Sandor Marai (a forgotten late December read){goal #4}
2. Thus Was Adonis Murdered by Sarah Caudwell
3. Un Lun Dun by China Miéville
4. When You are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris
5. The Shortest Way to Hades by Sarah Caudwell
6. The Sirens Sang of Murder by Sarah Caudwell
7. The Blackwater Lightship by Colm Toibin
??. Love's Civil War by Victoria Glendinning - partially read

January: 1904 total pages read PLUS Nigella Lawson's new cookbook read fairly thoroughly PLUS 286 pages read of the ARC "Love's Civil War" to review it but the latter is heavy slogging because I find the love male interest to be a bit of a prat so far and the female love interest is incomprehensibly (to this reader, at any rate) head over heels about him. Lots of online reading of reviews and articles, too numerous to mention and impossible to tally. If I had finished the ARC, I would have been on target for this month. Hello, February!

FEBRUARY
8. Kate's Klassics by Kate Camp
9. The Tortoise and the Hare by Elizabeth Jenkins
10. Choosing Civility: The Twenty-Five Rules of Considerate Conduct by P.M. Forni
11. Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu
12. Lark Rise to Candleford by Flora Thompson
13. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
14. Inside the Whale by Jennie Rooney
15. The Road Home by Rose Tremain

MARCH
16. John Lennon: the Life by Philip Norman
17. The Pendragon Legend by Antal Szerb {goal #4}
18. Death at La Fenice by Donna Leon
19. The Sibyl in Her Grave by Sarah Caudwell
20. The Girl of His Dreams by Donna Leon
21. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
22. American Gods by Neil Gaiman

APRIL
23. The Arrival by Shaun Tan
24. The Boys in the Trees by Mary Swan {goal #1}
25. The Great Crash 1929 by John Kenneth Galbraith {goal #1}

Yea! Welcome to the party!

Great to see you here, tiffin!

>1 tiffin: Anyone for tiffin?

Yes, and so say all of us!

- TT

Welcome Tiffin.
I will be sure to check your reading list!

Hi tiffin - good to see you here. I have also decided to move to the 75 Challenge. Will check your thread for some good reads in 2009!!!

Well, I didn't start with anything too heavy for reading on New Year's Eve but it was a fun romp of a mystery and I enjoyed it thoroughly.

1. Thus Was Adonis Murdered by Sarah Caudwell



Mystery
246 pages

ETA: I'm tucking a book in here which I read in December but which I didn't add to the 50 challenge last year, neglecting to add it to the roster. The reason for wanting to add it is that I think it is a fine piece of writing and don't want it to be overlooked as I use these logs for my writing journal records.

2. Embers by Sandor Marai



I read with amusement that some reviewers found this book "boring". I most emphatically did not but then I enjoy a well written story full of quiet introspection, which isn't necessarily action driven but which demands of me that I think about what is actually going on in the minds of the protagonists.

Did you finish it after midnight so it "counts"? ;-)

This morning! hehe

Hi Tiffin! I jumped over from the 50 book thread, and I always enjoyed reading your challenge threads. Glad to see you here too. I look forward to reading your 2009 thread! =) Jill

Thanks for the hellos and welcomes lindsacl, digi, tortoise, whisper, kiwi and mrstreme.

Fantastic name too. Mmm, tiffin... not that I have any room left over after my mum's New Year feast.

Welcome to the group! I am glad you started the year on such a 'fun romp'.

ROFL!

harROMPh

I've got your backside starred too, kellybean.

ETA: and as though I'd ever be in front of YOU with reading! Hah! It'll be your romp I'll be watching as it beetles off into the sunset.

Thanks for the link, Tui/lindsacl. Thread duly starred. Happy reading!

And you are already ahead of me. I have not finished my first yet, nor started my 2009 thread. Guess that is why you are a 75 and I a lowly 50. :-)

Lowly schmowly! Don't sell yourself short kambrogi. Can't wait to see your thread!

3. Un Lun Dun by China Miéville



What a brilliant fantasy and a fun, fun read. I should do a review of this but in the meantime, highly recommended.

YA Fantasy
471 pages

I tried one of Mieville's books last year and did not care for it much. Maybe I should give him another shot.

>19 tiffin:: tiffin

Have you read Perdido Street Station and, if so, how did they compare? I've only read that one so far.

TadAD, I gave Perdido to one of my lads for Cmas last year but haven't borrowed it back to read myself. He loved it, however. I thoroughly enjoyed the alternative world he created in Un Lun Dun and will try to write a review later today.

What a perfect start to the year! I love Sarah Caudwell and it's just what you need for long cold winter nights (assuming you are northern hemisphere...)

4. When You are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris



What you would expect from Sedaris: a bit funny, a bit naughty, a bit sweet and a bit contemplative. Nothing too heavy here so a good read at breakfast, propped up against the milk jug before you are entirely awake. But I wouldn't rush out to get this one.

Humour, Social Commentary
323 pages

Have heard mixed reviews about Sedaris, Tiffin, but never read any. I guess humour can be a very personal thing!! Do you recommend him?

Hey -- glad I found your thread :) Great goals!!

I'll be back.

Hmmm that's a hard one, Kiwi, precisely because of humour being personal. It's a very American kind of humour as opposed to British humour - generally, I tend to relate better to the latter but he does have a certain wryness. This was on the new shelf at the library, so I grabbed it. It did make me smile a few times as he has a really good take on situations and people's quirks of character.

Edited so I wouldn't sound so curmudgeonly about the book when I didn't really feel that way.

For a lot of people - myself included - Sedaris can be a lot funnier when you hear him rather than read him. He has a way of telling his stories that's really very funny.

I posted a response and it just melted away...hope it doesn't show up later...but I agree re hearing him. He has a unique voice which just adds to it. I heard him on a books on tape reading his "Me Speak Pretty" (is that the right title?).

Me Talk Pretty One Day, tiffin. So many people are fans of his, but I have yet to read any. I actually don't seek out humor in my reading, however.

kambrogi, just as I was answering, LT went down. I had written out some of the blurbs from the back of the cover, which attracted me to the book (I'm a sucker for a good blurb) but I'm too lazy to retype them. They were talking about his dark insights being saved by his humour. The one which caught me was his "assessment" of the eccentrics who "inhabit the world's crevices". Some of the hyperbole aside (I never did get "giddy with laughter"), I agree that his perspectives on some of the characters he has run into in his life, his own foibles, those of his family members and his societal observations are interesting ones. Not earth shaking stuff but not dreck either.

Hey, can this count as a review?

>31 tiffin: LOL works for me. I don't want a synopsis of the book. I'd rather have impressions and possibly general subject material. Like DVD covers and movie ads, too often for me jackets or reviews 'steal the thunder' and I don't like that one bit! :)
(yes, people often say to me 'so what do you really think? :-} )

I agree, suslyn. I prefer impressions and perhaps just a bit of what the subject will be. Too much is too much.

Tiffin, sorry you lost all that effort! I have lost several posts in the last few days -- what's up with that? I remember now that I did read an article in a magazine by Sedaris that my sister clipped and sent because it was SO funny. I never cracked a smile, but did note how he dealt with rather grim material in a witty way. He is on the radio a lot -- perhaps he is best orally. Do you read Bill Bryson? He is also a humorist that I don't get that many laughs out of, although he is clever and very popular. Guess it is just about what you are looking for. On the other hand, The Shipping News had me in stitches again and again, in the midst of all the darkness!

>19 tiffin:, 20, 21 Just to add the comparison between Un Lun Dun and Mieville's other books. . . Un Lun Dun is whimsical and fun, sort of Alice in Wonderland ish (it's been marketed as YA). Perdido and all the Bas Lag books are adult and dark, full of creatures terrible and not so, has political and social commentary...etc. That the same gifted imagination created both kinds of stories is really remarkable. I love this guy's mind, truly.

Tui, do you read James Morrow at all? Or Jonathan Carroll?

5. The Shortest Way to Hades by Sarah Caudwell



Another delightful mystery featuring the legal crew at 62 New Square and Professor Hilary Tamar, gender unspecified. Also a delicious form of procrastination from finishing off the ARC I'm supposed to be reading, which will then require a review.

ETA: one of the humourous things I'm enjoying about the Caudwell series is that Prof. Tamar never gets credit from the rest of the legal beagles like Serena, Julia, et. al, and is constantly being given pokes about cadging free drinks and meals. Meanwhile Hilary Tamar him/herself is busy using all the powers of Scholarship and Logic available to him/her and is always slightly miffed at not being fully appreciated for the part s/he has played in the solution.

Mystery
314 pages

I have not read any of Caudwell's mysteries, but I am definitely going to have to check them out! I have heard good things about them. Thanks for the reminder!

6. The Sirens Sang of Murder by Sarah Caudwell



Oh this is a sweet series. I'm not going to fight the compulsion to read all them in a row but am going to dive into the last one. The Sirens has been my favourite so far, with some snorfle out loud moments in it. I'm a wee bit nervous about the last one as it was apparently published posthumously.

Mystery
277 pages

I'm still plodding along through Love's Civil War the ARC I have to finish and review. I'm not plodding because the writing is poor, quite the contrary. But reading letters and diary entries is not something I can normally do at a gulp. So I'm falling behind with January's reading a bit.

Tiffin - I struggled with Love's Civil War too - and I really cannot say why. I think that in the end the letters all ran together somehow and there was no 'event's' to mark the passing years. Ritchie just downright annoyed me by the end - not a sympathetic character and looking at his pictures did not change my point of view. Having said that - I am glad to have read it.

I feel exactly the same way about him and cannot fathom what she saw in him. I can only conclude that he must have been much more fascinating in reality than he was in his diaries. Bowen, on the other hand, I am finding very interesting, despite her innate class snobbery. I devoured the Mitford letters, just ate them in great heaping helpings. As you say, there is little to mark the passing years. So much was deleted because he destroyed so many of Bowen's letters that I suspect the truly interesting stuff (her reaction to his marriage, e.g.) has been lost.

Like you, I do hope Ritchie was a disguised hero or SOMETHING. He gave off quite a selfish aura in his diaries and Bowen seemed needy. I hate it when women fawn over less worthy men. It becomes a power vs needy balancing act. We have all seen women who fall for this model of men. I am assuming that her husband was in fact gay, and therefore did not fulfill her needs?

I really must read Glendinning's biography on Bowen - that is sure to be worthwhile.

So I take it that you enjoyed the Mitford letters more??

I am very tempted to crack that one open too, but frankly felt I had "done" the letters genre after Love's Civil War for a while. Do you think I will like it?

I did a review of the Mitford letters...sorry to be so lazy as not to create a link right now but it's under my reviews. I loved it and was sorry when it all came to an end.

I agree re Ritchie being selfish and Bowen, well, it was as though she was in love with love. Maybe it was chemistry, who knows, as she even seemed to love how he looked draped over chairs and such. Yes, let's check out the bio of Bowen. I do think Glendinning is a good editor but I think the material she had to work with was limiting.

7. The Blackwater Lightship by Colm Toibin



When Helen learns that her brother Declan has AIDS, the revelation begins a process of reconciliation, personal exploration and healing for her. Toibin writes deftly and with excellent insight into the emotions of a woman who is frozen emotionally since the death of her father and subsequently alienated from her mother. He is never heavy handed or maudlin in addressing the illness destroying Declan. I particularly enjoyed his characterisations of Declan's friends, Paul and Larry, as well as that of Helen's grandmother. It is a book which addresses death and dying, grief and loss, and yet somehow manages to let the theme of love and the hope of rebirth have their power as well. Recommended.

Modern Irish fiction
273 pages

moved to top

The Toibin book is one of those that I mean to read, but keeps getting shoved down the pile. Thanks for the excellent review - it has gained ground in the fight to the top of the pile.

It was shortlisted for the 1999 Booker, Kiwi, the year Coetzee won it for Disgrace, which I think would be a hard act to be up against.

Tiffin, I read Disgrace last year, and didn't really care for it. It is the only Coetzee novel I've read, but I know that he has written a lot of books - would you say that Disgrace is fairly representative of his style, or do you think I should try another?

Cait86 - I haven't read Disgrace but I have read Waiting for the Barbarians and The Diary of Michael K and his two biography books.

I would say that Coetzee is brilliant - but he is humorless and has a very negative view on life. His books are often allegorical and the ideas are not for light entertainment. I plan to read every one of his books because I adore his prose style.

Cait86, I have Disgrace at the top of the TBR pile, to be read soon. I've only come recently to Coetzee, so am not an expert. I was referring to all the hoopderah about it and should have been clearer. I'll let you know! But I have read Diary of a Bad Year and although it didn't blast me into the stratosphere, it was good writing and used an interesting device of splitting the page into two or three sections, so you could follow the main protagonist's academic and personal lives along horizontally, as well as that of the young woman in the novel, if you chose, or, you could read down the page in the traditional manner, getting everyone's perspectives at once.

ETA: we were writing at the same time, Kiwi! Yes, his prose style is really effective: crisp, direct and seemingly effortless.

Count the cookbook! I have a 999 category for them :)

>47 kiwidoc: and 48 - Thanks for the opinions on Coetzee - I will give him another shot, despite not being blown away by Disgrace. The format of Diary of a Bad Year sounds intriguing.

I read Toibin's The Master last year and liked it, so I will give The Blackwater Lightship a try.

As far as Coetzee goes, I heartily recommend The Life and Times of Michael K, his Booker Prize winning book.

#51: alcott, that is exactly why I thought I'd try The Blackwater Lightship - I loved The Master. I went to Lamb House this September but because of E.F. Benson, not James. Thanks re The LIfe and Times...I will read it.

The Life and Times of Michael K was my first read for this year - it is excellent but don't read it until you are mentally ready for his despairing outlook on life!

#53: I'm never ready for despairing outlooks on life. In fact, I have purposely given up reading that kind of thing as it is NOT good for my mental health and joie de vivre. I might give it a try, as it did win the Booker, but I have developed an antipathy to literature where the author's head is lodged firmly up his or her backside so that they can only see darkness and smell unpleasantness. I'm not trying to read Pollyana-ish stuff but I do not respond well to angst or despair. Give me the thing with feathers that perches in the soul, every time. So about Mr. Coetzee, well, we'll see.

tiffin..
I love your comments on message 54 and I couldn't agree more!

>54 tiffin:: come on tiffin, don't hold back. Tell us how you really feel!

*snort* Laura. *high fives* whisper

You should talk, Laura...your thread is the Happening Place of the Week!

Can't beat Joycepa though, who is already on thread #2, after more than 400 posts on her first!! She's a chatty one, that Joyce.

You know, everyone, I just now found this thread, and it's a darn good thing I did! for what do my wondering eyes perceive but rank slander?!!! Me, talkative, me?!!! With STASIA around?? I am like the proverbial clam next to that woman, the soul of discretion, a writer of terse, compact prose.

Wow--just caught this thing in time, without doubt!

*she contemplates the imagery in #54 with great interest*

Ha! ROFL! And all that! I didn't realize you hadn't found tiffin's thread yet Joyce. I got away with rank slander for almost three entire days!

#59: You cannot get away with rank slander for 3 days, though, Joyce. If you look at my thread, you will realize I said less on it than you did!

You know, there are always these killjoys like Stasia who keep track! LOL

That's what I am here for, Joyce - to keep you in line. I am so obviously failing . . .

Well, Stasia, it's such a monumental task! Just keep in mind that we're not obligated to succeed, just to try, and solider on! :-)

My motto is: If at first you don't succeed, cheat! I wonder if I can convince Mary to steal the keyboard to Freddie or something.

Listen, don't encourage her! She won't stop at the keyboard--she'll whisk Freddie away totally!! mary is normally a law-abiding person, but computer envy is her main failing, and I have caught her sobbing quietly into her monitor over her hopeless situation with respect to Freddie's blinding speed and grand display. I saw that, and immediately installed the security cable. Everyone has their price.

Aha! And now I know yours . . .

And I've tried so hard to keep it a secret! :-)

I'm beginning to understand why you needed to start a new thread with 400 posts, Joyce!
hehe

It's really all Stasia's fault, of course! :-)

Just came over to see what erudite bibliophilia was happening and I find Tui's thread invaded by the party crowd! Perhaps you should put your pyjamas on, Tui.

Do you know, I nearly wrote that, Kiwi? Too funny! Or get the vacuum out.

#70: No, I am blaming you for the fact that my new thread is already up to 100, so you can not blame me for your old one!

*snicker* We'd better take the party somewhere else, Stasia--looks like the natives are getting restless!

#75: OK, see you over on your new thread . . .

I have decided to abandon this project for this year. I don't want to be reading quantitatively, short-changing myself because I'm trying to keep to a number goal. It is an entirely personal decision, not influenced by anyone or anything. Just at a point in my life where I don't want to feel constrained.

ETA: I have really enjoyed the discussions here and will follow everyone's threads happily. I just need not to read this way right now, for myself.

I totally understand. I have to keep reminding myself not to focus on the numbers. Reading is supposed to be a pleasure not a pressure. It's hard if you get too focused on the books you need to read instead of the book you are reading. If it's not working for you, you gotta do what you gotta do.

#76: I am glad we will see you in amongst the threads, tiffin.

If you want to follow tiffin's reading, free from quantitative challenges, (and who wouldn't?), go here!

Thanks, Laura! I'm hoping to keep the thread there relatively concentrated on the books themselves, with comments and reviews. We'll see how I make out with THAT plan!

I'm back. This is actually working better for me right now.

8. Kate's Klassics by Kate Camp



New Zealander Kate Camp does a monthly look at a work of classic literature for her radio show, "Kate's Klassics". This book discusses ten big ones: Crime and Punishment by Dostoyevsky, David Copperfield by Dickens, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, Middlemarch by George Eliot, Moby Dick by Herman Melville, The Odyssey by Homer, The old Testament by "God et. al", Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, War and Peace by Tolstoy, and Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte.

This is not an academic look at these works but a refreshingly personal discussion of each of the books and their merit to the author herself. I thought of a radio audience listening to her say of Crime and Punishment: "For six hundred pages, Raskolnikov is just one bad joke away from disaster." Or hearing of Elizabeth's engagement to Mr. Darcy: "And as if we weren't already exploding with happiness, the good news renders Mrs. Bennet speechless."

I read it with great pleasure and a constant half grin on my face. I felt a strong kinship with someone who can quote a passage from The Song of Solomon and say "That bit always makes me go all gooey" or who would willingly marry Mr. Darcy while acknowledging how good Will Ladislaw looks in a long maroon coat but would "give them all up to be tearing Heathcliff's hair out on one dark and stormy night".

Literary Commentary, Humour, New Zealand
224 pages

9. The Tortoise and the Hare by Elizabeth Jenkins



*SPOILERS OF A SORT* although nothing here which isn't implied on the cover blurbs - it's the writing and shrewd psychology which are the stars of this book

Imogen Gresham is 37, her powerful lawyer husband, Evelyn Gresham is 52. He is everything she desires and admires, with his handsome chiseled features, at the height of his masculine powers in her eyes, successful, accomplished and virile. The reader, however, gets another view of him, seeing a domineering alpha male who is entirely self-serving and self-absorbed, although he can be charming if he chooses. Imogen, on the other hand, is emotional, sentimental, loving old things for the wear on them, history which shows in cracks on mugs or missing silver finishes on platters. She is afraid to stand up to him for fear of upsetting the tranquility of his home life, a life which has unfortunately come to include their eleven year old son treating her just like his father does. At the point where we intersect with her, she has become effete and useless, unable to drive or to engage in the usual rural pastimes of hunting and fishing, purposeless and inept. She is not, however, unintelligent. Rather the opposite. It is just not a kind of intelligence which her husband appreciates or understands.

Imogen has her admirers, some fervent, and loyal close friends, partly because she is beautiful, gentle and considerate but also because those people aren't particularly powerhouse types themselves. But we see early on in the book that she does not have her husband's deep love or admiration because she lacks certain qualities which their frumpier middle-aged neighbour, Blanche Silcox, has in spades. Enter the femme fatale in a most unlikely guise of tweeds, portly middle and bad hats.

This is the tale of the dissolution of a marriage and the start of an affair, held up to the light and put under the microscope by Elizabeth Jenkins somewhat in the manner of Barbara Pym (although without the same depth of wry wit). Quietly and inevitably, we watch everything unravel, knowing what the ending will be but unable to stop watching the impending train crash. Only it never really is a crash because everyone is too civilised and genteel for that. I was interested to read in the Afterword that the book was somewhat autobiographical, as Jenkins sought to write out a similar betrayal in her own life.

There are quirky neighbours in the form of the Leepers, with a siren sister Zenobia who becomes the representation for the most extreme manifestation of female sensuality. Jenkins is looking at what makes relationships tick, playing with characters like Zenobia to help Imogen understand what has happened to her marriage, to herself. Woven throughout the story is Gavin Gresham's friend Tim Leeper. Tim is, as best as I can understand him, the thing with feathers which perches in the soul but is also a mirror image of Imogen herself, her shadow which bends around walls.

This is excellent writing, which drew me in and kept my interest to the end. I don't know if it would appeal to an alpha male like Evelyn Gresham, however.

Afterthought: Jenkins plays with genders a lot in this book, the alpha male having a soft, feminine name, Imogen's parallel character being a young male. Must think about this more.

Modern English fiction
269 pages

Glad you are back!

I listened to a broadcast of Kate's Klassics about Hans Christian Andersen that was a hoot! Must check with the library to see about getting the book!

10. Choosing Civility: The Twenty-Five Rules of Considerate Conduct by P.M. Forni



I heard Prof. Forni speaking on a CBC radio program and his quiet common sense compelled me to track down one of his books (there are several). He is the Cofounder of the Johns Hopkins Civility Project, which came out of his realisation that he "wanted (his) students to be kind human beings more than (he) wanted them to know about Dante". If they knew everything about Dante and then went out and treated an elderly lady on the bus unkindly, he would "feel that he had failed as a teacher".

The first part of the book defines civility; the latter part of the book provides guidelines for civil behaviour. He speaks of "respect in action" as civility doing the work of empathy towards other people. The guidelines are not unlike those of mindfulness in Buddhism: pay attention, acknowledge others, think the best, listen, be inclusive, speak kindly, don't speak ill, don't blame others, etc. But he isn't blancmange about it - you are entitled to speak up when you feel strongly that someone has been discourteous (although he has another book addressing this, so doesn't get into it with much depth).

I honestly have to say that this book didn't tell me anything I didn't already know (thanks Mom and Dad). It was affirming, however, to have personal beliefs about courtesy reinforced. Having experienced real uncivil behaviour even in the medium of cyberspace (or perhaps particularly, as people get cocky hiding behind the anonymity of a false name and hidden identity), this book would provide a good lesson book for an adolescent in need of some guidelines. He does drop frequent literary allusions but they support the point he's trying to make, they don't make it harder to access what he is trying to say.

I like that there is a university project addressing civility. I wish it was a core subject at every grade level. Civility is the lubricant of our social interactions. When practised with care, it enhances those interactions greatly. As Prof. Forni says at the end of his book, "Just about the most important thing we do in life is interacting with other human beings. Shouldn't improving the quality of this interaction be at the top of our agendas?"

Social Commentary
194 pages

Glad to see you back, Tui. Also glad you had a good time with Kate - I listened to the NZ radio podcast courteous of Marise and enjoyed that too - although I could not get over the strong accents. I could hardly understand some of it!!

FABULOUS reviews, btw.

11. Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu



A recent discussion on another thread sent me to the bookshelf to look up my old battered copy of the Tao Te Ching. I reread the whole book quickly but with insights I hadn't had a decade or two ago. It is one of those calming books I sometimes turn to when things get riled up.

The Way is a void,
Used but never filled:
An abyss it is,
Like an ancestor
From which all things come.

It blunts sharpness,
Resolves tangles; It tempers light,
Subdues turmoil.

A deep pool it is,
Never to run dry!
Whose offspring it may be
I do not know:
It is like a preface to God.*

*I think the translator's use of the word "God" is an attempt to translate an untranslatable concept into a term an English experience could understand.

Lao Tzu reconnects me to what really matters.

Edited to fix touchstones

Philosophy
176 pages

Hey Kiwi! Thanks so much. Mutual admiration society here as I love your reviews too.

Now that Tzu book REALLY looks like something I could go for - especially in the middle of a chaotic flu-ridden, frenetic work day, I could do with scooping up a bit of Tzu verse. Looks very good for the battered soul!!!!! This is another one for the pile.

> 86 This is the book that keeps me centered and focused, too, tiffin. I keep it close by, always.

Nice to see you posting back here (although I spend half my time lurking on the Club Read threads anyway!)

I've picked up Kate's Klassics several times since Kiwi reviewed it but I'm going to wait till I've (blushing icon needed) read the ten books, or most of them. I've just realised that I **own** all but Moby Dick. I'm just getting into W&P and loving it so far, and I have much stronger intentions on getting to the others than before, but it's going to be a while...I've read only Pride and Prejudice and bits of the Old Testament (1970s Catholic education in NZ was hopeless at anything but the gospels). Have you read all the books she talks about?

I'm glad I kept the star on this thread! Nice to see you here, tiffin. Love the Lao Tzu.

Tui - Like Laura, I'm glad I kept this thread starred so I wouldn't lose you!

And what a coincidence on Tao Te Ching - Just today I was working on bookshelf reorganization and did a little reading in it myself. :-)

Hey, visitors! I am just delighted to find other Tao Te Ching readers here.

Cushla, yes I have read all of the books she reviews, which is why it was so much fun for me. Although, really, I think even if you hadn't, you'd get something out of it because she's really fun. With your background, you should ace The Old Testament by God et. al chapter!

Ha! No, honestly, I am useless on the OT. We read almost none of it, except some Psalms. And that was 12 yeaers of Catholic schools.

#86,
Thank you for the reminder on Tao Te Ching, Tiffin. I used to pick this up regularly and get a lot out of it but have neglected it in recent years. As a student, I would open a page at random and read. There always seemed to be a relevant message there!

My life recently has been hectic and my brain feels fried. I think it may be a good time to find my copy...

12. Lark Rise to Candleford by Flora Thompson



Had to use a librarything image for this one, as I have the abridged copy. Hope it doesn't melt away. Comments to follow later.

Yeah Tiffin! You did it...the covers look marvelous.
Congratulations. Don't you just feel oh so proud?

Great job!!!!

Hello again! I read the Tao de Ching several years ago for the first time, and my initial reaction was "Where have you been all my life!" I love the simplicity and the grounded wisdom of it. Need to pick it up again, thanks for the nudge!

I just had a really stressful day at work, but this thread reminded me that I have a copy of the Tao de Ching in the bookcase in my office. I haven't opened it in a long time, but I have suddenly realized its "grounded wisdom" would be really welcome right now. Thanks!

I've fallen behind with my posts here. Will try to catch up over the next few days.

13. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

This book tore my heart out, with its awful beauty and terrible truths. I haven't read anything with as much power in it in a long time. Death, as the narrator, was perfect. The story itself was perfect. I don't think I'm going to do a review of it, as many have already been done. I'm just going to say that I believe this is a story which goes far beyond YA, although that was its original genre. This is a story for all of us.

Modern Australian fiction
550 pages

tiffin
What an incredibly powerful review. I'm moving this book up the ladder of the tbr pile.

moved

Thanks, Whisper. I kept thinking 'I wish I had written this and thank goodness I didn't'. It might not have the same imaginative punch for someone else - it's so subjective - but the story Zusak told just left me wrung out.

#104. Wrung out is right. I was a mess when I finished it, and I'm going to reread it again soon--it is now on my "all-time faves" list.

I bought the Book Thief for my kids several years ago and have never read it, although I definitely will now - I thought it was YA fiction and imagined it was not something for me. It is such a shame that these classifications rule the publishing world and keep the book in a smaller market.

#106: I think the 'young adult' classification has become a catch-all for if libraries, etc do not know what to do with a book. I have learned over the past year that there are some very good, even excellent, books being labeled as young adult and consequently being ignored by a great many people who would truly appreciate them.

The Book Thief is another crossover book that has been published and marketed as Young Adult in some countries and as an adult book in others. There is now a trend of popular books coming out in new editions targeting the YA market where they were originally published for adults. eg Enders Game, the Belgariad series and historical novels by Eva Ibbotson.

Woah, Tiffin. I have to read both The Book Thief and John Lennon: the Life now. I must get the former straight away from the library, and not wait for the wish list (where it has languished for ages). Btw, I have had to put off getting Kate's Klassics (so pricey), but did find that you can listen to the radio show on the Internet. That book looks super, too.

I actually thought you had deserted this thread to go to Club Read, for some reason. Are you keeping two reading threads?

My editor says so many adults read YA now that it has morphed into something else and no one is sure exactly who-all is reading it. There is certainly a lot of crossover.

I've said this before, but I don't see why The Book Thief} was ever classified as YA fiction. Not that it wouldn't appeal to a good many well-read young adults, and not that it isn't a great idea to encourage that audience to read things like this, but as a target audience in a marketing sense, I just don't see it. It was, as everyone has said, powerful, devastating, beautiful, haunting and unforgettable.

chiming in on the discussion re. YA classification. I finished Hurricane Song by Paul Volponi and felt this was yet another book that is a gem that will be overlooked because of this label.

Although it's been said, I have to repeat it because it has been a pet peeve of mine for a long time. I hate the fact that books have to be classified as anything. I know I've missed out on a lot of books because they are classified YA and it's just not a genre that I typically seek out. Thank goodness for all of you chiming in on books that I wouldn't typically seek out! So glad I've found all of you...

14. Inside the Whale by Jennie Rooney


This is Jennie Rooney's first novel and if this story is any indication of tales to come from this author, I think that she is a writer who will continue to delight and perhaps one day, to even amaze.

Inside the Whale tells the story of Stevie and Michael, from the time of their youth through the horror of the war and out the other side to their old age. It is the story of Stevie's mother marrying the wrong man, of Michael's father being the wrong man for his mother because "it was only after they married that she realised his was not the sort of belief that accommodated angels. He had no sense of occasion." It's the story of England being bombed, of young men leaving, of lost letters, of pigeons named after Irish Republican heroes and thimbles which are really kisses.

Rooney writes with humour and intelligence, writing convincingly of post traumatic stress disorder while never needing to name it, of malaria, fear, heartbreak and death. There are occasional lapses of over-writing but these are few and far between. I believed the characters of Stevie and Michael, I believed their love story, and the story of their lives and how those lives unfolded. Her characters are written with great kindness and compassion.

This is a story of loss and yet of the triumph of love. In its bare bones, it is a heartbreaking tale and yet it is told with such warmth and sparkle that reading it isn't painful but somehow strangely affirming. Recommended.

Modern English fiction
261 pages

15. The Road Home: A Novel by Rose Tremain


Rose Tremain tells a good story and I love a good story. Most of this story hung together well, with fully realised characters like Lev, Rudi, Christy, et. al. I could relate to Lev's alienation as an immigrant, to his homesickness and his anxiety for the situation back home when the dam being built would wipe out all of his family's history. But...and you could probably hear this but coming...I had a wee bit of trouble with Lev suddenly taking wings as a chef over the course of a year. To suddenly discover that he has an avocation as a chef, that this latent talent lay dormant in a man who had worked in a Russian lumber yard, then went to England and worked as first a dishwasher and then a vegetable prep person for a famous chef, well, it stretched my credulity a bit. It just seemed a bit much to believe that Lev could advance with little training to be able to take over the kitchen in an old age home and with a bit more training in a Greek restaurant, progress to running an excellent restaurant himself, all in under two years. But if this is a mere detail and I'm being a nitpicker, then it was a good story with excellent characterisation, interesting plot development and a satisfying ending. Recommended but with suspension of disbelief caveats, for this reader.

Modern English fiction
365 pages

WOW, Inside the Whale by Jennie Rooney sounds like an incredible book.

moved to top

I wouldn't go as far as saying incredible, whisper, but it is very good. For a first book, it's pretty impressive.

ETA: I should put the months' reviews up top the way some do *lightbulb moment here*.

113. Well Tui, you've done it to me again. Just as I reduced my TBR pile by one, Rooney's book will pump it back up again. Then again, what kind of Lter would I be without a TBR pile?

And here's hoping that your lightbulb isn't burnt out.

Great review of Inside the Whale, Tui. It really makes me want to read it!

For some reason, I cannot seem to find Inside the Whale available where I live. Is it out in the UK only or something?

Great review Tui - I have seen that book in the library but strangely I was not drawn to it because I did not like the cover!!! Goes to show, the saying is true.

I know that publishers market different covers for different cultures - so I am not sure if that is the NA cover or the British?

16. John Lennon: The Life by Philip Norman

I'm not particularly a Lennon afficionado but I lived through the phenomenon of the Beatles and of the 60s and 70s, so picked this up at the library to see how the book would ttttttalk about my gggggeneration, as well how it would approach this iconic figure about whom so much has already been said and written. I was surprised at the breadth and scope of Philip Norman's research: he is nothing if not thorough. For example, Lennon's relationship with his father was given a dusting off and shaking out, with a more balanced look at the man who was supposed to have abandoned John and left his mother to raise him as a single mom.

It's like the Titanic: we all know how the story ends. But I got the sense, at least from this book, that this ship never really had a captain, that his life was always being pushed by forces which were always just a bit bigger than he could control. Not a heavy read but interesting enough.

Biography
817 pages

Thanks Charlie & Laura. I kept thinking as I read it that it was a pretty tight novel for a first one and that she is the same age as my lads.
Stasia, I got this copy on loan from a friend...I have to mail it on to someone else now, but I think it was an ARC for the original owner.
Karen, I know what you mean about the cover. I would have put a pigeon on the cover, myself.

ETA: did a little housework here this morning *flicking dust cloth*

Tiffin
just a quick note to say that I really enjoyed your well written review and commentary on the John Lennon book.

>123 tiffin: It wasn't an ARC but came from the UK as a gift to me. It isn't published in North America yet - hopefully soon!

Hi teelgee
Good to see a post from you. I note you are a member of the 100 book challenge.
I hope you are well!

Linda

17. The Pendragon Legend by Antal Szerb



My Review here

Modern Hungarian fiction (trans. Len Rix)
234 pages

Thanks to Lola for recommending this one.

Tiffin
I read your review. This sounds like a great book. I've added it to the ever growing tbr pile.

Woah, Tui, you're making me dizzy, moving those books around! :-)

Tui, another good one for the Continent. I am adding The Pendragon Legend. Now, I just have to track down a copy . . .

Great review - I've put it onto my library list ... just looked and it's the first book in ages that isn't there! And it's not in the uni library. Now I have to read it.

Tiffin
Congratulations! I note that you received a "hot review" regarding The Pendragon Legend!

Oooh, Un Lun Dun looks interesting!
I'd love a review...

#132: well I'll be darned. Thanks, Whisper.

Lyssaur, I should do a review of it. It is a pet of a book.

A well-deserved hot review, Tui. Now you have everyone wanting to read a book that is harder than Hades to find. I think you did the same thing to us with Inside the Whale.

The searches begin, intrepid LTers!

Hey, I got my hands on a copy and I live in Upper Cowpat, Ontario.
The thrill of the hunt, dear Brain. And thank you for your kind words.

Yes, but tiffin, out here in Lower Cowpat, USA, it is the devil to find an affordable copy! Maybe the local library will do an international lib loan!

The Book Depository was my solution - double the £ = Canadian $ but no shipping charges. ;)

ETA: Thanks for the thumbs ups, anyone who gave one. You are all very kind.

Tui - You're back posting again - hooray!

Congratulations on the Hot Review for The Pendragon Legend. I added a thumb, too - very well done. I've added the book to my wishlist, along with Inside the Whale. Yep - it's good to have you back posting so I can add to my ever-growing list!

Hi Tiffin, I agree with you about the Book Depository. Even when the Aussie dollar only fetches 46p it is still cheaper than most Aus bookstores :) And they have a pretty decent range of hard-to-find books.

Thanks, Tracy...just what we all need, eh? More unread books. Mount TBR is threatening to erupt here.

digi, book depository is a dangerous place for me just because of that.

18. Death at La Fenice by Donna Leon



Well, thanks to the glowing reports about this mystery series from Joycepa, I ordered two (Acqua Alta hasn't come in yet) to see what they were all about. I have just finished "Death at La Fenice", which I understand is the first book of the series, and thoroughly enjoyed it. First of all, the city of Venice itself provides the most beautiful backdrop to the story, whether Leon paints it gleaming in a wintery sun, shrouded in thick fog or mist, seen at night with the moss shading out the cracks in the buildings and the stars twinkling above the canals or walking through hidden alleys only known to the city's denizens. I felt that she evoked Venice somewhat in the same way Dickens evoked London, with great affection and knowledge.

When Maestro Helmut Wellauer dies from cyanide poisoning before the third act of the opera he is conducting, we are introduced to Dottor Guido Brunetti, the cosmopolitan vice-commissario of police. Through the course of the novel we see him not only in this role but also as a husband, lover, father, man. We get a glimpse of Venetian society, simultaneously anachronistic and yet tapped into modern wealth and commerce.

I wouldn't call this a riveting mystery which has you reading it over the edge of your covers but the story pulls you in easily and the resolution isn't disappointing. I'm looking forward to reading the next one.

Mystery
270 pages

Ha - I thought that title was Death in Venice for a second, which I just read last month. It sounds like a very good mystery, Tiffin. Anything set in Venice is worth a look.

I have Acqua Alta waiting in my "very soon" mental pile - at the rate I'm going we might end up reading it together. Glad the first one was good. I'm going to start on #2 because I don't need any more books, even from the library...

#142: I just finished Death in La Fenice a couple of days ago, too, tiffin, so Joyce has managed to suck us both in! I enjoyed it as well and already have another 8 or so Leons to read.

#142. There must be Donna Leon fever going around because my wife just picked up Death for me at B&N. Plus, it's on the hot review list today, but not yours. *sob* (That's a crying sob, not name-calling.)

19. The Sibyl in Her Grave by Sarah Caudwell



Well, it was a bittersweet read because I knew it was the last of the Hilary Tamar mysteries by Caudwell and that there would be no more as Sarah Caudwell died nine years ago. These mysteries are funny, intelligent and refreshing, with their format of letters from afar helping to lay out the events surrounding each mystery while Prof. Tamar et. al try to solve the murder(s) from the home base of London. Hilary Tamar, a professor at Oxford and shameless eavesdropper and busybody, is perfect as the mysteriously androgynous sleuth who solves the murder(s) using Scholarship as her/his main tool - the reader knows Prof. Tamar solves each conundrum, even if her/his friends in New Square are dubious. In this last book, Caudwell was obviously still hitting the mark as an excellent mystery writer, with no signs of flagging with either her inventiveness or her obvious affection for her characters. The whole series is highly recommended.

Mystery
356 pages

#146: Charlie, I picked up another Leon at the library today. Hope it isn't a series best read in order because I think I've picked up the most recent one. Still waiting for Acqua Alta to come in from...can't remember where I ordered it from....somewhere. I find mysteries are a bit hard to review because you don't want to give anything away so I don't say much. I think the "fever" is coming up from a certain LTer in Panama!

#147-148. The Caudwell mystery/series sounds like another good one. Personally, I think it was rather rude of Caudwell to die before she was written out.

Whenever I review anything I'm afraid I'm going to give too much away—I often review the dust jacket just to make sure.

And you're absolutely correct about the Panama fever—I read three chapters last night before my wife told me to turn the light out and go to sleep. I may revert to reading under the covers with a flashlight . . .

Maybe we should all just write letters of complaint to Joyce about our lack of sleep! Not that I think she would stop recommending books or anything . . .

20. The Girl of His Dreams by Donna Leon



Joyce is probably going to raise an eyebrow in askance but I've now read the first and the latest books of the Commissario Guido Brunetti mystery series. This story was very different in tone from the first one, more questioning and philosophical than procedural. I'm not going to comment on the story too much (always feel that cats will be let out of bags if I say too much with mysteries), except to say that I enjoyed it very much, but I will be interested to see what the books between the first one and this one are like, and if there is a progression with them. Again, I just love Venice as the backdrop - and what a backdrop it is, even in the rain. The quotation on the frontispiece was from the opera Die Zauberflöte by Mozart - I gather that Leon starts every book with a quotation from an opera.

Der Tod macht mich nicht beben.
Nur meine Mutter dauert mich;
Sie stirbt vor Gram ganz sicherlich.

Death does not make me tremble.
I feel sorry only for my mother.
She will surely die of grief.

#151. Since I don't see any comments from Joyce, I assume she doesn't know we're talking behind her back and in front of her front. I'm almost through with the first one and I . . . ordered the next two in the series today. I have the fever.

If you're interested, here is the series in chrono order:

Donna Leon Mysteries

Thanks for that link, Charlie. Very helpful indeed.

#129, kambrogi, it's my latent OCD kicking in - every now and then I have to reorganise things. hehe That's why I added a pages read counter too. I was thinking I wasn't reading very much so far, even taking into account dealing with Real Life, but then I realised that I had read a couple of thumpers (the noise they make when you close them), so thought I'd add the pages so I wouldn't feel so hair shirtish.

"Thumpers"

That's a good one.

I am following all these messages regarding Joyce being the peddler and pusher of the Donna Leon books. I will simply have to jump on the bandwagon and follow Joyce the Pied Piper.

>153 tiffin:: it's my latent OCD kicking in ... latent? Are you sure?!

hehe I thought it was only overt when one advanced to making charts?

oh, no, there are many other symptoms...but at least you are not alone.

Hi Tiffin, found you at last. Good to read your Sarah Caudwell reviews.

21. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman



Well, this was fun! The second fantasy I've read lately featuring a world under London, England. This is an ancient story retold: the hero or warrior as a simple man who nevertheless rises to the occasion (Richard), the land ravaged by a dark force which must be destroyed so the land can be healed (can't say who, it would be a spoiler), the huntress (Hunter) and the cavalier (Marquis de Carabas), the princess with the power (Door) and always choice: which door, which key, which cup? This was the first Gaiman I've read and I'm definitely going to read more of his writing.

Note: this isn't the cover I have...couldn't find it anywhere where I could copy it.

I loved Neverwhere, too. The Marquis de Carabas is my favorite, but then I love fictional cads. If you like short stories at all, I recommend Fragile Things, which is brilliant.

#160: Count me inthe Neverwhere fan club as well, Tui. I read it for the first time this year and thoroughly enjoyed it - I have already put it on my list of memorable reads for the year.

...passing by to say I'm really enjoying your reviews! I haven't read Neverwhere but I've read two of Gaiman's children's/YA novels (Coraline and Wolves in the Walls) and would be very curious to try one of his more adult ones. Does Neverwhere fit in that category? I know it's fantasy, but is it a sort of "darker" fantasy? I've heard that his fans separate his work into "children's books" and "adult books" but have no idea which are which.

#163, Girl, it is a bit noir but in a good way (as opposed to a gratuitous or sick way) and yes, I would say this is definitely "adult" although I know I would have devoured this when I was in my early teens, so it just depends on personal taste and the bent of your imagination. The story itself is excellent, the characters are superbly done. He also has a deliciously wry English wit.

I'm reading The American Gods now and although it's very different from Neverwhere, it is just as compelling. This lad can write!

ETA: Stasia, yes, I think it will be up there for me too.

ETA2: #161, jfetting, I love fictional cads too. Real life ones, not so much. ;)

Gaiman is a superb writer, but he seems to be moving more into the graphic novel genre for YA and geeks.

I thoroughly enjoyed American Gods, so Neverwhere will go on my list. I'm presently reading Gaiman's collaboration with Terry Pratchett, Good Omens, one of the most inventive and humorous books I've ever read.

Thanks, Tui, for the review.

Allow me to put in my stock plug here. I love Good Omens with a passion. The sort-of sequel to American Gods, Anansi Boys: a novel, I found much more enjoyable and thought-provoking than the first book. So if you already like American Gods, be sure not to miss Anansi Boys!

ok, "Good Omens" is going on the seek and find list (which I actually do have and cart around in my handbag with me).

Tui - I just read Gaiman's Anansi Boys, my first by him, and I really enjoyed it. For whatever reason - probably because he was so hyped - I've avoided reading anything by Gaiman, but I think I'll be looking for more of his stuff as time goes by. Plus, I just found out he lives in the Twin Cities area now, so now I think of him as a "local writer." :-)

ok, it's official: I'm a Neil Gaiman fan. Just finished...



22. American Gods by Neil Gaiman

It was absolutely superb.

Modern Fantastic Lit.
588 pages

Tracy, I understand - I like to know what I think about a book on my own, without all the parades and ticker tape. I had picked up "American Gods" for one of my lads for Christmas several years ago and he loved it, so I wanted to read Gaiman because of that. Somehow I was oblivious to the hype but I can understand now why he was being hyped.

I began to read, and got about half way through, The Boys in the Trees by Mary Swan. This is beautiful writing but I am not in the frame of mind for the actual story right now. ***SPOILERS*** Being told the story of a man who had a lousy family background, cheats and embezzles, eventually killing his whole family, is just not my cuppa, no matter how beautifully the story is told. I was hoping to read this to up my Canadian content this year.

Tiffin..
This does sound like a dreadful book. The Boys in the Trees became the family in the ground? Ugh.

Well, not exactly, Whisp. It really is excellent writing and I know that others have loved it, so I don't want to spoil it for anyone else who might want to try it by saying too much more. So I'll only say that the title refers to several people and situations in the book...it's a metaphor with several meanings. It was just that the story itself isn't one I find myself able to read right now as it is too infinitely sad.

I was one of the ones who loved The Boys in the Trees which, admittedly, I bought because the cover and the title were so appealing. I found the end a little unsatisfying, but found it hard to put down and overall was very impressed by the characters, story construction, and subtlety of the book.

Tiffin - I understand your reluctance wrt content. While recognizing quality writing, we do read for enjoyment, non?!

My recent read of Snakes and Earrings was VERY off-putting - S&M, violence, tongue forking etc and I was so relieved to finish it. My present Orange finalist book Intuition focuses around animal testing - it is a difficult subject to read so far!!

>167 tiffin:: Roni's recommendation of Good Omens is wholeheartedly seconded here. My absolute favourite book of all time.

It's on the way from the Book Depository, Flossie (and Roni). She made it sound too good to pass up.

Kiwi, that's it exactly. I'm actually wondering if I should count it, because I did speed read it to the end to see if I got feeling any better about it.

ETA: #174, Rebeccanyc, I agree about the quality. It was just what the story was about that made me put it down and say 'I can't do this right now'.

#175. I, like, totally agree, you know? (I'm testing my Valley Girl dialog.) I read for enjoyment and escape, and my mood has to be just right for something unsettling.

And there is no way I could read about animal testing. I know that it's necessary for medical and drug research, but I don't have to read about it (similarly, I don't want to read what they put in hot dogs).

teelgee,
gee tao te ching
simplicity
what translation were u reading

speaking of translations
many assume a simplicity to it
that is not what it says...

my prefered translation is by brad hatcher

I have the Ursula LeGuin translation.

Tiffin, I also enjoyed American Gods. I got into Gaiman years ago, as a result of the Sandman comic series, although it was the art on the covers by David McKean that drew me into that! Dustcovers: The Collected Sandman Covers 1989-1997 (no touchstone) Funny routing.

I get you on reading depressing stuff, although I do it frequently. There has to be something to make it satisfying, I guess -- language, fascinating tale, uplifting ending. A Fine Balance is the classic in that regard --- sooo depressing and sooo good. I am reading Madame Bovary now, a reread, and it is too depressing for me at the moment. It's definitely a mood thing, no?

>181 kambrogi: the art by Dave McKean is also what made me read Gaiman's Coraline and Wolves in the Walls. He's just amazing, isn't he?? :)

#180: I just picked that edition up a week or so ago as it looked interesting. She didn't actually translate it, as she doesn't read Chinese, but she worked with various translations, giving her interpretation of each reading. I've only scanned it briefly but hers look very pared down, very direct, compared to the Blakney translation I have.

#181: kambrogi, I agree. I think too that the story being told in "A Fine Balance" is really different from the one being told in "The Boys in the Trees". SPOILER ALERT: the misery of William Heath's whole life was just such an unrelentingly grim tale, with its history of abuse, poverty, desperation and black despair. I knew from the start that there would be no salvation in this book and I just couldn't handle it. It definitely is a mood thing.

I too think that McKean's art is fascinating.

23. The Arrival by Shaun Tan



What an extraordinary book. An immigrant's story told without words, capturing how alien the new world can seem and how simple acts of kindness create community.

Graphic Novel (Australian)
128 pages

24. The Boys in the Trees by Mary Swan



I finally got over my inability to read this story because of its bleakness. It really is a very well written book, which looks into the characters of a small town affected by and connected to the murders of a wife and two daughters by their husband and father. Swan has uncanny perception about people and situations, and beautiful descriptions. It is a haunting story, equally hauntingly told.

ETA: I have to clarify "bleakness": a horrific murder is committed and someone is executed. That is the bleak central fact of the story. It wasn't that which made it hard for me to read, it was that Swan was pulling my emotions over the coals around this central fact. She made me care about each and every one of the individuals in the story, including the murderer, not only for the lives which were taken but the lives which were left forever affected by the act. I had to put the book down and come back to it, several times, to finish it. She just got into my emotions and played them like a Stradivarius.
Modern Canadian Lit.
207 pages

I am happy to see that one more person has read The Arrival. What a book!

I will have to give that last one a miss, as good as it looks. Just seems to painful.

I stole this from Tad's thread:

The BBC apparently believes most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here:

How do your reading habits stack up? bold those books you've read in their entirety, italicize the ones you started but didn't finish

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy (in progress)
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy.
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth.
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold NOT GOING TO READ THIS ONE
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt.
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton {I think I've read this...not quite certain}
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

#185. I've had my eye (actually, both eyes) on this one, so I'm going to read it.

Only 18 or 19 not read is great, Tui. Over 80%, if my calculator is working.

>187 tiffin:: Wow!

Tiffin
I've added The Boy's in the Trees to my ever growing tbr pile. I enjoyed your description.

Charlie and Linda, it really was an excellent book. I'm just a wimp about certain subject matters. I am unable to read about the Scottish clearances or the holocaust...they make me almost physically ill.

Tad, I grew up in a reading family. Many of these were at home, as a kid, so I read them. If it wasn't nailed down, I read it.

ETA: my reaction was "how embarrassing, I haven't read The Colour Purple" !

I am adding The Boys in the Trees to the Continent, but The Arrival is already there, so I cannot add it again :)

Congrats on how many you have read in the list, Tui! I have not read The Color Purple either, so we can be embarrassed together, lol.

25. The Great Crash 1929 by John Kenneth Galbraith

I won't even pretend to claim to understand the economics involved but from a historical perspective, this is a really interesting read. I thought it would be timely to look at it, given the major reality adjustment we are going through globally right now. He is a very descriptive writer, so it made an otherwise dry subject matter palatable for me.

And I'm going to claim him as a Canadian read, even though he lived in the USA latterly.

I got this book on interlibrary loan as my little village library didn't have it. It is a small paperback but it was obviously either preowned or used by someone for school, as it is heavily underlined in parts, has comments in the margins (with copious spelling mistakes) and is held together on the outer edges with library tape while cracked along the inner seams. Coming in on a wing and a prayer indeed!

Economics/History
172 pages

I second Tui's recommendations of The Boys in the Trees, one of my favorite books of last year, and The Great Crash 1929, one of my favorites (so far) this year. Galbraith has a wicked dry wit. And, by the way, Tui, after I read this book, someone commented here on LT that many economists consider Galbraith a better historian than economist -- so if you looked at it historically you probably got the best part of it.

He IS dry, isn't he, Rebecca. And I am so glad that I persisted with "The Boys in the Trees" - largely because you did like it so much - it's one of those books which stays with you. I find myself thinking of it and almost wanting to read it over again.
ETA: funny how something which I initially resisted so much will likely be one of my best reads this year.

tiffin, I also enjoyed The Great Crash, despite being somewhat confused about leveraging and holding companies. Was amused by Professor Dice of the parasangs and Galbraith's many other witty asides.

From our friend Wikipedia:
The parasang may have originally been some fraction of the distance an infantryman could march in some predefined period of time. Herodotus (v.53) speaks of an army2 traveling the equivalent of five parasangs per day.

So I learned something by reading it. His asides were the best (more comprehensible?) bits for me.

#193: I have got that one on the Continent to be read in the next couple of weeks, so I appreciate the input about approaching it from a historical perspective. I know next to nothing about economics, so that part will probably just fly right over my very short head.

Stasia, did you ever see the Larson Far Side cartoon where he has the person talking to the dog in one box, carrying on a conversation, labelled "what we say to dogs" and the other box, labelled "what the dog hears" says "blah blah blah Rover blah blah blah"? Well, when Galbraith was reeling off numbers and economic terms, it was pretty much blah blah blah Tui blah blah blah. But when he was talking about what was going on politically and historically, it was very interesting...if this helps.

#199: I do not think I ever saw that particular Far Side cartoon, Tui, but I can certainly relate to it! I will keep in mind when I tackle the book.

>191 tiffin:: Tad, I grew up in a reading family. Many of these were at home, as a kid, so I read them. If it wasn't nailed down, I read it.

I wish I had. My mother was an avid reader (though just mysteries and chick lit) but everything she read she got out of the library. My dad was wont to claim he had read exactly one book since leaving school (The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich). Neither of my sisters were readers then, though one has since become one. Any books in our house were ones I brought in. It's probably no exaggeration to say there were 1000 books in my room and 5 throughout the rest of the house, one of which a dictionary. So, other than school, there was no reading "guidance"...I just read whatever caught my attention or I got as a present.

I remember, in high school, having a friend whose family were all readers. His house was filled in every nook and cranny with books...many of which I went on to read. I so wished I lived in that house.

Now we have a house filled with books. My oldest hates reading. I thought my middle one did but she's lately discovered the Twilight books and I'm willing for any toe in the door. My youngest seems to be really hooked, so I'll tell her she's my favorite child. (Just kidding!)

lol :D I love that Far Side comic, too!

#202: I grew up in a home where my mother read (almost exclusively mysteries and romances, kind of like your mother), but my father did not read. My mother taught me to read at age 3, and I have never looked back.

My husband does not read, and my oldest daughter is a 'jag' reader: she will go for months without a book, then discover a series she likes (for her, it was Harry Potter that got her going, Tad) and the devour them all. Catey is definitely a reader.

#201: That's not me talking to my dog, that's me talking to my kids :)

I am speaking as someone who dropped out of her college economics course (after haranguing the professor to give me credit for the first semester, which I completed), so I'm probably not the best person to say this, but . . . it drives me crazy when intelligent, educated women say they can't understand economics! To me it's like girls saying they don't like math!

I am as guilty as the next person of being lazy and just hearing "blahs" and "Rover/Ginger," but I feel guilty because I'm not making the effort, not because I don't believe I could understand it if I worked at it. Of course, there are economics and math books that are designed for professionals, but then there are books aimed a the general reader. They may take a little work, and some of them will be more or less comprehensible than others, but often it's perfectly possible to understand much of what's in them if one wants to spend the time.

Economics affects us all, more obviously now than in a long time. As women especially, we shouldn't let the "experts" think they can pull the wool over our eyes.

OK, off my soapbox and off to get breakfast, which might make me less grumpy!

I'm loving the conversations on your thread, tiffin!
There were two bookcases in my house when I was growing up, both of which belonged to my mother. By the time I was born my mom wasn't reading much anymore, and eventually she gave up on reading completely. But she did always encourage me to read and bought me lots of children's books which I devoured long before I even went to school (where they were supposed to teach us how to read ha!). My grandparents - with whom I grew up - were the opposite: they always told me to stop reading so much because it will "ruin my eyes" :) I would have loved to grow up in a house of "readers' with books eeeeeverywhere in the house. Maybe that will happen when I start my own family :)

I've deleted this post as the recipient has read it and I don't like to leave things which are too personal lingering around on the internet.

Tad, that wasn't the Far Side cartoon I was thinking of but that's a good one! Mom was a library reader too but we also had books at home and books were always gifts at Christmas or birthdays. She read omniverously and constantly, frequently a book a day or every two days. Dad read less constantly but he loved books about history, the more ancient the better, so that was a good stash of books to purloin. My brother was/is a reader. Happily, being flopped over a chair or on your bed reading was not considered "doing nothing" and you were left alone to be allowed to read. I think that kids who are otherwise busy and active really need this time for their bodies to relax and their imaginations to have a workout.

My best friend before high school was a minister's daughter - now there was a house full of books, including having a library! I would go around the corner to her house on a rainy day and we'd read together in this alcove at the top of the stairs with books on two walls to the ceiling, the third wall a big leaded pane window with two armchairs by it. Heaven!

I am very glad you dropped into my thread. When I saw your name pop up, I realized I didn't have your thread starred this year. So, now I've got you.

>209 tiffin:: Hmm, it seems most of Larson's cartoons are not on the Web.

Was it the one where the upper panel has the human is saying, "This is our new dog, Rex" and, in the panel below, the dog is saying, "Hello, I am known an Vexorg, Destroyer of Cats and Devourer of Chickens"?

Your friend's house sounds wonderful. I love lot of shelves and I love nooks.

I suspect my kids don't realize how much I would have loved the house I have now as a kid. Of course, isn't that the way...we put together what we wish we had had? To them, it's just "the house where Dad has too many books." My wife doesn't mind because: a) she reads, also b) she indulges me.

We have a library with floor to ceiling books on all four walls (well, we didn't cover the windows). The bedrooms all have full bookshelves. The entire third-floor hallway is shelved to hold paperbacks. The built-in bookshelves in the breakfast room hold my TBR stack.

We're starting to burst at the seams a small bit, so now I'm filling our cabin with books. It was hard to figure out what went where and I didn't want all of one genre of book in a single place, so I adopted the totally arbitrary system of:

books you're reading or re-reading -> bedroom
TBR -> breakfast room
hardbacks -> library
paperbacks -> third floor
trade paperbacks plus anything you read while on vacation -> cabin

This picture, seen first sometime last year, has been referred to in my home in hushed, reverential tones. I am a little envious; "a little" qualifying for understatements of the century.

Are those Hardy Boy books in the upper left?

>212 blackdogbooks:: Thanks, BDB. I love the room. We had no need of a "back parlor" (it's an older Victorian home) and so seemed just the thing. We found a cabinet-maker who was trying to establish himself and gave us a good price on the shelves. I don't think he realized how much fitting would be needed since nothing is plumb, level or square in this house. (Hmmm, that reminds me of the Alan Dugan poem...) It's off on one side of the house, at the opposite end from our family room/tv, so relatively quiet.

>213 CanadaPile:: Yes, good eye. I had a complete set of those published at the time I was a kid. Years later I gave a younger cousin the ones he hadn't read. I sort of regret that, now, as I maybe have only 20 left.

Ouch! I touched a nerve, Tui, and I am sorry. Obviously, I hope, I was generalizing. Within women AND men, girls AND boys, there is obviously a spectrum of people everywhere from being good at/loving math and quantitative stuff to having trouble with it/hating it . . . and for everything else too. I was just trying to point out that often girls/women get a subtle message that it's OK not to be good at the quantitative/theoretical side of things and maybe teachers don't try hard enough to get them interested, etc. But this is all general, and every individual is different and has different strengths and weaknesses. I, for example, couldn't begin to play music by ear or draw anything more sophisticated than a stick figure or come up with anything as creative as your Joe/Fred example.

I am sorry it was so painful for you and I'm sorry I caused you to relive that pain.

Now there's a bit of heaven, Tad. Absolute, perfect heaven.

I do a purge every so many years, the last big one about a decade ago when I got rid of about 1,000 books when a friend was opening a used bookshop. He got all of my science fiction and won't-ever-read-again collection. I don't have the ceiling height you do nor do I have three floors (did growing up but this is a bungalow). So space reality is a harsh master. My den is very, very small.

My wife just walked by the computer as i drooled on the keyboard and began to oooh and ahhh. I do have a wall in our main living area, which is quite large, 15 feet or so, with bookshelves, not built-in's, filled floor to ceiling. That's the bulk of the library, thought there are books in every other room in the house, like yours - true crime and most non-fiction in my study. The wife noted I need a leather chair near the bookshelves.

Tiffin, my heart groaned reading your story of giving away 1,000 books. Next time, I will travel to your house and take them off your hands :)

It's ok, Rebecca, I didn't take offense, just wanted to explain that I wasn't one of those effete people who hadn't ever given it a full shot. One of life's great ironies is that I ended up as the administrator of a large university college, managing a large budget.

ETA: edited some things out here at it was tmi for the internet.

BD, it gave me a whopper of a credit, which both of my lads used to get school books (one was an English major), so no regrets. I try not to think of the classic SF I got rid of though. Hope there weren't any first edition EBay wonders in there.

>201 TadAD: There is also a Larson cat cartoon like that, but the cat doesn't even hear its name!

>211 TadAD: omg, I want that library! What a dream come true it would be!

#205 Stasia, here's one for kids, same idea, going the other directions. In today's comics section, and also here:

http://www.arcamax.com/zits

#216 I'm in a bungalow, too, Tiffin. Have bookshelves wrapped around a side and a half of the front bedroom, one wall of the back bedroom (my office) and a bookcase each in the living room and dining room plus cookbooks tucked away on a couple of kitchen cabinet shelves. Maybe by the end of spring break I'll have the house picked up enough to take pictures...and may not.

woke up this morning to find over 20 new messages on your thread this morning! At this rate, you'll be moving to a new thread before too long as well.

roni, I love Zits. Saw that one in the weekend funnies. I think my bungalow might be smaller than yours, from the sound of it, so I do keep a fairly tight rein on things. The library is my friend. ;)

3 bedroom, 1350 square feet total. Only room without books in it is the middle bedroom, which we actually use as a bedroom--oops, no, I've got the nightstand loaded down! But no shelves.

Oh that is Heaven! Lovely picture, I would give both my arms to have a bookcase like that - actually only one arm, because how will I hold a book afterwards i I don't have one left? And that chair is begging you to sit in it and read! Ooooh I'm sooo jealous!

I'm afraid that with a big comfy leather chair like that I'd do more sleeping than reading. Then again, I wouldn't need the bedroom...

Roni, we're on a par then but I've only got books in the den and bedroom, with cookbooks in the kitchen.

I think it's unanimous: Tad has won the dream library award and so say all of we. The only thing missing is an ottoman in front of that chair and I think that would qualify as the definition of Heaven. (If the chair is a recliner, I take that back.)

I absolutely can not get over the fact that you folks have managed to hide out here for MONTHS and not let me know what was happening!!! Where tough luck, all--I've managed to sort all of you out and here I am. Good try, but not good enough.

My only consolation is the Donna Leon "fever"!

Now..if I could just whip up fervor for Magdalen Nabb..I could return contentedly to mass incompetence on the battlefield.

Great Glorious Galloping Goats--THAT'S Tad's library?? Oh, drool!

>226 tiffin:: The chair is a recliner. I'm standing in front of another just like it to take the picture. Good reading for two (the third chair you see is fine for sitting but not really good for lounging in as it has wooden arms).

Tiffin...What a very interesting thread you have! I'm enjoying these conversations regarding math, economics, books, book shevles, creating space, etc.

Four years ago, two full houses of things were combined into one. Lots of compromises had to happen to make this feat occur. Sadly, I gave away many of my books to a local library. Now, I'm working on accumulating again....but where to put them...now that is a problem.

We decided not to buy a larger house and thus my husband could sell his practices and retire at 59. He grew tired and weary of dealing with the public and the health care system wore him down. He reads but obtains his books from the library. On the other hand, I like to see my books and I get great pleasure at simply looking at the covers.

Tad. I am VERY envious of your space.

Time for a new thread.
Take Two is Here