Stringcat3's 2009 List

1. The Wit and Wisdom of Discworld - Terry Pratchett

2. The Ghost Map - Steven Johnson

3. The Lyre of Orpheus - Robertson Davies
4. A Houseboat on the Styx - John Kendrick Bangs

5. Dear American Airlines - Jonathan Miles

6. Fifth Business - Robertson Davies
7. The Manticore - Robertson Davies

Are you reading the whole The Deptford Trilogy? I would love to know what you think about it. It has been on my tbr for a while.
--BJ

8. Hotel of the Saints - Ursula Hegi
9. The Pursuit of the Houseboat - John Kendrick Bangs

I had to read Fifth Business for a high school english class and have been meaning to go back and finish the trilogy ever since. I'm also curious to hear what you think about it, stringcat. And how did you like Dear American Airlines? I've been seeing that one pop up a lot lately.

>8 spacepotatoes: Of Davies' three trilogies, I rank the Salterton highest, followed by the Deptford and then the Cornish. I became very impatient with the last, especially in the third installment which I skimmed. The Deptford and Cornish structures are also rather similar. Confession: I haven't finished the Deptford. World of Wonders is in the wings, but I needed a break from the Jungian blather.

The Salterton trilogy is quite funny, which the other two are not.

>8 spacepotatoes: Sorry - Dear American Airlines was good for the first 30-40 pages or so then got tedious. Was a short story idea forced into a novel length. Matter of fact, I just sold it on half.com.

Thanks, stringcat. I didn't realize Davies wrote so many trilogies, I'd only heard of Deptford and I vaguely remember reading about Salterton somewhere. It's too bad you didn't enjoy Dear American Airlines...I know what you mean about short story ideas being forced into novels. Just doesn't work.

10. The Castle of Otranto: A Gothic Story - Horace Walpole

To borrow Virginia Woolf's comment on James Joyce, "What tosh." But entertaining tosh. If you're in the mood for something completely preposterous but short (only 123 pages) with great pacing, here's your gothic. I can see why it made such a splash - it's quite thrilling with a solid villain, proposals of infamous misconduct (marital, sexual), secret identities, prophecies, groaning portraits, secret passages and more . Wait for a dark and stormy night, then read it in bed by candlelight while wearing a frilly white nightgown (optional for males). Extra points if you have flowing wavy locks and a rosebud mouth.

That review sold me! :)
--BJ

11. The Black Tower - Louis Bayard

12. World of Wonders - Robertson Davies

13. The Widow's War - Sally Gunning
14. Our Own Snug Fireside - Jane C. Nylander
15. The Folklore of Discworld - Terry Pratchett and Jacqueline Simpson

Great review on The Castle of Otranto--I read it last semester and can't say I'll ever go back to it, but I agree with your thoughts whole-heartedly :)

16. The Library at Night - Alberto Manguel
17. Wedlock: The True Story of the Disastrous Marriage and Remarkable Divorce of Mary Eleanor Bowes, Countess of Strathmore - Wendy Moore

stringcat ~ did you finish An Old Man's Love ... ?

No, it's still sitting here looking at me. Just haven't been in the mood (and the novelty of instant downloads to the TV via my Netflix box hasn't yet worn off). And the two books I just finished were lent to me by rjacobs and I wanted to get them back to him. The longer they were here, the more likely something would happen to them, and they're both in like-new condition.

I've been intermittently reading online chapters from W.R. Le Fanu's memoirs "Seventy Years of Irish Life." Some Trollopean flavor to them. Was brother of J.S. Le Fanu, the noted Irish ghost story writer.

18. Inventing the Victorians - Matthew Sweet

19. Design For Tea - Jane Pettigrew

20. Seventy Years of Irish Life - W. R. Le Fanu

21. Vathek - William Beckford
22. Revolutionary Road - Richard Yates

23. Marion Fay - Anthony Trollope

I have been wanting to read a book by Trollope. Did you like this one?
--BJ

> 26 I wouldn't start my Trollope experience with it! It was my 36th AT novel. I'd say start with the more popular Barchester Towers, the second book in the Barsetshire series. Rachel Ray is another good choice, as is Ayala's Angel. Many people choose Dr. Wortle's School as their favorite "stand-alone" novel (i.e., not in the Barsetshire or Palliser series). For something darker try He Knew He Was Right or Mr. Scarborough's Family. DON'T start with The Way We Live Now or any of the Palliser series. I've not read Is He Popenjoy?, another popular choice.

36th ?!!! ... wow

Thanks for the recommendations! :) I had no idea that he had written so many books. And I also learned today that there are over 35 Discworld books by Terry Pratchett. It is amazing that one person can be so prolific. I mean two.

Have a great day and thanks again.
--BJ

> 30 I must confess I've read all the Discworld books and quite a few of Pratchett's others.

What can I say - I have no life. At least it's not video games ...

LOL! You crack me up! In this family reading lots of books means you have a great life! (And none of us is any good at video games!)
--BJ

24. Eating With the Victorians - C. Anne Wilson

25. The World of Mr. Mulliner - P.G. Wodehouse
26. An Intimate Anthology - Louisa May Alcott

How was The World of Mr Mulliner? I've read the story 'Buck-U-Uppo' and I'm currently reading Young Men in Spats which includes a few Mulliner tales.

I am also interested. I have several Blandings books around that I have been meaning to read. My mom loved Wodehouse so much. Have a great day!
--BJ

>34 digifish_books:-35 Like most Wodehouse: frothy, formulaic, funny. Wodehouse himself recommended that one read no more than one or two at a time, preferably at bedtime.

I did make a count of the various relatives Mulliner mentions in his stories: 2 brothers, an uncle, a niece, either 9 or 10 cousins (the status of Launcelot is ambiguous), and 17 or 18 nephews (again, said Launcelot involved). There was also Anselm, a "distant connection" also mentioned as a cousin once removed.

27. The Bertrams - Anthony Trollope

Solid B-list AT. Yes, at the beginning there's too much travelogue, but AT soon calms down and gets steadily down to work. Features a miserly rich uncle who won't name his heir, lovers' quarrels, a domineering mother tormenting her son the vicar and a less than admirable friend. The heroine isn't as icy as Griselda Grantly, later Marchioness of Hartletop, but her chilliness causes much grief to herself and the rather nebbishy hero. No hunting scenes, I'm NOT sorry to say, but a wicked depiction of a buncha old ladies at a whist party in a watering hole that's a few rungs down from Bath. In usual AT fashion, his "narrator" pretends to spill the beans while never actually revealing the plot twists. The much anticipated reading of the will is, unfortunately, not quite the tour de force one would hope, but you'll never guess who gets (or doesn't get) what. Overall, quite satisfactory.

28. An Eye For An Eye - Anthony Trollope

29. The Code of the Woosters - P.G. Wodehouse

30. Is He Popenjoy? - Anthony Trollope

31. Foolscap - Michael Malone
32. The Language of Bees - Laurie R. King

33. Amsterdam - Ian McEwan
34. The Four Corners of the Sky - Michael Malone

35. The Rituals of Dinner - Margaret Visser
36. Curiosities of Literature - John Sutherland

37. Atticus - Ron Hansen

>37 stringcat3: Thanks for reviewing The Bertrams. I just joined a Yahoo Trollope group and discovered it is the current group read (Aug-Nov), so I am contemplating trying to catch up. After Phineas Redux I am ready for something with NO hunting scenes (or politics for that matter!) :)

38. Great Irish Tales of Horror - Edited by Peter Haining

39. The Meaning of Night - Michael Cox

40. Joy in the Morning - P.G. Wodehouse

41. American Supernatural Tales - editor S.T. Joshi

42. Victorian Ghost Stories - Michael Cox

43. The Sea - John Banville

44. The Europeans - Henry James

45. The Inimitable Jeeves - P.G. Wodehouse

46. Lolly Willowes - Sylvia Townsend Warner

47. Gothic! Ten Original Dark Tales - Deborah Noyes, editor

48. Watch and Ward - Henry James

49. Ghosts: A Treasury of Chilling Tales Old and New - Marvin Kaye

50. Carry On, Jeeves - P.G. Wodehouse

51. Right Ho, Jeeves - P.G. Wodehouse

52. Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her - Melanie Rehak

53. John Caldigate - Anthony Trollope
54. A Beautiful Blue Death - Charles Finch
55. Bookman's Pleasure - Holbrook Jackson

56. Sherlock Holmes Was Wrong - Pierre Bayard