Tutu's 2nd qtr

Welcome to the 2nd quarter of Tutu's 999 Challenge

Hi everyone! My first thread was getting unwieldy, and I decided to use the end of the first quarter of 2009 as a good place to stop and reorganize on a new one. My old thread is here. I'm not going to relist all the books I've read so far, but will just list a recap at the end of the old thread.

Here's my Overall Progress so far

Best Fiction of the Year -1st qrtr:Any Bitter Thing Monica Wood
Best Non-Fiction- 1st qrtr: a tie between The Dark Side: Jane Mayer and
Great Souls:Six Who Changed the Century David Aiken

My Categories for 2009 numbers in bold indicate how many have been completed.

1. Fiction - including mysteries and thrillers 9/9 Category Finished !!!
2. Books about books, libraries or language 9/9 Category Finished !!!
3. Things Portuguese 9/9 TA DAH - I'm Done!!!
4. Re-reads/finish ups/cleanoff the MP3 7/9
4. Theology-Spirituality 9/9 Category finished!!
5. Politics/History/Biographies 9/9 Category Finished!!
6. Award winning books/authors 9/9 Category Finished !!!
7. Poetry/letters/short stories 9/9 Category Finished!!!
8. Books recommended by others 9/9 Category Finished!!!
9. No place else to put them 9/9 Category Finished!!!

1. Fiction - including mysteries 9/9
My first completed category

1. Pawing Through the Past Rita Mae Brown - done 1/7/09
2. Comforts of a Muddy Saturday Alexander McCall Smith 2/4/09
3. 16 Lighthouse Road Debbie Macomber 2/18/09
4. Sarah Marek Halter 3/5/09
5. Heart and Soul Maeve Binchy 3/24/09
6. Shape of water Andrea Camillieri 2/09
7. the Red Tent Anita Diamont 3/28/09
8. Suffer the Little Children Leon, Donna 3/08/09
9. Blood from a Stone Donna Leon 3/15/09

2. Books about books, libraries, or language 9/9 Category complete!
1.*Free for all: oddballs, geeks and gangstas in the public library Borchert, Dan Dec 28, 2008
2. Ex Libris Confessions of a Common Reader Fadiman Anne done 1/21/09
3. Sixpence House Paul Collins 2/21/09
4. So Many Books, So Little Time 4/09
5. Reading Lolita in Tehran Azar Nafisi 6/11/09
6. The Library at Night Alberto Manguel 7/21/09
7. Dewey Vicki Myron 6/21/09
8. The YellowLighted Bookshop Lewis Buzbee 7/27/09
9. Soldier's Heart Elizabeth Samet 5/15/09

#3 - Things Portuguese 8/9

1. Letters of a Portuguese Nun Myriam Cry done 1/18/09
2.Sonnets from the Portuguese Elizabeth Barrett Browning done 1/18/09
3. The Coffee Trader David Liss done 1/17/09
4. Our Lady of the Artichokes Katherine Vaz 5/31/09
5. Portuguese Irregular Verbs Alexander McCall Smithdone 2/4/09
6. Food of Portugal Jean Anderson 6/09
7. The Alchemist Paulo Coelho 7/14/09
8. Portugal by Carlos Vitorino da Silva Barros - Title Touchstone not working 8/12/09
9. Saudade Katherine Vaz 9/7/09

#4 Re-Reads or Finish up 7/9
The books originally in this category have all been shifted to other categories. I had 10 categories, so i used these to fill out since everyone of them fit someplace else.

This has been replaced with
#4 Theology and Spirituality turned out to be my Lenten read Category Complete

1. The Prince Mammoth Pumpkin James Adams done 1/14/09
2. Mere Christianity C.S. Lewis3/28/09
3. Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith Kathleen Norris 4/6/9
4. Misquoting Jesus Bart Ehrman 2/19/09
5. Year of Living Biblically A.J. Jacob 2/26/09
6. Christ the Lord:The Road to Cana Anne Rice 3/1/09
7. Dating Jesus Susan Campbell 3/22/09
8. Being Catholic Now Kerry Kennedy 3/3/09
9. The Shack Wm. P. Young 4/7/9

#5 Politics, History & Biographies 9/9 Category complete.

1. The Dark Side: the inside story of how the war on Terror turned into a War on American Ideals Jane Mayer DONE 1/12/2009
2.The Nine - Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court, Jeffrey Toobin done 2/15/09
3.Mysteries of the Middle Ages: The Rise of Feminism, Science and Art from the cults of Catholic Europe Thomas Cahill4/09
4.Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay Nancy Mitford 5/29/09
5.America's Hidden History: Untold Tales of the First Pilgrims, Fighting Women, and Forgotten Founders Done 1/19/09
6. Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time Dava Sobel 5/1/09
7 Great Souls: Six who changed the Century David Aikman 2/16/09
8. American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House Jon Meacham 7/09
9. Dear Fatty Dawn French 8/09

#6 - Award Winners 9/9 Category Finished!!!
these could be either the author (for this or another work) or the work itself; might be a Pulitzer, Booker, National or other award.

1. Ship Fever Andrea Barrett done 2/6/09
2. The Blackford Oakes Reader William F. Buckley done 1/29/09
3. Here Lies the Librarian Richard Peck 4/09
4. Night Elie Wiesel 4/19/09
5. Mistress of the Art of Death Ariana Franklin 6/3/09
6. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane Kate DiCamillo 4/09
7. The Spellman Files Lisa Lutz done 1/24/09
8. Hard Row Margaret Maron done 1/19/09
9. A Taste for Death P.D. James 5/29/09

#7 Poetry, Letters and Short Stories 9/9 Category finished

1. The Gift of story, A Wise Tale about What is Enough Clarissa Pinkola Estes done 1/14/09
2. Ella Minnow Pea Mark Dunndone 1/25/09
3. A Few Quick Ones P.G. Wodehouse done 1/27/09
4. Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam 5/3/09
5. The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri Inferno 4/4/09
6. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button F. Scott Fitzgerald. 5/31/09
7. Ants on the Melon Virginia Hamilton Adair 5/31/09
8. Morning Poems Robert Bly 6/14/
9. Short And Tall Tales Moose County Legends Lillian Braun 6/20/09

#8 Books from somebody else's lists. 9/9 Category Finished!!!

1. The Little World of Don CamilloGiovannino Guareschi 2/2/09
2. Olive Kitteridge Elizabeth Stout DONE 1/10/2009for the Maine Reads
3. One Man's Meat E.B. White Maine Reads 2/26/09
4. Any Bitter Thing Monica Wood 3/15/09the March Maine Reads book
5. The Girl who loved Tom Gordon Stephen King 4/09 the April Maine Reads book
6 Corduroy Mansions 2/28/09 Alexander McCall Smith - a podcast ebook from the British Telegraph.
7. On What Grounds Cleo Coyle 6/7/09
8. Pillars of the Earth Ken Follett done 2/1/09
9. Lobster Chronicles Linda Greenlaw 6/18/09 June Maine Reads book

#9 - No place else to put them 9/9 Category Finished!!!

1. Shakespeare:The World as Stage Bill Bryson 1/14/2009
2. Plato and a Platypus walk into a bar Thomas Cathcart. 1/23/09
3. Best Seller! Daniel, Jane 1/4/09 (touchstone not working )
4. Geography of Bliss:One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World Eruc Weiner 2/10/09
5.Stupid American History Tales of Stupidity,Strangeness and Mythconceptions Leland Gregory 3/20/09
6. Bad Blood Linda Fairstein 4/09
7. The New 50 Simple Things Kids can Do to Save the Earth 4/09
8. Delectable Mountains Earlene Fowler 4/09
9. Summer in Tuscany Elizabeth Adler 4/09

Edited on May 1st: I've decided to start a new Challenge - the 999 x 2 for those of us who are crazy enough to be able to read almost 200 books this year. I'm going at enough of a clip that I know I'll be close. The link is here.

Review:
Category #7 Poetry 4/9 Inferno by Dante.

I was a member of a group read that just spent the past 6 weeks reading about hell. Fortunately the read was not as rigorous as the site visited by the author and his mentor, the poet Virgil. I had never read this in school, and found it to be every bit as mind-boggling as its reviews and fans claim. Dante's imagery, his rhyme scheme and his classical, biblical, and political references are primo.

Our Reading Dante discussion thread is here. I have a slightly different post on my blog Tutu's Two Cents. It was definitely an experience well worth the time and effort.

Next year, I may tackle Purgatorio.

So now I'm caught up...I don't think I'll be able to continue at the pace I was going in the 1st quarter...too many other tugs on my time. After I finish my three lent and easter Book in the next 10 days or so, I'm hoping to be able to start rotating through some of the more neglected categories: Books about books, History, poetry, awards, food and historical fiction. In the meantime, Happy Easter to those who celebrate, and happy spring if your inclinations are different.

tutu, you're doing an amazing job on this challenge.

I haven't been keeping track of pages read. Maybe next time I will do that too, just to see what it ends up at.

Bonus Category: Theology and Spirituality: Amazing Grace by Kathleen Morris.

This delightfully written book is going to be one on my "read again and again" shelf.. It is the first book in years (if ever) that I was compelled to mark up. The author, raised in mainstream American protestant religion, left organized church membership during her college years. As her career as a poet progressed, and her husband endured some incidents of deep depression, she began to visit Benedictine monasteries close to her home in North Dakota, and discovered the poetry of Judaic/christian scripture. Eventually, she re-joined the Presbyterian church of her grandmother, and was called to preach.

Her book is a series of short, beautifully written essays (none more than 5 pages long) about the 'vocabulary of faith' as she calls it. There are excerpts on such words as Heresy, Reprobate, Idolatry, Anger, Herod, Hospitality, Orthodoxy, Ecstacy, Trinity, and a host of others.

It is difficult for me to explain how deeply this book affected me, and how personally inspirational I found it. She certainly is well-studied, but it is the poetic insights that she imparts to traditional scriptural and 'doctrinal' terminology that is so gripping. The fact that she manages to weave her personal story into this is almost a cherry on top a huge sundae.

It may not be the book for everyone, but if you are looking for a positive, beautifully written, easy to read book, you will not go wrong with this one.

tutu, Amazing Grace by Kathleen Norris sounds like something I'd like to read. She's got another that sounded good to me. The Cloister Walk, possibly.

I've seen reviews about Cloister walk and it looks pretty good. She certainly impressed me enough that I've put this one on the wish list.

Amazing Grace is going on my "to buy" list. I read Cloister Walk several years ago and loved it. I found a really good used HC this year at our church book sale and bought it so I can reread it.

Thanks for the wonderful review, Tina! I can hardly wait to get my hands on this one!

tutu, I know what you mean about feeling like writing in a vacuum (per your older thread, if you still remember making that comment). I often feel that way, and then think that a large part of my being on LT is just to gather my book thoughts, regardless of who reads it. :)

I've often considered reading Amazing Grace, but wasn't sure if I'd like it. After seeing your review, I will add to my list of faith books that I try to keep going at most times.

Oh, and by the way, wow! You have made a lot of progress. I'm jealous.

Another Category Finished - WHoo Hoo

Bonus Category: Theology and Spirituality - The Shack by Wm. P. Young

I hadn't planned to read this book. The last book on my Theology list that I had planned to read this week to finish up Lent was Jose Saramago's Gospel according to Jesus christ HOWEVER.....I got about 40 pages into it and decided that Sr. Saramago's vision of gospel and JC was NOT mine, and my mind would just not go that far. So, I needed something to read, wasn't ready to tackle Karen Armstrong History of God and my eye fell on The Shack which I'd picked up off the donation pile at our library last week just to look through to see what all the fuss was about.

I'm one of those people who can read a book like this and love it. Yes I can see how some people who take their Bible very literally are NOT going to like this. Others will have trouble with the level of the writing, which is as one reviewer said 'kinda hokey.' Ten years ago, I would have thrown this book in the trash heap. But now, the fact that the author states up front and at the end that you can believe it or not, makes it a wonderful grace if you choose to accept it. I for one have no difficulty at all with having pancakes with God as long as she pours Maine maple syrup on them --- and I don't mean that to be flip.

I think we go thru stages in our life where we have different perceptions of (and therefore relations with) God, religion, sacred scripture, etc. In fact, this book and some of it's theories (and its vision) came up for discussion several times in a Lenten scripture study I just finished at my church. I found it a thought-provoking read and will probably recommend to several people I think will like it.

For me it was a 4 star, for others it will be trash. For a few it will be a life-changing event. I think most books in this category will have widely ranging ratings depending on the reader's background and reason for choosing the book to begin with.

Not sure I want to see the movie, but the book is worth a look. And it has me searching for my other favorite 'suspend belief' book Our Lady of the Lost and Found by Diane Schoemperlen--I may finish out the week with it.

Tutu

What a great review. The Shack is one of those books that I hear a little about and dismiss out of hand, but your review has made me realize I shouldn't make snap judgments. I may not like it as well as you did, but I intend to give it a chance!

This has been a great category--next year I intend to do a similar one!

ETA It may be next year before I get a chance to read it The Shack--I put in my request at the library and there are 152 requests ahead of me!

A quick recap of my latest...reviews (if merited) to be posted in a bit.

Category 2: Books about Books - So Many Books, So Little Time by Sara Nelson - a real disappointment. See my post on annual ego trips at Tutu's Two Cents

Category 6: Award Winners - Here Lies the Librarian Richard Peck a true delight. Peck writes for Young Adults, but all his works are truly delightful, light, funny, and endearing stories that will be enjoyed by adults too...particularly if they hail from the midwest. He is a Newberry winner, and one who is sure to please. Check out also The Teacher's Funeral.

Category 8: Someone else's list - The Girl who Loved Tom Gordon my first ever Stephen King for our Read Around Maine online group. REALLY REALLY GOOD.

Category 9: No place else to put them Bad Blood Linda Fairstein - I have to stop listening to you people - this wasn't on the list, but now I MUST get more of this series.

also Category 9: No Place else The New 50 Simple Things Kids can Do to Save the Earth An ER book that was terrific --see my review at Tutu's Two Cents.

ETA touchstone is to older edition of 50 simple things.

Category 4: Re-reads, finish ups:5/9 There is a Season Joan Chittister

I had a full review here and tried to insert a cover image, when i did, the review went poof...!

I don't normally like to do this, but the full review is here.

It's 5 stars x 5 stars....I loved it, I wallowed in it.

I really like Richard Peck. His books are just fun.

Category 9: No place else to put them: 8/9 Delectable Mountains by Earlene Fowler.

I'm going to either have to stop pulling things off my TBR list or else only pull off what fits into these categories, because I'm running out of places to put the serendipities that others recommend. Several LTers have posted about Earlene Fowler and when I saw this on the shelf at the library, my hand went out before I could stop it. Good thing too....it's a great read, and I'm looking forward to reading more in the series. ( down Tina, down--finish 999 first. Full review is in the book, and on Tutu's Two Cents

Category 6: Award winners 4/9 NIGHT by Elie Wiesel.

Earlier this year, I read a book Great Soulsby David Aiken (see msg #131 in my first thread.) It made such an impression on me, that I set out to read something more about each soul, and in the case of Elie Wiesel, I decided to read his first book, NIGHT, a short, dramatic, painful and powerful description of his life in German concentration camps during World War II. He was only 14 when taken prisoner. Able to spend all of his time with his father, he takes us with him on rides on the crowded cattle cars, through a life of living on one cup of coffee, a small piece of bread, and sometimes a bowl of very thin soup, while doing hard labor, or forced marches, trying to avoid being identified as one to go to the crematorium. The story of how he goes from being a star Talmudic student, to an almost total rejection of a God who could allow all this horror to occur, is written in a stark, simple, and heartbreaking prose. It was not an enjoyable book to read, but an essential one. The closing sentences say it all. He had been emancipated and then said:

"One day when I was able to get up, I was able to look at myself in a mirror on the opposite wall. I had not seen myself since the ghetto. From the depths of the mirror a corpse was contemplating me. The look in his eyes as he gazed at me has never left me."

The audio book version I listened to ended with his acceptance speech delivered when he received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986. It was as inspiring as the book. This is a must read for any human who wants to understand what it means to be human.

I just realized that his prize was not a literary one, but I'm leaving it here in the awards category and giving it my own life affirming award.

#29 I like that you're leaving this book in the awards category. This does sound like a very good book. I hope you'll help me remember about it after I've finished with the civil war. I don't think I can handle more than one atrocity at a time.

I read your description of Maine over on your other thread. (are you employed by the tourism bureau?) I think living in such a heavenly place must make it easier for you to read about hellish subjects. I admire that you seem to read everything - light fiction, serious nonfiction, and especially, difficult but important books such as this one.

(I'm not on my own computer just now, so can't add this title to my reading list. I'm serious about helping me remember - will you send me a message with the author and title?)

I have set a tickle to remind you in about a month---is that too long? I'll put a note on your profile tab too if that would help.

Thinkin about sandy's nice comments on #30, made me realize why I have such difficult with this challenge, and why it's been good for me. I do read a lot, always have...and I've always tended to let my choice of reading go whereever the hand/mind is reaching at the moment. The TBR list and pile just kept growing. For instance, I just abandoned World without End by Ken Follett. I had really been looking forward to this because I really enjoyed Pillars of the Earth so much. In fact, I've had WWE sitting here for months, almost since Christmas, waiting til I re-read Pillars, because it had been so long. Well......I'm not sure if it's just too much of a good thing, or too much of a bad thing, or just plain too much....i just could not stomach another word and put it down after the first chapter.....there was so much repetition of what I'd just labored to re-read in Pillars. I think he was trying to catch everybody up in one huge blob of information. So I put it aside

Now, however, I'm reading Thomas Cahill's Mysteries of the Middle Ages-- a wonderfully readable book in his ongoing Hinges of History series, and in it, there is much discussion of buildings, cathedrals and life in the same time period, so I'll probably at some time go back and pick up Follett again. Of course, now I want to get right to Eleanor of Aquitaine by Alison Weir (that one has been on and off my category # 5 Biographies at least 3 times--it's back on) and.....

I'd almost forgotten how good he is, because now I'm going to have to go back and re-read the first four volumes of the series--- they are fantastic.

So if I didn't have this challenge to stretch me into some of my other categories, I'd be off down the history path for at least the next four months. That's just how my reading habits were.

So I will stick to reading Cahill's current, and listening to Gilead for my next one in the award's category (why it got an award I've yet to figure out but it's early yet)

Your comments about the challenge keeping you focused onto certain areas are interesting. I have always read whatever caught my eye at the time. I've never had a problem with quitting a book in the middle if it didn't hold my attention. I've been all over the place with my reading, but also tend to go on jags where I would read only romances for months on end, or mysteries, or histories or other nonfiction, or whatever. But I have generally shied away from difficult books - that is, books about difficult or unpleasant topics. That is what I've gained from this challenge - lots of moral support to keep going when I really want to read something substantial, but the temptation is great to fall back on the usual fluff. The PROBLEM with the challenge is that I don't have time to re-read anything, because I keep finding out about tons of great books that I want to read. I'm not sure how you manage to re-read so much. (she said jealously). So, I just keep going one week at a time and eventually, I'll get through all the books I'm able to, and the rest will be deemed unworthy (or else I'll feel guilty for not reading them).

Actually, I'm back on my own computer this afternoon, so I'm going to put Night on my list right now. Although I appreciate that you were willing to try to keep track of me and remember to do something for me a month from now. Half the time I can't do that much for myself!

glad you got back to your computer altho I must admit, I can't understand why/how you can't add to your own library on line on another computer...am I missing something?

As for keeping track - I'd be totally lost w/o Outlook...i use it to track everything from throwing another log in the wood stove, to calling for a hair appt, to doing anything that I'm not going to do right away....maybe my kids are right when they say I'm a poster child for ADD- but adaptive behaviour works just fine tyvm.

I could add to my LT library, but I keep an excel file of my wish list - books I want to remember for later. My husband is another Outlook fan and has tried to talk me into using it for years. But I'm stubborn or backwards or both, and refuse to give up my paper calendar where I keep everything written down. I only got a cell phone 3 years ago, and even kept all my phone numbers in my planner before that. I've raced him several times and can write a new reminder or retrieve an existing one faster than he can every time. And I never have to recharge the battery. Plus it costs me only about $10 per year, compared to $500 for his fancy PDA/cell phone that synch's to his computer at work. But, I keep my book lists in an excel file on my laptop, which (unfortunately) doesn't fit in my purse.

We all have our adaptive behaviors. Hubby and I are both ADHD, and things are pretty comical here at times. And chaotic. But we get by.

"i use it to track everything from throwing another log in the wood stove" - lol

>35 sjmccreary:, sjmccreary, have you tried Google documents? You can upload your Excel file and then update it from any computer on the Web.

I borrowed a book from the library, "ADD-friendly Ways to Organize Your Life." Now if I could just find where I put it . . .

#36 that's very interesting, I'll check it out. Thanks.

That would be funny if it weren't so true! :-)

#35 don't laugh--if I didn't track logs the fire would go out, and I'd suddenly realize I was freezing, and then I'd be cursing and swearing because I'd have to get the fire going again (we use a wood burning stove as primary heat in the winter). When hubby's home (and in the room with the stove) he usually takes care of it, but if not......anyway, I need to get up and stretch every hour anyway, so it's not a big deal to remind myself to put the book down, or push back from the computer.

Abandoned book

I normally would have just said, no thanks and gotten on with reading something else, but felt I needed to comment here. I had Gilead by Marilynne Robinson on my challenge for Award winners--it was a Pulitzer, and something I might not have picked up on my own. I tried, trust me....I tried, but this was just too dry, and frankly too boring for me. OTOH Olive Kitteridge, this year's Pulitzer, was also one I didn't like first time around, but loved the second time when I did it in a group. Maybe in a couple years, when I'm more disposed for a re-read, I might try Gilead again. For addition comments see Tutu's Two Cents.

#38 I miss getting up to add a log to the fire, ever since we had the gas fire installed. Much cleaner and easier to use, but I still miss the wooden logs. Hours can pass without my noticing the temperature or the time, as long as I have another blanket to pull on and good light enough. When my husband is travelling for business and isn't home to remind me of bedtime, I've been known to still be reading at dawn.

I don't have any abandoned books this time, but last year I gave up on The Historian. I was tired of waiting for something to happen! Maybe I've been luckier this year.

Category 5: History, Bios, Politics: Mysteries of the Middle Ages Thomas Cahill

It took me a while to get thru this book, and while I didn't particularly like it as a straight academic history book, when I was discussing it with my hubbie at breakfast this AM, he pointed out "Darling, it's interpretive history." How very clever he is! of course he is, he married me!. Well, the man's a history teacher, a writer, and all around good guy.

Anyway, I wrote a full review here. Let's just say I loved it as an art book--in fact I wallowed in it-- and I got five more books for my TBR pile from it---actually they were already there, but it was nice to see them validated. Later today I intend to do a different post on the Reading Dante thread, because I wished I'd read this before Dante..the background info would have made that read even more delightful.

It's worth picking up, and depending on where you're coming from worth either a good thumb through for the art work, to a full read for 'interpretive history.

#39 I also abandoned Gilead for the same reasons, I thought the audiobook would 'bring it alive' for me but gave up after a few attempts - just not interesting enough.

Category 6: Award Winners The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo.

Such a beautiful story, in a beautiful book full of gorgeous and gentle illustrations. I can't wait to give this to my grand-daughter.

The story is of a rabbit who learns to love and let himself be loved as he goes through a series of (mis)adventures, disasters, different names (and genders) and belonging to various people. It is a story absolutely bound to steal children's and adult's hearts. It can be read aloud to younger children, and then cherished by older ones. No wonder it won so many awards!

It is a timeless chldren's classic that would be a welcome addition to any bookshelf. 5 stars.

This books sounds so charming--and such an important message that every child should hear--that I've got to get it.

Bonus Category: Historical Fiction 2/9: The Other Queen by Philippa Gregory

It's a novel, it's based on historical facts, and it gives us a new perspective. Mary Queen of Scots is one narrator, but two additional ones, the Earl and Countess of Shrewsbury also offer their take on what was going on during the long 16 year incarceration of MQOS in merrye olde England.

I had the most problem with the countess. Bess of Hartwick, according to Gregory's take, was a conniving, weasel of a woman with distinctive and way-before-her-time feminist leanings. I often found myself see-sawing between "You go Girl" and "Oh...Puhleeze, come on..."

I listened to this going back and forth to the pool ( I get about one CD a day done that way) so it took a while, but it was an engrossing story. I'm always curious to see how Mary is treated whenever something new comes out. This one had been on the TBR list for a long time, so when it popped up on the shelf at the library I grabbed. I'm glad I did. It was well done, well narrated, and worth the time. Maybe not going on the re-read pile, but worth at least 3 1/2 -4 stars.

See full review.

OK...I'm crazy

Category #5: History, Biography...Longitude The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved The Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time Dava Sobel.

Phew! The title is almost as long as the book.. It's mercifully a short little volume which is VERY techical. It's been sitting on the shelf for years, since we went to England years ago, and Hubbie (one of the world's best celestial navigators) waxed eloquent over THE clock at Greenwich. This is definitely a TBR I'm glad is over...not going to be at the top of the re-read pile.

I wish I could say I understood it all. Even with my degree in math, my experience in the Navy and sailing, I was lost more than half the time. The political intrigues were interesting, but they often got lost in the data. It really could have used some diagrams, and illustrations to clear the fog. Suffice it to say if you're a sailor, a mathematician, or just plain like science, you might enjoy this.

I seem to remember having the same feeling when I struggled thru his Galileo's daughter but then he is a science writer so what should I expect.

Category 7: Poetry 5/9 Rubaiyat of Omar Kyayyam by Edward Fitzgerald

I had never read this before, but have looked at it sitting on my shelf ever since I picked up a beautifully illustrated volume at a used book store in London years ago.

I don't think I can do a full review, because I'm not an english lit major. The poetry is beautiful, the rhyme scheme is melodic, and the illustrations definitely enhance the words. I did do some research to make sure there was not some deep hidden meaning I was missing. I came away with an appreciation of the beauty of the words, the pictures, and life in general. It can be read in about an hour. It can be studied and analysed for a lifetime.

Wow, I had Longitude on my TBR list, but it sounds like I wouldn't miss much by skipping it.

Category 2: Books about Books -Soldier's Heart:Reading Literature through Peace and War at West Point Elizabeth Samet.

I was disappointed in this book. While thought provoking, after the first 100 or so pages, it became repetitive and unfocused. Some serious editing would have tightened this up a lot. The writing is dry, and often uninteresting--at least to me, and I served in the military.

The author is a civilian English Lit professor at West Point, trying to explain why the study of literature and poetry is important to today's soldiers. She makes her point, over and over and over again. In the middle of the book, I found myself beginning to say, and so??? and So???? It just seemed to drone on.

Some of her best writing is explaining the difference in attitudes among both students and staff at the Military Academy prior to and then after 9/11. She also seems to spend a lot of time defending the Army itself (particularly the officer corps) to the detriment of talking about the impact and methodology of teaching English to that Army. Not on my favorites list.

I heard about that professor and her class in another book about the military. Thanks for the review; I can take the book off my radar.

Today is Memorial Day, and instead of reading, I spent the day at our world class local art museum, the Farnsworth. I was really blown away by the way the museum tied quotes from the classics to much of the art on display. It was awesome. Instead of feeling guilty about not reading, I was able to have a dose of literature along with the art, and they went together like cream of tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich. actually, we stopped at the local creamery for a cup of chowdah before heading home.

For the details, and links to the collection see my blog post tonite.

I'll leave you with a quote on the wall next to some exquiste etchings done by Kerr Eby:

Can't (we) do something that will allow them to be more than a memory...in all those ghostly acres of the dead?

Category 5: History, Biography 7/9- Savage Beauty:the Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay Nancy Mitford.

Nancy Mitford presents a thorough, insightful, compelling, and penetrating look at one of America's premier poets. Working with Ms. Millay's sister Norma, who holds most of the papers not in the Library of Congress, she was able to construct an impressive and deeply detailed biography. In fact, I often felt at times like shouting "Too much information!"

Millay, her husband, her sisters, her mother, and most of her lovers/friends (they were often the same) of both sexes seemed to be inveterent letter writers. Not only did they write letters, they often left numerous drafts of those letters giving us an intimate portrait of emotions, intentions, and life in the first half of the twentieth century. Their drinking, carousing (is that a nice enough way to say "lots of sex of all varieties?"), international traveling, neglect of family and friends, and late life drug addiction is well detailed.

Our herione led a less than stellar life depending on one's perspective. At times I tired of her pouting promiscuity, her incessant mooching on the generosity of others, the constant indebtedness, and the incredible selfishness which most who knew her seemed to regard as part of her genius. And swimming au naturel in Maine's island waters at any time of the year was not something I was impressed with....I thought it proved she was a bit "off." I guess we can accept that anyone who downed the copious amounts of alcohol she and hubby did was probably pickled to the point that they didn't feel the water temp!.

In addition to many photographs, there are numerous samples of her poetry, used to illustrate the various passions and favorites in her life. Taking the time to read and absorb the poems meant this book of over 500 pages took me almost 5 weeks to finish!

In spite of the subject's tragic life and its ending, the author presents us with her life in an objective yet sympathetic way without passing judgment. That made it easy to read and recommend the book to others. I have not read her other biography Zelda, but if it's written this well, I can well see why it won her a Pulitzer.

Category 4: Re-reads 6/9 A Taste for Death P.D. James.
I thought I'd already read this when it was published 10 years ago, but if I did, my memory is really worse than I thought. It was like reading a new book.

Another reviewer has said that James demands a bit more of her readers than others. How true. This one also took me over a week to read, but it was worth it.

Adam Dalgleish, the detective inspector is James' renaissance man. He is also a poet, a thinker, and a cool customer who serves as an intelligent mentor to his two subordinates, detectives Kate Miskin, and John Massingham.

This particular mystery concerns the death of an M.P. He was found in the vestry of a small Anglican church with his throat cut, his razor near his hand, and a dead tramp nearby. Was it suicide or was it murder?

There is a well drawn cast of characters: the deceased's mother, his pregnant wife and her lover, the housekeeper, the chauffeur, the vicar, several little old ladies, the brother-in-law, the daughter and her lover, and the old lady and young boy who found the body. Each has a piece of the puzzle, and James weaves them together elegantly.

No spoilers, so I can't say much more, but the motivation of each is examined, cast-off, re-examined, and it is not until the end that we have an excellent resolution.

P.D. James never disappoints.

Category 3: Things Portuguese 5/9 Our Lady of the Artichokes and Other Portuguese-American stories Kathleen Vaz.

This could easily be shifted into either my poetry/short story or award winner categories (it won the Prairie Schooner Book Prize in Fiction). For now I'm leaving it here in the Portuguese category.

When I first saw the title, I laughed out loud and ordered it. I think I expected something on the line of 'Dave Barry poking fun at the Japanese' humor. HOWEVER....this is a serious, well-written, at times very deep, collection of stories that could only have been written by a Luso(Portuguese) American. I'm married to one. We have many relatives in California's central valley where several of the stories are set. This morning as we ate breakfast, my husband related his memories of the Holy Ghost Festivals (today being Pentecost) and we discussed the story The Man who was made of Netting . Manny wanted his daughter to be the star of the festival and so found some creative financing to get her a gem studded cape (at a mere $10K!) to wear. The results of this desire/decision are in that category of 'would be comical if it weren't so sad.'

The story of the young portuguese girl writing to Sr. Lucia (the last survivor of the Fatima miracle and the keeper of the 'last secret') is one every woman who ever had a dream can relate to. The title story, Our Lady of the Artichokes --so California in addition to being so Portuguese--I won't do spoilers, is again funny and sad...

All the stories have a desolate beauty, a longing for a better life while being resigned to what is here and now. A Portuguese saudade if you will. The prose is so sharp it can cut.

Women were leaning over windowsills, looking altogether like open flaps in an Advent Calendar.

I didn't like the first storyTaking a Stitch in a Dead Man's Arm and put the book down over a month ago, but came back to it and found on a re-read that while I may not like it, I can feel it, and appreciate the prose.

The final story The Lisbon Story -- about two dying men--one young, one old-- who are brought together by a house in Lisbon is a stunner, and will cause me to come back periodically to pick up this book and read a story here and there again and again.

I suspected it was five in the morning, an hour I worship; the sky pounds the black pearl of the night until it is in pieces and for a brief time, right then, the white of day is the grout holding it together, a perfect tiled mosaic to greet us...

This is definitely a sleeper. If you live in California, or have any Portuguese relatives or friends, you'll really enjoy this.

tutu, with all the talk about Sonia Sotomayor's nomination as the next Supreme Court justice, there's been discussion about Benjamin Cardozo, who was part Portuguese. I never knew that, til now.

That book sounds fascinating. I have not read much Portuguese lit., so I think I'll add to to my ever-too-long mental TBR list.

category 8: Poetry and Short stories: Ants on the Melon by Virginia Hamilton Adair, and The Curious case of Benjamin Button by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Benjamin Button is the short story of a man who is born 80+ years old and ages backwards. It is poignant, amusing, and of course well-written. It almost makes me want to go see the movie. The volume I had also included two other short stories, much less famous or interesting, but definitely Fitzgerald's roaring 20's genre.

Virginia Adair's poems were published when she was 83-- they are mostly a bit dark, a bit fragmented, definitely not my cup of tea. I had this book for years, and the title always intrigued me, so I was determined to read it. Thank goodness it only took 2 1/2 hours this evening.

My daughter really liked the movie, but it sounds like a lot of movie from one short story.

Category6 :Award Winners 6/9 Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin

This book is the Summer 2009 Highly Rated Book Group online discussion. I can't believe I missed it when it first came out in 2007. This is going to be one of my top 5 of the year. It is so good, that I galloped ahead and stayed up 1/2 the night to finish listening to the audio, which is masterfully done by Rosalyn Landor. I could hear the medieval street noise, smell the river, and see the mists.

If you like historical fiction, forensic pathology suspense thrillers, medieval pageantry, romance, and intricate plots, this is the book for you. The characters are unforgettable and the story is many layered:

1. Young children are disappearing from the town of Cambridge, and turning up later as skeletons showing evidence of unspeakable torture and death.
2. In England at that time, money lending was illegal. Only Jews were allowed to lend money, so they were tolerated. However the Jews were accused of killing the children.
3. Henry II, needing the Jews to keep his country solvent (no bishop could build a cathedral, no knight embark on a Crusade without borrowing) orders the entire Jewish population of the town into sanctuary within the castle walls. Still the killings continue.
4. At this same time, the town of Salerno in Italy is turning out trained forensic scientists and doctors. Henry sends to his friend the King of Sicily for a "Doctor of Death" to solve the mystery of who is killing the children.
5. Sicily sends its most noted Doctor of Death,Vesuvia Adelia Rachel Ortese Aguilar, perhaps not realizing that in England, women who 'practice medicine' are more often seen as witches. Adelia is accompanied by Simon the Jew of Naples, and Mansur, a Saracen eunoch who acts as a bodyguard....a sort of medieval CSI team.

Those are just a few of the layers. Add in a Prior with a bad prostrate, an Abbess with a lousy attitude and even worse abbey management skills, an adorable child right out of Dickens, some rather rude and nasty knights, a delightful eelmonger/housekeeper and her helpers Mathilde A and Mathilde B, and you have the beginnings of a wonderful bubbling cauldron of a story. And let's not forget the dog named Safeguard....her description is so great, I can almost smell him myself. All the ingredients blend into an absolute page-turner. Just when you think it's solved, something else twists and you're off on another rollercoaster of emotion, and terror.

In spite of the horror of the subject, Franklin manages to inject spots of humor that leave you chuckling with glee. The scene where she catherizes the poor Prior is worth the price of the book. The humanity and compassion displayed by all members of the team bode well for futurebooks in the series. These are people you want to get to know. This is a woman you can root for.
This is the first of what is promised to be a series about this wonderful female forensic pathologist.

Sounds wonderful, tutu! It's going to the top of my wish list!

a sort of medieval CSI team

LOL! This sounds like the perfect description. I added it to my list too. :-)

Category #4: Re-reads: Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi Now I know why I was not an English major. This took me three tries and a lot of effort to get thru this book. It was so interesting in parts, when she talked about the hopes and dreams of the women who met with her during the original "Iranian Revolution' in the 1980's, but it was soooooooo boring to me, when she'd go into vast amounts of detailed dissertations about the authors they were studying.

I wanted to shout "I get it...life is like fiction. I don't need to hear your doctoral thesis applied to EVERY SINGLE BOOK they read over the years." When I read this the first time, I gave up about 1/3 thru, thinking I needed to read Lolita to understand the book. But I now realize that wasn't the problem. There was just simply Too Much Information for this math major's brain to absorb. It wasn't that I didn't understand it, I just wasn't interested. I kept hoping it would get better but it didn't. I'm sure there are many of you out there who loved this book, and I'm very happy for you. Just not my cup of tea, so it's on to something else.

Tutu, I was an English major, because I've always loved reading books more than anything else. But I hate the dissection of books; sometimes additional information can add to one's understanding, but in my opinion, Too Much Information mostly just destroys my enjoyment. I don't even like the "Discussion Questions" at the ends of books. If I can't get it on my own, either the author failed to get his point across or it's just not the book for me. That's probably why my GPA for my math minor was higher than for my English major.

Category 8 Someone else's list: 7/9 On What Grounds by Cleo Coyle.

My sister pointed out the coffeehouse series to me. I am more addicted to coffee than I am to reading, if that is believable. So I really enjoyed meeting the heroine Clare Cosi, her ex-mother in law, and several other fun characters in this opening round of what promises to be a coffee loving clone of Goldi in Diane Mott Davidson's books, or Joanne Fluke's Hannah Swenson. I love them all but I'm not sure I could handle a steady diet of any of them (pardon the culinary pun.) They're all just fun reads to have around when you're in the mood for something delicious, interesting, but not too taxing. Notice I didn't say 'not too fattening' because they're all worth it just for the recipes.

64 - I was also an English major, but I gave up on that book. It just didn't get me interested.

Oh Cindy and Ivy ---you both make me feel much better...I really felt intellectually rotten that I didn't like that book, but I just couldn't...it was torture, and now it's over. I have six wonderful books going at once and will be back by this time next week to tell you all about them (the current reading link is on the the blog

Glad I read your review of Reading Lolita in Tehran, TuTu. I've put it down once and now I won't bother to pick it up. I'm a science teacher.

It wasn't that I didn't understand it, I just wasn't interested. I kept hoping it would get better but it didn't.

Ditto!

Category #8: Poetry...Morning Poems Robert Bly.

One of the reasons for having this category in my challenge was to get me not only to read more poems, but to try new poets. I had never read any of his poems, but on hubbie's recommend, chose to start with this small volume. While it may be short (just a few over 100 pages) and the poems are fairly short, they are meaty and marvelous.

The title of the volume announces the theme of morning, freshness, awakening, and the promise we feel at a fresh beginning. I especially liked the first and last poems: Early Morning in Your Room and A Conversation with a Mouse

Several thought-provoking pieces were set in Maine, and many had a farming theme. I think I'll be trying more of his poems in the future.

Testing images....sorry....please ignore

Category #4: Re-reads Lobster Chronicles by Linda Greenlaw

Same review as the 75 book challenge so if you've read that one, you don't need to re-read. ;-)

My second time around for this one--our online Maine reading group is going to discuss this one. It's a well-written true story of what is involved in lobstering and living on a small island.

Linda Greenlaw was a deep sea fisherman. She is the woman sea captain in the movie "The Perfect Storm." In her late 30's, she decides to give up fishing, return to her home on Isle Au Haute Maine and take up lobstering. With her father as her sternman, she takes us through an entire year's cycle of painting buoys, cleaning traps, launching boats, laying traps, and then harvesting (or hoping to harvest) lobsters. It's the story of folks who live without a resident doctor, without a movie theater, or big modern grocery store, whose mail comes by boat. The relationship of the townspeople with summer people provides some amusing anecdotes, while the story of local lobsterman protecting their fishing grounds against outsiders gives us a true picture of the uncertainties of making a living from the sea.

It's extemely readable and presents a charming but realistic story of this difficult way of life.

Thanks for the review, tutu. I saw this in your upcoming books and was curious as to what you'd think about it.

I've read (and enjoyed) Greenlaw's mysteries so I will have to add this one to the ever-increasing TBR mountain.

Interesting....I haven't read her mysteries...although I have them on the shelf. I hope to get to at least one of them later this year for my mystery category in the 2nd 999 challenge.

Category 8-Poetry, Short Stories, Letters - another category finished. Tall Tales and Short Lilian Jackson Braun. Finishes the category WHOO HOO!!!

I'm a great fan of Braun and her "Cat who....." series. I think I've probably read every one of them, and listened to several on audio too. The main character is a journalist Jim Qwilleran, who writes for the Moose County Paper upnorth. He's cat owner, raconteur, and he's got 'a thing' going with the town librarian!

According to Braun, this is Qwill's "book" that he set out to writen when he moved to Pickax. It's really a series of oral history stories of all the characters in all the books over the years. The fact that it's pure fiction is beside the point. If you have read the other books, you will recognize the story telllers and you will enjoy these short tales of life in small town America. Often if I forget about Pickax, I could be reading about Maine.

I thoroughly enjoyed this category, and plan to sprinkle all my reading in the future with short stories and poetry. I've been reading (and will continue to read) a lot of heavy non-fiction, and big historical fiction books, and often find I need something lighter in between biggies. I used to read a lot of cozies to fill that bill, but find that they are not quite filling the bill anymore--particularly the amateur female sleuth ones. Short stories, and books of poetry, which can be read in short sessions are perfect to 'cleanse the reading pallette.'

Category 2: Books, Libraries & Words: Dewey, The Small Town Library Cat Who Touched the World Vicki Myron.

I debated whether this could count in this category, but in the end, while the book, as everyone knows, is about a cat, it's really about a library and a town who allow themselves to love and nuture this cat.

As you know, I live and work in a small town library in Maine, where winters are cold. Everytime I open the book return slot now, I'm checking to be sure there are no critters in there. We have two cats, and our library, although it has no cats in residence is working toward becoming the meeting center of the town. Needless to say I loved the book. After all, what's not to love about a cat and a library?

Almost finished the 2nd quarter, and I'm closing in on finishing the first 999. The next ones up in the lineup however, are some rather heavy ones:

Alberto Manguel's Library at Night
Jon Meacham's American Lion
Dawn french's dear Fatty
and several meaty ones for the Portuguese category...

I also have two ARCs
Sacred Hearts by Sarah Dunant --starting that one tonite
Evolution of God by Robert Wright -- I don't remember requesting this from Little, Brown, but I never look a gift horse in the mouth and it looks interesting so it can go into my ARC category for 999 #2.
Hubby and I are 'discussing' who will read George Pelecanos Night Gardener to do a review for my blog. So stay tuned for that one.

Anyway, I'll do a 2nd quarter recap at the end of the week. In the meantime, I'm planning to stay away from the computer as much as possible (Hah!) and READ.

I can finish up the re-reads rather quickly
Our Lady of the Lost and Found by Diane Schoemperlen
and The Little Prince which I'd like to do in french, but I'm saving those as 'tweeners' as I finish some of these others.

Category 3: Things Portuguese: Food of Portugal by Jean Anderson.

Much more than a cookbook, this is a wonderful encyclopedic collection of information about culture, wines, cheese, sausages and hams, herbs, spices, and sweets of the various regions of Portugual. Anderson explores the influences of the Moors, and the shipping trades the Portuguese were so famous for.

My introduction to Portuguese food came from my late mother in law. My husband's Aunt and his grandfather gave me more instruction in the family's favorites.

This book has been well used since I bought it in Portugal years ago, but I'd never taken the time to sit down and read the introductory information until now. The first 85 pages are all the history and glossary, and then each section, and often, each recipe, has introductory material telling how the ingredients are procured, what section of the country it comes from, and how Americans can cook in their kitchens. A fun book to look at if you've never tried Portuguese food.

And no.....it's nothing like Spanish.

Category History, Biography: American Lion Andrew Jackson in the White House, by Jon Meacham.

Before I read this book, I knew that Andrew Jackson was the 7th president, he led the army in victory at the Battle of New Orleans, and there was a great deal of scandal/ dispute over his marriage to Rachel Donelson.

After I read this Pulitzer Prize winning discussion of his years as President, I now know all I ever wanted to know (and a WHOLE lot I could have done without) about the ladies dispute over 'receiving' Mrs. Margaret Eaton, wife of his secretary of war. It seems Margaret was regarded as a rather loose woman by many of the grand dames of Washington, and the author chose to spend literally 100's of pages discussing the reactions to her and Jackson's insistence that the Eatons be treated with respect.

Meacham's theory seems to be that Jackson was sympathetic to the couple since he had undergone the same kind of shunning when he married Rachel.

Consequently, we are given short shrift on some of the more vital aspects of Jackson's life and presidency. For instance, Jackson's views on slavery are fairly glossed over. There are exactly 5 pages devoted to his ownership of slaves (he owned 150), and the fact that he did not ever free any of them. We hear nothing of his actual views of this abominable practice.

We are treated to his denunciations of the US Bank and pages upon pages of everything he did to try to disband it, but for those of us with a lack of indepth knowledge of the issue, we are never given a good reason WHY he wanted to disband the bank. Again we are treated to many many pages of personality conflicts of all the players in this debacle, but scant delineation about the issue itself.

We hear of Jackson's views on nullification and secession, and very his often conflicting views about the Native American population---I definitely would have liked to have had a much more indepth discussion of this vice the ladies tea party debates. Jackson's policies led directly to the Trail of Tears -- the forced expulsion of the Cherokees to western lands, but nowhere do we see how he reacted to it. We are given speeches in which he identified himself as the Great White father, and some indication that he felt justified in breaking treaties, but the subject deserves much more if this book were to truly explain Jackson's achievements (both positive and negative).

Meacham posits that because Jackson was orphaned so young, he deeply missed having the opportunity of belonging to family. He saw the American people as his family, and used his popularity to enforce his views. He believed in a powerful executive. He was the first American president to have used the veto simply because he disagreed with a bill Congress had passed. Prior to Jackson, presidents had only vetoed bills they thought were unconstitutional. If you were white, you were entitled to the full protection of the government. If you were black or Native american, (or Mexican--we mustn't forget the few pages devoted to the Mexican wars!), you didn't deserve the liberties spelled out in the Constitution.

Meacham sums it:

(Jackson) also proved the principle that the character of the president matters enormously. Politics is about more than personality; the affairs of a great people are shaped by complex and messy forces that transcend the purely biographical. Those affairs, however, are also fundamentally affected by the complex and messy individuals who marshal and wield power in a given era. Jackson was a transformative president in part because he had a trancendent personality.....he gave his most imaginative successors the means to do things they thought right.

The great often teach by their failures and derelictions. The tragedy of Jackson's life is that a man dedicated to freedom failed to see liberty as a universal, not a particular, gift. The triumph of his life is that he held together a country whose experiment in liberty ultimately extended its protections and promises to all--belatedly it is true, but by saving the Union, Jackson kept the possibility of progress alive, a possibility that would have died had secussion and separation carried the day.

Jackson certainly changed the role of the Presidency. Whether those changes were good or not so good is impossible to determine from reading only this book.

Thanks for the thorough review, tutu. This book is definitely on my list for Jackson, after I finish up on Madison, Monroe and John Quincy Adams.

I was also planning on this book for Jackson - but it sounds like it it may not be as complete as its size suggests. I guess I need to prepare myself for needing a second Jackson bio as well.

ETA - great review, Tina

Sandy...don't be intimidated by the size --there are over 500 pages, but the actual text of the book runs to 364. The rest is extensive notes, bibliography and index. Also, it reads easily, so you can make a lot of progress, and you can also put it down and pick it back up w/o worrying about where you were.

I don't want to be negative, it won the Pulitzer after all, and who am I to pan a Pulitzer? It's well written, extensively researched, but I just wish the areas of concentration had been more focused on his accomplishments, rather than his relationships.

Well, I'd be happy to pan a Pulitzer, myself. I have to say that this doesn't seem to address the very issues that make Jackson someone I want to read about. I like the relationship stuff, but I want a little more analysis about why he backed certain political causes. The whole Indian issue is the most compelling for me.

Category 3: Things Portuguese The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

A delightful easy but deep little book. Very reminiscent of The Little Prince. I fully intend to re-read both of them over the years.

The Alchemist has been reviewed and re-reviewed almost ad nauseum. It's the kind of book I have trouble reviewing other than to say that I enjoy the thoughtfulness, philosophy and spirituality of it.

ETA: Only 5 more to go....but they're all pretty thick or deep. And I have only 23 ARCs waiting to be read!!!

Gees, I don't know what to do with The Alchemist! It's getting such mixed reactions.

bonnie...i think The Alchemist is one of those books that will strike the reader very differently depending on the reader's mood, and openess to fantasy. I enjoyed it yesterday, but might not have liked it so much at another time. I think I will like it again, but will definitely have to be ready to read a fable, dream, believe in dreams, and be open to some magic. I found it delightful. and contrary to my usual habits, I had read reviews prior to reading the book, so I was prepared to be skeptical....but then I liked The Shack too, and many people didn't.

Category 2 Books about Books and Libraries: The Library at Night by Alberto Manguel

This is a five star book that is almost impossible to do justice to in a review. It should be required reading for all bibliophiles. A luscious book about libraries: ancient, modern, imagined, real, paper, stone, virtual, digital, scrolled, rolled, bound, shelved, piled, cataloged, but always there for generations to relish, to wallow in, to dream about and in, to build, to burn, to own, to borrow from, to discover, to remember, to organize or leave alone. There are so many quotes I noted in my notebook, I could almost publish another book. JUST BUY IT, READ IT, It's one you will want to mark up, so a library book won't do.

I'll probably be doing a more extensive review on my blog later this week, and will edit with a link when done.

I think I have The Library at Night on my Kindle. Sounds wonderful.

I'm down to four books left now, too!!

I'm going to be really curious to see how you like this one on a Kindle...there are so many illustrations that I hope the ebook format can do it justice. Look forward to your observations.

You sold me! :-)

Tina, I have two books left to go in my Books/Libraries/Reading category. I definitely want to keep Robertson Davies' The Merry Heart but I've put Dewey aside in favor of The Library at Night.

It does have illustrations and I can make notes and highlight text (and search). For some reason, I thought this book was extremely long but, now that I've taken a closer look, I realize that it isn't.

I am 8 percent into it, so far.

Category 2 Books about Books and Libraries: the Yellowlighted Bookshop Lewis Buzbee

This finishes another category. A delightful little book, can't really think of much to say in way of a full review. He traces the history and interdependence of booksellers/publishers over the centuries. In addition he describes various models of bookstores, talks about the business aspects, and touches on the impact of e-publishing. The book was published in 2004, and it would be very interesting to hear his views on the Kindle.

With this done, I have only three books left on this challenge...I'm about 2/3 done on the biography and have two to read in "Things Portuguese" --and I have 4 different candidates for those two.

Of course, with a visiting grand-daughter here for the rest of the week to attend the annual Lobster festival, I am NOT going to finish this challenge by my first LT anniversary later this week (30 July), but they will get done sometime in August. I also have 26 ARCs sitting on my desk to dig into, so the 2nd 999 is going to be interesting, but I still think I can do it.

Oh no, you're not talking about lobster again?! You really know how to torture people! ;-) Wow! 26 ARC's? How did you get so many? Did they all come through LT?

Bonnie...the ARCs did NOT come from LT--I have been fortunate to receive several ERs but right now I'm caught up on those--just waiting for 2 that never showed up in my mailbox!.

The ARCs come from the blogosphere...because I maintain an active mostly about books blog and because I work in a library. I signed up for Book Blogs and there, after you weed thru a lot of duplicative 'stuff' you'll find offers to sign up for review copies and leads to others. Trolling the blogs is the best way to do it. Once you get on a list, and start posting reviews that are past the "OH...I loved this book, it's really good" type, authors will start to contact you asking you to review and providing a copy of the book.

There are also some free E=book sights (netgalley.com is one) where you can sign up to read ebooks--I just can't handle that format so I'm not doing much there.

And finally, you will see giveaways similar to ER that bloggers host on their own blogs-- these will give you some free books also. Hope this helps.

Way to go on your challenge! And that really is a huge stack of ARCs.

I know the stack is huge, but most of them really look interesting....stuff I might not have gone out and picked up on my own, but definitely worth a look....I keep telling myself that as long as I'm "expanding my horizons" I'll stay young.

now I'd like to know how I can expand my cerebral horizons and keep the rest of me from expanding at the same time LOL

Category 5: History and Biographies Dear Fatty Dawn French.

A poignant tell-all written as a series of letters to people who played large roles in her life: her husband Len, her daughter, Jennifer Saunders (Fatty) who was a life long sidekick, her mother, her grandmothers, her brother, a variety of lovers(? - the answer is cagily phrased so one is never sure), and above all her father, who committed suicide when she was in her early teens.

French leaves little to the imagination, but treats us to the inside look at a vulnerable, loving, talented woman. Her letter to her dad in which she lays out the pain and disbelief at his death, is very touching. The letter describing the Queen Mother's visit to their Air Force quarters when she was only 3, is quintessential French. Her teen-age angst, the joys and throes of raising a teenager, and her obvious love for her husband all come through. There are pages and pages of candid photos, most in color, making it quite a vibrant story.

I don't normally read celebrity memoirs, but I'm a huge fan of DF, and when I had the chance to pick this up, I grabbed it. While it could have done with some editing to tighten things up. The lack of any kind of time line made it difficult to follow at times, but OTOH, it made it easy to read in short, individual 'episodes' as each letter was self-contained.

I'd recommend it for anyone who is a fan, and anyone who wants to know more about british customs in the 1980-2000 timeframe.

Another category finished!!!!

Only two books left for the "Things Portuguese" category...I know this will be done by 9/9/09..

Category 3: Things Portuguese Portugal by Carlos Vitorino da Silva Barros

I've had this gorgeous heavily illustrated coffee table book since 1983. We bought it while we were touring Portugal. It gives a short, to the point history of the politics of the country, beginning with the coming of various tribes of Celts, Liguorians, Iberians, followed by the Greeks (7th c BC) and then Romans. The glorious (and sometimes inglorious) exploring endeavors of the Portuguese in the 15th through 18th centuries are well highlighted and explained.

The text however ais wooden, dull, and sounds like it was written by a freshman in high school who had to do a term paper on the history of modern Portugal. I suspect, although it is not documented, that the textual problem is as much a translation problem as an author issue.

But let's get past the text (it's only about 35 pages - the first 1/4 of the book. The photos (with ample captions) are exquisite - da Silva Barros clearly shines as a photographer and one can forgive the poorly written intro. The pictures take us to all sectors of this glorious country, and capture both the modern and ancient times, and everything in between. There are photos of the people in every day poses, pictures of landscapes, monuments, cathedrals, castles, costumes, paintings, architecture, sculpture, and monasteries.

In fact, I was fascinated that there is actually a picture of the monastery featured in my earlier read Letters of a Portuguese Nun. I should have pulled this book out while I was reading that. It is so easy now to see poor sister Marianna looking out from that high window on the side of the monastery wall so she could see her soldier below. A beautiful picture.

I'd love to recommend this book to others, but I suspect it is only available to touristas in country, who want something they can take home in English. The book jacket indicates it is available in English, French, German, Spanish in addition to Portuguese.

Well I'm down to one book left!!!

I plan to take Katherine Vaz' Saudade with me on our upcoming European cruise ---it's the only hard copy book I'm taking (weight limits on planes these days are hell). That will finish the "Things Portuguese category, and complete my first 999 by 09/09/09.

In the meantime, I'll be reading some ARCs that are stacking up here for the 2nd 999--not sure that one will get completely done by Dec, but we will give it the old college try, and have a great time doing it.

Congratulations on finishing by 9-9-09 (I've no doubt that you will).

And have a delightful time on your cruise!

#100 European cruise? How exciting! Where will you be going? Oh, and congratulations on finishing the challenge - depending on how long you're gone, maybe I'll be done by the time you get back. Or maybe not! Bon voyage.

we leave Aug 25th and go to Rome, then get underway on the 27th to go to Florence (can you say DANTE?). Monte Carlo, Barcelona, Palma de Majorca, Tunis, Palermo Sicily, and Naples -where we'll go down the Amalfi coast to Sorrento and then to Pompeii. Back home to Rome and fly home. I'll be posting a few photos and travel logs on the blog, so stay tuned. We're excited, altho I will admit that I'm more excited than he is (he did this for years in the Navy so it's not like a vacation to him). We've both been to many of the places so it will be nice to be able to hit some of those places we never had time to see. Other places neither of us has ever been to --Florence, Barcelona, Tunis and Pompeii are the biggies we're both looking forward.

It sounds like a wonderful trip.

Wow! Have a great time!

Tina

Have fun! Post pictures! We'll miss you! Florence is high on my "must see before I die" list! :-)

I'm done!!!

Category #3: Things Portuguese- Saudade by Katherine Vaz

What a wonderful way to end my first official 999 challenge! The last book in my “Things Portuguese” category. I inherited this book from my husband’s aunt who lived in a Portuguese community in the central valley of California before moving to the Bay area. It’s an incredible work, and almost defies a good review because reading it is a visceral rather than cerebral experience. Just like “saudade".
The Author opens the book thus:
Saudade (Sow-Dahd’) A Portuguese word considered untranslatable. One definition: Yearning so intense for those who are missing, or for vanished times or places, that their absence is the most profound presence in one’s life. A state of being, rather than merely a sentiment.

Katherine Vaz is a verbal artist. This story of saudade is not easy to read, but the word painting of this experience is so profound that one finishes the book with the same deep sigh of plentitude that causes us to push back from a nine-course meal, pat our stomachs and say “I’m full.”

Full is definitely what the reader is reading this story. The words, the colors, the people, the experiences that are splashed across the pages, and burned into the psyche have one gasping at times. This prose is the closest to poetry one can get without it being poetry. It's positively magical.

The main character Clara Cruz is born in the Azores and at birth and in early childhood does not seem capable of speech. The reader is left to puzzle out whether the inability to verbalize is physical or something akin to autism. Vaz constructs a cast of village mentors, including her parents, who help young Clara learn to communicate. At first this ‘talk’ is done with sugar, grains of it constructed into figures, drawn in lines on tables (much like drawing in sand?). Later some sign language is woven in.

The songs her parents croon to her, making sure she can feel the vibrations of sound, become woven with their insistence that she be exposed to as much color, sound, light, and touch as is possible. These are not child psychologists or speech therapists; these are simple peasants living out their lives in a village full of every sensory experience known, with centuries of tradition, folk tales, and superstition to enhance their stories. They make sure their child's journey through life is as full of experience as possible.

When her mother inherits a vineyard in California, Clara’s parents plan to move there. Her father, a fisherman from birth, is somewhat reluctant to leave the only way of life he has ever known, but he finally promises to make just one last voyage and then they will go. Unfortunately, it is his last voyage, and the ‘saudade’ that overcomes her mother eventually leads to her dying from longing.

It is difficult to review this book without spoilers, but I’m going to try to avoid telling too much of what happens after this. Clara does go to California, where she is raised by other members of the Portuguese community in Lodi, and where she has to deal with a double-dealing priest who tries to cheat her out of her inheritance. In plotting her revenge against him, she discovers inner strengths, and new ways of coping, but also endures unbearable tradgedy, adding to her saudade.

She enrolls in the local schools in Lodi, and becomes more communicative, but her extreme sensitivity to touch, colors, and others’ perceptions is the basis for an incredible sensual journey from adolescence to adulthood. She meets Dr. Helio Soares, the local dentist, who eventually becomes her lover, and who is someone who is as sensually acute and astute as she is. Vaz’ ability to weave word pictures, to relate folk tales from both the Azorean and California Portuguese communities, and her intense use of imagery is the basis for an incredible portrait of a young woman’s coming of age, and eventual accommodation to adulthood. At times, the fantasies approach Alice’s slide down the rabbit hole, but all are finally believable.

The introduction throughout of heteronyms (not the grammatical words that are spelled alike with different meanings, but the literary device of imaginary characters created by a poet, or dreamer) was a new experience for me. I had to stop and look up how the word was intended, but once understood, as the latter, it provides incredible depth to the characters.

At one point, Helio is shown different heteronyms for Clara in his saudade. One is an 18 year old cook’s assistant named Xica, living in sixteenth century Sintra Portugal. As Xica bastes roasting meat, she chants this poem:
Wall-splashing ping of unction extreme
Ooze of sardine, halibut, bream.
Blubber-fried roe, peppers well oiled,
Jelly from hoofs, eel’s gut uncoiled.
Bacon-From-Heaven—an almond cake---
Sausage with kid roast, lard-basted hake….

Xica further states “love renders us a banquet of drippings, salves, saturates, banquet of creams. I once loved a dear man fatly.”
At one point, Vaz states that the characters: “Together with the starfish, they would live in a bastion that is defined by cleave—a grand but unsettling word that is at once its own opposition:
To pierce, sever, divide by a blow.
To cling, adhere, ever to hold fast.

This kind of mind-blowing prose puts this work on the edge of fantasy, and one can’t help but wonder how much her Portuguese heritage influenced all this imagery. It is a feast for the reading mind from a writer who deserves more attention.

Congrats, Tina!! Great job!!

Three cheers for a job well done! Rah! Rah! Rah!

Congratulations on completing the challenge. And welcome back - hope you had a great trip.

Good job, my sister, glad you made it!

Yeah! You did it! That must be especially satisfying to end with a book that you loved--smart thinking! :-) What's next?

Glad the trip - and the challenge - were a success! Way to go!

Congrats Tina!!

Bonnieb....What's next? Why finish the 2nd 999 - I'm about 1/2 way thru and the categories are much looser. I have a stack of ArCs to do so I really need to get hopping on those and hope they fit into a category someplace. I'm still thinking about how I'm going to (or whether I'm going to!!) structure my reading for 2010.

I have so many wonderful TBRs (both physically and on the list to borrow from the library) thanks to all my LT friends here in this and the 75 in 09 challenge, so I'm not lacking for inspiration.

I'm going to slack off tho on the challenge part for awhile and just let reading be fun fun fun for the rest of the year.

Thanks to everyone for all the encouragement.

congratulations!!

#115--good idea, Tina. I structured my 999 x 2 to have only one challenging (for me) category. I have a lot more "fun" books in this second half.

Not quite halfway through, though I'm getting more confident that I can finish, even if I take on an occasional non-challenge book.

I hope you do the 1010, even if you structure it differently.

Congratulations, tutu!

I'm going to slack off tho on the challenge part for awhile and just let reading be fun fun fun for the rest of the year.

Lucky you! I only have a couple of books to go on my challenge, but they're in the socio-political category and I want to read for fun this month. Eventually I'll finish, but I'm planning next year's challenge much more carefully.