jfetting's 100 Books in 2009 Challenge -- part 2

Old thread here

Reading list this year so far

1) Crazy 08 - Cait Murphy
2) Invitation to a Beheading - Vladimir Nabokov
3) Pere Goriot - Honore de Balzac
4) The Penelopiad - Margaret Atwood
5) Pomp and Circumstance - Noel Coward
6) Carry On, Jeeves - P.G. Wodehouse
7) Hot, Flat, and Crowded - Thomas Friedman
8) Northanger Abbey - Jane Austen
9) The Code of the Woosters - P.G. Wodehouse
10) How Proust Can Change Your Life - Alain de Botton
11) The Mayor of Casterbridge - Thomas Hardy
12) Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
13) The History of the Siege of Lisbon - Jose Saramago
14) You are a Dog - Terry Bain
15) The Perfect Scent - Chandler Burr
16) The Return of the Soldier - Rebecca West
17) The Professor's House - Willa Cather
18) Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
19) The Worst Hard Time - Timothy Egan
20) Home - Marilynne Robinson
21) Rereadings - ed. by Anne Fadiman
22) Poor Folk - Fyodor Dostoevsky
23) Paradise Lost - John Milton
24) The Necklace and other stores - Guy de Maupassant
25) Fingersmith - Sarah Waters
26) The Discovery of France - Graham Robb
27) Drood - Dan Simmons
28) The Periodic Table - Primo Levi
29) The Key - Junichiro Tanizaki
30) Survival in Auschwitz - Primo Levi
31) Excellent Women - Barbara Pym
32) The Heart of Christianity - Marcus Borg
33) Grace (eventually) - Anne Lamott
34) Netochka Nezvanova - Fyodor Dostoevsky
35) The River Wife - Jonis Agee
36) The Last Week - Dominic Crossan & Marcus Borg
37) The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis - Jose Saramago
38) The Clothes on their Backs - Linda Grant
39) Dragonfly in Amber - Diana Gabaldon
40) The Warden - Anthony Trollope
41) The Pigeon - Patrick Suskind
42) Into Thin Air - Jon Krakauer
43) The Irregulars - Jennet Conant
44) Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
45) Decline and Fall - Evelyn Waugh
46) The Cellist of Sarajevo - Stephen Galloway
47) A Feeling for the Organism - Evelyn Fox Keller
48) The Complete Poems of John Keats - John Keats
49) The Fellowship of the Ring - J.R.R. Tolkein
50) Anne of Green Gables - L.M. Montgomery
51) Waiting - Ha Jin
52) The Two Towers - J.R.R. Tolkein
53) The Insulted and Humiliated - Fyodor Dostoevsky
54) The Return of the King - J.R.R. Tolkein
55) Winter's Bone - David Woodrell
56) The Collected Stories of Noel Coward - Noel Coward
57) Far From the Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
58) At Large and At Small - Anne Fadiman
59) Barchester Towers - Anthony Trollope
60) The Silmarillion - J.R.R. Tolkein
61) The Big Over Easy - Jasper Fforde
62) Voyager - Diana Gabaldon
63) The Art of Love - Ovid
64) Nocturnes - Kazuo Ishiguro
65) Much Ado About Nothing - William Shakespeare
66) Pride and Prejudice and Zombies - Jane Austen and some guy
67) Merry Wives of Windsor - William Shakespeare
68) The House of the Dead - Fyodor Dostoevsky
69) Moll Flanders - Daniel Defoe
70) The Best Life Diet - Bob Greene
71) The Other Boleyn Girl - Philippa Gregory
72) The Private Diary of Mr. Darcy - Maya Slater
73) The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane - Katherine Howe
74) Mary Barton - Elizabeth Gaskell
75) Tom Jones - Henry Fielding
76) French Women for All Seasons - Mireille Guiliano
77) Dark Places - Gillian Flynn
78) The Reluctant Fundamentalist - Mohsin Hamid
79) Notes From Underground - Fyodor Dostoevsky
80) The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
81) Fear and Trembling - Amelie Nothumb
82) The Western Canon - Howard Bloom
83) The Essential Dalai Lama - Dalai Lama
84) On The Origin of Species - Charles Darwin
85) Jane Austen and Her Times - G.E. Mitton
86) Les Liaisons Dangereuses - Pierre Choderos de Laclos

to be finished after I get back from the beach...

Hey, Jennifer . . . just found your new thread. What are you reading this weekend?

#2 to be finished after I get back from the beach... It sure didn't take you long after moving away from Missouri to get used to saying that, I'll bet!

She's just trying to rub it in, isn't she? :)

There is some consolation for the beach-less - the water is cold. :)

Hope you enjoy it anyway.

Not that cold! Not cold enough to keep me out of it, anyway.

The most recent book:

#87 A Guide to Elegance by Genevieve Antoine Dariaux

The elegance rules that I have broken, already, today:

1) No being over the age of 16 and wearing shorts in public to places outside of the beach or the tennis court
2) Always wear matching undergarments
3) Never wear flip-flops
4) Hair must always be neatly styled and groomed
5) No speaking loudly in public.

I like these sort of style/fashion books, and find them entertaining. This one was originally written in 1964 or something, and updated around 2003ish, and it shows (no wearing black before the age of 18! wear wool suits everywhere!) but it's still fun and has some helpful advice, particularly regarding which colors go with each other. The book is geared more towards New Yorkers ("the city") with either office jobs or Ladies Who Lunch status, and not at all geared toward poor, Maine-based postdocs, but it's fun anyway. Plus, the book jacket is Tiffany blue! The most beautiful color in the whole wide world!

The other books on the stack for the week: The Unconsoled, Ahead of All Parting, The Pursuit of Love, and Austerity Britain. I may perhaps finish one of them, even!

I am glad you were able to go into the ocean.

#88 The Unconsoled by Kazuo Ishiguro

Major impression, after closing the book, is something along the lines of "What?" (or, to be totally truthful, "WTF?"). I have no idea what this book was about, or what happened, really. If it wasn't written by Ishiguro, possibly my favorite living author, I'd say that it was too pretentious and too I'm-so-clever and too confusing and too irritating. This is very, very different from all his other novels. They all have unreliable narrators (that's his deal), but this is really going too far. Possibly I just didn't get it. The writing, as always, was beautiful - I'm not sure he's capable of writing a bland or clunky sentence - but this is definitely my least favorite Ishiguro novel. That's not to say I didn't like it (I'm giving it 3.5 stars, good for writers in general but bad for Mr. Five-Star).

As far as I can tell, I have a couple of unread short stories left, but otherwise I have read everything the man has published. So now it's time for him to write a whole new novel for me. Nocturnes was nice and all, but it's been about 4 years since Never Let Me Go came out, and it's time for him to put out something else. Preferably something entirely unlike The Unconsoled.

#89 Ahead of All Parting by Ranier Maria Rilke

I've been dipping into this collection of poetry and prose for a few months now, and finished it today with Sonnets to Orpheus (included along with some other poems and the Duino Elegies). Ahhhh... Rilke is beautiful. Rilke in translation is so beautiful that I can't even begin to imagine what it would be like to read him in the original German. This collection has all the German originals on one page, and the English translation on the facing page, so if you wanted you could read the German out loud and hear the loveliness, even if you don't know what exactly you're saying.

The only downside to this book is that my favorite Rilke poem, the one that begins "The leaves are falling, falling as if from far up, as if orchards were dying high in space..." is not included.

I entirely share your view of The Unconsoled - it made my brain hurt. Felt like he was trying to out-weird Kafka. I had several false starts before I got into it.

Hello Dr jfetting;
Just a quick flybyhi and a check in to see how you are and what you are doing and reading. The poetry issue sounds very good. I am sorry that your fav was not included but I had to add it to my TBR listing anyway. Am skipping The Unconsoled; have heard too many reviews like the one you gave to want that one.
Take care and I will be back after I do some catching up.
later,
belva

I agree with you completely about The Unconsoled. Only the fact that I love everything else Ishiguro has written got me to finish it. I even borrowed a book from the library, Understanding Kazuo Ishiguro, and even after reading the chapter on The Unconsoled, I still don't like it (or get it). I guess every author has to have a bad book.

#90 The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Bonhoeffer was a German theologian and a minister who wrote this work in 1937. In it, he stresses the importance of what he calls "costly grace" and warns against "cheap grace". It is an uncomfortable read, in points, because the reliance on cheap grace - the idea that since we're all forgiven anyway then who cares what we do or how we treat people - is such an easy thing to slide into. I think it was meant to be uncomfortable, and to make Christians think, and in many ways I agree with his ideas but in others, I don't.

The biggest irony (am I even using this term right? I don't know) is that he stresses, throughout, the Bible-dictated necessity of the Christian to submit to power, even evil power, because the goodness and suffering of the Christian will eventually bring down the evil power. It's impossible to read this without thinking of Nazi Germany, and how dangerously wrong (IMO) Bonhoeffer is here. Eight years after publication, Bonhoeffer himself was murdered by the Nazis. I wonder what changes, if any, he would have made to The Cost of Discipleship had he survived the war. It seemed to have been written in the hopes that things wouldn't get too much worse, but they did.

It seemed to have been written in the hopes that things wouldn't get too much worse, but they did.

Perhaps then a good follow-up to that reading would be getting your hands on his Letters and Papers from Prison.

Yes, I'd like to read that and soon. I want to know what he was thinking while in prison, or as much as I can know, anyway.

#91 The Pursuit of Love and #92 Love in a Cold Climate by Nancy Mitford

Let's see: British? check. dry, witty humor? check. Set in England between the wars? check. fascinating characters that really live, and are in no way cliched or boring? check. moments of sweetness and nostalgia? check. 1001 book? check and check.

Yes, I think that these books have met just about every requirement to be added to the Jfetting's favorite books list. Not sure how I made it this far without having read them, and happy that this mistake has been remedied.

ETA: I thought that The Pursuit of Love was the better of the two. Linda is a much more interesting and sympathetic character, and her story is a little bit heartbreaking, which I wasn't expecting.

I loved The Pursuit of Love when I read it a few years ago, but I've never got around to reading the second one. It's always sitting at the top of Mnt. TBR. Must read it soon!

The Nancy Mitford books are now on my library hold list. They sound like my kind of book. Funny story though - I'd seen a few others reading Nancy Mitford and am embarrassed to admit that I thought they were referring to this horrible "mitford series" by Jan Karon that my mom reads. When I saw that you loved these books I knew I must be confused!!!

Jennifer - you'll love them! They are so your kind of books. Really. And thanks for the warning about the "mitford series" books - I would have assumed they're about the Mitford sisters.

Joyce - it's a pretty quick read!

Has anyone who reads this ever read the Letters Between Six Sisters book? I'm hoping it is as good as it sounds (combining my longstanding love of reading other peoples' mail with my newfound love of the Mitfords).

Oh, I haven't read Mitford since I was a teenager! I must revisit!

Nancy Mitford? Check. Thanks, Jennifer, for bringing this author to my attention.

#19 I haven't read the book to which you refer, but I expect it will be most entertaining, given the writing abilities and personalities involved.

You might also be interested in the letters between "Debo", the last remaining sister, and the great travel writer, Patrick Leigh Fermor, In Tearing Haste (touchstone not working).

#93 Half Broken Things by Morag Joss

I read this for a RL book club, and it isn't the sort of thing I'd usually read. And I didn't like it that much, really. The writing was fine (actually, given my dislike for the characters, probably pretty good) but I had absolutely no sympathy for the main characters. The story is about these three people who are messed up, and who all find each other and stay in this English country manor house that one of them is housesitting, and proceed to live these totally unreal lives, as if the house belonged to them (they sell things, etc.) I saw the ending coming from about a mile away, and I never figure out endings.

Overall, I'm not a fan.

#94 The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum

It is a really entertaining spy novel, and completely different from the movie.

#95 Austerity Britain by David Kynaston

This was a really fascinating look at all aspects of British life in the years immediately after WWII. It covers rationing, food shortages, housing shortages (and lots and lots about town planning), nationalization (nationalisation?) of the health sector and coal and steel and whatnot, cricket, TV, Barbara Pym, etc. What I really enjoyed about the book is that Kynaston tells us about the big political figures of the time, and elections, and things like that, both in terms of the dry historical facts and in excerpts from normal people's diaries, letters, and interviews. I liked the sort of day-to-day bits best, when people talk about how they made do, and what they thought of the events of the time. My least favorite parts were the chapters about nationalization of the mines. Plus, there were some pretty incomprehensible (to this American) sentences about cricket and football that I couldn't follow.

Great list of books! I especially enjoyed Fingersmith and Dark Places. You've read a lot of Jane Austen's that are on my TBR list.

#96 Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky (re-read)

Well, technically a re-read, although I hadn't read this translation before (the Pevear/Volokhonsky one, which I highly recommend). This is one of my favorite books - Raskolnikov is a fantastic character. I like that I read it after reading all of D's earlier work - I almost can't believe it is the same author!

#97 The Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon

I think I'm in the minority here, in that I think these books get better and better as the series goes along. I kinda like the increased sorta ghost-spirits weirdness that is creeping in.

#98 The Style Strategy by Nina Garcia

Another one of those what-to-wear books, with an emphasis on which things are worth splurging on (cashmere, shoes) and which should be cheaper (most trends). I think she tried to keep in mind the recession while writing, so there is a lot of useful stuff about re-using things you already own, and getting things altered so that they fit properly or look more "new", and taking care of your clothes so they last longer.

Plus, I'm a total Project Runway addict, even this lackluster season, and therefore I love love love Nina Garcia.

#99 The Meaning of Sunglasses by Hadley Freeman

I'm on a kick, apparently. Yet another book about fashion, this time a collection of essays by the hilarious Hadley Freeman. I loved it. However, I'm now confused: Nina Garcia told me to splurge on a trench coat, and Hadley Freeman tells me that I shouldn't bother, because I'll look like crap in a trench coat. What to do? (Obey Hadley, I think, since I do look terrible in trench coats. I am not tall enough to pull off the spy look).

My (very phlebian) understanding of trench coats is that they are a wardrobe staple - classic and undatable. I have to say this, because I just bought one and I am only 5 feet, 3 and three quarters. I think the double breasted trenches are best avoided, though.

"66) Pride and Prejudice and Zombies - Jane Austen and some guy"
>snort.

trench coats . . . double breasted coats aren't all bad; a redingote if you can pull it off. try the trench coat with a matching fedora; any one can rock that. and with a properly placed belt, it can make it look like your legs go on for miles. and if that doesn't work, and people get curious, tell them you're rip van winkle.

you've got some great books. i'll probably be checking out Fear and Trembling. (not so) funny story: it was around summer and i was rifling for a book, when two books fell on my head. one of them was fear and trembling (although it was kierkegaard's, not nothumb's), which, it being a philosophical work, struck me as an appropriate introduction.

i just remembered something. there was a quote on the inside cover, "all my relations." anyone got an idea what that means?

I think you're right, kiwi - the double breasted trench is the one that makes me look like a little kid playing dress-up (and I love that you include your "three quarters" in your height - I''m 5'3" and would love to have 3/4 inch more).

destiny - don't know about the quote; Kierkegaard is one of those philosophers who intimidate me, so I haven't read him.

#100 Daphne by Justine Picardie

Good job ER algorithm! I really liked this book - a kind of academic mystery/Rebecca knockoff told in flashbacks, focusing on Du Maurier's research into the life of Branwell Bronte. I was really pleased that the ending was so very not-cliched; I've read a lot of this sort of academic-mystery-oh-we-must-find-the- missing-manuscript book, and they all really end the same, and this one is very different. Highly recommended to anyone with a lot of Du Maurier and Bronte books in their libraries. It made me want to re-read Rebecca - because that's so hard to do ;-) And it made me finally start reading Gaskell's The Life of Charlotte Bronte, and maybe find some less-totally-biased Bronte bios as well. Suggestions appreciated, as always!

One hundred books and a move to a new life across country! I'm impressed. Congratulations...go buy yourself a trenchcoat as a reward.

I wish I had more people in my life who told me to go shopping. Thanks, Donna!

Congratulations on the 100 - and thank you for the review of Daphne, which I had heard of, but had absolutely no idea it was about du Maurier's research into Branwell Bronte. MUST READ. Thanks!

Re Bronte bios, I have on my shelves - unread so far, but I have read great reviews and heard good things about them - Juliet Barker's Bronte biography (can't remember exact title) and The Brontes: A Life in Letters. I have a nasty feeling both are out of print now, though.

Congratulations on your 100 and what a great book you chose for it.

Congratulations! Don't forget the hat along with your trenchcoat. They go together like chocolate and peanut butter, be they fedoras or berets. For example:



If you're worried about your height, there are turtle-necked trench coats that'll ensure you look long and sleek:

I do like those berets - classy but casual. To split hairs, I think the first above is called a duffle coat and the second one a pea-coat. But I am not sure. They are very nice, although the second kinda swallows up one's neck, but looks warm and cozy.

In Canada, being 5 foot 3 inches (and some) is short. When I was in New Zealand I was average. Everyone here seems Amazon sized.

I plead ignorance. I got the images from trenchcoatboutique.com, so I assumed they were both trench coats. I've never really seen people wear berets in real life, except for my History teacher's brother-in-law, who's crazy, and my Bohemian artsy, uh I'm not sure what to call him--he's married to my cousin, so cousin twice-removed? He prefers abstract painting because, he says, "It's original and emotional" but honestly, I think it's because he's too lazy to work on his stuff.

New Zealand . . . what are you doing there? Lemme see, "kiwidoc" so, you're a doctor, either saving the kiwis from extinction, or working a black project genetically tampering with the kiwis in order to turn them into some sort of secret atomic super-soldiers? Like in "Aliens," but cuter. How's New Zealand? Really, I want to know; I know absolutely nothing about it except that there are probably kiwis there, and it's the place where they filmed the Lord of the Ring films, and now, everyone there seems "Amazon-sized" (You can answer me on my LT homepage, so we won't hijack jfetting's thread), and it's probably morning there, right?

Well - I am an ex-Kiwi, although born in England, now living in Vancouver, Canada! Confused? Oh - and I am a doctor.

jfetting - to get back to your accomplishment of 100..... WELL DONE, INDEED.

Thanks, everybody!

#101 The Last Dickens by Matthew Pearl

So this was another book investigating the events surrounding the writing and publication of The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Kinda like Drood, but about 1/8 the length and with no Wilkie Collins or supernatural beings/opium hallucinations. It's actually a mystery, in which a publisher goes off in search of the last half of the manuscript after Dickens dies. There are about three subplots, two of which actually sorta tie together and one that really just does not. I liked the "where is the book?" part of the mystery, as well as the suggested putative ending for Edwin Drood, but overall it seemed too disjointed for me. Plus, really clunky exposition - backstories revealed through some of the most unnatural dialogue I've ever read. If I had the book with me, I'd give an example.

I read it for my real life book group, and had to finish it by Wednesday, but have been craving a re-read of Rebecca, so that probably didn't help. But now I'm done and can read Rebecca! The movie was on when I got home last weekend, so I had to stay up until the wee hours to watch it. I hadn't ever pictured Maxim de Winter as blond, but I have to say that Olivier was just about perfect in the role.

# 102 No Tomorrow by Vivant Denon

Aka Point de lendemain, I almost feel guilty counting this as a book, when it's really a 30-page short story. This is my most recent ER book, and it just showed up on my doorstep when I got home from work, and I sat right down and read the intro by Peter Brooks and the story itself. The story in the original French is also included, after the English translation, which is great. I've forgotten most of my high-school French, but it's nice to have the original.

The story was written back in 1770 ish, and it covers the events that occur one night between an unnamed young man and Mme de T-----. I'd call it a love story, but it isn't traditionally romantic. I'd call it a sex story, but it isn't vulgar or explicit. It's very sweet, and really lovely, and maybe a smidgen naughty, but not icky. Very hard to describe, but I suppose I'll have to since I need to review it for ER. The blurb on the back compares Denon to de Laclos and de Sade, and except for the being-French part, and the sex-happens part, I completely disagree. Here, a quote: "Kisses are like confidences: they attract each other, they accelerate each other, they excite each other." I haven't even read de Sade, but I guarantee he didn't write anything like that.

The only downside to this book is that it was my September book, and my August book (also a NYRB classic, The Cost of Living by Mavis Gallant) which I very much want to read, hasn't showed up yet. Now I'm worried it got lost in the mail!

#103 Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

I read this book many, many times during high school, but I don't think I've read it since then. It's still fantastic, though.

#104 The Color Purple by Alice Walker

Wow! It's such a disturbing book, but totally absorbing. I just couldn't put it down. All these relentlessly horrible things keep happening to poor Celie and her family, but they aren't presented as "oh no! world-ending horrible thing!". Celie is the narrator, and is just so matter-of-fact about all this awfulness, which almost makes it worse. These people have no way to get justice.

But all through it is this sense of hope, and then a happy ending. Wonderful book.

re #104

I totally agree. I was very glad to have read this novel before the film came out. The film gutted so much of the novel, it was hard to recognize on screen.

#105 The Life of Charlotte Bronte by Elizabeth Gaskell

On one hand, it is hard to know how much of this is true. Gaskell wrote The Life 2 years after Bronte died, she was a close friend of Charlotte who was obviously going to paint her dead friend in the best possible light, she was commissioned by Patrick Bronte (the father) to write the story, and many of the people named in the book were still alive and threatening lawsuits. Gaskell's own opinions shine through (reading between the lines, Patrick doesn't come out looking too good) and my edition, happily, adds all the censored parts back in the endnotes.

On the other hand, I don't think it would be possible to read this book and not have your heart bleed for poor Charlotte. Gaskell is a great writer, and between her writing and Charlotte's letters it is a wonderful read. The strongest, most difficult part of the book is the chapters covering autumn 1848 to spring 1849: when Branwell, Emily, and then Anne died of TB all within 9 months. I can't even imagine what that must have been like for Charlotte - the two people she loved most in the world (E & A), her critics and editors while writing Jane Eyre, dying and leaving her all alone. It made me cry, especially when Gaskell writes that Emily's dog followed her casket to the funeral, then went home and slept outside her bedroom door and howled. Every morning. And the circumstances surrounding Charlotte's death - I had assumed that she, too, died of TB but I was wrong.

I really really loved this book. Flossie, I'm totally going to be reading the Juliet Barker book now - it's sitting on my floor, all 1500 pages of it. I learned a lot that I didn't know, and now I want to see how much of that holds up to rigorous scholarship.

#106 I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

You know how there are some books that you read, and you think "oh, I wish I had read that when I was 13 because maybe then I would have thought that this crap was worth reading" and then other books that make you think "oh, I wish I had read that when I was 13 because I would have loved it and read it about 50 times and would just about have it memorized by now"? I wish I had read I Capture the Castle when I was 13 because I would have loved it and read it about 50 times and would just about have it memorized by now. I hope my 13yo self would have had the good sense, unlike Cassandra, to prefer Stephen to Simon. Come on, Cassandra! Pick Stephen!

Okay, you've convinced me. I'll pull I Capture the Castle out of ol' Mnt TBR and read it before passing it on to my daughter who is turning 13 next month. So she can love it and read it 50 times and memorize it!

The Bronte book sounds very interesting. The one that I'm always wanting to find time for is The Bronte Myth by Lucasta Miller. So many books . . .

>45 jfetting: Jennifer, I finished Jude Morgan's The Taste of Sorrow last week, a fictionalised Brontë biography, which was wonderful; I haven't read the Gaskell bio but now REALLY want to. Which one was your edition?

I have an Oxford's World Classics (IBSN:0192838059), but I would bet that most editions w/ notes would have the cut bits. She ended up cutting out a lot of negative stuff about Cowan Bridge School (better known to Bronte fans as Lowood) and the guy in charge, plus everything about Branwell and Mrs. Robinson that was in the first edition of the book.

The Taste of Sorrow looks great. I also want to read The Bronte Myth. Fascinating, these people.

#107 The Return of Depression Economics by Paul Krugman

I should admit up front that I'm a big fan of Paul Krugman, and wish someone would just put him in charge of the US economy so that things will get better. Obviously, then, I very much enjoyed this book. Well, "enjoyed" probably isn't the right word, since it isn't a happy book. Krugman points out several recent economic slumps (Asia in the 90s, Latin America, etc) and how, if people had been paying attention, our current economic situation could be avoided. He then describes how this current crisis happened, and what Krugman thinks needs to be done to avoid catastrophe, and how he's pretty sure it won't, because of political b*******. In short, we're all screwed.

#108 In The Woods by Tana French

This was for my RL book club, and wow! Am I ever glad that they had chosen this book because I'd never have read it on my own, and that would be sad. Police procedurals aren't really my thing, but this book was great. It's about 2 cops who are investigating a child murder, and one of the two is the survivor of an earlier, unsolved child abduction (3 kids went into the woods, one came out). But it's more than that - the narrator (the kid who lived) is clearly losing it as the case goes on, and what ever happened to the kids from the first crime? I couldn't read it before bed, because I couldn't sleep for trying to figure out how the book was going to end.

I have to go find her next book as soon as it comes out in paperback.

#109 Speaking of Faith by Krista Tippett

Speaking of Faith is one of my favorite NPR shows (I mostly listen to the podcasts, now, since I can't find it out here). This book is essentially a written version of the same, with Krista Tippett's personal experience thrown in, so I liked it. Both emphasize the importance of searching, and thinking, and dialogue between different faith traditions, and between faith and lack-of-faith traditions. She interviews theologians, scientists, clergy, poets, atheists, etc., but not from a "my-tradition-is-right-and-yours-is-wrong" stance, which is important if we have any hope of living in peace.

#110 The French Lieutenant's Woman by John Fowles

Super good. I liked the way the author continually put himself into the story, and implied that he had as little idea of how the book would end as the reader had.

#111 The Emperor's Children by Claire Messud

Thoroughly unlikeable characters living in NYC in the summer of 2001, whining and trying to find themselves and behaving badly. Then 9/11 happens, and they continue to whine and behave badly and oh, what does it all mean. One character, who witnesses the towers fall through her apartment window, goes into a deep depression not because of the senseless tragedy, but because her (married) lover took one look at the burning buildings and ran home to his wife. Poor baby. I can't tell if I'm supposed to feel pity for her (I think that Messud would like me to) but all I can feel for her, and every single other character in the whole book, is contempt.

>51 jfetting: re book #111 WELL SAID THAT WOMAN! One of the most irritating books I've read in a long time - which is a pity, because at the level of the sentence, I thought Messud wrote beautifully. But the book just didn't say anything important or worthwhile, at least not that I could see.

Danielle was shaping up to be almost sympathetic, I thought, until that apartment scene.

> 51, #111
Well, I am definitely avoiding that one!!! I have a "no whining" rule both in real life and in books!

>50 jfetting: Another Krista Tippett fan here. In fact I will be listening to her show in about 45 minutes (new time schedule) and I'm sorry to hear it isn't available up there. I seem to remember listening to it on the New Hampshire NPR station when I lived in NH, but you probably can't pick up its signal.

Did you hear the two part series she did on Einstein a year or so back? Brilliant.

I thought Danielle was almost sympathetic, or at least the most sympathetic of the bunch (and doesn't that say something, when the most sympathetic character in the book is the one having an affair with her best friend's father?). I agree that the writing itself was lovely, and maybe if Messud came up with a decent story that would be worth reading.

Maine's NPR is strange, or at least it is here in Portland. Diane Rehm is on in the afternoon, not in the morning, and I think she's on when Talk of the Nation is supposed to be on. Thank God I can still find Car Talk.

I did hear the Einstein series, and loved it.

#112 Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith by Anne Lamott

Another book of Lamott essays, covering the same general themes as the book of hers I read earlier in the year. I enjoy Lamott's style - she's brutally honest, and funny, but always hopeful, in the end. The essay about the death of her dog made me cry like a baby (her dog Sadie sounds like she looked just like my dog Sadie looks), as writing about dogs dying always always does.

#113 Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

Even better than everyone has been saying. It took me a long time (for me) to read; it's very dense, and rich, and absolutely wonderful. Even though it covers roughly the same subject matter as The Other Boleyn Girl, there is no comparison between the two. Wolf Hall is told from the point of view of Thomas Cromwell (who is always referred to as "he" in the text, which got confusing), who rocketed up the list of My Favorite Characters.

Two things, though: First, why is this book called Wolf Hall? The Seymours are only mentioned a couple of times. Is this some sort of symbolism I am missing? Second, what happens to Thomas Cromwell? I'm so worried about him - I read The Wives of Henry VIII last year, but I don't remember what happens to Cromwell. He doesn't get his head cut off, does he? Part of me wants to go look it up on Wikipedia or something, to make sure Henry doesn't kill him. But what if he does? Very distressing.

ETA: Damn it. Well, now I know what happened to Cromwell. Not cool, Henry VIII.

Jennifer, I'm about 50 pages into Wolf Hall and loving it. I also had to know the fate of Thomas Cromwell. I wasn't too suprised. Henry was pretty consistent in how he got rid of people who got in his way. I'll let you know if I pick up any clues about the title as I read.

Cromwell is executed by Henry after the Anne of Cleves marriage. Cromwell was promoting this union as a good political move but Henry didn't like Anne- I usually read David Starkey's history books on the period to find out what really happened after I read Tudor fiction. Wolf Hall was amazing. It is interesting that the title refers to a place not important in this book but in the next.. apparently Hilary Mantel is writing a sequel.

#56, et al. I've got Wolf Hall on the wishlist after seeing it a couple of months ago someplace else. I was uncertain about it - not my usual thing. Now, I'm very excited about it and will need to move it up closer to the top. Thanks for the great comments.

Hi! I've just caught up with your thread, and as usual, so much of interest here! I am so glad that I now know that Gillian Flynn has published that second novel. When I finished Sharp Objects I so wanted to read more. So that's going on the soon-TBR list. Wolf Hall also sounds very interesting. And I am so glad that you're a fellow NPR addict. I just moved back to the DC area so you know I'm in heaven NPR-wise. My father thinks it's so funny that I don't listen to music in the car.

Anyway, nice to "see" you. TTFN.

Yay! citygirl is back! Dark Places is even better than Sharp Objects.

Oh, warm fuzzy! It's nice when people are happy to see you. I'm going to have to go get that Dark Places.

Have you read Special Topics on Calamity Physics? I'm reading it now and it strikes me that you'd like it.

It's on my shelf, waiting to be read. I'm glad to hear that I might like it - I've seen mixed reviews. And torontoc, you recommend David Starkey? And yay Wolf Hall sequel! I cannot wait.

#114 Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner

I don't know. Maybe reading this right after Wolf Hall was a little unfair, since it'd be hard for any book to follow one that good. But I didn't really care for Hotel du Lac. How on Earth did this win the Booker prize? The story is about a (somewhat pathetic) woman named Edith who did Something Naughty and, as a result, was packed off to a resort in Switzerland by her friends. She observes the other guests, and eventually reveals the Something Naughty, and blah blah.

I had a hard time caring about Edith, and her life, and what choices she made. Brookner's writing was good and all, but she couldn't make me sympathize with Edith. I just wanted to shake her. Yes, yes, love is great, "you are the breath of life to me" and all that is great, but if he's married and doesn't want to hear that sort of thing from you, and has no intention of leaving his wife, and you insist on dragging this along, then I feel like you get what you deserve. Got that, Edith?

#115 The Double and the Gambler by Fyodor Dostoevsky

A strange pair to stick into one book. The Double is a longish short story from D's early writings (right after Poor Folk, his first novel). The Gambler is from later, right after C&P. The difference between the two is enormous.

The Double - has an interesting premise (a state worker's life is turned upside down when a bizarre man with the same name and identical looks swoops in and quickly takes over). I didn't really enjoy it - I felt too bad for the protagonist when there really was nothing he could do to avoid having someone else steal his identity. And the prose was the flowery, over-the-top style I disliked in early D.

The Gambler - is awesome. It's another longish short story/novella, and it's about a Russian tutor who goes with his employer's family to a spa town in Germany with a casino. He takes up gambling, as do various members of the family. Chaos ensues. The plot itself isn't anything special, but the descriptions of the mindset of a gambling addict, and the inevitability that that person will gamble away any money they get their hands on, are pretty powerful stuff. (D. did have a bit of a gambling problem.)

>62 jfetting: I thought Hotel du Lac was really lame and I found Edith intensely irritating. It put me off seeking other Brookner novels.

Well, I will be contrary here and say that I loved Hotel Du Lac although I read it over 25 years ago in the mid 1980s so all comments are guarded and purposefully fuzzy. I would say that her style is diametrically opposite to Hilary Mantel - much more reflective and definitely female character driven. I do like her, though.

(.......and isn't Dostoevsky a genius?. Notes from an Underground and C&P blew me away.)

He is a genius. this whole exercise in reading his work in chronological order really helps me realize how his writing grew and changed and improved. By the time I get to The Brothers Karamazov, I expect to be blown away. Assuming, of course, that I make it past the Grand Inquisitor scene, which seems to have been a bit of a brick wall to me in the past.

#116 The Spy Who Came in From the Cold by John le Carre

You know what is super fun brain candy? Spy novels. Like this one. Le Carre has pacing down to a science. He can't write women to save his life though, can he?

#117 The Death of Sweet Mister by Daniel Woodrell

Read this one for the Missouri Readers group read. Two things:

1) Daniel Woodrell is a fantastic writer. It is difficult to stop reading his books, even when the subject matter is as unappetizing as this book.

2) The story: ew. ewwww. EWWWWWW. Yuck. No. About 1/3 of the way through the book, I started thinking "wait, did I just read that? did that mean what I think it meant? He's not really going to go there, is he?". Why yes, yes he did go there. And "there" (no spoilers, here) is a place that I really don't think that any writer needs to go ever. And then the last pages made me want to throw up.

>67 jfetting:: Oh no! Not exactly a ringing endorsement. I'd better read Sweet Mister soon so it doesn't spoil my Christmas. Perhaps I'll use my annual reading of A Christmas Carol as a chaser to take the bad taste out of my brain. At least it's short.

Excellent idea, reading A Christmas Carol again to clean the brain. I think I might just do that too.

#67 And just when I was beginning to look forward to reading this book! I'm with Donna - maybe better not to wait. (But, do we know how to pick 'em or what?!)

edit - also taking Donna's advice, I've ordered A Christmas Carol for reading afterwards.

#118 The Celestial Omnibus and the Eternal Moment by E.M. Forster

I read this because Forster is this month's monthly author read, and it's the only book of his I own besides Howards End, which deserves a re-read but not right now. Last spring, I picked up The Celestial Omnibus etc at the Greater St. Louis Book Fair for $1.00 (perfect condition, hardcover, I doubt it was ever read) not really knowing what it was. Looking at the title, I guessed maybe some sort of collection of dull essays about God. No! It's a short story collection!

Forster's novels are among my favorites, with lots of class consciousness and the like. These short stories could not be more different. They're much more fantastic - fantastic as in "containing fantasy" as well as in "so very good". One story is a creepy sci-fi dystopian future sort of thing, that is very much like The Matrix, actually. The title story "The Celestial Omnibus" is my favorite. It's about a little boy who finds a bus stop in an alley for a celestial omnibus. The bus takes him up to a short of literature-lover's heaven. The bus drivers are famous authors (Dante, Sir Thomas Browne, and I think Jane Austen sneaks in). The heaven is peopled with famous characters, like Tom Jones. It's pretty clearly a sort of metaphor for the joy of reading, but the story is just magical. If only it really existed (the bus and the place, I mean. Obviously the story exists)!

Other stories in this book are similarly wonderful. It was so unexpected. I didn't know Forster ever did this, but I'm glad I found the book.

>71 jfetting:: I recently read A Passage to India and loved it, but I didn't know Forster wrote short stories. I will definitely be checking that one out.

Re: Sweet Mister and Daniel Woodrell. I agree he is a brilliant writer and I can't put his books down either. That there was no glimmer of hope in this dark story made it quite different from Winter's Bone, the other book I've read by him, but won't keep me from reading his others. However, I couldn't take a steady diet of books like Sweet Mister!

>118 Another to look for!

#119 The Problem of Pain and A Grief Observed by C. S. Lewis

A Grief Observed is a short piece that Lewis wrote to help him cope with the loss of his wife, whose name totally escapes me. It's unlike anything else he has written - raw and heartbreaking. Grief sucks. It gets better. You really get a glimpse into Lewis's character, here.

The Problem of Pain is harder to describe. Lewis tries to address the age-old question "If there is a loving God, why do bad things happen to good people?" I could not be less of a theologian (though I do like to read theology), so I can't argue to the validity of his arguments, or whether he is arguing from a place that he can support or not. I do know that Lewis's God is much less forgiving than mine.

Lewis wrote to help him cope with the loss of his wife, whose name totally escapes me.

Joy. Can't remember her last name at the moment, but it will come to me.

#120 The Fourth Bear by Jasper Fforde

Standard Ffordian silliness. Maybe even a little sillier than the others. But fun.

#121 Lots o' Christmas re-reading

These are all being counted as one book because I've read them all so often that I don't really have to read them. I love them all.

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever - with the Herdmans.
The Birds' Christmas Carol - sob.
A Christmas Carol - Scrooge is always going to look like Alistair Sim in my head.
The Nutcracker - my edition is a beautiful one illustrated by Maurice Sendak. Hoffman's original story is very different from the ballet; it's much darker and creepier.

Hi, Jennifer, and Merry Christmas to you. I read The Nutcracker to my granddaughters (ages 5 and 7) when we visited them last week end, and I was surprised by its darkness. Grandma probably gave them nightmares!

Merry Christmas. How was Fforde?

Happy New Year! The Fforde was very good. I don't like the nursery crimes as much as I like the Thursday Next books, but in my opinion Fforde can do little wrong. I have the new one, Shades of Grey, coming next week sometime. whohoo!

Since it is increasingly clear that I'm not going to finish any of the books I'm currently reading, my tally for the year stands at 121. So yay! This also means that it's time for my second annual Challenge Awards Show!
This year's categories (and nominees) are:

Novel of the Year: Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, Les Liaisons Dangereuses by Choderlos de Laclos, Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope, and The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford, The History of the Siege of Lisbon by Jose Saramago

Nonfiction read of the year: The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin, The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan, Survival in Auschwitz by Primo Levi

Meter & Rhyme, the award for best poetry of the year: Paradise Lost by John Milton, Ahead of All Parting by Ranier Maria Rilke, The Collected Poems of John Keats by the same

Who Published This?, the award for the worst book of the year that is NOT about the Mystery of Edwin Drood: Half Broken Things by Morag Joss, The Death of Sweet Mister by Daniel Woodrell, The Emperor's Children by Claire Messud, Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner

I Wish You Had Just Finished the Book, Dickens, so that I wouldn't have to read this nonsense for the worst book of the year that IS about the Mystery of Edwin Drood: Drood by Dan Simmons, The Last Dickens by Matthew Pearl

Hell In A Handbasket, awarded to the most relentlessly depressing nonfiction book of the year: The Return of Depression Economics by Paul Krugman, The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan, Hot, Flat, and Crowded by Thomas Friedman

The Most Relentlessly Depressing work of fiction: Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner, Poor Folk by Fyodor Doestovsky, Winter's Bone by Daniel Woodrell, Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

Comfort Read of the Year, awarded to most favorite re-read: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen, The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkein, Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

Where Have You Been All My Life?, best new-to-me author: Barbara Pym, Anthony Trollope, Nancy Mitford, Jose Saramago, Elizabeth Gaskell

Biggest Disappointments: Fingersmith by Sarah Waters, The Irregulars by Jennet Conant, The Clothes on their Backs by Linda Grant, The Unconsoled by Kazuo Ishiguro

Best Character: Thomas Cromwell (Wolf Hall), Satan (Paradise Lost), Gabriel Oak (Far From the Madding Crowd), Mrs. Proudie (Barchester Towers), Dr. Grantly (The Warden & Barchester Towers), Mr. Slope (Barchester Towers), the Vicomte de Valmont (Les Liaisons Dangereuses)

Awesomest Villain: Satan (Paradise Lost), Drood (Drood), Proudie/Slope (Barchester Towers), Mrs. Danvers (Rebecca), Jack Randall (Dragonfly in Amber)

The Wodehouse Award for funniest work of fiction: Pomp and Circumstance by Noel Coward, Carry On, Jeeves by Wodehouse, The Code of the Woosters by Wodehouse (this category seems a little unfair and biased)

Best Book Whose Title is the Main Character's Name: Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe, Tom Jones by Henry Fielding, Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell, Netochka Nezvanova by Dostoevsky

If I Told You, I'd Have to Kill You for spy book of the year: The Spy Who Came In From the Cold by John le Carre, The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum

Best Collection of Short Stories: The Necklace and other Stories by Guy de Maupassant, Nocturnes by Kazuo Ishiguro, The Celestial Omnibus and the Eternal Moment by E.M. Forster, The Collected Stories of Noel Coward

Winners will be announced tomorrow, Jan 1. Happy New Year, everyone!

I love it, Jennifer! Well done. You've loved a lot of books that live on my TBR, so that's very encouraging.

I love your little award categories; they're so funny.

oh, oh, I wish you'd made like the TV shows and done your awards a week ago so there was loads of time to play... it feels wrong to comment at length on a 2009 list in 2010. (I'm so conventional.)

Fab stuff. Although I'm sorry to hear that Dark Places is "relentlessly depressing". I was really looking forward to it.

I had wanted to get it done earlier but with work and holiday traveling and whatnot it didn't happen. And, not all of the relentlessly depressing books are bad. I loved Dark Places.

Very nice. I'll definitely be stealing a few of those categories. Happy new year!

Congrats, Jennifer! Loved the summary, and it's great that you discovered Trollope, Gaskell and Pym this year! :)

And the winners are...

Novel of the Year: Barchester Towers. It was a close race, but Trollope pulled ahead

Nonfiction read of the year: Survival in Auschwitz. Another close race - how can I vote against Darwin? But the Levi wins because it is brilliant and horrifying.

Meter & Rhyme: Paradise Lost. Did I put in a poetry category this year because I wasn't going to be able to decide between Barchester Towers and Paradise lost for fiction-read-of-the-year? Maybe.

Who Published This?: The Emperor's Children. This book was full of suck.

I Wish You Had Just Finished the Book, Dickens, so that I wouldn't have to read this nonsense: Drood. They were both terrible, but Drood was so heavy it hurt my shoulder.

Hell In A Handbasket: The Return of Depression Economics. We're screwed, people.

The Most Relentlessly Depressing work of fiction: Poor Folk.

Comfort Read of the Year: Was there even a chance that this would be awarded to anything but Jane Eyre? No.

Where Have You Been All My Life? This was HARD. Seriously, seriously hard. But the award goes to Anthony Trollope. Pym and Saramago are right on his heels, though.

Biggest Disappointments: The Unconsoled. Kazuo, how could you?

Best Character: Satan, from Paradise Lost. Easy. Maybe the greatest character in all of fiction.

Awesomest Villain: Proudie/Slope from Barchester Towers. See how I cheated, there? Can't be helped.

The Wodehouse Award for funniest work of fiction: Pomp and Circumstance. One of the funniest things I've ever read.

Best Book Whose Title is the Main Character's Name: Moll Flanders. I loves me some unrepentant sinners.

If I Told You, I'd Have to Kill You: The Spy Who Came In From the Cold. Fascinating

Best Collection of Short Stories: The Celestial Omnibus and the Eternal Moment. Can't stop thinking about these stories.

So there you have it! 2009 was another great reading year. For 2010, I can be found:

100 Book Challenge thread

101010 Challenge Thread

Happy New Year, everyone!