clfisha's 1010 Challenge

Hi. To make everything less daunting I am going to the step challenge. I am such a random mood reader that I could never squeeze 100 books into 10 categories.

Anyway I have been dithering over my categories and making things far too complicated, but at least I am having fun.

My current idea is all based on themes
10 books for 10 decades
9 books inspired by the muses
8 books one for each colour of magic
7 books for seven continents
6 books to stimulate the senses
5 books to create the Japanese elements
4 books for each nation of the UK
3 books one each for Maiden, mother & crone
2 books on good & evil
1 book just for me

Bonus 10: The books I steal off others in this challenge.

If I pin the books down now I will never want to read them so I will add (and review) as I go along.

Rating explanation:
It is of course extreme personal bias, I am not a literary critic and to be honest I am a fan of story over style. Plus this is an immediate reaction, I tend to change my mind after a few months!

1 will never appear because I couldn't finish it.
2/2.5 Not sure why I finished it, it bored me.
3/3.5 Nothing wrong with it, I enjoyed it. Ok it might be uneven, just plain good or in a genre I don't love.
4 - 5 Excellent, loved it. I lumped all together as 5 is very personal, I can guarantee you won't feel the same way :) so take 4+ as one grade.

10 books for 10 decades
starting in 1910 -1920, a book from each decade

1. (1910 - 1920)
2. (1920 - 1930) All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque (5* Completed Jan)
3. (1930 - 1940) The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler
4. (1940 - 1950) The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson (3.5* Completed 20/1)
5. (1950 - 1960) Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway (1* Completed 26/6)
6. (1960 - 1970) We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson (4.5* Completed 27/3)
7. (1970 - 1980) If on a Winter's Night a Traveller by Italo Calvino (4.5* Completed 19/6)
8. (1980 - 1990) Among the Believers: An Islamic Journey by V.S.Naipaul (5* Completed 16/6)
9. (1990 - 2000) Sewer, Gas and Electric by Matt Ruff (4* Completed 21/4)
10. (2000 - 2010) Finch by Jeff VanderMeer (5* Completed 14/01/10)

9 books inspired by the muses
A book for each domain: (epic poetry, history, lyric poetry, music, tragedy, choral poetry, dance, comedy, astronomy)

1. History The Secret Lives of Buildings by Edward Hollis (4.5* Completed 26/02)
2. Comedy The Pirates! In An Adventure With Napoleon by Gideon Defoe
3. Tragedy If he Hollers Let Him Go by Chester Himes 4*
4. Choral poetry The Choirboys by Joseph Wambaugh 4.5*
5. Lyric Poetry The Pillow Book by Sei Shonagon
6.
7.
8.
9.

Astronomy: Doctor Copernicus by John Banville (thanks visibleGhost)
Epic poetry: Divine Comedy by if I am brave..
Dance:
Music:

8 books one for each colour of magic
books with a colour theme or title and of course a reread of the Colour of magic by Terry Pratchett

1. Blue Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley (4.5* completed 27/6)
2. Green Black Swan Green by David Mitchell (5* Completed 10/10)
3. Yellow The Yellow Lighted Bookshop (3* Completed 29/11)
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

Potentials:
Orange: The Bizarro Starter Kit (Orange) .
Red: Death of a Red Heroine by Qiu Xiaolong or The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy

7 books for seven continents
one book per landmass based on setting or author origin. The list of course is Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia

1. Europe: The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (2.5* completed 27/1/10)
2. Asia : The River Of Gods by Ian McDonald (3.5* Complete Feb)
3. North America : Big Machine by Victor LaValle
4. South America : The Lost City of Z by David Grann (3.5* 12/10)
5. Australia Requiem for a Wren by Nevil Shute (4* 19/12)
6.
7.

Thoughts:
Antartica: Cold Skin by Albert Sanchez Pinol
Africa: The Famished Road by ben Okri or It's Our Turn to Eat: The Story of a Kenyan Whistle Blower by Michela Wronq

6 books to stimulate the senses
taking each sense as insipiration (yes I include the mysterious sixth sense).. expect an audio book..!

1. Sight The Photographer by Emmanuel Guibert and Didier Lefevre (5* Completed 2/3)
2. Hearing Big Machine by Victor Lavalle (4* Completed 1/5)
3. Smell Perfume by Patrick Suskind (3.5 * Completed 27/5)
4. Touch Piercing by Ryu Murakami (3.5* Completed 21/6)
5. Taste Izakaya: The Japanese Pub Cookbook by Mark Robinson 4*
6. 6th Sense Swellhead by Kim Newman part of Night Visions 11

5 books to create the Japanese elements
each book must have a tenuous link to one of: fire, earth, air, water and void

1. Fire: The Road by Cormac McCarthy (4.5* completed 15/1)
2. Void The Forever War by Joe Haldeman (3.5* Completed 11/3)
3. Water Kraken by China Mieville (5* complete 6/5)
4. Air Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell (4.5* complete 3/6)
5. Earth Inverted World (3.5* complete 7/12)

4 books for each nation of the UK
from or set in England, Ireland, Scotland & Wales

1. England :The People of the Abyss by Jack London (3* Completed Jan)
2. Ireland Carmilla by Sheridan le Fanu (3.5* Completed 18/3)
3. Scotland The Drivers Seat by Muriel Spark (3* Completed 11/10)
4. Wales The Great God Pan by Arthur Machen (3* 14/12)

3 books one each for maiden, mother & crone
female authors, 1 new, 1 established and 1 deceased

1. Mother Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood (3.5* completed 6/5)
2. Maiden Soulless by Gail Carriger (4* completed 4/12)
3. Crone Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead by Barbara Comyns (4.5* 21/12)

2 books on good & evil
books may encompase both or either theme.. expect Dante to make an appearance

1. All 11 volumes of the Lucifer graphic novel series by Mike Carey (Overall 4* completed 8/04)
2. The Face of Another by Kobo Abe (4.5*)

1 book just for me
this shall be the last book I read, my reward

1.

Good categories + fun titles! I agree, messing about with the categories is part of the fun!!

I love your categories!

"this shall be the last book I read, my reward". Not ever, I hope?

Great categories, little challenges in themselves. Will be very interesting to see you fill them.

I do like the way you've selected your categories. chrine might have some trouble fitting them into the stats though.

100 might be too much for me as well so I'm thinking of cutting my challenge back a bit just to give me some leeway in what I read. Don't want to feel restricted into having to read something just to fill in a slot to be able to complete the challenge.

Clfisha's categories just went into the compiled list this afternoon, Wolfy. lol I did have to think about them. Here is how I sorted them.

10 books for 10 decades - timeframe dependent
9 books inspired by the muses - specific theme
8 books one for each colour of magic - specific theme
7 books for seven continents - specific places
6 books to stimulate the senses - specific theme
5 books to create the Japanese elements - specific theme
4 books for each nation of the UK - specific place
3 books one each for Maiden, mother & crone - misc. categories
2 books on good & evil - specific theme
1 book just for me - catch all

Bonus 10: The books I steal off others in this challenge. - recommendations (LT)

I do like the way she/you choose her/your categories.

Thanks the for the compliments guys. I just hope I can do it.

#14 I do hope its not the last book ever ;) Lets hope the challenge is not hard enough to put me off reading for life!

#15 I am very bad at forcing myself to read something so the step idea allowed me to take part, although it is also a great way of readings outside your comfort zone (my original list had the catageory 2 plays & I haven't read any plays since school)

#16 Chrine thank you for taking the time to do that, sorry to cause you a bit of trouble. I admit I just stuck them all on late last night to stop the indecision without a thought for the consequences!

I love your categories! And, like GingerbreadMan said, each one is a challenge on its own.

Afraid I'm no help on that choral poetry bit - the murder mystery set in an abby sounds good to me. Aso, I did a double take when I saw your Maid, Mother & Crone category. For years, I've dreamed about having enough land to plant a large herbal garden and those were the exact terms I've been using in my own mind to describe the 3 main sections I plan to have.

Hi clfisha, I love your creative categories and can hardly wait to see what books you will be reading.

Thanks, I can wait for 2010 to start now :)

#18 Sorry for the late reply. Your idea for a herb garden just sounds amazing, I really hope you get the chance to do it. I am not much of a gardener but I get much more interested once I the plant becomes eatable!

I absolutely love the way you have organized your categories! I'm going to check back on this thread during 2010 to see how you will fill them in.

I love your categories. Especially the 9 muses one, that's just inspired!

Thank you. I came up with a book in each continent and then got carried away :-) I must admit the 9 muses category is intimidating me a bit!

Terrific categories! I can't wait to see what you choose for each of them!

I really like your categories, especially the 7 continents and the decades! I'm excited to see what you pick.

Thanks. I am starting to search for the actual books now and having much fun. Hopefully I will have just as much fun reading them!

Have you read the novel Perfume by Patrick Suskind? It would be a perfect fit for your senses category.

#28 Thank you that sounds perfect!

Perfume is a really really good book. Made me smell my world in a new way :)

For Earth, wouldn't any subterranean book work? You already have Neverwhere, King Rat and the Ambergris books in your library, but perhaps Veniss Underground (have it on my 1010 list myself)? Another possibility would be The Golem by Gustav Meyrink.

Looking forward to seeing your challenge unfold!

yes you are right, any underground related book works fine! Duh! I have unfortunately read those suggestions.. not sure why they aren't in my library.. sigh I am hopelessly unorganised and keep missing books.

I found The Golem fascinating but completely unexpected, I keep meaning to try more of his.

You know I have just started to reread Shriek by Jeff VanderMeer and I seem to remember underground tunnels in there :)

Thank you for the suggestions.

Just checked your library for matches, and since I only add books as I read them, it's no wonder neither title showed up. I haven't read Golem either (did read a collection of Golem myths by Eduard Petiska though).

I hesitate giving recommendations of books I haven't finished, but Boneshaker is a great read so far - about half way through. Steampunk, zombies, pirates and a mad scientist, loads of underground crawling. Does that sound like a possible fit?

yes it does and it's also on my wishlist, it has had some great reviews :)

Ha! I found someone who is reading at a slower rate than I am. Or do you have a whole pile of finished books you haven't posted about yet? Maybe you're halfway done like some others here. ;) Sorry, just giving ya a bit of a hard time.

:-) I was just about about to post on your thread that at least it's not me! I have finished the grand total of 1 graphic novel & one book neither of which fit into my categories. Ahem. still my challenge can't get any worse!

I think I might blame the snow, its the trendy thing in the UK.

Jeez, heckling at the LT! I'm glad I went for the stepped version - noone will give me a hard time for being behind...yet, at least.

When I think about it, Boneshaker would probably fit even better as "Air" in your elements category. The struggle for breathable air is a big theme in the book. Just saying - since it seems you haven't decided on a book there either. Then you could go with another subterranean book for "earth". :)

Saw you added and rated Finch. Will there be a review? (he asked, eagerly)

I have just written a ridiculously long one and am trying half heartedly to cut it down! But I have to say although very different from anything else he has written I thoroughly enjoyed it, although being a fan of noir helps.

and now for my first review, I don't normally write such long rambly reviews. More practice required.!

Category: Elements: Fire

The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Sublime dystopia
(4.5 out of 5* see 1st post for explanation)

"He was just hungry, Papa. He's going to die.
He's going to die anyway.
He's so scared, Papa.
The man squatted and looked at him. I'm scared, he said. Do you understand? I'm scared."

Ah a book that lives up to the hype.

Taking the dystopian tropes of a dying world filled with marauding cannibalistic gangs and entwining it with an emotional father & son tale. McCarthy produces a highly stylistic, hauntingly beautiful and gut wrenching story.

I fell in love with the pared down style: no background, no names, dialogue shorn of anything extraneous. All serving to underline the horror of it but also freeing the story to simply explore its themes. Ok its not that subtle but never mires itself in preachiness, the characters maybe symbols but they are also very real and its this core humanity that holds the tale for me. The exploration of faith and hope seems very human.

Of course reading so quickly left me with many questions. Why the sudden insertion of overwrought baroque language? Should I take the ending at face value? Does vermiculate mean what I think it does? What McCarthy book should I read next? I think it says something that afterwards I am still motivated to answer them. Although I am not sure I could reread, surely it would loose it's impact.

So it's not for everyone. Probably for every reason I loved it some may hate it, too mysterious, too nasty, too minimilist, too repetitive.

Oh and for lovers of horror and of minimalist facts maybe I recommend Brian Evenson.

Last bloated review I hope..! I always find I need to read VanderMeer twice but here are my first thoughts...

Category: 10 books for 10 decades: 2009

Finch by Jeff Vandermeer
Wonderful fantasy noir.
(5 out of 5)

“I’m not a detective.”
Heretic: “You’re whatever we want you to be, now.”

Jeff VanderMeer is one author I almost feel evangelical about, always playing with style and technique and inventing hugely rich fantastical worlds in which to set them. With Finch the hard boiled noir genre is twisted to fit the fantastical city of Ambergris.

Ah Ambergris, a mad chaotic city full of passion and cruelty. A city overshadowed by "the grays caps", the indigenous race masscred and driven underground by the 1st sellers. A cafe culture city that holds a festival to squid, where riots start over the death of an opera singer, where the fungus is otherworldly and seemingly sentient.

Or it was. In the power vacuum of a civil war the gray caps have risen, flooding and occupying the city. In the midst of this horror: the work camps, the traitors turned hybrid, the distant rebels, we meet Finch. A detective working with a gray cap boss struggling to find his way and suddenly facing an incomprehensible and extremely dangerous murder.

It's a slow burner of a book, gently reeling you in and until you suddenly realise you desperately care for the characters, that you are on the edge of seat, that you just cant put it down. It has a sparse, clipped style and a pervading feeling of numbness, of aftershock portraying an almost too real city under occupation. It's a story dripping with atmosphere. Oh its not all grey, there is illicit parties, rebellion, love and friendship. It's darkly humorous as well as horrifying, the characters are full and rich, the complex plot mixes murder mystery, thriller and fantasy genres deftly.

Ok it has its problems but I am overlooking them in face of the roller coaster ride I went through. Firstly I miss the veil of mystery surrounding Ambergris. Secondly quoting from Shriek (which I just finished) threw me out of the story, the emotional resonance of those paragraphs too different for me. Thirdly it personally took slightly too long to go from being great to amazing. Picky I know.

This is the 3rd novel set in Ambergris, a trilogy of sorts, and you don't have to read them in order but I do recommend it they will be all the better for it.

Go read the excerpt over at http://www.finchthenovel.com/readers/finch-excerpt.pdf

edited for spelling

I like your impressions on The Road. I think your thoughts on the book end up where McCarthy intended them to. With questions, an awareness of the style, and emotionally wrung out. One of the complaints I see often about it concerns the story. Then a mention of other post-apocalyptic books will be put forth. Some of them are better stories but they lack the depth and precise ambiguity that McCarthy laid out.

Ya know, I still haven't read the Ambergris books. I've gone through Miéville, M. John Harrison, and some of Mervyn Peake but not Ambergris. They are on the list though. Good musings on Finch from your posts also. It's good to know that Jeff isn't just mailing the later books in.

One last thing. Have you read Richard Paul Russo's Carlucci series? It was never very popular. For some reason I call it melancholic noir for RPR seems so melancholic to me. I'm not sure if he comes across that way to other readers or not.

@40 Another thing I really liked about The road is that this apocalypse was presented as a MORAL collaps, rather than a political one. The fact that it focused so much on human relationships really moved me, and it remains one of the best novels on parenthood I've read.

@41 Great great review. You had me at "grey cap BOSS" for sure. I'm picking up a copy in the next few weeks, no bones about it.

Re The Road: Moral collapse is a good summation and to be honest its quite refreshing to solely concentrate on it. Oddly I think of it as the opposite to On the Beach where they all so terribly nice to each other and yet die

"Precise ambiguity" is a wonderful phrase, I am going to steal it sometime :) I usually find if an author takes the time to explain everything I get bored and start to pick holes. For example in the film we get the scene The Women leaves. We know the boy much the same age, that they were still at their home and there reason for going south was she said too. Ugh. Maybe I misremembering but that's too much info and I started to question..

Of course the moral is never go and see the film adaptation ;)

#VisibleGhost I haven't even heard of Richard Paul Russo, which is a shame because as soon as I saw the tags I knew I wanted to try it! Thanks for the recommendation.

#GingerbreadMan: I hope you enjoy Finch and will be interested to see what you think of it. If you want an alternative view there are some negative ones on Amazon/LT (although most seem from new to Ambergris readers). It is completely different from anything he has done before so it threw me a bit. Luckily I love noir ;)

Oh dear slacking in reviews..

Category: 10 books in 10 Decades: 1959

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
Wonderful haunted house tale
(3.5 out of 5)

The Haunting (1963) is one of my favourite films and I have always been intrigued to read the source text.
Luckily the book tells a wonderful tale, laden with atmosphere, dripping with menace and all encompassing heartbreaking loneliness.

There is so much to like about this tale. The house itself is a master class of how to create a haunted house. It is odd, confusing and utterly menacing and it's history is only hinted at. Take the truly chilling homemade book of religious instruction from father to very young daughter and imagine the page on lust.. ugh!

The flexibility of leaving haunting is open to interpretation is not only a wonderful balancing act but
also allows the relaxtion of inbuilt rules. Without these rules the suspense is high, it is hard to guess where its a going. Whether a descent in madness or a tale of true evil it doesn't matter the result is a disturbing horror tale.

I also adore the characters, culled from stereotypes but filled with life. Told from Eleanor's point of view, Jackson succeeds in making her believable and sympathetic, something which could easily have fallen into irritating farce. The other (small) cast support her wonderfully, including one of my favourite characters: ever the empathic but selfish Theo.

Of course there are things not to like. The sparkling witty dialogue, which works so well as a contrast to the setting, sometimes feels too unrealistic. Whilst the obvious dig at spiritualism seems a bit pointless. It also suffers from my preference for the film, I much preferred the films more likeable Theo and the change in plot professors wife.

Oevrall it's such a good horror tale and amazing film (I ignore the travesty of the later film. Bah!)

Category: 7 books for seven continents: Europe

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
Irritating over hyped thriller
(2.5 out of 5)

Before I start laying into it I must say I didn't hate this book, parts of it (especially the early half) I enjoyed, " ah a page turner " I thought but then the story slowed down and the faults started piling up. The good things? well the intro was good, the financial part was ok (bit too much wish fulfilment but hey), Salander became more er.. believable and interesting later on in the book. Um...

So to get it off my chest here's the things I most hated about it:
-The characters. Well they fell flat and ugh Blomkvist. You know, I cheered when he was being "menaced" by the baddie?
-The murder mystery was dull. Led to believe I was up for a fun (if confusing) family intrigue plot but instead got a ridiculously tiny list of suspects. On top of that I didn't I buy the plausibility of a "locked room mystery" and Blomkvist ran around being utterly stupid (what could those codes mean? I mean really)
-The Hackers. Well they are amazing aren't they? They can do anything, except from, you know, talk to people and wash dishes.
-The dialogue. At least I laughed when the baddie ranted on about "bourgeois conventions" which is more than I did from the clunky moralising one sided discussions between characters.
-The pointless detail. I do not need to have a page telling me, in detail, what laptop was purchased. I also do not need to know how many sandwiches were consumed.
-The law. Salander's case just does make sense, I don't care how many pages were spent telling me otherwise, it's stupid. Did her old guardian hate her or something?
-The statistics. Petty isn't it? but that last stat was completely stupid. They also really didn't fit, I mean what was the book trying to say? Some Men do horrible things to women? pleeeeeeeeease.

Sigh and second book is sitting on my TBR pile too.

Hahaha, a fun review! Seriously, if this is how you feel about the first book, you shold give parts two and three a miss. They're only more of the things you hated about this first one.

#46 - Hi! Lost touch there for a while, but I'm back (poor you) :)

Love the review! This book is on my shelf, but given my recent pathological avoidance of anything fictional, I suspect it will be a very, very, very long time before I get round to it!

Sotto voce- Don't tell anyone but I don't think I have ever read any Shirley Jackson.

#48 Hi Peter! Glad to see you visit, I take it you are on the 1010 challenge.. I will hunt you down. I have been lurking on your 75 thread but much is my shame I haven't sad Hi. I got the Izakaya: The Japanese Pub Cookbook on my tbr, which I think you recommend last year. So far I have just made some pickles but even so yum!

#49 :) it was my 1st as well and because I am a philistine I would say stick with the 1963 film! I will be tracking down the rest of canon though.

#50 Claire - Hmmm. Pickles! (in my very best Homer Simpson drawl).

As for that 1010 thread - nothing to see there that you won't have already seen on the 75 thread. I'm hitting the big books this year, so, with little to say, I've been prattling on about jazz music.

Glad I found you amongst the million threads. There are some old contacts from last year that I still haven't found! I'm not been anti-social, I just don't have the time to go through every thread. I'm sure I'm missing out on some good stuff, but unless someone posts about an interesting book they're reading in the what-are-you-reading-this-month-thread...

Actually, I'm pondering a wholesale move to the "Club Read" group. Looks a little less daunting there!

Yes I admit I didn't rejoin the 75 challenge group due to its size, but I still miss things in this nicely sized group! Oh well. Still I wish it was easier to keep track of threads in groups I don't belong too, I am quite forgetful :)

Category: 4 books for each nation of the UK: London

People of the Abyss by Jack London
Odd but interesting "poverty tourism*
(3 out of 5)

The premise is simple in 1902 Jack London, posing as an out of work American sailor, went undercover in the poverty stricken east of London.

There are much more interesting, richer and more detailed accounts of poverty out there (Henry Meyhew springs to mind) although this still an interesting read, even whilst being a dated and extremely flawed book. It's interesting because in spite of his many flaws Jack London is an engaging writer, his passion and horror at the poverty keeps the account painfully alive whilst his socialist views and lack Victorian prudishness is, for the period, deeply refreshing.

However it contains far far too much of Jack London and his giant ego. The tome veers wildly from boys own adventure (look how brave he is!) to heart wrenching accounts, to repetitive lengthy facts and figures. It can be funny but for all the wrong reasons, he seems to carefully select his interviewees and he has a bizarre superiority going on; our poor are better than your poor kind of thing.

To be honest the whole thing makes me wonder what he would thought he would achieve. He may be right but alienating people who can change things never helps. I mean he even criticises the King! Yes yes I know, how cruel ;)

A different and interesting account of poverty but one I would only recommend to Jack London fans.

* I liked the phrase so I am stealing it

Category: 7 books for seven continents : Asia

The River of Gods by Ian Mcdonald
Fun, energetic sci-fi
(3.5 out of 5)

Huge, rich and vibrant. Ian Mcdonald takes the idea of India and twists it and throws it into the future. Rogue AIs (or aeai), water wars and extreme genetic engineering rub up against the caste system, Hinduism and bollywood. It's fun and energetic, packed with a multitude of Indian words (yes there's a glossary) that immerse you very quickly into the world. The story is split between multiple characters, each seemingly unrelated at first before they are dragged into the large, frenetic plot. This technique is artfully used to keep the tension and interest going - watching the characters intersect, wondering on the multiple endings. In fact I only felt the pace slacken once (good in a 600 page book).

If it falls down in anyway it was with the characters themselves, not because they were horrible people, or too unrealistic but they all just felt flat. A few felt undeveloped and sometimes overused. Shiv, for example, never went beyond stereotype. To be honest this wasn't as much of a problem as the not caring or siding with any of them at all. And I know I am being unfair but since its set in a deeply sexist world a few more strong female characters would have been nice, you know more than say two main characters filling the roles of plucky scientist and fiery journalist.

However after all that moaning I must repeat that I did really enjoy it, I love the setting and the aeai's were just a lot of fun. I am definitely going to try Brasyl.

Category: 10 books for 10 decades: 1920s

All Quiet on Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
(5 out of 5)
Stunning, horrendous, deeply evocative anti-war novel set in WW1. What else can I say? This book just took my breath away, made my heart beat faster and left my mouth open.

@54 I've been holding Brasyl in my hand, since the colourful cover drew my eye, but discarded it as feeling too techy for me. When it comes to sci-fi I'm guessing I'm leaning more towards space opera or idea-driven stuff a la Dick. But from your review Mcdonald sounds pretty interesting.

By the way, I don't see how wanting a few more interesting female characters in a polyphonic novel could ever qualify as being "unfair".

I always hope in a science fiction books that I can treat complex science just on as I would in a fantasy world i.e. I can just accept that the dragon exists, breaths fire and flies but I don't have to understand why. (Of course I wouldn't expect that of a hard sci fi novel). I think River of Gods did this very well, explaining what you need to know with ease.

I really thought I'd get to AQOTWF in 2008. I didn't. Then I was sure I would in 2009. I didn't. Maybe I will in 2010.

:-) I have books like that.. if it helps it's very very short.

Category: 9 books inspired by the muses: History

The Secret Lives of Buildings: From the Ruins of the Parthenon to the Vegas Strip in Thirteen stories by Edward Hollis
Magical blend of myth and history
(4.5 out of 5)

"I do not know what actually happened, and to answer such a question would be as useful as identifying the real Little Red Riding Hood. It is not the purpose of this book to deconstruct the stories (or the buildings) we have inherited from our forebears, but to narrate them, so that others can do the same in the future. Stories are like gifts; they must be accepted without scepticism and shared with others."

So Hollis says in his introduction and then proceeds to narrate 13 buildings from the historical idealisation of the Parthenon to the disastrous futurism of concrete tower blocks, weaving myth and history to bring our relationships with buildings to life. This is not a dry historical account but a poetic, highly stylistic telling. Hollis is passionate about change, not for him the architectural dream of preservation, buildings should be more than snapshots, they need to mean something and to be lived in.

His is playful in his technique: in the chapter about follies (in this case Frederick the Great's Sanssouci) myth is retold, updated and replaced by hard fact, all framed by the harsh reality of future world wars. Yet with the (UK's) Gloucester cathedral the steady march of history is echoed in a wonderful rhythmic repetition as Abbott replaces Abbott and the cathedral sprouts in complexity.

Such a forceful novel may not be to everyone's taste, you may find it overdone or forced and I admit I found it uneven as some of the stories just did not work as well (take the changing meaning of the Berlin Wall). Luckily Hollis writes in engaging, wryly humorous fashion so I was never bored but sometimes restless for the dizzy heights of better tales.

However as a whole it was for me a truly stunning book, something so different from the norm, grabbing and melding literary styles and genres to make an engaging, interesting and often wryly funny story. However the best thing for me was his compelling and erudite arguments which made me think about architecture in a much different light.

Harper Collins have an excerpt over at:
http://us.macmillan.com/BookCustomPage.aspx?isbn=9780805087857#Excerpt

Category: 6 books to stimulate the senses: Sight

The photographer by Emmanuel Guibert and Didier Lefevre
Emotional graphic novel memoir
(5 out of 5)

There is something truly wonderful that only comics can bring to a memoir, perhaps its the visual immediacy or the blending of fact and realistic fiction that provide a unique emotional resonance but whatever is The Photographer is an amazing example. It takes the tale of Didier Lefevre's trip to Afghanistan during the Russian-Afghan war in order to document the activity of the charity MSF (Médecins Sans Frontières). Black and white photographs mix seamlessly with colour illustrations to tell a simple but emotional tale. The book is split into 3 parts: firstly we follow the naive Lefevre as arrives in Pakistan and sneaks over the border to Afghanistan, then we glimpse the work of the MSF in harsh war torn conditions (warning often quite graphic) and lastly his solo trip trying to return home as quickly as he can. Lefevre is the perfect narrator, instantly identifiable as he struggles with the language and the culture. His naivety makes the story very approachable as we learn alongside him yet it also allows the tale to unfold without comment or bias, it simply just is. The glimpse of Afghan culture is fascinating and whilst not an historical account it does provides a good overview ,although perhaps more importantly allowing us to put human face to the current troubles.

Amazon US has an excerpt but so does MSF:
http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/events/exhibits/thephotographer/assets/file...

Hmm I really need stop reading non 1010 challenge books! I should make a start on books with a colour theme.... anysuggestions welcome!

I've just put holds on both of those at the library - they sound wonderful. Great reviews!

Hope you like them! I think The Secret Lives of Buildings one of those love/hate/bemused books.

Category: 5 books to create the Japanese elements: Void

The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
Interesting old fashioned sci-fi
(3.5 out of 5)

William Mandella is one of the first conscripted soldiers sent far into space to fight an alien enemy, but where Mandella is experiencing months Earth is experiencing centuries...

Told in an increasing matter of fact tone, with very little in the way of a supporting cast and no nail biting heroics this still manages to be a gripping novel. This is not a character driven story but an expansive ambitious space opera commentating on, the then, current Vietnam war. Luckily the clever depiction of the alienation of returning soldiers and the inhumane bureaucratic mess of war still manages to feel fresh. In fact it is solely dated by a vision of the future firmly set in our past (yes they all smoke).

However this bizarre future is easy to ignore when compared to the fascinating exploration of the effects of time dilation on man and the war, which was for me the main strength of the novel. A more widely read science fiction fan may have seen this done better but I haven't.

So highly recommended for anyone interested not only lovers of classic science fiction or anti war tales but anyone interested in the Vietnam war.

Another great review clfisha! I tend to love the anacronisms of a future imagined in the past, like the chain smoking you refer to. What kept the rating down for you? (Or is 3,5 your standard rating for "good but not spectacular"?)

Thanks. Although, that appears to be my draft review! Oh well I have tidied it up a bit since I have lost the latest. sigh.

It's hard to pin why I think it didn't score higher, although my 3.5 is pretty much as you say!

I think on a superficial level I need a bit more emotion in my books in order to er.. "connect" with the characters, but don't get me wrong the tone works, it's just not for me.

Also I was irritated that the book expects the reader to have a certain dated attitude to homosexuality to enhance the impact. Made me feel a bit weird.

The Secret Lives of Buildings looks very interesting, I'll be looking to pick that one up.

I've been wanting to read All Quiet on the Western Front for some time. Your review reminds me I'll have to pick it up.

#63 Claire - I remember reading The Forever War a few years ago. I enjoyed it. Do you have any plans to read the sequel Forever Free (or the thematically related, Forever Peace)? I never got around to them myself, however I might still do so, since they tackle issues of military conflict and soldiering by someone inspired by his own experiences in Vietnam.

@68 Hi Peter, I hadn't given it much thought ot be honest so after a quick check..

I think I might check out Forever Peace, it sounds quite interesting but I am not so sure about Forever Free. Apart from a sequel to such a self contained story feeling odd I have to say the plot doesn't really inspire me. Anyone else tried it?

I read them all last year as I bought the omnibus edition. I'll say that you've read the best of the 3 stories. Separately, I would've rated them: War 4.5*'s, Free 2.5*'s and Peace 3.5*'s.

*ambles into clfisha's thread for the first time in, ohhh..., looks like about three and a half weeks.*

I am doing just awful this year with keeping up with threads in my groups. I knew I was going to be busy this year, but still. The Secret Lives of Buildings sounds different enough to be interesting. The Photographer sounds good too.

I am doing pretty bad at reading anything at all! I am kind of glad I cut down my LT reading this year (i.e. no 75 Challenge group!), all got a bit too much last year.

Category: 4 books for each nation of the UK: Ireland

Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu
Classic vampire tale
(3 out of 5)

Short and sweet, this an interesting and atmospheric precursor to Dracula*. I am not widely read in the genre but whilst there were no surprises having both vampire and victim as female was refreshing, although both seem oddly passive. The narrator, our heroine, is wonderfully done. Full of youthful naivety and trembling passion she fills the story with lightness to contrast the dark and through her eyes the Vampire is made much more sympathetic yet somehow more terrible. If it falls down at all it's because it all feels rather too short and insubstantial, with peripheral characters little more than names on a page and the ending is rather abrupt (being mostly an info dump).

Still recommended for anyone interested in the Vampire myth.

* I found Dracula boring. Ahem. Yes I know I am philistine.

Edit ooo the George Orwell Longlist is up, definately a category choice next year!
http://www.theorwellprize.co.uk/the-award/long-books.aspx

Well Q1 recap..

hmm I am not doing very well out of a measly 29 books only 13 are for the 1010 challenge and I have completely ignored my colours category. ho hum.

Still quality wise its been good, its hard to pick a top 5!
The Road by Cormac McCarthy (dystopian horror)
We have always lived in the castle by Shirley Jackson (gothic horror)
Finch by Jeff VanderMeer (um.. fantasy noir?)
All Quiet on Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque (WW1 fiction)
The Secret Lives of Buildings: From the Ruins of the Parthenon to the Vegas Strip in Thirteen stories by Edward Hollis (non-fiction)

My "I really wish I hadn't read" list seems to consist of popular thrillers hmm. So far it's just:
The girl with the dragon tattoo by Stieg Larsson and the even more awful Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith (so bad it's not sullying my 1010 challenge!)

Will be getting to Finch this month I hope! Definitely need to read We have always lived in the castle, it seems. I'm getting a little Wasp factory vibes from the descriptions (a good good thing, in my opinion). Would you say they are kindred?

I think a Wasp Factory reread is in order, I can barely remember it!

I think its similar is the respect that it's 1st person and concerns itself with a dysfunctional family/teenager but We have always lived in the castle is very much a product of its time and of course Shirley Jackson's own psychological problems and needs. I am also not sure it carries any wtf moment ;)

hmm I really ought to get around to writing my reviews!

I was also thinking about the rituals and talismans created to keep the scary outside world at bay.

Not entirely sure what you mean by "wtf moment" (but assume it stands for "what the f..."?). And I'm faily certain I know what you're hinting at ;)

Ah yes they do have that in common (and yes your assumption is right, eloquence failed me :) )

and now here's my review...

Category: 10 books for 10 decades: 1960s

We have always lived in the castle by Shirley Jackson
Wonderful intense gothic horror
(4.5 out of 5)

Cue lengthy but wonderful quote:

My name is Mary Katherine Blackwood. I am eighteen years old, and I live with my sister Constance. I have often thought that with any luck at all I could have been born a werewolf, because the two middle fingers on both my hands are the same length, but I have had to be content with what I had. I dislike washing myself, and dogs, and noise. I like my sister Constance, and Richard Plantagenet, and Amanita phalloides, the death-cap mushroom. Everyone else in my family is dead.

So starts the this highly atmospheric, disturbing gothic tale of mental illness. A story made disturbingly vivid by the memorable narrator Mary who toes the line between a worrying childlike simplicity and a sharp adult perception.

Jackson expertly uses the 1st person to ensnare our empathy and twist the tale so to fit Mary's point of view. It is very hard to break away from Mary, to view other characters and actions without her taint, an unsettling feat to achieve. Small things menace and odd actions soothe and then everything gets very very tense.

The mental illness depicted in the novel is uncomfortably realistic seemingly echoing Jackson's own neurosis and if the end (minor SPOILER alert!) is an agoraphobics flight of fancy well that's what a unreliable narrator is for and makes the tale even more creepy.

I can't highly recommend this enough, although I cant pin down why I haven't given it 5 stars (slight SPOILER!), maybe it's because I was misled to be believe there was a twist but lets face it it's all quite obvious.

edit: html errors

Cateogory: maiden, mother & crone: Mother

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
Uneven dystopian tale
(3.5 out of 5)

I have mixed feelings about my first Atwood, I did end up thoroughly enjoying it but boy it took me a while to get there.

I took a while to get into the story partly as the initial dysfunctional "coming of age" tale didn't really interest me, even with added near future spice. Luckily as past and present started to converge the better it became, the tense present situation leeching excitement into a known past.

It also helps that as the story geared up much of what I found irritating receded. Whilst I have seen others call it a satire sometimes it all just seemed a tad tired: the jokey product names, the banality of future internet the exaggerated ovet the top death of proper art all just looked a bit out of date, a tad snobbish and sometimes nonsensical. Maybe that was the point and I was being grumpy, oh well.

However whilst I found the cute name syndrome annoying the endless march of new biological inventions was just plain cool. The coffee wars felt awfully realistic, the chicken nubbins made me laugh (being a smug non meat-eater) and the Crakers well they were just inspired. The whole plethora of biological ideas made it easy to cope with the terribly unsubtle "do not play god environmental" message. Or was it? I have a nervous feeling I missed the point.

As to the characters well there is really only one and that's Jimmy. All the others are just his opinions and as a device it didn't always work. So removed were they, so ephemeral that sometimes they just felt flat, Jimmy's parents anyone?. (Also on a side note whilst Oryx works well as "deified" character her tale of abuse and refusing to be a victim feels oddly out of place, like a tacked on afterthought).

But all this is secondary because it is interesting (and novel) to see the events surrounding an apocalypse , mix in an exciting plot and loads of ideas it is at the heart a satisfying story. Especially when we come to the end: a wonderful, perfect setup that whilst heavily inferred allowed a delicious pondering of possibilities. And it's primarily which is why I am going to track down Year of the Flood.

@77 Bought it yesterday!

I really hope you enjoy it! I am champing at the bit to get the rest of her work now especially her infamous short story The Lottery.

The Library of America is releasing Shirley Jackson: Novels and Stories around the end of May so I think I'm going to order it and acquire a lot (all?) of her work in one gulp.

Looks like it contains her two most famous novels and loads of short stories (she only wrote 6 novels in all) so it should be good.

I just started Big Machine by Victor Lavelle, which you reviewed last year. Really enjoying it so thanks!

Category: 2 books on good & evil

All 11 volumes of the Lucifer graphic novel series by Mike carey

(Overall 4 out of 5)

Taking Lucifer from the pages of Neil Gaiman's Sandman (don't worry its stand alone), Mike Carey weaves a fun, vivid tale of a struggle between free will and predestination (no black and white good versus evil here).

Carey's Lucifer is one of the most memorable characters in comics, successfully making what could be an unlikeable character utterly cool, fascinating and always believable, exuding heaps of charm and a single minded ruthlessness. He isn't the only great character of course, we get wisecracking humour from fallen cherubim Guadim, a myriad of strong female characters from his consort Mazikeen to Elaine Belloc, fascinating enemies from Fenris to Japanese deity Izanami-no-Mikoto. Yes Carey doesn't focus solely on the Christian mythology but seamlessly incorporates Japanese, Norse (and some Aztec myth), throwing in some very interesting storylines.

However it is a hard series to review as it showcases Mike Carey's development as a comics writer as he goes from strength to strength. Initially it's a good, solid comic, has a bit of a dip around volume 3 (hell as feudal system never worked for me) and then starts to picks up and become a truly superb story (so if you find the early series just ok stick with it). Sadly though the artwork never really soars.

So highly recommend, its a different, intelligent comic series drawing from a vast array of sources and avoiding the banality of black and white morality. Of course I don't need to say that the easily offended should stay away?

Wiki has a really nice intro for those who are interested
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucifer_%28DC_Comics%29

I loved the story of Lucifer closing down hell in the early Sandman books, and remember the Fallen Prince making a reappearance or two later in the series (playing piano in a bar?). But somehow I never got round to this spinoff, even though I did read the Death and House of Secrets books. A trip to Stockholm's excellent comic library Serieteket might be in order :)

You have a comics library?! Well I am pratically speechless and throughly green with envy.

I reckon if you enjoy the 1st one its worth sticking with, Carey is way different from Gaiman but still enjoyable.

hmm I have review mental block.. oh well.

Big Machine- I luv that wacky weird touching tender book.

Big Machine is a new entry onto my wishlist. Thank you both.

And mine!

Category: 10 books for 10 decades: 1990s

Sewer, Gas and Electric by Matt Ruff

It is hard to summarise this wilfully chaotic, amusingly energetic book. On the surface we get a near future consipracy thriller starring: Harry Gant, a dreamer billionaire addicted to building the worlds highest skyscrapers, his ex-wife who is investigating some Gant related suspicous deaths and her two sidekicks: Ayn Rand (yes the author) and a one armed 181 year old civil war veteran. But then we also get stuff about mutant sewer sharks, eco pirates marauding around in Howard Hughes's old submarine, a racist plague and ironic homicides.

Yes it is the ideas that make this book, there are so many characters and subplots and fun asides that I found it hard to worry about the so so but admittedly amusing plot. Unfortunately this chaos does makes it a hard book to read for long periods, which doesn't make it a bad book just an very odd one. There is a lot here and Ruff doesn't seem to want to keep a tight rein on any of it (Note it's quite different from his two later books I have read)

Also he does spend quite a while taking the mickey out of Ann Rand's Atlas Shrugged, which was still amusing even though I have never read it.. Of course Ayn Rand fans and fanatical capitalists may want to skip this one.

Overall recommend for lovers of the weird.

@89 I already have this on my list since CarlosMcRey's great review a few months ago. Good to see someone who I seem to share a lot of ground with also liking it. And really nice to hear you don't have to read Atlas Shrugged to follow this (because frankly, I'd rather die).

heh thats how I feel about Atlas Shrugged, in fact Gas, Sewer & Electric felt a bit like much needed catharsis for someone who had read it ;)

hmm .. blows dust from LT account.. looks at how many unread threads .. weeps.. looks how many books I managed to read.. starts wimpering.

Oh well..

Category: 7 books for seven continents: North America

Big Machine by Victor Lavalle
An amazingly beautiful err.. conspiracy thriller, um noir with some supernatural, horror and romance elements.
(5 out 5)

I don't think I have read many books like this, I certainly haven't read enough. Mixing mysticism with harsh reality and a heavy dose of redemption, this is a funny, dark, honest and beautiful book and an ambitious one.

Really that's all need you know.

oh well if you must..all I am saying about the plot is this: It starts with Ricky, a mysterious invitation and the utterly cool line "Don't look for dignity in public bathrooms" and then a master class in mystery writing unfolds.

I knew next to nothing about the plot and I found it fascinating, memorable and truly odd. From the beginning you are kept on your toes and in dark yet I never once felt frustrated, Lavalles timing is just too perfect. The characters are vivid, interesting, deeply flawed and always terribly human (even the peripheral characters seem to shine) and whilst there are so many obvious monsters the book rarely takes the easy black and white way out serving to make events even more startling.

Ok it's not a manic whirlwind of a thriller but it's a steady, fair paced tale which hooks you in and is terribly hard to stop thinking about. I highly recommend this book to err.. to well everyone: the deft blending of so many genres, the darkness and ugliness is elevated by the light, everyday reality is spiced with the bizarre, faith and passion mixed with doubt. To be honest what's not to like?

I was beginning to think you had been captured by goblins. Your thoughts on Big Machine are articulate and very well done. I have a feeling that the book will never become a bestseller but I think it has the potential to become a sort of cult classic. There are little details that contribute to the overall feel of the book, like the clothes, that make the sum greater than the parts.

That one's currently residing on my wishlist. Guess it's time to knock it up a few steps on the ladder.

@93 sadly no saga of goblins escapades forthcoming but rather the usual: work/reading funk/xbox gaming/sudden interest in UK politics.

I must admit my score went up when I started reviewing and thinking of all of the things I liked about Big Machine. The clothes are a good example it's such a deft touch. I am going to track down his earlier books I think too.

@92 Sounds so fascinating I'm salivating. Any idea what it might be filed under (that is: will I find it at my local fantasy/sci-fi bookstore)?

@96 I suspect the bargain bin might be the best place to look ;)

Category: 6 books to stimulate the senses: Smell

Perfume by Patrick Suskind
Highly stylised bemusing tale of perfume and murder.
(3 out of 5)

This is a highly stylised but well written, passionate and evocative tale that is shot through with a wry, dark humour, cleverly ducks readers' expectations and contains much fun and imaginative use of smells. From stenches to simulate a humanities stink, to the overwrought sublime smell of the innocent it's all here in glorious detail and is a book that makes you wish they would hurry up and invent smellovision, even if it makes you retch.

But (there was always going to be a but wasn't there?), I just didn't like it, which surprised me greatly as this book should of been a perfect. Unfortunately its high artifice did not suit. Like its perfumes the story is too obviously pruned and tweaked to fit the authors poetic desires, so all Grenouille's masters meet their amusing random deaths on cue, as if God were in on the joke and the suddenly humour becomes just too all knowing from a winking author. Add to this Grenouille was kind of boring, having only one vice.I just found it all rather irksome. After all there is no suspense in something so obviously following whims of the author, all you can do is relax and enjoy the ride. In the end I was left feeling bemused and unsure if it was worth reading.. I however now I have a desire to see film, just so I can answer the question why anyone would want to film it..

@97

The film is bizarre. The director seems to have tried to show the audience scent via filth. The pacing is weird and ponderous. I watched it with three other people and I was the only one to stick it through to the end. However, it is at times visually stunning and most of the actors are fantastic. I would call it a glorious failure of a film.

As for Grenouille being kind of boring - in the film it is made clear that because he has no scent of his own he is only a shade of a person, very like "the man who wasn't there". Is that not in the book?

Yeah the book does this too but there didn't seem to be anything else to compensate, no other character really stood out.

Category: 5 books to create the Japanese elements: Water

Kraken by China Mieville
Chaotic, inventive, urban fantasy utmost in its squidity
(5 out of 5)

If like me, the thought of a new Mieville books brings excitment (even more so when it's a tale of squid, magic and cults) then you should drop everything and buy this book now. Really go on, go and and order it.

Of course I might be biased. I mean I adore museums that display dead things in jars.

So opening in the awe inspiring setting of the (fictional) Darwinian museum the story hints this be will be another City and the City, straight in both language and tone. But then the language shifts and the tale twists into chaotic, baroque, urban fantasy. It's here that the novel starts to truly take off because not only is it a tightly plotted fast paced tale, with a lovely everyman protagonist, great villains and characterful city of London, it is also packed with a barrel load of inspired, inventive ideas. So we get many many cults all vying for their version of the apocalypse, a wonderful playfully literal attitude to magic and magical creatures (guess what the knuckles head are?), a nod to old steampunk fusions, a great meeting of politics/magic and ancient Egyptians gods, and of course new and interesting words. I mean how can you hate a book that invents(?) the word squidity.

The lack of concrete examples or even a plot summary is because this a is book to enjoyed as fresh as possible and I already fear I have said to much. So go buy it. Mieville fans I hope will be impressed and for everyone else I hope it's an enjoyable madcap ride (although bring dictionary).

Category: 10 books for 10 decades: 1980s

Among the Believers: An Islamist Journey by V.S. Naipaul
Insightful, stunning travelogue
(5 out of 5)

Travelling through Iran just after the revolution as well as Pakistan, Malaysia and Indonesia where he meets up with those caught up in the push for Islamist nations: Shias and Shi'ites, communists and apostates, youth organisers, mullahs and government officials. Asking them about their lives, looking at their hopes and dreams and always questioning their reasons.

It's a fascinating time: we glimpse the aftermath of the Iranian revolution, visit Pakistan in flux, in the grip of the army and struggling to be a Islamic state and then see an Indonesia caught between old and new and looking for a way forward. Obviously it's deeply topical but not only for providing historical grounding on Islamic fundamentalism but also asking questions about that fundamentalism and ones that still haven't been answered.

It's not a hatchet job, Naipaul is kind, highly intelligent, sometimes superior, honest, deeply insightful and always questioning. For those used to the uncritical simplifications of today's portrayal of Islam this a most refreshing book and because Naipul looks at the Islamic faith itself, I found I learnt much. If I have made it sound dull and worthy I apologise it's eminently readable, very human but it is serious as well as fascinating, troubling as it is enlightening and the questions it raises can be applied to all fkavours of fundamentalism.

I really cannot praise this enough but maybe if you are familiar with both the faith and the history it will not be as good. Still it's worth reading as a simple, interesting, travelogue.

Glad to hear Kraken is good. I'll save it for a time when the spirit strikes me and I'm in the mood for Mieville. Among the Believers has been on my radar since DeeBee1 (I miss DB) was discussing it.

"Of course I might be biased. I mean I adore museums that display dead things in jars."

Hey, that's damn near a category. Books featuring places that display dead things in jars. I remember a book I picked up once to browse at a bookstore that told about a road trip some guy took with Einstein's brain in a jar. Maybe I shoulda bought it.

@102 hmm tempting bonus category perhaps? :)

Anyway I had to go away and find what that book was! It gets mixed reviews but I am still intrigued. So even though it cannot live up to my expectations I am goign to try and hunt down a 2nd hand copy of Driving Mr. Albert: A Trip Across America with Einstein's Brain by Micheal Paterniti.

My favourite brain in a jar so far is Charles Babbage's (hmm I need therapy).

Category: 10 books for 10 decades: 1970

If on a Winters Night a Traveller by Italo Calvino
Post modernist bliss
(4.5 out 5)

It starts with a beautiful description of a reader, a long eulogy almost to our wants and needs, our tortures of the to be read list (and has a wonderful list for next years 1111 challenge!) and then the story begins.. or not. Instead it's a description of the noir tale "If On a Winters Night A Traveller". A sublime piece of Metafiction

But then a horrid jolt a printing error, the 1st chapter repeated forever without end. So the reader (a version of "you") goes to investigate, the original noir tale genre bleeding out into reality with a femme fatale and a mystery: the book you started wasn't even the book by Calvino it was someone else entirely. So there's a replacement and we (you) restart it but guess what? Oh yes your right: it isn't the same and also, well it seems to have a printing error too.

So it begins, a constant starting of stories connected through the tale of one readers life. Names, themes and styles echo each other throughout this book. The tropes of westerns and conspiracy's, Russian literature all effect the main tale, which is told in torturous yet sublime 2nd person. There is wry humour, much musing on the nature of reading and of authors and many many pastiches. Each beginning is tantalising (if sometimes uneven) and I admit I wasn't familiar with all the styles. Still it was a lot of fun and the writing was superb (think wonderful long flowing sentences that were both a joy to read and sometimes too hard).

I guess in the end liking this book depends on how much post modernist antics you can take, whether the constant restarting of the tales annoys or amuses you and whether the thought of 2nd person makes you shudder. Personally I loved it, it made me gleefully read bits out to boyfriend and lets face it the main protagonist was just great ;)

I still want to know how If on a winters night a traveller ends though.

That's a couple of really good reviews I've seen for that one. Sounds really intriguing and I'll have to give it a try at some time.

That's a great review for If on a Winter's Night, Claire. I read it 18 months ago, and I think it fascinated and amused me more than it irritated me - it's now on the shelf and turning into a Book Read Long Ago Which It's Now Time To Reread.

Thanks. I can't actually wait to reread it, I kind of think I will get more out of it next time round. Still I have Invisible Cities to read next.

Category: 10 books for 10 decades: 1950s

Old man of the sea By Ernest Hemingway
(1 out of 5)

Nothing insightful to say really but I loathed this book. I guess I missed the point but really I found it boring and slightly distasteful. The main protagonist is a ridiculously passive, saintly and not too bright old man who leaves his poor but honest surroundings, his scarily over adoring young boy and goes to sea to pursue his manly career of being cruel to fish. Much eulogising of mans fight against noble creatures ensues, much anthropomorphising of fish and some trite sentiment. He also gets cramp at one point. I consider it to be the highlight.

I only kept reading hoping he would die (preferably horribly), the boat would sink and it would be turn out to be a study of life's futility (ok it is in its way). But no nothing happens apart from some manly shark killing and everyone gets to secretly admire him in the end. My 1st and I suspect last Hemingway.

>108 clfisha: I had to laugh! And I agree with you. I've always thought it was a shame that this book is so often used in high schools to "introduce" students to Hemingway. However, this is the only one of Hemingway's books that I dislike, and The Sun Also Rises is one of my all-time favorite books.

@104 I've already decided I'm rereading If on a winter's night a traveller for my (inevitable) 1111. I consider my back patted by you here :)

@108 Hilarious review! Hemingway is another of the blank spaces on my oh-so-well-read map of the literary world, and doesn't seem to be bumping up on the TBR list anytime soon. Again: I consider my back patted by you...

Great review on Old Man And the Sea. I am one of those forced to read this in High School, and it definitely turned me off of Hemingway for years. But Ivyd is right, he's written plenty of really good books as well.

Poor Papa H.

I am cruel but you know it was dreadful. I do have A Farewell to Arms so once I calm down I might give him one more go... maybe.

Hooray my 1st entry in the colour category!

Category: 8 books one for each colour of magic: Blue

Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley
Wonderful modern noir
(4.5 out of 5)

"When he looked at me I felt a thrill of fear, but that went away quickly because I was used to white people by 1948"

This is a fantastic piece of noir, written in the modern day but set in the noir heyday of the late 40s so it combines pitch perfect noirish tropes with extra frisson gained from modern sensibilities. This is a dark, violent and sexy tale, oh nothing gratuitous but nothing is hidden away either, no flirty subtext here.There's extra edginess from having a black protagonist in the 40s, the stakes seem much higher, racism is endemic and there's no such thing as a good cop. Mosley's writing is superb, I was right there in the 1940s rooting for Easy to get the bad guys, save himself from the cops and pay off his mortgage (Oh the contrast of this banality and crooks, speakeasy's and femme fatales is just delicious).

Ok I adore a good noir (they are so rare) so I may be a tad gushing but this is must for crime fans, in fact its well worth anyone's time, this is a great showcase for the genre.

What a coincidence that you mention Hemingway, and the discussion has referenced A Farewell to Arms, since he and the book are an important part of Keith Gandal's study in the "fiction of mobilization," in his book The Gun and the Pen: Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Faulkner, and the Fiction of Mobilization, which I picked up this afternoon.

Gandal states that his "book will show that the "quintessential" male American modernist novelists were motivated, in their celebrated postwar literary works, not so much, as the usual story goes, by their experiences of the horrors of World War I but rather by their inability in fact to have those experiences." (p.5)

To quote the full description of the book...

Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and William Faulkner stand as the American voice of the Great War. But was it warfare that drove them to write? Not according to Keith Gandal, who argues that the authors' famous postwar novels were motivated not by their experiences of the horrors of war but rather by their failure to have those experiences. These 'quintessential' male American novelists of the 1920s were all, for different reasons, deemed unsuitable as candidates for full military service or command. As a result, Gandal contends, they felt themselves emasculated--not, as the usual story goes, due to their encounters with trench warfare, but because they got nowhere near the real action. Bringing to light previously unexamined Army records, including new information about the intelligence tests, The Gun and the Pen demonstrates that the authors' frustrated military ambitions took place in the forgotten context of the unprecedented U.S. mobilization for the Great War, a radical effort to transform the Army into a meritocratic institution, indifferent to ethnic and class difference (though not to racial difference). For these Lost Generation writers, the humiliating failure vis-à-vis the Army meant an embarrassment before women and an inability to compete successfully in a rising social order, against a new set of people. The Gun and the Pen restores these seminal novels to their proper historical context and offers a major revision of our understanding of America's postwar literature.

Hi Peter, what a cool co-incidence, I am now interested to pick it up, although I am woefully lack the experiance of reading Fiztergald & Faulkner. Be interested to hear your thoughts on it. I haven't read A Farewell to Arms yet but Old mand and the Sea definitely carried a glorification of conflict that I just found plain weird. But then I faint at the sight of blood ;-)

Funnily enough I've just recently read The Old Man and the Sea myself. I didn't think it was great, but I didn't hate it either- there was something about it I just can't put my finger on. Maybe it's a man thing?
I've been mulling over picking up Devil in a Blue Dress and after that review I think I will. Handily enough someone on ReadItSwapIt who wants to swap one of my books has a copy...

@117, If you don't mind a look at the seedier side of life and the brutalities of that era then Devil in a Blue Dress is certainly a worthwhile read. I read it earlier this year and was impressed with it also.

Hope you enjoy it David, its definitely a great noir story.

Interestingly I just finished Cotton comes to Harlem written by Chester Himes in the 60s. It's a complete contrast to the Devil in a Blue Dress especially because although different eras they deal with the race issue in America. Maybe its because Himes novel has less noir tropes and tightly plot story but it feels way more gritty and realistic then Mosley's.

Still as misogynistic as each other though :-) oddly Himes seems to have better female characters even though it was written earlier.

Category: 5 books to create the Japanese elements: err a bit tenuous but heh..

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
Wonderfully ambitious linked shorts
(4.5 out of 5)

It's a hugely ambitious book: Mitchell takes multiple short tales that span centuries and genres, then packs them together like Russian dolls and on top of all that, tenuously links them. It is almost like watching a man juggling 7 flaming chainsaws whilst blind-folded and standing on one leg, it looks great but you are pretty sure it's all going to end horribly. But no Mitchell astoundingly and seamlessly pulls this off: there are no bad stories, no hiccups in flow, no irritating transition between stories. It is an extremely satisfying book.

So how to actual summarise the story? well.. (warning contains minior spoilers).

The book opens as diary, written in 17th century in a Caribbean back water, by an American traveller stranded and waiting for ship repairs. We read of his prudish horror at the godlessness of sailors, his is musing on natives, his awfully polite Victorian dinner conversation and follow his adventurous misguided wanderings. All slightly tongue in cheek and much fun and I was thoroughly enjoying his naive adventures until the tale stop abruptly. In mid sentence no less and we realise this is just a referenced text in a series of 19th century letters from a poverty stricken composer to his old lover, which is enjoyable decadent romp until it stops and we realise these letters are being read by an investigative journalist involved in a deadly conspiracy in the 60s which in turn stops and we realise .... and on and on marching into further and further into the future.

It is a giddy, dizzying novel and one that makes you actually feel time stretching out all around you, which for me was the highlight of the book. In addition because of the nature of the structure a mirror effect is created as the stories are reflected and reframed in each other and later on themselves, enhancing and renewing the story. If you also consider the beautiful unreality gained by each tale being solely a story found in the next and the book becomes something special. A surreal house of cards that could almost be true but isn't.. a musing on possibilities and legacies. Of course post-modern techniques and philosophical ponderings aside this book works from a pure piece of great storytelling and because of that I highly recommend this book to well absolutely everyone.

You know I no longer remember why I just gave this 4.5 stars... hmm

>120 clfisha: Very nice review of a complex, amazing book! (I gave it one of my rare 5 stars.)

Cloud Atlas sounds like it involves the sort of quasi-self awareness that I love! Looks like a book that you'd either love or hate, and judging from your review, I think I'd love it. The title's going on the pile.... Thanks!

"one that makes you actually feel time stretching out all around you, which for me was the highlight of the book."

I like that. I love great swaths of time presented in books. It's hard to do well but it's satisfying when it happens.

@121 Thanks, I was trying to review without any spoilers but I gave up in the end!

@122 Hope you enjoy it.

@123 Sadly I do not think I have read enough books where its done well, one of the reasons Cloud Atlas was so refreshing.

Supposed to writing a review.. ahem..

Do you snack while you read? If so, favorite reading snack?
Nope. I have a terrible habit of eating dinner & reading.. spaghetti leaves terrible stains.

What is your favorite drink while reading?
Oh dear this could be quite a list..
Coffee in the morning and then maybe elderflower squash, red wine or whisky. Although now it's warmish I drink bourbon on the rocks.

Do you tend to mark your books as you read, or does the idea of writing in books horrify you?
Never, but comments in second hand books can be fun and bemusing.

How do you keep your place while reading a book? Bookmark? Dog-ear? Laying the book flat open?
I do terrible things to books but I do try and use bookmarks.. I just tend to leave them in books and then wonder where they went.

Fiction, Non-Fiction, or Both?
Fiction with the odd non-fiction thrown in.

Are you a person who tends to read to the end of a chapter, or can you stop anywhere?
Anywhere, although mid sentence is annoying.

Are you a person to throw a book across the room or on the floor if the author irritates you?
You know sometimes I want to.. in fact next time that happens I am actually going to do it ;)

If you come across an unfamiliar word, do you stop and look it up right away?
No. Generally I get it from the context, if desperate I ask my boyfriend and if out of luck I just guess.

What are you currently reading?
I am supposed to be reading The Scarlett Pimpernel but instead I am reading The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet by David Mitchell. This is why I can never join a book club.

What is the last book you bought?
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet by David Mitchell. It was on sale. and therefore I had to buy it..

Are you a person that reads one book at a time, or can you read more than one?
One at a time, but I always get so distracted...

Do you have a favorite time/place to read?
Not really.. TV on in background is annoying.

Do you prefer series books or stand-alones?
Stand-alones. Most series generally get boring and repetitive, although there are exceptions.

Is there a specific book or author you find yourself recommending over and over?
Margo Lanagan, Jaff VanderMeer and Shaun Tan. GO BUY THEM. go on.. go!

How do you organize your books? By genre, title, author's last name, etc?
They are all randomly placed in boxes awaiting bookshelves.. however I usually leave this to my boyfriend otherwise they would stay random or maybe organised by colour :)

Cloud atlas sounds great. I imagine it's shares some ground with If on a winter's night a traveller that you read earlier this year?

As the father of a three year old, I've learned to read in front of the DVD. Knowing his favourite films by heart by now make them easier to blank out, I guess.

Yes it does in fact I only picked up Cloud Atlas after I read an article by David Mitchell on If on a winter's night a traveller and how it inspired him to write novel with interlinking stories.

I am in awe of your TV ignoring skills.. it doesnt matter how many times the same episode of Two and Half men come on it's still distracting :-)

Category: 9 books inspired by the muses: Comedy

The Pirates! In An Adventure With Napoleon by Gideon Defoe
Short, sweet and awfully funny
(5 out of 5)

The Pirates! series has a warm soft place in my heart, anytime I need cheering up I can pick up a tiny tale and be heartedly amused. The constant build up of jokes and silliness guarantees to bring a smirk and then a giggle. Of course liking the books solely rests on whether you a) like Pirates and b) enjoy rather silly over top humour, with running gags, odd footnotes, idiotic names ("Pirate who like sunsets & kittens" is my fav), tiny hand drawn maps and wild historical inaccuracy. The plot? Well after another disastrous Pirate of the year competition, the Pirate Captain decides to give up life at sea and become a bee keeper but then he hasn't reckoned with a retired attention seeking Napoleon..

Personally I find it extremely hard to describe humour so I think I will just handover to a quote...

"Unpack the boat, lads,' he roared, banging his cup of tea down on the mantelpiece, because banging things was always his favourite way of illustrating those moments when he made a particularly important decision. 'We're staying!'

The pirates all seemed to deflate where they were sitting, like a row of pirate-shaped balloons.

'Come on, don't all look so dour. And if it helps to get you to turn those frowns upside down,' he added, 'then try to think of this as a very long, uneventful adventure on an exotic island. You know, like in that Robinson Crusoe book. But with better hats, and less narrative thrust.'

oh go and read the extract over at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/may/09/extract

Sounds very likeable! In my experience, series of funny books usually either get better or worse the further into the series you get. Either the author burns all his/her best gags in the first few books - or the series finds it's form as it goes. Is either of those scenarios true for Pirates! or is it just consistantly great?

Well I may not be selling it but some of the jokes (such as the pirate names, dressing up in silly clothes and eating ham) are reused. Still that just makes it all very comfortable, fun and with rather accessable in jokes. Still they always have enough differences to make them worthwhile

I think the only one in the series which lacked somewhat is The Pirates in adventure with Ahab (alternative title: "..with Whaling"). Enjoyed the other 3.

Right I can't shoehorn A Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet by David Mitchell anywhere... It's an amazing book though go buy it, no dont even bother to switch off your computer.. run, run to shops! :)

Anyway with less than 3 months to go I am tweaking things so I might actually complete this years challenge & therefore I have decided to include short stories. Watch that horrible colours category get filled up in no time!

Slow down. If you read all the Mitchell books in one gulp, you're going to get a tummy ache.

It's too late you know I am bloated on Mitchel having only one left unread (Black Swan Green). This is oddly the one that actually fits in my 1010 challenge.

..looks around.. blows dust off thread.. hmm maybe I ought to post more..

Category: 6 books to stimulate the senses: Taste

Izakaya: The Japanese Pub Cookbook by Mark Robinson
Wonderful Japanese cook book
(4 out of 5)
An eulogy to the Izakaya. A japanese place where food and drink are given equal importance, a place to gather and meet with friends or grab a quick bit to eat. The authors visits his favorite establishments covering the variety of places, interiews, historical facts and mouth watering descriptions abound admist lovely photographs and tasty 'small plate' recipes. Its a fasicinating and entertaining read, the few recipes I have tried are great and theres a good mix of meat/fish and vegetarian. Highly recommend for fans of Japanese food but I have to say not much here for anyone else.

Category: 9 books inspired by the muses: Tragedy

If he Hollers Let Him Go by Chester Himes
Frightening portrayal of racism.
(4 out of 5)

The first novel by Chester Himes is a powerful, scary and deeply angry book about endemic institutionalised racism in 40s America. Told in 1st person we meet Bob Jones, an ambitious, intelligent, if violent man. Newly promoted and dating a rich beautiful girl he is on the up and up, but he soon finds the promotion is just a sop to the black workers and the promise of equality is a facade. He still has to know his place and the tragedy is he just can't.

This is where its genius lies, the constant build up of slights, pettiness and downright nastiness. How it shapes what he thinks and how it imbues every aspect of his life. You know he should stop but you know that he can't and more importantly why should he? Comparing it to your own life it leaves a bitter taste, the only thing that stops my going to a nice restaurant is money.

It's really the first book I have read that brings everyday bigotry to life and for that fact alone I would highly recommend it . The characters are great, the constant simmering tension makes a great thriller and if sometimes it descends too much into a straight mouth piece, it's still a great story.

One thing though don't read the back, giving endings away is annoying.

Edited for obvious spelling errors

One thing though don't read the back, given endings away is annoying.

I hate it when they do that. There's just no need. The synopsis of the book on the back page should just provide an outline to the story and characters giving you an idea if it might appeal to your reading taste or not. I also dislike when too much story information is given in introductions. If you're going to give away plot points then do so in an author's note and put it at the back of a book and not the front.

I've actually stopped reading the backs of books and introductions for precisely that reason. I'd rather go into a new book pretty well unsullied -- I'll check out the tags on LT to see if it's something that still sounds interesting in the months/years since I added it to the list of books I'd like to read, but I'll get no closer....

Re: Izakaya: The Japanese Pub Cookbook by Mark Robinson

hear, hear!

@136/137 I think I have given up reading introductions.. I might now also of learnt my lesson regarding the summary! I waited all book for the "event" to happen

@138 Hi Peter, hope eveythings going well for you & of course thanks for the heads up on that book!

Category: 4 books for each nation of the UK: Scotland

The Drivers Seat By Muriel Spark
(3 out of 5)

Sadly this tale was an example of a personality clash, I could appreciate it but not like it. The writing style expertly reflects the main character: with clean, matter of fact sentences ones but
felt short and skittish, even though when I look back aren't *that* short. The character was too far removed from my experience, I could not relate at all. Perhaps the tale was set too much in
the 70s with alienation of modern, secular life amd something that I cannot share constantly connected to the world as I am. The impact of the 'why' dunnit plot also sadly fell flat, as I quite familiar with it, good ideas never die after all.

I must stress that its not a bad book though, the twisting of modernity and it's freedoms, the rejection of standard female story tropes. There is no white knight here and family or love is not a glib panacea (which is refreshing even if men get short shrift).

So I will be trying more Murial Spark but this one was not for me.

Category: 8 books one for each colour of magic:Green

Black Swan Green by David Mitchell
Gripping coming of age tale.
(5 out of 5)

David Mitchell is at heart a superb storyteller and this semi-autobiographical 'coming of age' tale is no exception. It doesn't matter it's set in boring old England or that it ticks all the standard tropes (you know the kind of thing boyhood adventures, bullying, family problems and first love) it is a captivating, emotional and fun tale.

We follow thirteen months of the life of 13 yr old Jason Taylor, a chapter for every month. At first this technique is jarring, especially as the 1st story stops so abruptly (familiar eh?) however as story progress the plots and themes mesh wonderfully into one strong linear tale and all you are left with are the hooks of our unanswered questions, with which we are occasionally rewarded a answer.

The setting is pitch perfect, as a child of 80s Britain myself I found the decade brought vividly and scarily to life. From food and music through to the Falklands war and bitter antagonism with gypsies, it's all there. Sadly this means it's hard for me to say whether the colloquiums are too much, I don't think though do.

One warning, I would read his other books first, because he does reference them. Characters such as Frobisher's love from Cloud Atlas make an appearance and this does impact your view of the story. On one level a dizzy sense of time flowing is gained, Black Swan Green is their past or their future and events outside Jason's world. On another level a question of unreality seeps into the novel, were these events inspiration or do these parts indicate the falsehoods in the tale.

These feelings are also enhanced by the rare sentence commenting on events, assuring us
this event did or did not happen. Mix this with a sometimes profound and mature musing, sudden awareness of an authors presence and his manipulations. It maybe be obvious that memoir isn't always true but this deft touch adds insecurity and depth to a simple memoir.

Or course after my blatherings I must add it's not a tricksy post modernist book, it's just a damn fine tale and can be enjoyed as such.

Extract over at:
http://www.blackswangreen.co.uk/extracts.html

It's good to see Chester Himes still being read and staying in print. There was a period when a lot of his books were hard to find. I haven't read him for years. Maybe I should reread a couple. I keep hoping for an Everyman's Library or Library of America edition. Now what? You've exhausted the Mitchells. I still have Number9Dream to go.

As to colloquialism, I did alright with Black Swan Green. The one that kept sending me online to look things up was Darkmans. Well, Wildwood has sent me searching also. I understand American granola heads talk but the English version has thrown me a time or two.

@139 Good review. I don't agree with your conclusion, but can absolutely see your point. Would love to hear what you'd think about another Sparks novel. Perhaps The prime of miss Jean Brodie?

@140 I am going to read some Mitchell, no question about that. Probably not next year though - got too much on my plate already. Cloud atlas does seem the best starting point, am I right in assuming that?

@141 I agree about Darkmans - that was one tricky book in more than one way. To me, though, the aha moment was when I realised that it wasn't just a rich plot book in a slightly heightened realism. It's something much more cut-up and broken, only posing as such. Does that make sense? I'm going to try more Nicola Barker (Wide open for my 11 in 11), and am going to make sure to have a different set of glasses on as I set out this time.

I am going to have to check out Darkmans now aren't I? sigh..

@141 Camping outside his front door until he writes a new one sounds a little extreme so I am burying myself in Shirly Jackson short stories before I go on holiday.

@142 Thanks but I don't feel I did the book justice really. I disliked the character so much it was hard to read! Added The prime of miss Jean Brodie to my wishlist, thanks.

hmm David Micthell..
I agree try Cloud Atlas it's his most famous plus you will get an idea of his variety style. Although in he hasn't done anything quite like it, some fans seem very upset by this. Still as long as you avoid Black Swan Green and Ghostwritten you should be fine!

I started with his historical fiction A Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet which his a great fascinating story and my fav Number9dream, is another great story but is much less accomplished but you may get Norwegian Wood flashbacks.

Category: 2 books on good & evil
woo hoo one category finished!

The Face of Another by Kobo Abe
Fascinating, pyshcological horror.
(4.5 out of 5)

What happens when someone 'looses' their face. Scientist Okuyama has a terrible accident with liquid nitrogen leaving his face covered in keloid scars. His loss of face, of his identity is slowly alienating him from society, but he has a plan, all he needs is a new face.

Written as a letter & diaries we are deeply and firmly placed into the character' s head and one that is deeply unpleasant, self cantered, intellectually superior, extremely misogynistic and filled with flawed logic. We are drawn through his philosophical musing, his research and his flawed logic into watching a descent into madness and the creation of a monster.

It's an intense, interesting novel. All the better for being cold and clinical and torturous. The plot itself is pretty obvious early on but this is not detrimental as narrative shifts breathe life where needed (and to be honest it's all the more unsettling when you can see the end).

The diary/letter format is a clever technique: there are really just two characters the writer and the reader. Drawn unpleasantly to ride with the narrator we automatically empathise with the intended recipient since,
technically this person is us. It provides a space for us to stand apart from the narrator and to mock him, giving the book its cold intensity.

Written in Japan in the 60s it could of been a terrible outdated book but although a product of its time I think it still packs a punch. The question of identity hasn't changed that much. Rather you will hate this because of it's clinical nature or the themes it concentrates, if you aren't interested in the topic or require a complex action packed horror avoid. For me it was completely refreshing.

edited to say
I was going to recommend reading his more famous The women in the dunes first but having read last years review I can't I gave it 3 due to long ponderous musings!

Category: 9 books inspired by the muses: Lyric Poetry

The pillow book by Sei Shonagon
Fascinating 11th century Japan diary
(3.5 of out 5)

Sei is a terrible snob, highly intelligent and idealistic and much fun and this is her 'pillow' book. Private musings and observations of court life. Mixed in with descriptions of clothes, gossip and romantic tales we get brief lists of beautiful words for use in art of poetry. For Sei poetry was a deeply important, much admired skill. So from a quick witty response referencing a famous poem, to artful courtship of letters or just entertaining the empress with word games, poetry could enhance ones reputation and standing.

This skill of this particular translation (Penguin classics) makes all this accessible and interesting to the laymen. Puns on obscure Chinese poetry can be ignored or followed with no impact on enjoyment. The multiple appendices on Heian court are well worth a look though, adding much more depth to Sei's diary.

I feel bad for rating this so low. It's a fascinating and interesting read, translated well, packed with notes appendices and written by an engaging author. It is what it is though, a series of lists and vignettes of Japanese court life in the Hein period and whether you like this book depends how interested you are in the period.

@144 I loved The woman in the dunes and had really high hopes for The face of another, but I remember struggling with it and that it failed to grip me, even with it's fascinating theme. I guess it's one of those I should re-read with slightly less hyper expectations.

ha thats just the opposite reaction i had. Although in my memory I loved The woman in the dunes and it took a review to remind me, a book with a strong impression obviously. I am reading his detective storyThe Ruined Map: a novel and its a very bizarre claustrophic story with a simplistic plot, gives me a feeling of OCD oddly although it's not repetitive. Anyway interesting if not wholly fun. Have you read any of his other books?

I haven't, no. Most of his works are long out of print in Swedish. The face of another was made available for the first time just a few years ago, by a small publisher specializing in modern classics.

I don't think I managed to read anything translated from the Japanese this year. I have in past years. Your posts reminded me that I do have an omnibus edition of I Am a Cat sitting unread on a shelf that I need to get to.

You know I did pick I am a Cat up a few times in the shop but I wasn't really sure if it would work, plus it's a over 600 pages so that's quite a lot of time to invest. Still it is iconic so one day I migth get round to it.

#145 - "I feel bad for rating this so low."

Ahh! The Pillow Book is one of my top 5 all-time favourite books!

@151 oh dear now I feel even worse! :)

Oops I am soo behind on reviews! I read this one a long long time ago.

Category: 6 books to stimulate the senses: 6th Sense

Night Visions 11
Three novellas: 1 good, 1 bad and 1 average means its damn hard to rate this book, so I am going to rate individual stories.. overall it gets a 3.

Swellhead by Kim Newman
I really love Kim Newman's fun, playful attitude to horror. Newman is a hugely knowledgeable horror fan & film critic and his genius lies in mixing up his imaginary world with other fictional characters, playing with tropes and clashing genres together. The result is usually a fresh, original tale and damn fine stories.

Ok enthusiastic pimp over. This novella takes one retired paranormal nvestigator, a stereotypical James Bond setting, a whiff of politics, a touch of reality TV hell and adds dash of horror and the result is a great, fast paced horror tale. There are some great characters (it even has a strong female lead, blimey) a wonderful use of cheesy plot and a high body count. Gets 4.5 stars from me.

In Perpetuity by Tim Lebbon
Awful. I can't really review it since I very quickly gave up and started skimming. Plot is one of loving father challenged by an eerie curio collector to bring him "proof of love" and was not for me nor did the writing do anything to engage me. Tedious. 1 star.

Hands Up! Who Wants to Die? by Lucius Shephard
This sci-fi story mixed with a low-life road trip romp works really well. The beginning certainly grabs your attention, a suitably mysterious house hidden in the sand and an odd meeting with strangers. All the characters are fun, if not deep, and the great group dynamics drove a lot of the story. It's just a pity the end fell a bit flat with a sudden dash into paranormal banality. Maybe I am just a jaded cynic. 3 stars.

and now for a book I read ages ago and forgot to review!

Category: 9 books inspired by the muses: Choral Poetry (yes I know!)

The Choirboys by Joseph Wambaugh
Dark, funny & moving 70s crime story
(4.5 out of 5)

Written in the 70s by an ex-cop, this is a darkly funny and bitter book, with a sharp edge of reality. 'Choir practice is where your average cop meets up to let off steam through drink, drugs and group sex. It's a secret and by invite only so when something bad happens, all hell breaks loose.

There are two great things about this: firstly the mix of tone from intensely funny to sad and disturbing and secondly the odd story structure. I was doubtful at first as it indicated a short story approach as each pair of partnered cops get their own chapter interspersed with glimpses of choir practice. But to my surprise the author makes it work very well, gently building layers upon layer of character and plot until the we catch up with current events. So as understanding grows so does the plot and you are slowly reeled in and hooked, especially towards the end as we begin to understand what happened and what the outcome will be.

All of the cops are flawed, some are deeply unpleasant sadists but at heart sympathy lies with them, highlighting that the number one cop killer is suicide. All the authors disgust for the upper echelons of the police force and it's here that the book really shines. Cops on the beat are ignored and blamed with equal measure and that makes a dark reality invade the book and gives even more of an edge.

A must for any lover of crime novels or black humour. This is a great big noisy book, that gets in your face and won't let go. Highly recommended.

You know I should probably take this thread out and shoot it so I can save the healthier 100 book challenge but ..awww.. I seem to have a soft spot for lost causes.

Category: 8 books one for each colour of magic: Yellow

The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop by Lewis Buzbee
Light, joyful memoir/history of bookshops
(3 out of 5)

How much milleage you get out of this book depends on
a) how much bookshops and the publishing world interest you
b) if light on detail, nostaligc, genteel reminisces float your boat

Personally I can take it for about 150 pages before my eyes glaze over. A few wonderful biibliophile phrase do not a book make.

The history was well told but light and a bit dull (see a) but there were some interesting tales buried such as the printing of ulysees. The memoir is, well it's ok, no fun tall tales here, just some experiences that entwine the history. Although at one point he takes to listing great bookstores... Yawn.

Another problem for me it was written in an odd time for publising: 2004 and by a nostalgic, entrenched book lover. The 'stick head in sand' attitude with the future of books was intensely irritating and was only saved by a new and thoughtful postscript. I guess, though, this is not what the book is about. It is a celebration books and the places that sell them. Nothing wrong with that, it's just not for me.

I kind of remember bits of The Choirboys movie and recall that I enjoyed it (it's been a while). I shall have to look into acquiring the book as you make it sound very much a worthwhile read.

Thanks for your review of The Choirboys. I've put it on the TBR.

>154 clfisha: I once had that book on my wish list, but then I took it off when I read a similar review to yours. Seeing your review makes me glad I removed it.

Oo I haven't seen the film, I must check it out. Thanks.

@154 Ah well glad I made time for something else! My boyfriend loved it but then he is much more interested in the publishing world than I.

Category: 5 books to create the Japanese elements: Earth and that closes that category.

Inverted World by Christopher Priest
Imaginative sci-fi
(3.5 out of 5)

Imagine a city that must forever move forward, winched along it's old re-used tracks. To ensure this happens it's rulers have created a closed, fundamentalist society, a hidden world where only the few will ever be allowed outside to know that it moves and why this must be so.

Whether you'll like this depends on what you need from a book. For this 70's sci-fi the world is all: the plot, the characters and their conversations all feed into the world building and this leaves time for very little else. Now this isn't really my type of thing but even I have to admit it's a good, satisfying story with a premise that even after all this time I found original and interesting.

Set into four parts which meander from 1st to 3rd person presenting differing views, we gradually get a very believable view of this strange world. However his 1st section build up takes an age to get anywhere and the main characters has the misfortune of being the cipher in which we explore the city i.e. not very fleshed and and he is also amazingly attractive to all women.

In fact flagging how awful of sexual inequality is juxtaposed with the inherent misogyny brings out the teeth grinding in me. Ahem. Anyway halfway through the book we swap out of 1st person and suddenly the story takes off and the plot becomes quite gripping. The slow build up then starts to work well in its favour as we are so grounded in the world and it builds up to what is a very very cool ending. It's just a pity about the beginning.

If you are lover of idea based sci-fi then this book is for you, everyone else will spend an interesting few hours with a neat idea. Oh hard sci-fi fans I have no idea if it all holds up.

Category: maiden, mother & crone: Maiden

Soulless by Gail Carriger
Fun urban fantasy
(4.5 out 5)

Isn't it sublime when book fits your mood exactly?

Let's see we have vampires, werewolves, a wonderful strong female heroine, government bureau, steam punk, mad scientists, romance, shallow dizzy sisters and a neurotic mother. Oh and I believe the Queen makes an entrance at one point. Yes it's a genre trope mash up but one written with consummate skill and I personally loved it, I mean how could I not? After all it is a sexy, fun, urban fantasy mixed in with a comedy of manners, unashamedly feminine and utterly modern. It has a gripping and fast paced plot, it's very funny, quite steamy in places and sets the next book up perfectly. Ok so the next books are called, changeless and blameless (wince) but I can't wait to pick up the next one.

Will be reading Soulless before the year is over, that was already decided since my wife loved it to bits earlier this year. A recommendation from Claire is just icing on the cake here.

Inverted world does sound like my cup of tea, despite your warning flags. Misogynist or not, I'm just too much of a sucker for world building to let this one go, I think.

Ah well I hate to be sexist but Soulless is fluffy paranormal chick lit so not sure how the mileage may vary there! I was just in the mood.

and Inverted World is worth a try, it's definately worth the pay off. Another review suggested it would of been much better as a novella and I quite agree.

Oh look I actually wrote a review. Although it's a pre-coffee review..

Category: 7 books for seven continents: South America

Lost City of Z by David Grann
Disappointing historical adventure.
(3.5 of 5)

In 1925 Colonel Percy Harrison Fawcett and his expedition party (including his son) entered the Amazon in search of The Lost City of El Dorado and never returned. Countless lives have been lost searching for them and for the fabled, mysterious and of course very rich lost city.

I did enjoy this book. It's an easy read about a fascinating and vivid period of history. The author starts off well, setting the scene and evoking the furore of a trip to discover the lost city. He then slowly weaves his tale to follow in Fawcett's footsteps and at first these two stories balance well.

Sadly after about 1/3 of the way through cracks started to show, partly through boredom as I am slightly familiar with the period but also (and I can't believe I am going to say this) it was really too much like an adventure story and.. well .. real life isn't just like that. Take for example the authors comic, naive bumbling organising his trip to the Amazon, amusing at first but it soon feels so contrived. I am presuming it's true.. but it *doesn't* feel true and loosing faith in the author is always a bad sign

Also neither story lives up to their promise. Fawcett's tale because of the way his story is presented. For me his flaws were address so late in the book, that the reality of obsessive, poverty stricken, ego-maniac doesn't sit well with the beginning. Yes it's supposed be a nice bit of juxtaposition but I simply found it a tad irritating. Then theres the authors story which oddly never managed to be that evocative, odd because he does manage to bring Fawcett's trek alive. I know not much happened but seeing the Amazon from the everyman should of been much more fun than it was.

Oh there are other things wrong with the book but to be honest it's just nitpicking and I did enjoy this book, (no really) but I was heartedly disappointed. Others have given this book rave reviews and I do recommend it for anyone who loves a sense of adventure but maybe go and read The Lost World instead.. much more fun :)

Category: 4 books for each nation of the UK: Wales Another categiry finished.

The Great God Pan by Arthur Machen
3 fantastical horror tales
(Average of 3.5*)

I am going to be annoying and review them separately as well as a quick review. Machen's main strength is melding the everyday Victorian World with the supernatural.

The 1st (and longest) story about a medical experiment gone awry, is his most famous and inspired many a horror writer from Lovecraft to king. Published in 1894 it holds up remarkably well, although sadly not that scary (a sexual women, dear god!). However Machen is great at building atmosphere and only hints at the real horror: the God Pan can loom as large in your imagination as you wish. It's quite gripping as we watch the main protagonist drawn deeper into a dangerous mystery but it's a pity that the ending feels so hurried. 3.5*

The 2nd is nice little mystery involving mysterious signs, a disappearing girl and frightening ritual. It's an enjoyable quick read but not high on atmosphere and(?) a bit of a clumsy mystery. 3 *

The 3rd is a mixed bag, starts off with dull dialogue (read lecture) about the nature of real evil and suddenly switches to a 1st person account from a young girl and her experience with the little people. Sadly Machen cannot write in the voice of a young girl, it's bad enough to make you wince but oddly this is the bit of the book that I enjoyed the most. Machens description of a dark, eerie landscape captures the imagination vividly and gives a tantalising hint of the unknown which only deepens the sense of mystery and keeps you turning over the story in your mind long after you close the book. I can't rate this one ;-) perhaps 2-4!=3

Category: 7 books for seven continents: Australia

Requiem for a Wren by Nevil Shute
Emotional historical fiction
(4 out of 5)

I think sometimes Nevil Shute books should carry a tear jerker warning, quite frankly this one is terribly depressing and yet very, very good.

Alan Duncan returns from England to his families ranch in Australia, but his happy homecoming is marred by the housekeepers suicide. He takes it upon himselg to track down her diaries and letters and to follow her self destructive journey that ended so tragically far from home.

For those who have never read Nevil Shute before I can only provide a bemused blank stare. Admittedly he is not for everyone; he wrote about a time and place that is alien to us and to be honest had disappeared by the time he wrote it, but in this case it works in its favour. Shute vividly captures Britain in WWII, it's effects on ordinary people and he does this so well that you are caught up in tragedy hoping for a happy ending you know doesn't exist. Not only this you are also learning a great deal about a slice of history, part of Shute’s brilliance is to take dull facts and mesh them into a highly emotional story.

He does have his faults, the plotting on this one is a little forced although ultimately forgivable and whilst he tries to provide a glimmer of hope I quite frankly didn't notice through the tears. Still at least it's not as depressing as On the Beach.

Mandatory reading for all history buffs, but also anyone who loves a good weepy.

Cateogory: maiden, mother & crone: Crone

Who was Changed and Who Was Dead by Barbara Comyns
Unique Surreal Masterpiece
(4.5 out of 5)

"The ducks swam though the drawing-room window"

So starts one of the most delightfully oddest books I have ever read. A story of the moneyed Willoweed Family that begins in a flood and is soon caught in horrific tragedy as a fatal madness rips through their small village. Yet this is not horror but darkly funny surreal tale, told with a child like joy; how wonderful life can be but also how cruel.

The style is at first disconcerting, words tumble about like the flood they describe, but very soon it eases and the story becomes a joy to read: full of beautiful quirky descriptions and odd asides. We follow the story from a multitude of view points, which is never confusing and seems the most natural thing in the world. In fact natural is a good word for this book even though it's very surreal. Plans go awry and life gets in the way. Lessons are not always learned and amongst the happy endings there are awful ones.

It maybe a short novel but it packs a punch. Highly recommended to just about anyone.

Category: 10 books for 10 decades: 1930s

The big Sleep By Raymond Chandler

It's impossibly hard to write a review of an author you love so much and a book you have read so many times. No one comes close to Raymond Chandler, his style is unique, his pitch perfect, his plots fun and importantly his idea of what noir should be is (for me) wonderful. Anyone with an interest in crime fiction should try him at least once and this, his 1st novel is not a bad place to start.

As Chandler says himself in his definitive essay A simple art of murder:
"..down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid. The detective in this kind of story must be such a man."
Amen to that.

Category: 1 book just for me: The End

Fittingly my last book for the 1010 challenge is:
The End of Science Fiction by Sam Smith
Apocalyptic murder mystery
(4 of out 5)

A young girl is found brutally murdered the same day it’s announced that the universe will end in just 6 days. When there is no future what need to find a killer?

It's a fantastic concept well done. The mystery is satisfying but it’s the effects and exploration of the end of the world scenario that really makes it shine. Against the backdrop of disintegrating society, with no reason for going on, finding what makes you tick becomes all important. The characters need to be strong to hold this plot and luckily they are; from the main protagonist happy in his routine relationship with his wife to his partners inherent loneliness, they are all full realised. Of course it’s interesting too to ponder what you would do this situation, I mean you may consider your own mortality but the negation of everything? The end of the future? That’s a stark thought indeed.

Right well that is for this thread. It's been a great group and an interesting experiance. Here's my list of bests...

Best Character
Lucifer from Lucifer graphic novel series by Mike Carey. Look he is just so cool and interesting and horribly self centered.

Favourite new (to me) authors
The joint winners are Victor Lavelle/David Mitchell

The book that me to laugh (out loud in public!)
The Choirboys by Joseph Wambaugh
Yes it does make me a sick individual to laugh at a bungee jumping disabled war veteran.

The book that made me cry
for some reasons it was The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet which is odd because it's not *that* sad. I mean I read a Nevil Shute and didnt cry that much.

Best 1st line
"Don't look for dignity in public bathrooms."

The book that most annoyed me
The Old Man and The Sea oh boy did I loathe this book

The book that most annoyed me but I forgave it
Number9Dream by David Mitchell. I NEED closure damn you!

Prettiest cover (stolen from gingerbreadman)
Finch by Jeff VanderMeer. Shiny wins.

Worst cover
How does Oryx and Crake by Magaret Atwood inspire a dull cover?

The Most Memorable Top 5
Finch by Jeff VanderMeer
The Secret Lives of Buildings: From the Parthenon to the Vegas Strip in Thirteen stories by Edward Hollis.
Big Machine by Victor Lavelle
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet by David Mitchel
Palimpsest by Catherynne Valente

You've read some great books and I've enjoyed following your thread (although it's very dangerous for my tbr pile :-)

You aldready know how much I enjoy your thread, so it hardly needs repeating. Looking forward to trying to cram your recommendations into my aldready crammed 11 in 11. (I thought Finch was good looking too.) I'm doing "Best first line" for my summary next year, no doubt!

Great. Reading. Year.

Thanks guys.. here's to another good year for all of us. :)