Cushla's 2009 list of books, Part 2

This is part 2 of my 2009 75 Book Challenge although it should be renamed "Cushla's 60 book challenge" because I won't get to 75!

Part I is over here.

Books read so far:
December
61. The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett 4 1/2
60. A Pigeon and a Boy by Meir Shalev 4
59. The Provincial Lady in Wartime by E.M. Delafield 4 1/2
58. The Provincial Lady in America by E.M. Delafield 3 1/2

November
57. The Provincial Lady goes Further by E.M. Delafield 4
56. Death at La Fenice by Donna Leon 4
55. People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks 3 1/2
54. The Diary of a Provincial Lady by E M Delafield 4 1/2
53. Too much Tuscan Sun by Dario Castagno 3

October
52. Gellhorn: A Life by Caroline Moorhead 3 1/2
51. A Corner of the Veil by Laurence Cosse 4
50. Sharon and My Mother-in-Law: Ramallah Diaries by Suar Amiry 4
(touchstone goes to spam, but the work page **is** here if you search by Amiry!)
49. A Diary without Dates by Enid Bagnold 4
48. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel 5

September
47. The Draining Lake by Arnaldur Indridason 4
46. Foreign Correspondence by Geraldine Brooks 3 1/2
45. The Glass Room by Simon Mawer 4 1/2
44. Mrs Miniver by Jan Struther 4

August
43. The Dark Room by Rachel Seiffert 4
42. The Magic Lantern by Timothy Garton Ash 4
41. Burnt Shadows by Kamila Shamsie 4
40. Smiley's People by John le Carre 5
39. The Honourable Schoolboy by John Le Carre 3
38. The Third Miss Symons by F.M. Mayor 3

July
37. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy by John Le Carre 5
36. The File by Timothy Garton-Ash 4 1/2
35. Stasiland by Anna Funder 4
34. Books, Baguettes and Bedbugs by Jeremy Mercer 4

June
33. The Eye of the Needle by Ken Follett 4 1/2
32. The Dogs of Riga by Henning Mankell 4 1/2
31. American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld 4
30. Foreign Affairs by Alison Lurie 3 1/2

May
29. Paris 1919 by Margaret MacMillan 5
28. Up the Junction by Nell Dunn 3 1/2
27. Peking Picnic by Ann Bridge 4

April
26. The Island Walkers by John Bemrose 5
25. Elizabeth and her German Garden by Elizabeth von Armin 3 1/2
24. The Venus Throw by Steven Saylor 4 1/2

March
23. The Bernini Bust by Iain Pears 4 1/2
22. Julie and Julia by Julie Powell 2 1/2
21. The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street by Helene Hanff 3
20. 84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff 4
19. Acheson: The Secretary of State Who Created the American World by James Chace 4 1/2
18. Property by Valerie Martin 4
17. The Time we Have Taken by Steven Carroll 2 1/2
16. Thinks... by David Lodge 3 1/2

February
15. Agent Zigzag by Ben Macintyre 4
14. At the Still Point by Mary Benson 4 1/2
13. Waiariki by Patricia Grace 4 1/2
12. Cicero by Antony Everitt 3 1/2
11. The Lost Traveller by Antonia White 5
10. Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh 4

January
9. The Pankhursts by Martin Pugh 3
8. The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West 4
7. All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque 5
6. The View from Castle Rock by Alice Munro 5
5. Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn 3 1/2
4. The Zookeeper's War by Steven Conte 4
3. The World at Night by Alan Furst 3 1/2
2. South of the Border, West of the Sun by Haruki Murakami 3
1. The Untouchable by John Banville 5

I'm keeping an eye on you!

*and eye another*

I'm starring your thread this time, as I somehow "lost" your first thread.

And another eye. We now have either a three eyed beast, or one normal one and a cyclops.

Well, we are now 4-eyed - highly appropriate since I wear glasses :)

Or five..?

OK, here's something for your ten eyes to read!

Book 49: A Diary without Dates by Enid Bagnold - 4 stars

One of my favourite things about LibraryThing is how I can have several hundred unread books in my house but still be compelled to find LT recommendations at the library on the very next trip. Yesterday I borrowed A Diary without Dates because of Urania's review over
here .

I can't think of the last time I read a library book within 18 hours of finding it, but this one was short and very very good.

Enid Bagnold was 25 at the start of World War One and volunteered as a VAD (voluntary aid detachment) nurse in a hospital for injured soldiers. In 130 pages, she describes life in the hospital for the nurses and the patients. If you've read Regeneration or All Quiet on the Western Front, you'll probably like this book. The prose is less lyrical but the hopelessness and waste of life is just as plain. And the lack of pain relief is eye-watering:

"Six inches deep the gauze stuck, crackling under the pull of the forceps, blood and pus leaping forward from the cavities as the steady hand of the doctor pulled inch after inch of the gauze to the light. And when one hole was emptied there was another, five in all". And no pain relief because they couldn't find an anaesthetist.

Bagnold vividly describes (and bitterly) the hierarchy within the nursing staff (qualified sisters vs. VADs) and the class distinction between the officers (who get lemonade) and the soldiers (water with a squeeze of lemon if they're lucky).

Recommended if you can find it and if you like WW1 books. Virago republished this book in 1978.

Couldn't figure out the letters to write down to reflect the sound that came out of my mouth when reading that, Cushla! :-(

My ten eyes think they'd like to read this book. Hopefully at some point I will stumble across a copy! I think All Quiet on the Western Front is an incredible book.

Stopping by to say hello - and good luck with the move! Personally, if I could move to Switzerland, I would :) Want to trade lives? LOL

Bonnie, sorry for grossing you out. Most of the book wasn't that graphic...

Luna, I loved All Quiet on the WF and can't believe I hadn't read it till this year. It might be in my top 5 books for the year. Have you read Regeneration by Pat Barker yet? That was another amazing WW1 book (although I was not as keen on the second two in the trilogy.)

Cait, in a few years maybe you could go and be an amazing English teacher to Swiss kids! I am hugely excited. I'll be slightly less excited in 3 weeks when my husband goes over and I have 2 kids on my own for 6 weeks...;)

#8: Adding that one to the Planet. Thanks for the recommendation, Cushla.

Good luck with the move - and with the 6 weeks of having the kids on your own :)

Thanks Stasia! LT,and my RL friends and parents, are going to be my sanity savers...

Book 50: Sharon and My Mother-in-Law: Ramallah Diaries - 4 stars

I borrowed Suar Amiry's Sharon and my Mother-in-Law: Ramallah Diaries
from the library on Friday after Akeela's recommendation on her thread. It was great - a real eye-opener if, like me, you are a bit slack at following what's going on in Israel and Palestine. Even figuring out what I should call Palestine took a trip to Wikipedia. Suar Amiry was born in Syria to Palestinian parents who fled from Jaffa in 1948, but moved back to Palestine when she was 18. She married another Palestinian, Salim, and became an architecture professor. If I had to make a list of people from this year's books with whom I'd like to have dinner, she'd definitely be on it!

This book is in two parts. The first part is her life story from when she's 18 till the mid-1990s, and her day-to-day experiences. The second part is based in 2001 - 2003, when the Israelis tried to smoke Arafat out of his headquarters. Amiry's mother-in-law lived in an apartment building next door to Arafat's headquarters, and ended up staying with Suar and Salim for an extended period of time. I expected there to be more about her mother-in-law in the book than there was, and think the title was funny but not all that accurate. (And her mother-in-law really does sound difficult, but hey, she's 92...)

Amiry is a great writer and has a biting sense of humour, even when the stories are devastating. There's one about her getting her dog vaccinated, and another where she stares down an Israeli soldier, who then drags her husband in for questioning because "your wife won't stop looking at me!". But this book left me really, really sad. It's light on politics and history, but it probably helps to know a bit about 1948/1967/the intifada, but you don't need much background (mine is pretty light - Leon Uris' Exodus (**blush**), From Beirut to Jerusalem by Tom Friedman, and newspaper reading.) I have Gate of the Sun by Elias Khoury waiting downstairs and will try to read it soon. I'd also like to read a decent history of the Israeli/Palestinian/etc conflict so if any of you have a recommendation yell out!

Nice review, Cushla. I'm moving this one way up on my TBR list.

I hope that you like Gate of the Sun as much as I did!

It was great - a real eye-opener if, like me, you are a bit slack at following what's going on in Israel and Palestine

Yep, I am. Putting this on my wishlist.

>14 cushlareads: I'm particularly interested in this because of the female perspective - there seem to be an awful lot of books out there about the Israel-Palestine conflict from the male expert perspective; not so many from the everyday family viewpoint.

#14 Cushla - "I'd also like to read a decent history of the Israeli/Palestinian/etc conflict so if any of you have a recommendation yell out!

Well, as much as I'd like to, I can't give you any recommendations as this is a conflict I've yet to explore in depth. However, I can direct you to THIS LINK which has an extensive list of books on the topic. It's not exhaustive however, and the one book I do have, 1967: Israel, the War, and the Year that Transformed the Middle East by Tom Segev, is not on it!

A starting point could be historian Martin Gilbert's Israel a history which gives an overview of the past 100 years, I haven't read it myself. I learnt a lot from reading O Jerusalem, Operation Babylon and Abba Eban: an autobiography but these are probably from an Israeli perspective.
Peter's link leads to a long list of books, most of them I haven't come across before so can't comment.
I have Forgotten Conscripts prelude to Palestine's struggle for survival by Eric Lowe out of the library at present, it's about the British soldiers who served in Palestine after WW2. I'm interested in reading around the era of the late 1940s as it was then that the British also divided up India and Pakistan which Larry Collins wrote about in Freedom at Midnight.

City of Oranges by Adam LeBor is on my tbr pile - it's a modern history of the Arabs and Jews of Jaffa.
Another one - The lemon tree : an Arab, a Jew, and the heart of the Middle East by Sandy Tolan. It's on my tbr list as well.

David Grossman's The Yellow Wind which I never finished might be a bit dated as it's from the 1980s, but is about the Israeli occupation of Gaza and the West Bank and has gotten glowing reviews since it first came out.

I've been given a copy of Genesis 1948: The First Arab-Israeli War by Dan Kurzman (1970) and hope to read it soon. It looks quite comprehensive and is based on over 1000 interviews.

Hope this helps.

One of my favorite books from a couple of years ago is Once Upon a Country: A Palestinian Life, a memoir and autobiography by Sari Nusseibeh.

> 12 Wow! You got around to it rather quickly. Nice review!

I also have the Sandy Tolan title on my tbr, and will add the Sari Nusseibeh. Thanks, doc.

Thanks for the fantastic recommendations. Kerry, I have a couple of other Martin Gilbert books on WW2 (high on the TBR pile but something else always beats them.)

#17 Rachael, it was nice to read from a woman's perspective but she does come from a pretty well-off background and it comes through in what she doesn't write about. The poverty, very high unemployment, etc come through but don't affect her directly. Life sounds tough enough even if you're a privileged double-income-no-kids couple.

#21 akeela, I'm re-discovering the joys of going to the library with a list of LT books and not having screeds of lecture notes to write!

Ooh! I know that feeling. Enjoy!

#22 I have a few of those Martin Gilbert books on my tbr as well!

#18 Peter, I have another by Tom Segev - 1949 the first Israelis, looks like he's written a few books about Israel.
Six Days of War by Michael Oren - is another comprehensive history of the Six Day War, covering also the Cold War politics and its influence on the Middle East in the 1960s.

Book 51: A Corner of the Veil by Laurence Cosse - 4 stars

A Corner of the Veil was sitting on the "Returned Today" trolley at the library last week. I'd never heard of it but picked it up because of its lovely cover - the vault of a cathedral. It turned out to be an unputdownable satire about an order of French priests closely modelled on the Jesuits, the French government, and God. It was published in French in 1999 and translated into English by Linda Asher.

The story takes place over 8 days in 1999, and there's plenty of plot and well-drawn characters. In the first chapter we meet Father Beaulieu, a Casuist priest who edits the Casuists' theological journal, as he goes through his mail. A crank has sent him yet another proof of God's existence - only this one turns out to be right. Beaulieu is bowled over by the truth and rushes off to tell Herve, one of his friends who's a professor of theology. Then the fun begins. We see the reaction of the Casuist provincial, Father Dangeolet, and various senior government ministers. The satire is more about the reactions of the church's institutions and the government to God's existence than the proof itself - we don't learn much about it, except that it's 6 pages long and everyone who reads it is instantly convinced, and knows that everyone else who reads it will be too. All doubt in God will vanish once news of the proof gets out. The world will change dramatically, and several of the main characters will be out of a job.

I think your reaction to this book would depend on what you think about organised religion, God, and Catholicism. I read it as an ex-Catholic with a bit of background about church structures, which might've made it funnier.

I can see other good reviews here on LT but was amused to see that the New York Times reviewer back in 1999 trashed it!

Would some kind soul please tell me how to do acute accents?

Ooh, I like the sound of that - fun!

Accents: enter é (replace the e as necessary for other characters).

#26: I will give that one a try, even though I am not presently nor have I ever been a Catholic.

Just realised I've been away from my own thread for 24 days! Eeek. I keep thinking I'll have time to do some real reviews, but I'm dreaming, so I'll just fill in some gaps quickly.

Book 52 was Gellhorn: A Life by Caroline Moorhead - 3 1/2 stars . I enjoyed this, but nowhere near as much as some of the other non-fiction I've read this year. It wasn't really Caroline Moorhead's fault though. She did an excellent job at giving us every details of Martha Gellhorn's life - there was just a bit too much detail about the men she'd slept with and how she felt about every encounter. The material about her experiences in the Spanish Civil War, WW2, and Vietnam was fascinating.

The main problem was that I didn't warm to Gellhorn, especially when she adopted her son without really thinking about the consequences, and treated him rather badly. She was a chilly character and by the end of the book I just wanted to finish it! It's also put me off reading any Hemingway. Gellhorn was married to him for a while and I found those parts of the book quite tedious - again, not the author's fault, and I waded on to the more interesting material about her wartime journalism. I haven't read any of Gellhorn's fiction but found a copy of her novellas for $2 a few months ago. Reading the biography has made me push them down the TBR mountain.

Book 53 was a recommendation from Joyce - Too Much Tuscan Sun by Dario Castagno - 3 stars .

I saw this on Nickelini's thread and grabbed it on my next library trip for a funny, easy read. It's written by a tour guide based in Siena, written as an antidote to Under the Tuscan Sun. I thought he ended up doing nearly as much lyrical description of the countryside and its lizards as Frances Mayes, but the stories about the American tourists were hilarious, and the background on the Palio was interesting. He was quick to say that most of his guests were not bad! I did wonder about one story though - without giving it away, it concerns two couples in a car...

We spent a freezing 3 or 4 days in beautiful Siena a few years ago, and that was enough to keep me reading. Recommended if you're contemplating a trip to Italy, have already been, or just want a speedy travel read.

Cushla,

Saw your note on People of the Book on the Reading Globally where are you now thread, and you articulated exactly how I felt about it. I just did not think it was as great as it had been represented to be, and you put your finger on why.

Yeah, it's Cushla! How's the packing going? Too Much Tuscan Sun sounds like a fun read--though I'm already a self-conscious traveler to the point of wondering whether I should even be travelling to some places at all. For example, have you read Jamica Kinkaid's book, A Small Place?

eta: I should say I'm a self-conscious want-to-be traveler because I actually travelled very little.

Hi visitors!

Lisa, glad it wasn't just me. I posted a bit more rant over in the 50 BC challenge thread.

Bonnie, I haven't read any Jamaica Kincaid but I'm just going to have a wee look at that book now...huh - looks interesting. Has it put you off going to Antiuga as a tourist?

Interrupting this message to shut computer down and go to bed because I am sharing the kitchen with a mouse. Am in the middle of Death at La Fenice by Donna Leon, perfect for my happy but too busy state. Right, going now before mouse runs over toes.

>29 cushlareads: i don't know much about Gellhorn's personal life, but have the impression that she was indeed what you call a "chilly character." her war journalism, though, is something else. i read her The Face of War earlier this year, which is a collection of some of her essays from the Spanish Civil War all the way to Nicaragua in the 1980s, and was very impressed with her writing.

Where is the cat that ate the mouse that ate the fly that ate...... I've forgotten how that winds up. Actually, I'd forgotten that was even stored in my brain until I saw your mouse post. I need to do a print out of my brain to see what else is lodged therein of which I'm unaware.

Aaaah! Mouse! Sounds like you need a kitty. I had a friend who used to loan her cat out to people with mice in their homes. The cat would come for a few days, bat the mice around, then leave. I guess it worked.

I had to chuckle thinking about hiring a cat to rough up some of your unwanted visitors. Reminds me of Rats on the Roof by James Marshall. Love that beginning chapter book. My mom's cat used to bring in rodents and let them loose in her house, but fortunately her dog was good at finding them and gently scooping them up in her mouth and taking them back outside.

Cushla - you need to get Gavin Bishop's picturebook Rats from the library!
bonniebooks - I was just about to type the same thing about my cat and dog.

Many thanks for the rat references... ha ha. I will look for both those with Teresa on Friday!!

Jmaloney, great idea in theory but the mice obviously know that we have a great buffet available and that we are all very allergic to cats! It's about time for the mouse to show his little face... he is a cheeky little sod.

Deebee thanks for reminding me about The Face of War. I've just added it to my wishlist - there were quite a few others in the book that I wanted to add too.

#35 VG now I am trying to remember all of that rhyme. I know the last line and know there's a spider and tickling and a horse, of course!

I lost you Cushla, but now you are starred again.

I have never gotten around to People of the Book - are you not recommending it?

Also - I do have several of Martin Gilbert's books on my TBR pile, but somehow never got around to reading them. I know his special interest is WW1 and the Jewish history around this.

Hi Karen! Great to see you back, and I've read your new comments over on your thread but haven't posted anything yet.

I don't know about People of the Book. The historical bits were good, really good, but the modern story overpowered them for me, so it's a lukewarm recommendation. I have March and hope it's going to be better. I just don't love her writing. And their werre to meny typos. Seige?!?! Conversation instead of conservation. Geez wayne, surely Geraldine Brooks gets assigned a decent editor?

Just realised I haven't written a quick review, but will get round to it some time in 2010 I suspect!

I'm looking after the kids on my own for 6 weeks, and lurking on LT in the evenings is turning out to be like having a witty, charming, well-read, never grumpy or in need of coffee adult in the house with me, and one who does not mind if I just read and don't contribute much! I'm reading a lot of Captain Underpants, Berenstain Bears, and the 2nd volume of Diary of a Provincial Lady, exactly what I feel like.

I always liked the freedom of it just being my kids and me--breakfast for dinner and all that--when my husband was on business trips, but then I'd usually get a bit of the "house fever" too. I would have loved LT back then. It seems like no matter when you need a bit of entertainment/conversation, there's always someone up and talking about books and their lives. You're right about the witty part, Cushla, you included. I get tired of using "LOL" as a way to express my chuckles, giggles, snorts and all-out belly laughs when getting my daily dose of LT.

I read on another thread that you are reading Pigeon and a Boy - I have this down for reading next year, how are you finding it?

I've been missing in action with the kids, tummy bugs, and trying to get organised for the move. Book reading is down to 10 minutes a day before I fall asleep!

Kerry, A Pigeon and A Boy is good but keeps getting bumped by easier reads. It's not that it's hard, but it's not as relaxing as the Diary of a Provincial Lady omnibus that I've just finished. I'm not reading it fast enough to get into it either - might try harder this weekend because it's due back soon and I hate getting halfway through! The setting is really interesting - Tel Aviv and Jersualem, spanning pre-WW2 right through to now. He jumps all over the place, and is slowly piecing the story together. If I were in a better reading mood I think I'd be loving it.

I've finished 2 books in 2 days, and the kids are asleep so I'm going to post some comments before something happens!

Book 60: A Pigeon and A Boy by Meir Shalev - 4 1/2 stars, more if you can handle talking pigeons

This book won Israel's Brenner Prize for fiction. Its author, Meir Shalev, is internationally acclaimed but I'd never heard of him till I found this book at the library with a "Reader's Choice" sticker. I'm so glad I picked it up, and recommend it highly, although the first 50-100 pages were slow going. The beautiful writing and the detailed characterisation kept me from sending it back. It was translated from Hebrew into English by Evan Fallenberg, but it was hard to guess that it had been, although there were a couple of places (jokes about pigeons, I think) where it would have been good to read the original.

A Pigeon and a Boy is a double love story. Yair Mendelsohn is a tour guide who takes bird-watchers around Israel. He tells his life story, set in present-day Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. He's unhappily married to Liora. Yair's Dad (called Yordad - the first of several jokes) was a pediatrician, and he features prominently. Yair was very close to his mother, and a lot of the book is told to her. Then there's Ben, his brother, his wife and their twin boys, and the Meshulam family. By the end of the book, it's as if you've met them all. Yair's mother gives him money when she is very sick and old, and tells him to build a house for himself. Eventually, he does, and there are some very funny scenes that reminded me of an un-schmaltzy Under the Tuscan Sun. The second story, also narrated by Yair, is about the Baby, a pigeon handler who lived on a kibbutz and fought in the 1948 war with Egypt, and the Girl, a pigeon handler at the zoo in Tel Aviv. I learnt lots about homing pigeons, and birds. There was a bit of magical realism, which usually makes me close a book at once, but luckily it was near the end and it was almost believable...

Shalev's characters are really well developed, all of them. There was a lot of Israel in the book, and I loved that - lots of detail about how it had changed from the first kibbutzes until now, but no overt politics. Shalev apparently writes a weekly column for one of the Israeli papers, and I might have a look. I'll definitely be looking for his other books, especially The Blue Mountain.

A big thank you to SqueakyChu and Kerry for encouraging me to keep reading this one - it has taken me several weeks!! But that's because of the kids and moving more than the book.

more if you can handle talking pigeons That gave me a laugh, Cushla! Thanks! What's the count down in terms of days? Things must be pretty much done if you've been able to read 2 books--congratulations! And have a good marathon--oops! I mean trip. ;-)

Nup, things not done! Nearly, though, and we are well into all the goodbyes. But I am over looking after 2 kids and I can't be bothered picking up Lego, so here I am.

2 days till Tim home (Christmas morning, 10 am, 36 hours...)
8 days till he and Fletch fly out
9 days till Teresa and I fly out...

eek!

#45: Looks good! Into the BlackHole it goes.

#45 - I'm looking forward to reading this one so maybe will make it my first Israeli novel for the year.
I hope your flights go ok - are you really flying straight through without a stopover?

Kerry, yep. No stopover till Zurich, then a night there, then a quick train ride up to Basel the next morning. She'll be right mate!

Best holiday wishes (and I'm glad your husband is able to come back for Christmas). Good luck on your move. I'm looking forward to following your reading next year (and your adventures in Switzerland).
Deborah

Lots and lots and lots of luck with the rest of the packing and the moving! Hope it goes fabulously well. I also wanted to add that since your quest earlier in the year for Swiss reading, I've heard several independent recommendations of Robert Walser's work - just wanted to add that to my earlier, less-informed, more tentative suggestion!

Thanks Deborah and Rachael!

We're just finishing off the house packing now - movers come tomorrow. I'm not looking forward to Heathrow security on Saturday after the last few days, especially after 30 hours of planes and airports, but otherwise I'm very excited!

Safe travels for you and your family, Cushla!

Have a safe trip Cushla!
Anita

I hope that you have an uneventful trip, Cushla.

Have a good trip Cushla:)

Thanks everyone! Still 2 more days till we go but the house is all packed up and our stuff is heading for the big boat... now at my parents' place. My husband discovered the stash of books in my case (see my 2010 thread) and I've had to take a few out. I asked him how he knew I had too many books in there and he said he just knew...

It was just an easy guess for your husband, he just knows you are a book-a-holic LOL

Best of luck for the trip, cushla! I'd better go and find your 2010 thread, too...