Sanddancer's 2010 Reads

Looking forward to a new year of reading and discussions in this forum.

My aim is read more books in 2010 than in 2009, so to make it a round number, my target will be 120 books. I'm doing the 101010 challenge http://www.librarything.com/topic/72358 so that will form the majority of my reading.

I am also setting myself the additional challenge of reading more non-fiction this year - at least 20 non-fiction books since I read 19 in 2009.

And I'm still working my way through the 1001 Books to Read Before You Die list, so hopefully there will be more ticked off that list in 2010.

Editing to add that I would also like to read more by female authors in 2010. In 2009, only 25 of the books I read were by women writers which seems very low, so I want to increase this.

Hello there. I am also trying to whittle down the 1001 list. There are many that I don't want to read, but there are several hundred on my radar. If I only read a few of them this year, I'll be satisfied. Good luck with your reading goals. Btw, I am DonnaReads on this challenge.

Welcome back!

Glad to see you back with us!

1. Me Cheeta by James Lever
My first book of the year was this enjoyable spoof autobiography, that purports to be by Tarzan's chimp co-star from the 1930s movies. It is everything you would want from a Hollywood memoir - full of scandal, gossip, name-dropping and self-delusion - it hardly matters that it isn't real. As with most memoirs, the book starts with Cheeta's early life in the jungle, progressing through his arrival in America, his first taste of fame and the highs and lows of a career in Hollywood's Golden Age. It got off to a bit of a slow star and at first I wasn't sure that I would enjoy it so much, but then it won me over. The part about Cheeta's later life, his fall from favour in Hollywood and his career beyond that, were particularly good, and I actually found the ending incredibly moving, which I wasn't expecting at all from a spoof.

That sounds like a fun book.

2. The Bird Room by Chris Killen
I received this book through the Early Reviewer program. It is a modern take on romance, obsession and identity. The main narrator is an unemployed man called Will who fears he is losing his girlfriend to his artist friend, who is also called Will. The other part of the narrative is about an 'actress' who calls herself Helen, and is employed by man she meets on the internet to panda to their perversions. I found the non-linear structure of the book added to the intrigue and was interested in what would happen to the main characters. It reminded me a bit of the play Closer by Patrick Marber. Ultimately though, the book failed to deliver on its promising start. It is written in an engaging and easy to read way, so I surged through it but I found it lacking in substance.

#7: I think I will give that one a miss. I hope your next read is better for you!

Next one was much much better.

3. The Invention of Everything Else by Samantha Hunt
After he was featured briefly in the film about magicians The Prestige, I've been intrigued by the inventor Nikola Tesla, so was keen to read this book which is partly a fictionalised biography. I had read mixed reviews of it, but I'm pleased to say I absolutely loved this. The book is set in the 1940s when a nosey chambermaid meets the visionary inventor who is living in the New Yorker hotel. While snooping in his room, she reads a draft of a biography about him, which is how we find out much of his story. The beautifully written story involves time travel, ove, human nature, the possibilities of science and pigeons!

Could it be a contender for my Book of the Year already?

LT says I'm definitely going to love this book. Thanks for bringing it to my attention!

Bonnie - I hope you do love it!

Book of the Year contender? I have to find that one!

Alcottacre - well it is early days, but it is definitely the best so far.

4. Incendiary by Chris Cleave
I loved The Other Hand last year (or Little Bee as it is called outside the UK) so thought I'd try his debut novel. The premise of this one is a grieving woman writing to Osama Bin Laden after a terrorist attack has killed her family. The woman is working class living in the East End of London and as much as it is about the war on terror, the book is about class differences in London. The terrorist attack part was pretty horrific and at first the premise of her addressing Bin Laden works, but this seems to be almost forgotten about as the book progresses and then doesn't seem particularly necessary. But what I had a bigger issue with was the portrayal of the different classes - I think the author is as patronising towards the working class as the middle class people he seems to criticise. The woman is the wife of a policeman so exactly the non-working underclass that he seems to lump her in with - there are people outside of the media elite who aren't the bottom rung of society. The middle class characters are stereotypes and the dialogue involving them is often unconvincing. Having said all of that, I did find the book engaging and I wanted to know what would happen, even though in the end I was rather disappointed.

As this is a debut novel , I'm counting it as part of the Take It or Leave It Challenge for January.

#13: Sadly, another one still unavailable at my local library. *sigh*

5. No One Belongs Here More Than You by Miranda July
This is a collection of short stories, a lot of them very short indeed. The author is a filmmaker, performance artist and all round "cooler than thou" type. Pretty much all of the stories involve people who are sad, lonely or misfits of some sort or another. I absolutely loved the second story "Swim Team" which was probably the lightest of the bunch, although still wistful. "Making Love in 2003" had some interesting elements to it and the final one "How to Tell Stories to Children" was long enough to allow for the characters to develop and give a glimpse of what the author might be able to do with a longer format. Overall, this collection conformed to my usual problem with short story collections - either they don't go anywhere, I'm left wanting more or I get tired of the same tone but with no development. Also as I get older, I find characters with difficult sexual identities less and less interesting.

I hope the next read is better for you!

I'm with you about the endings of short stories especially. Often, I just think, "Huh? That's it?" I'd much much prefer reading a novel. I guess I'm just too distractible. I need a longer story to escape into.

#15 - "Also as I get older, I find characters with difficult sexual identities less and less interesting."

Well said. Something I definitely feel, but would not have been able to state so well or succinctly. I often still choose books based on my younger self's preferences and then wonder why I enjoyed them less than I thought I would.

Bonnie - glad I'm not the only one.

Nancy - I struggled for ages to come up with how to express that - I didn't want to sound like I was being bigoted - so I'm pleased that you understand what I meant and have experienced that same thing.

6. Astrid and Veronika by Linda Olsson
This book is about the friendship that develops between two woman, one in her thirties, the other 80 years old. They meet when Veronika moves to a remote Swedish village to work on her second novel, and Astrid, an elderly recluse who the villagers call a witch, is her neighbour. As the seasons change from winter to spring, the women become friends and share the secrets of their lives and loves. The novel has a slow pace, but is filled with beautiful descriptions that evoke the Swedish countryside in the different seasons. Both the heartbreaks and moments of happiness experienced by both women are perfectly captured, with some incredibly poignant moments. I was particularly touched by the description of Veronika breaking off a relationship and the part where Astrid buys a swimsuit. A really beautiful book.

#20: I am adding that one to the BlackHole. It sounds lovely. Thanks for the recommendation!

Sounds good, sanddancer. Shouldn't be, but it's a rare combination of main characters, isn't it?

Bonnie - yes I suppose it is - unusual friendships aren't unusual in novels, but 80 year old women don't often appear.

7. Travels in the Scriptorium by Paul Auster
I'm slowly working my way through Paul Auster's novels and have always been impressed with his imagination and intelligence. This short book (130 pages - is that a novella?) certainly had those qualities but was too much on the post-modern side for my tastes. It is most like his critically acclaimed New York Trilogy, which has been the work of his that I had enjoyed the least. Like that book, here I could appreciate the author's skill and understand what he is doing, but I have warmed more to his books with comparatively more conventional plots. This work is very self-referential, being about the nature of the author (that may be a bit of a spoiler, but to be honest, what is billed as a puzzle was obvious from a few pages in). Anyone who had already read a lot of Auster's books would probably appreciate this, but I wouldn't recommend it as a starting point to anyone new to Auster.

8. Hacienda: How Not to Run a Club by Peter Hook
My first non-fiction book of the year. Hook is the bass player with New Order (and previously Joy Division). Much of this story has been covered elsewhere, particularly in the film and book 24 Hour Party People but this book looks at it from the angle of the legendary Hacienda Club, which was paid for from the profits of New Order's records and contributed to the demise of Factory Records. I'd seen Peter Hook moaning about how much money he unknowingly lost in this venture on various documentaries, and this book is an extension of that. He covers the history of the club year by year, with each chapter being full of tales of the highs, lows and shambolic way the club was being run. At the end of each chapter, there is a list of the gigs and club nights for that year, extracts from the accounts and some quotations from key players in the scene. Although some of the stories were already familiar to me, most are entertaining or in the case of the parts about the gangs ruining the scene, shocking. At times the author's moaning about the money does wear a little thin and after the first chapter, I wasn't particularly interested in seeing more of the accounts (yes, I get it - you were spending way more than you were earning with some ridiculously high costs for some odd things). Overall I did enjoy this, but it would probably only be of interest to people with an interest in the British music scene in the 1980s and 1990s, specificially New Order, acid house, Factory Records and the Madchester scene.

I have not read any of Paul Auster's books yet, so taking your advice, I will pass on Travels in the Scriptorium for now.

9.White Earth by Andrew McGahan
The blurb for the book describes it as Great Expectations sets in modern day Queensland, which I think put me off it for a while as I'm not a huge Dickens fan. It is about a young boy who goes to live with his strange great uncle on at his rundown house after his father dies with the hope that the uncle will like him enough to make him his heir. Interwoven with this is the life story of the uncle, explaining his obsession with the property. It was an interesting story with elements of the gothic (the mysterious house, ghostly figures, wicked housekeeper etc) mixed with commentary about Australia's history and the land rights of Aborigines. Sometimes, I found it hard to place the timing of the story - most of it is set in the 1990s, but it doesn't seem like the modern world. Towards the end of the book, I felt that too much of the history was just explained by one character rather than revealed to us through the plot, and it didn't seem believable that someone would be talking about this to a 9 year old boy. However, putting aside these niggles, it was still a decent read that drew me in and kept me interested to the end.

#26: Sounds like one I would enjoy. I will put it in the BlackHole. Thanks for the recommendation!

#20 I am glad you liked this book Astrid and Veronica too. I read it last year, though with the title Let me sing you gentle songs, and absolutely loved it. It had a slow pase and little action to move it forward, but that did not really matter. A book definitely worth reading.

I have to admit that i first of all fell for the title... a book with such a beautiful title had to be good, at least in my mind:)

Apolline - I think that is a much better title for the book - much more poetic.

10. Kneller's Happy Campers by Etgar Keret
Another novella, so a very quick read completely a few days ago. This is an oddly sweet book about the afterlife in the place reserved just for people who've commited suicide. This other world is actually rather like ours, but with a few surreal twists. Each chapter begins with the chapter number and a sentence to describe what is going to happen which was a nice little device. Despite the potentially morbid subject matter, I found this book quite delightful and I will be looking out for the author's other short story collections.

#29 I know, it captures the mood of the book in a very accurate way. I see you're up to a very good start this year btw:)

--> 30

Ooh! An Etgar Keret book I haven't read yet! He's a fun writer. I like his bizarre flash fiction with an Israeli twist. I'll keep an eye out for Kneller's Happy Campers. Thanks for the heads up.

ETA: Just wishlisted it!

Squeaky - I hadn't heard of him until I saw this book in the "In Translation" section of my local bookshop, but I'm definitely going to read more by him. Is there anything you'd particularly recommend?

Keret's books are so weird. They're fun to read, but some of the stories are so dark and distrubing that I don't know whether "enjoy" is a good term to use for reading them. Try The Nimrod Flipout or The Girl on the Fridge with it's story called "Super Glue".

I found another author who writes in the same style (for better or worse). He's Barry Yourgrau Ever hear of him?

No, I haven't but he has some great sounding titles there.

You just reminded me that I had a film directed by Etgar Keret here at home. I just watched it. It's Jellyfish and was excellent! If you do Netflix, get the film. Then watch the interview with Etgar Keret and his wife Shira Geffen (co-director of that film).

I saw that he had a film too. I don't do Netflix (I'm in the UK - not sure if it is avaiable here) but I'll add it to my DVD rental list.

I also found out that there is an indie film based on Kneller's Happy Campers which is called Wristcutters.

11. Niagara Falls All Over Again by Elizabeth McCracken
Although it took me long to read this book than any of the others so far this year, I still loved it. It was just the sort of story that I like. It is about the partnership between two comedians, who start out in the last days of vaudeville, then move onto radio and film. It is narrated by Mose Sharp, the straightman of the pair, looking back on his life from old age. Whilst Sharp is a devoted family man, his partner Rocky Carter has a string of failed marriages behind him, and their different lives lead to cracks in their relationship. I particularly enjoyed the parts about showbusiness, as I think the book captured the era very well.

I started Niagara Falls All Over Again when it first came out but lost interest pretty fast. Probably just bad timing because I thought her The Giant's House was great. I'll have to give this one another shot.
I've had New York Trilogy on my TBR shelf for several months and meant to get to it before I went to Manhattan last year but didn't find the time.
I've added Kneller's Happy Campers to my list, though. Thanks for the great review!

#39: I will look for Niagara Falls All Over Again. Thanks for the recommendation!

McCracken is such a great writer. And don't you just love that title? I agree with you about the show business part being the best part.

Bonnie - its the first book of hers that I've read, but I'll definitely read more by her in the future. It is a great title.

12. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
I'm rather embarrassed to say that this is the first Steinbeck I've read and I gave myself an easy start with a very short book. There isn't much to say about something that is regarded as such as classic as I'm sure most people here have already read it. I thought it was powerful, but it certainly wasn't an enjoyable read. It had that awful inevitability where you just know things aren't going to work out happily, which I found sad and depressing.

13. How Starbucks Saved My Life by Michael Gates Gill
A quick non-fiction read about a man who loses his high-powered job in advertising and ends up working in the coffee chain. I quite like Starbucks coffee but they tend to get a lot of negative press here in the UK for forcing independents out of business, so I thought it might be interesting to read something positive about them for a change. The book certainly did have a positive message, about how working hard and as part of a team (and having comprehensive healthcare) can make you happier than materalistic success, but somehow it wasn't as uplifting as I had hoped. The dedication of the "Partners" to Starbucks seemed almost cult-like and like he was just swapping one overwhelming corporate identity for another (I'm English so perhaps the customer service thing just seemed over the top to me as we don't go in for it so much here). I also found the author difficult to like - he went on about his past life far too much - the parts about the advertising world were fine, but I needn't really see the need for so much literary name dropping. The relevance of throwing apples at Ezra Pound and bull-running to impress Hemmingway didn't seem apparent to me, and as for the story about embarrassing himself over cucumber sandwiches with the Queen, I thought at that point that he was just making things up!

Oh, you have Starbucks! The frappuccino is sooo good!There's not a single Starbucks in the entire country over here. How sad and underdeveloped is that?? Liked your review though, over to my wishlist it goes:)

We have 4 Starbucks in our town! (I'm not bragging - it's a sad truth). I prefer making my own coffee (and saving all kinds of bucks).

Uh, mamzel, this would be bragging: There are 2 official starbucks shops in my neighborhood shopping center, plus a grocery store and a Barnes and Noble store in that same shopping center that both have a Starbucks in them--all four within a block and a half of each other. Of course, Seattle is where Starbucks started. In fact, I think this shopping center is the site of the first Starbucks store. P.S. Surrounding the shopping center there are three other coffee shops that I can think of. There might even be more; I don't drink coffee, myself, so it's all lost on me.

I think maybe the charm lies in not having it. I've only been to Starbuck twice (in the airport in Copenhagen, which is the only Starbucks in Denmark). Norwegians are a coffee loving people, almost like british/irish people and tea. Or maybe not THAT extreme:) But we do have lots of independent coffe shops and I can't actually think of one that belongs to an enterprise, at least where I live (quite different in the larger cities). I love cozy coffee/tea shops, just to sit there and chat with friends or even read a book.

I do prefer the independent coffee shops myself but remember when Starbucks were a novelty in the UK outside of London. Now every town seems to have at least one and they don't seem so glamorous!

14. Roseanna by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo
This is the first book in the Martin Beck series of police procedurals. I read the most famous one The Laughing Polceman last year and didn't realise it was part of a series. I received this one throuhg the SantaThing, which was a great gift for me (thank you, secret santa, whoever you are). It was written in 1965 but beyond the lack of faxes and computers, it seems pretty modern. It is written in quite a dry style, but I like that about it - it isn't about a quirky detective with lots of foibles, it is about a team of detectives, working through a difficult case in a realistic way, with a backdrop of western society going to ruin. The only quirk is that Martin Beck is always referred to by his full name. The crime here is a murder of a plain young woman whose body is found in the water when it is drained and she remains unidentified for a long time.

Two books with illustrations next

15. Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson
This was recommended on Alcottacre's mammouth thread the other week and I liked the sound of it. I got hold of a copy of it and it leaped to the top of my to read pile. It is a gentle comedy, but sometimes a gentle comedy is just what I need. It is about the lonely and frumpy governess who is looking for work but ends up helping a nightclub singer with her messy lovelife and sees a whole new society and way of living. I found this utterly delightful and loved the character of Miss Pettigrew. The book had some lovely illustrations too, which added to its charm. I can imagine that I will gives copies of this book to female friends in the future.

16. Vesuvius Club bu Mark Gatiss
This is the first of the Lucifer Box series of books, written by the comedian Mark Gatiss. The main character is a dandy, artist and secret agent in Edwardian society. The plot involves the murder of two scientists, which Box is asked to investigate. The book is silly, filled with characters with equally silly names. I found it amusing in parts, but the ridiculousness of it all was just too much for me, and I would have liked a change of pace with a break from the constant sub-Wildean witticisms. Perhaps I just wasn't in the right mood for it. My book was an omnibus edition with the next book in the series attached but for now, I'm not in a rush to read the next installment. I did like the art-nouveau Aubrey Beardsley style illustrations though.

#52: Glad to see you enjoyed Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day!

I've had Miss Pettigrew on my list for a year at least, so thanks for the review. Loved the movie!

#52 I loved both these - well, liked Vesuvius Club - the Devil in Amber is much better - v.v. good!

Mstrust - I was wondering if the film was any good. I've added it to my rental list.

BekkaJo - in that case, I will return to The Devil in Amber at some point.

17. The Chrysalids by John Wyndham
Generally I'm not a fan of science fiction, but I love John Wyndham's novels. This is the third one I've read (Midwich Cuckoos and Day of the Triffids being the others) and I think this may be my favourite. It is set in a dystopian future, where the people believe that they are created exactly in God's image so any deviation from "the norm" is a blasphemy and any one with differences is outcast. David's father is one of the strictest upholders of this belief, but unknown to him, David is different too - he is one of a small group of people who can communicate by telepathy. As with other Wyndham novels, what I liked about this was the interesting moral questions that it raises, relating to what is "normal", how we respond to differences and how people use religion to their own advantage.

#57: I thought I had that one ordered at the end of last year, but either I read the verbiage wrong or the company sent me the wrong book - I ended up with Coles Notes on The Chrysalids and Day of the Triffids! So, I still do not have a copy *sigh*

Alcottacre - that's not much use, is it? I would recommend that you do try to get hold of both of them.

It is of no use at all to me since I have never read either of the books. I have a ban on buying books this year, but I am trying to get copies through PBS.

18. Cocaine Train by Stephen Smith
Despite the title, this non-fiction travel book is less about drugs and more about the search for family and history in Columbia. As an adult, the author discovers that the grandfather he hardly knew had a mistress and son in Columbia, where he had worked on the railway. He goes to Columbia to look for the half-uncle he has never met (and doesn't even know the name of) and to find out more about the double-life of his grandfather. Along the way, he finds out more about this difficult country, where there is a constant threat of violence, partly from kidnappers, and drug barons, but also from political unrest. It is an interesting journey, with lots of information about the country, and although it was a very personal journey, the author had an unobstrusive style in telling us about the history. I particularly enjoyed the chapter about watching the World Cup there, and the end of his quest to find his other family.

#61: Adding that one to the BlackHole. Thanks for the recommendation, Sandy!

A pair that are very different but both on the dreaded 1001 Books to Read Before You Die List

19. The Time Machine by H G Wells
Again, I'm pretty certain this is the first Wells I've read and although I didn't think I'd seen any adaptation of this book, the future world with the divide between the beautiful Eloi who live above ground and the repulsive predatory Morlocks who live beneath seemed pretty familiar - perhaps the book is so famous the idea has passed into popular knowledge. The book was quite short and there wasn't that much to it, but I found the idea of the way the human race had evolved plausible and despite being written over 100 years ago, still a relevant critique of our "progress". The descriptions of the actual process of time travel were great too.

20. The Summer Book by Tove Jansson
The only thing that would have allowed me enjoy this book more would have been if I was reading it relaxing in the sunshine, rather than shivering in winter. The book is made up of lots of vignettes about a young girl Sophie and her grandmother during summer months on their small island in the Gulf of Finland. There isn't really a plot as such, so anyone looking for a linear narrative may not enjoy this. Through the two main characters, the author manages to capture beautifully what it is like to be a child and what is like to grow old. It is poignant in many places, but equally funny too. I particularly enjoyed the chapters "Beranice" about the fickle nature of children's friendships and "The Cat" which perfectly captures human's relationships with cats, but I loved the whole book. One I might read again but in the warmer months.

#63: Dodged a couple of book bullets there. I have already read The Time Machine and The Summer Book is already in the BlackHole. Whew!

#63 Well, two books for my wishlist. Thanx for the tips.

The Bird Room was the second book I finished reading this year too - also through Early Reviewers. I can't recommend it.

I devoured the whole Martin Beck series last year - I'd been wanting to read it for a while and then The Bookpeople had a fab offer on a set of all 10, complete with introductions by famous crime writers and interviews with Maj Sjowall (her partner and co-author Per Wahloo died just after they finished writing the books).

I must get hold of a copy of Miss Pettigrew at some point - I've bought some other Persephone books recently but feel I should at least read a couple before I buy more.

21. In this way I was saved by Brian DeLeeuw
The blurb for this book describes the unhealthy friendship between two boys, Luke and Daniel, with Daniel becoming more possessive and jealous as they get older. After the first chapter, it was pretty obvious what was going on and I was disappointed as I thought it was supposed to be a surpise, but it isn't as it is made very clear- Luke isn't real. He is an imaginary friend come to life. Telling you this won't ruin the story as this becomes apparent very early in the book and the rest is his battle to control Luke. What sets this apart from the many tales of split-personality and madness, is that the tale is told by Daniel, the imaginary friend. I enjoyed this - it was gripping, and I loved the unusual perspective, but it was never quite as creepy as I thought it should be.

#67: That one sounds interesting. I will see if I can locate a copy. Thanks for the recommendation!

I'm adding In this way I was saved to the pile.

It sounds fascinating!

Congratulations on reading 21 books thus far!

More slightly disturbing books

22 The Returners by Gemma Malley
This is a Young Adult book, but I quite liked her dystopian book The Declaration that I read last year so I picked this one up in the library. It is about a troubled teenage boy who sees weird people following him about and then finds out that they are "Returners", people have have been reborn at various point in history. This had an intriguing plot, but being a YA book, it was a fairly easy read, despite the disturbing nature of the story.

23. Come Closer by Sara Green
Picked this one up completely at random in the library. It is about a woman who is possessed and how the demon gradually takes control of her. It is written in sparse way, but again I was gripped by it.

#70: I will see if I can find a copy of The Returners. I think I will pass on the other one.

24. City of the Beasts by Isabel Allende
I selected this for the Reading Global themed read of Jungle settings as it set in the Amazon and is about a teenager who goes on an expedition there with his grandmother to find a mysterious beast. I didn't realise this was a Young Adult book when I picked it up in the Oxfam bookshop but a comment in one of the reviews suggested that was the target audience and on reading it, I felt a younger reader might appreciate it more than me. Earlier in the week, I enjoyed a YA book, and whilst both books had a simple style, I found this one far too childish for my tastes. Perhaps because the plot here was pretty much an old fashioned style adventure with the predictable stuff about the wonderful way of living of indigenous people compared with corrupted modern societies. Everything in the book was explained in details - you were told exactly how the main character felt, what everything anyone did meant, and I don't like that - I like there to be somethings that are open to interpretation and allow me to speculate (which The Returners did) even if things are wrapped up neatly at the end.

25. Juliet Naked by Nick Hornby
I read Fever Pitch and High Fidelity years ago but haven't bothered with any of Nick Hornby's other books. I picked this one up in the library because it is the book for discussion in this week's edition of a television book club. The show so far has been dreadful but I thought it might be better if I had read the book they were discussing so I got this. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this. It isn't great literature by any means, but this sort of semi-lighthereted stuff is really hard to get right and Hornby does it so well. I found it very funny in places and I must say I identified quite a lot with Annie, the main character. I've hung around with a lot of these obsessive music types described in the book and I thought his depiction of them was spot on. I loved the northern seaside town too - I'm from somewhere pretty similar. If I didn't have these affiinities with the subject matter, then I may not have enjoyed it much so it perhaps isn't for anyone but I liked it alot. Now that I did enjoy it though, I'm wondering if I can bear to watch a panel of D-list celebrities discussing it on the television.

Cathing up on your thread...Wow! 25 books thus far. That is truly amazing, and so many great ones at that!

I'm reading Juliet, Naked too, as I thought nearly all the chosen books sound worth reading so am trying to keep up. I'm quite enjoying it.

I've enjoyed the programme a bit more than you though it could be a lot better.

Elkiedee - I just wish they would spend more time discussing the actual book and less time with the celebrity guest and trying to be funny themselves. But as book-related programmes are few and far between, I'll probably keep watching it. I much prefer The Book Show on Sky Arts.

Whisper - I missed your comment there for a moment. 25 is very good going for me, but on this site, not that impressive! I have really enjoyed my reading so far this year.

Back in town and catching up on everyone's threads. I thought I read The Summer Book a couple of summers' ago, but it was about a young girl and her grandmother. Are there two books? Anyway, it was a gentle, sort of sentimental book. I don't remember either particularly loving it, or disliking it, but the person who gave it to me raved about it--it was one of her all-time favorites.

Bonnie - you are quite right about The Summer Book - I must have just typed grandfather by mistake - I hadn't noticed it until now (I've corrected it). I really enjoyed it but could see that it wouldn't be everyone's thing as it was very gentle and wistful with no real plot, but sometimes I like that sort of thing and here I thought it was done so well.

26. Missing Kissinger by Etgar Keret
A collection of short stories by the Israeli writer whose novella Knellers Happy Campers I enjoyed last month (book 10, message 30). These short stories were really really short so I experienced my usual problem I have with the form in that it doesn't allow much room for character or plot development and doesn't allow you to be really imersed in the story in the same way that a novel does. However, I did really enjoy many of the stories and I like his dark surreal tone alot, so I will probably seek out more of his short story collections and hope that he might write something longer one day. I'm also waiting for the film he was involved in to be available in the UK.

27. Time and Again by Jack Finney
This took me a long time to read. It was a bigger book than most I've read this year and I hit a bit of a wall with my reading this week, so this took nearly the whole week to finish. That said, I did enjoy it. It is about a man selected for a secret government project into time travel, who manages to travel back to the 1880s in New York. The book has lots of descriptions of New York then compared to the New York of the when the book was written (1970 I think). There isn't much on the actual science of time travel, but lots about the implications of our small actions and how society has changed over time, which I enjoyed.

#79: I bought Time and Again last year. I need to locate it so I can give it a read. Thanks for the reminder!

28. Lean On Pete by willy Vlautin
Another Early Reviewers book and possibly my favourite of all the books I've received so far through this scheme. It is about a teenage boy, Charlie, whose home life is chaotic to say the least. He has never known his mother and his father, although meaning well, often leaves him alone without enough money or food. One summer, his dad moves them to Portland and while Charlie waits for school to start again, he finds employment at the racetrack. Here he meets the horse that gives the book its title and that is one of the catalysts for the journey he goes on. Although the book is named after the horse and it is important to the story, this is not really a story about a friendship between a boy and an animals - it is more about living in poverty. The book is written with a simple style, from the point of view of Charlie, who is a likeable narrator, a basically decent kid who finds himself in difficult circumstances. It reminded me a bit of S E Hinton's books, particularly The Outsiders which I loved as a teenager, although I don't think this is a YA book.

29. Chocky by John Wyndham
I saw a children's television drama version of this book when I was a child and I found it very disturbed. I couldn't remember much more about it but when I saw that this was another John Wyndham book on the 1001 Books to Read Before You Die, I ordered it from the library. The writing style is similar to that of Wyndham's other novels - he writes in a straightforward way that doesn't waste words and draws you immediately into the story. I did enjoy this, however I found it less thought-provoking than his other books, and not at all scary, unlike the television version. I would still recommend to fans of Wyndham's other books, but it isn't my favourite and I would have included The Chrysalids in the 1001 list over this.

#81: I am adding both of those to the BlackHole. Thanks for the recommendations, Sandy.

I also have Lean on Pete through the ER scheme - I was curious about it because the author Willy Vlautin is also a musician in an alt country group called Richmond Fontaine - I think he's also a songwriter.

Elkiedee - I saw that he was a musician on the back of the book. I'd not heard of his band, but I would have guessed it was alt-country! Are they any good?

I don't know their music well but I really like what I've heard. I think I first came across them on emusic.

I will investigate them further.

30. A Freewheelin Time: A Memoir of Greenwich Village in the Sixties by Suze Rotolo
Suze Rotolo was Bob Dylan's girlfriend in the early 1960s and appeared on the cover of his Freewheelin album. After they split, there was a lot of speculation about their relationship and which songs were about her. She had remained silent about it, but appearing in the Scorsese film No Direction Home, opened up old memories for her and she decided that she was ready to write a memoir of that period. This is not a book about Bob Dylan, it is a book about being a young woman living through an exciting time in an interesting place, who also happened to be Bob Dylan's girlfriend. This might disappoint Dylan fans or anyone looking for gossip and muck-raking - we have glimpses of their relationship, mainly through some old letters he wrote to her while she was in Italy and a bit about his need for privacy and his secrecy about his background - but it is more about the difficulties for a young woman finding her own identity. I found this book really interesting - Suze Rotolo led an interesting life and had her own interests and passions apart from those of her famous boyfriend. She had an unconventional family background, was an artist in her own right and was one of a group of students who went to Cuba to test the ban on travelling there. Despite the liberal attitudes and striving for equality in terms of race, what comes across here is that women were not yet considered equals, and could usually just hope for the status of being someone's "chick" and I found myself sympathetic to her struggles to define herself.

I wonder if I can get hold of the book here. Though I like Bob Dylan and that's obviously part of the attention grabber/sell for the book, it sounds like her background as a red diaper baby, her involvement in the culture of the 60s and her life have been more interesting.

Added to my Amazon uk wishlist.

Elkiedee - are you in London (that's what it says on your profile) - so am I. I bought it for £2 in Fopp off Charing Cross Road, so definitely available in the UK.

Is that shop still open or was this a while ago?

Otherwise, I can get it from Amazon.

It is still open and I bought the book about 3 weeks ago so should still be in stock. They had lots of good stuff for £2 so definitely worth a look around.

Thanks for that info, I'm working out when I can try to get there. I used to go after work but don't think that's a good plan today or most days. I think I will have to take an extended lunchbreak one day this week, maybe today! Not just for that book but I would love to revisit Fopp and also Any Amount of Books near Leicester Square tube.

I was also looking at your thread to see if you had read Lean on Pete as an ER book, and see it was you. I also read the book, and loved it (I disliked my first ER book, The Bird Room.

Just to say I went out and bought the Suze Rotolo book at lunchtime though it was £4 today (the prices do fluctuate there) and a few other things besides, plus two huge bagfuls of stuff from Any Amount of Books.

I hope you enjoy the Suze Rotolo book. What else did you buy?

From Fopp

A book about Britain in the 60s by Dominic Sandbrook, another book, 2 Richmond Fontaine CDs and DVDs of The Age of Innocence in a set with the Edith Wharton novel (but I have a Virago Modern Classics copy) and Naked by Mike Leigh.

I also bought about 20 books from Any Amount of Books, a mix of fiction, crime and kids' books and others.

Sounds like a good book. I always like to reminisce about the '60's.

So do I Squeaky, although I wasn't actually born then!

31. Hellraisers: The Life and Inebriated Times of Richard Burton, Richard Harris, Peter O'Toole and Oliver Reed by Robert Sellers
The subtitle here pretty much says it all. Here the author has collected together anecdotes from the lives of these four famous actors, who are were also notorious boozers. The book is divided into chapters by decade from the 50s to the 90s, with a starting chapter giving some background information on the actors' upbringings and a final chapter called Last Man Standing which focuses on O'Toole's life in the last decade. The chapters move between each of the four main players one at a time (although they do sometimes crop up in each other's stories) so you would have one stories about Burton, followed by one about Harris, then O'Toole, then Reed, and back again. This makes the narrative rather disjointed and although it was full of great stories, I didn't feel that I ever felt I knew the actors any better. There are plenty of testimonies from friends saying what great men they were, how kind/funny/talented etc, but because this is essentially a collection of drunken antics, I didn't really see much of their better sides. With Burton in particular, there was a lot about how he wasted his talent and the others' reactions to his death are moving, but there isn't much of the charming side of Burton here. However, their lives were certainly more interesting than actors today, and it didn't seem like it was just these four (there are plenty of other outrageously behaved people in here), which made for an entertaining read. And I feel inspired to watch some of their better films.

#98: I am going to pass on that one. Nice review though, Sandy.

32. The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint by Brady Udall
The book begins with the classic opening line "If I could tell you only one thing about my life it would be this: when I was seven years old the mailman ran over my head". This is the defining moment in the life of the narrator, Edgar Mint, as it is this accident that shapes the events that follow. Edgar is half-Apache, living on a reservation with his drunk mother and his stern grandmother, his father having ran off when the mother tells him she is pregnant. The accident with the mail truck leaves Edgar in a coma, with no memory of his life before the accident, and everyone assumes he will die. But an unconventional doctor saves him and people become convinced that he is special. Edgar himself believes he cannot be hurt and that it is his life's mission to find the mailman to tell him that he survived. The book is divided into sections, each one mainly taking place in a certain setting as Edgar moves through life, from the hospital, to a school for Native American children, his time living with a Mormon family and finally as he tracks down the mailman. The book contains some quirky characters, but it is for the most part, a sad story with lots of suffering for poor Edgar, who you can't help but feel for. It reminded me a bit of A Prayer for Owen Meany, another book that I loved.

#100: I will have to look for that one. Thanks for the recommendation!

I have the Dutch translation of A prayer for Owen Meany on my TBR pile and there is a copy of De buitensporige lotgevallen van Edgar Mint at the public library :-)

ETA wonky touchstones...

FAMeulstee - I hope you enjoy them in Dutch.

33. Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
This is the second of his book's I've read, the other being Cats Cradle and my response to both has been similiar - I've enjoyed them, but am not entirely sure that I fully understood them. Both books take serious subjects and treat them in a bizarre almost comic fashion. While Cat's Cradle was about the end of the world and religion, this one is about the horrors of war and death, free will versus predestiny, but rather than a straightforward narrative, it is about a man who time travels back and forth through his own life and is kidnapped by aliens! I liked the repeated refrain of "So It Goes" whenever death was mentioned, particularly how it was even used about the death of the novel. It has left me wanting to read more about other people's opinions on the book rather than just having read it and forgetting about it.

34. Cereus Blooms at Night by Shani Mootoo
Set in a Caribbean village called Paradise, which is anything but, this is the story of the life of Mala Ramchandin, as told by the gay male nurse looking after her in an old people's home. Mala is subject to much gossip and speculation, having lived a reclusive life for many years, taunted by local children and finally being accused of a crime. The nurse, Tyler, feels he has meet a kindred spirit in this quiet woman and he retells her story based on what he has heard about her, her own mutterings and the what he finds out from her two visitors. The themes of secrets and identity weave through all parts of the book. On one hand it is a very sad story as Mala's life has been horrific and, but at its heart there is a lot of love in this story. Highly recommended

35. The Way Home by George Pelecanos
I think this is now the seventh Pelecanos book I've read. Obviously I do like his writing otherwise I wouldn't keep going back, but I do wonder if I might just copy and paste my comments from previous ones. This one is not part of a series and is less of a crime novel than some of his others. At the centre of the book is the relationship between a father and son, where the son has "gone off the tracks" as a teenagers and spent time in a juvenile correction facility. The story briefly covers his troubled time, the time inside and then him trying to make a new life on the outside. There was a lot in here about what is the best way to handle young boys like this, whether the prison system works etc and how some youngsters who have a bad start just can't turn things around - so this was closely to the themes of The Wire, which Pelecanos wrote for. But there was also the obligatory real bad guys and a big bag of stolen cash, which escalates the plot into the sort of climax that Pelecanos ends most of his books with - a showdown, although with a (slight) twist to this one. As ever, it was an enjoyable read and it is getting a lot more publicity here than his earlier books because of The Wire connection, but I think the books in the Washington DC series, especially The Big Blowdown and King Suckerman were more interesting for their period detail.

I'm about to read this one - it's coming up for discussion on the TV Bookclub but also I regard Pelecanos as one of my favourite writers though I've not read all his books and I think Hard Revolution might be the most recent one I have written. I think I like his first 3 books about Nick Stefanos, starting with A Firing Offense, and Soul Circus about Quinn and Strange, best.

I'll be interested in what you think of it (and to a lesser extent, what the Book Club thinks of it!).

The books you've named are the ones I haven't actually read yet! I've read the first two of the Strange and Quinn series and none of the Nick Stefanos series, although he does turn up here and there in the Washington series.

#104: Cereus Blooms at Night looks very good. I will look for it. Thanks for the recommendation.

36. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
Another book set in the Caribbean but sadly I did not enjoy this one as much as Cereus Blooms at Night. It is considered a classic and is the author's feminist/post-colonnial response to Jane Eyre. I haven't read Jane Eyre (I know - a shamefull admission - but it is just so long and the text so small, and I have an aversion to the classic based on Mansfield Park) but I don't think that had anything to do with not liking this book. I know the plot of Jane Eyre and understand why this author was interested in writing a book mainly from the perspective of Rochester's mad wife. I liked the concept very much, but the execution was not to my tastes. Whereas other readers have praised its style for being evocative and sensual, I just found it dislocating and at times confusing.

#108: I never got around to reading my copy of Wide Sargasso Sea after seeing a couple of negative reviews here in the group, so I posted it out on PBS. It does not look like I have missed anything.

Now, Jane Eyre I love! If you would like a larger print edition, check out www.readhowyouwant.com - you can actually choose the font size you prefer. The books are pricy, however.

It isn't that I can't read the small print - it is just that I get intimiated by longer books and I like print to look a certain way - if it is larger print, the book will have even more pages, making it worse! I really should get over this as I know it is pathetic and millions of people must be onto something with Jane Eyre''s continuted popularity. I will aim to read it by the end of the year.

Ah, OK. Hmm, well I cannot help with the intimidating size of the book. My method of dealing with larger books is to cut them (not literally, of course!) into bite-size chunks so that I do not get overwhelmed by the whole.

Right now, my humongous read is Parting the Waters, which is about 1000 pages long. I just set a goal to have it done by April 30. It takes the pressure off me if I set a reasonable goal and not 'I must have this read by Tuesday week' or some other such nonsense. After all, reading is supposed to be an enjoyable activity!

I love Wide Sargasso Sea though I'd say as a feminist that Jean Rhys has some interesting stuff to say on women's position but referring to her writing as feminist is a bit problematic. I'm not really a great fan of Jane Eyre but really want to read Charlotte Bronte's other work - I particularly like the sound of Villette.

#112: Luci, I read Villette last year and enjoyed it, although I must warn that if you are not proficient in French I would get an annotated copy if you can. I thought the ending a bit of a letdown, although somewhat expected given the time period in which it was written.

I totally agree re Villette - well worth a read but can be a let down at the end.

I really liked Wide Sargasso Sea though... I also thought it was better than Jane Eyre.

I really liked Cereus Blooms at Night when I read it a few years ago, and like you, I liked it more than Wide Sargasso Sea.

I actually like to read longer books. It usually takes me a long time to get into a new book, but once I'm involved in the book I want it to keep going on forever. I have in fact been known to "unwishlist" books when I saw they were less than 175 pages or so.

37. The Memory of Running by Ron McLarty
I've started and put down a couple of books since the last one, so I was relieved to get into this one quickly and get back into the flow again. The book is about Smithy Ide, an overweight 40-something, living with his parents, haunted by the memory of his beautiful but mentally ill sister who disappeared 20 years ago. When his parents are killed, he then discovers a letter from LA saying his sister is also dead, which sets him off on a journey across America by bicycle. The story moves back and forth between his present day journey and the events years earlier which led to his sister's disappearance. The parts about the sister's illness are bleak and heartbreaking, but ultimately this is an upllfting novel as it is the story of Smithy's redemption - as he cycles he loses weight and rekindles the friendship with the girl who lived next door to him. The girl, now a woman, is in a wheelchair and I did worry that at times the book might drift into mawkishness, but I think it kept just the right side of sentimentality and I enjoyed Smithy's journey very much.

#116: That is one I have had in the BlackHole for a while now. I will have to bump it up. Thanks for the reminder!

38. It's only a movie by Mark Kermode
This is an autobiography of sorts from the BBC film critic. I say "of sorts" because it isn't a thorough account of his life, but just the parts relating to his obsession with film and his career as a film critic, rather than his personal life. In the Prologue, he sets out how the story will be told as if he was making tv movie of his life, perparing the reader for the likelihood that there may be some artistic license with the narrative. Chapters cover his childhood and early obsessions with film, his days in Manchester writing for the student press and City Life magazine, his early film critic career at Time Out, time spent in LA, a disastrous trip to Russia, his radio career and a series of amusing ancedotes from his career. It is written in a style similar to his broadcasting which I think polarises opinion - I love his film reviews (I don't see the point in being a critic if you aren't going to be passionately opinionated) but I know some people don't like him, so this book would not be for them. I absolutely loved every bit of this.

#118: I will have to track that one down. It sounds like one I would really enjoy. Thanks for the recommendation.

39. Man in the Dark by Paul Auster
Another slim volume by Paul Auster, which I finished over the course of one day's commute. It had similarities with Travels in the Scriptorium (book 7, message 24), in that some of it is about the nature of writing and the relationship between writers and their creations. In this case, August Brill, a retired literary critic, is making up stories in his head in order to escape from reality. One of those stories is of an America torn apart by civil war after George W Bush's election and we are presented with an alternative reality and characters who are aware that there are different realities. So far, so post-modern, but I enjoyed this more than Travels in the Scriptorium because along with the post-modern cleverness, there was genuine emotional depth here, especially in the portrayal of the relationships between August and his family. There is one description towards the end (I'm won't say what of) that is truly disturbing, but then the actual end of the book I found so touching.

#120: That one looks pretty good. Thanks for the recommendation.

Sandy

What an incredible amount and quality of books you read!

I'm sorry that I'm behind on the threads and missed yours for a few weeks. Now, in checking in, I see three books in particular that I'm adding. Your descriptions are delightfully written and I cannot resist these:

#23 Lean on Pete
#32 The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint
#37 The Memory of Running

Whisper - yes, I would definitely recommend those three to anyone.

40. Rock n Roll by Tom Stoppard
A play for a change. I saw this play a few years ago when it transferred to the West End and I loved it. I think already having seen it on stage helped me to follow it in the written form, but it did come with very good author's notes which made the staging intentions very clear. There were also helpful notes about the historical period. The play moves between the Cambridge home of a Communist professor and the flat in Prague of his former student, Jan, moving from the 1960s up to 1990. As the title suggests, music plays an important part in the play, and Syd Barrett (the reclusive former member of Pink Floyd) appears in the play. Whilst I still enjoyed reading it, I found it seemed a lot more weighty and intellectual in print than I found it on stage, and in particular a section on Sappho went right over my head here, whereas I don't remember it from the stage production. I think perhaps the quality of the acting, actually seeing it in front of me and the addition of the fantastic music probably made it easier to understand on the stage, whereas in print, it is easier to get bogged down with the big ideas.

I would also highly recommend Lean on Pete which I was lucky enough to get sent through Early Reviewers too. I'd like to read his first two novels.

Elkiedee - I have also downloaded one of the Richmond Fontaine album which I really like (I can't remember the name at the moment) but as well as his earlier books, I think I'll be buying more of his music in the future too.

They had two of their albums at £5 each in Fopp when I went in to look for that Suze Rotolo book - Post to Wire and Lost Son - I was very pleased to find that on emusic there were two others which I didn't have as well as some which I'd already downloaded there. Some of the song titles cross reference the books.

A pair of books that were well-written but not necessarily much fun!

41 This is How by M J Hyland
I received this book through the Early Reviewer program, which is why I've written a longer than usual review. When his fiancée breaks up with him, Patrick leaves his family home in the Midlands and moves to a small seaside town, where he has arranged a job as a mechanic and accommodation in a guest house. Patrick is intelligent but feels isolated, from his family and the people he meet in this new town, and it soon becomes clear that moving is not going to be the new start he hoped it would be. The novel is split into two parts, both written in the first person from Patrick’s perspective. The first part deals with Patrick’s attempt at creating a new life for himself in the seaside town. The blurb on the cover informs us that he will commit an act of violence, but even without this warning the tension is palpable through this first section. The tension becomes almost unbearable as you know that something bad is going to happen, it is just a matter of what and when. The actual act itself is brief, almost an anticlimax, but clearly illustrates the point that a single action can have long-reaching and devastating effects. The second part of the book looks at the consequences of his actions, which I won’t describe as that may count as spoiling the plot. However, I will say that it is not a happy outcome, there is no happy ending and the story gets bleaker by the page. Patrick is a strange narrator – despite everything being from his point of view, the reader never really gets a sense of knowing him. But although he has committed a terrible act, I also found it hard to dislike him and I did feel for him. As it is from his perspective, the writing style is very simple, with a lot of dialogue, which makes it a surprisingly easy read given the bleak subject matter. It would be difficult to say that I enjoyed this book but I was completely enthralled by it (like watching a car crash!), but I will certainly try another book by this author.

42. Black Girl/White Girl by Joyce Carol Oates
Another book written in the first person by a difficult to like character. This time the narrator is Generva Meade, a white woman from a privileged background, recounting the story of the death of her roommate in college. Generva is from a wealthy family, but her father is a notorious civil rights lawyer who is ashamed of his background. Her roommate Minette is a black girl from a strict Christian family, who does not fit easily into what Generva thinks about black people from her white liberal position. The book is set in the period post-Vietnam and post-Nixon, and the politics and attitudes of that time are central to the book, and Generva's relationships with her parents are just as important as the death of Minette. I was interested in the story of how Minette died, but neither character is particularly likeable. Generva is wet, pathetically hankering after the friendship of the black girl who is just too awful - she has no redeeming features at all which made it hard to care and her death wasn't that interesting when it finally happened. However, I did find the epilogue about Generva's adult life and in particular her relationship with her father, very well-written and more affecting than the bulk of the novel.

Do you think that Minette would be a much more likable woman if the reader had very similar values? Or do you think she would still be unlikeable? I'm such an emotional reader that if I really don't like the main character, it's hard for me to like the book. Sounds like there are some interesting issues to think about with this book though.

Bonnie - I don't think having similar values would help as she didn't really have any. Although she was Christian and her faith was the most important thing to her, she wasn't shown as acting in a particularly Christian way - she was rude, arrogant and unlikeable from what we were shown of her character. As this was all through the eyes of another character, with their own issues, we don't ever really know her that well.

Congratulations on your hot review listed on today's home page.

I think it may have gone now as I can't see it, but thanks for mentioning it.

I agree with your review of Black Girl. It was impossible to like either of them. It's amazing that Oates can write so that you want to continue with the story even if you don't like the characters.

Mamzel - glad you agree. It is certainly a rare skill to create such unlikeable characters and yet hold the reader's interest, but Oates did manage it for me.

42. The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche
I enjoyed Purple Hibiscus so picked this up when I saw it in a charity shop. As I've mentioned before, I am often unwhelmed by short story collections, but this was pretty good. There was enough in each of these stories to make them worthwhile and still contained fully developed characters. All of the stories have a serious tone, being either about Nigerians living in the USA or living under harsh times in Nigeria such as under Sani Abacha and the aftermath of the Biafran War. There wasn't a weak story in this collection, but the ones I liked the most were:
Cell One about where the narrator's brother is put in prison suspected of being involved in violence on a university campus in Nigeria.
On Monday of Last Week about a childminder who starts to have feelings for the mother of the child she looks after.
The Arrangers of Marriage about a young woman adapting to life and an arranged marriage in the USA.

I'm a sucker for good titles and The Thing Around Your Neck is such a good one. Well, and I like these kinds of stories. Have you read Jhumpa Lahiri's collection of short stories, Interpreter of Maladies? Those are not at all redundant even though they all have as their center India and/or Indian immigrants to America.

congratulations on reading 42 books! The Thing Around Your Neck sounds fascinating.

43. Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde
A dystopian world where social standing is determined by people's ability to see different colours of the spectrum, most technology as we know it has been banned and spoons are prized possessions. This is the world of Jasper Fforde's latest flight of fancy. I had high hopes for this as I liked the wit of The Eyre Affair and I love a dystopian novel. But I'm sad to say I was disappointed. It is certainly inventive and amuse, but it was neither quite funny nor clever enough to work consistently on a comic level and nor was it serious enough to ever make me feel that this society was a hellish place.

Lucky you finding The Thing Around Your Neck in a charity shop. I read it from the library but I'd really like my own copy.

#137: I just started that one. I hope I like it better than you did. The reviews I have seen have been pretty good.

44. Seeing Is Believing: How Hollywood Taught Us to Stop Worrying and Love the Fifties by Peter Biskind
It has been quite a project to complete this book. I owned it for years, finally starting it last year, but deciding that I needed to see the films it discusses. This proved to be difficult so I only returned to it this month, deciding that I probably wasn't going to see any more the films and to continue regardless.

This book is not like Biskind's most famous book Easy Riders, Raging Bulls which looks at the production of key films in the 60s, with lots of juicy gossip about the directors, stars and writers and the workings of Hollywood. This book instead is an analysis of films of the 1950s in terms of the politics of the time, with sections devoted to close analysis of particular films, which is why I felt I needed to have seen the films in question. The book looks at films mainly in terms of whether they are pluralist/liberal capitalist, conservative, right-wing or left-wing and how that stance influences who is the good guy or the bad guy and what happens at the end of the film. Within this, he looks at consensus, war, sci-fi, gangsters, teenagers, race and gender roles. Its pretty serious stuff.

On the whole, I enjoyed the sections most where I was actually familiar with the film being discussed, which included 12 Angry Men, On the Waterfront, Rebel without a Cause, Mildred Pierce and All that Heaven Allows, as well as the whole chapter on sci-fi. The author's wry humour also shone through in the chapter about The Fountainhead, making this enjoyable reading even though I've not seen the film. I would recommend this book to anyone who has seen most of the films in the book or for anyone studying film academically.

#140: That one looks very interesting. I will have to locate a copy. Thanks for the recommendation!

San Francisco Noir ed Peter Maravelis
I thought I would read this before I go to San Francisco next week. A book of noir short stories probably isn't the best way to get in the mood to visit a city, especially not since my reason for going there is to get married, as opposed to robbed, murdered, abused or conned like the characters in this collection. Each story relates in some way to an area of the city, an idea that particularly appealed to me, although as it turned out the stories I liked most weren't necessarily the ones set in the areas I knew best. My absolute favourite was Kid's Last Fight by Eddie Muller set in the South of Market district, which is about an ex-boxer rescuing a woman from an attack. I also liked Alejandro Murguia's story The Other Barrio, set in the Mission about arson and unscrupulous property development, and It can Happen by David Corbett (set in Hunters Point, an area I'd not even heard of before reading tihs0 - both of these felt quite close to what I traditionally think of as noir in tone.

I see what you mean about the noir short stories, and hope you have a lovely time in San Francisco. I liked The Other Barrio as well. I'm pleased by you singling out Eddie Muller and David Corbett's stories for a mention though - they're both people I've met a few times when I used to go to lots of crime fiction conventions, and I have their autographs on their stories in my copy of this book.

It's not very easy to get hold of as it was published only in hardback and then reprinted by a small press, but an online reading group I'm a member of discussed Eddie Muller's first novel The Distance a few years ago, some of us really loved it and so some of us and him were at a convention together he came to chat to us all.

David Corbett's first novel is also one I'd recommend highly, and should be easier to find as it was published in hardback and paperback on both sides of the Atlantic - The Devil's something - I'll let you know when I remember the rest of the title! It's about an ex-con who gets out of prison to find out the drugs trade has got much harder and nastier since he was in prison. The author used to be a real life PI in San Francisco, though his characters aren't.

Congratulations on your wedding!

Tloeffler - thank you.

Elkiedee - Eddie Muller just turned up in the acknowledgements of another book I was reading. Actually another book called San Francisco Noir by Nathaniel Rich, which is about film noir. I will try to get hold of his book somewhere.

Getting married...in San Francisco...How romantic!

Congratulations!!

LOL! Somehow my good wishes for you ended up on sjmccreary's thread (much to her surprise since she's been married since 1980!) so here goes again: Have a wonderful wedding and happy marriage for here on after! :-))

And so I also had to come and wish you all the best!

Me too. Have a wonderful wedding.

I send you wishes for a wonderful life!

Thank you all for your messages.

A few books to post before I set off:

46. Carry Me Down by M J Hyland
As I was impressed by This is how which I received from the Early Reviewers program, I decided to try another of M J Hyland's books. Although about something completely different, this was very similiar in style and tone to This is how both having a slightly odd, detached narrator, who isn't a bad person but doesn't fit with society. In this case, the narrator is an abnormally tall 11 year old Irish boy, who despite his height, is still very much a child. He is obsessed with the Guiness Book of Records and then becomes convinced that his talent for detecting lies is his way into the records. However, in an adult world, the truth isn't always welcome and his insistence on exposing it, will inevitably lead to trouble. I enjoyed the earlier part of this book most, but found it just so depressing later. Again, I found Hyland a good writer, but I don't think I'll be reading her other book for a while as they are just too bleak.

47. When I Lived in Modern Times by Linda Grant
This is about a young Jewish woman from England who goes to the middle east in the 1940s where the plans are forming to give Jews their own country. What will become Israel is still under British rule and its future is looking uncertain, but Eve is keen to play her part. This is a subject I don't know much about, but find interesting, particularly as I recently saw a play The Promise, which was about the decision in the British Government to establish this separate Jewish state. Much of the novel is set in Tel Aviv, where Eve moves between the Jewish settlers and the British - it reminded me in a way of some of Graham Greene's books about ex-pats and ambassadors abroad. I enjoyed this book and unusually for me, I would have liked it to have been longer as I would have liked to know more about it.

48. San Francisco Noir by Nathaniel Rich
The second book I've read with the same title! This one is about film noirs set in San Francisco, from the classic age of noir in the 1940s up until recent times. It is a short book (about 150 pages) with around three pages devoted to each film, one with a photograph and two of text, so it didn't take long to read. Each mini-chapter gives a synopsis of the film's plot (sometimes with spoilers) and focuses on one key location in San Francisco that features in the film. Although I haven't seen many of the films, it was still a great read as it gave interesting information about the locations and film noir history in general, and although some plot details were given away, I have still come away with a list of some films that I now want to see.

#151: Have a great trip!

Thank you! (and do you ever sleep?)

#153: You are welcome! (and yes, I have been know to sleep on occasion, lol)

Best wishes for your wedding and the days after:)

Married, honeymooned and now "stranded" in San Francisco due to flight chaos. Read a few things while I've been here and have made a few book purchases which should last until I get home.

49. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
One of those hugely popular books that I never felt particularly inclined to read despite recommendations from several people, but as I am reading time travel books for the 1010 Category challenge, I thought I should include this. I'm not normally big on romances, but the time travel aspect made this more interesting. I loved the parts about Henry meeting himself at various ages and how his way of time travel worked. I'm not entirely sure that I understand how things worked in relation to how he first met his wife or if that actually holds up to close examination. And whilst I enjoyed it, I do get a bit bored with these characters who are all fabulously talented musicians or artists. I thought the story dipped a bit when it moved to being about their attempts to have a child, but overall, it was a good escapist read.

50. A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
I know next to nothing about thing physics and chemistry related, so despite Bryson's idiot's guide to the earth, I still struggled with some parts here. I read them, but I don't think I have retained much of the information. I liked the parts about dinosaurs, cells and plate techtonics best as these were areas where I already knew a little bit. Where the book excels in my opinion is not so much in explaining difficult concepts, but for highlighting the fallibility of scientists and the personalities behind the discoveries. The last chapter about extinction was rather upsetting - I wish we still had the dodo.

holiday reading continued

51. Fargo Rock City A Heavy Metal Odyssey in Rural North Datoka by Chuck Klosterman
I like Klosterman's pop culture writing, but I had always avoided this book as I have no interest in this genre of music, but I saw it listed in an article about the best non-fiction books of the last decade, so I thought I would give it ago. I don't think it mattered too much that I didn't know the Motley Crue, Metallica or Van Halen songs and albums that he mentions as I have a certain awareness of that type of music, the band's style etc and I like Klosterman's way of writing. I think it also helped that I do have an interest in music in general, so at least I understood his comparisons with other bands.Sometimes, I do get the feeling that he is making certain arguments for effect, but mostly I found it amusing.

52. The Motel Life by Wille Vlautin
The first novel from this author is very similar is subject matter and style to the other one of his that I've read Lean on Pete. This one is set in Nevada and is about two brothers, who have been struggling to get by since their mother died when they were teenagers. It is narrated by Frank, who has a gift for making up stories, which he tells his friends and are included in the book. His older brother Jerry Lee likes to draw, so each chapter of the book is illustrated with a little picture that is supposed to have been drawn by him, usually of motel signs. Bad luck seesm to follow the brothers around. As in Lean on Pete, they aren't bad people, but make some bad choices. Again, I like the sparse writing style and I found their story very moving, in particular the part about Frank's first girlfriend. The use of the stories and illustrations made it unique. I also bought his other book Northline which I'm looking forward to reading.

Poor you! Fingers crossed you'll get home soon. It's still travel carnage over at my end of the world but it seems to be clearing pretty quick

Oh and congrats on the getting hitched :)

Well, if you have to be stranded, at least you have some good reading!

Congratulations and I hope you make it home soon.

There are worse places to be stranded than San Francisco, but I hope you're ok for accommodation/money.

I got a swap copy of The Motel Life - glad to hear it was a good read for you.

Hopefully now the restrictions are listed you can come home.

Not been reading much recently but one more to update and half way through a couple of others

53. Doors Open by Ian Rankin
I enjoyed the Rebus books and have always liked Rankin's writing so I was pleased to pick this up cheaply. The first few chapters however I found a bit difficult - the writing seemed really clunky in places, especially the dialogue and I wasn't convinced by the characters, but happily it improved and I was soon absorbed in the plot. The book is set in an Edinburgh that will be familiar from the Rebus books, but here rather than a policeman, the main protagonist is a bored millionaire who gets involved in an art heist. The heist itself happens quite early in the book with the inevitable aftermath taking up more time. I particularly liked how the book ended.

I'm glad to know that this turned out ok, I got a copy through Read It Swap It but am put off by it not being about Rebus.

Are you back in the UK?

Yes, I finally got back on Saturday morning - trip extended by 11 days! I don't think it was as good as most of the Rebus books, but still very readable.

Glad you finally made it back home (and safely!)

54. Black Swan Green by David Mitchell
Written in the first person, this book is about a year in the life of Jason Taylor, a 13 year old stammering would-be poet living in a Worcestershire village, from which the book takes its name. It is set in 1982, so is loaded with period detail and the Falklands War and Thatcher are there in the background. I was wary that the 80s references might overwhelm the story and stray into kitsch nostalgia, but David Mitchell is a much writer than that. The plot itself isn't anything groundbreaking - Jason is bullied, his parent's marriage breaksdown - fairly standard stuff, but the way that it is written lifts it above the standard coming-of-age book. I loved this book and I'm thinking that I might actually tackle Cloud Atlas later in the year.

55. Don't Cry by Mary Gaitskill
I loved Two Girls Fat and Thin when I was younger and remembered enjoying some of the short stories in Because They Wanted To and Bad Behaviour. The first story in this collection "College Town 1980" seemed fairly typical of what I remembered of her writing and it did nothing to excite me, so I wondered again if my tastes may have moved away from Gaitskill's sort of thing. As I've said before, stories about troubled minds, sexual ambiguity & destructive relationships that I found exotic and fascinating in my late teens/early 20s, now just seem depressing. I also struggled with some of the other stories here because her writing style is just too descriptive and things seem to be overthought or over-intellectualised (I started reading this collection just after The Motel Life and I think this suffered in contrast to the spartan style of that novel which I loved). However, these criticisms only apply to about half of the stories here, others were actually really good. "Folk Song" and "Mirror Ball" covered similar themes but with a refreshing imaginative approach. "The Little Boy" and "Don't Cry" were both good and had real emotional depth, being in part about motherhood and adults connections with children. But the standout story for me was "The Arms and Legs of the Lake" which is about the reactions of different people on a train journey to a veteran of the Iraq war.

#165: I really need to get to Black Swan Green, which I had home from the library last year but never managed to read. I enjoyed Cloud Atlas and I hope you do too.

Lots of people seem to have been disappointed with Black Swan Green for being more conventional than his other novels, but apparently a couple of characters from his other work turn up here.

#167: Well, Black Swan Green certainly sounds more conventional than Cloud Atlas at any rate :)

I really like the sound of Black Swan Green - I like the bildungsroman genre (novel about growing up).

56. Our Tragic Universe by Scarlett Thomas
Another Early Reviewers book, hence the longer review.

The book is about an author, Meg, who makes a living writing formulaic genre fiction and teaching creative writing, while she struggles to write her serious novel. Her personal life isn’t much better – she is stuck in a dead end relationship, is falling in love with an older man and around her, her friends struggle with their relationships.

At the beginning, she reads a book about the theory of the end of time and this is a catalyst for some of things that happen here, but this isn’t a science fiction book so we don’t suddenly find ourselves at the end of time or anything so dramatic . The blurb for this book perhaps over-emphasises the theory about the end of time, the wild beast of Dartmoor and the Cottingley Fairies. The working title of this book was “Death of the Author” and as much space is dedicated to discussing the concept of the “storyless story”, how narratives are constructed and the process of writing a novel, this would have been a suitable title. These ideas do seem to point to Scarlett Thomas’ intentions with this book and it is much more about writing itself than it is about the end of time.

Personally, I really enjoyed this book – I liked the characters, thought the depiction of long -term relationships was spot on, loved the bits about her dog and I found the ideas about the universe and writing fascinating. However, I think it is the sort of book that will frustrate readers who may expect more to actually happen and definite conclusions to be reached.

Another book I really want to read - although I'm also quite liking my early reviewer book, Jane Smiley's Private Life.

Private Life sounds interesting too. I've been very lucky with the Early Reviewers recently.

57. The Pillowman by Martin McDonagh
Like Rock n Roll (book 40) this is another favourite play that I've seen on stage. However, I found this just as good in the written form, possibly because it is pretty straightforward in its staging. The subject matter is pretty dark - a writer is questioned by police in a totalitarian state about the link between his gruesome stories and the murders of children. But the tone of the play is full of dark absurdist humour. I really want to see more of McDonagh's plays on stage, but since I found this one so easy to read, I may attempt to read some more of his work in the meantime.

58. Giant’s House by Elizabeth McCracken
I liked this a lot. It is about the relationship between a spinster librarian , Peggy and a boy, James Sweatt, who will become the tallest person who has ever lived. They meet when James visits the library as a child , albeit a child who is already the height of a grown-up and Peggy immediately finds herself drawn to him. It is told from Peggy’s point of view with her looking back on the years she know him. It is a tragic story as James’ height comes with health problems and inevitably is treated like as a curiosity by the wide world. At the beginning I was reminded of Notes on a Scandal by Zoe Heller as both have lonely female narrators who are obsessed by people they can’t have, but this was a much less sinister tale and although Peggy’s love for James seemed a bit weird at first, it became rather a moving story by the end.

59. The Little Girl and the Cigarette by Benoit Duteurtre
A prisoner condemned to the death penalty for killing a policeman request s one last smoke before he dies as is written in the rules. But a new law banning smoking in the prison conflicts with this so he becomes involved in a legal battle which captures the attention of the nation. In the other narrative strand, a man who works in the local government office dislikes children and objects to new rules being introduced that gives children a free run of the building. He is also a smoker, who is secretly defying the ban by smoking in the toilets and an incident occurs when he is caught smoking by a little girl . The story is rather absurd but raises questions about children’s place in society, attitudes to the child-less and in a bizarre twist, our obsession with reality television. I liked the simple style this was written in , which fitted well with the absurdity and satire of the story’scontent. It was a quick read, but I found it both amusing and thought-provoking (and I’m a non-smoker).

60. Under the Skin by Michel Faber
This is weird and very difficult to say much about without spoiling it. A woman, Isserley drives around the Scottish highlands looking for muscular male hitchhikers. At first, we don’t know why she is doing this, but it is gradually revealed and the book turns from what begins as a thriller into something a little more like sci-fi or a dystopian novel, but still written with very real seeming emotions and characters. Under the recommendations section of this site, someone has suggested Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro which I agree is similar in style and twists. I was impressed by this book, but it probably isn't for everyone and parts of it did make me squirm. I particularly enjoyed the parts where Isserley is picking up the hitchhikers, where we are told their thoughts as well as hers.

#174: I have had The Giant's House in the BlackHole for a while now. I need to move it up some!

Finally caught up on your thread today. I have Black Swan Green in my tbr pile and should bump it up. Though I miss Rebus, I quite enjoyed both Doors Open & The Complaints.

Alcottacre - do move it up - I would be interested to see what you think of it.

Avatiakh - I think everyone misses Rebus. I will definitely read The Complaints at some as I liked the sound of the setting of that one.

61. The Prestige by Christopher Priest
I enjoyed the film version of this so picked up the book when I saw it in a charity shop a few months ago. Like the film, it is about the rivalry between two magicians which overshadows both their lives, but (as is so often the case), there is much more in the book. Whereas the film is just about the feud between the magicians, the book starts and ends with their descendents living the present age and how the legacy of that feud was still affecting lives. The book is structured so that we are told the same story from both of the magician’s point of view, through diaries they left behind, with sections also from their descendants’ perspectives. The plot is rather far-fetched, featuring an amazing invention by the real-life Tesla, and although highly improbable, it made for a good read. I particularly like the descriptions of the stage shows of illusionists.

62. A Sweet Scent of Death by Guillerma Arriaga
I wanted to read this because I love Amore Perros which Arriaga wrote the script for. My library had filed this under the Crime section and although a murder is at the heart of the story, I’m not sure I would have categorised it in that way. It is set in a small Mexican village and seemed to be much more about the destructive nature of gossip and lies, and accepted modes of behaviour within such a community. A 15 year old girl is found stabbed to death and somehow, although he had only admired her from afar, people assume that she was the girlfriend of a young man, Ramon. He gets caught up in this deceit and when the villagers think they know the identity of the killer, it falls to Ramon to take revenge. It was a short book with a pretty slight story, but with lots of interesting characters and it effectively conveyed the sense of impending doom.

#178: A couple of interesting reads there. I will have to look for the books. Thanks for the recommendations!

#178 - Have you put A Sweet Scent of Death in the TIOLI Challenge? (Latin American author)

Interesting to see that the book The Prestige was just as good as the film (and vice versa!). I really, really enjoyed the film and intended to read the book too, but never got around to it. I'll have to remember to look it up now!

Elkiedee - no, the last time I looked at the TIOLI challenge, it was just one word title books there. I will add this to the Latin Amercian author section. I haven't managed to do any of the TIOLIs for a few months.

Dk_phoenix - I found that the book was different enough for me to enjoy it as sometimes if they are too similiar or the details of the film are too fresh in my mind, then it spoils the plot, but wasn't the case here.

63. Icons of England edied by Bill Bryson
This book is made up of around 100 short essays by various people about things they consider to be iconic symbols of England. Royalties from the book go to the Campaign to Protect Rural Britain and the subtitle of the book is "A Salute to the English countryside" but the choice of icons does include a few things that are more urban like the Euston Arch. The subjects are as varied as the contributors, and some interested me more than others. I particlarly liked Kate Adie's opening piece about deers and one about hares. Bryan Ferry's choice of Penshaw Monument struck a code with me as I grew up near there too. Cricket on the village green cropped up a few times and there was perhaps a certain middle class smugness to some of it, with these nostalgic idylls being far removed from many people's lives in this country.

#183: That one sounds interesting to me - especially since it is unlikely that I will ever get to England.

64. Child of God by Cormac McCarthy
This book is about Lester Ballard, a man who lives alone on the fringes of a society that itself is pretty rough and by the end of the book he has committed some awful crimes. The prose is never quite as sparse as in The Road, the descriptions are actually rather lyrical, but never flowery and we never really get to understand Lester as a person. It was well written but I didn't really enjoy it although some incidents and descriptions drew me in more than others.

65. Hollywood by Charles Bukowski
A pretty light-hearted read about Bukowski's experiences writing the script for the film Barfly. Barfly was pretty autobiographical and this is a thinly disguised memoir of writing that, which ends with Bukowski announcing his intention to write this book! The introduction explained who all of the celebrities are, as all the names have been changed for legal reasons, but even without this explanation, it isn't too hard to see who is who. Apparently everything that is described here pretty much did happen in this way. It portrays Hollywood, its actors and business people as a pretty crazy bunch, even compared to the drunks and gamblers Bukowski has known.

I think I will give both of those a pass. I am sorry you did not like the McCarthy book more. It sounds as though it might have been very good.

It was well-written and certain parts were great, but it was hard to feel any emotional connection with it at all. Also I think in my mind it suffered by comparisons with The Road which I thought was amazing.

I liked The Road a lot too, so I would probably be doing the mental comparisons as well.

66. Tail of the Blue Bird by Nii Ayikwei Parkes
Kayo has returned to his homeland of Ghana after studying and working in forensics in the UK. Unable to get a job in the police, he is working in a lab, until one day he is called upon by the police to help with an unusual case in a remote village. The village is a place where old traditions and beliefs still rule and it becomes clear that this is no ordinary crime scene. I liked the contrast in the book between the storytelling about curses and praying to the ancestors, and the part of the country which is desparate to be modern, which involves police corruption and several references to CSI.

67. An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro
I read this in one evening. I am completely in awe of Ishiguro's writing skills. It is about an old man living in post-war Japan, who was once a celebrated artist but as attitudes have changed in Japan, he questions his past. I know shamefully little about Japan's political situation in that time but that really didn't matter as he writes so well that he could make me interested in any subject.

68. Talking Heads by Alan Bennett
The first collection of Alan Bennett's monologues written for television. I remembered three of these particularly well from television even though it was years ago that I saw them; A Lady of Letter, Her Big Chance and A Cream Cracker under the Settee.
All of the characters are rather sad and living parochial existences, and although they are funny in places, the overall feeling is rather gloomy. Although each is about a different character, they do all have a similar tone and in some cases, I felt that the characters could almost be interchangeable. There were a few phrases that turned up a couple of times which added to this feeling.

#189: Tail of the Blue Bird looks very good. I am adding that one to the BlackHole.

I own An Artist of the Floating World - and one of these days, I may actually read it :)

Alcottacre - you should dig out An Artist in the Floating World - if it only took me an evening to read it, it will take you no time at all.

69. Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde
The third installment of the Thursday Next series. As ever, I was impressed with his cleverness with literary references - Godot, Macbeth's three witches, Heathcliff and Captain Nemo all making an appearance. I was particularly taken in this book with the idea of Generics, who may go on to be proper characters in book or may just always be bit parts. The Book Awards were also very funny. My overall feeling is that I loved little bits and ideas in the book, but I was rather nonplussed by the actual plot. So I will probably read the fourth book at some point when I want something funny and clever to read, but I'm not particularly in a rush to find out what happens to Thursday.

#191: If I can locate my copy, I may add it to my TIOLI Challenge for June . . .

70. In the Country of Men by Hisham Matar
The narrator Suleiman was 9 years old in 1979, living with his parents in Tripoli. Their next door neighbour is taken away for interrogation by the Government as an opposer to the Revolution and there are fears that Suleiman's father could be next. The book offers an interesting perspective on living under a dictatorship as although Suleiman is narrating it as an old, he is remembering how he felt as a child. The suspicions and paranoia of living under a dictatorship are mixed in with the general confusion of being a child and not quite understanding what is going on in the grown-ups world.

71. 31 Songs by Nick Hornby
Nick Hornby has been my rediscovery of the year. His books are such a pleasure to read. This is a non-fiction book (called Songbook in the USA) where he looks at 31 of his favourite songs. I didn't know all of the songs here, but that didn't matter as most of the essays just took a particular song as a springboard for his thoughts on music in a wider context. His musings about how certain music no longer had a place in his life as he gets older particularly struck a cord with me. The chapters about the Badly Drawn Boy song and the song Puff the Magic Dragon are about his son Danny, who has autism and were brilliant. The latter in particular, which was about how his son responds to music, had me close to tears as I was reading it. Definitely recommended to anyone who loves any kind of music.

#193: I already have In the Country of Men in the BlackHole, but my local library does not have it yet.

I have a couple of Hornby's books here to read. One of these centuries I will get to them!

Had a busy week last week and couldn't seem to concentrate on my reading much, so I have a couple that I've started but not finished yet. Hopefully I can finish them later in the week. For now just one more to add.

72. Starstruck: Fame, Failure, My Family and Me by Cosmo Landesman
Picked this up in a cheap bookshop. I know Landesman from his work as the film critic of the Sunday (I almost never agree with him) and for being the less famous of Julie Burchill's ex-husbands. Despite this, I was still curious to see what he'd written about and was intrigued by the outline of his parents who are fame-obsessed and bit part players in various underground movements. The sub-title here sums up the book neatly - it is about his parents' quest for fame mixed in with commentary about society's obsession with celebrity. I'm not too sure how well these two ideas meshed together as it seemed apparent that the Landesman's fame obsession was very much their own problem and quite apart from the rest of society's love of reality television stars. His parents don't want to be famous for doing nothing, they are both incredibly creative, but they also love the limelight. There is very much an emphasis here on their exploits during the author's lifetime, often from the angle of his chronic embarrassment, and I would have liked to hear more about their earlier days when they know the Beats and the father ran a bizarre sounding nightclub, as it seems this book does cover the period when they weren't that successful. The other thing I didn't quite understand was for the all the talk of failure, how they managed to earn a living for all this time - an inheritance that will last them a few years is mentioned at one point, but given the decades the book covers, surely they needed another source of income? But these are minor gripes, because I really did enjoy this book.

I hope you have a better reading week this week than you did last week!

I think I will - I was distracted by work stuff last week and was in that state where I was just turning pages over without actually reading them because I was thinking about other things.

Today I finished off one of the books started previously, a very light read.

73. You Gotta See This: More than 100 of Hollywood's Best Reveal and Discuss their Favourite Films by Cindy Perlman
The author asked the question "What is your favourite film" to a host of actors, directors and screenwriters and this book is a collection of their responses. Each chapter consists of the person's answer, then a blurb about the film(s) named (particularly with reference to any awards they might have won) and then a paragraph about the person. This book was published a few years ago, so some of the people aren't perhaps so popular or their biographies are out of date (particularly one of the women from Sex and the City whose biography claims that she isn't waiting for a film version and Forest Whittaker is described as a character actor which seems a bit dismissive as is now an Oscar winner). The most surprising choice was Vin Diesel picking Gone with the Wind. I found it interesting that a lot of the male respondents asked what other men had picked or wondered if their choice was the same as anyone else's. The repetitiveness of the formula makes this a book that is best dipped into rather than read straight through, especially since a lot of people do pick the same films and its description in the blurb is exactly the same. However, I did find it a great source of some recommendations which I'll be adding to my rental list.

>197 sanddancer:: Your comments and the subject of this book remind me, what do you think of actors who when asked about whether they've seen the movies or T.V series they've acted in, often say they don't watch TV, or don't have time to watch any movies (even the ones they've gotten awards for and about which you're supposed to be excited)? I can understand that they feel self-conscious about seeing themselves on screen or appear to be bragging about themselves. Or they can remember doing the scene, can "see" all the cameras/camera men, other actors, directors, all the props...so it's not really the same for them; but sometimes they're so disparaging in terms of not having the time for watching movies or TV (some of them even say very disdainfully, "I don't watch TV!) that I think, "Well, why-in-the-heck am I spending the time and/or money to see them?!

I've heard writers say the same thing, btw. They don't have time to read other writers. In both cases, I suspect that the interviewees resort to mentioning classics (in the case of authors, often books they read/analyzed in high school or college) that they experienced in their earlier years--or that everyone talks about. I think that's why the actors were so anxious about what others were choosing, and whether they were being redundant, or their choices too obvious--because they were. Ask the masses! We have much better answers in both cases--at least (imo)more interesting ones! :-)

Bonnie - Interesting question and I wonder how many more actors refused to answer the question saying they didn't watch films. I think when I hear actors say that I either assume they are lying through false modesty or that the film in question is so awful that even they didn't want to watch it, but were happy to take the money for it. Although it might be difficult to watch yourself, I would think there would be some natural curiosity to see how it all turned out and also seeing yourself would allow you to be critical and improve in future. I'm pretty sure everyone else in the film industry watches a huge amount of films to see what others are doing and improve their craft.

I just don't believe writers who say that at all - one thing that creative writing courses always seem to say is to read as much as possible and surely if you write, you must love reading? I think it might be professional jealous in those cases where they don't want to praise anyone else's work.

For writers in particular, it drives me nuts when they say "oh, I don't really read". You CAN'T be a writer and not read -- or, should I say, you can, but your work will suffer drastically. I also think it's rather presumptuous to think your work is worthy of reading beyond anyone else's. That's the message I get from the "I don't read" crowd. I never thought about it in terms of actors before, but that sure seems like a similar situation.

dk_phoenix - that is how I feel about it too. Can you think of any writers who have said this? I'm sure i've heard/read similiar comments but now can't remember any examples. Probably no one I was that interested in to start with.

74. The Man Who Folded Himself by David Gerrold
When his uncle dies, 19 year old Dan inherits a belt with instructions for how it works as a time travel device. He moves around in the recent past and near future at first, where he meets earlier and later versions of himself. He refers to older versions as Don and younger versions as Danny and much of the book is concerned with his relationships with these other selves as his sexuality is awakened. Although never graphic, some readers might find this a bit unsettling and it is certainly an odd take on the whole time travel business. There is a great passage where he describes all of the famous events in history that he visited and a particularly interesting reference to why he can't go too far into the future. But mainly it is about him exploring his own identity and altering his own timelines and hardly anyone else is ever mentioned, so you do feel the terrible lonliness of a man lost in time. I thought the ending was fantastic.

75. Generation Txt anthology of poetry
An odd one to mark my 75. As part of the 1010 category challenge I wanted to read some more plays and poetry and this is the first poetry I've managed to read. It is a collection by six young poets in response to a comment by a reviewer about nobody writing anything of value before they were 28. Given the title I was half expecting lots of text speak and "youth" culture references, but the six writers here aren't some kids hanging around street corners - they all have had amazing educations and lots of creative writing experience, so are hardly representative of the average person of their generation. The second poet, Inua Ellams in particular could almost have been writing in the 19th century with his long almost inpenetrable poetry. My favourites in this collection were Emma McGordon's "The Scary Thing About Those Who Jump" and James Wilkes "Score for a Nocturne"

Congrats!

Congrats on reaching your goal! Re: book #74, I would love to be able to go back in time and watch my parents, siblings, teachers, friends, and even myself, from an adult/parent perspective.

Bonnie - So would I, although oddly in this book the only person he really talks about seeing in the past is himself, plus some historic moments. There aren't really any other characters in it.

I'm going to start a new thread for my next 75, although I'm make it all of the way.

New thread here http://www.librarything.com/topic/93273