glammonkey takes the plunge

I've never done one of these challenges before, but I'm going for it this year! Making lists of books I want to read is totally addictive.

My categories are:

1. Canadian Fiction
2. Books from the feminista top 100 novels by women list
3. I's true! (Non-fiction)
4. "All will be reveled" (Mystery, Conspiracy and Secrecy)
5. Award Winners
6. Books on my bookshelf I have always meant to read
7. Children's/YA
8. Mythology
9. Traveling the world
10. Magpie reads (oh oh, shiny!)

1. Canadian Fiction

i. The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood - Finished June 7th. *****.
ii. Fifth Business by Robertson Davies - Finished Jan. 21. *****
iii. Unless by Carol Shields
iv. Barney's Version by Mordecai Richler
v. Life of Pi by Yann Martel
vi. Never Learn Anything From History by Kate Beaton - Finished June 29th. ***1/2.
vii. The Golden Mean by Annabel Lyon
viii. The Last of the Crazy People by Timothy Findley
ix. Anne of Avonlea by L. M. Montgomery - Finished Feb. 14th. ****
x.

2. Books from the Feminista top 100 novels by women list

i. By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept by Elizabeth Smart
ii. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys - Finished March 17th. ****.
iii. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
iv. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
v. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson - Finished Feb 17. ****.
vi. Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner - Finished Feb. 24. *1/2.
vii. Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson
viii. Stories by Dorothy Parker - Finished April. 3. ****1/2.
ix. Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg
x. A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O'Connor

3. It's True! (Non-fiction)

i. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt - Finished Feb. 6th. ****1/2
ii. Dark Age Ahead by Jane Jacobs - Finished May 23rd. *.
iii. The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell
iv. Plagues and Peoples by William H. McNeill
v. Houdini: The Handcuff King by Jason Lutes and Nick Bertozzi - Finished April 17th. ***.
vi. Shakespeare by Anthony Burgess
vii. Armageddon in Retrospect by Kurt Vonnegut
viii. Stitches: A Memoir by David Small. Finished April 14th. ****.
ix. The Photographer by Emmanuel Guibert, Didier Lefevre and Frederic Lemercier - Finished March 31st. ***1/2.
x.

Possible:

What am I doing here? by Bruce Chatwin
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown
Libraries in the ancient world by Lionel Casson

4. "All will be reveled" (Mystery, Secrecy and Conspiracy)

i. The Illuminatus! Trilogy : Book One, The Eye in the Pyramid by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson - Finished Feb 19. *
ii. Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco
iii. The Alienist by Caleb Carr - Finished May 20th. *.
iv. The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
v. Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
vi. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami - Finished May 8th. ***1/2.
vii. Have a Nice Doomsday: Why millions of Americans are looking forward to the end of the world by Nicholas Guyatt - Finished May 28. *.
viii. Club Dead by Charlaine Harris - Finished June 21st. ***1/2.
ix. Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris - Finished June 22nd. ***.
x. Dead as a Doornail by Charlaine Harris - Finished June 23nd. ***.
xi. Definitely Dead by Charlaine Harris - Finished June 24rd. ***.
xii. All Together Dead by Charlaine Harris - Finished June 25th. ***.
xii. From Dead to Worse by Charlaine Harris - Finished June 26th. ***.
xiv. Dead and Gone by Charlaine Harris - Finished June 27th. ***.

Possible:
Seventy great mysteries of the ancient world by Brian M. Fagan
Lord Peter by Dorothy Sayers
The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie
Dashiell Hammett
Raymond Chandler
The innocence of Father Brown in The Father Brown Omnibus by G. K. Chesterton
We have always lived in the castle by Shirley Jackson

5. Award Winners

i. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel - Finished Jan. 8th. *****
ii. Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz
iii. Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli. Finished April 8th. *****.
iv. Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky
v. The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton Finished June 14th. *****.
vi. Never let me go by Kazuo Isiguro - Finished March 23rd. ****
vii. Lord of the Flies by William Golding. Finished April 13th. ****.
viii. 2666 by Roberto Bolano
ix. The Professor's Daughter by Joann Sfar and Emmanuel Guibert - Finished April 25th. ****.
x. Foundation by Isaac Asimov - Finished May 12th. ***1/2.

6. The TBR shelves

i. The Vagina Monologues by Even Ensler - Finished Jan. 17th ***
ii. Baudolino by Umberto Eco
iii. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold - Finished Jan. 30th. *1/2.
iv. Watership Down by Richard Adams
v. All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
vi. Summer Lightning by P. G. Wodehouse
vii. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers
viii. Franny and Zooey by J. D. Salinger - Finished Feb. 9th. ****1/2
ix. Wicked by Gregory Maguire
x. Passionate Minds: Women Rewriting the World by Claudia Roth Pierpont - Finished June 20th. ****1/2.

7. Children's/YA

i. The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman- Finished Jan 19th. ***
ii. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
iii. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
iv. George's Marvelous Medicine by Roald Dahl
v. Three Wishes: Palestinian and Israeli Children Speak by Deborah Ellis - Finished June 8th. ***1/2.
vi. Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman - Finished March 19th. ***
vii. The Complete Fairy Tales by Charles Perrault - Finished April 15th. ***.
viii. Robot Dreams by Sara Varon - Finished April 16th. ***.
ix. The Golem's Mighty Swing by James Sturm - Finished April 17th. ***1/2.
x. The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain by Peter Sis - Finished April 18th. ****.

8. Mythology

i. The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony by Roberto Calasso - Finished Jan. 15th ****
ii. Ka by Roberto Calasso
iii. Bulfinch's Mythology by Thomas Bulfinch
iv. Fables: Arabian nights (and days) by Bill Willingham, et al. Finished Jan. 27th. ***
v. Mythology by Edith Hamilton
vi. The Aeneid by Virgil
vii. The Ramayana by R. K. Narayan - Finished Jan. 24th. ***1/2.
viii. Fables: Wolves by Bill Willingham, et al. Finished Feb. 9th. ***1/2
ix. Beowulf: A new Verse Translation by Seamus Heaney
x. Fables: Sons of Empire by Bill Willingham et al. - Finished April 18th. ***.

possible:

Chimera by John Barth

9. Traveling the World

i. The Canterbury Tales: A Retelling by Geoffrey Chaucer and Peter Ackroyd - currently reading
ii. Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut - Finished March 2nd. ****1/2
iii. Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein
iv. Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell
v. Travel as a Political Act by Rick Steves
vi. On the Road by Jack Kerouac
vii. If on a winter's night a traveler by Italo Calvino
viii. Throne of Jade by Naomi Novik. Finished April 11th. ***.
ix. The Stand by Stephen King
x. Samarkand by Amin Malouf

10. Magpie reads (oh oh, shiny!)

i. War Dances by Sherman Alexie
ii. The Gallery of Regrettable Food by James Lileks. Finished Jan 27th. ****
iii. Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall by Bill Willingham, et al. Finished March 4th. **.
iv. Extremely loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
v. Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence. Finished March 14th. **.
vi. Amphigorey by Edward Gorey. Finished April 9th. *****.
vii. The Eternal Smile: Three Stories by Gene Luen Yang and Derek Kirk Kim - Finished April 25th. ****.
viii. Explaining Darfur by van Ardenne et al. Finished June 5th. Not Rated.
ix.
x.

Ha! Love the magpie category.

1. Wolf Hall was my first book of the new year and it was shockingly good. A 650 page book on Tudor politics may not sound like a barn burner, but it was completely compelling and the writing! Oh, the writing is heavenly. Five thumbs up!

2. The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony is an odd, interesting read. Calasso attempts to create a unified theory of Greek mythology and its meaning. The work isn't completely cohesive and Calasso pretty much assumes his readers already know the myths and only tells parts of them. At the same time, it is a wholly original and fascinating read. Three and a half out of five. Library book.

3. The Vagina Monologues has been sitting on my shelf forever. It was a quick one day read that I found snappy and oddly sweet. Perhaps my age and the fact that I've spent most of the last decade on a university campus makes me blase about people talking about their vaginas. Still, glad I read it. Three out of five.

4. Just finished The Golden Compass. This book is probably fantastic if you read it when you are 10 years old. It doesn't really cross over to adult readers though, in my opinion. I was mislead by all the people who said "if you liked Harry Potter, then you'll love His Dark Materials". After finishing the first Potter book I couldn't wait to start the next one. I don't feel the same about HDM. Maybe I'll read the other two books some time, but for now I'm moving on. Three Stars.

The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony by Roberto Calasso (Redux)

I've been thinking about this book for a few days now and I am amending my rating to 4/5. When I finished the book, the sections on Sparta (my least favourite) were at the front of my mind. After settling for a few days, the repeating theme of divine children and the tension between uniqueness and duplicity is what is staying with me most forcefully. If you are interested in the meaning of myth, read this book.

5. Fifth Business by Robertson Davies

What is fifth business? The extra man in the story, neither hero nor villain. He is the man with no female counterpart, the one who moves the story along without it every really being his story. This is the life story of Dunstan Ramsey and his relationships with Mary Dempster, her son Paul, Boy Staunton and the mysterious Lisle. Starting in small town Ontario at the turn of the last century and spanning the world and seven decades, this is an amazing narrative experience. The characters are vivid, the prose is perfection and the story just evolved as I read. A completely wonderful book. Five stars and a maple leaf.

You're reading so many interesting books!

I'm glad to find another person who wasn't overly impressed with The Golden Compass. I have to disagree with your theory that it would be great for a 10-year-old, though. I read it was I was maybe 11 and I found that a lot of it just went over my head. I was left feeling more confused than impressed, and didn't move on to the sequels when they came out.

Then a few years ago I reread it in an attempt to get through the trilogy, and while I did read both The Golden Compass and The Subtle Knife this time, I still wasn't sufficiently engaged to move on to The Amber Spyglass. Someday....

I'll have to disagree and say that I really enjoyed Pullman's His Dark Materials series. (I also loved his Sally Lockhart series, though I've yet to read the 4th and final volume.) However, I heartily agree with you about Fifth Business. I loved this trilogy as well as his Salterton and Cornish trilogies. I'd read these years ago, and you've reminded me that it's time for a re-read soon!

You have some great choices in your lists and I'm eager to hear what you'll have to say about them.

mathgirl, I love the Cornish trilogy! I read it years ago and I have no idea why it's taken me so long to read another Davies book.

Also, I've been told that The Golden Compass is the weakest of the series - did you find that? There were two things about the story that I really had a problem with. One was that Lyra wasn't really regarded as a child unless it wad important to the plot that someone say "oh, but she's a child". The other was that while this was a world that was markedly different from our own, I don't feel like I understood the nature of the difference - there are the daemons and dust and totally separate from that there were different power sources, modes of transportation, witches, talking bears, etc. The world didn't seem cohesive. Do things become clearer in the other books?

Zoe, that's really interesting that you don't feel like The Golden Compass works for kids who are actually Lyra's age. So who do you think the intended audience was?

I've now added at least ten books to my lists from other people's lists. This is addictive and everyone is reading such interesting books!

Yes, Pullman's series does improve with the second and third books. The alternative worlds and how they work become clearer as the story goes on.

Actually, I'd recommend the books to older children or adults rather than 10 or 11 year old kids. My 10-year-old is a voracious reader, and she has finished Pullman's Sally Lockhart series and loved it. However, I've been reluctant to introduce His Dark Materials to her, as the themes are rather mature. For instance, knowing something about the history of the Christian church helps in understanding the ideas. I did feel, though, that these themes were really brought out in the second and third books.

I hope you'll try the second book, but I also understand that the series isn't for everyone. People's tastes differ, and that's what makes LibraryThing discussions so interesting!

6. The Ramayana: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic by R. K. Narayan is a modern prose retelling of the life story of Rama, the seventh incarnation of the god Vishnu. In the story, Vishnu is born as a human, Prince Rama, in order to defeat Ravana and rid the world of the rakshasas (demons). The story tells of his birth, youth and early adventures, his meeting of and marriage to Sita (the incarnation of Vishnu's wife the goddess Lakshmi) and their exile to the forest for fourteen years as a result of a dynastic dispute. When Sita is kidnapped by Ravana, Rama and his brother Lakshmana search out his hiding place and wage a war that accomplishes Rama's purpose of destroying the rakshasas. Along the way they depose the monkey king Vali and put his brother on the throne, and meet the ever faithful Hanuman, who helps in their eventual victory.

The Ramayana is a bit like The Iliad in its scope and style. I enjoyed the plot and Narayan's writing style (I couldn't get through the older poetry version I first looked at). But the gender issues, oh the gender issues! Women are the instigators of all the bad things that happen in the story. Rama is exiled and his brother placed on the throne because his step-mother demands that as the unfulfilled promise that King has owed her for many years (she is manipulated to do this by her maid who was teased by Rama as a child for being a hunchback). Ravana kidnaps Sita because his sister Soorpanaka convinces him she is the most beautiful woman in the world and he must have her (she does this because she is in love with Rama and thinks she will have a chance with Sita out of the way). And when Sita is rescued at last, she must attempt to immolate herself to prove to Rama that she is still pure. Apparently, if she had been raped, Rama would rather she kill herself than come home with him.

All in all, I enjoyed the story, while cringing occasionally. Three and a half stars. Library book.

7. The Gallery of Regrettable Food by James Lileks is awe inspiring. Lileks explores the terrifying cookbooks from the depths of 1950s suburban America with snarky affection (or affectionate snark?). The pictures are ghoulish, the commentary is witty and the mood is fun. I laughed so hard at the ladies cocktail of sherry and cream of mushroom soup that I fell out of my chair. A lovely way to spend an afternoon. Four Stars. Library book.

Last summer, I checked out all my library's Lileks books at once. That was very fun.

8. Fables: Arabian Nights and Days by Bill Willingham, et al.

This is the seventh volume of Fables, an ongoing comic series about fairy tale characters living in exile in a hidden enclave in Manhattan. I am slowly working my way through the series and enjoying it, though I'm not compelled to sit down and gorge myself on the whole series at once like I did with Sandman or Strangers in Paradise. This is one of the weaker volumes, as it moves the overall story along, but does not involve the ongoing stories of many of the characters. If you are going to try Fables, start at the beginning with Fables: Legends in Exile, this volume doesn't stand alone. Three stars. Library Book.

And I have my first abandoned book of the year - Savage Girls and Wild Boys by Michael Newton. I got halfway into the second chapter and decided that while the book was well written, it just wasn't for me.

kristenn - are the others as good as The Gallery of Regrettable Food?

I didn't think any of the others were quite as good, but they were all worth the time.

Interior Desecrations was the best of the remainders. Looking back, I gave it 4 stars, just like I did Gallery. I actually grew up in that era, so that had an impact.

Mommy Knows Worst was disappointing. Not as outrageous as I expected. (Not sure what that would say of me as a potential parent.) Gave that 3 stars.

Gastroanomalies is a straight sequel to Gallery. It gets a little less funny just the more of them you read. Especially since it's basically all from that one Better Homes & Gardens series (many of which I've picked up used). I find him much funnier when he's riffing on the people and the setting than when he's making gruesome suggestions for what is in the dish.

Thanks, Kristenn. I agree about what works in the Gallery, my favourite entries where the ones where he invented whole scenarios for the dish. I'll keep my eye out for Interior Desecrations!

9. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

I did not like this book. I didn't hate it either. I was just sort of bored by it. Given the rave reviews it got, I expected a lot more. I acquired a copy years ago, read a chapter or two, decided I wasn't in the mood to read it, put it on my shelf and forgot about until the ads for the movie reminded me about it. I suspect that this is one of those rare cases where the movie will be better than the book as many of the flaws in the book will not impact the movie. The characters didn't feel particularly well fleshed out to me (Grandma drinks, Dad builds model ships, Lindsay is smart and runs, Samuel worships Lindsay) and if I had to describe the voice I pictured reading the narration in my head it would be a dull monotone - the whole style of the writing didn't work for me. Also, the character or Ruth bugged me a lot. There is no purpose to her being in the story except as a way to keep tabs on Ray and so that Susie can (big spoiler) with Ray at the end of the story. The whole thing about her being able to sense where women have died was not handled well and did not make a lot of sense. I'm really not a fan of this one. One and a half stars.

January Recap

Number of Books: 9
Favourite: Wolf Hall
Opposite: The Lovely Bones

All Star Canadian Fiction - 1/8
Fifth Business
Books from the feminista top 100 novels by women list -0/8
I's true! (Non-fiction) -0/8
"All will be reveled" -0/8
Award Winners - 1/8
Wolf Hall
Books on my bookshelf I have always meant to read - 2/8
The Vagina Monologues
The Lovely Bones
Children's/YA - 1/8
The Golden Compass
Mythology - 3/8
The Marriage of Cadmus and HArmony
The Ramayana
Fables: Arabian Nights (and Days
"I am on a lonely road and I am traveling, traveling" (Journeys) -0/8
Magpie reads (oh oh, shiny!) - 1/8
The Gallery of Regrettable Food

10. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt

I bought this book years ago in Savannah, an incredibly beautiful city where almost everyone mentions tells you about this book when they find out you're a tourist. I put it on the shelf and forgot about it. In the fall I read Berendt's second book City of Falling Angels, and loved it beyond reason. That induced me to go back to this one and I'm very glad I did. Berendt's literary voice is perfection, the atmosphere is so thick you can breathe it in, the characters are really characters and the whole of it is the very best kind of literary non-fiction. Read it and be amazed. Suggested soundtrack: Ella Fitzgerald sing the Johnny Mercer Songbook. Four and a half stars.

Hi glammonkey - Berendt's book is on my list to read for my "They made a movie from that..." category. I am looking forward to diving into the book based on your post above.

Ikernagh, there's a lot more to the book than there is to the movie, and it's so, so good. I hope you enjoy it!

11. Franny and Zooey by J. D. Salinger

I read Nine Stories and The Catcher in the Rye when I was fourteen or so and I remember finding them wonderful and incredibly meaningful to me at the time. I re-read Catcher a few years ago and didn't feel that connection to Holden anymore, in fact I was annoyed by him. Salinger's death induced me to pick up Franny and Zooey, which has been sitting on my bookcase for more than a decade. I was completely surprised by how much I liked it. It's beautiful. Franny is in the midst of that breakdown that we all had in college, questioning herself and the universe itself. Zooey talks to her about life and meaning and anything else I say will spoil it. Salinger's writing doesn't always connect with the reader - I truly believe that you have to read Catcher at just the right age to get it - but when it does, it's just lovely. I'm so glad I read this now, when I was able to connect with Franny and Zooey, instead of when I was fourteen, when I would have thought I understood them but I really wouldn't have. Four and a half Stars.

12. Fables: Wolves by Bill Willingham, et al.

A good installment in the series, featuring the return of Cinderella Superspy and a conclusion to the Bigby/Snow White storyline. I'm enjoying the expansion of the other worlds and the greater focus on characters that we've only seen briefly before. This series is still keeping me interested after eight volumes, so it's definitely doing something right. Library Book. Three and a half stars.

You are reading so many great books! I also lovedMidnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and I didn't realize he had another book out. Also, interesting to hear your thoughts about the Fables series; I just read Fables: Legends in Exile in January and I just read the first Sandman last year - I think I will continue the Sandman series first (which feels right to me anyway - I did enjoy Preludes and Nocturnes a bit more then Legends in Exile). Both series sound good though. And I have the His Dark Materials trilogy on the shelf - will eventually venture there.

You have so many other great books coming up too - like The Blind Assassin, Wide Sargasso Sea, Age of Innocence, A Wrinkle in Time, Foucault's Pendulum, Stranger in a Strange Land, Never Let me Go!!!!! - WOW, what a great year of reading lies ahead!

The City of Falling Angels is even better than Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil! It's set in Venice and the central event the book surrounds is the fire that burnt down the Fenice Opera House in 1996. Berendt arrived in Venice three days after the fire and talked to what seems like the whole city. If you liked Midnight, you'll love it! And keep going with Sandman - it really hits its stride in Season of Mists, the fourth volume. It is bar none my favourite graphic novel series ever.

13. Anne of Avonlea by Lucy Maud Montgomery

I've read Anne of Green Gables several times, and a number of Montgomery's other books including some of the later Anne books. When I picked this up to "reread" it, I realized that I'd never read it at all! At least not that I can remember it. It has all the joy and sweetness of Anne of Green Gables and reading it felt like visiting with old friends. I was slightly disturbed by the random anti-French remarks, which I never noticed in AoGG, and that dimmed my enjoyment slightly. But on the whole, a lovely book about the last days of youth and the realization that adulthood is looming over the horizon. Four Stars.

14. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson.

A professor with an interest in the paranormal rents a supposedly haunted house for the summer. He invites three strangers to come and stay with him in the house. The four of them explore the house. And so begins one of the scariest stories I've ever read. The writing just builds the ambiance and the pacing is perfect - the sense of dread just builds and builds. Having only read a few of Jackson's short stories before, I was so impressed with her craftsmanship in writing this story. If you like a good scare, read this book. Library book. Four stars.

15. The Eye in the Pyramid, Book One of The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson.

The first hundred pages or so were charmingly frenetic. The next hundred were less so. By the last hundred I couldn't wait to finish the damn thing. This is billed as the ultimate conspiracy book. Shea and Wilson throw in every conspiracy theory of the last century, tell it from a dozen points of view, and jump around in time. I admire their enthusiasm and willingness to try to take every cool thing they have ever heard and weave it into a grand tapestry. But at the same time, it's sort of like the 1970s distilled into book form. The drug stuff was just lame, but the treatment of women was revolting. Of the dozen characters the story is told through, only a few brief povs are from women. Most of the women show up merely to have sex with the male characters, often minutes after meeting them. In short, while the were good qualities to the book, mostly it just pissed me off. I doubt I'll read the rest of the trilogy. One star.

16. Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner

The plot is simple; Edith goes way to a posh rest hotel for a few weeks after jilting the man she didn't love, but was going to marry. She talks to the other guests and thinks about her life. It's an oddly slight book, really. And strangely old fashioned. I didn't like Edith, who was roughly as passive as a floral centerpiece, even when skipping her wedding at the last minute. All the other women were fairly wretched people and while Edith goes on about how she likes men better - the men in the story were barely there. They were one dimensional placeholders for actual characters. I can't believe that this won the Booker prize. Was this hot in the '80s? I doubt I will ever pick up an Anita Brookner novel again. One and a half stars.

They were one dimensional placeholders for actual characters.

I'm still laughing -- what a great way to say it! I haven't read the book, but now I know that I don't want to. Thanks!

February Recap

Number of Books Read: 7
Favourite: Franny and Zooey by J. D. Salinger
Opposite of Favourite: The Eye in the Pyramid by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson

17. Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut

Kurt Vonnegut is my favourite writer ever. I'm rationing out the last few books of his that I haven't read yet, and this week I decided to treat myself to Galapagos. This is a story about evolution. More particularly, it is the story about how the progenitors of the modern human race came to be stranded on the island of Santa Rosilia one million years ago, in 1986 C.E. It is pure Vonnegut - cynical and funny and joyous. It doesn't quite reach the heights of Mother Night, The Sirens of Titan or Cat's Cradle, but it's still wonderful. Four and a half Stars.

18. Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall by Bill Willingham et al.

This volume fills in some of the back story of the residents of Fabletown, as Snow White plays Scheherazade and spins tales to keep her head. I liked the premise, and some of the short stories about the minor characters, but I hated the back story for Snow White and Flycatcher. In particular I hated the inclusion of a particular element in those two stories, which seemed to be included simply to be salacious. Also I suspect Snow's back story was meant to improve our opinion of Prince Charming by assassinating Snow's character. Library book. Two Stars.

@44 I can't believe you even managed to get that far with the The Illuminatus! Trilogy!

and thanks for the review of The Gallery of Regrettable Food. I have spent an entertaining 1/2 hr looking through the site.

19. Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence

Only a man could have written a book about a woman's life being changed by the magical power of cock. Two Stars.

20. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys

I read Jane Eyre when I was fourteen and didn't like it nearly as much as Wuthering Heights, which I read right before it. Jane was too timid and I couldn't see what she saw in Rochester. The mad woman in the attic was the most interesting part of the book. This is the story of the mad woman in the attic - Antoinette Cosway, a white Creole from Jamaica. Rochester marries Antoinette for her fortune, then finds out there is madness in the family. The story is told in three parts - first we see Antoinette's childhood in a Jamaica restructuring itself after the emancipation of the slaves, next we switch between Rochester and Antionette's povs during their honeymoon and finally, briefly, we see the mad woman in the attic.

It's a heartbreaking and beautifully atmospheric story - you can almost smell the flowers and feel the heat. Antoinette and Christophine are such vivid characters that Rochester, despite being one of the narrators, seems almost an afterthought. Which makes sense, as he seemed the same way in Jane Eyre. A fascinating read. Four Stars. Library book.

21. Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman

Neil Gaiman is one of my absolute favourite writers and I am continually amazed at his versatility in writing in so many mediums. This is a short children's book - a novella rather than a novel like Coraline or The Graveyard Book. It is the story of Odd, a viking boy, and his trip to Asgard to defeat the frost giant who has exiled Loki, Thor and Odin. It's a sweet book, and Odd is a lovely hero, but it doesn't approach the heights of Gaiman's best work. Library Book. Three Stars.

Your marvellous review of Lady Chatterley's Lover made me choke on my coffee! You made my day.

Thanks!

22. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

Wow, this book is creepy. And really good. And I have no idea what I can say about it without ruining it those who haven't read it yet. It just builds and builds and at the end it is just - wow. Library Book. Four Stars.

23. The Photographer by Emmanuel Guibert, Didier Lefevre and Frederic Lemercier

This graphic novel documents a trip into Afghanistan made 20 years ago by a Medicin Sans Frontiers team to treat the sick and wounded during the Soviet invasion. Didier Lefevre went on the trip to photograph it, stayed with the mission in Afghanistan for a month and then left them and attempted to return to Pakistan with a caravan, which turned out to be a disaster that nearly killed him.

I love documentary graphic novels. but it seems like this is an area where a lot of the artists, authors and publishers don't really understand comics. What I mean by that is that in comics the words and the pictures should each add something to every panel - they should not contain exactly the same information. While The Photographer suffers from this to some extent (1/3 of all panels in the book are of Didier standing next to a horse on a mountain), the book is saved by two things. The comic panels remind us visually every minute of the terrain of Afghanistan and the journey, which is vital to the story. And the whole story is brought to life by Didier's photographs, which are amazing. It isn't a great comic, but it is a great story. Library book. Three and a half stars.

March Recap:

Number of Books Read: 7
Favourite: Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut
Opposite of Favourite: Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence

24. Dorothy Parker Stories by Dorothy Parker

This edition includes all the stories from two previous collections Laments for the Living and After Such Pleasures. These 24 short stories are little peaks into the minds, lives and conversations of various jazz age denizens including aging party girls, cheating husbands, young lovers, horse-faced nurses and society ladies. Dorothy Parker deserves every bit of her reputation as a legendary wit - my favourite story in the collection is A Young Woman in Green Lace, in which the title character finds it difficult to readjust to New York after spending three weeks in Paris. These are just perfect, beautiful, clever, heartbreaking gems of stories. Four and a half stars. Library book.

51> 19. Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence

Only a man could have written a book about a woman's life being changed by the magical power of cock. Two Stars.


That explains a lot: Kate Chopin was a man!

Renee
(who hated The Awakening and didn't much like Lady Chatterley's Lover, either)

Gah. The Awakening is on my tbr list. If it's anything like LCL than I can give it a miss. Thanks for letting me know!

25. Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli

Asterios Polyp is the best graphic novel I have read since American Born Chinese. Asterios is a middle aged "paper architect" with a failed marriage. Then his apartment burns down and he buys a ticket for the first bus out of town. The story of Asterios' marriage is interwoven with his sojourn as a mechanic in the small town at the end of the bus ride. What makes this book so amazing is how Mazzucchelli uses the art to flesh out the story. Like the very best graphic novels, the art is not just illustrating the words, but adding dimensions to the story through the language of art. Asterios Polyp is absolutely glorious. Read it! Library book. Five Stars!

26. Amphigorey by Edward Gorey

Is a collection of fifteen of Gorey's odd and wonderful little illustrated stories. Gorey's work has to seen to be believed. From The Gashlycrumb Tinies which illustrates the alphabet with the horrible deaths of children, to The Unstrung Harp which tells the story of the the writing of a novel called The Unstrug Harp, Gorey is delightful and slightly mad in verse, prose and pictures. My favourite story in the collection is The Doubtful Guest about a strange creature that shows up at a family home one day, wreaks havoc and says for seventeen years. Library book. Five Stars!

27. Throne of Jade by Naomi Novik

Dragons fight the Napoleonic Wars. Excellent! This is the second book in the series and it takes the dragon Temeraire and his Captain Will Lawrence to the land of Temeraire's origin - China. Features political machinations, dragon romance and a long sea voyage. Good fun. Library book. Three stars.

28. Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Boys gone wild! Library book. Four Stars.

29. Stitches: A Memoir by David Small

Yes, it is another graphic memoir about a dysfunctional childhood - but it's a really good one! The story is compelling - Small went into the hospital to have a growth removed and woke up without one vocal cord, rendering him mute and only found out later that he had cancer and wasn't expected to survive. And the art is very nice. Library book. Four Stars.

30. The Complete Fairy Tales by Charles Perrault

Seventeenth Century versions of classic fairy tales, including Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Puss in Boots. Not so very different from the versions I heard in my childhood (although Sleeping Beauty has a whole second act where the prince's mother tries to kill and eat her and her children). Library book. Three stars.

31. Robot Dreams by Sara Varon

Wordless and sweet tale of friendship between a dog and a robot. Library book. Three stars.

32. The Golem's Mighty Swing by James Sturm

A 1920s Jewish baseball team, the Stars of David, run into trouble on tour and agree to a publicity stunt - creating a Golem. Sturm's first graphic novel about baseball and racism is fascinating and powerful, though I liked his later book Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow more. Library Book. Three and a half stars.

33. Houdini: The Handcuff King by James Lutes and Nick Bertozzi

Graphic book about a particular trick that Houdini did - jumping into the Charles River with his hands and feet bound in chains. Really cool. Library book. Three stars.

34. Fables: Sons of Empire by Bill Willingham et al.

The fourth Fables graphic novel I have read this year is one of the better ones. Picking up where Fables: Wolves left off, the adversary plots the destruction of the Mundy world and Bigby and Snow White deal with family matters. Wasn't too fond of the art in the second half. Library book. Three stars.

35. The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain by Peter Sis

Brilliant non-fiction children's graphic book about growing up in Czechoslovakia during the cold war. Sis includes contextual political and cultural information and parallels it with the story of a boy who drew - a boy very much like himself. A brilliant story and a brilliant way to teach kids history. Loved it. Library book. Four stars.

36. The Professor's Daughter by Joann Sfar and Emmanuel Guibert

Strange and wonderful graphic novel about the mummy of Imhotep IV falling in love with an Egyptologist's daughter in Victorian London. Gorgeous art. Library book. Four Stars.

37. The Eternal Smile: Three Stories by Gene Luen Yang and Derek Kirk Kim

Graphic novel month continues with these three short, fascinating and stylistically different stories exploring what these three people want in life, their various escapes from reality and the reconciliation of real life and ideal life. It doesn't quite live up to the genius of American Born Chinese, but I don't think anything could have. Library book. Four Stars.

April Recap:

Number of Books Read: 14 (More than half graphic novels)
Favourite: Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli
Opposite of Favourite: Nothing I read this month was bad. Perault's The Complete Fairy Tales was somewhat disappointing.

38. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami

Toro Okada's cat goes missing. Then he meets several strange women and an elderly WWII soldier. Then his wife goes missing. Then he climbs down a well and things start getting weird. It's very long and there really isn't a lot of plot, but it kept me fascinated right up till the end (which I need to think about a bit more). Not all the threads are woven together, but they clearly aren't supposed to be. I didn't like it quite as much as Norwegian Wood, which was the first Murakami that I read, but it's still a solid three and a half. Library book.

39. Foundation by Isaac Asimov

It lives up to the hype. In a galaxy far, far away, the empire is crumbling and a dark age is approaching. Hari Selden has worked out the future for the next ten thousand years using the science of psychohistory and figured out how to keep the knowledge of the empire alive and cut down the dark ages to a mere millennium - by sending 100,000 people out to a planet at the edge of the empire and starting the Foundation. It's a very cool story and it is truly astounding that this book was published in 1951. But! And it is a big but! In this far away future women are basically invisible and not involved in scholarship, trade, politics or religion, as far as I can tell. There are only two female characters in the entire book - both so minor they don't actually have names - whose combined presence in the story lasts about three pages. Very uncool. Three and a half stars for the story, negative five stars for total lack of women. Library book.

# 77, I felt the same way when I read it last year. A missed opportunity, I thought.

It's bizarre - a society basically without women (unless they are back in the kitchens having babies). Have you read the rest of the series? Is it more of the same?

40. The Alienist by Caleb Carr

Five cookie cutter characters hunt down a killer with Theodore Roosevelt in 1890s New York. I haven't been this bored by a book that everyone on LT loves since The Time Traveler's Wife. The writing is Dan Brown-esgue, the characters dull and the plot slight. All the main characters express the kind opinions that are more commonly held by 21st century liberals than anyone in the gilded age and the plebeian "explanations" of "cutting edge" psychology and forensic techniques are tiresome. It's 300 pages too long and the only thing interesting about the story - the setting in turn of the last century New York - isn't handled very well. One Star. Library book.

41. Dark Age Ahead by Jane Jacobs

In this 2004 essay, Jacobs attempts to illustrate how the breakdown of communities, the shift from education to credentialism, disregard for scientific rigor, dumbed down taxes and a failure of self regulation in the "learned professions" could lead to a new dark age in the North America. I had great respect for Jacobs and I really wanted to learn something from this book, but there just isn't anything here. With the exception of the first section on communities, her points are incredibly thin (the "learned profession" she talks about is accounting, which a) isn't a learned profession by the usual definition and b) has never been a bastion of integrity). She never mentions countering arguments and simply omits anything that doesn't jive with her thesis. She introduces the work by discussing Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs and Steel and other works of popular history as if they constituted a complete historical worldview to frame her argument and then ends the essay with a concluding chapter that would have gotten her an F if she handed in this essay in a university class - it draws spurious conclusions that are in no way backed up by the body of the work. I was incredibly disappointed by this book. One star.

42. Have a Nice Doomsday: Why Millions of Americans are Looking Forward to the End of the World by Nicholas Guyatt

If you are looking for a book about how belief in apocalyptic Christianity affects the lives of Americans, this is not the book. Guyatt's focus is the political implications of apocalyptic Christianity, particularly with regards to Israel. He talks to ministers and writers who formulate and spread the ideas of apocalyptic Christianity, but not to the millions of Americans mentioned in the title. There is something boring about the the people who (regardless of their level of sincerity) make their livings off this idea. I would have been much more interested in the people who believe and live their lives according to prophesies that don't make them any money. I don't know why Guyatt chose only to interview people who are "famous" in the the evangelical/apocalyptic movement, but it made for a book that basically outlined the theories of a dozen individuals without any reference to how this affects millions of Americans on a personal level. I couldn't be bothered to finish it. Library book. One Star.

Your comment on Foundation is fascinating -- I haven't read that book since junior high, but I loved it and the rest of the series at the time. It makes me very curious to go back and see whether I get terribly offended, but I'm kinda afraid a reread may be too likely to ruin the happy memories I have.... :-/

It was a weird reading experience because while I was aware of the lack of women and how problematic it was, at the same time the story was completely fascinating.

May Recap

Wow, not a great reading month! I only read five books and I didn't like three of them.

The Best: The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami
The Worst: The Alienist by Caleb Carr

The good news is that I'm really enjoying the three books that I currently have in mid read.

43. Explaining Darfur: Lectures on the Ongoing Genocide by Van Ardenne-van der Hoeven, Salih, Grono, and Mendez

This book contains the text of four lectures given at the University of Amsterdam in 2005 on the humanitarian crisis in Darfur. The lectures give four different perspectives on the context of the crisis and offer possible avenues of resolution. Highly recommended for anyone who wants background on Darfur. It is appalling that five years later the situation is roughly the same as it was when these lectures were given just two years into the crisis. There are still two million people living in refugee camps and no end in sight. I don't know how to rate a book like this, so I won't. Library book.

@77 I had the exact same reaction to a new book: Metro 2033 by Dmitrij Gluchovskij. It wasn't hostile towards women per se, they just weren't around anywhere but far far in the background. Stale and very annoying. (In the end I just knocked off half a star, but it still kinda bugs me thinking about it)

44. The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood

I have always preferred Atwood's short fiction to her novels, but this is undoubtedly her masterpiece. Atwood tells the story of Iris Chase Griffen, who is coming to the end of her life and needs to set the record straight. Iris does this by telling the story of her early life, which is bound up in the story of her sister Laura who died at 25 and posthumously became a celebrated author. Iris's tale is interspersed with Laura's one novel, The Blind Assassin, which tells the story of a pair of secret lovers. When these lovers meet in squalid apartments, they tell each other the story of the planet Zycron and the fabled city of Sakiel-Norn, which exist in another dimension of space. As we move deeper into the tale, we understand that this is all one story, broken into facets. Atwood's writing is exquisite throughout, but never more so than when constructing the pulp scifi story the lovers tell. Laura is one of the most fascinating characters I've ever come across and Iris is so complete that you almost forget she isn't real. If you like Atwood, read this and enjoy. If you think you don't like Atwood, read this and become a fan. Five Stars.

@87

I shall be avoiding that one. I just don't want to read books without any women in them, unless there is a really good reason for there being no women (the whole thing is set in a WWI trench or a boys boarding school, there is only one character, there has been a pandemic that has killed all the women in the world, etc).

@89 And I'm guessing "It's written by a russian guy" doesn't count? ;-)

Metro 2033 was actually very good, apart from this major flaw. I tend to be more lenient with "no women in sight" than "all women are emotion driven/floopy/sexy/innocent/prostitutes", I guess.

@90

No, it doesn't count. And "all women are emotion driven/floopy/sexy/innocent/prostitutes" really doesn't work for me either. Do I have impossibly high standards here?

45. Three Wishes: Palestinian and Israeli Children Speak by Deborah Ellis

This is a fascinating and heartbreaking read. Ellis, a Canadian author of children's books, published this collection of interviews with Israeli and Palestinian children in 2006 and it has been controversial ever since. In these interviews the children share stories that are all tragically similar - ever Palestinian child says that they don't know any Israeli children, but that the Israelis hate them. Every Israeli child says that they don't know any Palestinian children, but that the Palestinians hate them. For all these children, soldiers, bag searches, checkpoints, sudden violence and fear are an every day occurrence. The Israeli teenagers are thinking about their future military service and many of the Palestinians speak of killing Israelis in their future. For the most part it is an incredibly even handed work, though I felt there was one serious problem in that the only Israeli children interviewed were Jews and only Jews of European decent. Twenty percent of the population of Israel is Arab - why didn't she interview even one Arab Israeli? Of the 75% of the population that is Jewish, a third is of Middle Eastern, Asian or African decent. Ellis is whitewashing the Jewish population by not including children whose ancestors never left ancient Judea or those who only went as far as Iraq, Iran or Yemen, not to mention returned Indian and Ethiopian Jews. This portrayal of Jews as only white Europeans bothers me, as I suspect most of the people who read this book won't know that is not the case. I give the book three and a half stars, but it would have been five if this wasn't the case. Library book.

@91 I would say you're being pretty reasonable. The literary canon would somewhat disagree, it seems. But then again, the literary canon is stoopid.

I've often wondered if the writers who exclude women from their stories are aware they're doing it. (That the ones who go for the "emotion driven/floopy/sexy/innocent/prostitutes" approach are mostly oblivious of their sexism is usually fairly obvious, with a few misogynist exceptions)

@92
Fascinating. You've just educated me. I had no idea that so many Israeli Jews weren't from European roots.

46. The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton

It's New York in the 1870s and Archer Newland has just become engaged to May Welland, his perfect woman, when her cousin the Countess Olenska shows up, fleeing from a bad marriage. Meeting the Countess forces Archer to re-evaluate everything he believes about the rigid social rules of the New York aristocracy and the life he had intended for himself. A gorgeously written love story about what we owe to ourselves and what we owe to others, about loving the goodness of a person more than wanting them, and about the prisons we build for ourselves. And the atmosphere! Wharton paints old New York like a canvas. Absolutely amazing. Five Stars. Library Book.

47. Passionate Minds: Women Rewriting the World by Claudia Roth Pierpont

This was an impulse buy some years ago that has been gathering dust on a bookcase. I'm really glad I finally got around to reading it, as it was terrific. It is short biographies/essays on the literary contributions of a diverse group of 20th century women writers, including Gertrude Stein, Hannah Arendt, Anais Nin, Zora Neale Hurston, Dorris Lessing, Ayn Rand and others. The essays were universally fascinating (Rand was less of a kook than I had thought, Margaret Mitchell, Arendt and Lessing were every but as problematic in their personal lives as Hemingway, Eliot and Pound) and I have added at least a dozen books to my list of things to read right now. The writing is sharp, it moves at a clip and no more than 30 pages are devoted to any one author. Loved it. Four and a half stars. Library book.

48. Club Dead by Charlaine Harris

Third in the Southern Vampire mysteries series. The series has flaws, but they're just so much fun. A quick, light read. Library Book. Three and a half stars.

49 - 54. Dead to the World, Dead as a Doornail, Definitely Dead, All Together Dead, From Dead to Worse and Dead and Gone

These books are like crack. I burned through the rest of the series (except the latest) this week and now I feel kind of ashamed of myself. Three stars each. Library books.

55. Never Learn Anything From History by Kate Beaton

Clever and fun history oriented comic strips. Three and a half stars. Library book.