Sundays on the Acre, Take 3

Thread 3 already! Saints preserve us (I mean the NO Saints, who are destined to win the Super Bowl, right?)

Books Read from My Personal Library in 2010



Pages Read 2010



Memorable Reads for 2010:

Nonfiction
The National Parks: America's Best Idea by Dayton Duncan & Ken Burns
Larry Burrows: Vietnam by Larry Burrows

Fiction
Salvation by Sholem Asch
The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami
Britten and Brulightly by Hannah Berry
The Party by Rudolph Von Abele

Young Adult
Genesis by Bernard Beckett
Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

A note about my memorable reads: I am not a book critic. My memorable reads list is just that: books that are memorable to me - that for some reason or other resonate with me. I do not review books as many people here do for the simple reason that I am a terrible book reviewer!

Unrealized by me, this week turned out to be a mystery-reading week for some reason!

44. The Killings at Badger's Drift by Caroline Graham - the first book in Graham's Inspector Barnaby series, a decent mystery set in the English countryside; I will revisit this series since it got off to a pretty good start; guardedly recommended

45. The Chocolate Cat Caper by Joanna Carl - this has been my 'by-the-bed' book for a week or so and I figured it was about time I finished it off; the female lead's malapropisms got on my nerves quite a bit and I will not be revisiting this series; not recommended Mine

46. Strength in What Remains by Tracy Kidder - nonfiction; the true story of Deogratias, a man chased from his home country of Burundi by the genocide there - I found this book both heart breaking and heart warming; I now have Kidder's book on Paul Farmer home from the library and hope I like it as much as I did this one; highly recommended

47. Vietnam: A History by Stanley Karnow - nonfiction; a well-written book on the history of the Vietman War, dating back to its foundations in the French occupancy of the country; highly recommended Mine

48. Larry Burrows: Vietnam by Larry Burrows - nonfiction; this book consists primarily of photographs taken by the late Larry Burrows during his time in Vietnam and I cannot recommend it highly enough if you are interested in the history of that country (Thanks Peter for recommending it to me!); when they say 'A picture is worth a thousand words' they could be talking about the artistry of Burrows photographs; highly recommended, and on my memorable reads list for the year

Abandoned The Bad Book Affair by Ian Sansom - the only reason I am mentioning this book at all is because it was one of my ER books - I made it to page 85 before putting it aside in disgust (and although I am not counting the book as read, I am counting those 85 pages in my page count!); not recommended for anyone unless you are an insomniac wanting to sleep (and yes, I did post a review on the book's page) Mine (unfortunately)

49. The Man Who Loved Books Too Much by Allison Bartlett Hoover - nonfiction; I wish I could rate this book higher, but I really did not feel that it was as tightly written as it could have been - I really wished she had concentrated less on Gilkey and more on the investigations and investigators - personally, I think The Island of Lost Maps, which does not deal with books rather than maps, is better written and it deals with many of the same issues that book dealers do; guardedly recommended, for the subject matter rather than the writing style

50. Bleeding Heart Square by Andrew Taylor - another ER book and one I can strongly recommend - very well-written and the atmosphere that Taylor injects into the book is well done; highly recommended Mine

51. Critical Encounters: Literary Views and Reviews by Nona Balakian - this is the first book from Writer's Choice: A Library of Rediscoveries that I cannot unreservedly recommend and the fault lies with me, not the author herself; she writes critical essays (several of which I found very interesting and thought-provoking, 'On the Reading of Modern Fiction', 'Britain's Lopsided View' and all of the ones in part 4 of the book), however, she also mentions authors whose works I am not familiar enough with to refute her points-of view, so hence my fault, not hers; still recommended for those whose literary knowledge is greater than my own (which covers the majority of people in this group!)

52. Green for Danger by Christianna Brand - Carolyn (MusicMom) read this back in September of 2008 and it has been languishing in the BlackHole since then, but Rachael (FlossieT) mentioned it recently, so I thought it was about time I got around to reading it; I enjoyed it quite a bit - the setting of an hospital during WWII, the limited suspect pool, the competent, kind-hearted inspector, it all worked for me; recommended to traditional mystery buffs

53. The Wandering Jew, Volume 1 by Eugene Sue - I ran across this when I was looking for freebies to download to my Kindle-for-PC; I had to check Wikipedia for background on Sue, since I had never heard of him, but he must have been a fascinating man; Anyway, the book was written in parts (serials) in much the same manner that Dickens did; thus far, what we have is a bad guy (Morok), two unbelievably innocent girls (Rose and Blanche, who I fear will not come to a good end), and their protector Dagobert, who has been unjustly accused, and I am anxious to find out what happens in Volume 2; recommended

I have a couple of doorstop books going on right now, Warlord: A Life of Winston Churchill, which is very good, and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, which is also very good, along with 20 or so others. I need to be twins!

Ooh, I heard about Strength in What Remains on a podcast and then forgot all about it. Glad you liked it and thanks for the reminder - I will definitely get my hands on a copy.

I will also look out for Bleeding Heart Square, which I like the sound of.

What do you think of The Wind Up Bird Chronicle so far? I read a lot of Murakami's a couple of years ago, though this wasn't one of my favourites.

#3: I am in the 17th chapter of Book 3 and enjoying the book so far, although I have no idea where Murakami is leading (taking) me? This is the fourth of his books for me and I have not read one yet that I actively disliked.

I hope you get a chance to read both Strength in What Remains and Bleeding Heart Square. I look forward to seeing what you think of them, Liz.

#4 I liked Norwegian Wood best, and also After Dark and Sputnik Sweetheart. I did have one I actively disliked - Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World - I found it really annoying. Though for a lot of people this is their favourite.

#5: I have read After Dark which is probably my favorite thus far, but I have not had a chance to read Norwegian Wood, Sputnik Sweetheart or Hard Boiled Wonderland yet.

The others of his that I have read are What I talk about when I talk about running, which is nonfiction (the first of his that I read), and Kafka on the Shore.

Edited to correct Touchstone

#6 Norwegian Wood is less like fantasy than the others, and Hard Boiled Wonderland is crazy hardcore stuff which is not really my thing.

I really liked after the quake too, short stories loosely connected around the Kobe earthquake of, I think, 1995.

I can't remember which is which - is The Wind Up Bird the one where he keeps hiding down a well? I think maybe it's quite similar to Kafka and the Shore and I get them mixed up. Though I remember Kafka had a cat in it.

He is a great writer; I like Japanese writing and would love to go to Japan. Would be happy to hear any other recommendations you may have for good Japanese authors.

Added Strength in What Remains, Bleeding Heart Square and Green for Danger to the wishlist! The Man Who Loved Books Too Much is already in there and I think I will give it a go if I can get hold of a copy. Also added The Island of Lost Maps.

I've got Norwegian Wood in my TBR pile, given the size of my wishlist I might wait until I've read that one before I add any more Murakami.

#7: Yes, The Wind-Up Bird is where he keeps hiding down a well. I am not familiar with Japanese writers at all - I discovered Murakami through LT. A recent book that I read The Sound of Waves is by a Japanese writer and I enjoyed it, so you might want to give it a try.

#8: I am glad you found something you liked in this week's list, Heather. Happy reading!

Weeps for all the adds...
but I did find and star you....

sigh

Morning Stasia- Someone mentioned that you were shooting for 75 threads this year? Lofty goal but if anyone could do it... I've had Strength in What Remains on my radar for awhile, it sounds so good!
Loving all this Murakami talk! I'm still planning on doing a G.R. of either Norwegian Wood or The Wind-up Bird in May. Any preference?

#10: Kath, you are crying all over the threads this morning. What's up with that?

#11: I am not shooting for 75 threads this year. Linda thinks I am going to have that many, but I do not think so - even if I reach 74 and it has a thousand posts on it :) Since I will have read The Wind Up Bird Chronicle so recently, my choice would be Norwegian Wood.

The Killings at Badger's Drift sound interesting. Looking at the cover of the book, I assume the story is adapted in the BBC series Midsummer Murders.

#13: Yes, it is. I watched the show years ago and that was how I originally heard about the books. Recently, Diana (dihiba) read one of Graham's and it reminded me that I needed to go back to the series. My recent read of Badger's Drift was actually a re-read. I never made it past that one in the series, but since it had been so long since I originally read it, I thought a re-read appropriate.

I put down one of Ian Sansom's books last year-couldn't read it- I know that it was supposed to be funny-but it wasn't.
The book on the history of Vietnam looks interesting!

#15: I got so sick of the characters doing nothing but sitting around (especially the main character, Israel). The book was the fourth in the series and I had not read the others, so had no idea what the story was with the characters and certainly felt no sympathy for them. For a purported mystery, the only mystery I found was why there was no mystery in the first 85 pages! Ridiculous and a big waste of time.

Is the Sansom book part of The Mobile Library mysteries? I read the first in that series. Very little mystery, unlikeable town and characters, and soo boring. Sounds like the series never gets any better. I'll continue to avoid this series.
The Wind Up Bird Chronicle is my favorite Murakami. Be forewarned that the US version is missing three random chapters. The publisher thought the book was too long.

#17: Yes, it is.

Three chapters? In a book 600 pages long? I do not get that at all. What is a few more pages when it is already at the 600-page mark!

Stasia, Dear Friend....

I rest my case. It is Sunday morning and already you have 18 posts by 9:45. I stand behind my assertion that you will indeed have 75 threads in 2010. We flock here like birds to a wire, like deer to a salt lick, like zebras to a watering hole, like gamblers to a slot machine and like the bookaholics we are, we simply naturally gravitate to her comforting thread.

What an interesting week you've had. In my opinion the Stanley Karnow is the best book re. Viet Nam. Years ago there was a PBS had an excellent documentary re. Vietnam and Karnow's book.

http://www.museum.tv/eotvsection.php?entrycode=vietnamate

It is stellar and if you haven't seen it, you might be interested.

Happy Sunday to you!

Happy dance, happy day, that's what I say! Nothing to add to wishlist today. Have a great week Stasia..:)

I told you all on LT about Strength In What Remains long ago. I am glad to be proven right. It was a great read for me and I would have kept it if not for my husband's rule to purge so I can get more books!

The Tracy Kidder and Stanley Karnow books are musts for the wishlist. I saw Bleeding Heart Square mentioned somewhere else, so that will have to move up as well. I'm feeling swamped!

Stasia, one can never read too many mysteries. I am picking up a mystery today as a comfort read while I'm congested with a cold.

Lots of books to add to the TBR pile. I've heard of Caroline Graham and Christianna Brand but never read either of them so onto the pile they go.

Vietnam, absolutely. I already have The Man Who Loved Books Too Much so I may as well read it anyway.

The Ian Sansom book is also an ER book for me and I owe to them to at least try it and review it.

As for JoAnna Carl, I would respectfully disagree. I enjoy that series. Not my absolutely favorite series of them all but quite enjoyable.

Found you-- starred you--great list. will comment later--gotta dash!

I read a lot of mysteries this week also--must be winter! :-)

*waves*

I won't even try to refer back to the correct post in my comments. Too much, too much! I've loved everything I've read by Tracy Kidder. I just about wore out my copy of Among Schoolchildren as it came out just before my first assignment as a 5th Grade teacher. I still have Mountains Beyond Mountains to read and then will look for Strength In What Remains.

I am waiting for Mark's upcoming Group Read to read my first Murakami book. I voted for The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, but will be happy with whatever the group decides upon.

I think Sunday is going to be my favorite day on LT. It is the only day of the week that I don't walk the dog (my husband takes him on an extra long walk, which I call a "forced march"). We come home from church, I drink lots of coffee and read the paper, then catch up on threads. And I always save your book list for last. Now I can go read The Moonflower Vine and maybe have a short nap. Ahhh, what a good life.

Well I thought something had gone terribly wrong. As I'm scanning my starred threads I see Stasia's with only one unread post! Egads that can't be right. It's Sunday for God's sake! Quickly I clicked on the one unread message and ...oh...catastrophe averted. Stasia's gone and started a new thread and what's this..Linda thinks she's going to have 75 threads this year??! Astounding;-o

BTW I'm adding Strength in What Remains. Thanks.

You've had another great week of reading, Stasia! I'll have to add Strength in What Remains to my wish list, but I want to read Mountains Beyond Mountains, which I already own, first. I'll get another copy of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle in the near future, as I gave my copy to a teenager I took care of in the hospital several years ago. I absolutely loved it the first time around, and I'm eager to read it again, for Mark's group read or a solo effort.

Strength in What Remains has been added to my wish-list. I hope the library has it--it will fit into my Africa category and will be a new author for me. I own and haven't read The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle--so I've added that to my list for this year for reading off the shelves. The Viet Nam books sound really good--but they will have to wait until later. I think you read as many books in one week as I have read all this month! :-) I do love how you point me to new books and authors I'm not aware of--now just teach me how to read faster--or at least how to get along without sleep. :-D

I'm glad to hear all the good things about Strength in What Remains. I got it as an early reviewer book last year but I haven't gotten around to reading it yet. I'll have to move it higher in the tbr pile :)

#19: No, on the 75 threads. Nobody needs 75 threads in a year! I thought last year's 12 was excessive. Thanks for passing on the link for the documentary. I will check it out!

#20: I am so glad I made you happy, Lynda :)

#21: Deirdra, I wholeheartedly agree with your assessment of Strength in What Remains. I think I would have overridden my hubby's desire to get rid of it though :)

#22: Sorry to make you feel swamped, Sherlyn. Just remember the books will be patiently waiting for you to get to them.

#23: I am glad you found some books to add to your TBR pile from my reading list, Linda, considering how many you have added to the BlackHole! As far as Joanna Carl goes though, I think we will just have to agree to disagree. lol

#24: Yep, winter is definitely the time for me to snuggle up reading mysteries. I guess I just did not realize how many I ended up reading last week - and I started this week off with another one!

#25: Waving right back at you, Roni! Thanks for dropping by.

#26: I hope you like your time here on the Acre on Sunday mornings, Donna. I am thrilled that you take the time to stop in.

#27: I hope you enjoy Strength in What Remains, Bonnie. I am also glad your Sunday morning crisis was averted :)

#28: I will be reading Mountains Beyond Mountains in the near future, Darryl. We can compare notes!

#29: I do love how you point me to new books and authors I'm not aware of - Everyone on LT does it for me - it seems only fair to reciprocate, Carolyn.

#30: Rachel, dig it out!

My cute summary thingy for January:

Total books read - 55

Total books read that I own - 14 (shooting for 250 for the year)

Nonfiction books read - 17 (shooting for 100 for the year)

Books purchased - 2 (I know I am not supposed to be buying any, but I had to buy the unabridged version of The Count of Monte Cristo for the group read, and I also needed a copy of Warlord for the bibliography section, lol - both books are for the Kindle-for-PC app, so they are not taking up any physical space in my house)

Writer's Choice books read (trying to read 1 a week from this source) - 4, Salvation by Sholem Asch being the best IMHO

ETA: I am trying to fix Touchstones, but LT is not cooperating!! Finally got it, I think, after multiple tries :)

Stasia

Touchstones aren't working properly for many books I'm entering...drat!

Glad to know it is not just me!

A busy & eclectic week!

Oddly, I had only ever encountered Green for Danger as a film, so must now seek out the book as well. The film has the inimitable Alistair Sims in it; it's one of those classics from the 1940s and 50s, not actually an Ealing film, but great. (And if you like it, check out Sims in Cottage to Let, which is a bit less novel a plot -- it was filmed during the war, not after -- but features a very compelling
Sims as well.)

Bleeding Heart Square and Strength in What Remains are sitting on my Kindle; I think the former might actually be on my 'off the shelf' challenge. The Man Who Loved Books Too Much was recommended to me by a former colleague, who is now herself working on her second book, so I decided giving it a shot (especially as the theme appealed!!!!) but the book didn't measure up to the title. I really loved Island of Lost Maps, however, and if you're looking for biblio-books, a new discovery of mine, Stacia, is Howard's End is on the Landing by Susan Hill, which was a true delight, although it may be a bit hard to track down this side of the pond. (But there's always bookdepository.co.uk...) And I got a Vine book about maps and mapmaking that is an excellent counterpart to the Miles Harvey book; the title is clunky but the book fascinating -- The Fourth Part of the World by Toby Lester. Marvellous...

Japanese books -- why is it all Murakami, all of the time? Ok, it used to be all Mishima, all of the time, but really... There are some other very very good Japanese books out there. I lived in Japan in the early/mid 90s, and some of the stuff I read there that I found great or particularly powerful includes Snow Country by Kawabata, I am a Cat by Natsume Soseki, The Makioka Sisters by Tanizaki, etc. It's not as avant garde as Murakami, but is just as good, sometimes better. (I sometimes feel as if Murakami is writing what I think of as 'stunt fiction'...) More recently, I've been struck by some of the writings of Natsuo Kirino.

#38: I am reading Howards End is on the Landing this month as part of my TIOLI challenge. I bought it in November 2009 from The Book Depository - I have no idea when it is due out here in the States.

I am adding The Fourth Part of the World to the BlackHole. Thanks for the recommendation of that one.

I had never read any Japanese fiction until I discovered them on LT and so far, I have been limited by the availability at my local library. I am adding the titles you mentioned to the BlackHole.

#23, #32 >> Now I am confused,

Stasia didn't like it, Linda did.
I have this book on my list of TBRs to read this year... should it be sooner or later?

#40: Read it sooner so that way the suspense will not kill you over whether you will like it or not :)

#38: Japanese books -- why is it all Murakami, all of the time?

Yes! Excellent point, Chatterbox. To your list, I'd like to add The Woman in the Dunes by Kobo Abe and Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids and A Personal Matter by Kenzaburo Oe. Rats...there was another books I was going to recommend, a heartbreaking love story, but I don't see it on my bookshelves. Once I think of it or find it, I'll post it here.

The Author Theme Reads group will focus on Tanizaki as a mini-author from (I think) May through August.

One book I think I'll re-read soon is Five Modern Japanese Novelists by Donald Keene, a professor of Japanese Literature at Columbia, who has written extensively about the country and its writers. It's a very short (100 pp) introduction to the works of Junichiro Tanizaki, Kobo Abe, Yukio Mishima, Yasunari Kawabata and Ryotaro Shiba.

#42: I bought The Woman in the Dunes last year and will be reading it this one. I believe both of the Oe books are in the BlackHole already, but I will check.

Thank you everybody for all the suggestions in the Japanese writers department. Very helpful.

Stasia....thanks so much for the info on the Stanley Karnow book and the Burrows book. Burrows was mentioned quite prominently in War Torn the book I just finished last night on Vietnam. I am putting both of these on my TBR list for the Vietnam challenge.

And I too, like several others, seem to be reading a boatload of mysteries these days...just nice to have something to take our minds off all the reality horrors of the world I guess.

#45: I do not think you will be disappointed in either of the Vietnam books, Tina, although I will say again that Burrows book is primarily photographs, with little in the way of text except for the book's introduction and chapter introductions. It is, however, a spectacular book and I hope you get a chance to read it.

I have put War Torn on hold at my local library and hope to have it soon. Thanks for the recommendation of that one.

45 posts in 1 day?!!!!

I'm very glad that you are NOT twins, Stasia or I'd have to buy an island on which to put all the books that you keep adding to my dangerously obese wish list and TBR towers, and I'd have to spend 12 hours a day just keeping up with the posts on your threads.

Love your list and I'm adding Strength in What Remains and Green for Danger to my wishlist. I have been eying The Man Who Loved Books Too Much every time I've gone to the bookstore, and I've been trying to decide if it'll be a good enough read for me to buy a hardcover book or if i should just wait until the paperback version is out to get it.

#38 : I read I Am A Cat and had to abandon it. I really couldn't get into it at all and found it terribly tedious.

#44 : There's also Kazuo Ishiguro who has written some very beautiful and thought provoking books.

#47: Honestly Caroline, I would not shell out the money for the hardcover of The Man Who Loved Books Too Much, but that is just me. There are a lot of people who liked the book considerably more than I did.

I am glad you found a couple of books to your taste on the list for this week! I am so happy when people do.

I had forgotten about Ishiguro - I have read his Never Let Me Go and own The Remains of the Day, which I hope to get to this year.

Stasia: Unless the books are keepers or absolutely fantastic reads, I'll generally wait until the paperback versions are out if I am to buy them. Otherwise, I'll check the library for a copy or mooch it from others.

Perhaps you'd also like to grab a copy of When We Were Orphans by Ishiguro too. ;-)

I'm ashamed to say, I have only seen the movie The Remains of the Day. I feel quite behind the times in Japanese literature -- that goes onto my list.

Also, silly me to be so excited that I had only missed one post on Stasia's thread -- only to discover that the one post was an announcement of an entirely new thread. Dang it. :)

#49: I own When We Were Orphans too. I just forgot about it, lol.

#50: Sorry about that! And here I was hoping to make it through the year with only 1 thread - and I could not even make it out of January with only 1!

LOL ... you're forgiven, Stasia ... after all, I would never be able to remember all 800 TBR titles if I were in your biblio-heeled shoes.

#42, Thanks for the tip re the Keene book! I have read several of his earlier books about Japan, but this one sounds particularly interesting...

I never really think of Ishiguro as a Japanese writer, ethnicity and parents notwithstanding. To me, he's one of the new breed of English writers, who follow that tradition with elements of something different thrown in. But he's not writing from the POV of a Japanese citizen, or tackling Japanese themes or situations, except in his first book or two (which aren't his strongest, IMO.) When you get to Remains of the Day, you're into a place where he has broken free of everything to create a distinctive voice that isn't necessarily the product of any specific culture/society. IMO, at least !! ;-)

This thread spawns like rabbits left unattended whenever I turn my back...

#52: I printed out the list at the end of December and put notes beside the ones I definitely want to get to this year. Unfortunately, I cannot remember every single title right off the top of my head!

#53: This thread spawns like rabbits left unattended whenever I turn my back...

Yet another reason for me not to get any sleep. Left unattended for any length of time, I might not catch up to my own thread!

I am always suspicious when I've been away from LT for more than a day and there aren't many posts on Stasia's thread.

That's usually a good clue that she's started a new thread.

Stasia...just saw a blurb about a new book coming out in April that is supposed to be really stupendous on Vietnam. Titled Matterhorn. Wonder if we should be so lucky that LT could get a few ER copies for us to zoom in on. I'm definitely going to bug the library about getting this one. Early chat looks great.

#57: I hope we do get some ER copies! It might be the only way I get my hands on a copy of the book. Thanks for the heads up, Tina.

BTW: I will be reading a couple more Vietnam books in the upcoming weeks: 365 Days by Ronald Glasser and another book by Tim O'Brien whose The Things They Carried I liked so much last year, If I die in a combat zone, box me up and ship me home.

#56 : linda - if you log in to LT and there aren't many posts on Stasia's thread it means you're asleep and dreaming.

Stasia really needs to get some sleep though, since she has been up for somewhere around 28 hours or so now. I think I will take off and nap for a bit. You guys watch the thread for me while I am gone :)

We're on it. Catch some zzzz....

Thanks, Ren!

ssssshh.......... sleep is visiting with Stasia for a spell ............. everyone breath .... we're safe from her adding more books to our wish lists and TBRs for ... oh, 10 minutes.

Yep, 75 threads for the year seems like a good guess.

I remembered the name of the heart-breaking Japanese novel I read: it's Kinshu: Autumn Brocade by Teru Miyamoto. According to Wikipedia, it was initially written in 1982, and translated into English in 2005.

I haven't read much Japanese literature (other than Murakami or Oe) in several years, and I have a few books on the shelves: Kokoro and The Three-Cornered World by Natsume Sōseki, Spring Snow and The Temple of the Golden Pavilion by Yukio Mishima, for sure, and maybe a couple of others stored away in boxes. I should be able to get to a couple of these this year, particularly the Soseki novels, as they are probably less than 250 pages, and I'll definitely read The Makioka Sisters and at least a couple of others by Tanizaki.

There is a Japanese cultural organization, whose name I can't recall, which seeks to promote leading contemporary Japanese writers to an English reading audience by translating several books a year, similar to what French Voices does in promoting Francophone novels and translating them into English. Although I haven't checked them out recently, Kodansha International publishes a sizable amount of books by Japanese writers in English translation.

Caroline is absolutely right in mentioning Ishiguro as a Japanese author, and his first two or three books are based there. However, I agree with Chatterbox that I think of him mainly as a British writer, as The Remains of the Day and When We Were Orphans, whose main characters are Anglo British men, were more memorable than the two books of his I've read that are based on Japanese characters, A Pale View of Hills and An Artist of the Floating World.

Good Lord...during the time it took me to compose my message, eight new messages appeared! At this rate, Stasia will need to start a new thread every Sunday, if not sooner.

I suppose one thread per day would be too much, wouldn't it? Even for Stasia, I mean.

#65 : Don't tempt her, Darry!

#66, of course, we're active enablers in this...

#64, Soseki is marvelous, and Kodansha is THE publisher of choice for Japanese lit in translation. But don't overlook Kawabata!!!

Thankfully, I already had The Things They Carried on my TBR list, so it can't increase as a result of that recommendation...

I thought I had Snow Country by Kawabata, and the book's cover looks awfully familiar, but it isn't catalogued in my LT library. I do have a couple of hundred books that I purchased before 2005 in boxes, and I'll look through those this spring. If I don't have it, I'll add it to my library.

I think I will read the Keene book this weekend, and review it, since Kawabata is one of the authors he writes about.

I won't be adding any to my tbr this week though I'm awaiting your verdict on Warlord and A Windup bird chronicle.

I haven't read many books by Japanese writers, more likely to have read books set in Japan such as Memoirs of a Geisha. I did read Norwegian Wood a couple of years ago and have been keen to read another Murakami as I liked it a lot.

Two other wonderful Japanese authors are Akira Yoshimura and Shusako Endo. Also The Makioka Sisters is an excellent book, and one of my favorites, but I found it very different from Tanizaki's other books (in a good way). I love Japanese fiction, and read as much as I can.

I'm ba-ack! 5 hours down after 28 up and I feel like a new woman!

To be honest, I have not read all that much in other cultures (Japanese, Latin American, etc) simply because of my deficiencies in reading English literature. One of my frustrations with the Balakian book that I read last week was the fact that she was mentioning authors with whose works I am just not familiar - and they were writing in English. I get mad at myself for being underread. Does anyone else feel that way?

Quote for the day from I Knew A Phoenix:

This is from a letter written by May Sarton's father, George, to her mother before the two were married:

'. . .At the moment I have begun to read Upton Sinclair's The Jungle but I don't know if I shall finish it, because, having received a dozen books from different people, I began them all at once, so as to be through with them more quickly! Am I not idiotic?'

I can so relate!

Posted to the Kitchen too, so ignore it there if you read it here first :)

The Housekeeper and the Professor, by Yoko Ogawa, and her short story collection The Diving Pool, Japanese literature that I have read and enjoyed.

I have both of those in the BlackHole already, but unfortunately my local library does not have them. Thanks for the mention, Bryan!

Hi Stasia- How are you? I'll have to earmark this thread for Japanese writers, I'm not familiar with. There looks like some good ones. So many books....

#76: Hey, Mark. Doing just fine. Drop by any time!

Hi Stasia, still here lurking loving every minute of the comments. I say at least one thread a week on Sundays LOL ;) That will keep you down to at least 52 instead of 75 since there are that many weeks in a year lol. I see so many posts I just had to add my two cents in. I am trying to keep up with all yours. The only thing I hope for is you keep posting where your next thread lands when you change so we all can keep up. Have a wonderful day!

#78: I will try to remember to post the links for new threads as needed, Monica. The key word being 'try' :) Thanks for lurking by!

I love the thought of a new thread every week. I don't like the thought of all the books it means have been read though!

Thankfully, as long as you keep reading mysteries then I am safe :)

#80: Not a bunch of mysteries this week like there were last week, Jenny, but genres that I do not think you really read anyway. Thus far, 1 mystery, 2 general fiction, 1 nonfiction, and 1 young adult.

#81

You might get me with the general fiction and the YA. I shall wait with fingers crossed and eyes tightly squeezed shut!

#82: You do know that you do not have to look at all, don't you Jenny? I mean, if your eyes are going to be tightly squeezed shut, it kind of defeats the purpose, doesn't it?

#83

Yeah but............but..........I can just peep through a little bit, like hiding from a scary film. After all, I don't want to miss anything good........... wait..........that's exactly what I want..........but.....................

aarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrggggggggggggggggggghhhhhh

I think I might be about to spontaneously combust

#84: Well, if you do, you will be making medical history, so it's all in a good cause, right?

Heavens, Stasia, it's almost the third and your thread is under 150 posts! Darryl will be walking away with the Mr. Threat to Telecommunications crown that you've so proudly worn for the past few years.

Of course, his crown will be a manly, solid one, where yours was an airy tracery of circuit board designs rendered in gold and gemstones, as I recall from your Wikipedia page....

What can I say, Richard? Darryl can have his manly crown if he likes. I will gladly surrender mine if I can make it through the year without a new thread every week! And I do not have a Wikipedia page.

Morning Stasia- I see that you are a fan of Karin Slaughter. I finished her 1st book and thought it was pretty good. A nice start! It might be a long while before I get to the second entry but I probably will. BTW, Richard set-up a voting ticker, on my challenge, for the Murakami G.R. choice, so if you don't mind dropping by and voting again, that would be great!

I voted yesterday, Mark, so I am already on top of it!

I saw that you finished Blindsighted. Not Slaughter's best, but not too shabby either. I hope you do get a chance to continue on with the series.

Bother! I keep losing track of your thread!! I'm just stopping by to say "HALLO!" for the time being ;0)

Hello, Fliss! Thanks for finding me again!

#72 Hi Stasia. I also get mad at myself for being under read. Esp in world literature and the classics of English literature. It was easier to discover world lit in school, mostly because it would be assigned reading. Now the internet has opened up new avenues to literature you might never have known existed. So many books, so little time, so frustrating.

Just dropping in to say hi, prolong the length of this thread, and let you know that I've started The Elegance of the Hedgehog and am enjoying it so far as the tale of two willful misfits. I can see where the criticism comes from, by which I mean sentimentality. Although oddly, neither of these characters is in the remotest bit sentimental. But I can see that, at page 60, it's already set up for a fairy tale style intervention...

#92: I plan on living forever, Kelly, in order to circumvent the 'so many books, so little time' problem :)

#93: I am glad you are enjoying 'Hedgehog', Suzanne. I look forward to seeing what you think once you have finished it.

I also feel so under read! That's why I really, really wanted to read Moby-Dick this year. :) Thanks for making that possible!
--BJ

#95: I have been pleasantly surprised by Moby Dick, I must admit. I am glad we are doing the group read as well.

Didn't know there was a group read of Moby Dick going on. It sounds like an intimidating one to me, but maybe I will give it a try.

#97: We just started the first 'assignment' January 15, and I will not be giving the next one until February 15, so you are not behind at all. You need to read the first 25 chapters.

The thread for the group read (non-spoiler) is here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/78998

Hi Stasia- I would have liked joining you on the G.R. of Moby Dick, (I'm due a re-read) but of course I'm immersed in my own, WWE. I hope everyone seems to be enjoying the Melville read!

#94

I like that plan..

#94, I LOVED Elegance of the Hedgehog. Do I think it's 'literature' or 'art'? Nope. But it is beautifully written and thought-provoking, and very creative. In a sense, we are all Mme Michel or Paloma, going through the world looking for kindred spirits. I admit to laughing out loud when Mme Michel dismisses Husserl -- I could never see the point, either!

#99: Sorry you cannot join in, Mark, but I understand. WWE is a doorstop of a book all on it's own!

#101: Thought you might, lol.

#102: I am glad you loved Hedgehog too, Suzanne!

ok I don't come on for 6 days(Doctor Who re-watch) and you get a new Thred and over 100 posts! so so late to the party!

new rule for Bryony go on LT everyday, read acer every day and try to ignore the call of the tenth doctor!

Bx

#104: Gotta love that new rule, Bryony!

Morning Stasia! So you finished The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle? And you gave it a high star rating! That's great! Maybe that'll inspire some of your visitors to stop by my Challenge and vote! Yes, I am shamelessly plugging!!

#106: I feel like hanging up signs on my thread that say "Vote for Mark!" :)

Yes, I finished The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle in the wee hours this morning and I really liked it. One of the things I appreciate about Murakami as an author is that he challenges me as a reader.

Hi. I just realized I have been busy on a couple of threads, but never yours, and your library is very interesting.

Way back at #2 (no I didn't read all the messages)
So glad to see your review of Strength In What Remains it's been on my TBR list for awhile. I liked Mountains Beyond Mountains - read it a long time ago.

Heading to your Moby Dick thread to join up. Better late than never right?

#72: Under-read? You feel under-read? LOL ..... had to have a laugh there. Oh dear .... and what does that make the most of us here on LT, Stasia dear? I don't think there's anyone I know who completes as many books as you do in a year. *cringes and crawls away in most under-read shame...... *

under-read? lolol

#73 - That sounds like me! How many books can you read at once?

Under-read???????????????

Sorry, it has taken me a few hours to recover from my bout of hysteria upon seeing you use that phrase....

#72 Stasia, Under-read?!?!?
*double-take*scratch head*
Nah, impossible.

#108: Jennifer, you are welcome to join in the 'Moby Dick' group read whenever you like!

#109/110/112/113: Yes, under-read. Up until I joined LT, most of my reading was the cozy mystery/romance variety. Thanks to LT my reading horizons have expanded, but I still feel vastly under-read.

#111: Right now, I think I am reading 21 or so. Keeps me from being bored!

#72/114: I get it, and I agree with you, Stasia. I've read very little classic literature (which reminds me, I have to start reading Moby Dick soon!), and I'm sure that I'm in a small minority of 75ers who still hasn't read To Kill a Mockingbird.

#115: I never read To Kill a Mockingbird until last year, Darryl, so it is not a book that I grew up reading like a lot of the other LTers. I am sorry I put it off so long though because it is a terrific book. I hope you get a chance to read it soon.

I reread To Kill a Mockingbird last year (some 40+ years after I first read it) because I had read an article in the New Yorker that discussed the "limits of Southern liberalism" as presented in the novel and I thought I should reread it to have an informed opinion. There was a lot I really liked about it, and a lot that also irritated me, but that is all I'll say!

Alcot---Gosh I finally made it here. I see that you read The Killings At Badger's Drift. I am a huge fan of the TV series Midsomer Murders which is based on the Caroline Graham books. The episode based on the aforementioned book was thoroughly excellent and though I know you are not big on TV, you may want to check it out as it sounds like it was better than the book.

#118: The Midsomer Murders series was actually how I first encountered Caroline Graham. I am not sure how I even came to watch it, but I did. Diana mentioned on her thread about Graham and I thought that I had better get back to that book series, having only read the one.

Glad to see you finally found me :)

It matters not one whit when or even if one reads "the classics" for one to be well-read. I've read most of "the classics" and quite some several long, long ago. So? Does that make me any more well-read than someone who can pop up with information I don't have about Catherine Coulter, Iris Johansen, Dan Brown, Danielle Steel?

It makes me *differently* read. There is no better here. Reading the classics has given me a lot of information that I find entertaining and often useful, but it can be and is available to anyone in other ways, and those of any age can read the same books and derive just as much--possibly more--from them.

I belong to another group where snobbery reigns, and a person who dared to post a message that the majority of the group (including me!) disagreed with. He was roundly insulted and vilified for holding his opinion. I can't stand that at all. I think judging one's own reading in the light of others' reading isn't useful, but rather leads to the above kind of exclusive snobbishness.

Read what you want, when you want to read it, and please don't assign some mystical cultural point value to the books you read! If you're curious about the classics, read 'em. Start small, move up, buy the Cliffs Notes, and don't apologize for coming "late" to the party. You're here, that's what counts.

/rant

I have absolutely nothing wise to say, but I would like to comment that I am totally confused as I worked today (I don't usually, but do sundays), therefore believing it was sunday, came home and sat down to look through the reads for this week and...........

shock horror

there were none. It took me a good 3 minutes to work out why.

Intelligence? Yup, I ain't got that.

#114 Well, from now on when my friends and family give me a hard time about reading 4 books at the same time, I've got a one-up for them.

#120 I totally agree - there's no place for snobbery in reading. However, there is much to be said for the cultural awareness that comes from reading the classics. They are heavily referenced in modern film, literature, etc. Even as much as I (raised on the classics) love many "classics" there are some that I really didn't like. I dislike being made to feel that I am somehow lacking in intelligence or cultural awareness because I just didn't like The House of Seven Gables or One Hundred Years of Solitude. I hope I can refrain from doing so to others who are "differently" read, as you so well put it.

passing through to catch up...

I remember liking The House of Seven Gables but it has been a while ..
I also remember liking to visit there in Salem.

One of my undergrad professors told us once that he'd grown beyond being made to feel guilty about not having read certain books. That was a bit of a revelation for me, and I still have to remind myself of the wisdom of it when I have moments of despair at all of the Important Works I haven't read. I try to read now what's important to me (whether it be important to my studies or important for my understanding of the world or important to my not going stark raving mad) and not to feel inadequate because someone else's idea of what should be important doesn't suit me.

#120 -Richard: huzzah, huzzah. Hallelujah. Thank you for saying that, although methinks the rant might (should?) have been posted in that other nameless group probably the one where I lurked for quite a while, but decided I didn't need that degree of snobbishness.

So here we all stay with the friendly nurturing arms of Stasia etal allowing us to read and report on whatever we want.

Let's hear it for adulthood!

ok Stasia, back to you

>120 richardderus: Yay Richard, you are so right but that is one reason I am so happy here on LT. I have people I can talk to about books that I have read or plan on reading. That's not so easy in RL where I can't find many who share my reading habits. Whatever that other group is that you refer to, I'd suggest you just wave bye-bye to them.

#120: Richard, I seriously love you.

I am so glad for this group. It has allowed me to read beyond my normal ken, including some classics. I just finished up a graphic novel and a mere 2 years ago I would probably never have even considered reading such a thing. I love the diversity of this group because everyone contributes something: a love of translated literature (Darryl, rebecccanyc), mysteries (Cheli), graphic novels (Stephmo), fantasy (Jenny, Roni), classics (deebee), and I could go on. What a terrific group of people I have to share my love of reading with!

Tina, I thought about posting that rant "over there" but decided hell wit' it and just unjoined them. What a crock of leavings to attack a PERSON instead of the IDEAs the person espouses.

Ah, there is nothing like working in academia if you want snobbery to the max, overflowing. It is a pit of back stabbing vipers, maligning each other to which ever one is not in the room at the time, but when there is a meeting, everyone sweetly smiles and laughs..

Ok, that is my rant for today.

Richard, Stasia, Brenzi, Tina, Laura, Jenn, Kath, Jenny, Trish, Rebecca, Darryl, Caroline, Mark, brony, Suzanne and all...Thank you for being such a special part of LT, where opinions and thoughts are shared without fear of chastisement. What a blessing!

Richard -- (I know this is your posting place, Stasia, so I apologize....) what a lovely rant -- I don't know what group you left and hope I never do, but want to commend you! While it is, of course, great to read to improve yourself, it isn't necessary. I'm going to stop right there!

I really came over to thank you Stasia for visiting me every now and then when I post.

"differently read" - I like that!

#114/115, Darryl, I only just read To Kill a Mockingbird for the last year too - although retrospectively, I can't believe I left it that long - as Stasia says, it's a wonderful book - well worth bumping up your tbr pile :o)

Richard/Stasia - I've just come across an appropriate saying in Dreamers of the Day attributed to the Prophet Mohammed - Do not tell me how educated you are. Rather tell me how far you have travelled. I like to apply this to the wide range of genres I love to read.

Chiming in the say that To Kill A Mockingbird is my # 1 book and has held this distinction since the day I read it in high school English class. I believe in 1969 or 1970.

Wow, I just caught up here and couldn't agree more with what Richard said in >120 richardderus:. And sure I have LOTS of gaps in my classics reading and so what? Who's to say that what I'm reading now won't be a classic someday! And anyone who mocks anyone else for what they read is a fool, imho.

To Kill A Mockingbird is also an all time favorite of mine. But I've only read one Jane Austin and hated it!

We get different benefits from reading different kinds of books. What makes a book a classic -- or allows it to transcend its genre, basically -- I think is that it pushes us to reconsider things we may have taken for granted, or the ways in which we can use language, or what novels can do, etc. etc. But a diet composed only of classics? *the horror, the horror* I just want well-written, interesting books. Some are classics, others are brain candy. (I admit I can't stand Danielle Steele, but I'm reading a James Patterson thriller right now, alongside Bleak House...) And as for judging others based on their reading? Pah. My college roomate in first year did that based on my bookshelf contents (I arrived first & unpacked, then went out to investigate) before she had even met me. Took her the entire year to admit she was wrong.

Whisper, yes that kind of snobbery was one very reason that I scurried away from grad school and that kind of nasty careerism. Even in HS, where I read v. widely and did v. well in English exams (IB, AP, you name it), I got very fed up with the 'analysis of great literary works' and the scholarship game surrounding the classics. So much so that I never took another English course. I regret that, in that I didn't end up exploring some of the stuff I'm now reading, but on the other hand, I doubt I would have enjoyed the hyper-analytical readings and the "I'm better read than you are!" ethos that seemed to prevail. I admit to being curious about why some people choose to read one kind of book rather than another -- what it is that they enjoy about them -- but hopefully that's doesn't come across as being holier than thou. If so, someone needs to shoot me. Now.

Stasia, I tuned in early (Sat vs Sunday) hoping for an early post, but I'll go away now and come back tomorrow! I did like the Caroline Graham novels (which I read when they were published, long before the mystery series was developed); I think you might find much to like here. Also, if you don't mind something a bit darker, and want some English crime, it's worth checking out the early novels by Minette Walters.

I like Richard's 'differently read' and I think that's what we all are and exactly what I like about LT. Thankfully thus far, I haven't encountered much obnoxious behavior on LT .. maybe I'm not in the 'right' group for that *heaves big sigh of relief* ..... and I really like how we can safely post different opinions on books read without having to feel small or stupid.

Stasia : My reading habits were always different from that of my friends, and here on LT, I've found a home among all you fantastic people. The only thing that would be perfect would be if we all lived in the same town!

I completely agree with Richard (for once) -- and the phrase "differently read" is perfect. :)

In defense of my own career (I am among the pit-vipers of academia also, Linda), there is value in the analysis of literature, and in teaching the classics so as to help students of all ages be able to read better, more critically, and with more depth of understanding. That is what I strive to do in my English classes. The trouble comes (as it often does) when one person (even and especially a teacher) begins to think that his/her view of a text is the "right" one and doesn't allow the students to explore what they themselves bring to the reading of any book, whether a "classic" or a romance novel. I feel terribly sorry for those students, of whatever level, who were turned off from literary studies by the attitude that results from that self-centered conviction.

Okay, that's my contribution to the group rant. :)

Oh, and I totally love this group too -- what fun it would be if we all lived in the same town and could pop by each others' houses for a cup of tea and a chat... wait a minute. Here we all are... who's got the tea? ;)

#137, and wouldn't it be fun to design a program of reading in something like romance, that stretched from Austen through Wuthering Heights and Middlemarch, to the Harlequin novels and Danielle Steele? How readily we forget that Austen's novels were the popular fiction and romantic fiction of their day... and condemn them to stagger along under the heavy label of 'classic'. Speaking for myself, once I felt free of the need to analyze, I found myself thinking about what I read more critically and shaping new connections. As an independent reader, I've discovered everything from Ibsen to Virginia Woolf; Rousseau to Kadare. But 30 years post HS, I can't face DH Lawrence again...

(Sorry for the thread hijack...!)

Hmm, the Pilgrims ended up in New England because they were like-minded souls who just wanted to commune with each other. Mebbe we could form our own little literary community? Who wants to pick a spot?? Just imagine the book-swapping that could go on...

I am all for us ending up in Three Pines. I will supply all the tea needed!

I had a good reading week this week, so I am very pleased:

54. Murder is Binding by Lorna Barrett - another cozy mystery and a decent one; recommended for fans of the genre

55. Charms for the Easy Life by Kaye Gibbons - Tina read this one recently and did a wonderful review and I am not going to add anything except to say I loved the part of the book where Gibbons describes the three generations reading The Grapes of Wrath together; recommended

56. Scat by Carl Hiassen - young adult; I had to get this one on audio from my local library because it does not have the book available in print form yet which is unfortunate because the narrator, esteemed actor Ed Asner, almost ruined the book for me; however, I really liked the book itself and would recommend it, but not in audio form unless there is another narrator; recommended

57. The Rebel Angels by Robertson Davies - I read the first two books of Davies' Deptford Trilogy - liked the first one a lot, but did not care so much for the second - so I thought I would give his Cornish trilogy a try and I really liked this first book; recommended

58. I Knew a Phoenix by May Sarton - nonfiction; TIOLI challenge; I do not remember how I stumbled across Sarton's journals (I know it was somehow connected to LT) and I have never read any of her novels or poetry, but this first book in her journal series was very good; the first part of the journal dealt with her parents' lives, the second part after her birth; I never felt like Sarton was overly sentimental, even in chapter 2 dealing with her mother's upbringing by her grandmother and aunt; recommended

59. Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones - young adult; I loved this book - just the right blend of fun and fantasy, with whimsy and witchcraft thrown in; highly recommended, and on my memorable reads list for the year

60. The Limehouse Text by Will Thomas - this is the third book in Thomas' Barker & Llewellyn mystery series set in Victorian London and I enjoyed it; recommended

61. Dying Bites by D.D. Barant - a BC book for the week, an FBI agent is kidnapped into an alternate universe where thropes, pires, and lems rule and humans are in the minority; recommended for fans of this kind of thing Mine

62. The Wind Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami - BJ and I read this one together (thanks!) and it was fun to be able to bounce ideas off of each other as to where we thought the book was leading; one of the things I appreciate about Murakami is that he challenges me as a reader; highly recommended, and on my memorable reads list for the year Mine

63. Tracks by Louise Erdrich - Erdrich is one of my LT discoveries and Kath (mckait) mentioned this book on her thread recently so I gave it a go, but I must say I was disappointed in it; I found the varying narrators in this book detracted from the story itself; guardedly recommended

64. Britten and Brulightly by Hannah Berry - graphic novel; Claire (clfisha) mentioned this book on her thread last year and I bought it and boy, am I sorry I waited so long to read it! This graphic novel is film noir meets comic book - I loved it; highly recommended, and on my memorable reads list for the year Mine

65. The Party (the Touchstone for this book never works, even though I have it in my library) by Rudolph Von Abele - this week's selection from Writer's Choice: A Library of Rediscoveries, and the first I can unequivocally give 5 stars to - my review is here ; highly recommended, and on my memorable reads list for the year Mine

66. First Lensman by E.E. "Doc" Smith - For the group read; I was totally unimpressed with Triplanetary, so approached this second book in the series with some trepidation, but it was much better than the first book in an 'old-time space opera' kind of way; recommended Mine

I know it is a good reading week when 4 books make the memorable reads list for the year. I hope next week's is just as good!

ETA: I could not get my links to work, so obviously need more help on the HTML stuff. Oh, well.

I'm soooo glad you had a good reading week, Stasia ....even if it means you've added more books yet again to my obese wish list...... which is a testament to how much I adore you that I'm not plotting out a voodoo doll in your likeness. ;-)

This week the only books I've already got on my teetering TBR are The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and Britten and Brulightly.

The books that have made it to my wish list are Scat, The Rebel Angels *another to my Series Tsunami*, I Knew A Phoenix and Rudolph Von Abele's The Party.

*flees before I decide to add something else*

#142: Leave the voodoo dolls to Richard please, Caroline!

By my count, you only added 4 to your teetering TBR, not 20 :)

And that's just 4 for today! It's been more than 20 since I joined LT ..... so what do you have to say for yourself there, lil' Miss Stasia?

You shouldn't have joined LT?

Just remember:

Morning Stasia, I'm pleased to see mine typed in so often this week. You really are making a little teeny weeny itsy bitsy dent in your collection. Charms for the Easy Life and The Limehouse Text are going directly to the wishlist. Von Abele is a new one for me and someone I need to investigate. Have a great one!

#146: I have now read 18 books of mine since the beginning of the year. Not many, but it is a start.

Glad to see you found something to like this week since I have failed to provide you with new reading material a couple of weeks in a row. :)

BTW - Since The Limehouse Text is the third book in the series, I really recommend you start with book one, Some Danger Involved.

I've read Britten and Brulightly and loved it--now think I need a reread! Thanks for the reminder, Stasia. Also, Dying Bites looks right up my alley...

Howl's Moving Castle was one of my very favourite books when I was growing up - I was very excited when the Studio Ghibli film came out, but I found it much too different from the book - both Howl and Calcifer were not at all how I had imagined them.

Britten and Brulightly has been added to my wishlist...

I've read the Hiaasen, Jones and Smith, so I'm safe there. I'm totally supernatural-ed out, so I'm safe from the Barant. Murakami, in general, is already on my Wish List. The Davies was already tentatively on my list because I'm tending to a CanLit read this year. That leaves only the von Abele to add.

@ 141
Murder is binding and The limehouse text both seem interesting! I think I'm in a crime mood and I'm finding more new interesting series than I am able to read!

As I'm a fan of Murakami, The wind up bird chronicle is also added to my wishlist.

Morning Stasis- It looks like another strong reading week! I like the sound of Dying Bites and Britten and Brulightly and have taken note. The Murakami, I thankfully have!!

rd 128 I agree completely!

I too dislike reading snobbery, and I dislike being unable to exchange ideas without attack. That is why I like it here so much. I often read fluffy things.. I read other things too. I am in a soft and fluffy patch right now.

Anyway, great list as always, Stasia.. stuff that looks like I might enjoy it and some stuff that doesn't thank the goddess!

peeking in quickly...closing the thread....coming back later..just like an addict, I have to have my Stasia fix for Sunday.....

I refuse to acknowledge that you got me with any this week. To say it out loud makes it true. If I don't say it, it won't be happening!

Whew! I escaped this week because the two that I wanted to add to Mt. TBR were already there!!
Great week, Stasia... :D

*fearfully peers in*histasiabyestasia*zooms out*

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is already on my wish list. The Rudolph von Abele novel sounds great, and I've added it to my Amazon wish list (BTW, I love your review!). Amazon has used copies available, and The Book Depository doesn't have it, unfortunately.

Safe again, I already had the ones that interested me on my list.

>141 alcottacre:: I'm glad you liked The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. I keep drooling over my copy (not very hygenic), but am patiently waiting for Mark's group read in May. Now if that other Murakami book is chosen, I can go ahead and read this one. Hmmm....maybe I'll have to change my vote....

I like the idea of all of us 75ers residing in the same town. What a kickass dynamic face-to-face book group we would have!

Hi Stasia, glad you had such a good reading week! I already have The Wind Up Bird Chronicle and Howl's Moving Castle on the wishlist but Britten and Brulightly sounds intriguing - I've not really tried any graphic novels.

Unlike you, I enjoyed The Deptford Trilogy a lot but couldn't get into The Rebel Angels; I do plan to give it, and the rest of The Cornish Trilogy another try.

I am convinced to try a graphic novel. One genre I have not ventured into.

#148: You are welcome for the reminder, Jasmine!

#149: I hope you enjoy Britten and Brulightly!

#150: I will be interested in seeing what you think of The Party, Tad.

#151: I am glad you found something to like on this week's list. As I mentioned in an earlier message, The Limehouse Text is the third book in the series, so you may want to begin with book one, Some Danger Involved.

#152: I hope you enjoy the couple you have chosen, Mark.

#153: Kath, I am glad you dropped in! I understand the not wanting to read anything but fluff :)

#154: I will await your opinion of this week's list with bated breath!

#155: Love your new mantra, Jenny!

#156: Thanks, Angela!

#157: Thanks for zooming in, Richard!

#158: Thanks for the 'thumbs up' on the review, Darryl. I hope you get a chance to read the book - I would be interested in seeing what you think.

#159: Maybe next week, Cheli!

#160: I love the idea of all of us living in the same town. I think it would be wonderful to meet everyone!

#161: Heather, I do not think you will be disappointed in Britten and Brulightly especially if you enjoy film noir like I do.

#162: Rebecca, is book 3 in the Deptford Trilogy better than book 2 was? I am thinking of going ahead and finishing the trilogy, but like I said, I really did not care for book 2 all that much.

#163: Jennifer, if you are just beginning with graphic novels, you cannot go wrong with Art Spiegelman's Maus. It is an excellent start to a wonderful genre.

Think I shall have to move the Cornish trilogy up on my list of priorities... I keep looking at Murakami; I admit that one thing that is putting me off is the extent to which he has displaced so many other great Japanese novelists. He is ubiquitous; they are increasingly anonymous. I realize this is discriminatory... so I will probably have to buckle down and do something about it!

#169: I am certainly open to reading other Japanese writers. The main limitation is accessibility to me. My local library just does not have that much representation of other Japanese writers. I was lucky with The Sound of Waves by Yukio Mishima a few weeks ago.

Stasia

I obtained Scat from my library and it awaits reading, along with the 20 others I checked out this week.

I read Howl's Moving Castle a few months ago and really liked it.

The other books of interest are already on my tbr pile.

What a great reading week you had!

#171: Thanks, Linda! I will be interested in seeing what you think of Scat.

Quite a list, again. Not sure I'm adding anything to my list from it. I am getting picky lately, only adding things I really "feel like" reading.

Loved the discussion of reading snobbery. I like that term, "differently read." If anyone catches me showing any signs of book snobbery (not likely, as I read all kinds of stuff) please give me a (virtual) kick in the (virtual) rear.

#168, Stasia, the third volume kind of pulls it all together, but if you didn't like the first two, I wouldn't bother with the third -- it's all a matter of taste.

> 160 & 167
The idea of all of us in the same town is nice, but I would be afraid to be disappointed by real life...

that was a painful read so many books to add to the list!

But dearest Stasia .. if I hadn't joined LT, then you wouldn't have met me!



*stomping off in a huff .............................but sneaking back to read the other posts*

#173: I am a very moody reader, Terri, so I understand not adding books you do not 'feel like' reading. What I end up doing is adding the books to the BlackHole in the off chance I might want to read them later when I am in the mood :)

#174: Rebecca, I liked book one but did not like book two as much. I guess I ought to go ahead and read book three.

#175: Anita, maybe we could just have a summer vacation town :)

#176: Sorry, Bryony. You know you do not have to add any.

#177: You have a valid point, Caroline. You do not even have to sneak back, you can just come in whenever you like :)

I know but you made them sound soooo good, if my math is right I may not get around to some of these till I'm 30 and thats over 3 years away!

#180: Well, I guess 30 is going to come anyway, so you may as well have some good reading to look forward to!

Stasia -- an LT holiday compound, a la Kennedy family?

That is a good reading week! Also, I'm late to the discussion, but I get similarly frustrated about snobbish reading. It's one of the reasons I didn't become an English major in college; I felt sometimes that when English majors got together there would be a tendency for the conversation to turn into a 'I'm more well-read than you are' contest that I had no patience for.

Stasia,

I have to say that the middle third of The Deptford Trilogy dragged but if you read the first two you really should read the last one which is considerably better than the middle one but only if you loved the first book.

Also, Tracks is probably not Erdrich's best work but as a tried and true fan I would suggest Love Medicine or Plague of Doves.

Adding The Wind Up Bird Chronicle.

#178 Yeah, and I do that, too . . . add things for when I'll be in the mood . . . but now the list is so long, I can't find what I'm in the mood for when I get there! So I'm trying to use some restraint . . .

#182: Sounds like a good plan to me, Suzanne!

#183: I am glad to see that we have a universal ban on book snobbery in this group, Ashley.

#184: Yes, I think I will finish out the Deptford trilogy before picking up the second book of the Cornish trilogy. Plague of Doves was the first book of Erdrich's that I ever read, but I have not yet read Love Medicine. I will have to see if I can locate a copy. Thanks for the recommendation, Bonnie.

#185: There is no such word as 'restraint' in my vocabulary, Terri :)

I am so glad the Saints won!!

I'm glad that you enjoyed I Knew A Phoenix. It's been such a long time since I read it, maybe it's time for a re-read.

#188: I have already put in a request for the second of Sarton's journals, Plant Dreaming Deep, via interlibrary loan. I hope to have it in within the next couple of weeks.

Have you read all of Sarton's journals, David? If so, what did you think of them?

You will like The Girl Who Chased The Moon, Stasia..
my sister is dying to give it a read.. she loved the other two.

#190: That's good to know. Thanks, Kath!

#189- I have read all but one of her journals, but it's been years since I've read them. The only journal that I wasn't able to read was Endgame, which came out at a particularly bad time in my life, and it dealt with a time in her life where she was dealing with her own frailty with old age and possible mortality and I just couldn't bring myself to read it. Even after all these years, I've had it sitting on my Sarton shelf (actually, I have an entire bookcase devoted exclusively to her works), and I've never been able to read it.

I still stand behind Journal of a Solitude as the best of her journals. That one I have read more recently - it was a couple of years ago, and I was wandering in a Borders and found it on the shelf and sat down to read the first couple of pages, and found that I had read the entire thing within several hours at the store. My roommate thought I had disappeared as I was supposed to have been home hours earlier.

There was one other journal that was published that is not listed on the LT series for her journals, and I don't know how easily obtained it is. At Fifteen: A Journal is exactly what it sounds like, a journal that she kept when she was 15. It was independently published posthumously, so that's why it may not be that easily obtained. But it is interesting to see her early views on life.

#192: Thanks for the mention of At Fifteen: A Journal. I wonder why it is not listed in the LT series. I will have to see if I can get hold of that one too. I am having to put them all on ILL since my local library does not have any of them, so I have no idea if/when they will come in. I can only do so many books at a time. Anyway, I am hoping to get to all of them this year. Thanks for the additional info, David.

Honestly, it may not be listed in the LT series as I'm not sure how many people know about it. It appears that there is only one other LT member (a non-profit) other than myself who owns it. I've added it to the series as book 0 - not sure if that's correct, but at least it's there now for others who may be interested.

#194: I am glad you added it to the series list. I like those lists because they help keep me on track!

#195 - The lists are helpful! I think that's one of the best features that they've added over the years, for the very same reason you like them.

If you ever are interested in anything else that Sarton has written, I have everything with the exception of 1 book of poetry, Inner Landscape, and have everything tagged with "Sarton" in my library if you want to go searching for anything else.

#196: Cool! I may do that once I finish with the journals, although to be honest, I am not much of a poetry reader. I may give some of her fiction a go though.

I am glad that you read and recommended Howl's Moving Castle. We have that book, and my daughter has been recommending it forever. I really need to read it soon.

And congrats from me, too, to the Saints. What an exciting game that was!!!
--BJ

#192 Journal of a Solitude was my introduction to Sarton and is probably still my fave of all her works. I read it at a time when I was thinking a lot about how society stigmatizes those who choose to be alone (and it's even worse now!) and found this an intriguing reminder of why that can sometimes be a good/productive thing. (A more polemical book about solitude is the very good Party of One: A Loner's Manifesto by the always-intriguing Anneli Rufus.

There are some books that are just too much to read, for one reason or another. My personal black cloud are Sylvia Plath's diaries, which I bought in 1984. There is a bookmark about 30 pages into the book, and I've never dared read any further. Talk about contagious depression. I still believe that if I picked it up again, I'd lapse into something that Prozac couldn't cure. Again, I started reading it at a rather bleak time of life, which was a very bad idea, in retrospect. But you can never tell in advance. Some books deal with very bleak subject matters, but I can read them dispassionately. And then there are Plath's journals...

#187 Love the graphic! :-D

I am so happy for the people of New Orleans to have this to celebrate!

#200: I had to root for the Saints. I have told my husband (who is from Louisiana, BTW) that I knew some time in my lifetime the Saints would win the Super Bowl. Guess I can die happy now :)

I knew some time in my lifetime the Saints would win the Super Bowl. Guess I can die happy now :)

Please wait until they win at least a few more!!! We want you with us for a long time! :)

#202: Thanks, Terri, but I am not planning on shuffling off this mortal coil any time soon :)

I was rooting for the Saints too .... wish I could have seen the 2nd half of the game though ... but unfortunately I had to leave to make it in time for a meeting.... trials of being in a different country when the SB is on.

#204: I did not get to see any of the game, Caroline, so my commiseration!

Side note:

Why is it called a mortal coil?

As opposed to an immortal one I suppose!

Re: The Saints: The last touchdown was so awesome because the man running with the ball kept pointing at the goal and just ran like blazes in a straight line and no one stopped him. He had such a clear run. How lucky and talented he is! This is what superbowl is all about. I rooted for the Saints because I felt their time had come and there is that cool fleur-de-lis on their uniforms!

The NFL Network is supposed to be rebroadcasting the game Wednesday night, so I am hoping to be able to see everything I missed!

Quote for the day:

"My spare time was mostly spent in reading and haunting book-seller shops, where I venture to say I laid out a good deal more than most people in proportion to my income and managed to catch glimpses of many books which I could not afford or did not care to buy." - from A Diary 1824-1889 by William Allingham

Just goes to show that for book lovers, some things never change!

Posting to the Kitchen too.

I was rooting for the Colts - really just Austin Collie. I can't actually claim to care very much about football, although I do find it to be a game very conducive to reading. I just wanted him to win the Superbowl as a very nice ending to a great rookie year. I am also happy for the Saints.

This Superbowl was one of the very few that held my interest throughout the whole game. I was cheering on the Saints too, simply because NO needs a break - they've been thru so much.

Hey, now that the Saints have one a Superbowl, can the Browns be far behind?!

I love football and thought this was a great game. The Colts "no huddle" offense really helps make things entertaining and seems to speed up the game.

No, no, no. The ULTIMATE is surprise - football wise - would be the Lions getting to the SB. Not that I want to see that - I kind of like the way they are such dependable losers. It just seems right, somehow. (Nothing against Detroit or Michigan, people. I just like continuity.)

Ah! I've been away for a few days and had 184 messages to catch up on your thread alone, Stasia! I think I managed to escape this week's list without adding to the TBR pile (except maybe the one dealing with the Grapes of Wrath). I have to giggle every time I see Mine on your list -- it makes me imagine you gathering up those books in your arms and saying "Mine! And you can't have them!" Lol.

edited: oopsies, forgot a parens

Well, I am rather selfish about my books!

14 new posts -- and it's not even a Sunday? eeek....

Yea, and I am currently debating whether I need to start another thread (again, already!) before this next week's post. I think I should just stop reading books.

> 218 I don't think it would help if you stopped reading books. I remember last year you were away for awhile for some reason and people just kept chatting away!!! :)

#219: Yes, I was out of town for 2 days. People just make themselves comfortable on my thread (which I really like) and talk away whether I am here or not.

#220

The only answer is to ban us from visiting. Or being irrelevant. Or irreverant. Either will work.

We've got a lot of snow today (12 inches expected in Chicagoland) so I may as well curl up on a good thread since I'm at home today.

#221: I do not think banning anyone from visiting would work. Everyone in this group is just too contrary - you guys would show up anyway! I have no idea how I can make myself irrelevant since I thought I already was, and as for irreverent, I do not think I can do that one, either. Thanks for trying to help, Jenny!

#222: Curl up with a good book instead! Or better yet, send some of the snow down to Texas so I can get snowed in, too.

#223, with the way things are going in Vancouver, it sounds like they could use some, too.

Yea, but the Vancouverites normally get more that we Texans do. You must take pity on me.

True. I think they need it for the Winter Olympics though. When I heard that they got the Winter Olympics, I was kind of surprised because I thought they had a fairly temperate climate there.

I will not be able to watch the Winter Olympics (I am extremely vexed about that!), but I guess they do need the snow more badly than I do - barely.

I didn't mean make yourself irrelevant or irreverent, I mean make us stop being so!

I spend most of my life being both, usually on other peoples threads, you'd save a lot of space.

Or you could just ban me. It would be a start. Not much of one, but maybe a little.

#228: No can do, Jenny. I would miss you. So you are just stuck having to come check my thread!

#223 -- You see, Stasia, you just nailed what's wrong with Wall Street today (I've been fussing about writing a column on this subject.) "I do not think banning anyone from visiting would work. Everyone in this group is just too contrary - you guys would show up anyway!" That is, alas, pretty much what bankers would do, left to their own devices.

OK, rant over. I've been trying to crank out this column on too little sleep (insomnia is the culprit; really, I put the book down in plenty of time to get at least six hours' sleep; ended up with less than three.)

OK, now that I am an expert, I will write the column for you :)

Another post to add to the many others today to say I love the quote! #210

I didn't mean make yourself irrelevant or irreverent, I mean make us stop being so!

I spend most of my life being both, usually on other peoples threads, you'd save a lot of space.

LOL! Sounds like me lately! :-D

#233

We can jointly cause havoc. I feel it my duty to do so at least once a day.

#234: And a good job you are doing of it too, Jenny!

#232: I am glad you liked it, Heather!

Speaking of Vancouver, my daughters are living there (temporarily I am sure) and yesterday the torch was run right by their townhouse and they sent me the video! What a thrill...and on my older's daughter b.d. as well. I am an Olympic nut, and would be there if I could. I will be glued to the TV for two weeks! BTW Vancouver looks as green as it did when I visited in December...the girls say they haven't had snow since late Nov.

Let no one ever say that book lovers can't be sports mad too.

Your thread just cracks me up, Stasia, thank you. A lively stream of consciousness...

#237: That is so cool! I am an Olympic nut too, but unfortunately will not be able to watch them this year.

#238: I am a baseball fanatic, Olympic nut, and football enthusiast. You can have the rest :)

#239: I am glad you are enjoying your time on the Acre, Joanne.

Just stopping by to make sure you have to proliferate some more... ;)

I have resigned myself to the fact that I am going to need yet another thread before Saturday - and this one is not even 2 weeks old!

Sucks being popular. ;)

Yea, that's me, little miss popularity. We all know the truth though: everyone just covets my books!

Your books, your personality, your memory, your insights, your LT friends, the fact that you don't need sleep...need I go on?

Honestly, I can leave football to all of you. I only watch it because my husband likes me to be there. That way he has someone to show the awesome plays to. I get a lot of knitting done during FB games...
For me - March Madness is almost here! But first, the Olympics.

Folks - I know nothing of May Sarton. Please, if there is any room left on this thread (: enlighten me?

#245: Well, I fit the books and no sleeping part. The other parts belong to the people who flock here. I have the best people around me.

And humble too!

#246: Jennifer, I am not going to be much help with Sarton. I just stumbled across her journals which go all the way from her childhood up to her 80s and decided to read them. David (tapestry100) is the real expert on her.

Just throwing my two cents in... maybe you could request that people wouldn't post "Starred you!" for your new threads. I mean, we all know everybody is reading your thread, but those posts usually take up the first 50-75 posts!

ETA: Okay, maybe not 50-75 exactly, but quite a bit!

I can request it, Steph, but whether or not anyone will comply is an entirely different matter!

Okay everybody...Quietly and secretly star Stasia when she starts a new thread, but do NOT tell her about it. LOL

Yep! Off to start new thread now with Stephs's instructions.

I am just gonna tell you on your old thread that I am going to star you on your new thread. I think this loophole will work. ;)

Thread number 4 is here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/84472

Come join the insanity!

I found you at 1:01, and promptly starred you, but I'll not tell. Oh wait, I just did!

Good! One down, how many more to go?

Ack! "per Steph" :P I'm going Berly's route then and retro-starring you on this thread. Bwhahahhahha!

You people are crazy! lol

"Only slightly off-centre" ;) I think us late-night posters are a bit wacky, anyways. OK, I'm going to slowly back away from the computer and finally get some reading done for today!

#260: OK, Steph, go get your nightly reading in. I am sure I will catch you again tomorrow night at this same time.

Gaaaa! I can't not post that I have starred your new thread, so I will also do it here, where it will not accumulate toward your next new thread!

Thank you, Roni!

I always star and read your thread but very rarely post so as not to bump the total - just letting you know ;-)

I know I read The Grapes of Wrath a hundred years ago...
I have zero memory of it?
baffling no?

Shall I start looking for a new thread?

Kath: See post #255

Stasia: Just letting you know that I will be starring you for, at the least, the next 11 1/2 months regardless of how many you have therefore doing my little bit to curb the bazillion posts to your thread ; )

#264: Thanks, calm, both for starring and reading my thread.

#265: There is a new thread (already and this one not even 2 weeks old!) I do not ever remember reading The Grapes of Wrath, so you are doing better than I am, Kath.

#266: Thanks, Lynda!

I have started a new thread: http://www.librarything.com/topic/84472

I am just re-posting about it since the original mention is some 12 messages back.

#115 I haven't read Moby Dick or To Kill a Mockingbird all though I do have a copy of To Kill a Mockingbird. I have been meaning to read. So you aren't the only one kidzdoc.

#269: I never read To Kill a Mockingbird until last year and I was sorry I had put it off so long - the book is deservedly a classic - so I urge you to give it a try, Monica.

As for Moby Dick, you are more than welcome to join the group read we have going! The spoiler free thread is here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/78998

Stasia, I am willing to give it a try. Just trying to get through bunches of stuff at home. Hoping to get back into reading soon. I am finally getting the urge to, but have had so many things to deal with and interuptions right now. I would like to read Moby Dick as well however don't have a copy right now but it is on my wish list.
BTW thanks for posting your next thread. I got really behind and had many posts to read and it helps when I get the next thread.

Monica...

No worries. Both the books and the threads will be there when you get back to them. I tend to forget RL goings on when I start talking about books :) I know that never happens to anyone else in this group!

well as everybody is leaving the "starred your next thread" here, I will do so too ;-)

You mean I'm the only one being outrageous and posting on the new thread??

Oh dear.......

No you are not the only one LOL
It was difficult, but I have not *yet* posted on the new Stasia thread ;-)

Stasia- It looks like no one wants to leave! Boy oh boy, to be this loved!!

#276: Well someone must have wanted to leave since the new thread has 65 posts already!

65? I just read 40-some here . . .

#278

Don't worry, they're mostly just me. Safe to ignore at all times ;)