What Books by Women Are You Reading: April 2010

I'll be starting Margaret Atwood's book of short stories, Moral Disorder in about ten minutes!

I'm part way through The Love of a Good Woman, by Alice Munro.

I am reading the final in the 'Study' series Fire Study by Maria V Snyder. There's a lot going on as it slowly works it way to the finale taking me with it :)

I'm **still** reading Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain - it'll probably make my top 5 books of 2010.

CMT glad you're enjoying Testament of Youth - it's amazing isn't it.

I'm reading Mariana by Monica Dickens (a Persephone) which is charming so far.

I am still (and who knows for how long) on The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt and, to carry on the train because it is a lightweight, The Nonesuch by Georgette Heyer.

>6 aluvalibri: The Children's Book is quite a big read! I hope you are enjoying it. I read it last month, including two long train journeys which gave me a good chunk of uninterrupted time to finish it.

Oh yes, gennyt, I am enjoying it but, due to the bulk of the book itself and the 'intensity' of her writing style, I am taking it in small dosages.

I will start this month with a thriller set in war torn London: An Empty Death by Laura Wilson. Never read anything written by her before, but it sounds interesting: while the Germans bomb London a docter working in a hospital is killed.

I finished The Elegance of the Hedgehog and reviewed it here:
http://www.librarything.com/work/1753963/reviews

Then I had to start A Confederancy of Dunces for my book club. Both novels try to get you to look at life in a more complete and involved way, Elegance by using beauty, Confederancy by using ugliness. I loved, loved, loved The Elegance of the Hedgehog which makes reading this ugly book written in the voice of a sociopath all the more painful. They're both love it or hate it kind of books, I guess, and I seem to be falling well within those categories. I'm wondering if it's a masculine, feminine thing. Two of the men in my book group suggested Confederancy saying they'd loved it. I know there's no chance I could get them to real Elegance. They'd think it was to "girly".

Oh well, at least I'm still listening to Krik? Krak! and finding it my favorite of all Danticat's books. As soon as I'm done with that, I'm off to Lisa See's Shanghai Girls. I do love See, though I haven't found any of her other books as good as Snowflower and the Secret Fan. It's just a hard book to compete with.

>10 Citizenjoyce: Thanks for the review of Elegance of the Hedgehog - I didn't know the title, but reading the review I realised I heard parts of a radio serialisation of this a few months ago on BBC Radio 4, and enjoyed what I heard - so I shall be adding this one to the TBR pile I think.

I have not even attempted to get any further with Burnt Shadows which I started in March but only read a few pages. This is for a book group in about 2 weeks so I must continue, but it has been/is still a very busy time with work (being Easter) so I have not had much time for reading in the past 2 weeks.

I enjoyed Barbery's book too . Finishing up my ER book The Season of Second Chances .

I finally finished Veronica by Mary Gaitskill. It took me forever to finish this fairly short book, which is typically an indication that I did not care for a book too much. I know it was well reviewed, finalist for the National Book Award, etc., a few years back, but I just could not get into it. But it does make me curious to read another Mary Gaitskill because I think it was just these characters and this story that did not appeal to me

>10 Citizenjoyce: I have a very close male friend, a reader and a thinker, and who for years raved about A Confederancy of Dunces noting that he reread it almost annually. I finally picked it up and was so utterly disappointed that I could barely finish it. I am curious about your comparison to Elegance of the Hedgehog. I may have to look for that.

Just finished Sonata Mulattica by Rita Dove (review here: http://www.librarything.com/work/6850813) and am making my way through Jessica Abel's graphic novel La Perdida.

I finished and reviewed Krik? Krak! here http://www.librarything.com/work/1607177/reviews/58171876

Then I read Garrison Keillor's Writer's Almanac letter today, and saw some similarities: "It's the birthday of novelist, memoirist, and screenwriter Marguerite Duras, born near in a small village in French Indochina near what is now Saigon, Vietnam (1914). Her parents had left France to teach in the colonial South Pacific island, but her dad became ill there and died, and Dumas had an impoverished miserable childhood in which she was abused by her mother and brother.

When she was a teenager, she became lovers with a wealthy, older Chinese man, whom she met on a ferry between Sa Dec and Saigon. She would write about him for the rest of her life, in autographical works like The Sea Wall (1953), North China Lover (1991), and The Lover (1984), which was an international best-seller and won France's most prestigious literary prize.

Marguerite Duras said, "You have to be very fond of men. Very, very fond. You have to be very fond of them to love them. Otherwise they're simply unbearable."'

I haven't read any of Duras, but I think there was a movie made of The Lover, and I may even have a copy of the book somewhere. I should look for it.

I've started on Shanghai Girls and it's a delight.

Hey, I like Toole. Actually consider him genius level and hold A Confederacy of Dunces in high regard (though it needed better editing). Anyone who regards the New Orleans/Baton Rouge highway as entering the 'heart of darkness' deserves my respect. Is my native New Orleanian soul showing?

I found 'Hedgehog' to be a bit pretentious. That's taste, not gender.

Finished Haunt Me Still and gave it a grudging three and a half stars. Let's face it, sequels are hard to do.

Now I'm off to read 'man lit' - but there can't be more bloody bodies than Carrell was providing.

> 13 - shearon: I felt the same way about Veronica, but I couldn't finish it.

Reading A Day of Small Beginnings by Lisa Pearl Rosenbaum. Very well written book of a Jewish boy in 1907 Poland and then his son's story as an American visiting Poland in 1993, and I believe the next part is his granddaughter's story.

In the car, listening to Astrid and Veronika by Linda Olsson.

I took a break from A Confederancy of Dunces and read (and reviewed) Wit: A Play by Margaret Edson. Then I not only watched the Emma Thompson version of the play on DVD but was able to find an interview with Edson on Charlie Rose: http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/4281. She's kind of a strange bird. Evidently she got a Pulitzer Prize for writing her first play then never felt the need to write another. She says she gets the same fulfillment from teaching kindergartners. Anyway, now it's back to the wretched (sorry dianaleez) Toole.

I also really liked A Confederancy of Dunces and would be one of those people who recommend it to others! Funnily enough, I pressed it on my (male) other half and he didn't really get it ....

I forced myself to finish A Confederancy of Dunces gave it 1 1/2 stars and reviewed it here:
http://www.librarything.com/work/4096291/reviews
On the one hand, it doesn't make sense to give a literary classic 1 1/2 stars, on the other hand, I was really peeved I had to read it, guess that came to the forefront. Now I can get on to reading I like. I got my first ER book today, By Heart: Poetry, Prison, and Two Lives by Judith Tannenbaum and can start it tomorrow.

>16 Citizenjoyce: There is indeed a movie of "The Lover". I thought it quite good, very sensual/erotic, but it's one of those young girl (schoolgirl) - older man relationship stories that seem to permeate literature (I know it's based on her experiences, but still, it fits the category).

While I still have a novel in process, I've taken to reading Enlightened Sexism: The Seductive Message that Feminism's Work is Done by Susan J. Douglas. Douglas is a media expert so her approach to the subject (which is similar to Natasha Walter's Living Dolls) is through the media. I don't usually read nonfiction back to back, but I had loved Douglas's Where the Girls Are when I read it back in the 90s and wanted to read this as soon as it was available. It is also very interesting to read on the heels of the Walter book. Very different approaches to virtually the same topic.

Just started Lost and Found by Jacqueline Sheehan .

I am just starting Leila Ahmed's memoir, A Border Passage: From Cairo to America--A Woman's Journey.

I am engrossed in Brunonia Barry's The Map of True Places.

And I just finished my 'man' novel - Michael Gruber's The Good Son. If anyone is looking a thriller with a middle-aged woman as the kickass central character, you might give the reviews for this a look.

My current GirlyBook is the non-fiction Enlightened Sexism, by Susan J Douglas. Just into it, but so far it's fascinating.

In fiction reading, I'm reading a decidedly non-girly book, the Slap. Compelling, but soooo written by a man.

Avaland, Nickelini,
Just finished Enlightened Sexism, great book but it totally depressed me. What can you do when confronted with such a media circus and all those girls and women buying into their insidious messages? I'm glad she writes with so much humour, so at least you can laugh at the outrages she documents. What did you think of her book?

>27 Amelsfort: we are both still working on it (nickelini just started it). Her book is less depressing than Living Dolls and I'm learning way more about Xena and Buffy than I care to (I never watched those shows...).

I did goof off during this very hot afternoon (91º - at least 30 degrees above normal) and read a short novella - "Touch" by Adania Shibli (no touchstone), a young Palestinian author. It's an excellent little book, a bit like an extended prose poem but not quite and relates the impressions of a very young girl (the youngest in a family of 9 girls and at least 1 brother) on the West Bank.

You're having 91 degrees? That's insane for this time of year. It's very chilly here on the west coast. I could do with a little more warmth.

I just finished The Red Tent, found it a very engrossing read. The biblical stuff wasn't overdone. I'm glad I finally got to read it, I think it was first published 13 years ago.

Currently reading Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls. I like it much better than The Glass Castle. The kids were so helpless in that book it drove me nuts.

Beside dragging along The Children's Book, I started reading The Flame Trees of Thika by Elspeth Huxley, a charming memoir of her growing up in Kenya.

I finished Testament of Youth at last (not a reflection on its quality, just its length and 2 small children...) and have started Provincial Daughter by R.M. Dashwood. I really enjoyed the Provinicial Lady books at the end of last year, and am in the mood for something light after Testament of Youth.

>29 Nickelini: yep, guess it broke all records. Roasty toasty. I was forced to go out for ice cream (this is New England, the ice cream shops open very, very early). Temperature is back to normal today.

I just finished The True Story of Hansel and Gretel by Louise Murphy; review posted on LT. And I am about 100 pages into The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott by Kelly O'Connor McNees, which so far isn't enthralling me.

I finished By Heart: Poetry, Prison, and Two Lives by Judith Tannenbaum and Spoon Jackson and reviewed it here http://www.librarything.com/work/9587253

I was so impressed by this book that's I'd recommend it to anyone interested in art, education or prison reform. Initially I was a little hesitant about the Spoon Jackson part of it because I have a very strong prejudice against violent men; but one of Judith's comments really drew me in. She's talking to an audience about her work and asked people in an audience "to think of the worst thing he or she had ever done, 'Now imagine...that this act is all you're known for. Imagine that everything in your world is designed to treat you as a person defined by this act. Any other fact of your life - any act of love, creativity, compassion, intelligence, or joy - is irrelevant...all you are is bad and ready to be bad." I had never thought such a thing before, but I guess that's what art is supposed to do, make you think of things that hadn't occurred to you before.

Just finished Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel and now I'm giving away my copy. Review and details here:

http://writeupmylife.com/2010/04/09/book-giveaway-wolf-hall/

Happy Birthday, Dorothy Allison. This is from Garrison Keillor's Writer's Almanac:

It's the birthday of novelist Dorothy Allison, (books by this author) born in Greenville, South Carolina (1949) to an unwed 15-year-old mother, grew up poor, sexually abused by her stepfather from the age of five. But she became the first person in her family to graduate from high school, went to college on a National Merit Scholarship, embraced the feminist movement and started dating women. She wrote a book of short stories, Trash (1988). In the preface she described herself as a "cross-eyed, working-class lesbian addicted to violence, language, and hope." She talked about her class, her sexuality, her past. Her work was respected, but still only read within a small community.

And then she published her first novel, Bastard Out of Carolina (1992), based on her own life — it was a best-seller, it got great reviews and was a finalist for the National Book Award, and it was made into a movie.

I read and loved Bastard Out of Carolina and several of her other books. I can't remember which one made me think that, wow, she was a little too violent for me. Wonder what she's up to now.

I just finished and reviewed The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa what a delightful, delicate book about creating a family in difficult circumstances. Now I get to start on Alison Wonderland by Helen Smith. From the back cover: "From somewhere on the coast of England rumours arise of the sinister genetic crossbreeding of unsuspecting animal species. Alison is assigned to investigate the truth." Oh, let it be as good as my titillated animal oriented senses think it will be.

Read a very disappointing graphic memoir last night, French Milk. Now returning to my re-read of Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon.

>39 Citizenjoyce: wasn't that a wonderful book? "delightful, delicate" - good descriptive words!

Teelgee, I read your review. I have to say, a month in Paris celebrating birthdays with your mother and eating all that food sounds wonderful! Too bad about the angst. Sounds like a waste of what should have been a wonderful holiday.

>39 Citizenjoyce:: The Housekeeper and the Professor is on my to-read list for this month. I first read about it in Belletrista and have been really looking forward to reading it. Great to see your impressions, Joyce.

>42 lauralkeet: I predict you'll love it, Laura. Certainty: high.

I finished listening to Shanghai Girls by Lisa See and reviewed it a little. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to know more about the Chinese immigrant experience, specifically how those immigrant parents get to be so strict with their children, but it's ultimately pretty unsatisfying. It really leaves the reader hanging.

Anyway, I finally get to start the audio book of Louise Erdrich's Plague of Doves. I also started reading Helen Smith's Alison Wonderland. It's a quirky fun read so far.

I just thought of one funny scene in Shanghai Girls. Just in case you thought all Chinese immigrants could cook, one of the mother-in-law's signature dishes was a head of lettuce boiled and slathered with soy sauce. Yum.

I am reading A Far Cry from Kensington by Muriel Spark. In it, a woman looks back at the time she spent working for an unscrupulous publisher in London in 1954. Who knew there were unscrupulous publishers? Anyway, it's an enjoyable book and I really like the plucky heroine.

A Far Cry from Kensington is one of my favourite books. Enjoy!!!!

We had our RL discussion of A Confederacy of Dunces today. Surprisingly (to me) it was not divided along gender lines. Everyone in the group, men as well as women, hated it equally except for the man who recommended it. Only 2 of us finished. I wonder if the division was political, because the man who recommended it is the most conservative of us, being very libertarian, and he saw in Ignatius a symbol of politicians and government employees. He says it's being made into a movie with Will Ferrell as Ignatius.

48> That's one I've been curious about for years. I think I'll pass on it.

I just started and am enthralled by the new 'Mistress of the Art of Death' book -A Murderous Procession. Ariana Franklin is one of my few sure-buy-at-hard-cover-prices authors.

I have a nasty spring cold and our home is surrounded by oak trees and their pollen, so I'm taking the day off and planning to read the whole thing today!

Tissue, anyone?

I finished, and reviewed, Alison Wonderland by Helen Smith. It's a wonderful little book about longing for a good life and the steps you're willing to take to get it. I started a children's book Warriors Into the Wild by Erin Hunter just to see if my grandson will like it, there's plenty of action, cats talking and fighting. He might. Next up will be Madelein L'Engle's A Wrinkle In Time. I'm also listening to an audio book of The Plague of Doves by Louise Erdrich. It's been so long since I read her that I forgot what an engaging story teller she is.

#51 - Other Joyce -- My 13 year old daughter adores the Warrior's series. She started reading them when she was around 10 and has the whole collection. (I actually think she has grown out of them now, but it appears that there's a huge nostalgia factor there for her).

#50> dianaleez, I love the series and I am looking forward to reading that one as well. I don't know if it is available in the US yet, I have not seen it around. I shall take a trip to Amazon.

#51 Other Joyce, thanks for the info. Cats are traditionally "girlish" right? But the main character in the first one is a male cat, so I'm still thinking he might relate. I have to read a little more. to see. It's so hard to get someone who doesn't like to read to see reading as entertainment, not a chore.

#54 - Other Joyce -- The author of the Warriors series came to Vancouver, so the girls and I went to her author event--the crowd was split 50-50 boys and girls, and the boys there were very enthusiastic. I just asked Nina and she said she doesn't know any boys who read, but the books are not "girly". For what that's worth.

I finished Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips -- funny and fun.

I finished Warriors Into the Wild and was surprised to like it so much. I want to know what happens with these cats, so I bought my grandson the first 6 books. We're going on vacation in June, so I plan to take the books and we can read them together. It's such a moral story with a good emphasis on the value of motherhood, friendship and the wisdom of elders and the dangers of allowing ambition to overshadow honor that it's a welcome respite from the relentless amorality of the video games he plays. I was also pleased with the references to herbal medicine. I think there's enough adventure and action to camouflage the moral messages and keep my grandson interested.

Oh the pain, Other Joyce, of your message that your daughter doesn't know any boys who read. Sad, sad and true.

After seeing much warm praise here for Barbara Pym's Excellent Women, I picked it up and have begun reading it today. I'm about halfway through and am enjoying it immensely.

#57> Oh the pain, Other Joyce, of your message that your daughter doesn't know any boys who read. Sad, sad and true.

Mr Bear just isn't terribly interested in reading stories. (Miss Boo is still a bit young and all over the place in her choice of books, but will sit still and listen to - and *understand* - simple chapter books.) For his bedtime book, he usually chooses one of his non-fiction works (Star Wars cutaways, books about the human body or volcanoes etc) or something more like the Where's Wally? series.

I was having a bit of success with Roald Dahl books last year, but not this year. *sigh*

Oh the pain, Other Joyce, of your message that your daughter doesn't know any boys who read. Sad, sad and true.

Well, she may have been being flip, but yeah, pretty sad. I am heartened to report that my English lit classes at university are generally one third to half male though. So all is not lost in this world.

#54: Cats aren't just for girls! My 10-year-old son loves the Warriors series. Now he's reading The Hobbit, so maybe Warriors is a gateway to good literature. That's my hope anyway.

Just finished Burnt Shadows by Kamila Shamsie. Review here: http://www.librarything.com/work/7525160/reviews . Friend in my local book group heard her speak last year and was very impressed by her ideas and the way she spoke - more so than by the book itself she said. I enjoyed the book, but not so much that I'll rush to read her others straight away.

62> I've read three of Shamsi's books and have had a similar reaction: they start off great but end up leaving me unsatisfied.

Thanks for the good message, superfancy. I don't think my grandson, though he is 10, is up for The Hobbit yet; but as you say, maybe the Warrior series will lead the way.

I just started Lynn Cullen's The Creation of Eve - based on the Spanish years of Renaissance Italian painter Sofonisba Anguissola, who was one of Michelangelo's students. who knew?

Just finished Penelope Stokes' Delta Belles and Stephanie Gayle's My Summer of Southern Discomfort. Liked Stokes' writing enough that I'm going in search of a couple more of her books.

#9: Amelsfort, what did you think of An Empty Death? Interestingly, it's coming up as Austerity - is that the US title? The previous book about DI Stratton has two titles, as well.

I'm currently reading a chicklit book, Emily Barr's Out of My Depth but before that I read a series of linked short stories by Jane Feaver, Love Me Tender. Next I'm planning to start The Magnetic North by Sara Wheeler (non-fiction), and read Stella Gibbons, Nightingale Wood - I'm trying to read a Virago Modern Classic and a Persephone each month.

Just started Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood. I was looking for a short book to read, but this one budged to the front of the book line, flapped open its pages in front of my eyes and screamed "read me now!" (books can be so aggressive!)

Gotta watch those aggressive books.

I really enjoyed The Creation of Eve. It's a great read for anyone with an interest in art history or who enjoys historical fiction. And as usual, the emphasis is on 'fiction.'

I'm planning an evening with one of the queens of contemporary fiction, Elinor Lipman, reading an old collection of short stories, Into Love and Out Again. Oh how I admire this woman's work!

I've been having a bit of a bloke-fest in my reading this month, but have finally picked up a book by a woman: Passing by Nella Larsen.

just started to read The Postmistress by Sarah Blake

Just started the strange 2017 by Olga Slavnikova.

I've moved on to Janet Gleeson's The Serpent in the Garden. Very intriguing so far and more 'artist at work.'

There was a good program on NPR today called Studio 360. All the parts were good, from Ricky Gervais to a group that produces poetry on demand to Textbook Wars, but the part that was pertinent here was about whether or not literary writers or characters should be medicated for their emotional problems. Virginia Wolf and Sylvia Plath were mentioned specifically. The writer of The Hours, Michael Cunningham bemoaned the fact that people don't seem to be willing to accept a little sadness as a part of life.

You can listen to the various episodes here:

http://www.studio360.org/episodes/2010/04/23

I went to a program about the graphic novel tonight at which Alison Bechdel spoke. What a gracious and intelligent woman! I got her to sign a copy of Fun Home, her story about her dad who was a closeted homosexual, a designer, an English teacher, a tireless worker, an inconstant father, a tyrant, part time mortician and probable suicide. For any of us who have had very complicated relationships with our fathers, this book is a grabber. It's a little graphic novel and she infuses it with so much meaning, so many opposites, so many ways to see the whole that she won't let the reader rest with just one idea about her family. Maybe that's one of the reasons graphic novels can be so good (when they are good). The words have to be edited down as sparse and full as poetry. She says she's working on a novel about her mother now. I can't wait to read it.

I am reading The Postmistress by Sarah Blake - only a little way into it - but the writing just blows me away - so descriptive it takes your breath away - and not long-winded either. Can say enough in a couple of sentences that tell you way more than documentry would. It is set in WWII and is told by 3 women - 2 back in the USA and one who is a war correspondent in London.

Sally, I've had The Postmistress on my wishlist for a while; please post again and give us an opinion when you finish it. Sounds promising.

I just started the new Donna Leon - A Question of Belief. This time Brunetti's grumpy because it's August and steamy - almost too hot to eat, if you can believe that. Though he does manage to go home for a lunch of black figs and prosicuttio. Not a Lean Cuisine man.

Bouncing through and have to start off by thanking the thread for adding to my TBR pile yet again. A Far Cry from Kensington sounds fascinating and as a huge fan of the 'Mistress of the Art of Death' series, I am now on the hunt for A Murderous Procession.

On the reading front I have managed to balance the gender of my reading this month. For female authors, I started the month off by reading The Wet Nurse's Tale - a fun, interesting historical fiction. I then made quick progress through When We Get There - I loved this book and recommend it highly, review posted here: http://www.librarything.com/work/2855488/reviews/58477870

Mid-month I picked up The Gathering by Anne Enright and I wasn't impressed with the story or the writing style. Not my type of book. I have just finished The Rehearsal by Eleanor Catton, an LTER book and found it to be quite good. Review is posted here: http://www.librarything.com/work/8157692/reviews/58935201

Next up is The Day the Falls Stood Still by Cathy Marie Buchanan.

I just started The Lady in the Tower by Alsion Weir. So far, it's just OK; I think perhaps I've been over this territory a few too many times. (It's about the rise and fall of Anne Boleyn.)

#77> Mmm, black figs and prosciutto... I've been meaning to read some Donna Leon but if Inspector Brunetti's going to be eating scrummy things all the time, the book might get a bit damaged from all my drool.

Still reading Passing but had a very busy weekend, so read The Seventh Sinner in my downtime from spring cleaning the house/wrangling the children. Not as good as Elizabeth Peters' Amelia Peabody series, but quite possibly because it was one of her earlier novels (published in 1972) and she hadn't quite polished her prose/plots/characters as yet. Still, I think I'll just stick with Ms Peabody from now on.

#80 I'm old enough to have enjoyed The Seventh Sinner when it came out, but didn't make it through my recent attempt at a re-read. Rather like getting out those old college 45's.

I just started The Lady and the Poet, Maeve Haran's fictionalized account of the love affair between John Donne and Ann More. So far I'm quite impressed. And she includes lots of lovely Donne poems. Though I do keep wanting to warn poor little Ann that twelve children in fifteen years will be the death of her.

Neglected to report that I just finished Gilead, and it was my first 5-star read of 2010! Now I'm reading The Housekeeper and the Professor and enjoying it quite a bit.

I finished most of what I had been reading in the last few days and am now reading:

Stevie Davies, The Eyrie

Joan Aiken, Is (Is Underground)

Sue Townsend, The Lost Diaries of Adrian Mole

Sybille Bedford, A Favourite of the Gods

I finished This is How on Sunday and it got so completely under my skin that I'm finding it difficult to concentrate on anything else. My second 5-Star read of the year. The first was Trespass by Rose Tremain.

#84 Is that a new Tremain? I really like her books...

After starting and rejecting a few books, I am one third through the short stories in
The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. I am really enjoying this book!

#85

Yes, Trespass is her newest. Recently out in the U.K, not sure about elsewhere. I was only vaguely aware of it and would not normally have read it until until it had got to the mass market paperback stage but spotted it on the new books shelf at my local library.

It's an absolutely stunning book but rather dark and not one I would recommend to everyone despite my five stars! I didn't think I would enjoy it at first because the main characters are not attractive people. However the quality of Tremain's writing just drew me in and as the book goes on you learn more about the characters and end up understanding them whilst still not necessarily liking them. It starts off fairly slow moving but the plot gets tauter as the book progresses and at the end has the feel of a thriller.

Finished Passing (and liked it) and have now moved on to The Children's Book by A. S. Byatt. I've been looking forward to this one for some time!

Hope you enjoy The Children's Book! I've just finished Tulip Fever by Deborah Moggach, which was disappointing.

#67 Elkiedee,

I enjoyed your review of Love Me Tender. It was one of my favourite reads last year. I loved Feaver's very believable portrayal of life in Devon which was different from the usual picture postcard image.

You are the only other person I "know" who has read this though. According to Librarything only four of us have (or have read) the book!

#90 - Because of reviewing for the Bookbag, I've read quite a few books this year which no one else has yet - there are several which no one else even owns (or has wishlisted).

I've just finished The Eyrie by Stevie Davies, about 3 women living in flats in a converted mansion in Swansea, Wales, and written a mini-review.

And I've started reading Barbara Trapido's Sex and Stravinsky, having snagged a copy to review for The Bookbag. I'm very pleased to have got hold of this, as Trapido is one of my favourite must-read authors, and so far I like it - Caroline and Josh and their daughter Zoe have had to make a series of sacrifices for Caroline's manipulative mother.

I've just finished Tulip Fever by Deborah Moggach, which was disappointing.

I just read your review, Gennyt, and I'm groaning. That one has been staring at me from Mnt TBR for years. It is so physically attractive, but I started it once and it didn't grab me. I'm pretty sure I'll agree with you on this one if I ever actually read it. Darn! I love that time period, setting, and, well, I love tulips!

#94 Yes, it's a shame. I was really hoping to like this one - but someone on one of the threads did warn me that it was written in the present tense so I had an inkling it might not be quite my thing after all. Certainly if you love tulips, there won't be enough about them, though they do play an important part in the second half of the plot.
Genny

but someone on one of the threads did warn me that it was written in the present tense so I had an inkling it might not be quite my thing after all

Ah, yes. I think that's what stopped me from getting involved in it the first time--it seemed odd.

I think I've read Tulip Fever, I'm not sure. I do remember being quite engrossed some years ago (before LT) by a fiction book that was all to do with tulips and the whole crazy financial tower built upon them. And then I tried another book with the same concept, and was disappointed. One of them would have been Tulip Fever I'm sure, but was it the good one? Or the disappointing one?

Tag searches aren't helping...

97> One of them may have been Tulipomania, which got a lot of positive buzz a few years back (but it wasn't fiction). There was also quite a bit about the tulip craze in Earthly Joys by Philippa Gregory; the John Tradescants were involved in bringing the bulbs to England and did a bit of speculating in tulip bulbs. (Can't say as I particularly enjoyed that one, however.) Or maybe it was The Black Tulip by Alexandre Dumas? There's another one on my shelf that I haven't read yet: The Golden Tulip by Rosalind Laker.

I read Tulip Fever at about the same time that I first read Girl with a Pearl Earring; I thought it was just OK by comparison--not that the latter was anything more than a good, quick read.

I just finished listening to Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin which I thought was a fine historical novel. I liked the 12th century medicine, the commentary on the Jews, another view of Henry II and Thomas Becket, the independent woman, of course, and even the resolution of the romance. I'll be reading the rest in the series.

Now I need to start reading The Murderer's Daughters because it's due the 9th and can't be renewed.

#100 Haven't come across Ariana Franklin - sounds interesting. Is it a long series?

#100 It looks like it's 4 books. I can't vouch for any but the first which is excellent.

Thanks, I'll keep an eye out for the first one at least!

I figure any group named girlybook might be able to answer a question for me. In Frances Hodgson Burnett's Vagabonia, there is a quote which I can't quite make out.

"She knows he makes violent love to her, and she is not worldly-wise enough to know that Lord Burleighs are out of date."

I've have looked up Lord what's his face, interesting nice guy but nothing that would indicate what is intended. Since he is an alright guy, I suppose she means something like nice guys are out of date? Or?

Burnett is just one of my many projects to complete...and might I say, I am rather well along with it. Thanks.

104> Hmmm . . . I'm not sure what the reference is. It might make more sense if I was familliar with this book. The first Lord Burghley (spelled differently, but he's the one I'm familiar with) was William Cecil, chief advisor to Elizabeth I; his son Robert was the second Lord Burghley. Both were very shrewd politicians--but I know nothing of their romantic lives or their descendents.

However, the line seems to me to mean just the opposite of what you suggest. It seems that his making "violent love" to her is what makes him out-of-date. By "violent love," I suspect that she doesn't mean sexual relations but rather that his professions of love are extravagant and continual; he's pressing too hard. Could she be saying that the woman, not being "worldly-wise," is too easily impressed with his courtship strategies?

Oh, and I just remembered that Burghley was the model for Polonius--which may go along with the idea that the suitor is unnecessarily longwinded!

I am about to start Don't Cry by Mary Gaitskill.

#100, 101, and 102> It is an excellent series (I am on the fourth right now), but I would recommend you start with the first one, Mistress of the Art of Death.

100,101, 102 and 107> I agree -- highly entertaining -- I've read the first 3 and plan to read the lastest sometime this summer.

100,101,102, 107 and 108 (I just had to say all that) - I've just accidentally bought 2 copies of the first book, so that makes me happy!

105, Thank you. Actually, that was helpful. The man in question was a Wickham/Willoughby sort and behaved in character. As an aside, this Lord's daughter became the second Lord/Lady Burleighs of Scotland.

The Line by Olga Grushin for a Belletrista review. So far it's quite intriguing.

Just started Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell, which has as its opening sentence:

"In the first place, Cranford is in possession of the Amazons; all the holders of houses above a certain rent are women."

Think I've hardly read any books by MEN in 2010. Some I've particualarly enjoyed:

Lotus Eaters by Tatjana Soli
Every Last One by Anna Quindlen
The Heretic's Wife by Brenda Rickman Vantrease

This past week I finished The Murderer's Daughters by Randy Susan Meyers and liked it very much. Meyers expertly examines the long lasting effect of domestic violence on children in this story of the surviving daughters of a "loving" father who kills their mother. The novel, by a woman who worked with violent men and their victims for 10 years explores the themes of survivor guilt, filial devotion, family devotion, and emotional manipulation. I was very interested in her take on the lack of external reward for altruism. To me she seems to say that good deeds may have good results but need to be seen as a reward in themselves. When helping people who have no emotional reserves it's reasonable to expect them not to show, or even feel, gratitude. Sad, but I think true. I read a library copy, then had to go out and buy one for a friend.

I'm just about to start This Is Not the Story You Think It Is by Laura Munson. At least, I'm going to give it a try. I'm not much for "keep a stiff upper lip" Secret wannabes, so if that's what it turns out to be, I'll be moving on to something else.

I gave This Is Not the Story You Think It Is a full 4 pages and called it quits. Laura Munson is much in love with her husband who leaves one night to go to the dump telling her he's not sure he loves her. Nine hours later he hasn't returned, but she feels fine because she's decided she will no longer suffer. If you want to know why, she says, you should look at the books by her bedside. I did. They were all spiritual and religious in nature telling her essentially the key to not suffering is not to want anything. This could be a very important story. I know the 2 reviews of it show people who really loved the book, but it's not my cup of tea. Instead I'm reading My Husband Betty: Love, Sex, and Life with a Crossdresser by Helen Boyd. It looks much more interesting.

I attended my RL book club today in which we discussed Three Cups of Tea about Greg Mortenson whose life has been devoted to building schools for girls in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Someone said that he is his whole organization, and if he were to die it would be hard to find someone to continue his cause in the same way. This lead to a discussion of individuals who have made a major difference in the world. Mentioned were John and Bobby Kennedy, FDR, Martin Luther King and Gandhi. I brought up Margaret Sanger and her battle for birth control. Without her Planned Parenthood may have come into being eventually, but possibly years and years after it did. One of the men in the group just laughed and shook his head. He said, "I can't believe you brought up Sanger. We're talking about people who made a major contribution to the world. Planned Parenthood? Do you really mean that or are you just trying to get a rise out of people?"

The women in the group just looked at each other open mouthed. A woman's control over her own body is a joke? We would have thought he was telling his own joke, but this was the same man who didn't like The Help because there were too many women in it. This is a smart man who knows far more about history than I do, yet he sees the availability of contraception as no big deal. I would say that the situation sometimes seems hopeless, but I won't because the women all knew he'd missed a good block historical significance even if he didn't.

Joyce - Whoa! I would have liked to have been a fly on the wall watching that book club. It makes me glad my club is a group of female friends.

This is only the second time I've been in a kind of intimate group that included men. The first one was a dream interpretation group, and I have to say some of the men in that group were just a clueless. I have to think it's good for me to be exposed to these people if only to continually remind myself that my world view is not the whole world view.

What a healthy way to look at it! And so mature. Most people don't want to hear viewpoints that don't reinforce their own. I occasionally drop by a web conversation of women where a sizable portion are very, very different from me and they just make me crazy. Like you, I think it's good to be reminded of other people's world views. I haven't quite reached your calm reaction to it, however. :-)

Since I'm retired now and mostly a hermit I can be calm around the crazies - er people with different perspectives - because I can keep them out of my "real" life. When I worked as a nurse it was much more difficult because try though I might to make the doctors go away and let me manage on my own, they didn't agree to the arrangement as often as I would have liked.