Chatterbox's Second 75-Book Challenge -- The Second Installment

The first installment is here

Having finished the first challenge, rather than just adding more books on to my previous one, I decided to start an entirely fresh challenge. As before, I'm going to try to divide my reading between fiction and non-fiction, although this being summertime, it will probably be chock-full of light stuff (mysteries, historical fiction) for the next several weeks until it's cool enough for my brain to function properly once more. I'm also still doing a lot of reading for my 1010 Challenge and my off-the-shelf challenge; I don't count those books toward this one, but will list them in posts here as I finish them so people don't have to go racing all over to find them!

For anyone who's curious, here is a link to the final thread in the first 75 Challenge. You can see a list of what I read, and go back through links there to the earlier threads to read my comments on them.

The counter for the second 75-book challenge is here:




And the one for my total year-to-date reading is here:




The second 75 are as follows:

1. Methland by Nick Reding, ****, STARTED 7/7/10, FINISHED 7/10/10 (non-fiction)
2. When Red is Black by Qiu Xiaolong, *****, STARTED 7/8/10, FINISHED 7/10/10 (fiction)
3. The Witness House by Christiane Kohl, ***, STARTED 7/10/10, FINISHED 7/11/10 (non-fiction)
4. The Last Train from Hiroshima by Charles Pellegrino, ****1/2, STARTED 7/10/10, FINISHED 7/12/10 (non-fiction)
5. The Violins of Saint Jacques by Patrick Leigh Fermor ****, STARTED 7/12/10, FINISHED 7/13/10 (fiction)
6. The Anatomy of Murder by Imogen Robertson ****1/2, STARTED 7/13/10, FINISHED 7/14/10 (fiction)
7. Heaven: Our Enduring Fascination with the Afterlife by Lisa Miller ***1/2, STARTED 7/10/10, FINISHED 7/14/10 (non-fiction)
8. City of Veils by Zoe Ferraris ****, STARTED 7/15/10, FINISHED 7/16/10 (fiction)
9. The Vintage Caper by Peter Mayle, ***1/2, READ 7/16/10 (fiction)
10. The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin, **1/2, STARTED 7/14/10, FINISHED 7/17/10 (non-fiction)
11. Silk Parachute by John McPhee, ****1/2, STARTED 7/15/10, FINISHED 7/18/10 (non-fiction)
12. The Cobra by Frederick Forsyth, ***1/2, STARTED 7/17/10, FINISHED 7/18/10 (fiction)
13. Priceless: How I Went Undercover to Rescue the World's Stolen Art Treasures by Robert Wittman, ***, STARTED 7/16/10, FINISHED 7/19/10 (non-fiction)
14. The Summer House by Marcia Willett, ***, STARTED 7/19/10, FINISHED 7/20/10 (fiction)
15. Fault Line by Barry Eisler, ***, READ 7/20/10 (fiction)
16. The Fancy by Monica Dickens, ****, STARTED 7/19/10, FINISHED 7/21/10 (fiction; reread)
17. The Clouds Beneath the Sun by Mackenzie Ford, ***1/2, STARTED 7/20/10, FINISHED 7/21/10 (fiction)
18. Midnight Angels by Lorenzo Carcaterra, **, STARTED READ 7/21/10 (fiction)
19. Bruno, Chief of Police by Martin Walker, ****, STARTED 7/21/10, FINISHED 7/22/10 (fiction)
20. The Girl from Botany Bay by Carolly Erickson, ***1/2, STARTED 7/22/10, FINISHED 7/23/10 (non-fiction)
21. The Cookbook Collector by Allegra Goodman, ****, STARTED 7/22/10, FINISHED 7/24/10 (fiction)
22. Were You Born on the Wrong Continent? by Thomas Geoghegan, ****, STARTED 7/23/10, FINISHED 7/24/10 (non-fiction)
23. The Dark Vineyard by Martin Walker ***** READ 7/26/10 (fiction)
24. The Shallows: What the Internet is doing to our Brains by Nicholas Carr **** 1/2, STARTED 7/25/10, FINISHED 7/27/10 (non-fiction, audiobook)
25. Along the Enchanted Way by William Blacker ****1/2, started 7/26/10, FINISHED 7/28/10 (non-fiction)
26. Chef by Jaspreet Sigh ***, STARTED 7/27/10, FINISHED 7/28/10 (fiction)
27. Enemies of the Heart by Rebecca Dean **1/2, STARTED 7/20/10, FINISHED 7/28/10 (fiction)
28. Promises to Keep by Jane Green *** 1/2, READ 7/29/10 (fiction)
29. Revenger by Rory Clements **** 1/2, STARTED 7/27/10, FINISHED 7/29/10 (fiction)
30. The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag by Alan Bradley, STARTED 7/28/10, FINISHED 7/31/10 (fiction)
31. Black Diamond by Martin Walker (no touchstone), **** 1/2, STARTED 8/1/10, FINISHED 8/4/10 (fiction)
32. Game Change by John Heileman, etc. ****, STARTED 8/1/10, FINISHED 8/5/10 (non-fiction)
33. An Impartial Witness by Charles Todd ****, STARTED 8/2/10, FINISHED 8/7/10 (fiction)
34. Having the Builders In by Reay Tannahill ****, STARTED 8/3/10, FINISHED 8/5/10 (fiction)
35. The Ice Princess by Camilla Lackberg ****, STARTED 8/8/10, FINISHED 8/9/10 (fiction)
36. Guilt About the Past by Bernhard Schlink **** 1/2, STARTED 8/6/10, FINISHED 8/10/10 (non-fiction)
37. Newton and the Counterfeiter) by Thomas Levenson ****, STARTED 8/5/10, FINISHED 8/11/10 (non-fiction)
38. The Long Stretch by Linden MacIntyre, **** 1/2, STARTED 8/9/10, FINISHED 8/11/10 (fiction)
39. The Beach Hut by Veronica Henry, ***1/2, READ 8/10/10 (fiction)
40. Shooting in the Dark by Carolyn Hougan, *** 1/2, READ 8/11/10 (fiction)
41. The Rembrandt Affair by Daniel Silva, ****, STARTED 8/7/10, FINISHED 8/11/10 (fiction)
42. The Summer We Read Gatsby by Danielle Ganek, ***, STARTED 8/11/10, FINISHED 8/12/10 (fiction)
43. Walking Since Daybreak by Modris Eksteins, *** 1/2, STARTED 8/6/10, FINISHED 8/12/10 (non-fiction)
44. February by Lisa Moore, ****, STARTED 8/11/10, FINISHED 8/12/10 (fiction)
45. A Better Quality of Murder by Ann Granger, **** STARTED 8/12/10, FINISHED 8/13/10 (fiction)
46. The Piano Teacher by Janice Lee, ***1/2 STARTED 8/12/10, FINISHED 8/13/10 (fiction)
47. 844754::Bad Blood: A Walk Along the Irish Border by Colm Toibin, ****, STARTED 8/10/10, FINISHED 8/14/10 (non-fiction)
48. Hot Time in the Old Town by Edward Kotman, ****1/2, STARTED 8/13/10, FINISHED 8/14/10 (non-fiction)
49. Free Agent by Jeremy Duns, **1/2, READ 8/14/10 (fiction)
50. Cain's Field by Matt Beynon Rees ***** STARTED 8/8/10, FINISHED 8/15/10 (non-fiction)
51. Walking by Henry David Thoreau, *** 1/2, READ 8/15/10 (non-fiction)
52. A Moment of Silence by Anna Dean, *** 1/2, STARTED 8/14/10, FINISHED 8/15/10 (fiction)
53. The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas, *****, STARTED 8/15/10, FINISHED 8/16/10 (fiction)
54. The Queen's Gambit by Diane Stuckart, ***, READ 8/16/10 (fiction)
55. Washington Shadow by Aly Monroe, *** STARTED 8/16/10, FINISHED 8/17/10 (fiction)
56. The Sultan's Shadow by Christiane Bird, ****, STARTED 8/16/10, FINISHED 8/18/10 (non-fiction)
57. Royal Flush by Rhys Bowen, ***1/2, STARTED 8/18/10, FINISHED 8/19/10 (fiction)
58. Dreams in a Time of War by Ngugi Wa Thiong'o, ****1/2, STARTED 8/19/10, FINISHED 8/20/10 (non-fiction)
59. Execution Dock by Anne Perry, ***1/2, STARTED 8/19/10, FINISHED 8/21/10 (fiction)
60. Wild Grass by Ian Johnson, ****1/2, STARTED 8/20/10, FINISHED 8/22/10 (non-fiction)
61. Parrot and Olivier in America by Peter Carey, ****, STARTED 8/16/10, FINISHED 8/22/10 (fiction)
62. Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris, ***, READ 8/22/10 (fiction)
63. Except the Dying by Maureen Jennings, ***1/2, STARTED 8/21/10, FINISHED 8/22/10 (fiction)
64. 57753::Epitaph for a Spy by Eric Ambler, ****, STARTED 8/19/10, FINISHED 8/22/10 (fiction)
65. Becoming George Sand by Rosalind Brackenbury, ****1/2, STARTED 8/22/10, FINISHED 8/23/10 (fiction)
66. The Gate by Francois Bizot, ****, STARTED 8/20/10, FINISHED 8/23/10 (non-fiction)
67. Packing for Mars by Mary Roach, ****1/2, STARTED 8/23/10, FINISHED 8/25/10 (non-fiction)
68. Murder on Lexington Avenue by Victoria Thompson, ***, STARTED 8/23/10, FINISHED 8/24/10 (fiction)
69. Murder City by Charles Bowden, ****1/2, STARTED 8/8/10, FINISHED 8/26/10 (non-fiction)
70. The Holy Thief by William Ryan, ****1/2, STARTED 8/25/10, FINISHED 8/27/10 (fiction)
71. 1477444::Hell Gate by Linda Fairstein, ***, READ 8/28/10 (fiction)
72. Madame Proust and the Kosher Kitchen by Kate Taylor, *****, STARTED 8/28/10, FINISHED 8/29/10 (fiction)
73. Ghostwalk by Rebecca Stott, ***, STARTED 8/21/10, FINISHED 8/29/10 (fiction)
74. Ice Cold by Tess Gerritsen, ***1/2, STARTEd 8/29/10, FINISHED 8/30/10

Wow, I'm first. That hardly ever happens. Starred.

Hey, Suz! Nice new digs.

Yooo-hooo, Mrs. Goldberg!

(Ancient American TV reference.)

Too ancient for me, Richie -- or else my failure to get it is because I grew up in Europe!

But I'll yodel back anyway!

Here's a link to the Museum of Television and Radio site's article. I really liked the silly thing. It was on for over 20 years! I think that was the record until "The Simpsons" passed it.

I like old time radio and television, but I had never heard of "The Goldbergs" until Richard's reference. Apparently it was a very popular show, until it went off the air in 1956. I looked it up on YouTube, and there was a movie made last year about the show's star, Gertrude Berg. Here's the trailer for the movie:

Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg

a late-night hello- ever take cough medicine that's supposed to make you sleepy and it doesn't?

Found you, and will attempt to keep up this time!

stopping by to say hello, and plant my star ~

>7 kidzdoc: Wow, Darryl, I'd never heard of that movie! Darn...I'd've even gone to a theatre to see that one. Must procure the DVD.

Gertrude Berg *invented* sitcoms. Gertrude Berg wrote over *ten thousand* scripts. And she's vanished. She was unapologetically plump, unapologetically leftist, and unapologetically Jewish...think that might've had something to do with it here in the Land of the Free (so long as you're just like me)?

#8 Once I had a terrible cold and had to go for a job interview so I took some over-the-counter cold medicine that I think was supposed to possibly make you sleepy (i.e., it warned you not to drive or operate heavy machinery) -- NOT! I was bouncing off the walls (but I did get the job).

#11: I am very interested in learning more about Gertrude Berg, after finishing The Lacuna yesterday and reading Berg's page on Wikipedia; Berg's co-star and the main character in The Lacuna came under scrutiny by the House Un-American Activities Committee in the early 1950s. I'll also order Yoo-Hoo Mrs. Goldberg on DVD (which is available on August 24 from Amazon) and the book Something on My Own: Gertrude Berg and American Broadcasting, 1929–1956, which was published in 2007.

>13 kidzdoc: She's one of the unsung heroes of the First Amendment. I flat-out love her because she reminded me of my father's mother, only not a complainer. That bit in the trailer about marriage not being an express, but making local stops, was *hilarious*!

Hi Suz, you definitely needed a new thread, that last one was taking a good while for me to load up. Too many big posts from all the stimulating conversation, I say! :)

Just saying Hi...

What I remember about the Goldbergs was how in every show she would be talking out of her window in her NY apartment building. I read The Lacuna last year Darryl and never made that connection, or at least I don't remember it.

Bonnie, I just sent you a PM in response to your message.

Wow, it's my turn to catch up on all the chat on my own thread!

Now in Ottawa, where we were stuck on the tarmac for an hour due to massive thunderstorms -- they banished the ground crew indoors so they wouldn't get struck by lightning!!

That gave me the chance to finish off Black Diamond: A Bruno Courreges Investigation, the third in my recently-discovered series of mysteries by Martin Walker that I have been reading in the last few weeks. Again, I really enjoyed this -- he combines details of everyday life in the Perigord region of France with real social issues (in this outing, clashes between Vietnamese and Chinese immigrants, and the rise of the Greens) and blends in a great mix of characters, led by the always-appealing Bruno. Can't wait for the next one, but I figure it will be about a year... Highly recommended, 4.3 stars.

(sorry, there seem to be problems with the touchstone...)

#19: I am glad you arrived safely, Suz, despite the thunderstorms!

Fruits of my bookshopping in Canada...

Creation by Katherine Govier (Canadian novelist, about Audubon in Canada)
The Betrayal by Helen Dunmore
A Man in Uniform by Kate Taylor (Canadian novelist; her second book)
Becoming George Sand by Rosalind Brackenbury (looked interesting, will fit into my TIOLI challenge)
Except the Dying by Maureen Jennings (first in a series of historical mysteries set in Canada)
The Long Stretch by Linden MacIntyre (Canadian author/veteran journalist -- set in Cape Breton)
The Bishop's Man by Linden MacIntyre (this year's Giller prize winner, scored pre-release paperback)
A bunch of mysteries:
Telling Tales by Ann Cleeves
The Ice Princess by Camilla Lackberg
Forest of Souls by Carla Banks
A Razor Wrapped in Silk by R.N. Morris
Free Agent by Jeremy Duns
A Darker Shade of Blue by John Harvey (short stories)
The Envy of the Stranger by Caroline Graham
The Flesh Tailor by Kate Ellis
general mindless stuff:
The Gap Year for Grown ups by Annie Sanders (no touchstone)
Daughters of Fortune by Tara Hyland
And from/written by my father's oldest friend, with whom we're staying:
The Placebo Effect and Health by W. Grant Thompson

Cape Breton! I have read about that place, searched and found pictures, and read books that were situated there. It is somehow connected with my Lobster Fishing mania.. I think I will have to have a look ... and at the Jennings books..

Have fun, be safe.. Hope you have someone to help carry books..

Delicious haul, Suzanne! Yay you.

I think that's the Maureen Jennings book that starts the Inspector Murdoch series, isn't it? I remember reading one, but the TV show has replaced it in my memories. (Yannick Bisson is a cutie, but not how I pictured Murdoch.)

Yeah.. you got me with three of them

Except the Dying by Maureen Jennings

The Long Stretch by Linden MacIntyre

The Bishop's Man by Linden MacIntyre

Added to various lists and carts ... they look too good to ignore.

Congrats on the haul, Suz!

Suzanne, i am so jealous of you with all those great Canadian authors. Alistair McLean wrote a beautiful book set in Cape Breton that I read earlier this year--No Great Mischief. I'm adding The Bishop's Man, Except the Dying and The Long Stretch.

Yes, No Great Mischief is wonderful...

Book du jour, which is Caro's fault (since she bought it for her hubby) was Game Change by John Heileman et al. It's a fascinating inside look at the 2008 presidential race, oodles of great gossip, written in a very lively fashion. Two caveats on my part, one very minor, one more significant but then probably irrelevant to the authors' intent. The first is the constant references to "McCainworld", "Hillaryland" etc. etc. It's flippant and overly repetitive; doesn't work as the former and is annoying as the latter. Secondly, the book is about, as the title implies, the "game" of politics, so any policy discussions are limited to how policies were presented and framed in the context of winning votes. So the book itself, however fascinating, is a chastening reminder that we like to see our political contests framed in this way, as personality battles, with frivolous issues like hairstyles (Palin says at one point, "my brand is hair up, right?") dominating governance questions. The fact that this book is as widely-read and compelling as it is actually gives me cause to worry on a bigger scale about the future of the country... What does it say when the defining book about the campaign is as chit-chatty as a Kitty Kelley unauthorized bio?? Oh well... Still a 4.2 star book for me, recommended.

#27: I will pass on that one. I try and stay away from politics.

OMG the 2008 elections were like an extended root canal... I will pass on that one as well..but have to look at No Great Mischief.

Nice haul, Suzanne! I'm especially interested in The Betrayal, which I should be receiving soon (I think), and The Bishop's Man.

I hope that you're having a relaxing vacation in Canada. Your family and friends must be especially proud of you.

Was just at the first event of the family reunion -- one of the eldest of my mother's cousins had not only bought the book, but had propped it up on the mantelpiece of the hotel meeting room!!!

Actually, the great thing is being able to spend some time with my niece & nephews -- almost 8, almost 7, and just turned 5. Connor, the middle one, lives up to my LT moniker!

Horrors -- I keep buying books, but my reading speed is slowing down!

The newest additions:

Mrs Tim of the Regiment by D.E. Stevenson
Erevan by Gilbert Sinoue (in French)
Guilt About the Past by Bernhard Schlink
Empire Lite by Michael Ignatieff
La cour des dames: Madame Catherine by Franck Ferrand
The House of the Mosque by Kader Abdollah
The Stone Cutter by Camilla Lackberg

and nope, I have NO idea why those touchstones aren't working...

#32: More books! Good going, Suz!

*vibrates with envy over Canadian book-shopping*

First TIOLI book: An Impartial Witness by Charles Todd. This is the second outing for the new sleuth created by this mother-son writing team -- this time, WW1 nurse, Bess Crawford, is probing the murder of a young woman she sees bidding a tearful farewell to a man who is not her husband at a London railway station -- and then the later suicide of that husband, one of Bess's patients. It's much better than the first Bess Crawford mystery, but still suffers from too much toing and froing between the battlefield and the home front (I felt like I was suffering from whiplash!) Still, the plot is intriguing, and there's a decent sense of suspense in the latter portions. I still MUCH prefer the Ian Rutledge character created by the authors, who features in the initial series -- those are impressive historical novels; Rutledge is so haunted by his past that he is accompanied everywhere by the ghost of his dead WW1 sergeant, Hamish, who becomes a vivid character in his own right. (And I hate ghost novels...) This is a serviceable mystery that would be better if I hadn't read the Rutledge series first. 3.9 stars.

Suz

Oh how I can relate to buying books while the reading process is slowing down.

On another topic, I am so looking forward to meeting you at Richard's party in September!

(Oh, and I confess to buying some more books today. All in French, however...)

My elder nephew, the middle child in his family, has become my shadow. He is almost seven, and asking my questions like "What would happen if the atmosphere exploded?" I had to laugh when my mother called him a "chatterbox" today!

Did you/do you have to lug all those books home from Canada, or did seeing the titles at stores just prompt you to add them to your Kindle. Which, by the way, does the Kindle allow you to "wish list" books?

Oh, the ones I have listed are the ones I am lugging back with me; I did add some more Kindle titles, to boot! I'm particularly pleased to find the French books, as there is no decent French-language bookstore in NYC, and the shipping costs from Amazon.france tend to add up.

Yes, the Kindle does allow me to "wish list", but alas, people can't give me specific Kindle books as gifts, only gift certificates that I can then use to buy Kindle books. I use my Kindle wish list as a de facto "basket" for books I haven't yet decided to buy.

"What would happen if the atmosphere exploded?"

Brilliant! Sounds like a cute kid. :)

35.. this brought to mind a book Beside a Burning Sea that I read a couple of years ago. I wasn't at all sure about it at first, but I ended up liking it a lot...
It sounds as if you are enjoying your time there...

While you're buying books in Canada *envious vibration pause* consider adding an oldie-but-goodie: Dinner at the End of the World by Antanas Sileika. Always a favorite of mine.

Book du jour: Having the Builders In by Reay Tannahill. This is a delightful piece of froth that I stumbled over in Toronto, by a fave historical novelist of mine. She's written some serious historical fiction, but this, as you might guess from the title, is a classic modern story transplanted back in time some 600 years, to England at the time of the peasants' rebellion under Richard II. Dame Constance has a problem -- how to decorate the walls of her new Great Hall now that the builders have finally left, and how to persuade the temperamental Italian painter to paint figures, not just blocks of red or forest green. But that turns out to be only the tip of the iceberg; as rumblings of discontent spread, and rebels march on London, half the neighborhood heads to Constance's castle to take shelter from the turmoil. There is the typical local abbott, a fat and demanding Hanseatic merchant; a mercer from London along with his wife and predatory yet beautiful and dim-witted daughter, a young boy and his sister from a neighboring domain, etc. etc. Will Constance get them out of her hair? How? And will her match-making plans work? This is a whimsical and entertaining novel -- deliberately anachronistic in places, but that's the fun of it, seeing how easily our ancestors could have ended up writing chick lit or something like that back then (there's even a reference to Chaucer pondering writing the Canterbury Tales.) I did sometimes find it hard to keep track of all the characters, but it's a relatively short novel and thus not hard to skim back and make sure I knew exactly who William or Alice were. Fun, recommended. 4.2 stars, a TIOLI "H" challenge book.

Somehow managed to miss this thread until now. If the book-buying is any guide, it sounds as through you're having a great time.

#43: Sounds like another winner to me! Thanks for the review and recommendation, Suz.

>43 Chatterbox:: That's one I don't think I'll put on my list but I enjoyed reading the review. :-)

I really liked Reay Tannahill's work and have this, which I've not read, around somewhere. Sadly she died a couple of years ago.

Argh, I was afraid she was ill or dead... I noticed this was a few years old. She wrote relatively few novels, but they were all v. good. My fave is The World, the Flesh and the Devil, which is set in the same era, but in Scotland.

OK, I'm really peeved. Made it back to Brooklyn to discover that the Kings County courts think I've blown off two jury duty summons. Firstly, only got one summons. Secondly, requested a deferral until August 19, which is 10 days away!!! Not only that, but I made the request both on the phone AND via the mail!!!!

Now I have to show up in person and explain myself, apparently. Guilty until proven innocent???

#48: Adding that one to the BlackHole and woot! the local library even has it.

#49: Sorry to hear about your jury duty troubles, Suz. Hopefully they will get it cleared up quickly.

Mea culpa, mea culpa, Suz ... I've been lurking and not posting much lately .... sorry, just a boat load of work and a mad weekend, with another 2 weeks of business visitors in town.

Snap, Caro! I've not been posting on anyone else's thread, only just managing to do SOME reading, and not as much of that as usual.

Had dinner with an old high school friend tonight who I hadn't seen in 30 plus years, so that was fun and put me in a slightly better mood!

Book du jour: The Ice Princess by Camilla Lackberg. One of the new crop of Swedish/Scandinavian crime writers following the wake of Stieg Larsson. This isn't the millenium trilogy -- it's neither as compelling or as gritty. But it's a perfectly respectable mystery blending past and present crimes, set in a seaside fishing community. Erica discovers the frozen body of a childhood friend in the latter's bathtub on an icy winter day, and her own investigation dovetails with the official one led by Patrik, a policeman and another childhood friend... I thought I had figured out the culprit, but didn't; I did figure out, more or less, one of the mysterious subplots. There are lots of interesting twists and turns, subplots and characters here to find intriguing; I'm glad I have the next two books in hand to read. 4 stars. A TIOLI challenge for the "weather term" category.

Suzanne, perhaps you can help me. What in tarnation is the appeal of these Larsson books? I made it through ~40pp and I so hated the experience that it took a day like today (see my eleventh thread) to finally snap me out of the gloom.

Am I seriously flawed in some way that I felt dirty and like I'd never get clean after reading that bit of the first book...I think it was the first one, dragons and crap?...or have I simply lost my judgment?

Kings County courts duly whammied with terrible hemorrhoids, whole and entire.

Richard, I confess I loved the Larsson books. In part because they are within a genre -- thriller/mystery -- that I enjoy, and in part because they are simply very different from anything else I've read. For me, the appeal was the fact that the author had managed to combine a compelling mystery story line, with a lot of uncertainty, etc., and tie it to themes in contemporary society that we like to try to ignore. I also enjoyed the fact that his characters are unique and distinctive -- not just Lisbeth, but also Blomkvist. They are idiosyncratic, flawed, human beings. But that's just me. And if your preferred reading is the cozier world of Three Pines (however murderous!) then I could see why this would be jarring. I don't know about feeling dirty after reading the book -- to me, he was taking what happens, and folding it into a dramatic setting. Sure, not all of this stuff happens all within one family, but part of his point is that society tries to gloss over the ugly side, with the result being the creation of more victims.

But hey, that's just a theory. I just heard from a Swedish friend today; I'll e-mail her and ask!!

#52: Added to the BlackHole. Thanks, Suz.

Book du jour:
Guilt About the Past by Bernhard Schlink is an edited compilation of Weidenfeld Lectures, a series of guest lecturers delivered by a visiting scholar at an Oxford college. What intrigued me here is that the topic bears directly on the issues that Schlink dealt with in fiction in The Reader, which I read earlier this year. It's a deceptively slim book, dealing with very meaty topics such as who has the right to forgive and to accept an apology for past misdeeds, the issue of collective guilt, memory, etc. and when ancient wrongs become a matter of history. I found his final section, about the way we treat these issues in fiction (whether novels or films) particularly interesting; he also made some fascinating points re the rather empty-sounding "apologies" that politicians are making nowadays. (I've always felt that these were particularly hollow and pointless; Schlink helped me understand why I might feel that way.) Schlink, a lawyer and legal scholar, is more inscrutable when it comes to the legal issues, but overall, this is a fascinating book and I suggest that anyone reading it take their time and pause frequently to ponder the points he raises. Provocative. 4.3 stars.

(ETA: I keep trying to make the touchstone "stick" -- it won't. The preview is fine, and when I hit submit, it balks. Sigh...)

#56: That one does sound like a provocative read. Thanks, Suz. I will see if I can find a copy.

I agree -- will look for that one.

I second Suz's comments on the Larsson books ....I think I like them because they show the sides of characters that are often ignored or glossed over by society or worse... swept under the carpet because it's unpleasant. I think back to the first book with *SPOILER ALERT! --- read no further if you haven't yet read the book* the vicious rape scene and then Lisbeth's (to my mind) justifiably returning compliment, and know that that kind of vicious rapes happen and there are women/girls who are severely scarred by the experience, but who may not have the ability to seek an appropriate revenge on their abuser or who don't believe in the system enough to report the horrific attack. And who can blame them? It's showing the ugly side of human nature (the attacker's that is, not the victim's) and society would rather not know about it so we can all pretend that life is pretty and fun.

I hated the whole experience of Larsson, so I'm giving it a miss. I don't get the fuss, and I went to look at the first book again. I ***loathed*** the central character scene. Hated, loathed, abhorred it, and will never again so much as mention these ghastly books.

>60 richardderus: My oh my aren't you in the minority this time Richard. Everyone will love you whether you like these books or not but the fascinating thing to me is how the books have resonated with huge throngs of people world-wide. For me, I just thought that Lizbeth was a fascinating character, the computer hacking was very interesting, I liked Mickael (a lot), loved learning about Swedish culture and enjoyed (I think that's the word) Lizbeth's revenge. Add to that the fact that I couldn't put the books down. At all. Until they were done.

Books du jour:

1. The Long Stretch by Linden MacIntyre is a novel set on Cape Breton; the story of three men, veterans of WW2, and their children. The effects of the fighting in Europe on Sandy Gillis and Andy MacAskill (and of Jack Gillis's work underground in the mines in Canada) have ramifications for their later lives, and hang over their children, long after the three men themselves are dead. The story unfolds as the sons of the two Gillis brothers, Johnny and Sextus, meet for the first time in more than a decade, and sit down to rehash their lives and the events and misunderstandings that shaped them. The book is told through Johnny's eyes, and only gradually does the reader come to realize what really occurred. Nearly flawless novel; excellent if sometimes disturbing. 4.7 stars. A TIOLI book for the overlooked challenge.

2. Newton and the Counterfeiter: The Unknown Detective Career of the World's Greatest Scientist by Thomas Levenson. The title over-promises; this really isn't about how Isaac Newton became a detective. Rather, it's about two paths that crossed in the last year of the 16th century -- that of Newton, appointed master of the Royal Mint, and that of William Chaloner, a "coiner". Levenson does a good job of tracking Newton's early life, explaining his scientific breakthroughs and why he took the post at the mint. But the really intriguing parts of this story for me were about Chaloner, and about the tremendous difficulties England had at this time in maintaining a stable currency, and Newton's role in re-establishing the British pound on a stable footing. The only criticisms I'd have is that sometimes the book is a bit dry; and that the followup to Chaloner's inevitable fate is dealt with too abruptly. (Newton, despite his deep understanding of finance, somehow got caught up in the Ponzi scheme known as the South Sea Bubble; this is dealt with in only a few pages.) Still, very interesting to anyone who is curious about these subjects. 3.9 stars. A TIOLI book for the non-fiction set in another country to your own (in this case, the UK.)

3. Because I'm dealing with a nasty cold, I has to read something completely mindless. I opted for The Beach Hut, a classic chick lit read from Veronica Henry. It's a book made up of the interwoven stories of various people who all have beach huts at one imaginary English seaside resort, and the ways they all resolve various crises during one summer season. Mindless fluffy entertainment, 3.4 stars.

I am waiting for The Long Stretch to show up. I am glad that I hunted down a copy, it looks very good.

#62: Adding both The Long Stretch and Newton and the Counterfeiter to the BlackHole. Thanks for the recs, Suz.

I hope the cold goes away soon. What happened about the jury duty dilemma?

Ooh..I've got The Beach Hut in my TBR Tower for days when my brain just refuses to handling anything that requires thinking, so I'm keen to see what you think of it when you're done, Suz.

My brother's reading Newton and the Counterfeiter now and he's liking it. I have to hit him up for the book when he's done.

Stasia, I have to go in person to the courthouse on a Tues, Weds or Thurs, between 9 and 5. Yesterday I was too busy; today I'm too sick. So I need to do this tomorrow, squeezed in between my other work stuff. Sigh.

ETA -- Caro, I finished The Beach Hut in a single sitting -- it's one of those feel-good reads, entertaining and fluffy and a classic beach book for summer.

#66: I guess the good thing is that it will be over tomorrow and you do not have to worry about it any more.

you are sick too?

Guilt about the Past sounds very interesting. I probably ought to get hold of a copy of The Reader, too.

Suzanne, I hope your nasty cold is soon better and your jury duty problem soon resolved.

I'm going to add The Long Stretch Suzanne because you make it sound so...well....unmissable?

I agree with Bonnie about The Long Stretch. I read your thoughts and now I've got it sitting in my cart over at Amazon. My library doesn't have it.

Hope you're feeling better today!

Suzanne, I feel your pain. I think I have a touch of West Nile, or a mild dose of Ebola, or something. I feel like Death eating a cracker.

Argh Richard -- the last thing I want is for anyone else to end up with the plague like me. Nasty little bug, this is.

I did get my jury duty thing sorted out. Apparently they sent me a summons back in November (that I never received) and they never received/registered EITHER my phone-in deferral or the one I mailed back for the March summons. So I have to show up Oct. 13, without fail, or it's off to jail I go!

The only good thing about this cold is that it gives me some time to read. All three books below fall into TIOLI challenges.

1. Shooting in the Dark by Carolyn Hougan. This is a reprint of an early novel (1984) by an author who wrote very few books -- but I really enjoyed the one of hers that I had read, The Romeo Flag. While this doesn't measure up, the story of Claire -- just dumped by her husband and reeling and not always terribly sane or stable -- going off to Amsterdam at the time of Queen Beatrix's coronation, and getting caught up in global plots after a fling with an expat journalist is lively enough. Part of its entertainment value is that it's a period piece: set in the spring of 1980 (indeed, I flew home to Brussels on the very same day that the fictional Claire flies to Amsterdam!), there are lots of references to the Iranian hostage crisis, Jimmy Carter, the Shah, etc., and no cell phones, Internet, GPS tracking devices, etc. Mildly entertaining, but I'd be more likely to recommend The Romeo Flag. That would get 4.2 stars; this gets 3.4.

2. The Rembrandt Affair by Daniel Silva. Happily, Silva found a way to freshen up the Gabriel Allon spy franchise with this novel, which starts out as an art history puzzle -- a restorer is killed, and the Rembrandt he's working on is snatched -- morphs into a Holocaust art crime story and ends up as a conventional spy thriller with a nail-biting conclusion. I do get a bit weary of the unabashed Israel cheerleading Silva offers up (there's no nuance here, no shades of grey), but it's a good read and significantly better than his last several books. 4.1 stars.

3. The Summer We Read Gatsby by Danielle Ganek was a disappointment. There are smatterings of good writing that quickly evaporate into "bons mots" and clichés. The idea is poorly focused and the character development is non-existent (at one point, one of the two half-sisters declares how much the summer spent together at the Hamptons "cottage" with her sister has caused her to grow -- I rolled my eyes.) It's mildly amusing if you know the Hamptons and like reading voyeuristic novels about the kind of people who head there every summer (Ganek should know; her husband is a HF billionaire), but I found it to be cardboard instead of enjoyable fluff. Everything seemed to be for effect, and nothing felt "real". 2.9 stars.

...and one more:

Walking Since Daybreak by Modris Eksteins is a choppy and uneven book, but one that is worth digging into for its insights into the Baltic states and their borderland status during the 20th century. The author is a Latvian-born Canadian, and he structures this book in a sometimes jarring way, jumping between his or his family's experience and the broader historical context. Sometimes he moves backward in time, sometimes forward. About halfway through, I finally got used to this rhythm and was able to focus on the story, just as Eksteins reached the point in his story where the precariously-independent states of Latvia and Lithuania are overrun by Soviet forces in 1940. (It's the behavior of the Soviet forces, and the fact that many of them were originally Jewish, that explains why one elderly Latvian man I met in 2005 argued to me that the German Nazis were far better than the Russians to live under -- that the former were civilized...) An intriguing book for anyone with an interest in the era or region, but probably of less interest to others. I'd recommend his other book, Rites of Spring, more enthusiastically; I'll be re-reading that later this fall.

...and a final one. (I'm finally catching up on my reading!)

February by Lisa Moore is a beautifully-written book that contains some of the most startling vivid descriptive writing I've ever seen. That said, it also felt incredibly frustrating to read for the first third, rambling in an almost stream-of-consciousness manner and darting back and forth in time and place. I could appreciate the fine detail, and the vast themes of love and loss and slow, painful rebuilding that are at the heart of the book, but the structure too often left me irritable. So it ultimately wasn't a satisfying book for me, alas. Not sure whether to recommend it or not, but on balance yes, if only for the writing/descriptive power. Definitely a distinctive author, and I'll be curious to see what more she writes. 3.8 stars/TIOLI.

I'm behind on here (and everywhere) but I just had to interrupt my reading of a Brief Life of Goethe, my perfectly ok but not earth shattering ER book from way back, to say that I am SO SO SO jealous that you got the new Steven Saylor book in this month's batch!! (I saw it on Joanne's thread just now.) I didn't know there was one - is it a full length novel or short stories? Obviously I need to move country. If you select Switzerland in the ER options, the pickings are slim indeed. Still better than if you select New Zealand though...

Cushla, it's a very full length novel -- the sequel to Roma, called Empire. (For some reason, the touchstone doesn't register as yet...) Yes, I agree that the pickings are slimmer abroad. I'm sure it has to do with where the publishers feel the market is (which is a bit narrow minded) as well, perhaps, as copyright restrictions. Though there would be nothing stopping them sending ARCs anywhere they wanted, I would have thought...

Glad the jury duty is sorted out! Too bad about The Summer We Read Gatsby - it looks like a book I would have picked up because of the title.

I enjoyed your comments about February. I may put it off until September, as I've received three of the other Booker Prize longlisted books this week from the UK.

Darryl, it's a relatively slim volume and is easily read; the themes aren't the kind that require extensive mulling over, so if you have an extra day or two later in the month you may be able to squeeze it in.

Books du jour:

1. The Piano Teacher by Janice Lee. I'm unsure about this one. I found the descriptions of Hong Kong in the colonial era during and after WW2 and during the Japanese occupation to be vivid and fascinating. But they were the highlights of the book for me. I don't really care if the main protagonists in a book are unsympathetic at times, as that's just how human beings are. But in this case, they also felt on occasion like vehicles Lee used to develop her plot rather than people you could imagine actually living and breathing. Still, the plot was intriguing, although it turned out to be a bit too convoluted it was creative and fresh. I guess I'll give it 3.7 stars and a cautious recommend -- borrow, rather than buy, would be my suggestion.

2. A Better Quality of Murder by Ann Granger. This is shaping up to be a good series of Victorian era murder mysteries that I'm coming to prefer to the ubiquitous Anne Perry (whose characters tend to get themselves tied up in too many psychological knots.) This is the third in the series involving Lizzie Martin, a former ladies' companion, and Scotland Yard Inspector Ben Ross, and they are involved in the murder of a young woman found dead after vanishing in Piccadilly during one of London's infamous fogs. Is the culprit the "River Wraith" who has been stalking London's prostitutes? This is a straightforward mystery, but well executed and with an interesting twist at the end. Recommended to fans of the genre; 4.1 stars.

I didn't realise Ann Granger had moved into Victorian set mysteries, I'm going to have to try them. I enjoyed the first couple of Anne Perry's first series, can't remember the name at the moment, ok, but I think Granger's a much better writer.

#81 -- I'd have to agree with you on that -- I find Anne Perry a much fussier writer, and her plots can sometimes be bogged down in psychobabble and (in the Thomas Pitt series) conspiracy theories. I also think these three books are among Granger's better efforts, so it's win-win.

Two more to add to the list, both, oddly enough, about walking through conflict zones. Although written at about the same time, they are about very different kinds of conflicts, so it's intriguing to have finished them at roughly the same time.

1. For my 1010 Challenge (and a TIOLI read), re-read Back to the Front by Stephen O'Shea. I hadn't read this in well over a decade, since it first appeared, and it has held up well. It's the tale of O'Shea, a Canadian of Irish descent living in Paris, who decides to walk the length of the Western Front of World War 1. Most of this is being done in the 1980s, so anyone trying to do the same thing today is going to encounter a different experience, but it's a fascinating and moving book, full of O'Shea's obvious empathy for the ordinary soldiers and disgust for leaders like Haig and Nivelle that led them into disastrous campaigns like the Somme, Passchendaele and Chemin des Dames. For anyone looking for a short overview of the war in a lively, accessible context, this is a great book. Having spent part of two summers working at a WW1 battlefield as a tour guide, this puts that experience in context. Recommended, as are O'Shea's two other books (both medieval history, one about the Cathars, the other about the Mediterranean in the Middle Ages.) 4.8 stars.

2. For this challenge (and another TIOLI book), a non-fiction work by Colm Toibin, better known for some of his recent novels. In Bad Blood: A Walk Along the Irish Border, Toibin walks the length of the border between the British-governed province of Ulster and the Republic of Ireland in the South. He travels -- sometimes unknowingly -- between North and South, zig-zagging back and forth to capture the views and experiences of Catholics and Protestants on both sides of the border. He has an eye for the obvious -- the camouflaged British soldiers he stumbles over in ditches, for instance, and the giant markings on the roads that signal to helicopters when they can't fly any further south without crossing the border -- as well as the smaller human details, such as the family who didn't learn of the marriage of one of the sons of their closest neighbors for several years, because the latter lived on the other side of the border. When one of the people he encounters remembers being worried about having his house torched by the IRA during the hunger strikes at the Maze prison in the early 80s, the local police point out to him he has nothing to worry about, since his Protestant ancestors bought the land (vs being given it by the English government or expropriating it) --back in 1732. Memories are long, Toibin reminds his readers... One interesting element to me was the extent to which Toibin (originally Catholic, from the South) is obviously far more comfortable interacting with even extremist Catholics than ordinary Protestants (he feels self-conscious in a Protestant-owned hotel; is the guest of Sinn Fein in a Catholic region) even as he obviously deplores the sectarianism. While this was written in the early 1990s (and while the visible conflict has abated) it won't be until that inner hyper-consciousness dissipates that the Irish "Troubles" will really end. I found myself thinking back to my own trip from Co. Leitrim to the North, and the still-visible signs of sectarianism -- and my nervous Catholic driver who really would rather have been on Mars. A glaring omission in my Picador edition: appallingly, there is NO MAP! I know the geography, but not in such detail that I could follow Toibin's route. Deducting half a star for that, this is still 4.2 stars, recommended. (I'll be trying to read another of Toibin's travel books later in the year.)

#80: I read The Piano Teacher a couple of years ago and cannot say that I was overly impressed with it either. Definitely not a keeper for me.

I have not read any of the Victorian series by Granger, so I am going to have to give them a try.

#82: I own Back to the Front, so I will have to get to it soon. I am adding the Toibin book to the BlackHole.

Back to the Front sounds good so it's added to my tbr list.
I read Toibin's Homage to Barcelona last year and although dated I enjoyed the background to the city very much. He wrote it as the city was gearing up to the Olympics back in 1992, but his first impressions were from when he lived there in the late 1970s. I did want to read Homage to Catalonia again when I finished Toibin's book, I really must look it out. Bad Blood: A Walk Along the Irish Border will have to go on my tbr as well.

edit to add: I had to have a map of Barcelona & Catalonia beside me when I read HtB.

I would find it fascinating if Toibin repeated his trip now, or in another few years, and wrote about the differences he finds -- or the similarities. In the same way that Theroux went back and repeated his trip that was first written about in The Great Railway Bazaar.

Back to the Front sounds good Suzanne so onto the pile it goes.

Books du jour:

1. Hot Time in the Old Town by Edward Kotman. This was an impulse purchase, and I'm VERY glad indeed that I didn't start reading it until the hot weather broke yesterday, as it's the chilling (sorry, bad pun) story of the 1896 New York heatwave that killed thousands, mostly poor working men and infants. Kotman begins his story of a week in August by describing a horrific death toll of another kind -- the result of a railway crash. To New Yorkers, it seemed as if natural disasters had been replaced by those associated with man-made phenomena of various kinds -- until the heat wave struck. The author juxtaposes his story with that of William Jennings Bryan's campaign to win the presidency that year, a battle that hit the skids in New York on the same day that the heat wave peaked, as well as Theodore Roosevelt's ascendancy to political power, which took on fresh momentum in the wake of the heatwave. An excellent story, not only fascinating because it deals with the story of how people lived at the time, but because Kotman weaves into it the historical, political and social context. As the world gets hotter and our society even more urbanized than it was in 1896, we take refuge in our "cooling centers" and air-conditioned rooms -- but this book offers a lot of food for thought. I expect every time the thermometer jumps above 90 Fahrenheit, I'll be thinking about this story... 4.8 stars, Recommended.

2. Free Agent by Jeremy Duns. Sigh. I wanted this impulse buy in Toronto to be a good book. After all, William Boyd blurbed it, and he doesn't blurb just anything... Alas, it's a macho boy's spy story, one where the hero dukes it out with guns and goes haring through the jungle to save his life. OK, it's a bit more complex than that, but not really. I suppose I'd call it an action thriller. From the first pages, it's clear that Paul Dark is a double-agent for the Soviets in the England of 1969 -- so the suspense has to come from him outwitting people on both sides who wish him ill. The plot involves the Biafran war, which adds a bit of interest, and there's an excellent twist at the end, which helps but doesn't save this book. I like my spies to have a personality and a character, and I didn't find Dark convincing. For starters, he behaves as if he's in his early 30s, though by the book's chronology, he'd be somewhere between 45 and 50. Not recommended, or only with caution. 2.7 stars.

#87: Adding the Kotman book and skipping the Duns one. Thanks, Suz!

OK, 5 books in 24 hours onto the wishlist is a good effort! (The 3 by O'Shea, the heat wave one, and the Colm Toibin - although anything by him was going to end up there because I just finished Brooklyn).

It's really cooling down over here - below 20 today for the first time in months. Nice.

Hot Time in the Old Town made the wish list...sounds good!
Bad Blood sounds good, but I am trying to avoid books that are upsetting. Lives torn apart for generations by religion would make me angry. Despite having read a good deal about The Troubles in the past, I am going to avoid this for now.

Good reviews ..and clearly an interesting list of books.

We ought to have a symbol we can mark dangerous threads for ourselves, as well as starring threads. I want to read the Toibin book.

We ought to have a symbol we can mark dangerous threads for ourselves, as well as starring threads.

How about the "x" (Ignore this topic)?

I refuse to acknowledge that the O'Shea, Toibin and Kotman books have been added to my wish list. You're getting to be almost as bad as Rebecca.

Toxic thread alert? I'm just finishing another nearly five-star book now -- alas, Kath, it's another that revolves around a part of the world beset by religious troubles! I'll need to venture on to more frivolous ground soon, or I'll end up in a funk...

Up early because in the wake of this summer cold, I am now trying very hard to cough up my own lungs. I have to do my first reading (for a Media Bistro group) on Tuesday, just a short thing, and I'm trying to decide what parts to use. Does anyone who has read my own opus maximus have any suggestions???

Btw, spotted the Kindle on sale at Target -- the K2, not the K3, which is coming out at the end of the month. In Target? Wow...

Hot Time in the Old Town climbs on the teetering tower.

>93 Chatterbox: As I understand the Media Bistro ethos, I think you should read from pp260-263, "Playing the Blame Game"; in chapter 7. Stop at the end of 263, and then let them go BAHnanas! It's fodder for one helluva Q&A!

Excellent idea, Richard. I will try to combine a few paragraphs from that with a few paragraphs from the introduction. I think I'll get 10 mins of the reading time (I'm sharing the limelight with some other authors, including one whose novel I just realized I purchased recently from Barnes & Noble, so I should probably bump that up my TBR list to have it done by Tues!

I've wishlisted the first in the Granger series - thanks!

Books du jour:

1. Cain's Field by Matt Beynon Rees. I stumbled across this book after reading the first in a series of mysteries set on the West Bank and featuring Palestinian schoolteacher Omar Yussef, which was tremendously impressive (one of the great new mystery series discoveries I've made this year.) When downloading the next books in the series onto my Kindle, I found this non-fiction account of life in Palestinian territories and among Israelis that Rees published before he turned his hand to writing mysteries, while he was working as a journalist. It handily joins my list of top books of the year. The highlight? The fact that instead of getting bogged down in retreading the same old ground in the Israeli/Palestinian dispute, Rees forges new ground, looking instead at the schisms within the two sides, and the factions that form. Among the Palestinians, these are often more obvious (eg, Arafat vs Hamas; Rees's scorn for Arafat is glaring) but many are more nuanced, such as the story of the rift between the "Israeli Arabs" who stayed behind in 1948, told through the experience of a filmmaker who is trying to address issues of concern to all Arabs living in the region even though he is technically Israeli. On the Israeli side, the rifts are all the more powerful for being relatively little known here: the division between the growing ranks of the ultra-orthodox and the secular Jews; between the Sephardic immigrants from North Africa and the dominant Ashkenazim; between even the Holocaust survivors that are, in large part, responsible for the creation of Israel (the Holocaust, and the effort to prevent it, form a powerful argument in favor of Israel's existence for many) and the rest of Israeli society, many segments of which find them distasteful reminders of "weak" Jews lingering on in a Sabra culture that, the myth runs, wouldn't have gone quietly to Auschwitz. In his conclusion, Rees links all his stories and word portraits to the main theme that readers will have on their minds throughout -- each side, he argues, "exists in a fantasy world of blamelessness, shifting guilt to a distant enemy and away from the consequences of the divisions within its own society, the pain Palestinians inflict on Palestinians and Israelis on Israelis." If there's one book you read about the Middle East today, make it this one. 5 stars.

ETA: My review can be found here

2. A Moment of Silence by Anna Dean. (Also published as Bellfield Hall. This historical mystery, set in 1805, starts out faaar too slowly, and had me making unfortunate comparisons to Jane Austen, with the author's attempts at recreating a Regency-style dialog, and the heroine's status as a maiden aunt with another spinster sister at home to whom she writes. (Jane and Cassandra, anyone?) It isn't helped by the occasionally clumsy style that becomes almost coy, as when she says "again, the vicarage-raised Dido proved herself more worldly-wise than most people would have suspected" -- don't hammer it home and tell me, show me, I wanted to scream! Happily, about halfway through I became engrossed in the plot, which becomes much more full of twists and turns than I had expected (one or two I could foresee; a few came as real surprises, and most were quite entertaining and convincing.) It's not great, but it's good enough for me to look out for a second book in this series and to recommend this one (at least in paperback or from a library.) 3.4 stars.

3. Walking by Henry David Thoreau starts out as a hymn of praise to sauntering in the wilds, but quickly moves on from there to Thoreau's thoughts about wilderness versus society. This will be familiar territory to anyone who has read Walden, and if you didn't like that, I wouldn't suggest going near this with a ten-foot pole. It's a short book, something to be perused on a rainy Sunday and mused over, I suspect. I found parts ironic, as when Thoreau mentions his role in surveying farmland, and admiring the commitment of settlers to establish new farms -- the very things that will be the foundations of the kind of established society that he deplores. It's a bit depressing to ponder that the kinds of walks that Thoreau relishes and recommends are nearly impossible today, at least in the US, where there has never been any concept of the public footpath that exists in Britain. As Thoreau mused, one day, "walking over the surface of God's earth shall be construed to mean trespassing on some gentleman's grounds." We seem to be there... Interesting, well-written, a bit rambling (as befits a book about sauntering...) 3.7 stars.

Well, I have to add Cain's Field to my tbr. You might be interested in the novel Almost Dead by Assaf Gavron which I finished today. I found it excellent for its black humour while looking at the two sides of terrorism - the victim and the perpetrator. Here's a link to a Q&A with the author.
edit: fix touchstone

Adding Cain's Field and Walking to the BlackHole. Thanks for the recommendations, Suz!

Cain's Field sounds great. I usually ignore books about the Middle East, because they just depress me (a think I try to avoid, especially at the moment), but this one sounds worth it.

Nice review of Cain's Field; I'm adding it to my wish list, as well. Maybe I should create another Amazon wish list, for books recommended by you and Rebecca (although, at this rate, I'll have to make separate wish lists for each of you).

How long is your Amazon wishlist? Mine runs to about 24 pages, although the last few (the oldest ones) are full of thing that aren't really available (not necessarily books).

I tend to keep more in my shopping basket than on my wish list, to remind me that they are there! Very, very few people ever buy anything from my wish list (I got three items for Xmas last year, and an ex-bf used to buy a birthday and Xmas gift from it), so I'm not vigilant about keeping it up. My longest wish list is my Kindle wish list, which is a private list and which people can't select gifts from anyway!

No one's ever got me anything from my wishlist. Probably wise, few people dare buy me books, and the last time someone gave me a book as a pressie which I got round to reading and really liked was more than 10 years ago - Devil in a Blue Dress.

What I really appreciate is when someone picks up something from my Amazon.co.uk wish list! Occasionally I'll ask my family to look there for Xmas gift ideas, as those are the books I'm not likely to pick up on my own during an idle hour in Strand, and they are books that I know I want. But yes, I hate having to make a polite face when a book parcel turns out to be something i have no interest in or have already read... I have a stack of those, from people who say "I know you love to read..."

Well, Cain's Field goes on the list.

LOL.... oh dear that is so true, Suz. I've had birthday or Christmas presents, all well-meaning of course, of books (without gift receipts) that I have absolutely no interest in reading and since there are no receipts, I can't even return them for something else I'd prefer. I've had to wean some of my in-laws off buying me actual books or things (they don't know me well enough to really know my preferences) and to just give me gift certificates instead.

My wife is well-drilled. She makes sure all of her relatives know to ask her what I want to read rather than to do their usual...which is buy me something I've already read.

yes! I think it is hard to buy a book for someone else. Aside from an occasional book I think they must have!!! I don't even buy books for my kids any more.. Last Christmas though... I gave each one True Compass: A Memoir

I have mostly trained my family, too ... gift cards! It works for all of us..

Book du jour:

The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas. Wow. Just wow. That said, this is a book that is bound to make a lot of people uncomfortable. I winced at a lot of the casual sexual attitudes/behavior, the drugs, the racist/sexist comments -- and then I realized that this is fiction and also that very few of the things that made me uncomfortable were actually untrue of real people in real life. (I have to admit that a few of these things I'm guilty of in some way -- like Anouk's flashes of furious temper.) And that's the authors genius (yes, you got that word right...): he has been able to capture the ugly aspects of human nature, as well as the good stuff about families and friends, good stuff that rarely comes in nice neat tidy packages. It's as if the lid has been lifted off an ant farm, and we see all the secret thoughts of the eight characters through whom Tsiolkas spins his tale. The story starts with a slap, as everyone probably is aware -- the slap of a misbehaving three-year-old at a suburban BBQ. The slap has consequences that richochet throughout the circle of friends and family, but the events that follow in the lives of those affected aren't always tied directly to the slap -- the slap forces them, indirectly, to re-evaluate many other things in their lives. The characters range from a teenage girl and her close friend, a teenage boy, all the way up to an aging Greek patriarch, and include the mother of the slapped child and the wife of the "slapper". Every one of those is pitch perfect. The author is a guy, and yet he writes more compelling and real female characters -- subtle, nuanced -- than I can recall reading before in a novel by a male author. He writes equally vividly about Aisha's views of Anouk (a married woman's views of her single friend's supposed attitude to children) and of Anouk's reaction to those ideas -- forcing the reader to understand there are no easy answers in life's most pressing questions. This is not a book to read if you need to identify with a character, or need comforting stories. None of these individuals are altogether admirable; many make choices that someone will disagree with. And yet at the same time, they all emerge as real and vivid, and perhaps more sympathetic because of their flaws. (And yes, this will force you to think about child-rearing these days, but that is just the tip of a very large iceberg.)
In short -- read this book. A full 5 stars.

Great review, Suzanne! And thank you; I was unsure of which longlisted book to read next, but this one will certainly be next, after I finish The Finkler Question.

I looked on The Slap's LT page to give a thumbs up for your review, but I didn't see it there.

Darryl, that's because I hadn't posted it yet! (It's up there now.) I don't often post my reviews, especially when a book has been extensively reviewed & commented on. I'll look forward to hearing your thoughts on both The Finkler Question (a quick look at the Amazon page for it didn't make it sound that intriguing) and The Slap. I confess, I didn't expect to like the latter as much as I did, but after the first few pages I was caught up in it. It is just so... authentic.

OK, one more book to add before I head off to get some sleep! This one not nearly so impressive, alas...

The Queen's Gambit is a rather pedestrian mystery set in the court of Ludovico Sforza, aka il Moro, ruler of Milan in the late 15th century. It features Leonardo da Vinci (who worked as il Moro's court engineer and painter) and one of his (fictional) apprentices, Dino. During a game of living chess, a cousin of il Moro's is murdered; da Vinci and Dino must unmask the culprit. There's a mildly piquant twist involving Dino's identity, but while well written, this isn't that exciting a book, either in terms of the characters or the mystery. The setting of Renaissance Italy is intriguing, but unless you want to read a mystery set in that era, I wouldn't really recommend this -- there are better books to spend your time on. 3 stars, TIOLI historical mystery.

Thumbs up on your review of The Slap. Good going, Suz.

I've thumbed your review of The Slap, Suzanne. Did you see the recent article in The Guardian, which described it as 'the most divisive Booker novel in years'?

Booker-longlisted novel The Slap is 'most divisive in years'

The reviews and comments I've read about The Slap have been mainly negative and quite opinionated, so I'm pleased to see such a glowing review from you.

I've just finished the first half of The Finkler Question, and so far it's a wonderful read, one that is certainly worthy of its nomination for the longlist. I've posted four reviews on its LT page. It's set in present day London, and it revolves around three male friends, two of them Jewish and recent widowers, and one (the main character) who isn't Jewish but seems to think that he is, or wants to be, Jewish. He and the other younger man (in their late 40s) have been friends and rivals since they were schoolboys, and the older man was one of their teachers. The main character is assaulted after leaving the teacher's house at the start of the book, in a crime that is more humorous than violent, and this spurs a self-examination on his part. The book takes on a number of big topics: Jewishness, in its variety of forms; manhood in middle-age and old age; male rivalry; friendship; male and female relationships; adultery; Israel and Palestine; and London and Britain. Unless the novel goes off track in its second half, it will be one of my favorite reads of the year, and I'm eager to resume reading it, but I think I'll be sad to finish it (i.e., I wish that it was a much longer book (307 pages)). It was just published in the UK earlier this month, and I don't see a date for its publication in the US yet.

Sorry for the rambling, 2 am thoughts.

Wow, I figured that this could be a book a lot of people would dislike, but "hateful"? It's certainly uncomfortable to read, but it's not loveless. I would argue that there is love between many of the characters, but it's complex love, as that tends to be in real life -- the kind of love that goes along with being a parent, child, spouse or long-standing friend or other relation. You know the person so well, that they can drive you crazy. Yes, there is sexism; yes, there are men who idly lust after women (and Tsiolkas takes us inside their minds). But isn't that what people actually think, and simply don't usually discuss out loud? I suspect that's one reason for the discomfort with the book -- the author pulls no punches. His isn't a pretty world, but it's not a bleak one, either. (Except perhaps for one self-delusional character, naming no names.) (3 a.m. thoughts here no more articulate, obviously...)

Nice comments, Suzanne. And, from what I've read, you've captured the author's intent perfectly.

BTW, there is a thread dedicated to the 2010 Booker Prize that I set up in the Prizes group, for you or anyone else who is interested in discussing these books:

Man Booker Prize 2010

I'm glad to read your review of The Slap, Suzanne, as it previously hadn't sounded at all interesting to me, but now it does.

Rebecca, you still may not like it, or it may make you angry. But then, to me that's part of what a good book can do -- to make people uncomfortable. I'll be interested to hear your thoughts on the way Tsiolkas seemed to me to be able to reflect the attitudes and inner thoughts of so many different types of people, from a teenage girl to an elderly man. It strikes me as very different from the other Booker nominees that I've read or glanced into and -- so far, at least -- makes them seem rather bloodless. I'm reading Parrot and Olivier in America now, and while utterly brilliant writing and tremendously imaginative, I'm also returning to it and seeing that (so far at least) it speaks to the author's creativity but not to a broader human experience. Don't get me wrong, Carey is an amazing writer, has crafted a fab book (one that is much better than February, IMO...) but I find I can't disappear inside the story in the same way.

Read your review of The Slap, went to my library's website to see they don't own it or even have it on order, went to B&N.com with my gift card, added it to my already overflowing cart and it's on its way. I love it when things work out:)

Now I'll go thumb that review.

>116 Chatterbox: I suspect that's one reason for the discomfort with the book -- the author pulls no punches. His isn't a pretty world, but it's not a bleak one, either.

Finally!! Someone has said something about this book that makes me want to read it! And of course it would be that Siren of the Bookstacks, Suzanne. *sigh* I **have** to stop coming here and getting seduced by her elegant lapidary prose.

Ditto what Richard said, Suz. I've read many a negative review of The Slap that I didn't think it a book I'd be interested in, but your review is making me reconsider writing off that book. I think I'll look out for it after all. Thanks for providing a different and yet compelling review.

I am definitely intrigued by your half-book review of The Finkler Question. I am off to the city library website to see if they have it.

*blushing at the compliments*

Omigod, now I'll be on the hook if everyone else hates it! :-)

ETA: Ok, this is funny (as in funny ha-ha). There's a hot review that I wrote, and a hot review of the book I wrote by another 75er. That's an amusing twofer!

Book du jour:

Washington Shadow by Aly Monroe. This is a curiously dispassionate but still intriguing look at the espionage world in the immediate aftermath of WW2. Peter Cotton is a British intelligence official (first encountered in Monroe's debut novel in Spain) who is dispatched to Washington to help negotiate an emergency postwar loan for the UK. There's a story line involving the Soviets, one involving the FBI and various other shenanigans, but the story line meanders a lot and while it's a fascinating and vivid description of DC as the war became the cold war, that isn't enough to make this a must read. 3 stars, TIOLI spy book.

Happily, I'm finding The Historian a much more entertaining book!

>111 Chatterbox:: It's as if the lid has been lifted off an ant farm, and we see all the secret thoughts of the eight characters through whom Tsiolkas spins his tale.

Loved that line! Your whole review was great, but that's the line that makes me want to read The Slap, a book I wasn't all that interested in before now. A thumbs up from me!

Big news here: I walked into a bookstore yesterday evening and walked out again without having bought a SINGLE BOOK! (OK, it was after my reading at a nearby bar, and the friend who had come with me bought another copy of my book for his son before going out for dinner -- and I got free copies of three other readers' books, so it wasn't a book free evening.) Still, can't quite remember the last time I did this...

>127 Chatterbox: *dials Kings County observation unit* Hello, yes, I need to inform you of a person who has attempted to harm herself, and is in imminent danger of doing it again...yes, I'll hold...hello, yes, her name is....

Richard, is the self-harm the possible purchase of the books? or the fact that i didn't buy any books, and thus may collapse from book deprivation?? :-D

#129: I was thinking the book deprivation side :)

#127: It couldn't have been a very good bookstore. Either that, or you were completely smitten with your friend and you forgot about books entirely.

#128: How cruel to have Suzanne admitted to Kings County. She'll never be the same again.

LOL @ rd...

IMagine...IMAGINE!...Suzanne walking into a bookstore, a place that purveys actual touchable books, and walking out without one. Here is a person in danger of hurting herself!

It gets weirder still, Richard. Today was Amazon Vine day, and we were allowed to pick THREE items from the list. Chatterbox selects only one book (on top of Windows 2010 Pro and some Bose headphones -- the in-ear kind, not the super-expensive over the ear ones). Scary... The book I did request? The Lily of the Field, the new John Lawton book. Which means I'll probably try to read the other two of his I have on my Kindle in the coming weeks. The 1930s/early 40s does count as historical mystery, doesn't it?

At least I'm still reading!

Books du jour:

1. The Sultan's Shadow by Christiane Bird. This was another of the books I nabbed at Politics & Prose earlier this summer. It's quite good, and an intriguing look at a rather obscure part of history, the rule of the Omani sultans over the island of Zanzibar. Alas, it's also a bit scattershot -- Bird is trying to cover a great deal of ground, and it's hard to figure out whether she's just trying to pull together a bunch of info or tell a story with a focus. If there is a focus, I suspect it's the slave trade, on which the Zanzibari economy relied (thanks to the growth of clove plantations), and which the Europeans destroyed. There are some interesting ideas here, about the clash between local rulers (both African and Arab) and European colonization, and interesting stories (in particularly, the story of Salme, the Zanzibari princess who married a German merchant and went to live in Europe), but nothing is ever developed into a coherent theme and there's no narrative arc. So read this if you're curious about the time & era, but otherwise it's mildly interesting and a mildly frustrating book. 3.8 stars, for TIOLI "other countries"/nonfiction books.

2. Royal Flush by Rhys Bowen was more fun and more interesting than I had expected based on the two previous volumes in this series. Lady Georgiana (Georgie) is 34th in line to the British throne (descended from a v. fictional daughter of Queen Victoria) and is struggling to make a living. Once she gets out of London, the plot takes off, involving threats against various members of the royal family. There's a hilarious portrayal of Wallis Simpson, and some Scots relatives pull various practical jokes on interlopers at Castle Rannoch by inviting them on a "haggis hunt". Somehow it all clicks and turns into an amusing if not challenging or gripping read. 3.5 stars. TIOLI historical mystery (early 1930s.)

#134: I own Royal Flush. I guess I ought to see what I did with it!

And two more to add to my reading list:

1. Finally finished The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova, for my off-the-shelf challenge (also fits into TIOLI National Book Festival author). I may be in a minority: those who preferred The Swan Thieves (which I read earlier this year) to this, her debut book. Part of the problem I had with it was that I got annoyed by her literary device: the story is recounted by a teenage girl, then by her father through his letters, then by the father's recounting of documents he finds, and sometimes an additional layer on top of that! Add to that the jumping back and forth between the different chronicles, and while I could keep up, I became rather annoyed. Kostova uses the same kind of approach in her second novel, but she manages the transitions more effectively. Not sure what I can add to the discussion of the book that would be fresh. It's a vampire story (sigh), and while at first I found the story appealing and the characters engrossing, by the time I was two-thirds of the way through, both were becoming old-hat. I found myself wishing she'd cut the fat from the narrative -- and increasingly irritated by the references to "Saint Sophia" instead of "Haghia Sophia". (The Istanbul landmark church/mosque wasn't dedicated to the saint but to "Holy Wisdom", which even perfunctory research should have made clear to her.) Despite all that, the story was interesting enough, and the descriptions of the Balkan settings enticing, and I ended up giving this a 3.8 star rating. Glad I read The Swan Thieves first, though, as I wouldn't have been eager to pick it up after this.

2. Dreams in a Time of War by Ngugi Wa Thiong'O is a fascinating memoir, of a boy caught between peace and war, tradition and "Western" education, in Kenya during the early stages of the country's move from colony to independence. He blends the African legends with his own evolution as an independent thinker and maintains a calm, analytical view of his own childhood and the characters of those he grew up with. I'm definitely going to be looking out for more by this author, both fiction and non-fiction, and hope that he continues the story of his own life. Highly recommended, 4.3 stars. TIOLI for non-fiction set in a country other than your own.

#136: I also prefer The Swan Thieves to The Historian, Suz, so we can be in the minority together :)

I am glad you enjoyed Dreams in a Time of War. If you are looking for more of Thiong'o's books, I cannot recommend Wizard of the Crow highly enough.

I agree with Stasia; Wizard of the Crow is fantastic, and it's probably my favorite novel written by an African author.

Chiming in on Wizard of the Crow. I also liked his novel Petals of Blood and his collection of essays Decolonising the Mind.

I tried to read The Historian when it first came out and probably got about halfway through before abandoning it. I never understood what all the fuss was about and have never considered The Swan Thieves because of that experience but it sounds like it's the better book so maybe I'll take a look at it.

I think I may try Petals of Blood, as it seems to be a fictional look at the same kind of community that he was describing in this memoir. Not sure about the essays -- will have to think about that. Not sure I'm up to that level of intensity.

Petals of Blood takes place after Kenya's independence -- it's (partly) what landed Ngugi in jail.

Maybe there's a reading theme there -- read an author whose works helped land them in jail or other trouble?

Book du jour (or book du nuit??):

Execution Dock by Anne Perry. This had been sitting unread on my Kindle for a year or so, and I'm glad to have had the TIOLI historical mystery challenge to give me a boost to get it read. Actually better than I had expected; I've come to find Perry's sententious ramblings tedious in the extreme, but this time around, there's enough of a compelling plot to offset the overly intense and poorly written internal monologues that all of her characters seem to indulge in. (I keep wanting to howl, "show me, don't tell me!") In this case, the drama starts with a court case involving the leader of a pedophile ring in Victorian London; William and Hester Monk lead the quest for justice for the pedophile and his victims when the outcome proves to be not what any of them had imagined. Lots of plot twists, and it makes for an intriguing story, albeit one revolving a rather despicable crime. This time around, Perry delves into London's Dickensian underbelly and it works much better than when she is tackling the misdeeds of high society. Still, recommended only to fans, and only to those who have followed the series (or the characters won't make much sense.) 3.6 stars.

#145: I just received my copy of that one today from PBS. I enjoy Perry's Monk series more than her Pitt series. Thanks for the input on it, Suz.

I nearly missed Vine Thursday.... and when I first looked I chose nothing.
I have got to go in and edit my history or something.. I get such weird things...
I only chose one book.. as I don't want to get too far behind in reviewing..
and.. as I often find myself here.. I am boggled by the number and quality of books you have read !

I have a big stack of unread Vine books, Kath, including the new Follett book, which could serve as a doorstop if I needed one. A couple I have managed to read, but haven't yet gotten around to reviewing as I don't have much to say about them. Ho hum...

I'm reading a very good book about China which I should finish sometime this afternoon.

A quick update... Well, went to a bookstore and bought books, so the blight has ended!
Purchases include:
Encounter by Milan Kundera (no touchstone
The Book in the Renaissance by Andrew Pettegree
The Courtiers by Lucy Worsley
Medicus by Ruth Downie
Turbulence by Giles Foden
Half a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Book du jour:
Wild Grass by Ian Johnson is based on the kind of reporting about China that won its author a Pulitzer Prize in 2001 (among many other awards) and that people fear will vanish from a Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal. It's a fascinating and intriguing look inside China, at the lesser-reported stories and personalities. Specifically, Johnson looks at a self-taught paralegal who tries to win justice for over-taxed farmers battling corrupt local governments, a group of architectural students and other activists trying to preserve ancient courtyard houses in Beijing along with what little is left of the medieval city and a woman who fights a crusade to obtain a death certificate for her mother, a Falun Gong supporter beaten to death in a makeshift local jail. It is people like this, Johnson argues, who will shake up China as much or more as the bustling entrepreneurs about whom we hear so much in the West -- multiply the sense of injustice by the million, and you have an idea of the problems China faces at home. An immensely valuable work of reportage, and one that should make us all think. (Also fascinating to read.) The only flaw is that it's a bit dated -- it was originally published in 2005, I believe. (Johnson's newest book, on the Islamic Center of Munich, isn't as compelling or vivid, sadly.) This is a 4.5 star book, highly recommended. TIOLI for a non-fiction book set in another country.

Nice review, Suzanne. Coincidentally, I'm also reading a book entitled Wild Grass, but mine is a collection of prose poems by Lu Xun.

Wild Grass sounds interesting. Only 7 members own it, so maybe you will boost sales a bit :)

Nice set of purchases, Suz, and the book du jour sounds good too! Thanks for the recommendation. I will look for it.

Books du jour:

1. Parrot and Olivier in America by Peter Carey. Finally finished making my way through this Man Booker nominee. The writing was marvellous; many of the ideas tremendously imaginative, but it never grabbed me and immersed me in the story. Part of this is my reaction to Carey's approach to telling that tale, which is hyper-florid and exaggerated. Only when that took a back seat to events and characters could I relax and enjoy. Probably a very worthy novel, but not one I could really relish. 3.9 stars.

2. Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris, my first foray into "vampire lit", was enough to convince me to watch the HBO series "True Blood" (Netflix!) but not to dabble in more of the books. Sookie is drawn to Bill the vampire because his is one of the only minds she can't read -- what??? I was amused by her characterization of "fang-bangers", and the parallel universe of the now-legal vampires, though. 3.2 stars.

3. Except the Dying by Maureen Jennings is the first in a series of Toronto-based historical mysteries. It was interesting to read about Toronto at the end of the 19th century, and the plot was intriguing if not always convincing. Interesting enough to read the next in this series, which has already been made into a TV series in Canada. What Jennings nails is the atmosphere at the time; what is irritating is that the slang her characters uses isn't obvious or well-explained. Fans of Anne Perry may like this; I'll try the next one or two in the series before deciding firmly whether it's a "yea" or "nay" for me. 3.4 stars.

4. Epitaph for a Spy by Eric Ambler was a great introduction to the work of this classic suspense writer. Vadassy, a stateless citizen living in France in the late 30s and fearful of being deported to Yugoslavia, where his father and brother were murdered because they were social democrats, is trapped in a conspiracy when a roll of film he turns in to be developed on his vacation includes some shots of a military installation in Toulon. To save himself, Vadassy is told he must discover who the real spy may be. He's not terribly adept at his undercover job, but succeeds in discovering some of the secrets his fellow pension residents are harboring. A lively good read; very evocative of the time and place. 4.1 stars.

I had a hard time getting into Parrot and Olivier in America. I think I'll put it in the bottom half of my Booker Prize reads, but I'll move it up if it makes the longlist.

It's one of those books that I kept wanting to love, but felt defeated in the attempt at every turn. It was a slog to finish it; I did become curious about how he would end the stories of "Parrot" and Olivier, and found that fascinating and very satisfying, at least. But definitely not my fave Booker candidate to date. I haven't read read David Mitchell, Helen Dunmore, or The Finkler Question; of those I've read, I prefer The Slap. (A few don't even appeal to me enough to spend time reading them!)

My ranking now is The Slap, then February, and finally Parrot and Olivier in America.

Just reading Becoming George Sand by Rosalind Brackenbury, and found this description of a French professor, an avid reader, who is looking at books in a bookstore and trying to decide whether they are worth purchasing. This really resonated with me!

"The clue would be in the space between sentences. If there was no space, no place for her to fall in and be led somewhere, she would close the book and put it back on the shelf."

Great quote, Suz!

Epitaph for a Spy looks really interesting Suzanne. I'm adding it.

Books du jour:

1. Becoming George Sand is one of those books that turns out to be littered with insightful phrases, the kind that make you stop and think about life and the world. This is a novel I stumbled over, one that deals with relatively predictable issues (a woman's struggle with infidelity, marriage, work, children, friendships, etc.) and yet manages to turn into something quite new and different, to me at least. Maria Jameson is a professor of French literature in Edinburgh, fascinated by George Sand, the 19th century novelist (little known today) who was the lover of Chopin along with many other literary figures of the time. (Flaubert revered her; his letters to her began with "chere maitre".) Jameson looks back with a kind of awe at Sand's courage to live life her own way -- to dress in men's clothing, to take a series of lovers. to live life her own way. She is fascinated because she, too, is trying to combine a marriage with an affair. That's just the starting point for this captivating novel, which shows the reader Sand's version of her life, in particular a fateful journey to Majorca (Maria also makes a fateful journey to the same place). The two narratives converge in a delicate way toward the end of the book. There are no easy answers, no simple 'happy ever after' resolutions. Which makes it satisfying. In a very different way to The Slap, which is full of action, often ugly, this deals with flawed human beings and their humanity; the need to compromise, the search for something transcendant. And Brackenbury does this in an oblique way, allowing the reader to draw his or her own conclusions. While not as talented as Laurie Colwin, Brackenbury reminds me of her in the way she addresses the range of human emotions in mundane settings. Recommended, a delight to discover. (I bought this in Canada; I see it will be released in the US early next year. You can probably get it from Amazon Canada or Book Depository.) 4.4 stars, and onto my list of the year's memorable reads.

2. The Gate by Francois Bizot is an odd kind of memoir by a scholar of Buddhism and Khmer culture. Bizot has the 'distinction' of being the only European captured and released by the Khmer Rouge in the years leading up to their 1975 victory (followed by the Cambodian genocide). The book is divided into his two encounters with the Khmer Rouge -- first, as their captive in a forest camp, then within the French Embassy in Phnom Penh, after the Khmer Rouge Victory. It's hard to see whether Bizot is trying to make a point in this book or whether writing it was simply an effort to reach a kind of catharsis. It's also uneven -- at one moment, he is thoughtful and insightful; the next, he's naive or vituperative about his fellow foreigners or the Khmer Rouge. He can occasionally be irritating, but he provides the kind of chronicle that probably no one else can of his encounters with the Khmer Rouge. An interesting side note: his original jailer turns out to be the later commandant of Tuol Sleng, the infamous prison in Phnom Penh, who has just been convicted for his brutality and sentenced to prison. I think I would have been more interested in this book had it focused as much on Bizot's ordinary life in Cambodia, which he simply refers to in passing, as if it were incidental. Anyone wanting to read more about Duch, his captor, should look for Nic Dunlop's book, The Lost Executioner, in which Dunlop decides to track down Duch and, in the process, discusses the Khmer Rouge and their rule. Bizot's book is more for someone with a strong interest in Indochina and Cambodia, although it's a fascinating read. 3.8 stars.

Hmm... I've got The Gate in my TBR Tower because someone gave it to me. After reading your review, I think I'll kick it down towards the dungeon to chill.

You have tweaked my interest with Epitaph for a Spy and Except the Dying though ... so off to the obese wish list it goes.

Enjoying the rain today? It's actually cool enough that I needed to put on a sweatshirt today

I know -- I've been chilly all day! Very weird, feels more like October than August. Wouldn't mind the temperature, though, if the sun would only appear...

Yes, it's going to rain here for the next 2 days ... it does feel very much like autumn. I happen to like autumn ...but not just yet, I want a few more days of summer first before I'll embrace the cool crisp Fall and her beautiful foliage.

Suz, have you ever damaged your Kindle recharger cord? This happened to me while on vacation. The whole plastic thing cracked through in several places and the actual recharging thingies inside were visible. I was too afraid to use it (though I'd been recharging for 15 minutes by the time I noticed it) so no recharging until I can get to work on Tuesday and access my other recharging cord.

Fortunately, no sparks were flying.

Linda, nope, I've never had that happen (thankfully!) It's a reminder to me to pack a spare when I go on holiday next... You never know when you'll end up shorting something out. The only Kindle woes I have had are with the e-Ink feature, which seems to delight in developing bar code-like patterns across the screen. So far, within the first year of the device's life, so Amazon has replaced. (That's why I'm now waiting on my Kindle 3, a replacement for a defective K2.) BTW, spotted the K2 for sale in Target last week!

Suzanne, do need AC plug adapters in Canada, similar to the ones you have to buy to use US appliances in the UK? I would assume not, but I haven't been to Canada since 1967 (when I was a wee 6 year old lad).

Nope, the plugs are exactly the same as they are here!
When do you leave?

Wow! Electricity in Canada! Who knew? Are the indoor plumbing people making headway yet?

*flees enraged Suzanne-missiles*

I do not live in an igloo. I do not travel by dogsled. I don't even say, "eh".
And -- my hockey players are better than your hockey players. So there.

(no Suzanne-missiles. But no cool b-day prez either...)

#166: The Canada trip is postponed, probably until the spring, due to my aunt's illness. We'll probably go in the late spring. I'll probably use the time off (about 8-9 days, I think) to visit my folks and my aunt in NJ.

Adding Becoming George Sand to the BlackHole. Thanks for the recommendation, Suz!

have you ever traveled by dogsled?

hockey players... we have some of yours here ya know.... :)

>165 kidzdoc:-167: reminds me of some English friends who were househunting in the US, c. 2000. The real estate agent, in an attempt to highlight the wonders of the American kitchen, pointed to the microwave and explained its function as if speaking to a 3-year-old.

I also have had The Gate on the TBR for years; I think it's staying there a while longer, now that I've read your review.

My hockey players are the best of all, at least until someone else wins the Stanley Cup!!

I actually had quite a bit of Kindle juice left. I usually recharge when I'm halfway down. I went farther this time but am recharging even as I speak. A new recharger cord should arrive on Wed.

Linda, yup you're right!! I was referring to Olympic Gold, natch...

Kath, yes, I have travelled by dogsled. But only around Lake Louise. In winter.

I would imagine that a real estate agent in the US would have done better to explain the wonders of washers/dryers and fridges to those Brits! The standard flat-issue washer/dryer in a London flat is a combo device that specializes in turning out impossibly wrinkled items after 3.5 hours of very hard work. The standard fridge is the kind of mini-fridge that you'd find in a hotel room containing drinks. I'm sure it's all very energy-efficient, but several of my London-based friends were elated to find flat rentals that included "American fridges"! (i.e. something you can actually pop a whole liter of milk in, or use to freeze more than a tray of ice cubes.)

I've travelled by dogsled too, whn we stayed at the Ice Hotel in the very far north of Sweden. It was so much fun, but very smelly! We had reindeer for dinner in the forest, with lingonberry sauce (a bit like cranberry sauce).

>174 lindapanzo: Patrick Kane just brought his Stanley Cup home to visit last week and we're so desperate to win anything that he was treated as if our team (Sabres) had won the cup or, at least as if Kane were the second coming of Christ.

IMO, Sydney Crosby is the second coming of Christ, at least in the eyes of Canadians!! (So what if his day job is with the Pittsburgh Penguins??)

Cushla, there's a restaurant here in Brooklyn that does a lot of game dishes, and they make duck with a yummy lingonberry sauce.

*sob* No cool b'day present! *gnash*

But then, that means no returned Instruments of Darkness either....

>169 kidzdoc: I will take it as a personal slight and a cruel affront if you don't travel the ~100 miles to visit for the party. Affront. Slight. Insult. *miff*

>>178 Chatterbox:. We like they way he does his day job very, very much here in Pittsburgh and think pretty darned highly of him - although we might still think of Mario Lemieux as the second coming and Sid as his right hand.

Nancy, OK, I'll give you Mario -- after all, he's another Canadian... :-D

Darryl, must admit that I'm in Richard's camp on this. Despite the snide Canadian comments.

181 has it right, I believe. AND Mario took good care of Sydney for years, like a younger brother.. he just recently moved into a house near Mario.. stepping out on his own. I like that about ..

Bloody migraine. I'll have to update my reading tomorrow.

Went to a movie this afternoon, which may be partly responsible for the migraine. (flickering lights in a darkened room) To be avoided at all costs -- the new Justin Long/Drew Barrymore vehicle. I thought it might be a mindless comedy, but it turned out to be mostly crass and vulgar, with one notable laugh out loud scene and some really tasteless moments. Happily, it was a preview at the Warner Bros screening room, tks to a friend, and so no money was paid to see this. I shall now have to go see something else to take the nasty taste out of my mouth!

Sorry to hear about the migraine, Suz. I hope it goes away quickly!

Ugh, a migraine and a bad movie all at once. Hope you're better soon.

Ugh, migraine still here today. Blech blech blech. So is the rain and chilly weather. Oddly enough, the work deadlines haven't gone anywhere, either.

Hate the migraine; love the rain and chilly weather; empathize about the deadlines. *smooch*

#175 - oh come on, a bit OTT. What were they looking at, substandard student efficiency apartments?

Interesting article in today's wsj on e-readers and their habits.

#189 -- In one case (the friend still lives there), a 2 bedroom flat in Holland Park; in the other, a banker friend who was there for 5 years until last fall, a v. nice 2-bedroom flat right on the Thames in Bermondsey, near Butler's Wharf. (The latter did get a slightly larger fridge freezer during his last year, admittedly -- the landlord described as being "American style".) Pretty much everyone I know -- unless they own, and have large-ish kitchen -- has the small fridge and combined washer/dryer. Helped a friend go flat-hunting there two years ago and everything we saw was fitted out that way. And with her budget, it was not a student efficiency apartment... otherwise nice flats in v. nice neighborhoods. (She ended up in Primrose Hill).

Fair enough. I guess it's a VERY long time since I looked at rental apartments in London. Sad, though, because honestly we do have perfectly good white goods here.

#176 : Cushla - you ate Santa's helpers?!! What did he use to pull his sleigh that year? No wonder I was missing some presents! ;-)

Sorry you have a migraine, Suz ... hope you get better soon. It is great weather to stay in and snooze.

Janet, you do indeed have great white goods -- from electric kettles (getting easier to find here, but still not abundant) to affordable Miele vacuum cleaners. I *heart* John Lewis...

Alas, Caro, my migraine meds have run out, my doc is AWOL and his fill-in will not prescribe anything containing codeine. So I'm trying to find someone who will (a) see someone who has no health insurance and (b) prescribe the meds that my out-of-reach neurologist says I shouldn't be without. Said neurologist being AWOL until the 10th...

Does laying down in a darkened room help you at all with the attacks? I'd have thought his fill-in would have no problem repeating your doc's prescription - it's not as if you've not been prescribed these pills before.

Yes, but the fill-in believes that anyone taking meds containing codeine is likely addicted. And his mission in life is to combat addiction. Sigh. Dark room and ice packs help, but only in combo with the meds. And the meds help stop an attack from getting going, which is actually more important than treating it. Once here, there's not much I can do.

I understand there are people who are addicted to pain-killing drugs, but I find the whole US attitude towards pain killers idiotic. It's as if folks are supposed to grin and bear it because that's better than running the slim risk of becoming addicted. It is, I believe, well known (but Darryl could chime in here) that people who control their own pain meds in hospitals actually use less of them than people who have to call the nurse when they're in pain.

I'm quite sure that there are, but if I've been consulting the same doc for 16 years and he knows exactly what I take, how often, etc. and is comfortable with that... Sigh. Besides, if I were addicted, I could just go out and score some illegal painkillers, surely?? As it is, Vicodin makes me barf and the others mostly make me too woozy. The preventatives either don't work or have toxic side effects. I'm tired of being a medical guinea pig so that docs can feel good about not prescribing "narcotics". How many "addicts" write books, read 30 plus a month, and keep a freelance writing career going for decades?? I suspect they'd be too out of it to function.

Well, that's more or less what I was trying to say, that the fear of addiction is more out of control than addiction itself !

Docs are addicted to fear. It's a huge ruch. Not kidding.

When The Divine Miss's husband was dying of cancer 16 years ago, the docs did not prescribe pain meds for him. He had to ask a nurse for them and *every time* the nurse had to get an oral Rx from the doc.

They were afraid he'd become addicted.

True story, and one big reason I will never go to New Orleans for fear all the docs are as stupid as the ones at Ochsner were. I do NOT want to be treated for a hangnail in a state where that kind of stupidity doesn't get the person defrocked or disbarred or whatever they call it.

Richard, that is terminal insanity...

Catching up on the reading:

1. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
2. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins.
I'll hold off on commenting on/reviewing these two books until I've read the third of the trilogy, probably tomorrow or Friday. I'm rating them both 4 stars, and putting them in my 50-book overflow challenge.

3. Packing for Mars by Mary Roach. Read this for the "no e" TIOLI challenge, and discovered a delightful, hilarious, captivating book. It may be 25 or 30 years before we send a manned mission to Mars, but Roach looks back at all the planning that has gone into various space missions so far, from Gemini to the space station, and thinks about what that means for a Mars expedition. Nothing escapes her eagle eye or her deep sense of the absurd. Sending people into space is inherently absurd, anyway, as she points out: much better to send machines. "A solar cell or a thruster nozzle is stable and undemanding. It does not excrete or panic or fall in love with the mission commander." Musing over a parabolic airplane flight that creates brief spells of zero gravity, she comments "it’s like the Rapture in here every thirty seconds." Roach tells us that even fish get seasick, that "visor glop is a serious downer" and muses openly about the appropriate fate for a dead space chimp. "Memorial service or incinerator?" Nothing escapes her scrutiny, from sex to body waste -- and it's hilarious and thought provoking. In particular her final few paragraphs, which more than anything I have ever read justified space exploration for me. I'll leave you to discover them yourselves, since you need to read this book... 4.7 stars.

4. Murder on Lexington Avenue was much more prosaic; the latest in a series of historical mysteries set in the late 1890s in New York and featuring Irish policeman Frank Malloy and midwife Sarah Brandt. Better than the previous outing, but still rather blah. Intriguing plot revolving around sign language vs teaching the deaf to lip read and speak, and one intriguing character, Electra, whose father is murdered at the start of the book. The surprises aren't that surprising, for the most part, however. 3.2 stars; only for fans of the series.

#201: I have Catching Fire here to read (I have already read The Hunger Games, but will probably re-read it), and am anxiously awaiting the arrival of Mockingjay which should be here any day.

Packing for Mars is already in the BlackHole and I already own all of the Victoria Thompson books, so I have successfully dodged all book bullets for at least the next 5 minutes or so.

Sorry to hear that the migraine is still with you, Suz. I would send you some migraine meds if I had some!

#201 As a firm believer in the need for human space exploration, I'm not sure I want to read Packing for Mars... although it does sound like it could be an interesting book (and useful research for some of my stories).

I hate it when movies throw out their one or two good ( funny) moments and then the rest is preachy , sad, or just as you say .. vulgar. Sorry about the headache.. terrible. Hope today finds you feeling better.

Suz is right.. it is crazy, rd, to suspect ALL docs in New Orleans... utterly silly. Yous should suspect ALL docs everywhere.In my experience, far more are self serving, uncaring arrogant and useless than otherwise. Not all mind you. just. most.

203 as a young person, I too thought space exploration was necessary.. just to see what is out there. These days, I think we should keep our money firmly on this planet. If we ruin this one, ( as we have done, it seems ) we do not deserve another one, and frankly... no matter how much we "explore" I suspect the universe will see to it that we do not get a do over.

I am awaiting my daughter's review of Mockingjay ( it arrived on the 24th and she immediately ran off with it), but am also looking forward to your thoughts on Catching Fire since I haven't read that either!

Sorry about your bad head, CB. Those stink. As do idiot doctors.

Suzanne, are you better today, or do I need to limber up my machete arm and go neurologisting?

Went to see idiot fill-in doc today, who was eagerly recommending Topamax as a preventative. (You see, it's cheap and I would lose weight on it -- *eyes roll*) The problem? The side effects are deeply nasty -- tingling/weird sensations, about a third of people taking it struggle with fatigue, drowsiness, concentration issues, etc. In other words, I'd just be swapping one source of groggy feeling for another. The cost/benefit analogy doesn't computer, and I'm tired of docs seeing me as a guinea pig. (Which is why I love my current neurologist -- he'll talk about the research with me and really discuss the tradeoffs as if I were an adult, and not put pressure on me.) At least this twit did prescribe just enough of the usual meds to get me through to when my guy gets back. Sigh.

The road repair lunatics were out there all night, digging up the street. So I've had 3.5 hours of sleep. Off to catch up.

I'm afraid the number of doctors who understand the treatment of pain is quite low. Once you find a good one, hang on for dear life and try to get through the substitute period. Wishing you the best til the real doc returns.

Today's Vine coup included the upcoming novel by Dinaw Mengestu, How to Read the Air, and for lighter fare, the new Isabel Dalhousie novel by Alexander McCall Smith, The Charming Quirks of Others.

Reading a rather good mystery that I took a gamble on in Vine last month, The Holy Thief by William Ryan. It'll be out next month, and I'll finish it tonight, I expect, and update my reading then. Amazingly, it's living up to some of the hype. (Not literary, but 'thumping good read' material.)

Archipelago Books is holding a party at a bookstore that is actually within walking distance of my home tomorrow evening. This is obviously a sign from the book gods that I should attend...

Waving hello - waiting to hear what you think of Mockingjay. No pressure, of course...

I'd love to meet Mary Roach one day ... I love how she picks subjects that may not immediately appeal to most people and then delivers her indepth research in a fashion that fascinates her readers.

Road works, an idiot of a fill-in AND a migraine? Oh Suz ... you are having a week. I hope you feel better soon and catch up on sleep.

Just stopping by, trying to catch up.

#212 Road works, an idiot of a fill-in AND a migraine? Oh Suz ... you are having a week. I hope you feel better soon and catch up on sleep.

Ditto what Caroline said there!

Due to popular demand (and the fact that the roadworks resumed and woke me up), here are some thoughts about Mockingjay and the whole Hunger Games trilogy, and an update on my reading generally.

Mockingjay and the others in the trilogy, I have all rated at 4 to 4.2 stars, and they are all going into my 50-book overflow challenge. These are certainly compulsive reading - I sat down and read my way through books 2 and 3 almost non-stop. Commenting on them will be a bit tricky without spoilers, but here goes. All three revolve around the first-person story of Katniss Everdeen, a teenager living in District 12 who, at the outset, becomes one of two "tributes" that each of the dozen districts in Panem (a successor state to the US) is forced to send to the Capitol to compete to the death in a vast arena. There can only be one victor in the brutal televised games -- or can there? When Katniss rewrites the rules and forces the Capitol to adjust its own game plan, the drama heightens in book 2 -- and Katniss ends up back in the arena only a year later. Finally, in book 3, the arena in which Katniss finds herself battling is a much larger place: the world of a revolt by the districts against the Capitol, in which Katniss becomes a symbolic leader as the "Mockingjay". But who can be trusted? Who are her real allies? The third book is the really challenging one for Collins, who by and large succeeds in grappling with the much bigger scale of the story -- more dramatic and sweeping events, bigger issues (Katniss is forced to consider questions of survival in new and different ways, as well as the issue of trust). The final quarter or so of the third book became deeply uncomfortable to read, in part because it forged into more traditional terrain of a straightforward battle. Collins's real strength is portraying human emotions, inventing a reimagined dystopic world and unveiling it to the reader slowly and compellingly (a very tricky feat) and presenting complex, nuanced characters when she could easily have fallen back on stock personalities. So the shift into a Harry-Potter style final confrontation didn't always work for me. That said, I also couldn't think of an alternative way to bring her characters to a logical and not overly-pat resolution. One note -- that conclusion is a bleak one in many ways, even compared with the Harry Potter final battle to overcome evil. This is a series that, despite its limitations and the YA genre, that will linger with me for a long time. Above all, Collins has deftly created a convincing alternate reality in which our addiction to experience and consumption, and our callousness to the price that others may pay directly or indirectly for our "wants" is taken to a logical extreme. (There are also lots of little nods to Imperial Rome scattered throughout the books, which will be fun for an adult reader to watch.) These are riveting reads, and if you pick up the first and get hooked, you'll probably find yourself reading straight through. Not literary dystopic function, a la Huxley or Orwell or Atwood, but thumping good reads. I'm not sure I'd want to give it to a pre-teen to read, however, as some of the matter-of-fact violence and the bleakness of life as portrayed is chilling and disturbing. But kudos to Collins for not trying to soft-soap her story, or making the alternate mistake of relishing that violence.

2. Oddly, my other read today had kind of the same effect on me -- but from a non-fiction standpoint. Finished Murder City by Charles Bowden, the story of a murderous year in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez and all the random violence there. It's a world where kidnappings are rational, Bowden writes, because that means someone is behaving logically and seeking money in exchange for the safe return of the victim. But as the body toll mounts -- and Bowden discusses many of the random murders in a way that is at once clinical and yet intensely emotional -- it's impossible to escape the chill that starts creeping through you. Bowden, he explains, goes to Juarez "in the vain hope of understanding how a city evolves into a death machine", and finds a link to the globalization of the world economy. His chronicle is a jarring one, not only in the anarchic violent world he documents, but in the jarring, angry way he chooses to do so. This is not a straightforward work of narrative non-fiction of the kind I had expected to read -- indeed, I found myself wondering whether the style and structure is to that genre what Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring" sounded like to music lovers of 1912 when they heard it for the first time after a diet of Brahms and Wagner. But then, perhaps the story that Bowden is trying to tell -- the sheer hell and sheer pointlessness of the violence -- can only really register on us when told in this disjointed, emotional and yes, biased, manner. Because he is obviously trying to deliver a wakeup call. The writing is often brilliant, the content always deeply disturbing -- Bowden deliberately refers to a gang rape as a "frolic"; to a murder spree as an "adventure", to violence as being "frisky" and forces us to confront what we try to ignore. He's trying to awake us all from our conviction that the world always gets better (the Englightenment-era conviction) and that we are evolving to a place where "tragedies will not be performed because they have no meaning." Those canards nauseate Bowden -- and his story is powerful and nauseating and important. A deeply disturbing book to read, because in its own way it shows that the world of The Hunger Games, in many basic ways, exists already. Read this on Rebecca's recommendation; her review can't be beat and I find it hard to think coherently about this, hence the rambling. But you know this is a bleak book when I turn back to a mystery set in the days of Stalin's purges with relief...

I am very much looking forward to reading Mockingjay. I cannot wait for my copy to get here.

Sorry the roadwork has started up again, Suz. I hope the migraine has a least dissipated.

Hope your migraine is better, and the roadwork ends, and glad Murder City made the same kind of impression on you it made on me. Horrifying but essential to know.

>214 Chatterbox:: thanks for the Mockingjay and trilogy review, Suzanne! I appreciate a "grown-up" assessment. My daughter is enjoying it, although she's not a "read in a single sitting" kind of reader.

When I see you at my party on the 11th, I'll send you home with the spare Uzi. That'll take care of the road work guys...a few blasts in the air, no one's hurt, but you got their attention!

and probably a long prison term as well, Richard -- although I do appreciate the thought!!

but, but , but....they always find the bodies....

#208
Suz

Topamax is indeed a wicked drug. My neurologist and I have worked together for 15 years to bring blessed relief from migranes. She is a lovely, wonderful soul who wanted to help me and prescribed topamax in the hope it would work for me. When we discovered it was not the drug for me, she promptly tried another.

The side effect that was the most worrisome was a personality change from a bright, spunky person to moodiness and overall grumpiness.

I hope you are pain free today. I do know what you are going through--no fun at all.

#219: I can bail you out while I am up that way :)

#208: Okay, I'm just catching up, but I have to ask:

Topamax ... cheap? My son takes this for his epilepsy, and thank goodness the generic was finally approved so that it could make our insurance company's formulary. But without insurance, even the generic ... ouch.

As for side effects, don't forget heat-sensitivity. During the summer my son spends as much time as he can inside because a walk in the sun feels like a poison ivy infection anytime the temperature rises above 80 degrees.

I don't know about cheap -- I haven't checked it out -- but it may be cheaper than the Fioricet with Codeine, which runs me about $400 a month and isn't on any formulary. Unhappily, I can't tolerate the generic version of that -- odd, but it makes me nearly catatonic. (And it still costs $140 a month...)

The doc did mention a cousin of amitriptyline, which I'm going to mention to my neurologist when he's back. Apparently has few side effects and IS cheap -- it's on the list of dirt cheap generics at Target.

My Kindle 3 arrived! Thinner than the K2, faster downloads/moving of books, smaller but with the same sized screen. I hope the e-Ink is more robust -- certainly the images, for the first time, are clear, which is great.

Two books to update here. For the record -- thread police, listen up -- I'm going to keep this thread running until I've finished my current 75 books, even if it takes me to 260 or 270 posts! (It shouldn't, as I'll now be at 71, but just noting this... It would be cool if I could end a month, a TIOLI challenge AND a 75-book challenge simultaneously!

1. The Holy Thief by William Ryan is a debut historical mystery that seems likely to get a whole lot of promotion when it appears next month. I got an ARC from Amazon Vine, and I'm delighted that I got it ahead of whatever buzz is generated, because it's a very solid and intriguing puzzle of detective novel, set in Stalin's Russia, just as the purges are turning into wholesale terror. Ryan's hero is Alexei Korolev, an ordinary militaman of about 40, who fought for the Reds in the Civil War and somehow manages to combine his faith in a fair communist system with a residual religious faith. That's all going be tested when he runs into corruption involved in the theft of religious treasures from Tsarist days and has to puzzle his way through not only who is responsible for murdering a young woman on the altar of a former cathedral, but what the real agendas of the powerful members of the Chekha/NKVD really are. Full of great insights into everyday life in 1930s Moscow, from little details like football matches, to the telling ones that signal the forthcoming terror. Isaac Babel is an intriguing side character in this book; I look forward to revisiting this world with Ryan as my guide and hope it won't be too long until Korolev reappears in a new novel. Highly recommended; lots of character and atmosphere details to make a solid mystery even more compelling. 4.5 stars.

2. Less exciting was the 12th mystery by Linda Fairstein, Hell Gate. I've learned by now to borrow these rather than buy them, and given that, it was a decent-enough yarn. One of the features of Fairstein's mystery stories is that her DA, Alexandra Cooper, and the two long-term cop sidekicks, puzzle out the solutions to the crimes against the New York background. I think I've learned more about New York -- from the sandhogs who dig tunnels to the former insane asylums and Mason meeting halls -- from her books than from anywhere else. This time around, it's about the Federal-era mansions in New York, including Gracie Mansion (the Mayor's official residence.) I even know who modeled for the golden statue atop the municipal building I see every time I cross the Brooklyn Bridge. The plot revolves around trafficked women, and is reasonably good -- but the backstory is becoming a bit tedious and Fairstein has to strain too hard to get all three of her investigative characters in the right place to given them a place in the investigation. If you're interested in this series, this book isn't the place to start, but it's worth going back to the beginning. By now, alas, the series is running on fumes. For my "H" TIOLI challenge, 3.2 stars.

I decided last year after reading Lethal Legacy to give up on Alex Cooper. Like you I've loved the background on New York's heritage but not enough now to continue. My first one was The Bone Vault and I was really hooked for a while.
Adding The Holy Thief to my list.

I've given up on Scarpetta altogether; not sure if I will abandon Alex Cooper, but I'm very, very close.

One note: The Holy Thief is already out in the UK.

Yes, my library has 2 copies of the William Ryan book and not much of a queue.
Maybe I've asked before but have you tried Ian Rankin's Rebus books?

No, I haven't -- but a dear friend of mine is an avid fan, and he keeps hinting I should delve into them! I probably would enjoy them as I have tended to like books that are rather akin to that, including those by John Harvey. Shall identify the first one in the series, and see if I can find it via Paperbackswap!

ETA: Not there, so I put in an Amazon order. (Apparently only Kindle-able in the UK -- it's getting to the point where I am going to have to figure out how to get myself a UK-registered Kindle. Anyone want to volunteer to take delivery and let me use their address???)

Holy Thief sounds interesting. I'll have to add that to my obese wish list.

How's the head today, Suz? I hope the roadworks have at least been halted for the weekend?

Adding The Holy Thief to the BlackHole. My local library has it 'in processing' so hopefully I can get hold of a copy soon.

Well, I'm TRYING to add The Holy Thief to my wishlist, and maybe even to the Book Depository cart that I started loading this morning, but a) I'm on a laptop with a run-out-of-battery-need-husband-to-open-with-screwdriver-just-kidding-about-husband mouse and b) when I add it to my WL, I get a weird touchstone problem that takes me to a spam book with 26000 members!

Anyway, it sounds great, and if I read it I might get up the energy to attempt the enormous Stalin bio I have waiting here.

I too am tempted by the Rebus novels, but I've started enough crime series thanks to LT so I am going to hold off till I've got through some of the other series I'm reading.

Hope the mgiraine is on the way out, and the roadworks too.

Rebus? oh no.. not another series?
*quakes*

I think I will wait until you try one before adding them to my list, since I now
have a whole new series to consider thanks to you :)

The Holy Thief sounds interesting; I'll keep my eye out for it.

Updates here:

1. Mirage by Nina Burleigh, for my off-the-shelf challenge, and a TIOLI read (non-fiction set in a foreign country). This was a fascinating tale of the scholars and savants who accompanied Napoleon on his Egyptian "expedition" in 1798, some of whom didn't make it back for 4 years. The expedition was a disastrous military failure (amazing that the French still supported Bonaparte; this seems to have been a forerunner to his equally over-ambitious and poorly-planned invasion of Russia) but a scientific triumph, in the long run, and Burleigh concentrates on the experiences and discoveries of the naturalists, the engineers, the artists, historians, etc. etc. who set up their headquarters in an abandoned Mameluke palace complex in Cairo. Learned a lot about the earliest days of Egyptology, the Mamelukes and the Napoleonic campaign -- absolutely fascinating stories, which offset somewhat choppy structure and occasional clunky phrases. 4 stars, recommended.

2. Less appealing was Ghostwalk in which Rebecca Stott tries to cram together a historic mystery surrounding the odd demises of some of Isaac Newton's college colleagues and a contemporary one involving animal rights activists. It's well written, but waaay too complex to follow easily and ultimately frustrating. The main plot twist in the contemporary part of the story, which involves the main character, Lydia, believing something someone tells her about her married lover, a neuroscientist, is completely unconvincing, and undermined the story for me. (Let's leave aside the equally complex historical plot and the question of whether ghosts can affect us in the contemporary world.) I'll still read Stott's other book, The Coral Thief, which I have on my Kindle, but if that isn't significantly better in terms of structure/style, I'll give up. If I am going to read multiple time periods and complex opaque historical sagas, I'll stick to Emma Darwin, whose two books of this kind are very good examples of the approach. 3.2 stars.

3. On the other hand, there is Madame Proust and the Kosher Kitchen, which I can only describe as a tour de force. Kate Taylor has taken themes ranging from alienation/"expatriation" (like me, she's a diplo-brat) and memory, and used them to craft what becomes an elegant story involving mothers and sons, language and communication, memory and experience. Essentially, the story is linked by the character of Marie, who is in the archives in Paris, translating the diaries of Jeanne Proust, mother of Marcel. It becomes clear that she is there because of a doomed love for a man, who in turn is linked to the other main story in the book, that of another Jewish Parisian girl, like Jeanne Proust. Like Marie, Sarah Bensimon is born in Paris; but in different decades and to a Jewish rather than Catholic family. Marie leaves Paris for Canada with her parents in the 1980s; Sarah is forced to leave without them in the 1940s... It's not a book about what happens (anti-Semitism is a backdrop, with reference to the Dreyfus affair in Jeanne Proust's imagined diary, and the Holocaust background to Sarah's story), but how people react to that and forge lives. As with so many of us, what turn out to big historical events turn out to be simply the backdrop and context for the small events which make up our mundane existence -- such as Sarah's incredible efforts in her kosher kitchen and Marie's quest. Be patient with this novel; the language and ideas will seduce you from the start, but the threads don't start to pull together closely enough to understand where Taylor is going until midway through the book. Highly recommended; a memorable read for 2010, 4.8 stars. (A curious note: Taylor is the daughter of a Canadian diplomat and I'm pretty sure her father was a friend of mine whom I also knew well; she works with an agent that briefly represented me in Toronto until I moved to NY; we share a US publisher. How eerie is all that???)

My Kindle 3 battery appears unable to hold a charge, running down in 18 hours or less. So I'm already getting the new gizmo replaced. Pity, because it's nice and compact, and yet holds so much more than the K2. Bah.

(edited to fix a touchstone)

#234: I own Mirage already. I will have to hunt down my copy.

I am supposed to be reading Ghostwalk for this month's TIOLI challenge. I am rethinking that!

ETA: I had already put Madame Proust in the BlackHole when you mentioned it on another thread.

Sorry about your K3 already needing a new battery. That seems awfully quick.

I wondered what you would think of Ghostwalk.. I was not a fan..

BAD news about the k-3.

Love your review of Madame Proust and the Kosher Kitchen, I found it excellent and become keener to try reading a little Proust myself... one day. So much to like and savour about this novel with the different settings and characters. And I need time to think about The Hours again.

I would not have looked at Madame Proust and the Kosher Kitchen as I generally don't like books that take historical characters and make up a story for them, but your review makes me want to read it.

>234 Chatterbox:: Suzanne, I have a Kindle 2. Other than waiting to see if the battery issue is a pervasive problem, do you consider the Kindle 3 a major upgrade or just a nice-to-have if you have to upgrade anyway?

Tad, for me, the K3 seemed to be a major upgrade. It's smaller; thinner, narrower and shorter, about the size of a skinny paperback book, and a bit lighter, and thus more portable. The clincher for me was the fact that its capacity is more than double the K2, so I can't imagine bumping up against the capacity limits for another couple of years. It also seems to have faster wifi and a great feature is that at last the images -- pictures, maps -- are clear and visible! The only downside is that the bottom part of the device, with the keyboard, has been shrunk and it's a bit easier to accidentally start typing when you're just holding it. But just as I had to get used to a different way to hold it when I moved from the K2 to the K3, I imagine I'll do the same here. There is also the fact that the price tag is the same as the K2... I'm still keeping the K2 (replacement) that I found at Target as my backup, but imagine I won't get much use from the DX, which isn't very portable. It can be my "home machine" after being my rescue device when the original Kindle cracked up on me earlier this month. This is all assuming that the battery woes are a one-off device-specific issue, and not something that is systemic. Amazon is bragging about incredible battery life, so I'm hoping mine is a glitch. I did buy the cover with the built in light, which draws power from the device, but I can't imagine that it draws power when it's off and stowed. And the device loses the charge even when not in the cover, so.... Fingers crossed!!

Hope you get your battery issues fixed soon. I guess I'll have to switch to a Kindle 3 when I use up all the space on my K2...hope that doesn't happen for a while yet, though!

If you archive items, does that affect capacity (on the K-2)? I'm nowhere near filling mine, but I've put a number of the books I've read and don't expect to reread into the archives.

>242 arubabookwoman:: If you archive them, the space should come back.

Exactly -- if they are in archived items, you'll get the space back. I just have a lot of unread stuff and things that I may want to read again and don't want to fuss about trying to locate if I'm somewhere wi-fi-less. (And let's face it, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire takes up a heck of a lot of Kindle space...)

Cheap Kindle book alert: Roma by Steven Saylor is now available for only $3. For any historical fiction afficionados.

Quick book update -- the books du jour:

1. Ice Cold by Tess Gerritsen. To start with, this book felt as if I'd entered an episode of the Twilight Zone. OK, not bad, necessarily, not just what I had anticipated. Maura Isles and four acquaintances end up snowbound in an apparently deserted/abandoned and very remote village -- no phone access, no vehicles, and the disasters start to multiply. What happened to the people, and what will happen to the group? That initial mystery is about half resolved midway through the book, and it turns into a more conventional suspense/mystery novel. Quite good, and better than some of Gerritsen's recent efforts. 3.7 stars, a decent way to pass a few hours.

2. Birth Marks by Sarah Dunant. This was faaaar better written than Gerritsen's mystery, but the mystery itself took a back seat to character and plot than I like in a novel, to the point where I was ready to take Hannah Wolfe, the private investigator, and shake her until she woke up to the obvious element about the death of the pregnant ballet dancer whose disappearance she has been hired to investigate. In some ways, this felt like an old-fashioned mystery; although it was first published around 1990, it feels more like something out of the 1960s, not because of the characters but because of the writing and approach to the crime. There are some decent final twists, but the plot still isn't a reason to read this. I may keep an eye open for the other two books in this series, but I won't be going out of my way to hunt them down. 3.3 stars, for my off-the-shelf challenge.

Both for TIOLI; the first is for the weather term challenge; the second for the book without an 'e' in the title or author's name.

#245: It is also available for the Nook at that price too. I just downloaded it :)

#246: It looks like you enjoyed that one much more than I did, Suz. I only gave it 2 stars.

I think I will just skip the Dunant book entirely. I hope whatever you pick up next is a better read for you!

I can see why you didn't like the Gerritsen mystery much; I certainly started off feeling that way, but it grew on me. Perhaps because I have read less about apocalyptic cult leaders recently, I wasn't as irritated by that story line.

The Dunant book is good, just not as good as it could have been or should have been, given the writing.

OK, very very quick update on my last day and a half or so of reading. I'll put in more detailed comments tomorrow, wrapping up this thread, and my second 75-book challenge.

1. The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson. I may not have ordered this book had it not been for the review by Darryl/kidzdoc, but wow, am I glad that I did! It's currently my fave Man Booker nominee. 5 stars.

2. The Amateur Spy by Dan Fesperman. Rescued this from my Kindle TBR stack due to the TIOLI challenge, and it reminded me how Fesperman is a very underrated/overlooked writer in the suspense genre. Straightforward, yet complex plots. Not literary, but head and shoulders above the Steve Berry-type thrillers. Complex plots, convincing characters. 4 stars.

3. I admit, I still don't "get" Three Pines. Yes, it's cute, but.... Read Dead Cold because I have borrowed the most recent one in the series (the one that Richard is so exercised about), so wanted to get through the remainder of the PaperbackSwap copies of the intervening books in the series before reading it. I'll try and recap my issues with the book tomorrow, but one niggling/distracting element is the too-numerous points of view. 3.4 stars.

I am going to have to get a copy of The Finkler Question soon. Maybe while I am up that direction since there are no copies available locally.

I'm not sure it's out yet, Stasia. I can hand over my copy on "inter-library loan" along with Magnifico when you are up here. Just remind me...

Well, that might explain why I cannot find it. Thanks for the heads up, Suz.

I will try and remind you about the "inter-library loans" while I am up there - I am most anxious for the promised copy of The Passage too, with all the buzz it is getting here in the group. Is there anything you would like me to bring up for you?

I think you would like Ian Rankin. I recommend giving Rebus more than one book though, I didn't really get what the fuss was about until #5 in the series, The Black Book.

Is Amazon replacing your K3 battery or the whole unit, Suz? A friend bought the K3 and hasn't had any trouble with it at all, including a longer battery life compared with his K2. Perhaps you just received a wonky one with a dud battery?

Amazon replaced the whole unit, Caro. I'm hoping this was an anomaly; am not yet convinced as I have had another bout of problems trying to recharge it after I had finished shifting everything from archived items onto the device. We'll see...

OK, a quick summary of the recent reading, and then I'll start a new thread:

The final book for this 75-book challenge:

Dead Cold by Louise Penny. (TIOLI August). I'm still not enamored of this series, in large part because of the coy wit (too many bad puns, in both English and French) and the multiple points of view, which kept my brain spinning around (and not in a good way.) It felt as if Penny was trying to do so much to make this a novel about Three Pines that she let the mystery element fall in between the cracks. True, I enjoyed her portrayals of the town and even more of Quebec society, but that wasn't enough to make this a compelling series. I'll read the next two or three, but probably won't go out of my way in quest of the newest title in the series. 3.4 stars.

For the overflow challenge:

Men on White Horses by Annette Motley was a marginally entertaining historical novel about Catherine the Great of Russia and her rise to power. At best, it was an adequate portrayal of a fascinating woman, but one that downplays her political skills and intellectual ability for her love affairs (although at least it pays attention to the former at all!) It did succeed in whetting my curiosity about Catherine once more; I need to find a good biography that also addresses the period not covered here, the one that is perhaps most intriguing as a nominally liberal Enlightenment ruler (she befriended Voltaire, etc.) ended up ruling as an autocrat and putting down revolts. 3.3 stars. TIOLI September, read Sept 1-2, although it could also qualify as a chunkster at 550 plus pages.

The Postcard Killers by James Patterson. I read these books as brain candy, something entertaining and mindless. Sadly, this one wasn't even good enough for that purpose! Avoid at all costs. 1 star. Read August 29-Sept 1.

For the new 75-book challenge (my third!):

The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson. Easily one of the best novels I've read this year, by turns hilarious and thought-provoking. Protagonist Julian Treslove decides he has been mugged because he's a Jew (after an evening spent with his two Jewish male friends), and promptly that idea makes its way through his excessively-romantic brain. Before we know it, he is in love with Jewishness in all its forms, even as his Jewish friends wrestle with their Jewish identity -- aka "The Finkler Question". If you looked up "hapless" in the dictionary, I'm sure you'd find Treslove's picture beside it, but Jacobson's character portrayals are only one reason to devour this wonderful novel. The author tackles issues of identity, as defined by oneself and the external world, in ways I've seen few others manage effectively. He makes writing look effortless and produces something wonderful. Highly recommended; 5 stars and my fave so far of the Man Booker nominees. Read Aug 30/31, for the August TIOLI.

2. The Amateur Spy by Dan Fesperman is another book I've read by this author, who should be getting a lot more attention than he is. Of the three I've read so far (two more on my TBR list), all are very good (if somewhat plain vanilla in genre and writing style) spy/suspense stories, often with ordinary people caught up in puzzles that are not of their making but which will have extraordinary impact on them. In this case, the main character, a former aid worker, is not only an amateur spy but a reluctant one, blackmailed into returning to the aid business in Jordan where a former friend may be up to no good. Meanwhile, in Washington, the wife of a Palestinian emigre doctor is spying on her husband... The two stories converge, to great dramatic effect. Recommended, 4.1 stars. Read August 28 to August 30, TIOLI August.

Will post new thread details once I've got them...

Here's where you can find me henceforth...
http://www.librarything.com/topic/97948
(since the linking thing was taking me to a blank page when I checked it...)

The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson. Easily one of the best novels I've read this year

That's a huge recommendation, Suzanne, considering how many books you've read this year. I added it to my wish list, and now I have to go catch on almost 200 postings on your new thread. See you there!