1Willoyd
I tend to be a bit of a listaholic when it comes to books, so for me, I'm actually being restrained with tne lists here! Firstly are the two main reading projects I'm currently undertaking - a Read around the World, and a Tour of the United States. This is followed, for reference, by an English Counties list, which I've actually completed. I've also included a virtual book pile, to encourage me to read books in my library that aren't part of a project, and which can otherwise get overlooked!
I do keep a longer term record of my reading, and grade those books read (for good or ill!), which system is explained below. My library is in my LT catalogue, as are books that I've read, at least in recent years (these are all those with a star rating). Books 'To Be Read' (ie books that I own that were bought for reading but haven't yet been) are listed in the 'To Read' collection, which at year end 2023 numbers just under 1400 - so, given I'm in my mid-sixties, they are unlikely to all get read, but then my library is based on Umberto Eco principles, so don't have to be! I'd still like to reduce that number though.
Main aims this year are thus to make progress on the reading tours, and to reduce that TBR number. I'm also reading my way through Emile Zola's Rougon-Macquart sequence, so that will be another. That's enough!
Reading grades:
* Positively disliked: almost certainly unfinished. Most of these books do tend to be book group choices! LibraryThing rating 0.5 - 1
** Disappointing or not particularly liked even if I can recognise its merits: likely to be at least skimmed, often unfinished. LT 1.5 - 2
*** OK, a decent read, functionally useful if read for education. Books I want to finish, even if I don't feel the need to! LT 2.5 - 3
**** Good, compulsive reading that, whilst putdownable, demands to be picked up and finished LT 3.5
***** Very good, into the realms of 'unputdownable' LT 4
****** Excellent. Some of these may even be 'pending' as favourites, as I usually only decide after a while. LT 4.5
******(F) Favourites: books which, for whatever reason, have something particularly special about them, even if only personal to me. LT 5
I suppose I could have just made Favourite's 7-stars, but that just didn't seem quite right! Usually, they are no 'better' than other 6 star 'excellent' books - there's just something about them that strikes a particular chord. There are around 140 at present.
I do keep a longer term record of my reading, and grade those books read (for good or ill!), which system is explained below. My library is in my LT catalogue, as are books that I've read, at least in recent years (these are all those with a star rating). Books 'To Be Read' (ie books that I own that were bought for reading but haven't yet been) are listed in the 'To Read' collection, which at year end 2023 numbers just under 1400 - so, given I'm in my mid-sixties, they are unlikely to all get read, but then my library is based on Umberto Eco principles, so don't have to be! I'd still like to reduce that number though.
Main aims this year are thus to make progress on the reading tours, and to reduce that TBR number. I'm also reading my way through Emile Zola's Rougon-Macquart sequence, so that will be another. That's enough!
Reading grades:
* Positively disliked: almost certainly unfinished. Most of these books do tend to be book group choices! LibraryThing rating 0.5 - 1
** Disappointing or not particularly liked even if I can recognise its merits: likely to be at least skimmed, often unfinished. LT 1.5 - 2
*** OK, a decent read, functionally useful if read for education. Books I want to finish, even if I don't feel the need to! LT 2.5 - 3
**** Good, compulsive reading that, whilst putdownable, demands to be picked up and finished LT 3.5
***** Very good, into the realms of 'unputdownable' LT 4
****** Excellent. Some of these may even be 'pending' as favourites, as I usually only decide after a while. LT 4.5
******(F) Favourites: books which, for whatever reason, have something particularly special about them, even if only personal to me. LT 5
I suppose I could have just made Favourite's 7-stars, but that just didn't seem quite right! Usually, they are no 'better' than other 6 star 'excellent' books - there's just something about them that strikes a particular chord. There are around 140 at present.
2Willoyd
Reading 2024
January
01. A Passage to India by EM Forster, G *****
02. York Advanced Notes to A Passage to India by Nigel Messenger ***
03. Strong Female Character by Fern Brady ****
February
04. Daniel Deronda by George Eliot G *****
05. Cursed Bread by Sophie Mackintosh **
06. The Bone Readers by Jacob Ross W *****
07. Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout U ***
08. The Marriage Question by Claire Carlisle ****
09. The Sorrow of War by Bao Ninh W **
10. The Offing by Benjamin Myers *****
March
11. Not A River by Selva Almada W *****
12. The Perfect Golden Circle by Benjamin Myers G ****
13. The Years by Annie Ernaux R *****
April
14. Caroline by Richmal Crompton G **
15. Pedro Paramo by Juan Rulfo W ****
16. Family Roundabout by Richmal Crompton G ***
May
17. The Plague by Albert Camus G *****
18. Ilustrado by Miguel Syjuco W ***
19. The Collini Case by Ferdinand von Schirach G ****
20. Why We Get Sick by Benjamin Bikman ***
21. The U.S. Civil War by Louis P Masur ***
22. By The River by various ***
June
23. Commonwealth by Ann Patchett U ****
24. The Sea Detective by Mark Douglas-Home R ****
25. The Details by Ia Genberg GW *****
26. A Heart So White by Javier Marias GW ****
July
27. English Journey by JB Priestley ***
28. The Full English by Stuart Maconie ****
29. Thunderclap by Laura Cumming G ******(F)
30. A Flat Place by Noreen Masud **
31. Runaway by Alice Munro W ***
32. Permafrost by Eva Baltasar *****
August
33. Normal Rules Don't Apply by Kate Atkinson G *
34. The Blue Flower by Penelope Fitzgerald GR ****
35. Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk W ******
36. The Boundless River by Mathijs Deen *****
37. The Book Censor's Library by Bothayna Al-Essa W ******
38. Oxygen by Andrew Miller G ***
39. Cheerful Weather for the Wedding by Julia Strachey ****
40. Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck X **
41. Walking the Bones of Britain by Christopher Somerville *****
September
42. Orbital by Samantha Harvey ******
43. Not A River by Selva Almeda GR *****
44. The Pleasure of Drowning by Jean Burlesk W ****
45. Ulysses by James Joyce W ******(F)
46. The Guide to James Joyce's Ulysses by Patrick Hastings ****
October
47. The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne G ******
48. The Red Notebook by Antoine Laurain G *
49. Autumn Journal by Louis MacNeice ****
50. 1923 by Ned Boulting ****
51. So Distant From My Life by Monique Ilboudo W ****
52. Talking About Detective Fiction by PD James ***
November
53. Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner ***
54. The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden W *****
55. Doctor Wortle's School by Anthony Trollope G ****
56. The Black Notebook by Patrick Modiano W *****
57. Shiloh by Shelby Foote U ****
XX. You Have To Make Your Own Fun Around Here by Frances Macken G *
58. Reading Lessons by Carol Atherton ******(F)
59. 1922, Scenes from a Turbulent Year by Nick Rennison ***
60. Closely Watched Trains by Bohumil Hrabel R ****
December
61. Symposium by Muriel Spark *****
62. To Live by Yu Hua W ****
63. August Blue by Deborah Levy *****
64. Germania by Simon Winder ****
65. Pearl by Sian Hughes ****
66. Passing by Nella Larsen G ******
67. Why We Read by Josephine Greywood (ed) ***
68. Conclave by Robert Harris *****
69. Another England by Caroline Lucas ****
70. Mugby Junction by Charles Dickens and others ***
71. Missing Person by Patrick Modiano *****
72. Things I Don't Want To Know by Deborah Levy *****
F = added to Favourites list
G = book group read
R = reread
U = Tour of the US
W = Reading the World
X = unfinished
January
01. A Passage to India by EM Forster, G *****
02. York Advanced Notes to A Passage to India by Nigel Messenger ***
03. Strong Female Character by Fern Brady ****
February
04. Daniel Deronda by George Eliot G *****
05. Cursed Bread by Sophie Mackintosh **
06. The Bone Readers by Jacob Ross W *****
07. Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout U ***
08. The Marriage Question by Claire Carlisle ****
09. The Sorrow of War by Bao Ninh W **
10. The Offing by Benjamin Myers *****
March
11. Not A River by Selva Almada W *****
12. The Perfect Golden Circle by Benjamin Myers G ****
13. The Years by Annie Ernaux R *****
April
14. Caroline by Richmal Crompton G **
15. Pedro Paramo by Juan Rulfo W ****
16. Family Roundabout by Richmal Crompton G ***
May
17. The Plague by Albert Camus G *****
18. Ilustrado by Miguel Syjuco W ***
19. The Collini Case by Ferdinand von Schirach G ****
20. Why We Get Sick by Benjamin Bikman ***
21. The U.S. Civil War by Louis P Masur ***
22. By The River by various ***
June
23. Commonwealth by Ann Patchett U ****
24. The Sea Detective by Mark Douglas-Home R ****
25. The Details by Ia Genberg GW *****
26. A Heart So White by Javier Marias GW ****
July
27. English Journey by JB Priestley ***
28. The Full English by Stuart Maconie ****
29. Thunderclap by Laura Cumming G ******(F)
30. A Flat Place by Noreen Masud **
31. Runaway by Alice Munro W ***
32. Permafrost by Eva Baltasar *****
August
33. Normal Rules Don't Apply by Kate Atkinson G *
34. The Blue Flower by Penelope Fitzgerald GR ****
35. Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk W ******
36. The Boundless River by Mathijs Deen *****
37. The Book Censor's Library by Bothayna Al-Essa W ******
38. Oxygen by Andrew Miller G ***
39. Cheerful Weather for the Wedding by Julia Strachey ****
40. Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck X **
41. Walking the Bones of Britain by Christopher Somerville *****
September
42. Orbital by Samantha Harvey ******
43. Not A River by Selva Almeda GR *****
44. The Pleasure of Drowning by Jean Burlesk W ****
45. Ulysses by James Joyce W ******(F)
46. The Guide to James Joyce's Ulysses by Patrick Hastings ****
October
47. The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne G ******
48. The Red Notebook by Antoine Laurain G *
49. Autumn Journal by Louis MacNeice ****
50. 1923 by Ned Boulting ****
51. So Distant From My Life by Monique Ilboudo W ****
52. Talking About Detective Fiction by PD James ***
November
53. Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner ***
54. The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden W *****
55. Doctor Wortle's School by Anthony Trollope G ****
56. The Black Notebook by Patrick Modiano W *****
57. Shiloh by Shelby Foote U ****
XX. You Have To Make Your Own Fun Around Here by Frances Macken G *
58. Reading Lessons by Carol Atherton ******(F)
59. 1922, Scenes from a Turbulent Year by Nick Rennison ***
60. Closely Watched Trains by Bohumil Hrabel R ****
December
61. Symposium by Muriel Spark *****
62. To Live by Yu Hua W ****
63. August Blue by Deborah Levy *****
64. Germania by Simon Winder ****
65. Pearl by Sian Hughes ****
66. Passing by Nella Larsen G ******
67. Why We Read by Josephine Greywood (ed) ***
68. Conclave by Robert Harris *****
69. Another England by Caroline Lucas ****
70. Mugby Junction by Charles Dickens and others ***
71. Missing Person by Patrick Modiano *****
72. Things I Don't Want To Know by Deborah Levy *****
F = added to Favourites list
G = book group read
R = reread
U = Tour of the US
W = Reading the World
X = unfinished
3Willoyd
Reading The World
Full details of this project are in this thread: https://www.librarything.com/topic/342855
Constituent countries/continent are:
the 193 members of the United Nations
its 2 observer members (Vatican City, Palestine)
one ex-member (Taiwan)
the four home nations of the United Kingdom (I've read plenty from England, some from Scotland but very little from the other 2)
the largest island (a self-governing autonomous territory): Greenland
plus the only continent with no country - Antarctica (2 books - see below!)
making a total of 201 places and 202 books (although this may change!)
The only strict criteria is that I mustn't have read the book previously, and that all choices should be narrative prose. Otherwise, the rule is aims rather than rules, the main aim being to read an example of adult literature frome each country. Ideally by an author born in or a citizen of that country; resident is next best. This project was started in 2022, and the book should be written since 1922 (since the publication of Ulysses). I will normally go for fiction, but, non-fiction is allowed; it may even, on occasions, be preferred if I think it gives more insight into the country and/or its literature. On occasions it will need to be a book about the place written by someone who is neither from there nor a resident, but that will generally be a last resort.
Countries/continent read so far (50/201)
This year's reads labelled (2024)
Europe (20/48)
Austria: Chess Story by Stefan Zweig *****
Bulgaria: Time Shelter by Georgi Gospodinov ***
Czechia: Closely Watched Trains by Bohumil Hrabal ****
Finland: The Year of the Hare by Arto Paasilinna ****
France: The Black Notebook and Missing Person by Patrick Modiano, both ***** (2024)
Germany: Measuring the World by Daniel Kehlmann ******
Iceland: History. A Mess. by Sigrun Palsodottir *****
Ireland: Ulysses by James Joyce ******(F) (2024)
Italy: The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa *****
Luxembourg: The Pleasure of Drowning by Jean Burlesk **** (2024)
Netherlands: The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden ***** (2024)
Northern Ireland: Travelling in a Strange Land by David Park *****
Norway: The Ice Palace by Tarjei Vesaas ****
Poland: Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk ****** (2024)
San Marino: The Republic of San Marino by Giuseppe Rossi ***
Scotland: O Caledonia by Elspeth Barker ****
Spain: A Heart So White by Javier Marias ***, Permafrost by Eva Baltasar **** (2024)
Sweden: The Details by Ia Genberg ***** (2024)
Ukraine: Death and the Penguin by Andrij Kurkov ***
Wales: One Moonlit Night by Caradog Prichard ******(F)
Africa (10/54)
Angola: The Book of Chameleons by Jose Eduardo Agualusa *****
Burkina Faso: So Distant From My Life by Monique Ilboudo **** (2024)
Congo, Republic of: Black Moses by Alain Mabanckou *****
Cote d'Ivoire: Standing Heavy by GauZ ******
Djibouti: In the United States of Africa by Abdourahman Waberi ****
Ghana: The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born by Ayi Kwei Armah ****
Kenya: A Grain of Wheat by Ngugi wa Thiong'o ******
South Africa: The Promise by Damon Galgut *****
Sudan: Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih ******
Togo: Michel the Giant, an African in Greenland by Tete-Michel Kpomassie ******(F)
Asia (9/48)
China: To Live by Yu Lua **** (2024)
Japan: Tokyo Express by Seicho Matsumoto ****
Kuwait: The Book Censor's Library by Bothayna Al-Essa ****** (2024)
South Korea: The Vegetarian by Han Kang *
Malaysia: The Night Tiger by Yangsze Choo ****
Pakistan: The Wandering Falcon by Jamil Ahmad *****
Philippines: Ilustrado by Miguel Syjuco *** (2024)
Turkey: 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World by Elif Shafak **
Vietnam: The Sorrow of War by Bao Ninh ** (2024)
North America (6/24)
Antigua and Barbuda: Annie John by Jamaica Kincaid ***
Canada: Runaway by Alice Munro *** (2024)
Grenada: The Bone Readers by Jacob Ross ***** (2024)
Mexico: Pedro Paramo by Juan Rulfo **** (2024)
Trinidad and Tobago: Minty Alley by CLR James ****
United States: Beloved by Toni Morrison *****
South America (3/12)
Argentina: Not A River by Selva Almada ***** (2024)
Colombia: One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez *****
Uruguay: Quien de Nosotros? (Who Among Us) by Mario Benedetti ****
Oceania and Antarctica (2/15)
Nauru: Stories from Nauru by Bam Bam Solomon and others ****
New Zealand: Potiki by Patrica Grace *****
Full details of this project are in this thread: https://www.librarything.com/topic/342855
Constituent countries/continent are:
the 193 members of the United Nations
its 2 observer members (Vatican City, Palestine)
one ex-member (Taiwan)
the four home nations of the United Kingdom (I've read plenty from England, some from Scotland but very little from the other 2)
the largest island (a self-governing autonomous territory): Greenland
plus the only continent with no country - Antarctica (2 books - see below!)
making a total of 201 places and 202 books (although this may change!)
The only strict criteria is that I mustn't have read the book previously, and that all choices should be narrative prose. Otherwise, the rule is aims rather than rules, the main aim being to read an example of adult literature frome each country. Ideally by an author born in or a citizen of that country; resident is next best. This project was started in 2022, and the book should be written since 1922 (since the publication of Ulysses). I will normally go for fiction, but, non-fiction is allowed; it may even, on occasions, be preferred if I think it gives more insight into the country and/or its literature. On occasions it will need to be a book about the place written by someone who is neither from there nor a resident, but that will generally be a last resort.
Countries/continent read so far (50/201)
This year's reads labelled (2024)
Europe (20/48)
Austria: Chess Story by Stefan Zweig *****
Bulgaria: Time Shelter by Georgi Gospodinov ***
Czechia: Closely Watched Trains by Bohumil Hrabal ****
Finland: The Year of the Hare by Arto Paasilinna ****
France: The Black Notebook and Missing Person by Patrick Modiano, both ***** (2024)
Germany: Measuring the World by Daniel Kehlmann ******
Iceland: History. A Mess. by Sigrun Palsodottir *****
Ireland: Ulysses by James Joyce ******(F) (2024)
Italy: The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa *****
Luxembourg: The Pleasure of Drowning by Jean Burlesk **** (2024)
Netherlands: The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden ***** (2024)
Northern Ireland: Travelling in a Strange Land by David Park *****
Norway: The Ice Palace by Tarjei Vesaas ****
Poland: Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk ****** (2024)
San Marino: The Republic of San Marino by Giuseppe Rossi ***
Scotland: O Caledonia by Elspeth Barker ****
Spain: A Heart So White by Javier Marias ***, Permafrost by Eva Baltasar **** (2024)
Sweden: The Details by Ia Genberg ***** (2024)
Ukraine: Death and the Penguin by Andrij Kurkov ***
Wales: One Moonlit Night by Caradog Prichard ******(F)
Africa (10/54)
Angola: The Book of Chameleons by Jose Eduardo Agualusa *****
Burkina Faso: So Distant From My Life by Monique Ilboudo **** (2024)
Congo, Republic of: Black Moses by Alain Mabanckou *****
Cote d'Ivoire: Standing Heavy by GauZ ******
Djibouti: In the United States of Africa by Abdourahman Waberi ****
Ghana: The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born by Ayi Kwei Armah ****
Kenya: A Grain of Wheat by Ngugi wa Thiong'o ******
South Africa: The Promise by Damon Galgut *****
Sudan: Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih ******
Togo: Michel the Giant, an African in Greenland by Tete-Michel Kpomassie ******(F)
Asia (9/48)
China: To Live by Yu Lua **** (2024)
Japan: Tokyo Express by Seicho Matsumoto ****
Kuwait: The Book Censor's Library by Bothayna Al-Essa ****** (2024)
South Korea: The Vegetarian by Han Kang *
Malaysia: The Night Tiger by Yangsze Choo ****
Pakistan: The Wandering Falcon by Jamil Ahmad *****
Philippines: Ilustrado by Miguel Syjuco *** (2024)
Turkey: 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World by Elif Shafak **
Vietnam: The Sorrow of War by Bao Ninh ** (2024)
North America (6/24)
Antigua and Barbuda: Annie John by Jamaica Kincaid ***
Canada: Runaway by Alice Munro *** (2024)
Grenada: The Bone Readers by Jacob Ross ***** (2024)
Mexico: Pedro Paramo by Juan Rulfo **** (2024)
Trinidad and Tobago: Minty Alley by CLR James ****
United States: Beloved by Toni Morrison *****
South America (3/12)
Argentina: Not A River by Selva Almada ***** (2024)
Colombia: One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez *****
Uruguay: Quien de Nosotros? (Who Among Us) by Mario Benedetti ****
Oceania and Antarctica (2/15)
Nauru: Stories from Nauru by Bam Bam Solomon and others ****
New Zealand: Potiki by Patrica Grace *****
4Willoyd
Tour of the United States
Full details of this project can be read on this thread: https://www.librarything.com/topic/260906
The list of books to date. My criteria are: post-1900 fiction (preferably) or narrative non-fiction; no children's books; I mustn't have read the book before; no more than one book per author.
37/51
Books read this year are in bold
Alabama: The Keepers of the House by Shirley Ann Grau *****
Alaska: To the Bright Edge of the World by Eowyn Ivey ******(F)
Arizona: The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver ****
Arkansas:
California:
Colorado: Plainsong by Kent Haruf ****
Connecticut: The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin **
Delaware:
Florida: Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston ****
Georgia: The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers ******
Hawaii:
Idaho: Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson ****
Illinois:
Indiana: The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields *****
Iowa: The Bridges of Madison County by Robert Waller ****
Kansas:
Kentucky: Nathan Coulter by Wendell Berry ******
Louisiana:
Maine: Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout ***
Maryland: Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant by Anne Tyler ***
Massachusetts: Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton ***
Michigan: Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison ******
Minnesota: Main Street by Sinclair Lewis ***
Mississippi: As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner ******(F)
Missouri: Mrs Bridge by Evan S Connell *****
Montana:
Nebraska:My Antonia by Willa Cather *****
Nevada: The Ox-Bow Incident by Walter Van Tilburg Clark *****
New Hampshire:
New Jersey: The Sportswriter by Richard Ford ****
New Mexico:
New York: Another Country by James Baldwin ******
North Carolina: Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier *****
North Dakota: The Plague of Doves by Louise Erdrich *****
Ohio: Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson ***
Oklahoma: True Grit by Charles Portis *****
Oregon:
Pennsylvania: The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara ******
Rhode Island: The Witches of Eastwick by John Updike ***
South Carolina: The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd ***
South Dakota:
Tennessee: Shiloh by Shelby Foote ****
Texas: Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry ******(F)
Utah:
Vermont:
Virginia: Commonwealth by Ann Patchett ****
Washington: Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson ***
Washington DC: Advise and Consent by Allen Drury *****
West Virginia: Rocket Boys by Homer H. Hickam ******
Wisconsin: American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld ****
Wyoming: The Virginian by Owen Wister *****
Full details of this project can be read on this thread: https://www.librarything.com/topic/260906
The list of books to date. My criteria are: post-1900 fiction (preferably) or narrative non-fiction; no children's books; I mustn't have read the book before; no more than one book per author.
37/51
Books read this year are in bold
Alabama: The Keepers of the House by Shirley Ann Grau *****
Alaska: To the Bright Edge of the World by Eowyn Ivey ******(F)
Arizona: The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver ****
Arkansas:
California:
Colorado: Plainsong by Kent Haruf ****
Connecticut: The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin **
Delaware:
Florida: Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston ****
Georgia: The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers ******
Hawaii:
Idaho: Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson ****
Illinois:
Indiana: The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields *****
Iowa: The Bridges of Madison County by Robert Waller ****
Kansas:
Kentucky: Nathan Coulter by Wendell Berry ******
Louisiana:
Maine: Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout ***
Maryland: Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant by Anne Tyler ***
Massachusetts: Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton ***
Michigan: Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison ******
Minnesota: Main Street by Sinclair Lewis ***
Mississippi: As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner ******(F)
Missouri: Mrs Bridge by Evan S Connell *****
Montana:
Nebraska:My Antonia by Willa Cather *****
Nevada: The Ox-Bow Incident by Walter Van Tilburg Clark *****
New Hampshire:
New Jersey: The Sportswriter by Richard Ford ****
New Mexico:
New York: Another Country by James Baldwin ******
North Carolina: Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier *****
North Dakota: The Plague of Doves by Louise Erdrich *****
Ohio: Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson ***
Oklahoma: True Grit by Charles Portis *****
Oregon:
Pennsylvania: The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara ******
Rhode Island: The Witches of Eastwick by John Updike ***
South Carolina: The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd ***
South Dakota:
Tennessee: Shiloh by Shelby Foote ****
Texas: Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry ******(F)
Utah:
Vermont:
Virginia: Commonwealth by Ann Patchett ****
Washington: Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson ***
Washington DC: Advise and Consent by Allen Drury *****
West Virginia: Rocket Boys by Homer H. Hickam ******
Wisconsin: American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld ****
Wyoming: The Virginian by Owen Wister *****
5Willoyd
Favourite books
A record of the 138 books and series which I rate as 'favourites': 6+ stars! These aren't necessarily the best literature I've read, but ones, that, for whatever reason, struck a special chord in my reading that continues to resonate long after actually reading them. Individual books within a series are likely to have scored less, but the rating is for the series as a whole. The lists are divided into
Fiction
Non-fiction
Joint fiction/non-fiction
Children's fiction
Fiction (81)
Ackroyd, Peter: Dan Leno and the Limehouse Golem
Ackroyd, Peter: Hawksmoor
Austen, Jane: Sense and Sensibility
Austen, Jane: Pride and Prejudice
Austen, Jane: Emma
Buchan, John: John Macnab
Carr JL: A Month in the Country
Carr JL: The Harpole Report
Chaucer, Geoffrey: The Canterbury Tales
Chevalier, Tracy: Falling Angels
Childers, Erskine: The Riddle of the Sands
Collins, Norman: London Belongs To Me
Cooper, Susan: The Dark is Rising
Cunningham, Michael: The Hours
Davies, Martin: The Conjuror's Bird
Dickens, Charles: A Christmas Carol
Dickens, Charles: Bleak House
Dickens, Charles: David Copperfield
Doyle, Arthur Conan: The Sherlock Holmes short stories
Dunant, Sarah: In the Company of the Courtesan
Eco, Umberto: The Name of the Rose
Eliot, George: Middlemarch
Elphinstone, Margaret: The Sea Road
Elphinstone, Margaret: Voyageurs
Evaristo, Bernardine: Girl, Woman, Other
Fairer, David: The Chocolate House Treason trilogy
Faulkner, William: As I Lay Dying
Fforde, Jasper: The Eyre Affair
Forester, CS: The Hornblower series
Goscinny, Rene: Asterix in Britain
Greig, Andrew: The Return of John Macnab
Guareschi, Giovanni: The Don Camillo series
Haddon, Mark: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
Hardy, Thomas: Far From The Madding Crowd
Herbert, Frank: Dune
Heyer, Georgette: The Grand Sophy
Hoeg, Peter: Miss Smilla's Feeling For Snow
Horwood, William: The Stonor Eagles
Horwood, William: Skallagrig
Hulme, Keri: The Bone People
Ivey, Eowyn: To the Bright Edge of the World
Japrisot, Sebastian: A Very Long Engagement
Joyce, James: Ulysses
Le Carre, John: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
Lee, Harper: To Kill A Mockingbird
Leon, Donna: The Commissario Brunetti series
Mantel, Hilary: Wolf Hall
McMurtry, Larry: Lonesome Dove
Melville, Herman: Moby Dick
Miller, Andrew: Pure
Miller, Andrew: Now We Shall Be Entirely Free
Mitchell, David: The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet
Monsarrat, Nicholas: The Cruel Sea
Moorcock, Michael: Mother London
O'Brian, Patrick: The Aubrey-Maturin series
O'Farrell, Maggie: Hamnet
Pears, Ian: An Instance of the Fingerpost
Penney, Stef: The Tenderness of Wolves
Perry, Sarah: The Essex Serpent
Prichard, Caradog: One Moonlit Night
Proulx, Annie: The Shipping News
Roffey, Monique: The Mermaid of Black Conch
Seth, Vikram: A Suitable Boy
Simenon, Georges: The Inspector Maigret series
Smiley, Jane: A Thousand Acres
Steinbeck, John: Of Mice and Men
Stephenson, Neal: Cryptonomicon
Stevenson, Robert Louis: Kidnapped
Swift, Graeme: Waterland
Taylor, Elizabeth: A View of the Harbour
Thomas, Dylan: Under Milk Wood
Thompson, Harry: This Thing of Darkness
Tolkien JRR: The Lord of the Rings
Tolstoy, Leo: War and Peace
Waugh, Evelyn: Brideshead Revisited
Willis, Connie: To Say Nothing of the Dog
Woolf, Virginia: Mrs Dalloway
Woolf, Virginia: The Years
Woolf, Virginia: To The Lighthouse
Woolfenden, Ben: The Ruins of Time
Zafon, Carlos Ruiz: The Shadow of the Wind
Non-fiction (47)
Atherton, Carol: Reading Lessons
Blanning, Tim: The Pursuit of Glory
Bewick, Thomas: A History of British Birds
Brown, Hamish: Hamish's Mountain Walk
Clayton, Tim: Waterloo
Cocker, Mark: Crow Country
Cumming, Laura: Thunderclap
Dennis, Roy: Cottongrass Summer
Fadiman, Anne: Ex Libris
Frater, Alexander: Chasing the Monsoon
Hanff, Helen: 84 Charing Cross Road
Harding, Thomas: The House By The Lake
Harrison, Melissa: The Stubborn Light of Things
Hickam, Hiram H.: Rocket Boys / October Sky
Hoskins, WG: The Making of the English Landscape
Howell, Georgina: Daughter of the Desert
Huntford, Roland: Shackleton
Jamie, Kathleen: Findings
Junger, Sebastian: The Perfect Storm
Kpomassie, Tete-Michel: Michel the Giant, An African in Greenland
Lee, Hermione: Virginia Woolf
Lewis-Stempel, John: The Running Hare
Liptrot, Amy: The Outrun
Longford, Elizabeth: Wellington, The Years of the Sword
Macdonald, Benedict & Nicholas Gates: Orchard
MacDonald, Helen: Vesper Flights
MacGregor, Neil: Germany, Memories of a Nation
Nichols, Peter: A Voyage for Madmen
Nicolson, Adam: The Seabird's Cry
Pennac, Daniel: The Rights of the Reader
Peterson, Mounfort and Hollom: A Field Guide to the Birds of Britain and Europe
Pinker, Stephen: The Language Instinct
Rackham, Oliver: The History of the Countryside
de Saint-Exupery, Antoine: Wind, Sand and Stars
Salisbury, Laney and Gay: The Cruellest Miles
Sands, Philippe: East-West Street
Schumacher, EF: Small is Beautiful
Simpson, Joe: Touching the Void
Taylor, Stephen: Storm and Conquest
Tomalin, Claire: Pepys, The Unequalled Self
Tree, Isabella: Wilding
Uglow, Jenny: The Pinecone
Unsworth, Walt: Everest
Weldon, Fay: Letters to Alice on first reading Jane Austen
Wheeler, Sara: Terra Incognita
Wulf, Andrea: The Invention of Nature
Young, Gavin: Slow Boats to China
Joint fiction/non-fiction (1)
Klinkenborg, Verlyn: Timothy's Book with Townsend-Warner, Sylvia: Portrait of a Tortoise
Children's Fiction (9)
Berna, Paul: Flood Warning
Bond, Michael: The Paddington Bear series
Kipling, Rudyard: Puck of Pook's Hill/Rewards and Fairies
Kipling, Rudyard: The Jungle Book
Milne, AA: Winnie-the-Pooh/House at Pooh Corner
Pullman, Philip: Northern Lights
Ransome, Arthur: The Swallows and Amazons series
Sutcliff, Rosemary: The Eagle of the Ninth
White, TH: Mistress Masham's Repose
A record of the 138 books and series which I rate as 'favourites': 6+ stars! These aren't necessarily the best literature I've read, but ones, that, for whatever reason, struck a special chord in my reading that continues to resonate long after actually reading them. Individual books within a series are likely to have scored less, but the rating is for the series as a whole. The lists are divided into
Fiction
Non-fiction
Joint fiction/non-fiction
Children's fiction
Fiction (81)
Ackroyd, Peter: Dan Leno and the Limehouse Golem
Ackroyd, Peter: Hawksmoor
Austen, Jane: Sense and Sensibility
Austen, Jane: Pride and Prejudice
Austen, Jane: Emma
Buchan, John: John Macnab
Carr JL: A Month in the Country
Carr JL: The Harpole Report
Chaucer, Geoffrey: The Canterbury Tales
Chevalier, Tracy: Falling Angels
Childers, Erskine: The Riddle of the Sands
Collins, Norman: London Belongs To Me
Cooper, Susan: The Dark is Rising
Cunningham, Michael: The Hours
Davies, Martin: The Conjuror's Bird
Dickens, Charles: A Christmas Carol
Dickens, Charles: Bleak House
Dickens, Charles: David Copperfield
Doyle, Arthur Conan: The Sherlock Holmes short stories
Dunant, Sarah: In the Company of the Courtesan
Eco, Umberto: The Name of the Rose
Eliot, George: Middlemarch
Elphinstone, Margaret: The Sea Road
Elphinstone, Margaret: Voyageurs
Evaristo, Bernardine: Girl, Woman, Other
Fairer, David: The Chocolate House Treason trilogy
Faulkner, William: As I Lay Dying
Fforde, Jasper: The Eyre Affair
Forester, CS: The Hornblower series
Goscinny, Rene: Asterix in Britain
Greig, Andrew: The Return of John Macnab
Guareschi, Giovanni: The Don Camillo series
Haddon, Mark: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
Hardy, Thomas: Far From The Madding Crowd
Herbert, Frank: Dune
Heyer, Georgette: The Grand Sophy
Hoeg, Peter: Miss Smilla's Feeling For Snow
Horwood, William: The Stonor Eagles
Horwood, William: Skallagrig
Hulme, Keri: The Bone People
Ivey, Eowyn: To the Bright Edge of the World
Japrisot, Sebastian: A Very Long Engagement
Joyce, James: Ulysses
Le Carre, John: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
Lee, Harper: To Kill A Mockingbird
Leon, Donna: The Commissario Brunetti series
Mantel, Hilary: Wolf Hall
McMurtry, Larry: Lonesome Dove
Melville, Herman: Moby Dick
Miller, Andrew: Pure
Miller, Andrew: Now We Shall Be Entirely Free
Mitchell, David: The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet
Monsarrat, Nicholas: The Cruel Sea
Moorcock, Michael: Mother London
O'Brian, Patrick: The Aubrey-Maturin series
O'Farrell, Maggie: Hamnet
Pears, Ian: An Instance of the Fingerpost
Penney, Stef: The Tenderness of Wolves
Perry, Sarah: The Essex Serpent
Prichard, Caradog: One Moonlit Night
Proulx, Annie: The Shipping News
Roffey, Monique: The Mermaid of Black Conch
Seth, Vikram: A Suitable Boy
Simenon, Georges: The Inspector Maigret series
Smiley, Jane: A Thousand Acres
Steinbeck, John: Of Mice and Men
Stephenson, Neal: Cryptonomicon
Stevenson, Robert Louis: Kidnapped
Swift, Graeme: Waterland
Taylor, Elizabeth: A View of the Harbour
Thomas, Dylan: Under Milk Wood
Thompson, Harry: This Thing of Darkness
Tolkien JRR: The Lord of the Rings
Tolstoy, Leo: War and Peace
Waugh, Evelyn: Brideshead Revisited
Willis, Connie: To Say Nothing of the Dog
Woolf, Virginia: Mrs Dalloway
Woolf, Virginia: The Years
Woolf, Virginia: To The Lighthouse
Woolfenden, Ben: The Ruins of Time
Zafon, Carlos Ruiz: The Shadow of the Wind
Non-fiction (47)
Atherton, Carol: Reading Lessons
Blanning, Tim: The Pursuit of Glory
Bewick, Thomas: A History of British Birds
Brown, Hamish: Hamish's Mountain Walk
Clayton, Tim: Waterloo
Cocker, Mark: Crow Country
Cumming, Laura: Thunderclap
Dennis, Roy: Cottongrass Summer
Fadiman, Anne: Ex Libris
Frater, Alexander: Chasing the Monsoon
Hanff, Helen: 84 Charing Cross Road
Harding, Thomas: The House By The Lake
Harrison, Melissa: The Stubborn Light of Things
Hickam, Hiram H.: Rocket Boys / October Sky
Hoskins, WG: The Making of the English Landscape
Howell, Georgina: Daughter of the Desert
Huntford, Roland: Shackleton
Jamie, Kathleen: Findings
Junger, Sebastian: The Perfect Storm
Kpomassie, Tete-Michel: Michel the Giant, An African in Greenland
Lee, Hermione: Virginia Woolf
Lewis-Stempel, John: The Running Hare
Liptrot, Amy: The Outrun
Longford, Elizabeth: Wellington, The Years of the Sword
Macdonald, Benedict & Nicholas Gates: Orchard
MacDonald, Helen: Vesper Flights
MacGregor, Neil: Germany, Memories of a Nation
Nichols, Peter: A Voyage for Madmen
Nicolson, Adam: The Seabird's Cry
Pennac, Daniel: The Rights of the Reader
Peterson, Mounfort and Hollom: A Field Guide to the Birds of Britain and Europe
Pinker, Stephen: The Language Instinct
Rackham, Oliver: The History of the Countryside
de Saint-Exupery, Antoine: Wind, Sand and Stars
Salisbury, Laney and Gay: The Cruellest Miles
Sands, Philippe: East-West Street
Schumacher, EF: Small is Beautiful
Simpson, Joe: Touching the Void
Taylor, Stephen: Storm and Conquest
Tomalin, Claire: Pepys, The Unequalled Self
Tree, Isabella: Wilding
Uglow, Jenny: The Pinecone
Unsworth, Walt: Everest
Weldon, Fay: Letters to Alice on first reading Jane Austen
Wheeler, Sara: Terra Incognita
Wulf, Andrea: The Invention of Nature
Young, Gavin: Slow Boats to China
Joint fiction/non-fiction (1)
Klinkenborg, Verlyn: Timothy's Book with Townsend-Warner, Sylvia: Portrait of a Tortoise
Children's Fiction (9)
Berna, Paul: Flood Warning
Bond, Michael: The Paddington Bear series
Kipling, Rudyard: Puck of Pook's Hill/Rewards and Fairies
Kipling, Rudyard: The Jungle Book
Milne, AA: Winnie-the-Pooh/House at Pooh Corner
Pullman, Philip: Northern Lights
Ransome, Arthur: The Swallows and Amazons series
Sutcliff, Rosemary: The Eagle of the Ninth
White, TH: Mistress Masham's Repose
6Willoyd
The Book Pile
I am very acquisitive when it comes to books, buying (or receiving) far more than I can actually read in short order. I'm happy with that - I like to have a library of books to choose from and follow whims - but it also means that books that I intended to read pretty soon after buying can get lost! So, I've decided to create a virtual book pile. This will consist of such books, with the aim that I will now read them in the near future!. The pile needs to stay manageable, so I will limit it to no more than ten of each genre, and will generally only add books to it as books already on the pile get read. Hopefully, this, appealing as it does to my passion for lists, will help me work through the bigger long term reading list. We'll see how it all works!
Books that are ineligible to be added include any that are included in another reading project* or being read for a book group (unless already on the pile!) - these are meant to be all books that could otherwise get overlooked because I'm so focused on these other areas. I'll also keep a record of which book pile books I have actually read!
Fiction
The Cautious Traveller's Guide to the Wastelands - Sarah Brook
The Bee Sting - Paul Murray
The Marriage Portrait - Maggie O'Farrell
Caledonian Road - Andrew O'Hagan
Enlightenment - Sarah Perry
Passiontide - Monique Roffey
Great Circle - Maggie Shipstead
The Fraud - Zadie Smith
Light Perpetual - Francis Spufford
Harlem Shuffle - Colson Whitehead
Non-fiction
An African History of Africa - Zanab Badawi
A Voyage Around the Queen - Craig Brown
The Scapegoat - Lucy Hughes-Hallett
The Rising Down - Alexandra Harris
The Garden Against Time - Olivia Laing
England, A Natural History by John Lewis-Stempel
The Haunted Wood - Sam Leith
Politics on the Edge - Rory Stewart
The Burgundians - Bart van Loo
Stuffed - Pen Vogler
Book Pile read this year
The Marriage Question by Claire Carlisle
Thunderclap - Laura Cummings
Another England - Caroline Lucas
Walking the Bones of Britain - Christopher Somerville
=========
* These include:
Reading the World
Tour of the United States
Emile Zola's Rougon-Macquart series
Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin sequence
Charles Dickens novels
I am very acquisitive when it comes to books, buying (or receiving) far more than I can actually read in short order. I'm happy with that - I like to have a library of books to choose from and follow whims - but it also means that books that I intended to read pretty soon after buying can get lost! So, I've decided to create a virtual book pile. This will consist of such books, with the aim that I will now read them in the near future!. The pile needs to stay manageable, so I will limit it to no more than ten of each genre, and will generally only add books to it as books already on the pile get read. Hopefully, this, appealing as it does to my passion for lists, will help me work through the bigger long term reading list. We'll see how it all works!
Books that are ineligible to be added include any that are included in another reading project* or being read for a book group (unless already on the pile!) - these are meant to be all books that could otherwise get overlooked because I'm so focused on these other areas. I'll also keep a record of which book pile books I have actually read!
Fiction
The Cautious Traveller's Guide to the Wastelands - Sarah Brook
The Bee Sting - Paul Murray
The Marriage Portrait - Maggie O'Farrell
Caledonian Road - Andrew O'Hagan
Enlightenment - Sarah Perry
Passiontide - Monique Roffey
Great Circle - Maggie Shipstead
The Fraud - Zadie Smith
Light Perpetual - Francis Spufford
Harlem Shuffle - Colson Whitehead
Non-fiction
An African History of Africa - Zanab Badawi
A Voyage Around the Queen - Craig Brown
The Scapegoat - Lucy Hughes-Hallett
The Rising Down - Alexandra Harris
The Garden Against Time - Olivia Laing
England, A Natural History by John Lewis-Stempel
The Haunted Wood - Sam Leith
Politics on the Edge - Rory Stewart
The Burgundians - Bart van Loo
Stuffed - Pen Vogler
Book Pile read this year
The Marriage Question by Claire Carlisle
Thunderclap - Laura Cummings
Another England - Caroline Lucas
Walking the Bones of Britain - Christopher Somerville
=========
* These include:
Reading the World
Tour of the United States
Emile Zola's Rougon-Macquart series
Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin sequence
Charles Dickens novels
7Willoyd
Previous year's awards
For the past few years, I've done my own personal awards for each year in another forum. Those for the past year will be posted further down, but for the record, these are those from previous years. Books marked with an asterisk in the first 2 categories were my overall book of the year (2022 I couldn't decide!). More details of short lists etc for last year in post below, but I've added the winners here for completeness.
Fiction Book of the Year
2013: *David Copperfield - Charles Dickens. Runner-up: The Thousand Autumns Of Jacob de Zoet - David Mitchell
2014: *Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy. Runner-up: Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
2015: *Middlemarch - George Eliot. Runner-up: The Aubrey/Maturin series - Patrick O'Brian (first 5 vols read this year)
2016: The Essex Serpent - Sarah Perry. Runner-up: Howards End - EM Forster
2017: *To The Bright Edge Of The World - Eowyn Ivey. Runner-up: The Old Wives' Tale - Arnold Bennett
2018: A View Of The Harbour - Elizabeth Taylor. Runner-up: Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
2019: *Girl, Woman, Other - Bernardine Evaristo. Runner-up: Lonesome Dove - Larry McMurtry
2020: *Hamnet - Maggie O'Farrell. Runner-up: A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
2021: The Mermaid Of Black Conch - Monique Roffey. Runner-up: The Great Level - Stella Tillyard
2022: *As I Lay Dying - William Faulkner. Runner-up: One Moonlit Night - Caradog Prichard
2023: The Dictionary of Lost Words - Pip Williams. Runne-up: Captain Hazard's Game - David Fairer
Non-fiction Book of the Year
2013: Letters To Alice On First Reading Jane Austen - Fay Weldon; Runner-up: The Real Jane Austen - Paula Byrne
2014: Pursuit Of Glory: Europe 1648-1815 - Tim Blanning. Runner-up: Under Another Sky: Journeys in Roman Britain - Charlotte Higgins
2015: Waterloo - Tim Clayton. Runner-up: Shackleton's Boat Journey by Frank Worsley
2016: *The House By The Lake - Thomas Harding. Runner-up: The Outrun - Amy Liptrot
2017: The Seabirds' Cry - Adam Nicolson. Runner-up: Love Of Country - Madeleine Bunting
2018: *East-West Street - Philippe Sands. Runner-up: Wilding - Isabella Tree
2019: Daughter Of The Desert - Georgina Howell. Runner-up: The Five - Hallie Rubenheld
2020: Island Stories - David Reynolds. Runner-up: Home - Julie Myerson
2021: *The Stubborn Light Of Things - Melissa Harrison. Runner-up: Orchard - Benedict Macdonald & Nicholas Gates
2022: *The Invention of Nature - Andrea Wulf. Runner-up: Cottongrass Summer - Roy Dennis
2023: *Rocket Boys - Hiram Hickam. Runner-up: The Flow - Amy-Jane Beer
Duffer of the Year
2013: Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn
2014: The Dinner - Herman Koch
2015: Divergent - Veronica Roth
2016: Us - David Nicholls
2017: Two Brothers - Ben Elton
2018: I Am Pilgrim - Terry Hayes
2019: I See You - Clare Mackintosh
2020: Gold - Chris Cleave
2021: Body Surfing - Anita Shreve
2022: The Department of Sensitive Crimes - Alexander McCall Smith
2023: Fates and Furies - Lauren Groff
Most Disappointing
2017: Jacob's Room Is Full Of Books - Susan Hill
2018: I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings - Maya Angelou
2019: The Making Of The British Landscape - Nicholas Crane
2020: A God In Ruins - Kate Atkinson
2021: How To Argue With A Racist - Adam Rutherford
2022: The Instant - Amy Liptrot
2023: Demon Copperhead - Barbara Kingsolver
Best Reread (up to 2015, these were eligible for books of the year, after I've hived them off in a separate category)
2016: Emma - Jane Austen. Runner-up: Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
2017: Flood Warning - Paul Berna; Winter Holiday - Arthur Ransome (jointly)
2018: Coot Club - Arthur Ransome
2019: Paddington Helps Out - Michael Bond
2020: Mrs Dalloway - Virginia Woolf in combination with The Hours - Michael Cunningham
2021: Waterland - Graham Swift
2022: A Maigret Christmas - Georges Simenon
2023: none
Biggest Discovery
2019: George Mackay Brown
2020: Wendell Berry
2021: Gilbert White
2022: JB Priestley
2023: African literature
For the past few years, I've done my own personal awards for each year in another forum. Those for the past year will be posted further down, but for the record, these are those from previous years. Books marked with an asterisk in the first 2 categories were my overall book of the year (2022 I couldn't decide!). More details of short lists etc for last year in post below, but I've added the winners here for completeness.
Fiction Book of the Year
2013: *David Copperfield - Charles Dickens. Runner-up: The Thousand Autumns Of Jacob de Zoet - David Mitchell
2014: *Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy. Runner-up: Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
2015: *Middlemarch - George Eliot. Runner-up: The Aubrey/Maturin series - Patrick O'Brian (first 5 vols read this year)
2016: The Essex Serpent - Sarah Perry. Runner-up: Howards End - EM Forster
2017: *To The Bright Edge Of The World - Eowyn Ivey. Runner-up: The Old Wives' Tale - Arnold Bennett
2018: A View Of The Harbour - Elizabeth Taylor. Runner-up: Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
2019: *Girl, Woman, Other - Bernardine Evaristo. Runner-up: Lonesome Dove - Larry McMurtry
2020: *Hamnet - Maggie O'Farrell. Runner-up: A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
2021: The Mermaid Of Black Conch - Monique Roffey. Runner-up: The Great Level - Stella Tillyard
2022: *As I Lay Dying - William Faulkner. Runner-up: One Moonlit Night - Caradog Prichard
2023: The Dictionary of Lost Words - Pip Williams. Runne-up: Captain Hazard's Game - David Fairer
Non-fiction Book of the Year
2013: Letters To Alice On First Reading Jane Austen - Fay Weldon; Runner-up: The Real Jane Austen - Paula Byrne
2014: Pursuit Of Glory: Europe 1648-1815 - Tim Blanning. Runner-up: Under Another Sky: Journeys in Roman Britain - Charlotte Higgins
2015: Waterloo - Tim Clayton. Runner-up: Shackleton's Boat Journey by Frank Worsley
2016: *The House By The Lake - Thomas Harding. Runner-up: The Outrun - Amy Liptrot
2017: The Seabirds' Cry - Adam Nicolson. Runner-up: Love Of Country - Madeleine Bunting
2018: *East-West Street - Philippe Sands. Runner-up: Wilding - Isabella Tree
2019: Daughter Of The Desert - Georgina Howell. Runner-up: The Five - Hallie Rubenheld
2020: Island Stories - David Reynolds. Runner-up: Home - Julie Myerson
2021: *The Stubborn Light Of Things - Melissa Harrison. Runner-up: Orchard - Benedict Macdonald & Nicholas Gates
2022: *The Invention of Nature - Andrea Wulf. Runner-up: Cottongrass Summer - Roy Dennis
2023: *Rocket Boys - Hiram Hickam. Runner-up: The Flow - Amy-Jane Beer
Duffer of the Year
2013: Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn
2014: The Dinner - Herman Koch
2015: Divergent - Veronica Roth
2016: Us - David Nicholls
2017: Two Brothers - Ben Elton
2018: I Am Pilgrim - Terry Hayes
2019: I See You - Clare Mackintosh
2020: Gold - Chris Cleave
2021: Body Surfing - Anita Shreve
2022: The Department of Sensitive Crimes - Alexander McCall Smith
2023: Fates and Furies - Lauren Groff
Most Disappointing
2017: Jacob's Room Is Full Of Books - Susan Hill
2018: I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings - Maya Angelou
2019: The Making Of The British Landscape - Nicholas Crane
2020: A God In Ruins - Kate Atkinson
2021: How To Argue With A Racist - Adam Rutherford
2022: The Instant - Amy Liptrot
2023: Demon Copperhead - Barbara Kingsolver
Best Reread (up to 2015, these were eligible for books of the year, after I've hived them off in a separate category)
2016: Emma - Jane Austen. Runner-up: Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
2017: Flood Warning - Paul Berna; Winter Holiday - Arthur Ransome (jointly)
2018: Coot Club - Arthur Ransome
2019: Paddington Helps Out - Michael Bond
2020: Mrs Dalloway - Virginia Woolf in combination with The Hours - Michael Cunningham
2021: Waterland - Graham Swift
2022: A Maigret Christmas - Georges Simenon
2023: none
Biggest Discovery
2019: George Mackay Brown
2020: Wendell Berry
2021: Gilbert White
2022: JB Priestley
2023: African literature
8markon
Welcome to Club Read William! Hope you enjoy your time here. Good luck with reading down your TBR.
9labfs39
Lovely to see you here on Club Read, Will! I love lists too, and I like how clearly organized yours are. Congrats on completing your English counties challenge. I'm glad you included it here, as it is a nice resource for the rest of us. Btw did you see the thread dedicated to lists here on Club Read?
10Willoyd
Awards for 2023
As it's the last day of the year, and I've actually finished my last book, I can make my awards for 2023, something I've been doing for the past decade or so. These awards are based simply on the books I've read in the past year. In 2023, they totalled 67 in number, the lowest for a few years, but not short on quality! Of these 46 were fiction, 21 non-fiction, a 69%-31% split, a very similar proportion to last year (71:29), but much lower non-fiction to the 3 previous years when the split was almost exactly 50-50. Male:female proportions were 58:42, not dissimilar to previous years.
Fiction Book of the Year
Winner: The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams
Runner-up: Captain Hazard's Game by David Fairer
Shortlist: Another Country by James Baldwin; Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih; Standing Heavy by GauZ
The top two almost certainly weren't the 'best' books I read, but they were the ones I enjoyed the most! Great stories well told, both.
Non-fiction Book of the Year
Winner: Rocket Boys by Hiram H Hickham (later republished as October Sky to tie in with the film)
Runner-up: The Flow by Amy-Jane Beer
Shortlist: Stolen Focus by Johann Hari, Ultra-Processed People by Chris van Tulleken, The Years by Annie Ernaux, The Restless Republic by Anna Keay
Overall Book of the Year: Rocket Boys by Hiram H Hickham.
Duffer of the Year: Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff
Shortlist: Less by Andrew Sean Greer
Most Disappointing Book 2023: Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
Best Reread: unusually, I only reread one book this year. It was one done for a book group, and I didn't rate it sufficiently highly either time for it to be award-worthy, so no award this year.
Biggest discovery: African literature
No one author really grabbed me as a discovery this year, but, starting last year as part of my Reading the World project, I've found myself reading more and more African literature. It has, almost literally, blown me a way! Obviously very diverse, perhaps too much so to warrant being classified as a category of reading, but books from this continent have transformed my reading over the past couple of years!
Other 2023 awards (most of these were done in response to discussions with another group):
Favourite cover: Tokyo Express by Seicho Matsumoto in Penguin Modern Classics (see below)
Favourite classic: La Curee (The Kill) by Emile Zola
Favourite book in translation: jointly Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih and Standing Heavy by GauZ
Favourite history/geography book: The Restless Republic by Anna Keay
Favourite biography/memoir: Rocket Boys by Hiram H Hickham
Favourite bookish website: A Year of Reading the World - Ann Morgan's website, including her blog when she did her year of RTW in 2012, and subsequent reviews and thoughts. A treasure trove of information and reading suggestions.
Favourite bookish podcast: The Book Club Review with Kate Slotover and Laura Potter - one of the very few bookish podcasts I really engage with - consistently interesting and eclectic.
Favourite publisher: Penguin Modern Classics I've just found myself reading so many of their book this year. I've got others I subscribe to and love, but these have just dominated my 2023 reading, including Chess Story, Season of Migration to the North, Potiki, The Ice Palace, The Year of the Hare, The Book of Chameleons, Tokyo Express, and others.
Favourite bookshop: my local indie is obviously top of my list every year, (it's The Bookshop on the Square, in Otley West Yorkshire), so this is really an award for the next best! This year, it goes to The London Review of Books - it's just so much a 'must visit' shop when I'm in London, as I was in September. Brilliant cafe too, and they do an excellent podcast too (one of those few mentioned above)!
And so on to 2024........!
As it's the last day of the year, and I've actually finished my last book, I can make my awards for 2023, something I've been doing for the past decade or so. These awards are based simply on the books I've read in the past year. In 2023, they totalled 67 in number, the lowest for a few years, but not short on quality! Of these 46 were fiction, 21 non-fiction, a 69%-31% split, a very similar proportion to last year (71:29), but much lower non-fiction to the 3 previous years when the split was almost exactly 50-50. Male:female proportions were 58:42, not dissimilar to previous years.
Fiction Book of the Year
Winner: The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams
Runner-up: Captain Hazard's Game by David Fairer
Shortlist: Another Country by James Baldwin; Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih; Standing Heavy by GauZ
The top two almost certainly weren't the 'best' books I read, but they were the ones I enjoyed the most! Great stories well told, both.
Non-fiction Book of the Year
Winner: Rocket Boys by Hiram H Hickham (later republished as October Sky to tie in with the film)
Runner-up: The Flow by Amy-Jane Beer
Shortlist: Stolen Focus by Johann Hari, Ultra-Processed People by Chris van Tulleken, The Years by Annie Ernaux, The Restless Republic by Anna Keay
Overall Book of the Year: Rocket Boys by Hiram H Hickham.
Duffer of the Year: Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff
Shortlist: Less by Andrew Sean Greer
Most Disappointing Book 2023: Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
Best Reread: unusually, I only reread one book this year. It was one done for a book group, and I didn't rate it sufficiently highly either time for it to be award-worthy, so no award this year.
Biggest discovery: African literature
No one author really grabbed me as a discovery this year, but, starting last year as part of my Reading the World project, I've found myself reading more and more African literature. It has, almost literally, blown me a way! Obviously very diverse, perhaps too much so to warrant being classified as a category of reading, but books from this continent have transformed my reading over the past couple of years!
Other 2023 awards (most of these were done in response to discussions with another group):
Favourite cover: Tokyo Express by Seicho Matsumoto in Penguin Modern Classics (see below)
Favourite classic: La Curee (The Kill) by Emile Zola
Favourite book in translation: jointly Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih and Standing Heavy by GauZ
Favourite history/geography book: The Restless Republic by Anna Keay
Favourite biography/memoir: Rocket Boys by Hiram H Hickham
Favourite bookish website: A Year of Reading the World - Ann Morgan's website, including her blog when she did her year of RTW in 2012, and subsequent reviews and thoughts. A treasure trove of information and reading suggestions.
Favourite bookish podcast: The Book Club Review with Kate Slotover and Laura Potter - one of the very few bookish podcasts I really engage with - consistently interesting and eclectic.
Favourite publisher: Penguin Modern Classics I've just found myself reading so many of their book this year. I've got others I subscribe to and love, but these have just dominated my 2023 reading, including Chess Story, Season of Migration to the North, Potiki, The Ice Palace, The Year of the Hare, The Book of Chameleons, Tokyo Express, and others.
Favourite bookshop: my local indie is obviously top of my list every year, (it's The Bookshop on the Square, in Otley West Yorkshire), so this is really an award for the next best! This year, it goes to The London Review of Books - it's just so much a 'must visit' shop when I'm in London, as I was in September. Brilliant cafe too, and they do an excellent podcast too (one of those few mentioned above)!
And so on to 2024........!
12rachbxl
Welcome to Club Read! It’s good to see you here. I only hope you’ll be more successful at keeping your thread here alive than I am with my Round-the-World thread! (I do hope to get back to it soon). Looking forward to following your reading.
14SassyLassy
>1 Willoyd: Welcome Will
It's good to see another reader going through the Rougon Maquart series. There are a handful here who have done it. I see you're following Zola's suggested reading order, which I think flows better than the chronological reading.
I like the organisation of your lists. We seem to have a reasonable amount of overlap in our reading, so I'll be following your thread with interest.
>7 Willoyd: George Mackay Brown and Swallows and Amazons in one post - all right!
It's good to see another reader going through the Rougon Maquart series. There are a handful here who have done it. I see you're following Zola's suggested reading order, which I think flows better than the chronological reading.
I like the organisation of your lists. We seem to have a reasonable amount of overlap in our reading, so I'll be following your thread with interest.
>7 Willoyd: George Mackay Brown and Swallows and Amazons in one post - all right!
15arubabookwoman
I'm doing the Rougon Maquart series too, and have been since about 2010 or 2011 (I took a lot of years off after a strong start). I've been reading them in the order published though. I think I have 4 or so left to read. In any event up next for me is The Dream.
16dchaikin
Welcome to the club, Will. Your awards are fun. I have your 2022 runner up on tap for this year. Wish you a great 2024.
17labfs39
I have book one of the Rougon Maquart series. Maybe this is the year I'll start it!
I too am a fan of Swallows and Amazons, and Eowyn Ivey, and Seasons of Migration. Others look intersting—your thread is going to be dangerous for my wishlist.
I too am a fan of Swallows and Amazons, and Eowyn Ivey, and Seasons of Migration. Others look intersting—your thread is going to be dangerous for my wishlist.
18Willoyd
>14 SassyLassy: >17 labfs39:
I very much grew up with the Swallows and Amazons series - they were probably (I can't fully remember that far back!) the first books I ever bought myself, as second hand hardbacks (no dustcovers!) for 2/6d, or 12.5p in 'new' money. I still have the full hardback set, although not the original ones I bought, including a couple of first editions (cheaper ones)! One was a gift from my wife who is a fan too. We've visited most of the sites featured in the books too - including a goodly hunt for Swallowdale and swimming out to Wild Cat Island - with the Lakes only a couple of hours drive away, and the Broads just a bit further, as well as a trip to Arthur Ransome's grave (beautiful spot in one of my favourite parts of the Lakes). We've even taken the ferry to Zeebrugge (no longer running) to explore We Didn't Mean To Go To Sea! Yet to get down to Secret Water country though. Ransome himself, if you haven't explored his life, was a fascinating man - I can thoroughly recommend the Hugh Brogan biography, and Christine Hardyment's book, but didn't get on with the Chandler biography at all - turgid.
I very much grew up with the Swallows and Amazons series - they were probably (I can't fully remember that far back!) the first books I ever bought myself, as second hand hardbacks (no dustcovers!) for 2/6d, or 12.5p in 'new' money. I still have the full hardback set, although not the original ones I bought, including a couple of first editions (cheaper ones)! One was a gift from my wife who is a fan too. We've visited most of the sites featured in the books too - including a goodly hunt for Swallowdale and swimming out to Wild Cat Island - with the Lakes only a couple of hours drive away, and the Broads just a bit further, as well as a trip to Arthur Ransome's grave (beautiful spot in one of my favourite parts of the Lakes). We've even taken the ferry to Zeebrugge (no longer running) to explore We Didn't Mean To Go To Sea! Yet to get down to Secret Water country though. Ransome himself, if you haven't explored his life, was a fascinating man - I can thoroughly recommend the Hugh Brogan biography, and Christine Hardyment's book, but didn't get on with the Chandler biography at all - turgid.
19SassyLassy
>18 Willoyd: I've read the Brogan, as well as The Last Englishman: The Double Life of Arthur Ransome. For some weird reason, the man intrigues me. Chandler turgidity noted!
Periodically I'll discover a book from Rupert Hart Davies The Mariners' Library series. Ransome's seamanship appears in some of them.
Periodically I'll discover a book from Rupert Hart Davies The Mariners' Library series. Ransome's seamanship appears in some of them.
20Willoyd
>19 SassyLassy:
The Chandler I referred to is that biog: The Last Englishman: The Double Life - perhaps you didn't find it so? Not to be confused, BTW, with the very enjoyable Byron Rogers biography of the author of my favourite novel (and a good number of other excellent books, and maps!), A Month In The Country - JL Carr, The Last Englishman
The Chandler I referred to is that biog: The Last Englishman: The Double Life - perhaps you didn't find it so? Not to be confused, BTW, with the very enjoyable Byron Rogers biography of the author of my favourite novel (and a good number of other excellent books, and maps!), A Month In The Country - JL Carr, The Last Englishman
22raton-liseur
Hi Will. Happy to see a new face in CR.
I love your lists, there are some titles I know, some that are part of my TBR and many I don't know but seem interesting. We seem to have some reading interests in common (reading around the world, the Rougon-Macquart...) and I will follow your thread, so I will have to be carefull, I feel you have a potential to increase my TBR pile...
Welcome, and looking forward to following your reading!
I love your lists, there are some titles I know, some that are part of my TBR and many I don't know but seem interesting. We seem to have some reading interests in common (reading around the world, the Rougon-Macquart...) and I will follow your thread, so I will have to be carefull, I feel you have a potential to increase my TBR pile...
Welcome, and looking forward to following your reading!
23Ameise1
Hello Will, thank you very much for your bike tour impressions on my thread.
I wish you an exciting reading year.
I wish you an exciting reading year.
24AlisonY
>10 Willoyd: Welcome! I was about to comment on what a great cover this on and then realised it was your best cover of 2023. Great lists!
25Willoyd
01. A Passage to India by EM Forster *****
Read for one of my book groups. I've previously read other Forsters, and enjoyed them enormously (especially Howards End), so was looking forward to this, and was not disappointed. Written in 1924, and very much an examination of the interaction between British and Indian in the India of the time, some twenty years before independence. On the whole we British don't come out of it very well! The full range of attitudes is represented in early chapters where both British and Indians discuss the 'other side' in some depth, the attitudes then examined under the stress of the incident involving Mr Aziz and Adela Quested in the caves midway through the book. To cover all those viewpoints, Forster uses a surprisingly wide cast of characters, which I have to say I did find a bit confusing at times (plenty of referring back to character introductions to be sure who was who!). This width did mean that some characters didn't feel to be drawn in any great detail, and the odd bit of stereotyping reared its head, but the central characters, their ambiguities and the dilemmas they faced, did come to life for me. As ever with Forster, he proved a far easier read than anticipated (I always expect these earlier 20thC books to be harder than they are, perhaps scarred a bit by some of Henry James's denser writing!), and I happily cantered through this first book of the year. It's also a book that I look forward to discussing in the group later this month - and one that I've also ordered a study guide for to try and tease out some more coherent thoughts.
A final note - I found this particularly interesting because one line of my own family lived and was brought up under the Raj, if a bit earlier than the book is set - my grandfather was born in Delhi at the end of the 19thC and, whilst he came back to Wales at a young age, at least the two previous generations back to the early 19thC were out their all their lives (one great grandfather was in the Indian Army, another a teacher in India - which made the Cyril Fielding character all the more personally interesting).
Moved on to Daniel Deronda, which I'm reading for my other group. I suspect I might leaven it with some other reading, but, given its size, need to give myself time to get going!
Read for one of my book groups. I've previously read other Forsters, and enjoyed them enormously (especially Howards End), so was looking forward to this, and was not disappointed. Written in 1924, and very much an examination of the interaction between British and Indian in the India of the time, some twenty years before independence. On the whole we British don't come out of it very well! The full range of attitudes is represented in early chapters where both British and Indians discuss the 'other side' in some depth, the attitudes then examined under the stress of the incident involving Mr Aziz and Adela Quested in the caves midway through the book. To cover all those viewpoints, Forster uses a surprisingly wide cast of characters, which I have to say I did find a bit confusing at times (plenty of referring back to character introductions to be sure who was who!). This width did mean that some characters didn't feel to be drawn in any great detail, and the odd bit of stereotyping reared its head, but the central characters, their ambiguities and the dilemmas they faced, did come to life for me. As ever with Forster, he proved a far easier read than anticipated (I always expect these earlier 20thC books to be harder than they are, perhaps scarred a bit by some of Henry James's denser writing!), and I happily cantered through this first book of the year. It's also a book that I look forward to discussing in the group later this month - and one that I've also ordered a study guide for to try and tease out some more coherent thoughts.
A final note - I found this particularly interesting because one line of my own family lived and was brought up under the Raj, if a bit earlier than the book is set - my grandfather was born in Delhi at the end of the 19thC and, whilst he came back to Wales at a young age, at least the two previous generations back to the early 19thC were out their all their lives (one great grandfather was in the Indian Army, another a teacher in India - which made the Cyril Fielding character all the more personally interesting).
Moved on to Daniel Deronda, which I'm reading for my other group. I suspect I might leaven it with some other reading, but, given its size, need to give myself time to get going!
26kjuliff
>25 Willoyd: Yes Passage to India must have been interesting to you with your family connection to the time India was part of the British Empire.
The Brits are getting a hard rap re the colonies right now, with many forgetting the British were not the only colonizers. I’m from Australia so British colonialism has been a hot topic since the 1960s, especially as we are part of the Commonwealth and there’s a big Republican movement there.
It’s been years since I read Passage to India and I found it an easy and enjoyable read.
Thank you for review and the information around your reading it.
I see your are from West Yorkshire. I spent some weeks travelling around Yorkshire and Derbyshire- a delightful area of England.
The Brits are getting a hard rap re the colonies right now, with many forgetting the British were not the only colonizers. I’m from Australia so British colonialism has been a hot topic since the 1960s, especially as we are part of the Commonwealth and there’s a big Republican movement there.
It’s been years since I read Passage to India and I found it an easy and enjoyable read.
Thank you for review and the information around your reading it.
I see your are from West Yorkshire. I spent some weeks travelling around Yorkshire and Derbyshire- a delightful area of England.
27dchaikin
>25 Willoyd: I really enjoyed your review and very interesting about your family history. I haven't read Forster, but I actually have a copy of A Passage to India on my shelves.
28lilisin
Seems we have quite a bit of overlap in our reading including reading Zola's opus so I'm starring your thread for the year!
29baswood
>25 Willoyd: Interesting that you found Passage to India an easy read. I agree his status as a serious author should not put people off.
30arubabookwoman
I'm a big E.M. Forster fan too, and loved Howard's End when I read it a few years ago (the movie with Emma Thompson was pretty good too). I last read A Passage to India while I was in the hospital when my oldest daughter was born. Since she will turn 44 this year, I think it's time for a reread. I do remember contemplating naming her Adela, but I didn't. :)
I am another devotee of Zola, reading through the Rougon Maquart series. I have 4 more to go (I think) but I have been stalled on picking the series up again for a few years. Better get a move on.
Interested to see what you think of Daniel Deronda. I read it a long time ago, and I don't remember much about it, but I've seen references to it having issues/themes of Judaism. Not sure if I'm remembering wrong.
I am another devotee of Zola, reading through the Rougon Maquart series. I have 4 more to go (I think) but I have been stalled on picking the series up again for a few years. Better get a move on.
Interested to see what you think of Daniel Deronda. I read it a long time ago, and I don't remember much about it, but I've seen references to it having issues/themes of Judaism. Not sure if I'm remembering wrong.
31AlisonY
You've piqued by interest with your review of A Passage to India. I also loved Howard's End, and also Maurice, but I was really disappointed with A Room With a View so haven't picked up anything else by E.M. Forster since. Sounds like I should give that one a go.
A read my first Zola last year and loved it, so looking forward to your reviews this year.
A read my first Zola last year and loved it, so looking forward to your reviews this year.
32rachbxl
I have had A Passage to India on my TBR shelves since before I knew they were TBR shelves, but I’ve always shied away from it because like you I assumed it would be heavy going. You’ve made me want to read it - thanks!
33FlorenceArt
A Passage To India looks very interesting. The only Forster I read was A Room With a View and I enjoyed it. I don’t know why I haven’t read more by him.
34SassyLassy
>25 Willoyd: A Passage to India would be a "good first book of the year". I remember really liking it when I first read it, but rereading it later left me feeling at times uneasy.
Daniel Deronda is an interesting selection for a book club. Looking forward to hearing how that goes!
Daniel Deronda is an interesting selection for a book club. Looking forward to hearing how that goes!
35Willoyd
>30 arubabookwoman:
I have 4 more to go (I think). Well ahead of me, even if you have stalled (which I've done with my Dickens reads!).
but I've seen references to it having issues/themes of Judaism. Not sure if I'm remembering wrong. No, I think your memory is absolutely spot on!
>34 SassyLassy:
Daniel Deronda is an interesting selection for a book club. Looking forward to hearing how that goes! It's certainly that! I'm finding it quite challenging, not least because (as I think I said in an earlier post) since lockdown I've struggled to really get to grips with any longer fiction - just don't seem to be able to settle. I'm about 100 pages in, and finding just that. Middlemarch is one of my all-time favourite reads, and I used to love a bigger book, so not sure quite why. Currently reading it in 30-40 page bites to try and build some momentum. It might be a while before I post an awful lot on this! Am interspersing it with some quicker reading, but need to get a move on as the meeting is early Feb.
I have 4 more to go (I think). Well ahead of me, even if you have stalled (which I've done with my Dickens reads!).
but I've seen references to it having issues/themes of Judaism. Not sure if I'm remembering wrong. No, I think your memory is absolutely spot on!
>34 SassyLassy:
Daniel Deronda is an interesting selection for a book club. Looking forward to hearing how that goes! It's certainly that! I'm finding it quite challenging, not least because (as I think I said in an earlier post) since lockdown I've struggled to really get to grips with any longer fiction - just don't seem to be able to settle. I'm about 100 pages in, and finding just that. Middlemarch is one of my all-time favourite reads, and I used to love a bigger book, so not sure quite why. Currently reading it in 30-40 page bites to try and build some momentum. It might be a while before I post an awful lot on this! Am interspersing it with some quicker reading, but need to get a move on as the meeting is early Feb.
36LolaWalser
Happy new year, Will whom-I-know-from-elsewhere!
THE place to come to for Anglo classics, I see. :)
THE place to come to for Anglo classics, I see. :)
37Willoyd
>36 LolaWalser: Good to meet up with you again! I've really only just started venturing beyond FSD in the last couple of years, and am delighted to have found this place.
38Willoyd
03. Strong Female Character by Fern Brady ****
Well, I said I would probably need to leaven Daniel Deronda a bit, but I didn't expect this! Picked up on a whim in my local independent, having been grabbed by the first couple of pages, this proved an utterly compelling memoir. Fern Brady is a best known as a stand-up comedian, but the focus here is very much on her experiences growing up as an autistic female, undiagnosed until well into adulthood. It's a ferociously vivid read, doesn't pull any punches, and really shows up how far society as a whole has to go in this aspect of life - we are not good at 'different'. I must admit, as an ex-primary teacher who taught two autistic girls in my last three years (one diagnosed, the other not, but blindingly obviously so) I wish I'd had the chance to read this beforehand!! It was an eyeopener, and particularly so where the author related her experiences / behaviour to the research into and recognised 'symptoms' of autism - and where she showed how those who should have known better missed the signs completely. What's really worrying is the strong implication that little has changed. I hadn't realised when I bought the book that it had been shortlisted for the Nero Book Awards Non-Fiction prize, but found out as I finished it, that it had actually won. I'm not surprised. Once or twice I felt it could have done with some stronger editing (a minor comment I hasten to add), but I am so glad I picked it up!
(Book 02 this year was the York Advance Notes study guide to A Passage To India - which served its purpose well).
Well, I said I would probably need to leaven Daniel Deronda a bit, but I didn't expect this! Picked up on a whim in my local independent, having been grabbed by the first couple of pages, this proved an utterly compelling memoir. Fern Brady is a best known as a stand-up comedian, but the focus here is very much on her experiences growing up as an autistic female, undiagnosed until well into adulthood. It's a ferociously vivid read, doesn't pull any punches, and really shows up how far society as a whole has to go in this aspect of life - we are not good at 'different'. I must admit, as an ex-primary teacher who taught two autistic girls in my last three years (one diagnosed, the other not, but blindingly obviously so) I wish I'd had the chance to read this beforehand!! It was an eyeopener, and particularly so where the author related her experiences / behaviour to the research into and recognised 'symptoms' of autism - and where she showed how those who should have known better missed the signs completely. What's really worrying is the strong implication that little has changed. I hadn't realised when I bought the book that it had been shortlisted for the Nero Book Awards Non-Fiction prize, but found out as I finished it, that it had actually won. I'm not surprised. Once or twice I felt it could have done with some stronger editing (a minor comment I hasten to add), but I am so glad I picked it up!
(Book 02 this year was the York Advance Notes study guide to A Passage To India - which served its purpose well).
39labfs39
>38 Willoyd: This sounds very interesting. I'll keep an eye out for it.
40dianeham
>38 Willoyd: Wanna read that!
41dchaikin
>38 Willoyd: sounds interesting. I don’t know much about the Nero Book Award.
42rv1988
> Hello, I'm new to CR and am just catching up on your thread. Your organized reading is very impressive (and inspirational). Wish I could be this sorted! Fern Brady is a wonderful comedian, I really enjoyed her on Taskmaster.
>41 dchaikin: the Nero Book Award was just launched, and Fern Brady is the first to win the non-fiction prize. Paul Murray won the fiction prize for The Bee Sting. I think the award was launched to fill the gap left by the Costa Book Awards, which were shut down last year after having been awarded for 50 years previously.
>41 dchaikin: the Nero Book Award was just launched, and Fern Brady is the first to win the non-fiction prize. Paul Murray won the fiction prize for The Bee Sting. I think the award was launched to fill the gap left by the Costa Book Awards, which were shut down last year after having been awarded for 50 years previously.
43dchaikin
>42 rv1988: thanks for that info on the Nero.
44Willoyd
04. Daniel Deronda by George Eliot *****
Read for one of my book groups. Having said that, this has long been on my to read list, and I was grateful to be kickstarted to actually read this huge tome - by far and away the longest book I've read in the past few years, coming in at 900 pages in Everyman Classic edition (and just over 1000 pages and 2 volumes in my 1930s Collins Clear Type Press edition!). Right from the outset, I would say that it's not (IMO!) quite in the same league as Middlemarch, but it is a powerful, intricate, fascinating read, that never lost my interest in the 3 weeks or so that it took me to read. In many respects (and it's often claimed to be as such) it's almost two books rolled into one: the story of spoiled, almost childlike, Gwendolyn Harleth and her marriage to perhaps one of the nastiest characters in fiction, Henleigh Grandcourt, and that of Daniel Deronda, foster son of Grandcourt's uncle, Sir Hugo Mallinger, and his search for self-identity. Indeed, it has been argued that the book(s) would have been better if separated, one critic (FR Leavis) in particular arguing that if it wasn't for the burden of the latter story, the former would be one of the great classics. Hmmm. I can see where this comes from, but the fact is that the two parts are integral to each other for the whole book. Gwendolyn and Deronda are foils for each other's development (although Gwendolyn is initially so self-centred that she barely notices anything else Daniel might be doing or thinking), and Gwendolyn and Mirah are important foils to each other in their relationship with Deronda. And how would Leavis handle Daniel's 'journey' if cutting out his relationship with Mordecai? On the other hand, there have been many (mostly interested in the Zionist aspects) who would discard the Gwendolyn thread. Ridiculous!
But, I can understand where these arguments come from. With two major plot lines, each in itself worthy of its own book, it's not surprising that this novel is so big. It's thus all too often encumbered (and yes, I'm afraid it does feel that way at times) with having to cut away from one narrative thread to deal with the other: the two only really come fully together in the final hundred and fifty pages or so (when the action transfers to Genoa), only nudging up against each other at varying points in the previous 750! But, having said that, I did find watching the development of these two very different characters absolutely fascinating.
What I think is easy to forget is how radical this book must have been at the time of publication, with Eliot's Jewish plotline, a time when anti-semitism was almost engrained in English society - it was certainly not appreciated by a fair proportion of her readership. My biggest regret though on this side is that Mirah, so central to the novel, is so thin as a character, particularly alongside the superbly developed Gwendolyn. We see into the heart of the latter, whilst we barely scratch the former's surface - too good and sweet by half. It often seems that way in Victorian fiction: it's the flawed, or worse, characters who are best developed, whilst the 'goodies' (especially the women) are so often left to be mildly uninteresting or at best over-sentimentalused. One of the strongest characters in this book is Grandcourt - the portrayal of his subjugation of Gwendolyn is brilliantly delineated, a classic case of isolation abuse, exploiting to the full all the advantages of the husband in Victorian society - a fair amount left to be read between the lines.
Daniel Deronda was not an easy read, but it was gripping. I initially found myself having to plan to read a set number of pages each day to ensure I finished the book in time. In the event, as the book progressed, I didn't need to worry with that, as I found momentum building up. There were one or two sections where I found myself gliding over some of the more detailed discussion, especially on philosophical or religious topics, but on the whole I actually found myself hanging on to the words. With so much to discuss (I've barely scratched the surface above!) it'll make for a good evening.
(And why is it, whenever I try to write a review of a half decent book, I really struggle to make sense? These reviews never turn out the way I envisage them, and I never seem to be able to write coherently about all the issues and questions these books raise).
Read for one of my book groups. Having said that, this has long been on my to read list, and I was grateful to be kickstarted to actually read this huge tome - by far and away the longest book I've read in the past few years, coming in at 900 pages in Everyman Classic edition (and just over 1000 pages and 2 volumes in my 1930s Collins Clear Type Press edition!). Right from the outset, I would say that it's not (IMO!) quite in the same league as Middlemarch, but it is a powerful, intricate, fascinating read, that never lost my interest in the 3 weeks or so that it took me to read. In many respects (and it's often claimed to be as such) it's almost two books rolled into one: the story of spoiled, almost childlike, Gwendolyn Harleth and her marriage to perhaps one of the nastiest characters in fiction, Henleigh Grandcourt, and that of Daniel Deronda, foster son of Grandcourt's uncle, Sir Hugo Mallinger, and his search for self-identity. Indeed, it has been argued that the book(s) would have been better if separated, one critic (FR Leavis) in particular arguing that if it wasn't for the burden of the latter story, the former would be one of the great classics. Hmmm. I can see where this comes from, but the fact is that the two parts are integral to each other for the whole book. Gwendolyn and Deronda are foils for each other's development (although Gwendolyn is initially so self-centred that she barely notices anything else Daniel might be doing or thinking), and Gwendolyn and Mirah are important foils to each other in their relationship with Deronda. And how would Leavis handle Daniel's 'journey' if cutting out his relationship with Mordecai? On the other hand, there have been many (mostly interested in the Zionist aspects) who would discard the Gwendolyn thread. Ridiculous!
But, I can understand where these arguments come from. With two major plot lines, each in itself worthy of its own book, it's not surprising that this novel is so big. It's thus all too often encumbered (and yes, I'm afraid it does feel that way at times) with having to cut away from one narrative thread to deal with the other: the two only really come fully together in the final hundred and fifty pages or so (when the action transfers to Genoa), only nudging up against each other at varying points in the previous 750! But, having said that, I did find watching the development of these two very different characters absolutely fascinating.
What I think is easy to forget is how radical this book must have been at the time of publication, with Eliot's Jewish plotline, a time when anti-semitism was almost engrained in English society - it was certainly not appreciated by a fair proportion of her readership. My biggest regret though on this side is that Mirah, so central to the novel, is so thin as a character, particularly alongside the superbly developed Gwendolyn. We see into the heart of the latter, whilst we barely scratch the former's surface - too good and sweet by half. It often seems that way in Victorian fiction: it's the flawed, or worse, characters who are best developed, whilst the 'goodies' (especially the women) are so often left to be mildly uninteresting or at best over-sentimentalused. One of the strongest characters in this book is Grandcourt - the portrayal of his subjugation of Gwendolyn is brilliantly delineated, a classic case of isolation abuse, exploiting to the full all the advantages of the husband in Victorian society - a fair amount left to be read between the lines.
Daniel Deronda was not an easy read, but it was gripping. I initially found myself having to plan to read a set number of pages each day to ensure I finished the book in time. In the event, as the book progressed, I didn't need to worry with that, as I found momentum building up. There were one or two sections where I found myself gliding over some of the more detailed discussion, especially on philosophical or religious topics, but on the whole I actually found myself hanging on to the words. With so much to discuss (I've barely scratched the surface above!) it'll make for a good evening.
(And why is it, whenever I try to write a review of a half decent book, I really struggle to make sense? These reviews never turn out the way I envisage them, and I never seem to be able to write coherently about all the issues and questions these books raise).
45japaul22
I read this back in 2008, just before I started writing reviews so I unfortunately can't look back to jog my memory. I remember Gwendolyn's story pretty well, but I don't remember Daniel Deronda's story very well at all. Maybe I will reread this some day. Sounds like a good candidate for rereading. Enjoyed your review!
46ELiz_M
>44 Willoyd: very nice review! While not my favorite book of hers, it was still an excellent read. I'm glad you enjoyed the entire behemourh.
47labfs39
>44 Willoyd: Congrats! That sounds like a giant of a book, not for the faint of heart.
48dchaikin
Great experience and review. I read Middlemarch last year, the first time i’ve read Eliot. I would like to read this one too. I feel like your review provides an introduction for me.
49SassyLassy
>44 Willoyd: Congratulations on finishing, and great review. I may even consider a reread!
(And why is it, whenever I try to write a review of a half decent book, I really struggle to make sense? These reviews never turn out the way I envisage them, and I never seem to be able to write coherently about all the issues and questions these books raise).
I often feel this way too, but I've decided that these books present so much to think about, that it's difficult to encapsulate everything they engender in the reader (me) into a CR review, when what you (me) would really like is a sit down discussion with others about the book. Then, if you were really lucky, you could take those ideas away, think about them, and come back and meet again.
(And why is it, whenever I try to write a review of a half decent book, I really struggle to make sense? These reviews never turn out the way I envisage them, and I never seem to be able to write coherently about all the issues and questions these books raise).
I often feel this way too, but I've decided that these books present so much to think about, that it's difficult to encapsulate everything they engender in the reader (me) into a CR review, when what you (me) would really like is a sit down discussion with others about the book. Then, if you were really lucky, you could take those ideas away, think about them, and come back and meet again.
50Willoyd
>49 SassyLassy:
I often feel this way too, but I've decided that these books present so much to think about, that it's difficult to encapsulate everything they engender in the reader (me) into a CR review, when what you (me) would really like is a sit down discussion with others about the book. Then, if you were really lucky, you could take those ideas away, think about them, and come back and meet again.
Exactly! We had our book group meeting tonight, and it was one of the best discussions we've ever had about a book - there was so much to discuss, and some fascinatingly different takes on various issues. I'm almost inspired to read again (but not quite, at least yet)! Perhaps most interesting of all for me was the idea that came up of elements of Deronda being an extension of Middlemarch: Rosamund a precursor to Gwendolyn and Casaubon leading into Grandcourt. Now that is a book I could reread, but I also want to get stuck into (for the first time) Adam Bede. In the meantime, alongside another book, have started Claire Carlisle's The Marriage Question.
I often feel this way too, but I've decided that these books present so much to think about, that it's difficult to encapsulate everything they engender in the reader (me) into a CR review, when what you (me) would really like is a sit down discussion with others about the book. Then, if you were really lucky, you could take those ideas away, think about them, and come back and meet again.
Exactly! We had our book group meeting tonight, and it was one of the best discussions we've ever had about a book - there was so much to discuss, and some fascinatingly different takes on various issues. I'm almost inspired to read again (but not quite, at least yet)! Perhaps most interesting of all for me was the idea that came up of elements of Deronda being an extension of Middlemarch: Rosamund a precursor to Gwendolyn and Casaubon leading into Grandcourt. Now that is a book I could reread, but I also want to get stuck into (for the first time) Adam Bede. In the meantime, alongside another book, have started Claire Carlisle's The Marriage Question.
51arubabookwoman
Your review and this discussion make me want to reread Daniel Deronda. I read it so long ago I can barely remember it. I have a much clearer memory of Middle March.
52Willoyd
05. Cursed Bread by Sophie Mackintosh **
I picked this up in our local bookshop as the premise intrigued me, being (apparently) based on a real incident in 1950s France, when an entire village (including animals!) succumbed to some form of (never identified) mass poisoning. On this, the author bases a 'darkly erotic mystery'. There was certainly a lushness, an elegance of writing that initially drew me in, giving the book an instant appeal, but after the (promising) first twenty pages or so when the two principal couples are introduced and developed (baker and wife with non-existent sex life, he obsessed with the 'perfect loaf'; metropolitan 'ambassador' and wife Violet, interesting sex life, a source of increasing obsession for the baker's wife Elodie) things started to deteriorate. The whole sexual aspect felt increasingly unlikely and contrived (and disjointed), whilst the the only mystery for me was a growing sense of confusion, wondering what on earth was going on, and had the author lost the plot (literally)? The story, mainly told in the first person by Elodie, interspersed with letters to Violet from Elodie written long after the events being described, felt increasingly disjointed and engendered irritation rather than intrigue (morsels of the outcome being dripped into the story by these letters). Relationships and plot progression just became more and more obscure, especially as one was never sure if Elodie was fantasising, recounting fantasy, or actually giving us the reality; there's unreliable narrator and unreliable narrator! To be honest, I found this easier and easier to put down and harder and harder to pick up; in short, I was bored, this coming over increasingly as more an exercise in style than a piece of narrative fiction.
I finally forced myself to sit down and read the last 60 or so pages (it's only 180 pages long) in one sitting, as I realised I simply wasn't going to reach the finishing line otherwise. And when I got there? Nothing, or at least little of any consequence or interest to this reader. In fact, a thorough anti-climax, particularly in relation to the mystery that wasn't - because the mystery I was interested in is what happened over the mass poisoning (touched on throughout), and that really wasn't what the author was interested in after all. Yes, the 'darkly erotic' bit was resolved, but then I'd never found that interesting (and certainly not 'erotic'). In one phrase? Elegantly tedious. Not sure whether to give this one star, or allow a second for the writing, because strictly speaking the ending took it beyond being just 'disappointing' (2 stars) into the genuinely unlikeable (1 star).
I picked this up in our local bookshop as the premise intrigued me, being (apparently) based on a real incident in 1950s France, when an entire village (including animals!) succumbed to some form of (never identified) mass poisoning. On this, the author bases a 'darkly erotic mystery'. There was certainly a lushness, an elegance of writing that initially drew me in, giving the book an instant appeal, but after the (promising) first twenty pages or so when the two principal couples are introduced and developed (baker and wife with non-existent sex life, he obsessed with the 'perfect loaf'; metropolitan 'ambassador' and wife Violet, interesting sex life, a source of increasing obsession for the baker's wife Elodie) things started to deteriorate. The whole sexual aspect felt increasingly unlikely and contrived (and disjointed), whilst the the only mystery for me was a growing sense of confusion, wondering what on earth was going on, and had the author lost the plot (literally)? The story, mainly told in the first person by Elodie, interspersed with letters to Violet from Elodie written long after the events being described, felt increasingly disjointed and engendered irritation rather than intrigue (morsels of the outcome being dripped into the story by these letters). Relationships and plot progression just became more and more obscure, especially as one was never sure if Elodie was fantasising, recounting fantasy, or actually giving us the reality; there's unreliable narrator and unreliable narrator! To be honest, I found this easier and easier to put down and harder and harder to pick up; in short, I was bored, this coming over increasingly as more an exercise in style than a piece of narrative fiction.
I finally forced myself to sit down and read the last 60 or so pages (it's only 180 pages long) in one sitting, as I realised I simply wasn't going to reach the finishing line otherwise. And when I got there? Nothing, or at least little of any consequence or interest to this reader. In fact, a thorough anti-climax, particularly in relation to the mystery that wasn't - because the mystery I was interested in is what happened over the mass poisoning (touched on throughout), and that really wasn't what the author was interested in after all. Yes, the 'darkly erotic' bit was resolved, but then I'd never found that interesting (and certainly not 'erotic'). In one phrase? Elegantly tedious. Not sure whether to give this one star, or allow a second for the writing, because strictly speaking the ending took it beyond being just 'disappointing' (2 stars) into the genuinely unlikeable (1 star).
53SassyLassy
>52 Willoyd: There was a real case in France in 1951 in Pont Saint Espirit. It was ergotamine poisoning from rye flour (maybe that's why Mackintosh introduced the baker).
An older book The Day of St Anthony's Fire (1969) is a non fiction account of it.
Too bad the novel was so disappointing. The whole event could have made a great bit of fiction.
An older book The Day of St Anthony's Fire (1969) is a non fiction account of it.
Too bad the novel was so disappointing. The whole event could have made a great bit of fiction.
54baswood
>52 Willoyd: I finally forced myself to sit down and read the last 60 or so pages (it's only 180 pages long) in one sitting, as I realised I simply wasn't going to reach the finishing line otherwise. you sound like a finisher-completer and if so welcome to the club.
>53 SassyLassy: I had not heard of this
>53 SassyLassy: I had not heard of this
55dchaikin
>52 Willoyd: well, interesting premise anyway. I’m glad for your sake that it was short. And wish you a better next book!
56LolaWalser
>52 Willoyd:, >53 SassyLassy:
Tacking onto Sassy's recommendation, there's also Leo Perutz's fabulous Saint Peter's Snow from 1933. If you've never read Perutz, you're missing out.
Tacking onto Sassy's recommendation, there's also Leo Perutz's fabulous Saint Peter's Snow from 1933. If you've never read Perutz, you're missing out.
57Jim53
>38 Willoyd: This sounds interesting. I have enjoyed a couple of short videos I've seen of Ms. Brady's comedy. I've added it to my (rather long) list at the library.
Also, much admiration for getting through Daniel Deronda!
Also, much admiration for getting through Daniel Deronda!
58dianeham
>52 Willoyd: I don’t remember everything but weren’t the darkly erotic bit and the poisoning related? It was a year ago but that’s how I remember it. I gave it 4 stars. I’d reread the end but it’s not available right now.
59Willoyd
>58 dianeham:
I don’t remember everything but weren’t the darkly erotic bit and the poisoning related?
There was certainly some deliberate poisoning going on - with ground glass at one point - but I really struggled to relate any of the darkly erotic affair with the poisoning - that was part of the disappointment really, how irrelevant the poisoning all seemed to be. But the way it was written, it was hard to work out. Chatting with a fellow book group member who also read it, she found it the same. I'll have a reread myself, and see if can work it out!
>53 SassyLassy:
There was a real case in France in 1951 in Pont Saint Espirit. It was ergotamine poisoning from rye flour (maybe that's why Mackintosh introduced the baker).
An older book The Day of St Anthony's Fire (1969) is a non fiction account of it.
Yes, there is a note in the book that says it relates to that outbreak. I understand the most likely cause is regarded as ergot poisoning, but it was never actually solved for sure. I'll try and track a copy of that book down (I've several times found the non-fiction book more interesting than the fiction: last time it was Everyone Knows Your Mother is a Witch, which I thought was OK but little more, whilst The Astronomer and the Witch, on which EKYMIAW was based, was absolutely fascinating).
I don’t remember everything but weren’t the darkly erotic bit and the poisoning related?
There was certainly some deliberate poisoning going on - with ground glass at one point - but I really struggled to relate any of the darkly erotic affair with the poisoning - that was part of the disappointment really, how irrelevant the poisoning all seemed to be. But the way it was written, it was hard to work out. Chatting with a fellow book group member who also read it, she found it the same. I'll have a reread myself, and see if can work it out!
>53 SassyLassy:
There was a real case in France in 1951 in Pont Saint Espirit. It was ergotamine poisoning from rye flour (maybe that's why Mackintosh introduced the baker).
An older book The Day of St Anthony's Fire (1969) is a non fiction account of it.
Yes, there is a note in the book that says it relates to that outbreak. I understand the most likely cause is regarded as ergot poisoning, but it was never actually solved for sure. I'll try and track a copy of that book down (I've several times found the non-fiction book more interesting than the fiction: last time it was Everyone Knows Your Mother is a Witch, which I thought was OK but little more, whilst The Astronomer and the Witch, on which EKYMIAW was based, was absolutely fascinating).
60valkyrdeath
Just caught up on your thread, some good reading so far this year! The George Eliot and the Fern Brady books are both ones I've been intending to read, and I've been meaning to read something by Forster though haven't decided what book to start with yet.
61Willoyd
06. The Bone Readers by Jacob Ross *****
The book for Grenada in my Reading The World project. I don't often read crime fiction, although I am a fan of both Simenon (Maigret) and Leon (Brunetti), and have enjoyed a fair few others (admittedly usually historical fiction, like CJ Sampson). However, this appealed from the word go, and in the event didn't disappoint. As with all the best crime fiction, it's so much more. Yes, it has a good plot (and this is not cosy crime, having corruption, child abuse and statutory rape at the heart of the problem), but that's not what makes a book for me. What I enjoyed were the strongly drawn characters (both male and female), the sense of place (a major part of why I so enjoy Simenon and Leon), and the insights into island culture and politics. The author tries to reflect the local patois in his dialogue, and yet still manages to leave it eminently readable and understandable, only demanding a couple of rereads when I realised I'd misunderstood something!
In short, I find this pretty much unputdownable, reading into the early hours to finish off last night - that doesn't happen often with me! And, as a confirmation of how good I thought this was, I've already ordered Ross's other two novels from my local bookshop. Whether it gets upgraded to 6-star/favourite status later, time will tell, but in the meantime, this is an easy 5-star grading.
The book for Grenada in my Reading The World project. I don't often read crime fiction, although I am a fan of both Simenon (Maigret) and Leon (Brunetti), and have enjoyed a fair few others (admittedly usually historical fiction, like CJ Sampson). However, this appealed from the word go, and in the event didn't disappoint. As with all the best crime fiction, it's so much more. Yes, it has a good plot (and this is not cosy crime, having corruption, child abuse and statutory rape at the heart of the problem), but that's not what makes a book for me. What I enjoyed were the strongly drawn characters (both male and female), the sense of place (a major part of why I so enjoy Simenon and Leon), and the insights into island culture and politics. The author tries to reflect the local patois in his dialogue, and yet still manages to leave it eminently readable and understandable, only demanding a couple of rereads when I realised I'd misunderstood something!
In short, I find this pretty much unputdownable, reading into the early hours to finish off last night - that doesn't happen often with me! And, as a confirmation of how good I thought this was, I've already ordered Ross's other two novels from my local bookshop. Whether it gets upgraded to 6-star/favourite status later, time will tell, but in the meantime, this is an easy 5-star grading.
62dchaikin
>61 Willoyd: sounds fun. Grenada…hmm. Wonder what other books are associated with the island.
63Willoyd
>62 dchaikin:
Ann Morgan mentions Tobias Buckell as an author, and The Ladies are Upstairs by Merle Collins, the latter being the book she read for her world tour.
Ann Morgan mentions Tobias Buckell as an author, and The Ladies are Upstairs by Merle Collins, the latter being the book she read for her world tour.
64ELiz_M
>62 dchaikin: well, if you want very loosely associated there is this:
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/grenada
(The crowd-sourced "shelf" naming on goodreads is not especially reliable, but with a little investigation can turn up what you're looking for)
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/grenada
(The crowd-sourced "shelf" naming on goodreads is not especially reliable, but with a little investigation can turn up what you're looking for)
66Willoyd
07. Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout ***
My book for Maine in my Tour of the USA. I originally had Richard Russo's Empire Falls down for this, not least because I'd been somewhat underwhelmed by my previous effort at a Strout novel, My Name Is Lucy Barton, but a book group discussion (where I was in a minority of one in my views on the author's work!) encouraged me to give her another go - and given the success of this book (Pulitzer Prize winner) it seemed the obvious one. It's construction is also one that intrigued, the novel being formed from 13 short stories.
Well, I'm very glad to have read Olive and, whilst I can't say I have been completely converted, it was certainly a far more rewarding experience than the one with Lucy Barton. Or, perhaps, 'appreciated' would be a better word, as books as downbeat as this are rarely 'enjoyable'! It's certainly beautifully written: I was caught up in the writing from the outset, and loved the little details, the turns of phrase and the internal monologues; characters and place were strongly wrought. I found the development of Olive herself particularly intriguing, the way she ran as a thread through the 13 stories, sometimes the main character, rather more often introduced sideways, almost a cameo on occasions. The themes of older age, personal isolation (even when surrounded by others) and contrasting perceptions and experiencing of the same events also added to the coherence and interest, making me sit back after each story and reflect on what I'd just read. Characters were not necessarily likeable (far from it - there weren't many that were in fact, including Olive herself), but they were interesting.
And yet, and yet...whilst this worked for me as a collection of connected short stories, it didn't quite make it as a novel in the same way that, for instance, Jonathan Escoffery's If I Survive You did. Whilst there were elements of connection, in the end the stories themselves were just too fragmented to create the coherence that a novel needs. That fragmentation was created in a a number of ways, none enough on their own, but together too much.
Firstly, the story chronology is out of sequence. This in itself isn't a major issue, but when you read in the first story that Olive's husband Henry has retired, and then in the second story that he's thinking of retiring, it just jolts one out of immersion, prompts checking and questioning before settling (slightly uncertain) back in, and leaves one never quite trusting the thread of the narrative after that. It might be a set of short stories, but it's also a novel, and whilst plenty of novels use time shifts etc (often to advantage), there's a reason, and here there seems to be no good reason for doing so.
Secondly, the characters are too fragmented, or at least isolated. The Kitteridge family provide some continuity, with Olive, Henry and son Christopher appearing throughout. One or two other characters appear in more than one story, but in general, once a person has been written about, they largely vanish. Given that this is meant to be a relatively small community (or at least that's the impression), that just didn't work for me - I'd expect people to appear and reappear. It also proved unsatisfactory. If you're going to have a dramatic event in a novel, then one expects, indeed wants, to learn something of the outcome of that event. You just don't have one, and then no mention of it or those involved ever again.
Finally, there's the repetition. In several later stories we are told things that we already know about: we've read all about them only a story/chapter or so earlier. The copyright page tells us that several of the stories have been published previously (over a 15 year period), which is fine, but if they are now being brought together as a novel, then they need editing and co-ordinating. There was also a feeling of sameness to several of the stories - we are dealing with different people (by name), but rather too similar characters/scenarios?
The disjunct between novel and short stories was also driven home by the fact that for a small community, there's an awful lot of drama: murder, hostage taking, suicide (more than one), accidental killings, along with all the other life threatening natural hazards of life. It's not quite Midsomer* but it still seems a bit OTT, and maybe lent to that sameness feeling? Never mind being downbeat about old age, I think most of those inhabitants of Crosby, Maine, would be grateful, even relieved, to make it that far. I think that's partly because one piece of such drama in a short story is fine - it works, it's what the story is centred around. But drama after drama, in each chapter, is too much for a novel. The result was that, whilst some of the drama worked well for me early on, by the second half of the book I was grateful for the stories focusing on the domestic.
However, whilst I feel I've focused rather on the negatives, in the greater scheme of things they are rather more blemishes than deep-seated faults. I found so much of this compulsive reading, not least the character of Olive herself. She's obviously not immediately likeable, if at all, but there's a humanity to her that gives her depth, and makes you wonder quite what you would make of her yourself. There's an ongoing thread around her relationship with Christopher that raises all sorts of questions, discussion points, issues of witness reliability etc worthy of a whole book on its own, never mind everything else - it's superbly handled by the author, and is one of the most thought provoking threads I've read in fiction for some time (not least because it's so relevant to aspects of my life).
So, an involving, interesting book (I rarely write as much as this in review), stronger if treated in its raw form as a collection of individual short stories. I certainly intend to try out more of Elizabeth Strout, and more specifically re-examine Lucy Barton. She may not be a 'favourite' author, but is one that has made me think here, and I'm interested to see what I make of some of her other work.
*For non-British: Midsomer Murders is a long running TV detective series in the UK, set in a rural part of England. It's notorious for the incredibly high murder rate given the size of population!
My book for Maine in my Tour of the USA. I originally had Richard Russo's Empire Falls down for this, not least because I'd been somewhat underwhelmed by my previous effort at a Strout novel, My Name Is Lucy Barton, but a book group discussion (where I was in a minority of one in my views on the author's work!) encouraged me to give her another go - and given the success of this book (Pulitzer Prize winner) it seemed the obvious one. It's construction is also one that intrigued, the novel being formed from 13 short stories.
Well, I'm very glad to have read Olive and, whilst I can't say I have been completely converted, it was certainly a far more rewarding experience than the one with Lucy Barton. Or, perhaps, 'appreciated' would be a better word, as books as downbeat as this are rarely 'enjoyable'! It's certainly beautifully written: I was caught up in the writing from the outset, and loved the little details, the turns of phrase and the internal monologues; characters and place were strongly wrought. I found the development of Olive herself particularly intriguing, the way she ran as a thread through the 13 stories, sometimes the main character, rather more often introduced sideways, almost a cameo on occasions. The themes of older age, personal isolation (even when surrounded by others) and contrasting perceptions and experiencing of the same events also added to the coherence and interest, making me sit back after each story and reflect on what I'd just read. Characters were not necessarily likeable (far from it - there weren't many that were in fact, including Olive herself), but they were interesting.
And yet, and yet...whilst this worked for me as a collection of connected short stories, it didn't quite make it as a novel in the same way that, for instance, Jonathan Escoffery's If I Survive You did. Whilst there were elements of connection, in the end the stories themselves were just too fragmented to create the coherence that a novel needs. That fragmentation was created in a a number of ways, none enough on their own, but together too much.
Firstly, the story chronology is out of sequence. This in itself isn't a major issue, but when you read in the first story that Olive's husband Henry has retired, and then in the second story that he's thinking of retiring, it just jolts one out of immersion, prompts checking and questioning before settling (slightly uncertain) back in, and leaves one never quite trusting the thread of the narrative after that. It might be a set of short stories, but it's also a novel, and whilst plenty of novels use time shifts etc (often to advantage), there's a reason, and here there seems to be no good reason for doing so.
Secondly, the characters are too fragmented, or at least isolated. The Kitteridge family provide some continuity, with Olive, Henry and son Christopher appearing throughout. One or two other characters appear in more than one story, but in general, once a person has been written about, they largely vanish. Given that this is meant to be a relatively small community (or at least that's the impression), that just didn't work for me - I'd expect people to appear and reappear. It also proved unsatisfactory. If you're going to have a dramatic event in a novel, then one expects, indeed wants, to learn something of the outcome of that event. You just don't have one, and then no mention of it or those involved ever again.
Finally, there's the repetition. In several later stories we are told things that we already know about: we've read all about them only a story/chapter or so earlier. The copyright page tells us that several of the stories have been published previously (over a 15 year period), which is fine, but if they are now being brought together as a novel, then they need editing and co-ordinating. There was also a feeling of sameness to several of the stories - we are dealing with different people (by name), but rather too similar characters/scenarios?
The disjunct between novel and short stories was also driven home by the fact that for a small community, there's an awful lot of drama: murder, hostage taking, suicide (more than one), accidental killings, along with all the other life threatening natural hazards of life. It's not quite Midsomer* but it still seems a bit OTT, and maybe lent to that sameness feeling? Never mind being downbeat about old age, I think most of those inhabitants of Crosby, Maine, would be grateful, even relieved, to make it that far. I think that's partly because one piece of such drama in a short story is fine - it works, it's what the story is centred around. But drama after drama, in each chapter, is too much for a novel. The result was that, whilst some of the drama worked well for me early on, by the second half of the book I was grateful for the stories focusing on the domestic.
However, whilst I feel I've focused rather on the negatives, in the greater scheme of things they are rather more blemishes than deep-seated faults. I found so much of this compulsive reading, not least the character of Olive herself. She's obviously not immediately likeable, if at all, but there's a humanity to her that gives her depth, and makes you wonder quite what you would make of her yourself. There's an ongoing thread around her relationship with Christopher that raises all sorts of questions, discussion points, issues of witness reliability etc worthy of a whole book on its own, never mind everything else - it's superbly handled by the author, and is one of the most thought provoking threads I've read in fiction for some time (not least because it's so relevant to aspects of my life).
So, an involving, interesting book (I rarely write as much as this in review), stronger if treated in its raw form as a collection of individual short stories. I certainly intend to try out more of Elizabeth Strout, and more specifically re-examine Lucy Barton. She may not be a 'favourite' author, but is one that has made me think here, and I'm interested to see what I make of some of her other work.
*For non-British: Midsomer Murders is a long running TV detective series in the UK, set in a rural part of England. It's notorious for the incredibly high murder rate given the size of population!
67labfs39
>66 Willoyd: I disliked Olive Kitteridge and have never been tempted to read anything else by Strout, for many of the same reasons you describe, but also "My lack of enthusiasm stems partly from an inability to be drawn into the lives of quiet desperation that seem to plague everyone over the age of fifty. Is there anyone in Crosby, Maine who has not had a late mid-life crisis? And is there anyone in Crosby who has a normal, emotionally healthy mother?" (quoted from my review back when I read the book in 2011). I found it tiresome.
68kjuliff
>67 labfs39: I’ve tried Olive and Lucy and I too can’t get drawn in, yet my best friend in Australia who has almost identical “tastes” in books loves anything Strout. So many see what I’m missing. Glad I’m not alone.
69Willoyd
>67 labfs39: >68 kjuliff:
I can't disagree with any of that - I can totally see where you're coming from, and have considerable sympathy with that view, in spite of my 4 stars. Maybe that's where my feeling of sameness came in? TBH I'm not sure quite how or why my interest was sustained through to the end - it certainly isn't my normal style of book - but it was. I think perhaps because it was a series of short stories, so I was able to compartmentalise each 'chapter', and mentally restart each time - pressed the 'refresh' button? I certainly found myself reading it as such - hardly ever moving from one to the other continuously as if they were chapters rather than individual stories. Maybe that's why I couldn't relate to Lucy Barton, that being a purer novel? As I said, I'm intrigued to try her out further, not for my usual reasons (that I liked the book) but more to explore what actually caught my interest this time - as you can see there's an awful lot of question marks in my reply here! I think, though, that I would rapidly get tired of more of the same.
I can't disagree with any of that - I can totally see where you're coming from, and have considerable sympathy with that view, in spite of my 4 stars. Maybe that's where my feeling of sameness came in? TBH I'm not sure quite how or why my interest was sustained through to the end - it certainly isn't my normal style of book - but it was. I think perhaps because it was a series of short stories, so I was able to compartmentalise each 'chapter', and mentally restart each time - pressed the 'refresh' button? I certainly found myself reading it as such - hardly ever moving from one to the other continuously as if they were chapters rather than individual stories. Maybe that's why I couldn't relate to Lucy Barton, that being a purer novel? As I said, I'm intrigued to try her out further, not for my usual reasons (that I liked the book) but more to explore what actually caught my interest this time - as you can see there's an awful lot of question marks in my reply here! I think, though, that I would rapidly get tired of more of the same.
70labfs39
>69 Willoyd: I think Strout is one of the most divisive authors when it comes to popularity here on Club Read. I think you are one of the few people I know who are middle of the road. People seem to either love or dislike her. Interesting!
71valkyrdeath
>70 labfs39: I'm a middle-of-the-roader too, though I've only read the one book by her. I read Olive Kitteridge in December 2022 and while I didn't dislike it, I've never felt much urge to pick up anything else by Strout and just over a year later I find nothing about the book has stuck with me.
72dchaikin
>66 Willoyd: well, i agree with all the negative aspects in your review. 🙂 Olive was a book I could kind of appreciate, but left me not wanting to read more Strout. Then I had this Booker compulsion and Oh William! was on the list and a I felt responsible to read Lucy Barton 1st. Well, unlike you, I adored Lucy Barton, her voice and her play with reality, almost meta-fiction and literary ideas. 🤷🏻♂️ Great, and thought-provoking and discussion-provoking review.
73ELiz_M
>61 Willoyd: Thanks for this discovery and review! I've added this to the wishlist and my overall plan of possibilities for global reading.
74Willoyd
>72 dchaikin:
Funny how we're opposite of each other. Maybe Strout just needs more than one go! Whatever, I'm really thinking of going back to Lucy Barton at some stage soon - I'm intrigued now to see if I change my mind.
Funny how we're opposite of each other. Maybe Strout just needs more than one go! Whatever, I'm really thinking of going back to Lucy Barton at some stage soon - I'm intrigued now to see if I change my mind.
75dchaikin
>74 Willoyd: well, we’re each unique readers. That’s good. I admit, I’m not tempted to revisit Olive. 🙂
76Willoyd
08. The Marriage Question by Claire Carlisle ****
Read as a follow up to Daniel Deronda, this is a biographical study of George Eliot's life with George Lewes and, to a lesser extent, John Cross after Lewes's death. It's also as much a study of the influence of her 'married' life on her novels. It's an enthralling read, providing considerable insight, and I feel I learned much about both Eliot's life and her writing. Inevitably, I found the chapters covering Deronda and Middlemarch, my most recent and favourite George Eliot books, the most interesting, but the rest was never less so, and I came away keen to both read further and reread (although twice through Silas Marner may be enough already!). Carlisle is a Professor of Philosophy at KCL, and this was transparently obvious in her writing: aside from her extensive discussions on Eliot's philosophy, there's even a chapter so entitled. I have to admit however, that she lost me on occasions, and there were one or two points where I glided rather bemused over the surface for a couple of pages, but the book soon retrieved me the other side. I readily admit that this is almost certainly down to my intellectual failings - I am certainly no George Eliot on that front, as she sounds to have had a formidable mind - the depth of knowledge she insisted on developing on each subject before she wrote on it was remarkable. I was, in contrast, surprised, having long felt that she was something of a feminist icon (she still is IMO, but in a different way perhaps!), as to how much she conformed to the Victorian model of a wife's role with both Lewes and Cross, even if, in Lewes's case, she was strong enough to continue their relationship openly unmarried. Their relationship may not have been acceptable to Victorian society as a whole, but their was still something very upright in the Victorian manner in the arrangements between Lewes and his two partners, once one scratches the surface.
Overall, then, an involving, illuminating read, which has encouraged me to further develop my acquaintance with Eliot's novels (perhaps Adam Bede next?) and to read further on the full extent of her life - I have the Rosemary Ashton biography on my shelves, so that's a distinct possibility later this year.
Read as a follow up to Daniel Deronda, this is a biographical study of George Eliot's life with George Lewes and, to a lesser extent, John Cross after Lewes's death. It's also as much a study of the influence of her 'married' life on her novels. It's an enthralling read, providing considerable insight, and I feel I learned much about both Eliot's life and her writing. Inevitably, I found the chapters covering Deronda and Middlemarch, my most recent and favourite George Eliot books, the most interesting, but the rest was never less so, and I came away keen to both read further and reread (although twice through Silas Marner may be enough already!). Carlisle is a Professor of Philosophy at KCL, and this was transparently obvious in her writing: aside from her extensive discussions on Eliot's philosophy, there's even a chapter so entitled. I have to admit however, that she lost me on occasions, and there were one or two points where I glided rather bemused over the surface for a couple of pages, but the book soon retrieved me the other side. I readily admit that this is almost certainly down to my intellectual failings - I am certainly no George Eliot on that front, as she sounds to have had a formidable mind - the depth of knowledge she insisted on developing on each subject before she wrote on it was remarkable. I was, in contrast, surprised, having long felt that she was something of a feminist icon (she still is IMO, but in a different way perhaps!), as to how much she conformed to the Victorian model of a wife's role with both Lewes and Cross, even if, in Lewes's case, she was strong enough to continue their relationship openly unmarried. Their relationship may not have been acceptable to Victorian society as a whole, but their was still something very upright in the Victorian manner in the arrangements between Lewes and his two partners, once one scratches the surface.
Overall, then, an involving, illuminating read, which has encouraged me to further develop my acquaintance with Eliot's novels (perhaps Adam Bede next?) and to read further on the full extent of her life - I have the Rosemary Ashton biography on my shelves, so that's a distinct possibility later this year.
77SassyLassy
>76 Willoyd: Okay - you've convinced me - I need this book! Really enjoyed reading your thoughts on it.
Re Silas Marner: I had to reread it a year or so ago, and wasn't looking forward to it particularly, but once I did, I was really happy I had.
Re Silas Marner: I had to reread it a year or so ago, and wasn't looking forward to it particularly, but once I did, I was really happy I had.
78dchaikin
>76 Willoyd: great review. Fascinating stuff. At some point I hope to put more time into Eliot. I’m noting this Claire Carlisle biography.
79Willoyd
09. The Sorrow of War by Bao Ninh **
The book for Vietnam in my Reading The World project. This is a classic of the Vietnamese war I understand, on a par with All Quiet on the Western Front and other war greats. I can see sort of see why, but personally I found this a tough, unrewarding read, boring me rigid before I reached half way, and struggling to make it to the end of what is, after all, only a slim 220 pages or so. Graphic in detail (the even mildly squeamish should be wary), unrelenting in its grimness, it may well be an all too starkly accurate portrayal of what the war was like, but I also found it repetitious and narrow in its language (this, of course, may be a function of the translation), equally repetitious in its narrative, and disjointed in its telling - chronological this is not (I don't normally find this a problem, but on this occasion it just confused). The odd attempt at metafiction just felt clumsy. All of this, for some readers (actually, most readers from the reviews - I'm definitely in a minority here) may well add to the impact, or carry this into the realms of the classic, but I'm afraid it just lost me about a quarter of the way in, and with only occasional remissions, it remained that way to the end, by which time I was really having to force myself not to leave it unfinished (I'm really trying to ensure I read books all the way through for this project, even if it's one I'd normally abandon). I'm sure this is down to inadequacy as a reader on my part, but this was a book I was glad, relieved, to put behind me.
The book for Vietnam in my Reading The World project. This is a classic of the Vietnamese war I understand, on a par with All Quiet on the Western Front and other war greats. I can see sort of see why, but personally I found this a tough, unrewarding read, boring me rigid before I reached half way, and struggling to make it to the end of what is, after all, only a slim 220 pages or so. Graphic in detail (the even mildly squeamish should be wary), unrelenting in its grimness, it may well be an all too starkly accurate portrayal of what the war was like, but I also found it repetitious and narrow in its language (this, of course, may be a function of the translation), equally repetitious in its narrative, and disjointed in its telling - chronological this is not (I don't normally find this a problem, but on this occasion it just confused). The odd attempt at metafiction just felt clumsy. All of this, for some readers (actually, most readers from the reviews - I'm definitely in a minority here) may well add to the impact, or carry this into the realms of the classic, but I'm afraid it just lost me about a quarter of the way in, and with only occasional remissions, it remained that way to the end, by which time I was really having to force myself not to leave it unfinished (I'm really trying to ensure I read books all the way through for this project, even if it's one I'd normally abandon). I'm sure this is down to inadequacy as a reader on my part, but this was a book I was glad, relieved, to put behind me.
80labfs39
>79 Willoyd: Oh no, Will. Sorrow to hear this was a tough read. It's been on my wishlist for ages. If you ever want to read another book by a North Vietnamese soldier, I would recommend Novel without a name
by Duong Thu Huong. It was excellent.
by Duong Thu Huong. It was excellent.
81Willoyd
>80 labfs39:
Thanks for the lead.
The thing I would say (as I often do!) is that I wouldn't want any review I wrote to put anybody else off. As we all know, reading is very personal. I'd take any review as a starting point for discussion, just as, when we discuss a book at book group, the best sessions are the ones where people have differing opinions. So, rather than put somebody off, I'd rather they read it and then can compare notes!
Yes, I did find it a surprisingly difficult read. But then, it's a highly rated book by many. I have found lately that quite a few books that have received great reviews and are widely applauded are ones that I just haven't got on with. One of my groups is discussing Demon Copperhead tomorrow evening. I haven't read it for this meeting, as my other group did it last year when I did read it, and, aside from how recently that was*, I just couldn't have faced it again anyway. Actually, I didn't finish it first time I found it so unrelentingly grim and tedious - not a patch on the original. But, I was in a small minority at the previous group meeting, suspect I will be the same tomorrow evening given the comments on our Whats App group, and it's a Women's Prize and Pulitzer winner (and the New York Times recent podcast on it was so gushing I had to turn it off). So....don't rely on my reviews please!
* OTOH, I'm rereading Annie Ernaux's The Years for that other group this month, having only read it in December. Now that's what I call a great book!.
Thanks for the lead.
The thing I would say (as I often do!) is that I wouldn't want any review I wrote to put anybody else off. As we all know, reading is very personal. I'd take any review as a starting point for discussion, just as, when we discuss a book at book group, the best sessions are the ones where people have differing opinions. So, rather than put somebody off, I'd rather they read it and then can compare notes!
Yes, I did find it a surprisingly difficult read. But then, it's a highly rated book by many. I have found lately that quite a few books that have received great reviews and are widely applauded are ones that I just haven't got on with. One of my groups is discussing Demon Copperhead tomorrow evening. I haven't read it for this meeting, as my other group did it last year when I did read it, and, aside from how recently that was*, I just couldn't have faced it again anyway. Actually, I didn't finish it first time I found it so unrelentingly grim and tedious - not a patch on the original. But, I was in a small minority at the previous group meeting, suspect I will be the same tomorrow evening given the comments on our Whats App group, and it's a Women's Prize and Pulitzer winner (and the New York Times recent podcast on it was so gushing I had to turn it off). So....don't rely on my reviews please!
* OTOH, I'm rereading Annie Ernaux's The Years for that other group this month, having only read it in December. Now that's what I call a great book!.
82labfs39
>81 Willoyd: I wouldn't want any review I wrote to put anybody else off. As we all know, reading is very personal. I'd take any review as a starting point for discussion, just as, when we discuss a book at book group, the best sessions are the ones where people have differing opinions. So, rather than put somebody off, I'd rather they read it and then can compare notes!
Absolutely, Will. I will leave The Sorrow of War on my wishlist, but won't run straight to the library and check it out, which I may have been tempted to do if you had raved about it. I take all reviews with a grain of salt, but we seem to have similar tastes in a lot of things, so I do consider your opinions more strongly than some.
I have not read Demon Copperhead, and it's not on my wishlist. The Years, however, is!
Absolutely, Will. I will leave The Sorrow of War on my wishlist, but won't run straight to the library and check it out, which I may have been tempted to do if you had raved about it. I take all reviews with a grain of salt, but we seem to have similar tastes in a lot of things, so I do consider your opinions more strongly than some.
I have not read Demon Copperhead, and it's not on my wishlist. The Years, however, is!
83SassyLassy
>79 Willoyd: >80 labfs39: I read The Sorrow of War way back when it first came out, and have been recommending it ever since. I can definitely see that it wouldn't work for many people though.
With regard to the repetition, do you think this was a device to reenforce just how unrelenting the horror was for someone who had lived it and was now immersing himself in it once again?
Another one here who likes it best when there are differing opinions on a work.
Also seconding the recommendation for Novel without a Name.
With regard to the repetition, do you think this was a device to reenforce just how unrelenting the horror was for someone who had lived it and was now immersing himself in it once again?
Another one here who likes it best when there are differing opinions on a work.
Also seconding the recommendation for Novel without a Name.
84Willoyd
>83 SassyLassy:
With regard to the repetition, do you think this was a device to reenforce just how unrelenting the horror was for someone who had lived it and was now immersing himself in it once again? Probably. But there was other repetition too that, whilst I am sure was deliberate, just annoyed me. I remember sitting back and counting the number of times the word 'lovely' (3) had been used in one short paragraph. It might have been deliberate, but for me it just got in the way and became tedious.
However, here's a review by someone whose views I also respect. Very different to mine, and certainly more informed! : https://ayearofreadingtheworld.com/2012/07/05/vietnam-war-of-words/
In the meantime, I'm in urgent need of some lighter relief!
With regard to the repetition, do you think this was a device to reenforce just how unrelenting the horror was for someone who had lived it and was now immersing himself in it once again? Probably. But there was other repetition too that, whilst I am sure was deliberate, just annoyed me. I remember sitting back and counting the number of times the word 'lovely' (3) had been used in one short paragraph. It might have been deliberate, but for me it just got in the way and became tedious.
However, here's a review by someone whose views I also respect. Very different to mine, and certainly more informed! : https://ayearofreadingtheworld.com/2012/07/05/vietnam-war-of-words/
In the meantime, I'm in urgent need of some lighter relief!
85dchaikin
>79 Willoyd: well, I’m glad you’re past The Sorrow of War. I suspect I wouldn’t take to Demon Copperhead either, but who knows. Glad you liked The Years. I’ll get to that one.
86SassyLassy
>84 Willoyd: Great review in the post, which naturally led me to the "10 best books..." list, of which I've read 7. Along the way it made me wonder whatever happened to Philip Caputo (A Rumour of War), who went on to write other excellent books, switching to novels, about other conflict zones. After checking him out, I see there are several more of his books to catch up on.
Will be interested to see what constitutes lighter relief!
Will be interested to see what constitutes lighter relief!
87Willoyd
10 The Offing by Benjamin Myers *****
We're reading a Myers book for my next book group (The Perfect Golden Circle), but as I've read it before (I may still reread) I decided to try one of his that I hadn't read. My local indie shop owner, knowing I was after something a bit lighter, suggested this. Spot on! It's an elegiac look back by the narrator, Robert, to a time just after the Second World War when, as a young man on the cusp of moving from school to the mines in his Durham coalfield village, decides to 'take off' for a few weeks in the summer to explore the world around him on foot. He lands up in Robin's Hood Bay (on the North Sea coas)t, and meets up with and develops a friendship with an older woman living on her own. It's a Bildungsroman, but aside from that, reminds me very much of perhaps my favourite book, A Month In the Country, as in both the (young male) narrator's character and relationships develop over an English rural summer with a quietly powerful long term impact on their life. - it's not quite there, not being as nuanced, nor with quite the variety of tone and he plot development that was part of what marked AMITC out, but it was a beautifully poetic read with an interesting development, that I can see myself going back to. Benjamin Myers is an author who is gradually growing on me - he's not (so far anyway!) spectacular or showy (although I'm told that a couple of his books that I have yet to read are very different), but quietly gets under your skin. An initial five star read,but could easily get kicked up a level later. (BTW, 'offing' is apparently the name for the distant part of the sea that's in view - the part where the horizon meets the sky).
>86 SassyLassy: Will be interested to see what constitutes lighter relief!
So now you know! Exactly what was needed!
We're reading a Myers book for my next book group (The Perfect Golden Circle), but as I've read it before (I may still reread) I decided to try one of his that I hadn't read. My local indie shop owner, knowing I was after something a bit lighter, suggested this. Spot on! It's an elegiac look back by the narrator, Robert, to a time just after the Second World War when, as a young man on the cusp of moving from school to the mines in his Durham coalfield village, decides to 'take off' for a few weeks in the summer to explore the world around him on foot. He lands up in Robin's Hood Bay (on the North Sea coas)t, and meets up with and develops a friendship with an older woman living on her own. It's a Bildungsroman, but aside from that, reminds me very much of perhaps my favourite book, A Month In the Country, as in both the (young male) narrator's character and relationships develop over an English rural summer with a quietly powerful long term impact on their life. - it's not quite there, not being as nuanced, nor with quite the variety of tone and he plot development that was part of what marked AMITC out, but it was a beautifully poetic read with an interesting development, that I can see myself going back to. Benjamin Myers is an author who is gradually growing on me - he's not (so far anyway!) spectacular or showy (although I'm told that a couple of his books that I have yet to read are very different), but quietly gets under your skin. An initial five star read,but could easily get kicked up a level later. (BTW, 'offing' is apparently the name for the distant part of the sea that's in view - the part where the horizon meets the sky).
>86 SassyLassy: Will be interested to see what constitutes lighter relief!
So now you know! Exactly what was needed!
88dianeham
>87 Willoyd: Your touchstone for Offing goes to a P. G. Wodehouse book. I wish I had a local bookseller who knew what I need to read next.
89dchaikin
And to think i the offing was where we fell off the earth in a big waterfall. (Sorry, bad discworld moment.) Enjoyed your review.
90Willoyd
>88 dianeham:
LOL! Thank you - edited it now.
We're very lucky - two good independent bookshops within 6 miles of us. The one I was referring to is where one of my book groups is based, run by the shopowner, who is brilliant. Good backup wholesalers too - can order a book and nine times out of 10 it's in next day. I understand that, after years of decline, indie shops are on the rise again. Hooray!
>89 dchaikin:
Another LOL! Thank you.
LOL! Thank you - edited it now.
We're very lucky - two good independent bookshops within 6 miles of us. The one I was referring to is where one of my book groups is based, run by the shopowner, who is brilliant. Good backup wholesalers too - can order a book and nine times out of 10 it's in next day. I understand that, after years of decline, indie shops are on the rise again. Hooray!
>89 dchaikin:
Another LOL! Thank you.
91dianeham
>90 Willoyd: I live in a seasonal tourist area so a year round bookstore is not available. Well, there’s a small one but they didn't seem very friendly.
92Willoyd
Currently reading the big one!
Could well not be posting much over the next month or so, as have at last got stuck into a book that have been intending to get to grips with for some time now, my choice for Ireland in Reading the World - the almost inevitable Ulysses*! Am around 150 pages in (Leopold Bloom has just arrived at the cemetery). Am being helped along by Patrick Hastings' The Guide to James Joyce's Ulysses, which has a useful summary of each episode, which I'm reading as a follow-up - and it does help. I've also got one of the annotated versions on my Kindle, and that's been really useful too understanding some of the references, although one could get hopelessly bogged down if checking out each one!
But even before using these, I'm starting to find it utterly addictive. In places it's almost hypnotic in its rhythms. It's particularly picked up since Leopold Bloom appeared (in section 4, Calypso) - his internal narrative is rather more down to earth than Stephen Dedalus's and have almost instiinctively warmed to him. If anything (and only so far!) have found it an easier read than expected, although section 3 (Proteus) left me gasping rather especially at the start.
It's going to need a reread though, I can already see that!! In the meantime, I had expected that I might need to intersperse with some lighter reading and that I would likely have to be quite structured/organised in my reading to get through, but at present, I'm loving the exploration and positively wanting to pick it up and get stuck into the next bit, so we'll see!
*In fact, Ulysses was from the word go, at the heart of the project, as set it as the baseline, the earliest, book that could be read. I started Reading The World in 2022, the centenary year of the book's publication, and it was the first book I chose for a country. Sort of made sense that books should come from the last 100 years - or at least in the years since Ulysses was published.
Could well not be posting much over the next month or so, as have at last got stuck into a book that have been intending to get to grips with for some time now, my choice for Ireland in Reading the World - the almost inevitable Ulysses*! Am around 150 pages in (Leopold Bloom has just arrived at the cemetery). Am being helped along by Patrick Hastings' The Guide to James Joyce's Ulysses, which has a useful summary of each episode, which I'm reading as a follow-up - and it does help. I've also got one of the annotated versions on my Kindle, and that's been really useful too understanding some of the references, although one could get hopelessly bogged down if checking out each one!
But even before using these, I'm starting to find it utterly addictive. In places it's almost hypnotic in its rhythms. It's particularly picked up since Leopold Bloom appeared (in section 4, Calypso) - his internal narrative is rather more down to earth than Stephen Dedalus's and have almost instiinctively warmed to him. If anything (and only so far!) have found it an easier read than expected, although section 3 (Proteus) left me gasping rather especially at the start.
It's going to need a reread though, I can already see that!! In the meantime, I had expected that I might need to intersperse with some lighter reading and that I would likely have to be quite structured/organised in my reading to get through, but at present, I'm loving the exploration and positively wanting to pick it up and get stuck into the next bit, so we'll see!
*In fact, Ulysses was from the word go, at the heart of the project, as set it as the baseline, the earliest, book that could be read. I started Reading The World in 2022, the centenary year of the book's publication, and it was the first book I chose for a country. Sort of made sense that books should come from the last 100 years - or at least in the years since Ulysses was published.
93labfs39
>92 Willoyd: Good for you for tackling the big one. I read it as a first year college student as the capstone to a two semester course on Odysseus through the ages. I was so overwhelmed! First, I didn't have a lot of life experience and second, I didn't have the internet, only a printed compendium. Lordy! I have no desire to go back to it, although I do wonder what it would be like to read it in this day and age. A different experience, for sure.
94Yells
>92 Willoyd: If it’s still available, I highly recommend the Re Joyce podcast. Unfortunately Frank Delaney passed away before he could finish, but the episodes he did produce were invaluable to me when I tackled this one. I came away with a much deeper understanding of the novel and what was going on in Joyce’s head when he wrote it.
95Willoyd
>94 Yells:
Thanks for the reminder. Now you mention them, I've heard about them, and nothing but good things too. I'll look them out. I seem to be doing as much reading around Ulysses as I do reading it itself. But it's all very interesting stuff.
Thanks for the reminder. Now you mention them, I've heard about them, and nothing but good things too. I'll look them out. I seem to be doing as much reading around Ulysses as I do reading it itself. But it's all very interesting stuff.
96dchaikin
Have at it, Will. I’m so encouraged by your post. I want to get here some day. Any update posts will be read 🙂
97valkyrdeath
>92 Willoyd: I've been considering reading Ulysses for ages so I'll be interested in how you get on with it. I enjoyed Dubliners when I read it years ago but haven't got round to trying Portrait of the Artist or Ulysses yet (and I'm not going anywhere near Finnegans Wake).
98FlorenceArt
>92 Willoyd: Good for you! I'm in a minority I guess, as understanding (or at least deep understanding) has never been a prerequisite for me to enjoy a book. I plunged into Ulysses without any footnotes, explanation or preconceived notion, beyond the vague idea that it was "too difficult" that had intimidated me away from it for several years. And what an experience! As you say, the rythms, and just the joy of words. There was one chapter that utterly befuddled me, I had no idea what even was going on, but the rest was pure joy.
99Willoyd
>98 FlorenceArt:
Intrigued! Which chapter, can you remember?
>97 valkyrdeath:
Have looked at Finnegan's Wake several times. Can only agree with you!
Intrigued! Which chapter, can you remember?
>97 valkyrdeath:
Have looked at Finnegan's Wake several times. Can only agree with you!
100FlorenceArt
>99 Willoyd: It was one (I learned later) that was supposed to retrace the whole history of English literature, and the language evolved accordingly. Or something like that. I do vaguely remember that the language was very archaic. And the events were very confused, or I was very confused at any rate.
101Willoyd
11 Not A River by Selva Almada *****
Much as I'm loving Ulysses, it's a book that I think I'm going to need the occasional break from, and this is the first! Reading various posts in CR24 and articles on publishers of books in translation (particularly a Guardian profile piece on several UK indie publishers), my eyes picked out this book from Charco Press in a tabletop display in my local Waterstones during a browse earlier this week. I've not read any of their books yet, but the name was familiar from both posts and article. A quick glance, and I knew I was hooked, not least by the production values (I'm a sucker, especially, for French flaps!). I've since discovered it's on the longlist for this year's International Booker and, having read it, I'm not surprised.
At only 99 pages (including a fascinating translator's note), this was a short but absolutely compulsive read: two friends are on a river fishing trip with the teenage son of another friend who died on a previous visit. They successfully land (by shooting!) a monster ray, which attracts the attention and the ire of local villagers, in turn threatening to boil over in violence. The story tells of how the relationship pans out, with flashbacks centred both on fishermen's and villagers' lives fleshing out both how they got here, and why things work out the way they do. It's a carefully, tightly woven narrative, made all the tighter by Almeda's very lean language and the spartan use of punctuation and paragraphing. So often this latter makes life harder, but the author's style rapidly grew on me, and it really did add to the atmosphere and my involvement as a reader (I may have been helped by the fact that I'm a few hundred pages into Ulysses, which has similar traits that actually made this feel relatively easy!). Almeda's focus is primarily on aspects of masculinity, much toxic, in a strongly patriarchal society, and some of the fallout from this, with this the third in a thematically related trilogy of books (they each stand alone, with no narrative or character crossover, so don't need to be read in order).
Yet, whilst the questions are asked and themes aired, this is also, in its simplest terms, a brilliantly told story, with a twist that both took me utterly by surprise, and made me go back to reread whole sections (easy enough when there's only 99 pages!) to tease out the clues, indeed large bites of narrative meaning, that I'd missed. This was a book which produced a genuine "Oh I see it now!" moment well after I'd reached the end. Maybe (probably!) I'm just a bit thick, but I did enjoy the revelatory experience!
So, a very happy impulse choice (perhaps not the right word, as this is a very dark book!), and a great one for Argentina, the 37th country to be visited in Reading The World.
Much as I'm loving Ulysses, it's a book that I think I'm going to need the occasional break from, and this is the first! Reading various posts in CR24 and articles on publishers of books in translation (particularly a Guardian profile piece on several UK indie publishers), my eyes picked out this book from Charco Press in a tabletop display in my local Waterstones during a browse earlier this week. I've not read any of their books yet, but the name was familiar from both posts and article. A quick glance, and I knew I was hooked, not least by the production values (I'm a sucker, especially, for French flaps!). I've since discovered it's on the longlist for this year's International Booker and, having read it, I'm not surprised.
At only 99 pages (including a fascinating translator's note), this was a short but absolutely compulsive read: two friends are on a river fishing trip with the teenage son of another friend who died on a previous visit. They successfully land (by shooting!) a monster ray, which attracts the attention and the ire of local villagers, in turn threatening to boil over in violence. The story tells of how the relationship pans out, with flashbacks centred both on fishermen's and villagers' lives fleshing out both how they got here, and why things work out the way they do. It's a carefully, tightly woven narrative, made all the tighter by Almeda's very lean language and the spartan use of punctuation and paragraphing. So often this latter makes life harder, but the author's style rapidly grew on me, and it really did add to the atmosphere and my involvement as a reader (I may have been helped by the fact that I'm a few hundred pages into Ulysses, which has similar traits that actually made this feel relatively easy!). Almeda's focus is primarily on aspects of masculinity, much toxic, in a strongly patriarchal society, and some of the fallout from this, with this the third in a thematically related trilogy of books (they each stand alone, with no narrative or character crossover, so don't need to be read in order).
Yet, whilst the questions are asked and themes aired, this is also, in its simplest terms, a brilliantly told story, with a twist that both took me utterly by surprise, and made me go back to reread whole sections (easy enough when there's only 99 pages!) to tease out the clues, indeed large bites of narrative meaning, that I'd missed. This was a book which produced a genuine "Oh I see it now!" moment well after I'd reached the end. Maybe (probably!) I'm just a bit thick, but I did enjoy the revelatory experience!
So, a very happy impulse choice (perhaps not the right word, as this is a very dark book!), and a great one for Argentina, the 37th country to be visited in Reading The World.
102dchaikin
I’m really happy to read this review. Very helpful and interesting. I will try to read this soon. I won’t make it through the International Booker longlist, but I’m hoping to make a small dent.
103Willoyd
>102 dchaikin:
I won't either by any means (don't even try), but I do find it provides some useful leads - rather more than the standard Booker often does (it was particularly uninspiring last year!).
I won't either by any means (don't even try), but I do find it provides some useful leads - rather more than the standard Booker often does (it was particularly uninspiring last year!).
104Willoyd
12. The Perfect Golden Circle by Benjamin Myers ****(*)
A reread for one of my book groups of a book I enjoyed last June. Similar to The Offing in style (see book 10 this year), again set in a sultry summer in the English countryside. This time a study of a friendship between 2 men, creating crop circles in the wheat fields of southern England, each chapter centred on a single creation. I love Myers's almost otherworldly descriptions, although his biggest weakness, IMO, is a tendency to overelaborate simile - trying just a bit too hard. When he keeps it figurative-lite (or not at all), he's superb! His central characters have an interesting depth to them, and there's a lovely thread of gentle humour throughout. Eminently readable, this actually improved on second reading. The Offing still has the edge though, but it is just an edge!
A reread for one of my book groups of a book I enjoyed last June. Similar to The Offing in style (see book 10 this year), again set in a sultry summer in the English countryside. This time a study of a friendship between 2 men, creating crop circles in the wheat fields of southern England, each chapter centred on a single creation. I love Myers's almost otherworldly descriptions, although his biggest weakness, IMO, is a tendency to overelaborate simile - trying just a bit too hard. When he keeps it figurative-lite (or not at all), he's superb! His central characters have an interesting depth to them, and there's a lovely thread of gentle humour throughout. Eminently readable, this actually improved on second reading. The Offing still has the edge though, but it is just an edge!
105kjuliff
>104 Willoyd: So many writers over do similes. The book I’m reading now - Brotherless Nights suffers from that tendency, but otherwise The Perfect Golden Circle sounds quite lovely.
106kidzdoc
Great review of Not a River, Will. It isn't yet available in my local library systems in the Philadelphia area, but I hope that it will be soon.
107Willoyd
It's a while since I posted on here, so an update. Am now just past p.400 of Ulysses, just under halfway, which is proving a brilliant if challenging read (although part of its brilliance is intertwined with what's challenging, so perhaps no but!). Whilst I am reading other stuff as well, not least for my book groups, I'm not very good at handling multiple reads, and that side of things is feeling thoroughly disjointed, to the extent that I've really struggled to settle the past few weeks. It's not helped by the fact that Joyce needs time and space, and I haven't had much of that lately, or at least not at a time when I'm fresh enough to get stuck in - it's not a book for late night or evening reading!
However, it is proving an outstanding read, far better than I ever anticipated. Ulysses is certainly more full of life than pretty much anything else I've read in recent years, full of colour and utterly immersive. I am finding Patrick Chambers' book 'A Reading Guide to Ulysses' invaluable, particularly the sections involving Stephen Daedalus, whose inner thoughts are way more complex than I could otherwise understand (Leopold Bloom is much more comprehensible!); it's also enabled me to follow the geography, which feels such an essential element- the city is as much a character in the book as any individual. However, even with all this help, I feel as if I'm barely scratching the surface, and I can fully see why this is a book that is read and reread - I can already see a reread coming on!
Other books I've been reading have been mainly Caroline by Richmal Crompton (underwhelming) and Germania by Simon Winder (interesting if sometimes assuming prior knowledge), as well as dipping into others. Unsettled is definitely the word!
However, it is proving an outstanding read, far better than I ever anticipated. Ulysses is certainly more full of life than pretty much anything else I've read in recent years, full of colour and utterly immersive. I am finding Patrick Chambers' book 'A Reading Guide to Ulysses' invaluable, particularly the sections involving Stephen Daedalus, whose inner thoughts are way more complex than I could otherwise understand (Leopold Bloom is much more comprehensible!); it's also enabled me to follow the geography, which feels such an essential element- the city is as much a character in the book as any individual. However, even with all this help, I feel as if I'm barely scratching the surface, and I can fully see why this is a book that is read and reread - I can already see a reread coming on!
Other books I've been reading have been mainly Caroline by Richmal Crompton (underwhelming) and Germania by Simon Winder (interesting if sometimes assuming prior knowledge), as well as dipping into others. Unsettled is definitely the word!
108FlorenceArt
>107 Willoyd: Glad you’re enjoying Ulysses. Makes me want to reread it too 😊
109Willoyd
Three books to catch up on, whilst reading Ulysses. Just quick notes to record:
13. The Years by Annie Ernaux *****
A reread (last read in December) for a book group. Better than I remember it, because this time I made sure I tracked events recorded, based as it is so much on French cultural and political history, about which I know little beyond a basic list of presidents. The whole approach fascinates, and it generated some lively discussion, pretty much all of which was very positive about the book.
14. Caroline by Richmal Crompton **
Another book group read, and rather underwhelming. Crompton is of course best known for her Just William books, but she wrote a significant number of adult novels too, most of which have disappeared into the print ether, hard to obtain even second-hand. A few have been reprinted, and generally acclaimed, but I have to say if this is an accurate sample, her writing hasn't aged well for me, and this felt badly dated, and very predictable. I'm also reading Family Roundabout in the Persephone Press edition. Similar in style, but hopefully just a bit less so on both fronts (although not convinced yet).
15. Pedro Paramo by Juan Rulfo ****
A classic of Mexican writing apparently, which is why I chose it for my Reading the World project, included in a list of world's 100 most important works by the Nobel committee, and a major influence on Latin American literature. Slim at only 125 pages but anything but a short or straightforward read with chronological shifts, dead talking to the alive (and other dead!), and a style of writing that sometimes makes it quite hard to workout who is being written about and who is talking. To be honest, half way through I was feeling decidely unenamoured, but it grew on me and is, I think, a book that needs to be read more than once to work out what is going on, and interesting enough that it's worth reading more than once! I was relieved to read that even Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the writer of the Foreword of the translation I read, reckoned it's a difficult one! I'm not going to write a more detailed review, simply because I don't really have a lot more I feel I can say. Maybe once I've given it another go!
13. The Years by Annie Ernaux *****
A reread (last read in December) for a book group. Better than I remember it, because this time I made sure I tracked events recorded, based as it is so much on French cultural and political history, about which I know little beyond a basic list of presidents. The whole approach fascinates, and it generated some lively discussion, pretty much all of which was very positive about the book.
14. Caroline by Richmal Crompton **
Another book group read, and rather underwhelming. Crompton is of course best known for her Just William books, but she wrote a significant number of adult novels too, most of which have disappeared into the print ether, hard to obtain even second-hand. A few have been reprinted, and generally acclaimed, but I have to say if this is an accurate sample, her writing hasn't aged well for me, and this felt badly dated, and very predictable. I'm also reading Family Roundabout in the Persephone Press edition. Similar in style, but hopefully just a bit less so on both fronts (although not convinced yet).
15. Pedro Paramo by Juan Rulfo ****
A classic of Mexican writing apparently, which is why I chose it for my Reading the World project, included in a list of world's 100 most important works by the Nobel committee, and a major influence on Latin American literature. Slim at only 125 pages but anything but a short or straightforward read with chronological shifts, dead talking to the alive (and other dead!), and a style of writing that sometimes makes it quite hard to workout who is being written about and who is talking. To be honest, half way through I was feeling decidely unenamoured, but it grew on me and is, I think, a book that needs to be read more than once to work out what is going on, and interesting enough that it's worth reading more than once! I was relieved to read that even Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the writer of the Foreword of the translation I read, reckoned it's a difficult one! I'm not going to write a more detailed review, simply because I don't really have a lot more I feel I can say. Maybe once I've given it another go!
110Willoyd
16. Family Roundabout by Richmal Crompton ***
My second Richmal Crompton in short order, mainly because my book group, rather than designating one book for the month, agreed that we would each read at least one book by Crompton, and see if we can discuss her as a writer, rather than focusing on the one book. I've also had this Persephone Press edition on my shelves for a while, so everything fitted neatly together....
In many respects this represents typical Persephone fair - a mid-twentieth century female author whose writing has been largely overlooked in recent years, telling a story of domestic life. Crompton's adult books haven't just been overlooked, they've virtually disappeared, and until recently even secondhand copies were very hard to come by, unlike her 'Just William' children's novels, which have an almost cult following. Persephone's revival of Family Roundabout saw a reversal of that, and Faber have built on this with the republication of half a dozen or so of her other titles in digital/print to order editions - which is where I sourced Caroline from.
As one would expect from a Persephone book, Family Roundabout is easily read, and generally feels well written. However, in spite of the phalanx of 4 and 5 star reviews online, I have to confess to mild disappointment at the end of this 350-page read. There's nothing inherently 'wrong' about the book, but it all felt a bit run of the mill and predictable. The story centres on the domestic lives of two largeish families over a period of 20 years, 1920-39, each ruled (in very different ways) by the family matriarch: the old-word, slightly faded, genteel Fowlers and the rather brasher, more commercially orientated Willoughbys, linked by the marriage of two of the second generaton (of three covered). The latter family is ruled with a rod of iron, the former is rather more gently supported. And from that, the story follows fairly obvious tramlines. The characters themselves conform to largely straightforward two dimensional patterns, the women showing a bit more variety and depth compared to the men, the latter almost without exception rather mediocre and/or 'wet' - on this evidence Richmal Crompton has a fairly low opinion of the male of the species.
Having now read two of Crompton's adult novels, I think that's probably enough to be going on with. I'm not sure if I'll read any more - i certainly don't feel any particular desire to do so, although Family Roundabout was an improvement on Caroline. In summary, the books came across as pleasant, rather bland, obvious and mildly dated ways to pass the time, so not really my sort of books.
My second Richmal Crompton in short order, mainly because my book group, rather than designating one book for the month, agreed that we would each read at least one book by Crompton, and see if we can discuss her as a writer, rather than focusing on the one book. I've also had this Persephone Press edition on my shelves for a while, so everything fitted neatly together....
In many respects this represents typical Persephone fair - a mid-twentieth century female author whose writing has been largely overlooked in recent years, telling a story of domestic life. Crompton's adult books haven't just been overlooked, they've virtually disappeared, and until recently even secondhand copies were very hard to come by, unlike her 'Just William' children's novels, which have an almost cult following. Persephone's revival of Family Roundabout saw a reversal of that, and Faber have built on this with the republication of half a dozen or so of her other titles in digital/print to order editions - which is where I sourced Caroline from.
As one would expect from a Persephone book, Family Roundabout is easily read, and generally feels well written. However, in spite of the phalanx of 4 and 5 star reviews online, I have to confess to mild disappointment at the end of this 350-page read. There's nothing inherently 'wrong' about the book, but it all felt a bit run of the mill and predictable. The story centres on the domestic lives of two largeish families over a period of 20 years, 1920-39, each ruled (in very different ways) by the family matriarch: the old-word, slightly faded, genteel Fowlers and the rather brasher, more commercially orientated Willoughbys, linked by the marriage of two of the second generaton (of three covered). The latter family is ruled with a rod of iron, the former is rather more gently supported. And from that, the story follows fairly obvious tramlines. The characters themselves conform to largely straightforward two dimensional patterns, the women showing a bit more variety and depth compared to the men, the latter almost without exception rather mediocre and/or 'wet' - on this evidence Richmal Crompton has a fairly low opinion of the male of the species.
Having now read two of Crompton's adult novels, I think that's probably enough to be going on with. I'm not sure if I'll read any more - i certainly don't feel any particular desire to do so, although Family Roundabout was an improvement on Caroline. In summary, the books came across as pleasant, rather bland, obvious and mildly dated ways to pass the time, so not really my sort of books.
111labfs39
>110 Willoyd: Sorry this was not your cuppa. I hope your next book is a good one.
112rv1988
>110 Willoyd: I'm sorry you didn't enjoy these. I was very interested to read about Cormpton's apart from the William books.
113Willoyd
17. The Plague by Albert Camus *****
One of those books where a review by someone like me seems almost pointless, so high up the ladder of acclaim and regard does this sit, and how ignorant I am of the relevant philosophies, but suffice to say that this has all the power and provocation of thought that one would expect from such a classic. It also surprised me in being a thoroughly good read: Camus's language is fairly spare and straightforward, but his evocation of place and atmosphere is so strong, and his characters all too human - perhaps not surprising for such a proponent of existentialism (at least as far as I understand it). Having struggled somewhat with studying L'Etranger at school, this turned out to be a real 'pleasure' (if that is the right word for a book about such a dark subject) to read. Read for one of my book groups.
One of those books where a review by someone like me seems almost pointless, so high up the ladder of acclaim and regard does this sit, and how ignorant I am of the relevant philosophies, but suffice to say that this has all the power and provocation of thought that one would expect from such a classic. It also surprised me in being a thoroughly good read: Camus's language is fairly spare and straightforward, but his evocation of place and atmosphere is so strong, and his characters all too human - perhaps not surprising for such a proponent of existentialism (at least as far as I understand it). Having struggled somewhat with studying L'Etranger at school, this turned out to be a real 'pleasure' (if that is the right word for a book about such a dark subject) to read. Read for one of my book groups.
114kidzdoc
>113 Willoyd: The Plague would almost certainly be amongst my 10 favorite novels, and it is undoubtedly the only one I've read thrice. I also saw the play based on it in London several years ago, which I also loved.
115Willoyd
>114 kidzdoc:
Not sure about it getting into my topmost rankings, but certainly one that needs and deserves rereading. I'll be rereading L'Etranger and reading more of his other work too.
One thing I forgot to say: I was amazed how much of what he wrote directly related to the COVID pandemic and our experience of the UK lockdown - almost prescient, scarily so.
Not sure about it getting into my topmost rankings, but certainly one that needs and deserves rereading. I'll be rereading L'Etranger and reading more of his other work too.
One thing I forgot to say: I was amazed how much of what he wrote directly related to the COVID pandemic and our experience of the UK lockdown - almost prescient, scarily so.
116kidzdoc
>115 Willoyd: I first read The Plague within a few months after I received my bachelor's degree, as I took a course in Existential Philosophy at Rutgers and read about Camus. I'm not sure exactly why but that novel was one factor that encouraged me to apply to medical school, although it was far from the most important one. I may have read The Stranger for that philosophy course.
Great point about the relationship between The Plague and the COVID-19 pandemic!
Great point about the relationship between The Plague and the COVID-19 pandemic!
117Willoyd
Two in fairly quick succession:
18. Ilustrado by Miguel Syjuco ***
Read for my World project for The Philippines. Strangely two-dimensional, overly complex, over-written, this was a book that I had really looked forward to reading but ultimately disappointed. Seemed to take forever to finish. I'm not sure quite why I've rated it as high as 3 stars, but credit where credit is due - the idea was clever (and should have been entertaining and intriguing), and there were some great individual scenes. This should have been a great book, but the author seemed to spend too much time trying to impress rather than engage the reader.
19. The Collini Case by Ferdinand von Schirach *****
A book group read that I read in one sitting - utterly gripping. Leanly written, evoking much in surprisingly few words; understated yet packing an emotional punch, with much to say on the impact of its Nazi past on post-war Germany (at least the legal side of things!). This was a book I'd never heard of before being nominated by another member, but so glad to have read, one of the main reasons for joining a book group! We will have much to discuss when the group next meets - another reason.
18. Ilustrado by Miguel Syjuco ***
Read for my World project for The Philippines. Strangely two-dimensional, overly complex, over-written, this was a book that I had really looked forward to reading but ultimately disappointed. Seemed to take forever to finish. I'm not sure quite why I've rated it as high as 3 stars, but credit where credit is due - the idea was clever (and should have been entertaining and intriguing), and there were some great individual scenes. This should have been a great book, but the author seemed to spend too much time trying to impress rather than engage the reader.
19. The Collini Case by Ferdinand von Schirach *****
A book group read that I read in one sitting - utterly gripping. Leanly written, evoking much in surprisingly few words; understated yet packing an emotional punch, with much to say on the impact of its Nazi past on post-war Germany (at least the legal side of things!). This was a book I'd never heard of before being nominated by another member, but so glad to have read, one of the main reasons for joining a book group! We will have much to discuss when the group next meets - another reason.
118FlorenceArt
>117 Willoyd: Never heard of The Collini Case or Ferdinand von Schirach before, but you make it sound like a must read! I see there is a French translation, I will check it out.
119Willoyd
>119 Willoyd: I'd be interested in what you make of it. It's less than 200 pages, not many words to the page, and reads almost like a short story, but I felt it had a lot to say to me. I'm a sucker for that sort of book (my favourite book ever is JL Carr's A Month In the Country - barely 100 pages but worth so much more) - I think because i admire anybody who can keep it lean but say as much, being of the rather more verbose tendency myself!
120Willoyd
20. Why We Get Sick by Benjamin Bikman ***
An examination of insulin resistance - what it is, how it's caused, how to deal with it. Being prediabetic myself, I found Bikman's take, that prediabetes/diabetes is actually just a symptom of a broader underlying problem, very interesting. I don't know enough of the science to be able to judge how accurate this is, but it generally makes eminent sense based on what else I've read (and my own experience), although I'm wary of some of the stronger strictures. Three stars is my standard grade for a non-fiction book that satisfactorily fulfills a function even if it isn't (and doesn't set out to be!) a great 'read'.
An examination of insulin resistance - what it is, how it's caused, how to deal with it. Being prediabetic myself, I found Bikman's take, that prediabetes/diabetes is actually just a symptom of a broader underlying problem, very interesting. I don't know enough of the science to be able to judge how accurate this is, but it generally makes eminent sense based on what else I've read (and my own experience), although I'm wary of some of the stronger strictures. Three stars is my standard grade for a non-fiction book that satisfactorily fulfills a function even if it isn't (and doesn't set out to be!) a great 'read'.
121labfs39
>117 Willoyd: I too was hooked by your review of The Collini Case. I'll keep an eye out for it.
122Willoyd
21. The U.S. Civil War by Louis P Masur ***
One of the excellent OUP Very Short Introductions. Does what it says on the tin: a concise introduction to the subject, in this case the American Civil War. It's a period I find I'm increasingly interested in, but a period I also find very hard to develop any sort of framework for - I suspect because the geography is so unfamiliar. This went some way towards helping with that, so that hopefully I'll be able to read some of the more indepth material on my shelves and keep track of what is going on. Not written for the complete beginner unfortunately, with assumptions of understanding/knowledge made (perhaps written for the American rather than European reader?), but helpful all the same. A functional 3 stars.
22. By The River by various ***
One of a series of volumes of essays published by Daunt Books (nice production with attractive cover and French flaps) on a vareity of themes, this one obviously based around rivers. Attractive to look at, but sadly a bit disappointing, with all too many of the essays seemingly barely touching on rivers. I enjoyed Jo Hamya's "I Felt Sure She Had Gone Down To The River", focused on Virginia Woolf's suicide in the River Ouse, Roger Deakin's wild swim and discussion on access in "Approaching the Itchen" and Michael Malay's "Nightfishing" on eels (perhaps the highlight). Amy Jane Beer's "What Is A River" came close, but largely just reprocessed aspects of her excellent book The Flow. Otherwise, to be honest, I wondered at why some were even incluced. None were bad, and the writing was pretty much universally very readable, but I reached the end of too many thinking 'so what?' All in all ok but rather underwhelming as, given the writers, I was expecting so much more.
One of the excellent OUP Very Short Introductions. Does what it says on the tin: a concise introduction to the subject, in this case the American Civil War. It's a period I find I'm increasingly interested in, but a period I also find very hard to develop any sort of framework for - I suspect because the geography is so unfamiliar. This went some way towards helping with that, so that hopefully I'll be able to read some of the more indepth material on my shelves and keep track of what is going on. Not written for the complete beginner unfortunately, with assumptions of understanding/knowledge made (perhaps written for the American rather than European reader?), but helpful all the same. A functional 3 stars.
22. By The River by various ***
One of a series of volumes of essays published by Daunt Books (nice production with attractive cover and French flaps) on a vareity of themes, this one obviously based around rivers. Attractive to look at, but sadly a bit disappointing, with all too many of the essays seemingly barely touching on rivers. I enjoyed Jo Hamya's "I Felt Sure She Had Gone Down To The River", focused on Virginia Woolf's suicide in the River Ouse, Roger Deakin's wild swim and discussion on access in "Approaching the Itchen" and Michael Malay's "Nightfishing" on eels (perhaps the highlight). Amy Jane Beer's "What Is A River" came close, but largely just reprocessed aspects of her excellent book The Flow. Otherwise, to be honest, I wondered at why some were even incluced. None were bad, and the writing was pretty much universally very readable, but I reached the end of too many thinking 'so what?' All in all ok but rather underwhelming as, given the writers, I was expecting so much more.
123Willoyd
23. Commonwealth by Ann Patchett ****
Read as my book for Virginia in my tour of the States.
Commonwealth is the story of two families and how they become intertwined when the father of one 'runs off' with the mother of the other. The six children (4 and 2) become almost a tribe united in their dislike of their parents. The result (and this novel is very much centred on consequences) culminates in tragedy with which the families have to learn to live, and then in the fallout when one of the (now adult) children tells the story to her partner, a famous author in decline, who uses the plot as the basis of what becomes his bestseller, also entitle Commonwealth.
Both story and characters are complex and multi-layered: the chronology shifts backwards and forwards, as do the relationships, and it's not always easy to keep track of the multiple members of the families - it wasn't difficult if I sat down and thought, but I did need to do that sitting back on several occasions to just mentally review who was related to who and how. To be honest, I wasn't overly engaged for the first half of the book, not least because this seemed to be heading down a fairly obvious track, but I suddenly found myself engrossed, and I positively enjoyed both the structure and the character development as they developed into the second half. No stereotypes these!
As touched on above, this is very much a story of consequences, of knock-on impacts, almost of the butterfly effect as it might affect lives - indeed that life as it pans out for all of us is can so easily be influenced, changed, by the smallest of events and actions, and that it's not just how lives are impacted, but how characters are changed. In the end, having not been a huge enthusiast a good way into the book, I found myself really quite disappointed when I came to the end!
24. The Sea Detective by Mark Douglas-Home ****
Crime detection with an interesting twist - the main protagonist is an expert in ocean currents and forensic marine research. Some of the characterisation is a bit simplistic, not quite matching the quality of plotting, but still a thoroughly enjoyable, easy read, that I didn't want to put down, and where I intend to go on and read the sequels.
25. The Details by Ia Genberg *****
My book for Sweden in my world tour. Shortlisted for the International Booker Prize, this was actually a choice for one of my book groups. It didn't make a huge impact on most members, who were pretty flat about it, but I and one other were distinctly more enthusiastic! Split into 4 chapters, each effectively a character study of an individual who made a significant impact on the narrator, recollecting them through the fog of a virus. The descriptions and writing were distinctly unfoggy (in fact, the illness felt trivial, simply an excuse to explain, unnecessarily in my opinion, why the narrator was recalling them), the precision and detail (inevitably given the title) marking the whole, very slim, book out. For me the character studies actually said as much if not more about the narrator than the subjects - in the creation, the development and the ending, as these were all relationships that had finished in one way or another (or had they? Part of the novel was surely about how the relationships had, in their own way, continued and affected the narrator). Whilst I found the book thoroughly engaging, immersive even, almost more interesting than the characters described (and none were particularly likeable, or even ones that I cared about) were those who were left out, not least the friend who appears in all 4 chapters almost as a common thread. Presumably (in pat) because that relationship still existed? But others surely didn't.
All in all, whilst there was very much a 'could take it or leave it' air about most of the group discussion, I found this to be one of the strongest reads I've had so far this year, and feel very glad to have read a book that would almost certainly not have otherwise crossed my horizon.
Read as my book for Virginia in my tour of the States.
Commonwealth is the story of two families and how they become intertwined when the father of one 'runs off' with the mother of the other. The six children (4 and 2) become almost a tribe united in their dislike of their parents. The result (and this novel is very much centred on consequences) culminates in tragedy with which the families have to learn to live, and then in the fallout when one of the (now adult) children tells the story to her partner, a famous author in decline, who uses the plot as the basis of what becomes his bestseller, also entitle Commonwealth.
Both story and characters are complex and multi-layered: the chronology shifts backwards and forwards, as do the relationships, and it's not always easy to keep track of the multiple members of the families - it wasn't difficult if I sat down and thought, but I did need to do that sitting back on several occasions to just mentally review who was related to who and how. To be honest, I wasn't overly engaged for the first half of the book, not least because this seemed to be heading down a fairly obvious track, but I suddenly found myself engrossed, and I positively enjoyed both the structure and the character development as they developed into the second half. No stereotypes these!
As touched on above, this is very much a story of consequences, of knock-on impacts, almost of the butterfly effect as it might affect lives - indeed that life as it pans out for all of us is can so easily be influenced, changed, by the smallest of events and actions, and that it's not just how lives are impacted, but how characters are changed. In the end, having not been a huge enthusiast a good way into the book, I found myself really quite disappointed when I came to the end!
24. The Sea Detective by Mark Douglas-Home ****
Crime detection with an interesting twist - the main protagonist is an expert in ocean currents and forensic marine research. Some of the characterisation is a bit simplistic, not quite matching the quality of plotting, but still a thoroughly enjoyable, easy read, that I didn't want to put down, and where I intend to go on and read the sequels.
25. The Details by Ia Genberg *****
My book for Sweden in my world tour. Shortlisted for the International Booker Prize, this was actually a choice for one of my book groups. It didn't make a huge impact on most members, who were pretty flat about it, but I and one other were distinctly more enthusiastic! Split into 4 chapters, each effectively a character study of an individual who made a significant impact on the narrator, recollecting them through the fog of a virus. The descriptions and writing were distinctly unfoggy (in fact, the illness felt trivial, simply an excuse to explain, unnecessarily in my opinion, why the narrator was recalling them), the precision and detail (inevitably given the title) marking the whole, very slim, book out. For me the character studies actually said as much if not more about the narrator than the subjects - in the creation, the development and the ending, as these were all relationships that had finished in one way or another (or had they? Part of the novel was surely about how the relationships had, in their own way, continued and affected the narrator). Whilst I found the book thoroughly engaging, immersive even, almost more interesting than the characters described (and none were particularly likeable, or even ones that I cared about) were those who were left out, not least the friend who appears in all 4 chapters almost as a common thread. Presumably (in pat) because that relationship still existed? But others surely didn't.
All in all, whilst there was very much a 'could take it or leave it' air about most of the group discussion, I found this to be one of the strongest reads I've had so far this year, and feel very glad to have read a book that would almost certainly not have otherwise crossed my horizon.
124SassyLassy
>123 Willoyd: It's always good to discover a new book you wouldn't otherwise have read. I like the sound of The Details.
125labfs39
>123 Willoyd: I keep meaning to read more by Patchett (whom I sometimes confuse with Kingsolver). I loved Bel Canto, but felt so-so about Run.
126FlorenceArt
>123 Willoyd: Intrigued by The Details!
127Willoyd
>125 labfs39:
I find Kingsolver very curate's egg: loved Poisonwood Bible,enjoyed The Bean Trees, was OK with Unsheltered but didn't get on with The Lacuna, and as for Demon Copperhead..... (read in that order too!).
I find Kingsolver very curate's egg: loved Poisonwood Bible,enjoyed The Bean Trees, was OK with Unsheltered but didn't get on with The Lacuna, and as for Demon Copperhead..... (read in that order too!).
128rv1988
>123 Willoyd: Interesting set of readings. I haven't read Commonwealth but I might take it up. I've only read one other Patchett (Bel Canto) which I found overwrought and annoying, but this sounds very interesting. I'm going to pick up The Sea Detective and The Details - both your reviews sparked some curiosity.
129Willoyd
26. A Heart So White by Javier Marias ***(*)
Read both for one of my book groups, and as the book for Spain in my round world tour. This is probably Marias's best known book, and it starts with a bang (literally) as a young newly-wed, Teresa, commits suicide during a family meal. The book is narrated by her nephew Juan, daughter of her sister Juana and Ranz, the man who was Teresa's husband at the time and who later marries her younger sibling. In simple terms, it's a mystery around why Teresa killed herself, but it is actually far (and I mean FAR) more complicated than that.
Juan, an interpreter is recently married to another interpreter, Luisa. Juan contemplates the nature of marriage, relationships (one of equals, or is it always a case of one manipulating/compelling the other?), and secrets (especially in a marriage). His own style is highly voyeuristic, but voyeurism through voice rather than sight, his interpreter skills focusing in on the subtleties and importance of language and verbal communication. Marias was himself an interpreter and translator (including the Spanish version of Tristram Shandy!), so it's interesting as to how much of this might be autobiographically drawn.
Equally, the book itself is a translation from Spanish, and much of our group discussion circled around the importance of this in both understanding and enjoying the book: Margaret Jull Costa chose to stick to the original Spanish structure - where sentences at times extended to half a page or more, and commas functioned much as full stops would do in original English. This, according to a bilingual member of our group, is relatively easily handleable in Spanish and not untypical, but whether it was the most appropriate style to adopt in English was subject to much (and rather inconclusive!) debate. This all on top a looping narrative, including repetition of themes and even individual phrases and paragraphs. To be honest, most of us got used to the style, and some, indeed, came to positively enjoy it (no different, for instance to the lack of speech marks or full stops in some original English works?). It didn't, however, make the reading an easier, and several (including me) found it hard to read large chunks of the book at one go - a chapter or two at a time was enough for me (and they weren't long).
As a book group choice, this proved a thoroughly successful selection, as it stimulated a really lively and thoughtful discussion, both in terms of the themes addressed, and in terms of our views on the book itself, these ranging from 'hatred' to 'love' - perhaps the widest range of opinion we've had for a while. Most did enjoy it though, and found it rewarding to read, whilst all agreed they were glad to have read it (different to enjoyment)! I remain slightly ambivalent - definitely glad to have read, not so sure about anything else. In one respect I want to reread it - there was much to reflect on, much I wanted to go back over, much I wanted to read again in the light of later reading, but I have to admit finding it tough going at times, especially in the third quarter where a particularly bizarre relationship was put under the microscope. On that front, I would suggest it's definitely not a book to read if you need to like your characters (or I think even care for them). If I do go back to it, I think I need a rest. It could be a long rest too!
Read both for one of my book groups, and as the book for Spain in my round world tour. This is probably Marias's best known book, and it starts with a bang (literally) as a young newly-wed, Teresa, commits suicide during a family meal. The book is narrated by her nephew Juan, daughter of her sister Juana and Ranz, the man who was Teresa's husband at the time and who later marries her younger sibling. In simple terms, it's a mystery around why Teresa killed herself, but it is actually far (and I mean FAR) more complicated than that.
Juan, an interpreter is recently married to another interpreter, Luisa. Juan contemplates the nature of marriage, relationships (one of equals, or is it always a case of one manipulating/compelling the other?), and secrets (especially in a marriage). His own style is highly voyeuristic, but voyeurism through voice rather than sight, his interpreter skills focusing in on the subtleties and importance of language and verbal communication. Marias was himself an interpreter and translator (including the Spanish version of Tristram Shandy!), so it's interesting as to how much of this might be autobiographically drawn.
Equally, the book itself is a translation from Spanish, and much of our group discussion circled around the importance of this in both understanding and enjoying the book: Margaret Jull Costa chose to stick to the original Spanish structure - where sentences at times extended to half a page or more, and commas functioned much as full stops would do in original English. This, according to a bilingual member of our group, is relatively easily handleable in Spanish and not untypical, but whether it was the most appropriate style to adopt in English was subject to much (and rather inconclusive!) debate. This all on top a looping narrative, including repetition of themes and even individual phrases and paragraphs. To be honest, most of us got used to the style, and some, indeed, came to positively enjoy it (no different, for instance to the lack of speech marks or full stops in some original English works?). It didn't, however, make the reading an easier, and several (including me) found it hard to read large chunks of the book at one go - a chapter or two at a time was enough for me (and they weren't long).
As a book group choice, this proved a thoroughly successful selection, as it stimulated a really lively and thoughtful discussion, both in terms of the themes addressed, and in terms of our views on the book itself, these ranging from 'hatred' to 'love' - perhaps the widest range of opinion we've had for a while. Most did enjoy it though, and found it rewarding to read, whilst all agreed they were glad to have read it (different to enjoyment)! I remain slightly ambivalent - definitely glad to have read, not so sure about anything else. In one respect I want to reread it - there was much to reflect on, much I wanted to go back over, much I wanted to read again in the light of later reading, but I have to admit finding it tough going at times, especially in the third quarter where a particularly bizarre relationship was put under the microscope. On that front, I would suggest it's definitely not a book to read if you need to like your characters (or I think even care for them). If I do go back to it, I think I need a rest. It could be a long rest too!
130labfs39
>129 Willoyd: Fun review of a book I may not read.
131Willoyd
27. English Journey by JB Priestley ***
Read in parallel with Stuart Maconie's The Full English (see below). A fascinating historical document, one person's snapshot of 1933 England, in the 'calm' before the storm of World War 2. This was particularly so, as I read it in the Folio Society edition, illustrated with contemporary photographs. Priestley is not afraid to express how he sees things, and finds much both to like and to be angry about. There are also some juddering moments when, at best, one has to accept that this is not a contemporary writer! I was surprised to find it quite hard work to finish - just felt long. (I was very surprised that my own village on the outtskirts of Leeds was mentioned twice, even if only in passing!).
28. The Full English by Stuart Maconie ****
A modern retracing of JB Priestley's English Journey. I picked this up almost at random (and then, when I realised what it was, started reading Priestley's book in parallel to fully follow Maconie's efforts at repeating Priestley's experience), and half expected it to be one of those light, attempting-to-be-humorous travelogues that are either a pleasant easy read, or cringemaking (a la Tim Moore). In the event, this pleasantly surprised, as it was rather better, being much more straightforward and down to earth, more an attempt to put a finger on the pulse of England today. It doesn't dig any deeper than taking a pulse, but in that it, at least for me, succeeded. It was certainly an interesting historical update!
29. Thunderclap by Laura Cumming G ******(F)
Initially a Christmas present from my OH, then also a book group choice (which encourage me to get around to reading it!). Why oh why did I delay? I had read and enjoyed Cumming's On Chapel Sands, which focused on her mother, this went down the paternal route. Cumming herself is art critic for the Guardian, and the daughter of Scottish artist, James Cumming. The book is a memoir around him and of the importance of Dutch art in Laura's life, focused particularly on Carel Fabritius and in particular his painting 'A View of Delft'. I found it beautifully written, perfectly balanced, and a totally captivating read (I also learned a lot!). The sort of book where you want to start again immediately. It's also the sort of book I want to write more about, but I think I'll leave that until I've reread it! Comfortably the best book I've read so far this year.
30. A Flat Place by Noreen Masud **
Like Thunderclap above, this was shortlisted for this year's inaugural Women's Prize for Non-fiction - another memoir, but utterly different, both in its writing and in my experience of the book. Masud has been diagnosed as suffering from complex post-traumatic disorder, the result of an abusive upbringing in Pakistan, from which she escaped to Britain (when her father disowned her) in her mid-teens. The book takes as its theme her fascination with flat places, tied up with her illness, the series of chapters each focusing on a different location - the first in Pakistan, the rest in Britain - reflecting the flatness she herself feels. It's a slim volume, barely 200 pages, a book widely acclaimed for the quality of writing, but I have to say I struggled. To me, it was in fact a bit of a mess. The initial chapter (focusing on the author's early life in Lahore) whilst laying some groundwork to understanding the causes of her cPTSD, left quite a few questions unanswered, deliberately so I felt. I did think clarification would come in later chapters, where discussion of her illness and therapy was interwoven with her experience of the different British flat places, but no, the obscurity remained. Instead, her (understandable) anger seemed to widen to include negative commentary on British racism, colonialism and weakness, the very homogeneity of which smacked (to me) of the very same traits she was accusing people of. And, on a very trivial note for some, any book that includes even one phrase along the lines of "where me and my sister slept when we visited" (p.159) can not possibly be described as 'beautifully written'. Sorry!
I think there were two main problems with this book for me. The first is partly of my own making: I came to this expecting a book largely about the various 'flat places' themselves, and to some extent it was, but only to the extent of how they affected her and her illness, in a very tightly focused way: they simply became, to me, overheavily used metaphors. The former was almost inevitable I suppose, given the introspective, isolationist, nature of the illness as the author describes it (about the only being that she seems initially to have a successful relationship with is her cat, although the late chapter describing her time with her mother suggests an improvement in that relationship), but whereas several reviewers have commented on finding the 'nature' material less interesting, I found the balance too much the other way, suggesting a falling between two stools. (With the chapter on Orkney featuring so prominently, I was strongly reminded of Amy Liptrot's, The Outrun, which to my mind was a far stronger, more coherent, book). Interestingly, in her end note, the author herself says that the book started "solely, [as] a study of encounters with flat landscapes. It was in writing it....that I came to understand that the complex trauma I sustained in my early life was an element which could not be omitted",
Secondly, another reviewer pointed out that in Safiya Sinclair's How To Say Babylon the author is told to hold off writing her memoir until she is cured (IIRC). In A Flat Place, it's apparent that Masud's illness is ongoing. Obviously some illnesses are permanent (Is this? Very possibly, but actually I don't feel we learned much about the condition, and again only in how it related very tightly to the author herself*), but this book did come over as someone who is still very heavily enmeshed in the process, and I wonder if that is why it felt so muddled and egocentric (yes, I know it's a memoir, but this was so about 'me').
*In the endnote, Masud states that she is "less interested in the diagnosis, or the term, than in the particularities of the way I experience of my life." and, indeed, questions the legitimacy of the word trauma as being a purely "Western paradigm". To be honest, I would have appreciated her having this discussion earlier in the book, as it puts a completely different slant on what one has understood to have learned to that point.
Read in parallel with Stuart Maconie's The Full English (see below). A fascinating historical document, one person's snapshot of 1933 England, in the 'calm' before the storm of World War 2. This was particularly so, as I read it in the Folio Society edition, illustrated with contemporary photographs. Priestley is not afraid to express how he sees things, and finds much both to like and to be angry about. There are also some juddering moments when, at best, one has to accept that this is not a contemporary writer! I was surprised to find it quite hard work to finish - just felt long. (I was very surprised that my own village on the outtskirts of Leeds was mentioned twice, even if only in passing!).
28. The Full English by Stuart Maconie ****
A modern retracing of JB Priestley's English Journey. I picked this up almost at random (and then, when I realised what it was, started reading Priestley's book in parallel to fully follow Maconie's efforts at repeating Priestley's experience), and half expected it to be one of those light, attempting-to-be-humorous travelogues that are either a pleasant easy read, or cringemaking (a la Tim Moore). In the event, this pleasantly surprised, as it was rather better, being much more straightforward and down to earth, more an attempt to put a finger on the pulse of England today. It doesn't dig any deeper than taking a pulse, but in that it, at least for me, succeeded. It was certainly an interesting historical update!
29. Thunderclap by Laura Cumming G ******(F)
Initially a Christmas present from my OH, then also a book group choice (which encourage me to get around to reading it!). Why oh why did I delay? I had read and enjoyed Cumming's On Chapel Sands, which focused on her mother, this went down the paternal route. Cumming herself is art critic for the Guardian, and the daughter of Scottish artist, James Cumming. The book is a memoir around him and of the importance of Dutch art in Laura's life, focused particularly on Carel Fabritius and in particular his painting 'A View of Delft'. I found it beautifully written, perfectly balanced, and a totally captivating read (I also learned a lot!). The sort of book where you want to start again immediately. It's also the sort of book I want to write more about, but I think I'll leave that until I've reread it! Comfortably the best book I've read so far this year.
30. A Flat Place by Noreen Masud **
Like Thunderclap above, this was shortlisted for this year's inaugural Women's Prize for Non-fiction - another memoir, but utterly different, both in its writing and in my experience of the book. Masud has been diagnosed as suffering from complex post-traumatic disorder, the result of an abusive upbringing in Pakistan, from which she escaped to Britain (when her father disowned her) in her mid-teens. The book takes as its theme her fascination with flat places, tied up with her illness, the series of chapters each focusing on a different location - the first in Pakistan, the rest in Britain - reflecting the flatness she herself feels. It's a slim volume, barely 200 pages, a book widely acclaimed for the quality of writing, but I have to say I struggled. To me, it was in fact a bit of a mess. The initial chapter (focusing on the author's early life in Lahore) whilst laying some groundwork to understanding the causes of her cPTSD, left quite a few questions unanswered, deliberately so I felt. I did think clarification would come in later chapters, where discussion of her illness and therapy was interwoven with her experience of the different British flat places, but no, the obscurity remained. Instead, her (understandable) anger seemed to widen to include negative commentary on British racism, colonialism and weakness, the very homogeneity of which smacked (to me) of the very same traits she was accusing people of. And, on a very trivial note for some, any book that includes even one phrase along the lines of "where me and my sister slept when we visited" (p.159) can not possibly be described as 'beautifully written'. Sorry!
I think there were two main problems with this book for me. The first is partly of my own making: I came to this expecting a book largely about the various 'flat places' themselves, and to some extent it was, but only to the extent of how they affected her and her illness, in a very tightly focused way: they simply became, to me, overheavily used metaphors. The former was almost inevitable I suppose, given the introspective, isolationist, nature of the illness as the author describes it (about the only being that she seems initially to have a successful relationship with is her cat, although the late chapter describing her time with her mother suggests an improvement in that relationship), but whereas several reviewers have commented on finding the 'nature' material less interesting, I found the balance too much the other way, suggesting a falling between two stools. (With the chapter on Orkney featuring so prominently, I was strongly reminded of Amy Liptrot's, The Outrun, which to my mind was a far stronger, more coherent, book). Interestingly, in her end note, the author herself says that the book started "solely, [as] a study of encounters with flat landscapes. It was in writing it....that I came to understand that the complex trauma I sustained in my early life was an element which could not be omitted",
Secondly, another reviewer pointed out that in Safiya Sinclair's How To Say Babylon the author is told to hold off writing her memoir until she is cured (IIRC). In A Flat Place, it's apparent that Masud's illness is ongoing. Obviously some illnesses are permanent (Is this? Very possibly, but actually I don't feel we learned much about the condition, and again only in how it related very tightly to the author herself*), but this book did come over as someone who is still very heavily enmeshed in the process, and I wonder if that is why it felt so muddled and egocentric (yes, I know it's a memoir, but this was so about 'me').
*In the endnote, Masud states that she is "less interested in the diagnosis, or the term, than in the particularities of the way I experience of my life." and, indeed, questions the legitimacy of the word trauma as being a purely "Western paradigm". To be honest, I would have appreciated her having this discussion earlier in the book, as it puts a completely different slant on what one has understood to have learned to that point.
132labfs39
Thought-provoking reviews, even of books you didn't enjoy. I just purchased a copy of How to Say Babylon yesterday.
133Willoyd
>132 labfs39:
Will be very interested to see what you make of it. I have a copy of All That She Carried to read next of the Women's Prize for Non-Fiction shortlist. I was going to read them all at one stage, but the list felt rather overloaded with memoirs and there are several books on the longlist I'm looking to read too (especially Eve; I'll land up with my own personal shortlist eventually!). I may well come back to Sinclair. I'm not sure about Doppelganger, and I definitely don't want to read a book on the social impact of AI yet (I was listening to a podcast the other day where it was suggested that this slew of book on AI is all rather premature - don't know, but I'm not ready, if ever!). I must admit, I'm rather surprised at A Flat Place made the shortlist, given the presence of two other memoirs, although perhaps not when looking at the fairly narrow range of backgrounds in the the judging panel.
Will be very interested to see what you make of it. I have a copy of All That She Carried to read next of the Women's Prize for Non-Fiction shortlist. I was going to read them all at one stage, but the list felt rather overloaded with memoirs and there are several books on the longlist I'm looking to read too (especially Eve; I'll land up with my own personal shortlist eventually!). I may well come back to Sinclair. I'm not sure about Doppelganger, and I definitely don't want to read a book on the social impact of AI yet (I was listening to a podcast the other day where it was suggested that this slew of book on AI is all rather premature - don't know, but I'm not ready, if ever!). I must admit, I'm rather surprised at A Flat Place made the shortlist, given the presence of two other memoirs, although perhaps not when looking at the fairly narrow range of backgrounds in the the judging panel.
134labfs39
I have a copy of All That She Carried too. So many books I want to read!
135SassyLassy
>131 Willoyd: I read Cumming's The Vanishing Man: In Pursuit of Velazquez, discovered on LT, a few years ago, so after reading your review, will be looking for Thunderclap.
136Willoyd
>135 SassyLassy:
What did you think of it? I've just bought a second-hand hardback copy of her other book A Face to the World on the basis of these two most recent books of hers.
What did you think of it? I've just bought a second-hand hardback copy of her other book A Face to the World on the basis of these two most recent books of hers.
137SassyLassy
>136 Willoyd: Definitely worth reading. I went back to my posted thoughts on it, and here's a synopsis of what I thought:
The Vanishing Man is a tale of one man's obsession. It is also a loving look into the work of Velázquez, one that taught me more about his work than I suspect I ever would have learned from an art textbook. Lastly, it is a look at the nineteenth century art world and the rise of the expert.
.........
This was a throughly enjoyable book: at once mystery, art appreciation and social history, in the hands of a writer skilled enough to combine the threads, and leave the reader wanting to continue Snare's and Cumming's quest. There are colour plates of much of the art discussed, and illustrations, both of which allow the reader to follow Cumming as she tells her story.
I also discovered that it was torontoc who led me to it.
The Vanishing Man is a tale of one man's obsession. It is also a loving look into the work of Velázquez, one that taught me more about his work than I suspect I ever would have learned from an art textbook. Lastly, it is a look at the nineteenth century art world and the rise of the expert.
.........
This was a throughly enjoyable book: at once mystery, art appreciation and social history, in the hands of a writer skilled enough to combine the threads, and leave the reader wanting to continue Snare's and Cumming's quest. There are colour plates of much of the art discussed, and illustrations, both of which allow the reader to follow Cumming as she tells her story.
I also discovered that it was torontoc who led me to it.
138Willoyd
>137 SassyLassy: Looks like another must!
(Edit, 2 days later: funnily enough, I've just been strongly recommended The Vanishing Man by a fellow book club member. I'm in pursuit!).
(Edit, 2 days later: funnily enough, I've just been strongly recommended The Vanishing Man by a fellow book club member. I'm in pursuit!).
139Willoyd
#31. Runaway by Alice Munro ***
Read as the book for Canada in my Reading The World project. I've long intended to try Alice Munro's work. I'm not inherently a short story fan, the only writer ever really grabbing me being Katherine Mansfield, but, after all, Munro is a Nobel Prize winner, and regarded as one of the greats of short story writing.
There is no doubt in my mind that she is a brilliant writer - there's a quality to her work that shines through, and I certainly had no difficult in finishing the book. However, the fundamental problem remains - these are short stories and Munro just doesn't overcome that for me. One Runaway reviewer likens short stories to endgame studies in chess as compared to the novel / full game, and that sums the issue up perfectly for me: there's an artificiality of context, a lack of development that the short story writer simply can't get away from. They're great to examine, to practise on, but they lack the depth that only a full game can provide. They always seem to have one specific point they're trying to make, one twist that gives the story an 'ending' before it's fully started. Munro tackles these issues far better than most writers I've come across: her character development given the lack of space is remarkable (although her men don't work for me), but she still lacks the space to really get to grips, and whilst I can sit back and admire her work, it just doesn't hold me (I regularly find myself checking out how many pages to the end), not least because of the slightly surreal atmosphere that permeates so many. It doesn't help also that every one (as happens with most short stories it seems) ends in almost predictable disappointment - they reek of melancholia - and it's not only the characters who are disappointed either... So, a decent enough read, but nothing there that screams at me to want to read more, and confirmation that, even in the hands of the best, short stories really don't work for me (although there's always Katherine Mansfield!). I live in hope though.
Read as the book for Canada in my Reading The World project. I've long intended to try Alice Munro's work. I'm not inherently a short story fan, the only writer ever really grabbing me being Katherine Mansfield, but, after all, Munro is a Nobel Prize winner, and regarded as one of the greats of short story writing.
There is no doubt in my mind that she is a brilliant writer - there's a quality to her work that shines through, and I certainly had no difficult in finishing the book. However, the fundamental problem remains - these are short stories and Munro just doesn't overcome that for me. One Runaway reviewer likens short stories to endgame studies in chess as compared to the novel / full game, and that sums the issue up perfectly for me: there's an artificiality of context, a lack of development that the short story writer simply can't get away from. They're great to examine, to practise on, but they lack the depth that only a full game can provide. They always seem to have one specific point they're trying to make, one twist that gives the story an 'ending' before it's fully started. Munro tackles these issues far better than most writers I've come across: her character development given the lack of space is remarkable (although her men don't work for me), but she still lacks the space to really get to grips, and whilst I can sit back and admire her work, it just doesn't hold me (I regularly find myself checking out how many pages to the end), not least because of the slightly surreal atmosphere that permeates so many. It doesn't help also that every one (as happens with most short stories it seems) ends in almost predictable disappointment - they reek of melancholia - and it's not only the characters who are disappointed either... So, a decent enough read, but nothing there that screams at me to want to read more, and confirmation that, even in the hands of the best, short stories really don't work for me (although there's always Katherine Mansfield!). I live in hope though.
140labfs39
>139 Willoyd: I prefer longer pieces myself, Will. And if short stories are endgame summaries, poetry is shorthand, I really struggle there. Like you, though, I continue to try short fiction, hoping it will stick. Occasionally I find a story that hits home, but then I usually wish it had been expanded into a novel. :-)
141Willoyd
>140 labfs39:
Yes, I struggle with a lot of poetry, but for me that can work because it's an exercise in language per se, so has a completely different objective (short story fans would probably say the same for them).
Yes, I struggle with a lot of poetry, but for me that can work because it's an exercise in language per se, so has a completely different objective (short story fans would probably say the same for them).
142FlorenceArt
I think that for short stories (and poetry) to work, both the writer and the reader have to be comfortable with a certain level of unfinishness and ambiguity. This leaves a lot of the imaginative work on the reader's side. Personally I like that. But as for everything else, it's not for everyone. And not all short stories are even like that. Nor poetry.
A long time ago a coworker told me that he loved short stories because of those "three dots at the end". This is a snippet of wisdom that I just stored at the time, but now I agree.
A long time ago a coworker told me that he loved short stories because of those "three dots at the end". This is a snippet of wisdom that I just stored at the time, but now I agree.
144baswood
>142 FlorenceArt: How true that is for a lot of french literature and probably even more so for french films.
145labfs39
>142 FlorenceArt: for short stories (and poetry) to work, both the writer and the reader have to be comfortable with a certain level of unfinishness and ambiguity
Interesting. I'll have to think about that...
Interesting. I'll have to think about that...
146Willoyd
>142 FlorenceArt: >144 baswood: >145 labfs39:
I'd not disagree, but would note that I don't think those characteristics are unique to short stories - I regard them as true of good novels too.
I'd not disagree, but would note that I don't think those characteristics are unique to short stories - I regard them as true of good novels too.
147Willoyd
Two very different books in quick succession!
#32. Permafrost by Eva Baltasar ****(*)
The first in a trilogy of books examining aspects of contemporary women's lives. I was first attracted to this when working out which book to read for Spain in my Reading The World project. Whilst it was pipped at the post by a book group choice (Javier Marias), it was still on my list of 'must try's. Totally out of my comfort zone, but there was something utterly appealing when browsing. Punchy, nervy, electric - life as seen through the eyes of an internally vulnerable and potentially suicidal young lesbian narrator (almost completely my opposite!), told through a series of short chapters, and utterly gripping to read - I galloped through it, with a finish that took my breath away. It's actually a book I find very hard to describe, even harder to categories, and to some extent much of it almost washed over me - I'm really going to have to read it again soon - but I've already bought the second volume, Boulder, and await the third (English translation due out this month) with keen anticipation!
#33. Normal Rules Don't Apply by Kate Atkinson *
I remember reading some of Atkinson's early books with pleasure, and particularly enjoyed her first Jackson Brodie novel Case Histories, but have gradually become less and less enamoured with her writing, starting with Emotionally Weird. She seems popular with book groups, and the last couple I've read (including God in Ruins) have been group choices. Either she's changed (possibly) or I have (more likely), but she's no longer a writer of choice for me. And then, this month, one of my groups not only decided on the latest Atkinson, but it's a set of 'connected' short stories, a genre I'm not overly struck with anyway (see my notes on Alice Monro's Runaway, #31 above).
So, Normal Rules Don't Apply was always up against it, although I was open to persuasion! And I was persuaded: that finally, and irrevocably, Kate Atkinson and I part company. This was an utter mess. There were a couple of interesting ideas (the Void in the first story being one), but the further in I progressed, the more ridiculous, the more self-indulgent this book felt, the more it came across as a scrap book of half-worked ideas that hadn't quite made it beyond the draft phase. Yes, there were connections, but these soon became tiresome, there for the sake of being there (Oooh, spot the connection!), and all too often failing to move the narrative, or characters, on. Indeed, the characterisations themselves were utterly flat to me - the women in particular all the same, just with different names - and the narratives all circling around each story's punchline, as this was the sort of short story the author appears to favour. As the title suggests, normal rules don't apply, with a fair sprinkling of talking animals, fairy tale characters, gods in human form etc etc, but to work, there needs to be some sort of coherence or consistency, and there wasn't. It was just unappealing, underdeveloped, often incoherent nonsense. My first one star review of the year (only the second in two years), and a prime contender for the 2024 Duffer award.
#32. Permafrost by Eva Baltasar ****(*)
The first in a trilogy of books examining aspects of contemporary women's lives. I was first attracted to this when working out which book to read for Spain in my Reading The World project. Whilst it was pipped at the post by a book group choice (Javier Marias), it was still on my list of 'must try's. Totally out of my comfort zone, but there was something utterly appealing when browsing. Punchy, nervy, electric - life as seen through the eyes of an internally vulnerable and potentially suicidal young lesbian narrator (almost completely my opposite!), told through a series of short chapters, and utterly gripping to read - I galloped through it, with a finish that took my breath away. It's actually a book I find very hard to describe, even harder to categories, and to some extent much of it almost washed over me - I'm really going to have to read it again soon - but I've already bought the second volume, Boulder, and await the third (English translation due out this month) with keen anticipation!
#33. Normal Rules Don't Apply by Kate Atkinson *
I remember reading some of Atkinson's early books with pleasure, and particularly enjoyed her first Jackson Brodie novel Case Histories, but have gradually become less and less enamoured with her writing, starting with Emotionally Weird. She seems popular with book groups, and the last couple I've read (including God in Ruins) have been group choices. Either she's changed (possibly) or I have (more likely), but she's no longer a writer of choice for me. And then, this month, one of my groups not only decided on the latest Atkinson, but it's a set of 'connected' short stories, a genre I'm not overly struck with anyway (see my notes on Alice Monro's Runaway, #31 above).
So, Normal Rules Don't Apply was always up against it, although I was open to persuasion! And I was persuaded: that finally, and irrevocably, Kate Atkinson and I part company. This was an utter mess. There were a couple of interesting ideas (the Void in the first story being one), but the further in I progressed, the more ridiculous, the more self-indulgent this book felt, the more it came across as a scrap book of half-worked ideas that hadn't quite made it beyond the draft phase. Yes, there were connections, but these soon became tiresome, there for the sake of being there (Oooh, spot the connection!), and all too often failing to move the narrative, or characters, on. Indeed, the characterisations themselves were utterly flat to me - the women in particular all the same, just with different names - and the narratives all circling around each story's punchline, as this was the sort of short story the author appears to favour. As the title suggests, normal rules don't apply, with a fair sprinkling of talking animals, fairy tale characters, gods in human form etc etc, but to work, there needs to be some sort of coherence or consistency, and there wasn't. It was just unappealing, underdeveloped, often incoherent nonsense. My first one star review of the year (only the second in two years), and a prime contender for the 2024 Duffer award.
148rv1988
>147 Willoyd: I agree with your assessment of Kate Atkinson. I don't understand the hype. I found her Jackson Brodie series so unbearably dull. You're especially on point about how she writes women: very unfortunate.
149Willoyd
>148 rv1988:
Very interesting. There are times when I think I'm the only one!
Very interesting. There are times when I think I'm the only one!
150Willoyd
#35 Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk ******
Read as the book for Poland in my Reading the World project. Superficially a murder mystery, this is a book that offers so much more - a book that (although much lighter) reminded me of The Name of the Rose. 60+ year old Janina Dusszejko (although she won't thank me for using her name - she hates it) lives in deep countryside on the Polish-Czech border. One night, her neighbour Oddball (she ascribes names to people rather than use their given names) disturbs, having found the dead body of another neighbour Big Foot. It's the first of a series of deaths, some more mysterious than others, and the development of a murder hunt, with all the victims members of the local hunting club.
Janina herself is 'different'. Whether she's just a 'mad old woman', as the local authorities see her as, or merely 'eccentric' or 'unconventional', or somewhere on a spectrum is left to the reader's judgement, but she is an absolutely fascinating and powerfully drawn character, especially interested in animals (with whom she relates better than most humans), astrology and the poetry of William Blake, who, whilst socially isolated in some ways and certainly highly individual, even reclusive, still manages to develop a small, tight, coterie of friends - a group of friends on the fringe of society, and largely disregarded by those with power (even when closely related!). As a reader, I found myself on several occasions drawn along by Janina's thought processes, completely agreeing with what she was thinking, particularly recognising the weaknesses/features/tics she zooms in on in others (eg the constant repetition of standard, on trend phrases), and then suddenly realising that I've been pulled along so far, and that we're now in the realms of what I would regard as extreme or at the very least 'individual' behaviour/attitudes. She's certainly not afraid to speak out, but when, for instance, one reads her letters of 'advice' to the local police, one starts to see why the word 'mad' is applied - but where does 'normality' end and 'madness' begin? Janina's strong belief in astrology is one side of the line for some, and tending to the opposite for others. Her equally strong belief in animal rights threatens to take her views over the divide (at least for many people), but then when the hypocrisy with which she's dealing with fully reveals itself, her extreme doesn't seem to be quite so extreme after all - or maybe it still is? Tokarczuk appears to thoroughly enjoy playing around with our perceptions of the 'normal' and the 'extreme', teasing us, none more so than in the her handling of the denouement!
Even so, I think I missed a lot: several reviews touch on the relevance of so much of this novel specifically to attitudes, politics and the role of religion in Poland that completely passed me by (until explained!). But even missing that, this is a book that both thoroughly entertained (it's genuinely funny in places) and constantly pulled me up short and made me think. I have to admit, I did rather glide over some (most!) of the astrology, but that was it - the rest was riveting, one of the strongest pieces of fiction I've read this year (and a bit of a relief after the one-star nonsense of the previous book!).
Read as the book for Poland in my Reading the World project. Superficially a murder mystery, this is a book that offers so much more - a book that (although much lighter) reminded me of The Name of the Rose. 60+ year old Janina Dusszejko (although she won't thank me for using her name - she hates it) lives in deep countryside on the Polish-Czech border. One night, her neighbour Oddball (she ascribes names to people rather than use their given names) disturbs, having found the dead body of another neighbour Big Foot. It's the first of a series of deaths, some more mysterious than others, and the development of a murder hunt, with all the victims members of the local hunting club.
Janina herself is 'different'. Whether she's just a 'mad old woman', as the local authorities see her as, or merely 'eccentric' or 'unconventional', or somewhere on a spectrum is left to the reader's judgement, but she is an absolutely fascinating and powerfully drawn character, especially interested in animals (with whom she relates better than most humans), astrology and the poetry of William Blake, who, whilst socially isolated in some ways and certainly highly individual, even reclusive, still manages to develop a small, tight, coterie of friends - a group of friends on the fringe of society, and largely disregarded by those with power (even when closely related!). As a reader, I found myself on several occasions drawn along by Janina's thought processes, completely agreeing with what she was thinking, particularly recognising the weaknesses/features/tics she zooms in on in others (eg the constant repetition of standard, on trend phrases), and then suddenly realising that I've been pulled along so far, and that we're now in the realms of what I would regard as extreme or at the very least 'individual' behaviour/attitudes. She's certainly not afraid to speak out, but when, for instance, one reads her letters of 'advice' to the local police, one starts to see why the word 'mad' is applied - but where does 'normality' end and 'madness' begin? Janina's strong belief in astrology is one side of the line for some, and tending to the opposite for others. Her equally strong belief in animal rights threatens to take her views over the divide (at least for many people), but then when the hypocrisy with which she's dealing with fully reveals itself, her extreme doesn't seem to be quite so extreme after all - or maybe it still is? Tokarczuk appears to thoroughly enjoy playing around with our perceptions of the 'normal' and the 'extreme', teasing us, none more so than in the her handling of the denouement!
Even so, I think I missed a lot: several reviews touch on the relevance of so much of this novel specifically to attitudes, politics and the role of religion in Poland that completely passed me by (until explained!). But even missing that, this is a book that both thoroughly entertained (it's genuinely funny in places) and constantly pulled me up short and made me think. I have to admit, I did rather glide over some (most!) of the astrology, but that was it - the rest was riveting, one of the strongest pieces of fiction I've read this year (and a bit of a relief after the one-star nonsense of the previous book!).
151labfs39
>150 Willoyd: I had been thinking I would pass on this one, but your review has renewed my interest. I'm intrigued!
152SassyLassy
>151 labfs39: I had thought I would pass on it too, but then my book club read it a couple of years ago, and I was really happy I read it. Different people picked up on different themes, and it made for a great discussion.
>147 Willoyd: Even though the Atkinson turned out to be such a dud, having only one one star read this year is not bad!
>147 Willoyd: Even though the Atkinson turned out to be such a dud, having only one one star read this year is not bad!
153Willoyd
>152 SassyLassy:
Even though the Atkinson turned out to be such a dud, having only one one star read this year is not bad!
I agree entirely! Actually, I'm not bothered at all that get them - I reckon one needs a few duds, otherwise it would suggest playing a bit too safe, and it means one appreciates 'good' reads all the more! Having said that, almost all mine have come from book group reads - which shows that I'm being taken places I wouldn't otherwise go. Sometimes I know that before starting (as in this case - I've read too many Atkinson books now not to have a fair idea that we don't get on), but quite often I've actually been pleasantly surprised, even with a writer who I've experienced before.
Even though the Atkinson turned out to be such a dud, having only one one star read this year is not bad!
I agree entirely! Actually, I'm not bothered at all that get them - I reckon one needs a few duds, otherwise it would suggest playing a bit too safe, and it means one appreciates 'good' reads all the more! Having said that, almost all mine have come from book group reads - which shows that I'm being taken places I wouldn't otherwise go. Sometimes I know that before starting (as in this case - I've read too many Atkinson books now not to have a fair idea that we don't get on), but quite often I've actually been pleasantly surprised, even with a writer who I've experienced before.
154Willoyd
A few people are talking about top-10s, and ever one for a list, I've included a couple here to try and match/compare with those others have produced. I can think of a few more too - could be a whole thread on the subject! Anyway, here's a handful to start with - fiction in this post, non-fiction in the one following. They have been horribly difficult to pare down, and are listed alphabetically by author, although I've indicated my no 1 choice in each:
Top-10 novels.....
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen (could equally have been Emma!)
A Month in the Country by JL Carr - my #1
Bleak House by Charles Dickens
Middlemarch by George Eliot
The Sea Road by Margaret Elphinstone
A Very Long Engagement by Sebastian Japrisot
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth
This Thing of Darkness by Harry Thompson
To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
(Noticeable that only two are from living authors: Elphinstone and Seth).
.....and 3 series
None of these includes an individual book that achieves my top 10, but as series they're up there.
The Aubrey-Maturin novels by Patrick O'Brian
The Maigret novels by Georges Simenon
The Rougons-Macquart sequence by Emile Zola
Top-10 living fiction authors
Quite a difficult list this - as the list above shows, much of my reading seems to be around deceased authors. Although I do read a fair amount of those living too, there are very few of whom I've read more than one, maybe two, books. This is particularly so since I started my World and American projects, although these have introduced me to a whole load of new writers, who I've started to explore. So, a list that may well change (a lot!).
Tracy Chevalier
Sarah Dunant
Margaret Elphinstone
Bernardine Evaristo
Melissa Harrison*
Donna Leon (go-to comfort reading!)
Andrew Miller
Monique Roffey
Francis Spufford*
Stella Tillyard*
*non-fiction writers too
The above lists are very Anglo-centric, mainly because that's how my reading was largely for many years, and it takes time for a book to become an all-time favourite, so for balance a list with a different slant.
Top-10 non-British novels in translation
The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco (Italian)
Standing Heavy by GauZ (French, Cote d'Ivoire)
A Very Long Engagement by Sebastian Japrisot (French)
Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih (Arabic, Sudan)
Wind, Sand and Stars by Antoine de Saint-Exupery (French)
Measuring the World by Daniel Kehlmann (German)
A Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Spanish, Colombia)
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk (Polish)
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (Russian)
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (Spanish)
- a special mention to Michel the Giant by Tete-Michel Kpomassie - not a novel, but brilliant
- note the Zola and Simenon series of books listed above; again, no one novel gets in the top 10 here, but each as a series is up there.
Top-10 novels.....
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen (could equally have been Emma!)
A Month in the Country by JL Carr - my #1
Bleak House by Charles Dickens
Middlemarch by George Eliot
The Sea Road by Margaret Elphinstone
A Very Long Engagement by Sebastian Japrisot
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth
This Thing of Darkness by Harry Thompson
To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
(Noticeable that only two are from living authors: Elphinstone and Seth).
.....and 3 series
None of these includes an individual book that achieves my top 10, but as series they're up there.
The Aubrey-Maturin novels by Patrick O'Brian
The Maigret novels by Georges Simenon
The Rougons-Macquart sequence by Emile Zola
Top-10 living fiction authors
Quite a difficult list this - as the list above shows, much of my reading seems to be around deceased authors. Although I do read a fair amount of those living too, there are very few of whom I've read more than one, maybe two, books. This is particularly so since I started my World and American projects, although these have introduced me to a whole load of new writers, who I've started to explore. So, a list that may well change (a lot!).
Tracy Chevalier
Sarah Dunant
Margaret Elphinstone
Bernardine Evaristo
Melissa Harrison*
Donna Leon (go-to comfort reading!)
Andrew Miller
Monique Roffey
Francis Spufford*
Stella Tillyard*
*non-fiction writers too
The above lists are very Anglo-centric, mainly because that's how my reading was largely for many years, and it takes time for a book to become an all-time favourite, so for balance a list with a different slant.
Top-10 non-British novels in translation
The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco (Italian)
Standing Heavy by GauZ (French, Cote d'Ivoire)
A Very Long Engagement by Sebastian Japrisot (French)
Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih (Arabic, Sudan)
Wind, Sand and Stars by Antoine de Saint-Exupery (French)
Measuring the World by Daniel Kehlmann (German)
A Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Spanish, Colombia)
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk (Polish)
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (Russian)
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (Spanish)
- a special mention to Michel the Giant by Tete-Michel Kpomassie - not a novel, but brilliant
- note the Zola and Simenon series of books listed above; again, no one novel gets in the top 10 here, but each as a series is up there.
155labfs39
>154 Willoyd: could be a whole thread on the subject That's sort of what the LISTS thread was made for, lists like this as well as formal lists published by others.
I've read half of your favorite novels and think highly of Bleak House, Sense and Sensibility, and Middlemarch as well. Bring Up the Bodies edged out Wolf Hall on my list, and Pride and Prejudice edged out Sense and Sensibility.
I love that your list of living fiction authors is dominated by women.
I published my list of Book in Translation published since 2000 here. Of your list I've only read Seasons of Migration to the North and loved it.
I've read half of your favorite novels and think highly of Bleak House, Sense and Sensibility, and Middlemarch as well. Bring Up the Bodies edged out Wolf Hall on my list, and Pride and Prejudice edged out Sense and Sensibility.
I love that your list of living fiction authors is dominated by women.
I published my list of Book in Translation published since 2000 here. Of your list I've only read Seasons of Migration to the North and loved it.
156Willoyd
And so, on to the non-fiction. A top 10 overall list (perhaps the hardest list of all to pare down), and a history one to pair with the one produced by labfs39
Top-10 non-fiction
Crow Country by Mark Cocker - birds
Thunderclap by Laura Cumming - art / memoir
Chasing the Monsoon by Alexander Frater travel
The House by the Lake by Thomas Harding micro-history
Germany, Memories of a Nation by Neil MacGregor history
The Language Instinct by Stephen Pinker psychology / science
The History of the Countryside by Oliver Rackham = my #1
Small Is Beautiful by EF Schumacher economics
Wilding by Isabella Tree conservation
The Invention of Nature by Andrea Wulf biography
A list that reflects some of my biggest interests - birds, natural history, geography, Germany and history. Oddly, nothing on books/reading, although a couple came close (not least Ann Fadiman's Ex Libris). I could easily have expanded some of these genres out, but will stick with the history one for the moment.
Biographies excluded!
The Pursuit of Glory by Tim Blanning. European history from the end of the Thirty Years' War to Waterloo.
Waterloo by Tim Clayton. Three battles in 4 days
Letter from America 1946-2004 by Alistair Cooke. A selection of Cooke's long running weekly radio essays explaining the USA to the British
The House by the Lake by Thomas Harding. Microhistory: 20thC Berlin told through the story of one house.
All Hell Let Loose by Max Hastings. One volume history of WW2.
Germany, Memories of a Nation by Neil MacGregor. History of a long fragmentary nation told through examination of shared memories.
The History of the Countryside by Oliver Rackham. The evolution of the British (man-made) landscape.
The Five by Hallie Rubenhold. The very different lives of the 5 Ripper victims, and what they tell us about Victorian London social history
East-West Street by Philippe Sands. Investigation into author's family history and its involvement in the recognition of genocide and crimes against humanity as legal concepts
Storm and Conquest by Stephen Taylor History of the 1809 naval campaign in the Indian Ocean
Top-10 non-fiction authors
10 non-fiction writers who haven't been mentioned above, but whose books I particularly enjoy and are amongst my favourites.
Paula Byrne
Richard Fortey
Lisa Jardine
John Lewis-Stempel
Jan Morris
Adam Nicolson
Simon Schama
Claire Tomalin
Jenny Uglow
Gavin Young
Top-10 non-fiction
Crow Country by Mark Cocker - birds
Thunderclap by Laura Cumming - art / memoir
Chasing the Monsoon by Alexander Frater travel
The House by the Lake by Thomas Harding micro-history
Germany, Memories of a Nation by Neil MacGregor history
The Language Instinct by Stephen Pinker psychology / science
The History of the Countryside by Oliver Rackham = my #1
Small Is Beautiful by EF Schumacher economics
Wilding by Isabella Tree conservation
The Invention of Nature by Andrea Wulf biography
A list that reflects some of my biggest interests - birds, natural history, geography, Germany and history. Oddly, nothing on books/reading, although a couple came close (not least Ann Fadiman's Ex Libris). I could easily have expanded some of these genres out, but will stick with the history one for the moment.
Biographies excluded!
The Pursuit of Glory by Tim Blanning. European history from the end of the Thirty Years' War to Waterloo.
Waterloo by Tim Clayton. Three battles in 4 days
Letter from America 1946-2004 by Alistair Cooke. A selection of Cooke's long running weekly radio essays explaining the USA to the British
The House by the Lake by Thomas Harding. Microhistory: 20thC Berlin told through the story of one house.
All Hell Let Loose by Max Hastings. One volume history of WW2.
Germany, Memories of a Nation by Neil MacGregor. History of a long fragmentary nation told through examination of shared memories.
The History of the Countryside by Oliver Rackham. The evolution of the British (man-made) landscape.
The Five by Hallie Rubenhold. The very different lives of the 5 Ripper victims, and what they tell us about Victorian London social history
East-West Street by Philippe Sands. Investigation into author's family history and its involvement in the recognition of genocide and crimes against humanity as legal concepts
Storm and Conquest by Stephen Taylor History of the 1809 naval campaign in the Indian Ocean
Top-10 non-fiction authors
10 non-fiction writers who haven't been mentioned above, but whose books I particularly enjoy and are amongst my favourites.
Paula Byrne
Richard Fortey
Lisa Jardine
John Lewis-Stempel
Jan Morris
Adam Nicolson
Simon Schama
Claire Tomalin
Jenny Uglow
Gavin Young
157Willoyd
>155 labfs39:
That's sort of what the LISTS thread was made for, lists like this as well as formal lists published by others.
Ah, I see. Thanks for that. I thought it was more for the latter. I might copy over to this, especially if I generate any more!
That's sort of what the LISTS thread was made for, lists like this as well as formal lists published by others.
Ah, I see. Thanks for that. I thought it was more for the latter. I might copy over to this, especially if I generate any more!
158labfs39
>157 Willoyd: If you do, I'll add mine as well. I felt as though I were dominating with my favorite translated books, books since 2000, etc. already on that thread.
159rv1988
>150 Willoyd: >151 labfs39: Agreed, I wasn't planning on reading it soon, but this is a great review.
160Willoyd
#36 The Boundless River by Mathijs Deen *****
A series of 'stories' set around the River Rhine, or, more accurately the Rhine and its tributaries. Early on in the book, Deen talks to a hydrologist about the source of the river, and is told off for focusing in on one 'source' - that the river should be treated as a whole, and that the only 'source' is the rain that falls on the entire catchment. Some of the stories are historical, some contemporary. Some are historical narrative, some are accounts of meetings with people, some are told as stories based on events - the collection (I think they're marginally better described as essays) is eclectic, wide ranging, and thoroughy readable. I did find the stories based on history a bit lightweight - I'd have preferred more history and less fictionalisation, but it certainly left me wanting to know more. I think the aim is to give an overall impression of the history, impact and even personality of the river - and on that I think it succeeds. Having cycled the length of the Rhine a few years ago, I feel quite a strong personal engagement with the river, and this both added to that, and made me want to explore more of the region. My only regret was that it wasn't a thicker book (!), - I wanted more!
A series of 'stories' set around the River Rhine, or, more accurately the Rhine and its tributaries. Early on in the book, Deen talks to a hydrologist about the source of the river, and is told off for focusing in on one 'source' - that the river should be treated as a whole, and that the only 'source' is the rain that falls on the entire catchment. Some of the stories are historical, some contemporary. Some are historical narrative, some are accounts of meetings with people, some are told as stories based on events - the collection (I think they're marginally better described as essays) is eclectic, wide ranging, and thoroughy readable. I did find the stories based on history a bit lightweight - I'd have preferred more history and less fictionalisation, but it certainly left me wanting to know more. I think the aim is to give an overall impression of the history, impact and even personality of the river - and on that I think it succeeds. Having cycled the length of the Rhine a few years ago, I feel quite a strong personal engagement with the river, and this both added to that, and made me want to explore more of the region. My only regret was that it wasn't a thicker book (!), - I wanted more!
161Willoyd
#37 The Book Censor's Library by Bothayna Al-Essa ******
Translated from the Arabic by Ranya Abdelrahman and Sawad Hussain.
The book for Kuwait in my global reading project, this is a fantastical satire examining the rise of authoritarianism and the dangers of book censorship : 1984 and Fahrenheit 451 are obvious influences, but oh is this so timely. In a post-Revolution society where imagination and much technology is banned, and conforming to 'logic' is the rule, the unnamed protagonist of this book finds himself a member of the team of book censors responsible for approving (or not) the books people are allowed to read. He's desperate to conform, but finds himself being sucked into the joys of reading (triggered off by reading Zorba the Greek) and into the resistance, the Cancers. At the same time, his daughter is showing scary signs of imagination, where fairy stories (where did she acquire her knowledge of them?) are all too real, making her vulnerable to being shipped off to one of the much feard child rehabilitation centres.
I'm not normally a fan of satire, and definitely not of dystopian fiction (and this is both), but, like our protagonist, I was unrelentingly sucked into complete addiction. This was almost an effortless read, particularly noteable given the darkness of the subject matter, the writing crisp and sharp, with not a trace of having been translated. The fantastical element, well controlled, added an edge that both intrigued and entertained (all those rabbits!). Unusually for me, there were some genuine laugh out loud moments. Yet this book is deadly serious, and there were moments which exemplified why I don't enjoy (if that's the right word) dystopian fiction.
All in all, a brilliant read. Not quite a 'favourite' (can such a book ever be one?) but another outstanding read on my world tour. I must thank labsf39 for the lead on this, a book (and author) that had not appeared on my radar until her review on her thread earlier this year. It's only recently become available in the UK (and the book is noteably even then printed and published in the States).
Translated from the Arabic by Ranya Abdelrahman and Sawad Hussain.
The book for Kuwait in my global reading project, this is a fantastical satire examining the rise of authoritarianism and the dangers of book censorship : 1984 and Fahrenheit 451 are obvious influences, but oh is this so timely. In a post-Revolution society where imagination and much technology is banned, and conforming to 'logic' is the rule, the unnamed protagonist of this book finds himself a member of the team of book censors responsible for approving (or not) the books people are allowed to read. He's desperate to conform, but finds himself being sucked into the joys of reading (triggered off by reading Zorba the Greek) and into the resistance, the Cancers. At the same time, his daughter is showing scary signs of imagination, where fairy stories (where did she acquire her knowledge of them?) are all too real, making her vulnerable to being shipped off to one of the much feard child rehabilitation centres.
I'm not normally a fan of satire, and definitely not of dystopian fiction (and this is both), but, like our protagonist, I was unrelentingly sucked into complete addiction. This was almost an effortless read, particularly noteable given the darkness of the subject matter, the writing crisp and sharp, with not a trace of having been translated. The fantastical element, well controlled, added an edge that both intrigued and entertained (all those rabbits!). Unusually for me, there were some genuine laugh out loud moments. Yet this book is deadly serious, and there were moments which exemplified why I don't enjoy (if that's the right word) dystopian fiction.
All in all, a brilliant read. Not quite a 'favourite' (can such a book ever be one?) but another outstanding read on my world tour. I must thank labsf39 for the lead on this, a book (and author) that had not appeared on my radar until her review on her thread earlier this year. It's only recently become available in the UK (and the book is noteably even then printed and published in the States).
162labfs39
>160 Willoyd: If you like river books, you might like to check out this quarter's Reading Globally theme read on the Danube.
>161 Willoyd: I'm so glad you liked it!
Edited to fix link
>161 Willoyd: I'm so glad you liked it!
Edited to fix link
163Willoyd
#38 Oxygen by Andrew Miller ***
Read for one of my book groups. I've previously read a couple of Miller's later books, which I've really enjoyed, and I mean really enjoyed, both featuring on my favourites list, so I was delighted that my group chose one of his to read for our September meeting. This was a bit different from the get-go, as the previous two, Pure and Now We Shall Be Entirely Free, had both been historical fiction, whilst this was contemporary. It focuses on four characters: Alice Valentine, an elderly woman dying from cancer, Larry and Alex, her two sons (Larry an ex-pro tennis player and recently written-out soap star in America, gradually disconnecting from wife and troubled young daughter, and struggling to adjust; Alex a translator and currently caring for his mother), and Laszlo Lazar, a Hungarian emigre and playwright living in Paris. Laszlo is tenuously connected to the first three through Alex, as Alex is translating one of his plays into English. Chapters focus on one character at a time (in no particular order), and much of the story is told as through the subject's eyes.
The writing is, as with both previous reads, brilliant. I love the precision and detail painting a vivid picture, sucking me in to each scene. This and the perspectives taken meant that the characters were really fleshed out too, so for about the first quarter or so of the book I was enthralled. Gradually, however, I found myself disengaging, growing restless: this was all very beautiful and insightful, but when was anything actually going to happen? We'd had a couple of what now seemed false starts, but otherwise, and now we are a third of the way into the book, nothing but nothing was actually doing. I think part of the problem also was that there were effectively four threads, and whilst three were reasonably closely connected (although Larry in America was still distant for much of the book), the Laszlo thread never really linked up - this was really two completely different stories intertwined, barely connected by the 'oxygen' thread, which, whilst adding to the imagery, was nowhere near enough to help create a fully successful single novel.
Well, eventually, things did happen, but by then I was starting to skim, and what happened wasn't enough to pull me fully back in, although, forcing myself to settle down for the last pages, I loved the ending! Apparently (from Wikipedia), this, Miller's third book, received mixed reviews on publication, and, reading the quotes, I can't really disagree with any of them, both positive and, perhaps to a lesser extent in some cases, negative (some positively didn't like the ending!). I'm glad that several suggested this wasn't as good as his first two, as I have those to come! I am surprised though that this was shortlisted for both Booker and Whitbread. It will, however, be a great book for a group discussion, which I'm looking forward to, as I also look forward to later trying some of Andrew Miller's other work.
Read for one of my book groups. I've previously read a couple of Miller's later books, which I've really enjoyed, and I mean really enjoyed, both featuring on my favourites list, so I was delighted that my group chose one of his to read for our September meeting. This was a bit different from the get-go, as the previous two, Pure and Now We Shall Be Entirely Free, had both been historical fiction, whilst this was contemporary. It focuses on four characters: Alice Valentine, an elderly woman dying from cancer, Larry and Alex, her two sons (Larry an ex-pro tennis player and recently written-out soap star in America, gradually disconnecting from wife and troubled young daughter, and struggling to adjust; Alex a translator and currently caring for his mother), and Laszlo Lazar, a Hungarian emigre and playwright living in Paris. Laszlo is tenuously connected to the first three through Alex, as Alex is translating one of his plays into English. Chapters focus on one character at a time (in no particular order), and much of the story is told as through the subject's eyes.
The writing is, as with both previous reads, brilliant. I love the precision and detail painting a vivid picture, sucking me in to each scene. This and the perspectives taken meant that the characters were really fleshed out too, so for about the first quarter or so of the book I was enthralled. Gradually, however, I found myself disengaging, growing restless: this was all very beautiful and insightful, but when was anything actually going to happen? We'd had a couple of what now seemed false starts, but otherwise, and now we are a third of the way into the book, nothing but nothing was actually doing. I think part of the problem also was that there were effectively four threads, and whilst three were reasonably closely connected (although Larry in America was still distant for much of the book), the Laszlo thread never really linked up - this was really two completely different stories intertwined, barely connected by the 'oxygen' thread, which, whilst adding to the imagery, was nowhere near enough to help create a fully successful single novel.
Well, eventually, things did happen, but by then I was starting to skim, and what happened wasn't enough to pull me fully back in, although, forcing myself to settle down for the last pages, I loved the ending! Apparently (from Wikipedia), this, Miller's third book, received mixed reviews on publication, and, reading the quotes, I can't really disagree with any of them, both positive and, perhaps to a lesser extent in some cases, negative (some positively didn't like the ending!). I'm glad that several suggested this wasn't as good as his first two, as I have those to come! I am surprised though that this was shortlisted for both Booker and Whitbread. It will, however, be a great book for a group discussion, which I'm looking forward to, as I also look forward to later trying some of Andrew Miller's other work.
164Willoyd
#39 Cheerful Weather for the Wedding by Julia Strachey ****
Picked up on a whim in my local independent: Persephone Press is almost always worth a try, and the blurb was very persuasive, especially the recommendation quote from Virginia Woolf, and the phrase describing this as an "eccentric mixture of Katherine Mansfield, Cold Comfort Farm, and EM Forster" (all three of which I love!). At barely 120 pages, this was very much a quick read, finished in under a day and a couple of sittings.
And I'm just not sure! Dolly Thatcham is about to get married to the older Owen Bigham on a breezy, bright March day, and the family are gathering and preparing for the day's ceremony; she herself needs sustenance (a bottle of rum!), whilst an ex-lover (or is he?) is waiting to put his oar in. It's a perfect scenario for a dissection of upper middle class social mores, and in many respects this matches expectations. I could instantly see the Cold Comfort Farm connection, portraying much of the same humour and bite with a cast of characters that included the suitably awful (if not quite as luridly drawn!).
The Mansfield and Forster connections were not quite so obvious however, and, in fact, it was the quality of writing (at which these two are so superb) which left me asking questions. I think, I hope, it was deliberate, but there was a clunkiness at times which, whilst underlining the action, left me wondering. Also, whilst both Mansfield and Forster are outstanding character writers, there simply wasn't a similar depth here. That's almost inevitable: it's a rare piece of satire that manages that, and this was no exception to the rule. We're not talking carboard cutouts, but nor are we talking rounded individuals either - not surprising given the extensive cast, the space, and the material, but Mansfield? Forster? I think not - this was a very different kettle of fish.
However, I did however find myself laughing out loud on a couple of occasions, which is no mean feat for an author to pull off, and, allowing for that clunky niggle, I did find this funny, deliciously so at times, especially in the wake of books like Richmal Crompton's Family Roundabout. The problem is that this latter sort of book has rather got lost in the mists of time, just like those that Stella Gibbons was spoofing, and unless familiar with them and/or 1930s English society, much of the point could easily be missed.
But, whatever the faults (and, as I said, I'm not even sure if all these are faults!), I galloped through this, and found it a very easy and enjoyable read. It actually left me wanting more, even if that might have been a mite more depth, but that's still no bad thing. I can easily see me returning to this in the not too distant future to see if I can make my mind up!
BTW, the edition I read was in Persephone's Classics series, which are supplied with the full colour cover rather than their standard grey offering. I always like their covers, but absolutely loved this one, the painting used being 'Girl Reading' by Harold Knight, a near perfect match IMO. They say don't judge a book by its cover, but this one certainly attracted me and made me pick it up!
Picked up on a whim in my local independent: Persephone Press is almost always worth a try, and the blurb was very persuasive, especially the recommendation quote from Virginia Woolf, and the phrase describing this as an "eccentric mixture of Katherine Mansfield, Cold Comfort Farm, and EM Forster" (all three of which I love!). At barely 120 pages, this was very much a quick read, finished in under a day and a couple of sittings.
And I'm just not sure! Dolly Thatcham is about to get married to the older Owen Bigham on a breezy, bright March day, and the family are gathering and preparing for the day's ceremony; she herself needs sustenance (a bottle of rum!), whilst an ex-lover (or is he?) is waiting to put his oar in. It's a perfect scenario for a dissection of upper middle class social mores, and in many respects this matches expectations. I could instantly see the Cold Comfort Farm connection, portraying much of the same humour and bite with a cast of characters that included the suitably awful (if not quite as luridly drawn!).
The Mansfield and Forster connections were not quite so obvious however, and, in fact, it was the quality of writing (at which these two are so superb) which left me asking questions. I think, I hope, it was deliberate, but there was a clunkiness at times which, whilst underlining the action, left me wondering. Also, whilst both Mansfield and Forster are outstanding character writers, there simply wasn't a similar depth here. That's almost inevitable: it's a rare piece of satire that manages that, and this was no exception to the rule. We're not talking carboard cutouts, but nor are we talking rounded individuals either - not surprising given the extensive cast, the space, and the material, but Mansfield? Forster? I think not - this was a very different kettle of fish.
However, I did however find myself laughing out loud on a couple of occasions, which is no mean feat for an author to pull off, and, allowing for that clunky niggle, I did find this funny, deliciously so at times, especially in the wake of books like Richmal Crompton's Family Roundabout. The problem is that this latter sort of book has rather got lost in the mists of time, just like those that Stella Gibbons was spoofing, and unless familiar with them and/or 1930s English society, much of the point could easily be missed.
But, whatever the faults (and, as I said, I'm not even sure if all these are faults!), I galloped through this, and found it a very easy and enjoyable read. It actually left me wanting more, even if that might have been a mite more depth, but that's still no bad thing. I can easily see me returning to this in the not too distant future to see if I can make my mind up!
BTW, the edition I read was in Persephone's Classics series, which are supplied with the full colour cover rather than their standard grey offering. I always like their covers, but absolutely loved this one, the painting used being 'Girl Reading' by Harold Knight, a near perfect match IMO. They say don't judge a book by its cover, but this one certainly attracted me and made me pick it up!
165Ameise1
>164 Willoyd: Nice review. My local library has got a copy of it. I put it on my list.
166Willoyd
#40. Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck **
Translated from the German by Michael Hofmann. I came to this via the International Booker (so that shows such prizes work!), which this won, and a friend's recommendation. Set in the old East Germany this is the story of an affair between 19-year old Katherina and 53 year old Hans- married with a son. It's an affair that starts off with an intensity that matches the suddenness and unexpectedness of their meeting, but is ultimately, and almost inevitably, doomed - we know that from the outset as the novel is framed by an older and now married Katherina receiving boxes of letters etc after Hans's death. It's also an affair paralleled by the fall of the Iron Curtain: Kairos is ancient Greek for 'the right or critical moment' - critical moments both in Katherina and Hans's lives, and in the history of Gemany.
There is no doubt in my mind of the quality of Erpenbeck's writing. The rapid switching back and forth between thought strands that opened the first 'proper' chapter gave an instant edge, a freshness, that instantly grabbed me (and was the final hook in buying the book!), and there was a depth that kept me involved for quite a while. But gradually, it started to feel like so many other similar stories, things started to get rather repetitive (and unremitting), and when the submission and abuse came in, I was on the way out. I did skim through to the end, but there was nothing that persuaded me that this was other than the same old same old. Natasha Walters in the Guardian opened her review with the words "Jenny Erpenbeck's Kairos is one of the bleakest and most beautiful books I have ever read". Well we half agree, but her concept of beauty and mine must be very different!
Translated from the German by Michael Hofmann. I came to this via the International Booker (so that shows such prizes work!), which this won, and a friend's recommendation. Set in the old East Germany this is the story of an affair between 19-year old Katherina and 53 year old Hans- married with a son. It's an affair that starts off with an intensity that matches the suddenness and unexpectedness of their meeting, but is ultimately, and almost inevitably, doomed - we know that from the outset as the novel is framed by an older and now married Katherina receiving boxes of letters etc after Hans's death. It's also an affair paralleled by the fall of the Iron Curtain: Kairos is ancient Greek for 'the right or critical moment' - critical moments both in Katherina and Hans's lives, and in the history of Gemany.
There is no doubt in my mind of the quality of Erpenbeck's writing. The rapid switching back and forth between thought strands that opened the first 'proper' chapter gave an instant edge, a freshness, that instantly grabbed me (and was the final hook in buying the book!), and there was a depth that kept me involved for quite a while. But gradually, it started to feel like so many other similar stories, things started to get rather repetitive (and unremitting), and when the submission and abuse came in, I was on the way out. I did skim through to the end, but there was nothing that persuaded me that this was other than the same old same old. Natasha Walters in the Guardian opened her review with the words "Jenny Erpenbeck's Kairos is one of the bleakest and most beautiful books I have ever read". Well we half agree, but her concept of beauty and mine must be very different!
167Willoyd
#41. Walking the Bones of Britain by Christopher Somerville *****
A fascinating walk through Britain from the Outer Hebrides to the Thames Estuary, travelling through the chronology of British geology, from the oldest Pre-Cambrian rocks in the UK on the Isle of Lewis, through to some of the youngest in the south-east. Somerville is a lucid and always interesting writer and whilst there wasn't a huge amount of new learning here for me, I found several individual jigsaw pieces sliding neatly into place, and the pages (and miles) rattling along. I found his commentary on some of the related issues (environmental impact of HS2, response to climate change flooding in the south-east, etc) very much to the point, in an understated way. The list of books, othe resources, and sites to visit at the back definitely add to the usefulness to - I've already installed the BGS Viewer app on my phone, and started using it regularly. I'll definitely be dipping into this for reference and reading in future, and whilst it's a mite overstated IMO, the Specator opinion quoted on the cover describing this as 'one of our finest gazeteers of the British countryside' at least points in a similar direction as mine!
A fascinating walk through Britain from the Outer Hebrides to the Thames Estuary, travelling through the chronology of British geology, from the oldest Pre-Cambrian rocks in the UK on the Isle of Lewis, through to some of the youngest in the south-east. Somerville is a lucid and always interesting writer and whilst there wasn't a huge amount of new learning here for me, I found several individual jigsaw pieces sliding neatly into place, and the pages (and miles) rattling along. I found his commentary on some of the related issues (environmental impact of HS2, response to climate change flooding in the south-east, etc) very much to the point, in an understated way. The list of books, othe resources, and sites to visit at the back definitely add to the usefulness to - I've already installed the BGS Viewer app on my phone, and started using it regularly. I'll definitely be dipping into this for reference and reading in future, and whilst it's a mite overstated IMO, the Specator opinion quoted on the cover describing this as 'one of our finest gazeteers of the British countryside' at least points in a similar direction as mine!
168Willoyd
#42. Orbital by Samantha Harvey ******
A slim novel, just 139 pages, in a beautifully presented paperback (French flaps etc). And an absolutely beautiful read too! A study of one day in the life of 6 astronauts (or rather, 4 astronauts and 2 cosmonauts!) on the International Space Station - a day that includes 16 sunrises as they orbit the earth once every 90 minutes - it may be set in space, but it's so much about the human existence and our place on the earth, or, indeed, in the universe. It was a book that I had to force myself to put down, as to really appreciate it I needed more time and space (!) than one continuous sitting would allow me, and it cries out to be reread soon. Harvey's writing is exquisite, and I was totally involved from the very first word, when the crew are soundly asleep in the early hours of their 'day':
Rotating about the earth in their space craft they are so together, and so alone, that even their thoughts, their internal mythologies, at times convene. Sometimes they dream the same dreams - of fractals and blue spheres and familiar faces engulfed in dark, and of the bright energetic black of space that slams their senses. Raw space is a panther, feral and primal: they dream it stalking through their quarters. Well, I loved it anyway!
This is on the Booker longlist, and the shortlist is going to be announced in a fortnight's time. This, IMO, has got to be there - if it isn't, the six that are had better be pretty amazing!
A slim novel, just 139 pages, in a beautifully presented paperback (French flaps etc). And an absolutely beautiful read too! A study of one day in the life of 6 astronauts (or rather, 4 astronauts and 2 cosmonauts!) on the International Space Station - a day that includes 16 sunrises as they orbit the earth once every 90 minutes - it may be set in space, but it's so much about the human existence and our place on the earth, or, indeed, in the universe. It was a book that I had to force myself to put down, as to really appreciate it I needed more time and space (!) than one continuous sitting would allow me, and it cries out to be reread soon. Harvey's writing is exquisite, and I was totally involved from the very first word, when the crew are soundly asleep in the early hours of their 'day':
Rotating about the earth in their space craft they are so together, and so alone, that even their thoughts, their internal mythologies, at times convene. Sometimes they dream the same dreams - of fractals and blue spheres and familiar faces engulfed in dark, and of the bright energetic black of space that slams their senses. Raw space is a panther, feral and primal: they dream it stalking through their quarters. Well, I loved it anyway!
This is on the Booker longlist, and the shortlist is going to be announced in a fortnight's time. This, IMO, has got to be there - if it isn't, the six that are had better be pretty amazing!
169labfs39
>168 Willoyd: I've been hearing lots of good things about this one, Will. Looking forward to it at some point.
170Willoyd
#43. Not A River by Selva Almeda *****
A reread for one of my book groups of a book I read earlier this year. I always thought I was going to reread this anyway! If anything, even better second time around. I've now obtained the other two books in Almeda's very loosely connected trilogy, so hope to tackle those later this year.
#44. The Pleasure of Drowning by Jean Burlesk ****
My World project read for Luxembourg. A thoroughly entertaining collection of short stories, a series of alternative perspectives on traditional stories and legends. It's a quick, very easy, read, being barely 80 pages long, but packs a fair bit into that. I'll definitely be rereading it soon too. I'm not convinced that's the author's genuine name!
A reread for one of my book groups of a book I read earlier this year. I always thought I was going to reread this anyway! If anything, even better second time around. I've now obtained the other two books in Almeda's very loosely connected trilogy, so hope to tackle those later this year.
#44. The Pleasure of Drowning by Jean Burlesk ****
My World project read for Luxembourg. A thoroughly entertaining collection of short stories, a series of alternative perspectives on traditional stories and legends. It's a quick, very easy, read, being barely 80 pages long, but packs a fair bit into that. I'll definitely be rereading it soon too. I'm not convinced that's the author's genuine name!
171Willoyd
#45. Ulysses by James Joyce ******(F)
A book that I've intended to read for many years, but kept shying away from: "when I've got the time to devote to it". Making it my choice for Ireland in my world reading project - and putting it right at the centre of the project by requiring every other book to be 'post-Ulysses' - was designed to force the issue! In the end, I started this in March, read about one-third, and then took a break between the end of April and the beginning of September, at which point, for various reasons, I set myself the target of reading it by early October. And finished it was today!
It is comfortably the biggest, most challenging, even most exhausting, book I've ever read; it's the only one (so far!) where I've been glad of a guide alongside it (I used Patrick Hamilton's The Guide to James Joyce's Ulysses, and found it very useful in keeping me on track!). Even with that help I found a few sections very difficult (excruciatingly so at one point, fairly early on - but Hamilton helped me keep going!), but I was very pleasantly surprised as to how much was anything but, and overall it ranks amongst the most enjoyable books I've ever read, culiminating in the glorious final section, Molly Bloom's stream of consciousness soliloquy. It's certainly the most intricate book (fiction or non-fiction), and the one, when I got to that final "Yes!, that has provided the greatest sense of achievement! I totally get why this is often cited as the greatest novel ever written.
I'm not going to attempt to write a fuller review, but just to say that I will definitely be reading it again, although perhaps in small sections now I have an overall broad grasp of it (if anybody can ever 'grasp' this novel!). How can I give this anything but 6 stars? Wow!
#46. The Guide to James Joyce's Ulysses by Patrick Hamilton ****
Read this in parallel with Ulysses itself. Divided up into the 17 recognised 'sections' of the novel, I mostly read the opening couple of introductory paragraphs to each section before reading the text, and then read the meat of the commentary when I finished a section. This way, I was warned/prepared for the 'tough' stuff, but still felt I was coming to the actual novel fresh. Having read the guide post-section, I would often find myself reading parts of sections again, tracking bits where I'd missed something or not fully understood first time. The author's style is relaxed and informal, and certainly helped me enormously. The book is based on an excellent website, Ulyssesguide.com; I just preferred having the book to hand. BTW, Hamilton uses line numbers from the corrected Ulysses, edited by Hans Walter Gabler. Although I read most of the novel using the eminently readable Everyman edition, I also had a copy of a Gabler edition from the library to help me cross reference, although it wasn't entirely necessary. I started reading it, but the font size etc didn't make it easy for me, so I went back to Everyman as my prime reading copy, even if there were a couple of layout issues. So, a cut above the usual reference book, maybe because it helped me so much!
A book that I've intended to read for many years, but kept shying away from: "when I've got the time to devote to it". Making it my choice for Ireland in my world reading project - and putting it right at the centre of the project by requiring every other book to be 'post-Ulysses' - was designed to force the issue! In the end, I started this in March, read about one-third, and then took a break between the end of April and the beginning of September, at which point, for various reasons, I set myself the target of reading it by early October. And finished it was today!
It is comfortably the biggest, most challenging, even most exhausting, book I've ever read; it's the only one (so far!) where I've been glad of a guide alongside it (I used Patrick Hamilton's The Guide to James Joyce's Ulysses, and found it very useful in keeping me on track!). Even with that help I found a few sections very difficult (excruciatingly so at one point, fairly early on - but Hamilton helped me keep going!), but I was very pleasantly surprised as to how much was anything but, and overall it ranks amongst the most enjoyable books I've ever read, culiminating in the glorious final section, Molly Bloom's stream of consciousness soliloquy. It's certainly the most intricate book (fiction or non-fiction), and the one, when I got to that final "Yes!, that has provided the greatest sense of achievement! I totally get why this is often cited as the greatest novel ever written.
I'm not going to attempt to write a fuller review, but just to say that I will definitely be reading it again, although perhaps in small sections now I have an overall broad grasp of it (if anybody can ever 'grasp' this novel!). How can I give this anything but 6 stars? Wow!
#46. The Guide to James Joyce's Ulysses by Patrick Hamilton ****
Read this in parallel with Ulysses itself. Divided up into the 17 recognised 'sections' of the novel, I mostly read the opening couple of introductory paragraphs to each section before reading the text, and then read the meat of the commentary when I finished a section. This way, I was warned/prepared for the 'tough' stuff, but still felt I was coming to the actual novel fresh. Having read the guide post-section, I would often find myself reading parts of sections again, tracking bits where I'd missed something or not fully understood first time. The author's style is relaxed and informal, and certainly helped me enormously. The book is based on an excellent website, Ulyssesguide.com; I just preferred having the book to hand. BTW, Hamilton uses line numbers from the corrected Ulysses, edited by Hans Walter Gabler. Although I read most of the novel using the eminently readable Everyman edition, I also had a copy of a Gabler edition from the library to help me cross reference, although it wasn't entirely necessary. I started reading it, but the font size etc didn't make it easy for me, so I went back to Everyman as my prime reading copy, even if there were a couple of layout issues. So, a cut above the usual reference book, maybe because it helped me so much!
172labfs39
>171 Willoyd: Congrats on your Ulysses achievement! I read it in college as the last book in a two-semester seminar in tracing Odysseus through literature. Although I could appreciate it, I was too young and too confused (no internet and no accompanying guide) to understand much of what I was reading. I've always said I should revisit it, but it's a daunting thought. If I do, I will definitely avail myself of a guide. Wowzer!
173kjuliff
>61 Willoyd: I think I need to read this book. It’s about as far away from the Austria Hungarian Empire that I can get. Thanks for drawing my attention to it.
174Willoyd
#47. The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne ******
Just like Ulysses, this is a book that I've long intended to read, but never quite girded my loins sufficiently to get stuck in. Then, it was chosen by one of my book groups! An unfortunate coincidence of timings meant that I had to schedulre reading it immediately after finishing Joyce, with just a fortnight available to read it in time for the group meeting. In the event, the time wasn't a problem, but I have to admit that it wasn't ideal juxtaposing two such tomes, even if they are very different!
Having said that, this adjacency turned out to have its positive side as well: after the challenge of Ulysses, the previously daunting Shandy actually slipped down remarkably easily, far more so than I had even remotely hoped for. Yes, there were moments when the eighteenth century prose knotted itself more tightly than I could fully follow, and yes, there were times where I only just hung on to the latest digressionary thread or timeslip, but overall, this was a big, bold, brassy, brilliant read, which I lapped up from start to finish, building up momentum to the extent that I consumed the last 150 pages in one sitting! In broad terms, I almost always find myself most interested in the characters and characterisation in a novel, and Sterne's is a fascinating, almost loveable, crew. Yes, they can be bawdy, almost cartoonish (by no means necessarily a bad thing!), but they are also utterly human, or at least reflective of oh so many human traits, and there's a kindness to them and the whole book which I found utterly endearing. And as for the legendary digressions - well isn't that how the best stories go, and isn't that, after all, one of the main points of Sterne's writing? I found it a hoot when Sterne left Walter and Toby Shandy in mid-sentence, only to return tens of pages later, to almost the exact point, everything slotted neatly (?!) into context To be honest, there were times when I wasn't sure, really, what the point actually was, but then that's so true of life. I'm probably going round in circles myself now, but it certainly all made sense whilst reading. And it made me laugh, which is a major achievement for any book, a book well in advance of its time, all too accurately described elsewhere IMO as the classic pre-modern post-modern novel! Sterne would have been proud of that, I'm sure!
>61 Willoyd:
Hope it does the job!
Just like Ulysses, this is a book that I've long intended to read, but never quite girded my loins sufficiently to get stuck in. Then, it was chosen by one of my book groups! An unfortunate coincidence of timings meant that I had to schedulre reading it immediately after finishing Joyce, with just a fortnight available to read it in time for the group meeting. In the event, the time wasn't a problem, but I have to admit that it wasn't ideal juxtaposing two such tomes, even if they are very different!
Having said that, this adjacency turned out to have its positive side as well: after the challenge of Ulysses, the previously daunting Shandy actually slipped down remarkably easily, far more so than I had even remotely hoped for. Yes, there were moments when the eighteenth century prose knotted itself more tightly than I could fully follow, and yes, there were times where I only just hung on to the latest digressionary thread or timeslip, but overall, this was a big, bold, brassy, brilliant read, which I lapped up from start to finish, building up momentum to the extent that I consumed the last 150 pages in one sitting! In broad terms, I almost always find myself most interested in the characters and characterisation in a novel, and Sterne's is a fascinating, almost loveable, crew. Yes, they can be bawdy, almost cartoonish (by no means necessarily a bad thing!), but they are also utterly human, or at least reflective of oh so many human traits, and there's a kindness to them and the whole book which I found utterly endearing. And as for the legendary digressions - well isn't that how the best stories go, and isn't that, after all, one of the main points of Sterne's writing? I found it a hoot when Sterne left Walter and Toby Shandy in mid-sentence, only to return tens of pages later, to almost the exact point, everything slotted neatly (?!) into context To be honest, there were times when I wasn't sure, really, what the point actually was, but then that's so true of life. I'm probably going round in circles myself now, but it certainly all made sense whilst reading. And it made me laugh, which is a major achievement for any book, a book well in advance of its time, all too accurately described elsewhere IMO as the classic pre-modern post-modern novel! Sterne would have been proud of that, I'm sure!
>61 Willoyd:
Hope it does the job!
175Willoyd
#48. The Red Notebook by Antoine Laurain *
Having read The President's Hat by the same author in 2018, I was in no particular rush to revisit his work - it was a light, pleasant enough, utterly inconsequential quick read which reminded me of candy floss: all show and no body, harmless, but ultimately a letdown, and I felt generous in giving it 3 stars. But this was a book group choice, so.... Well, more of the same really, except there was also rather a distinctly unpleasant undercurrent this time. The gender stereoyping in The President's Hat was irritating enough. In this novella, Laurent, a bookseller, finds a woman's stolen handbag in the street, all visible means of identification removed. It's the story of his attempts to track the woman, imaginatively named Laure (!), and his growing infatuation with her - in the nicest possible way (?). Nobody seems to recognise this - maybe because they don't see all that he's been up to.
So, it's a plot driven story, supposedly romantic, with little space for character or place development, both of which for me were flat and predictable. In fact the whole thing, including (especially) the plot line proved utterly predictable. It's hard work for a novella-length book to be tedious, but this was, and I really only finished it in one sitting because I knew that as soon as I put it down, I wouldn't pick it up again. A rare single star.
Having read The President's Hat by the same author in 2018, I was in no particular rush to revisit his work - it was a light, pleasant enough, utterly inconsequential quick read which reminded me of candy floss: all show and no body, harmless, but ultimately a letdown, and I felt generous in giving it 3 stars. But this was a book group choice, so.... Well, more of the same really, except there was also rather a distinctly unpleasant undercurrent this time. The gender stereoyping in The President's Hat was irritating enough. In this novella, Laurent, a bookseller, finds a woman's stolen handbag in the street, all visible means of identification removed. It's the story of his attempts to track the woman, imaginatively named Laure (!), and his growing infatuation with her - in the nicest possible way (?). Nobody seems to recognise this - maybe because they don't see all that he's been up to.
So, it's a plot driven story, supposedly romantic, with little space for character or place development, both of which for me were flat and predictable. In fact the whole thing, including (especially) the plot line proved utterly predictable. It's hard work for a novella-length book to be tedious, but this was, and I really only finished it in one sitting because I knew that as soon as I put it down, I wouldn't pick it up again. A rare single star.
176Willoyd
#49. Autumn Journal by Louis MacNeice ****
Beautifully written, atmospheric evocation of a young man's life in the autumn prior to the outbreak of war in 1939 - the underlying tension is masked but palpable. Interestingly, written and published before war actually took off, so there's no hindsight here.
#50. 1923 by Ned Boulting ****
The author, a very well known cycling aficionado and commentator in the UK, acquires from an auction a short piece of newsreel that shows 2 minutes of a Tour de France in the 1920s. This is the story of his investigation into its origins and the people featured. It proves not only to be an important, possibly unique, document, but shows how the past can not only be rediscovered, but how easily it can be lost. A fascinating read (enhanced by the fact that we went to see Ned in his one man show,touring the UK, soon afterwards).
Beautifully written, atmospheric evocation of a young man's life in the autumn prior to the outbreak of war in 1939 - the underlying tension is masked but palpable. Interestingly, written and published before war actually took off, so there's no hindsight here.
#50. 1923 by Ned Boulting ****
The author, a very well known cycling aficionado and commentator in the UK, acquires from an auction a short piece of newsreel that shows 2 minutes of a Tour de France in the 1920s. This is the story of his investigation into its origins and the people featured. It proves not only to be an important, possibly unique, document, but shows how the past can not only be rediscovered, but how easily it can be lost. A fascinating read (enhanced by the fact that we went to see Ned in his one man show,touring the UK, soon afterwards).
177Willoyd
#51. So Distant From My Life by Monique Ilboudo ****
The book for Burkina Faso in my global tour. This is a slim volume, barely 120 pages, and centres on Jeanphi, a young man desperate to emigrate. He tries a variety of different ways, eventually resorting to what are for him extreme measures, difficult to reconcile with, to achieve his goal. The effects of this decision have consequences, which Jeaphi doesn't appear to fully appreciate until it's almost too late. The author, obviously well-informed (her biography is pretty formidable), packs in a huge amount especially given the small space, addressing a whole range of issues, including migration, post-imperial colonialism, corruption, attitudes to homosexuality, the role of NGOs and more, yet writes with a spark and a lightness of touch that made this a very easy read - I fairly rattled through it!
However, enjoyable and readable as it is, the balance between the length and the heft didn't quite work for me: there's almost too much rammed in here, leaving too many unresolved questions at the end as the author seemed to keep wanting to move on to another theme she wanted to cover. Either the book needed to be a fair bit longer (it's not often I say that!), or she needed to focus a bit more tightly on fewer topics. I'd reckon the former, as it's the interaction of all the issues that makes things so real to life. And that may just be what the book was about: so many challenges, demands, pressures all bouncing off each other, no time to fully consider them, all needing to be surmounted in order to get on - and if you take your eye off the ball, and let something slip under the radar, then that's when it all goes wrong. So, can Jeanphi make that happen? What this book certainly highlighted is how tough the challenge is for someone in his position. It was certainly a book that made me think, and one I'd definitely recommend for a book group, as there's plenty (almost too much!) to discuss and learn from. I'd certainly want to discuss the final twist too. Does it work? I'm not sure, but it certainly took me by surprise.
The book for Burkina Faso in my global tour. This is a slim volume, barely 120 pages, and centres on Jeanphi, a young man desperate to emigrate. He tries a variety of different ways, eventually resorting to what are for him extreme measures, difficult to reconcile with, to achieve his goal. The effects of this decision have consequences, which Jeaphi doesn't appear to fully appreciate until it's almost too late. The author, obviously well-informed (her biography is pretty formidable), packs in a huge amount especially given the small space, addressing a whole range of issues, including migration, post-imperial colonialism, corruption, attitudes to homosexuality, the role of NGOs and more, yet writes with a spark and a lightness of touch that made this a very easy read - I fairly rattled through it!
However, enjoyable and readable as it is, the balance between the length and the heft didn't quite work for me: there's almost too much rammed in here, leaving too many unresolved questions at the end as the author seemed to keep wanting to move on to another theme she wanted to cover. Either the book needed to be a fair bit longer (it's not often I say that!), or she needed to focus a bit more tightly on fewer topics. I'd reckon the former, as it's the interaction of all the issues that makes things so real to life. And that may just be what the book was about: so many challenges, demands, pressures all bouncing off each other, no time to fully consider them, all needing to be surmounted in order to get on - and if you take your eye off the ball, and let something slip under the radar, then that's when it all goes wrong. So, can Jeanphi make that happen? What this book certainly highlighted is how tough the challenge is for someone in his position. It was certainly a book that made me think, and one I'd definitely recommend for a book group, as there's plenty (almost too much!) to discuss and learn from. I'd certainly want to discuss the final twist too. Does it work? I'm not sure, but it certainly took me by surprise.
178Willoyd
Although posted after the event, my reviews of Creation Lake and The Safekeep were written before the Booker Prize announcement. Needless to say, I was delighted with the result, although have yet to read James, which many more informed than me expected to win. (Note, I grade my books 1-6 stars).
# 52. Talking About Detective Fiction by PD James ***
Does what it says on the tin. To be honest, I thought that someone of the stature of PD James would bring some real depth and insight to the topic, but this proved to be a fairly straightforward introduction to the history of detective novels, covering all the obvious bases. A bit like those novels of hers I've read now I think about it - she's OK, but I can't see what all the fuss is about. As to this subject, I can't say I felt I learned anything new, but it was an enjoyable enough read, fitting some pieces of the jigsaw together.
#53. Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner ***
Read as part of my pre-Booker announcement reading. Well, quite a few people have raved about this, but for me it was all bit meh,and never really got off the ground. It promised much in the opening chapters, but none of that seemed to lead anywhere, and it all rather fizzled out. A pleasant time filler, but I really can't see what the fuss was about, and as for being a Booker shortlister, well that completely flummoxes me.
#54. The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden *****
And by way of complete contrast, my third of the Booker shortlisters (I won't read any of the others until after the event now), and a totally different kettle of fish. Set in the late 50s/early 60s, with the war still fairly fresh in minds, Isabel has lived on her own in the family home since the death of her mother (promised to her brother when her uncle, who owns the house, dies), and is comfortable in her solitariness: her distrust of others is almost agoraphobic. And then, out of the blue, she has her brother's girlfriend foisted on her to stay whilst he is away on business, completely upsetting her routine and her life, leaving her riddled with suspicion, even hate - and so the relationship takes its course. And it's a sinuous course too, with much to be revealed that is concealed along the way. Whereas the Kushner was cool (too cool for its own good IMO) and sooo laid back, this was passionate and intense, with a depth to the characterisation and an almost claustrophobic sense of place that I really enjoyed. Now, this I could understand why it was shortlisted, an impressive debut. Perhaps not quite as good as Orbital in my view - the other nominee I've read - but a contender, and certainly better than some previous winners I've read. Also my book for the Netherlands in my world reading project.
#55. Doctor Wortle's School by Anthony Trollope ****
Read for one of my book groups. A fairly straightforward novel of a scandal being put right. Typically Trollopean in style, the only thing that was the slightest unVictorian about it was that it was actually quite a short book, barely 260 pages. A comfortably, easy romp through what would have been perhaps a rather more shocking book in the 19th century. A fun read, as Trollope always is, but nothing great from a book club point of view - I think it'll be a fairly short discussion, which is just as well as we'll have some Christmas goodies to consume and imbibe!
#56. The Black Notebook by Patrick Modiano *****
The book for France in my world read. I have to confess my ignorance, but even though he is a Nobel laureate (2014), I'd never heard of Patrick Modiano until his name cropped up both in Antoine Laurain's The Red Notebook, read earlier this autumn, and in the subsequent book group discussion, where I learned that Laurain rather idolises Modiano. A quick dip into a book that the introducer had brought with her suggested that I might appreciate Laurain's taste in books more than his writing In the event, that supposition proved correct, and I loved this slim, deeply atmospheric novel, set in Paris, and so redolent of Georges Simenon's Maigret. There's even an element of mystery, but they mystery is more personal, as the protagonist, Jean, remembers back to his past and his relationship with the elusive Dannie and a group of unsavoury individuals she hangs out with - he (Jean) is still trying to work it all out! It's not the most gripping of plots - intriguing rather than gripping - but I just lapped up that sense of place! Looking forward to exploring Modiano's work more, and have already acquired a copy of Missing Person
Not read enough to count book as 'read', but have given up on my other book group's read this month, Frances Macken's You Have To Make Your Own Fun Around Here. It employed a whole load of currently fashionable tropes being an Irish rural, coming of age, besties novel, but I found none of the characters remotely interesting (and definitely not likeable) and hated the constant (hopefully deliberate) use of 'myself' and 'me' in the nominative, to the point of utter tedium. It added nothing to the book, and I found it almost impossible to reach past this to anything the novel might have to offer. In short, nothing Edna O'Brien didn't do so much better years ago.
# 52. Talking About Detective Fiction by PD James ***
Does what it says on the tin. To be honest, I thought that someone of the stature of PD James would bring some real depth and insight to the topic, but this proved to be a fairly straightforward introduction to the history of detective novels, covering all the obvious bases. A bit like those novels of hers I've read now I think about it - she's OK, but I can't see what all the fuss is about. As to this subject, I can't say I felt I learned anything new, but it was an enjoyable enough read, fitting some pieces of the jigsaw together.
#53. Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner ***
Read as part of my pre-Booker announcement reading. Well, quite a few people have raved about this, but for me it was all bit meh,and never really got off the ground. It promised much in the opening chapters, but none of that seemed to lead anywhere, and it all rather fizzled out. A pleasant time filler, but I really can't see what the fuss was about, and as for being a Booker shortlister, well that completely flummoxes me.
#54. The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden *****
And by way of complete contrast, my third of the Booker shortlisters (I won't read any of the others until after the event now), and a totally different kettle of fish. Set in the late 50s/early 60s, with the war still fairly fresh in minds, Isabel has lived on her own in the family home since the death of her mother (promised to her brother when her uncle, who owns the house, dies), and is comfortable in her solitariness: her distrust of others is almost agoraphobic. And then, out of the blue, she has her brother's girlfriend foisted on her to stay whilst he is away on business, completely upsetting her routine and her life, leaving her riddled with suspicion, even hate - and so the relationship takes its course. And it's a sinuous course too, with much to be revealed that is concealed along the way. Whereas the Kushner was cool (too cool for its own good IMO) and sooo laid back, this was passionate and intense, with a depth to the characterisation and an almost claustrophobic sense of place that I really enjoyed. Now, this I could understand why it was shortlisted, an impressive debut. Perhaps not quite as good as Orbital in my view - the other nominee I've read - but a contender, and certainly better than some previous winners I've read. Also my book for the Netherlands in my world reading project.
#55. Doctor Wortle's School by Anthony Trollope ****
Read for one of my book groups. A fairly straightforward novel of a scandal being put right. Typically Trollopean in style, the only thing that was the slightest unVictorian about it was that it was actually quite a short book, barely 260 pages. A comfortably, easy romp through what would have been perhaps a rather more shocking book in the 19th century. A fun read, as Trollope always is, but nothing great from a book club point of view - I think it'll be a fairly short discussion, which is just as well as we'll have some Christmas goodies to consume and imbibe!
#56. The Black Notebook by Patrick Modiano *****
The book for France in my world read. I have to confess my ignorance, but even though he is a Nobel laureate (2014), I'd never heard of Patrick Modiano until his name cropped up both in Antoine Laurain's The Red Notebook, read earlier this autumn, and in the subsequent book group discussion, where I learned that Laurain rather idolises Modiano. A quick dip into a book that the introducer had brought with her suggested that I might appreciate Laurain's taste in books more than his writing In the event, that supposition proved correct, and I loved this slim, deeply atmospheric novel, set in Paris, and so redolent of Georges Simenon's Maigret. There's even an element of mystery, but they mystery is more personal, as the protagonist, Jean, remembers back to his past and his relationship with the elusive Dannie and a group of unsavoury individuals she hangs out with - he (Jean) is still trying to work it all out! It's not the most gripping of plots - intriguing rather than gripping - but I just lapped up that sense of place! Looking forward to exploring Modiano's work more, and have already acquired a copy of Missing Person
Not read enough to count book as 'read', but have given up on my other book group's read this month, Frances Macken's You Have To Make Your Own Fun Around Here. It employed a whole load of currently fashionable tropes being an Irish rural, coming of age, besties novel, but I found none of the characters remotely interesting (and definitely not likeable) and hated the constant (hopefully deliberate) use of 'myself' and 'me' in the nominative, to the point of utter tedium. It added nothing to the book, and I found it almost impossible to reach past this to anything the novel might have to offer. In short, nothing Edna O'Brien didn't do so much better years ago.
179Willoyd
#57. Shiloh by Shelby Foote ****
The book for Tennessee in my Tour of the USA. The story of the battle, a significant turning point and one of the bloodiest in the American Civil War, told by 4 participants, 2 from each side. Shelby Foote is perhaps best known for his fairly monumental 3-volume history of the war (on my shelves to be read!), but this is a slim thing, quickly read. Really enjoyed the writing providing a very human take on what must have been an utterly grim couple of days. Led to quite a bit of follow-up reading as this is a period of history I know little about, but am slowly getting to grips with (having in the past few years read the gripping The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara - also with follow-up reading - and James Macpherson's excellent Battle Cry for Freedom)
58. Reading Lessons by Carol Atherton ******(F)
A book about books with a difference! The author is a secondary school English teacher. Each chapter is centred on a set text (either now or historically) for A-level or GCSE, and discusses not only the book itself but the questions they raise and are discussed by the students she teaches. Cumulatively, this provides a very powerful argument for the importance of teaching literature in education - it's not just about 'getting a job', but oh so much more - although there is evidence to suggest that humanities students are very employable, not least because of the analytical and human skills the subject teaches (my own son found that his History A-Level was invaluable during his time as a Physics under- and post-graduate, and gave him a distinct advantage over those who had just studied sciences). Atherton's writing is sensitive, thoughtful, and compulsively readable. One of the best non-fiction books I've read this year.
59. 1922, Scenes from a Turbulent Year by Nick Rennison ***
A chronologically seriesed collection of vignettes, telling the story of a significant year in the 20th century. Ranging right across the full range of human activity, if somewhat biased towards the Western world, this proved a decent enough read. I did find he lack of depth rather frustrating at times - this was openly and unashamedly a 'popular' history; it also felt rather repetitive, there being a limit to the significance and interest in yet another crime or scandal superficially told, but it was interesting to have events from widely different spheres put into their historical context and juxtapositioned with other 'great' moments. I would have welcomed some analysis though rather than just 'the facts'.
60. Closely Watched Trains by Bohumil Hrabel ****
A reread of my Reading the World book for Czechia, mainly because I read this a year or so ago and couldn't remember anything about it other than I'd enjoyed it - a complete blank! I enjoyed it this time too! The main protagonist is a railway 'apprentice' in a major good station during WW2, very proud of his position, but struggling with life, being a frustrated virgin and depressed enough to have attempted suicide. In barely 80 pages of concise but vivid prose, the author tells the story of his efforts to make something of himself, to prove that he is a 'real man'. A quick, but engaging read.
The book for Tennessee in my Tour of the USA. The story of the battle, a significant turning point and one of the bloodiest in the American Civil War, told by 4 participants, 2 from each side. Shelby Foote is perhaps best known for his fairly monumental 3-volume history of the war (on my shelves to be read!), but this is a slim thing, quickly read. Really enjoyed the writing providing a very human take on what must have been an utterly grim couple of days. Led to quite a bit of follow-up reading as this is a period of history I know little about, but am slowly getting to grips with (having in the past few years read the gripping The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara - also with follow-up reading - and James Macpherson's excellent Battle Cry for Freedom)
58. Reading Lessons by Carol Atherton ******(F)
A book about books with a difference! The author is a secondary school English teacher. Each chapter is centred on a set text (either now or historically) for A-level or GCSE, and discusses not only the book itself but the questions they raise and are discussed by the students she teaches. Cumulatively, this provides a very powerful argument for the importance of teaching literature in education - it's not just about 'getting a job', but oh so much more - although there is evidence to suggest that humanities students are very employable, not least because of the analytical and human skills the subject teaches (my own son found that his History A-Level was invaluable during his time as a Physics under- and post-graduate, and gave him a distinct advantage over those who had just studied sciences). Atherton's writing is sensitive, thoughtful, and compulsively readable. One of the best non-fiction books I've read this year.
59. 1922, Scenes from a Turbulent Year by Nick Rennison ***
A chronologically seriesed collection of vignettes, telling the story of a significant year in the 20th century. Ranging right across the full range of human activity, if somewhat biased towards the Western world, this proved a decent enough read. I did find he lack of depth rather frustrating at times - this was openly and unashamedly a 'popular' history; it also felt rather repetitive, there being a limit to the significance and interest in yet another crime or scandal superficially told, but it was interesting to have events from widely different spheres put into their historical context and juxtapositioned with other 'great' moments. I would have welcomed some analysis though rather than just 'the facts'.
60. Closely Watched Trains by Bohumil Hrabel ****
A reread of my Reading the World book for Czechia, mainly because I read this a year or so ago and couldn't remember anything about it other than I'd enjoyed it - a complete blank! I enjoyed it this time too! The main protagonist is a railway 'apprentice' in a major good station during WW2, very proud of his position, but struggling with life, being a frustrated virgin and depressed enough to have attempted suicide. In barely 80 pages of concise but vivid prose, the author tells the story of his efforts to make something of himself, to prove that he is a 'real man'. A quick, but engaging read.
180rocketjk
>179 Willoyd: I remember very much enjoying Shiloh as well. I haven't read Closely Watched Trains, but very much enjoyed I Served the King of England and Too Loud a Solitude, both of which I read about 20 years ago.
181dchaikin
Enjoyed these quick takes. I’ve also read those Booker shortlist books. I agrees with you on creation lake, was cooler than you on The Safekeep. Shiloh sounds fantastic.
You should post what you’re reading on out What Are You Reading Now thread. I would like to know, even if you’re not reviewing. 🙂
( here : https://www.librarything.com/topic/365539)
You should post what you’re reading on out What Are You Reading Now thread. I would like to know, even if you’re not reviewing. 🙂
( here : https://www.librarything.com/topic/365539)
182Willoyd
>181 dchaikin:
Will do. Towards the end of my first year here, and still finding my way round the club board - so much to explore!
Will do. Towards the end of my first year here, and still finding my way round the club board - so much to explore!
184Willoyd
61. Symposium by Muriel Spark *****
A latish Spark, but still very much on spiky form. The 'Symposium' is in fact a dinner party for 10 (4 couples, 2 individuals). For some reason, I had formed the impression that the entire book was made up of this event, and had shied away for some time, but we soon move away from the dining room into flashback as to how these people arrived here, what events they've set under way, and what a spider's web of connections has been built around this dinner; you just know the denouement is due to arrive any moment - will they even make it to the dessert?!- especially when you learn that a murder is under way even as the food is being served. Spark manages the tension beautifully, and has an uncanny knack of presenting the most unlikely characters, the most unlikely events, and making you not only believe in them, but become completely immersed in them even if, as here, they are utterly unlikeable (in fact, and very unusually for me, I enjoy it all the more because they are)! Having said that, there were a couple of moments/characters that slightly clunked for me - the 'mad' uncle being one - but I was able to just let them roll in amongst this otherwise deliciously sharp concoction, consuming it all in only a couple of sittings (helped, as ever, by the leanness of her writing!). Pure enjoyment!
62. To Live by Yu Hua ****
Read as the book for China in my round the world tour (my 50th book!). Fugui is the oldest child of a well-off family in pre-communist China who squanders the family fortune on gambling and prostitution, and is forced to become a tenant farmer on the land that he previously owned. He and his family then live (and die) through the civil wars, arrival of communism, the Cultural Revolution and more. Life is a struggle, sometimes very brutal, but, ironically, it's their very poverty which on some occasions enables them to survive when those who have acquired their former wealth suffer even more so under the new regimes. Iniitally cutting an abhorrent figure, Fugui grows throughout the book even as all around him collapses, and his resolution and handling of all that is thrown at him (and that's a lot, almost too much!) makes him, in his poverty and persistence, an object for respect. He is the ultimate survivor, standing perhaps (as I suspect Yu Hua is trying to tell us) for so many Chinese in general? Apparently this was originally banned in China but 'has recently been named one of the last decade's most influential books there' (so the blurb states).
I have consistently found books from eastern Asia quite hard to read and enjoy - there's something about the writing that I find a bit cold, almost distant? I struggle to explain it, but it always reminds me of the way that myths and legends are told - is it something to do with the emphasis on events, or telling rather than showing? I can't quite put my finger on it, but they hardly ever engage me in quite the same way as I've found, for instance, reading African or Latin American literature. It was no different for much of this book, but somewhere around two-thrds of the way through I found myself gradually becoming rather more immersed. A couple of things (I won't spoil by saying what) kicked me out of that towards the end, but as eastern Asian books of late go, this proved one of the most profound and powerful reads I've had.
A latish Spark, but still very much on spiky form. The 'Symposium' is in fact a dinner party for 10 (4 couples, 2 individuals). For some reason, I had formed the impression that the entire book was made up of this event, and had shied away for some time, but we soon move away from the dining room into flashback as to how these people arrived here, what events they've set under way, and what a spider's web of connections has been built around this dinner; you just know the denouement is due to arrive any moment - will they even make it to the dessert?!- especially when you learn that a murder is under way even as the food is being served. Spark manages the tension beautifully, and has an uncanny knack of presenting the most unlikely characters, the most unlikely events, and making you not only believe in them, but become completely immersed in them even if, as here, they are utterly unlikeable (in fact, and very unusually for me, I enjoy it all the more because they are)! Having said that, there were a couple of moments/characters that slightly clunked for me - the 'mad' uncle being one - but I was able to just let them roll in amongst this otherwise deliciously sharp concoction, consuming it all in only a couple of sittings (helped, as ever, by the leanness of her writing!). Pure enjoyment!
62. To Live by Yu Hua ****
Read as the book for China in my round the world tour (my 50th book!). Fugui is the oldest child of a well-off family in pre-communist China who squanders the family fortune on gambling and prostitution, and is forced to become a tenant farmer on the land that he previously owned. He and his family then live (and die) through the civil wars, arrival of communism, the Cultural Revolution and more. Life is a struggle, sometimes very brutal, but, ironically, it's their very poverty which on some occasions enables them to survive when those who have acquired their former wealth suffer even more so under the new regimes. Iniitally cutting an abhorrent figure, Fugui grows throughout the book even as all around him collapses, and his resolution and handling of all that is thrown at him (and that's a lot, almost too much!) makes him, in his poverty and persistence, an object for respect. He is the ultimate survivor, standing perhaps (as I suspect Yu Hua is trying to tell us) for so many Chinese in general? Apparently this was originally banned in China but 'has recently been named one of the last decade's most influential books there' (so the blurb states).
I have consistently found books from eastern Asia quite hard to read and enjoy - there's something about the writing that I find a bit cold, almost distant? I struggle to explain it, but it always reminds me of the way that myths and legends are told - is it something to do with the emphasis on events, or telling rather than showing? I can't quite put my finger on it, but they hardly ever engage me in quite the same way as I've found, for instance, reading African or Latin American literature. It was no different for much of this book, but somewhere around two-thrds of the way through I found myself gradually becoming rather more immersed. A couple of things (I won't spoil by saying what) kicked me out of that towards the end, but as eastern Asian books of late go, this proved one of the most profound and powerful reads I've had.
185dchaikin
>184 Willoyd: do you need to know Plato’s version before reading this Spark?
Terrific review of To Live. Im intrigued.
Terrific review of To Live. Im intrigued.
186Willoyd
>185 dchaikin:
Absolutely not. I've not read Plato's Symposium, but the only link between the two books that I can find was this in the New York Times:
A frequently flying intellectuals know, the classically correct activity at a symposium is to drink in company. That is the ancient formula for producing sparkling conversation, and if it still doesn't work, at least nobody present will notice.
Officially, however, symposiums have now become gatherings at which scholars are supposed to prepare their statements in advance and drink nothing except lectern water until they have not only given their positions but defended them. It just goes to show how the world has gone downhill since Plato's day, or rather his night. uriel Spark's novel "Symposium" is intended to bring things back up. She is the sort of quick and witty writer who must be a wonderful conversationalist as well, and the symposium at which she has assembled her characters is a proper one, which is to say a dinner party with plenty of champagne and claret.
Terrific review of To Live. Im intrigued.
Thank you. I'd definitely recommend it as a read. As you'll have gathered, I'm not a great fan of literature from that part of the world (with exceptions!), but this proved both fascinating and illuminating. I'm not strong on Chinese history (in spite of studying it, much against my 13-year old reactionary will, for a year at school), but it gave a ground-level, personal experience, perspective to the 'great' events of Chinese 20thC history. If anything, I'm now myself intrigued to read up a bit more on it. It's less than 250 pages, so provided a fairly easy (writing-wise), quick read, but packing a punch.
Absolutely not. I've not read Plato's Symposium, but the only link between the two books that I can find was this in the New York Times:
A frequently flying intellectuals know, the classically correct activity at a symposium is to drink in company. That is the ancient formula for producing sparkling conversation, and if it still doesn't work, at least nobody present will notice.
Officially, however, symposiums have now become gatherings at which scholars are supposed to prepare their statements in advance and drink nothing except lectern water until they have not only given their positions but defended them. It just goes to show how the world has gone downhill since Plato's day, or rather his night. uriel Spark's novel "Symposium" is intended to bring things back up. She is the sort of quick and witty writer who must be a wonderful conversationalist as well, and the symposium at which she has assembled her characters is a proper one, which is to say a dinner party with plenty of champagne and claret.
Terrific review of To Live. Im intrigued.
Thank you. I'd definitely recommend it as a read. As you'll have gathered, I'm not a great fan of literature from that part of the world (with exceptions!), but this proved both fascinating and illuminating. I'm not strong on Chinese history (in spite of studying it, much against my 13-year old reactionary will, for a year at school), but it gave a ground-level, personal experience, perspective to the 'great' events of Chinese 20thC history. If anything, I'm now myself intrigued to read up a bit more on it. It's less than 250 pages, so provided a fairly easy (writing-wise), quick read, but packing a punch.
187dchaikin
Very entertaining from the NYT.
I’m clueless on Chinese and all other eastern literature. So this is all interesting to me. Thanks.
I’m clueless on Chinese and all other eastern literature. So this is all interesting to me. Thanks.
188SassyLassy
>186 Willoyd: I think one of the things that differentiates post GPCR Chinese writing from other writing is the emphasis on the society as a whole and how the individual fits into it, rather that on the individual.
At summed up my thoughts on To Live by saying Fugui endures to live, not in the trite western sense of to have a life, but in the far more basic sense of to survive, while at the same time maintaining that which makes us human. It also seemed to me that it was the land and people that would live, that no matter what happened to the country, the eternal peasant would always be there, working the land.
That was way back in 2012 when I seem to have read a fair amount of Chinese fiction, including three by Yu Hua. I hope to get back to it in the new year.
At summed up my thoughts on To Live by saying Fugui endures to live, not in the trite western sense of to have a life, but in the far more basic sense of to survive, while at the same time maintaining that which makes us human. It also seemed to me that it was the land and people that would live, that no matter what happened to the country, the eternal peasant would always be there, working the land.
That was way back in 2012 when I seem to have read a fair amount of Chinese fiction, including three by Yu Hua. I hope to get back to it in the new year.
189Willoyd
63. August Blue by Deborah Levy *****
One of those books that has stared at me every time I've gone into a bookshop recently, and intrigued me on browsing. Eventually, I succumbed! And I'm so glad I did. It's an enigmatic novel centred on classical piano prodigy, Elsa M Anderson, who has recently walked off stage mid-concert (whilst playing Rachmaninov) suffering, possibly, some sort of breakdown, whether mental or just in terms of her playing is uncertain. She is in Greece, and spots a woman who is apparently her doppelganger buying some puppets that she herself wanted. The narrative then follows Elsa as she takes up 2 short-term teaching jobs (in Greece and Paris) and encounters this mysterious twin around Europe. Confusing? Yes! Off the wall? Certainly! But also addictive and immersive, teasing throughout, majoring in themes of identity and parental relationships (Elsa's and both her students' are very mixed, with all three having to handle powerful, even overbearing, expectations, and responding in different ways), all with an undercurrent of uncertainty as to Elsa's mental state: the novel is riven with metaphors (many of which I will have missed), not least the presence of the colour blue throughout (even in the title!). Indeed, I began to wonder (and still do) if Elsa's doppelganger was real, or simply a mental projection of Elsa herself - otherwise the level of coincidence does tend to the incredible.
This was my first Levy, and, as must be apparent from the above, I loved it. Her writing made this such an easy read (two sittings, with only a short, unavoidable and unwanted, break), and yet it kept me and left me asking questions - not out of frustration, but out of challenged fascination. It demands to be reread sometime soon, and is certainly a book to grow into, which is why, perhaps a mite paradoxically, it doesn't quite hit the full 6-star favourite level instantly: because it's left me with so many questions and uncertainties, it doesn't quite have that 'favourite' feel yet. Maybe after a further read? But, whatever, alongside Patrick Modiano, Levy could well be one of my discoveries of the autumn.
64. Germania by Simon Winder ****
Subtitled a 'personal history of Germans Ancient and Modern', this is indeed very personal, with plenty of opinion expressed, and based very much around the author's personal experiences of Germany: most topics are introduced by him writing about a place he's visited. He is an engaging writer, with a strong sense of the absurd, taking a rather satirical approach on occasions, but his love of the country shines through. The history stops in 1933, I gather because he doesn't want to overshadow everything with the 12 years of Nazism - although he does address aspects of it as he goes along. I found some of his takes made me rethink my understanding of aspects of German history (fairly basic, even if a reasonable framework), and overall enjoyed the whole approach. My main criticisms really centre on the fact that to fully understand what he's writing about, you actually need some previous knowledge of German history - he often plunges into discussions without any real background, and in the periods where my grasp of the subject was weaker, I struggled to both follow and stay on board. And he's quite wordy - he is a well known editor (mainly of history), but I did feel he could have done with a stronger editorial hand himself to bring out his best. But overall, an interestingly different approach to the subject, which I will certainly follow up with his other two books Danubia and Lotharingia - but perhaps read in shorter chunks.
65. Pearl by Sian Hughes ****
Marianne's mother disappears when she is just 8 years old, her brother a baby, leaving father Edward, a college professor, to bring the family up. What happened, and why did it happen? The uncertainty permeates through all their lives, and the story centres on the impact this event has on the whole family, but particularly Marianne, who struggles to adjust and, at best, would be described as a 'difficult child'. Yet, because we see this all through Marianne's eyes, it all becomes understandable and even logical.
I was drawn to this book by the sense of mystery, and the apparently central role played by a medieval poem 'Pearl'. In fact, the poem plays (or so it seemed to me) only a very minor (if critical at one juncture) part, and the mystery, whilst underlying and important, is throughout most of the book subordinate to the impact and handling of grief by the family. On that front, the writing is lucid, involving and sympathetic, but I have to admit to a limited tolerance - I'm not a fan of mis-lit (there's enough grief in this world without wanting to read about it - very much a personal thing!), and this came awfully close, but the mystery side did kick in, and helped raise this above the slough of despond that threatened to absorb the main characters.
But, of course, we knew this from the start, because the whole narrative is told by Marianne looking retrospectively from middle-aged motherhood, with a sense of stability that was definitely lacking in her early years! It meant that we saw events through her eyes - central to the success of the novel (and successful it was for me), but it also took some of the edge off the narrative for me.
So, overall, a book that I read having been a mite misled by the blurb, and one that took me rather out of my comfort zone, but in the end held sufficiently together to warrant 4 stars for a good read - I certainly had no problem picking it up to continue. A shout out too for the quality of the cover of my paperback edition: French flaps, good quality card, simple and striking cover design. It would have been even better if the publishers had left off the 'Booker Longlisted' icon - these and the almost ubiquitous sticker promos so often spoil a book's appearance to the extent that it has put me off buying on occasions (unless I can peel off the sticker before purchase!). I do pity the poor book designers.
One of those books that has stared at me every time I've gone into a bookshop recently, and intrigued me on browsing. Eventually, I succumbed! And I'm so glad I did. It's an enigmatic novel centred on classical piano prodigy, Elsa M Anderson, who has recently walked off stage mid-concert (whilst playing Rachmaninov) suffering, possibly, some sort of breakdown, whether mental or just in terms of her playing is uncertain. She is in Greece, and spots a woman who is apparently her doppelganger buying some puppets that she herself wanted. The narrative then follows Elsa as she takes up 2 short-term teaching jobs (in Greece and Paris) and encounters this mysterious twin around Europe. Confusing? Yes! Off the wall? Certainly! But also addictive and immersive, teasing throughout, majoring in themes of identity and parental relationships (Elsa's and both her students' are very mixed, with all three having to handle powerful, even overbearing, expectations, and responding in different ways), all with an undercurrent of uncertainty as to Elsa's mental state: the novel is riven with metaphors (many of which I will have missed), not least the presence of the colour blue throughout (even in the title!). Indeed, I began to wonder (and still do) if Elsa's doppelganger was real, or simply a mental projection of Elsa herself - otherwise the level of coincidence does tend to the incredible.
This was my first Levy, and, as must be apparent from the above, I loved it. Her writing made this such an easy read (two sittings, with only a short, unavoidable and unwanted, break), and yet it kept me and left me asking questions - not out of frustration, but out of challenged fascination. It demands to be reread sometime soon, and is certainly a book to grow into, which is why, perhaps a mite paradoxically, it doesn't quite hit the full 6-star favourite level instantly: because it's left me with so many questions and uncertainties, it doesn't quite have that 'favourite' feel yet. Maybe after a further read? But, whatever, alongside Patrick Modiano, Levy could well be one of my discoveries of the autumn.
64. Germania by Simon Winder ****
Subtitled a 'personal history of Germans Ancient and Modern', this is indeed very personal, with plenty of opinion expressed, and based very much around the author's personal experiences of Germany: most topics are introduced by him writing about a place he's visited. He is an engaging writer, with a strong sense of the absurd, taking a rather satirical approach on occasions, but his love of the country shines through. The history stops in 1933, I gather because he doesn't want to overshadow everything with the 12 years of Nazism - although he does address aspects of it as he goes along. I found some of his takes made me rethink my understanding of aspects of German history (fairly basic, even if a reasonable framework), and overall enjoyed the whole approach. My main criticisms really centre on the fact that to fully understand what he's writing about, you actually need some previous knowledge of German history - he often plunges into discussions without any real background, and in the periods where my grasp of the subject was weaker, I struggled to both follow and stay on board. And he's quite wordy - he is a well known editor (mainly of history), but I did feel he could have done with a stronger editorial hand himself to bring out his best. But overall, an interestingly different approach to the subject, which I will certainly follow up with his other two books Danubia and Lotharingia - but perhaps read in shorter chunks.
65. Pearl by Sian Hughes ****
Marianne's mother disappears when she is just 8 years old, her brother a baby, leaving father Edward, a college professor, to bring the family up. What happened, and why did it happen? The uncertainty permeates through all their lives, and the story centres on the impact this event has on the whole family, but particularly Marianne, who struggles to adjust and, at best, would be described as a 'difficult child'. Yet, because we see this all through Marianne's eyes, it all becomes understandable and even logical.
I was drawn to this book by the sense of mystery, and the apparently central role played by a medieval poem 'Pearl'. In fact, the poem plays (or so it seemed to me) only a very minor (if critical at one juncture) part, and the mystery, whilst underlying and important, is throughout most of the book subordinate to the impact and handling of grief by the family. On that front, the writing is lucid, involving and sympathetic, but I have to admit to a limited tolerance - I'm not a fan of mis-lit (there's enough grief in this world without wanting to read about it - very much a personal thing!), and this came awfully close, but the mystery side did kick in, and helped raise this above the slough of despond that threatened to absorb the main characters.
But, of course, we knew this from the start, because the whole narrative is told by Marianne looking retrospectively from middle-aged motherhood, with a sense of stability that was definitely lacking in her early years! It meant that we saw events through her eyes - central to the success of the novel (and successful it was for me), but it also took some of the edge off the narrative for me.
So, overall, a book that I read having been a mite misled by the blurb, and one that took me rather out of my comfort zone, but in the end held sufficiently together to warrant 4 stars for a good read - I certainly had no problem picking it up to continue. A shout out too for the quality of the cover of my paperback edition: French flaps, good quality card, simple and striking cover design. It would have been even better if the publishers had left off the 'Booker Longlisted' icon - these and the almost ubiquitous sticker promos so often spoil a book's appearance to the extent that it has put me off buying on occasions (unless I can peel off the sticker before purchase!). I do pity the poor book designers.
190labfs39
Nice reviews, Will. August Blue is tempting.
191dchaikin
Good stuff Will. You have me wanting to read August Blue immediately. I fell for Pearl. It’s not a perfect book, but it’s a life’s work. She started writing versions of this novel in her teens. And i felt the rewriting, rethinking all came through. It’s a nicely constructed novel created through trial and error, and commitment
192Willoyd
>191 dchaikin:
I can only agree. One thing I didn't mention, is the sense of place - it came through very strongly. Her descriptive writing and atmosphere kept me involved as much as anything. I've also just worked out that the village where it's set is only a few miles from where my son lives in Cheshire. I can feel a visit coming on!
I can only agree. One thing I didn't mention, is the sense of place - it came through very strongly. Her descriptive writing and atmosphere kept me involved as much as anything. I've also just worked out that the village where it's set is only a few miles from where my son lives in Cheshire. I can feel a visit coming on!
193Willoyd
66. Passing by Nella Larsen ******
This was a book group choice for a November meeting that I had to miss, and didn't get round to reading at the time. To be honest, I'd never heard of either book or author before, and was pleasantly surprised to find that Everyman Classics had published her Complete Fiction in one volume. So, this was a piece of catching up.
Published in 1929, Passing tells the story of two pale skinned Black women who were able to 'pass' for white women in 1920s New York. It is narrated by one of them, Irene Redfield, who, at the start of this short novel (novella?), is in receipt of a letter from the other, Clare Kendry. Close childhood friends, Clare had disappeared out of Irene's life when in their mid-teens when her (Clare's) father was killed in a brawl and she was taken in by two white aunts in a different (white) part of the city. It emerges that whilst Irene has stayed in her community and retained her Black identity, although occasionally taking advantage of her white appearance, Clare has taken a different, 'passing', route, ie living permanently as a white woman. To add a frisson of danger, she is married to a rabid racist, who has no idea of her background. The story tells of the relationship, and the issues of identity and self-belief that each woman faces, comparing and contrasting. It's a story that is beautifully told, in particular really getting inside Irene's mind, vividly portraying her feelings, uncertainties, fears. It's only just over 100 pages long, but the author packs so much in, and delivers such a huge punch, that it feels to be a much bigger book - reminding me (even if a thoroughly different story and style) of my favourite novel, A Month in the Country (by JL Carr). Right up there amongst the best of this year's fiction for me, a good year too.
This was a book group choice for a November meeting that I had to miss, and didn't get round to reading at the time. To be honest, I'd never heard of either book or author before, and was pleasantly surprised to find that Everyman Classics had published her Complete Fiction in one volume. So, this was a piece of catching up.
Published in 1929, Passing tells the story of two pale skinned Black women who were able to 'pass' for white women in 1920s New York. It is narrated by one of them, Irene Redfield, who, at the start of this short novel (novella?), is in receipt of a letter from the other, Clare Kendry. Close childhood friends, Clare had disappeared out of Irene's life when in their mid-teens when her (Clare's) father was killed in a brawl and she was taken in by two white aunts in a different (white) part of the city. It emerges that whilst Irene has stayed in her community and retained her Black identity, although occasionally taking advantage of her white appearance, Clare has taken a different, 'passing', route, ie living permanently as a white woman. To add a frisson of danger, she is married to a rabid racist, who has no idea of her background. The story tells of the relationship, and the issues of identity and self-belief that each woman faces, comparing and contrasting. It's a story that is beautifully told, in particular really getting inside Irene's mind, vividly portraying her feelings, uncertainties, fears. It's only just over 100 pages long, but the author packs so much in, and delivers such a huge punch, that it feels to be a much bigger book - reminding me (even if a thoroughly different story and style) of my favourite novel, A Month in the Country (by JL Carr). Right up there amongst the best of this year's fiction for me, a good year too.
194dchaikin
>192 Willoyd: definitely strong on place. Yeah, that’s another great aspect of the book
>193 Willoyd: very nice. I’m hoping to finally read A Month in the Country early next year. If i don’t like it, i might have to hide from you.
>193 Willoyd: very nice. I’m hoping to finally read A Month in the Country early next year. If i don’t like it, i might have to hide from you.
195FlorenceArt
>193 Willoyd: Passing sounds great, and you have reminded me of A Month in the Country, which is, or should be, on my wishlist.
196Willoyd
As most years, Christmas is proving to be a time of bouts of intensive reading in amongst the festivities - partly why I tend to focus on shorter books. I just don't have the stamina for anything of volume either!
67. What We Read by Josephine Greenwood ***
A promising prospect - a series of essays by various writers on why they read non-fiction - and there were some interesting insights and well constructed thoughts. However, the collection, 70 essays in just over 150 pages, actually became rather repetitive - there's a limit to the variations on this theme - and after a while it turned into a bit of a labour to finish, with those flashes of insight less and less frequent. Would probably have been much better if I had left this as a bedside book, and dipped into it; it was certainly not at its best as a continuous read. One of the very few books I've actually written in, jotting down roughly one-sentence summaries of what the essays were about as reminders when flicking through. Otherwise I found one essay merging into another.
68. Conclave by Robert Harris *****
Read as a follow-up to seeing the film (which was excellent, with Ralph Fiennes outstanding IMO). Really interesting seeing where and how the film diverged - it was actually very faithful to the book. Even though I thought I knew the denouement (was it actually going to be the same?!), I enjoyed this enormously - far more satisfying than other Harris novels I've read which have tended to start off well, but fall flat near the end (this didn't). Both film and book were far more thoughtful to watch/read than I had anticipated.
69. Another England by Caroline Lucas ****
Trail-blazer Lucas (for non-followers of British domestic politics, she was the first ever and, until this last General Election, the only Green MP in British politics) discusses how the concept of Englishness can be retrieved and reclaimed from the far right (it needs to be!). As with numerous other commentators (so why aren't the powers that be, of any party, listening? Almost as if they're wanting to see populist nationalism taking over) she identifies much of the heart of English malaise being centred on excessive centralisation and failure to invest. As an English graduate, she has an interesting slant on this, relating issues to aspects of English literature. Sounds tenuous, but underlines the fact that much of what is going wrong isn't new! Rather suprisingly, it also works: Lucas writes well and convincingly - at least to me - even if this is a rather painful read at times, as one just knows that Cassandra had a better hearing.
70. Mugby Junction by Charles Dickens and others ***
A series of short stories published in the 1866 Christmas edition of All The Year Round, Dickens's literary magazine. Includes his well-known ghost story The Signalman. An OK read, but not vintage Dickens, who could all too easily slide into rather sickly sweet sentimentalism, especially when writing up young women, and his work here dips into that on occasions. An easy, fairly quick read, but as a book specially chosen for Christmas (I don't know why I bother, as most Christmas books disappoint), it was gently forgettable.
71. Missing Person by Patrick Modiano *****
An ex-private detective, Guy Roland, investigates his own past, hidden from him by a bout of amnesia. His searches take him back to wartime Vichy France, and the uncertainties of that period. This was my second Modiano, having only recently 'discovered' him, and it fully lived up to my (high) expectations. Intricate, atmospheric, almost meditative, the reader is encouraged to contemplate aspects of their own sense of identify and memory whilst following Roland's efforts to establish the former through rebuilding the latter. Engrossing.
67. What We Read by Josephine Greenwood ***
A promising prospect - a series of essays by various writers on why they read non-fiction - and there were some interesting insights and well constructed thoughts. However, the collection, 70 essays in just over 150 pages, actually became rather repetitive - there's a limit to the variations on this theme - and after a while it turned into a bit of a labour to finish, with those flashes of insight less and less frequent. Would probably have been much better if I had left this as a bedside book, and dipped into it; it was certainly not at its best as a continuous read. One of the very few books I've actually written in, jotting down roughly one-sentence summaries of what the essays were about as reminders when flicking through. Otherwise I found one essay merging into another.
68. Conclave by Robert Harris *****
Read as a follow-up to seeing the film (which was excellent, with Ralph Fiennes outstanding IMO). Really interesting seeing where and how the film diverged - it was actually very faithful to the book. Even though I thought I knew the denouement (was it actually going to be the same?!), I enjoyed this enormously - far more satisfying than other Harris novels I've read which have tended to start off well, but fall flat near the end (this didn't). Both film and book were far more thoughtful to watch/read than I had anticipated.
69. Another England by Caroline Lucas ****
Trail-blazer Lucas (for non-followers of British domestic politics, she was the first ever and, until this last General Election, the only Green MP in British politics) discusses how the concept of Englishness can be retrieved and reclaimed from the far right (it needs to be!). As with numerous other commentators (so why aren't the powers that be, of any party, listening? Almost as if they're wanting to see populist nationalism taking over) she identifies much of the heart of English malaise being centred on excessive centralisation and failure to invest. As an English graduate, she has an interesting slant on this, relating issues to aspects of English literature. Sounds tenuous, but underlines the fact that much of what is going wrong isn't new! Rather suprisingly, it also works: Lucas writes well and convincingly - at least to me - even if this is a rather painful read at times, as one just knows that Cassandra had a better hearing.
70. Mugby Junction by Charles Dickens and others ***
A series of short stories published in the 1866 Christmas edition of All The Year Round, Dickens's literary magazine. Includes his well-known ghost story The Signalman. An OK read, but not vintage Dickens, who could all too easily slide into rather sickly sweet sentimentalism, especially when writing up young women, and his work here dips into that on occasions. An easy, fairly quick read, but as a book specially chosen for Christmas (I don't know why I bother, as most Christmas books disappoint), it was gently forgettable.
71. Missing Person by Patrick Modiano *****
An ex-private detective, Guy Roland, investigates his own past, hidden from him by a bout of amnesia. His searches take him back to wartime Vichy France, and the uncertainties of that period. This was my second Modiano, having only recently 'discovered' him, and it fully lived up to my (high) expectations. Intricate, atmospheric, almost meditative, the reader is encouraged to contemplate aspects of their own sense of identify and memory whilst following Roland's efforts to establish the former through rebuilding the latter. Engrossing.
197Willoyd
A very successful Christmas book-wise, with a combination of Christmas presents, retirement gifts (retiring from my retirement job!) and book token/loyalty points raid on the Waterstones half-price sale! List for the record (as a reminder to read if nothing else!):
Four Points of the Compass by Jerry Brotton: a history of the four cardinal points
The Eagle and the Hart by Helen Castor: joint biography of Richard II and Henry IV
The Bridge Between Worlds by Gavin Francis: physical and metaphorical bridges and their power to connect
Stranger than Fiction by Edwin Frank: 'survey of the key works that defined the 20thC novel'
Republic by Alice Hunt: history of Britain during the ten years England was a republic
England, A Natural History by John Lewis-Stempel
The Starling, A Biography by Stephen Moss
The Story of Nature by Jeremy Mynott: humanity's evolving relationship with the natural world
A Cheesemonger's Tour de France by Ned Palmer: a tour of France's cheeses
Wild Thing by Sue Prideaux: biography of Paul Gauguin
Four Points of the Compass by Jerry Brotton: a history of the four cardinal points
The Eagle and the Hart by Helen Castor: joint biography of Richard II and Henry IV
The Bridge Between Worlds by Gavin Francis: physical and metaphorical bridges and their power to connect
Stranger than Fiction by Edwin Frank: 'survey of the key works that defined the 20thC novel'
Republic by Alice Hunt: history of Britain during the ten years England was a republic
England, A Natural History by John Lewis-Stempel
The Starling, A Biography by Stephen Moss
The Story of Nature by Jeremy Mynott: humanity's evolving relationship with the natural world
A Cheesemonger's Tour de France by Ned Palmer: a tour of France's cheeses
Wild Thing by Sue Prideaux: biography of Paul Gauguin
200dchaikin
I really like that short books over the holidays idea. Wonderful xmas haul. A natural history of England appeals.
201Willoyd
>200 dchaikin:
I don't know if you've read any Lewis-Stempel before, but I love his writing. My personal favourite to date is Running Hare where he rents a couple of fields and farms it to encourage hares. In the foreword to this latest, he says it's his last 'big' nature book.
I don't know if you've read any Lewis-Stempel before, but I love his writing. My personal favourite to date is Running Hare where he rents a couple of fields and farms it to encourage hares. In the foreword to this latest, he says it's his last 'big' nature book.
202FlorenceArt
>197 Willoyd: I have The Story of Nature: A Human History on my wishlist. It's a subject I am very interested in, and I hope the book is worthy of it!
