GingerbreadMan's 2013 category challenge - part 3

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GingerbreadMan's 2013 category challenge - part 3

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1GingerbreadMan
Modifié : Jan 1, 2014, 7:23 pm

My theme 2013 is a celebration of what the tiny gap between finishing a book and starting a new one is really about: THE PICK!

1. Blind picks (Books chosen blindly by my fellow LT:ers)
2. Picking fleas (Short stories)
3. Picking Flea's (Flea is my wonderful wife. Books brought us together, but she sometimes feels like she's lost track of my reading in these my LT years. This year she gets to choose a category for me.)
4. Picking up the pieces (Books in a series)
5. Picking a fight (Plays and theatre)
6. Pixels and pickaxes (Fantasy and Sci-Fi)
7. Picking at scabs (Dystopia and post-apocalypse)
8. Pics (Graphic novels)
9. Pickled herring (Books by Swedish authors)
10. Picking bellybuttons (Non-fiction)
11. Pick and Mix (Mt. TBR)
12. Pickup lines (Spontanious reads, no planning allowed!)
13. Pixies (The Sandman group read - 10 books)




I also hope to reduce my TBR by 35 books in 2013. That is: not buy (or borrow) more than 35 new books next year, provided I make the challenge. Sounds easy right? Just kidding. You, my fellow addicts, know exactly how hard it is actually reducing the number of unread books on the shelves...

Books read from the TBR: 48
New additions in 2013: 48
Total TBR dent/bump in 2013: 0

2GingerbreadMan
Modifié : Jan 1, 2014, 7:22 pm

1. Blind picks: (books chosen blindly by my fellow LT:ers) Completed!
1. Livets fest by Moa Martinsson (picked by lkernagh), finished may 7th, ****, #2:36
2. Avalons dimmor (The mists of Avalon) by Marion Zimmer Bradley (picked by Eva), finished august 29th, ***, #2:232
3. The Vesuvius Club by Mark Gatiss (picked by hailelib), finished november 3rd, ***, #3:78
4. Det krökta gångjärnet (The crooked hinge) by John Dickson Carr (picked by clfisha), finished november 13th, ****, #3:100
5. I ringen by Tiitu Takalo, finished december 31st, ***, #3:163

Selected books:
Bära mistel by Sara Lidman (picked by psutto)

2. Picking fleas: (short stories) Completed!
1. Kärlekens ärr, edited by Stefan Helgesson, finished april 25th, ***, #2:29
2. Stranger things happen by Kelly Link, finished may 18th, ****½, #2:48
3. At the mouth of the river of bees by Kij Johnson, finished july 6th, ****, #2:110
4. Tenth of december by George Saunders, finished august 22nd, *****, #2:170
5. Nära hem by Alice Munro, finished november 19th, ****, #3:106

Candidates:
In the night garden by Catherynne M. Valente
In the cities of coin and spice by Catherynne M. Valente

3GingerbreadMan
Modifié : Déc 30, 2013, 5:36 pm

3. Picking Flea's: (books chosen by my wife) Completed!
1. The little stranger by Sarah Waters, finished january 27th, ****½, #105
2. Kvinnor på gränsen till genombrott by Ulrika Knutson, finished march 18th, ***½, #207
3. Busman's honeymoon by Dorothy Sayers, finished september 14th, ****, #3:21
4. Still life by Louise Penny, finished november 22nd, ****, #3:112
5. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, finished december 30th, ****, #3:151

4. Picking up the pieces: (books in a series) Completed!
1. Goliath by Scott Westerfeld, finished february 3rd, ***, #127
2. Saffransmysteriet by Martin Widmark and Helena Willis, finished april 14th, ***, #2:13
3. The rise of Ransom City by Felix Gilman, finished april 18th, *****, #2:21
4. Simborgarmysteriet by Martin Widmark and Helena Willis, finished may 14th, **, #2:45
5. Dreadnought by Cherie Priest, finished july 12th, ***, #2:116

Candidates:
The sweetness at the bottom of the pie by Alan Bradley
Escapement by Jay Lake
Nyckeln by Mats Strandberg and Sara Bergsmark Elfgren

4GingerbreadMan
Modifié : Déc 1, 2013, 8:25 am

5. Picking a fight: (plays and theatre) Completed!
1. Våtmarker (Wetlands) by Charlotte Roche, finished january 8th, ***½, #62
2. Caryl Churchill: plays 2, finished february 16th, ****, #159
3. Foxfire by Joyce Carol Oates, finished july 17th, ****, #2:129
4. John Bauers sagovärld by Various, finished august 29th, ***, #2:233
5. Almost nothing / At the table by Marcos Barbosa, finished november 3rd, ****, #3:79

Candidates:
Martin Crimp: plays 2
Lysande eländen by Staffan Göthe
På jakt efter den dialogiska estetiken by Joakim Stenshäll

6. Pixels and pickaxes: (fantasy and sci-fi) Completed!
1. Un Lun Dun by China Miéville, finished january 6th, ****, #42
2. The half-made world by Felix Gilman, finished march 11th, ****½, #193
3. Natural History by Justina Robson, finished june 25th, ***½, #2:77
4. Trollkarlen från Oz (The wonderful wizard of Oz), finished november 23rd, ***½, #3:118
5. Nyckeln by Mats Strandberg and Sara Bergmark Elfgren, finished november 29th, *****, #3:125

Candidates:
The Islanders by Christopher Priest
Thunderer by Felix Gilman
Use of weapons by Iain M. Banks

5GingerbreadMan
Modifié : Déc 1, 2013, 8:27 am

7. Picking at scabs: (dystopia and post-apocalypse) Completed!
1. Divergent by Veronica Roth, finished april 2nd, ***, #226
2. Resan till ljuset by Andrej Djakov, finished april 21st, **, #2:26
3. Things we didn't see coming by Steven Amsterdam, finished september 27th, ****, #3:46
4. The gone-away world by Nick Harkaway, finished october 18th, ****½, #3:64
5. Brave new world by Aldous Huxley, finished november 7th, ***½, #3:92

Candidates:
Benighted by Kit Whitfield

8. Pics: (graphic novels) Completed!
1. Unwritten 4 by Mike Carey and Peter Gross (reread), finished august 17th, ****½, #2:167
2. Unwritten 5 by Mike Carey and Peter Gross, finished august 19th, ****, #2:167
3. Locke and Key 1 by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez (re-read), finished october 19th, *****, #3:65
4. Locke and key 2 by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez, finished october 20th, ****½, #3:65
5. Slåss som en tjej by Tiitu Takalo, finished november 29th, **½, #3:126

Candidates:
Locke and Key 3 by Joe Hill
Unwritten 6 by Mark Carey and Peter Gross
Sweet tooth 1 by Jeff Lemire

6GingerbreadMan
Modifié : Nov 26, 2013, 10:18 am

9. Pickled herring: (Swedish authors) Completed!
1. Jagannath by Karin Tidbeck, finished february 17th, *****, #159
2. Kvinnogatan by Agnes von Krusenstjerna, finished february 25th, ***½, #170
3. Borta bäst by Sara Kadefors, finished july 2nd, ***, #2:110
4. Födelsedagsmysteriet by Martin Widmark and Helena Willis, finished july 10th, ***, #2:110
5. Tix by Magnus Hedlund, finished july 18th, **½, #2:130

Candidates:
Staden och lågorna by Jerker Virdborg
Den larmande hopens dal by Erik Andersson
Höstens skuggor by Agnes von Krusenstjerna

10. Picking bellybuttons: (non-fiction) Completed!
1. Välfärd utan tillväxt (Prosperity without growth) by Tim Jackson, finished march 27th, ****, #218
2. Kung Leopolds vålnad (King Leopold's ghost) by Adam Hochschild, finished june 6th, ****, #2:62
3. Brink: den svenske slavkaptenen by Anne Agardh, finished august 4th, **½, #2:147
4. Gilla läget (Bright-sided) by Barbara Ehrenreich, finished october 27th, ***, #3:77
5. Tankar om politik by Bengt Göransson, finished november 24th, ****, #3:119

Candidates:
Man ska ju vara två by Lissa Nordin

7GingerbreadMan
Modifié : Déc 30, 2013, 5:37 pm

11. Pick and mix: (Mt. TBR) Completed!
1. Girl imagined by chance by Lance Olsen, finished january 13th, ****½, #68
2. The rehearsal by Eleanor Catton, finished february 11th, ****, #135
3. A cruel bird came to the nest and looked in by Magnus Mills, finished may 22nd, ****, #2:51
4. En rasande eld by Andreas Norman, finished september 19th, ****, #3:35
5. Tales from outer suburbia by Shaun Tan, finished december 27th, *****, #3:150

Candidates:
Geek love by Catherine Dunn
Vredens druvor (The Grapes of wrath) by John Steinbeck

12. Pickup lines: (no planning allowed) Completed!
1. Tidningsmysteriet by Martin Widmark och Helena Willis, finished january 5th, **½, #42
2. Kyrkomysteriet by Martin Widmark och Helena Willis, finished january 7th, **½, #62
3. Cirkusmysteriet by Martin Widmark och Helena Willis, finished january 21st, *½, #99
4. Campingmysteriet by Martin Widmark och Helena Willis, finished february 24th, ''½, #170
5. Vid mardrömmens mål by Leif Holmstrand, finished april 4th, ****, #2:8

13. Pixies: (Neil Gaiman's Sandman series) (All re-reads) Completed!
1. Preludes and Nocturnes, finished january 14th, ***½, #77
2. The doll's house, finished january 29th, *****, #117
3. Dream Country, finished february 4th, ***½, #129
4. Season of Mists, finished february 27th, *****, #180
5. A game of you, finished march 19th, ****, #207
6. Fables and Reflections, finished april 23rd, ****, #2:29
7. Brief lives, finished may 9th, *****, #2:40
8. World's End, finished june 8th, ****, #2:63
9. The kindly ones, finished august 2nd, *****, #2:144
10. The wake, finished august 6th, ****½, #2:152

8GingerbreadMan
Sep 2, 2013, 5:39 am

The starry-eyed post we like to reserve, dreaming of a potential bonus category.

9avatiakh
Sep 2, 2013, 5:53 am

I also loved your take on Mists of Avalon and having just googled images of John Bauer and Theodor Kittelsen am happy that you brought both artists to my notice.

10clfisha
Sep 2, 2013, 11:04 am

8 :-) it is only due to your extreme will power that means that it's not populated already!

11andreablythe
Sep 2, 2013, 11:23 am

Looks like your TBR reduction plan has been sabotaged by a few BBs. ;)

12bruce_krafft
Sep 2, 2013, 2:13 pm

I blame LT for preventing my TBR reduction. I never had a TBR pile larger then a couple books before I joined!

DS
(Bruce's evil twin :-))

13lkernagh
Sep 2, 2013, 4:05 pm

Awe come on.... +9 is not that bad when it comes to tackling mount TBR! Shiny happens! ;-)

14-Eva-
Sep 2, 2013, 6:08 pm

Looks like you're on target page-wise - nice! The 35-goal was just advisory anyway, wasn't it... :)

15andreablythe
Sep 2, 2013, 7:42 pm

>13 lkernagh:
True. I'm sure my number is much higher than +9

16psutto
Sep 3, 2013, 4:32 am

I sometimes get +9 in just one month (and the rest!! - August was a +20 odd...)

17GingerbreadMan
Sep 3, 2013, 5:50 am

Oh ye of little faith! I will TOTALLY actually reduce my TBR before the end of the year! (Just, you know, perhaps not by 35 books...)

"Shiny happens" sounds like something I'd like on a T-shirt :)

18clfisha
Sep 3, 2013, 10:58 am

I think removing pages (such as dedications or blanks) to reduce TBR size is cheating...

hey I want a t-shirt like that as well!

19andreablythe
Sep 3, 2013, 12:28 pm

Well, I send you good TBR reducing juju and wish you the best of luck!

20bruce_krafft
Sep 3, 2013, 12:58 pm

There were a lot of t-shirts with "shiny" on them at CONvergence, Firefly seems to be getting more popular every year.

I have wanted to get either the 'Shiny' or 'Everything's Shiny Not to Fret' bumper sticker for the longest time. . .

DS
(Bruce's evil twin :-))

21GingerbreadMan
Modifié : Nov 13, 2013, 9:19 am

September is birthday month for my kids, as well as opening month for a lot of plays. Last week my big boy turned six (I can't believe it!), and this last friday I had two opening nights on the same day. I had planned to go to Örebro (closest to home) and come home the same evening. But on the final rehearsal the male lead tripped and sprained his foot rather badly, so the opening had to be postponed for a week. Rotten luck of course. But I had the rather unusual luxury of merely instead swapping to my other opening, in Gothenburg... Which I was really pleased with! It caused a late night and an early morning though. I'm pretty tired this monday.

Not that much reading happening lately, but I've finally finished my first september read:

51. Busman's honeymoon by Dorothy Sayers
Category 3. Picking Flea's, 403 pages.

The newlyweds Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane elope the tedious press after their wedding, and head for their newly bought country house. But coming there, they find it less than satisfactory. The doors are locked, the fireplaces all sooted up and there are traces of the previous owner everywhere. Even the beds are still full of used sheets. And in trying to get the house in order, it becomes more than apparent that the seller Mr. Noakes, isn’t up for any local popularity awards. After a couple of days they find him in the basement with his head smashed in. And, trying to get the house in order, they have effectively cleaned away all clues themselves…

This is a kind of literature I seldom visit, the clever mystery richer in wit than in blood, where refined detectives jovially put two and two together. And, even though I liked the smart sense of humor and the banter shared by the newly wed couple here, I often felt a bit out of place. It just isn’t my cuppa, this.

However, as the mystery unfolds and continues to elude Lord Peter and Harriet, a darker streak starts to glimpse. This murder is really destroying their honeymoon. It appalls them. And in finally solving it, there is remorse and bad thoughts connected with condemning the culprit. There may not be that much blood on the floor here, but there is blood in the characters, making this a book about middle aged love and obsession more than detatched puzzle solving. Much as I enjoy Bunter’s stiff upper lip and Sayers ear for the way people speak, this gloom is what in the end pushes the book up to 4 stars for me.

22lkernagh
Sep 16, 2013, 2:08 pm

Children do seem to grow up fast, don't they! ;-)

Congratulations on your play openings! Hum, I haven't read any Sayers but might have to check her Wimsey books at some point.

23andreablythe
Sep 16, 2013, 6:09 pm

Two openings on the same day! Wow! That sounds like a hell of a challenge. Congrats!

24-Eva-
Sep 16, 2013, 6:40 pm

Hope you had a great time in lovely Göteborg! And that both openings went/go well!

25DeltaQueen50
Sep 16, 2013, 11:19 pm

Congratulations on having two openings on the same night!

26clfisha
Sep 17, 2013, 4:41 am

Congrats on your opening night :) The lead must have been upset to postpone!

27psutto
Sep 18, 2013, 4:32 am

congrats on multiple opening nights!

28GingerbreadMan
Sep 19, 2013, 6:22 am

Thanks all of you! Both openings were actually of old plays of mine, so no extra work was added on my behalf. Just some sweet extra income :)

29DeltaQueen50
Sep 19, 2013, 6:04 pm

Extra income is always good! :)

30SouthernKiwi
Sep 22, 2013, 2:22 am

Congratulations on your opening nights, no additional work for extra money - good deal!

31mathgirl40
Sep 22, 2013, 8:00 am

Congratulations on the opening night! Hope you were also pleased with the second one that was postponed.

Glad you enjoyed the Sayers book. I started a Sayers reread a couple of years ago and got midway through the series. Will have to get back to it and read this one soon.

32bruce_krafft
Sep 22, 2013, 1:23 pm

Congratulations on the opening night! And it must be a good feeling that people liked them enough to do them again.

DS
(Bruce's evil twin :-))

33GingerbreadMan
Sep 23, 2013, 4:23 pm

29+30 Yes! It's really only when you score a second production the payment for the time you spent writing it in the first place becomes somewhat decent, but still :)

The second play ended up opening a week late, this saturday. It collided with my son's birthday party though, and the priority was easy to make. I'll go to Örebro to see it this friday though!

The play in Gothenburg got some rather stunning reviews, by the way. Here's a link for...well, Eva, I guess :)

http://www.gp.se/kulturnoje/2.276/1.2041310-masthuggsteatern-alexander-och-pafag...

34-Eva-
Sep 23, 2013, 4:28 pm

That's brilliant! Huge congratulations!!!

35GingerbreadMan
Sep 23, 2013, 4:29 pm

Sorry for not spending enough time with you guys again. Tis the deadline season, plus birthday month for both kids!

A slight slump in september (all to add a bit of anxiety about pulling this year's challenge off, after all), but I've finished one more book;

52. En rasande eld by Andreas Norman
Category 11. Pick and mix, 487 pages.

Carina Dymek is a promising diplomat at UD, the Swedish office for foreign affairs. Her everyday consists of popping to Brussels for two hour meetings, working fifteen hour days, writing clever analyses of incredibly complex matters – and keeping her desk chair from getting stolen away by greedy colleagues. Dymek is considered a bit too rough around the edges for a diplomat, perhaps, and her office is a holy mess. But she is going places, both she and her boss knows it.

But after saying just a little too much in just a little too irritated a tone at an EU meeting regarding “the threat of immigration”, she gets approached by a man who gives her a secret report. “Because she has a conscience”, as he says. Carina does what she’s supposed to. She passes the report on to her bosses and the Justice Department. Next thing she knows she’s suspended from work. And the security police suddenly seem very interested in her new boyfriend, and his relatives in Egypt.

Andreas Norman (who is a good friend of mine) left writing after his debut as a poet many years ago. He has since worked as a diplomat for many years, before going back to writing. You can really see both of these factors. Andreas knows what he’s talking about, and the book gives a knowledgeable, often witty glimpse into the corridors of UD and Brussels. But even more importantly, he knows how to write.

The result is a clever political thriller, with an edge aimed towards western islamophobia and monitoring it’s own citizens. It’s only fitting that now, merely months after the book is published, the media is reporting on just how tightly our security police is feeding the US with intelligence on our own citizens. This is not my genre, really, but a good read cuts through those barriers. I gulp down five hundred pages in under four days, and am left wanting more. 4 stars!

36bruce_krafft
Sep 24, 2013, 6:34 am

33> Google translate has gotten better over the years, though it didn't like helförmiddagsföreställning. . . Is that one word? If it is I can't understand why that hasn't shown up on my Swedish word of the day. . .

En rasande eld sounds brilliant. But I am not actively taking up Swedish anytime soon. One of my students is helping me brush up on my Hindi though. I read an article about a book that talks about islamophobia yesterday (I think it was in the Economist. . .somehow I don't think that it was in Conde Nast Traveler, or Bon Appetite.)

DS
(Bruce's evil twin :-))

37RidgewayGirl
Sep 24, 2013, 8:35 am

Happy birthday to the GingerbreadChildren. How clever it was to have them at the same time of year to get the birthday stuff out of the way all at once.

38clfisha
Sep 24, 2013, 11:01 am

@35 it's not my thing either but great review!

39GingerbreadMan
Sep 27, 2013, 4:38 pm

>36 bruce_krafft: "Helförmiddagsföreställning" is the kind of new word you can easily construct in Swedish. A full length play is in Swedish called a "Helaftonsföreställning" - literally "Full Evening Performance". Since this is a full length play that plays in the day time, it's instead a "Full Morning Performance". No wonder google translate didn't catch it :) When you encounter long joint words like this in Swedish, you will almost always get a good idea what they mean if you break them down into segments and THEN throw them at Google translate.

It's actually a bit of a classic Swedish game to try and construct as long words as possible in our language. If you go for silly, there's really no limit to how long they can be. But as far as established words go, one of the longest I know of is "kondensationspolymerisationsteknologi" - which is an actual term in chemistry.

>37 RidgewayGirl: In Sweden, the second biggest nativity month is september (nine months after the Christmas holidays). The biggest is april, nine months after Midsummer.

>38 clfisha: Thanks!

40GingerbreadMan
Modifié : Sep 27, 2013, 4:40 pm

Sooo, I went on a mini book buying binge the other day. I'm still likely to end up actually reducing the TBR this year. But it won't be by much...

I got:
The Fictional man by Al Ewing
Ready player one by Ernest Cline
Immobility by Brian Evenson

The people responsible for the BB:s know who they are.

41-Eva-
Sep 27, 2013, 6:17 pm

->39 GingerbreadMan:
Disturbingly long compound nouns - the true joy of Germanic languages. In the words of Mark Twain: "Some German words are so long that they have a perspective."

42rabbitprincess
Sep 27, 2013, 6:21 pm

I love Germanic languages for that reason :)

43bruce_krafft
Sep 27, 2013, 8:16 pm

So two 'shocking' things that I learned about Sweden today! oh, well 3 things but I'm just going to leave the birthrate stats alone. . . .

1- Swedes like to construct as long words as possible for fun
2- Sweden's shadow economy is estimated to be 18-23%

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised about the shadow economy because of the tax rate though.

You guys keep this up and I will be looking at Swedish language books sooner than planned!

I can't wait to see what you think of The Fictional Man. It is on my wish list. . .

DS
(Bruce's evil twin :-))

44lkernagh
Sep 27, 2013, 9:53 pm

You bought Ready Player One! You bought Ready Player One! Sooooo happy!!!!!



Now off to go investigate the others as they are new to me......

45PawsforThought
Sep 28, 2013, 8:58 am

#43. Sweden's tax rate isn't as high as you'd imagine, it's just been talked about (and the hyperboles tend to come out in those discussions) a lot. We're on par with nearly half of the other western european countries. It's probably the alcohol tax that's making people take most note (it IS high but is so for a reason).

46GingerbreadMan
Modifié : Sep 29, 2013, 8:23 am

>45 PawsforThought: We should pay more tax. Says this lefty here.

Here's a good read, which was brought to my attention by one of our friends from Australia or NZ. Can't remember if it was SouthernKiwi or avatiakh now? Either way, I'm greatful! This was an unusual, and rewarding read!

53. Things we didn't see coming by Steven Amsterdam
Category 7. Picking at scabs, 199 pages.

“Not with a bang, but with a whimper”. Most likely, the apocalypse will be a slow, gradual turn for the worse, rather than a sudden destruction. This is what Amsterdam’s bleak but very human debut explores. We follow a single character over thirty years, from camping out with his dad to survive the Y2K bug (remember?) over the rain years, the pandemia, the enclaves and the attempts at rebuilding.

It’s an extremely clever setup for a post-apocalyptic dystopia, and I can’t belive I haven’t seen it before. Because with the scope, not only do we get an idea of the downfall of the world as we know it. We also get to follow the moral compass of our nameless narrator change, we see his shifts in optimism, sense of community and egoism, living inside and outside society in it’s different incarnations.

We never get the full story, but rather make touchdowns in time and place, looking at key events in our narrator’s life. The sense of world is eluding. The perspective is local – pandemia is not daring to return to your tent, flood is never being able to dry your clothes, dropping nativity is having to pamper the compound’s only spoiled, bratty teen. It’s not a pretty picture Amsterdam paints, but there’s humor in there too.

The local perspective keeps this book human, but is perhaps also what makes it stay a good read for me, rather than a great one. At times, I feel I don’t get quite enough from it, and the gaps and questions become something lacking rather than something sparking my imagination. But with that said, this is a clever, moving and original post-apocalypse, which I really recommend checking out. 4 stars!

Next up is The gone-away world! Great so far, thirty pages in.

47PawsforThought
Sep 28, 2013, 3:17 pm

#46. I totally agree. Says another leftie.

48SandDune
Sep 29, 2013, 4:38 am

Things we Didn't see Coming sounds interesting, if a little depressing. Hope you enjoy The Gone-Away World - I really liked it when I read it earlier this year.

49clfisha
Sep 30, 2013, 4:42 am

@46 sounds really good, if I can just suspend enough disbelief that the Y2K started an apocalypse... grinds teeth.

I really hope you enjoy The Gone-Away World starts tapping fingers nervously...

@46/47 in our leftie utopia can we tax higher bracket earners more not less?

50GingerbreadMan
Modifié : Sep 30, 2013, 4:49 am

>46 GingerbreadMan: It's very unclear if it actually does start there, Claire. The first chapter serves more to talk about the isolationist tendencies in the narrator's dad, rather than setting the armageddon in motion. Again: the actual chain of events is not in focus here - it's more of touchdowns in a world going more and more crazy.

As for your other point: JUst fifty pages in. But I adore the style, and the glimpse of world we've got so far.

As for your third point: abso-bloody-lutely.

51-Eva-
Sep 30, 2013, 6:20 pm

Let me know when the leftie utopia is set up and where is is - I'll pack my bags. :)

52RidgewayGirl
Oct 1, 2013, 3:19 am

I thought it was called "Sweden". Previously, it was called "Canada", but that has changed.

53avatiakh
Oct 1, 2013, 4:28 am

Things we didn't see coming was me! I've also read the sequel which was pretty good as well. The gone-away world is on my tbr pile and I've picked it up a couple of times but not got past the first page, I know it's good cos I've seen the reviews.

Oh and congratulations on those opening nights from a week or so back.

54psutto
Oct 1, 2013, 4:44 am

awaiting the review of the gone-away world eagerly (and with some trepidation)

55bruce_krafft
Oct 1, 2013, 6:25 am

I thought that Canada was too boring to be a leftie utopia. . . not a bad thing.

The Gone-Away World looks interesting, can't wait to see what you think about it.

DS
(Bruce's evil twin :-))

56GingerbreadMan
Oct 1, 2013, 9:28 am

>52 RidgewayGirl: I don't know if we were ever there, but we surely used to be closer. Eight years of right wing government focusing on tax cuts for people with jobs, selling off common assets at break neck speed and demounting the welfare state has lead to Sweden now being the county in Europe where the gap between rich and poor is growing fastest. Sadly.

>53 avatiakh: Thank you for that! Nowadays I write down who puts books on my lists, but this tip is from a few year's back. I'll surely look into the sequel at some point, especially since this one ends in such an interesting place!

>54 psutto: Well and truly hooked 120 pages. Mind you, it's thick so it'll likely last at least another week or so.

>55 bruce_krafft: Boring can be pretty wonderful.

57avatiakh
Oct 1, 2013, 1:58 pm

I erred in saying that the second Steve Amsterdam book is a sequel, sorry, but it's been a couple of years since I read that one too. It's another 'linked' series of chapters following different members of one family, they all have super powers. I didn't engage many brain cells when I leapt in to claim credit for you reading TWDSC.

I also need to note who recommends which books as by the time I get round to reading some of them it has been a few years.

58GingerbreadMan
Oct 10, 2013, 7:18 am

This year's Nobel goes to Alice Munro, with a short motivation: "The master of the modern short story". She's been a hot candidate in the speculations before the prize for several years. I'm excited about this choice - first prize to go to Canada, first woman in several years, and on top of that the first writer in a very long time to be primarily a short story writer.

I've not read her myself. But I will, surely!

59RidgewayGirl
Oct 10, 2013, 9:19 am

Alice Munro is the awesomest. Her short stories are understated perfection. I am so happy she won.

60clfisha
Oct 10, 2013, 9:34 am

Yeay an excuse to buy a new book! I haven't tried Alice Munro but I am intrigued.

61-Eva-
Oct 10, 2013, 11:54 am

I've not read her either since I'm not a short story fan, but she will have to go on the Potentials list now. The people I know who have read her seems to, like Kay, think she is "the awesomest" so doesn't look like we can go wrong. :)

62psutto
Oct 10, 2013, 12:15 pm

Looks like Claire is already adding to our list... nice to see a short story writer get the prize

63lkernagh
Oct 10, 2013, 11:00 pm

I am super excited that Alice Munro won, especially considering not only is she a fellow Canadian, we share the same city as home base. *squee!*

64GingerbreadMan
Modifié : Oct 21, 2013, 9:23 am

>57 avatiakh: Nevertheless, thank you so much!

>61 -Eva-: "Awesomest" sounds good :)

Now I only need to find some way to squeeze Munro into next year's challenge...Dang.

Long absence again, my friends! I'm sadly behind on all of your threads - again. My new play is coming close to opening (this friday), and a lot of my time has been eaten by minor rewrites and juggling ideas with the director. It starts o look really good now though, and I can't wait to see how it's recieved!

True to my usual form, I've picked up the kind of book you sort of need some time for, exactly when time is in short supply. I've treated poor Nick Harkaway more than a little stepmotherly, I'm afraid.

This three week reading slump has also tipped the scales for this year's challenge over from "rather confident" to "race to the finish line". I might swap some candidates for slimmer books in the months to come, especially since some "mandatory" reads in my categories picked by others are on the fatty side (Wolf Hall anyone?). (Which means even more residue books to try and cram into 2014. Again: Dang).

I'm still adamant to make it this year though. As well as catch up on all of you! Dammit! Here goes:

54. The gone-away world by Nick Harkaway
Category 7. Picking at scabs, 584 pages.

This is the kind of book that might sound slightly more bonkers than it actually is when described. Because yes, these six hundred pages ARE filled with ninjas, pirate monks, college freedom fighters turned into porn stars, mutant bees, mysterious mimes with a political agenda, quarreling spice merchants and a doomsday weapon that just makes the enemy Go Away. And yes, this is a version of post-apocalypse where the only thing that keeps the scraps of humanity from being torn asunder by their own nightmares is the presence of a substance sprayed into the air from a huge pipeline, around which they all live.

But Nick Harkaway’s story telling talent is such that the all-over-the-place type of imagination here never falls into the trap of plain silliness. Rather, this is a pageturner dealing with themes like dignity, humanity and the price for freedom and safety. Funny at times, though,absolutely. But also moving, gripping, and ever so slightly creepy.

Gonzo Lubitsch and his friend, our narrator, are part of a trouble shooter team, specialising in dealing with leaks on the Jorgmund Pipe, the backbone that’s crucial to keep the monsters at bey and the slim ”normal” zone liveable. But the leak they are set to deal with now is bigger than anything they’ve dealt with before – a raging fire at one of the main stations. As if that wasn’t enough several of the towns in the area have had their population just anish without a trace. And right before borading the brand new trucks given to them as part of the assignment, our narrator gets a phone call – warning him not to take the job. But howe could he stop larger than life Gonzo, the best friend he’s lived in the shadow of his entire life?

Despite not having the time to devour it like it deserves, I had a great time with this unusual and though-provoking brick. At one point towards the end I felt worried it would never manage to bring it all home in a satisfactory fashion. But then it does, steeply but without feeling stressed at all. My only minor complaint is that I would have wanted to know a bit more about some things, that just feels a little brushed over. In a book of six hundred pages, that’s actually something in itself! 4 ½ stars!

65GingerbreadMan
Modifié : Oct 21, 2013, 8:01 am

55. Locke and Key 1: Welcome to Lovecraft by Joe hill and Gabriel Rodriguez
Category 8. Pics, 152 pages.

As I was about to pick up volume 2, I felt the need for a reread. This is a rather complex storyline, and I'm glad I brushed up on it. Also, this is a fabolous book. The 5 star rating still stands. My review can be found over at my 12 in 12 thread.

56. Locke and Key 2: Head Games by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez
Category 8. Pics, 156 pages.

The first Locke and Key book ended my 2012 with a bang, and after rereading that one, my expectations were high. And much to my delight, the second volume holds up really well, deepening the mysteries of Key house, adding a few new chills and continuing the human drama. Hill leaps back and forth in time and place, and manages to expand the story without making it confusing – or too obvious. Here is the real value of Rodriguez’ art; it adds a clarity and crispness to this tale. And reading the second volume, the relationship between text and subtle hints expressed just in pictures, are a delight.

The key this time opens your head and lets you take things in or out. It’s borderline silly, but works fine – even if it has very little of the chilling effect the Death Key of volume one had. Also, some of the heartbreaking numbness of the first book, where all members of the family carried their own luggage, is gone now, as the Locke kids start to move on with thier lives. Still, it all makes sense. But this is definitely a less creepy book.

I like how Hill pays a lot of attention to the lesser characters here, like the violent, homophobic wives. But one or two people of this book feels slightly over the top. Ellie’s mom, for instance, just seems evil for the sake of being evil, and I end up not quite buying her. These are minor complaints. I’ll make sure to get to the third book before having to do another reread! 4 ½ stars!

66GingerbreadMan
Oct 21, 2013, 8:07 am

I still have a third quater summary to do as well! Aaargh, damn my neatness!

67AHS-Wolfy
Oct 21, 2013, 8:14 am

Locke and Key is still in my future. Glad book 2 stands up well after a terrific opener. Hopefully I can start making some inroads into the long list of titles on the GN front that you (and numerous others) have foisted onto my tbr plans.

68avatiakh
Oct 21, 2013, 8:28 am

I still haven't read The goneaway world but your review increases the odds that I'll read it for this year's challenge.

69clfisha
Oct 21, 2013, 9:23 am

Yeay you liked The Gone-Away World, sigh of relief, its sprawling structure displeases some. I think the switch into a reminiscence/coming of age story throws some. I need to reread it at some point and see if it holds up.. especially since I know in advance the shifting (and for me surprising plot).

Good luck working on your new play & fingers crossed for opening night!

70lkernagh
Oct 21, 2013, 12:09 pm

Joining Claire in crossing fingers for your opening night.... hope it is fantastic!

Locke & Key is already on my radar list so just happy to see the very positive reviews for the first two books in the series and looks like I am taking a BB hit for The Gone-Away World..... pirate monks, college freedom fighters turned into porn stars, and mysterious mimes with a political agenda sound just too good to pass up!

71SandDune
Oct 21, 2013, 3:44 pm

Great review of The Gone Away World - thumbed it!

72DeltaQueen50
Oct 21, 2013, 5:27 pm

Best of luck for your opening night, Anders.

73mathgirl40
Oct 21, 2013, 5:41 pm

Glad to hear you're liking the Locke & Key series. I've been very impressed by the first three books and will be starting the fourth shortly.

Definitely you should try to fit in some Alice Munro next year if you can. If you're planning to participate in the GeoCAT, it's just been decided that January will cover US and Canada. Munro will show you more than you ever wanted to know about life in small-town Ontario. :)

74rabbitprincess
Oct 21, 2013, 6:10 pm

Man! With a review like that I really need to read The Gone-Away World now! I've been postponing it because it's so heavy that it needs to be read at home. I have to question my decision to buy the giant hardcover (even if it does have a green and fuzzy pink dust jacket).

Break a leg on opening night!

75-Eva-
Oct 21, 2013, 9:59 pm

Ah, and there's that Nick Harkaway again, reminding me that I haven't read any of his books yet. :) Good luck with the play - holding my thumbs!

76GingerbreadMan
Nov 5, 2013, 8:06 am

Hi everyone! I'm back! For real this time, I hope :)

A week and a half ago, I had a lovely opening night at Stockholms Stadsteater. It really was everything I could have hoped for, and I feel immensly proud of this one. The audience clapped us in four times, the theatre managed kissed my cheeks and the party was wonderful. The reviews have been kind of what you want: a few really really good ones ("Perfect mirror of our time", anyone?), one sour and a couple in between. Second show is happening tonight (after ten days!!! Silly schedule!!!) and I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Also hoping ticket sales pick up a bit now - they aren't yet up to par with how good the show is, quite frankly. Ahem.

School is closed last week in october in Sweden, so we took the opportunity to take a few days in Gothenburg to visit firends and especially new born babies. Despite several mishaps such as a broken down car and having to postpone a day for vomit, we ended up having a lovely time.

Now it's back to the regular again. This is probably the last week when there's still some sliver of daylight left as I go home from work. On the other hand, I have no more deadlines before christmas, so the next few moths will be relatively stress free. Looking forwards to that!

Will now catch up on reviews and threads, slowly but surely. Oh, and finally do my third quarter summary (for myself, I don't really expecy anyone else to care - especiually a month late!)

77GingerbreadMan
Nov 5, 2013, 8:19 am

57. Gilla läget (Bright-sided by Barbara Ehrenreich
Category 10. Picking belly-buttons, 232 pages.

After being diagnosed with breast cancer, and flunking out of various support groups for failing to see it as a gift, Ehrenreich sets out to investigate the notion of positive thinking and it’s effects on American society. She looks at a view of illness where the disease is primarily there to learn from – and where it’s probably your own fault if you don’t get well. She looks at religion where, as a loooong reaction to puritanism, a version of God as a wish-granting genie is handing ut success to those who pray hard enough. She looks at psychology which is only interested in removing symptoms. She looks at a one-sided love affiar with particle physics, which spawns ”scientific” methods like ”The secret”. She attends tons of depressing self-help-esteem-boosting-get-rich-quick seminars. And, perhaps most unsettling, she looks at a management philosophy which focuses on gut feeling and motivation rather than actual skills, driving American economy towards collapse.

Ehrenreich is tart, unflinchingly bitter and often funny. Many head-shakes and rolling eyes occur at the astonishing examples she presents. She’s also, I think, refreshingly open about her own position. I might feel she’s underplaying the benefits (on a much smaller scale) of a positive outlook, but her outspoken grumpyness is rather refreshing. In the end though, I feel perhaps the book is a little too repetitive. The points it makes are a bit too few. And dspite clocking in on just over 200 pages, it feels a little too long. Still, a recommended read, potentially eye opening. 3 stars.

78GingerbreadMan
Modifié : Nov 6, 2013, 9:03 am

58. The Vesuvius Club by Mark Gatiss (picked blindly by hailelib)
Category 1. Blind picks, 240 pages.

Someone has to live at number 9 Downing Street. In this high paced debut it happens to be Lucifer Box – portrait painter to the rich and famous, playboy, happy pervert and His Majesty’s most secret agent. This, the first installment in a series, involves mysteriously dead vulcanologists, a swapped corpse of a veiled woman, a secret sex club, a strange undertaker firm, drugged zombies and a doomsday cult. Also: daring escapes, devilish traps, a poisonous centipede, loads of men’s fashion and the luring charms of both a young woman and a young man.

This is all utterly charming of course, a real adventure story written with a contagiously good mood and full of wit, with the occasional sliver of smut thrown in. A can totally see how anyone could love this, and if you feel ”yay” reading this rewiew you’ll likely do. For me though, grumpy mutterer that I am, I kind of find this a hard formula to pull off. This book is trying so hard to be BOTH a thrilling matiné adventure, and an ironic smirk at the thrilling matiné adventure story as a genre, it kind of ends up being too little of both. This becomes most evident in the end, where the ”I’ll tell you the truth before killing you off” moments are just piling up. I can totally see myself picking up the sequel at some point. But I don’t feel in any immediate hurry. 3 stars.

79GingerbreadMan
Nov 5, 2013, 8:24 am

59. Almost nothing / At the table by Marcos Barbosa
Category 5. Picking a fight, 66 pages. Categroy completed!

In all honesty, I picked this book mainly because it was slim. The challenge is coming to an end, and november will be crucial if I am to pull it off this year. It’s one in a pile of Royal court plays I picked up in London for a pound each ten years ago. The cover is boring, and the blurb isn’t saying much.

I was pleasantly surprised. These two short Brazilian plays have a Pinteresque quality to them, gradually letting us, the reader/audience into their unpleasant secrets. ”At the table” plays over twenty years, and is the slow unravelling of sexual abuse at a boy scout camp. Carefully displaying it’s hand, but never overplaying it, it is a subtle take on a complicated subject that could easily have been just speculative. ”Almost nothing” is even better. A middle-class couple have killed a young boy at a traffic light in what they believed was self defense – he was waving a knife and going for their car. But afterwards they come to realise he was younger than they thought. And that the attack might not have been an attack. They compensat the bereaved, poor mother with a rather large sum of money. And yet, even through their remorse and bad conscience, they can’t shake the thought: can they trust the mother not to go to the police? Exact, poingnant and relevant, this was a fine read.
4 stars!

80GingerbreadMan
Nov 5, 2013, 9:08 am

Yeah just feel free to ignore this. It's the completist in me who feels compelled to do a summary over a month late. Should you happen to read it anyway and go "What, no Harkaway!?" for instance - this deals with books read until september 30th...

Third quarter summary

Books read this quarter: 17
Pages read this quarter: 4244 (12008 total)
Average rating this quarter: 3,70
TBR dent/bump by the end of quarter: +11 (ahem...)

Reading this quater by category:
Blind picks: 1/5 (2/5 total)
Picking fleas: 2/5 (4/5 total)
Picking Flea's: 1/5 (3/5 total)
Picking up the pieces: 1/5 Category completed!
Picking a fight: 2/5 (4/5 total)
Pixels and pickaxes: 0/5 (3/5 total)
Picking at scabs: 1/5 (3/5 total)
Pics: 2/5 (2/5 total)
Pickled herring: 3/5 Category completed!
Picking bellybuttons: 1/5 (3/5 total)
Pick and mix: 1/5 (4/5 total)
Pickup lines: Category completed!
Pixies: 2/10 Category completed!

Best reads of the year so far:
The half-made world and The rise of Ransom City, fresh, weird and readable fantasy. Jagannath, the future of Swedish fantasy, dammit! The tenth of december - another bag of horror, humor and tenderness by the great George Saunders. The standouts in the Sandman series: Season of Mists, Brief lives and The kindly ones. And The little stranger, that kind of slow understated ghost story that creeps up on you ever so slowly.

Worst reads of the year so far:
Resan till ljuset, post-apocalypse, with way too much testosterone. where the most defining characteristic in the main players seem to be the type of weapon they carry. Cirkusmysteriet, the silliest of the often silly Lasse-Maja books. Brink, den svenske slavkaptenen, wasting a good material by not deciding what book it wanted to be, and Tix, way too much much "look at me being clever" for my taste.

Phew. Let the race to the finish line begin! Presently I'm filling an old gap in my dystopia knowledge: Brave new world.

81christina_reads
Nov 5, 2013, 9:23 am

Ooh, I'll look forward to your thoughts on Brave New World. Also, congratulations on being the perfect mirror of our time! :)

82psutto
Nov 5, 2013, 12:06 pm

seems like a long time since I could visit - busy October for me! So glad you enjoyed gone away world and congrats on the play - I think your favourite reads this year and mine are somewhat similar ;-)

83lkernagh
Nov 5, 2013, 3:40 pm

Congratulations on a successful opening night and on life returning to normal (not as crazy busy as it has been) for you. I am intrigued by your review of The Vesuvius Club. Will have to make a note to try and track a copy down. I am pretty sure the local library has a copy.

84-Eva-
Nov 5, 2013, 7:20 pm

Congratulations on the opening!! I read the review in SvD - very nice indeed, so congrats on that too! :)

I have The Vesuvius Club on Mt. TBR, but it's mainly to see what he does outside of Sherlock and Doctor Who. I shall adjust expectations!

85RidgewayGirl
Nov 6, 2013, 3:37 am

Congratulations on opening night! I hope that word of mouth fills the theatre seats. And enjoy a few months of quieter living.

86clfisha
Nov 6, 2013, 8:19 am

Congratulations and good luck with the second night!

I quite liked The Vesuvius Club but didnt get on with the second one. Since they were both pre-LT I can no longer remember why.. I think it swings towards a more serious adventure.

87mathgirl40
Nov 6, 2013, 8:22 am

Congratulations on the successful opening night!

Nice to see The Kindly Ones among your best reads of the year so far. I'm finishing up World's End right now, so I have that next up.

88AHS-Wolfy
Nov 6, 2013, 9:36 am

Crongrats on the opening night. Don't worry too much over the one dissenting voice, they're probably just doing it to be different (some people are like that when they're in that kind of position).

You're right not to expect too much from the next Lucifer Box novel. Pick it up if you see it cheap but not something to rush out and buy just for the sake of it. Hope Brave New World resonates more with you than it did with me. Didn't care too much for that one.

89rabbitprincess
Nov 6, 2013, 5:23 pm

Hurray for a successful opening night! Also glad that life can slow down a bit for you before Christmas -- the holiday itself makes things busy enough on its own!

90dudes22
Nov 7, 2013, 5:59 am

Yeah - glad your play went well. Hope you have lots of good reading this month. I find myself gravitating toward books that will read quickly so I can make my goal - which is still in doubt.

91GingerbreadMan
Nov 7, 2013, 5:06 pm

>81 christina_reads: Yep, perfect mirror, that's me!

>82 psutto: I also hope to fit in Thunderer and In the night garden in before this year ends - but you've read both of them previous years, right?

>83 lkernagh: As I said, if you think it sounds like it's for you, it most likely is!

>84 -Eva-: SvD was great! I also liked Kulturnytt (P1) a lot.

>85 RidgewayGirl: Yeah, I'm actually having a bit of withdrawal symptoms...Thank goodness there are new projects that need starting (at a non-stressed pace).

>86 clfisha: We have it on the TBR. I'm sure I'll read it eventually.

>87 mathgirl40: I actually gave five stars to The doll's house too, but I couldn't fill the list with all Sandman now, could I?

>88 AHS-Wolfy: Thanks Dave. Really, I can be brought down by bad reviews, and this was a big paper. But this time I'm just so confident and proud of the production it didn't get to me. Brave new world didn't totally convince me either - see below!

>89 rabbitprincess: I know! I'm so proud of my planning - first year in a long time where I won't be spending the night of the 22nd trying to finish something...

>90 dudes22: Yeah, me too. Then again, bumping candidates means having to bump other books from 2014 - or postpone til 2015! I'll probably go for some slim options, but there is a brick or too left for me as well....

92GingerbreadMan
Nov 7, 2013, 5:09 pm

60. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Category 7. Picking at scabs, 177 pages. Category completed!

As a dystopia buff, it’s really quite something how I’ve managed to avoid this cornerstone for so many years! I’m glad I finally got around to reading it, even if it, for me, wasn’t the total knockout it’s status sort of warrants.

Many of these classic dystopias, like 1984, Callocain or Fahrenheit 451, are written at a time when too much government, manifesting itself in Stalinist Soviet Union, was a real and plausible threat. They therefor have a tendency to deal with totalitarian world states, paranoia and mind control. Which, in this age of mostly frenzied market liberalism, at least in the west, tends to make them come across as a little dated. Brave New World is no exception. Set in Utopia, where conditioning humans to be content and happy with their predestined role in society starts even long before birth, and where concpets like family, parenting, religion and monogamy are made obsolete, we follow a rather unique tourist: John Savage, who is the spawn of a pregnancy by mistake in civilized parents, but who has been raised by his mother (oh the shame!) in one of the few remaining uncivilized reservations. Found again by an ambitious but awkward Alpha on a vacation trip, Savage is brought back to Utopia as a social experiment. Things inevitably get out of hand.

Huxley presents us with a nice, tight little set of characters, flawed and interesting. Besides the Shakespeare-quoting Savage there’s Bernard, constantly aware of being different than other Alphas and dying to conform. There’s Mustapha the world weary Controller and Helmholtz, writer of ridiculious, subliminal rhymes for the government and closet rebel. There’s also Lenina Crowne, who gets to represent the model citizen in the brave new world: naive, pouty, unthinking and sexual. She inevitably falls in love with the savage. She inevitably clashes with his much stricter morals. And she inevitably loves him despite him slapping her and calling her whore. That whole arc is, sadly, stale and rather sexist.

The world Huxley creates is intersting as dystopias go, as it is really trying to be utopia. Easy happiness without effort for everyone is the object, and repression is mild-handed and friendly. I also like how Huxley is building a society around consumerism. If it wasn’t for the mind-controlling government set on top of it all, I could have felt much fresher.
I feel Brave New World hasn’t aged entirely well, but it’s evident and justified to me why it holds it’s position as a classic. But i must say I long for many more examples of capitalism extrapolated into dystopia, that rings truer to the challenges of our times and society. 3 ½ stars.

93andreablythe
Nov 7, 2013, 5:52 pm

I remember really enjoying Brave New World and then getting REALLY pissed off about the ending. But I think that was sort of the point of the novel, to stir all that up.

94psutto
Nov 8, 2013, 4:58 am

For me brave new world was a bit meh when I finally got round to reading it - I think it may be one of those "books of its time" ones.

>91 GingerbreadMan: - hope you enjoy them when you get to them, thunderer is quite different to the Half-made world books but I really enjoyed it, I'd like to read the sequel but I'll have to remind myself of the first before doing so - I may get round to them this year but more likely it'll be next year. Read both Orphan's tales together!

95clfisha
Nov 8, 2013, 10:42 am

I..I.. can't remember Brave New World at all. I know I read it. Well I think I did. Oh dear after your review I don't have the effort to find out.

I must admit I am going off dytopia's. Somehow the recent ones I have read seem to be overly simple (or zombiefied) or riffing off "isn't science evil trope" (Yawn). The classics are interesting but very much of their time.. so if anyone has some different recommendations I would love to know.

I seem to be in love with the writing and the atmosphere more than the idea of dystopia hence The Road and Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti being high on my dystopian fiction list.

96andreablythe
Nov 8, 2013, 11:47 am

>95 clfisha:
Since the writing style seems to be your favorite part, you might try Zone One by Colson Whitehead. It's a zombie novel, but quite literary in style and tone.

97GingerbreadMan
Nov 8, 2013, 12:46 pm

Yeah, I agree. I feel post- apocalypse is more where it's at these days. Which I suppose in itself might be a symptom of our times: too much freedom rather than too little, chaos rather than order, might makes right rather than repression.

98DeltaQueen50
Nov 8, 2013, 2:35 pm

Anders, glad to hear of the success of your play. I have just finished Vol 10 of the Sandman and looking back I think The Doll's House and The Kindly Ones are my two favorites, but really there wasn't a bad one in the lot, simply an amazing series.

99-Eva-
Nov 9, 2013, 12:07 am

I have Brave New World on Mt. TBR, but it's there mainly because it's one I want to have read - good to be warned about how it reads now.

100GingerbreadMan
Nov 13, 2013, 9:21 am

61. Det krökta gångjärnet (The crooked hinge) by John Dickson Carr (picked blindly by clfisha)
Category 1. Blind picks, 272 pages.

Nat Burrows, the solicitor, picks up his friend Brian Page, on a lazy, still summer day. Something unusual is happenning over at Farnleigh Close, the estate where he works for John and Lady Farnleigh. For out of nowhere a stranger has arrived, with a strange story of swapped identities on board the sinking Titanic, and claims to be the true owner of the estate. The old school teacher, the only one close to John in his childhood days, has been brought home from Jamaica, and is now ready to meet both pretendents and decide who is the real one. Strangely, they both seem totally confident, even in the face of fingerprint evidence. But left on his own to match the fingerprints, the old school teacher….ISN’T murdered. Someone else is, in a way that is both unlikely and impossible. Luckily, the huffing Doctor Fell and Elliot of the Scotland Yard happen to be in the neighborhood, investigating an incidents that is completely unrelated. Or is it?

This is a classic puzzle mystery, full of red herrings, implausible but believable scanrios and dark secrets. It's no’ my kind of book at all, but it’s hard to overlook it’s cleverness and charm. Evev going far over the top, it does so with a level of believability that makes me want to tag along. Added to this rather pleasant mix is also a pinch of creepiness – at the core of the mystery is a rather eerie mechanical woman from the 1700-eds, an ugly old living doll who refuses to stay in the attic…

I woldn’t have read this for many years, or possibly at all, if it wasn’t for my Blind Picks category. I’m glad I did, even if this genre will never be a given favorite of mine. 4 stars!

101clfisha
Nov 14, 2013, 2:38 am

Ok I wasn't at all interested until you mentioned mechanical women in the attic... Curses. Still glad you didn't hate my blind pick!

102hailelib
Nov 14, 2013, 8:38 am

You made the Carr book sound interesting.

103AHS-Wolfy
Nov 14, 2013, 6:45 pm

John Dickson Carr now added to the pick something up to give a try list.

104GingerbreadMan
Nov 15, 2013, 5:59 am

>101 clfisha: Claire, things of course just look a bit supernatural for a while. There's no proto-steampunk element here. This book does what it says on the package, but with perhaps a slightly more sinister ambience than usual.

>102 hailelib:-103 Not my usual fare, but I liked it. More so than most examples of this genre. Wolfy, there is a sense of place, so I think you might be able to fit it into your english county challenge, if that's still going.

105AHS-Wolfy
Nov 15, 2013, 6:08 pm

Haven't touched my other challenge threads for quite some time though I haven't totally given up on any of them yet.

106GingerbreadMan
Nov 22, 2013, 9:39 am

62. Nära hem by Alice Munro
Category 2. Picking fleas, 377 pages. Category completed!

I’ve been meaning to read Munro for years. Her getting the Nobel, and a timely father’s day present was the nudge I needed to finally get me going. It wasn’t quite what I expected. Still a good read, no doubt, but I guess I was imagining the ”master of the modern short story” to becrisper, clearer, more precise.

That is to say, on the large scale. I thought I was in for tight stories, perfect, sparse little arcs or snapshots of poignant moments. Instead, Munro’s stories are rather sprawling, spanning over generations, meandering, managing large casts, restless moving between places, memories and the present. The core of them isn’t always easy to spot. The exactness I was counting on is still there though, but on a smaller scale. Rather than the whole story being a polished gem, Munro’s stories are full of beautifully captured small instances, often feeling profound – while the story they are contained in seems much looser in structure.

As far as they ARE contained stories per se, these stories tend to deal with change that is bigger on the inside than the outside, it seems. Something happens, often dramatic but not necessarily huge – which sends the characters in new directions, changes how they see each other. But again, it sounds crisper than it is. My favorites in this anthology are probably among the newest ones: the one about the husband starting to suspect his wife and best friend are having an affair, and beginning to try and make it easy for them. And the one about the woman who finds her dead neighbors and isn’t making as big a deal of it as her little town would have wished.

As I said, it wasn’t quite what I expected. But I’ll happily read more Munro. 4 stars!

107lkernagh
Nov 22, 2013, 9:43 am

Wonderful review of the Munro read! I really do need to move her books, or at least one of her books, up my reading list.

108GingerbreadMan
Modifié : Nov 22, 2013, 12:04 pm

I'm on a bit of a reading roll lately! I just finished Still life, which I hope to review later tonight. I also expect to wrap up The wizard of Oz, which I'm reading with my son as a good night story, any night now. I guess that one'll go into the fantasy category. And with at least one more GN, a slim book planned to wrap up my non-fiction category, and the expected page turner Nyckeln (Flea read the eight hundred pages in three days), it actually looks pretty good for me. I just might manage to finish the challenge this year!

Tons of bumped candidates to try and cram into 2014 though...

109RidgewayGirl
Nov 22, 2013, 9:53 am

Munro's stories are the opposite of plot-driven. But they stick in my mind, as much as the stories of George Saunders, but in a very different way. I'm glad you liked her.

110psutto
Nov 22, 2013, 11:58 am

OK will definitely have to pick up some Munro now - great review

111-Eva-
Nov 22, 2013, 12:45 pm

Interesting review - I've not read any Munro yet, but I will give her a shot for sure.

112GingerbreadMan
Modifié : Nov 22, 2013, 5:46 pm

Thanks all of you for approving my Munro review. It was tricky to write!

63. Still life by Louise Penny
Category 3. Picking Flea's, 402 pages.

Just days after finally revealing one of her paintings and getting accepted into the local art exhibit, Jane is found dead in the forest. At first it looks like a tragic hunting accident, but when nobody steps forward, more and more signs seem to point towards murder. Inspecteur Gamache of the Sûreté du Quebec is called to picturesque little Three Pines, the tiny village rocked by these horrible events, to try and solve the case. He brings with him his trusted team, and the rookie Nichol – who turns out to not quite be what he hoped for.

Flea’s picks for me take me out of my comfort zone this year. The village cozy is virtually virgin land for me. I’m somewhat surprised that this book charmed and gripped me the way it did. Penny has populated Three Pines with charming, unusual characters, all of whom know each other really well. This creates a certain ambience, the growing unease in knowing one of your neighbors is a killer, but also the annoyance of trying to conduct a police investigation in a place where word gets around like a wildfire. Many of Penny’s rather large cast are memorable, and make this a place to revisit. One or two might be slightly over the top – eternally wise-cracking Gabri and perhaps especially Nichol, whose utter lack of self-awareness is a bit much to swallow at times.

The tendency of swapping perspectives between characters completely haphazardly is also a little distracting, especially since Penny needs to keep secrets from the reader even when we enter someone’s mind. There’s a bit too much of “He thought about the thing he knew he couldn’t say” going on. And, as often seems the case, the red herrings are perhaps a bit more interesting than the actual solution. But with the charm, wit and tenderness at the core of this book, such flaws are easily forgiven. Getting a small sliver of information on the tension between French and English speakers in Canada along the way was a nice bonus too. 4 stars.

113AHS-Wolfy
Nov 22, 2013, 6:16 pm

I've had Still Life sat on the tbr shelves for a while and have been humming and hawing over giving it a read or not. It very nearly landed on my last purge given to the charity shop but somehow survived. Your review has given me hope that it was a good decision to keep it.

114mamzel
Nov 23, 2013, 6:03 pm

Welcome to the wonderful world of Gamache et al. I hope you will continue with this excellent series.

115RidgewayGirl
Modifié : Nov 24, 2013, 10:31 am

I may be the only person immune to the Three Pines charm. I only lasted fifty pages before collapsing under the weight of the whimsy and all those characters just chock full 'o character.

But everyone else loves 'em.

116-Eva-
Nov 24, 2013, 10:20 am

I too have Still Life on the list, but the issues Kay mentions has kept me from trying. I should give it a shot to see if its charm is for me or not.

117GingerbreadMan
Nov 25, 2013, 6:25 am

>114 mamzel: Yes, let the eternal crammíng of new candidates into 2014 commence!

>115 RidgewayGirl: That's a total valid point, Kay, and I can totally see myself having the same reaction. Whimsy either works or is annoying as all heck, and you kind of never know which sorts will rub you the wrong way. As I said, I was kind of surprised at how much I enjoyed it. It has several elements that usually won't do it for me, including pet peeves like wise elder women with a rough exterior and funny smelly dogs. I think what made it for me for a rather keen eye for what murder might do to a small community.

>116 -Eva-: Do! I'm sure the result will be a fun review either way.

118GingerbreadMan
Nov 26, 2013, 10:13 am

64. Trollkarlen från Oz (The wonderful wizard of Oz) by L. Frank Baum
Category 6. Pixels and pickaxes, 191 pages.

Me and Elis, my six year old has had a rather cozy couple of weeks with this one. It’s just scary enough for him, not being too brave, and the light philosophical context has lent itself to some nice talking. We read the beautiful edition with illustrations by Robert Ingpen, and those have perhaps been the very best thing about the whole experience. Full of detail, and playing around with size, they create a strong image of Oz, corrsponding with the one we’ve seen a million times on film, but with an identity of their own.
Ofd course, there’s a lot to like in the story itself as well. Full of imagination and with Dorothy as a wonderfully ordinary heroine in the middle (without being a sissy constantly exclaiming ”oh!” like, say, Alice), and with the message it’s not what’s in your head or chest that constitutes brains or heart of courage, it’s easy to see how this has become a classic.

There are, however, quite a few annoying things about this book as well. Mainly the repetition. I understand how a fairytale works, sure, but do they havet o go through the whole brain-heart-courage-Kansas routine EVERYTIME the wizard is mentioned? Not only up until they meet him, but afterwards too – now with the twist: ”Well he might have been a cheat but he DID give me a brain-heart-courage-but unfortunately not Kansas”. It seems about a third of the book is built around this exact dialogue, and it gets old.

Also, and this is something I’ve always felt about Baum, there’s something a little disjointed about how he tells his stories. It’s like the episodes are a bit too disconnected somehow. They never feel like a chain, but rather like just isolated events. Like many of them are just filling. The characters take nothing away from them, they just kind of pass through. 3 ½ stars

119GingerbreadMan
Nov 26, 2013, 10:16 am

65. Tankar om politik by Bengt Göransson
Category 10. Picking bellybuttons, 142 pages. Category completed!

Most of us working in arts in Sweden seem to agree that the social democrat Bengt Göransson was the last Minister of Culture of any real worth in Sweden. That was in the eighties. This is a slim, personal book about politics, from an old-timer with no connections to party politics any more. It’s a sharp, refreshing read, reminding me that another world is not only possible, but was actually happening not that long ago. Don’t get me wrong, this is by no means a nostalgic book about a lost welfare state. Göransson is firmly rooted in the present. But hisa views on what society and politics should be, are very far from where we are at the moment.

Among the many things he rather razor sharply talks about in this thin volume is the distinction between ”citizen” and ”tax-payer” – and why the shift towards the latter is a threat to democracy. He points out the dangers of using art as an instrument. He discusses the difference between choice and freedom, and he talks about the borders of politics. This book is full of thoughts that make perfect sense, even if you’ve never seen them formulated quite so exactly before. I can see me quoting it in a million situations. And it fills me with hope. Humanity isn’t at an end station. What constitutes this thing we call society is still possible to change. 4 stars.

120GingerbreadMan
Nov 26, 2013, 10:17 am

Rushing to the finish line now! Nyckeln is 800 pages, but they fly by! If I'm not bogged down too much in Wolf Hall, my last brick, I might even fit in a bonus read or two!

121andreablythe
Nov 26, 2013, 1:57 pm

It's been a while since I've read Wizard of Oz, so I don't remember the repetition. I can see how that would be annoying, though. I am curious about the other books in the series. I've been meaning to look into them for a while.

122-Eva-
Nov 26, 2013, 11:39 pm

I remember spending a summer at my grandparents' house and mowing through the whole Oz-series - it was magical and I think I shouldn't reread with a grown-up's eyes.

A copy of Nyckeln is on its way to me as my Xmas gift, but I may have to tear into that particular present before we get to Xmas... :)

123lkernagh
Nov 27, 2013, 9:41 am

Interesting comments regarding Wizard of Oz. The repetition would drive me batty so it is probably a good thing I have only seen the movie with Judy Garland and I haven't see that in a long, long time!

I see you have two chunksters left Nyckeln and Wolf Hall - I am looking forward to the Standberg books being published in English and made a available where I am. I really enjoyed Wolf Hall once I got past the confusing pronouns - Mantel breaths such life into Cromwell.

124DeltaQueen50
Nov 29, 2013, 1:00 pm

Hi Anders, I loved The Wizard of Oz as a child and a couple of years ago I read it to my granddaughter. She totally feel in love with the book and demanded that I reread it again to her after a couple of months. I still enjoyed it (although two re-reads was one too many!), but as an adult I could certainly see more of it's flaws and a little less of its charms. My granddaughter now lists this as her favorite book and I do think it's wonderful that this book is such a classic and still appeals to the young.

125GingerbreadMan
Déc 1, 2013, 8:11 am

>121 andreablythe: I seem to recall they are less of what you tend to like about this book, and more of rather random stacking of episodes featuring various strange creatures. I don't think it's a coincidence this is the classic.

>122 -Eva-: I think was has fared best for me is sensible Dorothy herself. Rather refreshing to see a heroine from this time not bogged down in utter naive girlish innocence, like say Wendy or Alice.

>123 lkernagh: I feel a little bit of threshold going into Wolf Hall. But I like the style, and it feels very readable. I'm sure it'll be quite engrossing once I get into it!

>124 DeltaQueen50: Reading it to my boy was my favorite part also. With the flaws I see as a grown-up, it's still a very worthy classic, I think. It's also very refreshing with a book where from this era you don't have to wrestle with racism and sexism at every corner - there is pretty much nothing like that in this one!

Right, I've tried to have as few SPOILERS as possible in this review, but for someone completely unfamiliar with this series you shold perhaps just glance at the rating. And go pick up the first book immediately.

66. Nyckeln by Mats Strandberg and Sara Bergmark Elfgren
Category 6. Pixels and pickaxes, 817 pages. Category completed!

Only a few weeks have passed since the final events of ”Eld”, and the remaining witches of the Circle are still staggering to cope with losses, death and the desperate upholding of illusion. Engelsfors is now not only a rather drab little town, but, a place where the frequency of tragedy is getting harder and harder to ignore, even for regular people. Something is just not right, everybody is starting to feel it. And the Chosen Ones get no time to rest – signs start to show that the apocalypse is coming fast, the Council are now not only red-taping them down but actively and aggressively working against them, the Demons’ Blessed escapes from her prison. And fairly soon Minoo is forced to make an impossible choice, straining loyalty to the maximum. Watching from the mists of the borderlands however, are forces trying to make contact. But will they get through in time? Does it even matter?

Also, while the occult events move towards a shattering climax, the “normal side” of teenage life of the girls is also at an all time low. A parent dies. Linnea is going to trial for the assault she was the victim of and is forced to realize that almost all her school is on the side of the culprits. Vanessa sees her involvement in the Circle pulling her further and further way from her friends. A love story is killed by cowardice and old ghosts. An alcoholic falls off the wagon. As before, one of the real talents of Elfgren and Strandmark is making these parts as engaging, nailbiting and horrific as the magic battles. This is a dark book at times, and even more often a very sad one.

Tying all knots together in this epic battle for world control, spanning the universe and thousands of years, is a tall order. But, despite sometimes having to resort to the “sit down and I will tell you the whole story from the beginning” trope a few times, they succeed admirably. And even manage to make the very conclusion of this trilogy feel worthy where it could so easily have fallen flat.

Four days and 817 pages later, I feel reluctant to say goodbye to this group of flawed, struggling, hard-working teenage witches. They feel like real people to me, and I wish them all the best. I can’t wait to put them into the hands of my kids when they grow older. 5 stars!

126GingerbreadMan
Modifié : Déc 1, 2013, 8:14 am

Annnd wrapping up my GN category:

67. Slåss som en tjej by Tiitu Takalo
Category 8. Pics, 79 pages. Category completed!

An anarchafeminist activist group gets word a friend of them has been raped – by the popular guitarist of a local punk band. Suddenly it’s time to put all their discussions into practice. It isn’t necessarily as easy as they think.

More than anything, this graphic novel reads like a sort of manual in dealing with rape from a feminist, authority skeptic point of view. As such, it’s interesting – we get to follow discussions about the dangers of gender binary and victimization, the borderlands of sexual abuse and even see schematic panels of feminist self-defense. It’s valuable.

Unfortunately, it isn’t quite working as a story. The characters are cutouts and the whole chain of events seems very stressed. I think this might have actually been much better if it had been a lot longer, allowing more room for the discussion and debate within the group, as well as the tension that comes with the culprit being one of their own scene.
2 ½ stars.

127-Eva-
Modifié : Déc 2, 2013, 2:10 pm

->125 GingerbreadMan:
Clearly skipping since my copy is still somewhere en route across the Atlantic, but I'm liking that I saw a 5-star at the end! :)

128lkernagh
Déc 2, 2013, 7:22 pm

5 Stars for the Strangberg book! ...... now, all I need to do is sit back and wait for the English translations. ;-)

129RidgewayGirl
Déc 3, 2013, 2:15 am

Enjoy your adventures with Cromwell. That is such a great ride of a book. And the second, Bring Up the Bodies, is much better. I'm eagerly awaited the third.

130AHS-Wolfy
Déc 3, 2013, 7:18 am

I managed to pick up a copy of The Circle recently so it's great to see the series lives up to its start.

131mathgirl40
Déc 9, 2013, 7:19 am

Finally catching up with your reviews and finding some excellent ones there! I'm glad you enjoyed Louise Penny's book. I've read all her books except the most recently published one, and I've found they get better as the series progresses.

I have the first book in Strandberg and Elfgren's trilogy on my shelf. I really need to get to it in 2014!

132GingerbreadMan
Déc 16, 2013, 7:26 am

Massive reading slump. I like Wolf Hall, but it's way too easy to put down for me. I've read 170 pages in two weeks. Need to get some reading done in the week to cone to pull the challenge off. I thought I was home free with only three books to go in december!!

133psutto
Déc 16, 2013, 7:38 am

You can do it!

134lkernagh
Déc 16, 2013, 11:38 am

Stopping by to cheer you on! Maybe shift to a different book and see if that helps your reading slump.

135clfisha
Déc 16, 2013, 12:03 pm

I have Eld (fire) burning a hole in my tbr.. trying to keep it to next year but it keeps whispering seductively to me.

Anyway I keep meaning to try Wolf Hall so from a purely selfish perspective keep reading! :-) Ahem. Good luck I know you can do it..

136andreablythe
Déc 16, 2013, 3:58 pm

Good luck, Anders! You can do it!

137christina_reads
Déc 16, 2013, 4:09 pm

Good luck! I second Lori's suggestion...maybe putting it aside for a different (shorter?) book will help.

138DeltaQueen50
Déc 16, 2013, 6:23 pm

Oh good luck, Anders, I hope you are able to put that reading slump behind you!

139GingerbreadMan
Déc 27, 2013, 5:09 am

EXTREMELY briefly:

God fortsättning! Hope you all have had lovely holidays!

Wolf Hall is a chore. A pleasant chore, but a chore. I'm racing to the finish line here. Will have to find a way of reading two more extremely short books, should I manage to finish it in time. Behind on all threads, but I've decided to focus on my own reading while there's still a slim chance. I'll rejoin you all in 2014 - both your brand new threads and your yearly summaries. Looking forward to a fresh start! Next year I won't let myself get this far behind. LT is supposed to be fun, after all.

Miss all of you guys!

140christina_reads
Déc 27, 2013, 11:40 pm

You can do it! We are all rooting for you!

141lkernagh
Déc 28, 2013, 1:02 am

Wolf Hall isn't a chore.... it is a delight. An adventure into the political mind of Cromwell and the time period. A world of back-stabbing intrigue. Where a friend today is an enemy tomorrow. One never knows which way is up.

.... still not enticing you? If so, enjoy your holidays and challenge be damned..... there is always next year..... otherwise, we are here to cheer you on to the finish line. Your choice. ;-)

142clfisha
Déc 28, 2013, 5:07 am

Good Luck!

143GingerbreadMan
Déc 28, 2013, 6:23 pm

Thanks for all the cheers! They seem to be helping!
I've read the utterly delightful Tales from outer suburbia in snippets, finished it this friday. Gushing review will come tomorrow or so. Which means I only have to squeeze one more read in after Wolf Hall to make it.

>141 lkernagh: I mean "chore" in the nicest way possible :) It's interesting and learned. Just not the page-turner I might have used at this moment. There's no question of me putting it down though, I like it way too much.

My last read this year is supposed to be bära mistel in my Blind Picks category. This is one I'm really eager to read (i've actually been saving it), but not the kind of book you read in a day. My current plan to get out of this failure trap is to swap a slot with next year's challenge. That is: add one more book to next year's blind pick category, and instead move one of the catch-alls to this year...If things go as planned, I guess I'll wrap it up with a GN.

150 pages to go on Wolf Hall! All hail the new queen! (Or pretend to, as it were)

144lkernagh
Déc 28, 2013, 7:32 pm

All hail the new queen! (Or pretend to, as it were)

LOL! ..... and great to see you nearing the finish line with Wolf Hall! Yahoo!

145clfisha
Déc 29, 2013, 4:26 pm

Oh Tales from Outer Suburbia is amazing isn't it? I can't pick a favourite but the discarded poetry story comes close.

146GingerbreadMan
Déc 29, 2013, 4:29 pm

I loved all of them, but the stick figures and the edge of the map were probably at my top :)

147mathgirl40
Déc 29, 2013, 5:50 pm

Good luck as you head into the home stretch of Wolf Hall! I loved Wolf Hall, but I know what you mean about it being a "chore", though I guess I'd use the term "challenge" instead. :)

148mamzel
Déc 29, 2013, 10:26 pm

I felt better classifying it as a challenge, too.

149GingerbreadMan
Déc 30, 2013, 1:20 am

Put it down to me not being a native English speaker, I guess. A perhaps just a little bit of a tease ;)

150GingerbreadMan
Déc 30, 2013, 5:20 pm

Hey people. I'm doing it. I'M TOTALLY MAKING THIS CHALLENGE!

68. Berättelser från yttre förorten (Tales from outer suburbia) by Shaun Tan
Category 11. Pick and mix, 95 pages. Category completed!

Late last year, finishing up my challenge, I picked up “The arrival” at the library on a whim, and it ended up being one of my top reads for the year. This year it’s happened again. It’s clear I need more Shaun Tan in my life.

This book ever so gently explores a both utterly strange and strangely familiar middle class suburban landscape. It’s absurd. It’s poetic. It’s stylistically marvelous and artistically gorgeous. It’s also, for lack of a better word, friendly. A man in a diver’s suit gets help to get where he’s going. Two brothers set out on an expedition to the missing page of the city map. Lost scraps of bad poetry starts to bundle together. A blind reindeer lands on your roof, ready to steal your most precious things. Stick figures watch you from behind the bus stops.

As if this isn’t enough: my two year old daughter loves the art of this book too. And Shaun Tan also illustrates all books by the marvelous Kelly Link. I need to own this and read a thousand times. 5 stars!

151GingerbreadMan
Déc 30, 2013, 5:21 pm

69. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
Category 3. Picking Flea's, 652 pages. Category completed!

At one point in reading this brick, I called it “a chore”. Many people here disagreed. And perhaps it’s not the right word, especially not for a book you actually enjoy. But the truth is, I found this book to be work. Often pleasant, occasionally trying, invariably fascinating. But also constantly challenging.

This is a dense, learned book, following Thomas Cromwell from his humble (-ish) beginnings as the abused son of a drunk blacksmith, via his time as a trouble-shooter for Wolsey the chancellor at the time of his fall from grace, and finally his rise to the top of England, as king Henry’s most trusted advisor and intriguer extraordinaire of the English court. To try and get into the plot is rather futile – rising and falling, alliances and animosities constantly changing are part of the fare here. But the main machinery of this epic is the king’s love affair with Anne Boleyn, and the tension between him and the Catholic Church as he starts to try to divorce his wife in order to remarry. The consequences are dire, and leads to massive shifts in the whole European power balance.

Mantel does a great job of bringing to life a hoard of characters (thank goodness for the list at the beginning of the book!), including making actual people of larger than life figures like Henry and Anne – and lo and behold, making him come across as likeable and her as in control of her own destiny in the process. Cromwell himself is not portrayed as a cold person, but rather the opposite. Occasionally vain and petty, he is mostly concerned with actually trying to do the right thing, or the closest thing circumstance allows. I like him. Many plot lines are merely touched on here (including the one referred to in the title, making “Wolf Hall” a slightly odd choice of name for this book), and I will have to try and cram the sequel in for next year somehow.

Great in scope, my perhaps only real issue with this book is that it tries to be everything at once. There’s no main relationship here, no arc as such. When the plot narrows down in the last hundred pages or so, it does seem just a little random, like: “Oh, so THIS is the main antagonist? Huh. Who was he again? *flips to list*” I guess I might have liked a slightly more focused book, even at the expense of historical accurateness.

Historical fiction is not my main fare, but I’m looking forward to “Bring up the bodies”. I’ll make sure I have time to treat it a little less step-motherly than I have this one, timewise. 4 stars!

152christina_reads
Déc 30, 2013, 5:26 pm

Woohoo!!!

153GingerbreadMan
Déc 30, 2013, 5:33 pm

So this means I have one (1, uno, en, eins) more book to read to wrap this up. Tomorrow our New Year's guests arrive at noon. A day spent with the nose frantcally in a book is not really an option. The book I really have left is Bära mistel in my Blind Picks category. A pick, that is. Not even a candidate. Which I expect to be excellent, by the way, considered the masterpiece of one of my big favorites. But not the kind of book I'm likely to finish tonight and tomorrow morning, to put it plainly.

So. How do I cheat?

What I've decided to do is a swap with NEXT YEAR'S CHALLENGE. That is: I'll add this book to my Blind Picks category for next year (making that category 10 books instead of nine) and instead remove one slot from my Work related reading category (making that category eight books instead).

So now all I need to do tonight is read a GN that is somewhat connected to my work. I'm guessing i'll give Tiitu Takalo one more chance, and hope I ringen is better than the last one of hers I read.

Ain't I just too clever???

Review of that one, summary and wrapping up of this thread is likely to happen in early 2014 I guess. I'll also make sure to see your summaries and lists before heading over to the 2014 group (never to be this far behind again dammit)

154lkernagh
Déc 30, 2013, 6:16 pm

Great to see you are nearing the last 10 meter sprint to the finish line and the ribbon win with your challenge, Anders and congrats on continuing with Wolf Hall and getting that brick of a book finished! I still need to read Bring up the Bodies .... at some point, I will get around to it.

155andreablythe
Déc 30, 2013, 6:17 pm

Woohoo! Well done! :D

156GingerbreadMan
Modifié : Déc 30, 2013, 7:07 pm

I'm done. Challenge completed. Yep.

(Some sort of celebratory pic bound to happen sooner or later.)

157lkernagh
Déc 30, 2013, 7:38 pm

Congratulations!

158rabbitprincess
Déc 30, 2013, 8:37 pm

Yaaaay! Congratulations! :D

159clfisha
Déc 31, 2013, 3:41 am

Woo hoo congrats. Nothing like a close finish :)

@150 "I need to own this and read a thousand times"- yes this! Great review.

I keep meaning to read Wolf Hall, after your review I will keep meaning to for another year I think!

160dudes22
Déc 31, 2013, 11:32 am

I'll bet you make it so - Congratulations! and Happy New Year!

161hailelib
Déc 31, 2013, 11:44 am

Good finish!

162GingerbreadMan
Jan 1, 2014, 7:08 pm

>157 lkernagh: Thanks for helping out with that!

>158 rabbitprincess: Thanks!

>159 clfisha: It can easily wait another year probably. But I wouldn't recommend giving it up forever.

>160 dudes22: I actually already had when you wrote, but thank you!

>161 hailelib: Thanks! See below, I even crammed in two bonus reads in the end! Easy ones, but still :)

163GingerbreadMan
Jan 1, 2014, 7:13 pm

OK, book number 70, for the win!!!

70. I ringen by Tiitu Takalo
Category 1. Blind picks, 62 pages.CHALLENGE COMPLETED!

Two sixteen year old girls meet through boxing and fall in love. Which leads to (exactly) all the complications you can expect. This is a well-told little story with a good ear and a fine eye. But also straight as an arrow, without a single surprise along the way for anyone who knows their basic teenage gay tropes. Still, as a young reader looking for somewhere to mirror yourself you could do a lot worse than this. Julia and Alexandra even knocks out a couple of douchebags, being boxers and all. 3 stars.

And I even managed a couple of bonus reads, people!!!!

Bonus: Aldrig godnatt by Coco Moodysson, 205 pages

This autobiographical graphic novel was just turned into a film which seems rather adorable from it’s trailers, so I picked it up on a whim at the library. It was a quick read, and well worth it. It’s set in 1982, when a trio of girls on the threshold to their teens decide to start a band. Coco, Klara and Matilda are discovering punk just as the first Swedish wave is ebbing out. All the hip kids are moving on and they have a distinct feeling of being born too late. Their parents are losing their seventies leftist ideals and start to embrace the slick, egotistical eighties. And as if that wasn’t enough the crappy macho blues band are constantly stealing their rehearsal times at the young centre (where every grown-up is wearing hysterically peppy t-shirts saying stuff like “KIDS ARE AWESOME”), and both Klara and Coco are falling for the last punk boy in town and making out with him behind the other’s back.

This was a fun, quick read. Didn’t much like the art, and I’m not sure how much of it will linger, but especially for someone who (although five years younger) grew up loving Swedish punk bands that had long since disbanded, there is also a fair bit of nostalgic pleasure to get here. 3 stars.

Bonus: Lyckostpulvret by Joanna Rubin Dranger

I wrapped up my mini bonus bonanza with this very quick read. Dranger does feminist satire, dealing with stuff like self-hate, neurosis, sexism and male double standards. There’s much to like and agree with here, but the execution is not my cup of tea. Dranger’s metaphors and fairy tale pastiches are too crude to work for me, as is the overloaded symbolism of the art. It all becomes a little too obvious and overstated. I feel several artists in the generation after Dranger, like Strömqvist, Johansson or Hansson, are doing this better. 2 ½ stars.

164GingerbreadMan
Modifié : Jan 1, 2014, 7:21 pm



That concludes the 2013 Challenge for me! I'll just do my yearly summary, and then head over to the 2014 group for real. My first read for 2014 is In the night garden by Catherynne Valnte (no, that's not the one with Makka Pakka in it)

165andreablythe
Jan 1, 2014, 7:37 pm

Woohoo! Congrats!!

166GingerbreadMan
Jan 2, 2014, 6:56 am

2013 in summary, the statistic bits:

Books read: 72. (It looked dark in december, but I ended up even having time for two qucik bonus reads. Whoop!)
Pages read: 16255, or 301 pages per book (not counting graphic novels here. On a downward slope here for the last number of years. Hope to score slightly higher in 2014.)
Male/female/both ratio: 35/26/11 (Not completely balanced, but alright, especially if you put together females and boks by authors of all sexes. 51% of my reads this year had female writers involved. )
Author nationalities: 11. (Low. Vitually zero progress on my Europe Endless)
Average rating: 3, 708 (This is where I tend to end up it seems)
TBR reduction: Goal: -35. Result: 0 (This is pathetic really. Still, at least my TBR didn't grow this year...)

Coming up: best and worst. And some other mentions!

167RidgewayGirl
Jan 2, 2014, 7:20 am

Holding even on the TBR is to be counted as a great victory!

168paruline
Jan 2, 2014, 10:36 am

Congratulations on completing your challenge! And at the last minute too :)

169GingerbreadMan
Jan 3, 2014, 5:22 am

>167 RidgewayGirl: I technically agree. But I feel so weak.

>168 paruline: Literally!

170GingerbreadMan
Jan 3, 2014, 5:56 am

2013 in summary, highs and lows:

Best reads of 2013 (in no particular order):
Tenth of december - Sauders delivers another perfect book. Genious.
The half-made world and The rise of Ransom City - a rich, original new fantasy world, packed full of all the things I love. Also lovely complements to each other.
Nyckeln - a fully satisfying ending to a great page-turning ride. You can't but love a concluding book that really delivers, can you?
Jagannath - a slim wonder. Short stories unlike anything I've read before.
Tales from outer suburbia - poetic, subtle, tender weirdness
Sandman series (above all Season of mists, Brief Lives and The kindly ones) - I had a great time rereading this whole series with you guys!
The little stranger - slowburning, understated ghost story.

Huh. Save perhaps one, all of my favorites this year where in the SFFH spectrum. Interesting!

Worst reads of 2013 (in no particular order):
Cirkusmysteriet - this series, read out loud to my son, actually grew on me a little as I read more of them. But several of them were distinctively ridicolus, and this was the worst of the bunch.
Resan till ljuset - broadnecked muscle-fantasy posing snippets of grunted philosophy. Like reading Gears of War the video game.
Brink, den svenske slavkaptenen - the disappointment when a really interesting material is handled weakly.
Tix - phone doodles by a writer that can do much better.

171GingerbreadMan
Modifié : Jan 3, 2014, 6:33 am

2013 in summary, the traditional awards:

Best category: Rating-wise, clearly the Sandman series. But my short story category delivers again this year. Overall, most of the categories were pretty eneven, with a least some average reads to pull them down.

Worst category: The "No planning allowed", which filled up with uninteresting Lasse-Maja books, since I had nowhere else to stuff them.

Biggest laugh: Delirium, most likely. Especially with Dream as straight man.

Biggest gasp moment:Some of the final twist in Nyckeln, especially when the authors have already clearly manifested they have no scruples about killing off characters you've come to like.

Best ending: The wide-open mystery that was the ending of The half-made world. That Gilman managed to create a sequel is even more astonishing.

Best opening line: Franz Hiller, a physician, fell in love with an airship (Jagannath)

Best world-building: On the macro scale, Justina Robson's meditation on the limits of humanity in Natural history. On the country scale, Felix Gilman's endlessly enticing, weird version of the Wild West. On the micro scale, the deadly decadent fairy court of Karin Tidbeck's story "Augusta Prima"

Biggest challenge mistake: Having no place for children's books read to my son. Those Lasse-Maja mysteries kept invading every category like mould in the end

Biggest discovery: Again, several. Karin Tidbeck, Felix Gilman, Nick Harkaway and Moa Martinsson.

Biggest disappointments: After all the hype, I hoped for much more from Divergent. And I fell out of love with a couple of steampunk series.

Even if you threatened to kill me I couldn't give you more than the crudest outline of (The Books not that memorable award): the collection of Mocambique short stories, Kärlekens ärr left very little impression. Other than that, I think I remeber most reads pretty wel this year!

Most important read: Prosperity without growth, necessary reading in a time when we are quickly running out of time to change global economics.

Most beautiful cover:


You can't go wrong with Nosferatu on a collection of poetry dealing with the Abject, can you?

Cover only a mother could love:


This is not random, but very purposefully done. It's just not my cup at all.

This concludes this thread I think. See you over at 2014 Challenge!

172andreablythe
Jan 3, 2014, 2:03 pm

Great round up! I really need to read The half-made world and Jagannath.

Also, what is the title of that Nosferatu poetry book??? Sounds right up my alley.

173dudes22
Jan 4, 2014, 7:10 am

I like your roundup Anders. Do you keep decide on your roundup at the beginning of the year and keep track as you go or wait til the end? Love the "Best Opening Line" idea.

174GingerbreadMan
Jan 4, 2014, 8:01 am

>172 andreablythe: It's Vid mardrömmens mål. Only in Swedish, I'm afraid. I seem to recall we talked a little about how it sounded like your cup of tea when I read and reviewed it.

>173 dudes22: I have done more or less the same setup for the last three or four years. I tend to wait until the end. It's actually a good way to ponder the past year's reading, thinking about best twists and opening lines - and then leafing through books to see if you remember correctly.

175mathgirl40
Jan 4, 2014, 8:44 am

Congratulations for finishing your challenge! Thanks too for the recap. I got several good recommendations from that. Shaun Tan and George Saunders are two I especially want to try out.

176andreablythe
Jan 4, 2014, 4:36 pm

Oh, yeah, I remember that conversation, too. Shoot. I really need to learn Swedish.

177-Eva-
Jan 8, 2014, 12:42 am

Belated congrats on finishing!!!

178GingerbreadMan
Jan 9, 2014, 8:13 am

>175 mathgirl40: + 177 Thank you both!

>176 andreablythe: Here's where you start: "Mor ror. Far är rar."

179PawsforThought
Jan 9, 2014, 8:32 am

178. Haha! Or: "Mor är en orm"

180GingerbreadMan
Jan 9, 2014, 9:04 am

:) "Mor åt ost. Far åt helvete".

181PawsforThought
Jan 9, 2014, 9:31 am

180. Haha. Aldrig hört den förut.

182dudes22
Jan 9, 2014, 12:46 pm

I see by your first thread that your TBR neither gained nor lost books this (last) year. I'd consider that a victory even if you didn't quite read all you intended. On to 2014!

183AHS-Wolfy
Jan 9, 2014, 8:40 pm

Even more belated congrats on completing you r challenge from me. Breaking even on reads/acquisitions is most definitely an achievement.

184andreablythe
Jan 9, 2014, 11:04 pm

>178 GingerbreadMan:-181
*scratches head*
*smiles dumbly*
*googles*
OoooOOOOhhh.
Lol

185psutto
Jan 10, 2014, 5:36 am

very belated congrats & great round up as usual

186GingerbreadMan
Jan 10, 2014, 5:50 am

>184 andreablythe: Those are just classic puns on the kind of very easy sentences you enocunter as you start to learn to read. I'm sure you have similar ones in English. Unfortunately, they don't translate easily. "Ma is a snake" just looks weird :)

>183 AHS-Wolfy:+185 Thanks!

187PawsforThought
Jan 10, 2014, 6:19 am

184. As Anders said, "Mor ror" ("Mum rows") and "Far är rar" ("Dad is sweet") are classics sentences from learning-to-read-and-write books (I had them in my books!). The others are mocking versions of them.