TBR@56 Robertgreaves's challenge for 2013/4 part 1

It's my birthday today, so I'm starting a new thread. The story so far.

All books obtained up till today will now count as ROOTS. I have 53 books in the physical TBR pile and 18 ebooks waiting to be read.

I am currently reading:

The Oxford History of the Classical World
The Mill on the Floss
Hercule Poirot: The Complete Short Stories

Happy Birthday and welcome to the best club ;-D. It's my birthday too.

Congratulations, Robert!

Thanks for dropping by, Amiese and Connie. We Michaelmas babies are the greatest, aren't we, Amiese?

Happy birthday and happy new thread!

Sure we are :-D. Enjoy your day!!!

Happy Birthday and congrats on reaching your goal!

Thanks for dropping by, rabbitprincess and cyderry.

As it's International Translation Day today (September 30th), I'm going to read a translation from my TBR pile. It's David Bellos's translation of Fred Vargas's L'Homme à l'envers (English title: "Seeking Whom He May Devour").

This brings the TBR pile down to 52 and is my 37th ROOT for 2013.

I never heard of International Translation Day before. Looked it up at once, of course, and was amazed to find our profession has a patron saint. That never occurred to me before. Thanks, LT is such a great place for learning new things!

I knew about St. Jerome long before I'd heard of International Translation Day (I think I first came across it 3 or 4 years ago), though I wouldn't have been able to say when his saint's day was.

Starting No. 1 of my new reading year Steven Saylor's A Murder on the Appian Way. This is my 38th ROOT for 2013 and brings the TBR pile down to 51.

My review of Seeking Whom He May Devour:

Sheep and people are being killed in a remote corner of South East France. And a man rumoured to be a werewolf has gone missing. Meanwhile in Paris, Chief Inspector Adamsberg is trying to avoid the attentions of a young woman who wants to kill him in revenge for the death of her lover.

It took a while for what seemed to be two disparate stories to come together but it was all thoroughly enjoyable with some appealing if rather odd characters.

Moving on to my No. 2, the next in the series Rubicon. This is my 39th ROOT for 2013 but the TBR pile remains unchanged since I've added Pascal's Pensées as a re-read after listening to a podcast about Pascal last night.

Well, I don't know what happened to my post about No. 3 George Eliot's The Mill on the Floss, which brought the TBR pile down to 50 and was my 40th ROOT for 2013.

Anyway I've now finished it, and am starting my No. 4, which is Barbara Pym's An Unsuitable Attachment. This is not from the TBR pile but under the new rules does count as my 41st ROOT for 2013.

A photo of the TBR "pile". The upper shelf is fiction, the lower shelf is non-fiction.

Starting my No. 5, Julian Rathbone's The Last English King. This brings the TBR pile down to 50 and is my 41st ROOT for 2013.

My review of An Unsuitable Attachment:

Ianthe Broome is an excellent woman in a London parish who works in an academic library. Various men in her life turn out to be possible husbands: an anthropologist who has moved in across the road, the new assistant librarian, and her boss.

This was the book Barbara Pym's publishers turned down without any explanation. She does seem to be in a bit of a rut here, with many scenes and characters which feel they've been recycled from Pym's earlier books, and not in the bringing us up to date way all Pym fans love.

Having said that we do get a very funny bazaar, and I must admit the thought of having to cope with Everard Bone's mother looking after you while you're ill must be a great stimulus to quick recovery.

Starting another collection of short stories and essays, "The Other Man" (no touchstone). This is my No. 6, but does not count as a ROOT or affect the TBR pile.

> really organized, Robert!

Starting my No. 7, Jane Eyre. This is my 42nd ROOT for 2013, but does not affect the TBR pile because it is an ebook.

My review of The Last English King:

Walt was one of King Harold's housecarls who survived the death of his King. Bitterly ashamed, he wanders in search of redemption. He meets up with a Frisian in Constantinople and as they move on through Anatolia, Walt tells Quint his story of the events leading up to the Battle of Hastings and its grisly aftermath.

A great read, though it does go a bit overboard with its portrayal of Anglo-Saxon as an idyllic pastoral heaven and Normandy as a well organised hell.

Starting my No. 8, Barry Strauss's Masters of Command. This is an ebook and so doesn't affect the TBR pile, but is my 43rd ROOT for 2013.

Starting my No. 9, Barbara Pym's An Academic Question. This is my 44th ROOT for 2013 but is not from the TBR pile.

Starting my No. 10 Robert L. O'Connell's The Ghosts of Cannae. This is my 45th ROOT for 2013 but the TBR pile remains at 50 as I've been given Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Chronicle of a Death Foretold as a thank you gift from a friend of a friend.

My review of An Academic Question:

Caro Grimstone, vaguely dissatisfied wife of an ethno-historian, helps her husband get his hands on manuscript notes hoarded by a retired missionary, but then has problems returning them.

According to Helen Holt's introduction, Barbara Pym produced two versions of this novel in draft form before finally giving it up. Her discomfort with it shows. Although the basic situation is Pym-like enough, the characters don't come alive and the trendy mentions of adultery and abortion don't really gel.

I took to my bed with a bad cold today and read my No. 11, Neil Plakcy's The Russian Boy and started my No. 12, Agatha Christie's The Man in the Brown Suit. Both are ROOTS, bringing the total ROOTS for 2013 up to 47, but are ebooks and so do not affect the TBR pile.

My review of "The Russian Boy":

Dmitri Baronov, a struggling artist from the Ukraine whose scholarship to study in Paris is about to run out, gives in to temptation and steals a painting by Fyodr Luschenko called "The Russian Boy", which is being restored at the art institute where he is studying. Rowan McNair, an art history professor fired for an affair with a former student, now working as a private eye specialising in art thefts, is on the case aided by Dmitri's former lover Taylor Griffin, who wants to help Dmitri retrieve his mis-step. The story of their investigation is intertwined with the story of how the painting came to be painted in 1912.

Enjoyable piece of fluff. Just the thing for a day in bed with a cold. The cold may have slowed my synapses down but I did find it confusing that Dmitri was always described as Russian though he was a Ukranian national. Some of the characters were confused as well since they seemed to be under the impression that he was from Russia.

Hope you feel better soon! Glad that the cold is at least not impairing your reading.

Thanks for the good wishes.

Starting another Agatha Christie, The Secret of Chimneys. This is my No. 13, but is not from the TBR pile and is not a ROOT. The TBR pile increases to 51 because I bought Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea, having read Jane Eyre recently.

My review of The Man in the Brown Suit:

Longing for adventure, Anne Beddingfeld moves to London after her father's death. She is the only one who notices that the doctor examining the body of a victim of an accident on the Underground was not a doctor but searching the body. What is the fake doctor's connection with a murder in a house to let?

This is more of a thriller with a plucky young gel up against a criminal mastermind than a mystery. Interesting as a period piece rather than in its own right.

The next Agatha Christie on my list is The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. Not a ROOT and no change to the TBR pile.

My review of The Secret of Chimneys:

Antony Cade is asked to deliver a manuscript to publishers in London and return some letters which had been used to blackmail a woman. Both seem to have connections to attempts to restore the monarchy in the Balkan country of Herzoslovakia and Lord Caterham's country home, Chimneys.

Plausibility is not perhaps Dame Agatha's strongest point, but this one strained the suspension of disbelief to the breaking point. A woman with no guilty secret who we are told is imaginative and intelligent gives a wannabe blackmailer money to find out what being blackmailed feels like? Come on!

Moving on to my no. 15, The Big Four, not a ROOT, not from the TBR pile.

My review of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd:

Poirot has retired but is asked by Flora Ackroyd to help clear the name of her cousin, Ralph Paton, suspected of having killed his stepfather, Roger Ackroyd.

I read this one about 20 years ago, but it is quite impossible to forget the identity of the murderer so it was a fun re-read seeing how the misdirection is done and the clues are there for the alert reader to spot.

Starting my No. 16, Gary Corby's Sacred Games. This is an ebook so does not reduce the TBR pile, but does count as the 48th ROOT of 2013.

My review of The Big Four:
Poirot finds himself up against a crime syndicate called The Big Four.

A series of short stories not very well strung together to make a novel. Criminal masterminds and their machinations are not really Agatha Christie's forte and the knowing nods to Sherlock Holmes irritate rather than amuse.

Starting my No. 17, Yann Martel's Life of Pi. This brings the TBR pile down to 50. It is the 49th ROOT of 2013.

My review of Sacred Games:

The favourite for the pancration at the 80th Olympic Games, an Athenian, is accused of murdering his chief rival for the title, a Spartan. Can Nicolaos and Diotima solve the case with the help of Markos of Sparta and Nicolaos's little brother, Socrates, and avert an international incident or even a war?

The investigation kept me turning the pages though the sporting events were less interesting. The developing friendship between Nicolaos and Markos was very well done.

Starting my No. 18, Gerald Durrell's My Family and Other Animals. This is the 50th ROOT of 2013. The TBR pile stays the same at 50 as a friend was selling part of his library to donate the proceeds to the victims of the Philippine storm, and I bought one of the books.

Also starting my No. 19 The Seventh Science Fiction Megapack. This is an ebook, and is not a ROOT and does not affect the TBR pile.

My review of Life of Pi:

Indian teen who has built his own spiritual system from Hinduism, Christianity and Islam is shipwrecked and finds himself adrift in the Pacific in a lifeboat with various animals, including a tiger.

I wish I'd read it before seeing the film. I could hear the actor's voice as I read the book.

Starting my No. 20, Barbara Pym's Civil to Strangers. This is an ebook and so does not affect the TBR pile. It is not a ROOT.

My review of My Family and Other Animals:

Gerald Durrell's memoir of his childhood years in Corfu between the wars.

I last read this about 35 years ago. The descriptive passages are rather more leisurely than they seemed then, but the narrative is still very, very funny. It's not safe to read it in public unless you don't mind people watching you howl with laughter.

Starting my No. 21, Agatha Christie's They Do It With Mirrors. This reduces the TBR pile to 49 and is my 51st ROOT for 2013.

My review of Civil to Strangers:
A marvellous collection of unpublished writings:

Civil to Strangers:
When Stephan Tilos moves into the village and falls for Catherine Marsh-Gibbons, the vaguely dissatisfied wife of a famous novelist, she takes advantage of the situation to re-kindle her husband's interest in her.

Vintage Pym. Some very funny moments and the wry observations which are Pym's trademark. Perhaps the best of the unpublished Pyms I've read this year.

Quote: He noticed that Mr. Tilos was attracted by Catherine, but he treated the whole thing as a joke, and was always teasing her about it, at the same time priding himself on being the one love of her life. This annoyed Catherine because she knew it was true.

Gervase and Flora:
Gervase Harringay goes to Finland to teach English and Flora Palfrey follows him, ostensibly to visit Miss Moberley, a friend of her father's, and pillar of the English community in Helsingfors.

The usual Pym situation of woman involved with unsatisfactory man, accompanied by wry observation of the minutiae of everyday life for a certain class is not affected by the surprising change of location.

Quote: The first two years were the worst, she reflected calmly. She could tell any young woman that. But it was really no use entering upon an unrequited passion unless you were prepared to keep it up for at least five years. Seven years was best. There was something very noble about loving a person for seven years and getting nothing in return.

Home Front Novel:
Excellent women in wartime.

So Very Secret
An attempt at a spy novel as Cassandra Swan tries to deliver secret papers left by her friend Harriet who has unaccountably disappeared from the hairdresser's.

Both very enjoyable.

Short stories:
A series of vignettes one could easily imagine being expanded into complete Pym novels.

Starting my No. 22, Laurence Des Cars's The Pre-Raphaelites: Romance and Realism. This brings the TBR pile down to 48 and is my 52nd ROOT for 2013.

My review of They Do It With Mirrors:

Miss Marple visits an old friend, Carrie Louise, convinced that she is in danger. Then an attempt is made on Carrie Louise's husband's life and her stepson is murdered. Worse still, somebody may be poisoning Carrie Louise herself.

I did find it difficult keeping the characters and their complex family relationships straight in this one.

Starting my No. 23 Patrick Larkin's The Tribune. This is an ebook so doesn't affect the TBR pile, but does count as my 53rd ROOT.

My review of The Pre-Raphaelites: Romance and Realism:

Pocket-sized overview of the Pre Raphaelites. Lots of illustrations, as one would expect. Difficult to take the text seriously when it confuses the Black Sea and the Dead Sea, though I don't know if that was the author's or translator's fault.

Starting my No. 24, David Wishart's Old Bones. This is an ebook and so doesn't affect the TBR pile but does count as my 54th ROOT.

My review of The Tribune:

Lucius Aurelius Valens, a military tribune serving in Syria, is caught up in the feud between Germanicus and Piso. After Valens defies Piso, Germanicus puts him in charge of a Gallic auxiliary unit on its way to serve in Judaea to keep him out of Piso's reach. On the way, Valens finds the remains of a murdered senator and his bodyguard outside a village called Nazara.

The front cover displays a recommendation comparing this book to The Name of the Rose. All I can say is the author of the recommendation either hasn't read "The Name of the Rose" or hasn't read this book. Anybody who expects a similar level of complexity and subtlety is going to be sorely disappointed.

Basically the book combines two genres, Roman detective fiction (which I enjoy) and Biblical fiction (which I can't say I've read much of). Do not expect any nuanced exploration of character. We are left in no doubt who the goodies and baddies are. The twists and turns of the plot, though predictable enough, are reasonably well done, except for the final twist in the epilogue, which was totally pointless and turned me off reading the sequel, whenever it comes out.

On to my No. 25, the next Corvinus mystery, Last Rites. This does not come from the TBR pile and is not a ROOT.

My review of Old Bones:

While on holiday in the Etrurian countryside, Corvinus's stepfather, is discovered standing over a man's body holding the murder weapon in his hand. The victim was deservedly very unpopular with his neighbours and had also threatened suicide.

I love Corvinus's narrative voice, and his mother and stepfather are always fun. I was shaking with laughter through a lot of this. Very interesting and unexpected solution.

Starting my no. 29, Ursula K. Le Guin's The Telling.

Read while travelling and unable to get to a computer:

David Wishart's White Murder
Jeffrey Round's A Cage of Bones
Scott B. Robinson's Ati.

Starting my No. 30, Eric Shanower's Age of Bronze: A Thousand Ships. This is a re-read of Volume 1 before I read Volume 2.

My review of The Telling:

Sutty is sent from Terra by the Ekumen as an Observer on Aka, a planet dominated by the Corporation, a government determined to modernise and enter the space age by eradicating the planet's history and traditions expressed through the Telling, part education, part philosophy, part way of life.

Wonderful book exploring ideas thrown up by a completely different basis for living.

Moving on to Age of Bronze: Sacrifice, my No. 31

Starting my no. 32, Arika Okrent's In the Land of Invented Languages.

My review of Age of Bronze: Sacrifice:

Eric Shanower continues the story of the Trojan War, taking us up to the sacrifice of Iphigenia at Aulis.

You are moving along nicely, Robert

Best wishes for the new year.

And to you, Connie. Here's to a 2014 full of great reads.

Thanks.

Starting my No. 33, Steven Saylor's Roma. This is a re-read before I start his "Empire", which doesn't seem to be among the many touchstones for books of that name.

My review of In the Land of Invented Language:

Overview of trends in the design of invented languages from the philosophical languages of the 17th century (with a nod to Hildegard of Bingen) told through descriptions of representative languages and their creators.

Fascinating. It was difficult to read some of the diagrams and examples on my Kobo, though using my tablet did make it easier.

I am reading my No. 34 The Eighth Science Fiction Megapack and am now starting my No. 35 Steven Saylor's "Empire" (still doesn't seem to have a touchstone.

I read a few pages of James Lear's The Secret Tunnel but found it referenced Agatha Christie's The Mystery of the Blue Train, which is also in my TBR pile, so I decided to read that first. They will be my Nos. 36 and 37.

Good thinking, Robert. Happy reading.

On my trip home I finished off The Mystery of the Blue Train and read two of James Lear's Mitch Mitchell trilogy: The Secret Tunnel and A Sticky End.

Now starting my No. 39 Rory Barnes's Space Junk.

Continued here