Nickelini Reads in 2015 Thread 1: a Curmudgeon and Her Books

Since I turned 50 last year, I decided to embrace my long-hidden inner curmudgeon ( http://www.wikihow.com/Become-a-Full-Fledged-Curmudgeon). The two of us are going to make our way through our TBR pile and chart our progress here.



Books Read in 2015

December

68. A Dangerously Sexy Christmas, Stephanie London
67. Smilla's Sense of Snow, Peter Hoeg
66. A Guinea Pig Pride and Prejudice, Alex Goodwin
65. The Camomile Lawn, Mary Wesley

November

64. Black Water, Joyce Carol Oates
63. Dancing with Mr Darcy: Stories Inspired by Jane Austen and Chawton House, Sarah Waters, ed.
62. Hard Times, Charles Dickens
61. The Inconvenient Indian, Thomas King
60. A Manual for Creating Atheists, Peter Boghossian
59. The Definitive Book of Body Language, Barbara and Allan Pease
58. The English Ghost: Spectres Through Time, Peter Ackroyd

October

57. The Mist in the Mirror, Susan Hill
56. The Girl on the Train, Paula Hawkins
55. Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body's Most Underrated Organ, Giulia Enders
54. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, Ransom Riggs
53. A Tale for the Time Being, Ruth Ozeki
52. The Story of God, Chris Matheson
51. Gossip from the Forest, Sara Maitland

September

50. Howards End, EM Forster
49. Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives, Leonard Mlodinow
48. James Ivory in Conversation, Robert Emmet Long
47. Emma, Alexander McCall Smith
46. Summer House with Swimming Pool, Herman Koch

August

45. Treasures of Time, Penelope Lively
44. Microserfs, Douglas Coupland
43. Dream Story, Arthur Schnitzler
42. Hansel & Gretel, Neil Gaiman
41. North of Normal, Cea Sunrise Person
40. Beyond Black, Hilary Mantel
39. The Trials of the Honorable F. Darcy, Sara Angelini

July

38. A Shropshire Lad, AE Housman
37. The Joy of Writing Sex, revised edition, Elizabeth Benedict
36. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, Benjamin Alire Saenz
35. Irma Voth, Miriam Toews
34. Capital, John Lanchester
33. My Secret Garden, Nancy Friday

June

32. What We Talk About When We Talk About the Tube, John Lanchester
31. The Swimming Pool Library, Alan Hollinghurst
30. On Writing Well, William Zinsser
29. Fifth Business, Robertson Davies

May

28. Dirt Music, Tim Winton
27. The Maeve Binchy Writers' Club, Maeve Binchy and others
26. Effigy, Alissa York

April

25. Little Red Riding Hood Uncloaked, Catherine Orenstein
24. The Secret Lives of Saints, Daphne Bramham
23. The Children Act, Ian McEwan
22. The Millstone, Margaret Drabble
21. Bitch in a Bonnet, Vol 1., Robert Rodi
20. Poor Cow, Nell Dunn
19. The Grass is Singing, Doris Lessing
18. Colin Firth: a Biography, Alison Maloney
17. These Three Remain, Pamela Aidan

March

16. Through the Woods, Emily Carroll
15. Asylum, Jeannette de Beauvoir
14. Lady Oracle, Margaret Atwood
13. Longbourn, Jo Baker
12. What Color is Your Parachute? 2015, Richard Bolles

February

11. Duty and Desire, Pamel Aidan
10. Joy is So Exhausting, Susan Holbrook
9. Bridget Jones: the Edge of Reason, Helen Fielding
8. The Story of O, Pauline Reage
7. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding
6. Three Souls, Janie Chang

January

5. Pride & Prejudice: A Norton Critical Edition
4. An Assembly Such as This, Pamela Aidan
3. Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, and Other Classic Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault, Angela Carter
2. Cockroach, Rawi Hage
1. A Week in December, Sebastian Faulks

2015 Reading Stats (number of books read); updated monthly

Author's Nationality

UK: 26
Canada: 13
US: 17
France- 1
Ireland - 1
Australia - 2
Austria- 1
Netherlands - 1
Germany - 1
Denmark - 1
Mixed authors within one book or nationality unknown: 3

Year First Published

1854
1896
1910
1926
1950
1954
1965
1967
1970
1973
1976
1977
1979
1984
1988
1992 x 2
1994
1995
1996
1999
2001
2002 x 2
2004 x 2
2005 x 3
2006 x 2
2007 x 2
2008
2009 x 5
2010 x 2
2011 x 3
2012 x 4
2013 x 5
2014 x 7
2015 x 5

Female / Male

Female - 37
Male - 28
Mixed authors, unknown, or other - 3

Rereads

Bridget Jones's Diary

2014 Reading Year in Review

This time last year I had just finished rereading Pride and Prejudice, and joked that it was the best book ever written and I was ruined for everything else. Turns out not to be that much of a joke after all--2014 will go down as a solidly mediocre year in reading for me. Not one single 5 star read. Here's to a better 2015!

In total, I read 75 books, which is at the low end of my usual range. However, it's actually worse, as 19 of those were actually audiobooks. I think my reading less was a combination of being busy with other things, wasting too much time on the internet, and just not being that excited with what I was reading.

More stats:

20 non-fiction, 55 fiction
41 female authors, 30 male authors, 4 mixed

12 Canadian authors
34 UK
2 Australian
4 Irish
14 US
1 French
1 UK-Sri Lankan
1 Algerian
1 Italian
1 Scottish (I know, should go in with the UK, but the book was just strongly Scottish)
1 Iranian
1 French Polynesian
1 Swedish

Different authors - 72

New to me authors - 54

Author discoveries: Tana French, Jim Crace, Maggie O'Farrell.

Best Non-Fiction:

Being Wrong:Adventures in the Margins of Error, Kathryn Schultz
Without You, There is No Us: My Time with the Sons of North Korea's Elite, Suki Kim
Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea, Barbara Demick

Best Fiction:

Broken Harbour, Tana French
Life After Life, Kate Atkinson
Harvest, Jim Crace
Chocky, John Wyndham
Before I Go to Sleep, SJ Watson
The End of the Affair, Graham Greene
Bear, Marian Engel
Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox, Maggie O'Farrell
The Edwardians, Vita Sackville-West

And finally, I did much better this year with my TBR pile--I read 51 TBR books, and bought only 53 (a significantly lower number than the past several years). That's a TBR increase of only 2 books (and doesn't include the smallish purge of the pile I did midyear). Let's see if I can read more than I bring in for 2015.

Is that what I am? I think I'm going to enjoy this...

Alas, I cannot be a curmudgeon. I like the latest tech toys too much! Good luck though :)

Being a curmudgeon isn't all it's cracked up to be, and I should know having years -- no! --decades of experience!

#6 - But Suzanne, my inner curmudgeon has been badly repressed. Maybe after I've given it a voice for a while, it will move on. But for now it must be freed.

A practiced curmudgeon here.. dropping my star.

>1 Nickelini: I would never have thought of you in that light, says one who scored 13/14 on the scale. I do enjoy your reviews though and I'm looking forward to lots more in 2015.

If you are interested in lessons on how to be a curmudgeon I recommend Waiting for God, which is a book but I think it is based on the British TV series from maybe twenty years ago featuring Stephanie Cole. It is an absolute laugh riot if you can find it. "Diana" (the Stephanie Cole character) is my hero!

Going to attempt at being more social this year... (deleted something funny here. Not sure you are up for it, after all, you are> 50 now and a self-proclaimed curmudgeon).

Dropping by to plant a star!

Seconding a recommendation for Waiting for God, at least the TV show. It's required for all aspiring curmudgeons.

I think I am more of the Victor Meldrew (as seen on the BBC) school than the WikiHow curmudgeon.

As a semi-curmudgeon, I look forward to following your reading again this year.

Welcome all curmudgeons, semi-curmudgeons, and fellow readers! Thanks for stopping by.

2014 Reading Year in Review

This time last year I had just finished rereading Pride and Prejudice, and joked that it was the best book ever written and I was ruined for everything else. Turns out not to be that much of a joke after all--2014 will go down as a solidly mediocre year in reading for me. Not one single 5 star read. Here's to a better 2015!

In total, I read 75 books, which is at the low end of my usual range. However, it's actually worse, as 19 of those were actually audiobooks. I think my reading less was a combination of being busy with other things, wasting too much time on the internet, and just not being that excited with what I was reading.

More stats:

20 non-fiction, 55 fiction
41 female authors, 30 male authors, 4 mixed

12 Canadian authors
34 UK
2 Australian
4 Irish
14 US
1 French
1 UK-Sri Lankan
1 Algerian
1 Italian
1 Scottish (I know, should go in with the UK, but the book was just strongly Scottish)
1 Iranian
1 French Polynesian
1 Swedish

Different authors - 72

New to me authors - 54

Author discoveries: Tana French, Jim Crace, Maggie O'Farrell.

Best Non-Fiction:

Being Wrong:Adventures in the Margins of Error, Kathryn Schultz
Without You, There is No Us: My Time with the Sons of North Korea's Elite, Suki Kim
Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea, Barbara Demick

Best Fiction:

Broken Harbour, Tana French
Life After Life, Kate Atkinson
Harvest, Jim Crace
Chocky, John Wyndham
Before I Go to Sleep, SJ Watson
The End of the Affair, Graham Greene
Bear, Marian Engel
Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox, Maggie O'Farrell
The Edwardians, Vita Sackville-West

And finally, I did much better this year with my TBR pile--I read 51 TBR books, and bought only 53 (a significantly lower number than the past several years). That's a TBR increase of only 2 books (and doesn't include the smallish purge of the pile I did midyear). Let's see if I can read more than I bring in for 2015.

I'm sorry it wasn't a year for many five star reads, but at least you read a lot from your TBR!

Sorry to hear about your meh reading year and hope 2015 will be better. I must say, I learned a lot about curmudgeons from the link.

I wondering how much reading 51 TBR books related to the lack of five stars. Just because I have had a similar experience, flying through a list and then realizing afterward I didn't get much out of it. May 2015 bring some magic back to your reading...

I hope that 2015 is a better reading year for you, Joyce. I was mildly disappointed by the overall quality of the books I read last year as well. Two of your books were favorites of mine, Life After Life (which I did give 5 stars) and Harvest, which would have been a worthy winner of the 2013 Booker Prize IMO.

Although I say this every year I do plan to read many more TBR books this year, and because of that I think that I'll be far more satisfied than I was in 2014.

I too shared your experience last year - a very unexciting haul. And the allure of the ipad also ate into my reading time.

Here's hoping we both do better this year!

>1 Nickelini: By score, I'm a half-fledged curmudgeon, happy to be here for further training.

Book Number One: A Week in December, Sebastian Faulks, 2009


Cover comments: Woo hoo! Starting the year out with a cover that I love (2014 wasn't just a weak year for reading, it was also a MEH year for covers). Why do I love this? Well, wow, could that possibly any place other than London? I find it dynamic and really makes me want to read the book. And I've been there, so I always like that in films, books, etc. Question for people who know London better than me: What was there before they built the Millennium Bridge? It just makes such wonderful, iconically London photo ops. I can't believe there wasn't something there earlier.

Comments: One week in December 2007: Seven very different characters, living very different lives, gradually intersect. There's the evil hedge fund manager, the Tube driver, the lawyer, the Polish football player, a young wanna-be Jihadist, a skunk-smoking teen, and a vitriolic book reviewer, and a lot of silly money. (I also really liked several peripheral characters --the lime pickle millionaires, the drunk who confronts the hedge fund jerk, the Muslim apostate maybe girlfriend, to name a few).

My short review: I started out really liking the book, then it got meh, and then it picked up. The more I think about it, the more I liked it. But waaaay too many financial details.

Rating: 4 stars. So many things about this were interesting, but unfortunately, all the financial details piled up for me and pulled the book down a star. In the end though, I really liked it, and I know that images and ideas from it will crop in my future thoughts (like every single time a cyclist almost runs me over).

Why I Read This Now: Well, duh, look at the title. I expected to read this in less than a week in mid-December. I started well before Christmas, and with all that down time I thought I'd have no problem finishing and reading something else too. But with my eldest home from uni, and Christmas, and friends in town, and then my husband's and then my daughter's birthdays, and then New Years . . . why did I think I'd have some time to read?

I just showed my daughter the cover of this book and she had a blank look on her face. This is our picture of that spot. I think my clouds are very nice, although I didn't line things up as well as the cover above. And there were all those bloddy tourists in my shot.


Said daughter (Charlotte) on the left, husband (Fabrizio) next to her. Seems I should have just waited for people to clear, but there were a lot of people on the bridge, it was hot, we were tired.

I like the picture comparison! The book sound interesting too - I usually find the "multiple people whose lives gradually intersect" setup to be appealing.

Nice review of A Week in December, Joyce. I also had it on my list of books to read last month, but I didn't get around to it. Anything to do with finance makes my eyes glaze over, so hopefully I can speed through those parts.

I love the photo of your husband and younger daughter crossing the Millennium Bridge. Looking at it reminds me of what's nearby on the south bank of the Thames, namely the Tate Modern and Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, which are two of my favorite places to visit in the capital.

A Week in December was the first Faulkes that left me a little disappointed. I might not have been had this been written by someone else, but my expectations were high.

Oh, visitors!

#25 -DieFledermaus I usually find the "multiple people whose lives gradually intersect" setup to be appealing.

Me too -- I'm rarely disappointed with that format.

#26 - Kidzdoc - Looking at it reminds me of what's nearby on the south bank of the Thames, namely the Tate Modern

Yep, that's where we were off to. My husband loves modern art (mostly I think he likes to laugh at it, but he certainly gives it his time, so I don't think he's laughing AT it so much as laughing BESIDE it).

#27 - RidgewayGirl but my expectations were high

Well, that sounds good for my future Faulks reading. I own Birdsong but got myself burnt out on WWI lit before I got to it. One day.

>28 Nickelini: I think that Birdsong is brilliant. Not easy though as it is quite emotional.

Nana - one day!

#26 & 28 Kidzdoc - Looking at it reminds me of what's nearby on the south bank of the Thames, namely the Tate Modern

Yep, that's where we were off to. My husband loves modern art (mostly I think he likes to laugh at it, but he certainly gives it his time, so I don't think he's laughing AT it so much as laughing BESIDE it).

I thought my family was pretty amusing when faced with modern art, but we have nothing on Portlandia: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgPjDRhUSDc

I think most people who've been there have that picture, I know I have (mine is also filled with annoying tourists!).
Nope, prior to the millennium, there was no crossing of the Thames there. You could see St Paul's from the opposite bank, but no crossing. There's a ferry stage there somewhere, which may have had to shift for the bridge (not 100% certain about that one though).

I spent a day in Tate Modern, determined to find one picture I liked. I managed that, but a lot of it left me cold. The sculpture appealed to me more.

Faulks is rapidly turning into a bookclub favourite. We read Engleby last year, and another of his the year before. Quite different books, but always something in them to grab the attention.

#32 - Hi, Helen - Thanks for answering my question about the Thames crossing. It seems like such a perfect place to have a bridge so I can't believe it's so new.

I spent a day in Tate Modern, determined to find one picture I liked. I managed that, but a lot of it left me cold. The sculpture appealed to me more.

Hmmm, now that you mention it, I don't think I saw anything there that I liked either. We had a lot of fun anyway. My husband and I have seen a lot of modern art for people who don't really like it that much. Some of it can be very interesting, but so much is "really?". My husband still likes to talk about the mixed-media piece we saw in Spain back in 1992 that had cigarette butts ground into it. Charming, absolutely charming.

That said, I've been to the Museum of Modern Art in New York three times, and it is definitely worth a visit: Van Gogh's "Starry Night," some Monet waterlilies, a Jackson Pollock, some Picassos (including the uber-nasty "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon" (studied that at university, really hate it)), and one that went on my bucket list when I was a teenager: "The Persistence of Memory" by Salivdor Dali.

This is a Klimt that I enjoyed when I was last at the MOMA in 2012 (I don't remember anything like this at the Tate Modern):



Faulks is rapidly turning into a bookclub favourite. We read Engleby last year, and another of his the year before. Quite different books, but always something in them to grab the attention.

Oh, that's good to know. I will look at some of his books and see if there is something I can sell to my group (we are very democratic and vote). Maybe the time to read Birdsong. After about 10 years of book club, I've learned that to make a good meeting, a book needs to have something to discuss, and not just be a book that we all say "wow, that was so great."

>33 Nickelini: I have a similar relationship to contemporary art (not modern art though - Picasso is modern art, the mixed media installation with cigarette butts is contemporary art). I can be disgusted, amused, angry, interested, very rarely enthused, but it fascinates me always, and I keep coming back for more.

Florance - yes, I learned that distinction back in my art history class, but I'm pushing them together in to whatever you see when you visit museums such as the MOMA.

very rarely enthused That's a good way to put it!

>23 Nickelini: A Week in December really appeals to me. I've added it to my Wishlist. Thank you for your review. And, yes, that is a great cover.

>33 Nickelini: We took our 8 year old son to NYC to see Starry Night after he studied it in school. The look on his face at seeing the painting in real life was one of those moments that makes me glad to be someone's mother.

He surprised us as we walked around by stopping in his tracks, pointing at a painting and saying, "Seraut the Dot." We didn't know his art class had gotten to pointilism. Does seem a perfect technique for kids when I think about it though.

I've seen at least four exhibitions at Tate Modern that I've greatly enjoyed: the large scale ones of Joan Miró and Paul Klee; a limited one of Diane Arbus' photography; and a series of satirical posters based on fascist war propaganda, which may be part of the permanent exhibition.

The Portlandia video was amusing!

>33 Nickelini: Joyce! When I went to MOMA a few years ago, that Klimt was my absolute favorite, too. To the point of going on about it enough to have a friend give me a book of Klimt's landscapes for Christmas that year.

As for contemporary art, I find it challenging, but in a good way. The Haus der Kunst has rotating exhibits by current artists and I often need to go on a guided tour to "get" what the artist is aiming for.

My piece I found I liked I completely adored, so maybe that makes up for not getting the rest. Jasper Johns piece 0 through 9 is the one that caught my imagination. I still use a postcard of it as a bookmark, in fact I had to have someone buy me a replacement after I managed to loose it by leaving it in a library book.

Call me old fashioned but if it is titled "trees at dawn" I do expect to be able to find something that puts me in mind of both a tree and the dawn. duurrr!

#37 - Nancy - that's a great story! And good to hear that art isn't being ignored. Your son's comment on pointillism reminds me of when my daughter was about ten and they were exploring different art styles. She had to finish her pointillist painting for homework and was rather frustrated by how long it was taking her. Several times she muttered, "pointillism is pointless."

j#38 - Darryl -- I love both Miro and Klee.

*39 - RidgewayGirl - those guided tours are really very helpful. I' too am a fan.

#40 - Helen - That's lovely, and one I'm not familiar with. Thanks for showing me that.

>23 Nickelini: Love the cover and photo comparison. I've also added the title to my wishlist.

>33 Nickelini:, >40 Helenliz: I like both of those, lush and colorful, so different from January. I googled images of the Klimt and the variations exploded, beautiful!

2. Cockroach, Rawi Hage, 2009


Cover comments: clever and suits the book

Comments Cockroach is a dark novel, set during the darkest days of a Montreal winter. The unnamed narrator is a knave and a wretch living on the margins of society, and in his destitution and mental illness, he sees himself as a cockroach. Some readers have seen this as a homage to Kafka, but Hage says that his greatest influence for this book was Hunger by Knut Hamsun (which I now want to read).

Despite the overriding grimness of this story, there is a strong humorous streak throughout. There is also some gorgeous writing and clever use of metaphor. This is especially impressive to me because Hage writes in English, which is his third language.

I became interested in reading this novel after hearing Samantha Bee (from Jon Stewart’s Daily Show) brilliantly defend it during last year’s CBC Canada Reads. She was amazing in her passion for this book and the compassion and intelligence that she expressed. You can see a short clip here: http://www.cbc.ca/player/Radio/Canada+Reads/ID/2440381662/ And here was her final 30 second pitch (the contest was down to Cockroach or The Orenda, defended by Wab Kanu): http://www.cbc.ca/player/Radio/Canada+Reads/ID/2440521235/ Samantha Bee describes this book so much more eloquently than I have. (these clips may take a minute to load--be patient).



Cockroach was short-listed for all three of the major Canadian literary awards (The Giller Prize, Writers’ Trust, and the Governor General’s Award). It was also nominated for the IMPAC Dublin (which the author won for his first novel, De Niro’s Game).

Why I Read This Now: I was invited to a small event with the author through my university alumni, and I didn’t want to go not having read at least one of his books.

Recommended for: Readers who like dark books and don’t need the characters to be nice people and readers who are interested in the immigrant experience.

Rating: 4.5 stars. I look forward to rereading this one day, and I also look forward to reading the author’s other novels.

Here is a short trailer for the book: http://www.cbc.ca/player/Radio/Canada+Reads/2014/Video/Books+Trailers/ID/2439166...

Sounds good, Joyce. I've just made a note of it.

>44 Nickelini: Interesting. I read Hunger a few months back and really loved it, so this sounds like something I would probably like as well.

Cockroach goes on my wishlist. I really need to read more Canadian literature.

Interesting review - 4.5 stars and a Samantha Bee recommendation! She's always great on The Daily Show. I'll add it to the wishlist. Unfortunately, the library doesn't have it as an ebook although they have De Niro's Game. I liked Hunger in that I found it very memorable and gripping, but definitely not a happy book.

I've added Cockroach, The Orenda and Hunger to my Wishlist. Sigh.

Enjoyed reading about your passion for Cockroach

Very nice review of Cockroach, Joyce. I own it and I'll plan to read it this year, after I read Hunger during the third quarter Reading Globally challenge.

>50 baswood: Ha! Hopefully her passion is limited to the book.

Have you been to the Rawi Hage event yet? How was it? I am fascinated by what authors are like in person.

I'm just a but thrown by seeing Samatha Bee miantain seriousness for over a minute. Too much Daily Show I guess, although none recently. I really liked Deniro's Game, disturbing stuff on Lebanon, and, therefore also on Israel. My memory is intense, although i don't recall the book itself being overtly so.

3. Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, and Other Classic Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault, Angels Carter (1977), Introduction by Jack Zipes (2008)


Cover comments: I like that the Penguin Classics cover has a bright rendition of Red Riding Hood.

Comments: Unlike her later subversive and edgy The Bloody Chamber, this fairy tale book by Angela Carter is fairly straight-forward. She does not alter the plots or characters, but injects humour where she can and uses spritely language.

Charles Perrault wrote these tales in the late 1600s. They are much older folk tales that he adapted for his cultural world. It is interesting to compare them with the different versions that the Brothers Grimm adapted for their own society 150 years later.

Jack Zipes is one of the leading fairy tale scholars working today. His 27 page introduction covers both Carter and Perrault.

The 10 tales in this volume are: 'Little Red Riding Hood,' 'Bluebeard,' 'Puss in Boots,' 'Sleeping Beauty in the Wood,' 'The Fairies,' 'Cinderella: or, the Little Glass Slipper,' 'Ricky with the Tuft,' 'Hop o' My Thumb,' 'The Foolish Wishes,' and "Donkey Skin."

Why I Read This Now: it's part of my personal multi-year study of fairy tales.

Recommended for: people who want a short (78 pages + introduction) version of Perrault's tales.

Have you been to the Rawi Hage event yet? How was it? I am fascinated by what authors are like in person.

Me too. I especially enjoy hearing how they work. He was much like he writes -- a bit odd, sort of dark and even-toned, but with an underlying humour.

I love that Penguin Classics cover. I am a big lover of fairy tales and their illustrations. I'm not sure which came first.

>54 Nickelini: I read Burning Your Boats: The Collected Short Stories of Angela Carter a couple of years ago. It's funny, I either loved or hated her stories. There was no in between. As I recall, her versions of fairy tales were some of the ones I found captivating. Would love to read that introduction by Jack Zipes. Am enjoying vicariously your excursion into fairy tales.

Would love to read that introduction by Jack Zipes.

Well, I can't help you there, but I can give you a link to Jack Zipes's best known scholarly essay, "Breaking the Disney Spell." It is in at least two--maybe three--of my fairy tale texts.

Here is the pdf: http://jtbarbarese.camden.rutgers.edu/files/2013/05/Zipes_Breaking-the-Disney-Sp...

I love that Penguin Classics cover. I am a big lover of fairy tales and their illustrations. I'm not sure which came first.

I love fairy tale illustration too! I have two Pinterest boards dedicated to them. My general fairy tale board, "Once Upon a Time" has over 500 pictures ( http://www.pinterest.com/nickelini/once-upon-a-time/) and then I have another dedicated just to Red Riding Hood with 424 pins ( http://www.pinterest.com/nickelini/red-riding-hood/). Until I stared collecting Red Riding Hood art, I had no idea what a wildly popular topic the story is.

Interesting article. I've started it, and will sit down and read the rest properly when I have the time later.

I was disappointed that Once Upon a Time followed the Disney oeuvre, instead of going into the original tales and making a much darker show, one that wouldn't really be child-appropriate, but would be much more interesting and less insipid.

>60 RidgewayGirl:

That's kinda why I like Grimm more - when they tackle one of the fairy tales, it is the original one... Although it is not really child appropriate.

> 60 > 61 I see your point in terms of the original fairy tales, but Once Upon a Time is the first show I'm watching with my 9 year old that is not specifically made for children. That there is both magic and kick-a** women characters in it makes it an entertaining family watch that I can live with. The campiness flies over his head but amuses me and my partner.

There is little available to watch with him that isn't insipid or too dark. After Once Upon a Time, we're going to do Merlin next and then (fingers crossed) Dr. Who.

I like Once Upon a Time and so do my kids. I do watch it mainly to see Robert Carlyle chomping the scenery and Colin O'Donoghue's eyeliner, however.

I was going to say, aren't Once Upon a Time a Grimm shows for older teens/adults? Granting I started watching The X-files when I was 9...

I've not done loads of fairy tale reading (though my dad is a professional storyteller), but I read English Fairy Tales last year, the Joseph Jacobs collection and was very impressed at how much more agency the women had than in the later French and German versions.

>64 mabith: I believe Grimm is quite dark. We haven't tried it, though. My kid is a scaredy-cat and can handle Once Upon a Time readily. He could not handle the X Files, I don't think.

>64 mabith: >65 nancyewhite:

Grimm is a LOT darker. It is not children friendly at all. Not that teens cannot watch it (considering what they usually do) but I find it a bit too dark for anyone under 15 for example. There are some episodes that can work for younger kids but not the whole show as a whole. Supernatural over at CW covers a lot of the same ground in the earlier seasons and even if it can get gory, it is a little less dark than Grimm (well... kinda - it has its moments as well but at least it is targeted at young adults unlike Grimm which is done for adults).

>62 nancyewhite:
Have fun with Merlin :)

60 - 66 -- My family and I watched Once Upon a Time in to the first few episodes of season two, but we had to quit because its twee-ness was chocking us. I hear it got better, and I may try and catch up when I've caught up on all the other shows I've missed. We mostly watched it to see the filming locations anyway (it's all filmed from 5-45 minutes from my house). Haven't seen Grimm yet, but if I come across it I'll give it a try.

>65 nancyewhite: My oldest brother couldn't handle the X-Files when he visited and tried to watch with my dad and me, and he's 14 years older than I am! In the end there were only two episodes that ever legit scared me (I still prefer not to watch the cockroach episode).

>59 Nickelini:, Joyce, I'm so excited about your Pinterest Boards & that you collect Red Riding Hood art. I'm buying this little set for myself as a belated housewarming gift: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/453596993693578127/

>58 Nickelini: Thanks so much for that link! I will make a point of reading it. And yes, that Penguin cover is wonderful!

I'm about a quarter into Peter Pan and I'm not enjoying it much. I'll stick with it because it's short. I'd much prefer a dark Grimm's fairy tale.

#71- I read Peter Pan a few years ago and did like it, but I was annoyed by how manic it was. I must try Grimm.

eta: and sexist. I found it sexist. But it was Edwardian, so that kind of comes with the package.

4. An Assembly Such as This, Pamela Aidan, 2006


Cover comments: yeah, all good for A Book Such as This

Comments: This is part I of the Mr Darcy, Gentleman, trilogy. A retelling of Pride and Prejudice, told from Mr Darcy's point of view. This volume begins with Darcy and Bingly arriving at Netherfield, and ends with Darcy getting on with his life in London after the Netherfield Ball, resolving to forget about Elizabeth Bennett forever.

As a principle, I circle wide around any sort of P&P related works. We all know that nobody can write like Jane Austen, and I automatically view most of them as an attempt to cash in on Austen fans desperate for more. However, I've learned over the years that many of them can be rather clever and lots of fun (Bridget Jones's Diary--book and movie--and Lost in Austen, and even The Lizzie Bennett Diaries). There is a tremendous amount of Austen-dreck out there. An Assembly Such as This is not anywhere near the worst of it.

Rather good, fun to read, the author does a decent job with the language and tone . . . gets some things wrong in my view, but overall, it's not atrocious.

And for any sort of riff on Austen, "not atrocious" is high praise, indeed.

Why I Read This Now: I've searched for over a week for something to grab me, and found this on the bargain table of a favourite bookstore. I didn't hesitate. And yes, even though I rarely read series (or I take years to complete them), I will read the other two books in the next few months.

Recommended for: fans of Pride and Prejudice, people who like to read fanfic.

Rating: good fun for a book of its type.

And because I include extra pictures of Mr Darcy whenever I read anything related to Pride and Prejudice, here is your visual entertainment:


From: A portrait of Colin Firth as Pride and Prejudice's Mr Darcy has been sold at auction for £12,000, nearly double its estimated price. i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01217/mr-carcy-colin-fir_1217574f.jpg

5. Pride and Prejudice (Norton Critical Editions) , Donald Gray, editor, 2004


Cover comments: follows the pattern of other Norton Critical Editions which is ho hum (and I see they've recently redesigned and improved). The picture itself is Malvern Hall, Warwickshire by John Constable, and is lovely.

Comments: The Norton Critical Edition of Pride and Prejudice is divided into three parts:

1. The novel itself
2. Background and Sources (includes excerpts from various biographies, 17 letters that Austen wrote, and two excerpts from Austen's earlier writing)
3. Criticism (14 excerpts from important scholarly essays on P&P, two essays on "Darcy on film" and three essays on "Class and Money"

I read only the third section, which was 118 pages long. For the most part they were interesting and enlightening, although most of them were very academic.

Recommended for: Austen scholars and readers who want to gain more understanding of P&P.

For fans of the 1995 BBC production, I highly recommend "A Conversation with Colin Firth" by Sue Birtwhistle and Susie Conklin (Sue Birtwhistle was the producer, Susie Conklin has written other historical productions and co-wrote The Making of Pride and Prejudice, where this piece was previously published.)

I recently read The Cambridge Companion to 'Pride and Prejudice', which is similar to the Criticism section in the Norton. I preferred the essays in the Cambridge. However, if you're looking for some criticism and a copy of the actual novel, you can't go wrong with this Norton edition.

Why I Read This Now: I've actually been working slowly through the essays since I finished the Cambridge Companion a few months ago. I go slowly because I mark up my master copy of P&P as I go.

Hmmm....have you read any atrocious Austen takes?

Also - can't believe that picture sold for that much (and not even the 'Darcy randomly jumps into a pond' scene)!

Good to read your views on the Pride and Prejudice criticism, the next time I read I am tempted with the Norton edition.

#75 -DieFledermaus .have you read any atrocious Austen takes?

Yes, indeed I have. Although in the past I've avoided any reimaginings, redoings, or any other Austen-related fiction, I have softened in my automatic disregard for them. But in general, I approach them with trepidation. I found The Jane Austen Book Club unreadable (although I thought the premise was a good one), and couldn't stand Austenland (after abandoning the book, my daughter got me to watch the movie with her and it was similarly horrible, although, again, the premise wasn't terrible). Last summer I read Mr Darcy Takes a Wife, which is a sexed up sequel, and although I had lots of fun with it, I know that some intelligent people thought it was atrocious and I can see what they mean.

I'm pretty picky about my Austen-related reading, but I'm not the stickler I used to be.

#76 - Bas -- well, you can't go wrong with a Norton Critical Edition (if you're interested in that sort of thing).

"Not atrocious" - a good quote for the cover! I headed over to the book page to thumb your review, but it wasn't on there. So I will instead interrupt my lurking to say that I enjoyed reading the review.

#79 - Wandering Star - thanks! I only post my reviews on the book's page when I have something new to say that others haven't said already. But I'm glad I could amuse you for a few moments.

6. Three Souls, Janie Chang, 2013


Cover comments: Mixed. I like the dreamy picture of the woman and red umbrella floating on a stream in a somewhat menacing forest, and find the colours to be pleasing. On the other hand, I dislike the big black dot in the centre, the cliche of the woman's back, and the fact that this scene never takes place in the novel. edited to say: met the author tonight. She had a choice of several covers and liked this one because it actually described an aspect of the book that ended up getting cut out. Also, it's a metaphor for the journey of the soul after death. So my comment that it wasn't in the book wasn't quite accurate.

Comments: Three Souls is a work of historical fiction set in 1920s China, told from a unique point of view. The twist is that the narrator is a ghost of a young woman named Leiyin. With the help of her three souls--Yin, Yang, and Hun--she has to figure out how she can atone for an unknown serious misdeed in order to release herself into the next phase of the afterlife. It's an interesting narrative technique that the author carries off with mixed results.

Leiyin is an intelligent and privileged teenager who clashes with the expectations of traditional Chinese society. The author weaves in parallels with Anna Karenina, which I found interesting. I also enjoyed many of the characters.

Three Souls is nominated for the 2015 IMPAC Dublin award.

Why I Read This Now: The author is coming to my small book club this month (she works with one of the member's husbands). It's bad enough meeting an author and not having read the book, but to actually be in a discussion with her for a few hours is unthinkable. Not only did I have to read this, I feel like I had to like it too.

Recommended for: readers who like historical fiction, or are interested in early communist China, or the clash between modern and traditional societies, readers who like ghosts or unusual narrators.

Rating: I wouldn't put this novel in the realm of what I'm interested in these days, which is making my opinions on it somewhat tepid. Reader reviews at LT and GoodReads though are overwhelmingly positive. If it sounds interesting to you, you'll probably enjoy it.

Tell us about the book club meeting

Bas - I will. It's coming up on February 16th.

7. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding, 1996


cover comments: my edition is definitely pre-film version of BJD. I think it has a harder edge than the mostly feel-good film. It suits--Bridget is obsessed with quitting smoking. Also, this cover doesn't say "chick lit," which is the category where a lot of people who haven't read this book dismiss it to.

Comments I read this around 1997 or 98, loved it immeasurably, but lent my copy out to at least three friends saying I'd never reread it and don't worry about returning it. It always came back (with good reviews) and so it sat in my basement bookshelves. I saw the movie the weekend it was released in 2001, even though I was in Manhattan at the time (who goes to movies on their holidays?), and I've seen many times since (let's just say I can recite huge swaths of dialogue). I didn't even know about the connection between the book and Pride and Prejudice until a few years after I saw the movie, and didn't really care until P&P became my all-time favourite book in 2010. Which just shows you that a good riff on a classic can stand on its own.

Anyway, for a while I've thinking that now that the Pride and Prejudice references wouldn't go over my head, I should probably reread Bridget Jones's Diary. With such a huge TBR pile, I don't like to reread books that often, but sometimes I just have to.

I was surprised at how different in detail it was than the film, but in tone and overall story arc, very much the same. The film is tighter with more overlapping story lines, whereas the book is more of a diary of chronological events. I remember more animosity between her and Mark Darcy, and not nearly as much info about her mother. The thing that really stood out for me when I first read the book was how much her diary entry headings (9st 1, alcohol units 6, calories 2513 etc) reminded me of my own teenage diaries, and yes, she was in her 30s, so sort of pathetic, but I could relate. Also, I too was in my 30s then.

I have memories of really liking the Bridget in the book, and I have to admit that over the years of rewatching the movie, I often dislike her quite a bit (no WAY Mark Darcy would fall for her, let alone Daniel Cleever). The book reminded me that Bridget's irrational craziness in the book is mostly contained in her head, while in the movie she acts it out too often. And aren't we all crazy and irrational in our heads? Bridget in the novel is closer to one of us and more likeable.

I do have to give huge kudos to the whole Bridget Jones enterprise. First, there is a scene in the book (which I did remember when I saw the film) where she is in a work meeting and they have a not very nice conversation about Hugh Grant -- and then he stars in the movie. And of course, Fielding wrote Mark Darcy based on Colin Firth's Mr Darcy in the BBC Pride and Prejudice, so what a good sport of him to "reprise" the role again. Not having seen that P&P when I read the book the first time, this scene went unnoticed by me:

. . . When I stumbled upon a photograph in The Standard of Darcy and Elizabeth, hideous, dressed as modern-day luvvies, draped all over each other in a meadow: she with blonde Sloane hair, and linen trouser suit, he in striped polo neck and leather jacket with shoestring-style moustache. Apparently they are already sleeping together. That is absolutely disgusting. Feel disorienteated and worried. . . "

This brought up vague memories for me, and the closest to this photo I could find was this:

To which I can say, not sure "disgusting" is the word, but definitely Ugh! I'm with Bridget on this one. That moustache is so 70s--did men still wear those in 1995? Jennifer Ehle looks fine, but not one of Firth's good moments.

Recommended for: Well, the reader needs a sense of humour. It's still pretty funny. And perhaps some sort of interest in 90s culture, particularly as seen through the eyes of a 30-something female singleton living in London. Possibly dated, and as someone in the comments said, at this point I think I prefer the film. ALSO: any writer who is planning a variation or tribute or rip off of a classic novel. This is an example worth noting.

Why I Read This Now: because I knew that I missed the P&P references when I read it the first time (not all that many, actually)

Rating: this is in my library as a 5, and though I wouldn't rate that highly now, I'm also a very different demographic, so I don't think a new rating warranted. See my recommended for category.

I read Bridget Jones' Diary back when it first came out, having picked it up out of one of those metal turnstile things at the airport in Ireland when we were there on vacation. I loved it and it started me on a quest to read other modern chick-lit, which has never quite lived up to it.

I've reread it and loved it still. I'm glad I read it before there were so many imitators, so the whole idea was fresh and exciting.

I always thought that Bridget Jones started off as satire - what would happen if someone believed everything she read in women's magazines? This is partly because Helen Fielding's first book Cause Celeb was a satire (on celebrity activism, if you can't tell from the title). Whether or not it was, that certainly didn't travel to the movie! One of the things I liked in the book is the supportive circle of friends, which again didn't really make the move to the film (eg their surprised reaction when she said that someone told her they liked her just the way she was - what friends would actually do that?)

Ridgeway - I loved it and it started me on a quest to read other modern chick-lit, which has never quite lived up to it. -- I guess that's why I don't classify it as chick lit myself--not that I've read a lot, but I just think it's better than what we expect in that genre. Chick lit is such a dismissive description.

Margaret - I always thought that Bridget Jones started off as satire - what would happen if someone believed everything she read in women's magazines?

Yes, I like that reading!

Whether or not it was, that certainly didn't travel to the movie! Maybe it's just hidden behind all the other stuff going on in the film? There are several shots of her ditching her self-help books and refilling her shelf with new ones.

One of the things I liked in the book is the supportive circle of friends, which again didn't really make the move to the film I liked her friends in both, although now that I've reread the book I agree that the book version were more supportive of each other. I find that friendships are generally done poorly in film, so I thought the ones in BJD were actually pretty good (or maybe they were just funny). My favourite film for friendships is Notting Hill though.

(eg their surprised reaction when she said that someone told her they liked her just the way she was - what friends would actually do that?) -- Good point. Funny, but in a cringe worthy way.

8. The Story of O, Pauline Reage, 1954, translated from French by Sabine D'Estree


Cover comments: tasteful, not bad, but sort of boring. There is some nice design on the back cover.

Comments: a notorious scandalous fable about one woman's fantasy and experience with sexual slavery. Not too many positive reviews on LT. I was puzzled by much of what I read, so did a little research that made me feel ambivalent, and now, ultimately bored.

Why I Read This Now: it's on the 1001 and Guardian 100 lists--I think it's all the media around the 50 Shades of Grey movie that reminded me that the Story of O was in my tbr pile.

Recommended for scholars of bdsm.

>88 Nickelini: I read that a few years ago, when I was on my "reads books off lists" kick. I think my overwhelming response was to be confused and a bit bewildered by it.
I thought it odd that when I reserved it at the library that both the county's copies were in the prison libraries. They were then found to not to be in a condition to lend. Having read it I think I can see why - on both counts! One suspects that the jacket blurb about this book being erotic but not pornographic was rather too fine a distinction.

I thought it odd that when I reserved it at the library that both the county's copies were in the prison libraries. They were then found to not to be in a condition to lend. Having read it I think I can see why - on both counts! One suspects that the jacket blurb about this book being erotic but not pornographic was rather too fine a distinction.

That's funny! Yes, the distinction between art, erotica and porn, is probably missed fairly often with The Story of O.

#82 - Bas Tell us about the book club meeting

We had our book club meeting tonight with the author of Three Souls. She was highly articulate and knowledgable. For the most part we discussed the process of writing a book and getting it published. Discussing the book was secondary, but I did gain some new insights and appreciation for what she did in the novel. A meeting that will stand out for me (this book club has been meeting for 25 years and I have been attending for about 14 of those).

9. Bridget Jones: the Edge of Reason, Helen Fielding, 1999


cover comments: ambivalent about this one.

Comments: I loved Bridget Jones's Diary so much when I read it back in the 90s (before the movie). When Bridget Jones: the Edge of Reason was released though, I wasn't interested. I've been burned by low quality sequels in the past and just couldn't stand to read this book and be disappointed. About ten years ago a friend gave me a copy and told me it was pretty good. I didn't want to take the risk and so it sat in my basement without any thought of me ever reading it. In the meantime, the movie version of The Edge of Reason came out and it was the debacle that I expected. Although it was great to see all those lovely characters again, it was just embarrassing watching them try to make a film out of that script. My shunning of this novel was justified. Or so I thought.

After my recent reread of Bridget Jones's Diary I thought that maybe I should give this a try. Thankfully, it's very different from the film version. Maybe it was my low expectations, but I found it delightful. In some ways I think it was better, in a literary sense, than the original. Bridget shows more character growth by the end, and there is some clever use of the Kipling poem "If". At first I was greatly frustrated by her friends sabatoging of Bridget's relationship with Mark Darcy, but as events unfolded, they redeemed themselves. Sure, Bridget really needs to toss the self help books and actually TALK to Mark (and he to her), but then there wouldn't be a story. And there were lots of laugh out loud moments. Including the scene where Bridget gets to interview Colin Firth (which unfortunately they couldn't possibly put in the movie--but they did film a version of it as an extra. Go to YouTube and search "Bridget Jones interviews Colin Firth").

In the film version, Bridget is uncomfortably cringe inducing, and I can't figure out why Mark sees anything in her whatsoever. In the book version, you see her insecurities and vulnerabilities and also see more of what he is dealing with, and they actually seem like two people that you want to cheer for (whereas in the film I end up wanting her to go sit down and grow up and want Darcy to move back here to Vancouver and meet me). As with the first book, Bridget Jones is more relatable than in the film where she's too over the top.

I read 7/8s of this in one sitting, which is almost unheard of for me, and it was a luxury I fully enjoyed.

Recommended for: literary snobs with no sense of humour should stay away from this.

Why I Read This Now I think I said it in my comments.

And because I usually include a Darcy pic when I read a Darcy book, here's a clip from the film:


the bitch fights between Mark Darcy/Colin Firth and Daniel Cleever/Hugh Grant never fail to make me laugh (I think the actors just stop acting for these scenes) (and no, this didn't happen in the book. One of the few improvements the movie made).

>92 Nickelini:. I think I'll have to do a reread of Bridget ?Jones Diary, and then pick up Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason. I'll keep it for when I'm up for another humorous book.

#93 - Nana --they are a good break from reading too many grim novels!

As I've already mentioned, author Janie Chang came to our book club to discuss her novel Three Souls. One of the topics she brought up was the book cover. I edited my post #81 to say: met the author tonight. She had a choice of several covers and liked this one because it actually described an aspect of the book that ended up getting cut out. Also, it's a metaphor for the journey of the soul after death. So my comment that it wasn't in the book wasn't quite accurate.


This is the Canadian edition


This is the US edition

She had the choice of several designs. One of them was the cliched headless torso, to which she said "NOOOOOO!" However, she did point out that the headless torso design quickly tells readers two things: 1. the book is historical fiction, and 2. the book will have a female protagonist.

She was also very pleased with the Italian edition, which she had no say in:


I agree with her that this is lovely, and I think it actually represents the book better than the other two covers.

Ooh, yes, that Italian cover is great! In the US having all of a woman's face on the cover seems pretty uncommon (particularly if the women isn't white).

10. Joy is So Exhausting, Susan Holbrook, 2009


Cover comments: I love this cover. Great texture and detail. It's poetic.

Comments: I confess that I am an English major who doesn't like poetry. Except every once in a while I come across a poem that I really really like. Love even.

Joy is So Exhausting is a microcosm of my poetry experience. There are poems in here that I find exquisite-- unique and apt imagery, sensual, funny, clever. But then there are those that are such a extreme example of word salad that even Sarah Palin herself would be jealous.

But when they're good, they are very good.

I learned of this book from CBC Radio books in a list of the funniest Canadian books written by women.

Why I Read This Now: the cover called to me.

Recommended for: readers who like funny but obscure poetry.

That sounds like a really great book club meeting.

11. Duty and Desire: A Novel of Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman, Pamela Aiden, 2004


Cover comments: a fine cover for a book such as this. The scene depicted did not happen in the story, and in fact is a French painting, so doesn't even depict the same country.

Comments: This second book in the Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman trilogy is both very silly and rather horrible. Almost horrible enough to be fun, but not quite. Just standard horrible.

The premise seems interesting enough--it is set during one of the time periods when Darcy disappears from Pride and Prejudice and no one knows what he's doing. Turns out he realizes that Elizabeth Bennet does not like him, so he sets out to find someone to replace her in his affections. So far, so good.

Unfortunately, the first half of the book is Darcy sitting in church thinking, and then having boring conversations with his cousin Col. Fitzwilliam or speaking in platitudes with his sister Georgiana. In the later half, he goes off to Northanger Abbey and gets involved in a ridiculous Gothic plot in a creepy castle.

This Darcy is a cardboard hero who is boringly flawless, and the only likeable character in the novel is his valet, Fletcher.

Aiden uses a weirdly antiquey style of writing that I think is supposed to sound Austen-esque, but has none of Austen's flair or wit.

I praised the first book in the trilogy (An Assembly Such as This) as "not atrocious," but I'm sorry to say that part two is most definitely atrocious.

Recommended for Many readers suggest skipping this part of the trilogy, and I heartily agree.

Why I Read This Now: for some reason I decided to read this series.

>97 Nickelini: That is definitely a great cover! I figure all poetry books are like that to some extent. There can only be so many gems that really resonate or impress with their language.

hi! Just catching up your thread: I've really enjoyed your reviews, particularly of Rawi Hage's Cockroach and Angela Carter. I'm intrigued by your fairy-tale reading project, so looking forward to the rest of the books!

13. Longbourn, Jo Baker, 2013


Cover comments: I like this cover very much. Look! You can see a woman's face--she's not walking away, or showing only her torso. Refreshing. I also really like the colours. Well done, Carol Devine Carson.

Comments: I've heard Longbourn described as Pride and Prejudice meets Downton Abbey, and somewhere along the way I had picked up the idea that this was Pride and Prejudice from the servants' point of view. But the subtitle on the cover actually says something different--Pride and Prejudice: the Servants' Story.

And that's what Longbourn is--the story of the servants living and working in a house in the early 19th century. There is very little actual Pride and Prejudice--the story could be set in any house of that era.

Baker obviously did her research, and the novel is full of rich detail. On a sentence and paragraph level, the writing is lush and gorgeous. Unfortunately, when it comes to story telling, the book falls apart. This is the type of book that I would expect to read in a day, but it took me over a week because I just didn't find it very interesting. It didn't make me care. Near the end, it goes into a 35 page tangent on James's back story during the war, and I found this particularly boring. It could have been described on one page in my opinion.

Lots of readers love this book and I can see why. But for this reader there wasn't enough story, nor was there enough Pride and Prejudice to satisfy.

Why I Read This Now: I'm into all things P&P lately, and have heard interesting and conflicting comments on Longbourn.

Rating: Not sorry I read it, but disappointed.

Recommended for: readers interested in early 19th century life.

>102 Nickelini: Ah, here it is! Somehow I missed this post and just checked in after our discussion on my thread. Yes, I see that you also thought James's story was boring. I was expecting this to be about the servants and only tangentially about P&P, so I guess that's why it didn't bother me. Also, I kind of liked recalling the events of P&P in my own mind as the story went along and trying to predict how the servants would be effected by later events. I also like the cover!

I decided to go ahead and reread Mansfield Park since the tutored read is going on and there will be discussion in April in the category challenge. I had wanted to wait for the Harvard press edition to come out, but I can't wait. I think Mansfield Park is my least read Austen book (I think I've read it twice) so I wanted a refresher.

Jennifer -- I'm waiting to reread Mansfield Park until the two annotated editions come out next year (IF they come out--both presses have bumped back their publication dates once or twice already). But for the current reads I'm following along with Bitch in a Bonnet which I'm finding not all that satisfying. Mansfield Park is officially my second favourite Austen, but I think when I've reread them all I will probably shuffle and I suspect it will drop positions. Not sure which will take its place--maybe Emma will pop up from the bottom spot. Who knows! One thing I do like about Mansfield Park though is that she fills her sentences with jabs and barbs (more so than in Sense and Sensibility, anyway).

14. Lady Oracle, Margaret Atwood, 1976


Cover comments: The actual picture is absolutely lovely and fits the novel. Unfortunately, the whole thing is too dark to really see anything, and the arrangement is lacking. Also, my copy is a horrid mass market paperback with nasty paper, insufficient white space, and tiny print. I detest mass market paperbacks.

Comments: Lady Oracle is 40 years old, and although it shows its age, it stands up as a novel worth reading. Of the 10 Atwood novels I've read, I'm sure it's is the funniest.

Joan Foster is a character who is uncomfortable with who she is and her place in the world. She also lacks the ability to make plans for herself. This causes her to run away (often), invent new worlds, and hitch her cart to some strange people. She also writes Gothic romance novels, which often echo her own life, and are highly entertaining to read for their own merit (and a technique that Atwood expands in later novels). We can expect Atwood to be clever, and in Lady Oracle she has lots of fun playing with double identities and literary tropes.

Rating Lady Oracle is a romp, and it's a humorous read. I was ready to give it 4 stars, but late in the book, Joan gets herself wrapped up in an unsavoury character named "the Royal Porcupine" and it went a little over the top for my tastes. In the end, 3.5 stars. But a good 3.5 stars.

Why I Read This Now: I have a lot of Atwood in my TBR, so I try to read at least one of her books every year.

Recommended for: People who have already experienced some Atwood. Probably not the best first novel to read of hers, or if you're going to read only one, this probably isn't the best choice. But for the reader who is working chronologically through her oeuvre, this one will be lighter and more fun than her earlier, more serious, books.

>95 Nickelini: - Liked the cover comparison. I agree, the Italian one is the most intriguing. The other two look a little generically pretty.

>97 Nickelini: - But then there are those that are such a extreme example of word salad that even Sarah Palin herself would be jealous.

Bwahahahaha!

>99 Nickelini: - Too bad about that one, although I'm enjoying reading about your P&P related books. The premise does seem promising, but it sounds pretty bad.

>105 Nickelini: - Glad to hear you though Lady Oracle was a fun romp. I wanted to read it after reading another review around here.

>102 Nickelini: Excellent review of Longbourn. I was disappointed in it also. The hype convinced me it was a "must-read" and I just didn't see it that way.

Glad you went back to Lady Oracle and ended up enjoying it!

15. Asylum: a Mystery, Jeannette de Beauvoir, 2015


Cover comments: I love this cover. Yes, it is one of those "faceless females," but somehow this one is gripping. It seems to promise something very creepy and it makes me want to know what happens at the asylum.

Comments: The author takes two horrible real life events from Montreal's history, and winds them into a current-day murder mystery. The first is the CIA conducted mind-control drug experiments at the Ravenscrag Institute (now part of McGill University), conducted from the 1950s through the 1970s. The second event is the mass institutionalization of children in Quebec from the 1940s through to the 1960s. In traditionally Catholic Quebec, it was an unspeakable disgrace to have a baby out of wedlock. These children were taken to so-called orphanages. Other families surrendered their children when they had huge families that they couldn't feed. The Canadian government helped support the Church financially in running these institutions, but the Church figured out that they could get more government assistance for running mental hospitals. Thus, sometimes overnight, healthy children were deemed mentally ill. Years later it was discovered that these children were horrifically abused and sometimes used for medical experimentation. These children are now known as the Duplessis Orphans.


Creepy Ravenscrag Institute

Fast forward to current day Montreal, were in a short time, four women have been found raped, murdered, and posed on park benches. Concerned about Montreal's reputation as a tourist destination, the mayor appoints his director of public relations, Martine LeDuc, to liaise with the police to report on progress and pressure a resolution. Martine goes beyond these instructions and discovers the link between the four murder victims is the Duplessis Orphans. Woven in with Martine's efforts to solve the mystery is a back story of an orphan named Gabrielle who is trying to survived the asylum.

The strength of this novel is in those scenes at the asylum. I also loved all the rich detail about Montreal and its bilingual culture. And of course I was fascinated to learn about this dark period of Quebec history.

Why I Read This Now: the cover and title called to me.

Recommended for: mystery fans who also like historical fiction and historical fiction fans who also like mysteries.

Rating: 4 stars. I don't read mysteries often, but this one was a good read.

16. Through the Woods, Emily Carroll, 2014


Cover comments: This gives you a good sense of the atmosphere of the book. I like it.

Comments: Through the Woods is an excellent series of graphic short stories--all creepy, unsettling, and somewhat unresolved. The illustrations were haunting. All together, a great package, but the take on Red Riding Hood at the end was predictably my favourite. All of the stories are a cross between fairy tales and horror stories.

Recommended for: I found this similar is some ways to the miniseries "Over the Garden Wall," and a little bit like Hark! A Vagrant by Kate Beaton (I believe Carroll and Beaton are friends, or maybe more), so fans of those will like this too. This book can be read in about an hour, but the combination of text and art makes it earn many rereads.

Why I Read This Now: My 15 year old daughter wanted me to read it, since I had enjoyed "Over the Garden Wall" and "Welcome to Night Vale" with her. I happily agreed, since I saw that it also fit in with my fairy tale theme read.

Rating: a healthy 4.5 stars. Note that there are 23 reviews here on LT. The lowest is 3 stars and 21 are 4-to-5 stars.

>110 Nickelini: Ooh, another one that's going right on the wishlist! Anything likely to appeal to fans of fairy tales and Welcome to Night Vale, and I am there.

17. These Three Remain: A Novel of Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman, Pamela Aidan, 2005


Cover comments: Meh. Just a random picture from the era. Doesn't mean anything, really.

Comments: This is the final book of the "Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman" trilogy, which is a parallel story to Pride and Prejudice from Darcy's point of view. As it says on the back cover, Darcy is an enigma, and many readers (including me) are very curious as to what he's up to when not on stage in P&P. This book covers the period from Darcy visiting Roslings to the end of the novel.

Aidan has a good understanding of Pride and Prejudice and the character's motivations. For the most part, I found this a lot of fun. One might note, however, that an average edition of P&P is around 350 pages, and this trilogy is almost 1,000. Which means there is a lot of unnecessary material. Blotted, pointless sentences and details, and a small tangent into the ridiculous and very non-P&P story line of the second book of the series. But overall it was a good read. I thought her treatment of Darcy's humiliation after the Hunsford proposal was particularly well done, and I enjoyed the scene where he drunkenly confessed all to his friend (who's name I've forgotten at the moment). Aidan may have different ideas about P&P than I do, but I don't think she performed violence to the original.

Rating: For sheer enjoyment I would rate this a 4.5, but due to the faults I've noted, I'm knocking it down to 4 stars. In conclusion, the first book, An Assembly Such as This was "not atrocious," the second, Duty and Desire, was very much atrocious, and These Three Remain was fun.

Recommended for: P&P fans.

Why I Read This Now: I normally eschew both book series and Austen inspired novels, but for some reason I decided to read this. Never say never.

And here's your Moment of Darcy. From the Cozy Classics board book edition of P&P:

Both Asylum: a Mystery and Through the Woods look like I'd enjoy them.

Thanks, I've added Asylum: a Mystery by Jeannette de Beauvoir to my wishlist.

19. The Grass is Singing, Doris Lessing, 1950


Cover comments: an understated approach that I rather like.

Comments: The Grass is Singing starts at the end--Mary Turner, a farmer's wife in Rhodesia, has been murdered and their houseboy has been arrested. The novel then tells Mary's story of how she ended up there.

After a horrid childhood, Mary makes a comfortable life for herself, living in a city that she likes, working at a job she enjoys, and hanging out with friends. Unfortunately, she bowed to peer pressure and got married to a man she didn't love. Dick Turner is a hard working farmer who has little success to show for his efforts. Away on the African veld, Mary soon finds herself trapped in a loop of oppressive heat and dust, boredom, grinding poverty, Dick's recurrent bouts of malaria, hatred for the Africans, classism, sexism, and mental illness. Mary is not a likeable person and is one of the worst racists I've come across in literature, but despite this the reader still feels empathy for her suffering.

The Grass is Singing is Novel Prize Laureate Lessing's first novel. Aside from the interesting events and characters, the writing itself is masterful, especially in how she structures the story.

Rating & Recommended for: The Grass is Singing is understandably a 20th century classic, and is on both the Guardian 1000 and the 1001 Books lists. I particularly recommend it to aspiring writers as an example to emulate. Four and a half stars.

Why I Read This Now: it was physically on the top of my TBR pile even though I had no plans to read it any time soon.

>115 Nickelini:: great to hear you enjoyed this, as I have it on my list of books to read this year (my first Lessing).

I've never read any Lessing, but this sounds like a good place to start. Don't know when I'll get to it, but it's on the "some day" list.

> 116, >117 japaul22: - The Grass is Singing was my first Lessing. I have to say, although she has an intimidating reputation, this was very readable. I also have her Fifth Child on my TBR pile. Hope you both like the Grass is Singing when you get to it.

>118 Nickelini: yep, after hearing talk of The Golden Notebook, I wasn't sure about reading her books, but this sounds manageable.

Enjoyed your review. I do want to read Lessing, and this is good encouragement.

20. Poor Cow, Nell Dunn, 1967


Cover comments: Absolutely love this. I was surprised to learn that the picture was taken during the filming of the movie. Movie tie-in covers are usually terrible, but once in a while they can get it right.

Comments: Joy is a young mum, getting by in 1960s London and Poor Cow is a slice of her life told in 134 pages. Her husband gets himself sent to prison, and Joy falls in love with Dave, one of his crime friends. He eventually gets sent to prison too, and Joy works as a barmaid, does some modelling, loves her son, and has lots of sex, sometimes for money. Although her life is at times pretty rough, Joy is endlessly optimistic. As she says, all she really wants is to be happy and contented. She is a complex character that doesn't fit into any stereotype slots.

The narration of this short novel is unusual. It slips between third and first person, and sometimes semi-literate letters written to Dave. Dunn uses a lot of 1960s British slang, and sometimes writes in sentence fragments. Because of this, and also because some readers will find Joy too unsavory, Poor Cow isn't for everyone.

Margaret Drabble wrote the introduction to this Virago Modern Classics edition.

Recommended for: readers who like unique characters and are interested in the 1960s London setting.

Rating: 4 stars.

Why I Read This Now: I have a lot of books by British women in my TBR pile and this one has always intrigued me.

Now, off to watch the 1968 film. It's on YouTube.

I looked Poor Cow up on the strength of the title and whatever you said about it elsewhere (the what are you reading thread, I guess). Glad to hear it was good. Definitely sounds like something I'd like.

>122 mabith: I hope you read it and post your thoughts on it! And it is a great title, isn't it! I had a friend that used to call me a daft cow, so I could relate.

Just ordered a copy, so hopefully I'll get to it in May or June. Something about April (or maybe just spring flowers) has me gathering a ton of print books. If I could get away with calling people hen, the way they do in some parts of England, I totally would.

Sounds like an early Drabble -- interesting that she wrote the intro -- must hund this one down.

21. Bitch in a Bonnet: Reclaiming Jane Austen from the Stiffs, the Snobs, the Simps, and the Saps, Volume 1 (Sense & Sensibility, Pride & Prejudice, Mansfield Park), Robert Rodi, 2011


Cover comments: pretty dreadful, even for a self-published book.

Comments: Reading Bitch in a Bonnet by Robert Rodi is like getting together to discuss your favourite books with your wittiest, brashest, cleverest friend. Rodi clearly has an in-depth knowledge of the Austen novels, and what Austen is about, although if you're looking for very deep analysis I recommend going to a Norton Critical Edition, a Cambridge Companion, or the JASNA website. But they won't be this fun. Bitch in a Bonnet was originally published as a blog. There is also a Volume 2 that covers the other three main Austen novels.

Some examples of favourite quips pulled out while flipping through the book (some of these are a bit over the top--the whole book isn't like this--that would be exhausting!):

Sense & Sensibility:

Describing the sisters: "Marianne is the girl outside the bar, alternately shrieking 'Wooo!' and throwing up on the sidewalk, and Elinor is the one pulling up to the curb to rescue her, saying,''This is absolutely the last time I do this,' which even she doesn't believe."

On Marianne mooning over Wiilloughby: "Instead she spends her time banging gently against the front window, like a moth."

Pride & Prejudice:

Introducing characters: "Mr Bingley, who's basically a man-sized plush toy, has fallen for Jane, the vanilla ice-cream cone of the Bennet sisters. There's not enough erotic spark here to charge an AA battery."

On Col Fitzwilliam and Elizabeth teasing Darcy at Roslings: "Possibly he and Lizzy high-five after that one; Austen doesn't say."

Mr Gardiner at Pemberley: ". . . they aren't ready to go yet. Mr. Gardiner still has E tickets in his booklet and he's not budging till he's used them."

Jane & Bingley after their engagement: "This leaves Bingley and Jane to lead the way, billing and cooing and disporting themselves in Arcadian bliss--perhaps Bingley wears a tunic and sandals, and strums a lyre while Jane makes figure-8's in the air with a sash . . . "

Mansfield Park:

On Lady Bertram: "Lady Bertram doesn't venture out to witness her daughters' triumphs, because that would require things like listening to other people speak, not being in the supine, and a pulse. Seriously, at this point I doubt her ankles even work anymore. When she dangles her feet over the edge of her chaise, I imagine they just drape there, like Salvador Dali's clocks."

and

"This leaves Fanny to stay at home and keep Lady Bertram company, which has got to be a fairly easy task, given that Lady Bertram mainly passes the time by making mouth bubbles."

I think his treatment of Mansfield Park is the weakest of the three, as he strongly dislikes Fanny Price and I think he lets that get in his way. Conversely, he adores Elizabeth Bennet (as do I) and some of his best material centres on her.

Recommended for: this is a must-read for anyone who loves reading Austen and who dearly loves to laugh.

Why I Read This Now: I actually read the Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice sections years ago. I just read the Mansfield Park section now as there is a tutored read going on here at LT.

Rating: 4.5 stars.

>125 janeajones: Sounds like an early Drabble

Your comment inspired me to pick The Millstone for my next read.

Bitch in a Bonnet really made reading Mansfield Park a lot more fun.

>128 RidgewayGirl: Indeed! I didn't actually reread Mansfield Park this time as I'm waiting for the annotated editions. I'll pull Bitch in a Bonnet out again and juggle the whole pile of them.

Nice review of Poor Cow, Joyce.

Glad you liked The Grass is Singing

>130 kidzdoc: & >131 baswood: - Thanks! Two good ones in a row.

Glad you liked The Grass is Singing. It was the first Lessing I read too, and like you I was surprised how accessible it is. And as you say, the writing is superb. Funnily enough, I followed it up with The Fifth Child too (just because I had it) - very different, but again the amazing writing shines through.

>121 Nickelini: Great review Joyce! I've ordered a copy of Poor Cow. And another excellent review - Bitch in a Bonnet has been added to my wishlist.

22. The Millstone, by Margaret Drabble, 1965


Cover comments: My edition is part of the Penguin Decades series, with Allen Jones artwork for all the 1960s covers. As a set, they're just fabulous.

Comments: Rosamund Stacey is an aspiring academic living rent-free in her parent's apartment just off Marylebone High St in London in the 1960s. She gets pregnant and decides to keep her baby. At the moment I have a severely cold-addled brain, so I'm not going to say much more and instead point anyone interested to this excellent review:

"But to see this book as primarily about the sexual revolution, illegitimacy, and the swinging London of the 1960s, is to miss its point. The Millstone is about liberal guilt. It is perhaps one of the most philosophical books written on the subject, full of the sly profundity that is sometimes the special strength of spare, comic novels." More at . . . http://www.newrepublic.com/book/review/millstone-margaret-drabble-adelle-waldman

I also found Drabble's 2011 comments very interesting: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/mar/19/book-club-margaret-drabble-millston...

The Millstone is on the Guardian 1000 list.

What I Really Liked About This Book: Well, the writing is fabulous, and it's all expertly contained in 167 pages. I'll take a smart compact novel over a bloated 500 pager any day. I was also fascinated to read about the character negotiating the medical system of the 1960s. Others have commented on the coldness of the NHS that Drabble portrays, but I think a lot of the attitudes were common outside of Britain at the time. In one scene, Rosamund's baby has had serious surgery, and when she returns to the hospital, the nurse says the baby is resting and she can't visit now. Okay, that sounds like something that would have happened in the early 60s. And then the nurse proceeds to tell her to return in a fortnight! Can you imagine your baby having surgery and the hospital telling you to come back in two weeks? Yeah, so I'll just say that this novel pressed some of my emotional buttons.

What I Didn't Like: The driving action of this novel depends on a major pet peeve of mine: woman has sex for the first time and gets pregnant. I'll giving Drabble a pass since this book is 50 years old; however, authors now need to throw that overused cliche away. (Yes, it's possible. The average rate of conception from any one sexual encounter is about 11%, but in novels if you are a virgin, it's hovering around 95%. Please stop.)

Rating: When I finished it I thought 4 stars, but now that I think about it some more, I'm going to bump it up to 4.5 stars.

Why I Read This Now: Earlier this month I read Poor Cow, which also centres on a young mother in 1960s London, so I thought I'd read this as a companion and comparison. Very different books, but obviously also similar. Also, I've read and enjoyed several Drabbles, but they've all been more recent novels. I wanted to read one of her more famous and earlier works.

Recommended for: readers of literary fiction, of course, but also anyone who is interested in the health care system of the 1960s (such an interesting contrast in attitudes from today).

I hope this all makes some sense. I apologize for writing under the influence of a head clogged with cold.

Think I must go reread this one sometime this summer. Your cover is much better than mine, however.

Hope your colds not catching - get better soon

I've still not read any Margaret Drabble. Because I also read off of the 1001 books list, I'm most likely to start with either The Radiant Way or The Red Queen. Have you read either of those and do you have an opinion on them?

> 138 I've read The Red Queen and have the other on my TBR pile. The Red Queen was my first Drabble, and I read it because it was on the 1001 list and because I'd found a copy for 25 cents at a charity book sale. The only reason I decided to read it was because of all the dreadful comments I'd heard about it so I thought I'd give it 20 pages and then chuck it in the donation bin. Imagine my surprise when I turned out to love it. I thought if that was a crappy Drabble, then she had some good books in store for me!

>137 baswood: Thanks! I'm sure it's not catching through LT ;-)

I'm afraid The Red Queen was my least favorite Drabble -- there are so many better ones out there: The Witch of Exmoor, The Sea Lady, The Seven Sisters. I don't remember having read The Radiant Way -- if I did, it was years ago.

I also need to get to Drabble sometime soon. I have The Seven Sisters on my wish list - hope it's a good place to start.

Looking forward to your review of The Children Act - I love McEwan.

>140 janeajones: Although I loved the Red Queen when I read it, I think I've liked everything I've by her since even better. She's one of my favourite authors.

23. The Children Act, Ian McEwan, 2014


Cover comments: ho hum.

Rating: Almost 5 stars, but in the in end, 4.5.

Comments: Lots has been written about this book so I'm only going to give you the briefest synopsis. Fiona Maye is a family court judge in London and her 30 year childless marriage is in crisis. In contrast, her career is fabulous, and she presides over fascinating and important cases, such as whether to separate conjoined twins. The main case she decides in The Children Act is whether an almost-18 yr old boy can refuse a life-saving blood transfusion because of his Jehovah Witness faith.

I've read almost all of McEwan's novels, and I've rated them from 5 stars down to 2. The Children Act is one of the better ones, although I see in both critical and reader reviews that many disagree with me. I found it complex and layered and fascinating. What I most enjoyed were the ethical dilemmas that McEwan raised --both in Fiona's work and personal life.

As much as I enjoyed this, and found it compelling, it's not quite 5 stars for me. After her decision on the Jehovah Witness case, there was still a lot of book left and I couldn't figure out where it was going. By the end it all came together and I see how McEwan made it a strronger book by not ending in the predictible place. Still, it did jolt the momentum and took a while to get going again. My other quibble is that the book was too short--I know, unheard of words from this lover of the short novel. But he packed so much in here, and I would have liked to see some of those stories in fuller detail. The case with the Haredi Jewish family in particular--well, that could have been a whole novel in itself.

There were many little things I liked about this novel--far too many to list here. I liked the "London. Trinity term one week old. Implacable June weather," opening, which pays homage to another novel about law in London--Dickens' Bleak House. I like all the musical references. And I like the contrast of the current day medical system with the attitudes I encountered in my previous London novel, The Millstone (what a difference 50 years makes).

Why I Read This Now: Book club. We rarely agree on books, but McEwan is an author who we all really enjoy (I think the only other author who we also all agree on is Douglas Coupland, which reminds me: I must read him again soon).

Recommended for: Opinions on this one are mixed, but I highly recommend it, especially if you like novels that include ethical questions. As soon as I heard what this book was about, I wanted to read it, and I wasn't disappointed.

>143 Nickelini: I'm sold, even with the few niggles you raised. Sounds like another McEwan goodie.

I liked The Children Act less than you did - it felt a little too message-based rather than character-based for me and I also thought there was too much in there for all the bits to be as fleshed out and explored as they deserved to be. But it was certainly thought-provoking.

>144 AlisonY: I always say that a bad McEwan novel is still better than so much other stuff out there.

>145 RidgewayGirl: I really prefer shorter novels to longer ones, but I agree that this one should have been fleshed out and explored a bit more.

Great review of The Children Act, Joyce. Like Kay, I didn't like it as well as you did, for the reasons that you and she mentioned (too short, a bit preachy, and I really disliked the unexpected twist toward the end and its abrupt ending), but I definitely thought it was a worthwhile book, and I'm glad that I read it. It's a great choice for a book club discussion, IMO.

>147 kidzdoc: It's a great choice for a book club discussion, IMO.

I think it will be too, and based on your comments and Kay's, I'm curious to see if others thought it was perhaps a little preachy.

I have enjoyed every McEwan book that I have read and so pleased to see another positive review.

Haredi...you sent me to Wikipedia. I had never heard this term before and now it's come up in twice in two days (well, you actually posted Saturday but i'm just catching your review).

Enjoyed reading about your stops in 1960's England.

>150 dchaikin: Haredi...you sent me to Wikipedia.

Ha ha -- me too. It was clear in context that McEwan was talking about Ultra-orthodox Jews, but I was fascinated so spent quite a bit of time off on a Wikipedia tangent reading all about them. That whole section of the book would make a good novel all on its own.

I, on the other hand, have given up on McEwen. I was disappointed by Atonement and read excerpts from On Chesil Beach in The New Yorker and didn't like them so, with too many books and too little time, McEwen is not in my future.

>152 rebeccanyc: Well, Atonement is a very different McEwan novel, and On Chesil Beach doesn't work as excerpts--to me the only way to read it is in one sitting, and it doesn't make sense until the end. So I don't think you had a very good run at McEwan. That said, lots of educated, intelligent people don't like his work even when they've read a more representative sample. Like you say, too many books . . . .

24. The Secret Lives of Saints: Child Brides and Lost Boys in Canada's Polygamous Mormon Sect, Daphne Bramham, 2008


Cover comments: suitable for this sort of book.

Comments: The Secret Lives of Saints has left me feeling both angry and depressed.

This is another look at the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints (FLDS)--a group of about 10,000 people who have formed their own little theocracy in the western United States and Canada. I'm well acquainted with this cult, having watched several documentaries and having read Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer and Stolen Innocence by Elissa Wall (you can find my lengthy review of the later, along with lots of pictures, at: https://www.librarything.com/topic/158479#4350349). After reading Stolen Innocence, several LTers recommended The Secret Lives of Saints and I was interested in it because it focuses on the FLDS community of Bountiful, which is in my own province and country.

Bramham is a journalist, and this book is a meticulously documented record of, well basically, of everything about the FLDS. More information than I needed. Having heard so much about how the FLDS were able to form a theocracy inside of the United States and to live for 50 years without outside interference, I had hoped to read that here in Canada we were more on top of this. Unfortunately we aren't, in fact, I think we may be messing it up even more. The Bountiful "issue" cycles in and out of the media every few years, and each time nothing is done and their leader grows more and more emboldened. Doesn't matter who is in charge--federal or provincial government, Conservative party, Liberal party, or NDP. No one has touched this.

So the abuse of women and children continues. The FLDS will continue their wacked-out ideas in their sequestered communities, keeping the people completely uneducated, jerking woman from husband to husband, breeding new members as fast as they can, and all the while bilking the tax payers of Canada and the United States who support them.

Yeah, I'm angry and depressed. This is just. so. wrong.

On the upside, I now know without a doubt that if I want to come up with some crazy-assed idea, I can call it a religion, do whatever I want, stop paying taxes, and be left alone. Yee haw!

Cynical? Me?

Why I Read This Now: I wanted to read some non-fiction from my TBR pile.

Recommended for: if you don't know much about the FLDS--especially if you live in North America--you need to learn about what's doing on (and yes, the psychopath Warren Jeffs is in prison for life--but he's still running his cult empire from behind bars, so what has changed?). This is a fully detailed account that covers all the action with the Arizona & Utah FLDS as well. I think I prefer the personal details of Stolen Innocence, so I'd recommend that one first. Under the Banner of Heaven is also good, but now 12 years old, and not as encompassing.

Definitely putting Stolen Innocence on my list. I feel like a version of this cult ends up on every other crime TV show, so maybe people think of it as fiction and don't understand it's really going on.

>155 mabith: so maybe people think of it as fiction and don't understand it's really going on.

Sigh!

It's amazing and depressing that these people continue to get away with this kind of oppression.

I think what bothers me most is that the same people who ignore those communities in western countries will do everything they can to create hatred against all Muslims based on oppression in some communities/countries (while getting upset when anyone questions a group purporting to be Christian).

>158 mabith: Interesting that you point that out--The Secret Lives of Saints starts and ends with exactly your point. She bookends the Mormon stuff with 911 and the western aim at wiping out the Taliban in the name of human rights.

I'm really glad the author mentioned that. It's so upsetting and frustrating. Not to mention the overwhelming casual sexism here, the constant harping of men saying they won't let their daughters date until they're a specific age and if they don't approve of the guy they'll scare him off, those gross father-daughter purity dances, etc...

25. Little Red Riding Hood Uncloaked: Sex, Morality, and the Evolution of a Fairy Tale, Catherine Orenstein, 2002


Cover comments: considering the subject of this book, this cover is lazy and uninspired.

Comments: It's really difficult to describe this book well in a few sentences. Orenstein delves into all the corners of the tale of Red Riding Hood, from Charles Perrault's rapey version that was a warning for young ladies to stay away from wolfish men, through the later Grimms' version that told little girls to always obey their parents . . . and back to older versions, and forward to every twist on the tale you can imagine. Orenstein looks at both popular culture and history.

Rating: this was an enjoyable and interesting read. She included many unusual illustrations that added a lot to the text. 4.5 stars.

Recommended for: people interested in cultural studies and fairy tales.


I just like this cover.

Why I Read This Now: Fairy tales is one of my areas of self-study. Red Riding Hood is my favourite tale.

I love your study of fairy tales.

>161 Nickelini: Further to your study of fairy tales, I'd be really interested to hear your take on a story I read recently by Steven Millhauser called "The Princess, the Dwarf and the Dungeon," which is contained in his Little Kingdoms. It not only tells a classic fairy tale but comments on it. I was very taken with it and how it almost rewired my brain in terms of reading stories! You may have a totally different reaction, but if you happen upon it sometime . . .

And I keep meaning to read more fairy tales in their modern incarnations, since I loved them so as a girl.

26. Effigy, Alissa York, 2007


Cover comments: Really like this cover (designer: Andrew Roberts)

Comments: Set on a ranch in Utah in the 19th century, Effigy is the story of . . . well, I found it to be such a jumble that I'm not really sure what it's about. I've actually written several descriptions here and then erased them. I'll just say it's about a polygamous Mormon family where the youngest wife is a taxidermist (and more interesting to me, but not a focus, another wife raises silkworms).

Effigy was shortlisted for the Giller Prize and nominated for the IMPAC Dublin award. My sister-in-law loved this book, and it has very strong reviews here at LT.

Unfortunately, Effigy didn't work for me at all. I often enjoy non-linear novels, but this one pushed that technique too far. The story jumped between a large number of characters, and then jumped again by telling each character's story in non-chronological order. This made it very difficult to connect with the characters or settle in to the book. To exacerbate this problem, York writes a flowery, poetic style that seemed to try to obscure the meaning of sentences for no reason than to be arty. Between the disjointed timeline, the quick switches between characters, and the trying-to-hard language, Effigy was too choppy to enjoy. As Publisher's Weekly says "Ungainly florid prose and a plodding narrative mar York's latest."

Rating: Disappointed.

Recommended for: Other than Publisher's Weekly and me, everyone else seems to like this one so maybe you will too.

Why I Read This Now: I just read a non-fiction book about polygamous Mormons, and remember that I had this in my TBR pile so thought I'd read it while my head was still in Mormon mode.

I think I'll skip this one.

>165 Nickelini: that's a shame - sounded like it had the potential to be good.

>143 Nickelini: Yesterday I finished The Children Act after far too long away from reading and LT. Today I caught up on your thread and there it was. Oh to be in a real life book club where they read authors like McEwan.
As someone else who loves reading fairy tales themselves and reading about them, Little Red Riding Hood Uncloaked looks like a must read.

Great reviews as always.

27. The Maeve Binchy Writers' Club, Maeve Binchy (and others), 2007


Cover comments: I think this cover is lovely. It may be one of the reasons I bought the book, all those years ago.

Comments: Best selling author Maeve Binchy and 10 other Irish writers give tips on writing and publishing. This short book is slight on substance (it would never be the one and only writing book anyone would ever need), but it wasn't a waste of time. Interesting and encouraging enough for the effort it took to read. There is a short story at the end that is pertinent and reminds me that even though I haven't read a Binchy novel in at least 15 years, she once was my go-to comfort read.

Recommended for: this isn't a must-read for anyone, but if you come across a copy and are interested, give it a try.

Why I Read This Now: I have a habit of buying books on writing but then not reading them. This was the shortest on my pile, and had been there too long. I remember buying this off the small book table at the neighbourhood grocery store, and I knew that it wouldn't amount to much but I probably hadn't bought a book all that month so threw it in my cart.

I haven't read anything by Maeve Binchy in years. I used to love her. I have a couple of her books unread on my shelves, which I might get to some day.

>170 NanaCC: I had some unread Binchys in my tbr too, and I tried to read one about five years ago and chouldn't get into it. I used to love her, but I think my tastes have just really changed. Even so, I have nothing but warm thoughts of her and wish her well.

28. Dirt Music, Tim Winton, 2001


cover comments: not a very interesting cover, but the scene definitely fits the book.

Comments: This is another one of those books that gets either glowing or terrible reviews from readers.

Set in current day Western Australia (well, 2001, anyway), Dirt Music is about three people who are struggling with their lives falling apart; well, maybe their not really struggling but actually pushing things along a bit. Yeah, definitely some self-destruction going on with all three. Georgie is a tough but sexy ex-nurse who has returned to Australia after a life abroad. She has taken up with Jim Buckridge, a highly successful fisherman and widower. Then she meets Luther Fox, a poacher and pretty much the opposite of Buckridge. A fourth important character is the wilds of Western Australia, which Winton displays in vivid detail. There are also scores of unusual, mostly unsavoury, minor characters.

This is a complex novel that at times is beautifully written. I jotted down many phrases and sentences in my writing journal. Unfortunately, it didn't entirely work for me. For one thing, Winton has a habit of burying his action in his paragraphs of rich description. This makes for that effect of reading along and suddenly thinking "huh? what did I miss?" and having to go back and reread. Winton also wrote this with a keyboard that didn't have quotation marks, which wasn't a huge issue for me, but really, I like the quotation mark, so authors--use them please. Don't make your readers work just because. Finally, Winton uses a lot of specialized language. Some of it describes motors and boats and such, and some of it was Australian slang. Now, I lived in Australia for a year, so I have a pretty solid grasp of Aussie slang--better than most non-Australians for sure. But still there were times I read sentences and thought "not a clue what that means."

The worst thing for me is that it just wasn't a compelling read. I have been a little distracted by other things, but this book didn't call me to pick it up. It took me 24 days to read (400 pages), which is really slow for me.

Dirt Music won the Miles Franklin Award and was short-listed for the Booker.

Rating: this is definitely a good book, and I expect my memory will gloss over the sloggyness of it and remember it well.

If you want to read an accurate positive review, go look for Wandering_Star's on the book's page.

Recommended for: readers who admire complex novels with beautiful writing, people who want a little literary adventure in Western Australia.

Excellent review, but I think I'll give this one a miss. You are right about the absent quotation marks. It gives a book a more arty appearance, a sort of clever look, but loses something much more important. I guess my mind has been programmed to use punctuation. I need it in order to absorb the story.

>173 VivienneR: I need it in order to absorb the story.

Yeah, I don't get what's so bad about quotation marks. Like you say, "arty" but really? Why make your reader work at that. I'd rather focus on layers of meaning and symbolism. Not just figuring out who is talking and when.

>172 Nickelini: Tim Winton is an author I really like. Dirt Music was pretty typical of his writing. Each of his novels though is quite different from the others in content, so you might want to try just one more. I did like your review.

>175 SassyLassy: - Oh, I fully plan to read more of Tim Winton. There was lots in this that I liked, despite my overall "meh" review. I've also been distracted, so all my problems with it may have come from that alone. I have three more of his in my TBR pile, so I'm not done yet.

Interesting review. I tried to get Cloudstreet by this author from the library this week but no one's bothered to bring their copies back. It also seems to either get rave or 'meh' reviews. Is he one of those love or loathe him authors?

>177 AlisonY: Is he one of those love or loathe him authors?

I have no idea. I am intrigued by Cloudstreet as it's been on my list of books I want to read after I saw it years ago on a list of must-read magic realism. I find that interesting, since there was no magic realism at all in Dirt Music.

29. Fifth Business, Robertson Davies, 1970


Cover comments: This Penguin Classics edition uses a cover painting, unnamed, by Brad Holland. It's strange, and I like it. But what does it mean?

Comments: When Fifth Business was published, the New York Times said "Its plot seems outlandish in summary, and adjectives won't do. Perhaps I'd better just say that after one reads it one begins to muse, and the more one muses, the more interesting it gets." Well, that pretty much says it. The novel is about a professor reflecting back on his life, but that barely describes it.

Rating: I can't find a fault in this novel. Despite that, this 252 page book took me three weeks to read. I don't know if I'm just off reading, or what. Anyway, glad to see this one gone.

Why I Read This Now: a friend from my book club was reading it and asked me to do a buddy read. I'm afraid I wasn't much of a buddy for her.

Recommended for: it's a classic, and on the 1001 books list. Not a difficult read. Interesting, I guess. Don't know why I'm so "meh" on it.

30. On Writing Well, William Zinsser, 5th Edition, 1994


Cover Comments: What do you put on the cover of a book about writing? Options are somewhat limited and bound to be uninspiring. This is a strong choice, and still looks good 20 years later.

Comments: On Writing Well has been on my bookshelf since 1997, when it came highly recommended from one of my technical writing instructors. Over the years I've read chunks of it, but I recently decided to read the entire book cover-to-cover.

On the front, it's dubbed "an informal guide to writing nonfiction." It's not written as a how-to guide, but more as an inspiration. Zinsser gives lots of examples of his own and others' work, and analyzes the decisions behind writing something one way over another. All of this is done in a conversational, entertaining style. My only complaint is that my 5th edition sounds a little dated in places--many of the cultural references are forgotten, and there is a whole chapter on the benefits of using a word processor and helping a writing overcome reluctance to using one, which is almost impossible to imagine.

Recommended for: This is a must-read book for anyone who suddenly finds themselves in a position to write something, whether it's the newsletter at work, or a blog, or they just want to take their writing seriously. It would be especially useful to academic writers who wonder why no one is loving their stilted, arcane essays.

Rating: Excellent. William Zinsswer died last month, so we won't be seeing any further revised editions from him. The latest is the 30th anniversary, 7th edition. Over one million copies of On Writing Well have sold since 1976. If you're going to pick one book on writing, this might be the one.

Why I Read This Now: I have a mountain of books on writing and I'm on a mission to clear them out. This is one of the older ones. I've been corporate and technical writer for almost 20 years, so I didn't learn anything new, but it still time well spent.

Enjoyed your review of Zinsser's On Writing Well. I devoured it many years ago and found it to be really useful. Had not heard about his death.

I've had On Writing Well longer than you have and have never read it. You've given me a little push.

>179 Nickelini: Unfortunately this was the first Robertson Davies book I read, and my reaction was much like yours. It put me off him for years. I later read the complete Cornish Trilogy and loved it. Perhaps the 1970s weren't good to Davies.

On Writing Well looks like a book I need.

>179 Nickelini: I want to re-read all of Robertson Davies' books because it's been decades since I first read and enjoyed them. Fifth Business might be last in line, though.

My reaction to Fifth Business was much the same as yours. I had every reason to like it, but was just glad it was over. I enjoyed the second book in the trilogy, The Manticore, the most even though it seems to be the least popular of the three with most readers.

31. The Swimming Pool Library, Alan Hollinghurst, 1988


Cover comments: I think this is fabulous. The image under the shimmering blue water is a detail from The Dying Slave by Michelangelo. Fits the novel perfectly--the designer obviously read and understood the book.

Comments: The Swimming Pool Library is a beautifully written, layered novel, set in a London inhabited almost entirely by gay men just before the AIDS epidemic. The story is told by Will, a privileged 25 year old, and is mirrored in the story of his new friend, an elderly Lord.

Rating: I really didn't expect to like this at all. I bought a used copy of the book years ago when I had just started collecting books from the 1001 list, but never expected to read it just because I have so many other books. Right from the start, it was a pleasant surprise. 4 stars.

Why I Read This Now: not really sure what exactly made me pick this up. I loved The Stranger's Child by the same author and thought I should at least give this a chance before I chucked it in the charity bin.

Recommended for: readers who like literary fiction and books set in London. Readers who don't like reading about promiscuity should skip this one.

32. What We Talk About When We Talk About the Tube: The District Line, John Lanchester, 2013


Cover comments: probably wouldn't have been my choice if I were the designer of this book. The illustration is of the author's notes, so that's pretty cool though. Don't know how he writes anything because his notes are indecipherable.

Comments: This was a lovely, meandering read full of all sorts of interesting tidbits about London and the Underground system as a whole (the District Line specifically). I also learned (well, I've heard this before but had forgotten) that the Underground contains the Tube, but the Tube does not contain the Underground, even though most people use the names interchangeably. I myself do not make the distinction when I ride the system, although I think on my next trip to London I won't be able to not notice.

Recommended for: a must-read for Londonophiles and Tube enthusiasts.

Rating: I rate this too-bad-the-book-is-only-87-pages-long.

Why I Read This Now: I was delighted when near the end of the book, Lanchester mentioned a scene from The Swimming Pool Library, which is the last book I read. I think all the mention of the Tube in that novel made me remember that I had some of these Penguin Underground editions.

I feel very sorry for myself not getting a trip to London this summer. This book was as close as I'm going to get. I may read Lanchester's novel Capital very soon.

>186 Nickelini: I also loved The Swimming Pool Library. You probably would enjoy The Line of Beauty as well if you haven't read it already - it's perhaps my favourite of the 3 of Hollinghurst's that I've read.

>188 AlisonY: I've owned The Line of Beauty for years and will definitely get to it when I'm in the mood for a big book.

>186 Nickelini: I read this last year, and I have to agree, it's fabulous!

>186 Nickelini: & >187 Nickelini: I have another book by Hollinghurst, The Stranger's Child. After reading your review of The Swimming Pool Library I'm inclined to move it closer to the top of the tbr heap.

I also have John Lancester's What We Talk About When We Talk About the Tube. I probably would never have noticed it except I had just read kidzdoc's glowing review.

>191 VivienneR: - I loved The Stranger's Child--it was one of the top 5 books I read the year that I read it.

I learned about the Penguin Tube series from Darryl too, but I'd just been in London spending a lot of time on the Tube so it was a must-buy. I also bought some other books about the Tube while I was in London. It seems to be a popular subject with a few of us!

Glad to hear good views of The Stranger's Child, it's been on my list for a while.

33. My Secret Garden: Women's Sexual Fantasies, Nancy Friday, 1973 (with an new introduction from 1998)


Cover comments: This is 2008 edition of the book, and the designer was clever. It hits all the notes.

Comments: In 1973, Nancy Friday published a large collection of answers to an ad she placed looking for women to tell their deepest darkest sexual fantasies. Apparently at the time, people didn't believe women even had fantasies, or it made them uncomfortable to admit it. Many women who did have them thought they were freaks, and many men thought himself so sexual proficient that no woman he touched would "need" to fantasize.

The book is structured with Fridays's pseudo-psychological commentary interspersed with the fantasies that she collected through letters, phone calls, and interviews. She must have edited them heavily, because the word patterns, word choice, and tone are the same throughout the book. There is a vast range of fantasies, so something for everyone I suppose, but they all have the same voice. Overall, the book felt very dated, and not just the places where the woman fantasizes about getting it on with a guy wearing a flowered shirt and purple velvet bellbottoms. A lot of the fantasies were unintentionally sad, as they revealed young women who had poor sex education and are now in horrible marriages. The racism made me uncomfortable. And I was surprised to hear about so many women who got married at 18 or 19. I think this is a relic whose time has passed.

So, in conclusion, I didn't find the analysis that I was looking for, and the fantasies bored me. I was surprised to see it tagged as erotica here on LT, and even more surprised to see reviews on GoodReads that talked about how sexy and titillating they found it. To each her own, I guess.

Why I Read This Now: I was doing some research for a project I'm working on and had been following internet rabbit holes when I came across it. I remember this book being mentioned in women's magazines extensively through the late 70s and 80s but I never paid it any attention. Thought it might have some insights.

Recommended for: students of gender studies and sexuality, students of the 1970s, people who are 40 years late learning that woman enjoy sexual fantasies. The text is available free online.

Rating: I'm sure it was great in its day. An update of Friday's project might be interesting. Otherwise, this one is past its best before date.

I remember when this came out. It made quite a stir! I guess we can be glad it seems dated.

>194 Nickelini:

The place to look for women's fantasies these days is fanfiction.

>196 LolaWalser: - Yes! Good point.

>195 rebeccanyc: I guess we can be glad it seems dated.

Indeed!

I remember reading this when it came out -- and as I recall, I found it pretty dull even then.

>194 Nickelini: The way age of marriage has fluctuated is really interesting to me. We think of marrying at 18 or 19 as being long past, but it actually became more common in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1921 15% of brides were under 21 and in 1965 that had risen to 40% (I think that statistic is specific to England, but it seems to have been pretty similar in the US).

>200 mabith: It is interesting, isn't it. From what I've come across, it seems like the young marriage blip of the mid-20th century was the exception not the norm. I just grew up believing that woman had always married at 18-21 (I was 31--such a rebel).

Yeah, I think desire for independence and more mature young people just hit that wall of it not being okay to live with a lover (at least not if you were living in the same town as your parents). That's 90% of why my mom married at 19 (and then got divorced pretty swiftly and moved a few states away where she could live with her boyfriends). For me growing up practically everyone was divorced, probably impacted my desire to never get officially married. My sister married a guy she'd been dating for eight years when she was 26 and I actually thought she was joking when she told me, it just seemed unspeakably young to marry!

>202 mabith: I'd actually forgotten, but I have a history of young marriage in my immediate family. My mom was 20 when she got married in 1947, and she was definitely in love with my dad (I found her diaries after she died), but I think a lot of that was to get out of her house with an abusive father and 8 younger siblings (she changed her brother's diaper on her wedding day). She died two weeks short of their 60th wedding anniversary. My oldest brother got married at 20 (1968) and divorced 10 years later, my next oldest brother got married 3 days after his 18th birthday (1971) and they are still married. So why I was surprised by all the young marriages in My Secret Garden I don't know. My youngest brother and I were around 30, and as for my daughters, I'm not sure that they will ever get married. It just doesn't seem necessary anymore, at least not in Canada (taxes and health benefits are the same for non-married couples--something I recently learned isn't a thing in the US).

she was 26 and I actually thought she was joking when she told me, it just seemed unspeakably young to marry

That would be my reaction too. My older daughter is 18 and I can't imagine her or any of her friends getting married.

His Secret Life; male Sexual fantasies This looks worse than My Secret garden

My grandma was around 30 when she married in the late 1940s, and growing up one of my aunts didn't marry until her early 40s and another didn't marry but lived with the same partner for all of my life, so it's probably not just that my parents and many of my friends' parents were divorced influencing my feelings. Those family trends are always interesting.

The different legal structure is definitely the key, and part of why marriage equality has been so important to many here. Because I'm on disability benefits that's actually a huge bar to marriage because I would lose benefits (mostly medical) that are unlikely to be made up by a partner's income unless they're very wealthy. The friends I have who don't want children (and don't already have any) and won't gain much by marrying who still want to officially kind of baffle me (I totally get have a wedding-type of party, or a religious ceremony, I just wouldn't invite the government). Of course two of those friends were married once before and swore blind they'd never marry again.

>205 mabith: I married young (22) and divorced young (24). I remarried at 39, although my husband and I have no interest in kids. In my case, it was because he was looking at potential jobs in other countries and getting long-term visas is hard if you're not married.

But to your point in >203 Nickelini:, my daughter is 21 and I cannot fathom the idea of her getting married within the next year!

Those family trends are always interesting.

Yes they are!

Because I'm on disability benefits that's actually a huge bar to marriage because I would lose benefits (mostly medical) that are unlikely to be made up by a partner's income unless they're very wealthy.

That sounds sort of awful . . . but honestly, I don't know the legislation around that in Canada so for all I know we might be the same. No idea. Of course, medical is medical in Canada, except that employed people can get group benefits such as prescription drugs, glasses, and dental. A lot of that would be covered for someone deemed disabled and might transfer to the spouse's work coverage if they were to marry. Interesting.

206 In my case, it was because he was looking at potential jobs in other countries and getting long-term visas is hard if you're not married.

I asked my husband if he knew of any benefit of being married over 1 yr cohabitation (that's the term & rule) here in Canada, and your example is the only thing we can think of if both partners are Canadian. The only other example I think is if he had only Italian citizenship (he has dual) and I was trying to bring him into Canada.

>180 Nickelini: Mine is that 30th anniversary edition; if it increases in value after his death, it'll do so with the most uninspiring cover!



I also have his Writing About Your Life, I should get to one or the other.

I disliked Atonement but liked Saturday on audio. You've convinced me to try The Children Act.

>180 Nickelini:, >209 detailmuse: And I have the second edition!

>209 detailmuse:, >210 rebeccanyc: . . . so is this one of those best sellers that people buy with all good intentions, and then let languish on the shelf?

>211 Nickelini: Ha! Yes, I have one floating around here somewhere (actually, I do know exactly where it is. I haven't read it, though).

>211 Nickelini: Yes, for me. It's been there for more than 30 years!

>206 ursula: Oh yeah, there are definitely other reasons besides taxes, healthcare, and kids (and the kids thing is more just because enough stuff pops up that's easier if you're married vs it being necessary for the kids themselves). My BIL was going to grad school soon after they married, and it definitely helped for housing stuff. My friends who decided to marry again there's just none of that (no question of moving for work, both already have good work provided healthcare or neither does, both have in-laws who like them, etc...). I'm sure part of it is hearing them bash marriage for years before this slightly annoying me!

34. Capital, John Lanchester, 2012


Cover comments: Fun, inviting, I like it.

Comments: I bought this book two summers ago at Daunt Books in Cheapside, London, which is sort of fitting since one of the main characters in Capital is a banker in the City. Roger Yount lives in south London with his vacuous wife Arabella and their two young sons. Arabella, who is a stock-character from one of those Real Housewives of ____ shows, may be one-dimensional, but I found her highly amusing. They live on Pepys Road, a recently gentrified neighbourhood where we meet the rest of the huge cast of characters in this sprawling novel.

There is the old woman who has lived her entire life on the street, the Pakistani Kamal family who run the corner grocery, a Polish builder who works on various houses on the streets, an educated Zimbabwean refugee working illegally as a parking warden, a young soccer star from Senegal with his father and minder, a Hungarian nanny, an anonymous installation artist in the style of Banksy, and a smattering of other characters. The title, Capital, refers to the city of London itself, and also to the money that drives these characters lives.

Capital immediately reminded me of a book I read earlier this year: A Week in December, by Sebastian Faulks. The first third of Capital is set at the same time (December 2007), they're both novels about London, and they share some of the same character types: the wealthy banker and his wife, the Muslim maybe-terrorist, the Polish immigrant, and the immigrant soccer star. It also reminds me of one of those jam-packed Dickens novels with the omniscient, visible narrator.

Overall, I found Capital to be an entertaining, enjoyable read. I particularly liked the authorial voice. At 577 pages, I think it was over-long, but I'm a big fan of the 200 page novel, so that might just be me.

Recommended for: I think Capital would be a great vacation book. The writing is satisfying but not too taxing, and the book is structured in short chapters, so easy to pick up if you're interrupted, or conversely, easy to read "just one more chapter" if you're not. I also recommend it to anyone who--like me--loves London novels.

Why I Read This Now: it's been at the top of my TBR since I bought it. No trip to London this year, so I have to visit through books. Also, I recently read Lanchester's very short What We Talk About When We Talk About the Tube and it was so readable, I wanted to hear more of his voice.

Rating: If I wanted to criticize and pick apart this book, I could. But I had too much fun reading it to do that, so for me Capital gets four and a half stars.

Capital sounds like one I would enjoy. Adding it to my wishlist.

35. Irma Voth, Miriam Toews, 2011


Cover comments: I love this cover. The colours are gorgeous, and I really love all the little silver stars. And it fits what happens in the story. A winner all-round. Well done book designer Kelly Hill.

Comments: I also love the name of this book--when I first heard it, it made me laugh out loud. "Irma Voth" is a quintessential Mennonite name. It's like naming the title of a book about a Jewish woman "Esther Finkelberg," or one about an Italian guy named "Guido Rossi."

Unfortunately, the title is just about the only thing I liked about this book. I found it too scattered, and either I didn't care about the characters or I was downright annoyed by them. There was some good writing, but it wasn't enough to save Irma Voth. I have to say that the end of the book picked up, and the last 50 pages were far better than the first 200.

Rating: Very disappointed. I gave Toew's novel A Complicated Kindness five stars, and The Flying Troutmans four, so I was expecting more from this.

Recommended for: I don't recommend it, although there are lots of 4- and 5-star reviews here at LT, so lots of people did like Irma Voth.

Why I Read This Now: It had been at the top of my TBR pile since it came out in 2011.

Did you read All My Puny Sorrows? I loved it. Couldn't get into The Flying Troutmans years ago. Maybe I need to try again.

>218 alphaorder: Nancy - I have All My Puny Sorrows, along with several others by her. But I won't get to them this year. I think you can carry on just fine with never having read The Flying Troutmans. I listened to it on audiobook last year, so it was company while I was doing mindless chores. Not sure I would have cared enough to actually sit down with it.

36. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, Benjamin Alire Saenz, 2012


Cover comments: The attractiveness of this cover and the title piqued my interest in this one.

Comments: Two Mexican-American teens discover friendship and each other in 1980s El Paso.

Why I Read This Now: by 15 year old daughter really liked it and I thought it sounded interesting.

Rating: The first person narrator speaks in declarative sentences. One declarative sentence after another. At first I thought this gave the book a very simplistic, YA feel, but then I noticed that the author was actually more subtle, and there were layers of nuance and allusion. This makes it tricky to rate--a fairly well-written book that at times is purposely not well written? Hmmm, guess that means 3 stars (average LT rating is 4.5 stars).

Recommended for: Not really sure, but Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe is a huge hit with both critics and readers. I'd say it's not my thing, but then I'm not the intended audience either.

37. The Joy of Writing Sex: A Guide for Fiction Writers, Revised Edition, Elizabeth Benedict, 2002


Cover comments: This must be the cover of a writing book. How do I know that? Because it's perfectly fine, but uninspired, all at the same time.

Why I Read This Now: I came across it while doing research for a project and was curious.

Rating: 4.5 stars. So much better, and so different, than I expected.

Comments: What a surprise. I think the title (which is a play on the 1970s classic The Joy of Sex) is a bit misleading, because to me it sounds like a how-to guide for writers of erotica and romance fiction. And it is none of those things. Instead, I would describe it as a discussion on how sex functions to promote story and character in literary fiction. It's really about what makes great writing more than anything.

One of the book's strengths is how Benedict uses examples from contemporary literature to illustrate her points -- many from books I've read, or that are now on my wishlist. She also includes interviews with many writers, including Russell Banks, Edmund White, Alan Hollinghurst, Carol Sheilds, and John Updike, among many others. She includes a wide-range of approaches--safe-sex, AIDs, first time, adultery, married sex, illegal sex, recreational sex, gay, lesbian, masturbation--and covers them in a matter of fact way without embarrassment.

I have to admit that I'm one of those readers who often finds sex scenes in books to be quite boring and I tend to skip over them. After reading the Joy of Writing Sex, I think I'll look at them differently.

Recommended for: To quote one of the cover blurbs, this one from Elaine Showalter: "Elizabeth Benedict's advice for writers about the literary meaning of sex is also wonderful advice for readers. An important book for all serious teachers and students of contemporary fiction."

Well, I would not even have glanced at a book with that title if I saw it in a bookstore, but now you have me intrigued. I'll keep an eye out for it.

The joy of writing Sex interesting

Great review.

38. A Shropshire Lad, AE Housman, 1896


Cover comments: a fitting cover, and as part of the Penguin English Journeys series, it's very nice.

Comments: A collection of short poems, written in a simple style, sometimes like a ballad. Themes include young men, farmers, soldiers, untimely death, working in London while your heart is back home, girlfriends, ghosts, and lots of bucolic ideal. I kept having to remind myself that these poems aren't a response to WWI, but instead to the Boer War.

Rating: even though I have an English lit degree, I feel unqualified to rate the poems on their own merit. I did recognize a few poems, and many other phrases. Several of them are used in the film Out of Africa, and one, "To an Athlete Dying Young," was Karen Blixen (Meryl Streep)'s elegy to Denys Finch-Hatten (Robert Redford). I've seen that movie about a thousand times and didn't know what the poem was, but wasn't surprised when I found it in this volume as A Shropshire Lad is mentioned at least once in their conversations. What does that have to do with my rating? I guess it means I don't technically know, but it had a nostalgia factor for me.

Why I Read This Now: I own about 12 of the 20 "Penguin English Journeys," and I was re-shelving them when this one fell open in front of my eyes.

Recommended for: readers who like to romanticize the English countryside in poetry. It's only 86 scant pages, so not much of an investment.

Here's a clip of Meryl Streep reading Housman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yRhm6zfnbY

Enjoyed your commentary on the rating.

I find it odd that a poetry collection is so difficult to review. One shouldn't need a degree. I never know how to review them or how put language to my response.

I think while Housman exhibits an easy, lilting skill, he is more evocative of a particular period, as you note, than a poet for the ages. Certainly anyone who grew up in the mid-20th c probably would recognize at least a few of his poems:

“When I Was One-And-Twenty

When I was one-and-twenty
I heard a wise man say,
`Give crowns and pounds and guineas
But not your heart away;
Give pearls away and rubies
But keep your fancy free.'
But I was one-and-twenty
No use to talk to me.

When I was one-and-twenty
I heard him say again,
`The heart out of the bosom
Was never given in vain;
'Tis paid with sighs a plenty
And sold for endless rue.'
And I am two-and-twenty
And oh, 'tis true, 'tis true.”

― A.E. Housman, A Shropshire Lad

I'm way behind here! Catching up...

I'd like to read The Swimming-Pool Library, but I have The Line of Beauty and The Folding Star to read first. I also loved The Stranger's Child.

I'm glad that you also liked What We Talk About When We Talk About the Tube. I have Capital, and based on your comments I'll move it considerably higher up the TBR list.

No Canadians were chosen for this year's Booker Prize longlist. Are there any novels you think should have been included?

>228 kidzdoc: No Canadians were chosen for this year's Booker Prize longlist. Are there any novels you think should have been included?

I'm not sure what the cut off dates are, and I also don't read new novels (I like them suitably aged and seasoned), so I'm not up on what was missed. I usually rely on you to tell me ;-)

>229 Nickelini: Ha! I know next to nothing about Canadian literature, though.

>228 kidzdoc: No Canadians were chosen for this year's Booker Prize longlist. Are there any novels you think should have been included?

Jumping right in here. Although like Nickelini I don't usually read new novels, I have a few authors for whom I make exceptions to the rule. One is Michael Crummey whose Sweetland was released in 2014. I haven't read it yet (saving it for winter) but would highly recommend anything by him and think his work should be on prize lists everywhere. Galore is probably his best.

The dates for publication in the UK for this year's prize appear to be October 1, 2013 to September 30, 2014. If it was published outside the UK before these dates, it must have been published on or after October 1, 2011. That all assumes I read the rules correctly of course.

>217 Nickelini: "Irma Voth" is a quintessential Mennonite name.
The things I learn on your thread! Including what The Joy of Writing Sex is about -- great review and ditto what >222 RidgewayGirl: said.

>217 Nickelini: and >232 detailmuse:

"Irma Voth" is a quintessential Mennonite name.

This made me laugh - a couple of days ago I saw Irma Voth in a bookshop and assumed it must be related to Irma Vep, a rather odd film in which the titular Irma Vep (an anagram of 'vampire') spends most of her time in a black latex catsuit looking sexily confused. I guess I was wrong!

>233 wandering_star: -- well, not quite that, but Irma Voth isn't exactly traditional either. Sounds like she might have known Irma Vep.

Just got back from 4 days in Portland, Oregon and Seattle. Of course in Portland I had to do a little damage at the heavenly Powell's books, and came away with:

Cooking with Fernet Branca, James Hamilton-Paterson
Vex, Hex, Smash, Smooch: Let Verbs Power Your Writing, Constance Hale
Among the Janeites, Deborah Yaffe
The Kingdom of This World, Alejo Carpentier
Mr Darcy and the Secret of Becoming a Gentleman, Maria Hamilton
The Trials of Honorable F. Darcy, Sara Angelini
The Comedy of Errors, Shakespeare (the Arden edition I've been looking for)
Help! for Writers: 210 Solutions to the Problems Every Writer Faces, Roy Peter Clark

We also went to the In Other Words Feminist Community Center, which is the set for the recurring sketches in Portlandia set at Women & Women First Bookstore. Here is a clip with guest star Aubrey Plaza. It really does look a lot like this. I bought Desire: Where Sex Meets Addiction by Susan Cheever. Here's the YouTube clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ch1kXp3mQA

>232 detailmuse: The things I learn on your thread! Including what The Joy of Writing Sex is about

Yes! So now I know that the first question we ask when there is sex in a novel is "how does this advance the story or character?" Her definition of the difference is that in literature, sex can be many things, including a failure, a disaster, something terrible. In erotica or porn, the reader needs a satisfying end to sexual encounters. Not so in literary friction. Which leads to the question, "why is the sex there?"

I already had my first test case-- The Trials of the Honorable F. Darcy, which I read in one sitting over my Portland-Seattle holiday. It's a modern day retelling of Pride and Prejudice with lots of sex. Using the criteria of The Joy of Writing Sex, I deem this book is erotica, even though I found it in the fiction and literature room at Powell's Books, and not their Romance or Erotica sections. Yet it doesn't show any "erotica" tags here at FB. Maybe because there is also a story? It is tagged Romance, and I don't read that genre, so maybe this type of sex in a book is typical (?)

>235 Nickelini: I loved The Kingdom of This World (but then I love Alejo Carpentier), but I gave up on Cooking with Fernet Branca. Vex, Hex, Smash, Smooch is a wonderful title.

Nice haul -- looks like good summer reading.

39. The Trials of the Honorable F. Darcy, Sara Angelini 2009


Cover comments: if you think this looks like chicklit, you would be right.

Comments: Set in modern day San Francisco, in this retelling of Pride and Prejudice, Fitzwilliam "Will" Darcy is a judge, and Elizabeth Bennet is a lawyer who appears in his court. Darcy and Elizabeth get to the mutual attraction much quicker than they do in P&P, and instead of the class system keeping them apart, here they have to get past the obstacle that a lawyer-judge relationship is unethical and career ruining.

This is a fantasy-romance and not to be taken too seriously. There's lots of sex, and carousing, and the occasional F-bomb, but I think Angelini still kept Elizabeth and Darcy true to character--in a 21st century version. The author plays with elements from P&P in a fun way --for example, Elizabeth and her friend Charlotte Lucas work at the law firm Gardiner & Associates, and the brief appearance of Mr Collins is when Elizabeth defends him against a charge of soliciting a prostitute. This novel focuses on the two main characters, and Wickham, Lydia, Mr Bennet and others are barely mentioned. Jane And Bingley aren't as pathetic as they are in P&P, and Caroline Bingley and Mrs Bennet are somewhat different and rather more likeable.

I think the secret of reading these Pride and Prejudice-inspired books is to go in with really low expectations. If they're lousy, discard them without a thought. But just maybe they will be fun. Which is how I'd describe the Trials of the Honorable F. Darcy: lots of fun. I read the 338 page book in one sitting the other night in my hotel room in Seattle.

Recommended for: a vacation read, or a rainy day. You don't have to have read Pride and Prejudice to enjoy this, although it would add entertaining layers. Readers who self-identify as a Jane Austen "purist"should stay away.

Rating: fun, fun, fun.

Why I Read This Now: this was part of my Powell's Books binge. When I couldn't sleep Sunday night, the Honorable F. Darcy called my name.

40. Beyond Black, Hilary Mantel, 2005


Cover comments: well, isn't this just a great picture. The cover itself is okay.

Why I Read This Now: I have 7 Hilary Mantel novels in my TBR and I'm not mentally ready for Wolf Hall. This one was nominated for the Booker, the Orange Prize, and is on the Guardian 1000 list. Also, I started this last month, so "Orange July at LT".

Comments: Well, this was much better than I expected.

Alison is a medium who really can talk to the dead. She works the circuit outside of London, performing to crowds. She meets the prickly Colette, who becomes her personal assistant and room mate. But Alison is haunted herself by a childhood that would horrify Charles Dickens. Seriously, I don't know if I've ever read a more disturbing childhood. At least since I read Push--although to this book's advantage, Alison doesn't remember much, and doesn't understand a lot of what she sees.

I've only read one other Mantel, An Experiment in Love, which was good but not particularly notable. I have to say that the premise of Beyond Black actually turned me off -- I don't find mediums very interesting due to the fact that I think they are all, 100% of them, frauds. Just not into that whole "woo" thing. Because of all of that, I approached Beyond Black with some trepidation. Right from the start though, the writing grabbed me, and the whole "woo" thing wasn't an issue at all--after all, I told myself, I enjoyed the movie "Ghost" without believing any of it. It's fiction, and anything can happen. Relax, enjoy.

I read this with a pencil because there were so many great snippets of fabulous writing, both on a sentence level, as well as on the level of the entire novel. I particularly loved how Mantel painted such a bleak picture of England--the grey modern suburbs, the bland food, the banal people (that said, my personal experience of England has been much rosier. I've seen interesting cities, towns, and villages, and gorgeous countryside, eaten fabulous food regularly, and met so many "lovely" people. I say "lovely" because people I meet in England seem to use that word more than we do in Canada. Still, I could appreciate this satirical look at England circa 1997-2002).

Now the downside. Too long, too repetitive. My edition was 450-odd pages, should have been no more than 350, maybe a bit less.

Rating: waffling between 4 & 4.5 stars. Had it been 300 pages it would have been a 5 star read.

Recommended for: readers who love dark humour and sharp writing.

>240 Nickelini: I've been waiting for this review! I think I said this on the "What are you reading now" thread, but I've had this sitting on my shelf for a while but haven't wanted to read it, mainly because of the premise. I will give it a shot sometime soon though, keeping your reservations in mind. Glad you enjoyed it!

Great review of Beyond Black, Joyce! That definitely goes onto the wish list.

I couldn't agree with you more about England and its people. I've met at least a dozen lovely LTers on my travels there, including Paul (Polaris) and Caroline (Caroline_McElwee) from Club Read, and I look forward to seeing them again next month.

Yes, great review. I also approached Beyond Black but I ended up liking it (not only for the writing) but also for the satire and the sympathy towards Alison's experiences. An Experiment in Love wasn't one of my favorite Mantels either. What are the other Mantels you have on your TBR? Beyond the famous historical novels, I really liked The Giant, O'Brien, Fludd, A Change of Climate, and Vacant Possession.

I've always steered away from Mantel, for no good reason other than she slightly scares me when I see her interviewed. I didn't think her writing was for me, but you have me very curious now about Beyond Black.

I picked up a copy of Beyond Black because I liked Wolf Hall, but might never have read it because I feel the same as you about mediums, etc. I'll hang on to it for when I'm ready to make a literary return to England.

Thanks for all your nice comments, everyone!

>243 rebeccanyc: What are the other Mantels you have on your TBR?

Wolf Hall
Bring Up the Bodies
The giant, O'Brien
A Change of Climate
Eight Months on Ghazzah Street
Every Day Is Mother's Day

Love your opening comment. It seems I may be the odd person out, but Beyond Black was my least favourite of the Mantels I have read to date. You're right about the writing, and I didn't mind the bleak portrayal of England, as that's how I often find it. However, the characters themselves I found awful. I certainly don't have to like the characters in a given book, but these ones were just too hopeless.

I've read five of the six books on your Mantel TBR, in addition to two others, but as always have to throw in a plug for A Place of Greater Safety. I'm also waiting anxiously for the third in the Wolf Hall series.

You're absolutely right about "lovely". The only people I know who use it are from England.

>246 Nickelini: I loved Wolf Hall and A Change of Climate, liked Bring Up the Bodies and The Giant, OBrien, didn't like Eight Months on Ghazzah Street, and thought Every Day Is Mother's Day was nowhere near as good as its sequel, Vacant Possession. But then, those are just one reader's thoughts! My favorite Mantel is A Place of Greater Safety, which >247 SassyLassy: also recommends.

Yes, loved A Place of Greater Safety- big doorstopper of a book-I was in the mood for a long read.
I also liked The Giant O"Brien - very different style of writing.

>247 SassyLassy: It seems I may be the odd person out, but Beyond Black was my least favourite of the Mantels I have read to date. (snip) However, the characters themselves I found awful. I certainly don't have to like the characters in a given book, but these ones were just too hopeless.

I see in the reviews that you're not alone on this point. I did find the fiends (especially Morris) grated on me, but I didn't mind Colette as much as some, and I had sympathy for Alison. But you certainly have a good point.

As for A Place of Greater Safety, it's on my wish list, but I can't bring it in to the house until I get rid of a few years worth of books.

The only Mantel's that I've read are Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies, but I do have A Place of Greater Safety on my bookshelf. Every time someone mentions it, I realize I really want to read it. I would also like to try one of her different ones.

I've read Wolf Hall, Bring Up the Bodies and The Giant, O'Brien, and enjoyed them all. I'll probably read A Place of Greater Safety in the last quarter of the year, along with The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher.

41. North of Normal: A Memoir of My Wilderness Childhood, My Counterculture Family, and How I Survived Both, 2014


Cover comments: this is a perfect cover for this memoir -- a picture of the author as a child in the wilds. It reminds me of the summer I turned nine, which I spent on a lake far in the north of British Columbia, and where I was often taken out fishing in a small boat. This picture could be me then (except I wasn't that cute)

Comments: In a sentence, this is the memoir of a woman who was raised by hippies in a tipi in winters of forty-below, who went on to be a fashion model in New York and Paris.

Her story really starts before she was born, when her Korean-war vet grandfather married her outdoor-loving grandmother. He was a forest ranger for a while, but that was too conventional, and they dropped out, learned to live off the land, ignored culture's rules, smoked a lot of pot, and eventually ended up at a house in central California that was a magnet for other hippies. By this time they had four teenage kids, including the author's mother. The kids dropped out of school and hung out at the house smoking dope and having sex with whomever was around. Cea's mother got pregnant with her at age 15 and was married briefly to the father.

By the time Cea was born in 1969, her father had left, and the family had moved to Canada to "escape the man." They lived in a tipi in the wilderness of the Kootney Plain. Her grandfather, Papa Dick, developed a following of other hippies who he taught how to live off the land. The rampant pot smoking, free love continued. Cea and her mother travelled between Alberta and various areas of BC, sometimes with her grandparents, sometimes with the mom's current boyfriends, sometimes just the two of them. Most of the book is their harrowing and heartrending stories in this era. They eventually made it to the Yukon, were the grandparents have settled their latest tipi. Mom couldn't handle the lack of men in the dating pool and took off for Calgary, and Cea spent the forty-below winter cuddled under bear skins with the wind howling around her.

Throughout this all, her mother and grandparents express a great deal of love to her, but in reality were narcissistic, irresponsible, selfish and neglectful guardians lost in a haze of pot smoke.

When she was 13 and living with her mom in Calgary, Cea lies about her age on a modelling application. She is soon signed with Elite Models, and moves by herself to New York City. She works as a model in New York and Europe until she is 31. Now in her mid-forties, Cea is married, has three young children, and lives in an upscale suburb of Vancouver.

Rating: Highly recommended. 4.5 stars, maybe even 5. Very readable, although some of the neglectful vignettes from her childhood are heartbreaking and infuriating.

Recommended for: anyone who is interested in people, particularly people who lead very different lifestyles. Also, anyone interested in authentic hippie culture-- I think it's so long in the past that we have sort of this Hollywood nostalgic softened image of it. I think this story really appeals because she started out so disadvantaged and not only managed to make something of herself, but is articulate, empathetic, and intelligent.

I think I will recommend this to my book club.

Why I Read This Now: I heard the author tell her story at a corporate event I attended last winter and was fascinated by her story. Bought her book, had her sign it, and it's been at the top of Mnt TBR ever since.

The author today:


A couple of extra notes on North of Normal

- this book is also a testament to the failure of the hippie lifestyle. I can't really explain what I mean by that without regurgitating the book back at you. But I note that her mother and grandfather die young from cancer, and her mom's three siblings all suffer from serious mental health issues.

- I've been thinking about child abuse. In my last review, the one on Beyond Black, I commented on the extreme childhood abuse that Mantel's protagonist suffered, and compared it to another story of horrific abuse, Push. While reading North of Normal I was also horrified by her guardians' behaviour, although they always told her they loved her. Yesterday I listened to a podcast by two American-born ex-Muslim young women, and their stories of brutality in the hands of their families was shocking. I've concluded that I just can't rate and compare child abuse. It's ALL terrible and no child should suffer through it for any reason.

Hadn't heard of North of Normal before - that sounds really fascinating. On my wish list.... great review.

North of Normal isn't a book I'm likely to read, but I found your review very interesting. I guess the search for Utopia must go on...

42. Hansel & Gretel: a Toon Graphic, Neil Gaiman, 2014, illustrations by Lorenzo Mattotti


Cover comments: Although it's well done, I don't like this art. Too dark for my tastes. I also don't like the typeface they used.

Comments: "Hansel & Gretel" is one of my favourite fairy tales. I still find it shocking that parents would discard their children this way, I love the motif of the threatening forest, and I love the bizarre gingerbread cottage cannibal witch hidden deep, deep in the woods (what is she doing there? who has she been eating up to this point?). It all adds up to one great story in my opinion.

Neil Gaiman is a talented writer who brings this story to life. He avoids that distant narrator technique that is so common in fairy tales, and injects just enough detail to make this fresh.

As for the India ink illustrations, well, it certainly captures the menacing feel of this story. They were originally created for an exhibit celebrating the Metropolitan Opera's performance of Hansel and Gretel. Personally I found them too murky, too aggressive, and too violent, and lacking a touch of whimsy. Still, the book as a whole is attractive.



Why I Read This Now: part of my self-directed fairy tale study

Rating: writing, very good; art, not to my taste

Recommended for: readers looking for a good version of Hansel & Gretel, written for any age group

>194 Nickelini:

In my post at #194, I praised the cover of my edition of My Secret Garden. I have now been shamed, as I've learned that opening or blooming flowers are a cliche to represent women's budding sexuality. Now that I have had this pointed out to me, I see what they mean by "an old, old trope." Learn something every day.

I still think it's better than other editions.

North of Normal sounds like shades of Lullabies for Little Criminals. And I totally agree with you about the terrifying varieties of child abuse and the narcissism of adults who think their lifestyle choices are more important than their children's growth and safety.

>258 janeajones: I would never have compared those two books, mostly because they feel completely different, but you're right, they actually are similar. But totally different tone.

>239 Nickelini: - I do enjoy reading your reviews of the Austen modernizations!

Beyond Black is the only Mantel I've read so far. I had similar thoughts - the writing was very impressive and sucked me in immediately, the repetitiveness made it less enjoyable towards the end - but I don't think I liked it as much as you. I would read something else by her though (Wolf Hall is on the pile).

>256 Nickelini: - the Gaiman sounds like one to read. I actually like the illustration you included, although for a whole book it might be a little much. But the pictures would definitely clash with the opera - I do like the music, but both that and the plot sometimes get labeled "sugary".

>256 Nickelini: I love your fairy tale study, and always look forward to those reviews. I quite like the illustrations, but I agree with you that the font on the cover is not good. Have you read Gaiman's The Ocean at the End of the Lane? It's the only one of his books I've read, and I loved it - I keep meaning to read more of him.

>260 DieFledermaus: Hänsel und Gretel sugary? (spoiler alert): They do shove the witch in the oven and watch her burn to death. Perhaps you haven't seen the right production ;)

43. Dream Story, Arthur Schnitzler, 1926, translated from German by JMQ Davies


Cover comments: Penguin Twentieth Century Classics edition with a 1917/18 painting by Gustav Klimt titled The Bride. Perfect cover for this book on several levels.

Comments: This novella follows the strange events in the few days after a happily married couple are separately seduced at a masked ball. Dream Story was the basis for the Stanley Kubrick film "Eyes Wide Shut."

This is one of those books that would probably be really cool if I studied it in a university class, but perhaps not so enjoyable as a straight read. I liked it, it was interesting, but it wasn't a really fabulous experience.

Why I Read This Now: I guess I read it now because it falls in the "now for something completely different" category; I've owned it since 2011 when I saw the film "Eyes Wide Shut" and wondered where THAT came from. Unfortunately, I don't remember much from the film any more.

Recommended to: oh, I have no idea.

Rating: I'm going to go with 3 stars. Sort of a balance between my "??" and "I really like that."

44. Microserfs, Douglas Coupland, 1995


Cover comments: When I picked up this book I thought the cover was pretty horrible, although it does have sort of a techy cleanness to it. After reading the book, I see how it fits, in sort of a weird way.

Comments: A group of 20-somethings who work for Microsoft eventually end up in Silicon Valley. As with everything Coupland writes, lots of witty observations, astute cultural references, and a nice blend of seriousness and humour. It started quite strongly, then got sort of flabby, and then had a very unexpected and powerful last four pages.

I found this one a bit dated (it is 20 years old after all), and definitely not my favourite of Coupland's novels (I preferred Eleanor Rigby and Hey, Nostradamus!, or even the very weird Girlfriend in a Coma).

Microserfs is on the Guardian 1000 list under the "State of the Nation" category.

Why I Read This Now: I have seven Couplands in my TBR stack. At one time I thought I'd read his whole oeuvre, but he's fairly prolific and I'm not sure that that's necessary anymore.

Recommended for: people who want a retro visit to 90s geek culture?

Rating: Even a "meh" Coupland is still good.

>262 ELiz_M: - I was thinking of the angels and fairies, plus the whole gingerbread children thing at the end. But the productions I saw did have the witch as either cartoonishly evil (not really that evil) or campy. Maybe I need to see Hänsel und Gretel directed by Calixto Bieito?

>263 Nickelini: - I have a couple books by Schnitzler on the pile, but haven't read anything by him yet. Sounds like this one could be interesting, but probably after I read the ones I already have.

>264 Nickelini: - They had the recent NY Times article about Amazon, maybe Coupland should write Amazombies?

North of Normal sounds worth reading. It sounds like Jeanette Walls memoir, The Glass Castle.

As for Mantel, I've loved everything I've read, but A Place of Greater Safety remains my favorite. I had been wary of reading her more modern stuff, but after reading The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher: Stories, I'm ready for it.

>265 DieFledermaus: maybe Coupland should write Amazombies?

Hmmm, Microserfs, and then later he wrote a book about people working at Staples (The Gum Thief) . . . you may be on to something.

>266 RidgewayGirl: It sounds like Jeanette Walls memoir, The Glass Castle.

In fact, the author credits Jeanette Walls for giving her the courage to write North of Normal.

>261 Cait86: Have you read Gaiman's The Ocean at the End of the Lane?

Oops, sorry I missed your question.

I haven't read it, but it is in my TBR pile, so one day . . .

45. Treasures of Time, Penelope Lively, 1979


Cover comments: This is part of the Penguin Decades series for the 1970s, which all have covers by fashion designer Zandra Rhodes. I like this one, but not as much as others in the series. As a set they are fabulous. The inside of the covers is fuchsia, and very attractive whilst reading.

Comments: Past secrets are uncovered and memories are questioned in the family of a recently deceased British archaeologist. Interesting and realistic characters, nuanced and intelligent writing, and the Wiltshire setting made this book sing for me.

Rating: 4.5 stars. The only other novel I've read by Lively is the Booker-winning Moon Tiger, and I prefer this one.

Why I Read This Now: I've been meaning to read this for 5 years and it bubbled up to the top of the pile.

Recommended for: Although I recommend this highly, other readers don't appear to like this as much as I did. Some say it's pointless and nothing happens. I completely disagree. I can't exactly explain why, but there is just something about mid-20th century British novels that I love.

I love mid-century British novels too (well, at least women authors). I've never tried Penelope Lively but I think I have one of her books on my shelf.

Interesting to know that Treasures of Time is published in the Penguin Decades series. I will look for it. I hated and abandoned How it all began after two attempts to read it, but this year I loved Oleander, Jacaranda and despite initial reservations and doubt finished reading Moon tiger yesterday, and gave it 4.5 stars.

Treasures of Time sounds interesting.

By the way, you managed to read an intetesting selection of books. Sorry to say I did not regularly check back. My botched Internet access allows me to read but I cannot comment. However, the inability to comment (i.e. post or edit anything on LT) is so frustrating that I refrained from visiting the site.

>271 edwinbcn:, >272 edwinbcn: - Ooooh, I have How it all began in my TBR . . . I hope I like it better. I think Treasures of Time is a little more straight forward than Moon Tiger. I had sort of a love-meh relationship with that one. Can't remember how I ended up rating it.

I'm glad you keep checking back even though it's difficult for you to participate. I can see how it's frustrating for you!

North of Normal sounds interesting. I definitely wouldn't call it authentic hippie culture though (I don't think there's ever any authentic anything when it comes to counterculture). My parents were back-to-the-land hippies (that's why they ended up in West Virginia), and part of a big group of fellow hippies in our area. Children were always put first, to the extent that no one tried to be self-sufficient for long and most moved away from the land so the kids would be in slightly better schools and exposed to less harmful local thinking (and pretty much everyone gave up drugs until after the kids grew up). Hippie parenting actually meant more restrictions than our friends with non-hippie parents (no junk food in the house, no watching R rated movies, family dinner time was sacred, etc...).

Treasures of Time seems like it might be my cup of tea. Definitely going on the to-read list.

>274 mabith: I definitely wouldn't call it authentic hippie culture though (I don't think there's ever any authentic anything when it comes to counterculture)

I agree -- so many different versions that none would really be "authentic". I think what I was trying to get at is how homogenized and romanticized our current idea of hippie culture is and we've (I've) forgotten all the ugly bits. And I'm not talking about the fashion. The rough edges or more unusual parts have disappeared from our memories. Culture remembers Woodstock but not Altamont.

I was telling my brother and sister-in-law about North of Normal just last night. I thought they'd be very interested in it since they were hippies and also lived in the Yukon around the same time as the author did. As expected, they were indeed interested, but my sister-in-law pointed out that they weren't those sort of hippies (they didn't smoke pot, and were more the "Jesus-hippies" (she said rolling her eyes at me).)

46. Summer House With Swimming Pool, Herman Koch, 2014, translated from Dutch by Sam Garrett


Cover comments: fits the book well . The male shadow looms menacingly over the blissfully floating female form. Yep, that's about right. And I like the colours, art, font.

Comments: Herman Koch likes to make readers uncomfortable. After enjoying The Dinner immensely, I was really looking forward to Summer House With Swimming Pool. I even thought I knew what to expect. But when the first person narrator turned out to be a misanthropist who thinks a lot of nasty--and boring--thoughts right from page one, I doubted my judgement. I think my family was tired of hearing me remark about the vile character in my book. But I stuck with it, and found Summer House with Swimming Pool to be a compelling and interesting read, even though it did make me squirm.

Here's the story in a sentence or two: Marc Schlosser is a family doctor who thinks a lot of himself and little of his patients, or anyone else. We hear a lot of his nasty thoughts, but for the most part he covers up his nasty behaviour. Which explains why he has a nice wife and two nice daughters. Who he doesn't deserve, because his sexism is repugnant. He and his family end up on vacation with one of his patients, the famous Dutch actor Ralph Meier, at a summer house with a swimming pool. Ralph is also a nasty piece of work, and as you may suspect, a bunch of nasty stuff goes down, both away on holiday and back at home.

I'd like to hear from a variety of physicians about their take on many aspects of this novel. I'd especially like to hear from an ophthalmologist and his or her views on self-conducted eye surgery.

Recommended for: I think it takes a strong gut to read a Herman Koch novel. And just forget about liking the characters. If that still sounds like you, then I recommend it. I think that The Dinner was a tighter novel, but this was good too.

Why I Read This Now: really wanted to read it since it was published, thought it would be a good end of summer read. It was.

Rating: 4 stars.

I agree, Summer House with Swimming Pool turned out to be a 4 star read for me too, but it wasn't as good as The Dinner.

>276 Nickelini: yet another interesting read. You're killing the size of my wish list, lol!!

Oh I've given up on thinking about the size of my wishlist... I'll need to find the fountain of youth. Nice review, Joyce.

I think Koch isn't for me, but I enjoyed your review.

>280 rebeccanyc: agreed. I really have no interest in reading his books, but I'm glad to know a little about his writing.

Nice review of Summer House with Swimming Pool, Joyce. I have The Dinner but haven't read it yet, and I'll add this book to my wish list.

Self-conducted eye surgery?

>282 kidzdoc: Self-conducted eye surgery?

Yes, it was lovely. I reacted loudly throughout.

>283 Nickelini: Intriguing! This one goes on the wishlist for that line alone!

>275 Nickelini: It makes me laugh because I feel like all hippies would deny being like any other hippies. My marker for hippie childhood is often "did you have corn growing in your yard."

>253 Nickelini: This brought back some happy memories. We were a "back-to-the-land" family in the 70s and 80s when we lived on 80 acres in northern Alberta. Today my son would happily live in a tipi. I never thought of us as hippies until I looked at some old photos :)

>276 Nickelini: ok, it sounds strange, but not entirely in a bad way. I can see an appeal. Not for me at moment, however.

>285 mabith: We had corn (among other vegetables) growing in our backyard, and my parents would be shocked if someone were to have considered them hippies. It was more that my mother was both frugal and came from farming roots.

>286 VivienneR: I spent much of the seventies living in Edmonton. We probably were both at Fort Edmonton or camping in Wood Buffalo or some such place at the same time.

>288 RidgewayGirl: Ha, yeah, I'm mostly kidding. Though for the time and place I grew up it was a 100% accurate method of identifying hippie home. Other people had gardens, of course, but corn growing was rare.

>288 RidgewayGirl: I wouldn't be surprised that we might have met at one time. We camped all over Alberta in the 70s and 80s.

47. Emma: A Modern Retelling, Alexander McCall Smith, 2014, Audiobook read by Susan Lyons


Cover comments: pleasant cover that fits the book.

Comments: An updated version of the classic Jane Austen novel of the same name. This is one of those books that readers give either 5 or 1 star reviews.

The Good: The writing is good, as I think one could expect from Alexander McCall Smith (I'm not sure though--I've only read one other book by him). He even manages to make little pointed Austen style jokes. The overall atmosphere of the book is quite cozy and pleasant. There are lots of interesting little tidbits and tangents.

The Not So Good: The character Emma doesn't make much of an appearance until well into the book. The first several chapters are Mr Woodhouse's story, and some of her governess Miss Taylor (who I don't even remember from the original). George Knightly has a tiny part, and when he ends up with Emma at the end, I had to wonder why since we didn't see him throughout the story.

Mr Woodhouse, who in this novel is 9 months older than me (we are in our early 50s), acts like an old man. He has anxiety issues, particularly around food and germs. This seems like a clever update on Austen's character, but in the execution he mostly just annoyed me. Harriet Smith was also often annoying in her ditzyness. But Emma . . . I didn't like Austen's Emma, but this one. This one . . . obtuse, privileged, entitled, and occasionally a biotch.

I think that Emma might be a difficult story to bring forward 200 years. At times this novel really didn't feel like today's UK, unless things are very different in small town Norfolk.

Rating: A balance between pretty good and eh. That means 3 stars. I was entertained even though I did roll my eyes now and then.

Recommended for: People who don't mind a book where 90% of the characters are twits.

Why I Read This Now: I was in need of an audio book.

Recommended for: People who don't mind a book where 90% of the characters are twits.

This made me laugh out loud!

>292 wandering_star: I'm here all night. Make yourself comfortable.

The best modern Emma re-telling is the movie Clueless.

>294 japaul22: - that's a popular opinion. I haven't seen it since it first went to video, so time for a rewatch.

48. James Ivory in Conversation: How Merchant Ivory Makes Its Movies, by Robert Emmet Long, 2005


Cover comments: Well . . . serving tea on the lawn does seem most fitting for a Merchant Ivory book. Puzzling though, as it's not explained. Merchant, Ivory, and their black Labrador retriever are serving tea to . . . ? If anyone can enlighten me, I'd be ever so grateful. I feel I should just know, but I don't.

Comments This is a 327 page interview of film director James Ivory by critic Robert Emmet Long. By that I mean the entire book is structured:

"Long: Was it you or Ruth who initiated A Room With a View?

Ivory: It was my idea. Forster's estate thought . . . "

Which is okay, and I guess it's the best way to always get the exact words the interviewee says. But having interviewed subjects myself, and then presenting the interview both this way vs the style where the Q & A is blended into a narrative, I find this way a bit lazy. Just a quibble.

I bought this book because I love--or I thought I loved--Merchant Ivory films. Turns out, they did a lot of them, and I've only seen A Room With a View, Howards End, Maurice (all based on books of the same name by E M Forester), and Remains of the Day , based on the book by Kazuo Ishaguro.


Emma Thompson & Anthony Hopkins in Remains of the Day

Merchant Ivory, who to me made the films that oozed Britishness, are essentially three people: producer Ismail Merchant, an Indian-born Muslim (who somewhere along the line got British citizenship I think), James Ivory, a Oregon-raised American director, and writer Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, a German Jew who married an Indian and then got UK citizenship and later American. She is the only person to win both the Booker Prize (for the 1975 Heat and Dust, which was later made into a Merchant Ivory film starring Julie Christie), and the Oscar, for the screenplays for both A Room With a View and Howards End. (Note to self: put Heat and Dust on the wishlist.) Ismail Merchant died in 2005 and Ruth Prawer Jhabvala in 2013, so although the film company survives and continues to make movies, to me, the era is sadly long over.

As for James Ivory in Conversation, rather than being organized chronologically, after the introductory material and background, the author separates it into sections "Documentaries," "India," "America," "England," and "France." It's very chatty, and there are all sorts of interesting bits and even dishy information on the movies I've seen, and interesting bits on film making, and the sorts of problems that arise with actors and studios. I admit to skimming some pages where I'd never heard of the film or any of the people involved, but I had to skim carefully because there were good bits in there too.


Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson looking distressed in Howards End

Recommended for: film buffs, fans of Merchant Ivory productions.


Helena Bonham Carter was also in Howards End

But to me, Helena Bonham Carter IS A Room With a View (here being astonished)


Why I Read This Now: I'm 3/4 of the way through Howards End and kept thinking about the film (which I've seen twice and now need to see again, along with several more Merchant Ivory productions).


James Wilby and a rather angsty Hugh Grant in Maurice

I missed all these movies, even Room with a View which a friend and, way back when, a potential girlfriend raved about. (I read All the Kings Men because of her.) I could catch them now, of course, but I haven't watched movies much in a long time. Enjoyed your commentary.

>296 Nickelini: Very interesting information about Merchant Ivory. Well done for reading the book, which I would have found too unappealing in that format. It makes me want to see the films again. When I read (or re-read) Howard's End, Room with a View and Remains of the Day I could hear the actors' voices.

>296 Nickelini: They're not images of authors of their most famous films, are they? Can't see well enough to really know...

>297 dchaikin: Well, if you ever go back to the delights of watching movies, I recommend all of these.

>298 VivienneR: I hear the actor's voices too! Especially Thompson and Hopkins

>299 Helenliz: The pictures were originally large and I found that obnoxious, so I made them a nice size for my computer. I've enlarged them again so you can see them better. I've also captioned each one. (I'll shrink them down again sometime in the future).

>300 Nickelini: sorry, not the film stills, I meant you asked who were the people being served tea on the cover. My guess was the authors of some of their films. Although I'm not that I'd recognise pictures of people like EM Forster anyway. Not unless I was really lucky and it was the one on their LT author or wikipedia page!

>301 Helenliz: Doh! Of course. I see . . . you're probably right. But there are so many authors discussed, so I don't know which ones they picked. It doesn't really go with the tone of the book, hence my puzzlement. But what else could it be? I'll leave it at that.

49. Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives , by Leonard Mlodinow


Cover comments: good enough cover for this audiobook

Comments: Despite all the high praise from reviewers here at LT, this one didn't really hold my interest. I listened to half of it and have decided that I need other things in my brain at this time. Nothing wrong with it--just not what I want to be thinking about right now. I may retry it again in the future, although I listened to enough of it that I'm counting it as a book read.

Recommended for: math geeks and gamblers

Why I Read This Now it was an available audiobook that was also on my wish list

50. Howards End, EM Forster, 1910


Cover comments: I adore this cover. It is part of my EM Forster set (the only edition I'm missing is A Passage to India). The cover extends around the spine, and they look splendid on my bookshelf. The picture itself is a detail of Brightwell Church and Village by John Constable

Comments The classic novel of the clash of ideas occupying Edwardian England, with many shades of the devastation awaiting them in the near future. The ideals are played out by the lively and progressive Schlegel family, the traditional and imperialistic Wilcoxes, and the struggling Leonard Bast and his questionable wife.

I've seen the Merchant Ivory film twice, so no surprises in this one. There was some lovely writing. A solid and enjoyable book, but not my favourite Forster.

Why I Read This Now: It's been on my shelf for years and it's the sort of book I get in the mood for this time of year. Love those Edwardians.

Rating: 4 stars


Filming location for the film version of Howards End. In real life, it's Peppard Cottage, Rotherfield Peppard, near Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire

I've never seen the movie, but I enjoyed Howard's End when I read it years ago. And I don't think I finished The Drunkard's Walk either, since I don't remember any of it.

>304 Nickelini: I've read A Passage to India, or rather listened to it, and really enjoyed it. I thought I had read Howard's End too, but I think the film is what has prompted the memory. That cottage is lovely isn't it.

Loved Howard's End, and like everyone else adored the film too.

51. Gossip from the Forest: the Tangled Roots of Our Forests and Fairytales, Sara Maitland, 2012


Cover comments: most fitting.

Comments: This book is divided by month, beginning in March and ending in February, and each month is made up of an extended essay, followed by a fairy tale retelling. The author visited one forest in England or Scotland every month, and her essays meandered like hikers lost in a proverbial forest . . . topics went from sciency discussions on specific types of trees, to folk legends, to social history, to forest management practices, to discussion on the origins of fairy tales, to natural history, and a lot in between. Maitland focuses on the Teutonic roots of Britain and tied it into the stories recorded by the Brothers Grimm. Although she goes off on countess tangled tangents, her main thesis seems to concern the symbiotic relationship between people and forests and the symbiotic relationship between forests and fairy tales.

The fairy tales were fun and interesting, and tended to tell the story from an unexpected viewpoint. For example, in "Hansel and Gretel," they are now in their 50s and look back on their childhood. "Sleeping Beauty" is told in 100 short dreams.

Forests visited (and now added to my bucket list):
March - Airyolland Wood, Galloway (Scotland)
April - Saltridge Wood, Gloucestershire
May - New Forest, Hampshire
June - Epping Forest, NE London
July - Great North Wook, Dulwich (South London)
August - Staverton Thicks, Suffolk
September - Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire
October - Ballochbuie and the Forest of Mar, Scotland
November - Kielder Forest, Northumberland
December - Purgatory Wood, Galloway
January - Glenlee, Galloway
February - Knockman Wood, Galloway

Fairy tales retold:
March - Thumbling (Tom Thumb)
April - White Snake
May - Rumpelstiltskin
June - Hansel & Gretel
July - Little Goose Girl
August - Seven Swans' Sister
September - Seven Dwarves
October - Rapunzel
November - Little Red Riding Hood & the Big Bad Wolf
December - Four Comrades (Musicians of Bremen)
January - Dancing Shoes
February - Sleeping Beauty

Rating: I'm a lover of forests, and I find the idea of forests that people have lived with for thousands of years incredibly interesting. I also love fairy tales. So I liked this a lot. It's right up my tree.

The book had more than a few problems though -- first, there where very few illustrations, and this just cried out to be heavily illustrated. There were a few photos, but they were all boring and extremely poor quality black and white. Full colour was needed for this. Also, the book desperately needed maps. I also think it needed a separate introduction to outline what all of thees details were supposed to add up to. This info was buried in the first month (March), but a crisper structure would have helped. There are lots of end notes, and they held all sorts of interesting detail, but it was cumbersome flipping back to it, so they should have been footnotes instead (or sidebar information if they had hired the book designer this material deserved.) Finally, Gossip from the Forest would have benefited tremendously from an index--so many little tidbits of information, I don't know how I'll ever find anything if I want to go back and look up what she had to say about "mushrooms," "William the Conquer and the beginning of royal forests," or "pollarding," for example.

In conclusion, the material was great, but the presentation left everything to be desired.

Recommended for: Definitely not for everyone--even for the reader who is interested in forests and fairy tales, there's just so much here and it's sort of a mash. I can see many readers losing patience with this one. But if you're anything like me, you'll love it.

Why I Read it Now: "now" has actually been "over the past year." I started this in November 2014 with the plan to read a chapter a month (I started with her November chapter with the plan to have the book follow the seasons). Didn't quite work out as there were months I skipped and months I read more, but I still ended up finishing on schedule.

That does sound quite interesting, but more like something I'd rather pick up from the library (first, anyway) than buy. Too bad about the lack of presentation effort, I hate it when what could have been something wonderful winds up leaving so much to be desired over such poor choices.

>308 Nickelini: I started From the Forest: A Search for the Hidden Roots of Our Fairy Tales (the US title) after reading Maitland's A Book of Silence, and inexplicably didn't get very far. (I was reading it at home and I guess my subway reads were more compelling.) But I'd like to get back to it, and your review reminded me of that.

Intriguing review, too bad about the drawbacks. Much as I love fairy lore, I am afraid, I would get really impatient.

52. The Story of God: a Biblical Comedy about Love (and Hate), Chris Matheson, 2015


Cover comments: yep, that works.

Comments: Chris Matheson, the writer of Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventures tells the story of the Christian God in 142 pages. This is a satirical work, and the author enjoys weaving in those Bible bits that make no sense, are contradictory, or are just downright baffling. You know, all those bits that are met with the non-answer platitudes such as "God's ways are not our ways," "don't think about it, just trust," and "the Lord works in mysterious ways." He devotes the last 24 pages of this short book tell the story of the end times as predicted in the book of Revelations, which is the one part of the Bible that was avoided or ignored in my past evangelical training due to its perplexing craziness.

My mother would have been beside herself at this blasphemy. In her opinion, "laughter," "questions" and "God" should never appear in anyone's brain at the same time. Unfortunately for her, everything here is supported by the text -- he shows all his Biblical references. His interpretations and the story he tells around those verses might not match your thoughts, but he's done his homework.

Here's a sample from the opening chapter to give you a sense of the tone:

" . . . Underneath him was water; (Gen. 1:2) cold, empty, utterly lifeless. It was creepy. Where had it come from? Did he make it, then forget about it? Did he not make it? And if he didn't--then who did? He had to have made it--yet he couldn't remember doing so. But if he had created water (as of course he had), then why had he created only that much reality and no more? Why had he been sitting there in the darkness, above the water, basically forever? . . .

"Let there be plants," he commanded. Suddenly the land was dotted with beautiful, fully formed fruit trees (Gen. 1:12) God looked at them appreciatively. They were very good. Later, in a moment of self-doubt, he would criticize himself for creating trees before he created the sun . . .

"Let there be more lights," God commanded and--well, what can you say? Slowly at first, then faster and faster until it was rather dizzying, the sky began to light up with stars, literally trillions of them--trillions of trillions in fact; there was, in effect an entire universe (Gen. 1:14-15). God had not intended to create something this big. A universe a few thousand miles in diameter was what he had been thinking, not this enormous, unwieldy thing. Maybe when he had said, "let there be more lights," he had been too vague. Maybe he should have been more specific--"Let there be one thousand more lights," or something to that effect. But it was too late now. The universe was massive, filled with stars and galaxies and planets. There was probably life sprinkled throughout it, God thought, but quickly realized that didn't matter to him at all. What happened in the rest of the universe was of zero interest to God."

And I like this part from chapter 2, shortly after God created Adam: "Adam's penis was very nice looking too, though something wasn't quite right. It definitely needed a change. After thinking about it for a while, God decided the man's penis could use one important fix. If the skin at the head of it was trimmed away, it would look even better. Good idea, God thought to himself."

Recommended for: people with a sense of humour who have an idea about what happens in the Bible. The humour is different, but if you laughed at the jokes in The Life of Brian, you'll like this.

Rating: at least 4 stars

Why I Read This Now: because it was amusing and thoughtful at the same time.

That last quote is so funny!

>312 Nickelini: Hah, I am definitely intrigued by that! Have you read Twain's Diary of Adam and Eve?

My father's favorite non-answer was: "There are things Man was not meant to know." This was usually said with a fire-and-brimstone look in his eyes that told me I was already eternally damned just for asking the question.

>314 .Monkey.: - I haven't, but now I'm the one to be intrigued. Off to seek it out . . .

>315 StevenTX: - Sounds like your father and my mother were the same person

I found it really amusing, though it was written as separate short stories and I'd advise that as the best way to read it, a bit broken up. I felt like even though it's short, put all together and read straight through it started feeling a little stale by the end. But I would still totally recommend reading it!

>312 Nickelini: OK, that one is immediately going on my wishlist!

53. A Tale for the Time Being, Ruth Ozeki, 2013


Cover comments: At a glance, I find this arrangement pleasing in both its balance and its colours. On closer inspection, I find I'm actually delighted by it--starting at the top with the pop culture Japanese girl, down to the clear blue sky with the kamikaze pilot, then the crashing waves of the Pacific Ocean, the diary, and finally the island across the sea in Canada. Well done book designer Jim Tierney.

Comments: A Tale for the Time Being is told in two intercepting stories--the diary of a suicidal teenage girl, Nao, in early 2000s Tokyo, and Ruth, a Japanese-Canadian writer who lives in a desolate island community and finds the diary washed up on the beach in a Hello Kitty lunch box sometime after the 2011 tsunami. Did it float across the Pacific? Or is it more likely that someone dropped it off a passing cruise ship, as others suggest.

This is a complex novel, full of ideas and symbolism. When I first heard about it, I was intrigued. However, many of my LT friends gave it less than glowing reviews, so I forgot about it. But now my book club read it, and I'm glad we did. There is so much going on her that is interesting. Sure, some parts dragged, and some of the philosophy was over the top, but I just sped through those sections. I'd say I really liked 3/4 of this book and the remaining quarter, not so much.

A Tale for the Time Being was nominated for a slew of awards, including the Man Booker Prize.

Rating: 4 stars

Recommended for: people who like books with lots going on.


Cortes Island, where both the character Ruth and the author Ruth Ozeki live.

Just want to add that my book club met on A Tale for the Time Being tonight, and it was a hit. Lots and lots of discussion. There are so many layers to this book--I think I need to read it again sometime.

>320 Nickelini: Thanks for the review of A Tale for the Time Being and the response from your book group. As a Japan-o-phil and a sucker from anything Japanese, I read it early on and was a bit dismayed by other's reaction to it. It has been a while since I read it so I think I might pick it up again. Thanks again for tweaking my memory. I had previously read another of hers - My Year of Meats - and enjoyed it. Might re-read that one too.

>319 Nickelini: Lovely image of Cortes Island with a sort of Toni Onley feel to it, but with real sky and water.

For some unknown reason I've been avoiding Ruth Ozeki, but maybe I shouldn't. I had the same feeling about Frances Itani and then read Deafening when I was at a cottage with nothing else to read, and really liked it.

It's great when your book club actually has a real discussion. Sigh.

>308 Nickelini: You should add Tollymore Forest Park to your bucket list. It's a magical place in Northern Ireland. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tollymore_Forest_Park

>322 SassyLassy: Ha! I know! I've come to think of my RL book club as a pleasant evening with interesting women in which a book will be incidentally mentioned, and not as an actual book club. But given the books chosen, I'm thinking of getting into the spirit of things by not actually reading the book assigned, but a review or two instead.

>322 SassyLassy:, >324 RidgewayGirl: Well, we have nights were we spend more time talking about skiing and vacations than the book, and that can be fun too. It's sometimes tricky to find the right book, and probably people's mood has something to do with it too.

>323 VivienneR: Noted and added! Thanks for the recommendation.

I think You need to have a reasonable balance of the sexes to make a book club successful or else it becomes too clubby and the books can get short shrift.

Erm, no, that's about personalities, and how well people know each other & like each other, not about sexes. There is absolutely nothing that says an even mix of men & women somehow makes people stay on track. If a group of people, any people, is real chummy, it's natural for conversations to drift. If a group of people are friendly, but only know each other on a more superficial level and are not true friends but acquaintances, then it's natural for the conversation to stay more on track as things don't drift to the personal.

>Maybe its an age thing then. It has been my experience in running a book club that when there is a balance of the sexes then more attention is paid to the books. If there are a big majority of women in the club then they are more likely to be friends outside of the book club and the books cease to be as important as staying a member of that group. The same with a majority of men. The natural difference off views between the sexes can provides a spark that highlights differences of opinion.

I agree that book clubs can be successful (i.e. lively and entertaining) when there are personalities that provide in themselves differences in opinion and are able to express them well enough. It is my contention though that this is more likely to happen in a mixed sex group.

In my part of the world it seems like most bookclubs are _all_ women.

>319 Nickelini: interesting to read your mixed positive-leaning review of A Tale for the Time Being. I didn't like the philosophical games and thought they were overdone to the point ruining the book...but then I also hated Ozeki as a reader and maybe that was annoyed more by that than the ending. But it had its highlights too.

>314 .Monkey.:/>316 Nickelini: Twain wrote his biblical satire in roughly 1910, but it wasn't published until 1962(!), long after his death. It was that racy. But then I didn't love when I read parts. It's funny, but I found it a bit dull.

>330 dchaikin: That's not actually true. Maybe they weren't combined into a single book until then? But the pieces of it were most certainly published when he wrote them. Eve's was "first published in the 1905 Christmas issue of the magazine Harper's Bazaar, and in book format in June 1906 by Harper and Brothers" and Adam's was published by Harper as well in 1904.

Maybe I'm thinking of something else. Thanks for the correction. Now I need figure out what I was thinking about...

I was thinking of Letters from Earth.

:)

54. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, Ransom Riggs, 2011


Cover comments: Most fabulous --- the combination of the photo and the title pulled me right in and made me purchase this without knowing anything about it. The book itself is beautiful on the inside too. Good job, designer Doogie Horner.

Comments: I found this illustrated novel when it was first published and couldn't resist. I'm always on the lookout for well done illustrated novels, and this one looked promising. The author stumbled across some creepy vintage photos, and was fascinated. As his collection grew, he concocted a story to go with them. Fabulous idea.

Teenage Jacob lives in Florida and has a close friendship with his grandfather, who had escaped eastern Europe as a child and found shelter in a children's home on an island off the coast of Wales. Grandfather has a collection of photos from his childhood that are downright weird, and Jacob grew up hearing amazing stories about the children in them, and how the Grandfather was on the run from monsters, which Jacob later figured were Nazis. After his grandfather's harrowing and somewhat mysterious death, Jacob travels to Wales to learn more about the past. there he finds a "time loop" and meets the children in the photos. Turns out there were monsters other than the Nazis after all.

Rating: So much promise, such a great premise, but this didn't work for me. The writing was good at the sentence level, but put together just didn't interest me. Every time I started reading, I either fell asleep or thought of something else I'd rather be doing and then wander off. I was also hoping, based on the photos, that there would be more creepiness. The very busy long action scene near the end was particularly boring and I sped read it. Some events in the plot didn't make sense to me, but I didn't care enough to think about it and see if I was just missing something. That all comes down to 5 stars for concept and 2 stars for the story itself. Can't bring myself to give it more than 3 stars in conclusion.

Recommended for: don't really recommend it, but there are lots of rave reader reviews, and I think a movie is coming out, so if you think this sounds interesting, read it. In story terms, I'm not the intended audience, although I am an audience for the idea behind it and the art.

Why I Read This Now: I was looking for a creepy mid-October read.

>54 Nickelini: Nice thought out review. I usually avoid this kind of book based solely on a prejudice against the title, which falls into a category I irrationally dismiss, but now I know I wasn't missing anything.

A creepy mid-October read might be fun though. Any suggestions?

>336 SassyLassy: 54 Nickelini: Nice thought out review.I usually avoid this kind of book based solely on a prejudice against the title, which falls into a category I irrationally dismiss, but now I know I wasn't missing anything.

I was confused for a minute, but then I figured you must mean book 54 and not post 54. Whew, glad I can still figure things out. Anyway . . . I loved the title of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children when I saw it in conjunction to the book cover (with a different cover I may not have noticed it). What is it that makes you dismiss it? Does it sound too much like it's trying too hard?

I'm always looking for a good creepy book, but they are the most difficult to find. I thought there was about one page of delicious creepiness in Dracula, but that's not very good for such a long novel. I found The Woman in Black by Susan Hill pretty creepy, but others didn't find it creepy at all. When I find one, you can be sure I'll post about it here. I actually have a stack of potential ones on the floor beside my bed right now, but I have to read a couple of others before I get to them. And I'm always looking for recommendations too.

>335 Nickelini: My library has this one available as an e-book and I've been on the fence about it. Your review nudged me to the other side. I'm not a big fan of horror, but I do love creepy. I've been meaning to read Shirley Jackson. Have you ever read anything by her?

>338 avidmom: Does the ebook capture pictures well? The photos are a must for this one (it would make a horrible audiobook).

I've read her famous short story "The Lottery" of course (it's available online too, if anyone wants to check it out). I also read The Haunting of Hill House which was okay but didn't get the hair on the back of my neck standing up. Other people love that book so your mileage may vary.

A lot of Stephan King's earlier stuff (especially his short stories) were pretty creepy.

Have any of you read Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book? It is considered YA, I think, but it definitely has a creep factor. The audio version, read by Gaiman, was quite good. I'm not a fan of anything too creepy, so this fit the bill for me.

>340 NanaCC: I didn't find that one all that creepy, but the writing didn't feel like it was written for children. One of the reasons I like Neil Gaiman. His Coraline is actually very creepy now that I think about it.

>341 Nickelini: Coraline is creepy indeed. :)

>335 Nickelini: Yeah, I read that one and really regretted the time. Like you said, it seemed so promising but absolutely did not deliver.

>337 Nickelini: I do that a lot (confuse the book number with the post number). The book is so much more important. Good to see you can figure it out.

I think the creepiest book I have read was It. It was my first Stephen King. I started it at work one night and couldn't see what the fuss was about. Then as I went out to the unlit back parking lot about 03:30 in the dark and driving rain, I suddenly got exactly what it was about. I can't say I liked the book, but he certainly did a good job.

>344 SassyLassy: Yes, It was very creepy! For the most part, that book was well done, but the ending fit the pattern that King fell into in that period that ultimately made me quit reading him-- the answer to the scary problem was that there was a physical monster hiding just outside of town controlling everything. His earlier books were better in my opinion -- the causes were more psychological or had a physical cause within an individual (The Shining, Carrie, The Dead Zone, The Firestarter, even The Stand).

My daughters and I rewatched the TV miniseries version of It this summer. It was all filmed close to where we live, and it was fun to see what had changed and what hadn't. The run down neighbourhood where the poor kids lived is now a very nice area with stylish townhouses.

55. Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body's Most Underrated Organ, Giulia Enders, 2015, translated from German by David Shaw


Cover comments: most excellent cover for this topic

Comments: The gut is a large and very important component of our bodies, yet until it gives us trouble, we rarely think about it. Enders describes all the marvellous workings in detailed but entirely conversational terms, and often with a good sense of humour. The illustrations, which at first glance make little sense, are entertaining when combined with the the text. For the most part, she describes what is going on, but does not make recommendations on how we should treat our guts, leaving it up to readers to draw their own conclusions.

Gut: the Inside Story of Our Body's Most Underrated Organ is packed full of interesting facts that are very good to know indeed. I was surprised at how recent some of the research and discovery of these facts has occurred, which leads me to conclude that science will continue to learn many new and unexpected things.

I've seen an extensive interview with Enders on YouTube, and I will be very surprised if she doesn't show up on the TED Talks circuit. Knowledgeable, engaging, charming, confident--she's a shoe-in.

There isn't an index, but there are several pages of source citations.

Recommended for: This is a must-read for anyone who has a body.

Why I Read This Now: I kept seeing it displayed at bookstores, and as my own gut often does mysterious things, I just couldn't resist.

I have to add one more note. When I brought the book home, I flipped over to the back cover and saw that both the author and illustrator (sisters) looked like my teenage daughter's friends. I wondered if buying the book was a mistake. Turns out she's in her mid-20s and a microbiologist. Also, I had assumed that she was from the US, just because most non-fiction books that fall into my hands tend to be by American authors. But around page 20 I realized that I wasn't reading American English, and flipped to the front matter to see that Gut was translated from German. Remembering the poo-inspection shelves in toilets in Germany, and knowing how seriously Germans take their body functions, I was elated. A German microbiologist -- this was going to be good. Her credibility was restored.

BTW -- the translation is excellent. One of the best translated books I've read in a long time.

Remembering the poo-inspection shelves in toilets in Germany

LOL! Those aren't just in Germany, and they're anti butt-splash! My in-laws (NL) have them. I'm torn on them, they have their pros and cons, hahaha.

>347 .Monkey.: Being a poo-prude at the time, I was horrified (I've now had two kids, so I've relaxed a bit) but my husband thought they were great.

I do quite like the no-splash feature, lmao. But they have their downsides as well. I think if I were ever to have one, I'd need to have a bathroom with a regular one as well. XD

With my medical history this is a book I should read. It is now on the wishlist.

My father called the poo shelf in our first apartment in Germany the see-and-smell. And Darm mit Charme has been huge in Germany. The title translates to "intestines with charm."

344,345: I thought Henry James's Turn of the Screw was creepy.

>352 janeajones: So did I. And cold too.

>351 RidgewayGirl: I was wondering what the German title said! Thanks.

>352 janeajones: - yes, that was a good creepy one.

>346 Nickelini: I think I can hear all of us who've had intestinal issues going "It's only underrated when it works perfectly!"

The book about the gut sounds like something I would like, reading it on the toilet might be appropriate, although the author may advise against it.

>346 Nickelini: Hey, I have a body! That's one that's going on my wishlist.

I've put Gut on my library hold list. It sounds very interesting and entertaining.

I've never heard of German toilets and "poo-shelves". I'm a little afraid to google that . . .

>358 japaul22: It's just a level in the toilet high up so that what falls doesn't fall far, and splash. An image of the toilet itself is not going to be anything extraordinary lol.

>358 japaul22:, >359 .Monkey.: If you type "German toilets" in Google, you'll see the suggestion "poop shelves." Click on that, and you'll find all sorts of interesting and funny links. Including pictures of unused toilets.

Ah hem.

56. The Girl on the Train, Paula Hawkins, 2014


Cover comments: I like how this gives the effect of a train in motion.

Comments: A two-sentence description of this popular and well-hyped psychological thriller: Lonely alcoholic Rachel rides the commuter train to London everyday, and fantasizes about the perfect couple she sees out the window, who live a few houses away from her ex-husband and his new family. One day she sees something that shatters that illusion and the next day the 'perfect' woman goes missing. I'm not going to say much more, because descriptions of this best-seller are everywhere.

This is another one of those books that people have strong feelings about, and I appreciate both the haters and the lovers, falling pretty much in the middle myself. I liked the unreliable narration, the structure of the three first-person narrators, and how the author slowly dropped clues into the story. Sure, none of the characters were at all likeable, it was a bit repetitive, and if you pay attention, it was possibly predictable. And it did have a Scooby Doo ending--not exactly nuanced. Still, at this point I liked it more than I disliked it, but my opinion may change as distance from the book grows.

As I expected going in, The Girl on the Train is a bit of a potato chip book, although something about it seems a bit above that. As first novels go, I think Hawkins was successful and I would consider reading any future books.

And as an aside . . . it's important to pay attention to the chapter headings that identify the narrator and date. I flipped ahead and noticed that a crucial part of the novel took place when I was on holiday in London, which I thought was a fun bit of trivia. I was amused then when I read those parts and how she set them during an awful lot of nasty, driving rain. In reality, the weather that week was balmy, sunny and most pleasant (a very quick shower one morning, sunny and warm the rest). I thought it odd that the author was so specific about her dates and got that wrong, but it turned out the rain was important to the plot, so I forgive her her artistic license.

Recommended for: I'll tell you who won't like this instead: people who want to like someone--anyone--in a novel, who need a linear narrative, who eschew best sellers, and literary snobs.

Rating: Hovering between 3.5 and 4 stars (the higher rating because of the pure entertainment factor)

Why I Read This Now: book club. Not sure how much quality discussion there will be, but my group is not predictable, so who knows.

>361 Nickelini: I felt pretty much the same about it. It's not the best written book I ever read, but it was entertaining and a decent light read.

I'm glad Enders regained her credibility and am very interested in the book...i even happen to have a body.

My library has Girl on the Train on audio, but my literary snob side is hesitant...and I haven't recovered from trying Gone Girl on audio.

>361 Nickelini: & >362 AlisonY: On the wish list it goes...

>363 dchaikin: The "literary snob" phrase causes concern for me too.

57. The Mist in the Mirror, Susan Hill, 1992


Cover comments: This Vintage edition cover is the sort I like for a ghost story.

Comments This is one of those bookended stories -- like Heart of Darkness (1899) or Turn of the Screw (1898), and although written nearly 100 years later, Susan Hill does an fabulous job of capturing the style of that era.

The main story is of an Englishman who was raised abroad, and travelled extensively through Africa and Asia before returning to an England he doesn't remember. He sets off on an academic quest, but continually gets warned off. Distracted, he goes on a quest for his roots, and again is warned off. (Hint: ask these people for details of what exactly they are warning you about.)

Lots of atmospheric, creepy passages. Hill's particular talent is to write a book that is somewhat timeless, in that it could be set anywhere in the 20th century. It feels Victorian--people take trains and wear spectacles, but every once in a while she'll drop in an electrical switch or telephone or automobile. No markers, such as WWI or WWII, or anything that would give it a firm time frame. But not so antiquated that we absolutely know it's in the past -- after all, we still take trains and wear spectacles (although we only call them that when we are being cute or clever or whatever).

Alas, the story was . . . weak. Characterization? Also weak. I give her a lot for the atmosphere, but honestly, I could really rip this apart if I felt like it.

Recommended for: Lovers of ghost stories. If you liked the author's Woman in Black, this is similar but not as good. If you didn't like WiB, don't even bother.

Rating: some parts were 4. and some 2 -- sounds like a 3, I guess. Don't regret reading it, and it was short.

Why I Read This Now: a Halloween read.

Enjoyed your review. I liked The Woman in Black, but if this is a poor relation I may give it a miss.

58. the English Ghost: Spectres Through Time, Peter Ackroyd, 2010


Cover comments: fabulous

Comments After a 12 page introduction where Ackroyd surmises why the English like to see ghosts, this book is a collection of reported ghost sightings in England over the past several hundred years. It was drastically lacking in narrative arc and characters. I skimmed through the reports as they were all equally lifeless, and not in a good spooky way.

Recommended for: unless you need an cache of English ghost sightings, there is no reason to read this book.

Rating: Disappointed.

Why I Read This Now: Halloween.

59. The Definitive Book of Body Language, Barbara and Allan Pease, 2006


Cover comments: Yep, this is a suitable cover for a book on this topic

Comments: The title says it all -- you want to learn about body language? It's all here, in more of a self-help style than any sort of psychological in depth study. About 2/3 of the book is focused toward business (including sales and politics) and 1/3 social (mostly dating). Lots of illustrations and photos to show what the authors are describing. There's a detailed section to determine if someone is lying. At times repetitive, occasionally sexist, and once in a while overstated or silly ("top restaurants have an open fireplace or fire facsimile near the entrance of the restaurant to re-create the effects of the fire that burned at the ancient cave feasts." Ok-ay, if you say so.) But don't let those quibbles dissuade you if you think you can use the information in this book--overall it was good.

Why I Read This Now: Quite different from the author's intended audience -- I was doing some creative writing last spring and my flow was often interrupted by trying to describe what my characters were doing with their faces and body during scenes. Dialogue and plot came faster than I could type, but then I'd freeze trying to fill in the actions between the elements. This book helped me with some quick language.

Recommended for: anyone who wants this information for any reason.

Rating: 4 stars.

61. The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America, Thomas King, 2012


Cover comments: both the title and the illustration on this cover are brilliant

Comments: Thomas King, half-Cherokee, Californian-born and raised, is now considered "one of Canada's premier Native public intellectuals." This important and critically lauded book is a collection of the sad mistreatment of the Indigenous people of North America after the arrival of Europeans.

I'm a big fan of Thomas King-- his Green Grass, Running Water is one of my all-time favourite novels, and the short stories I've read have been stellar. For that reason, I was disappointed with The Inconvenient Indian. Yes, the information is important. However, the writing style was tedious--often an anecdote that relies heavily on lists, concluded with a biting quip. King is known as a master storyteller, and there just wasn't enough story here.

Recommended for: Anyone who wants to be a thoughtful citizen of this world needs to know this information. It's been suggested that The Inconvenient Indian be taught in high school in both the US and Canada, and I agree. The critics loved this book and most readers agree. That said, I'd rather get this information through reading one of his novels or short stories.

Why I Read This Now: upcoming book club selection that I found available at the library.

Rating: a hard one to rate--I get why it's praised, and I think it's important, and I adore Thomas King. If only I didn't find the structure to be so leaden.

62. Hard Times, Charles Dickens, 1854


Cover comments: A very pleasing and fitting cover. If you look closely, it's actually a modern picture, which is common with Premier Classics editions. I like this line--they're pretty bare bones, but they are nicely put together and are tactilely pleasing.

Comments: Hard Times isn't anyone's favourite Dickens. The story is pretty straightforward, there isn't much humour or pathos, and there aren't any of those great big Dickens characters. It can also at times be confusing. That said, it was still a decent read, and I managed to copy the writing that I found notable sufficient to cover 6 pages in my journal.

Why I Read This Now: it's been at the top of my TBR for about 5 years.

Recommended for: Dickens fans. Don't suggest it as a first Dickens, even though it's short.

Well, that said . . . anyone have any recommendations for an end of the year read?

>371 Nickelini: How about reading Jane Austen's Persuasion and joining in the category challenge group discussion for December? It's one of my favorite Austens.

>372 japaul22: Oh, I might just do that. An excuse to read my annotated editions and Robert Rodi.

I'll be reading the Harvard Press version annotated by Robert Morrison.

>370 Nickelini: I'm interested in the journal that you write with key passages from the books you're reading. What do you do with these? Do you refer back to them for your own creative writing?

>375 AlisonY: - I keep a reading journal each year with lists and entries of what I'm reading and what I think about it. If there is any writing that jumps out at me, I copy it down too. I just like to go back and read them. I guess it's a reminder of what kind of writing I like more than something I go back and refer to while I'm in the middle of something. I just started doing this on my own, but I hear that many writers have done this since there was writing. There's a name for it, which has escaped me at the moment. It might be called a nonesuch journal. Or maybe it's something else.

>376 Nickelini: A commonplace book? They usually include quotes, thoughts, whatever else strikes one as important in day-to-day life.

That's a good idea. Something I'd maybe like to do in the future when I have a bit more time to go back and read it (like when do you ever get more time, lol).

>377 ursula: I think that's it! Thank you.

>379 Nickelini: I've been fascinated with the idea since I started reading biographies of the presidents - all the early ones kept commonplace books. I haven't actually started one myself but the idea is ruminating in the back of my head.

>376 Nickelini: I think you, with Alison and Ursula, just provided me with a New Year resolution. I won't make mine a paper journal though, I think better with a keyboard (and I can edit as I go).

>381 VivienneR: - a keyboard would be more efficient for me, but I usually write when I'm curled up in bed.

For a paper journal, I like this method for creating an index by category or whatever you'd like.

>383 ursula: - Oh, that's helpful. Thanks. Have to think about how I'm going to know how much room to allot for each index category, but it's still really good . . . .

What a great idea for indexing a paper notebook. I keep notebooks all over the place, each for a different topic.

Doh! I read it wrong the first time. My concern in post 384 isn't a problem after all. I am going to definitely use this for my novel writing notes.

eta: those Leuchtturm Medium Hardcover notesbooks look fabulous. I'm going to order one from Indigo today

I think we're all onto a New Year's Resolution now - love the idea of a commonplace book. Thinking maybe even of snippets of wisdom to try and pass on to my kids.

Some nice ideas here of how to record: http://thoughtcatalog.com/ryan-holiday/2013/08/everyone-should-keep-a-commonplac...

>383 ursula: That is an amazing technique! I can totally see myself using it for a book journal and coding genres that way (but with page numbers and a table of contents for the titles and authors).

>388 mabith:, if page numbers and TOC is important to you, check out the Leuchtturm1917 Notebook mentioned in the link at post 383. They look lovely.

With all this talk about commonplace books, I'm wondering where I heard nonesuch journal and what that is.

63. Dancing with Mr Darcy: Stories Inspired by Jane Austen and Chawton House, Sarah Waters, editor, 2009


Cover comments: Pleasing colour and art, although it speaks to the Austen theme, it doesn't represent the stories.

Comments: Reviews of this at LT are quite mediocre, so I didn't expect to like this as much as I did. Twenty short stories, all written by what appears to be British women, that were part of "the Best of the Jane Austen Short Story Competition." All the stories are just a few pages long, and the ties to Jane Austen are loose. As with probably every single collection of short stories, a few were very good, and a few unreadable.

Recommended for: : For most of these stories, one doesn't need to know a thing about Jane Austen or her novels to read this in order to find enjoyment. Janeites looking for Austen-language stories and Austen fanfic readers will be disappointed. If you're interested in writing that takes its inspiration from former literary works, authors, and places, and then does something completely different, this may be for you.

Rating: pleasantly surprised.

Why I Read This Now time to move it out of the tbr pile.

>389 Nickelini: I ordered one of those journals pretty much as soon as I saw the link! After I use up the purpose made reading journals i bought I bet the leuchtturms will be what I use.

Question for those into the book-journaling/commonplace book thing: Does anyone happen to know of anywhere with book-themed stickers? Either like generic book themed (book stacks, book sitting open, cutesy figures reading, etc) or relating to classics or such? I need to decorate! xD

>392 .Monkey.: - Short answer is "no," however, I suggest you keep your eyes open at book stores and stationary shops, or try online. Amazon carries a lot of non-book items--maybe some of those too. Good luck.

eta: scrapbooking stores (or website) will have them for sure

Yeah unfortunately there's not much in the way of those here. Which is good in that the bookstores are mostly smaller shops not huge chains, but therefore they don't sell those extras. And I only know of one stationery shop, haha. They do sell some stickers though, I'd forgotten about them, so thanks for that reminder, will check on that when I'm next in the center. :)

>394 .Monkey.: Have you tried HEMA? They might have something like that.

>395 ursula: Hema does have stickers, but I've never seen any book-related ones there. Zeeman also tends to sell stickers, but again they're mostly Disney or generic young kids ones with animals or fairies or such. It's Bozzy I was thinking I might have a shot with. However I just tried to check online and their site is no longer there... uh oh? hrm. Oh well, I will find something somewhere, or I won't! lol.

64/ Black Water, Joyce Carol Oates, 1992


Cover comments: So very ugly

Comments: I read JCO's fictional retelling of the Chappaquiddick incident in one sitting last night. Oates, as always, is very readable. Black Water is on the 1001 books list and I believe was in running for a Pulitzer.

Going in to this, I didn't know much about Chappaquiddick. I was six when it happened, and growing up in Canada I had no interest in the lives of US politicians. Still, I did absorb the main points through common culture. Oates brings the story forward to 1988 and changes the victim (although they are similar). I didn't allow myself to Google anything until I was finished the book, but then read Wiki and see that she didn't make any major changes (or maybe she did). I'm surprised that this got published, considering the influence of the Kennedy family.

Oates uses an interesting technique of starting with the moments before death, moving the story forward in flashbacks, and then circling around to death again. This would be a good example to use in a creative writing course.

Rating easily 4 stars, hey, let's go crazy and make it 4.5.

Recommended for: A wide readership, and I don't think you need to know much about US politics to understand this (some references I didn't get, but it didn't get in the way of the story).

Why I Read This Now: I was looking for something I could start and finish in one sitting, and I hadn't read any Joyce Carol Oates for a while.


Those blondes are a dime a dozen anyway.