Torontoc's Books Read in 2008

Last year I read 81 books- I think as a result of joining LT. So this year I will try for 75 or more.
1. Gentlemen of the Road by Michael Chabon This is an adventure story set in 950 A.D.It read like an extended classics comic book with extravagant stories of vengence, escapes, good triumphing over evil, hidden identities and more. Great fun to read and like Chabon's earlier work, great language and turn of phrase.
2. Out of Line Growing Up Soviet by Tina Grimberg. This slim volume is a memoir about the author's childhood in 1970's Kiev. It is really a slice of the life that Tina Grimberg led with her family before they left the Soviet Union for the United States.
3. The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick. This children's book has a wonderful combination of written narration and illustrations as well as photos integrated into the story.

#1 I'm glad you decided to join the challenge!

Thank you, Cariola. I think that the challenge will be interesting.

4. Fables of Brunswick Avenue:Stories by Katherine Govier. Nice collection of stories about the 1970's. Not all of them center around Toronto and Brunswick Avenue, as the reading guide at the back of the book suggests. However the collection with its wide ranging subjects, does touch on what I would consider early feminist ideas regarding relationships. I like Govier's style and would consider looking at her novels.

5. A Writer at War by Vasily Grossman and edited by Anthony Beevor and Luba Vinogradova. The subtitle of the book is A Soviet Journalist with the Red Army 1941-1945. The book was really interesting because the editors did more than just translate. They also provived a narrative of events and connected Grossman's notebooks to the events of battle and troop movement. Grossman's account of Treblinka in the book is heartbreaking. I would recommend this book to readers who are interested in history and especially World War II.

6. Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell. This is a smart, funny and insightful book about the author's travels to see the various memorials, museums and geographical spots connected with the assassinations of Presidents Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley.

Torontoc-

Have you read Vasily Grossman's Life and Fate? It's an amazing piece about, oh 70 or so, Russian characters during WWII heavily based on his experiences during the war.
(It's also his only other book currently in print in English.)

No , I haven't read Life and Fate- I will have to put it on my wish list. Thank you for bringing it to my attention. What I have read is 1920 Diary by Isaac Babel. This is an account of Babel's experiences as part of the Cossack cavalry during the Polish-Soviet War of 1919-20. This diary was used by Babel for research for his book Red Calvary.(Now that I am reminded, another book to put on the wish list)

7. Something Rotten by Jasper Fforde. The third Thursday Next book is fun to read with it's altered view of history, multiple plot lines and characters. I still liked the first one, The Eyre Affair, best.

#7: I agree completely about The Eyre Affair being the best in the series. I have read them all and IMHO none of the rest top the first. They are not bad, just not as good as the first.

ditto from me. I read the second and found it somewhat disappointing so didn't continue to the third. I suppose it was because the humor wasn't new anymore. . .

8. The Dream of Scipio by Iain Pears. A very interesting book that very successfully inter-twines the stories of Manlius Hippomanes at the end of the fifth century, Olivier de Noyen in the fourteenth century and Julien Barneuve in 1940's in Provence. The main idea- that of taking an action for the common good versus what may be right is woven through the storylines and does produce an some surprises at the conclusion.

9. Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri. I really like a good book of short stories. and Lahiri's are superb. I found that her characters and situations that dealt with both India and the United States engaging and in some cases heart breaking. It is interesting that her stories have similarities to a number of Canadian writers who have an Indian or Pakistani background.

I just posted on the What Are You Reading page and asked you to comment on Interpreter, but then thought you might have done so here. Glad you liked the stories too.

What Canadian writers are you thinking of? I am always interested in hearing about writers new to me.

I was thinking of the novels of Anita Rau Badami, Tamarind Mem, The Hero's Walk and Rohinton Mistry's first book , a short story collection, Tales from Firozsha Baag

I second the Badami novels! The latest has not been published in the US and I had to scramble to pick up a used hc from Canada.

10. The History of Love by Nicole Krauss. This book has wonderful characters and double plot lines that eventually came together. I liked the writing stye and loved the people she wrote about. What a good book!

That one's on my TBR shelf. Glad to hear you enjoyed it!

11. Fault Lines by Nancy Huston. I have mixed feelings about this book. It is divided into four parts , starting in 2004 with a narrative by a 6 year old and then continuing with the father, grand mother and great grandmother providing the narrative at the point when they each were six. The story is interesting- changing identities linking events in Germany during WWII, Toronto during the 1960's, and New York and Haifa in the 1980's. However, the voice of the child in the first section is quite false. The other three sections are much more believable. I have to think about this book. I haven't read Nancy Huston's work for a few years.

Torontoc, I read history of Love AND listened to it on audio (it's excellent both ways!

Cariola and Avaland- I am really glad that I read The History of Love. It is one of those books that you remember, with a good feeling, for the characters, the style and the story.

and yet. . .

12. The Caliph's House: A Year in Casablanca by Tahir Shah. This is a very entertaining and informative account of the author's first year living in Casablanca and his adventures in renovating his villa. It is really a story of the people he meets and the texture of a very different life than the one he led with his family in London. This book makes me want to read his other books. I gather that he has written another about Morocco. There is a review of it on Booklounge.ca

13. A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon. What can I say? He writes very well about a very disfunctional family, using each member as the narrator in different chapters. You,the reader, really discover how the characters behave and see their point of view. I have liked other disfunctional families in other books better. I almost stopped reading in the middle but Haddon is a good writer- I pushed on and did like the book at the end. I prefer his first book.

14. Heat by Bill Buford. Bill Buford was the founding editor of my favourite literary magazine Granta. He moved to New York where he worked for the New Yorker magazine. This book is his account of learning and cooking for Mario Batali in his restaurant, Babbo and travelling to Italy to learn the secrets of pasta. He also became proficient in the art of butchering meat. Buford approaches the skills of cooking as an art form, It is very amusing to read of his adventures and interesting to see how he researched the history of various dishes. I must admit that after reading his descriptions of the kitchen at Babbo, I know now-never order pasta late in the evening!

15. The Translator A Tribesman's Memoir of Darfur by Daoud Hari. A very powerful story about the author's life and struggles in Darfur. He led many journalists into Darfur and recounts a very painful time when he was captured and tortured along with the driver and journalist who he was escorting. This is an Early Reviewers book. I am going to think about it before posting my review.

16. The Nimrod Flipout by Etgar Keret. Keret's short stories ( many are really brief ) seem to chronicle the lives of 20 and 30 year olds in Israel and New York. They are a surreal -talking fish, a girlfriend who turns into a"soccer loving lout" at night- and funny and painful. I enjoyed reading them and will look out for more of Keret's work. Certainly, he sets the scene of his work very quickly and makes his point clearly.

17. Late Nights on Air by Elizabeth Hay excellent book-Hay creates a group of characters who work at the radio station in Yellowknife in 1975. They come from elsewhere, are either running away from or journeying towards something in the north. Some go on a canoe trip into the Arctic that retraces one fatal one taken by an explorer in 1921. Hay writes into her story the work done by the Berger commission on the proposed Mackenzie Pipeline. I found that the combination of unique personalities in this novel, the complex storylines and the excellent skill that Hay shows in conveying the story, makes this book a pleasure to read.

18.The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory.I liked this book- it was an easy read and I enjoy a good historical fiction story. I found that the narrative by the three women- Jane Boleyn, Katherine Howard and Anne of Cleves- was a good device to advance the plot. I must admit that after I read about Gregory's inaccuracies, I usually go and read a history by David Starkey to find out what really happened. I did like this book better than The Other Boleyn Girl

19. Heyday by Kurt Andersen. I found this saga that centered on four characters in 1848 was interesting in the scope of the plot. New York, the West and the California Gold Rush played just as an important role in this story as the main characters. The development of character or personality was not as strong as the plot line. I did enjoy the story.

20. South Beach Deco Step by Step by Iris Chase - a description of the many Art Deco buildings in Miami Beach , their history and great photographs. The narrative was a little too much like a tourist brochure but I found the history interesting.

21. Special Assignments by Boris Akunin.The fifth in the series about the Russian detective Erast Fandorin. This book consists of two stories- one about a worthy opponent who stages elaborate swindles and the other about a very disturbed killer.

Would like to hear more about Late Nights on Air!
Also, what did you think of The Boleyn Inheritance?
I saw The Other Boleyn Girl, movie version, last week.
Don't feel in any rush to read the book now. There always seems to be some criticism of Gregory's accuracy.

I liked The Boleyn Inheritance best of all of Gregory's Tudor novels. Her historical inaccuracies drive me nuts (worst of all was The Constant Princess). This one bothered me less because relatively little is known about the three women featured in the novel: Anne of Cleves, Katherine Howard, and Jane Boleyn.

I was not as enamoured of The Other Boleyn Girl as many readers, but I thought the movie might be fun. After reading several reviews and comments by people on LT and another message board I frequent, I'm happy to wait for it to come out on DVD--which may not be long, if word of mouth keeps spreading.

I am a pretty harsh critic of movies - I thought the movie was "not bad" but not up to the usual standard of British historical films. The father is portrayed as a very ambitious but weak man, basically a pimp for his daughters - I wanted to kick him! (I was watching the movie with my own daughters). The part of Mrs. Boleyn was well done.

22. Dancing to "Almendra" by Mayra Montero. About half-way into this book, I was curious to see what other LT'ers thought of it. This book was an Early Reviewers books although I bought mine on a wonderful book buying spree at Barnes and Nobles in New York. (Because of the rise in value in the Canadian dollar, it is now better to buy some books in the US rather than in Canada.)
I was surprised to find that a number of readers didn't like the book and the intertwined plots. I like that aspect of this novel and was engaged in the lives of the characters. I would recommend this book for a look at Havana and the influence of the Mob in the casinos at the end of the 1950's.

23. Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips. Quite a funny book. What happens when the Gods-as in Greek Gods- are living in a shabby house in London-and have a cleaner named Alice? Very light and entertaining book.

24. Shining At The Bottom of The Sea by Stephen Marche. I have to say-what a wonderful book! Marche creates not only an island ( Sanjania ) but it's history, culture and literature. The book takes the form of an anthology of stories from early to the present contemporary time period. The writers, their history, and sources are all established with the different styles of dialect appropriate to their times. It is a very unusual creation of a people and the fiction that defines their character. Highly recommended.

25. Captain Alatriste by Arturo Perez-Reverte. I like to read historical fiction and this book is the first in a series about a retired soldier from the Spanish army at about 1620. I must admit that I became interested in this subject as I saw the movie at the Toronto International Film Festival- it was in spanish and covered all the books that Perez-Reverte has written. There are two so far that have been translated into english. The story is about politics, intrigue and life in Madrid. I liked the story although not as much as those of my favourtie writer of battles, politics and soldiers- Bernard Cornwell.

Torontoc, tell me more about Bernard Cornwell! (your opinion) I have a few of his books and hoping he is good - I have Stonehenge (am currently reading Sarum by Edward Rutherfurd) and curious to see how Cornwell treats that historical monument and time.

Bernard Cornwell writes a very good adventure story. He has a number of series- the most famous being the Richard Sharpe books on the wars in Spain and Portugal with Wellington and Napoleon. I followed that series as well as his Grail Quest books. I learned a lot about the history of the times and went on to read some biographies of the some of the real people that he writes about. Unlike the Philippa Gregory books, you do find that Cornwell was pretty accurate. He also writes an afterward that explains what is historically accurate and what he made up in terms of actual events. I haven't read Stonehenge-would like to hear what you think of it. I also heard Cornwell speak twice- He is very entertaining.

Thanks torontoc. I am enjoying Sarum and think Stonehenge will be a near-future read.
I also have the first 2 of the Grail Quest series and the 2 of the Saxon Chronicles. All TBR. Looks like I will be steeping myself in British history.

26. Triangle by Katharine Weber. This novel is about one of the survivors of the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist fire in New York City.This story is also about Rebecca, the granddaughter of Esther, and Rebecca's partner, George, a talented musician. The three stories are intertwined ( my favourite literary device ) as Esther tells her story again and again and we, the readers, solve the mystery. I read one of Weber's books a number of years ago and she is a great storyteller.

I read Triangle when it came out and enjoyed it too. Thanks for reminding me of it!

27. The Road by Cormac McCarthy. All I can say is "wow"! I was so affected by this book-the spare writing, the relationship between the boy and the father,and the view of humanity. This book is so haunting and for me, a very emotional read.

A very emotional read for me too and a book that I have recommended to many others.

28. The Last Judgement by Iain Pears. A quick and easy mystery read for the morning. Not a great book but it held my interest. The story involves murder, a stolen painting that might hold the evidence of wrongdoing during World War 11 in Paris and some spies.

29. Shadow of the Silk Road by Colin Thubron. I had a lot of trouble getting into this book. I kept on saying to myself -silk road! you like this kind of travel story- and eventually I did. Thubron travels from Xian in China through to Kashgar, Samarkand, Bukhara, Mazar-e-Sharif, Herat, Meshad, Tehran and and on to Antakya in Syria. He writes about what was there during the times of the silk road and what is there now. I admired Thubron's vast knowledge of the civilizations that are now extinct and was fascinated by his search for the tombs and cities that have now disappeared.

30. The Inner Side of the Wind or The Novel of Hero and Leander by Milorad Pavic. I'm not sure what to make of this book. The idea was interesting- tell the story in two parts and the reader chooses the order. One part is about the story of Hero and the second -started upside down on the back of the book is about Leander. The novel spans many ages from about 1680's to the 1930's. There are stories inside of stories told in the context of the contant wars that took place in the area of Serbia. The conflicts both personal and national figure prominantly. My problem is that while I do enjoy surreal aspects in a novel there is just too much for my taste. I didn't like the fact that the two stories really didn't mesh in a satisfactory way for me. The language is very poetic in places and the images are rich so that a picture does emerge of the region.

31. Across the Bridge by Mavis Gallant. I read some of Mavis Gallant 's short stories a number of years ago. This volume of stories about 1950's Montreal and Paris are very good in their depiction of character and certainly have a finely drawn sense of time and place.

32. A Rare Benedictine The Adventures of Brother Cadfael by Ellis Peters. I needed to read a brief story and found the first three stories of Brother Cadfael very entertaining. I did see the BBC series years ago and thought that one day I would try out one of the books. I think that the series is worth seeking out when you want a mystery that is not very complicated.

33. A Delightful Compendium of Consolation-A Fabulous Tale of Romance, Adventure and Faith in the Medieval Mediterranean by Burton L. Visotzky.
This is one of my ER books. I really liked the stories and the relationship to real events and people. The author told the story in the form of letters sent to the different members of family and friends who figure in the narrative. The author was most successful in relating the male voice - I found his female voice not as convincing. but I still enjoyed this book.More in my review later this weekend.

34. The Bastard of Istanbul by Elif Shafak
I just finished reading this book and think that it is incredible. I think that it is one of the best books I have read this year. Shafak was charged with " denigrating Turkishness" as a result of writing this book. The charges were dropped.
The story of two inter-twined Turkish and Armenian families is beautifully written. I loved her turn of phrase and choice of words.
The Turkish household in Istanbul that she writes about is composed of all women. In fact I heard Shafak interviewed on CBC radio and she was raised in a house of women.Her diplomat mother and her father separated when she was very young. The book is about the clash and connection between Armenian and Turkish cultures. I highly recommend it.

Great line-up of books, Torontoc. Has inspired me to read the Elizabeth Hay book; I needed someone's opinion about it first. Also I have walked past the Marche book several times in the library and left it there, so that goes on the pile.

The Bastard of Istanbul is also going on my MBR pile.

Great reviews. Thanks.

I just bought The Bastard of Istanbul, torontoc, after it showed up on the OP longlist. It sits here on the pile:-) It's good to know you loved it.

35. The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie This was one of my Early Reviewer's books and I did enjoy it. Rushdie is a consummate storyteller and this epic covers India and Italy. Some might argue about his portrayal of women in this novel but I think that he is telling a story that is true to the conventions of the time. I'll write more in my review in a few days.

36. Kafka in Bronteland and Other Stories by Tamar Yellin. This is a very satisfying collection of short stories by a British writer. Yellin writes about Jews, belonging and assimilation in England, as well as vignettes about lonely people. I liked most of the stories and the author's use of language.

37. The Raphael Affair by Iain Pears. I needed an easy-to-read paperback book today and this story was fine. It is an art based mystery featuring an English art historian, Jonathan Argyll, and Italian invetigators, General Bottando and Flavia di Stefano. This is part of a series of about 6 books.

#55 torontoc: I like Pears' art history mysteries as well as his other works, including The Instance of the Fingerpost. If you've not read them, you might want to give them a try.

Thanks- I have already asked for a number of the series on Bookmooch!

Let me know what you think of them!

38. People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks. This fictional story of the history of the Sarajevo Haggadah is very good until the ending! I liked the imagined histories of the journey of this book. The story of the restorer that linked the different periods and places was also interesting untill the very -what I think is- cheesy ending! I am a little disappointed as I like the other books of Geraldine Brooks.

Torontoc, very interesting about the ending. I thought her ending weak in the Year of Wonders. I thought the whole thing about the harem ...etc was just goofy and a more powerful ending would've been if she had the woman get on the boat to leave England. Period. The End. I can't remember the ending to March off hand, so I can't argue for a trend:-)

39. Landscape Painted with Tea by Milorad Pavic. I usually don't rant but here it is- I hated this book. I like books with surreal images and stories within stories. I have loved Orhan Pamuk, W. G. Sebald and certainly Salman Rushdie. This book was initially interesting and then became intolerable. The metaphors were piled on thickly, the characters and their histories became muddled and the ending was insufferable. I read this book as part of a group read on the former Yugoslavia but I am going to choose another book. I read one of Pavic 's books earlier this month and did not have such a bad reaction. End of rant- I am now going to read Margaret Atwood- a guarantee of good reading!

I am reading my first Atwood sometime soon. The Handmaid's Tale is in my TBR stack and I will get to it very soon. Any suggestions on where to go from there?

I like all Atwood books. ( except for one book of short stories -I think- Wilderness Tips that had a nasty caricature of a prominent Toronto writer.) I would read Alias Grace, The Blind Assassin and Moral Disorder-really great linked short stories.

40. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. All I can say is wow- the writing is terrific and the story much more chilling now in light of contemporary events.

Have to agree so far.....everyone's raving about Atwood put The Handmaid's Tale at the top o my TBR stack and I am about 50 pages in. I am always amazed at the vitality of some of these Science Fiction and dystopian authors when I read them and realize they wrote the stories so much earlier, especially some like Orwell and Huxley. Atwood seems to also have the same vision. Her spare and simple writing so often helps cut to the heart of the characters inner world and feelings. The style also lends to the tension and fear which builds page to page. Really enjoying it.....thanks for the recommendation, to you and all who have encouraged me to read this one.

41. Pelagia and The White Bulldog by Boris Akunin. Fun read by one of my favourite mystery writers. The story was interupted by a discourse in the middle of the book about corruption and how to deal with it in 19th century Russia. That part could have been cut out.

42. The Mystery of Olga Chekhova by Antony Beevor. This biography of a niece of Anton Chekhov is well written by a historian who is becoming one of my favourites. Olga Chekhova moved to Berlin and became an actress in many German movies of the 1930's and 40's. Beevor traces the stories of her relatives in Russia and Germany. In all probability, Olga Chekhova was a sleeper Soviet spy. Beevor uses material from interviews and released documents from Russian archives.

43. Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay. excellent ER book that relates two stories past and present, and uses the round- up of Jews to the Vel d'Hiv in 1942 as the focus.

Noticed a what looks like theme in your thread here about Russian history and fiction? Am I right? I just started Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler. Do you know this book or, perhaps you've read it? You might be interested because it follows the arrest and interrogation of a Russian party leader after a shake up in the country. Very much a comment on the Russian revolution. I like it a great deal so far.

Thank you- I haven't read Koestler but will put the book on my wish list. The story sounds interesting!

44. The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit by Lucette Lagnado. This book is a touching memoir of the author's family, her father and their lives as Egyptian Jews in Cairo during the 1950's and 60's. The family was compelled to leave Egypt and the book ends with the story of their immigration to the United States. What I liked about this book is the description of the very different cultures and worlds of Lagnado's family in Egypt and the US.

#40
I note the book Triangle on your list and wanted to reply to the post. I have this on my to be read pile and will now move it up to the top. I bought the book a few months ago after watching a PBS special regarding unions.

I personally am interested in this subject because my grandmother was a blouse facotry worker in a small NE town of Pen Argyl, PA. As a child I accompanied her to work on Saturday mornings. I would read a book while watching her work very, very hard.

By the way, you have an impressive reading list and are well on your way to the 75 book challenge. Congratulations!

#68. Thanks for recommending Darkness at Noon. I've been reading a lot of Russian History books lately and therefore look forward to adding this.

45. Night of Many Dreams by Gail Tsukiyama. Very nice book about a family and specifically two sisters in Hong Kong during and after WW 2. I found the plot and characters interesting but not fabulous. I read another of Tsukiyama's books last year and liked it better.

46. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. Count me in as a fan of this book. I found it well written and the details of life in the circus and the depression very interesting. However, what is with the books that I have read lately that have not had strong endings? I thought that the present day story was not resolved well.

Which Tsukiyama book did you like better. I have met Gail a few times - she is terrific and full of life. I read her new book last year, but haven't read others, although I own many. I will gladly take your suggestion.

I totally agree with you about Water for Elephants. I really liked the way the story moved back and forth through time, but I, too, thought the ending was flat.

I liked Gail Tsukiyama's last book The Street of a Thousand Blossoms.-mask making and sumo wrestlers!
I heard the author read from the book at the Toronto Authors Festival and was impressed and read the book.

The Street of a Thousand Blossoms was the one I read too. Loved it!

47. A Journey to the End of the Millennium by A.B. Yehoshua. This is a really wonderful book-beautiful language and phrases-a good translator in Nicholas De Lange-and a very interesting story. The book tell the story of a Jewish merchant from Tangiers, his two wives , his nephew who marries a woman from the North ( Worms ) their disputes and travels. The fact that it takes place just before the millenium of 1000 A.D. takes on a great significance with worlds of North( Paris, Metz, Worms) and South ( present day Morocco) colliding and changing.

48. All Aunt Hagar's Children by Edward P. Jones. I really liked the author's novel The Known World. This book of short stories had a very distracting style of very long sentences with too much information piled on. You, the reader, have to digest facts about what happens in the future, relationships about the past and the plot. And I like books with interesting writing styles -but enough already. I found the stories well thought out, but I think that I need to read a book with straight forward narration now.

49. The Year of Living Biblically by A..J. Jacobs. This is a very funny and interesting account of the author's year of trying to follow all the "rules" of the bible. I use the word rules as he interprets and questions everything he reads in the bible. Jacobs also visits and talks to any many different groups who have different interpretations of how to behave and live according to their readings. Highly recommended.

Interesting to hear you liked Jacobs.

I have not read his books, but was very tempted with his foray into reading the entire Encylopaedia Britannica - a publication I did not know still existed since on-line reference.

Thanks for the heads-up - will have to read him now.

50. The Rabbi's Cat 2 by Joann Sfar. The second graphic novel by this French writer and artist, The Rabbi's Cat 2 tell more stories about the talking cat, the Rabbi from 1934 Algiers and his cousins. The book has two different stories- Malka of the Lions and the journey to find the African Jerusalem. I enjoyed this book and look forward to the next installment.

#82 -Karen, I am going to look for the Encyclopaedia Britannica book as well-more to put on my book wish list!

51. In Arabian Nights A Caravan of Moroccan Dreams by Tahir Shah. This is the second book about Shah's life in Morocco. He concentrates on the importance of stories in his life and the lives of the men and the eastern culture that he introduces to us. The book is not as good as his first although I enjoyed the read. What pops up slightly in this book is -how do i say this-a certain attitude towards women that does not run through the whole book -but is enough to set me off. He certainly respectful towards his family but some general comments bothered me. Time to read some female authors.

52. The Genizah at the House of Shepher by Tamar Yellin. I liked this ER book. I found that the narratives about family and family history very touching. I thought that the plot line about the mysterious stranger a little "off" but would recommend the book. I read Yellin's short stories earlier this year.

53. Conceit by Mary Novik. This historical fiction novel is about the daughter of John Donne- Margaret or Pegge. The author presents the voices of John Donne, his wife, Ann More and Pegge.It is very good with the questions of love , sacrifice and choices. Highly recommended.

I keep seeing Conceit at bookstores and it looks intriguing (talk about judging a book by its cover). On to my TBR list with that one!

Mine as well!

I also have Conceit on my TBR list. She is a writer from Vancouver Island and was shortlisted for a recent prize - cannot remember which? Looks intriguing and now moving up on my list too!

Edited to add - Novik won the B.C. Book Prize with Conceit.

54. The Titian Committee by Iain Pears Nice art history mystery in a series. Hmm-not bad -not great-I'm moving on.

55. Granta 98 The Deep End. I haven't read one of the Granta magazines for a while. They are really books of short stories and memoirs and come out four times a year. Many are in my TBR piles now. This one has the usual mix of good reporting and stories. Before LT I used to get my lists of interesting authors to read from Granta.

I really like the Granta magazines also. I find they are a good way to explore writers without committing to their books. They have lots of pictures too!!

I also quite like the Granta publishing - presently reading The Smoking Diaries by Simon Gray which is a rather deliciously politically incorrect and funny portrayal of his childhood, and published by Granta. I want to get his other two (he mostly writes plays I think).

56. Away by Amy Bloom. I thought that this book would be about immigrants and the life they led when they first arrived in the United States. But it is really an adventure story and journey. The narration is good but a little detached. The main part of the story is the travelling that the main character does in the Northwest of the US, and Canada. I found it interesting but not wonderful-I'm glad that I read it but it is not one of the books I would consider memorable.

I had a very similar response to Away. It pops up in my head every once in a while, but not because I thought the book was amazing.

57. Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O'Neill. This is an excellent book. The author writes in the voice of a 12 year old girl who lives in Montreal with her father- a drug addict. This disfunctional family always is on the edge of distruction. . The language of the book and descriptions are so poetic in spite of the harrowing details of life on the street. The heroine, Baby always finds the positive in a grim life with really no one to support her. The author has crafted a very fine novel. It did become the Canada Reads book for 2007.

58. The Night Watch by Sarah Waters. I did like the historical information about the daily lives of the characters just after and during WW.2. The idea of starting from 1947 and working backwards was interesting. The first part of the book did not engage me- I found the writing dry. The second part of the book did move faster but it was too long. I didn't like any of the characters in this novel until the middle of the book when I learned more about them. Even then. some of the motivations seemed a little weak to me.

I'm enjoying your reviews very much. More books to add to the list...

Thanks, Amanda. I can get back to reading after this Thursday! I have four books on the go!

59. Travels with Herodotus by Ryszard Kapuscinski. I really liked this book-the author was a Polish journalist who covered Africa, China, India and many other countries. I first read his work in Granta magazine. He writes about some of his early travels and how he took a copy of Herodotus's The Histories with him. He relates how this Greek historian discovered and learned about past events and how this related to his own discoveries. I usually don't quote from a book but I want to share a quote-
"Herodotus learns about his worlds with the rapturous enthusiasm of a child. His most important discovery? That there are many worlds. And that each is different.
Each is important.
And that one must learn about them, because other worlds, these other cultures, are mirrors in which we can see ourselves. thanks to which we understand ourselves better-for we cannot define our own identity until having confronted that of others, as comparison.
And that is why Herodotus, having made this discovery-that the cultures of others are a mirror in which we can examine ourselves in order to understand ourselves better-every morning. tireless, again and again , sets out on his journey." page 264

60. Cool Jew The Ultimate Guide for Every Member of the Tribe by Lisa Alcalay Klug. This is a very disappointing book. The idea of affirming your identity is commendable. However, the book is really a one note story that only gives limited suggestions on Jewish Identity. The best thing about the book is the resource list of websites at the back and it is not even complete.

61. The Lizard Cage by Karen Connelly. This is an excellent book but a very hard read. I found it difficult to get into at the beginning because of the relentless suffering. However, the story does pick up when more of the characters are introduced and the plot lines become more complex. The conditions of the prisoners in Burma is terrible. This book draws attention to a part of the world that we have been hearing about lately.

62. A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers by Xiaolu Guo. This story of a young Chinese woman who studies English in London and her relationship with an older man is well crafted and very good. I think that I liked the way the author portrayed the cultural differences between East and West.

I've been dying to read your book no. 62, Torontoc. Every now and then I bring up my Amazon wishlist in order to stare at the price and try to will it down. I think I am almost at the breaking point. Did you like it or did you really like it or did you really, really like it?

Hmm- I liked it but have not raved about it- it is good but not brilliant-does that help? The voice of the young woman seems very authentic.

Yes it does help. I think I'm just going to stare at it for a while longer. Maybe I'll put it on the Christmas list.

63. Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood. I think that Margaret Atwood is a superb storyteller. This book is an excellent saga that gives us the world after an apocalypse. The story of Snowman ( the narrator) and Oryx and Crake is as engrossing as The Handmaid's Tale. I think that this book is quite different than The Road by Cormac McCarthy. I'm glad that I have read all three of these books. What is troubling is the way disaster happens quickly- and we have seen contemporary events that mirror some of this fiction.

64. The Giant O'Brien by Hilary Mantel. I started reading this book a number of years ago, stopped, and just picked it up a couple of days ago as part of the 'Orange July Reading Challenge". I am glad that I did. The language and images are superb although the story and the descriptions of selling corpses to anatomists and the extreme poverty of 1782 Ireland and London is graphic. The stories told by the giant and the character descriptions are excellent.

65. Granta 101-The new editor is Jason Crowley and this issue had no theme but a wonderful group of authors. ( Annie Proulx and Hilary Mantel to name two)
66 Granta 92 The View From Africa I have been reading this book on and off for a while. Many authors who I have seen on LT recommendations contributed to this issue.

67. Field of Mars by Stephen Miller. Very good action/thriller/spy/mystery historical fiction. I found the story of the complicated plot behind the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie in Sarajevo most interesting as it begins with the killing of a child prostitute in St. Petersburg.
The twists and turns of the plot keep you the reader involved in the betrayals, and story developments.

68. Black Swan Green by David Mitchell This is a very good reading day as I have a terrible cold. This book relates the story of a thirteen year old boy living with his family in a small English village. The narration chronicles Jason's life during the course of one year-with family tensions, school friends and foes. The voice of a thirteen year old is captured with great truthfulness. Mitchell wrote Cloud Atlas- one of my favourite books that I read last year.

Hi Torontoc
I hope you feel better. Black Swan Green sounds very interesting!

69. Toronto Noir edited by Janine Armin and Nathaniel G. Moore. This is a terrible book-please don't read it. I like short stories and have read some wonderful collections in the past year. This collection started out with some very juvenile stories with no subtlety at all.People are killed and the reader wonders-what happened! I read maybe one or two interesting stories by new authors.After a while I realized that some of the stories had the same plot lines that involved senseless deaths and were in no way " noir " or black stories. Having read good authors , it is easy to recognize really bad literature.
End of rant . I still have my cold and will go on to better books.

70. The Bernini Bust by Iain Pears. A fun art detective mystery. Easy afternoon read.

71. Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones. I really liked this book that relates the story of a young girl on a South Pacific island. All the white men have left in the wake of a war except for an eccentric man who takes over as the school master and reads to the children from Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. The story of the conflict between the child and mother, mother and teacher, and tragically, village and soldiers is told in a somber and skilled style. One of the reviewers said "a brilliantly nuanced examination of the power of imagination. literature and reinvention." I agree.

I loved this book, too.

Count me in on the Mister Pip lovers, too!

72. A Royal Affair: George III and His Troublesome Siblings by Stella Tillyard. This book concludes the author's three book series that began with Aristocrats -the story of three Lennox sisters, and Citizen Lord -the tragic story of their relation Edward Fitzgerald. I liked all three books because of the detail and research that Tillyard brings to the history of the lives of her subjects. She writes in what I call the "dense historical style" but the stories are interesting and the reader does have a fairly complete picture of the times. Recommended.

73. Nickel and Dimed On (Not) Getting by in America by Barbara Ehrenreich I mooched this book and it arrived today,I had to read it and I did. Excellent account of the plight of low wage earners and their lives

Hi and congratulations on almost finishing the race toward 75. The goal is a short distance for you and the ribbon will be broken very soon.

74. Troll: A Love Story by Johanna Sinisalo. This is a very interesting story about a young Finnish photographer who rescues a small troll. The book weaves stories about Angel's tangled relationships as well. Well written and translated.

75. Granta 96 War Zones Another Granta theme book-this one has an excerpt of the The Bastard of Instanbul by Elif Safak-one of my favourite books this year- and a chilling story by John Burnside. The stories and memoirs cover war zones past and present.
Well- I have reached 75!

congratulations on reaching 75 :-)
Going for 125 now?

76. Away by Jane Urquhart I have read most of Urquhart's later novels. This early one is written beautifully although the characters didn't have lot of appeal to me. To reveal why would give away most of the story. Let me just say that bad choices were made and those under spells didn't have my sympathy. Interesting information on Ireland and Ontario in the 1840's and later.

To answer your question, FAMeulstee, Maybe not looking at 125 as I have some very long books in my book pile.

77. Elizabeth Rex by Timothy Findley This is a very interesting play by the late Timothy Findley. the play was produced in Stratford Shakespearean Festival in Ontario. It is one of those what if situations? Suppose Queen Elizabeth spent the night before the execution of her favourite, the Earl of Essex, debating with Shakespeare and his players on the subject what makes a man a man and a woman a woman? This drama introduces a fictional actor who specializes in leading women's roles. Very interesting and I wish that I had seen the play!

78. The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill. This novel follows the story of a girl -Aminata Diallo- from her life in a small African village, her capture and transportation to South Carolina, her life as a slave, freedom in New York City, travel to Nova Scotia, then Sierra Leone and finally London , England. The heroine's role in helping to write the Book of Negroes, although fictional, does highlight an interesting real historical document. The Book of Negroes lists 3000 Black Loyalists who were sent by the British from New York to Nova Scotia just after the American Revolution.

Torontoc, how did you like The Book of Negroes? I have been resisting borrowing it from the library just because my personal TBR pile is so high - but it's very tempting!

I did like The Book of Negroes - I did find it hard to get into at first. I like the writing style although I must say that there are other Canadian authors that I still like better. ( Jane Urquhart, Wayne Johnston to name two.)
The saga was interesting although the end was a little too storybook for me. I am being cynical about the ending but still I think that it is a good read.

79. Justinian's Flea: The First Great Plague and The End of The Roman Empire by William Rosen. This was an interesting yet hard read. Rosen described in great detail the empires of the Romans and the Persians, the ascent of Justinian, the role of religion, many conquests by many generals, the building of Hagia Sophia and laid out the origins of the bubonic plague- micro organism to flea to rat. Although I certainly learned alot, I found that the plan of the book was not straight forward and there were many detours from the main plot.

80. The Flying Troutmans by Miriam Toews. This is such a good book! I can't say enough about it - I am very annoyed that it is not on the Giller Prize longlist. In this novel, Toews writes about a family on a road trip looking for the father of Thebes ( a very unusual 11 year old girl) and Logan ( 15 year old boy who writes strange stories in school). Their aunt, Hattie , has come back from Paris where she broke up with her boy friend. She has always been there for her mad sister, Min,in the past. Hattie decides to take the children on a road trip to find their father after Min goes into the hospital. The book relates present adventures as the three drive from Canada to California and past tales of Hattie and Min. Hattie does not always have the best judgement and she, too, has issues with the way her life has turned out. Toews has created wonderful and unique characters. I highly recommend this book.

My hand was wavering over this book in the store today as Indigo has it for 30% off. Do you think it is better than her first book, Torontoc?

Hi. I've added The Floying Troutmans to be huge tbr library.

Hi Kiwidoc,
Hmm- I really think that A Complicated Kindness is better-but this is a close second!

Well they both sound worth reading. Thanks Torontoc.

It is now on my list too!

Torontoc, haven't posted on your thread before, but enjoying your book list! And congrats on hitting the target, of course.

I have added The Flying Troutmans to Mt. TBR, as well. I am going to have to rename Mount TBR to something bigger. Any suggestions? Continent TBR, perhaps? Constellation TBR?

I call mine the semi-infinite TBR list since it has a starting point, but no apparent ending. 8^}

That's very good, Doc. I just call mine that god-awful mess in my bookcase.

I have settled on Continent TBR for now. . .after a while it will probably be Universe TBR, and then from there, who knows?

Mount Everest TBR?

#141 torontoc: Nope, I do not think Mount Everest is big enough. I am going with Continent TBR, to be upgraded to Universe TBR some time in the (probably) not too distant future. Of course, I could always stop reading everyone's reviews and lists on LT, and that might curtail the TBR problem a bit.

81. Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler. This is a very bleak book dealing with the imprisonment of a former Communist party leader just before World War Two. Written in 1941, Koestler captures the thoughts and theory of the revolution as well as the corruption and cold blooded decisions made to advance the cause. The real names of countries and leaders are not used but the reader certainly knows the events that are described. Very well written. Thank you blackdogbooks for the recommendation!

Hi Torontoc

Earlier this year I tried to read Darkness at Noon but put it down and didn't finish it. Your post and description makes me want to give it another try.

Thanks for your description.

And, jumping on the bandwagon regarding TBR piles, mountains, continents, I now have 25 books checked out from the local library....The people behind the desk simply smile when I hand them my card....

I studied Darkness at Noon last year. Talk about bleak! I can see why it has been seen as such an important book though. Well written and all . . . but not fun.

82. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. This was a wonderful book-thank you to all the Lt'ers who recommended it. The book is a series of letters that center on a writer ( Juliet ) and her discovery of a book club on the island of Guernsey. The society began as a ruse for breaking the curfew after a dinner on the island during World War Two. Just after the war, Juliet learns about the lives of the society members and you have to read the book to see how she becomes involved- Lovely book.

I only recently found your thread ... ! I'm so glad you liked "Potato Peel". I'm one of the legions who loved it too!

#144 Whisper: You only have 25 checked out of the library? Wow, wish I knew how you did that . . I currently have 70 or so checked out. It is sad when you know all the librarians by their first names.

Glad you enjoyed (?) Darkness At Noon. I just finished up The Leopard and it had some similar thoughts in it about the cycles of human history and interaction, especially in the context of revolution. I haven't got my thoughts posted yet but there was a strong correlation in some of the ideas expressed.

Whisper1, if you try to read it again, I focused much more on the prose describing the main characters physical and mental imprisonment. Bleak, yes.....but well written and thought provoking.

Blackdog--is it possible to "enjoy" Darkness at Noon? Yes, it's an interesting, well-written and important book . . .but enjoy? Hmmm. I'd be afraid of the person who took enjoyment from that book. ;-)

Thats why the ? stands after the word. Though, I did enjoy the philosophical ruminations of the main character on the cycles of human history. And there was some good solid prose.

83. The Dark Room by Rachel Seiffert. This book is composed of three stories. In the first a young man born with a deformity photographs Berlin before and during World War Two. In the second, a young teenager takes her younger brothers and sister on a journey through Germany just at the end of the war. She has to take her family to her grandmother's as both her parents have been put in prison. The third story relates the journey of a young man who tries to find out why his late grandfather was imprisoned by the Russians for 9 years after the war. The stories are about discovery, the question of guilt and in the last, healing and reconciliation. Recommended.

The Dark Room has been added to my list.
Thanks.

I have added The Dark Room to Continent TBR as well. Thanks for the review and recommendation.

I'll second Torontoc's recommendation of The Dark Room! I also enjoyed a collection of Seiffert's stories which I read this year.

84. Giotto's Hand by Iain Pears. This book was my reading material on subways and buses. It was not good. The red herring ending was not satisfactory and I am looking for a new mystery series. I have two authors in mind.

I also have to put Rachel Seiffert's other book Afterwards on my TBR and wish list!

Alas I am learning something new each day from LT. Please tell me what the term "red herring ending" means.

Thanks!

To me, "red herring ending" is one where new facts are thrown into the story to change the total narrative. This usually happens at the end of mystery stories-so if you were trying to figure out the mystery- you can't and are totally surprised by who did what or why. It is a cheat as far as I am concerned as it always looks as if the author had to end the story and couldn't work out the plot well enough.

The Dark Room is on top of my TBR continent (or would that be, at the edge of it?). Seiffert's Afterwards was one of my favorite reads of the year.

message #158, Thanks for teaching me something new!

>158 torontoc: Sort of like a deus ex machina contrivance?

Yes- deus ex machina is a much more elegant way of putting it!

torontoc, I'm glad to see you liked the Seiffert. I have eyed it since it appeared a few years ago on the Orange Prize nomination list. I recently picked it up at a library sale:-) I had picked up Afterwards when it first came out but it also is in the TBR pile (by still calling it the TBR pile a 'pile', it gives me the illusion that I can still conquer it!)

85. Cultural Amnesia by Clive James. I finally finished this tome of 852 pages-not including the index. I think that I have been reading it for about a month or more. James lists alphabetically the various authors and politicians that have made an impression on him and their contribution to the history of the 20th century. His subtitle to this book is Notes in the Margin of My Time. I was impressed at how he found some of these people as they seemed very obscure to me. On further reading, you can see the themes that are very important to James. World War ll and the rise of antisemitism and the senseless destruction of the Russian people by successive Soviet governments are the two that James comes back to in most of the biographies. James does digress in many of his biographical descriptions touching on a wide variety of topics.His selection of people is interesting and on further reflection, covers European culture but is not representative of American society or women's voices. Still, very interesting and worth reading-when you have time!

86. The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway. This novel relates the stories of three people who live in Sarajevo during the siege of 1992-96. Arrow is a young woman who is a sniper. She has been given the task of protecting a cellist who is playing Albinoni's Adagio in the street for 22 days. He does this in memory of the 22 people who were killed by a mortar while they were lining up for bread. This is a true incident that Galloway works into his novel. Two other inhabitants of the city, Dragan and Kenan are looking for food and water respectively. The author builds up details of living in a besieged city with skill. I was left with a feeling of respect for those who learned how to survive. Galloway certainly writes with sensitivity in his descriptions of life in Sarajevo during those horrible times.

#165: this does sound really interesting. I have several friends/colleagues who hail from various bits of the former Yugoslavia and I'm always embarrassed inside at how little I understand of what happened there.

2009 has to be a year of reading political literature... I am now definitely too old to get away with ignorance in this sort of area.

FlossieT-I would definately recommend this book.

I pre-ordered Cellist some months ago and it has been sitting on the TBR GAM shelves patiently waiting for me to pick it up. I think the time may have arrived.

87. Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth by Margaret Atwood Margaret Atwood will be delivering the Massey Lectures during the month of November. This is a series of 5 lectures that the author gives in five Canadian cities and on CBC Radio. This book gives the lectures in written form as well as notes and bibliography. it is interesting that the subject is very timely although Atwood chose the topic last year. This book won't give the reader any help with the current financial mess. It is a history of the concept of debt and credit. Atwood covers studies from science, anthropology, religion, history and most interesting to me, literature. One of the chapters looks at 19th century literature and the work of Charles Dickens. The book has a very scholarly sense about it although at many points it is very humourous. I would recommend it as long as you understand that it is a series of lectures.

88. The Last Train to Kazan by Stephen Miller I really like the way this historical mystery is written. I don't usually call a book " thrilling" but this one is. Miller uses his main character from his last mystery set in Russia in the early 20th century, Pyotr Ryzhkov. Ryzhkov is sent to the town of Yekaterinburg in 1918 to find out what happened to the Russian Royal Family. He finds himself in the middle of the civil war. The Bolsheviks have fled the town and the Whites then take over. Ryzhkov's search for the family and their fate lead him to take on different identities, and come in contact with a spy for the German government. There is a suspenseful train chase and interesting ending. I have read Miller's two mysteries and hope that he will write more.

89. My Father's Paradise A Son's Search for His Jewish Past in Kurdish Iraq by Ariel Sabar Ariel Sabar is a journalist with a very interesting background and remarkable father. This book was written in an attempt for a rebellious son to understand his father's life as a Kurdish Jew who lived in a community that had been isolated for over 3000 years. This group of Jews were among the last speakers of Aramaic. Yona Sabar ( the father ) becomes a university professor in California and leading linguist and author. This books looks at family history and a reconciliation between father and son.

I read an enjoyable article in the Wall Street Journal from written by Atwood about debt. I am sure it has some connection to the book and lectures after reading your thoughts. It was thought provoking but very funny in parts. Have to look for the book. Can't make it up to Canada for the lectures.

BlackDog -- I believe the lectures are on CBC1, which is available over the Internet, starting November 10.

http://www.cbc.ca/radio/

I really agree with you about this one torontoc, Conceit by Mary Novik is one of my favourites. I found it very moving. The love relationships in the novel were very believable. Although I loved the 17th century England setting, I didn't find it getting in the way. Everything was very believable.

I'm adding Conceit to my huge TBR mountain. I'm slowly working my way through the pile and if only I didn't read the posts regarding such good books, I'd stand a better chance of whittling down the list..(I'm smiling).

Thanks for the recommendation.

hwalter

Welcome to Library Thing! I look forward to reading your posts regarding books you enjoy.

Sounds like you have had some great reads recently, torontoc! Thanks for the recommendations - on to Continent TBR they go.

90. Pale as the Dead by Fiona Mountain. This mystery began in a very confusing way but got better after 70 pages. The story involves a genealogist, Natasha Blake, who becomes a detective as she looks for a young girl who has disappeared. This girl may have a relationship to Lizzie Siddal, model and wife of Dante Gabriel Rossetti of the Pre-Raphaelite movement. When the novel incorporates information on the history of the Pre-Raphaelites and genealogy, it is compelling. The contemporary relationships are complex and don't work as well. But I am glad that I read it and found the art history more interesting in this book than those of Iain Pears.

Thank you to Whisper1 for this book.

#176 torontoc: If you are interested, there is a sequel to Pale as the Dead called Bloodline. I just received my copy the other day, so I have not yet had a chance to read it.

You are welcome torontoc.

I'm glad you enjoyed Pale As Dead. Alcottacre, I ordered Bloodline from bookCloseouts.com and I'm waiting to receive it.

#178 Whisper: That's where I got my copy, too!

bookCloseouts.com is dangerous for me. I ordered five shipments in the last few months. The prices and selections are great!

@166: Pozdrav! My best friend lives in Serbia (ex-Yu) and I too was embarrassed by my stunning lack of knowledge of what went on over there in the 1990s. I recommend a couple of books that will get you up to speed on that (don't listen to Western media):

1. Fool's Crusade: Yugoslavia, NATO and Western Delusions, by Diana Johnstone
2. To Kill a Nation, by Michael Parenti
3. Yugoslavia: Death of a Nation, by Laura Silber

#181: I am also one of those ignorant of much of what went on in Yugoslavia during the 1990s, so I appreciate the recommended reading. One of the things I do remember reading (and I cannot remember where I read it now) was about how the library in Sarajevo was being bombed and one of the librarians refused to leave the books and was killed for her efforts. Sad. Thanks for the recommendations, jonimueller.

Thanks for the suggestions- I am putting Bloodline on my list!
The Bridge on The Drina by Ivo Andric is in my TBR book pile.

Bridge on the Drina looks very good. Let me know what you think!

#181: thanks for the suggestions, jonimueller - much appreciated. What with that, Pakistan, and the Russian Revolution, 2009 is shaping up to be quite a steep learning curve for me!!

91. Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson. This book is so good. I almost appauded after I finished it. The writing style is excellent and poetic in places although the subject matter becomes violent at times. The characters are not necessarily likable. In fact the whole book might be a metaphor for the state of the U.S. involvement in Vietnam. The main characters- Skip Sands, a CIA agent with no real job, The colonel, Sand's legendary uncle who may be running his own war, James, a soldier in the field who leads a wasted life and Trung, the maybe double agent- are involved in failed plots and unsolved mysteries. There are so many fragments of lives ruined or scarred by their experience in Vietnam. Highly recommended.

Whoa I am really amazed that I seem to have missed your thread all this time. You book list is AMAZING. What a great load of books you have read. I don't even know where to begin.

I loved your description of The Cellist of Sarajevo and it is definitely going to be purchased ASAP. Its been on my mind to get that book for awhile because the first time I heard that expression was when I was listening to a Yo Yo Ma CD and one of the songs was by the same name.

What is the name of the CD? It sounds like one I want to find!
Thanks!

Its on his album called Solo, its track number 9.

Maybe we could talk Amazon into giving discounts if we buy books in conjunction with CDs - you know, I buy Moonlight and Vines and get a discounted CD of Beethovern's Moonlight Sonata. You think they would go for that, lol?

Now that I've joined the group, I'm slowly working my way through everyone's threads. Very interesting reading, torontoc; I agree with a lot of your thoughts about some of the books we've both read and I found a lot of others to add to that tottering group of TBR piles . . .

ah yes-the great TBR piles! That is one of the best features of LT-everyone understands TBR book piles!

92. DeNiro's Game by Rawi Hage. This first novel by Hage has won some important awards. It is well written although I found the last pages too melodramatic. The story of Bassam and his friend George and their lives in Beirut during the civil war is violent and still poetic in Hage's telling.

The reviews on DeNiro's Game that I saw have all been very good. Looks like one I definitely need to read. Thanks for your input.

93. Granta 63 Beasts. I usually like reading Granta. This issue ( it is more of a book than a magazine-published four times a year) didn't thrill me. The stories and essays touched upon the relationships of people and animals, There were also some stories unrelated to the theme. The one memoir that I liked was by Deborah Levy entitled My Frozen Father. Levy wrote about her family's life in South Africa. There was also a good photo essay about scenes of genocide accompanied by an essay by Michael Ignatieff. This book was published in 1998. It is interesting how things really don't change.

Hi torontoc

I've placed book #91 on my huge TBR pile. I'm curious how you heard about this one...
You read such interesting books!!!!!!

Thanks, Whisper1! You know, I found out about Tree of Smoke from the "What Are You Reading" group here on LT. I may have read a review in The Globe and Mail Saturday Book Section or The New York Times Sunday Book Review. Both newspapers have good selections and articles.

Tree of Smoke has been on Continent TBR for a while now. Looks like I need to bump it up some.

94. First Darling of the Morning by Thrity Umrigar. This memoir of the author's childhood in Bombay is sad. (She had an abusive mother )It is also a tender tribute to her aunts,a beloved uncle, her father and her friends. Umrigar writes with a brutal frankness about her family and her own faults. She tracks her own development from child to adult.
A friend recommended this book. I am glad that I read it.

Book 94! That's amazing! Thanks for the review of Umrigar's memoir. Pity it's sad ... I'll be looking out for it.

Torontoc - what a great line up of books. Many are on my TBR, but especially Tree of Smoke which comes highly recommended from several quarters. I have hesitated to read it because of the violence aspect, after having recently read a few African books that made my hair curl.

I just mooched your Granta book in Bookmooch and now come to your thread to read your lukewarm response. However, I really look forward to reading it - I really love Granta articles on the whole.

Edited - why can I not resist the SUBMIT button until I have re-read my comment!?!

95. One Writer's Beginnings by Eudora Welty. This is a really charming memoir that formed the basis of a lecture for Harvard University. Welty relates stories of her mother and father's history and family as well as that of her own childhood. It is very inspirational and beautifully written.

I also really recommend Tree of Smoke. There are some particularly violent parts that I found hard to take (it is a war book, after all) but most of it is much more psychological and metaphorical -- and I know I missed a lot of the allusions. As torontoc said, the writing is gorgeous.

I am with akeela on First Darling of the Morning. On to Continent TBR it goes.

Glad to hear that you enjoyed One Writer's Beginnings. It was the first Eudora Welty that I ever read and holds a warm spot in my heart.

96. The Road from Coorain by Jill Ker Conway. This memoir of the author's early years on an isolated sheep farm and school years in Sydney, Australia is told with a wonderful sensitivity to Ker Conway's surroundings, and to her family relationships. Ker Conway looks at the influences on her life and make conclusions about the culture that shaped her life. Highly recommended.

97. In the Land of Invisible Women by Qanta Ahmed. This was the Early Reviewer ebook. It was my first time reading a book on my computer. The experience was not bad but not as good as carrying a book to a comfy chair or sofa. The details of Ahmed's story of her two years working as a doctor in Saudi Arabia was fascinating. The organization of the book was a little awkward. The story of her work is interrupted with a long section on her pilgrimage to Mecca. Along with her own personal experiences, Ahmed includes much information on Islamic practices. The stories of Ahmed's friendships with Saudi women are very interesting.The only jarring note ( even noted in the Early Reviewer introduction)are her lavish descriptions of the clothes,and perfume of all her colleagues and friends. An interesting read!

I read The Road from Coorain a couple of years back and agree with you - it is a highly recommended memoir.

I will have to give In the Land of Invisible Women a try. I sounds like something I would enjoy. Thanks for your review.

98. Clash of Civilizations Over an Elevator in Piazza Vittorio by Amara Lakhous. I read this book after hearing the author speak at a reading festival. Lakhous was born in Algiers and lives in Italy. This book is a charming account that turns very sad and touches on the themes of identity and immigration in Rome. The story itself is told by each of the novel's characters. At the end of the every chapter there is a commentary by the main character, Amedeo. There are clues to the mystery that is resolved in the last chapter. I thought that the themes of immigrants and their relationship to their new home are well thought out and certainly centre on everyone's prejudices-not only to people from outside Italy but to other cities as well.This is a very satisfying book that makes the reader think.

Interesting title, torontoc! It's joining my tbr list.

Mine too!

I am adding it to my Continent TBR as well. Thanks for the review and recommendation!

99. Pride and Prescience: Or, A Truth Universally Acknowledged by Carrie Bebris. This is the first in a series of mysteries solved by Jane Austen's characters from Pride and Prejudice, Darcy and Elizabeth. I had heard about this series and was curious to see how the author created new situations for them. The beginning was promising. Caroline Bingley got married and then she started behaving in a very strange and troubling manner. Many bad things happened. Unfortunately, while the characters of Darcy and Elizabeth were drawn in an interesting manner, the solving of the mystery was handled badly. The minor characters of Bingley, Jane and the rest of the Bennett clan were very colourless and almost invisible. I would have to say that the book was mildly entertaining but certainly no where near the brilliance of as Pride and Prejudice.

The Road to Coorain was an interesting memoir by a very intelligent woman.

She moved to America and reflects on the provincial nature of Australia at that time and the need to get to the UK or America to make it big!!

Her follow-up memoir in America was not as engaging, IMO.

100. The Queen's Lady by Barbara Kyle. I didn't want to post about this book at first but I thought that I should. I only read it because it will be the first discussed in a book club that I joined. This book takes place during the time of Henry VIII and his first two queens. The characters are shallow and the plot meanders around to cover Protestant/Catholic conflicts in Europe and the divorce of Henry and his marriage to Anne Boleyn. This book is of the bodice ripper variety! Enough said.

101. Continuums by Robert Carr. I have to say up front that I know the author. I did like the book. The plot centers on the life of Alexandra, a talented mathematician living in Roumania and that of her mentor, Aroso, a Jew born in Istanbul who has lived most of his life in Roumania. The story of these two people relates the choices that they made- to live for love and sacrifice a promising career or to reject relationships for success. The story begins when Alexandra's brother defects to the west and sets off a chain of events that influence Alexandra, her husband and daughter. Stories lead to stories and the reader learns about the beauty of pure mathematics and the similar pattern of real events.

Sounds like Continuums would be something I might enjoy. Thanks for the recommendation. I will be on the look out for it.

102. Agent Zigzag: A True Story of Nazi Espionage, Love and Betrayal by Ben Macintyre. I have been reading two very good books but I got an urge to read about spies and had this book in one of my TBR piles. The author relates the story of Eddie Chapman, a double agent who was, what is called a career criminal. The story is very interesting as Chapman first volunteers to spy for the Germans after he is put in prison on the Jersey islands. He is trained and sent to England where he promptly asks to spy for the British. Well written account.

Definitely will put that one on my list! Thanks for the write up.

I thought the Agent Zigzag book was quite intriguing - readable although maybe not the best writing in the world but what a guy! In peaceful times he would have stayed a jail-bird, whereas in wartime he becomes the intrepid hero! Bravery and sociopathy may lie hand in hand in some!!

103. Granta 85 Hidden Histories. This book has all of the features that make me pick up every issue that I see. ( although the books do rest on one of the book piles for a while) There are stories by Orhan Pamuk, Jackie Kay, Jonathan Tel,and T.C. Boyle as well as memoirs by Diana Athill, Georffrey Beattie, and Jennie Erdal. Investigative journalism in this issue is by Giles Foden on Africa and Brian Cathcart in Ireland.

104. Outwitting History: The Amazing Adventures of a Man Who Rescued a Million Yiddish Books by Aaron Lansky. This book was very funny and inspiring. Aaron Lansky was a post graduate student who thought that he was taking a year off from studies to find unwanted Yiddish books and then find them new homes. He was wrong. Lansky developed a new organization that collected books from aging people and organizations. He established a centre that collected world wide and then distrubuted to school and universities.Lansky was the recipient of one of the Genius grants from the MacArthur Foundation. His story is inspirational.

Both Agent Zigzag and Outwitting History sound fascinating!

>219 torontoc: toronttoc. I found Outwitting History in SqueakyChoo's library and bought it immediately - it is on my 2009 Reading List.

- TT

#219 torontoc: I really enjoyed Outwitting History when I read it a couple of years ago. Amazing how he and his organization made what was a dead or dying(?) language spring back to life again. I agree with you - truly inspirational. I really need to get my own copy so I can add it to my annual re-read list.

I found a hardcover copy of Outwitting History at the local chain bookstore remainder's section recently. It is now in soft cover in the same store.

After writing up the message, I decided I might a well buy it now, so I did :)

105. Tales from Outer Suburbia by Shaun Tan. This is a wonderful children's book for adults. It is well illustrated by the author but the stories have a whimsical bent and are really suitable for older children and definitely adults. The illustrations incorporate collage and drawings.

#225 torontoc: Sounds like an interesting book. I will check it out! Thanks for the recommendation.

Alcottacre- you should look at Tan's earlier book The Arrival. It is done without any text-just illustrations.It describes and shows the plight of immigrants in a new country.You, the reader are put in a position where you see things and activities that you really don't understand.

OK, another one for Continent TBR. I will look for it as well. Thanks again.

Hello, hello Stasia....

Are you out there or has the TBR continent shifted, thus burying you in the platetechtonic rubble.

Ah, yes, I can see you peaking out from the pages..gleefully smiling, book in one hand and a piece of the bread you have just baked in another.

#229: Yes, Linda, that's me: the pudgy, slightly flattened (from the tectonic shift, don't you know) bookworm with butter dripping from my lips, but hopefully, not onto the books!

> 230 Stasia, I have heard of bread and circuses, but bread and books sounds better to me!

- TT

#231 TT: Me too! (as she remembers the Double Garlic Potato Bread from dinner tonight that was delicious and contemplates what she wants to read next . . .)

106. Granta 88 Mothers I have three other books on the go but I haven't wanted to continue reading them recently. Instead I have read another Granta -this time the theme is mothers with really interesting fiction, and memoirs. Alexandra Fuller , John McGahern, Paul Theroux,Masha Gessen, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Ryszard Kapuscinski are some of the authors who contributed to this issue.

107. Surfacing by Margaret Atwood. This is early Atwood-some of the story reads like a museum piece of the 1970's- but she certainly holds your interest!

108. The Secret River by Kate Grenville. This is a very good novel about a family who were transported from England to Australia. The descriptions, language and story were engrossing. For some reason, I found that I had a lot of trouble reading this book without some interruptions. I think that it was me -not the book. Highly recommended.

#234-235: Looks like some more great reads for you, torontoc. I will put them both on Continent TBR!

109. Shakespeare's Kitchen by Lore Segal. Segal has written a series of interconnected short stories-although I can't imagine reading them separately. The story concerns the various members of a think tank connected to a university in Connecticut. Ilka Weisz is a new junior member and most of the stories link her new friends and colleagues. Ilka has a habit ( annoying ?) of re-interpreting everything that people say to her. Her realtionships to the director,her women friends, and family are dissected and related to show really the circle of life. This sounds like a cliche but Segal makes it work although one of two of the middle stories were not as believable as the rest. Recommended

#237: Another one I will have to put on the Continent. Thanks (I think) for the recommendation and the review!

I can't even count the books that I have on my to be read list! It grows all the time but it is handy to have when I go to any remainder book store.

110. In The Image by Dara Horn I am glad that I read Dara Horn's second novel The World to Come first. ( It was one of my favourite books in 2007.) Horn's prose in her first novel, In the Image is too cluttered with the past and present stories sometimes getting lost in her dense narrative.It looks like Horn learned to pare down her words and construct a sparer story without sacrificing the storyline in her second book. The first book, In the Image, is interesting, linking two families in present New Jersey and past New York, Holland and Vienna. However, the family tree in the back of the book helped me figure out what was going on.

I loved The World to come also!

#240 torontoc: I will look for The World to Come. I do not think I will try the other. Thanks for recommending a new author to me.

111. Love's Civil War: Elizabeth Bowen and Charles Ritchie;Letters and Diaries edited by Victoria Glendinning. It is a wonderful book. Bowen's letters are descriptive accounts of her friends, and the society that she lives in. The theme of the letters is her very strong attachment to Charles Ritchie, her lover and friend. They had a relationship that lasted over 28 years as Ritchie moved from one key diplomatic post ( Ritchie was Canadian Ambassador to the United States, to the UN and to Germany during the forties and fifties ) to another. Ritchie's letters to Bowen were destroyed by him but we do read parts of his diaries. They are very candid writings about his love and feelings for Bowen. His dilemma is that he is married to another woman and juggles his desire for Bowen and the stress of his diplomatic life . At first the book seem to be all about Bowen. In the last quarter, Ritchie's diary entries show his longing and love for Bowen. Highly recommended. I am now going to reread Ritchie's four books of memoirs and Bowen's fiction.

Just this minute finished Love's Civil War, Cyrel.

It was a very interesting read - putting into context her books, the social networks of the times, and the events of that period. I enjoyed it also.

It does make you wonder what was in the 'edited out' parts of her letters? Also, I was surprised at the mobility of both of them across the Atlantic, and the liberality of their marriage partners with their affairs, which must have been obvious to all? I had the impression that Alan Cameron was gay - but perhaps that was not the case. It is never discussed.

I also note that the book is 'stored' in LT with Victoria Glendinning as the author - which is technically not correct. I put a disambiguation notice on the page cos I really think it should show up with Bowen's other works??

I have also listed this book as edited by Victoria Glendinning.
My question as well is- where did Ritchie have the time to have a public diplomatic career, a seemingly very active relationship with Bowen and a few others ( who he discretely mentions), and a life with his wife? I also would like to read Sylvia's (his wife ) account of her life!
Looking at the marital history of some of Bowen's friends in the footnotes, there seems to be much multiple marriage and divorce!

I agree about the multiple liasons, Torontoc. I actually thought that the affairs of Charles made his affair with Bowen a little less believable, but there goes my monogamous gene again.

Overall, I did not get a great feeling about Ritchie - he seemed rather self-absorbed to me. His declarations of love always seemed self-interested and he seems to waver more and be rather less devoted - perhaps a unfair position for me to adopt based on a few very personal musings.

(Remembering how he left the letters of Bowen lying around for his wife to see, and talked about Bowen 'setting him up' with a mistress at one point). Pfff.

112. Can You Hear the Nightbird Sing? by Anita Rau Badami. I had some trouble reading this book after Love's Civil War.I was not happy with the initial presentation of the plot and characters. However I did read on and found that the last half was very engrossing. The narrative follows two families, Hindu and Sikh, who immigrate from India to Canada in the 1960's. The characters in the novel live in Delhi and Vancouver. The tensions between Sikh and Hindu communities unfold as the assassination of Indira Gandhi,the Delhi riots, the storming and killings at the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and finally the Air India Flight 182 explosion figure into the lives of the characters. Rau Badani has created a fine novel about these events and made them more understandable as the reader sees the impact on the people in the book. I found that I understood some of the issues in the Hindu/Sikh conflicts and how in the author's words "I began to think about the bagage that immigrants carry with them when they move from one country to another- of loss and love, and anger-and how they sometimes allow these emotions to overwhelm reason and decency." (author's notes at the back of the paperback edition.

That book sounds really interesting. I'll have to keep an eye out for it.

Both of my next two books are fairy tales for grownups- although the J.K. Rowling could be for older children. Tales of an alternate world with beings with magical powers that change lives can be described as light reading or very dark. The Clarke is dark and the Rowling has it's moments of both. Interesting reading for the holidays.

113. The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling.
114. The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories by Susanna Clarke. I might now go back to Clarke's first book and finish it! ( I reached page 600 and stopped last year )

115. Granta 74-Confessions of a Middle-Aged Ecstasy Eater. I am finishing this year's reading with some Granta books. The lead story of this issue was not the best story. I enjoyed the account by Nicholas Shakespeare about his ancestor from Tasmania, Iran's "Tehran Spring" and subsequent demise by Christopher de Bellaigue, and an account of a secular psychiatrist in the Hasidic community in Brooklyn.

torontoc, Anita Rau Badami is one of my favourite authors. I liked Can You Hear the Nightbird Call? a lot, and it was made more interesting as I heard Badami interviewed on the radio about it. I also liked The Hero's Walk even more and am hoping to snag a copy somewhere for my own collection. If you haven't read it, it's about a Canadian girl who loses her parents in an accident and she goes to India to live with her grandparents.

Dihiba- I have read all of her books now- I really like her style. ( and liked the first two books better than the last-although it did grow on me when I thought about it.

116. A Lion Among Men by Gregory Maguire. This book is my last one read in 2008 and it is a "quest novel". There is a search for the answer to a few mysteries and discovery of one's own history. ( the cowardly lion ) Maguire has written a strong narrative and no, we , the readers, still don't know what happened to the main characters from Wicked or Son of a Witch.The character of the lion is a good creation with many weaknesses and some redeeming qualities. I look forward to the next installment of this story.
Happy New Year- see you in 75 Books read in 2009.

torontoc
It is good to see positive comments re. Gregory Maguire's works. I struggled with Wicked and thought it 200 pages too long. But, the play on Broadway was fantastic!

Congratulations on reading 116 books in 2008. That is quite impressive.