What are you reading the week of December 18, 2021?

I'm about two thirds of the way through The Landmark Xenophon's Anabasis, which puts me in the middle of the essays at the end of the book. Anabasis is often described as an adventure story, and that's an excellent description. It's an engrossing story of hardship and endurance as a force of ten thousand Greek mercenaries fight their way from deep in the Persian Empire back to Greek territory. Anabasis is the Greek word for a journey from the coast into the interior of the country. It's normally translated as "up country", but I think a more appropriate description in this case is "in country" as the majority of the book concerns their return to the coast of the Black Sea. It's a thrilling story of survival.

I love the Landmark series of books. They include frequent maps to help you orient yourself in the story, and copious notes and essays to explain the context of the ancient world.

I'm reading The Dog Stars by Peter Heller. It's going slowly because of the writing style; I think it's meant to be post-pandemic, lonely and confused language. I've decided to stop trying to figure it all out exactly and just go with a loose sense of what's trying to be communicated.

On the verge of knocking off Valcour and The Flying Man. Next up are Black Death at the Golden Gate and Seven of Infinities. As the year winds up the books get shorter!

>1 fredbacon: Hi, Fred. Your post reminded me of a book I read a few years back: Perish by the Sword: the Czechoslovakian Anabasis and Our Supporting Campaigns in North Russia and Siberia 1918-1920 by R. Ernest Dupuy. As I wrote in my review at the time of reading (2015: six years age, already!),

This is the history of the 40,000 strong Czech Legion that found itself cut off when the Russian Army collapsed in World War One and, according to the Preface, "marched from the Volga to Vladivostok and back again, fighting both ways, held a new Eastern Front for two years and went home around the world to build a new nation." The history also includes an account of "our {i.e. the United States, within the context of multi-national forces assembled by the Allies of WWI} two assisting campaigns in Siberia and North Russia, both fought mainly after the Armistice of November 11, 1918."

As for my current reading, I am about to finish In the Shadow of the Statues: A White Southerner Confronts History by Mitch Landrieu. At the time of writing, Landrieu was finishing up his second term as Mayor of New Orleans. The book begins and ends with Landrieu's account of his extremely fraught decision to remove three statues of Confederate generals and one obelisk memorializing a racist anti-government riot that occurred in the 1880s. I'll have a longer review up shortly. I only have about 40 pages left to read.

Next up for me will be this month's reading group selection, and a whale of a doorstop it is, The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles.

A Carnival of Snackery: Diaries 2003-2020
David Sedaris
4.5/5 stars
This book contains excerpts from his diaries from 2003-2020. I really enjoy his humor and was sorry when I finished his book.

Still reading Leviathan Falls, Prince Across the Water, and Brothers of the Wind.

Very much enjoying Death on the Nile and Bess of Hardwick. I finished up Reluctant Neighbors by E.R. Braithwaite, author of To Sir, With Love. It was an amazing, eye opening book. Highly recommended!

Just finished the devastating novel Love Me Back by Merritt Tierce. Parts of it were difficult to read but I never put it down.

Next up is A Carnival of Snackery.

Brat: An '80s Story
Andrew McCarthy
4/5 stars
Andrew McCarthy talks about his start in Hollywood and the roles he played in the 1980's. I enjoyed it.

I finished In the Shadow of Statues: A White Southerner Confronts History by Mitch Landrieu. Landrieu was finishing up his second term as Mayor of New Orleans when he published this memoir in 2018. Landrieu was the mayor who made the very fraught decision to remove four Jim Crow Era statues from public spaces in the city, an obelisk called the Liberty Place Monument commemorating an 1874 riot by White supremacists against the city government, and statues of Confederate figures Jefferson Davis, P.T. Beauregard and, most famously, Robert E. Lee. In this book's beginning and ending, Landrieu provides an account of the vociferous, increasingly nasty and sometimes violent fights around the decision, and Landrieu's reasons for taking the political risk to make that call. What we also get in the interim is a political and family memoir by Landrieu, and an account of his terms in the Louisiana legislature, as lieutenant governor of the state, and as mayor for two terms, all tied in with Landrieu's growing consciousness of the power and debilitating effects of systemic racism. I've posted a more in-depth account of my reactions to this work on my 50-Book Challenge thread.

I've now started Amor Towles' recent doorstop, The Lincoln Highway. About 50 pages in I'm not loving it, but it's a reading group selection, so I'm bound to carry on.

Love Over Scotland– Alexander McCall Smith
Book on CD narrated by Robert Ian Mackenzie
3***

Book # 3 in the 44 Scotland Street series which follows a group of residents (current or former) of a particular apartment building in Edinburgh. Domenica Macdonald has left for the Malacca Straits to do some anthropological research on pirates. Angus Lordie’s dog, Cyril, has been stolen. Young precocious Bertie finds himself joining the Teenage Orchestra and taking a trip to Paris – without his Mum. Pat begins a new romance with a handsome man named Wolf. And Matthew tries to find happiness … and please Pat.

There’s not much plot to these books, but just as in everyday life, things DO happen. There are moments of joy, or heartache, of success, or failure. People form attachments, or break off relationships, start new careers or find new enthusiasm for established routines.

It’s a gentle read and a wonderful way to spend a few hours with old friends.

Robert Ian Mackenzie does a fine job narrating the audiobook. I love the many voices he uses to differentiate the characters, and particularly like the way he voices Bertie.

Coraline – Neil Gaiman
Audiobook performed by the author
3***

On a rainy day, bored Coraline occupies her mind with counting – the windows (21), everything blue (153), the doors (14). It’s the 14th door that really captures her attention, and when she opens it she discovers an alternate universe. But unlike Alice and her adventures in Wonderland, this is a quite dark and unpleasant place, where her “other mother” is intent on keeping Coraline captive.

It’s imaginative (can’t expect anything less from Gaiman) and dark and creepy and scary and I can totally see the reason why it’s so popular, but it’s not for me.

I do like that Coraline is such a strong female lead. She’s just a little girl, after all. But she’s intelligent, inquisitive, determined, brave and resilient. She doesn’t fall into the traps the other mother sets for her and she keeps true to her goals. Brava!

Neil Gaiman narrates the audiobook himself. I cannot imagine anyone else dong a better job (well, maybe Tim Curry). But the director / producer added al sorts of spooky music to introduce each disk and I found that really irritating. And I HATED the voices used for the mice and/or rats.

Finished listening to the outstanding Booker Prize Winner, The Promise by Damon Galgut.

Next up for listening is The Bone Tree by Greg Iles.

>4 rocketjk: Ooh! That sounds interesting. I remember reading about them in W. Bruce Lincoln's Red Victory. Thanks for pointing that out to me. I'll have to try and find a copy.

>14 fredbacon: I should have mentioned that the book is on the rare side. I can't recall how much I paid for it, but it wasn't cheap at the time. I ran across it originally at a book fair (didn't buy it then, as the price was way too high for me) and was intrigued. Eventually I found a copy online that was more on the level of my budget. Perhaps it's available in digital form of some sort, though.

Jamaica Inn – Daphne du Maurier
Digital audiobook narrated by Toni Britton
4****

From the book jacket: The coachman tried to warn young Mary Yellan away from the ruined, forbidding place on the rainswept Cornish coast. But Mary chose instead to honor her mother’s dying request that she join her Aunt Patience and Uncle Joss Merlyn at Jamaica Inn. From her first glimpse on that raw November eve, she could sense the inn’s dark power.

My reactions
What a wonderfully atmospheric, dark, sinister tale! I shivered with the damp, cold fog, strained to see by faint candle or lamp light, listened to the whistling wind, the baying hounds, and the alternating whispers and shouts of a rabble of men up to no good.

Mary Yellan is a marvelous heroine. Young and somewhat naïve, she is still a strong woman, resolute and determined to make the best of her situation. As many have told her, she is too young and pretty to live alone, so she goes to her Aunt Patience. But instead of finding a happy woman with ribbons on her bonnet (Mary’s memory of her Aunt’s only visit some twelve years previous), she finds a frightened, dispirited woman clearly afraid of her own husband. And Uncle Josh? He’s a foreboding hulk of a man who rules his establishment with an iron fist and is unusually secretive about his business.

As Mary struggles to make sense of her situation and determine what, if anything, she can do about it, she meets two men who will become intricately involved: Jem Merlyn (her Uncle’s brother, and a horse thief) and Francis Davey (vicar of the local parish). They could not be more different, and yet each will help – and hinder – her in unexpected ways.

Du Maurier’s plot is intricate and complex and had several twists & turns in it. I wish there were a sequel so I could find out what Mary Yellen is like as an older woman!

Toni Britton does a fine job of narrating the audio version. She has a good pace and differentiates the characters sufficiently, so I had no trouble keeping track of who is speaking.

I'm reading The Witches Are Coming

I finished my forced march through the irritating and bloated (to me, at any rate) Lincoln Highway, the recent doorstop by Amor Towles. I've got a post about it up on my 50-Book Challenge thread if anyone wants to read a longer grumble. My main complaint is flat, cliche-ridden narrative and dialogue.

I've now started The New Breed: The Story of the U.S. Marines in Korea by Andrew Geer. This is an oral history written in the midst of the war. We're told in the inside jacket flap that, "In preparing this book Geer had access to the complete file of Marine combat reports and was able to gather material at first hand as an active Marine field officer during the dreadful winter, spring and summer of 1950-51 in Korea. He interviewed 697 Marines individually in preparing this history." (Italics included in the text.) The book was published in 1952, and the war didn't conclude until July 1953.

Have wrapped up the indulgent Furious Love, which goes into great detail about the 60s love affair between movie stars Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton that fascinated the public for most of the decade.

Next up is Magic for Beginners.

Hope everyone is ready for Christmas, and that Santa brings you lots and lots of wonderful reading material!

I'm reading Americanah by Adichie. The prose is fluid and beautiful and the character development is superb.

Well, I started The New Breed: The Story of the U.S. Marines in Korea by Andrew Geer, what I had thought was a series of oral histories about Marines' experiences in combat during the conflict. It turns out that what Geer actually did was to use the many interviews he conducted to reconstruct one troop movement and bloody engagement and troop movement after another in a basically day by day account. The accounts certainly draw you right in, and have the sense of immediacy that one would expect, given the fact that Geer was writing this while the war was still going on. However, despite the horrific nature of the action, the deaths, and the heroism, that occur on every page, by the end of the third chapter there began to arise an unfortunate sameness to the narratives. So, in order to keep all these events from running together in my mind, I've decided to continue reading this as one of my "between books." Those are the anthologies, etc., that I read one chapter or entry at a time between the works I read all in a go (novels and most histories/memoirs).

So then I started poking around my shelves and my LT library to see what to jump to instead. First I'm going to read the Conrad novella, Youth, which is a lot of fun and which I haven't reread in quite some time. I also pulled out three other collections to add to the "between book" stacks:

* Going to Meet the Man, a short story collection by James Baldwin that I'm way overdue to read
* Rough Translations, stories by Molly Giles. Giles was an instructor when I was a Creative Writing grad student at San Francisco State University back in the 1980s. I very much enjoyed her collection Creek Walk and Other Stories when I read it a few years back.
* The June 1, 1938 edition of Coronet Magazine. This looks like a relatively serious collection of fiction, current events, poetry and editorial. It's edited by Arnold Gingrich, who worked with both Hemingway and Fitzgerald during his career. I'm looking forward to periodic visits to the thinking and expectations of this pivotal period in U.S and world history.

Finally, I settled on another history for a full-length read: Now We Are Enemies: The Story of Bunker Hill by Thomas J. Fleming. First published in 1960, this history was praised very highly.

So that's my story and I'm sticking to it! For now.

Quiet Girl in a Noisy World: An Introvert's Story
Debbie Tung
4/5 stars
This is a graphic novel about Debbie, an introvert who has to navigate social scenes with intrepidation but she doesn't want to be the shy girl. I thought this was very well done. Semi-autobiographical.

Finally! Finished all 1169 pages of the phenomenal Remembrance Of Things Past, Vol 2 by Marcel Proust.

Next up for reading is A Short Tale of Shame by Angel Igov.

I just finished The Master and His Emissary and found it to be a very thought provoking view of the workings of the human brain. He uses neuroscience, philosophy, and art to ascribe differing ways of looking at the world to the two hemispheres of the brain and then to view the progression of Western thought from this perspective. His thesis is that modern Western society has been absconded by the left brain. My primary difficulty with the book was that in making his point he seemed to repeat himself many times.

I got Swann's Way for Christmas so will be starting down that road. May mess up my numbers of read books for the year but that's not really the point.

The new thread is up over here.