Category: audio book

Tears of the Giraffe

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Smith, Alexander McCall. Tears of the Giraffe. Read by Lisette Lecat. Prince Frederick, Maryland: Recorded Books, 2003.

If you read No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency you will appreciate the fact that Tears of the Giraffe picks up right where No. 1 Ladies left off. Someone on another review site called this next book in the series “utterly seamless” and I couldn’t agree more. At the end of No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni has just proposed to  Mma Ramotswe and surprisingly she accepted despite having refused once before. Tears of the Giraffe starts off with the happy couple planning their life together, downsizing their maid staff (which doesn’t prove to be a simple matter), deciding who moves into whose house, obtaining an obligatory engagement ring…But it isn’t long before the story resumes Mma Ramotswe’s detective work. The very first case is an odd one. An American mother has come back to Botswana looking for her adult son who had disappeared from a farming commune ten years earlier. While she had thoroughly looked for her son ten years ago (when he first went missing) the recent death of her husband from prostate cancer has renewed the mother’s need for closure in all aspects of her life. It’s this case that threads through the entire book. The rest of the cases are small and are solved quickly. Tears of the Giraffe really focuses more on character development. Mma Ramotswe’s secretary has a bigger part as does Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni. In an interesting twist Mma Ramotswe makes her secretary a partner in the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency and Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni makes Mma Ramotswe a mother. I won’t say anything more than that.

Reason read: This continues the story of Botswana’s number one ladies detective, Mma Precious Ramotswe (started in No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency) in honor of female mystery month being in January.

Author Fact: According to the back of the cd case Alexander McCall Smith has written over 50 books. I’m really disappointed I won’t be reading Forensic Aspects of Sleep. As an insomnia that one sounds fascinating to me.

Book trivia: This is the second book in the Mma Ramotswe series and deals with Mma Ramotswe on a more personal level.

BookLust Twist: From both Book Lust to Go and More Book Lust. Book Lust To Go includes it in the chapter called “Botswana”  (p 42) and More Book Lust mentions it in the chapter “Ms. Mystery” (p 170).

City of Thieves

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Benioff, David. City of Thieves. Read by Ron Perlman. New York: Penguin Audio, 2009

Leningrad, 1942. Lev Beniof is arrested for being out after curfew and caught in the act of robbing the dead body of a German paratrooper. The penalty for such crimes is death. Awaiting his fate Lev meets fellow prisoner and alleged Red Army deserter, Kolya Vlasov. Lev and Kolya couldn’t be more mismatched. Lev is a quiet and unassuming insomniac Russian Jew, only 17 and still an insecure, awkward virgin. Kolya a 20 year old smooth (never shuts up) talker, exceedingly well read and charming. Instead of being executed as expected together they are tasked with finding a dozen eggs for Colonel Grechko’s daughter’s wedding cake. Finding these eggs in starved Leningrad is absurd but it is also a matter of life and death.
The horrors or war and the harsh realities of deprivation are an interesting juxtaposition against the sometimes comical relationship of Lev and Kolya. Their growing friendship reminds me of Gene and Phineas from John Knowles’s A Separate Peace. While the two endure the bitter cold, starvation and the threat of the German enemy their journey is tempered with Kolya’s humorous blatherings about jokes, literature and sex. The ending is predictable but stays with you long after you close the book.

Reason read: January was Russia’s coldest month on record. Read in honor of that.

Author fact: According to the ever-reliable Wikipedia Benioff took his mother’s maiden name but was born Friedman.

Book trivia: There is a rumor floating around that this will be made into a movie.

BookLust Twist: From Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Saint Petersburg/Leningrad/Saint Petersburg” (p 195). Interestingly enough, plays up the “historical fiction” hype. In the first chapter of City of Thieves Benioff insinuates the story is about his grandfather and that when his grandfather refused to be specific about some details he was told to “make it up.” None of that is true. It just makes for a more interesting story to think that it *could* have happened that way.

January ’13 was…

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When I look back on January 2013 I have a sense of relief. All things considered this month was better than the last. In the grand scheme of things January treated me kind. No major meltdowns. No minor catastrophes to speak of. I started training for Just ‘Cause in the quiet way. Four to five miles a day and I didn’t stress about the numbers. If I didn’t make five or even four I didn’t have a hissy fit or beat myself or moi up. I cut me & myself some slack; gave us a break. I know that as the months wear on this won’t always be the case, but for now it was nice to go easy on me, myself & moi. The running was a different matter. Just as relaxed a schedule but not so easy going on. The run is a little over six weeks away and I’ve done next to nil in order to train. New Guinea has been awesome in that I’m working on speed intervals on level five. Let me repeat that. Level five. Nothing to write home about. I used to operate at level nine. Enough said. On with the books! I am pretty proud of the list.

  • Lives of the Painters, Architects and Sculptors by Giorgio Vasari ~ in honor of National Art Month way back in October. This finally completes the series!
  • Ancient Athens on 5 Drachmas a Day by Philip Matyszak ~ in honor of Female Domination Day in Greece.
  • Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray ~ in honor of January being the first month I read something from the first chapter of a Lust book. I admit I didn’t finish this one.
  • Of Human Bondage by William Somerset Maugham ~ in honor of Maugham’s birth month. I also didn’t finish this one.
  • Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet by Eleanor Cameron ~ Happy new year. Read something to make me happy.
  • Idle Days in Patagonia by W. H. Hudson ~ in honor of January being the best time to visit Patagonia.
  • The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll ~ in honor of Lewis birth and death month.
  • Rabbit Hill by Robert Lawson ~ in honor of the month all Creatures Great and Small aired.
  • Tatiana by Dorothy Jones ~ in honor of January being the month Alaska became a state.

On audio I listened to:

  • Final Solution by Michael Chabon ~ in honor of January being Adopt a Rescued Bird month.
  • No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith ~ in honor of Female Mystery Month
  • City of Thieves by David Benioff ~ last minute add-on. This was addicting!

For the Early Review program with LibraryThing:

  • Gold Coast Madam by Rose Laws (started in Dec)
  • Her by Christa Parravani

For Fun:

  • Leave Your Sleep the poetry book for children by Natalie Merchant

Resolutions and Pulse Checks

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So. January is over. Another month gone by. Another dozen or so books read. I’m frustrating myself because I keep adding books to the list. Like I mentioned earlier these additions come from another list created before this one. *Sigh* I am up to 95 titles (from the 81 I originally started with) and “down” (meaning read) 35. Such an odd exchange, but there it is. Tomorrow I will post the month of January in detail.

  1. Abide By Me by Elizabeth Strout
  2. ADDED: Adventures of Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
  3. Among the Missing by Dan Chaon
  4. ADDED: Ancient Athens on 5 Drachmas a Day by Philip Matyszak
  5. Apollo: the epic journey to the moon by David West Reynolds
  6. ADDED: Apples Are From Kazakhstan by Christopher Robbins
  7. Arctic Grail by Pierre Berton (I started this last year)
  8. Ariel by Sylvia Plath
  9. At Home in the Heart of Appalachia by John O’Brien
  10. Beautiful Swimmers by William Warner
  11. Before the Knife by Carolyn Slaughter
  12. ADDED: Bellwether by Connie Willis
  13. Beneath the Lion’s Gaze by Maaza Mengist
  14. Beyond the Bogota by Gary Leech
  15. Big Mouth and Ugly Girl by Joyce Carol Oates
  16. ADDED: Billy by Albert French
  17. Brass Go-Between by Oliver Bleeck
  18. Breakfast with Scot by Michael Drowning
  19. Brush with Death by Elizabeth Duncan
  20. Burma Chronicles by Guy Delise
  21. Burning the Days by James Salter
  22. Camus, a Romance by Elizabeth Hawes
  23. Cardboard Crown by Martin Boyd
  24. Cat Who Ate Danish Modern by Lillian Jackson Braun
  25. Child that Books Built by Francis Spufford
  26. Churchill, a life by Martin Gilbert
  27. ADDED: City of Thieves by David Benioff
  28. Conspiracy and Other Stories by Jaan Kross
  29. Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner
  30. Deafening by Frances Itani
  31. Death in Verona by Roy Harley Lewis
  32. ADDED: Descending the Dragon by Jon Bowermaster
  33. Diamond Classics by Mike Shannon
  34. Dining with Al-Qaeda by Hugh Pope
  35. Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby
  36. Domestic Manners of the Americans by Fanny Trollope
  37. Edward Lear in Albania by Edward Lear
  38. Fanny by Edmund White
  39. Final Solution by Michael Chabon
  40. Fixer by Joe Sacco
  41. Footnotes in Gaza by Joe Sacco
  42. Full Cupboard of Life by Alexander McCall Smith
  43. Gabriel Garcia Marquez by Gerald Martin
  44. Galton Case by Ross MacDonald
  45. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos
  46. Girl in Landscape by Jonathan Lethem
  47. Going Wild by Robert Winkler
  48. Golden Spruce by John Vaillant
  49. ADDED via LibraryThing’s Early Review: Gold Coast Madam by Rose Laws
  50. Good Thief’s Guide to Paris by Chris Ewan
  51. Good Thief’s Guide to Vegas by Chris Ewan
  52. Good-bye Chunk Rice by Craig Thompson
  53. Grand Ambition by Lisa Michaels
  54. Guardians by Geoffrey Kabaservice
  55. ADDED via LibraryThing Early Review: Her by Christa P
  56. Hole in the Earth by Robert Bausch
  57. House of Morgan by Ron Chernow
  58. House on the Lagoon by Rosario Ferre
  59. ADDED: Idle Days in Patagonia by William Hudson
  60. Joy of Cooking by Irma Rombauer
  61. Kalahari Typing School for Men by Alexander McCall Smith
  62. Light Infantry Ball by Hamilton Basso
  63. Lives of the Painters, vol 2, 3 & 4 by Giorgio Vasari
  64. Mortality for Beautiful Girls by Alexander McCall Smith
  65. No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
  66. Nobody Knows My Name by James Baldwin
  67. Ocean of Words by Ha Jin
  68. ADDED: Of Human Bondage by William Maugham
  69. Old Friends by Tracy Kidder
  70. Panther Soup by John Grimlette
  71. ADDED: Playing for Keeps by David Halberstam (only because someone gave it to me as a gift and it’s on my list)
  72. Points Unknown edited by David Roberts
  73. Rabbit Hill by Robert Lawson
  74. Return of the Dancing Master by Henning Mankell
  75. Rosalind Franklin: Dark Lady of DNA by Brenda Maddox
  76. Rose Cafe by John Hanson Mitchell
  77. Scar Tissue by Michael Ignatieff
  78. Scramble for Africa by Thomas Pakenham
  79. Southpaw by Mark Harris
  80. ADDED: Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers
  81. ADDED: Tatiana by Dorothy Jones
  82. Tattered Cloak by Nina Berberova
  83. Tea Time for the Traditionally Built by Alexander McCall Smith
  84. Tears of the Giraffe by Alexander McCall Smith
  85. Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
  86. Time, Love, Memory by Jonathan Weiner
  87. Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy Sayers
  88. Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackery
  89. Viceroy of Ouidah by Bruce Chatwin
  90. What you Owe Me by Bebe Moore Campbell
  91. Wholeness of a Broken Heart by Katie Singer
  92. Widow for One Year by John Irving
  93. Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken
  94. ADDED: Women of the Raj by Margaret MacMillan
  95. Working Poor by David Shipler

No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency

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Smith, Alexander McCall. The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency. Narrated by Lisette Lecat. New York: Recorded Books, 1998.

As soon as you meet Mma Precious Ramotswe you realize she is a force to be reckoned with. As Botswana’s first female detective she spends most of her time solving mysteries by using her intuition and her ability to read people. She is a good judge of character so while she isn’t always solving major crimes like murders, she is making individual lives better. Take the very first case for example, “The Daddy.” A man claiming to be a woman’s long lost father moves into her house and starts to take advantage of her generosity. The woman has reason to believe the man is an imposter and goes to Precious for help. Precious tells the man his “daughter” has been in a terrible accident and needs a blood transfusion. Only he can supply the blood needed…and that the procedure is highly dangerous so there is a good chance he will not survive. BUT, he will save his daughter! Precious knows a true father will lay down his own life for his only daughter while a perfect stranger will not. Sure enough, the imposter admits he is a fraud and is run out of town. The list of “mysteries” solved grows longer and as a result so does Mma Ramotswe’s reputation. She becomes the number one detective agency for Botswana. The types of mysteries Mma Ramotswe solves range from deadly serious (the disappearance of a young boy) to the downright silly (a father doesn’t want his young daughter seeing boys). Probably my favorite cases are the latter because the daughter pulls a fast one on both her father and Mma Ramotswe but I also liked the time when Mma Ramotswe has to steal back a stolen Mercedes Benz and return it to its rightful owner without anyone knowing how it all happened.

Reason read: January celebrates the female heroine of mysteries. This is the first book in a very long series. I will be reading five more.  I can’t wait to read some of the others.

Author fact: Alexander McCall Smith looks a little like John Cleese to me. I have no idea why.

Book trivia:  Interesting fact – I heard that HBO made a series out of the books. That’s cool. Now I wish I subscribed to HBO!

BookLust Twist: Nancy Pearl must love this book. It is mention in all three “Lust” books: Book Lust (in the huge chapter called “I Love a Mystery” (p 123)), More Book Lust (in the chapter called “Ms Mystery” (p 170)),and Book Lust To Go (in the chapter called simply “Botswana” (p 70)). I have to admit I agree. This was a great book!

Final Solution

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Chabon, Michael. The Final Solution:a Story of Detection. Read by Michael York. New York: Harper Audio, 2004.

In a nutshell: a mute boy of nine or ten years old is discovered walking with a large gray parrot through the English countryside. When it is discovered the parrot speaks German (reciting poetry and rattling off strange numbers) it is determined the boy is Jewish and has escaped Nazi Germany. He is taken in by a vicar and his family and all seems well until another boarder in the vicar’s home is brutally murdered. Is there a connection between the newly arrived boy with the literate parrot and the untimely death of a fellow boarder? A once famous but now virtually unknown and very elderly detective is pulled out of retirement to find out.
While Final Solution is one of the shorter “detective” stories I have read thus far I enjoyed the character development immensely. The very first character you meet is the thinly veiled Sherlock Holmes. Chabon doesn’t come right out and say this is the illustrious character of Conan Doyle, but savvy readers can recognize Holmes in the details. What is surprising is how decrepit Chabon makes the retired detective out to be. True, our mysterious sleuth is 89 years old and more interested in bee keeping (even though he doesn’t like honey), but from description alone I expected him to fall to pieces any second. He really is a walking bag of bones!

Reason read: I read somewhere that January is Adopt a Rescued Bird month. Ironically, the bird in Final Solution does need rescuing at some point!

Author fact: I did some poking around and discovered that while Chabon is really good looking he scoffs at anybody or anything that would recognize him for that since it is not something he earned.

Book trivia: There is a section of Final Solution that takes an odd turn. The story is told from the point of view of the parrot. His musings about chicken are funny.

BookLust Twist: From More Book Lust in the chapter called “Parrots” (p 183). Simple enough.

Jan ’13 is…

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Holy crap I am late with the list. “I’m late, I’m late” said the White Rabbit! Okay, okay! I just finished The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland so sue me.
January 2013 is another year of hope and of promise. Kisa and I are going to see Trey Anastasio at the Palace in a few weeks. I officially started training for the 5th Just ‘Cause Walk and, and. And! I am training to run a 10k in March. Yay me. But, here are the books…before I get too carried away.

  • Rabbit Hill (speaking of rabbits) by Robert Lawson in honor of when All Creatures Great & Small first aired. Get it? Creatures = rabbits. This is a kids book so I’m hoping to fly through it.
  • The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith in honor of January being Female Mystery month. I’m listening to this on cd. It’s the first one in the series so expect to see Alexander McCall Smith on my book list for the next 4 or 5 months.
  • Lives of the Painters, Sculptors Vol 4 by Giorgio Vasari ~ this (finally, finally) ends the series started in October in honor of Art Appreciation month
  • Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackery ~ in honor of the first month of the year I’m reading something from the first chapter of More Book Lust.
  • Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet by Eleanor Cameron ~ in honor of the a Happy New Year. Another kids book to lighten the mood.
  • Ancient Athens on 5 Drachmas a Day by Philip Matyszak ~ Okay, get this – Female Domination Day in Greece happens in January, hence reading something Greek.
  • Tatiana by Dorothy M. Jones ~ in honor of Alaska becoming a state in January. Mo one locally has this book in their library so I had to ILL it. It might have to come from Alaska. How fitting.
  • Final Solution by Michael Chabon ~ in honor of January being Adopt a Rescued Bird month. This is another book I will listen to in the car or while working out.

For the LibraryThing Early Review program I am just finishing up Gold Coast Madam by Rose Laws. I also received notification of a January Early Review book but as always I won’t mention it by title until it’s in my hot little hands (or in this case, cold little hands since it’s 6 degrees outside).

Bellwether

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Willis, Connie. Bellwether. Read by Kate Reading. Blackstone Audio, 2009.

Funny. Funny. Funny. Sandy Foster is a sociologist working at the research corporation, HiTeck, studying trends in the form of fads. Just how do they start? When we first meet Sandy she is trying to deduce when the fad of hair bobbing first erupted. It’s a conundrum. But, the bigger conundrum is Sandy’s work relationships. While Flip is the most annoying mail clerk known to mankind Sandy finds herself quoting her. While Sandy is practically engaged to a sheep ranger she finds herself drawn to a fad resistant coworker studying chaos theory.

I don’t know what it is about the most recent audio books I have chosen to listen to but I’m on a roll picking humorous ones. The Galton Case by Ross MacDonald was great and so was Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy L. Sayers. Bellwether by Connie Willis is just as good, if not funnier. Listen to it. Seriously. But, make sure you are listening to the version read by Kate Reading. She is hysterical as Flip.

Reason read: Willis was born on the last day of December…

Author fact: If you check out winners of the Nebula award you will see Connie Willis’s name a few times. She’s won it at least five or six times.

Book trivia: The title of the book is really clever. Bellwether refers to the practice of putting a bell on a castrated ram who leads his flock of sheep. This bell ringing allows herders to hear them coming before they see them. So, the phenomenon of bellwether is the creation of an upcoming event or trend.

BookLust Twist: From Book Lust in the chapter called “Connie Willis: Too Good To Miss” (p 246). As an aside, Nancy Pearl says her favorite Willis book is Bellwether.

Galton Case

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MacDonald, Ross. The Galton Case. Read by Grover Gardner. New York: Blackstone Audio, 2010.

I’ll see if I can sum this up without giving anything away or confusing myself. Lew Archer, private investigator, has been hired by an old friend (and lawyer) to find the missing son of a wealthy widow. The investigation appears to be pretty pointless. Son Anthony Galton ran away twenty years earlier when he married a woman not to his parents’ liking. They were so upset they ordered him to “never darken their doorstep again” which he hasn’t. Now, twenty years later mum wants to make amends and give her prodigal son his share of the inheritance…only no one can find him. Here’s what is found: Anthony took on the assumed name of John Brown and he presumably had a son of the same name, John Brown Jr. Now the real mystery is does John Brown Jr. deserve his share of the pie? Of course there are many, many more twists and turns to this mystery!

Reason read: Ross MacDonald was born in December.

Author fact: Ross MacDonald’s real name was Kenneth Millar (which makes me think of Kevin Millar).

Book trivia: I heard somewhere that someone wants to make this into a movie. I haven’t looked for evidence to support this rumor.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “I Love a Mystery” (buried on page 122).

Pulse Check

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This is the list for Year Seven of the Book Lust Challenge. I’ll update it at the end of each month, just to keep myself honest.

  1. Abide By Me by Elizabeth Strout
  2. Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
  3. Among the Missing by Dan Chaon
  4. Apollo: the epic journey to the moon by David West Reynolds
  5. Arctic Grail by Pierre Berton (I started this last year)
  6. Ariel by Sylvia Plath
  7. At Home in the Heart of Appalachia by John O’Brien
  8. Beautiful Swimmers by William Warner
  9. Before the Knife by Carolyn Slaughter
  10. Beneath the Lion’s Gaze by Maaza Mengist
  11. Beyond the Bogota by Gary Leech
  12. Big Mouth and Ugly Girl by Joyce Carol Oates
  13. Brass Go-Between by Oliver Bleeck
  14. Breakfast with Scot by Michael Drowning
  15. Brush with Death by Elizabeth Duncan
  16. Burma Chronicles by Guy Delise
  17. Burning the Days by James Salter
  18. Camus, a Romance by Elizabeth Hawes
  19. Cardboard Crown by Martin Boyd
  20. Cat Who Ate Danish Modern by Lillian Jackson Braun
  21. Child that Books Built by Francis Spufford
  22. Churchill, a life by Martin Gilbert
  23. Conspiracy and Other Stories by Jaan Kross
  24. Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner
  25. Deafening by Frances Itani
  26. Death in Verona by Roy Harley Lewis
  27. Diamond Classics by Mike Shannon
  28. Dining with Al-Qaeda by Hugh Pope
  29. Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby
  30. Domestic Manners of the Americans by Fanny Trollope
  31. Edward Lear in Albania by Edward Lear
  32. Fanny by Edmund White
  33. Final Solution by Michael Chabon
  34. Fixer by Joe Sacco
  35. Footnotes in Gaza by Joe Sacco
  36. Full Cupboard of Life by Alexander McCall Smith
  37. Gabriel Garcia Marquez by Gerald Martin
  38. Galton Case by Ross MacDonald ~ reading right now
  39. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos
  40. Girl in Landscape by Jonathan Lethem
  41. Going Wild by Robert Winkler
  42. Golden Spruce by John Vaillant
  43. Good Thief’s Guide to Paris by Chris Ewan
  44. Good Thief’s Guide to Vegas by Chris Ewan
  45. Good-bye Chunk Rice by Craig Thompson
  46. Grand Ambition by Lisa Michaels
  47. Guardians by Geoffrey Kabaservice
  48. Hole in the Earth by Robert Bausch
  49. House of Morgan by Ron Chernow
  50. House on the Lagoon by Rosario Ferre
  51. Joy of Cooking by Irma Rombauer
  52. Kalahari Typing School for Men by Alexander McCall Smith
  53. Light Infantry Ball by Hamilton Basso
  54. Lives of the Painters (vol 2, 3 & 4) by Giorgio Vasari
  55. Mortality for Beautiful Girls by Alexander McCall Smith
  56. No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
  57. Nobody Knows My Name by James Baldwin
  58. Ocean of Words by Ha Jin
  59. Old Friends by Tracy Kidder
  60. Panther Soup by John Grimlette
  61. Points Unknown edited by David Roberts
  62. Rabbit Hill by Robert Lawson
  63. Return of the Dancing Master by Henning Mankell
  64. Rosalind Franklin by Brenda Maddox
  65. Rose Cafe by John Hanson Mitchell
  66. Scar Tissue by Michael Ignatieff
  67. Scramble for Africa by Thomas Pakenham
  68. Southpaw by Mark Harris
  69. Tattered Cloak by Nina Berberova ~ reading right now
  70. Tea Time for the Traditionally Built by Alexander McCall Smith
  71. Tears of the Giraffe by Alexander McCall Smith
  72. Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
  73. Time, Love, Memory by Jonathan Weiner
  74. Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy Sayers
  75. Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackery
  76. Viceroy of Ouidah by Bruce Chatwin
  77. What you Owe Me by Bebe Moore Campbell
  78. Wholeness of a Broken Heart by Katie Singer
  79. Widow for One Year by John Irving
  80. Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken
  81. Working Poor by David Shipler

November ’12 was…

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I don’t know what makes me feel this way, but November arrived and left before I knew it.  It felt like it was one of those elusive party-goers who pops in for a quick hello and is gone before anyone else knows. Something I would do. We had a fit of snow to add insult to New Jersey/New York injury. My neighborhood survived just fine but mother nature had it in for my old stomping grounds in the worst way.

My routine of reading during my lunch break hasn’t changed. I’ve come to look forward to camping out in the stacks, listening to students pass my study carrel. It gives me perspective. This month I seemed to read nothing but really short, easy to read books.

  • Good Thief’s Guide to Paris by Chris Ewan ~ a continuation of the series I started last month. I think I read this over a weekend.
  • Lives of the Painters, Sculptors and Architects, Vol 2 by Giorgio Vasari ~ a continuation of the series I started last month.
  • Breakfast with Scot by Michael Downing ~ in honor of national adoption month. This was cute. I was able to read it in one day.
  • Camus, a Romance by Elizabeth Hawes ~ in honor of Camus being born in the month of November. I took my time with this but still managed to finish it in two weeks.
  • Scar Tissue by Michael Ignatieff ~ in honor of national Alzheimer’s month. Read over a weekend, I was glued to the words because almost a year ago I lost my uncle to dementia. This really hit home.
  • Before the Knife: Memories of an African Childhood by Carolyn Slaughter ~ in honor of November being a good time to visit Africa. Or so they say. Another quick, weekend read.
  • Edward Lear in Albania: Journals of a landscape Painter in the Balkansby Edward Lear ~ in honor of November being the best time to get to Albania (which I never thought of doing). This took me three weeks to get through.
  • The Cold Light of Mourning by Elizabeth Duncan ~ in honor of Dylan Thomas living in Wales. Don’t ask. It’s a long story. Read in four days.
  • The Viceroy of Ouidah by Bruce Chatwin ~ in honor of November being a good time to visit Africa (yeah, yeah I read two books for the same reason). This was really short. I was  able to read it over four lunch breaks.
  • Corregidora by Gayl Jones ~ in honor of Jones’s birth month. Another short (but difficult) read. Read this in one day.
  • The Akhenaten Adventure by P.B. Kerr ~ in honor of November being Fantasy convention month. Read this over two lunch breaks. Really cute.

For audio books I listened to:

  • Churchill, a Life by Martin Gilbert ~ in honor of Churchill being born in the month of November. A few trips to the eastern part of the state allowed me to finish this sooner than I thought.
  • The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy Sayers ~ for the fun of it. This was hard to listen to simply because of the heavy dialogue.
  • Complications: a Surgeon’s Notes on an Imperfect Science by Atul Gawande ~ in honor of National Health Month. This was only six cds long so it was a great way to finish out the month.

What else was November about? I got to see a pretty exciting Patriots game thanks to my husband. I also got to stay home alone and read for an entire Sunday thanks to another Patriots game. Staying local for Thanksgiving definitely allowed for more reading time, too.

Complications

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Gawande, Atul. Complications: A Surgeon’s Notes On An Imperfect Science. Read by William David Griffith. Audio Renaissance: Picador, 1995.

You expect medicine to be a hard and fast science. Is versus Isn’t. Black and white. Cut and dried. Science simple as that. It is hard to imagine medicine as fuzzy, as imperfect and wishy-washy as gray area, but it is. Gawande doesn’t apologize for this less-than-exact science. He is pragmatic in his approach – sometimes doctors get it right and well, sometimes they don’t. The essays in Complications are scary and humbling. You hear about real cases. Real patients. Everyday people with seemingly normal lives. Your neighbor. You. Then you hear about the scary stuff. Medical mistakes. Doctors deferring decisions to patients. Surgeons operating with their hearts more than their minds…it happens. As hard as some of the information was to digest it was eye opening and a necessary truth.

Reason read: November is supposed to be National Health Month. Maybe that’s why I have two physical exams scheduled for this month!

Author fact: According to the back of the CD case Atul Gawande is a general surgeon at the Brigham and Women’s hospital in Boston, Massachusetts.

Book CD trivia: I inadvertently listened to the abridged version of the book. Dammit.

BookLust Twist: From Book Lust in the chapter called “Physicians Writing More Thank Prescriptions” (p 185).

Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club

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Sayers, Dorothy L. The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club. Read by Ian Carmichael. Chivers Audio Books, 1989.

Confession: I have been listening to this while working out. I can admit it’s not very inspirational for getting into shape! As a matter of fact I had a terrible time listening to this and might have to actually read it for real. Reason being: Ian Carmichael. There is a great deal of dialogue and Mr. Carmichael doesn’t really differentiate between the voices all that well. Since every character sounds nearly the same it is difficult to figure out who was saying what.

Premise of the story: Old so and so (90 year old General Fentiman) has keeled over in the Bellona Club. Because the old codger had a heart condition and was so old people assume he died of natural causes until his estranged sister’s will is discovered. If he dies before Lady Dormer a distant relative would get her inheritance. If he dies after Lady Dormer he would get the inheritance. Since they both die on the same day suddenly it matters very much exactly when General Fentiman passed. Down to the minute. Did he die before or after Lady Dormer? When it is discovered that General Fentiman was murdered aristocrat and amateur detective Lord Peter Wimsey (don’t you just love that name?) is called in to solve the mystery. The best part about this book is that it is really, really funny whether you read it or listen to it.

Reason read: In honor of Armistice Day or Poppy Day. General Fentiman dies on Remembrance Day (November 11th).

Author fact: Dorothy Sayers kept Lord Peter Wimsey very busy, publishing over 18 different stories involving his detections. I’ll be reading five of them.

Book trivia: The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club was made into a television series in 1972, starring Ian Carmichael as Lord Peter Wimsey. Hmmm…

BookLust Twist: From More Book Lust in the chapter called “Tickle Your Funny Bone” (p 200).

November ’12 is…

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November is Thanksgiving. My mom’s birthday. A wedding somewhere out there. The days are getting shorter and the nights are getting colder. Soon it will be time to crank up the woodstove. November is also a football game (Go Pats!) and maybe some music. It promises to be a good month for books, too. I have a couple of really short ones to buzz through:

  • Lives of the Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, Vol 2. by Giorgio Vasari ~ continuing the series started in October in honor of art month. As with Vol.1 I won’t read any bio that has a mistake in it.

    • I’m excited about this volume because Da Vinci is in it.

  • The Good Thief’s Guide to Paris by Chris Ewan ~ a continuation of the series started in October to honor the Amsterdam marathon. This should be a really quick read.
  • Camus: a Romance by Elizabeth Hawes ~ in honor of Albert Camus’s birth month
  • Edward Lear in Albania: journals of a landscape painter by Edward Lear ~ in honor of November being a good time to visit Albania.

    • I guess so.

  • Before the Knife: Memories of an African Childhood by Carolyn Slaughter ~in honor of November being a good time to take a safari in Africa. Truth be told, this won’t inspire me to travel anywhere near the dark continent.

    • I can tell already.

For audio – I’m plan to listen to Martin Gilbert’s biography of Winston Churchill, Winston Churchill, a Life and Dorothy Sayer’s The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club.

For the Early Review program on LibraryThing I will finish Clay by Melissa Harrison. I have to admit I’m not wild about the story. I love the way Harrison describes the landscape around her but not a fan of her character development.

What else about November? Can I say I will be thrilled, thrilled to not have to listen to Scott Brown and Elizabeth Warren bash each other over the head anymore? As a woman I have never felt more “targeted” than in this particular election. That would go for Obama and Romney as well. Grrrr.

October ’12 was…

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October 2012 was started out to sea. We landed on Monhegan sandwiched between the bustling start of Trap Day and the slowing end of tourist season. As a nod to the death of summer we readied our psyches to the coming winter. The island had shed its summer greens and stood cloaked in red rust brown and burnt yellow hues. Hiking the trails was at once magical and sobering. It was easy to curl up with a good book every night and read for at least two hours straight (something I never get to do at home unless it’s an off day). And speaking of the books, here they are:

  • Persian Boy by Mary Renault ~ a continuation of the series about Alexander the Great. I started this in September to keep the story going.
  • Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley ~ in honor of Halloween (duh). Probably one of my favorite books of the month. I read this in three days.
  • The Outermost House: a year of life on the great beach of Cape Cod by Henry Beston ~ in honor of October being Animal Month. The best book for me to read on an island; finished it in three days.
  • Lives of the Painters, Vol. 1 by Giorgio Vasari ~ in honor of October being Art Appreciation month. This was just ridiculous to read. There were a lot of errors according to the translator. I ended up skipping every biography that had a contradiction or error in it.As a result, finished it in two weeks.
  • Hackers edited by Jack Dann ~ in honor of October being Computer Awareness month. This was cool to read. I read three stories a night and finished it in four days.
  • The Dialect of Sex: the Case For Feminist Revolution by Shulamith Firestone ~ in honor of breast cancer awareness month and strong women everywhere. I didn’t completely finish this, but I got the gist of it.
  • The Good Thief’s Guide to Amsterdam by Chris Ewan ~ in honor of the Amsterdam marathon taking place in October. I read this in four and a half days. Easy and very entertaining!
  • The Clerkenwell Tales by Peter Ackroyd ~in honor of Ackroyd’s birth month. This was short, a little over 200 pages, but I took my time reading it – almost three weeks!

The audio book I chose for October was The Man From Beijing by Henning Mankell. This took forever to listen to! I felt like I was constantly plugged into the story. I listened to it on the drive home from Maine, to and from work everyday. even while I was working out, while I cooking. It was a great story, worth every hour between the earphones. Can’t wait to read other Mankell stories!

For LibraryThing’s Early Review program I read Thomas Jefferson’s Creme Brulee: How a Founding Father and His Slave Introduced French Cuisine to America by Thomas J. Craughwell. While I thought I would enjoy this book (TJ is one of my favorite past presidents and I’m wild about food) it fell a little flat for me. I stopped reading on page 200. I also started reading Clay by Melissa Harrison. It was refreshing to get a first-time fiction from LibraryThing!

One thing that I failed to mention about October (and this is related to the books) is that I am back to requesting books from other libraries! Yay yay yay! This was halted in June of 2011 because we were switching ILSs and at the time I figured it would be a good opportunity to read what was on my own shelf and in my own library. Now, nearly 17 months later I am back to having hundreds of libraries to order from. Thank gawd!

We ended October with a freak storm people were calling Frankenstorm in honor of being so close to Halloween. Although we prepared like hell we saw little damage, thankfully. My thoughts and prayers go out to those in New Jersey and New York. It’s sad to see my old haunts get battered around so…