Category: Early Review

Mistakenly Committed

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December is a new year of the Challenge. Only, not the year I thought it was. How embarrassing it is to discover not only an incomplete list of books but that I’ve been wrong about what year of the Challenge I’m on? It’s only now that I realize I am on year TEN of the project. When did that happen? W.T.F? I have been working on this reading list since 2006. So, yes, this list represents the tenth year. Here it is…in all its glory:

  1. Dragon Reborn by Robert Jordan (Dec –  maybe, since I bailed on Book #2)
  2. By a Spider’s Thread by Laura Lippman (Dec – maybe, since I still have In a Strange City to get through)
  3. Recognitions by  William Gaddis (Dec)
  4. Maus by Art Spiegelman (Dec)
  5. Lady Franklin’s Revenge by Ken McGoogan (Dec – maybe, since no local library has it)
  6. Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao* by Junot Diaz (Dec)
  7. Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson (Dec)
  8. Eugene Onegin by Alexander Pushkin (Dec)
  9. Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan (Jan – see Dragon Reborn)
  10. Maus II by Art Spiegelman (Jan)
  11. Wild Blue by Stephen Ambrose (Jan)
  12. Shot in the Heart by Mikal Gilmore (Jan)
  13. Greater Nowheres by David Finkelstein/Jack London (Jan)
  14. Good Life by Ben Bradlee (Feb)
  15. Underworld by Don DeLillo (Feb)
  16. Her Name Was Lola by Russell Hoban (Feb)
  17. Man Who Was Thursday by GK Chesterton ((Feb)
  18. Fires From Heaven by Robert Jordan (Feb)
  19. Finnegan’s Wake by James Joyce (Feb)
  20. At Home with the Glynns by Eric Kraft (Feb)
  21. Polish Officer by Alan Furst (Feb)
  22. Lord of Chaos by Robert Jordan ((Mar)
  23. Chasing Monarchs by Robert Pyle (Mar)
  24. Murder on a Kibbutz by Batya Gur (Mar)
  25. Bebe’s By Golly Wow by Yolanda Joe (Mar)
  26. Lives of the Muse by Francine Prose (Mar)
  27. Broom of the System (David Wallace (Mar)
  28. Crown of Swords by Robert Jordan (Apr)
  29. Two Gardeners by Emily Wilson (Apr)
  30. Royal Flash by George Fraser (Apr)
  31. Fifties by David Halberstam (Apr)
  32. Binding Spell by Elizabeth Arthur (Apr)
  33. Crown of Swords by Robert Jordan (Apr)
  34. Path of Daggers by Robert Jordan (May)
  35. Flash for Freedom! by George Fraser (May)
  36. Murder in Amsterdam by Ian Buruma (May)
  37. Petra: lost city by Christian Auge (May)
  38. From Beirut to Jerusalem by Thomas Friedman (May)
  39. Jordan by E. Borgia (May)
  40. Coroner’s Lunch by Colin Cotterill (May)
  41. Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese (May)
  42. Flash at the Charge by George MacDonald Fraser (May)
  43. Castles in the Air by Judt Corbett (Jun)
  44. Battle Cry of Freedom by James McPherson (Jun)
  45. Thirty-three Teeth by Colin Cotterill (Jun)
  46. Millstone by Margaret Drabble (Jun)
  47. Winter’s Heart by Robert Jordan (Jun)
  48. Crossroads of Twilight by Robert Jordan (Jul)
  49. Disco for the Departed by Colin Cotterill (Jul)
  50. Sixty Stories by Donald Barthelme (Jul)
  51. New Physics and Cosmology by Arthur Zajonc (Jul)
  52. Grifters by Jim Thompson (Jul)
  53. Complete Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle (Jul)
  54. Snow Angels by James Thompson (Jul)Ararchy and Old Dogs by Colin Cotterill (Aug)
  55. Flashman’s Lady by George MacDonald Fraser (Aug)
  56. Possession by AS Byatt (Aug)
  57. In the Footsteps of Ghanghis Khan by John DeFrancis ((Aug)
  58. What Just Happened by James Gleick (aug)
  59. Game of Kings by Dorothy Dunnett (Aug)
  60. Curse of the Pogo Stick by Colin Cotterill (Sep)
  61. Flashman and the Redskins by George MacDonald Fraser (Sep)
  62. Queens’ Play by Dorothy Dunnett (Sep)
  63. Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood (Sep)
  64. Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie (Sep)
  65. Beautiful Struggle by Ta-Nehisi Coates (Sep)
  66. Then She Found Me by Elinor Lipman (Oct)
  67. Merry Misogynist by Colin Cotterill (Oct)
  68. Disorderly Knights by Dorothy Dunnett (Oct)
  69. Flashman and the Dragon by George MacDonald Fraser (Oct)
  70. Dark Hills Divide by Patrick Carman (Nov)
  71. Love Songs from a Shallow Grave by Collin Cotterill (Nov)
  72. Flashman and the Mountain of Light by George MacDonald Fraser (Nov)
  73. Pawn in Frankincense by Dorothy Dunnett (Nov)
  74. Andorra by Peter Cameron (Nov)

I’ll be reading some of these short stories in June. I’ll see how far I get:

Ann Packer:

  • “Babies”
  • “Mendocino”

Clifford Simak:

  • “Shadow Show”
  • “Answers, the”

Daniel Stolar:

  • “Marriage Lessons”
  • “Jack Landers is My Friend”

David Bezmozgis:

  • “Natasha”
  • “Tapka”

David Foster Wallace:

  • “the suffering channel”
  • “Mr. Squishy”

J.D. Salinger:

  • “For Esme”
  • “Perfect Day for Bananafish, a”

Joseph Epstein:

  • “Artie Glick in a Family Way”
  • “The Executor”

Laura Furman:

  • “Drinking with the Cook”
  • “Hagalund”

Laurie Colwin:

  • “Lone Pilgrim”
  • “The Achieve of”

Lorrie Moore:

  • “Four Calling Birds…”
  • “People like that…”

 

This Will Be the End

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This is the end of another year of the challenge. Here is everything, including what I didn’t quite finish.

FINISHED (Dec 2013 – Nov 2014):

  1. Absolute Zero by Helen Cresswell*
  2. After the Dance by Edwidge Danticat
  3. Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow*
  4. Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin*
  5. All the King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren
  6. Andorra by Peter Cameron
  7. Angels Weep by Wilbur Smith
  8. Any Four Women Could Rob the Bank of Italy by Ann Cornelisen
  9. Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz by Mordecai Richler
  10. Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro
  11. Art Student’s War by Brad Leithauser
  12. Baltimore Blues by Laura Lippman*
  13. Beirut Blues by Hanan al-Shaykh
  14. Benjamin Franklin: an American Life by Walter Isaacson
  15. Biodegradable Soap by Amy Ephron
  16. Bring Me a Unicorn by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
  17. Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks*
  18. Black Lamb and Gray Falcon by Rebecca West (DNF)
  19. Bluebird Canyon by Dan McCall
  20. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown
  21. Butcher’s Hill by Laura Lippman
  22. Cabin Fever by Elizabeth Jolley
  23. Captain Sir Richard Burton by Edward Rice (DNF)
  24. Careless Love by Peter Gurlnink
  25. Caroline’s Daughters by Alice Adams
  26. Charlotte Gray by Sebastian Faulks
  27. Children of Cambodia’s Killing Fields: Memoirs of Survivors compiled by Dith Pran
  28. Civil Action by Jonathan Harr
  29. Clean Eating 28-Day Plan by Rockridge Press (ER)
  30. Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire*
  31. Cradle of Gold by Christopher Heaney
  32. Culture of Disbelief by Stephen Carter (DNF)
  33. Dancer and the Thief by Antonio Skarmeta
  34. Dancer with Bruised Knees by Lynne McFall
  35. Dark Sun by Richard Rhodes (DNF)
  36. Day the Falls Stood Still by Cathy Marie Buchanan*
  37. Dervish is Digital by Pat Cadigan
  38. Earthly Possessions by Anne Tyler
  39. Eighth Day by Thornton Wilder
  40. Eye of the World by Robert Jordan
  41. Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
  42. Faith Fox by Jane Gardam
  43. Falcon Flies by Wilbur Smith*
  44. Feast of Love by Charles Baxter
  45. Fifty Year Silence by Miranda Mouillot (ER)
  46. First Man by Albert Camus
  47. Flower and the Nettle by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
  48. Fordlandia by Greg Gandin
  49. French Revolutions by Tim Moore*
  50. Georges’ Wife by Elizabeth Jolley
  51. Gesture Life by Chang-rae Lee
  52. Graduates in Wonderland by Jessica Pan & Rachel Kapelke-Dale (ER)
  53. Grass Dancer by Susan Power* (DNF)
  54. Great Hunt by Robert Jordan (DNF)
  55. Half Magic by Edward Eager*
  56. Herzog by Saul Bellow
  57. History Man by Malcolm Bradbury
  58. Hour of Gold, Hour of Lead by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
  59. House of Morgan by Ron Chernow – (DNF)
  60. Illumination Night by Alice Hoffman
  61. In the Graveyard of Empires by Scott Jones*
  62. Inside Passage by Michael Modzelewski
  63. Inspector Ghote Breaks an Egg by H.R.F. Keating
  64. It Looked Like Forever by Mark Harris
  65. Last Train to Memphis by Peter Guralink
  66. Last Tycoon by F. Scott Fitzgerald
  67. Leopard Hunts in the Darkness by Wilbur Smith
  68. Life in the Air Ocean by Sylvia Foley
  69. Long Way From Home by Frederick Busch
  70. Lotus Eaters by Tatjani Soli
  71. Lulu in Hollywood by Louise Brooks (JFF)
  72. Men of Men by Wilbur Smith
  73. Neighborhood Heroes by Morgan Rielly (ER)
  74. Now Read This II by Nancy Pearl
  75. Ocean of Words by Ha Jin
  76. Oedipus by Sophocles
  77. Older, Faster, Stronger by Margaret Webb (JFF)
  78. Owl Service by Alan Garner*
  79. Palladian Days by Sally Gable*
  80. Partisan by Benjamin Cheever
  81. Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
  82. Prepared for a Purpose by Antoinette Tuff (ER)
  83. Price of Silence by Liza Long (ER)
  84. Professor and the Housekeeper by Yoko Ogawa
  85. Racing Weight by Matt Fitzgerald
  86. Raw Silk by Janet Burroway
  87. Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro*
  88. Rose Cafe by John Hanson Mitchell
  89. Rose of Martinique by Andrea Stuart
  90. Run or Die by Kilian Jornet (JFF)
  91. Running for Mortals by John Bingham (JFF)
  92. Running for Women by Kara Goucher (JFF)
  93. Seeing in the Dark by Timothy Ferris
  94. Slumdog Millionaire by Vikram Swarup*
  95. Soul of All Living Creatures by Vint Virga (ER)
  96. Strength Training for Fat Loss by Nick Tumminello (ER)
  97. Sword at Sunset by Rosemary Sutcliff
  98. Thousand Ways to Please a Husband by Weaver/LeCron (E-book)
  99. Thrush Green by Miss Read*
  100. Toronto by Charles Way (JFF)
  101. Transcriptionist by Amy Rowland (ER)
  102. War Within and Without by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
  103. Wildwater Walking Club by Claire Cook (JFF)
  104. Winners and Losers by Martin Quigley
  105. Zero Days by Barbara Egbert

(* denotes an audio recording; JFF = Just for Fun; DNF = Did Not Finish; ER = Early Review for LibraryThing)

Poetry:

  • “Aftermath” ~ a poem by Siegfried Sassoon
  • “Romance” ~ a poem by W.J. Turner
  • “Kubla Khan” ~ a poem by Samuel T. Coleridge

Short Stories:

  • “The Huckabuck Family” by Carl Sandburg
  • “How to Revitalize the Snake in Your Life” by Hannah Tinti
  • “Sound of Thunder” by Ray Bradbury
  • “Thirty Year Old Women Do Not Always Come Home” by Mark Winegardner
  • “Birdland” by Michael Knight
  • “Killer Inside Me” by Jim Thompson
  • “Down There” by David Goodis
  • “Crossing the Craton” by John McPhee.
  • “Lukudi” by Adrianne Harun
  • “The Eighth Sleeper of Ephesus” also by Adrianne Harun
  • “Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius” by Jorge Luis Borges

November the End List

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This is the final month for the Challenge year. I don’t have much to say beyond that. Here are the books:

  1. In a Strange City Butcher’s Hill by Laura Lippman (to continue the series started in September) Note: Butcher’s Hill was supposed to be read in October but it took over a month for it to arrive.
  2. ADDED: All the King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren
  3. Andorra by Peter Cameron
  4. Any Four Women Can Rob the Bank of Italy by Ann Cornelisen
  5. Beaufort by Ron Leshem
  6. Cradle of Gold by Christopher Heaney
  7. Grass Dancer by Susan Power*
  8. ADDED: Great Hunt by Robert Jordan (to continue the series started in October, because I forgot to mention the rest of the series)
  9. You Get What You Pay For by Larry Beinhart- MAYBE

*Planned as audio books

FINISHED (Dec 2013 – Oct 2014):

  1. Absolute Zero by Helen Cresswell*
  2. After the Dance by Edwidge Danticat
  3. Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow*
  4. Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin*
  5. Angels Weep by Wilbur Smith
  6. Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz by Mordecai Richler.
  7. Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro
  8. Art Student’s War by Brad Leithauser
  9. Baltimore Blues* by Laura Lippman
  10. Beirut Blues by Hanan al-Shaykh
  11. Benjamin Franklin: an American Life by Walter Isaacson
  12. ADDED: Biodegradable Soap by Amy Ephron
  13. Bring Me a Unicorn by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
  14. Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks*
  15. Black Lamb and Gray Falcon by Rebecca West (DNF)
  16. Bluebird Canyon by Dan McCall
  17. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown
  18. Cabin Fever by Elizabeth Jolley
  19. Captain Sir Richard Burton by Edward Rice (DNF)
  20. Careless Love by Peter Gurlnink
  21. Caroline’s Daughters by Alice Adams
  22. Charlotte Gray by Sebastian Faulks
  23. Children of Cambodia’s Killing Fields: Memoirs of Survivors compiled by Dith Pran
  24. Civil Action by Jonathan Harr
  25. Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire*
  26. Culture of Disbelief by Stephen Carter (DNF)
  27. Dancer and the Thief by Antonio Skarmeta
  28. Dancer with Bruised Knees by Lynne McFall
  29. Dark Sun by Richard Rhodes (DNF)
  30. Day the Falls Stood Still by Cathy Marie Buchanan*
  31. Dervish is Digital by Pat Cadigan
  32. Earthly Possessions by Anne Tyler
  33. Eighth Day by Thornton Wilder
  34. Eye of the World by Robert Jordan
  35. ADDED: Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
  36. Faith Fox by Jane Gardam
  37. Falcon Flies by Wilbur Smith*
  38. Feast of Love by Charles Baxter
  39. First Man by Albert Camus
  40. Flower and the Nettle by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
  41. Fordlandia by Greg Gandin
  42. French Revolutions* by Tim Moore.
  43. Georges’ Wife by Elizabeth Jolley
  44. Gesture Life by Chang-rae Lee
  45. Half Magic* by Edward Eager
  46. Herzog by Saul Bellow
  47. History Man by Malcolm Bradbury
  48. Hour of Gold, Hour of Lead by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
  49. House of Morgan by Ron Chernow – attempted
  50. Illumination Night by Alice Hoffman
  51. In the Graveyard of Empires by Scott Jones*
  52. Inside Passage by Michael Modzelewski
  53. Inspector Ghote Breaks an Egg by H.R.F. Keating
  54. It Looked Like Forever by Mark Harris
  55. Last Train to Memphis by Peter Guralink
  56. Last Tycoon by F. Scott Fitzgerald
  57. Leopard Hunts in the Darkness by Wilbur Smith
  58. Life in the Air Ocean by Sylvia Foley
  59. Long Way From Home by Frederick Busch
  60. Lotus Eaters by Tatjani Soli
  61. Lulu in Hollywood by Louise Brooks
  62. Men of Men by Wilbur Smith
  63. Neighborhood Heroes by Morgan Rielly
  64. Now Read This II by Nancy Pearl
  65. Ocean of Words by Ha Jin
  66. Oedipus by Sophocles
  67. Owl Service by Alan Garner*
  68. Palladian Days by Sally Gable*
  69. Partisan by Benjamin Cheever
  70. ADDED: Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
  71. Price of Silence by Liza Long
  72. Professor and the Housekeeper by Yoko Ogawa
  73. Racing Weight by Matt Fitzgerald
  74. Raw Silk by Janet Burroway
  75. Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro*
  76. Rose Cafe by John Hanson Mitchell
  77. Rose of Martinique by Andrea Stuart
  78. Run or Die by Kilian Jornet
  79. Running for Mortals by John Bingham
  80. Seeing in the Dark by Timothy Ferris
  81. Soul of All Living Creatures by Vint Virga
  82. Sword at Sunset by Rosemary Sutcliff
  83. Thousand Ways to Please a Husband by Weaver/LeCron (E-book)
  84. Thrush Green by Miss Read*
  85. Toronto by Charles Way
  86. Transcriptionist by Amy Rowland
  87. War Within and Without by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
  88. Wildwater Walking Club by Claire Cook.
  89. Winners and Losers by Martin Quigley
  90. Zero Days by Barbara Egbert

Poetry:

  • “Aftermath” ~ a poem by Siegfried Sassoon
  • “Romance” ~ a poem by W.J. Turner
  • “Kubla Khan” ~ a poem by Samuel T. Coleridge

Short Stories:

  • “The Huckabuck Family” by Carl Sandburg
  • “How to Revitalize the Snake in Your Life” by Hannah Tinti
  • “Sound of Thunder” by Ray Bradbury
  • “Thirty Year Old Women Do Not Always Come Home” by Mark Winegardner
  • “Birdland” by Michael Knight
  • “Killer Inside Me” by Jim Thompson
  • “Down There” by David Goodis
  • “Crossing the Craton” by John McPhee.
  • “Lukudi” by Adrianne Harun
  • “The Eighth Sleeper of Ephesus” also by Adrianne Harun
  • “Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius” by Jorge Luis Borges

For next year:

  • Hall of a Thousand Columns by Tim Mackintosh-Smith.

Fifty-Year Silence

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Mouillot, Miranda Richmond. A Fifty-Year Silence: Love, War and a Ruined House in France. New York: Crown Publishers, 2015.

Reason read: an Early Review book from LibraryThing.

Here’s what I loved about Mouillot’s memoir straight away: she was unapologetic about the inaccuracies in her book. She admits a lot of her documentation is based on conversations and possible faulty memories. From some reason, that admission alone makes it all the more real to me.

How does a relationship go from just that, a relationship, to a subject for a book? When I think about Mouillot’s grandparents and their fifty year silence I find myself asking, what makes this divorce any different from other relationship that crashed and burned? Could we all write a story about a relationship that fell apart? Well, yes and no. Add World War II, being Jewish and escaping the Holocaust and suddenly it’s not just about a couple who haven’t spoken to each other. It’s a mystery of survival on many different levels. While Mouillot’s account is choppy and sometimes hard to follow I found myself rooting for her. I wanted her to discover the mysteries of love and relationships, especially since her own love life was blossoming at the same time.

We aren’t supposed to quote from the book until it has been published but I have to say I hope this sentence stays, “How do you break a silence that is not your own?” (from the preface). I love, love, love this question. It should be on the cover of the book because it grabs you by the heart and throttles your mind into wanting to know more. Maybe that’s just me. Case in point: I was drawn into the show, “The Closer” after hearing Brenda say, “If I wanted to be called bitch to my face I’d still be married” in a promo. One sentence and I was hooked. Sometimes, that is all it takes.

Book trivia: According to the galley I received, A fifty-Year Silence will have maps.

October List

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The obvious choice would have been to name this list after something having to do with Halloween (like I always do), but I’m thinking that was getting old. So. It’s just the October List. Tahdah! There it is. I’m going on my last vacation for the year and I’m going home (where else?). As an aside, I’d like to think there is someone out there who reads me often enough to know where that is! And of course I’ll be bringing some books:

  1. Captain Sir Richard Burton by Edward Rice
  2. Culture of Disbelief by Stephen Carter
  3. Eye of the World by Robert Jordan
  4. In a Strange City by Laura Lippman (to continue the series started in September)
  5. Owl Service by Alan Garner*
  6. ADDED: The Hope We Seek by Rich Shapero – In light of the additional 80+ books I had to add to my list, I decided I am not going to read this!

Here is how the last month of year eight should go:

  1. Andorra by Peter Cameron
  2. Any Four Women Can Rob the Bank of Italy by Ann Cornelisen
  3. Beaufort by Ron Leshem*
  4. Cradle of Gold by Christopher Heaney
  5. Grass Dancer by Susan Power
  6. You Get What You Pay For by Larry Beinhart

*Planned as audio books

FINISHED (Dec 2013 – Sept 2014):

  1. Absolute Zero by Helen Cresswell*
  2. After the Dance by Edwidge Danticat
  3. Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow*
  4. Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin*
  5. Angels Weep by Wilbur Smith
  6. Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz by Mordecai Richler.
  7. Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro
  8. Art Student’s War by Brad Leithauser
  9. Baltimore Blues* by Laura Lippman
  10. Beirut Blues by Hanan al-Shaykh
  11. Benjamin Franklin: an American Life by Walter Isaacson
  12. Bring Me a Unicorn by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
  13. Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks*
  14. Black Lamb and Gray Falcon by Rebecca West (DNF)
  15. Bluebird Canyon by Dan McCall
  16. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown
  17. Cabin Fever by Elizabeth Jolley
  18. Careless Love by Peter Gurlnink
  19. Caroline’s Daughters by Alice Adams
  20. Charlotte Gray by Sebastian Faulks
  21. ADDED: Children of Cambodia’s Killing Fields: Memoirs of Survivors compiled by Dith Pran
  22. Civil Action by Jonathan Harr
  23. Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire*
  24. Dancer and the Thief by Antonio Skarmeta
  25. Dancer with Bruised Knees by Lynne McFall
  26. Dark Sun by Richard Rhodes (DNF)
  27. Day the Falls Stood Still by Cathy Marie Buchanan*
  28. ADDED: Dervish is Digital by Pat Cadigan
  29. Earthly Possessions by Anne Tyler
  30. Eighth Day by Thornton Wilder
  31. Faith Fox by Jane Gardam
  32. Falcon Flies by Wilbur Smith*
  33. Feast of Love by Charles Baxter
  34. First Man by Albert Camus
  35. Flower and the Nettle by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
  36. Fordlandia by Greg Gandin
  37. French Revolutions* by Tim Moore.
  38. Georges’ Wife by Elizabeth Jolley
  39. Gesture Life by Chang-rae Lee
  40. Herzog by Saul Bellow
  41. History Man by Malcolm Bradbury
  42. Hour of Gold, Hour of Lead by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
  43. House of Morgan by Ron Chernow – attempted
  44. Illumination Night by Alice Hoffman
  45. In the Graveyard of Empires by Scott Jones*
  46. Inside Passage by Michael Modzelewski
  47. Inspector Ghote Breaks an Egg by H.R.F. Keating
  48. It Looked Like Forever by Mark Harris
  49. Last Train to Memphis by Peter Guralink
  50. ADDED: Last Tycoon by F. Scott Fitzgerald
  51. Leopard Hunts in the Darkness by Wilbur Smith
  52. Life in the Air Ocean by Sylvia Foley
  53. Long Way From Home by Frederick Busch
  54. Lotus Eaters by Tatjani Soli
  55. Lulu in Hollywood by Louise Brooks
  56. Men of Men by Wilbur Smith
  57. Neighborhood Heroes by Morgan Rielly
  58. Now Read This II by Nancy Pearl
  59. Ocean of Words by Ha Jin
  60. Oedipus by Sophocles
  61. Palladian Days by Sally Gable*
  62. Price of Silence by Liza Long
  63. Professor and the Housekeeper by Yoko Ogawa
  64. Racing Weight by Matt Fitzgerald
  65. Raw Silk by Janet Burroway
  66. Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro*
  67. Rose Cafe by John Hanson Mitchell
  68. Rose of Martinique by Andrea Stuart
  69. Run or Die by Kilian Jornet
  70. Running for Mortals by John Bingham
  71. Seeing in the Dark by Timothy Ferris
  72. Soul of All Living Creatures by Vint Virga
  73. Sword at Sunset by Rosemary Sutcliff
  74. A Thousand Ways to Please a Husband by Weaver/LeCron (E-book)
  75. Thrush Green by Miss Read*
  76. Toronto by Charles Way
  77. Transcriptionist by Amy Rowland
  78. War Within and Without by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
  79. Wildwater Walking Club by Claire Cook.
  80. Winners and Losers by Martin Quigley
  81. Zero Days by Barbara Egbert

Poetry:

  • “Aftermath” ~ a poem by Siegfried Sassoon
  • “Romance” ~ a poem by W.J. Turner
  • “Kubla Khan” ~ a poem by Samuel T. Coleridge

Short Stories:

  • “The Huckabuck Family” by Carl Sandburg
  • “How to Revitalize the Snake in Your Life” by Hannah Tinti
  • “Sound of Thunder” by Ray Bradbury
  • “Thirty Year Old Women Do Not Always Come Home” by Mark Winegardner
  • “Birdland” by Michael Knight
  • “Killer Inside Me” by Jim Thompson
  • “Down There” by David Goodis
  • “Crossing the Craton” by John McPhee.
  • “Lukudi” by Adrianne Harun
  • “The Eighth Sleeper of Ephesus” also by Adrianne Harun
  • “Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius” by Jorge Luis Borges

For next year:

  • Hall of a Thousand Columns by Tim Mackintosh-Smith.

Soul of All Living Creatures

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Virga, Vint. The Soul of All Living Creatures: What Animals Can Teach Us About Being Human. New York: Crown, 2013.

Don’t think of The Soul of All Living Creatures as something with a plot. It doesn’t have a start, middle or end. Instead, think of it as a series of essays, each with its own theme. Unfortunately, because there was never that “what happens next?” element, I found it easy to put Soul of All Living Creatures down from time to time and not pick it back up for weeks. The premise of Virga’s book is simple. He chooses a behavior or an attitude and applies it to an experience he has had with an animal in his care as a veterinary behaviorist. He then takes that same trait and applies it to the human element, tying the animal world with human thinking. His theory is, by making the animal-human connection, our lives will be enriched.

Reason read: I am always suspicious when I review a book that has been published more than a year earlier. It’s not an “early” review when someone reviewed it 15 months earlier and the book has even won awards. Nevertheless, here am I reviewing Soul of All Living Creatures for LibraryThing.

Author fact: Virga has his own website here.

Book trivia: There should be photographs. That would be cool.

Sweet September List

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The days are getting shorter. The nights are cooling down. Summer is practically all but over. It’s time to turn my attention to school and cozying up to a warm fire with a good book, or two, or three:

  1. Baltimore Blues by Laura Lippman
  2. Bluebird Canyon by Dan McCall
  3. History Man by Malcolm Bradbury
  4. Raw Silk by Janet Burroway
  5. A Thousand Ways to Please a Husband by Weaver/LeCron (E-book)
  6. ADDED: The Soul of All Living Creatures by Vint Virga (Early Review for LibraryThing)

Here is how the rest of year eight (only two months) should go:

  1. Andorra by Peter Cameron (November)
  2. Any Four Women Can Rob the Bank of Italy by Ann Cornelisen (November)
  3. Beaufort by Ron Leshem* (November)
  4. Captain Sir Richard Burton by Edward Rice (October)
  5. Cradle of Gold by Christopher Heaney (November)
  6. Culture of Disbelief by Stephen Carter (October)
  7. Eye of the World by Robert Jordan* (October)
  8. Grass Dancer by Susan Power (November)
  9. In a Strange City by Laura Lippman (October)
  10. You Get What You Pay For by Larry Beinhart (November)

*Planned as audio books

FINISHED:

  1. Absolute Zero by Helen Cresswell*
  2. After the Dance by Edwidge Danticat
  3. Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow*
  4. Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin*
  5. Angels Weep by Wilbur Smith
  6. Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz by Mordecai Richler.
  7. Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro
  8. Art Student’s War by Brad Leithauser
  9. Beirut Blues by Hanan al-Shaykh
  10. Benjamin Franklin: an American Life by Walter Isaacson
  11. Bring Me a Unicorn by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
  12. Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks*
  13. Black Lamb and Gray Falcon by Rebecca West (DNF)
  14. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown
  15. Cabin Fever by Elizabeth Jolley
  16. Careless Love by Peter Gurlnink
  17. Caroline’s Daughters by Alice Adams
  18. Charlotte Gray by Sebastian Faulks
  19. Civil Action by Jonathan Harr
  20. Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire*
  21. Dancer and the Thief by Antonio Skarmeta
  22. Dancer with Bruised Knees by Lynne McFall
  23. Dark Sun by Richard Rhodes (DNF)
  24. Day the Falls Stood Still by Cathy Marie Buchanan*
  25. Earthly Possessions by Anne Tyler
  26. Eighth Day by Thornton Wilder
  27. Faith Fox by Jane Gardam
  28. Falcon Flies by Wilbur Smith*
  29. Feast of Love by Charles Baxter
  30. First Man by Albert Camus
  31. Flower and the Nettle by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
  32. Fordlandia by Greg Gandin
  33. French Revolutions* by Tim Moore.
  34. Georges’ Wife by Elizabeth Jolley
  35. Gesture Life by Chang-rae Lee
  36. Herzog by Saul Bellow
  37. Hour of Gold, Hour of Lead by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
  38. House of Morgan by Ron Chernow – attempted
  39. Illumination Night by Alice Hoffman
  40. In the Graveyard of Empires by Scott Jones*
  41. Inside Passage by Michael Modzelewski
  42. Inspector Ghote Breaks an Egg by H.R.F. Keating
  43. It Looked Like Forever by Mark Harris
  44. Last Train to Memphis by Peter Guralink
  45. Leopard Hunts in the Darkness by Wilbur Smith
  46. Life in the Air Ocean by Sylvia Foley
  47. Long Way From Home by Frederick Busch
  48. Lotus Eaters by Tatjani Soli
  49. Lulu in Hollywood by Louise Brooks
  50. Men of Men by Wilbur Smith
  51. Neighborhood Heroes by Morgan Rielly
  52. Now Read This II by Nancy Pearl
  53. Ocean of Words by Ha Jin
  54. Oedipus by Sophocles
  55. Palladian Days by Sally Gable*
  56. Price of Silence by Liza Long
  57. Professor and the Housekeeper by Yoko Ogawa
  58. Racing Weight by Matt Fitzgerald
  59. Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro*
  60. Rose Cafe by John Hanson Mitchell
  61. Rose of Martinique by Andrea Stuart
  62. Run or Die by Kilian Jornet
  63. Running for Mortals by John Bingham
  64. Seeing in the Dark by Timothy Ferris
  65. Sword at Sunset by Rosemary Sutcliff
  66. Thrush Green by Miss Read*
  67. ADDED: Toronto by Charles Way
  68. Transcriptionist by Amy Rowland
  69. War Within and Without by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
  70. Wildwater Walking Club by Claire Cook.
  71. Winners and Losers by Martin Quigley
  72. Zero Days by Barbara Egbert

Poetry:

  • “Aftermath” ~ a poem by Siegfried Sassoon
  • “Romance” ~ a poem by W.J. Turner
  • “Kubla Khan” ~ a poem by Samuel T. Coleridge

Short Stories:

  • “The Huckabuck Family” by Carl Sandburg
  • “How to Revitalize the Snake in Your Life” by Hannah Tinti
  • “Sound of Thunder” by Ray Bradbury
  • “Thirty Year Old Women Do Not Always Come Home” by Mark Winegardner
  • “Birdland” by Michael Knight
  • “Killer Inside Me” by Jim Thompson
  • “Down There” by David Goodis
  • “Crossing the Craton” by John McPhee.
  • “Lukudi” by Adrianne Harun
  • “The Eighth Sleeper of Ephesus” also by Adrianne Harun
  • “Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius” by Jorge Luis Borges

For another year:

  • Hall of a Thousand Columns by Tim Mackintosh-Smith.

The August List

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I have no idea what is in store for August. I didn’t have any vacations planned. I didn’t have any stay-at-home plans. This was a month of wide open schedules with little to no expectation. However, and this is a BIG however, I was supposed to see Natalie Merchant twice in July. Due to illness the rest of her summer July tour dates were postponed with the promise of an attempt to reschedule. So. I thought of August. No luck, but the month did become just a little more interesting with a trip to Maine. And speaking of interesting, here’s the book list. It’s huge so I would like to think August is going to be filled with la-hazy days reading pool-side:

  1. Beirut Blues by Hanan al-Shaykh
  2. Caroline’s Daughters by Alice Adams
  3. Fordlandia by Greg Gandin
  4. Gesture Life by Chang-rae Lee
  5. “Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius” a short story from Labyrinths by Jorge Luis Borges
  6. Long Way From Home by Frederick Busch
  7. Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro*
  8. ADDED: Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire
  9. ADDED: Absolute Zero by Helen Cresswell (to finish the series)

*Audio book Here is how the rest of year eight should go:

  1. Andorra by Peter Cameron (November)
  2. Any Four Women Can Rob the Bank of Italy by Ann Cornelisen (November)
  3. Baltimore Blues by Laura Lippman (September)
  4. Beaufort by Ron Leshem* (November)
  5. Bluebird Canyon by Dan McCall (September)
  6. Captain Sir Richard Burton by Edward Rice (October)
  7. Cradle of Gold by Christopher Heaney (November)
  8. Culture of Disbelief by Stephen Carter (October)
  9. Eye of the World by Robert Jordan* (October)
  10. Grass Dancer by Susan Power (November)
  11. History Man by Malcolm Bradbury (September)
  12. In a Strange City by Laura Lippman (October)
  13. Raw Silk by Janet Burroway (September)
  14. Thousand Ways to Please a Husband by Weaver/LeCron (September)
  15. You Get What You Pay For by Larry Beinhart (November)

*Planned as audio books

FINISHED:

  1. After the Dance by Edwidge Danticat
  2. Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow*
  3. Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin*
  4. Angels Weep by Wilbur Smith
  5. Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz by Mordecai Richler.
  6. Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro
  7. Art Student’s War by Brad Leithauser
  8. Benjamin Franklin: an American Life by Walter Isaacson
  9. Bring Me a Unicorn by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
  10. Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks*
  11. Black Lamb and Gray Falcon by Rebecca West (DNF)
  12. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown
  13. Cabin Fever by Elizabeth Jolley
  14. Careless Love by Peter Gurlnink
  15. Charlotte Gray by Sebastian Faulks
  16. Civil Action by Jonathan Harr
  17. Dancer and the Thief by Antonio Skarmeta
  18. Dancer with Bruised Knees by Lynne McFall
  19. Dark Sun by Richard Rhodes (DNF)
  20. Day the Falls Stood Still by Cathy Marie Buchanan*
  21. Earthly Possessions by Anne Tyler
  22. Eighth Day by Thornton Wilder
  23. Faith Fox by Jane Gardam
  24. Falcon Flies by Wilbur Smith*
  25. Feast of Love by Charles Baxter
  26. First Man by Albert Camus
  27. Flower and the Nettle by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
  28. French Revolutions* by Tim Moore.
  29. Georges’ Wife by Elizabeth Jolley
  30. Herzog by Saul Bellow
  31. Hour of Gold, Hour of Lead by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
  32. House of Morgan by Ron Chernow – attempted
  33. Illumination Night by Alice Hoffman
  34. In the Graveyard of Empires by Scott Jones*
  35. Inside Passage by Michael Modzelewski
  36. Inspector Ghote Breaks an Egg by H.R.F. Keating
  37. It Looked Like Forever by Mark Harris
  38. Last Train to Memphis by Peter Guralink
  39. Leopard Hunts in the Darkness by Wilbur Smith
  40. Life in the Air Ocean by Sylvia Foley
  41. Lotus Eaters by Tatjani Soli
  42. Lulu in Hollywood by Louise Brooks
  43. Men of Men by Wilbur Smith
  44. Neighborhood Heroes: Life Lessons from the Greatest Generation by Morgan Rielly
  45. Now Read This II by Nancy Pearl
  46. Ocean of Words by Ha Jin
  47. Oedipus by Sophocles
  48. Palladian Days by Sally Gable*
  49. ADDED: Price of Silence by Liza Long (an Early Review book for LibraryThing)
  50. Professor and the Housekeeper by Yoko Ogawa
  51. Racing Weight by Matt Fitzgerald
  52. Rose Cafe by John Hanson Mitchell
  53. Rose of Martinique by Andrea Stuart
  54. Run or Die by Kilian Jornet
  55. Running for Mortals by John Bingham
  56. Seeing in the Dark by Timothy Ferris
  57. Sword at Sunset by Rosemary Sutcliff
  58. Thrush Green by Miss Read*
  59. Transcriptionist by Amy Rowland
  60. War Within and Without by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
  61. Wildwater Walking Club by Claire Cook.
  62. Winners and Losers by Martin Quigley
  63. Zero Days by Barbara Egbert

Poetry:

  • “Aftermath” ~ a poem by Siegfried Sassoon
  • “Romance” ~ a poem by W.J. Turner
  • “Kubla Khan” ~ a poem by Samuel T. Coleridge

Short Stories:

  • “The Huckabuck Family” by Carl Sandburg
  • “How to Revitalize the Snake in Your Life” by Hannah Tinti
  • “Sound of Thunder” by Ray Bradbury
  • “Thirty Year Old Women Do Not Always Come Home” by Mark Winegardner
  • “Birdland” by Michael Knight
  • “Killer Inside Me” by Jim Thompson
  • “Down There” by David Goodis
  • “Crossing the Craton” by John McPhee.
  • Lukudi by Adrianne Harun
  • The Eighth Sleeper of Ephesus also by Adrianne Harun

For another year (because, as I said before, I screwed up):

  • Hall of a Thousand Columns by Tim Mackintosh-Smith.

Price of Silence

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Long, Liza. The Price of Silence: a Mom’s Perspective of Mental Illness. New York: Hudson Street Press, 2014.

Liza Long is a single mother trying to raise a son with a mental illness. She will tell you this fact many times throughout The Price of Silence. Many will recognize her as the author of the blog post, “I am Adam Lanza’s Mother.” Price of Silence is the long version (excuse the pun) of that post. This was a hard book to read on so many different levels. I felt that Long was trying to justify the blog post that thrust her into the spotlight. If not justify, then to at least explain it further; to clarify points. I felt she was defending herself against many different misconceptions, the biggest misconception being what it is like to raise a mentally ill child. Long is desperate to make the world understand that there is an unfair stigma attached to the treatment of mental illness (stigma is something else she mentions a lot). A physical injury is treated with urgency while “anything above the neck” is hemmed and hawed over with head scratching and no clear treatment plan. A physical injury has a logical explanation while the violent outburst of an autistic does not. There is a lot of hand wringing that takes place in The Price of Silence but it is effective. I was drawn into Long’s story and felt her frustrations clearly. Long was able to articulate the facts along side her feelings, something that isn’t easy to do while in the midst of the turmoil.

As an aside, I often wonder if Long would have allowed her blog post to be renamed, “I am Adam Lanza’s Mother” had Mrs. Lanza survived her son’s attack. I feel the post was renamed for shock value and to possibly draw in misinformed reader; the one who read it simply because he or she thought there had been a mistake and the real Mrs. Lanza was still alive. I wanted Long to call the post, “I Could Have Been Adam Lanza’s Mother” (much in the same way Dave Matthews could have been a parking lot attendant. Mr. Matthews is not a parking lot attendant of course, but the point being anything can happen. Lanza’s story could have been Long’s.)

Reason read: As a member of LibraryThing’s Early Review program, this was the June selection. I should note that Price of Silence should go on sale August 28, 2014.

Author fact: Long has a blog here.

Book trivia: This copy of Price of Silence promises an index at publication but I do not know if the final version will include photographs or any other personalization.

Neighborhood Heroes

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Rielly, Morgan. Neighborhood Heroes: Life Lessons From Maine’s Greatest Generation. Camden: Down East Books, 2014.

Reason read: As part of the Early Review program for LibraryThing I occasionally review books for them. This was the May selection I won.

As someone who grew up on an island off the coast of Maine and still has a strong connection to the entire state, I really enjoyed Rielly’s book. I could identify with most of the places he mentions. But, location isn’t what I enjoyed the most. In my day kids were taught to respect their elders and you can tell Rielly really respected the 26 men and women he interviewed for his book, Neighborhood Heroes. His attention to detail is exemplary and his choice of words conveys the significance of not only the military work these veterans conducted, but the strength of their personal lives as well. It wasn’t enough to transcribe their professional lives; the training tales and battle stories (no matter their branch in the military); Rielly also was thoughtful enough to convey their personal dedication to marriage, family, education and meaningful employment after serving their country in the war. Sadly, a few of Rielly’s interviewees have since passed away. It is a shame they won’t be able to see the published book. I only hope they understood what a great tribute Neighborhood Heroes is to their generation.

As an aside, the cover of the book (by Scott Mansfield) is stunning once I really saw it. The photograph is a little dark.

Here’s the only part of Neighborhood Heroes I will quote. From the front matter, “A portion of the author’s royalties is donated to the Travis Mills Project and the National Veterans Family Center…” Curious about this I Googled Travis Mills and discovered he is a retired United States Staff Sergeant who survived an IED blast in Afghanistan in 2012. He is one of only five quadruple amputees to survive such massive injuries.

Confessional: I started reading this shortly after June 6th while CNN and other “reality” channels were constantly showing World War II documentaries. The timing of Rielly’s Neighborhood Heroes was a blessing and a curse. While I was caught up in the pomp and circumstance of remembrance it was also redundant – overkill, if you will. I was a little “war weary” by the end of it all. But, that’s my doing entirely.

Bang of July List

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July is vacation month for me. Well, just to clarify, I go on vacation starting tomorrow (hence the late list post). Not that I go on vacation for the whole month! Don’t I wish! But, with a week off I should be able to get through a good chunk of reading. Sadly, the only books I am really looking forward to reading are Faulks and Rielly. Sigh. Here’s the list:

  1. Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz by Mordecai Richler.
  2. Black Lamb and Gray Falcon by Rebecca West. This is well over 1,000 pages long!
  3. ADDED: Charlotte Gray by Sebastian Faulks (continues the series)
  4. Dark Sun by Richard Rhodes. This was on the list for last year but I decided it wasn’t “fun.” Remember? I still don’t think it will be fun.
  5. Faith Fox by Jane Gardam*
  6. In the Graveyard of Empires by Scott Jones*
  7. ADDED: Neighborhood Heroes: Life Lessons from the Greatest Generation by Morgan Rielly (LibraryThing Early Review)

*Audio book

Here is how the rest of year eight should go:

  1. Andorra by Peter Cameron (November)
  2. Any Four Women Can Rob the Bank of Italy by Ann Cornelisen (November)
  3. Baltimore Blues by Laura Lippman (September)
  4. Beaufort by Ron Leshem* (November)
  5. Beirut Blues by Hanan al-Shaykh (August)
  6. Bluebird Canyon by Dan McCall (September)
  7. Captain Sir Richard Burton by Edward Rice (October)
  8. Caroline’s Daughters by Alice Adams (August)
  9. Cradle of Gold by Christopher Heaney (November)
  10. Culture of Disbelief by Stephen Carter (October)
  11. Eye of the World by Robert Jordan* (October)
  12. Fordlandia by Greg Gandin (August)
  13. Gesture Life by Chang-rae Lee (August)
  14. Grass Dancer by Susan Power (November)
  15. History Man by Malcolm Bradbury (September)
  16. In a Strange City by Laura Lippman (October)
  17. Labyrinths by Jorge Luis Borges (August)
  18. Long Way From Home by Frederick Busch (August)
  19. Raw Silk by Janet Burroway (September)
  20. Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro* (August)
  21. Thousand Ways to Please a Husband by Weaver/LeCron (September)
  22. You Get What You Pay For by Larry Beinhart (November)

*Planned as audio books

FINISHED:

  1. After the Dance by Edwidge Danticat
  2. Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow*
  3. Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin*
  4. Angels Weep by Wilbur Smith
  5. Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro
  6. Art Student’s War by Brad Leithauser
  7. Benjamin Franklin: an American Life by Walter Isaacson
  8. Bring Me a Unicorn by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
  9. Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks*
  10. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown
  11. Cabin Fever by Elizabeth Jolley
  12. Careless Love by Peter Gurlnink
  13. Civil Action by Jonathan Harr
  14. Day the Falls Stood Still by Cathy Marie Buchanan*
  15. Dancer and the Thief by Antonio Skarmeta
  16. Dancer with Bruised Knees by Lynne McFall
  17. Earthly Possessions by Anne Tyler
  18. Eighth Day by Thornton Wilder
  19. Falcon Flies by Wilbur Smith*
  20. Feast of Love by Charles Baxter
  21. First Man by Albert Camus
  22. Flower and the Nettle by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
  23. French Revolutions* by Tim Moore.
  24. Georges’ Wife by Elizabeth Jolley
  25. Herzog by Saul Bellow
  26. Hour of Gold, Hour of Lead by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
  27. House of Morgan by Ron Chernow – attempted
  28. Illumination Night by Alice Hoffman
  29. Inside Passage by Michael Modzelewski
  30. Inspector Ghote Breaks an Egg by H.R.F. Keating
  31. It Looked Like Forever by Mark Harris
  32. Last Train to Memphis by Peter Guralink
  33. Leopard Hunts in the Darkness by Wilbur Smith
  34. Life in the Air Ocean by Sylvia Foley
  35. Lotus Eaters by Tatjani Soli
  36. ADDED: Lulu in Hollywood by Louise Brooks
  37. Men of Men by Wilbur Smith
  38. Now Read This II by Nancy Pearl
  39. Ocean of Words by Ha Jin
  40. Oedipus by Sophocles
  41. Palladian Days by Sally Gable*
  42. Professor and the Housekeeper by Yoko Ogawa
  43. Racing Weight by Matt Fitzgerald
  44. Rose Cafe by John Hanson Mitchell
  45. Rose of Martinique by Andrea Stuart
  46. Run or Die by Kilian Jornet
  47. Running for Mortals by John Bingham
  48. Seeing in the Dark by Timothy Ferris
  49. Sword at Sunset by Rosemary Sutcliff
  50. Thrush Green by Miss Read*
  51. Transcriptionist by Amy Rowland
  52. War Within and Without by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
  53. ADDED: Wildwater Walking Club by Claire Cook. A gift from a fellow Just ‘Cause walker 🙂
  54. Winners and Losers by Martin Quigley
  55. Zero Days by Barbara Egbert

Poetry:

  • “Aftermath” ~ a poem by Siegfried Sassoon
  • “Romance” ~ a poem by W.J. Turner
  • “Kubla Khan” ~ a poem by Samuel T. Coleridge

Short Stories:

  • “The Huckabuck Family” by Carl Sandburg
  • “How to Revitalize the Snake in Your Life” by Hannah Tinti
  • “Sound of Thunder” by Ray Bradbury
  • “Thirty Year Old Women Do Not Always Come Home” by Mark Winegardner
  • “Birdland” by Michael Knight
  • “Killer Inside Me” by Jim Thompson (not really a short story, but I treated it as such)
  • “Down There” by David Goodis (again really, not a short story)
  • “Crossing the Craton” by John McPhee. It’s the fifth and final chapter in Annals of the Former World but since it’s less than 50 pages long, I’m treating it as a short story.
  • Lukudi by Adrianne Harun
  • The Eighth Sleeper of Ephesus also by Adrianne Harun

For another year (because I screwed up):

  • Hall of a Thousand Columns by Tim Mackintosh-Smith.

Who’s You Daddy June List

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I’m posting this early because June 1st is on a Sunday and guess what I’ll be doing on that Sunday? Finishing up a 60 mile cancer walk. I sincerely doubt I will have time (much less remember) to post this!

June is known as short story month. I have a separate list of all the shorties I want to read and each June, in honor of the genre, I try to blow through as many as I can. This year I am actually revisiting some shorts I should have read last year. Here’s the list:

  • Killer Inside Me
  • Down There
  • The Huckabuck Family
  • How to Revitalize the Snake
  • Crossing the Craton

Then, there are the real books:

  1. Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks*
  2. Dancer with Bruised Knees by Lynne McFall
  3. Earthly Possessions by Anne Tyler
  4. First Man by Albert Camus
  5. Inside Passage by Michael Modselewski
  6. Rose of Martinique by Andrea Stuart
  7. ADDED: Zero Days by Barbara Egbert

*Audio book

Here is how the rest of year eight should go. Of course I will be adding more books to this list:

  1. Andorra by Peter Cameron (November)
  2. Any Four Women Can Rob the Bank of Italy by Ann Cornelisen (November)
  3. Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz by Mordecai Richler (July)
  4. Baltimore Blues by Laura Lippman (September)
  5. Beaufort by Ron Leshem* (November)
  6. Beirut Blues by Hanan al-Shaykh (August)
  7. Black Lamb and Gray Falcon by Rebecca West (July)
  8. Bluebird Canyon by Dan McCall (September)
  9. Captain Sir Richard Burton by Edward Rice (October)
  10. Caroline’s Daughters by Alice Adams (August)
  11. Cradle of Gold by Christopher Heaney (November)
  12. Culture of Disbelief by Stephen Carter (October)
  13. Dark Sun by Richard Rhodes (July)
  14. Eye of the World by Robert Jordan* (October)
  15. Faith Fox by Jane Gardam* (July)
  16. Fordlandia by Greg Gandin (August)
  17. Gesture Life by Chang-rae Lee (August)
  18. Grass Dancer by Susan Power (November)
  19. History Man by Malcolm Bradbury (September)
  20. In a Strange City by Laura Lippman (October)
  21. Labyrinths by Jorge Luis Borges (August)
  22. Long Way From Home by Frederick Busch (August)
  23. Raw Silk by Janet Burroway (September)
  24. Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro* (August)
  25. Thousand Ways to Please a Husband by Weaver/LeCron (September)
  26. You Get What You Pay For by Larry Beinhart (November)

*Planned as audio books

FINISHED:

  1. After the Dance by Edwidge Danticat
  2. Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow*
  3. Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin*
  4. Angels Weep by Wilbur Smith
  5. Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro
  6. Art Student’s War by Brad Leithauser
  7. Benjamin Franklin: an American Life by Walter Isaacson
  8. Bring Me a Unicorn by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
  9. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown
  10. Cabin Fever by Elizabeth Jolley
  11. Careless Love by Peter Gurlnink
  12. Civil Action by Jonathan Harr
  13. Day the Falls Stood Still by Cathy Marie Buchanan*
  14. Dancer and the Thief by Antonio Skarmeta
  15. Eighth Day by Thornton Wilder
  16. Falcon Flies by Wilbur Smith*
  17. Feast of Love by Charles Baxter
  18. Flower and the Nettle by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
  19. French Revolutions* by Tim Moore.
  20. Georges’ Wife by Elizabeth Jolley
  21. Herzog by Saul Bellow
  22. Hour of Gold, Hour of Lead by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
  23. House of Morgan by Ron Chernow – attempted
  24. Illumination Night by Alice Hoffman
  25. Inspector Ghote Breaks an Egg by H.R.F. Keating
  26. It Looked Like Forever by Mark Harris
  27. Last Train to Memphis by Peter Guralink
  28. Leopard Hunts in the Darkness by Wilbur Smith
  29. Life in the Air Ocean by Sylvia Foley
  30. Lotus Eaters by Tatjani Soli
  31. Men of Men by Wilbur Smith
  32. Now Read This II by Nancy Pearl
  33. Ocean of Words by Ha Jin
  34. Oedipus by Sophocles
  35. Palladian Days by Sally Gable*
  36. Professor and the Housekeeper by Yoko Ogawa
  37. Racing Weight by Matt Fitzgerald
  38. Rose Cafe by John Hanson Mitchell
  39. Run or Die by Kilian Jornet
  40. Running for Mortals by John Bingham
  41. Seeing in the Dark by Timothy Ferris
  42. Sword at Sunset by Rosemary Sutcliff
  43. Thrush Green by Miss Read*
  44. Transcriptionist by Amy Rowland
  45. War Within and Without by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
  46. Winners and Losers by Martin Quigley

Poetry:

  • “Aftermath” ~ a poem by Siegfried Sassoon
  • “Romance” ~ a poem by W.J. Turner
  • “Kubla Khan” ~ a poem by Samuel T. Coleridge

For another year (because I screwed up):

  • Hall of a Thousand Columns by Tim Mackintosh-Smith. This is a huge embarrassment. For starters, this is a sequel. I have to read Travels with Tangerine first. Secondly, I don’t even know when I’m reading Tangerine.

 

 

 

 

The Transcriptionist

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Rowland, Amy. The Transcriptionist. Chapel Hill: Algonquin Books, 2014.

Lena is a transcriptionist for New York’s newspaper, the Record. She sits in a lonely room transcribing stories for reporters who call in with all kinds of different stories. Lena’s personal story centers on the mystery of an unknown woman mauled to death in a lion’s den at the Bronx zoo. Three things capture Lena to the point of obsession: the woman is blind, this was an apparent suicide, and Lena thinks she met this woman before. While Lena is fascinated with the story, no one else is. She is shocked by her employer’s complacency. No one cares why this unknown woman did what she did, so Lena sets out to discover the truth. In the process Lena rattles life as she knows it. The proverbial bars of the cage have been flung open.
My one fault with the book – there were a few unbelievable scenes. I am assuming the lion didn’t maul the woman’s face and her autopsy photo is the one the newspaper used for the article. Here’s why: because if no one knew her identity they couldn’t have used a picture from an earlier time. Another bothersome moment – Once Lena learns the identity of the suicide victim, she knows where she lived and that she had a sister. Lena takes it upon herself to visit the woman’s apartment (walks right in!). There, in the decease’s apartment, is a recording of the truth. Wouldn’t the sister have found that first? Wouldn’t there have been a more thorough investigation? It’s not every day that a blind woman swims across a moat to reach a lion’s sanctuary and then lets one (a lion named Robert) devour her.
The best part of the book is the message it sends. Everyday news stories swirl around us and roll off our consciousness like beads of oil on water. Nothing sinks in or settles on our souls. That goes for the consumers of the news as well as the people who create it. We all need to rattle cages and break free from complacency.

Reason read: I am a member of the Early Review Program for LibraryThing

Author fact: This is Rowland’s debut novel.

Book trivia: Publish date: May 13th, 2014.

April Foolish Games

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March was all about running. I seemed to be obsessed with a certain 10k and added four extra books about running to the list. Now, April is almost here and I have turned my attention to a certain 60 mile walk I have at the end of next month (my 6th year participating in Just ‘Cause!!). The only difference is, this time I won’t be adding any books about walking or breast cancer to my list. After five years of doing this 60 mile walk I think I have it down. Reading is a different story all together (pun totally intended).
Here are the many, many books that are on the list for this April:

  1. Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin*
  2. Careless Love by Peter Gurlnink…yes, I’m STILL reading this!
  3. House of Morgan by Ron Chernow -This, you might remember, was planned for April 2013 and I selfishly decided to put it off a year. Such a coincidence since I read another Chernow last February.
  4. Leopard Hunts in the Darkness by Wilbur Smith ~ the last Ballantyne book of the series
  5. Rose Cafe by John Hanson Mitchell
  6. War Within and Without by Anne Morrow Lindbergh ~ this finishes my reading of Lindbergh’s diaries.
  7. Winners and Losers by Martin Quigley (maybe. This book is not in ly library system so I had to place an interlibrary loan)
  8. “Aftermath” ~ a poem by Siegfried Sassoon
  9. “Romance” ~ a poem by W.J. Turner

Here is the rest of year eight:

  1. Andorra by Peter Cameron (November)
  2. Any Four Women Can Rob the Bank of Italy by Ann Cornelisen (November)
  3. Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz by Mordecai Richler (July)
  4. Art Student’s War by Brad Leithauser (May)
  5. Baltimore Blues by Laura Lippman (September)
  6. Beaufort by Ron Leshem* (November)
  7. Beirut Blues by Hanan al-Shaykh (August)
  8. Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks* (June)
  9. Black Lamb and Gray Falcon by Rebecca West (July)
  10. Bluebird Canyon by Dan McCall (September)
  11. Call It Sleep by Henry Roth (May)
  12. Captain Sir Richard Burton by Edward Rice (October)
  13. Caroline’s Daughters by Alice Adams (August)
  14. Cradle of Gold by Christopher Heaney (November)
  15. Culture of Disbelief by Stephen Carter (October)
  16. Dancer with Bruised Knees by Lynne McFall (June)
  17. Dark Sun by Richard Rhodes (July)
  18. Earthly Possessions by Anne Tyler (June)
  19. Eye of the World by Robert Jordan* (October)
  20. Faith Fox by Jane Gardam* (July)
  21. First Man by Albert Camus (June)
  22. Fordlandia by Greg Gandin (August)
  23. Gesture Life by Chang-rae Lee (August)
  24. Grass Dancer by Susan Power (November)
  25. Hall of a Thousand Columns by Tim Mackintosh-Smith (July)
  26. History Man by Malcolm Bradbury (September)
  27. In a Strange City by Laura Lippman (October)
  28. Inside Passage by Michael Modselewski (June)
  29. Inspector Ghote Breaks an Egg by H.R.F. Keating (May)
  30. Jewel in the Crown by Paul Scott* (May)
  31. Labyrinths by Jorge Luis Borges (August)
  32. Long Way From Home by Frederick Busch (August)
  33. Peloponnesian War by Donald Kagan (May)
  34. Raw Silk by Janet Burroway (September)
  35. Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro* (August)
  36. Rose of Martinique by Andrea Stuart (June)
  37. Thousand Ways to Please a Husband by Weaver/LeCron (September)
  38. You Get What You Pay For by Larry Beinhart (November)

*Planned as audio books

FINISHED:

  1. After the Dance by Edwidge Danticat
  2. Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow*
  3. Angels Weep by Wilbur Smith
  4. Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro
  5. Benjamin Franklin: an American Life by Walter Isaacson
  6. Bring Me a Unicorn by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
  7. Cabin Fever by Elizabeth Jolley
  8. Civil Action by Jonathan Harr
  9. Day the Falls Stood Still by Cathy Marie Buchanan*
  10. Eighth Day by Thornton Wilder
  11. Falcon Flies by Wilbur Smith*
  12. Feast of Love by Charles Baxter
  13. Flower and the Nettle by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
  14. Georges’ Wife by Elizabeth Jolley – This finishes the Vera Wright Trilogy
  15. Hour of Gold, Hour of Lead by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
  16. Illumination Night by Alice Hoffman – This is something I tried to listen to as an audio two years ago. The cds were so scratched I gave up.
  17. It Looked Like Forever by Mark Harris
  18. Last Train to Memphis by Peter Guralink
  19. Life in the Air Ocean by Sylvia Foley
  20. Men of Men by Wilbur Smith
  21. Now Read This II by Nancy Pearl
  22. Ocean of Words by Ha Jin
  23. Palladian Days by Sally Gable*
  24. Professor and the Housekeeper by Yoko Ogawa
  25. Racing Weight by Matt Fitzgerald
  26. Run or Die by Kilian Jornet
  27. Running for Mortals by John Bingham
  28. Sword at Sunset by Rosemary Sutcliff

I found my second “impossible to find” book. Power Without Glory by Frank Hardy. Several libraries across the country own it but are unwilling to share it. It was wildly popular in Australia in the 1950s, but not so anymore…to the point that no one will lend it without changing a fee. Bummer.

Graduates in Wonderland

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Pan, Jessica and Rachel Kapelke-Dale. Graduates in Wonderland: the International Misadventures of Two (Almost) Adults. New York: Gotham Books, 2014.

Reason read: Chosen as an Early Review Book for LibraryThing.

Jessica and Rachel are two graduates of Brown, out on their own, learning to become “adults.” Jessica has moved to China to study Mandarin and get back to her roots. Rachel starts out in New York City’s art scene but then decides to move to Paris, France. Their story is told through a series of no-holds-barred emails back and forth over the course of three years. They discuss everything from career paths and education to fashion and faux pas but most of all they talk about men, relationships and sex.

My only “complaint” is it was difficult to read Graduates for extended periods of time. Their writing styles are similar enough that their voices started to blend and I would lose track of who was where. It got to a point when I completely ran out of steam and put the book down for three weeks.

Book trivia: It would have been cool to have pictures of the different places the girls have been, especially Jessica’s time in China.