Category: Poetry

Marching Out

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March was one of those weird months. A few Nor’Easters. A few miles run. A few books read. We had two school closings in back to back weeks so that helped with the reading, but not the run. I finished the St. Patrick’s Day Road Race just two minutes off my time last year. Considering I didn’t train (again) I’m alright with that. There’s always next year! Here are the books:

Fiction –

  • The Good Son by Michael Gruber
  • Roman Blood by Steven Saylor
  • White Man’s Grave by Richard Dooling
  • Witch World by Andre Norton
  • Cards of Identity by Nigel Dennis

Nonfiction –

  • All the Way Home by David Giffels
  • Slide Rule by Nevil Shute

Series Continuations –

  • Coast of Incense by Freya Stark – to finished the series started in honor of her birth month in January.
  • Entranced by Nora Roberts

Early Review for Librarything –

  • Oneiron by Laura Lindstedt (started)
  • Infinite Hope – Anthony Graves

Poetry –

  • New and Collected Poetry by Czeslaw Milosz (not finished)

Fun – I’m not finished with either fun book so I won’t list them here.

Marching with Words

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The only run I have planned for March is St. Patrick’s Day. No surprise there. Here are the books planned for March:

Fiction:

  • The Good Son by Michael Gruber (AB) – in honor of the start of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
  • White Man’s Grave by Richard Dooling – In honor of Dooling’s birthplace (Nebraska) becoming a state in March.
  • Roman Blood by Stephen Saylor – in honor of Saylor’s birth month in March.

Nonfiction:

  • All the Way Home by David Giffels – in honor of Ohio becoming a state in March.

Series continuations:

  • Coast of Incense by Freya Stark – to continue the series started in January for Stark’s birth month. This will end the autobiography.
  • Entranced by Nora Roberts (EB) – to continue the Donovan Legacy started in February in honor of Valentine’s Day.

Early Review:

  • Infinite Hope by Anthony Graves

Poetry:

  • New and Collected Poems by Czeslaw Milosz – in honor of National Poetry Month.

If there is time:

  • Slide Rule: the Autobiography of an Engineer by Nevil Shute – in honor of the birth month of William Oughtred
  • Which Witch? by Andre Norton – to remember Norton (who died in the month of March).
  • Cards of Identity by Nigel Dennis in honor of Reading Month.

Island Voices II

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Various. Island Voices II: Poetry of Monhegan. Stone Island Press, 2014.

Reason read: a Christmas gift from my mother.

It is hard for me to read anything Monhegan related from a critical point of view. My mind instantly goes to what I know and love about the island, and if the poetry captured even a smidgen of that memory, I am instantly biased. Biased and definitely devoted. I have to wonder how someone completely ignorant of Monhegan would read these poems. Where would be his or her focus? What would stick in their minds as relevant or real?
Further complicating my review are my varying relationships with the poets themselves. True, Catherine Morocco and Marilyn Ringer are complete strangers, although I am sure I would recognize them by sight. Kate Chappell, Iris Miller, and Frances Vaughn I only know by long standing history and name. While I am more acquainted with Jan Bailey, Mary Kordak, Jan Kornbluth, & Joanne Scott, in truth K.K. Iannicelli and Judith Ponturo are island mothers. They could be my island mothers.

So. To review Island Voice II. I simply can’t. When I read about the ocean’s melodic drumming, I also hear Kathi’s wheelbarrow coming up the hard packed dirt road. When I see words about the salt, salt air I also see Judy humming in Winter Works. On the page the gulls may laugh overhear but I see Jan’s secret smile as another tourist tries on a wrestling mask. Queen Anne’s Lace blown bent backwards in Mary’s garden but all I see is her radiant smile. I admit it, I read the words but see the home.

January’s New Reads

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A little something about the new year. I have absolutely no expectations of the year to come. No list of things I must pretend to accomplish. No run numbers, real or imagined. There has been an end to so many things. As a result I’m in day-by-day mode. Or, in the case of this entry, book-by-book. Here’s what I finished:

Fiction:

  • Captain of the Sleepers by Mayra Montero
  • Any Human Heart: a novel by William Boyd (AB + print)

Nonfiction:

  • Italy and the Grand Tour by Jeremy Black
  • Another Life by Michael Korda
  • Book of Puka-Puka by Robert Dean Frisbie. (I am now reading An Island to Oneself by Tom Neale as a continuation to Puka.)

Series:

  • Spiderweb for Two by Elizabeth Enright (finished the series)
  • Hyperion by Dan Simmons (started the series). (I’m now reading Fall of Hyperion as a continuation.)

LibraryThing:

  • Dirty Work by Gabriel Weston. NOTE: I was supposed to receive this as an Early Review in 2014. When it didn’t arrive I borrowed it from a library two years later.
  • You Carried Me by Melissa Ohden (December 2016 batch)

For Fun:

  • Island Voices II by Poets of Monhegan Island ~ a gift from my mother.

Aeneid

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Virgil. The Aeneid. Translated by Robert Fitzgerald. New York: Everyman’s Library, 1992.

Reason read: Great Britain celebrates poetry in the month of October. Virgil’s birth month is in October as well.

This is another one of those stories that has been reviewed a thousand and one, maybe two, times in this year alone. What could I possibly add that hasn’t already been said? Nothing! But, here are my observations: The Aeneid is a true adventure – a look towards the future and the promises made. There are twelve books in the epic poem. The first six cover Aeneas and his wanderings after surviving the Trojan war. The second half of the poem are the Trojan War.
And having said that, Aeneas reminds me of Dorothy Dunnett’s character, Francis, from the Lymond series. He is that deeply flawed hero that everyone loves. Much like how Gregory Maguire chose to tell the story of the wicked witch of the west, Virgil tells the other side of the Trojan War story. Instead of following Odysseus, we focus on Aeneas, the defeated Trojan.

All the usual suspects are there: Neptune, Venus, Achilles, Cupid, Pygmalion, Juno, Dido…

Quote I liked, “I sing of warfare and a man at war” (p 4 – the opening line). What promise that line brings!

Author fact: The Aeneid was the last thing Virgil was working on before his death.

Book trivia: The first edit of The Aeneid happens on the anniversary of my father’s passing, September 21st.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Poetry: a Novel Idea” (p 186).

Aught to be October

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October is…another half marathon. Maybe another trip to Monhegan (not sure yet thanks to it being hurricane season) but what I’m sure about is definitely reading more, more, more books!

  • Texaco by Patrick Chamoiseau – in honor of magical realism month
  • The Merry Misogynist by Colin Cotterill – to continue the series started in May in honor of Laos Rocket Day
  • A Blessing on the Moon by Joseph Skibell (AB) – in honor of Halloween
  • Toast to Tomorrow by Manning Coles – in honor of October being the best time to visit Germany. Note: just found out this is the second Tommy Hambledon book in the series so you will probably see A Drink to Yesterday before A Toast to Tomorrow.
  • Ape and the Sushi Master by Frans de Waal – in honor of October being Gorilla Month
  • The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright – to “continue” the series started in September in honor of Enright’s birth month (yes, another series read slightly out of order).

For fun:

  • The Code of the Extraordinary Mind by Vishen Lakhiani. Don’t ask.

If there is time I would like to add Aeneid by Virgil in honor of Great Britain’s poetry month.

 

Changing It Up January

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A new year deserves new things; new ways of thinking and new ways of doing. Here is the list I promised in December. Instead of separating the list into “finished” and “still to go”, I thought for this go-round I would just cross off the titles I finished. This system will force me to stay on top of the books I add, but we’ll see…Just testing something…

As an aside, I gave up completely on Robert Jordan. Sorry.

  1. Dragon Reborn by Robert Jordan (DNF)
  2. In a Strange City by Laura Lippman
  3. By a Spider’s Thread by Laura Lippman (AB)
  4. Recognitions by William Gaddis (DNF)
  5. Maus by Art Spiegelman
  6. Lady Franklin’s Revenge by Ken McGoogan
  7. Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao* by Junot Diaz (AB)
  8. Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
  9. Eugene Onegin by Alexander Pushkin
  10. Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan
  11. ADDED: A Good Doctor’s Son by Steven Schwartz
  12. ADDED: Drinking: a Love Story by Caroline Knapp
  13. ADDED: Ancient Rome on 5 Denarii a Day by Philip Matyszak
  14. ADDED: Nero Wolfe Cookbook by Rex Stout
  15. ADDED: Treasure Hunter by W. Jameson (ER)
  16. Maus II by Art Spiegelman (Jan)
  17. Wild Blue by Stephen Ambrose (Jan)
  18. Shot in the Heart by Mikal Gilmore (Jan)
  19. Greater Nowheres by David Finkelstein/Jack London (Jan)
  20. ADDED: Alma Mater by P.F Kluge (Jan)
  21. Good Life by Ben Bradlee (Feb)
  22. Underworld by Don DeLillo (Feb)
  23. Her Name Was Lola by Russell Hoban (Feb)
  24. Man Who Was Thursday by GK Chesterton ((Feb)
  25. Fires From Heaven by Robert Jordan (Feb)
  26. Finnegan’s Wake by James Joyce (Feb)
  27. At Home with the Glynns by Eric Kraft (Feb)
  28. Polish Officer by Alan Furst (Feb)
  29. Lord of Chaos by Robert Jordan (Mar)
  30. Chasing Monarchs by Robert Pyle (Mar)
  31. Murder on a Kibbutz by Batya Gur (Mar)
  32. Bebe’s By Golly Wow by Yolanda Joe (Mar)
  33. Lives of the Muse by Francine Prose (Mar)
  34. Broom of the System (David Wallace (Mar)
  35. Crown of Swords by Robert Jordan (Apr)
  36. Two Gardeners by Emily Wilson (Apr)
  37. Royal Flash by George Fraser (Apr)
  38. Fifties by David Halberstam (Apr)
  39. Binding Spell by Elizabeth Arthur (Apr)
  40. Crown of Swords by Robert Jordan (Apr)
  41. Path of Daggers by Robert Jordan (May)
  42. Flash for Freedom! by George Fraser (May)
  43. Murder in Amsterdam by Ian Buruma (May)
  44. Petra: lost city by Christian Auge (May)
  45. From Beirut to Jerusalem by Thomas Friedman (May)
  46. Jordan by E. Borgia (May)
  47. Coroner’s Lunch by Colin Cotterill (May)
  48. Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese (May)
  49. Flash at the Charge by George MacDonald Fraser (May)
  50. Castles in the Air by Judt Corbett (Jun)
  51. Battle Cry of Freedom by James McPherson (Jun)
  52. Thirty-three Teeth by Colin Cotterill (Jun)
  53. Millstone by Margaret Drabble (Jun)
  54. Winter’s Heart by Robert Jordan (Jun)
  55. Crossroads of Twilight by Robert Jordan (Jul)
  56. Disco for the Departed by Colin Cotterill (Jul)
  57. Sixty Stories by Donald Barthelme (Jul)
  58. New Physics and Cosmology by Arthur Zajonc (Jul)
  59. Grifters by Jim Thompson (Jul)
  60. Complete Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle (Jul)
  61. Snow Angels by James Thompson (Jul)
  62. Ararchy and Old Dogs by Colin Cotterill (Aug)
  63. Flashman’s Lady by George MacDonald Fraser (Aug)
  64. Possession by AS Byatt (Aug)
  65. In the Footsteps of Ghanghis Khan by John DeFrancis (Aug)
  66. What Just Happened by James Gleick (Aug)
  67. Game of Kings by Dorothy Dunnett (Aug)
  68. Curse of the Pogo Stick by Colin Cotterill (Sep)
  69. Flashman and the Redskins by George MacDonald Fraser (Sep)
  70. Queens’ Play by Dorothy Dunnett (Sep)
  71. Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood (Sep)
  72. Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie (Sep)
  73. Beautiful Struggle by Ta-Nehisi Coates (Sep)
  74. Then She Found Me by Elinor Lipman (Oct)
  75. Merry Misogynist by Colin Cotterill (Oct)
  76. Disorderly Knights by Dorothy Dunnett (Oct)
  77. Flashman and the Dragon by George MacDonald Fraser (Oct)
  78. Dark Hills Divide by Patrick Carman (Nov)
  79. Love Songs from a Shallow Grave by Collin Cotterill (Nov)
  80. Flashman and the Mountain of Light by George MacDonald Fraser (Nov)
  81. Pawn in Frankincense by Dorothy Dunnett (Nov)
  82. Andorra by Peter Cameron (Nov)

DNF = Did Not Finish;AB = Audio Book; ER = Early Review

So, right off the bat I see something I don’t like. When I add new books they don’t get their “day in the sun” so to speak. I add them to the list and then cross them off immediately. That doesn’t seem fair.

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.

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.

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 đŸ™‚
  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.

 

 

 

 

May Day List

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I don’t hold onto many books. Once I have read something I either lend it away, maybe to never see it again or I donate it somewhere, hoping to never see it again. In an effort to clean off my personal shelves I swapped out some of the titles I had been planning to borrow from other libraries for books I already have at home. This practically changes the entire list for May, but oh well. Here are the many, many books that are on the list for this May:

  1. Art Student’s War by Brad Leithauser
  2. Hall of a Thousand Columns by Tim Mackintosh-Smith
  3. Careless Love by Peter Gurlnink…yes, I am STILL reading this! I can’t seem to finish it! Grrrrr
  4. Inspector Ghote Breaks an Egg by H.R.F. Keating
  5. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown. I was going to read Jewel in the Crown by Paul Scott, but I have Bury My Heart at home.
  6. Oedipus by Sophocles. Originally I was going to read Peloponnesian War by Donald Kagan, but like Bury My Heart, I have Oedipus at home.
  7. Finishing: The Lotus Eaters by Tatjani Soli
  8. ADDED: French Revolutions* by Tim Moore. I needed something on cd.
  9. ADDED: The transcriptionist by Amy Rowland (an Early Review title from LibraryThing)

*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. 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. Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks* (June)
  8. Black Lamb and Gray Falcon by Rebecca West (July)
  9. Bluebird Canyon by Dan McCall (September)
  10. Captain Sir Richard Burton by Edward Rice (October)
  11. Caroline’s Daughters by Alice Adams (August)
  12. Cradle of Gold by Christopher Heaney (November)
  13. Culture of Disbelief by Stephen Carter (October)
  14. Dancer with Bruised Knees by Lynne McFall (June)
  15. Dark Sun by Richard Rhodes (July)
  16. Earthly Possessions by Anne Tyler (June)
  17. Eye of the World by Robert Jordan* (October)
  18. Faith Fox by Jane Gardam* (July)
  19. First Man by Albert Camus (June)
  20. Fordlandia by Greg Gandin (August)
  21. Gesture Life by Chang-rae Lee (August)
  22. Grass Dancer by Susan Power (November)
  23. History Man by Malcolm Bradbury (September)
  24. In a Strange City by Laura Lippman (October)
  25. Inside Passage by Michael Modselewski (June)
  26. Labyrinths by Jorge Luis Borges (August)
  27. Long Way From Home by Frederick Busch (August)
  28. Raw Silk by Janet Burroway (September)
  29. Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro* (August)
  30. Rose of Martinique by Andrea Stuart (June)
  31. Thousand Ways to Please a Husband by Weaver/LeCron (September)
  32. 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. Benjamin Franklin: an American Life by Walter Isaacson
  7. Bring Me a Unicorn by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
  8. Cabin Fever by Elizabeth Jolley
  9. Civil Action by Jonathan Harr
  10. Day the Falls Stood Still by Cathy Marie Buchanan*
  11. ADDED: Dancer and the Thief by Antonio Skarmeta
  12. Eighth Day by Thornton Wilder
  13. Falcon Flies by Wilbur Smith*
  14. Feast of Love by Charles Baxter
  15. Flower and the Nettle by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
  16. Georges’ Wife by Elizabeth Jolley – This finishes the Vera Wright Trilogy
  17. Herzog by Saul Bellow. Originally, I was going to read Call It Sleep by Henry Roth in May, but I read Herzog early in honor of Bellow’s passing in April of 2005.
  18. Hour of Gold, Hour of Lead by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
  19. House of Morgan by Ron Chernow – attempted
  20. Illumination Night by Alice Hoffman
  21. It Looked Like Forever by Mark Harris
  22. Last Train to Memphis by Peter Guralink
  23. Leopard Hunts in the Darkness by Wilbur Smith
  24. Life in the Air Ocean by Sylvia Foley
  25. Men of Men by Wilbur Smith
  26. Now Read This II by Nancy Pearl
  27. Ocean of Words by Ha Jin
  28. Palladian Days by Sally Gable*
  29. Professor and the Housekeeper by Yoko Ogawa
  30. Racing Weight by Matt Fitzgerald
  31. Rose Cafe by John Hanson Mitchell
  32. Run or Die by Kilian Jornet
  33. Running for Mortals by John Bingham
  34. ADDED: Seeing in the Dark: How Backyard Stargazers are Probing Deep Space and Guarding Earth from Interplanetary Peril by Timothy Ferris
  35. Sword at Sunset by Rosemary Sutcliff
  36. ADDED: Thrush Green by Miss Read*
  37. War Within and Without by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
  38. 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

 

 

“Kubla Khan”

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Coleridge, Samuel. “Kubla Khan.” The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Other Poems by Samuel T. Coleridge. The Peter Pauper Press, 1950.

I remember ripping this apart line by line in a high school English class and then again in a college poetry course. We studied this so much I developed a crush on young Coleridge’s face (but, not so much after he got a little jowly). Probably my favorite detail about Kubla Khan is that it was supposedly conceived after one of Coleridge’s drug induced dreams.
I don’t feel the need to get into the meaning behind the poem or to get didactic about the symbolism. Suffice it to say, Kubla Khan is the ruler of Xanadu and the land is described like a paradise of the imagination. Each element, the river, garden, ocean, forest, and cavern are symbols for man’s existence. Tyranny and war represent a reality in direct contrast to Xanadu. If you want anything more than that (about the maiden, etc), read the poem!

My favorite line, “And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething…” (p 54).

Reason read: April is National Poetry Month. But…I’m not sure I needed to read this (see twist below).

Author fact: Samuel Taylor Coleridge is thought to have been mentally ill with a drug problem.

Poetry fact: “Kubla Khan” is not as well known as “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.”

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Where in the World Do These Books Belong?” (p 259). Pearl mentions “Kubla Khan” when talking about Caroline Alexander’s book, The Way to Xanadu because it’s about the places that influenced Coleridge’s poem. Coleridge himself is not indexed in Book Lust To Go but “Kubla Khan” is. Here was my dilemma: I am not ready to read The Way to Xanadu so I’m not sure “Kubla Khan” is included…but since the poem is in the index of Book Lust To Go I have to read it. Does that make sense?