It Looked Like Forever

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Harris, Mark. It Looked Like Forever. Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 1979.

This is the last Henry Wiggen story. This time when we meet up with Henry, he is a flagging veteran, just let go as lefty pitcher for the New York Mammoths. In this day and age he would have been traded years ago, but in the world of Mark Harris, Wiggen hangs on. He still wants to play, even if it means playing in an obscure Japanese town no one can find on a map, or as a relief pitcher anywhere else. However, Henry is now 39 years old with looming health and family issues. His prostate is squawking and his daughter, Hilary, is a screamer; she screams for no apparent reason. Henry has to adjust to being a normal citizen without the perks he once had as a famous athlete (although, interestingly enough, he didn’t know what being famous actually meant). A good portion of the story is Henry trying to get back into baseball while at the same time trying to mollify his screaming daughter.

Two quotes that gave me a chuckle, “Do not read pornographic literature as it causes excitement without gratification, which is bad for the prostate gland” (p 54), and “No, she had 100’s of photos of me including photos of me with my eyes poked out with her hole making machine from the office and photos of me pasted on top of photos of various people on the obituary page of the paper” (p 105).

Reason read: This is the final book in the Henry Wiggen saga. I started it in October in honor of the World Series. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Yay Red Sox!

Author fact: Harris wasn’t limited to writing fiction about baseball. He also wrote many nonfictions, including one about Saul Bellow.

Book trivia: The dedication in It Looked Like Forever is cute: “For Henry Adam Harris, who once complained that no book has been dedicated to him…”

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Take Me Out To the Ballgame” (p 229).

Now Read This II

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Pearl, Nancy. Now Read This II: a guide to Mainstream Fiction, 1990 – 2001. Greenwood village, Colorado: Libraries Unlimited, 2002.

Now Read This II is set up much like Now Read This I and why shouldn’t it be? The first one was a success. Like the first Now Read This the second is broken up into four different sections: setting, story, characters and language. The wealth of information about each title is still there: title, author, publisher, date of publication, brief abstract, second appeal, subject list, other recommendations, Oprah selection, good for book groups, and whether or not is was a prize winner. Like the first NRT I am intrigued by the titles and wish I could add them to my challenge.

Reason read: This is the second half of the Now Read This series

Author fact: I’m sure this is news to no one. Nancy Pearl has her own action figure, complete with shushing capabilities.

Book trivia: I particularly liked the section on how to hold a book group discussion.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter acknowledgments (p xi).

Civil Action

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Harr, Jonathan. A Civil Action. New York: Vintage Books, 1995.

Confessional: this was my third attempt to read this. The first two times I got bogged down by the legalese of it all, but for some reason the third time was a charm. Because this was a Hollywood movie (one I didn’t see, of course) I was expecting a different ending. This is the tragic but true story about a group of Woburn, Massachusetts citizens and the lawsuit they filed against two major companies for dumping what they believed to be cancer-inducing chemicals into their drinking water. Instantly, I think of 10,000 Maniacs and their song, “Poison in the Well.” I don’t think it was written for or about Woburn but it’s eerily similar. Residents in the song and of Woburn know their water “tastes funny” and during certain times of the year they avoid consumption of it all together. Some go so far as to complain loudly, but time and time again they are told the levels of toxins are negligible and there is nothing to worry about. It’s only after Anne Anderson’s child develops leukemia, and Anderson starts to notice multiple cases of the rare disease in her hometown, that she decides to hire an attorney, Jan  Schlichmann. The rest that follows is a series of brutal court battles. There are times you think it’s an open and shut case and other times when it’s no so obvious. The depositions and testimonies leave you wanting to pull your hair out. Every single detail is covered in Harr’s story. My suggestion is, after you have finished reading the book, do some research about the trial. Read about what happens later and it will make you feel better.

Reason read: John Jay was born in December and became the first Chief Justice of the United States in 1789.

Book trivia: Most people will remember this as a 1998 movie starring John Travolta. As a book it was a best seller and won the 1995 National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction.

Author fact: At the time of publication Jonathan Harr lived and worked in Northampton, Massachusetts.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Legal Eagles in Nonfiction” (p 135).

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell

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Clarke, Susanna. Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. Read By Simon Prebble. Audio Renaissance/Bloomsbury Publishing.

This is such an ambitious read! I actually listened to it on audio (26 cds; 32 hours) and it was well done. Simon Prebble’s reading is great; probably the reason why I was able to finish all 700+ pages. The extensive footnotes were inserted at the right times (but are separate tracks so you can skip them if you like. I did.). Clarke does a great job making the characters and their magic seem otherworldly and mysterious. I particularly enjoyed when characters sensed something was amiss but couldn’t quite figure out why they felt that way. “Like a fifth point on a compass” was how one character described it. There is a subtle eeriness to the landscape when magic is afoot. Clarke’s vivid descriptions are imaginatively delicious. But, back to the plot. Many reviewers felt the story was too long and drawn out. I agree it lagged in places but Clarke’s gift of storytelling made up for the lengthy plot. Each volume is the introduction and delving into of a significant character. Volume I focuses on the entrance of Mr. Gilbert Norrell. Elderly and stodgy Mr. Norrell is discovered to be a practicing magician long after it was thought magic was dead. After The Learned Society of York Magicians convinces him to move to York to revive the practice, Norrell is called upon to revive the dead fiancee of a Cabinet minister and aid in the war against Napoleon (the ships made of water was one of my favorite scenes). In Volume II Jonathan Strange is further introduced as burgeoning magician from Shropshire. When he learns of Mr. Norrell is he prompted to meet this other practitioner. While they dispute the significance of the legendary Raven King, Strange becomes Norrell’s pupil and ultimately overshadows Norrell’s capabilities as a magician. After some time with Norrell, Strange is sent to Portugal and Spain to further aid the British against the French. As Strange’s magic grows stronger the competition grows until the Raven King kidnaps Strange’s wife.

Quote I agree with, “House, like people, are apt to become rather eccentric if left to too much on their own…” (p 488).

Reason read: Clarke was born in the month of November.

Book trivia: Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell was considered for many different awards: shortlisted for the Hugo Award and the Guardian First Book Award, long listed for the Booker Award…to name a few.

Author fact: Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell is Susanna Clarke’s first book.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Plots for Plotzing” (p 186).

Obsession In the Eighth Year

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So. Here we are. Year Eight of the Book Lust Challenge. I haven’t even read 1,000 books yet. Sometimes I ask myself why I even bother (because I’ll probably be dead before I ever finish this thing), but then I think about all the great books I have picked up simply because of the challenge; books that would have remained a mystery. So. Drum roll…here are the books of Year Eight:

  1. After the Dance by Edwidge Danticat
  2. Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin*
  3. Andorra by Peter Cameron
  4. Any Four Women Can Rob the Bank of Italy by Ann Cornelisen
  5. Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz by Mordecai Richler
  6. Art Student’s War by Brad Leithauser
  7. Baltimore Blues by Laura Lippman
  8. Beaufort by Ron Leshem*
  9. Beirut Blues by Hanan al-Shaykh
  10. Benjamin Franklin: an American Life by Walter Isaacson
  11. Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks*
  12. Black Lamb and Gray Falcon by Rebecca West
  13. Bluebird Canyon by Dan McCall
  14. Bring Me a Unicorn by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
  15. Cabin Fever by Elizabeth Jolley
  16. Call It Sleep by Henry Roth
  17. Captain Sir Richard Burton by Edward Rice
  18. Careless Love by Peter Gurlink
  19. Caroline’s Daughters by Alice Adams
  20. Cradle of Gold by Christopher Heaney
  21. Culture of Disbelief by Stephen Carter
  22. Dancer with Bruised Knees by Lynne McFall
  23. Dark Sun by Richard Rhodes
  24. Day the Falls Stood Still by Cathy Marie Buchanan*
  25. Earthly Possessions by Anne Tyler
  26. Eye of the World by Robert Jordan*
  27. Faith Fox by Jane Gardam*
  28. Feast of Love by Charles Baxter*
  29. First Man by Albert Camus
  30. Fordlandia by Greg Gandin
  31. Georges’ Wife by Elizabeth Jolley
  32. Gesture Life by Chang-rae Lee
  33. Good Life by Ben Bradlee
  34. Grass Dancer by Susan Power
  35. Hall of a Thousand Columns by Tim Mackintosh-Smith
  36. History Man by Malcolm Bradbury
  37. Hour of Gold, Hour of Lead by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
  38. House of Morgan by Ron Chernow
  39. Illumination Night by Alice Hoffman
  40. In a Strange City by Laura Lippman
  41. Inside Passage by Michael Modselewski
  42. Inspector Ghote Breaks an Egg by H.R.F. Keating
  43. It Looked Like Forever by Mark Harris
  44. Jewel in the Crown by Paul Scott*
  45. Labyrinths by Jorge Luis Borges
  46. Last Train to Memphis by Peter Guralink
  47. Long Way From Home by Frederick Busch
  48. My Father’s Moon by Elizabeth Jolley
  49. Now Read This II by Nancy Pearl
  50. Ocean of Words by Ha Jin
  51. Palladian Days by Sally Gable*
  52. Peloponnesian War by Donald Kagan
  53. Power Without Glory by Frank Hardy
  54. Raw Silk by Janet Burroway
  55. Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro*
  56. Rose Cafe by John Hanson Mitchell
  57. Rose of Martinique by Andrea Stuart
  58. Thousand Ways to Please a Husband by Weaver/LeCron
  59. Wheels Within Wheels by Dervla Murphy
  60. Winners and Losers by Martin Quigley
  61. You Get What You Pay For by Larry Beinhart

*Planned as Audio books

Here are the three books that are on the list for this December:

  1. Eighth Day, the by Thornton Wilder
  2. Civil Action by Jonathan Harr
  3. Sword at Sunset by Rosemary Sutcliff

Poetry:

  1. “Romance” from the Anthology of Modern Verse edited by W.J. Turner
  2. “War” from the Poems of Siegfried Sassoon by Siegfried Sassoon

Of course, I will read more than 60+ books and two poems and. And! And, I haven’t included the short stories. I am keeping the list modest for now. Five books a month sounds about right…we shall see, won’t we?

Year Seven Recap

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Another year over.

FINISHED:

  1. Abide By Me by Elizabeth Strout
  2. Adventures of Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carrol
  3. Ancient Athens on 5 Drachmas a Day by Philip Matyszak
  4. Apollo: the epic journey to the moon by David West Reynolds
  5. Apples Are From Kazakhstan by Christopher Robbins
  6. Arctic Grail by Pierre Berton (I started this last year. No, sorry – two years ago)
  7. Ariadne Objective by Wes Davis
  8. Ariel by Sylvia Plath
  9. At Home in the Heart of Appalachia by John O’Brien
  10. Author, Author by David Lodge (audio)
  11. Bang the Drum Slowly by Mark Harris
  12. Beautiful Swimmers by William Warner
  13. Before the Knife by Carolyn Slaughter
  14. Bellwether by Connie Willis
  15. Beneath the Lion’s Gaze by Maaza Mengist (audio)
  16. Beyond the Bogota by Gary Leech
  17. Big Mouth and Ugly Girl by Joyce Carol Oates
  18. Billy by Albert French
  19. Bit of Wit, A World of Wisdom by Yehoshua Kurland (Early Review book from LibraryThing)
  20. Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause
  21. Brass Go-Between by Oliver Bleeck
  22. Breakfast with Scot by Michael Drowning
  23. Brush with Death by Elizabeth Duncan
  24. Brushed by Feathers by Frances Wood
  25. Burma Chronicles by Guy DeLisle
  26. Burning the Days by James Salter
  27. Camus, a Romance by Elizabeth Hawes
  28. Cardboard Crown by Martin Boyd
  29. Cat Daddy: What the World’s Most Incorrigible Cat Taught Me About Life, Love, and Coming Clean by Jackson Galaxy
  30. Cat Who Ate Danish Modern by Lillian Jackson Braun
  31. Child that Books Built by Francis Spufford
  32. Churchill, a life by Martin Gilbert
  33. City in the Sky by James Glanz
  34. City of Thieves by David Benioff
  35. Conspiracy and Other Stories by Jaan Kross
  36. Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner
  37. Death in Verona by Roy Harley Lewis
  38. Descending the Dragon by Jon Bowermaster
  39. Diamond Classics by Mike Shannon
  40. Diary of a Mad Housewife by Sue Kaufman
  41. Difficult Young Man by Martin Boyd
  42. Dining with Al-Qaeda by Hugh Pope
  43. Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby
  44. Domestic Manners of the Americans by Fanny Trollope
  45. The Evolution of Jane by Catherine Schine
  46. Edward Lear in Albania by Edward Lear
  47. Fanny by Edmund White
  48. Fear of Flying by Erica Jong
  49. Final Solution by Michael Chabon
  50. Fixer by Joe Sacco
  51. Flamboya Tree by Clara Olink Kelly
  52. Footnotes in Gaza by Joe Sacco
  53. Full Catastrophe Living by Jon Zabat Katz
  54. Full Cupboard of Life by Alexander McCall Smith
  55. Gabriel Garcia Marquez by Gerald Martin
  56. Galton Case by Ross MacDonald
  57. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos
  58. Girl in Landscape by Jonathan Lethem
  59. God: a biography by Jack Miles
  60. Gold Coast Madam by Rose Laws
  61. Golden Spruce by John Vaillant
  62. Good City edited by Emily Hiestand
  63. Good Thief’s Guide to Paris by Chris Ewan
  64. Good Thief’s Guide to Vegas by Chris Ewan
  65. Good-bye Chunk Rice by Craig Thompson
  66. Grand Ambition by Lisa Michaels
  67. Guardians by Geoffrey Kabaservice
  68. Her by Christa Parravani
  69. Hole in the Earth by Robert Bausch
  70. Hole in the World by Richard Rhodes
  71. Home Before Dark by Susan Cheever
  72. House on the Lagoon by Rosario Ferre
  73. Iliad by Homer
  74. Idle Days in Patagonia by William Hudson
  75. Imperfect Harmony by Stacy Horn (for LibraryThing’s Early Review program
  76. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clark
  77. Joy of Cooking by Irma Rombauer
  78. Kalahari Typing School for Men by Alexander McCall Smith
  79. Keeping it Civil by Margaret Klaw (Early review book)
  80. Liar’s Poker: Rising Through the Wreckage on Wall Street by Michael Lewis
  81. Light Infantry Ball by Hamilton Basso
  82. Lives of the Painters, vol 2, 3 & 4 by Giorgio Vasari
  83. The Long Walk by Slavomir Rawicz
  84. Mom & Me & Mom by Maya Angelou for the Early Review Program
  85. Mortality for Beautiful Girls by Alexander McCall Smith
  86. Naked to the Waist by ALice Dark Elliott
  87. No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
  88. Nobody Knows My Name by James Baldwin
  89. Now Read This I by Nancy Pearl
  90. Now Read This II by Nancy Pearl
  91. Of Human Bondage by William Maugham
  92. Old Friends by Tracy Kidder
  93. Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore
  94. Outbreak of Love by Martin Boyd
  95. Ox-Bow Incident by Walter Van Tilburg Clark
  96. Panther Soup by John Grimlette
  97. Path Between the Seas by David McCullough
  98. Patrimony: a true story by Philip Roth
  99. Pick-Up by Charles Willeford (part of Crime Novels: American Noir of the 1950s)
  100. Playing for Keeps by David Halberstam
  101. Points Unknown edited by David Roberts
  102. Rabbit Hill by Robert Lawson
  103. Ready for a Brand New Beat by Mark Kurlansky
  104. Real Cool Killers by Chester Himes (part of Crime Novels: American Noir of the 1950s)
  105. Return of the Dancing Master by Henning Mankell
  106. Rosalind Franklin: Dark Lady of DNA by Brenda Maddox
  107. Scar Tissue by Michael Ignatieff
  108. Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy
  109. Scramble for Africa by Thomas Pakenham – did not finish
  110. Star Beast by Robert Heinlein
  111. Star Trap by Simon Brett
  112. Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers
  113. Suzy’s Case by Andy Siegel (as recommended)
  114. Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith (Part of Crime Novels: American Noir of the 1950s)
  115. Tatiana by Dorothy Jones
  116. Tattered Cloak by Nina Berberova
  117. Tea Time for the Traditionally Built by Alexander McCall Smith
  118. Tears of the Giraffe by Alexander McCall Smith
  119. This is Paradise by Kristiana Kahakawila for LibraryThing
  120. Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
  121. Ticket for a Seamstitch by Mark Harris
  122. Time, Love, Memory by Jonathan Weiner
  123. True Crime: Real-Life Stories of Abduction, Addiction, Obsession, Murder, Grave-Robbing and More edited by Lee Gutkind (Early Review)
  124. Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy Sayers
  125. Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackery
  126. Viceroy of Ouidah by Bruce Chatwin
  127. What you Owe Me by Bebe Moore Campbell
  128. When Blackbirds Sing by Martin Boyd
  129. White Devil by John Webster
  130. Wholeness of a Broken Heart by Katie Singer
  131. Widow for One Year by John Irving
  132. Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken
  133. Women of the Raj by Margaret MacMillan
  134. Working Poor by David Shipler
  135. Year in Provence, a by Peter Mayle

POETRY COMPLETED:

  1. “Golden Angel Pancake House” by Campbell McGrath
  2. “Lepanto” by Gilbert Keith Chesterton
  3. “Listeners” by Walter De La Mare
  4. “Mandalay” by Rudard Kipling
  5. “Road and the End” by Carl Sandburg
  6. “Sea-Fever” by John Masefield
  7. “Winter” by Marie Ponsot
  8. “In My Craft or Sullen Art” by Dylan Thomas
  9. The Long Hill” by Sarah Teasdale
  10. “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost

SHORT STORIES COMPLETED:

  1. “Here’s a Little Something” by Dan Chaon (from Among the Missing)
  2. “Big Me” by Dan Chaon (from Among the Missing)
  3. “Servants of the Map” by Elizabeth Barrett (from Servant of the Map)
  4. “The Cure” by Elizabeth Barrett (from Servants of the Map)
  5. “In the Land of Men” by Antonya Nelson (from In the Land of Men)
  6. “Goodbye Midwest” by Antonya Nelson (from In the Land of Men)
  7. “Ado” by Connie Willis (from Impossible Things)
  8. “At the Rialto” by Connie Willis (from Impossible Things)
  9. “A Tiger-Killer is Hard To find” by Ha Jin (from Bridegroom: stories)
  10. “After Cowboy Chicken Came to Town” by Ha Jin (from Bridegroom: stories)
  11. “Interpreter of Maladies” by Jhumpa Lahiri (from Interpreter of Maladies)
  12. “A Temporary Matter” by Jhumpa Lahiri (from Interpreter of Maladies)
  13. “A Few Short Notes on Tropical Butterflies” by John Murray (from A Few Short Notes on Tropical Butterflies)
  14. “Watson and the Shark” by John Murray (from A Few Short Notes on Tropical Butterflies)

SHELVED UNTIL NEXT YEAR:

  1. House of Morgan by Ron Chernow
  2. Rose Cafe by John Hanson Mitchell
  3. Ocean of Words by Ha Jin

Ticket for a Seamstitch

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Harris, Mark. A Ticket For a Seamstitch. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1957.

When we next meet up with Henry Wiggen he is still pitching for the New York Mammoth baseball team. He is still selling insurance during the off-season. He also still writing (and getting published so his nickname of Henry “Author” Wiggen is getting around). He is now a veteran ballplayer. The plot of Ticket for a Seamstitch is super simple. A seamstress fan of Wiggen writes to ask for a ticket to a game on the fourth of July. Fellow (and very single) teammate, Piney, reads the letter and becomes involved, thinking the girl is a “looker.” He has hopes she might be a potential girlfriend in the future. Only when she arrives, all the way from California, she is not the girl he thought she was and very married Wiggen is left to entertain her. This third book in the series is lighter on the play by play baseball and took me only an afternoon to read.

Lines liked: “The only thing bothered her sleep was in the middle of the night the boys all come banging on her door, wishing to discuss baseball, they said, she said” (p 71), and “What is philosophy to Piney Woods who is off to the moon on a motorcycle with a dream of a perfect and naked girl in his mind, and he will solve it all by science when he gets there” (p 99).

Reason read: This is the third book in the Henry W. Wiggen series. I started the series in October in honor of the world series. Yay Red Sox!

Book trivia: This is the book that put Harris on the map. Although, I’m not sure why. It isn’t as dramatic as the last one. The full title is A Ticket for a Seamstitch, Henry Wiggen but polished for the Printer by Mark Harris.

Author fact: According to the back flap of Ticket for a Seamstitch Harris spent time in New York, California, South Carolina, Georgia, Illinois, New Mexico, Colorado, and New Hampshire.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” (p 229).

Time, Love, Memory

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Weiner, Jonathan. Time, Love, Memory: a Great Biologist and His Quest for the Origins of Behavior. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2000.

time, Love, Memory is Seymour Benzer’s story. While Charles Darwin was obsessed with finding the origins of species, Benzer was obsessed with figuring out the origins of behavior. He dedicated his research to finding out the riddle of both animal and human behavior. He wanted to dig deeper into the concepts of nature and nurture, knowing that life was a balance of both. The the diea of reading a book about genes, fruit flies and DNA sounds boring, don’t worry. Weiner’s style of writing adds a warm and humorous texture to the otherwise scientific plot.

Quotes I liked, “In the universe above and around us, physics opened new views of space and time; in the universe below and inside us, biology opened first glimpses of the foundation stones of experience: time, love, and memory” (p 6) and “While the rest of the congregation chanted and his father looked away, Seymour read Stern and Gerlach’s The Principles of Atomic Physics (p 36).”

Reason read: Seymour Benzer passed away in the month of November. This is read in his honor.

Author fact: Weiner is better known for his book, The Beak of the Finch. In fact, acclaim for Beak is on the back of Time, Love, Memory which makes me think Time, Love, Memory isn’t as good and shouldn’t be bothered with. I think that whenever I see praise for a book different from the one I am reading.

Book trivia: Time, Love, Memory has both illustrations and photographs scattered throughout the text. This is the way I prefer “artwork” to be showcased.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Jonathan Weiner: Too Good To Miss” (p 233).

Guardians

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Kabaservice, Geoffrey. The Guardians: Kingman Brewster, His Circle, and the Rise of the Liberal Establishment. New York: Henry Holt & Company, 2004.

Kingman Brewster was the president of Yale University starting in 1963. He was a leader who wasn’t afraid of the civil unrest in the late 1960s and early 1970s. This quote sums up not only the title of the book, but Brewster’s position, “…Brewster and his friends thought of themselves as society’s guardians: modern leaders of the country’s institutions, who had national responsibilities and tried to take a national perspective” (p 11). Author Geoffrey Kabaservice takes us back to when it all began for Brewster and his circle of like-minded individuals; back when Brewster was a student at Yale. Kabaservice’s account is detailed not only in following the lives (politically and personal) of Brewster and his cronies but of the nation and its times, both politically and spiritually.

Confessional: I gave up on this after 200+ pages. The entire time I was reading it I obsessed about missing out on something more interesting to read. As a result, I wasn’t concentrating on anything on the page.

Reason read: Kingman Brewster died in November (11/8/88).

Author fact: Kabaservice is a Yale graduate. I suspect his interest in Kingman Brewster comes from personal experience.

Book trivia: Guardians has a small collection of photographs. My favorite is of Brewster, at age 21, testifying before Senate.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “A Little Left of Center” (p 148). Interesting tidbit: This so-called chapter, A Little Left of Center, mentions only two books.

Now Read This

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Pearl, Nancy. Now Read this: a Guide to Mainstream Fiction, 1978 – 1998. Englewood, Colorado: Libraries Unlimited, 1999.

Reason read: November is the anniversary month of the Book Challenge. I’m reading Now Read This to celebrate that endeavor.

If I wasn’t already trying to read over 5,500 books I would attempt to read every book indexed in Now Read This. Here’s the thing about this guide (to Mainstream Fiction, 1978 – 1998), it’s not just a huge list of “you-oughtta-know” this author or this book. Pearl makes each recommended book inviting and, dare I say, intriguing. There is almost too much information to digest with each recommendation. Let’s start with the basics. Now Read This is broken out into four different chapters corresponding to four different appealing aspects of a book: setting, story, characters & language. Setting: if where the story takes place is important to the overall context of the plot, it is mentioned in this section. Story: if the plot is the main draw ,and not character development, for example, it is mentioned here. Characters: if the characters are people who move you in some way, are people you want to meet in real life, or stick in the memory banks long after the book is finished, the title is mentioned in this chapter. Language: if the language of the book is striking or moving, it is mentioned here. All entries have the following information. First the obvious: Author, title, publisher, date published, number of pages, and brief abstract of plot. Additional information includes the second appeal of the book. For example, a book with great characters can also have a key setting crucial to the story. Pearl also includes subject headings (now called tags in this day and age). Subjects can include what award the book has won, if it’s a first novel for the author, etc. You get the picture. Even more information includes whether or not Oprah chose it as a book for her club, (weird), and whether or not it would be a good for a general book club. Finally, the entry closes with a list of other books to try.

Author fact: Pearl went on to write a second guide to mainstream fiction that covers fiction from 1999 to 2001. I’ll be reading this one as well.

Book trivia: “More than 40 students received graduate school credit for reading” (p xi). Where was I when this book was being compiled?

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the acknowledgements (p xiv).

Ariadne Objective

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Davis, Wes. The Ariadne Objective: the Underground War to Rescue Crete From the Nazis. New York: Crown, 2013

I used to shy away from stories (fact or fiction) about World War II simply because I didn’t want to give myself nightmares about the Nazis. Their methods of cruelty are legendary and are beyond comprehension. I am easily horrified by their torturous ways. Having said all that, I am glad I requested The Ariadne Objective. I am facing my fears head on and find that I am able to sleep at night. This particular book doesn’t delve into the violence.
The Ariadne Objective was a plot to infiltrate the island of Crete while it was under German occupation. Four unlikely soldiers are chosen as spies, as saboteurs, and ultimately as abductors, in an effort to thwart the Nazis and their maneuvers in Greece. Each intelligence officer brought a different specialty to the group. Patrick Leigh Fermor was a wanderer who loved to travel, John Pendlebury was an archaeologist, Xan Fielding and Sandy Rendel were both writers. What they all had in common was a knowledge of all things Greek. what follows is a true-to-life adventure story that will fascinate readers of all types and not just the history buffs.

Reason read: This was an early review for LibraryThing.

Author fact: Davis holds a Ph.D. in English Literature from Princeton and is the editor of Anthology of Modern Irish Poetry.

Book trivia: Because this copy was an uncorrected proof it didn’t include the maps and eighteen pages of pictures.

Naked to the Waist

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Dark, Alice Elliott. Naked to the Waist. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1991.

Naked to the Waist is a compilation of six short stories with the title story being the last. While each story varies from the next there are a few underlying themes common to them all. All include women who are in relationships not easily defined. The relationships that surround them are slightly domineering.

“Interior Studio” – Two artists struggling to make ends meet; told from the point of view of the painter wife with a dominant writer husband.

“The Good Listener” – a writing teacher gets caught in a love triangle that turns into a love square.

“Plans for Plants” – a couple is moving apart. They don’t know each other anymore.

“The Comfortable Apartment” – an abused wife has the opportunity to leave her husband thanks to her sister…but does she?

“Buddy” – for me, this one was the most disturbing. A man takes his girlfriend’s puppy while she is in France for a funeral. He never wanted her to get a dog, and that’s all I’ll say about that one.

“Naked to the Waist” – Lucy is torn between wanting her best friend, a homosexual, to want her and wanting to move on with her life.

Telling lines, “She threw herself into love as though she were diving under water in at attempt to make herself disappear from the surface of the planet” (p 20), “She was coiled coolly around his mind” (p 92), It shocked him to see her alone, and he realized it was the first time he had observed her out of the range of his influence” (p 162″, and “This was my cue to placate him with one of our private games, and I did” (p 131).

As an aside, adultery is a common theme in Dark’s stories. I found it striking that when two different characters in two different stories want to know how their partners are getting away with the affair they ask the same questions, “how are you managing this?”

Reason read: November is National Writing Month and I’m honoring the short story this month.

Author fact: Dark also wrote In the Gloaming and Think of England both of which are on my list.

Book trivia: Naked to the Waist is made up of six short stories and oddly enough was not available in my area. I had to request it from Bangor, Maine.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “A…Is For Alice” (p 1).

Bang the Drum Slowly

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Harris, Mark. Bang the Drum Slowly. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2003.

When we rejoin Henry Wiggen he is now married to Holly and she is three months pregnant. Henry has been in the big leagues for several years and sells insurance on the side. His friend and fellow ballplayer, Bruce Pearson, is dying of cancer. Henry’s life becomes a balance of baseball, family, and friendship as Bruce’s condition is kept a secret from the rest of the team. Henry (“Author” as he is called by his teammates because of his first book) grows up a great deal in this second book. When Bruce’s prostitute girlfriend wants Bruce to change his will Henry must step up to protect his friend. At the same time he becomes a father and a leader of the Mammoths.

After the fact: I can’t stand library books that have been marked up, even if the marking is all in pencil. Ugh.

Line I liked, “I used to pee away money like wine until I got wise to myself” (p 6). Just another example of how Henry grows during this time.

Reason read: October is World Series month for baseball (Yay Red Sox!) and Bang the Drum Slowly is a continuation of the story I started last month.

Author fact: Mark Harris added a new introduction to Bang the Drum Slowly. I think he felt he needed to apologize for the screenplay.

Book trivia: Here’s what it says on the title page: Bang the Drum Slowly by Henry W. Wiggen Certain of His Enthusiasms Restrained by Mark Harris. Interesting.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Take Me Out To The Ballgame” (p 229).

What You Owe Me

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Campbell, Bebe Moore. What You Owe Me. Read by Caroline Clay. New York: Recorded Books, 2001.

What You Owe Me begins in Los Angeles in 1945. Hosanna Clark is working as a hotel chambermaid when she meets Holocaust survivor, Gilda Rosenstein. Gilda and Hosanna become fast friends, bonded by their experiences with prejudice: Gilda for being a Jew and Hosanna for being African American. Once Gilda and Hosanna are bonded in friendship they embark on a business venture producing cosmetics for black women. Until suddenly, Gilda has disappeared taking every cent Hosanna put into the venture with her. This portion of the story is compact. The majority of the story focuses on these two women. Fast forward 40+ years. Hosanna is dead and Gilda is a successful business owner with a closet full of skeletons. This portion of the story is vast. Campbell sets out to juggle four or five different stories involving multiple relationships and families. There is a reason this book is over 500 pages long.

Reason read: October is breast cancer awareness month and even though Campbell did not pass away from breast cancer (she had a brain tumor), I decided to honor her all the same. Cancer is cancer is cancer in my book. Also,  Campbell died in November so I am allowing myself to keep this book longer than the month of October to honor her passing as well. Let’s face it, I needed the extra time to get through all 20 cds.

Author fact: Campbell won the NAACP Image Award.

Reader fact: Caroline Clay has appeared on “Law and Order.” As an aside, she can’t do accents like Russian very well!

Book Audio trivia: My copy of What You Owe Me was over 22 hours long because it also included an exclusive interview with Bebe Moore Campbell.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “African American Fiction: She Say” (p 12).

Burma Chronicles

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DeLisle, Guy. Burma Chronicles. Translated by Helge Dascher. Montreal: Drawn and Quarterly, 2008.

There is so much packed into this 200+  travelogue about living in Burma. DeLisle’s wife Nadege is a French aid worker with Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) on assignment in Burma. Guy and infant son Louis travel with her and Guy spends his time teaching about comics, touring the country and writing about his observations. Burma Chronicles is Guy’s account of their time in Burma from every angle from weather to architecture to malaria and AIDS to politics.. From the very beginning there is subtle humor (just look at the square for mom, dad & son and their luggage on page 3), but at the same time he tackles the politics of the country (his infatuation with seeing Aung San Suu Kyi’s house is cute).

Favorite squares: page 8 (father and son sleeping – oh so cute).

Reason read: Aung San Suu Kyi was released in the month of November.

Author fact: DeLisle has his own very cute website here.

Book trivia: There is a lot going on in Burma Chronicles. My advice is to read it twice.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Comics with a Sense of Place” (p 68).