Thanks for November List

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Here it is. The last six books to read for Year Seven! I have every confidence that I will be adding to this list just a little. As a matter of fact, at the time that I started this blog I only had four books on my November list. I don’t remember the last time I read only four books in a month. So, true to form I added two more.

  1. Burma Chronicles by Guy Delise
  2. Guardians by Geoffrey Kabaservice
  3. Now Read This by Nancy Pearl
  4. Time, Love, Memory by Jonathan Weiner
  5. ADDED: Bang the Drum Slowly by Mark Harris (to continue the Southpaw series)
  6. ADDED: Ariadne Objective by Wes Davis (Early Review book for LibraryThing)

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

NEXT YEAR:

  1. House of Morgan by Ron Chernow
  2. Rose Cafe by John Hanson Mitchell
  3. Ocean of Words by Ha Jin (as previously mentioned)

Real Cool Killers

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Himes, Chester. The Real Cool Killers. Crime Novels: American Noir of the 1950s. New York: Library of America, 1999.

Ulysses Galen is shot dead for no apparent reason. Detectives Coffin Ed Johnson and Grave Digger Jones need to figure out how a supposedly important white man wound up dead in Harlem. This story was a jumbled mess of contradictions. While there is over the top violence the cops are bumbling and almost slapstick. Coffin is suspended for killing a boy after being “perfumed.” He thought the boy was throwing acid in his face and overreacted. Digger’s main suspect in the shooting is a man they managed to handcuff before he was rescued by a gang of teenagers dressed as Arabs. You would think the police would watch for someone wearing cuffs when they search the neighborhood but they don’t think of it when they interview a man wearing huge gloves and a heavy overcoat. It gets even funnier when they don’t notice a man tied up in a sack in plain sight. They question it but accept its a bag of coal on a bed. As for the story itself, I enjoyed the twists and turns of the plot. No one is really as they seem.

The names in this story are pretty funny: Inky, Choo-Choo, Sheik, Camel Mouth and Bones are all members of the Real Cool Muslim gang.

Disclaimer – this story is loaded with violence. In the very first chapter a knife yielding man gets his arm chopped off and two people are shot dead. At one point two detectives are rolling around, wrestling & arguing. Their scuffle takes place over the body of one of the dead men. It seems almost slapstick.

Line I liked, “I marked this one down as D.O.E. That means dead on arrival – my arrival, not his” (p 763). A medical examiner with a sense of humor.

Reason read: October is National Crime Prevention month.

Author fact: Chester Grimes was familiar with crime. He was arrested twice for armed robbery when he was 19. Convicted of the crimes he was spent eight years in prison (paroled in 1936).

Book trivia: Real Cool Killers is part of a series featuring Detectives Gravedigger and Coffin.

BookLust Twist: The Real Cool Killers is in a True Crime compilation I am reading for the challenge. From Book Lust in the chapter called “Les Crimes Noir” (p 65).

Pick-Up

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Willeford, Charles. Pick-Up. Crime Novels: American Noir of the 1950s. New York: Library of America, 1999.

Harry Jordan, 32, is a down-and-out alcoholic working as a counter man in a diner when he meets 33 year old Helen Meredith. There is an instant attraction. While Harry doesn’t relish the idea of being a drunk, he can spot one a mile away, and Helen is just his type. They soon strike up a pitiful relationship. Both are out of work, both have severed ties with family and friends. The only thing they have together is a love for the bottle. When Harry decides suicide is their only way out things go from bad to worst. Deep down, Harry is a decent man who feebly attempts to do the right thing and never succeeds.

Lines I liked, “Love is in what you do, not in what you say” (p 423), “you watch them overshadow you until you are nothing except a shadow within a shadow and then lost altogether in the unequal merger” (p 445) and “Tears in a bar are not unusual” (p 567).

Reason read: Pick-Up  is one of the stories in Crime Novels which I am reading in honor of National Crime Prevention week.

Author fact: Charles Willeford is a war hero of World War II. He received a Purple Heart.

Book trivia: Pick-Up was originally written in 1955. Willeford’s writing is so clean you can just picture the era perfectly.

BookLust Twist: from Crime Novels: American Noir listed in Book Lust in the chapter called “Les Crime Noir” (p 65).

Star Trap

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Brett, Simon. Star Trap. Boston: G.K Hall & Co., 1999.

Something is going on with the musical production of Lumpkin! They have barely started rehearsals when things start to go wrong. The rehearsal pianist has a shooting accident and can’t play the piano. Then a main actor literally breaks a leg. Both of these incidents happen within the same week. Is it a coincidence? Actor/amateur detective Charles Paris is hired to find out. He conveniently takes the part left vacant by the actor with the broken leg so that he is able to get up close and personal to the drama (pun totally intended). Only, Charles shrugs off the rumors of sabotage as mere coincidences until he is directly affected. As soon as he opens his eyes to the possibility of sabatoge he starts noticing strange things really are happening – deliberately. Will he find out before opening night or will he be cut out of the script before the mystery is solved?

Be forewarned: Brett introduces a lot of names in the first few chapters (21 people and 14 places and 6 plays, television shows and/or songs). There’s a lot to take in and at first it is hard to decide which names, places and productions are really important.

Post script: somehow I ordered the large print version. This is funny because I was just told last month I should purchase “readers” (although my husband calls them “cheaters”). My optometrist assures me I don’t really need them yet. Riiight.

Quotes I like, “…he felt in need of a red-hot poker to burn out the rotten bits of his brain” (p 74) and “Charles felt a great swoop of despair, as if all of his worst opinions of himself were suddenly ratified, as if his thoughts that infected him at his lowest moods had suddenly been classified as gospel” (p 96).

Reason read: Brett’s birthday is in October

Author fact: Simon Brett has his own website. His biography page is really fun.

Book trivia: Charles Paris is a reoccurring character in Brett’s books. As far as I can tell you don’t need to read them in order of publication.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “I Love A Mystery” (p 118).

Talented Mr. Ripley

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Highsmith, Patricia.The Talented Mr. Ripley, Ripley Under Ground, Ripley’s Game. New York: Everyman’s Library, 1999.

I think everyone has seen the 1999 movie, but here is a brief overview: Tom Ripley reminds me of Iago in Shakespeare’s Othello in the way he is able to manipulate any situation to his advantage. Tom comes from poverty and loneliness having grown up without parents. His formative years were shaped by an overbearing aunt who belittled him at every opportunity. Tom learned early on he would need to con his way through life in order to survive it. When the IRS begins to close on him concerning a check cashing scheme, Tom is approached with a business proposition by the wealthy father of an acquaintance he cannot refuse. The opportunity is simple: Mr. Greenleaf has hired Tom to travel to Italy to convince his son, Dickey, to come home. He pays all of Tom’s expenses for the trip including an allowance. Only, Dickey has no intentions of ever coming home. Realizing he has failed, he can longer be of use to Mr. Greenleaf and the money will soon dry up, Tom decides he needs a new angle – to steal Dickey’s identity. Tom is a strangely likeable character. Told from his point of view, you can’t help but root for him. He’s not a psychopath because he has the ability to imagine the suffering of others but he thinks nothing of killing someone if it is the only way to get out of a jam.

Quotes I took with me, “You go out of your way not to hurt people who’re in love with you, you know” (p 229), “If you wanted to be cheerful, or melancholic, or wistful, or thoughtful, or courteous, you simply had to act those things with every gesture” (p 321).
Reason read: October is National Crime Prevention month.

Book trivia: As mentioned before, The Talented Mr. Ripley has been made into a movie twice – once in 1960 & again in 1999.

Author fact: Patricia Highsmith was born an American but writes about Italy as if she lived there all her life. I particularly enjoyed her descriptions of Venice.

BookLust Twist: The Talented Mr. Ripley is in a True Crime compilation I am reading for the challenge. From Book Lust in the chapter called “Les Crimes Noir” (p 65).

Diary of a Mad Housewife

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Kaufman, Sue. Diary of a Mad Housewife. New York: Random House, 1967.

Diary of a Mad Housewife is predictable and yet – not. Bettina Balser is a middle-class housewife and mother in New York City. She has two daughters, ages seven and nine and an up and coming lawyer for a husband. She thinks she is slowly going out of her mind until her husband plays it big in the stock market and moves up in his law firm. By all standards they are now rich. Suddenly, Bettina’s mental stability goes from questionable to outright mad. She thinks she has every phobia in the book. As the Balser family status changes life unravels even more for Bettina. Her husband Jonathan’s demands for only the finest everything has Bettina running around like his personal assistant, even in the bedroom. The only way Bettina can sort through her emotions, resentments and increasing mania is to start a journal. This diary is her release, the outpouring of everything.
In the end, and the end is somewhat predictable, Bettina comes to understand that every stability (mental health included) comes at a price and everyone is paying at some level.

Lines that really stood out, “I hated her until I had my head shrunk, at which time I learned to “understand” her and be tolerant – which simply means I learned how to think of her without getting overwrought or blind with rage” (p 21), “From a distance of about five and a half feet we warily watched each other breathe” (p  167), and “And I realized that there I was again, in for one of the worst phases of my new looniness – middle-of-the-night insomnia” (p 71).

Reason read: October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. This is the time to celebrate strong women. And don’t let Bettina fool you. She is strong.

Author fact: Kaufman died when she was only 50 years old.

Book trivia:  Diary of a Mad Housewife was made into a movie in 1970 and nominated for an Oscar. Alice Cooper had a part in it.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “I Am Woman – Hear Me Roar” (p 120).

White Devil

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Webster, John. The White Devil. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1960.

I have to admit, anything written in the early 1600s is a chore to read. Especially if there isn’t a 19th or 20th century translation around. The White Devil was no exception to this belief. I found it tedious and tough. Three words: Bored. To. Tears. I’m sure the plot was racy in it’s day but I couldn’t get beyond the language. There is rumors of adultery, exile, fake deaths, corruption and family drama.

Reason read: with all of its revenge and corruption it should be perfect for Halloween. I wouldn’t know because I couldn’t finish it.

Author fact: John Webster was a contemporary of William Shakespeare. I have to wonder what their conversations would have sounded like. Competitive?

Book Play trivia: when this was first introduced to the English public it bombed. Webster blamed it on the weather because turnout was low. However, in more recent years it has been reintroduced and adapted.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror” (p 216). Pearl lumps The White Devil in the horror category but I wouldn’t know. It’s definitely a tragedy, but not I’m not sure about horror.

Keeping It Civil

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Klaw, Margaret. Keeping It Civil: the Case of the Pre-Nup and the Porche & Other True Accounts From the Files of a Family Lawyer. Chapel Hill: Algonquin Books, 2013.

Keeping It Civil is extremely entertaining. It’s the kind of book you can read on a one-way train ride from New Haven, Connecticut to midtown Manhattan. I should know because I just did it. It’s a peepshow into the world of relationships which are on the brink of complication. Divorce is the obvious scenario for which a family lawyer is needed but consider these cases: same-sex marriage and artificial insemination rights, to name a two. Nothing about humans or their relationships is cut and dried anymore. For example, I was surprised to learned that as a same-sex couple, you can get visit the state of Vermont and get married while you are there, but to get divorced you have to have lived in the state for a minimum of six months.

Reason read: Early review book for September.

Author fact: Margaret Klaw has been dubbed a Pennsylvania “Super Lawyer.” I have no idea what that means, but it sounds cool.

Book trivia: There is a twinge of humor to Klaw’s stories. It’s unexpected and fun.

Going Wild

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Winkler, Robert. Going Wild: Adventures With Birds in the Suburban Wilderness. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic, 2003.

Winkler is an exceptional writer especially when it comes to the art and science of birdwatching. What makes his book, Going Wild, so interesting is that each chapter is independent of another. As he puts it, “readers can dip into chapters as they please with little sacrifice of coherence” (p x). I preferred to read the whole book straight through as a story, but I could see what Winkler meant. Another pleasure of Winkler’s writing is when you read his words you can actually feel him smiling, warming up to his subject and actually happy to be going on and on about his birding life. There is real humor in his tone.

The other element I enjoyed was the locality of most of his essays. I live near, and have visited nearly all of the locations Winkler mentions.

Quotes I enjoyed, “Cold profound enough to freeze the hair in your nostrils is something to experience” (p 19).
As an aside, I would have thought Winkler’s book would include photographs or illustrations of some sort. I was disappointed when it didn’t.

Reason read: October is a great time to watch birds, especially off the coast of Maine. The migration is underway Sept-Oct.

Author fact: Robert Winkler has been a National Geographic corespondent in additional to being a journalist published in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times and USA Today.

Book trivia: Winkler mentions many different places he has observed birds. His self proclaimed favorite is Upper Paugusset State Forest in Newtown, Connecticut. I think I just might have to check that out.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Nature Writing” (p 174).

Edited to add: there are two more comments I need to make about this book. First, Winkler and the movies. I am guilty of pointing out flaws in movies. I love it when I can spot an inconsistency so I have to say my favorite chapter was when Winkler pointed out the “bird” errors in different movies, especially when it comes to their songs. And speaking of bird songs – I will listen closer for the Wood Thrush since Winkler praised it so highly.

Panther Soup

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Gimlette, John. Panther Soup: Travels Through Europe in War and Peace. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2008.

John Gimlette is a travel writer with a flair for the historical with a bit of humor thrown in along the way. In Panther Soup Gimlette decides to retrace the European footsteps of the U.S. Army of 1944. He chooses to take Putnam Flint, a veteran of the tank destroyer battalion, “The Panthers” as his guide. Together, along with Flint’s son, they travel Flint’s path through France into Germany, starting with the seedy city of Marseille. This sets the tone for the entire travel adventure. Marseille had been described as “lethally weird,” and “a freak show for the chronically unhygienic” (p 26). Having Flint along as a guide allows Gimlette to dip into history and provide commentary on the regions as Flint experienced them in 1944.

Too many quotes, but here are a few of my favorites: “He remembered…a huge vat of Tunisian wine that it’s taken his comrades a week to drink. It was only when they had reached the bottom that they had found a dead New Zealander pickling in the dregs” (p 73), “The more you paid, the less you got; or at least you got a bigger piece of nothing” (p 92), “Clearly, to live a la Bouruinonne is to enjoy a life of red wine and cream, and to die aged forty-two under someone else’s wife” (p 100), and one more, “Over at the Beat Hotel, meanwhile, they’d written little that made any sense at all” (p 177).

Reason read: The Panthers traveled from Northern France in October 1944.

Author fact: Gimlette won the Shiva Naipaul Memorial Prize and the Wanderlust Travel Writing Award AND practices law (according to the back flap of Panther Soup.)

Book trivia: In addition to photographs, Panther Soup has delightful illustrations and informative maps.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Explaining Europe: the Grand Tour” (p 82).

Southpaw

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Harris, Mark. The Southpaw. Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc., 1953

From the very beginning of The Southpaw you know you are in for a treat. Just read the dedication to know why. Then, for further evidence, move on to the “Special Warning To All Readers!!!”
Henry Wiggen is a left handed pitcher reflecting on his career in baseball. Although Henry is obsessed with the game from the very beginning there is a real defining moment when, at sixteen, he replaces his father on the mound during a game against the Clowns. After that, he tries out and is subsequently signed to play for the New York Mammoths. During spring training in Florida Henry learns what its like to be a ballplayer in the big time – competition, women, egos. The only “criticism” I have of the book is that one must love baseball in order to really love The Southpaw. There is a lot of play by play action that can get a little tedious at times.

I’ve read a few reviews where people were bothered by Henry Wiggen’s uneducated manner of speech. It didn’t bother me at all. In fact, I thought it added realism to the character.

As an aside, I was a little bothered that Mark Harris used a C. Marlowe poem (“The Passionate Shepherd to His Love”) but doesn’t give credit where credit is due.

Quotes to mention, “I was a terrible kid for flinging things at people” (p 25), and “But throwing a baseball and throwing a hand grenade is 2 different things, and I am at my best with 1 and scared to my toes of the other” (p 37), “That first night I had the regular blues, lonesome as the moon and not a soul to talk to” (p 137),

Reason read: The world series is in October.

Book trivia: The version I read boasted of “punctuation freely inserted and spelling greatly improved.” Whatever that means.

Author fact: According to the back of The Southpaw Harris wanted to be a ballplayer but his stature of only 5’7″ deterred him.

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

Deafening

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Itani, Frances. Deafening. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2003.

This story is filled with such tragedy. In Part I Grania O’Neill is just five years old when she loses her hearing after a bout with scarlet fever. Her family is desperate to make her normal, to help her fit in the the hearing world. Her grandmother and sister devote themselves to helping her cope. When it is obvious she can’t, Grania, at nine years old, is sent away to a boarding school for the deaf. Part II covers one year. The year is 1915 and Grania is now 19 and working at Gibson Hospital. She meets and marries a hearing man, Jim Lloyd. In Part III Jim has gone to help in the war effort as a medic. The violence he encounters at this time assaults his senses to the core, but it is the thought of Grania and their love that sustains him. Part IIII (that is deliberate) covers 1917 – 1918. Jim has been gone for two years and Grania remains vigilant for his letters and watchful of the changing war efforts. The book ends with Part V, 1919 and the end of the war.  So much has changed during this time. So many people have died and relationships are forever changed. I won’t spoil the end except to say it was beautifully written. A book I couldn’t put down.

Telling lines, “What she can’t see she can’t be expected to understand” (p 14), “Words fly through the air and fall, static and dead” (p 43), “He had never known a language that so thoroughly encompassed love” (p 132), and “War ground on like the headless, thoughtless monster that could not be stopped” (p 237).

Reason read: October is National Protect Your Hearing Month.

Book trivia: Deafening was written as a tribute to Itani’s grandmother who was became deaf at 18 months.

Author fact: Deafening is Frances Itani’s first book.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Other Peoples Shoes” (p 182).

One By One in the Darkness

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Madden, Deirdre. One By One in the Darkness. London: Faber and Faber, 2003.

Three sisters have gathered at their childhood home in Northern Ireland for a visit. Cate, a journalist for a home/fashion magazine in London, is early for her annual visit; a detail that is not lost on older sister, Helen. Helen, a solicitor in Belfast, comes home every weekend, and Sally, the youngest and a teacher, already lives at home with their mother. None of the sisters are married. The story bounces between present day and the three sisters’s childhood in alternating chapters. Madden uses clever clues like the spelling of Cate/Kate to indicate past or present. When Kate became an adult she changed her name to Cate. So for chapters in the past it is Kate while for present-day chapters it is Cate. [As an aside, it reminded me of the movie ‘Sliding Doors.’ In one scenario Helen has cut her hair short and dyed in blonde while in another she leaves it long and dark. The difference helps the viewer tell the difference between the two story lines involving the same character.] Cate, Helen and Sally grew up in the 1960s and 70s during the Troubles and it’s this historical background that drives the present day story of the mid 1990s and the IRA ceasefire. There isn’t a plot to speak of, just the coping of four women after the death of the head of the household during the troubles. The only present day drama worth noting is Cate’s pregnancy.

Line I liked, “But she gained a dark knowledge that night which would never leave her” (p 130).

Reason read: I have read it somewhere that October is the best time to visit Ireland.

Book trivia: One By One in the Darkness was nominated for the Women’s Prize for Fiction in 1997.

Author fact: Madden won the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature in 1987. The conditions of the prize? Write Irish lit (obviously) and be under 40 years of age. Interesting.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter simply called “Irish Fiction” (p 126).

Spooky October List

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The list is now down to one month! The reading year is nearly over. Here are the remaining books for November, the last month:

  1. Burma Chronicles by Guy Delise
  2. Guardians by Geoffrey Kabaservice
  3. Time, Love, Memory by Jonathan Weiner

ON DECK FOR OCTOBER:

  1. Southpaw by Mark Harris
  2. Deafening by Frances Itani
  3. Going Wild by Robert Winkler
  4. One By One in the Darkness by Frances Itani
  5. Panther Soup by John Grimlette
  6. What you Owe Me by Bebe Moore Campbell (in audio)

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

NEXT YEAR:

  1. House of Morgan by Ron Chernow (as previously mentioned)
  2. Rose Cafe by John Hanson Mitchell (as previously mentioned)
  3. Ocean of Words by Ha Jin – I just realized this was supposed to be read way back in February in honor of Ha Jin’s birth month. How I missed it is beyond me. Ugh

A Bit of Wit, a World of Wisdom

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Kurland, Yehoshua. A Bit of Wit, a World of Wisdom: Penetrating Thoughts That Open the Heart and Stir the Soul Through Humor. Jerusalem: Gefen Publishing, 2013

A Bit of Wisdom starts off a bit slowly. Before getting to the heart of the humor and wisdom there is the title page, dedication, memorials, table of contents, preface, acknowledgments, and introduction to get through. While each of these sections is not overly long I am betting many people will skip some if not all of them to get to the first chapter. Each chapter follows a format: starts with a joke and ends with a moral essay. Kurland believes education is easier through the universal language of humor. The only story I did not find a connection with was “Busted Story.” I felt it missed the mark somehow. My favorite story was “You’re Never Alone.” I could appreciate the idea that spiritual guidance is there if we need it.

Kurland previously published A Time to Laugh, A Time to Listen which sounds like another version of A Bit of Wit, a World of Wisdom.