labfs39's seriously serendipitous reading in 2014 pt. 3

Currently reading:



The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elisabeth Tova Bailey

Languishing:



Sakhalin Island by Anton Chechov, translated from the Russian by Brian Reeve
A Nurse at the Front: The Great War Diaries of Sister Edith Appleton by Edith Appleton

Audiobooks:

Read Aloud with Daughter:

December: 1143 p.

109. Portraits by Steve McCurry (NF, 4.5*)
108. A Smart Girl's Guide to Her Parents' Divorce by Nancy Holyoke (NF, 4.5*, 120 p.)
107. 15593400::The Co-Parents' Handbook: Raising Well-Adjusted, Resilient, and Resourceful Kids in a Two-Home Family from Little Ones to Young Adults by Karen Bonnell (NF, 4*, 254 p.)
106. The Martian by Andy Weir (F, 4.5*, 387 p.)
105. A Higher Call: An Incredible True Story of Combat and Chivalry in the War-Torn Skies of World War II by Adam Makos (NF, 4.5*, 382 p.)

November: 730 p.

104. Fearless: The Undaunted Courage and Ultimate Sacrifice of Navy SEAL Team Six Operator Adam Brown by Eric Blehm (NF, 3.5*, 257 p.)
103. Siberiak : my cold war adventure on the River Ob by Jenny Jaeckel (GN, 4*, 119 p.)
102. 1914 by Jean Echenoz, translated from the French by Linda Coverdale (TF, 3*, 119 p.)
101. An American Bride in Kabul: A Memoir by Phyllis Chesler (NF, 3*, 235 p.)

October: 5845 p. and 11 hours audio (plus homework for class)

100. Without You, There is No Us: My Time with the Sons of North Korea's Elite by Suki Kim (NF, 3*, 291 p.)
99. Mrs. Tim Flies Home by D.E. Stevenson (F, 3.5*, 284 p.)
98. Hot Pursuit (RS ebook, 432 p.)
97. Breaking the Rules (RS, 507 p.)
96. Born to Darkness (RS, 595 p.)
95 Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford (Audio, 3*, 10 hrs. 51 min. )
94. Dark of Night (RS, 418 p.)
93. Into the Fire (RS, 594 p.)
92. FS (R, 1625 p.)
91. Force of Nature (RS, 372 p.)
90. Into the Storm (RS, 386 p.)
89. All Through the Night (RS, 341 p.)

September: 5653 p.

88. Breaking Point (RS, 486 p.)
87. Hot Target (RS, 534 p.)
86. Flashpoint (RS, 462 p.)
85. Gone too Far (RS, 536 p.)
84. Into the Night (RS, 467 p.)
83. Out of Control (RS, 458 p.)
82. Over the Edge (RS, 395 p.)
81. Defiant Hero (RS, 390 p.)
80. Unsung Hero (RS, 392 p.)
79. To the Edge (RS, 333 p.)
78. The Long Ships by Frans G. Bentsson, translated from the Swedish by Michael Meyer (TF, 4*, 503 p.)
77. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn (F, 2.5*, 415 p.)
76. Mrs. Tim Gets a Job by D.E. Stevenson (F, 3.5*, 282 p.)

August: 1353 p.

75. The Exile by Diana Gabaldon (GN, 3*, 224 p.)
74. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (YA, 5*, 552 p.)
73. The Outlandish Companion by Diana Gabaldon (NF, 4*, 577 p.)

July: 7980 p.

72. Written in My Own Heart's Blood by Diana Gabaldon (F, 4.5*, 825 p.)
71. An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon (F, 4*, 820 p.)
70. A Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon (F, 3.5*, 979 p.)
69. The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon (F, 4*, 979 p.)
68. Drums in Autumn by Diana Gabaldon (F, 4.5*, 1070 p.)
67. Voyager by Diana Gabaldon (F, 4.5*, 1059 p.)
66. Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon (F, 4.5*, 947 p.)
65. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon (F ebook, 5*, 850 p.)
64. Lost on a Mountain in Maine by Donn Fendler (YA, 4.5*, 109 p.)
63. Cherub: The Recruit by Robert Muchamore (YA, 2*, 342 p.)

June: 1249 p. (and 4 hours audio)

62. The Underground Girls of Kabul by Jenny Nordberg (NF, 4*, 333 p.)
61. We Die Alone by David Howarth (NF, 4.5*, p.)
60. The Daughters of Mars by Thomas Keneally (F, 3.5*, 513 p.)
59. An Officer and a Spy by Robert Harris (F, 4*, 429 p.)
58. Mrs. Tim Carries On by D. E. Stevenson (F, 4*, 307 p.)
57. Surviving the Applewhites by Stephanie S. Tolan (Audio, 3.5*, 4 hours and 12 minutes)

May: 873 p. (and 20.5 hours audio)

56. Little Town on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder (YA, 307 p.)
55. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs (Audio, 2*, 9 hrs and 41 mins)
54. Mrs. Pollifax and the Whirling Dervish by Dorothy Gilman (M, 3*, 211 p.)
53. The Dog Stars by Peter Heller, narrated by Mark Deakins (Audio, 4.5*, 10 hours and 41 minutes)
52. A Spy among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal by Ben Macintyre (NF, 3.5*, 355 p.)

April: 3487 p.

51. Story of a Secret State by Jan Karski (NF, 4.5*, 391 p.)
50. In Paradise by Peter Matthiessen (F, 3*, 244 p.)
49. The Round House by Louise Erdrich (F, 4.5*, 321 p.)
48. Same Difference and Other Stories by Derek Kirk Kim (YA GN, 3*, 143 p.)
47. Daniel Stein, Interpreter by Ljudmila Ulitskaya, translated from the Russian by Arch Tait (TF, 4*, 408 p.)
46. Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank (YA, 4*, 283 p.)
45. Mrs. Pollifax on the China Station by Dorothy Gilman (M, 4*, 185 p.)
44. Independent People by Halldór Laxness, translated from the Icelandic by J.A. Thompson (TF, 2.5, 482 p.)
43. Mrs. Pollifax on Safari by Dorothy Gilman (M, 4*, 167 p.)
42. A Palm for Mrs. Pollifax by Dorothy Gilman (M, 4*, 180 p.)
41. Among the Mad by Jacqueline Winspear (M, 4*, 303 p.)
40. The Elusive Mrs. Pollifax by Dorothy Gilman (M, 4*, 208 p.)
39. The Amazing Mrs. Pollifax by Dorothy Gilman (M, 4*, 172 p.)

March: 3444 p.

38. Mrs. Tim of the Regiment by D.E. Stevenson (F, 4*, 331 p.)
37. The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein (F, 2*, 354 p.)
36. The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax by Dorothy Gilman (M, 5*, 208 p.)
35. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (SF, 4.5*, 351 p.)
34. Out of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper (YA, 5*, 295 p.)
33. Zoe's Tale by John Scalzi (F, 4*, 335 p.)
32. The Two Mrs. Abbotts by D.E. Stevenson (F, 2.5*, 276 p.)
31. The Last Colony by John Scalzi (F, 3.5*, 324 p.)
30. Miss Buncle Married by D.E. Stevenson (F, 3.5*, 330 p.)
29. The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder (YA, 334 p.)
28. An Incomplete Revenge by Jacqueline Winspear (F, 3.5*, 306 p.)

February: 3265 p.

27. The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi (F, 4.5*, 374 p.)
26. The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman (F, 3*, 343 p.)
25. Old Man's War by John Scalzi (F, 4.5*, 314 p.)
24. War Brothers: The Graphic Novel by Sharon E. McKay and illustrated by Daniel Lafrance (GN, 4*, 166 p.)
23. The Chrysalids by John Wyndham (F, 4*, 200 p.)
22. Comedy in a Minor Key by Hans Keilson, translated from the German by Damion Searls (TF, 4*, 135 p.)
21. The Picture of Dorian Gray: An Annotated, Uncensored Edition by Oscar Wilde, edited by Nicholas Frankel (F, 4.5*, 295)
20. Resistance by Owen Sheers (F, 3.5*, 306 p.)
19. Miss Buncle's Book by D.E. Stevenson (F, 4*, 299 p.)
18. Life Goes On by Hans Keilson, translated from the German by Damion Searls (TF, 3*, 265 p.)
17. The Upstairs Room by Joanna Reiss (YA, 3*, 196 p.)
16. Specials by Scott Westerfeld (YA, 372 p.)

January: 4582 p.

15. Pretties by Scott Westerfeld (YA, 346 p.)
14. Uglies by Scott Westerfeld (YA, 425 p.)
13. The Summer Book by Tove Jansson, translated from the Swedish by Thomas Teal (TF, 4*, 170 p.)
12. A Tomb for Boris Davidovich by Danilo Kiš, translated from the Serbian by Duška Mikic-Mitchell (TF, 4*, 135 p.)
11. The Great War: A Photographic Narrative by Mark Holborn and Hilary Roberts (NF, 5*, 502 p.)
10. Five Days at Memorial by Sheri Fink (NF, 4.5*, 558 p.)
9. Norwegian by Night by Derek Miller (F, 4.5*, 290 p.)
8. Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain (NF, 4*, 661 p.)
7. The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau (YA, 2.5*, 270 p.)
6. Bloodlands: Europe between Hitler and Stalin by Timothy Snyder (NF, 5*, 524 p.)
5. Drawing from Memory by Allen Say (YA, GN, 4*, 63 p.)
4. Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko, read by Kirby Heyborne (YA, audiobook, 4*)
3. Where'd You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple (F, 3*, 330 p.)
2. Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih, translated by Denys Johnson-Davies (TF, 4.5*, 139 p.)
1. Messenger by Lois Lowry (YA, 3.5*, 169 p.)

Reading Globally
A list of books by the author's ethnicity (as decided by me):

Australian
The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman

Dutch:
The Upstairs Room by Johanna Reiss
Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

French:
1914 by Jean Echenoz, translated from the French by Linda Coverdale

German:
Life Goes On by Hans Keilson, translated by Damion Searls
Comedy in a Minor Key by Hans Keilson, translated by Damion Searls

Icelandic:
Independent People by Halldór Laxness, translated by J.A. Thompson

Irish:
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Japanese:
Drawing from Memory by Allen Say

Polish:
Story of a Secret State by Jan Karski

Russian:
Daniel Stein, Interpreter by Ljudmila Ulitskaya, translated by Arch Tait

Serbian:
A Tomb for Boris Davidovich by Danilo Kiš, translated by Duška Mikic-Mitchell

Sudanese:
Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih, translated by Denys Johnson-Davies

Swedish:
The Long Ships by Frans G. Bengtsson, translated from the Swedish by Michael Meyer
The Summer Book by Tove Jansson, translated by Thomas Teal

Welcome to part three of my serendipitous reading year!

You can see my list of the books I've read by Nobel winners here.

53. The Dog Stars by Peter Heller and narrated by Mark Deakins (Audiobook, 10 hours and 41 minutes)

What would you do if environmental disasters and a flu pandemic destroyed your world and everyone you loved? How would you choose to live your life? What would you save from your old life, and what would you be willing to do to preserve what you have left?

Hig is a poet and ex-carpenter trying to make sense of his life in this post-apocalyptic world. A pilot, he spends his days in his Cessna, circling the airport where he now lives, scouting for intruders, looking for signs of further destruction or renewal in the nearby forest, and checking on a family of Mennonites, dying of the blood sickness. His only companions are his dog Jasper and a gun-crazy man named Bangley, who showed up at the airport one day and stayed on, determined to keep their parameter secure. It's been nine years, and Hig is lonely, restless, and looking for meaning in a life reduced to killing to survive. One day, three years after hearing it, Hig leaves to discover the person behind the voice he once heard coming from a radio control tower.

The novel is written in the first person with flashbacks that fill in a bit of Hig’s life before the pandemic. The poetic, stream of consciousness style of writing made it a delight to listen to. I had been meaning to read it since it came out and even own a copy of the book, but it wasn't until the audiobook fell in my lap, that I finally "read" it. I don't often listen to audio books, but now I can't imagine reading the book without Mark Deakins voice in my ear. He does a fabulous job with the voices and the pacing. This was Peter Heller’s first novel, although he is an experienced nonfiction author. His second novel, The Painter, is out this month.

Happy New Thread, Lisa. Wow! You're over the 50 mark. Impressive.

Happy New thread, Lisa! Good review of The Dog Stars. I am so glad you liked it. I loved Bangley and I really enjoyed hearing Heller talk about this book.

>7 BLBera: Thanks, Beth. It's a bit faster than my normal pace, but I read a lot of genre novels this spring when I wasn't up to my normal fare. And, oh my gosh, your profile picture is priceless!

>8 msf59: Hi Mark! I'm jealous that you had the opportunity to chat with Peter. Maybe he'll hit Seattle on tour with his new book, and I'll be able to catch him. MBH is reading one of his nonfiction books, Set Free in China: Sojourns on the Edge. It's a collection of adventure stories, and Bill says it reads like Bill Bryson.

---

Still plugging away in Siberia. I've made it to Sakhalin Island, and Chekhov has begun his census. I need to go back and read some of Chekhov's fiction, because I'm having a hard time remembering what his writing sounds like. I'm trying to decide if Chekhov sounds "normal" in this book, or if the translator has modernized the writing. For some reason, it doesn't sound Russian to me, if that makes any sense. The story is fascinating, but I'm distracted by the translation. I'm also seriously annoyed by the decision to use unnumbered endnotes. The endnotes take up almost half the book, and the constant flipping back and forth is driving me crazy. Give me footnotes any day! And a map. But it's an excellent story. Honest.

Looking for The Dog Stars with Deakins as the narrator.....

Interesting about Sakhalin Island not sounding Russian; it's a long time since I've read any of Chekhov's stories too, so maybe I'll plan on reading some before I read Sakhalin Island. Maybe he writes reportage differently from fiction? And oh, I am SO with you about unnumbered endnotes--that always drives me crazy too.

If you're anything like me, you'll be at Sakhalin Island for awhile, Lisa. It's so dense with detail. I kept two bookmarks - one for the main narrative and one for the endnotes - and almost broke the spine of the book, flipping back and forth!

>9 labfs39: Sakhalin Island
Aaagh, TOO MANY BOOKS! This one looks awfully interesting, based on Linda92007's review. Unnumbered endnotes? No map? Double aaaaaagh.

>10 EBT1002: I think you will like The Dog Stars, Ellen. I think Mark listened to the audio too, plus he talked with Peter at a Booktopia event.

>11 rebeccanyc: It's an interesting question about Chekhov's voice. I was listening to a Three Percent podcast today, and Chad Post was interviewing two students from his translation class. Chad brought author/translator pairs to the class. I think that would be fascinating. To me, translating used to seem fairly straight-forward, in the sense that it was a literal translation. But translating also means capturing the author's voice, humor, word play: so many things that are untranslatable. In the podcast, Chad mentioned that one of the things that they do in the class is compare translations of The Master and the Margarita. I looked for a syllabus to see which translations they use, but couldn't find one.

>12 Linda92007: Exactly, Linda! I love the story, but the endnotes are driving me nuts! I didn't realize before starting the book, how much of Chekhov's goal in writing the book was linked to social justice. It was probably as much of an expose as was possible to get published at the time. I am eager to read the short story, The Murder, which Wikipedia calls the literary expression of his Sakhalin trip.

>13 qebo: I know, qebo. After reading Linda's review, I actually went online and ordered a copy. Something I never do. It took me a while to get to it, partly because it got stacked on my TBR table and then another stack grew in front of it. I'm very glad I rediscovered it. Unfortunately, I have had little time for reading lately, but I am slowly making my way through it. It's very detailed, but some of those details are absolutely fascinating. The system of penal justice at that time (1890) was very different from the later gulag system. I never knew much about it, other than that Stalin found it quite easy to escape from the places he was exiled to (according to Montefiore's Young Stalin).

>14 labfs39: I also found it fascinating how Stalin was able to escape!

It sounds like I have to add The Dog Stars to my wishlist. Darn.

Scout is a cutie, isn't she (my granddaughter). It's amazing how many pictures I have of her with books. Her latest love is pop up books.

>15 rebeccanyc: I still haven't gotten to The Court of the Red Tsar. Someday!

>16 BLBera: Looking at your pictures I was reminded of my daughter's first books: Tana Hoban's black and white board books, the Snappy popups, and of course the board book classics, I Like It When..., The Runaway Bunny. Sigh. After reading to her every night of her life, she has recently started saying she can put herself to bed. They grow so fast. Her eleventh birthday is coming up. Sigh again.

Busy, busy, busy. This past weekend, my daughter's Girl Scout troop (of which I am chief wrangler) went to Portland on the train for an overnight. It was fun to see how much they've matured over the past five years, although the child in them is still close to the surface. They stayed in their own room at the hotel, with the adults next door, which made them feel very grown up. They had decided to go to OMSI (the science museum) and Powell's books, but also the toy store. I love seeing them try new things and go out into the world with confidence and curiosity. A very rewarding trip, but I didn't get much reading done!

I did, however, buy two books at Powell's. Only two, you might ask with raised eyebrows. The girls decided to set a $25 per girl spending allowance, and I only felt it fair to abide by it as well. But I did manage to get Conquered City by Victor Serge and Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler. The highlight of the trip for me was finding Petunia's, a vegan restaurant. I've been gluten- and dairy- free for three weeks, and the macaroni and cheese and scrumptious dessert were heaven. One of the girls, who is gluten and dairy sensitive, was over the moon at having her first doughnut in five years. The simple pleasures.

My wife had been dairy free for years and is trying to gluten - makes eating out a challenge. Cool that you got to Powell's.

Going way back, Karski's Story of the secret state is now on my wishlisy. A fascinating interview of a Polish man was playing at Yad Vashem when we were there in 2012 - I suspect it was Karski, although I'm not sure. Anyway he talked about how uninterested British leaders were in his stories about the concentration camps. He also talked about speaking with Roosevelt.

>17 labfs39: As you probably remember, I was much more impressed by Young Stalin than by The Court of the Red Tsar.

>18 labfs39: Conquered City is excellent.

Hi Lisa! Just checking in. Glad to see all the Heller love. I also hope to see some love for his new novel. I am sure a few LTers have snagged it recently. Hugs to my pal.

>18 labfs39: felt it fair to abide by it as well
Very noble of you!

Adding The Dog Stars and story of a Secret State and Bloodlands to my reading list, though who knows when I will get to them!

Have you read any Robert Charles Wilson? (Science fiction/dystopian) Just ran across his Burning Paradise, and found it very thought provoking, though it's apparently not his best work per reviews.

Hi Lisa, just catching up. Your trip with your daughter and her friends sounds like lots of fun.

I wanted to let you know I'm about a fifth of the way into Story of a Secret State and I'm finding it to be excellent, so thank you so much for bringing it to my attention!

Hi Lisa. The trip to Portland sounds fun --- watching the girls in that cusp between childhood and young adulthood. I know you love how much your daughter loves to read. :-)

I'm enjoying The Dog Stars although it is going at about my usual pace with audiobooks.

Lovely weather we're having in this part of the world, yes?

>6 labfs39: I can't imagine reading the book without Mark Deakins voice in my ear. He does a fabulous job with the voices and the pacing.
I really enjoyed Deakins' audio of John Elder Robison's Asperger memoir, Look Me in the Eye. The Dog Stars has been on my wishlist a long time, what a good idea to get the audio w/Deakins.

Thank you friends, for returning to my thread after my long hiatus. I spent last week in Maine for my sister's wedding and a wonderful meet up with qebo. Now it's the last week of school, with all its attendant ruckus. I hope to return to LT more faithfully next week. In the meantime, I will attempt a little catch up:

>19 dchaikin: I achieved 6 weeks of gluten and dairy free dining, and reintroduced gluten... Nothing. Then I tried dairy. Definite tummy upset there, but neither effected my inflammation, which was the chief objective with this experiment. Oh well, it was worth trying. At least I confirmed that I am lactose intolerant and can manage that more effectively.

Jan Karski's book is one that has stayed in my mind, even during these hectic last weeks. It very likely was Karski's interview that you heard at Yad Vashem. He was recognized there in 1982, despite not having saved individual Jews. His role of carrying the message to the world's leaders at great personal danger was considered so important. He was made an honorary citizen of Israel in 1994.

>20 rebeccanyc: Young Stalin was impressive, Rebecca. I would like to read the Court of the Red Tsar, even if it is not as good, just to complete the picture from Montefiore. He is churning out books at a rapid clip, it seems to me. He has published four more books since YS, most notably Jerusalem and the historical fiction work One Night in Winter, which I have added to my wish list.

I think it was one of your reviews that put Victor Serge on my radar.

>21 msf59: I will definitely keep an eye out for Heller's next novel, Mark. I also have one of his travelogue/adventure books which my husband recently read. I hope to read it as well.

>22 qebo: It was hard, qebo! Thankfully there was no such monetary restrictions in place when I visited Yes Books with you!

>23 markon: You picked some good ones to add to your list, Ardene. They were all good.

I haven't read any Robert Charles Wilson, although Darwinia crossed my line of sight when it came out. Have you tried any of his other works since Burning Paradise?

>24 Rebeki: I'm glad you were enjoying Story of a Secret State, at least of three weeks ago, Rebeki. Have you finished? What did you think?

>25 EBT1002: Once again, I have lost an entire one of your thread's, Ellen. Your LT world moves much faster than mine these days. I read a paltry 875 pages in May, as opposed to 3500 in April. Did you hear the brakes squealing all the way over in your neck of the woods?

>26 detailmuse: Your comment about other books that Mark Deakins has narrated led me down a rabbit hole. I began trying to manipulate LT to correlate under his name all the books he has narrated. Be back in a sec!

>23 markon:, >27 labfs39: sibyx got me into Robert Charles Wilson a couple years ago with The Chronoliths, and I've read a couple others since. I wasn't wild about Darwinia, wanted it to be something it wasn't, also read it when I was sick which could be why I found it confusing. Burning Paradise seems worth a try.

Hi Lisa -I finished Story of a Secret State yesterday. I read it rather slowly as it was on my kindle which is for my 'away from home' reading. A great read and a pleasing followup to watching Shoah.
At times I was reminded of a novel, No Price for Freedom, which I read in my early teens, one of the many war books that my father had. It was about the Polish Underground and I still remember the parts about the hidden printing press. I'll have to pull it out for a reread.

I'm hoping to read Montefiore's Jerusalem before the end of the year.

I'm back. I added 57 more titles to the paltry 1 that was listed under narrator Mark Deakins before MJ got me started.



Here's a list of books that I purchased while visiting with qebo in Portland, ME:

From Longfellow Books

The Greatcoat by Helen Dunmore. Historical fiction with a touch of the supernatural. Almost didn't get it for the latter reason, but I liked The Siege and thought The Betrayal was okay, so I thought I would try it. How's that for a ringing endorsement. Not.

From Yes Books

The Diary of David Sierakowiak: Five Notebooks from the Lodz Ghetto. An adolescent's diary

We Die Alone by David Howarth. Recommended by arubabookwoman. The true story of a Norwegian expatriate who returns to Norway in 1943 as part of a commando unit. They are ambushed by the Nazi's and only Jan Baalstrud survives. The author was a member of the SOE and ran the Shetland Bus operation into Norway.

Fugitives in the Forest: The Heroic Story of Jewish Resistance and Survival during the Second World War by Allan Levine.

A Nurse at the Front: The First World War Diaries of Sister Edith Appleton

Need I mention that I found the history section of the store immensely fascinating?

From the Portland Museum of Art

Nature and Numbers: A Mathematical Photo Shooting by Georg Glaeser. Because my daughter was fascinated by it. As was I. Not in LT yet.

Edited to add touchstone to Nature and Numbers

>29 avatiakh: Hi, Kerry! Sorry we cross-posted. I'm glad you liked Story of a Secret State. From the one review of No Price for Freedom, it sounds like a great historical novel. My viewing of Shoah was interrupted by the week in Maine, but I need to get back to it, in part because I borrowed it from the library...

Nice group of books. I passed on The Greatcoat. I feel the same way as you about The Siege versus The Betrayal, but I had earlier read another book by Dunmore that I hated and so I had to be convince to read The Siege.

I see that you are reading The Daughters of Mars. I really liked that one. I'm looking forward to your comments.

>32 rebeccanyc: I'm curious, Rebecca, which book did you hate?

>33 NanaCC: I have to admit, Colleen, I was a lukewarm at first about The Daughters of Mars. The tone in the beginning is uncompromising and grim. But once they reach the Dardenelles, things began to change. I'm looking forward to picking it up again tonight.

>34 labfs39: Probably "hated" was too strong a word! It was With Your Crooked Heart, and while I admired Dunmore's writing I never connected with the characters and I was very irritated by her writing it in the second person.

>27 labfs39: Yes, I finished it a few days ago and thought it was an excellent and really powerful book. I've reviewed it on my thread, if you want a more detailed answer to your question!

Ugh! spilled tea in my computer keyboard a couple of days ago, and presto! no more keyboarding. Since our computer was hovering on the verge of a complete and utter breakdown (we had already replaced the fan, motherboard, and had gadgets sticking out of every USB port to keep it running), we bought a new computer. Cheers! I have now spent two days installing software, fixing bugs, updating, and uninstalling. Boo! Two and a half hours on the phone with tech support tonight was the crowning touch. Whatever happened to the days of opening the box, plugging it in and having fun? Did those days ever exist?

Very little reading done. Mostly played games on my phone while waiting for external hard drives to transfer the goods or updates to install, etc. Sigh. Did take k8 to her first official archery lesson. She's good!

>35 rebeccanyc: With Your Crooked Heart does not sound like my cup of tea either, Rebecca. Plus I much prefer historical fiction over contemporary fiction.

>36 Rebeki: I know, Rebeki, I am behind on everyone's threads and reviews. I will try to catch up soon!

Lisa - I have a new laptop that doesn't let me browse the internet, won't load pages, won't let me download my audiobooks. I'm taking it in so they can uninstall Win 8.1 and give me an operating system that does what it should do. I've been putting up with this for a few weeks hoping I'll find the perfect 'fix'. I even had to drop out of my Coursera course on the Middle East.....so good luck with your new computer, I really hope you don't have the same problem as I have had.

>37 labfs39: Sorry about your computer problems, Lisa, and yours too >38 avatiakh:.

Plus I much prefer historical fiction over contemporary fiction. I do read some reasonably contemporary novels, although not so many by US and UK writers, but I seem to be more drawn to older works, not even contemporary historical fiction (although I do like some books I've read including the Dumores and of course Mantel's work).

Hi Lisa- Glad you had a good trip to Maine. Hope you are catching up with things back home.

>37 labfs39: No worries. I'm permanently behind round here! It sounds like you've had a tedious few days. I hope everything's set up now and you can start having fun with your new computer!

Just don't talk to me about Windows 8.1 Far too many bugs

Hi Lisa - Good luck with your computer. I must say, I did pretty much plug in my iMac and log on. I love my Mac!

I will second Beth's love for Mac. I love mine too.

>38 avatiakh: Oh, Kerry, that sounds awful! And I am so sorry you had to drop out of your Coursera class. How disappointing! For you, and for me too, as I was following along vicarious and making lists of your lists. I must say that Windows 8.1 has been a bit of a nightmare. And Internet Explorer had a virus immediately, which the preinstalled McAfee did not catch, but which my favorite free virus software, AVG, detected, along with two others. Out of the box! I don't use IE, except to download a new browser, but unfortunately some sites are only compatible with IE.

>39 rebeccanyc: Like you, Rebecca, I do read international contemporary fiction and historical fiction. Contemporary fiction set in the US usually leaves me cold, however. Every once in a while, I try one that is getting lots of positive buzz, but rarely do I end up liking it. Not my cuppa.

>40 msf59: Thanks, Mark. I hope to get around to threads before leaving for Maine again!

>41 Rebeki: Today is the first day that the computer has been usable. Three days of almost continuous work to get it so. Last big issue: transferring MS Office. Licensing agreements now let you move Office once every 90 days or something like that.

>42 baswood: I'm with you, Barry!

>43 BLBera:, >44 NanaCC: I would love to get a Mac if I could get a reasonable amount of processing speed and RAM for the money. Also, I'm leery of buying an all-in-one machine, like the Mac laptops. The fan goes and you have to replace the whole computer. But there is no doubt that Apple is good at what it does and the customer service is much better. I love my iPhone.

I know my thread has been more gossip and less substance of late, so I'm going to try and do some mini-reviews and hopefully get back on track.



I first learned about the Mrs. Tim books, and D.E. Stevenson in general, after reading a review by Tad (TadAD) several years ago. More recently I read and enjoyed the Miss Buncle books, especially the first, so I thought I would try another series by Stevenson. The Mrs. Tim books are based on the author's own diaries as the wife of an officer in a Highland Regiment. The first book was written in 1934 after a friend, whose daughter was similarly married, inquired into this type of life. Her friend's enthusiasm for the stories eventually led to a four volume series, which was reissued in 1973.

1. Mrs. Tim of the Regiment (Published in 1934 when the author was 42)
2. Mrs. Tim Carries On (1941, age 49)
3. Mrs. Tim Gets a Job (1947, age 55)
4. Mrs. Tim Flies Home (1952, age 60)

The first book describes life as an officer's wife in Scotland, the frequent moves and subsequent house hunting, and the difficulties finding and retaining servants. The Tim's have two children, a boy away at school and a young girl at home. I enjoyed the tales of life in the Scottish countryside and the society of the families bound together by the army. In this volume, Tim is away a lot of the time, and Mrs. Tim is befriended by Major Morley, who entertains her and presciently comes to her rescue frequently. In fact, the reader sees and hears so much about Major Morley and so little about Tim, that I wondered why she didn't fall in love with him! But in book two, we learn much more about Tim, and I felt better about this literary (and historical) marriage. I enjoyed this second book, set during WWII, more, partly because I wasn't bracing for infidelity and partly because I enjoyed reading about the English wartime home front reminiscent for me of the similarly semi-autobiographical books by Joyce Dennys called Henrietta's War.

I loved Mrs. Tim of the Regiment. I will have to look for the others in that series, as I've enjoyed Stevenson's Miss Buncle books.

ETA: Were you able to find these books in a store, or were you lucky enough to find old copies?

>43 BLBera: >44 NanaCC: >45 labfs39: I love my Mac too; in fact, I converted my sweetie to a Mac when his 8-year-old Windows laptop was on its last leges and we're now an all-Mac household. But they are pricey . . .

>46 labfs39: Hey, gossip is fun too. Haven't read any of the Buncle or Mrs. Tim books, but they sound like fun too.

Sorry your new computer took so long to get up and running. Mine died recently, but luckily I had backed up most of my files beforehand.

Glad you had some fun in Maine - what a change of place for you!

I know Macs are pricey, but they last much longer than PCs. The PC (laptop) I get at work runs well for about a year -- unfortunately, they only replace them every four years. I just replaced a 10-year-old iMac that was still in pretty good shape. Of course, it depends what you want to do with them. And the customer service is stellar.

The Mrs. Tim books sound fun. I was a Miss Buncle fan, so I think I'd like those, too.

>47 NanaCC: I purchased Mrs. Tim of the Regiment, in part because of the Bloomsbury Group reprint with the fun cover. I now own about half of the ones they've published. They are all reprints of 1930s and 40s novels. BG only reprinted the first in the series, so I took the second, Mrs. Tim Carries On from the library. Horrible cover on that particular edition from the 1970s.

>48 rebeccanyc: I enjoy historical novels of this time period if they are witty and British. They make good breaks from our usual bill of fare.

>49 markon: I was glad that I had an external hard drive that continuously backs up my files. With an old machine, I felt it was vital. The transfer of files from the HD to the new desktop was not as smooth as I could have hoped, however.

Maine will be a nice break, and I am hoping to get lots of reading done. I love to borrow from my sister's WWII collection when I am there, as we tend to have different books.

>50 BLBera: It's nice to hear that Macs last a long time. In our household the computers get used hard between my hubby's gaming, my daughter's gaming and school work, and my office/life. Laptops get dropped, phones are thoroughly abused, and desktops run almost continuously.

Starting next year, the school will provide my daughter a laptop which she will be required to use for all schoolwork. In the age of Google Drive, having to carry a laptop back and forth to school along with her ginormous binder, seems to me ludicrous, but the school wants all the students to be working from a level electronic playing field. They are replacing these school machines over the summer, and I'm looking forward to seeing what they choose as replacements. There is talk of tablets, which would be lighter.

Last night my book club watched The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. I had read the book years ago when it first came out in 2006 and had started rereading it in preparation of the movie night. I was curious to see how they would turn such a novel narration into a movie, and I think they did a better than average job, mainly because of the outstanding acting. Sophie Nélisse, a young Canadian actor, did marvelously as Liesel, and Geoffrey Rush was superb as usual.

Death is the narrator of this young adult novel set in Germany during WWII. He plays a smaller role in the movie than in the book, but the voice carries the note of bemused fascination that is conveyed by the tone of the book. The story is about a young girl who is sent to live with foster parents in late 1930s Germany. Her new mama is "wrapped in thunder" and calls everyone a filthy pig. Papa, on the other hand, is gentle and loving and soon wins Liesel affection by teaching her to read. Liesel is consumed with a love of books, but poverty prevents her from owning many. The role of words and literacy is an important theme running throughout the book and movie.

My daughter came with me to watch this PG-13 movie, and it was a good follow up to our joint reading of The Upstairs Room and The Diary of a Young Girl. She said that it made her realize that the war wasn't as simple as the good Allies vs the evil Germans. It also offered the opposite perspective from that in the aforementioned books, being from the point of view of those who chose to hide a Jew.

The movie was good, and I don't think it matters if you watch it before or after reading the book, just as long as you read the book. ;-)

Nice review of The Book Thief film. I've been meaning to read that. Have not seen the film yet either. That will probably come first!

Nice comments on The Book Thief movie. I haven't seen it yet, but I think I'll check it out.

I really liked the book. Good to know that the movie version of The Book Thief is worth watching. It got quite a bit of attention in Germany.

Hi Lisa.

I am reading Henrietta's War, published by the same as your Mrs. Tim books. I'm quite enjoying it. Light and amusing with brief moments of poignancy.

I also have The Book Thief on the shelves....to be read....

I had an off-the-charts busy and stressful spring and have been hoping summer would ease a bit. So far it is turning out to be more of the same, but with nice long evenings. I do get to visit my sister in North Carolina over the 4th of July weekend, so that will be a mini-vacation.

I hope you're doing well as summer in the Seattle area settles in.

Hello everyone from Maine! K8 and I have been here a week without internet access other than on my phone. Today it will be hooked up in the family cabin, so hopefully I'll have some time in the coming week to get on LT for a while. Read We Die Alone on the plane. Excellent memoir of a Norwegian spy during WWII. Now reading an ER book: The Underground Girls of Kabul by a Swedish journalist. Interesting. Wishing you all a relaxing start to the summer!

Where do you stay in Maine? I was at my daughter's house on Great Diamond Island, Portland at Easter time, and will probably go again the last week in August. I love it up there.

>57 labfs39: Maine again! And a cabin with internet access! Wonders of the modern world.

>57 labfs39: Glad you are having a nice time in Maine. We didn't have internet (or TV for that matter) at my family's house up in the mountains until about five years ago.

Sounds like a lovely place to be - enjoy

Enjoy Maine - We spent time in Damarascotta several years ago, and I loved it.

Maine sounds lovely, Lisa. Actually, no internet can be a gift at times.

I'm flying back to Seattle today, having had a wonderful mini-vacation here in NC with my sister. I wish I could stay for another week but P will be glad to have me home.

Hope you had a lovely vacation Lisa!

I've managed one walk with Milo this week, it's been rainy & muggy. Hope to maybe pick blueberries tomorrow.

Where has the summer gone? I've been away so long, I hardly know where to begin. Since I last checked in, I returned from Maine, spent a week volunteering at a Girl Scout day camp, stripped the wallpaper out of my hallway (a project 14 years overdue), flew to NJ to visit my husband's cousins, flew from there to Maine for a funeral, back to NJ, back to Seattle, and have become completely obsessed with the Outlander tv series. Yes, Outlander is my guilty pleasure, and I have read the books many times. Never before have I been a fan girl, but I am very excited about this series (directed by Ronald D. Moore) and now follow along on Facebook and Twitter. Yes, me! Shocker, I know. Sigh. So, my most stunning reading accomplishment of the summer was to re-read all 8000 pages of the Outlander series.

But lest you think I've gone completely over to the dark side, I thought I would share a few highlights of other books I've read, thereby also getting them off my desk.

Edited to fix typo

A Tomb for Boris Davidovich by Danilo Kiš, translated from the Serbian by Duška Mikic-Mitchell

This thin volume is part of the Writers from the Other Europe series, edited by Philip Roth. It contains seven short works, including the titular story, with interwoven themes and some recurring characters. Although none of the characters are Serbo-Croatian and the stories are set in former Comintern countries, the depiction of ill treatment at the hands of Stalinists was enough to enrage Yugoslavs when the book was published in 1976. Critics also attacked the book as plagiarism, because of a technique Kiš used of including quotes directly lifted from other texts. Although he defended his use of textual transposition, the flap was enough to cause him to eventually flee to Paris where his marriage and his health deteriorated. His last work of note, Encyclopedia of the Dead, partially rehabilitated him, and he finally won the Andric Prize.

One story, "Dogs and Books", is set in 1330 and describes the persecution of Jews in France by the Inquisition. Baruch David Neumann is forcibly converted to Christianity and then fights to prove that conversion by force is not legal or morally binding. A mob disagrees with his learned argument:

I was busy reading and writing when a great number of these men burst into my chamber, armed with ignorance blunt as a whip, and hatred sharp as a knife.

I love that line.

It wasn't my silks that brought blood to their eyes, but the books arranged on my shelves; they shoved the silks under their cloaks, but they threw the books on the floor, stamped on them, and ripped them to shreds before my eyes.

The parallels between this attack by the Inquisition and later attacks on intellectuals by the NKVD (or the Gestapo, for that matter) are striking.

On August 16, 1330, Baruch finally wavered, confessed, and affirmed that he had renounced the Jewish faith. Since they had read to him the record of the hearing, the said Neumann, when asked whether he had made his confession under torture or immediately thereafter, answered that he had made his confession immediately thereafter, about three o'clock in the morning, and on that same day in the evening hours he made the same confession without having been first brought into the torture chamber.

And so is a man broken. No matter who is holding the whip.

The collection ends with a pseudo-biography, "The Short Biography of A.A. Darmolatov", and the following postscript:

He remains a medical phenomenon in Russian literature: Darmolatov's case was entered in all the latest pathology textbooks. A photography of his scrotum, the size of the biggest collective farm pumpkin, is also reprinted in foreign medical books, where elephantiasis (elephantiasis nostras) is mentioned, and as a moral for writers that to write one must have more than big balls.

As Kiš discovered to his own detriment.

The Chrysalids by John Wyndham

Rarely does NYRB Classics publish science fiction, but an exception was made for this classic example of the championing of freedom disguised as dystopian fiction.

David grows up in a tight-knit agrarian community of fundamentalists whose motto is "Keep pure the stock of the Lord; watch thou for the mutant". Of course, David and some of his acquaintances eventually discover that they are mutants and try to escape to the relative freedom of the Fringes.

The power of the story is not in the plot, so much as the universality of the struggle against religious and scientific dogmatism. Like it's predecessor, 1984, it is a timeless tale that horrifies and yet offers the hope that there is value in the struggle itself.

Nice to see you back posting Lisa. The Chrysalids is on my TBR

Yay, you're back! Maybe I'll be back someday too. :-)

>68 baswood: Bonjour, Barry! The Chrysalids was a fast and entertaining read. Mainstream, but classic.

>69 qebo: Hi qebo! I pop by your place occasionally, but had been neglecting my own dreadfully. When you get so far behind, it's hard to get started again. I read A Tomb for Boris in January and Chrysalids in February, but they warranted a shoutout, so I've had them on my desk all this time. I am skipping reviews for most of the books I've read this year, but a few deserving titles I'm trying to say something about before reshelving them.

Daniel Stein, Interpreter: A Novel in Documents by Ljudmila Ulitskaya, translated from the Russian by Arch Tait (winner of the Russian Booker Prize, read in April)

I wrote a fair amount about this book on my thread while I was reading it, but never wrote a real review. It's been so long now, that I am no longer close enough to write a review, but didn't want to put it away without reiterating how good it is. Why am I so lavish in praise?

• Author Ludmila Ulitskaya has been nominated for the Russian Booker Prize five times and was the first woman to win it (in 2001). She has also won the Simone de Beauvoir Prize, an international human rights prize for women's freedom.
  
  
• The novel is based on real-life hero, Oswald Rufeisen, a Polish born Jew who helped save hundreds of Jews during the Holocaust, fought as a partisan in the forests, and became a Carmelite priest. He applied to become an Israeli citizen under Right of Return, but was denied. He appealed to the Supreme Court, but the Court decided that anyone who converts is no longer eligible for preferential citizenship as a convert is no longer a Jew. He did eventually get citizenship through naturalization. He preached in Hebrew and sought to create a Church based on James.
  
  
• Ulitskaya uses the life of Rufeisen as the basis for an amazing novel told entirely through documents: speeches, interview transcripts, letters, newspaper articles, bulletin board notices, etc. Told from multiple perspectives in multiple formats, the story of Brother Daniel is a tapestry of impressions that nonetheless is easy to follow and complete. It's an amazing accomplishment.
  
  

P.S. My daughter loved the idea of a novel in documents so much, that she wrote a story about a girl and her family told through diary entries and emails.

Great to see you back. I just got my hands on a copy of Daniel Stein, Interpreter.

>72 avatiakh: Hi Kerry! I'll look forward to your thoughts on Daniel Stein. I'm trying to catch up on your thread, but your reviews are so good (and numerous) that it is taking me a while! I did notice that you are a Cherub fan. I read my first one while in Maine, as my nephew is a big fan too.

The Daughters of Mars by Thomas Keneally

I picked up this novel because a) it's set in WWI and b) I'd never read any of Keneally's other works, besides Schindler's List. It's the story of two sisters from a small town in Australia who join the war effort as nurses, in part to escape from their small town and the secret it holds. They face the horrors of the aftermath of battle in the Gallipoli, on Lemnos, and on the Western Front. Although I appreciated the fictionalized history, I remained lukewarm about the sisters, their fears, and their loves. Good novel, but didn't move me the way I expected. Perhaps it was the wrong book at the wrong time.

I hope that doesn't make you give up on Keneally; I've read a couple others of his and really enjoyed them! It's a shame that one didn't measure up.

I liked The Daughters of Mars better than you did, Lisa. I have yet to pursue other books by Keneally.

I've so far read Woman of the Inner Sea which was interesting, and The People's Train which I really really enjoyed.

>75 .Monkey.:, >77 .Monkey.: Hi Monkey! I like historical fiction and Russia, so The People's Train might be a good choice for me. You should add a review as there is only one on the book page.

>76 NanaCC: I got the recommendation from your review, Colleen, so thank you. I'm not sure why it didn't click more for me. Perhaps in a different mood it would have struck me differently.

Hallo :D
I read it back a few years ago, when I was still using GR. I'll have to check my files if I wrote something up for it back then, I could swear I did, but sometimes I think that and yet can't find anything! haha. But yeah I'm a fan of Russian stuff myself and that was the part I loved. The beginning was a little less interesting, a little slower, but not bad. But then it goes to the Russia stuff and all the historical stuff and I was completely into it. :))

Nice to see you back, Lisa, and glad you enjoyed your vacation (and got in some reading too). I read A Tomb for Boris Davidovich a few years ago, also in the Writers from the Other Europe edition, and it made me want to read more by Kis. I bought two more books, but have yet to read them.

I enjoyed all your reviews.

>79 .Monkey.: What are your favorite Russian reads, Monkey? I think my favorite living Russian-American author is Olga Grushin, but I like many of the 19th c classics too. I wrote a fun paper on Gogol's short stories once. Mostly I tend to read Russian memoirs and history these days.

>80 rebeccanyc: Thanks, Rebecca. I almost pm'ed you when I was in NYC last Friday, but we were only in the city sporadically, so it was a little short of notice to try and meet up. Maybe next time! :-)

I also have Encyclopedia of the Dead, but I haven't read it yet. A Tomb for Boris was very dark, even for me, but interesting. My edition had a thought-provoking and beautifully written introduction by Joseph Brodsky. I could have quoted passages from it too, it was so poetic and spot-on as to analysis. BTW, speaking of dissidents, have you ever read Andrei Sakharov's memoirs?I found them fascinating when I read them back in the early 90s.

61. We Die Alone by David Howarth

I read this excellent memoir on a transcontinental flight and couldn't put it down. The night I arrived at my destination, I stayed up to the wee hours finishing it. The author David Howarth ran a spy ring during WWII called the Shetland Bus, which ran spies from the Shetland Islands into occupied Norway. This book is derived from the story of one of those spies. Jan Baalstrud was a Norwegian, who had escaped the Germans and received special forces training in England. He and a few others were sent to the Norwegian coast by fishing vessel; their mission was to infiltrate inland, hook up with native resistance groups, and support them as much as possible. Unfortunately the group is betrayed shortly after their arrival and only Jan makes it off the beach alive. The story of his escape through the Norwegian Arctic is spellbinding. He faces hunger, unbearable cold, isolation, avalanches, snow blindness, frostbite, you name it. But thanks to the bravery and generosity of some individuals he meets along the way, he survives. His story is so incredible that the author takes pains to assure the reader of the verification process he went through in checking Jan's story. Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. Highly recommended.

>73 labfs39: I started reading the Cherub books a long while back when I was working for a children's literature organisation. They're now a guilty pleasure, I like that he writes real teens with hormones, the training and missions add up to great escapism. His Henderson Boys series is set during WW2 and follows the start of CHERUB.

Your reaction to Daughters of Mars is the first less positive one I've come across, most readers have loved it. I'll get to it eventually, I read his The chant of Jimmie Blacksmith earlier this year, it was brilliant. I heard Keneally talk alongside New Zealand historian Anne Salmond a few years back, they were both engaging speakers and together they made for a great session.

Adding We die alone to my list.

One of the things that stood out to me was the way in which the author tried to protect the dignity of the victims by refusing to go into gory details.

The details of these executions are known, but they are not a thing to be written or read about. Two men were selected for torture in the hope that they would talk; but the shooting of the other eight was accompanied by acts of ferocity which were absolutely aimless. Countries which are civilised and yet have recourse to execution have evolved the convention of the firing-squad and the one or two blank rounds. This protects the conscience of people whose duty compels them to act as executioners. The method the Germans used in Tromsø was the very opposite of this. yet it was done in strictest secrecy. There was no question of making use of cruelty as a deterrent to other people. It can only have been done as it was for one possible reason: to amuse the executioners. The Germans made it an orgy of hideous delight.

The author declines to name the two who were tortured, in case one of them (or both) gave up Jan's name under duress. I felt this discretion was justified and respectful. As a reader, I did not need to know the details in order to feel the horror or the sympathy that these men deserved, and they certainly did not deserve blame, if they did indeed confess. It is entirely possible, as the author points out, that the Germans already knew about the mission from a different source.

>83 avatiakh:, 84 Hi Kerry, sorry, we cross-posted. I'm glad you aren't avoiding The Daughters of Mars on account of my review. As I say, it might simply have been the wrong book at the wrong time. There was nothing I could point to as being the source of my lack of enthusiasm, perhaps only my own malaise. I'll look forward to your impressions. The session with Anne Salmond and Keneally sounds great. He has written on such a wide variety of historical subjects, hasn't he?

Wow, my desk is looking a whole lot better with some of the books reshelved. Still have The Underground Girls of Kabul that I need to review, both because it is an ER book and because it was so fascinating. I also have two books that I am debating whether to keep: Barney's Version by Mordecai Richler and an advanced reading copy of Grand Central: Original Stories of Postwar Love and Reunion. Has anyone read them?



By the way, I am currently reading The Long Ships by Frans G. Bengtsson. Wonderful! Thanks to all who recommended it.

Wow Lisa - So many good books. I'll definitely look for Daniel Stein, Interpreter. We Die Alone also sounds great. I'm not much of a science fiction fan, but I've heard a lot of good things about The Chrysalids. Welcome back.

I guess you are catching up om a backlog. Quite some interesting reading here, especially The Chrysalids, which I should attempt soon.

>81 labfs39: Would be great to meet you, Lisa, if you're here again!

>82 labfs39: We Die Alone sounds amazing.

>87 labfs39: I am one of those who loves loves loves The Long Ships! So glad you are enjoying it. A nice change from We Die Alone.

>81 labfs39: Well Nabokov is definitely my #1 favorite Russian author. For classics, Dostoevsky is probably the top of my list; Crime and Punishment and Brothers Karamazov were such excellent reads, I can't wait to read the others I own. :)) And modern, I don't know very many, but a few years ago I read the first of Boris Akunin's Erast Fandorin novels and really enjoyed it, and I love Sergei Lukyanenko's Night Watch series, soooo good!

I'm finally catching up with your catching up and glad to see you back. You may be luring me into reading perdition though with your Outlander confessions. Sometimes I have been known to wish I had such a book with me to escape heat/cold/ flu/laundry or any other excuse I can invent, but so far fear of addiction has kept me away. Well done, I say, to re-read it all!

I don't think I've ever seen the rage that books provoke expressed so well as in your review of A Tomb for Boris Davidovich It wasn't my silks that brought blood to their eyes, but the books arranged on my shelves; they shoved the silks under their cloaks, but they threw the books on the floor, stamped on them, and ripped them to shreds before my eyes. It doesn't seem to matter what country, the reaction is always the same; destroy the books and loot the rest.

We Die Alone sounds fascinating. Yet another book to add to the list.

I'm glad to see The Long Ships is working. What a great book to end what sounds like a hectic summer.

Hi Lisa--I'm trying to tiptoe my way back into LT after having been gone a few months (again!). I hope you've been having a good Seattle summer. We went to the East Coast for a week at the Jersey Shore over the 4th of July. What can I say--it wasn't Aruba, but that didn't matter because it was with my three sons, and grandson Teddie. This past week, my daughter, son-in-law, and grands Boden and Madeleine from Houston were visiting, along with my Palo Alto daughter and my youngest NYC son. No more traveling now, until we go to Houston in October where my oldest son, d-I-l and Teddie will be visiting Houston, and we will maximize grandchild time by visiting Houston too. However, perhaps a TPB meetup in September?

I discovered Thomas Kenneally years ago when I randomly picked up his book Confederates off the library shelf. It's a book about the US Civil War, and although I'm not terribly familiar with that era, I thought (at the time) it was one of the best depictions of what it would have felt like to be a soldier in that war. I was surprised to later learn that he was Australian. I've read several other of his books, including Schindler's Ark, but was not as impressed with them as I was withConfederates. I have Daughters of Mars, but for some reason it's not calling to me. You have reminded me to get to Daniel Stein, Interpreter, which I bought at Powell's at the same time you did.

eta--I'm one of those who loved The Long Ships, having read it on Rebecca's recommendation.

We did a group read of The Long Ships in the category challenge group last year, most of us really loved it.

>88 BLBera: Thanks, Beth. My reading may seem like it's been exceptional, but that's only because I am not reviewing all the chaff. I'm trying to get caught up and didn't want to get overwhelmed trying to review anything but the ones I wanted to make sure got a shout out.

I haven't caught up on your thread, but I did enjoy seeing the latest Scout photos. A born reader!

Don't let the sci-fi label put you off The Chrysalids. It's more aptly called a dystopian novel, perhaps, in the vein of The Road or 1984.

>89 edwinbcn: Thanks, Edwin. I'll look forward to your comments if/when you get to The Chrysalids. I've read that he is most famous for The Day of the Triffids; I might try that one as well at some point.

>90 rebeccanyc: We Die Alone was amazing, Rebecca. I think you would enjoy it. Just one more aspect of WWII to explore. :->

Unfortunately, we don't get to NYC very often since my MIL passed. I will try to be more forward thinking next time though, and shoot you an email. It would be fun to talk books in person.

I'm about half way through The Long Ships and appreciating the tongue in cheek humor and great writing. My better half is eagerly waiting for his chance to read it.

>91 .Monkey.: The only Nabokov I've read is Lolita, but I recently purchased a set that includes Pnin and The Defense. I haven't read Akunin or Lukyanenko. Have you read Sorokin's Ice Trilogy? You might like it. Not only is it well-written, but it has a sci-fi/speculative aspect you might find interesting.

>92 SassyLassy: Yes, Sassy, Outlander "confessions" is a good way to put it. I might need a 12 step program to help me through. ;-) Who knew a scientist could write such addictive historical fiction?

"Dr. Gabaldon holds three degrees in science: Zoology, Marine Biology, and a Ph.D. in Quantitative Behavioral Ecology, (plus an honorary degree as Doctor of Humane Letters, which entitles her to be “Diana Gabaldon, Ph.D., D.H.L.” She supposes this is better than “Diana Gabaldon, Phd.X,”) and spent a dozen years as a university professor with an expertise in scientific computation before beginning to write fiction. She has written scientific articles and textbooks, worked as a contributing editor on the MacMillan ENCYCLOPEDIA OF COMPUTERS, founded the scientific-computation journal SCIENCE SOFTWARE QUARTERLY, and has written numerous comic-book scripts for Walt Disney. None of this has anything whatever to do with her novels, but there it is."

-From her website: http://www.dianagabaldon.com/

>93 arubabookwoman: Hi Deborah, it's great to hear from you! I'm glad you had a pleasant summer with your growing family. I'll have to check your site for photo updates. ;-)

A TPB meet up in the fall sounds great. I wonder when their next sale will be?

Our Portland/Powell's trip seems so long ago! I had such a good time. I'll look forward to your thoughts about Daniel Stein when you get to it. I think we made a fortuitous random purchase with that title.

>94 avatiakh: I'll have to look for the thread, Kerry. It would be fun to read, even after the fact.

>95 labfs39: I haven't, and my library of course only has him in Dutch, grr, because he writes in something other than English and the only English they do is native, no translations (aside of the odd Dutch title). hrmph.

I adore Lukyanenko's work, I hope they translate more of it, with his popularity from Night Watch. On the face of it, it's supernatural stories of good guys v bad guys, but it's actually a lot deeper than that. It's really all about morality and shades of gray and blurred lines and such. So you get the fun interesting fast-paced supernatural stories, but then you finish and just sit there thinking about it all. Hard to explain it well, and it's not like it makes the stories heavy or whatnot, it's just done so perfectly! :D I finally just got the last book of the series, but it's been 2 yrs since I read the other 4, so I'm going to have to reread them to refresh myself, which I rarely ever do, but I'm looking forward to it since I know already how amazing they are, lmao, and since this is it, I kind of want to save it a little, you know? Like when I found out about it I was all NEED NOW!!! but now that I've finally got it... :P

I'm so happy that Outlander is a show now, and doing well because I worked in a bookstore when Outlander and the first few sequels came out and Diana Gabaldon did signings for us. She was just a tremendously nice and fun person. I bought Outlander because I felt sorry for her sitting alone at the card table at the front of the store (I got a lot of books that way). Of course, she didn't really need my support! But it's nice to have a signed first edition of Outlander.

Good to see you back! I always enjoy your thoughtful comments about the books you are reading.

Yep - also watching Outlander. The Hubster says "I'm enjoying it even though I miss or don't understand half of what they say."

They really have done a masterful job of casting this thing.

Hi Lisa! Wow, it's been a long time since I last visited, but as usual, you are still reading some excellent books. I am glad you liked the film version of The Book Thief. I've been putting that one off, since it received such tepid reviews. You were one of the first positives I've seen.

Excellent review of We Die Alone. It sounds like, just my cuppa. Also, I have had The Long Ships on my To-Read list, for ages. Maybe, you'll be the one that tips me over...

How is All the Light coming on audio? I also have it saved in this format. LT opinion seems to be somewhat mixed.

I am planning on doing the new Murakami book, as a Group Read in October. Be there or be square.

I enjoyed catching up on your reviews and comments.

We Die Alone goes onto the wishlist. Outlander has been there for years; you prompt me to get to it now, but I hesitate at a "series." Does it stand satisfyingly alone?

>97 .Monkey.: I understand the desire to reread a good series before starting a the latest one. Sometimes it's nice to know in advance exactly what you are going to get. It's soothing, in a way. At least I find my periodic rereads of Outlander to be that way.

>98 RidgewayGirl: I started reading Outlander in 1992, not long after the first one was published and have been a fan ever since. In 2005 or so, I was in Scottsdale, where the author is from, and there was a Highland Games going on. Never having been to one, I wandered in and to my delight found Diana Gabaldon alone at a table signing books. Like you, Kay, I found her to be quite delightful and unassuming (though by 2005 she was a definite success). So I bought another copy, this one signed. :-)

>99 Poquette: Thank you, Suzanne. I'm afraid my reading has been a bit more scattered of late.

>100 SuziQoregon: Another Outlander fan! My husband has read the books, and is, in fact, at this moment re-reading Dragonfly in Amber. He is rereading them before reading the latest. He and I have both been loving the series. I appreciate the pacing, the gorgeous Scottish countryside, the lighting, the music, and especially the desire for historical accuracy. Have you been listening to Ron D. Moore's podcasts for each episode? It's basically like a director's cut and gives you the back story for each. His wife, Terry Dresbach, is the costume designer, and she sat in on a couple of the podcasts talking about the research that went into the costumes. Her blog, An Eighteenth Century Life, is good too. And yes, the casting was insightful. Tobias Menzies has a tough job playing both Frank and Black Jack. He's done a good job at defining the two roles.

>101 msf59: Hi Mark! I watched The Book Thief with my book club after reading the book. I hadn't seen any reviews; you've made me curious. I love Geoffrey Rush, so that helped.

I do think you would like We Die Alone, and The Long Ships for that matter. As for All the Light, I'm afraid it is languishing unlistened to. The first few chapters were okay, but I haven't been sucked in yet. Perhaps it's a long build up, but so far it's pleasant without being compelling. If I were stranded on an island with nothing else to do...

Okay. Murakami October. Got it!

>102 StevenTX: Thank you, Steven. I'm afraid I haven't caught up with your thread yet. It's starred, but I know I'll need fortitude to get through your wonderful and complex reviews. Soon!

>103 detailmuse: I think you would like We Die Alone, MJ. It the kind of book I think just about everyone would enjoy. Very gripping. As for Outlander, yes, it does stand on it's own, and it is my favorite one in the series. I would be surprised if you read it and didn't want to continue, however. The characters feel so real and their situation so compelling that I, for one, was eager to stay with them in their world. Not because of any cliffhanger ending, but simply because I wasn't ready to return to RL. Do you know the kind of book that draws you in so completely that you loose track of the world outside? I have never been drawn in to a story as completely as I am with this series. I don't know why. When I try to describe it, it sounds rather silly. But something brings me back to them year after year.

Do other people have books that have a similar effect on them?

Definitely. Though like I said, I'm not much for rereading, because there's too much else out there still to be read! :P But I certainly know what you mean. I think any avid reader would. :)

>105 .Monkey.: Do you have a thread going currently, Monkey? The thread I have starred seems dormant...

Yeeeeah I went MIA for a few months there and haven't updated in ages. Since making my way back here I've gone from a bit of lurking to jumping back in to some threads, but haven't picked my own back up. I ought to, I might, we shall see! :P

Oh I didn't know about the podcasts - I must find those!!

>107 .Monkey.: Ok, no pressure. I just didn't want to be missing out. ;-)

>108 SuziQoregon: The podcasts are available on iTunes or at http://www.starz.com/originals/outlander/extras/extras.

76. Mrs. Tim Gets a Job by D.E. Stevenson

This is the third in the Mrs. Tim books and was published in 1947. The four very successful Mrs. Tim books grew out of the author's diaries from this period and reflect her experiences as an army wife. This one sees Hester on her own with her husband stationed in Egypt and her children at boarding school. Although the war has ended, times are still tight, with continued rationing. Deciding that she must keep busy and needed a place to live after her current lease expires, Hester decides to take a job helping to run an inn in the Scottish borderlands. Tocher House is a private estate owned by a single woman needing to take in guests in order to keep her home. Hester learns to adapt to the crotchety owner while observing the inn guests with her usual wit (and matchmaking skills).

I continue to enjoy the series for its comfortable, relaxing reads about a strong woman faced with ordinary, homey problems. I still can't understand her love for her husband, whom we rarely see or hear from, when she is obviously best friends with the inestimable Tony Morley. She writes so much more about Tony than Tim. I keep hoping that she and Tony will get together, but according to her biography, that is a vain hope.

Recommended for when you are unable to focus on anything remotely difficult.

>65 labfs39: Outlander
Oh dear, this looks interesting... but they are numerous and long...

I love D. E. Stevenson. I've only read the first book in the Mrs. Tim series, but hope to get to others. I'm not sure how easy they are to get. I've read the first two Miss Buncle's and enjoyed those, and The Young Clementina. I find them relaxing and humorous.

I bought the first Mrs. Tim in the Bloomsbury Group edition, but the others I've had to borrow from the library. Bloomsbury only republished the first one.



The Miss Buncle books were republished by Sourcebooks in 2012 with cute covers, and I purchased the first three of those.



I haven't read the last one, as I didn't enjoy The Two Mrs. Abbotts as much as the first two.

>111 qebo: Whoops, sorry, qebo, didn't mean to skip you. The Outlander books are very long (800-1200 pages) each, but rabidly readable. My husband is rereading them currently. Tonight he finished the second one and immediately went to the shelf and started the next. They are not for everyone, but I find them immensely satisfying.

The Outlander books look very tempting (a solid story, history, characters, etc.) but I'm a bit reluctant about the fantasy-aspect. If it's merely a matter of time-lapses, I can live with that. It's ghosts and magic I'm allergic to. So, knowing my reading-tastes, would you recommend them to me?

>115 Trifolia: There's no paranormal stuff, outside of the conceit of the main character coming from another time. I liked the book, it's great fun and a lot of research went into it, and normally I hate the whole time traveler idea.

Persephone also published the Miss Buncle books. The covers are grey with French flaps, but inside each cover is an image of a fabric reminiscent of the era of the book. These covers show the inner fabrics:

and and

From left to right, Miss Buncle's Book, Miss Buncle Married and The Two Mrs Abbots

Odd, but until today I have always read Miss Buncle as Miss Buncie. I have never actually read the books, maybe that's why.

>117 SassyLassy: The Persephone covers are very pretty.

> 116 - Thanks, Alison, I think I might give it a try.

I will be back to respond to everyone soon, but I wanted to pop in and say that I just realized that my last review (of Mrs. Tim Gets a Job) was my 300th. Perhaps I can retroactively say that is why I bought myself four books today (like with a Thingaversary). :-p

I bought

Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami (fortunately it is much smaller than 1Q84, Mark is leading a group read in October).

Gone Girl (which I anticipate disliking, but it is for this month's book club meeting in a couple of weeks)

Dragonfly in Amber and Voyager by Diana Gabaldon (books 2 & 3 in the Outlander series. My original copies are so worn that I finally broke down and replaced them.)

Congrats on 300 reviews! I am 200 behind you. ;-)

>120 labfs39: Gone Girl (which I anticipate disliking, but it is for this month's book club meeting in a couple of weeks)... for the same excellent reason, I live in fear that my book club will select it.

And I understand there's going to be a movie of Gone Girl too . . . Another must to avoid . . .

>115 Trifolia: Monica, the only sci-fi element is that she touches some standing stones and goes back in time to 1743. It's strictly a plot device that allows for the author to explore what it would be like if a 20th century women (and the reader) were to find themselves "strangers in a strange land", i.e. the Highlands right before the Jacobite Rebellion of '45. The author, being a scientist and professor, does tons of research to ensure historical accuracy. The richness of historical detail is one of the biggest draws for me. The other is the characters. The books continue through the rise of the Stuart Pretender, his attempts to secure financing from the French king, the Rising ending with the Battle of Culloden, the destruction of the Highland way of life, emigration to America, and the lead up to the American Revolution.

>116 RidgewayGirl: My husband reads them too, and he reads very little history or historical fiction.

>117 SassyLassy: Ooh, Sassy, I love those fabric patterns! Thanks for sharing.

>121 Poquette: Ah, but your reviews are works of art!

>122 SassyLassy:, 123 Part of my reluctance to read Gone Girl is the desire to avoid overly hyped books, which I tend to not enjoy. The other thing is that I am a squeamish reader when it comes to this sort of plot line (as opposed to historical atrocities, which I read all the time). Strange, I know, but there it is.

*****************

I have made a new LT friend, Luisali, who has an amazing and interesting collection of titles under her WWII and "albori della dittatura" (dawn of dictatorship) tags in her library. I only perused a page or two of titles and added several to my wishlist. I had to stop before overwhelming myself, but I will certainly return.

Thank you!

>120 labfs39: To get into the list of the 1000 most prolific reviewers on LT you have to have reviewed 325 currently. That number of course continually gets higher, but you are not too far away now. I stand at 346 reviews and so I am a little way up the list, but there are some others in club read ahead of me.

>126 baswood: Huh. Maybe if I got off my butt and wrote some reviews, I could join you in the exalted ranks. ;-) Seriously though, thank you for writing so many wonderful reviews and sharing them with us. You change me to read beyond my comfort zone.

In a former life as a grad student at REEI, I studied Russian and East European history and literature. I thought I would share the list of current readings recommended for all REEI grads. I found it interesting and wishlisted a couple of things.

"The following is a list of books recommended for the well-educated M.A. student in Russian and East European studies. Included are key books that have influenced the field and books of synthesis that provide an overview of developments. We have tried to maintain geographical balance, something not always easy, because in some areas, such as the literature of East Central and Southeastern Europe, most books simply focus on the literature of one country or nation. These books are expected to have staying power. Also included is a list of important journals and reference works in the Russian and East European area."
REEI RECOMMENDED READING LIST

Ooh, how interesting, thanks for sharing!

Yes, thanks, Lisa! But it's too bad the literature books are all surveys and there aren't recommendations of actual works of fiction. Still, it's a great list.

>130 rebeccanyc: The reason it includes only surveys is because this list is meant to be read by all graduates of REEI, regardless of focus. Despite each thesis having to be relating to three fields of study, students also need to be conversant on other subject areas. So a thesis might be on the economics of women's labor pre- and post- fall of the Berlin Wall (economics, history, women's studies), but the student would still be expected to read the literature surveys. Or if writing a comparison of the Finnish and Estonian versions of the Kalevala and the mythical and historical influences on each (literature, mythology, history), she would still be responsible for knowing about Soviet military-civilian relations. The center takes the interdisciplinary part of their mission very seriously.

Unfortunately, Indiana University does not appear to make it's syllabi available online. Too bad because there are some amazing courses being offered.

# 124, Thanks, Lisa, you won me over. I've put Outlander on my wishlist and thought of reading it during the Christmas-holidays. I'll have two weeks off then and I think it would be an excellent book to dive into. I can live with "touching the standing stones" as a device. One of my very favourite children's-books was Crusade in Jeans about a boy who was "transmitted" to the middle ages and joined the children's crusade. I reread it at least 5 times and am still tempted to read it again. And I think it influenced my choice to become a historian.

The REEI-list is impressive, but I'm a bit astonished that it's not more up-to-date?

>131 labfs39: The center takes the interdisciplinary part of their mission very seriously.

I'll say!

>132 Trifolia: I hope you enjoy it when you get to it, Monica. I've been a fan since I read the first one over 20 years ago.

You are right, the list was created in 2000. My guess is that it was put up on the web and left to languish. I should shoot off on email and get them to update the page.

>133 rebeccanyc: You can see perhaps why I didn't feel it necessary to also major in comparative literature at the same time. :-)

*******************

Haven't read a page in almost a week. Feeling the deprivation...

Haven't read a page in almost a week. Feeling the deprivation...... I understand how you feel.

Hello Lisa!
We Die Alone sounds wonderful, in an odd sort of way. I'm adding it to my list.

>128 labfs39: thanks for posting that link. My brief time in Poland in 1981 makes me interested. This is a great list.

Not reading a page in almost a week -- that means a lot is going on for you. Take good care. I hope we can connect this fall or winter....

Just passing through and waving Hello!!

Hello all. I have had an incredibly busy and difficult few months. I apologize for abandoning my thread and hope to return to it, as well as yours, on a regular basis soon. One project that is taking up significant amounts of my time is an Editing Certificate that I am pursuing at the University of Washington. I'm enjoying it immensely, and recommend it for all word geeks, but becoming a student again has been a transition. Reading assignments, homework, class are pursuits that require a different type of discipline from the other things that I do. I'll keep you posted on my progress. Wish me luck!

62. The Underground Girls of Kabul by Jenny Nordberg (read in June)

My initial review evaporated into cyberspace, so this is an abbreviated version.

I have read about Afghan girls who were forced by circumstances to dress as boys in order to help their families survive in a gender segregated society. And the movie, Osama, by Afghan director, Siddiq Barmak, was fascinating. But what sets this book apart, aside from its depth, is the way the author focuses on the responses of the girls to their adopted gender.

Most of the girls Jenny Nordberg interviewed had been assigned a male gender by their parents, often in collusion with the local imam. From a very young age, if not birth, the girls are brought up as boys. Far more significant than merely adopting a short haircut and a boy's clothes is the difference in the way a child is treated if others believe her to be a boy. Children walk, talk, and live differently. It's not make-believe dress-up, and it can be dangerous.

Some girls become bacha posh when their parents realize they are not going to have a subsequent male child, or there is some unforeseen change in family makeup. Some girls resist this change and have a hard time adopting culturally male traits such as running, talking loudly, making eye contact, etc. Others delight in the sudden freedom. Some suddenly become the apple of their parents' eyes, since they are now boys.

If girls have different reactions to becoming boys, the variety of responses to being told to revert to being a girl upon puberty, as all are, is even greater. Some are relieved to return to what they see as their true self. Others are saddened or angry; some refuse to make the transition back, unwilling to give up the freedoms they enjoy as a young man. The stories are heartbreaking or inspiring or both. For while society is willing to play along with families who raise a young girl as a boy, it can be violent and unforgiving with women who refuse to give up their status as bacha posh.

This is a fascinating and well-written book by investigative journalist, Jenny Nordberg. In addition to her writing, she has produced a television documentary on Afghan women, for which she was awarded the Robert F. Kennedy Award for Excellence in Journalism. A piece on the bacha posh which she wrote for the New York Times can be found at Afghan Boys Are Prized, So Girls Live the Part.

Quote from the Underground Girls of Kabul:

She has been my bodyguard and my negotiator and my researcher and my buddy... She has risked her life for me, and I will always guard her secrets. If there is hope in Afghanistan, she is it. When and if Afghanistan takes a more fundamentalist turn, all the Setarehs, all the Mehrans, all the Azitas, and all the underground tae kwon do girls will go first. Whatever they wear and regardless of the gender they display, they will once again risk being locked behind closed doors, in darkness, their education, wisdom, and spunk wasted. This small handful of women who have sprouted up in the past decade will disappear from this magical place full of secrets, bristling with power and promise, that they could have helped run.

One wonders whether they already have...

>139 labfs39: BB. Sigh.

I've been wondering about you, checked your thread recently, saw the last post was a month ago which didn't seem terribly long... Glad you've surfaced.

>138 labfs39: I am fascinated by what an Editing Certificate involves! As an editor myself, I learned on the job, but I am sure there are ways to speed up that process. Glad to see you back.

Fabulous review of The Underground Girls of Kabul, Lisa! I'll add it to my wish list.

It's good to see you back here.

Hi Lisa: Good luck with your new status as a student. Great review of The Underground Girls of Kabul. I will look for it.

The underground girls of Kabul has gone on my wish list - for sometime in December after my class is over. Like you, I'm not posting much here for the duration.

Best of luck with the program, and I hope it makes you more desirable as an employee.

Oh that book sounds fascinating!

>141 qebo: Hi qebo, I've been super busy, and LT has had to take a back seat to RL. As an example, two weekends ago I was at GS camp with the girls, and this past weekend I earned my certificate in Wilderness First Aid. So two weekends where nothing else could happen. Plus my class is taking more time than I anticipated.

>142 rebeccanyc: I thought of you when I decided to pursue the editing certificate, Rebecca. I have always been interested in editing and have skirted around the edges of the field. The local University offers a four class certificate program, and I decided to take the plunge. The classes meet on Wednesday nights with a once a month workshop on Saturdays. The class is taught by people in the field, and we have weekly speakers including editors, copyeditors, and proofreaders. Some work freelance, others are in-house. The first class, which I am taking now, is on Editorial Roles and Grammar for Editors. Then I have Copyediting and Editing for the Web, followed by Advanced Editing and Career Practicum. For the practicum, I need a real world piece to edit, so if anyone out there has something, let me know. :-) My goal is to be able to freelance from home.

>143 kidzdoc: Thanks, Darryl. I'm glad to see you're back on your thread too. I haven't actually been on it yet, but I see the numbers of posts increasing again.

>144 BLBera: Being a student again has been an adjustment, but I'm hoping that it will get easier. Your thread is still starred, Beth. I apologize it has been so long since I made an appearance.

>145 markon: Thanks, Ardene. I haven't worked since all my hip operations began, and I feel as though my resume is very stale. Plus, I honestly wasn't excited to continue in my previous career. I wanted a change, something more flexible, and I am hoping that editing will give me options.

>146 SuziQoregon: It is, Juli! I hope you try it.

99. Mrs. Tim Flies Home by D. E. Stevenson

I read this fourth and final installment of the Mrs. Tim series in a rush, as it was overdue at the library. Each book is very similar in structure (diary entries of Mrs. Tim) and plot (Mrs. Tim fending for herself while her husband is away at a military post). As with the others, this book featured young people who face romantic entanglements and an older woman on her own. For the first time, Tony Morley's feelings for Hester were acknowledged by others, although Hester remains unaware of his love, or at least refuses to countenance the idea, as it would necessarily end their friendship. As a reader, I continued to hope Tim would get killed in a stray military skirmish, as he is an undeveloped character, whereas Tony is heroically loyal and passionate. Alas, it is not to be.

I'm now in need of a new go-to source for when I need something light and gentle. Any recommendations for British books written in the 1930s to 1950s that would fit the bill?

I heard a wonderful new term on the Books on the Nightstand podcast this morning: book hangover. I love it! It seems to perfectly capture the sense of dazed lassitude of a mind fixated on the experiences of the near past. I suffer from it most when I have read a long book or series that captured my imagination so completely that I have a hard time leaving that created world. A case in point would be my rereading of the epic Outlander series this summer. 8000 pages later, I felt stunned, and it has taken me much more than a literary bloody mary to overcome.

Has anyone else suffered a book hangover? What was it like? How did you recover?

No book hangover for me yet. I guess my reading's too inconsistent to be affected by it. But it is a great concept.
Good luck with the Editing Certificate you're pursuing. It's an admirable step to go for such a career-change!

Yes! and it takes anywhere from a few to several days to be able to fully engage with a new book. I save short stories and non-fiction for this, but also Flipboard. And having several books going at once helps.

Is there a thing called book inebriation to go with it? You know, when you're in the middle of that giant tome and half living in it as you ghost-walk through ordinary life? Victorian novels are the worst for this, so I try to avoid them.

>147 labfs39: Thanks for that description of the editing program, Lisa. It sounds fascinating.

>149 labfs39:, 151 Both book hangovers and book inebriation for me (although one doesn't necessarily lead to the other, as in the non-book world!).

Oh yeah, I know what a book hangover feels like. I love the term. And I love your description of your recent experience with it:

"...8000 pages later, I felt stunned, and it has taken me much more than a literary bloody mary to overcome."
:-)

It's good to have you back, Lisa. I hope we can connect one of these Wednesdays. Is that the only day of the week you're on campus?

>150 Trifolia: Thanks, Monica! Instead of being trepidatious, as I probably should be, I am quite excited about a career change. As part of my job as archivist at Lakeside, I wrote a regular two-page spread, as well as various features, for the magazine, and occasionally filled in as editor when she was away. It was fun, but at the time, I didn't think of it as a possible job. Now I have the opportunity to try something new, and it's quite exciting.

>151 RidgewayGirl: I'm glad I'm not the only one to suffer book afflictions, Kay. And I love the term book inebriation too! The image of ghost-walking through life is all too familiar. That's when I need a big button that reads "Shh! I'm reading."

>152 rebeccanyc: although one doesn't necessarily lead to the other, as in the non-book world That's true for me, too, Rebecca. I wonder why that is? Book hangover is much more rare than book inebriation. Not being a drinker in RL, the corollaries are all hypothetical, but seem to hold up rather nicely!

>153 EBT1002: Hi Ellen. Yes, classes are on Wednesday evenings from 6:30-9:30, with a once a month Saturday workshop. Our first Saturday is Nov. 15, the second Dec. 13.

Reading for my class:



The Chicago Manual of Style, 16th ed.



The Copyeditor's Handbook by Amy Einsohn



How to Write Short by Roy Peter Clark

Hi Lisa - I haven't been very good at visiting threads either, so no worries. Your class sounds fun. I love editing.

I definitely know what a book hangover is. Mostly I feel at loose ends when I finish something I loved.

Angela Thirkell might fill in for the Stevenson books. I loved Miss Buncle's Book and have been meaning to get back to her.

I'm late to welcoming you back, but still, welcome back again. I'm happy for you pursuing the Editign Certificate. Loved your review of The Underground a girls of Kabul.

I don't know if can think of lingering in a book too much to read the next one as a hangover, as I associate a hangover with unpleasantness- headaches and whatnot, but the state does need a word.

>155 labfs39: I hope you're just learning to use The Chicago Manual of Style and not reading the whole thing! I'm not familiar with the other two books, but they sound interesting. Chicago has a web site too (http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/home.html), and if you sign up every now and then you get e-mails with answers to style questions people have posed.

I'm also very interested in your editing certificate and subsequent work experience. I'm still in the midst of my music career, but I know I'll retire from it sometime between age 46-56 and will most likely need to find another way to make some money to supplement my pension. Editing sounds like an intriguing idea.

>156 BLBera: Thank you, Beth, for the recommendation of Angela Thirkell. Her name is familiar, but I have never read any of her books. I see that she is quite prolific. Where would you suggest I start?

Miss Buncle's Book was fun, and I read two of the next books in the series, but I thought the first was the best.

>157 dchaikin:, 158 Hi Dan! Thanks for stopping by my thread. Usually my book hangovers are negative, especially since they tend to occur at the end of a series. I will have a headache from reading nonstop the day/night/week before, bleary-eyed from same, a negative taste in my mouth from eating who knows what as I haven't cooked for days, but simply lived on whatever was to hand. Rarely is my book hangover a dreamy, happy state. More often it is like withdrawal from an addiction, leaving me obsessively desirous of more. Perhaps in my case "book withdrawal" is more accurate, but less snappy sounding.

>159 rebeccanyc: We were assigned passages of CMS, especially those at the beginning describing processes, but the real usage begins in a couple of weeks with Grammar for Editors. I often find myself reading chunks, however, when I look up something. For instance, I will look up a specific thing about quote marks, and then end up reading the entire section because I get sucked into it. That word geekery thing I mentioned. I signed up for the free trail of the online version and love it for quick look-ups, but I then find myself back in the book reading. The Gregg Manual is next, I think. BTW, do you have a preferred dictionary for work, or do you use several, depending on the required style sheet? I am trying to decide whether I need to purchase an online dictionary as well, and, if so, which.

>160 japaul22: Stay tuned, as I'm sure I'll write more as the classes progress. Wednesday is my last class in Editorial Roles. I was surprised to learn about all the different types of editors and the impact they have on a work, even translated works (where I assumed the translator did most of the editorial work). I have become even more self-conscious about my writing, but I am trying to separate the colloquial style I use on my thread with the more formal style that requires the application of the rules I am learning. Otherwise I could become bogged down in continual self-editing. For instance, just in this paragraph I wondered whether to hyphenate or not, the correct use of parenthesis in this case, the capitalization of the name of the class, etc., etc. Refused to linger over the issues though. Read at your peril!

>161 labfs39: Yes, I imagine it would be hard to separate out all you're learning from casual writing here. I know I intentionally don't give the same attention to grammar, syntax, etc. here that I would in formal writing. I like a conversational tone on these threads!

100. Without You, There is No Us: My Time with the Sons of North Korea's Elite by Suki Kim

Suki Kim was born in Seoul, but moved to the United States when she was thirteen. Fascinated by North Korea, Kim has traveled to Pyongyang several times as a journalist, but always on carefully scripted and choreographed trips with an official minder at her elbow. Like Barbara Demick and Blaine Harden, Kim has interviewed untold deserters, but has been unable to get the much desired firsthand perspective. Until now.

The Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST) opened its doors in 2010 to the sons of North Korea's elite. Funded by Christian evangelicals, all the classes are taught in English by foreign teachers. It is a closed campus and strictly monitored by North Korean minders, but Suki Kim saw it as an opportunity to get an inside scoop. So in 2011 she posed as a Christian teacher and taught at the school for two semesters.

Her students were highly privileged young men who had already spent time at university studying in their field. They were at PUST to hone their English skills and, perhaps, to keep them from the mandatory manual labor other university students were required to perform. Kim found them to be both astonishingly innocent (hardly surprising given the stranglehold North Korea's leaders have on information) and astonishingly good liars. Delicately she tried to learn more about their lives and their country while simultaneously trying to plant seeds about the world outside.

Suki Kim's book is a glimpse, however narrow, into the closed society of North Korea and for that reason is newsworthy. Unfortunately, she is unable to glean much that is new. For those who have to chose a single work on the topic, I still think Barbara Demick's Nothing to Envy is the gold standard. As a memoir, however, Without You, There is No Us is interesting because of two moral dilemmas confronting Kim. First, she is living a lie. Kim knows that if it is discovered that she is a journalist, the best that she can hope for is to be expelled. Lying to the North Korean government may be stressful, but is not morally difficult for Kim. Much more difficult is lying to her evangelical co-workers who all assume she is Christian.

I knew I would eventually tell the world what I had seen there and that this would cause my colleagues much anguish, the thought of which was upsetting. I could only hope they would forgive me by turning the the Bible and their Lord who, according to them, created everything, including me and my eventual, inevitable betrayal.

The second moral dilemma is how much to reveal to her students. These are elite young men being groomed to take positions of power in their country. Should she try and shake their doctrine or expose them to Western ideas of democracy and freedom?

Was this really unconscionable? Awakening my student to what was not in the regime's program could mean death for them and those they loved. If they were to wake up and realize that the outside world was in fact not crumbling, that it was their country that was in danger of collapse, and that everything they had been taught about the Great Leader was bogus, would that make them happier? How would they live from that point on? Awakening was a luxury available only to those in the free world.

Despite raising some provocative questions, I felt that Suki Kim's actions and reflections were somewhat ambiguous. Perhaps more time will allow her to reach some conclusions or insights that she has not yet had time to process.

As a reader, I found the book slow in the beginning and the references to her unnamed lover in Brooklyn to be distracting. I wish the whole book had been structured more tightly and that the transitions between personal history and journalistic writing had been handled more smoothly. I would recommend this book for those with a particular interest in North Korea, but not as a stand alone representation of current journalistic work in the area.

>161 labfs39: I have always relied on Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary because it's always had a good representation of science terms, but I've also used specialized scientific dictionaries too. I'm not at home, so I can't quickly look at the ones on my shelves, but I don't think you're going to focus on science so you probably wouldn't be interested. I haven't kept them very up-to-date though.

I'd be interested in what kind of editor you're aiming to be. My first training was a proofreader, then a copy editor, and now I like to work with authors at early stages of their work to help them shape what they're writing. But, once a proofreader, always a proofreader. Typos just jump out at me no matter what I'm reading.

And there are still things I never remember (punctuation inside or outside quotation marks, for example) and always have to look up!

>163 labfs39: You have read Nothing to Envy, right? For me, that's the gold standard of books about North Korea.

>163 labfs39: references to her unnamed lover
Yeah, that was odd. I wanted to say he's not that into you, why is he here?
I wish ... the transitions between personal history and journalistic writing had been handled more smoothly
Good point. She was understandably anxious, w/ first hand experience of what it’s like to live under such conditions (I wouldn’t’ve been able to do what she did), but this sometimes seemed to overwhelm her ability to perceive others; she was reacting rather than analyzing.

Hi Lisa - High Rising is the first in the Barsetshire series. I don't know that it's necessary to read them in order. I've only read a couple and thought they were fun.

>163 labfs39: sounds like an interesting look at moral ambiguity in journalism. Except maybe even more complicated than that.

>164 rebeccanyc: Yes, M-W New Collegiate, seems to be the one most often recommended. Do you use a print or online version? There is a free online version, but I'm not sure if that is the New Collegiate. The Webster's 3rd New International, Unabridged online version is $30 per year.

I think I need experience both proofreading and copyediting to wet my feet in the process. Developmental editing sounds fun, but I don't feel confident enough to start there. Part of it will depend on what I can find as a freelancer. There are few in-house editing positions in Seattle, so freelancing seems like the best option.

I had lunch with a friend today who agrees that a typo can be like a hammer upside the head throwing you out of the reading experience! For an interesting history of the phrase "upside the head" and why a writer should never use it, see http://www.nytimes.com/1995/02/12/magazine/on-language-upside-the-head.html.

Finally, I had to chuckle when I read your comment, "You have read Nothing to Envy, right? For me, that's the gold standard of books about North Korea." In my review, I wrote, "For those who have to chose a single work on the topic, I still think Barbara Demick's Nothing to Envy is the gold standard." Great minds think alike!

>165 qebo: I agree, qebo, and even less oblique were the transitions from describing her childhood or life in New York to the classroom in North Korea. Sometimes it was quite jolting.

>166 BLBera: Thanks, Beth. I have requested High Rising from the library to have on hand for my next comfort read.

>167 dchaikin: That's an elegant way to put it, Dan. Although Suki Kim does raise the question of what her role vis-a-vis her students should be, but she never attempts an answer. Her actions range from calling the students her children to being angry at their "belligerent isolation". She risks a lot, both emotionally and physically, to write a book that seems incomplete and without much payoff in terms of new information. It seems an odd professional move to make, given that publishing this book must make it impossible for her to return to North Korea. As another reviewer wrote, it's curious that she didn't continue to return to PUST until she either uncovered some new information (a journalistic purpose) or awakened her students (a moral purpose). Instead, she accomplishes neither.

Does Suki Kim's book have any repercussion for the PUST and the westerners working there? I mean, I can see jumping at the chance of teaching there for a year in order to write about it, but did she consider what her book would mean to the people still there?

>168 labfs39: I still use the print version, Lisa, and had to break down and buy a new one a few years ago because the one I'd had for decades was literally falling apart and resisted my attempts to tape it up. I have a Merriam-Websterdictionary app on my phone (free), but I never use it.

I did a lot of proofreading and copyediting (and checking freelance proofreaders and copyeditors) before I got into development editing, so I think that's smart.

I LOVED the William Safire "On Language" column in the NY Times and was unhappy when it ended; thanks for reminding me about it.

Very funny about "gold standard" -- I must have been subconsciously picking up on what you wrote. Which makes me think some plagiarists really must not know what they're doing!

Nice review of Without You, There is No Us, Lisa. I also own Nothing to Envy, and hopefully I'll get to it next year.

>163 labfs39: It's surprising that the North Koreans would allow evangelical Christians, of all people, to operate a school within their borders.

>172 StevenTX: It is surprising, but the director came from a similar school that had been operating in China for awhile, so perhaps that association made them acceptable.

Interesting article about "upside the head". Thanks for posting that link.

>148 labfs39: It's great to see you back and to catch up.

I'm now in need of a new go-to source for when I need something light and gentle. Any recommendations for British books written in the 1930s to 1950s that would fit the bill?
You might want to try the Persephone catalogue which has many such authors: http://www.persephonebooks.co.uk/ Unfortunately their shipping costs are steep, but Book Depository ships for free and amazon carries some titles.

Interesting article on "upside the head". I've only heard that once or twice from real people, however that "ize" drives me crazy. This morning I heard an MBA from Harvard speaking about programmes to encourage people to lose weight, specifically one in which the NHS is offering money to people. She kept using the words "incent" and "incentivize"; so much so that I actually starting counting. If she must use such words, she should at least become familiar with synonyms, but then they might also acquire the dreaded "ize". Who knows, she may soon be "encouragizing" people!

Your editing course sounds intriguing. I shall have to watch myself on your thread.

>169 RidgewayGirl: Does Suki Kim's book have any repercussion for the PUST and the westerners working there?

Good question, Kay, and one I'm not sure I can answer. Suki Kim is aware that she is betraying the confidence of her colleagues, but does not seem to worry about broader implications for PUST as a whole. It will be interesting to see what happens now that her book is published. I saw it on the shelves of my local Indie store Wednesday.

>170 rebeccanyc: We had our final class session on Editorial Roles and next week will begin Grammar for Editors with a vengeance. The text for our new session is The Gregg Reference Manual. One thing I have learned is how much grammar has changed since I studied it in school: rules change, spelling changes, hyphens disappear, new words are deemed acceptable. It's a brave new word out there!

>171 kidzdoc: I can't recommend Nothing to Envy highly enough, Darryl, and neither can Rebecca evidently!

>172 StevenTX: It's surprising that the North Koreans would allow evangelical Christians, of all people, to operate a school within their borders.

Indeed, Steven, I think that is the most surprising piece of information in the entire book. Evidently, it is allowed for two reasons. First, Evangelical Christians fund the entire project: building the campus, food, teacher salaries, everything. I think free sounds very good to the impoverished country. Perhaps, too, the elite find it humorously ironic to have their enemy helping them achieve their goals.

Second, the teachers are not allowed to mention Christianity, or religion at all. The school is rife with minders, and student spies, who report any slips, deliberate or not. A teacher left a Bible in a bathroom and was expelled from the country. Teachers are not allowed to move their lips if they pray before meals. They are allowed to hold a service among themselves, but only in a room with shades drawn, etc. The author never mentions seeing any overt attempts to convert students. On the contrary, she says the only way Christians seem to be spreading their message is by being kind. She speculates that perhaps they hope to outlast the regime and be in place when that happens.

I found it odd that Kim never discusses evangelism with the other teachers. Even though she is undercover, it seems like even among themselves the Christians might discuss the issue. Perhaps, like Kim, they are self-censoring to such a degree that they don't dare even whisper the words. (There is fear that their rooms are bugged.)

>173 markon: True, Ardene. A similar school exists in China and acts as a feeder or training ground for teachers before they go to North Korea. As a Big Brother to North Korea, China's influence is strong. Perhaps it's a case of "If it's good enough for China..."

>174 SuziQoregon: I'm glad you liked it, Juli.

>175 SassyLassy: Thanks for the suggestion, Sassy. I hear about Persephone Books on The Readers podcast but had never checked out the Persephone website.

Ironically, I heard the phrase "upside the head" a lot, and I grew up in rural Maine. There were no African Americans living in my community or anywhere nearby. Downeast Maine is renowned for its colloquial language and usage, but how that particular phrase made it into popular use is a mystery to me.

Have no fear about your writing on my thread! I am declaring my threads free of the language police--mainly for my own protection. :-) LT is an opportunity for me to share my love of reading in a non-academic venue. So here I write as I think: undisciplined, uncensored, and unedited. I don't even write drafts of my reviews. I just start typing into a new message box and stop when I'm done. That process has backfired occasionally, when computer glitches freeze my machine and I lose everything I have written. But if I tried to be more formal on LT, I would disappear from the threads forever.

Have no fear about your writing on my thread! I am declaring my threads free of the language police... what a relief. English is far more difficult than I ever knew and today I was quite shocked to find out that I've misused the word "interesting" for years now (http://www.librarything.com/topic/177317#4910193). Scary!

>176 labfs39: I'm not familiar with The Gregg Reference Manual, but I've certainly seen changes in usage in the decades that I've been editing. The gradual loss of hyphens is definitely one I'm aware of, but you may be ahead of me in learning up-to-date usage generally.

Hi Lisa! Yes, I am finally stumbling my way over here, after a long absence. How is everything going? How is your health? Any trips to Chicago planned? Grins...

I am glad you loved The Underground Girls of Kabul. I saw the author on The Daily Show, so I have had the book on my To-Read list.

Did you ever join us for the American Author Challenge this year? It was actually a lot of fun and we are set up for a repeat in 2015. Interested?

>178 Trifolia: Ha, ha! That posting was quite humorous. I like to occasionally startle people by actually answering when they ask How are you?

>179 rebeccanyc: I'm not sure why our next class is using Gregg instead of Chicago. Rightly or wrongly, I associate Gregg with stenography.

>180 msf59: Hi Mark! I'm doing well. The new hips are fabulous. I'm afraid it may be a long time before we return to Chicago. My husband's relative moved from Geneva to Phoenix.

I hope you get to read Underground Girls of Kabul. I would like to hear the author speak. I wonder if I can find her on YouTube.

No, I haven't been doing any challenges this year. Even the WWI reading that I had hoped to do has languished. Your challenges (and threads) are always fun to follow. Unfortunately, you are so prolific I have a hard time keeping up!

I finally finished reading An American Bride in Kabul, my second ER memoir in a row. Unfortunately, this one too was a bit of a disappointment. The second half was very slow and disjointed. More soon in a review.

>171 kidzdoc: Another vote here for Nothing to Envy.
>176 labfs39: It will be interesting to see what happens now that her book is published.
Yeah, I'm wondering too. She tried to obscure the identities of colleagues and students, but the school now has two strikes: its mission is revealed, and it harbors spies.
>177 labfs39: I don't even write drafts of my reviews.
Now I'm even more impressed!

>183 qebo: I know. It seems hard to believe that their won't be repercussions. I just found this page of photos from her trip: http://www.sukikim.com/album. Interesting.

Breaking news: North Korea frees detained US men Miller and Bae (http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/08/world/asia/us-north-korea-detainees-released/)

Last night I read the very short 1914: A Novel by Jean Echenoz. I have been wanting to read it for some time, but was disappointed when I finally did. Was it simply too short to develop the characters more? Did I not like because I rarely read or enjoy short stories? Not sure.

>184 labfs39: Oh, thanks for the link.

Sounds like your last couple of books have been disappointing. You're due for one that sucks you in and doesn't let go.

101. An American Bride in Kabul: A Memoir by Phyllis Chesler

In 1961, twenty-one-year-old Phyllis Chesler went to Kabul with her husband, Abdul-Kareem, to visit his family. She was shocked when, upon arrival, he did not want to leave and expected her to live as his female relatives did. They were wealthy, dressed in the Western fashion, and received guests at home. For several months, she experimented with the boundaries of her life in Afghanistan, then she became ill and went home with the help of her father-in-law. For the next fifty years, Phyllis pursued a career in psychotherapy and feminism. Now she is publishing an account of her months in Kabul and reminiscing about her relationship with her ex-husband and sharing her views on all things Islamic.

In 1961, twenty-one-year-old Phyllis Chesler was deceived by her seemingly Westernized husband, Abdul-Kareem, and tricked into going with him to Afghanistan. Once there, she was imprisoned in a harem and starved. She plotted her escape and finally succeeded against all odds. Since then her life has been an attempt to understand those three months and her near death experience. Because of having married a Muslim man, she has special insight into 9/11, the veiling of women, and the politics of the Middle East.

I am very confused as to which of these accounts the author believes, never mind which might actually be true. The first half of the book is a vague account of her short-lived marriage, based on diary scraps, the details of which she admits to not remembering. The second half of the book is a wandering exposition of her views substantiated by conversations with her ex-husband, now in exile in the US, and by several travelogues written primarily by women prior to her arrival in Afghanistan. Others, however, have loved this book, and it won the The Krauss Family Award in Memory of Simon & Shulamith (Sofi) Goldberg, thus the National Jewish Book Awards Winner sticker on the cover.

>188 labfs39: Huh. Weird. Makes me sorta curious to read it myself, but my impression is it's maybe not worth the bother?

Hmm - they don't seem to contradict based on your review, except in perspective. Curious.

Wow! Back in the 70s I read a book by Phyllis Chesler, Women and Madness. I had no idea of her background.

Lots going on in RL, but I wanted to pass along this new NYRB book that looks interesting: Midnight in the Century. I want to read Victor Serge's Memoirs of a Revolutionary first, but then will look for this fictional account.

>192 labfs39: There you are!

I am SO eager to get the new Serge, and have been in three bookstores in the past two days and NONE of them had it yet. Memoirs of a Revolutionary is one of the most amazing books I've ever read -- Serge was present at so much history and had so much integrity.

Lisa, I know you're not a football fan, but I couldn't resist.



I hope you have been having a lovely holiday season and that we get to reconnect in the new year.

Continued in Club Read 2015 as Labfs39 lumbers along in 2015.