Cait86 Tries Again in 2015

Hi, I'm Cait - intermittent Club Read member, English teacher, Canadian, bookworm.

It wouldn't be the last week of December without a new attempt to dive back into LT! Last year I only kept up my thread until the beginning of February, and that was pretty indicative of my reading all year. I read a record low of 22 books (I think - I didn't really do a great job keeping track), and while some of them were very good, I failed to read anything that qualified as a five-star book.

Eternal optimist that I am, I have decided to try this again for 2015. I have 196 books in my "To Read" collection, so as always I will try to make a dent in the ol' TBR. I enjoy contemporary fiction (particularly by women), Canadian literature, and the odd classic, YA, or mystery novel. Non-fiction rarely makes an appearance, unless it is travel or music/film related. The books I most enjoyed in 2014 were Something I've Been Meaning to Tell You by Alice Munro, Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese, and Life After Life by Kate Atkinson.

Happy reading to one and all, and may 2015 be a markedly better reading year than 2014!

Books Read in 2015
1. The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood - audiobook - reread - January 1
2. As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner - audio and physical book - January 1
3. Us Conductors by Sean Michaels - January 2
4. Stone Mattress by Margaret Atwood - January 4
5. The Betrayers by David Bezmozgis - January 11
6. Lady Oracle by Margaret Atwood - February 2
7. Dancing Girls by Margaret Atwood - March 20
8. The Martian by Andy Weir - July 18
9. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel - August 11
10. Gilead by Marilynne Robinson - August 16
11. The Pact by Jodi Picoult - September 1

Books Obtained in 2015
1. Lady Oracle by Margaret Atwood
2. MaddAddam by Margaret Atwood
3. Burial Rites by Hannah Kent
4. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
5. Medicine Walk by Richard Wagamese
6. The Martian by Andy Weir
7. Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee
8. My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
9. Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
10. Home by Marilynne Robinson
11. Lila by Marilynne Robinson
12. The Pact by Jodi Picoult
13. How To Build a Girl by Caitlin Moran

January's Very Tentative Plans
1. Us Conductors - Sean Michaels
2. The Paying Guests - Sarah Waters
3. Stone Mattress - Margaret Atwood
4. The Betrayers - David Bezmozgis
5. Us - David Nicholls

Good to see you, Cait! I have also had a very low-volume reading year, so am also trying to regain my literary sealegs.

Sounds like interesting reading ahead. I look forward to reading your posts.

Thanks for dropping by, Lois and O. Happy New Year to you both!

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Book #1: The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood

I reread/relistened to an audiobook version of The Penelopiad over two days. Narrated by Laurel Merlington, the audiobook was well done, with other voices chiming in for the chapters narrated by the chorus of the twelve maids. These chapters were particularly effective, because the rhyme and rhythm of the verses really came through.

Atwood is one of my favourite authors, and while this isn't her best novel, it is still an excellent piece of writing, and of feminist criticism. Atwood gives a voice to Penelope, wife of Odysseus from the Odyssey. Penelope tells the story of her childhood, her marriage to Odysseus, and how she fared while he traveled for years away from home, fighting in the Trojan War, having adventures, etc.

I picked up The Penelopiad because of a focus in the Category Challenge group on reading history and historical fiction through time. This is my pick for January's time period and theme, BC to 1; Myths and Legends.

The Penelopiad sounds interesting! I am wondering whether you might enjoy Homer's Daughter by Robert Graves, which is based on the notion that The Odyssey might have been written by a woman — in this case not Homer's daughter literally but in the literary sense, if you get my drift. Anyway, I reread it recently having just finished reading Homer's Odyssey and quite enjoyed it.

I've had The Penelopiad on my TBR for years, but I wonder whether I should read the Odyssey first -- that's been something I've had in mind for a long time.

>8 Poquette:: Poquette - Thanks for mentioning Homer's Daughter; it sounds like something I would definitely enjoy. I've never actually read The Iliad or The Odyssey, just modern retellings of them - The Song of Achilles is very good too. My school's library has a copy of The Iliad, and I think I will pick it up next week. Rereading The Penelopiad has made me want to read the originals too!

>9 rebeccanyc:: Rebecca - The Penelopiad is quite short, only 3ish hours on audio. You could definitely read in it an afternoon. While I don't think you need to read The Odyssey first, I'm sure it would enrich your understanding of the Atwood.

Book #2: As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner

This is a major moment for me - my first Faulkner. I struggled through the first quarter of As I Lay Dying twice before deciding to tackle it for a third time, using both the audiobook and my physical book. I listened while following along, and found that hearing the stream of consciousness helped pull me into the narratives. I soon was able to distinguish not just the voice of the narrators, but the syntactical differences between them. By the time I made it to the end, I found myself totally enthralled with the Bundren family and their quest to bury their mother, Addie, in her home town.

I'm sure I'm missing a ton of symbolism and meaning in this book - it feels like one that needs to be reread many times to really appreciate it. One of the things I did pick up on was the way the Bundren children, minus Darl, have these very intense reactions to the death of their mother, and then spend the rest of the novel slowly coming to terms with it. Darl, on the other hand, is very cerebral; his chapters are beautifully written, with elevated diction and complex sentences. Throughout the novel he descends into madness, slowly losing his mind as his siblings are slowly recovering their own. These different reactions to grief, and the results of them, formed what I see as the overall plot arc of the novel.

I don't know if I will tackle another Faulkner anytime soon, but I'm pretty proud of the fact that I finally read - and actually enjoyed - As I Lay Dying.

You are one up on me regarding Faulkner. For some reason I learned to dislike him in high school and have never been inspired. However, I do have Absalom, Absalom on my TBR. Maybe someday . . .

Congratulations on finishing your first Faulkner, you didn't choose an easy one. Yes it is one of those books that when you finally get to grips with the style, you want to read it again.

>12 Poquette: - I was actually quite surprised by how much I enjoyed Faulkner. Give him another go, Suzanne!

>13 baswood: - Thanks Barry. I think I will try a more straight-forward Faulkner next time - perhaps The Hamlet.

Book #3: Us Conductors by Sean Michaels

Us Conductors is the story of Lev Termen, Russian inventor, spy, and political prisoner. The first section of the novel takes the form of a letter Lev is writing to Clara, the woman he loves, from a small cabin in a ship that is transporting him back to Moscow. Lev recounts his life, including his invention of the theremin, an electronic musical instrument that brought him much recognition, first in Russia and then abroad. He demonstrates the theremin for Lenin, who is so wowed by it that he sends Lev on a journey through Europe and North America to share his invention - and to gather intelligence for Russia. The second section is another letter to Clara, which Lev writes several years after returning to Moscow. Found to be a traitor, he experiences Stalin's infamous work camps, all the while yearning for the woman who never fully returned his love.

I found the first section of Us Conductors to be rather slow moving. Some moments, like Lev's spirited description of dancing in hidden jazz clubs during prohibition, brought 1920s and 1930s New York City to life; often, however, his letter read like a dull diary of his daily life, complete with much scientific knowledge that was not captivating, and a "who's who" list of famous people he encountered. If I were Clara, well, I don't think I would have been very interested in Lev either.

Once Lev's narrative shifted to life in various prisons and work camps in the Soviet Union, I was completely enthralled. This second half of the novel moved much more quickly, and Lev's focus shifted away from science and rational thought to raw emotional turmoil.

I enjoyed Us Conductors quite a bit, despite some sluggish moments. Definitely recommended for readers of historical fiction, particularly those with an interest in music, science, or the Soviet Union.

4 stars

That's an inspiring response to Faulkner. I haven't read him yet, very intimidated.

I had not heard of US Conductors. Is Lev Termen a real person? Can't say i will read it, but i'm intrigued by your review.

I'm no expert, but I do enjoy Faulkner. I've found that the more you read of his, the more sense it all makes. His characters, setting, and themes migrate from one book to another and the more submersed in the world you can get, the easier it starts to feel.

Enjoyed your review of US Conductors it sounds interesting.

>16 dchaikin: - Yes, Dan, Lev Termen is a real person. Michaels admits to inventing some of the details of his life for Us Conductors, but the basic story is true.

>17 japaul22: - Jennifer, I'm glad to know that Faulkner only gets easier!

>18 baswood: - Thanks Barry

Book #4: Stone Mattress: Nine Tales by Margaret Atwood

Stone Mattress: Nine Tales is a brilliant collection of short stories by the incomparable Margaret Atwood. More than fifty years after the publication of her first writing (a collection of poetry), Atwood is still creating memorable characters and doing things with words that no other writer does today (in my very humble opinion, at least). I am constantly in awe of this woman, and the worlds she creates.

This collection begins with three stories that are interconnected. First, we meet Constance, a widow who escapes into the fantasy world of her popular novels as a way to deal with past heartbreak. In the second story we read about Gavin, the man who broke Constance's heart many years before, and in the third story the narrator is Jorrie, the woman with whom Gavin was cheating. It was fascinating to read about the same moment from the perspectives of the three people involved, and to see how it continued to haunt them all in very different ways.

The next five stories are standalones, though many are united with the first three in that the protagonists are elderly. Concerns of aging and death are prominent, and many of the tales recall a crucial moment in the narrator's youth. My favourite of these, "Stone Mattress," is the story of Verna, an older woman who on a trip to the Arctic comes face to face with a villain from her past, a man who compels her to commit murder. Another, "The Dead Hand Loves You," is a story-within-a-story about Jack, author of a pulp horror novel whose characters are representations of Jack's university roommates. These stories are dark, many have twisty endings, and all of them are exceptional pieces of writing.

4.5 stars

I have liked Atwood, maybe not as much as you have (i have only read two of her books), but wow, you made this collection very appealing.

>21 dchaikin: - Thanks Dan - reading Stone Mattress and rereading The Penelopiad the other day, coupled with your goal to read all of McCarthy's novels, have made me decide to spend a chunk of 2015 reading Atwood's novels and short story collections.

Okay, I'm doing it - I'm make a Goal for 2015. Realistically, it might carry into 2016.

I am going to read all of Margaret Atwood's novels and short story collections that I have not yet read, plus a reread of a novel I haven't read in years. I've read a lot of her stuff, but I still have a ton on my TBR shelves, plus my library has the rest... and I might go out and buy one or two today :)

Novels:
The Edible Woman (1969) - read in 2012; 3.5 stars
Surfacing (1972) - read in 2009; 3 stars
Lady Oracle (1976)
Life Before Man (1979)
Bodily Harm (1981)
The Handmaid's Tale (1985) - read in 2004; 3 stars --> this is the one I plan to reread. It was my first Atwood, and I don't think I fully appreciated her yet
Cat's Eye (1988) - read in 2009; 4.5 stars
The Robber Bride (1993)
Alias Grace (1996) - read in 2009; 5 stars
The Blind Assassin (2000) - read in 2009; 5 stars
Oryx and Crake (2003) - read in 2013; 4 stars
The Penelopiad (2005) - read in 2010 + 2015; 4 stars
The Year of the Flood (2009)
MaddAddam (2013)

Short Story Collections:
Dancing Girls (1977)
Murder in the Dark (1983) - read in 2010; 3 stars
Bluebeard's Egg (1983)
Wilderness Tips (1991)
Good Bones (1992)
Good Bones and Simple Murders (1994)
The Tent (2006) - read in 2009; 5 stars
Moral Disorder (2006)
Stone Mattress (2014) - read in 2015; 4.5 stars



So, that means that for this goal, I need to read, in order:

Lady Oracle (1976)
Dancing Girls (1977)
Life Before Man (1979)
Bodily Harm (1981)
Bluebeard's Egg (1983)
The Handmaid's Tale (1985)
Wilderness Tips (1991)
Good Bones (1992)
The Robber Bride (1993)
Good Bones and Simple Murders (1994)
Moral Disorder (2006)
The Year of the Flood (2009)
MaddAddam (2013)

I will be happily following your thread. Nothing like a good novel by Margaret Atwood. I have Stone Mattress in line for a little later in the year, so it's good to see it's going to be good.

Fun challenge! I've loved the Atwood novels I've read (Handmaid's Tales, The Blind Assassin, Cat's Eye, The Robber Bride, Alias Grace, and the Penelopiad). The only one you haven't read of the ones I have is The Robber Bride and I thought it was fantastic! I'll look forward to your reviews!

Embarrassed to say I have never read any Atwood. I appreciate your list of her books and this will be interesting to read your reviews.

Great project Cait. 13 books by the same author is just about do-able in a year, but if you are enjoying them, then stretching over to 2016 should not be a problem. I have found my author reads quite fascinating because you really do get to appreciate the style and the themes that run through the books and when you have read a few, reading a new one is like putting on a pair of comfortable slippers - you feel right at home.

>24 RidgewayGirl: - Kay, I hope you enjoy Stone Mattress as much as I did!

>25 japaul22: - Jennifer, I am looking forward to The Robber Bride - I was actually surprised to find that I still had in on my TBR, as I thought I had read all of Atwood's novels from that time period. One of the stories in Stone Mattress dealt with the characters from The Robber Bride; I will have to go back and reread that story after reading the novel.

>26 Poquette: - Atwood's wonderful, Suzanne, or at least I think so! She writes everything - poetry, short fiction, historical novels, speculative fiction - and most of her works deal with issues of gender and equality, topics I love to explore.

>27 baswood: - Thanks, Barry! I have loved following your reading of Camus, H. G. Wells, and now Doris Lessing. You and Dan really were the inspiration behind this goal :)

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Today I bought the last two Atwood novels missing from my bookshelves - Lady Oracle and MaddAddam. I will have to borrow some of the short story collections from the library, but the novels are now all mine.

You've been quite productive so far this year, Cait; well done! I did like As I Lay Dying, which is the only novel by Faulkner that I've read so far, and I want to return to him in the next few years. I'm ashamed to say that I haven't read anything by Atwood either, but I plan to read The Blind Assassin as part of my CanLit challenge that I will carry over from last year. I like your Atwood Challenge, and I'll follow your reviews closely.

>20 Cait86: The Stone Mattress is in my TBR pile, as every Atwood has been, so I was glad to see your review. And perhaps it's time for another reread of one of hers read so long ago (most recent rereads were Surfacing and The Robber Bride, so I suspect Cat's Eye might be the likely candidate...although another of the 70s reads should be!)

>23 Cait86: Will you not also read some of her poetry?

>28 Cait86: I think it will be interesting to see what HBO and Aronofsky are going to do with MaddAddam. It's a shame the television watching masses won't likely read the books first (unless it is drawn out to multiple seasons, and then they'll read ahead a la "Game of Thrones"). HBO could really go crazy with the Crakers.... All of which reminds me that I should optimistically fetch some copies of Oryx and Crake for my offspring to read beforehand.

>30 avaland: - Lois, if I can throw my two cents in, I'd suggest you reread The Blind Assassin. It is my favourite Atwood novel, with Alias Grace as a close second. I might read some of her poetry, but not all of it is in print, so the completest in me didn't list her publications because I knew I'd never be able to cross all of them off the list. I've read The Circle Game about twenty times - I think it's a brilliant collection.

They haven't released yet when MaddAddam will be on HBO, have they? I'll have to make sure that I have finished this project for then! Oryx and Crake is so full of flashbacks that it will be interesting to see how they structure the story.

I just saw your review of Stone Mattress again on the category challenge thread and am going to add it to my wish list. I love short stories and this looks like a good place to start with Attwood.

>32 Poquette: - Suzanne, I think Atwood's short stories are a good place to start because they will give you a good indication of the themes that run through most of her novels, and a sense of her writing style. If you decide you want to progress to her novels, I think Alias Grace or Cat's Eye would be the first ones to read.

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My reading progress has halted over the past few days because I was busy listening to the podcast Serial. If you haven't heard of this before, I encourage you to listen to it. It's the true story of a murder that took place in 1999 in Baltimore, Maryland, and the seventeen year old boy who was charged with - and ultimately convicted of - the crime. A reporter, Sarah Koenig, finds the case to be full of inconsistencies, and decides to do some investigating. Every episode she pieces together a new part of the story. The podcast ran from October-December of 2014, and it has been crazy popular. It is an excellent piece of non-fiction storytelling, one with a narrative that is just as constructed as any novel. The twelve episodes last a total of about 9 hours.

Don't fall down the rabbit hole like I did -- once I'd listened, rapt, to the podcast of Serial, I discovered a number of podcasts dedicated to discussing Serial. I think I've caught up with all of them, but the Jay interview did bring a late dusting of new installments. So riveting! Koenig does a brilliant job.

I have been avoiding the rabbit hole until I finish getting my house back in order after Christmas celebrations. I really do want to get to Serial.

Serial sounds like it would be great for my commute! Thanks for the tip.

Colleen, I did more cleaning and cooking while I was listening, so it wasn't all wasted time.

>37 RidgewayGirl: Good point, Kay. Although, right now I am carrying boxes and crates up and down stairs. I just didn't think I would be able to listen properly.

Great discussion about Margaret Atwood. I was a big fan and read everything she had published right up to The Handmaid's Tale, which I did not like. I think it's time I forgave her that one. I'd like to start again with Stone Mattress after reading this thread.

>23 Cait86: Ooh, I'm excited by this project! I've long classed Margaret Atwood as my favourite author, but I haven't read anything of hers since she published The Blind Assassin (also one of my favourites) and for the last two years I've been toying with the idea of doing something similar and reading/re-reading all her works (or maybe just her novels) in chronological order. At the moment, my more immediate goal is to reduce my TBR pile, but I look forward to watching your progress!

Love your Atwood plan and it's nice to see all her books lined up.

And interesting to see Serial come up here. Late last year my sister was pushing me to start following...but i haven't started yet.

>33 Cait86: Thanks for the recommendations. Making a note . . .

>34 RidgewayGirl: - I listened to the entire podcast in three days, LOL, but I managed to stop after that! I am looking forward to season two some time later this year.

>35 NanaCC:, >36 japaul22: - I hope you both decide to listen to Serial. I had it playing in my car while driving to and from work, and also whenever I was cooking, cleaning, getting ready in the morning, etc. Once I was hooked I would just listen to it before going to bed, and when I first got up in the morning - it basically replaced my nightly and morning reading.

>39 VivienneR: - Ooooh, Vivienne, you have some great Atwood novels left to read! I'm glad to have given you a little push in reading her again.

>40 Rebeki: - I'm lucky that I have a lot of Atwood's novels and short stories on my TBR, so this project helps me with my goal of reading books from my shelves. I'm starting today with Lady Oracle, which, granted, I did have to go out and buy... :)

>41 dchaikin: - Thanks Dan! If you decide to commit to Serial, it is only about 9 or 10 hours in total, I think. Not a huge time commitment, and definitely an interesting example of non-fiction narrative. Actually, my colleague and I are going to use it next semester with our grade 12 English class - should be fun!

Book #5: The Betrayers by David Bezmozgis

Baruch Kotler is having a very bad day. After refusing to support his government, he wakes up to find his not so moral personal life splashed across the pages of every major Israeli newspaper. So he flees to the Crimea, hoping to recapture the vacation he had as a child in a seaside town, and he brings his much younger mistress Leora with him. When their hotel loses their reservation, Baruch and Leora find a local woman who rents out a room in her house. Unfortunately for Baruch, this woman's husband is a very key figure from Baruch's complicated past.

David Bezmozgis is just not the author for me. The Betrayers is his second novel that I've read - the first being The Free World - and both have obtained a tepid 3.5 stars from me. Now sure, 3.5 stars isn't really that bad of a rating, but I'm a selfish reader; I only want to read books that are 4 stars or above. I spend a lot of time researching the books and authors I buy, reading reviews, asking for recommendations, etc. I would spend all of my time reading, if I could - but I can't, because I have to have a life as well - so when I find time to read, the books had better be good ones. I just no longer have time for "fine." And that's how I feel about David Bezmozgis - he's fine. Technically, I think he's actually a very good writer. I can recognize, as I read his books, that his narrative structure, his syntax, and his diction are all sound. But as a reader, I need more than just the language. I also need to care. That's where Bezmozgis falters, for me at least. I just don't care about the stories he tells, or the characters he creates.

So I'm done, I think, with Bezmozgis. Not every author is for every reader, and while others - including the Giller Prize juries - find his books worthwhile, I do not.

4.5 stars for writing, 2 stars for caring = 3.5 stars, reluctantly

Life is too short for "fine". It's true with coffee too.

>45 dchaikin: - So true!

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I'm a little over halfway through Atwood's Lady Oracle, and I am absolutely loving it so far. It's quite similar to her much later novel, The Blind Assassin, just less complex. Both are frame narratives, or books that are stories within stories (like Frankenstein and Wuthering Heights). In Lady Oracle, the outermost story is about Joan, who has just faked her own death and moved to a small village in Italy. She has left behind her husband, Arthur, and plans to earn a living by continuing to write cheap Gothic novels under a pseudonym - something she always hid from her husband. The second story is of Joan's past. We see her unhappy childhood and tumultuous relationship with her mother, her escape to England, and a series of poor sexual decisions. The third story is Joan's current Gothic novel. Interspersed among her past and present are sections from this novel, an over the top dramatic plot about a young impoverished girl being pursued by a dashing, wealthy, married man.

The three stories work together to create a complete picture of Joan's personality, with the Gothic novel plot demonstrating her own desire for Romance with a capital R. Her husband, who has just been introduced in the middle story of Joan's past, is about as anti-Romance as can be; despite this, Joan is clearly very much in love with him. I am curious as to how their marriage unravels, and just what occurs to cause her to fake her own death.

Joan's an interesting character - more than once her response to unhappiness has been to run away, but every time she strikes out on her own, she finds a man to rely on, thus losing the independence she so desired. Now that she is truly on her own (she can't very well come back after convincing the world that she is dead), I wonder if this pattern will continue. Will Italy hold the independence she has never had, or is some new less than satisfactory man waiting in the wings?

With 200 pages to go, I am enthralled by Lady Oracle, and hoping to finish it today.

Your TBR pile of Margaret Atwood is similar to mine (and I've read all the books that you have read). The Robber Bride is my very favourite Atwood, so you have a good one to look forward to. Good Bones and Simple Murders is a delight! And finally, I listened to Year of the Flood on audio book and it was a really good one to listen to--especially because they play musical versions of the hymns printed in the book.

Lady Oracle does sound very good--I've been avoiding that one because my copy is just ugly and I don't like reading ugly books.

>47 Nickelini: - Joyce, I don't like reading ugly books either. My copies of Life Before Man, Bodily Harm, and Wilderness Tips are all used and have that old book smell that I hate.

Book #6: Lady Oracle by Margaret Atwood

I didn't love Margaret Atwood's first two novels (The Edible Woman and Surfacing) because I found they lacked the complexity of her later novels, and starred protagonists who were just too extremist in one way or another. Lady Oracle, her third novel, was wonderful - a novel worthy of the author who wrote the spectacular Alias Grace and The Blind Assassin. It maybe wasn't quite as complex, and it definitely wasn't as serious, but damn was it ever good. I finished the last 200 pages today in one sitting, nodding along with the thoughts of the main character, Joan, laughing at her mishaps and shaking my head at her decisions.

Opening lines: "I planned my death carefully; unlike my life, which meandered along from one thing to another, despite my feeble attempts to control it. My life had a tendency to spread, to get flabby, to scroll and festoon like the frame of a baroque mirror, which came from following the line of least resistance. I wanted my death, by contrast, to be neat and simple, understated, even a little severe, like a Quaker church or the basic black dress with a single strand of pearls much praised by fashion magazines when I was fifteen. No trumpets, no megaphones, no spangles, no loose ends, this time. The trick was to disappear without a trace, leaving behind me the shadow of a corpse, a shadow everyone would mistake for solid reality. At first I thought I'd managed it."

If that doesn't suck in a reader, I don't know what will.

4.5 stars

February's Tentative Plans
1. Call the Midwife by Jennifer Worth - currently listening
2. Dancing Girls by Margaret Atwood
3. The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters
4. Us by David Nicholls
5. The Hired Man by Aminatta Forna

>46 Cait86: >49 Cait86: - Very tempting review of Lady Oracle. And those are some really good opening lines. Looking forward to your Atwood reads - I need to pick up some more of her books.

Great opening paragraph.

I've not read Lady Oracle and it sounds like one I would like. Thanks for the review.

I also have The Paying Guests and Call the Midwife in the soon to be read pile.

>51 DieFledermaus:, >52 baswood:, >53 japaul22: - thanks for dropping by, all! I am glad people are intrigued by my Atwood reviews.

I picked up Atwood's first short story collection, Dancing Girls, at the library yesterday. I'll start it tonight. I'm looking forward to these short stories, especially since it was her latest collection that convinced me to spend my year reading her works.

I've given up on the audiobook version of Call the Midwife. I love the TV show, and thought I would enjoy the memoir that inspired it, but I really dislike it. Maybe it's because I'm listening to it - I'm very much an auditory learner - but the descriptions of the births are far too much for me to handle on my drive to work in the morning. The first season of the TV show dramatizes a lot of the stories that are contained in the book, and I think the show does a much better job of creating well-rounded, fully realized characters. I made it about halfway through the memoir when I decided I didn't care enough to finish it. I haven't picked up another audiobook yet, but I think I'll look for one that is a novel I already own, so that I can focus on my TBR list.

>31 Cait86: >49 Cait86: Sorry to be so late getting back here. I have read all of Atwood, except for perhaps one of her older collections (but I fail to remember which one at this point). I very much enjoyed the triple-layer tale in The Blind Assassin when I read it on its publication. I'm unlikely to reread that one, I think. Too recent a read, relatively speaking. I'm enjoying your reviews, though. It's nice to revisit good reads through someone else's readings.

>54 Cait86: Trying to imagine driving to work in the a.m. listening to descriptions of childbirth....

>54 Cait86:. I think it was Cider House Rules that had the same effect on me. I found I couldn't listen to the graphic descriptions, so gave up on the audio version.

I was curious to find my library has older McCarthy works on audio, but not in print. Wondering how that kind of graphic detail might work out in audio (not to mention the obscure vocabulary)

Enjoyed your two sets of comments on Lady Oracle.

>55 avaland:, >56 NanaCC:, >57 dchaikin: - I'm really enjoying my exploration into audiobooks. I've discovered that I need straightforward prose in order to really follow along, and I definitely can't listen to any violence or graphic content. Right now I'm listening to Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South, which is going very well. The female narrator has a fairly low voice for a woman, which I like. I prefer male narrators so far, and struggle with high-pitched female voices.

Will be following your Atwood reviews with interest! Lady Oracle has just gone on the wish list...

>58 Cait86: I started listening to audiobooks in the last year and have discovered that there are some books that work well and some that do not. It can't be anything too engrossing - I need to reserve some brain capacity for, you know, actually driving. Similarly, anything too emotional and likely to result in tears is not a good idea. Mind you, nothing likely to irritate either - nothing worse than annoying book (or narrator) induced road rage. I've not tried non-fiction on audio yet, I'm not sure how well that would work.
I've not tried anything as long as North & South - how does spreading a book out over that many weeks working out for you?

I'm glad I reread your comments on Lady Oracle. I read the first 100 pages last month and put it aside. Wasn't sure whether to pick it up again or throw it in the charity donation bin, but I think now I'll give it another try.

Hello Cait! I've only just found your thread. All of Atwood in a year - how exciting! I'm going to enjoy reading about your progress. I've read everything except Maddadam (which I recently dug off the TBR shelves with a view to reading very soon) and her poetry (I don't read much - if any - poetry, but I should give Atwood's a go), and I've loved it all (to differing degrees, obviously). I tend not to re-read, but I've been feeling a pull back to Atwood recently; I suspect your thread might convince me.

As for Bezmozgis, I'm with you. I persisted with The Free World, without ever finishing it, because I couldn't out my finger on quite why I didn't like it - good story, interesting characters, nicely written. Just not for me.

Happy Birthday, Cait!

>59 AlisonY: - Hope you enjoy Lady Oracle!

>60 Helenliz: - Well, I quickly gave up on North and South, so I guess long audiobooks don't really work for me... or maybe it was just a book that demanded too much attention for audio? I haven't listened to another audiobook in a while, but I would like to get back into them.

>61 Nickelini: - I hope trying Lady Oracle again works out for you Joyce - timing is so important! I couldn't get in to anything that I picked up for the longest time, though I'm back into reading now finally.

>62 rachbxl: - Hi Rachel! Did you hear that Atwood has a new novel coming out in September? I better pick up the pace if I want to read it before the end of the year.

>63 kidzdoc: - Thanks Darryl - sorry I wasn't around to wish you a Happy Birthday as well!

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I was in quite the reading slump in February and March, as it's a busy time at work for me, with semester two starting. As well, this year my school hosted a big drama festival in the first week of March, and my colleague and I were the ones in charge, so that undertaking ate up most of my free time. Add to that the fact that I also bought a kitten, and there really wasn't any time for reading for a while! But then over March Break I finally finished:



Book #7: Dancing Girls by Margaret Atwood

I didn't love this short story collection, though that could very well be because I read it sporadically over seven weeks. Still, I thought it lacked the cohesion of a great collection, and very few stories packed the emotional punch I expect from Atwood.

3 stars

Book #8: The Martian by Andy Weir

Well my lack of posting over the past four months is because I haven't had the brain power to pick up a book. Does that ever happen to anyone else? I love to read more than anything else, but work was just so damn busy that by the time I got home at night all I wanted to do was watch TV, cook dinner, and sleep. Even over the past three weeks of summer I didn't read - I think I just needed to recover from the school year. Then last night I was texting a friend who is traveling Europe right now and she is reading Atonement, one of my favourite books. We had a great chat about the narrative style and McEwan's use of suspense, and when we finished I was suddenly consumed with the need to read something, anything, right away. So I picked up Andy Weir's The Martian, which I bought last week after seeing the preview for the film version starring Matt Damon. A few hours later I forced myself to put it down and go to sleep, and then I finished it first thing this morning. Reading slump = over.

The Martian is the story of Mark Watney, an astronaut who is left behind on Mars by the rest of his crew, who believe him to be dead. In fact he is very much alive, and now he must fight to survive the four years until the next Mars mission lands. Unfortunately his food supplies won't last him anywhere near that long, and - oh yeah - no one has any idea that he is alive.

I loved the narrative structure of this book, with much of it told through Watney's daily logs. Other chunks were about the NASA staff dealing with the PR surrounding his death, and the other five members of his crew, who have plenty of time on their flight home from Mars to deal with losing a colleague. Watney met his fight for survival with a sense of humour and a genius skill for solving problems. I greatly admired his never give up attitude -- I'm pretty sure that if I was faced with trying to survive alone on Mars for four years, just on the off-chance that someone would finally rescue me, I wouldn't last very long.

The Martian is suspenseful, funny, and fast-paced - exactly what I needed to kick start my summer reading.

4 stars

And now I'm off to get caught up on all of your threads! Hopefully you have all been having a MUCH better reading year than I have!

Nice to see you reading and posting again. Sounds like an exhausting year. I think a lot of us have been there, when life jusy gets too busy - consuming time and focus.

>64 Cait86:

I feel you and your reading slump. I have only read four books this year and three of those were in January! At least I was reading about seven manga (Japanese comics) a month but for the past two months I haven't even been reading those. I'm at an absolute zero for reading and I don't foresee it changing in the next few weeks.

So hopefully your slump is officially over.

>67 dchaikin:, >68 lilisin: - Thanks for the support! So far, so good -- I am about 1/3 of the way through Richard Wagamese's Medicine Walk, and I'm hoping to finish it tomorrow or Thursday.

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I'm off on Thursday to spend about two weeks in Europe - Paris, Amsterdam, and Bruges, plus some day-trips to Brussels and WW1 sights. I can't wait! It's been three years since I last traveled and I am itching to see some new places (Paris is a training tour for a March Break trip that I am doing with kids, and I have been there before a few times, but the rest is on my own and new countries!). I should be able to post some updates, though I'll only have my iPhone so photos will have to wait until I return.

I'm bringing my Kindle with me, but it is backup in case I finish the two books that I am bringing: Go Set a Watchman and Station Eleven. Between two flights and three three-hour trains I should finish at least one of those, and I'm hoping to buy a new book at Shakespeare and Co. in Paris.

>69 Cait86: You might also need to buy a book at The American Book Center in Amsterdam or La librairie ptyx in Brussels, followed by a snack (and more books) at Cook & Book.

>70 ELiz_M: You re right, I do need to buy books at those stores! Thanks!!

Have fun, Cait!

Have a great trip!

>65 Cait86: - Yup, I get into reading slumps where I mostly want to watch TV or movies or look at random stuff on the internet. Undemanding books that are really addictive are usually how I get out of them.

Have fun on the trip - it sounds like you'll be going to a lot of great places!

I hope that you're having a great time in Europe, Cait! We'll have to compare notes about Amsterdam when you return. I loved it there when I visited it for the first time in late June, and I also had a very enjoyable day in the company of LTers in Utrecht. It's less than 30 minutes away by train from Amsterdam Centraal Station, and the NS Intercity trains between the two cities run every 15 minutes.

I'll also be interested to hear about Brussels. I'll return to London in September, and I may take a day trip there at that time.

Thanks everyone for the warm wishes for my trip. It was lovely; the weather was perfect other than a very hot last day in Paris, the food was amazing, and I experienced three fabulous cultures. It was fun to return to Paris and do group tour stuff in preparation for taking students there in March, but I am definitely NOT a group traveler. I much preferred my week on my own in the Netherlands and Belgium. The highlight of the group tour was a trip to Vimy Ridge, which is a pretty big deal for Canadians.

>75 kidzdoc:, I liked Amsterdam, Darryl, but I didn't love it like you did. I did love the Anne Frank House, which was the most moving museum I've ever visited, and the Van Gogh museum was fantastic too. The city was very busy and it certainly has a distinctive smell that I don't particularly enjoy. But I wandered through the Jordaan neighbourhood and that I did love - the small canals and the quaint streets were what I wanted all of Amsterdam to be. I stayed just outside of Amsterdam in a town called Haarlem, and it was a smaller, cuter version of Amsterdam that I quite enjoyed.

Belgium, on the other hand, was absolutely perfect. I stayed in Bruges, which like Amsterdam is full of canals. It's in the Flemish part of Belgium, whereas Brussels (which I went to for a day) was predominantly French (though I found that every person I talked to spoke English, though I tried to interact in French as best I could). Brussels' Grand Place is a gorgeous square, and the central train station is very central - only about a five minute walk from the Grand Place. It was a very easy city to tour, though I didn't see European Parliament because it is a ways out of the historic centre. I also did a day trip from Bruges to the World War One area of Flanders Fields, including Passchendaele and Ypres. That was one of my favourite days - I've toured the WW2 D-Day area in France before, so it was interesting to compare the two wars. It's amazing the evidence still in the area from a century ago. There are "ponds" that are actually craters made by mines, and bunkers and trenches still exist in fields. At Vimy in France much of the area is fenced off because there are unexploded mines in the ground. My Belgian guide was extremely knowledgeable and it is always interesting to learn about history from the perspective of a different country.

It would be easy for you to visit Belgium from England, because the Eurostar crosses the English Channel to Lille. I would definitely recommend Bruges and Brussels, and I'd like to return myself to see Ghent and Antwerp. And the food! From the fries to the waffles to the chocolate to the mussels it was quite the trip! :)

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I didn't read as much as I thought I would, mostly because I also brought a journal and spent a lot of time writing about my days. I gave up on Go Set a Watchman because my reading was so fractured that I just wasn't getting pulled into the story like I wanted. Since I've been home I've read quite a bit of Station Eleven - I might actually finish it tonight. Unless something drastically changes it will be a five-star read. I am in love with Mandel's narrative structure, characters, and voice, not to mention the literary and pop culture references in the book. I can't wait to see how she brings the story lines together.

Nice trip! My daughter did Amsterdam-Belgium-Paris with a grade 11 trip (in March too). She got a lot out of Vimy Ridge. They also did a concentration camp in Belgium.

I liked Amsterdam a lot, although I haven't been since 1992, so who knows if I still would loved it. We stayed two nights in the city and then the rest in Haarlem, which was so quaint and wonderful. Like living in an Ikea catalogue. We also went to Friesland, which is where my ancestors come from. Nice memories.

>77 Nickelini:: I'm impressed that your daughter's school took a trip that included Amsterdam, Joyce! I don't think I would be a brave enough teacher to take students there, though it is so full of important history that I think they would have an amazing learning experience -- but I would be worrying about what other sorts of experiences they were having too! Our March Break trip is London and Paris, which just happen to be two of my favourite places :)

Book #9: Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

Station Eleven opens with the death of Arthur Leander, a rather famous actor who dies onstage during a production of King Lear in Toronto. Jeevan Choudhary, a paramedic-in-training, is in the audience, and he does his best to save Arthur's life. In the wings of the stage is little Kirsten Raymonde, a child actress who watches Arthur's death and the aftermath. That night, the world ends -- a superflu annihilates ninety-nine percent of the world's population, and Jeevan, who had advanced notice from a friend working in a hospital, brings grocery carts full of supplies to his brother's apartment building so that the two of them can ride out the disaster together. Fast-forward twenty years, and Kirsten is now an actress with the Travelling Symphony, a troupe of performers who walks from small settlement to small settlement around Lake Michigan.

Mandel flips between three timelines: the days immediately following the flu outbreak; Kirsten's travels in Year 20; and the life of Arthur Leander. These stories are woven together into a novel that is far more than just another end-of-the-world tale -- instead, Station Eleven is about the importance of the arts, the connections humans make with each other, and the power of the written word. I fell in love with this book from the first page, with it's well-drawn characters, complex narrative structure, and appreciation for both pop culture and literature. If Stephen King's The Stand, Cormac McCarthy's The Road, and Margaret Atwood's The Blind Assassin had a literary baby, this would be it.

The bottom line: Everything I love in a book; I wanted to start reading it again the moment I finished.

5 stars

Well, that's the third great review of Station Eleven I've read on LT . . . I may have to break down and read it even though I usually shy away from books about the end of the world as we know it.

>80 rebeccanyc: I felt the same way you did Rebecca, but I also read a lot of positive reviews here on LT, and in various newspapers. I'm so glad I decided to give Station Eleven a try.

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Tentative August Reading Plans
1. Station Eleven - Emily St. John Mandel
2. Gilead - Marilynne Robinson
3. Home - Marilynne Robinson
4. Lila - Marilynne Robinson
5. Life Before Man - Margaret Atwood

Great description of your European vacation, Cait! I did like Amsterdam, but like you I enjoyed a visit to a nearby smaller city, Utrecht, a bit more. It helped that I spent the day there in the company of a new Dutch LT friend, Connie (Connie53) from the 75 Books group, along with two other LT friends from New Jersey who I've met several times previously, Tad (TadAD) and his wife Julie (jrzymom). Tad invited me to join them in Amsterdam at the end of June; otherwise I wouldn't have gone there. Tad, Julie and I also met up with another Dutch LTer, Anita (@FAMuelstee), along with her husband Frank in Amsterdam, and we visited the Matisse exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum on the Museumplein and went to a 17th century pub (In De Wildemaan) between Dam Square and Amsterdam Centraal Station. While I was there I also spent a day in Cologne (Köln) with another friend from the 75 Books club, Bianca (drachenbraut23), who is from Germany but works in London.

Being able to experience those cities with LTers from those countries was priceless, especially my day in Cologne with Bianca. We visited the Käthe Kollwitz Museum, for example, but the museum labels were all in German, so she was able to translate them, and the biographical panels of Kollwitz's life, for me. I'll post some highlights from that trip next week, as I'll leave San Francisco tomorrow to spend two weeks with my parents in the Philadelphia area.

I traveled from London to Lille by Eurostar, then transferred to a Thalys train to go from there to Amsterdam, stopping in Brussels, Antwerp and Rotterdam. As you said, it's a very easy and doable day trip to any of those cities to London, so if I have some free days next month when I go back to London I'll give serious consideration to going to at least one of them. I'm also now far more comfortable visiting countries where I don't know the language (I'm nearly fluent in Spanish, so visiting Barcelona and conversing in Spanish there was no problem).

>82 kidzdoc: You are so right about the power of traveling and connecting with people who actually live in the places you visit. That's one of the reasons I enjoy the odd organized day tour, because a local guide can give so much insight into a place. In Paris we had a bus and walking tour with a Parisian, and even though this was my fourth time in Paris, he gave such a different view of the city that I learned a lot of new things.

I am envious of your Spanish knowledge! My French is okay; I can understand it fairly well and read it competently, but I struggle to speak it (just fear of sounding like an idiot, I think!).

>76 Cait86: Brussels is still within Flanders, although it is its own little island in it. It is officially bilingual but in practice French predominates. I had an experience in a restaurant there where, when I ordered in Dutch, the waiter repeated it back to me in French every time. Go figure. ;)

Please do go back and go to Gent! It's far more appealing than Bruges - less full of tourists, just as scenic, and more alive.

>84 ursula: Thanks for the insight into Belgium -- I will definitely go back!

No problem - I lived in Gent for 6 months and I really liked it a lot.

Book #10: Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

Marilynne Robinson's Gilead is written as one long letter from aging minister John Ames to his young son, who he knows he will never see grow up. After being a widow for most of his life, Ames met and married a much younger woman and has spent about a decade living a very happy existence. At 76, his heart is troubling him, and so he decides to spend his last days imparting some knowledge to his son, in hopes that the boy will have more than vague memories of him. Ames' letter includes stories from his past, and about his father and grandfather, both ministers as well. There is a lot of thinking about religion, and on the small town of Gilead. Back in town is Ames' namesake, his best friend's son John Ames Boughton, whose past is marred by scandal and who always seems to be smirking at the people around him.

And that's it. Nothing really happens. Ames writes about religion, writes some more about religion, worries that young Boughton might hurt his wife and son after he is dead, feels like a bad Christian for being so judgmental, writes some more about religion, and tells stories about his family, which are ultimately also about religion.

Robinson is a beautiful writer, and Ames' voice was well defined. But I just didn't care about anything he had to say. I'm okay with a book that doesn't have a ton of plot, or a book with a character I don't like/can't empathize with -- but it can't be both. The one character who I found interesting was Ames' wife, Lila. Ames hints at her rough past, but never goes into detail about it. Thankfully Robinson's latest (and Booker Prize longlisted) book, Lila, should answer my questions (but first I have to read Home, which is about John Boughton's sister, Glory).

3 stars

>84 ursula: it was interesting for me being in Brussels with my partner, who speaks Dutch. He got one of two reactions - very frosty response in French (or English) or sudden effusiveness from someone who'd only been civil when I spoke French to them.