kac522 2017 Random Acts of Reading

Welcome to my 2017 Category Challenge: Random Acts of Reading.

I've decided to use "17" as my basis for my Challenge Categories, to come up with a goal of 17 x 5 = 85 books.

I'll be loosely participating in the American Author Challenge (AAC), British Author Challenge (BAC), RandomCAT, AlphaKIT, my own version of DeweyCAT, and in the ROOTs group. My ultimate goal is to read a majority of books in all categories off my shelves. I've set 35 books as my minimum ROOTs goal, but hope to exceed it:




I also have a thread in the 75ers group, which is straight chronological list of my reading, and you can find it here:
https://www.librarything.com/topic/243965#

Thanks for stopping by and have a great year of reading in 2017!

Challenge 1: 17 Random Acts of Reading: the AAC and BAC Challenges

I'm challenging myself to read at least 17 books (in any combination that strikes my fancy, in any order, in any month) from the American Author (MarkF) and British Author (PaulC) Challenges for 2017. I am hoping that the majority of these will come from my TBR/ROOTs shelves (marked with an "R"), but I know an occasional book will come from the library.

1. AAC Jan: Kindred, Octavia Butler
2. BAC Jan: The Last September, Elizabeth Bowen R (read in April)
3. AAC Feb: The Odds by Stewart O'Nan R (read in May)
4. BAC Feb: My Brother Michael by Mary Stewart (read in June)
5. AAC Mar: A Tidewater Morning by William Styron R (read in Oct)
6. BAC Apr: Peacock & Vine by A. S. Byatt (read in May)
7. BAC Jun: These Old Shades by Georgette Heyer R (read in Oct)
8. BAC Jul: Treasure Island by R L Stevenson R (read in Dec)
9. BAC Aug: An Ancient Castle by Robert Graves R (read in Oct)
10. AAC Sep: short stories: Edith Wharton Short Stories by Edith Wharton (read in Sep)
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.

Challenge 2: 17 Random Acts of Reading: RandomCAT and DeweyKAC (my own Dewey)

In this challenge, I'll try to read at least one book from each "hundred" of Dewey (i.e., 000s, 100s, 200s, etc.) and at least 7 books from the RandomCAT challenges in 2017. I liked the Dewey challenge--it got me to read nonfiction AND it allowed me to browse the library shelves, relatively guilt-free. Again, priority is from my TBR (marked with an "R"), but I'm sure some of the Deweys will come from library browsing.

Dewey
1. 000s
2. 100: 170 Ethics in the Real World by Peter Singer
3. 200: 289 A Suppressed Cry by Victoria Glendinning R
4. 300: 303.37 Garden of Broken Statues by Marianna Tax Choldin
5. 400s
6. 500: 551.21 Krakatoa by Simon Winchester (audiobook)
7. 600: 648 Spark Joy by Marie Kondo
8. 700: 784.2092 Absolutely on Music: Conversations with Seiji Ozawa by Haruki Murakami
9. 800: 814.54 Wind Sprints: Shorter Essays by Joseph Epstein
10. 900: 973 Profiles in Courage by John F. Kennedy R

RandomCAT
11. Jan: Search & Rescue: Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed by Philip Hallie R
12. Feb: Mine, yours & ours: The Mother's Recompense by Edith Wharton R
13. Mar: Irish: The Macdermotts of Ballycloran by Anthony Trollope R
14. Apr: Love in the Stacks: Gratitude by Oliver Sacks
15. May: Mom The Tempest by William Shakespeare R
16. Jun: Into the Unknown: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
17. Jul: July Birthdays: Falling Slowly by Anita Brookner R
18. Aug: Animal Kingdom
19. Sep: Where has the time gone?
20. Oct: Turn on the Dark
21. Nov: Traffic Jam: Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K Jerome R
22. Dec: Book in a day: The Trials of Phillis Wheatley by Henry Louis Gates Jr R

COMPLETED!!! 17 Total books from these CATs

Double Challenge 3: 17 x 2 (34) Random Acts of Reading: AlphaKIT from the TBR

My TBR is out of control--last year I added to my shelves twice as many books as I read, and a lot that I read were from the library. So this year I'm joining the AlphaKIT group to read at least 2 books per month off my shelves. Luckily, my books are mostly arranged on the shelves by author's last name. Although AlphaKIT is organized by random letters per month, I may read outside of this framework. My year-end goal is to read 34 books across the alphabet from my TBR.

My priority for reading will be by author's last name; if none strikes my fancy, I'll use author's first name; and last resort is a word in the title. I'm organizing this list by Alpha. Since there are 26 letters in the Alphabet, I'll need to read more than 1 per letter to get to 34 (plus I know I don't have any "X" books on my shelves.)

AlphaKIT

A--Jan--Audiobook: Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen, read by Juliet Stevenson ♥
B--Dec--Bones and Murder by Margaret Atwood
C--Nov--Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie
D--Apr--Audiobook: Bleak House by Charles Dickens, read by Simon Vance ♥
E
F--Dec--Falling Slowly by Anita Brookner
G--Dec--The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax by Dorothy Gilman
H--Feb--Powder and Patch by Georgette Heyer
I--Jan--The Iliad by Homer
J--Dec--Saving Mozart by Raphael Jerusalmy
K
L--Dec--A Tranquil Star stories by Primo Levi
M--Jan--Deerbrook by Harriet Martineau
N
O
P--Dec--The Piano Lesson by August Wilson ♥
Q--Dec--Imagined London by Anna Quindlen
R--Dec--Mrs Tim of the Regiment by D. E. Stevenson
S--Feb--Shosha by I. B. Singer
T--Mar--The Duke's Children by Anthony Trollope ♥
T--Dec--The Duke's Children (restored edition) by Anthony Trollope ♥♥
U--Jul--A Midwife's Tale: the life of Martha Ballard by L. T. Ulrich
V
W--Feb--The Mother's Recompense by Edith Wharton ♥
X
Y
Z

Above: me coming home from the library, which brings me to:

Challenge 4: 17 Even More Random Acts of Reading: Library finds, new books and everything else

Can't have a challenge without a "catch-all" category, so here it is. Anything that doesn't fit in Challenges 1 through 3 goes here:

1. Jan: Audiobook: Frozen Assets by P. G. Wodehouse, read by Simon Vance
2. Jan: Village School by Miss Read
3. Feb: The Essential Rebecca West: Uncollected Prose by Rebecca West
4. Feb: Hillbilly Elegy by J. D. Vance
5. Mar: Village Diary by Miss Read
6. Mar: Animal Farm by George Orwell
7. Apr: Storm in the Village by Miss Read
8. May: Miss Clare Remembers by Miss Read
9. Jun: The Diary of a Nobody by George Grossmith
10. Aug: Mrs Griffin Sends her Love and other writings by Miss Read
11. Sep: A Distant View of Everything by Alexander McCall Smith
12. Dec: Double Sin and Other Stories by Agatha Christie
13. Dec: The Two Heroines of Plumplington by Anthony Trollope
14.
15.
16.
17.

2016 has been a tough year for a lot of us. So much emotion and angst, anger and disgust. And I know that a lot of people have taken the challenge to read more about the differences and challenges that our world faces. I may dip into that once in a while too.

But right now I have the need for some reading that takes me away; that makes me think about brave and kind people; perhaps fluff, perhaps escapist, yes. So (as can be seen from my challenges above) as I pull books off my shelves and from the library, 2017 is going to be a bit of a random reading year for me, with 1) pleasure and 2) reading LOTS of books off the shelf being the optimal goals.

In other reading plans, one very specific goal is to finish Clarissa by Samuel Richardson, which I started in 2016, but has now become a two-year project. :(

I'm also thinking about reading more series. Some of my thoughts lean toward these:

Patrick O'Brian's Master and Commander series
Georgette Heyer's historical fiction
Patrick Taylor's An Irish Country Doctor series
Some Agatha Christie
Some of the many Willa Cather books on my shelf

OK, all set up! Just need to clean up my reading in 2016, and move on to 2017. Happy Reading!

Sounds like a great plan!

>7 Tess_W: Thanks! If my TBRs go down, I'll be a happy camper.

I think the size of our TBR's is going to be a main concern for many of us in 2017. Good luck with your challenge.

>6 kac522: I am so with you on the escapist reading! Georgette Heyer is perfect for that, in my entirely biased opinion. :)

>9 DeltaQueen50: Of course, I haven't figured out how I'm going to limit the PLUS side of the equation: i.e., stop buying books! I should really have a "challenge" for that!

>10 christina_reads: I feel somewhat guilty that I don't have more incentive to read about the issues, but I feel like it's in my face every day, in every newscast, in every newsfeed, in every conversation. Tonight I just finished a little book of 5 short stories about Christmas by Anthony Trollope: Christmas at Thompson Hall, and it was a delight. There was even a serious story, written in 1863, about 2 brothers on opposite sides of the American Civil War. So not all fluff!

And, yes, Heyer should fit the bill nicely!

Lovely categories! The reduction of Mount TBR is much on my thoughts, too, so I'll be watching how you're getting on. Heyer is indeed a wonderful comfort read, I hope you enjoy her books. I can also recommend O'Brian's naval series, not fluff at all, but very entertaining.
Okay, now I'm off to track down those Trollope stories...

Great setup! I am looking forward to seeing where your random acts of reading take you!

My mum is reading the Irish Country Doctor series and she finds them nice light reading.

>12 MissWatson: I feel like in past years I've committed myself to so many challenges that I haven't read stuff that I truly want to read! I figure all these books on the shelves I bought because I wanted to read them at some point, so what better place to start?

>13 rabbitprincess: I've heard lots of good things about the Doctor series and the book stares at me every day from a pile on a chair (yes--it's come to that--piles on chairs, along walls, next to overflowing bookcases!).

Lovely thread!

>15 The_Hibernator: Thanks! I hope it works and gets some of these books outta here....

Ah, the old Mt. TBR - threatens to flatten us all. Good luck!

You have some great categories here! I'll be following along. Good luck in reducing your TBR!

>17 -Eva-:, >18 VivienneR: Thanks--yep, hopefully I'll be able to chip away at those books before an avalanche occurs!

You should have a great time with your categories this year. I love your sailboat ticker. I like how you have your personal Dewey challenge for your nonfiction reading. Have fun in 2017!

>20 mamzel: Thanks! If I can get those TBRs down, I'll be might happy!

January planned reads:

AAC-Kindred, Butler
BAC-The Last September, Bowen
RandomCAT--Search & Rescue-Lest Innocent Blood be Shed, Hallie
Alpha Kit "M"-My Life in Middlemarch, Mead
Alpha Kit "S"-Shosha, Singer
OCC Book Club - The Iliad, Homer

Love your "Random Acts of Reading" theme for your 2017 challenge!

>23 The_Hibernator: and >24 lkernagh: Happy New Year to both of you and thanks for stopping by!

A summary of 2016 reading:

Best reads of 2016 (in no particular order--touchstones available here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/209668#5388620):

Nonfiction

March, Books One, Two & Three, Lewis (3 books)
Jewish Odyssey of George Eliot, Himmelfarb
A Story Larger than My own, ed. by Burroway
The Carols of Christmas, Gant

Fiction--couldn't just pick a few; again, no particular order:

Return of the Soldier, West
The Mayor of Casterbridge, Hardy
Moby Dick, Melville
The Good Earth, Buck
The Noise of Time, Barnes
A Whole Life, Seethaler
The Prime Minister, Trollope
The Professor, Bronte
Diary of a Provincial Lady series, Delafield

2016 Reading Stats:

88: Total books, broken down as 83 books/ebooks, listened to 5 audiobooks
also 2 short stories read from a collection of Joseph Conrad

Of these 88 + stories:
29: from the TBR shelves prior to 1/1/2016 (missed my goal of 30)
11: from my shelves purchased in 2016
1: borrowed from a friend
Everything else from the library

Of the 3 ebooks, 2 were from the library, 1 purchased prior to 2016.

46 Male authors
42 Female authors
1 mixed (male + female author)

Overall I think I did well with the male/female ratio; was disappointed that I didn't make 30 TBRs; and am happy with my overall reading total, which is the highest to date.

Interesting to note: of the 15 books I've named as my best of the year, 7 came from LT--either as part of the BAC challenge or direct recommendations from great LT people via their threads. LT has definitely influenced my reading choices!

And that tradition continues...despite the fact that I named a whole long list of books for January up in message 22, I'm ACTUALLY right now reading Deerbrook by Harriet Martineau as part of the Virago Chronological Group Read Project, which is here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/245181#5864570

Another book I never would have read, if not for LT (Thank you, lyzard!)

You're very welcome! :)

And a summary of how I did in last year's challenges:

How did I do? I'd say fair, although I only finished one (Dewey), but made a dent in others:

4 AAC authors read:
Jane Smiley
Mary Oliver (April Poetry month)
John Steinbeck
Don DeLillo

For the AAC I substituted 3 women for those authors I had already read. I read these American authors in 2016:

Pearl S. Buck
Maya Angelou
Maxine Hong Kingston

9 BAC authors read
Susan Hill
Agatha Christie (2 books)
Thomas Hardy
George Eliot
Joseph Conrad (2 stories)
Bernice Rubens
Laurie Lee (2 books)
Rebecca West
Charlotte Bronte

6 CAC authors read
Kim Thuy
Robertson Davies
Helen Humphreys
Margaret Atwood
L. M. Montgomery
Pierre Berton

All 12 Dewey categories read woo-hoo!

10 out of 12 RandomCAT categories read

10 out of 12 Nonfiction Challenge categories read

...and 19 out of 25 WomenBingoPUP squares completed.

I'm really sorry I didn't get to these authors, and have put aside books by them for 2017:

Doig (AAC)
Gardam, Atkinson, McEwan (BAC)
Richler, Hill, Munro (CAC)

On to the Random Acts of Reading...

>28 lyzard: The pleasure is definitely all mine!

I hope this year will be as excellent as your 2016 tally. I was also blown away by the. march series. Congressman Lewis had such a story to tell.

Hopefully you still get around to Kindred by Octavia Butler. I read that last year and really enjoyed it.

I'm glad to see that Moby Dick was one of your best reads of the year. I plan to start it soon.

Happy new year >31 mamzel:, >32 LittleTaiko: and >33 luvamystery65:, and thanks for stopping by!

>31 mamzel: Wasn't that a great series? The last book was especially good, but I think the 3 books as a whole "work" was quite an achievement. And it's less than 10 years of the man's life! Amazing.

>32 LittleTaiko: Kindred is definitely on the pile to be read this month, as soon as I tackle The Iliad (or give up on it) for my book club. I just keep seeing Butler's book everywhere, so I have to make it a priority.

>33 luvamystery65: Moby Dick was long, and sometimes my mind wandered. But much of it was good, and the edition I had (a Modern Library paperback with 1930s classic wood engravings by Rockwell Kent) really made the book fly by. If you can get a copy of this edition, it's fun just to flip through for the illustrations--there's at least one in every chapter:



or this:



or this:



and here's the cover of that Modern Library edition:

>34 kac522: I love that cover!

>35 mamzel: The colors make it really pop out. The whole book is filled with great illustrations, but all in black & white.

>34 kac522: I ordered the Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition, with intro by Nathanial Philbrick, but I'll see if the library has that edition so I can enjoy the illustrations.

>37 luvamystery65: They made the difference for me in my reading.

January is almost over and I have yet to write up a single book I've read this month. Not that I've read that many. So here are some short summaries of the books this month. Rather than stars, I'm just putting a single ♥ next to titles I really enjoyed:

1. Deerbrook by Harriet Martineau

Type: fiction
Completed: Jan 2017
Challenge(s): Challenge #3 AlphaKit M, ROOT, group read for the Virago Chronological Read
Format: My ebook (Nook)

I had never heard of Harriet Martineau before this group read on LT. Martineau is an interesting bridge between Austen and Eliot/Gaskell, with a moral sensibility but a more modern approach and feel. The feeling of small town life is almost claustrophobic here, where every comment or action provokes another comment or action, and it's just hard to hide from the narrow mindedness. I didn't love the book, but I did enjoy reading it and the preachy parts didn't go on too long. I think I'd like to read Martineau's nonfiction, if I can find it anywhere.

2. Wind Sprints: Shorter Essays by Joseph Epstein ♥

Type: short essays
Completed: Jan 2017
Challenge(s): Challenge #2 Dewey: 800s (814.54)
Format: library book from Chicago Public Library

A lot of fun. I looked forward to reading a few of these each night before going to bed. Each essay is no more than 3 pages, and the topics run from shoes to books to dogs to language. He rambles on about stuff going on in his neighborhood, his growing up years in Chicago, and even thoughts outside his little world in Evanston. It's a big book, but a lot of laughs. Thanks, Mr. Epstein, for bringing some sunshine to me at the end of these dark days.

3. Audiobook: Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen, read by Juliet Stevenson ♥

Type: fiction
Completed: Jan 2017
Challenge: ROOT (re-read/re-listen), Challenge #3 AlphaKit A
Format: My audiobook on CD

I've read this umpteen times and this was my second listen to my CDs of the wonderful Juliet Stevenson. Stevenson does such a great job with the minor characters--they're all so distinct, you can't mix up one for the other. Austen's dialogue works so well in audio format--the more I listen to her novels, the more I have to think she wrote her books with reading aloud in mind.

4. The Iliad by Homer, translated by Robert Fagles

Type: epic poem (I think)
Completed: Jan 2017, with great difficulty
Challenge: ROOT, Challenge #3 AlphaKit H; and for my RL book club
Format: book from my TBR shelf

I had very little interest in this overly epic poem of Greeks slicing up Trojans and vice-versa, with numerous gods interfering at every turn. I found the gods particularly annoying, because they make sure that no mortal is in control of his/her own fate, even in a small way. But I think what I disliked the most is that there wasn't a kind, good soul in the entire 600+ pages. OK, maybe that old Nestor guy was too old to be entirely nasty, but everyone else was just filled with vengeance. Like a Trump tweet, except in a zillion characters, and I needed more of that like a hole in the head. Even at the end, Achilles can't even give back Hector's body without getting some gifts, some payback. Sheesh. Glad that's over and I can move on with my life.

5. Audiobook: Frozen Assets by P. G. Wodehouse, read by Simon Vance

Type: fiction (humor)
Completed: Jan 2017
Challenge: none (Challenge #4 Even More Random Acts)
Format: Audiobook via hoopla from Chicago Public Library

Amusing shorter book that gets increasingly hard to follow as the story goes along. But that didn't matter much, as there are a lot of clever lines that keep you smiling. Listened to this while doing work on the computer, so I didn't quite get the entire storyline, but like I said, it doesn't really matter.

Currently Reading:

Village School by Miss Read

Coming Up:

Kindred by Olivia Butler (January AAC)
Lest Innocent Blood be Shed by Philip Hallie (January RandomCAT0)
The Last September by Elizabeth Bowen (January BAC)

6. Village School by Miss Read ♥

Type: fiction
Completed: Jan 2017
Challenge(s): Challenge 4--Even more Random Acts of Reading
Format: library book from Chicago Public Library

Charming tale of village life, told from the schoolteacher's viewpoint. Miss Read is generally kind and loves her pupils, but she's not a saint. The village people have their own quirks, but are mostly lovable. I'm so glad to have found this series; they will make the perfect comfort read between more challenging books.



7. Kindred by Olivia Butler

Type: fiction
Completed: Feb 2017
Challenge(s): Challenge 1--AAC January
Format: library book from Chicago Public Library

I am not a science fiction fan, so I had a hard time with this book, even though many would say it's not strictly sci-fi. It is time travel, and I just couldn't suspend my disbelief in the whole premise. That being said, the book certainly was a page-turner, and brought up many questions about race and identity. Dana, our heroine, travels from 1976 back to a Southern plantation in 1819. Coincidentally (or perhaps by design) she has arrived at the place where her slave ancestor, Hagar, will be born to the white master's son and one of his slaves. Well-researched, I found myself wishing that it had just been an historical novel about that period.. And the one piece I wanted Butler to explore, that of comparing herself, her personality and her likeness to these distant ancestors, one white and one black, was completely missing. Or coming to terms with having a white ancestor who was a slave-holder. Or being the descendant of a raped slave. None of these are even approached in the book. Overall, not bad, but it could have been much more.

Next up:

Either Village Diary by Miss Read or Powder and Patch by Georgette Heyer; the latter fits the Feb AlphaKit

and later...in no particular order...

The Last September, Bowen (Jan BAC)
Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed, Hallie (Jan RandomCat)
Shosha, Singer (Jan AlphaKit)
The Odds: A Love Story, O'Nan (Feb AAC)
My Brother Michael, Stewart (Feb BAC)
At Mrs. Lippincote's, Taylor (Feb RandomCAT)
Hillbilly Elegy, Vance (RL bookclub)
Garden of Broken Statues: Exploring Censorship in Russia, Choldin (written by a friend & she will be giving a lecture)
and an Edith Wharton (Feb AlphaKit)

with some comfort reads in-between. All of the above, except the Mary Stewart & Hillbilly Elegy, are from the gi-normous TBR.

The TBR never seems to shrink, does it! And I've been bitten by the rereading bug lately, so a lot of my on-deck reads are oldies.

>43 rabbitprincess: No, it never gets smaller, and I'm even taking a dozen books to donate to the library sale today. Doesn't make a dent, though, as I've already *bought* 10 books this year, and after I drop these off, where am I going? To the Library Book Sale, of course!

So, as I predicted, I brought home just as many books (14) as I donated:

Battles at Thrush Green and Emily Davis by Miss Read - woo-hoo--what great unexpected finds!
Home: a memoir of my early years by Julie Andrews -- always loved Julie Andrews--I wanted to BE her, or at least sing like her.
An Ancient Castle by Robert Graves -- a short story/novella found in his papers after he died
The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax by Dorothy Gillman -- been wanting to start this series and now I have my own copy
Hiroshima by John Hersey -- a classic I've never read
The Devastating Boys by Elizabeth Taylor -- I've been collecting Elizabeth Taylor whenever I find one; this is a Virago edition, so double find!
Stoner by John Williams -- nyrb edition -- lots of hype about this one--been on the radar for some time
A Theft by Saul Bellow -- a shorter Bellow, new to me
The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford -- Dover Thrift Edition -- another classic
Treasure Island by RL Stevenson --Dover Thrift Edition -- yet another classic I've yet to read
An Eye for an Eye by Anthony Trollope -- library discard which appears to be in better condition than the copy I have (haven't read yet)
The Manor and The Estate by I. B. Singer -- another library discard that looks like new--probably never checked out -- again, a copy in much better condition than the current one I own, still unread on my TBR. Maybe the shiny new-like copy will give me incentive.
March by Geraldine Brooks -- another one on the radar

All for $7. Not bad.

Wow, that's an awesome haul! Enjoy!!

Great haul! What a bargain!

>46 rabbitprincess: Not bad, huh? Also the sale was organized into "fiction" and "non-fiction"--that was it. And mysteriously, most of my fiction finds were in the "non-fiction" section.

>47 VivienneR: Yeah, I was pretty surprised when I went up to pay--I wasn't really paying attention to the signs. Small paperbacks were 25 cents and large paperbacks & hardcovers were 50 cents. The total actually came to $6.50, but I rounded up to $7--major big spender that I am.

I brought home just as many books ... as I donated
Sounds about right. :)

>45 kac522: - Wonderful book haul!

I see you have been busy reading! I also enjoy Juliet Stevenson as a reader for audiobooks.

>45 kac522: Great haul! I only just read Treasure Island last year - I think you're in for a treat.

Great luck finding a Virago edition - I think I've assumed that I won't be able to find Viragos at library sales; maybe I need to re-think that.

>49 -Eva-: Ha! Love it! although my floor space doesn't...

>50 lkernagh: I have been reading, and even a chapter or two of Clarissa now & again, but have a lot to catch up on. Yes, isn't Stevenson the best? I have a hard time listening to anyone else these days, I'm so spoiled.

>51 LisaMorr: Most of my Viragos have been from library sales, especially the older editions with the dark green covers. When I go to sales, I actually scan specifically looking for that dark green color! So I'm sure you'll find one or two. And I'm looking forward to Treasure Island--I think there's a Stevenson month for the BAC, and I'm saving it for that.

8. Powder and Patch by Georgette Heyer

Type: fiction
Completed: Feb 2017
Challenge(s): AlphaKit Feb "H", ROOT
Format: paperback from my shelves

A clever diversionary (is that a word?) read, but so far I haven't been blown away by Georgette Heyer. Maybe because I'm starting with the Georgian books, but these little spats between powdery heroes and heroines amidst other flirtations just don't do much for me. I need a little more thought, a little more feeling. I hope that materializes in some of the other Heyer titles I have around here on my TBR. Normally I'd give up, but I've heard so many good things from all you Heyer fans out there on LT, that I'll eventually read more.



9. Garden of Broken Statues: Exploring Censorship in Russia by Marianna Tax Choldin

Type: memoir
Completed: Feb 2017
Challenge(s): My Dewey Challenge--not yet catalogued.
Format: paperback from my shelves, autographed by the author

Full disclaimer: the author is a friend of mine, so this is not an unbiased review. This memoir focuses on the influences in the author's life that brought her to her love of Russia, language, and ultimately, her commitment to freedom of expression. Brought up in an academic household, Marianna had a passion for all things Russian as early as high school. This memoir brings together all the disparate pieces in her life that brought her to her work as a faculty librarian specializing in Slavic Studies at the University of Illinois-Urbana. Over the span of 50 years, she visited Russia over 50 times, working with her librarian colleagues in the Soviet Union. In the course of her research, she uncovered how prevalent and "silent" much of the censorship was in both Imperial Russia and the later Soviet Union, and she worked to open up the exchange of ideas between the United States and Russia when the Soviet Union began to fall. Her theme of "Broken Statues" is a small park she stumbled upon in Moscow, where broken and neglected statues and monuments of once mighty but now out of favor Russian heroes were literally dumped. This is her way of finding those things in Russia's past that have still not been dealt with by the government and its people.

My only criticism of the book, actually, is the title, which doesn't give the impression that this is a memoir. I kept waiting for the censorship part, and there was so much more of Marianna's life. But by the end, you can see that she is trying to tell you how the events in her life brought her to her work, and influenced the decisions she made and the values she holds. Marianna has written several scholarly books on censorship in Russia, but she wanted to reach a wider audience with this memoir. I think if I had understood this from the beginning of the book, I would have enjoyed it more. Still, it's a fascinating story of a brilliant woman, and I could hear her voice in every sentence.

Currently reading:

Shosha by Isaac Bashevis Singer

Coming Up:

Hillbilly Elegy, Vance
Village Diary, Miss Read
The Last September, Bowen

>53 kac522: I have the same issue with Heyer romances. I have enjoyed her mysteries, though.

>55 casvelyn: Wow, thanks--nice to know I'm not alone out there. But I'll try a few others and I do have a couple of mysteries on the shelf, so maybe I'll try one of them next.

I would say that Heyer tends to shine more in the Regency romances than in the early Georgian-era ones. Glad to hear that you will try at least a couple more!

>57 christina_reads: That's what I've gathered from others, so I'm not giving up! They're quick & easy reads anyway, so it's not like investing in War and Peace. :)

10. Shosha by Isaac Bashevis Singer

Type: fiction
Completed: Feb 2017
Challenge(s): AlphaKit for Jan (S); ROOT
Format: paperback from my shelves

Written in 1974, this later novel of I.B. Singer is set in 1930's Warsaw prior to Hitler's invasion. The narrator is a writer and re-discovers Shosha, a girl he loved as a boy from his old neighborhood, who is, at best "simple" and perhaps mildly mentally retarded. The novel takes us through the writer's life just before and up until his marriage to Shosha, encountering all kinds of characters. It's interesting how Singer weaves into conversations philosophy, fascism, socialism, Torah, you name it. Generally our narrator (Aaron) listens to these rantings from the people he meets and we learn very little of what he thinks. Nearly all of them eventually circle around death and/or God. Everyone it seems in this Poland is sure they will die at the hands of Hitler and there is a fatalism throughout the book. Interesting descriptions of the ghetto and its characters, from the most holy rabbis to the most evil charlatans. This was a good (not great) book, and it did make me think, and I'm still trying to figure out whether Shosha represents (for Singer) innocence/goodness in a broader sense amidst a world of impending doom. Or whether this was just a story.

Currently reading:

Hillbilly Elegy, Vance
The Mother's Recompense, Edith Wharton

11. Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J. D. Vance

Type: memoir
Completed: Feb 2017
Challenge(s): My DeweyKit; for my RL Book Club
Format: hardcover lent to me by a member of my book club

This 21st century rags-to-riches memoir by a young 30-something of "hillbilly" descent is open, forthright, and a page-turner. Vance makes no excuses for who he is or where he comes from. He starts out with a general description of the migration of Appalachian whites to Rust Belt cities, their culture and their values. He then relates his own personal story, and he has a lot to be proud of.

But his story didn't get much empathy from me. Lots of people are poor; some of these poor people overcome tremendous odds to become successful; and many of these same people have even greater battles with society: skin color, language barrier, immigrant status, physical disabilities, gender identity, to name a few. And lots of these demographic groups are in (and have been in) "crisis" for generations.

This is not to make light of Vance's accomplishments, despite his Kentucky accent. But in his quest to attain a higher social class standing, I think Vance could have broadened his perspective to reflect on how he is more like his fellow-Americans than different from them. This is where Trump, et. al., are dangerous: they emphasize these differences and incite jealousies and hatred, rather than encouraging us to see our similarities in our struggles, and rejoicing in everyone's successes. I'm glad J. D. Vance isn't another O.D. statistic, but this book could have been so much more.

Currently reading:

The Mother's Recompense by Edith Wharton and
The Essential Rebecca West: Uncollected Prose by Rebecca West

12. The Essential Rebecca West: Uncollected Prose by Rebecca West
Type: essays and reviews
Completed: Feb 2017
Challenge(s): My DeweyKAC (800s); for Virago February Read
Format: paperback from Chicago Public Library

This is a compilation of essays and book reviews that were not previously published or only published once in a newspaper or magazine. They have never before appeared in a collection of West's works. The pieces span from 1920 to 1979. and they also span a breadth and depth of knowledge of all sorts of topics: the arts, literature, science, politics, psychology, to name a few. I enjoyed these short and witty non-fiction pieces, probably the book reviews a bit more than the essays. The only other West I've read is The Return of the Soldier, which I loved. One day I may tackle one of her long novels, but this short set of works was a wonderful introduction to a brilliant woman of the 20th century.

13. The Mother's Recompense by Edith Wharton ♥
Type: fiction
Completed: Feb 2017
Challenge(s): AlphaKIT; ROOT
Format: hardcover from my shelves

One of Wharton's last novels, finished in 1925. I loved this book, despite being a bit melodramatic. It felt honest; it felt like a woman who had learned to accept herself for who she was during the course of the novel. I'll leave others to provide a summary of the story, but what really drew me in was the way Kate went through her own soul-searching to find the right place for herself in society, in her family and within herself. I particularly felt satisfied by the ending, which seemed so appropriate to me. I've yet to be disappointed by Edith Wharton.

Currently reading:
Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed by Philip Hallie
Village Diary by Miss Read
Absolutely on Music: Conversations with Seiji Ozawa by Haruki Murakami
and listening to Bleak House read by Simon Vance

I'm going to be reading an Edith Wharton this month, and I am looking forward to The Bunner Sisters, even though I have only read two of hers so far, she has to disappoint me as well.

>66 DeltaQueen50: That's a new title to me... I'll have to find a copy.

Picked up 3 Virago editions today (at a used book store & library sale shelves):

Mary Olivier: A Life by May Sinclair
A Suppressed Cry by Victoria Glendinning
The Little Company by Eleanor Dark

I'm familiar with Sinclair & Glendinning, but Eleanor Dark is a new author to me. If anyone knows anything about this novel or any others by her, I'd appreciate hearing what you think of her work.

14. Village Diary by Miss Read; second book in the Fairacre series ♥
Type: fiction
Completed: Mar 2017
Challenge(s): none
Format: hardcover from Chicago Public Library

I have to say I'm loving this series so far--this is Book 2 in the Miss Read's Fairacre novels, and I can't wait to get on with the next one. They are funny, honest and unpretentious. Book one was organized by the seasons; this book is organized by the months of the year. It's interesting to compare this to my own elementary schooling, which was just a few years later, but my Catholic school upbringing in a American suburb was so different! I'm also thinking of how this village life is compared to city family life as portrayed in the "Call the Midwife" series (books & TV). And I'm appreciating how Miss Read is quite happy and content as a single woman teaching in a small village, thank you very much.

15. Absolutely on Music: Conversations with Seiji Ozawa by Haruki Murakami ♥
Type: nonfiction, music, interviews
Completed: Mar 2017
Challenge(s): my DeweyKAC: 700s
Format: hardcover from Chicago Public Library

I loved this book and found these recorded conversations fascinating. Novelist Haruki Murakami and conductor Seiji Ozawa were friends, and they formalized these conversations a couple of years before Ozawa died. Murakami is a very well-informed listener and recording collector, and his questions and discussions with Ozawa run from the generic to the very technical.

I particularly liked the beginning where they compared different recordings of the same work. (There's a link provided in the book where you can download from Spotify the recordings that they're discussing.) As fellow Japanese artists, they discuss somewhat the Japanese mindset toward music and performance vs. a Western approach. They compare the creation of a novel (Murakami) vs. Ozawa's creation of a musical statement as the conductor of a large group of musicians (i.e., the creative process of a "soloist" vs. an ensemble). Murakami pulls out of Ozawa some of the more famous events in his musical career and little-known interests, (working with Leonard Bernstein, visiting blues clubs in Chicago, instructing young and upcoming musicians) which show the wide range of interests of the maestro.

As an amateur musician (I've played piano and sung in choirs all my life), it's hard for me to tell whether it has appeal to non-musicians, but for me these were enlightening and even instructive conversations.

16. Animal Farm by George Orwell
Type: fiction
Completed: March 2017
Challenges: RL book club
Format: hardcover from the library

Read this in high school, without comprehending much of it. Re-reading as an adult, and with a bit more background in historical events, this was a well-done "fairy tale" that could be applied specifically to the Russian experience, but clearly universal in its themes. The oppression of the press and the disappearance of characters were chilling.

17. The Duke's Children by Anthony Trollope ♥
Type: fiction
Completed: March 2017
Challenges: LT Group read, ROOT
Format: paperback from my library

I have now come to the last of Trollope's Palliser series, and I still want more! I know some are disappointed by this last book, but I found the development of Plantagenet's character in this last book very touching. His 3 children are now young adults, and all of them make choices that grieve him deeply. He learns to forgive and change and accept. I watched the BBC series from the 1970s while reading this last book. The TV series covers all 6 books, so it was a good way to review the past events in the Duke's life while reading this last book.

18. Spark Joy: An Illustrated Masterclass on the Art of Organizing and Tidying Up by Marie Kondo
Type: nonfiction, housekeeping/decluttering
Completed: March 2017
Challenges: my DeweyKAC challenge 600s: 648
Format: hardcover from Chicago Public Library

A few good points about simplifying your possessions, but it probably won't change my life. I picked up this book from the "new books" shelf of the library, feeling somewhat inspired to do some Spring cleaning.

Essentially Kondo says hold each possession, and if doesn't "spark joy", then discard it. But before you do that, you need to put all of your possessions of a like category (i.e., all books) in one pile to appreciate all that you have. Apparently she hasn't dealt with any LT folks in Japan. I certainly couldn't fit all my books in one room! And her advice? If you haven't had time to read it, discard it. SACRILEGE! My whole TBR gone in a wink! So needless to say, I'm moving on.

When I was done with the book, I cleaned the bathroom. That's about all the spark I got.

19. Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed: The Story of the Village of Le Chambon and How Goodness Happened There by Philip Hallie
Type: nonfiction, history, Holocaust
Completed: March 2017
Challenges: RandomCAT Jan: Search & Rescue; ROOT
Format: paperback from my shelves

Written in 1979, Hallie tells the story of the tiny village of Le Chambon in southeast France during the Occupation of France in World War II. Along with unpublished diaries and official documents, Hallie interviewed the widow of André Trocmé, a Protestant minister in the town, who inspired its citizens to take in Jewish refugee children in direct opposition of Vichy commands. It is estimated that about 2500 Jews passed through the town, on a kind of underground railroad, on their way to Switzerland.

Although focused on saving children, some of whom lived in several children's homes in Le Chambon throughout the war, many adults and whole families were also hidden in the town, in the church, and in nearby farmhouses on the outskirts of town. This "resistance" led by Trocmé, was all with the assistance of the townspeople committed to aiding the Jews, mostly of French origin. Hallie is a philosopher, and he tells the story with an ethical approach and a conversational style, as if these townspeople were his next-door neighbors. Inspiring.

20. Gratitude by Oliver Sacks
Type: nonfiction, essays
Completed: March 2017
Challenges: RandomCAT Apr: Love in the Stacks
Format: hardcover from the Skokie Public Library

Four essays by Sacks, written right before he died. Insights on aging and dying. This is a very short book, which I read in one sitting at the library, and it's the farthest I ever got in one of his books.

Currently reading:

Wharton, Short Stories
Read, Storm in the Village
Singer, Ethics in the Real World: 82 Brief Essays on Things That Matter

Coming up:
Bronte, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
Bowen, The Last September (BAC)
Stewart, My Brother Michael (BAC)

I think I did fairly well at the Grayslake Public Library Book sale today. For $10:

6 trade paperbacks:
Imagining Characters: Six Conversations about Women Writers by A. S. Byatt and Ignes Sodré
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
The Johnstown Flood by David McCullough
Mrs. Tim of the Regiment by D. E. Stevenson
The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart
The Piano Lesson a play by August Wilson

{special note to Paul: 3 BAC authors!}

one audiobook:
The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama, read by the author

and one Grayslake Public Library tote bag to cart them home in.

Now I just need room on the shelves...

Currently reading:

Ethics in the Real World by Peter Singer
The Last September by Elizabeth Bowen
Bleak House, Dickens, audiobook read by Simon Vance (on CD 24 of 34).

Excellent haul at the book sale, and a new bag, too!

>79 rabbitprincess: I know, the bag made it all worthwhile :)

Well, here we are in April, and I have yet to summarize February or March, so I thought I would just do a review for the first quarter of 2017:

Total Books read = 20
Non-fiction = 8; fiction = 12
Male authors = 10; Female authors = 10
Physical books = 17; audiobooks = 2; ebook = 1
Borrowed books = 10, owned by me = 10

I decided to see how these 20 books ranged by publication year. I read one book from each of the following years (unless otherwise indicated):

BCE
1818
1839
1879
1923
1925
1945
1955
1957
1964
1974
1979 -- 2 books
2010
2015
2016 -- 5 books

I wasn't expecting so many from 2016, but it did happen that way. All my 2016 books were non-fiction. No books from the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s....not sure why, maybe I read them all back then?? :)

Best books of the quarter:
The Duke's Children
Absolutely on Music
The Mother's Recompense

Books that made me think:
Lest Innocent Blood be Shed
The Essential Rebecca West
Garden of Broken Statues

Books that made me laugh/feel good:
Wind Sprints
Village School

As far as my Reading Challenges, I'm pretty happy with the Dewey challenge and not bad with reading off my shelves/Alpha. Rather behind in AAC, BAC and RandomCAT, but I'm not worried. Yet.

21. Storm in the Village by Miss Read
Type: fiction
Completed: April 2017
Original publication year: 1958
Challenges: none
Format: paperback from Chicago Public Library

Another installment in the Fairacre series. Wonderful descriptions of the natural surroundings. Not as much interaction with the children, which I missed, but still enjoyable.

22. Ethics in the Real World: 82 Brief Essays on Things That Matter by Peter Singer
Type: nonfiction, essays, ethics
Completed: April 2017
Original publication year: 2006-2015; this compilation published in 2016
Challenges: DeweyKAC: 170
Format: hardcover from Chicago Public Library

I'm not sure where I first read about Peter Singer, but this collection of 82 short essays is thought-provoking, timely, intelligent and yet not difficult. Singer, born in Australia, is a bioethicist, and divides his time between Princeton University and the University of Melbourne. Best known for his strong stance on animal rights, Singer describes himself as an utilitarian (although I'm not sure what that means). His pieces are what some might call humanist: his positions do not depend or rely on a supreme being.

Most of these short essays were written for the global affairs website www.projectsyndicate.org. His topics range from animal rights, end-of-life issues, public health, happiness, politics, to name a few. Singer presents real-life problems with real-life ethical consequences. He doesn't always provide the answer, but often just raises the questions. When he does suggest answers, I can't say I always agreed, but they were thought-provoking. Accessible but not simplistic, these are essays everyone should read.

Currently reading:

The Last September by Elizabeth Bowen (BAC January)
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver (DeweyKAC 600s; OneBook, OneChicago)

Haven't written a review since April (egads!), so here's a few one-liners on what I managed to read through June:

23. Bleak House by Charles Dickens--the audiobook read by Simon Vance. OUTSTANDING. I could listen to Vance read Trollop and Dickens over and over and over again.

24. The Last September by Elizabeth Bowen. I was somewhat confused in this novel about English gentry in 1920's Ireland. The movie was a little more clear. Some parts were very insightful, and others just left me flat.

25. & 28. Miss Clare Remembers and Over the Gate by Miss Read--the next books in the Fairacre series. Comforting in RL stressful times, although I was less impressed by the latter book--more little vignettes that didn't quite satisfy for some reason.

26. Peacock and Vine: On William Morris and Mariano Fortuny by A. S. Byatt. Interesting little compare/contrast study of the two decorators by Byatt. I've always loved Morris, so it was interesting to read about his life and approach to design. For the BAC

27. The Odds by Stewart O'Nan. How a marriage can be destructive, yet still two people are drawn to each other. For the AAC.

29. The Diary of a Nobody by George Grossmith. Supposedly 1890's hysterical. I missed a lot of the humor. I found Diary of a Provincial Lady, written in the 1930's, much funnier and more accessible to the 21st century reader.

30. My Brother Michael by Mary Stewart. Started out strong, but by the end was too much thriller for me. Set in 1950's Greece, with lovely descriptions of place, but by the end I was skimming.

Real Life has put me way, way behind schedule...only 1 book in July and 1 in August. Here are mini reviews:

31. A Midwife's Tale by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich. This was a re-read for me and it was my book to lead in Book Club. Unfortunately it didn't go over very well; about half of those who bothered to show up didn't finish the book. I still loved it, but maybe I'm too much of a nerd. Ulrich used the life and diary of midwife Martha Ballard to tell the story of women, families, childbirth and local economy and politics in the years 1785 - 1812. I just loved the way she pulled trends and changes in America from the tiniest details of Martha's diary. (July)

It's very, very detailed--you can follow Ulrich's research, but also get bogged own in it. One gripe on this second reading--I would have liked a genealogy chart or some sort of chart of townspeople--I needed a scorecard to keep all the players straight. A great history read, especially if you're an historian or family historian.

32. Mrs Griffin Sends Her Love and Other Writings by Miss Read. Short non-fiction pieces selected by Miss Read's daughter; most published as magazine articles during her lifetime, a few never published before. Found this relatively new book in Waterstone's in Sheffield while visiting my son's family. I've come to the conclusion that I like Miss Read best when she's relating stories about teaching and the children, and less interested in the adults. (August)

33. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. Somehow I never read this in high school, like a lot of people did. Again, I liked the beginning chapters, relating the stories and things that Francie and her brother did as young kids in the neighborhood. I was less interested in the "coming of age" in the latter half of the book. Still, a classic, and I can see why. My husband was reading the James T. Farrell series about Danny O'Neill (semi-autobiographical), which is set about the same time (1900s-1920s) in Irish Chicago. Also written in the 1940s looking back. Different perspective of a girl vs. a boy, and Brooklyn vs. Chicago.

Currently reading:

--A Distant View of Everything by Alexander McCall Smith--the latest Isabel Dalhousie installment...lots of W H Auden quotes and comfort philosophizing. McCall Smith reminds us to be kind to each other, hold our tongues, think the best of everyone we meet.

--listening to Krakatoa: the day the world exploded by Simon Winchester, read by the author--a lot of detailed geology, way over my head, but still fascinating, and so great to listen to Winchester read his own stuff.

--off and on listening to The Audacity of Hope read by Barack Obama. Essentially Obama's campaign platform. Interesting but now sounding a bit tired 10 years later. Also the situation today seems so hopeless, it's hard to get enthusiastic about his ideals when you know everything he tried to do is rapidly being undone. Still, great to hear him speaking and thinking, even if it is so long ago.

Think I have to get a hold of the audio for Bleak House! Also glad you're enjoying Krakatoa. Fascinating indeed.

>89 rabbitprincess: My favorite reader for Dickens is Simon Vance, also known as Robert Whitfield.

I will attempt to catch up on what little reading I've done in the past couple of months:

34. A Distant View of Everything by Alexander McCall Smith. My go-to comfort author. Didn't disappoint, and reminds us to step back, keep perspective, and don't be too hasty to judge.

35. Short Stories (Dover Thrift Editions) by Edith Wharton, for the AAC September Short Stories month.

Seven stories from various collections of Wharton's stories. My favorite story was "Xingu", and I have to quote a passage. The story is about a Ladies' Lunch Club (membership by invitation only) , "an association...of indomitable huntresses of erudition."

36. The Macdermotts of Ballycloran by Anthony Trollope (Root) Slow. Had many Trollope elements that will appear in later works: girl in love with a bad boy; a crazy old man; a horse race; a duel; a kindly, clergyman; a court scene; politics. The Irish dialect slowed the reading and it didn't grab me until the last third of the book.

37. A Tidewater Morning by William Styron (for the AAC, Root) Three intense stories from the point of view of Paul, at different ages. Styron is very stylized in his writing, and you can feel how deliberately he chooses each word. Mostly they work, but sometimes the words feel forced... they don't always flow.

38. Audiobook: Krakatoa by Simon Winchester, read by the author (my Dewey challenge) Winchester always keeps me interested, especially when he does the reading. I had no idea how important this eruption was in the history of volcanoes. Winchester draws an interesting line from the effects of the volcano on the native surrounding peoples to the Islamic militancy of today...it was a stretch, but he has some valid arguments.

39. These Old Shades by Georgette Beyer (Root) I liked this one a little better than the 2 previous Heyers I've read. The first half of the book was engaging, but the second half dragged for me...I felt that every scene was too long. The dialogue sections, in particular, were repetitive. I longed for a JA ending with a few paragraphs summarizing what happens to everyone. So many people rave about her that I'll keep trying.

40. An Ancient Castle by Robert Graves (Root, for the BAC) Children's moral tale illustrated by the author's niece. Explains right from wrong without being heavy-handed.

41. Audiobook: The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama, read by the author. (Root) Obviously written in 2006 with future political campaigns in mind, but still so logical, so compassionate and so clear-headed in approach. Sigh. Ya don't know what you're missing till it's gone

42. Murder At the Vicarage by Agatha Christie (Root) The first Miss Marple--I was surprised how small a role Miss Maple plays in this first book, but she is an engaging character. And nice to finish a book in a couple of sittings.

Currently reading:

--The Duke's Children by Anthony Trollope. This is the restored version, with approximately 25% of the cuts made by Trollope now restored.

--Audiobook: The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester, read by the author. Another great audiobook by Winchester.

Also given that there's only a month left to the year, and I'm way behind my goals in Roots completed, all the challenges and total books, so I've lined up a whole lot of shorties (under 200 pages) for December, once I finish this Trollope.

I'm afraid to even think about setting goals for 2018.

>91 kac522: I've read a few of Winchester's books, most lately A Crack in the Edge of the World. The Krakatoa book is timely considering the news of the volcano in Bali. At least they have enough warning to move everyone out of harm's way.

>93 mamzel: I listened to A Crack in the Edge of the World last year (or maybe 2 years ago?). I didn't always grasp the minute details of the science, but it was still fascinating, and I think the most important part is how interrelated these large events are to the entire planet, not just the immediate surrounding area. And when he's telling the story (on audio) he really does get excited and I think his enthusiasm comes across in the reading.

The one major thing that stayed with me was his chapter about Mount Diablo, a cone shaped mountain rising up from a flat plain having no link to volcanic or plate tectonic origins. He instilled a desire to someday go up and enjoy the view from the top. (Luckily one can drive most of the way up.)

Currently reading:

The Tempest for book club. Of course I've heard of it, but never actually read or seen it performed. Material is all new to me.

December is here and I am woefully behind in my challenges. I've read a total of 43 books, and my goal was somewhere around 85; my ROOTS goals was 35, and I've read 19. Lots of annoying RL stuff and just a lack of reading incentive this year. Oh well.

So I'm going to try to "catch up" a bit, using the strategy of this month's RandomCAT challenge: One Day:

https://www.librarything.com/topic/275241

Our challenge this month is to read a book that you could finish in one day. And I'm going to attempt to read a LOT of these "one day" books this month--maybe one every other day. I've gathered a large pile of books with 200 pages or less, all ROOTs, from my shelves, and I'm going to plow through them during December. If nothing else, it should get me close to my 35 ROOTs goal.

First, however, I have to finish the restored version of The Duke's Children by Anthony Trollope; I've got less than 100 pages to go in this nearly 800 page book. So off I go to my reading corner...see you on January 1. (I may throw in some book summaries here & there.)

Finished:

43. The Tempest by William Shakespeare Root

Currently reading: Last 40 pages of The Duke's Children -- woo-hoo!
and just started for today's one-day book: Three Men in a Boat--To Say Nothing of the Dog by Jerome K Jerome

Enjoy plowing through the short books this month! It's such a great idea, given how crazy December can be. Glad to see you back!

Finished 3 Roots today:

44. Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome; fiction; humor; 211 pages. (One-day book--OK--it took me 2 days) For a book written in 1889, I was amazed at how much was really funny! and I understood the humor! Jerome meanders around the travels of 3 men (and a fox terrier) and their misadventures, while including lots of old funny stories.

45. The Trials of Phillis Wheatley by Henry Louis Gates Jr; nonfiction--essay/biography; 90 pages. (One-day book) This was a lecture that Dr. Gates gave published in a slightly expanded book form. Phillis Wheatley arrived in the US in 1761 at about age 7 from Africa; was immediately bought by the Wheatley family of Boston. Once in the family she was raised and educated by the family, and about age 20 had written enough poems to publish a book. Gates takes us through her "trials", her poetry (as a black writer) dismissed by Thomas Jefferson, and her champions and detractors throughout history. It's an interesting short piece on culture, literature and race.

46. The Duke's Children by Anthony Trollope, restored edition. 784 pages. I read the originally published novel earlier in the year. Scholars have now restored about 25% of the book that Trollope was forced to cut prior to publication. The restored cuts make so much difference in the understanding and rounding out of the characters, their motivation, and the political nature of the novel. Well worth the time and effort to re-read this "almost new" book. ♥

Currently reading:

Imagined London by Anna Quindlen

Today's One-Day book:

47. Imagined London by Anna Quindlen (Root, AlphaKit Q) A mixture of literary tour, history and travel memoir. Probably a good book to read when you're there. Trollope quoted extensively.

Today's One-Day book:

48. The Piano Lesson, a play by August Wilson (Root, AlphaKit P). The best drama in a very short time leaves you asking more questions than answering them. This is one of those plays. The piano in the Charles family represents family history (good and bad); opportunity and enslavement; the past and the future. I was a bit puzzled at the very end, but that is where a reading falls so short of a production.

Today's One-Day book:

49. A Tranquil Star, stories by Primo Levi (Root, AlphaKit). This is the first volume I've read of Levi. I'd always thought of him as a "Holocaust" writer. But these stories are anything but! The collection spans post-WWII until his death in 1987, and they reflect more his interest in literature and science than anything else. Levi was a chemist by trade, and many of these stories are short fantasy/sci-fi pieces, like humorous "TwiLight Zone" episodes. A poem that comes alive, a kangaroo that goes to a party, characters from books that assemble in another world, a special paint that keeps away disasters and bad luck. They all made me think.

Today's One-Day Book:

50. Bones & Murder, short pieces by Margaret Atwood (Root, AlphaKit). Taken from her larger collections "Good Bones" and "Murder in the Dark."

Yesterday's One-Day Book:

51. A Suppressed Cry: Life and Death of a Quaker Daughter by Victoria Glendinning (Root, Dewey 200s). Glendinning's first published work, a very readable short history of a remarkable great-aunt, one of the first women to attend Newnham College, Cambridge.

Catching up:

Took a couple of days to complete each of these, although they could have been finished in one:

52. Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. (Root, BAC) My first reading of this classic. So many familiar names and references, and yet I never put them all together in the same place. Captain Silver is a very interesting character, not so much the stereotype that we are familiar with.

53. Double Sin and Other Stories by Agatha Christie. These were fun and could be read in one day. I especially liked to compare the difference between Poirot stories and Miss Marple stories. Poirot dominates his stories; Miss Marple doesn't come in until close to the end.

54. The Two Heroines of Plumplington by Anthony Trollope (Root) During the months approaching Christmas, 2 young women challenge their fathers' ideas of marriage, class and rank. Rather typical Trollope; in this short story form he presented the problems well, but I thought the resolutions were rather forced. Not at all like the resolution of similar issues by Trollope in The Duke's Children. But of course this story is about 700 pages shorter than The Duke's Children :)

55. Saving Mozart by Raphael Jerusalmy (Root; AlphaKit)

This is a Europa edition that caught my eye. A very short novel, structured as a diary during 1939-40. It's the fictional diary of a fictional music critic who is dying in a Salzburg tuberculosis sanatorium. And although he seems ambivalent about Hitler in the beginning, by the end it is his goal to save Mozart from the Germans, or more accurately, the Germanic style of playing Mozart that the Nazis enforced. Very interesting read. Jerusalmy says at the end that all the musicians mentioned (in passing) in the novel's diary all cooperated with the Reich regime.

Looking back over my reading in 2017, I'm not struck by a lot of "great" books. But here are a few that stood out, and that I remember as I look at my list:

Fiction:
--The Duke's Children by Anthony Trollope--the un-cut version. Much of what made this read fantastic was lyzard's group read thread. Thanks, Liz.
--Discovering the Miss Read books--Village School being my favorite (and the first read)
--The Piano Lesson, a play by August Wilson. Probably loses impact when reading; hope I can see the play performed at some point
--Saving Mozart by Raphael Jerusalmy--a little book that surprised me with its strength
--Mrs Tim of the Regiment by D. E. Stevenson--a great way to end 2017 and begin 2018 with peace.

Non-fiction:
--Krakatoa, the ever wonderful Simon Winchester reading his own work on audio
--Wind Sprints by Joseph Epstein--entertaining short essays from the New Yorker

and the best book of the year had to be:
Absolutely on Music: Conversations with Seiji Ozawa by Haruki Murakami

Still hope to get in 1 or 2 more before the year ends.

56. Profiles in Courage by John F. Kennedy (ROOT, Dewey 900s) I started reading this book back in May and finished just before Christmas. Several of the profiled men were completely unknown to me. I did like how he chose men who "went against the grain" as it were; who felt compelled to go with their convictions, rather than their constituents. Reminds me of John McCain standing up against the Republicans against their rotten health care bill last Fall. Some of the stories were more compelling than others.

57. The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax by Dorothy Gilman (ROOT, AlphaKit). So many people have raved about this series on LT that I picked up the first book in the series. I almost picked up more, but am glad I didn't. It just didn't do anything for me except make me skim to the end. I think I would have Pearl-ruled it, but I'd already put in 100 pages, so I didn't want to waste the time I'd spent already. The whole premise is pretty improbable, and Mrs. Pollifax's scrapes just kept getting wackier and more unbelievable as the story went on. And all that 1960's politics--"Red China"--yuk. Plus I figured out the deck of cards thing almost immediately, so whatever "mystery" was in this book was over for me pretty early. Sorry Pollifax fans; just didn't do it for me.

>109 kac522: Glad to see that Absolutely on Music was your top read of the year! I've been wanting to read it for a while -- must make time for it in 2018!

58. Falling Slowly by Anita Brookner R About learning to live alone as one gets older, I guess. Not much happens, but there's a lot of internal ruminations.

59. Mrs Tim of the Regiment by D. E. Stevenson R ♥ A lovely book to end the year...written in a diary style, Mrs Tim records her times and trials between the wars, circa 1930s. The scenes in Scotland are beautiful, peaceful and full of good will and kindness. I'm going to continue with Mrs Tim, for sure.

I've added Mrs. Tim to my "best of" list in >109 kac522:.

Re-cap for 2017:

I ended up far short of my goals:

Total 59 books read (goal was 85)

Challenge 1: Total 10 books read from AAC & BAC (goal was 17)
Challenge 2: Total 17 books read from RandomCAT & Dewey (goal was 17) YAY!
Challenge 3: Total 19 books read from AlphaKIT (goal was 34)
Challenge 4: Total 13 books read from Everything Else (goal was 17)

Well, at least I hit at least 50% of my goal for each category.

Overall...

--Finished 59 books, well short of my goal of 85
--Finished 34 ROOTs (off my shelves), almost met my goal of 35, so yay me.

Fiction/nonfiction:
41 books of fiction: 20 men/21 women
18 books of nonfiction: 10 men, 8 women

Total gender: 30 men, 29 women -- need to work on that...