Rebeki ROOTs for the first time in 2017

Charlas2017 ROOT (READ OUR OWN TOMES)

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Rebeki ROOTs for the first time in 2017

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1Rebeki
Editado: Dic 31, 2017, 4:07 am

Although I vow every year to reduce my TBR pile, it never happens. In fact, keeping it at the same level from one year to the next is my biggest achievement to date. Last year it rose to an unprecedented 220 books. I'm hoping that by joining this group and working towards a common goal, I'll be more motivated to read the books I already own and less tempted to buy new ones.

I'm not a quick reader by LT standards, usually finishing around 40 books a year, so I'm setting myself what I consider a manageable goal of 16 books off my TBR pile.




My main thread is over in Club Read, but I'll post my comments on the books I read for this challenge on this thread too.

ROOTs read in 2017

1. The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection by Alexander McCall Smith (bought in 2014)
2. They Were Found Wanting by Miklós Bánffy (bought in 2011)
3. The Vegetarian by Han Kang (bought in 2016)
4. Péplum by Amélie Nothomb (bought in 2008)
5. When We Were Bad by Charlotte Mendelson (bought in 2013)
6. The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton (birthday present 2014)
7. They Were Divided by Miklós Bánffy (bought in 2011)
8. Le Dieu du carnage by Yasmina Reza (bought in 2016)
9. The Story of a New Name by Elena Ferrante (Christmas present 2015)
10. The Burning of the World: A Memoir of 1914 by Béla Zombory-Moldován (birthday present 2016)
11. Less Than Angels by Barbara Pym (bought in 2013)
12. I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou (bought in 2016)
13. The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton (birthday present 2014)
14. Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay by Elena Ferrante (Christmas present 2016)
15. The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon by Alexander McCall Smith (bought in 2016)
16. Among the Bohemians: Experiments in Living 1900-1939 by Virginia Nicholson (Christmas present 2013)
17. Every Day is Mother's Day by Hilary Mantel (Christmas present 2013)
18. The Summer Book by Tove Jansson (birthday present 2016)
19. The Winter Queen by Boris Akunin (bought in 2011)
20. The Story of the Lost Child by Elena Ferrante (Christmas present 2016)



2Caramellunacy
Ene 1, 2017, 2:20 pm

Good luck with your goal! Looking forward to reading your thoughts :)

3Familyhistorian
Ene 1, 2017, 4:57 pm

Oh, to have a TBR of 220 books *sigh*. Good luck with your ROOTing.

4klarusu
Ene 1, 2017, 5:00 pm

>1 Rebeki: Welcome! Happy New ROOTing Year. This group has really helped me clear some of my TBR ... even if my buying is still a bit like a large snowball rolling down a mountain gathering mass & momentum ;-) Hope it helps you too.

5Henrik_Madsen
Ene 1, 2017, 5:28 pm

I simply don't dare count my TBR mountain - good lucking staying at 220!

6rabbitprincess
Ene 1, 2017, 8:34 pm

Welcome and good luck with the TBR mountain! :)

7Rebeki
Ene 2, 2017, 5:01 am

>2 Caramellunacy:, >3 Familyhistorian:, >4 klarusu:, >5 Henrik_Madsen:, >6 rabbitprincess: Thanks for the warm welcome. I'm optimistic being in such a friendly group is going to help me in my efforts!
>3 Familyhistorian: I'm aware it's a lot smaller than that of many on LT, which is a consolation, but I also read more slowly than the average LTer. In the "real world", I'm considered to read a lot of books and to have a large number of unread books ;)
>4 klarusu: I love your description of your book buying and can certainly identify with it. Although this year will be different ;)

8MissWatson
Ene 2, 2017, 4:48 pm

Welcome and good luck with your goal!

9avanders
Ene 2, 2017, 7:43 pm

Welcome & Happy 2017 ROOTing!

10Jackie_K
Ene 3, 2017, 6:52 am

Welcome to the group! It has made a huge difference in the number of books I've read the last 3 years (although my book-acquiring habit hasn't been quite so successfully affected, sigh). I hope being here helps with your TBReading!

11connie53
Ene 4, 2017, 4:02 am

Welcome to the ROOTers, Rebecca.

12HenriMoreaux
Ene 4, 2017, 4:53 am

I'm in the same boat, both first time here & a huge pile of unreads. Good luck!

13Rebeki
Ene 5, 2017, 8:12 am

>8 MissWatson:, >9 avanders:, >10 Jackie_K:, >11 connie53:, >12 HenriMoreaux: Thanks so much for the welcome! I already feel so much more motivated than usual :)

>10 Jackie_K: I even feel more determined to stay away from bookshops for the time being, but we'll see how long that resolve lasts ;)

>12 HenriMoreaux: Good luck, fellow first-timer!

14Rebeki
Ene 5, 2017, 8:13 am

First book down - hurrah!

1. The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection by Alexander McCall Smith

I usually read something light over the festive period and this time I turned to the No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series for the ultimate in comfort reading. In this 13th instalment, Mma Makutsi and Phuti Radiphuti have a house built, Fanwell gets into trouble, Mma Potokwani’s position at the orphan farm is in jeopardy and Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi meet their hero.

It’s hard to write an in-depth review of these books, but suffice it to say, I enjoyed The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection as much as its predecessors. The characters now feel like old friends, and, as always, I loved the gentle pace at which the plot unfolds, forcing you, the reader, to slow down too. There is a warmth that radiates from this series that no doubt has much to do with the author’s obvious love and respect for Botswana. A fun and satisfying start to the year.

15connie53
Ene 5, 2017, 11:22 am

Good job!

16Tess_W
Ene 5, 2017, 11:24 am

Good luck with your rooting. You are off to a good start with one book read already! P.S. My TBR pile is about 500 books.

17Rebeki
Ene 10, 2017, 5:23 am

>15 connie53: Thanks!

>16 Tess_W: I bet you don't get through books at snail's (tortoise's) pace though!

18Tess_W
Ene 10, 2017, 7:15 am

>17 Rebeki: It depends upon the book!

19Rebeki
Editado: Ene 23, 2017, 8:53 am

I've just finished my second, fairly lengthy ROOT:

2. They Were Found Wanting by Miklós Bánffy

This is the second volume of what is known as The Transylvanian Trilogy or, as the author referred to it, The Writing on the Wall. I started the first volume, They Were Counted, last year, ahead of a long weekend in Budapest, and, for no good reason, it took me almost three months to finish it. I was determined to get through this second volume a little more quickly!

The trilogy begins in 1905 and deals with Hungary in the run-up to the First World War and the collapse of the Habsburg Empire. Much of the action is seen through the eyes of Count Balint Abady, a young nobleman with good intentions and integrity, but also his share of naivety, who finds himself elected a member of parliament. To a lesser extent the books also focus on Balint’s cousin, László Gyerőffy, whose social position is more precarious and who is prone to self-destructive tendencies.

In terms of providing a portrait of the Kingdom of Hungary – from the aristocracy, with their balls, hunts and love affairs to the situation of the Romanian-speaking peasantry in Balint’s ancestral home region of Transylvania – the books are reminiscent of Tolstoy, although a little more soap-operaish at times and, dare I say it, a bit more fun. Given that Bánffy, like his chief protagonist, was a politician, they are also more overtly political.

Politics features more heavily in They Were Found Wanting than the first volume, as it becomes clear in the last years of the 1900s that Europe is heading towards turmoil – clear to the reader, at least. The majority of Hungarian politicians, some of whom wish to have greater independence from Vienna and some of whom wish to preserve the Dual Monarchy as it is, are oblivious to the bigger picture, with their insular approach and obsession with nationalistic policies that are mere trivialities in the face of impending war. Had I read this book back when I bought it in 2011, this political short-sightedness would have seemed more alien. As it is, even if it was impossible for me to keep track of who led what party or supported which aim, the political chaos was easily recognisable.

“Light relief” comes in the form of Balint’s passionate relationship with the unhappily married Adrienne and László’s short-lived affairs, as well as the descriptions of the Transylvanian countryside, in which the author’s love of his lost homeland shines through. This volume ends on a gloomy note and, while I’m sure things can only get worse, I’m looking forward to seeing how the story is wrapped up in They Were Divided.

20Rebeki
Editado: Ene 25, 2017, 2:27 pm

3. The Vegetarian by Han Kang

After all the buzz around this book last year, I knew I’d succumb eventually. As it happened, I found a copy of it misplaced amongst the cookery books in my local Oxfam charity shop (which seems even more inappropriate now I’ve read it) at the end of December and decided it needed rescuing!

For anyone who doesn’t know, this Korean novel, winner of the Man Booker International Prize, concerns a woman, Yeong-hye, who, following a disturbing dream, is compelled to give up meat and animal products, and the effects this decision and her subsequent behaviour have on her family members.

This short novel is split into three sections, originally separate but related short stories, each of which depicts Yeong-hye’s transformation from a different character’s point of view: her unlikeable husband, Mr Cheong, her unnamed brother-in-law, and her sister, In-hye. The first section left me indignant at Yeong-hye’s treatment by her husband and father and the second oddly sympathetic to her brother-in-law’s artistic visions and compulsions, while In-hye’s story moved me the most and was the most relatable.

Initially, I wondered whether this novel was set in another era, such were the patriarchal attitudes expressed by Yeong-hye’s father and husband and the reaction to her vegetarianism – it is apparent that the change in her is far more dramatic than a switch to a vegetarian diet, but even the latter appeared shocking to her family. By contrast, In-hye’s husband does not express these attitudes and yet it is clear that In-hye, too, has suffered from the expectations of her in her role as daughter, wife and mother.

This book is like no other I’ve read and I enjoyed the poetic yet highly readable writing, even if the scenes described were sometimes upsetting. I felt frustrated at times that I had no real access to Yeong-hye’s thoughts and motivations, since her story was told from others’ points of view, but I suppose that was impossible, given her condition, and perhaps my frustration mirrored her sister’s. In spite of the glimpses into her childhood that went some way to explaining Yeong-hye’s actions, this distance stopped me fully connecting with, and therefore loving, this novel, but it is one I can’t stop thinking about and probably won’t for some time to come.

21Britt84
Ene 26, 2017, 1:05 pm

>20 Rebeki: Nice review! I will be reading The Vegetarian for my bookclub the coming weeks, so I enjoyed reading a bit more about it. It sounds like it'll be a good book to have a bit of a discussion about...

22avanders
Editado: Ene 26, 2017, 4:06 pm

>20 Rebeki: Great review - & I agree! :)

23Rebeki
Ene 27, 2017, 6:40 am

>21 Britt84:, >22 avanders: - Thanks, both!

Britt84, there'll definitely be plenty for your book club to talk about!

24connie53
Feb 5, 2017, 2:50 pm

You write real great reviews, Rebecca!

25Tess_W
Feb 5, 2017, 2:58 pm

Great review!

26Rebeki
Feb 6, 2017, 1:19 pm

>24 connie53:, >25 Tess_W: Thank you, both! Some reviews come more easily than others...

27Rebeki
Editado: Feb 9, 2017, 6:09 am

4. Péplum by Amélie Nothomb

I am a fan of Amélie Nothomb and tend to stock up on books by her when I’m in a French-speaking country. This book was the last of several I’d purchased in 2008 and I was determined to read it before starting on my more recent acquisitions. It had languished on my shelves for 8½ years because the plot description sounded too science fiction for my tastes: in 1995, a novelist, A.N. (of course), goes into hospital for a minor operation and awakes to find herself transported into the future, to the year 2580, to be precise.

After a conversation with a friend in which she contends that the preservation of Pompeii is too perfect a gift to archaeologists to have occurred without some kind of intervention, A.N. is deemed a danger by the 26th-century powers that be. Consequently, she is removed from her own time and imprisoned under the watch of Celsius, a scientist who claims to be responsible for the eruption of Vesuvius and Pompeii’s ensuing preservation in ash just one year earlier, in 2579. The book is essentially one long conversation between A.N. and Celsius, as she tries to puzzle out how this can have happened and what has taken place in the intervening six centuries, while pleading to be allowed to return to 1995.

I’m sure anyone with a real interest in science fiction could pick holes in that aspect, but the importance, I think, was in the exchange, or clash, of ideas between the idealistic A.N., horrified at what has become of the world, and the humourless, rigid Celsius, who, thanks to A.N.'s prodding, eventually opens up and reveals some kind of human feeling. Amusingly enough, the subject of literature and A.N.’s own work comes up and she is self-deprecating, conceding to Celsius that she is more of a ‘dialoguiste’ than a novelist. I’m not sure I’d say that, but lively conversational to and fro is definitely a strength of hers. As such, I ended up enjoying this book so much more than I was expecting.

28Rebeki
Mar 8, 2017, 2:39 am

5. When We Were Bad by Charlotte Mendelson

This humorous but not unserious novel had been sitting on my shelves for nearly 3½ years, but I’d wanted to read it since it first came out in 2007.

‘Celebrity’ rabbi, commentator and author Claudia Rubin is keen to present hers as the perfect family and is looking forward to her elder son’s wedding as another opportunity to showcase this perfection. Unfortunately for her, the groom has done a runner and, as the rest of the family convenes for a crisis meeting, it becomes clear, to the reader at least, that it is not just the social humiliation Claudia fears but financial ruin. To keep the family afloat, her forthcoming book must be a success and nothing, therefore, can be allowed to sully her reputation. While Claudia works hard to woo congregation members and journalists alike with her hospitality and charm, however, her previously loyal husband Norman, sheepishly-returned eldest son Leo and neurotic elder daughter Frances are grappling with secrets that threaten to undermine all her efforts.

With a light touch, Mendelson has created great characters and had me really feeling (and resenting on their behalf) the stifling hold Claudia exerts over her husband, four children and extended family, with image placed above personal happiness. I was rooting for Norman, Frances and even the hopeless Leo, irritated by younger daughter Em, repelled by younger son Sim and maddened by Frances’s husband Jonathan. My feelings about Claudia were more complicated – I admired, was annoyed and sympathised with her by turns.

Mendelson keeps things interesting by switching perspective between Claudia, Norman, Leo and Frances and, for me, there was nothing predictable about the plot: in particular, Norman’s secret was more interesting than the one I’d anticipated and Frances’s story with a secondary character didn’t develop as I’d imagined.

I also enjoyed the immersion in Anglo-Jewish life – a handy glossary of terms is provided, which I made heavy use of in the first few chapters – and found myself able to identify with Norman’s chip on the shoulder and suspicion of “Aryan blondes” and Leo’s nervousness about skinheads and resentment of a rather entitled work colleague.

Overall, an entertaining and thought-provoking read.

29connie53
Editado: Mar 12, 2017, 3:13 pm

>28 Rebeki: Ahh, that sounds like my kind of book.

30Rebeki
Mar 13, 2017, 8:28 am

>29 connie53: I'd definitely recommend it!

31Rebeki
Editado: Abr 10, 2017, 11:56 am

6. The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton

A re-read of The Age of Innocence a few years ago made me want to read everything of Edith Wharton’s I could find. As is the way of things, it’s taken me three years to get round to reading my next book by someone I was confident was a “new” favourite author. The House of Mirth didn’t disappoint.

The beautiful and charming Miss Lily Bart moves with ease within New York high society, but, at 29 and with no money but a modest allowance to her name, her position is a precarious one. The obvious solution is to marry “well” and, in this, no obstacles stand in her way but those of Lily’s own making. Torn between her love of luxury and desire for status and the feeling that there is something more and better to life than the shallowness and hypocrisy of those she surrounds herself with, Lily is in danger of satisfying neither hunger.

Lily is far more accessible a heroine than Ellen Olenska and in spite, or perhaps because of, her imperfections, I enjoyed being inside her head. As with The Age of Innocence, Wharton made me laugh with her descriptions of the attitudes and social mores of the Gilded Age aristocracy – the struggle to decide where to eat lunch in Monte Carlo (hint: the food itself is not a consideration) was a favourite moment of mine – but, to a modern reader, it is also shocking how badly one can behave and get away it provided one is married and allows appearances to be maintained, a double standard that will come to haunt the unmarried Lily.

Alongside the witty and elegant writing, this was a book bursting with well-drawn characters. The energetic and straight-talking divorcée Carry Fisher was one of my favourites, as was the goodhearted Gerty Farish. About Lawrence Selden I have mixed feelings, although I was moved by his friendship with Lily and finished the book with tears in my eyes.

In summary, this is probably the best book I’ve read so far this year and I plan not to leave it another three years before reading more by Edith Wharton!

32floremolla
Abr 4, 2017, 9:22 am

>31 Rebeki: very good review, you've sold me on Edith Wharton who was already in the back of my mind - I think I'll make a couple of her novels a non-ROOT spring treat to myself ;)

33Tess_W
Abr 4, 2017, 10:59 am

>31 Rebeki: I've tried and tried to Like Edith, but I can't!

34Jackie_K
Abr 4, 2017, 2:44 pm

>33 Tess_W: me too, although to be fair I've only read one short story. I just didn't like a single one of the characters, which made it really difficult to care!

35Rebeki
Abr 5, 2017, 4:10 am

>32 floremolla: Having looked at your favourites on your profile, I think you'll like her. For me there are definite similarities with Jane Austen in terms of subject matter, the elegant writing and the humour. I have to read both authors slowly to savour all that.

>33 Tess_W: So far I've loved everything I've read, but there are plenty of other authors I can't be doing with. There are too many books out there to waste time on those that don't speak to us :)

>34 Jackie_K: I think that because Edith Wharton's books are often focusing on and criticising the rigidities and hypocrisies of the upper classes, there are a lot of unlikeable characters. So far I've found their depiction humorous and there have been enough characters I've sympathised with to make it work, but I like to get to know them over the length of a novel in any case and generally struggle with short stories!

36floremolla
Abr 5, 2017, 7:06 am

>35 Rebeki: I've now got The House of Mirth sitting in my amazon basket (along with a few others, let's be honest). :)

37Rebeki
Abr 5, 2017, 2:13 pm

>36 floremolla: Good work!

38Rebeki
Abr 10, 2017, 11:56 am

7. They Were Divided by Miklós Bánffy

At 326 pages, this final book of The Transylvanian Trilogy is by far the shortest, yet I must have been reading it off and on for six weeks. This was, I think, partly because I was sad to end my involvement with Count Abady, his beloved Adrienne, his troubled cousin László and other characters I had come to know, but also because I knew that everything was leading inexorably to the First World War.

As such, there is less frivolity and far more politics in They Were Divided. I had to let the details wash over me to a certain extent, but grasped that while Hungarian politicians were caught up in petty party-political squabbling and grandstanding, events were taking a worrying turn in the Balkans and the Habsburg Empire was finding itself in a position of increasing weakness. As before, I found it slightly painful to read about the political shortsightedness: “It was nothing more than the almost universal belief of Hungarian politicians that their voices could only be heard inside their own country. Their whole conception of politics was based on this, and nobody for a moment believed that their actions and words were watched or heard by anyone abroad...” Yes, that sounds familiar.

I would like to read this trilogy again one day with a greater understanding of the political context. For instance, I think of Franz Ferdinand only in terms of his assassination, but it was interesting to read that, from Bánffy’s perspective at least, he had some unwise ideas about the future of the Habsburg Empire and was, apparently, rabidly anti-Hungarian and pro-Slav, which, the author notes, is ironic given his fate and the fact that the book ends with young Hungarians cheerily marching off to avenge his death (heartbreaking).

In the mean time, I have Bánffy’s memoir The Phoenix Land on my shelves, as well as Comrade Baron: A Journey Through the Vanishing World of the Transylvanian Aristocracy by Jaap Scholten to be getting on with – at some point!

39Jackie_K
Abr 10, 2017, 12:14 pm

>38 Rebeki: I have Comrade Baron on my wishlist - I'm not a fan of the institution of the aristocracy, wherever it might be, but having lived in Transylvania I think it would be useful history, and I gather it's a good read!

40Rebeki
Abr 10, 2017, 1:51 pm

>39 Jackie_K: Lucky you to have lived in Transylvania! After reading these books, I really want to visit Cluj-Napoca, which features a lot as Kolozsvár. The descriptions of the countryside are breathtaking too. I can understand the Hungarians' sadness at having lost this region, whatever the rights and wrongs.
Good to know you've heard positive things about Comrade Baron. Ideally, I'd like to get to it this year, but you know how it is ;)

41Jackie_K
Editado: Abr 10, 2017, 1:59 pm

>40 Rebeki: Cluj is great, a very cosmopolitan city in some ways (it's one of the four big cities in Romania, and has a very good university). I have some friends who live there. I personally stayed in Targu Mures (in Hungarian, Marosvasarhely), and Sibiu most recently - Sibiu is brilliant, it had a lot of European money poured into it as it was 2007 European City of Culture. I absolutely loved it. The countryside is really lovely too, yes. It's a complex but beautiful part of the world.

42Rebeki
Editado: Abr 10, 2017, 2:26 pm

>41 Jackie_K: I've spent the last 20 minutes or so googling Romanian cities and planning fantasy holidays!

Sadly, no actual trips to that part of the world are likely soon, as, although European city breaks have always been my favourite type of holiday, we have a five-year-old who's happiest by the sea and is also a supremely fussy eater. We managed to take him to Brussels in February half term, but there was a lot of moaning by him and he was exhausted by the end of it!

43Jackie_K
Abr 10, 2017, 4:23 pm

>42 Rebeki: Ah the joys! I have a 3 year old and whilst she'll make the best of wherever she is and she isn't a fussy eater, I do think that something like a city break would just be far too much - there are only so many museums you can take a little kid to! So we just holiday in the UK at the moment - either going to see family (not really a holiday, in the same way!) or getting a cottage somewhere.

44Rebeki
Abr 11, 2017, 12:21 pm

>43 Jackie_K: Yes, we find it easier, and more relaxing, to be honest, to stick to self-catering holidays in the UK at the moment, although I do get periodic urges to go further afield!

45connie53
Abr 17, 2017, 3:39 am

>30 Rebeki: It's a pity I don't have the translation of that book. It's translated though so I will go and look for it.

46Rebeki
mayo 23, 2017, 11:29 am

I haven't found much time for LT recently, but I have been reading!

8. Le dieu du carnage by Yasmina Reza

I saw Carnage, Roman Polanski’s English-language film adaptation of Yasmina Reza’s play, towards the end of last year and was then curious to read the original. While the film version was set ostensibly in New York, in the original play it is two middle-class Parisian couples, Véronique and Michel, and Annette and Alain, who meet to discuss an incident in which the latter’s 11-year-old son struck the former’s in the face with a stick. Really, though, these characters could be found in any affluent Western city.

Véronique is determined that her son’s aggressor should be made to understand the seriousness of his actions and that the two boys should meet to settle the matter in a mature and civilised way. However, as the veneer of politeness fades, it appears that the four adults are incapable of such a thing. In the privacy of Véronique and Michel’s home, as conversation moves on from the boys’ disagreement, tensions build over approaches to parenting, Michel’s job, the treatment of a pet hamster, a dubious pharmaceutical drug, a clafoutis, Africa and a mobile phone that won’t stop ringing, until all inhibitions are lost and any pretence of civilised behaviour evaporates.

The play is darkly humorous, but unsettling in that the male characters gradually reveal a somewhat nihilistic world-view, which the more idealistic Véronique refuses to countenance. While I hope I’m a lot less po-faced than her, in this I identified with her and I was left with a rather uncomfortable feeling.

47Rebeki
Editado: mayo 23, 2017, 11:30 am

9. The Story of a New Name by Elena Ferrante

I read My Brilliant Friend towards the end of 2015, but, unusually, enough of it had stayed with me for me to be able to plunge back into Elena and Lila’s world without too much difficulty. I took a while to get into the first of the Neapolitan Novels, but that was far from the case this time. The action picked up where it had left off and I was soon engrossed.

With Lila married, working and living in a comfortable apartment, while Elena’s time is still taken up with school work and her family is just scraping by, the two seem destined to drift apart. However, in spite or probably because of her own stunted education, Lila continues to take an interest in Elena’s and offers her a quiet place to study. Later Elena seizes the opportunity to accompany Lila to Ischia for the summer, a chunk of the book I found absolutely riveting.

Perhaps even more than in My Brilliant Friend, I was struck by the claustrophobic and monotonous nature of the characters’ lives, with few ways out. The Solaras run the neighbourhood and it is increasingly apparent that Lila’s husband and brother and others have little power to go against them, but the characters are also trapped by social attitudes and expectations. I felt for the female characters – Pinuccia, Gigliolia and Nunzia in particular – who wish to be treated with respect and tenderness but have no choice but to settle for less, but also for Rino and Stefano, who somehow seem to feel that they must assert themselves as husbands and men by behaving in a brutal fashion, and for Antonio, broken by military service. It’s heartening to see Elena tread a different path and easy to identify with her imposter syndrome.

I’m taking a break from the series with a different book, but I’m looking forward to seeing what becomes of Elena and Lila in the third novel. I have the impression from looking at other Club Read-ers’ comments that this second book is the best liked of the four, so I shall try to manage my expectations!

48floremolla
mayo 23, 2017, 12:34 pm

Great reviews - sound like two good reads!

49Rebeki
mayo 23, 2017, 12:46 pm

>48 floremolla: Yes, I'm having a good reading year, although I probably ought to pick some ROOTS I'm less sure about. At least that way some books may actually leave the house!

50connie53
mayo 27, 2017, 2:48 am

>47 Rebeki: I started that book too. The first one in the series, I mean. It's on my Kobo though and I prefer real books over digital reading. I have heard great things about it from a colleague and now, after skimming your review, I think I need to really get to it.

51Rebeki
Oct 3, 2017, 5:34 am

10. The Burning of the World: A Memoir of 1914 by Béla Zombory-Moldován

I first heard of this short memoir a few years ago and was struck by the dramatic title. After receiving it as a birthday present last year, it sat on my shelf until now, but I’d been keen to complete Miklós Bánffy’s Transylvanian Trilogy beforehand. This non-fiction account begins where the final novel in the trilogy ends, with the outbreak of the First World War.

In both works it is a chilling moment. Zombory-Moldován is holidaying with friends in what is now Croatia when he learns that war has been declared and that he must report for duty back in Hungary just a few days later. As poignantly described at the close of Bánffy’s trilogy, the first reaction among young Hungarians is one of feverish excitement, but Zombory-Moldován, an artist, does not share this feeling; he is aware that this is the end of life as he knows it and, possibly, of life itself.

Zombory-Moldován’s front-line experience turns out to be short-lived: he is badly wounded in battle, but fortunate to escape with his life and see out the rest of the war away from the front. However, his descriptions of doing battle in Galicia convey the horror and futility of the war, as the Austro-Hungarian troops, ill-equipped and under-prepared, incur heavy losses against the Russians.

On his return to Budapest, Zombory-Moldován, perhaps unsurprisingly, struggles to return to his old life and to his work. Back on the Croatian coast, he eventually finds peace – in more sense than one – and the ability to paint once more.

This was a moving read and an interesting insight into an individual’s experience of going to war, of which I’ve read only fictional or generalised accounts.

52Rebeki
Oct 3, 2017, 5:35 am

11. Less Than Angels by Barbara Pym

Reading Barbara Pym is always pure pleasure and this was no exception. An anthropology institute, not a church, is the main setting for this book, where Deirdre Swann, a young student, falls for handsome Tom Mallow, recently returned from Africa, with all the cachet that brings. As it happens, Tom is already in a relationship with romantic novelist Catherine Oliphant, but that proves not to be an insurmountable obstacle and the latter's attention is soon attracted by another anthropologist, who just happens to be Deirdre's neighbour. Meanwhile some of the institute's other students are doing all they can to win a highly-prized research grant.

Pym spent time working at the International African Institute in London and I enjoyed the thought that the characters and incidents in Less Than Angels were based on what she had observed there. The scenes at Deirdre's suburban home were also particularly amusing, the interaction between her mother and aunt especially, while Catherine, who I imagine had something in common with Pym herself, was a very appealing character.

The barbed irony with which Pym contrasts the situation for the sexes was delicious and, as always, no word was out of place. A joy to read.

53Rebeki
Oct 3, 2017, 5:35 am

12. I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

I first came across this memoir 17 years ago, in the university library. The title, and subject matter, intrigued me, but, for whatever reason, I didn't borrow it that day. Then I found a copy in a second-hand bookshop last autumn, suggested the title to my reading group and, thanks to the rather prompt take-up of this suggestion, have finally got to it!

I was expecting eloquent and beautiful writing - and I got it, Maya Angelou being a poet after all. I was expecting tales of hardship and injustice in the American south, and there was certainly that. What I wasn't expecting was the rollercoaster ride!

When, as young children, their parents split up, Maya and Bailey are sent to live with their paternal grandmother and uncle in Stamps, Arkansas. Momma, as they call her, is a stern, devout, dignified woman, determined to raise them to be the best they can be. However, a few years later Maya and her brother are sent to St Louis for a while to live with their glamorous mother and her relatives. This was the first surprise to me: this side of the family are essentially gangsters, who wield influence with the police. The contrast with Maya's life in Stamps and the powerlessness of black people there is stark. This contrast is felt again later on in the book, when, as a teenager, Maya goes to live with her mother in California and attends a non-segregated school: I could almost taste the freedom she must have felt, and it was astonishing to us in the reading group that conditions could be so different in different parts of the US. How much more arbitrary and cruel must the discriminatory precepts of the south have seemed.

Maya is a good student and a dutiful granddaughter, but she is spirited, tough and daring. A reading group member who had made it only part way through the book by the time of the meeting said she found the pace was lagging a bit - Angelou spends a few chapters describing aspects of life in the south, which I found interesting, but the book is at its best when she is relating incidents from her own life - to which we all replied, "You haven't got to Mexico yet. Wait till you get to Mexico!"

This memoir is often heartbreaking and shocking: the natural expectation that young black men must hide themselves away every time the Ku Klux Klan is on the rampage or suffer the consequences; the limitations placed on black high school students, no matter how brilliant they are; the grinding poverty of the cotton pickers, for whom work offers no prospect of a better life; and Maya's abuse by her mother's boyfriend in St Louis and the guilt she feels in connection with it. However, it is also written with humour and offers uplifting moments. As a group, we enjoyed Maya's response to a woman who insists on calling her by the wrong name, as well as her determination to become the first black streetcar conductor in San Francisco.

For us, the memoir ended on a surprising note and it made me all the more keen to read the rest of Angelou's autobiographies.

54Rebeki
Oct 3, 2017, 5:37 am

13. The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton

The Luminaries had been sitting on my shelf for three years, patiently awaiting its moment. With the prospect of a two-week holiday this summer - and a few more weeks after that before the usual obligations resumed - the timing seemed perfect for an 832-page book that promised an intricate and absorbing tale.

I'd read somewhere that readers could safely ignore the astrological references at the beginning of each chapter and part, and that's what I did, but they added to the overall atmosphere and the sense that the characters were fated to act as they did.

Set in New Zealand in the mid-1860s, in a small town in which gold is the main business, this book indeed resembles a Victorian novel - in its detailed scene-setting, its language and the creation of suspense. It opens with the discovery by Walter Moody, a fresh arrival from Britain, that the 12 other men sitting in the smoking room of his hotel are not there by chance but have gathered for some purpose. Finding him to be trustworthy, they gradually admit him to their confidence. A local recluse has been found dead in his home, with a lump of gold and bottle of laudanum mysteriously present on the scene, a wealthy young man has disappeared and one of the town's favourite whores (that is the word Catton and the character herself use throughout, although it is playfully banned in a court scene) appears to have tried to end her life. Each of the 12 is caught up in the mystery in some way and, determined to get to the bottom of things, they meet to pool their knowledge.

We then move steadily forward in time, as matters progress, confidences are inevitably betrayed and vengeance is sought, before going back in time to unravel the different strands of the story.

I loved the setting, which was completely unfamiliar to me, and the introduction to a variety of characters, including a Maori man and two Chinese men, whose experiences of life in New Zealand were inevitably different to those of the European settlers. However, for all that we are acquainted with their backstories, in the end there are just five characters at the heart of the action and I was sorry not to learn what became of the rest.

Overall, this is a compelling, cleverly-structured book that I was sad to finish.

55Rebeki
Oct 3, 2017, 5:37 am

14. Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay by Elena Ferrante

With the success of her book and a new life in Florence, Elena feels she has escaped the brutality of her old neighbourhood, but concern about Lila and a surprising development in her own family soon draws her back.

After really enjoying the previous book in this series, The Story of a New Name, I was worried that I wouldn’t like this one quite so much. I’d gathered, from reading others’ reviews, that politics played a prominent role in this third book and that the narrator, Elena, became a less sympathetic character.

In the event, I found the political backdrop fascinating. I’d read a little about Italy’s anni di piombo – though my knowledge remains hazy – and it was interesting to see the characters of the Neapolitan novels caught up, to a greater and lesser extent, in these happenings, on both sides of the political divide.

Elena’s behaviour is often less than admirable, but the same can be said of most of the characters. Enzo is perhaps the only exception. In any case, I enjoyed her candour and understood her frustrations. In this book, I found the dynamic between Lila and Elena more interesting than ever: the mutual resentment is necessary to drive each of them on to excel, while each desires the good opinion of the other. At the same time, the connection between them is such that each wants the other to succeed and is able to take pride in that success as if she had a share in it.

I’ve found it preferable to leave a gap between the books in this series, but I’m looking forward to picking up The Story of the Lost Child before too long.

56Rebeki
Oct 3, 2017, 5:38 am

15. The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon by Alexander McCall Smith

Another enjoyable instalment in the No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series. A fun and relaxing read.

57Rebeki
Oct 3, 2017, 5:39 am

16. Among the Bohemians: Experiments in Living 1900-1939 by Virginia Nicholson

Given that it's taken me about six months to finish this book, you'd be forgiven for thinking that I hadn't enjoyed it or that it's a difficult read. Neither of those things is true. I suppose the issue is that, since last year, I've been craving fiction above all - stories, stories, stories, to help me ignore reality!

In fact, Among the Bohemians is the kind of book you can read a chapter at a time and then leave aside for a while. Nicholson explores the Bohemian lifestyle thematically, with chapters on subjects such as money, raising children, clothes, housework and the home, food and travel. I found this focus on the everyday practicalities and problems of life as a Bohemian fascinating.

The book features the insights of and anecdotes about a wide range of characters from the artistic world and, as the granddaughter of Vanessa Bell, Nicholson appears as good an authority on this as any. This book is nothing if not accessible, however, and the author helpfully includes a dramatis personae at the end of the book, along with a summary of her main sources and a bibliography that serves as a reading list for those wishing to delve further.

While the behaviour of those such as Augustus John and Dylan Thomas may appear reckless and irresponsible to the average reader, the "wildness" of those pursuing art and freedom above all else is placed firmly in the context of the times, as a response to the stifling attitudes and extraordinarily restrictive mores of Victorian and Edwardian times. Indeed, we owe these outliers a great deal, since many of their ideas about how to live are now mainstream: dressing comfortably is the example that springs most readily to mind, along with the widespread enthusiasm in Britain for foreign cuisines.

I should add that my pleasure in reading this book was enhanced by my visits this year to Charleston, the farmhouse retreat of Vanessa and Clive Bell and Duncan Grant, to an exhibition of Vanessa Bell's works and to another exhibition on "Sussex Modernism". At a time when my views and values seem so at odds with those propounded by my government, it has been a comfort to find myself in the company of those who famously swam against the tide.

58Rebeki
Oct 3, 2017, 5:46 am

Phew! All the time I've been neglecting my thread and this group, I've been reading away (at my own slowish pace) and have made my goal three months early!

It's been a big motivation to be in this group and, now that I can relax a bit, I hope to be more sociable and get to others' threads again.

I'm sure I'll manage a few more ROOTs before the year is out, but I'd also like to concentrate on some of those new acquisitions - to prevent their becoming next year's ROOTs!

59Jackie_K
Oct 3, 2017, 6:20 am

Congratulations on reaching your goal!

60Tess_W
Oct 3, 2017, 7:47 am

Woo hoo! Great job!

61connie53
Oct 3, 2017, 2:39 pm

62Rebeki
Oct 3, 2017, 4:53 pm

63floremolla
Oct 3, 2017, 6:44 pm

Well done - feel like I'm watching everyone sprint past me lately! This might be because I've been enjoying the chat around the threads too much and not reading enough. This was my first year of ROOTing too and I agree with you, it's great motivation having the group behind us. See you around the threads :)

64rabbitprincess
Oct 4, 2017, 6:28 pm

Congratulations! Also, great reviews, especially of The Luminaries!

65MissWatson
Oct 5, 2017, 4:51 am

Congratulations!

66Rebeki
Oct 17, 2017, 4:24 am

>63 floremolla:, >64 rabbitprincess:, >65 MissWatson: Thank you!

Still not doing a much better job of visiting people's threads. I keep thinking things will quieten down, so that I'll have the time. Hopefully in a couple of weeks...

67Rebeki
Editado: Dic 27, 2017, 3:06 am

I've been terrible at posting on LT lately and have only just caught up on reviews for the bonus ROOTs I've managed to read:

17. Every Day is Mother's Day by Hilary Mantel

Evelyn Axon and her dependent thirty-something daughter, Muriel, lead a hermit-like suburban existence, with Evelyn convinced that her house is occupied by malevolent spirits. She does all she can to deter a string of social workers – along with any other visitors, as infrequent as these are. For a while, Muriel’s only escape from this suffocating life is her weekly outing to the day centre (or not, as the case may be), but Evelyn puts a stop to this when she discovers, rather implausibly, that Muriel is pregnant.

Meanwhile Colin Sidney, a history teacher who feels stifled by his own life as a husband and father, starts to fall in love with the younger Isabel Field, a social worker he meets at a creative writing class, and you can probably see where these narrative strands intertwine...

Mantel’s writing is delicious. She deftly evokes the bleakness and mundanity of 1970s life, while keeping an air of menace throughout. In fact, this is an extremely dark book, made palatable by the humorousness of the writing. One of my favourite moments is a terrible dinner party to which Colin and his wife, Sylvia, are invited. Until that point, I’d found Sylvia quite irritating and, suddenly, I found myself completely sympathetic to her.

Evelyn is a curious character, both a bully and a victim, and convinced her approach is the right one. The largely silent Muriel is an enigma, although it seems she comes into her own in the sequel to this book, Vacant Possession, which I’ve just started. I’m anticipating more carefully-balanced darkness and humour.

68Rebeki
Dic 27, 2017, 3:07 am

18. The Summer Book by Tove Jansson

This book is a series of episodes in the lives of a young girl, Sophia – loosely based on Jansson’s niece – and her grandmother – based, I assume, on Jansson’s mother – as they spend a summer on a remote Finnish island. This might sound twee, but the relationship is not simply one of an older person imparting wisdom to a younger one (although, inevitably, that happens) but a relationship of equals, each character having her own quirks and flaws and being prone to bouts of bad temper.

Having come to Tove Jansson through the Moomins, I appreciated the gentle humour and the alien (to me) setting, where nature’s beauty is evident, but also its dangers. And, like the Moomin stories, in depicting a slower pace of life, this is a book that encourages the reader to slow down too and think about how to live in a way that brings us happiness. I can imagine re-reading The Summer Book whenever I need that reminder.

69Rebeki
Dic 27, 2017, 3:07 am

19. The Winter Queen by Boris Akunin

I'd had this book on my shelves for over six years and, looking for "something fun", I decided its moment had finally come.

It is 1876 and Erast Fandorin, a young, inexperienced detective with the Moscow Criminal Investigation Department finds himself investigating the apparent public suicide of a rich university student, an investigation that reveals the incident to be part of something far more large-scale and takes him to London on the trail of a shadowy organisation.

I really loved Akunin's writing, which is both elegant and humorous, and the twists and turns of the plot made for an exhilarating adventure. However, it wasn't really the feel-good read I was anticipating or looking for at the time, although that's certainly no criticism of the author.

I've since read a bit more about the series and have learnt that each of Akunin's Fandorin novels takes the form of a particular subgenre of crime writing. I had the feeling while I was reading The Winter Queen that I was missing all kinds of literary and other allusions, so it seems Akunin is doing something far more sophisticated here than writing a straightforward historical crime novel. I may not be sophisticated enough a reader to understand everything, but, duly informed, I'm looking forward to seeing where his next book takes me!

70Rebeki
Dic 27, 2017, 3:09 am

I have a couple of ROOTs on the go and should finish one of them before the year ends.

I haven't been very good at posting here, but being part of this group has been great for giving my reading momentum. I'm looking forward to carrying on next year!

71connie53
Dic 27, 2017, 3:53 am

I hope to see you in the 2018 group. http://www.librarything.nl/groups/2018rootreadourownto

72floremolla
Dic 27, 2017, 7:26 am

Great reviews and several BBs taken for my wishlist. :)

73rabbitprincess
Dic 27, 2017, 11:30 am

That's interesting that Akunin tries out different things in each of his Fandorin novels. I enjoyed Murder on the Leviathan and would probably read another. Will have to see what subgenres his other books explore and choose accordingly.

74Rebeki
Ene 2, 2018, 3:49 am

>73 rabbitprincess: To be honest, I read so little crime in general that I'm not sure I'll notice the difference in subgenre, but I'll try to be alert to it!

>71 connie53:, >72 floremolla: - Thanks for stopping by this somewhat neglected thread. I'll definitely be ROOTing again in 2018!

75Rebeki
Ene 2, 2018, 3:49 am

One last ROOT for 2017:

20. The Story of the Lost Child by Elena Ferrante

This is the final book in Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan Novels and my final book of 2017. I don’t feel able to write a coherent review, but, then, the book itself, like life, like the sprawling city of Naples, doesn’t offer a sense of coherence.

It spans almost thirty years, from the point at which Elena leaves her husband to the beginnings of old age, and in that time an awful lot happens – to Elena, to Lila and to the cast of characters we have come to feel involved with since My Brilliant Friend. Elena’s eventual return to Naples brings her closer – emotionally as well as geographically – to the friend she begins the book trying to avoid. And, while it comes under considerable strain, this friendship will prove more enduring than the women’s relationships with men.

There is no neat ending, something that is hinted at at the beginning of My Brilliant Friend, and I was left curious to know how things would play out subsequently, as well as the truth of the plot strand referred to in the book’s title. As much as Elena has tried to recount the story of Lila’s life alongside her own, there is so much more I would love to know about her, but, if we are to trust Elena’s view, the last thing Lila wants is to be captured in print: “Come on – she would say – tell us what turn your life took, who cares about mine, admit that it doesn’t even interest you. And she would conclude: I’m a scribble on a scribble, completely unsuitable for one of your books; forget it, Lenù, one doesn’t tell the story of an erasure.

Elena must finally learn to define herself on her own terms and I must accept that my acquaintance with these characters and their world is over, although I can certainly imagine wanting to re-read the four novels from the beginning.