fannyprice tries for 75 in 2008

Wow, I guess I can't resist a challenge. I've upped the ante and switched over from the 50 (actually 60) book challenge to the new 75 book challenge. I hope I don't live to regret it.

Here's my cute little progress meter:

Copied over from the other thread:

January 2008

To Be Edited As I Go

(1) A Wizard of Earthsea (The Earthsea Cycle, Book 1) - Ursula K. Le Guin (F)
Review

(2) The Tombs of Atuan (The Earthsea Cycle, Book 2) - Ursula K. Le Guin (F)
Review

(3) The Brief History Of The Dead - Kevin Brockmeier (F)
Review

(4) How Language Works: How Babies Babble, Words Change Meaning, and Languages Live or Die - David Crystal (NF)
Review

(5) One Perfect Day: The Selling of the American Wedding - Rebecca Mead (NF)
Review

(6) The Farthest Shore (The Earthsea Cycle, Book 3) - Ursula K. Le Guin (F)
review

(7) Craze: Gin and Debauchery in an Age of Reason - Jessica Warner (NF)
review

(8) Tehanu (The Earthsea Cycle, Book 4) - Ursula K. LeGuin (F)
Review

(9) American Born Chinese - Gene Luen Yang (graphic novel)
Review

fanny, I have your #10 here in my extensive TBR pile. I will look forward to your comments on it when you get to it.

I am always so impressed with readers who can lay out their reading like you have done. I have never done this, except for formal study, but my inclinations are broad, and varied in other ways - enough that I have never felt the need to challenge myself formally. This is why LT is so interesting, we get to observe the reading habits and choices of others.

Yeah, as I've said before, I generally love to make TBR lists and then I hate to read from them, but this year I am taking the risk. I gave myself a lot of room to maneuver with my lists (this one and the 888 Challenge One) & the ten specified here are ones that I really want to make sure I read this year.

Can't fault your ambition, to include War and Peace and Clarissa in your list -that's about 10 or 12 normal novels right there.

The Woman in White is a great read - it has one of the best heroines in all of Victorian fiction.

I'm reading The Woman in White now and am really enjoying it. I just started (about 3 chapters in) so am not yet sure exactly who the "heroine" is yet.

I've also got War and Peace on my list of books TBR in 2008. I think I'm going to be doing an LT group read of it.

>6 Jargoneer:, My ambition will undoubtedly be the downfall of me. It almost always is, when I make lists of things "to do." But thanks for the well-wishes!

Well, I've been moving along at a nice pace so far this year, but I think that's mostly due to focusing on things like YA lit. Tonight I start War and Peace. Even though I am looking forward to reading this very much, I fear that it may take me a long time to get through it, so I'm starting it now in order to avoid having to rush through the whole thing come December.

>9 fannyprice: I've been toying with the idea of reading War and Peace myself, ever since reading a wonderful review of the newest translation in TLS. Is that the one you are reading?

Yes, that is the one. I've got a few people interested over in the Reading Globally group and a couple in the Fans of Russian Authors group as well.

And some from this very group! Some of us are thinking about a group read in a month or so.

ETA ...or maybe it was the 50 Book Challenge group.

Augh, I've been bad. I started the year out so well, but things have just totally gotten away from me and I haven't even picked up a book in weeks! Need to do better in Feb.

I think we just have times like this, at least some of us do. I've been picking away at both books I'm reading. I'm just too preoccupied with other things at the moment so I'm not progressing well. btw, I noticed two editions of War & Peace at the bookstore today. 1. the P&V translation and 2. The Andrew Bromfield translation. I didn't know Bromfield had done the previous translation. I've read a fair number of his Pelevin translations, plus one Akunin mystery. It would be a tough choice for me to choose between the two translations!

How far along are you in War and Peace? You can come commiserate with me I'm reading it for my 75 challenge too.

-mistress 'rissa

February

(10) Full Frontal Feminism: A Young Woman's Guide to Why Feminism Matters - Jessica Valenti (NF)

Review

The last half of January and all of February were really bad months for me in terms of reading. I got really distracted by other things - work, personal crap, an unbelievably immersing video game (blush....I'm such a degenerate) and I had this whole raft of huge library books that were making me feel guilty about not reading but that I wasn't really able to get into. So I really let reading slide this month (and a half). I will be better in March, even if I have to really stray from my list of books in order to do so. I was kinda worried that making such a specific list of books would kill my interest in reading...I think it has come to pass. I totally overdosed on the Earthsea books, instead of spacing them out throughout the year.

March

This month I am GOING to DO BETTER!

(11) The Translator: A Tribesman's Memoir of Darfur - Daoud Hari (NF-M)

Review

(12) The Dirt on Clean: An Unsanitized History - Katherine Ashenburg (NF)

Review

(13) In Defense of Food: An Easter's Manifesto - Michael Pollan (NF)

Review

(14) Franny and Zooey - J.D. Salinger (F)

(15) Wide Sargasso Sea - Jean Rhys (F)

Review

Catwings - Ursula K. Le Guin - not counting it because its so short, but must mention it because its so cute! This is one of the few books that I will actually buy after having read a library copy.

Review

(16) Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader - Anne Fadiman (NF-essays)

Review

Catwings Return - Ursula K. Le Guin - also not counting but calling it out b/c I loved it!

Review

(17) The Giver - Lois Lowry (F)

Review

March, Part II

(18) The Slippery Slope (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book 10) - Lemony Snicket

Not doing a full-on review for this one, but I did enjoy it. The SoUE books are not high literature, and I don't know if they will even stand the test of time as children's classics, but I do love them for their dark humor, literary references, and general quirkiness. I think in many respects that they are better than the HP books. I stopped reading them back in December, feeling that I had overdosed, but I am now getting back into them in an attempt to finish off the series this year. A nice little diversion for a few hours while I figure out which of my many tomes to dive into next. Or maybe I'll just read the next book in the series. :)

(19) The Grim Grotto (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book 11) - Lemony Snicket

Again not doing a full-on review. Enjoyed this one a lot. A great deal of moral ambiguity - the children remember that their parents weren't perfect and then feel guilty about it, since they are now dead. The absurdity in this one is cranked up, which I loved. These books just get weirder. The mysteries are starting to become more clear, even as they get more muddled. I love the continual intersection of the Baudelaire's story with that of the Snickets. I think its so creative how Daniel Handler created this fake authorial persona and then connected it to the stories.

(20) Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress - Dai Sijie (F)

Link to full review pending - Thoughts cross-posted to my other relevant threads

Well, nearly five months after I initiated a thread about this book for a group read in the "Reading Globally" group, I have finally finished this book. I am terrible at group reads. Once I got down to it, it only took a few hours, but it took me forever to get into this book. I actually checked it out from the library twice, because I failed to get into the first time (even after renewing it the maximum number of times!).

I am still trying to figure out how I felt about this book. I guess that probably means I neither loved nor hated it. I didn't really get engrossed in it until Part Three, despite the fact that all the previous material was interesting and made me feel that I was learning quite a bit about Maoist China and the Cultural Revolution, something I have read nothing about.

The references to Western literature were somewhat troubling to me. Not in the sense that I felt that they were distracting or that they spoiled other books - I actually now feel, for the first time in my life, that I might want to read The Count of Monte Cristo. The joy that Ma and Luo felt when they read these books was energizing and deeply engaging and I definitely could relate to the feeling of discovering a new writer or genre or literary style for the first time.

I guess the thing that troubles me about the literary references is that both this book and Reading Lolita in Tehran seem to be books in which "non-Western" oppressed peoples living under totalitarian regimes find "liberation" through the Western literary tradition & that this narrative is hugely appealing to Western audiences, as evidenced by how well these books have sold. Now while I am not suggesting that either of these stories could not possibly be true (i.e., because Western literature is oppressive or "bad" or whatever, or because "they" are so different from "us" that they cannot possibly find meaning in "our" literary tradition - please note, just examples, not my actual beliefs) or that there is anything wrong with finding inspiration in a non-indigenous literary tradition, I find it sort of curious to imagine how well these books might have done if they were instead about Iranian women finding inspiration in ancient Persian poetry or Chinese men discovering the joys of The Analects of Confucius. I think stories about oppressed non-Western people finding liberation through Western literature appeal to Western audiences because they simultaneously convey the feel-good multi-cultural message that "they're really just like us!" while still upholding the superiority of Western cultural products.

Just an idea that struck me. I'm still kicking it around in my head & even I'm not sure if I'm willing to go along with the ideas I've outlined above. I'm just trying to think about how books by authors get marketed & why certain books become successful in the US and other Western countries. I am NOT AT ALL trying to cast aspersions on the authors themselves or suggest that their memoirs/novels are inauthentic or somehow "crafted" for mass consumption.

Also - and not to continue to pick apart this book in such a way that gives the impression that I hated it, because I really didn't! - I was disturbed by the fact that the only thing the Little Seamstress seemed to have learned from her exposure to Western literature was profoundly negative. That woman are judged by their physical appearance and that this was how she would make her way in the world? Or did I totally mis-interpret that ending?

(21) Uglies - Scott Westerfeld (F)

I enjoyed this rather dystopian novel & raced through to see how it would end, and despite the fact that I have already put the subsequent novels on hold at the library, I still think that I would say that this book was just ok. Really interesting concepts with generally ok - not outstanding - execution and sometimes juvenile prose. I know its a YA book, but having just finished Lois Lowry's The Giver, I was struck by the fact that although both books are written for younger audiences, The Giver never felt to me like anything other than an adult book. Uglies, mostly because of its use of sort of goofy, dated-seeming slang (I mean, I know people still say "cool", but seeing it written down in a book makes me feel weird....), definitely felt like a YA book.

Link to full review

Hey, Fanny

I read the Catwings books last year, and I agree, they're adorable. My library had four, and I added them all together and called them one book (hey, if 1001 Books does it, it must be okay). If I ever see them at a bookstore, I'm going to buy them too.

Books I've Given Up On This Year, Part 1

I really tried to read and enjoy Macedonia: What Does it Take to Stop a War? - Harvey Pekar, Heather Roberson, Ed Piskor, a graphic novel, but I just couldn't. The first 15 pages were so terrible. For me, the format of a graphic novel has to enhance the story being told in some creative way, otherwise it just feels like a cheap gimmick and a way to sell a story that really can't stand on its own. This book felt like that.

The main character - I feel bad saying this b/c I think she's a real person - comes off like a preachy, pedantic idiot. The first 15 pages are simply just her lecturing her boyfriend on Macedonian history while they do things like drive in the car, make dinner, eat dinner, wash dishes. His contributions - like "Really?" or "How so?" are dropped in every once in a while to break up the monotony of the lecture, but for the most part, the style really turned me off. Roberson's trip to Macedonia includes the long plane ride complete with the obligatory drunken leering Eastern European man with a sob story who hits on the pretty college girl, causing her to sulk..... I could not bring myself to go any further.

Perhaps it gets more interesting once she actually gets to Macedonia, but given that the entire next section seemed to focus on her stopover in Berlin to visit a friend, I just couldn't handle it. I know that these sort of political travelogue graphic novels are really in vogue and this just seems like an attempt to cash in on that with a story that is not well-told or engaging. I hate condemning a book that I didn't finish, but I've also resolved to get over my guilt at abandoning things that are just not enjoyable.

Books I've Given Up On This Year, Part 2

Once Upon a Quinceanera: Coming of Age in the USA - Julia Alvarez (touchstones not working)

Unfortunately, I just couldn't get into this book. I gave it a go for 100 pages, thought to myself "why not just tough it out for the rest of the way?", but ultimately decided that there were just so many other things on my plate right now that it wasn't worth forcing it. I had recently read Rebecca Mead's One Perfect Day: The Selling of the American Wedding and perhaps this book reminded me too much of that and I'd just had enough of that style of book. The book is a combination of social commentary, description of one particular girl's quince, and Alvarez's personal memoir of growing up as a Dominican immigrant in America and navigating cultural contradictions.

The problem I had was that Alvarez telegraphs her message pretty clearly and constantly throughout the book - she's saddened by the fact that Latinos spend so much money on a single day's worth of celebration when the community is burdened with poverty, but she understands that the celebration can be vital to cementing a girl's relationship with her family, community, and identity - and the consistent repetition of this message meant that I didn't really get a sense of how her exploration of quinceaneras changed any of her feelings over time. I felt like she ended up pretty much where she started (confession, I skipped to the end and read her ultimate conclusion about the event's meaning and significance). I did feel like I learned a bit about a celebration that I didn't know anything about prior to reading this book, but ultimately it just wasn't compelling enough for me to stick with it.

(22) Chicken With Plums - Marjane Satrapi (graphic novel)

Despite my love for Satrapi's work, nothing has been as amazing as her Persepolis books. This book, which tells the story of how her great-uncle, a famous Iranian musician, fell into despair and decided to die. It really is his memoir and Satrapi herself only appears in one or two panels set long after his death. This book was sad, but not as compelling as her other works.

Me and My Cat? - Satoshi Kitamura (children's book)

Review

(23) The Penultimate Peril (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book 12) - Lemony Snicket

The moral ambiguities are out of control in this one - the children can't tell whether they are helping the heroes or the villains, and their fears that they may have become villains in their attempts to survive are at peak here. Features the re-appearance of many characters (good and bad) from all the past books. A very surprising ending. There was something a little bitter about this book; perhaps its just that its so truly sad. I will be very curious to see how the whole thing ends.

(24) Pretties - Scott Westerfeld

Review

(25) Specials - Scott Westerfeld

Review

My last books of March were the second and third books of the "Uglies" Trilogy (I still don't get that whole four-book trilogy thing....). I enjoyed them more than the first book, despite the fact that I cannot describe the plots with a straight face & I continually found myself tuning out during the action scenes. I liked the mental and emotional conflict that the main character went through & how the author managed to show both how completely Tally was changed by the various operations her people did on her and how there was some part of her that remained constant, no matter what was done to her. I loved the ending of the last book and thought it was such an appropriate resolution for Tally! Reviews contain spoilers.

I am looking at my last six months of reading and feeling guilty. I've been reading a lot of "crap", kind of. Oh well, no point in dwelling on it when there are books to read.

I totally agree with you on Satrapi's other works. I loved Persepolis and its follow up book but Chicken with plums was less than compelling for me. I liked it but I was not impressed. Maybe my expectations were set to high because of her previous work.

Why feel guilty? Sometimes I just need a break, a palate cleanser, if you will. Maybe you did too.

>28 avaland:, Yeah, I guess I've had a lot on my plate for the last 6+ months and its just been easier to read YA Lit and short, easier books than try to pick up something big and brain-taxing. :)

I've also been kind of a literary hobo in the last couple months. I am currently working on so many books that I am finding it hard to make progress in many of them. I've also purchased at least 20 new books and requested at least that many from the library in the last three months, so I am feeling a bit overwhelmed by the richness of my TBR pile.

I'm currently cycling between the following books:

Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present by Harriet A. Washington (NF), which is a fascinating and disturbing book that requires frequent breaks.

Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar: Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes - Thomas Cathcart & Daniel Klein (NF), a funny and light read but its not really grabbing me.

The Making of Victorian Values: Decency and Dissent in Britain: 1789-1837 - Ben Wilson (NF), which is starting to become the bane of my existence. I really WANT to read this book, but I am having so much trouble getting into it.

The Cambridge Companion to Jane Austen - edited by Edward Copeland and Juliet McMaster (essay anthology), which I am dipping into as the spirit catches me.

The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak (F), which I am also having trouble getting into, probably because I have so many books going on.

Extras, the last book in the Uglies "trilogy" by Scott Westerfeld. This one is a more biting commentary on our current society than the first three, as it deals with people living in a "reputation-based economy." At one point, the main character says something like she feels more real when she is being filmed than when she's not. Its such a perfect book for a time when "famous-for-being-famous" is so common, every washed up non-celebrity has a reality show, and it seems like everyone blogs or uses myspace. Even I am listing the books that I read on a public website, a level of self-exposure that I never thought I would be comfortable with (a pseudonym helps, I guess - not all of us want to be famous). But I miss the characters from the previous books and I find that the stakes in this book seem so much lower than in the previous books, where Tally & Co. were risking brainwashing, imprisonment, and death all the time. Aya seems to be risking either obscurity or exclusion from the cool kids. Not exactly dramatic. Still I will keep reading it just in the hopes that Tally shows up and kicks somebody's a**. And because it had a long wait at the library. :)

I also have The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible by A.J. Jacobs, which I am really interested in reading, but it came available at the library at a bad time after I waited on a HUGE waitlist for it. So I feel pressure to read it now because I know I can't renew it.

Finally, I have The Night in Question: Stories by Tobias Wolff that I am dipping into every once in a while. And a whole slew of other new purchases and holds from the library. I am feeling a bit overwhelmed, but I also love having so much to choose from. I think I will try to attack the books I am unlikely to be able to renew first and then go on a severely restricted diet of no new purchases and very few library holds while I try to dig out from my TBR pile.

April

(26) Extras - Scott Westerfeld

And with this one, I finish the four-volume Uglies "trilogy...."! And can now hopefully make some progress on all my other reads. This book was odd - in many ways it was the best-written of the series, in other ways, the worst. Mostly I just did not like the new characters at all & missed Tally and Co. quite a bit. Copious spoilers for all four books in the series in my review below.

Review

The Making of Victorian Values has been sitting here in my tremendous tbr pile since it first came out. I will be interested to hear what you have to say about it; if you get through it.

I just finished The Shadow Speaker, a YA novel set in 2070 Niger (mostly); it was excellent, I thought. I was sucked it immediately and feel like I've been in the book for weeks (it's only been two days).

Yes, I know how you feel! The new books keep arriving and I've been limiting my pleasure reading to nighttimes and weekends; and my research reads during the days (they are also pleasurable, of course). I nearly had a panic attack the other day when I learned that the new Joyce Carol Oates and Karen Joy Fowler were shipping; I had just received 3 books from the UK, and a collection by Elizabeth Strout. . . pant..pant..pant...

>avaland, your course reading looks as fascinating as anything! If you don't mind, what kinds of classes are you taking this year?

I'm actually doing my final project which is hard to explain but involves probably six women in New England in six different time periods or situations.

April

(27) Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar: Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes - Thomas Cathcart & Daniel Klein (NF)

Review

(28) The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible - A. J. Jacobs

I am finding it tough to pull my thoughts together enough on this book to write a coherent review. I think this book is best read in small doses, unfortunately I had to race through it because I checked it out from the library and knew it was not going to be able to be renewed b/c I myself had to wait so long to get it. I frequently found myself tired of it. Jacobs' gimmick - live the Bible literally - wears thin after a while, especially when you start thinking to yourself that he's not really doing what he says he's doing. He's really a Biblical tourist, dipping into weird parts of the Bible that play funny for readers. Other parts of the book were simply awkward - details about his wife's menstrual cycle, etc. She must be a saint to put up with him and this kind of exposure of her personal life.

#35: I loved The Year of Living Biblically. I found myself laughing uproariously at times.

(29) Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea - Guy Delisle (graphic novel)

Review

(30) Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present - Harriet A. Washington (NF)

This is an overwhelming but highly worthwhile book. I would recommend it to anyone interested in the history of medicine, racism in America, or just good non-fiction. Harriet Washington attempts a very ambitious project and draws on a huge number of medical studies/records and personal narratives of those who participated in them, either as subjects or experimenters, and those who analyzed these studies. Her overall purpose is to explore and expose the role of racism in the history of American medicine and to restore the experiences and voices of black Americans - most of whom were unwilling or unwitting participants - to this history.

The title, which some may find hyperbolic, is an apt description of the history that Washington uncovers, as black and white Americans have truly existed in separate spheres where medical experimentation and medical care was concerned. Although she begins her story in antebellum America, describing medical experimentation on slaves and free blacks, her examination of studies conducted in the last 10 to 20 years demonstrates that, although the situation has certainly improved, the exploitation of disadvantaged blacks for the benefit of scientific "advancement" is far a thing of the past. Despite this history of abuse, Washington ends her book with a plea for more participation by blacks in clinical studies, arguing that - with strict control of such studies and improvements in study design and ethical constraints - these studies offer blacks an invaluable opportunity to improve their health, which has suffered throughout history due to precisely the kind of medical experimentation that she details in her book.

Full Review

#38: I have the book on my TBR list. I will have to move it up to the top (after the move, I think, though). Thanks for the review!

>39 alcottacre:, Hey thanks - even though I write reviews for my own memory and processing, its always nice to see someone is reading them, other than my boyfriend and my parents! :) Good luck with your move - I know what a pain they can be!

fanny, you do read some interesting books!

I always enjoy your reviews. :)

Fannyprice - that is an excellent review of Medical Apartheid.

The book fits into my theme of reading this year (having finished 'The Slave Ship' by Rediker and Rough Crossings by Simon Schama recently. This is another one to read in the same vein, thank you.

I am glad that she adds the encouragement at the end of the book, for Blacks to participate in studies, as I think in the US this is an excellent way to access care. There are strict ethical guidelines now in place for study design and implementation.

(31) The Eyre Affair - Jasper Fforde

My first Fforde! Finally, my review

I thought this book was so creative - I was really thrown my it. I thought that the ingenuity of its premise would sustain my interest, but I often found myself waiting for the end. It was a good, fun read, but I think it could have used some work in pacing and plot development. First books in a series are always hard though, so I'm sure I will give the second one a chance.

(ETA: Link to review and a few comments about this book.)

(32) Jenny and the Cat Club: A Collection of Favorite Stories about Jenny Linsky - Esther Holden Averill

Loved it! Will post link to review later.

May

(33) The End - Lemony Snicket

Well, I have finally finished the Series of Unfortunate Events books. Honestly, this final one disappointed me - there seemed to be a lot of filler material - lists of items, etc. that made it longer and more drawn-out than it needed to be. I was not bothered by how it ended - I love ambiguous endings, but I was glad to see that it was mostly happy without being sappy.

(34) Gothic Classics: Graphic Classics Volume 14 (Graphic Classics)

I tried twice to review this book, which was mostly a disappointment, and both times my review is somewhere in limbo (lost or not?) on the site. So I'm going to wait and see if they pop back up before reviewing again.

(35) Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement with Everyday Life - Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (NF)

A re-read for me. I re-read this book every time I am noticing myself feeling bored & listless and engaging in habits that I don't enjoy, like vegging out in front of the tv for hours at a time, all the while thinking "I'd rather be reading...." Its sort of like a kick in the ass for me.

Full Review

(36) We - Yevgeny Zamyatin (F)

This book was frustrating and fascinating. Honestly, I felt like I "got it" best when I was reading half-asleep.

Full Review

I'm really so very controlled about adding books to my to-read list because it's long enough for several reading lifetimes . . . but damn you, FannyPrice! Finding Flow has to make the list. Sounds perfect for me. And great author surname. I'll bet he doesn't have many telemarketers calling to ask for him or her!

I've been on a bit of a children's book binge lately following my decision to start building my collection of children's books featuring cats. I'm going to count the following books as one "read" for the purposes of this challenge.

(37) Yes, a Cat Named Marty Cohen - Wendy Gardner Review

Kitten's First Full Moon - Kevin Henkes Review

The School for Cats - Esther Holden Averill Review

Jenny's Birthday Book - Esther Holden Averill Review

Millions of Cats - Wanda Gag Review

Ooops, duplicate post. Deleted.

A children's collection featuring cats, eh? You need to include these:

Catwings, by Ursula K. Le Guin. There are actually 4 books in this series and they are charming.

The Cinder-eyed Cats, by Eric Rohmann. Hauntingly beautiful in a dreamy way. This is one of those picture books that my family will never get rid of.

Oh, you absolutely MUST pick up Shakespeare's Cats! Very elaborate illustrations featuring cats dressed as Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Shylock, etc.

>51 Nickelini: and 52 - Thanks for the suggestions guys! Nickelini, I have read the first two Catwings books and was totally charmed. They are one of the few books that I checked out from the library that I will actually end up buying. I've not heard of the others you all suggested, so I'm excited.

Also, my mom, who is a former kindergarten teacher with an unbelievable collection of children's books, is going to send me some of her favorites. Can't wait!

June

(38) Rereadings: Seventeen Writers Revisit Books They Love – edited by Anne Fadiman (NF, essays)

(39) The Night in Question: Stories - Tobias Wolff (short fiction)

(40) Jenny Goes to Sea - Esther Holden Averill

Reviews to come

The book Rereadings: Seventeen Writers Revisit Books they Love looked very interesting. I se you plan to do a quick review of these recent reads and I am very interested in which authors are included and what you thought of the book. I love these author perspectives on reading and writing.

>55 blackdogbooks:, blackdogbooks, I do plan to review and post links, but in short, I really enjoyed Rereadings. It was a great collection of essays - the ones referencing books I had already read were particularly enjoyable and the ones about books/authors I had not read made me want to read the books in question. Almost all the essays made me want to read more writings by the essayists themselves. My only disappointment was that Fadiman didn't have her own contribution beyond the introduction, which was great (on re-reading C.S. Lewis's The Horse and His Boy) - I love her essays so much, I hoped she would be more present in this volume. Fortunately, another collection of her essays has just been published, so I have that to look forward to!

(41) The Making of Victorian Values: Decency and Dissent in Britain: 1789-1837 – Ben Wilson (NF)

June has been a month for finishing long-stalled/long-running reads so far. I enjoyed this one a lot, but I think it has taken me a full year to read it (including all the times I read the first 25 pages and then stopped and re-started). I am so glad to finally have it finished!

Like the others, review to come

Fanny, looking forward to hearing the summary of what made the Victorian values. If you could highlight four or five key points, it would save me a lot of university time and self-study. You're the best! :-)

>58 Nickelini:, Haha, will do my best! This is definitely the most academic book I've read since finishing grad school. I hope I can put on my critical thinking cap again.

fanny, I've had The Making of Victorian Values in my TBR pile since it first came out. I, too, will be interested in any summary you put together:-)

#34 Hi, Fanny ~ Just read your review of Plato and a Platypus and am disappointed to see you didn't think it's very good, as I picked it up from the library only yesterday. Do you think it would be worthwhile for someone who knows nothing on the subject of philosophy (that would be me) to read it?

>61 Storeetllr:, I dunno, honestly. I don't know much about philosophy either, but I didn't think I learned much from the book.

Hmm, glad to know it, fanny. Saves me the time it would have taken to put it on my iPod. Thanks!

(42) The Book of Dead Days - Marcus Sedgwick (F-YA)

(43) The Dark Flight Down - Marcus Sedgwick (F-YA)

(44) The Gashlycrumb Tinies - Edward Gorey and Jenny's Moonlight Adventure - Esther Holden Averil

Its been an extremely unproductive summer in terms of leisure reading, but I did manage to knock out these young adult & children's books in the last couple months. Sigh....

(45) Oryx and Crake – Margaret Atwood (F)

Hi
I recently finished Margaret Atwood's book The Penelopiad
I'm curious to learn your thoughts on Oryx and Crake

(46) At Large and At Small: Familiar Essays - Anne Fadiman (essays)

Loved it. Ever since so many on LT recommended the wonderful Ex Libris to me, I have been completely enchanted with all Fadiman's essays. I need another volume!

#67: Ex Libris is one of those books that I feel was written just for me, and I read it at least once a year. I did not like At Large and At Small as much, but I certainly liked it. I cannot wait until her next book of essays either.

(47) The Foreshadowing - Marcus Sedgwick (F)

(48) Mother on Fire: A True Motherf%#$@ Story About Parenting! - Sandra Tsing Loh (NF)

(49) The Return of History and the End of Dreams - Robert Kagan (NF)

Meh, nothing especially objectionable but nothing especially new in this one.

(50) Discovering Your Personality Type: The Essential Introduction to the Enneagram, Revised and Expanded - Don Riso (NF) and Gifts Differing: Understanding Personality Type - Isabel Briggs Meyers (NF)

Both of these were disappointing - the Briggs Myers book was so technical and poorly written, skimmed major portions of it. I thought I would get more depth on my type, but really I just learned that the author seems biased against any letters that are not found in her type.... The Enneagram book I mostly only read the parts that applied to me. However, it was also not that interesting. I think I am burned out on personality tests.

(51) Talk to the Hand: The Utter Bloody Rudeness of the World Today, or Six Good Reasons to Stay Home and Bolt the Door - Lynn Truss (NF) and Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them - Francine Prose (NF)

I expected Talk to the Hand to be a bit disappointing because I have read a lot of reviews that said it was rather incoherent and no where near as funny as Eats, Shoots and Leaves, which I loved. It was funny, but not a well-reasoned argument, which I think it was supposed to be. I did expect to like the Prose book quite a bit and found I was rather disappointed. Instead of "reading like a writer" I thought this book should have been entitled "writing like other writers". Mostly a guide for people who want to write books, rather than those who just love reading them, in my opinion. Still, I did enjoy her close readings of some familiar passages from familiar and unfamiliar books.

(52) Death Note, Volumes 1, 2, and 3 - Tsugumi Ohba (manga) and Shenzhen: A Travelogue From China - Guy Delisle (NF-graphic novel)

Surprisingly, I am really enjoying the Death Note manga despite already having seen the animae. It is fun to compare the two and note the changes made with the transition to screen. Shenzhen: A Travelogue From China was just ok, which means I am two-for-two on striking out with Guy Delisle. I think its over between us. :)

I'm not counting most of my recent reads as individual reads, since I confess I did a lot of skimming of all the books, with the exception of the manga and graphic novels (which are also not counted as individual books because that feels like cheating to me, since they are so easy to read).

Sorry you didn't enjoy the Francine Prose book. I just recommended it to anohter 75'er with almost completely opposite comments about how it was more about reading. Oh well, not every book is for every reader.

Always good to see what you are reading, fanny.

Just wanted to add another cat book--a charming story by Charles de Lint called Circle of Cats. Quick but very clever story. Some interesting reads here I have to check out.

I second Prop2gether's recommendation regarding Circle of Cats..It is an amazing book!

I have not yet read Circle of Cats, so I will have to add it to my list. I just discovered Charles de Lint this year and it will probably take me a while to get through all of his backlist.

Stasia

The Circle of Cats is more of a children's book that a YA fiction publication. The had to order a copy via interlibrary loan from my local library. I was amazed at the beautiful drawings that accompanied the story.

It is a delightful, VERY quick read.

Thanks for the recommendation!

(53) Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong, Revised and Updated Edition - James Loewen

Yeah, there is no way I'm making it to 75 this year, even if I take a week off to read.... :(

fannyprice
I note your book #53 and wonder if you have read Howard Zinn's book The People's History of the United States

While I read this a long time ago, I vividly remember that Zinn had some scathing things to say regarding the incorrect way in which text books portray American history.

I believe he begins the book with a chapter about Christopher Columbus and his slavery of the Arawak Indians, a peaceful people that he murdered and subjugated. This indeed was NOT the Columbus that I learned about in elementary school.

You might find the book interesting in the context of the one you recently read.

>79 Whisper1:, Thanks Whisper - Loewen does cite Zinn as a predecessor/inspiration/what-have-you and from what you've said, I think the two books may be very similar. Loewen's book is also interesting because it takes not not just what is taught, but how its taught - i.e., history is a dull set of facts and certainties to be memorized and regurgitated, teachers never discuss possible alternative outcomes and never draw on contemporary controversy to illuminate similar instances in the past.

The interesting thing is that my 10-year-old nephew is really into American history right now & seems to be learning at least some of the stuff that Loewen says people are never taught, so perhaps things are getting a little better?

I'm hopeful that students are getting a more rounded, fair portrayal of American history than I did. I have been blessed by wonderful history teachers, in elementary school, high school and then in college. Each of these mentors brought history to life and I am very thankful for their influence.

As a person, born in the early 1950's, I'm now old enough to look at what I've experienced historically -- the assignation of JFK, Lyndon Johnson's obsession in Viet Nam and the resulting disaster, the first man walking on the moon...

I sincerely hope that somehow events will be portrayed in a balanced way and that current text books will not be so biased. I vividly remember playing cowboys and indians as a child and my perception was that the indians were the bad guys........Then, I grew up and started to read what happened to Native Americans and was saddened by the reference I was taught.

It's not the number of books, it's the journey. Did that sound to Ghandi-ish?

True, true. But I tend to feel like failure if I set goals I don't achieve, no matter how arbitrary they are. My goal for next year is to simply enjoy and not keep count.

As long as you enjoy on our new challenge group, we like your posts.

Goals are something I picture as goalposts (too much football here), but all they are is something to aim for. If you make it, that's nice and extra points, but the games are the effort to end up at or near the end zone. Be comfortable with your reading. Enjoy what you've read. And note that others here are commenting on books you've recommended. That's extra points right there! A great field goal in the making--or maybe a safety.

Can you just move the thread to the 50 book challenge group? I just may limp to 50, thanks to a week's vacation at the end of the year. But you're already past there...

My 11 year old daughter very much likes history. I think things are getting much better, and that kids are learning much more broadly than even a decade or so ago. Especially for girls, where women's history has come much farther and it really helps building the interest when it's not all wars.

So join the our challenge group and put a note at the top of your thread saying you're using the thread as a reading list. I'd rather not lose your recommendations and comments! 8^}

Read the other threads, A_musing, we don't care about the numbers!!!! Or at least most of us don't. And the ones that do care about the numbers.......well, they care for their own OCD reasons, right TadAD! I promise, nobody will lurk outside your door, pounce on you, or steal your libary card if you don't make 75!!! We will put those most likely to engage in such behavior on a a short leash. Given my nickname, I have one of those around here somewhere.

Hi A Musing!

I agree with blackdogbooks and drneutron in their comments that we really don't care about reaching the goal.

This is a wonderfully friendly group who shares ideas, thoughts and books....

Please do give us a try!

I agree with the prior comments as well. I am coming from the other end of the spectrum, because I knew going into the challenge that I would read more than 75 for the year, but I wanted to use it as a place for me to list the books I had read, gain commentary and conversation about them, as well as get recommendations from other people on the thread. I have not regretted it for a minute. Please do stick with us!

I just wanted to add -don't worry about numbers- it is about quality reading!

Well, I think all groups like this allow visitors (or literary voyeurs), yes?

I like to think of the title of this group as a wishlist--because I find interesting reads or recommendations in any thread I read. Besides, where else can I find discussions about authors, countries, readers, books, locales, and all that in one set of threads?

>93 Prop2gether:: Prop2gether, don't forget bread, American football, chocolate, travelling, parenting etc etc etc :)

>94 FlossieT: Flossie: politics, religion, world affairs, knitting and the pain in my big toe!

Oh yes, and children and grandchildren or other relations, the weather, pets--good golly--we about cover that planet of TBR!

and please let us add the envy, joy and celebration we discuss/feel re. Stasia and her reading lists!

(54) The Uncommon Reader: A Novella by Alan Bennett (an Early Reviewers read)

(55) Ishmael: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit by Daniel Quinn (for my book club)

(56) Asad: The Struggle for the Middle East - Patrick Seale

Although certainly not what I would call an "objective" book, this is the book to read to gain insight into how Syria (i.e., Hafiz al-Asad) saw its history and the factors that shaped Asad's decision-making, foreign and domestic policy. Seale had incredible access to Asad and his contemporaries and consequently presents their perspective, which is something that we don't get a lot of in books about Syria. My one complaint about this book, which still doesn't knock down its rating (five stars, essential and a really enjoyable read too), is that Seale updated a single chapter in 1995 but didn't continue the main thrust of the story beyond the late 1980s. Obviously academics move on to new projects and perhaps he lost his access after the publication of the book, but so much happened between 1989 and 1995 that I would have liked to have seen included. I hope that one of my many other books can fill the gap.

Currently doing two things I did not think I would ever do - giving Twilight another chance and reading on the Kindle. I was looking for something totally non-serious and I wanted it immediately at 11pm last night. I'm sure I'm alienating some people by saying that although the book is not very well-written, certainly not a great work of anything, the characters not really believable, the plot twists not very surprising, etc. I am actually enjoying it a fair amount & am thinking about reading the others. Not on Kindle though. Its too weird for me - although I do like how easy and light this nearly 500-page book is to hold when its on the Kindle. :)

I keep having to ask about things....."reading on the Kindle"......what does that mean???

Amazon's wireless ebook reader—here.

Hey, fanny, I just saw your review of The Uncommon Reader on my home page as one of the hot reviews!

(57) Twilight - Stephanie Meyer

My god, I cannot believe I actually enjoyed this book. Like I said previously, not very well-written, weird/barely believable characters, plot twists so obvious you see them coming a mile away.... But I totally loved this book. I think I'm a junkie now. I haven't been feeling well & I've been doing a lot of heavy academic reading during the day - articles mostly, so they don't get tracked here - and this is a perfect counterpoint to it. As soon as I finished this book, I was downloading the sequel, New Moon to the kindle. The kindle is the ultimate in instant gratification. Want a book at 2am? You can probably get it in about 2 minutes using Kindle. Still, its strange to read on a computer. And since I'm competing for reading time on the Kindle with my boyfriend, who actually owns it, I think I'll have to go out and buy the actual paper versions of the next books. :)

>103 drneutron:, Must have been a flash in the pan, drneutron, I don't see it as "hot" anymore, but that's pretty neat. :)

Ditto re: Twilight. It's definitely a guilty pleasure.

>104 fannyprice:: ooh, fannyprice - I have to admit that's an advantage of ebooks I hadn't even thought of.... even more reason for me not to buy one, we'd have the bailiffs round in no time if every time I itched to read a book all I had to do was wave my credit card at Amazon!!

(58) Inheriting Syria: Bashar's Trial by Fire - Flynt Leverett

(59) New Moon - Stephanie Meyer

The second book in the series was not as enjoyable as the first. It was slow-moving and the absence of vampires made things rather boring for a long time.

(60) Syria Under Bashar Al-Asad: Modernisation and the Limits of Change (Adelphi Papers) - Volker Perthes

(61) Eclipse - Stephanie Meyer

Liked this one much better than New Moon.

(62) Bashar's first year: From ophthalmology to a national vision (Research memorandum) - Yossi Baidatz

Despite the horrifying title, a good overview of Bashar al-Asad as he appeared after his first year of rule. More useful for the appendices than anything at this point though.

(63) Modern Syrian Short Stories (Three Continents Press) - edited and translated by M. J. L. Young

Some great stories in here. Will elaborate more later.

(64) Just Like a River - Muhammad Kamil Khatib

Kind of like a smaller-scale, single-generation Syrian version of Mahfouz's Cairo Trilogy, only no where near as artfully done. I was sad that I didn't like this book more than I did.

(65) The Pluto Files - Neil deGrassse Tyson

For the Early Reviewer's group. Will be posting thoughts/link to review sometime soon.

#110 fannyprice: I have not had a chance to read the Cairo Trilogy yet, although it is on Continent TBR. How did you like it?

I LOVED it - especially the first and third installments. I know that's a trite response, but its really true. Here's my review:

The story of three generations of an Egyptian family at the beginning of the 20th century. Provides a window into the process of change in Egyptian private and public life, especially with respect to class and gender issues. Unfortunately I’m only getting around to reviewing it like 9 months after I read it, so I am not going to delve too specifically into plot developments.

I loved the first installment of the trilogy, Palace Walk, in which very little "actually happened". Mahfouz simply describes early 20th century Cairo - the people, the places - and shows us what life was like for one very traditional family in a time of tremendous social and political change. I felt like I got such an amazing sense of place and tradition and character out of this book. The second installment, Palace of Desire, almost killed me. This one concentrates much more narrowly on a single character who is, frankly, annoying and delves much more into his philosophies and political views. It is much more male-focused and the women of the family, who were such interesting personalities, kind of fade away. The third book, Sugar Street really focuses on the youngest generation, the grandchildren of the patriarch Ahmad abd al-Jawad, and is a better combination of political and personal. This book was fascinating, especially when read in comparison with the first book – the lives of the women and men were so different only 40 years later! In my mind, Palace Walk is the strongest of the three books.

Structurally, Mahfouz uses a number of interesting techniques throughout the book. He is continually creating parallels between characters – fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, sisters and brothers – and showing them re-enact each other’s lives in slightly different circumstances. This sounds like it could be boring, but it was really engaging and reinforced the sense of both continuity and change. Political activism is very different for Fahmy, his younger brother Kamal (their age difference is so great as to almost count as a different generation), and their nephews Ridwan, Khalil, and Ahmad. Within the same generation, it means very different things depending on whether one is Muslim, like Kamal, or Christian, like his friend Riyad. Marriage is contracted and lived very differently for Amina, her daughters, and the women her grandsons marry.

Mahfouz also increases the diversity of the physical landscape and the number and types of characters as the story goes on, showing (rather than telling) how the lives of the al-Jawad family broadened over time due to changing social and political structures. The first book concentrates almost exclusively on the immediate and extended family, a few friends of Ahmad abd al-Jawad who are so close they are basically family, and the family’s immediate neighbors. These people are all the same religion and members of the same socio-economic class. Outsiders rarely intrude and when they do, their presence usually leads to a calamity. The characters rarely leave the familiar confines of the house or their neighborhood. When they do, it usually signals a calamity. Subsequent books introduce characters of different religions, different socio-economic classes (both higher and lower), Europeanized Egyptians, different political persuasions, and different sexual persuasions. The characters get out more – the center of gravity shifts to new homes, new neighborhoods, universities, newspaper offices, and the public space in general. All of this brilliantly shows the significant social changes that occurred in Egypt over this approximately 40-year period.

Without revealing any spoilers, another technique Mahfouz uses to show continuity in the face of change is that each book ends with a death and a birth – even as life is ending and one part of the family’s world dies out, another life begins and their line continues. I thought that was beautiful – a little tragedy mixed with a little happiness.

Overall, this is such an amazing book. Despite being weak in certain spots, the cumulative result is nearly perfect. Highly recommended to anyone.

Wow! Sounds like I need to move the books higher up on Continent TBR. Thanks for all the information.

(66) Breaking Dawn - Stephanie Meyer

Huh. An interesting, if seriously over-long end, to the Twilight series. I read this series over the course of this past week, which I think was the right way to do it. I got into it, I got obsessed, but I read it quickly enough that I really didn't have a lot of time to reflect on how absurd so much of it was. And now its over.

(67) Marked - P.C. Cast
(68) Betrayed - P.C. Cast
(69) Chosen - P.C. Cast
(70) Untamed - P.C. Cast

The first four books in the House of Night series were really fun. Much better than the Twilight series. I'm completely on a vampire thing as I slump towards the end of the year, though.

(71) Captains of the City Streets and The Hotel Cat - Esther Averill; Expat Cats - Leslie Holland; Skippyjon Jones and Skippjon Jones and the Big Bones - Judy Schachner - A great pile of children's books that I got for Xmas.

(72) Torture Team: Rumsfeld's Memo and the Betrayal of American Values - Phillipe Sands (NF)

Argh. I struggled through this book and limped to the end of it, skimming liberally. I had heard an interview with Sands on NPR about this book over the summer & thought it sounded fascinating. Although it is an important book about a serious issue that merits attention, the book really killed me. Even though its based on current events that have been widely covered in the papers, I had such a hard time keeping track of the jumble of actors involved. The book's organizational structure was confusing too - it seemed to jump around in time a bit, and I found myself having to constantly ask myself when in time I was & what had already happened in the storyline. Ultimately what emerges is a very sad picture of violations of international law, which is the picture that I already had from press articles on the matter, so I don't really know what I gained from reading this book other than a sense of how vast and bizarre the military-legal bureaucracy is. Still, its not as though its a bad book, so I feel badly trashing it.

(73) Enemies of Intelligence: Knowledge and Power in American National Security - Richard Betts

This was an interesting book in the intelligence community, intelligence failures, intelligence reform that mostly focused on 9/11 and the whole "Iraq has WMD" controversies but also had some historical info about the Cuban missile crisis, Vietnam, the Cold War, etc. The book, although fairly short, felt very long & repetitive, probably because it was (I think) a collection of originally separate essays put into chapter form. Although I learned a lot, eventually I was just tired of it. I think between this one and my previous entry, I am done with the American military-industrial-intelligence complex reading for quite some time.

(74) Men in the Sun and Other Palestinian Stories - Ghassan Kanafani

Finishing this up - started it in 2006... Once again, the novella included in this collection is heads above the short stories.

I am making good progress is clearing through my pile of unfinished reads from this year, but I am having very little fun doing it. :(