rebeccanyc's 2009 reading

I'm really looking forward to this group. I joined the 75 book thread very late this year, at avaland's urging, and am very impressed by the thoughtfulness of the comments there. But even though I never consciously embraced the idea of a 75-book goal, but rather saw this as a way of logging my reading, having interesting conversations, and finding MANY more books to add to my TBR pile, I nowsee myself rejecting some of the longer/meatier books on my TBR pile, as the end of the year approaches, to try to make that "goal." That's one of the reasons why this group looks so enticing.

At avaland's suggestion, I'm adding a list of my 2009 reading to this first post, to be updated as I go along, with the most recent read on the top. Comments/reviews further down in the thread. Stars mean favorite books of the year.

53. Carpentaria by Alexis Wright
*52. Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann
51. Dangerous Games: The Uses and Abuses of History by Margaret MacMillan
50. Pigeon Pie by Nancy Mitford
49. My Life in France by Julia Child
48. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
47. The Russia House by John le Carré
46. Revolution in Mind: The Creation of Psychoanalysis by George Makari
45. The Thing around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
44. Wesley the Owl by Stacey O'Brien
43. An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter by César Aira
*42. A Perfect Spy by John le Carré
41. A Dream in Polar Fog by Yuri Rytkheu
*40 The Coldest March: Scott's Fatal Atlantic Expedition by Susan Soloman
39. The Old Man and Me by Elaine Dundy
*38 Smiley's People by John le Carré
37. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy by John le Carré
*36 The Honourable Schoolboy by John le Carré
*35 Bosnian Chronicle by Ivo Andrić
*34. In the Lake of the Woods by Tim O'Brien
33. Animal Spirits: How Human Psychology Drives the Economy and Why It Matters by George A. Akerlof and Robert Shiller
*32. Berlin Alexanderplatz by Alfred Döblin
31. The Mighty Angel by Jerzy Pilch
30. Cheerful Weather for the Wedding by Julia Strachey
29. Sanatorium under the Sign of the Hourglass by Bruno Schulz
28. *Nobody Move by Denis Johnson
27. Something Torn and New: An African Renaissance by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o
26. In the United States of Africa by Abdourahman A. Waberi
25. The Drinker by Hans Fallada
24. *Only Yesterday: An Informal History of the 1920s by Frederick Lewis Allen
23. A Meaningful Life by L.J. Davis
22. The Winners by Julio Cortázar
21. *The Proud Tower: A Portrait of the World before the War, 1890-1914 by Barbara Tuchman
20. *Every Man Dies Alone by Hans Fallada
19. *The Emperor's Tomb by Joseph Roth
18. The Tourist by Olen Steinhauer
17. *Agent Zigzag by Ben McIntyre
16. Novel 11, Book 18 by Dag Solstad
15. *Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945 by David M. Kennedy
14. The Numbers Game: The Commonsense Guide to Understanding Numbers in the News, in Politics, and in Life by Michael Blastland and Arthur Dilnot
13. A Disorder Peculiar to the Country by Ken Kalfus
12. *The Snows of Yesteryear by Gregor von Rezzori
11. The Book of Chameleons by Jose Eduardo Agualusa
10. Sleepwalking Land by Mia Couto
9. With Your Crooked Heart by Helen Dunmore
8. The Secret Pilgrim by John Le Carre
7. *2666 by Roberto Bolano
6. The Red Leather Diary: Reclaiming a Life through the Pages of a Lost Journal by Lily Koppel
5. Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o
4. How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas by David Bornstein
3. *The Great Crash 1929 by John Kenneth Galbraith
2. The River Between by Ngugi wa Thiong'o
1.Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean by Edward Kritzler

I have high hopes for this thread too. Sounds like my cuppa. Thanks for the invite!

Rebecca: I too avoided lengthy books because of my Challenge. I intend to rectify that in 2009.

Despite what I said above, I am now reading Dr. Faustus by Thomas Mann, which could well be the only book I read in December. However, I'll probably break it up with some lighter, shorter, reading.

If anyone is interested in my 2008 reading, you can find it here and on my profile page.

Thomas Mann will probably be on my reading list for next year, though I'm not sure whether to aim for The Magic Mountain or Doctor Faustus (the former appeals due to the theme of time, and the latter due to composing/music). Any thoughts?

They are both very dense and complex, so both are slow reads. I tried The Magic Mountain several times in my late teens, 20s, and 30s, and couldn't read it until last year (my 50s). The same would certainly also be true for me for Doctor Faustus, except that I only just bought it, having become a confirmed Thomas Mann fan after reading Buddenbrooks which, unlike the others, is a real page-turner.

Medallia: Dr Faustus has many profound observations about creating music, and the reception of that music. As far as I remember, though, there's a lot more to the novel than that.

I read Magic Mountain years ago, but not closely enough and probably too quickly. It is a big book, but perhaps offers rewards to those who invest the time in it. Recently I have become more interested in reading about music, and this thread is encouraging me to pick up Dr. Faustus even though I recognize that it is only one component of the novel. I'd like to read more Thomas Mann in general.

For a light introduction to Mann, you could try The Transposed Heads, which brings up all sorts of philosophical dilemmas in its shortand sweet 100 plus pages (recommendation courtesy of A-musing).

I have 3 Mann's to read next year (a mini-Mannathon?). I have the short story collection that includes 'Death in Venice', the rather chunky 'Magic Mountain' and the doorstop that is 'Joseph and His Brothers'. Exciting but daunting. I'll be interested to hear how everyone else finds him.

Depressaholic - I also have a Mann-Plan for the up and coming year. I plan to start with Buddenbrooks and move on from there. I have read Death in Venice, but perhaps that needs a re-read as well. Will watch your thread with interest.

Buddenbrooks is what started me on my Mann reading (although I did read The Magic Mountain, finally, a year or two ago. I also have Joseph and His Brothers sitting on (weighing down?) my TBR pile, but I'll have to read some other books by other writers in between Doctor Faustus and it.

A Transposed Heads mania seems to be making its way around LT. I have just received a copy and plan to read it soon.

Somewhat randomly, from some of the books atop the TBR mountains, I've started the year off with Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean by Edward Kritzler, a book I bought because I couldn't resist the title! Others may creep in, so this may not end up being the first book I finish.

Great title! I hope the book lives up to it.

Well, Chris, see below . . .

#1, Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean by Edward Kritzler

I bought this because I couldn't resist the title, and it was a interesting look at a little known (to me, anyway) part of history even though the title was quite misleading, since the pirates themselves take up a tiny percentage of the book. It explores the role of the so-called "secret Jews" in Spanish, Dutch, and English exploration and colonization of the Caribbean and South America. These Jews were ones who "converted" to Catholicism at the time of the Inquisition but maintained their religion in secret and longed to find a place to live where they could openly practice. The history is written in a somewhat breezy style, and it's hard to keep track of all the people, but it was nevertheless enjoyable and enlightening.

Thanks, Rebecca--it does sound interesting. I'll keep an eye out for it.

I liked But he was good to his mother: the lives and crimes of Jewish Gangsters which a friend gave me a while back as he knew my (Jewish- duh) maternal grandfather had been given a BIG gold Rolex by the NJ mafia upon his retirement.

#20: do you know - and dare one ask - why?

#20, Sounds interesting -- pirates are more romantic, but gangsters are always fascinating!

#2 The River Between by Ngugi wa Thiong'o

This is an early work of Ngugi wa Thiong'o and doesn't have the scope, breadth of story line and characterization, and satiric humor of the other two novels I've read by him, Wizard of the Crow and Petals of Blood. But, in a brief 100+ pages, it provides a lot of insight into the period when English colonists were first moving into the Gikuyu area of Kenya and their impact on centuries-old ways of life. Beautifully written and moving.

#20 (sorry - this is Rebecca's thread..but).

my mom never really went into details - She DID, however, successfully sue for custody of her two younger sibs when she was married, in grad school @ cornell ~ 20yrs old, after their mom died. I had the impression that her dad was into sleazy New Jersey real estate deals/money laundering (my mom grew up in Paterson - so I do have 3 W.C.Willams firsts as a side effect). My mom disowned her father; tho she did get a second marriage ceremony in temple to make her grandfather, whom she loved, happy. Now my aunt, who was 4 yrs younger, had much fonder memories of their dad so who knows. Everyone from that generation is long past - we used to go up to Saskatoon to visit my aunt and uncle (who ended up with the infamous Rolex, which has passed on to my surviving male cousin).

>22 rebeccanyc: Rebecca, I caught a rerun of "Out of Africa" yesterday (or most of it) and couldn't help but think of The River Between (remember, she had the Gikuyu living on 'her' land and was concerned they have a place when she left). I am looking forward to reading The Wizard of the Crow and have been since I begged it off the Random House sales rep back when - unfortunately, the big books have been pushed away until after the degree is finished. I also have a couple of volumes of his nonfiction.

Bob, that's a great story; I'm happy to have it on my thread!

Lois, it's been a million years since I saw "Out of Africa" so I barely remember it (of course, that might also be true if I saw it last year!). Knowing your interest in African literature, I'm sure you'll enjoy Wizard of the Crow whenever you get around to it.

#3 The Great Crash of 1929 by John Kenneth Galbraith.

This is a classic work by the great economist, and it's easy to see why. Very well written, with a scathingly dry wit, it is not only historically fascinating about the events leading up to the crash, the characters involved, and some of the reasons why the depression followed the crash, but also scarily relevant today, even in some ways prescient.

I'm also reading 2666 by Roberto Bolano, but it's going to take me a while to finish it and report on it here. The Great Crash was my subway read, so I may start something else too.

just had this great image of you reading The Great Crash on the subway and other commuters surreptitiously checking their stocks on their Blackberries as a result. hehe

In the intro to the 1997 reprint edition, Galbraith talks about seeing the book in lots of stores when it originally came out, but not in the bookstore at LaGuardia airport. When he asked the salesperson why they didn't stock his book, she told him "Not a book you could sell in an airport."

Actually, on the NYC subway, you do see some people with Blackberries/iPods, etc., but there is a remarkable amount of reading going on: newspapers, magazines, textbooks, other books. I've even occasionally had book discussions with complete strangers on the subway. (I first wrote "strangers on the train," since that's what we call the subway in NYC, but then I realized that might convey the wrong impression!

The London Tube is the same, almost everyone reading. Same with the Toronto Subway. Didn't hear any book discussions though.

I can vouch for Rebecca. I just came back from NYC, and I'd say nearly half of the passengers were engrossed in a book or magazine. (I went to Book Culture and Strand Bookstore, with a side trip to Russ and Daughters for bialys and whitefish salad to bring back to Atlanta tomorrow.) The same is definitely true for the Underground and for the San Francisco MUNI Light Rail, less so for Philadelphia's subway, but most people read (or sleep) on the commuter trains. On MARTA, Atlanta's rapid transit system, hardly anyone reads (no surprise).

#30, There are two possible reasons for the lack of reading on MARTA: (1) It is the South and Southerners are generally suspicious of any book but THE BOOK. I should know having been born and bred here. (2) Northerners, who control the publishing industry, assume that Southerners are stupid; ergo, they stock bookstores with such mindless pap that no one can stomach it. I'd rather read the contents of cereal boxes than read what passes for literature in most bookstores around here. Unfortunately, I make my own cereal, so I have developed the Abe/Amazon/Alibris addiction.

Urania, I think that other factors are at least as important, if not more so, than the ones you mentioned, in comparing reading on MARTA to other transit systems.

In comparison to cities like NYC, SF and London, where "everyone" uses public transit, the average MARTA rider is much more likely to be African-American or Latino, and more likely to be poor or lower middle class, with little or no formal education beyond high school. These groups all read much less than Caucasians or Asians, upper middle or upper class, or college educated Americans, and are considerably less likely to be literate.

The recently released report on reading by the National Endowment for the Arts, "Reading on the Rise: A New Chapter in American Literacy", includes some good data on reading trends among different groups. Fortunately, all groups are experiencing increased growth in literary reading rates in 2008 as compared to 2002. However, according to the 2008 data, only 31.9% of Hispanics did some literary reading (defined as "the reading of any novels, short stories, poems, or plays in print or online") in the previous 12 months, compared to 42.6% of African Americans (which includes me!) and 55.7% of Whites.

To no one's surprise, women read more than men, (58.0% vs 41.9%), and educational level correlates with literary reading (grade school 18.5%, high school graduate 39.1%, bachelor's degree or higher 68.1%).

In terms of Southerners vs non-Southerners, I expect that the literacy reading rate is lower in the South, for the same reasons. According to US Census Bureau data, the percentage of adults 25 y/o and older with at least a high school diploma is, unfortunately, considerably lower in Southern states, especially those in the deep South. For example, of the 50 states and the District of Columbia, Georgia is #38, followed by South Carolina (#42), Louisiana (#46), Alabama (#47), and Mississippi (#51).

On the other hand, Atlanta is the 6th most literate city (defined as having 250,000 or more residents) in the US, according to the 2008 "America's Most Literate Cities" report, after Minneapolis, Seattle, Washington, St. Paul, and San Francisco. In my 11 years living in Atlanta, I've encountered a large number of Southerners (unlike me, a transplanted Pennsylvanian) who are also avid readers. Go to any Borders or Barnes & Noble in town, and most evenings you'll have difficulty finding a seat in the cafes, due to all of the readers there!

So, IMO, the reasons that MARTA riders don't read as much has less to do with being Southerners and more to do with socioeconomic and ethnocultural factors.

Thanks kizdoc. I was going for humor, perhaps inappropriate in this instance. However, I will stand by my second theory when it comes to Tennessee. Having sampled Borders and Barnes and Nobles across the country, I can see distinct differences in the quality and sophistication of the material available in Knoxville, TN, and other cities. Furthermore, all the bookstores (with the exceptions of Christian bookstores) are located in the ultra-wealthy section of the city. I have asked about this policy on several occasions. Each time, I'm told that people "on my side of town" don't purchase books. They obviously don't venture inside our houses. I have seen far more and far better book collections on the North side of town than on the wealthy West side. If the bookstores here don't get business from the north side, I would venture a guess that we find the quality execrable.

#32, kidzdoc: If you'll forgive someone from New Zealand for asking, I'm intrigued that Hispanic literary reading rates are so much lower than African American and White rates. Why do you think this might be? Is this purely a correlation with educational level, or do you think there are other factors?

#33: You're welcome, urania. I just didn't want to leave anyone with the impression from my clumsy comment in post #30 that I thought that Atlantans or Southerners were less literate compared to other folks. And, I'm very interested in any data or efforts to improve literacy and literary reading (which reminds me, one of my goals for this year was to become a volunteer tutor for Literacy Volunteers of Atlanta).

That is a shame about the distribution of bookstores around the Nashville area; what about public libraries? That is a horrible comment that you've been told, that people on your side of town don't purchase books!

#33: timjones, the Latino population in this country is very diverse, including people from a variety of Spanish speaking countries in Central & South America and the Caribbean (especially Cuba, Puerto Rico & the Dominican Republic), and a much smaller percentage from Spain and other regions.

Although I'm far from knowledgeable on this topic, I believe that several factors account for the lower literary reading rate in the Latino population, including educational level and socioeconomic status. I'm sure that language plays a large role; according to the Pew Hispanic Center report, "Latino Settlement in the New Century", 40% of the increase in the US Latino population since 2000 is due to international migration (versus 60% from natural increase, i.e. the birth of Latino children in the US). Presumably a large percentage of these immigrants are exclusively or primarily Spanish language speakers, and would be less likely to read literary works in English. Although I haven't seen any data on this, I would assume that the literary reading rates are much lower in first-generation Latinos than they are in second and higher generation populations.

As a converse example (?), I can speak acceptable conversational Spanish to the parents of the patients I take care of in the hospital I work at, and can write and read Spanish to a lesser degree, but I'm not fluent in that language, and have never read a literary work in Spanish (there's another goal of mine, to become fluent in Spanish...maybe next year).

A sizable percentage of the Latino immigrants to this country come here illegally. Compared to legal immigrants, these illegal immigrants are less likely to be educated, with many not finishing grade school in their own countries, and are more likely to migrate to long-established Hispanic areas of the US, especially in California, Texas, and New York. In these areas, it is often not necessary to learn English, especially if you don't work outside of the community, as store signs and even government forms for these communities are often written in Spanish.

I've also noticed that, especially in recent years, the mothers of a significant minority of the Latino families I've run across cannot read Spanish. This includes Indian populations from southern portions of Mexico and from Guatemala and El Salvador. However, a number of non-Indian first generation Latino immigrants are also illiterate, and some also don't speak Spanish that well.

Sorry for hogging your thread, Rebecca!

#s 35, 36, kidzdoc: my apologies also, Rebecca. But thanks very much for this analysis, kidzdoc - that was fascinating.

You're welcome, Tim!

Rebecca: Where are you? These people are messing up your thread. They've left empty pizza boxes everywhere.

Dear Amanda, I indulged myself in an unusual activity called "reading" last night. Then this morning I indulged myself in "reading" the Sunday Times before turning to my computer!

This is an interesting discussion, but I have to disagree, if only observationally with some of kidzdoc's comment. I have no knowledge of the socioeconomic status of MARTA riders in Atlanta, but I can certainly say that in NYC the full range of socioeconomic and ethnic groups can be found on the subway, and the large, large majority of them are reading, although not necessarily in English. Maybe cities like NYC provide greater access to reading material in Spanish, French, Chinese, etc.; maybe more people who are both going to school and working live in New York and thus travel and do their school reading on the train.

If you ride the subway in NYC outside of rush hours (which, as a freelance worker I strive to do), you will see a much smaller percentage of professional/middle class riders (of all ethnic groups) and a lot more lower-income/two-or-more-job/school and work/ etc. types of riders. In my observation, they are just as likely to be reading.

ETA Here is a link to a list of some of the foreign language/ethnic newspapers published in NYC.

A very interesting discussion on your thread, Rebecca; wonder if we can move it out on the boards where everyone can play? (she says, picking up empty, greasy pizza boxes).

on recent and current U.S. reading habits:

here's a pdf file hyperlink to the National Endowment for the Arts' recent reading study and analysis entitled,

"To Read or Not to Read : A Question of National Consequence"

their Research Report #47
containing:
Executive Summary
November 2007
National Endowment for the Arts

see the pdf here: http://www.nea.gov/research/ToRead_ExecSum.pdf

"The story the data tell is simple, consistent, and alarming. Although there has been measurable progress in recent years in reading ability at the elementary school level, all progress appears to halt as children enter their teenage years. There is a general decline in reading among teenage and adult Americans. Most alarming, both reading ability and the habit of regular reading have greatly declined among college graduates. These negative trends have more than literary importance. As this report makes clear, the declines have demonstrable social, economic, cultural, and civic implications."

"How does one summarize this disturbing story? As Americans, especially younger Americans, read less, they read less well. Because they read less well, they have lower levels of academic achievement. (The shameful fact that nearly one-third of American teenagers drop out of school is deeply connected to declining literacy and reading comprehension.) With lower levels of reading and writing ability, people do less well in the job market. Poor reading skills correlate heavily with lack of employment, lower wages, and fewer opportunities for advancement. Significantly worse reading skills are found among prisoners than in the general population. And deficient readers are less likely to become active in civic and cultural life, most notably in volunteerism and voting."

(knock knock) Hi, um...Rebecca? It's me, kidzdoc. Can I come in? (knock knock) Rebecca? Sorry about last night. I promise I won't make a mess this time. I brought flowers, too. (knock knock) Hello???

No need to apologize! It was a very interesting discussion. Although tomorrow will be an unusual (but very happy) day, I'll try to take a survey in my subway car of what everyone's reading.

I came across a forthcoming book by Ngugi wa Thiong'o today and thought you might be interested. It's nonfiction, about African literature, titled Something Torn and New: An African Renaissance. Looks like it's coming out in July here. Google books has a preview HERE, if you're interested in taking a peek.

Thanks for the recommendation, avaland! I'm a little inundated right now . . . well, all the time . . . so I think I'll wait until it comes out.

#4 How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas by David Bornstein

This was a fascinating look at social entrepreneurs, people who are driven by ideas of how to solve societal problems. Some of the people profiled include a woman who created an organization of street children in India who help other street children access health and other services and a man who found a way to use solar power to bring electricity to remote areas of Brazil, thereby enabling farmers to fence plots of land, pump water, etc., and earn a living farming in their own communities, instead of having to migrate to overcrowded cities. The author, a journalist, not only introduces a variety of social entrepreneurs but also explores the factors that make them successful and the spread of citizen organizations around the world.

On the fiction front, I'm almost through the fourth of five parts of 2666.

Rebecca: I have 2666. Are you enjoying it?

Amanda, it is surprisingly absorbing for such a "literary" novel. Each part tells a different story or stories (Bolano originally wanted to publish each part separately, but his literary executors decided against this), although I suppose they are all loosely linked in a non-obvious way. His deceptively simple writing just pulls you into the world of dozens and dozens of people. The 4th part, which focuses on the murders of hundreds of women in the border area of northern Mexico, can be a little hard to take, although it's done in a sort of clinical way.

I have the three-volume set, which is definitely easier to read than the one-volume doorstopper.

Thanks Rebecca. I'll be reading the doorstopper after my hands mend.

>35 kidzdoc: Psst...that's Knoxville, not Nashville. If you edit it quick, Urania might not see it!

I noticed; I simply chose not to say anything ;-)

While continuing with 2666, I started Ngugi wa Thiong'os Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature as my subway (i.e., easier to carry around) read. Very interesting so far, and will undoubtedly lead to more books on the TBR (but then, what doesn't?).

#5 Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature by Ngugi wa Thiong'o.

Since I've become a Ngugi fan (and I think I'm right in how I shorten his name, but please correct me if I'm not), I was eager to read this book, which I was able to order from the fabulous free-shipping Book Depository, thanks to kidzdoc. The four linked essays in it were originally given as talks in the early 80s; Ngugi had already stopped writing fiction in English and this book was the last nonfiction he wrote in English.

The word "politics" in the title is the key, as this is a very political book, and resonates with some of the rhetoric I remember from the mid- to late 70s and early 80s, when this was witten. For that reason, I will be particularly interested in reading the book Lois mentions in #45, because I would very much like to see how Ngugi feels things have changed or not changed since he wrote this book.

If I could summarize the essays briefly, I would say that Ngugi's focus is on what he considers authentically African literature as expressed by peasants and workers, and not by the elite in independent Kenya and Africa who have internalized (not the word he uses) the perspectives and values of the colonizers, even though the country ihas become independent. The most interesting parts of the book for me were the sections in which he described his involvement in community-based theater and the way, in prison, he decided to develop his first novel written in Gikuyu so that it would be accessible and meaningful to the peasants and workers and not just the people who had been schooled in English literary tradition.

Thanks for the review Rebecca. I'll have to see if our local university library carries a copy. urania scuttles off to WorldCat.

#6, The Red Leather Diary: Reclaiming a Life through the Pages of a Lost Journal by Lily Koppel

I was disappointed in this book, which is by a young reporter who discovers a diary written by a teenage girl in New York City the 1930s and eventually tracks down the writer, now in her 90s. In the book, the author recreates the life of the diarist during those years, interspersing it with excerpts from the diary She gives us a great picture of the diarist and a less good picture of New York in the 30s I was interested in the book because the diarist was 2 years older than my mother and 6 years younger than my father, and I was hoping to get a feeling for what life was like for them in their young years. Unfortunately, as is perhaps inevitable for a young girl's diary, the focus was on the diarist's own friends, romances, and feelings, so the book didn't really give me what I wanted.

>53 rebeccanyc: thanks for the Ngugi review. I'm also looking forward to that forthcoming book and hoping it will coincide with another African reading jag (I've been accumulating books since the last one in 2007/early 08). An interesting note, several African women authors (i.e. Djeba, Dangarembga) have in the past, moved into film-making in order to reach more women.

#7 2666 by Roberto Bolano

Well, I've finally finished this massive book and I really don't know what to say about it. In its scope, writing, and ultimately its humanity, it is truly remarkable. I can't say I understand what it was all "about" but, in the last part especially, I was completely mesmerized. I hope to say more about it later when I have absorbed it more fully.

>57 rebeccanyc: Rebecca, that's exactly how I felt on finishing The Savage Detectives last month; I had to let it settle for a while (actually I think it's still settling...) Looking forward to seeing what you thought of 2666 once you've collected your thoughts - I nearly bought it yesterday but decided to wait until my next trip to Spain, and consoled myself with a collection of Bolano's short stories instead.

Are you planning on reading 2666 in Spanish?

>59 rebeccanyc: Yes, I'm going to read it in Spanish.

#8, The Secret Pilgrim by John Le Carre

This book takes the form of reminiscences of different episodes in the life of a career spy as he prepares to retire just after the fall of the Berlin wall. Through these reminiscences, Le Carre paints a picture of the psychological changes the spy, Ned, goes through as he gets older and experiences more of the deceptions, betrayals, and jockeying for power that are inherent in the spy trade. I found it powerful and moving.

#9 With Your Crooked Heart by Helen Dunmore

I zipped through this book, which I saw recommended here on LT, although I don't remember who recommended it. The writing was beautiful, and the story had a lot of potential, but the author just didn't make me care about any of the characters (except one, a child), and I didn't really have a good feel for what motivated most of the adults. A disappointment.

Edited to add that the author used one stylistic device that really irritated me. The chapters vary in point of view, which is fine, but about half of them are narrated in the second person, i.e., "You did this, you thought that." I really couldn't get into that at all, and don't really understand what it was intended to achieve.

>63 rebeccanyc: A Dunmore I haven't read but recently acquired through BookMooch (at least I think that's the one I acquired recently). It's somewhere in the TBR pile:-) I will, however, keep your disappointment in mind.

Do you recommend any other books by Dunmore? I'm a little leery now, but I really wanted to like this book and I might try something else, if encouraged!

>65 rebeccanyc: My favorites would be 1. The Siege and 2. Spell of Winter. I've read two others and a short fiction collection, all of which were moderately good, but the two favorites, imo, are her best (thus far).

I've been too busy to do a lot of reading lately, but I'm flying to Chicago tomorrow for a conference and look forward to all the reading I can do in the airport and on the plane. So I hope to have interesting news to report when I return. Now, back to deciding which books to bring . . .. (And I also hope to catch up on my magazine backlog.)

#10 Sleepwalking Land by Mia Couto

A haunting but, for me, difficult to absorb, book about the total disruption in families and cultures caused by war, specifically the civil war in Mozambique. Couto, who is the descendant of Portuguese colonists, seems to have a deep understanding of the myths and culture of native Mozambicans, but he relies so heavily on magical realism that I felt I was really missing most of the symbolism.

#11 The Book of Chameleons> by Jose Eduardo Agualusa

An entertaining, but deep book, narrated by a gecko who used to be a human that plays with idea of identity. Like Couto, above, Agualusa is the son of Portuguese colonists, but in Angola not Mozambique. Unlike the characters in Sleepwalking Land, those in The Book of Chameleons are largely of European descent and the book, said to be a tribute to Borges, doesn't seem as deeply rooted in Africa, although the author, in an interview at the end of my edition, says the book is very specifically Angolan. I would have to know more about Angola's history to understand this.

>68 rebeccanyc:: Sleepwalking Land - That was exactly my response to the book! I feel slightly better knowing someone else didn't quite catch all the symbolism. When I posted my review, there were so many responses implying that everyone loved this book that I was feeling like it was all so obvious and I just didn't get it. :-)

>68 rebeccanyc:

Too more books for me to add to my wishlist. Today hasn't been a good one in that regard. Like avaland, you've been quite naughty. I think it particularly unfriendly of you to dangle a novel employing magical realism in front of me when you know I have a particular weakness for that genre ;-)

I am delighted to return the favor, urania, as you so often tempt me! I read both of these for this months Reading Globally Africa theme, as I had never read books by Portuguese-speaking authors or books from Mozambique or Angola.

:-)

#68 re The Book of Chameleons - a lot of comments in the reviews suggested the title was mislabeled because a chameleon is not a gecko!

I thought the title was extremely apt - considering the magic realism was based around shifting, invented and realized identity changes. I decided in the end, myself always driven to construct concrete reasoning in a non-concrete genre, that the gecko must represent the alter-ego of the main character. (I just cannot lie back and enjoy the fantasy!).

It was all very thought-provoking, needed a reread but I was too impatient with other things beckoning.

> 73 The original title, O Vendedor de Passados, translated into English is The Seller of Pasts, so the mislabeling about chameleons/geckos is even only a secondary inaccuracy. But like you, i also thought that the English translation title is extremely apt.

deebee - thanks. It is interesting to note the translators reinterpreting meaning (I wonder how much input the author has in that).

I too thought the title was apt, and was only momentarily confused by the gecko issue. My edition came with an interview with the author by the translator at the back; in it, they discuss how closely Agualusa works with his translators, so I'm confident he approved the English title.

Kiwi, as for the reviews, that's probably why I usually don't read them until I finish the book!

I bought The Book of Chameleons a couple of weeks ago, when I first saw you mention it (elsewhere on the boards). It's in my library with a "rebeccanyc" tag now. :)

Medellia, I am flattered by your tag!

#12 The Snows of Yesteryear by Gregor von Rezzori

Part autobiography, part perceptive and unsentimental portraits of the important adults in the author's childhood, part a portrait of a vanished world (a remote corner of central Europe in the period between the two world wars), this is an elegantly written, strangely compelling work. It also drove me to the dictionary frequently!

#78: That tag was well-earned: my other two books tagged "rebeccanyc," Wizard of the Crow and The Straight and Narrow Path, were fabulous.

Thanks for the review, rebecca; it's on my wish list.

Glad you were able to find The Straight and Narrow Path, Medellia; my copy (which was my mother's) is falling apart.

#13 A Disorder Peculiar to the Country by Ken Kalfus

A dark, biting satire that combines a particularly hostile divorce with the 9/11 attacks and their aftermath, this book starts off laugh-out-loud funny and slowly deteriorates into the absurd. I recognize what the author is trying to accomplish, pointing out both the banality and the horror of life in New York at this time but he didn't quite succeed, perhaps because, for me, the book was marred by what I think is a glaring historical inaccuracy early in the book, as well as by one chapter from a five-year-old's point of view that I think was much to sophisticated for a child of that age, and by the same names being used for two sets of minor characters.

#14 The Numbers Game: The Commonsense Guide to Understanding Numbers in News, in Politics, and inLife by Michael Blastland and Arthur Dilnot

A lively guide, based on a BBC radio show, to how to figure out when the numbers cited in the news, etc., make sense. I knew a lot of this before, but the authors mix the information with interesting examples; this edition was revised for the US market so it uses a mixture of UK and US information. I enjoyed it, but it probably could have been a little shorter.

#15 Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945 by David M. Kennedy

This is a magnificent work of history and I can't recommend it highly enough! It combines politics, economics, military strategy, social issues, and insights into character into a highly readable, occasionally stunningly written, nearly 900 pages. I learned a tremendous amount I didn't know before from it, and found it particularly interesting to find out how some people whose names became well known got their start and what they really did, as well as to gain greater understanding of how the origins of the cold war lay in World War II. Do not be daunted by its length!

Freedom from Fear sounds fascinating, Rebecca--thanks for the review! I'm going to try to get it and read it soon.

You won't be disappointed, Chris, it's a great book. And up your current nonfiction alley.

#16 Novel 11, Book 18 by Dag Solstad

I read this book because kidzdoc recommended it. It is without a doubt one of the most disturbing books I've read recently. Solstad writes in a very matter-of-fact style about a man who is living a relatively boring life in a provincial Norwegian town. At times, I thought where is this going and why should I care? Then the man makes an extremely bizarre decision (although its full horrifying details aren't revealed to the reader until the last 10 pages or so). I will be thinking about this book for quite a while because it packs a lot of ideas in its brief, spare pages.

rebecca, Ngugi's latest book, Something Torn and New: An African Renaissance is now available in the US. I received my copy from Amazon on Friday.

Thanks for the news . . . off to check out Amazon, although I may try to buy it in a store instead.

#17 Agent Zigzag: A True Story of Nazi Espionage, Love, and Betrayal by Ben McIntyre

I spent a very enjoyable weekend reading this delightful, highly readable, and informative book, initially recommended by Chris (cabegley). The protagonist is a seemingly ordinary burglar/safe cracker who through his own charm, courage, and determination becomes a double agent for the British inside occupied France and Norway. While keeping the pace moving, the author, who had access to British intelligence sources and relatives of some of the people portrayed in the book, brings all the "characters" to life.

Agent Zigzag just went on to the wishlist. I religiously read your thread and many of your reviews (yes, I'm a lurker), and I don't remember you using the word "delightful" before - this must have been a fun read.

Thanks for lurking, Talbin. It's true -- I've had a diet of a lot of serious books lately; probably should mix in a little more lighter fare more often.

#18 The Tourist by Olen Steinhauer

Having happily reintroduced myself to the spy thriller genre with John Le Carré's A Most Wanted Man, I jumped at the enthusiastic review given The Tourist in the New York Times about 10 days ago. How I wish I had waited for the less than enthusiastic review in today's Sunday Times book review section! It is a confused mess of a book, with too many plots, too many ill-defined characters, and too obvious political commentary. I'll stick with LeCarré from now on.

#19 The Emperor's Tomb by Joseph Roth

A beautiful, melancholy book that is a sequel of sorts to The Radetksy March. Briefer and more compact, it completes the story of the decline of the Austro-Hungarian empire by following a member of the Trotta family from just before World War I through the war and its aftermath, ending just before World War II. (Roth died in 1939, but he clearly could see what was coming.) As in The Radetsky March, Roth's language is lovely, his insights into character sharp, and his treatment of the intersection of historical events and person life perceptive. Unlike Radetsky, it is focused instead of sprawling, but it includes a lot in its deceptively short length.

Hi Rebecca, I've been lurking here for ages and have added Agent Zigzag, The Wizard of the Crow and The Radetsky March to the tbr pile. Searching the local book shops for The Snows of Yesteryear.

Recommending Eric Ambler for your spy collection, starting with Cause for Alarm and Mask of Dimitrios.

Thanks for the recommendations, Pam. I used to read a lot more mysteries and spy stories (we used to have a mystery bookstore right in my neighborhood, but don't get me started on bookstores of the past . . .), but I might be getting back into them as refreshments between more serious books.

The edition of The Snows of Yesteryear that I have is a recent New York Review Book and so is available from their web site, but I'm not sure what shipping to your part of the world would be like.

#20 Every Man Dies Alone by Hans Fallada
Since the touchstone doesn't work, here is the work page.

This is a remarkable book, which I read thanks to LouisBranning's enthusiastic recommendation. Based on a true story, it focuses on an ordinary working class couple in Nazi Germany who decide to resist the Nazis, with the inevitable consequences. The novel introduces a sweeping array of characters, some vile, some cowardly, some opportunistic, some noble and honorable, all of whom are affected by and react to the horrors around them. Just as remarkable as the book itself is the author, a noted novelist in Germany before the war, who remained in Germany throughout the Nazi period, drank himself into in a Nazi insane asylum, where he wrote this book in code, and several years after his release, just before the publication of "Every Man Dies Alone," died of a morphine overdose.

Grim in many parts, this book is well worth reading.

Thanks for the review, Rebecca. I'll add it to my wishlist (and wait for a time when I'm feeling particularly strong before reading it).

ETA I was wrong above when I said he wrote this book in the psychiatric hospital. He wrote another one there and this one after his release.

>96 rebeccanyc: How interesting. Another for the wishlist.

Oh, there are so many books here you make me want, rebeccanyc. I am glad to hear another person appreciate John LeCarre. Although I have never been into mysteries or crime or spy novels, he is truly a cut above. Have you read his A Perfect Spy?

I really must get Freedom from Fear -- sounds so good.

Thanks for stopping by and for the (I think) compliment. I do own A Perfect Spy by I've had it for so long I can't remember if I've read it. I'll have to get it off the shelf and give it a read/reread. And yes, Freedom from Fear is a great book, long but completely readable and worth reading.

#21 The Proud Tower: A Portrait of the World before the War, 1890-1914 by Barbara Tuchman

I found this a fascinating picture of what to me is a little-known time historically, although I've read a fair amount of fiction taking place in this time. Tuchman, as always a wonderful writer, doesn't attempt a full-scale history but picks discrete topics to give readers a picture of what was going on in western Europe and the US -- the growth of unionism and socialism, the peace conferences, French perceptions of the Dreyful affair, etc. She says in the introduction that she could equally well have picked other topics, and, indeed, I would have been happy to read more. Her thesis is, basically, that although writers have tended to look back at the period before WW I as a "golden age," the viciousness and horror of the war could not have happened without the turmoil of the years leading up to it.

Yes, intended as a compliment, rebecca. Your book choices and your comments on them are equally compelling. This new one is very tempting.

#22 The Winners by Julio Cortázar

I read this for the Reading Globally Argentina theme read, and selected it because of a recommendation by kidzdoc. Nominally the story of a group of disparate Argentinians who win a cruise as the prize in a lottery, it is really an exploration of deception, self-deception, the meaningfulness or meaninglessness of life, and probably a lot of other ideas that went right by me. I found it a little hard to get into, but then found it mostly absorbing with some memorable characters. The most compelling part for me was Cortázar's style, which is beautiful and occasionally remarkable. Not an easy read and, as I said, I'm sure I missed a lot of what the author was trying to accomplish.

#23 A Meaningful Life by L.J. Davis

I bought this book because I'm always tempted by novels about New York City, because I like NYRB books in general, and because it had a blurb by Paula Fox, one of my favorite writers, on the back, and despite the fact that Jonathan Lethem, not one of my favorite authors, wrote the introduction.

A dark satire about a slacker (well, they weren't called slackers back in the late 60s when the novel takes place, but that's what the protagonist is) who ends up buying a very dilapidated mansion in a poor, largely African-American section of Brooklyn, and the troubles that ensue. The protagonist was so exhaustingly unlikeable, as were virtually all the other characters, some of whom bordered on the stereotypical (although I believe that to be be the protagonist's perception of them, not the author's), that I had a hard time appreciating the author's perceptive writing style or caring what happened to the protagonist. (It's a short book, so I finished it.)

Paula Fox wrote a brilliant, emotionally intense but spare novel around the same time (1970/1971), Desperate Characters, that trod the same streets (very early white middle class migration to black sections of Brooklyn); I am surprised that she gave a blurb for this one.

#100
I enjoyed this book very much also. Your review reminded me of how good it was, especially the chapter on the composer Richard Strauss. Tuchman is an excellent historical writer. Her book The Guns Of August, which can be read as a sequel to the Dark Tower, is incredibly compelling in its minute descriptions of the opening diplomatic and military moves of WW1.

Also, her book on the 14 century The Distant Mirror is brilliant.

Tuchman herself was an exceptionally interesting person. She won the Pulitzer twice.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Tuchman#Awards

Books are the carriers of civilization. Without books, history is silent, literature dumb, science crippled, thought and speculation at a standstill. BT

Yes, I love The Guns of August and have read it twice, but somehow had not discovered The Proud Tower until now. I found the chapter on the ludicrous peace conferences particularly fascinating; plus ça change. And it gave me a lot of additional insight into the French-German hostility, with which I had been familiar since I have ancestors from Alsace whom my mother always claimed as French

It's a very long time since I read The Distant Mirror -- if I had more time and many fewer books on the TBR pile, I would reread it.

Thanks for the Barbara Tuchman link, which reminded me that she was the granddaughter of Woodrow Wilson's ambassador to Turkey.

#104. Wow! Isn't that a great quote! I'm going to keep that one! (I think I've run out of exclamation points, so I'll stop now.)

#100 *Groan* Another must-read, I think.

#24 Only Yesterday by Frederick Lewis Allen

I bought this book because it was referred to favorably in two other books I've read recently: The Great Crash 1929 and Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945. It is an almost contemporaneous history of the US in the 1920s, in that it was written in 1931, and it is fascinating for several reasons. First, despite it being almost "instant history," the author has a great deal of perspective on the decade, including the Teapot Dome scandal (first time I ever understood it), the revolution in "morals," Prohibition, selling swampland in Florida, and the Scopes trial, among other topics. Even more interestingly, it is clear that the roots of what we consider modern US culture today lie in the 20s, when the dramatic growth in automobile ownership and the development of radio began the switch to suburban living and mass national communication, fads, etc. On top of all this, the author has a lively style and a sense of humor.

Sounds good!

Must read Only Yesterday. Tantalising review, Rebecca.

#25 The Drinker by Hans Fallada

This is one of the most grim books I've read in a long time, and I've read a lot of grim books. The story (autobiographical in parts) of a provincial merchant who, through an apparent sudden descent into alcoholism, not only loses his business, his wife, his money, etc., but ends up first in a jail and then in a mental institution for the criminally insane, it is suffocating in parts, horrifying in parts, and overall bearable for me only because I wanted to find out how low he would go (pretty damn low).

Fallada wrote this book while he was in a Nazi mental "hospital" for the criminally insane, back and forth over sheets of paper to save the paper he had (and, I guess to hide it from the wardens). In places it could have benefited from editing, but it certainly is the cry of a lost soul. Not up to his final novel, Every Man Dies Alone.

#26 In the United States of Africa by Abdourahman A. Waberi

I found this short book extremely frustrating. The conceit that Africa is the powerful, economically and culturally advanced continent/nation, and that the "countries" of the western world are poor, suffering, and engaged in constant tribal warfare is clever but runs a little thin after a while -- we get it. But this is far from the whole book, which also plays with the idea of what is a novel, since it mixes impressionistic "plot" with some extremely poetic and beautiful interludes. Much of the book was also written in the second person, i.e., addressing the protagonist as "you," which I find irritating (as I did with another book I've read recently, whose title I've blissfully forgotten). As far as I can tell, the book has interesting ideas about family, love, and especially the transformative power of art, and I really wanted to like it more than I did. I think I would "get it" better if I read it again, but I'm more inclined to move on to other books.

Rebecca, I also found this book extremely frustrating and annoying; I gave it one star, and it remains my least enjoyable book of the year. It seems as if you got further than I did, as I stopped about halfway through.

Darryl, it got better as it went along, in that there was less of the satire about the Africa/west switch and more of the story of Maya. The best part was the part that focused on her art, because that was the most poetic. I found it very jumbled, which I believe was intentional, in that some reviewers have talked about Waberi "turning the novel upside down" in the same way he turned the globe around, but I just found it confusing.

It isn't my least enjoyable book of the year, and if I gave stars I wouldn't only give it one, but I can certainly appreciate why you feel that way and I totally agree with stopping a book you don't like. There are too many books, and life is too short.

I've now visited Waberi's web site (mostly in French), and he has some interesting perspectives on Africa and the west, in that he has lived in Europe (mostly France) for more than 20 years and that he points out that he shares a birthday with Frantz Fanon.

#27, Something Torn and New: An African Renaissance by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o

As a Ngũgĩ fan, I've been looking forward to reading this book since avaland/Lois told me it was coming out. A collection of talks (the first three from a lecture series at Harvard and the University of Nairobi, the last at Cape Town University), the book's main thesis is that Africa was "de-membered" in colonial times through, among other factors, the loss of its languages, through which we have memory, and that "re-membering" requires the use of those languages for literature, etc. He develops this idea in various ways: historically, psychologically, and through the lens of class. He also discusses the idea of an African renaissance, compares it to the European renaissance and its aftermath, and analyzes the meaning of being an "African" versus or in addition to a national identity. Throughout it all, the reader feels the intensity of Ngugi's moral, political, and literary convictions. I found it all very interesting.

Edited to fix touchstones as much as I could -- no luck!

>115 rebeccanyc: sounds good! Oh, it's in the pile! (if only other books would stop distracting me).

Thanks for the review, Rebecca. I'll probably read it next month.

#28 Nobody Move by Denis Johnson

I was eager to read this book because Tree of Smoke was one of my favorite books of last year, and so snapped it up as soon as I saw it in a bookstore. And then, once I started it, I couldn't put it down. It is almost completely different from Tree of Smoke, except in Johnson's wonderful way with language. The story involves a group of small-time gamblers and criminals, whose paths cross through a series of miscalculations; none of them is particularly appealing, but Johnson has a way of bringing out the humanity of most of them and he definitely keeps the pace and the somewhat intricate plot moving. Things are certainly not what they seem. Warning: some of it is violent and a little gruesome.

I'm catching up on threads after a long absence. As usual, you have managed to add a number of books to my already unmanageable wishlist. Great reviews!

Hi Chris. I try to just give people a quick sense of what the book was about and what was notable about it, rather than write a full-fledged review, and I'm glad it's enough to intrigue you. You've certainly added many books to my wishlist/TBR pile, including at least one of the ones above!

#29 Sanatorium under the Sign of the Hourglass by Bruno Schulz

I read this book, which I've owned since the 70s, for the Reading Globally group read on Poland. It's difficult for me to know what to say about Schulz. His writing is often surreal and fantastical, and at the same time he very deeply observes the natural biological and meteorological world around him, and invests these elements with such power that the natural world almost is more of a character than the people. His writing is also very dense, almost claustrophobic in places, and he has a desolate view of the world. Nonetheless, I found some of the stories quite remarkable, including the title story, "Spring," "A Second Fall," and "Dead Season." My edition is also enlivened with sketches by the author to accompany some of the stories

#30 Cheerful Weather for the Wedding by Julia Strachey

A brief novel that starts off, well, cheerfully and then, like the wind that whips up off the cliffs near the house where the wedding is taking place, the acid creeps in. This is a fairly slight book, but full of wickedly observed characters and situations, some a little obvious and some not.

Rebecca, I've been meaning to ask since 155, is it your impression that there is an African Renaissance going on at the moment, or is this wishful thinking/marketing ploy on the part of Ngũgĩ/his publishers?

I also enjoy your reviews very much btw, to add to what was said above.

Murr, the way Ngũgĩ discusses an African renaissance, he means a renaissance of African writers writing in African languages, and Africans throwing off the "western" way of thinking/writing/etc. To oversimplify, he likens this to Europeans beginning to write in their own languages instead of Latin & Greek. He doesn't necessarily mean that there are going to be a lot of African novels, etc., available in the west.

As you may know, Ngũgĩ decided to write only in Gikuyu after he published Decolonising the Mind:The Politics of Language in African Literature in 1986. (Something Torn and New is in English because he gave the lectures which are reprinted in it in the US and in South Africa.) This is a very big issue for him, and it is tied in with class issues since it is/was the upper/middle classes who are/were taught English (or French, or Portuguese). Thus, I don't see this as a marketing ploy by Ngũgĩ or his publishers, because I don't see much money to be made here. In fact, I think there's an element of economic wishful thinking (although Ngũgĩ does discuss some of the problems of Africans writing in a variety of languages, such as their having in many cases to be translated into a European language before they can be translated into another African language).

And, thanks, I'm glad you enjoy the reviews.

Your "quick sense" reviews are always just enough to whet the appetite. Trotting off to add to the wishlist.

#31 The Mighty Angel by Jerzy Pilch

I read this for the Reading Globally Poland theme read. Pilch is one of the most well known contemporary writers in Poland, but little known outside Poland. I enjoyed the book, which is a satire about an alcoholic writer who's been in rehab 18 times, until about two-thirds of the way through when I started feeling I already got the idea, and I also found the ending a little puzzling. Pilch works in comments about the recent and not so recent history of Poland, mostly in a humorous way, and creates some memorable characters and stories. However, since Wikipedia describes the book as "a satirical take on the "drinking novel" genre," and I am completely unfamiliar with this genre, I think I probably missed a lot of the satire.

#32 Berlin Alexanderplatz by Alfred Döblin

This is a remarkable book. On the surface, the story of an "ordinary" man and his descent into petty crime and madness, it is really a portrait of Berlin in 1928, in the midst of economic problems, political stirrings, the aftermath of the first world war, growing modernity, etc. Döblin mixes narrative with headlines, a somewhat gruesome description of how animals are butchered, weather reports, mythological/religious reflections, and popular/military ditties worked into the text so it takes a while to realize what they are (amazingly translated so that they retain the meter and rhyme that must have been present in the original German). Although it was written in 1929, it is clear to a contemporary reader that the seeds of Nazism were already planted; reading this book, I could also see the connections with the world and writing of Hans Fallada's Every Man Dies Alone. This book will stay with me.

#33 Animal Spirits: How Human Psychology Drives the Economy and Why It Matters by George A. Akerlof and Robert Shiller

I picked up this book because it looked appealing in the bookstore, because I'm trying to improve my economic knowledge, and because the authors seemed to be highly respected economists. Their basic argument is that "animal spirits," i.e., human psychology is integral to people's economic behavior and that standard economic models don't include this. They introduce several aspects of human psychology that influence economic decisions and then discuss some key economic questions in light of psychological factors. I found it mildly interesting but probably more than I wanted to know (even though it's a slim book), because the point seems sort of obvious.* I think the book would be more useful for economists and especially policy-makers.

*Personal note: I dropped out of my introductory economics course 35 years ago because I thought the models they were teaching us didn't correspond to how real people behaved, so I'm lazy and consistent, if not prescient.

#34 In the Lake of the Woods by Tim O'Brien

I couldn't put this book down! At its heart is the mystery of what happened to Kathy Wade, who disappeared into the wilderness of a northern Minnesota lake -- or did her husband John, a defeated and disgraced politician, a Vietnam veteran with a dark and horrifying past, a man who started practicing magic as a child, whose father killed himself, kill her and sink her body and the boat? O'Brien intersperses the story with flashbacks to John's childhood, early romance with Kathy, and Vietnam experiences, as well as with sections called "Evidence" that include quotes from real books and reports (the My Lai court martials, political biographies, histories, psychological books) and fictional sources (characters in the novel). The book delves deep into the trauma of war, how we handle secrets and the unknown, and the nature of love. It is also beautifully written.

lake it the woods - totally agree - just went through 3 of Tim O'Brien's VM novels/memories and from the older Going After Cacciato to the things they carried to the lake in the woods, they were all marvelous books. Perhaps my favorite was "Going After Cacciato" as the surreal becomes all too real, but all were terrific.

Maybe a poll..What happened to Kathy?

Thanks for your response to my question in 124, Rebecca. your remarks about the language chosen for writing fiction in Africa are very interesting.

I have been away for a while so not had time to follow your thread, but it's great to catch up again. I'm putting Berlin Alexanderplatz on my post-Russian exile TBR.

124, 131 - I'm just finishing Wizard of the Crow which Ngũgĩ translated into English himself. I'd be interested to know how he approached that; I've never come across a work translated by its author before. When I go back over anything I've written, I always want to change things. I wonder if he succumbed to that temptation or was able to approach the book dispassionately. Or perhaps he wrote the Gikuyu version and English version side by side?

Oh yes good point! it's like that question how do you know when it's finished!
Joseph Brodsky, Nabakov and Eileen Chang are just three writers who spring to mind who translated their own work, the first two from Russian into English, and the last one from English into Chinese.

That is an interesting question; I have no idea how he translated it. I find the whole question of translation fascinating, and was therefore particularly intrigued by If This Be Treason: Translation and Its Discontents by Gregory Rabassa, a translator of much South American literature, both Spanish and Portuguese. (Garcia Marquez famously said he preferred one of Rabassa's translations to his own original.) The first part of this book is a brief memoir of how Rabassa became a translator, and the second part is an individual discussion of every (?) book Rabassa translated and what its particular challenges were.

>132 charbutton: Interesting question indeed. If I were you, I might be inclined to pop off a note to him through his website: http://www.ngugiwathiongo.com/contact/contact-home.htm and ask! It is probably a question he would enjoy asking. And you can tell him that a multitude of inquiring minds wish to know!

>135 avaland: - great idea. I'll let you know what he says!

Didn't Samuel Beckett write most of his works in French and then translate them into English? Or was it the other way around?

#35 Bosnian Chronicle by Ivo Andrić

Set in a small town in Bosnia during the Napoleonic wars, this book seems to tell the story of the foreigners who live there: the Turkish ruler and two consuls, one from France and one from Austria, and their families. But it is really a portrait of the turbulent times and the people of a town that has gone back and forth between outside occupiers for centuries. Andrić has deep insights into character and into the impact of history on personal ambitions. Andrić wrote this book at the very end of World War II, so he had the benefit of seeing the role that the region played in the first part of the 20th century, but the picture he paints tells a lot about the region's role in our contemporary and recent history too. A slow read, but worth it.

#36 The Honourable Schoolboy by John le Carré

Another masterpiece of a spy novel by le Carré, this novel takes place in Hong Kong and southeast Asia shortly after the fall of Saigon. A very complicated plot, with very complicated characters, and a vivid portrait of the area and the impact of colonialism and colonial wars.

#37 Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carré

This novel precedes The Honourable Schoolboy. Please, if any of you have any intention of reading these books, be sure to start with Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. Having read The Honourable Schoolboy first, I knew the secret which is the entire premise of TTSS. It didn't entirely spoil the pleasure of the chase for me, because following the twists and turns of le Carré's plot and the development of the characters is still enjoyable, but after all the point of a thriller is that you don't know how it's all going to turn out. I tend to think The Honourable Schoolboy is a better book, but I really can't tell if I would feel that way if I had read TTSS first.

I will probably go on to read the last of the trilogy, Smiley's People, whick like THS I've had since it came out nearly 30 years ago but have never read.

#38 Smiley's People by John le Carré

Without a doubt, this third novel is the deepest and most moving of the so-called Karla trilogy, while retaining le Carré's complex and exciting plotting and insightful characterizations. It also provides a portrait of Britain and the world of espionage as the end of the cold war draws near.
As mentioned above, it is important to read this series in order, starting with Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, but I believe the novels get better as the series progresses.

#39 The Old Man and Me by Elaine Dundy

I had very high hopes for this book because I was one of the people who loved The Dud Avocado. While it had some very funny moments, and while Dundy was as lively a writer as ever, I just didn't enjoy it as much as I wanted to, probably because the character of Honey Flood didn't hold me the way that of Sally Jay Gorce did. But there were wonderful insights into the British and their real and perceived differences from Americans.

I've read very little LeCarre, and while I really enjoyed The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, the others I read didn't grab me. With your recommendation, however, I'll check out the Karla trilogy--I think my problem is that I've mostly read his later work. What are your thoughts on his more recent books?

Chris, I got back into reading le Carré after I read his most recent book, A Most Wanted Man, which I thought was really terrific: complex, interesting characters; complex, interesting plot; real suspense, etc. I read it because it got reviews saying things like "le Carré is back" since some of his more recent books, which I haven't read, have been poorly reviewed, implying he didn't know what to do now that the Cold War is over. So when I decided to go back to reading him, I went back to his earlier works, and therefore can't really answer your question.

Fair enough. I read Absolute Friends, which I wasn't terribly fond of, and listened to The Constant Gardener, which didn't impress me but maybe would have been better had I actually read it.

Absolute Friends and Mission song are (imo, of course) easily the two weakest LeCarre books. The Karla suite is terrific and the sequence of books circa the Little Drummer Girl were v. good. A most wanted man is EASILY his best in a good while, at least since the russia house ~ 1990 though i also liked the constant gardener a lot too - in large part because the subject is close to the my area of work. Though, thank goodness, we don't work directly w/ clinical trials.

A number of American reviewers knocked a most wanted man for it's supposed "anti-Americanism" - evidently being unable to distinguish LeCarre's criticism of Bush post 9/11 foreign policy w/ pro or anti-Americanism. But most of the book doesn't deal w/ Americans or American policy except as the political background against which events unfold. Since Bush created a dangerous caricature of America for both foreign and domestic consumption, it seems a bit disingenouous for American reviewers to fault LeCarre for using (and not exaggerating) that warped vision of "America."

Thanks, Bob, you've helped add to my reading list. I had no problem with the portrayal of Americans in A Most Wanted Man; it seemed an accurate representation of the terrible international situation Bush put us.

Although I'm in the middle of several books, I'm thinking of starting in on one of the tomes on my TBR piles since I'm going away for a few days over the July 4 weekend. The question is which one, as I'm eager to read all three I'm considering, and all have been recommended here on LT.

The three are Joseph and His Brothers by Thomas Mann (continuing my reading of Mann begun last year), Conversation in the Cathedral by Mario Vargas Llosa (which I've owned for nearly 30 years but was reminded of by kidzdoc's enthusiastic review), and Shadow Country by Peter Matthiessen (which I bought a year or two ago and was reminded of by a review I read here yesterday).

Any advice?

#40 The Coldest March: Scott's Fatal Antarctic Expedition by Susan Solomon.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, which I read for the Reading Globally Polar Regions theme read. It combines the story of the expedition, largely told in the words of the men on it, from diaries of those who survived and those who didn't, with modern scientific data that throws light on the conditions the expedition encountered; it brings the characters of the military men, scientists, and seamen alive; and it does a great job at helping the reader experience the close, dark, dangerous, and above all COLD environment of Antarctica. Solomon addresses the reputation of Scott as a "bumbler" through the use of the men's diaries and modern meteorological and other information, and provides interesting insights into such topics as how well skis work under different temperature and snow conditions, how to get into a frozen sleeping bag, and how to choose ponies for polar conditions, among others.

I'll be on the lookout for that one, Rebecca--thanks!

Chris, I think you will enjoy it; it seems like it would be one of your kind of books.

Thanks Rebeccca - I had forgotten about Le Carre! I've just mooched all 3 in the Tinker Tailor trilogy. I suspect I've read the first one, but it would've been 25 years ago now. I've just finished The Eye of the Needle so am in the mood for more espionage.

Hope you enjoy them as much as I did, cmt. I think each volume of the trilogy is better than the one before. This conversation has reminded me I need to get the step-ladder out and get down my other old le Carrés from the top shelf. I definitely want to read A Perfect Spy, and possibly The Russia House.

I've been away doing other things for a while, but I'm trying to catch up with people's threads. I'm glad that you are enjoying le Carre, Rebecca. I have long been a fan of his. Imo A Pefect Spy is his best, apart from the Karla trilogy.

Have you seen the BBC version, starring Alec Guiness as Smiley? Well worth seeing, even if you do know the plot.

What did you read in the end for your July 4th weekend?

I simply cannot get into Mann. Is J&HB any good?

Murr, I just got the third (and last) DVD of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy with Alec Guiness from Netflix, and Smiley's People is next up in my queue. Too bad there's no movie of The Honorable Schoolboy. Guiness is perfect as Smiley.

In the end, I didn't start any of the long books over the weekend; too much else going on to have reading time. Maybe later in the summer . . .

As for Mann, I couldn't get into him for years. Tried reading The Magic Mountain three or four times between my teens and my 30s, and gave up, until I got inspired again a few years ago and loved it. Since then I've been working my way through his novels, first with Buddenbrooks, which I loved (the German TV series, also available from Netflix, is wonderful too), and then with Dr. Faustus, which I admired, but I couldn't understand a lot of the music stuff, so I'm afraid I missed a lot. Joseph and His Brothers is the longest of all, so it's especially daunting, but I was inspired to buy it, if not to read it, both by my interest in Mann and by depressaholic, who read it earlier this year, and enjoyed it.

But if you can't get into Mann, you can't! (Dare I say it to you? I have never been able to get into Dostoyevsky!)

But I want to get into Mann! I can't bear the fact that there is great German writer who so far has remained inaccessible to me. I enjoyed (if that's the right word, Death in Venice but I never finished Buddenbrooks, which has joined my list of great unreadables. And I also couldn't finish Dr Faustus. Maybe the translation was not good.

Or maybe, as you said above, I was too young when I read them. You have given me hope, Rebecca!

Alec Guinness was a bloody good actor. oh, which reminds me, I read his autobiography years ago, and apparently, when he was out of work as a young actor, he used to keep his mind and memory active by memorizing a Shakesperian sonnet a day!

Anyway, I look forward to hearing your thoughts on J&HB.

Having read on your thread that one of the things you like about A Suitable Boy is that it's a 19th century novel written in the 20th century, I really think you should like Buddenbrooks, also a 19th century novel written in the 20th century.

You might be right that it's the translator. When I went back to read my old 1960s/early 70s copy of The Magic Mountain, whose yellow cover I could vividly picture, it fell apart, and I had to buy a new edition, which turned out to have been translated by a new translator, John E. Woods, who is making a project of translating Mann. I found it excellent. If your edition of Buddenbrooks is translated by someone else, you might want to look for this newer translator.

And you are inspiring me to choose J&HB as my tome of the summer.

As for memorizing poetry, I haven't forgotten, although I've been lax lately. I've been stuck about one-third of the way through "Kubla Khan" for the past several weeks, but this very morning I made myself memorize two more lines. I'm impressed that Guiness could get through a whole sonnet a day, but I guess training as an actor is great for memorizing poetry.

A Dream in Polar Fog by Yuri Rytkheu

I have mixed feelings about this book, which I also read for the Reading Globally Polar Regions theme read. On the one hand, it provides remarkable insight into the world of the Chuchki people of the Arctic at a time when white explorers/traders/gold searchers are beginning to change their way of life. The descriptions of their hunting and living practices and their adaptations to their harsh environment are fascinating, if a tad anthropological. The story of John McLennan, a white Canadian who ends up first stuck living with the Chuchki and then blending in as completely as possible with the life of their village, is interesting in spots.

On the other hand, I found the book heavy-handed. The life of the Chuchki is romanticized, the story is a little plodding and didactic, and the impact of western "civilization" on traditional civilization is a little obvious. The author points out more than once that cultures are different and we should live and let live. But the portrait of a lost way of life is interesting.

#42 A Perfect Spy by John le Carré

Thank you to TomCatMurr and others who recommended that I read this book. It is without question the best of the le Carrés I have read, and in fact one of the best books of all kinds I've read this year. Although on the surface a spy story, it is really a book about love, deception, betrayal, the broad impact of World War II on the following decades, and how the stolen childhoods of two men (one by a con artist, larger than life father, one by war and history) affect their future lives.

I'm ever so glad (and somewhat relieved I confess) to hear that.

Your description of it above is spot on.

#43 An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter by César Aira

This is an extremely strange and very short novel and I really don't quite know what to make of it. It is the story of a German landscape painter in the 19th century who travels over the Andes from Chile to Argentina, hoping to paint nature in the pampas and see an Indian raid. Then a shocking, unexpected event changes his life entirely. Parts of the novel are very beautifully written, and the author is clearly exploring ideas of beauty, horror, the nature of perception, and the nature of art but what it all adds up to is a mystery to me.

The last book I read was "Ghosts" by Mr Aira, and I didn't submit a review, as it was so strange that couldn't figure out what to say about it. How I Became a Nun was almost as baffling to me. Needless to say, I won't be reading anything else by him.

Darryl, I also have How I Became a Nun. I almost feel I should read it because it's so short, but otherwise I'm not very motivated. I am very relieved to learn you also find Aira baffling!

#44 Wesley the Owl by Stacey O'Brien

A disappointment. I am fond of and fascinated by owls, but this book by a woman who raised a 4-day-old injured barn owl and lived with him all his 19 years was too much about what it's like to live with an owl and too much about the author herself for my taste. At least it was a quick read.

#45 The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

As many of you know, I became a big fan of Adichie when I read her Half of a Yellow Sun, so I was eager to read her latest book, a collection of short stories. Because these are short stories, they lack the interwoven strands of her novel, but for the most part they depict the complexities and conflicts of her characters, some in Africa, some Africans in the US. Sometimes it seems she's writing about different angles of the same story (African woman comes to the US -- to be married, with her kids while her "Big Man" husband stays in Lagos, by winning a visa, to study but has to work as a nanny), but each character, like each situation, is different. As with any collection, some of the stories are more powerful than others, but the best are powerful indeed.

The Thing Around Your Neck is waiting in my Africa TBR pile. I'm undecided about whether I enjoy short stories.

Just popping in to say that I'm nearly finished Tinker Tailor and thanks so much for writing about it - I keep hiding to read some more (my husband noticed this morning that the hair dryer had stopped but I hadn't emerged from our room...). I have the HS to read straight after, thank goodness, and hope Smiley's People turns up soon!

(my husband noticed this morning that the hair dryer had stopped but I hadn't emerged from our room...) LOL

Sorry (?) to have fueled this antisocial behavior! And they only get better as they go along.

re 148> -- I have Shadow Country sitting on my book reading table. I've read and thoroughly enjoyed Matthiessen's other Mr. Watson books (Killing Mister Watson, Lost Man's River and Bone by Bone) that this one revises and puts together, so I'm eagerly anticipating to see what he does in this one. It's a fascinating glimpse into one of America's last frontiers on the edge of the Everglades at the turn of the last century -- a sociological, psychological, and ecological study of the American psyche.

Jane, I have taken the plunge with Joseph and His Brothers as my tome-of-the-summer, but I'm definitely looking forward to reading Shadow Country sometime later.

#46. Revolution in Mind; The Creation of Psychoanalysis by George Makari

I was interested in reading this book because it had excellent reviews and because I was intrigued by the idea of learning more about how the key ideas of psychoanalysis developed. Unfortunately for me, the book is probably aimed at people who are more interested in the history of the people who created psychoanalysis and their relationships, competitions, battles, etc., than in the psychological ideas themselves. I found myself skimming much of the book because I just couldn't get interested in the almost play-by-play descriptions of letters, meetings, etc.

Ugh! I got too much of this in school. It seemed like every Psych. professor had to start with Freud.

Well, a history of psychoanalysis does have to start with Freud (although Makari started a little earlier with some of the people who were trying to figure out how the mind works in the 19th century), but I was more interested in what all the people were figuring out and less in their contentious relationships with each other and endless conferences and scheming. It is actually a very good book; just not my cup of tea.

#47. The Russia House by John le Carré

An enjoyable read, with an interesting protagonist and le Carré's usual exciting pacing of the story but not, in my opinion, up to his best in terms of psychological complexity and ambivalence.

#48 To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

I reread this book, which I first read as a young teenager 40+ years ago, because of this thought-provoking article about TKAM and the limits of liberalism in the pre-civil rights south in this week's New Yorker.

I found it beautifully written and thought it presented a wonderful portrait of a particular time and place -- so much so that it reflected the perspective of even the liberal white people in the town that the black people were pretty much invisible except when they are working in the homes of the white people. And the few black people we get to know have to be "exceptional" in some way: Calpurnia, the housekeeper in the children's home is one of the few black people in town who can read; Tom Robinson, the man accused of rape on many occasions did chores free for the young woman he later was accused of raping, even though he had his own job and his own chores at home, etc. Of course, the perspective of the "respectable" white people about the poor white people was just as stereotypical.

So in that sense, I agree with some of what Gladwell said in the article about the limits of "liberalism" in the town and in the pre-civil rights south. Of course that doesn't mean that the book should be any different than it is, just that it may not present a model for today's world.

I loved seeing Scout discover things about her world, and I loved the kids, and the stories of their explorations, and I loved the portraits of the townspeople -- but, and I may be the only person in the world who feels this way, I found Atticus insufferable. He was just always so good, and so calm, and so objective, it was infuriating! And I also found the ending shocking.

I'm a bit envious of all your good reading, Rebecca. My own reading has slowed to a crawl. I read Aira's How I Became a Nun and enjoyed it well-enough; however it is rather surreal and it sounds like much of his work is like this. I sent my copy off to depressaholic, I think, and I believe he did write a review of it, if that would be of help to you in deciding.

Thanks, Lois, I am actually feeling guilty because I committed myself to reading the massive Joseph and His Brothers by Thomas Mann this summer and I've started it and am enjoying it, but I keep breaking it up with easier shorter books because it is such a tome I can't take it on the subway, which is when I really do my best reading, and then I get wrapped up in the other books. Even though we've gone upstate for a few days, where I thought I would really be able to have concentrated reading time, there's so much else to do . . . Maybe after I drive to town to buy the Sunday Times . . but then I'll have to read that . . .

I am putting off the other Aira until I read some other books by other people; in particular, I want to read Carpentaria for the Reading Globally aboriginal peoples theme read, and then I've acquired some other interesting books recently. Well, it's just the same old story: too many books, too little time.

I read in Nixonland that in Selma, Alabama during the civil rights demonstrations in the 60's, over half of the people in the town of 29,000 were Black, but only about 500 of them were registered to vote! Isn't that an amazing indicator of the degree of fear, intimidation, and outright discrimination or illegal acts that were going on to create such a statistic? I'm going to go read that article. Thanks for the link.

A lot of it was probably laws that required various tests for people to be able to vote -- tests that excluded people who weren't well educated, who were mostly black -- plus intimidation of black people who could pass the tests.

Atticus insufferable? :)... I read "To Kill a Mockingbird" this past June and really fell in love with it. Like you, I was curious at the lack of well-developed black characters. There is a remarkable amount of fact behind almost everything in the story. Her characters often are essentially real people. I wonder how that might have effected her black characters. Not sure.

I'll take a look at that link sometime.

I must shamefully admit that I've never read To Kill a Mockingbird, which was not a required text for my high school English courses. I'll read the article in The New Yorker at the end of the week, and get to the book sometime soon, as these comments have piqued my interest.

Since I am shamefully deficient as well (even though I saw the movie several times, and loved it), I must go look for my copy and read it soon.

Well, it was laytonwoman3rd who pointed out that it would be a good idea for me to reread the book (40+ years is a long time!) after I read and commented on the article, so you can all thank her if you enjoy it. I've never seen the movie, but part of the charm of the book is Scout's voice and that would be hard to capture on film.

#184 - I agree that was unlikely, but somehow I think the movie succeeded in capturing a lot of the atmosphere and charm of the book... or at least the book felt very familiar to me when I read it - presumably from watching the movie way back in high school (20 yrs-ago for me).

#49, My Life in France by Julia Child

I read this book, which I've had for a year or so, because I hope to see the Julie and Julia movie this week. The bulk of the book covers Julia's first years in France, when she moves there with her husband after WW II, and her discovery that cooking, and more particularly investigating how and why recipes work and sharing that information with others, is her life's passion, as well as the process of creating Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Along the way, we meet interesting restauranteurs, merchants, friends, and family, but it is the force of Julia's personality and her direct, straightforward view of her world that propels the book forward, and it is Julia who comes across as a strong, fascinating woman.

Hi there! I just came across your thread by happenstance and I wanted to let you know I love your reading list! You've read some fantastic books (of which about 90% were just added to my own TBR pile). I've starred your thread and will definitely be lurking around here in the future.

By the way, I'm also very interested in anything to do with polar exploration. I noticed a few books on your thread and was wondering if you had any other suggestions. Most of the books I've read about the subject dealt with the Franklin expedition (Ice Blink, Frozen in Time, etc) and I was just curious if you knew of any other good books to read.

Thanks for stopping by RebeccaAnn -- it's nice to meet another Rebecca! I'm heading over to take a look at your library. As for polar exploration, the ones on this thread are pretty much the ones I've read; I own others but they're on that vast TBR list. Can't recommend The Coldest March highly enough though -- it's a wonderful book.

#50 Pigeon Pie by Nancy Mitford

Up in the mountains at a family house, and needing something light to read, I zipped through this book which I first read years and years ago. A satire about the upper class, spies, and the first months or so of the second world war (when nothing much was yet happening in Britain/to British troops), it isn't up to Nancy Mitford's best, but was still a witty, fun read.

#51 Dangerous Games: The Uses and Abuses of History by Margaret MacMillan

I read this book because I really enjoyed MacMillan's Paris 1919: Six Months that Changed the World about the post-WWI peace conference. This book is basically a series of linked essays (derived from some lectures she gave), and there was nothing earth-shatteringly new in it as far as ideas go, but she gave some interesting and topical examples. It is well written, but would be more interesting to someone who wants an overview of why history is important and how it gets abused than to readers who have already read a lot of history.

Haven't come across that one but Paris 1919 was so good that I'll read anything else she's written!

PS - am 100 pages from the end of Smiley's People and will finish it tonight no matter how late it gets!

cmt, Glad you're enjoying Smiley's People (even though I think it was you who said elsewhere that you didn't like The Honourable Schoolboy that much) and I wouldn't necessarily recommend Dangerous Games to people who loved Paris 1919 but it's short enough and well written enough that you won't regret reading it even if you don't love it. I'm thnking of looking for her Nixon and Mao even though that doesn't interest me as much Paris 1919; still, I remember the drama of Nixon's visit to China, and it might be good to get some historical perspective.

Just an update on my reading since I'm now a little more than a quarter of the way into Joseph and His Brothers and into the second of the four "books" that make it up. It was very slow going at first, with a lot more "philosophy" than "novel," but it has picked up and is very beautifully written and quite moving in parts. I think (with the help of the translator's introduction) that I have a little bit of an idea of what Mann is trying to do, and I'm looking forward to continuing to read at the slow pace necessitated by the fact that it's too much of a tome to carry with me on the subway. I've discovered that the only time I really have to read it is for half an hour to an hour first thing in the morning so I'll probably be reading it for months to come.

#52 Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann

This beautifully written and deeply moving book takes place in the few days around the day in 1974 when Philippe Petit walked/danced/ran across a tightrope stretched between the two towers of the World Trade Center, which was still not completely finished. Through the lives of disparate people, whose lives ultimately and sometimes surprisingly intersect, McCann illustrates a time that was particularly bad in New York City, and that also included the war in Vietnam and Nixon's resignation. Much is grim; many in the book are grieving and/or tormented, but the book and to some extent their lives are lightened by love and the human drive to do more than just survive. For a New Yorker, and perhaps for all readers, the book is haunted by the destruction, 27 years later of the Trade Center (which is never directly mentioned); the people looking up at Petit on the tightrope foreshadow the people looking up at the planes.

#53 Carpentaria by Alexis Wright

I read this book, by a member of the Waanyi nation, for the Reading Globally Aboriginal Authors theme read. It takes place in the remote Gulf of Carpentaria region of northern Australia, and merges aboriginal origin myths with the lives and history of contemporary aboriginal people and their interactions with the nearby white town, especially when an international mining company brings the "largest mine of its kind" to the area. What I found most interesting was the portrait of the harsh climate and ecology of the region and the people's deep connections with and knowledge of both the land and the sea, as well as the look at how they live now. The aboriginal people, many members of one family, are vividly characterized. Ultimately, though, I was a little frustrated by it: it starts out slowly, introducing a variety of seemingly unconnected people/stories; after the plot picks up, it moves along more rapidly, but the ending was a little too melodramatic and fantastical for me. It is a very worthwhile read, though, for the wonderful portrait of place, myth, and people.

Thanks for that review. I have a copy of Carpentaria waiting for me. I'd heard it was a somewhat difficult read, but I'm looking forward to it mainly for the reasons in you last sentence.

This thread is getting a little long, so I've started part 2 here.