Books Nudged in December

The Queen of the Tambourine by Jane Gardam (see this thread for impressions)

Of my books nudged for December, I read Beloved which was a totally amazing book. I am so glad that I read it. Thanks for the nudge. Also for the December nudge, I will read 84, Charing Cross Road next.
--BJ

I asked for nudges on my next several books, so I'm going with:

1. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
2. Butcher's Boy by Thomas Perry
3. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

My summary is here.

I read my nudged book, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. Maybe it was my mood, but I wasn't crazy about it. It was okay, kinda odd (which isn't a bad thing), but not really memorable. I'm putting it aside for a future reread, when I may be more open to whatever it is that it's trying to say.

Among the list that I asked for nudges sometime before Thanksgiving, there were nudges for Bleak House and Nicholas Nickelby over winter break..

currently reading: Bleak House
As always, Dickens is brilliant :)

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood - see this thread

Reading my most recent nudge, Firewall by Henning Mankell.

I've read both Bonjour Tristesse and The Fifth Child which were nudges. I'm about to start another nudge, The player of games.

I've just finished reading Lord Byron's Novel : The Evening Land, which was a nudge. I'll shortly start Stories by Katherine Mansfield, which was my other nudge from that grouping. I'm going to put up a poetry TBR pile for nudges within the next week or so.

To conclude my December nudge, I also read 84, Charing Cross Road, which included The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street as well. This was a delightful book that I know I will reread again and again.

Both this book and Beloved were top books for the year for me. Thanks so much for the nudges. I will be ready for a new nudge sometime in January. Happy Reading and Happy New Year!
--BJ

Firewall was another superb police procedural, I love being in this character's head.

Now reading The Imposter by Damon Galgut, the nudge runner up.

I read Antonia White's The Lost Traveller. A few thoughts about it on the relevant thread, and a full review on my blog.

I read the Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean from my nudge pile. Thanks to everyone who recommended it - I really enjoyed it, although it was very sad.

For my three December nudges, I read The Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll and Street of Crocodiles by Bruno Schulz.

They were all wonderful in really different ways, which made December a wonderfully eclectic month - so thank you to all who nudged! The Lewis Carroll was illustrated by Alison Jay whose playful visuals I really enjoyed! Brooks told an intriguing story about an English plague village and created many terrific female characters, while Schulz's memoir is breathtakingly written.

In response to my own nudge, I read Wide Sargasso Sea after Jane Eyre and for anyone who was wondering, I did enjoy reading the opposing perspective right after the original. I thought it was an interesting sequence in which to read them. If you get the chance, I would recommend it. Although I was only semi-impressed with Rhys' work, the followup made me much more sympathetic towards an otherwise abominable character. I feel if I had read it much later I would have lost the emotional response I had to Charlotte Brontë's novel.