The Last Word

2012-01-15T22:36:00.000-08:00

2011 Book List

The Pale Horse by Agatha Christie
Red Mutiny by Neal Bascomb
The Girl In The Blue Beret by Bobbie Ann Mason
The Death Of An Irish Sinner by Bartholomew Gill
Trick of the Dark by Val McDermid
Solar by Ian McEwan
Goodnight Nobody by Jennifer Weiner
Italian Shoes by Henning Mankell
The Troubled Man by Henning Mankell
The Torment of Others by Val McDermid
One Step Behind by Henning Mankell
When Christ and His Saints Slept by Sharon Kay Penman
The White Queen by Philippa Gregory
The Dogs of Riga by Henning Mankell
The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie
The Art Thief by Noah Charney
the princess of burundi by Kjell Eriksson
Falls The Shadow by Sharon Kay Penman
Pirate Latitudes by Michael Crichton
Long Lost by Harlan Coben
The Red Queen by Philippa Gregory
Heretic by Bernard Cornwell
Emma by Jane Austen
Widdershins by Charles De Lint
Over-Diagnosed Making People Sick in the Pursuit of Health by Dr. H. Gilbert Welch, Dr. Lisa M. Schwartz, and Dr Steven Woloshin
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
In The Woods by Tana French
The Crown of Columbus by Louise Erdrich & Michael Dorris
Faithful Place by Tara French
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
The Axe and the Oath by Robert Fossier
A Widow for One Year by John Irving
Sacred Treasure The Cairo Genizah by Rabbi Mark Glickman
Please Look After Mom by Kyung-Sook Shin
Tutankhamun- The Untold Story by Thomas Hoving
Captive Queen by Alison Weir
The widow's tale by Margaret Frazier
Nightshade by P.C. Doherty
The Magician's Death by P.C. Doherty
The demon archer by P.C. Doherty
The Waxman Murders by P.C. Doherty
Empire Falls by Richard Russo
Bury Me Standing (The Gypsies and Their Journey) by Isabel Fonseca
The Fascination of Evil by Florian Zeller
The Darkest Red by Viviane Moore
The Inugami Clan by Seishi Yokomizo
Thirty-Three Teeth by Colin Cotterill
Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford
Pursuit by Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza
A Window in Copacabana by Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza
Eleanor of Aquitaine and the Four Kings by Amy Kelly
Mistress of the Monarchy by Alison Weir
My Name Is Red by Orhan Pamuk
The Archer's Tale by Bernard Cornwell
Complications by Atul Gawande
The Best American Mystery Stories 2002 James Ellroy, editor
The Lost Dogs by Jim Gorant
The Blindness of the Heart by Julia Franck
The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
The Anatomy of Evil by Michael H. Stone, MD
Total 61 Books

2010 Book List

2011-01-05T09:16:00.000-08:00

Book List 2010
First Among Sequels by Jasper Fforde
Sword Song by Bernard Cornwell
Dreams of Trespass by Fatima Mernissi
Someone Not Really Her Mother by Harriet Scott Chessman
The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson
The Mystery of Grace by Charles de Lint
Call for the Dead by John LeCarre
The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton
Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson
The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwell
Halloween Party by Agatha Christie
Columbine by Dave Cullen
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
Lives Like Loaded Guns by Lyndall Gordon
Germinal by Emile Zola
denial by Jessica Stern
Malinche by Laura Esquivel
The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
The Colony by John Tayman
Reviving Ophelia by Mary Pipher
Letters to a Bulled Girl by Olivia Gardner with Emily and Sarah Buder
Cousin Bette by Honore de Balzac
A Share of the World by Andrea Newman
A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeline l'Engle
The Moonstone by Wilkie Collings
The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
Reliquary by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
Relic by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
A Study in Scarlet by A.Conan Doyle
The Hound of the Baskervilles by A. Conan Doyle
Cemetary Dance by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
Bosnian Chronicle by Ivo Andric
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Ashes by Kathryn Lasky
Talk,Talk by T.C. Boyle
Rules by Cynthia Lord
The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards
Raise the Red Lantern by Su Tong
The Conch Bearer by Chitra Banerjee Divadaruni
Last Rituals by Yrsa Sigurdardottir
Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman
Back Roads by Tawni O'Dell (AB)
Tishomingo Blues by Elmore Leonard (AB)
The Bishop and the Beggar Girl of St. Germain by Andrew M. Greeley (AB)
The Shrouded Walls by Susan Howatch (AB)
Black Notice by Patricia Cornwell
Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink
Turtle Moon by Alice Hoffman
Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Name to a Face by Robert Goddard
The Other Side of Sadness by George Bonanno
Total 52 Books

The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton

2010-11-09T11:25:00.000-08:00

Again, this is an author that I should have read before but have not. This is a wonderful book, surprisingly entertaining and quite tragic. It's really a study in social mores of a particular group of New York society in the 1880's or 1890's. The story revolves around a beautiful, from a "good background", but impoverished young woman named Lily Bart. She was raised in luxury and with a sense of entitlement until her father lost his money and subsequently died. She and her mother gradually decline in society until the mother dies too and Lily is taken in by her father's sister who is well off but lives in an extremely proper and parsimonious way. In other words, a very dull place for Lily Bart. To offset this drab home, Lily spends the bulk of her time as a guest in the homes of the wealthy people she recognizes as her social set. She has all the trappings of wealth but is totally dependent on others for her lifestyle. She has a bit of money of her own but she is accustomed to luxury. We come into the story when Lily is 29, she should have been married to a wealthy man long ago but for some reason she has remained single. She is friends with a pair of cousins, Lawrence Selden, a lawyer who is comfortable but far from wealthy, and Gerty Farish, a poor and plain young woman who has reconciled herself to her situation. Lily dreads ever having to "cope" like Gerty Farish does with her "good works" and her penurious existence. Lawrence Selden is an important character. He represents the one who can both move in Lily's world and yet is not truly of that world. He is critical of the shallowness, selfishness, and ignorance of that world yet he can still admire the beauty and comfort that great wealth can obtain. He both loves Lily and is a little repelled by how she lives her life. When she is with Selden, Lily can see the problems with her so-called friends and the empty pleasure-seeking lives they lead. But then, she is addicted to luxury and remains confident that she can snag a rich man. She has some opportunities, but Lily always manages to defeat her own purpose. She comes to blame Selden for making it difficult for her to prostitute herself and yet she loves him for it at the same time. Lily experiences a painful act of betrayal which has devestating consequences for her social standing and at the same time her aunt dies leaving her a relatively small amount of money instead of the bulk of the estate as she had been lead to believe. The is really the beginning of the end for Lily Bart. She sinks lower and lower in the social orders, frequenting groups and places she never would have before and realizes she has been foolish. Gerty Farish remains her friend throughout this time and Selden too but with mixed emotions. As the reader, I want Lily to marry Selden and stabilize her life because they truly care for each other but I know they're both trapped in their social roles and have not the courage to break out of them. Ultimately, Lily is destroyed and Selden is left knowing he failed her. The character of Lily Bart is complex and frustrating. I felt sympathetic towards her and at the same time annoyed. Of course, this story takes place in a particular time period and a 21st century reader must accept that. Highly recommended!

Lives Like Loaded Guns by Lyndall Gordon

2010-09-27T15:26:00.000-07:00

This is a new biography of Emily Dickinson that focuses on family rivalries that have affected her publication and her literary personae. It's a fascinating story that revolves on the fact that Emily Dickinson's elder brother , in his 50's, started an affair with a young married woman of the family's acquaintance. This affair was kept secret for a very long time and the papers surrounding it have come to light in more recent times. At the time Austin Dickinson started the affair he recruited his other sister, Lavinia, into helping the lovers. Plus, they met for a long period of time at the home of Emily and Lavinia Dickinson. When Austin's wife, Susan (who was Emily's good friend) confronted Austin, their two children sided with her against him and he essentially disowned them. These are the actions of a man who had been all his life extremely conservative, upright, almost puritanical and a leader of the Amherst community! The woman that Austin became involved with, Mabel Loomis Todd had an agenda of greatness for herself, and although she never actually met Emily Dickinson face to face, she gradually came to believe and to promote to others that she Emily's good friend. Meanwhile, the Dickinson family has become split into two warring camps and a little after a year of the beginning of the affair, Emily dies. She had published maybe 10 poems out of over 1700 she wrote during her lifetime and so the bulk of her work was left unorganized with both Lavinia Dickinson and Susan Dickinson. From that point on there was a vicious struggle over who would claim Emily Dickinson and her poetic legacy. Mabel Loomis Todd used her influence with Austin and Lavinia to become Emily's first editor and to smear Susan Dickinson beyond recognition. Susan Dickinson and her children struggle to keep their relationship and memory of Emily intact. Mabel Loomis Todd does not come out looking good although the author does give her credit for doing a huge amount of work on Emily's poetry and that she recognized Emily's greatness when few did. This struggle between the "two houses" is passed down to the next generation and on even to now through Dickinson scholars. There's many details I've not covered, it reads more like a gothic mystery story than anything else. Fascinating book!

Classic Challenge 2010 WrapUp

2010-09-20T13:37:00.000-07:00

The Brothers Karamazov
Raise the Red Lantern
Bosnian Chronicle
The Hound of the Baskervilles
A Study in Scarlet
The Moonstone
Turn of the Screw
Cousin Bette
Germinal

Germianl by Emile Zola

2010-09-20T12:07:00.000-07:00

This is my last book for the Classics Challenge. I had never read anything by this author but I was drawn to it because I'd just read a novel by Balzac and enjoyed that very much plus it deals with a coal strike in the north of France in "the black country". At the beginning of the book, our protaganist, Etienne, appears in the coal country from Paris looking for work. Etienne is part of a recurring family that Emile Zola followed in 20 novels. Etienne has previously worked for the railroads but lost his job and is now out on foot searching for work. He has some education, having worked as a mechanic. Alas, there are no mechanic jobs but he meets a mining family, the Maheus, who have a shortage on their team and take him on as a hauler. This is a bottom rung job, one normally filled by girls and boys. This whole first part of the book involves describing the workings of the mine, how the miners do their work, the home life of the miners, and the village they live in. Etienne doesn't intend to be a labor organizer but conditions are so bad and then the company demands an unacceptable concession from the miners and Etienne finds himself in a position of leadership because he has some ideas and can speak to a crowd. A bitter strike erupts and there are different people vying for leadership but Etienne wins the day by speaking about the International and a fund to help people through a long strike. He wins people over also on the vision he creates of a better world and plays upon their desire to see the tables turned. The strike continues through winter, people are starving, conditions are desperate and a mob forms and goes on a rampage through the district. This whole section culminates in the mob throwing stones at a small group of militia and the militia firing on them and killing several children and women. The people feel crushed especially the Maheus, because Maheu (the father) is shot and killed in addition to losing their young daughter to starvation. There is also a love story that revolves around Etienne, Catherine Maheu, and another miner Chaval. This takes up a lot of the story but doesn't really come to the forefront until Catherine, Etienne, and Chaval (along with others) find themselves trapped deep in the mine ,victims of an act of sabotage. The latter part of the book follows the effort to save the trapped miners and the love triangle being played out to its' ultimate conclusion when Etienne stones Chaval to death in a blind rage. In the end the miners are forced back to work, Catherine dies , Etienne barely survives, the company has taken some big losses but it is the miners who have really paid the price with their lives. I know that all of that sounds sad and it is, but I think the novel ends on a a hopeful note by saying that things cannot continue like this indefinitely and there will be change for the better in the future. I was so impressed with this book. I finished it in a week because it was hard to put down. It is a bleak story and yet it grabs you and won't let you go. There are many dimensions to the book. In Zola's mind, it was first and foremost a novel about the struggle between labor and capital. The introduction states that it was not a factual account ,especially for that time period, it may have been more reflective of an earlier time. That being said, though, it captures the extreme difficulty of people's lives and tries to grapple with the question of justice. The struggle for justice is with us now and shows no signs of going away anytime soon if ever. In that sense, it's a timeless story.

Cousin Bette by Honore de Balzac

2010-09-08T08:09:00.000-07:00

This novel is set in Paris after the fall of Napoleon and the restoration of a modified monarchy. The time period is often referred to as the July Monarchy. It was a time of unbridled greed and corruption as well as opportunity as a wealthy merchant class continued to consolidate money and political power. Cousin Bette tells the story of a family, the Hulots, who are led down a path of dissolution to ultimate ruin both finacially and morally. The key figure in this downward spiral is the patriarch Henri Hurlot. Cousin Bette (for whom the novel is titled) is a poor relation to this family. She has been thwarted in life by the more well-off members of the extended family and when her young protegee is seduced away she is filled with hatred and longs for revenge. Alors, the plot is woven from this premise. The novel is filled with characters because it is part of a larger piece of work called The Human Comedy in which characters have repeated appearances. This is considered an important innovation on the part of Balzac. The novel is lively and easy to read, seeming more modern than its' publishing year (1846) would indicate. It is loaded with witty sayings and moves quickly. It portrays people being both despicable and surprisingly kind but deceit and betrayal rule the day. I actually found a lot of the depiction of debt and corrupt banking practices to be very timely. It has inspired me to read more of Balzac.

The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

2010-09-05T08:21:00.000-07:00

I've wanted to read A Woman in White for a long time but couldn't get my hands on it so I read The Moonstone instead. It starts out with a backstory of how the stone was stolen from an Indian shrine by a despicable British officer. The story proceeds to its' contemporary time and the stone (which has a curse on it) is being given to a young woman as a birthday present. Almost immediately the stone is stolen and the young woman acts very strange and suspicious about it's disappearance. A well-known policeman is called in and he proceeds to build a case against the young woman and another young woman who is a servant but has in the past been a thief. The story is told from different viewpoints like a compilation of statements so of course the reader never gets the larger picture. There's a couple of red herrings to cloud the identity of the true thief but finally (after 400 pages) the mystery is solved and young lovers reunited. The Moonstone is never recovered by the young woman or her family but makes it's way back to it's true place. I thought it was an OK story, there were some clever twists in the story but I found a lot of it kind of slow going. It was not as suspenseful and I would have thought. Also, there was something about the language that seemed forced or overly formal.

The Turn of the Screw by Henry James

2010-08-31T14:16:00.000-07:00

If you want to experience reading James in a shorter version than The Golden Bowl, this is the place to start. This novella is just under a 100 pages and demonstrates very well James' psychological style. It is supposedly a ghost story involving a governess and her two charges. A young woman is hired to be a governess for two orphaned children on a remote estate. She is hired with the proviso that she not bother the children's guardian, their uncle, with any problems or even questions. He wants nothing to do with the children. The young woman arrives at the estate and at first everything seems fine, in fact, more than fine. The girl is living at the estate and is lovely. The boy arrives not too much later under a dark cloud. He has been sent away from the boarding school where he was for unspecified problems. There is also a housekeeper who has been a witness to the previous governess and testifies to her poor character and her subsequent death. It's also suggested that the previous governess has a very unwholesome relationship with a male servant , who has also expired, and that the two of them practiced inappropriate if not downright evil conduct with the two children. The new governess begins to experience hauntings by the deceased governess and servant. No one elso ever sees the "ghosts", although it's implied that the children see them yet refuse to admit that they do. This has lead some critics to point out that the story is really about the governess' hallucinations or hysteria. I think I take the position that it really is just a ghost story but one where very little happens because everything, including the reader, becomes internalized. The reader plays a very large role in making this story scary since details are skimpy and one must imagine the horrors. I think that's one of the most important points to the story. The Turn of the Screw refers to ratcheting it up a bit more or one more turn. It's an interesting exercise but ultimately disappointing if your looking for a ripping good yarn because there's never an explanation of what's really going on.

Hound of the Baskervilles and A Study in Scarlet by A. Conan Doyle

2010-08-09T16:49:00.000-07:00

I'm a big Sherlock Holmes fan and have read these in the very distant past but this reading was out loud to my daughter (who is 13). I'd forgotten how well-written they are and very entertaining. These are both novellas but much longer than the usual short story form the Holmes stories take, probably around 150 pages. Of course, The Hound of the Baskervilles is very famous, having been made into movies and TV shows repeatedly. In fact, we have been watching Jeremy Brett's Sherlock Holmes made in the 80's rerun on PBS. The Hound is very suspenseful and atmospheric, taking place out on the godforsaken moors with the remains of prehistoric dwellings. It concerns the mysterious death of a wealthy lord and the subsequent heir who comes from America to take over the title and holdings. The Baskerville hound refers to an ancient curse that the family will be pursued by a hound from hell for past wrong-doings. Holmes and Watson get involved when strange and potentially dangerous things start happening to the new Lord Baskerville. I won't give away the plot but there are several red herrings and the evildoer is finally unmasked and suffers a horrible fate. It's really a great yarn and very well written. There is interesting commentary on the moor and swamp within it that add a creepy, dark and stormy tone to the story. My daughter, who would probably not read this on her own mostly because of the 19th century writing, was quite engaged.

Similar comments on A Study in Scarlet as on The Hound. A Study in Scarlet has a little bit of a slow start but then moves into the backstory of the Mormons settling in Utah. I'd completely forgotten about that whole angle and it was fascinating. Holmes and Watson must get to the bottom of a couple of bizarre murders in London. It turns out that they cannot be solved until they discover the history of abuse in Utah that gives rise to the revenge killings. It is an interesting twist to the tale that grabs the reader. Again, my daughter quite enjoyed it.

2010-06-30T16:02:00.000-07:00

Bosnian Chronicle by Ivo Andric

This is my 3rd book for the classic challenge. This is a book and author I was totally unfamiliar with but found very intriguing. It's not a true classic in the sense that it's not 19th century but I'm using my discretionary powers. Ivo Andric is a well-known Yugoslavian writer and before WWII served in the government and diplomatic corps. When Germany invaded Yugoslavia, he lived under house arrest in Belgrade and it was during this time that he wrote the trilogy to which Bosnian Chronicle belongs. The other 2 titles are The Bridge on the Drina and Miss. The 3 books were published in 1945 and made Andric a dominant figure in Yugoslav literature. In 1961, Andric was awarded the Nobel Prize for portraying the humanity and history of his country.

This book is set in Bosnia while still under Ottoman rule and during the Napoleonic era. It's told from the point of view of many characters but primarily from the point of view of the French Consul at that time posted in Travnik ( Andric's birthplace). It's thought that Andric gained access, in Paris, to the actual letters written by the French Consul to his superiors and became inspired to write this story. So the book might revolve around the French Consul but it also delves into the stories of the Austrian Consul, the reigningVizier, the various groups, ethnic and/or religious that constitute the people of Bosnia, as well as the Court of the Sultan. It's not a pretty story because there's many contending forces and people cannot or refuse to have much understanding of each other. Overlaid on this examination of Bosnian society or underpinning it is the difficult history of this part of the world. It has been a geographic crossroads of East and West and has suffered tremendous upheaval and violence as a result. That seems to be (and many reviewers agree) the point of the novel. I think the modern coming apart of Yugoslavia illustrates this very point; that this an area which has been ground down over a millenium and yet the people have endured. This endurance has sometimes come at a high price but you could say that about a lot of situations.

I found the writing straightforward and yet lyrical. The author has great feeling for the land itself as well as the people who inhabit the land. He also has a great feel for the out of place, the foreign, even the misfit, and how they suffer and gradually adapt to their surroundings even to the point of being unaware of their adaptation. The book spans the time of the arrival of the French Consul to the leaving of the French Consul, about 7 years. During that time, there's great changes in Europe but in Travnik things are more circular than linear and maybe that's the point. What looks like linear change, i.e. moving into the future in France, is more of the same in Travnik. Let's hope that the countries that constituted Yugoslavia can finally put the past behind them and move into a brighter future.

The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky

2010-06-01T08:01:00.000-07:00

This has been on my reading list for some time and I've finally been able to finish it as book 2 for the Classic Challenge. It's been difficult in the past to get through the first 150 pages but I found a different translation and I think that made it easier to read. The Brothers Karamazov is a deeply psychological novel and very modern for that reason. The brothers are 3 brothers, the older is a half-brother, sons of a neglectful father. The father Karamazov is what we might call in modern psychological terms a narcissist. He's concerned only with himself and pleasure. The elder son, Dimitri, is a lot like him but still capable of feelings for other people. The second son Ivan is closed off emotionally, highly intelligent, a man of reason. The youngest son Alyosha, is deeply spiritual and kind. He follows the teachings of a mystic monk and tries his best to help whenever possible. The author viewed Alyosha as the hero of the book. The story unfolds around a love triangle between Dimitri, his father, and a beautiful but troubled woman Grushenka. Within this story of sexual jealousy and male competition, Dostoevsky explores the themes most important to him i.e. the existence of God, man's belief or non belief in God. the nature of human suffering, punishment, and redemption. In other words, he covers a lot of ground! About halfway through the book, the father Karmazov is murdered and a large amount of money is stolen. The rest of the book continues with it's fundamental themes but now it is also a murder mystery and a courtroom drama. I think what makes the book so powerful besides it's concern with fundamental questions of existence, is the exploration of the human heart. Dostoevsky is so good at showing how good and bad impulses exist side by side in human beings. Ultimately, his answer is that good cannot triumph without faith and of course that's something that continues to be debated as society tries to chart a secular path with it's ups and downs. This is definitely a book with a lot of ideas, I recommend it.

Raise the Red Lantern, Three Novellas, by Su Tong

2010-04-18T12:55:00.000-07:00

This is a collection of stories by Su Tong, a well-known contemporary Chinese writer. The most famous story of the collection is Raise the Red Lantern because a very popular film was made from it starring Gong Li and directed by Zhang Yimou. The stories, novellas really, are based in the time of Republican China to the time of the revolution (1949). Raise the Red Lantern is the story of a young, educated woman who falls on hard times and ends up as the 4th concubine of an older wealthy man. The story is different from the movie and I thought the story better in some ways but other reviews I've read thought the movie superior. The four paramours of the master vie for his attention and through that attention, material gains as well as power within their small and claustrophobic world. It truly is a condemnation of all the worst aspects of women's oppression under a feudal or semi-feudal system. The other 2 novellls concern life in a small, seemingly unchanging village somewhere in the southern part of China. 1934 Escapes concerns a family history of cruelty and abandonment against a background of poverty, famine, disease, and repression. In many respects, what's being described is what millions of people have experienced as serfs, slaves. or peasants of a despised class. I think 1934 Escapes and the next novella Opium Family both describe the internal and external subjugation of entire peoples and the great difficulty in changing it in any profound way. 1934 Escapes is written more from the POV of the peasant family, Opium Family is from the POV of the landlord family. Su Tong destroys both in the end or he lets them destroy themselves. The author has been described as dabbling in a bit of magical realism ala Latin American fiction and I can see that as an element. But, there is also a strong Chinese literary legacy of ghosts, haunting, and fate that's very evident in all three of the stories. Overall, I found them fascinating and repulsive. There's really no one to like or identify with but the reader is forced to confront human behavior in all its' varied presentations. I think, and I've read this in other reviews that's Su Tong is overly negative but I can kind of see his point. His writing is an outpouring of poison in a way i.e. draining a wound to heal.

Book List 2009

2010-01-15T15:47:00.001-08:00

The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner
Dream of Orchids by Phyllis A. Whitney
The Good Dog by Avi
Chasing Vermeer by Blue Baillet
Murder in the Latin Quarter by Cara Black
The Stone Bull by Phyllis Whitney
Shelter Dogs by Peg Kehret
Lord of the Ring by JRR Tolkien
Parallel Lives by Phyllis Rose
The Death of Woman Wang by Jonathan D. Spence
The Gallows Murders by Michael Clynes
The Haunted Looking Glass, Ghost Stories Chosen By Edward Gorey
Small Steps by Peg Kehret
The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Genghis Bones of the Hills by Conn Iggulden
A Certain Justice by P.D. James
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor
Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
Let It Bleed by Ian Rankin
Blood Hunt by Ian Rankin
Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardiner
The Falls by Ian Rankin
The Private Patient by P.D. James
Voice of the Violin by Andrea Camilleri
Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol
Exit Music by Ian Rankin
Tyrannosaur Canyon by Douglas Preston
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky
Deep and Dark and Dangerous by Mary Downing Hahn
The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
Yellow Star by Jennifer Roy
The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon
Loot and other stories by Nadine Gordimer
The Final Solution by Michael Chabon
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
The Stolen Child by Keith Donohue
The Birthday Present by Barbara Vine
Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay
Cranford by Mrs. Gaskell
The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi
The Tortilla Curtain by T.C. Boyle
The Rendezvous and Other Stories by Daphne DuMaurier
March by Geraldine Brooks
Falling Slowly by Anita Brookner
Never Change by Elizabeth Berg
A Dog's Life by Ann M. Martin
The Virgin Blue by Tracy Chevalier
Girl With A Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier
Lords of the North by Bernard Cornwell
Leaving Home by Anita Brookner
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
The Poyson Garden by Karen Harper
Snow by Orhan Pamuk
The Castle in the Attic by Elizabeth Winthrop
The Catalans by Patrick O'Brian
Lord Peter Views the Body by Dorothy Sayers
Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers
Alfred & Emily by Doris Lessing
The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent
The Book without Words by AVI
The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall
The Boys Start The War by Phylllis Naylor
Something Rotten by Jasper FForde
Peony in Love by Lisa See
Total 70 Books

Book List 2008

2010-01-15T15:40:00.000-08:00

The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov
Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee
The Chinese Lake Murders by Robert Van Gulik
Diamond of Darkhold by Jeanne DuPrau
City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau
The Sea, The Sea by Iris Murdoch
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry
The Lady and the Unicorn by Tracy Chevalier
Guilty Pleasures by Laurell K. Hamilton
The Unicorn by Iris Murdoch
The Alchemist by Paul Coelho
Dancing Bear by James Crumley
The Pale Horseman by Bernard Cornwell
The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd
Les Miserables by Victory Hugo
Tides of War by Steven Pressfield
The Lost World of Quintana Roo by Michael Peissel
Catherine the Great by Henri Troyat
Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
Augustus by Anthony Everitt
Break No Bones by Kathy Reichs
The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
The Pearl by Douglas Smith
The Translation of Dr. Apelles by David Treuer
The Golden Bowl by Henry James
Bleak House by Charles Dickens
Ivanhoe by Walter Scott
The Painter of Battles by Arturo Perez-Reverte
My Life as a Fake by Peter Carey
Merlin by Jane Yolan
Shakespeare's Wife by Germaine Greer
Hobby by Jane Yolan
Passager by Jane Yolan
Him,Her,Him Again, the End of Him by Patricia Marx
The Secret of Lost Things by Sheridan Hay
Jane Boleyn by Julia Fox
Here Be Dragons by Sharon Kay Penman
Time and Chance by Sharon Kay Penman
Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafan
Love in the Driest Season by Neely Tucker
The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje
Epic of Gilgamesh
The Western Canon by Harold Bloom
Portrait of a Lady by Henry James
Soldiers of Salamis by Javier Cercas
Total 48 Books

Classic Challenge Wrap-Up

2009-11-01T10:46:00.000-08:00

This is my wrap-up for the Classics Challeng II.
My books are, Count of Monte Cristo
Tale of Two Cities
Far From the Madding Crowd
Dead Souls
The House of the Seven Gables
The Long Goodby (new classic)
I enjoyed the process and again had to modify my list so The Brothers Karamazov will have to wait for another time. Thanks to all who participated and to Tricia for hosting.

The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne

2009-11-01T10:10:00.000-08:00

This is such a classic of American literature and yet I couldn't remember if I had ever read it! It's a little bit of a mystery in the gothic style although Hawthorne prefers to call it a romance in that allows him wider powers to indulge in his imagination. The story, of course, centers around the dark, dismal, and decaying ancestral home of the Pyncheons, The House of the Seven Gables. The founder of the family, as we come to find out, has swindled a Matthew Maule out of the property the house was built on and then been instrumental in having Maule sentenced to death for witchcraft. As Maule dies he curses the family and says "God will give him blood to drink!" As we take up the story, the House is occupied by Hepzibeh and her brother Matthew. Both are old before their time and live oppressive restricted lives in the House. There is a tragedy hanging over Matthew that is not fully revealed until the end of the tale. Even though the tale is dark, it has moments of wit and humor and is also lightened with descriptions of everyday life going on around the dreaded House. Enter Phoebe, a young cousin, beautiful, kind, and light-hearted who soon becomes indispensable to the older pair. There is another tenant, a young comely man, who lives in one of the gables and is a daguerreotypist (a portrait artist). Later, we find he is a descendant of Matthew Maule and has the Maule family's gift of mesmerism. Hence, perhaps part of the witchcraft problem the plagued his ancestor. Another important character is Judge Pyncheon, a cousin and contemporary of Hepzibeh and Matthew and whom it turns out has perpetrated a vile crime on Matthew. I won't reveal the whole plot because it is rather interesting and not fully developed until the end of the book. Suffice it to say that in the end justice is served to some degree and the two families are joined together through Phoebe and the daguerreotypist called Holgrave. An interesting aside is that Hawthorne's ancestor John Hathorne was a judge in the Salem with trials of 1692. I enjoyed the book and was surprised at some of the humor and sly asides as well as the accessibility of the writing. It's not as tragic as The Scarlett Letter but deals with some of the same themes, duplicity, guilt, and redemption. I recommend it particularly at this Halloween time.

Far from the Madding Crowd

2009-10-05T07:33:00.000-07:00

This is my 5th book for the classics challenge. I'm ashamed to admit that I haven't read any Thomas Hardy before and had been meaning to read this for a long time, mainly because I love the title. Hardy grew up in the southwest of England in a still very rural area. He sets this book and his others in a fictionalized region similar to his childhood home. The hero of the book, Gabriel Oak, is at the beginning trying to establish himself as a farmer and therefore move up from being a shephard. Due to an unfortunate series of events he finds himself going back to being a shephard although he has some education and is a highly intelligent and good person. It is although while he's still a farmer that he meets and becomes smitten with Bathsheba Everdene, a young an apparently penniless girl. He offers her marriage, she refuses him and then leaves the area. After Gabriel is ruined he searches for work and just happens to rescue a farm from a fire and that farm turns out to be owned by Bathsheba. She has inheirited from a rich uncle and is running it on her own. So Gabriel who once wanted to marry her now goes to work for her and proves himself to be indispensable. Meanwhile, Bathsheba toys with the affections of her bachelor neighbor farmer, Mr. Boldwood, and then falls in love and marries a manipulative soldier, Sgt. Troy. Mr. Boldwood becomes obsessed with Bathsheba and Sgt Troy turns out to be faithless and disappears presumed drowned. There's a subplot with one of Bathsheba's maids who has run off to be with Troy, had his child and then both have died. This is what precipitates Troy's apparent drowning. But, of course, he hasn't really drowned but has run away and essentially joined a circus! Bathsheba is presumed a widow, Mr. Boldwood continues to press his case and it all culminates in a tragic Christmas party where Boldwood kills Sgt. Troy. Now Bathsheba truly is a widow and has tasted the bitter pain of loss and remorse. Some time passes and Bathsheba realizes when Gabriel says he is leaving that she cannot do without him and has deep affection for him. The novel ends with Gabriel and Bathsheba being married in "the most private, secret, plainest wedding that it is possible to have." I enjoyed the book and especially the end because I like Gabriel Oak, who was a salt of the earth type and never really stopped loving Bathsheba. Bathsheba's character undergoes big changes and she is no longer the arrogant and flighty girl of the beginning pages. Hardy's descriptions of the countryside, the people and the work are moving. He has great feel for that kind of life and the people who live it.

Dead Souls

2009-08-27T17:30:00.000-07:00

A deeply satiric and funny book by one of Russia's great authors. The premise is that a con man, Chichikov, is going around the contryside buying "dead souls" or dead serfs' names from small provicial landowners. The 'dead souls" are serfs who have died but have not yet been registered as dead thus taxes must still be paid on them the same as if they were still alive. A good deal of the novel is taken up describing the "wacky" negotiations that occur as Chichikov gathers his souls to him. His purpose is revealed about midway, that he intends to pass his "dead souls" off as living collateral and borrow a large amount of money. The book abounds with instances of how stupid, petty, and self-serving the landowners and government representatives behave. Apparently, this book inspired a fair amount of controversy at the time. Many people found the title offensive to religious teaching. Gogol had intended to write 3 parts to "Dead Souls" but only published the first part. A second part that he spent a number of years writing he destroyed just before he died supposedly on the advice of his spiritual adviser. The aim of the book is of course to expose the corruption at the heart of a slave society, but it's done in an almost lighthearted way so it doesn't bear down on the reader as heavily as other 19th century Russian writers. I was surprised at the mix of language in the book. Slang, cursing, and poetry all coexist together comfortably. There's some very beautiful language even as the author describes the most unbeautiful things. I definitely recommend this especially to someone who has not read very much Russian literature. Gogol has a different take on life!

A Tale of Two Cities

2009-06-19T09:30:00.000-07:00

This is my third book for the Classics Challenge. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens has one of the most famous first lines,"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, "... and on for a whole paragraph! Anyway , the two cities are of course London and Paris and the story centers around the French Revolution. One of the main protaganists is Charles Darnay, a French nobleman who has more or less renounced his aristocratic background and is on trial for his life in England for being a spy. Through that trial he meets a French physician in exile who was unfairly imprisoned in the Bastille. Darnay falls in love and marries the doctor's daughter and they have a child. We're also introduced to the Defarges who are a French couple who help get the doctor out of prison but also lead the beheading of enemies at the guillotine. Through some hidden plot twists, it is revealed that Madame Defarge has a blood vendetta with Darnay's family and that is one of the plots driving the novel. The book is a commentary both on the oppression of the French people by the aristocracy and the consequent excesses of hatred and violence toward them. The ending is a happy one finally for Charles Darnay but only because of the Christ like sacrifice of another character, Sydney Carton. I enjoyed the book, maybe not quite as much as I thought I would and I can't really say why that is so. That said, it's amazing Dickens can cover so much ground in under 400 pages. The book also ends with another famous line, "It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known." I will end with those wonderful lines since Dickens said it best.

The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler

2009-05-23T12:47:00.000-07:00

This book was specifically recommended by Michael Chabon, the author of The Yiddish Policemen's Union, as an inspiration for his writing. I'd never read anything by Chandler so I thought I'd give it a try. The writing is excellent and it is the original hardboiled detective novel but I find the world the characters live in ugly and inhospitable. Of course, that's the point and there is redemption at the end because Philip Marlowe, the P.I. , is not bought off. The book is mostly about corruption, moral, spiritual, and physical. Marlowe is the struggling P.I. who befriends a drunk, I'm not sure quite why but he senses some kind of likeness with this man. His involvement with Terry leads him into a series of investigations involving murder, organized crime, police corruption, and sexual impropriety. The characters all struggle with existential angst and it's difficult to stay afloat psychologically without feeling one is naive. Of course, it can just be read as a straight up detective story but it's just a little too edgy to ignore the social commentary. Chandler was writing in the postwar period and reflects the darker undercurrents of that time. So, it's and interesting read but Agatha Christie it's not!

Kya- The Count of Monte Cristo

2009-05-23T12:15:00.000-07:00

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas, pub. 1844, 1245 pg. , is at heart an adventure story. The basic plot, based loosely on a true story, is of an innocent sailor on the brink of personal and professional happiness, being betrayed by 3 acquaintances. He is falsely accused of conspiring to bring Bonaparte back to power, condemned to prison , and sent to an awful island dungeon where he remains for 14 years. Most of that time he is in solitary and thinks he will go mad. One day he realizes that the inmate next door is digging a tunnel towards him in an attempt to escape. Eventually the two meet and it turns out the other inmate #27 knows where a fabulous treasure is hidden and when he eventually dies in prison, bequeathes the treasure to our hero #34 otherwise known as Edmond Dantes. Dantes does escape from the dungeon a bitter man bent on revenge. He feels God has given him this vast fortune for the purposes of enacting punishment on those men who wronged him and the people he loved. The rest of the book is taken up with an incredibly complex tale of exactly how he does extract his revenge or God's justice. It's quite an amazing feat that Dumas could conjure up this story and keep the reader's interest for over 1200 pages. Other bloggers advised reading the unabridged and I have to agree. I think the translation I read was quite good because so much emotion and nuance still came through the language. Definitely, a worthwhile read although it took me much longer than I had anticipated.

March by Geraldine Brooks

2009-03-14T11:29:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine who's an expert in all things pertaining to books said Geraldine Brooks was her new favorite author so I had to read one her books. Initially, I felt lukewarm about using Little Women as a jumping off point but once I started reading the book I found it engaging. The story line is that Mr. March of Little Women fame is the lead character and the novel explores his civil war experiences and the changes those experiences wreak on his idealism. The March character is heavily based on Louisa May Alcott's own father Bronson Alcott. He was a contemporary and friend of Thoreau and Emerson. The author uses quotes from Bronson Alcott's own writings as well as Thoreau's and Emerson's writings. Brooks uses this history to further explore slavery, the Civil War, and the limitations of an individual's abilities and responsibilites in a period when historical forces are set loose. Actually, I found some of the themes explored similar to other great literature like War and Peace (which I read for the Classic Challenge last year). It's a fairly short book and not a difficult read. Brooks won the Pulitzer for this book and has also written at least two other historical fiction and a book of non-fiction about women in the Islamic world. I look forward to reading other works of hers and recommend this one.

Classic Challenge 2009

2009-03-02T09:03:00.000-08:00

I'm happy to do this challenge again especially since I had a couple of leftovers from 2008.
My list is: Count of Monte Cristo
Tale of Two Cities
The Brothers Karamazov
Far from the Madding Crowd
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Dead Souls

Snow by Orhan Pamuk

2009-02-17T22:49:00.000-08:00

This is from a Nobel Prize winner (2006), a Turkish writer who is born the same year as myself and is a lifelong resident of Istanbul. It's a very interesting book although I found much of it sad but I guess much of it is meant to be sad. The basic story line is a Turkish poet who is living in exile in Frankfurt returns to his homeland to visit but one of his main objectives is to make contact with a woman who he has discovered recently divorced. He feels he may have a chance to win this woman now and so he journeys to a remote Turkish city to report on the state of affairs there but primarily to renew his acquaintance with this woman, Ipek, who he knew when they were all at university. The poet, Ka, is suppose to investigate the rash of suicides of young women who were in conflict with authorities over wearing their head scarves. They want to wear their head scarves as an emblem of their faith and the authorities, particularly the university, wants them to refrain from wearing them at school. The head scarves have become a symbol of faith versus secularism. This is a conflict that we're familiar with listening to the news from Europe. Ka has been living a rather desolate life in Frankfurt although he's relieved also to be able to leave Turkey whenever he desires. Ipek becomes the object by which he can achieve happiness if he can get her to return to Germany with him and share his life. Unfortunately, Ka and Ipek and everyone we meet in the city of Kars become embroiled in a bizarre political coup and the story goes on from there. There is a nice literary deceit in that the author also appears in the story as Ka's friend who is retracing his time in Kars after Ka's death in Frankfurt. Pamuk uses Kars as a cut off place, cut off by snow, in which to enact his story of love and politics. I don't claim to understand many of the cultural implications of the book but I did understand the terrible duality of Turkey, the bridge between east and west, and this seems to torment the society as the struggle to find their path. Will they be modern, like Europe , godless? or will they go the way of the Islamic republic or some variation of and think what they like regardless of facts? These are some of the important questions discussed in the book along with talking about everyday sorrows and joys, although joy seems to be a commodity in short supply in Kars. The review quotes make much of the literary angle of the book too, how a writer is creative and delves into the mind of his or her characters. I think all in all I liked the book and would try to read other books by this author. I recommend it as timely reading.

Classics Challenge Finale

2008-12-22T10:35:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm finished! My list is:
Bleak House
The Golden Bowl
Les Miserables
War and Peace
The Cherry Orchard
The Sea,The Sea
I've enjoyed the challenge, the books were easier to read than I thought, but they took more time than I thought. I would like to do another classic challenge. It helps to have an external motivation because they do require more from the reader than a lot of modern fiction. Thanks for hosting. This is the only book group I partcipate in besides the mother-daughter at the library.

The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov

2008-12-22T10:06:00.000-08:00

This is my last selection for the Classics Challenge. I read an adaption by David Mamet because that was it for our library. In his foreword he explains that he views the play as a series of scenes repeating the same action i.e. frustrated lovers. I read the foreword hoping that it would help explain the play but I didn't really see Mamet's thesis. The story is an indolent woman returns home to her estate to find it on the chopping block (literally)! A wealthy businessman from peasant background devises a plan to save the estate by selling the cherry orchard for real estate development. She refuses to take any action and the estate is sold to the wealthy businessman who proceeds to chop down the cherry orchard. The indolent woman returns to her unfaithful lover in Paris and that's the end of the play. There are some subplots along with the main story involving lovers who cannot get together for various reasons. Everyone in the play is kind of irritating because they seem so inept and passive. I tend to see the play more as a commentary on the rot at the heart of Russian society, which is the very thing that Mamet is convinced it is not! The reason I think it's a commentary is that no one will take any action. They're living in denial as their estate is sold away, too busy having parties and histrionics. Also, the landowners seem incapable of work and the peasants seem incapable of leadership. The only person who takes action is the businessman who comes from a peasant family. So, I guess it's open to a lot of interpretation. In fact, this idea of being destroyed by debt has relevance right here right now! It was good to read a play because normally I don't and I have the Classics challenge to thank for that!

The Sea, The Sea by Iris Murdoch

2008-12-20T12:34:00.000-08:00

This is the Booker Prize winner for 1978 and I can see why it was selected. There are many beautifully written passages and the story itself takes some bizarre turns which lend an unknowable and mysterious component to the book. The basic story is as follows, a famous and jaded theatre personage retires to the (you guessed it) sea, ostensibly to devote himself more fully to personal development. He purchases a very strange and almost unpleasant house near an unfriendly village. He has what I would describe as mystical experiences and here is a passage from the book that describes one of those experiences. "Later I knew that I had been asleep and I opened my eyes with wonder and the sky had utterly changed again and was no longer dark but bright, golden,gold-dust golden, as if curtain after curtain had been removed behind the stars I had seen before, and now I was looking into the vast interior of the universe, as if the universe were quietly turning itself inside out. Stars behind stars and stars behind stars behind stars until there was nothing between them, nothing beyond them, but dusty dim gold of stars and no space and no light but stars." I am not a great reader for sound but even I found this to be poetry. The great movement in the book is that Charles (the theatre guy) is reunited with his lost love of his youth. From there the story descends into madness you might say but eventually there is redemption for Charles and tragedy for some other characters. It (the book) starts a little dry but then rewards the reader with great imagination.

Kya- War and Peace

2008-12-10T21:54:00.000-08:00

I thought I would continue my Napoleonic era reading with War and Peace. Les Miserables dealt with Napoleon from a French perspective and War and Peace deals with Napoleon from a Russian perspective. War and Peace is a story with many characters and families mostly from the aristocratic circles. Their stories are interwoven with each other and with the invasion of Russia by Napoleon in the early 1800's. Along with telling that story, Tolstoy shares his thoughts about the meaning and mystery of life and man' s spiritual quest. Most of the major characters undergo important transformations. Tolstoy touches upon almost every aspect of Russian society through his narrative and characters. That I think is the genius of the book, there's a seamless transition between everyday life, the inner workings of the heart and mind, and the powerful social forces at work over which no one really has control. Although Tolstoy vividly describes the horrors of war, he also gives his characters the ability to transcend those horrors. The characters that are able to do that (whether they live or not) are the true "victors" of the novel. Outside of the length of the book, I did not find this difficult reading and I think modern readers are so thoroughly familiar with this kind of book that it's hard to appreciate how different it was for its' time.

The Unicorn by Iris Murdoch

2008-11-04T17:45:00.000-08:00

Once I started reading this book, I realized I'd read it before and mixed it up with another book by Iris Murdoch. I really love this story. A young woman is hired to be a companion to another woman living in a remote and dramatic area by the sea. It could be Cornwall or Scotland, we're never told. The woman, Hannah, turns out to be a virtual but willing prisoner in this dramatic house by the sea. She is being punished for adultery and violence toward her husband who is not present. The companion, Marian, becomes attached to Hannah and is horrified that Hannah is a prisoner, willing or not. There are other interesting characters and the story is told from several viewpoints. The tale ends with a series of dramatic deaths and not much expanation. So, it's a mystery as well as an modern myth. There's room for a lot of psychological analysis. It reminds me a bit of Jane Eyre minus the happy ending because of course it's a modern tale! It would be an interesting book for discussion in a book club.

Kya- Les Miserables

2008-10-08T10:35:00.000-07:00

It's hard to know where to begin a review about this book. It's such a well known and monumental work. It encompasses so much more than the story of Jean Valjean and yet it fundamentally does remain a story of a man and the times in which he lived. There are many digressions, some are more interesting than others. The discussion of Waterloo and the history of the sewers of Paris were detailed and fascinating. Hugo's description of the underclass of Paris and the poor in general is realistic and moving. The suffering of Fantine and Cosette rivals any description of childhood misery in Dickens. Hugo describes Paris to us in a way that makes it very real even for someone like me who has not been that interested in Paris as a topic of study. I think the book remains fresh for today's reader because it's so profoundly interested in humanity and we can see the beginnings of many of our own attitudes about equality and dignity between people. On top of all that it's a ripping good yarn with plenty of over the top drama. Highly recommended, it's a labor of love at over 1400 pages, but such a sharp snapshot of where we have been.

Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin

2008-09-14T11:54:00.000-07:00

I have to admit I wasn't that jazzed about this book but it was recommended and I decided to check it out. It really grew on me because it truly is an incredible and very inspirational story about an exceptional person and the equally exceptional people who help him. There's been a lot written about this book and so I won't go into details, just to say that it's about climber (usually a pretty self absorbed group) who vows to build a school for a remote Pakistani village whose people helped save his life. From there, his one promise becomes a lifes' work and passion. I love the way it's ordinary people helping themselves and each other. Ordinary meaning not rich, famous, or powerful. A worthwhile book to read especially in light of the recent passing of the 7th anniversary of 911.

Augustus by Anthony Everitt

2008-09-06T22:38:00.000-07:00

This is a fascinating biography of Caesar Augustus, first emperor of the Roman Empire. Although I am somewhat familar with this era haveing read I, Claudius and watched the TV series, this was an excellent and very readable account of this time period of Roman history. The civil war between the backers of the former republic and the new imperial trend reads almost like headlines from today's political scene. It's especially interesting in an important election year. It's almost as though nothing ever really changes, all the old political tricks are still very much alive and kicking! I often have trouble being motivated to read biographies but this one is highly recommended.

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

2008-08-23T15:42:00.000-07:00

I've read many good reviews about this book and so decided to listen to it on tape while I'm doing other things. It really is a gripping story. It has mystery plenty, haunted house, ghost, disturbed family, literary illusions, the whole bit. I won't go into the story because it's been thoroughly described but definitely a good read. A little scary but not too much!

the pearl by Douglas Smith

2008-08-20T18:59:00.000-07:00

This is a fascinating and well-researched history of a famous serf opera singer who went on to marry one of the wealthiest Russian nobles of the time. The book goes into some detail about the history and practice of serf theater, which is something I've never heard of, and of the institution of serfdom in general. I've read a fair amount of modern Russian history, specifically about the revolution but this is a topic I was totally unfamilar with and a very unique story. Most shocking about it is that it's true! the pearl is the stage name of Praskovia Kovalyova, born a serf (or slave) to Count Nicholas Sheremetev in Russia during the time of Catherine the Great. With his backing and training provided by him, she develops into an incredibly gifted singer and actress. They become lovers, eventually marry, she gives birth to his only heir and then dies probably of sepsis contracted through childbirth. Their union challenges all the beliefs of social order of the time. They both pay a high price for their relationship but eventually become an example of a new order of how society must be organized. I enjoyed reading this very much.

Kya- The Golden Bowl

2008-08-08T19:22:00.000-07:00

This is book two for the classic challenge. The story line is that a very wealthy art collector and his adored only daughter both take a spouse. The daughter marries for love but the new husband is somewhat like a valuable acquisition. The father marries, at his daughter's request, the daughter's beautiful but poor friend. There is a betrayal, which I won't betray, and the bulk of the book is taken up with the psychological manipulations that bring the book to its' conclusion. This is primarily an interior story. There is a plot and there are plot developments but mostly it is about what the characters are thinking and by extension feeling. I would consider this not an easy book to read. The writing is very dense and not leavened with humor. I think it is an interesting and challenging read and I'm happy to have finished it.

Kya-Bleak House

2008-07-16T10:34:00.000-07:00

This is a long but worthwhile read. In a nutshell, the story is about a long and destructive court case and the many characters that interact and are affected by it. It takes place in Victorian England but may really reflect an earlier time period more 1820-1840. The characters are wonderfully portrayed and there are many instances of beautifully written descriptive narrative. Thumbs up!

Book Review of Shakespeare's Wife by Germaine Greer

2008-06-21T23:16:00.000-07:00

I have not read any of Greer's other books including The Female Eunuch, which made her quite well known in the 70's but I'm interested in Tudor and Elizabethan times and I'm always interested in reading about women in the past because there is so little information available.
I found this book quite fascinating, not so much because she has answers, but because she has new suppositions and theories. I'd not realized that Greer was such an academic and she has done a lot of research and she poses what ifs that are not usually posed or are considered ridiculous. Like what if Shakespeare didn't really despise his wife, there could have been other reasons they lived apart for many years. She documents that many women including upper class women spent long periods away from their husbands. Another what if is, suppose Anne Shakespeare was not the economic leech she has been presented to be, what if she had a viable way of making or supplementing the family income. Greer documents some of the occupations or home industries that were available to common women at that time and that some did rather well. Greer also plays devil advocate for some other accepted Shakespeare facts like he was a wealthy man. She presents data that might indicate that was not the case. Overall, I enjoyed the book and learned more about what at least some women were doing during this time period and that is always of interest to me.

Classics for Classic Challenge

2008-05-28T23:02:00.000-07:00

I have not finalized my list but I think I want to read the Golden Bowl, Les Miserables, Bleak House,, The Count of Monte Cristo, and a non-fiction. I will attempt to do my link properly.