Kristel's 2014 Category Challenge

This year I will be doing an hourglass (7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)

Love a List (1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die)
While I thought that I was learning how to live, I have been learning how to die. Leonardo da Vinci

1. All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy COMPLETED, ★★★★
2. Good Morning, Midnight by Jean Rhys, COMPLETED ★★★
3. Exercises in Style by Raymond Queneau, COMPLETED ★★★
4. The Daughter by Pavlos Matesis COMPLETED ★★★
5. The Beggar Maid by Alice Munro COMPLETED ★★★★
6. By the Open Sea by August Strindberg COMPLETED ★★★★
7. Alamut by Vladimir Bartol, ★★★★★ COMPLETED

Play Tag Tags and Categories

We are time's subjects, and time bids be gone.
William Shakespeare

1. ADVENTURE; The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet by David Mitchell COMPLETED, 1/12/14 ★★★★★
2. TBR; Timbuktu by Paul Auster, completed 2/23/14 ★★★
3. Historical Romance; Girl with a Pearl Earring by Chevalier
4. Sociology; The Good Soldier Svejk by Jaroslav Hasek
5. 20 Century; The Nine Tailors by Dorothy L. Sayers
6. Island; The Autumn of the Patriarch by Gabriel García Márquez

President's in My Life

The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining.
John F. Kennedy

1. Dwight D. Eisenhower

2. John F. Kennedy

3. Lyndon B. Johnson The Passage of Power by Robert Caro, COMPLETED

4. Richard Nixon

5. Gerald Ford

Leftovers (Books not finished from 2013 list)
If you don't have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?
John Wooden

1. Bastard Out of Carolina by

2. 2004: The Line of Beauty by Hollinghurst (e-reader)

3. 2008: Mudbound by Hillary Jordan (kindle)

4. 2009: Lacuna by Kingsolver (kindle)

Cloud of Witnesses (Books by deceased Christian Authors)

Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. Hebrews 12. 1

1. In His steps Charles Sheldon 5/18/14
2. The Way to God by Dwight L. Moody finished 5/11/14
3. The Pursuit of God A. W. Tozer 3/13/14

Share a Shelf (Recommendations from others)

This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it. Ralph Waldo Emerson

1. The Golem and the Jinni by Helen Wecker COMPLETED
2. The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell COMPLETED

Forgotten Time (Proust, Remembrance of Things Past)

1. Remembrance of Things Past by Marcel Proust

In theory one is aware that the earth revolves, but in practice one does not perceive it, the ground upon which one treads seems not to move, and one can live undisturbed. So it is with Time in one's life.
Marcel Proust

(Swann's Way, Within a Budding Grove, The Guermantes Way, Cities of the Plain (Sodom and Gomorrah), The Captive, The Fugitive, Time Regained)

Share a Shelf (Recommendations from others)
Good friends, good books and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life. Mark Twain

1. Girl With a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier

2. A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra

Cloud of Witnesses (Books by deceased Christian Authors)
Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our Faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12: 2

1. The Faith: What Christians Believe, Why They Believe It, and Why It Matters by Charles Colson and Harold Fickett
2. John Chapters 1-10 and John Chapters 11-21 by J. Vernon McGee
3. Genesis by J. Vernon McGee

Leftovers (Books not finished from 2013 list)
Leftovers in their less visible form are called memories. Stored in the refrigerator of the mind and the cupboard of the heart. Thomas Fuller

1. Poverty.... God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater by Vonnegut
2. Read... Read....Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie
3. 2008.... The Faith: What Christians Believe, Why They Believe It, and Why It Matters by Charles Colson and Harold Fickett
4. Women.... Cost by Roxana Robinson

President's in My Life
Let us be sure that those who come after will say of us in our time, that in our time we did everything that could be done. We finished the race; we kept them free; we kept the faith.
Ronald Reagan

1. Jimmy Carter

2. Ronald Reagan Speeches by Ronald Reagan The Ultimate Collection by Ronald Reagan In The Shadow of FDR by Leuchtenburg

3. George H. W. Bush

4. Bill Clinton

5. George W. Bush

Play Tag (using categories or tags)
Time is but the stream I go a-fishing in.
Henry David Thoreau

1. Orhan, Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs
2. Cancer Ward by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
3. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K Rowling
4. Futurisitic, Solaris by Lem
5. fairy tales, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling
6. Humour, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling

Welcome back! I like your "Play Tag" category!

Thanks, it is good to be back and hope to be maybe a bit more active this year.

I love the "hourglass" idea! And bravo to you for tackling Proust!

Welcome back, looks like you are all set to enjoy a great reading year in 2014.

Yes, kudos on tackling Proust! (The extent of my knowledge about his work is the Monty Python sketch with the "Summarize Proust in 30 seconds" competition.) And nice setup! :)

Proust will be a year long read for me.

Love a List
How did it get so late so soon? Its night before its afternoon. December is here before its June. My goodness how the time has flewn. How did it get so late so soon?
Dr. Seuss

1. Max Havelaar by Multatuli COMPLETED, ★★★★
2. Ignorance by Milan Kundera COMPLETED, ★★★
3. Everything That Rises Must Converge by Flannery O'Connor COMPLETED ★ ★ ★ ☆
4. The Country Girls by Edna O'Brien COMPLETED ★ ★ ★ ☆
5. The Black Prince by Iris Murdoch COMPLETED ★★★★☆
6. The Year of the Hare by Arto Paasilinna COMPLETED ★★★★
7. Martin Chuzzlewit by Charles Dickens COMPLETED ★★★★

Welcome! Ah yes, those leftover books... pesky little things aren't they? ;-)

"Like sand through the hourglass, so are the Days of Our Lives." Yeah, I watch the soaps. I used to only watch them on vacation but with my DVR I can keep up with them every day!
Nice challenge set up. Hope you have an excellent year.

The hourglass is a really cool idea - looking forward to following along!

"Like sand through the hourglass, so are the Days of Our Lives". I am also going to start a birth of a reader challenge where I will try to read a book published for each year of my life since birth. (61) total if I could get it done in one year which is highly unlikely.

1953:
1954: Bonjour Tristesse by Sagan
1955
1956
1957 The Pursuit of God by A. W. Tozer ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
1958 Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Compote
1959
1960 The Country Girls by Edna O'Brien ★ ★ ★ ☆
1961 The Shipyard by Juan Carlos Onetti, ★ ★ ★ COMPLETED 5/31/14
1962:
1963: The Graduate by Charles Webb, 2 1/2 stars, completed 11/24/14
1964:
1965: Everything that Rises Must Converge by Flannery O'Connor ★★★☆
1966: To Each His Own by Leonardo Sciascia COMPLETED ★★★☆
1967
1968: The Cancer Ward by Solzahenitsyn
1969
1970 Play It As It Lays by Joan Didion
1971
1972 The Summer Book by Tove Jansson, completed 11/29/14, ★★★★☆
1973 The Black Prince by Iris Murdoch, COMPLETED, ★★★★☆
1974
1975 The Year of the Hare by Arto Paasilinna
1976 Kiss of the Spider Woman by Puig
1977 The Beggar Maid by Alice Munro, finished 2/5/14 ★★★★
1978
1979 The Safety Net by Heinrich Böll
1980
1981
1982
1983 Waterland by Graham Swift
1984
1985
1986
1987 The Passion by Jeanette Winterson, completed 12/16/14
1988
1989
1990 The Daughter - Matesis (BOTM) COMPLETED ★★★
1991
1992: All the Pretty Horses by McCarthy, 1/12/14, ★★★★
1993 The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields, 7/26/14, ★★★★★
1994
1995 The Late-Night News by Markaris
1996
1997 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K.Rowling ★★★★ COMPLETED 3/22/14
1998 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Rowling, completed 9/2/14
1999 Timbuktu - Paul Auster - COMPLETED ★★★
2000 Ignorance by Milan Kundera - COMPLETED ★★★
2001
2002 Snow by Orhan Pamuk, COMPLETED 5/15/14 ★★★
2003, Elizabeth Costello by Coetze Random list (library)
2004
2005 Still Life by Louise Penny
2006
2007
2008 The Faith by Charles Colson
2009 Cain by Jose Saramago
2010: The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell, completed 1/12/14, ★★★★★
2011: The Seventh Child by Erik Valeur, completed 4/28/14, ★★★☆
2012: The Passage of Power by Robert Caro COMPLETED ★★★★★
2013: The Golem and the Jinni by Helen Wecker, completed 1/6/14 ★★★★
2014: The Last Days of California by Mary Miller, COMPLETED, ★★☆

"Time spent with cats is never wasted." Sigmund Freud
For the CAT challenges; I may not do all them but it is a place to record when I do.
I admit that I copied this from another--so thanks!
January
RandomCAT (The Janus Rules): The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker COMPLETED
GeoCAT (US, Canada): The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker COMPLETED
MysteryCAT (detective novels): The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie COMPLETED 1/19/14

February
RandomCAT: (Childrens literature) The Wonderful Wizard of OZ book 1, by L. Frank Baum, completed 2/24/14
GeoCAT (Middle East, North Africa): Alamut by Vladimir Bartol
MysteryCAT (series): Still Life by Louise Penny, COMPLETED 2/28/14

March
RandomCAT: (Bird) Everything That Rises Must Converge by Flannery O'Connor, COMPLETED 2/8/14
GeoCAT (Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean):
MysteryCAT (children's, YA): Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rawling

April
RandomCAT: Poetry, The Hound Of Heaven by Francis Thompson
GeoCAT (Eastern Europe): The Good Soldier Švejk by Jaroslav Hašek
MysteryCAT (Nordic): The Seventh Child by Erik Valeur

May
RandomCAT: Motherhood Are You My Mother by P.D. Eastman, completed 5/23/14 and A Mud Pie for Mother by Scott Beck, COMPLETED 5/23/14
GeoCAT (South Asia): Grimus by Salman Rushdie COMPLETED 5/26/14
MysteryCAT (classic, Golden Age): The Nine Tailors by Dorothy L. Sayers COMPLETED 5/22/14

June
RandomCAT: Rose American Pastoral
GeoCAT (islands, bodies of water): The Autumn of the Patriarch - Gabriel García Márquez, COMPLETED
MysteryCAT (police procedurals): Faceless Killers

JULY
RandomCAT:
GeoCAT (polar regions): Where'd You Go, Bernadette - Maria Semple, COMPLETED 7/3/14
MysteryCAT (noir, hardboiled): The Maltese Falcon by Dashiel Hammett and To Each His Own by Leonardo Sciascia

AUGUST
RandomCAT: back to school Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by R. L. Stevenson
GeoCAT (Western Europe): Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by R. L. Stevenson
MysteryCAT (British): Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by R. L. Stevenson

SEPTEMBER
RandomCAT:
GeoCAT (East Asia):
MysteryCAT (book-themed):

OCTOBER
RandomCAT:
GeoCAT (South America): Kiss of the Spider Woman by Puig
MysteryCAT (global): Late-Night News by Makaris

NOVEMBER
RandomCAT:
GeoCAT (Australia, Oceania):
MysteryCAT (historical): Fingersmith by Sarah Waters

DECEMBER
RandomCAT: Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Sloan
GeoCAT (Sub-Saharan Africa): Elizabeth Costello by Coetzee
MysteryCAT (cozies):The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie

Hi Kristelh, looking forward your review of Proust, it's in itself enough challenge for a year !

Interested to see how you like The Golem and the Jinni as it's on my wish..

Everything read in 2014, chronological order with ratings.
1. All the Pretty Horses Cormac McCarthy 1/12/14 ★★★★
2. The Garden Party Katherine Mansfield (January BOTM for 1001 group) completed pdf ★★★★
3. The Golem and the Jinni by Wecker ★★★★
4. The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by Mitchell ☊ 1/12/14 ★★★★★
5. The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie ☊, completed 1/19/14, ★★★
6. Exercises in Style by Queneau 1/10/14 ★★★
7. The Daughter by Pavlos Matesis ★★★
8. And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini
9. The Beggar Maid by Alice Munro
10. By the Open Sea by August Strindberg
11. Alamut by Vladimir Bartol
12. Max Havelaar by Multatuli
13. Ignorance by Kundera
14. Timbuktu by Paul Auster
15. The Passage of Power by Robert Caro ☊
16. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
17. Still Life by Louise Penny
18. Genesis I (Thru the Bible) by J. Vernon McGee
19. Swann's Way by Marcel Proust ★ ★ ☆
20. Everything That Rises Must Converge by Flannery O'Connor ★ ★ ★ ☆
21. The Country Girls by Edna O'Brien ★ ★ ★ ☆
22. Burial Rites by Hannah Kent ★ ★ ★ ☆
23. The Pursuit of God by A. W. Tozer ★★ ★ ★★
24. Girl With A Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier ★★ ★ ★ ☆
25. Genesis 2 (Thru the Bible) by J. Vernon McGee ★★ ★ ★ ☆
26. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K.Rowling
28. Within a Budding Grove by Marcel Proust ★ ★ ★
29. The Black Prince by Iris Murdoch COMPLETED 4/2/14, ★★ ★ ★☆March BOTM
30. The Year of the Hare by Arto Paasilinna BOTM ★★★★
31. The Good Soldier Svejk by Jaroslav Hašek Seasonal ★★ ★
32. Genesis 3 (Thru the Bible) by J. Vernon McGee ★★★★★
33. Martin Chuzzlewit by Charles Dickens Seasonal ★★★★
34. The Seventh Child by Erik Valeur Nordic mystery ★★★☆
35. The Last Days of California by Mary Miller f2f ★★☆
36. The Hound of Heaven by Francis Thompson Poetry
37. Eugene Onegin by Aleksandr Pushkin ★★★★
38. The Guermantes Way by Marcel Proust Yearly read 5/6/14, ★★★★
39. City of Women by David R. Gillham, 5/10/14 ★★★★
40. Thru the Bible Commentary, Volume 38, John, Chapters 1-10 by J. Vernon McGee
41. Snow by Orhan Pamuk 5/14/14 ★★★★
42. The Way to God by D.L.Moody 5/11/14 ★★★★
43. The Nine Taylors by Dorothy L. Sayers 5/22/14, ★★★★
44. Grimus by Salman Rushdie 5/26/14,★★★
45. Sodom and Gomorrah by Marcel Proust ★★☆ 5/30/14
46. The Shipyard by Juan Carlos Onetti, ★★★ 5/31/14
47. In His Steps by Charles M. Sheldon 5/18/14 ★★★★
48. We Are Water by Wally Lamb 6/10/14 ★★★☆
49. The Safety Net by Heinrich Böll 6/10/14 ★★★★
50. The Autumn of the Patriarch by Gabriel García Márquez 6/16/14 ★★★★
51. The Woodlanders by Thomas Hardy 6/17/14 ★★★★
52. Cain by José Saramago 6/18/14 ★★★☆
53. The Lion of Flanders by Hendrik Conscience 6/22/14 ★★★★
54. Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple 7/3/14 ★★★☆
55. American Pastoral by Philip Roth
56. To Each His Own by Leonardo Sciascia 7/7/14 ★★★☆
57. The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett 7/9/14 ★★★☆
58. A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute
59. John chapters 11-21 by J. Vernon McGee
60. The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields ♥
61. Speeches of Ronald Reagan The Ultimate Collection by Ronald Reagan
62. Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by R. L. Stevenson
63. The Big Burn by Timothy Egan
64. What I Saw at the Revolution by Peggy Noonan
65. The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd
66. Cancer Ward by Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn
67. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling
68. The Beautiful Mrs Seidenman by Andrzej Szczypiorski
69. A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra
70. The Fugitive by Marcel Proust, part 6 of Remembrance of Things Past
71. The Captive by Marcel Proust, part 5 of
72. Waterland by Graham Swift
73. The Faith; What Christians Believe, Why They Believe It, and Why It Matters by Charles W. Colson
74. Time Regained by Marcel Proust
75. Kristin Lavransdatter by Unser Unset
76. Solaris by Stanislaw Lem
77. The Birds by Tarjei Vesaas
78. A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby
79. Memoirs of a Peasant Boy by Xose Neira Vilas
80. Kiss of the Spider Woman by Manuel Puig
81. Deadline in Athens by Petros Markaris
82. Bonjour Tristesse by Françoise Sagan
83. Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day by Winifred Watson
84. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J. K. Rowling
85. The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy
86. Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
87. Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
88. The Graduate by Charles Webb
89. The Summer Book by Tove Jansson
90. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling
91. We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo
92. Elizabeth Costello by J. M. Coetzee
93. Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan
94. The Passion by Jeanette Winterson
95. Play It As It Lays Joan Didion
96. Chocky by Wyndham
97. Breakfast at Tiffany's by Capote
98. Blood Meridian by McCarthy
99. The Snow Queen by Anderson
100.

Book: The Golem and the Jinni
Author: Helen Wecker
Published: 2013
Pages: 496
Rating: ★★★★

Why: Share a shelf (Nicole), Novel Novelists

The story is set in New York in 1899 and involves immigration of people from East Europe and the Middle East. In the process of coming to the US, the Golem (Jewish) arrives without her master and the Jinni is accidentally loosed from his copper flask by the metalsmith. I liked the story well enough, it was filled with interesting characters and i enjoyed learning more about Golems after first reading about them in The Amazing Adventures of Kavelier and Clay and the Jinni. They really were polar opposites in nature and beings that were not very stable. The Jinni went around seeking his own pleasure without any concern for the harm it might do to others and the Golem was overly concerned about others. I didn’t especially like one section and that was the part that made wild statements about the smallness of gods, and arbitrary truth, etc but it was shortlived. I think the author did a tremendous job with this debut novel. The story pulled you into it though I thought it took about half the book to get really interesting and the ending was satisfying.

Hi, Kristel! I love the quotes you put by each category/challenge! :-)

>30 LibraryCin: Cindy, it was fun. Now my mind is tuned into quotes on time in everything I read. My word for this year is time and I hope to try to do my reviews with this word in mind. I am excited for 2014 except for this super cold weather but then again, you don't have to make excuses to read.

I've been looking at The Golem and the Jinni, but have to admit it was mainly because of its pretty cover - good to hear the story is good too.

Book: The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet
Author: David Mitchell
Published: 2010
Format: ☊ read by Jonathan Aris, Paula Wilcox
Tags/Categories: Historical Fiction, Japan, Dutch Trading Company
Why: PBT Adventure, Share a Shelf recommendations by Linda

Rating: ★★★★★

This was another fabulous constructed story by David Mitchell. The characters and the historical details made this not only very enjoyable but also very interesting. It provides also cultural look at Japan when it was just being opened up to trade and the conflict with Christianity. I really liked Jacob de Zoet. A great character.
I listened to this by audio but it is rather hard to keep all the character names straight because you have the many Asian characters, Dutch characters, other countries and the English. It was sometimes hard to know who or what was the subject. I found a list of characters and this helped a lot. I also finally picked up the book from the library. This is one where if you listen to the audio its maybe good to have either whispersync or a book around. The narrators do a really great job.

Book: All the Pretty Horses
Author: Cormac McCarthy
Published: 1992
Pages: 302
Tags/Categories: 1001 Books, Fiction, Western, Horses, Coming of Age
Why: BOTM for 1001 January 2014, Adventure tag for PBT
Awards: National Book Award Winner for Fiction and the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction
Rating: ★★★★

The story is the first book of the border trilogy and it is the story of John Grady Cole, 16 year old boy whose life is coming undone. He wants nothing more than to live on a ranch and be around horses. His parents divorce and his mother sells their ranch and that is the end of ranching. John leaves with his best friend and they take a trip into Mexico. This story takes place around 1948. McCarthy writes beautifully and you can see the land through his prose. His characters are achingly human. The dangers make the story compelling. What I didn’t like is the use of occasional Spanish when they had to be speaking Spanish most of the time. I found myself using google translate a lot. Sometimes you could know what was the intent but not always. This slowed up the reading and could be distracting. Its a pretty good modern day western and not as violent as McCarthy can get.

I also loved the Mitchell book. The McCarthy has been niggling at me for a good while and I think I want to read it this year. Thanks for the nudge.

Hi Kristel, great review of The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, it's going on the BB list. I already have Cloud Atlas, he seems like a great author so I'll move it up on the reading list.

>36 electrice:, Yea, my first BB. He is a great author. Enjoy.

33 I am not sure I could keep track of it if I listened to it instead of read it! I don't have the concentration. Great book though & lovely review.

>37 Kristelh: Make that your first and second. I just picked this up at the store -- your review & the sale price made it irresistible.

Book: The Mysterious Affair at Styles
Author: Agatha Christie
Format: ☊ read by David Suchet
Published: October 1920
Genres: Fiction, Crime Fiction, Suspense, Mystery
Why: Mystery CAT- Detective novel
Rating: ★★★

This is the debut novel for Ms Christie and the first appearance of Hercule Poirot, the Belgian detective. Arthur Hastings is recovering from a war wound and travels to Styles to see his friend, John. During this visit, John’s step mother is killed. Poirot uses his skills as a detective to solve the mystery.

Hastings who likens himself a detective is an annoying character but against his dullness, Poirot is able to shine in his craft. The list of characters and twists and turns does make this a mystery that is not easy to guess the villain.

The story was good, not her best but a debut novel and often the first in the series is a character building story. The reader did a good job. Not the best nor the worst.

The Beggar Maid
Author: Alice Munro, recipient of the 2013 Nobel Prize for Literature
Published 1977
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
Tags/Categories: 1001 Books, women writers, Canadian literature, short stories
Source: library book
Why: BOTM 1001 Book February 2014, Bingo (short stories)

This is another book of short stories by Canadian author and recipient of the 2013 Nobel Prize for literature. Ms Munro writes this feminist work about Flo (the stepmother) and Ruth (the stepdaughter). The stories are all loosely connected and march through life stages of Ruth. In the beginning Flo is a big part, then Ruth is married, has a daughter and seeks a career. Ruth is always striving for independence but always needy, seeking male approval through a series of relationships with unavailable men. Ruth is rather thin skinned and overly sensitive. Mostly people have had some pretty negative things to say about this book. They don’t like the characters and felt that Ruth was rather flat but for me she seemed to fit the feminist role of a woman in that time period. I think Ms Munro writes well. I don’t particularly like feminist works, I didn’t approve of Ruth’s behavior but I didn’t find it unbelievable, in fact it was too believable. What I really liked about the book is that it did a great job of depicting the process of growth of a child of a stepmother in a rural small town, young woman who achieves a scholarship and leaves the rural small town, eventually obtaining a career and then finally returns to take care of things for her aging stepmother.

Book: Alamut
Author: Vladimir Bartol
Translated and afterword: Michael Biggins 2007
Published, 1938
Rating: ★★★★★
Tags/Categories: 1001 Books, Slovenian literature, Iran, Ismaili,

This story is of Alamut and Hasan ibn al-Sabbah is set in 1092 in Iran and is the story of Hasan and his rise to power and control through young men trained to be killers willing to risk their lives for paradise.

Supposedly this is an allegory of Fascism. It was written in 1938 as forces were grabbing lands of the Slovenian people. Regardless, in the words of Michael Biggins “Alamut was and is simply a great read--imaginative, erudite, dynamic and humorous, a well-told tale set in an exotic time and place, yet populated by characters with universally recognizable ambitions, dreams and imperfections.” I couldn’t say it any better. I loved this story.

“Nothing is true. Everything is permitted.” The supreme Ismaili Motto, could very well be the motto that reflects our current times. This Hasan used anything and everything to gain his desire. He told them whatever they wanted to hear, “Because long experience has shown that men hold tightly to whatever they’ve invested their money in.” Hasan had believed there was no truth. He felt free to create a truth that served his purpose and he felt no remorse for using others for his gain. When we believe no truth then everything we want is permissible.

>42 Kristelh: Seems really interesting, thanks for the review and on the BB list !

I agree sounds really intriguing!

Book: Max Havelaar: Or the Coffee Auctions of the Dutch Trading Company
Author: Multatuli
Published: 1860
Rating: ★★★★
Format: - Kindle (very poor quality, the price is too high for the quality)
Why: Olympic Challenge, 1001 Books, Dutch literature

The story of Max Havelaar is a social commentary on colonialism as well as a political statement of the abuse of government and the ineffectiveness of Christianity without charity. The story is set in 1853 or there abouts in Indonesia (Java) at that time and is the story of why change is almost impossible in systems that are as large as governments and even a good person is basically unable to make any good change.

This is a 4 star read for me. I hated the poor condition of my kindle edition and having to constantly correct the typos and other errors in my head to make any sense out of some of the sentences but I fell for this social commentary of the abuse of people by colonialism but also by their own people. The book was a little difficult. I believe it is what is called a frame story. A story within a story. It seems like we had the story that was being told by Mr Drystubble (what a social commentary of whited sepulcher), Stern's story taken from Max Havelaar's (shawlman's notes) and then the story written by Multatuli as the author of the whole social commentary. Loved the love story, made me want to cry. Cry for the water buffalo and cry for the poor boy. That alone made this a 4 star story for me. I will never look at a water buffalo in the same way again.

Looks like I have to move Max Havelaar higher on my TBR stack, especially since it sounds like a perfect one for the Geo CAT. Although I have a free eBook edition, so maybe I'll see what the library has.

Book: Timbuktu
Author: Paul Auster
Published: 1999
Rating:★★★
Tags/Categories: Fiction, novella, existentialism, afterlife
Pages: 181
Why: 1001 Books, random list, tbr for PBT

Timbuktu is a 1999 novella by Paul Auster. It is about the life of a dog, Mr Bones, who is struggling to come to terms with the fact that his homeless master, Willy Christmas is dying. The story is set in the 90s. The title comes from the name Willy has given to the afterlife and Mr. Bones is afraid that he won’t be able to go to Timbuktu to be with Willy.

My thoughts: The story is told from Mr. Bones perspective. It is the second book this year, having read Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein last December that is written from the dogs perspective. This one is similar in that both dogs are contemplating existential themes of the afterlife. Mr. Bones regrets that Willy didn’t teach him to read, Enzo wanted thumbs. Both dogs do a lot of thinking but Mr. Bone uses words like “peripatetic”. Now I have dogs and I believe they do learn a lot of human language as they live with us but I don’t believe they learn words like peripatetic. When you read Auster, at least in my experience so far, you know the ending isn’t going to be a feel good ending. I felt so bad that Mr. Bones was going to be abandoned in a strange town with no friends when Willy dies but the rest of the story loses my sympathy. It really goes on with the difficulties of adjusting to new families and the loss of Willy. The ending, and I won’t give it away, but it is an Auster ending.

Quotes that I liked:
“Even now, as I enter the valley of the shadow of death, my thoughts bog down in the gunk of yore. There’s the rub, signore. All this clutter in my head, this dust and bric-a-brac, these useless knickknacks spilling off the shelves.”

References to memory-- “wallpaper, background music, zeitgeist dust on the furniture of the mind”.

Book: Ignorance
Author: Milan Kundera
Format: ☊, Richard Hoxie
Published: 2000
Pages: 180
Genre: fiction, Czech literature
Why: Olympic Challenge, 1001 Books
Rating:★★★☆
Plot: Story of emigre's who left their country and the experience memory and returning to the homeland. The author really presents an essay with a story and compares it to the Odyssey and the homecoming.
Thoughts/quotes:
I liked it better than The Unbearable Lightness of Being. I liked the essay part of the story on memory and emigrent experience. I think the message that Kundera gives with his bits on sexual encounters are very real. He doesn't make it more than what it is. I could do without the detail but I appreciate what he is saying.

Book: The Passage of Power
Author: Robert Caro
Narrated: Grover Gardner
Published: 2012
Length: 712 pages
Listening time: 32 hrs/45 mins
Rating: ★★★★★
Tag/Categories: Nonfiction, History,United States, 20th Century, Biography & Autobiography, Presidents & Heads of State, History, United States, 20th Century
Why: Dive Deep Challenge and personal challenge to read all the presidents in my lifetime.

Awards: WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD, THE LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE, THE MARK LYNTON HISTORY PRIZE, THE NEW-YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY AMERICAN HISTORY BOOK PRIZE

NAMED BY THE NEW YORK TIMES ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The Economist * Time *Newsweek * Foreign Policy * Business Week * The Week * The Christian Science Monitor * Newsday

This is one book of a set of four that examine the life of LBJ. In this volume, LBJ is still a very power senator to his presidency after the assassination of JFK. The years covered are 1958 to 1964. This covered not only Lyndon Johnson but also John Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and because I am a Minnesotan there is also a nice coverage of Humphrey.

I learned so much listening to this book. I learned about the magnitude of change that was occurring during this time period. The impact that media was playing in politics which I kind of knew but this really brought it home. I learned how the senate operates, the art of negotiation or twisting arms, the filibuster. Lyndon Johnson was a powerful senator but as a vice president he was without any power. Johnson returned to his former self after the assassination. There was no love lost between the Kennedys and Lyndon. Robert hated him with a passion. Lyndon was a good president; he brought more to civil rights than any other president and I don’t think Kennedy could have done what Lyndon was able to do because he knew how to make things happen in the senate, with the republicans, and he knew how to get the budget passed and the civil rights bill passed. The author does a very good job of covering both the good qualities and the bad qualities of these men. I think this was a fair and well written biography.

I was 5 years old in 1958 and in 1964, I was 11. This was a great book to start with because it actually covered two of the presidents that I have lived under. The quality of the narration was excellent and the writing made this book as easy to read as a good fiction.

Book: Still Life
Author: Louise Penny
Published: 2005
Format: DTB
Category/Tags: Fiction, Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Series, Canada, Quebec
Why: MysteryCat
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★

This is the first in the Chief Inspector Gamache novels by Canadian author Louise Penny. The story is set in a fiction town of Three Pines in Quebec. It is a nice little town, picturesque, everyone knows everybody and it is so safe in Triple Pines, no one locks their doors. A spinster older woman dies, Inspector Gamache comes to town with his team including Nichol the intern who is so very irritating. The story is comfortable, the mystery has enough to keep you guessing and it was a nice easy read after reading all the Olympic Challenge reads at 1001. I chose to read this book because of LibraryCin and because it was set in Canada and sounded different enough to peak my interest. I enjoyed it and might even read the next book in the series.

Some neat things in this book seem very Jungian. The title refers to people who aren’t living their lives--their ‘Still Lives’. It mentions life is loss. Also quoted in this book, written in 2005 is “the fault lies not in our stars, but in ourselves”. And the picture of life as a long house in which we pass through. Entering as babies and exiting when our time comes. We need to make peace with our past or it will continue to heckle us. But mostly it is “cozy”. I really love all the food mentioned. It made you want to eat. I was evening searching the web for black licorice pipes. We had them in Ely, where I used to live, and I haven’t seen one for a long time. It was a good book to finish the record reading month.

Book: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Author: L. Frank Baum
Published: 1900
Format: ☊ narrated by Anne Hathaway
Time: 3 hrs, 49 min
Tags/Categories: fantasy, fairy tale, children’s literature
Rating: ★★★

A children’s novel written by L. Frank Baum is more familiar to me as the movie so it was one time where the book didn’t feel right compared to the movie. It was first made into film in 1939. We all know the story. Dorothy, a young girl, living with her aunt and uncle in Kansas is swept away in a tornado and finds herself in a land populated by witches, north, south, east and west and all sorts of different characters and animals.

The author was an US born author. He was sheltered, shy and had a heart problem. He spent time with imaginary friends and reading books. He married a ‘women’s rights’ person and was considered a progressive thinking. His book has a female hero. The movie does follow the book fairly well. The shoes were silver and not red. There is considerable violence with the woodman chopping heads off here and there but unlike the movie I actually was able to finish the book. The movie was always too scary. I was born in the same town as Judy Garland and she played Dorothy of course, so that’s my claim to fame.

I finished Swann's Way by Marcel Proust, I can't say I enjoyed it, but maybe its one of those books I will appreciate more later. The first volume is obviously a semi autobiographical work, the narrator starts with memories of childhood and Swann visiting the home in Combray. The second part is earlier in time and tells how Swann comes to marry the woman no one wants to know. The last part introduces the daughter and the narrators interaction and ends with memories of the narrator as a much older man. I really dread the next 3600 some pages.

Book: Everything that Rises Must Converge
Author: Flannery O’Connor
Published 1965
Rating: ★★★☆
Format: ☊
Categories: short story, Southern Literature, Southern Gothic

A collection of short stories by Flannery O'Connor, often violent with Southern themes of racism and religion. The flawed characters populate almost every story and most end violently. The author writes well therefore I give it 3.5 stars. I listened to the audible edition read by several narrators. They did a good job of making these stories "Southern".

Everything That Rises Must Converge: The title of the book and first story. This story is of a college graduate who lives with his mother because he can’t make enough to live on his own. Violence.
The title Everything That Rises Must Converge refers to a work by the French philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin titled the "Omega Point": "Remain true to yourself, but move ever upward toward greater consciousness and greater love! At the summit you will find yourselves united with all those who, from every direction, have made the same ascent. For everything that rises must converge.
Greenleaf: a woman owns a farm. Mr Greenleaf works for her but she feels he is worthless but her own sons will not help with the farm. They are lazy and disrespectful. Mr. Greenleaf’s sons bull keeps coming on her property and she wants Mr. Greenleaf to kill the bull. Violent ending.
A View Of The Woods: A grandfather owns land and keeps selling it. His youngest granddaughter is his favorite and he thinks she is just like him until he sells the ‘lawn’. Violent.
The Enduring Chill: a son who has been living in NYC returns to his mother’s home to die of what he is sure is a fatal illness. He really is a son who has failed to be what he had aspired to be. This one is not so violent, somewhat funny conclusion.
The Comforts Of Home: another man living with his mother. She brings home a juvenile delinquent girl. Son is angry, wants her removed from the home. Violent ending.
The Lame Shall Enter First: A widowed man and his young son who has not gotten over the death of his mother. This man spends time on other delinquent boys and neglects the needs of his own son. Sad violent ending.
Revelation: woman gets beat up by another girl in the doctor’s waiting room. This story is about seeing society through our own prejudices. Interesting story.
Parker's Back: A man with an obsession to get tattoos
Judgement Day: Old man goes North to live with his daughter. Tries to treat a Northern black man like he treats blacks in the South. This ends violently. Tanner just wants to get back South alive or dead.

O’Connor states this about her writing; "All my stories are about the action of grace on a character who is not very willing to support it, but most people think of these stories as hard, hopeless and brutal."—Flannery O'Connor
I look forward to reading more by O’Connor. Short story is not my favorite format but her writing is good, though violent and characters are flawed. Ms O’Connor was a faithful Roman Catholic.

Book: The Country Girls
Author: Edna O’Brien
Published: 1960
Format: ☊
Rating: ★★★☆
Categories/tags: 1001 Books, fiction, Irish Literature, Coming of Age, Friendship, sexuality
Why: BOTM March 2014

The story of a friendship between two country girls as they enter adolescence in Ireland in the time period after WWII. Kate Brady and Baba Brennen are friends. Kate’s father is an alcoholic and Baba’s father is a veterinarian. Kate is poor and earns a scholarship to a Catholic school. They go together to school where their friendship is strained but then Baba wants them to get kicked out so they are expelled and leave for life in the city.

I actually enjoyed this story. It reminded me of Angela’s Ashes for some reason. I listened to audio version, read by the author. She isn’t the best reader nor the worst and her accent gave the story “place”. This book was banned in Ireland because of the sexual content.

@ 53 -- You've reminded me that I really should re-read some Flannery O'Connor soon! You mentioned a lot of my favorite stories of hers -- "The Lame Shall Enter First," "Revelation," and "Parker's Back." If you are interested in learning more about her, check out The Habit of Being, which is a collection of her letters.

christina_reads I think my favorite might be The Enduring Chill.

Book: Burial Rites
Author: Hannah Kent
Published: 2013
Rating:★★★☆
Tags/Categories: Iceland, historical fiction, murder
Why: for F2F book club March 2014
A novel based on a true event in 1828, an Icelandic servant named Agnes Magnúsdóttir was convicted of killing her employer and another man, then burning their bodies. This is a debut novel written by Hannah Kent an Australian author. Agnes was interned to live with a family until her execution. Hannah Kent has taken this story and written about what might have occurred between this family and Agnes.
I enjoyed the story. I liked the character of Margrét and may have been the best developed of all the characters. The author attempts to show us how a community would react to a murderess living in their midst. There was much talk and exaggeration and people thought Agnes a witch. Accept for the youngest daughter, the family tried to keep their distance. Getting close to someone who is going to die could be painful. The young minister, Tóti is poorly developed and at best represents a young man who is sexually attracted to Agnes and therefore doesn't do his job very well. It took awhile for the story of Agnes's part in the murder to be fully revealed but would not consider this book a mystery. It is a social statement about society, poverty, prejudice and death sentences. Did the story tell itself adequately or was the stream of consciousness of Agnes inadequate. The most enjoyable part of the book is certainly the parts where Agnes is speaking with Margrét.
Hannah Kent is young, she wrote this when she was 28. Ms Kent visited Iceland and was intrigued by the story of Agnes. She was mentored by Geraldine Brooks and is working on her PhD. Some of the writing is a little overwritten. The author uses "birds" in the description frequently especially ravens. Saga's are mentioned but not sure the reader ever really understands that the author is introducing the pagan or nonChristian background of the Icelandic people. The details of living in Iceland in a turf home, the making of blood sausage and birthing of lambs was all great detail. Even the detail of execution by ax gives the book a sense of being well researched. With a lot more work, this could have been a 5 star book. Will Hannah Kent be a one book author or will she bring us more?

I have a library hold on the ebook of Burial Rites and am looking forward to it.

Girl With a Pearl Earring
Author: Tracy Chevalier
Published: 1999
Rating ★★★★☆
Category/Tags: Historical Fiction, Art, Dutch, class
Why: PBT March 2014 tag historical romance, share a shelf (Anita)

The imaginative story of a young girl who is the subject of the painting by Jan Vermeer, by the same name as the novel, Girl With a Pearl Earring. The painting was a favorite of the author. She bought the poster as a young lady and hung it the places she lived and it inspired this wonderful story. The main character is Griet, a young daughter of a tile artist, who has to take a job after her dad is blinded in a workplace accident. The story gives the reader the inside look at the family where she is employed, a Catholic family (she is protestant) where she is treated poorly by the mistress and the daughters and works hard all day long. The setting is 17th century in Delft. As a young lady, Griet is courted by the butcher’s son, by a lecherous man who has used Vermeer for art and by Vermeer himself but only as ‘art’. I liked Griet. She has great character and restraint. While she is attracted to her master, she knows her place and remains true to herself. This is the second book by the author for me. This is the author’s second book. I was immediately engaged and enjoyed this story. I liked art and loved reading about the artwork. It felt like the author had done her homework in writing this story but also used great creativity. My favorite book by the author is Remarkable Creatures but was very happy with this one, too. I like Ms Chevalier’s writing.

>59 Kristelh: Good review. I didn't read the novel but the movie was great with Scarlett Johansson as Griet. From your review, I seem to have like the movie for the same reasons :)

electrice I should try to watch this movie.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K.Rowling
I finally read Harry Potter. I've avoided Mr Potter for what, 17 years, but finally decided to read this book because it worked for a challenge to read a children's mystery. I am not going to review the book other than to say, it is a mystery and an adventure and it promotes the underdog overcoming the bully. This is also the first book by this author for me. I've heard a lot of good things about Rowling. She is a good author. Her books have engaged many a young person in reading that wouldn't otherwise have been interested.

Are you going to continue with the series?

>63 paruline: pauline
I plan to maybe read through book 4 someday. I am not fond of series or the long term commitment to any one author.

Book: The Black Prince
Author: Iris Murdoch
Published: 1973
Rating ★★★★
Format: library book
Why: 1001 BOTM March 2014

First of all, let me say, I do not understand why people dislike this book.

That being said, let me say that I enjoyed this book and thought it was a great work. The reference book for 1001 calls it a literary thriller and I think that is accurate. It is a book of “what is the truth”. Yes, all the characters are flawed. I enjoyed so much how the author presents the story as a story being told by the main character Bradley Pearson, an older man with writer’s block. He tells us he is trustworthy but the reader soon realizes that he is unreliable and not trustworthy.
Other characters:
Arnold Baffin, a successful author, somewhat younger man. Arnold Baffin is untrustworthy, too.
Rachel Baffin, wife of Arnold, depicted as plump woman who is in the shadow of her successful husband who also is abusive and cheats on her. The only feminine female.
Christian, Bradley’s exwife (masculine name)
Francis, brother to Christian, gay, a doctor who has lost his license (feminine name)
Julian: only daughter of the Baffin’s (masculine name)

It is really a question throughout the book of where the title of the book comes from. The story is built around Shakespeare’s Hamlet, yet the black prince is not in that play. There is a murder, but then there is the question of who really is the killer. We have what the author (Bradley) tells us and then we have points of views by Christian, Rachel, Francis and Julian. I found it fun to try to form my own idea from what we are given. I believe that in general, Bradley has told the story close to the truth. I think Christian is way off the mark, I think Rachel is calculating in her response, I think Francis is the next who is closest to the truth and I think in what Julian has to say, you can surmise that there was something between Bradley and Julian from the fact that she repeats much of what Bradley has said and she never really says anything because she has learned that art is secret. It is very interesting that even though these people make Bradley into a unlikeable, awkward, unsuccessful man, they all claim that he loved them.

The novel is also unique for its structure. The central story is bookended by forewords and post-scripts by characters within the story. I think the differences in the various post scripts does represent a fact that reality varies from person to person. I think I liked this part the most but without the main story, it would not have worked. The themes of homosexuality along with Freud and phallic symbols and philosophy of truth, art are all a part of this story with a twist. I liked it, but it isn’t an easy or fast read but well worth it unless you have to have likable characters.

Book: The Year of The Hare
Author: Arto Paasilinna
Translator: Nøste Kendzior
Published: 1975
Rating: ★★★★
Format:library book
Why: 1001 April BOTM

Synopsis: Arto Paasilinna is a Laplander, born in Finland in 1942. He is a woodcutter, farm labor, journalist and poet and author of more than thirty novels. The short little story is the tale of a journalist who one day walks away from it all after finding a wounded hare that was just hit by their car. The adventure takes us through Finland with the man and the hare. He works in the forest, helps with various jobs and runs into all kinds of adventures such as forest fires, bears and ravens. It is a humorous story but also a story of a simpler life in harmony with nature.

Opinion: I liked the book because there was so much that brought back childhood memories. This story reminded me so much of my earlier life. My family lived in an area where Finnish people had settled and it is a lot like this land. My dad was best friends with a Finn. The hunted, fished and trapped together. My parents made fish soup and many other Finnish dishes. I took some Finnish cooking classes. The sauna is part of family life. I grew up with the sauna and miss it a lot. The Finnish people that I knew, knew nature. If you grow up in Finland maybe nature is just too much of the culture not to adapt quickly. The story seemed so very believable to me because of my life. Even in college I roomed with a Finnish gal.

Book: The Good Soldier Švejk
Author: Jaroslav Hašek
Published 1923
Format; pdf read on the i-pad in i book app
Why: Seasonal Read, 1001 Books/Jan, Feb, March 2014
Rating: ★★★

This is the story of Švejk, a Czeck soldier who tells of the glorious war (WWI). It is a biting satire/anti war book. While it is funny and satirical it also portrays the ugliness of war.

Opinion: While I liked this story, it was too long and I struggled to stay engaged. I wonder if I wouldn’t have enjoyed it more if I had read it on something else than the i pad. I think it would have been a great audio. I think I would have laughed a lot and people would have stared at me. It was just way too long and the author died before he completed it.
Švejk as an anti hero reminded me a little of A Confederacy of Dunces.

I have to get around to The Year of The Hare soon - thanks for the reminder!

Book: Martin Chuzzlewit
Author: Charles Dickens
Audio book read by: Sean Barrett
pdf file: http://www2.hn.psu.edu/faculty/jmanis/dickens/chuzzlew.pdf
Published: 1844
Reason: 1001 Seasonal Read

Rating: ★★★★

The story: This is of the Chuzzlewit family and is a study of hypocrisy and selfishness and this book is a study of character. Some might say exaggerated but they do represent people in society. The Peckniffs and Sarah Gamp, the Jonas and the Martins Chuzzlewits. The book is called the last of Dickens picaresque novels. Another unique element is the American portion of the story which is a caricature of America. Dickens had just returned from a tour to the US and from this book, he was not impressed with us. Some could find this offensive but the more I read it the more I accepted that it did represent the US as a character that is no different that characters of England that Dickens has featured in his books. And last, this is a story of romance and endings that will not disappoint.

I am glad to have read this book. I needed to read about Sarah Gamp. Being educated as a nurse with a background of having worked in hospitals, Ms Gamp has always been a stereotype that I’ve encountered but hadn’t read the book. Dickens mentions that she was not atypical of attendants at the time and many hospitals were poor institutes at best.

Dickens never disappoints. It takes awhile to get into the rhythm of his books but they are always good. I have to say, that Sean Barrett did such a wonderful job of reading the story. Every character had their own voices, women were women (some were manly women) and men voices were men's’ voices except for the whiny barber. If willing to read a pdf file, the one listed above is of excellent quality and contains Dickens comments about the American part of the story.

Book: Last Days of California
Author: Mary Miller
Published: 2014
Format: audio, read by
Pages: 256 pages
Genre/Categories/Tags: Fiction, Southern literature, coming of age, family relationships

Rating: ★★★

Synopsis: The family is traveling to California for the end of the world and handing out tracks as they go. The two sisters, ages 17 and 15 are struggling with coming of age issues and their belief or unbelief in God. This is a picture of a family ravelling apart on a road trip.

I can't say that I really enjoyed this book or think this book is special. One review mentions that it is like a Flannery O'Connor story but I'd describe it as a cheap knock off. Really it's a coming of age book pushing sex, drinking, smoking and drugs as things young people do. It's young adult but I think parents should really check content of the book if they are at all concerned.

It was a bookclub read, those that liked the book mention that the book does capture the coming of age, teenage angst and a family road trip experience. It was also pointed out that the book shows the falling apart of a family as they travel. They don't eat together and as time elapses they eat more and more unhealthy junk food.

Concerns that were mentioned was the parents neglect in addressing the daughters

Book: The Seventh Child
Author: Erik Valeur
Translator: K.E. Semmel
Published: 2011 in Denmark, 2014 by AmazonCrossing
Format: kindle ebook
Pages 640 pages
Genre/Categories/Tags: fiction, crime, mystery, Nordic, orphans, Denmark, world literature
Awards: Glass Key Award 2012

Rating: ★★★☆

Synopsis: a story of politics and orphans. There are 7 orphans and one is the child of mystery that could make things very difficult for some politicians and government leaders. The story opens with a dead woman on the shore. There is a lot of odd things about this death but because it happens on 9/11/2001, it is dropped and never solved. How or why this has any relationship to the orphans is anyone’s guess. It takes 640 pages of twists and turns to get through this mystery. Much of the time, it just seems like a lot of bother about something that really doesn’t make that big of a difference. In the end, it is a real mystery and a crime.

What I liked: I liked the mystery set in the time period of 1961 and 2008. I liked and didn’t not like the story of the orphans. It felt too awful as if being a orphan is never a happy outcome but then I had to also accept the story because the author actually spent time in an orphanage so had more personal experience that I could bring to the situation. The author also brought his experience of being a journalist, the idealism and the conflict with “business” of journalism.

Problems I had with the story: there was a lot of characters and nicknames and it was difficult to keep it all straight. There was a lot of storylines but they really did all come together. I also felt like it just took too long to read the book. There really are two narrators in this story and I lost track of that until I read the end and then went back and read the beginning. If I hadn’t gone back, I think it would have felt a bit unfinished. I could say that the story maybe was less enjoyable to me because I didn’t read it in the original language but when I looked at reviews by people who did read it in the original language, the ratings were equally scattered on the lower side. I actually rated it higher than some because I do think the story was well thought out and unique.

Book: Snow
Author: Orhan Pamuk
Published 2002, in original language
Format: English, translation by Maureen Freely
Why: 1001 April BOTM
Categories/Tags: Turkey, Islam, culture
Rating: ★★★

Short synopsis: A story set in Kars, Turkey. Ka, a poet, visits on assignment to write about the suicides of young women. His reason for being there is Ipek who he plans to bring back to Germany as his wife. It is snowing……

Reactions: at first I wanted to like this story, it has been described as poetic and I think that is accurate for the first part of the book but it is also as boring as looking at a snow covered landscape devoid of color. I think the author had something going by using the snow to describe the experience of Ka but then it just “melted”. At first, I felt resentment. I did not like that the Islamist kept telling others how they were thinking. It made me hate this religion. There is no grace or mercy here. Its hard for me to understand the intolerance for Christianity and the blindly tolerant view of Islam. Then there was some enlightenment. The mixed messages that people living in Kars receive through communism or socialism, Islam, etc was evident. The girls raised to wear a scarf, taught that it was expected in their religion and then told to “take the scarf off”. The confusion caused by the mixing of politics with religion and the manipulation used by the various parties. No one seemed to think it was wrong to lie and to harm others if it promoted the agenda.

I first I thought I could like Ka but I could not. I could understand wanting to meet up with a former acquaintance and propose and get married. I think that is an okay goal but when he started being devious and manipulative in his endeavors, then I no longer was happy with him. The interest in pornography had also crippled him, in my opinion. He was a weak man and in the end he just went too far with his jealousies.

The authors purpose: Mr Pamuk states that he wanted to write a novel that would explore the political conflicts in Turkey. He used a small town to give a microcosm view of the whole. He discusses in the postscript how difficult it is to write a political novel about this area and apparently there were political persecutions for which he had to hire a lawyer. The book involved a not of careful editing. The author is a recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2006. His partner is the author, Kiran Desai.

Why is it included in 1001 Books you Must Read Before You Die? Is there anything that this book adds to the development of the novel? I suspect that because this is a work that looks at political Islam, clash of Western and Islam and that the author is Turkey that this book is unique. The use of lyrical prose and the technique where the author writes himself into the story is not unique. Characters were frequently stereotypes. Ka was developed. The other characters represented certain characters and classes in the microcosm of Turkey. The language did create the scene, the use of snow was ‘smart’ in keeping everyone contained in this drama for three days and the tone was set by the snow. The book had emotional impact though not necessarily positive for me. I am glad to be done. I think the author probably deserved the Nobel Prize for literature for being able to write this controversial and potentially risky novel.

I also wanted to add this quote; "If only to see themselves as wise and superior and humanistic, they need to think of us as sweet and funny, and convince themselves that they sympathize with the way we are and even love us." page 442. I think this is very true (but not for me). I don't like their religion or their politics.

Wow, great review of Snow, even if it is now making me wonder why I thought this story was a spy/mystery type of story when I picked up my copy. I will get around to reading it someday, but at least I am now somewhat prepared that I need to be in a certain frame of mind before I start reading it.

>73 lkernagh:@Ikernagh,
There is some political intrigue but in general, not a mystery book. Unanswered questions, yes.

Book: The Nine Tailors
Author: Dorothy Sayers
Published 1934
Pages 350
Format: Kindle ≡
Why: Mystery CAT at LT
Rating: ★★★★
CAT/tags: mystery, golden age, bell changing, fen

Synopsis: This is a Lord Peter Wimsey mystery that takes place in the fens and involves bell changing (ringing) and has nothing to do with tailors.

I’ve read three Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries now and this is my favorite. I give in 4 stars for enjoyment but this is not a favorite for many and some feel the story is too slow. The details of the bells is a little complicated and probably results in people losing interest.

What I likes: I liked learning about the bells. I liked that the author seemed very knowledgeable about the subject of bell ringing. The story is set in the time period between the wars and mentions the influenza outbreak that did kill a lot of people. It touches on an environmental topic of what happens when man decides to change the course of nature. (draining the fen). The bells were used to announce a death. In these small communities people would no by the telling; thus the name “teller Paul” Paul being the largest (tenor) dedicated to St. Paul, and tailor being the dialect for teller.

The mystery and death is original. I am sure that is the reason that this was included in the 1001 books. It did win the Rusty Dagger award for best crime novel of the 1930s, British Crime Writers Association, 1999.

I also sometimes like a book because I like details about the author. Dorothy Sayer was the daughter of a Rector and grew up on the Fens at Blutisham. She was famous for being a playwright, writing Christian essay and she is mostly known for her status as one of the women mystery writers of the Golden Age. She started to translate Dante’s Divine Comedy and she considered it her best work but died before completion.

The Shipyard by Juan Carlos Onetti
Rating: ★★★
The story involves a bankrupt shipyard on a river off the coast of the Atlantic in South America. Larsen has returned from banishment (referred to as the Bodysnatcher) but the reader knows little about this man, he is older and paunchy. He probably was a womanizer of some sorts. The season is winter in the summer hemisphere. The story is bleak and dreary and the people are living in hopeless conditions pretending that things will get better or simply pretending that their situation is not real. The cover of my book compares Onetti to Faulkner. As an author, he is good with words and creates atmosphere well. This is a quick read, no more than a novella.

We are Water by Wally Lamb
Rating: ★★★
Another book by Wally Lamb that depicts the dysfunctional family: This family; divorced parents, mother marrying a woman, father quit his job as psychologist, sister drinking, another pregnant, brother turned religious and engaged to of course a hypocritical evangelist Bible thumper. Its about secrets and how they destroy family members. There is a bit of a mystery in this book and it involves art but I felt like it really didn’t get developed. I think it was very good and was pulling me along and then blah. This is the author’s first book with multiple voices. It was well done on audio as each voice was read by a different narrator. This does mean that some voices are more despicable than others and I felt that there was too much information that I could have done without. This is one of those books that the author pretty much sticks every imaginable dysfunction and controversial topic into it; evangelical vs atheism, divorce gay marriage, alcoholism, sexual abuse, physical abuse, murder, hostile workplace environment. You name it, its probably in this book. I enjoyed the book, but I felt that some things could have been developed more and it just came together pretty much into one big mutual admiration society. At the end of the audio, the author does a question/answer. The author does a writing group in a women’s prison. He states that really that is his source, that he hasn’t experienced these things. He talks about what it was like to give voice to the child abuser. He gets a lot of it right, but I don’t think a convicted child abuse and felon would get a job as a caregiver in a nursing home unless not every state does background checks.

The Safety Net - Heinrich Böll
Rating: ★★★★
The story is about security. There are many characters in this book, some are family, some our business people, some are political, some are law enforcement. This is Germany from the time period following WWII to the seventies. Security would seem to be a good thing but security robs you of your freedom. You no longer can move about freely or enjoy things like birds flying. Only one person enjoys the security system and that is the one who sees it as a measure of her importance. The rest struggle with the loss of their freedom. Though this book was written in 1979 it addresses issues of today; terrorism, political security, freedom, environmental abuse for the sake of energy, I’ve read two books by the author and both books address the pressures of newspaper and law enforcement on the human spirit.

The Autumn of the Patriarch - Gabriel Garcia Márquez
Rating: ★★★★
A story of an eternal dictator of a fictitious island in the Caribbean. It is written in long run on sentences and endless paragraphs and yet it is readable and even enjoyable. The author did base this fictional dictator on real dictators of Columbia, Venezuela and Spain. The dictator is a lonely person or lowly origin. He uses and misuses women and people. It is not a good thing when one person has all the power. He made himself a God and he made his mother a saint.

Book: The Woodlanders
Author: Thomas Hardy
Published: 1887
Rating:★★★★
Why: World Cup, 1001 Books

The third book by Thomas Hardy for me. I like his writing. This one is set in the Woodlands and involves people who make money from the timber industry. Giles has been led to believe that he and Grace will be husband and wife but Grace’s father backs out and convinces himself that his daughter needs to marry up and not beneath herself. Grace has been educated in boarding schools. This story is very much like a modern day soap opera. Grace marries the doctor, the doctor is unfaithful. Grace wants a divorce but is denied it. The doctor returns to her, she rejects him but he doesn’t give up. This book doesn’t have the same amount of tragedy found in his other books but still it is enjoyable.

Cain by José Saramago (2009)
Format: ☊
Rating: ★★★☆

The story of Cain after he kills his brother and is condemned to wander. In it several Old Testament events are visited. Cain is constantly challenging God as is common of man.

The Lion of Flanders by Hendrik Conscience
Ratings ★★★★

Story of Flanders and the oppression by France set in the time of knights and nobles and the people who run the shops such as the Butcher and the tailors.

American Pastoral - Philip Roth
Bookshelves: read, 1001-books, historical-fiction, us-literature
Read on: Jun 24, 2014 - Jul 6, 2014
Published 1997, paperback, June 2014, BOTM

This story is set in the late sixties and early seventies in Newark, New Jersey and reflects the social upheavals of the time. It is a framed story. The first chapters we are introduced to Zuckerman (author) and his admiration almost worship of the Swede, a high school athlete. At a reunion, in which Zuckerman is a speaker, he learns that Swede is deceased. Zuckerman, always curious about Swede begins to imagine the life that Swede lived as it was impacted by his daughter's decision to bomb the local post office. The rest of the book is this imagined story (which Zuckerman publishes) of Swede.

The story is accurate historically for the Newark riots of 1967, Watergate, the Deep Throat movie (the first x rated movie that we all flocked to see publicly) as well as the Black Panthers, Weathermen and Angela Davis. LBJ is president and the US is deeply invested in sending soldiers to Vietnam. The main character, Swede, is based on a real athlete that attended Weequahic High School. I really wondered if this school was made up. The "equa" in the middle made me think that the author was saying something about these Jewish kids attending school in the US. I do think there is more in this story than the historical events. It is a story of Jewish American who marries an Irish Catholic girl and the changes in the family from the grandparents who came to the US, sold gloves on the streets and finally established a factory business. The family erodes or changes from all Jewish, to the boys marrying Gentile Girls to the daughter who is not Jewish or Catholic and abandons all the family values and hates her family for having a profitable business.

The title American Pastoral, does it refer to the immigrant experience for the Jew who came to the US and found peace and the life without persecution? Towards the end, the author mentions Thanksgiving as the true American Pastoral. A time where everyone can come together whether they are Catholic, Jewish, or Gentile. Thanksgiving really is the best holiday. I liked this story. It was engaging and the characters are well developed. You forget that this is just Zuckerman's imaginations and that we really know very little about Swede or his daughter Merry. Compared to the other book by Roth that I've read, Plot Against America, I liked this much better. I will read more of Roth at some point.

Book: John Chapters 11-21, Thru the Bible Commentary Series
Author: J. Vernon McGee
Published 1975

Reason: Cloud of Witness

J. Vernon McGee lived from 1904 to 1988 and used to have a radio show called Thru the Bible. I used to listen to this program and purchased his complete commentary series several years ago. This year I’ve read Genesis and now the Gospel of John.

This second half of John takes the reader from Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead to Jesus resurrection. I through chapter 17 would be my favorite chapter because it is Jesus prayer but it wasn’t. My favorites were 18, 19, 21. Chapter 18 covers the trial, 19 the cross and 21 for how he handles Peter after his denial.

Quotes: “What an injustice has been done to the Jews down through the centuries. They have been blamed for the crime of men like Annas, Caiaphas and Pilate. I do not take the responsibility for the crimes of Jesse James just because he happened to be an American, do I? Romanism for centuries has called the Jewish people the ‘Christ-killers’, which has been the basis for anti-Semitism in Europe. Yet they are not any more responsible than Gentiles are. In the final analysis, we all are responsible for His death. He died for the sins of the world. There should be no pointing of the finger at any race or group of people.” chapter 17, page 140.

Points of view of the cross, from Chapter 19, pg 155
God’s standpoint, “the cross is a propitiation.”
Lord Jesus POV, “it is a sacrifice”
Believers in Christ Jesus, “it was a substitution”
Satan POV, “triumph and also defeat.” .
World view, “the cross is nothing but a brutal murder.”

Chapter 21, Jesus restores Peter’s commission
Simon Peter lost his commission around a fire in a courtyard of the palace of the high priest where he denied the Lord three times. On the Sea of Galilee, around a coals of fire, Jesus restores the commission. The Lord asks Peter the question three times. “Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these?” What changes which each question is the word love which goes from agapao in two questions and then to phileo and the directive; Feed my lambs, shepherd the sheep, feed the sheep.

Book: A Town Like Alice
Author: Nevil Shute
Published 1950

Rating: ★★★★

This World War II post WWII is a romance story set in Malaysia and Australia with short visits to England. The heroine, Jean Paget is one of the strongest female protagonist. Joe Harmon is an endearing Aussie who is not above stealing, and the trustee,Noel Strachan is a lonely widower. While this is a romance, it is also strong on themes of economic development. The author is an aeronautical engineer and airplanes are abundant in the novel as well. The story is told through a narrator (Noel) who really is reminiscing and sharing from letters he has received or visits he has had.

The story is nice. The characters are likeable and there is no horror, violence or sexual depravity which makes you wonder how this made it on the 1001 books you must read before you die list. I think it is there to give the reader a break from all the difficult books. Really, I wouldn't want to make people avoid reading books from 1001. They are generally excellent, thought provoking, discussion stimulating works.

*****spoiler****
In reflecting on the book, Joe is crucified by the Japanese for stealing chickens. Later we again find that back in Australia, Joe and other ranchers are accustomed to stealing un branded calves from each other. In fact it's a game to see who can outdo the other. This may have been a reason for Joe's carelessness in stealing Black chickens. Shoes and foot wear have a lot of coverage in the book; barefoot when marching was better than shoes. Ice skates representing youth and fun and absence of responsibility. Boots too large representing the new role not quite fitting yet. Rain, water, food, health, disease all having equally important features.

I read this book many, many moons ago and was not aware of the themes you point out. I think I should give it another read. Thanks for your interesting review.

Book: The Stone Diaries
Author: Carol Shields
Published 1993
Tags/Categories: fiction, 1001 Books, women, Canada, Canadian Literature, Manitoba, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Indiana, Orkney Islands, Florida
Awards: Pulitzer Prize, National Book Critics Circle Award
Why: July 2014 BOTM
Rating:

This is a fictional autobiography of Daisy Goodwill Flett, the daughter of an orphan Mercy Stone Goodwill. Everyone who comes to live at Stonewall Home is given the last name of Stone. Daisy’s mother dies at birth, Daisy is raised essentially by a foster mother until her foster mother dies when she is 11. She then lives with her father in Indiana. Daisy gets a college education, marries, becomes a widow. Her father remarries, she is getting too old to stay in the home with her father and his new wife so she goes back to Canada to visit the son of her foster mother. Daisy is ordinary. This is the story of her life and her losses.

I loved this book. I was immediately engaged. What I liked is that I thought the story was very accurate in its historical representation of the evolution of a woman’s life. Daisy’s mother grew up in an orphanage. She knew nothing of relationships between people let alone between a man and a woman. She didn’t know a thing about sex or pregnancy. Daisy grew up in foster home and never knew the bond of daughter mother. She went to college, unusual in her day, she was smart but she never thought of doing anything but being a Good Housekeeping wife and mother. The decades were represented through Daisy but we the reader shares the changes these decades made for women through the lives of Mercy, Daisy, Alice and Victoria (niece). Victoria would be the woman most aligned with my own time capsule. I like books that deal with aging and the aged, including dying. This book’s ending chapter is choppy but I think the author was intentional to reflect thoughts of the elderly drifting and ending abruptly and never settle or stick and even filled with distortions and confabulations.

This book also has very good prose. I loved the sentences. There was many quotable parts but I didn’t write these down.
I liked the Epigraph
nothing she did or said
was quite what she meant
but still her life could be called a monument
shaped in a slant of available light
and set to the movement of possible music

(From "The Grandmother Cycle" by Judith Downing, Converse Quarterly, Autumn)

...the moment of death occurs while we’re still alive. Life marches right up to the wall of that final darkness, one extreme state of being butting against the other.

This book in some ways reminded me of Wild Swans (true story) because it is an account of generations. At time this book seemed so real, to the point that there are real photographs in this book, but it is fictional. I think it is historically accurate as to the changes that occurred from 1905 to 1990s. I will be hanging on to this book; it was too good to get rid of it.

Glad to see that The Stone Diaries was a good read for you! I really enjoyed it when I read it a few years back.

Year end Recap
Novel Novelist - 6/6

Dive Deep
Biography-presidents, 3/6
Mysteries 6/6

Share a Shelf
I did not get to all of them but I finished my goal of 4/4 that was in by 2014 hour glass challenge
4/8

Birth of a Reader challenge
1953-2014, 36 of 61, I will do this over next year with a goal of 62

Play Book Tag 12/12
Random Cats: 10/12
Geo Gats: 9/12
Mystery Cats: 10/12
I read 54 of 1305 books you must read before you die, 336 total read so far.
I read 100/75 books in 2014.
I did not complete my Hour Glass challenge. It was too restrictive and I got distracted by more fun pursuits and that is what reading is all about.

You did very well! Happy New Year!

Indeed it is. It's interesting to see how our actual reading differs from the plans we make at the beginning of the year! Hope 2015 is full of fun reading pursuits for you.