tarendz's 2009 reading

I only discovered LT today, but I'll join in this books challenge! It sounds great.

1. The White Tiger by Aravavind Adiga
2. Man and boy by Tony Parsons
3. What to do if someone dies by Nicci French
4. The Apple by Michel Faber
5. Tender Is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald
6. Back When We Were Grown-Ups by Anne Tyler
7. The Fire Gospel by Michel Faber
8. The Monster by Ismail Kadare
9. The Surgeon of Crowthorne by Simon Winchester
10. Rivier van vergetelheid by Philippe Claudel
11. Misdaad en straf by Dostoevsky
12. Couples by John Updike
13. Plato en kornuiten by Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein
14. Piep by Midas Dekkers
15. Een tafel vol vlinders by Tim Krabbé
16. Een geslaagde grap by Italo Svevo
17. To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
18. A Boy of Good Breeding by Miriam Toews
19. The Romance Reader by Pearl Abraham
20. The Notebook by Nicholas Evans

So far, I've read The White Tiger by Aravavind Adiga. It's an absolutely mind-blowing read... It reminded me somewhat of Life of Pi, not only since it's set in India, but also due to the extraordinary perspective of the narrator: the narrator is a self-made entrepreneur in India, and writes a letter to the Premier of China, who will be visiting India. It's dark, funny and a must-read if you've ever visited any Asian country and felt uncomfortable about all the bowing and smiling servants. This book shows what's really going on in their minds.

Welcome to both LT and this group!

The White Tiger has been highly recommended by several people in the group. Glad to see another person who appreciates it.

Thanks! Is there a way to find out which people in this group have read/recommended it?

Sure there is! If you do a search for The White Tiger and then click on 'Conversations' on that page, it will bring up all the conversations on LT concerning that book. You can read them all or just look for the ones in the 75 Books Challenge for 2009.

This weekend I finished Man and boy by Tony Parsons and What to do if someone dies by Nicci French. The first book was pretty good. At first, its topic struck me as the male version of chick lit, but I really enjoyed the story and Parson's dry style.

Nicci French... argh.... In my defence: it was a gift, so I felt obliged to read it. But sweet heaven, can someone tell that couple to stop allocating 5 paragraphs to every garden they pass or meal they eat?

The White Tiger sounds great - thanks for your comments!

It IS great, LisaMorr! Let me know what you think of it! Are you also in this 75 book challenge?

I am now reading Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky. I never really had the guts to start on the Russian classics--I once started reading War and Peace, but gave up within twenty pages. This time I was encouraged by the movie Match Point. I'm not sure yet what the exact link is between the movie and the book, but I suppose that just adds a bit of suspension to help me keep on going! Meanwhile, as train reading, I'm reading Back When We Were Grown-Ups by Anne Tyler.

Tarendz, maybe you'd like to join us over at Author Theme Reads group? We're doing nominations now for an author to be read intensively this year, and Dostoevsky, so far, is leading.

Tarendz, if you haven't seen it, watch Woody Allen's "Crimes and Misdemeanors" to see a link. Match point is very similar to Crimes and Misdemeanors as far as plot goes, and it was done over 10 years later. Match Point was good, but C&M is much better in my opinion, and you will be able to see the link in themes between Crime and Punishment and Crimes and Misdemeanors very easily (of course, even the titles are similar).

Thanks, mrcfantastic! I'll see if my library has it! But I'm only on one fifth of Crime and Punishment now, won't the movie give too much away?

>8 tarendz:, Hi tarendz, I'm in this group somewhere (http://www.librarything.com/topic/51377), hard to keep track with all the traffic the 75 Book group gets!

I don't know if it would give much away because it's not the same plot, but I think it might be more effective if you finish the book first anyway. It's a fantastic movie, and I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

Finished The Fire Gospel by Michel Faber about a week ago. It is about an author who tries to make a big load of money out of a skimpy book containing only a few words but that is printed beatifully, in a big font and double spaced. As you are reading, you cannot shake off the idea that Michel Faber is trying to pull the exact same stunt on his own readers. Though his style is as clear and elegant as always, this is the second book in a row that I read (I read The Apple last month) that gave me a sense of being cheated... I know, maybe it's unfair. If it had been any other writer, I would have given these books 4 stars, but it's just that after having read The Crimson Petal and the White, his mega-epos set in Victorian London, you know he can do so much more....

>15 tarendz:: I read this last year and have to say I was disappointed. I was really looking forward to it, as it was such an interesting premise, but I felt he did nothing particularly special with it other than sneer at Christians in a rather puerile way. Although the section on Amazon reviews was very, very funny.

It's actually the first of Faber's that I've read, although I own a copy of Crimson Petal; I liked the way he wrote, so it hasn't put me off trying again, but it was just so much less than I was hoping for.

During the last two weeks, I finished Ismail Kadare's Het Monster and The surgeon of Crowthorne by Simon Winchester. The first book really surprised me. I read it in a Dutch translation (it's originally in Albanian; I'm not sure if there's an English translation on the market yet). It is a lovely and poetical love story, set in a grim Albania. It heavily draws on the tale of the siege of Troy, and allusions to this myth are so omnipresent that the two stories seem to merge and seamlessly become one. I know this sounds scarily post-modernist, but don't let this put you off: read it!!!

The second book kind of disappointed me. The cover promised it would be a "tale of murder, madness and the Oxford English Dictionary". Being a bibliophile (obviously), I was very much looking forward to reading it. However, the book is divided into several chapters that all deal with some aspect of the lives of the two men Winchester focuses on. That means that one chapter is divided almost entirely to warfare in the US, another to Victorian medicine, etc. I suppose this means that there is something for everyone--but nothing that really makes the story come alive, or ties it all together.

Het Monster sounds interesting tarendz, thanks for the recommendation.
Anita

I just read Plato en kornuiten (English title: Plato and a Platypus walk into a bar: Understanding philosophy through Jokes) by Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein. It was a horrible let-down! Cathcart and Klein cycle through philosophy from the Greeks up to now (not in chronological order), and present a lot of jokes that they think will illustrate the philosophical movements they discuss. However, the jokes mostly complicate things -- instead of wondering about the philosophy that is being discussed, you spend your time wondering what the link is between the joke and the text. After about 30 pages, the jokes started to bore me and I simply didn't want my 'reading flow' to be interrupted all the time. Skipping the jokes wasn't really an option, since they make up 40% of the text. The philosophy that makes up the other 60% isn't satisfying either. Many philosophers and movements are mentioned in one or two cryptical (since the authors try to be pithy/sarcastic) sentences, followed by yet another joke. Besides, I found the language very annoying, but that may also have to do with it being a translation.

Last night, in bed, I finished Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse. I loved the story and the way it was written. It's not a book I would enjoy in a crowded train with screaming little kids around you and people who makes you wonder why they are even wearing headphones, since I can perfectly hear every buzzing note of their music from ten feet away without headphones... I really needed to put myself in some sort of dreamy state to fully enjoy it.

Also finished Dostoyevski's Crime and Punishment recently. I had some trouble hanging in there, but this may also have to do with the fact that my library only had a Dutch translation from the fifties that used a lot of out-dated phrases and even entire grammatical constructions I had never seen before (not even in other fifties stuff). In the end, of course, my patience was rewarded... it is a great novel, even though it takes some stamina. I found the epilogue a bit strange though, I'm not sure why Dostoyevski added it. All through it, I really missed an old-fashioned lit professor to guide me through the book and show me all kinds of interesting background issues that I probably didn't pick up now.

Just started The Romance Reader by Pearl Abraham. Am only on page 12, but already love it!

Am also reading A Boy of Good Breeding by Miriam Toews... Its dry style and awkward characters are astranging and lovable at the same time.. This is my first Toews novel, but I'm excited to read more... any tips?

#22: I almost picked that one up today, but put it back down again. Let me know how it is - I may have to go back and get it!

I tried to read Crime and Punishment last summer, got about two-thirds of the way through and threw it across my room in frustration. I vowed never to pick it up again, but just to let it decompose in the corner of my room for all eternity - but then I moved a few weeks later, so I had to pack it. It currently resides on my book shelf, and there it will stay.

#25 I know.... I read a lot of books in between, too, just to keep my mind convinced that reading could be plain fun, too! I think only my sense of guilt (that I had never read anything by any Russian) kept me going!

On A Boy of Good Breeding by Miriam Toews: four stars!

This book deals with the obsessed mayor of the smallest town in Canada, and his assistant's family. Mayor Hosea Funk is desperate to have exactly 1,500 inhabitants in his town, since this is the limit to be called a town, and he doesn't want one person extra, because then he wouldn't be the smallest town in Canada anymore. His struggles to either reach or maintain this particular number is of course absurd, but never feels surreal since Toews manages to portray him as a very human and understandable character. (This skill reminds me of John Irving or Roald Dahl: it's only when you try to retell their stories to someone else, that you feel amazed by the absurdity of a hotel for dwarfs or a murder by means of a lamb steak.)

All in all, a very amusing and pleasant read. I don't give it five stars because it's not a story that makes you care a whole lot about the main characters; there seems to be too much distance for that.

(Edited because the touchstones didn't seem to work)

Have almost finished The Romance Reader by Pearl Abraham. So far, I really enjoy it, though a lot depends on the ending, of course! Also picked up a copy of Kafka on the Shore. (I was in the bookstore to buy a birthday gift for someone, which somehow resulted in a book-buying frenzy. All the holidays I could take if there weren't any bookshops...)

Finished The Romance Reader by Pearl Abraham yesterday.

It describes the Chassidic girl Rachel between the ages of 13 and 17. The cover told me that Rachel grows up in a stifling religious atmosphere, so I expected the girls in the novel to be treated differently than the boys, but still some of the rituals really shocked me. The story is well-written, with a clear voice that perfectly suits a teenager, and I think Abrahams describes the mood and attitude swings of an adolescent girl really well. Rachel sways back and forth between being rebellious and putting up with her parents’ wishes (that mostly have to do with keeping up appearances). However, Rachel’s many brothers and sisters remain hazy. Similarly, her parents switch from ultra-old-fashioned to a bit more reasonable (and then back again to medieval values). Though this annoyed me at some points, reading this novel still was a great experience.

Finished The Notebook last night. I saw the film a couple of years ago, and I loved it, even though it's so sweet it makes your teeth ache! The book is just as lovely. Normally, it annoys me to watch a film after reading the book or to read a book after seeing the film, since so many images you have in your head don't seem to correspond, but this time, the few scenes I remembered from the movie only made the story in the book more tangible. A lovely (though short) read.

I'll continue my list here!

21. Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
22. The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields.
23. A short history of tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka
24. Elementary Particles by Michel Houellebecq
25. Rabbit is Rich by John Updike
26. The Horrific Sufferings of the Mind Reading Monster Hercules Barefoot: His Wonderful Love and His Terrible Hatred by Carl-Johan Vallgren
27. Schaduw van de Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
28. The Stepmother by Carrie Adams
29. Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee
30. Writing with Power by Peter Elbow
31. Characters and Viewpoint by Orson Scott Card

Loved Kafka on the Shore. Hated The Stone Diaries. Its tone was... well I suppose there were simply too many words to wade through. I felt I had to excavate the story from its wordiness like Cuyler searched limestone and Victoria looked for fossils. A nice parallel, but not nice to be faced with all through the book.

I enjoyed Kafka when I read it last year, but have not yet tried The Stone Diaries. It looks like the Shields' book can wait for me a bit longer.

Interesting collection of reads so far this year. Looking foward to what's up next :)

32. How Not to Write a Novel by Sandra Newman & Howard Mittelmark

Haven't been around for a while... so busy! Did read a lot, but am a bit behind on schedule... :( Hope the summer holidays will give me a chance to catch up!

I have read a lot of interesting things in the meanwhile, though. A minor recap:

A work of genius: Elementary Particles by Houellebecq
A very relaxing public transport read, especially for the many among us who have experienced the debatable pleasures of stepfamilies: The Stepmother by Carrie Adams
Hilarious yet uncannily confronting for those who have ever tried their hand at creative writing: How Not to Write a Novel by Sandra Newman & Howard Mittelmark

Will try to post more this month!

Welcome back. Looks like you have had some nice reads lately.

I do hope that your summer yields a bit more time to read. So essential! :) cheers

Tell us more about Houellebecq please. I tried to read him once and had great difficulty. Any suggestions? Thanks.

Hey arubabookwoman! This is the only book by Houellebecq that I've read, but I thought it was pretty accessible. Even though the book is stuffed with philosophical asides (that I liked), the story and the characters themselves are worthwhile even if you're not that into all the metaphysics. (Spoiler alert! The following lines deal with the plot.) It's about two main characters (brothers) who apparently lead very different lives but both struggle to find love, and if they do, don't seem to be able to receive it. I think it was done beautifully; even though I sometimes had trouble following the text when it was dealing with scientific issues (one of the main characters is a scientist), I just let it go and hung in there until we were back on the human track again.

Thanks Tarendz--I'm going to give him another try. That sounds a lot better than the one I read.

33. A Crowded Marriage by Catherne Alliott
34. Vladiwostok! by P.F. Thomése
35. What Is the What by Dave Eggers

36. Snobs by Julian Fellowes

#42: What did you think of Snobs? Is it worth the read?

#43: Hey alcottacre, I rather liked it! It was a witty and sharp description of closed societies in general. It dealt with the British gentry, but I think many of the observations go for any kind of secluded circle, be it aristocracy or hippies. That’s why I enjoyed reading it. Fellowes prose is elegant and easy to read; he really made me want to read on and find out whether the main character, Edith, a social climber without (many) scrupules, would succeed in her ambitions. However, there is a downside too. The story is narrated by a friend of Edith’s, who is –very conveniently—an aristocrat himself, so that it is certain that he knows what he’s talking about, but who’s also an actor, and moves among bohémiens, as not to alienate any readers. This nameless narrator describes a few occasions when he meets Edith, and she always comes across as very aloof and not very open. Although the few scenes in which the narrator and Edith actually cross paths make it seem very unlikely that Edith would have told him many intimate details, still the narrator seems to know all sorts of embarrassing anecdotes about private occasions (sex, for instance). Meanwhile, the narrator also becomes the confidante of Edith’s main opponent, the mother of the Lord she’s trying to hook. (Which is, of course, also very convenient to provide the reader with the motivations of the other side.) Due to all these welcome coincidences, Fellowes’ choice of perspective is not very convincing. Nevertheless, it’s an easy-going read and witty enough to recommend.

#44: Thanks for the additional info! I will see if I can find it.

37. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Murakami
38. Het Diner by Herman Koch
39. Van Miljonair tot Krantenjongen by Sander de Kramer
40. Getting Rid of Matthew by Jane Fallon

41. Thuis in Rome by Rosita Steenbeek

#46: How did you like The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle? I discovered Murakami last year through LT, but I have not read that one by him yet.

#48: I loved The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle! I read Kafka on the Shore earlier this year, and found it amazing. This book is much like it in terms of atmosphere, and the ease with which Murakami switches between reality, dreams and some sort of second reality in between, as it were.

42. The Playground Mafia by Sarah Tucker

#49: I definitely need to move it up on Planet TBR then. Thanks for the info.

Just thought I'd pop up and let you know I'm still lurking!

Thanks, Suslyn! It feels so good to be lurked! ;)

I've been doing a bit of catch-up reading:

43. Girl Meets Boy by Ali Smith
Lovely little book! Not at all the chick lit that the title suggests, but in fact a sort of modern variant of Ovid's Metamorphoses, set in Scotland.

44. In a German Pension by Katherine Mansfield
Apparently, Mansfield hated her early work and would not be persuaded to give permission to reprint it, though she needed the money very much. Of course, Penguin has reprinted it (and rightly so, since her sharp powers of observation are already visible in her debut).

45. Geschiedenis van Groot-Britttannië (A History of Great-Britain) by Peter Morris

#53: Since I really enjoy Metamorphoses I will have to checkGirl Meets Boy out. I will also look for both the other books you mentioned as well.

Obviously, I need to visit your thread less often, lol.

46. A Celibate Season by Carol Shields and Blanche Howard

47. The Eye by Nabokov
First book I ever read by Nabokov, and I liked it a lot!

48. Brokeback Mountain by Annie Proulx
Never thought I'd say this about a book...: the movie was better! I loved the way the movie portrayed the growing tension between the two men. In the book, genitalia grabbing occurred without warning.

#56: I discovered Nabokov last year and have really liked the couple of his that I have read. His autobiography Speak, Memory is on my memorable reads list for this year. Glad to see he has found another fan! I will have to give The Eye a try.

I like Nabokov a lot, but have never heard of The Eye. I'll have to look for it.

#58: You might not know it because it was originally in Russian, and translated to English later. Another reason could be its size: it's only about a hundred pages.

49. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

Spoiler alert! A bit of a let-down. My first book ever by Ishiguro, and although the idea was really original, I couldn't help feeling the book could be about half its size (so much distracting descriptions), yet at the same the issue that really amazed me (why do these "students" keep going on and on and never just break free or something?) wasn't addressed properly, I felt.

50. Nights of Rain and Stars by Maeve Binchy

Yeeey, I'm on schedule!!!

Congratulations on hitting 50 books!

Thanks alcottacre!

Read a new book too, skinny but nice:

51. The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West

>63 tarendz:: I read that earlier this year and loved it. One of my favorite reads so far.

I trying to get hold of a copy of The Return of the Soldier but it is proving fairly elusive. It's on my wishlist.

>61 tarendz: I have some Binchy on my shelves, but have never read her... what did you think?

>66 suslyn: Sorry for the late response, suslyn... I really love Binchy, it's not really Literature with a capital L, but she's absolutely the best in that genre that deals with families and friends and neighbours who all move in the same circles. She shows you their multiple viewpoints on all kinds of issues and when you have finished the book you feel a bit of an empty space because you miss all those people. I really like it, but I can imagine there are people who think her books are so sweet they give you a toothache.

52. Deaf Sentence by David Lodge

Bit of a disappointment, really. I read a few enthusiastic posts about the book here on LT, but I must say I found the main character a grumpy old man (an Eeyore, indeed) and I don't think I laughed out loud once. I thought the plot didn't make sense either (or maybe I just couldn't find the sense).

53. The History of Love by Nicole Krauss

Loved it, loved it, loved it! This book reminded me of Jonathan Safran Foer's work, and not only in its theme; so many story lines neatly folding out and coming together. I love Krauss's style: it's oh so simple, but she knows how to describe the most complex emotions.

>68 tarendz: you do know that Krauss and Safran Foer are married, right..? :-)

#68: Adding The History of Love to the BlackHole. Thanks for the recommendation!

>69 FlossieT: WHAT? No, not really? That's so cool... If only there was some sort of glossy magazine with gossip about writers...

54. Another Woman by Penny Vincenzi
55. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

56. At Home in Mitford by Jan Karon

57. A Bluffer's Guide to the Classics by Ross Leckie
58. Het Puberende Brein by Eveline Crone

59. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

Are you joining us for the 2010 group? It is up and running!

>> 76. Dear alcottacre, thanks for the invitation, but I must admit defeat... My reading rate has gone seriously down since August (I graduated and have a job now, which leaves less time for reading), so I'm thinking about joining the 50 book challenge!

Anyway, these were my final reads in 2010:

60. McSweeney's Issue 23
61. Het Mysterie by Jostein Gaarder
62. Zeitoun by Dave Eggers

Congratulations on the graduation and job! I understand about the drop in reading. I hope you enjoy the 50 book challenge - you can always 'graduate' back up if things change for you.