kidzdoc's 2011 Thread, Part 3

KeskusteluClub Read 2011

Liity LibraryThingin jäseneksi, niin voit kirjoittaa viestin.

kidzdoc's 2011 Thread, Part 3

Tämä viestiketju on "uinuva" —viimeisin viesti on vanhempi kuin 90 päivää. Ryhmä "virkoaa", kun lähetät vastauksen.

1kidzdoc
Muokkaaja: joulukuu 16, 2011, 6:07 pm

2kidzdoc
Muokkaaja: marraskuu 1, 2011, 10:48 pm

Completed books:

January:
1. Angel of Death: The Story of Smallpox by Gareth Williams (review)
2. A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore (review)
3. The Memory Chalet by Tony Judt (review)
4. The Gospel According to Jesus Christ by José Saramago (review)
5. The Tenant and the Motive by Javier Cercas (review)
6. Who Killed Palomino Molero? by Mario Vargas Llosa (review)
7. An African in Greenland by Tété-Michel Kpomassie (review)
8. The Elected Member by Bernice Rubens (review)
9. The Good Doctor by Damon Galgut
10. Blind Man with a Pistol by Chester Himes (review)
11. Yalo by Elias Khoury

February:
12. Match Day: One Day and One Dramatic Year in the Lives of Three New Doctors by Brian Eule (review)
13. Monument Eternal: The Music of Alice Coltrane by Franya J. Berkman (review)
14. Egypt on the Brink: From Nasser to Mubarak by Tarek Osman
15. Métaphysique des tubes (The Character of Rain) by Amélie Nothomb (review)
16. The Seine Was Red: Paris, October 1961 by Leïla Sebbar (review)
17. The Secret History of Costaguana by Juan Gabriel Vasquéz (review)
18. Staying On by Paul Scott (review)
19. Hygiène de l'assassin (Hygiene and the Assassin) by Amélie Nothomb
20. Autism's False Prophets: Bad Science, Risky Medicine, and the Search for a Cure by Paul A. Offit, M.D.
21. Jonah's Gourd Vine by Zora Neale Hurston (review)
22. The Latino Challenge to Black America by Earl Ofari Hutchinson (review)
23. Fear and Trembling by Amélie Nothomb (review)

March:
24. In the Country of Men by Hisham Matar (review)
25.The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje
26. Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball's Last Hero by David Maraniss (review)
27. The Book of Proper Names by Amélie Nothomb
28. A History of the African-American People (Proposed) by Strom Thurmond (A Novel) by Percival Everett & James Kincaid
29. I Shall Not Hate: A Gaza Doctor's Journey by Izzeldin Abuelaish (review)
30. Memory of Departure by Abdulrazak Gurnah (review)
31. Little Mountain by Elias Khoury (review)
32. Chinese Dreams (Kindle Single) by Anand Giridharadas (review)
33. Harlem Is Nowhere by Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts (review)
34. Morning and Evening Talk by Naguib Mahfouz (review)
35. Redemption in Indigo by Karen Lord (review)
36. The Anatomy of a Moment by Javier Cercas (review)
37. Pakistan and the Mumbai Attacks (Kindle Single) by Sebastian Rotella
38. Chopin's Move by Jean Echenoz

April:
39. A Savage War of Peace: Algeria 1954-1962 by Alistair Horne
40. Annabel by Kathleen Winter
41. Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell
42. Dubliners by James Joyce
43. A Murder of Crows by Larry D. Thomas
44. The Carpenter's Pencil by Manuel Rivas
45. Send in the Idiots: Stories from the Other Side of Autism by Kamran Nazeer
46. On Elegance While Sleeping by Viscount Lascano Tegui
47. Being Abbas el Abd by Ahmed Alaidy
48. Monsieur Linh and His Child by Philippe Claudel (review)

3kidzdoc
Muokkaaja: marraskuu 1, 2011, 10:50 pm

May:
49. The Collaborator by Mirza Waheed (review)
50. The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna (review)
51. The Art of Asking Your Boss for a Raise by Georges Perec (review)
52. Amigoland by Oscar Casares (review)
53. The Three Christs of Ypsilanti by Milton Rokeach (review)
54. The Chalupa Rules: A Latino Guide to Gringolandia by Mario Bosquez (review)
55. Death to the Dictator! by Afsaneh Moqadam
56. Curfewed Night by Basharat Peer (review)
57. Soldiers of Salamis by Javier Cercas
58. The Instigators (Kindle Single) by David Wolman (review)
59. The Shadow of What We Were by Luis Sepúlveda (review)
60. I Love a Broad Margin to My Life by Maxine Hong Kingston (review)
61. Visitation by Jenny Erpenbeck
62. To Siberia by Per Petterson (review)
63. White Egrets by Derek Walcott (review)
64. The Real Life of Alejandro Mayta by Mario Vargas Llosa (review)
65. Hospital Sketches by Louisa May Alcott (review)
66. Americus, Book I by Lawrence Ferlinghetti
67. The Great Partition: The Making of India and Pakistan by Yasmin Khan
68. All My Friends Are Dead by Avery Monsen & Jory John
69. Frida Kahlo by Hayden Herrera
70. The Boy in the Moon: A Father's Search for His Disabled Son by Ian Brown
71. Emerging Arab Voices: Nadwa I, edited by Peter Clark (review)
72. Red April by Santiago Roncagliolo (review)
73. The True Deceiver by Tove Jansson (review)

June:
74. The Bill From My Father: A Memoir by Bernard Cooper
75. Elegguas by Kamau Brathwaite
76. Partitions by Amit Majmudar (review)
77. A Season in the Congo by Aimé Césaire
78. Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat
79. Go the F**k to Sleep by Adam Mansbach
80. Above All, Don't Look Back by Maïssa Bey (review)
81. Fair Play by Tove Jansson
82. Naked (Asian Poetry in Translation) by Shuntarō Tanikawa
83. Open City by Teju Cole
84. A Tale of Love and Darkness by Amos Oz

July:
85. the immigrant suite: hey xenophobe! who you calling a foreigner? by Hattie Gossett (review)
86. Seeing Patients: Unconscious Bias in Health Care by Augustus A. White III, M.D. (review)
87. The Outcast by Sadie Jones (review)
88. The Sea and Poison by Shusaku Endo (review)
89. The Passport in America: The History of a Document by Craig Robertson (review)
90. The Prospector by J.M.G. Le Clézio (review)
91. The Swimmer by Roma Tearne (review)
92. Hearts and Minds by Amanda Craig (review)
93. The London Train by Tessa Hadley (review)
94. Daisy Miller by Henry James (review)
95. Des éclairs (Lightning) by Jean Echenoz (review)
96. Fatale by Jean-Patrick Manchette (review)
97. Dump This Book While You Still Can! by Marcel Bénabou (review)
98. A High Wind in Jamaica by Richard Hughes (review)
99. Underdog: Poems by Katrina Roberts
100. Snow Plain by Duo Duo
101. Mañana Forever?: Mexico and the Mexicans by Jorge Castañeda
102. 12 Angry Men: True Stories of Being a Black Man in America Today
103. On Beauty by Zadie Smith
104. Granta 113: The Best of Young Spanish Novelists
105. Ghostwritten by David Mitchell
106. The Summer Book by Tove Jansson
107. The Anatomist: A True Story of Gray's Anatomy by Bill Hayes

August:
108. The Stranger's Child by Alan Hollinghurst (review)
109. Pao by Kerry Young (review)
110. The Wandering Falcon by Jamil Ahmad (review)
111. Pigeon English by Stephen Kelman (review)
112. London: The Biography by Peter Ackroyd (review)
113. A Cupboard Full of Coats by Yvvette Edwards (review)
114. The Broken Word by Adam Foulds (review)
115. Real Bloomsbury by Nicholas Murray (review)
116. From the Observatory by Julio Cortázar (review)
117. Jamrach's Menagerie by Carol Birch (review)
118. The Cat's Table by Michael Ondaatje (review)

4kidzdoc
Muokkaaja: joulukuu 16, 2011, 10:20 am

September:
119. The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes
120. The Last Gift by Abdulrazak Gurnah (review)
121. On Canaan's Side by Sebastian Barry (review)
122. The Last Hundred Days by Patrick McGuinness (review)
123. Down the Rabbit Hole by Juan Pablo Villalobos (review)
124. Weep Not, Child by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o (review)
125. Chinaman by Shehan Karunatilaka (review)
126. The Testament of Jessie Lamb by Jane Rogers (review)
127. Miró by Iria Candela (review)
128. Anatomy of a Disappearance by Hisham Matar (review)
129. The Submission by Amy Waldman (review)
130. Half Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan (review)
131. In Praise of Reading and Fiction: The Nobel Lecture by Mario Vargas Llosa
132. Who are We-and Should it Matter in the 21st Century? by Gary Younge
133. Lyrics Alley by Leila Aboulela
134. Derby Day by D.J. Taylor (review)
135. The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt
136. Snowdrops by A.D. Miller (review)
137. The Goldsmith's Secret by Elia Barceló
138. Colour Me English by Caryl Phillips
139. River of Smoke by Amitav Ghosh
140. County: Life, Death and Politics at Chicago's Public Hospital by David A. Ansell, MD, MPH

October:
141. The Artist of Disappearance by Anita Desai (review)
142. Princess Noire: The Tumultuous Reign of Nina Simone by Nadine Cohodas (review)
143. The War of the End of the World by Mario Vargas Llosa
144. We the Animals by Justin Torres
145. Cain by José Saramago
146. The Cloud Messenger by Aamer Hussein (review)
147. Good Offices by Evelio Rosero
148. Jamilia by Chinghiz Aitmatov
149. El Corazón De La Muerte/Altars and Offerings for Days of the Dead by Oakland Museum of California (review)
150. The River Between by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o (review)
151. Kangaroo Notebook by Kōbō Abe (review)
152. The Tiger's Wife by Téa Obreht

November:
153. Scenes from Village Life by Amos Oz (review)
154. Coming Through Slaughter by Michael Ondaatje (review)
155. Soul Talk, Song Language: Conversations with Joy Harjo by Joy Harjo and Tanaya Winder
156. The Good Muslim by Tahmima Anam (to be reviewed in issue 16 of Belletrista)
157. Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward (review)
158. The Sojourn by Andrew Krivak
159. Old Filth by Jane Gardam
160. Flaubert's Parrot by Julian Barnes

December:
161. No More Mr. Nice Guy by Howard Jacobson (review)
162. In Mad Love and War by Joy Harjo
163. Other Lives by André Brink (review)
164. Nemesis by Philip Roth (review)
165. A Child's Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas
166. The Leper Compound by Paula Nangle

5JanetinLondon
syyskuu 7, 2011, 1:51 pm

Hi, Darryl! I'm first - a rare experience! Hope you are enjoying London. Sorry I haven't been able to meet up with you - maybe next time.

6kidzdoc
syyskuu 7, 2011, 3:19 pm

Hi, Janet! I'm sorry that we haven't been able to get together. Let me know if you're up for a visit next week, otherwise I'll let you know the next time I come to London (which will almost certainly be no later than next summer).

7labfs39
syyskuu 7, 2011, 7:50 pm

Picked up a copy of The Elephant's Journey today thanks to your review a while back.

8kidzdoc
syyskuu 8, 2011, 4:02 am

I hope you like The Elephant's Journey, Lisa. I did buy Cain from a bookshop in Cambridge last week, and I'll probably read it sometime next month.

I'll post the books that I've bought so far, and pictures from a LibraryThing meet up in Cambridge last week here in the next day or two.

9kidzdoc
syyskuu 8, 2011, 10:18 pm

Good news: Knopf announced on Thursday that it will move up the US publication date of The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes, the favorite to win this year's Booker Prize, to October 11:

THE SENSE OF AN ENDING by Julian Barnes to be published by Knopf on October 11

10kidzdoc
Muokkaaja: syyskuu 13, 2011, 6:18 pm

Book #120: The Last Gift by Abdulrazak Gurnah



My rating: (3.7/5.0)

Abbas is a 63 year old man living in the English town of Norwich, after emigrating to the UK from Zanzibar decades before. He is faithful to his wife Maryam, a mixed descent British woman orphaned as an infant, whose marriage to Abbas allowed her to escape from a troubled childhood. His relationship with her and their two adult children, Hanna and Jamal, is more formal and distant than warm and loving.

Abbas collapses outside of his front door on the way home from work, and suffers a stroke that both weakens and severely disables him. leaving him mute and unable to walk for long distances. As part of his recovery process, he is encouraged by his medical team and Maryam to write about his past life before he came to the UK. In the process, he makes several comments to his wife that permits him to remember long suppressed memories and closely guarded secrets about his life as a child and young man that have continued to haunt and affect him. His children, particularly Hanna, reject their father's past stories as "immigrant drama", but as Abbas' condition worsens, the four family members attempt to reconcile their shared pain and differences.

The Last Gift was a beautifully rendered novel about family, love and secrets, along with the struggle of immigrants to adapt to a new land and to come to terms with the past. However, I found it difficult to connect on a personal level with the characters, as all maintained an emotional distance throughout the book. Fans of Gurnah's prior books will probably appreciate this one, but I would recommend his two Booker longlisted novels, Paradise and By the Sea for those who are unfamiliar with him.

11kidzdoc
Muokkaaja: syyskuu 12, 2011, 2:52 am

Book #126: The Testament of Jessie Lamb by Jane Rogers



My rating:

This book is unquestionably the worst Booker Dozen book I've ever completed. It's a dystopic novel supposedly set a few months in the future, in which millions of women are dying from Maternal Death Syndrome, a mysterious infection that turns women's brains to cottage cheese after they become pregnant. The narrator is a 16 year old girl who is appalled by what is taking place, and by the relative indifference of those in power toward the plight of the women. She becomes active in several futile youth movements whose goals were unclear to me (or to them, I suspect), and then makes a brave (or incredibly foolish) personal decision, in order to make a statement in support of her beliefs. The characters were wooden, the dialogue sunk to the level of poorly written YA lit, and the story as a whole was implausible and thoroughly unenjoyable. Fortunately it was a quick read, in keeping with several of the other "Booker Lite" novels on this year's longlist. It gets a well earned 1 star from me (down from my original rating of 1½ stars); however, other LT reviewers liked it far better than I did, so I would encourage you to take my review with a grain of salt.

12Samantha_kathy
syyskuu 11, 2011, 3:37 pm

The plot of The Testament of Jessie Lamb sounds like it would make a great book - too bad the execution wasn't as good.

13RidgewayGirl
syyskuu 11, 2011, 3:54 pm

I could almost think, from that review, that you regard this year's Booker selections with the same high regard and admiration that I do.

14kidzdoc
Muokkaaja: syyskuu 12, 2011, 2:54 am

>12 Samantha_kathy: I'm not a fan of science fiction or dystopic novels, and I expect a novel or short story based on science or medicine to be plausible and accurate. The Maternal Death Syndrome was poorly explained, and the causative microbe (a cross between an AIDS-like virus and the prion that causes Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease, the human form of mad cow disease) was entirely improbable and utterly ridiculous, which set me against the book from its beginning.

BTW, the members of the Booker Prize discussion group on the prize's web site rated this book dead last of the 13 books selected for the longlist, so wasn't the only one who strongly disliked it.

>13 RidgewayGirl: LOL! You're absolutely right, this year's Booker Prize longlist and shortlist are very disappointing, and the judges should be ashamed of themselves for their selections, and especially for their comments about the shortlist, which prompted my "Booker Lite" comment. The only way they can partially redeem themselves, IMO, is if they select The Sense of an Ending as the winner. As I mentioned in the Booker Prize group, I'm reading books that should have been longlisted for this year's prize, which will include Gillespie and I by Jane Harris, after reading Deborah's excellent review of it in the latest issue of Belletrista.

15labfs39
syyskuu 11, 2011, 6:02 pm

#11 Thumbs up for honesty. I like knowing what to avoid as much as I like knowing about the gems.

16baswood
syyskuu 11, 2011, 7:38 pm

Good review of The last gift. this one looks very interesting. Love the idea of Booker Lite. I have just crossed The testament of Jessie Lamb off my to buy list

17kidzdoc
syyskuu 12, 2011, 3:33 pm

Book #128: Anatomy of a Disappearance by Hisham Matar



My rating:

This novel is narrated by Nuri el-Alfi, a 12 year old boy from Cairo on vacation in Alexandria in the early 1970s with his father Kamal, a ex-minister who has fallen out of favor with the current Egyptian government and is engaged in dissident activities against it. Nuri's mother has recently and unexpectedly died, and he and his father struggle to redefine their relationship in the absence of the woman that both loved deeply.

While on a beach, Nuri sees a beautiful woman in a yellow bikini who is trying to extract a splinter from her foot. She is gratified when he is able to remove it, and as she walks toward her hotel, Nuri and Kamal follow her with their eyes, in a mixture of admiration and desire. Kamal soon makes the acquaintance of Mona, who is midway in age between Nuri and Kamal. She is of Egyptian descent, but grew up and attended university in London. After a short courtship, Kamal and Mona are married, and she moves into the apartment that Kamal and Nuri share. Nuri continues to be entranced by Mona, who relishes the attention that he pays to her. Kamal becomes aware of Nuri's affection toward Mona, and decides to send him to an English boarding school.

Two years later the family decides to take a Christmas holiday in Switzerland. Kamal arranges for Nuri and Mona to meet at a hotel in Montreux, where he will join them later. Days pass, but neither receive any calls or information from Kamal until Mona learns of his kidnapping from the home of a woman in Geneva. The two travel there immediately, but they receive little information about the crime, or the relationship between the woman and Kamal.

As the investigation continues into Kamal's kidnapping, Nuri continues his studies in England, while Mona lives alone in Cairo. The tension created by Kamal's disappearance and his mysterious prior life, combined with the attraction that Kamal and Mona share for each other, deeply affect both of them and alters their relationship with each other.

Anatomy of a Disappearance is a beautifully constructed novel which was a pleasure to read. However, the story had far less impact on me than I would have expected. Nuri's expressed desire to uncover what happened to his father was not matched by his actions, as he passively accepted lies and half truths about Kamal, his dissident activities, the events that led to his kidnapping, and the woman in Geneva. In addition, the characters and motivations of Mona and Kamal remained a mystery throughout the book, and I was left unsatisfied and unmoved at its completion. This wasn't a bad read, but it is a book that will have no impact on me, unlike Matar's excellent debut novel In the Country of Men.

18kidzdoc
syyskuu 12, 2011, 4:06 pm

Book #121: On Canaan's Side by Sebastian Barry



My rating:

Lilly Bere is a retired Irish immigrant living in a small cottage on Long Island, who reflects on her life after the death of her beloved grandson Bill. She grew up in Dublin as the beloved daughter of a respected policeman, but was forced to flee to the United States with her first love Tadg, after he was targeted for harm by Irish nationalists during the Troubles. The two settled in Chicago, living initially as brother and sister under hidden identities, but they eventually married. Unfortunately tragedy falls upon the two lovers, and Lilly travels undercover to Cleveland. There she remains homeless and jobless, until she collapses and is rescued by a black man who comes upon her. He takes her into his home, and she becomes best friends with his daughter, whose physical size is exceeded by her generous and warm heart.

Lilly's life in Cleveland continues to be filled with pain and grief, which follows her to the nation's capital, where she is employed by a wealthy woman, and Long Island, where the woman's daughter allows her to spend her retirement in physical comfort, although she is unable to escape the ghosts that have haunted her past.

On Canaan's Side is a captivating and heartbreaking novel, perhaps too much so, which I enjoyed more than Barry's previous Booker Prize shortlisted novel The Secret Scripture. It certainly deserved to be on the longlist, and I'm a bit surprised that it wasn't selected for the shortlist this year.

19baswood
syyskuu 12, 2011, 7:46 pm

Good review of On Canaan's side Darryl. I wonder why it did not make the short list. perhaps it had too many pages or too many big words. Perhaps the use of metaphor would have taken it out of reach of your average reader. Perhaps if the novel was related by a precocious 5 year old it would have stood a better chance.

20kidzdoc
syyskuu 13, 2011, 2:39 am

Perhaps if the novel was related by a precocious 5 year old it would have stood a better chance.

Or a pigeon...

21labfs39
syyskuu 13, 2011, 12:11 pm

LOL! You guys are too much.

22kidzdoc
syyskuu 13, 2011, 1:22 pm

Book #125: Chinaman by Shehan Karunatilaka



My rating: (4½ stars for those who are familiar with cricket)

Left-arm spinners cannot unclog your drains, teach your children or cure you of disease. But once in a while, the very best of them will bowl a ball that will bring an entire nation to its feet. And while there may be no practical use in that, there is most certainly value.

Explain the differences between Sinhalese and Tamils? I cannot. The truth is, whatever differences there may be, they are not large enough to burn down libraries, blow up banks, or send children onto minefields. They are not significant enough to waste hundreds of months firing millions of bullets into thousands of bodies.

W.G. (Wije) Karunasena is a retired Sri Lankan sportswriter and cricket fanatic, whose lifetime of excessive alcohol consumption has finally caught up with him. Given only months to live by his doctor if he does not give up drinking, he decides to write a biography of Pradeep Mathew, who he considers to be the greatest Sri Lankan cricketer of all time. However, Mathew is a controversial figure, as few have ever seen him bowl, and because his name and career records have been expunged from official records due to a scandal that prematurely ended his career.

W.G., along with his longtime friend and drinking buddy Ari, embarks on a quest to learn more about Mathew, whose whereabouts are unknown. The pair encounter a variety of entertaining and sometimes shady characters, which include a Tamil gangster involved in the separatist movement and in fixing cricket matches; a fellow sportswriter and bitter rival turned coach; an alluring woman who seems to know more about Pradeep Mathew than she is willing to disclose; and another cricket star, known as the Great Lankan Opening Batsman (GLOB), who was a former teammate of Mathew's.

Throughout the novel, the author teaches the reader about the sport of cricket, its checkered past in Sri Lanka, and the country's history of violence between the Tamil and Sinhalese communities after independence. We also learn about W.G.'s faithful but long suffering wife Sheila, and their son Garfield, who chooses to abandon a promising career as a cricketer to become a marginally talented rock musician, to the chagrin of his father.

W.G.'s health worsens, yet he is determined to finish the book and meet the elusive Pradeep Mathew. However, his quest is hampered by false leads and the cricketer's ability to hide his tracks from those who he has wronged in the past.

Chinaman was a challenging read in the beginning, as I had to learn about the sport of cricket, its terms and rules, including 'chinaman', the term which denotes the left-arm unorthodox spin method of bowling. Once I understood the basics of the sport and decided that I didn't need to understand every term I was able to enjoy the novel, which was filled with humor and witty comments from W.G., Ari and the other main characters. Chinaman is a novel worthy of this year's Booker Prize longlist, and one that would be appreciated by anyone with a love of cricket or an interest in the history of Sri Lanka and its people.

23kidzdoc
syyskuu 13, 2011, 2:12 pm

Book #122: The Last Hundred Days by Patrick McGuinness



My rating:

Bucharest, 1989. A young British student flies to the Romanian capital to accept a university position that he was not interviewed for, and he does not understand what is expected of him. He is met at the airport by Leo O'Helix a foreign 'professor' who becomes his mentor and closest confidant, although Leo's teaching responsibilities are a cover for illegal activities that make him a wealthy and respected man. Romania is in a state of increasing crisis, as freedom movements are taking place throughout the communist world, while Nicolae Ceaușescu, one of the last Eastern European dictators, seeks to hold onto power by fear and violent suppression.

The narrator is introduced to several young underground activists by Leo, and he meets the beautiful Westernized daughter of a powerful minister, with whom he falls in love. He also befriends a retired government official, and helps him to write a secret memoir that is highly critical of the Ceaușescu regime.

As the year progresses, the Ceaușescus' hold on power weakens, which leads to increased crackdowns on dissidents and repression of ordinary Romanians. The narrator finds himself in increasing danger, despite his ties to the British embassy and his friends, as the Securitate is aware of his friends and activities that support the removal of Ceaușescu from poewr.

The Last Hundred Days was an unusual selection for this year's Booker Prize longlist, but it is a thriller that deserved to be there, and it should have been selected for the shortlist, as well. McGuinness, who lived in Romania during the end of the Ceaușescu regime, paints a compelling and convincing portrait of communist Romania, a country where ordinary citizens queue for hours in line without knowing what, if anything, awaits them, whose citizens routinely die of starvation, and where historic churches and other buildings are torn down and replaced with concrete, poorly built monstrosities. This was an impressive debut novel, and I look forward to reading more from its talented author.

24kidzdoc
syyskuu 13, 2011, 3:04 pm

Book #127: Miró by Iria Candela



My rating:

I purchased this short book from the Tate Modern Bookshop after I saw the Joan Miró exhibition there. Written by one of the museum's assistant curators, it consists of an essay about the artist's life and career, and over 50 of his paintings and sculptures on glossy paper. This book is an excellent and concise introduction to Miró, and hopefully it will be available to those who visit this exhibition when it travels to Washington, DC in 2012.

25baswood
syyskuu 13, 2011, 4:43 pm

Great review of Chinaman Darryl, its on my to buy list

26kidzdoc
syyskuu 14, 2011, 3:07 pm

Book #129: The Submission by Amy Waldman



My rating:

Two years after 9/11, a jury meets in Gracie Mansion to vote on the winning design of a Ground Zero memorial, to commemorate the people who were killed on that horrible day. The members, selected by the governor of New York, have narrowed the 5000 anonymous entries to two, and after some arm twisting and haggling, they choose a contemplative walled garden over an imposing black granite slab. After the jury makes its final decision, its members learn the identity of the designer: Mohammed (Mo) Khan, a highly respected and award-winning architect, born in the United States, educated at Virginia and Yale—and a Muslim of Pakistani descent. The jury members are shocked at the news, most accept it without comment, but several openly seek to disqualify the architect based on his religion, in the belief that the families of those killed on 9/11 and "Middle America" will reject the garden and refuse to donate funds towards its completion. In 2003 the city and the nation are still recovering from the shock of that day, and many Americans harbor deep bitterness and hatred toward all Muslims, regardless of their beliefs.

Claire Burwell is a lawyer who was selected by the governor to represent the families, as her husband, a wealthy businessman, died on that day. She was the most vocal and passionate supporter of the garden, but after Khan's identity is leaked to an unscrupulous and ruthless New York Post reporter, Claire is forced to defend her decision to the families, the right-wing media, and the governor, who sees this crisis as an opportunity to make herself more attractive to Middle America by expressing her opposition to the jury's decision. At the same time, Khan, a proud man who does not practice his religion but is not beneath using the Muslim community to bolster his claim, refuses to withdraw his name from the competition, change his design, or provide assurance to Burwell and those who support him that the memorial is not a "martyrs' garden", one which honors the hijackers instead of those who were killed by them.

Other characters add to the drama and tension, most notably Alyssa Spier, the Post reporter who first broke the story and continues to influence developments through her incendiary and inaccurate columns; Sean Gallagher, an insecure ne'er-do-well whose brother was a firefighter who died on 9/11, who finds purpose in vehemently and violently protesting the jury's decision; and Asma Anwar, a Bangladeshi Muslim woman whose husband also died that day, and vows to honor his memory by supporting Khan's garden.

The Submission is a riveting story, which became progressively better toward its climax. Several of its characters, particularly the lesser ones, seemed stereotypical and were less than fully developed, and the motivations of the two key characters, Claire and Mo, were not well explained, particularly in their key confrontation toward the end of the book, which kept this from being a groundbreaking and outstanding novel. However, this is easily the best book written about 9/11 or its aftermath that I've read, and I would highly recommend it to everyone.

27kidzdoc
syyskuu 14, 2011, 3:20 pm

>25 baswood: Thanks, Barry; I hope that you like Chinaman.

28kidzdoc
syyskuu 14, 2011, 4:24 pm

Book #130: Half Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan



My rating:

Sid Griffiths is a octogenarian former jazz bassist of modest talent and reputation, who was enjoying the peace of retirement in his home town of Baltimore until an old friend and fellow jazz man, Chip Jones, informs him that they have been invited to Berlin to attend a festival in honor of their late friend, the legendary trumpeter Hieronymous Falk. They and several others played together in the Hot-Time Swingers band, which was popular in Berlin in the 1930s until the Nazis deemed that jazz music was a form of degenerate art. As African-Americans, Sid and Chip were also viewed unfavorably by the fascists, but Hiero, born to an African father and a Aryan mother, was despised even more.

By 1939 the band is no longer allowed to perform in Berlin, and the mostly non-Aryan band members find themselves unable to find work. Rescue comes in the form of Delilah Brown, a stunning singer who has been sent from Paris to Berlin by Louis Armstrong to recruit the boys to play in his band. Sid is enraptured by Delilah, but he becomes jealous when she seems to pay more attention to the young Hiero. As the boys are deciding whether or not to go to Paris they find themselves in even more danger, as they fall afoul of local Gestapo agents. They and Delilah are forced undercover, to avoid deportation to concentration camps, as the opportunity to escape progressively dims.

Half Blood Blues was a tedious and painful book to read, due to its use of black vernacular throughout the characters' dialogue and Sid's narration, the often inane and sometimes juvenile conversations between the band members, and the petty jealousies that Sid and Chip displayed throughout the book. The descriptions of the characters' troubles in Berlin and harrowing escape to Paris were gripping, but those were the only portions that I enjoyed. I was very interested in this story of black jazz musicians in Germany and Europe preceding and during World War II, but this was another disappointing novel, one that should never have been included in this year's Booker Prize longlist.

29kidzdoc
Muokkaaja: syyskuu 16, 2011, 2:27 am

I've finally catalogued the books I've purchased in London and Cambridge over the past 2½ weeks:

27 Aug 2011: London Review Bookshop
Colour Me English (Caryl Phillips)
The Testament of Jessie Lamb (Jane Rogers)
The Sense of an Ending (Julian Barnes)
The Cat’s Table (Michael Ondaatje)
On Canaan’s Side (Sebastian Barry)
The Last Gift (Abdulrazak Gurnah)

28 Aug 2011: Foyles Bookshop
Chinaman (Shehan Karunatilaka)
Anatomy of a Disappearance (Hisham Matar)
The Last Hundred Days (Patrick McGuinness)
Half Blood Blues (Esi Edugyan)

30 Aug 2011: Heffers Bookshop (Cambridge)
The Shadow of a Smile (Kachi A. Ozumba)
Cain (José Saramago)
Waterline (Ross Raisin)
Derby Day (D.J. Taylor)
Cambridge: The Hidden History (Alison Taylor)

3 Sep 2011: London Review Bookshop
Flaubert’s Parrot (Julian Barnes)
Scenes from Village Life (Amos Oz)
Pure (Andrew Miller)
Whatever It Is, I Don’t Like It (Howard Jacobson)

5 Sep 2011: Foyles Bookshop
Down the Rabbit Hole (Juan Pablo Villalobos)
Weep Not, Child (Ngugi wa Thiong’o)
The River Between (Ngugi wa Thiong’o)

8 Sep 2011: Tate Modern Bookshop
Miró (Iria Candela)

8 Sep 2011: Foyles Bookshop
A Dry White Season (André Brink)

10 Sep 2011: Foyles Bookshop
Ours Are the Streets (Sunjeev Sahota)
Every Light in the House Burnin’ (Andrea Levy)
Little Misunderstandings of No Importance (Antonio Tabucchi)
The Good Muslim (Tahmima Anam)

14 Sep 2011: London Review Bookshop
I’m Off + One Year (Jean Echenoz)
The Artist of Disappearance (Anita Desai)
The Goldsmith’s Secret (Elia Barceló)
At Last (Edward St Aubyn)
The Visiting Angel (Paul Wilson)
Gillespie and I (Jane Harris)

My bookbag that I take with me on vacations is nearly full, so I won't add many more books to the ones I've already purchased, and I'll leave 9 or 10 books behind.

30rebeccanyc
syyskuu 15, 2011, 2:55 pm

Nice shopping, Darryl.

31RidgewayGirl
syyskuu 15, 2011, 4:26 pm

Whatever It Is, I Don’t Like It is an amazing title. It almost doesn't matter what the book's about.

And congrats on finding all those titles that aren't yet available on this side of the Atlantic. I'm excited about Gillespie and I. I'm sorry that Half Blood Blues was not that great, but I can't say I'm surprised, given the overall quality of the Booker shortlist. I have a copy of Snowdrops but am having trouble working up much enthusiasm for it.

Enjoy the rest of your time over there.

32kidzdoc
Muokkaaja: syyskuu 15, 2011, 4:55 pm

>31 RidgewayGirl: Jacobson took the title of his latest book, a collection of the articles that he has written for the Independent since 1998, from a scene in the Marx Brothers' movie A Night at the Opera:

Groucho: I've got something here you're bound to like. You'll be crazy about it.
Chico: No, I don't like it.
Groucho: You don't like what?
Chico: Whatever it is, I don't like it.


I'll probably read it next month; hopefully I'll like it.

I'm also looking forward to Gillespie and I, and several of the books that made the Guardian's Booker dozen list:

Here's our Booker dozen – what's yours?

The two books on this list that the actual Booker jury chose are my first and second favorites, The Sense of an Ending and The Stranger's Child. Chinaman was better than all of the other longlisted books I've read so far, and the other five I've bought are far more appealing than the four Booker dozen books I have yet to read.

I hope to finish Derby Day, another Booker longlisted novel, before I leave London on Sunday, so that I don't have to bring it on the plane with me.

33LovingLit
syyskuu 16, 2011, 4:10 am

>29 kidzdoc: Aaaaah, the Tate Modern, I love that place. Sounds like you are having a great time there. And that you might have to pay extra baggage coming home with that many books!
*trying not to be jealous*

34torontoc
syyskuu 16, 2011, 8:37 am

When I visited London a number of years ago, a friend suggested that I go to the OXO building for a drink at the bar/restaurant on the top floor- it is near the Tate Modern and I ate there- I don't know if it is still good as it was-but the view was great.
If you like Turner's art , then a visit to the "old" Tate is suggested!

35baswood
syyskuu 16, 2011, 6:53 pm

That's a very big book bag Darryl, great review of The submission That's another one I will have to add to my to buy list.

I would second torontoc's suggestion to visit the old Tate.

36kidzdoc
syyskuu 17, 2011, 5:10 am

>33 LovingLit: I hadn't gone to the Tate Modern on any of my three previous trips to London, but it's definitely become my favorite one.

Fortunately I won't have to pay extra baggage fees, as long as I check in no more than three bags and none of them weigh more than 70 lb, as I accrue enough miles on Delta to qualify for the lowest level of its frequent flier program.

>34 torontoc: I'll have to remember to try out that restaurant & bar in the OXO Tower, although I probably won't go until my next trip. It's close to the National Theatre as well, and I will go there shortly to see if I can get a day ticket or a standing ticket for one of today's two performances of "One Man, Two Guvnors", which has been sold out for the entire time I've been here.

I had intended to visit the Tate Britain, but I'll save that for my next London trip, which will probably be this coming spring.

>35 baswood: It's a surprisingly small book bag, given how many books it holds.

37Samantha_kathy
syyskuu 17, 2011, 8:28 am

Is The Submission by Amy Waldman based on real events or is it completely fictional?

38rebeccanyc
syyskuu 17, 2011, 9:43 am

As I understand it The Submission is fictional, but relates to two real events: the long controversy over the 9/11 memorial and the hysteria over the plan by an imam who had had a mosque nearby for decades to create an Islamic and interfaith cultural center "near" "Ground Zero."

39Samantha_kathy
syyskuu 17, 2011, 1:58 pm

I remember the whole 'hysteria' surrounding the imam, but here in the Netherlands we missed the controversy surrounding the memorial.

40kidzdoc
Muokkaaja: syyskuu 17, 2011, 2:04 pm

That's correct, Rebecca.

41rebeccanyc
syyskuu 17, 2011, 4:02 pm

There were a variety of controversies about the memorial but they boil down to competing interests of the families of people killed, the architect(s), and others about design, placement versus placement of the new buildings, how the names of the people killed would be listed, etc.

42Samantha_kathy
syyskuu 17, 2011, 5:17 pm

How sad that even something like the 9/11 memorial can't be built without people grouping up and arguing like 2 year olds with temper tantrums.

In the end though, I think the right monument was build. All the water kind of brought tears to mind, and the way all of the names were included was nice.

43kidzdoc
syyskuu 17, 2011, 5:20 pm

Book #134: Derby Day by D.J. Taylor



My rating:

(This is a short review for now, as I've just finished this book and plan to leave this one behind.)

This subtitled Victorian mystery is centered around George Happerton, a man of uncertain means, questionable morals and high ambitions, who seeks to make a fortune by obtaining a race horse and entering him in the biggest horse race of the year. To accomplish this, he connivingly marries the daughter of a well-to-do lawyer in London, and the two manage to wheedle the funds he needs to purchase the animal. Happerton engages several shady characters to obtain additional capital, which he uses to bet in the race.

This was a well written mystery novel, which held my interest for the first 2/3 of the book. However, the last 1/3, which corresponded to the day of the race, was a long slow drag, which seemed like a 45 rpm record suddenly being played at 33 rpm. Overall this was an enjoyable novel, in keeping with this year's "Booker Lite" theme, but it will leave no strong impression with me, and did not deserve to make this year's longlist.

44RidgewayGirl
syyskuu 18, 2011, 12:08 pm

So far, the shortlist has been one big disappointment. I looked back, and the only previous winner that would fit with this year's selection was Vernon God Little, but the remaining books on the shortlist were all impressive.

45kidzdoc
syyskuu 19, 2011, 6:38 am

>44 RidgewayGirl: Right. The shortlist has been quite disappointing, as I've only liked two of the six: The Sense of an Ending, and The Sisters Brothers, which I finished yesterday on the flight from Heathrow to Atlanta. I'm just over 1/3 of the way through Snowdrops, and I'm not enjoying it.

46rebeccanyc
syyskuu 19, 2011, 8:02 am

Welcome back! I hope you're feeling better. Was I wrong in thinking you were also going to go to Paris on this trip, or is that a separate trip?

47kidzdoc
syyskuu 19, 2011, 8:05 am

You're right, I had planned to go to Paris on this trip. I was going to go for a 2-3 day trip last week, but cancelled it (and a second meet up with some of the 75ers in Cambridge) due to a bad cold that I picked up the weekend before last. I'll probably return to London in the spring, and I'll almost certainly go to Paris then.

48kidzdoc
Muokkaaja: syyskuu 22, 2011, 1:29 pm

I just received a tweet from Bloomsbury Publishers that all electronic editions of two of Alan Hollinghurst's books, The Line of Beauty (which won the Booker Prize in 2004) and The Folding Star (his debut novel, which was shortlisted for the 1994 Booker Prize) are on sale for $2.99. I just checked the Amazon US web site; each book costs $2.51 at the moment, so I'm downloading them now.

49edwinbcn
syyskuu 25, 2011, 12:17 am

> I think his debut novel was The Swimming Pool Library, The Folding Star was his second novel.

50kidzdoc
syyskuu 25, 2011, 12:20 pm

>49 edwinbcn: Right you are, Edwin. The Swimming-Pool Library was published in 1998, and The Folding Star came out in 1994.

51kidzdoc
lokakuu 2, 2011, 9:53 am

The Artist of Disappearance by Anita Desai



My rating:

The newest work by Anita Desai is a collection of three novellas set in modern India, which share the themes of art and isolation. In the first novella, 'The Museum of Final Journeys', a lonely young government official is serving a post in an isolated and decrepit town, when an elderly man implores him to help save a museum of various objects collected from a young man's journeys across the world. The family's mansion is in decay, with only a hint as to its former grandeur, but the museum itself, kept locked and guarded, is filled with an overwhelming display of finery that titillates and exhausts the government man. 'Translator, Translated' is about an unhappy and unfulfilled middle age college literature teacher who meets a fellow classmate at a school reunion whose career and fame she has followed for years. The teacher, Prema, is thrilled that her classmate, Tara, has recognized her, and Tara invites her to translate the book that Prema is reading into English for the publishing company that she has started. The last novella, 'The Artist of Disappearance', is easily the best of the three. It concerns a man who lives as a hermit in his late parents' partially destroyed home deep in the Himalayas, who constructs a secret garden as a peaceful escape from his already isolated existence. A film crew from Delhi that is creating a documentary about the destruction of the area by miners and others accidentally stumbles upon the garden, and wish to find its creator, to the chagrin of the hermit, who withdraws to a place where he cannot be found by anyone.

All of the stories are filled with rich descriptions of rural and city life in modern India, as Desai's mastery of language and the art of writing are on full display. However, the first two short stories ended abruptly and in an unsatisfying manner to this reader, and were less enjoyable that the last novella, which was one of the best ones I've read. This is the first book I've read by Anita Desai, who is widely recognized as one of the best modern Indian writers, and I will certainly read more of her work in the near future.

52kidzdoc
lokakuu 3, 2011, 9:04 am

The announcement of the winner of this year's Nobel Prize in Literature will take place on Thursday at 1 pm CET (Central European Time), or 7 am EST (Eastern Standard Time) in the US. Ladbrokes, the main UK gambling company that handicaps the prize, has selected the Syrian poet Adonis as its favorite to win the award. He has been mentioned as a leading candidate for several years; a poet has not won the prize since Wislawa Szymborska in 1996; and the last Middle Eastern writer to win the award was Naguib Mahfouz in 1988. So, there would appear to be several factors in his favor. I bought two of his books last year, The Pages of Day and Night and The Songs of Mihyar of Damascus, so I'll plan to read them this month if he does win.

Here's an article that appeared in the Guardian on Tuesday about the Ladbrokes' favorites:

Adonis declared Nobel prize for literature favourite

53kidzdoc
lokakuu 6, 2011, 8:14 am

The 2011 Nobel Prize in Literature winner is the Swedish poet Tomas Tranströmer, who has been mentioned as a leading candidate for the prize for several years:

The Nobel Prize in Literature 2011

I'm glad to see that Mr Tranströmer was honored with the prize, due to his reputation and his advanced age. I'm a bit disappointed that the Algerian novelist Assia Djebar or the Syrian poet Adonis were not chosen, but they will likely be leading candidates for the 2012 prize. However, I'm relieved that Bob Dylan didn't win (although I do admire the man and his music).

I have two of Mr Tranströmer's collections of poems, The Sorrow Gondola (which I've read) and The Half-Finished Heaven: The Best Poems of Tomas Tranströmer, which I haven't gotten to yet. I'll bring both books with me on vacation, and look for more of his works at City Lights and elsewhere next week.

54kidzdoc
lokakuu 6, 2011, 8:26 am

The shortlist for this year's Wellcome Trust Book Prize, which celebrates medicine in literature, was announced in London today. The finalists are:

Turn of Mind by Alice LaPlante
The Two Kinds of Decay by Sarah Manguso
The Emperor of all Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee, HarperCollins - 4th Estate
State of Wonder by Ann Patchett
Nemesis by Philip Roth
My Dear I Wanted To Tell You by Louisa Young

The winner will be announced on 9 November. More info, including summaries of each book:

Wellcome Trust Book Prize 2011 shortlist announced

This is one of my favorite literary prizes, for obvious reasons. I've read the Manguso, which I liked, and the Mukherjee, which was fabulous. I have the Roth, which I'll read next month, and I'll download the Kindle versions of the other three novels, and try to read as many of them as I can before the winner is announced next month.

55kidzdoc
lokakuu 6, 2011, 8:55 am

I forgot to mention here that the Indian-Canadian writer Rohinton Mistry was awarded the 2012 Neustadt International Prize for Literature (also known as the "American Nobel Prize") last week:

Critically acclaimed Indian-Canadian writer Rohinton Mistry wins 2012 Neustadt International Prize for Literature

I have two of his books, Family Matters and Such a Long Journey, but haven't read either one yet. I'll probably read Family Matters before the end of the year, though.

56JanetinLondon
lokakuu 6, 2011, 12:12 pm

Thanks for posting all this prize info, Darryl. I am particularly glad to see Mistry win one, because I've read some of his books and I think he's great. I haven't read anything by Tranströmer, as I don't read a lot of poetry, but I think I'll go and have a look - that's what prizes are for, after all!

57janeajones
lokakuu 6, 2011, 8:50 pm

I heard about the Nobel on NPR this morning and am especially proud as a Swedish-American, though abashed that I've read none of Tomas Tranströmer's poetry -- a deficit I must needs redeem.

I do thank you, Darryl, for keeping us all apprised of the reward scene!

58kidzdoc
lokakuu 8, 2011, 2:08 pm

Stella Rimington, the chair of judges of this year's much maligned Booker Prize committee, is getting a wee bit cross about the negative criticism that she and her colleagues have received about this year's unorthodox Booker Prize shortlist:

Stella Rimington: 'Weirder people than me have chaired the Booker'

In the last paragraph of the article, the author describes Rimington's latest book, as a "serviceable thriller with wooden dialogue and pasteboard characters." That would be an apt description for several of the novels that the judges chose for this year's longlist.

59baswood
lokakuu 8, 2011, 2:21 pm

Keep on with the criticism, Darryl. She deserves it.

60kidzdoc
lokakuu 8, 2011, 2:25 pm

On a more upbeat note, Teju Cole has a lovely article about Tomas Tranströmer, including several of his poems, in one of The New Yorker blogs:

Miracle Speech: The Poetry of Tomas Tranströmer

61kidzdoc
Muokkaaja: lokakuu 9, 2011, 5:43 am

Princess Noire: The Tumultuous Reign of Nina Simone by Nadine Cohodas



My rating:

Nina Simone (1933-2003), the "High Priestess of Soul", is undoubtedly one of the greatest 20th century musicians in American history, and an immensely talented artist who was impossible to place in a single category. She was demanding of herself, her sidemen and audiences who failed to give her sufficient attention and praise, and unforgiving of anyone who took advantage of her work, or did not love her unconditionally. She was plagued throughout her adult life by mental illness, her race and gender in a country that viewed African American women with hostility and disrespect, and vulnerability due to failures early in life that superseded her successful career.

Nina Simone was born Eunice Waymon in Tryon, North Carolina, a small town that was segregated yet more tolerant than most others in the Jim Crow South. Recognized as a musical genius at an early age, she was influenced and nurtured by her family, the black church and local communities, and a white British piano teacher, who gave her classical music training on the piano with the support of two white women who respected the Waymon family and Eunice's musical gift. After high school she spent the better part of a year at Juillard, in order to hone her skills as a classical pianist and to prepare her for admittance to the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. Unfortunately, she was not accepted to the prestigious conservatory, a decision that may have been based on her unfavorable race. This failure, and the loss of her first and truest love, haunted her throughout the rest of her life.

Simone gave classic music lessons in Philadelphia, added popular music to her repertoire, and gained local attention when she spent a summer performing at a club in Atlantic City as a pianist, where she first began to sing. She began to perform in Philadelphia, playing popular tunes and songs she wrote, and then moved to New York to gain wider attention. Her career peaked in the mid 1960s, with standing room only performances at Carnegie Hall, and other venues throughout the United States, the Caribbean, Europe and Africa. She made several critically acclaimed albums on the Philips label, which garnered only modest commercial success. Inspired by close friendships with Lorraine Hansberry, Miriam Makeba, James Baldwin and Langston Hughes, she became an active participant in the civil rights movement, performing at numerous concerts to benefit local and national organizations including Stokely Carmichael's Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the Mississippi Freedom Summer volunteers.

After she divorced her second husband, who served as her business manager, confidant and stabilizing force, Simone's career began a slow decline, as mental illness, the stress of performing and traveling, and financial difficulties took their toll. She became progressively more hostile towards her audiences, berating them for not being engaged with her increasingly erratic and tardy performances, and shouting at those who interrupted her attention. She became estranged from her family, including her parents and her only child, and sought escape in Switzerland and France toward the end of her career and life. Mood stabilizing medications and the support of those closest to her permitted Simone to make a brief comeback, but she died in 2003 at the age of 70, after suffering two major strokes.

Nadine Cohodas provides the reader with an extensively researched biography of Nina Simone, which shines in its analysis of her early life and influences, the slow rise and more rapid decline of her career, details about her involvement in the civil rights movement, and descriptions of her performances through quotes from her husband, sidemen, audience members, and promoters. The book's major weaknesses are its seemingly interminable descriptions of Simone's erratic behaviors at concerts and in various settings, and its lack of personal analysis of Eunice Waymon, the complex and troubled woman within the performer. As a result, I was unable to connect with, understand and appreciate Nina Simone as much as I would have liked, leaving me with a sense of dissatisfaction at the end, which ended abruptly with her death, as if the author wanted to be done with Simone and the book.

I would recommend Princess Noire to fellow fans of Nina Simone, but not to casual readers or those who are unfamiliar with her work.


62baswood
Muokkaaja: lokakuu 9, 2011, 4:39 am

Interesting review of Princess Noire Darryl, Do you think that it was your own personal love of Simone the artist that helped to stop you really liking this book. Many famous artists are tortured souls, but if we love them dearly we don't really want to hear an author banging on about how badly behaved they were. We want to hear more about their work and their particular genius.

Looking forward to your reviews of the current books you are reading.

63kidzdoc
lokakuu 9, 2011, 5:58 am

Thanks, Barry. When I read and reviewed Princess Noire I thought about and compared it to the recent biography of Thelonious Monk by Robin Kelley, which portrayed another complex and troubled artist. Kelley did a much better job of analyzing and describing Monk, and as a result Monk came across as a dedicated husband and father and sensitive man, who was bedeviled my mental illness. The last 100+ pages of Princess Noire, on the other hand, seemed to be little more than a journalistic listing of Simone's numerous misbehaviors during concerts and toward those who were closest to her. And, as I mentioned briefly in my review, the book abruptly ends with her death, and it lacks an epilogue that could have humanized Simone. The first 200 or so pages of Princess Noire were superb, and had I stopped there I would have given it 4½ stars.

I'm leaving for San Francisco later this morning, to attend the San Francisco Jazz Festival and Litquake, SF's week long literary festival that began on Friday and ends this coming Saturday. I won't go to as many concerts as you did, Barry, and so far I've only purchased a ticket for the October 22 Joshua Redman/Brad Mehldau concert. I'll post summaries of my adventures there, which will probably start with tomorrow night's Medicine and Literature Litquake event that will feature Chris Adrian and two other physicians who are published novelists.

64JanetinLondon
lokakuu 9, 2011, 12:09 pm

Thanks for the link to Teju Cole's article - I read it straight away and now I'm even more interested in reading some of Tomas Tranströmer's poems. I'll see if my library has any, and if not, I'll indulge and buy one.

65Mr.Durick
Muokkaaja: lokakuu 10, 2011, 1:18 am

Princess Noire was on my waiting-for-the-paperback wishlist, and now I see that it is due for publication in paper in February, so it is now, instead, on my forthcoming wishlist. I first noticed her when as a senior in college I heard her sing Sinnerman on the student owned radio station, and as I was just fussing with my BN.COM wishlists I had chills recalling it. It is hyperbolic, perhaps manipulative, and powerful as all get out.

I saw, while juggling lists, that I have Thelonius Monk; now I wonder where. I should read it.

Robert

CURSE THE TOUCHSTONES

66kidzdoc
lokakuu 12, 2011, 9:25 am

I made my first trip to City Lights Bookstore on Monday, and left with these books:

What Is a Palestinian State Worth? by Sari Nusseibeh: The author is a well known and respected Palestinian activist, who was a trusted advisor to the PLO, and a pacifist who counts the Israeli author and pacifist Amos Oz as a close friend. I read his superb autobiography Once Upon a Country several years ago, so I immediately grabbed this after I saw it displayed amongst the new nonfiction titles.

Schizophrene by Bhanu Kapil: One of the many things I love about City Lights is its Poetry Room on the second floor, which has thousands of poetry titles, many from little known authors, along with a display table with notable new collections. This book came from the table, and is written by a Punjabi literature professor who teaches writing at the "Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado". The book is 'an account of immigration and trauma, told through memory, research, vision and hallucination', which includes 'the violent partition of the South Asian subcontinent to the disorientations of the London city grid.'

Waifs and Strays by Micah Ballard: The newest release in City Lights' Spotlight series, this collection of poems tells stories of those who struggle daily to survive on the gritty streets of San Francisco.

Jamilia by Chingiz Aitmatov: A novella described as 'the most beautiful love story in the world' by Louis Aragon, which has been praised by Akeela and several other LTers recently.

We the Animals by Justin Torres: A coming-of-age story about three mixed race brothers (half white, half puertorriqueño) growing up in Brooklyn.

Other Lives by André Brink: I looked for this recent novel by Brink in London after Akeela reviewed it last month, but I couldn't find it there. It consists of three interconnected stories about modern day South Africa, each dealing with the fluidity of identity and meaning.

The Persistence of the Color Line: Racial Politics and the Obama Presidency by Randall Kennedy: This book was high on my wish list, and is written by an African American Harvard law professor who has written several highly regarded books on race and culture.

Soul Talk, Song Language: Conversations with Joy Harjo by Joy Harjo and Tanaya Winder: This was another book from the display table in the Poetry Room at City Lights, which consists of conversations between the two women. Harjo is a "poet-healer-philosopher-saxophonist", who is considered to be "one of the most powerful Native American voices of her generation".

African Rhythms: The Autobiography of Randy Weston: Mr Weston is another of my favorite jazz musicians, who has been active for well over 50 years and was one of the first artists to formally incorporate African music into jazz.

As usual, I'll make at least a couple of more trips to City Lights over the next week and a half.

67kidzdoc
lokakuu 12, 2011, 9:36 am

>64 JanetinLondon: I would guess that you will have a hard time finding any of Tranströmer's works in libraries or bookshops, unless his work is more widely available in the UK than in the US. I bought two of his collections a year or two ago, when he was touted by Ladbrokes as a leading candidate for the '09 or '10 Nobel Prize. However, I read somewhere that the publishers of his poems in the US are scrambling to release currently out of print editions in the next month or two.

BTW, the Nobel Prize web site has posted five of his poems:

Five Poems by Tomas Tranströmer

>65 Mr.Durick: I don't think I've heard Nina's version of "Sinnerman", Robert. I'll look for it now.

68JanetinLondon
lokakuu 12, 2011, 10:15 am

According to the catalog, the library does have some of Tranströmer's works - in the Reserve collection, basically older stuff no one ever checks out but they know is too "good" to give away or trash (we don't have a sale system here as far as I can tell). These will be older ones, I guess, or they wouldn't be in that category, but I'll try and get one anyway and see. Half-finished Heaven seems to be out of stock in all the online bookshops, but I'll try and find that one too. Meanwhile, I'll make do with the ones you posted, thanks.

69kidzdoc
Muokkaaja: lokakuu 12, 2011, 10:48 am

Good news: Bloodaxe Books (UK) will reissue New Collected Poems by Tranströmer on Monday, in print and e-book format:

New Collected Poems

New editions of The Half-Finished Heaven and The Great Enigma: New Collected Poems should be available in the US soon, according to this article in yesterday's New York Observer:

After Nobel Prize, the Race to Publish More Tomas Tranströmer

71kidzdoc
lokakuu 12, 2011, 3:45 pm

Apparently there was a "miscommunication" about the finalists for the Young People's Literature award. As a result, after the finalists were announced on Oregon Public Broadcasting, a sixth book was added by the National Book Foundation, Chime by Franny Billingsley.

72Mr.Durick
lokakuu 12, 2011, 4:34 pm

73kidzdoc
Muokkaaja: lokakuu 12, 2011, 10:12 pm

Numerous sources have announced today that a new literary prize is being created, in response to the uproar over this year's Booker Prize fiasco. It has tentatively been named The Literature Prize, and it was announced by the literary agent Andrew Kidd earlier today.

"The Literature Prize will be for the best novel written in the English language and published in the UK in a given year, and a writer's country of origin will not be a factor. Our aim is to establish a clear and uncompromising standard of excellence, and the prize judges will be selected in rotation from an academy of experts in the field of literature.

"The prize will offer readers a selection of novels that, in the view of these expert judges, are unsurpassed in their quality and ambition. For many years this brief was fulfilled by the Booker (latterly the Man Booker) Prize. But as numerous statements by that prize's administrator and this year's judges illustrate, it now prioritises a notion of "readability" over artistic achievement.

"We believe though that great writing has the power to change us, to make us see the world a little differently from how we saw it before, and that the public deserves a prize whose sole aim is to bring to our attention and celebrate the very best novels published in our time."


The articles about this proposed award indicate that funding is currently being procured, and that the first award ceremony will likely take place in 2012. Several literary heavyweights are listed as supporters, including "John Banville, Pat Barker, Mark Haddon, Jackie Kay, Nicole Krauss, Claire Messud, Pankaj Mishra and David Mitchell."

More information:

New Literature Prize to establish "standard of excellence" (The Bookseller)

Is it time for a new literary prize? (New Statesman)

War of words: major authors launch rival to 'low-brow' Booker (The Independent)

74RidgewayGirl
lokakuu 12, 2011, 10:13 pm

Hooray!

75baswood
lokakuu 13, 2011, 4:31 am

This sounds like good news, Darryl. There seems to be room now for a new literary prize and if it gets off the ground the Booker can become even liter.

76Jargoneer
lokakuu 13, 2011, 6:31 am

Since they don't appear to have a sponsor yet there must be some doubt whether this idea will reach fruition. What kind of organisation will want to sponsor an award that promotes "challenging" literature?

Also, if you bear in mind that this year's Booker list is the best-selling ever and that comprised of a mere 37500 books in three weeks how many extra copies of "challenging" novels will be sold?

Still, the only way serious literature now gets discussed in the mainstream media is through prizes so it would perform some function.

77RidgewayGirl
lokakuu 13, 2011, 10:00 am

Didn't Wolf Hall do okay as far as sales were concerned? Part of the purpose of the Booker in the past was, I think, to put books that appear daunting in front of people and explain why they are worth reading.

I think that there is not enough press attention paid to books and that there is probably room for a few more prizes. I hope they find funding. The prize itself doesn't have to be huge-it's the publicity it generates that is the real prize.

78kidzdoc
lokakuu 13, 2011, 10:49 am

I'm flopping back and forth in my opinion about The Literature Prize like a beached flounder. Yesterday I was in favor of the award, earlier today I thought it was a bad idea, and now I'm slightly in favor of it. I like the idea of a literary prize that will serve as an alternative to the Booker Prize, especially one that will include writers from other countries, but I'm concerned that this dilute the relevance and impact of the Booker Prize. However, I'm hopeful that the people that oversee the prize will view The Literature Prize and the criticism that arose from this year's judges and their selections as a challenge to the direction that the prize seems to be heading, and act to restore its reputation as the world's top literary award for a single book. I think it was a bad decision to announce the proposed new prize less than a week before the Booker Prize winner is announced, as it takes away attention for the prize and is a bit of a slap in the face to the judges and especially to the shortlisted authors.

Right, this year's shortlist is the best selling one in the history of the Booker Prize. I suspect that this is because this year's books are one of the most "readable" ones, as the books are considerably shorter and less challenging than those of previous years, such as Wolf Hall, The Children's Book, C and Darkmans. I'm concerned that Ion Trewin will view this year as a successful one, since the books sold so well, and not realize that the reputation of the prize has taken a major hit this year. If so, we can expect more "Booker Lite" novels in the years to come.

Didn't Wolf Hall do okay as far as sales were concerned? Part of the purpose of the Booker in the past was, I think, to put books that appear daunting in front of people and explain why they are worth reading.

You're right; Wolf Hall has sold more copies than any other Booker Prize winning novel. I completely agree with you on the purpose of the prize, which is the main reason I love the award and am so interested to see it return to this stated goal.

I think that there is not enough press attention paid to books and that there is probably room for a few more prizes. I hope they find funding. The prize itself doesn't have to be huge-it's the publicity it generates that is the real prize.

Yes. There are dozens of outstanding books every year that fail to gain attention amongst the thousands of mediocre and bad books that are published every year, and any method (prizes, reviews, literary festivals, etc.) that highlights these books does a great service to readers and authors. The French literary prizes, especially the Prix Goncourt, is a perfect example of a literary prize whose worth (10 euros) is far outweighed by the publicity that the author receives and the increase in sales of the winning books.

I also love the idea of the long- and shortlists that several of the UK and European literary awards have adopted, with time given for readers to make it through some if not all of the books. I'd like to see the major US prizes adopt the same format. The National Book Awards, of course, do include a list of five (or six) finalists for each category, but I'd like it if the award was announced in late November or in December, to give readers a chance to buy and read these books beforehand.

79kidzdoc
Muokkaaja: lokakuu 13, 2011, 9:16 pm

Here is today's haul from City Lights:

Tyrant Memory by Horacio Castellanos Moya: This was at the top of my wish list, after I read and enjoyed his three earlier novels that have been translated into English, Dance with Snakes, Senselessness and The She-Devil in the Mirror. His latest book is a comic novel based in El Salvador in 1944, during the last days of the presidency of Maximiliano Hernández Martínez, a pro-Nazi dictator who survived a coup in April of that year, only to lose power after a general strike led by the military a month later. The main character is a wealthy socialite whose husband is in prison, while her son flees for his life. I'll have to read it to find out where the comedy lies in this seemingly grim story.

In the Castle of My Skin by George Lamming: The author is one of the best known writers who emigrated to the UK from the Caribbean after World War II, and his novel The Emigrants is widely considered to be a classic. This book is an autobiographical novel about Lamming's childhood in Barbados, before he emigrated to Trinidad and then to London in his early 20s.

Op Oloop by Juan Filloy: A classic work of Argentinian literature that was originally written in 1934 and published in English as part of Dalkey Archive's Latin American Literature Series, which is about a Finnish statistician living in Buenos Aires, whose life is meticulously regimented until a traffic delay leads to disruption of his schedule, with disastrous results.

Heat and Dust by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala: Her Booker Prize winning novel (1975), which is set in colonial India in 1923 and is centered around a Englishwoman trapped in an oppressive marriage, who seeks solace in the palace of an Indian prince, to the chagrin of her husband and the community who supports him.

Vertical Motion by Can Xue: I hope that I'll like this collection of dreamlike stories set in modern China better than her novel Five Spice Street, which I was unable to finish several years ago. It was recently published by Open Letter at the University of Rochester, and has received several glowing reviews.

Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward: I almost bought a signed copy of this book on Monday, but decided to get it after it was selected as a finalist for this year's National Book Award for Fiction. The setting is a small town on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, and the characters are members of a poor African American family who are in the path of a devastating hurricane, and must rely on each other and their neighbors to survive the looming disaster.

Tonight No Poetry Will Serve: Poems 2007-2010 by Adrienne Rich: This collection was selected as a finalist for this year's National Book Award for poetry, and it deals with "{p}artings and reconciliations, solidarities and ruptures, trust and betrayal, and exposure and withdrawal", in a variety of settings.

Double Shadow by Carl Phillips: This collection is also an NBA poetry finalist, which examines the double shadow that a life casts forth, in which "risk and faintheartedness prove to have the power equally to rescue us from ourselves and to destroy us."

Is That a Fish in Your Ear?: Translation and the Meaning of Everything by David Bellos: I nearly purchased this at Foyles last month, regretted not buying it or attending his talk there, and snatched it up after I saw it today. Bellos is the English translator of Georges Perec's masterpiece Life A User's Manual and the author of a biography about Perec. This book "ranges across the whole of human experience, from foreign films to philosophy, to show why translation is at the heart of what we do and who we are."

In Mad Love and War by Joy Harjo: This collection of poems won the William Carlos Williams Award, awarded by the Poetry Society of America for the best collection of poems published by a small press, non-profit, or university press. I bought this to accompany the book I purchased earlier this week, Soul Talk, Song Language: Conversations with Joy Harjo.

80kidzdoc
lokakuu 14, 2011, 9:59 am

>72 Mr.Durick: Thanks for that link to Sinnerman, Barry. I listened to that same video just before I read your post.

81rebeccanyc
lokakuu 14, 2011, 10:34 am

Great haul as usual, Darryl. I received Vertical Motion from Open Letter as part of my subscription but haven't read it yet. Most of the others are unfamiliar to me, although I have Heat and Dust and think I read it decades ago, but don't remember it, and I've seen Is That a Fish in Your Ear? in a bookstore and almost bought it -- and probably will the next time I see it.

82edwinbcn
lokakuu 15, 2011, 7:36 am

Thanks for including the links to various discussions / opinion pieces about the literary prizes discussions.

83kidzdoc
lokakuu 15, 2011, 9:57 am

>81 rebeccanyc: Thanks, Rebecca. All but one of those books, the Joy Harjo poetry collection, came from my wish list or from the list of 2011 NBA finalists.

>82 edwinbcn: Thanks, Edwin!

84kidzdoc
lokakuu 18, 2011, 4:52 pm

Breaking news: The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes is the winner of the 2011 Booker Prize.

85LovingLit
lokakuu 19, 2011, 4:53 am

Heard about it on the news here, just now. I hear there is some talk of it being a departure from the "type" of book that usually wins. It's readability apparently counts against it. Pssht I say. (actually- Id better read it before I say psssht)

86kidzdoc
lokakuu 21, 2011, 4:44 pm

Book #146: The Cloud Messenger by Aamer Hussein



My rating:

This was a dreary and bland, but thankfully short, novel narrated by a Mehran, a Pakistani man from a privileged family who grows up in Karachi, travels to Delhi, Bombay and Rome after his education in the United Kingdom, and spends most of his life in London, as a professor of Urdu literature. He is a citizen of the world, in a sense, but he is a rootless and nomadic man whose life is characterized by his failed relationships with two flawed and unlovable women and a friend who claims to care for him but continually takes advantage of him. The novel shares the same title as a famous Sanksrit poem by Kālidāsa, in which an exiled man uses clouds to convey messages to his wife; in the same fashion, Hussein's narrator writes letters to his first love, but these are largely brief and dispassionate chronological accounts of his work and relationships.

Despite its brevity, this was a difficult book to read, as the four main characters were largely inscrutable and held little interest for this reader. I had a somewhat similar impression of his book of short stories Another Gulmohar Tree, so I will not be reading any of this author's work in the future.

87kidzdoc
Muokkaaja: lokakuu 31, 2011, 10:33 am

Kangaroo Notebook by Kōbō Abe



My rating:

This novel was more strange than surreal, yet somehow readable. I think I would have to take a hallucinogenic drug to come close to understanding it, though. The main character is a Japanese man who wakes up to find that radish plants are growing out of pores on both of his legs (fortunately the plants are tasty, so he is able to snack on them at times). He undertakes an increasingly bizarre journey to seek a cure for his malady, occasionally aided and accompanied by an attractive nurse who collects blood from anyone she can, in her quest to win the Dracula's Daughter award. He encounters singing child-demons, strange fellow patients, and a motorized bed which transports him throughout the story and responds to thought commands. It was completely nonsensical and mildly humorous, but I can't say that I enjoyed it.

88StevenTX
lokakuu 31, 2011, 2:28 pm

I've been wanting to read more by Kōbō Abe, and even though your review wasn't enthusiastic, the "Dracula's Daughter Award" sounded too good to pass up. I happened to be going to a bookstore this morning, so I now have Kangaroo Notebook.

89kidzdoc
lokakuu 31, 2011, 2:44 pm

Have you read The Woman in the Dunes? It's superb, and it may be my favorite Japanese novel. I bought The Box Man, based on lilisin's enticing review.

I do hope that she decides to focus on Japanese literature for the Author Theme Reads group in 2012, as she mentioned on your thread. I had intended to start reading 1Q84 this month, but I would be willing to wait until next year if Murakami is chosen as the major author or the mini-author for the beginning of the year. I was thinking of reading Mishima's The Sea of Fertility series in 2012, and so I'd like to see him chosen as a featured author as well.

90StevenTX
lokakuu 31, 2011, 3:19 pm

Yes, I've read The Woman in the Dunes. I just bought The Box Man last week, and have The Ruined Map on my wishlist but haven't found it. I also have Secret Rendezvous.

I read most of Yukio Mishima's novels several years ago, and enjoyed all of them. In fact, I've enjoyed all the Japanese authors I've read and would look forward to reading more works by any of them.

91kidzdoc
marraskuu 1, 2011, 11:29 pm

Book #153: Scenes from Village Life by Amos Oz



My rating:

(I hadn't originally planned to write a review tonight, and I may update this later in the week. I may end up giving it a full five stars, as well.)

This collection of short stories by Amos Oz is set in an apparently fictional historical village in Israel that has been populated by Jews for roughly a century. The characters in the first seven stories all know each other, and those who are the center of one story will often appear in a minor role in one or more other ones. The stories are about the lives of the characters within their families and community, and focus on the loneliness and barely hidden frustration and despair that plague each of them. Each character is in a search for something, often without knowing what it is they are looking for or why, and the stories are dreamlike, haunting, and often mildly uncomfortable and menacing.

In the longest story, "Digging", a middle-aged widow lives with her cantakerous and difficult elderly widowed father, along with a shy and introspective Arab university student who lives in a shed on their land in exchange for performing household chores. The elderly man is awakened each night by the sound of digging underneath the house, yet no one else seems to hear it. Other stories feature a single doctor who expectantly waits for her ill nephew; a divorced woman pursued by a lovestruck and lonely teenager; an older man who lives in peace with his infirm mother at the edge of the village, until an intrusive stranger who claims to be a relative urges him to sell his mother's property; and the town's mayor, who receives a mysterious note from his wife. Oz does not provide the reader or his characters with straightforward resolutions to their dilemmas or searches, which made the stories that much more memorable and powerful.

The last story is quite unlike the others, as it is set in a different place at another time (past? present?), in a town whose structures are decaying and whose citizens are dying despite the best efforts of the official who is charged with their welfare.

The stories are wonderfully written, with simple yet evocative language, and I slowly savored each passage, such as this one from the elderly man in "Digging", as the Arab student plays a haunting Russian melody on his harmonica on one summer evening:

'That's a lovely tune,' the old man said. 'Heart-rending. It reminds us of a time when there was still some fleeting affection between people. There's no point in playing tunes like that today: they are an anachronism, because nobody cares any more. That's all over. Now our hearts are blocked. All feelings are dead. Nobody turns to anyone else except from self-interested motives. What is left? Maybe only this melancholy tune, as a kind of reminder of the destruction of our hearts.'


Scenes from Village Life is an unforgettable book, which is one of my favorite reads of the year, and one I look forward to returning to in the near future.

92baswood
marraskuu 2, 2011, 5:08 am

Excellent review Darryl. This one goes straight onto my to buy list.

93RidgewayGirl
marraskuu 2, 2011, 12:30 pm

Thanks for the review. I always enjoy reading your reviews, even for books that you didn't like, or for books I'm pretty sure I wouldn't enjoy.

Although Scenes from Village Life will be added to my wishlist, to be hunted down eventually.

94kidzdoc
Muokkaaja: marraskuu 2, 2011, 2:15 pm

>92 baswood: Thanks, Barry. I plan to read the other books I own by Amos Oz in the near future, namely The Same Sea, which is his favorite, My Michael and Black Box. Kerry (avatiakh) has the most books by Amos Oz of anyone on LT (20), so I'll have to ask her which ones are her favorite. She's currently reading Scenes from Village Life, so I'll be interested to see what she thinks of it.

>93 RidgewayGirl: You're welcome, RidgewayGirl! Writing reviews for me is often a struggle, except for books I love (like this one) or loathe (such as that dreadful Jessie Lamb novel that was selected for the Booker Prize longlist).

I bought my copy of Scenes from Village Life at the London Review Bookshop in September; I stumbled upon it on one of the new fiction shelves there, as I didn't know that he had written a new book. However, it's now available in the US.

Amos Oz was a guest on The Charlie Rose Show on PBS last week. He spoke with the host about his new book, Israel, literature and the craft of writing, and his life for just over half an hour.

The Charlie Rose Show: Amos Oz

95kidzdoc
Muokkaaja: marraskuu 2, 2011, 3:51 pm

Today is the second day of the Días de los Muertos (Days of the Dead), the annual Mexican and Chicano celebration held on November 1 (All Saints' Day) and November 2 (All Souls' Day) to honor relatives, friends and revered figures who have died. So, this is a perfect day to review:

Book #149: El Corazón De La Muerte/Altars and Offerings for Days of the Dead, published by the Oakland Museum of California



My rating:

I saw the 17th annual Días de los Muertos exhibition, entitled "Love and Loss", at the Oakland Museum of California when I was in San Francisco last month, and I bought this book from the museum shop afterward. The book, which was written for the 10th annual exhibition in 2003, provides a short introduction to the holiday, which dates back to pre-Hispanic Mexico. It began with Micailhuitontli, the Small Feast of the Dead, which lasted for 20 days and honored the dead children of the populations of ancient Mexico. This was followed by Huey Micailhuitl, the Great Feast of the Dead, in which the adult dead were honored. These rituals were both mournful and joyous, and consisted of the blessing of a tree cut down in honor of the dead children, and the creation of a large bird god made of amaranth seed dough, which was placed on the end of the tree trunk, forming a mythical Tree of Life around which offerings, sacrifices and bloodletting took place. Young men in the community then climbed the tree pole just before sunset, took down the bird made of bread, and broke off pieces, which were distributed to members of the community, as the "flesh of the god."

After the Spaniards conquered Mexico and its ancient peoples, elements of Christianity were incorporated into the ritual. Some of these were similar, yet many were different, most notably the conception of Heaven and Hell as places where people went after death. The rituals of Micailhuitontli and Huey Micailhuitl were replaced by All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day, and ofrendas, altars which consisted of offerings that were individualized based on the interests and influences of the dead person, became the essential core of Los Días de los Muertos, which continues to the present day.

The annual exhibitions at the museum, and the book based on it, consist largely of ofrendas created by Mexican-American artists and private citizens in the Bay Area, which consist of similar elements. The amaranth dough of the bird god is represented by pan de muerto (bread of the dead), which is placed on the altar, along with marigolds, the deceased's favorite foods, photographs, other objects that were dear to the departed person. Sugar-candy skulls are also featured in many of the ofrendas, along with miniaturized skeletons, which are often displayed as caricatures who sing, dance, drink and mock the powerful people who ruled their lives.

Here are some photos of several ofrendas that I took at the exhibition. As you'll see, several of the ofrendas are traditional, and others include modern elements, such as the one in which the altar is replaced by a boxing ring, and the depiction of a man in a disco outfit dancing with a woman who wears the mask of a skull (apologizes for the poor quality of the photos, which I took with my BlackBerry):





















The book was an excellent companion to this wonderful exhibition, which permitted me to appreciate the history and importance of Los Días de los Muertos. I would highly recommend this book, but I would even more highly recommend attending this exhibition, and/or any Días de los Muertos celebrations in your area.

96rebeccanyc
marraskuu 2, 2011, 5:42 pm

Fascinating about Los Dias de los Muertos. I think knowing something about this and other pre-Hispanic traditions would have helped me understand parts of Carlos Fuentes's Terra Nostra, which I found both compelling and mystifying.

97kidzdoc
marraskuu 2, 2011, 6:35 pm

I need to give Carlos Fuentes another try; I've had a hard time appreciating his work so far. I'll probably start with his nonfiction collection A New Time for Mexico, and then read Happy Families, one of his later fictional works (I think it's a collection of short stories about contemporary Mexican families). With everything else that I'm already planning to read next year it may be a couple of years before I can focus on him.

For some reason I thought he had won the Nobel Prize. He doesn't seem to be as widely read or discussed as other highly regarded Latin American writers, but I'm not sure why.

98kidzdoc
marraskuu 2, 2011, 8:27 pm

Book #150: The River Between by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o



My review:

This short novel is set in colonial Kenya, in an isolated region where two rival populations each live on a ridge separated by a river that nourishes—and erodes—the land of both communities. One community is mainly Christian, led by a local man who has embraced the colonialists' religion and rejects traditional values, particularly circumcision of young men and women; the other is based on tribal traditions, led by a group of elders and influenced by a young man who is descended from a rich lineage, was educated in part by the Christian missionaries that influenced the other camp, and is highly respected by many in the community for educating its young people. This community embraces circumcision as an essential ritual, and is torn between those who embrace and support the Teacher, and a small but powerful faction led by a sworn power hungry enemy of the Teacher. The Teacher himself is torn by his duty to the community, passed down by his father, his love of the uncircumcised daughter of the preacher of the neighboring community, and his belief that the two rivals must unite to combat the increasing influence of the colonialists and gain independence from them. This was closer to a 4½ star than a 4 star read for me, and is highly recommended.

99labfs39
marraskuu 3, 2011, 4:05 pm

I just added both Scenes From Village Life and The River Between to my booklist. You have now surpassed Rebecca in the number of books you've recommend that are on my list (by two). But then, I haven't read Rebecca's thread today!

100rebeccanyc
marraskuu 3, 2011, 5:10 pm

Nothing new on my thread today, Lisa, so you're safe. But I do feel a competitive streak coming on, so I will point out that I previously read and recommended The River Between (and everything else I've read by Ngugi)! Actually, I get lots of book ideas from both of you.

101kidzdoc
Muokkaaja: marraskuu 5, 2011, 1:41 pm

bBook #154: Coming Through Slaughter by Michael Ondaatje



My rating:



The cornetist Buddy Bolden (1877-1931) is widely credited as being one of the creators of the music now known as jazz. He was born in New Orleans and formed a band in 1895, which was centered in the red light district known as Storyville and soon became one of the most popular ones in the city (Bolden is seen with his band, standing second from the left in this 1905 photograph). He was influenced by ragtime music, the blues and music from the church, and combined these elements into a unique form which was later termed "jazz". Bolden was a man of several trades, working as a barber and the publisher of a scandalous paper based on information he received from his customers and friends. Unfortunately he was also plagued by alcoholism and mental illness, and his health deteriorated in 1906, when his band was at the peak of its popularity. He suffered an acute mental breakdown the following year, and was admitted to the Louisiana State Insane Asylum, where he was confined for the remainder of his life.

Michael Ondaatje, a confessed lover of jazz, provides us with a fictionalized account of the life of Buddy Bolden, in the form of an improvised riff led by a childhood friend, who became a police officer outside of town and came back to investigate Bolden's increasingly bizarre behavior and downfall. Ondaatje provides the reader with foggy and staccato-like glimpses of Bolden, his wife and mistress, and several other characters who were close to him, including E.J. Bellocq, who gained fame and notoriety by photographing the prostitutes of Storyville. Although this was an interesting technique, it did not work for me, as the main character became an elusive spirit who came into and out of focus, which prevented me from understanding the man, his music or his troubled life. This was a commendable effort, but one which frustrated and will quickly be forgotten by this reader.

102baswood
marraskuu 5, 2011, 7:07 pm

Good review of Coming through Slaughter Darryl. You don't seem to be alone in not liking this novel. However because it is Ondaatje and because the subject is jazz I will probably be tempted by it, but I have been warned.

103kidzdoc
marraskuu 5, 2011, 8:54 pm

Thanks, Barry. The book did pique my interest in Buddy Bolden, so I'll be on the lookout for nonfiction books about him.

I attended a talk in San Francisco last month, in which Michael Chabon interviewed Michael Ondaatje. He made mention of his love of jazz, and compared its improvisational solos followed by a synthesis of the different instruments at the end of a piece to the best aspects of literature. I took notes (as best I could in a darkened theatre) during the talk, and will write a "review" of it sometime this week.

104baswood
marraskuu 5, 2011, 9:09 pm

I'll look forward to your review ,Darryl

105labfs39
marraskuu 5, 2011, 9:46 pm

As will I. It will dovetail nicely with some of the interviews with Murakami that I've read lately. From what I understand, Murakami uses jazz as a strong undercurrent through many, if not all, of his books. There are even jazz compilations out on the web now of the works he mentions in a particular book, such as this one for The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle for sale on Amazon.

106Trifolia
marraskuu 6, 2011, 3:40 am

Hi Darryl, I'm in awe of how you keep up reading at such high level and speed and combining this with a very demanding job and solid reviews here on LT and elsewhere. Although I don't have much to add to it, I just want to let you know that I like and appreciate your threads, You even may have convinced me to try Murakami as well :-)

107avaland
marraskuu 7, 2011, 2:09 pm

Just catching up with your reading, Darryl. I agree with your reviews of The Last Gift and The River Between (I had to write a paper on that last one), but disagree on your take of The Testament of Jessie Lamb - although I agree that it's not the type of book I would expect you to like:-) I was surprised to see it on the Booker longlist though, not usually their sort of stuff, is what I thought. Much depends on the judges each year and what they might be looking for.

Personally, I don't use award lists to shape my reading, but I know it can provide a common conversation, and it's awfully good literary sport for some. Don't get me wrong, I like to see a deserving book or author make an award list, I just prefer to discover the book before the sticker ends up on the cover.

btw, the Impac Dublin longlist is up. It's the usual mix of titles. I don't know why they call it a longlist as it is really the nominations of all the many, participating libraries.

108avaland
marraskuu 7, 2011, 2:11 pm

ll look forward to your comments on Salvage the Bones but probably won't read them until after I write mine (and I'm way behind in reviews) . It was a good book to read during a power outage.

109wandering_star
marraskuu 7, 2011, 8:26 pm

Michael Chabon interviewing Michael Ondaatje - sounds fantastic. How did they choose the author 'pairing'? I like them both but wouldn't necessarily have put them on the same billing.

110kidzdoc
marraskuu 14, 2011, 10:44 am

Book #137: The Goldsmith's Secret by Elia Barceló



My rating:

Imagine that you are a successful but lonely middle aged man, whose heart was broken years ago by the only woman you've ever loved. You are provided one opportunity to meet her again, without knowing if she still lives in the town where you last kissed her, or if she will welcome or reject you. Should you take that chance? If you were given the chance to reinvent your past, would you do it?

The story begins on a snowy December morning in New York, as a goldsmith attempts to write about his memories of youth in 1970s Spain, his past relationship with Celia, and his recent trip to his home town in Spain to attend the funeral of his beloved uncle. As he travels by train to Oneira to pay his last respects, memories of Villasanta, the village that he grew up in and where he met Celia, flood his mind and enliven his heart. He decides to disembark there in order to look for her and to revisit the past.

You can read the rest of my review in the latest issue of Belletrista, which is now online:

http://www.belletrista.com/2011/Issue14/reviews_14.php

111kidzdoc
Muokkaaja: marraskuu 14, 2011, 12:33 pm

For those of us who have been (im)patiently awaiting the sequel of Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel's Booker Prize winning masterpiece: 4th Estate will publish Bring Up the Bodies in May. More information will be forthcoming from the publisher tomorrow.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hilary-Mantel/192208230860601?sk=wall

ETA: Here's the press release from 4th Estate:

Title of the sequel to ‘Wolf Hall’ is announced – ‘Bring Up The Bodies’

According to the publishing director of 4th Estate: ‘We are thrilled to be able to announce that Hilary Mantel has delivered a new novel. In Bring up the Bodies, she has turned her attention to the downfall of Anne Boleyn, a story at the heart of Tudor history, and in Mantel’s hands, every bit as illuminating, terrifying and utterly compelling as one might expect. Like its predecessor, Wolf Hall, it is hard to think of anything in contemporary fiction quite like it, and it will certainly delight her many fans all over the world.’

112labfs39
marraskuu 14, 2011, 1:04 pm

I enjoyed your review of The Goldsmith's Secret in Belletrista. The way the author plays with time sounds intriguing. Kudos

113baswood
marraskuu 14, 2011, 1:58 pm

Great review of The Goldsmith's Secret. A strange touchstone has appeared and so I am wondering if it is a translated novel. It sounds good and there is nothing like a bit of fantasy to make us feel we are alive. I might like this book

114RidgewayGirl
marraskuu 14, 2011, 2:06 pm

Oh, hooray! The sequel to Wolf Hall!

115kidzdoc
Muokkaaja: marraskuu 17, 2011, 7:28 pm

Book #157: Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward



My rating:

Esch Batiste is a 14 year old girl who lives in a rural town on the Mississippi Gulf Coast along with her father Claude and her three brothers, Randall, Skeetah and Junior, who was named for his father after his mother died soon after giving birth to him. The kids are mainly left to fend for themselves, subsisting on Ramen noodles, bologna and the hidden chicken eggs they gather, as their father often drunk, hostile and emotionally distant from them. Each of them has a main focus, which serves as an escape from poverty and hopelessness: Randall seeks a college scholarship to play basketball; Skeetah owns a mother pit bull named China, whose puppies he plans to raise and sell for dogfighting; Esch is obsessed with Manny, a boy who desires her sexually but does not love her; and Junior, the youngest, tirelessly seeks the attention of his siblings, mainly by annoying the heck out of them.

It is the summer of 2005, the middle of the Atlantic hurricane season, and a storm named Katrina slowly gathers strength in the Gulf of Mexico. Claude obsessively follows news reports the path of the hurricane, but his pleas to his children to make preparations for this storm mainly fall on deaf ears, as they are distracted by their own hopes and desires, and doubt that this storm will be any different than any of the other ones they and previous generations of Batistes have lived through. Claude decides that they should ride out the storm, despite the mandatory evacuation warning, a decision they will all regret once Katrina makes landfall.

Esch, the precocious and sensitive narrator of this story, identifies herself with Medea, the wife of the Greek mythic hero Medea, and with Skeetah's dog China, who is tender toward her owner and her pups, but fights ferociously and relentlessly against anyone who opposes her.

Salvage the Bones is an unblinking and unforgettable coming of age novel about the despair of the lives of an impoverished rural family in the Deep South, whose disparate members are often at odds with each other, yet their fierce devotion to each other binds them together in moments of crisis. This novel may not be appropriate for some readers, due to its vivid description of dogfighting, but I would highly recommend it to everyone else.

116labfs39
marraskuu 16, 2011, 3:34 pm

Thank you for the warning about the dogfights. I may pick it up anyway and try to skip those parts; your review has drawn me in!

117kidzdoc
marraskuu 16, 2011, 6:11 pm

I'm glad that you liked my review, Lisa. I read Salvage the Bones in advance of tonight's National Book Award ceremony, along with two other finalists for this year's Fiction award: The Tiger's Wife by Téa Obreht and The Sojourn by Andrew Krivak. I haven't yet read the other two finalists, The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka and Binocular Vision by Edith Pearlman. RidgewayGirl (if I remember correctly) and Chatterbox both liked Binocular Vision. None of the three books I read blew me away, and The Tiger's Wife has already won a major award (the Orange Prize), so I'll be curious to see which one comes out on top. I have to work overnight tonight, so I might not be able to watch the webcast of the ceremony, which begins at 8 pm EST.

I'm behind on reviews and replies to messages on my thread. I'll catch up ASAP.

118labfs39
marraskuu 16, 2011, 7:58 pm

I look forward to seeing what you think of The Buddha in the Attic. I've only read Otsuka's first novel, When the Emperor was Divine. I gave it four stars. Have you read it?

I'm very behind on reviews too. I'm working on one for Van Gogh: The Life which I finally finished last night.

119kidzdoc
marraskuu 17, 2011, 7:39 pm

I haven't read The Buddha in the Attic, Lisa. The only person I know who has read and reviewed it is Deborah (Cariola), who wasn't fond of it.

BTW, Salvage the Bones won the National Book Award for Fiction last night. The other NBA winners are:

Nonfiction: Stephen Greenblatt, The Swerve: How the World Became Modern
Poetry: Nikky Finney, Head Off & Split
Young People's Literature: Thanhha Lai, Inside Out & Back Again

120GCPLreader
marraskuu 24, 2011, 9:12 am

Darryl, happy Thanksgiving. What are you most looking forward to eating today? Me, I'm a stuffin' girl!

121kidzdoc
marraskuu 24, 2011, 10:15 am

Thanks, Jenny. Yes, stuffing is one of my favorites, along with my father's cornbread and macaroni & cheese. He's now become the main cook in the family, as my mother has gladly ceded those responsibilities to him (allthough she does do her fair share of cooking).

122kidzdoc
joulukuu 3, 2011, 10:03 pm

Book #161: No More Mr. Nice Guy by Howard Jacobson



My rating:

Frank is a 50 year old British television critic, who has just left his partner, a highly dysfunctional author of feminist porn plagued by bulimia and neuroses. He is literally a talking and breathing penis, whose thoughts about having sex are interrupted only by eating, sleeping and other necessary bodily functions. He returns to Oxford and other towns where his sexual conquests as an adolescent and young man took place, but to his apparent surprise, he cannot relive the past. The novel is well written, but incredibly juvenile, vulgar and boring, and it may well be the worst book I've read this year.

123StevenTX
joulukuu 4, 2011, 12:14 am

Eeek! I just got my ER copy of this book too. I've read just the first couple of chapters so far, thinking this is a British Philip Roth. I thought The Finkler Question was really good, and that's why I put in for this one. I'll still try to read it with an open mind.

124baswood
joulukuu 4, 2011, 4:14 am

No more Mr Nice Guy. what a comedown after the very fine The Finkler Question this sounds like just a load of balls.

125rebeccanyc
joulukuu 4, 2011, 7:58 am

Well, I couldn't stand The Finkler Question and this sounds even worse.

126kidzdoc
Muokkaaja: joulukuu 4, 2011, 8:10 am

>123 StevenTX: I still haven't read that much by Philip Roth, particularly his Zuckerman novels, although I do own American Pastoral and The Human Stain. If No More Mr. Nice Guy is comparable to these books then they will join this book in the recyclable bin.

>124 baswood: Agreed. This book was a testosterone-laced fantasy, which isn't worth the pages it was printed on. I'd rather read The Testament of Jessie Lamb again than have to re-read this one.

>125 rebeccanyc: I can't think of a book that I would recommend to you less than this one, Rebecca. Despite my strong opposition to banning any books, I'd vote to ban this one.

127kidzdoc
joulukuu 4, 2011, 9:07 am

I should have mentioned that No More Mr. Nice Guy is a reprint by Bloomsbury USA; it was originally published in 1998.

128RidgewayGirl
joulukuu 4, 2011, 11:48 am

American Pastoral is worth reading, and does give a good picture of Roth's misogyny, without beating you over the head with it. There's no doubt that he can write and that he belongs in our literary pantheon, but he is hard to take. The Human Stain is, quite simply, horrible. Women are either intelligent, emasculating bitches, or idiot sex objects.

I have a copy of The Finkler Question and am eager to read it.

129Trifolia
joulukuu 4, 2011, 1:03 pm

I did like American Pastoral, Nemesis and Everyman, the only three books by Philip Roth I've read so far. Although this assertion regularly appears re. Roth, I can't remember any of them being misogynous though. Unless I mix up cynicism or irony with misogyny?
No More Mr. Nice Guy sounds awful.

130rebeccanyc
joulukuu 4, 2011, 1:40 pm

I am a Roth fan, although his work is terribly mixed. When I read Darryl's comments, I couldn't help thinking about Portnoy's Complaint. My all-time favorite Roth is American Pastoral, which I consider his masterpiece, and I've been very disappointed in his recent books, so much so I haven't read the last two or three. He certainly has a distorted view of women, but so do a lot of writers. Sometimes it annoys me so much I can't read a book and sometimes I can take it in stride.

131JanetinLondon
joulukuu 4, 2011, 2:12 pm

Darryl, I would also add a good word for American Pastoral. I think Roth is a much better writer than Jacobson.

132dchaikin
joulukuu 4, 2011, 6:24 pm

#122 - sorry you didn't like the book, but your review is very entertaining. Not sure what to make up HJ.

133labfs39
Muokkaaja: joulukuu 5, 2011, 11:19 pm

I'm looking forward to seeing your opinions on Whatever it is, I Don't Like It. I had mixed feelings about Finkler, but thought his essays might be interesting.

ETFix touchstone

134kidzdoc
joulukuu 6, 2011, 7:59 am

>128 RidgewayGirl: Okay, I'll spare American Pastoral from the recyclable bin for the time being, but it will stay at the bottom of my TBR pile, along with The Human Stain.

Oddly enough, the talk about Roth made me remember that I had wanted to read his latest novel Nemesis, which is set in his home town of Newark, NJ during a polio epidemic in 1944. It was a finalist for this year's Wellcome Trust Book Prize, which celebrates medicine in literature, and I wanted to read all of the books that were selected for the shortlist. I'll read it this week.

>129 Trifolia: I suppose I'll have to read more of Roth to form my own opinion of him, particularly his early works. I'm in no rush to get to these books, as I own hundreds of unread books that I'd rather read instead.

>130 rebeccanyc: I did like The Plot Against America, but I found Everyman forgettable and hard to take.

>131 JanetinLondon:, 132 From what little I've read of both writers I would definitely rank Roth well above Jacobson. Maybe I will read one of each author's best novels, probably Kalooki Nights by Jacobson and American Pastoral by Roth, sooner rather than later.

>133 labfs39: I might read Whatever It Is, I Don't Like It during my Christmas break two weeks from now. I read one or two of the first essays after I bought it, and I enjoyed both of them.

135rebeccanyc
joulukuu 6, 2011, 8:34 am

For what it's worth, The Plot Against America was one of the Roth books I didn't like.

136baswood
joulukuu 6, 2011, 5:10 pm

ok own up darryl, just how many hundreds of unread books have you awaiting.

137GCPLreader
joulukuu 6, 2011, 5:14 pm

Oh, you'll like Nemesis-- it's a gentle Roth. :o)

138kidzdoc
joulukuu 6, 2011, 5:54 pm

>136 baswood: Would you believe 101?

>137 GCPLreader: A gentle Roth is more palatable than a misogynistic one.

139kidzdoc
Muokkaaja: joulukuu 11, 2011, 10:32 am

Book #164: Nemesis by Philip Roth



2011 Wellcome Trust Book Prize shortlist

My rating:

"Bucky" Cantor is a young physical education teacher who is spending his summer as a playground director in the largely Jewish neighborhood of Weequahic in Newark, New Jersey. It is the summer of 1944, one that would be remembered for its brutal heat and its devastating outbreak of paralytic polio, the worst outbreak to strike the city since 1916. Bucky is distressed that he cannot join his two best friends in the war effort, as his poor eyesight makes him ineligible for the draft. He is a serious and dedicated teacher and mentor to the boys in the playground, who love and respect him unconditionally, as do their parents.

Bucky is deeply in love is Marcia Steinberg, the strikingly beautiful daughter of a beloved community physician, who teaches in the same school where he works. She is spending the summer as a counselor in a camp in the Poconos, and she begs him to join her there.

Weequahic is seemingly protected from polio, which has begun to make inroads in the surrounding neighborhoods, until two of the playground boys suddenly succumb to the illness. As the epidemic flares with a vengeance, the members of the community panic and point fingers at the city's leadership, the parents of the stricken children, and anyone suspected of bringing the infection into the neighborhood. Bucky is deeply shaken, and questions his own role in the outbreak, and how a merciful God could allow such a pestilence to strike against innocent children.

A position for a swimming instructor becomes available at the camp where Marcia is working, and Bucky leaves the disease plagued city to be with Marcia. There it is cool and idyllic, and polio is a distant memory. Bucky, however, is conflicted by his decision to leave the boys and his community, who he feels need him more than ever, but he is also free of the fear that he or the children in the camp will be the next polio victim and is alongside the woman he intends to marry.

In Nemesis, Roth does a fine job of portraying the fear and paranoia that resulted from that awful summer of 1944, and the devastating effect of paralytic polio on its survivors and on the families of those who died from the illness. However, the main characters are one dimensional and thinly portrayed, which greatly dilutes the effect of the story. Roth's main theme in the book, the struggle of one man's responsibility toward his community and country and its conflict with personal happiness and fulfillment, is not handled as well as it could have been, and it seemed to this reader that the first 3/4 of the book served as a set up for a discussion of this theme, making for a somewhat disjointed and unsatisfying read. Nemesis is a good book, but it could have been a great one.

140kidzdoc
Muokkaaja: joulukuu 11, 2011, 12:18 pm

Book #161: Other Lives by André Brink



My rating:

This book consists of three interconnected short stories, all set in contemporary Cape Town and its surrounding towns. In "The Blue Door", the main character is a middle aged teacher who is also a successful painter, who lives in an apartment with his wife, in a comfortable but stolid and childless marriage. He owns a studio across town, which also serves as a haven of solitude for him. He leaves the studio one day to go to a local delicatessen, but when he returns there, he is greeted by an attractive younger woman who claims to be his wife, and two small children who smother him with hugs and kisses. Shaken, he leaves and attempts to return home, but his plight becomes increasingly surreal. In the second story, "Mirror", a successful architect prepares to go to work one morning after his wife and children have left, but he is shocked at the change in his appearance in the bathroom mirror. Finally, "Appassionata" is narrated by a concert pianist, who engages in a professional relationship with a renowned but mysterious singer with a dark past, with whom he falls madly in love.

In Other Lives, Brink plays with shifting identities and roles in the new South Africa, a country that is adjusting to new realities and expectations. The technique of using the same characters in different stories was largely successful, although "Appassionata" was a far weaker story than the brilliant first story and the very good second one. This book slipped from a 5 star read after "The Blue Door" to a 4 star one at the end, but it was still a very good read overall, and is highly recommended.

141baswood
joulukuu 11, 2011, 6:15 pm

Excellent review of Nemesis, Philip Roth and the Andre Brink book look like its worth reading.

142labfs39
Muokkaaja: joulukuu 12, 2011, 9:28 pm

Your review of Other Lives reminds me of The Double by Saramago. Have you read it? It too deals with strange and disturbing changes in identity. I'll keep an eye out for Brink's book.

143akeela
joulukuu 13, 2011, 1:21 pm

Hi Darryl. Happy to find that Other Lives merited four stars from you! I had much the same response to the book. Loved the first two stories, and - disappointingly - couldn't quite figure out how the third fit into the otherwise great volume.

144kidzdoc
joulukuu 14, 2011, 6:15 am

>141 baswood: Thanks, Barry. Despite the last story, Other Lives is definitely worth reading.

>142 labfs39: I did read The Double about 5-6 years ago, I think. I liked it, but I can't remember much about it.

>143 akeela: Hi, Akeela! Thanks for recommending Other Lives, which I bought because of your review. I hope to read A Dry White Season next year, and I'll probably start reading more of his books in 2013 or later, after I decrease my current mountain of unread books sufficiently.

145kidzdoc
joulukuu 16, 2011, 2:03 am

The public intellectual Christopher Hitchens, author of God Is Not Great, Hitch-22 and numerous other books, lost his public battle to esophageal cancer last night, at the age of 62.

New York Times: Polemicist Who Slashed All, Freely, With Wit

Guardian: Christopher Hitchens dies aged 62

146GCPLreader
joulukuu 24, 2011, 10:06 am

merry christmas, darryl!

147kidzdoc
Muokkaaja: joulukuu 24, 2011, 5:44 pm

Merry Christmas to you too, Jenny!

BTW, I hope that you weren't seriously affected by Thursday night's storms. I saw that Rome and other cities in NW Georgia were hit pretty hard.

148Cariola
joulukuu 28, 2011, 9:03 am

Hi, Darryl! I'm wishing you a belated Merry Christmas. Did Santa bring you There but for the? I'll be eager to read your comments when you get around to it.

149RidgewayGirl
joulukuu 29, 2011, 2:05 pm

Happy holidays! Will you be putting together an end of the year reading summary?

150kidzdoc
joulukuu 30, 2011, 6:23 am

>148 Cariola: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you too, Deborah! I didn't receive There but for the as a Christmas gift. I looked for it at Strand Book Store in NYC on Boxing Day, but I couldn't find it there, so I ordered it from the Strand's web site on Tuesday.

>149 RidgewayGirl: Happy Holidays! Yes, I will post a year end reading summary over the weekend.