January, 2019--Books we're reading to greet the New Year

I have a couple of books on the go, including Chantal Mouffe's FOR A LEFT POPULISM.

Gonna try and ramp up my reading in 2019, be more dedicated to the printed word in these digitized, mechanized times.

Read How to be Both but didn't really take to it, Don't think I'll bother with any more by Ali Smith. Currently reading The Corners of the Globe, the second book in Robert Goddard's historical potboiler trilogy.

Starting with Memoirs of Hadrian and The Complete Stories of Flannery O'Connor

Iron Lake by William Kent Krueger
4****

From the book jacket: Part Irish, part Anishinaabe Indian, Corcoran “Cork” O’Connor is the former sheriff of Aurora, Minnesota. Embittered by his “former” status, and the marital meltdown that has separated him from his children, Cork gets by on heavy doses of caffeine, nicotine, and guilt. Once a cop on Chicago’s South Side, there’s not much that can shock him. But when the town’s judge is found dead of a gunshot wound and a young Eagle Scout is reported missing, Cork takes on a mind-jolting case of conspiracy, corruption, and scandal.

My reactions:
This is book one in a series that has become immensely popular and catapulted William Kent Krueger onto a list of the best mystery / thriller writers. The plot is satisfyingly complex, with many suspects, unclear motives, uncertain crimes (Accident? Suicide? Murder?), and more twists and turns than the most fiendish roller coaster.

Holding it together is Cork O’Connor. This is a complicated man; generally, a good guy with a strong moral compass and guiding sense of justice, he is not without flaws and makes his share of personal mistakes. Yet he is uniquely able to investigate both in town and on the reservation, giving him clues and information that is often withheld from “outsiders.”

I’ve had this series on my tbr for ages and regret that I waited so long to begin. I’ll be reading more of this series.

The Hypnotist’s Love Story– Liane Moriarty
Audible audio performed by Tamara Lovatt Smith
4****

Ellen O’Farrell works out of her home as a professional hypnotherapist. She likes her life, except for a failed romance. She’s moved on but would welcome another shot at a long-term relationship. Then she meets Patrick. They hit it off and things are going well when he spouts the dreaded “We need to talk.” Turns out Patrick has an ex-girlfriend who is stalking him.

What an interesting and fresh take on relationships and the psychology of love. What makes us attracted to one another? What holds us together? What happens when one partner moves on, but the other hangs on – desperately, crazily, dangerously?

The relationships between these three people – Patrick, Ellen and Saskia (the ex-girlfriend) – are complicated by misinterpretation, jumping to conclusions, and secrets kept from one another. They are all broken in some way, and all trying to come to grips with past and current relationships. And it will take a significant crisis to finally bring some sense of resolution, however tenuous.

Tamara Lovatt Smith does a fine job narrating the audiobook. However, Moriarty switches point of view between the two women. In the text it’s a little easier to tell when she switches. One character’s perspective is always written in first person, the other in third person narrative. However, there is much dialogue in which a character would naturally speak in first person. (e.g. “I went to the store.”) While this is easy to discern on the printed page, it’s less obvious when listening. Not the narrator’s fault at all, but it still adversely affected the audio experience. I would probably have rated this higher if I had read the text rather than listened.

The Ides Of March – Thornton Wilder
2**

In this work of historical fiction, Wilder uses a combination of letters, diary entries and official documents to tell the story of the last year of Julius Caesar’s life.

Thank heavens I already knew the basic outline of this story. It was simply torture to read. Wilder divides the novel into four “books.” But the time frames overlap. For example, book one begins with a letter dated Sep 1 (45 BC), includes later entries marked “written the previous spring", has a memo dated Sep 30 near the end, followed by two undated notes, and a final document “written some fifteen years after the preceding.” Then we move on to Book Two, which begins with a letter dated Aug 17 (45 BC). S*I*G*H

The second difficulty I had was with the names / relationships. They frequently use nick names or code names when trying to ensure secrecy from prying eyes, should a letter fall into the wrong hands. THEY know who they refer to, but this reader was frequently confused.

And the third reason I found this so challenging are the many asides / footnotes / remarks that the author inserts. For example, in Book I, in the middle of a rather long “historical document” the author writes: Here follows the passage in which Cicero discusses the possibility that Marcus Junius Brutus may be Caesar’s son. It is given in the document which opens Book IV..

Now, I appreciate Wilder’s writing, and there were times in the book that I was completely engaged in the story. I was fascinated to read of the intrigue and espionage, the role of Cleopatra, etc. But on the whole … well I think I had more “fun” translating Cicero’s oration against Cataline when I studied Latin in high school (and I hated that).

Life is too short to finish bad books, just sayin

Sort of finished My Dear Hamilton found myself skimming over the many repetitions, some really bad dialogue and other part in need of a good editor. Once I got to the point where Eliza was a widow, the writing and story really got better, and rather interesting speculation.

Reading Little by Edward Carey. Just as good as his other books he wrote a decade ago - its about time he came out with a new one!

Finished another Anthony Bourdain offering, MEDIUM RAW.

Profane, funny and sharp-toothed, this is my kind of prose regarding food and the people who cook and serve it.

Recommended.

Finished the Fussell Class book. It was very funny, I particularly loved the appendices which included a delightful quiz where you identified a person's class based on the situation, and a "mailbag" of reader class questions.

I am currently reading sci-fi author Cory Doctorow's 2017 novel Walkaway which I picked up from the library. So far so good. I'm also reading a book about gardening Beautiful No-Mow Yards as one of my projects for the near future is to get rid of my lawn and put in other plants in my yard. (I have a really small yard with several big trees and it's not been well taken care of for several years so it's got a lot of blackberry and ivy and other issues.)

The Search For Joyful– Benedict and Nancy Freedman
4****

A sequel to the popular Mrs Mike, this work of historical fiction is set primarily during World War II, and follows the career of a young Cree woman – Kathy (a/k/a/ Oh-Be-Joyful’s Daughter) – as she becomes an Army nurse and finds love and her place in the world.

I really liked Kathy Forquet as a heroine. Born to Cree parents, she was raised by a white family – Kathy “Mrs Mike” Flanigan is her adoptive mother. Because of her “white upbringing,” she has the advantages of an education that many other First Nation children don’t have, but she is keenly aware that she doesn’t fit in. Still, when WW 2 breaks out, she gathers her courage and heads out on her own to the big city of Montreal and nursing school. Throughout the book she struggles to balance the values she’s been taught, against the temptations she encounters. To find her true identity as a Cree Woman, an Army Nurse, and a Canadian. She remains open to new experiences. She develops a strong friendship with her roommate, a selfish and flighty (if wealthy and well-connected) girl. She finds love – twice; suffers heartbreak; finds courage and tenacity under attack.

In some situations, her status as a First Nation or aboriginal person all but disappears. But in this time period, it is seldom completely set aside. At times she finds herself ill prepared to face the subtle prejudices that are always present. And yet … she has a steel spine, standing up to bullies and insisting on doing the right thing, even if it means losing a friend.

The authors are not First Nation people, and there’s little information about how they came to write this story. I’m skeptical about the truth of what they write, and still I’m drawn into the novel. It’s an inspiring and hopeful story.

Finished the Brenton/Hare play Pravda the 1985 satire on Murdoch's take-over of the Sun and the Times.
Still topical, still savagely funny.

Giving Monkey a try. This is an abridged version of Journey to the West by Wu Ch'eng-en. Apparently a classic of Chinese literature.

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius – Dave Eggers
Digital audio read by Dion Graham
1*

Water the Flowers!

I had heard about this memoir when it first came out and had it on my TBR ever since. I was intrigued by a book written by a young man who took on the responsibility for raising his much younger brother after both their parents died within a few weeks of one another. I expected some tragic, emotionally charged scenes and some sense of enlightenment or inspiration. I read another book by Eggers and really enjoyed it, so when the audio finally came in from the library, I was pleased to finally get to this on our long drive to Texas.

It’s clear that Eggers is intelligent. Obviously, the circumstances that resulted in his guardianship of his baby brother were tragic, and every older sibling’s nightmare. I should have read the reviews by Goodreads members before I decided to finally read / listen to the book.

I found Eggers self-absorbed, immature, irresponsible and totally lacking in any insight. I really pity his little brother who might have been better off raised by wolves.

The most entertaining part of the book is the forward/preface/acknowledgments/copyright notice … which on the audiobook are read at the very end. Had this come first, I might have gone into the book expecting something more on the lines of satire, and (while satire is not my favorite genre) had different expectations and a different take on the work. But I went into it expecting a memoir of a tragic and difficult time in a young man’s life, and some reflection / insight / growth in character as a result. Too bad for me. Well, the preface, etc gets him one star.

Dion Graham does a reasonably good job reading the audiobook. Not his fault that the F bomb is used so often or that the writer gives us a manic narrative. (Not helped by my decision to listen at double speed to get through the 13 hours faster.)

Closed the book on Nick Tosches' ME AND THE DEVIL, an unpleasant read that featured the occasional good burst of prose but which remained annoying and unlikeable to the end.

Then I tackled Alan Warner's THEIR LIPS TALK OF MISCHIEF because someone compared it to "Withnail & I". It was a fun read, very engaging (and maddening) characters, though I found the ending a tad weak.

Getting started on T.F. Powys's Unclay, which I've been wanting to dive into for a while. Still proceeding in fits and starts through Culture and Anarchy, which is occasionally laughable in terms of what Mathew Arnold believes is a reasoned or self-evident argument, not shy about its elitism, and occasionally thought-provoking. Interestingly enough, it also sometimes seems more modern in style than Proust does (I'm about halfway through the fat collected volume now).

>15 KatrinkaV: Unclay is wonderful. Ditto Mr. Weston's Good Wine. Hard to get hold of any other books of his. Powys is unique.

Spent part of a quiet Sunday afternoon reading FOX 8, a new story by George Saunders.

Call it an ecological fable, it amounts to a bittersweet look at humankind's inability to live in harmony with their natural world.

Saunders is always worth the time--recommended.

>13 BookConcierge:
I so agree with your assessment of eggers. I could not finish the book, and I was actually prepared for it to be satire!

>13 BookConcierge: This was a fun review to read. I think I have read something or other of Eggers' but am going to give that one a hard pass. As I get older I get less interested in coming of age type stories by people who are mostly interested in practicing radical honesty about their own assholery, but seem to be completely uninterested in self-improvement.

Anthony Bourdain's KITCHEN CONFIDENTIAL this afternoon.

Fun, breezy read--Bourdain, right from the first, was a born raconteur.

>20 CliffBurns: have you ever read My Kitchen Wars?

16: I'm loving Unclay so far! It's terrifying in such a different way (I want to say "charmingly terrifying"), and I'm eager to finish it so that I can give it a thorough blog review.

#21--No, but that one looks fun as well.

I'm not at all a foodie, no sophistication to MY palate.

But I love characters and they seem to proliferate in the kitchen.

Currently reading My Sixty Years on the Plains by W. T. Hamilton, a memoir by a fur-trapper in the Old West.
Finished Frithjof: The Viking of Norway a short adaptation from the epic poem of Esaias Tegne. Very brief but full of fascinating situations and complex characters.

Wrapped up THE STEADY RUNNING OF THE HOUR, a narrative about a failed Everest expedition in 1924.

Excellent novel, well-researched and compellingly presented.

Recommended.

Finished George Pelecanos' THE NIGHT GARDENER.

Good, gritty read, featuring a fascinating cast of characters, on both sides of the law.

(No touchstones?!)

Delicious!– Ruth Reichl
Digital audiobook performed by Julia Whelan
3.5*** rounded up

Adapted from the book jacket: Billie Breslin has left her California home for New York City and a job at Delicious!, an iconic food magazine. She feels like a fish out of water and writes long letters to her older sister, Genie. But she is welcomed by the colorful staff, and seduced by the vibrant food scene. In the magazine’s library Billie uncovers a secret cache of letters written during WW2. She feels a powerful connection to the girl who wrote those letters, and they help Billie come to terms with her own fears and anxieties.

My reactions
I’ve read several of Reichl’s memoirs and really enjoyed them. Now she’s taken a turn at writing a novel.

This is part romance, part coming-of-age, part mystery. I enjoyed the story and was caught up in the intrigue, but it didn’t bake quite long enough. Though she’s the central characters, Billie seemed a little under-developed; perhaps Reichl was trying too hard to make her interesting. I really liked Sal, Rosie and Mitch, and grew to appreciate Sammy. I loved the letters from the 12-year-old Lulu during WW2, and that part of the story really drew me in. However, Reichl really shines when she is writing about food. I can practically taste the cheeses, smell the spices, and feel the warmth of steam rising from a simmering pot.

All-in-all, I found it enjoyable and entertaining. A great beach read. (And since that’s where I was reading it, I’ll round up to 4 stars.)

The audiobook is narrated by the wonderful Julia Whelan. She is a very talented voice artist and I particularly loved the voices she used for Sal and Lulu. I found her Sammy a bit much, but that really a small quibble.

Got started last night on Juan Gabriel Vásquez' The Shape of the Ruins, and am loving it so far.

Finished THE WAYFINDERS, a collection of essays/speeches from CBC's Massey Lectures series.

Wow.

I only have a handful of living heroes and Wade Davis is one of them.

If we don't preserve languages and cultures, our very future is not only in doubt, it's not worth living in.

Eats, Shoots & Leaves – Lynne Truss
4****

Subtitle: A Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation.

Well this was the perfect “geek-read” for me. My writing may not always be correctly punctuated, but I do try to adhere to the general rules of grammar and punctuation. There were more than a few moments when I felt Truss was channeling the good Sisters at Ursuline Academy who first tried to drum those rules into my head.

Truss writes with a delightfully irreverent style, and yet still conveys the seriousness of her purpose. Clearly there is a difference between
A woman, without her man, is nothing.
And
A woman: without her, man is nothing.

It was a fast, enjoyable read, and I think I learned a few things.

Wrapped up SHELLA, an early offering from crime novelist Andrew Vachss.

Hard-boiled as a 15-minute egg, a fun way to spend a cold, quiet afternoon.

Recommended.

>3 Cecrow: I read Memoirs of Hadrian about ten years ago, I think I need to re-read it, it was absolutely exquisite prose and I loved it so much. What a writer.

>30 BookConcierge: I remember laughing a lot through that book. I am a grammar/punctuation curmudgeon so clearly I am the target audience. She's got a great sense of humor.

I have finished Walkaway which I believe has been a life changer. I need to think about it a lot before writing a review. I might buy it (I read a library book) because I want to re-read and think about many parts.

Finished Orwell's Decline of the English Murder. His essay Notes of Nationalism is still relevant:

"Nationalism is power-hunger tempered by self-deception. Every nationalist is capable of the most flagrant dishonesty, but he is also - since he is conscious of serving something bigger than himself - unshakably certain of being in the right."

I started 2019 off with a book to challenge my limited perception of nuance and elevate my social connectedness by reading Stormy Daniels's Full Disclosure. The autobiography was interesting. In telling a tale about yourself it is probably a good idea to have someone {ghost writer/editor} provide a filter to ensure the story's continuity .

All that aside it was interesting if not riveting, she more or less raised herself, was in "advanced classes" in Jr. high, high school or whatever they call those years these days and she and her baby were threatened by some mysterious cad after the details of the affair started coming out. Nothing about it is salacious just a few anatomical descriptions.

,,,,edited for clarity

Over the past day or so, an admiring re-read of George Saunders' short story collection TENTH OF DECEMBER.

Man, this guy can write.

Original and brilliant, like the vast majority of his oeuvre...

Reading How to kill a city which is making me angry and upset.

Reading The Beekeeper of Sinjar, which my mother lent me.

Wrapped THE FRIENDS OF EDDIE COYLE, George Higgins' classic crime novel.

Taut and compelling, very authentic.

Recommended.

The Histories by Herodotus is so much easier reading than I'd ever imagined it would be, very engaging. Basically Persia vs Greece with digressions all the way, but never into anything boring. The translator Aubrey de Selincourt did a bang-up job of making it friendly.

>39 Cecrow: I remember reading that many years ago, it took me a couple of chapters to get into the flow - I was intrigued by the reports of monsters by travelers as fact {think I was in my early teens}. I thought I had a copy but after a quick check of by bookshelves {arranged by book size} I could not find it right away.

Are there popular editions out with different translators {to English}? I wanted to check on that.

>40 DugsBooks:, I don't know what the other translation options would be, I can only vouch for my Penguin edition by Selincourt. He did it in 1954 and it's still going strong, so I think that lends it some credit. Definitely I'd recommend a copy that provides maps to help with place names, and decent notes/footnotes with speculation on fact vs fiction.

If you sort by size, it's generally in the 600pgs range.

Finished my 13th book this month--determined to ramp up my pitiful tally from last year--Sebastian Junger's TRIBE.

Another beauty from one of my favorite journalists.

A choice quote from the book:

"How do you become an adult in a society that doesn't ask for sacrifice? How do you become a man in a world that doesn't require courage?"

And how can we heal our wounded, soul-less culture without the transformative powers of ritual and ceremony?

Wonderful writing, provocative subjects courageously addressed.

>42 CliffBurns: I read that a couple years ago. I liked it. I think I might have even reviewed it on LT.

Currently reading A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe, an account of the bubonic plague in London around 1665 that is something like a fictionalized chronicle. There is not really a plot but, at least until now, it has been a collection of statistics and anecdotes. Very apocalyptic. Fascinating so far.

Just creeping in under the wire for January, I finished Tom Gauld's collection of cartoons, Baking with Kafka last night (UK readers may know Gauld for his literary-themed cartoons in The Guardian and his science-themed ones in New Scientist) and picked up Iain Banks' Whit.

The Gauld was part of my Christmas stocking.