Laytonwoman3rd Takes the Fall (Thread 3 for 2011)

November 30, 2011 HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MR. CLEMENS!








My previous 2011 thread can be found here, the estimable Ms. Eudora Welty presiding.

My reading list through the end of August is in Post No. 2. I'll be adding what I read from here on to this post.

*Indicates a library book

Titles link to the post where I discuss the book.

December

84. The Broken Window by Jeffery Deaver
83. Lives of the Poets by E. L. Doctorow
82. The Pine Barrens by John McPhee
81. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
80. Unpacking My Library by Leah Price
79. Midnight Rising by Tony Horwitz
78. V is for Vengeance by Sue Grafton

November

77. My Reading Life by Pat Conroy
76. The Innocent House by Frances and Richard Lockridge
75. Kings of the Earth by Jon Clinch
*74 Fever Season by Barbara Hambly
*73. The Radleys by Matt Haig

October

*72. The Night Train by Clyde Edgerton
71. Hurricane Story by Jennifer Shaw
*70. The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht

69. Robert B. Parker's Killing the Blues by Michael Brandman
*68. A Free Man of Color by Barbara Hambly
*67. Crazy by WIlliam Peter Blatty
66. Birds of a Feather by Jacqueline Winspear

SEPTEMBER

65. Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear
64. Howard's End is on the Landing by Susan Hill
63. The Doll: The Lost Short Stories by Daphne DuMaurier
62. Tabloid City by Pete Hamill
61. Casino Royale by Ian Fleming
60. Clover by Dori Sanders
59. Washington Square by Henry James
58. The Ballad of Tom Dooley by Sharyn McCrumb

My 2011 Reading: January through August
See Post No. 1 above, for newer additions.

*Borrowed from the public library

(Titles link to my post for each book.)

AUGUST (No plan for this month)

57. Homestead by Rosina Lippi
56. An Irish Country Doctor by Patrick Taylor
*55. In an Antique Land by Amitav Ghosh
54. On the Overgrown Path by David Herter
*53. One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson
52. Spin Your Web, Lady by Frances and Richard Lockridge

JULY (Orange July)

Not all of my reading this month will be from the Orange Prize lists, but I hope to knock a couple of those off my TBR stacks.

51. Paradise by Toni Morrison Short listed for the Orange Prize 1999
*50. Solo by Rana Dasgupta
*49. Case Histories by Kate Atkinson Long listed for the Orange Prize 2005
*48. Crossroad Blues by Ace Atkins
47. The Giant, O'Brien by Hilary Mantel Long listed for the Orange Prize 1999
46. Danny Boy: The Legend of the Beloved Irish Ballad by Malachy McCourt
45. Gotcha Covered: A Legacy of Service and Protection by Ginger T. Manley et al.
44. Ladder of Years by Anne Tyler. Shortlisted for the Orange Prize in 1996.

JUNE

43. Pearl of China by Anchee Min
42. In a Dry Season by Peter Robinson
41. A House in Flanders by Michael Jenkins
40. Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese

MAY

39. Go Down, Moses by William Faulkner
*38. The Day the Music Died by Ed Gorman
37. Soulless by Gail Carriger
36. Sixkill by Robert B. Parker
35. Appointment in Samarra by John O'Hara

APRIL (READING FROM THE PUBLIC LIBRARY)

34. Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather
*33. The Hiding Place by Trezza Azzopardi
*32. The Rising of the Moon by Gladys Mitchell
*31. Sorry by Gail Jones
*30. Baby We Were Meant for Each Other by Scott Simon
*29. The Sari Shop by Rupa Bajwa
28. Henrietta's War by Joyce Dennys
*27. The Night Bookmobile by Audrey Niffeneger

MARCH (MYSTERY MONTH)

*26. The Man with a Load of Mischief by Martha Grimes
25. Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain
*24. Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin
23. Murder Roundabout by Richard Lockridge
22. One Was a Soldier by Julia Spencer-Fleming
21. My Nine Lives: A Memoir of Many Careers in Music Leon Fleisher
*20. The Rottweiler by Ruth Rendell
19. Over My Dead Body by Rex Stout
18. The Ones You Do by Daniel Woodrell
17. The Surgeon by Tess Gerritsen

FEBRUARY
15.-16. Under the Bright Lights and Muscle for the Wing by Daniel Woodrell
*14. You Must Know Everything by Isaac Babel
*13. Summer Crossing by Truman Capote
*12. God on the Rocks by Jane Gardam
11. The Gates of November by Chaim Potok
*10. The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa

JANUARY

9. Sundays with Sullivan by Bernie Ilson
8. West With the Night by Beryl Markham
7. The Help by Kathryn Stockett
*6. Fatal Grace by Louise Penny
5. Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood
4. I Lock My Door Upon Myself by Joyce Carol Oates
3. Moscow Excursion by P. L. Travers
2. Michael Chiarello's Bottega
*1. Still Life by Louise Penny.

BOOKS IN PROGRESS, BUT NOT ACTIVELY READING

Borrowing this idea from my daughter, who is a smart cookie, I'm going to keep a list here of books I've begun to read and then drifted away from, so I don't entirely forget that I might want to get back to them sometime. These are not books I've given up on...those I will note as I toss 'em aside. If I return to one of these and finish it, I'll strike through the title here and add it to my finished list where it belongs.

Satan's Circus by Mike Dash (116/354) Mike wasn't dashing to the central story quickly enough, and I got distracted. I will go back and finish this one.

Travels With Myself and Another by Martha Gellhorn (62/294) Found it heavier going than I expected, and the time wasn't right. Love Gellhorn, though.

Straight on Till Morning By Mary S. Lovell (55/347) Went straight on from Beryl Markham's memoir, West With the Night, to this biography of Markham, and found it was too much too soon. I also found Lovell too inclined to speculate about her subject's feelings. Will let it rest and try again one day.

Werewolves in Their Youth by Michael Chabon (52/212) Short stories. I read two. It's by the bed, and I may stick another one in between books from time to time, although I don't think they were grabbing me very hard.

The Knife Man by Wendy Moore (74/274) This was fascinating stuff---history of surgery. Can't remember what lured me away from it.

58. The Ballad of Tom Dooley by Sharyn McCrumb McCrumb was unknown to me before the excellent mrstreme generously shared this ARC with me. The author researched the original records of the trials behind the ballads, and presented a novelization based on what she believes to have been the "real" story of the murder of Laura Foster. It's a good story, too, if a tad repetitious in places. Not an awful lot happens, really. The primary narrator is Pauline Foster, a cousin of the murdered woman, and in McCrumb's version the person truly responsible for the death of Laura Foster and the hanging of Tom Dula, even though in a legal sense, her hands were clean. I enjoyed this book, although the sections (brief and few) narrated by Dula's defense attorney Zebulon Vance contributed very little to the story, with the exception of the very last one. A solid 3 1/2 star read. McCrumb has written several of these "Ballad novels", and I'll give at least one more a go. I like the concept a lot.

Oh hey, I like Mark too! All is well!

Where is the art work re. Mark Twain located? It is a great sculpture!

Apparently there are multiple copies of it, Linda. I've seen pictures of it in different settings, one in Fort Worth, TX, another in Monrovia, CA, and another in Utah somewhere. I haven't found any explanation yet, but if I do, I'll share.

#3: I have the first of the Ballad books home from the library now. It looks like a series I will enjoy.

One wonders why they depicted him reading one of his own works. As Garrison Keillor has said, "I don't know many writers who like to sit around reading their own stuff."

Well, he did DO readings in his lifetime...

Glad you liked The Ballad of Tom Dooley! I know what you mean by Zebulon's sections. I wonder why she had him repeating himself all of the time. I chalked it up to "senior moments."

59. Washington Square by Henry James After muttering, grumbling and hating on Henry James for upwards of 40 years (ever since I struggled and failed to read The Ambassadors for an American Lit course in college), I have finally read and enjoyed one of his novels. In truth, I enjoyed it quite a lot. This is the story of unattractive, un-brilliant, motherless Catherine Sloper, who has no prospects of marriage until she somehow attracts the attention of young Mr. Morris Townsend, of the "other" Townsends. His prospects are no better than hers, for although he is delightful to look at, and a charming dinner companion, he has no money, no career and no family connections of the better kind. Catherine's father, a prominent New York physician, will have no part of Catherine's determination to marry Mr. Townsend; she has her own income from her dead mother and Father cannot change that, but he can and emphatically will remove her from his Will and the assured thirty thousand a year she might expect after his death, unless she gives up Mr. Townsend. The exploration of human emotions, motivations, and relationships in this novel are subtle but superb.

OK, Henry, I'll give you this one. When I'm wrong, I'll admit it. And I may read some more of your work now. But do not expect me to give The Ambassadors another try. I learned a little something from your Catherine, after all.

(The movie, "The Heiress" with Olivia deHaviland and Montgomery Clift was based on this novel, which I did not realize when I started reading it. The outcome is fundamentally the same, but rather more dramatic in the movie.)

Linda, I'm happy to see a Henry James convert no matter what the level of enthusiasm. Hope to hear that you've started The American or even The Portrait of a Lady in the next year or so!

>11 laytonwoman3rd:: hooray!!!

Well I'll be darned! I too had to read James at uni (The Portrait of Lady & The Turn of the Screw short stories) and they was just kind of meh, as opposed to an outright struggle. I'll give this one a go, on your say so.

I read Turn of the Screw in the last year or so, and had exactly that reaction, Tui. Stephen King called it one of the best ghost stories ever written. I couldn't see that it was necessarily a ghost story at all. It fell flat for me. Washington Square could be a Virago selection, if you didn't know who wrote it.

Washington Square could be a Virago selection, if you didn't know who wrote it.

ok, shaking with laughter here over that one.

60. Clover by Dori Sanders 10-year-old Clover Hill has a lot of adjusting to do when her father, a black elementary school principal, marries a white commercial artist and is killed in an automobile accident the same day. There is a lot of natural charm and humor in the way this story is told, by Clover. But I couldn't always believe in her, and her voice was somewhat inconsistent. At times she was just too sophisticated and philosophical for a rural 10-year-old, even one with a well-educated father and a high IQ. I believe this is meant to be a young adult novel, and I do not consider myself much of a judge of such fiction. I believe it is also somewhat autobiographical. The developing relationship between Clover and her stepmother is handled well, and the ending is decidedly upbeat.

Just stopping by to say hi! I love the sculpture of Mark Twain you've got on your thread. Really cool!

61. Casino Royale by Ian Fleming No praise from me for this one. As sexy as Sean Connery was in the role, there is nothing appealing about Fleming's Bond, as portrayed in this first 007 novel. He's just a hired killer with enough finesse to pull off a gambling coup against a Russian agent who both sides want eliminated. His attitude toward women is appalling; even when he finds one who is a technical wizard and a cool agent in her own right, he can't help objectifying her. Even when, by his estimation, he falls in love with her, his feeble attempts to feel and appreciate real emotions are laughable. The book is violent, sadistic, misogynistic and totally lacking in humor or subtlety. Fleming clearly knew what he was doing, as evidenced by this quote: "surround yourself with human beings, my dear James. They are easier to fight for than principles. But don't let me down and become human yourself. We would lose such a wonderful machine." I read this book to educate myself, and did not really expect to enjoy it very much. I did expect to see why others might enjoy it, but that did not happen. My husband, who read a great many of the Bond books as a teenager, started with a later entry in the series, and does not recall reading Casino Royale. Maybe they get better. Maybe their optimal audience is 15 year old boys. That particular teenage boy turned out to be a fine fellow with no Bondian characteristics. I think I'll just leave this whole issue alone now. No star for you, Mr. Fleming.

#19> ROFL Atta girl, Linda--go get 'em!!

Sean Connory or no Sean Connory, I have never been a fan of the Bond thing.

To be expected from an author who creates female characters named "Pussy Galore": the male appendage with a gun and a licence to kill.

Love that no-star review. I've never read any Fleming, and have no particular desire to, but I did recently read Devil May Care written by 'Sebastian Faulks writing as Ian Fleming' - just because it was one of the few e-books available to borrow when my library introduced lending of audio and e items. I think Faulks has slightly softened the Bond character - at least I gather that die-hard fans were not impressed and thought that Faulk's book wasn't really true to how Bond would have behaved (especially towards women). But it was still all about the hardware, and the killing. Not my cup of tea at all...

I wondered about the Faulks book, Genny. So many other people have taken on the character since Fleming died----it's a franchise that won't go away. But he seemed like a strange choice.

You are a brave woman to read that book Linda! Ew.

Hmm, Sean Connery never starred in Casino Royale. But this dude did (wiping drool from my chin):

No linkie, Jill. I understand that no one paid a lot of attention to the books until President Kennedy said From Russia With Love was his favorite novel, and then the books got popular and movies were made. I suspect they felt the torture scene in Casino Royale made it unsuitable for audiences of the day, and started with Dr. No instead.

LOL, Linda!!!Great review of Casino Royale. I've seen Bond Movies, but not that particular one. Congratulations on educating yourself - and hey - don't insult the 15 year old boys! ;)

Before Daniel Craig's, the only version of Casino Royale was a spoof starring David Niven, Peter Sellers, Ursula Andress, a few other big names. Truly awful.

Casino Royale isn't Fleming's best, that's for sure. My favorite was On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Dr No is also pretty good. But yes, I think the target audience is 15 year old males. Which I was when I first read them. :)

Gee, Jim, your review of CR says IT was your favorite Bond book. I wondered if you'd show up to chastise me for slamming it! I remember telling a date (who is now my husband) that I had seen a James Bond movie, trying to impress him with knowledge of things I knew he favored. I was doing well until he asked me which one, and I told him "Casino Royale" --- he hooted merrily and said "That's a SPOOF of Bond movies". Silly girl, me. From then on, I let HIM try to impress ME. Worked much better.

#29: Good shift in strategy, Linda! Much safer and much more satisfying. LOL

I mildly enjoy the Sean Connery Bond films, and they are on TV so often that some scenes are quite familiar. But the movies themselves all blend together. It drives my husband crazy when I get them mixed up.

@ 29

Aw, ickle Mum and Dad on a date makin' gettin' to know you convo. D'aaaw.

*runs away*

#32 You're lucky the roads are impassable and I'm dying.

@ 33

Did nuffin.

Always like to see family love and appreciation--so inspirational! LOL

#19
I had been a James Bond fan as a teenager and read most of the books. A couple of years ago I started to read Dr. No which had been one of my favorites. I only got about fifty pages into the book and had to quit. Talk about a misogynist. I remember one scene where he berated a man because he allowed a woman to drive the car he was riding in. He couldn't write about a person of color without spouting derogatory stereotypes. I understand why you needed to finish the book. I also understand the zero stars rating.

>32 lycomayflower:-34: LOL!

Newpaper headline:

"Mother kills daughter, daughter kills mother"

I re-read Goldfinger about a year ago because I loved Fleming when I was FIFTEEN. No longer: Bond had the personality of dry paint, the story was s-l-o-w, and the famous Pussy Galore made her debut.

Connery and the writers made Bond, Fleming sure as hell didn't. Goldfinger was a great movie.

Huh. I really said CR is my fave? Well, color me red! I do like it, but as I said I'd recommend others to newbies. I'll have to revisit that review...

ETA: fixed. Now says "one of my favorite Bond books". By the way, my review of On Her Majesty's Secret Service said " my favorite Bond book, by far." I'm nothing if not inconsistent. :)

I'm so glad to be hearing from all you reformed 15 year old boys!! You restore my faith in manhood, all of you.

And Charlie, we haven't killed each other yet, and I guess we probably aren't going to. (She's kinda cute, and besides, I learn stuff from her.)

62. Tabloid City by Pete Hamill Speaking of restoring my faith---or, more accurately, reaffirming it---here's another ripping fine read from one of my favorite authors. If you can't just pick up and go to New York whenever you crave a fix of Apple juice, Pete Hamill has what you need. He owns the city, but he's real generous about sharing. In Tabloid City, he weaves in and out among an amazing set of characters, moving each of them through the same 21 hours as they meet or forge their own destinies in a world that seems to be changing in all the wrong ways. Everyone in this novel has lost something significant, and yet their stories are rich and full of life. Although I had no idea this would be true when I picked it up to read yesterday, it was particularly appropriate for this anniversary weekend, as a central character is a young American radicalized Muslim obsessed with the need to purge wickedness with violence. As he prepares for what he sees as his final act of glory, he chants the names of the September 11th hijackers, in anticipation of meeting them in Paradise. Part suspense thriller, part requiem for the vanishing world of "words on paper", part affirmation of the resilience of the human spirit----all great story-telling.

Linda....I got a review copy of Tabloid City and have never read anything by Hamill. You have certainly encouraged me to move this one up in the queue. Sounds like lots of fun.

Well, "fun" isn't a word I'd use to describe it, Tina. "Gripping", yes. "Moving", for certain. Very hard to put down.

@ 41

"Apple juice." *snicker*

.
.
.

I loooooooove you.

*chuckle* Thanks. ;>)

>44 lycomayflower:: so do her friends.

Yep. You have fun stuff going on here. I remember eating up the 007's (when I was in my 20's maybe?) because I thought they were sophisticated cartoons. (I was am obviously not sophisticated.) I have no real interest to straighten myself out, so I'll applaud your no-star and remind myself to try Pete Hamill instead.

You know, there is a cartoonish aspect to them; I'm just not sure it was intended by the author!

Hey Linda3rd! drive-by hug

Nice review of Tabloid City, Linda; I'll be on the lookout for it.

63. The Doll: The Lost Short Stories by Daphne DuMaurier Interesting collection of early short stories, which I will have more to say about for the Early Reviewers program as soon as my brain returns to work.

My full review is posted here.

64. Howard's End is on the Landing by Susan Hill A lot of food for thought about how and what we read. Again, more to come.

Good morning Linda. Have a little sumpin, sumpin that I snagged from St. Richard for you:

Quote by William Faulkner:

'I feel like a wet seed wild in the hot blind earth.'

He really had a way with words.

Ah, yes...Dewey Dell in As I Lay Dying. Thanks, Belva!

Your knowledge of Faulkner amazes me, Linda.

I had to laugh when I read As I Lay Dying. Life wasn't bad enough for the Bundrens, but then Jewel traded his horse for a descendant of Flem Snope's old horse scam. It, too, was a little frisky, as I recall.

The Man had a way with horses AND words. That bit in The Hamlet with the horse running up on the porch and down the hall of the boarding house, and Mrs. Littlejohn slamming it over the head with a washboard....a real screamer.

65. Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear This was a re-read for me. I was inspired to revisit Maisie after much confab about her books, mainly over on Tui's thread. The link is to her comment on the latest book in the series. The first installment is almost a cozy, with a heroine who is a former housemaid, raised up by education and an enlightened employer, who served as a nurse during WWI, then became a private investigator who uses her sixth sense (or second sight) to assist her in solving cases. I enjoyed the book quite a lot, and immediately started the second, Birds of a Feather, which I have not read before. I do find myself questioning the credibility of some of Maisie's circumstances, as well as her remarkable grasp of principles of psychology that seem a bit out of place in the early 20th century. Nevertheless, she is a protagonist to be reckoned with, and I am interested to see how she moves forward.

stopping by and waving hi.

Hi, Linda! Great to see you here.

I too have just gotten the Maisie Dobbs bug. One of my heaviest readers at the library has kept us busy with Inter-Library Loans to insure that she always has the next one read to go when she finishes the one she's currently reading. I'm not sure where she's going to go when she finishes that series. I think I've gotten her ready for Louise Penny and Julia Spencer-Fleming, but we'll see.
Anyway, I was able to find the first one on audio and have been enjoying miss Maisie during my thrice weekly swimming sessions.

You can listen to audio while swimming? Cool.

Soooo...is this a Christmas hint?

Probably not? I'm not sure I want audio while swimming. I like the sounds of the pool.

Excellent. I hate to see people out walking or jogging with plugs in their ears---I realize it may be to keep their pace up, but it blocks the natural sights and sounds. Why not just use a treadmill in that case?

>64 laytonwoman3rd:: me too! I also like to check that I'm still breathing. Have never seen anyone with ear buds in while swimming so I didn't know it was possible.

ETA: I have enough trouble remembering my goggles, towel, lock, combination back into the change room, etc. An IPod would be the coup de grace.

>64 laytonwoman3rd: Not to mention the safety issue of runners not hearing cars, sirens, etc.

I have exercise issues....cannot handle impact stuff (like jogging, treadmills, etc), but can do an aerobic excercise program they have at our local "Y"--when I'm in an organized class I don't listen to books, but when I'm working out by myself in a pool that also happens to be the favorite of mommies with lots of loud screaming little darlings, the only way I can motivate myself is to listen to something that takes my mind off the outside noise. Since this has allowed me to loose 23 pounds, move around (climb stairs, walk without a cane) with a lot less pain, and enjoy myself while I'm doing it, I'm going to continue doing it.

BTW, I too have issues with runners who use public streets with cars and motorcycles and have their music plugged in...if they want the inspiration of what's on their iPods, they should stick to jogging trails.

another sample

Holyums Semolyums! Who knew? Not I. I don't think a pool swimmer is any more likely to get run over with ear buds than without them, but I didn't know that such was possible. Lap time is sort of a vegetative, in some zone time for me, so I don't know that I'd care to give that up anyway.
I can't quite bring myself to Maisie Dobbs, but she's getting harder and harder to ignore.
(Hi, Linda!)

The main exercise I do is yoga. You have to have peace and quiet to do it properly. I think the craze for multi-tasking is part of the reason some people feel they must listen to music when they exercise.

Hi Tina---Hi Peggy--Hi Bill! I'm getting a big kick out of my thread turning into the exercise forum!!

#69. Ditto, Bill, although lately I've had to forego it thanks to some painful thigh muscles.

Ah.....but it's exercise with a bonus....good books are included.

66. Birds of a Feather by Jacqueline Winspear Book No. 2 in the Maisie Dobbs series. In this outing, Maisie is hired to find and bring home a run-away heiress, whose father owns a hugely successful, even in the midst of depressed economic times, grocery business. In very short order, Maisie's investigation includes the violent deaths of two old friends of the missing woman, and a tiny yet highly significant bit of evidence found by Maisie at each scene. I enjoy Maisie, but I find there is something quite Nancy Drew-ish about her, with her smart outfits, her zippy motor car and her rather unnatural freedom for a woman of her time and place. The story is a good one, but some of the accoutrements stretch my ability to suspend disbelief. I think I will continue to read this series, but not in rapid succession.

Re the freedom of women between the wars: I think this was really evolving rapidly at this time because women were being used to do the work of men while the war was on...even WWI. Even my Nana was a legal assistant before Mom was born in 1920, in the very early 1900s. These were jobs previously held by men. No vote though! So that bit didn't stretch my credulity at all. I didn't read book 2 or 3 so by book 4 Maisie's practice was established and Winspear was finding her feet with her.

ETA: but yes, I think there is a touch of Nancy Drew in the early Maisie. I think the trick is not to overthink her but just roll along with her in her little car!

Ah, Nancy Drew. I think I'll skip it then.

As to earbuds, etc. I walk a lot in Manhattan, and ride the subway, and exercise when I can drag myself to the health club to which I pay annual dues. On the subways and in the health club, earbuds remove the ambient noise (and music) and allow me to listen to what I want. On walks, the podcasts distract me from the work of walking on city streets, and keep me going farther than I would otherwise.

Country walks, of course, are different. And much desired.

Very little Nancy Drew. Worth reading, on the whole, imho. Chacun a son gout though.

Tutu, I meant to say that if your water IPod keeps you going, then go for it! You sound like you are doing good stuff in that pool.

#74 I have so little literary or historical experience with this era that I was hesitant to make that "too much freedom" observation, but it FELT that way to me, so I had to comment. Ten years after the war was over, what happened to those working women and their jobs? I realize Maisie was making her own niche, and that she had the support of some higher-ups, easing her way, so I can accept it. As with Nancy Drew, I have a little trouble with her ready access to the police and crime scenes. But, given all that, I am enjoying the ride. Sherlock Holmes is a stretch, too, but I love him nevertheless. Maybe I should be comparing Maisie to Mary Russell instead of Nancy Drew?

Actually, Mary Russell was a recognized private detective because of Homes. Many of the cases they were involved with were from private individuals, and Holmes had had a good working relationship with Lestrade at Scotland Yard. the latest book The Pirate King, has Lestrade specifically asking for Homes' help.

>77 laytonwoman3rd:: I know. We tend to think of that kind of freedom as coming post 1962 but steps were being made during each war. Of course the women were expected to step aside when the men returned home but after the second war, a lot of women just didn't want to!

#78 The same is true of Maisie. Her mentor and former employer, we are to understand, had a weighty reputation in more than one field, and contacts everywhere.

67. Crazy by William Peter Blatty

Short, quirky, occasionally funny and often touching, but not to the extent that it really deserves this cover endorsement: " 'Crazy is terrific! A wonderful novel! It's funny, touching and so full of love!' --Julie Andrews, legendary star and bestselling author. " Unless, of course, that endorsement itself is meant to be part of the crazy quirky concept of this odd little novella. Why Julie Andrews would ever read it is beyond me. Who knew Blatty was known for being funny? (He wrote the screenplay for "A Shot in the Dark". Again, who knew?) I associate him only with The Exorcist which was hard to put down but had no humor in it at all, as I remember. Which brings me back to Crazy, in which I did not find much humor either. Maybe you have to have been an adolescent boy once to get it. The narrator, Joey El Bueno, tells us about his childhood from the perspective of an old man in an assisted living facility. It was a good childhood, despite being motherless. Joey had a loving, caring father, who he loved and respected in return. And he had Jane, the elusive girl who gives him spiritual guidance at unexpected moments through what he calls "time jumps" for several years during his youth. Who is she? Does anyone else ever see her? What's it all about? Well, you'll soon figure Jane out---sooner than Joey does, for sure. But beyond that slight exercise there isn't much to this story. I found it episodic, stylistically awkward and not particularly engaging.

68. A Free Man of Color by Barbara Hambly On the recommendation of LibrarianBarb on the "Mysteries Set in Every US State" thread, I picked this one up from the library. The protagonist is Benjamin January (or Janvier), a free man of color born into slavery, but freed in childhood by his mother's Creole "protector". It is set in Louisiana in the 1830's, when the intricate hierarchy of social standing among people of color was governed by how many white grandparents a person could claim, and Creole society accommodated a man's second family of mixed race children by pretending they did not exist. January is a trained surgeon, and an accomplished musician who lived for 16 years in Paris, until the death of his wife, and has now returned to his native New Orleans. Adapting to the diminishing French influence in Louisiana society and the rise of the brutish Americans to positions of power requires January to perform an often terrifying balancing act to keep his life and his freedom. There is a murder mystery imbedded in this "novel of suspense", but the real draw here is the glimpse into the fascinating milieu that was Louisiana in the first half of the 19th century. A bit repetitious at times, not plot-driven, but very hard to put down. It is the first in a series that now includes 10 titles, and I will definitely explore these further.

Looks like an interesting book and series. New Orleans in the 1830's had many historical cross currents creating a place that was part of America on the map but not part of the mainstream culture. Looks like a candidate for my wish list.

69. Robert B. Parker's Killing the Blues by Michael Brandman This is the first Jesse Stone novel written by Michael Brandman, the Parker estate's choice to carry on the series. Summer is coming to Paradise, and the Board of Selectmen, as usual, wants nothing to mar the peace and serenity of a small town highly dependent on tourist income. Also as usual, something is bound to. This time, it's a rash of car thefts and a series of murdered dogs. Jesse's obsession with ex-wife Jenn may be waning, and his drinking seems to be under control, but another demon from his past is creeping toward Paradise, bent on destruction. The writing isn't quite Parker, but the character is pure Jesse Stone, who has owed quite a lot in my perception to Michael Brandman for some time, due to Brandman's involvement in the TV movies starring Tom Selleck. It is apparent that Brandman intends to make Jesse his own, and that could be an interesting development.

70. The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht What a storyteller this young author is. I loved every page, every sentence. It doesn't matter at all that I'm not sure what "meaning" to take away from the book, although I will certainly read it again--and soon--to see what gels the second time around.

We are given to understand that the action takes place in the former Yugoslavia, sometime "after the war" that separated that country. There are place names a-plenty, and references to "the Marshal", border crossings, checkpoints, but the names that became so familiar in the 20th century--Kosovo, Bosnia, Croatia, Srebrenica, Milosevic, Tudman--do not appear and the politics of the conflicts are totally absent, so it is almost possible to imagine everything happening just outside the known limits of the real world in a place where what feels fabulous to us can be accepted as normal. A tiger set free from a zoo ruined by bombing may find a soul-mate in a deaf, mute, abused woman. A man may fling himself from a cliff in despair at having lost his true love, only to find that he has broken Death's rules and cannot die. A taxidermist turned bear hunter may become one of the creatures whose pelts he collects. I found the magic of the words erased any fragment of disbelief in the magic of the stories. I am very aware that there are flaws in The Tiger's Wife as a Novel, but I don't care. I was swept away and astonished, and this will be one of my all-time favorite reads.

Oh boy, that clinches it. Must track this one down!

#86 This might knock your socks off if you aren't aware of it already:

Tea Obreht's short biography

>86 laytonwoman3rd: You are about to push me to spend the last of my birthday $ to put The Tiger's Wife on Kindle. AARRRRrrrrggg. It went so fast, that money!
>88 BrainFlakes: So young!!! Such talent!!!! And that SKIN!!!!!

#88 Yup---all that is on the dust jacket. Pretty damned amazing.

#89 I have a real hard time reconciling that Breck Girl image in the photo with the powerful stuff she writes. And, btw, I read this from the public library, and I'm now going to buy my own copy...that's how much I loved it.

71. Hurricane Story by Jennifer Shaw This is a miniature coffee table book, less than 7 inches square, beautifully made as are all Chin Music Press Books I have seen. Each pair of pages contains one line of text and one hazy photograph conceived and composed by the author using a variety of toy houses, cars, trucks and people, to convey the essence of her family's retreat from and return to New Orleans as a result of Hurricane Katrina. (One blurber called it "a children's book for grown-ups", and that is quite apt.) It's effective, but the lack of focus in the camera technique gets a little stale by the end. One or two of the pictures remain incomprehensible to me after several attempts at interpretations. Others are quite evocative. I admire what the author did here, I applaud the publisher for putting it out, and as an object this book is gorgeous. But I wouldn't urge you all to go spend $18.00 on it, unless you're a photography buff, a collector of all things New Orleans-related, or just feel like contributing to the survival of groovy small presses like Chin Music.

Thank you linda for an honest appraisal of Hurricane Story. I too found the photos and lack of story line somewhat underwhelming, and while,like you, I applaud supporting small indie presses, (I only paid $11.99 on Amazon Prime), I'd have preferred something less ethereal and more literary for my $$$.

Actually, I didn't pay $18.00 for it either, Tina. That's what is stamped on the sleeve with the bar code, but I got it from Amazon, as part of an order that qualified for free shipping, so I paid about the same as you did. The other book I got at the same time was One Writer's Garden, which is the illustrated story of Eudora Welty's mother's garden, and the recent efforts to restore it. Now THAT one was worth every penny.

72. The Night Train by Clyde Edgerton Edgerton has a real talent for taking a "little" story, filling it with indelibly drawn characters, and honing the Real Life elements so that eventually they will sting real good. In The Night Train he gets you laughing over a dancing chicken and teenage boys up to harmless devilment, while showing you both the meanness and the goodness that define human nature. The story line follows two boys, one white and one black, as they discover and embrace the music of James Brown in 1963 in North Carolina. As one blurber put it, "Edgerton's message is not there until you discover you agree with it." He's like Fannie Flagg in this--maybe a bit subtler. Recommended.

73. The Radleys by Matt Haig I picked this up at the library thinking it was probably a "spin-off" of To Kill a Mockingbird. Why not? Somebody should surely have written the story of Mr. Arthur's tormented life by now, right? Well, it ain't that. It's about a dysfunctional family, sure enough, though. I'm not sure why I sank my teeth into it at all after reading the cover blurbs....I thought I was finished with Wampyres long ago. But this turned out to be a decent junk food read that kept me turning pages even though the writing is nothing special and the story line is somewhat predictable once you get the set-up. Which is this: over the centuries a lot of well-known artists (as well as "ordinary people") have been vampires (who prefer the term "blood addicts" for some reason), some of whom have chosen to abstain from the practice of blood-sucking. Among these, we are meant to believe, were Bram Stoker himself, a good many rock musicians (nod to Ann Rice), and pretty much all English Romantic Poets except Wordsworth. Abstinence from blood-drinking is a path much much harder to follow than celibacy, for instance, as there are fairly extreme physical obstacles to be overcome. The Radleys are an old vampire family, whose current members include wild Will (definitely NOT an abstainer): his brother Peter, Peter's wife Helen, and their two misfit teenage children who have been kept ignorant of their true nature for 17 years. Naturally, no story would ensue if SOMETHING didn't happen to reveal the secret. The whole thing feels slightly satirical, and ends with a message---to thine own self be true, even if it means slugging back a pint of VB from time to time. Points for the vampire vocabulary, which includes "bram" (originally an acronym for Blood Resister's Animal Meat), VIB (Very Important Blood, of course) and UPU, the Unnamed Predator Unit of the Manchester police force, which knows all about the vampire culture, and strives to "limit its socially and morally destructive activities" by highly unconventional means. More points for references to the Booker Prize and Hay-on-Wye. Still, not something I'm recommending highly to my friends, at 21/2 stars.

Yet one more reason to love Wordsworth.

LOL! I had an English professor (one of my favorites) who was riotously funny when we dealt with Wordsworth in our Brit Lit survey course as sophomore English majors. He affected a lisp to begin the lecture, and advised us that "Now we shauw read thum rather nythe pometh invowving, among other thingth, violeths by a mothy thtone."

I would have liked him.

I loved The Tiger's Wife as well. And I was completely prepared to hate it for some reason.

#98 Yes, you would. Even when he called you "wretched sthudent" for asking the wrong sort of question. He was really an Americanist, taught a folklore course which I absolutely loved, and is probably greatly responsible for my love of Faulkner. His name was Robert Byington, and he often referred to himself in the third person as "little Bobby Byington". (He was, indeed, short.) Here's a photo of him in 1968, shortly before I knew him.

74. Fever Season by Barbara Hambly Second in the Benjamin January series. (See my discussion of the first one at >83 laytonwoman3rd: above) This sophomore outing has a better plot line than the first, but it's almost smothered to death by the author's repetitive style and unnecessary incidents illustrating points that no longer need to be made. If it had been sharply edited and cut by about 50 pages, it would have made a truly suspenseful read. As it was, I nearly gave up entirely around the 200th page and the 30th iteration of the main character's need to watch his tongue when speaking to whites. There's a good story in there, and it's based in part on an actual event. Perhaps if I hadn't had my reading time fractured of late, I would have sailed over the sloggy bits and not minded them so much. It picked up smartly at the end. This author has a lot of potential, and I will probably return to this series after giving it a good rest. I can't imagine she wrote 8 more books that all have that bloat in the middle. But if she does it to me one more time, that will be the end.

I recall being quite taken by A Free Man of Color, years ago, for the reason you describe: immersion into an unfamiliar but historically real world. I read maybe two or three more, and interest faded, for reasons I don't recall, but I'll guess that the world became familiar, and not enough else drew me in.

75. Kings of the Earth by Jon Clinch Another five-star read from one of my new favorite authors. More later

EDIT: I've posted my review of this one now.

I've never heard of this author! Eager to read your "more later".

Well, you weren't moved to read his Finn based on my review last year, 'cause it wasn't "your cuppa". This one may not be, either, but we'll see what you think. His subject matter is gritty and smelly...

oh. ok. Don't know if we do gritty and smelly, do we, Precioussssssssssss.

And sorry I forgot about your review last year. It's the brain, you see, the brain.

We have to toss things out of the brain room if we have no use for 'em. At our age, there's only so much storage space left!

Hi Linda - I've just skimmed through your thread playing catch up and loved your review of The Tiger's Wife, I had the same reaction when reading the book, definitely one of my favourites for the year. I was lucky to attend a talk by Obrecht at our writers festival in May which convinced me to read the book.

76. The Innocent House by Frances and Richard Lockrdige A cat and mouse thriller set in suburban Washington, DC, at the very beginning of the Cold War. A departure from the Lockridges' usual fare, this suspenseful tale of spy vs. spy, in which the protagonists fairly consistently trust the wrong people and run from the good guys, would have worked very well as a fast-paced TV drama. Not my usual fare, either, and I much prefer the lighter entertainment of Pam and Jerry North's escapades, or the puzzle-solving of Captain Heimrich and his lovely Susan. Well-plotted and curiously not as dated as it might be given the subject matter.

DNF: Dingley Falls by Michael Malone This one just was not engaging me at all after 100 pages (out of 588). Too many characters with too much uninteresting backstory and detail leading nowhere that I could see.

77. My Reading Life by Pat Conroy Now here is a book about reading that does what it oughta. Conroy has erased that disappointed feeling I had after reading Howard's End is on the Landing. Conroy "grew up a word-haunted boy". He tells us how his mother instilled a love of reading and learning in him by bringing home books from the library to educate herself; how, even though he attended 11 different schools in 12 years, he managed to connect with some special teachers who made lasting impressions on his reading life (and more). He explains what certain books and authors have meant to him personally and as a writer. Finally, he left me with an urge to read something new with the turn of nearly every page.

Linda...so glad you enjoyed Conroy's latest. It is definitely going to be on my top 10 list for the year.

Happy 176th Birthday to the gentleman at the top of the page. He looks pretty good for his age, if a little stiff!

Did you see the Google tribute to him today, Linda? Cute!

I did. I love Google's logo hi-jinks.

Congrats on passing the 75-book goal!

Sorry you didn't enjoy the Hambly book. I've enjoyed the first two in that series a bit more than you did. I'm planning to read the third next month -- a January read!

Kings of the Earth is on my list. Glad to hear that you liked it so much!

Thanks, Terri. I wouldn't say I didn't enjoy Fever Season at all---I just got popped out of the story too many times by the style issues. I like the character, and I'll be glad to hear what you think of the third installment. I haven't completely written this series off.

Now, speaking of series...

78. V is for Vengeance by Sue Grafton Sue Grafton has figured out how to keep her Kinsey Millhone series fresh and engaging through more than three quarters of the alphabet, and I sincerely hope she stays strong and creative through W, X Y and Z. (What WILL those titles be?) In this outing, Kinsey spots a shoplifter in the act, and finds herself tangled up in an organized retail theft scheme that ultimately involves several people from her past, and a whole new cast of characters that defy the usual stereotypes. Grafton wisely has Kinsey playing a central, but not overriding role in the story, so she doesn't become a caricature of herself from overexposure. That's no mean feat, when so many successful authors of series fiction seem to fall into the trap of "phoning it in", and their editors and publishers just give them a pass to do so. The plotting of this one is very good, and it doesn't pay to let your attention wander. It's suspenseful and believable, even after the excitement has worn off.

The first Kinsey Millhone adventure was published and set in 1982, when Kinsey was 32. Grafton has chosen to age Kinsey very slowly, so No. 22 takes place in 1988, the year Kinsey Millhone turns 38. (In my mind Grafton remains about that old, too, although I know she's really almost 72.) There are no cell phones, and while the police and businesses have computers, there are no PCs in evidence. I find it very hard to remember when there was no computer in my house, no phone in my pocket, no e-mail or internet. So much has changed in the last 3 decades that it must be very difficult to write about the 1980's without letting some anachonisms slip in, but as far as I can tell, Grafton has done that very well also.

Oi! You've passed the 75 target. Way to go, you! I'm straggling here. Hope between Christmas and New Years I get in some quality reading time.
p.s. I really want to read your # 77.

Congrats!

Diego Rivera's birthday...check out the Google logo today.

I saw that! Charter member of the Easily Amused here.

I've finally posted my review of No. 75, Kings of the Earth

Wow, for you to give it five stars....
*thumb*

>122 laytonwoman3rd: Really fine review, Linda. I don't know this author at all but you put me on an e-trail to find out more about him. I'm going to put both this and Finn on the list for next year.

Excellent review on Kings of the Earth. That book went right to my wish list. I think that the depiction of poverty in this country that most people in this country ignore is very significant.
Congrats on reaching 75. I don't think I'll get to 50, maybe you could loan me a couple, (LOL).

Thanks, all. I can't say enough about Jon Clinch. If you've read my review of Finn, as well as this one, you have a pretty good idea that I think he belongs in exalted company. And he's a really nice guy, to boot. When I e-mailed him and asked for a picture for his author page, I got an almost immediate answer, directly from him, with photo, and very gracious words of thanks.

Bill, I'm happy to share. Take a couple of the duds from my list if you want!

79. Midnight Rising by Tony Horwitz Good treatment of John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry. I like Horwitz's style. Full review for ER to follow.

80. Unpacking My Library: Writers and Their Books by Leah Price Endlessly fascinating photos of several novelists' bookshelves, with brief interviews on the subject of the physical book, shelving practices, reading habits, etc. I love books about books, and this one is a treat. Even though I'm only marginally familiar with most of the authors featured here, it's still a rush to peer at their bookshelves (which range from the raw pine creatively messy conglomeration of Junot Diaz's collection to the sterile white uniformity of Rebecca Goldstein & Steven Pinker's cubic system) and find that I share titles with these successful writers and thinkers. I was surprised at the number of them who profess to have no attachment to their books as objects or repositories of memory ("I read that one at Aunt Clare's the summer my mother had her surgery" "That's the copy of Ulysses that the puppy chewed the back cover off" "This was Dad's favorite western novel; he read this copy as a teen-ager.") In addition to scoping out particular titles on the shelves, it was fun to be invited into the living rooms of strangers just to look around. Why, in Claire Messud's lovely, tasteful library/music room, is there what appears to be an Oriental rug rolled up and stashed behind a chair? What's the story behind the antique pitchfork in Lev Grossman's study? Philip Pullman, do you really always have those enormous stacks of books on the floor in front of your otherwise orderly bookshelves? (If so, I LOVE you, man!) A great number of the books on Edmund White's shelves seem to be unread copies of books by ----Edmund White. Each of the authors featured here was asked to share a "Top Ten" list. Comparing those was fun--Chekov, Tolstoy and Nabokov made multiple appearances; so did Virginia Woolf, Elizabeth Bishop and George Eliot. I was excited to see Barbara Pym and Alice Munro given mention. If you're a library voyeur, you can spend a lot more time with this book than it takes just to read the text.

Merry Christmas, Linda!

Thank you, Peggy. The same to you and your family!

mistletoe smooches!

Delightful, Richard. Right back atcha.

Merry Christmas, Linda. I'm looking forward to the review of
Midnight Rising by Tony Horowitz

#133 Thank you, Bill. The review will come next week, I hope. I'm off work all week, and intend to catch up a little with such things.

81. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley

Intriguingly mysterious happenings abound at Buckshaw, the ancestral home of our heroine, 11-year-old Flavia deLuce. With her precocious intelligence, passion for chemistry and freedom from adult supervision, Flavia pitches in to the midst of things after finding a man breathing his last in the cucumber patch, and she won't stop until she has it all figured out. I had fun reading Sweetness, but I don't love Flavia. I find her interest and grasp of chemistry possible to believe in, but she just knows too much other stuff about too much other stuff for a real kid, no matter how bright. She is just barely saved from being a totally unbelievable character by the delicious sibling rivalries with her sisters, her incorrigible 11-ish sense of justice, and the fact that she draws a fair number of false conclusions. I reserve the right to let her grow on me as I read further in the series.

Merry Christmas to all my visitors. May there always be a song in your heart.

That reminds me that we didn't get out my Mom's Christmas village this year. We did last year, but I think when I sent my nieces and nephews to the attic at Thanksgiving for the tree and decorations, I didn't remind them of the village. Mom always set it up across my piano that is still at hers and dad's house because there's not enough room for it at my house (and it would cost more to move it than it's worth) even if I did.

I got a couple new carolers this year for birthday and Christmas. I'll update the photo in a day or so, when I have time!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, Peggy!
TK

"May there always be a song in your heart."

What a wonderful sentiment, Linda.

And if I'm not mistaken, your Christmas village is Dicken's A Cristmas Carol. Love the Bob Cratchit/Tiny Tim figurine.

Cratchit and Tiny Tim and Scrooge (in the purple dressing gown) are the only actual Dickens characters in the lot. But I agree, Charlie, it has the proper "feel" to it. I've collected them one at a time over the years. They are all hand-made right here in Pennsylvania, and there are a number of series (Hmmm....sound familiar?) Here's the website for Byer's Choice Carolers Why should I be the only LT'er to catch this bug?

No more bugs for me, Linda—I'm so buggy already that even Martha's special X-tra strength DDT shampoo doesn't work on me.

I already collect LoA (30 years in 2012), Trail of the Painted Ponies (12 years), and stamps (ever since I was a little guy).

82. To be announced. (I have shamelessly read a book before sending it to someone as a gift. I therefore reserve all comment at this time.)

ETA: Now it can be revealed....No. 82 was The Pine Barrens by John McPHee. A fascinating, if dated, look at the history and ecology of the natural wonder that is the Pine Barrens of Southern New Jersey. When this book was originally published in 1967, the Barrens were threatened by encroaching development, urban sprawl and by plans for a massive jetport which was envisioned to ease the congestion of the Philadelphia and New York airports. McPhee held out little hope for the long-term survival of this wilderness, which was home to diverse plant and animal life, some of it unique to that ecosystem (like the pygmy pine forests in which the trees grow no taller than 4 feet), and under which is an acquifer containing 17 trillion gallons of the purest water to be found in the U.S. His book, although reprinted quite recently, does not contain updated information on the creation of the Pinelands National Reserve (1978) or the International Biosphere Reserve (1988), whereby development has been curtailed and strictly controlled. Still, the natural history in The Pine Barrens is absorbing, and the writing is somewhat reminiscent of Annie Dillard's Pilgrim at Tinker's Creek. 4 stars. Could have had 5 if it had been brought up to date with an afterword or some such.

>145 laytonwoman3rd: Ah. The Literary Fifth.

I may have the right to remain silent, but I suspect I shall be throttled, pilloried and otherwise publicly shamed for this, and 'ere long.

>147 laytonwoman3rd: A little time in the pillory will be good for your thievin' soul.

>145 laytonwoman3rd:, 147: ba ha ha ha ha! I just bought my ticket to the pillory & shame-fest.

Do you think embroidery will be sufficient, or will there be branding involved?

145 *eyebrow*

Such a lot of contenders for the injured party during this week of the year, too.

Ummm...yes, but only one of them would be likely to see my post. *cringe*

Thief! Thieeeeeeeeeeeeef! Baggins! We hates it forever!

I sped-read Perdido Station before wrapping it for one of my lads. I'll sit in those stocks with you.

#153 Mmmmpphh...the drama. You would never have known if I hadn't confessed.

You LIKE my drama.

Linda3rd...where is your 2012 thread?

#157 Why? What's wrong with this one? 'Tain't 2012 yet, and I expect to finish another book or two this week.
I'll be sure to link to the new one, so you won't miss all this internecine hilarity.

83. Lives of the Poets by E. L. Doctorow Doctorow has never disappointed me before. He has bewildered me--in City of God--but that, I'm sure, was principally due to my own lack of familiarity with St. Augustine and philosophy in general. This book of short fiction just didn't do it for me---too much adolescent and middle-aged male angst. I just can't seem to relate to that. It's why I find Philip Roth distasteful so much of the time. I've never encountered it in Doctorow before.

ooooh I hate middle-aged male angst books. Well warned here. Thanks!

Me three! I hate middle-aged male angst too! I think my only exception is Herzog, by Saul Bellow.

Thanks, Kerri and Tui. I've updated my entry on Unpacking My Library in No. 127 above , if you're interested.

I hope that I'm able to follow the threads more often in 2012. Yours is one I so enjoy.

All good wishes!

Thanks, Linda. Always so nice to have you drop in. Keeping up is beyond me with so many discerning readers in the group; we just do what we can!

Here's a link to where I'll start my 2012 reading record when the time comes.

84. The Broken Window by Jeffery Deaver A heck of a page-turner, as usual with Deaver's Lincoln Rhyme series. This one is all about data-mining, identity theft and other scary-as-hell-brave-new-world stuff that is probably more realistic than I want to know. Still, Rhyme and Amelia prevail. With most of the rest of this evening spoken for, I assume this will be my last full book completed this year. So Happy New Year everyone....see you in 2012!

Happy New Year....unstarring now....see ya on the 2012 threads!

I'm still laughing at you being called Baggins.

Me too. But we sort of DO that in this fam'ly.

>May I be a cousin, in that case?

Sure thing!