Janet stumbles to the finish line

Welcome to my fourth thread for 2011.

Here’s what I have read so far:

January:
1. Palace of Desire by Naguib Mahfouz
2. God's Philosophers: How the Medieval World Laid the Foundations of Modern Science by James Hannam
3. Sizzling Sixteen by Janet Evanovich
4. Remnant Population by Elizabeth Moon
5. Death in a Strange Country by Donna Leon
6. Stalking the Angel by Robert Crais
7. Among the Mad by Jacqueline Winspear

February:
8. Started Early, Took My Dog by Kate Atkinson
9. Oblivion by David Foster Wallace
10. Finishing the Hat by Stephen Sondheim
11. The Magicians by Lev Grossman
12. The True Deceiver by Tove Jansson
13. Wondrak and Other Stories by Stefan Zweig

March:
14. Stop the Train by Geraldine McCaughrean
15. Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin
16. Red Bones by Ann Cleeves
17. Manhood for Amateurs by Michael Chabon
18. Fear by Stefan Zweig

April:
19. Bad Dirt by Annie Proulx
20. The Book of Words by Jenny Erpenbeck

May:
21. Visitation by Jenny Erpenbeck
22. Eleven by David Llewellyn
23. Ancient Warfare: A Very Short Introduction by Harry Sidebottom
24. Ransom by David Malouf
25. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
26. The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
27. The Seas by Samantha Hunt
28. The Brutal Telling by Louise Penny
29. Islam: A Very Short Introduction by Malise Ruthven
30. Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

June:
31. Wings of the Sphinx by Andrea Camilleri
32. One Secret Thing by Sharon Olds

July:
33. What Went Wrong? by Bernard Lewis
34. The Dervish House by Ian McDonald
35. Another Country by James Baldwin
36. The Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
37. The Listener’s Guide to Medieval and Renaissance Music by Derrick Henry
38. The Cambridge Illustrated History of the Islamic World edited by Francis Robinson

August:
39. A History of the Arab Peoples by Albert Hourani
40. Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny
41. The Arabs by Eugene Rogan
42. St. Pancras Station by Simon Bradley
43. The House of the Mosque by Kader Abdolah

September:
44. A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin
45. Dark Matter by Juli Zeh
46. The Anonymous Venetian by Donna Leon
47. Egypt on the Brink: From Nasser to Mubarak by Taher Osman

October:
48. A Storm of Swords: Steel and Snow by George R.R. Martin
49. Good Evening Mrs. Craven: The Wartime Stories of Mollie Panter-Downes by Mollie Panter-Downes
50. Go Tell it on the Mountain by James Baldwin
51. Imperium by Ryszard Kapuscinski
52. The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet
53. Love in Amsterdam by Nicholas Freeling

November:
54. Perdido Street Station by China Mieville
55. Guardian Review Book of Short Stories
56. The Worst Journey in the World by Apsley Cherry-Garrard

December:
57. Lullaby Town by Robert Crais
58. Risky Business by Al Alvarez
59. Sugar Street by Naguib Mahfouz
60. Endurance by Caroline Anderson
61. A History of Japanese Literature: The First Thousand Years by Suichi Kato

What did you make of the Guardian collection of short stories? Any you particularly liked?

Just came to say hello in the new thread

Oh my goodness, I think I got zapped over here with this new feature? But what if I missed something on yr. last thread?

Yes, I'll have to watch for that -- good review of the Mieville. I have yet to try him, but I'm getting ever closer.

Just stopping by to say hi Janet on another thread. (Now we don't have to zap in dropping stars everywhere like angels with confetti)

Hi Janet! Thankfully I had your last thread starred, even though I just lurked ;)
I did manage to get caught up on it though, are you still looking for Christmas gift ideas for your hubby?

I know my fiance likes the Lee Child books, not sure if those would be something your hubby would like. He has a new one called The Affair from this year. Or Jeffery Eugenides has a new book The Marriage Plot that has been getting good reviews. I haven't gotten around to reading it yet though.

Hey There!

I LIKE this new feature, makes finding you so easy.

Hi Janet, checking in to the latest thread and saying Hi!

Whoa! Here I am, and I didn't even know I was coming! Now I'm off to see what I missed on the last thread. Hope you're enjoying a fine weekend!

Hi. So I started this new thread and then abandoned you all. Sorry about that. I just wasn't feeling very intelligent or communicative over the last week. I was, however, reading a lot, and have finished three more books since I was last here. But first...

#2 - Luci, see my comments on the Short Stories below - what about you?

#3 - Hi to you, too, Paul.

#4 - Lucy, I am pretty sure you will like Mieville, given the other sorts of things I know you like.

#5 - Hi, other Paul.

#6 - Hi, Chelle, thanks for the suggestions, I've added them to the list (I am definitely going to buy something tomorrow at the latest!)

#7 - Hi, Kim.

#8 - Hi, Roni.

#9 - Hi, Leonie.

#10 - Hi, Peggy. The weekend was too long ago for me to remember - I'm sure it was very nice, thanks!

Okay, now to start catching up on books!

55. The Guardian Review Book of Short Stories edited by Lisa Allardice
This book of 11 new short stories by well known writers came free with the Guardian newspaper some weeks ago, part of the “Guardian Book Season”. I am not a big short story fan, and probably wouldn’t have picked this up if it hadn’t been free, so I am probably not the best person to give a fair overview of the contents. The two stories I liked best were by Mohsin Hamid, whose The Reluctant Fundamentalist I read earlier this year and liked a lot, and Hisham Matar, whose In the Country of Men I am planning to read in January. The ones I liked least were by Polly Sampson and Rachel Cusk, neither of whom I know anything about. The rest were somewhere in between. If you come across this book, it’s worth picking up, as it does cover a wide range of modern writing styles and you will probably find a least some stories you like.

56. The Worst Journey in the World by Apsley Cherry-Garrard
This one needs a much longer post - I've written it but not yet typed it, so I'll come back to it later. Just to say for now, it's a great book, and he has pretty much the coolest name of any English language author I've ever come across.

57. Lullaby Town by Robert Crais
This is the third book in Crais’ series featuring private detective Elvis Cole and his sidekick Joe Pike. Ever since I was introduced to this series by a (non-LT) friend last year, I have been trying to acquire as many of the titles as I could (second hand), especially the earlier ones that my library doesn’t stock, so I could read them in order. I now have them all (including via the library), and I intend to use them as “fillers” over the next couple of years, in between heavier books. Elvis and Joe are good characters, as hard-boiled detectives go, and although the plots are pretty formulaic (assuming the three I have read typify the series), they are fun to read. This one has Elvis helping a famous movie director find the family he abandoned years earlier, then helping the ex-wife deal with a complicated situation involving the mafia. All the elements are there – the initial meeting with the client, the road trip/search, the undercover surveillance, the kidnap, the shootout, the rescue, the clever resolution. As I said, formulaic, but fun.

58. Risky Business by Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez is a writer and critic, most well known for his poetry and other literary criticism articles in the Observer newspaper in the 1950’s and ‘60’s. He is also a serious amateur poker player and an aficionado of risky pastimes generally and of those who partake of them, and he has written quite a bit about that, too. This book is a collection of essays of both types. To be honest, I don’t remember why it was I wanted to read this book, and I didn’t find that many of the essays very interesting. I liked a few of the literary ones, particularly those on Jean Rhys and Andrew Marvell, and one on “The Worst Journey in the World”, which I was just about to start when I read the essay. But the ones about gambling, poker or flying, and most of the literary ones, just did nothing for me. I would only recommend reading this if you are particularly interested in the topic of any specific essay, or if you followed Alvarez during his Observer years and want to recapture those articles.

I do like when I'm in London and I can pick up a freebie book with a Sunday paper!

I'm sure I missed some stuff on your last thread, but somehow catching up with 11 new posts felt less intimidating than catching up on scores of 'em...

I'm giving the hubster a Crais for xmas..... good to see you liking him here. Or maybe that is how he came to my attention in the first place?

Don't think you missed anything world-shattering, Suz!

What Crais, Lucy? My husband, not a huge huge reader, loves them too.

Okay, here is my long comment on a really good book:

56. The Worst Journey in the World by Apsley Cherry-Garrard

Like most people, I have always “known” a bit about Scott’s journey to the South Pole – how it was a race with Amundsen, how the Norwegians “won”, how Scott did get there but didn’t make it back, and above all how Captain Oates tried to sacrifice himself to save the others, famously quoted as saying “Well, I am just going outside, and I may be some time”, then leaving the tent to walk to certain death in a heavy blizzard. What I hadn’t fully appreciated was the wider context of the expedition – the meticulous advance planning, the fundraising, the gathering of the team and supplies, the advance journey to lay down rations for the final push, the considerations of how to spend the many months of “dead” time (in addition to work and scientific experiments, they had books, games and a pianola to divert themselves with), and the important jobs done by the teams who didn’t go to the Pole with Scott, but stayed at the base camp, or formed the supporting parties for the first legs of the journey. Above all, I had never fully understood (or even thought about) just how cold it was, all the time.

Cherry-Garrard makes all this real, and makes it fascinating. He was a member of the party that went in search of Scott and his team the year after they failed to return from the Pole (it had been obvious for a long time that they must be dead, as it was impossible to survive once their food and fuel ran out, even by killing penguins), but they had to wait for the next “summer” to be able to trace the route successfully. He writes movingly about finding Scott and two companions dead in their sleeping bags inside their tent (Oates had walked out, and the fifth team member had died and been buried earlier), reading Scott’s final diary entries, and burying the bodies under a cairn. But the even more incredible part of this book is the description of a journey undertaken during the team’s first winter in the Antarctic (that is, before the trip to the Pole) – Cherry-Garrard and two others set out to reach the Emperor Penguin breeding grounds (which a previous expedition had discovered) and to bring back some eggs, which hadn’t been done before. This mid-winter journey was decidedly NOT a good idea, and it is this, not Scott’s fated trip, that gives the book its name.

It was so cold on this winter journey that breath and sweat instantly froze solid, coating the men with sheets of ice outside and inside their clothes. They had to chip their way through the ice blocking the tops of their sleeping bags each night, wherein they lay shivering for 6 or 7 hours, and when they got ready to start walking each day they had to be careful to emerge from the tent and immediately assume appropriate poses for dragging sleds (yes, they dragged them themselves), in case their clothes froze their bodies into the wrong positions before they got their harnesses on. Then they would drag heavy loads for hours, occasionally stopping to pull each other out of crevasses, stopping for tea and biscuits halfway, setting up the tent every night, cooking dinner, chipping into the sleeping bags, all without being able to take any clothes off or warm up at all. This went on for six weeks in, of course, complete darkness. But they found the penguins, got some eggs, and got back safely (hope that’s not a spoiler). And every night, Cherry-Garrard wrote in his diary, as he lay shivering in his frozen sleeping bag. You couldn’t make this stuff up.

By coincidence, the very night I read about finding Scott’s party, the BBC series “Frozen Planet” was showing an episode covering the human experience of Antarctica. It showed photographs of the base camp and of the men I had just been reading about, and followed the path of the journey to the Pole by plane. I was thrilled to recognize the landmarks, and really impressed my daughter by naming some of them before David Attenborough did. It was really the perfect complement to my reading.

I cannot recommend this book too highly, even if “true life adventure” is not usually your cup of tea. Cherry-Garrard was a really good writer and observer, and the story is a truly exciting and inspiring, if tragic, one. Just be prepared to feel very cold while you are reading it.

Excellent review.

Star from me! Wonder why the South Pole fascinates me so much more than the North! I loved Kim Stanley Robinson's Antarctica, by the way.

Superb, Janet. I saw a dramatization on PBS years ago that still haunts me. I think it was called The Last Place on Earth.

Janet - great job with The Worst Journey in the World. Must get that into the TBR forest tout-de-suite.

15: Super review! Already on my wishlist.

What a wonderful review!

I can't remember what thread the Montaigne idea popped up on.... but J'ai trouve (don't know how to use accents because someone shows me and then I forget which is pathetic but true) mon libre and I can read one or so at a time..... that would be the best way. My volume starts with "Par divers moyens en arrive a pareille fin" loosely - "By various means one arrives at the same end" It's only four pages long (only, she sez bravely). It appears to be about reaching a peaceful settlement with someone you have offended or attacked, who has prevalied, and who would now like very much to wreak revenge on you! But I will definitely need to haul out my dictionaries to plow through it. I'm in no hurry either, I've simply managed to find the book! Bravo!

Great review of The Worst Journey In the World.

Are the Crais dectective stories contemporary?

Loved your review of the Worst Journey in the World. For a book group about 10 years ago I read Cherry: a Life of Apsley Cherry-Garrard by Sarah Wheeler. I quite enjoyed it, but reading his own book sounds better.

I enjoyed your review, too! But I think that is a book that I'll skip. Sounds much too harrowing for me to read!

Sandy K

Thanks for all the compliments and thumbs - it's been a while since I had a hot review!

#21 - Lucy, that one isn't in my paper copy, but I have found it on Gutenberg (Cotton translation) so am happy to start there. Just tell me when you want to read it, and where you want to discuss it - tomorrow? here? on your thread?

#22 - Hi, welcome to my thread. I'm not exactly sure if the Crais stories are contemporary - the one I just read was published in 1992, so no mentions of computers, cell phones, etc., but it could have been set a bit earlier than that. I guess if you look at some of the latest ones it would be easier to tell.

Hmmm. I'm thinking I'm going to keep the book out in my studio -- although probably not over the weekends, since somehow I don't get out there as much -- but I would say I could read that one by Saturday morning certainly and have something to say. My feeling about most of these essays is that almost every one could occupy a year of discussion, so I am literally thinking about no more than one a week. I'll read it in French, write something, and then probably seek out the Cotton and see how that changes my understanding. It's one of those synchronous things because I am writing some short bios for a music web-site (I do work, some) and one of the musicians has her website en francais only -- if it was someone else doing this work, this would be a problem. I also have to see how long it takes as I am so up to my eyeballs in things! But I think I can do this. And it would be a very very good thing.

I'm going to go and make a thread. Here is the link to it: Montaigne

Great! I'll read it today and move the conversation over to the new thread. Thanks, and good luck with the French.

I thought of Sara Wheeler when I read this. I haven't read it and this bio is one of her books I don't have, but I love her writing.

Janet, it's been quite awhile since I've read a compelling true adventure story. The Worst Journey in the World looks like great winter reading. Last year I read The Siege in January while I was under a warm fuzzy blanket drinking hot beverages. Same plan for this book!

Have you decided on your Christmas book for your husband this year?

ETA: It's been ten years since I read about Antarctica in Endurance and Alone.

Luci, I have a feeling I don't want to know any more about Cherry-Garrard's life. I'm sure I wouldn't like him very much. Writing this book feels like it was the high point of his life, at least insofar as it interacts with my own. I know he spent his life feeling guilty about not getting more supplies further along the depot chain, and angry that Scott had miscalculated to the extent that he did. That doesn't sound like it would make for fun reading, really.

Hi, Donna. I picked up The Siege for 25p in a charity shop this week, so might read it sooner rather than later, now I know, like you, how to plan for reading cold books! I am picking up Endurance from the library tomorrow, and Alone looks good, too, although I think I will stop with Antarctica books for a while.

And yes, after checking out all the suggestions everyone made, I decided to buy my husband Doc. My logic was that none of the others really inspired me to a really great extent, either on his behalf or on my own, whereas at least I know that I will like Doc even if he doesn't. Fingers crossed.

Great review of The Worst Journey in the World- its one of the many many many books on my dad's shelves that I want to steal when I visit his place.

I seem to have gotten into a real “organizing” mode lately regarding reading. Maybe this is a sign of my increasing energy, as I probably didn’t have the brain space to do this for most of the year. I have realized that my more random approach to reading (pick one from the shelf, or see what the library has that’s on my TBR list) may be more “spontaneous”, but also means I am more likely to read the easier, easier to find, more “popular” books on my list, while some of the more esoteric or just older ones, which are harder to get, don’t ever get chosen. So now, probably for the first time ever, I am making plans, to make sure I really do read the things on my list that I want to. I’m not sure I’m going to actually make this list public, although it nearly fits into a 12/12/12 challenge pattern (I’m sure I could make it fit if I wanted to!). But just to say that January looks a bit like this :

1. Christmas book from husband - usually a novel, but I am guessing it might be the second part of Stephen Sondheim’s book, Look, I Made a Hat
2. Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace, assuming the group of people who said they wanted to do a group read are still going ahead (does anyone know?)
3. In the Country of Men by Hisham Matar
4. Free Fall by Robert Crais
5. As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner (re-read)
6. Storm of Swords 2: Blood and Gold by George R.R.Martin
7. Kokoro by Natsume Soseki
8. Just Six Numbers by Martin Rees
9. Lectures on Don Quixote by Nabokov
10. Who Are We and Should it Matter in the 21st Century? by Gary Younge

Plus carrying on with four long term “slow burn” projects:
- Reading Montaigne’s Essays with Lucy/sibyx, one a week (join us on Montaigne's Essays, one at a time. if you’re interested)
- Reading a poem or two a day – currently from Staying Alive
- Reading background material for my classical music project – currently reading about, and listening to, Bach
- Short stories – currently reading Gogol, just finished How the Two Ivans Quarrelled, also known as The Squabble, recommended by several people here earlier this year.

Wow, so, now I have gone public, sort of, and also have noticed that I have probably bitten off a lot more than I can chew. Let’s see what happens!

ETA to add proper link to Montaigne thread.

Great plans for January Janet, and remember, it is just a plan, there is no pressure to read all of them if you run out of time. I've fallen into that trap before and feeling pressured to read what you plan to is the quickest way to throw myself into a book funk. If you're interested, BryanOz just recently read Infinite Jest and wrote some good thoughts about it on his thread.

I love yr. plans -- and anyway, Infinite Jest (I am still very much on board) will be a many many months read..... the only one that could distract you into your plan getting into a jam is the Martin!

My own reading is equally random and impulsive and I have been brooding over the whole thing. In fact, I have tbr books all over the house because they have exploded out of their proper place on 'my side' of the bedroom. I have been brooding over the whole affair, and may be moved to 'do something' about it before xmas and the next onslaught of books arrive. OF course, if I collect all the books in one place, I may simply lose heart, it may be a good strategy the way they are strewn about.

#31 - Thanks, Megan. You should definitely steal (well, maybe borrow) Worst Journey from your Dad.

#32 - I know, all the pressure will come from myself. If the January list becomes a Jan/Feb list, well, so be it. And thanks for sending me over to BryanOz's thread - I'm sure I'll need all the help I can get for Infinite Jest.

#34 - Yeah, the Martin is the real danger, I agree. I am trying to leave it until late in the month (helped by the fact that I will have to request it on ILL, which can take a day or two weeks), but I may not be strong enough. Most of my TBR books are in one place, and the ones I don't actually have are on one list. But I just bought a new half-bookcase (I mean one of the half-width IKEA Billy's) to fit into a little gap on a wall, and have allocated just one of those little shelves to the next month's TBR books, so it doesn't look too daunting. By the way, who do you think is "responsible" for the IJ read?

Don't know why I suddenly jumped ahead to thinking about January in my last post. It's still December, and I am still hoping to finish some more books this month/year. I am currently reading, and should finish this year:
Endurance by Caroline Alexander (about Shackleton)
A History of Japanese Literature The First Thousand Years by Suichi Kato (one of a couple of books my library had, as background to next year's Author Theme Focus on Japan)
Bach by Nicholas Kenyon (no touchstone) - more an analysis of the music than a biography, alongside listening to it all. This week is going to be "keyboard music" week, and I hope to get through all the key Bach works by the end of Jan. But I might finish the book this month.

Plus. of course, the Montaigne and the poetry, as mentioned previously, but no aim to finish either of those for quite some time.

I also finished reading Sugar Street this week, and will post about it in the next day or so.

Now, a request. My daughter is studying Peter the Great and Louis XIV for her History A-level, and wants to read some books set in either of those times/places (roughly late 17th/early 18th Centuries, Russia and France). She's looking for modern works, novels, not light and fluffy romances that just happen to be roughly set then, but stories that do give some feeling for the times/places and have a reasonable level of accuracy. Any suggestions?

Hi Janet! Great list, but it is a tactic I am avoiding. I think my reading slump this year was because reading suddenly became a "have-to" instead of a "get-to." Instead, I have a big bookcase, well-stocked with books, most of them randomly picked up here and there. I have given up trying to read all the "hot" suggestions I find here. I do hope to read more historical and autobiographical books next year, but the mood has to strike me. Good luck!!

Very nice choice of books, Janet. I'll join you in reading Kokoro this month.

Janet - I'm not a great reader of historical novels but came across this website which can be a useful source for books: http://www.historicalnovels.info/index.html

Thanks, Berly. I know what you mean and that is how I feel most years. This is an experiment, with fingers crossed.

Hi Darryl. Thanks. Can't wait for the Japanese ones.

Hi, Kerry, thanks for suggesting that website. I'll see if there's anything she likes the look of there.

Wishing a Happy Hanukkah to anyone who stops by who celebrates it.

I was brought up Jewish but am no longer practising, while my husband was brought up Church of England but no longer practising. So we don't go too far with any religious holidays. We did our traditional First Night of lighting candles and giving the kids little bags of chocolate money (Hanukkah Gelt). We then give them chocolate every night, and a present on the last night. But that's as far as it goes. They do get (a few) Christmas presents, too, as we wanted them to feel they fit in with their friends, and on Christmas Eve they decorate our living room mantelpiece with the things other people put on trees, because I just didn't think I could go as far as a tree, which we never had when I was growing up. This works fine for us, and now they are almost grown up they do really look forward to these little rituals.

Okay, here's what I though of Sugar Street.

59. Sugar Street by Naguib Mahfouz

This is the final part of The Cairo Trilogy. It takes place in Cairo in the 1930’s and ‘40’s. I really enjoyed the whole triology and am sorry to see it finished. Each volume followed a different generation of the Al-Jawad family, showing how they, and their society, changed over the first half of the 20th Century, from a very traditional, well defined way of life to a much more complex and uncertain one.

In the first volume, the story was very much about al-Sayyid Ahmad al-Jawad, the family patriarch. He earned his living as a shopkeeper, paid lip service to religion, spent all his free time with his friends and mistresses, and enforced a very strict traditional life on his family. He was typical of a large section of Egyptian society. In the second volume, life became a bit more complicated, his sons represented different ways of coping with those changes – the still traditional but lazy and unambitious Yasin, the politically engaged radical Fahmy and the studious and serious Kamal, whose education showed him a bigger picture he wasn’t really able to take advantage of. Now, the focus shifts to the children of Yasin and his two sisters. A wide range of Egyptian responses to the changes of the mid-20th Century is represented. One young man becomes a journalist and a communist, another an earlier member of the Muslim Brotherhood (forerunners of today’s Islamicists, with their emphasis on looking back to “the true religion”), and the third uses his sexual charms to rise rapidly in the civil service, forced to make more compromises politically than the others.

This third part seemed much more political than the previous two. I could flatter myself that this is because I had read quite a bit about Middle Eastern history in the meantime, so was better at picking up the references, but I don’t think so. I think that politics just became a more visible and intrusive part of daily life for families like this one, and while the patriarch had chosen to ignore politics for the most part, the latest generation couldn’t or didn’t want to.

Perhaps the most fascinating change, though, is in the visibility and roles of the women. Al-Jawad’s wife, Amina, was more or less a servant to him, calling him “sir” to the end of his life, and throughout the first two books only allowed out of the house on extremely rare occasions – weddings, funerals, etc. Her daughters, Kadija and Aisha, also led fairly traditional lives, although since their husbands were of a later generation they did have more freedom, for example coming to visit their mother every day. The young women of the third generation are aware of the greater opportunities available to them, and in particular wish to be more educated, but don’t get the chance. Other female characters in this final book, though, are staying in school, becoming journalists, and fulfilling other changing roles. At no point in the trilogy have we really been privy to any of the women’s inner thoughts (many chapters are interior monologues, but always men’s). But a key moment in this final book comes when Al-Jawad has just died. The next chapter is an interior monologue, clearly that of a woman, and although she is not named, the reader knows it is Amina, his wife. This is the first time we have heard her “speak”, and her thoughts are conflicted – she is now “free”, but what does this mean to her? She feels the whole meaning is gone from her life, and in any case is too old to take advantage of the changes happening in society.

Like the earlier volumes, this final part ends with birth and death in close proximity, as the cycle continues, and with the fates of some key characters unclear, as life in Cairo continues to be uncertain. Unsatisfying in one way, yes, but overall the most appropriate way to end the trilogy.

If you haven’t read these books, I urge you to at least give them a try.

Such a well-told and illuminating trilogy, I expected to be 'edified' mostly when I sat down with them, but instead I came to care hugely about everyone. Thanks for a great review too!

Awesome review Janet. And thanks for sharing your holiday rituals. We are still doing a few that started when the kids where really tiny and we can't give them up. One of them involves driving through the race track, which is all decorated with Christmas lights. The big draw was letting the kids sit on Dad's lap as he steered around the track going 5 mph. Now it has morphed into the big thrill being the one who has the driver's permit taking the steering wheel. And we have a new driver this year!! Watch out...

>40 JanetinLondon: that sounds like a great family ritual
Great plans for next year reading, no pressure! Im on a classic bender next year, if you can call aiming for 10 books that are classics a bender :/

Janet I have just skimmed your review (but enough to tell that it's great!) in case it gives anything away - I hope I will read Palace Walk in 2012.

It was really nice reading about your homegrown holiday traditions and that the kids love them. Is your daughter home from the US for the holidays? I have loved watching you get your strength back slowly over the course of this year, with ups and downs but it seems like mostly ups, as much as you can tell through a computer screen!

We celebrate both, Janet. My wife was raised Conservative, I was raised Presbyterian, and our kids were raised Reform. Luckily Reform in Chicago has room for the likes of me - my wife calls me her Buddhajewbyterian. We lit the first candle last night, too. We travel to my Dad's at the end of the week to celebrate Christmas with him and the rest of the family while continuing to celebrate Hannukah.

46--nice nickname!!

Hi Janet, I talked to Billiejean about Infinite Jest while we were at the Joplin meetup. We are still planning to read it together on absolutely no kind of schedule. I would love it if someone would take responsibility for a group read, but it may be a year-long read for us! If no one steps up, I might create a general thread for it that people can use to report their progress - and offer encouragement.

That is such good news that you're feeling well enough to plan your reading for next year. I may need a secretary to help me keep track of my reading commitments. I'm also pretty good about remembering that reading is fun and not getting too bogged down in my plans. That is why I'm being so wishy-washy about Infinite Jest. ;-)

Happy Holidays from across the pond! I love the eclectic way that your family celebrates.

I'll be there Donna when you start the thread. We begin Jan 1? Yes, it could easily take a year or at least into summer. I don't plan to drive myself batty trying to race through it, that's for sure.

I know what you mean about the reading -- definitely have bigger ambitions than are even remotely rational!

I am very happy with a slow burn approach to IJ.

If the slow burn approach is being used, I just might be convinced to join in. I saw a girl lugging it around yesterday, so I figured that was some kind of sign. It's HUGE!!!!

I read *IJ* mostly by myself last year. I say "mostly" because there is a devoted group of Infinite Jesters already on LT. I think that you will be surprised at how fast it goes and how much you want to keep reading it. I confess that I stopped in the middle of the book because I couldn't handle what had just happened, but it drew me back in. I can't wait to see what you all make of it!

I remember that, Peggy, that you had to quite for awhile.....

Happy Hanukkah/Merry Christmas, Janet!

Happy Holidays, Janet!

Janet - as one exile to another - happy christmas and a prosperous and peaceful new year. Look forward to keeping up in 2012 and thanks for all your posts in 2011.

Merry Christmas Janet!

Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas and whatever other good wishes I can send you way. I know you are celebrating!! I have so enjoyed your threads this year. So, thanks and big hugs.

mistletoe smooches!

Wishing you all the very best Janet!

Enjoy your holidays, Janet!

Happy Holidays Janet - sorry for getting behind on your thread again.

#35 Going back to your question about recommended books for your daughter, it's not a novel but Nancy Mitford's The Sun King was a fairly light biography about Louis XIV which I read earlier this year and really enjoyed. There's no references and it's almost 50 years old now so it might be dated but it was very readable and very good at giving an idea of the atmosphere of the court around Louis XIV, particularly at Versailles. I think a new edition has just been published by Vintage.

Happy Holidays, Janet! I hope that we can meet face to face in London in 2012.

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays, Janet!

Wow! I logged on for the first in a few days, and found all these kind, and creative, greetings. Thank you all, and the same to you. And to anyone who hasn't had time to actually post one here, best wishes to you, too.

Going back to some earlier unfinished conversations:

#42 - I agree, Lucy, the "edification" in The Cairo Trilogy was pretty subtle, and the characters took center stage, as I think they should - but I did learn a lot along the way.

#43 - Thanks, Kim. I hope your new driver did a great job on the racetrack.

#44 - Megan, 10 classics counts as a "bender" in my book - which ones first?

#45 - Thanks, Cushla. I tried to avoid spoilers, but one woman's throwaway comment is another woman's spoiler, so you were probably right to skim. Yes, my older daughter is home from college for Christmas. But she hasn't been in Virginia this year, but doing a "year abroad" in England, to save money, be in touch with her friends, stay in (or get in) the loop for grad school, job applications, etc., and spend time with her boyfriend. They got serious just before she first went to Virginia, so never really had a lot of time together. He is in his last year in another university near to hers, and is applying to grad schools in/near Virginia for next year to try to keep together.

#46 - Buddhajewbyterian, I love it! I'm impressed that your wife was able to move from Conservative to Reform Judaism. I was raised in the Conservative tradition, too (although maybe because that was the nearest temple rather than any strong beliefs on my parents' parts!), and we sometimes (I am ashamed to admit) were very dismissive of the Reformers, as not being "real Jews". Of course, the Orthodox Jews thought that about us, too. Seems like there just aren't enough Jews for them to waste so much time disrespecting each other!

#62 - Thanks for the suggestion of The Sun King, Heather. I'll show it to her and see what she thinks.

Infinite Jest - so where did we net out, and who's "in charge" - I'd love to volunteer, but I feel my situation is still too precarious (in terms of how often I might not feel up to it, or even, shudder, have to go back into the hospital).

Hi Janet, I hope you had good Hanukkah-Christmas holidays!

I'll happily follow the Infinite Jest thread, though I won't be reading along. I read the book in 2009 and it's too early for a re-read, but I am looking forward to all the comments and discussions.

Hi Janet, welcome in 2012, I wish you blessed new year.

Happy New Year Janet!

Happy New Year Janet!! Do you have a new thread up yet? I can't seem to find you. : )

Ditto - I can't find you over in the 2012 group.

Belatedly catching up, Janet, and also wondering how/where you are - I hope all is well with you, and wonder if you are planning a new thread for 2012 or if, like me, you are still trying to find time/energy to finish off 2011 first...

Hi Janet. Just another 75er curious about your 2012 thread. Hope all is well.

Janet's family would like everyone to know that after a sudden change in her condition, Janet died on 4th January 2012. We would like to thank all her friends on Library Thing for their conversations and support. Janet used her reading to fight against her illness and her interactions and friendships with you were very important to her both personally and for her continuing engagement, curiosity and liveliness of mind.

If, in memory of Janet, you would like to give to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Unit in which she was treated over the three years of her illness, please go to: www.justgiving.com/JanetKatz

Thank you all,
Rich, Kate and Amy

Thank you for letting us know. I am saddened by the loss of a good friend here on Librarything. I enjoyed her liveliness and her contributions.

My prayers are with you
Paul

I am so saddened by her death and I only had a glimpse of how wonderful she could be through Library Thing. She was funny, kind, upbeat, brave and ever so smart. I will miss her very much. I don't even have the words. My thoughts and prayers are with her family and friends. Thanks for letting us know.

Kim

I've also posted a note in the 2012 Challenge group that can be found here .

I enjoyed Janet's friendship here on LT and admired the braveness she showed fighting her illness. She was such a truly wonderful, special person.
I am terribly saddened and I will miss her so much. My thoughts are with her family and friends.

Nathalie

Very saddened to hear about Janet's untimely passing. I would like to express my sincere condolences to her family and loved ones and I am sure that you will see from the many messages here both before and after January 4th that Janet was a much loved member of our group. To Rich, Kate and Amy thank you so much for sharing your grief with us.

Janet will be missed so much. Her comments about books were always thoughtful and insightful, but the way she approached her illness was truly inspiring. I am so sad to hear this news.

One of her last comments was about the Infinite Jest read which still hasn't officially started. I suggest that when we do read it, we dedicate our thoughts to Janet who didn't get a chance to read the book with us.

Prayers will be ongoing for Rich, Kate, and Amy.

My condolences to Janet's family! I only knew her for a brief period but she was a lovely woman and will be missed!

I'm so sorry to hear this news. I always looked forward to reading Janet's posts on LT. I always found her comments about books and about life to be intelligent and interesting. I think the quality I liked best about her was her open-mindedness and curiousity about life.

And with a cancer diagnosis myself last year, I found her matter of fact approach to her illness to be both inspiring and calming.

I will miss her very much and just hope her family knows how much she added to this group.

Many prayers to Janet's family and friends. She will be missed.

Offering condolences to Janet's family . . .

Desolated to hear about your loss. Janet was a very special person here on LT and we all enjoyed interacting with her so much, and hearing the little bits she dropped about her beloved family. Thank you for letting us know.

I am deeply saddened by Janet's passing. I enjoyed her take on books, and her positive outlook on her illness. Rich, Kate, and Amy, my heart goes out to all of you.

Please accept my condolences. Janet was a bright and thoughtful lady who will be deeply missed here at LT as well.

Rich, Kate, Amy -- LT won't be the same without Janet, but of course our loss is nothing compared with yours. My heartfelt condolences to you all -- I hope it is some consolation to know that her spirited comments and insights enriched the lives of so many of us.

I am very sad to read this news. I met Janet in London last year at the LibraryThing meetup and she was as funny, brave and smart in person as she is on here. Thank you Rich, Kate and Amy for letting us know and you and Janet are in my thoughts.

I'm so sad to read this after enjoying Janet's posts and finally getting to meet her in May last year after hoping to arrange something for ages. She had fought her illness so hard for so long, and was finally beginning to look forward to the future.

Oh that is so sad. I've always enjoyed Janet's posts. It must be very hard to know her and love her and know that she is gone.

I'm also sad to hear this news. I met Janet in London with Cushla, Luci and Genny for some brunch last year and she was fantastic, so brave and still very funny even when she was telling us about her illness and its treatment. I also remember how good she was at drawing me into the conversation when I was feeling nervous. She'd come straight over from the hospital and was very tired but that didn't stop her thinking about other people.

I'm sad I won't get to see her again and will miss her comments on LT but I know that can't compare to the loss her family feels at the moment. Thank you for letting us know - we will be thinking of you.

So sad to hear the news. Janet was a wonderful person and I feel privileged to have met her through our LT-conversations. I will miss her. My thoughts and prayers are with you.

I cannot express how deeply saddened I am by this news. Although I never got to meet Janet in person, I felt as if I knew her through her posts here in the group. I am so sorry for this loss.

I'm so very sorry to hear about Janet. I enjoyed her posts very much. My sympathies to all the family and thank you so much for letting us know.

Thank you very much for letting us know about Janet's passing. Very sad. My deepest condolences.

It diminishes the lives of all Janet's friends to learn of her passing. My thanks to you, her family, for being kind enough to include us among her friends.

Safe journey home, dear and valued friend.

I'm so very sad to hear of Janet's passing. I always appreciated her intelligent and funny comments about books and life. She will certainly be missed here in this group. My condolences to you, her family.

I'm so saddened to hear of her passing, I always enjoyed (trying to) keep up with her. What a spirit, and what a wonderful, smart, strong person she was. Many blessings to you, her family, and thank you for letting us know. Much love to you all.

So saddened by the news of Janet's passing and my condolences to her family. She was a thoughtful reader who inspired so many of us here in the 75 LT group.

Just want to add my condolences for a kind and thoughtful lady.

I think that Janet was one of the first people I came to know in LT - both through her amazing library (we share loads of books) and through her wonderful posts - i was always keen to see what she would be up to next. I feel like I have lost a real friend - not a virtual one. My sincere condolences to her family - Rick, Kate and Amy: you must all be devastated. She seemed to be doing so well. She will be sorely missed - her warmth, strength, and sense of wonder and curiousity was so evident in her posts; I can only imagine what she would have been like in person. Vale.