Tag: book lists

WWW Wednesday

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My intention has been to do WWW Wednesday once a month, the first Wednesday of the month, if I remember. What is WWW Wednesday? It’s an idea I stole from the Chocolate Lady, who took it from someone else, I think. For that day, you discuss what you are reading now, what you just finished, and what you plan to read next.

If you like, please comment with your own answers to these questions.

What did I just finish?

My last book was one I read to fill a spot on my A Century of Books project. Unfortunately, as has happened all too often, by the time it surfaced in my stack, I had already read another book from that year. However, I enjoyed it very much. It was School for Love by Olivia Manning, who is best known for her Levant Trilogy. This book is also set in that area, in Jerusalem at the end of World War II. It’s about an orphaned teenage boy who is stuck in Jerusalem awaiting a place on a ship back to England.

What am I reading now?

I found this book when I was looking for more by First Nations authors. Thomas King was recommended, but it seemed as though he mostly writes short stories, which I am not big on, just because I usually want more. I thought this book was a novel, but it actually turned out to be nonfiction, which I would have figured out if I had read the subtitle. It is more like a set of essays on subjects to do with the treatment of native populations at the hands of both Canada and the United States. I am finding it interesting and written in a loose, acerbic style. Like Bill Bryson only with more sarcasm. The title of the book is The Inconvenient Indian.

What will I read next?

I’ve got another book lined up to fill a hole in my Century of Books project. I was so delighted with Cassandra at the Wedding that I was glad to see Young Man with a Horn listed by the same author, Dorothy Baker. So far, I don’t think I’ve read another book for the same year, so that will be nice, too.

Since we are now in the last quarter of the year, I’ll probably be concentrating on trying to finish this project, to the neglect of my other projects and contemporary reading. But you know me, I like to mix it up!

Take a minute and let me know what you have been reading or plan to read.

A Century of Books: How Am I Doing? September Report

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In January, I foolishly decided to join Simon Thomas’s Century of Book Challenge, even though I knew that reading 100 books, one for each year in a century, from 1925-2024, would be tough because last year I only read 169. So, how am I doing?

Here are the holes in my project with the books listed for this month below. If you want to see the details, see my Century of Books page.

  • 1925-1934: entries needed for 1928, 1929, and 1931
  • 1935-1944: entry needed for 1939
  • 1945-1954: entries needed for 1945, 1948, 1949, and 1950
  • 1955-1964: entries needed for all years except 1956, 1958, 1959, 1961, and 1962
  • 1965-1974: entries needed for 1967, 1969, 1971, and 1973
  • 1975-1984: entries needed for all years except 1975, 1976, 1978, and 1983
  • 1985-1994: entries needed for all years except 1987, 1988, 1989, and 1992
  • 1995–2004: entries needed for all years except 1998, 1999, and 2004
  • 2005-2014: entries needed for all years except 2009, 2010, 2012, and 2014
  • 2015-2024: complete!

Since August 28, I read the following books:

  • Maitland: Scenes from Scottish Life by Margaret Oliphant from 1851 (too early for this project)
  • Germinal by Émile Zola from 1885 (too early)
  • Dead Ernest by Alice Tilton from 1944
  • The Chateau by William Maxwell from 1961
  • Passenger to Frankfurt by Agatha Christie from 1970
  • Fifth Business by Robertson Davies from 1970
  • Charity Girl by Georgette Heyer from 1970
  • Tropical Issue by Dorothy Dunnett from 1983
  • Death of a Hollow Man by Caroline Graham from 1989
  • I’m Not Your Eve by Devika Ponnambalam from 2022
  • The Dark Wives by Ann Cleeves from 2024

WWW Wednesday

~ whatmeread ~ 6 Comments

I stole this idea from the Chocolate Lady who stole it from someone else. What’s WWW Wednesday? It’s really just a check-in that I do once a month. I talk about what I just finished reading, what I am reading now, and what I expect to be reading next. That gives you a chance to do it, too! I wish you would!

What did I just finish reading?

I just finished the second of Caroline Graham’s Inspector Barnaby series, Death of a Hollow Man. I have long been a fan of Midsomer Murders, which is based on this series, although Graham only wrote a few books. I tried reading the series years ago but stopped after the first book because my ideas of the characters had been created by the TV show. In this book, there’s another shock, because Barnaby’s daughter Cully is depicted as acidic. However, I enjoyed the book, despite knowing the solution because of being so familiar with the TV series. Graham does a pretty brave thing in this book, using half the book to do the build-up and spending lots of time developing the characters before the crime.

What am I reading now?

I actually haven’t started reading the next book but have taken it out as I write, and I know absolutely nothing about it except it’s on my Walter Scott prize project list. It’s I’m Not Your Eve by Devika Ponnambalam, and I see it’s about the muse of Paul Gauguin. Well, that should be interesting. I’m looking forward to it.

What will I read next?

I went through my pile of To-Read books, and I took out all the books that will fill holes in my Century of Books project and put them in a little pile on my bed table. I’ve been trying to read one every other book. Death of a Hollow Man filled in 1989, and The Chateau by William Maxwell will fill in 1961. I’ve been reading lots and lots of books for the same years and quite a few published before the years my project covers, so I know I won’t make my deadline of reading all the books this year, but I will forge on! By the way, I know nothing about this book, including why I bought it!

What have you been reading, and what will you read next?

A Century of Books: How Am I Doing? August Report

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In January, I foolishly decided to join Simon Thomas’s Century of Book Challenge, even though I knew that reading 100 books, one for each year in a century, from 1925-2024, would be tough because last year I only read 169. So, how am I doing?

Here are the holes in my project with the books listed for this month below. If you want to see the details, see my Century of Books page.

I read a lot fewer books in August than usual because first, I was traveling, and second, I got sick.

  • 1925-1934: entries needed for 1928, 1929, and 1931
  • 1935-1944: entries needed for 1939 and 1944
  • 1945-1954: entries needed for 1945, 1948, 1949, and 1950
  • 1955-1964: entries needed for all years except 1956, 1958, 1959, and 1962
  • 1965-1974: entries needed for 1967, 1969, 1971, and 1973
  • 1975-1984: entries needed for all years except 1975, 1976, and 1978
  • 1985-1994: entries needed for all years except 1987, 1992, and 1988
  • 1995–2004: entries needed for all years except 1998, 1999, and 2004
  • 2005-2014: entries needed for all years except 2009, 2010, 2012, and 2014
  • 2015-2024: complete!

Since July 31, I have read the following books:

  • The Gambler by Fyodor Dostoevsky from 1866 (too early to count for this project)
  • Envy by Yuri Olesha from 1927
  • Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston from 1937
  • A Chelsea Concerto by Frances Faviell from 1959
  • The Book of Lamentations by Rosario Castellanos from 1962
  • Broken by Karin Slaughter from 2010
  • The Raging Storm by Ann Cleeves from 2023
  • The Witching Tide by Margaret Meyer from 2023
  • The Bee Sting by Paul Murray from 2023
  • The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng from 2023

If I Gave the Award

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Now that I have posted my review of the last of the shortlist for the 2020 Pulitizer Prize for Fiction, it’s time for my feature in which I decide whether the judges got it right. The Pulitzer Prize tends to choose only three books for its shortlist, so in some ways the choice is easier, in some ways more difficult. In this case, two of the choices were ones I really liked.

Let’s start with the one I didn’t like as much, The Topeka School by Ben Lerner. Now, there is nothing intrinsically unlikable about Lerner’s books, it’s just that they’re all about himself, as evidenced by his alter ego, Adam Gordon, being the protagonist for all and having a biography very similar to his own. I’m saying this on the basis of two books, but I think it’s true. The novels are somewhat funny, poking subtle fun at himself, and he is obviously into wordplay, but I guess I just don’t like him very much. In this case, the novel focuses on Adam’s high school years, his relationships with his friends and girlfriend, and his prowess on the debating team.

The choice between the other two novels is difficult for me. The Dutch House was my favorite Ann Patchett novel until she wrote Tom Lake, and frankly, they’re pretty much a tie for me. It’s about the disastrous effects on his children of a father’s lack of understanding, almost a willful blindness, of both his first wife, the children’s mother, and his second. It’s about the consequent loss of his children’s inheritance, the Dutch house, and their fascination with it. And it’s about the closeness of siblings who only had each other to rely on. I really love this book.

I was gripped, though, by The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead, the winning book. It’s a historical novel about the mistreatment and even murder of black boys in a Florida school for boys, aka, a detention center, based on the true history of the Dozier School for Boys. Its protagonist, Elwood Curtis, is a right-minded boy who makes the mistake of accepting a ride from a stranger in what turns out to be a stolen car. Once incarcerated in the school, he begins collecting a record of the abuses he sees.

It’s not hard to see why the judges picked The Nickel Boys over The Dutch House, a more personal novel. But that’s what I like about it. Both novels touched me emotionally, so I guess this time I declare a tie. I didn’t love The Nickel Boys as I loved The Dutch House, but it is extremely powerful. They are both very good novels.

WWW Wednesday!

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I meant to do WWW Wednesday last week, but I was traveling and sick, not a good combination. So, here goes today. What is WWW Wednesday (not my original idea)? It is simply a post about what I just read, what I’m reading now, and what I think I’ll be reading next. If you would like to join in, leave a comment about your recent reading experience.

What Am I Reading Now?

I am reading The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng and finding it very interesting. It’s so far about a visit that Somerset Maugham made to Penang in the 1920s, but I think it’s going to change soon to be about Sun Yat Sen. I am reading it for my Walter Scott Prize project, but I so much enjoyed The Garden of Evening Mists that I probably would read it anyway.

What Did I Just Finish Reading?

I just finished rereading Their Eyes Were Watching God for my Literary Wives club. I found that I felt pretty much the same about it as I did last time, but I found that reading almost the whole book in dialect was really tiring. Maybe that’s because I haven’t totally recovered yet, but it’s true that dialect is hard on the reader.

What Will I Read Next?

If it arrives before I start another book, I will read The Gambler by Fyodor Dostoevsky for the 2024 Dostoevsky Read-a-Thon hosted by Russophile Reads. I thought I had a copy, but I seem to have almost all Dostoevsky except that. Then I thought the public library would have it, but no, although in general it is a much better library than the one in Austin was while we lived there. (They finally have a new one after talking about it forever.) If it doesn’t arrive before I finish The House of Doors, then I will probably give myself a break from literary books and read Broken by Karin Slaughter, the next in her Will Trent detective series.

What about you? What are you reading?

A Century of Books: How Am I Doing? July Report

~ whatmeread ~ 2 Comments

In January, I foolishly decided to join Simon Thomas’s Century of Book Challenge, even though I knew that reading 100 books, one for each year in a century, from 1925-2024, would be tough because last year I only read 169. So, how am I doing?

Here are the holes in my project with the books listed for April below. If you want to see the details, see my Century of Books page.

  • 1925-1934: entries needed for 1927-29 and 1931
  • 1935-1944: entries needed for 1939 and 1944
  • 1945-1954: entries needed for 1945, 1948, 1949, and 1950
  • 1955-1964: entries needed for all years except 1956, 1958, 1959, and 1962
  • 1965-1974: entries needed for 1967, 1969, 1971, and 1973
  • 1975-1984: entries needed for all years except 1975, 1976, and 1978
  • 1985-1994: entries needed for all years except 1987, 1992, and 1988
  • 1995–2004: entries needed for all years except 1998, 1999, and 2004
  • 2005-2014: entries needed for all years except 2009, 2010, 2012, and 2014
  • 2015-2024: complete!

Since June 26 I read the following books:

  • These Old Shades by Georgette Heyer from 1926
  • The Listening House by Mabel Seeley from 1938
  • Miss Granby’s Secret by Eleanor Farjeon from 1940
  • Village Story by Celia Buckmaster from 1951
  • The Fountain Overflows by Rebecca West from 1956
  • The Heather Blazing by Colm Toíbín from 1992
  • The Voyage of the Narwhal by Andrea Barrett from 1998
  • The Time of Women by Elena Chizhova from 2009
  • Memorial by Bryan Washington from 2020
  • Glory by Noviolet Bulawayo (DNF) from 2022
  • Hungry Ghosts by Kevin Jared Hosein from 2022
  • In the Upper Country by Kai Thomas from 2023

I’m on vacation this week and next, so I haven’t been making much progress lately.