Having had a rather bad reading week I was wondering what to post this week. Yesterday I finished Hannah Tinti's The Good Thief, which was full of potential but never grabbed me in the slightest and forced myself to read The Castle of Otranto -afterall it is just 115 pages long (and a book I said I'd read for the November Novella Challenge) - I struggled through the stupidly long (3 pages) paragraphs and chance happenings in despair. Thankfully this morning things are looking up: I started and feasted on the first 100 pages of The Life and Death of Charlie St. Cloud and I saw all the new challenges posted over at A Novel Challenge.
Now my rule for next year was no more than three challenges at a time, and many of these look so tempting! I have already signed up for The Dysopian Challenge, and the 11 in 11 challenge over on Librarything, so I'm going to pick one and just keep a note here of all the ones which seem appealing and which I could manage within my tbr stacks. This way I have a place to refer back to when I've ticked a challenge off the list.
Challenges I'm interested in:
Quirky Brown Reading Challenge
South Asian Author Challenge
Victorian Challenge
YA Historical Fiction
Read a Myth
Nordic Challenge
Person of Colour Reading Challenge
Eastern European Reading ChallengeShared/Suggested/Read-a-long reads (I may participate or just use these as potential finds):
The 2011 Wolves Reading Event Who are reading from this schedule:
January (EL Fay): The Bread Givers, by Anzia Yezierska
February (Emily): Our Horses in Egypt by Rosalind Belben
March (Richard): Conversation in the Cathedral, by Mario Vargas Llosa
April (Sarah): The Dodecahedron, or Frames for a Frame, by Paul Glennon
May (Frances): What Ever Happened to Modernism?, by Gabriel Josipovici
June (Claire): The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, by Junot Díaz
July (EL Fay): Snow, by Orhan Pamuk
August (Frances): The End of the Story, by Lydia Davis
September (Richard): The Memoirs of Hadrian, by Marguerite Yourcenar
October (Sarah): House of Leaves, by Mark Danielewski
November (Emily): The Planetarium, by Nathalie Sarraute
December (Claire): Buying a Fishing Rod for my Grandfather, by Xingjian Gao
A year of Feminist Classics Reading Project who will be reading:
January: A Vindication of the Rights of Women by Mary Wollestonecraft - Amy
February: The Subjection of Women by John Stuart Mill and Harriet Taylor Mill - Ana
March: A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen - Emily
April: Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman - Iris
May: A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf - Ana
June: The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan OR The Female Eunuch by Germaine Greer – Amy
July: The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir - Iris
August: The Women’s Room by Marilyn French - Emily
September: The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf - Amy
October: Ain’t I a Woman? by bell hooks - Iris
November: Gender Trouble by Judith Butler - Ana
December: Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde - Emily
The Challenge I'm starting the year with:
Back to the classics, I choose this one because as soon as I saw that you had to read one book for each of the following:
A Banned Book
A Book with a Wartime Setting (can be any war)
A Pulitzer Prize (Fiction) Winner or Runner Up: a list can be found here
A Children's/Young Adult Classic
19th Century Classic
20th Century Classic
A Book you think should be considered a 21st Century Classic
Re-Read a book from your High School/College Classes
My mind raced to think of the books I have on the tbr pile that could be used to complete this challenge.
I'm sure that these lists will grow and grow as they usually do in the lead up to the end of the year. I like the idea of joining in with one of the lower levels of participation 3-4 books and having a themed month of reading but also being able to weed those books out of the bookstacks that wouldn't have got a look in otherwise.
Sunday, 21 November 2010
Tuesday, 16 November 2010
Revolutionary Road - Richard Yates
I had see and quite enjoyed this movie a couple of years ago so when I was offered the book I thought ‘why not’. For those who haven’t seen the film he story is set in 1950s Connecticut amongst the new pastel box houses and pastel box cars. Frank and April Wheeler, the ideal American family on the surface live, look down on this cereal box style society. Beneath their idealism lies deceit, past regrets, emotional imbalance, unfaithfulness, hate, hurt and love.
Sounds like a fairly typical read but Yates style struck me almost like that of a voice over on a nature show. There was a stylised distance so that you felt like you watching this couple from both afar and at an intimate level.
Neither character is appealing, in fact every character –even the kids – are unappealing, annoying and stereotypes. He spends too long focused on how others see him, trying to appear laidback and like he’s just passing time till something better comes along. She, an emotional childish wreck, taken to telling her husband that she hates him, blames everything on her childhood. I’m looking forward to reading more of Yates.
Have any of you read his works? Do you like reading novels of films you have seen?
Sounds like a fairly typical read but Yates style struck me almost like that of a voice over on a nature show. There was a stylised distance so that you felt like you watching this couple from both afar and at an intimate level.
Neither character is appealing, in fact every character –even the kids – are unappealing, annoying and stereotypes. He spends too long focused on how others see him, trying to appear laidback and like he’s just passing time till something better comes along. She, an emotional childish wreck, taken to telling her husband that she hates him, blames everything on her childhood. I’m looking forward to reading more of Yates.
Have any of you read his works? Do you like reading novels of films you have seen?
Novella Challenge Reads
I managed to tick off three of my novella reads last week, here are all three reviews in one post to save numeous posts.
The Epic of Gilgamesh (Penguin Epics)
The third millennium BC story was found carved into stone and is believed to be one of the oldest surviving epic poems.
Written in prose style it tells the story of Gilgamesh a man born so strong his town sought out a companion for him to equal him in strength. When Uruk is discovered the battle against the threats to the town, including a mighty dragon, are undertaken.
At Uruk’s death Gilgamesh becomes afraid of death and goes in search of everlasting life. His journey into death is beautifully told employing the repetition of the ballad form. A good way to spend an hour’s reading time.
The Last Will and Testament if Senhor da Silva Araujo – Germano Almeida
Last year I was trying to focus on reading my way around the world (I didn’t get far) and went in search of a book from Cape Verde as I wanted to read about parts of Africa I knew little of. This was the only novel that I could find that had been translated into English.
Araujo leaves behind a 384 page will which reveals that he isn’t the quiet retiring man that everyone thought he was. With an illegitimate child, numerous love affairs and his transgression from poverty to wealth his life is gradually revealed. This was an interesting way to tell the story of a man’s life. You get his accounts, left only to be read once he is dead, and the accounts of those that experienced these events with him – remembering the story from a completely different perspective.
Do you have any recommendations for the smaller or less translated African states?
We Always Lived at the Castle
This read was inspired by Chris' post here, and I loved this book just as I've enjoyed many of the books he's reviewed.
Merricat and Constance are the gossip of the village after their parents and young brother are poisoned at home with arsenic in the sugar. Costance, in charge of the cooking was tried and aquited for murder. Since they returned to their old house they have been shunned, gossiped about and watched by those who used to look up to this wealthy family.
The tale is mainly based in the castle and shows the sisters loving relationship, the tasks they do to keep the home and Merricat's the younger sisters adventures. Life changes when Cousin Charles, a man with ulterior motives, comes to stay. He plays nice to Constance but picks out the rebellious younger sister.
It soon becomes clear who the murderer was and that Charles stay at the house is not welcome.
I really enjoyed this book and will certainly be looking out for my own copy and more of Shirley Jackson's work. A big recommendation for anyone completing the novella challenge
The Epic of Gilgamesh (Penguin Epics)
The third millennium BC story was found carved into stone and is believed to be one of the oldest surviving epic poems.
Written in prose style it tells the story of Gilgamesh a man born so strong his town sought out a companion for him to equal him in strength. When Uruk is discovered the battle against the threats to the town, including a mighty dragon, are undertaken.
At Uruk’s death Gilgamesh becomes afraid of death and goes in search of everlasting life. His journey into death is beautifully told employing the repetition of the ballad form. A good way to spend an hour’s reading time.
The Last Will and Testament if Senhor da Silva Araujo – Germano Almeida
Last year I was trying to focus on reading my way around the world (I didn’t get far) and went in search of a book from Cape Verde as I wanted to read about parts of Africa I knew little of. This was the only novel that I could find that had been translated into English.
Araujo leaves behind a 384 page will which reveals that he isn’t the quiet retiring man that everyone thought he was. With an illegitimate child, numerous love affairs and his transgression from poverty to wealth his life is gradually revealed. This was an interesting way to tell the story of a man’s life. You get his accounts, left only to be read once he is dead, and the accounts of those that experienced these events with him – remembering the story from a completely different perspective.
Do you have any recommendations for the smaller or less translated African states?
We Always Lived at the Castle
This read was inspired by Chris' post here, and I loved this book just as I've enjoyed many of the books he's reviewed.
Merricat and Constance are the gossip of the village after their parents and young brother are poisoned at home with arsenic in the sugar. Costance, in charge of the cooking was tried and aquited for murder. Since they returned to their old house they have been shunned, gossiped about and watched by those who used to look up to this wealthy family.
The tale is mainly based in the castle and shows the sisters loving relationship, the tasks they do to keep the home and Merricat's the younger sisters adventures. Life changes when Cousin Charles, a man with ulterior motives, comes to stay. He plays nice to Constance but picks out the rebellious younger sister.
It soon becomes clear who the murderer was and that Charles stay at the house is not welcome.
I really enjoyed this book and will certainly be looking out for my own copy and more of Shirley Jackson's work. A big recommendation for anyone completing the novella challenge
Sunday, 14 November 2010
2666 - Roberto Bolano
Roberto Bolano died before the publication of this book, his last wish was that this book waaas published as 5 separate books, hopefully providing money for his children - his publishers decided that it was best to publis this all as one volume.
I'm going to talk about each section separately as in some cases their is little link between the sections.
The Part About the Critics
Four critics from different parts of Europe separately stumble upon the work of a little known author Archimaboldi, three of them work to translate his works into thier own language , and set out writing about his works. Their attention moves this little known author into a recongnisable laterary name.
This section is about their relationship with each other (three men and one woman = an inevitable literary love triangle); their search for the author who seems invisible and their interest in the painter Elliot Johns who chopped off his own hand in the name of art.
The short sections (2/3 of a page) give us glimpses of events over the years culminating in a trip to Chile on a tip off that the author is there.
The Part about Amalfitano
This teeny section is only 60 pages in length and focuses on the life of the Latin American professor that the four critics o0f the earlier section met on their trip to Chile.
His life is shown to us through snapshot moments, interspersed with accounts of letters from his wife that she sent to him after she left (she fell in love with a poet she'd never met and went in search of him). We also have Amilfatino's explaanation of why he has a work of geometry hanging from his washing line.
These sections, especially thouse accounting his wife's travels and explorations are longer but start to feature some of the magic realism Latin American fiction is famous for.
The Part about Fate
Oscar Fate is a New York reporter having aa bad week, first his mother dies then he is sent to interview a boxer-turned writer-turned preacher. Then off to Mexica to report on a boxing match which ends up with him mixed up in the Mexican underworld. This section features the daughter of the professor from the previous section. The focus has moved from literature to philosophy and now to crime.
The Part about the Crimes.
A huge section focused on a police investigation (lack of investigation) into the numerous murders and serial killing of women in a town in Mexico.
A large number of female killings are dealt with - after about the 50th grisly and graphic descriptions I ended up skipping these. The rest of the section is focused on some of the police, criminals, and a psychic lady who believes she can see the murders.
This section was far too long and tedious. Thankfully the next section saved the book.
The Part about Archimbaldi
This section starts with a young boy desparate to live at the bottom of the sea and follows him through his many jobs, life in the army, his love for a mad girl abd finally his transformation into Benno von Archibaldi - the author searched for in the first section. We learn why he is an enigma.
As a whole I enjoyed this book although this fourth section really let it down. Each section had some link to a previous section, but like other books like this I really wanted to go back and discover the rest of the srtory of some of the characters - a mamouth feast.
I'm going to talk about each section separately as in some cases their is little link between the sections.
The Part About the Critics
Four critics from different parts of Europe separately stumble upon the work of a little known author Archimaboldi, three of them work to translate his works into thier own language , and set out writing about his works. Their attention moves this little known author into a recongnisable laterary name.
This section is about their relationship with each other (three men and one woman = an inevitable literary love triangle); their search for the author who seems invisible and their interest in the painter Elliot Johns who chopped off his own hand in the name of art.
The short sections (2/3 of a page) give us glimpses of events over the years culminating in a trip to Chile on a tip off that the author is there.
The Part about Amalfitano
This teeny section is only 60 pages in length and focuses on the life of the Latin American professor that the four critics o0f the earlier section met on their trip to Chile.
His life is shown to us through snapshot moments, interspersed with accounts of letters from his wife that she sent to him after she left (she fell in love with a poet she'd never met and went in search of him). We also have Amilfatino's explaanation of why he has a work of geometry hanging from his washing line.
These sections, especially thouse accounting his wife's travels and explorations are longer but start to feature some of the magic realism Latin American fiction is famous for.
The Part about Fate
Oscar Fate is a New York reporter having aa bad week, first his mother dies then he is sent to interview a boxer-turned writer-turned preacher. Then off to Mexica to report on a boxing match which ends up with him mixed up in the Mexican underworld. This section features the daughter of the professor from the previous section. The focus has moved from literature to philosophy and now to crime.
The Part about the Crimes.
A huge section focused on a police investigation (lack of investigation) into the numerous murders and serial killing of women in a town in Mexico.
A large number of female killings are dealt with - after about the 50th grisly and graphic descriptions I ended up skipping these. The rest of the section is focused on some of the police, criminals, and a psychic lady who believes she can see the murders.
This section was far too long and tedious. Thankfully the next section saved the book.
The Part about Archimbaldi
This section starts with a young boy desparate to live at the bottom of the sea and follows him through his many jobs, life in the army, his love for a mad girl abd finally his transformation into Benno von Archibaldi - the author searched for in the first section. We learn why he is an enigma.
As a whole I enjoyed this book although this fourth section really let it down. Each section had some link to a previous section, but like other books like this I really wanted to go back and discover the rest of the srtory of some of the characters - a mamouth feast.
Saturday, 6 November 2010
Buenas Noches, Buenos Aires - Gilbert ADAIR
This is my first read for the Novella Challenge, and was a nice break from reading the monsterous 2666.
With a pink flower, and pair of succulent lips on the front cover I certainly ended up with a story I wasn't expecting (I brought this for about 20p when Borders shut down - probably never reading the synopsis).
Gideon moves from Britain to France seeking a place to be free and find himself. An awkward soul , his homosexuality is hard to accept and experiment with. He begins work in a language school where he gets to know lots of gay men and is introduced into the gay community, but his desires seem only that until the Aids epedemic breaks out.
This novella would have been great for the GLBT challenge. Gideon's feelings, reactions and desires spill out of the page in this memoir style novel, leaving the reader unsure how to take his final claim. Certainly not a book for everyone, but a brave book to have written.
With a pink flower, and pair of succulent lips on the front cover I certainly ended up with a story I wasn't expecting (I brought this for about 20p when Borders shut down - probably never reading the synopsis).
Gideon moves from Britain to France seeking a place to be free and find himself. An awkward soul , his homosexuality is hard to accept and experiment with. He begins work in a language school where he gets to know lots of gay men and is introduced into the gay community, but his desires seem only that until the Aids epedemic breaks out.
This novella would have been great for the GLBT challenge. Gideon's feelings, reactions and desires spill out of the page in this memoir style novel, leaving the reader unsure how to take his final claim. Certainly not a book for everyone, but a brave book to have written.
Monday, 25 October 2010
Challenges
I've been away for a long long time, my home computer died and life got complicated. I'm still computerless at home but can use the internet at work or in the public library. I'm really missing some aspects of blogging and the blogging world so trying to come back into it, even if only on a limited basis. I'm whittling down my googlereader to just a handful of blogs, and joining a few challenges.
I'm trying to spend the next year attacking the TBR pile - which is my biggest challenge as there are 450 unread books on it (I know as I counted and listed them all to shame myself). I'm going to limit myself to 2 challenges at a time, and the majority of the books I read for that challenge must come from the TBR pile or be books that I've always meant to read. This also means that I will have more time to comment and visit other bloggers following the same challenge. Any old challenges that I was signed up for I have abandoned, as all my lists were saved on the computer, which I couldn't access.
Challenges I'm participating in
The Novella Challenge (Nov 1st - Nov 30th)
This challenge will be a great way to tackle the TBR stacks, I've chosen level 3 which is to read 8 novellas. These are all from my TBR pile:
A Wilshire Diary
The Last Will & Testament of Senhor da Silva Araujo
The Epic of Gigamesh
Buenas Noches, Buenos Aires
Iron, Nickel, Potasium
The Celestial Omnibus
The Castle of Otranto
Tirra Lirra by the River
Dystopia Challenge (Jan - Dec 2011)
I love this genre and have enjoyed many dystopian novels in the past, particularly YA fiction, which seems to fit this genre really well. I'm joining at the Asocial level (5 books), I've listed 6 which my reads will come from this gives me space to abandon one if I hate it.
The Trial, Kafka
Do Androids Dream of Sheep
Anthem
Tomorrow: When the War Began
Brave New World
Farenheit 451
I'm trying to spend the next year attacking the TBR pile - which is my biggest challenge as there are 450 unread books on it (I know as I counted and listed them all to shame myself). I'm going to limit myself to 2 challenges at a time, and the majority of the books I read for that challenge must come from the TBR pile or be books that I've always meant to read. This also means that I will have more time to comment and visit other bloggers following the same challenge. Any old challenges that I was signed up for I have abandoned, as all my lists were saved on the computer, which I couldn't access.
Challenges I'm participating in
The Novella Challenge (Nov 1st - Nov 30th)
This challenge will be a great way to tackle the TBR stacks, I've chosen level 3 which is to read 8 novellas. These are all from my TBR pile:
A Wilshire Diary
The Last Will & Testament of Senhor da Silva Araujo
The Epic of Gigamesh
Buenas Noches, Buenos Aires
Iron, Nickel, Potasium
The Celestial Omnibus
The Castle of Otranto
Tirra Lirra by the River
Dystopia Challenge (Jan - Dec 2011)
I love this genre and have enjoyed many dystopian novels in the past, particularly YA fiction, which seems to fit this genre really well. I'm joining at the Asocial level (5 books), I've listed 6 which my reads will come from this gives me space to abandon one if I hate it.
The Trial, Kafka
Do Androids Dream of Sheep
Anthem
Tomorrow: When the War Began
Brave New World
Farenheit 451
Monday, 3 May 2010
1001 Books to Read Before You Die + If on a winter's night a traveller
Last night I finished another 1001 book from the list, this leaves me having read 210 books from the list of what has now become over 1300 books (they update,add in and take away books every two years). Do I plan to read them all? No.
So why use the list I hear you ask. I love the list for one reason, and that is recommendations. I know there are books on there I will never pick up, like Ian Fleming's Casino Royale; books which even if I did pick up I'd never be able to complete like James Joyce's Finnegan's Wake and lots of books I've started, given up and never plan to go back to. But the list acts as a reminder of all those books I've always meant to read, of those authors I've read, loved and meant to go and discover more of, and also introduces books and authors I would never have discovered before.
In the last year I've read the fantastic Movern Callar by Alan Warner, Amok by Stefan Zweig, Tales from Firozsha Baag by Rohinton Mistry all of which I had never heard of and would probably never have came into contact with if it hadn't been for the list. And I've read books off the TBR pile which had been sat there through numerous years and house moves.
Do you use the 1001 Books to read before you die list? Why?
Last night I finished my 11th book this year from the list, If on a winter's night a traveller, I seem to be accuring strange books from the list at the moment (Movern Callar was my last and Blood and Guts in High School is coming up).
As with Movern Callar I have no real idea how to review this book, to try and make it comprehensible I'm going to do it as a question and answer review.
What is the general plot line of this book?
'The Reader' goes into a shop and buys a book called 'If on a winter's night a traveler', when he returns home he settles in to read the first and after loving the first chapter he discovers the book has been misprinted and it simply repeats the first chapter over and over.
On returning the book to the shop, he meets 'The Other Reader' who had had the same problem. They then procure numerous books and manuscripts each one promising to be a different book.
What is the style of the book?
The book is written in alernate chapters, every odd chapter is about 'The Reader' and 'The Other Reader' quest to find a complete book to settle down with. These chapter are written in second person. At the beginning this seemed to describe how I would analyse a book, relax to read etc as it should but as the story moved on 'The Reader' became a definite character.
The even chapters are all the first chapters that the Readers are given along the way, these are in different styles and genres. This part of the book is apparently the inspiration for David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas
What did you like/love about the book?
The first chapter I absolutely fell in love with, writter in second person he describes the process of going to buy a book:
"In the shop window you have promptly identified the cover with the title you were looking for. Following this visual trail, you have forced your way through the shop past the thick barricades of Books You Haven't Read, which were frowning at you from the tables and shelves, trying to cow you. But you know you must never allow yourself to be awed, that among them there extend for acres and acres the Books You Needn't Read, the Books Made For Purposes Other Than Reading, Books Read Even Before You Open Them Since They Belong To That Category Of Books Read Before Being Written."
and also the process of sitting down and finding a comfortable place to start a new book. I would say that every avid reader, even if they don't plan to read the whole book (and it cerainly isn't to everyone's taste) should read this first chapter.
What did you dislike/hate about the book?
I certainly didn't hate anything about the book, but I found that after a while the different openings of books started to annoy me. I wanted to discover more about The Reader and The Other Reader, rather than the beginnning of another strange story - especially the ones that I'd have liked to know what happened next!
Would you recommend this to a friend?
I can't think of many of my real life friends who would like this disjointed style, but for readers who enjoy postmodern fiction, who are happy to not follow a trail of a story, and can appreciate a book for its style this is for them.
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