Book a Week in 2015 - BW2

[Robin M]

Happy Sunday, dear hearts.   Today is the start of week two in our quest to read 52 Books. Welcome back to all our readers, to all those who are just joining in and to all who are following our progress. Mr. Linky is all set up on the 52 Books blog to link to your reviews. The link is below in my signature.

 

52 Books Blog - Akutagawa Prize:  In my meandering around Japan and checking out translated books, I stumbled upon the Japanese literary Award - the Akutagawa Prize which is currently sponsored by the Society for Promotion of Japanese Literature.  It was established in 1935 by author and editor Kan Kikuchi of the Bungeishunju magazine in honor of the author Akutagawa Ryunosuku. 

 

The award is rewarded semi-annually.  It is  considered the most prestigious, yet controversial award in Japan because many authors feel that the prize should only go to authors that write in the proper, classic Japanese style while others feel it should go to modern young authors who deal with more current events.  This past year, one of the judges who'd been on the panel 17 years actually resigned because he felt the quality of works submitted had been very poor.  Which undoubtedly was insulting to the current winner, Shin'ya Tinaka. 

The whole list of prizewinners is available on goodreads here with links to various books. Akutagawa Ryunonsuku's Mandarins is available at Archipelago Press. Have fun exploring.
 

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History of the Medieval World Readalong - Chapter 2, pp 13 - 20  Seeking the Mandate of Heaven (China 313 - 402)

 

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What are you reading this week?

 

 

 

Link to week one

[Robin M]

Just finished reading Ray Bradbury's writing essays from his Zen in the Art of Writing and feel like I have been given my marching orders for Bradbury's Book Camp for Writers.  Zen is a short but powerful book and lights a fire under you with his passion and zest for life and writing. In his essay How to Keep and Feed the Muse he says: What is the Subconscious to every man, in its creative aspect became, for writers, the Muse.  How do you feed your muse? Read poetry every day which will flex your muscles and expand your senses. Consume essays, travel through the centuries. Learn and fill up your senses with the shape and size of the world, every color, smell, texture and sound. Read Short Stories and novels. Not only those who write the way you think but those that don't. It all serves to stimulate your Muse's tastebuds. And while you are feeding your muse, you have to keep it shape.  And you do that by writing 1000 words a day for the next ten to twenty five years.

 

So fire away with your recommendations on poetry and essays.

 

In the middle of Murakami's Hard Boiled Wonderland...it's delightfully strange as usual which is his normal.

[Robin M]

Happy Birthday Melissa  (MelMichigan)   -----  We're having a Book Party!!!

 

:party: :party: :party:

 

 

[Stacia]

Last night, I finished Rue du Retour by Abdellatif Laâbi. As Laâbi is mostly a poet, it is not surprising that I found parts of his writing style poetic. Not only does he touch on his imprisonment & torture for "crimes of opinion" (in Morocco), he also identifies worldwide with other political prisoners -- past, present, & future. Much of the book centers on the sensations of readjusting to the outside world after being released. A strong & touching book.

 

Not sure what I'll start next.

 

2015 Books Read:

Africa:

• Rue du Retour by Abdellatif Laâbi, trans. from the French by Jacqueline Kaye, pub. by Readers International. 4 stars. Morocco. (Poetic paean to political prisoners worldwide by one who was himself in prison for “crimes of opinionâ€. Explores not only incarceration but also readjusting to a ‘normal’ world after torture & release.)

Asia:

• The Strange Library by Haruki Murakami, a Borzoi book pub. by Alfred A. Knopf.  4 stars. Japan. (Creepy campfire style story; thought-provoking ending made me rethink the entire story.)

Europe:

• The Affinity Bridge by George Mann, a Tor book pub. by Tom Doherty Associates. 3 stars. England. (Entertaining steampunk with likeable characters.)
• Extraordinary Renditions by Andrew Ervin, pub. by Coffee House Press. 4 stars. Hungary. (Triptych of stories in Budapest touching on the Holocaust, racism, corruption, the power of music,…)

 

[Violet Crown]

Still reading Somerset Maugham's semi-autobiographical novel Of Human Bondage. It's very good. An excerpt:

------------------

His habit of reading isolated him: it became such a need that after being in company for some time he grew tired and restless; he was vain of the wider knowledge he had acquired from the perusal of so many books, his mind was alert, and he had not the skill to hide his contempt for his companions' stupidity. They complained that he was conceited; and, since he excelled only in matters which to them were unimportant, they asked satirically what he had to be conceited about. He was developing a sense of humour, and found that he had a knack of saying bitter things, which caught people on the raw; he said them because they amused him, hardly realising how much they hurt, and was much offended when he found that his victims regarded him with active dislike. The humiliations he suffered when he first went to school had caused in him a shrinking from his fellows which he could never entirely overcome; he remained shy and silent. But though he did everything to alienate the sympathy of other boys he longed with all his heart for the popularity which to some was so easily accorded. These from his distance he admired extravagantly; and though he was inclined to be more sarcastic with them than with others, though he made little jokes at their expense, he would have given anything to change places with them.

[mumto2]

I finished Tana French's Broken Harbor this afternoon. It was Book 4 in The Dublin Murder Squad series. It was good, not the best in the series but as thishttp://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music-arts/book-reviews-broken-harbor-tana-french-light-oceans-m-stedman-article-1.1122312review says good enough. It was one of those murder suspense novels that managss to deliver a surprise in the end. This is a series I would probably have read much quicker if the holds list for the books weren't so long!

[Kareni]

Last night I finished the contemporary new adult novel The Understatement of the Year: (Ivy Years #3)  by Sarina Bowen.  It's the third in a series, but the first book by this author I've read.  It stands alone well though I'd now like to read the rest of the series. 

 

"What happened in high school stayed in high school. Until now.

 

Five years ago, Michael Graham betrayed the only person who ever really knew him. Since then, he's made an art of hiding his sexual orientation from everyone. Including himself.

 

So it's a shock when his past strolls right into the Harkness College locker room, sporting a bag of hockey gear and the same slow smile that had always rendered Graham defenseless. For Graham, there is only one possible reaction: total, debilitating panic. With one loose word, the team's new left wing could destroy Graham's life as he knows it.

 

John Rikker is stuck being the new guy. Again. And it's worse than usual, because the media has latched onto the story of the only "out" player in Division One hockey. As the satellite trucks line the sidewalk outside the rink, his new teammates are not amused.

 

And one player in particular looks sick every time he enters the room.

 

Rikker didn't exactly expect a warm welcome from Graham. But the guy won't even meet his eyes. From the looks of it, his former... best friend / boyfriend / whatever isn't doing so well. He drinks too much and can't focus during practice. Either the two loneliest guys on the team will self destruct from all the new pressures in their lives, or they can navigate the pain to find a way back to one another. To say that it won't be easy is the Understatement of the Year."

 

(Adult content.) 

 

ETA: I see that author Sarina Bowen has a free novella in the same series that is available to Kindle readers:

 

Blonde Date: An Ivy Years Novella (The Ivy Years)

 

"A blind date. A nervous sorority girl. A mean-spirited fraternity prank. What could go wrong?

As a sorority pledge, there are commandments that Katie Vickery must live by. One: thou shalt not show up for the party without a date. Two: the guy shall be an athlete, preferably an upperclassman.

Unfortunately, Katie just broke up with her jerkface football player boyfriend. Even worse, her last encounter with him resulted in utter humiliation. She’d rather hide under the bed than attend a party where he'll be.

Yet staying home would mean letting him win.

Enjoying herself tonight was out of the question. She could only hope to get through the evening without her blind date noticing that he was spending the evening with a crazy person.

Andrew Baschnagel is living proof that nice guys don’t finish first. He’s had his eye on Katie since the moment her long legs waltzed into his art history class. So when her roommate sets Andy up to be Katie’s date, he’d be crazy to say no. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have a lot of practice with either girls or parties. Yet."

 

Regards,

Kareni

[aggieamy]

I'm dragging a few quotes from last week into this weeks so I can reply.  I've been busy reading.   :lol:

 

Finished:

 

Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant by Roz Chast -  I was expecting this to be a funny graphic novel.  Boy oh boy I was wrong.  It's the author's story of her parenting aging and dying. In the last few years DH and I have been through this with both his parents.  We have also watched aunts/uncles go through this with his grandmother, my two grandmothers, and a great aunt so I could understand everything she was talking about.  Roz does a great job of catching all the emotions going on through dealing with the doctor's appointments, finding a nursing home, dealing with the guilt, worrying about the money.  Well told and unbelievably sad.  

 

High Rising by Angela Thrikell -  Wow.  That was splendid beyond words.  The second I get my time machine up and running I'm going to visit Barsetshire in 1933 so I can join all these fun people for tea and gossip.  I do believe in all the matchmaking that one the wrong couple ended up together at the end though!  (Spoilers in white:  I think Anne Todd and Doctor Ford should have gotten together.  I adored him as a character and think they could have been happy.  Didn't like her with Mr. Knox at all.)

 

 

Amy, btw, ds finished As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust today. His opinion was that overall it was darker than the previous series (except for maybe books 5 & 6) & it took him awhile to get into it/feel ok about it since he was missing the old familiars. After page 100, I think it started improving for him & the ending made him really happy. His immediate comment was, "I want to read the next one."   :)

 

I had to keep reminding him not to give me spoilers as I want to read it too.  :laugh:

 

How did your dd end up liking it? I know she was totally engrossed in it....

 

 

She has put it down about half way through and hasn't picked it back up.  She says she's enjoying it but wanted to read other things for a bit.  Hmmm.  That doesn't sound like enjoying it to me ...

 

 

Have you all heard of the Austen Project involving the re imagining of Emma by Alexander McCall Smith and 5 other Austen Books. Looks interesting.

 

 

 

Interesting indeed.  Has anyone read any of the books yet?

 

 

Cut to the Quick https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/351385.Cut_to_the_Quick by Kate Ross which is the first in a really good historical mystery series which a few BaWers have read in the past.

 

 

I heartily second this recommendation.  Great series!

[TeacherZee]

I finished Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire yesterday and promptly started The Order of the Phoenix. GOF is my least favorite in the series (book and movie) so I am kinda glad to be done with it.

 

I've also started Band of Brothers and read the first chapter in HOMW and plan on reading chapter two later in the week. I also have to read A Modest Proposal since the seniors will need to have read that for Wednesday.

 

Kareni that book sounds very interesting. I'll have to add it to my pile. And on that note I am beginning to remember why I had to stop reading these threads. :D

[Lady Florida.]

I finished Tana French's Broken Harbor this afternoon. It was Book 4 in The Dublin Murder Squad series. It was good, not the best in the series but as thishttp://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music-arts/book-reviews-broken-harbor-tana-french-light-oceans-m-stedman-article-1.1122312review says good enough. It was one of those murder suspense novels that managss to deliver a surprise in the end. This is a series I would probably have read much quicker if the holds list for the books weren't so long!

 

Thanks for this. I put the first one on hold at my library. Even that one, which is 8 years old, has a long list!

[Loesje22000]

I read 'Rubber'.

A book about the rubber plantations in the Dutch Indies.

It describes the crazyness some people got in to when the prices rise, and rise, and rise.

But also how living elsewhere can make you feel in between cultures instead of part of two cultures.

It seemed to be one of THE books about the Dutch Indies ( although I know its' existence recently)

 

I started with my personal challenge for this year:

Reading more translations of French and German books, so I'll have a clue about it when dd will read them in French and German. So I read 'Monsieur Ibrahim et les fleurs de Coran' in Dutch.

It is written as I experience French movies: slow, descriptive, philosophical.

I'm not sure I'll let dd read in French. But as it is mentioned on almost every french readinglist for exams, I'm glad to know what's about.

 

I also read a YA book about WWI ( And everybody still eat bread).

I'm not sure it is the best one. Although it isn't really bad. I prefer ' we all want the heaven' but that is WWII

[Stacia]

Re: As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust...

 

She has put it down about half way through and hasn't picked it back up.  She says she's enjoying it but wanted to read other things for a bit.  Hmmm.  That doesn't sound like enjoying it to me ...

 

Funny that my ds had a similar reaction (though he powered on through to read it). He said it did improve as it went along (still not enough for him to really love it, I think), BUT the ending/last few pages really redeemed it for him, I think. So, I guess you can tell your dd that hopefully the ending will be a good one that she'll like...???
 

[Stacia]

Happy Birthday, Melissa!

 

[Ali in OR]

So excited to get in here early and post before the thread is 8 pages long! My BaW style is to post on Sunday and I can usually follow the thread for a couple of days before I'm too behind to want to try to stay caught up. So usually by Tuesday I'm gone, but like Frosty and Christmas snow, I'm back again the next Sunday!

 

I finished The Circle by Dave Eggers. Those who hate Facebook and like Dystopian lit may enjoy this. It echoed 1984 and Animal Farm for me. In the novel a Facebook/Google type company headed by a threesome including the brilliant young genius, the marketing smooth talker, and the nefarious, power-hungry mastermind is taking over control of everything because people are willing to give up their privacy. While I think there are some good warnings about protecting our right to privacy, I thought the author's execution of the idea was a little over-the-top and I wasn't quite able to suspend my disbelief enough for the novel to really grab me. I found myself thinking that no one is as stupid as the protagonist (does any human really believe that all privacy is wrong?), and that the company itself could not possibly exist--lots of stupid cheerleader types willing to accept any idea that comes down the pike. Companies are not homogeneous, and real-life worker-bees are cynical enough to call out stupidity when they see it. And why does evil never encounter dysfunction and bureaucracy to slow it down? Anyway, didn't feel like the real world to me.

 

I'm about halfway through Wuthering Heights now. Put me in the category of people who actually like the book. I think I can like the book without liking most of the characters. They are damaged, broken people who make disastrous decisions with disastrous consequences. I don't think we're supposed to think of Heathcliff and Catherine as being anything like Rochester and Jane or Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth--they are not heroes. They are train wrecks (and I'm enjoying watching the wreck I guess). I was also thinking about how the people are messed up, but the world is not. It's an orderly, logical place where actions have predictable consequences. It's easier for me to read about this world than books where normal people are put in a world that no longer makes sense (ie dystopian lit).

 

Up next--I want to get to Moriarty which my dh gave me for Christmas, but I feel the need to read some more Conan Doyle first. I read a compilation of Sherlock Holmes stories last year, but not one had Moriarty. So I got the complete collection of Sherlock Holmes stories out of the library and I'm planning to read just the 5 or so stories that at least mention him before trying Moriarty.

[Alice]

 

Interesting indeed.  Has anyone read any of the books yet?

 

 

 

 I read Joanna Trollope's Sense and Sensibility. It was mostly a fun read but it stretches the story a bit to make it modern. Why can't the Dashwood girls just go to work? A child out of wedlock isn't so terrible anymore so why is Willoughby so bad? She has answers for these but to me it ended up feeling more artificial to make it work rather than a good story in it's own right. I didn't realize these were part of a larger "Project". I'm not against the idea of re-working classics but I'm not sure about the necessity of the idea of just rewriting the story but putting it in the current time. I liked something like  Clueless which is basically Emma, or Longbourn by Jo Baker which reimagines the P&P story but from the point of view of the servants. 

 

So far this year I've read/finished (some started in 2014): 

 

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Stout : Loved this one. I loved how she makes you see how Olive is really not a nice person but at the same time makes her completely sympathetic. 

 

How Not to be Wrong: The Power of Mathematical Thinking by Jordan Ellenberg. Loved it. Really really good. 

 

Belzhar by Meg Wolitzer. Interesting YA speculative fiction. About a girl who is sent to live at a school for emotionally fragile teens after she becomes severely depressed due to the death of her boyfriend. While there, she is assigned to a class, Special Topics in English. The five students in the class study only Sylvia Plath's work. They all have experiences that take them to another world, Belzhar. The book is really about making the choice to go on after a tragedy. I liked it for the most part. The part I didn't like would give away a major plot point so I'll stop there. 

 

Sing For Me by Karen Halvorsen Shreck. Just OK. My book club read this one. It's about a white Christian woman in 1930s Chicago who starts singing at a jazz club despite the objections of her moralistic family and church. While there she meets and falls in love with the African American piano player. Most people in the group really liked it. It was well written and the characters are compelling enough, especially the main character's sister who has cerebral palsy. However, to me it was a little too much like the mediocre Christian romance or fiction that I read in high school. 

[Loesje22000]

oh, I almost forgot.

Not another book but I'm learning to sing Karl Jenkins version of William Blake's 'Shepherd':

http://www.poetryloverspage.com/poets/blake/shepherd.html

 

I like the music very much...

[LostSurprise]

 

52 Books Blog - Akutagawa Prize:  In my meandering around Japan and checking out translated books, I stumbled upon the Japanese literary Award - the Akutagawa Prize which is currently sponsored by the Society for Promotion of Japanese Literature. modern young authors who deal with more current events.   

 

Right on time for me. :) Finished my Tanizaki Junichiro novel (from the '20s I think, although he was writing plays and novels in the teens). Pre-Akutagawa, but I didn't see The Makioka Sisters in there (which was published during WWII under difficult circumstances since MS seems slightly critical of the Sino-Chinese war and societal changes that led to WWII...it was censored by the military government). 

 

Somerset Maugham's semi-autobiographical novel Of Human Bondage.

 

 

I was so torn about that novel when I read it. I almost stopped reading it several times because the narrator did so many stupid things, but in the end I appreciated that he seemed to be on a journey. Sometimes he learned something, sometimes he didn't, but there was a sense of realness about it.

 

It's also in an interesting philosophical line between the sense of fate/society/urban spaces in Hardy's Jude the Obscure and the pre-WWI Fabian dream of the country that Maugham has in OHB. 

[Jane in NC]

Hello everyone!

 

Happy Birthday to MelMichigan (from Jane who is now smacking her head!  You'll know why!)

 

With the confidence gained by finishing HoAW (albeit in the new year), I am challenging myself not only to read HoMW in '15 but also a tome recommended by VC, The Golden Legend. This almost 800 page volume of readings on the Saints was a best seller of the Middle Ages.  I was going to skip around in the book, selecting my saints willy-nilly, but reading the introduction to this 2012 caused me to change my mind.  Jacobus de Voragine was a Dominican, a contemporary of Thomas Aquinas.  I, for the most part, was educated by Dominicans and thus find an odd draw to such an influential book of the order.

 

It should be noted that the word "legend" (Latin: legenda) meant something else in the thirteenth century.  A text to be read aloud was a "legenda"; and this one was apparently worth its weight in gold!

 

The Golden Legend consists of 182 "chapters" (vignettes?).  My goal is to read three or four of these "chapters" weekly, along with my HoMW assignment.  I have a copy translated from the Latin by William Granger Ryan in case anyone is wondering.

 

My son placed Rick Gekoski's book Lost, Stolen or Shredded: Stories of Missing Works of Art and Literature in my hand.  I also plan on starting Sait Faik Abasiyanik's book of short stories, A Useless Man, translated from the Turkish and published by Archipelago.

 

Off to finish the last 50 pages or so of The Unicorn Hunt.

 

Happy reading everyone! 

 

Jane

[MaeFlowers]

<snip>

 

I heartily second this recommendation.  Great series!

 

I will look more into these since the series has now been recommended twice. I am interested in this book, too, that was recommended by Pod's mum. Haven't decided yet...

 

I started The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt by Wilkinson today. Not far enough in to comment.

 

These threads are making my "to read" list grow exponentially.

 

 

[Lady Florida.]

So excited to get in here early and post before the thread is 8 pages long! My BaW style is to post on Sunday and I can usually follow the thread for a couple of days before I'm too behind to want to try to stay caught up. So usually by Tuesday I'm gone, but like Frosty and Christmas snow, I'm back again the next Sunday!

 

 

 

:lol:  I totally get this plan.

 

 

Nothing new here. While this looks like a ridiculously long list of current books, I don't make equal progress in all of them nor do I read in each one every day. Also, some are meant to be long-term reads.

 

Ulysses - I don't seem to have reached the 'hard' part yet, but I also don't find it engaging. It's too early to give up, so I'll keep slogging through for a bit before I decide whether or not to continue.

 

Unbroken - I'm really liking this book, though I don't really like the young Louie. He's not a very nice person. My guess (hope) is that will change.

 

The Novel: A Biography - interesting if somewhat drier than I had hoped.

 

The Travels of Sir John Mandeville - one of the books mentioned in my current section of The Novel.

 

The Brothers Karamazov - The writing style is so different from Crime and Punishment, my only other Dostoyevsky. I like it so far.

 

On the Origin of the Species - a slog but I'm determined to finish it

 

Don Quixote - the second part is slow - having a hard time finishing this.

 

And my audiobook - As You Wish - Cary Elwes memoir of the making of The Princess Bride

[guilfordlake]

I'm dragging a few quotes from last week into this weeks so I can reply.  I've been busy reading.   :lol:

 

Finished:

 

Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant by Roz Chast -  I was expecting this to be a funny graphic novel.  Boy oh boy I was wrong.  It's the author's story of her parenting aging and dying. In the last few years DH and I have been through this with both his parents.  We have also watched aunts/uncles go through this with his grandmother, my two grandmothers, and a great aunt so I could understand everything she was talking about.  Roz does a great job of catching all the emotions going on through dealing with the doctor's appointments, finding a nursing home, dealing with the guilt, worrying about the money.  Well told and unbelievably sad.  

 

 

 

Put on hold at the library.  Thanks for recommending.  I do believe we are heading toward this stage of life with MIL.  

[Lady Florida.]

 

 

 

I heartily second this recommendation.  Great series!

 

Still can't multiquote, but this is in response to Cut to the Quick. You and I seem to like similar mystery stories, so i'm going to take a look at this series. I followed mumto2's link, and it does look like something I'd like.

 

 

ETA: Actually, you and I and mumto2 all seem to like similar mysteries. :)

[LostSurprise]

Olive Kitteridge: So true. Deals well with ageing too. 

 

 

I finished the 3rd in the Finishing School series by Gail Carriger, Waistcoats & Weaponry. Quick, easy Supernatural Steampunk. This is her YA series set in her adult steampunk world (Souless, the Parasol Protectorate series), but the characters are now 16 so there's a lot more age-appropriate opposite sex curiosity, flirting, and accompanying drama. Despite a love triangle being one of my least favorite tropes, this remains sassy Victorian adventure with lots of fun lines and plenty of bustles, bladed fans, mechanimals, floating dirigibles, and tea. 

 

Not sure where I'll land next, picking through these until something sticks: 

 

1177BC (the first collapse of civilizations)

The Innovators (history of computer science)

Why Children Succeed (what it sounds like)

Knitting Around

Labyrinths (finally finish pile)

The Nine Tailors (finally finish pile)

Galatea 2.2 (philosophical speculative fiction about raising an AI on the great works of lit)

[Pam in CT]

OK ladies -- after 3 days' worth of abstention, I'm a-going on a like-fest, here, in my ongoing pursuit of scientific rigor.  Will report back forthwith.

[LostSurprise]

Happy Birthday Mel! 

[Pam in CT]

Amy - I really liked Roz Chast's Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant - I've actually given it to two people who are in that stage of life.  Much more there than I had expected.  (One of which was immensely practical -- she happens to live in the town just north of us, and when she moved her father, not far in miles but across state lines, it had all sorts of unexpected complications on his pension and Medicare payments that took quite a while to unwind...)

 

LadyFlorida - right there with you re: Ulysses.  Not yet daunting, but not yet gripping either.  I'm going to need to engage a good deal more passionately to carry me through that kind of heft...

 

 

(Off now to other threads to burn out my likes...)

[Lady Florida.]

Happy Birthday Melissa!   :party:

 

 

[Chrysalis Academy]

 

 

I finished The Circle by Dave Eggers. Those who hate Facebook and like Dystopian lit may enjoy this. It echoed 1984 and Animal Farm for me. In the novel a Facebook/Google type company headed by a threesome including the brilliant young genius, the marketing smooth talker, and the nefarious, power-hungry mastermind is taking over control of everything because people are willing to give up their privacy. While I think there are some good warnings about protecting our right to privacy, I thought the author's execution of the idea was a little over-the-top and I wasn't quite able to suspend my disbelief enough for the novel to really grab me. I found myself thinking that no one is as stupid as the protagonist (does any human really believe that all privacy is wrong?), and that the company itself could not possibly exist--lots of stupid cheerleader types willing to accept any idea that comes down the pike. Companies are not homogeneous, and real-life worker-bees are cynical enough to call out stupidity when they see it. And why does evil never encounter dysfunction and bureaucracy to slow it down? Anyway, didn't feel like the real world to me.

 

 

 

 

I really liked The Circle.  The most creepy part about it to me was that I could see a thread from social media & internet use today leading right into that sort of a scenario.  But then, I'm not a big fan of most social media (present company excepted) and I love dystopias! So I guess I'm probably the target audience.  The book it reminded me of most was Cory Doctorow's Little Brother (an homage to 1984) but with a protagonist who participates in the machine, rather than resisting it like Doctorow's protagonist.  That made it even more eerie, in a way.

[TeacherZee]

I forgot to say Happy Birthday Melissa!!!

 

Confession #1 I started but never finished Don Quixote. I. Just. Could. Not. Do. It.

 

Confession #2 I am going to blame Kareni when I am exhausted tomorrow because I've been up way past my bedtime reading The Understatement of the Year.

 

Confession #3 One click buying is my downfall.

 

See ya on the flip side.

[JennyD]

 

Robin, one of my all-time favorite novels is The Waiting Years, by Fumiko Enchi.  She won the Noma Prize for it in 1957, I believe.  It is very intense, very Japanese, and has what I consider to be the best ending to a novel that I have ever read.  

 

Violet Crown, I read Of Human Bondage so long ago (high school maybe?), the only thing I remember is how much I liked it.  Zero recollection of the plot or any other details, and I'm pretty sure that I never knew it was at all autobiographical.  Perhaps I should read it again.

 

aggieamy, that Roz Chast book is on my list, too.  And Ali, I absolutely loved the first half of The Circle.  The second half, not so much, but the first half was worth the second.  

 

I'm halfway through In Search of the Perfect Loaf and am pleased to report that so far the author is not ticking me off nearly as much as some food writers -- especially writers about artisan bread -- tend to do.  Also started East of Eden last night and had to force myself to put it down to go to sleep.  

 

 

 

 

[Chrysalis Academy]

I felt the need for a light fiction read this weekend, so started Ancillary Justice.   https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17333324-ancillary-justice?ac=1

 

 It's pretty fantastic so far, but not the light read I was thinking it would be! Very interesting multiple points of view and unusual gender characterization, so I'm having to really concentrate and to go back and re-read portions.  I'm enjoying it though, but not making any progress in anything else.

 

Oh, I see from goodreads that Eliana gave it 5 stars.  So I think that means it will stay strong!  Good.  Back to reading!

[*Inna*]

 

 

I finished The Circle by Dave Eggers. Those who hate Facebook and like Dystopian lit may enjoy this. It echoed 1984 and Animal Farm for me. In the novel a Facebook/Google type company headed by a threesome including the brilliant young genius, the marketing smooth talker, and the nefarious, power-hungry mastermind is taking over control of everything because people are willing to give up their privacy. While I think there are some good warnings about protecting our right to privacy, I thought the author's execution of the idea was a little over-the-top and I wasn't quite able to suspend my disbelief enough for the novel to really grab me. I found myself thinking that no one is as stupid as the protagonist (does any human really believe that all privacy is wrong?), and that the company itself could not possibly exist--lots of stupid cheerleader types willing to accept any idea that comes down the pike. Companies are not homogeneous, and real-life worker-bees are cynical enough to call out stupidity when they see it. And why does evil never encounter dysfunction and bureaucracy to slow it down? Anyway, didn't feel like the real world to me.

 

 

That's funny - I finished The Circle a couple of days ago. I completely agree with your review. I was also dismayed by the fact that I couldn't find a single likeable or at least relate-able character in the whole book.

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Happy Birthday, Melissa! :party:

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I'm in a nostalgic mood, so I've started Gerald Durrell's Korfu Trilogy. A bowl of hot soup +  soft blanket to snuggle in +  book full of beautiful and hilarious memories =  very content Inna. :D

[Just Robyn]

I could not keep up with last week's thread, so I am glad to start a new week.

 

I finished a book of poetry. Crow: From the Life and Songs of the Crow. These poems are best read together and in order, not taken out of the book, but I'll put one at the end of the post anyway.

 

 

I believe I am quitting on Ulysses. I find it interesting at times, but as someone else said, not engaging. Time-wise, I think it would have to be my only fiction for the 12 weeks, and I'm not doing that if I don't enjoy it.

 

I am still reading and enjoying Kafka on the Shore. It is weird and creepy, and I wonder how things will come together.

 

I have started in on A Zentangle A Day and have made five Zentangles so far. Nan, are you still going to choose a book to inspire doodles?

 

Just finished reading Ray Bradbury's writing essays from his Zen in the Art of Writing and feel like I have been given my marching orders for Bradbury's Book Camp for Writers.  Zen is a short but powerful book and lights a fire under you with his passion and zest for life and writing. In his essay How to Keep and Feed the Muse he says: What is the Subconscious to every man, in its creative aspect became, for writers, the Muse.  How do you feed your muse? Read poetry every day which will flex your muscles and expand your senses. Consume essays, travel through the centuries. Learn and fill up your senses with the shape and size of the world, every color, smell, texture and sound. Read Short Stories and novels. Not only those who write the way you think but those that don't. It all serves to stimulate your Muse's tastebuds. And while you are feeding your muse, you have to keep it shape.  And you do that by writing 1000 words a day for the next ten to twenty five years.

 

So fire away with your recommendations on poetry and essays.

 

In the middle of Murakami's Hard Boiled Wonderland...it's delightfully strange as usual which is his normal.

 

Poetry books that got a 5-star rating from me:

 

Howl and Other Poems by Allen Ginsberg

Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman (the original edition - haven't gotten to the deathbed edition yet)

Goblin Market and Other Poems by Christina Rossetti

Complete Poems by Stephen Crane

Selected Poems by Edna St. Vincent Millay

If the Tabloids Are True What Are You? by Matthea Harvey

 

And though I gave this book 4 stars, I'll add What Narcissism Means to Me by Tony Hoagland since the poem I posted by him last year seemed to affect so many.

 

 

Crow's Fall

 

When Crow was white he decided the sun was too white.

He decided it glared much to whitely.

He decided to attack it and defeat it.

 

He got his strength flush and in full glitter.

He clawed and fluffed his rage up.

He aimed himself to the centre of himself.

 

And attacked.

 

At his battle cry trees grew suddenly old,

Shadows flattened.

 

But the sun brightened - 

It brightened, and Crow returned charred black.

 

He opened his mouth but what came out was charred black.

 

'Up there,' he managed,

'Where white is black and black is white, I won.'

 

And of the Zentangles I made last week, here is my favorite.

 

[Pam in CT]

OK, my results from the second trial of the Great Likes Research:

 

 

Hypothesis:  That our "likes" ration has been reduced from its prior rumored allocation of 50, to something less.  Say, 30.

 

 

Procedure:

 

1.  Abstain from using the Like button for a full 48 hours 

2.  Race as fast as possible to like as profligately as possible until maximum is reached

3.  Count and record results

 

 

Results:   Trial 1:  95 likes 

                  Trial 2: 101 likes

 

 

Conclusions:  Well, I doubted the results the first trial -- it felt way higher than I expected -- but I am reluctantly coming around to a revised hypothesis that the full allocation is 100 (and I'm making minor counting mistakes...)  

 

 

[Openhearted]

I just finished My Life as Emperor by Su Tong translated by Howard Goldblatt. I wish I knew how to add links. Anyone care to enlighten me?

 

I wanted to try another translation after Murakami, and I seen this at the library. Also I liked that it is an Asian novel. I thought this went with the January jaunts theme.

 

I found this book very interesting from beginning to end. It is not a historical fiction. The author plainly states this in his preface. He calls it a "dream within a dreamworld."

It is about a 14 year old boy that is made emperor of the Xie dynasty after his father's death. He is the fifth son and a very unlikely choice, but his grandmother has other ideas.

It can be very graphic and I don't think I have ever read a book where so many people die. But I am glad I read another translated author and look forward to more.

[hjffkj]

Books read so far this year: The Stand by Stephen King and After Dark by Haruki Murakami

 

Currently reading:

- Kitchen table math, about a quarter of the way through and have already started implementing their math games into our days and loving it.

 

- History of the medieval world, first 2 chapters read. I'm enjoying it but feel like that won't last.

- The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. The kids and I are really enjoying this one. I love introducing them to good books!

- Kaftka on the Shore. Not to far into this one so I have no opinion yet.

[JennW in SoCal]

 

 

And of the Zentangles I made last week, here is my favorite.

 

This is awesome!

 

I'm just figuring out Good Reads and have slowly started hunting y'all down and sending friend requests. I've been a member for a couple of years and haven't done anything with it but just today realized that I could click the "want to read" button when y'all link to a book there. I don't have to keep a running list...then not have the list with me when I'm at the library or bookstore.  Dude!! I can just look at my goodreads page on my smart phone.  OMG! Technology is my friend!

 

I'm about half way through Journeys on the Silk Road and am really loving it.  I've picked up a couple related books off my the shelves in my local library, one of which will be a reread.  In the Footsteps of Ghengis Khan is a fun book written by the man who went on to write the Chinese language textbooks I used in college.  He travelled all over the silk road and western China in the 1930s, a crazy time in history.  His descriptions of traveling by camel are priceless.  The other book Chinese Roundabout, is a collection of essays by one of my favorite Sinologists, Jonathan Spence.  

 

I'm also having fun listening to the 14th Master and Commander title, The Nutmeg of Consolation.  Isn't that a great title?  It is so far quite the rollicking adventure.

 

On my night stand is a stack of mysteries including one by PD James, sci fi including a Jo Walton title and Georgette Heyer for good measure.  Not sure what I'll pick up from the stack for a change of pace, but by golly I have some options!

[VeganCupcake]

Hey, I want to jump in again! I took a hiatus in 2014 (I had twins) but I am back in the game!

 

I'm reading Move Your DNA by Katy Bowman, which is excellent, but I have been stalled on it for a few months while I lost my reading mojo.

 

My current audio book is My Life in Middlemarch by Rebecca Mead, which I'm really enjoying. I haven't read Middlemarch for probably 15 years, but I want to re-read it.

[Just Robyn]

. I wish I knew how to add links. Anyone care to enlighten me?

 

 

 

Open a  new tab. In the new tab, go to the page to which you want to link. Copy the url. In your post, highlight the words you want to turn into a link. Press the link button in the toolbar (the ninth button from the left in the bottom row - right after the numbered list button). Paste the url into the form that pops up.

[LostSurprise]

Read McEwan's The Children's Act yesterday. Really spoilt for me by a rubbish last line. I guess he is too famous to have editors sending him back to rewrite. But sort of interesting up to that point.

 

McEwan is like that, I think. Amsterdam was like that for me. Beautiful writing and an ending that made me want to throw the book across the room. It made no sense. Atonement is suspect as well, although a lot of people like that kind of twist. 

[Openhearted]

Open a new tab. In the new tab, go to the page to which you want to link. Copy the url. In your post, highlight the words you want to turn into a link. Press the link button in the toolbar (the ninth button from the left in the bottom row - right after the numbered list button). Paste the url into the form that pops up.

Thank you so much.:)

[mumto2]

Happy Birthday MelMichigan!!! I hope you have a great day!

 

I forgot to post my current reads.

 

Jane Eyre.....still chugging along. I reread it maybe 4 years ago and think I may remember it to well for it to be a page turner. I keep reacting to things that I know are coming next by deciding I am not in the mood for that scene right now. Currently ignoring wedding plans.....I know what happens exactly! :lol:

 

Nine Rules to Break when Romancing a Rake by Sarah MacLean is pretty much what it sounds like fluffy escapism. So far it is reading fast and nothing to criticize. The waiting list on overdrive is 30 people behind me so it is definitely a read now or forget it!

[Kareni]

Confession #2 I am going to blame Kareni when I am exhausted tomorrow because I've been up way past my bedtime reading The Understatement of the Year.

 

I will happily take the credit/blame!

 

Regards,

Kareni

[prairiegirl]

I have  The Children's Act on my TBR list but I don't have high hopes for it.  With the exception of Atonement, McEwan's  books are okay but not earth-shattering.

 

I loved reading Olive Kitteredge.  I see that there is a movie based on the book but I don't think I will watch it.  To me,  Olive is only to be read, not watched.

 

I finished  Burial Rites  by Hannah Kent yesterday.  I loved it!   It is based on the true story of a servant girl who murdered her employer in Iceland in 1828.  It was quite well-written.

 

I am now reading  The Historian  by Elizabeth Kostova.  I read it a few years ago but couldn't  finish it.  With all the talk about it here on the thread, I have decided to try it again.

[Robin M]

Arg! Now I can't quote at all using any method. Oh well.

 

Robyn - Thank you for the poetry suggestions, will be checking them out.  The Zentangle  - awesome. Now I want to get the book and start doing them myself.

 

Jenny -   The Waiting Years will have to wait. Sounds intriguing but would you believe I know someone in real life who is doing this now and it's quite discomforting.

 

JennW - Come find me on goodreads, if you haven't already.  Love the rabbit trails Journey is taking you on.    Speaking of which, Bradbury suggested reading Dorothea Brande's Becoming a Writer which she wrote back in 1934.  Guess what dusty book I just happen to have on my shelves! Yep, plucked it out and started reading.  Enjoyed the first two chapters so far.  

[ChrisB]

 

So excited to get in here early and post before the thread is 8 pages long! My BaW style is to post on Sunday and I can usually follow the thread for a couple of days before I'm too behind to want to try to stay caught up. So usually by Tuesday I'm gone, but like Frosty and Christmas snow, I'm back again the next Sunday!

 

LOL!  I always feel this way, too!  I posted last week, but gave up when I came back a few days later and saw how long the thread had become.

[ChrisB]

I've also started Band of Brothers and read the first chapter in HOMW and plan on reading chapter two later in the week. I also have to read A Modest Proposal since the seniors will need to have read that for Wednesday.

 

I really liked Band of Brothers.  Before I read the book, I watched the miniseries on Prime, and it really helped me understand all of the military speak and timeline.  Hope you enjoy it!

[ChrisB]

Sure wish the mulit-quote worked...

 

:lol:  I totally get this plan.

 

 

Nothing new here. While this looks like a ridiculously long list of current books, I don't make equal progress in all of them nor do I read in each one every day. Also, some are meant to be long-term reads.

 

Ulysses - I don't seem to have reached the 'hard' part yet, but I also don't find it engaging. It's too early to give up, so I'll keep slogging through for a bit before I decide whether or not to continue.

 

Unbroken - I'm really liking this book, though I don't really like the young Louie. He's not a very nice person. My guess (hope) is that will change.

 

The Novel: A Biography - interesting if somewhat drier than I had hoped.

 

The Travels of Sir John Mandeville - one of the books mentioned in my current section of The Novel.

 

The Brothers Karamazov - The writing style is so different from Crime and Punishment, my only other Dostoyevsky. I like it so far.

 

On the Origin of the Species - a slog but I'm determined to finish it

 

Don Quixote - the second part is slow - having a hard time finishing this.

 

And my audiobook - As You Wish - Cary Elwes memoir of the making of The Princess Bride

 

I have both Unbroken and As You Wish on my library Overdrive hold list.  

[Chocolate Rose]

I felt the need for a light fiction read this weekend, so started Ancillary Justice.   https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17333324-ancillary-justice?ac=1

 

 It's pretty fantastic so far, but not the light read I was thinking it would be! Very interesting multiple points of view and unusual gender characterization, so I'm having to really concentrate and to go back and re-read portions.  I'm enjoying it though, but not making any progress in anything else.

 

Oh, I see from goodreads that Eliana gave it 5 stars.  So I think that means it will stay strong!  Good.  Back to reading!

 

I'm also reading Ancillary Justice, but having a hard time with it. The only time I have to read is on my break at work and before falling asleep at night. I'm wondering if this is just too hard of a book to follow with tiny reading periods. Maybe it's one I should have planned to read when I hard larger periods of time when I could read? Dd read it and LOVED it and talked me into reading it. I keep messaging her so that she can explain to me what the heck is going on. I'm about 2/3 of the way through and don't want to give up on it, but I think I've missed a lot.

[Jane in NC]

Dorothy Dunnett continues to amaze and astound me.  The Unicorn Hunt, the fifth volume in the House of Niccolo series, is my favorite so far.  The complexity of 15th century politics adds great drama to the tale. To help understand the nuance of the times and to read translations of certain quotes or non-English poetry, I turn to the Dorothy Dunnett Companion books by Elspeth Morrison.  They are a wealth of information!

 

To date:

 

2015 Challenges:  HoMW and The Golden Legend

 

Chunksters

 

3) The Unicorn Hunt, Dorothy Dunnett, 1994 (leftover from 2014)

2) History of the Ancient World, Susan Wise Bauer, 2007 (leftover from 2014)

1) Women's Work: The First 20000 Years, Elizabeth Wayland Barber, 1994 (leftover from 2014)