Book a Week 2017 - BW39: Freedom to read

[Robin M]

Happy Sunday and welcome to week 39 in our 2017 adventurous prime reading year. Greetings to all our readers and those following our progress. Mister Linky is available weekly on 52 Books in 52 Weeks  to share a link to your book reviews.

 

This week we celebrate our freedom to read.  Books fill our lives and now come in all shapes and forms.  They are inanimate objects until you open one up and read the words on the page.   They educate and illuminate, teach powerful ideas and words, introduce old and new concepts and cultures, expose the how's, why's and what's of life.  They can lift us up and make us laugh or fill us with sweet joy as well as sorrow. They open our eyes, hearts, souls and minds. We tear them apart and analyze, argue, debate and think about what if.  Books are readily available anywhere from libraries to book stores to grocery stories to the little library at your neighbor's house.  

 

There are some individuals who find the words, ideas,  and thoughts created by those individual letters objectionable and seek to prevent others from reading them.  Fortunately, because we are a free country, we have the freedom to read what we want, where we want and when we want. However, with that freedom comes responsibility, especially for parents.  We are tasked individually with deciding not only how we view what we are reading and how it affects us personally, but also when our children are ready and able to understand different words or ideas or thoughts.  What's right for one child may not be right for another and it is up to the parent to decide.  Not anyone else.   We can respectfully agree or disagree with one another, but no one should take away our right to read or not read what we choose.  

 

Which brings us to Banned Book Week, started 35 years ago by the American Library Association Office of Intellectual Freedom, in response to challenges and requests to ban books from libraries and bookstores due to their content.  Historically, there have been challenges and bans and burnings around the world since 210bc starting with Chinese emperor Shih Huang Ti to the present with ISIS destroying books and historical documents in Mosul. 

 

Celebrate your freedom to read with one of many challenged books including classics and children's books as well international books banned by various governments.  Check out this article about the  massive list created by Argentine artist Marta Minujín and researchers from the University of Kassel. 

 

 

 

*****************************************************************

 

War and Peace:  Read Volume Four – Part Three

 

Chat about what stood out for you, thoughts on storyline, setting, characters and motives as well as favorite quotes prior to this week’s reading.

 

 

**************************** 

 

What are you reading this week?

 

 

Link to Week 38

[Robin M]

I'm currently reading Chimes at Midnight, # 7 in the October Daye series as well as rereading J.D.Robb's Purity in Death.  I'm perusing the massive international list trying to decide which banned or challenged book I'd like to read this year. 

[Stacia]

.

Edited November 2, 2017 by Stacia

[Matryoshka]

I think I included the book I finished last Sunday (Todesrosen) in last week's tally, so I only finished one other book this week.  The school year appears to really be slowing me down.  But I also did catch-up in W&P, and I was a good 2-3 weeks behind so...

 

103. Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Adichie (ebook) - I really liked this one.  It combined characters I ended up really liking and caring about with an historical event I had never learned of before (where the eastern part of Nigeria declared independence as the short-lived country of Biafra).  About half the book was the characters' everyday lives before the war broke out, and the other was during the war.  For the Africa39 writer square. 4.5 stars.

 

Currently reading:

 

- Long Walk to Freedom (audiobook).  Less than an hour left, must finish today somehow because it disappears tomorrow!  

 

- Safekeeping by Jessamyn Hope - just started this yesterday.  The story centers around a sapphire brooch, so I'm using this for my Sapphire book.  Liking it so far.

 

- W&P - finally caught up!  Looks like the last few sections are shorter, so hopefully I'll keep on track from here on out. :)  Is it 4 more weeks including this one?

 

Coming up:

 

Capitán Alatriste is at the library for the En garde! square.  I've already downloaded some Sherlock Holmes short stories for the Sherlock Holmes square, and The Goblin King ebook is also waiting for me on my phone.

 

 

[ErinE]

I'm currently reading Ulysses by James Joyce, a famously banned book. I haven't received an annotated copy yet, so I'm reading it online with links to more information. I think the website's references are incomplete which makes for a confusing read. I find myself re-reading sections to make sure I'm not missing anything. Many thanks to idnib for the link to the Goodreads discussion. I read the Goodreads summary, read the section, then read the comments. It's been very helpful! I have The Teaching Company's James Joyce's Ulysses in the queue to listen and learn.

 

I'm also finishing up The Teaching Company's History of Eastern Europe which is so appropriate when it comes to discussion about freedom. My interest in European history ebbs and flows, particularly World War II, but the course has made it clear that my shallow understanding of the region comes through a Western European lens. The peoples of Eastern Europe greatly suffered under communism; their stories should not be forgotten. I'll have a more detailed review once I finish.

 

I also started Rivers of London based on JennW's endorsement. I'm only a hundred pages in, but I'm enjoying it immensely.

 

Books read last week:

• Who Cooked the Last Supper? by Rosalind Miles. History. An overview of women's experience throughout history. There's interesting tidbits, but it's tough when a history book starts out with a premise that isn't supported by most archaeologists. Miles argues that early humans lived in a matriarchal society. With further research, I learned there's little evidence martriarchal societies ever existed though there have been matrilineal societies. Aside from that major error, I found it a good historical read from a feminist perspective. I never learned who cooked the last supper.
• A Local Habitation (October Daye #2) by Seanan McGuire. Urban Fantasy. A half-fae private investigator searches for the creature killing a computer company's employees.
• Cajun and Creole Folktales: The French Oral Tradition of South Louisiana by Barry Jean Ancelet. A collection of short stories, tall-tales, and jokes gathered in the original Cajun French and translated into English. The tales are similar to those found elsewhere in the US, but I thoroughly enjoyed the cadence and rhythm of the translations. I am a descendant of Cajuns. My great grandmother only spoke French as she never learned English and my grandmother spoke only French until she entered grade school. She's still alive, sharp and feisty, with a heavy rolling lilt to her speech, a bit like she's holding a marble in her mouth when she talks. The stories brought her to mind, especially the ones that started out with a lineage. My grandmother will run through a person's relationship to me, often back four to five generations, before telling her story.
• The Word Exchange by Alena Graedon. Science Fiction-Dystopia. In the future, a lexicographer discovers words are being erased in an online dictionary.
• When to Rob a Bank by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner. Nonfiction - economics. A compilation of blog posts from the Freakonomics website. I enjoyed this though not as much as the original Freakonomics book.
• Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. Science Fiction. A gamer searches for the keys to a deceased billionaire's fortune. My father was an early adopter of the personal computer (Tandy and Commodore 64). He subscribed to the computer magazines where you could program your own games and he'd take my sibling and me to arcades where he was often the top scorer. It was a bittersweet read for me, bringing back fond memories of my father since our relationship grew distant after my parents' divorce.
• Goddess: Myths of the Female Divine by David Leeming and Jake Page. Nonfiction - Myths. A short history of the goddess from earliest recorded history. I found the book from The Teaching Company's Myths in Human History. Broken into four sections, each part starts with a brief overview of the time period and how different goddesses are represented and perceived. Each goddess is introduced with a summary and a myth associated with her, pulling from many cultures. There isn't much analysis, but what little there was I found fascinating. Highly recommended. 

Edited September 24, 2017 by ErinE

[Guest]

I'm procrastinating - I have two meetings I'm supposed to be prepping for.  After three days of holiday/Shabbos, I'm feeling reluctant to re-enter the real world again.  (And I'm fighting off a cold.  I.will.not.get.sick.  ...at least not until Thursday or later.)

 

Last week I read:

 

What Does It Mean to Be White? - if you've read The New Jim Crow, Between the World and Me, and/or other similar books (Tears We Cannot Stop is another excellent one) and want something that takes a more distant, scholarly approach while outlining the basics of anti-racist thinking, this would be a fabulous resource for you.  (I do recommend attending an in-person anti-racism training or workshop as well - unpacking one's own thinking is an important component.  Also note: only the final chapter is actionable and this doesn't address centering anti-racism in one's organizing work, which is a really important thing for activist organizing.)  I didn't find new information here, but since this is an ongoing process of self-awareness and education, going over this again was valuable.)

 

The Days Between: Blessings, Poems, and Directions of the Heart for the Jewish High Holiday Season: As poetry and personal reflection, I appreciated this, but it wasn't the spiritual inspiration I had hoped it would be.  ..some of that is the removal of G-d from the framing... I have no issue with others framing their spirituality in the ways which work for them, but this framing doesn't resonate for me.  ...but I like the poems as poems, and appreciated hearing the author's thoughts and reflections as a lens into another way of seeing.

 

Room: This child's-eye view of a Jaycee Dugard-like scenario is harrowing to read.  I did find the child a little too precious at times, but appreciated that the story didn't end with the end of the captivity, some of the lasting impacts were squarely faced.

 

books 2-5 in the Commissario Brunetti mystery series (thank you, again, to whomever recommended these!) I like the lack of easy answers, the decency of the detective, and the reality of the issues he deals with.  Some of this does get grimmer than I'm ordinarily comfortable with, but the voice and context have carried me through.

 

 

[Loesje22000]

I finished:

 

Solar by Ian McEwan

First book I read from this author.

I liked the physics setting, but couldnot get into his male point of view.

 

The thirteenth story.

The first part was luguber? To me, but I liked the remainder of the book.

 

The house by Perretti and Dekker.

It keeps scaring me.

 

 

I make good progress with the bingo field of the American Book Center but have to find something for the poetry square, I think I would like an audiobook for this.

[Loesje22000]

Oh, and I am suddenly ahead in W&P, I arrived at the first epilogue.

[Chrysalis Academy]

Well, if it weren't for insomnia I wouldn't have any time to read at all, but thanks to a sleepless night I finished a re-read of The Children of Men by PD James. I read the book when it first came out, while I was in college (early 90s).  I remember thinking it was brilliant when I read it, but I found that my memory of the book was largely overwritten by the movie, which I watched when it came out in 2006. I liked the movie but remember having the impression that it was not even remotely like the book. Turns out the director refused to even read the book, he threw out everything in it except the premise - unexplained infertility, worldwide - and the setting - southern England. And some character names.  It was a great movie, but a completely different work than the book. 

 

So, it's been a long time since I revisited the story. And it did not disappoint. It is absolutely about the darkness in the souls of men (yep, I mean men), the thirst for power. And nobody does the darkness of the soul quite like PD James. Theo Farron is a most excellent anti-hero - completely unsympathetic, and yet . . . you do sympathize with him. You can understand where he's coming from, what motivates him. And you can predict what will happen after the story ends. Chillingly.  I thoroughly enjoyed this re-read. I know that PD James doesn't get a lot of love in this group, but if you are someone who finds her dark vision of human nature compelling, then I highly recommend this book.

 

I was happy to see that I've recently read one of the 2015-2016 Challenged books, The Glass Castle.  Shannon and I are currently reading Brave New World and we have 1984 up next, so we're covering challenged Classics too.  Happy Banned Book week to all!

[ErinE]

I have banned book history from my Eastern European history course! While occupying Lithuania, the Russian Empire banned Lithuanian language books written in a Latin alphabet preferring the Cyrillic alphabet. Book smugglers organized a network to print books in East Prussia and smuggle them across the border. More information about Jorgis Bielinis, a Lithuanian nationalist and book smuggler, here.
 
 

Today, Bielinis is memorialized not only through stamps and statues, but also through a holiday: the Day of KnygneÅ¡ys, or the Day of the Book Carrier, which takes place every year on his birthday.

 

Bielinis has, in many ways, become a symbol of pride both in Lithuania and abroad. He is remembered not only as a national patriot, but also as a hero for those who profess the power of the written word—historical proof that a rag-tag group of rebels armed with books really can triumph over an empire.

[Guest]

 

I'm currently reading Ulysses by James Joyce, a famously banned book. I haven't received an annotated copy yet, so I'm reading it online with links to more information. I think the website's references are incomplete which makes for a confusing read. I find myself re-reading sections to make sure I'm not missing anything. Many thanks to idnib for the link to the Goodreads discussion. I read the Goodreads summary, read the section, then read the comments. It's been very helpful! I have The Teaching Company's James Joyce's Ulysses in the queue to listen and learn.

 

I'm also finishing up The Teaching Company's History of Eastern Europe which is so appropriate when it comes to discussion about freedom. My interest in European history ebbs and flows, particularly World War II, but the course has made it clear that my shallow understanding of the region comes through a Western European lens. The peoples of Eastern Europe greatly suffered under communism; their stories should not be forgotten. I'll have a more detailed review once I finish.

 

 

 

I also appreciated the Goodreads discussion group when I read Ulysses!  I wasn't in sync with the group, so I didn't participate in the conversations, which would have added even more, I think, to my reading experience... but reading the comments after I read each section was so inspiring (and validating at times, I would wonder if I was imagining something, but hearing that others had seen it too built my confidence. 

 

I didn't use an annotated version because when I tried it pulled me out of the more immersive reading space that gave me the most pleasure.  Notes brought out too much of my desire to not miss anything... but to not miss anything would involve far more than a single reading... and getting all the details would have lost me the flavor and the joy in the language.  (But that reflects my personal idiosyncrasies as a reader!)

 

I look forward to hearing a more detailed review of the TC's History of Eastern Europe.  It was humbling when I realized how much I had missed in my studies of European literature and history... and I am very grateful to Jane, and others here, for shining a light onto the region.

[Onceuponatime]

Hi, I think I've missed a couple of weeks. Time is flying by. We are already entering our sixth week of school. I never finished The Stockholm Octavo. I lost interest halfway through when it got r-rated. The Tomb in Turkey was an average mystery.

 

Last week I read a couple of juvenile books for fun: Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer and Emmy and the Incredible Shrinkng Rat. I don't Remember if I mentioned reading My Life and Hard Times by James Thurber. I'm over halfway through The Great Agnostic by Susan Jacoby, and I've started on The Daughter of Time for October's book club meeting. It will be my second reading.

 

This afternoon I read Autumnal Tints by Thoreau. Highly recommended.

[Jane in NC]

Hello everyone. 

 

The last thing I need are more books so of course I suggested to my husband that we go to the used book sale at the library today. I came home with a small stack (just nine), including one that I have read previously.  Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day is a tonic.  I was delighted to see the gorgeous Persephone edition from London--for $1.  I picked up another Persephone book too, They Were Sisters by Dorothy Whipple.  I am suspecting that Mumto2 may have read this one as the author lived in Nottingham.

 

Also in my stack is another Laxness because I could not resist Under the Glacier.  Which leads me to return to a question posed by Idnib last week:  how soon is too soon for another Laxness?  Answer--I have no idea.  All I can say is that I am determined to finish War and Peace and read The Cooking Gene by Michael Twitty, but I keep peeking inside Wayward Heroes.

 

Speaking of banned books... Argentine writer Antonio Di Benedetto was imprisoned then exiled to Spain.  Few of his works have been translated into English so he is not well known here but I have a copy of the Archipelago edition of his stories, Nest in the Bones, which I finished this past week.  Would anyone like it?

 

 

Edited September 24, 2017 by Jane in NC

[Mothersweets]

Last week I read a couple of ho-hum books:

 

The Baker's Daughter by D.E. Stevenson. I was expecting to like this more than I did, even so I gave it 3 and a half stars.  https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26457234-the-baker-s-daughter

 

High Rising by Angela Thirkell. THis had a few amusing moments for I was mostly bored and ended up skimming. :( https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23936461-high-rising

[Negin]

I read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn - 5 Stars - This is just a wonderful book. It’s a coming of age story of a young girl in Brooklyn in the early 1900’s. The writing is beautiful and I didn’t want it to end. For the longest while, others have recommended that I read this. I’m delighted that I finally did so.

 

My favorite quotes:

"Francie thought that all the books in the world were in that library and she had a plan about reading all the books in the world. She was reading a book a day in alphabetical order and not skipping the dry ones."

“To look at everything always as though you were seeing it either for the first or last time: Thus is your time on earth filled with glory.â€

 

and The Ladybird Book of Red Tape - 3 Stars - Funny, as all they are. Not the funniest in the series, but still an enjoyable read. 

 

    

 

 

MY RATING SYSTEM

5 Stars

Fantastic, couldn't put it down

4 Stars

Really Good

3 Stars

Enjoyable

2 Stars

Just Okay – nothing to write home about

1 Star

Rubbish – waste of my money and time. Few books make it to this level, since I usually give up on them if they’re that bad.

[Mom-ninja.]

I finished Frozen Assets  by Wodehouse. My favorite (except Jeeves) so far. 

 

 

I'm back to listening to Catch-22 which became available just in time for banned book week. 

[Jane in NC]

Mothersweets, sorry to hear you were bored by Thirkell.  She wrote many of my favorite entertainments.

 

In my earlier post, I forgot to comment on last week's W&P assignment.  Early on this journey, those of you who had read the book previously made note that we would not be disappointed in Pierre. He redeemed himself in my eyes this week, an awakening that brought joy to my heart. Pierre, in some ways, has always been larger than life.  He now seems to define the Russian motherland herself in all of its failings and resilience. 

[6packofun]

Have any of you read Nancy Pearl's first novel, George and Lizzie?  I started it and set it down because I really don't want to read about teen sex exploits for half the book even if they aren't super detailed, but I know that what the main character is doing and why are probably important to the person (and wife) she becomes.  Is it nonstop with the talk about casual sex?  Was it a worthwhile read?  *sigh*

[Violet Crown]

Hurrah! I've been waiting for Banned Books Week to begin reading my copy of Ovid's Ars amatoria (in translation), the world's most banned book. It was banned by Augustus Caesar, burned by Savanarola (who thought the Church too permissive), and was still prohibited for import in the United States as late as 1930.

[Kareni]

The Hobbit was mentioned in last week's thread, so some here might enjoy this post:

 

Picturing The Hobbit by Irene Gallo

 

"The Hobbit has been inspiring artists and readers for generations, ever since its publication 80 years ago today. Artwise, I’ve always had a soft spot for The Hobbit; I love that it lends itself equally well to delightful and weighty interpretations. Below, let’s take a look at how just a few of the unofficial band of “Tolkien artists†have approached Bilbo’s story...."

**

 

And some currently free books for Kindle readers ~

 

Ruth  by Elizabeth Gaskell  (I think this may be for one day only.)

 

The Unraveling, Volume One of The Luminated Threads: A Steampunk Fantasy Romance by Laurel Wanrow

 

Red Sapphire: The Sita Chronicles  plus many other books in the series by Ashley Mayers are free; described as a coming of age fantasy with elements of Indian mythology

 

Pride and Butterflies (Austen Inspirations Book 1)  by Franky A. Brown

 

The Nun and the Narc  by Catherine Castle

 

Coming In From the Cold (Gravity Book 1)  by Sarina Bowen

 

The Dig (The Blackwell Files Book 9)  by Steven F. Freeman

 

Murder in the South of France  and Murder in the Latin Quarter both from The Maggie Newberry Mysteries series by Susan Kiernan-Lewis

 

Engines of Empathy (Drakeforth Series Book 1)  by Paul Mannering

 

Regards,

Kareni

[fastweedpuller]

Oh Pierre!  (yes, he was/remains my favorite).  And Idnib and Jane, like Murakami, I think lots of time should elapse between Laxness(es).  I am thinking 6-9 months minimum, which is why I have not yet picked up the two of his other novels that found me since I devoured Independent People.  And ErinE, I love Ulysses, but have only read it 2x...one for college and once on my own when living in Dublin (!) for during gap years between college/grad school.  I wonder how it would change for me these 30 years on?

 

I have finished nothing this week but am in deep with Hild and 7th century not-quite Britain.  For once, a book that does not avoid the quotidian, with accurate descriptions of spinning and preparing flax and weaving.  And tincturing.  I will use it for my eventual "female adventure" square.

 

But I am in a bit of recovery from some Mohs surgery for a few not too worrisome (so of course I worry) skin cancer bits.  This gave me leave to simply knit these hot weekend days away, which I did so while listening to Woolf's A Room of One's Own (having practically memorized it through re-reads over the years) and stumbled upon this beaut, thought of all of you.  She's discussing the novel as a form and the explosion of it as a category, both good and bad:

 

The whole structure, it is obvious, thinking back on any famous novel, is one of infinite complexity, because it is thus made up of so many different judgements, of so many different kinds of emotion. The wonder is that any book so composed holds together for more than a year or two, or can possibly mean to the English reader what it means for the Russian or the Chinese. But they do hold together occasionally very remarkably. And what holds them together in these rare instances of survival (I was thinking of War and Peace) is something that one calls integrity, though it has nothing to do with paying one’s bills or behaving honourably in an emergency. What one means by integrity, in the case of the novelist, is the conviction that he gives one that this is the truth. Yes, one feels, I should never have thought that this could be so; I have never known people behaving like that. But you have convinced me that so it is, so it happens. One holds every phrase, every scene to the light as one reads—for Nature seems, very oddly, to have provided us with an inner light by which to judge of the novelist’s integrity or disintegrity. Or perhaps it is rather that Nature, in her most irrational mood, has traced in invisible ink on the walls of the mind a premonition which these great artists confirm; a sketch which only needs to be held to the fire of genius to become visible. When one so exposes it and sees it come to life one exclaims in rapture, But this is what I have always felt and known and desired! And one boils over with excitement, and, shutting the book even with a kind of reverence as if it were something very precious, a stand-by to return to as long as one lives, one puts it back on the shelf, I said, taking War and Peace and putting it back in its place. If, on the other hand, these poor sentences that one takes and tests rouse first a quick and eager response with their bright colouring and their dashing gestures but there they stop: something seems to check them in their development: or if they bring to light only a faint scribble in that corner and a blot over there, and nothing appears whole and entire, then one heaves a sigh of disappointment and says. Another failure. This novel has come to grief somewhere.

bolded points by me.

[JennW in SoCal]

It seems like I've been surrounded by war all week long. A good chunk of War and Turpentine, which I finished last night, is a detailed, first hand account of the experiences of a Flemish soldier in WWI. Beautifully written but, oh my, is it ever stark and grim and real. It sent me down a few rabbit trails on the internet as I filled in huge gaps in my knowledge of Belgian geography and history. And the book gave me a little historical perspective on the French exam Loesje's dd recently took, making me want to ask  -- in tones of righteous indignation -- is there an equivalent Dutch exam for the Wallonians to take? 

 

But back to my week of war. Dh and I have been riveted by the Ken Burns Vietnam documentary on PBS. We've seen 4 episodes and have another 3 yet to go, I think. On top of it all, for the past 3 days we've been assaulted by all the loud sounds of the big annual air show at the nearby Marine base -- jets screaming overhead, things getting blown up in crowd pleasing demonstrations. And all the recent saber rattling by world leaders isn't exactly soothing to the soul. 

 

So I'm thinking this week's reading is going to be light and fluffy. Just bought a Kindle collection of PG Wodehouse because I want to read Love Among the Chickens, and I may search for some Flufferton, too. 

[Ali in OR]

Still caught up in W&P and have started this next week's reading. In general, I prefer the peace sections, but I am fascinated by Napoleon's fall (according to Tolstoy). It's intriguing to me that he feels the need to repeat often that Napoleon was not a genius, and I think he enjoys analyzing the downfall of the French army.

 

I already mentioned in last week's thread that I finished Anu Partanen's The Nordic Theory of Everything which I enjoyed. Then I checked everybody's recommendations for fluffy/romantic lit against my library's catalogue. I've always thought we had a pretty good library--they had much that I sought when I was home schooling. But while living in a highly literate environment, it's not particularly fluffy or romantic! But I did find Eliana's recommendation of A Cousinly Connexion by Sheila Simonson which I thoroughly enjoyed. The quintessential Flufferton Abbey pick.

 

Up next: more W&P and I have Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go for a dystopian pick. I've enjoyed other books by him. The library also has Mink River (next bookclub pick) and Soulless waiting for me. That should keep me busy for awhile.

[Stacia]

.

Edited November 2, 2017 by Stacia

[Shawneinfl]

I read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn - 5 Stars - This is just a wonderful book. It’s a coming of age story of a young girl in Brooklyn in the early 1900’s. The writing is beautiful and I didn’t want it to end. For the longest while, others have recommended that I read this. I’m delighted that I finally did so.

 

My favorite quotes:

"Francie thought that all the books in the world were in that library and she had a plan about reading all the books in the world. She was reading a book a day in alphabetical order and not skipping the dry ones."

“To look at everything always as though you were seeing it either for the first or last time: Thus is your time on earth filled with glory.â€

 

and The Ladybird Book of Red Tape - 3 Stars - Funny, as all they are. Not the funniest in the series, but still an enjoyable read. 

 

    

 

 

MY RATING SYSTEM

5 Stars

Fantastic, couldn't put it down

4 Stars

Really Good

3 Stars

Enjoyable

2 Stars

Just Okay – nothing to write home about

1 Star

Rubbish – waste of my money and time. Few books make it to this level, since I usually give up on them if they’re that bad.

 

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is one of my favorite books ever.

 

[mumto2]

Last week I read a couple of ho-hum books:

 

The Baker's Daughter by D.E. Stevenson. I was expecting to like this more than I did, even so I gave it 3 and a half stars.  https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26457234-the-baker-s-daughter

 

High Rising by Angela Thirkell. THis had a few amusing moments for I was mostly bored and ended up skimming. :( https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23936461-high-rising

 

 

I've been saving The Baker's Daughter to read when I am out of other DE Stevenson's to request. It appears more popular than many. Now I am curious......

 

 

Hello everyone. 

 

The last thing I need are more books so of course I suggested to my husband that we go to the used book sale at the library today. I came home with a small stack (just nine), including one that I have read previously.  Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day is a tonic.  I was delighted to see the gorgeous Persephone edition from London--for $1.  I picked up another Persephone book too, They Were Sisters by Dorothy Whipple.  I am suspecting that Mumto2 may have read this one as the author lived in Nottingham.

 

Also in my stack is another Laxness because I could not resist Under the Glacier.  Which leads me to return to a question posed by Idnib last week:  how soon is too soon for another Laxness?  Answer--I have no idea.  All I can say is that I am determined to finish War and Peace and read The Cooking Gene by Michael Twitty, but I keep peeking inside Wayward Heroes.

 

Speaking of banned books... Argentine writer Antonio Di Benedetto was imprisoned then exiled to Spain.  Few of his works have been translated into English so he is not well known here but I have a copy of the Archipelago edition of his stories, Nest in the Bones, which I finished this past week.  Would anyone like it?

Dorothy Whipple sounds familiar but I have never read any of her books. Looking forward to your review. I should be able to get them because I have access to the Notts library with the one of my cards but think I will let you go first. :)

 

I have started several books along with continuing to read a bit of Sarum each day.

 

I am enjoying Death at La Venice which comes highly recommended by both Kathy and Eliana https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33799144-death-at-la-fenice. It also could be titled murder at the Opera if anyone is still looking.

 

I also started Night Blind which is part of the Dark Iceland series that I have been enjoying. I think Loesje has read most of these in Dutch. Good reads has the numbering wrong....of those translated to English this is definitely the third for series order, although there are books missing. It seems to be good. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27248849-nightblind

 

I am waiting for some audio books so have been listening to the Pax Arcana series by Elliott James while waiting. Readily available and acceptable. ;) paranormal fluff......

[Kareni]

I just finished a book that JennW did not like.  I did.  I can appreciate all the arguments you made against it, Jenn, in that post and this one, but I found it enjoyable and have put the other books in the series on hold.  Has anyone else here read the book?

 

Murder In Thrall (A New Scotland Yard Mystery Book 1)  by Anne Cleeland

 

"Can London's most elusive killer elude the keen minds of Scotland Yard's most unlikely pair of detectives?

An Irish redhead of humble beginnings and modest means, Kathleen Doyle is the antithesis of Chief Inspector Michael Sinclair, Lord Acton, the brilliant but enigmatic lord with a knack for solving London's most high profile homicides. When a horse trainer is found dead at a racetrack, the duo's investigation does little to deter the killer at large. Jeopardizing the case are their colleagues at CID headquarters, whose nosing into the nature of Doyle and Acton's after hours relationship threatens to lay bare the most classified information of all. As the murders pile up, Doyle and Acton uncover something far more sinister than they could have imagined. Now that they know too much, their partnership could be very brief indeed. . ."

 

Regards,

Kareni

[ErinE]

I also appreciated the Goodreads discussion group when I read Ulysses! I wasn't in sync with the group, so I didn't participate in the conversations, which would have added even more, I think, to my reading experience... but reading the comments after I read each section was so inspiring (and validating at times, I would wonder if I was imagining something, but hearing that others had seen it too built my confidence.

 

I didn't use an annotated version because when I tried it pulled me out of the more immersive reading space that gave me the most pleasure. Notes brought out too much of my desire to not miss anything... but to not miss anything would involve far more than a single reading... and getting all the details would have lost me the flavor and the joy in the language. (But that reflects my personal idiosyncrasies as a reader!).

I tried reading Ulysses without notes and lost my courage in the third section, the Daedalus stream of consciousness while he walks along the beach. I kept returning to the many things I didn't understand. I am enjoying the language which is why I end up reading sections a few times. Once for understanding, twice for language, sometimes a third time if I didn't quite understand. Bloom's narrative, while less elevated than Daedalus, has a lovely sound when he plays with words.

[Loesje22000]

@ Stacia & JennW

 

Belgium has - in opposite to several other countries - no national exams.

Each school, each teacher makes his/her own exams for their own classes.

 

For highschool dropouts, homeschoolers, sporters, musicians, there is 'the exam commission' to get a diploma.

A diploma is NOT 'just a piece of paper' it is THE piece of paper that gives you acces to jobs and/or further education like college. So sooner or later most people try to get one.

 

Belgiam has a tracking systeem during grade 7-12.

A more vocational track, a pure academic track, and something in between.

Each track has its own requirements for foreign language, science, math, social science.

Vocational track has almost no foreign language (until a few years ago even not the other national language)

The pure academical track at least 2 foreigen languages.

Each track is split up in several 'directions'?.

A in between direction like secretary gets more languages then a more science / technical orientated one.

 

Dd chose a pure academical track with a heavy language direction: Latin - Modern Foreign Languages.

In this track - direction she has not only the most languages, but also has the higheste level of requirements in these languages compared to other tracks & directions.

 

The system of tracks and directions is comparable to Wallonie, the French Speaking part. And they too have an exam commission for homeschoolers & others, and they too have almost no foreign languages in the vocational track and heavy requirements in the academical languages direction track. The latter have comparable exams for Dutch as dd did for french.

[Loesje22000]

@ banned books week:

 

In the Netherlands it is forbidden to buy or sell 'Mein Kampf' by Hitler.

It is not forbidden to own it or to borrow or heritate it.

Belgium registers who buys a copy.

 

So I was surprized to discover it is in the USA on several highschool readinglists.

 

I am reading now a book about Mein Kampf and why the (neo) nazism might be attractive to some people.

I think it is the closest I can get to without becoming on obscure lists :)

Its title: the forbidden book and contains fragments of the original book

(Author has been asked to write and read about the book)

[Granny_Weatherwax]

I've read two more.

 

39) The Light of the Fireflies by Paul Ren (**) - This book gave me the heebeegeebees.

 

40) Abandon by Blake Crouch (***) - This is the guy who wrote Wayward Pines. It was an okay book. Engaging plot, decent characters but the book left me with a "Meh" feeling.

 

--

Maybe it's my mood, the period of life I'm in, or something else but I just don't seem to be reading books that I really enjoy.  I take most of my books off of the free Kindle book llists. Maybe I need to change that up. I'll go look through my list of Want-to-reads on Goodreads and see if there is anything I can find at the pubic library or on the Kindle. I desperately need a good, uplifting, well-written book. But, then again, maybe it's not the books or the authors. I haven't found much comedy to be funny lately either. It seems like everything is just off - off-center, off-color, off-kilter.

 

 

[Violet Crown]

I finished the chunkster 'A Light in the Heavens': The Great Encyclical Letters of Pope Leo XIII. Niche reading of the more significant writings by the brilliant and erudite pope of the Turn of the Century, the most famous and enduring of which is "Rerum Novarum," on the rights of workers.

 

On to Ovid!

 

ETA: And that's the Bingo square for Prime Number in Title. :)

Edited September 25, 2017 by Violet Crown

[Kareni]

 

Maybe it's my mood, the period of life I'm in, or something else but I just don't seem to be reading books that I really enjoy.  I take most of my books off of the free Kindle book lists. ....

 

Here's a currently free book that I read and enjoyed

 

4 Years Trapped in My Mind Palace  by Johan Twiss

 

Here's the review from Kirkus ~

 

"In this YA novel, a paralyzed, mute teenager gets a new roommate, an elderly jazz performer, who can hear his thoughts—and take him back in time.

 

It’s 1987, and Aaron Greenberg, 14, has been imprisoned for life by his own body. Once he was an active boy who played the trombone, but two years ago, he contracted a rare form of cryptococcal meningitis that left him paralyzed and, supposedly, brain-dead. Ever since, he’s lived in a nursing home, unable to communicate but fully cognizant. Aaron passes the time by entering his “mind palaceâ€: not the memory technique but an imagined castle with fabulous rooms to explore. Then Aaron meets his new roommate, the elderly Solomon Felsher, who suffers from some dementia but was once a famous jazz musician, playing his saxophone with all the greats. He can hear Aaron’s thoughts—and occasionally, Solomon somehow pulls Aaron into reliving important episodes from the saxophonist’s past, in which the boy finds himself providing crucial help. For example, Aaron saves the day when he plays trombone during Solomon’s first Chicago gig. Solomon also has a pretty, kind 14-year-old granddaughter, Sarah, who learns the secret of his communication with Aaron. Convincing his doctor takes some doing, but over the next two years, with Sarah’s support, Aaron slowly recovers. In the real world, he’ll need all his new strength to help his friend Solomon one last time. Twiss (I AM SLEEPLESS: Sim 299, 2015, etc.) offers a captivating double premise with his story of a locked-in boy and time travel via dementia. The author skillfully weaves these threads together with another double story about Aaron’s and Solomon’s progress, one toward health, the other toward acceptance. Not only that, Twiss handles Solomon’s Yiddish-inflected voice and Aaron’s teenage sensibility nicely, develops the youthful romance sweetly, and provides exciting scenes of danger, daring, and escape. (One quibble: Aaron’s last name is sometimes spelled “Greenburg†in the text.) This warmhearted novel focuses on how people make connections and help each other through the most trying circumstances with good humor, music, and affection.

 

An intriguing premise, effective voice, and entertaining writing make for a winning tale about two musicians."

**

 

And a one day only currently free classic for Kindle readers ~

 

Evelina: Or, The History of a Young Lady's Entrance into the World by Fanny Burney

 

"This precursor to the works of Jane Austen and Maria Edgeworth takes a witty look at romance and womanhood in eighteenth-century high society.

Denied by her aristocratic libertine father and raised by a clergyman in the English countryside, Evelina Anville is a stranger to fashionable London society. But with the arrival of her eighteenth year comes the time for her formal debut, whether or not she—or London—is ready. Through a series of societal faux pas, Evelina learns about the complexities of society and attracts the eyes of dashing and distinguished bachelors. Still, landing a man in the city won’t be easy . . .
 
This epistolary novel was the first by satirist Fanny Burney, acclaimed for her talent for comic fiction as well as her diaries chronicling eighteenth-century life among the aristocracy, in particular the struggles of women."

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Jane in NC]

The National Book Foundation has announced its '5 Under 35' for 2017. The five titles could form a poem:

 

Jillian

What It Means When a Man Falls From the Sky

What We Lose

When Watched

Chemistry

_____

 

What we lose when watched, Jillian: chemistry

What it means when a man falls from the sky.

 

____

 

Thanks to Kareni for sending an alert of my typo (which I rather liked!)

 

 

Edited September 25, 2017 by Jane in NC

[idnib]

I am reading Eliana's recommendation Just Mercy. It really is excellent. The writing brings clarity to very complex issues. The author is humble and doesn't pull and punches. It helps me put together disparate pieces of data stored in my mind into a cohesive picture, with a focus on simple humanity. It has, however, caused sleepless nights.

 

The last thing I need are more books so of course I suggested to my husband that we go to the used book sale at the library today. I came home with a small stack (just nine), including one that I have read previously.  Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day is a tonic.  I was delighted to see the gorgeous Persephone edition from London--for $1.  I picked up another Persephone book too, They Were Sisters by Dorothy Whipple.  I am suspecting that Mumto2 may have read this one as the author lived in Nottingham.

 

I was also going to avoid our library book sale in October. We just finished donating 400 books. But we just received free tickets to the preview sale as Friends of the Library members, so...

[Mom-ninja.]

I struggle with whether I should read Mein Kampf or not. On the one hand, I think he should not get any recognition for writing a book. I would feel weird reading his book. However, I think it's important to understand the mind of such evil people so we can prevent such people from gaining power and/or causing harm now and in the future. At times I feel like we have learned nothing from the past. 

 

I completely understand the ban, and even so it feels funny to think of supporting a ban. It is such a catch-22. (Like my use of the phrase made popular by the book of the same title I am currently reading?)  There are things I truly feel should be illegal, and I also realize this changes with society and the culture of the time. It was acceptable for Lewis Carrol to possess certain photographs that today would land him in prison. Conversely, I wear clothing, own books, and participate in behavior that would have landed me in jail in the past.  

 

My relatives from Germany stopped dead in their tracks in a B&N store here when they saw a display of Maus. The swastika is illegal in Germany so it blew their mind to see it openly displayed even though it's an anti-nazis book series. 

[Violet Crown]

My relatives from Germany stopped dead in their tracks in a B&N store here when they saw a display of Maus. The swastika is illegal in Germany so it blew their mind to see it openly displayed even though it's an anti-nazis book series.

That's an example of exactly why I support broad first amendment protections.

 

Apropos of all of this, I've been reading the Areopagitica - Milton's unsurpassed argument for freedom of the press - to Middle Girl as a supplement to our civics unit on the Constitution.

Edited September 26, 2017 by Violet Crown

[Kareni]

I just finished Anne Cleeland's Murder in Retribution (A New Scotland Yard Mystery) by Anne Cleeland which is the second book in the series that I started yesterday.  I enjoyed it though the hero is decidedly not heroic in many ways.  It's a mystery but with a strong element of romance.  This is a series that should definitely be read in order.

 

"Two of Scotland Yard’s most gifted detectives navigate the darkest corners of London to solve a series of murders that will blur every line between right and wrong…
 
Chief Inspector Michael Sinclair, Lord Acton, and rookie detective Kathleen Doyle ruffle more than a few feathers at CID Headquarters when their relationship comes to light. But office politics quickly become trivial amid a rash of underworld murders. As the body count climbs, Doyle uncovers a vicious war over lucrative turf between the Russian mafia and an Irish terrorist group. But their acts of revenge are almost too much for Scotland Yard to keep up with—and when Acton seems unusually troubled by the crimes, Doyle wonders what sparked the conflict in the first place.
 
Perhaps there’s nothing more to it than under-the-table business dealings gone awry. Or perhaps a single act of vigilante justice ignited a brutal battle. As Doyle and Acton fight not to become the next victims, they’ll find that the truth may be best left unspoken, and retribution may be best left to fate…"

**

 

And here's a currently free book for Kindle readers that might interest some here ~

 

Praise for Barry J. Hutchison

"Call off the search - we've found the new Terry Pratchett." - The Independent

 

Space Team  by Barry J. Hutchison

 

"The galaxy just called for help. Unfortunately, it dialed the wrong number.

Small-time conman, Cal Carver, is having a bad day. Imprisoned and forced to share a cell with a cannibalistic serial killer, Cal thinks things can't possibly get any worse.

He is wrong.

It’s not until two-thirds of the human race is wiped out and Cal is mistakenly abducted by aliens that his day really starts to go downhill.

Whisked across the galaxy, Cal is thrown into a team of some of the sector's most notorious villains and scumbags. Their mission should be simple enough, but as one screw-up leads to another, they find themselves in a frantic battle to save an entire alien civilization - and its god - from total annihilation.

Featuring epic space battles, alien gangsters, and several thousand flying Tobey Maguires, Space Team is the first book in the internationally bestselling series by award-winning author, Barry J. Hutchison, and is perfect for fans of Hitchhiker's Guide and Guardians of the Galaxy."

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Mom-ninja.]

That's an example of exactly why I support broad first amendment protections.

 

Apropos of all of this, I've been reading the Areopagitica - Milton's unsurpassed argument for freedom of the press - to Middle Girl as a supplement to our civics unit on the Constitution.

 

Thanks for mentioning this. Middle ds is doing civics this semester. I've added this to my read aloud list. We're still finishing our 1001 nights romp through Persia

[fastweedpuller]

That's an example of exactly why I support broad first amendment protections.

 

Apropos of all of this, I've been reading the Areopagitica - Milton's unsurpassed argument for freedom of the press - to Middle Girl as a supplement to our civics unit on the Constitution.

Thanks for mentioning this. Middle ds is doing civics this semester. I've added this to my read aloud list. We're still finishing our 1001 nights romp through Persia

 

Civics!  Just this very day, DD is assigned the backstory then the Preamble of the Constitution.  Something is in the air...  (thanks too for the rec, VC!)

 

[Butter]

I read Scaly Tale, a Ripley's Believe it or Not book, to the boys.  The story was pretty dumb.  They even thought the story was dumb.  It had a lot of weird facts throughout which were much more interesting than the story.

 

I also finished Aaru by David Meredith.  The author contacted me on Twitter and asked if I'd be willing to read and review it.  Wow.  It was one of the most thought-provoking books I have never read.  The premise is a company has figured out how to save all dying people.  And by save they mean to a hard drive.  The people, after they pass away, arrive in Aaru which is the company's mainframe.  There they continue to live forever.  The people left behind can call up their loved ones and talk to them.  But is it a life?  Are they real?  Is it just our memories and personalities that make us human or is it something more?  And for the people left alive on earth, is it enough to just talk to their dead loved ones?  Does it hold them back in their growth and development?  And so on.  The story focuses on a 13-year-old sister of a "saved" dead girl.  She becomes Elysian Industries' spokesmodel in America and deals with a crazy schedule, meteoric fame, and a creepy stalker.  All the while, her sister in Aaru is struggling with coming to terms with what she now is and what it means to only ever be happy.  It's an excellent book.  It's planned as the first in a series.  The end of this book is completes the story, but leaves plenty of openings for the next book.  I appreciated that it didn't end on a cliffhanger.

[Chrysalis Academy]

I finished my 3rd recent re-read of Brave New World. According to Circe's new Reading Guide (which just arrived in the mail yesterday) you have to read a book 3 times to really get its logos. I've appreciated BNW more with each read, but I've also concluded that it should have ended before the final chapter. The denouement with Mustapha Mond does a great job setting up the main conflict: you can have happiness, or you can have Beauty, Truth, Art and Freedom. You have to accept the pendulum swings of misery to ever experience the joy of bliss. This is True, I believe. But then John Savage comes out of this conversation, and firmly tries to wedge his pendulum over in the abject misery sector. He refuses to accept any form of happiness, even when it comes from living in harmony with his environment.

 

I'm never sure what we're supposed to do with the John Savage character.  Be Freudian, and chalk his screwed up state to his horrible childhood, being caught between two world and accepted by neither? If so, it's not actually very interesting. Or is he just meant to represent the futility of the life dominated by "religious" guilt? Also not that novel or earth shattering. He's great as a utopian foil, against whom the ridiculousness of the "utopia" is contrasted, but as a character does he have anything novel to offer? I'm beginning to think not. I think Huxley did some amazing things in BNW, but I'm also convinced it should have ended one chapter before it did.

[mumto2]

I finished spelling Sapphire this morning before getting the bright idea to tidy a small section of my garden. So four hours later I finish having done the whole garden and managing to fill the green bin. I am so sore that I now plan to lay on my heating pad and read!

 

 

S. A Darker Shade of Magic VE Schwab

A. The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter Theodora Goes

P. The Family Plot Cherie Priest

P. Rules for a Proper Governess Jennifer Ashley

H. Too Scot to Handle Grace Burrows

I. The Irish Inheritance MJ Lee

R. The Great Reckoning Louise Penny

E. Die Like an Eagle Donna Andrews

[ErinE]

I finished my 3rd recent re-read of Brave New World. According to Circe's new Reading Guide (which just arrived in the mail yesterday) you have to read a book 3 times to really get its logos. I've appreciated BNW more with each read, but I've also concluded that it should have ended before the final chapter. The denouement with Mustapha Mond does a great job setting up the main conflict: you can have happiness, or you can have Beauty, Truth, Art and Freedom. You have to accept the pendulum swings of misery to ever experience the joy of bliss. This is True, I believe. But then John Savage comes out of this conversation, and firmly tries to wedge his pendulum over in the abject misery sector. He refuses to accept any form of happiness, even when it comes from living in harmony with his environment.

 

I'm never sure what we're supposed to do with the John Savage character.  Be Freudian, and chalk his screwed up state to his horrible childhood, being caught between two world and accepted by neither? If so, it's not actually very interesting. Or is he just meant to represent the futility of the life dominated by "religious" guilt? Also not that novel or earth shattering. He's great as a utopian foil, against whom the ridiculousness of the "utopia" is contrasted, but as a character does he have anything novel to offer? I'm beginning to think not. I think Huxley did some amazing things in BNW, but I'm also convinced it should have ended one chapter before it did.

 

I feel this way about A Clockwork Orange. I read the author-approved version with his foreword on how the American editors made him remove the last chapter in its original print run in the United States. When I reached the last chapter, it was clear to me the American editors were right. In terms of storytelling it doesn't make sense to have twenty chapters following an immoral, violent youth who, in the space of one chapter, longs to be a mature adult for a wife and kids. No buildup to the epiphany, no internal character arc. It didn't feel true to the character or the rest of the novel.

Edited September 26, 2017 by ErinE

[Stacia]

.

Edited November 2, 2017 by Stacia

[JennW in SoCal]

I'd like to drag the conversation back to War and Peace and talk about the burning of Moscow. Having Pierre wander around a burning city bothered me far more than Pierre wandering around the battlefield. It wouldn't be impossible, but it would have been far more physically difficult than what Tolstoy describes. So Cal gal that I am, I've experienced my fair share of large scale fires, and the burning of Moscow  -- wandering around a city and watching buildings burning -- was annoyingly wrong. The W&P scene didn't capture at all the choking smoke, the ash falling like snow, the nuclear-winter quality of light where everything is a surreal color of orange and the world is almost unrecognizable. Think of an orange-tinged fog. It was as unbelievable as it would be to have Pierre wandering around in a hurricane and calmly observing a roof peel off a building, noting the palm branches whipping past him in the wind, all while wondering if he should rescue the kids in the house where the storm surge is rising.  And while I understand that the burning of Moscow was quite different from the wind-whipped Santa Ana fires I know, I still think the scale -- the number of buildings going up in flames--would create the same amount smoke.

 

It made me wonder if the battle scenes, which seemed viscerally believable to me, were equally far fetched. Thoughts?

[fastweedpuller]

Hmm Jenn as an architect I know buildings burn very differently than things like rolling hills of forests, which have a lot more air around them and forest fires actually create their own actual atmosphere/wind etc.  Oxygen is quite nasty that way.  You are right about the smoke/ash, but the heat would be another thing.  Moscow at the time would have timber framing but the exteriors would have been masonry or stucco, and its bearing walls masonry too, at least in the houses Pierre would've been ambling between.  Those things don't burn (readily; everything will burn of course if you consider the center of the earth or the surface of the sun) but the interiors certainly would, as would the stables and stores.  His wanderings did not strike me as unbelievable, as it would have been possible to watch them burn (fires mostly on the insides, consuming upward, spreading roof to roof) by walking down certain streets.  You wouldn't want to walk down them, but the chance of your getting run over by the flames (a la walking down some fire road in a forest) wouldn't be as great.  But the heat would be awful.

 

Perhaps Tolstoy had himself seen a battle but nobody sadly should ever have to see a city burn.

[Chrysalis Academy]

I feel this way about A Clockwork Orange. I read the author-approved version with his foreword on how the American editors made him remove the last chapter in its original print run in the United States. When I reached the last chapter, it was clear to me the American editors were right. It terms of storytelling it doesn't make sense to have twenty chapters following an immoral, violent youth who, in the space of one chapter, longs to be a mature adult for a wife and kids. No buildup to the epiphany, no internal character arc. It didn't feel true to the character or the rest of the novel.

 

That's an interesting perspective. I recently re-read Orange for the first time since college, and I read the same version you did this time, with the last chapter included. I guess that I sappily appreciated it, because it offered some hope, that Alex grew out of his youthful nihilism. Otherwise that story is just so damn bleak.  I think that bleakness feeds something hopeless and scary inside of us (is it just inside of Americans? apparently Kubrik & the American editors thought so . . . ) It reminds me of the scene in Tomorrowland where the Hugh Laurie character berates us for wallowing in the negative misery of dystopia because it negates our responsibility to act, to make the world better.

 

Dystopia is interesting because it always has to address hope. One way or the other. Is there, or isn't there? I'm starting to lean toward finding hope despite/amidst catastrophe the more interesting solution, when an author pulls it off well. I actually think it's the more difficult resolution.

[JennW in SoCal]

Hmm Jenn as an architect I know buildings burn very differently than things like rolling hills of forests, which have a lot more air around them and forest fires actually create their own actual atmosphere/wind etc.  Oxygen is quite nasty that way.  You are right about the smoke/ash, but the heat would be another thing.  Moscow at the time would have timber framing but the exteriors would have been masonry or stucco, and its bearing walls masonry too, at least in the houses Pierre would've been ambling between.  Those things don't burn (readily; everything will burn of course if you consider the center of the earth or the surface of the sun) but the interiors certainly would, as would the stables and stores.  His wanderings did not strike me as unbelievable, as it would have been possible to watch them burn (fires mostly on the insides, consuming upward, spreading roof to roof) by walking down certain streets.  You wouldn't want to walk down them, but the chance of your getting run over by the flames (a la walking down some fire road in a forest) wouldn't be as great.  But the heat would be awful.

 

Perhaps Tolstoy had himself seen a battle but nobody sadly should ever have to see a city burn.

 

Yes, I did consider the different nature of urban vs rural fires, but my closest experience is in my neighborhood where 300 houses burned to the ground -- stucco houses with tile roofs. Granted, we are surrounded by flora that is designed to extravagantly burn, but once the fire entered the residential neighborhood it jumped from house to house, sparing some but destroying others. Truly, with the smoke, the heat and the panic, it is not something that you casually walk around in. Considering the scale of that Moscow fire, I believe it would be closer to a fire storm.  

[Kareni]

A one day only currently free work for Kindle readers ~

 

Madame X: A Story of Mother-Love by Alexandre Bisson and J. W. McConaughy

 

"A tragic story of infidelity, murder, and a mother’s love in turn-of-the-century France.

When Jacqueline Floriot’s husband, Louis, finds her in the arms of another man, she and her lover flee the house. Two years later, Jacqueline returns, hoping to reunite with her young son, Raymond. But Louis, overcome with jealous rage, sends her out into the cold of winter without so much as a glimpse of her child. His merciless act sets off a tragic chain of events as Jacqueline sinks into a life of depravity, drugs, and prostitution.
 
Twenty years later, Raymond is a lawyer, working alongside his father. When he finds himself representing a woman accused of murder, a woman known only as Madame X, he has no way of knowing that he defends his own mother—or that she may have committed her alleged crime out of love for her son.
 
Based on Alexandre Bisson’s 1908 play of the same name, J. W. McConaughy’s novel brilliantly depicts a harrowing tale."

 

Regards,

Kareni