Book a Week in 2014 - BW2

[Robin M]

Happy Sunday, dearhearts.  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 - Haruki Murakami:  Highlighting Haruki Murakami who celebrates his 65th birthday this month (links to various japanese awards with more Japanese author and book resources)  In honor of Haruki Murakami turning 65 this month, join me in reading Wind Up Bird Chronicle or one of his many other fascinating stories
 
Synopsis: Japan's most highly regarded novelist now vaults into the first ranks of international fiction writers with this heroically imaginative novel, which is at once a detective story, an account of a disintegrating marriage, and an excavation of the buried secrets of World War II.    In a Tokyo suburb a young man named Toru Okada searches for his wife's missing cat.  Soon he finds himself looking for his wife as well in a netherworld that lies beneath the placid surface of Tokyo.  As these searches intersect, Okada encounters a bizarre group of allies and antagonists: a psychic prostitute; a malevolent yet mediagenic politician; a cheerfully morbid sixteen-year-old-girl; and an aging war veteran who has been permanently changed by the hideous things he witnessed during Japan's forgotten campaign in Manchuria.
 
Check out his short stories in the New Yorker - Samsa in Love or Town of Cats and more.
 
Check out his facebook page maintained by his publishers Alfred Knopf  for articles and interviews.  
 
 
 
 
What are you reading this Week?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Link to week 1

[Robin M]

We are saying good bye to  our 70's celebration and going back to the 1800's for a time. 

 

Bringing over Violet Crown's informative post on Nathaniel Hawthorne for those of us (ahem -me) who have Scarlett Letter in their stacks and planned on reading it this year. 

 

Right, first thing is not to start with The Scarlet Letter. A good approach is to start by reading aloud The Wonder-Book and Tanglewood Tales to children; that will correctly calibrate your Hawthorne irono-meter. Because he has a very dry ironic wit, and generations of high school students (and too often their teachers) badly misread him as a result.

Then some of his short stories. "Young Goodman Brown" and "The Maypole of Merry Mount" give Hawthorne's views on Puritans and their ideological successors, another essential aspect for The Scarlet Letter.

The Blithedale Romance was my last read-aloud to Great Girl. Why don't they teach that one in high schools? That scene near the end, where Zenobia, um, turns up (don't want spoilers) was greeted by Great Girl with cries of "Awesome!" And the novel shows the reader that Hawthorne's distrust of ideology wasn't limited to the Puritans.

By the way, did you know that Hawthorne's daughter, Rose, became a nun (a thing that just wasn't done in their society) and founded the first cancer hospice? We have a children's book about her that my girls really liked.

 

 

 

[Robin M]

I started Wind Up Bird Chronicles last night and enjoying it so far. It's one of those books that keep you wondering where they are taking you.  Murakami loves cats and even had a bar called Jazz Cats for a while.  There are many essays online trying to figure out his love for cats and what is all means. Have fun googling it.   Check out Cat Symbolism over at the Wisdom Portal

[Woodland Mist Academy]

I've made a muddle mess of things.

 

I am having visions of Charlotte Mason scolding Mrs. Jellyby for the neglectful treatment of her children. Meanwhile, on Chancery Row a murder investigation is underway concerning the body that washed ashore in front of the vacation chalet.

 

(This would all be fine and good if the characters and events were in the same story...too many similar occurrences just happened to line up in the various books this week, leaving me  :huh:  and/or  :laugh:  at times. )

 

In progress:

 

A Philosophy of Education (Vol. 6 of the Charlotte Mason Home Education series)

Bleak House--Charles Dickens

Don't Look Now--Daphne du Maurier

 

and many more! ;)

 

 

 

 

 

[TeacherZee]

I have started Emigrants by Vilhelm Moberg (in Swedish but the link is to the English translation). It is a chunkster so I plan on reading slowly and reading some brain candy at the same time. Emigrants is part of my own self education because it is a Swedish classic but I've never read it.

 

I am also finishing Quiet which I have recommended but not finished because I like it and want to think about it as I read it.

[shukriyya]

I finished my first book for 2014! Have started my next two actually, since my PW is giving me issues around the wifi connection (despite spending an hour with CS yesterday!). So I'm having to read the last Dalhousie mystery, 'The Uncommon Appeal of Clouds', on my phone. I did already download the Mary Magdalene book, 'Mary, Called Magdalene', onto my kindle so I'm going back and forth between the two because I prefer reading on my PW but I want the continuity of following book 8 with book 9 of the mystery series.

 

I'm not generally a huge historical fiction fan because I find they tend to be clunky with facts and prosaic details. This book supposedly gives a glimpse into the inner life of MM with a poetic rendering. From the amazon description... In a vivid re-creation of Mary Magdalene's life story, Margaret George convincingly captures this renowned woman's voice as she moves from girlhood to womanhood, becomes part of the circle of disciples, and comes to grips with the divine. Grounded in biblical scholarship and secular research, this fascinating historical novel is also, ultimately, "the diary of a soul."

Of course I don't know if anyone ever 'comes to grips with the divine'. That seems rather implausible. And that's the kind of clunky stuff I dislike, I want more subtlety, more poetry. I don't necessarily want answers from the books I read, more a finger pointing to the moon I think. Something that plants the seeds of some good questions in the soul rather than neatly tying everything up in a bow. Something that affirms me in the wider tapestry called humanity, something that speaks to our dance with beauty, our heart's need for a transcendent reality that is thoroughly grounded in the practical world. That's why I love hanging out with the poets, I guess. Billy Collins, for example. I'm reading through his wonderful book 'Aimless Love' and the eponymous poem is too good not to share with a bunch of language lovers...

 

AIMLESS LOVE

This morning as I walked along the lakeshore,
I fell in love with a wren
and later in the day with a mouse
the cat had dropped under the dining room table.

In the shadows of an autumn evening,
I fell for a seamstress
still at her machine in the tailor’s window,
and later for a bowl of broth,
steam rising like smoke from a naval battle.

This is the best kind of love, I thought,
without recompense, without gifts,
or unkind words, without suspicion,
or silence on the telephone.

The love of the chestnut,
the jazz cap and one hand on the wheel.

No lust, no slam of the door –
the love of the miniature orange tree,
the clean white shirt, the hot evening shower,
the highway that cuts across Florida.

No waiting, no huffiness, or rancor –
just a twinge every now and then

for the wren who had built her nest
on a low branch overhanging the water
and for the dead mouse,
still dressed in its light brown suit.

But my heart is always propped up
in a field on its tripod,
ready for the next arrow.

After I carried the mouse by the tail
to a pile of leaves in the woods,
I found myself standing at the bathroom sink
gazing down affectionately at the soap,

so patient and soluble,
so at home in its pale green soap dish.
I could feel myself falling again
as I felt its turning in my wet hands
and caught the scent of lavender and stone.

 - Billy Collins

 

Is that not the best New Year's resolution ever??!! :D

[Angel]

No church for us today, impending snow and frigid wind chills, so I've posted a couple times this morning.  :laugh:

 

I began Michael Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25 last night.  Dh and dd13 have been waiting for me to finish Robert Jordan so I could read this series that they plowed through.  Dh actually mentioned it in the same sentence with Harry Potter  :ohmy:  I highly doubt that  ;)

 

I will also be starting The Silver Chair for my co-op class next week.

 

I'm looking for a book for the Century Challenge.  I don't normally do challenges but that one totally intrigues me!  Has anyone read Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin?  I don't want to do my 12th century in Japan (not a fan), and many of the books I'm encountering are chunksters about Eleanor of Aquitaine.  I'm not ready for another chunkster right now after 14 in a row.  Any fluffier, PG-13 12th century reads to recommend?

[PeacefulChaos]

I'm working on that last Eragon book.  

By 'working on', I mean I'll be picking up where I left off a year ago sometime this week, and finishing the rest of it sometime this week.  :D  

I'm also ordering the two books I mentioned last week, and will start them when they come in.  :)

[Murmer]

Finished: None this week

 

Working on:

Fiction: Final Act by C. Paul Anderson

Kindle: Witches on Parole by Debora Geary

     (in the wings)The DNA of Relationships by Gary Smalley

Non-fiction: A Mathematics Source Book by University School Support for Education Reform

Phone: Lies, Da** Lies, and Science by Sherry Seethaler

Computer: Kitchen Stewardship Family Camping Handbook by Kate Kimball

Well Education Mind: Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan

Angel Girl: The Aesop for Children by Aesop

Sweet Boy: Hans Christian Anderson Fairy Tales Book

 

Total Read for 2014: 1

[JennW in SoCal]

Just yesterday I finished my first 2 books of the year, The Fortune of War and W is for Wasted.

 

Fortune of War is the 6th in the Master and Commander series and is another "thumping good read".  I've commented to my dh and a couple of friends that I never dreamed I would be hanging onto every word of a Napoleonic era naval battle, that I'd be gasping out loud over the turns of the battle.  But the books are that good.

 

W is for Wasted was good, maybe not the greatest book I've ever read, but I've loved Sue Grafton's alphabet mystery series since I started reading it almost 20 years ago.  What is remarkable about this series is how consistent it is -- the characters have grown and changed but without some shocking plot twists or character deaths (such as in Elizabeth George's series), and the mysteries are always clever and the detecting always logical.  

 

And for those of you dealing with snow and record breaking cold, here is a photo to warm you up.  I took this a few days ago while walking my dog (and listening to Fortune of War).  It was still a cool morning -- only 60 degrees or so!!      

 

 

[Onceuponatime]

I woke up this morning feeling like I needed to do penance for my misdeeds of yesterday.

 

One good thing is I finished Mrs. DeWinter by Susan Hill. It was ok, but not particularly thrilling.  On to Snow Falling on Cedars later today, after I get some chores done.

[Robin M]

I finished my first book for 2014! Have started my next two actually, since my PW is giving me issues around the wifi connection (despite spending an hour with CS yesterday!). So I'm having to read the last Dalhousie mystery, 'The Uncommon Appeal of Clouds', on my phone. I did already download the Mary Magdalene book, 'Mary, Called Magdalene', onto my kindle so I'm going back and forth between the two because I prefer reading on my PW but I want the continuity of following book 8 with book 9 of the mystery series.

 

I'm not generally a huge historical fiction fan because I find they tend to be clunky with facts and prosaic details. This book supposedly gives a glimpse into the inner life of MM with a poetic rendering. From the amazon description... In a vivid re-creation of Mary Magdalene's life story, Margaret George convincingly captures this renowned woman's voice as she moves from girlhood to womanhood, becomes part of the circle of disciples, and comes to grips with the divine. Grounded in biblical scholarship and secular research, this fascinating historical novel is also, ultimately, "the diary of a soul."

 

Of course I don't know if anyone ever 'comes to grips with the divine'. That seems rather implausible. And that's the kind of clunky stuff I dislike, I want more subtlety, more poetry. I don't necessarily want answers from the books I read, more a finger pointing to the moon I think. Something that plants the seeds of some good questions in the soul rather than neatly tying everything up in a bow. Something that affirms me in the wider tapestry called humanity, something that speaks to our dance with beauty, our heart's need for a transcendent reality that is thoroughly grounded in the practical world. That's why I love hanging out with the poets, I guess. Billy Collins, for example. I'm reading through his wonderful book 'Aimless Love' and the eponymous poem is too good not to share with a bunch of language lovers...

 

AIMLESS LOVE

 

This morning as I walked along the lakeshore,

I fell in love with a wren

and later in the day with a mouse

the cat had dropped under the dining room table.

 

In the shadows of an autumn evening,

I fell for a seamstress

still at her machine in the tailor’s window,

and later for a bowl of broth,

steam rising like smoke from a naval battle.

 

This is the best kind of love, I thought,

without recompense, without gifts,

or unkind words, without suspicion,

or silence on the telephone.

 

The love of the chestnut,

the jazz cap and one hand on the wheel.

 

No lust, no slam of the door –

the love of the miniature orange tree,

the clean white shirt, the hot evening shower,

the highway that cuts across Florida.

 

No waiting, no huffiness, or rancor –

just a twinge every now and then

 

for the wren who had built her nest

on a low branch overhanging the water

and for the dead mouse,

still dressed in its light brown suit.

 

But my heart is always propped up

in a field on its tripod,

ready for the next arrow.

 

After I carried the mouse by the tail

to a pile of leaves in the woods,

I found myself standing at the bathroom sink

gazing down affectionately at the soap,

 

so patient and soluble,

so at home in its pale green soap dish.

I could feel myself falling again

as I felt its turning in my wet hands

and caught the scent of lavender and stone.

 

 - Billy Collins

 

Is that not the best New Year's resolution ever??!! :D

Love Billy Collins - Thanks for sharing.   Have you ever checked out Bodie Thoene's Ad Chronicles. I've read up to the Tenth Stone which I have in the stacks and will be reading this year.  They take characters and events from the bible and like Mary, called Magdelene, bring their stories to life.  Made me look at the bible and the people in the bible in a whole new light. And they aren't preachy.  Well worth checking out.  I've read the majority of their books and have all the Zion books which I plan on rereading this year. Added Mary to my wishlist

 

 

No church for us today, impending snow and frigid wind chills, so I've posted a couple times this morning.  :laugh:

 

I began Michael Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25 last night.  Dh and dd13 have been waiting for me to finish Robert Jordan so I could read this series that they plowed through.  Dh actually mentioned it in the same sentence with Harry Potter  :ohmy:  I highly doubt that  ;)

 

I will also be starting The Silver Chair for my co-op class next week.

 

I'm looking for a book for the Century Challenge.  I don't normally do challenges but that one totally intrigues me!  Has anyone read Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin?  I don't want to do my 12th century in Japan (not a fan), and many of the books I'm encountering are chunksters about Eleanor of Aquitaine.  I'm not ready for another chunkster right now after 14 in a row.  Any fluffier, PG-13 12th century reads to recommend?

Elizabeth Chadwick has written some excellent 12th century historical fiction - I read The Scarlet Lion and enjoyed it and have two other books in the series A Place Beyond Courage and The Greatest Night in my stacks.   They are all about 500 pages.   Fluffy historical fiction - don't think that's possible.  :)

[shukriyya]

Love Billy Collins - Thanks for sharing.   Have you ever checked out Bodie Thoene's Ad Chronicles. I've read up to the Tenth Stone which I have in the stacks and will be reading this year.  They take characters and events from the bible and like Mary, called Magdelene, bring their stories to life.  Made me look at the bible and the people in the bible in a whole new light. And they aren't preachy.  Well worth checking out.  I've read the majority of their books and have all the Zion books which I plan on rereading this year. Added Mary to my wishlist

 

 

No, I'm not familiar with the books you linked. Thanks for that. I'm going to see how I get along with the MM book before committing myself to any more historical fiction. I have generally approached MM from a more mystical-poetic standpoint rather than prose so we'll see if my poetic sensibilities take umbrage at the, what I feel is more limited, form of prosaic interpretation. I'm hoping not, I'm hoping it will open up a whole new world :D

 

On another note, for those of you looking for a wonderful mystery series, I urge you to check out Alexander McCall Smith's, 'Isabel Dalhousie' series. Wonderful stuff. I've read through all of them in the past couple of months. I'm not a mystery reader at all but this series, because the 'mysteries' tend towards moral questions of the heart, is so engaging. Plus there are all kinds of wonderful descriptions of the Scottish countryside, Scottish classical music and Scottish paintings. It is a super series, can't say enough good about it.

 

[Julie Smith]

I never took part in these threads last year since for some reason I find I lately have trouble focusing on a book that I am not reading out loud.

 

I am reading the Hobbit (mind you it is outloud).

I did read 6 Rose is Rose books (collections of Sunday comics). Perhaps I can work my way up from that into books that aren't comic books.

[Uff Da!]

I'm still working on Pilgrim's Progress and moving slowly due to an illness that attacked the entire family.  I never knew where Vanity Fair came from and now I do!   :)   I'm look forward to moving on to Don Quixote this week.

[Jen in NY]

Friday night I finished Grapes of Wrath, and because I won't be picking up Wind-Up Bird at the library until Tuesday, I went down to the basement to grab a "dusty" off the shelf. All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren called to me, and I jumped right in. I am tickled by the similarities in language between GoW and AtKM... there are turns of phrase that were new to me last week that I am reading again today. One perfectly beautiful passage in chapter 1 made me jump up for my pen to copy it into my notes:

 

"How life is strange and changeful, and the crystal is in the steel at the point of fracture, and the toad bears a jewel in its forehead, and the meaning of moments passes like the breeze that scarcely ruffles the leaf of the willow."

 

 

 

Thanks for sharing the Billy Collins, Shukriyya... it's lovely.

[Kareni]

 

 

 Any fluffier, PG-13 12th century reads to recommend?

 

The Brother Cadfael mysteries by Ellis Peters could work.  From Wikipedia: "Brother Cadfael is the fictional main character in a series of historical murder mysteries written between 1977 and 1994 by the linguist-scholar Edith Pargeter under the name "Ellis Peters". The character of Cadfael himself is a Welsh Benedictine monk living at Shrewsbury Abbey, in western England, in the first half of the 12th century. The historically accurate stories^[1] are set between about 1135 and about 1145, during "The Anarchy", the destructive contest for the crown of England between King Stephen and Empress Maud."

 

A Morbid Taste for Bones is the first book in the series.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Lady Florida.]

I'm still working on Pilgrim's Progress and moving slowly due to an illness that attacked the entire family.  I never knew where Vanity Fair came from and now I do!   :)   I'm look forward to moving on to Don Quixote this week.

 

Hope you are all feeling better, if not yet, then soon.

[Kareni]

Last night I finished Kinked (A Novel of the Elder Races) by Thea Harrison which had been a Christmas gift.  It's not my favorite book in the series (that honor goes to the first in the series); however, I did enjoy it.

 

"Two opponents must confront the cause of their obsessive fury in the latest Novel of the Elder Races…
 
As a harpy, Sentinel Aryal is accustomed to dealing with hate, but Sentinel Quentin Caeravorn manages to inspire in her a burning ire unlike anything she’s ever known. Aryal believes the new Sentinel to be a criminal, and vows to take him out as soon as the opportunity arises. But the harpy’s incessant wrath has pushed Quentin to the limit, and forces him to make a deadly vow of his own.
 
To put an end to the conflict, Dragos, Lord of the Wyr, sends them on a reconnaissance mission to the Elven land of Numenlaur. Forced to work together, Aryal and Quentin’s mutual antagonism escalates. Each fight draws forth more passion—culminating in an explosively sexual confrontation. But when their quest reveals real danger, Aryal and Quentin must resolve their differences in ways beyond the physical, before the entire Wyr is threatened."

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Lady Florida.]

I haven't finished anything else, so I'm still at 1 book so far in 2014.

 

Still in progress:

 

Audio book - Tess of the d'Urbervilles

Fiction - The Grapes of Wrath

Non-Fiction - The Demon-Haunted World, Science as a Candle in the Dark (Carl Sagan)

 

I'm almost through with all of them, and expect to finish each one sometime before Week 3 begins.

 

I'm looking at Mastering Evernote, The 2 Hour Guide. My one New Year's Resolution is to become more organized digitally, and I chose Evernote over other options. I can't decide if this book is worth the small change ($2.99) or if I should use up my January Kindle Owner's loan to read it for free (but then I'd have to wait until Feb. to read the next Hangman's Daughter book). If anyone is familiar with this or another book on getting the most out of Evernote, I'd appreciate your thoughts. I know. I should just throw down the money, but I am stingy with my book budget, and my library system doesn't have ANY books on Evernote.

[PollyOR]

First book - Dolores Claiborne by Stephen King.  This is a re-read.  This is when my poor memory is a good thing.  Since I can't remember many of the details I get to discover the story anew. 

 

Currently reading The Fourth Bear by Jasper Fforde.  I'm starting over from the beginning even though I made it about a quarter of the way through the book last year.

[Angel]

 

Elizabeth Chadwick has written some excellent 12th century historical fiction - I read The Scarlet Lion and enjoyed it and have two other books in the series A Place Beyond Courage and The Greatest Night in my stacks.   They are all about 500 pages.   Fluffy historical fiction - don't think that's possible.  :)

 

Elizabeth Chadwick did pop up.  I actually have The Greatest Knight open on my Amazon page thinking about it.

 

I think Julie Garwood popped up with a 12th century book.  That would be fluffy (bodice ripper) and not PG-13 :lol: .  I used to read her a long time ago.  

 

The Brother Cadfael mysteries by Ellis Peters could work.  From Wikipedia: "Brother Cadfael is the fictional main character in a series of historical murder mysteries written between 1977 and 1994 by the linguist-scholar Edith Pargeter under the name "Ellis Peters". The character of Cadfael himself is a Welsh Benedictine monk living at Shrewsbury Abbey, in western England, in the first half of the 12th century. The historically accurate stories^[1] are set between about 1135 and about 1145, during "The Anarchy", the destructive contest for the crown of England between King Stephen and Empress Maud."

 

A Morbid Taste for Bones is the first book in the series.

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

Thanks!  I will check this out!

[Stacia]

Still working on Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch. Have about 200 pages left. Totally enjoying her writing. She writes beautifully. (Noticed when I was adding the link that the Kindle price is $7.50. That seems like a very good deal to me.)

 

Wasn't sure if I would participate in the centuries challenge or not -- I may dabble in it here or there. Since Robin mentioned Across the Nightingale Floor (from Tales of the Otori) & we have that one (I managed to find it in dd's room!), I may read it once I finish The Goldfinch. A 13th century book that I happen to have here at home is Sunjata by Bamba Suso & Banna Kanute.

 

From wikipedia:

Circa 1230s-1600s, the Mali Empire was created in Western Africa along the Niger River. Often associated with being founded by Sunjata Keita, the history of Mali is extremely based on oral history.

From amazon:

Sunjata Keita was the founder of one of the greatest empires of Western Africa. These two epic accounts of his life portray a greedy, slow-witted child - said to have crawled until the age of seven - who grew up as prophecy foretold to become a mighty warrior, renowned for his bravery and superhuman strength. They describe how, with the help of his sister, who seduced their arch-enemy Sumanguru into revealing his secret powers, Sunjata defeated the Susu overlords and created the Mali Empire which would last for two centuries. Based on events from the early thirteenth century, these tales of heroism and magic are still celebrated across West Africa as part of a living epic oral tradition.

So, I may try the 12th & 13th century books if I finish The Goldfinch before Murakami's book comes in at the library.

[Jane in NC]

Hey guess what?  I'm still reading The Blithedale Romance!

 

Yes, there is some humor:

 

It was now time for me, therefore, to go and hold a little talk with the conservatives, the writers of the North American Review, the merchants, the politicians, the Cambridge men, and all those respectable old blockheads, who still, in this intangibility and mistiness of affairs, kept a death-grip on one or two ideas which had not come into vogue since yesterday-morning.

 

 

[ladydusk]

I started Out of the Silent Planet by Lewis.  I read 1 chapter last night and am intrigued.

[skyday]

I am finishing up The Goldfinch. I should be done reading it this evening. I am so glad I picked that as the first book of the year. It truly has renewed my love of reading! Next up is a non-fiction book. Either Smart Women Finish Rich or All Your Worth. I'm working on getting my finances in order this year, so hopefully these will help me get on track.

I was reading the first Harry Potter book aloud to my dd10. I've wanted to read this for a while and was hoping it would get her interested in reading. It worked but, she started reading ahead without me, so, when she is done reading it, it will go in my pile.

[welovetoread]

Here in Central Wisconsin, we are expecting record breaking cold. -70 with windchill when we get up tomorrow.  All the area schools have cancelled and all of our homeschool activities will be cancelled tomorrow and likely Tuesday as well.  I was able to get the kid outside for a bit this afternoon, after all its only -18 with windchill right now.  I need to move to wherever that beautiful dog went on its walk :)

 

  We start back in with school tomorrow, so my reading time will be shortened. I did finish #7 in the Women's Murder Club series.  I'm just loving this series.  I pick up Wind Up and a few 12th century books whenever this cold passes this week.  I will continue with #8 in my series until I pick up the other books. 

 

  

 

 

I'm not generally a huge historical fiction fan because I find they tend to be clunky with facts and prosaic details. This book supposedly gives a glimpse into the inner life of MM with a poetic rendering. From the amazon description... In a vivid re-creation of Mary Magdalene's life story, Margaret George convincingly captures this renowned woman's voice as she moves from girlhood to womanhood, becomes part of the circle of disciples, and comes to grips with the divine. Grounded in biblical scholarship and secular research, this fascinating historical novel is also, ultimately, "the diary of a soul."

 

 

  I feel the same way with historical fiction. I am going to add that book to my list.  Have you seen Before Bethlehem?  Its free on kindle right now :)

 

[CAMom]

I finished Never Fall Down by Patricia McCormick. It was the telling of the Cambodian Killing Fields by a man who lived through it from the time he was a boy. It was hard to get into at first because she writes in his own voice which is broken English but after the first 20 pages or so, you don't think much about that any more.

 

What a story. I came away at the end with the same thoughts and feelings I've had after reading similar books: I can't believe that humanity can be that depraved and that they can oppress others the way they do.

 

Originally I was going to move on to The Hill Bachelors by I will be traveling this week and thought that a book of short stories would serve me well on my flights so I saved that for this week.

 

I'm currently reading Echoes by Maeve Binchy. This is actually my first Binchy book. It's going more slowly than I would have expected but I'm enjoying my time by the Sea in Ireland.

 

Happy reading week, everyone!

[Jane in NC]

Here in Central Wisconsin, we are expecting record breaking cold. -70 with windchill when we get up tomorrow.  All the area schools have cancelled and all of our homeschool activities will be cancelled tomorrow and likely Tuesday as well.  I was able to get the kid outside for a bit this afternoon, after all its only -18 with windchill right now.  I need to move to wherever that beautiful dog went on its walk :)

 

 

 

How anyone can "like" your weather forecast is beyond me!  Goodness, stay safe and warm!

 

[MomOfOneFunOne]

AMDG

 

I just finished Medea and logged it.  It was a quite nice afternoon of reading by the fire!

 

 

Medea by Euripides . . . a harrowing tale of the revenge of Medea on Jason.  

 

Jason, upon the quest for the Golden Fleece, held by Medea's father, meets Medea.  They fall in love and he marries her.  To get away with this, Medea ends up traitress to her father and country and murderess of her brother.  Having fled Colchis, the land of her father, she, Jason, and their two boys have settled in Iolcus, Jason's hereditary homeland where Medea, hoping for advancement for Jason, murders Pelias the king and uncle to Jason.  Medea, et al are exiled to Corinth. That, though, all happens before the play opens. 

 

Upon the opening of the play, Jason has taken to wife the daughter of Creon, king of Corinth. In her rage at having been cast aside, Medea plots her revenge and carries it out.  She secures a place of exile. She poisons a dress and coronet.  Under the guise of begging for protection from exile, her innocent children present the dress and coronet to the bride.  The bride dies a horrible death.  Creon comes to her body and is caught in the poisonous dress and also dies an horrific death.  Jason returns to Medea to accuse her of this only to learn that she has also murdered their children in order to hurt Jason. The Medea is the darkest of all these dark plays and poems I've read so far. 

 

Some items of interest:

 

at line 85+

Tutor:  What is strange in that?  Have you only just discovered that everyone loves himself more than his neighbor?

 

at line264

Medea: . . . but, when once she is wronged in the matter of love, no other soul can hold so many thoughts of blood.

 

I found this sadly true and have, alas, counseled Filia to very carefully choose to whom she reveals her cleverness.

at line 292 . . .

This is not the first time, Creon.  Often previously through being considered cleter I have suffered much.  A person of sense ought never to have his children brought up to be more clever than the average.  For, apart from cleverness bringing them no profit, it will make them objects of envy and ill-will.  If you put new ideas before the eyes of fools, they'll think you foolish and worthless into the bargain; and if you are thought superior to those who have some reputation for learning, you will become hated.  

 

319

A sharp-tempered woman, or, for that matter, a man, is easier to deal with than the clever type who holds her tongue.

 

Jason reveals his own reason for marrying the new bride (whose name I forget):

352

Involved, as I was, in every kind of difficulty, what luckier chance could I have come across than this, an exile to marry the daughter of the king?  It was not -- the point that seems to upset you -- that I grew tired of your bed adn felt the need of a new bride: nor with any wish to outdo your number of children.  We have enough already.  I am quite content.  But -- this was the main reason -- that we might live well, and not be short of anything.  I know that all a man's friends leave him stone-cold if he becomes poor.  Also, that I might bring my children up worthily of my position, and, by producing more of them to be brothers of yours, we would draw the families together and all be happy.  You need no children.  And it pays me to do good to those I have now by having others.  Do you think this a bad plan?

 

581

The plausible speaker who is a villain deserves the greatest punishment.  Confident in his tongue's power to adorn evil, he stops at nothing.  Yet he is not really wise.

 

At some point I began to consider that the idea of sorceress didn't seem to include magic but mostly just evil.  Poison figures in here.

 

at one point Jason reflects that he should not have married Medea because she was a traitress to her country and father.  I agree.  Having shown that one is not trustworthy, one should not be trusted, I think.  Of course, I think that people make mistakes and should be forgiven, especially me, but trust finally having been breached . . . 

 

I also want to record the part about children but it's so long to type out and I don't really have time.  Maybe later.

 

I'd have preferred a more lovely translation.

[MomOfOneFunOne]

The Brother Cadfael mysteries by Ellis Peters could work.  From Wikipedia: "Brother Cadfael is the fictional main character in a series of historical murder mysteries written between 1977 and 1994 by the linguist-scholar Edith Pargeter under the name "Ellis Peters". The character of Cadfael himself is a Welsh Benedictine monk living at Shrewsbury Abbey, in western England, in the first half of the 12th century. The historically accurate stories^[1] are set between about 1135 and about 1145, during "The Anarchy", the destructive contest for the crown of England between King Stephen and Empress Maud."

 

A Morbid Taste for Bones is the first book in the series.

 

Regards,

Kareni

AMDG

 

I LOVED this series and will add only one thing: the first 3 or 4 must be read in order.  If you read any number before that, you'll read a spoiler!

[Eagle]

I am completely engrossed in reading 1Q84. It is so different than anything I have read before and I now MUST find out what happens. I'm finding little pockets of time to read throughout the day, so I get 10 minute glimpses into this other world. Then I have to wait until my next few minutes of solitude. It's killing me to read something suspenseful in this manner, but I would rather get the glimpses than wait the long hours until the kids are asleep and I finally get some uninterrupted time.

 

The book was originally written as three books and I have completed the first one, so I can celebrate a mini-milestone!

[mumto2]

I still have my stack going but did manage to finish one. Last fall several people here were busy reading Inspector Gamache books by Louise Penny. I finally managed to get the first book in the series (as recommended) and "Still Life" was really good. It managed to both well written and a complete page turner. Really enjoyed it. :) I will be reading more in this series soon!

 

As a side note this book has been made into a tv show in Canada according to google. It aired last fall, anyone here see it?

[Stacia]

Violet Crown, thanks for your plug for Hawthorne. I love that you can challenge us & change our minds & make us want to try him again. :grouphug:

 

I don't necessarily want answers from the books I read, more a finger pointing to the moon I think. Something that plants the seeds of some good questions in the soul rather than neatly tying everything up in a bow. Something that affirms me in the wider tapestry called humanity, something that speaks to our dance with beauty, our heart's need for a transcendent reality that is thoroughly grounded in the practical world.

 

I will have to look through my lists & see if I have some recommendations for you. :D

 

One historical fiction that did pop into my mind that you may like: The Fan-Maker's Inquisition by Rikki Ducornet.

[Stacia]

I am completely engrossed in reading 1Q84. It is so different than anything I have read before and I now MUST find out what happens. I'm finding little pockets of time to read throughout the day, so I get 10 minute glimpses into this other world. Then I have to wait until my next few minutes of solitude. It's killing me to read something suspenseful in this manner, but I would rather get the glimpses than wait the long hours until the kids are asleep and I finally get some uninterrupted time.

 

The book was originally written as three books and I have completed the first one, so I can celebrate a mini-milestone!

 

That is so cool. I love it when people try something so different from their norm & end up loving it. :thumbup:

[Just Robyn]

I finished The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson last night. According to Goodreads, I finished The Girl Who Played with Fire in July, 2012. It's nice to finally get the rest of the story a year and a half later. 

 

I found this list on List Challenges enchanting and wanted to share it: The Armchair Bucket List. And I'm sure many of you can check off "Read a Book with a Cup of Tea and a Cat."

 

[Ali in OR]

I finished Sayers' The Nine Tailors this week and enjoyed it very much. I do wish I knew more about bell ringing--I think I missed the significance of some of the chapter names and possibly other patterns she may have woven into the book. I'm almost half-way through The Monuments Men which is due back at the library Friday. I kind of wish it was shorter. I think I'll start Bad Monkeys on the treadmill tomorrow.

 

I'm not doing the centuries challenge, but I remembered and then confirmed that A Single Shard takes place in 12th century Korea. A Newberry winning kid book, but okay for adults too!

[shukriyya]

I will have to look through my lists & see if I have some recommendations for you. :D

 

One historical fiction that did pop into my mind that you may like: The Fan-Maker's Inquisition by Rikki Ducornet.

 

Oh my! Look at those titles...The Fountains of Neptune, The Jade Cabinet, Entering Fire, Phosphor in Dreamland, Gazelle...it's enough to make a language lover swoon. I have put a couple of these on my list. Thanks!

 

I'm reminded of Geraldine Brook's 'People of the Book' a story I thought I would really enjoy it had such potential but I put it down less than 50 pages in. Despite the engrossing story line I found her writing to be unimaginative, more specifically her characters lacked the kind of depth I was hoping for with a subject as intriguing as the one she chose. I have tried twice to read this book for the storyline alone but I get tripped up each time by the cliche of the main character. However I think I will add it to my list and try one more time. I'm realizing as I formulate my thoughts around the various books I've read or not read that I'm picky...

 

 

[Onceuponatime]

Snow Falling on Cedars turns out to be very well written. I'm appreciating the author's intelligent voice. It is going to be a murder mystery looking back on events from the perspective of the people in the courtroom. It takes place within an island fishing community in the northwest. I haven't read many books in that kind of setting.

[shukriyya]

Snow Falling on Cedars turns out to be very well written. I'm appreciating the author's intelligent voice. It is going to be a murder mystery looking back on events from the perspective of the people in the courtroom. It takes place within an island fishing community in the northwest. I haven't read many books in that setting.

 

Yes, as I recall, it was less the story that intrigued me (though that was well done) than the writing.

 

I have added another poetry book to my list. I like to start my day, while still in bed, with a poem or two to set my heart on the right, expansive track. Definitely helps if there are dishes to greet me in the kitchen ;) So my newest addition is National Book Award Poetry winner Mary Szybist's, 'Incarnadine'. From Amazon ::

 

In Incarnadine, Mary Szybist restlessly seeks out places where meaning might take on new color. One poem is presented as a diagrammed sentence. Another is an abecedarium made of lines of dialogue spoken by girls overheard while assembling a puzzle. Several poems arrive as a series of Annunciations, while others purport to give an update on Mary, who must finish the dishes before she will open herself to God. One poem appears on the page as spokes radiating from a wheel, or as a sunburst, or as the cycle around which all times and all tenses are alive in this moment. Szybist’s formal innovations are matched by her musical lines, by her poetry’s insistence on singing as a lure toward the unknowable. Inside these poems is a deep yearning—for love, motherhood, the will to see things as they are and to speak. Beautiful and inventive, Incarnadine is the new collection by one of America’s most ambitious poets.

 

Well, doesn't that just sound like there's something for every woman in there?

[MomOfOneFunOne]

AMDG

 

Oh, yeah . . . an afternoon at home alone!  

The author cites studies in which the number concept and ability to count in 5-month-old babies and dogs is illustrated and compared and contrasted.  It is posited that dogs, like many mammals, may be able to count as high as 7.
That was the most interesting part of the book and was in the very first chapter.  Looking for a book about retraining an older dog, I was greatly disappointed.  Pretty lame, really.

I was particularly frustrated by the author's statement that praise and play rewards are superior to food reward and then all his training was based on food rewards.

meh.  

 

I would not have considered my thoughts to be green . . . hello, green, where did you come from?

[mumto2]

I finished Sayers' The Nine Tailors this week and enjoyed it very much. I do wish I knew more about bell ringing--I think I missed the significance of some of the chapter names and possibly other patterns she may have woven into the book.

Ds happens to be reading the Nine Tailers currently. He is a real life bell ringer at our village church. Totally enjoys the chapter headings(making us all listen to most of them) but isn't seeing in particular patterns or significance with his insider knowledge. He will look closer now. ;)

[Robin M]

I recently downloaded Shinju by Laura Joh Rowland so was happy to see this article about her and the series in Japan times  - Imagining Edo Period intrigue from the US

 

Check out this list of Best Books published during the 12th Century on Goodreads.  I've haven't heard of any of them but they do look interesting.

 

How about some 12th century romances set in scotland.

 

And more winter readings:   Books with winter in the title

[Robin M]

I finished The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson last night. According to Goodreads, I finished The Girl Who Played with Fire in July, 2012. It's nice to finally get the rest of the story a year and a half later. 

 

I found this list on List Challenges enchanting and wanted to share it: The Armchair Bucket List. And I'm sure many of you can check off "Read a Book with a Cup of Tea and a Cat."

Fun bucket list - I scored 30. One of our most memorable moments would probably be watching our kittens being born.  Quite an educational experience for all of us. But it was also educational for us as well watching them being conceived.  Yes, our cat had fun right on the patio with two different suitors while we were eating dinner.   :laugh: :leaving:

 

To redeem myself - check out the Banned and Challenged Classics list or the Canonical English Literature and see how many you've read. 

[Ali in OR]

Snow Falling on Cedars turns out to be very well written. I'm appreciating the author's intelligent voice. It is going to be a murder mystery looking back on events from the perspective of the people in the courtroom. It takes place within an island fishing community in the northwest. I haven't read many books in that kind of setting.

 

I think this is in collection of dusty books that I want to start tackling this year. After my mom passed away, my brothers and sister and I went through her extensive library and claimed the books that interested us. I think that's one of the ones I grabbed--I should put it in my "to be read soon" queue. Some of my "dusty books from Mom" are intimidating for one reason or another, but that one would probably be easy to jump into.

 

ETA: Oops, I was wrong. It's Smilla's Sense of Snow that I have. I knew it was some snow book! Maybe I'll put that one in the queue...

[Molly]

Well, I have finished one book, now onto the next one.  I ended up putting the link on Week 2. 

[*Inna*]

I've finished "Breakfast at Tiffany" and collection of short stories by Truman Capote. I can't believe I've waited for so long to read his books! Masterful writing.

[Narrow Gate Academy]

I finished up my first book of the year this evening - Homer's Odyssey and wrote a brief post.  I can't decide if I want to go with fluffy fiction or something practical next.  I have One Year to an Organized Life by Leeds and Secrets of an Organized Mom by Reich from the library.  I also wandered along the sci-fi shelf looking for something interesting and picked up Dragonflight by McCaffrey.  Whichever I start, first I have four kids clamoring to work on a gingerbread house that I assembled a couple of days ago, but haven't gotten back to decorating yet. 

[MomOfOneFunOne]

AMDG

 

I am not enjoying Johnny English (movie) at all.  In fact, I can't even believe it's on in my house!  So, I got this one read, too!

 

 

For a dog training book, worthless.  Funny but all I can say about the perspective is that Tess of Helena must really be a cat masquerading as a dog.  My dog at least, is a soulful, loving companion.  The Manipulative Regal Narcissist just isn't any dog I've known.  So, looking for something useful for training an older dog, I was disappointed.  Looking for a book with insights into doggie behaviour and feelings, I was disappointed.  It was funny, though.

 

[MomOfOneFunOne]

AMDG

 

All this talk about The Nine Tailors . . . I think I'll pick it up this week!