japaul22's 2015 Category Challenge, part 2

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japaul22's 2015 Category Challenge, part 2

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1japaul22
ag. 26, 2015, 11:53 am

Hi everyone! I'm Jennifer, and I’m back for my 5th category challenge! As I was pondering how to set up the challenge and thinking of things that go along with 15, I thought of all the acrostics that were in one of my favorite books of 2014, The Life and Opinions of Jane Franklin by Jill Lepore. Then I realized that my husband’s full name has 15 letters, my second son’s name has 16, my first son’s name has 17, and mine has 18. That’s too much of a coincidence to pass up, so I will start with my husband’s name and name my categories with an acrostic based on his name. After all, with two little boys, ages 5 and 2, most of the reading I get done is because of his willingness to share our home workload!

I’ve decided I’m going to aim for 5 books in each of the 15 categories which will be 75 books. That’s right around what I read in a year, so I’ll have to fit every book I read into a category. I’ve made my categories broad enough that I think they will accommodate that.

As I am starting this second thread, I only have 7 books to go in my challenge! I am going to create another category for all of the overflow books for the rest of the year. Free reading!

This is my 2015 category set up:

C urrent obsessions
H ow things happened (nonfiction)
A gain and again (rereads)
R eal life friends recommendations (so I can discuss books in real life as well)
L ong time waiting (off the shelf)
E ndless list (1001 books)
S eries nexts
J oining in (group reads)
O ther books by authors of my favorites
H istorical fiction
N ew releases (anything published in 2015)
P erplexing stories (mysteries)
A nything goes
U nique publishers (Virago, NYRB, Easton press, folio society - all the books I collect but don't always read!)
L T friends picks

2japaul22
Editat: oct. 15, 2015, 8:53 pm

C urrent obsessions

1 Can You Forgive Her? by Anthony Trollope
2 The Birds by Tarjei Vesaas
3 The Saga of Gosta Berling by Selma Lagerlof
4 The Case for God by Karen Armstrong
5 What I Loved by Siri Hustvedt

H ow things happened (nonfiction)

1 The Romanov Sisters by Helen Rappaport
2 Basin and Range by John McPhee
3 The Ghost Map by Steven Johnson
4 Winter King: Henry VII and the Dawn of Tudor England by Thomas Penn
5 The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert

A gain and again (Rereads)

1 Pride and Prejudice: An Annotated Edition by Jane Austen
2 The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, audio book
3 Portrait of a Lady by Henry James
4 Emma by Jane Austen
5 Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

R eal life friends recommendations

1 Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri (rec by Hilary)
2 Mrs. Poe by Lynn Cullen (rec by Sara)
3 Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri (rec by Hilary)
4 Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
5 The Sun King by Nancy Mitford

L ong time waiting (books off the shelf)

1 Before I Go To Sleep by S.J. Watson
2 Old Filth by Jane Gardam
3 Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson
4 We Need to TAlk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver
5 The Great Influenza by John M. Barry

E ndless list (1001 books)

1 Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
2 Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak
3 The DAy of the Triffids by John Wyndham
4 Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
5 Silence by Shusaku Endo

S eries nexts

1 The Man in the Wooden Hat by Jane Gardam
2 Phineas Finn by Anthony Trollope
3 Alberta Alone by Cora Sandel
4 Lucia's Progress by E.F. Benson
5 Phineas Redux by Trollope

J oining in

1 The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt
2 Sula by Toni Morrison
3 Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
4 Orlando by Virginia Woolf
5 The Black Count by Tom Reiss

O ther books by authors of my favorites

1 Gunnar's Daughter by Sigrid Undset
2 A Pale View of Hills by Kazuo Ishiguro
3 The Sea, The Sea by Iris Murdoch
4 No Fond Return of Love by Barbara Pym
5 Surfacing by Margaret Atwood

H istorical fiction

1 The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters
2 Signature of All things by Elizabeth Gilbert
3 Independent People by Halldor Laxness
4 My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
5 Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper

N ew releases (published in 2015)

1 The Remarkable Education of John Quincy Adams by Phyllis Lee Levin
2 A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson
3 Encounters at the Heart of the World by Elizabeth Fenn
4 Between You & Me by Mary Norris
5 Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee

P erplexing stories (mysteries)

1 The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith
2 Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
3 The Queen's Man by Sharon Kay Penman
4 Pardonable Lies by Jacqueline Winspear
5 Cruel as the Grave by Sharon Kay Penman

A nything goes

1 Bossypants by Tina Fey
2 Longbourn by Jo Baker
3 Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn
4 Brooklyn by Colm Toibin
5 Love and Louis XIV by Antonia Fraser

U nique publishers/editions

1 Chess Story by Stefan Zweig
2 The Optimist's Daughter by Eudora Welty
3 The Ice Palace by Tarjei Vesaas
4 The Eustace Diamonds by Anthony Trollope
5 Troubles by J.G. Farrell

L ibrarything friends' picks

1 The Enchanted April picked by jfetting complete
2 White Tiger picked by nickelini complete
3 If on a Winter's Night a Traveler picked by LittleTaiko complete
4 A Month in the Country picked by RidgewayGirl complete
5 The Nine picked by aliciamay complete

4japaul22
Editat: ag. 28, 2015, 1:44 pm

For my anything goes category, I listened to Love and Louis XIV by Antonia Fraser, audiobook read by Rosalyn Landor, 13h19m

This was an informative and entertaining book that takes a look at the life of Louis XIV, the Sun King, by exploring the women in his life. Fraser focuses on Louis's mother, his wife Marie Therese, and then his many mistresses: the pious Louise; the confident, womanly, and fertile Athenais; and the motherly companion Francoise. Later in his life he also was enamored by his grandson's betrothed, Adelaide.

By keeping such a tight focus on the women in his life, Fraser creates a structure that is easy to follow and highly detailed. You can see how Louis changed through his life and paint a picture of who he was through the people he chose to keep closest to him. I thought the whole book was very well done and also thought the reader, Rosalyn Landor, was excellent.

Original Publication Date: 2006
Author’s nationality: British
Original language: English
Length: 13h19m
Rating: 4.5 stars
Format/Where I acquired the book: audiobook from the library
Why I read this: for fun

5christina_reads
ag. 28, 2015, 2:29 pm

Happy new thread! I'm just catching up with this LT group, so I hadn't seen your great review of Emma yet! Also, I have A Month in the Country on my TBR list, so I'm glad you enjoyed it!

6rabbitprincess
ag. 28, 2015, 6:18 pm

Hurray, new thread! The Sun King book sounds interesting. One of these days I will read something by Antonia Fraser.

7japaul22
ag. 29, 2015, 7:15 am

>5 christina_reads: Thanks! A Month in the Country is a quick read and I found it very satisfying.

>6 rabbitprincess: That was my first Antonia Fraser book and I really liked it. I think she wrote a Marie Antoinette book, too, that I will probably check out.

8japaul22
ag. 29, 2015, 12:41 pm

To complete my Librarything friends' picks category, I read If on a winter's night a traveler by Italo Calvino, picked by LittleTaiko.

Not quite sure what to make of this one. Calvino has crafted an amusing and clever book about reading, writing, and books. There were many passages that had me laughing and many that had me thinking, so I liked it in that respect. But part of me wondered why I needed to read to the end of the book once I figured out the pattern and form. In that sense, I found it a little repetitive and boring. It's odd to feel that a book is at once innovating and boring!

Original Publication Date: 1979
Author’s nationality: Italian
Original language: Italian
Length: 254 pages
Rating: 3 stars
Format/Where I acquired the book: off the shelf, used book
Why I read this: picked by LittleTaiko for my category challenge

9-Eva-
ag. 30, 2015, 4:19 pm

Happy new thread!!

10lkernagh
ag. 30, 2015, 8:55 pm

Yay, for new thread and Wow, you are almost finished your challenge!

11mamzel
set. 1, 2015, 1:30 pm

Welcome back!
I like your organization method. Fun way to involve your family.

12VivienneR
set. 1, 2015, 8:28 pm

Still playing catch up after being away from LT for a month. Congratulations on a new thread and for almost completing your challenge!

I was interested in your excellent review of Emma: An Annotated Edition. I expected get this version as a birthday gift as I've been collecting this set. When that didn't happen I resolved to put it on my Christmas wishlist. After reading your review, I believe a nice copy without annotations might be more to my liking.

13japaul22
set. 1, 2015, 8:35 pm

Thanks for checking in, everyone!

>12 VivienneR: Emma: An Annotated Edition is a beautiful book and I love owning it, but it is so big that it's really hard to read and yes, I didn't find the annotations all that insightful. One caveat, though, is that I've read 3 other annotated Austen novels recently, so maybe I'm just getting sick of the annotations. It's not surprising that they would be rather repetitive.

14VivienneR
set. 1, 2015, 10:25 pm

Yes, it's a beautiful book and it would be lovely to have the whole set gracing my bookshelves, but so far, few of the annotations have been new information to me.

15japaul22
Editat: set. 3, 2015, 9:08 am

I have 3 books to go in my challenge, but this one doesn't fit, so it is first in my overflow/free reading category. I read George, Nicholas, and Wilhelm: Three Royal Cousins and the Road to World War I by Miranda Carter.

This is an excellent nonfiction book focusing on the lives of George V of England, Tsar Nicholas in Russia, and Kaiser Wilhelm in Germany and the lead up to WWI. George and Nicholas, and George and Wilhelm are first cousins and Wilhelm and Nicholas are something like third cousins from Tsar Paul I. They definitely thought of each other as cousins/family and saw each other at family events over the course of their lives. I wouldn't say they were necessarily close, but they communicated through letters and telegrams and tried to influence each other.

Queen Victoria was really the glue that held this large royal family together. She had so many children and married them off so widely, that it seems that just about every royal family was related by blood or marriage to her. Her husband, Prince Albert, was a huge proponent of the idea that familial relations between royalty in different countries would bring about peace and understanding between countries that were otherwise prone to disagreements and fighting. Obviously, this did not hold true. I thought a lot about this idea and I haven't yet seen much evidence that it ever worked. All the way back to Medieval Europe, Kings were marrying off daughters to Kings and Princes in other countries to try to broker peace or gain territory. I can't think of many instances where it actually worked, or at least not without a lot of fighting and war to maintain gained lands. In this book, though the royal cousins got along somewhat, they both didn't have enough power (or education or leadership skills) to get the results they wanted and, when it came down to it, they valued their individual power and status over their family relations. Really, that seems obvious to me. In any job or position of power, wouldn't you hope that a leader would put his/her convictions and the welfare of the whole over what would benefit family most? Now, in this situation it didn't work out either way because these men were terrible leaders, but I don't like the idea of royalty making decisions for their country to appease each other.

One thing I found shocking was how poorly educated these future Kings were as children. They seem to all have had sub-par tutors who kind of let them do whatever. It's amazing to me that they wouldn't have had the best education that money could buy. There seemed to be an attitude from their parents that it didn't matter since it was a God-given right to be king. Crazy. I also wasn't shocked by this, but all three of these men were really terrible leaders. I mean, when you're just there because of who you happened to be born to, there's no reason to think you'll be able to run an entire, complex country. Both Wilhelm and Nicholas had real power if they had been able to use it, but both were inept in different ways.

Carter does a great job of focusing this book. The build-up to WWI has a lot of elements and she stays focused on the role of royalty and the drastic change that royalty in all of Europe was about to experience. It really was the end of an era for kings. One minor criticism of this book is that I sometimes found the transitions between the three countries and kings to be a little jarring. I would just be getting in to understanding the conditions in Germany and all of a sudden we'd be back in Russia. But, I think that it did serve the purpose of keeping the focus on these three men, so it is a minor complaint.

This is very readable and I learned a lot. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone with an interest in WWI or the downfall of the monarchies.

Original Publication Date: 2009
Author’s nationality: British
Original language: British
Length: 498 pages
Rating: 4.5 stars
Format/Where I acquired the book: off the shelf, purchased
Why I read this: fit some WWI reading I was doing

16mathgirl40
set. 2, 2015, 8:11 pm

Happy new thread! I'm impressed that you're so close to finishing your challenge.

17japaul22
set. 6, 2015, 6:35 pm

For my "real life friends recommendations" category, I read Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout.

This is a novel created from linked short stories. Olive Kitteridge, a large, angry woman, makes an appearance in all of the stories and ends up being the focus of the book. Each story is sad in some way, and the sum total of the book is depressing except that Strout injects a dark humor.

I found the writing well-done, but my confession is that I really didn't like this book that everybody seems to love. I found the format of linked stories maddening. In so many of them you don't even get the whole story of what is going on and then it's on to the next sad life. There is some linking between the stories and a few answers, but I would have rather just read a straight ahead novel about Olive. I think that linking them so that you see the same characters over and over but don't get any development was just torture. Ok, you get some subtle development, but it could have been so much more in a different format!

This just wasn't for me.

Original Publication Date: 2008
Author’s nationality: American
Original language: English
Length: 320 pages
Rating: 2.5 stars
Format/Where I acquired the book: off the shelf, library sale
Why I read this: friend recommendation

18jfetting
set. 7, 2015, 2:21 pm

I also loved the three cousins book (I found it really interesting that the one ruler whose power was nominal - George - is the only one who managed to survive with crown intact.) and I also disliked Olive Kitteridge and don't understand why everyone else raved about it. The same inter-related stories bit has been done before and better, and these stories were just not that good.

19japaul22
set. 15, 2015, 2:45 pm

>18 jfetting: Yes, I think George's nominal power is the only reason he did survive with a crown. There were certainly plenty of problems in England and if he had the power to deserve the blame things may not have turned out so well for him. Glad to know you didn't like Olive Kitteridge either. Just don't get what all the fuss was about with that one!

20japaul22
set. 15, 2015, 2:45 pm

For my "series nexts" category, I read Phineas Redux by Anthony Trollope.

I loved this follow up to Phineas Finn. All the characters are back: Phineas, of course, and Lady Laura, Lady Glencora (my favorite), Madame Max, Lord Chiltern, Lady Chiltern (formerly Violet Effingham) etc. There are of course some new characters as well, notably Adelaide Palliser, a cousin of Plantagenet's, and her love interest Gerard Maule.

I read along with a group read led by Liz (lyzard) which I found really added to my reading. Notably, Liz's comments led me to really notice the attitude towards work of the different characters. There is the Duke of Omnium who is revered for his ability to just be a Duke and spend his money without working at all. There's Plantagenet Palliser who inherits the Duke's money and title but cannot bring himself to leave his work ethic behind and is unsatisfied with the traditional role of a Duke. There's Gerard Maule who has no money but still only wants to hunt and not work. There is Lord Chiltern who I suppose you could say works hard at hunting, but I don't find that a very worthy endeavor. And there is Phineas, who wants to work in government but can't find a position and doesn't seem willing to make his way in any other field. I didn't feel that Trollope comes down on any one side, but he makes some interesting comparisons and has obviously thought about this.

This book has some great action and twists, especially in the second half, which I'm not going to go in to so as not to spoil anything. Suffice to say that I found the plot really moves along in this one and found it pretty easy to read, even with the politics which mainly have to do with the disestasblishment of the church. Trollope continues to explore the effectiveness and fairness of the political system.

As always, Trollope writes great female characters and this book is packed with them. One great contrast in this book is between Lady Laura and Adelaide Palliser. From Phineas Finn we know that Laura married Robert Kennedy knowing that she loved Phineas, choosing money and security over love with disastrous results. Lady Laura has made her bed and now has to lie in it throughout this novel. I found it interesting to contrast her choice with Adelaide's, who chooses to marry Gerard Maule for love despite their lack of money. Of course, we never see if Adelaide and Gerard live a happy marriage, but at least some things do work out for them since Adelaide persists in favoring love over practicality. I do wish Gerard Maule had been a more worthy suitor, as I found him a sort of boring lump.

Overall, I loved this continuation of the Palliser series.

Original Publication Date: 1873
Author’s nationality: British
Original language: English
Length: 688 pages
Rating: 4 stars
Format/Where I acquired the book: off the shelf oxford classics edition + kindle for out and about
Why I read this: group read and to continue the series

21japaul22
set. 19, 2015, 8:29 pm

For my free reading/overflow category, I listened to Messenger of Truth by Jacqueline Winspear.
audiobook read by Orlagh Cassidy, 11h11m

Again, I continue to enjoy this mystery series set in post-WWI England. I like Maisie's combination of being insightful about her clients and friends and pretty clueless about herself (even though I don't think she would see it that way). This mystery was a little weaker than the others I've read. I actually figured it out way before the end which I almost never do with mysteries. Still enjoyable, though, and I like this audiobook reader.

Original Publication Date: 2006
Author’s nationality: British
Original language: English
Length: 11h11m
Rating: 3 stars
Format/Where I acquired the book: library audiobook
Why I read this: just for fun

22japaul22
set. 22, 2015, 8:10 pm

For my unique editions category, I read Troubles by J.G. Farrell, a NYRB publication.

Troubles is a darkly humorous look at the clash between Ireland and England in the years immediately following WWI. Major Brendan Archer travels to Kilnalough after returning from WWI (and a stay in a hospital recovering from shell shock) to meet a girl named Angela who he met and became engaged to during the war. They've only met once and he's not quite sure what he's getting in to - in fact he can barely remember her. He visits her at her family's hotel, the Majestic. The Majestic was an enormous, grand, hotel decades ago, but it is falling apart. Angela dies, but the Major is sucked in to life at the hotel. He becomes friends with Edward, Angela's father, and falls in love with a different girl in Kilnalough. Though the Major tries to leave once or twice, he can't seem to tear himself away from this decaying hotel and the old ladies who are the few remaining guests.

There is a lot of symbolism here. The decaying hotel can be seen both as a reflection of "the Troubles" in Ireland as it fights for independence and as the British Empire crumbling after WWI. The subject is grim but there is a dark humor in this book that keeps it from feeling like a serious book, even considering the serious times.

I really loved reading this and think it will be a memorable book for me.

Original Publication Date: 1970
Author’s nationality: British/Irish
Original language: English
Length: 459 pages
Rating: 4.5 stars
Format/Where I acquired the book: purchased
Why I read this: 1001 books list and group read

23christina_reads
set. 24, 2015, 7:54 pm

>22 japaul22: Sounds interesting! I know very little about the history of Ireland but have always wanted to learn more.

24japaul22
set. 24, 2015, 8:12 pm

In my real life friends recommendations category, I read The Sun King by Nancy Mitford.

Reading this history of the Sun King, Louis XIV, was sort of like strolling through Versailles with a very knowledgeable friend who gives you some history, some gossip, and some personal bias. Mitford wrote this book in the 1960s and I sort of viewed this as an early form of narrative nonfiction. Overall, I liked it, but I think I would have been annoyed if this was the only biography of Louis XIV I had read since it isn't particularly thorough or focused. Part of me liked having Mitford's voice so present in the book and sometimes I found it annoying, especially when some of her racial and cultural biases came through.

I'm not sure who I'd recommend this for - probably only people who want an addition to other Louis XIV reading they've done or people who like a strong authorial voice with a 60s vibe.

Original Publication Date: 1967
Author’s nationality: British
Original language: English
Length: 169 pages
Rating: 2.5 stars
Format/Where I acquired the book: purchased, nyrb edition
Why I read this: off the shelf and just read another Louis XIV biography

25japaul22
set. 24, 2015, 8:13 pm

>23 christina_reads: I kind of wish I'd known a bit more about the British/Irish conflict before reading this, but a very little amount of googling provide me with enough info to understand what was going on in the book.

26Chrischi_HH
set. 25, 2015, 8:51 am

>22 japaul22: I also got hit by the BB. I have read a book set there in the 70s-90s, and would love to read more with the conflict background.

27japaul22
set. 25, 2015, 10:48 am

>26 Chrischi_HH: yay for book bullets! That's how I found Troubles in the first place.

28japaul22
set. 29, 2015, 3:22 pm

For my free reading/overflow category, I read The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett, audiobook read by Alan Bennett, 2h41m

This is a short, amusing book about Queen Elizabeth II discovering her love of reading when she happens upon a mobile library. There are lots of thoughts and anecdotes about the act of reading that readers will enjoy. I also loved when she decided she wanted to meet current authors and so had a party where she invited authors. Let's just say it doesn't turn out to be as exciting to talk to authors as one would expect.

I thoroughly enjoyed this.

Original Publication Date: 2008
Author’s nationality: British
Original language: English
Length: 2h41m
Rating: 4 stars
Format/Where I acquired the book: library audiobook
Why I read this: read several positive reviews on LT and ran into it as an audiobook on my library's website

29japaul22
set. 29, 2015, 8:53 pm

For my free reading/overflow category, I read Island of the Lost: Shipwrecked at the Edge of the World by Joan Druett.

I love survival stories and this was a great one. This details the experience of survivors of a shipwreck at the Auckland Islands, 235 miles south of New Zealand. The harsh weather and limited food resources make survival on the Islands very difficult. Druett focuses on one wreck of the ship Grafton where all five shipmates survive the wreck and band together to figure out a way to survive. They are led by Captain Musgrave, but another survivor, Francois Raynal, really saved the day. He had an amazing array of knowledge that he used to manufacture tools, create housing, make soap, and even make a boat. I was fascinated by him.

Druett contrasts this experience with another shipwreck that happened in a different part of the island during the same time. This had very different results as 16 of the 19 survivors of the shipwreck died. The men were unwilling to band together and help each other and quickly gave in to the harshness of the island.

I love these stories of humans overcoming the elements and figuring out a way to survive in the harshest areas of the earth. I thought this was a very entertaining book.

Original Publication Date: 2007
Author’s nationality: New Zealand
Original language: English
Length: 269 pages
Rating: 4 stars
Format/Where I acquired the book: library book
Why I read this: just for fun

30japaul22
oct. 1, 2015, 8:17 pm

For my overflow category, I read The Foundling by Georgette Heyer.

This was an ok book about a young Duke who goes undercover as a commoner to help out his cousin and winds up in all sorts of trouble. In the meantime, he gains confidence and grows up after being coddled his whole life.

I was kind of bored by this one. I liked the Duke, but there weren't any good female characters and I was sort of annoyed by all the hi jinks. It sort of fit the bill for something mindless to read as I've been pretty stressed out by work, but that's about all it was good for in my opinion.

Original Publication Date: 1948
Author’s nationality: British
Original language: English
Length: 439 pages
Rating: 2 stars
Format/Where I acquired the book: off the shelf
Why I read this: for fun

31VivienneR
oct. 2, 2015, 9:37 pm

>22 japaul22: I've been looking for Troubles in local libraries without success. Your review just made me buy a copy online. Thanks. I grew up in Northern Ireland so it will be fun to read.

32japaul22
oct. 12, 2015, 6:18 pm

For my overflow category, I read Mary Queen of Scotland and the Isles by Margaret George.

This is a great example of historical fiction that really brings to life a person from the past. Margaret George has succeeded in writing a 900 page novel that is a page turner and never lost me. As proof of this, I'll share that I've been lugging around this enormous 900 page paperback all over the place for the last week. It must weigh several pounds.

In this book, all of Mary Queen of Scots' life is explored, beginning with her childhood in France and young marriage to the French King, Francois. Then she goes to Scotland to rule after her mother, who has been Regent in her stead, dies. She goes to a newly Protestant country as a devoutly Catholic Queen. I was most interested in this section of the book since I knew mainly about her imprisonment in England and execution there but knew very little about her time in Scotland. Though this span of her life was brief in time, only seven years, so much happened. She was married twice and had to escape her council of Lords three times as they turned on her and tried to dethrone her. But she gave birth to James I of England/James VI of Scotland who was raised Protestant and ended up uniting England and Scotland after Queen Elizabeth's death. After escaping Scotland for the final time, she fled to England hoping for help from Queen Elizabeth, her cousin, to regain her Scottish throne. But her close proximity as an heir to the English throne made her the centerpiece of any plot to overthrow Elizabeth and in the end, Elizabeth signed Mary's death warrant for colluding to assassinate her.

Margaret George's writing is clear and flowing. She uses a lot of contemporary sources to add to the book - including letters, proclamations, poems, and songs from the time period. She came up with a clear picture of Mary's character and motivations that rang true for me throughout the book. Of course, that part of historical fiction in this sort of book is always up for discussion - we can't really know at this point how Mary felt about the events going on around her or how she loved and didn't love her husbands - but Margaret George comes up with a consistent character that made sense to me. The story makes for great reading and I really enjoyed it. I'm considering reading Antonia Fraser's biography of Mary Queen of Scots soon to see how the "real history" measures up to the historical fiction version

Original Publication Date: 1992
Author’s nationality: American
Original language: English
Length: 870 pages
Rating: 4.5 stars
Format/Where I acquired the book: enormous library paperback
Why I read this: for fun

33LittleTaiko
oct. 14, 2015, 6:18 pm

A friend loaned that one to me several years ago and it's still sitting on my shelf waiting to be read. Your review reminded me that it was there so hopefully I get to it sooner than later.

34japaul22
oct. 15, 2015, 8:54 pm

For my rereads category, I read Northanger Abbey: An Annotated Edition by Jane Austen, annotated by Susan J. Wolfson

Northanger Abbey may not be Austen's most polished novel, but it has a youthful exuberance and charm that I really enjoy. Catherine Morland is the main character; she is young, only 17, and on her own for the first time in Bath. She meets two families, the Thorpe brother and sister, John and Isabella, and the Tilney brother and sister, Eleanor and Henry. These two sets couldn't be more different - the Thorpes are all show and poor behavior, and the Tilneys have class, wit, and proper etiquette.

Austen strongly inserts herself into this novel, something which she does in all her novels but in this one I feel her sarcasm and wit most strongly. I think it's the main reason I like this novel so much; I feel like she is unable to hide her own voice in writing this and I love that.

I read an annotated edition published by Harvard/Belknap press. It's a beautiful, enormous, hard cover book with beautiful pictures and interesting annotations. Susan Wolfson does a good job with the annotations - lots of info about the references to other authors and pointing out authorial techniques.

Original Publication Date: 1818
Author’s nationality: British
Original language: English
Length: 362 pages
Rating: 5 stars
Format/Where I acquired the book: hardcover annotated edition, Harvard/Belknap press
Why I read this: group read in the category challenge

35japaul22
oct. 15, 2015, 9:05 pm

And that completes my 2015 challenge! I read 75 books, 15 categories of 5 each. I've also already put 6 books into my "free reading" list.

My favorite book from each category:

C urrent obsessions: Can you Forgive Her? by Anthony Trollope
H ow things happened (nonfiction): Winter King: Henry VII and the Dawn of Tudor England by Thomas Penn
A gain and again (rereads): Pride and Prejudice: An Annotated Edition by Jane Austen
R eal life friends recommendations (so I can discuss books in real life as well): Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri
L ong time waiting (off the shelf): We Need to TAlk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver
E ndless list (1001 books): Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
S eries nexts: Alberta Alone by Cora Sandel
J oining in (group reads): The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt
O ther books by authors of my favorites: Gunnar's Daughter by Sigrid Undset
H istorical fiction: Independent People by Halldor Laxness
N ew releases (anything published in 2015): A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson
P erplexing stories (mysteries): The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith
A nything goes: Brooklyn by Colm Toibin
U nique publishers (Virago, NYRB, Easton press, folio society - all the books I collect but don't always read!): Troubles by J.G. Farrell
L T friends picks: A Month in the Country by J.L. Carr

36rabbitprincess
oct. 15, 2015, 9:07 pm

>35 japaul22: Congrats on completing your challenge! The annotated edition of Northanger Abbey sounds great.

37LittleTaiko
oct. 15, 2015, 9:43 pm

Congratulations on finishing! Seeing your final favorites list makes me wish I had picked up Brooklyn a few days ago when I saw it.

38DeltaQueen50
oct. 15, 2015, 11:10 pm

Congratulations and enjoy your free reading!

39dudes22
oct. 16, 2015, 6:13 am

Congratulations on finishing early!

40AHS-Wolfy
oct. 16, 2015, 7:32 am

Congrats on completing your challenge!

41Chrischi_HH
oct. 16, 2015, 8:39 am

Hurray for completing your challenge!

42mamzel
oct. 16, 2015, 12:22 pm



Yay!

43VivienneR
oct. 16, 2015, 3:32 pm

>34 japaul22: Great review of Northanger Abbey. I just bought a copy of this book - but not the beautiful annotated one. I read it a long time ago and I'm looking forward to a re-read.

>35 japaul22: Congratulations on finishing your challenge, and thanks for listing your favourites in each category. We have a lot of favourites in common.

44MissWatson
oct. 16, 2015, 8:59 pm

Congratulations!

45japaul22
oct. 17, 2015, 7:56 pm

Thanks everyone! I've had a fun reading year so far and love sharing it with all of you!

46japaul22
oct. 17, 2015, 7:57 pm

For my free-reading category, I listened to Howards End by E.M. Forster, audiobook read by Nadia May, 11h4m

I went into this not knowing what to expect after loving Forster's A Room with a View and detesting A Passage to India. In the end, I think this split the middle for me.

Howards End is about the Schlegel sisters, Margaret and Helen, and their interaction with the Wilcoxes who are wealthy and the Basts who are poor. There is a lot of social commentary and commentary on the arts threaded through the book. There is also a good story, though, with the choices of Margaret and Helen being interesting and moving the action forward nicely. I do have a complaint, though, that there were several plot occurrences that seemed to happen very abruptly, with little or no lead up. Afterwards they are explored and explained, but I found it jarring while I was listening.

This is a book that is either going to grow on me and keep me thinking or I'll have completely forgotten it in a year. Not sure yet which way it will fall.

Original Publication Date: 1910
Author’s nationality: British
Original language: English
Length: 11h4m
Rating: 3.5 stars
Format/Where I acquired the book: library audiobook
Why I read this: happened upon it in my library wish list

47lkernagh
oct. 18, 2015, 1:31 am

A bit late but congratulations all the same on completing your challenge!

48-Eva-
oct. 18, 2015, 4:08 pm

Huge congrats on finishing! And happy free-reading time. :)

49japaul22
oct. 19, 2015, 7:32 pm

>47 lkernagh:, >48 -Eva-: Thank you!

For my overflow reading, I read Last Friends by Jane Gardam
This is the last novel in a three novel set that explores the life of an aging group of friends/colleagues that were British lawyers that worked in Hong Kong. This last novel explores the point of view of Veneering, Fiscal-Smith, and Dulcie. I found it the least focused of the three and the least compelling.

I really like the first novel in this trilogy, Old Filth. It is funny and interesting with great characters. But I have to say that while I appreciated the idea of the next two, to explore the same group of characters and events from alternate points of view, I didn't find them very successful. In this last book particularly, I didn't find quite enough tying it to the other books and it didn't answer some of the questions that I most cared about having answered.

Overall, I loved the idea for this series, but I would have been just fine simply reading the first book, which is really great, and leaving it at that.

Original Publication Date: 2013
Author’s nationality: British
Original language: English
Length: 205 pages
Rating: 3.5 stars
Format/Where I acquired the book: purchased paperback
Why I read this: to complete the series

50mathgirl40
oct. 24, 2015, 5:45 pm

Congratulations on completing your challenge!

>32 japaul22: I loved Margaret George's Elizabeth I, so I'm really happy to see your positive comments about Mary Queen of Scotland and the Isles. I'll have to put this one on my wishlist!

51japaul22
oct. 24, 2015, 8:01 pm

>50 mathgirl40: I like Mary Queen of Scotland and the Isles quite a bit more than the Elizabeth I book, though I thought they were both great. They are big books, but I find that they read fast because they are so engrossing.

52japaul22
oct. 30, 2015, 8:39 pm

Again for my overflow category, Beyond Black by Hilary Mantel.
This is a very hard book to review. I should really not have liked it. The premise is one I don't believe in or have much interest in and the characters and actions were dark and dirty and unlikable. But somehow the book works. Mantel is really good writer.

So what is this book about? Well, it's about an overweight medium, Alison, who meets Colette who has just left her husband. Colette becomes Alison's manager - a 24 hour manager, even moving in with Alison. She books her shows, sets them up just right, and keeps Alison company through long nights of interference from the spirit world. As their relationship progresses, Colette gets more an more controlling, monitoring Alison's eating habits and becoming an abusive partner in most ways.

Then there is Alison's personal story, which Colette never really understands. Alison seems to be the real deal as far as mediums go. She has a spirit guide named Morris who is a dirty, cruel, little man. As the book progresses, we see that Morris and Alison have a history in life as well. Morris was part of a group of men that were customers of her abusive prostitute mother. Alison has incomplete flashbacks of a horrifying childhood. She was terribly abused, but did she commit some atrocities as well? As Alison's abused childhood comes out I kept thinking, oh all these spirits are just in her imagination from her damaged past. It's some way for her to work it out. Maybe. But Mantel doesn't really go there. She doesn't seem to concern herself with whether or not all this is true; it's a vehicle for her to explore these characters she's created. And that's why it worked for me. She wasn't trying to convince me what the spirit world is like (or that it exists at all) or that mediums really have a knowledge of the spirit world, but the book is a creative way to explore some interesting characters.

So despite not liking the subject or the characters, I really liked this book. I've only read Mantel's historical fiction before (which I love) so I was hesitant to change my opinion of Mantel by reading something I thought I might not like. In the end, I'm so glad I did since this really increased my respect for Mantel. This was a very, very different book from the others I've read and it was still great.

Original Publication Date: 2005
Author’s nationality: British
Original language: English
Length: 417 pages
Rating: 4 stars
Format/Where I acquired the book: purchased paperback
Why I read this: to try another book by Mantel

53dudes22
oct. 31, 2015, 6:45 am

It's always a nice surprise when the writing can get you past a subject you wouldn't normally read or enjoy. It may be the best test of how good a writer the author is. And it won't be the same for every person. I haven't read any Mantel yet, although she's been on my radar for a while now. But maybe not this book. For me, the book that was so well written it got me past the subject matter was Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides.

54japaul22
oct. 31, 2015, 7:07 am

>53 dudes22: Yes! I also hesitated on reading Middlesex for years but I absolutely loved it when I finally read it.

55japaul22
nov. 11, 2015, 8:37 pm

For my free-reading, I read Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith.
This is the third installment in J.K. Rowling's excellent mystery series. I'm really enjoying the relationship (both professional and personal) between the two main characters, Cormoran and Robin. The mystery is again really well-done and suspenseful. Even though the reader pretty much knows who the killer is from early on, you don't get the whole picture until the end.

The book ends with a sort-of cliffhanger in the personal/professional lives of Strike and Robin and I seriously cannot wait until the next book comes out. I hope it isn't too long!

Original Publication Date: 2015
Author’s nationality: British
Original language: English
Length: 512 pages
Rating: 4 stars
Format/Where I acquired the book: library kindle book
Why I read this: latest in the series just came out

56-Eva-
nov. 12, 2015, 12:42 pm

>55 japaul22:
Ooh, I just checked and I'm now 6th in line at the library - yey!

57japaul22
nov. 14, 2015, 12:27 pm

My 11th free reading book is The Rival Queens: Catherine de Medici, Her Daughter Marguerite de Valois, and the Betrayal that Ignited a Kingdom by Nancy Goldstone.

When I saw this book was about to be published, I was really excited because it covers the same subject as Alexandre Dumas's book La Reine Margot which I've been wanting to read. I'm interested to see how this nonfiction account pairs with a fictional retelling.

Goldstone has chosen a fascinating subject and time period to write about. France in the 1500s was rife with Kings dying young and religious wars between the reigning Catholics and the rising Huguenots. Catherine de Medici went from being a marginalized wife to the Queen Regent for a succession of young and fairly incompetent sons. Marguerite was her youngest daughter and a staunch Catholic. This did not stop Catherine from marrying her daughter off to Henry of Navarre, a Huguenot.

Marguerite has mainly been represented by her numerous affairs by historians. In this biography, Goldstone marginalizes Marguerite's love life in favor of focusing on her political acumen, her intelligence, and her love of the arts. Though Marguerite rarely had any real power, she managed to use her political savvy and people skills to remain alive through turbulent times and end her life in a comfortable way.

I enjoyed this book, the topic is fascinating, but I can't say I was enamored of the writing. For some reason, this exciting story kept losing my interest. I can't put my finger on anything in the writing of the book that caused this, but nevertheless it happened. I think it is a book well worth reading, but I can't give it an unconditional rave review.

Original Publication Date: 2015
Author’s nationality: American
Original language: English
Length: 392 pages
Rating: 3.5 stars
Format/Where I acquired the book: library hardback
Why I read this: interested in the topic

58japaul22
nov. 17, 2015, 4:32 pm

In my free-reading category, I read The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald.
This is a short, quiet book about a widowed 50-something aged woman who decides to open a bookshop in a small town that she's been living in for the past decade. There are a lot of obstacles - Florence doesn't know much about the finances of running a small business, there's an innocuous ghost in the old home she runs the shop from, and a leading woman in the town decides she wants the space that Florence has purchased for the shop. It sounds rather dramatic, but it's actually a very quiet book. Nothing much seems to happen and I liked it anyway. This was my first book by Penelope Fitzgerald and I'd like to try more.

Original Publication Date: 1978
Author’s nationality: British
Original language: English
Length: 132 pages
Rating: 3.5 stars
Format/Where I acquired the book: library sale paperback
Why I read this: just cause

59LittleTaiko
nov. 17, 2015, 7:25 pm

>58 japaul22: That was a sweet little book - I admired how hard she worked to get her bookstore running.

60japaul22
nov. 19, 2015, 9:07 am

Just finished listening to Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, audiobook read by Gary Sinise, 3h11m

Ugh. What a painful story. Somehow I had never read this and I thought it was time. I had an idea of the basic story, which is about two men, George and Lennie, who travel to different ranches, following work during the Great Depression. George is looking out for Lennie, who is physically strong but intellectually weak. It's such a sad story; Lennie has no option to get the help he needs and can't control his impulses, leading to disaster.

This is a well-written book and an important look at male friendship and the hardships that itinerant workers faced during the 1930s. However, I can't say I enjoyed it. The story was just too harsh and the blaming of the only woman in the book (only referred to as "Curly's wife, never even rating her own name) was really distasteful to me.

I listened to an audiobook read by Gary Sinise and his reading was excellent.

Original Publication Date: 1937
Author’s nationality: American
Original language: English
Length: 3h11m
Rating: 3 stars
Format/Where I acquired the book: library audiobook
Why I read this: available at library and 1001 books list

61japaul22
nov. 24, 2015, 9:07 am

Fair Play by Tove Jansson

This is a short book of vignettes exploring the relationship of Jonna and Mari. They have been friends/lovers for years and are both artists in their 50s. The books moves from their city apartment to an isolated island where they spend their summers to their wandering vacations, but regardless of the setting the focus is on their interactions with each other and with their artistic endeavors. Mari is a writer and Jonna is an artist.

The book quietly and subtly shows how these two women support each other despite the typical frustrations that all relationships have. I've read that this is semi-autobiographical, depicting the relationship that Tove Jansson had with her partner, Tuulikki Pietilä, a Finnish artist.

I found this book quiet but satisfying. I don't think it's as memorable as the other books by Jansson that I've read (The Summer Book and The True Deceiver) but I enjoyed it.

Original Publication Date: 1982
Author’s nationality: Finnish
Original language: Finnish
Length: 101 pages
Rating: 3.5 stars
Format/Where I acquired the book: purchased NYRB edition
Why I read this: love Tove Jansson's works

62japaul22
nov. 24, 2015, 9:10 am

I also wanted to mention that I just finished reading Comet in Moominland also by Tove Jansson with my 5 year old son. We've read about 10-15 chapter books now and I think this was one of his favorites. This was also really fun for me to read. Moomintroll and his friends are cute and funny and have interesting adventures. I skipped over a few dated references to smoking cigarettes, but other than that these books hold up well and we're planning to read more in the series.

63dudes22
nov. 25, 2015, 5:15 am

>62 japaul22: - I read that a couple of years ago after Anders (Gingerbreadman) mentioned them. I still have one on my TBR pile to read before I pass it along to great-niece/nephew.

64japaul22
nov. 28, 2015, 6:59 pm

Mary Queen of Scots by Antonia Fraser
Fraser's biography of Mary Queen of Scots is both exhaustive and entertaining to read. She details the life of Mary chronologically, starting with her birth (including some background on her father and mother) through her childhood in France, her brief reign as Queen of France, and her departure for Scotland where she had technically been Queen since the age of 9 months.

In Scotland Fraser studies the dynamics of a staunchly Catholic Queen trying to rule a newly Protestant country. Mary asked to be able to worship in private but never tried to make alliances to overthrow the Protestants and accepted their counsel. Her reign in Scotland is full of turmoil, especially after she marries Henry, Lord Darnley. His murder and the subsequent events (her marriage to Bothwell and imprisonment in Scotland) are gone through in detail to dispel the rumors that have abounded since this happened in the 1500s.

The third half of Mary's life is her imprisonment in England. Fraser examines the various plots, real or imagined, to free Mary and her adoption by Catholics as a martyr. Of course, Mary ends up being beheaded at Queen Elizabeth's order after a sham of a trial which is also explored at length.

I thought this was an excellent biography. I found it highly readable but scholarly at the same time. Recommended to anyone who like historical biographies and/or British history.

Original Publication Date: 1969
Author’s nationality: British
Original language: English
Length: 640 pages
Rating: 4.5 stars
Format/Where I acquired the book: library kindle book
Why I read this: to pair with the historical fiction Mary QUeen of Scotland and the Isles by Margaret George that I just read

65japaul22
nov. 28, 2015, 8:50 pm

A Glass of Blessings by Barbara Pym
I really enjoyed this Pym novel; I think it would rank up near the top of the five I've read. It's the story of Wilmet, a 30-something childless married woman, who is a bit more worldy and irreverent than the typical main characters in Pym's novels. She has plenty of money and dresses well. She loves her husband but is rather bored. She re-meets the brother of one of her best friends and begins a flirtation with him, meeting him for lunch a few times over a summer. This story is balanced with her involvement with the members of her local church, who all have stories of their own.

I very much enjoyed reading this. Pym's books are quiet and relatively uneventful, but they always have fun characters and a little insight into the lives of ordinary people.

Original Publication Date: 1958
Author’s nationality: British
Original language: English
Length: 234 pages
Rating: 4 stars
Format/Where I acquired the book: purchased paperback
Why I read this: just in the mood

66japaul22
nov. 29, 2015, 7:09 am

Colleen, I've read two of Antonia Fraser's biographies now and they've both been excellent. I want to read her Marie Antoinette sometime soon.

I wanted to say a few words about the comparison between Margaret George's historical fiction account of Mary Queen of Scots's life and the nonfiction account I just read. George sticks very closely to the facts for Mary's early life and largely for her end of life imprisonment in England. The intervening period during her reign in Scotland and especially surrounding the death of her husband, Lord Darnley, and her marriage to Bothwell were a bit of a stretch. George doesn't choose to retell events in any way that is definitely wrong, but she picks the most romantic and dramatic reading of events through this entire period. It made for fantastic reading and I'm glad she did it. After reading Fraser's biography, I highly doubt it's how things actually went, but I was pretty sure while reading George that that section was romanticized so at least I don't feel duped. I came away, overall, really impressed with how Margaret George grounded her book in truth and was able to write a compelling, dramatic, romantic story. I also think she did a good job creating a personality for Mary that works for what we know of her actions, writings, and from contemporary accounts. Creating personality is what I look for in historical fiction about real people and I like George's take on Mary.

67japaul22
des. 4, 2015, 1:40 pm

My favorite day of the year - library book sale day! I purchased the following books.

Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee
A Short History of Tractors in Ukranian by Marina Lewycka
The Master by Colm Toibin
Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates
The Nonesuch by Georgette Heyer
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson
The Midnight Palace by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Many of you will recognize books that you've reviewed favorably in this list. Thanks for helping me pick them out!

Also, I'm doing very well with my challenge to myself to read 10% more books off the shelf than I acquire this year. I've read 59 books off the shelf and have acquired 44 books. That means I have lots of room for Christmas gifts in the last weeks of December.

68japaul22
des. 5, 2015, 1:21 pm

Persuasion: An Annotated Edition by Jane Austen, annotated by Robert Morrison

This was a reread of one of my favorite Austen novels. Persuasion was Austen's last completed novel and I think it is her most romantic. I also think that Anne Elliot and Captain Wentworth have the most realistic attraction to one another and balanced personalities. Anne and Wentworth fell in love at a young age, but Capt Wentworth is deemed unworthy of Anne's family's social standing and their engagement is called off. They meet again eight years later and find that each still loves the other. This is revealed through their thoughts but also their physical actions. Their body language toward each other reveals their feelings more than their words. Capt Wentworth writes a fantastic love letter to Anne as she sits a few feet away from him in conversation with another about the constancy of a woman's love. It's a brilliant scene.

I also love the secondary characters in this book. Admiral and Mrs. Croft are a great example of a loving, older couple - something that doesn't appear in every Austen book. Anne's father, Sir Walter, is amusing in a roll-your-eyes sort of way, with his preoccupations with aristocracy and looks. I love when Admiral Croft (who has rented the Eliots' home) complains that he had to take several mirrors out of Sir Walter's room.

I read the beautiful, large annotated edition published by Harvard/Belknap Press. I love these books. They are beautiful even if they are awkward to hold. I also really enjoyed Morrison's annotation. I though they were insightful and not overly disruptive to the story. Also included is Austen's original ending to the book. In it, Anne and Wentworth reveal their love for each other after Admiral Croft hears a rumor that Anne is to marry Mr. Elliot and worries that his lease of Kellynch Hall will be terminated. He tasks Wentworth with discovering the truth from Anne and then she reveals that she has no interest in Mr. Elliot and things progress from there. Her published ending is much more satisfying!

Original Publication Date: 1818
Author’s nationality: British
Original language: English
Length: 326 pages
Rating: 5 stars
Format/Where I acquired the book: purchased hardback Harvard Press edition
Why I read this: reread with a group read in the category challenge

69japaul22
des. 5, 2015, 1:30 pm

Spurred on by purchasing all of the Harvard Press annotated editions that exist and a year long group read in the Category Challenge group, I've read all of Austen's novels in the past 14 months. They were all rereads, but I'd never read them all in such close succession. I'm happy to report that I never suffered from Austen-fatigue and all improved upon rereading, even for the 3rd, 4th, or umpteenth (ahem, P&P) rereading. I love them all, but I do love the ones that have the best romances best. If I was forced to put them in order, I would choose this ranking.

1 Pride and Prejudice

2 Persuasion
3 Emma

4 Northanger Abbey

5 Sense and Sensibility
6 Mansfield Park

The gaps reflect a sort of grouping I have in my mind. 2 and 3 are virtually reversible depending on which I've read most recently. And to be honest, my favorite Austen novel is the one I'm reading at the moment. I can't imagine ever growing tired of any of these books and will continue to reread them, a couple every year.

70japaul22
des. 11, 2015, 9:44 am

Plainsong by Kent Haruf
Well, this was as good as everyone said it was. Haruf has created a community in a small town called Holt, Colorado. The characters he creates feel real and make you care about them slowly. It's one of those books that actually has a lot of big life stuff going on - a mother dealing with depression and leaving her family, a teenage pregnancy, work problems, aging parents - but it's all handled so quietly and matter-of-fact-ly that it still feels like a quiet book to read.

I think there are two more books that center on the inhabitants of Holt and I'm very much looking forward to reading more.

Original Publication Date: 2000
Author’s nationality: American
Original language: English
Length: 301 pages
Rating: 4.5 stars
Format/Where I acquired the book: library sale paperback
Why I read this: off the shelf

71japaul22
des. 13, 2015, 7:17 am

Cecilia by Fanny Burney

I had sort of a love/hate relationship with this book. Published in 1782, this is a novel of sensibility, following the young adulthood of Cecilia, an heiress to a large fortune who is also benevolent, honest, and good. A condition of her inheritance is that her future spouse take her last name upon marrying her which will prove to cause all sorts of trouble for the one man she desires to marry out of the many suitors vying for her attention.

Cecilia also is left by her Uncle (who had been caring for her after her parents died) with three guardians, none of whom was chosen very wisely. One is a gambler living well beyond his means who will effectively rob Cecilia of part of her fortune, one is a miserly man with no social skills, and one is affected by his excessive pride in his family name.

As a novel of sensibility, there are long scenes in this book of excessive emotion and drama with long-winded speeches where honestly I wished things would just move along already. But there are also several characters who exhibit realistic personalities, showing shades of both good and bad traits. Cecilia herself surprised me, because though she is good through and through, she does "have a spine" and I ended up really liking her and rooting for her as she matured throughout the book.

Overall, I'm very glad I read this and I enjoyed it though it will not rank among my favorites because the over-dramatic nature and wordiness just don't suit my personal taste. I much preferred Burney's Evelina which I found had a charming nature that I personally enjoyed more.

Original Publication Date: 1782
Author’s nationality: British
Original language: English
Length: 900 pages
Rating: 3.5 stars
Format/Where I acquired the book: kindle
Why I read this: group read and 1001 books

72japaul22
Editat: des. 17, 2015, 9:24 am

Transit by Anna Seghers

I loved this book set in 1940 Marseille, France as refugees attempt to flee Europe to the safety of other countries. The book is narrated by a young German man (we never learn his real name) who has escaped prison camps in Germany, by swimming across the Rhine, and France. While in Paris, he is asked by a friend to deliver a letter to a man named Weidel. He discovers that Weidel has committed suicide and discovers an unfinished manuscript and some letters to Weidel's wife. He makes his way to Marseille to find this wife and when there appropriates the name and papers of Weidel. Once in Marseille, he joins the absurd lifestyle of those waiting for their multiple papers and permissions to allow them to travel abroad, dealing with unhelpful, incompetent people and systems that rarely allow things to move along smoothly. The young man enjoys his life in Marseille and the people he meets and doesn't actually want to leave, though he's only allowed to stay if he's trying to leave. He ends up unintentionally finding Weidel's wife and his experiences entwine with hers.

There is obviously a lot of action going on here, but actually the book is just as much about the boredom, inanity, and just waiting of life in Marseille. There is much time spent in cafes, eating pizza and drinking wine, and talking about the transit visa process. People share little about their actual selves but make connections through their shared, even if not talked about, experiences. I loved the tone of this book, the absurdity of the situations, and the subtle insights into this aspect of the war experience.

Anna Seghers herself lived an interesting life. She was a German Jewish Communist who left Germany in the 1930s for France. During the war she left France through Marseille for Mexico, later returning to live in East Germany. She obviously drew on her experiences in Marseille to craft this book as she wrote it upon arriving in Mexico. I would highly recommend this book and will be keeping it to reread sometime in the future.

Original Publication Date: 1951, but completed in 1942
Author’s nationality: German
Original language: German
Length: 252 pages
Rating: 4.5 stars
Format/Where I acquired the book: nyrb paperback
Why I read this: 1001 books, off the shelf

73japaul22
des. 17, 2015, 8:21 pm

The Nose by Gogol
I read this short story while waiting for an appointment today. I knew the premise, so it wasn't all that shocking. The story is that a man wakes up one morning to find that his nose is gone. He sees it later, walking around, dressed up as a government official. Later a police officer brings it back to him but he can't get it back on. Then one morning he wakes up and all is right again.

The whole thing is pretty silly, but it's entertaining. I'm planning to read Dead Souls in 2016 and hadn't yet read this off the 1001 books to read before you die list, so I thought I'd give it a try. One thing that surprised me was that this was written in the early 1800s and that Gogol was a contemporary of Tolstoy. I was thinking that he wrote later than Tolstoy.

Original Publication Date: 1835
Author’s nationality: Russian
Original language: Russian
Length: 30? pages (read on kindle)
Rating: 3.5 stars
Format/Where I acquired the book: kindle book
Why I read this: curiosity, 1001 books

74japaul22
des. 19, 2015, 5:57 pm

To Love and Be Wise by Josephine Tey

I like these mysteries by British "golden age" mystery writer Josephine Tey, but I don't love them. I think this is the fourth or fifth of hers that I've read. I feel like they are all fun and have some good characters, but the mysteries are a bit far-fetched and she uses more slang and words that really only pertain to the era than, say, Agatha Christie. That's fine, but it makes me feel a bit removed from the book.

Anyway, this mystery centers around the disappearance of a famous American photographer who shows up at a party and ends up staying with a family and working on a project with the fiance of one of his hosts. Inspector Alan Grant, a recurring character for Tey, is on the case, trying to determine if the American, Searle, is dead or missing first of all. There's a good cast of characters, but I found the solution to the mystery a bit far-fetched. This was the last Tey on my shelf and I think I've read enough to take a break.

Original Publication Date: 1951
Author’s nationality: British
Original language: English
Length: 223 pages
Rating: 3 stars
Format/Where I acquired the book: paperback, purchased
Why I read this: for fun and off the shelf

75VivienneR
des. 19, 2015, 8:01 pm

>74 japaul22: I agree with you about Josephine Tey books, I like them but don't love them. For some reason they seem distant, for want of a better description. I've found they work better as audiobooks.

76japaul22
des. 20, 2015, 12:46 pm

>75 VivienneR: I do like mysteries as audiobooks. I think I only have a couple of hers left so I'll take a break and see if I ever go back to her.

77japaul22
des. 20, 2015, 12:46 pm

The Supreme Court: The Personalities and Rivalries that Defined America by Jeffrey Rosen, audiobook read by Alan Sklar, 8h44m

I love reading about the Supreme Court, so I enjoyed this book. The author sets up two contrasting personalities (sometimes with similar philosophies but different approaches and something both philosophy and approach are different) in four different eras to show how judicial temperament can have as much impact as judicial philosophy. I found this to be a little bit of a semantics issue rather than a true contrast, so I didn't really buy the set up of the book as a whole. However, the information and writing style were both good so I enjoyed the book despite the premise, which I found a bit faulty.

The contrasting temperaments presented are John Marshall vs. Thomas Jefferson, John Marshall Harlan vs. Oliver Wendall Holmes, Hugo Black vs. William O. Douglas, and Rehnquist vs. Scalia.

A good book for Supreme Court buffs, but not a great one.

Original Publication Date: 2008
Author’s nationality: American
Original language: English
Length: 8h44m
Rating: 3.5 stars
Format/Where I acquired the book: audiobook from library
Why I read this: interest in the Supreme Court and available at the library

78japaul22
des. 20, 2015, 7:52 pm

Not Safe for Church: Ten Commandments for Reaching New Generations by F. Douglas Powe Jr. and Jasmine Rose Smothers

This is a book that our whole congregation was asked to read by our Pastor. He is going to be doing a sermon series on it and we're having a guest speaker as well.

Background: this is by Methodists and addresses a major concern of the Methodist church which is aging congregants. The average age of an attending member is 57.

The book addresses ten ways that congregations may be alienating the post-civil rights generations (anyone born after 1961) and ideas of ways to make some changes or at least do some soul-searching. The best suggestions were to be authentic (i.e. make sure to be living and acting in a way that reflects their beliefs), to be truly welcoming to all people not just the ones that look and act they way you do, and to be willing to take the mission work in to uncomfortable places and go as equals not as though we are perfect helping people the imperfect.

So even though I appreciate the intent of this book, I have to say I was incredibly annoyed by the book itself. For some reason, the authors decided to use current slang to describe each of the ten ideas. It actually made them sound ancient instead of "with-it" as they probably intended. I also think that lumping together everyone born after 1961 is pretty ridiculous. And for all their ideas, they didn't seem to really give many concrete ideas of what to do.

I'd skip it . . . unless your Pastor asks you to read it. :-)

Original Publication Date: 2015
Author’s nationality: American
Original language: English
Length: 138 pages
Rating: 2 stars
Format/Where I acquired the book: given to me by my church
Why I read this: "assignment"

79japaul22
des. 22, 2015, 9:07 pm

This is my 100th book for the year!!!

Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner
This was excellent - a quiet story about a momentous life decision, beautifully written. Edith has arrived at the aging Hotel du Lac in Switzerland after committing some sort of societal faux pas and being shipped off there by her friends. There she meets a mother/daughter duo, a single woman with an eating disorder, and a few other guests of the hotel. Edith's transgression is slowly revealed as she experiences different emotions - stubborness, sadness, defiance, longing.

In the end, this book is about one woman's decision of whether to do what her society expects of her or to be herself. Being herself, though, isn't so exciting as she is the kind of person who could very well lead a boring, slightly lonely life - and she knows it. So it is a real dilemma and struck me as very realistic. I grew to really like and respect Edith while reading this book.

Original Publication Date: 1984
Author’s nationality: British
Original language: English
Length: 184 pages
Rating: 4.5 stars
Format/Where I acquired the book: library sale paperback
Why I read this: off the shelf, booker prize winner

80MissWatson
des. 23, 2015, 3:33 am

Congratulations on the 100!

81dudes22
des. 23, 2015, 8:40 am

First - congratulations on your 100th book. 100 was my goal this year, but I'll be short.

Next - BB on Hotel du Lac. Sounds like a good book so it will go into my "Recommended by LT" collection until I can get to it.

82japaul22
des. 23, 2015, 10:14 am

>80 MissWatson:, >81 dudes22: Thanks!

Hotel du Lac was great and short, so it's an easy one to squeeze in!

83lkernagh
des. 23, 2015, 11:35 pm

>67 japaul22: - With a book haul like that one, I can see why library book sale day is your favorite day of the year!

Congrats on the big 100!

84jfetting
des. 24, 2015, 10:01 am

Congrats on reaching 100! And Merry Christmas to you and yours!

85japaul22
des. 24, 2015, 10:42 am

>83 lkernagh: Thanks!

>84 jfetting: Thanks and Merry Christmas to you as well!

86lkernagh
des. 24, 2015, 4:54 pm

Wishing you a wonderful Christmas!

87rabbitprincess
des. 24, 2015, 6:00 pm

Merry Christmas and a happy new year!

88-Eva-
des. 27, 2015, 7:15 pm

Congrats on 100! And, great loot from the booksale.

89japaul22
des. 28, 2015, 11:10 am

>86 lkernagh:, >87 rabbitprincess:, >88 -Eva-: Thank you!

I'm starting to think about my end of the year wrap up, and one of the things I'm considering is how I felt about the audio books I listened to. This is the first year in my reading life that I always had an audio book going in addition to the print books I read. I listened to 17 audio books, mainly on my commute or while exercising. I was feeling sort of negative about the experience until I actually sat down and looked at what I listened to. I found that I enjoyed way more of them than I remembered liking. The following list is of all the audio books I read and what worked in the format vs. what didn't. The starred ones were my favorites. Two stars means I suspect I actually preferred the audio over a print version. My takeaways are that I like nonfiction in audio format and humorous books (Bossypants and The Uncommon Reader). Also, the books that didn't work I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have liked in print either. The only book on my "worked" list that I think was improved by the audio format was White Tiger. I was thinking that classics don't work for me on audio, but I liked Howard's End on audio so it may be more just finding books that I'd also like in print. Although I think I would have preferred reading Howard's End on paper. Anyway - figuring out audio books will be a work in progress that I continue exploring in 2016.

Worked:
**Bossypants by Tina Fey, audiobook read by Tina Fey, 5h32m
*Longbourn by Jo Baker, audio book read by Emma Fielding, 13h31m
A Pale View of Hills by Kazuo Ishiguro, 5h59m
The Ghost Map by Steven Johnson, audiobook read by Alan Sklar, 8h38m
**The Case for God by Karen Armstrong
*Pardonable Lies by Jacqueline Winspear, audio book read by Orlagh Cassidy, 10h22m
**The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert, audio book read by Anne Twomey, 9h59m
White Tiger by Aravind Adiga, audiobook read by John Lee, 8h6m
*Love and Louis XIV by Antonia Fraser, audiobook read by Rosalyn Landor, 13h19m
*Messenger of Truth by Jacqueline Winspear, audiobook read by Orlagh Cassidy, 11h11m
**The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett, audiobook read by Alan Bennett, 2h41m
Howard's End by E.M. Forster, audiobook read by Nadia May, 11h4m
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, audiobook read by Gary Sinise, 3h11m
The Supreme Court: The Personalities and Rivalries that Defined America by Jeffrey Rosen, audiobook read by Alan Sklar, 8h44m

Didn’t work:
The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, audiobook read by David Case, 5h32m
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson, audiobook read by Alfred Molina, 7h8m
The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham, 5h15m read by Alex Jennings
Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper, audiobook read by Stefan Rudnicki, 14h34m

90VivienneR
des. 28, 2015, 1:30 pm

Interesting to read your thoughts on audiobooks. I tried audiobooks this year too and came to the conclusion that the narrator is the most important factor. I abandoned a couple because I couldn't abide the narrators yet they were originally chosen because I liked the narrators as actors. I enjoy non-fiction in audio format but only if I am not taking notes.

91-Eva-
des. 28, 2015, 11:28 pm

I find it interesting that you like non-fiction on audio - I have the hardest time with that. I need a story to pull me in, I think, or my mind starts wandering.

92japaul22
des. 29, 2015, 7:01 pm

I like it to sound like NPR or BBC broadcasts!

93japaul22
Editat: des. 31, 2015, 8:04 am

I am ready to post my end of year wrap up. I have one book I'm reading that I might finish before the end of the year, but I'll just update these stats if need be.

Drum roll, please . . .

2015 stats

Books read/listened to: 101
Pages read: 30,446 pages read, average of 86 pages a day
Audiobooks: 19

Books acquired: 44 (I read 18 of these)
Books read off the shelf: 64
(I exceeded my goal of reading 10% more books off the shelf than I acquired!)

New to me authors: 49
Books by women: 62

Decades the books were published in (I've separated out books published in 2015)
2015 - 9
2010s - 13
2000s - 23
1990s - 5
1980s - 5
1970s – 6
1960s - 6
1950s - 6
1940s - 3
1930s - 4
1920s - 2
1910s - 2
1900s - 2
1890s - 1
1880s – 2
1870s - 2
1860s – 2
1830s - 1
1820s - 1
1810s – 5
1780s – 1

Favorites of 2015:

Favorite fiction
The Children’s Book by A.S. Byatt
Can You Forgive Her? by Anthony Trollope
Orlando by Virginia Woolf
A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson
Independent People by Halldor Laxness
We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver
The Ice Palace by Tarjei Vesaas
A Month in the Country by J. L. Carr
Mary Queen of Scotland and the Isles by Margaret George
Plainsong by Kent Haruf
Transit by Anna Seghers
Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner

Favorite nonfiction
The Nine: Inside the Secret Life of the Supreme Court by Jeffrey Toobin
Winter King: Henry VII and the Dawn of Tudor England by Thomas Penn
The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert
Love and Louis XIV by Antonia Fraser
George, Nicholas, and Wilhelm: Three Royal Cousins and the Road to WWI by Miranda Carter

94dudes22
des. 30, 2015, 8:39 am

Those are some great stats. More books off than on - really impressed. I see a few books on your favorites fiction list that are on my list to be read next year.

95VivienneR
des. 30, 2015, 3:44 pm

Congratulations on a great year of reading! A number of your favourites coincide with mine. I'm adding the rest to my wishlist.

96christina_reads
des. 30, 2015, 6:29 pm

Love your review of Persuasion and your ranking of Austen's novels! :) I think my current ranking would be:

Pride and Prejudice (obviously)
Emma
Northanger Abbey
Persuasion
Mansfield Park
Sense and Sensibility

97japaul22
des. 31, 2015, 8:00 am

I got one more book in, just in time!

Lamentation by C.J. Sansom
So I did end up finishing the sixth book in Sansom's mystery series set in Tudor England. This was another great installment in the Matthew Shardlake series. In this one, Shardlake is asked by Queen Catherine Parr to find a book that has been stolen from her. The book is entitled Lamentations of a Sinner and reflects her reformist views. As religious tides are still in flux at the end of Henry VIII's reign between those who want to return to the old ways and those who want to move even farther in the reform direction, this is dangerous for Catherine. If whoever has it shows it to the King or prints it, he could very well be furious with her - possibly for her views but definitely because she hid it from him.

As always there are several side plots and Shardlake gets himself in deep trouble with the authorities and also in his personal life. I really love these books for their historical detail and good characters.

Original Publication Date: 2015
Author’s nationality: British
Original language: English
Length: 656 pages
Rating: 4 stars
Format/Where I acquired the book: purchased kindle book
Why I read this: for fun at the end of the year

98VivienneR
des. 31, 2015, 5:15 pm

99japaul22
des. 31, 2015, 7:49 pm

>98 VivienneR: Thank you and happy new year to you!

100japaul22
gen. 1, 2016, 7:06 am

Thanks for following my reading this year, everyone! In 2016, you can find me here.
http://www.librarything.com/topic/205999

101lkernagh
gen. 1, 2016, 4:48 pm

Great insight into your audiobook experience. I am still struggling to find the dividing line between audio and physical reads and so far I find humor and mysteries work well as audio reads. So do a number of classics.

102paruline
gen. 2, 2016, 6:56 pm

Great summary! Some of your favorites this year are on my tbr pile.

103japaul22
gen. 2, 2016, 7:36 pm

>101 lkernagh: I haven't had the best luck with classics yet on audio, but I also haven't made the best choices. I don't think I would have liked any of them in print either.

>102 paruline: Thanks! Hope you get to them.