Rose City Reader: Classics Club

Showing posts with label Classics Club. Show all posts

Monday, February 3, 2025

January 2025 Wrap Up -- BOOK THOUGHTS

BOOK THOUGHTS

January 2025 Wrap Up

How did your reading year start? Thanks to a lull in my law work while I wait for a ruling from the Court of Appeals, I had more time than usual to read. I finished 15 books in January and hope to maintain that pace through the year.

Are there any on my January list that you’ve enjoyed or would like to read?

GROUP READS

I participated in several group and buddy reads on Instagram, which I enjoyed very much.

Scoop by Evelyn Waugh with a group working our way through all his novels, one every other month. Scoop was a reread for me and I appreciated the satire much more this second time around than when I first read it about 20 years ago.

The Venetian Affair by Helen MacInnes was the first book for a MacInnes readalong project I organized on Bookstagram. Our next is The Salzburg Connection in March. If you are on Instagram and want to join us, DM me there @gilioncdumas. I'll add you to the group.

Daphne du Maurier: The Secret Life of the Renowned Storyteller by Margaret Forster. This wraps up the Du Maurier Deep Dive project I participated in for the past three or so years. We read all du Maurier's fiction and then finished with reading a biography of our choice. I thought Forster's was excellent.

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen. Because this is the 250th anniversary of Austen's birth, I want to reread her six major novels. I joined a bookstagram group doing the same so we can chat about them as we go.

IRISH AUTHORS

II joined an Instagram chat group focusing on reading books by Irish authors this year. I don't know how intensely I will participate because I have a lot of books and reading goals for the year, but it it did help me read a few books that have lingered on my TBR shelves for a while.

The Little Red Chairs by Edna O’Brien knocked my socks off. It was definitely the highlight of the month and a book that will linger with me for a long time. Read my review here.

Strange Flowers by Donal Ryan. This was my first go at one of his books. I thought it was interesting, but it didn’t wow me. I thought he packed things into this family story (a black husband, a lesbian affair, and more) to be intentionally provocative. And the pacing was so uneven, I was distracted by trying to sort the timeline.

The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods engendered lively discussion in my IRL book club. Overall, the group enjoyed the historical fiction side of it, with its braided narrative switching between the 1920s and present day. But the magical realism caught most of us by surprised and didn't go over well.

The Siege of Krishnapur by J. G. Farrell. This retelling of events during the 1857 Indian Rebellion won the 1973 Booker Prize. The events and the writing are serious, but the absurdities of the colonial class system also gave Farrell opportunity to poke fun.

JUST BECAUSE

Dragon’s Teeth by Upton Sinclair, the 1943 Pulitzer Prize winner and one of my Classics Club II picks. This was way more engaging than I anticipated and felt very current.

The Bean Book: 100 Recipes for Cooking with All Kinds of Beans, from the Rancho Gordo Kitchen by Steve Sando. My husband gave me this for Christmas because I could eat beans every day. It is a fantastic cookbook and I've already made a few things from it that were delicious.

Absolute Truths by Susan Howatch is the final book in her “Starbridge” series of Church of England novels that take place in the mid-20th Century. Now I plan to move on to the "St. Benet Trilogy" set in a London parish in the later part of the century.

AUDIOBOOKS (NOT PICTURED)

Slough House by Mick Herron. This is the seventh book in his Slow Horses series. I'm racing through all of them. So far, there are eight novels and four novellas. A new novel comes out this September.

The Patriarch by Martin Walker, the eighth novel in his Bruno, Chief of Police, series set in a French village. This is another series I love and am trying to complete, but it will take me longer because there are 18 novels and several novellas and short stories.

We Solve Murders by Richard Osmond, the first in a new series. It was hard for me to switch from Thursday Murder Club to this new group of characters, but I'm sure it will grow on me.

Sleeping Giants by Rene Denfeld, a thriller set in Oregon. This is my IRL book club's pick for our next get together. The story, inspired by true events, really grabbed me.

TBR 25 IN ‘25 & THE EUROPEAN READING CHALLENGE

Six of the books I read in January were from my TBR 25 in '25 list. These were the Waugh, Forster, Woods, Farrell, Sinclair, and Howatch. I wanted to start strong with that particular stack of books so they don't make me feel rushed later in the year.

I traveled some for the European Reading Challenge, but not with any native speakers. I visited the UK, Italy, Ireland, Bosnia, and France. But none of the books I read were in translation and I have a goal to read more books by authors who do not write in English.

There's still plenty of time to join both challenges if you want to. Click through to the main TBR 25 in '25 page and main European Reading Challenge page for details and to sign up.

Thursday, January 9, 2025

Dragon's Teeth by Upton Sinclair -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Dragon's Teeth by Upton Sinclair

Thank you for joining me for Book Beginnings on Fridays. Please share the opening sentence (or so) of the book you are reading this week. You can also share from a book that caught your fancy, even if you are not reading it right now.

MY BOOK BEGINNING

Lanny Budd was the only occupant of a small-sized reception-room. He was seated in a well-padded armchair, and had every reason to be comfortable, but did not appear so.

-- from Dragon's Teeth by Upton Sinclair.

Upton Sinclair won the 1943 Pulitzer Prize for Dragon's Teeth, a chunky novel set in the 1930s in the lead up to WWII. It is the third book in his "World's End" series featuring Lanny Budd, American playboy and son of an international arms dealer. I'm reading it because I'm working my way through all the Pulitzer Prize winners. It is one of my picks for the Classics Club.

The story is dense with family matters (Lanny and his rich wife just had their first baby), high class living (yachts, the Riviera, mansions, Long Island, fancy parties, servants, etc.), social history (the Great Depression, the rise of Hitler), and politics (revolutionaries, reactionaries, Pinks, Reds, and Fascists). I expected it to be entertaining, in the way I love about shaggy novels written in the mid-1900s. I didn't expect it to feel so current. But the themes and conflicts of the 1930s seem very on-point to the issues of today. I' getting a lot of insight from it and think it deserves a bigger audience.

See the Publisher's Description below for more details.

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

Please add the link to your Book Beginnings post in the box below. If you share on social media, please use the #bookbeginnings hashtag.

Mister Linky's Magical Widgets -- Thumb-Linky widget will appear right here!
This preview will disappear when the widget is displayed on your site.
If this widget does not appear, click here to display it.

THE FRIDAY 56

The Friday 56 is a natural tie-in with Book Beginnings. The idea is to share a two-sentence teaser from page 56 of your featured book. If you are reading an ebook or audiobook, find your teaser from the 56% mark.

Freda at Freda's Voice started and hosted The Friday 56 for a long, long time. She is taking a break and Anne at My Head is Full of Books has taken on hosting duties in her absence. Please visit Anne's blog and link to your Friday 56 post.

MY FRIDAY 56

-- from Dragon's Teeth:

I am to fly and join the yacht at Lisbon, and as soon as I can set a date, I will telegraph you. In the meantime, say nothing, and my father and I will be the only persons in the secret.

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

In the wake of the 1929 stock market crash, Lanny Budd’s financial acumen and his marriage into great wealth enable him to continue the lifestyle he has always enjoyed. But the devastation the collapse has wrought on ordinary citizens has only strengthened Lanny’s socialist ideals—much to the chagrin of his heiress wife, Irma, a confirmed capitalist.

* * *

Winner of the 1943 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, Dragon’s Teeth brilliantly captures the nightmarish march toward the Second World War. An astonishing mix of history, adventure, and romance, the Lanny Budd Novels are a testament to the breathtaking scope of Upton Sinclair’s vision and his singular talents as a storyteller.

Saturday, October 19, 2024

Spin Number 39 -- CLASSICS CLUB

CLASSICS CLUB SPIN

Spin Number 39

UPDATE: THE SPIN NUMBER IS 3, A Dram of Poison by Charlotte Armstrong

I started my first Classics Club list in January 2019, finished it by the end of 2023, and started my second Classics Club list in January this year. But in the six years I've been part of the Classics Club, I have missed every single CC Spin! Finally, I caught this one in time to participate.

The Classics Club is an online "Community of Classics Lovers" started in 2012 to “unite those of us who like to blog about classic literature, as well as to inspire people to make the classics an integral part of life.” To join, you create your own list of 50 "classics" (loosely defined) and read them in five years. Details are on the Classics Club website.

Every now and again, the Classics Club organizes a CC Spin. The idea is to pick books from your CC list and on a certain date, the organizers pick a random number and you read that books by a specific date.

You can find more details here, but these are the basics:

Pick twenty books from your Classics Club list that you still want to read.
Post that list, numbered 1-20, on your blog before Sunday, 20th October.
Classics Club will randomly pick a number and announce it on their website on October 20.
Read that book by the 18th of December and share your review (if you write one) on the Classics Club website.

My CC Spin #39 list:

The Elected Member by Bernice Rubens, Booker Prize
Beat Not the Bones by Charlotte Jay, Edgar Award
A Dram of Poison by Charlotte Armstrong, Edgar Award
The Secret City by Hugh Walpole, James Tait Black
Without My Cloak by Kate O'Brien, James Tait Black
England, Their England by A. G. Macdonell, James Tait Black
Unconditional Surrender by Evelyn Waugh
The Devil's Advocate by Morris West, James Tait Black
The Ice Saints by Frank Tuohy, James Tait Black
Langrishe, Go Down by Aidan Higgins, James Tait Black
Eva Trout by Elizabeth Bowen, James Tait Black
The Black Prince by Iris Murdoch, James Tait Black
Laughing Boy by Oliver Lafarge, Pulitzer Prize
The Aerodrome by Rex Warner, Burgess Top 99
Indian Summer by William Dean Howells, Burgess Top 99
The Fox in the Attic by Richard Hughes, Burgess Top 99
The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov, The College Board
The Jungle Books by Rudyard Kipling, Easton Press Greatest
Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw, Easton Press Greatest
The Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov, Easton Press Greatest

Thursday, July 11, 2024

Men at Arms by Evelyn Waugh -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Men at Arms by Evelyn Waugh

When Guy Crouchback's grandparents, Gervase and Hermione, came to Italy on their honeymoon, French troops manned the defenses of Rome, the Sovereign Pontiff drove out in an open carriage and Cardinals took their exercise side-saddle on the Pincian Hill.

-- Men at Arms by Evelyn Waugh. I like long opening sentences like this, even when they set the mood, not the actual scene. This is a book about Guy's experience in the British Army during WWII, not the story of his grandparents. So we quickly move from a brief family history to Guy's story. Still, the first sentence pulled me into the story.

Men at Arms is the first book in Waugh's WWII "Sword of Honour" trilogy (Sword of Honor for those of us who use American spelling). It is followed by Officers and Gentlemen and The End of the Battle (Unconditional Surrender in it's canonical, UK title). I'm reading the trilogy with a group of Waugh fans on Instagram. We are working our way through all his books. The trilogy is also on my Classics Club II list.

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

Please add the link to your Book Beginnings post in the box below. If you share on social media, please use the #bookbeginnings hashtag.

THE FRIDAY 56

The three probationary Halberdiers stood back for the ladies to pass and followed them through the garden-gate with adolescent misgivings and there before them unmistakably, separated from them only by the plate-glass of the drawing-room window, stood Lieutenant-Colonel, shortly to be gazetted Brigadier, Ritchie-Hook glaring out at them balefully with a single, terrible eye. It was black as the brows above it, this eye, black as the patch which hung on the other side of the lean skew nose.

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

"An eminently readable comedy of modern war" (New York Times), Men at Arms is the first novel in Evelyn Waugh's brilliant Sword of Honor trilogy.

Guy Crouchback, determined to get into the war, takes a commission in the Royal Corps of Halberdiers. His spirits high, he sees all the trimmings but none of the action. And his first campaign, an abortive affair on the West African coastline, ends with an escapade that seriously blots his Halberdier copybook.

Thursday, March 7, 2024

Phineas Finn by Anthony Trollope -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Dr. Finn, of Killaloe, in county Clare, was as well known in those parts,—the confines, that is, of the counties Clare, Limerick, Tipperary, and Galway,—as was the bishop himself who lived in the same town, and was as much respected.

-- from Phineas Finn by Anthony Trollope. This is the second book in Anthony Trollope's "Palliser Series" of six novels also known as the "Parliamentary Novels."

This one involves the rising political career of Phineas Finn, only son of the Dr. Finn in the opening sentence. Phineas was studying to be a lawyer when he had the opportunity to be elected as a Member of the House of Commons. The only problem is that the job doesn't pay -- anything. Phineas takes the risk, hoping that being elected to the House will let him reach the "first rung of the ladder" to success as a paid government official.

If this sounds dry, it isn't! All the politics is balanced by soap-opera level romantic intrigues. Phineas falls in love with at least three women who marry and dally with others. There are plenty of proposals, broken hearts, and even a duel. The female characters are as prominent in the story as the male. Although the women are limited in their options (career, political, financial), they feel contemporary in their thinking and emotions.

I love this book. I'm reading the Palliser series as a group read on Instagram and know the experience will be a highlight of this reading year.

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

Please add the link to your Book Beginnings post in the box below. If you share on social media, please use the #bookbeginnings hashtag.

THE FRIDAY 56

-- from Phineas Finn:

"Wait a moment, you impetuous Irish boy, and hear me out." Phineas liked being called an impetuous Irish boy, and came close to her, sitting where he could look up into her face; and there came a smile upon his own, and he was very handsome.

Thursday, February 15, 2024

Tom Jones by Henry Fielding -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

An author ought to consider himself, not as a gentleman who gives a private or eleemosynary treat, but rather as one who keeps a public ordinary, at which all persons are welcome for their money.

-- from Tom Jones (aka The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling) by Henry Fielding, Book I -- "Containing as Much of the Birth of the Foundling as is Necessary or Proper to Acquaint the Reader with in the Beginning of this History," Chapter i -- "The introduction to the work, or bill of fare to the feast."

Well, any book that sends me to the dictionary in the first sentence is going to be a doozy! The Cambridge Dictionary defines "eleemosynary" as "relating to or depending on charity (= help given freely to people who are in need, and organizations that provide this help)." I can't find a definition for "public ordinary," but I did see the term used to describe a "public" school, in the British sense of meaning a school with paid pupils. In my brain, I thought of it as an "ordinary pub," which is wrong but makes sense.

Despite this odd beginning, Tom Jones is a rollicking good yarn! It was first published in 1749 and I don't read many books written in the 18th Century. It is pretty racy, even raunchy. It's all about the adventures of Tom Jones, an orphan raised by a wealthy quire. Many of these adventures involve sex with most of the women he meets, highwaymen, gypsies, lots of fights, ghost stories -- everything you need for a page-turner. It is also very funny. I'm reading it with my ears and have laughed out loud several times.

Finally reading Tom Jones makes me want to tackle other classics that have languished on my shelves. This one is on my new Classics Club list.

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

Please add the link to your Book Beginnings post in the box below. Please use the hashtag #bookbeginnings if you share on social media.

THE FRIDAY 56

Jones immediately interposing, a fierce contention arose, which soon proceeded to blows on both sides. And now Mrs. Waters (for we must confess she was in the same bed), being, I suppose, awakened from her sleep, and seeing two men fighting in her bedchamber, began to scream in the most violent manner, crying out murder! robbery! and more frequently rape! which last, some, perhaps, may wonder she should mention, who do not consider that these words of exclamation are used by ladies in a fright, as fa, la, la, ra, da, &c., are in music, only as the vehicles of sound, and without any fixed ideas.

It's not a quick read, but entertaining. I always find it easier to read these dense classics as audiobooks because a good narrator parses all the long sentences for me.

Tuesday, January 23, 2024

Book List: Books Read in 2023

BOOKS READ IN 2023

Every year, usually in January, I post a list of the books I read the prior year. My master list of the books I read on LibraryThing.

Here's the list of the 139 books I read in 2023, in the order I read them. Usually, I read 100 - 110 books in a year. I don't know how I finished 30+ more in 2023.

Notes about my rating system are below the list.

Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹
Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens (abridged*)
Mystical Paths by Susan Howatch 🌹🌹🌹🌹
Know Your Style: Mix It, Match It, Love It by Alyson Walsh 🌹🌹🌹
The Big Four by Agatha Christie 🌹🌹🌹🌹
The Parasites by Daphne du Maurier 🌹🌹🌹
Slightly Foxed: String is My Foible, Vol. 76 by Gail Pirkis (Ed.) 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹
Decline and Fall by Evelyn Waugh 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹
Playing for the Ashes by Elizabeth George 🌹🌹🌹🌹
A German Requiem by Philip Kerr 🌹🌹🌹🌹
The Dud Avocado by Elaine Dundy 🌹🌹🌹🌹
Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹
Waverley by Sir Walter Scott 🌹🌹🌹
The King's General by Daphne du Maurier 🌹🌹🌹🌹
Resurrection Men by Ian Rankin 🌹🌹🌹🌹
The Waste Land & Four Quartets by T. S. Eliot 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹
The Maid by Nita Prose 🌹🌹🌹🌹
The Twist of a Knife by Anthony Horowitz 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹
Hill House Living: The Art of Creating a Joyful Life by Paula Sutton 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹
The Driver's Seat by Muriel Spark 🌹🌹🌹1/2
The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Grof 🌹🌹🌹🌹
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹
Oregon Confetti by Lee Oser 🌹🌹🌹
The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister 🌹🌹🌹1/2
The Nature of the Beast by Louise Penny 🌹🌹🌹🌹
Mrs. Ted Bliss by Stanley Elkin 🌹🌹🌹🌹1/2
Rule Britannia by Daphne du Maurier 🌹🌹🌹🌹
The Man Who Was Thursday by G. K. Chesterton 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹
Even the Dead by Benjamin Black 🌹🌹🌹🌹
The History Man by Malcolm Bradbury 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹
The Snowman by Jo Nesbo 🌹🌹
Winston Churchill: Painting on the French Riviera by Paul Rafferty 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹
A Question of Blood by Ian Rankin 🌹🌹🌹🌹
Slightly Foxed, A Date With Iris, Vol. 25 by Gail Pirkis (Ed.) 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹
A Ladder to the Sky by John Boyne 🌹🌹🌹1/2
Trailing: A Memoir by Kristin Louise Duncombe 🌹🌹🌹🌹
April in Spain by John Banville 🌹🌹🌹1/2
Five Flights Up: Sex, Love, and Family, from Paris to Lyon by Kristin Louise Duncombe 🌹🌹🌹🌹
The Cloister and the Hearth by Charles Reade 🌹🌹🌹1/2
A Great Reckoning by Louise Penny 🌹🌹🌹🌹
Live Not by Lies: A Manual for Christian Dissidents by Rod Dreher 🌹🌹🌹1/2
The Flight of the Falcon by Daphne du Maurier 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹
The Holy Bible, King James Version 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹 (duh)
On Cussing: Bad Words and Creative Cursing by Katherine Dunn 🌹🌹🌹
In the Presence of the Enemy by Elizabeth George 🌹🌹🌹🌹
Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹
Dragons & Pagodas: A Celebration of Chinoiserie by Aldous Bertram 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹
Home Cooking: A Writer in the Kitchen by Laurie Colwin 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹
So Big by Edna Ferber 🌹🌹🌹🌹
The Magic Barrel by Bernard Malamud 🌹🌹🌹🌹
A Cordiall Water: A Garland of Odd and Old Receipts to Assuage the Ills of Man and Beast by M.F.K. Fisher 🌹🌹🌹1/2
Quo Vadis by Henryk Sienkiewicz 🌹🌹🌹
Glass Houses by Louise Penny 🌹🌹🌹🌹
Fleshmarket Close by Ian Rankin 🌹🌹🌹🌹
People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry 🌹🌹🌹🌹
Mapp & Lucia by E. F. Benson 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹
The Birds and Other Stories by Daphne du Maurier 🌹🌹🌹🌹
Black Dogs by Ian McEwan 🌹🌹🌹1/2
Mystic River by Dennis Lehane 🌹🌹🌹🌹
Slightly Foxed: Beside the Seaside, Vol. 75 by Gail Perkis (Ed.) 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹
More Home Cooking: A Writer Returns to the Kitchen by Laurie Colwin 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹
Deception on His Mind by Elizabeth George 🌹🌹🌹🌹
Horse by Geraldine Brooks 🌹🌹🌹🌹1/2
Frenchman's Creek by Daphne du Maurier 🌹🌹🌹🌹1/2
Lucia's Progress by E. F. Benson 🌹🌹🌹🌹
Kingdom of the Blind by Louise Penny 🌹🌹🌹🌹
Trouble for Lucia by E. F. Benson 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹
The Red Notebook by Antoine Laurain 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹
The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹
Ms. Demeanor by Elinor Lipman 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹
The Grave Gourmet by Alexander Campion 🌹🌹
Assignment in Brittany by Helen MacInnes 🌹🌹🌹🌹
A Simple Country Murder by Blythe Baker 🌹🌹🌹🌹
In Pursuit of the Proper Sinner by Elizabeth George 🌹🌹🌹🌹
Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There by David Brooks 🌹🌹🌹🌹
Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹
The Sellout by Paul Beatty 🌹🌹🌹
A Better Man by Louise Penny 🌹🌹🌹🌹
French Ways and Their Meaning by Edith Wharton 🌹🌹🌹
Slightly Foxed: Laughter in the Library, Vol. 77 by Gail Pirkis (Ed.) 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹
Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu 🌹🌹🌹🌹
The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham 🌹🌹🌹🌹1/2
S. by John Updike 🌹🌹🌹🌹1/2
Shrines of Gaiety by Kate Atkinson 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹
The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel 🌹🌹🌹
Three Fires by Denise Mina 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹
Dusk and Other Stories by James Salter 🌹🌹
The Naming of the Dead by Ian Rankin 🌹🌹🌹🌹
Prisoner of Brenda: Curses, Nurses, and a Ticket to Bedlam by Colin Bateman 🌹🌹🌹🌹
Snow by John Banville 🌹🌹🌹🌹1/2
Blood From a Stone: A Memoir of How Wine Brought Me Back from the Dead by Adam S. McHugh 🌹🌹🌹🌹
A Swim in a Pond in the Rain by George Saunders 🌹🌹🌹🌹
After Many a Summer Dies the Swan by Aldous Huxley 🌹🌹🌹🌹
All the Devils are Here by Louise Penny 🌹🌹🌹🌹1/2
My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹
The Confessions of Nat Turner by William Styron 🌹🌹🌹🌹
The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹
Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham 🌹🌹
He Said He Would Be Late by Justine Sullivan 🌹🌹🌹1/2
A Traitor to Memory by Elizabeth George 🌹🌹🌹🌹
Tom Lake by Ann Patchet 🌹🌹🌹🌹1/2
Scandinavian Noir: In Pursuit of a Mystery by Wendy Lesser 🌹🌹🌹
Venice Observed by Mary McCarthy 🌹🌹🌹1/2
Exit Music by Ian Rankin 🌹🌹🌹🌹
Liza of Lambeth by W. Somerset Mugham 🌹🌹🌹
One More Seat at the Rounds Table by Susan Dormady Eisenberg 🌹🌹🌹1/2
Mating by Norman Rush 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹
The Chosen by Chaim Potok 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹
The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹
The Madness of Crowds by Louise Penny 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹
Hungry Hill by Daphne du Maurier 🌹🌹🌹🌹
The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens 🌹🌹🌹🌹
The Orchid Thief: A True Story of Beauty and Obsession by Susan Orlean 🌹🌹🌹🌹
The Collected Poems by W. B. Yeats 🌹🌹🌹🌹
Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹
The Long Good-Bye by Raymond Chandler 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹
The Man with Two Left Feet by P. G. Wodehouse 🌹🌹🌹🌹
Black Mischief by Evelyn Waugh 🌹🌹🌹🌹
Lost for Words by Edward St. Aubyn 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹
In Search of a Character: Two African Journals by Graham Greene 🌹🌹🌹
A Place of Hiding by Elizabeth George 🌹🌹🌹🌹
A World of Curiosities by Louise Penny 🌹🌹🌹🌹
The Prince and Betty by P. G. Wodehouse 🌹🌹🌹1/2
Innocent Blood by P. D. James 🌹🌹🌹🌹
Saints of the Shadow Bible by Ian Rankin 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹
Yellowface by R. F. Kuang 🌹🌹🌹🌹
The Last Devil to Die by Richard Osman 🌹🌹🌹🌹
The Bear Comes Home by Rafi Zabor 🌹🌹🌹
Straight Man by Richard Russo 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹
Piccadilly Jim by P. G. Wodehouse 🌹🌹🌹1/2
The Moon and Sixpence by W. Somerset Maugham 🌹🌹🌹🌹
Even Dogs in the Wild by Ian Rankin 🌹🌹🌹🌹
The Complete Lord Peter Wimsey Stories by Dorothy L. Sayers 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹
Aqua Alta by Donna Leon 🌹🌹🌹🌹
The Spring by Megan Weiler 🌹🌹🌹1/2
The Tuscan Year: Life and Food in an Italian Valley by Elizabeth Romer 🌹🌹🌹🌹
War & Peace by Leo Tolstoy 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

* I didn't realize that my very old (like 1890) edition of Our Mutual Friend was abridged until I got to the end of it. I loved the story, but thought it was herky jerky and that I had missed big parts. It was herky jerky and I did miss big -- and little -- parts. So I can't rate it now. I plan to read the complete version again and know I will love it.

MY RATING SYSTEM

I switched to using roses for my rating system, since this is Rose City Reader. My rating system is my own and evolving. Whatever five stars might mean on amazon, goodreads, or Netflix, a five-rose rating probably doesn't mean that here. My system is a mix of how a book subjectively appeals to me, its technical merits, and whether I would recommend it to other people.

🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹 Five roses for books I loved, or would recommend to anyone, or I think are worthy of classic "must read" status." Examples would be Lucky Jim (personal favorite), A Gentleman in Moscow (universal recommendation), and Great Expectations (must read).

🌹🌹🌹🌹 Four roses for books I really enjoyed and/or would recommend to people who enjoy that type of book. So I give a lot of four roses because I might really like a book, but it didn't knock my socks off. And while I'd recommend it to someone who likes that genre -- mystery, historical fiction, food writing, whatever -- I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who asked me for a "good book."

🌹🌹🌹 Three roses for books I was lukewarm on or maybe was glad I read but wouldn't recommend.

🌹🌹 Two roses if I didn't like it. Lessons in Chemistry is an example, which proves how subjective my system is because lots of people loved that book. I found it cartoonish and intolerant.

🌹 One rose if I really didn't like it. I don't know if I've ever rated a book this low. The Magus might be my only example and I read it before I started keeping my lists.

I use half roses if a book falls between categories. I can't explain what that half rose might mean, it's just a feeling.

Here is a link to the star rating system I used for years. I include it because the stars I used in years past meant something different than these roses, so if you look at my lists from past years, the ratings won't mean quite the same thing.

Saturday, June 3, 2023

Books I read in May -- MONTHLY WRAP UP

MONTHLY WRAP UP

May 2023

The merry month of May was a mixed-up reading month for me. I wanted to tackle a couple of classics that have been languishing on my TBR shelves. But I also went to visit my mom and we took a little road trip when I was there, so I had a chance to gulp down a few fluffier holiday reads.

Three of the book I read were from my TBR 23 in '23 list. Three were mysteries from series I’m trying to finish before a start a new series. Three were from my Classics Club list because my goal is to finish my 50 books by the end of the year. Do you have a Classics Club list? Check out the Classics Club website for details.

Do you spot any favorites on this list?

PICTURED

The Birds by Daphne du Maurier. I'm in a buddy read group on Instagram doing a Du Maurier Deep Dive and this was our pick for May. Short stories aren’t my thing, but these were gripping! 🌹🌹🌹🌹

The Magic Barrel by Bernard Malamud, winner of the 1959 National Book Award, a Classics Club pick. More short stories, but these were also very good. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

A Cordial Water by M. F. K. Fisher is another on my Classics Club list and a TBR 23 in ’23 book. Interesting, but not my favorite M. F. K. Fisher book. It was a study of historical healing remedies, not personal essays, and I found it pretty dry. 🌹🌹🌹

More Home Cooking: A Writer Returns to the Kitchen by Laurie Colwin. I read Home Cooking last month and this sequel was just as good. Both are definitely tops with me for food books. 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry was pure fun. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

Quo Vadis by Nobel Laureate Henryk Sienkiewicz, another from my Classics Club list. I've wanted to read this classic novel about the early Christian Church forever. Worth reading, but it had its repetitive and draggy spots. 🌹🌹🌹

Black Dogs by Ian McEwan, an excellent short novel I avoided because some of his earlier books were so creepy. This one isn't creepy, just interesting. Another TBR 23 in ’23 read. 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

Mystic River by Dennis Lehane. I can’t believe it took me so long to get around to this one, also on my TBR 23 in ’23 list. 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

NOT PICTURED

Fleshmarket Close by Ian Rankin. His John Rebus series is one I’m trying to finish. I left the book with my mom. 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

Mapp & Lucia by E. F. Benson was my highlight of the month. This is the fourth book in the series and the first book in Volume Two of the omnibus collection. 🌹🌹🌹🌹

Glass Houses by Louise Penny. Her Three Pines series is another I’m concentrating on. Some reviews complain she overreached on this one, but I was 100% in for the ride. 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

Deception on His Mind by Elizabeth George, the third series I’m trying to complete. This one stars Barbara Havers and Lynley isn’t in it at all, but I thought it was one of the best ones so far. 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

What was your reading month like? What were your standout books?

Wednesday, January 4, 2023

The TBR 22 in '22 Challenge -- My Wrap Up Post

TBR 22 IN '22 CHALLENGE

My Wrap Up Post

COMPLETED

Sign up for the TBR 23 in '23 Challenge here!

The TBR 22 in '22 Challenge was simple -- read 22 books off your TBR shelf in 2022. You could pick them ahead of time, like I did, pick them as you went, or any combination you like. Or pick ahead of time and then switch! The only "rule" is that the 22 books had to be books you owned before January 1, 2022.

Here is the list of the 22 book I read for the challenge, in alphabetical order by author, not the order in which I read them:

These Ruins are Inhabited by Margaret Beadle, a memoir by an American living in England in the 1950s

Dangling Man by Saul Bellow, on my Classics Club list

Atlantic High by William F. Buckley, Jr., the second of his four sailing memoirs. I read the first one last year and planned to read them all but didn't get to them. 2022 will be the year I finally do.

Racing through Paradise by William F. Buckley, Jr., the third of the four

Windfall by William F. Buckley, Jr., the last one

The Master and the Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakow, on my Classics Club list

The Waterfall by Margaret Drabble, on my Classics Club list

A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan, which won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize and National Book Critics Circle Award

Rat Race by Dick Francis, on my Classics Club list

Bunny Mellon: The Life of an American Style Legend by Meryl Gordon

French Women Don't get Fat by Mireille Guiliano

The Wall by John Hersey, on my Classics Club list

The Bostonians by Henry James, on my Classics Club list

A Time to Build: From Family and Community to Congress and the Campus, How Recommitting to Our Institutions Can Revive the American Dream by Yuval Levin

When She was Good by Philip Roth, on my Classics Club list

Zuckerman Unbound by Philip RothThe Anatomy Lesson by Philip Roth

The Prague Orgy by Philip Roth

The Masters by C. P. Snow is the fourth book in his Strangers and Brothers series, which I started years ago and want to finish. This one is on my Classics Club list because it won the James Tait Black Prize in 1954.

If Morning Ever Comes by Anne Tyler, on my Classics Club list

God Save the Mark by Donald Westlake, which won the Edgar Award and is on my Classics Club list

Anglo-Saxon Attitudes by Angus Wilson, a campus novel on my Classics Club list

Thursday, July 14, 2022

The Master and Margarita -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Do you read books in translation?

Every time I read a book in translation I vow to read more. I’m a lunkish monoglot, so do not read in foreign languages. But I appreciate literature of other countries so make an effort to read translated books. I end up reading several for the European Reading Challenge each year.

In honor of Bastille Day, I have my French teapot out, as you can see in the picture above. But I won’t try any well-wishes in French, which you can understand from this anecdote. My sister has an ear for languages and I’d love to say I shared it, but no. I try to speak the local language when I travel, often with great enthusiasm. You would think I’d give up this habit after a holiday trip to Mexico when I wished many people a Happy Asshole instead of a Happy New Year!

So Happy Bastille Day, however you say it in French!

And now let's share the opening sentences (or so) of the books we are reading this week here on Book Beginnings on Fridays!

MY BOOK BEGINNING

At the hour of sunset, on a hot spring day, two citizens appeared in the Patriarchs' Ponds Park.

-- The Master and Margarita by Mikail Bulgakov. That is an underwhelming opening sentence for what is a rollicking satire of Soviet life, featuring Satan and his sidekicks, with lengthy digressions about Pontius Pilot.

I’m racing through this Russian classic. Mirra Ginsburg translated my edition and several other Grove Press editions of Mikhail Bulgakov’s books. It is way funnier than I anticipated, in a crazy slapstick way.

Have you read it? It’s one of the 50 books on my list for The Classics Club.

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

Please leave a link to your Book Beginnings post and use the hashtag #bookbeginnigns if you post on social media.

THE FRIDAY 56

Freda at Freda's Voice hosts another teaser event on Fridays. Participants share a two-sentence teaser from page 56 of the book they are reading -- or from 56% of the way through the audiobook or ebook. Please visit Freda's Voice for details and to leave a link to your post.

MY FRIDAY 56

From The Master and Margarita:

“I wouldn’t like to meet you when you’ve got a revolver,” said Margarita with a coquettish look at Azazello. She had a passion for people who did things well.

Thursday, March 31, 2022

Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Do you reread books?

I didn't used to. But in the last year or so I've been revisiting some favorite books that I read in high school and college. It's time. So far, I've concentrated on my favorite classics, like Lucky Jim, Oliver Twist, and A Tale of Two Cities. But I plan to make more of a habit of rereading and broaden my scope to include general favorites.

What are you reading this week? Please share the opening sentence (or so) with us here on Book Beginnings. You can also share the first lines from a book you want to highlight, even if you aren't reading it right now.

MY BOOK BEGINNING

I am rereading my favorite book from high school:

On the pleasant shore of the French Riviera, about halfway between Marseilles and the Italian border, stands a large, proud, rose-colored hotel.

-- Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald. I went through a big Fitzgerald phase in high school. Jazz Age Paris and the American authors who were part of that scene are always popular and I fell hard for the whole thing.

Reading Tender is the Night again, I am surprised that I remember none of the plot! I remember that Dick and Nicole Diver hang out at the French Riviera. But I remember nothing about what happens. I find it more entertaining -- if less fraught with meaning -- than I did as a teenager.

My reread of Tender is the Night is one of my Classic Club books.

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

Please add the link to your Book Beginning post in the Linky box below. Use the #bookbeginnings hashtag if you share on social media.

THE FRIDAY 56

The Friday 56 hosted by Freda's Voice is a natural tie in with this event and there is a lot of cross over, so many people combine the two. The idea is to post a teaser from page 56 of the book you are reading and share a link to your post. Find details and the Linky for your Friday 56 post on Freda’s Voice.

MY FRIDAY 56

From Tender is the Night:

They were all very nice people for a while, very courteous and all that. Then they grew tired of it and they were funny and bitter, and finally they made a lot of plans.

Tuesday, January 4, 2022

2022 European Reading Challenge - My Sign Up Post

THE 2022 EUROPEAN READING CHALLENGE

MY SIGN UP POST

To sign up yourself (and I hope you do), go to the main challenge page here.

2022 is the 10th anniversary of the European Reading Challenge! This is my sign up post. I'm signing up for the "FIVE STAR (DELUXE ENTOURAGE)" level to read at least five books by different European authors or books set in different European countries. But because it is the 10th anniversary, I actually plan to read books from ten different countries.

MY CHALLENGE BOOKS

You do not have to pick your books ahead of time, but I picked a few because I like to play with my books. I may or may not get to the books in the picture above. I took that picture for some Instagram inspiration for a post I did about the European Reading Challenge. The books I'm planning to read for this challenge are:

UK: These Ruins are Inhabited by Margaret Beadle, a memoir by an American living in England in the 1950s.

RUSSIA: The Master and the Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakow, on my Classics Club list.

FRANCE: French Women Don't get Fat by Mireille Guiliano.

GERMANY: The Wall by John Hersey, on my Classics Club list.

CZECH REPUBLIC: The Prague Orgy by Philip Roth

ITALY: The Spring by Megan Weiler

I hope to visit more countries in Scandinavia, the Baltics, and the Balkans. Perhaps I will get to Zorba the Greek for Greece and Olivia Manning's Balkans Trilogy for Rumania.

THE 2022 EUROPEAN READING CHALLENGE

JANUARY 1, 2022 TO DECEMBER 31, 2022

(new deadline!)

The European Reading Challenge has been around since 2012 so 2022 is the ten year anniversary! The idea is to tour Europe in books by reading books written by authors from different European countries or set in different European countries. You pick the books, the countries, and how many books you want to read. You can complete the challenge by reading 1 to 5 books, depending on what level of participation you chose.

If you want to read more, you can compete for the Jet Setter Prize. The prize goes to the person who reads and reviews the greatest number of books from DIFFERENT countries. Only one book from each country counts towards the prize, so the greatest number of books that could be read is 50, because there are 50 official sovereign states in Europe:

Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Macedonia, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, and Vatican City.

PLEASE JOIN US ON THE GRAND TOUR IN BOOKS!

Subscribe to: Posts ( Atom )