Book List: Books Read in 2017

 

Somehow, 2017 was the year in books that almost never was. Every year in January, I make a book list of the book I read the prior year. But I forgot to do that in January 2018. A look at my work calendar tells me I wasn't gearing up for a trial (which is my usual attention-sucker), but my law partner and I were up to our eyeballs in a couple of Boy Scout sex abuse cases in Idaho and Montana. I spent most of January 2018 in regional PNW airports waiting for cancelled flights to get to depositions and court hearings.

I only realized the 2017 list was missing when I went to post the 2020 list. Better late then never. We want to remember all the books of Auld Lang Sine!

BOOKS READ IN 2017

• The Panther by Nelson DeMille 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Bech at Bay by John Updike 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• How to Hepburn: Lessons on Living from Kate the Great by Karen Karbo 🌹🌹🌹1/2

• The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion 🌹🌹🌹🌹1/2

• A Morbid Taste for Bones by Ellis Peters 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Friday the Rabbi Slept Late by Harry Kemelman 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹 (Women's Prize winner)

• Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J. D. Vance 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Amarcord: Marcella Remembers by Marcella Hazan 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• The Unicorn by Iris Murdoch 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Poetic Justice by Amanda Cross 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Jam Today Too: The Revolution Will Not Be Catered by Tod Davies 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Life and Loves of a She Devil by Fay Weldon 🌹🌹🌹1/2

• The Redbreast by Jo Nesbo 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• The Shock of the Fall by Nathan Filer 🌹🌹🌹1/2

• The Whole Fromage: Adventures in the Delectable World of French Cheese by Kathe Lison 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• A Murder is Announced by Agatha Christie 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• The Drowning Pool by Ross Macdonald 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• The Biographer's Moustache by Kingsley Amis 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• No Way to Treat a First Lady by Christopher Buckley 🌹🌹🌹1/2

• Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise by Ruth Reichl 🌹🌹🌹🌹1/2

• The Little Book of Hygge: Danish Secrets to Happy Living by Meik Wiking 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Roseanna by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö 🌹🌹🌹

• Astoria: Astor and Jefferson's Lost Pacific Empire: A Tale of Ambition and Survival on the Early American Frontier by Peter Stark 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Fifth Business by Robertson Davies 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• The Manticore by Robertson Davies 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Original Sin by P. D. James 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Heartburn by Nora Ephron 🌹🌹🌹🌹1/2

• World of Wonders by Robertson Davis 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• When You Lunch With the Emperor by Ludwig Bemelmans 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Books: A Memoir by Larry McMurtry 🌹🌹🌹1/2

• Girls of Slender Means by Muriel Spark 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Make Me by Lee Child 🌹🌹🌹

• All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr 🌹🌹🌹1/2

• Ultimate Prizes by Susan Howatch 🌹🌹🌹1/2

• Spotted Dick S'il Vous Plait: An English Restaurant in France by Tom Higgins 🌹🌹🌹1/2

• The Little Nugget by P. G. Wodehouse 🌹🌹🌹1/2

• The Rosie Effect by Graeme Simsion 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick 🌹🌹🌹1/2

• But Enough About You by Christopher Buckley 🌹🌹🌹1/2

• Schindler's List by Thomas Keneally 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹 (Booker Prize winner)

• Gods and Beasts by Denise Mina 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• The Heat of the Day by Elizabeth Bowen 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• The Architecture Pack : A Unique, Three-Dimensional Tour of Architecture over the Centuries : What Architects Do, How They Do It by Ron Van Der Meer 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Browsings: A Year of Reading, Collecting, and Living with Books by Michael Dirda 🌹🌹🌹1/2

• Let It Bleed by Ian Rankin 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• The Comfort of Strangers by Ian McEwan 🌹🌹🌹1/2

• Earthly Possessions by Anne Tyler 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Slay Ride by Dick Francis 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• The Brutal Telling by Louise Penny 🌹🌹🌹🌹1/2

• The Road to Burgundy: The Unlikely Story of an American Making Wine and a New Life in France by Ray Walker 🌹🌹🌹1/2

• Call the Midwife: A Memoir of Birth, Joy, and Hard Times by Jennifer Worth 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• An Oxford Tragedy by J. C. Masterman 🌹🌹🌹1/2

• My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout 🌹🌹🌹1/2

• The Story of a New Name by Elana Ferrante 🌹🌹

• Black and Blue by Ian Rankin 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Black Rednecks and White Liberals by Thomas Sowell 🌹🌹🌹🌹1/2

• The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• The Hanging Garden by Ian Rankin 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Free to Choose: A Personal Statement by Milton Friedman 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• The Handmaid's Tail by Margaret Atwood 🌹🌹🌹🌹1/2

• Wait for Me!: Memoirs by Deborah Mitford 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Death by Water by Kenzaburo Oe 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• That Old Cape Magic by Richard Russo 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• The Nix by Nathan Hill 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• On Rue Tatin: Living and Cooking in a French Town By Susan Herrmann Loomis 🌹🌹🌹1/2

• Blue Angel by Francine Prose 🌹🌹🌹🌹 (my Campus Novels list)

• Bandits by Elmore Leonard 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• About a Boy by Nick Hornby 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Any Human Heart by William Boyd 🌹🌹🌹

• Temperance Creek: A Memoir by Pamela Royes 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Blue Heaven by C. J. Box 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹 (Edgar Award winner)

• The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan 🌹🌹🌹1/2 (Booker Prize winner)

• Cork Dork: A Wine-Fueled Adventure Among the Obsessive Sommeliers, Big Bottle Hunters, and Rogue Scientists Who Taught Me to Live for Taste by Bianca Bosker 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Through the Children's Gate: A Home in New York by Adam Gopnik 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Any Woman's Blues by Erica Jong 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• The Heirs by Susan Rieger 🌹🌹🌹1/2

• The Question of Max by Amanda Cross 🌹🌹🌹1/2

• Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries by Kory Stamper 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• The Rocks by Peter Nichols 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*ck: How to Stop Spending Time You Don't Have with People You Don't Like Doing Things You Don't Want to Do by Sarah Knight 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Reptile: The 2009 Manual of the Plaintiff's Revolution by David Ball 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• The Group by Mary McCarthy 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson 🌹🌹🌹🌹 (Pulitzer Prize winner)

• Psmith, Journalist by P. G. Wodehouse 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• The Glorious Heresies by  Lisa McInerney 🌹🌹🌹🌹1/2 (Women's Prize winner)

• Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie 🌹🌹🌹1/2

• Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks 🌹🌹🌹 (BBC Big Read)

• I Can't Complain: (All Too) Personal Essays by Eleanor Lipman 🌹🌹🌹1/2

• The Ancient Minstrel by Jim Harrison 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Vipers' Tangle by Mauriac Francois 🌹🌹 (Nobel Laureates)

• The Journalist and the Murder by Janet Malcolm 🌹🌹🌹

• The Princess of Burundi by Kjell Eriksson 🌹🌹🌹1/2

• The Quality of Mercy by Barry Unsworth 🌹🌹🌹1/2

• A Certain Justice by P. D. James 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Remembrance of Things Paris: Sixty Years of Writing from Gourmet 🌹🌹🌹🌹

• Auntie Mame: An Irreverent Escapade by Patrick Dennis 🌹🌹🌹🌹

MY RATING SYSTEM

I have a loosy goosy and always changing rating system. I used to use stars, but since my four or five stars didn't mean what four or five stars might mean on amazon or goodreads, I switched to roses, keeping with my Rose City Reader theme. I rate a book based on how much I like it, if I would recommend it to others, and what type of reader I would recommend it to.  

🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹 Books I love, recommend to most readers, or I think of as classics or must reads. 

🌹🌹🌹🌹 Books I really enjoy and/or recommend to readers of that type of book. Lots of Mysteries or food memoirs, for example, might get four roses from me instead of five because I really like them, but would only recommend them to people who read mysteries or food books.

🌹🌹🌹 Books I'm lukewarm about, liked so-so, or maybe was glad I read but wouldn't recommend to other people. 

🌹🌹 Books I didn't like, but understand that other readers do like.

🌹 Books I really don't like and am surprised to find other readers who do. I don't have many one-rose books.

I use half roses for books that fall between categories.

In years past, I used a slightly different star system. Here is a link to it. 

Best 99 Novels in English Since 1939 (to 1984), According to Anthony Burgess -- BOOK LIST

Anthony Burgess made a list of the Best 99 Novels in English. At least, they were the Best 99 Novels in English between 1939 and 1984, according to him.

Burgess was entitled to offer an opinion with some authority. Burgess was a British author who wrote 33 novels as well as poetry, biography, criticism, and other works. He was also a journalist, linguist, and music composer. He died in 1993. He is best known for his dystopian satire, A Clockwork Orange, an excellent book I put off reading for too long because the movie was so disturbing.

In 1984, Burgess published a book he called 99 Novels: The Best in English Since 1939 (reviewed here). The time span of 1939 to 1984 is described as "a period that encompasses the start of a world war and ends with the nonfulfillment of Orwell's nightmare."

His book included mini-reviews of the 99 novels (some are sets or series), which he chose on the basis of personal preference. Burgess described his process and his choices like this:

In my time, I have read a lot of novels in the way of duty; I have read a great number for pleasure as well. The 99 novels I have chosen, I have chosen with some, though not with total, confidence. I have concentrated on works which have brought something new – in technique or view of the world – to the form.

If there is a great deal of known excellence not represented here, that is because 99 is a comparatively low number. The reader can decide on his own hundredth. He may even choose one of my own novels.

The Anthony Burgess list of 99 Best Novels and Erica Jong's list of Top 20th Century Novels by Women are my go to lists when I'm looking for something good to read. There is some crossover with other Must Read lists, but a lot of originality. There are many authors I tried and books I read only because they were on the Anthony Burgess list and they are now all-time favorites.

Also, I would include Burgess's Earthly Powers book as the 100th. I think it deserves a spot on a top 100 midcentury novel list.

Here is the list, in the same chronological order by publication date that Burgess lists them in his book, with notes if I've read the book, it is on my TBR shelf, or if it is available in an audiobook from my library. So far, I've read 58 of the books on this list. There are a few I will most likely never read.

Party Going, Henry Green FINISHED

After Many a Summer Dies the Swan, Aldous Huxley FINISHED

Finnegans Wake, James Joyce (discussed here) FINISHED

At Swim-Two-Birds, Flann O'Brien TBR SHELF

The Power and the Glory, Graham Greene FINISHED

For Whom the Bell Tolls, Ernest Hemingway FINISHED

Strangers and Brothers, C. P. Snow (an 11-novel series George Passant, reviewed here FINISHED; A Time of Hope, reviewed here FINISHED; The Consciousness of the Rich FINISHED; The Light and the Dark FINISHED; The Masters FINISHED; The New Men FINISHED; Homecomings TBR SHELF; The Affair TBR SHELF; Corridors of Power TBR SHELF; The Sleep of Reason TBR SHELF; Last Things TBR SHELF)

The Aerodrome, Rex Warner TBR SHELF

The Horse's Mouth, Joyce Cary FINISHED

The Razor's Edge, Somerset Maugham (reviewed here) FINISHED

Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh FINISHED

Titus Groan, Mervyn Peake (reviewed here) FINISHED

The Victim, Saul Bellow FINISHED

Under the Volcano, Malcolm Lowry FINISHED

The Heart of the Matter, Graham Greene FINISHED

Ape and Essence, Aldous Huxley FINISHED

The Naked and the Dead, Norman Mailer (reviewed here) FINISHED

No Highway, Nevil Shute

The Heat of the Day, Elizabeth Bowen FINISHED

Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell FINISHED

The Body, William Sansom

Scenes from Provincial Life, William Cooper TBR SHELF

The Disenchanted, Budd Schulberg

A Dance to the Music of Time, Anthony Powell (a 12-novel series; my desert island pick; discussed here) FINISHED

The Catcher in the Rye, J. D. Salinger FINISHED

A Chronicle of Ancient Sunlight, Henry Williamson (a 15-book series, not easy to find, and only gets Burgess's halfhearted endorsement)

The Caine Mutiny, Herman Wouk TBR SHELF

Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison FINISHED

The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway FINISHED

The Groves of Academe, Mary McCarthy (one of my favorite books ever; reviewed here) FINISHED

Wise Blood, Flannery O'Connor FINISHED

Sword of Honour, Evelyn Waugh (a trilogy)  FINISHED

The Long Goodbye, Raymond Chandler FINISHED

Lucky Jim, Kingsley Amis (I love this one) FINISHED TWICE

Room at the Top, John Braine FINISHED

The Alexandria Quartet, Lawrence Durrell FINISHED

The London Novels, Colin MacInnes (a trilogy) TBR SHELF

The Assistant, Bernard Malamud (reviewed here) FINISHED

The Bell, Iris Murdoch FINISHED

Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, Alan Sillitoe (I was supposed to read it in college but was hungover - the irony) TBR SHELF

The Once and Future King, T. H. White TBR SHELF

The Mansion, William Faulkner

Goldfinger, Ian Fleming FINISHED

Facial Justice, L. P. Hartley TBR SHELF

The Balkans Trilogy, Olivia Manning TBR SHELF

The Mighty and Their Fall, Ivy Compton-Burnett

Catch-22, Joseph Heller FINISHED

The Fox in the Attic, Richard Hughes TBR SHELF

Riders in the Chariot, Patrick White TBR SHELF

The Old Men at the Zoo, Angus Wilson (my favorite unknown novel) FINISHED

Another Country, James Baldwin ON OVERDRIVE

Error of Judgment, Pamela Hansford Johnson TBR SHELF

Island, Aldous Huxley TBR SHELF

The Golden Notebook, Doris Lessing FINISHED

Pale Fire, Vladimir Nabokov (brilliant) FINISHED

The Girls of Slender Means, Muriel Spark (my favorite Spark) FINISHED

The Spire, William Golding FINISHED

Heartland, Wilson Harris TBR SHELF

A Single Man, Christopher Isherwood (reviewed here) FINISHED

Defense, Vladimir Nabokov (also called The Luzhin Defense)

Late Call, Angus Wilson TBR SHELF

The Lockwood Concern, John O'Hara TBR SHELF

The Mandelbaum Gate, Muriel Spark (reviewed here) FINISHED

A Man of the People, Chinua Achebe

The Anti-Death League, Kingsley Amis (reviewed here) FINISHED

Giles Goat-Boy, John Barth TBR SHELF

The Late Bourgeois World, Nadine Gordimer

The Last Gentleman, Walker Percy FINISHED

The Vendor of Sweets, R. K. Narayan TBR SHELF

Image Men, J. B. Priestley (two volumes)

Cocksure, Mordecai Richler TBR SHELF

Pavane, Keith Roberts TBR SHELF

The French Lieutenant's Woman, John Fowles FINISHED

Portnoy's Complaint, Philip Roth FINISHED

Bomber, Len Deighton

Sweet Dreams, Michael Frayn TBR SHELF

Gravity's Rainbow, Thomas Pynchon ON OVERDRIVE

Humboldt's Gift, Saul Bellow FINISHED

The History Man, Malcolm Bradbury FINISHED

The Doctor's Wife, Brian Moore TBR SHELF

Falstaff, Robert Nye TBR SHELF

How to Save Your Own Life, Erica Jong (reviewed here; I love all the Isadora Wing books) FINISHED

Farewell Companions, James Plunkett TBR SHELF

Staying On, Paul Scott (Booker Prize winner) FINISHED

The Coup, John Updike TBR SHELF

The Unlimited Dream Company, J. G. Ballard

Dubin's Lives, Bernard Malamud TBR SHELF

A Bend in the River, V. S. Naipaul FINISHED

Sophie's Choice, William Stryon (reviewed here) FINISHED

Life in the West, Brian Aldiss

Riddley Walker, Russell Hoban TBR SHELF

How Far Can You Go?, David Lodge (reviewed here) (one of my favorites) FINISHED

A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole FINISHED

Lanark, Alasdair Gray

Darconville's Cat, Alexander Theroux

The Mosquito Coast, Paul Theroux FINISHED

Creation, Gore Vidal

The Rebel Angels, Robertson Davies (reviewed here; my love of Davies started with this one) FINISHED

Ancient Evenings, Norman Mailer TBR SHELF


NOTES

Updated July 3, 2025.

List: Campus Novels

CAMPUS NOVELS

Actually being a college professor holds no interest for me. I wasn't even particularly fond of being a college student. I don't want to live in the Ivory Tower, just visit. I love novels featuring college professors, set on college campuses, with an academic theme or plot. The Campus Novel is my favorite sub-genre.

That's why I keep a running list of Campus Novels. These are books I have read or want to read. If you have suggestions for additions to this list, please send them my way!

I'm not so keen on novels featuring students on campus. I read a distinction once (I think made by David Lodge) between "Campus Novels" that focus on college professors and other faculty, and "Varsity Novels" that focus on student life. The later don't appeal to me much. There may be a few on my list that could cross over, but most fall on the professor side of the line.

Here's my list, in alphabetical order by author's name. I made notes about whether I've read it, it's on my TBR shelf, or if it is available as an audiobook from my library.  Any favorites? If you have ideas for additions, please leave a comment.

Crescent by Diana Abu-Jaber 

Jake's Thing by Kingsley Amis FINISHED

Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis FINISHED TWICE

One Fat Englishman by Kingsley Amis (reviewed here) FINISHED

Death of an Old Goat by Robert Barnard

End of the Road by John Barth

The Dean's December by Saul Bellow FINISHED

More Die of Heartbreak by Saul Bellow TBR SHELF

Herzog by Saul Bellow FINISHED

Ravelstein by Saul Bellow FINISHED

The Morning After Death by Nicholas Blake

Eating People is Wrong by Malcolm Bradbury FINISHED

The History Man by Malcolm Bradbury TBR SHELF

Possession by A. S. Byatt FINISHED

The Professor's House by Willa Cather FINISHED
 
Wonder Boys by Michael Chabon TBR SHELF

Falconer by John Cheever TBR SHELF

Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee FINISHED

The Archivist by Martha Cooley

Holy Disorders by Edmund Crispin (and the rest of his Gervase Fen series) SOME ON TBR SHELF

Dreaming of the Bones by Deborah Crombie

In the Last Analysis by Amanda Cross (and the rest of her Kate Fansler series) PARTLY FINISHED

The Rebel Angels by Robertson Davies (reviewed here) FINISHED

What's Bred in the Bone by Robertson Davies FINISHED

The Lyre of Orpheus by Robertson Davies FINISHED

White Noise by Don DeLillo ON OVERDRIVE

Death is Now My Neighbour by Colin Dexter (from his Inspector Morse series)

The Silent World of Nicholas Quinn by Colin Dexter (from his Inspector Morse series)

The English School of Murder by Ruth Dudley Edwards

The Trick of It by Michael Frayn

Death at the President's Lodging by Michael Innes FINISHED

The Weight of the Evidence by Michael Innes

A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood (reviewed here) FINISHED

Redback by Howard Jacobson

Pictures from an Institution by Randall Jarrell

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova FINISHED

My Latest Grievance by Elinor Lipman (reviewed here) FINISHED

The British Museum is Falling Down by David Lodge FINISHED

Thinks by David Lodge TBR SHELF

Deaf Sentence by David Lodge (reviewed here) FINISHED

Changing Places by David Lodge (reviewed here) FINISHED

Small World by David Lodge FINISHED

Nice Work by David Lodge FINISHED

The War Between the Tates by Alison Lurie

A New Life by Bernard Malamud

All Souls by Javier Marias

An Oxford Tragedy by J. C. Masterman FINISHED

The Groves of Academe by Mary McCarthy (reviewed here) FINISHED

Irish Tenure by Ralph McInerny (and the rest of his Notre Dame mystery series)

The Search Committee by Ralph McInerny

Prisoner in a Red-Rose Chain by Jeffrey Moore

Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov FINISHED

Pnin by Vladimir Nabokov FINISHED

The Lost Journals of Sylvia Plath by Kimberly Knutsen TBR SHELF

Blue Angel by Francine Prose FINISHED

Japanese by Spring by Ishmael Reed

Letting Go by Philip Roth FINISHED

The Professor of Desire by Philip Roth FINISHED

The Breast by Philip Roth

The Dying Animal by Philip Roth FINISHED

The Human Stain by Philip Roth (reviewed here) FINISHED

That Old Cape Magic by Richard Russo FINISHED

Straight Man by Richard Russo ON OVERDRIVE

The Small Room by May Sarton FINISHED

Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers FINISHED

Dear Committee Members by Julie Schumacher FINISHED

The Shakespeare Requirement by Julie Schumacher ON OVERDRIVE

Porterhouse Blue by Tom Sharpe

Grantchester Grind by Tom Sharpe  

Moo by Jane Smiley FINISHED

On Beauty by Zadie Smith (reviewed here) FINISHED

The Masters by C.P. Snow FINISHED

Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner FINISHED

The Secret History by Donna Tartt FINISHED

Miss Pym Disposes by Josephine Tey TBR SHELF

Memories of the Ford Administration by John Updike TBR SHELF

Stoner by John Williams FINISHED

The Hair of Harold Roux by Thomas Williams (reviewed here) FINISHED

Anglo-Saxon Attitudes by Angus Wilson FINISHED


NOTES

Updated December 28, 2022. If you have suggestions for additions to this list, please leave a comment!

Mailbox Memorial Day

Last week, I got a big stack of books from Booktique, the Friends of the Library used book store in Lake Oswego. What books came into your house last week?

The Light of Day by Graham Swift

The Bowl Is Already Broken by Mary Kay Zuravleff

Murther and Walking Spirits by Robertson Davies

A Ngaio Marsh Omnibus: Grave Mistake, Spinsters in Jeopardy, and Overture to Death

The Colette Omnibus: Cheri, The Last of Cheri, Gigi, The Vagabonds, and The Shackle

The Middle Ground by Margaret Drabble

How it All Began by Penelope Lively

A Long Finish by Michael Dibdin

The Copper Beech by Maeve Binchy

A Woman of Means by Peter Taylor

A Book of Common Prayer by Joan Didion

The Ponder Heart by Eudora Welty

We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea by Arthur Ransome

Esprit De Corps & Stiff Upper Lip by Lawrence Durrell

The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold by Evelyn Waugh

Murder in the Rue Dumas by M. L. Longworth

Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis

What looks good?

Thanks for joining me for Mailbox Monday, a weekly "show & tell" blog event where participants share the books they acquired the week before. Visit the Mailbox Monday website to find links to all the participants' posts and read more about Books that Caught our Eye.

Mailbox Monday is graciously hosted by Leslie of Under My Apple Tree, Serena of Savvy Verse & Wit, and Vicki of I'd Rather Be at the Beach.

Five Faves: Big Yarns

FIVE FAVE BIG YARNS

Summer is a great time to fall into a "Big Yarn" kind of book, which I define as an absorbing story with a strong, coherent plot, fully-developed characters, drama, a reasonable tempo, and at least a few thought-provoking ideas. To me, Big Yarns offer more plot then philosophy and don't get experimental with structure or language.

My general definition excludes genre novels, like thrillers, which can be absorbing page-turners, but (with exceptions) tend to lack fully-developed characters and thought-provoking ideas. I also think of books that appeal to readers of both sexes and most ages. In my mind, The Count of Monte Cristo is the grand daddy of all Big Yarns. Most Dickens books and many other 19th Century novels also qualify.

What are some of your favorite Big Yarns? A short list of my favorites include:

• Brazzaville Beach by William Boyd (reviewed here)

• What's Bred in the Bone by Robertson Davies (reviewed here)

• The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney (reviewed here)

• Empire Falls by Richard Russo (reviewed here)

• Sacred Hunger by Barry Unsworth (reviewed here)

In making this list, I realized just how much I enjoy Big Yarns, because I reviewed all of them.

FIVE FAVES

There are times when a full-sized book list is just too much; when the Top 100, a Big Read, or all the Prize winners seem like too daunting an effort. That's when a short little list of books grouped by theme may be just the ticket.

Inspired by Nancy Pearl's "Companion Reads" chapter in Book Lust – themed clusters of books on subjects as diverse as Bigfoot and Vietnam – I decided to start occasionally posting lists of five books grouped by topic or theme. I call these posts my Five Faves.

Feel free to grab the button and play along. Use today's theme or come up with your own. If you post about it, please link back to here and leave the link to your post in a comment. If you want to participate but don't have a blog or don't feel like posting, please share your list in a comment.

Mailbox Monday

Thanks for joining me for Mailbox Monday! MM was created by Marcia, who graciously hosted it for a long, long time, before turning it into a touring event (details here).

It looks like Bob from Beauty in Ruins has stepped in as substitute host for September.  Please visit his blog, where he specializes in reviewing and posting on science-fiction, fantasy, and horror books.

We just got back from our annual road trip vacation.  I spent two fabulous weeks disconnected from the social network, exploring the Canadian Rockies.  We did nothing but hike, read, and relax.  I saw six bears! Including this gal who was walking along beside our car.

 

One of my favorite things about car vacations is how they offer opportunities to collect new books.  I love the Take-One-Leave-One shelves at B&Bs, Friends of the Library shops at local libraries, and used book stores in little towns.  I passed along the paperbacks I read while on vacation, but I brought back an enticing little stack of books for my own TBR shelves:



Field of Blood by Denise Mina.  I recently went to a book reading by Jump the Gun author Zoe Burke. who said she loves Mina's Glasgow mysteries.  This is the first of a trilogy I was happy to find.



Deadly Appearances by Gail Bowen.  It was fun to find this mystery by a Canadian author when I was on vacation in Canada.



MacPherson's Lament by Sharyn McCrumb.  This caught my eye even though it is the seventh book in a series I've never read. If I like it, I will go back and fill in.



A Mixture of Frailties by Robertson Davies. This is the third book in his Salterton Trilogy.  I have the first one, Tempest-Tost, so now only have to find the middle volume, Leaven of Malice.  I am on a Davies roll, having just finished, loved, and reviewed What's Bred in the Bone.



The Thanatos Syndrome by Walker Percy.  I enjoyed The Moviegoer, but haven't read any of Percy's other novels.  I intend to change that.



Bonjour, Happiness! by Jamie Cat Callan.  Might be fun. Might be stupid. 

Review: What's Bred in the Bone by Robertson Davies

 


Francis Cornish was an eccentric Canadian art collector who, in The Rebel Angels, died and left his enormous, disorganized, uncatalogued, and partially pilfered art collection to be sorted through by three co-executors of his estate. What's Bred in the Bone is the second book in Robertson Davies’ “Cornish Trilogy,” which concludes with The Lyre of Orpheus.

This second volume tells the remarkable, and stand-alone, story of Cornish’s life. Born to affluence in a backwoods Canadian town, Cornish was the poor little rich kid bullied by his roughneck schoolmates, all but abandoned by his politically influential parents who spent their time in Ottowa, and raised by an eccentric bunch of relatives and family retainers. While studying art and philosophy in pre-war Oxford, Cornish was recruited to act as an unpaid British spy and sent to Bavaria to report on Nazi concentration camps with the cover of working as an apprentice for a master art restorer.

As if all this wasn’t plot enough, the art restoration project turns out to be an elaborate swindle to undermine the Nazis and save European art treasures. Cornish is in it up to his eyeballs, wrestling with his conscious as an artist as well as the international art community.

Davies wraps the compelling story in bigger ideas about human nature, art, religion, and family. It’s a book to recommend to anyone looking for a ripping yarn, but also one to stand up to multiple readings.

OTHER REVIEWS

If you would like your review of this or any other Robertson Davies book listed here, please leave a comment with a link and I will add it. 

NOTES

I read What's Bred in the Bone as one of my books for two of the TBR challenges I am doing this year: The MT. TBR CHALLENGE (hosted by Bev on My Reader's Block) and the OFF THE SHELF CHALLENGE (hosted by Bonnie on Bookish Ardour).

Teaser Tuesday and GIVEAWAY Winner

GIVEAWAY WINNER

 
Freda at Freda's Voice is the lucky winner of Vacationland by Sarah Stonich, her new collection of connected short stories, all set at Naledi Lodge, a former lake resort in northern Minnesota.

Stonich is the author of two earlier books, both great reads, These Granite Islands and The Ice Chorus, which I reviewed here.  Vacationland looks equally compelling.

TEASER TUESDAY

If anything, she was even more vehement then he against the old people (people over thirty) who had made such a mess of affairs. Of course, they dressed their ideas up in language more politically resonant than this, and they had plenty of books – or Ismay had – that supported their emotions, which they called their principles.

-- What's Bred in the Bone by Robertson Davies.  This is a great yarn kind of book -- my favorite kind.

This is the second book in his "Cornish Trilogy," following The Rebel Angels. The trilogy concludes with The Lyre of Orpheus. The three books are separate stories but all related to the life and influence of Francis Cornish, an eccentric Canadian art collector. Or art forger? I am just getting to the good part!

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by Should Be Reading, where you can find the official rules for this weekly event. 

GIVEAWAY WINNER & Book Beginning: What's Bred in the Bone by Robertson Davies

Please join me every Friday to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author's name.

GIVEAWAY:  Big thanks to everyone who participated in this week's giveaway for
Cleans Up Nicely by Linda Dahl, a new novel about the 1970s art scene in New York City.  The two lucky winners are Laurel-Rain Snow at Rainy Days & Mondays and Story Corner, and Tammi at Picture Perfect Cooking.

EARLY BIRDS: I am experimenting with getting this post up Thursday evening for those who like to get their posts up and linked early on. We'll try it this way for a couple of months to see if people like the option of early posting. If you have feelings one way or the other, please comment.

TWITTER, ETC: If you are on Twitter, Google+, or other social media, please post using the hash tag #BookBeginnings. I am trying to follow all Book Beginning participants on whatever interweb sites you are on, so please let me know if I have missed any and I will catch up.

MR. LINKY: Please leave a link to your post below. If you don't have a blog, but want to participate, please leave a comment with your Book Beginning.



MY BOOK BEGINNING



"The book must be dropped."

-- What's Bred in the Bone by Robertson Davies.

This is the second book in his "Cornish Trilogy," following The Rebel Angels. The trilogy concludes with The Lyre of Orpheus. The three books are separate stories but all related to the life and influence of Francis Cornish, an eccentric Canadian art collector.

I have been slow to get to Robertson Davies, despite recommendations I would normally jump on. Several of his books have sat on my TBR shelf for years. The basis of my reluctance is insubstantial -- I was put off by the cover art of this book and others and by his author's picture. How could someone who looks like an Oregon Trail pioneer write a book that I would enjoy?

But I took the plunge with The Rebel Angels and enjoyed it -- loved it for the most part and was put off by a couple of atrocious set pieces that took time to recover from. My review is here. What's Bred in the Bone has me sucked in and I hope to devote much of the upcoming weekend to it.

Opening Sentence of the Day: The Rebel Angels

"Parlabane is back."

-- The Rebel Angels by Robertson Davies. 

That is not an opening sentence likely, standing alone, to draw anyone into the book. But the return of Dr. John Parlabane to the College of St. John and the Holy Ghost (or "Spook" to it's denizens) does stir things up for this group of professors and their beautiful student, Maria Magdalena Theotoky.

This is the first in Davies's "Cornish Trilogy."  I've never read his books and have been meaning to for years. It is about time I started. I love a good academia novel and this is one of the best.