2022 Audiobook Challenge -- My Wrap-Up Post

 THE 2022 AUDIOBOOK CHALLENGE

WRAP-UP POST

COMPLETED

I blew past my challenge goal of reading 50+ audiobooks this year! I've read 63 books with my ears in 2022 and will probably finish 65 before the the new year. See list below.

CHALLENGE

Caffeinated Reviewer and That’s What I’m Talking About host a popular audiobook challenge every year, although 2022 was only the second time I participated. I signed up at the Marathoner level to read 50 or more audiobooks in 2022. 

I love reading with my ears! I download audiobooks from the library to my phone using the Libby app and listen all the time. In good weather, I like to walk to work, which gives me a good hour of audiobook reading in a day. I also listed when I drive, cook, fold laundry, and do other chores. In 2021, I read 131 books and 70 of them were audiobooks. 

One thing I started doing in 2022 was to combine my love of audiobooks with my desire to clear book books off my TBR shelves. I went through my TBR list, found which ones were available as audiobooks from the library, and put them on my Libby wishlist. It may seem odd to listen to the audiobook when I have the physical book already, but I have soooooooooo many book books on my shelves that it would take me years to get to all of them. If I can free up shelf space (and brain space) by reading a book with my ears and getting rid of the paper book, I'm happy. 

MY 2022 AUDIOBOOKS

Here is the list of books I read as audiobooks in 2022, in the order I read them. Do you see any of your own favorites here?

• Katherine by Anya Seton (TBR shelf) 

• The Bostonians by Henry James (TBR shelf) 

• A Glass of Blessings by Barbara Pym (TBR shelf) 

• Murder at the Mill by M. B. Shaw 

• Dangling Man by Saul Bellow (TBR shelf)

• The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz 

• The Last Anniversary by Liane Moriarty 

• A Narrow Door by Joanne Harris 

• The Nest by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney 

• The Anatomy Lesson by Philip Roth (TBR shelf)

• In Order to Live by Yeonmi Park (Book Club) 

• The Falls by Ian Rankin (TBR shelf) 

• The Midnight Library by Matt Haig (Book Club) 

• Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald (TBR shelf, reread) 

• The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz 

• Little Big Man by Larry McMurtry (TBR shelf) 

• The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon (TBR shelf)

• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl 

• Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty 

• The Prague Orgy by Philip Roth (TBR shelf)

• The Sentence is Death by Anthony Horowitz 

• Hell of a Book by Jason Mott (National Book Award)

• Trio by William Boyd

• As Husbands Go by Susan Isaac 

• Lucky by Marissa Stapley (Book Club) 

• The Skull Beneath the Skin by P. D. James (TBR shelf)

• Galileo's Daughter by Dava Sobel (TBR shelf) 

• Taste: My Life Through Food by Stanley Tucci (Book Club) 

• Only in Naples by Katherine Wilson 

• A Line to Kill by Anthony Horowitz 

• The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton (TBR shelf)

• Holy Orders by Benjamin Black 

• Blue Moon by Lee Child (TBR shelf)

• The Long Way Home by Louise Penny

• Broken Harbor by Tana French (TBR shelf)

• The Counterlife by Philip Roth (TBR shelf)

• Destination Unknown by Agatha Christie

• Mr. Majestyk by Elmore Leonard (TBR shelf)

• The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles (Book Club) 

• The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel

• Woke Racism: How a New Religion has Betrayed Black America by John McWhorter

• The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie (TBR shelf) 

• Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus (Book Club)

• Three Wishes by Liane Moriarty 

• Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones (TBR shelf)

• The Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware

• The A.B.C. Murders by Agatha Christie (TBR shelf)

• Nocturnes by Kazuo Ishiguro (TBR shelf)

• North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell (Victober)

• The Sittaford Mystery by Agatha Christie (TBR shelf)

• The Story of Lucy Gault by William Trevor (TBR shelf)

• The Underdog and Other Stories by Agatha Christie (TBR shelf)

• The Sweet Life in Paris: Delicious Adventures in the World's Most Glorious - and Perplexing - City by David Lebovitz (TBR shelf)

• Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness by William Styron

• Literary Life: A Second Memoir by Larry McMurtry (TBR shelf)

• What to Read and Why by Francine Prose

• Toast: The Story of a Boy's Hunger by Nigel Slater (TBR shelf)

• Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo" by Zora Neale Hurston (TBR shelf)

• Spinster: Making a Life of One's Own by Kate Bolick (TBR shelf)

• White Teeth by Zadie Smith (TBR shelf)

• One Fifth Avenue by Candace Bushnell (TBR shelf)

• The Mistletoe Murder: And Other Stories by P. D. James (TBR shelf)

• The Scapegoat by Daphne du Maurier (buddy read)

Love is Blind by William Boyd -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

I really am here on Friday with Book Beginnings. Sorry I didn't get the post up early! I was out of the office most of the day yesterday and forgot to post before I left!

What are you reading this week? Please share the opening sentence (or so) with us here on Book Beginnings on Fridays. 

MY BOOK BEGINNING

Brodie Moncur stood in the main window of Channon & Co. and looked out at the hurrying pedestrians, the cabs, carriages and laboring drays of George Street.

-- from Part I, Edinburgh 1894, Chapter 1, in Love is Blind by William Boyd. This is historical fiction set at the turn of the 20th Century. It is a plot-driven novel about a Scottish piano tuner sent to manage the Paris branch of a piano company. He becomes professionally involved with an Irish concert pianist and romantically involved with that man’s Russian girlfriend. Things get even more complicated when their entire retinue relocates to St. Petersburg.

This is one of my book club's picks for this summer and I love it. I am just about finished with it and have enjoyed every page. 

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

Please leave a link to your Book Beginning post in the Linky box below. If you post on social media, please use the hashtag #bookbeginnings so we can find each other. 

Speaking of social media, if you are on Instagram, you can find me at my new account, gilioncdumas. My old account got hacked and my many attempts to retrieve it were unsuccessful, so I started over. Find me at my new account! The new account is my name with my middle initial C. You should probably unfollow my old "giliondumas" account (no middle initial). The nasty hackers are quiet now but you never know when they might try to spam you or sell you cryptocurrency!

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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 Love is Blind:

“Paris, Brodie, Paris! The city of light. La ville lumineuse. How I envy you!”

Enjoy your weekend!

James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction -- LIST

 

THE JAMES TAIT BLACK PRIZE

The James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction is one of the oldest and most prestigious book prizes. It has been awarded since 1919 for literature written in the English language. The award is based at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. The winner is chosen by two academic scholars in the English Department, with the assistance of PhD students.

I am not going to keep updating the winners after 2020. My enthusiasm for prize-winners is waning with the 2020s. I plan to focus my efforts on reading the winners up to 2020 then declare victory and move on to other bookish projects.

So far, I have read only 23 of the winners. The prize may offer literary prestige and £10,000, but it doesn't guarantee popular success or that your book will stay in print! Some of these are hard to find. Here is the list, with notes about whether I've read a book, if it is on my TBR shelf, or if it available as an audiobook from my library:

2020 Lote by Shola von Reinhold

2019 Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann ON OVERDRIVE

2018 Crudo by Olivia Lang

2017 Attrib. and Other Stories by Eley Williams

2016 The Lesser Bohemians by Eimear McBride FINISHED

2015 You Don’t Have to Live Like This by Benjamin Markovits 

2014 In the Light of What We Know by Zia Haider Rahman ON OVERDRIVE

2013 Harvest by Jim Crace ON OVERDRIVE

2012 The Deadman's Pedal by Alan Warner
 
2010 The Lotus Eaters by Tatjana Soli ON OVERDRIVE

2009 The Children's Book by A. S. Byatt ON OVERDRIVE

2008 The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry (reviewed here) FINISHED

2007 Our Horses in Egypt by Rosalind Belben

2006 The Road by Cormac McCarthy

2005 Saturday by Ian McEwan FINISHED

2004 GB84 by David Peace

2003 Personality by Andrew O'Hagan

2002 The Corrections by Jonathon Franzen FINISHED

2001 Something Like a House by Sid Smith

2000 White Teeth by Zadie Smith FINISHED

1999 Renegade or Halo2 by Timothy Mo

1998 Master Georgie by Beryl Bainbridge TBR SHELF

1997 Ingenious Pain by Andrew Miller TBR SHELF

1996 Last Orders by Graham Swift (FINISHED) and Justine by Alice Thompson

1995 The Prestige by Christopher Priest (reviewed here) FINISHED

1994 The Folding Star by Alan Hollinghurst TBR SHELF

1993 Crossing the River by Caryl Phillips

1992 Sacred Country by Rose Tremain

1991 Downriver by Iain Sinclair

1990 Brazzeville Beach by William Boyd (reviewed here) FINISHED

1989 A Disaffection by James Kelman

1988 A Season in the West by Piers Paul Read

1987 The Golden Bird: Two Orkney Stories by George Mackay Brown

1986 Persephone by Jenny Joseph

1985 Winter Garden by Robert Edric

1984 Empire of the Sun by J. G. Ballard and Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter TBR SHELF BOTH

1983 Allegro Postillions by Jonathan Keates

1982 On the Black Hill by Bruce Chatwin TBR SHELF

1981 Midnight's Children (reviewed here) and The Mosquito Coast by Paul Theroux FINISHED BOTH

1980 Waiting for the Barbarians by J. M. Coetzee

1979 Darkness Visible by William Golding TBR SHELF

1978 Plumb by Maurice Gee

1977 The Honorable Schoolboy by John le Carre TBR SHELF

1976 Doctor Copernicus by John Banville TBR SHELF

1975 The Great Victorian Collection by Brian Moore

1974 Monsieur, or The Prince Of Darkness by Lawrence Durrell TBR SHELF

1973 The Black Prince by Iris Murdoch TBR SHELF

1972 G by John Berger (reviewed here) FINISHED

1971 A Guest of Honour by Nadine Gordimer

1970 The Bird of Paradise by Lily Powell

1969 Eva Trout by Elizabeth Bowen TBR SHELF

1968 The Gasteropod by Maggie Ross

1967 Jerusalem the Golden by Margaret Drabble TBR SHELF

1966 Such by Christine Brooke-Rose and Langrishe, Go Down by Aidan Higgins TBR SHELF

1965 The Mandelbaum Gate by Muriel Spark (reviewed here) FINISHED

1964 The Ice Saints by Frank Tuohy FINISHED

1963 A Slanting Light by Gerda Charles

1962 Act of Destruction by Ronald Hardy

1961 The Ha-Ha by Jennifer Dawson TBR SHELF

1960 Imperial Caesar by Rex Warner

1959 The Devil's Advocate by Morris West TBR SHELF

1958 The Middle Age of Mrs Eliot by Angus Wilson

1957 At Lady Molly's by Anthony Powell FINISHED

1956 The Towers of Trebizond by Rose Macauley FINISHED

1955 Mother and Son by Ivy Compton-Burnett

1954 The New Men FINISHED and The Masters FINISHED by C. P. Snow 

1953 Troy Chimneys by Margaret Kennedy

1952 Men at Arms by Evelyn Waugh FINISHED

1951 Father Goose by W. C. Chapman-Mortimer

1950 Along the Valley by Robert Henriquez

1949 The Far Cry by Emma Smith

1948 The Heart of the Matter by Graham Greene FINISHED

1947 Eustace and Hilda by L. P. Hartley TBR SHELF

1946 Poor Man's Tapestry by G. Oliver Onions

1945 Travellers by L. A. G. Strong

1944 Young Tom by Forrest Reid

1943 Tales From Bective Bridge by Mary Lavin

1942 Monkey by Wu Ch'eng-en (translation by Arthur Whaley)

1941 A House of Children by Joyce Cary

1940 The Voyage by Charles Morgan

1939 After Many a Summer Dies the Swan by Aldous Huxley FINISHED

1938 A Ship of the Line and Flying Colours by C. S. Forester

1937 Highland River by Neil M. Gunn

1936 South Riding by Winifred Holtby TBR SHELF

1935 The Root and the Flower by L. H. Myers

1934 I, Claudius (FINISHED) and Claudius the God by Robert Graves ON OVERDRIVE

1933 England, Their England by A. G. Macdonell TBR SHELF

1932 Boomerang by Helen Simpson

1931 Without My Cloak by Kate O'Brien TBR SHELF

1930 Miss Mole by E. H. Young TBR SHELF

1929 The Good Companions by J. B. Priestley

1928 Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man by Siegfried Sassoon TBR SHELF

1927 Portrait of Clare by Francis Brett Young

1926 Adam's Breed by Radclyffe Hall

1925 The Informer by Liam O'Flaherty

1924 A Passage to India by E. M. Forster FINISHED

1923 Riceyman Steps by Arnold Bennett TBR SHELF

1922 Lady Into Fox by David Garnett FINISHED

1921 Memoirs of a Midget by Walter de la Mare

1920 The Lost Girl by D. H. Lawrence

1919 The Secret City by Hugh Walpole TBR SHELF

NOTES

This list is so long, and there are so many books on it that look good to me, that I plan to confine myself to completing the 20th Century winners only. I'll cut myself some slack and not try to keep up with the list into the 21st Century. I think I will adopt the same plan for several of the lists I'm working on. My heart is with mid-20th Century fiction so I'll stick with that. I get enough contemporary fiction as it is without keeping up with all the prize winners. 

Updated July 3, 2025. This is a redo of the list I originally posted in 2009. 

Mailbox Monday: Box of Books from Powell's

A box of books from Powell's Books was the highlight of my week last week! What new books came to your house?

Do any of these catch your fancy? There was a reason I picked each one:

A Crime in the Neighborhood by Suzanne Berne. Berne won the 1999 Women's Prize for Fiction (then called the Orange Prize) for this debut novel. I'm working my way through the winners of the Women's Prize.

Theory of War by Joan Brady. Brady won the Costa Book of the Year Award (then called the Whitbread BOTY Award) in 1993 for this novel about the American Civil War. I'm also reading the winners of this prize.

The Cat Who Went to Paris and The Cat Who'll Live Forever by Peter Gethers. These are for my mom and sister, who just finished Gethers's other book about Norton the Cat, A Cat Abroad.

Bamboo by William Boyd. I'm working my way through all of Boyd's books, including this collection of essays and criticism.

Powell's Books is Portland's – and the world's – largest independent bookstore. It is a book-lovers' Mecca, general tourist attraction, and the cultural heart of downtown Portland. Known as Powell's City of Books, Powell's downtown store is a labyrinth of new and used books.

Like most retail stores, Powell's has been closed for almost two months now because of coronavirus. Portlanders have rallied around our favorite shops and restaurants, including Powell's. I've been trying to buy as many books from as many local bookstores as I can, including Powell's. I ordered Easter books for my grandkids and ordered a batch of used books for myself. Powell's offers free shipping on orders over $25.

Lots of local bookstores are offering curbside pickup or even local delivery these days. If there is no local bookshop where you live, you can also order from Bookshop.org and it will find the nearest independent bookstore or your favorite book shop and that store will get a percentage of the proceeds from every order.

Mailbox Monday is  a weekly "show & tell" event to share the books you 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 the prior week.

Leslie of Under My Apple Tree, Serena of Savvy Verse & Wit, and Martha of Reviews by Martha's Bookshelf host Mailbox Monday.

2018 CHALLENGE: European Reading Challenge Wrap Up

COMPLETED

This is my personal wrap up post for the 2018 European Reading Challenge.

If you have completed the 2018 challenge, please got to the official wrap up page and add a link to your wrap up post. To post a review for a 2018 book, please go to the review page.

The 2019 challenge will be posted ASAP.

BOOKS I READ

The Virgin in the Garden by A. S. Byatt (UK)

The Tsar of Love and Techno by Anthony Marra (Russia)

Long Ago in France: The Years in Dijon by M. F. K. Fisher (France)

The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson (Sweden)

Austerlitz by W. G. Sebald (Germany; National Book Critics Circle Award winner)

The Lesser Bohemians by Eimear McBride (Ireland; James Tate Black Memorial Prize winner)

Nemesis by Jo Nesbo (Norway)

Exodus by Leon Uris (Belgium)

Waiting for Sunrise by William Boyd (Austria)

The Janissary Tree by Jason Goodwin (Turkey; Edgar Award winner)

Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay by Elena Ferrante (Italy)

Gertrude and Claudius by John Updike (Denmark)

Outline by Rachel Cusk (Greece)

I visited a total of 13 different countries for this challenge, which is pretty good for me. What is better, for me, is that four of the books were translated to English from the authors' native languages. I read a lot of books set in other countries, but not usually by authors from other countries.

Book Beginning: Any Human Heart by William Boyd

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

THANKS FOR JOINING ME ON FRIDAYS FOR BOOK BEGINNING FUN!

MY BOOK BEGINNING

We – the five Roman Catholics – were walking back from the bus stop up the drive to school, fresh from Mass, when Barrowsmith and four or five of his Neanderthals started chanting “Papist dogs” and “Fenian traitors” at us.

-- Any Human Heart by William Boyd. I love this book. There isn't much of a Catholic theme to it, despite its opening sentence, at least not in the first third that I've read so far.

Has anyone else read it or watched the miniseries? Did you prefer the book or the show?

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.

EARLY BIRDS & SLOWPOKES: This weekly post goes up Thursday evening for those who like to get their posts up and linked early on. But feel free to add a link all week.

FACEBOOK: Rose City Reader has a Facebook page where I post about new and favorite books, book events, and other bookish tidbits, as well as link to blog posts. I'd love a "Like" on the page! You can go to the page here to Like it. I am happy to Like you back if you have a blog or professional Facebook page, so please leave a comment with a link and I will find you.

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

TIE IN: 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.

YOUR BOOK BEGINNING

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.

Review of the Day: Nat Tate

 

The New York art world feted William Boyd on the 1998 publication Nat Tate: An American Artist, 1928 – 1960. David Bowie hosted the launch party; critics and artists flocked to celebrate the life of the tragic genius.

The hitch was that Nat Tate never existed. Named after two London museums – the National Gallery and the Tate – Boyd had invented the artist and his life. The whole thing was a gag. And the art world fell for it.

The risk with reissuing the book now is that, since everyone knows the punch line (it's described on the back cover), the joke will fall flat. No fear. Being in on the ruse takes away the gotcha moment, but allows the reader to appreciate Boyd's satiric talents.

Boyd is an excellent writer and the short format of this pseudo-biography – like a museum book published for an artist retrospective – shows him at his pithy best. He blends enough salacious gossip into the biographical detail, along with references to real artists like William de Kooning and Georges Braque, to give an authentic ring to the whole thing.

Mixed with plenty of photographs and color art plates, Nat Tate is a literary one-off that deserves its reprinting.

OTHER REVIEWS

The New Confessions (reviewed here)

Brazzaville Beach (reviewed here; winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize)

Restless (reviewed here)

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

NOTES

I got my copy from LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program. 

Mailbox Monday

Thanks for joining me for Mailbox Monday! MM was created by Marcia at A girl and her books (fka The Printed Page), who graciously hosted it for a long, long time, before turning it into a touring meme (details here).

A Sea of Books is hosting in July. Please visit Gwendolyn's wonderful blog for great books ideas.

Two books came into my house last week. One is a treat from my husband to distract me from the three new car manual books he bought himself.

Playing With Books: The Art of Upcycling, Deconstructing, and Reimagining the Book by Jason Thompson.  Creative inspiration.




Nat Tate: An American Artist: 1928-1960 by William Boyd. This is a reprint of a funny little book Boyd published as a spoof of the New York art world. I got it from LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program. 

Mailbox Holiday Monday

Thanks for joining me for Mailbox Monday! MM was created by Marcia at A girl and her books (fka The Printed Page), who graciously hosted it for a long, long time, before turning it into a touring meme (details here).

A Sea of Books is hosting in July. Please visit Gwendolyn's wonderful blog for great books ideas. She also has a GIVEAWAY going this week for a copy of

MURDER IN THE HIGH HIMALAYA

by Jonathan Green

When I was in Eugene last week for a mediation, I visited Smith Family Bookstore and picked up a short stack of books.  What a great store! They had tons of used books in very good condition and reasonable prices. The shelves overflow into stacks on the floor. I could have spent hours.

I was most excited about a stash of William Boyd novels:

An Ice-Cream War



Stars and Bars




The Blue Afternoon



And also found a collection of essays by Christopher Buckley:

Wry Martinis

Review of the Day: Brazzeville Beach

William Boyd won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his mesmerizing novel Brazzaville Beach.

Narrator Hope Clearwater sets out to explain why she is living on the edge of Africa, in a dead-end scrap of a village called Brazzaville Beach. Her story is two-fold: what happened to her marriage in England that drove her to Africa in the first place, and what happened at the chimpanzee research preserve afterward.

Hope had married a math genius, and then wrestled with jealousy of his monomania when her own career took time to get traction. The story has a classic X-shaped structure, with her life and career improving while her husband's falls apart.

The second story about the chimpanzees is more exciting and less theoretical. Hope discovers a violent division in the chimpanzee tribe, but must fight her boss – a world authority on chimpanzee behavior – to expose the truth. The resolution is a little subdued given the action leading up to it, but it is still an absorbing tale.

Both stories are fascinating, although they never really tie together thematically. Other than both involving science and both leading to Hope's further independence, there isn't a lot of connection between the two narratives. But Boyd knows how to tell a story and this novel is no exception. Worth the read.

OTHER REVIEWS

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

NOTES

I read this as one of my James Tait Black Memorial Prize picks for the 2011 Battle of the Prizes, British Version, Challenge.  William Boyd is one of my favorites.

Teaser Tuesday: Brazzeville Beach

Then, in the distance, I heard more hooting and barking.  The other chimps hooted in response.

-- Brazzaville Beach by William Boyd.

This is a great book about a "primate researcher" in Africa.  I am completely sucked in, just like with every Boyd book I've read.

I am reading this as one of my James Tait Black Memorial Prize picks for the 2011 Battle of the Prizes, British Version, Challenge.  William Boyd is one of my favorites.

Opening Sentence of the Day: Brazzaville Beach

I never really warmed to Clovis -- he was far too stupid to inspire real affection -- but he always claimed a corner of my heart, largely, I suppose, because of the way he instinctively and unconsciously cupped his genitals whenever he was alarmed or nervous.

-- Brazzaville Beach by William Boyd.

I started this one about a year ago, but never got past the first page, despite that attention-grabbing opener.

I am reading this as one of my James Tait Black Memorial Prize picks for the 2011 Battle of the Prizes, British Version, Challenge.  William Boyd is one of my favorites.

Opening Sentence of the Day: Brazzaville Beach

"I never really warmed to Clovis -- he was far too stupid to inspire real affection -- but he always claimed a corner of my heart, largely, I suppose, because of the way he instinctively and unconsciously cupped his genitals whenever he was alarmed or nervous."

-- Brazzaville Beach by William Boyd.

My! That one got my attention.

This won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. William Boyd is one of my favorites.

Mailbox Monday

My mailbox overfloweth last week. Many books really did come in the mail, plus I stopped at one of my favorite library bookstores, the Booktique, when I was in Lake Oswego for a Ladies' Lunch, and I went to Powell's to get my Book Club book. So I have a very long Mailbox Monday list.

BOOKS THAT CAME IN THE MAIL

Nine Simple Patterns for Complicated Women by Mary Rechner. This adorable book came from a Portland publisher called Propeller Books. I didn't ask for it. I don't like short stories. But it has moved from my mailbox to the top of my nightstand TBR-immediately stack because it is irresistible. Not only is the cover so vintage sassy, it is also a beautifully-made book, with thick, rough-cut pages and French flaps. French flaps. That is a trend in book binding that I support wholeheartedly.



The I Hate to Cook Cookbook by Peg Bracken. Despite my ever-growing Guilt list, I asked for this because it is a super-cute 50th Anniversary edition of a 1960s classic. And Peg Bracken was an Oregon author, to boot.



The Truth About Obamacare by Sally Pipes. This is an issue on which I need some guidance!



Maps and Shadows by Krysia Jopek. Following my review of The Mermaid and the Messerschmitt, Aquila Polonica sent me two more books and a DVD about the Siege of Warsaw. This novel looks very good -- I'll read this one.



The Ice Road by Stefan Waydenfeld. This is the second book from Aquila Polonica. It is non-fiction and involves an escape from Soviet labor camps. This one definitely has Mr. Rose City Reader's name on it. I wonder if they have to eat the sled dogs?

BOOKS FROM BOOKTIQUE

Sorry, no pictures of these. I'm in a hotel room in Eugene with horrible internet and I'd rather spend the rest of the evening getting a good start on Rebecca than waiting for every picture to load. 

Brazzaville Beach by William Boyd

Parachutes & Kisses by Erica Jong (the third in the Isadora Wing series)

Perfect Happiness by Penelope Lively

The Journals of Lewis and Clark ("Edited and interpreted by Bernard DeVoto")

Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown (on the Erica Jong list)

The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera (on several lists, but I can't recall which ones)

The Redhunter by William F. Buckley, Jr.

BOOKS FROM POWELL'S

Lavinia by Ursula Le Guin (for Book Club)

The Choir by Joanna Trollope

Author of the Day: William Boyd

William Boyd was born in Ghana in 1952 to Scottish parents, educated at Glasgow University and Oxford, and published his first novel in 1981. He writes short stories, novels, screenplays, essays, and criticism.

I was introduced to Boyd's writing when I found Armadillo left behind at a vacation rental. Based on the paperback format and cover, I expected a mystery and was pleased to discover a literary novel with surprising twists. I know keep an eye out for his books and have enjoyed all that I have read.

His books are listed below in publication order, starting with his debut novel. Those I have read are in red. Those on my TBR shelf are in blue.

A Good Man in Africa

On the Yankee Station and Other Stories

An Ice-Cream War

Stars and Bars

The New Confessions (reviewed here)

Brazzaville Beach (reviewed here; winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize)

The Blue Afternoon

The Destiny of Natalie 'X' and Other Stories

Armadillo

Nat Tate: An American Artist 1928-1960 (reviewed here)

Any Human Heart

Fascination (short stories)

Bamboo (essays and criticiscm)

Restless (reviewed here)

The Dream Lover (short stories)

Ordinary Thunderstorms

Waiting for Sunrise

Solo (a James Bond novel)

Sweet Caress

The Dreams of Bethany Mellmoth (short stories)

Love is Blind


NOTE: Last updated October 15, 2018.

OTHER READERS

If you would like your review of any of William Boyd's books listed here, please leave a comment with a link and I will add it.

Review: Restless

 

Restless by William Boyd is one of the rare novels that is enjoyable from the opening quote to the final paragraph. The story goes back and forth between the cloak-and-dagger world of WWII British espionage and the “contemporary” (1976) relationship between a mother and her daughter.

The premise is that a proper English grandmother, tucked away in a tiny Oxfordshire village, puttering in her garden, gives her daughter a manuscript she wrote, which reveals that she had been a British spy. From there, the story of her life as an intelligence agent develops along with the daughter’s completely new understanding of the person her mother is.

While it has its exciting bits, it is not a heart-racing thriller. Instead, gets into the minds of the characters to look at what it was like to have once been a spy, then live a normal life, and what it would be like to learn that your parent had been a spy with an adventurous life no one knew anything about. Fascinating.

OTHER REVIEWS

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

NOTES

The audio book version was particularly entertaining because the woman who read did remarkably well on the accents. She had to portray characters with a variety of English and American accents, as well as Irish, Scottish, French, German, Russian, Mexican, and Iranian. She did an incredible job.