WINNER! 2024 European Reading Challenge

 

2024 EUROPEAN READING CHALLENGE

THIS IS THE WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT POST FOR 2024

TO FIND THE 2024 REVIEWS, GO TO THIS PAGE

TO FIND THE 2024 WRAP UP POSTS, GO TO THIS PAGE

THE 2025 EUROPEAN READING CHALLENGE SIGN UP IS AT THIS PAGE

2024 was the 12th year of the European Reading Challenge! The challenge involves reading books set in different European countries or written by authors from different European countries.

My big thanks go to all the participants who joined me for the Grand Tour last year!

JET SETTER GRAND PRIZE WINNER

The 2024 Jet Setter prize goes to Sabine at sabines.literary.world who participated on Instagram. 2024 is the fourth year in a row that this intrepid armchair traveler won the challenge. In 2021, Sabine visited all 50 European states -- TWICE! In 2022, she hit another grand slam, but only one time around the continent. In 2023, she slowed down and "only" visited 35 of the 50 European states. In 2024, she hit her stride again, visited all 50 European states, and reviewed the books she read. Her wrap up post discusses her reading journey. 

Honorary Mention (but no prizes) go to the other nine participants who completed the challenge and posted wrap up posts about the countries they visited and the books they read. Here they are, with the number of different countries visited in parenthesis:

• Alexis Drake on Goodreads (8)

• All About Cosy (10)

• Avid Series Reader (15)

• Cinzia at Quattro passi sulle nuvole (21)

• Maphead's Book Blog (30)

• Mark at Carstairs Considers (4)

• Me, Myself, I Read (and Write) (3)

• Reese at Typings (15)

• Tess at tessreadslibri (6)

My own wrap-up post is here. I read books from 14 different European countries, and four were translations. I didn't even try to review the books I read, which is more than I can handle as long as I am running my own law firm.

Congratulations to all the readers who completed the 2024 challenge!

There is still plenty of time to join us in 2025.

JOIN THE 2025 CHALLENGE! SIGN UP HERE!

The gist: The idea is to read books by European authors or books set in European countries (no matter where the author comes from). The books can be anything – novels, short stories, memoirs, travel guides, cookbooks, biography, poetry, or any other genre. You can participate at different levels, but each book must be by a different author and set in a different country – it's supposed to be a tour.

Sign up HERE for the 2025 Challenge.

Possible Reading Challenge -- BOOK THOUGHTS

BOOK THOUGHTS

Possible Reading Challenge

How do you pick the books you are going to read?

I am not a “mood” reader. I don’t pick my next read on whim. If I did, I’d read mostly mysteries, with a few ex-pat memoirs and novels "by women, for women" thrown in. Classics, heavy fiction, history, chunky biographies, and short stories don't jump out at me. I love reading long books, serious books, genres outside my comfort zone, and even short stories when I read them. But I'm not typically in the mood to read them. I need some kind of structure to my reading plan to tackle those books. My two IRL book clubs, Instagram buddy reads, and blog challenges give me that kind of structure.

Today I had a crazy idea of organizing my reading based on the names of each month. (I didn’t say I need formality to find structure!) I occasionally see Instagram posts of stacks of books that spell the name of the month with the first letters of each title. Clever. Now I’m obsessed with the idea of reading a spelling stack of books each month for a year. 

There are a total of 74 letters in the names of the twelve months. May is the shortest, with three letters.  September and December are the longest, with nine letters each. A total of 74 books in a year is doable. I usually read close to twice that many, so I would have plenty of flexibility to work in other books.

I could come up with a whole new challenge based on this wild hare. It would need a clever name and I'm not good at that. I'd probably end up calling it the Spell the Month Challenge. Not very catchy. On the other hand, instead of a new challenge, I could use the idea as a theme for my TBR 25 in '25 Challenge and the Mt. TBR Challenge hosted each year by Bev at My Reader's Block. I signed up with Bev this year to read a total of 60 books off my TBR shelves. I could probably stretch it to 74. 

Or the whole idea could fade away. But for now, here’s a stack of books spelling October. I picked mysteries because I’m already looking to game my own system and bring in the mystery books.

Overture to Death by Ngaio Marsh

Come Away Death by Gladys Mitchell

Telling of Murder by Douglas Rutherford

On the Danger Line by Simenon

Bullets for the Bridegroom by David Dodge

Excellent Intentions by Richard Hull

Red Threads by Rex Stout

Happy reading, however you pick your next book!

Seven Deadly Sins -- BOOK THOUGHTS

BOOK THOUGHTS

Seven Deadly Sins

There is a "Seven Deadly Sins" challenge that periodically buzzes around Bookstagram. It caught my eye the other day and was just the inspiration I needed to try something creative.

What "sinful" books are hiding on your shelves? Here's my collection: 

PRIDE: a big or challenging book

The Collected Poems of W. B. Yeats. It took me years to get through this poetical doorstop. I struggled with a lot of the poems, especially the earlier ones. But I am proud to have accomplished the task of finally finishing it. 

GREED: a book you own in more than one edition

Officers and Gentlemen by Evelyn Waugh. I love Waugh, Graham Greene, and Kingsley Amis and have several duplicate editions of their books because I pick them up when I find an unusually nifty edition. Same goes for Agatha Christy, Charles Dickens, Alexandre Dumas, and a few other classic authors. And I confess to owning several copies of Wind in the Willows. 

LUST: a book you bought for its cover

A Pound of Paper: Confessions of a Book Addict by John Baxter. I didn’t actually buy this myself, but my friend saw the lust in my eyes when I found it and she bought it for me as a surprise.

WRATH: a book you did not enjoy

The Magus by John Fowles. I have enormous tolerance for most books, but this one – NO! I always identify it as my least favorite book. Pompous nitwits running around a stupid island playing games with each other! And all the time spouting humanistic gobblygook about the death of God, or whatever they were prattling on about. I was shocked to find it hiding on my shelf because I thought I gave it away years ago.

GLUTTONY: a book you would reread

The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey. I’ve only recently started rereading and have so many I’d like to revisit. This one is near the top of my list and was first to hand. My book club read it about ten years ago, on my suggestion, and most people didn't like it. I did and it is a classic Golden Age mystery. I'd like to read it again. 

ENVY: a book you’d want to live in

All in One Basket: Nest Eggs by Deborah Devonshire. Debo was the youngest of the Mitford Sisters and my favorite. Ever since I read her memoir, Wait for Me! I've wanted to be her. I have this one and a couple of other book by or about her to feed my fantasy.

SLOTH: a book that’s been on your TBR shelf forever

The Country Girls Trilogy by Edna O’Brien. There are over 2,000 books on my TBR shelves, so I didn’t even try to find the one that’s been there the longest. There are some that have been there since I was in college in the 1980s! This one calls the loudest to me.

NOTES

If you like the idea of this challenge, please play along, on your blog or social media. If you've already done it, please let me know. Either way, please leave a comment with a link to your post so I can find it.

2023 European Reading Challenge -- WINNER!

 

2023 EUROPEAN READING CHALLENGE

THIS IS THE WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT POST FOR 2023

TO FIND THE 2023 REVIEWS, GO TO THIS PAGE

TO FIND THE 2023 WRAP UP POSTS, GO TO THIS PAGE

THE 2024 EUROPEAN READING CHALLENGE SIGN UP IS AT THIS PAGE

2023 was the 11th of the European Reading Challenge! The challenge involves reading books set in different European countries or written by authors from different European countries.

My big thanks go to all the participants who joined me for the Grand Tour last year!

JET SETTER GRAND PRIZE WINNER

The 2023 Jet Setter prize goes to Sabine at sabines.literary.world who participated on Instagram. 2023 is the third year in a row that Sabine has won the challenge. But she slowed down a bit last year. In 2021, Sabine visited all 50 European states -- TWICE! In 2022, she hit another grand slam, but only one time around the continent. In 2023, she visited 35 of the 50 European states and reviewed the books she read. Her wrap up post discusses her reading journey. At this rate, she might actually face competition next year!

Honorary Mention (but no prizes) go to the ten other participants who completed the challenge and posted wrap up posts about the countries they visited and the books they read:

Avid Series Reader (11)

Alexis Drake on Goodreads (7)

Cinzia at Quattro passi sulle nuvole (21)

Mark at Carstairs Considers (6)

Kym at Just a Second (7)

Maphead's Book Blog (26)

Will Work for Books (8)

Reese at Typings (17)

Yvonne at A Darn Good Read (4)

Me, Myself, I Read (and Write) (7)

My own wrap-up post is here. I read 12 books from different European countries, and four were translations, which is better than the year before. I didn't even try to review the books I read, which is more than I can handle as long as I am running my own law firm.

Congratulations to all the readers who completed the 2023 challenge!

There is still plenty of time to join us in 2024.

JOIN THE 2024 CHALLENGE! SIGN UP HERE!

The gist: The idea is to read books by European authors or books set in European countries (no matter where the author comes from). The books can be anything – novels, short stories, memoirs, travel guides, cookbooks, biography, poetry, or any other genre. You can participate at different levels, but each book must be by a different author and set in a different country – it's supposed to be a tour.

Sign up HERE for the 2024 Challenge.

2016 Challenge: The Vintage Mystery Challenge (Silver)

One of my all-time favorite challenges is the Vintage Mystery Challenge hosted by Bev at My Reader's Block. This year, Bev switched from her recent BINGO theme, which I enjoyed but wasn't good at, to a Scavenge Hunt theme that looks like a ton of fun.

I did the Golden version of this challenge for the first few years, reading mysteries published before 1960. That's how I first branched out from Agatha Christie and Rex Stout to Nagio Marsh, Dorothy L. Sayers, and other Golden Agers new-to-me.

Last year I really enjoyed the Silver version, reading mysteries published between 1960 and 1989. Instead of the kitschy, vintage charm of the Golden Oldies, the Silver Age mysteries really push my cultural reference buttons because those were my growing up decades. I wasn't reading Dick Francis novels or Robert Parker's Spencer series when I was in elementary school, but the current events, music, cars, clothes, and attitudes in these books was all around me as a kid.

The Scavenger Hunt involves finding as many items on the list below in the covers of the books read. You can only count one item per book cover. You complete the challenge by "finding" six items on the list, at which point you are entered in Bev's drawing for a prize (if you complete your wrap up post). If you find 12 items on the list, you get entered in a second drawing for a second prize. Bev will also award a Grand Prize for the person who finds the most items.

BOOKS FINISHED

A New Lease of Death by Ruth Rendell (1967; Inspector Wexford #2; Just One Person)


Payment in Blood by Elizabeth George (1989; Inspector Lynley #2; Bloodstains)


Death and the Joyful Woman by Ellis Peters (1961; Inspector Felse #2; Edgar Award Winner; A Blonde)


Billingsgate Shoal by Rick Boyer ((1982; Doc Adams #1; Edgar Award Winner; a boat, although it's hard to see)


Don't Point That Thing At Me by Kyril Bonfiglioli (1972; Mortdecai Trilogy #1; a bottle for drinking)


After You with the Pistol by Kyril Bonfiglioli (1979; Mortdecai Trilogy #2; a hand holding a weapon)


Something Nasty in the Woodshed by Kyril Bonfiglioli (1976; Mortdecai Trilogy #3; the moon)


Missing Person by Patrick Modiano (1978; Nobel Laureate; shadowy figure)


Devices & Desires by P. D. James (1989; Adam Dalgliesh #8; a knife)

2015 CHALLENGE: 2X15 & Mt. TBR -- COMPLETED!

COMPLETED!

2X15: A PERSONAL TBR CHALLENGE

Like I did last year, I am combining the Mt. TBR Challenge with my own, idiosyncratic TBR challenge. I am going to read 30 books for this part of the challenge, one from each of the separate shelves on my TBR bookcases – 23 fiction books, and 7 non-fiction books. Instead of picking any book that looked good from each shelf, I picked the 15th book on each shelf.

This formulaic selection process yielded a random assortment of books. There are a couple of prize winners on the list, a few classics, some pop fiction, and a bunch of crazy stuff that tells me I either have diverse and wide-ranging taste or I need to clean out my TBR shelves! I like this goofy method of picking the books for my TBR challenge because it gets be reading the books that have sat on my shelves for too long.

These are the books in alphabetical order by author. I was planning on reading them in this order, but decided to mix them all up instead.

I also swapped a couple from the original list. Instead of Adventures of Baron Munchausen, which I found impossible, I read The View from Castle Rock and became a late but stalwart Alice Munro fan. Instead of The Mansion, which I didn't realize was the final book in Faulkner's Snopes Trilogy, I am going to read The Marriage Plot.

THE 2X15 LIST

Difficulties with Girls by Kingsley Amis FINISHED

Oscar Wilde: A Certain Genius by Barbara Belford FINISHED

A Bromfield Galaxy by Louis Bromfield (Early Autumn, The Green Bay Tree, A Good Woman) FINISHED

Getting It Right by William F. Buckley Jr. FINISHED

Guard of Honor by James Gould Cozzens FINISHED

I was Told There’d Be Cake by Sloane Crosley FINISHED

Oh. Play that Thing by Roddy Doyle FINISHED

The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides FINISHED

The Book of Jonah by Joshua Max Feldman FINISHED

The Whole World Over by Julia Glass FINISHED

The New York Stories by Elizabeth Hardwick FINISHED

Extra Virgin: A Young Woman Discovers the Italian Riviera, Where Every Month is Enchanted by Annie Hawes FINISHED

Fling: Short Stories by John Hersey FINISHED

Heat and Dust by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala FINISHED

Southern Ladies & Gentlemen by Florence King FINISHED

Nice Work by David Lodge FINISHED

Wickford Point by Marquand FINISHED

Peyton Place by Grace Metalious FINISHED

A Writer’s House in Wales by Jan Morris FINISHED

The View from Castle Rock by Alice Munro FINISHED

Collected Stories by Dorothy Parker FINISHED

Silent Joe by T. Jefferson Parker (Edgar winner) FINISHED

The Rise & Fall of Great Powers by Tom Rachman FINISHED

A Thousand Bells at Noon: A Roman Reveals the Secrets and Pleasures of His Native City by G. Franco Romagnoli FINISHED

The Ghost Writer by Philip Roth FINISHED

Duplicate Keys by Jane Smiley FINISHED

Felicia’s Journey by William Trevor FINISHED (Costa BOTY)

The Lonely Polygamist by Brady Udall FINISHED

Things Invisible to See by Nancy Willard FINISHED (reviewed here)

On Writing Well by William Zinsser FINISHED

I hope to get through many more TBR books, but hit or miss, whatever catches my fancy. I’ll list those here as I go along.

OTHER MT. TBR BOOKS

David Copperfield by Charles Dickens (chunkster)

For Keeps: Women Tell the Truth About Their Bodies, Growing Older, and Acceptance, edited by Victoria Zackheim (2014 TBR Challenge)

Portrait of a Woman in White by Susan Winkler (reviewed here)

The Stories of Vladimir Nabokov (chunkster; 2014 TBR Challenge)

Skios by Michael Frayn

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson (chunkster)

Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi (chunkster; Erica Jong)

The Lyre of Orpheus by Robertson Davies

Night Fall by Nelson DeMille (chunkster)

The Untouchable by John Banville

How to be Good by Nick Hornby

Comeback by Dick Francis

The Treasure Principle: Discovering the Secret of Joyful Giving by Randy Alcorn

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz

The Butcher's Boy by Thomas Perry (Edgar winner)

The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side by Agatha Christie

Cat Chaser by Elmore Leonard

A Caribbean Mystery by Agatha Christie

The Charm School by Nelson DeMille (chunkster)

Promised Land by Robert B. Parker

The Spire by William Golding

Big Money by P. G. Wodehouse

Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates



UPDATED: December 26, 2015

2015 European Reading Challenge: Wrap Up Page

The European Reading Challenge
January 1, 2015 to January 31, 2016

THIS IS THE PAGE FOR WRAP UP POSTS.

TO LIST YOUR REVIEWS, GO TO THIS PAGE.

TO SIGN UP, GO TO THE MAIN CHALLENGE PAGE, HERE,

OR CLICK THE BUTTON ABOVE.

If you have finished the challenge at whatever level you signed up for, and if you did a wrap up post, please enter a link to your wrap up post here.  Please link to your wrap up post, NOT the main page of your blog.

LINK YOUR WRAP UP POST HERE:

2015 European Reading Challenge: Review Page

The European Reading Challenge
January 1, 2015 to January 31, 2016

THIS IS THE PAGE TO LIST YOUR REVIEWS.

IF YOU HAVE FINISHED, WRAP UP POSTS GO HERE.

TO SIGN UP, GO TO THE MAIN CHALLENGE PAGE, HERE,

OR CLICK THE BUTTON ABOVE.

When you review a book for the 2015 European Reading Challenge, please add it to this list using the linky widget below.  Please link to your review post, NOT the main page of your blog. If you don't have a blog, post your reviews in comments on this page.

NOTE: There is overlap in January 2015 between the last month of the 2014 challenge and the first month of the 2015 challenge. If you participated both years, only count books read in January in one of the years, not both.

Please put your name or the name of your blog, the name of the book you reviewed, and the country of the book or author. For example: Rose City Reader, Doctor Zhivago, Russia.

LIST YOUR REVIEW HERE:

2015 CHALLENGE: Foodies Read -- INCOMPLETE

INCOMPLETE!

I didn't come anywhere close to finishing this challenge this year! I only read two food-related books, far short of my usual stack. I hope to make up for the loss in 2016.

--------------------------------------------------

Margot from Joyfully Retired started the Foodies Read Challenge a couple of years ago, before passing the torch to Vicki from I'd Rather Be at the Beach, who now hosts the challenge on its own site, which this year is Foodies Read 2015.

This is always one of my favorite challenges.  I'm signing up again this year for the Pastry Chef level to read four to eight food books in 2015.

BOOKS READ

The Whole World Over by Julia Glass

Blood, Bones & Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef by Gabrielle Hamilton

BOOK POSSIBILITIES

There are several possibilities on my TBR shelves, including:

The Raw Milk Revolution: Behind America's Emerging Battle Over Food Rights by David E. Gumpert

Stuffed: Adventures of a Restaurant Family by Patricia Volk

The Tuscan Year: Life and Food in an Italian Valley by Elizabeth Romer

Epicurean Delight: The Life and Times of James Beard by Evan Jones

A Cordiall Water by M. F. K. Fisher

The Feasting Season by Nancy Coons

Dumas on Food: Selections from Le Grand Dictionnaire de Cuisine by Alexandre Dumas

French Women Don't Get Fat: The Secret of Eating For Pleasure by Mireille Guiliano


NOTE: Updated on December 27, 2015

WEEKEND COOKING

Hosted by Beth Fish Reads

2014 Book Challenge COMPLETED: The Vintage Mystery Challenge

COMPLETED!

Every year I sign up for the Vintage Mystery Challenge hosted by Bev at My Reader's Block.  This year, Bev added a Silver level, but I only participated in the Gold level, reading mysteries published before 1960.

There is a BINGO theme this year, which mixed it up a bit.  Luckily for me, the rules allowed for one wild card or freebie, or I was stuck.

MY BOOK BINGO

The Mystery of the Blue Train by Agatha Christie (book with a COLOR in the title)

What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw (aka 4:50 from Paddington) by Agatha Christie (book with a NUMBER in the title)

Death in the Air (aka Death in the Clouds) by Agatha Christie (book with an AMATEUR detective)

A Man Lay Dead by Ngaio Marsh (book with a PROFESSIONAL detective)

The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey (book set in ENGLAND)

Enter a Murder by Ngaio Marsh (FREEBIE: book set in the ENTERTAINMENT world)

2014 Challenge: Foodies Read -- COMPLETED!

COMPLETED!

Margot from Joyfully Retired started the Foodies Read Challenge a couple of years ago, before passing the torch to Vicki from I'd Rather Be at the Beach, who is hosting the challenge on its own site, Foodies Read 2014.

This is always one of my favorite challenges.  I'm signing up again this year for the Pastry Chef level to read four to eight food books in 2014.

BOOKS FINISHED

The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry: Love, Laughter, and Tears in Paris at the World's Most Famous Cooking School by Kathleen Flinn (reviewed here)

In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto by Michael Pollan ("Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." There's more to it.)

French Women for All Seasons: A Year of Secrets, Recipes, & Pleasure by Mireille Guiliano (maybe she should have left off with French Women Don't Get Fat)

The Pearl Diver by Sujata Massey (a mystery set in the Washington, DC restaurant world)

Stanley Park by Timothy Taylor (an ambitious, creative novel about a Vancouver, BC chef seeking gastronomic authenticity)

BOOK POSSIBILITIES

There are several possibilities on my TBR shelves, including:

The Raw Milk Revolution: Behind America's Emerging Battle Over Food Rights by David E. Gumpert

Stuffed: Adventures of a Restaurant Family by Patricia Volk

The Tuscan Year: Life and Food in an Italian Valley by Elizabeth Romer

Epicurean Delight: The Life and Times of James Beard by Evan Jones

A Cordiall Water by M. F. K. Fisher

The Feasting Season by Nancy Coons

Dumas on Food: Selections from Le Grand Dictionnaire de Cuisine by Alexandre Dumas

French Women Don't Get Fat: The Secret of Eating For Pleasure by Mireille Guiliano

NOTES

Last updated November 1, 2014.

WEEKEND COOKING

Hosted by Beth Fish Reads

Announcement: 2014 European Reading Challenge

The 2014 European Reading Challenge
January 1, 2014 to January 31, 2015

It's time for the 2014 European Reading Challenge!  The SIGN UP PAGE is ready.  The challenge starts January 1, 2014.

The gist: The idea is to read books by European authors or books set in European countries (no matter where the author comes from). The books can be anything – novels, short stories, memoirs, travel guides, cookbooks, biography, poetry, or any other genre. You can participate at different levels, but each book must be by a different author and set in a different country – it's supposed to be a tour.

Sign up here. 

2013 PARTICIPANTS

The 2013 European Reading Challenge will wrap up in just over a month, on January 31, 2014.  Participants still have plenty of time to link to their reviews on THIS PAGE and their wrap-up posts on THIS PAGE.

Kitchen Remodel, Week Twenty-Two: Pots & Pans

We are down to the little, final details in the kitchen. This week, the pot rack went up, which makes my husband particularly pleased because his mother gave it to him decades ago. 

I finally read Medium Raw by Anthony Bourdain. I read it with my ears because he reads it himself and I like audiobooks best when they are read by the author. It was a little name-droppy at times, but I got a kick out of it. He is so enthusiastic. Even when he complains about things, he has such enthusiasm for his gripes.

WEEKEND COOKING

Hosted by Beth Fish Reads

Review: Care of the Soul by Thomas Moore

 

Care of the Soul: A Guide for Cultivating Depth and Sacredness in Everyday Life

by Thomas Moore

When Thomas Moore talks about caring for the soul, he does not mean in a religious, save your soul for the eternal hereafter sense. He is talking about the soul in the sense used by psychiatrists like Jung, poets like Keats or Rilke, Renaissance philosophers, or Greek playwrights. He means that part of our self connected with genuineness, depth, imagination, ambiguity, mystery, myth, and ritual.

Moore’s book, Care of the Soul, is difficult to get into because his concept of soul is so hard to grasp for a busy, contemporary reader, distracted by the buzz of daily life. His whole point is that the soul is not something that can be scientifically defined and examined, fixed or fine tuned. As he says, “Soul is the font of who we are, and yet it is far beyond our capacity to devise and to control.”

Moore’s thesis is that our lives are fuller, richer, and deeper, with a greater recognition of our individual selves the more we cultivate and care for our souls. Conversely, ignoring and starving our souls leads to disillusionment, loss of values, ugliness, and even neuroses.

He explores his thesis first by looking at common issues in everyday life that he argues “offer the opportunity for soul-making, once we stop thinking of them as problems to be solved.” Some of his scenarios and explanations are confusing – for instance, how the myth of Narcissus builds the soul, while the psychological condition of narcissism demonstrates a week soul dominated by the ego. Discussions such as this seem to pre-suppose a familiarity with classical psychoanalysis beyond that of a general reader.

But Care of the Soul has a lot to offer the reader willing to dig in and give due consideration to Moore’s message. In particular, the later sections comparing the soul and the spirit and on tending the soul through artful living are worth pondering and re-reading. For instance, this passage inspires closer attention to day-to-day ritual:

To live with a high degree of artfulness means to attend to the small things that keep the soul engaged in whatever we are doing, and it is the very heart of soul-making. From some grand overview of life, it may seem that only the big events are ultimately important. But to the soul, the most minute details and the most ordinary activities, carried out with mindfulness and art, have an effect far beyond their apparent insignificance.

OTHER REVIEWS

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

NOTES

I've read a couple other "soul" books by Thomas Moore, but this one has been on my TBR shelf forever. I finally read it now 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).

Review: Moonlight Mile by Dennis Lehane

Moonlight Mile picks up the story of Amanda McCready ten years after the end of Gone, Baby, Gone. Amanda is missing again and Patrick Kenzie gets roped in to find her, with help from his firecracker sidekick, Angie Gennaro.

Dennis Lehane knows how to pack in details, keep the action moving, and make the dialog snap. Between the Russian mob and assorted thugs and cons, there is no knowing who will shoot who next or where the story will land. It is exciting right up to the last page.


OTHER REVIEWS

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

NOTES

It is not necessary to read Gone, Baby, Gone before Moonlight Mile in order to understand the story. Moonlight Mile rehashes enough of the earlier story to give context. It also spoils the ending of Gone, Baby, Gone, so if you are inclined to read both, read them in order.

I won Moonlight Mile in a giveaway on Knitting and Sundries -- Thanks Julie!  I should have read it right away, but fell down in my blogger duties.  I finally read it now as one of my books for the TBR challenges I am doing this year:

• MT. TBR CHALLENGE (hosted by Bev on My Reader's Block) 
• OFF THE SHELF CHALLENGE (hosted by Bonnie on Bookish Ardour) 
• TBR PILE CHALLENGE (hosted by Adam on Roof Beam Reader)

Review: Beast in View

Beast in View won Margaret Millar the Edgar Award for the best mystery of 1956, the third year the award was given. Set in the seedier parts of 1950s Los Angeles, this psychological thriller involves a reclusive young heiress and her dysfunctional family members, all being harassed by threatening telephone calls.

Millar followed the hardboiled examples of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, but did it with a feminine twist.  In particular, she gave her female characters more edge, as shows even in this short snippet: 

June knocked on the door and waited, swaying a little, partly because the martini had been double, and partly because a radio down the hall was playing a waltz and waltzes always made her sway. Back and forth her scrawny little body moved under the cheap plaid coat.

Although the themes are a little stale and most of the characters now look like noir stereotypes – back alley pornographers, daytime drinkers, and closeted gays are just a few examples – the book is more than campy, vintage fun.  There is a lot going on and the plot has some decent twists to it.  Every one of the major characters, and a few of the minor ones, seem at one point or another like they could be the villain. 

OTHER REVIEWS

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

NOTES

Beast in View counts as one of my books for the Vintage Mystery Challenge.

Review: The Tin Drum by Günter Grass

Most books you can read, analyze, and review, but some you just have to accept. The Tin Drum by Günter Grass is a book I had to take on its own terms.

The hero of this postwar German classic is Oscar Matzerath, who thought like an adult from the moment he was born.  At his birth, he heard his mother exclaim that he would get a tin drum on his third birthday, while his father announced that the baby would someday take over the family grocery store.  Having no interest in running a grocery store, baby Oscar determined that he would stop growing on his third birthday and remain forever a toddler with a tin drum.  Which he did.

Oscar can also shatter glass with his voice, which he does in dozens of creative and destructive ways.  (The scream singing and a glass shattering are reason enough to skip the movie adaptation.)

Oscar narrates his life story from an insane asylum where he is confined awaiting the outcome of an appeal of a criminal trial.  The story begins with his grandmother rescuing and marrying an escaping arsonist, continues through childhood with his two "presumptive fathers" (his mother's husband and her lover), follows Oscar as he tours with a troupe of performing dwarfs during World War II, to his later role as the leader of a youth gang, and finally his career as a jazz drummer in an avant-garde club where the customers eat raw onions.

So, yes, The Tin Drum is a crazy book, with so much imagery and so much going on and so many ideas swirling around that it is impossible to make sense out of it.  It's a book only a Ph.D. candidate could love.  I had to just let it roll on, laughing at the funny bits – and there are many – mulling over the ideas that grabbed me, and letting go of the rest of it.

OTHER REVIEWS

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NOTES

I've had a copy of The Tin Drum on my TBR shelf forever, but it daunted me.  The whole notion of German literature daunts me.

But I saw that my library had an unabridged audio version of the new translation of this Nobel Laureate's classic, and decided to go that route.  I never would have gotten through the paper version.  I highly recommend the new audiobook from Blackstone Audio.  The reader, Paul Michael Garcia, was over-the-top good. 

Review: Lavinia by Ursula Le Guin

In Lavinia, Ursula Le Guin reimagines the story of how Aeneas (of Virgil's Aeneid) fought the locals of Latinum, married the king’s daughter, and founded Rome. By telling this story from Lavinia’s perspective, Le Guin brings a domestic element to an otherwise military tale.

Le Guin relies on Virgil's account for the backbone of her story. Lavinia is an imperfect narrator because she lacks the personal knowledge needed to describe the battle scenes. So Le Guin provides Lavinia with the necessary information through a series of visions brought on by Lavinia's religious rituals. In these visions, Virgil visits Lavinia from the future and tells her the story of his Aeneid, which Lavinia uses to narrate her contemporaneous tale.

As Anita Diamant's The Red Tent did for the Old Testament, Lavinia brings a female and familial viewpoint to the epic myth of Roman civilization. Le Guin concentrates on the quotidian details and traditions of ancient Rome, admitting that she drew on her imagination as much as on known history.

For me, there was not enough home front content to balance out the battles. The most interesting part was the author's Afterword, where Le Guin explains her love of Virgil's Aeneid, particularly when read in Latin. If I had her devotion to the original classic, I would likely have greater appreciation for Le Guin's retelling.

OTHER REVIEWS

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NOTES

I read Lavinia as one of my books for the TBR challenges I am doing this year:

• MT. TBR CHALLENGE (hosted by Bev on My Reader's Block) 
• OFF THE SHELF CHALLENGE (hosted by Bonnie on Bookish Ardour) 
• TBR PILE CHALLENGE (hosted by Adam on Roof Beam Reader)

Review: A Prefect's Uncle by P. G. Wodehouse

A Prefect's Uncle is P. G. Wodehouse's second published book. Like his first, The Pothunters, it is set in an English boarding school for boys. Except in the long passages describing cricket matches, it is a charming and funny book that hints at the hilarious style Wodehouse later perfected.

The initial gag about the Prefect's uncle arriving at the school provides the title and is quite funny. But that storyline peters out and the main plot involving a poetry contest is not as clever.

The big weakness of the book is Wodehouse's unrelenting concentration on cricket. He describes cricket matches play by play and devotes pages to cricket strategy and other bits of cricket minutia.

Diehard Wodehouse completists may be willing to skim over the cricket passages to glean the funny bits. But those new to Wodehouse should start with one of his later, more popular books.


OTHER REVIEWS

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

NOTES

A Prefect's Uncle was one of my books for the MT. TBR CHALLENGE (hosted by Bev on My Reader's Block) and the OFF THE SHELF CHALLENGE (hosted by Bonnie on Bookish Ardour). 

Review: The Gathering by Anne Enright

It is comforting to think of memory as a recording of past events that can be played back anytime. But the brain does not store memories – especially traumatic memories – in such an orderly and retrievable fashion. In The Gathering, Anne Enright grapples with the chaotic, fragmented, and twisted ways we remember the traumas of childhood.

The memories belong to Veronica, one of the nine surviving Hegarty siblings, gathered for the funeral of their brother Liam. Veronica tries to deal with her grief and make sense of her brother's death by piecing together their family history. She uses her imagination and objective clues to give context to distressing images from the time she and Liam lived with their grandmother.

Veronica's struggle is authentically idiosyncratic. Her grief and the secrets she carries drive some kooky behavior and alienate her from her husband, her mother, and her own daughters. She can be an unattractive, if believable, heroine.

Veronica's off-putting conduct and Enright's sometimes too-obtuse prose makes The Gathering a difficult book. But Enright earned her Booker prize for tackling a harrowing subject and concluding with the important lesson that a problem cannot be solved until it is acknowledged.

OTHER REVIEWS

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

NOTES

The Gathering is one of the books I read for the MT. TBR CHALLENGE (hosted by Bev on My Reader's Block) and the OFF THE SHELF CHALLENGE (hosted by Bonnie on Bookish Ardour).