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).

Lady Q at Let Them Read Books is hosting in December.  Be sure and visit her terrific blog!

I got two books last week, both on a whim:

The Gospel According to Chanel: Life Lessons from the World's Most Elegant Woman by Karen Karbo.  This looks like a great first choice for the Non-Fiction Non-Memoir Challenge I am going to sign up for.



The Ghosts of Belfast by Stuart Neville.



This is his debut novel, published by Soho Crime, publisher of several great series set in foreign lands.  Neville's series (two now) is set in Ireland, other series are set in Greece (Jeffrey Siger), Iceland (Yrsa Sigurdardottir), London (Dan Waddell), and Paris (Cara Black) -- any of which would be great picks for the European Reading Challenge.

20 Days to Christmas!

Review of the Day: The Hair of Harold Roux

Thomas Williams won the 1975 National Book Award for The Hair of Harold Roux, a novel within a novel about balancing a writer's creative impulse with the domestic needs of family life. Specifically, Williams wrote a novel about a college professor writing a semi-autobiographical novel about a college student writing a novel about a man who wrote a novel.

It sounds more confusing – and more experimental – than it is. Williams uses this nested structure to ponder big issues like love, fame, violence, responsibility, and madness, and fills in the spaces with anecdote, humor, and astute observations. But the story rattles right along and makes perfect sense as it goes.

The main story takes place over two days, as professor Aaron Benham struggles to write his novel while his family is out of town without him.  Telephone calls, a friend in trouble, guest teaching a creative writing seminar, a motorcycle crash, memories of old loves, current flirtations, and a faculty meeting distract him from his work.  The short story he reads the seminar students, memories of a long fairy tale he told his children, the first chapter of a novel by Harold Roux (the toupee-wearing character in his novel), and other stories deviate from the plot, but, along with the plot of his novel, combine to tell a full story of Aaron's closely examined life.

Williams is an incredible writer. This is a first-rate novel that deserves a wider audience. Kudos to Bloomsbury USA for reprinting it.

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

I got my copy from LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program.  It counts as one of the two National Winners I am reading for the Battle of the Prizes, American Version, Challenge.

21 Days to Christmas!

2012 Challenge: Battle of the Prizes, British Version

This is the third year Rose City Reader has hosted the Battle of the Prizes, British Version, Challenge.

This challenge pits winners of the English Man Booker Prize against winners of the Scottish James Tait Black Memorial Prize in a British Version of the Battle of the Prizes. (Click here for the American Version.)

Does one prize have higher standards than the other? Pick better winners? Provide more reading entertainment or educational value? Maybe challenge participants will be able to answer these and more questions – maybe they will simply read three or four great books!

For details and sign up, please go to the challenge page, here, or use the challenge page tab in the bar at the top of the blog.

22 Days to Christmas!

23 Days to Christmas!

Opening Sentence of the Day: Who In This Room

As soon as I completed chemotherapy, I began to write.

-- from the Author's Note to Who in This Room: The Realities of Cancer, Fish, and Demolition by Katherine Malmo, published by Calyx Books.

Patty says she's having her reconstruction right away because if she is going to die, and she does believe she is dying, then goddamn it, she is going ot die with breasts.

-- from "Permission to Land," the opening chapter.

PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION: Based on autobiographic experiences, Who in This Room is a gripping collection of creative nonfiction that pushes the boundaries of story and memoir. Kate's adventurous life is interrupted by a diagnosis of inflammatory breast cancer, giving her a ten percent chance of living five years. But her story isn't just about cancer. It is a true tale of survival that is both lived and dreamt. It's about joy found in lemon trees or fly-fishing. It's about the survival instinct that helps us re-emerge and engage with the world.



A Few More Pages hosts Book Beginnings every Friday.  The event is open for the entire week.

2012 Challenge: The European Reading Challenge

The European Reading Challenge
January 1, 2012 to January 31, 2013

TAKE THE GRAND TOUR

Welcome to the European Reading Challenge – where participants tour Europe through books. And win prizes. 2012 is the first year for this challenge.  Please join me for the Grand Tour! Go to the challenge page, here, to sign up or click on the challenge page tab in the bar at the top of the blog.

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.

What counts as "Europe"? For this challenge, we will use the list of 50 sovereign states that fall (at least partially) within the geographic territory of the continent of Europe and/or enjoy membership in international European organizations such as the Council of Europe. This list includes the obvious (Great Britain, France, Germany, Spain, and Italy), the really huge Russia, the tiny Vatican City, and the mixed bag of Baltic, Balkan, and former Soviet states.

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

LEVELS OF PARTICIPATION

Five Star (Deluxe Entourage): Read at least five books by different European authors or books set in different European countries.

Four Star (Honeymooner): Read four qualifying books.

Three Star (Business Traveler): Read three qualifying books.

Two Star (Adventurer): Read two qualifying books.

One Star (Pensione Weekender): Read just one qualifying book.

Alternate Arrangements

Agritourisimo: For foodie readers – read a selected number (your choice) of food-related books written by European authors or about European food, cooking, restaurants, culinary traditions, farming, winemaking, etc. Again, each book must be by a different author and set in a different country.

Youth Hostel: For participants under 18 only – read a selected number of books (your choice), by European authors or set in a country of Europe. (Adults reading YA books still participate as adults, not in this sub-category).

Culture Vulture: For those obsessed with prize-winners – read a selected number of books (your choice) that won a major literary prize in its original country. Any of the following literary prizes would count, but there may be others: Anton Wildgans (Austria), Magnesia Litera (Czech Republic), Finlandia (Finland), Le Grand Prix du Roman (France), German Book Prize (Germany), Balint Balassi Memorial Sword (Hungary), Icelandic Literary Prize (Iceland), Bagutta (Italy), Batty Weber (Luxembourg), Norwegian Critics (Norway), NIKE (Poland), Camões (Portugal), Russian Booker (Russia), Prešeren (Slovakia), Premio Planeta de Novela (Spain), August (Sweden), Swiss Book Prize (Switzerland), Sedat Simavi (Turkey), Shevchenko National (Ukraine), Booker (United Kingdom).

PRIZES

Jet Setter Grand Prize: The participant who reads and reviews the greatest number of qualifying books (more than five) will get a $25 gift card to Powell's Books (can be used in store or on line). Each book must be by a different author and set in a different country.

Agritourisimo: In addition to qualifying for the Jet Setter Grand Prize, the participant who reads and reviews the greatest number of qualifying books in the Agritourisimo category will receive a $10 gift card to Powell's Books.

Youth Hostel: In addition to qualifying for the Jet Setter Grand Prize, the under 18 participant who reads and reviews the greatest number of qualifying books in the Youth Hostel category will receive a $10 gift card to Powell's Books.

Culture Vulture: In addition to qualifying for the Jet Setter Grand Prize, the participant who reads and reviews the greatest number of qualifying books in the Culture Vulture category will receive a $10 gift card to Powell's Books.

DETAILS

Go to the challenge page, here, to sign up or click on the challenge page tab in the bar at the top of the blog.

24 Days to Christmas!

2012 Battle of the Prizes, American Version

2012 will be the fourth year I've hosted this Battle of the Prizes Challenge here at Rose City Reader.

This challenge pits winners of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction against the winners of the National Book Award in the American Version of the Battle of the Prizes.

Does one prize have higher standards than the other? Pick better winners? Provide more reading entertainment or educational value? Maybe challenge participants will be able to answer these and more questions – maybe they will simply read three great books!

For details and to sign up, please visit the challenge page, here, or click the page tab in the bar at the top of the blog.

Teaser Tuesday Oregon Two-fer: On Mount Hood and An Architectural Guidebook to Portland

Over the years the mountain has been host to a range of unique climbing feats and stories not readily found on other Cascadian peaks.  In 1894, in response to an advertisement in the newspaper, more than one hundred people climbed to the top of Mount Hood and formed the Mazamas outdoor club.

-- On Mt. Hood: A Biography of Oregon's Perilous Peak by Jon Bell. Another good one from Sasquatch Books. Mount Hood is the highest peak in Oregon and an icon of the state.

Definite Christmas gift potential!

It doesn't matter if you've been through the sacraments or not; if you want to see a beautiful spiritual and architectural space, visit [St. Mary's Cathedral]. . . .  The architect chosen for this job was Joseph Jacobberger, the man who oversaw the layout of the University of Portland and executed many church designs in the early 20th century.

-- An Architectural Guidebook to Portland by Bart King, also published by OSU Press.

This entry was particularly interesting to me because we live in a 1912 house that Joseph Jacobberger designed.  Jacobberger designed 261 houses, but only about half of them survive. 

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

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).

Marcia herself is hosting in November. Seem like old times! Please go by and visit her Mailbox Monday site to see all the people participating and remember to stop by her wonderful blog.

I got one book last week, from the author:

Understanding the Abuse of Adults by Catholic Clergy and Religious by Kathryn R, Byrne.



In my law practice at O'Donnell Clark & Crew, I work with many adults who were abused as children by clergy and other trusted adults.  And I work on cases involving elder abuse.  I am interested to learn more about how those two issues may come together.

But I confess that I am not going to read it until after the New Year.  It is not an uplifting topic for the holidays.

Opening Sentence of the Day: The Hair of Harold Roux

Aaron Benham sits at his desk hearing the wrong voices. 

-- The Hair of Harold Roux by Thomas Williams.

This was the 1975 winner of the National Book Award.  It has recently been reissued after years of being out of print.

I got my copy from LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program.  It counts as one of the two National Winners I am reading for the Battle of the Prizes, American Version, Challenge.

Opening Sentences of the Day: On Mount Hood and An Architectural Guidebook to Portland

On this Big Shopping Day, it seems appropriate to feature two books that I think would make great Christmas presents for the Oregonians or Oregon visitors on your list:

Misty here at 6,000 feet on the south side of Mount Hood.

-- On Mt. Hood: A Biography of Oregon's Perilous Peak by Jon Bell. Another good one from OSU Press.

It may seem strange to begin a guide to architecture with an "empty" space.

-- An Architectural Guidebook to Portland by Bart King, also published by OSU Press. He is talking, of course, about Pioneer Courthouse Square, Portland's living room.





A Few More Pages hosts Book Beginnings every Friday.  The event is open for the entire week.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Author of the Day: David Lodge

David Lodge is a British author who writes substantive, entertaining novels about people coming to terms with the changing world, such as Londoners in WWII, Catholics facing Vatican II, and college professors braving the sexual revolution. His characters do not always find answers, but Lodge follows their quests with unrivaled intelligence and humor.

Lodge has also written nonfiction books, plays, and screenplays.

Of his fiction books, those I have read are in red. Those on my TBR shelf are in blue.

The Picturegoers (1960)

Ginger You're Barmy (1962)

The British Museum Is Falling Down (1965)

Out of the Shelter (1970)

Changing Places: A Tale of Two Campuses (1975)

How Far Can You Go? (1980) (winner of the Costa BOTY award; on Anthony Burgess's list of favorites; reviewed here)

Small World: An Academic Romance (1984)

Nice Work (1988)

Paradise News (1991)

Therapy (1995) (reviewed here)

The Man Who Wouldn't Get Up: And Other Stories (1998) (out of print)

Home Truths (1999) (reviewed here)

Thinks . . . (2001)

Author, Author (2004)

Deaf Sentence (2008) (reviewed here)

NOTES

If others are reading David Lodge's books, please leave a comment with links to relevant posts and I will list them here or, if I've reviewed the book discussed, on the review page.

Last updated on June 28, 2012.

Teaser Tuesday: Murder in the High Himalaya

It is gravely forbidden for PAP officers to talk to Westerners and would likely be an imprisonable or court martial offense to talk to journalists.  So Akar, a senior PAP officer was understandably wary when we met at an undisclosed location in an international city.

-- from the author's Introduction to Murder in the High Himalaya: Loyalty, Tragedy, and Escape from Tibet by Jonathan Green, published by PublicAffairs Books.

This is a non-fiction account of the 2006 tragedy in Nepal, when Chinese border guards fired on Tibetans fleeing to India, killing one.  The scene was witnessed by a group of western climbers.

This is the kind of book that makes us give thanks for the freedom and blessings we have.

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

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).

Marcia herself is hosting in November. Seem like old times! Please go by and visit her Mailbox Monday site to see all the people participating and remember to stop by her wonderful blog.

I got one book last week.  Sometimes funny things show up in my mailbox from OSU Press, and this is one of them:

Wading for Bugs: Exploring Streams with the Experts by Judith L. Li and Michael T. Barbour, Illustrations by Boonsatien Boonsoong

Review of the Day: Therapy

 

Laurence "Tubby" Passmore has a sexually active, but otherwise stalled, marriage, a platonic mistress, and a bum knee. He is the creator and writer of a popular British sitcom, but his career is heading for a cliff unless he can rewrite the season finale. All this has driven Tubby to therapy – psycho, cognitive, physical, and aroma – as well as a self-guided study of the 19th century Danish existential philosopher, Soren Kierkegaard.

David Lodge is clever and perceptive and writes the kind of books I can't resist – intelligent stories of charming, bumbling, middle aged men behaving badly. In Therapy, Lodge uses the workable device of Tubby writing a journal at the request of his practical-minded psychiatrist, broken up with chapters in the voices of other characters and a longish "memoir" by Tubby of his teenage romance with a Catholic schoolgirl.

Lodge uses Kierkegaard's own romantic history and the religious philosophy he developed from it to organize some of the plot and ideas of this novel. He also revisits the Catholic themes he plumbed so deeply in How Far Can You Go? (winner of the Costa BOTY award; on Anthony Burgess's list of favorites; reviewed here).

He has a light touch with the philosophy and religious bits, and the book remains funny and entertaining throughout, with an ending that made me laugh out loud in pleased surprise.

Opening Sentence of the Day: Murder in the High Himalaya

Tibet is a land of timeless, infinite expanse.

-- from the author's Introduction to Murder in the High Himalaya: Loyalty, Tragedy, and Escape from Tibet by Jonathan Green, published by PublicAffairs Books.

The scouring winds howled in from the plateau.

-- from "Songs to the Precious One," the first chapter.

Here is a synopsis from the Publisher's Weekly review:

In 2006, an impulsive, naïve young Tibetan nun and her best friend, both yearning for religious freedom from Chinese rule, joined a group of fellow Tibetans desperate to escape to India, where the Dalai Lama has lived since the 1950 annexation of Tibet by China. Kelsang Namtso and Dolma Palkyi embarked on the brutal journey over the Himalayas. Smuggled by illegal guides past Chinese border police, the group braved freezing temperatures and snow, the high altitude, and perilous crevasses. Green alternates the refugees' trek with that of Luis Benitez, an American celebrity mountain guide leading a rich group of international clients to the Himalayan peak Cho Oyu. The two groups met on the peak as Chinese guards, alerted to the refugees' presence, chased after the escapees with machine guns ablaze, and Kelsang was killed in full view of the Westerners. One of Benitez's clients filmed the incident, which gained worldwide notoriety.

A Few More Pages hosts Book Beginnings every Friday.  The event is open for the entire week.

Day(s) of Fun!

My sister is here visiting from Germany, where she's been living and working for the past year and a half. She's a chef in Bavaria, at the fancy Steigenberger Hotel about an hour west of Munich. This is her first visit home since she moved.




We are going to spend the next couple of days exploring Portland, with emphasis on food.  Of course, we will make a bookish stop at Powell's, but mostly we will be inspired and guided by this:



Portland's 100 Best Places To Stuff Your Faces by Jen Stevenson, illustrated by Mette Hornung Rankin. I bought this from the author at some women wellness whatever thing. Stevenson has a wonderful blog-like website called Under the Table With Jen, all about food, food in Portland, and life in Portland. Great stuff.

Teaser Tuesday: Aftermath

One Saturday morning in early March, when Amanda Horenstein was eleven and her brother Donald nine, their grandfather drove his Cadillac into the side of their house.  If the car made a noise on its way towards them, the children didn't hear it.

-- from "If You Needed Me" in Aftermath by Scott Nadelson.  Ack! And you have to read to nearly the end of the story to know what happens.

I really enjoyed Nadelson's earlier collection, Saving Stanley, which I reviewed here. This new collection of stories is just as good.

This is one of the beautiful Hawthorne Books editions that make you re-think the idea of "paperback" because they are taller and skinnier than a typical trade paperback and feature "acid-free papers; sewn bindings that will not crack; heavy, laminated covers with double-scored French flaps that function as built-in bookmarks."  Hawthorne is a Portland-based, independent publisher specializing in literary fiction and narrative non-fiction.

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

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).

Marcia herself is hosting in November. Seem like old times! Please go by and visit her Mailbox Monday site to see all the people participating and remember to stop by her wonderful blog.

I only got one book last week -- timely given the Penn State child abuse story -- and it is one I have read already. But I gave away my copy and wanted to replace it. It is time for a re-read in any event.

Scout's Honor: Sexual Abuse in America's Most Trusted Institution by Patrick Boyle.



This book was published in 1994 and was, for a long time, the only publicly-available information on the Scout's horrible problem with sexual abuse -- including their secret "Perversion Files" documenting pedophile Scout volunteers. 

A lot more information has been in the news in the last year and a half or so, since my firm won a big verdict against the Scouts here in Portland. I think Boyle should consider a revised and updated version of this fascinating book.  

Opening Sentence of the Day: Aftermath

The summer I first discovered how it feels to suffer in love, I worked for a local newspaper, selling subscriptions over the phone.

-- from "Dolph Schayes's Broken Arm," the first story in Aftermath by Scott Nadelson.  I love the whiplash in that sentence, from lofty to mundane.

I really enjoyed Nadelson's earlier collection, Saving Stanley, which I reviewed here. This new collection of stories, also in a lush Hawthorne Books edition, looks to be just as good.

Nadelson will be reading from Aftermath this coming Monday, November 14, at 7:30 p.m., at Powell’s Books on Hawthorne in Portland.






A Few More Pages hosts Book Beginnings every Friday.  The event is open for the entire week.

Happy 11th Anniversary! And Happy Veterans' Day!

Hubby and I are celebrating our 11th anniversary today, on 11/11/11.  We got married at 11:00 am, so we could even add another 11 to the list.

It seems momentous.

Opening Sentence of the Day: Odds Against

I was never particularly keen on my job before the day I got shot and nearly lost it, along with my life.

-- Odds Against by Dick Francis, published in 1965.

This is the first of his three books featuring ex-jockey, Sid Halley.  The second, Whip Hand, won the Edgar Award in 1979.  The third, Come to Grief, was published in 1996.  I've read the other two, but never got around to this one until now.

Teaser Tuesday: Discovering Main Street

Gold Beach on the southern Oregon coast feels more like a river town than an ocean place. The wild, tumbling Rogue River empties here, and given the choice between a walk on the sand or taking a jet boat one hundred and four miles into the interior of Oregon, most visitors take the later.

-- Discovering Main Street: Travel Adventures in Small Towns of the Northwest by Foster Church.

This is the kind of travel book I love because it explores off-the-beaten track, hidden corners, with a little more history and anecdote than practical advice. It is clear that Church really enjoys his exploring and knows how to find the vibe of the little towns he writes about.

Church was a long-time Oregonian reporter who now writes a blog called Small Town Travels, "celebrating the small towns of the Pacific Northwest."

I was pleased as punch to get this from the Oregon State University Press.


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

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).

Marcia herself is hosting in November. Seem like old times! Please go by and visit her Mailbox Monday site to see all the people participating and remember to stop by her wonderful blog.

I got a couple of good books last week and something fun:

Portland in Three Centuries: The Place and the People by Carl Abbott, published by OSU Press. It looks like a concise, readable history of Portland, and I love the cool zine cover.



A Simple Machine, Like the Lever by Evan P. Schneider, published by the super nifty Propeller Books.



I also got a fun little bookish thing from The Joy of Ex Foundation that would make a pretty great Christmas present for some ladies I know. Mine is unframed, but still very cute.  It doesn't apply all that well to my book club, because we read the books as well as the wine labels, but I appreciate the sentiment.