Mailbox Monday

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

Marie at Burton Book Review is hosting in June.  Please stop by her beautiful blog where she is "Leafing through history one page at a time."

Thanks to Rachelle at my favorite Second Glance Books, I got a stack of books last week, several that I have been looking for for a long time. 



Death at the Chateau Bremont by M. L. Longworth (this was an impulse -- I couldn't resist the cover)



Excellent Women by Barbara Pym (on the Erica Jong list)



Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels (Orange Prize winner)



Innocence by Penelope Fitzgerald (one of my favorite authors)



English Passengers by Matthew Kneale (Costa Book of the Year winner)



Saint Joan of Arc by V. Sackville-West (on my French Connections list)



Hole in the Sky: A Memoir by William Kittredge (on the list of 20 Greatest Oregon Books)

State of the Blog: Part One, the Lists

Four times a year, I review the books I've read to that point and see what kind of progress I've made on my books lists and reading projects.  2012 is half over, but I still have time to catch up if needed.

This is the first of three quarterly blog assessment posts.  This first part addresses the book lists. Part Two, coming soon, will take a look at the author lists.  Part Three will deal with the challenges I joined this year.

My book lists are over in the right-side column. These are now divided into Prize Winners and "Must Reads" and include lists of books I have read or intend to read for some reason or another. Also in the right-side column are lists of my favorite authors. I add to these lists of lists from time to time.

NOTE: If you are working on any of these lists, please leave a comment here or on the post for the list (click on the title below or in the right-hand column) and leave a link to any related post. I will add the links on the list post. 

THE PRIZE WINNERS

COSTA BOOK OF THE YEAR

Books read in 2012: none so far

EDGAR AWARD

Books read in 2012: A Case of Need by Micheal Crichton (as Jeffery Hudson)

JAMES TAIT BLACK MEMORIAL PRIZE

Books read in 2012: The Mandelbaum Gate by Muriel Spark (reviewed here; read for my 2011 Battle of the Prizes, British Version, challenge).

MAN BOOKER PRIZE

Books read in 2012: The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson (reviewed here)

NATIONAL BOOK AWARD

Books read in 2012: none so far

NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD

Books read in 2012: none so far

NOBEL LAUREATES

Books read in 2012: none so far

ORANGE PRIZE

Books read in 2012: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Half of a Yellow Sun

PEN/FAULKNER

Books read in 2012: none so far

PULITZER PRIZE

Books read in 2012: two, both for for the 2012 Battle of the Prizes, American Version

• A Bell for Adano by John Hersey (reviewed here);
• Tinkers by Paul Harding (reviewed here)

THE "MUST READS"

1899 TOP 100

Books read in 2012: none so far

ALL-TIME TOP 100

Books read in 2012: none so far

ANTHONY BURGESS

This list is from 99 Novels: The Best in English Since 1939 by Anthony Burgess, which I reviewed here. 

Books read in 2012: The Mandelbaum Gate by Muriel Spark (reviewed here; read for my 2011 Battle of the Prizes, British Version, challenge).

BBC'S BIG READ

Books read in 2012: none so far

BOOK CLUB

Books read in 2012: two

• Half of a Yellow Sun; by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie;
• People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks (reviewed here)

COLLEGE BOARD

Books read in 2012: none so far

COOKBOOK LIBRARY

Books read in 2012: none so far

EASTON PRESS

Books read in 2012: Dracula by Bram Stoker (reviewed here)

ERICA JONG

Books read in 20112: none so far

FRENCH CONNECTION

Books read in 2011:

• The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain (reviewed here)
• Murder in Belleville by Cara Black

LT EARLY REVIEWERS

Books read in 2012: none so far

MLA'S 30

Books read in 202: none so far

MODERN LIBRARY

Books read in 2012: zero (finished this list a couple of years ago).

OBSERVER'S TOP 100

Books read in 2012: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carré (reviewed here)

OREGON BOOKS

Books read in 2012: none so far

RADCLIFFE'S TOP 100

Books read in 2012: none so far

ROSE CITY READER'S TOP 10

Books read in 2012: none so far. Who knows if the list will change this year.

VENICE BOOKS

This is a new list that I just created in 2011. I made more progress in 2012 when I participated in the Venice in February Challenge.

Books read in 2012:

• The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain (reviewed here);
• Serenissima by Erica Jong (reviewed here)

WELL-STOCKED BOOKCASE

Books read in 2012: none so far

Favorite Author: Susan Howatch

Susan Howatch (b. 1940) is an English author known for her Sweeping Family Sagas. After her own spiritual epiphany in the 1980s, she turned her talents to writing the same kinds of elaborate, gothic novels, but with a Christian theme and a philosophical bent. 

I read many of her earlier books when I was in high school and loved them, although I can't remember them now. Recently -- and remembering my enjoyment of the historical novels -- I read The High Flyer and was surprised that is was about the Church of England. But I really enjoyed it and decided to compile and read the rest of her "religious" books in order.

If anyone else is reading Howatch's books, please lease comments with links to related posts.

Here are her books in publication order. Those I have read as an adult are in red; those on my TBR shelf are in blue. My plan is to read all the Starbridge and St. Benet's books and maybe go back and read some of the earlier ones. I recently re-read The Rich are Different when I found an audiobook edition from my library.

The Dark Shore (1965)

The Waiting Sands (1966)

April's Grave (1967)

Call in the Night (1967)

The Shrouded Walls (1968)

The Devil on Lammas Night (1970)

Penmarric (1971)

Cashelmara (1974)

The Rich Are Different (1977)

Sins of the Fathers (1980)

The Wheel of Fortune (1984)

THE STARBRIDGE SERIES

Six books centered on the fictional Anglican diocese of Starbridge. Each book is a stand-alone story, but with overlapping characters.  The series begins in the 1930s and goes through WWII to the 1960s, when the last three books take place.

Glittering Images (1987) (reviewed here)

Glamorous Powers (1988)

Ultimate Prizes (1989)

Scandalous Risks (1990)

Mystical Paths (1992)
 
Absolute Truths (1994)

THE ST. BENET'S TRILOGY

This trilogy takes place in the London of the 1980s and 1990s and focuses on changes in the Church of England during those decades.  Many of the same characters from the Starbridge series are involved, although each book is a stand alone novel.

The Wonder Worker (US title) / A Question of Integrity (UK title) (1997)

The High Flyer (2000)

The Heartbreaker (2004)

NOTES

Some of Susan Howatch's earlier books are hard to find. But five of these gems have been newly released as ebooks by Open Road. 

Last updated on January 3, 2013.

Book Beginnings: Evolutionaries

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.

Leave a link to your post. If you don't have a blog, but want to participate, please leave a comment with your Book Beginning.

MY BOOK BEGINNING

It is extremely difficult to manifest and sustain strategic clarity in a world where thousands of tasks bog down the days and the rules seem to change the moment we gain momentum.

-- Evolutionaries: Transformational Leadership: The Missing Link in Your Organizational Chart, by Randy Harrington and Carmen E Voillequé.

So true! This sums up what frustrates me and my partners about trying to do any long-term planning with our law firm.  

Carmen was the keynote speaker at the Portland WIFS dinner I recently attended. She talked about how businesses can plan for the future when we are no longer able to make long-term plans for the future. I think I am going to be glad I read this book.

Opening Sentence: Greene on Capri

On a December morning of the late 1960s, I was sitting by the windows of the Gran Caffé in the piazzetta of Capri, doing the crossword in The Times.

-- Greene on Capri: A Memoir by Shirley Hazzard.

Like just about everyone, I love the idea of Capri -- fostered by a short college-days visit. And I love Graham Greene's books.  I don't know why, then, it has taken me so long to get around to reading Hazzard's memoir, which has been on my TBR shelf for about ten years.

This is so getting me in the mood for the Graham Greene Challenge, hosted by  Carrie at Books and Movies.