Opening Sentence of the Day: One Fat Englishman

"What's he like?"

-- One Fat Englishman by Kingsley Amis

Not much to go on, but this cocktail party chit chat opening sentence becomes a clever dialog about a visiting linguistics professor and his hot wife. Amis is a real favorite of mine, so there is not much he can do wrong in my eyes. 

Books Read in 2009

This is the list of the 112 books I read in 2009, in the order that I read them. For an explanation of my rating system, see here.

Water the Bamboo by Greg Bell (reviewed here; 4/5)

All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque (on the MLA's Top 30 list and the College Board's Top 101 list)

Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Kesey (4.5/5) (on the Top 20 Oregon books list)

Franny and Zooey by J. D. Salinger (reviewed here; 4/5)

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver (reviewed here; 2.5/5)

Blackbird, Farewell by Robert Greer (reviewed here; 2/5)

Out of the Deep I Cry by Julia Spencer-Fleming (3.5/5)

The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley (2.5/5)

Entres Nous: A Woman's Guide to Finding Her Inner French Girl by Debra Ollivier (which inspired my French Connections list; reviewed here; 3.5/5)

Black Cherry Blues by James Lee Burke (3.5/5)

Native America, Discovered and Conquered by Robert Miller (reviewed here; 3.5/5)

Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut (3/5)

The Top 10 Myths of American Health Care by Sally Pipes (reviewed here; 4/5)

The Great Fire by Shirley Hazzard (National Book Award winner; 3.5/5)

Prisoner of the Vatican by David Kertzer (2.5/5)

The River Why by David James Duncan (3/5)

Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali (4/5)

Right Ho, Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse (3.5/5)

Crime and Punishment by Foyder Dostoevsky (on the Easton Press Top 100 list; 4.5/5)

Towers of Gold by Frances Dinkelspiel (reviewed here; 3.5/5)

The Innocent by Ian McEwan (reviewed here; 3.5/5)

The Letter from Death by Lillian Moats (reviewed here; 1.5/5)

The Amateur Marriage by Anne Tyler (3.5/5)

Basil's Dream by Christine Hale (reviewed here; 3.5/5)

The Stettheimer Dollhouse, edited by Sheila Clark (on my LibraryThing Early Reviewer list; reviewed here; 3.5/5)

Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis (4/5)

Pagan Babies by Elmore Leonard (3/5)

Red Square by Martin Cruz Smith (reviewed here; 3.5/5)

The Mating Season by P. G. Wodehouse (3.5/5)

The Alteration by Kinglsey Amis (3.5/5)

Davita's Harp by Chiam Potok (3.5/5)

Skeletons on the Zahara by Dean King(discussed here; 3/5)

Saturday by Ian McEwan (James Tate Black winner; 3.5/5)

The Floating Opera by John Barth (reviewed here; 3.5/5)

Nell Hill's Style at Home by Mary Carol (3.5/5)

Inside the Red Mansion by Oliver August (reviewed here; 3/5)

March by Geraldine Brooks (Pulitzer Prize winner; reviewed here; 3/5)

Atget's Paris, published by Taschen (3/5)

Advise and Consent by Allen Drury (Pulitzer Prize winner; reviewed here; 4/5)

The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame (on the BBC's Big Read list, the Observer's Top 100 list, and the MLA's Top 30 list; reviewed here; 4/5)

My Uncle Oswald by Roald Dahl (reviewed here; 3/5)

Wall Street by Steve Fraser (reviewed here; 2.5/5)

A Yellow Raft in Blue Water by Michael Dorris (reviewed here; 3/5)

High Fidelity by Nick Hornby (reviewed here; 4/5)

Birds by Jeff Fisher (4/5)

The Miserable Mill by Lemony Snicket (3/5) 

The Beggar by Naguib Mafouz (Nobel Laureate; reviewed here; 3.5/5) 

Black Boy (American Hunger) by Richard Wright (reviewed here; 3/5) 

Changing Places by David Lodge (reviewed here; 4/5)

My Latest Grievance by Elinor Lipman (reviewed here; 3.5/5)

That's Amore! The Language of Love for Lovers of Language by Erin McKean (3/5)

I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith (4/5)

The Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien (the All-TIME 100 list, the BBC Big Read, the MLA's Top 30 list, Radcliffe's Top 100 list, and the Observer's Top 100 list; 3/5)

After Dinner Speaking by Fawcett Boom (reviewed here; 3/5)

Stylish Sheds and Elegant Hideaways: Big Ideas for Small Backyard Destinations by Debra Prinzing (reviewed here; 4/5) 

Super Sunday in Newport by Matt Love (2.5/5) 

Pegasus Descending by James Lee Burke (3.5/5)

Au Revoir to All That by Michael Steinberger (on my French Connection list; reviewed here; 3.5/5)

The Brothers K by David James Duncan (reviewed here; 3.5/5)

Hemingway and Bailey's Bartending Guide to Great American Writers by Edward Hemingway and Mark Bailey (3/5)

The Fixer by Bernard Malamud (National Book Award winner; Pulitzer Prize winner; reviewed here; 4/5) 

Wild Fire by Nelson DeMille (3/5) 

Forbidden Bread by Erica Johnson-Debeljak (on my LibraryThing Early Reviewer list; reviewed here; 3.5/5) 

To Darkness and to Death by Julia Spencer-Fleming (reviewed here; 3/5) 

Doctor Sally by P. G. Wodehouse (3/5) 

Goodbye, Columbus by Philip Roth (National Book Award winner; reviewed here; 4/5) 

Blue Planet in Green Shackles by Vaclav Klaus (reviewed here; 3.5/5) 

Underworld by Don DeLillo (reviewed here; 2.5/5) 

Dreams by Sigmund Freud (2.5/5) 

Paul Newman: A Life by Shaun Levy (reviewed here; 4/5)

Shalimar the Clown by Salomon Rushdie (3/5) 

The Tin Roof Blowdown by James Lee Burke (reviewed here; 3.5/5) 

The Last Chinese Chef by Nicole Mones (reviewed here; 3.5/5) 

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audry Niffinger (2.5/5) 

Plainsong by Ken Haruf (3/5) 

All Mortal Flesh by  Julia Spencer-Fleming (reviewed here; 3.5/5)


Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson (on the BBC's Big Read list, the College Board list, and the Easton Press Top 100 list; 3.5/5) 

Brick Lane by Monica Ali (3/5) 

American Rust by Philip Meyer (on my LibraryThing Early Reviewer list; reviewed here; 2.5/5) 

The Plague by Albert Camus (Nobel Laureate; on the Observer's Top 100 list; 3/5) 

Julie and Julia by Julie Powell (reviewed here; 2.5/5) 

Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson (Costa Book Award winner; reviewed here; 3.5/5) 

Ice Chorus by Susan Stonich (reviewed here; 3.5/5) 

Autobiography by Benjamin Franklin (4/5) 

The Silver Palate Cookbook by Sheila Lukins and Julie Russo (reviewed here; 4/5) 

Stalin's Ghost by Martin Cruz Smith (3.5/5) 

Laughing Gas by P. G. Wodehouse (3/5) 

Joker One by Donovan Campbell (on my LibraryThing Early Reviewer list; reviewed here; 4/5) 

Freddy and Fredericka by Mark Helprin (reviewed here; 3.5/5) 

The Man Who Loved China by Simon Winchester (reviewed here; 4/5) 

The Family Man by Elinor Lipman (3/5) 

The Age of Reagan, Vol. 2 by Steven Hayward (reviewed here; 4/5) 

Alice Adams by Booth Tarkington (Pulitzer Prize winner; reviewed here; 2.5/5) 

Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay (2.5/5)

The Complete Short Stories* by Ernest Hemingway (Nobel Laureate; reviewed here; 3.5/5) 

The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney (Costa Book Award winner; reviewed here; 4/5) 

The Seven Storey Mountain by Thomas Merton (3/5) 

Incidents in the Rue Laguier by Anita Brookner (reviewed here; 3/5) 

Massacred for Gold by Gregory Nokes (reviewed here; 3.5/5) 

A Century of November by W. D. Wetherell (reviewed here; 3.5/5) 

Good for the Jews by Debra Spark (reviewed here; 3.5/5) 

Gentlemen of the Road by Michael Chabon (3/5) 

The Tricking of Freya by Christina Sunley (on my LibraryThing Early Reviewer list; reviewed here; 3.5/5) 

The Italian Lover by Robert Hellinga (reviewed here; 2.5/5) 

The Fire by Katherine Neville (on my LibraryThing Early Reviewer list; reviewed here; 2/5) 

How to Save Your Own Life by Erica Jong (reviewed here; 3.5/5) 

American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House by Jon Meacham (reviewed here; 3.5/5) 

The Inn at Lake Divine by Elinor Lipman (3.5)

Blue River by Ethan Canin (reviewed here; 2/5)

Betrayal by John Lescroart (3/5)


* The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway includes all the stories published in several separate volumes, plus additional others. I counted this as one book, but the separate volumes subsumed by this omnibus are: In Our Time (on the Radcliffe Top 100 list), Men Without Women (on the Observer's Top 100 list), The Fifth Column and the First Forty-Nine Stories, The Snows of Kilimanjaro and Other Stories, The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber and Other Stories, The Nick Adams Stories, and maybe others.

Teaser Tuesday: The New Confessions

"From time to time, however, they break out -- lava cracking the pumice -- and dominate with the same rampaging potency. What is lust, adult lust, after all, but the desire to recapture the heady sensations of adolescent sexuality?"

-- The New Confessions by William Boyd.

This is a great book -- funny and full of life. It is entertaining from the get go as the hero describes his Scottish upbringing, WWI experiences, and nascent film career in post-war Berlin. At over 500 pages, it would count for the Chunkster Challenge if I had started it after the challenge starts on February 1. Oh well.


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

A Rose (City Reader) By Any Other Name . . .

It is a new year, so my blog has a new name. Well, I guess that is not accurate. My blog has a new address, but not a new name.

I switched the address to "RoseCityReader.com" to get rid of the "blogspot" part of the address. It seems to have worked by blogger magic. But if anyone has trouble finding me, try changing your settings to the new address.

The only thing that seems to not have made the switch is my blogroll. I needed to update and freshen it anyway, so I will get to that very soon.

Mailbox Monday

My husband gave me two wonderful books for Christmas. We were out of town last week, so they are only making it to my Mailbox Monday list today.

The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thorton Wilder (a fancy, Easton Press edition of this book from the Modern Library's Top 100 list -- too bad I can't find a picture of the cover)


The Original of Laura by Vladimir Nabokov (instead of editing Nabokov's recently-discovered notes into a complete novel, the publishers printed actual images of his index cards, with the text typed below each one -- really cool)




What also came in the mail for me (which I found when I got back to work today), was a lovely surprise from J.G. at Hotch Pot Cafe. She sent me a Christmas card and the "perfect present" -- a mouse-shaped cheese knife. I love it! So sweet of her and such a funny surprise. What a good example of the nice friends I've met through book blogging.  Thanks J.G.!