State of the Blog, Part Two: The Challenges

Summer is finally here in Portland, so it is time for my quarterly, three-part, progress assessment. The first part addressed the book lists. Part Two, here, deals with the challenges I joined this year. Part Three will take a look at the author lists.

I am hosting two "Battle of the Prizes" challenges this year and working on several others.  All are listed in the right-hand column.

CHALLENGES HOSTED BY ROSE CITY READER

Battle of the Prizes: American Version

National Book Award winners v. Pulitzer Prize winners, rules here. There is still time to sign up! And even though I haven't read any of my three books yet, chaotic compendiums and 100 Books. 100 Journeys. are already finished.

Books read so far: zero (how shameful!)

Books I'm going to read for this challenge: 3

1. Them by Joyce Carol Oates for my National winner;
2. Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler for my Pulitzer winner; and
3. The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter for my double dipper choice.

Battle of the Prizes: British Version

Man Booker Prize v. James Tait Black Memorial Prize, rules here. Again, there is still time to sign up!  

Books read so far: one (The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry for my James Tait Black winner; reviewed here) 

Books I'm going to read for this challenge: 2 more

1. The Sea, the Sea by Iris Murdoch for my Booker winner; and
2. G by John Berger for my double dipper choice. 

CHALLENGES I AM PARTICIPATING IN

Bibliophilic Books Challenge



A challenge to read books about books. The home page is here.

I signed up for the "Bibliomaniac" level, which means I have 12 to read by the end of the year. I do not have a final list yet, but I have several in mind.

Books read so far: 2

1. The Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby (reviewed here);
2. The Flaneur: A Stroll Through the Paradoxes of Paris by Edmund White (reviewed here);
3. Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader by Anne Fadiman (reviewed here); and
4. A Year in the World by Frances Mayes (reviewed here).

Books I may read for this challenge (so many to chose from):

1. Housekeeping vs. the Dirt by Nick Hornby;
   
2. Shakespeare Wrote for Money by Nick Hornby; 
3. Rereadings: Seventeen Writers Revisit Books They Love, edited by Anne Fadiman; 
4. 99 Novels by Anthony Burgess;
5. The Well-Educated Mind by Wise S. Bauer;
6. How to Read and Why by Harold Bloom;
7. Studies in Classic American Literature by D. H. Lawrence;
8. The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald;
9. The Club Dumas by Arturo Perez-Reverte; 
10. Wonder Boys by Michael Chabon;
11. At Home with Books: How Booklovers Live with and Care for Their Libraries by Estelle Ellis;
12. The Most Beautiful Libraries in the World by Guillaume de Laubier;
13. Literary Essays by Mark Twain;
14. Speak Memory by Vladimir Nobokov;
15. Saul Bellow: A Biography of the Imagination by Ruth Miller;
16. Oscar Wilde: A Certain Genius by Barbara Belford;
17. Capote by Gerald Clarke;
18. Greene on Capri: A Memoir by Shirley Hazzard; and
19. Walks in Hemingway's Paris: A Guide To Paris For The Literary Traveler by Noel Fitch

Birth Year Reading Challenge 

This challenge is to read one or more books published in the year you were born, hosted by Hotchpot Cafe. My main post for this challenge is here.

Books read so far: one (Indian Summer by John Knowles; reviewed here)

I really want to read The Valley of the Dolls by Jaqueline Susann (what a great excuse!), but I don't have a copy yet.


Book Awards Challenge

The challenge involves reading ten books that won ten different prizes by November 1, 2010. The home page is here. Many of my picks overlap with other challenges, but I better get hopping.

Books read so far: 4

1. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz (National Book Critics Circle winner;
2. The Well and the Mine by Gin Phillips (Discover Award winner; reviewed here);
3. Citizen Vince by Jess Walter (Edgar winner; reviewed here);
4. The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry (Costa winner; reviewed here). 

Books I may read for this challenge:

1. Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler (Pulitzer winner);
2. Them by Joyce Carol Oates (National winner);
3. The Sea, the Sea by Iris Murdoch (Booker winner);
4. G by John Berger (James Tait Black winner);
5. Small Island by Andrea Levy (Orange winner);
6. Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset (Nobel winner); and
7. Seaview by Toby Olson (PEN/Faulkner winner).

Chunkster Challenge

I signed up for the "Mor-book-ly Obese" level, meaning I will read six 450+-page books (or three 750+-pagers). Caribousmom hosts this challenge.

Books read so far: one (Three Loves by A. J. Cronin; reviewed here). Again, I better get those pages turning! I am behind on this challenge.

Books I may read for this challenge: 

1.  Them by Joyce Carol Oates (which I am reading for my Battle of the Prizes: American Version challenge); 
2. The Sea, the Sea by Iris Murdoch (which I am reading for my Battle of the Prizes: British Version challenge);
3. The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie (on the Radcliffe list); and
4. one more that I haven't come up with yet because I was thinking of using Up in the Old Hotel by Joseph Mitchell, but then realized it is a book of essays and that does not count.

100+ Challenge

I signed up for this because I am pretty sure I'll read more than 100 books this year. But I do not have my own post for it. The challenge home page is here.

I keep a book cover list of the books I've read this year in the right-hand column of this blog, although books don't show up over there if they are missing a cover picture on my LibraryThing library. I am up to 57 books so far this year if I didn't forget something. That happens.


Typically British Challenge (FINISHED)



I signed up at the "Cream Crackered" level to read eight "Typically British" novels. I blew through all eight pretty quickly, since probably half of the books I read qualify. The challenge home page is here.

So this is the first challenge I have completed this year. Jolly good!

Books read so far: 8

1. One Fat Englishman by Kingsley Amis (reviewed here);
2. Case Histories by Kate Atkinson (finished, not reviewed);
3. The New Confessions by William Boyd (reviewed here);
4. Three Loves by A. J. Cronin (reviewed here);
5. Where Angels Fear to Tread by E. M. Forster (reviewed here);
6. The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells (reviewed here);
7. Everyday Drinking: The Distilled Kingsley Amis by Kinglsey Amis (reviewed here); and
8. The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry (reviewed here).

Review of the Day: The Secret Scripture

The Secret Scripture is the entwined story of Roseanne McNulty, a 100-year-old mental patient, and Dr. Grene, who is desultorily trying to figure how Roseanne came to live in the institute and whether she really belongs there after all. The story is told through Roseanne’s secret diary and Dr. Grene’s journal.

Roseanne tells a harrowing tale of growing up in civil war Ireland, her tragic marriage, and the unfortunate events that culminated in her institutionalization. Grene is drawn to Roseanne and her sad history as he struggles with his own failed marriage and personal grief.

Barry is an incredibly talented storyteller. He spins a yarn that is wide sweeping, but so compellingly detailed that the reader smells the salt wind of western Ireland and hears the rustle of the meddling priest’s rusty cassock. Even though the ending may not come as a surprise, there is great satisfaction to be had from the way the clues nest so snugly together.

OTHER REVIEWS

Wendy at caribousmom
Mel at The Book Nook

(If you would like your review of this book, or any others by Sebastian Barry, please leave a comment with a link and I will list it here.)

NOTE

This is the James Tait Black Memorial Prize winner that I read for the Battle of the Prizes, British Version. I’m hosting the challenge, so it is about time I read a book for it.

Teaser Tuesday: Up in the Old Hotel

"A bossy, yellow-haired blonde named Mazie P. Gordon is a celebrity on the Bowery. In the nickel-a-drink saloons and in the all night restaurants which specialize in pig snouts and cabbage at a dime a platter, she is known by her first name."

Up in the Old Hotel by Joseph Mitchell.

Mitchell's portrait of Mazie -- who owned a low-rent movie theater and ran the ticket window day in and day out for decades -- is one of many absorbing stories about the colorful characters he studied while working as a reporter for the New Yorker from the 1930s through the 1960s.

My friend Bob from the fabulous Art Scatter blog left this comment about Mitchell and this wonderful book:

This book is just great, great personal journalism, and it brings back the flavor of a New York that will never be again. Mitchell was a staff writer for The New Yorker who spent the last 20 years or so of his life going to the office faithfully every day -- the routine became a legend at the magazine -- but, after an extraordinarily prolific career, never wrote another word. He'd simply written himself out.

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

Author Interview: Liz Crain

Liz Crain is the author of the brand new, must-have book: The Food Lover's Guide to Portland. I have been dreaming about this book ever since I heard rumor of it a few months back.  I was lucky enough to read tidbits from the electronic version, and have been trolling Liz's mouthwatering website for more appetizers.  But I cannot wait to get my hands on the real thing when it comes out next week.



See here for details on the book launch party and other upcoming events.  The book is available from amazon, Powell's Barnes & Nobel, and IndieBound, as well as several bookstores.  If you live in Portland, are planning a visit, or just like foodie books, this is the book for you.

Even amid the hullabaloo of promoting her book, Liz was gracious enough to answer several questions about her book, writing, Portland, and food:

How did you come to write the Food Lover’s Guide to Portland?

I'd been writing about food and drink in Portland for five years when I decided I wanted to write a book about Portland food culture. At the time I was interning at Hawthorne Books in Portland, where I'm now an editor, and part of my time at Hawthorne was spent sifting through submissions. That gave me a push in the right direction. I did my research on regional food books as well as publishers and decided to propose a book to Sasquatch Books in Seattle. They’d published The Food Lover's Guide to Seattle by Katy Calcott in 2001 with a second edition in 2004 so I thought they might want a similar title for Portland. I was right.

Do you have a culinary background? Or are you an amateur enthusiast?

I’m 33 years old and from the age of 16 on the majority of jobs that I've had have been in food service -- everything from cooking and catering to serving and vending. That said, I don't have serious kitchen chops, I don't own a toque, I don't have a culinary degree. I just love food -- cooking, eating, cultivating and writing about it.

You pack the book with information on hundreds of local producers, purveyors, distillers, bakers, food carts, and farmers markets -- how did you do all the research necessary? Did you eat and drink everything you wrote about?

I ate and drank a lot of what I wrote about but it wasn't too over the top. The fact that my book focuses on producers and purveyors as opposed to restaurants and bars slimmed consumption a bit. Some days I'd conduct three in-person, hour-plus long interviews and then head to my studio to sift through and transcribe them, other days I'd roll around town visiting specialty shops, food carts, ethnic markets and more with my trusty notebook, digital recorder and camera. When I did tours and interviews I was often sampling as we went along and a lot of times folks sent me home with food and drink but it never felt too overindulgent.

How would you describe the foodie culture in Portland? Has it changed in the past few years? Decades?

I can only speak about PDX food culture from 2002 on because that's when I moved here. Of course, I have a sense about what it was like before then but I'm no expert. I think there is a lot that sets Portland apart food-wise but I think that location and a strong DIY ethic are most important.

Portland is surrounded by fertile farmland and diverse growing regions and it’s situated in the Willamette Valley where everything from kiwis and cardoons to hazelnuts and wine grapes grow well. The culinary culture here is also defined by by-the-bootstraps folks and businesses. Portland is flooded with incredible food carts, farmers markets, food festivals, specialty markets and more. Food and drink made the hard way, no shortcuts, local ingredients.

What did you learn from writing your book that most surprised you?

That it's hard to type with a bandaged finger! I sliced off the tip of my right ring finger in the spring of 2009 slicing vegetables on my kitchen mandolin and it was a great excuse to further delay the writing of the book. And I definitely delayed.

I think the only thing that I'd try to do differently with a book in the future is not save so much of the writing until the end. But that's hard to train out. I do what I do because I'm curious and I love learning about food and drink culture, cultivation and craft. It's always hard for me to put the breaks on the research and start writing.

Are there any events coming up to promote the Food Lover’s Guide?

There is a lot slated. I'll tell you about a few but I'd also like to let your readers know that my website has a good list of book events and coverage. Events that I'm excited about include my book launch party at Fortune Tattoo from 6-9pm on July 1st, a book reading and food panel at the Downtown Powell's at 7:30pm on August 2nd, a similar event at In Good Taste at 2pm on July 10th, as well as the Mississippi Avenue Street Fair on the morning of the same day July 10th. I'll be tabling at the fair with Paul Gerald, author of Breakfast in Bridgetown from 10am-noon I think.

What’s next? Are you working on your next book?

I've got some ideas and a couple are collaborations that I'm excited about. I'm not sure which project or projects will take the cake but for now I'm happy freelancing, continuing my work as an editor at Hawthorne, and making a bit of time for my own creative writing. Another book will come, just not sure what yet.

Do you like to read food-related books? What are some of your favorites?

Oh yeah. In no particular order I love James Beards' Delights and Prejudices, MFK Fisher's The Gastronomical Me, Julia Child and Alex Prud'homme's My Life in France, Nigel Slater's Toast, Sandor Ellix Katz's Wild Fermentation, Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential, Judith Jones' The Tenth Muse, Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilema to name a few. I also love to read cookbooks especially older ones.

Can you tell us your favorite Portland restaurants?

That's a difficult question for two reasons--there are so many and I don't like to endorse. The way around that is I'll tell you several restaurants and food carts that I've been loving lately on a regular basis but I won't say favorite: Tanuki, Andina, BeWon, Little Red Bike, Evoe, The Frying Scotsman, Gruner, Eat Oyster Bar, Pok Pok, Nicholas, Taste of Jakarta, and The Big Egg.

Do you predict any changes coming in Portland’s culinary scene? Any trends in the making? Anything you would like to see happen?

In terms of dining in the past few years we've seen an upsurge in sandwich shops, burger bars and food carts to name a few. Those all read to me as affordable, lowbrow and fast. I think we'll see more of the same type of businesses opening in Portland -- small, low overhead, minimal menu, but really good and affordable food and drink.

My two biggest wants in terms of restaurants and carts are more seafood options and more late night dining options. These both lack in Portland. I'm not sure why we don't have more seafood restaurants although spoilage is certainly a factor. Seafood is just so freaking perishable and short lived in the walk-in.

Portland's late night dining is helped and hindered by the OLCC. All bars have to have hot and cold food available so that's competition for late-night restaurants. I'd sort of love to open a Cincinnati chili parlor. That's where I'm from and I swear by it. I want more late night slice shops, gyro spots, diners, whatever. Just more.

In terms of ingredients, which is what my book is all about I think that we'll see a lot more monomaniacal shops in the years to come. At least I hope so. By that I mean hyper-focused food or drink shops such as an all-sake bottle shop, an all fermented food shop, a house-smoked foods shop. We already have a salt shop, cheese shops, spice shops, chocolate shops etc. Portland supports entrepreneurial passion with a strong buy local ethic and celebration of unique products so these businesses survive.

One last thing: I hope with all hope that we get Ron Paul's James Beard Public Market -- a year-round covered outdoor public food and drink market. That would make me very happy.

THANKS LIZ!

Mailbox Monday

Only one book came into my house last week, so this is a very short Mailbox Monday post.  This is probably a good thing, because I must read more book than I acquire each week to make some space on my overcrowded TBR shelves.

Burmese Lessons: A True Love Story by Karen Connelly (from the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program -- just when I thought I was catching up on that list)

State of the Blog, Part One: The Lists

Summer starts this week, but it's hard to tell here in rainy Portland. The sun is supposed to arrive in the next few days, so in anticipation, here is the first of my quarterly blog assessment posts.


My List of Lists is over in the right-side column. These are Prize Winners, Must Reads, and other lists of books I have read or intend to read for some reason or another. Also in the right-side column is a list of my favorite authors. I add to both lists from time to time.

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

So far in 2010, I have read a total of 28 books from my various book lists. That is better progress than I would have guessed, but I am still daunted by the number of books on my TBR shelves. I should spend more time reading and less time playing with my lists.

THE LISTS

1899 Top 100
Books read so far: 7/100
Books read in 2010: zero (but I am more than halfway through The Count of Monte Cristo)
Books I hope to read in 2010: 3

1. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas
2. The Moonstone by Willkie Collins
   
3. Quo Vadis by Henryk Sienkiewicz

Books on my TBR shelf: 13

All-TIME Top 100
Books read so far: 75/100
Books read in 2010:

1. The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler
2. Play It As It Lays by Joan Didion (reviewed here)
   

Books I hope to read in 2010: those two, plus two-thirds (I really hope to finish The Lord of the Rings.)
Books on my TBR shelf: 14

Anthony Burgess
Books read so far: 28/99
Books read in 2010: 2

1. A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood (reviewed here)
2. Titus Groan by Mervin Peake (reviewed here)

Books I hope to read in 2010:one more (Strangers and Brothers by C.P. Snow)
Books on my TBR shelf: 20

BBC's Big Read
Books read so far: 55/100
Books read in 2010: 2

1. Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
2. Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake (reviewed here)
3. Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons (reviewed here)

Books I hope to read in 2010: 2 more

1. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
2. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas 

Books on my TBR shelf: 9

Book Club
Books read so far: 17/18
Books read in 2010: 2

1. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
2. The Red Tent  by Anita Diamant

Books I hope to read in 2010: 3 more (but Small Island is the only one I know so far) Books on my TBR shelf: one

College Board
Books read so far: 76/101
Books read in 2010: one (Beowulf, translated by Seamus Heaney)
Books I hope to read in 2010: one more (The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath)
Books on my TBR shelf: 15

Costa Book of the Year
Books read so far: 5/24
Books read in 2010: 2

1. The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry
2. Beowulf, translated by Seamus Heaney

Books I hope to read in 2010: one more (Small Island by Andrea Levy)
Books on my TBR shelf: one

Easton Press
Books read so far: 56/100
Books read in 2010: one (The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan)
Books I hope to read in 2010: one more (The Count of Monte Cristo)
Books on my TBR shelf: 31

Edgar Award
Books read so far: 7/55
Books read in 2010: 2

1. New Orleans Mourning by Julie Smith
2. Citizen Vince by Jess Walter (reviewed here)

Books I hope to read in 2010: no more, I don't think
Books on my TBR shelf: 5

Erica Jong
Books read so far: 31/100
Books read in 2010: 2  

1. Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbon (reviewed here)
2. Play It As It Lays by Joan Didion (reviewed here)

Books I hope to read in 2010: several, including

1. Orlando by Virginia Woolf
   
2. Rebecca by Daphne duMaurier
   
3. The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein
   

Books on my TBR shelf: 19

French Connection
Books read so far: 45/112 (and counting -- there are more books to add to the list)
Books read in 2010:3

1. The Flaneur: A Stroll Through the Paradoxes of Paris by Edmund White (reviewed here) 
2. L'Affaire by Diane Johnson
3. My Life in France by Julia Child (reviewed here)

Books I hope to read in 2010: 2 more

1. The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein
2. The Count of Monte Cristo

Books on my TBR shelf: 25

Guilt List

Books read so far: I don't keep track, because I delete them after I read them
Books read in 2010: same
Books I hope to read in 2010: 13 more (I'll be busy)

1. The Night Gardener by George Pelecanos
2. The Art of Disappearing by Ivy Pochoda
3. The Evolution of Shadows by Jason Quinn Malott
4. The Mermaid and the Messerschmitt by Rulka Langer 
5. Soldiers in Hiding by Richard Wiley
6. Saving Stanley: The Brickman Stories by Scott Nadelson 
7. Jumptown: The Golden Years of Portland Jazz 1942-1957 by Robert Dietsche
8. Another Way the River Has: Taut True Tales from the Northwest by Robin Cody   
9. An Architectural Guidebook to Portland by Bart King 
10.  The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott by Kelly O'Connor McNees
11. A Geography of Secrets by Fredrick Reuss 
12. Lunatic Express: Discovering the World via Its Most Dangerous Buses, Boats, Trains, and Planes by Carl Hoffman
13. To the Woods: Sinking Roots, Living Lightly, and Finding True Home by Evelyn Searle Hess

Books on my TBR shelf: 13

James Tait Black Memorial Prize
Books read so far: 8/96
Books read in 2010: one (The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry; for my Battle of the Prizes, British Version challenge)
Books I hope to read in 2010: one more (G by John Berger; also for my Battle of the Prizes, British Version challenge)
Books on my TBR shelf: 10


LT Early Reviewers
Books read so far: 27/30
Books read in 2010: 6

1. A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood (reviewed here)
2. Maimonides: and the Biblical Prophets by Israel Drazin
3. Homer and Langley by E. L. Doctorow (reviewed here)
4. The Wall in My Head: Words and Images from the Fall of the Iron Curtain, published by Words Without Borders Anthologies (reviewed here)
5. Short Stories, Book I by Anton Chekhov (reviewed here)
6. A Week in December by Sebastian Faulks (reviewed here)

Books I hope to read in 2010: three more

1. The New York Stories by Elizabeth Hardwick
2. Beautiful Maria of My Soul by Oscar Hijuelos 
3. Burmese Lessons: A True Love Story by Karen Connelly

Books on my TBR shelf: 3

Man Booker Prize
Books read so far: 21/43
Books read in 2010:one (The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga)
Books I hope to read in 2010: 2 more (for my Battle of the Prizes, British Version challenge)

1. G by John Berger 
2. The Sea, the Sea by Iris Murdoch

Books on my TBR shelf: 15

MLA's 30
Books read so far: 22/30
Books read in 2010: one (The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver)
Books I hope to read in 2010: just the one
Books on my TBR shelf: 4

Modern Library
Books read so far: all of them!
Books read in 2010: zero (finished this list a couple of years ago)
Books I hope to read in 2010: none
Books on my TBR shelf: zero

National Book Award
Books read so far: 26/64
Books read in 2010: zero
Books I hope to Read in 2010: 2 (for the Battle of the Prizes, American Version challenge)

1. Them by Joyce Carol Oates
2. The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter

Books on my TBR shelf: 13

NBCC Award
Books read so far: 16/34
Books read in 2010: one (The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz)
Books I hope to read in 2010: one more (Counterlife by Philip Roth)
Books on my TBR shelf: 11

Nobel Laureates
Authors read so far: 20/106
Books read in 2010: one (Beowulf, translated by Seamus Heaney)
Books I hope to read in 2010: one more (Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset)
Books on my TBR shelf: 31 (but most by authors already read)

Observer's Top 100
Books read so far: 58/100
Books read in 2010: 2  

1. Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan
2. The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler

Books I hope to read in 2010: one and two-thirds

1. the last two books in The Lord of the Rings
2. The Count of Monte Cristo

Books on my TBR shelf: 18

Orange Prize
Books read so far: 1/13
Books read in 2010: zero
Books I hope to read in 2010: one (Small Island by Andrea Levy)
Books on my TBR shelf: 5

Oregon Books
Books read so far: 3/20
Books read in 2010: zero
Books I hope to read in 2010: maybe none
Books on my TBR shelf: 2

PEN/Faulkner

Books read so far: 7/29
Books read in 2010: zero
Books I hope to read in 2010: 2

1. Soldiers in Hiding by Richard Wiley (also on my Guilt List)
2. Seaview by Toby Olson

Books on my TBR shelf: 12

Pulitzer Prize
Books read so far: 40/84
Books read in 2010: one (The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz)
Books I hope to read in 2010: at least 2 (for the Battle of the Prizes Challenge) 

1. The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter
2. Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler

Books on my TBR shelf: 19

Radcliffe's Top 100
Books read so far: 88/100
Books read in 2010: two

1. Where Angels Fear to Tread by E.M. Forster (reviewed here)
2. O Pioneers! by Willa Cather
3. The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells (reviewed here) 

Books I hope to read in 2010: 3+

1. the rest of The Lord of the Rings
2. Orlando by Virginia Woolf
3. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
4. Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner

Books on my TBR shelf: 9

RCR Top 10
Books read so far: 10/10 (it's my list)
Books read in 2010: one (Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbon; reviewed  here)
Books I hope to Read in 2010: probably none -- one change this year is a big step already
Books on my TBR shelf: who knows?

Well-Stocked Bookcase
Books read so far: 35/60
Books read in 2010: zero
Books I hope to Read in 2010: 2

1. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
2. Them by Joyce Carol Oates

Books on my TBR shelf: 13

Review of the Day: A Week in December

A Week in December follows a loosely linked network of Londoners – most of them connected by an invitation to a fancy dinner party on Saturday night at the home of a new Member of Parliament – during the week before Christmas. While the core characters go about their lives, one plots an extravagant act of terrorism with the other members of his militant Islamic cell.

This structure is risky. The different threads could easily unwind into separate short stories and it is difficult to maintain the tension of the two main plots to a satisfactory conclusion. But Sebastian Faulks is a master. There is enough interweaving of the characters’ lives – many of the women are in the same book club, for instance – to keep the stories connected. And he skillfully handles the terrorism story line right to the end.

The device of following such a large cast allows Faulks to take on all of modern culture, examining contemporary literature, professional sports, unscrupulous investment bankers, modern parenting, reality television, corporate sponsorship of book awards, trends in education, and the business of art. Some of his digressions, such as his explanations of esoteric hedge fund transactions, show more enthusiasm for the subject than his readers may share, but overall he packs a lot of material into an entertaining package.

In particular, Faulks’s take on authors and the book business, through the eyes of the snarky, book reviewing Ralph Tranter, is hilarious. After a lackluster reception of his own novel, “R. Tranter” recreated himself as a trenchant, take-no-prisoners book reviewer. Some of his reviews are pithy masterpieces, such as “[p]oor man’s Somerset Maugham, with embarrassing improbabilities at key moments,” or “[c]ostive little stories that beg to be called significant,” or, best of all, “typical subcontinental, sub-Rushdie, look-at-me-aren’t-I-refreshing and tragically not copy-edited bollocks.” But the thing about Tranter is that he simply does not like anything written by a living author:

Crash was what he wanted: crash and burn – failure, slump, embarrassment, He liked it when acerbic youngsters teased established writers and he relished it when old pipe-suckers slapped down a lively newcomer. His own specialty was the facetious, come-off-it review which invited the reader to share his opinion that the writer’s career had been a sustained con trick at the expense of the gullible book buyer.

Despite his bristles, Tranter is one of the few likeable characters and one who, thankfully, gets what he deserves in the end.

Faulks takes a lot on in A Week in December. He manages the job with precision and honesty, and even if his hand is sometimes a little heavy, this is the best book to come off the presses in a long while.

OTHER REVIEWS

Curled Up With a Good Book and a Cup of Tea

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

NOTES

I got this book from the LibraryThing Early Reviewer program. Now that I finished it, I can scratch it off my list.

Announcement!

The June issue of the Internet Review of Books is on-line now. The IRB is a top-rate source for book reviews and this edition is no different.  There are a dozen non-fiction reviews, five fiction reviews, two poetry reviews, one "flash back" review, a great list of summer reads, and a brief review section. It is enough to inspire any reader.

My review of The Farmer's Daughter, a new volume of three novellas by Jim Harrison, is in the Brief Review section. It is another entertaining book by my favorite living author -- well worth reading.



The IRB is looking for volunteers.  If you are interested in helping with this terrific publication, please see this announcement: "We get bigger and better all the time, but we need help: assistant editors for all genres, website helpers, advertising and PR workers, and of course, more reviewers. If you want to help, please contact us here."

Now and Then

This week's Booking Through Thursday question asks:

Do you prefer reading current books? Or older ones? Or outright old ones? (As in, yes, there’s a difference between a book from 10 years ago and, say, Charles Dickens or Plato.)

This is a question made for me.  I seldom read a new book.  If it weren't for occasionally receiving a book from the LibraryThing Early Reviewer program or some other review copy, I probably would read one new book a year, if that.

There are a couple of reasons for my preference for vintage reads. For one thing, I must have some psychic need to get comfortable with something before I enjoy it.  Books sit on my TBR shelf for years before I am in the mood to read them.  Just like new clothes may hang in my closet until they are out of style before I find an occasion to wear them.  I even knew my husband for almost eight years before I ever thought of dating him.

The second reason is more pragmatic.  I am compulsive about my book lists, trying to read all the Pulitzer fiction winners, the Radcliffe Top 100 books, every book by Anthony Powell, etc.  When you are committed to lists like this, you have to enjoy older books.

Most of my lists feature books from the 20th Century, and my particular favorites are mid-century -- basically WWII to Watergate. But I try to read a handful of 19th Century books every year. I am lackadaisically working on the novels of Dumas and Dickens and have a nice set of Mark Twain that I chip away at.  And I am sometimes inspired by the Daily Telegraph's list of the Best 100 Novels of the 19th Century. 

New or old? What are your preferences?

Author of the Day: Dick Francis

Dick Francis was a prolific author who passed away in February 2010, at age 90. He published 47 books, most of them mysteries, the last four written with his son Felix.

Francis's mystery novels are well known for their horse racing themes, a subject he came to naturally after his own career as a prize-winning jockey. He is the only author to win the Edgar Award three times.

I enjoy Francis's novels when I am in the mood for something very British. Those I have read are in red. Those currently on my TBR shelf are in blue.

The Sport of Queens: The Autobiography of Dick Francis (1957) (non-fiction)

Dead Cert (1962)

Nerve (1964)

For Kicks (1965)

Odds Against (1965) (featuring Sid Halley)

Flying Finish (1966)

Blood Sport (1967) (reviewed here)

Forfeit (1968) (Edgar winner)

Enquiry (1969)

Racing Man's Bedside Book (1969) (with John Welcome) (non-fiction)

Slay Ride (1970)

Rat Race (1970)

Bonecrack (1971)

Smokescreen (1972)

Knockdown (1974)

High Stakes (1975) (reviewed here)

In the Frame (1976)

Risk (1977)

Trial Run (1978)

Whip Hand (1979) (Edgar winner featuring Sid Halley)

Reflex (1980)

Twice Shy (1981)

Banker (1982)

The Danger (1983)

Proof (1984)

Break In (1985) (featuring Kit Fielding)

Bolt (1986) (featuring Kit Fielding)

Jockey's Life: The Biography of Lester Piggott (1986) (non-fiction)

Hot Money (1987)

The Edge (1988)

Straight (1989)

Longshot (1990)

Comeback (1991)

Driving Force (1992)

Decider (1993)

Wild Horses (1994)

Come to Grief (1995) (Edgar winner featuring Sid Halley)

To the Hilt (1996)

10 lb Penalty (1997)

Field of 13 (1998) (short stories)

Second Wind (1999) (reviewed here)

Shattered (2000)

Under Orders (2006) (featuring Sid Halley)

Dead Heat (2007) (with Felix Francis)

Silks (2008) (with Felix Francis)

Even Money (2009) (with Felix Francis)

Crossfire (2010) (with Felix Francis)

NOTE

Last updated on January 7, 2019.

OTHER DICK FRANCIS READERS

(If you keeps track of the Dick Francis novels you read, please leave a comment with links to relevant posts and I will list them here.)

Teaser Tuesday: Angler Management

I was raised by a PhD research scientist, and I can tell you firsthand that he viewed liberal arts majors as ethereal slacker stoners with no real understanding of how the world works, let alone how to turn on a Bunsen burner or create penicillin in a petri dish (when I was a child, my dad once gave me some penicillin that he personally created -- I can't even make a Manhattan without consulting the Internet). One way that we've figured out how to make ourselves feel, well, more scientific, is to inject science into art -- specifically, the art of fly fishing.

-- Angler Management: The Day I Died While Fly Fishing and Other Essays by Jack Ohman.

This is the perfect book to get for any fisherman dad for Father's Day! I may get it for my dad, even though he hasn't fished since he bought me a Popeil Pocket Fisherman for my eighth birthday and helped me catch bluegill using hot dogs for bait.


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

Mailbox Monday

Last week was a busy book week. I met a friend for lunch in Lake Oswego, and had time to browse around Booktique while I was there -- always a fruitful activity -- and I went to the Rose City Used Book Fair this weekend. So I have another long list for Mailbox Monday.

The Big Squeeze by Jim Cirni (cool, Soho Crime edition)



A Sand County Almanac and Sketches Here and There by Aldo Leopold (Where did I just read about this? Was it in The Echo Maker by Richard Powers?)



My Petition for More Space by John Hersey (I keep collecting Hersey novels, but I don't even remember if I like them)



Cities of the Plain by Marcel Proust (which has both volumes of what is also called Sodom and Gomorrah. One of these days, I am going to read the whole thing)



The Summing Up by W. Somerset Maugham (nonfiction, commentary and memoirs)

The Glass-Blowers by Daphne Du Maurier (I have also been collecting her books without reading them -- better get started)



The Great American Novel by Philip Roth



Wild Flowers of the World by Brian Morley (really beautiful -- this bad picture of the cover doesn't do it justice)

Opening Sentence of the Day: Up in the Old Hotel

"McSoreley's occupies the ground floor of a red-brick tenement at 15 Seventh Street, just off Cooper Square, where the Bowery ends."

Up in the Old Hotel by Joseph Mitchell.

This book has been on my TBR shelf for years, ever since I read about it in a couple of other books (which ones, I can't remember now), wanted to read it, and found a very nice hardback copy at Green Apple. And it has sat on my shelf for six years. That is such a typical example and explains why there are over 900 books on my TBR shelves.

But I am excited to read this now. It is an omnibus collection of Mitchell's best pieces -- non-fiction and fiction -- originally published in the New Yorker from the 1930s to the early 1960s.

Cocktail of the Day: The Lucky Jim

Sort of in the spirit (so to speak) of my goal of making one new recipe from every cookbook, I also like to try new cocktail recipes.

Kingsley Amis offered several choices in Everyday Drinking: The Distilled Kingsley Amis, but the one that appealed to me the most was for a cocktail of his own invention that he called the Lucky Jim after his most famous character.

Essentially, the Lucky Jim is a vodka martini with a splash of cucumber juice. Amis provided proportions for making a pitcher of the drink, but who makes an entire pitcher of martinis these days? To make just a single drink, make a dry vodka martini, adding approximately twice as much cucumber juice as vermouth. We are only talking about a very small amount of cucumber juice.

But where to get cucumber juice? Amis suggests peeling a cucumber, chopping it in approximately two-inch lengths, and squeezing it in a lemon juicer. I think he meant an old-fashioned lemon reamer, but I put it in my modern squeezer kind and it worked fine. Then strain the juice to remove the seeds. I forgot this step and the sticky seeds stuck to the side of my martini glass in an unappealingly gooey way.

Garnish with a thin slice of cucumber with the peel on.

The drink is a little bit cloudy, with an almost imperceptible green ting and a refreshing hint of cucumber. Definitely worth a second round.

Cheers!

Opening Sentence of the Day: Angler Management

"After I finished An Inconvenient Trout, which I recommend highly for its technical information and helpful how-to hints, such as not drowning, I decided almost immediately that I had more to say about fly fishing."

-- From the Introduction

"If I really want to get rid of someone, I bring up fly fishing in conversation."

-- From Chapter One, "The Conversation."


Angler Management: The Day I Died While Fly Fishing and Other Essays by Jack Ohman.

This is a book I have been meaning to read for a while -- almost as long as my husband has been talking about cleaning up his fishing gear and going fly fishing again. At least one of us will accomplish our goal this summer.  


NOTE
Book Beginnings on Fridays is a Friday "opening sentence" event hosted by Becky at Page Turners.

Review of the Day: Clown Girl

Clown Girl by Monica Drake (published by Hawthorne Books & Literary Arts).

Monica Drake writes about a city very much like any city – except that in her city, clowns really matter. Although her clowns share a level of urban society with dope dealers, prostitutes, and sundry petty criminals, they play an extraordinarily large role in society. Not only do they provide entertainment at children’s parties, corporate shindigs, and street fairs, the police deal with a rash of clown bashing – blame the coulrophobes – and other clown-related crimes, and the clowns themselves are constantly on the alert for overly-zealous coulrophiles who could quickly turn from innocent fetishists to stalkers. For apparent reasons, clown prostitution is a temptation as well as a civic problem.

Nita – or Sniffles, to use her clown name – is Clown Girl, the heroine of the piece. She works soul-killing corporate gigs to fund her boyfriend’s clown college try-outs, and tries to focus on her [clown] art, find her missing dog, not get evicted, and shake an overly-friendly policeman.

There are a couple of negative aspects to the book. The first is a matter of preference and has nothing to do with the quality of the writing or the story. Nita is dirty – not in a metaphysical sense, but physically dirty. She is always in greasy clown make-up, it is hot and she is sweaty, and she spends a lot of time pawing through or lying in piles of unlaundered costume parts. The need for her to have a good scrubbing is distracting.

The second is a matter of editing. There is one too many of every scene. There is one too many scenes involving the cop rescuing Nita, the cop trying to convince Nita that they are both outsiders, Nita’s neighbors ostracizing her because she is spending time with a cop, and Nita denying that she is dating a cop. There is one too many scenes of Nita arguing with her clown agent about selling out as a sexy clown and denying that she is a clown prostitute. There is one too many scenes where Nita removes her clown i.d., picture of her dead parents, and/or picture of her clown boyfriend, Rex Galore, from her sweaty, polka-dot bra. The whole thing needed a stricter hand with the red pen.

Despite these flaws, Clown Girl is quirkily entertaining. Drake is clever and she has created a self-contained world where her story makes sense. She is also very funny. She is funny with words and with the way she juxtaposes her clown-world with the real world. There is a dark edge to her humor, though, and it is touch and go whether the book will end in smiles or tears.

OTHER REVIEWS

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

Teaser Tuesday: The Count of Monte Cristo

Morrel took the purse, and started as he did so, for a vague remembrance reminded him that it once belonged to himself. At one end was the receipted bill for the 287,000 francs, and at the other was a diamond as large as a hazelnut, with these words on a small slip of parchment: Julie's Dowry.

-- The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas

A diamond the size of a hazelnut! That is fantastic.

I cannot believe that I am only now reading this book. I got the audiobook from the library -- all 35 discs of it -- and never want to stop listening to it. So far, the hero has only repayed his friends. He is about to start seeking revenge against his enemies.

This is like the story from which all adventure stories came from. It has everything in it. 


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

Mailbox Monday

I had a busy book week, so my Mailbox Monday list is long (so long, I'm putting it up early).

First, Unbridled Books sent me A Geography of Secrets by Fredrick Reuss and, even though it is going on my Guilt List, it looks terrific. I can't wait to get to it.



Then, I went to the Great Northwest Benefit Book Sale and ended up with a crazy mix of books:

The Scottish Novels by Robert Lewis Stevenson (because I recently read Treasure Island and want to read more RLS)



Poems of John Donne (because I liked them in college -- at least that one about the flea -- and the cover was so adorable)



The Unconsoled by Kazuo Ishiguro (because he is a genius)



A Time of Hope by C. P. Snow (because I am gathering this edition of the Strangers and Brothers series)



Human Croquet by Kate Atkinson (because she is a new favorite)



Dancing at the Rascal Fair by Ivan Doig (because I've always meant to read at least one of his books)



Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann (because it won the National Book Award)



Making It Up by Penelope Lively (because she is an old favorite)



The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford (because I want to re-read this one and I loved the cover)



World Without End by Ken Follett (because I loved Pillars of the Earth and it is time for me to get to the sequel)



That Old Cape Magic and Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo (because I liked Empire Falls and want to read more of his books)

Opening Sentence of the Day: A Week in December

"Five o'clock and freezing."

-- A Week in December by Sebastian Faulks.

Grrrrrr . . . A book pet peeve of mine is opening sentences that are incomplete sentences. It may be irrational of me, but there you have it.

Good thing the story takes off right away. I am sucked in.

This book is on my LibraryThing Early Reviewer list. I am determined to get caught up on that list.

Review of the Day: Missing Mom

Missing Mom is the story of how an adult daughter copes with the unexpected death of her widowed mother. Nikki Eaton is 32, single, involved with a married man, and seems barely ready for adulthood. Her mother’s death knocks her off her pins.

Coping is the best way to describe what Nikki goes through in her first year of mourning. She and her older sister, the bossy, no-nonsense Clare, realize that their mother was the only real bond between them as they work together to organize the formal ceremonies, sort through their parents’ belongings, and try to keep their personal lives intact.

Through this process, as Nikki comes to understand more about her mother, she understands more about herself. Nikki is not the most admirable of heroines – she has a whiney, self-indulgent streak and spends more time than an insecure teen-ager worrying about what outfit to wear – but she starts to mature as, groping for a way through her grief, she takes on some of her mother’s habits and social obligations.

Oates is unflinching in her portrayal of both the heartbreak and banality of losing a mother. Scenes such as Nikki reading her mother’s old love letters are all the more poignant for being balanced by scenes of cleaning out the freezer or filling bags for the Goodwill. Oates manages to make the story emotionally authentic without being gooey or maudlin.

NOTES

Somehow, although she is prolific, this is the first Joyce Carol Oates book I have read. It really hit me and I keep thinking about it, weeks after I finished 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.)

The Long and Short of It

This week's Booking Through Thursday question asks:

Which do you prefer? Short stories? Or full-length novels?

I much prefer novels to short stories. I know the old truism about stories being harder to write than novels, and that is probably true, but that doesn't make them easier to read.

It is usually the pace and rhythm of short stories that puts me off. I prefer the longer, steadier pace of a novel.  Too often, short stories either build to a big payoff that feels manipulated, forced, or just unsatisfactory -- like the story arc was truncated.  Or the story arc is too flat and just peters out in a way that is supposed to signify something important but just leaves me bored.

I'm afraid I had this reaction even to several of Earnest Hemingway's stories (see here) and John Cheevers's (see here), although both are revered for their short stories and I am a fan of their novels.

There are exceptions, of course. Roald Dahl is a master of short stories (see here for one review). I have read almost all of them and some are all-time favorites, such as "Taste" about a wine bet gone wrong and "The Great Automatic Grammatizator" about a machine that writes novels.



And I am just starting with Somerset Maugham's short stories, but they are very, very good.

As a rule, I will read short stories by an author who's novels I enjoy. But I won't start with a collection of short stories by an unknown (to me) author.