Book Beginnings: A Personal Odyssey

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.

TWITTER: If you are on Twitter, please tweet a link to your post using the has tag #BookBeginnings. My Twitter handle is @GilionDumas.

MR. LINKY: Please leave a link to your post below. If you don't have a blog, but want to participate, please leave a comment with your Book Beginning.



MY BOOK BEGINNING

Henry was about to become a father again – if he lived that long.

-- A Personal Odyssey by Thomas Sowell.

I've read Sowell's columns and am impressed by him as a commentator, but I've never read his books.I decided to start with his memoirs to learn a little more of his backstory before reading his substantive books.

I am about halfway through and am engrossed.  His story is interesting and he is an incredibly smart, completely self-made man. He doesn't show much of a soft side, but the way he refuses to suffer fools is inspirational.

2013 Challenge: European Reading Challenge

This is my sign up page for the 2013 European Reading Challenge!

TO SIGN UP OR SEE DETAILS, GO TO THE MAIN CHALLENGE PAGE,

OR CLICK THE BUTTON ABOVE.

TO POST REVIEWS, GO TO THIS REVIEW PAGE.

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.

It's my challenge, so I am signing up at the highest level, the Five Star (Deluxe Entourage) level, to read at least five books by different European authors or books set in different European countries.

MY BOOKS

This is a list of books from my TBR shelves that I may read for this challenge. Once I read them, I will put them in red, with links to reviews.

Some possibilities for 2013 from my TBR shelves include:

Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman by Robert K. Massie (American; Russia)

The Twin by Gerbrand Bakker (Dutch; Holland)

Quo Vadis by Henryk Sienkiewicz (Polish; Nobel)

Death in the Truffle Wood by Pierre Magnan (French; France)

The Tin Drum by Gunter Grass (German; Germany)

Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset (Norwegian; Norway)

How German Is It = Wie Deutsch Ist Es by Walter Abish (Germany; PEN/Faulkner)

I, the King by Frances Parkinson Keyes (American; Spain)

I plan to update this list as I start thinking ahead to next year's reading plan.

19 Days to Christmas!

Announcing the 2013 European Reading Challenge

The European Reading Challenge
January 1, 2013 to January 31, 2014

TAKE THE GRAND TOUR 

Please join me for the 2013 European Reading Challenge! The main challenge page is up now.  The idea is to read books by authors from different European countries, or books set in European countries.  

TO SIGN UP OR SEE DETAILS, GO TO THE MAIN CHALLENGE PAGE,

OR CLICK THE BUTTON ABOVE.

TO POST REVIEWS, GO TO THIS REVIEW PAGE.

2013 European Reading Challenge: Review Page

The European Reading Challenge
January 1, 2013 to January 31, 2014

TAKE THE GRAND TOUR

THIS IS THE PAGE TO LIST YOUR REVIEWS.

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

OR CLICK THE BUTTON ABOVE.

When you review a book for the 2013 European Reading Challenge, please add it to this list using the linky widget below.  Please link to your review post, NOT the main page of your blog.

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

20 Days to Christmas!

21 Days to Christmas!

Teaser Tuesday: The Honourable Schoolboy

Within the Circus itself, as Craw had correctly called the seat of British intelligence, reactions to Craw's [newspaper] piece varied according to how much was known by those who were doing the reacting. In Housekeeping Section, for instance, which was responsible for such tatters of cover as the Circus could gather to itself these days, the old boy released a wave of pent-up fury that can only be understood by those who have tasted the atmosphere of a secret department under heavy siege.

-- The Honourable Schoolboy by John Le Carr.  This is the sequel to Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (which I reviewed here) and I am enjoying it about ten times more than the first one.  For one thing, the story is just better -- the plot to atmosphere ratio leans far heavier to the plot side.  For another, the atmosphere is rendered perfectly in the audio version.  The reader's tone and cadence expresses the perfect amount of world-weary cynicism. 

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

22 Days to Christmas!

Review: Pure Beef

Local. Sustainable. Humane. Grass-fed.

Those are some of the buzz words foodies throw around these days when discussing what beef to eat or whether to eat beef at all. A new cookbook, Pure Beef: An Essential Guide to Artisan Meat with Recipes for Every Cut, is the go-to book for people having those kinds of conversations.

Food writer, Lynne Curry, herself a former vegetarian turned grass-fed beef aficionado, wrote Pure Beef as the definitive resource for those devoted to – or just curious – about cooking and eating more pasture-raised meat. Curry explains everything from the science and nutrition of grass-fed beef, the terminology, the different cuts, to how to thaw it, to how to cook it, and what side-dishes to make with it.

Curry begins each recipe chapter with a "learning recipe" to provide a foundation for cooking basics like meatloaf, grilled steak, stir-fry, roast beef, or stock with grass-fed beef. She follows these with more recipes for elaboration or variation for each beef cut. The recipes range from tasty basics like Cowboy Coffee Beef Stew to more exotic offerings like Feta-Stuffed Sliders with Tahini-Yogurt Sauce. She even includes a chapter on making some simpler homemade charcuterie such as summer sausage, chorizo, and corned beef.

Pure Beef would make a great gift book because it is as attractive as it is informative and user-friendly. Its bright, grass green cover has a lot of design appeal and there is a section of color pictures, as well as a pleasing layout with plenty of useful and attractive illustrations.

NOTES

Lynne Curry also has a terrific blog, Stories that Feed You, that is chock-o-block full of all kinds of interesting recipes and information about many sorts of food.  

OTHER REVIEWS

Good Food Neighbor
Oregon Wine Press
The Kitchn

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

WEEKEND COOKING

Hosted by Beth Fish Reads

23 Days to Christmas!

24 Days to Christmas!

Time to start my vintage Christmas card advent calendar. I'm feeling particularly cozy this year, so am going for a Home Sweet Home theme.

Book Beginnings: The Book and the Brotherhood

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.

TWITTER: If you are on Twitter, please tweet a link to your post using the has tag #BookBeginnings. My Twitter handle is @GilionDumas.

MR. LINKY: Please leave a link to your post below. If you don't have a blog, but want to participate, please leave a comment with your Book Beginning.



MY BOOK BEGINNING

"David Crimond is here in a kilt!"

-- The Book and the Brotherhood by Iris Murdoch.  Years earlier, a group of young, liberal university students had pooled their money to fund Crimond's writing of a book on their political philosophy.  The book never materialized and the brotherhood never came to much.

What Are They Reading? The Book and the Brotherhood

Authors tend to be readers, so it is natural for them to create characters who like to read.  It is always interesting to me to read what books the characters are reading in the books I read. Even if I can't say that ten times fast.

Usually, the characters' choice of books reflects the author's tastes or, I sometimes think, what the author was reading at the time.  But sometimes the character's reading material is a clue to the character's personality, or is even a part of the story. 

This is an occasional blog event. If anyone wants to join in, feel free to leave a comment with a link to your related post. And feel free to use the button.  If this catches on, I can pick a day and make it a weekly event.

THE BOOK AND THE BROTHERHOOD BY IRIS MURDOCH

The Book and the Brotherhood is one of Murdoch's later novels and I've read mixed things about it, so I was slow to pick it up. But I am now completely absorbed by the story and would like to curl up with it just like the characters who go off to a country house for a "Reading Party" weekend.  They all bring books and spend a few snowy days reading, eating, drinking, and talking.  Heaven.

The hostess for the Reading Party chooses Daniel Deronda by George Eliot as her weekend book.  It is Eliot's last novel and, according to wikipedia, is a "mixture of social satire and moral searching, along with a sympathetic rendering of Jewish proto-Zionist and Kabbalistic ideas."

Leave it to Iris Murdoch to chose such a well-packed novel for one of her characters!  I'm not sure how closely Eliot's novel ties in with The Book and the Brotherhood, although Murdoch's novel involves quite a bit of social satire and a lot of moral searching.  There are no "proto-Zionist" or "Kabbalistic" ideas, but there are pages of philosophizing (it is Murdoch, after all) about marriage, friendship, university education, wealth, and Marxism.

Teaser Tuesday: Personal History

A month later, a seismic Watergate event occurred -- the turning point, the pivotal moment. In the course of his testimony before the Senate investigating committee, Alexander Butterfield, another Haldeman aide, revealed that there was a voice-activated recording system in the White House. 

-- Personal History by Katharine Graham.  The TBR Pile Challenge gave me the kick in the pants I needed to finally read this.

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

2012 Foodie Reading Challenge: Wrap Up

FINISHED

Margot and Joyfully Retired hosting the second Foodies Reading Challenge in 2012 and, once again, it was one of my favorite challenges of the year.

I signed up at the "Pastry Chef" level to read 4 - 8 food-related books. I have read five, so have completed the challenge, but I hope to get at least one more in before the end of the year.  I particularly enjoy reading food books during the Christmas season.

CHALLENGE BOOKS

On the Town in New York by Michael & Ariane Batterberry (reviewed here)

Comfort Me with Apples: More Adventures at the Table by Ruth Reichl (reviewed here)

Vie De France: Sharing Food, Friendship and a Kitchen in the Lorie Valle by James Haller (reviewed here)

Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil by Tom Mueller (reviewed here)

Monsieur Pamplemousse Investigates by Michael Bond (reviewed here)

All were enjoyable and I'm glad I read them. My favorite was Extra Virginity because I learned so much about olive oil and actually changed what I look for in a good oil and how I buy it.

LOOKING AHEAD

I certainly hope Margot hosts this challenge in 2013. I am cutting back, but the Foodie Challenge is too good to skip.

There are still several possibilities on my TBR shelves, including:

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

Stuffed: Adventures of a Restaurant Family by Patricia Volk

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

Alice Waters and Chez Panisse by Thomas McNamee

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

A Cordiall Water by M. F. K. Fisher

The Feasting Season by Nancy Coons

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

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

WEEKEND COOKING

Hosted by Beth Fish Reads

Looking Ahead: 2013 Challenges

It's that time of year when book bloggers start to think about next year's challenges. As if we all didn't have a million other things to think about during the holidays!

As much as I love book challenges and am tempted to join all of them that catch my fancy, I admit I took on too many in 2012. I am going to scale back in 2013, both for hosting and participating. I also have an idea for a personal challenge that I am keen on trying.

HOSTING

I am definitely going to host the European Reading Challenge again in 2013. The 2012 challenge runs through January 31, 2013. The 2013 challenge will start January 1, 2013. Check back here for the 2013 challenge page, coming soon, to sign up.

I'm going to take a break on the Battle of the Prizes Challenges, both the American and British versions. I've hosted both for a couple of years now, and I think they need a rest. They may revive in future years, but we'll go fallow for 2013.

PARTICIPATING

There are a handful of challenges that dovetail so nicely with my own reading habits, and that I get such a kick out of, that I can't pass them up. So, assuming the hosts are game for another year, I am going to sign up for the 2013 versions of the Chunkster Challenge, the Mt. TBR and Off the Shelf Challenges, the Foodie Reading Challenge, and the Vintage Mystery Challenge.

PERSONAL CHALLENGE

According to my LibraryThing tags, there are 1,421 books on my TBR shelves. Even though I read good number of books every year, I never seem to make visual progress through my TBR books.

So I have latched onto the idea that I want to read all the books on at least one shelf. I want to see a gap grow on the shelf as I finish book after book. I have a wall of TBR books and I am going to pick one shelf from it at random on December 1 and then plan on reading all the books from that shelf in 2013.

The one limitation is that I am only going to read one book by each author on that shelf. So if I hit a series or patch of books by the same author, I am going to skip all but one of them.

There is no theme to this challenge other than an idiosyncratic, spacial one. But it will tie in with the Mt. TBR and Off the Shelf Challenges.

Book Beginnings: Personal History

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.

TWITTER: If you are on Twitter, please tweet a link to your post using the has tag #BookBeginnings. My Twitter handle is @GilionDumas.

MR. LINKY: Please leave a link to your post below. If you don't have a blog, but want to participate, please leave a comment with your Book Beginning.



MY BOOK BEGINNING

My parents' paths first crossed in a museum on 23rd Street in New York.

-- Personal History by Katharine Graham.

That is a disappointingly prosaic opening line for a Pulitzer-winning autobiography of the fascinating woman who ran the Washington Post through so many turbulent years.  But her story picks up soon enough.

Gobble! Gobble!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Review: May We Borrow Your Husband?

Short stories are hard. They are, legend has it, hard to write. They are certainly hard for me to read. I generally skip a short story collection for a novel every time because I usually find short stories either pointlessly atmospheric or gimmicky.

But Graham Greene's little collection of 12 stories, May We Borrow Your Husband?, won me over. The title story about two gay men who woo away a honeymooning husband is a pitch-perfect Mid-Century period piece on closeted homosexuality. The others range from wryly comic to tragic, but all share a nerve-twinging honesty.

"Cheap in August" about a wife seeking a fling and "Two Gentle People" about star-crossed lovers are probably the best of the bunch from a literary standpoint. But my favorites were "A Shocking Accident" about a father killed by a pig, which I found delightful all around, and "The Invisible Japanese Gentlemen" about a self-absorbed young writer, which made me cringe and laugh at the same time.

May We Borrow Your Husband? made me reconsider the short story genre. And it raised Graham Greene even higher on my list of favorite authors.

OTHER REVIEWS

The New York Times (April 30, 1967)
My review of The Comedians

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

NOTES

I read this book for the Graham Greene Challenge and for the Books Written in the First Years of My Life Challenge.

Teaser Tuesday: Polite Society

  

Before turning in, she pads softly down the hall to her mother's door.  She peeks in and gazes at the sleeping figure that is such a stranger.

-- Polite Society, a charming debut novel by Colleen Sohn, illustrated by Maren Jensen. 

I think this is a great scene because the idea of a mother who is a stranger raises so many possibilities. 

There are still a few of the lovely, limited edition hardbacks left (see here for details). And, Polite Society is now available in a Kindle edition, with all the illustrations.



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, who graciously hosted it for a long, long time, before turning it into a touring event (details here).

Kathy from BermudaOnion's Weblog stepped up to the plate to host in November. The link for today is here.

I am excited about the one book i got last week because it is the Ian Rankin book I
need to continue reading his John Rebus series in order.



Mortal Causes by Ian Rankin

This is the sixth novel in the Rebus series, the seventh book, counting a book of short stories that slipped in there after the third novel.

Perfect for a long holiday weekend. 

Weekend Cooking: White Bean Casserole

With Thanksgiving fast approaching, this is the weekend to look for recipes and inspiration.  This isn't a traditional Thanksgiving dish, but it is sometimes good to have a vegetarian option for those who forgo turkey.

This recipe didn't come from a book, it came from my head. But since I invented it for Book Club, that is connection enough for me to post it today as part of Weekend Cooking.

The Book Club ladies all raved and asked me to type up the recipe, so I am going to take them at their word. I think it is yummy.

WHITE BEAN CASSEROLE WITH ARTICHOKES 

NOTE: This serves four as a side dish, or two hungry people for dinner. Multiply accordingly. 

one 14oz can artichoke hearts, chopped in 1/2" or so pieces
one 14oz can little white beans, drained and rinsed
one 14oc can diced tomatoes, with juice
two whole eggs, beaten with a fork
1/2 cup ricotta, or 1/2 cup grated soft white cheese
1 Tbsp. or so dried Italian herbs (parsley, oregano, basil)
1 big garlic clove, crushed
salt & pepper to taste*
8oz or so sliced mozzarella, or other soft melting cheese
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs, or other dry bread crumbs
good olive oil
hot sauce

Mix the canned ingredients in a bowl. Beat the eggs and ricotta with a fork until well blended. Mix the herbs, garlic, salt and pepper into the egg mixture. Add mixture to canned ingredients and stir well to mix.

Butter an 8" soufflé dish or other deep casserole dish. Spread half the casserole mix in the dish. Sprinkle a thorough layer of panko over the mix – enough to coat but not more than 1/4" deep. Layer half the mozzarella over the panko. Spread the other half of the casserole mix on top of the mozzarella. Sprinkle on another layer of panko. Layer the other half of the mozzarella on top. Finish with a little sprinkle of panko, mixed with some chopped parsley if you feel fancy.

Bake in a 350 oven for a about an hour, or until it is very hot in the middle and bubbly on the top. Reheats very well. Serve with olive oil for drizzling and hot sauce.

* Whether you need to add any salt at all depends on how salty the cheese is and the canned ingredients. 

WEEKEND COOKING

Hosted by Beth Fish Reads

Book Beginnings: Polite Society

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.

TWITTER: If you are on Twitter, please tweet a link to your post using the has tag #BookBeginnings. My Twitter handle is @GilionDumas.

MR. LINKY: Please leave a link to your post below. If you don't have a blog, but want to participate, please leave a comment with your Book Beginning.



MY BOOK BEGINNING

The color of night, Sharon moves toward the pickup truck.  She looks at the grille and headlights, "smiling" in a way that only they can, before she pops the hood with hardly a creak, silently thanks her father for teaching his only child about the inner workings of cars, and makes the adjustments that will keep the old Chevy out of commission for what she hopes to be several days. 

-- Polite Society, the quirky debut novel by Colleen Sohn, illustrated by Maren Jensen.

  

There are still a few of the lovely, limited edition hardbacks left (see here for details). And, Polite Society is now available in a Kindle edition, with all the illustrations.

Review: Doctor Zhivago

I probably watched Doctor Zhivago three or four times in high school and college and never could remember the plot, beyond the basics about Omar Sharif being in love with two women – his earnest wife Tanya and the elusive, flawed, and beautiful Lara. Other than that, it was all snow, trains, battles, furry hats, theme music, and Julie Christie's doe eyes.

The book is the same, but without the balaclava music or Julie Christie.

There is a chronological order to it, but with big gaps. Some threads take so long to tie together I had forgotten where they started. And in between scenes of snow, trains, trains stopped by snow, trains buried by snow, battles, battles in snow, battles on trains, and more of the same, were rambling discourses on religion and political philosophy. And I thought the movie was slow!

The themes are grand and the writing, even in translation, is beautiful. Boris Pasternak won the Nobel Prize because of the book, although the Soviet government forced him to renounce the honor. There are many reasons to read Doctor Zhivago and many reasons to enjoy it. But it is a long and often frustrating read.

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 read this one for the Eastern Europe Reading Challenge, the TBR Pile Challenge, the Mt. TBR Challenge, and the Off The Shelf Challenge. Since Pasternak won the Nobel Prize, I also made some progress on that list.

Review: How to Read and Why

 

Several years ago, I read Great Books by David Denby and was inspired to upgrade my reading program significantly. At 48, Dendy had returned to Columbia University to take its controversial "Great Books" course and wrote his about his reawakened appreciation for and engagement with the Western canon.

Denby reminded me of the intellectual and emotional pleasure I had gotten from my own college courses on classic literature. He motivated me to go back to some of those classics and to search out other Great Books. As a result, I undertook to finish the books on the Modern Library's Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century list (the inspiration for this blog), bought the complete 54-volume set of The Great Books of the Western World at a library sale, and, more lastingly, began to read more deliberately.

I turned to Harold Bloom's How to Read and Why with the expectation that it would arouse the same enthusiasm in me. I was looking for bibliophile red meat and was disappointed by the thin gruel between the covers. There was enough there to keep me going, but now, a couple of months later, nothing has really stuck with me.

Bloom organized his discussion by short stories, poems, novels, and plays, then picked a few of his favorites from each and explained what he liked about them. If this was touted as a collection of essays by a brilliant literature professor reflecting on his favorite books, I may have enjoyed it more. But Bloom didn't impart to me why I should read these books, only why he did. And his lessons for how to read them seemed interchangeable – read them out loud, read them for their irony, re-read them, etc.

I think I would have been happier reading Bloom's seminal work, The Western Canon, and leaving How to Read and Why to his more ardent devotees.

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

This counts for the Non-Fiction Challenge, Mt. TBR Challenge, Off The Shelf Challenge,  and TBR Pile Challenge, 

Teaser Tuesday: Fierce Conversations

Above all, as you describe reality from your perspective, do not lay blame. . . . Each time you describe reality accurately, without laying blame, you create a kind of force field around yourself -- one that feels good to others.

-- Fierce Conversations: Achieving Success at Work and in Life One Conversation at a Time by Susan Scott. I really like what this book promises and have been looking forward to reading it. 

But this passage has me confused. One of the main reasons I am reading the book is to learn how to have difficult conversations with people when they screw up.  I am now confused about how to confront someone about a mistake or a wrongdoing -- and get them to accept responsibility -- without "blaming" the person. Hopefully, as I move through the book I will figure out this conundrum.

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, who graciously hosted it for a long, long time, before turning it into a touring event (details here).

Kathy from BermudaOnion's Weblog stepped up to the plate to host in November. The link for today is here.

I got one book last week, but it is a very special book, a limited edition hardback of Polite Society, the quirky debut novel by Colleen Sohn, illustrated by Maren Jensen.



I've only dipped into the book so far, reading passages at random, but it engages me every time I do.

There are only a few of the lovely hardbacks left (see here for details). The good news it that Polite Society is now available in a Kindle edition, with all the illustrations.

Happy Vetrans' Day

Book Beginnings: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

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.

TWITTER: If you are on Twitter, please tweet a link to your post using the has tag #BookBeginnings. My Twitter handle is @GilionDumas.

MR. LINKY: Please leave a link to your post below. If you don't have a blog, but want to participate, please leave a comment with your Book Beginning.



MY BOOK BEGINNING

To Sherlock Holmes she is always the woman. 

 - from "A Scandal in Bohemia," the first story in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle.

That is a catchy start for any story. But given the eminence of this particular story in Doyle's oeuvre, and the significance of "the woman" to Sherlock Holmes, it is worth reading a fuller opening passage:

To Sherlock Holmes she is always the woman. I have seldom heard him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but admirably balanced mind. 

Yes, it is the introduction of Irene Adler! I think she plays a greater role in movie adaptations and spin offs than in the books, but she still looms large in the collective recollection of Sherlock Holmes' world.  

I started reading all the Sherlock Holmes book in order last year.  This is the third volume and I like the stories a lot.  But this is the book I have on my iPhone kindle app, which means it is my emergency book for when I get stuck waiting in line, or need something to read while grabbing a quick bite to eat. So I've been reading these stories for months and months. I may have to grab the book-book off my shelf and finish it off. 

Review: Oscar and Lucinda

 

Oscar and Lucinda is a strange book. Or, more precisely, it is a normal book about strange people. There is nothing experimental about the writing and there are no long philosophical passages. It definitely falls in the "good yarn" category of novels. But the main characters are odd birds – awkward misfits who end up doing unusual things because they can't do otherwise.

This Booker Prize winner by Peter Carey is a historical novel set, almost entirely, in the mid 1800s, mostly in Australia. Oscar is the son of an English marine biologist of such fervent Low Church beliefs that he beat his son for eating a Christmas pudding. Lucinda is an Australian orphan of independent mind and means, who invests half her fortune in a glass factory.

The two are drawn together by their mutual love of gambling. Oscar put himself through university by playing the ponies. Lucinda is dithering away the other half of her money on cards. The book is as much about gambling addiction as it is about anything else, although there is plenty in there about other 19th Century preoccupations, like religious sectarianism, natural sciences, sea travel, and geographic exploration.

None of the characters are particularly likable, or have much depth, despite the rich detail of the narrative. The ending is abrupt and half-baked. But the story is a grand, mesmerizing kaleidoscope of Australian history and human nature that never let's go of the reader's imagination.

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

This counts as one of my Booker choices for the 2012 Battle of the Prizes, British Version.  It also counts for the Mt. TBR Challenge, the Off The Shelf Challenge,  the TBR Pile Challenge,  and as one of my 450-550 books for the Chunkster Challenge.