Rose City Reader

Friday, February 25, 2022

TBR 22 in '22 Challenge -- REVIEW PAGE

REVIEW PAGE

FOR THE TBR 22 IN '22 CHALLENGE

January 1, 2022 to December 31, 2022

THIS IS THE PAGE TO LIST YOUR REVIEWS

IF YOU HAVE FINISHED, WRAP UP POSTS GO ON THIS PAGE, HERE

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

OR CLICK THE BUTTON ABOVE

LINK YOUR REVIEWS HERE

Please put your name and/or the name of your blog or social media handle and the name of the book you reviewed. Please link to your review post and not your blog home page or main social media profile page.

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LINKS

If you review a book for the TBR 22 in '22 Challenge, please add the link to your review in the Linky box above. Please link to your review post, not the main page of your blog or social media account.

You do not have to have a blog to participate in this challenge. If you review books on Instagram, goodreads, or some other social media, use the link from your social media review post in the Linky box above. Please link to the review, not your profile page. If you have questions about how to find the URL for a social media review post, leave a comment or email me at gilion at dumasandvaughn dot com.

If you have trouble adding your link, leave it in a comment and I will add it or email me your link at gilion at dumasandvaughn dot com and I will add it for you. Please put your name and the name of the book you reviewed in the comment or email. Thanks!

BOOKS AND REVIEWS

The only point of the challenge is to clear 22 book off your TBR shelf in 2022. You can pick them ahead of time but you don't have to. If you pick them, you can change your mind later and switch books. The only "rule" is that you must own the book before January 1, 2022.

Your TBR shelf can include a virtual shelf of ebooks or audiobooks, as long as you owned them prior to January 1, 2022. It does not include library books.

You do not have to review books to complete the TBR 22 in '22 Challenge.

This is supposed to be fun!

WRAP UP

If you complete the challenge, please link some kind of wrap up post on the wrap up page. That way, I know who finished the challenge. If you just update your original post and do not do a wrap up post separate from your sign up post that's fine! Please still add the link to the updated post on the wrap up page.

Thursday, February 24, 2022

Champagne Widows by Rebecca Rosenberg - BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Brrrr! It's a cold week here in the Pacific Northwest! How about where you are? Settling in with a good book and a cuddly blanket sounds like a good way to spend this chilly weekend.

It is time again for Book Beginnings on Fridays, where we share the opening sentence (or so) of the books we are reading this week. You can also share the first line from a book that has caught your fancy and you feel like highlighting.

MY BOOK BEGINNING

My Book Beginning this week comes from a new historical fiction book that launches in paperback next week, on March 1, called Champagne Widows.

Grand-mère sways over the edge of the stone stairs into the cavern, and I step between her and eternity, dizzy from the bloody tang of her head bandage.

-- from chapter 1, "Le Nez, The Nose" in Champagne Widows by Rebecca Rosenberg. Chapter 1 notes that it is set in Reims, Champagne, France in 1797.

That opening sentence sets quite a scene! Why does the narrator's grandmother have a bloody bandage on her head?

Champagne Widows is the fictionalized account of Barbe-Nicole Clicquot who, after the death of her husband became Veuve (Widow) Clicquot, of champagne fame. It is a story of love, tragedy, war, entrepreneurship, romance, and bravery.

I got an early copy and cannot wait to read it! It is available on kindle now and in paperback next week.

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

Add the link to your Book Beginnings post in the Linky box below. If you share on social media, please use the hashtag #bookbeginnings, with an s on the end.

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THE FRIDAY 56

The Friday 56 hosted by Freda's Voice is a natural tie in with this event and there is a lot of cross over, so many people combine the two. The idea is to post a teaser from page 56 of the book you are reading and share a link to your post. Find details and the Linky for your Friday 56 post on Freda’s Voice.

MY FRIDAY 56

From Champagne Widows:

"He doesn't expect you to love him now, after what he's experienced. He's a broken man."

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Twenty-year-old Barbe-Nicole inherited Le Nez (an uncanny sense of smell) from her great-grandfather, a renowned champagne maker. Determined to use Le Nez to make great champagne, she learns her childhood sweetheart, François Clicquot, wants to start a winery and marries him despite his mental illness.

Her husband's tragic death forces her to become Veuve (Widow) Clicquot and grapple with a domineering partner, the complexities of making champagne, and six Napoleon wars, which cripple her ability to sell champagne. When she falls in love with her sales manager, Louis Bohne, who asks her to marry, she must choose between losing her winery to her husband, as dictated by Napoleon Code, or losing Louis.

In the ultimate showdown, Veuve Clicquot risks imprisonment and even death, defying Napoleon himself.

Friday, February 18, 2022

Book Beginning on Fridays - FINALLY!

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

It's time for Book Beginnings on Fridays, where participants share the opening sentence (or so) of the books they are reading this week.

I am ridiculously late getting the post up this week. I've been in a weeklong mediation in a private school sex abuse case and my brain is scrambled. We represent 20 former students of the Catlin Gabel private school in Portland who were all abused between 1970 to 2001. It's been a long and exhausting week.

Please share your Book Beginning post in the Linky box below. I don't have a Book Beginning of my own because I'm trapped in a conference room in a skyscraper in downtown Portland without a book.

Wednesday, February 16, 2022

2022 European Reading Challenge -- WRAP UP PAGE

WRAP UP PAGE

THIS IS THE PAGE FOR WRAP UP POSTS

TO LIST YOUR REVIEWS, GO TO THIS PAGE

TO SIGN UP, GO TO THE MAIN CHALLENGE PAGE, HERE, OR CLICK THE BUTTON ABOVE

LINK YOUR POST

When you complete the 2022 European Reading Challenge at whatever level you signed up for, please do a wrap up post and enter a link to your post here. Please link to your wrap up post, NOT the main page of your blog or social media profile.

A wrap up post can be very simple. If you participate in the challenge on your blog and just update your original post without doing a separate wrap up post, that's OK. Just post a link to your updated post here. If you participate on social media, please do some kind of wrap up post listing the books you read and link it here.

OR LEAVE A COMMENT

If you want, you can also simply leave a comment below listing the books you read. Please include your name, the name of the books, the authors of the books, and the countries of the books.

WANT THE PRIZE? WRAP IT UP!

Without some kind of wrap up post, I don't have any way to know if you finished the challenge. I like to know so I can visit everyone. But it is more important if you are competing for the Jet Setter Prize. If you want to compete for the prize, you have to leave a wrap up post or I will have no way to know if you visited more countries than the other people competing with you.

When I announce the prize winner, Honorable Mention will go to the participants who visited the most countries, with links to their wrap up posts. If you don't link a wrap up post, I won't be able to find you.

NOTE ABOUT DATES

One change in 2022 is that we no longer extend the challenge into January as in years past. You now have to read all books by December 31, 2022. You have until January 31, 2023 to finish your reviews and your wrap up post. I will announce the winner as soon as possible after January 31, 2023.

2022 European Reading Challenge -- REVIEW PAGE

REVIEW PAGE

THIS IS THE PAGE TO LIST YOUR REVIEWS.

IF YOU HAVE FINISHED, WRAP UP POSTS GO ON THIS PAGE.

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

OR CLICK THE BUTTON ABOVE.

LINK YOUR REVIEWS HERE

Please put your name and/or the name of your blog or social media handle, the name of the book you reviewed, and the country of the book or author. For example: Gilion at Rose City Reader, Anna Karenina, Russia.

LINKS

When you review a book for the 2022 European Reading Challenge, please add it to this list using the Linky widget above. Please link to your review post, NOT the main page of your blog or social media account.

You do not need a blog to participate. If you review books on Instagram, Facebook, goodreads, or some other platform that generates a URL, you can add link to the review in the Mr. Linky box above the same as a link to a blog post. Please link to the review, not your profile page. If you have questions about how to find the URL for a social media review post, leave a comment to ask me or email me at gilion at dumasandvaughn dot com.

REVIEWS

You do not have to review books to complete the European Reading Challenge. You can complete the challenge simply by reading one to five books (or more), each set in a different European country or written by an author from a different European country. But if you do review books, please link your reviews here so other people can find them.

Also, if you want to win the Jet Setter Prize, you have to review the books. Only books reviewed count for the prize. If you are competing for the prize, definitely link your reviews here. You can link all your reviews, but only one book per country counts towards the prize.

WRAP UP

If you complete the challenge, please link some kind of wrap up post on the wrap up page. That way, I know who finished the challenge. If you do not do a wrap up post separate from your sign up post -- you just update your original post -- that's fine! But please, please, please link to the updated post after you finish the challenge. It is too hard for me to count all your reviews to figure out if you finished the challenge or not.

NOTE ABOUT DATES

One change in 2022 is that we no longer extend the challenge into January as in years past. You now have to read all books by December 31, 2022. You have until January 31, 2023 to finish your reviews and your wrap up post. I will announce the winner as soon as possible after January 31, 2023.

The Last Professional by Ed Davis -- BOOK REVIEW

BOOK REVIEW

The Last Professional by Ed Davis (2022 Artemesia Publishing)

The Last Professional is a novel about the last days of jumping trains and living on the road. It is the well-told story of Lynden Hoover, a young man fleeing his past who teams up with an old loner called The Duke. An enemy from The Duke’s past pursues them, things turn deadly, and the story rolls out against an American landscape bounded by railroad tracks.

Set in the late 1970s, driven by plenty of dialog and action, The Last Professional is a nostalgia-tinged, old-fashioned page turner, sure to please any reader who enjoys a good yarn.

NOTES

Read the opening sentence and a teaser from The Last Professional here.

Read more about Ed Davis and his books, including other reviews of The Last Professional, on his Ed Davis website.

Saturday, February 12, 2022

The Radical Potter: The Life and Times of Josiah Wedgwood by Tristram Hunt -- BOOK REVIEW

BOOK REVIEW

The Radical Potter: The Life and Times of Josiah Wedgwood by Tristram Hunt (2021, Metropolitan Books)

You probably recognize the iconic chalky blue background with white frosting decorations of Wedgwood’s most famous pottery. But who knew that Josiah Wedgwood himself was an iconoclast of 18^th Century marketing and manufacture? In Tristram Hunt’s new biography, The Radical Potter, he looks deep into The Life and Times of Josiah Wedgwood and it is a fascinating story.

The 1700s was an exciting era for ideas and industry and Wedgwood was in the center of both. He was a leader of the Industrial Revolution, advocating a system of canals for shipping and using advances in chemistry to grow his small, artisan pottery business into the first major English pottery factory. He was a marketing innovator, introducing ideas such as direct mail and illustrated catalogues, money back guarantees, and promotions like free delivery and buy one get one free. Hunt also explores how Wedgwood’s business advancements fit with the economic and political ideas of the times, particularly the ideas of Adam Smith and David Hume.

Probably the most interesting chapter in the book is the one titled “The Subject of Freedom” in which Hunt examines Wedgwood’s support of the American Revolution, the influence of the French Revolution on his thinking, and his strong stance in favor of the abolition of slavery. His factory mass-produced and distributed an anti-slavery medallion with the slogan, “Am I Not a Man and a Brother?” that brought great awareness to the abolitionist cause in Britain and America.

Hunt relies on Wedgwood archive materials, including business records and correspondence, to tell the story of Josiah Wedgwood. For readers with an interest in the Industrial Revolution or the history of pottery, The Radical Potter is a must-read biography of the man who profoundly changed how we work and live.

NOTES

Author Tristram Hunt is a historian and the director of the Victoria and Albert Museum. His “Epilogue” in The Radical Potter covers the sad decline of the Wedgwood company in the 21^st Century and the faint glimmer of hope for the future.

I got my ARC copy of The Radical Potter from the Early Reviewer program at LibraryThing.

Thursday, February 10, 2022

Darrow's Nightmare by Nelson Johnson & The Image by Steven Faulkner -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNING ON FRIDAYS

This is my birthday weekend so part of the festivities is a Book Beginning two-fer! These two books have been on my stack of books for a while and both of them look terrific. The lawyer one particularly appeals to me, since I am a lawyer myself.

Do you have any special plans for this Valentine's weekend? Thanks for kicking it off with Book Beginnings on Fridays! Please share the opening sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, or just a book you want to highlight.

MY BOOK BEGINNINGS

From Darrow's Nightmare:

She hadn't bargained for this, yet she dealt with it as best she could: standing over a coal-burning stove 'round the clock, boiling syringes to drain an incision, and injecting codeine to ease his pain were frightful tasks she was forced to learn on the fly.

-- from the Prologue, "Labor's Lawyer," in Darrow's Nightmare: The Forgotten Story of America's Most Famous Trial Lawyer, Los Angeles 1911-1913 by Nelson Johnson.

In 1911, Clarence Darrow went to Los Angeles to represent two union agitators arrested for bombing the LA Times newspaper office. Shortly after a plea deal was announced, Darrow was arrested for bribing a juror and faced his own criminal trial.

This nonfiction history book reads like an exciting, fictional courtroom drama, which you would expect from the author of Boardwalk Empire.

From The Image:

A bearded monk reclines on one elbow in the shadow of tall pine trees near the gate of an old stone Maronite monastery built on a remote ridge of the southern Lebanese mountains.

-- The Image: A Novel in Pieces by Steven Faulkner. Three linked stories make up this short novella about a centuries-old piece of art hidden in a cave in Lebanon.

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

Please link to your book beginning post, not your blog or social media home page. If you share on SM, please use the #bookbeginnings hashtag.

THE FRIDAY 56

Freda at Freda's Voice hosts another teaser event on Fridays. Participants share a two-sentence teaser from page 56 of the book they are reading -- or from 56% of the way through the audiobook or ebook. Please visit Freda's Voice for details and to leave a link to your post.

MY FRIDAY 56

From Darrow's Nightmare:

By jumping into a fight among the federal government, a national union and the railroads, Darrow's profile skyrocketed. Though his argument to the US Supreme Court in the appeal of In Re Debs was rejected in the spring of 1895, at the age of thirty-seven, his name was now being spoken among the powerful players of both labor and capital throughout the nation.

From The Image:

Once, when Israeli jets screamed over the valley, Ibrahim had ducked under a ledge and found a cave overgrown with bushes and vines. He had torn through the vines and entered the cave.

Thursday, February 3, 2022

A Narrow Door by Joanne Harris -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

How is your February shaping up? Mine is roaring out the door. February is my birthday month, so I usually like to dawdle around, doing a lot of fun, personal stuff. Not much chance of that this year! We've got a couple of big cases on the boil here at work and it doesn't look like I'll have time to dawdle until some time in March, if I'm lucky!

At least I've had some terrific looking new books come my way lately. I hope I can at least find a few minutes to spend with them here and there.

Please share the opening sentence (or so) of the book you are spending time with this week. Share your Book Beginning link in the linky box below.

MY BOOK BEGINNING

I often find that men like you underestimate women like me.

-- from the Preface to A Narrow Door by Joanne Harris. Well, that's just a perfect book beginning for the mood I'm in right now! Of course, I'm afraid the narrator may be a sociopath.

I've read a few of Joanne Harris's books, like Chocolat, of course. This one looks like something different, described as a "phycological thriller," about the first woman to be the head of St. Oswald's private school. I plan to read it this weekend.

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

Add your Book Beginning link in the box below. If you share on social media, please use the hashtag #bookbeginnings.

THE FRIDAY 56

From A Narrow Door:

I can't claim the moral high ground, or course: I too favour the [Thirsty Scholar pub], with its battered old bookcases. Some of them are allegedly even from the old St. Oswald's library, which was rebuilt and refurbished in 1834, and refurbished by Jeremiah Smarthwaite, a local mining millionaire with delusions of immortality.

Saturday, January 29, 2022

Cheyenne Summer: The Battle of Beecher Island: A History by Terry Mort -- BOOK REVIEW

BOOK REVIEW

Cheyenne Summer: The Battle of Beecher Island: A History by Terry Mort (2021, Pegasus Books)

In Cheyenne Summer, Terry Mort takes a close look at one battle in eastern Colorado during the Indian Wars of the late 1800s. In the Battle of Beecher Island in 1868, Cheyenne and Sioux warriors fought US Army scouts, including two battalions of Black "Buffalo Soldiers."

Although Mort describes the battle as not strategically significant, he concludes that it was culturally and historically important. He uses the battle to frame a discussion about one of the most transformative periods in America's history -- including a discussion of what motivated the white settlers, the Cheyenne, and the US soldiers, both white and Black.

I’m not a big fan of military history. So I appreciated that the bulk of Mort’s 270-page book was not spent describing the actual Battle of Beecher Island. Most of the book provides context for the battle. The first third or more is a detailed account of the Cheyenne, their history, culture, and nomadic tradition. The next third is a brief history of the U.S. Army and civilian settlers during the period of the Mexican-American War, the Civil War, and western expansion. This was a perfect introduction for a reader like me to the various players in the Indian Wars, with their conflicting desires and goals.

Having grown up at both ends of the Oregon Trail -- Nebraska as a child and Oregon from a teenager on -- I've picked up some of the sad history of how our country treated the Native Americans during the settlement of the Western frontier. But there is a lot to learn. Terry Mort’s new book was a fine place for me to start.

FROM THE PUBLISHER’S DESCRIPTION

Evoking the spirit—and danger—of the early American West, this is the story of the Battle of Beecher Island, pitting an outnumbered United States Army patrol against six hundred Native warriors, where heroism on both sides of the conflict captures the vital themes at play on the American frontier.

* * *

Although the battle of Beecher Island was a small incident in the history of western conflict, the story brings together all of the important elements of the Western frontier—most notably the political and economic factors that led to the clash with the Natives and the cultural imperatives that motivated the Cheyenne, the white settlers, and the regular soldiers, both white and black. More fundamentally, it is a story of human heroism exhibited by warriors on both sides of the dramatic conflict.

NOTES

Read the opening sentence and a teaser from Cheyenne Summer here.

Thursday, January 27, 2022

Island of Gold by Amy Maroney -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

It has been a long, busy work week for me. The best part has been tucking in at night with this new historical fiction books by Amy Maroney, Island of Gold. I loved her Miramonde Series about a female artist in 15th Century Spain. This one is gearing up to be just as good!

What are you reading this week? Please share the opening sentence (or so) with us here on Book Beginnings on Fridays. You can also share the first lines from a book you want to highlight, even if you aren't reading it right now.

MY BOOK BEGINNING

Cédric offered the falcon a strip of rabbit meat.

-- from the Prologue, Island of Gold by Amy Maroney. The Prologue is set in Languedoc, France in 1435. Falcons are a big part of the story. At least, in the first part of the book that I've read, trade in falcons is a big part of the story and it is fascinating.

Islands of Gold is the first in Maroney's new series called the Sea and Sand Chronicles. She knows how to weave a yarn so I am sure I will enjoy every book in this new collection!

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

Leave a link to your Book Beginnings post in the linky box below. Please use the hashtag #bookbeginnings if you share on social media.

THE FRIDAY 56

From Island of Gold:

Her sister had been fifteen when she was married to a corpulent, swaggering merchant of Albi two summers ago. Sophie was sixteen now, and her parents had not once broached the topic of marriage.

I hope to lose myself in this one this weekend. What are your bookish plans?

Wednesday, January 26, 2022

The National Book Award for Fiction -- LIST

THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION

The National Book Foundation has awarded the National Book Awards to American writers since 1950. The Awards currently honor authors in the categories of Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Translated Literature, and Young People's Literature. There have been other categories in the past.

I am not going to keep updating the winners after 2021. My enthusiasm for prize-winners is waning with the 2020s. I plan to focus my efforts on reading the winners up to 2020 then declare victory and move on to other bookish projects.

I am working my way through the Fiction winners. So far, I've read 46 of the winners. The winners through 2021 are listed below, with notes about whether I've finished a book, it is on my TBR shelf, or it is available as an audiobook from the library on Overdrive.

How many of these have you read? See any favorites?

2021 Hell of a Book by Jason Mott FINISHED

2020 Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu FINISHED

2019 Trust Exercise by Susan Choi ON OVERDRIVE

2018 The Friend by Sigrid Nunez FINISHED

2017 Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward FINISHED

2016 The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead FINISHED

2015 Fortune Smiles by Adam Johnson ON OVERDRIVE

2014 Redeployment by Phil Klay ON OVERDRIVE

2013 The Good Lord Bird by James McBride ON OVERDRIVE

2012 The Round House by Louise Erdrich ON OVERDRIVE

2011 Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward FINISHED

2010 Lord of Misrule by Jaimy Gordon (reviewed here) FINISHED

2009 Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann (reviewed here) FINISHED

2008 Shadow Country by Peter Matthiessen TBR SHELF

2007 Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson FINISHED

2006 The Echo Maker by Richard Powers FINISHED

2005 Europe Central by William T. Vollmann TBR SHELF

2004 The News from Paraguay by Lily Tuck TBR SHELF

2003 The Great Fire by Shirley Hazzard FINISHED

2002 Three Junes by Julia Glass FINISHED

2001 The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen FINISHED

2000 In America by Susan Sontag TBR SHELF

1999 Waiting by Ha Jin FINISHED

1998 Charming Billy by Alice McDermott FINISHED

1997 Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier (reviewed here) FINISHED

1996 Ship Fever and Other Stories by Andrea Barrett FINISHED

1995 Sabbath's Theater by Philip Roth FINISHED

1994 A Frolic of His Own by William Gaddis

1993 The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx FINISHED

1992 All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy (reviewed here) FINISHED

1991 Mating by Norman Rush FINISHED

1990 Middle Passage by Charles Johnson (reviewed here) FINISHED

1989 Spartina by John Casey FINISHED

1988 Paris Trout by Pete Dexter FINISHED

1987 Paco's Story by Larry Heinemann ON OVERDRIVE

1986 World's Fair by E.L. Doctorow TBR SHELF

1985 White Noise by Don Delillo ON OVERDRIVE

1984 Victory Over Japan by Ellen Gilchrist TBR SHELF

1983 The Color Purple by Alice Walker FINISHED

1982 Rabbit is Rich by John Updike FINISHED

1981 Plains Song by Wright Morris TBR SHELF

1980 Sophie's Choice by William Styron (reviewed here) FINISHED

1979 Going After Cacciato by Tim O'Brien FINISHED

1978 Blood Tie by Mary Lee Settle FINISHED

1977 The Spectator Bird by Wallace Stegner (reviewed here) FINISHED

1976 JR by William Gaddis

1975 The Hair of Harold Roux by Thomas Williams (reviewed here) FINISHED

1975 Dog Soldiers by Robert Stone FINISHED

1974 Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon ON OVERDRIVE

1974 A Crown of Feathers and Other Stories by Isaac Bashevis Singer TBR SHELF

1973 Augustus by John Williams ON OVERDRIVE

1973 Chimera by John Barth TBR SHELF

1972 The Complete Stories by Flannery O'Connor TBR SHELF

1971 Mr. Sammler's Planet by Saul Bellow (reviewed here) FINISHED

1970 Them by Joyce Carol Oates TBR SHELF

1969 Steps by Jerzy Kosinski

1968 The Eighth Day by Thornton Wilder ON OVERDRIVE

1967 The Fixer by Bernard Malamud (reviewed here) FINISHED

1966 The Collected Stories by Katherine Anne Porter TBR SHELF

1965 Herzog by Saul Bellow FINISHED

1964 The Centaur by John Updike (reviewed here) FINISHED

1963 Morte d'Urban by J.F. Powers FINISHED

1962 The Moviegoer by Walker Percy FINISHED

1961 The Waters of Kronos by Conrad Richter

1960 Goodbye Columbus by Philip Roth (reviewed here) FINISHED

1959 The Magic Barrel by Bernard Malamud FINISHED

1958 Wapshot Chronicle by John Cheever FINISHED

1957 The Field of Vision by Wright Morris TBR SHELF

1956 Ten North Frederick by John O'Hara FINISHED

1955 A Fable by William Faulkner

1954 The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow (reviewed here) FINISHED

1953 Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison FINISHED

1952 From Here to Eternity by James Jones FINISHED

1951 The Collected Stories by William Faulkner ON OVERDRIVE

1950 The Man with the Golden Arm by Nelson Algren (reviewed here) FINISHED

NOTES

Updated October 26, 2023. This is a redo of the list I first posted in 2009.

Hidden gems for me are Lord of Misrule, The Hair of Harold Roux, and Blood Tie.

RELATED POSTS

If you would like your related posts to be listed here, please leave a comment with links to your reviews of these books or the like and I will add them here.

Thursday, January 20, 2022

Humanity's Grace by Dede Montgomery -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

What book captured your fancy this week? Please share the opening sentence (or so) with us here on Book Beginnings on Fridays!

MY BOOK BEGINNING

My Book Beginning this week is from a new book by an Oregon author I enjoy a lot, Dede Montgomery:

What happened in that last moment before the moment after? Paul's hands had shot up to cover his ears, their trembling fingers adorned by nails chewed down to the quick.

-- from Humanity's Grace by Dede Montgomery, out now from Bedazzled Ink. I wanted to give two sentences of that opening because the first sentence alone is too much of a brain twister!

Humanity's Grace is a collection of 15 linked short stories that reads like a novel. The stories are linked by characters that cross paths and their shared setting in contemporary Astoria, Oregon. They are also linked by their connection to a murder in the small, coastal community.

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

Please link to your Book Beginning post, not your blog home page or social media profile page. If you post on or share to social media, please sue the hashtag #bookbeginnings so we can find each other.

THE FRIDAY 56

From Humanity's Grace:

Anne hadn't been paying attention to all that he said. Her mind was preoccupied still with the struggle of reading job descriptions she was over qualified for but knew she could never land.

You can read my review of Humanity's Grace here.

PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

Salty air, low lying clouds, and crooning of seagulls near the towering Astoria Column and the flowing Columbia River set the scene for Humanity's Grace, a collection of linked short stories. Frank, Anne, Monica, and Sarah all reappear from the pages of Montgomery's novel, Beyond the Ripples. New characters: An elderly mother and her son, a police office and spouse, a childhood friend, a counselor, a bystander appear, are all uniquely connected to a murder in downtown Astoria, Oregon.

Frank's untimely death creates a spectrum of consequences for his loved ones, acquaintances, and strangers. The ensuing murder accusation throws a trio of characters into darkness, as they reassess earlier beliefs, past decisions and actions. Other characters are impacted in unique and unexpected ways. A police officer is haunted by his past. A young woman awakens from a vivid dream of a friend from before. A mother wonders what she did wrong. A son aches for others to be kind. A daughter questions her father's past, while her mother remembers parts of the man she had forgotten. A stranger ponders the significance of a message she's received.

The characters in Humanity's Grace intertwine as they laugh, scream, and cry, do good or create evil. Most of all, they meander through sorrow and sadness, joy and regret, as they remind the reader of the startling and collective beauty of life's connections.

Tuesday, January 18, 2022

Shoot the Moonlight Out by William Boyle -- BOOK REVIEW

BOOK REVIEW

Shoot the Moonlight Out by William Boyle (2021, Pegasus Books)

Shoot the Moonlight Out, the new neo noir thriller by William Boyle, starts in 1996 with two friends being stupid kids. Bobby and his friend Zeke think throwing rocks at cars on the Parkway is just a silly game until the inevitable tragedy brings an end to the fun. Fast forward to the summer of 2001. Bobby is now out of high school, dragging this soul-poisoning secret around with him, and working for a second-rate con man running a Ponzi scheme.

Destined to cross Bobby’s path is Jack, a seemingly mild-mannered widow raising his teen-aged daughter. But Jack also has a secret. He is a vigilante on the side, avenging neighborhood wrongs, and he is out to get Bobby’s boss.

There’s a locker stuffed with cash, Bobby is in love and wants out of his life of two-bit crime, Jack’s taking a writing class from Bobby’s former stepsister, and a lot more is going on. Multiple characters orbit and crisscross. While Boyle gives them individual personalities, they all are shady, shabby, or broken in some way. The book is dense with plot and characters.

The setting is as much a character as any of the people in the book. It’s south Brooklyn the day before yesterday, so there is a grey haze of gritty nostalgia over the whole thing. It’s clear that Boyle knows south Brooklyn down to the last crack in the sidewalk and he brings it to life for the reader.

All in all, Shoot the Moonlight Out is a gripping, character-driven crime novel, perfect for fans of urban noir.

NOTES

Here is an excerpt from another review I thought summed up Boyle's book quite well:

William Boyle knows how to craft a tight quilt of a plot while at the same time grounding that plot in a setting of wonderful richness. His Brooklyn is specific and clear and alive, a place he knows cold. He’s able to capture the messiness of life with the acuity of a dedicated realist, but he shapes that messiness in such a way that he keeps everything moving forward and toward a definitive resolution. Controlled and yet loose is how I would describe Shoot the Moonlight Out, and for my money, that’s a blend of two traits that’s no small achievement. [Shoot the Moonlight Out] is a novel that rings true down to the tiniest detail.

— Criminal Element

Monday, January 17, 2022

James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction -- LIST

THE JAMES TAIT BLACK PRIZE

The James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction is one of the oldest and most prestigious book prizes. It has been awarded since 1919 for literature written in the English language. The award is based at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. The winner is chosen by two academic scholars in the English Department, with the assistance of PhD students.

I am not going to keep updating the winners after 2020. My enthusiasm for prize-winners is waning with the 2020s. I plan to focus my efforts on reading the winners up to 2020 then declare victory and move on to other bookish projects.

So far, I have read only 23 of the winners. The prize may offer literary prestige and £10,000, but it doesn't guarantee popular success or that your book will stay in print! Some of these are hard to find. Here is the list, with notes about whether I've read a book, if it is on my TBR shelf, or if it available as an audiobook from my library:

2020 Lote by Shola von Reinhold

2019 Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann ON OVERDRIVE

2018 Crudo by Olivia Lang

2017 Attrib. and Other Stories by Eley Williams

2016 The Lesser Bohemians by Eimear McBride FINISHED

2015 You Don’t Have to Live Like This by Benjamin Markovits

2014 In the Light of What We Know by Zia Haider Rahman ON OVERDRIVE

2013 Harvest by Jim Crace ON OVERDRIVE

2012 The Deadman's Pedal by Alan Warner

2010 The Lotus Eaters by Tatjana Soli ON OVERDRIVE

2009 The Children's Book by A. S. Byatt ON OVERDRIVE

2008 The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry (reviewed here) FINISHED

2007 Our Horses in Egypt by Rosalind Belben

2006 The Road by Cormac McCarthy

2005 Saturday by Ian McEwan FINISHED

2004 GB84 by David Peace

2003 Personality by Andrew O'Hagan

2002 The Corrections by Jonathon Franzen FINISHED

2001 Something Like a House by Sid Smith

2000 White Teeth by Zadie Smith FINISHED

1999 Renegade or Halo2 by Timothy Mo

1998 Master Georgie by Beryl Bainbridge TBR SHELF

1997 Ingenious Pain by Andrew Miller TBR SHELF

1996 Last Orders by Graham Swift (FINISHED) and Justine by Alice Thompson

1995 The Prestige by Christopher Priest (reviewed here) FINISHED

1994 The Folding Star by Alan Hollinghurst TBR SHELF

1993 Crossing the River by Caryl Phillips

1992 Sacred Country by Rose Tremain

1991 Downriver by Iain Sinclair

1990 Brazzeville Beach by William Boyd (reviewed here) FINISHED

1989 A Disaffection by James Kelman

1988 A Season in the West by Piers Paul Read

1987 The Golden Bird: Two Orkney Stories by George Mackay Brown

1986 Persephone by Jenny Joseph

1985 Winter Garden by Robert Edric

1984 Empire of the Sun by J. G. Ballard and Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter TBR SHELF BOTH

1983 Allegro Postillions by Jonathan Keates

1982 On the Black Hill by Bruce Chatwin TBR SHELF

1981 Midnight's Children (reviewed here) and The Mosquito Coast by Paul Theroux FINISHED BOTH

1980 Waiting for the Barbarians by J. M. Coetzee

1979 Darkness Visible by William Golding TBR SHELF

1978 Plumb by Maurice Gee

1977 The Honorable Schoolboy by John le Carre TBR SHELF

1976 Doctor Copernicus by John Banville TBR SHELF

1975 The Great Victorian Collection by Brian Moore

1974 Monsieur, or The Prince Of Darkness by Lawrence Durrell TBR SHELF

1973 The Black Prince by Iris Murdoch TBR SHELF

1972 G by John Berger (reviewed here) FINISHED

1971 A Guest of Honour by Nadine Gordimer

1970 The Bird of Paradise by Lily Powell

1969 Eva Trout by Elizabeth Bowen TBR SHELF

1968 The Gasteropod by Maggie Ross

1967 Jerusalem the Golden by Margaret Drabble TBR SHELF

1966 Such by Christine Brooke-Rose and Langrishe, Go Down by Aidan Higgins TBR SHELF

1965 The Mandelbaum Gate by Muriel Spark (reviewed here) FINISHED

1964 The Ice Saints by Frank Tuohy FINISHED

1963 A Slanting Light by Gerda Charles

1962 Act of Destruction by Ronald Hardy

1961 The Ha-Ha by Jennifer Dawson TBR SHELF

1960 Imperial Caesar by Rex Warner

1959 The Devil's Advocate by Morris West TBR SHELF

1958 The Middle Age of Mrs Eliot by Angus Wilson

1957 At Lady Molly's by Anthony Powell FINISHED

1956 The Towers of Trebizond by Rose Macauley FINISHED

1955 Mother and Son by Ivy Compton-Burnett

1954 The New Men FINISHED and The Masters FINISHED by C. P. Snow

1953 Troy Chimneys by Margaret Kennedy

1952 Men at Arms by Evelyn Waugh FINISHED

1951 Father Goose by W. C. Chapman-Mortimer

1950 Along the Valley by Robert Henriquez

1949 The Far Cry by Emma Smith

1948 The Heart of the Matter by Graham Greene FINISHED

1947 Eustace and Hilda by L. P. Hartley TBR SHELF

1946 Poor Man's Tapestry by G. Oliver Onions

1945 Travellers by L. A. G. Strong

1944 Young Tom by Forrest Reid

1943 Tales From Bective Bridge by Mary Lavin

1942 Monkey by Wu Ch'eng-en (translation by Arthur Whaley)

1941 A House of Children by Joyce Cary

1940 The Voyage by Charles Morgan

1939 After Many a Summer Dies the Swan by Aldous Huxley FINISHED

1938 A Ship of the Line and Flying Colours by C. S. Forester

1937 Highland River by Neil M. Gunn

1936 South Riding by Winifred Holtby TBR SHELF

1935 The Root and the Flower by L. H. Myers

1934 I, Claudius (FINISHED) and Claudius the God by Robert Graves ON OVERDRIVE

1933 England, Their England by A. G. Macdonell TBR SHELF

1932 Boomerang by Helen Simpson

1931 Without My Cloak by Kate O'Brien TBR SHELF

1930 Miss Mole by E. H. Young TBR SHELF

1929 The Good Companions by J. B. Priestley

1928 Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man by Siegfried Sassoon TBR SHELF

1927 Portrait of Clare by Francis Brett Young

1926 Adam's Breed by Radclyffe Hall

1925 The Informer by Liam O'Flaherty

1924 A Passage to India by E. M. Forster FINISHED

1923 Riceyman Steps by Arnold Bennett TBR SHELF

1922 Lady Into Fox by David Garnett FINISHED

1921 Memoirs of a Midget by Walter de la Mare

1920 The Lost Girl by D. H. Lawrence

1919 The Secret City by Hugh Walpole TBR SHELF

NOTES

This list is so long, and there are so many books on it that look good to me, that I plan to confine myself to completing the 20th Century winners only. I'll cut myself some slack and not try to keep up with the list into the 21st Century. I think I will adopt the same plan for several of the lists I'm working on. My heart is with mid-20th Century fiction so I'll stick with that. I get enough contemporary fiction as it is without keeping up with all the prize winners.

Updated July 3, 2025. This is a redo of the list I originally posted in 2009.

Saturday, January 15, 2022

The 2022 European Reading Challenge is up and running - sign up now!

THE 2022 EUROPEAN READING CHALLENGE IS HERE!

It's time to sign up for the 2022 European Reading Challenge! Many of you have already signed up, but there is still time for those of you looking for a fun 2022 reading challenge.

I put up the main challenge page last month but just realized I never posted about it. Sign up for the 2022 ERC challenge on the main challenge page HERE or click the challenge button above.

2022 is the 10th anniversary of the European Reading Challenge. Join us to make the Grand Tour of Europe in books. The idea is to read books by different European authors or set in different European countries.

Read the books of your choice, at the level you choose. You can sign up for the challenge to read 1 to 5 books. Want more of a challenge? Go for the Jet Setter Prize! The person who reads and reviews the most books -- each from a different country -- wins a prize.

The most books you can read for the challenge is 50 because there are 50 commonly recognized sovereign states of Europe:

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

2021 was the first year anyone managed to read books for all 50 countries. In prior years, no one came close. In 2021, at least three people made that impressive trek! Let's see who can make the journey in 2022.

CHANGE: One change in 2022 is that the challenge will run only until December 31, 2022. In years past, we always went an extra month and people could finish their books on January 31 of the following year. But that got too confusing! So starting with 2022 and the 10th anniversary, the deadline for reading all the challenge books is now December 31. Participants still have until January 31, 2023 to complete all their reviews and wrap up posts. I will announce the winner of the Jet Setter Prize in early February.

LET'S BE SOCIAL!

In 2022, I'm making another big push for readers to participate in the European Reading Challenge through social media, like Instagram, goodreads, Facebook, whatever works. We did this in 2021 for the first time and it was a lot of fun!

Posts on IG, goodreads, Facebook, and other platforms generate URLs that work fine with Mr. Linky. If you need help finding the URL link, message me through the platform or leave a comment and I'll walk you through it.

If you participate on social media or share your blog posts on social media, please use the hashtag #europeanreadingchallenge. That makes it easier to find each other.

Please sign up on the main challenge page HERE, or click the button above. Please also encourage other people to sign up, through their blogs or social media. Even if they don't blog or socialize, they can join in with comments on the challenge pages.

Bon voyage!

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