May (first half) 2016 Reads

In Progress:
Mirages of the Mind by Mushtaq Ahmed Yousufi; Matt Reeck (Translation), Aftab Ahmad (Translation)
I had a problems with this one. It was long (574p) and it was very good. Not something to read at one or two sittings. Something to read closely and savor--no skimming. Easy to pick up where you leave off because it is a series of events that read like short stories and character sketches. All of this is fine with me EXCEPT--it's not my own book. The library wants it back. I ran out of renewals. So it goes back for a while or I buy my own copy. I'm loving it.

Read:
 From the Library:

Mothering Sunday by Graham Swift
When I read Swift's short story collection England and other stories in October 2915, I was delighted by how much he could say in a short space. This short (177pages) novel is every bit as good--must read more of his work.
 
Everyone Brave is Forgiven by Chris Cleave
World War 2, love and war during the blitz in London and the siege of Malta. Book had an unpromising start but got better and better as it went.

What Was Mine by Helen Klein Ross
A kidnapping and its aftermath told from several points of view--the kidnapper, the birth parents, the kidnapped, and other persons involved.

The Green Road by Anne Enright (Kindle edition)
 Man Booker Prize Nominee for Longlist (2015), Costa Book Award Nominee for Novel (2015), Women's Prize for Fiction Nominee for Shortlist (2016). Well, I just didn't think it was that good.

The Distant Land of My Father by Bo Caldwell
Shanghai in the late 1930s through the Communist takeover as seen through the eyes of a China born American business man and his daughter. A difficult family story of love and loss and reconciliation. Not the greatest read, but a decent one.

Listening to Stone: The Art and Life of Isamu Noguchi by Hayden Herrera
Comprehensive view of Noguchi's life and work. I was glad it was so thorough because I knew very little about Noguchi.

Jungle of Stone: The True Story of Two Men, Their Extraordinary Journey, and the Discovery of the Lost Civilization of the Maya by William Carlsen
More stones--these much older than Noguchi's. Fascinating!

From my shelves:

The Nest by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney
An OK read but I wish I'd spent the time on something better. I'm thinking of avoiding novels about 40 somethings facing mediocre troubled lives in contemporary New York City.
ARC through Goodreads. 

Watched:
The Danish girl (Motion picture : 2015).[videorecording] / a film by Tom Hooper. Universal City, CA : Universal Studios, 2016. (based on the book by David Ebershoff.)
Really liked this story of a transgendered artist and his wife even though it was a bit slow in places. Based loosely on a true story.  Acting was excellent. Library Copy. (Library has the novel, but I don't think I'll read it.)

Febuary (second half) 2016 Reads

More great reading, lots of translations, some humor, and finally finished (for now) one that I've been working on since last Spring.

 
The Art of Flight;  Pitol, Sergio; Enrique Vila-Matas (Introduction), George Henson (Translator)

I finally finished this. I started reading it last March, but it kept leading me to other books. To follow where it took me please see Pitol Readings.






 



Caterva; Filloy, Juan; Brendan Riley (Translator)
This is a fantastic book! What a shame that so little of Filloy's work is available in English. Library book.







Dora Bruder ; Modiano, Patrick; Joanna Kilmartin (Translator)
Modiano has a number of different translators, but his distinctive voice always comes through. Amazing. My copy.

So You Don't Get Lost in the Neighborhood; Modiano, Patrick; Euan Cameron (Translator)
Another fine Modiano. This could stand alone, but I think it makes more sense if read after some of his other works. Library book.


Letter from Casablanca; Tabucchi, Antonio; Janice M. Thresher (Translator)
Somewhat puzzling short stories. Most of them deal with memories of and reactions to traumatic family tragedies. The puzzle is that the reader isn't told exactly what the tragedy was. It's left to the imagination so every reader (and every reading) can find a different answer.Library book, one I wish I owned.


This cover goes quite nicely with the title story.

 


The New Sorrows of Young W.; Plenzdorf, Ulrich; Romy Fursland (Translator)
Maybe I would have liked this more if I were younger, or if I remembered The Sorrows of Young Werther which I read a thousand years ago, or if I liked The Catcher in the Rye. It's well written, a cult classic in Europe, and I did like it but it doesn't inspire me to re-read forgotten books. Library book.

The cover fits the book nicely.






Be Frank With Me; Johnson, Julia Claiborne
Light and fun. Some strange characters--a reclusive author, her precocious ten year old son,  a "friend" who comes and goes erratically, a sensible aide (the somewhat [maybe] reliable narrator)--and some probable and improbable situations. All believable because it is set in LaLa Land. Library book.

Great cover: design by Kaitlyn Vincent; illustration by Olia Fedorovsky

There Once Lived a Mother Who Loved Her Children, Until They Moved Back In: Three Novellas About Family ; Petrushevskaya,Ludmilla; Anna Summers (Introduction and Translation)

The subtitle pretty much says it all--except these are families in the Soviet Union and their stories are dark. My copy.

Cover illustration: Sam Wolfe Connelly



 

Dancer; McCann, Colum
Dramatic fictional account of the life and career of Rudolf Nureyev. Told from several points of view: family, friends, colleagues, employees, and others. A little disjointed and it jumps around a bit, but it works.
Library book.






Some nonfiction:

Food: A Love Story; Gaffigan, Jim. An irreverent look at food, particularly American food, by a stand up comedian. Some funny stuff that must be read in small doses. Library book from the "Blind Date with a Book" display, which means it came in a plain brown wrapper. Last time I did this I also got a good book

Paradise Now: The Story of American Utopianism; Jennings, Chris 
Excellent study of five major Utopian communities in the USA. Library book.

Also read:

The High Mountains of Portugal; Martel, Yann
Three stories, linked by locale and a sort of legend. The first is somewhat interesting, the second has a strange theology, the third refers back to the other two. I suppose that I am meant to ponder the meaning of all this, but I'd rather forget it. Library book.

The Edge of Lost ; McMorris, Kristina
Irish immigrant to New York passes himself off as an Italian. Gets in trouble. Ends up in Alcatraz...An ok read. Library book.

What's Important Is Feeling: Stories ; Wilson,  Adam
I didn't like these at all. Too much trying hard not to fit in, trying to make something out of nothing. My copy.

Online:
400 Years On: Bumping Into the Bard at Every Turn
 Some things to look forward to as we observe the 400 anniversary  of the bard's death.
  
Books cooked – literally – in punning recipes based on writers' names
 Strange idea...and it would show up when I'm reading other things about Pessoa.  

The Most Precious Cargo for Lighthouses Across America was a Traveling Library 

A little library history.

The Open Refrigerator
An essay on the editor's place in publishing by Gerald Howard, vice president and executive editor of Doubleday.

What to Wear in the Arctic: Striking Photos of Traditional Footwear
Beautiful ways to warm your feet.

Video:

Lacombe Lucien [videorecording] / film de Louis Malle; scénario, Louis Malle, Patrick Modiano ; une co-production NEF-UPF, Vides-Film, Hallelujah-Film. Criterion Collection, [2006]

Really liked this. Library copy.

January 2015 Reads (week five)

This was another great reading week. Everything I read this week was from the library trip of January 24 when I checked out 8 books and a DVD. Last week I read one of the books (see post of Jan. 26). This week I watched the DVD, read 6 of the books, and started the last one of the batch (Years of Red Dust).

Today everything except the one in progress is going back to the library--but I'm not! Someone else (daughter) is returning the books and I have none on the holds shelf so I will spend the next week with my backlog. Then again, when she is browsing the shelves she often whips out her phone and calls to ask if I like her to bring home a certain interesting book she thinks I might like. There may be surprises.

The mail/UPS also brings surprises--4 ARC's were added to TBR this week and I didn't read anything from the TBR, tho' I did start a couple. No schedule set for February.

First off the two I read for challenges:

Relish : My Life in the Kitchen  by Lucy Knisley.
Library book, read for Foodies Read 2015 challenge
Loved this! Brief review.

The Normandy diary of Marie-Louise Osmont. 1940-1944 by Marie-Louise Osmont ; introduction by John Keegan ; translated by George L. Newman.
Library book, read for French Bingo Challenge.  My review.

Other reads:

Enon  by Paul Harding.
Library book.
This is not exactly a sequel to Harding's Tinkers. It is the story of  Charles Crosby, the grandson of George Washington Crosby of  Tinkers. There are some references to characters featured in the earlier book, but Enon stands alone. The book opens with the death of Charles' young teenaged daughter. Charles goes into deep mourning which destroys his marriage, leads him to drug and alcohol dependence, and bizarre behavior. Not a happy story, but one that is well told.



 
A Pleasure and a Calling by Phil Hogan
Library book. 
If you have recently purchased a home, you might want to think about having all the locks changed--especially if the agent handling the sale was William Heming. You see, Heming keeps copies of the keys to every house he ever sold...consider yourself warned. Heming narrates his own story and he's led an interesting life of being interested in other peoples lives. We wonder: will it all catch up with him?  Real estate noir. Read it.


The 100-year-old Man who Climbed out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson ; translated from the Swedish by Rod Bradbury.
Library book. This has two alternating story lines--what happens after he climbs out the window in his 100th birthday and the back story of his life before he entered a rest home. A fun romp with a bunch of strange characters that satirizes crime fiction (particularly police procedurals), Cold War politics and fiction, journalists, and lots of (perhaps too many) other things. I liked this but not as much as I liked his The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden.



The Strange Library by Haruki Murakami ; translated by Ted Goossen. I guess I'm just not a Murakami fan. A so-so story in a fancy package. (The red flap opens upward to revel a full flap which opens downward. Rather gimmicky.)





In addition to my reading I viewed

Poulet aux Prunes (Motion picture) produced by Hengameh Panahi ; written and directed by Marjane Satrapi, Vincent Paronnaud. Culver City, Calif. : Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, 2013.
DVD Borrowed from Library.
  This is the movie based on Chicken with Plums by Marjane Satrapi which I read a couple of weeks ago (see January 2015 Reads (week two) 
It is a thoroughly satisfying film adaption. The film is true to the original graphic memoir and, unusual for me, I liked the movie better than the book. My only quibble is that they the changed the musical instrument that was an essential element from an Iranian tar to a violin.

Distractions (Early January 1015 reads)

There were a lot of distractions that led me to detour from my published reading plan for January. Two were from browsing around Project Gutenberg:

The Pier-Glass by Robert Graves  (originally published in London by M. Secker, 1921) This is a collection of twenty-five poems:

    The Stake

    The Troll's Nosegay

    The Pier-glass

ROBERT GRAVES

(From a Painting by Benjamin Nicholson)

    The Finding of Love

    Reproach

    The Magical Picture

    Distant Smoke

    Morning Phœnix

    Catherine Drury

    Raising the Stone

    The Treasure Box

    The Kiss

    Lost Love

    Fox's Dingle

    The Gnat

    The Patchwork Bonnet

    Kit Logan and Lady Helen

    Down

    Saul of Tarsus

    Storm: at the Farm Window

    Black Horse Lane

    Return

    Incubus

    The Hills of May

    The Coronation Murder

The Burgomaster of Stilemonde by Maurice Maeterlinck
Translated by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos

This play portrays German atrocities during the First World War occupation of Belgium. An interesting find. Maeterlinck was from the Flemish part of Belgium, but he wrote in French. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1911.

When I was looking for biographical information om Maeterlinck, I found a resource that I didn't know about:

Kellscraft Studio which focuses "...on public domain books (anything published prior to 1923 in the U.S.), and we concentrate on books known for their wonderful illustrations and philosophy of life.  Some books at our site will have no illustrations, but are available here for their writing and importance.  All books published here are in the public domain and out of copyright, so are available to everyone to read, print and use in classroom settings."

I'm having a good time browsing the site even though the biography of  Maeterlinck there was written in 1911 so doesn't answer my question which had to do with Maeterlinck during the 1940s.

Another distraction was from Tracy L. Higley's video of Ephesus. It's a promo for her book So Shines the Night, but it's also a good travelogue. I especially enjoyed the brief look at the terrace houses. This area was not open to visitors when I toured in 1996. Makes me want to go back and it makes me want to do some web exploration.

Also online Pithead Chapel Volume 4, Issue 1
Three short stories, two essays. I especially liked "The Star Sisters" by Corinne Sullivan. This was not in the reading plan. My monthly reading plans should include the online journals I regularly read.

This next one was not on the reading plan, it was a carry-over from December which was resolved before I published the plan. By noon, 1 January 2015 I already had my first DNF for the year: Daisy Goodwin's The Fortune Hunter. Quit at page 159 (of 468). An advance review copy from the publisher. I am not going to review. Book is badly in need of a good edit. ' nuf said.

Gentlemen Scientists and Revolutionaries: The Founding Fathers in the Age of Enlightenment by Tom Shachtman.
I received a finished copy of this book from the publisher for review purposes.
(This is also a carry-over from December. I finished this one.)

I really liked this descussion of the contributions to science and technology by the founders of the United States and the role that science played in the success of the Revolution and the success of the new nation. Brief review cross posted on Goodreads and LibraryThing.

 

The Glass Kitchen: A Novel of Sisters by Linda Francis Lee
Library Book
I read this for one of my challenges and it was a real bummer. I reviewed it on January 4 on this blog (cross posted to Goodreads and LibraryThing).



And finally, a really grand distraction:

Just watched the DVD of The Grand Hotel Budapest and enjoyed it very much. I don't watch very many films, but I'm glad I watched this one.
Borrowed from local public library.

And someone served me tea while I watched it!

It's All So Grand

  A month long blog event hosted by

Estella's Revenge,

Girlxoxo, and Traveling with T

Oh, my aching body! Spent yesterday removing defunct strings of Christmas lights from pre-wired artificial tree.  Someone sure did a good job when they put that together, too bad the lights are kaputt.

Shoulders and back aching, this morning I set out for the Y to swim the kinks out of my muscles. Ah, that felt good. Good enough that I ran a few errands after leaving the pool.

Then home for lunch and some blogging, maybe a review.

Sixty-nine, count 'em, 69, emails stacked in my in box because I didn't log on before going out this morning.

And among them a note from the library that the DVD I borrowed is due tomorrow. Drat, they won't renew DVDs so I'll have to watch it.

Which means that I will have to read the book which I checked out at the same time. Idea was to read the book, then watch the film version of it.

Everything else was put on hold. My daughter wandered in. Glanced at the DVD and asked "Do you remember that there was a reference to that film in the movie "The Apartment?"  She described the scene with Jack Lemmon sitting down to watch TV and this movie is on.

So I started reading.  In the early pages a man at the bar orders a Louisiana Flip.  "What the heck is that?"  I ask Google.

Google responds wonderfully sending me to a web site with a brief essay about a  "...frivolous experiment we performed last night. In the Oscar-winning movie [title removed by MG because this is a quiz] there is a scene where one of the main characters orders a drink called a Louisiana Flip."

What book am I reading? What movie will I be watching tonight?


If you still need a hint (there at least 3 clues in this post), it was covered in German Lit Month IV  
(or see fine print at the bottom of this post).

So back to my reading.

Here is a link to above mentioned essay