Little trips this Week:
Monday - Picnic & swim (wading, didn't get my hair wet) Day Pond State Park, Colchester CT.
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday - a little trip to do some more exploring in the northwest corner of Connecticut. Stayed in a cabin at Lake Waramaug State Park. This is not a rugged wilderness.
Spent the three days just poking around the area, wandering , seeing few local sites, and just relaxing. Very low-key.
Thur. Morning scenic drive to West Cornwall (covered bridge); afternoon wandering around village of Kent (live music at various outdoor venues)
Fri. Gunn Memorial Library & Historical Museum; Institute for American Indian Studies, both in Washington.
Breakfasts: Wed. home; Thur. Nine Main Cafe, New Preston; Fri. Noel's concession stand at Lake Waramaug State Park.
Lunches: Wed. picnic lunch (food from home) at cabin; Thur. J.P. Gifford Market and Catering Company, Kent followed by Ice Cream at Annie Bananie (note 9/28/19: permanently closed); Fri. Picnic at Black Rock State Park, Watertown (food from Marbledale Citco Quik Mart, New Preston)
Dinners: Wed. at cabin; Thur. Fantastic splurge meal on the terrace at Hopkins Inn on Lake Waramaug.
Reading this week:
This week the "Deal Me In" card is the King of Clubs; the selection is Chung Wenyin, Flesh and Bone Translated from the Chinese by Jennie Chia-Hui Chu
A Taiwanese daughter visits a healer at her mother's insistence.
online....
The Designers Who Made Disco: "The nightclub has always been a fiercely creative and radical architectural typology, a new exhibition at the Vitra Design Museum argues." by Alice Bucknell
Gutenberg finds...
My Year in a Log Cabin by William Dean Howells
Will download this to Kindle and read next time we stay in a log cabin.
The Heptameron of Margaret, Queen of Navarre
Didn't read yet.
from the library...
Murder in the Museum by John Rowland
I picked up this British Library Crime Classic at a library book sale as a relaxing read on a little trip. Perfect choice. I read it in a couple of days and left at a little free library at the campground.
Granada by Radwa Ashour; translated from the Arabic by William Granara
Interesting novel of a Moorish family during the Inquisition.
Knots: Stories by Gunnhild Øyehaug; translated from the Norwegian by Kari Dickson
A little uneven; mostly good.
Welcome to Your World: How the Built Environment Shapes Our Lives by Sarah Williams Goldhagen
Meh.
Showing posts with label Norwegian Lit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Norwegian Lit. Show all posts
Saturday, June 23, 2018
Saturday, July 22, 2017
July (third week) 2017 Reads
Not much to add to the reading log this week. Continued with the slow read of Rodrigo Fresán's The Invented Part with Chad Post's Two Month Review by reading "Meanwhile, Once Again, Beside the Museum Stairway, Under a Big Sky" (The Invented Part, Pages 405-440). Also reading Chad's comments and listening to the podcast about this section. And, as usual, spending a lot of time Googling because Fresán has so many literary and pop culture references. I'm lovin' it.
Next week will be the final section. The next slow read is Tómas Jónsson, Bestseller by Guðbergur Bergsson, translated from the Icelandic by Lytton Smith. My copy arrived in the mail on Monday.
This week...
Story: Collection by Camille Meyer (flash fictions)
There are eight very short, interrelated stories in this collection. They read a bit like primitive attempts to explain how giants came to Earth or, perhaps, little stories made up by an older child trying to entertain a younger sibling. Or maybe those stories that develop from a party game in which one person says the first sentence and then each person in the circle adds to it. The results can be an interesting, but not very cohesive, story.
At Big Bridge, "a webzine of poetry and everything else...." Fun to explore.
Card: Eight of Clubs from Demon Deck by Ukrainian artist Egor Klyuchnyk. I'm not sure that I'm seeing what was intended here, but this looks a bit like shrubbery and that fits the story because plants play an important part in the giant's adventures.
online...
Cartoons magazine. v.10:pt.2 (1916). Linen Islands Sea by Helena Smith-Dayton
A light commentary on the dining habits and conversation circa 1916.
Smith-Dayton is particularly amused by the gentlemen.
I found this because of a comment Katherine Nabity made on my post last week. I had a lot of fun with this and ended up reading more than the article relevant to Katherine's comment.
The "Cartoons" of the magazine title is used in the "political cartoon" sense--there are a lot of political articles and a lot of European war news and commentary. This was before the USA entered the war.
An Entire Family Disappears by Gunnhild Øyehaug; Translated from the Norwegian by Kari Dickson
Another excerpt from the story collection Knots. (I also read one of these last week.)
Three Principles of Architecture as Revealed by Italo Calvino's 'Invisible Cities' by Osman Bari
These next two pieces discuss Lima-based architect Karina Puente's project to illustrate each and every "invisible" city from Italo Calvino's 1972 novel.
Italo Calvino's 'Invisible Cities', Illustrated by James Taylor-Foster (6 images)
Italo Calvino's 'Invisible Cities', Illustrated (Again) by AD Editorial Team (16 images)
This Drone Video Captures the Mesmerizing Geometries of The World's Most Vertical City by AD Editorial Team
Presentation of an eight minute film from architect Mariana Bisti exploring Hong Kong by drone videography. "Not limited to vantage points accessible to humans, the video zooms and pans deliberately over, across and into the city’s enormous residential blocks..."
Seven Questions for Lytton Smith on Tómas Jónsson, Bestseller by Guðbergur Bergsson
Scott Esposito interviews Lytton Smith. Tómas Jónsson, Bestseller is the next book we will be reading for Chad Post's Two Month Review project.
from my shelves...
Summer Before the Dark by Volker Weidermann; translated from the German by Carol Brown Janeway.
Stefan Zweig reunites with his estranged friend Joseph Roth in Ostend, Belgium in 1936. At the time Ostend was a quiet refuge where a group of exiles and soon to be exiles joined together in a fragile social circle. Lots of booze, affairs, and rivalries mixed in with the really serious decisions that they must make about their futures in a crumbling European society.
A must read for anyone interested in Zweig, Roth, or European culture in the interwar years.
Next week will be the final section. The next slow read is Tómas Jónsson, Bestseller by Guðbergur Bergsson, translated from the Icelandic by Lytton Smith. My copy arrived in the mail on Monday.
This week...
 |
| “Deal Me In 2017!” |
There are eight very short, interrelated stories in this collection. They read a bit like primitive attempts to explain how giants came to Earth or, perhaps, little stories made up by an older child trying to entertain a younger sibling. Or maybe those stories that develop from a party game in which one person says the first sentence and then each person in the circle adds to it. The results can be an interesting, but not very cohesive, story.
At Big Bridge, "a webzine of poetry and everything else...." Fun to explore.
Card: Eight of Clubs from Demon Deck by Ukrainian artist Egor Klyuchnyk. I'm not sure that I'm seeing what was intended here, but this looks a bit like shrubbery and that fits the story because plants play an important part in the giant's adventures.
online...
Cartoons magazine. v.10:pt.2 (1916). Linen Islands Sea by Helena Smith-Dayton A light commentary on the dining habits and conversation circa 1916.
Smith-Dayton is particularly amused by the gentlemen.
I found this because of a comment Katherine Nabity made on my post last week. I had a lot of fun with this and ended up reading more than the article relevant to Katherine's comment.
The "Cartoons" of the magazine title is used in the "political cartoon" sense--there are a lot of political articles and a lot of European war news and commentary. This was before the USA entered the war.
An Entire Family Disappears by Gunnhild Øyehaug; Translated from the Norwegian by Kari Dickson
Another excerpt from the story collection Knots. (I also read one of these last week.)
Three Principles of Architecture as Revealed by Italo Calvino's 'Invisible Cities' by Osman Bari
These next two pieces discuss Lima-based architect Karina Puente's project to illustrate each and every "invisible" city from Italo Calvino's 1972 novel.
Italo Calvino's 'Invisible Cities', Illustrated by James Taylor-Foster (6 images)
Italo Calvino's 'Invisible Cities', Illustrated (Again) by AD Editorial Team (16 images)
This Drone Video Captures the Mesmerizing Geometries of The World's Most Vertical City by AD Editorial Team
Presentation of an eight minute film from architect Mariana Bisti exploring Hong Kong by drone videography. "Not limited to vantage points accessible to humans, the video zooms and pans deliberately over, across and into the city’s enormous residential blocks..."
Seven Questions for Lytton Smith on Tómas Jónsson, Bestseller by Guðbergur Bergsson
Scott Esposito interviews Lytton Smith. Tómas Jónsson, Bestseller is the next book we will be reading for Chad Post's Two Month Review project.
from my shelves...
Summer Before the Dark by Volker Weidermann; translated from the German by Carol Brown Janeway.Stefan Zweig reunites with his estranged friend Joseph Roth in Ostend, Belgium in 1936. At the time Ostend was a quiet refuge where a group of exiles and soon to be exiles joined together in a fragile social circle. Lots of booze, affairs, and rivalries mixed in with the really serious decisions that they must make about their futures in a crumbling European society.
A must read for anyone interested in Zweig, Roth, or European culture in the interwar years.
Saturday, July 15, 2017
July (second week) 2017 Reads
A lot of short stuff this week. Two short story collections, a poetry anthology, forty-two pages of The Invented Part (Life After People, or Notes for a Brief History of Progressive Rock and Science Fiction, pages 361-404), a short novel, and some online things including the Deal Me In story for the week.
The story:
The Gay Old Dog. By Edna Ferber (on Gutenberg in The Best Short Stories of 1917)
This story tells of the ups and downs of Jo Hertz, a successful man in the leather business but in a bind with his family and romantic life. It seems he made a deathbed promise to his mother: he won't marry until his sisters are taken care of. He does meet someone, but she isn't willing to wait for the sisters to find mates. Jo ends up a lonely and resentful loop-hound ("a man who frequents it [the Chicago Loop] by night in search of amusement and cheer is known, vulgarly, as a loop-hound.") Note: back when this was written "gay" was not synonymous with homosexual.
"He was the kind of man who mixes his own salad dressing. He liked to call for a bowl, some cracked ice, lemon, garlic, paprika, salt, pepper, vinegar and oil, and make a rite of it. People at near-by tables would lay down their knives and forks to watch, fascinated. The secret of it seemed to lie in using all the oil in sight and calling for more."
The card: Seven of Diamonds. The "beer card" in bridge and other trick-taking card games. Sorry I didn't know about this tradition back when I played this sort of card game.
Design by Christina Berglund, a graphic designer based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
" Seven of Diamonds Brewery is based on the beer card tradition. As the tradition goes, when a player wins the last trick of the hand with this card, his opponent must buy him a beer."
also online...
Alan Bean Plus Four By Tom Hanks
When I read that actor Tom Hanks has a story collection (Uncommon Type) coming out in October, I found and read this story in the October 27, 2014 New Yorker.
"Astronauts in the Apollo era had spent thousands of hours piloting jet planes and earning engineering degrees. They had to practice escaping from launchpad disasters by sliding down long cables to the safety of thickly padded bunkers. They had to know how slide rules worked. We did none of that, though we did test-fly our booster on the Fourth of July, out of Steve Wong’s huge driveway in Oxnard, hoping that, with all the fireworks, our unmanned first stage would blow through the night sky unnoticed."
What fun! I do want to read the stories in Uncommon Type.
It’s Raining in Love by Gunnhild Øyehaug; Translated from the Norwegian by Kari Dickson)
On a more serious note, a visit with a terminally ill friend. From another story collection I want to read: Knots.
Stadium Club by Mark Mulroney
On the art of chasing down baseball player autographs. A great memoir piece in Victory Journal, "a print and digital publication devoted to the intersection of sport and culture. Rather than engage in statistical analysis or partisan squabbling, Victory spotlights the drama of sport and the enduring glory of athletic pursuits the world over."
Another Gutenberg find...
Little Songs of Long Ago The original tunes harmonized by Alfred Moffat; Illustrated by
H. Willebeek Le Mair; published in 1912.
Words, music, and wonderful illustrations of thirty nursery rhymes. Sound files of the tunes played on the piano are available.
From my Shelves...
The Frangipani Hotel by
Violet Kupersmith
Kupersmith's short stories start out with seemingly normal and familiar scenes and situations. There is a run-down Vietnamese hotel, a night shift in a Houston market, a delivery driver on his regular run--nothing strange here, is there? But then there is a shift and weird things happen. I don't like this sort of comparison but I kept thinking of the stories of Saki (H.H. Monro). This book has been sitting on my shelf since March 2014 when I won it on the blog Books à la Mode - sorry I let go unread for so long. I really like it.
Contents: Boat story; The Frangipani Hotel; Skin and bones; Little brother; The red veil; Guests; Turning back; One-finger; Descending dragon.
Worlds from the Word's End by
Joanna Walsh
Joanna Walsh has a way with words and the reader gets carried away into a convoluted world where meaning has words. I love these stories and their clever wordplay. "The story of our nation will be entirely true, and it will be a good story, despite its being true."
Contents:Two; Bookselves; Postcards from Two Hotels; Worlds from the Word's End; Like a Fish Needs a…; Exes; Travelling Light; Femme Maison; Dunnet; Two Secretaries; Enzo Ponza; The Suitcase Dog; The Story of Our Nation; Blue; Simple Hans; Me and the Fat Woman --
Joanna Walsh; Reading Habits; Hauptbahnhof.
From my subscription to And Other Stories Publishing.
Elsewhere by Eliot Weinberger (Editor)
Fourteen poems (translated into English) by fourteen international poets musing on travel and/or displacement. A perfect anthology for a former ex-pat (ex-ex-pat? re-pat-ex-pat?), displaced Californian (new-New Englander?) like me. First of all: the subject matter interests me; secondly: there is a variety of viewpoints (time, place, nationality of poet, etc.); and, most importantly: the poems can be read on several levels--taken at a superficial face value, delved into a little deeper for my and the authors' emotional responses to the situations, and even more deeply for the universality of the material.
From my subscription to Open Letter Books.
from the library...
Last Night at the Lobster by Stewart O'Nan
This is not just last night at the Lobster, it's The last night. A few days before Christmas and manager Manny and his crew are serving up the last lunch at a New Britain, Connecticut Red Lobster. The chain has decided the location is not getting enough business. At least they have a little advance warning and manager Manny and four others are getting transferred. Why do the others even bother to show up? Well, Manny holds their final pay checks and there is also some team loyalty (or not). One shows up and leaves after lunch committing some acts of vandalism on his way out. Some lunch customers show up in spite of a snowstorm. Manny copes and even tries some lame attempts to revive a failed romance. A quick read about a bittersweet night.
|
| “Deal Me In 2017!” |
The Gay Old Dog. By Edna Ferber (on Gutenberg in The Best Short Stories of 1917)
This story tells of the ups and downs of Jo Hertz, a successful man in the leather business but in a bind with his family and romantic life. It seems he made a deathbed promise to his mother: he won't marry until his sisters are taken care of. He does meet someone, but she isn't willing to wait for the sisters to find mates. Jo ends up a lonely and resentful loop-hound ("a man who frequents it [the Chicago Loop] by night in search of amusement and cheer is known, vulgarly, as a loop-hound.") Note: back when this was written "gay" was not synonymous with homosexual.
"He was the kind of man who mixes his own salad dressing. He liked to call for a bowl, some cracked ice, lemon, garlic, paprika, salt, pepper, vinegar and oil, and make a rite of it. People at near-by tables would lay down their knives and forks to watch, fascinated. The secret of it seemed to lie in using all the oil in sight and calling for more."
The card: Seven of Diamonds. The "beer card" in bridge and other trick-taking card games. Sorry I didn't know about this tradition back when I played this sort of card game.
Design by Christina Berglund, a graphic designer based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
" Seven of Diamonds Brewery is based on the beer card tradition. As the tradition goes, when a player wins the last trick of the hand with this card, his opponent must buy him a beer."
also online...
Alan Bean Plus Four By Tom Hanks
When I read that actor Tom Hanks has a story collection (Uncommon Type) coming out in October, I found and read this story in the October 27, 2014 New Yorker.
"Astronauts in the Apollo era had spent thousands of hours piloting jet planes and earning engineering degrees. They had to practice escaping from launchpad disasters by sliding down long cables to the safety of thickly padded bunkers. They had to know how slide rules worked. We did none of that, though we did test-fly our booster on the Fourth of July, out of Steve Wong’s huge driveway in Oxnard, hoping that, with all the fireworks, our unmanned first stage would blow through the night sky unnoticed."
What fun! I do want to read the stories in Uncommon Type.
It’s Raining in Love by Gunnhild Øyehaug; Translated from the Norwegian by Kari Dickson)
On a more serious note, a visit with a terminally ill friend. From another story collection I want to read: Knots.
Stadium Club by Mark Mulroney
On the art of chasing down baseball player autographs. A great memoir piece in Victory Journal, "a print and digital publication devoted to the intersection of sport and culture. Rather than engage in statistical analysis or partisan squabbling, Victory spotlights the drama of sport and the enduring glory of athletic pursuits the world over."
Another Gutenberg find...
Little Songs of Long Ago The original tunes harmonized by Alfred Moffat; Illustrated byH. Willebeek Le Mair; published in 1912.
Words, music, and wonderful illustrations of thirty nursery rhymes. Sound files of the tunes played on the piano are available.
From my Shelves...
The Frangipani Hotel by
Violet KupersmithKupersmith's short stories start out with seemingly normal and familiar scenes and situations. There is a run-down Vietnamese hotel, a night shift in a Houston market, a delivery driver on his regular run--nothing strange here, is there? But then there is a shift and weird things happen. I don't like this sort of comparison but I kept thinking of the stories of Saki (H.H. Monro). This book has been sitting on my shelf since March 2014 when I won it on the blog Books à la Mode - sorry I let go unread for so long. I really like it.
Contents: Boat story; The Frangipani Hotel; Skin and bones; Little brother; The red veil; Guests; Turning back; One-finger; Descending dragon.
Worlds from the Word's End by
Joanna WalshJoanna Walsh has a way with words and the reader gets carried away into a convoluted world where meaning has words. I love these stories and their clever wordplay. "The story of our nation will be entirely true, and it will be a good story, despite its being true."
Contents:Two; Bookselves; Postcards from Two Hotels; Worlds from the Word's End; Like a Fish Needs a…; Exes; Travelling Light; Femme Maison; Dunnet; Two Secretaries; Enzo Ponza; The Suitcase Dog; The Story of Our Nation; Blue; Simple Hans; Me and the Fat Woman --
Joanna Walsh; Reading Habits; Hauptbahnhof.
From my subscription to And Other Stories Publishing.
Elsewhere by Eliot Weinberger (Editor)
Fourteen poems (translated into English) by fourteen international poets musing on travel and/or displacement. A perfect anthology for a former ex-pat (ex-ex-pat? re-pat-ex-pat?), displaced Californian (new-New Englander?) like me. First of all: the subject matter interests me; secondly: there is a variety of viewpoints (time, place, nationality of poet, etc.); and, most importantly: the poems can be read on several levels--taken at a superficial face value, delved into a little deeper for my and the authors' emotional responses to the situations, and even more deeply for the universality of the material.
From my subscription to Open Letter Books.
from the library...
Last Night at the Lobster by Stewart O'Nan This is not just last night at the Lobster, it's The last night. A few days before Christmas and manager Manny and his crew are serving up the last lunch at a New Britain, Connecticut Red Lobster. The chain has decided the location is not getting enough business. At least they have a little advance warning and manager Manny and four others are getting transferred. Why do the others even bother to show up? Well, Manny holds their final pay checks and there is also some team loyalty (or not). One shows up and leaves after lunch committing some acts of vandalism on his way out. Some lunch customers show up in spite of a snowstorm. Manny copes and even tries some lame attempts to revive a failed romance. A quick read about a bittersweet night.
Saturday, May 27, 2017
May (fourth week) 2017 Reads
 |
| “Deal Me In 2017!” |
Identities in Motion -- My Mythomanias by Julia Schoch; translated from the German by Katy Derbyshire
How do we remember when the landscapes of childhood are gone? Schoch grew up in a town modernized in the Communist era and the made obsolete by the 1989 revolution.
"They say the only things that count in life are the things we remember. That seems to be all the more important when there is no longer any evidence of the past.
I no longer have any evidence of my past."
From Literature Across Frontiers (LAF) "a European Platform for Literary Exchange, Translation and Policy Debate."
Card is a stock image from dreamstime
It seems to go with the deterioration of the town (both the original and the new) and the hammer suggests the politics involved.
other essays online...and slow reading
Dorthe Nors on the best Contemporary Scandinavian Literature
The Danish author discusses Scandinavian Lit in general and specific authors: Naja Marie Aidt, Yahya Hassan, Karolina Ramqvist, Lena Andersson, and Sjón.
All Writing is a Kind of Realism: In Conversation with Rodrigo Fresán, author of The Invented Part
A conversation between Fresán and Will Vanderhyden, translator of The Invented Part. I am slowly reading this novel as part of Chad Post's Two Month Review project.Chad has put together comments, podcasts, a Goodreads group, and more to help guide us through a difficult book. So far, we have read only the first 45 pages (which I loved).
I am also slow reading The Magician of Vienna by Sergio Pitol because that is the way I read Pitol. See: Pitol readings and More Pitol readings
Just because my card this week was for an essay doesn't mean I neglected short stories. In fact, I read some gems...
I read some of the O. Henry Prize Stories for 2017 that are available online:
Something for a Young Woman by Genevieve Plunkett
The Buddhist by Alan Rossi
Protection by Paola Peroni
Night Garden by Shruti Swamy
Paddle to Canada by Heather Monley
Mercedes Benz by Martha Cooley
A Small Sacrifice for an Enormous Happiness by Jai Chakrabarti
Two other stories I read online...
An Affair Before the Earthquake by Samrat Upadhyay
Samrat Upadhyay is a Nepalese writer who writes in English. He teaches at Indiana University. This is from his collection of short stories, Mad Country.
The Great Disaster by Alanna Schubach; with an introduction by Halimah Marcus
Young survivors of a community disaster play a Zombie game.
some novels from my shelves...
ME by Tomoyuki Hoshino, Kenzaburō Ōe (Afterword), Charles De Wolf (Translation)
This started out as if it were going to be about telephone scams, but it turned into something else--a dystopian world of almost interchangeable ME's. Just when it seems to be headed in one direction, it makes a turn and is off somewhere else. A great read.
Advance review copy via LibraryThing
The Outlaw by Jón Gnarr; Lytton Smith (Translation)
The third volume of Gnarr's childhood memoirs covers his teenage years. Misunderstood and misunderstanding, Gnarr ends up in a remote boarding school in the Westfjords district of Iceland (a Google search shows that the school is now a hotel). After leaving school he returns home to face so many problems--drugs, alcohol, medical treatments, family--that one wonders how he ever go it together.
From my subscription to Deep Vellum Books
'Round Midnight by Laura McBride
It's always gratifying to see a second novel live up to the promise of the debut novel. This one does that without repeating the characters and plot of the first
(We Are Called to Rise). This one is also set in Las Vegas and, like the first, brings together a set of diverse characters and deals with immigrants and family problems. But the main characters are fresh and this one spans a long time period (about 1960-2010) as Vegas booms and busts. The four main characters are strong women in difficult circumstances. An absorbing read.
Advance review copy.
Monday, May 02, 2016
April (second half) 2016 Reads
The balance of April.
Lab Girl ; Jahren, Hope
Memoir of a botanist. good. Library book.
One Out of Two ; Sada, Daniel; Katherine Silver (Translator)
A fun novella about twin sisters. Library book.
I Refuse ; Petterson, Per, Don Bartlett (Translator)
A dysfunctional family, broken apart by the father's cruelty, the mother's desertion, and the children being sent to different foster homes. Told from multiple points of view with the friendship of the eldest child (a boy) and a neighborhood boy being central to the story. Library book.
Salt to the Sea ; Sepetys, Ruta
YA novel follows three young adults fleeing Prussia in 1944-45 as the Russian forces advance. They are headed for the Baltic port Gotenhafen in hopes of being evacuated by sea. There they are aided by a young sailor. Told from four points of view--the three (a Lithuanian nurse, a Polish teenage girl, a [possibly fugitive] German soldier) and the young sailor. Library book.
The Translation of Love ; Kutsukake, Lynne
Life in Occupied Japan. Library book.
The Method ; Vowler, Tom
Wonderful short stories by one of my favorite authors.
Online
You Can Never Go Back
A new short story by Joe Hart. Posted on his web site on April 17, 2016. Also see his guest blog The Adventure of Blending Genres on Stacy Alesi's BookBitch.com.
Sunday, January 31, 2016
January (second half) 2016 Reads
Reading from my tbr stacks, plus a couple from the public library. In addition to these, I'm about halfway through The Good Soldier Švejk by Jaroslav Hašek which I am reading because of an essay in The Art of Flight by Sergio Pitol. I am about a third of the way through the Pitol--he keeps leading me to other things to read. More about this next month when I hope to have finished both books.
Meanwhile, I read some good ones this month...
The 6:41 to Paris; Blondel, Jean-Philippe; Alison Anderson (Translation)
Former lovers meet (sort of) twenty-seven years after their break-up. For most of the nearly two and a half hour journey from Troyes to Paris they pretend not to recognize each other. What is he thinking? What is she thinking? It's a delight finding the answers.
My copy
Cover design by Liana Finck (see an Interview with Liana Finck on Words Without Borders).
Bret Easton Ellis and the Other Dogs; Wolff, Lina; Frank Perry (Translation, from the Swedish)
Somewhat disjointed and meandering with stories within the story; amazingly, it all comes together in the end. Set in Barcelona.
My personal copy.
Cover design by Hannah Naughton
Where All Light Tends to Go; Joy, David
Gritty, violent and dark--and very well written. North Carolina backwoods coming of age.
Advance Review copy
Book design by Nicole LaRoche
My Name is Lucy Barton; Strout, Elizabeth
Excellent. Read it in one sitting.
Library book.
Still Life and Other Stories; Shono, Junzo; Wayne P. Lammers (Translation)
Short vignettes of family life.
Finished copy from publisher through a 2014 blog win (January in Japan).
The Tsar of Love and Techno; Marra, Anthony
Closely linked stories. Set in USSR/Post USSR; Leningrad, Chechnya, Siberia.
Advance Review Copy
Jacket design: Christopher Brand
Jacket Photography: Bobby Doherty
Lonesome You; Wansuh, Park; Elizabeth Haejin Yoon (Translation) From the Dalkey Library of Korean Literature (#9)
Another fine collection of short stories. I especially liked the ones about family life and in-law relations. My copy.
Selected Stories; Askildsen, Kjell; Sean Kinsella (Translation)
Still more great short stories, this time from Norway. I wish a certain recently lionized Norwegian writer had taken some brevity lessons from Askildsen! My copy.
Cover portrait by Finn Ståle Felberg
Anna and the Swallow Man; Savit, Gavriel
This is labeled as juvenile fiction (middle grades? YA?) but it is an engrossing read for any age. Survival in Poland during World War 2.
Advance review copy.
Jacket art and interior illustrations by Laura Carlin
Also: I enjoyed the author interview on Shelf Awareness
The Fine Color of Rust; O'Reilly, Paddy
A single mom copes with kids, friends, and community problems in a small Australian town. She's a bit bitter, very sarcastic, and has anger management problems. All with a caustic sense of humor. She'll survive. Library book.
Cover design: Laywan Kwan
Cover Photo: Ty Milford
Casada: A History of an Italian Village and Its People; Comis, Anna; Isabel Comis Degenaars (Introduction and translation)
This was a bit of a surprise. The author and the translator are cousins, one lives in Casada, the other in New Jersey. The book is self published and is very well done. There are plenty of photographs & maps. I enjoyed it more than I had anticipated considering that it is about a village I've never visited (though I did drive through the region about 30 years ago). The book gave me a good feel for the place. My copy, free finished copy from author/publisher through Goodreads giveaway.
The Dogs of Littlefield; Berne, Suzanne
The town is listed as "one of the best places to live" but it is full of unhappiness. And someone is poisoning the dogs. Library book.
American Housewife: Stories; Ellis, Helen
Book was fun, but seemed dated. I kept thinking of Erma Bombeck. If these stories are about contemporary women, I wonder if they have all turned into their grandmothers. Also, I skimmed in a couple of the longer pieces.... Library book.
The Land of Steady Habits; Thompson, Ted
So-so marriage, family, divorce among the Bridgeport, CT commuter crowd. My copy.
The Roots of the Olive Tree; Santo, Courtney Miller
Family saga, five generations of women with extra-ordinary long life spans. Set in the Northern end of the Sacramento Valley. My copy.
Meanwhile, I read some good ones this month...
The 6:41 to Paris; Blondel, Jean-Philippe; Alison Anderson (Translation)
Former lovers meet (sort of) twenty-seven years after their break-up. For most of the nearly two and a half hour journey from Troyes to Paris they pretend not to recognize each other. What is he thinking? What is she thinking? It's a delight finding the answers.
My copy
Cover design by Liana Finck (see an Interview with Liana Finck on Words Without Borders).
Bret Easton Ellis and the Other Dogs; Wolff, Lina; Frank Perry (Translation, from the Swedish)
Somewhat disjointed and meandering with stories within the story; amazingly, it all comes together in the end. Set in Barcelona.
My personal copy.
Cover design by Hannah Naughton
Where All Light Tends to Go; Joy, David
Gritty, violent and dark--and very well written. North Carolina backwoods coming of age.
Advance Review copy
Book design by Nicole LaRoche
My Name is Lucy Barton; Strout, Elizabeth
Excellent. Read it in one sitting.
Library book.
Still Life and Other Stories; Shono, Junzo; Wayne P. Lammers (Translation)
Short vignettes of family life.
Finished copy from publisher through a 2014 blog win (January in Japan).
The Tsar of Love and Techno; Marra, Anthony
Closely linked stories. Set in USSR/Post USSR; Leningrad, Chechnya, Siberia.
Advance Review Copy
Jacket design: Christopher Brand
Jacket Photography: Bobby Doherty
Lonesome You; Wansuh, Park; Elizabeth Haejin Yoon (Translation) From the Dalkey Library of Korean Literature (#9)
Another fine collection of short stories. I especially liked the ones about family life and in-law relations. My copy.
Selected Stories; Askildsen, Kjell; Sean Kinsella (Translation)
Still more great short stories, this time from Norway. I wish a certain recently lionized Norwegian writer had taken some brevity lessons from Askildsen! My copy.
Cover portrait by Finn Ståle Felberg
Anna and the Swallow Man; Savit, Gavriel
This is labeled as juvenile fiction (
Advance review copy.
Jacket art and interior illustrations by Laura Carlin
Also: I enjoyed the author interview on Shelf Awareness
These two are a step below the above, but interesting reads...
The Fine Color of Rust; O'Reilly, Paddy
A single mom copes with kids, friends, and community problems in a small Australian town. She's a bit bitter, very sarcastic, and has anger management problems. All with a caustic sense of humor. She'll survive. Library book.
Cover design: Laywan Kwan
Cover Photo: Ty Milford
Casada: A History of an Italian Village and Its People; Comis, Anna; Isabel Comis Degenaars (Introduction and translation)
This was a bit of a surprise. The author and the translator are cousins, one lives in Casada, the other in New Jersey. The book is self published and is very well done. There are plenty of photographs & maps. I enjoyed it more than I had anticipated considering that it is about a village I've never visited (though I did drive through the region about 30 years ago). The book gave me a good feel for the place. My copy, free finished copy from author/publisher through Goodreads giveaway.
The following were OK reads, but not quite as good as those above...
The Dogs of Littlefield; Berne, Suzanne
The town is listed as "one of the best places to live" but it is full of unhappiness. And someone is poisoning the dogs. Library book.
American Housewife: Stories; Ellis, Helen
Book was fun, but seemed dated. I kept thinking of Erma Bombeck. If these stories are about contemporary women, I wonder if they have all turned into their grandmothers. Also, I skimmed in a couple of the longer pieces.... Library book.
The Land of Steady Habits; Thompson, Ted
So-so marriage, family, divorce among the Bridgeport, CT commuter crowd. My copy.
The Roots of the Olive Tree; Santo, Courtney Miller
Family saga, five generations of women with extra-ordinary long life spans. Set in the Northern end of the Sacramento Valley. My copy.
Thursday, January 01, 2015
December 2014 Reads
Overall a really good reading month. Read thirteen plus books in spite of blogging more than I usually blog. I did have two books that I started and didn't (and won't) finish. They are listed at the bottom of this post.
The Supernatural Enhancements by Edgar Cantero
Library book. When A. Inherits a mansion and all its contents from a second cousin he didn't know existed, he is also heir to a mystery. It is just a "bourgeois game" his cousin and companions have been playing? Or is it something more? I loved this one--it's full of puzzles, codes, a maze, and secrets rooms. It's as lush and as mysteriously complicated as the fantastic cover of the book.
5 stars
Florence Gordon by Brian Morton
Library book. She's seventy-five, she's cantankerous, she's intellectual, she's a feminist. Maybe she's your grandmother, your ex, your mother, your friend. Maybe you are sorry you know her, maybe you are sad that you've never met her. But you are glad that Brian Morton has introduced you to Florence and her family. 5 stars
Dear Committee Members by Julie Schumacher
Library book. Witty satire on academic life. A tad bit longer than it needs to be (and it's only 180 pages), but an enjoyable read. 3 1/2 stars
The Murder of Harriet Krohn (Inspector Konrad Sejer #7) by Karin Fossum, James Anderson (
Library book. OK, but not as good as some of the other Sejer novels. 3 stars
Measuring the World; by Daniel Kehlmann, Carol Brown Janeway (Translator) Library book. novel based on the lives of explorer Alexander von Humboldt and mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss. 4 stars
Grand Hotel; by Vicki Baum,
Library book. Also watched DVD of the 1932 film Grand Hotel; directed by Edmund Goulding.
The Good Life Elsewhere; by Vladimir Lorchenkov, Ross Ufberg
Personal copy. Apparently Moldavian peasants will do anything to get to Italy. Pigs may not fly in this romp, but tractors do.
Her; by Harriet Lane
Electronic (Kindle) advance review copy from publisher. Why does the sophisticated Nina goes out of her way to make friends with the rather ordinary housewife Emma? It seems Nina knew Emma in the past, but Emma doesn't remember. Nina's actions become strange and creepy to the reader but Emma remains clueless as their friendship progresses.
Christmas Stories from the French and Spanish by Antoinette Ogden From Project Gutenberg. Stories from the 19th Century by several French and Spanish writers. Many are religious, some are rather grim. 4 stars.
The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters I received a free advance review copy of this book from the publisher. Maddeningly slow paced novel (brief review cross-posted on Goodreads and LibraryThing). Five hundred and sixty pages, 200 of which were mind-numbingly boring. 3 stars.
On Immunity: An Inoculation by Eula Biss
Library book. I think this is one of those books that will not be read by the the people that ought to read it. I doubt that it will change anyone's mind on the question of whether or not to have their children inoculated. 3 stars.
Tempest-Tossed: The Spirit of Isabella Beecher Hooker by Susan Campbell
Library book. Isabella was active in both the abolitionist and the feminist movements. Less well known than her older half sister, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Isabella deserves to have her story told. This is a good start, but I wish the author hadn't inserted herself into the story. 4 stars
The Phantom of Fifth Avenue: The Mysterious Life and Scandalous Death of Heiress Huguette Clark; by Meryl Gordon
Library book. I first heard about the elusive Huguette Clark when I lived in Santa Barbara in the 1970s. There it sat, the Clark Estate, unoccupied, unused, but well maintained and situated on a fabulous piece of property. So I enjoyed this account of the Clark family and Huguette. 4 stars
Adultery by Paulo Coelho. I just couldn't take the mushy theology. Library book DNF
Lock In by John Scalzi. Lots of people liked this (came in 2nd in Goodreads Choice Awards SF category). I just couldn't get into it. Gave it a good go, quit about half-way through. Library book DNF
The Supernatural Enhancements by Edgar Cantero
Library book. When A. Inherits a mansion and all its contents from a second cousin he didn't know existed, he is also heir to a mystery. It is just a "bourgeois game" his cousin and companions have been playing? Or is it something more? I loved this one--it's full of puzzles, codes, a maze, and secrets rooms. It's as lush and as mysteriously complicated as the fantastic cover of the book.5 stars
Florence Gordon by Brian Morton
Library book. She's seventy-five, she's cantankerous, she's intellectual, she's a feminist. Maybe she's your grandmother, your ex, your mother, your friend. Maybe you are sorry you know her, maybe you are sad that you've never met her. But you are glad that Brian Morton has introduced you to Florence and her family. 5 stars
Dear Committee Members by Julie Schumacher
Library book. Witty satire on academic life. A tad bit longer than it needs to be (and it's only 180 pages), but an enjoyable read. 3 1/2 stars
The Murder of Harriet Krohn (Inspector Konrad Sejer #7) by Karin Fossum, James Anderson (
Library book. OK, but not as good as some of the other Sejer novels. 3 stars
Measuring the World; by Daniel Kehlmann, Carol Brown Janeway (Translator) Library book. novel based on the lives of explorer Alexander von Humboldt and mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss. 4 stars
Grand Hotel; by Vicki Baum,
Library book. Also watched DVD of the 1932 film Grand Hotel; directed by Edmund Goulding.
The Good Life Elsewhere; by Vladimir Lorchenkov, Ross Ufberg
Personal copy. Apparently Moldavian peasants will do anything to get to Italy. Pigs may not fly in this romp, but tractors do.
Her; by Harriet Lane
Electronic (Kindle) advance review copy from publisher. Why does the sophisticated Nina goes out of her way to make friends with the rather ordinary housewife Emma? It seems Nina knew Emma in the past, but Emma doesn't remember. Nina's actions become strange and creepy to the reader but Emma remains clueless as their friendship progresses.
Christmas Stories from the French and Spanish by Antoinette Ogden From Project Gutenberg. Stories from the 19th Century by several French and Spanish writers. Many are religious, some are rather grim. 4 stars.
The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters I received a free advance review copy of this book from the publisher. Maddeningly slow paced novel (brief review cross-posted on Goodreads and LibraryThing). Five hundred and sixty pages, 200 of which were mind-numbingly boring. 3 stars.
On Immunity: An Inoculation by Eula Biss
Library book. I think this is one of those books that will not be read by the the people that ought to read it. I doubt that it will change anyone's mind on the question of whether or not to have their children inoculated. 3 stars.
Tempest-Tossed: The Spirit of Isabella Beecher Hooker by Susan Campbell
Library book. Isabella was active in both the abolitionist and the feminist movements. Less well known than her older half sister, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Isabella deserves to have her story told. This is a good start, but I wish the author hadn't inserted herself into the story. 4 stars
The Phantom of Fifth Avenue: The Mysterious Life and Scandalous Death of Heiress Huguette Clark; by Meryl Gordon
Library book. I first heard about the elusive Huguette Clark when I lived in Santa Barbara in the 1970s. There it sat, the Clark Estate, unoccupied, unused, but well maintained and situated on a fabulous piece of property. So I enjoyed this account of the Clark family and Huguette. 4 stars
Adultery by Paulo Coelho. I just couldn't take the mushy theology. Library book DNF
Lock In by John Scalzi. Lots of people liked this (came in 2nd in Goodreads Choice Awards SF category). I just couldn't get into it. Gave it a good go, quit about half-way through. Library book DNF
Monday, March 31, 2014
March 2014 Reads
This looks like a lot of reading. It was even though there are two I didn't finish (the first two on the list).
Not crazy about these three:
My Struggle: Book Two: A Man in Love; Knausgård, Karl Ove; translated by Don Bartlett.
I only made it to page 200 before I decided I'd had enough.
In the Night of Time; Molina, Antonio Muñoz; translated by Edith Grossman
Just couldn't really get into this. I think I'll try it again in a couple of months. (I might also give the Knausgård another try.)
The Islands; Gamerro, Carlos; translated by Ian Barnett
Read on Kindle (my copy). Long passages on the development of a computer game really distracted from the story. All that techie stuff may have been fascinating a few years ago when this was first published, but now it seems dated and unnecessary.
These two were very heavy, glad I read them but they were disturbing.
Back to Back; Franck, Julia; translated by Anthea Bell
The Dark Road; Jian, Ma; translated by Flora Drew
Discussed these two in an earlier post (March 22, 2014)
The Golem and the Jinni; Wecker, Helene (Kindle from library)
The Hakawati; Alameddine, Rabih
Of this next group Live Bait and Wake were the best, but all were good
Live Bait; Genovesi, Fabio; translated by Michael Moore (Advance electronic review copy)
This was a fun coming of age story. Epub is my least favorite way to read an ARC.
Wake; Hope, Anna
Am enjoying the World War I novels currently being published.
A Circle of Wives; LaPlante, Alice
A mystery-who killed thebigamist trigamist?
Attachments; Rowell, Rainbow (Kindle from library)
Chickish lit
The Moon Sisters; Walsh, Therese (Advance review copy)
Didn't like this at first but it kind of grew on me.
Belle Cora; Margulies, Phillip
Can't resist historical novels set in San Francisco- this was a good one.
The Wind Is Not a River; Payton, Brian
World War II in the Aleutian Islands.
Little Bee; Cleave, Chris
Nigerian girl in UK
Two that were disappointing:
Bellman & Black: A Ghost Story; Setterfield, Diane
Was so-so on her The Thirteenth Tale and decided to give her another chance-shouldn't have bothered.
A Burnable Book; Holsinger, Bruce
Interesting subject, he knows his stuff but I don't care for his writing style.
Short Stories
Three really good collections.
Bark: Stories; Moore, Lorrie Excellent review of this by Joyce Carol Oates in NRB
Last Car Over the Sagamore Bridge; Orner, Peter
Snow in May: Stories; Melnik, Kseniya (review copy from Library Thing)
Non-Fiction
A Taste for Intrigue: The Multiple Lives of François Mitterrand; Short, Philip (Advance review copy from Goodreads)
Excellent! I'd say it was my best read of the month, but it actually took me a couple of months to read. (Over 600 pages)
Dear Abigail: The Intimate Lives and Revolutionary Ideas of Abigail Adams and Her Two Remarkable Sisters; Jacobs, Diane
I do like Abigail...and her sisters. Nice to learn more about them.
Uprising: A New Age is Dawning for Every Mother's Daughter; Armstrong, Sally
(Advance review copy from Goodreads) This was ok. It should be read by people who probably won't read it.
George Washington's Secret Six: The Spy Ring That Saved the American Revolution; Kilmeade, Brian (Kindle from library)
Not very well written.
Unless otherwise noted, books were physical copies from public libraries.
»
Not crazy about these three:
My Struggle: Book Two: A Man in Love; Knausgård, Karl Ove; translated by Don Bartlett.
I only made it to page 200 before I decided I'd had enough.
In the Night of Time; Molina, Antonio Muñoz; translated by Edith Grossman
Just couldn't really get into this. I think I'll try it again in a couple of months. (I might also give the Knausgård another try.)
The Islands; Gamerro, Carlos; translated by Ian Barnett
Read on Kindle (my copy). Long passages on the development of a computer game really distracted from the story. All that techie stuff may have been fascinating a few years ago when this was first published, but now it seems dated and unnecessary.
These two were very heavy, glad I read them but they were disturbing.
Back to Back; Franck, Julia; translated by Anthea Bell
The Dark Road; Jian, Ma; translated by Flora Drew
Discussed these two in an earlier post (March 22, 2014)
The Golem and the Jinni; Wecker, Helene (Kindle from library)
The Hakawati; Alameddine, Rabih
Of this next group Live Bait and Wake were the best, but all were good
Live Bait; Genovesi, Fabio; translated by Michael Moore (Advance electronic review copy)
This was a fun coming of age story. Epub is my least favorite way to read an ARC.
Wake; Hope, Anna
Am enjoying the World War I novels currently being published.
A Circle of Wives; LaPlante, Alice
A mystery-who killed the
Attachments; Rowell, Rainbow (Kindle from library)
Chickish lit
The Moon Sisters; Walsh, Therese (Advance review copy)
Didn't like this at first but it kind of grew on me.
Belle Cora; Margulies, Phillip
Can't resist historical novels set in San Francisco- this was a good one.
The Wind Is Not a River; Payton, Brian
World War II in the Aleutian Islands.
Little Bee; Cleave, Chris
Nigerian girl in UK
Two that were disappointing:
Bellman & Black: A Ghost Story; Setterfield, Diane
Was so-so on her The Thirteenth Tale and decided to give her another chance-shouldn't have bothered.
A Burnable Book; Holsinger, Bruce
Interesting subject, he knows his stuff but I don't care for his writing style.
Short Stories
Three really good collections.
Bark: Stories; Moore, Lorrie Excellent review of this by Joyce Carol Oates in NRB
Last Car Over the Sagamore Bridge; Orner, Peter
Snow in May: Stories; Melnik, Kseniya (review copy from Library Thing)
Non-Fiction
A Taste for Intrigue: The Multiple Lives of François Mitterrand; Short, Philip (Advance review copy from Goodreads)
Excellent! I'd say it was my best read of the month, but it actually took me a couple of months to read. (Over 600 pages)
Dear Abigail: The Intimate Lives and Revolutionary Ideas of Abigail Adams and Her Two Remarkable Sisters; Jacobs, Diane
I do like Abigail...and her sisters. Nice to learn more about them.
Uprising: A New Age is Dawning for Every Mother's Daughter; Armstrong, Sally
(Advance review copy from Goodreads) This was ok. It should be read by people who probably won't read it.
George Washington's Secret Six: The Spy Ring That Saved the American Revolution; Kilmeade, Brian (Kindle from library)
Not very well written.
Unless otherwise noted, books were physical copies from public libraries.
»
Thursday, March 20, 2014
About Those Longlists
Whew! I've just finished two of the books from the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize. Two very bleak and dark tales.
Back to Back by Julia Franck and translated from the German by Anthea Bell (Harvill Secker) and The Dark Road by Ma Jian and translated from the Chinese by Flora Drew (Chatto & Windus).
I'm too spent to make comment about either one, except to say that of the two I thought The Dark Road was more well written.
It didn't help that I was also finishing Uprising: A New Age is Dawning for Every Mother's Daughter by Sally Armstrong. This is a discussion of the progress on women's rights around the world. Another difficult read.
These were such heavy narratives that it was a relief to take breaks and read the pretty much plot-less A Man in Love by Karl Ove Knausgaard and translated from the Norwegian by Don Bartlett (Harvill Secker). This one is on both the IFFP list and the BTBA list. I'm taking it in small doses and probably won't finish it before the library reclaims it. Knausgaard tells me more than I ever wanted to know about one man. I find him much more interesting when he writes about literary topics than when he writes about himself and his rather mundane day-to-day activities.
I've made no progress on the Baileys Women's Prize longlist. Right now I want something light and fluffy.
Back to Back by Julia Franck and translated from the German by Anthea Bell (Harvill Secker) and The Dark Road by Ma Jian and translated from the Chinese by Flora Drew (Chatto & Windus).
I'm too spent to make comment about either one, except to say that of the two I thought The Dark Road was more well written.
It didn't help that I was also finishing Uprising: A New Age is Dawning for Every Mother's Daughter by Sally Armstrong. This is a discussion of the progress on women's rights around the world. Another difficult read.
These were such heavy narratives that it was a relief to take breaks and read the pretty much plot-less A Man in Love by Karl Ove Knausgaard and translated from the Norwegian by Don Bartlett (Harvill Secker). This one is on both the IFFP list and the BTBA list. I'm taking it in small doses and probably won't finish it before the library reclaims it. Knausgaard tells me more than I ever wanted to know about one man. I find him much more interesting when he writes about literary topics than when he writes about himself and his rather mundane day-to-day activities.
I've made no progress on the Baileys Women's Prize longlist. Right now I want something light and fluffy.
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