janeajones's book jungle

DiscussãoClub Read 2015

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janeajones's book jungle

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1janeajones
Editado: Dez 30, 2015, 12:16 pm



Books Read in 2015:
1. Hannah Kent, Burial Rites, historical novel:
2. Doris Lessing, The Grandmothers: 4 novellas:
3. Michael Ondaatje, The Cat's Table, novel: 1/2
4. Jacqueline Woodson, Brown Girl Dreaming, memoir, narrative poetry: 1/2
5. The Confessions of Lady Nijo, trans. and edited by Karen Brazell: diary, memoir:1/2
6. C.J. Sansom, Dissolution, mystery, historical novel:
7. Barbara Oehlbeck, The Sabal Palm: A Native Monarch, natural history: 1/2
8. Margaret Drabble, The Red Queen, novel:
9. David Bajo, The 351 Books of Irma Arcuri, novel: 1/2
10. Claire Kaissiens, Sweetgum Slough, memoir:
11. Toni Morrison, God Help the Child, novel:
12. Jeff Vandermeer, Annihilation, novel:
13. Alice Hoffmann, The Museum of Extraordinary Things: historical novel:
14. Nanci Kincaid, As Hot as It Was You Ought to Thank Me, novel:
15. Bjorn Kurten, Singletusk: A Novel of the Ice Age, historic novel: 1/2
16. Nicola Griffith, Hild, historic novel:
17. Stefan Zweig, The Post-Office Girl, novel: 1/2
18. Angela Carter, Miss Z: the dark young lady, children's book: 1/2
19. C.J. Sansom, Dark FIre, mystery, historical novel: 1/2
20. Michael Booth, The Almost Nearly Perfect People, non-fiction, cultural commentary:
21. Lois Lenski, Journey into Childhood, autobiography:
22. Jules Verne, Journey to the Center of the Earth, science fiction:
23. Halldor Laxness, Under the Glacier, Kristnihald undir Jökli, trans. Magnus Magnusson, novel:

24. Heather O'Neill,Lullabies for Little Criminals, novel: 1/2
25. Octavia Butler, Parable of the Sower, science fiction: 1/2
26. Jack Weatherford, The Secret History of the Mongol Queens, history, biography: 1/2
27. Cora Harrison, Eye of the Law, mystery, historical fiction: 1/2
28. Ismail Kadare, Spring Flowers, Spring Frost, Lulet e ftohta të marsit, trans. David Bellos, novella:
29. Vita Sackville-West, The Edwardians, novel: 1/2
30. David Herter, On the Overgrown Path, novella, historical fiction, heterocosmic, dream vision; 1/2
31. Karel Čapek, R.U.R., trans, David Wylie, play, science fiction:
32. David Herter, The Luminous Depths, novel, historical fiction, heterocosmic: 1/2
33. David Herter, One Who Disappeared, novel, historical fiction, heterocosmic: 1/2
34. Eleanor Catton, The Luminaries, novel, historical fiction, Man Booker Prize:
35. Halldor Laxness, The Fish Can Sing, novel:
36. John Lukacs, Budapest 1900: A Historical Portrait of a City & Its Culture, cultural history:
37. Colm Toibin, The Master: A Novel, biographical novel:
38. Alice Hoffmann, The Red Garden, linked stories:
39. Marilynne Robinson, Lila, novel:
40. Marilynne Robinson, Gilead, novel:
41. Karen Engelman, The Stockholm Octavo, novel: 1/2
42. Nancy Goldstone, Four Queens: the Provencal Sisters Who Ruled Europe, history, biography:
43. Tove Jansson, Sculptor's Daughter: A Childhood Memoir:
44. Szilvia Cseh, Ferenc Gosztonyi (Editor), Judit Pokoly (Translator), Hungarian National Gallery: The Collections - Guide, museum catalog: 1/2
45. Elena Ferrante, My Brilliant Friend, trans. Ann Goldstein, novel:
46. Elena Ferrante, The Story of a New Name, trans. Ann Goldstein, novel:
47. Elena Ferrante, Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay, trans. Ann Goldstein, novel:
48. Elena Ferrante, The Story of the Lost Child, trans. Ann Goldstein, novel:
49. Tuula Karjalainen, Tove Janson: Work and Love, trans. David McDuff, biography:
50. Valerie Flournoy, The Turner House, novel: 1/2
51. Carlos Pintado, Nine Coins/Nueve monedas, poetry, LTER:
52. Patti Smith M Train, memoir:

2NanaCC
Dez 30, 2014, 11:32 am

Happy New Year, Jane! I've placed my star.

3PawsforThought
Dez 30, 2014, 1:35 pm

Hi, and thanks for stopping by my thread. I like the thread topper you have, lovely colours.

4avaland
Jan 2, 2015, 5:45 am

Hi Jane, I hope to stop by from time to time to check out what you are reading. Happy New Year!

5rebeccanyc
Jan 2, 2015, 11:37 am

Looking forward to following your reading once again!

6janeajones
Editado: Jan 2, 2015, 2:04 pm

2014 Best Books:

Best Non-Fiction:


Richard Holmes, The Age of Wonder, cultural history, scientific biography
Paula Byrne, Perdita: The Literary, Theatrical, Scandalous Life of Mary Robinson, biography
Jay Griffiths, Kith: The Riddle of the Childscape,social history
Carolyn Burke Becoming Modern: The Life of Mina Loy, biography:

Best Fiction:

Jim Crace, The Gift of Stones
Margaret Drabble, The Seven Sisters
Willa Cather, The Song of the Lark
Bruce Holsinger, A Burnable Book, mystery, historical novel
Jhumpa Lahiri, The Lowland

7janeajones
Jan 2, 2015, 6:00 pm

Thanks for stopping by, Colleen, Paws, Lois and Rebecca -- love the company.

8janeajones
Editado: Jan 7, 2015, 7:07 pm


1. Burial Rites by Hannah Kent:

Shortlisted for the 2014 Bailey's Prize (formerly the Orange Prize), Burial Rites is Hannah Kent's first novel. As a historical novel reimagining the murder of a landowner involving his female servant who is confiding her story to a sympathetic young man, it must bear some comparison to Margaret Atwood's Alias Grace to any reader familiar with Atwood's work.

However, Burial Rites stands on its own as an accomplished work of fiction with a well developed protagonist, a highly detailed picture of northern Iceland in the early 19th century, and thoroughly researched background material.

Agnes Magnusdottir was the last person to be executed in Iceland on January 12, 1830. She, along with Sigridur Gudmundsdottir and Fridik Sigurdsson, was convicted of murdering Natan Ketilsson and Petur Jonsson and burning down Natan's house to try to conceal the crime. The murder is well known to this day in Iceland, and Agnes is generally characterized in local legend as a scorned and vengeful lover who incited two young people to violence and murder.

Kent, who first heard the tale when she was an exchange student in Iceland, was fascinated by the character of Agnes and her isolated existence. An illegitimate child, abandoned by her mother at 6, Agnes was brought up in poverty and servitude. Nevertheless, like nearly all Icelanders in the 19th century, she was literate, and she had a roving intelligence that embraced the lore of the sagas and the starkness of the Icelandic landscape.

The novel spans the period of about six months before Agnes's execution when she is being held by a local official's family to await final authorization from the King in Denmark to proceed with the sentence. Within the family she labors as a servant, and Kent explores the evolving relationships within the family. Agnes is assigned a spiritual advisor, Thorvadur Jonsson, to whom she gradually tells her story.

So what was Agnes's role in the murder? This is the crux of the novel, and the reader's judgement depends on the interpretation of the reliability of the narrator.

All in all, a highly accomplished first novel -- and a good note to begin the year on.

9Cait86
Jan 2, 2015, 8:55 pm

Burial Rites sounds fantastic - thanks for the excellent review, Jane. I will keep it in mind the next time I am at a book store.

10VivienneR
Jan 3, 2015, 2:35 pm

Excellent review of Burial Rites, I have put it on my list.

11Poquette
Jan 3, 2015, 3:13 pm

Very interesting first review of the year, Jane! This is way off my radar screen, but I found your account of the story intriguing.

12japaul22
Jan 3, 2015, 3:52 pm

Burial Rites does sound good and I love reading books off of the Bailey's Prize lists.

13cushlareads
Jan 3, 2015, 4:50 pm

Great review of Burial Rites, Jane - thanks! It's on my wishlist already and it just moved up a little bit inside my head.

14baswood
Jan 3, 2015, 4:55 pm

Excellent review Jane Burial Rites It sounds like it would be a good choice for my book club as it would seem it can generate a lot of discussion.

15majkia
Jan 3, 2015, 4:58 pm

I received Burial Rites from my LT Santa. Looking forward to it.

16janeajones
Jan 3, 2015, 5:03 pm

Thanks all for stopping by.

17mabith
Jan 3, 2015, 5:53 pm

Burial Rites has been on my to-read list for a while, must bump it up the list a bit!

18dchaikin
Jan 3, 2015, 10:54 pm

It's the first I have heard of this book. Great set up. Something to keep in mind.

Enjoyed your best lists.

19kidzdoc
Jan 5, 2015, 5:09 am

Great review of Burial Rites, Jane. It's on my list of books to read this month, for Orange January, so I'm glad that you liked it.

20NanaCC
Jan 5, 2015, 11:31 am

Burial Rites is now on my wishlist. Thank you....

21janeajones
Jan 7, 2015, 9:30 pm


2. The Grandmothers by Doris Lessing

This collection of four novellas is vintage Doris Lessing. Published in 2003, it encompasses many of her signature themes: the process of aging, class and race relationships, the bittersweet pain of love and passion, and a recognition that how a civilization cares for its environment reflects its health.

The title novella, "The Grandmothers" is a wry tale of two women who grow up as best friends, are young mothers together and have tangled relationships with each other's sons.

"Victoria and the Staveneys" examines the intertwined relationship of Victoria, growing up in council flats, orphaned and burdened with the care of her dying aunt, with a self-absorbed theatrical family that has a socialist bent.

In "The Reason for It," we have the chronicle of the decay of an ancient civilization, destroyed because its guardians could not recognize the results of their misjudgement.

The final novella, "A Love Child," has the most fully developed protagonist and plot. James, drafted into the British army at the onset of WWII, is sent off to India on a hellish ship transport. While the ship docks in Cape Town to refuel and resupply, he has a passionate fling with a young matron. The rest of the war and the rest of his life are delineated by his obsession and memories of those brief days.

Although the reviewers in The Guardian and The New York Times found the collection uneven -- I found it very satisfying and reflective of the varieties of Lessing's fictions.

22baswood
Jan 8, 2015, 4:14 am

I will look forward to reading The Grandmothers. A good start to the year with a five star review.

23kidzdoc
Jan 8, 2015, 1:32 pm

Great review of The Grandmothers, Jane. Hopefully I'll finally read something by Doris Lessing this year or next.

24Helenliz
Jan 10, 2015, 2:34 pm

Burial rites is now on order from the library. Most intrigued about it from your review.

25fannyprice
Jan 18, 2015, 9:27 pm

>8 janeajones:, Jane, I was lukewarm about Burial Rites for some reason (I didn't keep a good record of my responses to books in 2014, unfortunately). One thing I did love about it, though, was how well it created a sense of place in evoking barren, frigid lands. I found myself looking for extra blankets while reading this one!

26wandering_star
Jan 19, 2015, 8:17 am

Gosh, add me to the list for Burial Rites.

27janeajones
Editado: Jan 22, 2015, 12:58 pm

and
3. The Cat's Table by Michael Ondaatje and 4. Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson

Two wonderful memoirs -- one purporting to be a fictional novel and the other a poetic autobiography. Both use brief vignettes of memory to tell their tales.

The narrator (named Michael) of Ondaatje's The Cat's Table tells the tale of his 3 week journey by ship from Sri Lanka to England, when he was eleven, to be reunited with his mother. On the ship he becomes friends with 2 other boys near his age as well as a motley crew of adults who are also seated for meals at the "Cat's Table" -- the table farthest away from the Captain's Table in the ship. The 3 boys have the run of the ship and explore all its nooks and crannies as well as the nooks and crannies of their adult acquaintances. The voyage proves to be the defining period in Michael's life -- all his later experiences and memories radiate outward from it. I found the narrator's voice wonderfully authentic and was captured and drawn into his experiences.

Woodson's poetic narrative tells the story of her childhood and her discovery of her story-making talent. She brilliantly evokes her stays with her grandparents in South Carolina as well as her grade school life in Brooklyn as she emerges as not the brilliant child her sister is, nor the scientist her older brother is, nor the baby of the family her youngest brother is, but the one who learns all the street games, and remembers all the family stories:

brooklyn rain

The rain here is different than the way
it rains in Greenville. No sweet smell of honeysuckle.
No soft squish of pine. No slip and slide through grass.
Just Mama saying, Stay inside today. It's raining,
and me at the window. Nothing to do but
watch
the gray sidewalk grow darker,
watch
the drops slide down the glass pane,
watch
people below me move fast, heads bent.

Already there are stories
in my head. Already color and sound and words.
Already I'm
drawing circles on the glass, humming
myself someplace far away from here.

Down south, there was always someplace else to go
you could step out into the rain and
Grandma would let you
lift your head and stick out your tongue
be happy.

Down south already feels like a long time ago
but the stories in my head
take me back there, set me down in Daddy's garden
where the sun is always shining.


In the background of Woodson's childhood are the Civil Rights and feminist struggles of the 1960s and 1970s, but her story is about family and love and creativity.

28baswood
Jan 22, 2015, 10:55 am

Nice idea to link those two memoirs in your review. I have liked almost everything I have read by Ondaatje and so I am looking forward to reading The Cats Table. Brown Girl Dreaming sounds excellent.

29RidgewayGirl
Jan 22, 2015, 12:18 pm

I'm still thinking about Brown Girl Dreaming. The images she evokes are so vivid.

30janeajones
Jan 22, 2015, 12:55 pm

Thanks, Barry -- I don't seem to have much time to review at the moment so doubling up helped.

Alison -- they are -- I was living in NYC (though not Brooklyn) at about the same time she was growing up, and waves of memory came flooding back. Gorgeous book.

31Poquette
Jan 22, 2015, 2:27 pm

Enjoyed your description of Cat's Table, a book I have been meaning to get hold of.

32SassyLassy
Jan 22, 2015, 3:23 pm

>27 janeajones: I have yet to read Cat's Table, but have read his other somewhat fictionalized memoir: Running in the Family, in which he goes back to visit relatives in Sri Lanka at a mature age. It came out well before Cat's Table, so I should read that to complete the pair.
The Woodson memoir does sound wonderful. That was a lovely excerpt you selected.

33janeajones
Jan 22, 2015, 6:38 pm

Suzanne and Sassy -- I highly recommend The Cat's Table, and it feels highly autobiographical although Ondaatje claims it's not.

34Cait86
Jan 22, 2015, 8:29 pm

>33 janeajones: - I heard Ondaatje speak about, and read from, The Cat's Table when it was first published. He said that while he took a similar journey when he was a boy, it was such a traumatizing experience being all alone that he has largely blocked it from his memory. So instead of trying to dig up his own forgotten memories, he set about creating a boy's ideal adventure - what he wishes his travels had been. Ondaatje is one of my favourite authors, and it was a joy to meet him. He even signed two of my books!

35avaland
Editado: Jan 23, 2015, 12:37 am

Interesting reading, as always, Jane. Jumping back to #6, your best of 2014. I have collected some Margaret Drabble over the years, meaning to read her, but never getting around to it. Now I wonder if I have missed the right moment and that I might not find her work as interesting now as I might have back when. What do you think?

36dchaikin
Jan 23, 2015, 6:58 am

Enjoyed catching up, especially that except from Woodson.

37janeajones
Editado: Jan 24, 2015, 11:15 pm

Lois -- I've enjoyed Drabble since the early 1970s -- her novels are really novels of manners and very contemporary to the time she's writing them, so she's evolved from young female protagonists dealing with marital partners, children and careers through middle-aged women and now women facing the challenges of aging. You'd probably find the early books a bit dated, even a bit chick-litish, but the novels from the last 15 years or so are wonderful. I especially recommend The Witch of Exmoor and The Sea Lady.

Dan -- thanks for stopping by. Brown Girl Dreaming is wonderful and gives a great look into the Civil Rights movement in the late 60s and 70s. Your kids would probably enjoy it -- it won the National Book Award for YA books.

38Poquette
Jan 24, 2015, 5:06 pm

>37 janeajones: Thanks for mentioning The Witch of Exmoor and The Sea Lady, which sound familiar and may be on a wish list from a few years ago. I have been meaning to try some Drabble, ever since I found out she was A.S. Byatt's little sister!

39janeajones
Jan 24, 2015, 11:16 pm

Suzanne -- I actually prefer Drabble to Byatt mostly.

40rebeccanyc
Fev 6, 2015, 5:28 pm

Nice to catch up with your reading.

41arubabookwoman
Fev 11, 2015, 1:14 pm

I haven't read Drabble for years, (I.e. Since my late 20's, early 30's), but have now downloaded The Witch of Exmoor to my Kindle for more age-appropriate reading. :)

42rebeccanyc
Fev 11, 2015, 6:39 pm

>41 arubabookwoman: Ditto about when I last read Drabble!

43Nickelini
Fev 19, 2015, 11:59 am

I started reading Margaret Drabble a few years ago and she is now one of my favourites. The Witch of Exmoor was my favourite. I've only read her later stuff--haven't made it to her earlier work yet so I don't know how dated they will feel.

44janeajones
Editado: Mar 11, 2015, 10:28 am


The Confessions of Lady Nijo translated by Karen Brazell

This is the first translation into English of Towazugatari, The Confessions of Lady Nijo, a memoir written in the early 14th Century in Kamakura Japan, and it won the the 1974 National Book Award for Translation for Brazell. As she tells the reader in her introduction, towazugatari literally means "unrequested tale."

The memoir was neglected and forgotten, surviving in one 17th manuscript which was only discovered in 1940 and first published in 1950 with a scholarly, annotated edition coming out in 1966.

Around 1307, Lady Nijo finished the narrative of 36 years (1271-1306) of her life from the age of fourteen when she became the concubine of the retired Emperor GoFukakusa through her courtlife and love affairs and her eventual retirement from court to become a wandering Buddhist nun.

The Kamakura period is interesting because although the Imperial Court remained ensconsed in the royal capital of Heian (Kyoto), the governance of the country was in the hands of the Minamota clan from its military capital of Kamakura.

Lady Nijo's memoir is distinguished from earlier diaries from the Heian period, in that it affords glimpses not only into the life of the court and the Japanese aristocracy, but also into the workings of the Kamakura government and even moreso into the life of the countryside from the perspective of a wandering nun.

The memoir is divided into 5 Books, the first 3 chronicle Lady Nijo's life at court -- the highly elaborate rituals in which she took part, her relationship with GoFukakusa, and her independent love affairs. Eventually driven from the court by her rivals, Lady Nijo becomes a Buddhist nun, traveling throughout the country to copy holy sutras and dedicate them at various shrines. Her courtly background gains her entree to a variety of social milieu, and her keen eye and compassion inform the final 2 books of the memoir.

The memoir is deftly written and translated. Lady Nijo, with Brazell's assistance, is an engaging guide to a little known era of Japanese history.

45baswood
Mar 11, 2015, 3:28 pm

Enjoyed your review of The Confessions of Lady Nijo

46Poquette
Mar 11, 2015, 4:23 pm

>44 janeajones: The Confessions of Lady Nijo sounds very interesting indeed. I am always amazed to learn that something like this would survive for so many centuries, virtually lost for most of that time. What a find. How did you happen to find it?

47janeajones
Mar 12, 2015, 1:43 pm

Thanks, Bas.

Suzanne -- I don't exactly remember how I stumbled across it. I think someone reviewed another Japanese book on LT that sounded familiar but had a different title from one I read. So I probably went to Amazon, and this one popped up as a recommendation. One of those roundabout encounters.

48AlisonY
Mar 13, 2015, 2:13 pm

I'm still working my way through everyone's fascinating Club Read threads, so apologies that I'm only finding yours a quarter of the year in!

Enjoying your choice of books so far. Interesting reading your comments about Burial Rites, as I keep looking at it on Amazon and then feeling it's lifting the story of Alias Grace too much. From your review it sounds as if there's a lot there of it's own merit, so perhaps it will go on the wish list after all.

Also going to take a look at The Grandmothers. I have The Grass is Singing on my to-read list this year as my first Lessing book - interested in anyone's thoughts if this is a good place to start with Lessing or not.

49janeajones
Editado: Abr 1, 2015, 9:07 pm

Trying to catch up with some quick reviews:


Dissolution by C.J. Sansom

This is a historical mystery set in the 16th century during the period when Henry VIII and Thomas Cromwell are set on the mission of dissolving the monasteries and absorbing their wealth into the royal treasury. For those who are fascinated by Hillary Mantel's novels about the period, Sansom takes the history from London into the countryside and the monasteries affected by the policies of the Anglican Reformation.

Matthew Shardlake, "the sharpest hunchback in the courts of England." and his assistant are sent to a Benedictine monaster on The Kent-Sussex border to investigate the murder of a royal magistrate and the hunt is on. I found it intriguing and reckoned it a 4 star read.

50janeajones
Abr 1, 2015, 9:06 pm


The Sabal Palm by Barbara Oehlbeck

Everything you ever wanted to know about Florida's State Tree. Barbara Oehlbeck's book is a labor of love about the tree that has provided food and shelter for Florida's inhabitants, both human and animal, for centuries. Gorgeous photos by Clyde Butcher and others.

51janeajones
Abr 1, 2015, 9:32 pm


The Red Queen by Margaret Drabble.

Perhaps my least favorite book by Margaret Drabble. It's an odd amalgam of two stories told by a dead 18th century Korean princess, Lady Hyegyong -- her own recounting of her life with her mad husband and the account of an academic, Barbara Halliwell, who is given a copy of Lady Hyegyong's memoirs just as she is about to depart for a conference in Seoul.

Drabble must have been fascinated with the English translation of the Memoirs of Lady Hyegyong by JaHyun Kim Haboush which was first published in 1996. However, her rendition of Lady Hyegyong's life story is flat and curiously uninteresting. The second half of the book is much more typical Drabble with its sharp look at a contemporary woman's attempt to navigate personal and academic waters.

The novel has made me want to search out Haboush's translation of the original memoirs.

52NanaCC
Abr 2, 2015, 6:41 am

>49 janeajones: I am a fan of the Sansom series, and I'm glad to see another positive reaction. I am up to the newest book, which I have on audio. Now I just need to find the time to listen.

53rebeccanyc
Abr 3, 2015, 3:16 pm

>51 janeajones: I haven't read any Margaret Drabble since the 80s, but I used to love her. Sorry this one was disappointing.

54Poquette
Abr 3, 2015, 9:14 pm

Dissolution sounds very interesting. I'll keep it in mind.

55DieFledermaus
Abr 3, 2015, 10:24 pm

>44 janeajones: - Good review of The Confessions of Lady Nijo - thumbed. Was your copy the 1966 version or has there been an updated one published?

>51 janeajones: - Too bad The Red Queen was a dud, but you did get me interested in the Memoirs of Lady Hyegyong!

56VivienneR
Abr 6, 2015, 5:48 pm

>49 janeajones: I have Dissolution on my tbr shelf. Your review reminded me to move it forward.

57janeajones
Abr 6, 2015, 7:24 pm

Vivienne -- I think you'll enjoy it.

58reva8
Abr 7, 2015, 2:53 am

>44 janeajones: Great review: I've never heard of Lady Nijo before. This goes on my wishlist.

59janeajones
Editado: Abr 22, 2015, 8:14 pm


The 351 Books of Irma Arcuri by David Bajo

Bajo's novel is about mathematics, bookbinding, running, reading and lovemaking in a Borgesian, Cervantesian labryinth. It teases and intrigues, leading the reader on winding pathways of relationships with sensuous prose. Not for those who like their novels rational and straightfoward. I found it fascinating and seductive.

60janeajones
Editado: Abr 23, 2015, 9:31 am


Sweetgum Slough: A 1930s Florida Memoir by Claire Karssiens

An almost magical memoir of a young child growing up in the backwoods north of Tampa, FL during the Depression. Her parents were educated and quirky. After the crash and his loss in real estate, her father moved the family to a rural area to start over with an orange grove. This account is the author's memories of her childhood from about 6 to about 12 -- ranging wild in the woods and sloughs, attending a one-room school-house, staying with grandparents in Dunedin and Sarasota, discovering the intimate details of the nature and society surrounding her.

Karssiens, who spent her adult life abroad teaching in international schools and who has retired with husband to Florida's Gulf Coast, came to the college and read from her book and engaged with the audience sharing her experience. A truly delightful experience.

The barn was mysterious and scary. We weren't afraid of the big blacksnakes that slipped behind barrels and disappeared under straw as we entered the barn, their scales flashing in a shaft of light from the oopen door. We knew they wouldn't bother us. They were searching for corn rats, mice, and eggs. But sometimes we heard the staccato whir-r-r of a rattlesnake, and we knew we were in danger. Rattlers were timid and terrified of the blacksnakes, but when their food supply was scarce in the palmetto thickets and pine stands, they were forced to come into the barn and hunt .

61mabith
Abr 22, 2015, 9:28 pm

Sweetgum Slough sounds like a nice addition to the Depression era memoir field, I'll be keeping an eye out for it.

62RidgewayGirl
Editado: Abr 23, 2015, 5:03 am

I read another memoir of growing up in central Florida in the 1950s (As Hot As It Was, You Ought to Thank Me) and snakes played a large part of that narrative as well. I guess a child running wild and barefoot in any semi-rural Florida environment would become a snake expert.

63reva8
Abr 23, 2015, 7:40 am

>59 janeajones: This sounds fantastic! I'm adding to my burgeoning TBR.

64rebeccanyc
Abr 23, 2015, 7:46 am

65janeajones
Abr 23, 2015, 9:35 am

61> Meredith, I think you would enjoy it.

62> Alison -- snakes are pretty ubiquitous in FL, both in the suburbs and more rural areas.

63 and 64> Reva and Rebecca -- I found it hard to put this one down.

66dchaikin
Abr 23, 2015, 10:26 pm

What a great find with Sweetgum Slough. Definitely one to keep in mind.

I'm catching up from a way back. I loved your response to The 351 books of Irma Arcuri. Not sure it's my kind of book, possibly.

That review in #44 of The Confessions of Lady Nijo is fantastic. Fascinating stuff.

67janeajones
Abr 26, 2015, 11:31 am

Thanks for stopping by, Dan. You'd love Sweetgum Slough, and it's a quick read.

68janeajones
Maio 7, 2015, 7:18 pm

I have graded my last paper and given my final final exam. I am DONE and GONE.

69Nickelini
Maio 7, 2015, 7:51 pm

>68 janeajones: Yea! and Hip hip hooray!

70NanaCC
Maio 7, 2015, 9:49 pm

>68 janeajones:. WooHoo! Congratulations!

71rebeccanyc
Maio 8, 2015, 8:04 am

Congratulations!

72RidgewayGirl
Maio 8, 2015, 11:21 am

Yay! Happy retirement!

73japaul22
Maio 8, 2015, 11:29 am

Congratulations!!! What will you read first? :-)

74torontoc
Maio 8, 2015, 3:28 pm

Yes, Congratulations!

75kidzdoc
Maio 9, 2015, 7:40 am

Congratulations, Jane!

76baswood
Maio 9, 2015, 12:02 pm

You might find that retirement is the best job you ever had.

77janeajones
Editado: Maio 14, 2015, 8:10 pm

Thanks, all.

73> I'm finishing up half-read books -- then on to the TBR pile! But first I have to find places for the 6 bags of books I brought home from my office -- arrgh.

76> I hope so ;-)

78janeajones
Editado: Maio 15, 2015, 2:21 pm


Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer

meh. Sci fi/horror/eco-apocalyptic? The creeping ecosystem of Area X, a seemingly pristine wilderness is intruding on the Southern Reach (read Florida). Authorities keep sending in teams of volunteer researchers who rarely return, or if they do, die shortly after their return. The supposedly 12th expedition is made up of four women: the psychologist, the anthropologist, the surveyor and the biologist. What we read is the journal of the biologist, the widow of a deceased member of the 11th expedition, the medic.

I found the story at once far-fetched and obvious. Of course nature is going to reclaim its wilderness. Humanity's arrogance about its domination of the planet is its downfall:

ARISTEIA -- Excellence >
HUBRIS -- Arrogance >
HAMARTIA -- Fatal error >
PERIPETEIA --Reversal of fortune >
ANAGNORISIS -- Realization of error >
KATHARSIS

Vandermeer's message seems to be that humanity is not going to survive the coming eco-apocalypse. Of course, we won't -- as anyone who has surveyed the history of the earth must realize.

79reva8
Maio 15, 2015, 3:03 am

>78 janeajones: Interesting! I've been reading so much Vandermeer's trilogy. I'm intrigued, but a little cautious now.

80janeajones
Maio 15, 2015, 2:23 pm

reva -- I think it all depends on how you feel about the genre. It really didn't do anything for me, but there are many glowing reviews on the book's LT page.

81baswood
Maio 15, 2015, 4:44 pm

>78 janeajones: Oh dear. Do you read much in the sci fi genre Jane.

82janeajones
Editado: Maio 24, 2015, 3:09 pm







83janeajones
Editado: Maio 24, 2015, 3:41 pm


The Museum of Extraordinary Things by Alice Hoffmann

''On or about December 1910 human character changed,'' Virginia Woolf once observed.

Alice Hoffmann believes that "everything changed all at once" in New York City in 1911. The Museum of Extraordinary Things is bracketed by two raging fires -- the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire in Manhattan's Garment District on March 25, 1911, and the Dreamland Fire on Coney Island on May 27, 2011.

The novel alternates between 2 first person narrators (annoyingly presented in italic type) and a 3rd person narrator who fills in the plot events. Coralie Sardie is the daughter of the obsessed Professor Sardie, the founder and proprietor of the Coney Island Museum of Extraordinary Things, a cross between a circus side show and Ripley's Believe It or Not. Eddie Cohen, a young immigrant photographer in Manhattan, has become estranged from his Russian Orthodox Jewish community and his father.

Hoffman's novel is at once a coming-of-age tale and the story of an unlikely romance. But more than anything, it is a step into New York City a century ago -- when upper Manhattan was still forest, when George Steiglitz was promoting photography as a fine art, when Coney Island was the playground of the rich and famous, and when girls working in a garment factory were locked in so they couldn't steal any of the merchandise. I found it fascinating.

84janeajones
Editado: Maio 25, 2015, 3:27 pm


As Hot as It Was You Ought to Thank Me by Nanci Kincaid

At Ridgeway Girl's (Alison's) suggestion -- see #62 -- I picked up this book.

Like Sweetgum Slough, it's a tale of a childhood in rural northern Florida. Although it's a novel, there are certainly autobiographical elements to it. It's set in the 1950s in Pinetta, FL -- a tiny town on the FL/GA border -- the town in which the author grew up. At the end of the book, Kincaid enumerates "the snapshots of memory" which she "offered" to Berry Jackson's story -- her father who served as principal of the one school in town, her small two-bedroom white house, the chinaberry tree in the backyard, their yellow cat, the omnispresence of snakes, the photos of her as a toddler running around outside only in underpants.

Picture of "Where Berry Jackson lived, Pinetta, Florida": http://nancikincaid.com/gallery/

It's a novel of wonderfully developed characters and the small town dynamic that thrives on gossip as bees do on honey. The town has its own social hierarchy and a rivalry between the Baptist and the Methodist church. Bored adults flirt with each other, passions flare, adolescents run away from home, families thrive and dissolve.

Again -- this novel is a picture of a particular place and time. But it is desire that drives the action.

85baswood
Maio 25, 2015, 5:35 am

Reading more now that you are retired?

86rebeccanyc
Maio 25, 2015, 8:01 am

>82 janeajones: Great images. I probably won't read The Museum of Extraordinary Things, but I enjoyed your review. And I would find the italic type annoying too.

87AlisonY
Maio 25, 2015, 9:27 am

Those last two books sound interesting - enjoyed your reviews.

88dchaikin
Maio 25, 2015, 10:36 am

Oh, happy retirement! I'm chiming in late, but hopefully you're still retired.

I was turned off by a Hoffman and don't think I can try her again. The Kincaid sounds terrific.

89RidgewayGirl
Maio 25, 2015, 10:50 am

I'm glad you liked As Hot as It Was You Ought to Thank Me. The pictures you linked to were wonderful

And I've added The Museum of Extraordinary Things to my list of books to look for.

90janeajones
Maio 26, 2015, 7:25 pm

85>Barry, in spurts, but now we're about to start on a road trip, so the reading will probably dwindle.

Rebecca, Alison, Alison and Dan -- thanks for stopping by.

88> Dan -- I think Hoffmann is a particular taste -- do jump on the Kincaid. And yes, I'm still retired ;-)

89> Thanks for the recommendation!

91NanaCC
Maio 26, 2015, 9:14 pm

Where will your road trip take you? Enjoy!

92janeajones
Maio 26, 2015, 11:36 pm

91> Charleston,SC for the Spoleto Festival; Maryland for the grandaughter; and western NYS for my mother.

93janeajones
Maio 28, 2015, 11:03 am


Singletusk: A Novel of the Ice Age by Bjorn Kurten

I picked up this book awhile ago because I enjoyed Kurten's Dance of the Tiger. Singletusk is its sequel. Unfortunately it really doesn't have the charm of the first book -- the plot is all over the place, and the characters are not very well developed. While I felt that in the first novel Kurten's vast knowledge of the geography, the climate and the artifacts of the Paleolithic world made for a highly rewarding read, much less of that atmospheric element is available in Singletusk. It's a fast read -- I finished it in a few hours last night, but the evening was invitingly balmy of the lanai.

94VivienneR
Maio 28, 2015, 1:29 pm

>82 janeajones: Great images and review of The Museum of Extraordinary Things. I first heard of the fires in an excellent PBS series that I believe was simply called New York. I wish they'd air it again.

I hope you are enjoying retirement. It's the best job I ever had!

95arubabookwoman
Jun 14, 2015, 10:11 pm

Catching up on the threads, and chiming in to offer my belated congratulations on your retirement! Enjoy!

96janeajones
Jun 15, 2015, 2:14 pm

97baswood
Jun 15, 2015, 2:21 pm

Retirement suits you

98janeajones
Jun 15, 2015, 2:47 pm

Home again.

The Spoleto Festival was great -- 3 really wonderful perfomances and one spectacular dud.



Paradise Interrupted, a world premiere by Ji Chao, Jennifer Wen Ma, Huang Ruo and Qian Yi, "is a new departure, melding many long-term explorations into one work." The opera was haunting and mesmerizing -- somewhere between an opium dream and achieving nirvana.


The Trisha Brown Dance Company performed 3 works, "Present Tense," with music by John Cage; "If you couldn't see me," with music and visuals by Robert Rauschenberg; and "Set and Reset" with music by Laurie Anderson and visuals by Rauschenberg -- beautifully skilful dancing -- evocative and emotional.


"Knee Deep" by the Casus Circus, a troupe of 4 Australian acrobats was a breathtaking display of incredible strength coupled with amazing delicacy.


Decasia, a film by Bill Morrison accompanied by music by Michael Gordon, was ugly and empty. The music was painfully loud -- I had to cover my ears -- and meaningless. I enjoy much discordant music, but this was simply dreadful. When it ended after an hour of pain, the man sitting next to us stood up and yelled, "Thank god that's over!" I couldn't have agreed more. I wouldn't have sat through the entire film, had I not been in the middle of the row with seats filled on both sides.
Here's the Charleston newspaper review: http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/Spoletobuzz/archives/2015/06/02/spoleto-overv...

The granddaughter as you can see above is perfect, and we had a good visit with my mother in Chautauqua.

99janeajones
Jun 15, 2015, 2:49 pm

97> It does, Barry. Thanks.

100NanaCC
Jun 15, 2015, 5:09 pm

I'm sure you will get to see more of your granddaughter now. The fun begins. I'm headed to Cape Cod on Friday for a couple of weeks. All seven of my grandchildren will be there, which is always fun. I'm just happy that the older ones still want to do our family vacation. The youngest is six, so I don't get quite the same cuddles that I used to.

101janeajones
Jun 15, 2015, 8:15 pm

It's wonderful to have kids who are into family gatherings. Mine in their 30s still are, thank goodness.

102NanaCC
Jun 15, 2015, 9:45 pm

Three of my grandchildren are teens, and yet they stilly happily oblige us and seem to enjoy getting together. I am very lucky.

103DieFledermaus
Jun 16, 2015, 4:43 am

The Spoleto Festival program sounds really nice - I always get excited to see new operas (although there can be a lot of disappointments) and it would be great to see some pieces set to Cage's music (read a couple bios of his life).

The film concept for Decasia could be interesting, but it sounds like the execution failed horribly. At least it will be a good story?

104AlisonY
Jun 16, 2015, 7:49 am

Great photo!

105janeajones
Editado: Jun 26, 2015, 8:51 pm


Hild by Nicola Griffith

First off, this is a dreadful cover illustration. Hild was an Anglo-Saxon princess, not a warrior, and she didn't convert to Christianity until nearly the end of the novel.

However, Hild is an intriguing historical novel about the childhood and adolescence of the woman who would become St. Hilda of Whitby.

ALA Wikipedia:

According to Bede, Hilda was born in 614, into the Deiran royal household. She was the second daughter of Hereric, nephew of Edwin of Northumbria, and his wife Breguswith.
When Hilda was still an infant, her father was poisoned while in exile at the court of the British King of Elmet in what is now West Yorkshire. In 616 CE, Edwin killed the son of Aethelric, Aethefrith, in battle. He created the kingdom of Northumbria and took the throne. Hilda was brought up at King Edwin's court.

In 625, the widowed Edwin married the Christian princess, Æthelburh of Kent, daughter of King Æthelberht of Kent and the Merovingian princess Bertha of Kent. As part of the marriage contract, Aethelburgh was allowed to continue her Roman Christian worship and was accompanied to Northumbria with her chaplain, Paulinus of York, a Roman monk sent to England in 601 to assist Augustine of Canterbury. Augustine's mission in England was based in Kent, and is referred to as the Gregorian mission after the pope who sent him. As queen, Æthelburh continued to practice her Christianity and no doubt influenced her husband's thinking as her mother Bertha had influenced her father.

In 627 King Edwin was baptised on Easter Day, April 12, along with his entire court, which included the thirteen-year-old Hilda,2 in a small wooden church hastily constructed for the occasion near the site of the present York Minster.

In 633 Northumbria was overrun by the neighbouring pagan King of Mercia, at which time King Edwin fell in battle. Paulinus accompanied Hilda and Queen Ethelburga and her companions to the Queen's home in Kent. Queen Ethelburga founded a convent at Liming and it is assumed that Hilda remained with the Queen-Abbess. Hilda's elder sister, Hereswith, married Ethelric, brother of King Anna of East Anglia, who with all of his daughters became renowned for their saintly Christian virtues. Later, Hereswith became a nun at Chelles Abbey in Gaul (modern France). Bede resumes Hilda's story at a point when she was about to join her widowed sister at Chelles Abbey. At the age of 33, Hilda decided instead to answer the call of Bishop Aidan of Lindisfarne and returned to Northumbria to live as a nun.


Griffith's novel reimagines Hild as a child whose wyrd is determined by her mother's dream that she would be "the light of the world." As she is brought into her king-uncle's court, she becomes his seer -- not on account of any other-worldly power, but because her powers of observation are unparalleled. Her mother's advice throughout her childhood are Quiet mouth, bright mind. Hild learns well, and when crucial moments arise, she is ready.

The novel is a facinating look into 7th c. England with its feuding Anglo-Saxon and British kingdoms. Hild is a well-developed character, as is her foster-brother Cian, who represents the warrior aspect of the society. As the novel ends, Edwin is at the height of his power. Obviously Griffith intends a sequel to follow Hild's transformation into Hilda of Whitby. I look forward to reading it.

106Nickelini
Editado: Jun 25, 2015, 10:05 pm

First off, this is a dreadful cover illustration. Hild was an Anglo-Saxon princess, not a warrior, and she didn't convert to Christianity until nearly the end of the novel.

I liked the cover, and it draws me to the book (the colours are very pleasing too), but I see what you mean about it being inaccurate. Hmmmm. Glad to hear you liked the book though. It sounds like something I might like too.

107mabith
Jun 26, 2015, 12:32 am

Glad to hear a good report of Hild, it's been on my list for a while. I wish more of those Anglo-Saxon names had stuck around. They're so much fun.

108VivienneR
Jun 26, 2015, 2:48 am

>96 janeajones: Great photo! That's the way to do retirement!

>98 janeajones: Glad you enjoyed most of the Spoleto Festival. It reminds me of the Fringe theatre festival we enjoy here - sometimes I'm simply embarrassed for the players of a dud performance.

109janeajones
Jun 26, 2015, 11:52 am

106> Actually, Joyce, the cover drew me to the book too. It is a pretty color -- but the further into the book I read, the more it irritated me.

107> I do recommend Hild -- it's a great picture of Anglo-Saxon life.

108> I seem to be easing into the rhythm of retirement quite comfortably ;-). Festivals are always a bit of a crap-shoot, but the really wonderful performances are worth the toe-crunching (or in this case, ear-crunching) experiences.

110rebeccanyc
Jun 26, 2015, 5:59 pm

Hild sounds fascinating.

111janeajones
Editado: Jun 27, 2015, 1:04 pm


The Post Office Girl by Stefan Zweig

Frankly I was disappointed with Zweig's last, unfinished novel as I had read a number of glowing reviews of it and most of the NYRB books I have read have been highly satisfying. This one not so much.

Zweig paints a compelling picture of a lost generation in post-WWI Austria contrasted with the luxurious life enjoyed by the wealthy in a glamourous Swiss resort. However, the main characters, Christl and her suitor Ferdinand, are self-pitying and hapless. I don't know what Zweig had in store for them, but I don't really care.

My Kindle version did not have the Afterword mentioned in some of the reviews.

I own one other book by Zweig, Balzac: A Biography which I will give a chance, but it will have to be much more engaging than this one for me to look for any more of his work.

112dchaikin
Jun 28, 2015, 9:47 am

>96 janeajones: love this picture

>111 janeajones: I inherited that Balzac biography, it's the only Zweig I own (not that I have anything against him). Too bad about The Post Office Girl.

Interesting about Hild. All those names are kind of cool.

113rebeccanyc
Jun 28, 2015, 3:45 pm

>111 janeajones: I moderately enjoyed Zweig's Beware of Pity and Chess Story, and have several other Zweigs on the TBR that I haven't felt motivated to read.

114janeajones
Jun 29, 2015, 12:59 pm

Thanks, Dan.

I'm not at all excited to read Zweig at the moment.

115lilisin
Editado: Jun 29, 2015, 9:38 pm

Oh it pains me to read such words as I love Zweig. So much that I made it my mission to spread his influence upon LT (which worked!). I am just mesmerized by his story telling and his characters. Just his way of taking those excruciating moments of our lives and showing the consequences of them is, I find, fascinating. So hopefully you like the next Zweig.

116janeajones
Editado: Jul 4, 2015, 3:33 pm


Dark Fire by C.J. Sansom

This is the second in the Matthew Shardlake series, set during the reign of Henry VIII. The first, Dissolution had Shardlake employed by Cromwell to investigate murders at a monastery, even as Cromwell was in the process of closing down the religious houses throughout England.

It is now 1540. Shardlake, disillusioned with Cromwell's tactics, has disassociated himself from the Chancellor, who now faces the king's displeasure over his handling of the Anne of Cleves marriage.

Shardlake has been hired to defend a young woman accused of murdering her cousin, but she faces a sentence of pressing to death because she refuses to plead guilty or not guilty at the adjudication hearing. All seems lost until the judge suddenly grants a reprieve of two weeks to find evidence -- but the reprieve comes at the order of Cromwell who needs Shardlake to investigate another mystery.

I found the tale absorbing but a bit plodding. There's a lot of travelling throughout a cold and muddy London, the details of which get a bit tedious after awhile. If there is such a genre as Tudor London noir, this is it.

117baswood
Jul 6, 2015, 6:16 am

I have read Dissolution which I enjoyed and so Dark Fire is next for me. I am warned about all that plodding through the London mud.

118RidgewayGirl
Jul 6, 2015, 6:35 am

I loved The Post Office Girl so much. I'm sorry it didn't resonate with you. I guess that's why there are so many books out there.

119janeajones
Jul 6, 2015, 3:34 pm

Barry -- if you liked Dissolution, you'll enjoy Dark Fire. I intend to keep reading the Shardlake series as I enjoy the historical insights, but I think they need a space of 6 months or so between volumes. Don't want to get bogged down ;-)

lilisin and Alison -- I really did try to like The Post Office Girl, but the characters just didn't resonate with me I'm afraid.

120janeajones
Editado: Jul 10, 2015, 2:31 pm


The Almost Nearly Perfect People: Behind the Myth of the Scandinavian Utopia by Michael Booth

Since all 8 of my great-grandparents were born in Sweden (and emigrated to the US in the late 19th c), I felt somewhat obliged to explore what has happened in the last century to those who stayed behind in Scandinavia.

Booth is a British journalist who married a Dane and now lives in Copenhagen. He has a love/hate/admire/satirize relationship with the Nordic peoples of Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Finland and Sweden. His book is often very funny and sometimes insightful.

He found himself somewhat baffled by the world-wide acclaim of the Scandinavians "happiest" and best educated people on earth: "One thing in particular about this new-found love of all things Scandinavian -- be it their free-form schools, whitewashed interior design, consensus-driven political systems or chunky jumpers -- which struck me as particularly odd: considering all this positive PR, and with awareness of the so-called Nordic miracle at all-time high, why wasn't everyone flocking to live here?... For all the crime literature and TV shows, why was our knowledge of Scandinavia so abysmally lacking?" So Booth set out to fill in some of the gaps by visiting each of the countries several times talking to "historians, anthopologists, jounalists, novelist, artists, politicians,philosophers, scientist, elf-watchers and Santa Claus."

If you are interested in how the Nordic peoples are different from each other, what values help to account for their successes and failures, and how "downright weird," they actually are, this is the book for you.

And in answer to why so few are moving to the North, one expert answered: "If you want to live in Norway there are a couple of things you need to make peace with: one is the cold and the darkness. If you can't cope with it, then go somewhere else. And the other is the equality of the genders."

121VivienneR
Jul 10, 2015, 2:56 pm

>120 janeajones: Booth's book sounds interesting. Anyone I've known who visited the Scandinavian countries raved about life there. I'd like to read this to find out more. Nice review!

122japaul22
Jul 10, 2015, 4:02 pm

I also have Scandinavian ancestors (Norwegian) and this book looks like a lot of fun!

123AlisonY
Jul 10, 2015, 5:51 pm

Sounds like a really interesting book. One to recommend to my half-Swedish friend who is always looking out for interesting Swedish books for her mother.

124janeajones
Jul 15, 2015, 4:19 pm


Journey into Childhood by Lois Lenski

As I was shifting books around from one bookshelf to another, I came across this short memoir.

Lois Lenski was one of my favorite authors as a child-- I read all her regional novels that I could get my hands on. An acclaimed author of historic and realistic children's books, her Strawberry Girl won the 1946 Newberry Medal. I've recently been reading a couple of her board books to my grandson.

At least half of her autobiography is an evocative memoir of her rather idyllic childhood in small-town Ohio at the turn of the 20th century (she was born in 1893). Her father, a Lutheran pastor, and her mother, a former school-teacher, kept the children well supplied with books, chores and outdoor free-range play. They were determined that each of their four children would have a college education. After Lenski graduated with a degree in education, she balked at the idea of teaching school and decided to make her way to NYC to study art, despite the unenthusiastic reaction of her parents.

Her life in NYC in the 1920s was far from the bohemian jazz age. She worked hard to support herself at various illustrating jobs while she studied at the Art Students League. Eventually she married Frank Covey, a widowed artist with two young children. As her family evolved, so did her career, from an artist and children's illustrator to a children's author and illustrator.

She discusses some of her inspirations and illuminates a steady hardworking life that both seized and created opportunities.
While not a brilliant or terribly exciting autobography, this is a very satisfying window into one 20th century woman's life and successful career.

125dchaikin
Jul 16, 2015, 3:26 pm

These kind of memoirs can be fascinating. What an interesting perspective on 1920's NYC.

126RidgewayGirl
Jul 16, 2015, 3:59 pm

Lois Lenski. Now there's a memory. I must have read all of her books when I was a child.

128janeajones
Editado: Jul 19, 2015, 1:34 pm



Snæfellsjökull, Iceland

"The Snæfellsjökull glacier lies on top of a volcano and it's the center of the park. Its peak reaches 1446m (4745 ft) and in a clear day it can be seen from Reykjavik about 200 km away. The mountain was first climbed in 1754 and like many other volcanoes in Iceland, it is still active. The latest eruption occurred 1900 years ago. The glacier cover the summit crater to the depth of 200m (650 ft). Due to global warming the glacier has shrunken and it continue to shrink. Some researches predict that the glacier would vanish in less than 50 years." http://www.snaefellsjokull.com/

According to Wikipedia, the summit of Snæfellsjökull was ice-free for the first time in recorded history.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sn%C3%A6fellsj%C3%B6kull

129janeajones
Editado: Jul 19, 2015, 11:19 pm


Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne, Kindle version of the Dover classic edition, originally published in 1876


Under the Glacier (Kristnihald undir Jökli) by Halldor Laxness, trans. by Magnus Magnusson

When I started reading the excellent introduction to Under the Glacier by Susan Sontag, I learned that the setting of the book is the same mountain as that depicted in Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth, so I decided I must first read that to understand Laxness's book. As Sontag says, "Imagining the exceptional, often understood as the the miraculous, the magical, or the supernatural, is a perennial job of storytellling. One tradition proposes a physical place of entry -- a cave or a tunnel or a hole -- which leads to a freakish of enchanted kingdom with an alternative normality. In Laxness's story, a sojourn near Snæfells does not call for the derring-do of a descent, a penetration, since as Icelanders whho inhabit the region know, the glacier itself is the center of the universe."

more to come....

130NanaCC
Jul 19, 2015, 9:23 pm

>129 janeajones: that's a nice book pairing.

131baswood
Jul 20, 2015, 4:35 am

Beautiful picture of Snæfellsjökull

132PawsforThought
Jul 21, 2015, 5:57 pm

>120 janeajones: What part of Sweden did your ancestors come from, Jane? That book sounds interesting, I might look it up.

>128 janeajones: Snæfallsjökull mean "Snow fall glacier", which is a beautiful name - if a little ironic considering the melting...

133AlisonY
Jul 22, 2015, 1:30 pm

Loved the photo to go with the review.

134DieFledermaus
Jul 22, 2015, 3:01 pm

>111 janeajones: - I really love Stefan Zweig, so hope you enjoy the book about Balzac more than The Post Office Girl (I did enjoy that one, was a bit bothered by the unfinished ending though). I liked the bio of Marie Antoinette that I read, but loved his novels and short stories. But if he doesn't work for you, there are plenty of good authors out there!

>120 janeajones: - No Scandinavian ancestors, but the book sounded great. It was available as an ebook so I added it to the library list.

>129 janeajones: - I'll be really interested to hear what you have to say about Under the Glacier. I started it last year, but then got distracted with school, and it's somewhere in the boxes now. It was very, very bizarre and sometimes funny but maybe it wasn't supposed to be funny? I definitely wanted to finish it, even it if wasn't always the most compelling read. And a great picture also!

135janeajones
Editado: Jul 30, 2015, 4:08 pm

Ok, finally back to:

129> and

It appears that there are two circulating English versions of Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth. The one I read on my Kindle was published by Dover, and the protagonists are the German mineralogy Professor Lidenbrock and his nephew Axel, the narrator of the tale.

On deciphering a secret Runic/Latin message written in an old Icelandic MS by the 16th c. savant, Arne Saknussemm --

Descend the crater of the Jökul of Snæfell, that the shadow of Scartaris softly touches before the Kalends of July, bold traveller, and thou wilt reach the center of the earth. Which I have done. --

the Professor and his reluctant nephew set off immediately for Iceland.
Arriving in Iceland, the Professor hires an Icelandic eider-hunter, Hans, as a guide to for their ascent (and subsequent descent into) the crater of Snæfell. Marvellous adventures follow, most unbelievable, given what we now know of dormant volcanoes and the center of the earth, and the travellers eventually emerge through the volcano of Mount Stromboli in Sicily. It's an entertaining and quick read, if thoroughly preposterous.

Laxness's Under the Glacier ( Kristnihald undir Jökli, trans. Magnus Magnusson), is a tale of different kind of marvellousness. The narrator, an unnamed young man, is commissioned by the Bishop of Iceland to go to the village at Snæfellsjökull to examine the inhabitants and determine the state of Christianity in the village (Laxness's title is literally translated as Christianity at Glacier).

As Emissary of the Bishop (quickly shortened to Embi), he is to interview the locals, particularly the pastor Jon Primus, and simply bring back a report to the Bishop -- just the facts, no interpretations. So Embi finds himself in a village where the church is boarded up, staying at the pastor's house whose housekeeper only serves cakes, taping philosophical conversations with farmers, scrubwomen, a truck-driving poet, the pastor who sidelines as a locksmith and farrier, and an Australian engineer, originally from Iceland, who stole the pastor's wife Ua and is trying to set up a mystical colony.

And then there is the Glacier: It is often said of people with second sight that their soul leaves the body. That doesn't happen to the glacier. But the next time one looks at it, the body has left the glacier, and nothing remains except the soul clad in air.

It's a wondrous book -- mind-bending, hilarious, and a journey to the center of life.

136rebeccanyc
Jul 30, 2015, 4:58 pm

Great reviews!

137baswood
Jul 30, 2015, 5:05 pm

Enjoyed your reviews. It doesn't sound like there were any connections with the two books apart from the obvious one of location.

138janeajones
Jul 30, 2015, 5:20 pm

137> well, there are rather naive young narrators, interior jouneys (to the middle of the earth and into consciousness), and adventures involving marvels of different sorts.

139NanaCC
Jul 30, 2015, 6:43 pm

I don't think I've ever read Journey to the Center of the Earth, but saw the 1959 movie starring James Mason and Pat Boone in the theater. I thought it was rather unbelievable, but probably enjoyed it anyway. It had Pat Boone after all, although, whoever told him he could act.....

140DieFledermaus
Jul 30, 2015, 8:35 pm

Glad to hear you enjoyed Under the Glacier!

141kidzdoc
Jul 31, 2015, 8:17 am

Nice review of Under the Glacier, Jane. I plan to read Independent People next month, and if I like it I'll look for that book.

142janeajones
Jul 31, 2015, 11:40 pm


The Edwardians by Vita Sackville-West

When the Woolfs' Hogarth Press published The Edwardians in 1930, it became an almost overnight bestseller. It's set in the early 1900s at a ducal estate, Chevron, which is almost a mirror of the beloved childhood home, Knole, of Vita Sackville-West. The protagonist, Sebastian and his sister, Viola, are faced with the conflicts of the ancient ways of the aristocracy and the emerging challenges of the 20th century.

It's utterly delicious -- both nostalgic and satiric. If you are a fan of Downtown Abbey -- this is your book. Upstairs, downstairs and all around London town: scandals, Prince Edward (barely mentioned but definitely in the background), affaires de couer, a polar explorer, and emancipated young women -- what's not to like?

143Nickelini
Ago 1, 2015, 12:24 am

I loved the Edwardians too. Lots of fun and I had a bit of a crush on Sebastian

144ELiz_M
Editado: Ago 1, 2015, 6:40 am

>142 janeajones: "The protagonist, Sebastian and his sister, Viola...."

Are they twins by any chance? Any cross-dressing or mistaken identity high-jinks?
(Viola is the protagonist of Twelfth Night and her identical twin brother is named Sebastian).

145NanaCC
Ago 1, 2015, 6:47 am

The Edwardians sounds like fun, Jane.

146AlisonY
Ago 1, 2015, 7:39 am

The Edwardians has to be one for the wish list - sounds great.

147japaul22
Ago 1, 2015, 7:41 am

>142 janeajones: I've been meaning to read this since Joyce read it a while ago . . .

148janeajones
Editado: Ago 1, 2015, 9:59 am

Thanks all for stoppping by. The Edwardians is a delightful summer froth.

144> Alas, no -- no cross-dressing or high jinks of that sort. Viola is more of a minor foil, unfortunately, as she is one of the more interesting characters. I think VS-W identified more with Sebastian than Viola.

149RidgewayGirl
Ago 1, 2015, 11:52 am

>142 janeajones: Oooh, that sounds fantastic. I may have to stop reading your thread, Jane, unless you can start reading terrible books.

150janeajones
Ago 1, 2015, 1:36 pm


Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O'Neill

Baby, a 13 year-old motherless girl with a heroin-addicted father, tells the harrowing, heartbreaking, and sometimes hilarious story of her life. In her first novel, O'Neill creates a narrator who wavers between adult wisdom, street smarts and wildly innocent naivete. It's a combination that puts her into mortal danger on the streets of Montreal. Although the reader cannot help but see Baby as a victim of her circumstances, there is not a trace of self-pity or sentimentality in her voice -- the voice of a survivor.

In an interview at the back of the book, O'Neill describes how her own childhood influenced the writing of the book.

An unwanted child is a boogeyman to its relatives, as they have to take responsibility for it. But an unwanted child is a hero on the streets. Being neglected, you have a lot of freedom to develop outlandish, eccentric personalities in order to get love....
In Lullabies for Little Criminals, I wanted to capture what I remembered of the drunken babbling of unfortunate twelve-year-olds: their illusions; their ludicrously bad choices, the lack of morality and utter disbelief in cause and effect. I wanted to describe the bittersweet relations between children who hate themselves, but are madly in love with and make heroes of one another.


Highly recommended.

151Nickelini
Ago 2, 2015, 11:47 am

Another good one! Lullabies is one of my favourite books of the past 5 years.

I didn't notice the Shakespearean connection when I read the Edwardians but knowing the author I'm sure it wasn't accidental.

152janeajones
Editado: Ago 3, 2015, 8:52 pm


The Secret History of the Mongol Queens by Jack Weatherford

About 25 years ago, I was enlightened by Jack Weatherford's book Indian Givers about the contributions that Native Americans had made to American society -- everything from governmental structures (federalism ala the Iroquois federation) to roadways.

In 2004 he published Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World for which he received the 2007 Order of the Polar Star, the highest award for service to the Mongolian nation. A retired professor from Macalester College, he now resides In Ulaan Batar, Mongolia and his native Charleston, SC. I've not read his earlier book on Genghis Khan, but I couldn't resist Mongol Queens when I came across it.

It's a fascinating tale of Genghis's wives and the daughters who were married into conquered kingdoms along the Silk Road to serve as sheilds in the "son-in-law" states to protect the Mongolian Empire. After Genghis died, a power struggle arose between his sons and daughters, leading to the suppression of women's rights and the slow dissolution of the Empire. From the 13th to the 15th century, the great empire that Genghis had amassed fell into warring states, many of which were taken over by those they had conquered. Weatherford traces the rise and fall of those powers.

Then in the last third of the book, he focuses on Queen Manduhai, the young widow of Manduul Khan, who in the late 15th century, after her husband's death, sought out the child Batu Mongke Kayan, descendant of Genghis and Kublai Khan, and had him declared the Great Khan. She raised him and then married him. She rode into war to subdue the rebellious Mongolian tribes and together they reunited the Mongolian kingdom -- not as an empire, but as a united nation.

Weatherford's history is popular history, and as some critics have pointed out, has some factual errors. But he knows the Mongolians intimately, understands their culture, deeply appreciates their art and history, and recovers the suppressed tales of the Mongolian queens.

153rebeccanyc
Ago 4, 2015, 7:06 am

Sounds intriguing. I was particularly impressed by your last sentence about his deep understanding of Mongolia and Mongolians.

154janeajones
Editado: Ago 8, 2015, 4:39 pm


Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler

The novel begins in a small walled compound of about 12 houses in Robledo, a suburb of Los Angeles, in July 2024. The compound is walled because the world outside has become desperate and dangerous. California suffers from a prolonged drought: there are few jobs to be had; any semblance of a social safety net has crumbled and gangs roam the streets; everyone has guns in their houses; towns have been taken over by companies and debt slavery has been legalized.

Lauren Oya Olamina, 15 years old, the daughter of a professor/Baptist minister has learned the arts of survival from her father, step-mother and books. Quietly she has renounced her father's religion and created her own based on the idea of constant change. Coming to the realization that things are getting worse, she has packed a knapsack with emergency supplies, plantable raw seeds and her savings.

When the inevitable disaster comes, she heads north, gathering a small band of fellows with her. Butler's tale is a dystopian fable told by a young woman with a determination to survive. Parable of the Sower is followed by Parable of the Talents -- which I shall read as I found the first novel absorbing, while not dazzling as literature.

155ursula
Ago 8, 2015, 2:34 pm

>152 janeajones: Fascinating! I loved Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World, so clearly I'll want to read this one.

156janeajones
Ago 9, 2015, 12:28 pm


Eye of the Law by Cora Harrison

This is the 5th in the Burren series of mysteries set in the early 16th century in the Burren area of County Clare in the West of Ireland. Although Henry VIII has staked his claim to Ireland, in the far west, the kingdom of Thomond is ruled by King Turlough Donn O'Brien, and justice is adminitered by his chief Brehon, Mara O'Davoren, who has recently become the king's wife and is carrying his child.

Like the earlier mysteries, an Irish feast day, in this case, St. Patrick's Day, provides the setting for the crime. At the great feast being held to celebrate the marriage of the local lord, two Aran islanders arrive. Iarla, accompanied by his uncle, has come to find the man, who his mother on her deathbed claimed to be Iarla's father. When Iarla is found murdered, the wealthy landowner is the prime suspect.

It is Mara's task to find the murderer and see that he takes responsibilty for paying the death-fine to the family.

In addition to the engaging characters, what I find most interesting about this series is the exploration of Brehon law, one of the most ancient law codes in Europe.

157SassyLassy
Ago 10, 2015, 10:35 am

Just did a massive catchup here and naturally found some books to read. I was particularly struck by the Booth book and the Laxness. In another vein altogether, I have been dithering about reading The Edwardians, and your comments added to the positive ones over in the Viragoes group make me think it might be a candidate for the All (what's remaining of) August All Viragos read.

Looking forward to whatever is coming up next.

158NanaCC
Ago 10, 2015, 11:20 am

I agree with Kay. Your thread is dangerous. :)

159DieFledermaus
Ago 21, 2015, 5:43 am

I haven't read anything by Octavia Butler yet, but I've heard very good things and want to get around to some of her stuff eventually - always good to see another review of one of her books.

160RidgewayGirl
Ago 21, 2015, 6:56 am

I'm so glad you liked Lullabies for Little Criminals. Heather O'Neill is rapidly becoming one of my favorite authors. Her new book of short stories, Daydreams of Angels, is really fantastic.

And I really should read something by Octavia Butler soon. I keep running into her books.

161dchaikin
Ago 22, 2015, 12:04 am

Intrigued by Jack Weatherford.

162mabith
Set 1, 2015, 12:04 am

I've enjoyed Weatherford's other books, and had planned to read The Secret History of the Mongol Queens, but it's nice to see a personal review on it!

163VivienneR
Set 2, 2015, 5:33 pm

>142 janeajones: Just catching up. I have to say I enjoyed your comments on The Edwardians that is on my tbr shelf - and will be moved closer to the top now!

164janeajones
Editado: Set 25, 2015, 10:49 am


The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton

I finished Catton's The Luminaries this afternoon after two weeks wandering through New Zealand's 19th c. gold rush and getting to know a wild array of characters from gold miners to politicians, a pharmacist, a newspaper editor, a lawyer, a Maori guide, grifters, Chinese immigrants, and two young dreamers, an opium-eating whore and a romantic fortune-hunter. It's a delight of a book -- slowly opening layers of a convoluted tale and the mysteries of a murder and the fates of lovers.

Laura Miller in Salon reviewing the book:
"There will no doubt be readers who will nestle voluptuously into its nineteenth-century voice and think no more of larger matters, as Catton takes them careening through the exploits of gold smugglers, con men, spiritualists, whoremongers, conspiracists, killers, and at least one holy fool. There are others who will treat The Luminaries like the fantastic puzzle it most certainly is. This is the rare novel that works beautifully on both levels, and that understands that each of these aspects is like a magnetic pole: The field between them is where all the power lies."

I admit that I slipped over the astrological patterning of the plot, but the play and puzzles of this looong (over 800 pages) book are teasing and fascinating. It's funny and satiric and harsh and gentle. I thoroughly enjoyed the journey and highly recommend this 2013 Man Booker prize winner ( 5 stars from me).

165NanaCC
Set 14, 2015, 8:47 pm

>164 janeajones: I also ignored the astrological structure. I know next to nothing about astrology, and don't think doing that took away anything from the delight of the book. I gave it five stars as well.

166dchaikin
Set 15, 2015, 10:11 pm

Luminaries sounds good Jane. Welcome back from your trip..

167baswood
Set 26, 2015, 10:35 am

Sounds like at least a weeks investment in time to read The Luminaries, but could be worthwhile.

168janeajones
Set 26, 2015, 4:45 pm

167> If you don't mind the time investment, Luminaries is certainly worthwhile.

I have a whole bunch of reviews to catch up on, and we're leaving the country on Tuesday, so I'll try to get them done.

169janeajones
Set 26, 2015, 5:14 pm


The Fish Can Sing by Halldor Laxness

This is a delightful and low key kunstlerroman, narrated by Álfgrímur, an orphan brought up by two old people whom he calls his grandparents. They live in a turf cottage called Brekkukot, just outside of Reykjavik, where all travellers, philosophers and lost souls are welcome. He learns the fishing trade from his grandfather, who nevertheless insists that he get an education. When the pastor discovers him singing in the meadow, he enlists his services to sing at the burials of the poor and unknown, as he had earlier enlisted a boy who grew up to be the enigmatic Garðar Holm, a world renowned Icelandic singer.

It is tempting to see Laxness exploring his own artistic journey and conflicting views of his fame in the dualities of Álfgrímur and Garðar. Laxness pokes gentle and not-so-gentle fun at Icelandic insularity, religion, Danes, and the emerging bourgeois middle-class. But at the heart of this book is Álfgrímur's grandmother: "Suddenly one day I simply felt that she was probably closer to me than anyone else in the world, even though I knew less about her than anyone else...."

In his Nobel acceptance speech, Laxness said of his grandmother:
“... the moral principles she (his grandmother) instilled in me: never to harm a living creature; throughout my life, to place the poor, the humble, the meek of this world above all others; never to forget those who were slighted or neglected or who had suffered injustice, because it was they who, above all others, deserved our love and respect...”

170dchaikin
Set 26, 2015, 9:22 pm

Sounds quite beautiful.

171janeajones
Editado: Set 27, 2015, 7:23 pm

The First Republic Trilogy by David Herter:

and and and
On the Overgrown Path and The Luminous Depths and One Who Disappeared


RUR by Karel Capek

172janeajones
Editado: Set 29, 2015, 10:07 am

On the Overgrown Path
The Luminous Depths
One Who Disappeared

The First Republic is the Czechoslovak state that existed from 1918 until 1938 when it was subsumed by Nazi Occupation. David Herter’s trilogy delves into the cultural richness of this period as it is overshadowed by the looming evil of the times. His characters are historical figures, artists – most notably, the composers Leoš Janáček, Pavel Haas, Igor Stravinsky and Gideon Klein; the writers, Franz Kafka, Karel Čapek and Max Brod; the brothers of Čapek and Haas, the artist Joseph Čapek and the Hollywood actor and director Hugo Haas; and a mysterious flautist named Magdalena.

The critic, Brian Stableford, who wrote the introduction to One Who Disappeared, describes the books as belonging to a heterocosmic tradition that realism rejected, but which has emerged not only in genre fiction but the wider scope of magical realism. Rather than try to summarize or analyze the trilogy, I would simply like to express my appreciation for Herter’s fascinating introduction to this time and these people in dazzling series of books that teases the imagination and provides a rich and strange exploration.

Herter’s own description of his experience in Brno during the festival that celebrated the birth of Janáček in 2004 (while he was working on the trilogy) is evocative of some of the magic produced by his books: http://www.locusmag.com/2004/Features/06_HerterLetter.html

Listening Guide to the connection between the city of Brno and Janacek’s Sinfonietta https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uciNH5hCCvI

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_an_Overgrown_Path (Janáček's)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHEk9Iemd5s

173baswood
Set 28, 2015, 6:05 pm

Thank you for posting the listening guide. Really enjoyed it.

174rebeccanyc
Set 29, 2015, 8:47 am

Very interesting.

175dchaikin
Set 29, 2015, 7:53 pm

I've never heard of this trilogy. It sounds amazing.

176NanaCC
Set 29, 2015, 8:24 pm

I have the first book in the trilogy, thanks to Lois (avaland), and now I must read it.

177janeajones
Set 30, 2015, 4:38 am

Colleen -- the first deals only with the Maestro (the Janacek figure). It has a dream vision quality to it that continues to play out in much more richness in the next two books. I seem to remember that Lois turned me on to this awhile ago, and I picked up the series because my extravagant son gifted us with a Danube cruise.

Dan -- I think you'd enjoy the trilogy and none of the books are too long

All are available for Kindle.

178NanaCC
Set 30, 2015, 6:59 am

Jane, when you travel now, do you find yourself reading more on the Kindle than in print? I know that I do, as it is so much easier. I've got hundreds of books and it weighs very little.

179wandering_star
Out 1, 2015, 3:00 am

What >176 NanaCC: said!

180janeajones
Editado: Out 1, 2015, 3:33 pm

178"> oh yeah, but this time I have a couple of books with me -- Budapest 1900 and Prague A Literary Companion.

181janeajones
Nov 20, 2015, 11:06 am

I'm going to try to catch up this weekend on reviews that I have neglected the past month and a half.

182janeajones
Nov 20, 2015, 11:14 am


John Lukacs, Budapest 1900: A Historical Portrait of a City and Its Culture

I took this one along on our river cruise/trip in October that started in Budapest and ended in Prague. I knew little about Budapest or Hungary other than the outlines of events in the 1956 uprising against the Communist government. Budapest 1900 was a splendid introduction and goes beyond the turn of the century era of the title, both into history and the 20th century. The chapter titles give some idea of the scope of the book: "Colors, Words and Sounds;" "The City;" "The People;" "Politics and Powers;" "The Generation of 1900;" "Seeds of Troubles;" and "Since Then."

The turn of the century was a period of cultural flowering in Budapest, as it was in many European cities, and artists, writers and musicians flourished. Lukacs, a native of Budapest who settled in the US in 1946, a professor of history, revels in the period.

Published in 1988, the book obviously doesn't address the post-Communist era, and at least one of Lukacs' predictions, that American influence was fading and that German influence would supercede it, does not seem to have come to pass. English-language influence was far more prevalent in Budapest than any of the other cities we visited -- even the street signs were marked in both Hungarian and English.

We loved Budapest, and Lukacs was a wonderful guide.



183.Monkey.
Nov 20, 2015, 11:28 am

>182 janeajones: Oh that sounds good! We went to Budapest in...2010, must've been. We only went because my sort-of aunt's mother is from Hungary, and she wanted to bring her on a trip there to see all her family she hadn't seen in decades, bringing along her 2 sons and niece & nephew, so we met up with them there. Turned out to be one of my favorite places we've gone! Personally I didn't like Prague (or Bratislava) nearly as much. It is certainly a country rich in history, I'm sure that must have been a compelling read!

184janeajones
Nov 20, 2015, 1:30 pm

We liked Budapest more than Prague as well -- though the fact that it was about 10 degrees colder in Prague and rainy may have had something to do with that.

185.Monkey.
Nov 20, 2015, 1:50 pm

Oh it was sweltering when we were in Budapest, absolutely miserable! We started off two of the days with swimming places, one of which was mainly used by locals, very nice. But even that couldn't take away from how lovely a place it is! I definitely intend to go back, some day, and see more of what there is to see there. There is so incredibly many museums and things!

186janeajones
Nov 20, 2015, 2:00 pm

We heard about the heat there this summer. In fact, it had been so hot and dry that the depth of the Danube was too low for Viking tour boat to dock -- we had to board at Komarom. October weather was lovely.

187janeajones
Nov 20, 2015, 2:01 pm


Buda Castle

188rebeccanyc
Nov 20, 2015, 2:13 pm

When I was in Eastern Europe in the early 1990s, I visited both Prague and Budapest (as well as Krakow). I wish I had known about the Lukacs book then as it would have enhanced my trip.

189janeajones
Nov 20, 2015, 2:19 pm


Hungarian National Gallery: The Collections
https://www.librarything.com/work/5647275/edit/123076314

The Hungarian National Gallery (Magyar Nemzeti Galéria) is housed in Buda Castle. The collection includes Hungarian works from the Middle Ages to the present. It's particularly strong in late 19th and early 20th c. art. We spent a couple of hours in the museum focusing mostly on those periods. As there were many artists with whom I was unfamiliar, I was happy to see that the museum shop had a guide to the collection. Unfortunately they had sold out of the English version, but I managed to find a copy on Amazon.

The book contains over 200 good photos of works in collection as well as informative commentary about the individual artists, the movements and art colonies with which they were associated and their styles and techniques.

Since photography was not allowed in the museum, I'm delighted to have this guide to remember our visit.


Aba-Novák Vilmos
The Fair at Csikszereda

The Gallery's website is also full of pictures of the collections:
http://www.mng.hu/en

190.Monkey.
Editado: Nov 20, 2015, 2:23 pm

>188 rebeccanyc: While things like that can familiarize one with the history and culture of an area, I don't think they're needed to appreciate a place. We've never done any kind of real research like that when we travel, we just walk the cities and explore all over on foot, and pick up maps/guides to be sure we don't miss any of the Big Things and help find points of interest that suit us. I prefer it that way, just taking things in. Then I can read things about it after, if I like, and be familiar with the locations to have it make more of an impact, you know? :)

>189 janeajones: Good museum guides are awesome! :)

191janeajones
Nov 20, 2015, 4:28 pm


The Master by Colm Tóibín

I found The Master, Tóibín's biographical novel about Henry James both fascinating and occasionally tedious. Tóibín uses a selective omniscient narrator to get into James's head to seemingly reveal how his reactions, musings and reminiscences informed the crafting of his novels. In actuality, however, what Tóibín has done is used the novels (and undoubtedly biographies and critical studies) to craft his own portrait of James in this novel.
Tóibín creates a psychological portrait of James that resembles the kind of psychological portrait of characters created by Henry James himself. If that sounds circular, it is, but it is intriguing.

The action of the novel takes place from 1895-1899 when James was in his fifties. However we learn much about James earlier in his life as he remembers incidents and people from his younger days. The major people with whom James interacts are his siblings, William and Alice; his cousin, Minnie Temple; his friend, the novelist, Constance Fenimore Woolson; and the Scandinavian-American sculptor, Hendrik Christian Andersen. But James seems unable to form deeply intimate ties with anyone -- he needs his own space and solitude. Tóibín does not judge the Master -- he seeks to understand him.

As there are many allusions to the more famous of James's novel in this book, it helps to be somewhat familar with his work.

Barry (baswood) has an excellent review posted on the main page of The Master.

192AlisonY
Nov 21, 2015, 12:23 pm

>191 janeajones: enjoyed your review. I've hovered over The Master a few times in the library, but haven't committed myself to a read just yet. Still not sure...

193baswood
Nov 21, 2015, 2:11 pm

>191 janeajones: I found The Master, Tóibín's biographical novel about Henry James both fascinating and occasionally tedious.

I suppose you could say the same about many of Henry James' novels

194janeajones
Nov 21, 2015, 2:42 pm

Barry -- you could.

195SassyLassy
Editado: Nov 22, 2015, 2:36 pm

>191 janeajones: The Master was a book I read about a year ago and loved. I absolutely agree that what Tóibín has done is used the novels (and undoubtedly biographies and critical studies) to craft his own portrait of James in this novel. I was amazed at his skill in doing it. It also made me want to find out more about the supporting characters.

_________
edited for grammar

196ELiz_M
Editado: Nov 21, 2015, 10:48 pm

>195 SassyLassy: I was fascinated by his sister Alice, enough that I have NYRB's Alice James on my wishlist. However I found the final chapter of The Master, featuring William James, so tedious, it almost ruined the book for me and I have no interest in reading any of WJ's philosophy books!

197dchaikin
Nov 24, 2015, 10:45 am

Budapest... I'm a bit jealous.

Enjoyed your review of The Master. I think your and Barry's review make a nice pair.

198janeajones
Editado: Nov 29, 2015, 10:08 am

195> -- I kept my Kindle by my side as I was reading the book and regularly hit Wikipedia for info about the supporting characters.

197> Budapest was delightful.

199janeajones
Nov 29, 2015, 10:10 am


The Red Garden by Alice Hoffmann

I quite enjoyed Hoffman's collection of linked stories about residents of a small New England town in the Berkshires. The stories travel through time from the town's founding in the 18th century up until the late 20th century. The stories' protagonists are deeply embedded in the town, yet also in individual ways disconnected from it and the other inhabitants. They are touched in some way by the natural magic of their surroundings whether it be a bear, an eel, the local hillside or simply red soil. The characters are quirky, but thoroughly human. A pleasurable read all through.

200janeajones
Editado: Dez 5, 2015, 12:11 pm

and
Gilead and Lila by Marilynne Robinson

I admired and enjoyed Gilead, but I truly loved Lila. There is no doubt that Robinson is a pre-eminent practioner of delving into the minds and souls of her protagonists with deep humanity and gorgeous language.

I read Lila first; I wasn't really sure I wanted to read Gilead, but I was intrigued by premise of Lila -- the story of a child, connected to a Depression-era itinerant migrant-worker group, who slowly, joyfully and painfully grows into young womanhood, but more importantly comes to realize the actuality of her own existence.

There was a long time when Lila didn't know that words had letters, or that there were other names for seasons than planting and haying. Walk south ahead of the weather, walk north in time for the crops. They lived in the United States of America. She brought that home from school. Doll said, "Well, I s'pose they had to call it something."

As a small child, Lila had been snatched from an abusive home by Doll, their sometime boarder. The two gradually made their way into a small wandering tribe led by a man named Doane. The group survived by migrant labor until the demand totally dried up during the Depression.

Lila heard about the Crash years after it happened, and she had no idea what it was even after she knew what to call it. But it did seem like they gave it the right name. It was like one of those storms you might even sleep through, and then when you wake up in the morning everything's ruined, or gone.

The novel begins as Lila, to escape from a storm, wanders into a church in Gilead, Iowa, led by the aging Reverend John Ames. As their relationship grows, Lila ponders the events of her childhood and adolescence, and the reader follows on her path of growing awareness of the life around her and inside her.

While Lila is narrated in third person selective omniscient mode, Gilead has a first person narrator, John Ames. As he has learned that his heart condition will soon be fatal, he is writing a letter to his young son apologizing for the difficulties he and his mother will have to face alone, advising him on life choices and telling him the stories of his family and the townspeople among whom he has lived his life.

Although both novels are imbued with a strong Christian ethos, Lila seems to draw from the simplicity of early believers, while Amos in Gilead teases out the philosophical complexities of faith and practice within the church. Perhaps, as I long ago left the practice of Christianity, I found Lila more appealing than Gilead. Perhaps it's because I prefer poetry to philosophy. But the wonder of grace illumines both of Robinson's tales, and they complement each other.

Lila: But thinking about her life was another thing. Lying there in that room in that house in that quiet town she could choose what her life had been. The others were there. The world was there, evening and morning. No matter what anybody thought, no matter if she only tagged after them because they let her. That sweet nowhere. If the world had a soul, that was it. All of them wandering through it, never knowing anything different, or wanting anything more.
Well, that wasn't true either.


Gilead: In the matter of belief, I have always found that defenses have the same irrelevance about them as the criticisms they are meant to answer. I think the attempt to defend belief can unsettle it, in fact, because there is always an inadequacy in argument about ultimate things. We participate in Being without remainder. No breath, no thoughts, no wart or whisker, is not as sunk in Being as it could be. An yet no one can say Being is.

201AlisonY
Dez 3, 2015, 12:47 pm

>200 janeajones: interested in your review, as I've been skirting around these 2 books for a while this year.

What was it about Gilead that didn't grab you as much as Lila?

202ELiz_M
Dez 3, 2015, 1:49 pm

>200 janeajones: I am also interested in hearing more of your thoughts! I read Lila on audiobook and loved it. I had previously read the other books set in Gilead, but not recently enough to remember them and have often wondered how they would read "out-of-order".

203janeajones
Dez 3, 2015, 4:02 pm

More thoughts above in message 200. Thanks for stopping by, AlisonY and ELiz_M.

204rebeccanyc
Dez 3, 2015, 5:12 pm

I've had Gilead on the TBR for years, and haven't been motivated to read it.

205baswood
Dez 3, 2015, 5:35 pm

Both Gilead and Lila would be good choices for my book club.

206AlisonY
Dez 4, 2015, 6:42 pm

Great review - thanks for that.

207janeajones
Editado: Dez 7, 2015, 11:07 am

and and and
The Neapolitan Novels by Elena Ferrante

I've been binge-reading Ferrante's quartet of Neapolitan Novels for the last two weeks (Kindle makes it so easy to download the next and soon as the previous one is finished). I'm not going into a lengthy discussion here, as there are plenty of those on the main pages of each book. I'll come back soon and reflect on my reactions to the books. I did find them a 4-4 1/2 star read.

Here's an intriguing interview with the elusive author: http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2015/08/elena-ferrante-interview-the-story-of-...

208RidgewayGirl
Dez 7, 2015, 11:16 am

I'm planning to read Gilead before the end of the year. It's looking more attractive now.

209janeajones
Dez 7, 2015, 11:18 am

208> Oh do read it with Lila as a companion piece.

210rebeccanyc
Dez 7, 2015, 11:36 am

A friend gave me the first of the Neapolitan novels, but so far it hasn't called to me . . .

211ELiz_M
Dez 7, 2015, 11:38 am

>208 RidgewayGirl:, >209 janeajones: And if you're reading both Gilead and Lila, you should probably also read Home.

212KeshavLpo
Dez 8, 2015, 4:11 am

Este utilizador foi removido como sendo spam.

213AlisonY
Dez 9, 2015, 6:02 pm

I can't get past the covers or titles of those Elena Ferrante books. They remind me of Mills & Boon.

214Nickelini
Editado: Dez 9, 2015, 7:48 pm

>213 AlisonY: I don't know what Mills & Boon are (though I hear them referred to and know I should) but I agree there is something about those covers. They look like books I'd steer away from -- churned out formulaic stories for women.

215SassyLassy
Dez 9, 2015, 7:56 pm

>213 AlisonY: >214 Nickelini: Definitely odd covers for Europa.

216janeajones
Editado: Dez 11, 2015, 10:39 am

OK, back to The Neapolitan Novels by Elena Ferrante.

I found Ferrante's quartet a sophisticated and psychologically elegant Bildungsroman of two women whose lives are inextricably entwined for over 60 years beginning with their childhood in the 1950s. In an act of love (or, perhaps revenge), Elena Greco sits down to write the life story of Lila Cerullo, who has disappeared.

Lila is overdoing it as usual, I thought.

She was expanding the concept of trace out of all proportion. She wanted not only to disappear herself, now, at the age of sixty-six, but also to eliminate the entire life that she had left behind.

I was really angry.

We'll see who wins this time, I said to myself. I turned on the computer and began to write -- all the details of our story, everything that still remained in my memory.


The poor, working-class neighborhood in Naples in which the girls grew up, one rife with corruption and nearly incestuous family ties, is a kind of collective antagonist to Lila and Elena's struggle to survive and succeed in the tumultuous last half of the 20th century.

Ferrante plays with warring philosophies and ideologies, class conflict, Italian politics, the student and worker protests of the the 1960s and 70s, the sexual revolution, the rise of feminism, the sea-change in economy and work brought about by the introduction of computers as integral aspects of the friendship and competition between Lila and Elena. The reader sympathizes first with one, and then the other, but rarely both at the same time, as their lives follow very different paths, yet remain tangled together.

Ferrante's Neapolitan series is a great read, and I expect the ideas and memories generated will remain with me for a long time.

217RidgewayGirl
Dez 11, 2015, 1:23 pm

I am doing my best (which is not very good) to read the final book as slowly as possible. They do make for compelling reading.

218LolaWalser
Dez 11, 2015, 3:18 pm

>214 Nickelini:, >215 SassyLassy:

Omg, yes, I've said before, it's tantamount to sabotage! And it's so ludicrously at odds with Ferrante that I half-suspected some effort at supreme irony, fallen flat on its face... But it's probably just some lazy slob working off a memo about "story of two girls, female author", don't strain yourself, grab the nearest stock photo kitsch you find...

219janeajones
Dez 11, 2015, 4:48 pm

Once again all those backs of females.

220dchaikin
Dez 14, 2015, 11:22 am

Enjoyed your comments on Gilead and Lila. I read Gilead and kind of shrugged. Then I read Home, enjoyed it enough that I reread Gilead and this time was wowed. But Lila left me shrugging again. Maybe I should re-read Gilead yet again.

Regarding orders- I think the Robinson benefits on rereading - as in the more you know the better the book. But I suspect the order someone originally reads them in isn't a big deal.

221LolaWalser
Dez 14, 2015, 12:31 pm

>219 janeajones:

Once again all those backs of females.

Perhaps a convention to protect the models? It would also explain somewhat all those headless and blurry figures so prevalent in current book design.

222janeajones
Dez 14, 2015, 1:40 pm

221> Too many photo covers -- hire some artists to design book covers: http://www.digitalartsonline.co.uk/news/graphic-design/groundbreaking-book-cover...

223LolaWalser
Dez 14, 2015, 2:37 pm

>222 janeajones:

Omg, what a link, you just cost me that TASCHEN beauty! :)

Yes, exactly, too many darn bland and mindless photo covers, I truly think plain monochrome or simple abstraction would be preferable by miles. If money's the issue (and of course it is...)

Sorry about thread drift! Must.go.shop. now... :)

224janeajones
Dez 19, 2015, 4:45 pm

Still catching up on reviews....


The Stockholm Octavo by Karen Englemann

This is an amusing novel set during the 18th c. rule of Gustav III, King of Sweden and Finland. Gustav, an admirer of Voltaire, was a patron of the arts, establishing the Swedish Academy, the Royal Opera, and the Royal Swedish Dramatic Theatre. He was also a believer in absolute monarchy and in the 1789 Act of Unity and Security granted wide-ranging rights to commoners and almost totally curbed the power of the nobility, thus gaining a powerful set of enemies.

While political power plays are central to The Stockholm Octavo, the novel, it is at core a historical romance. The protagonist, Emil Larsson, is a bureaucrat in the Customs Office, an inveterate gambler, and in need of a wife if he is to keep his position. He seeks the aid of Sofia Sparrow, a French ex-patriate who runs a gambling house with a famous Tarot-reading business on the side, patronized by the King himself. She agrees to a fortune-casting octavo for Emil, and he becomes her agent of sorts. She needs information about what is going on at the soirees of the Uzanne, Baroness Kristina, arch foe of the King, champion of the aristocracy, and maven of the language of fans. Emil as an eligible young bachelor has entree and serves as her spy.

The plot becomes very involved, and if the reader has no patience for tarot-lore or the intricacy of fan usage in 18th c. courts, I would advise him/her to avoid this one (my husband started and stopped reading after about 50 pages). I did find much of it intriguing, and I enjoyed eaves-dropping (with the help of Wikipedia) on the life of Stockholm in the 18th c.

225janeajones
Editado: Dez 19, 2015, 7:33 pm


Nancy Goldstone, Four Queens: The Provencal Sisters Who Ruled Europe

In the 13th c., four sisters, the daughters of Count Ramon Berenger V of Provence, became European queens with considerable influence in the politics and warfare of the era.

The eldest, Marguerite, became queen of France when she married Louis IX at 13. Her sister Eleanor married Henry III of England. The two younger sisters, Sanchia and Beatrice, secured lesser crowns as their husbands eventually claimed the kingdoms of the Holy Roman Empire (Germany) and Sicily. The sisters were both rivals and collaborators, bringing their family ties to bear on creating war and peace.

Goldstone's book is more popular than scholarly history, but it gives insight into 13th century power brokering and foreshadows the momentous events of 14th century Europe. It also, obviously, highlights the influence that aristocratic women wielded in the late medieval period.

226janeajones
Editado: Jan 2, 2016, 10:43 am

and
Sculptor's Daughter by Tove Jansson and Tove Jansson: Work and Love by Tuula Karjalainen

I have been under the spell of Tove Jansson since I first read The True Deceiver in 2009. I never encountered her Moomin books as a child, and I must admit, the Moomins don't appeal to me in the same way that characters in the books by Dr. Seuss and Maurice Sendak do.

But the books, she wrote for adults, starting in 1968 with The Sculptor's Daughter including The Summer Book, Sun City, Travelling Light, and Fair Play have entangled me in Jansson's web of contemplation about friendship, work, artistry, childhood, and aging.

I found Sculptor's Daughter: A Childhood Memoir (Bildhuggarens Dotter) enchanting. When I first discovered Jansson, this book had been long out of print and unavailable, though some of the chapters had been reprinted as stories in A Winter Book, so I was delighted to see that William Morrow had issued a paperback reprint last year.

Jansson's voice in these vignettes from her childhood is both whimsical and wise, creative and ultimately practical. Her memories take her from her grandparents' house in Sweden, to the loft-studio where she lived with her artist parents in Helsinki, to the small island on which they summered in Finland's bays.

This is from the chapter titled "The Bays":

The house is grey, the sky and the sea are grey, and the field is grey with dew. It's four o'clock in the morning and I have saved three important hours which can be counted as extra. Or perhaps three and a half.

I have learned to tell the time, although I'm not yet quite sure about the minutes.

I'm also light grey, but inside, because I'm all vague and wobbly like a jelly-fish, not thinking but just feeling. If you sailed a hundred miles over the sea and walked a hundred miles through the forest in all directions, you wouldn't find a little girl at all. They just don't exist. I know because I've found out....The nearest thing to it you'll find is Fanny who is almost seventy and collects pebbles and shells and dead animals and sings when it is going to rain.

227janeajones
Editado: Dez 27, 2015, 1:02 pm



Tove Jansson was born in 1914 and died in 2001. I discovered this book from SassyLassy's earlier review. Tuula Karjalainen's, biography, Tove Jansson: Work and Love focuses mainly on Jansson's development as an artist and how her family and various lovers, first male and then female, influenced that development and her work. She also details how the tumultuous period before and during World War II ( in Finland -- the Winter War, the Continuation War and the Lapland War) affected the artist and her circle of friends and family. One of the wonderful aspects of the book is its many colored reproductions of her paintings, cartoons and illustrations for the Moomin books.

Jansson began her artistic studies and career as a painter, studying at Stockholm's Konstfack and the School of Fine Arts (then the Atheneum) in Helsinki. As her political awareness grew, she began drawing cartoons and illustrations for various periodicals while continuing to paint and show her work. It was during the war that she began the Moomin books as an escape from ugly reality. She said, "I am really a painter, but in the early 1940s, during the war, I felt so desperate that I began to write fairytales."



Karjalainen spends about half the book writing about Jansson's development and involvement with Moominland and about 5 pages briefly commenting on her stories and novels for adults, a choice that I personally found disappointing. But perhaps it is not surprising.

228dchaikin
Dez 20, 2015, 9:47 pm

I'm struck by that upper painting. I haven't read anything by Jansson, but she sounds fascinating to read about.

229SassyLassy
Dez 21, 2015, 10:20 am

>226 janeajones: The Sculptor's Daughter was already on my wish list, but your quote bumped it way up.

That's a wonderful painting with a story like quality that you posted, and the one with the Moomins certainly captures what I read about them. I have yet to read Moomins, but I suspect I will have to just to get a more rounded picture of Jansson, whose work I already loved before I read the biography. I just found this online http://www.cambridgescholars.com/download/sample/61280 and the table of contents seems to indicate some critical work on her adult fiction, so it may be worth investigating.

Karjalainen's book was a beautiful book and Moomins aside, I'm glad you read it!

230kidzdoc
Dez 21, 2015, 5:16 pm

Great review of The Sculptor's Daughter, Jane. I've read three of her novels that were published by New York Review Books, Fair Play, The Summer Book, and The True Deceiver, and I enjoyed all of them.

231janeajones
Editado: Dez 29, 2015, 1:03 pm


Nine Coins/Nueve monedas by Carlos Pintado, trans. by Hilary Vaughan Dobel

This is an LTER book.

Cuban born, living in Miami, Pintado won the National Poetry Series' Paz Prize for Poetry for Nine Coins/ Nueve monedas. As the title suggests, the 88 page book is a bilingual volume with the English translations by Hilary Vaughan Dobel facing the Spanish originals.

This intensely lyrical collection ranges in form from sonnets to prose poems. These are poems of the night -- full of shadows, expressing intense desire, and an ever-present sense of death. The poems are highly allusive, referencing other writers, literary characters, visual artists, and a wide range of myths -- Egyptian, Classical and Eastern. In his introduction to the volume, Richard Blanco writes, "The urgency in these poems feels as if the poet's very life depended on writing them." The reader is hurtled through Blanco's dream visions and emotions.

I wish my Spanish were far better than rudimentary. Dobel, the translator, is a poet herself and consulted with Pintado on the translations, but much of the music of the original poems, especially the sonnets, seems to be lost in the translations.

A MITAD DEL POEMA

A mitad del poema hay siempre un miedo:
toda mano vacila, tiembla el ojo,
La palabra se pierde en su despojo.
A mitad del poema have siempre un miedo.
Como el náufrago al mar, el verso agita
la quietud memoriosa del silencio--
¿o sera que la muerte es el silencio
que en el sueño su estatua precipita?
A mitad del poema, equidistantes,
el inicio y el fin son ya un pasado
y un mañana, dudosos, vacilantes.
A mitad del poema, algo sagrado
nos empuja a seguir por lost distantes
abismos que abre el sueño en lo soñado.

HALFWAY THROUGH THE POEM

Halfway through the poem there’s always a fear
The eye is a-tremble, the whole hand falters,
and the word has been stripped bare and finds itself lost.
Halfway through the poem there’s always a fear.
Like a sailor who’s fled from a ship as it sinks,
verse troubles the silence, its long-minded peace--
Or is it that death is truly the sound
of what’s silent, a statue that falls in a dream?
Halfway through the poem’s a point equidistant--
where starting and ending have turned into past
and tomorrow, days doubtful and hesitant.
Halfway through the poem, it seems something sacred
will force us to follow it down distant depths
where it opens the dreaming into what is dreamed.


The translations of the more open verse and prose poems work better for me, but being able to go back and forth between the English and Spanish preserves much of the original feel even of the sonnets. Carlos Pintado is definitely a poet I will be on the watch for. I thoroughly enjoyed this collection.

Hilary Vaughn Dobel on translating Carlos Pintado's "Mudras":https://www.poetrysociety.org/psa/poetry/crossroads/own_words/Carlos_Pintado/

"The Moon" in the NYT Sunday magazine: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/06/magazine/the-moon.html?_r=0

232FlorenceArt
Dez 30, 2015, 9:26 am

>231 janeajones: I like the poem you quoted!

233rebeccanyc
Dez 30, 2015, 11:08 am

>231 janeajones: I'm going to add Carlos Pintado to the Caribbean Authors thread in Reading Globally. You might want to post your review here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/209482.

234janeajones
Dez 30, 2015, 11:20 am

Thanks, Florence and Rebecca! Rebecca -- I'll copy it right now to the thread.

235kidzdoc
Dez 30, 2015, 12:00 pm

I like the poems by Carlos Pintado that you posted, Jane, so I'll be on the lookout for his works. Thanks for introducing him to us!

236kidzdoc
Editado: Dez 30, 2015, 12:04 pm

Duplicate post

237baswood
Dez 30, 2015, 1:43 pm

Enjoyed the selection you posted. Carlos Pintado is new to me.

238janeajones
Dez 30, 2015, 1:51 pm

New to me too. Nice to see you, Darryl and Barry. Happy New Year.