Rebeki's 2012 reading

I made the move to Club Read last year and am looking forward to being part of the group again this year. I had a baby last summer and haven't had as much time as I would like recently for posting and lurking on LT. However, I am happy to discover that motherhood does NOT mark the end of reading!

This year, in keeping with the Club Read Zeitgeist, I'd like to concentrate on reducing my TBR pile. OK, so this is my goal every year, but this time I mean it! It currently stands at 157 and, given that I manage only about 40 books a year, it's a little overwhelming. I would like to get it down to 135 (as it was this time two years ago) by the end of the year.

(Ticker removed as Ticker Factory won't let me update it!)

Books bought in 2012

The French Revolution by Christopher Hibbert
Journey to Nowhere: One Woman Looks for the Promised Land by Eva Figes (read May 2012)
The Queen of Spades and Other Stories by Alexander Pushkin
Le Notaire du Havre by Georges Duhamel
Bring up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel (read August 2012)
The Iliad by Homer (read May to December (!) 2012)
London Belongs to Me by Norman Collins
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
South Riding by Winifred Holtby
The Magician by W. Somerset Maugham
The Bolter by Frances Osborne
The Old Man and Me by Elaine Dundy
Lotte in Weimar by Thomas Mann
A Woman in Berlin: Diary 20 April 1945 to 22 June 1945 by Anonymous
The Sun King by Nancy Mitford
Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín
Good Morning, Midnight by Jean Rhys

Books received as a gift in 2012

Excellent Women by Barbara Pym (read August 2012)
Manhattan, When I Was Young by Mary Cantwell
The Real Charlotte by Somerville and Ross
Lucia Victrix by E.F. Benson

My reading this year will obviously be dictated by my TBR pile, but there's plenty to choose from! Last year, one of my goals was to read War and Peace. This year, I'd like to read Life and Fate, which has been sitting on my shelves for at least seven years.

For anyone interested, here's a link to my 2011 thread.

Books read in 2012

January

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë (message 16, re-read)
Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys (message 23, TBR pile)
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier (message 32, re-read)
Nada by Carmen Laforet (message 34, TBR pile)

February

A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan (message 45, library book)
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens (message 48, TBR pile)

March

Thank You, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse (message 49, TBR pile)
Borderland: A Journey Through the History of Ukraine by Anna Reid (message 50, TBR pile)

April

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck (message 51, library book)
The White Guard by Mikhail Bulgakov (message 56, library book)
Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys (yes, TWICE in three months, which is something of a record. Messages 23 and 71, re-read)
I Am A Chechen by German Sadulaev (message 76, library book)
Billy Bunter and the School Rebellion by Frank Richards (message 77, TBR pile)
The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes (message 78, library book)

May

The President's Last Love by Andrey Kurkov (message 86, TBR pile)
Journey to Nowhere: One Woman Looks for the Promised Land by Eva Figes (message 99, TBR pile)
When I Lived in Modern Times by Linda Grant (message 100, re-read)
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (message 101, borrowed)

June

Fun Home by Alison Bechdel (message 104, library book)
Regeneration by Pat Barker (message 109, library book)

July

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (message 110, re-read)
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller (message 111, library book)

August

Bring up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel (message 112, TBR pile)
Excellent Women by Barbara Pym (message 113, TBR pile)
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (message 123, borrowed)

September

Tea Time for the Traditionally Built by Alexander McCall Smith (message 124, TBR pile)
Zoo Station by David Downing (message 124, library book)

October

On Brick Lane by Rachel Lichtenstein (message 129, TBR pile)
The Art of Travel by Alain de Botton (message 136, library book)

November

Soft City by Jonathan Raban (message 144, TBR pile)

December

The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson (message 145, library book)
Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi (message 146, borrowed)
The Iliad by Homer (message 149, TBR pile)
Welcome to Everytown by Julian Baggini (message 157, TBR pile)
Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins (message 160, bought in order to complete series, then given away)




I'm saving myself hassle by not using touchstones in this master list, but you can find them, where available, in the respective messages indicated.

Hi Rebeki - My son just turned two on New Year's Eve. That first year I didn't have much time for reading since I was getting no sleep, but last year I found time for 79 books - a record for me. Like you said, it was nice to see that having a child still leaves me time for my own hobbies. Looking forward to your thread!

#3 Hi japaul22, thanks for visiting my as yet not very interesting thread! I was pleased to see you'd joined this group, as I've lurked on your past threads in the 50 Book Challenge group (I can be a bit shy about actually posting) and think we have similar reading tastes.

Hi Rebeki, found and starred you. Wish you a Happy New Year and many great reads!

#5 Happy New Year to you too, Nathalie! I have your new thread starred too and shall be over to visit you shortly.

Thanks for dropping by my thread, Rebeki. Are you enjoying your Jane Eyre reread?

Hi Rebeki, have found your new thread!

Life and Fate has been on my shelves a short (!!) year and a bit, but I'd like to read it this year too. I am shocking at timetabling my reading though so it will depend on my mood for weighty books.

Rebeki, I read Life and Fate last year and enjoyed it. Initially I was intimidated by its length, so instead of trying to read it all the way through, excluding all other books, I set myself a target of fifty pages a day. Once I was well into the book, I was happy just to keep reading. It's gripping.

#7 I am, thanks. I think I last read it about 12 years ago, but it's all coming back to me nicely. Do I remember correctly that you're not such a fan?

#8 Don't worry, Cushla, I'm exactly the same. I like the idea of group reads, but am terrible at them in practice. At any rate, it'll be interesting to compare notes, and if we happen to read it at the same time, even better!

#9 I keep telling myself that if I can manage War and Peace, Life and Fate should be doable. I asked for it as a Christmas present seven years ago and really do want to read it (and have heard nothing but good about it). Not sure what my problem is!

Glad to know others have been feeling guilty about Life and Fate continually staring out at you from a shelf. It's impossible to ignore.

#11 Who knew there were so many of us?!

>10 Rebeki: - You're correct! I liked Jane Eyre when I read it last year, but I didn't love it. I'm just not sure I liked Jane all that much - she seemed like a fairly ordinary heroine to me. But, it is obviously really well written, and I read it along with Wide Sargasso Sea, which was a fun comparison. Enjoy!

I asked for and received Life and Fate in December. So count me in on the not-group-read-but-sorta!

Congrats on being a new-ish mom. I was finally able to begin reading after having my daughter, but just couldn't remember what I read. Sleep deprivation is a terrible thing.

#13 I think Jane's ordinariness is part of her appeal for me. It's easy to identify with her and relate to her decisions, especially as she seems quite a modern heroine.
As you probably saw on the WAYR thread, Wide Sargasso Sea is my next read.

#14 Hello, Lisa, you have nothing to feel guilty about yet, since we're only at the beginning of January, but let's hope we all manage Life and Fate this year! Actually, all this talk has made me quite eager to get on with it, but I have other books I need/want to read first...
Sleep deprivation hasn't really affected my reading (or my memory thereof), but, perhaps more worryingly/alarmingly, has seen me forgetting entire conversations I've had and doing a few absent-minded or clumsy things. I loathe the expression "baby brain" and was adamant when still pregnant that it didn't exist and was some horrible sexist notion. Well, I guess it does exist, but it's sleep deprivation pure and simple and would have the same effects on anyone (not just women with young children - grrr). Anyway, we appear to have turned a corner on that front, so I look forward to some good reading and being able to think clearly!

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

I've finished my first book of the year, which was a re-read of this classic novel and therefore does nothing to diminish my TBR pile. However, I think I was a teenager last time I read it, so it was a real pleasure and education to re-visit it now I'm in my early thirties.

I seem to remember that, as a teenager, I was most engaged by the earlier part of the book, dealing with Jane's childhood and education, while the romance aspect of the novel didn't speak to me all that much. This time, I was impatient for Jane's arrival at Thornfield and, with the benefit of experience, understood her attraction to Mr Rochester a lot more.

Seeing the recent film adaptation made me realise that I'd entirely forgotten the Rivers family, but I enjoyed reading Jane and St John's verbal duels and found St John an important foil to Mr Rochester, who made me appreciate the latter more.

As I get older, I find I'm increasingly alert to the quality of an author's writing. I used to read predominantly for plot and could tolerate poor writing. For the last few years (since I joined LT, perhaps?), that has no longer been the case. Yes, Jane Eyre is an excellent story and is highly readable, but it is also exquisitely written.

Hi Rebeki. I've read Jane Eyre at different times of my life and, as is the case with so many "classics", I'm always surprised at the new things that I take away from it. Of course, as you note, I'm bringing more and different life experience to each read.

Congratulations on your baby! Oh, and Life and Fate has set on my shelves for several years, mocking me ;)

Enjoyed your thoughts on re-reading Jane Eyre as an adult. I reread it in 2009 and fell in love with it all over. I'm planning to read Villette this year, which I've never read.

And yes, I agree about the "baby brain" stuff. Sleep deprivation is a form of torture. I feel like I need to re-read everything I read in 2010 (my son was born 12/31/09) because I don't remember it.

The Geneva Convention considers less than four hours of continuous sleep to be a form of torture. My daughter woke up to nurse every two hours for seven months!

#17 - Hi theaelizabet, yes, that's the beauty of the classics, isn't it?
Thanks for the congrats, and glad (or am I?) to hear you're another member of this illustrious club ;)

#18 japaul22, I last read Villette when I was 17 and remember it made a deep impression on me. None of Charlotte's other novels measure up to Jane Eyre, but Villette is my next favourite. I remember thinking at the time that I should use its heroine, Lucy Snowe, as my role model (a strange teen, I was). I ought to re-read it to see if that's still the case!

#19 Ha, interesting fact, Lisa and one I may quote! I haven't had as tough a time as you, but I'm hoping a proper night's sleep will be a reality in the near future...

I'm currently only a little way into Wide Sargasso Sea and am already finding it heartbreaking.

Despite having Villette on my shelf for a million years, I've never read it. One of these days...

Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys

Possibly contains spoilers:
This is Jean Rhys’s prequel to Jane Eyre, telling the story of the first Mrs Rochester, Antoinette Cosway (known to us in Jane Eyre as Bertha Mason). Parts one and three are narrated by Antoinette herself, while, in much of part two, we have the unnamed Rochester’s view of the situation.

Like Jane Eyre, Antoinette has an unhappy childhood, but while Jane - though mistreated by her aunt and cousins - had no reason to doubt her parents’ love for her, Antoinette is more or less rejected by her mother. She is also something of an outsider in her own country, Jamaica, where the newly liberated black population has nothing but contempt for the former plantation owners and their families (inhumanity breeding inhumanity). Her family’s flight from their estate, reminiscent – or portentous - of the devastation of Thornfield, was heartbreaking.

It is clear that the marriage of Antoinette and Rochester should never have taken place and that both are victims of their circumstances. However, it is Antoinette who is left holding the weakest hand, and she bears the brunt of his resentment and discomfort in the foreign surroundings of Jamaica and the unnamed honeymoon island (said to be Rhys’s native Dominica).

Where Jane Eyre is a straightforward novel with a resilient heroine, Wide Sargasso Sea has the reader seeing through blurred lenses. Antoinette is troubled, yes, but is that not a result of Rochester’s refusal to love – or at least attempt to love – her? And if her mental faculties are not sound, is that not the result of her awful treatment in England, rather than the inevitable development of a hereditary condition?

A haunting and disquieting but beautifully written novel.

Nice review, Rebeki. I don't usually read prequels/sequels of my favorite books, but I might make an exception in this case as it sounds like it's really well done. And I feel like I saw it on the 1001 books list, which I'm trying to read from this year. I'll have to check on that. Thanks for the review!

#24 Yes, somehow prequels/sequels seem tacky to me (particularly all the Jane Austen spin-offs), but this is a modern classic, I think. The Bertha Mason of Jane Eyre is a very one-dimensional character and the reader is supposed to accept Mr Rochester's version of events. Rhys is trying to redress the balance, and it's interesting to learn about the Caribbean in the first half of the 19th century.

Nice review! I've been wanting to read Wide Sargasso Sea for a while, but I'm going to wait on reading Jane Eyre first... Hoping for that one sometime this year; I have only ever heard good things about it.

Good review of Wide Sargasso Sea I loved it when I read it, but that was quite some time ago.

Thank you for the nice review. I've added Wide Sargasso Sea to my TBR pile.

I like your review. I also usually don't like prequels and sequels written by different authors. But maybe I'll be able to read this one just as a stand-alone book if I wait a little longer and my memories of the "Jane Eyre" Rochester have faded (I read that one only a year ago).

I've had Wide Sargasso Sea on the pile forever but I wanted to reread Jane Eyre before starting it. Doesn't look like that will be happening soon. Do you think there was a lot that you would have missed if you hadn't read Jane Eyre just before Wide Sargasso Sea?

#26, #27, #28 - Thanks! I thought it would be hard to summarise my response to this book, but that turned out not to be the case.

#29 - Interesting, Nathalie. I wanted to have the "Jane Eyre" Rochester fresh in my mind, but then it really was ages since I'd read that book.

#30 - I think Wide Sargasso Sea is more interesting if you've read Jane Eyre, which you have, and as long as you remember the story, that's good enough. My problem was that I'd last read Jane Eyre so long ago that my memories of it were quite hazy.

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

This was my reading group’s January book and a re-read for me of a novel I enjoyed very much first time around. As such, I have few new observations to make, but I was surprised to find that I was just as gripped this time, in spite of knowing the plot. There is something about du Maurier’s writing that compels you to keep reading.

Some members of the group thought the characterisation was a bit thin, particularly Max de Winter, but I enjoyed trying to construct my own idea of him and felt that he should be a shadowy, ambiguous figure. In any case, there is no omniscient narrator; we are entirely inside the head of the second Mrs de Winter and she does not judge or view him as an outsider would.

I’m not sure anything else I read by du Maurier will match Rebecca, but I have several books of hers at home and hope to find something in a similar style. I read Jamaica Inn and My Cousin Rachel last year and liked the latter far more, so it seems I prefer psychological suspense to straightforward adventure.

>31 Rebeki: - Glad to hear that - I do remember the plot (though with some help from Jasper Fforde and movies) so maybe I'll try to find it in the pile - your review inspired me.

I did like du Maurier's stories. They tended to be more in suspense/horror/supernatural mode with some being nicely ambiguous. Some seemed a little Twilight Zone-ish, but all were pretty addictive.

Nada by Carmen Laforet

Continuing the theme of gothic tales involving parentless young women, I read this 1945 novel by the Spanish author Carmen Laforet. I actually read it five years ago in Spanish, but my knowledge of the language wasn’t good enough for me to feel confident that I’d understood all I needed to.

In the years immediately following the Spanish Civil War, eighteen-year-old Andrea arrives in Barcelona to take up a university place. Coming from the countryside, she is full of excitement and expectation about her new life, but these emotions are soon stifled by the claustrophobic atmosphere of the flat on the Calle de Aribau, inhabited by her austere and authoritarian aunt Angustias (how’s that for alliteration?), warring (and seemingly mentally unstable) uncles Juan and Román, the beleaguered and slightly unhinged Gloria, wife of Juan, and her sweet-natured but put upon grandmother. Once a respected and affluent family, they are now descending into poverty and, it would appear, madness.

I loved the character of Andrea and the descriptions of her jaunts around Barcelona and attempts to cancel out some of the misery of her circumstances. Even in the English, there remains something elusive about this novel, but it was a very engaging and affecting read.

#33 - I'm not usually a fan of short stories, but I think du Maurier's writing is probably gripping enough for me to make an exception (plus I have The Rendezvous and Other Stories at home anyway).

austere and authoritarian aunt Angustias Very nice!

Glad to hear you liked Nada - that one is sitting on the pile.

Hope you enjoy the du Maurier - I think I read her short story collection pretty quickly as well.

Bah, I met a friend at the London Review Cake Shop and ended up getting enough stamps on my loyalty card to get £5 off a book from the bookshop. Of course, I couldn't possibly wait and buy a book another time, could I? So I ended up buying The French Revolution by Christopher Hibbert. This is indirectly japaul22's fault...

#36 - Thank you!

#37 - Yes, I really enjoyed Nada. My short review doesn't do it justice (I find it a hard book to review).

Glad you enjoyed Nada! I thought it was an incredibly atmospheric novel, made me feel really uncomfortable (whilst really enjoying reading it, I mean).

Oooooh that is such an excellent bookshop Rebeki! Did you take your baby with you? I remember mine getting very grumpy in their buggies when they sometimes woke up from a nap and found themselves yet again inside a bookshop while I went speed-browsing...

I loved Hibbert's book about the Medici and I bet the French Revolution one is good too. I have Simon Schama's tome on it waiting, but the chances that I read it this year are really low. Too many textbooks for my course.

Nada is in the library so is going onto my wish list.

>38 Rebeki: Ha! I won't apologize for inspiring the purchase of wonderful new books! :-)
If you enjoy it, I'll most likely end up reading it too!

Just now catching up here and enjoying your reviews. Good luck with the TBR. Those tend to grow out of control around here.

I started working again at the end of January and am now finding it hard to make time for LT. I do have the time, but I got a little, then a lot, behind on the threads I follow and felt overwhelmed. I've also developed slight reader's block. Grrr. This happened to me last February too, so I'm hoping it's a seasonal thing rather than just my brain being overtaxed.

Anyway, to reply very belatedly to your comments:

#40 - Yes, atmospheric and uncomfortable are precisely the words. In fact, I'd forgotten the hopefulness of the ending, as it was the darkness of the book that really stayed with me.

#41 - Yes, it's a great shop and one I'm scared to spend too much time in for fearing of losing all self-restraint! I did not take little A with me. He also gets grumpy during shopping and especially in bookshops, which is actually quite useful! The Hibbert book looks very readable, so I'm looking forward to it, though it'll be a while before I get there, particularly at my current reading pace.

#42 - You'll probably have moved on to a whole different reading project by the time I get to it!

#43 Thanks, Dan. I have a lot of catching up to do myself. Ha, yes, I've seen the TBR therapy thread and see I'm in good company. Mine isn't too bad by some people's standards, but not everyone's as slow at reading as me!

I have managed to finish one book this month:

A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

I thought I’d make a change and read something contemporary, so I picked this up at the library, having read good things about it on LT.

Set largely in the US (and New York, in particular), the action spans about 50 years, from the 1970s to the 2020s, with each of the thirteen chapters told from the viewpoint of a different character. Not all the characters are connected and some of the connections are tenuous, but it still feels like a cohesive novel. The tableau Egan creates may seem messy and incomplete, but such is our perspective on life.

If this book sounds at all difficult to read, it isn’t. Egan has a highly readable style and makes it easy for the reader to work out who is narrating each chapter and how they fit into the picture. She also writes inventively. The PowerPoint chapter has been mentioned by some, but my favourite was the one narrated in the second person, which seemed to work really well.

Like other reviewers, I find it hard to describe what this novel is about, other than to say it seems to be about the passing of time and how what we consider permanent can really be quite fleeting. In spite of its often being an amusing read, I was left with a feeling of melancholy, probably because Egan’s vision of the near future is highly unappealing.

I'm about halfway through A Tale of Two Cities, which I've been reading for what seems like ages. I'm enjoying it, but, like a rich, meaty stew, it needs to be taken slowly and carefully digested. My on-the-go book is Borderland: A Journey Through the History of Ukraine by Anna Reid. I had a dream about going to Ukraine (I've never been), which prompted me to pluck this from shelves. So far, so interesting.

I can't believe I've neglected my thread and LT in general for so long. Aside from the last week in March, when I tried to make the most of the unseasonal sunshine, I was very busy last month with work and visits from friends and family. Things have calmed down for the moment, so I shall attempt to catch up. I've finished five books since I was last here and I just hope I can write some half-coherent comments on them!

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

This is only my second Dickens and it was thanks to my reading group and the tie-in with the anniversary of the author’s birth that I finally took this book down from the shelf.

I’d heard that A Tale of Two Cities was quite different from Dickens’s other work, so I was surprised to find how light-hearted it was in places, in spite of the subject-matter. I also enjoyed the author’s caustic comments on late-18th-century British justice, and the depiction of the crowd of courtroom spectators eager for a hanging has stayed with me.

As the action switched to Paris, I found myself reading with a growing sense of trepidation and felt fully immersed in the atmosphere of terror. As I’ve said elsewhere, my knowledge of the French Revolution is shockingly scant and AToTC provided me with a gentle introduction to the period.

At first the density of the language made for slow reading, but the fluency and liveliness of writing mean that it deserves to be savoured. We were discussing at the reading group meeting what it is that makes Charles Dickens’s work so enduring. Based on the two novels I’ve read (the other is David Copperfield), I’d say it was masterful writing, gripping plot and memorable (if not always fully fleshed) characters.

In need of some light relief during a work-heavy period, I then turned to:

Thank You, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse

I enjoyed the book of golf stories I read three years ago, but this, my first Jeeves and Wooster book, was a delight and just what the doctor ordered.

In brief, Bertie takes a cottage in the country (and fires his dependable valet) so that he can play his banjolele in peace, but finds it's not such an escape after all. All sorts of improbable happenings ensue and Jeeves is required to save the day. I imagine this is the formula for many a Jeeves and Wooster tale and I'm keen to read more of them.

Borderland: A Journey Through the History of Ukraine by Anna Reid

This is a fascinating and well-written book about a country I'm interested in but knew little about. In 10 chapters, Reid takes us from the founding of Kievan Rus to 2003 and an independent Ukraine looking to establish its place in the world. As she deals with a different period in Ukraine's turbulent history, the focus switches to a different part of this vast country and she includes her own experiences of each place and the people she meets, which provides welcome respite from the historical detail.

The theme throughout is Ukraine's struggle to become a nation-state and to establish and assert its identity. I knew the country was divided between those who look to the West and those who favour strong links with Russia (or even consider themselves still to be part of Russia) and I now have a much better understanding of why that should be. I particularly enjoyed the description of the founding of Odessa and New Russia and would love to be able to travel back in time to 19th-century Odessa.

This is an accessible book that assumes no prior knowledge, but all the same I found it useful to take notes, since so much of the history was unfamiliar to me. Should I ever make it to Ukraine (one day...), I'm sure I'll be re-reading this book in preparation.

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

Of Mice and Men is one of those books I know I'd have got round to reading at some point, but I'm pleased it was the reading group choice for March, even if I couldn't attend the meeting, because I now know I have to read more by John Steinbeck. (As it happens we were also supposed to read the short story The Murder, so I will try to read this and the other stories in The Long Valley before it's due back at the library.)

I'm more likely to be found reading a book set in a European city than in rural California, but I was completely transported to the ranch in the Salinas Valley where George and his physically imposing but mentally and emotionally fragile friend Lennie are trying to earn some money in order to realise their dream of buying and living off their own land. Steinbeck's writing is effortlessly good and I raced through this novella, albeit with a sense that all was not going to end well. Moving and utterly absorbing.

what it is that makes Charles Dickens’s work so enduring. Based on the two novels I have read (the other is David Copperfield), I’d say it was masterful writing, gripping plot and memorable (if not always fully fleshed) characters.

I think that is spot on Rebeki. I have a bookclub meeting tomorrow when we will be discussing Our Mutual Friend and I will be interested to see what other people think. The language is dense though and you have to slow down to understand what is going on, some people cannot cope with that.

I am already a fan of Dickens and Of Mice and Men, so I avoided those book bullets, but was hit with the other two. I have been looking forward to reading a Jeeves book and should dig up the first. And Borderland sounds right up my alley. Does Reid discuss Ukraine under Stalin and the famine much?

Good to see you again on LT, Rebeki. I have planned A Tale of Two Cities for later this year as a group read and now your review makes me want to grab and read it right now! :-)

#52 - Hi Barry, I hope your meeting goes well. I'm sure some people, like me, will appreciate having been "pushed" into reading some Dickens. I know what you mean about slowing down. I'm a pretty slow reader already - I'm one of those people who pronounces the words in her head as she reads them - but it took me a while to adjust my pace. I had a look at your thread and it looks like you have mixed feelings about Our Mutual Friend. It's a book I plan to tackle one day, but I will try to remember to be patient in the earlier part of the book!

#53 - Hi Lisa. I have to say that I hate reading series out of order, but I couldn't seem to puzzle out which is actually the first J&W book. Apparently, Thank You, Jeeves is the first novel, but I understand there are some collections of stories that were published earlier. Someone once told me the order was unimportant with J&W, so I decided to relax my rules a bit.

Yes, there's a chapter in Borderland dealing with the famine. I suspect you already know a lot more than I did, but I was shocked by how Ukraine, with its fertile farm land and well-organised peasantry, bore the brunt of the collectivisation policy, as well as by the scale of the suffering and its under-reporting in the West.

#54 - Hi Nathalie, I hope to catch up with your thread(s) soon! I'm pleased my review has encouraged you, as I felt very enthusiastic about A Tale of Two Cities on finishing it, but that was so long ago now that I don't think my comments have really done it justice.

The final book to review for the time being is:

The White Guard by Mikhail Bulgakov

It was my sudden interest in reading about Ukraine and deebee1's review of this book that prompted me to borrow it from the library. I'm tempted just to refer anyone reading this post to deebee1’s review, as I really can't match it, but I will attempt to write down some of my own thoughts.

The novel opens in Kiev in December 1918, the last days of the Hetmanate - in spite of reading Anna Reid's Borderland beforehand, I'm still not very clear on Ukraine's history between 1917 and its absorption into the USSR! - and describes the chaos surrounding the rise of the Ukrainian Socialist Petlyura, whose own grip on power was short lived. We see events through the eyes of the Turbin siblings, Alexei, Elena and Nikolka, who are White Russians, disgusted with the Hetmanate and horrified by the prospect of living under Petlyura's Socialists or, indeed, the Bolsheviks. Alexei, Nikolka and their friends attempt to defend their city, but are soon betrayed by their leaders and forced to concede defeat.

It took me a little while to get into this novel, as I got to grips with what was going on, but I was soon drawn in by the characterisation and vivid descriptions of a city in a fever of panic and excitement. I felt I really was there amid the crowds desperate to catch a glimpse of the elusive Petlyura.

A very good novel, though possibly one that requires a little background reading.

I need to follow your example and jump in. The first novel sounds like a good place. I'll go request it from the library. Thanks!

It's really nice to see you back on LT. And you've dinged me twice in 2 days - first with Borderland, and now with The White Guard, although it sounds a bit intimidating... but I bet it's in the library. The only book I've read with much about the Ukraine in it was The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million by Daniel Mendelsohn, which I thought was excellent. But I've forgotten almost all the detail.

Hi Cushla, The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million sounds interesting, though possibly a harrowing read?

You see, I only recently finished Borderland and I've also forgotten much of the detail and I made notes! However, when I'm reading about a new subject, I'm happy if just some of it sticks in my mind.

I didn't mean to make The White Guard sound intimidating. The writing certainly isn't. I guess the thing to remember is that you're seeing events through the eyes of Russians loyal to the Tsar, and then Wikipedia helps with the rest!

The Lost was very interesting, and harrowing in parts but somehow bearable. You have to like his style though - it's all over the place but I really enjoyed it.

And it wasn't you making the White Guard sound intimidating - it's just that I have read hardly any Russian authors, except for War and Peace, and would like to do something about it, and have plenty of classics lying around the house. But they're just never the books that I pick up, especially when I am busy in RL! I am in the middle of The Siege though, so I'm inching closer to a Serious Russian Book!

I too enjoyed The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million. It's very much a family memoir, and the reader gets to share in his personal journey, as well as learn about a piece of Holocaust history. It was incredible to me how dispersed over the globe his subjects were.

What are you thinking of The Siege, Cushla?

#61 Lisa, I finished it yesterday and gave it 4 1/2 stars. I found it a bit slow for the first 40 pages but then really loved it.

Rebeki, I'm glad I'm not alone in forgetting book details!

Hi Cushla and Lisa,

#60 - For the most part, my experience has been that Russian novels sound harder work than they are. With two of my favourites, Anna Karenina and Fathers and Sons, I probably didn't grasp all the abstract ideas behind them, but I still found them very readable. However, I'm not sure I'd be picking them up in a hurry either if I had your schedule!

#60, #61 - All over the place doesn't necessarily bother me, so I'm adding The Lost to my list of books to read (one day)!

It's interesting, not many people would name Fathers and Sons a favorite, but I do too!

Have you read anything else by Turgenev, Lisa? I'd like to, but somehow get the (possibly wrong) impression that his other works don't measure up...

Good question. Thinking back I believe I read Sketches from a Hunter's Album, but I never read deeply of his works. Part of the reason is that at the time, I switched to studying East European literature from Russian, but I wonder why I've never gone back and delved deeper. Note to self: read more Turgenev.

Rebeki, I own Smoke - yet another book fair buy. And a matching fake red leather binding version of Tolstoy's Resurrection. Have either of you read either of them?

#66 - Wow, to some extent, I envy you the opportunity to study both Russian and Eastern European literature. I say "to some extent", because I could have studied French and German literature as part of my degree and chose to do anything but! I always used to think that studying a book simply spoilt all enjoyment of it. However, I often think now that my reading (especially of Russian classics) would be enriched by knowing something of the context. Education is wasted on the young...

#67 - Cushla, I've never even heard of Smoke! I've read Resurrection though and didn't much care for it, I'm afraid. I wrote about it on my 2009 thread - I'll go and hunt out my comments.

ETA: My not very extensive comments are here.

Education is wasted on the young.., Oh I like that.

Well, I got through it reasonably enough the first time, but I'd be far more interested and dedicated if I could have another go now, at my slightly more advanced age!

In reading news, I've been reading I Am a Chechen!, a memoir/reflection on the wars in Chechnya and what it means to be a Chechen. It's not a long or difficult book, but I'm reading it quite slowly because the subject-matter makes me feel so sad and indignant by turns. I've resorted to comfort-reading Billy Bunter and the School Rebellion before bed, which couldn't be more different!

Yesterday, however, I re-read Wide Sargasso Sea for my reading group meeting. I hadn't realised it would be on this year's schedule when I read it in January and was initially annoyed at the thought of having to re-read it so soon (I wouldn't have been able to discuss it properly otherwise, as my memory of books is quite poor). Now, though, I feel quite glad to have read it again, as I enjoyed it even more on a second reading. Most of the reading group didn't like it that much, but the woman who chose it and generally leads our meeting was quite knowledgeable about Jean Rhys and, as always, ensured that we had an enlightening and lively discussion.

#68 I always used to think that studying a book simply spoilt all enjoyment of it. I did too, which is why I dropped my second master's in Comp Lit and focused solely on Russian and East European studies, an interdisciplinary program where I was able to study literature in historical and cultural context, rather than as something to be dissected. I think you might have enjoyed that type of approach. I know I did.

Terrific ex-Soviet run you are on. I'm pretty sure, however, that if I could travel back in time, Odessa would not be a fun spot for me. I may have had family there, but they would have been on the wrong side of the anti-semitic pogroms that "took place in 1821, 1859, 1871, 1881, 1886, and 1905" (source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odessa_pogroms )

I didn't mean to be away from thread so long.

#72 - Lisa, I think you're right. Maybe one day, when I'm retired...

#73 - Dan, as Reid describes it, Odessa was (initially, at least) a haven for "persecuted minorities from all over Europe and the {Russian} empire" and "commercial, apolitical, foreign ... a city for runaways, for outsiders". I liked the idea of so many nationalities working alongside each other to create a bustling, prosperous city, presided over by an exiled Frenchman, who himself reported, "Never, Sire, in any part of the world, have there been nations so different in manners, language, customs and dress living within so restricted a space."
Reid doesn't refer to the pogroms (a case of trying to pack a lot of information about a large and varied country into a relatively slim book, probably), but I suppose the reality was bound to be uglier than the harmonious coexistence I'd imagined.

In slightly irritating news, I discovered yesterday that one of my unread books (Dead Souls, as it happens) hadn't been entered in my "To Read" collection, so I'm even further from my goal of reducing my TBR pile to 135 by the end of the year. I've amended my ticker in post #1 accordingly, but I don't suppose I was going to make it anyway. Still, if I can end the year without increasing the number of unread books I have, I'll have done better than the last four years!

I Am a Chechen! by German Sadulaev

This book had been on my radar since reading The Angel of Grozny last year, so I was very pleased to find a pristine copy of it (sadly, no longer pristine now I've had my paws on it) at the library.

As I mentioned above, it's a short but powerful book that defies classification. The Chechen writer German Sadulaev weaves memories, legend, fiction, history and personal reflections to create an ode to his motherland, while lamenting what has been lost and pouring out anger at what has taken place in Chechnya since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Most enjoyable to read were the sections describing Chechnya in more peaceful times - the beauty of the landscape, the childhood games, the Chechen customs and way of life. However, many of Sadulaev's friends and acquaintances seemed to become the victims of the wars and the brutality of the subsequent Chechen regime, about which the author does not hide his bitterness or anger. I say "seemed", because I was never sure what was fact and what was fiction. One of the most compelling sections dealt with the author's childhood friendship with a boy who spent his summers in the author's hometown of Shali, living the rest of the time in Soviet Turkmenistan. Both boys were half-Russian, half-Chechen, yet ended up on opposing sides when the conflict came. I would love to know how much of that was based on truth.

The title is important, because Sadulaev often doubts whether he is worthy of being a Chechen, Chechens being fearless individuals who fight to the end. After all, he "deserted" his motherland to study and make a career for himself in Leningrad/St Petersburg; perhaps he has become "one of them", a Russian. Yet the Russians see him only as a Chechen (and therefore as a likely terrorist/criminal).

While I was left feeling shocked and indignant at Russia's behaviour in Chechnya, Sadulaev is equally contemptuous of the Chechen rebels and the "beards" attempting to radicalise a region that has always followed a more personal and joyful and less rigid form of Islam.

Highly recommended to those interested in the region.

Billy Bunter and the School Rebellion by Frank Richards

I discovered the Billy Bunter stories through my dad, who enjoyed them as a boy. I'm sure they have limited appeal for today's readers, but, for me, the "foreign" world of a boy's boarding school in the first half of the 20th century, where giving someone a good kicking is often a question of honour, makes for perfect comfort reading. (I enjoyed the cosy world of Enid Blyton's Malory Towers and St Clare's as a child, but her books always left me feeling inadequate about my lack of sporting talent and inability to darn socks!)

In this story, the Lower Fourth of Greyfriars have walked out in protest at the dismissal of their form master and set up an alternative school...

The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes

I was curious to read this following the controversy over last year's Man Booker Prize and the divided opinions here on LT. I particularly like pamelad's pithy review!

However, as I suspected, I am among those to have enjoyed this short novel, though it took a little while for me to warm to it.

Tony Webster is a sixty-something who is forced, on receiving news of a bequest, to re-assess his memories of his early friendships and relationships.

I found The Sense of an Ending unputdownable from the start, yet wasn't sure how much I liked it, if that makes sense. At first it seemed a very narrow, very British, very middle-class sort of tale. Since much of what I read could be described as "very British" and, possibly, "very middle-class", I think it was Tony I felt irritated by and the way his insecurities caused to him to perceive slights where, perhaps, none were intended. Although I, like most people, am guilty of this sort of behaviour, so was it just uncomfortable reading for that reason?

Anyway, as the plot unfolded, the themes started to seem more universal: the unreliability of memory, the subjectiveness of perspective, the sense of a life unfulfilled.

An intriguing novel which probably requires a second reading to appreciate all its depths.

76

Intriguing book, rebeki. I know nothing about Chechnya before the wars -- as in most places of conflict, we only get a view of the "during" and "after", rarely of the "before." I just finished a book by Norman Lewis of his travels to Indochina on the eve of the French-Vietnamese war in the 1950s, and he describes a place so beautiful and wild, and which has no connection to the dreadful images stamped on our minds of the barbarism which took place not long after. I'm going to look for this.

The Billy Bunters sound like fun reading, sadly they are not available on Kindle and otherwise unknown here. I read all of the Enid Blytons you mentioned, but they were completely 'Germanized', names and places were changed and even many extra books with 'German plot' were published under Blyton's name. I remember an episode where the girls tailored their own dirndl dresses!
The St. Clare's series was called "Hanni und Nanni" (the German names of the twins) and Malory Towers was "Schloss Möwenfels" with the main character Dolly Rieder.

I don't think I could read the Chechen book right now, but it is a conflict I don't know much about though I should and I'll put it on my WL.

The Sense of an Ending... I don't know. I even found it in my local bookshop some weeks ago. I held it in my hands and put it back on the shelf. Still not calling out to me.

#76 I was so intrigued by your review of I am a Chechen! that I did a bit of browsing, hoping to find an answer to your question of How much is fictional? No luck, but I did find a Guardian article that cites One Soldier's War in Chechnya by Arkady Babchenko as the best book on the topic. Have you read that one? There is a BBC radio interview with Sadulaev that might have some answers. I haven't had a chance to listen to it yet.

Thanks for doing a first review of this book!

Once again, I've been away from LT for longer than I'd wanted. Apologies if it seemed I was ignoring your comments.

#79 - deebee, yes it's a real shame that that's the case. I got the impression from reading The Angel of Grozny last year that if it weren't for this pointless conflict, Chechnya's natural beauty (and relatively mild climate, I think) would attract a lot of visitors to the region.

#80 - Nathalie, I've sent you a message about the Billy Bunter books. I'm intrigued by the idea of 'Germanised' versions of the Enid Blyton school stories. I see some of them are available on Amazon. It would be fun to try one some time. As I recall, the original ones seemed to emphasise the importance of having a "sense of honour", something which apparently came far more naturally to the British - the occasional French girl who appeared would usually be unscrupulous, a bit lazy and not fond of spending time outdoors (a Bad Thing in Blyton's world!). I wonder if another nationality came in for criticism in the Germanised versions...

I enjoyed The Sense of an Ending, but I'm glad I only borrowed it. As time's gone on and it's fading in my memory, it's starting to feel more "slight". It's worth a read, I think, but possibly not going out of your way to buy.

#81 - Lisa, I really appreciate your hunting around to find out more! I listened to the radio interview this morning, and I was really struck by how the presenter described it as a novel. I'd really thought of it as predominantly non-fiction, but now I've learned that Sadulaev was definitely away from Chechnya during both wars, I realise that more of it must be fictional than I'd imagined. Still, I think the important thing is that it feels real and I wonder whether some of the episodes where the author appears to be the protagonist are based on things that happened to other people. It all seems very plausible. Whatever the case, it's a book that made a real impression on me and, as far as I'm concerned, Sadulaev has achieved his aim (as stated in the interview) of drawing attention to the little-known/understood situation in Chechnya.

I haven't read the book you mention. Funnily enough, not long after finishing I Am a Chechen!, I saw a book in the library that was a Russian soldier's account of the war(s). I don't remember the title or author, but it could well have been the Babchenko book. I was feeling "Chechnya'ed out" at the time, but I'll have a look for it when I'm in the right frame of mind.

A couple of the Blyton books were translated and those were the ones with the 'national characteristics'. You're right - the French girl Claudine was afraid of the sun (freckles!!) and hated sports, the American girl Sadie was completely shallow and egoistic and the Spanish girl Carlotta had to learn to control her temper.

The purely German books I read were all set in the late 60s/ early 70s with the girls listening to folk music and organizing picknicks in the forest. Oh - but there was a shy Asian girl in both series (called Kim - in both series!) who was the princess of some obscure little state, hiding in the school from dangerous kidnappers. Those kidnappers were always caught with the help of the schoolgirls.
Retrospectively, the early English ones were best, with the midnight parties and the handball contests.

#83 - Nathalie, you clearly remember them very well! I'd forgotten about Sadie and Carlotta. I think time has proven Claudine right about the sun. I really wish I hadn't got rid of my Malory Towers and St Clare's books now - looks like I'm going to have to repurchase them...

Rebeki, I have hardly been on here lately but have just caught up on your last 9 posts - I loved The Sense of an Ending so am glad you appreciated it too. I think I liked it more than I would have because Adrian in the book reminded me very much of a friend I went through university with - it made the book a bit strange for me but unputdownable.

Nathalie, I hadn't thought about Sadie and Claudine for perhaps 30 years but now I can remember Claudine quite vividly. I grew up on an Enid Blyton diet - Mum had lots of them and I had read the Famous Five series before I went to school, and the Malory Towers books were next up.

Have you read Molesworth or the Just William books? My husband loved Molesworth (and I found him a 2nd edition in a nice secondhand bookshop in london last year) and I read all the Just williams.

The President's Last Love by Andrey Kurkov

I bought this on the strength of Death and the Penguin and Penguin Lost, which I read a few years ago and enjoyed immensely. This book offers the same mix of humour and melancholy.

This time, the narrator is ostensibly the most powerful man in Ukraine, President Bunin, but there is pressure from Russia and a troublesome electricity magnate to contend with, plus, following his heart transplant operation, it's really his assistant Nikolai Lvovich and friend General Svetlov who run the show. In any case, Bunin has found it's lonely at the top and is intrigued by the widow of the man whose heart was donated to him, who appears to be hanging around...

The action skips between Bunin's youth, from the mid-70s to early 90s, his rise as a politician, in 2004 and 2005, and the "present", actually the future, from 2013 to 2016). The narrative is chronological within each of these time frames, so it's not as confusing as it sounds.

I enjoy the apparent simplicity and matter-of-factness of Kurkov's writing, which makes the surreal elements all the more fun. As with all the books of his I've read, I found the English translation a little odd at times, but I tried to ignore this and tell myself that it just makes it sound more authentically Ukrainian.

Not quite so charming as his "penguin" books, but still an entertaining read. As a side note, it's interesting to see that Kurkov, who had this book published in 2004, predicted that Vladimir Putin would be Russian President in 2013 and that the UK would have a "youthful Conservative Prime Minister" (46 is youthful by head-of-state standards, right?)!

Hi Cushla!

With regard to The Sense of an Ending, I can imagine that having the character of Adrian resonate in such a way must have been quite unsettling.

I also grew up on a diet of Enid Blyton, which meant that when we did creative writing exercises at school I essentially copied her style - a bit out of place in the late 80s/early 90s!

Similarly, I think I've read just one Just William book, but I remember telling my English teacher I was reading it (in response to her asking what we were all reading) and her telling me that I should try something more up to date! I think that must have put me off, but I'm an adult now and can read what I like! I haven't come across the Molesworth books... I do love school stories, particularly those set long before I was born, in an apparently "cosy" past, so will have to investigate.

I have a couple of reviews outstanding, but in general book news, I'm making slightly better progress towards my TBR target, as I've decided to rid myself of books I'd like to read, but which I owned in an edition I don't like. One of these is the The Iliad, which I'm currently reading after finding the much-recommended Robert Fagles translation at the library. I've been infected by The Song of Achilles fever sweeping LT and wanted to get the background first.

I did cave in and buy Bring up the Bodies even though I won't be able to get to it very soon, but that's a good thing as I went to hear Hilary Mantel speak about it last night and, excitingly, got it signed by her! She's a very entertaining speaker and I was fascinated by how much she must inhabit the world of Thomas Cromwell and Henry VIII's court when researching and writing these books.

In further excitement, I recognised fellow LTers gennyt and souloftherose in the book-signing queue from a photo I'd seen of a London meet-up last year. I'm hoping I didn't come across as too stalkerish. It certainly felt wrong to be discussing LT and LT identities in public!

A signed copy - how wonderful!! I ordered the Kindle sample today, so I'll get at least a glimpse of it for now.

Enid Blyton and her German equivalent Marie Luise Fischer were about the only authors of girls' books whose works were widely available where I lived, so it was a bit of a forced Blyton diet for me, although I enjoyed those books very much.

So Claudine, Carlotta and Sadie kept their original names in Germany, while the main characters were renamed. Interesting. The Sullivan twins' names were Hannah (Hanni) and Marianne (Nanni) - both English, so I don't know why they couldn't go with Pat and Isabel. The cousin was Elli, Hilary was Hilda and Janet was Jenny - at least similar. I remember the names so well because I also owned the audio records and, having quite a good memory for things I listened to (while quickly forgetting everything I read), I am still able to recite some sections and remember all the stories.
Now I'd love to read both series in the original to see the differences.

#88 How fun! A signed book and a serendipitous LT meet up all in one night! Did you take a photo?

Rebeki, my childhood book diet was an odd mix of Enid Blyton, WW2 stories about prisoners of war escaping, and Holocaust fiction. I'm sure my English teachers wouldn't have been impressed with the Just Williams, but they were so funny and I can see my son loving the 2012 versions of them (in the form of Captain Underpants and various other series... in a few years your house too will be full of books with armpit and worse jokes.)

I am checking the maibox every day for my copy of Bring up the Bodies and keep picking it up in bookshops here - wish I hadn't pre-ordered it to save a few dollars. I'm glad you saw gennyt and souloftherose - it's a year since our meet-up in London and you found two of the nicest LTers around. I bet they got a surprise!

Hi Rebecca. It was lovely to meet you on Friday and you weren't stalkerish at all. :-) We were both thrilled you introduced yourself. Hilary Mantel's talk was so entertaining and I was very impressed that she smiled all the way through the autographing afterwards.

I've added Nada, Wide Sargasso Sea and The French Revolution by Christopher Hibbert to my wishlist. I'm hoping to reread A Tale of Two Cities by Dickens later this year and it would be good to get some background on the French Revolution. I've also got Mantel's A Place of Greater Safety which I've heard very good things about although it's such an enormous book - it's about the length of Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies combined!

>86 Rebeki: - Good review of The President's Last Love - I have that one on the pile. I liked Death and the Penguin too but haven't read the sequel yet. Interesting about Putin, though right now he's probably a good bet for president in the distant future also.

Hi Nathalie, Lisa, Cushla, Heather and DieFledermaus!

#89 - Well, I suppose the "foreign" characters had to remain foreign no matter what. I'm impressed that you can still recite sections of the books, though I don't suppose it's something you're required to do very often!

#90 - No photo, Lisa, as it was a brief and surprise encounter. I was in two minds over whether to say something, as I hadn't actually interacted with gennyt and souloftherose on LT - just lurked on their threads a little and read about last year's London meet-up - and I didn't want them to think I was a weirdo or alarm them in any way. Happily, it doesn't seem to have worked out like that! (No photo of Hilary Mantel either - I thought it was enough that she had to sit there for an hour signing books and chatting to complete strangers without that indignity!)

#91 - Ah well, I'd like to think our respective English teachers would be pleased with how we've turned out as readers, in spite of our childhood reading diet. I'm an only child and have only female cousins, so having a little boy will open up new reading horizons for me. Bring on the armpit jokes!
Yes, I remember the meet-up was around this time of year, as I'd only recently "met" you and Janet on the War and Peace threads, so was interested to read about your meeting without feeling that I should "out" myself as a Londoner. It was as a direct result of your meet-up that I subsequently dragged my husband to The Persephone Bookshop and The Lamb Bookshop when we were in the area!

#92 - Nice to see you here, Heather, and I'm glad I didn't alarm you. I'm going to follow your thread more actively now and am sure I'll be getting plenty of reading ideas from you too. I'd like to read A Place of Greater Safety this year, but given my slowish reading pace and other plans, that may be a bit ambitious. From what I've seen, it should be far less of a challenge for you!

#93 - Wow, my first ever spam message - now I know I've really arrived on LT!

#94 - I think reviewers weren't generally as impressed with Penguin Lost, but I liked it a lot. In any case, I'd become very attached to the penguin. I also remember a particularly chilling section set in Chechnya making quite an impression on me.
I watched Putin's inauguration live on Euronews and found it quite depressing...

Added Death and the Penguin to my list. Will wait until I settle from The Master and Margarita though.

I read an article quoting Putin - after the election, he was praising freedom and democracy - it was a little funny but mostly depressing.

Oh dear. I've never neglected my thread (or failed to keep up with other people's) for this long before. I've managed to make time to read these last three months (although not especially quickly), but not to post on LT. I'm going to attempt to catch up, slowly, starting with my own thread. However, since some of the books I've read have faded from my memory, my comments aren't going to be all that enlightening...

Journey to Nowhere: One Woman Looks for the Promised Land by Eva Figes

I bought this book after reading about it on rachbxl's thread, because I thought it'd make an interesting non-fiction counterpart to When I Lived in Modern Times, a book I first read last year and had chosen as my reading group's May selection. Both are concerned with the founding of Israel and both reveal a certain amount of disillusionment in this regard.

Journey to Nowhere is three books in one. It is an account by Eva Figes of her early life growing up in Berlin and then in London, following her family's timely departure from Germany in spring 1939. At the same time, it is the story of her family's housemaid, Edith, who somehow survives life as a Jewish woman in wartime Berlin, but, unable to feel at home there once the war is over, is persuaded to emigrate to Palestine, to be part of the nascent Jewish State. Unfortunately, for Edith, the latter does not live up to its high ideals and she once again seeks employment with the author's family, this time in London. Lastly, this book is a polemic on the creation of Israel, in particular the US foreign policy motivations behind it.

This is a highly readable, compelling and eye-opening book that has provided this ignorant reader with some inkling of how Israel came to be. I would now like to read a less impassioned, more objective account (if such a thing exists) of the history of Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

When I Lived in Modern Times by Linda Grant

A re-read of one of my favourite books last year, my choice for my reading group's May selection. I chose it because reviews of it seem to be quite mixed and the young protagonist, Evelyn Sert, is nicely morally ambiguous, so I felt sure it would divide opinion. I was right about that, although I failed to anticipate that some would be irritated by the "history lessons" Grant provides.

Being totally ignorant on the subject of Israel/Palestine, I barely noticed on my first reading that I was being educated in any way and did not feel that the more factually-based elements jarred at all. After reading Journey to Nowhere: One Woman Looks for the Promised Land, these elements stood out more, not least because the Israel-to-be depicted by Linda Grant seemed very much to echo Edith's experiences as recounted by Eva Figes, especially the derision reserved for the Yekkes, the German Jews. Most members of the reading group are older than me and, it appears, much better informed, so I wonder whether this book appears trite to those very familiar with this episode of history. However, I still feel that When I Lived in Modern Times hangs together as novel and, for me, it remains an enjoyable read.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

I didn't expect to find myself reading this book, as I'm not often drawn to YA fiction and, most of all, I hate to be reading what everyone else is reading, but a recent acquaintance, who rates the trilogy highly, was very keen to lend the books to me and I didn't feel able to refuse. However, I'm glad she was so persistent, because The Hunger Games came as a pleasant surprise.

Initially, I struggled to get into the book. Firstly, it took me a while to get used to that YA style of short sentences, matter-of-fact tone and present-tense narrative (perhaps I should say "reaccustomed", as I'm sure Judy Blume and Paula Danziger, favourites of mine as a teenager, wrote in a similar way, though with more humour). Secondly, the world Collins has created seems so bleak that I wasn't sure I could bear to inhabit it for 450 pages. I was soon drawn into the story though and found it an exciting read.

I found Katniss an admirable teen heroine - strong but aware of her weaknesses, not concerned with her appearance and not at all drippy about boys. I think I was expecting the opposite.

I'm now reading the second book in the trilogy, Catching Fire, and have completely relaxed about succumbing to the hype. After all, everyone else has moved on to Fifty Shades of Grey, which makes my reading seem classy and highbrow by comparison!

> 98 I've been off LT too for some time, so this applies to me as well. It's good to be back, though, isn't it?

> 99 I would now like to read a less impassioned, more objective account (if such a thing exists) on the history of Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

I'm now reading David Fromkin's A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Middle East and some chapters are devoted to the beginnings of the idea of the founding of a Jewish homeland in Palestine being discussed in official British circles starting in 1915. I sought this book out as part of a small project I have of learning a bit more of the history of the conflict in this region. It's a very well written account which I'm enjoying immensely, if that could be said of a book on war.

#102 - Hi deebee, and thanks for the recommendation. I know very little about the Middle East and when you're clueless on a subject, it's hard to know where to start. I've made a note of A Peace to End All Peace for when my brain can deal with the subject-matter - I'm not sure why, but I'm not in the mood for anything too demanding at the moment - and I look forward to reading your review!

Yes, it is good to be back! I don't know about you, but I feel much more in control of things for have logged my reading on LT. I still have some catching up to do though, not to mention getting round to reading others' threads...

Fun Home by Alison Bechdel

Last year, having previously avoided the genre, I read three graphic novels, two of which can more accurately be described as graphic memoirs. This year, I've continued my discovery that it's not all about superheroes with Alison Bechdel's frank account of her slightly eccentric small-town upbringing, her relationship with her father and his untimely death, and her sexual coming-of-age.

Bizarre as it may sound, I struggled sometimes with the wordiness of this work and felt that I didn't understand all the ideas, Alison and her father being far more intellectual than me. However, it's a moving and engaging story that works well in graphic form.

Good to see you back! Glad you liked the Figes. I, too, felt inspired to read something a little more objective on the subject (although one of the reasons I enjoyed Journey to Nowhere so much is its personal nature and therefore it's subjectivity), but I just haven't...quite...got...round...to...it. If you turn up something good I might be tempted (deebee's recommendation sounds worth a look).

Noting your comments on Journey to Nowhere. Like you, I really enjoyed When I Lived in Modern Times.

To round my self out a bit more on Israel I read and can recommend Palestinian walks : forays into a vanishing landscape by Raja Shehadeh. Easy reading, by the way.

As for the Hunger Games, I couldn't get past the beginning of book two...

#105 - Thanks for visiting, Rachel. Yes, it was the personal element that made Journey to Nowhere so compelling and I enjoyed Figes's vehemence. I'm just aware that I need to do some wider reading. I'm afraid I can't promise to get to anything on that subject very soon. I seem to be off non-fiction at the moment...

#106 - Hi Dan, that sounds an interesting read, although probably best saved for when I have more background knowledge - I'll add it to the list for what looks like a future reading project!

I'm not very far into Catching Fire, but I think I'm absorbed enough to carry on. I've read various comments to the effect that neither the second nor the third book matches up to the The Hunger Games, but I imagine I'll complete the trilogy. It's not great literature, but it's a nice diversion from my usual reading.

Off to take a peek at your thread...

Regeneration by Pat Barker

This is the first book in Pat Barker's acclaimed Regeneration Trilogy and was chosen by my reading group as its June book. I didn't make the meeting in the end, but was looking forward to filling this gap in my reading.

The story opens just after Siegfried Sassoon's 1917 declaration against the continuation of the First World War, in consequence of which he is sent to a psychiatric hospital for soldiers suffering shell shock. There he is treated by the psychiatrist W.H.R. Rivers, who, himself, seems to be suffering the effects of his work. Regeneration portrays the relationship between doctor and reluctant patient, but also focuses on other characters and how they are affected by the horrifying experience of trench warfare.

There is no doubt that this book is scrupulously researched and very well written, but it left me a bit cold. It may be that I don't have the stomach for the subject-matter, for this is a bleak novel, but the characters did not engage or interest me as I thought they would.

I'm glad finally to have read Regeneration, but I feel no compulsion to read the other books in the trilogy.

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

I read Wolf Hall just last year, but was distracted by real life at the time, and felt it needed a re-read before I could start Bring up the Bodies. I was conscious, last time, of reading it over too long a period of time and of losing momentum. Well, real life interefered just as much this time, but somehow it didn't matter. Whereas last year I liked and appreciated Wolf Hall, second time round I loved it. Mantel's evocation of 16th-century Britain is brilliant and her writing masterful. There's not much more I can say.

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

After seeing much praise for this book on LT, I was keen to read it and, inspired by fellow LTer Deern, I decided to read The Iliad first, so as to have the background to Miller's Orange-Prize-winning novel. Several people pointed out that it's not necessary to be familiar with The Iliad to enjoy The Song of Achilles - and I would agree - but I can be a bit obsessive about this kind of thing! In the event, The Iliad was put aside in favour of other books for various reasons, but the time was approaching for me to return The Song of Achilles to the library.

In some ways, being part-way through The Iliad was ideal. I had enough understanding of the context of this novel, but didn't know exactly how this tale of Patroclus, trusted companion to Achilles, would turn out.

Miller is a gifted storyteller and very easily conjured up Ancient Greece for someone who has read very little about that time and place, although I was thinking as I read it that it would be best enjoyed on a sunlounger on one of the Greek islands!

The Song of Achilles is an easy and enjoyable read, but doesn't seem to have made such an impact on me as it has on other LTers. In my case, I think it suffered for being read straight after Wolf Hall, in comparison to which it seemed rather lightweight.

Bring up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel

Bring up the Bodies was a much quicker read than Wolf Hall, probably because the action takes place over several months rather than several years. Unlike Anne's ascendancy to the throne, her demise is no drawn-out affair. She does not have the backing of foreign powers, as Katherine of Aragon did, nor does she appear to have the sympathy of the English people. And this time Thomas Cromwell is fully in control.

With greater power in his hands, Cromwell takes on a far more sinister aspect. In Wolf Hall, I was able to appreciate the rise of this ingenious blacksmith's son and feel somehow "on his side". He retains a certain charm in Bring up the Bodies, but now I am afraid of him. And while he seems all too aware of the precariousness of his situation, which is dependent on the King's continuing favour (and survival) and shaky alliances with old enemies, he also comes across as complacent at times. Mantel ensures her other characters are just as complex: Anne is impossible to like but arouses sympathy, Henry can be innocent and childlike, but is cruel in his treatment of Anne, and Jane Seymour cannot be as slow-witted as she appears...

I can't wait for the third book and to see how Cromwell will cope when the tide turns against him.

Excellent Women by Barbara Pym

This was a birthday present from my husband (OK, he had some help choosing it!) and my favourite book of the year so far.

Mildred Lathbury is in her early thirties and, in her mind at least, one of those excellent women, the kind that are always on hand to provide men with a cup of tea and some moral and practical support or, as it often turns out, to do their work for them, but not the kind men would ever consider marrying. It is on that last point that Mildred's status as an excellent woman could be called into doubt, but she seems to have persuaded herself otherwise. Despite opting for a safe, predictable kind of life, she is caught up in her upstairs neighbours' marital troubles, finds herself unwittingly playing the part of the jilted party when the vicar forms an unexpected attachment and makes the acquaintance of some anthropologists.

On the face of it, the post-war London Barbara Pym depicts, with its rations, ruins, impoverished gentlewomen and church jumble sales seems far removed from the present day, but her characters are real and recognisable and I'm starting to understand the comparisons with Austen. Although this book has a rather melancholy undercurrent, it had me smiling throughout. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of Pym's books (I've read only The Sweet Dove Died and Jane and Prudence so far). I know they may not match up to this, her best-loved work, but if they're only half as good, it'll be a treat!

So I'm caught up on my own thread for the time being. I'm continuing to read The Iliad, but rather slowly. I find I enjoy it best if I read it aloud. Otherwise I read too quickly and it becomes a blur of names and graphic descriptions of fighting. My 13-month-old son is on the receiving end of these readings - I hope he's taking it all in!

My next task to catch up on the 100s of unread messages on the other threads I follow...

I also loved Excellent Women when I read it this year. I have Quartet in Autumn on my shelf and I'm hoping to get to it soon. Also love that you're reading parts of the Iliad to your son!

A lot of interesting recent reads.

I liked The Hunger Games also but felt that the series decreased in quality later on. The last book was still wildly addictive but I had a number of complaints.

I have Regeneration on the pile but I have various planned depressing reads so might hold off on that one.

Ow, ow, ow! Three book bullets and several grazes. Journey to Nowhere, When I Lived in Modern Times, and Excellent Women all sound good. I'm sorry you didn't like Regeneration more, I thought it the strongest of the trilogy and quite fascinating. I love good historical fiction though, which isn't everyone's cuppa. *sigh* More plugs for Wolf Hall, Bring Up the Bodies, and The Song of Achilles, all popular books I've been avoiding for some reason.

Hi japaul, DieFledermaus and Lisa. Thank you for stopping by my long-neglected thread. I really need to catch up with what you've been reading.

#115 - Quartet in Autumn was Pym's last novel, wasn't it? I look forward to seeing what you think of it.
Hmmm, I hope my son isn't paying too much attention to The Iliad, as it's rather gory! I've been reading parts of whatever book I have on the go to my son since the beginning. It's actually pure selfishness, as it gives me the chance to read without feeling I'm ignoring him. I sometimes feel guilty, but try to convince myself it's helping his speech development or something...

#116 - I'm now most of the way through Catching Fire and feel I need to know what happens in the next book too. At the moment I'm feeling sorry for Peeta, because he seems to be portrayed as a bit useless and inept compared with Katniss.
Don't let me put you off Regeneration in general, although I appreciate that too many bleak reads at once is not a good thing.

#117 - I also like historical fiction, but I wonder if it's the war element I can't take. I struggled with the descriptions of warfare in Birdsong and Atonement, which were also so well written as to make me feel I was right there. That's obviously the point, and all three books have driven home how awful it must have been to fight in these wars, but I seem to be a bit of a wimp when it comes to reading about them. With Regeneration, I possibly also struggled with some of the scientific ideas in the novel. In any case, I think my reaction to Regeneration says more about me than it does about the book and I'd still recommend it to others.
I often avoid popular books and then read them a few years later, with lowered expectations. The Song of Achilles was good, but didn't quite live up to the hype for me. It certainly isn't in the same league as Wolf Hall or Bring up the Bodies, which I loved. But I say you should carry on avoiding them until you have a real urge to read them!

Catching up...
Interesting to see your thoughts on many books I've read this year. You're right - Mantel's writing is so good, it's an all new level of historical literature, also when it comes to the research she must have done. And then a book like SoA feels a bit like an easy holiday read in comparison (which isn't bad, but still a different level).

And I am looking forward to reading your reviews for the remaining Hunger Games books.

Hi Nathalie, you're also on my list of people whose threads I need to catch up on!

I doubt my review of Catching Fire will be too detailed, as I find it hard to say much about easy reads. Still, I'm hoping to finish it today, so we'll see whether I have any interesting thoughts on the subject!

Hi there, de-lurking to say that I was one of the people who loved The Song Of Achilles, and I think one of the reasons was that unlike you, I did know what was going to happen... so some of the prophecies etc made me blub helplessly. I can see how it would fade in the shadow of something as great as Wolf Hall, though - I read it in the middle of several non-fiction books related to a course I was taking, so it was a great relief!

In message #98, I despaired of the fact that I'd neglected my thread for three months. Now I've gone one month better, by which, of course, I mean worse. This is essentially down to overwork, something I'm determined to put right in 2013.

I have carried on reading, only suffering the occasional slump, so I now have a number of books to comment on. In most cases, these comments aren't going to be too detailed, I'm afraid...

ETA: #121 - Thanks for stopping by, wandering_star, and sorry to respond to your comment so late! The Song of Achilles was definitely an enjoyable read and a great piece of storytelling and I thought enough of it to buy it for a friend for Christmas...

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

I know lots of people seem to find this book a letdown after The Hunger Games, but I can't say I'm one of them. For instance, I didn't mind the build-up to the 75th anniversary games - it was interesting to see how Katniss's life had changed and to read about the strategy she, Peeta and Haymitch would take adopt this time around. I think I followed the dynamics of the games a little less well this time, but perhaps it's best, with this type of book, just to let it all wash over me, like a decent action film, rather than try to analyse the plot too carefully!

I'm now about a quarter of the way through Mockingjay and looking forward to seeing how the story concludes.

I continued with easy reads in September:

Tea Time for the Traditionally Built by Alexander McCall Smith

This series is the perfect comfort read for me. In this book, Mma Ramotswe attempts to learn about football in order to solve a case she has unwillingly taken on and Mma Makutsi ponders how to save her fiancé from the clutches of the scheming Violet Sephotho.

I've learnt that I enjoy these books best if I don't try to race through them but stick to a slow, deliberate pace Mma Ramotswe would approve of, but the pages fly by all the same!

Zoo Station by David Downing

I'd never heard of this author or series of spy novels until I read about them on Library Thing, where they generally seem to attract high praise, so I thought I'd give this first book a go. Unfortunately, my experience was closer to that of labfs39 and I found Zoo Station quite a plodding read. The protagonist, John Russell, seemed to agree to requests from various parties without much concern for the potential consequences and the characterisation was rather flat. Having been to Berlin fairly recently, and having an interest in Central Europe in general, I enjoyed reading about John's travels and the food and drink he consumed, but that was about it.

Nice to see you, Rebeki. I've been AWOL from my thread quite a bit this year too. I need to find more balance. I'm sorry you didn't enjoy Zoo Station, but it's reassuring to know that I'm not the only one who was let down by it. I'm glad your other reads were more satisfying.

#125 - Thanks, Lisa! I really need to catch up on your reading, but thought I'd better attend to my own thread first. I hope 2013 is a more balanced year for both of us!

I have no more time now, but I hope to come back tomorrow to comment on the books I read from October onwards.

Hi Rebeki and it's nice to see you back. Sorry you're in the not-so-great camp for Zoo Station. The Berlin background is one of the highlights for me too, and I'm quite good at suspending disbelief in spy novels - maybe too good!

Looking forward to seeing your next batch of reads.

#127 - Hi Cushla, good to see you here - I also need to catch up with your threads!

The spy novel isn't a genre I'm very familiar with, so it may just be it's not for me. I borrowed John Le Carré's first novel Call for the Dead from the library the other day, as I've been wanting to try his books ever since the recent film version of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy came out - obviously I didn't see the film, because that would be breaking my "read first, watch second" rule, but I'd like to see it eventually - and would like to read the Smiley books in order (another rule of mine!). Since he's supposed to be the master of the genre, that should help me work out whether it's for me! Although, I've read that Call for the Dead is closer to a mystery in style and not necessarily the best place to start with Le Carré. Ah well...

On Brick Lane by Rachel Lichtenstein

I bought this book about six months after moving to London and a couple of weeks after my Brick Lane curry (not that memorable, to be honest - it's not like you can't get decent curry in other parts of London or, indeed, the country, and without people badgering you as you walk down the street, as interesting an experience as that was...). Anyway, I was determined to learn more about my new home city and was interested in the history of this area, which has been home in its time to various immigrant communities.

The book languished on my shelves for two years before I decided that in order to get maximum enjoyment from it, I needed to be better acquainted with Brick Lane and the surrounding streets, so my husband and I spent an enjoyable Sunday doing the walking tour at the back of the book. Then, over 18 months later, I finally read the book! Happily, I could still remember the various streets from our walk, as I do think you need to be familiar with the area to enjoy On Brick Lane.

Rachel Lichtenstein's interest stems from the fact that her grandparents had owned a shop on Brick Lane, though she herself had grown up in Essex. Lichtenstein is also an artist and, as an adult, moved into a studio on the street, artists having become the latest set of "immigrants". For personal reasons, she was keen to explore the Jewish heritage of the area, but she also looks at life within the Bangladeshi community, currently the predominant group of inhabitants, though many Bangladeshis are moving away, unhappy with life on a street that is now a lunchtime venue for City workers and night-time destination for hipsters (a source of revenue but also a cause of rental rises). Lichtenstein also focuses on the area's attraction for writers and artists, although many of them are also being priced out.

This is a very readable book and if a particular chapter didn't hold my interest so much, I knew I wasn't too many pages away from the next. I was most interested in the social history - how Jewish and Bengali immigrants managed and manage (just about!) to preserve their way of life in what is an island within mainstream British culture, the conflicts between local inhabitants and the Blackshirts and, later, members of the National Front, and the history of the Truman Brewery site. I was less engaged by the chapters in which Lichtenstein spoke to artists and poets, but that's just a matter of personal interest. On the whole, this was a refreshing and illuminating read and one I'd recommend to anyone curious about and somewhat familiar with the area.

Nice to see you posting again. I'm still very entertained picturing you read these books out loud to your son. Intrigued by On Brick Lane. Embarrassingly, I read the novel Brick Lane by Monica Ali without ever realizing it was the name of that section of the city, and certainly I never knew about its Jewish heritage.

>124 Rebeki: On spy books, WWII and Berlin, you might like the Bernie Gunther series by Phillip Kerr better. I have read both and like Bernie better. In the novels, he is actually a Berliner, so looks at events from a completely different point of view than the English John Russell.

I'm currently working through another Rachel Lichtenstein book, Rodinsky's Room, also in the same area of London.

#130 - Hi Dan, it's so nice that people are so quick to drop by even though I haven't managed to visit anyone else's threads for ages.

Ha, with the exception of The Iliad (which I've finally finished), I only read out loud from other books when I feel my son's starting to get irritated with me and it seems to do the trick! One of his favourite things now is actually to turn the pages of books, even dull-looking books without pictures, so I'm hoping I have a future bookworm on my hands!

Brick Lane is actually the name of just one street, but On Brick Lane also covers the streets running off it. Apart from a couple of bagel shops, I think most traces of Jewish Brick Lane have now disappeared. Brick Lane Mosque rather neatly reflects the demographic changes, as it started out as a Huguenot chapel, before becoming a synagogue and, finally, a mosque.

I haven't read Brick Lane, but I'd like to.

#131 - Hi Sassy Lassy, thanks for the recommendation. I'll have a look to see whether my local library has any of the Bernie Gunther books.

Rachel Lichtenstein touches on David Rodinsky in On Brick Lane and I'm very interested to see what you think of Rodinsky's Room.

On Brick Lane Interested to read your review Rebeki. My first wife came from just round the corner in Whitechapel and I lived there for a short period. When I was there the Jewish community was still very strongly represented, but the Bangladeshi's had gained more than a foothold.

I have added the book to my wishlist.

There are two very interesting old houses to visit near Brick Lane - you may have already visited them but just in case not...:

19 Princelet St, an old Huguenot house. It's also known as the Museum of Immigration and Diversity but the exhibition is fairly small - the real attraction is seeing the house itself. It's not in a great state of repair and therefore not routinely open to the public, but it has occasional open days and it's definitely worth trying to go.

And Dennis Severs' House, which is almost a site-specific theatre piece, although without actors - it's set up so you feel that you are walking round the house of a Huguenot family, knowing they are there but never quite bumping into any of them. It's good fun and again, the house itself is really something.

#133 - What an interesting place to have lived, Barry - I think you'd get a lot out of this book.

#134 - wandering_star, I haven't been to either of those houses and hadn't even heard of them, in fact, so thank you!

ETA: Although it seems fairly likely that Rachel Lichtenstein mentioned 19 Princelet St in her book, so perhaps I didn't think at the time that it was somewhere I'd be able to visit and have since forgotten the address. In any case, I'm plotting a visit!

The Art of Travel by Alain de Botton

Visiting new places is one of my favourite things, even though I don't get to do it so much these days, and I find Alain de Botton very readable, so, appropriately enough, I took this book away on holiday with me in October.

It turned out to be a source of comfort to someone who was used to flitting about quite a bit, albeit rarely out of Europe, but now finds herself (more or less) confined by circumstance to her island - I'm aware that I could choose to globetrot with a toddler in tow, but because travel is such a pleasure, I don't want the sense of freedom it offers diluted by fretting about travel cots and nappy changes! There are plenty of places closer to home that are new to me, so that will do until circumstances change!

Anyway, de Botton refers in the first chapter to a character in the novel A Rebours, a not especially venturesome French aristocrat, who is so taken with the idea of visiting London that he devours Dickens novels and Baedeker guides in preparation and hangs out in English hostelries in Paris, before deciding that, in reality, London can never match up to the London he has created for himself, so he'd do better to stay at home! This was an interesting illustration of the part anticipation plays in our enjoyment of travel and is certainly true for me, although I do find I need to actually travel to the place in question to obtain the full pleasure! And then there are the unrealistic expectations we have, prompted by holiday brochures showing almost deserted white beaches and azure seas. We think that because a place looks idyllic, we cannot help but have a wonderful time there all the time. Yet there will still be annoyances, as there are everywhere, and, because we cannot leave ourselves behind, we will still carry all our worries and troubles with us. This is obvious, but is not something I'd previously thought about.

Alain de Botton talks about other things: how the exotic exists in the unlikeliest of things (such as signs as Schiphol Airport) and the pleasure offered by transient places (such as motorway service stations) are the ones that seem to have stayed with me, along with the possibility of seeing our everyday environs as a tourist and therefore appreciating them more. In each chapter of the book he refers to the work of painters (such as Hopper and Van Gogh) and writers (such as Wordsworth and Baudelaire) and their own views on travel, which, in turn, made me more interested in their work.

Sadly, I seem to have forgotten many of the ideas in the book and it is one I'd like to own and re-read. (I discovered that, in spite of having checked it out at the library front desk, there was no record of my having borrowed it. Still, our libraries are struggling enough as it is, so I did the right thing!)

Good to hear you did the right thing Rebeki

Interesting review of The art of Travel, with some very relevant points about travelling/tourism. Miles Davis is reputed to have said something to the effect that he didn't need to go anywhere that he had seen a picture of. I was horrified when I read that, because at one time I loved travelling. These days I am not so sure that travelling is particularly good for the planet and content myself with exploring what is just within walking or bicycling distance. I hate to think of myself as a tourist. A traveller sounds much better.

Rebeki, The art of travel sounds interesting and I might look out for it in the library. I didn't love his airports book though but might have been expecting too much. I laughed at your comments on Schiphol's signs because it is the source of a running family joke that whenever my husband's in a foreign country he reads all the signs out like a kid who's just learnt to read - it started at Schiphol!

WE have lots of friends who travelled with small children but we were in the "far too much hassle and what's the rush" camp till we moved over to Switzerland (Teresa was almost 3 when we left NZ). We had some fantastic trips with them in tow while in Europe but they were very hard work and we're staying put this Christmas and looking forward to it.

I like the Bernie Gunther novels too and bought all 7 after I read the first one. Have only read the first 2 so far. They are more violent than the Zoo Station series though. Haven't seen the John le Carre you have out of the library but I love Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and the 3rd in that series, Smiley's People. I find le Carre uneven but worth it for the good ones.

A belated Merry Christmas to everyone!

#137 - I have the very first-world problem of feeling I haven't yet seen "enough" of the world, but I think too many people ignore what's right in front of them, so your approach is a wise one on a number of levels. I'm not sure de Botton himself used the word "tourist" and "traveller" definitely sounds better, but I've been influenced by the last book I finished, Welcome to Everytown: A Journey into the English Mind by Julian Baggini, in which, in a chapter on holidays, he divides the English into "holidaymakers" and "tourists", arguing that people rarely fit (his) description of "travellers" (living among and in the manner of local inhabitants). So, thinking about my holidays, which have mainly been to European cities, I do visit as a tourist, albeit as someone who sometimes speaks the local language, has some awareness of local customs and generally tries to be as well behaved and inconspicuous as possible!

I'm also influenced by a slightly unsettling conversation I had a few years ago with a couple I'd just met and didn't take to, in which they seemed to imply I led a rather boring existence (perhaps I do in their eyes, but it's rude to say so to someone you barely know!), asking me, "But you must have some hobbies?". Obviously, my mind then went blank and all I could manage was a lame, "Well, I like going on holiday". They looked unimpressed, but when I told them that my last trip had been a two-week stay in Leipzig, Dresden and Berlin, they said, "Oh that's not going on holiday, that's travelling". Well, wandering the streets of cities which have an interesting history and architecture and visiting museums, galleries and other sights is my idea of a fun and relaxing time, so I would argue it's just as much a holiday to me as lying on a beach somewhere is to someone else. Anyway, Barry, I'm not sure your comment warranted all this waffle, so apologies for going on!

#138 - I hope you had a good Christmas, Cushla, and I bet you relished not going anywhere! Unless, we also somehow end up living in a different country over the next few years (unlikely!), we shall also adopt your initial approach. We managed a trip to Stockholm in September, but that was to visit friends with a child of a similar age and we didn't actually see anything of the city (we've been before, will go again and the main purpose of the trip was to spend time with these very good friends).

I'm not sure I'm going to get to the Philip Kerr books very soon, but I shall definitely use the library in case they're not to my taste. Given that Call for the Dead is so little known, I suspect it's not considered one of Le Carré's better ones, but at least I have nothing to compare it to!

Really good review of the de Botton - I liked the incident from A Rebours, which has been on the wishlist for years now. I enjoy his books also, they're fun, breezy and he was the first one that made me really want to read Proust. I've been boycotting him for a bit because he had a crazy author meltdown but it's been awhile - maybe I should get this one.

There was a NY Times article on how the pleasures of anticipation - and later, replaying your travels and gilding the memories - make traveling a better bet for increasing happiness than, say, buying stuff.

I just posted the best books I've read in 2012:

http://kammbia1.wordpress.com/2012/12/29/wisdom-of-kammbia-3-12-marions-2012-boo...

Enjoy,
Marion

#140 - Hi DieFledermaus, the only other book I've read by de Botton is The Consolations of Philosophy, which was a present from a friend and something I'd never have picked up by myself. As is often the way, I remember very little about it, but I know that it succeeded in making philosophy accessible to someone whose brain just doesn't work that way and was quite the page-turner. I'd love to read more by him. And A Rebours, which I hadn't heard of before.

I'm not sure whether I found the article you were talking about, but I found a couple of short NY Times blog posts confirming what you said about the pleasure of travel being mainly in the anticipation. This has always been my experience, but it's gratifying to read that it's true for people in general. I love planning holidays and go all out reading about the history of my destination and choosing fiction set there. I think my husband thinks I'm crazy, but clearly I've just discovered the key to happiness!

Six outstanding "reviews" to write before I can start a shiny new thread over in Club Read 2013...

Soft City by Jonathan Raban

I bought this book around the same time as On Brick Lane and, though it deals with city life in general and in a more abstract way, London is the city Raban refers to most frequently. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but, for me, this book was a disappointment.

The title refers to the fact that town planners, architects and the authorities can plan all they want, but the cities we inhabit are not the hard structures they design and commission; they are moulded by us as individuals in terms of the places we frequent and the identity we (choose to) assume.

This is an interesting idea, as is that of the city as a stage on which its inhabitants perform. However, I felt, on the whole, that Raban's writing became a bit repetitive. I suspect this may be because I didn't understand the different nuances of the ideas he was presenting. I don't think Soft City is a bad book, but it's definitely for people fonder than me of grappling with abstract ideas.

The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson

I wonder how many people are drawn to this because of the urge to check whether they themselves or someone they know is a psychopath? Well, to paraphrase a psychologist quoted in this book, if you're worrying about the possibility of being a psychopath yourself, then you probably aren't one! And, happily, I don't think I know anyone who would score highly on the Hare Psychopathy Checklist, often quoted in the book and with which Ronson becomes rather obsessed.

For anyone not an expert on the subject of psychology or mental health (who would, I think, find this book superficial and uneven), this is an engaging introduction to the "madness industry", in which Ronson explores psychologists' attempts to treat psychopathy, how the traits of the disorder may be disproportionately present in the most powerful among us and the dangers of overdiagnosing disorders. The various chapters are mostly unconnected, but most interesting to me were the recurring sections concerning a young man who, after committing a crime, attempts to convince doctors he's insane in order to avoid prison (in favour of detention in a psychiatric hospital).

I haven't read anything else by Jon Ronson, so I was unfamiliar with his style, but I really enjoyed the way he inserted himself in this book, as I felt like I was accompanying him on his journalistic quest. He starts out as a novice to the subject who becomes increasingly informed, though certainly no expert, just like the average reader of The Psychopath Test, and is, by turns, intrigued and horrified by what he discovers.

A very enjoyable book on a depressing and disturbing subject.

Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi

This was my reading group's selection for November, although I didn't manage to finish it until December. It was a much denser read than I was anticipating, but a worthwhile one.

Most group members had been expecting a more straightforward memoir of life in post-revolutionary Iran and I felt that this book had been marketed rather simplistically as being about a reading group in Iran, when it focuses just as much on the classes taught by Nafisi, a professor of literature, as well as on her friendship with the enigmatically nicknamed "magician", her professional situation in general and on the books/authors around which Reading Lolita is structured - Lolita, Gatsby, James and Austen. All of this is against the backdrop of the revolution, the Iran-Iraq War and life under an increasingly oppressive regime until Nafisi's emigration to the United States in 1997.

I think some people struggled with the parts in which Nafisi discusses the aforementioned works and authors - it felt to me as if I were attending one of her lectures, although no less enjoyable for that - but I struggled more to keep the various reading group members and their back stories straight in my head, especially as Nafisi admits to jumbling up certain of their characteristics to protect the identity of the women in question. When discussing the intended audience of this book, we more or less reached a consensus that Nafisi had written it for herself - the inclusion of the sections on literature was seen as self-indulgent by some. On the other hand, Nafisi admits that it was reading these classics by candlelight that kept her going throughout the missile attacks and bombing raids conducted during the Iran-Iraq War, by providing her with a means of escape. That being the case, it seems legitimate that they should form such a focus of the book.

While I learnt something of life in Iran from 1979 onwards (including that going out for coffee and ice cream seemed to be one of the last remaining public pleasures open to women), I would need to read a different sort of book to understand fully the politics of the country. What has stayed with me, however, is the desire to read Vladimir Nabokov and Henry James for the first time and to re-read The Great Gatsby, so I'm very grateful to Azar Nafisi for that.

As much as I've heard about Reading Lolita in Tehran I think yours is the first review of i've read. Enjoyed your comments, I'm putting it on the wishlist (if it isn't already there)

#147 - Hi Dan, it's nice that someone's still here! I'm itching to move over to Club Read 2013 and to start visiting other people's threads again. I've no hope of catching up with their 2012 reading, but at least I can start anew!

I'm glad my comments haven't put you off Reading Lolita in Tehran. It's not a book I'd recommend to everyone, but I definitely got a lot out of it.

The Iliad by Homer, translated by Robert Fagles

This is my reading achievement of the year, and it took me more than half of it! However, in spite of having owned both The Iliad and The Odyssey for more than 10 years, it seemed unlikely that I would ever read them. From time to time, I'd pick up my Wordsworth Classics version of The Iliad, attempt the first sentence and then close the book again in despair. Then, along came The Song of Achilles and, accompanying it, a lot of enthusiasm among LT-ers for reading/re-reading The Iliad, in particular the Penguin Classics translation by Robert Fagles. What a difference an engaging translation makes...

Fagles doesn't write in archaic or over-flowery English, but still keeps a sense of time and place; there is nothing jarring or out of place and I felt I was there, outside the walls of Troy. Initially, I made slow progress because Homer's story takes a while to get going - the chapter or book listing the various Argive and Trojan troops was a little hard-going - but once the action starts, it's thrilling, if rather gory. I felt I could picture the scenes as clearly as if I were watching the Lord of the Rings films - I don't go in for war films, so I'm afraid that's the closest reference I have!

I doubt most readers would take seven months to read The Iliad. In my case, I found I needed to read an entire book (it's split into 24 books) at a time, else I lost track of the plot, and it became difficult to find the time for that. As mentioned upthread, I also began to read it aloud (to my son), which made for a more drawn-out reading experience. It was always enjoyable though.

Now that I've discarded my dull Wordsworth Classics prose translations, I look forward to taking up the story again in Robert Fagles's translation of The Odyssey, though, given that I have other tomes I'd like to read first, it may not be for a couple of years...

congratulations Rebeki on reading and enjoying the Iliad. This is something I still have to do.

#150 - Thanks, Barry. I guess that, for you, that would involve travelling backwards in time again?

Of course, people still come over and read the final reviews; but not everyone feels compelled to comment.

I know that itch, I had to write up some reviews after January 1, when all others had already moved on, or so it seemed.

Glad you enjoyed the Fagles translation and congrats on finishing it!

I read Reading Lolita in Tehran a while back and didn't like it much, for many of the reasons you mentioned. I found the characters hard to keep straight and was surprisingly uninterested by the book analyses. The main part I appreciated and remember was the change in day to day life for women over the authors life. I think the book had a lot if potential, but it didn't work for me.

Agree with #152. Very nice to read your response to the Illiad. My plan was to read the OT last year and then spend this year read Homer and reading about him. I'm still reading the OT...

Loved reading your reaction to the Iliad - I own the Fagles translations of both it and the Odyssey and one day soon I will read it...

Here's the NY Times article I was thinking of -

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/08/business/08consume.html?pagewanted=all&_r=...

and I found another one when I was searching -

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/08/opinion/sunday/dont-indulge-be-happy.html?page...

Nice review of The Psychopath Test - I read that one last year, partly because I do know a person who would probably score high on the checklist. I enjoyed his style too after I got into it - at first all the personal stuff was irritating but i think it worked for the story he wanted to tell.

Welcome to Everytown by Julian Baggini

In the second half of 2005, the philosopher Julian Baggini spent six months living in "England's most typical postcode", which on the basis of the mix of ACORN demographic profiles, turned out to be S66, on the outskirts of Rotheram, South Yorkshire. His aim in so doing, as the book's subtitle informs us, was to take "a journey into the English mind".

Baggini admits to feeling little affinity with his native Kent and is happiest in his chosen home of an affluent Bristol suburb, while his education and "job" and the fact of being half-Italian also set him apart from "the typical Englishman". During this six-month period, Baggini wouldn't just live there observing others as outside figure, he would also adopt the lifestyle of the mainstream, eating, drinking, holidaying and spending his leisure time in the way the typical Englishman would. At the end of the book, he attempts to define "the English philosophy".

At first I was concerned that there was something inherently patronising about this project - that Baggini would be looking down on the average person from his lofty position of metropolitan intellectual (and that the reader, by association, would also be guilty of condescension), but Baggini is very upfront about his prejudices and is quick to admit where he believes he is wrong. For instance, after watching the year's most popular cinema releases and TV programmes, he concludes that most popular culture is popular because it is very good. He is also careful, most of the time, not to pass judgment and where his preferences are different from that of the mainstream and his experience of living in S66 does nothing to alter these preferences, is open about making clear that this is merely his point of view.

One of the most eye-opening chapters concerns the English attitude to democracy and human rights. We possibly think of ourselves as liberal nation, but Baggini argues that our guiding ideology is one of communitarianism - a belief in no rights without responsibilities, rather than universal human rights. This can be seen in our criticism of the Human Rights Act and, more recently, the fuss about giving prisoners the right to vote. On a more personal level, it was the chapter on food that left me feeling most uncomfortable. Thus far, I had found I was more closely aligned with Baggini's perspective, but I had something of a revelation after reading this chapter. I have always argued to dismissive foreigners (usually of the French variety!) that British food is not bad and perhaps the dishes themselves aren't, but what I hadn't really considered is that the quality of the food we eat often can be and that we are willing to tolerate poor quality for the sake of convenience or perceived value.

Anyway, this was my favourite non-fiction read of the year and gripped me from start to finish.

Edited in the interests of clarity!

#152 - You're right, Edwin, and I'm pleased people have felt compelled to comment ;) I failed to follow your threads properly in 2012, but look forward to doing so in 2013 - somehow I feel optimistic that I'll be able to manage my time better in order to find more time for LT this year, but I'm not sure what grounds I have for this optimism!

#153 - Thanks, japaul! Yes, Reading Lolita was a lot harder work than I'd expected and I think most people picking it up would expect and prefer a lot less literary analysis.
I'm sorry to have lost track of your reading during the second part of the year, but I look forward to catching up with you on Club Read 2013 (one more review to go!).

#154 - Well, the Old Testament's a pretty big undertaking all by itself, so I guess it takes as long as it takes. I'd like to be more familiar with The Bible, but think I may need to read a children's version first!

#155 - Cushla, I think you'll really enjoy it when you get there. No need to rush these things ;)

#156 - Thanks, DieFledermaus, that wasn't the article I found, but it looks a lot more detailed and very interesting, as does the second one you posted.
On The Psychopath Test, I saw that you'd read another book on the same subject, which sounded interesting, although I think I need a break from psychopaths/sociopaths for a while!

In December, I failed to read more than 20 pages of My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult, my reading group's selection for that month. I admit to being completely prejudiced from the outset, but I also felt irritated by Picoult's writing style and am not fond of anything to do with (physical) illness. It seems other members found the plot interesting, but weren't that keen on the writing and felt the book was far too long.

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

This was my final book of the year and one for which I find it impossible to write detailed comments. Mockingjay concludes The Hunger Games trilogy, as the rebels fight to overthrow The Capitol.

While the love triangle got a little silly, Peeta became more interesting, though was still portrayed as rather useless. However, it was all enjoyable stuff and I'm glad I read the series. I'd now very much like to see the film adaptations.

One sort of children's version of the bible: The Brick Bible...online as www.thebrickbible.com

#161 - Very cute!

New thread here.