rocketjk is back for another go in 2013
ForumBooks off the Shelf Challenge
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1rocketjk
Last year I went over to the BOMBS (now the ROOTS) group, but this group seems more relaxed, and therefore more my own speed, so I'm back! Last year I read 22 books that were already on my shelves at the start of the year, so this year I'll shoot for 23!
As always, I'll just be including very short descriptions here, with more detailed write-ups on my 50-Book Challenge thread: http://www.librarything.com/topic/148694
Master List (Touchstones included with individual listings below):
1: Nostromo by Joseph Conrad
2: Rhino Ranch by Larry McMurtry
3: The Abolitionists: the Growth of a Dissenting Minority by Merton L. Dillon
4: Officers and Gentlemen by Evelyn Waugh
5: Geek Love by Katherine Dunn
6: Blood and Faith: the Purging of Moslem Spain by Matthew Carr
7: Deadwood Dick on Deck or Calamity Jane, The Heroine of Whoop-Up by Edward L. Wheeler
8: Cast Down the Laurel by Arnold Gingrich
9: The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
10: Time Capsule by Mitch Berman
11: The New Yorker 1994 Fiction Issue
12: The Year the Mets Lost Last Place by Paul Zimmerman and Dick Schaap
13: Rachel Cade by Charles Mercer
14: Eyes of a Child by Richard North Patterson
15: Selected Short Stories of Isaac Bashevis Singer
16: One Very Hot Day by David Halberstam
17: The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
18: Dixie After the War by Myrta Lockett Avary
19: The War in Eastern Europe by John Reed
As always, I'll just be including very short descriptions here, with more detailed write-ups on my 50-Book Challenge thread: http://www.librarything.com/topic/148694
Master List (Touchstones included with individual listings below):
1: Nostromo by Joseph Conrad
2: Rhino Ranch by Larry McMurtry
3: The Abolitionists: the Growth of a Dissenting Minority by Merton L. Dillon
4: Officers and Gentlemen by Evelyn Waugh
5: Geek Love by Katherine Dunn
6: Blood and Faith: the Purging of Moslem Spain by Matthew Carr
7: Deadwood Dick on Deck or Calamity Jane, The Heroine of Whoop-Up by Edward L. Wheeler
8: Cast Down the Laurel by Arnold Gingrich
9: The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
10: Time Capsule by Mitch Berman
11: The New Yorker 1994 Fiction Issue
12: The Year the Mets Lost Last Place by Paul Zimmerman and Dick Schaap
13: Rachel Cade by Charles Mercer
14: Eyes of a Child by Richard North Patterson
15: Selected Short Stories of Isaac Bashevis Singer
16: One Very Hot Day by David Halberstam
17: The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
18: Dixie After the War by Myrta Lockett Avary
19: The War in Eastern Europe by John Reed
2rocketjk
Book 1: Nostromo by Joseph Conrad
I begin each year with a re-read of one of the major works by my favorite classic author, Joseph Conrad. Nostromo is very long, with lots of exposition, especially at the beginning, and so not to everyone's taste. But once the story gets going, Conrad's insight into human nature shines through, and the plot becomes involving, as well.
I begin each year with a re-read of one of the major works by my favorite classic author, Joseph Conrad. Nostromo is very long, with lots of exposition, especially at the beginning, and so not to everyone's taste. But once the story gets going, Conrad's insight into human nature shines through, and the plot becomes involving, as well.
3Yells
I found the other group a little intense as well which is why I came back here. My aim this year is to not focus so much on numbers but more on finally getting to the chunksters, the long reads and the ones that don't fit a category.
4rocketjk
Book 2: Rhino Ranch by Larry McMurtry
The fifth and final book in McMurtry's "Thalia, Texas" series. Sorry to be losing the company of Duane and his friends. I guess I could always go back and re-read.
The fifth and final book in McMurtry's "Thalia, Texas" series. Sorry to be losing the company of Duane and his friends. I guess I could always go back and re-read.
5fundevogel
Agreed, I prefer the pace of this group to the other.
6rocketjk
Book 3: The Abolitionists: the Growth of a Dissenting Minority by Merton L. Dillon
A very readable, straightforward history of the American abolitionist movement in the decades leading up to the Civil War. An excellent introduction to the topic.
A very readable, straightforward history of the American abolitionist movement in the decades leading up to the Civil War. An excellent introduction to the topic.
7rocketjk
Book 4: Officers and Gentlemen by Evelyn Waugh
The second of Waugh's Sword of Honor trilogy. The trilogy is a dark comedy/satire of war, bureaucracy and the English class system. Fun in places, depressing in others, the books are laced with Waugh's sly sense of humor and wonderful way with language.
The second of Waugh's Sword of Honor trilogy. The trilogy is a dark comedy/satire of war, bureaucracy and the English class system. Fun in places, depressing in others, the books are laced with Waugh's sly sense of humor and wonderful way with language.
8rocketjk
Book 5: Geek Love by Katherine Dunn
My reading's going slow this year, but I finally read a 5th off-the-shelf book. Geek Love is essentially about malevolence, and it's that element, not its strong strain of the macabre, that I found disturbing. I found the ending unsatisfying, and the book as a whole imaginative but only so-so all told.
My reading's going slow this year, but I finally read a 5th off-the-shelf book. Geek Love is essentially about malevolence, and it's that element, not its strong strain of the macabre, that I found disturbing. I found the ending unsatisfying, and the book as a whole imaginative but only so-so all told.
9rocketjk
Book 6: Blood and Faith: the Purging of Muslim Spain by Matthew Carr
A detailed and fascinating history of the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Muslims from Spain in the early 17th century. These were people who had stayed behind to remain in Spain after the final "reconquest" of Iberia in 1492 by the Christian armies of Ferdinand and Isabella. They lived in Spain, under varying degrees of religious/culture repression and coercion, for over a century before finally being expelled. A horrific story, and Carr is quite specific about the parallels to be drawn by our current attitudes/situations.
A detailed and fascinating history of the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Muslims from Spain in the early 17th century. These were people who had stayed behind to remain in Spain after the final "reconquest" of Iberia in 1492 by the Christian armies of Ferdinand and Isabella. They lived in Spain, under varying degrees of religious/culture repression and coercion, for over a century before finally being expelled. A horrific story, and Carr is quite specific about the parallels to be drawn by our current attitudes/situations.
10rocketjk
Book 7: Deadwood Dick on Deck or Calamity Jane, The Heroine of Whoop-Up by Edward L. Wheeler
An 1880s dime novel, reprinted in 1966. Fun to read, although really more interesting as an historical item than a straight reading experience.
An 1880s dime novel, reprinted in 1966. Fun to read, although really more interesting as an historical item than a straight reading experience.
11fundevogel
I do that sometimes. Though I don't think any of the ones I've read had such unintentionally euphemistic titles.
12rocketjk
Book 8: Cast Down the Laurel by Arnold Gingrich
Interesting more for its historical aspects than as a reading experience per se, Cast Down the Laurel, published in 1935, is the story of a famous concert pianist who runs from his fame because the music he is able to make does not measure up to the music he hears in his head. The book is more about the characters involved than about the plot, but the characters do not really amount to all that much, unfortunately. The historical aspects I mentioned have to do with the fact that Gingrich was a very well known editor who hung with the "moveable feast" crowd, founded Esquire Magazine and was Hemingway's editor for a significant period.
Interesting more for its historical aspects than as a reading experience per se, Cast Down the Laurel, published in 1935, is the story of a famous concert pianist who runs from his fame because the music he is able to make does not measure up to the music he hears in his head. The book is more about the characters involved than about the plot, but the characters do not really amount to all that much, unfortunately. The historical aspects I mentioned have to do with the fact that Gingrich was a very well known editor who hung with the "moveable feast" crowd, founded Esquire Magazine and was Hemingway's editor for a significant period.
14imyril
>9 rocketjk: sounds really interesting. I hadn't quite realized the reconquest was so late, but now I'm tempted to find a decent history of Moorish Spain and read the 2 by way of comparison (and education).
15littlegreycloud
> 14: Ditto. Also should find my copy of Tales of the Alhambra.
16rocketjk
#14, 15> Yes, a very interesting book. The final stage of the Reconquista, the defeat of Granada, the last Muslim kingdom on Iberia, was in 1492, the same year that the Jews of Spain were given the choice of conversion or exile. Then followed over a hundred years of mistrust, forced conversions and, often, persecution for the thousands of Muslims who stayed behind to live in Christian Spain. Finally, everybody of Moorish ancestry, no matter how long their families had been in the country, and no matter how sincere their conversions to Christianity, were forced to leave (many simply sent to their deaths on the high seas) in the early 1600s.
Tales of the Alhambra is an extremely romanticized, European, version of the life being described, I would think.
Tales of the Alhambra is an extremely romanticized, European, version of the life being described, I would think.
17rocketjk
Book 10: Time Capsule by Mitch Berman
A fun and well-written science fiction novel, written in 1987, about a jazz musician wandering post-WW3 American with his saxophone.
A fun and well-written science fiction novel, written in 1987, about a jazz musician wandering post-WW3 American with his saxophone.
18rocketjk
Book 11: The New Yorker 1994 Fiction Issue
I have a stack of oldish magazines in my office, and in order to finally (if gradually) get rid of them, I make myself read articles from the magazine at the top of the stack between each book I read. Then I recycle the magazine. I usually don't include them as part of this challenge, but the magazine I just finished, the 1994 New Yorker fiction issue, was more or less a short story anthology, and I read just about everything in it, rather than select articles as usual. So it goes on this list. There was what I found to be a rather pointless and obvious story by Nicholson Baker, then excellent stories by Judy Troy, Alice Munro, Elmore Leonard (featuring Raylon Givens!),William Trevor and David Foster Wallace. There was a hilarious walk through that month's NY Times Top Ten list by Anthony Lewis that literally had me laughing out loud in several spots, and a terrific profile of James Thurber by Adam Gopnik. I started but then gave up on John Updike's very, very, very long review of Jeffrey Meyers' biography of F. Scott Fitzgerald (takeaway: Updike had no use for Fitzgerald's work, other than Gatsby). This was a fun publication to wander through.
I have a stack of oldish magazines in my office, and in order to finally (if gradually) get rid of them, I make myself read articles from the magazine at the top of the stack between each book I read. Then I recycle the magazine. I usually don't include them as part of this challenge, but the magazine I just finished, the 1994 New Yorker fiction issue, was more or less a short story anthology, and I read just about everything in it, rather than select articles as usual. So it goes on this list. There was what I found to be a rather pointless and obvious story by Nicholson Baker, then excellent stories by Judy Troy, Alice Munro, Elmore Leonard (featuring Raylon Givens!),William Trevor and David Foster Wallace. There was a hilarious walk through that month's NY Times Top Ten list by Anthony Lewis that literally had me laughing out loud in several spots, and a terrific profile of James Thurber by Adam Gopnik. I started but then gave up on John Updike's very, very, very long review of Jeffrey Meyers' biography of F. Scott Fitzgerald (takeaway: Updike had no use for Fitzgerald's work, other than Gatsby). This was a fun publication to wander through.
19rocketjk
Book 12: The Year the Mets Lost Last Place by Paul Zimmerman and Dick Schaap
This was a fun and fairly quick reading experience but only of interest to baseball fans. In 1969, the New York Mets, a team that had only come into existence in 1962 and had been famously, almost mythically, horrible over their first seven seasons, suddenly rose to prominence during the 1969 season. In fact, they went on to win the World Series and forever earn the moniker, the 1969 "Miracle Mets." This book, published soon after that season was over and updated slightly a few years later, covers the first "crucial" set of games in Mets history, a nine-game stretch in July during which they played two series against the Chicago Cubs, the team they were then chasing for their division title, and one against the Montreal Expos, that year an expansion team themselves trying to play the "spoilers" role.
This was a fun and fairly quick reading experience but only of interest to baseball fans. In 1969, the New York Mets, a team that had only come into existence in 1962 and had been famously, almost mythically, horrible over their first seven seasons, suddenly rose to prominence during the 1969 season. In fact, they went on to win the World Series and forever earn the moniker, the 1969 "Miracle Mets." This book, published soon after that season was over and updated slightly a few years later, covers the first "crucial" set of games in Mets history, a nine-game stretch in July during which they played two series against the Chicago Cubs, the team they were then chasing for their division title, and one against the Montreal Expos, that year an expansion team themselves trying to play the "spoilers" role.
20littlegreycloud
>18 rocketjk:: That must have been fun. I just finished a biography of Elizabeth Taylor and it was interesting to see how big a role the publication of her stories in the New Yorker played in her life, both when they published practically everything she wrote and when they stopped accepting her stories altogether.
21rocketjk
#20> Wow! I had no idea Elizabeth Taylor was a published author. By the way, another feature of that issue I didn't mention was a long and enjoyable essay by fiction editor Roger Angel about the process of choosing which stories to run, including the joys of publishing new authors and the sometimes happy, sometimes challenging process of working with authors to edit their stories.
22rocketjk
#20> OK, I just looked at the posting on your thread and realized you were talking about "not-so-well known known 20th century English writer" Elizabeth Taylor!
23littlegreycloud
Sorry, I should have made that clear.:) I guess there is a reason the biography is called The Other Elizabeth Taylor. :)
The essay sounds interesting -- what's the title?
The essay sounds interesting -- what's the title?
24rocketjk
#23> Sorry, I just saw your last post, and I've tossed the magazine and don't recall the title of the Angel essay.
25rocketjk
Book 13: Rachel Cade by Charles Mercer
An enjoyable if somewhat unbelievable (in the "these characters are a little too noble to be true" sense) novel published in 1956 and set in the Belgian Congo during World War Two. White missionaries bring health and knowledge to the locals, etc. Still, a decent character study and some very nice writing about the natural setting.
An enjoyable if somewhat unbelievable (in the "these characters are a little too noble to be true" sense) novel published in 1956 and set in the Belgian Congo during World War Two. White missionaries bring health and knowledge to the locals, etc. Still, a decent character study and some very nice writing about the natural setting.
26rocketjk
Book 14: Eyes of a Child by Richard North Patterson
Part three of Patterson's 4-part Christopher Paget series. Enjoyable to read with a good plot and interesting, relatively well fleshed-out characters.
Part three of Patterson's 4-part Christopher Paget series. Enjoyable to read with a good plot and interesting, relatively well fleshed-out characters.
27rocketjk
Book 15: Selected Short Stories of Isaac Bashevis Singer
This a wonderful collection of Singer's exquisite, funny, insightful short stories, all taking place in the Jewish shtetels of pre-WW2 Eastern Europe.
This a wonderful collection of Singer's exquisite, funny, insightful short stories, all taking place in the Jewish shtetels of pre-WW2 Eastern Europe.
28rocketjk
Book 16: One Very Hot Day by David Halberstam
Halberstam's excellent novel of the early days of the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War.
Halberstam's excellent novel of the early days of the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War.
29littlegreycloud
>28 rocketjk:: That one sounds intriguing.
30rocketjk
29> Yes, it is quite good. Halberstam had been a correspondent in Vietnam for the NY Times during those days. He came back and wrote a non-fiction book, The Making of a Quagmire. And then (according to Halberstam in his afterword to the edition I read) he decided to write a novel because he wanted to get across what the day-to-day experience of war was like. This was during the time when most of the U.S. military personnel were there as advisers to the South Vietnamese troops. I very much recommend the novel.
31littlegreycloud
It's gone on my list. Might be something for my father in law as well.
32rocketjk
Book 17: The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
Ancient Turkey, where all the women are groovy and all the men are either saints or ogres (sometimes, to be fair, they change from one to the other).
Ancient Turkey, where all the women are groovy and all the men are either saints or ogres (sometimes, to be fair, they change from one to the other).
34rocketjk
Book 18: Dixie After the War by Myrta Lockett Avary
A fascinating, entirely subjective account of the Reconstruction Era, written in 1906 by a woman who grew up in Virginia during those days and who traveled the South thereafter collection oral histories and impressions. Avary's attitudes about race are quite ugly to a modern point of view, and it is an understatement to say that her subjective pro-Southern stance makes the descriptions largely unreliable. Still, the book is a valuable mirror of the attitudes of the time and place (assuming one was a member of the Southern aristocracy).
A fascinating, entirely subjective account of the Reconstruction Era, written in 1906 by a woman who grew up in Virginia during those days and who traveled the South thereafter collection oral histories and impressions. Avary's attitudes about race are quite ugly to a modern point of view, and it is an understatement to say that her subjective pro-Southern stance makes the descriptions largely unreliable. Still, the book is a valuable mirror of the attitudes of the time and place (assuming one was a member of the Southern aristocracy).
35littlegreycloud
It's a rare book from which one learns nothing.;)
36rocketjk
Book 19: The War in Eastern Europe by John Reed
Gradually tidying up my 2013 threads so I can move on to 2014. My final "off the shelf" book of 2013 was a great one. John Reed and illustrator Boardman Robinson traveled through Greece, Serbia, Russia, Romania and Bulgaria and into Constantinople in 1915, not encountering much in the way of battles but experiencing and reporting on conditions in those countries in the lead up to or in the aftermath of the carnage of World War One. It is not only great and affecting reportage on life during wartime, but a vivid picture of the varied cultures and customs in an Eastern Europe long gone.
So that's 19 "off the shelf" books in a year I was going for 23. Not too bad, but not what I was hoping for. C'est la vie. On to 2014!
Gradually tidying up my 2013 threads so I can move on to 2014. My final "off the shelf" book of 2013 was a great one. John Reed and illustrator Boardman Robinson traveled through Greece, Serbia, Russia, Romania and Bulgaria and into Constantinople in 1915, not encountering much in the way of battles but experiencing and reporting on conditions in those countries in the lead up to or in the aftermath of the carnage of World War One. It is not only great and affecting reportage on life during wartime, but a vivid picture of the varied cultures and customs in an Eastern Europe long gone.
So that's 19 "off the shelf" books in a year I was going for 23. Not too bad, but not what I was hoping for. C'est la vie. On to 2014!
