pontalba's 2013 reading list

[pontalba]

 

I remember the old Dark Shadows show. Watched it all the time .

I used to cut my last class in high school, it was Study Hall anyhow, to go home and watch it. 

 

 

I've just finished The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern 4/5

 

I've had it on the shelf for a while now, but it was chosen as a BOTM on another forum and my husband wanted to read it, so we bought another copy and read it together.

 

I found it charming, a fantasy, a love story all wrapped together in a back and forth narrative that was interestingly accomplished. 

 

The center of the story is a battle between two sorcerers, using their apprentices as stand ins.  This has taken place several times over unspecified centuries  and this story covers the last of the series of showdowns.  The battle is played out against the background of a Night Circus, a magical place appearing without notice all over the globe. The story has a lovely circular feel to it that will become apparent at the last of the book.

 

Recommended.

[pontalba]

Love he marmite reference SueK made over on the book activity thread. I really must buy a jar of that the next time we visit World Market...lol

 

I am really enjoying Wolf Hall, it is refreshingly irreverent. I can see how the pronouns are a bit confusing...but once I got into Mantel's rhythm it was far less confusing for me.  Only in a little over a hundred pages, and can't wait to get back to it.

 

Whatever one thinks of her as a person, her writing is crisp and wonderfully to the point.

Edited March 31, 2013 by pontalba

[Kidsmum]

   I can see how the pronouns are a bit confusing...but once I got into Mantel's rhythm it was far less confusing for me.  

 

I found that as well, once you get used to her writing style it makes it a lot easier to read. I also found the list of characters in the front useful when i forgot who was who with the minor characters 

[pontalba]

Yes!  I went over it before starting the book, but kind of glazed over.  lol  I ought to go back and refresh now that I'm into it.  I'm half done now.

[pontalba]

Just a quickie to get it in my thread. Will post on the discussion for WH thread.

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel 5/5

Beautifully written. Mantel's style is conversational, with a biting and sardonic flavor I found most refreshing. An amazing personalization of Thomas Cromwell, Mantel's research is flawless.
Highly Recommended.   

[pontalba]

Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel 5/5

 

Mantel's continuation of her Thomas Cromwell trilogy does not disappoint in any way.  Some have said it's better than Wolf Hall, but it is a close race, and I'd hesitate to call it. 

There is much familiar here, the trial of Anne Boleyn and her accused lovers, the machinations of both Cromwell and the court, and believe it or not, Cromwell's heart.  Not in the sense of a lover, but we get to know more of his feelings...mixed they are too.  I felt he came to know himself better as well.  Ahhh, well, that would be age speaking.

 

I really enjoy the third person, omniscient narrator style Mantel employs and wonder if I'll have trouble going back to other styles. 

 

Highly Recommended

[pontalba]

Someone on another forum posted a thread asking what were our (lifetime) Trancendent Reads...whatever that means to you.  So, I thought I'd post my thoughts here, as I have over there.

 

Transcendent books I've read, in the sense of being beyond the limits of ordinary experience, or exceeding usual limits.

I've read innumerable "good" books, hundreds, if not thousands in my life I'd venture to say. But transcendent....that's more than just good. Beyond ordinary. Exceeding usual limits. At least according to Webster.

Perhaps books that moved me, touched my heart for whatever reason, logical or not, would qualify. It's difficult to weed out the really, really good ones and just leave in the ones that affected me, affected my thinking throughout my life.

Perhaps the very first book that just made me sit up and go.......that's the way it is!, has to be Taylor Caldwell's Pillar of Iron. Marcus Cicero's life story as told, fictionalized of course, by Caldwell from actual correspondence between Cicero and his contemporaries.....his publisher Atticus, his mercurial friend Julius Caesar, Pompey....all the greats. His Orations. Caldwell begins her Foreword with this...

"Any resemblance between the Republic of Rome and the United States of America is purely historical, as is the similarity of ancient Rome to the modern world."

I was 15, taking an Ancient History class in High School when I read this the first time. and it hit me like a ton of bricks.

John Toland's 2 volume Adolf Hitler, William Manchester's The Arms of Krupp, both hit me hard.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte...love story, redemption. I've lost count the number of times I've reread this...it's different at various ages. My first reading was at about 9 or 10, the last about 60.

Same as Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell...changes with age. I've seen different aspects of all characters as I age. Again, first reading about 10 or 11, last reading about 60(ish).

Lolita, Pnin, Speak Memory, Look at the Harlequins! by Vladimir Nabokov are all filled with painterly prose that can break your heart.
Vera by Stacey Schiff...VN and his wife's marriage/life long love affair.

The Sea, The Untouchables, Athena, The Book of Evidence, Ghosts by John Banville are my favorites of his, but anything, really, that he has written.

Both Nabokov and Banville transport me like no other author. When I open one of their books it is like falling into a warm and wonderful feather bed that totally wraps me up and shuts out the world.

Malevil by Robert Merle is a book I've reread a number of times. I think this book influenced me because it shows that people will be people and fight no matter what the circumstances, but sometimes an honorable Leader will emerge that changes the course of Life. I know that is an over-dramatization, but it epitomized that possibility to me.

I must add Absalom, Absalom! by Faulkner, mostly because when I read it I felt I'd come home. I knew these people, they were my relatives, friends and foes.

Light Years by James Salter...the prose, the prose!
The Ripley books (all 5) by Patricia Highsmith....great fun, wonderfully horrible protagonist!
A Widow for One Year by John Irving...a story of endurance and love triumphing over time and age.
Regeneration, The Eye in the Door, and The Ghost Road by Pat Barker WWI...horrifying, beautiful
The Ghosts of Belfast by Stuart Neville Irish, The Troubles...story of redemption.
Follow Me Down by Shelby Foote Great story telling, beautiful prose.

Edited April 13, 2013 by pontalba

[Chrissy]

Thank you for that Pontalba, what a wonderful and clearly heartfelt post. I simultaneously read it and furiously scribbled titles down as I went.

[chesilbeach]

I've just started a re-read of Jane Eyre myself - I suggested it as our classic choice for my book group last month and it got chosen, so it's a good opportunity to revisit it, although only my second reading, it's still one of the classics I was happy to pick up again.

[Athena]

I love Jane Eyre! It's very interesting to read your post . I'm not sure which books I'd put on mine, there are many who've had somewhat of an influence on my life, something to think about.

[pontalba]

 

Thank you for that Pontalba, what a wonderful and clearly heartfelt post. I simultaneously read it and furiously scribbled titles down as I went.

Thank you Chrissy...I know I've forgotten some, but I only started making lists in 2007, and memory is not always my strong suit. 

In fact another that comes to mind is Forever Amber by Kathleen Winsor...I read it, first, when I was 15 or 16 and fell in love.   What a rat Bruce was though!!

 

 

I've just started a re-read of Jane Eyre myself - I suggested it as our classic choice for my book group last month and it got chosen, so it's a good opportunity to revisit it, although only my second reading, it's still one of the classics I was happy to pick up again.

That's wonderful!  You'll notice more details, and connect some things on the second (or third or fourth...) go 'round.

 

 

I love Jane Eyre! It's very interesting to read your post . I'm not sure which books I'd put on mine, there are many who've had somewhat of an influence on my life, something to think about.

 

Oh, make a list!  It brings back all sorts of memories!

[pontalba]

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald 4/5

 

I've wanted to read this for ages, and have a copy around here somewhere.  But I downloaded it to my kindle to be able to read on the go. The film coming out next month looks to be a beautiful and lush telling of the book.

 

I'm a bit torn, but come down on a very positive note concerning Gatsby, it is of course beautifully written, in a straight-forward style.  The story of a man with no past, seemingly coming out of nowhere.  Slowly his past comes to be known through a series of vignettes, and none to savory is it.  Probably.  One is left with uncertainty, or at the least, ambiguity.  The woman that is purportedly the love of his life, Daisy, doesn't seem much worth the adoration he bestows upon her, and is rather selfish. 

 

Ultimately a story of betrayal and murder, but lightly told.

 

Recommended. 

[Kidsmum]

Great post Pontalba, like Chrissy i've jotted down quite a few titles, i've not read any John Banville so will be checking him out &  i already have Widow For A Year on my TBR pile. Off the top of my head i would say The Forsyte Saga  John Galsworthy is one of my transcendant reads. There's a part in it where one of the characters receives a telegram that his son has died in the South African War not in battle but of an illness & he thinks of  his son dying in a foreign land without any family or friends around him but being brought up to keep a stiff upper lip he's unable to express his grief. I cried & cried when i read that & it still brings a lump to my throat when i think of it, in fact when i finished the whole saga i felt bereft i'd enjoyed it so much. Wuthering Heights, i first saw the film with Laurence Olivier & Merle Oberon when i was a child & loved it then later read the book & loved that even more, a story of such passion & torment. Also both The Little Friend & Secret History  Donna Tartt fantastic reads with strong characters.

 

Gosh i nearly forgot A Month In The Country  J.L.Carr, a beautifully written book & a very emotional read, one that i know i'll keep coming back to.

Edited April 18, 2013 by Kidsmum

[pontalba]

Thank you Kidsmum.  I have The Forsyte Saga on the shelf...another one I must get to asap! 

 

On the way to dentist...root canal...more later if I am conscious!  lol

[pontalba]

I've started and put down several books in the last few days, reading a way in, and putting aside.

I did, however, finish a novella, Lord John and the Zombies by Diana Gabaldon 4/5

 

I light and fast read about one of the main characters in Gabaldon's Outlander series, Lord John.  He is assigned to Jamiaca to investigate the goings on there.  Uprisings, killings etc.  Well done. 

 

Recommended for Outlander fans.

[Kidsmum]

I have a couple of the Lord John books on my shelves i'm still working my way through the Outlander series though so might be awhile before i get round to them 

[pontalba]

Just finished Laurie R. King's Garment of Shadows.  The latest installment of her Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes series.  3.5/5

I'm torn as this one was far more interesting than the last several in the series.  The fact is that, in spite of purchasing them, I've actually not finished the last, maybe 3 of them.  My problem with those was the lack of Holmes.  Russell is fine, if a bit pretentious/too much, for carrying part of the book, but not the entire thing!  That is of course, only my opinion.  I want Holmes though.

This installment featured Holmes quite a bit more.  Perhaps King has heard some fan protests.   I hope this trend continues.

 

Not giving anything away, the book opens with Russell having lost her memory, and is on the run from........what?  Even she doesn't know.  Morocco, 1924. Perilous times well presented by King.  I thought she went into the intricacies of the politics of the time in a bit too much detail, but it was interesting, if slightly confusing.

[vodkafan]

Night Circus sounds very interesting. Just going over to amazon to dig up some reviews 

[pontalba]

Night Circus sounds very interesting. Just going over to amazon to dig up some reviews 

Hope you like it VF, I enjoyed it, but some people really disliked it in the discussion I participated in on another forum.  They couldn't even see the plot. 

And when we tried to point it out.....well, lets just say a brick wall was firmly in place.  lol

[pontalba]

I only managed 25% of The Crimson Petal and the White.  I disliked the style intensely as it kept pulling me out of the story.  Constantly, every paragraph. 

I don't want to say much as it is the choice for the Reading Circle in May of this year....so I'll bide my time.

 

Morgue Drawer Four by Jutta Profijt 3/5

 

A petty car thief/bum is murdered, but his spirit lives on, much to the consternation of the Coroner that is performing the autopsy.  If black humor is your cup of tea, you'll enjoy this whodunit.  It's first of a series, and I look forward to the continuation of the stories, and the maturation of the characters.  They're doing fine so far.

 

I appreciated the locale, Cologne, Germany.  Not the usual, for me, at least.  The author creates a real sense of place. 

[pontalba]

All That Is by James Salter 4/5

 

An aimless life, lived on the surface. Salter's All That Is, for me at least, was slightly disjointed in that delineation of time, place, and even characters was not always clear. At least to begin with. That became clear after a page, or three, but it was slightly disconcerting to read about a character and not be sure exactly who it was. His prose is still beautiful, his sense of place is wonderful.

The main protagonist, Philip Bowman, served in the Navy, in the Pacific Theatre during WWII. The war is covered, slightly. But it's more the aftermath, through to almost the present that make up the bulk of the book. Bowman's relationships...his mother, his wife and various lovers.
A bit of revenge that actually shocked me and made me wonder, and seriously doubt my perception of Bowman's character all throughout the book.

Interesting character study.
Recommended

[pontalba]

Review for a film, just wanted to post it where I could find it easily, later.

 

We went to see the film, The Place Beyond the Pines. During the first part, I couldn't make up my mind about the film, then it exponentially grew on me. The grittiness and grim just was almost too much.....but then I saw through all of that to a wonderfully portrayed character. Gosling may not appeal to me personally, but he turned in one absolutely marvelous performance. All the characters were well done. Bradley Cooper, who I never imagined giving a nuanced performance delivered beautifully.
Finally, in the end, I loved the film. I loved the circle it drew.

[pontalba]

Started and finished this afternoon, the long-legged fly by James Sallis 4/5

 

Well done detective story told in episodic fashion that take place over a period of 26 years, 1964-1990. Sallis had New Orleans down pat, both the place and people. A brutal beginning, in 1964 addresses many of the racial prejudices of the time. Following episodes take place in 1970, 1984, with the final episode taking place in 1990. Those episodes are detective stories, but also address the racial divide, and those same divides being torn down.

Sallis has a marvelous way with description, and creates much of the New Orleans ambiance. The stories are, in a way, separate, but also flow into one another, making a continuous chain of events.

Recommended.

[pontalba]

Morgue Drawer Next Door by Jutta Profijt 3/5

 

Second in the detective series by Jutta Profijt .  It, like the previous Morgue Drawer Four, takes place in Cologne, Germany and follows the exploits of a recently departed car thief. The coroner that received his body happens to be the only one that he can communicate with, so he has stuck around, much to the dismay of said coroner.

 

This installment is a whodunit involving a convent that is possibly in the way of so called "progress".  Murder and arson continue to plague the convent while Pascha, the departed car their and Dr. Martin Gänsewein work uneasily together to solve the case and prevent more murders.

 

Funny and on the sacrilegious side, I enjoyed it.

Edited May 12, 2013 by pontalba

[pontalba]

_{Killing Trail by Charles Allen Gramlich 5/5}

 

_{A collection of some of the best Western short stories I've read.  His work compares favorably to Louis L'Amour.  It's available only on Kindle, but was only 2.99, and more than worth it.  Full disclosure....Gramlich is in a writing group we used to attend, so I've seen his process.  But, in truth, my opinion of 5/5 is not prejudiced, he is fully worth the read.}

 

_{He writes other genre as well.  Fantasy/sci-fi and horror as well.  His prose is beautiful and descriptive.}