Frankie Reads 2011

[frankie]

Nenäpäivä by Mikko Rimminen

 

This is my first Rimminen, it was recommended to me by Liisa with whom I had a few mini book group meetings this year. It was also the 2010 Finlandia Award winner and thus on my wishlist. Going into the book I had no idea what to expect, which can be a negative as well as a positive. This time it proved positive. I enjoyed Rimminen's style, the narrator is a middle-aged woman who has a vivid sense of language and makes up a lot of her own words. Not that I think the average Finn would have such a variety of vocabulary, but in this novel I liked it anyways. Some of the reviews on goodreads suggest that Rimminen does this all the time, invents new words and introduces long sentences and that has begun to rub some people the wrong way, but as this was my first Rimminen, it certainly didn't bother me.

 

Some people also thought that the storyline didn't carry well and that there wasn't even much to the story itself. I have to disagree: we never learn what are the real motives behind the narrator, other than that she is desperately lonely and doesn't know how to reach out in any other way but start ringing strange people's door bells in order to get to talking to people and get to know them. Her pretext is that she is doing a consumer survey. We don't know what has driven her to this point in her life, whether something traumatic has happened, or whether she's always been this way. I found her effort to reach to other people endearing, and in a way I don't think it is even that far-fetched, it is very hard to make new friends in this closed society of today. It is a bit like Sheldon said in The Big Bang Theory: why would people go outside when for the last how many decades people have been making staying inside so incredibly inviting. This can also be applied to our social interaction these days: why go out and meet real people when it is so easy to stay inside your apartment and meet them online.

 

Sad, tragic, and yet funny. I wouldn't have awarded this novel with a Finlandia prize, but it was certainly a great read.

 

4/5

[frankie]

Frankie's reading in 2011 ~ memoirs

 

We're approaching the end of another year of reading and I thought I would sum up my thoughts on my past literary shenanigans. As this is supposed to be a joyous task and not something to be handed out to my English professor, I will keep the tone light and the layout very unprofessional. I will also allow myself to dwell on whatever the heck I fancy, and jump from one thing to another in a careless, unorderly fashion.

 

This year I started keeping statistics of the books I read (books written by female/male authors, books read in Finnish/English, books written by familiar/new-to-me authors, read books by Finnish/foreign authors, the amount of books read based on recommendations by BCF members, amount of fictional/non-fictional/(auto)biographical books read, and the how I rated books). I don't know where and how the idea occurred to me, but I'm glad I did it, it's been very interesting and illuminating. For example, I always knew that I read hardly any Finnish novels, but I was struck by how few the Finnish titles were on my list. Towards the end of the year I started reading more by Finnish authors, partly because I discovered some intriguing books and authors but also partly because I was so ashamed of how everything I read seems to be foreign. I will certainly try to read more Finnish novels next year, which should't be too difficult because we have some amazing literature here and all I need to do is dip into my bookcases, I've been buying more Finnish books than ever this year.

 

Previously I've had no idea what the ratio is between the books I read in Finnish and in English. My goodreads account shows that (if I calculated it right) overall 32,2% of the books I've read have been in English, and 67,7% have been in Finnish. This year (to date, 26.12.2011) I've read 30 books in English and 60 books in Finnish, which means 33,3% and 66,6%. So I guess it's pretty safe to say that generally one third of the books I read is in English and the rest in Finnish. Not bad. I always fear that I don't read enough in English, but I really have no reason to worry. I know people who try and read books in the original language whenever possible (I try and do that too) but they do it partly to maintain their English skills. I, however, as an English major have to and get to communicate in English in so many other ways in my daily life that I needn't worry about reading everything in English. Also, it would be silly to read Finnish novels in English One other thing that I need to remember: whenever I'm reading a book by a non-English, non-Finnish author, I don't need to get the book in English. Finnish is just fine. Besides, for example the Nordic books are better in Finnish, I dare say. For example the Swedish language with it's phrases is so much closer to the Finnish language than English that it would be asinine to read those books in English (however, I should be trying to read those in Swedish, not Finnish!!).

 

Another curiosity that I discovered this year: I always thought I mostly read books written by male authors (not that I preferred them to female authors, I just somehow thought I gravitated towards male others for no reason). I've been keeping close track of the gender ratio and throughout the year female authors have been dominating by a book or two, and not only towards the end of the year did the male authors take over, by two books only. I would not have discovered this withough keeping those stats of mine.

 

I've never stopped to consider whether I tend to read books mostly by familiar authors or authors that I've never tried before, so I wanted to keep score of that as well. New-to-me authors won in the end by 22 books. I'm not really sure how I feel about this, surprised or not, but at least it shows in my opinion that I'm not afraid to give a new author a try, which I think is a positive attribute to my literary habits.

 

Fictional novels won by a landslide, about 66% of the books I read this year were fictional. I do enjoy biographies and books based on true stories, but I am still surprised by how many of them I read: 25 books in total. Only 5 other type of non-fictional books were read by me this year.

 

Ratings wise this year has been most excellent as you can see in the following:

 

1/5: 3

2/5: 5

3/5: 25

4/5: 33

5/5: 24

 

I cannot help but be curious about the eight novels that got bad ratings this year and here they are as followed:

 

The Garden of Eden by Ernest Hemingway 2/5 (oh poor Hemingway, I love you, but this wasn't up to par )

The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion (RG-b) 1/5 (Bleh! Rory why did you do this to me!!)

Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert (1001, RG-b) 2/5 (Bleh!! And why did I give it 2/5, and not 1/5. Surely Bukowski's Factotum was far better)

Factotum by Charles Bukowski 2/5 (Sorry Bukowski.)

Haunted by James Herbert (BCF) 1/5 (no words in your honour)

Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi (RG-b, RC) 2/5 (I'm not going to miss you when I give you away)

Hullu luokka iskee jälleen by Kaisa Ikola (re-read) 2/5 (some childhood favorites continue to astonish and mesmerize in the older age, this is not one of them)

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers (RG-b) 1/5 (Bleeeeh! Rory, consider this my first official warning.)

 

 

As I have now listed the weakest reads of the year, I want to take a look at the best ones to be fair and equal. I will not list all the books that got 5/5 as that would make a long list, instead I'm going to list the best of the best:

 

The two very best books I read this year are undoubtedly Room by Emma Donoghue and Crippen by John Boyne (both of which I wouldn't have come across with without this forum and you lot, so thank you!). I guess I could say which one was the best if I was forced on gun-point, but as I'm hoping this will not happen, I won't. I whole-heartedly recommend both of them

 

Other books that stood out for me this year are:

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Please Kill Me – The Uncensored Oral History of Punk by Legs McNeil & Gillian McCain

Watchmen by Alan Moore & David Gibbons (graphic novel)

Incidences by Daniil Harms

Tumman veden päällä by Peter Franzén

The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

The Secret Language of Eating Disorders by Peggy Claude-Pierre

Emotional Geology by Linda Gillard

My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier

Punainen erokirja by Pirkko Saisio

The Winter Queen by Boris Akunin

Between the Sheets – The Literary Liaisons of Nine 20th-Century Women Writers by Lesley McDowell

Mielensäpahoittaja by Tuomas Kyrö

 

 

New authors that I discovered and want to read in the future include:

Ernest Hemingway

Susan Hill

Kazuo Ishiguro

Irène Nemirovsky

Charles Bukowski

Daniil Harms

Linda Gillard

Daphne du Maurier

Boris Akunin

Vladimir Nabokov

Tuomas Kyrö

Peter Franzén (although he is an actor and I don't know if he intends to write more novels)

John Boyne (I've read his The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas before 2011, but Crippen convinced me that I want to read all of his books)

Robert Rankin

Christopher Fowler

Pirkko Saisio.

 

My reading pace slowed down a lot towards the end of the year. This was due to uni related work and... well, me being single for the first time in ages, and me sort of dating people. I'm regretting letting this happen and my new year's resolution is that I'm not going to let dating get in the way of reading books and being on the forum! I've missed this place so much these last few months, and one of the reasons I found this Christmas so enjoyable was because I was home alone and I finally caught up with all the unread posts on threads. I really truly enjoyed that and getting to know what people have been up to and which books they've been reading. If we look at numbers, the year wasn't a complete waste. In 2008 I read 78 books (joined the forum on 8 August, 2008, an easy date to remember ), 2009 I read 118 books and in 2010 I read my record amount of books so far, 120. This year I've read 91 books to date (29.12.2011) and over all I'm happy and satisfied with that

 

My book buying rate also slowed down a bit, at least compared to 2010. In 2008 I bought at least 116 books (which then must have seemed like a lot!), in 2009 I got up to 160, and year 2010 was a total catastrophe (I blame Kylie and Australia!!), 321 books acquired. That's just sick This year I've acquired 305 books so far and will not acquire any more this year, at least I hope so (well, I'm going to the library in two hours and I'll be dropping by the free book exchange trolley so let's not say any more of the final numbers of this year...). So I did manage to control myself a bit better than last year, but still, I went way over my head with the buying. I've set myself some ground rules for next year's book buying so I'll be more in control.

 

When it comes to book related events, happenings and incidents, there have been a few highlights this year. First one is Linda Gillard contacting me about Emotional Geology, having seen it on my wishlist. She generously sent me a signed copy and I loved the book and was happy to discover a new author whose books to read and enjoy. Another highlight was discovering Transworld Book Group's Reading Challenge, where from I received The Water Room, Teacher, Teacher! and Crippen, all of which I enjoyed reading. I'm looking forward to seeing if they have any new reading challenges coming up in the future.

 

And the latest highlight was this Monday when I was at a bar and noticed this familiar looking man. He was the one who introduced all the authors in this author seminar I used to go to back in 2006, all the authors were from North Karelia where I'm from and there were about 7-10 seminars, one each Tuesday, with two authors in every seminar, discussing their work and their relation to North Karelia. I went to greet the man and started talking to him about the seminar and I asked him how he came to be the 'MC' and I was a bit embarrassed when he said that he's actually an author himself and was one of the authors in the seminar. I'd never even heard of his name before and I must've missed his seminar (we didn't catch every single one of them with my friend), otherwise I would remember. Anyway, I talked to him about my love of books and the literary circles, all in true Shakespeare & Company style, and he said I should come to the same bar at New Year's Eve, there are probably going to be a few Karelian authors at the bar then. He also gave me his business card. I think I'm going to see if I can find some of his books at the library later today. Oh I do hope I didn't sound like a groupie

 

So that's the year 2011 in a nutshell. A big nutshell, sorry for that

 

Thank you everyone, firstly Michelle without whom we wouldn't have such a cool bookish place to hang out on, and everyone in the admin team! And thank you lovely forum members, for all the great recommendations, conversations, PMs, everything during this year. I hope to see you all next year! Take care peeps xxxooo

Edited December 29, 2011 by frankie

[Kylie]

year 2010 was a total catastrophe (I blame Kylie and Australia!!), 321 books acquired. That's just sick This year I've acquired 305 books so far and will not acquire any more this year, at least I hope so (well, I'm going to the library in two hours and I'll be dropping by the free book exchange trolley so let's not say any more of the final numbers of this year...). So I did manage to control myself a bit better than last year, but still, I went way over my head with the buying. I've set myself some ground rules for next year's book buying so I'll be more in control.

 

Hey! You're only 16 books behind your 2010 total this year, and you can't blame me or Oz for that! And there's still a couple of days to go.

 

I loved reading all of your stats. It's inspired me to go and check out my own. I'm particularly interested to see my fiction/non-fiction ratio and my male/female ratio.

 

I'm glad you had a good reading year. Bring on 2012!

[pontalba]

Fantastic post Frankie. What a wonderful experience re the author.

I hope you go on New Year's Eve, it'll be a wonderful experience.

Love the fact Hemingway makes both best and worst lists...gives me hope. I've only partially read A Farewell to Arms, and couldn't finish. I'll certainly pick another one up now.

[Janet]

That post is amazing, frankie. I've started keeping a few more statistics this year, and was planning to type up '2011 in review' thoughts myself, but I don't think they'd have been as in-depth and articulate as yours.

 

I must get myself a copy of Crippen!

[willoyd]

Another here who thinks that post is pretty amazing. Makes me want to sign off my 2011 log with a summary too, or maybe start the 2012 log with it - good to take a bit of a step back and look at the overall picture at this time of year. One thing I will do this year that I haven't before - keep a record of books acquired. Whatever it is now, it has to come down next year, if the house is to be liveable in, and if I'm to have any sort of relationship with my OH (!!). and I think keeping a record will help. We'll see!

Edited December 29, 2011 by willoyd

[lauraloves]

Amazing post Frankie. You have had a really good bookish year it seems. Have a really good bookish 2012

[Ooshie]

That was a really interesting post, frankie. Enjoy your books - and your dating! - in 2012

[frankie]

Hey! You're only 16 books behind your 2010 total this year, and you can't blame me or Oz for that! And there's still a couple of days to go.

 

I loved reading all of your stats. It's inspired me to go and check out my own. I'm particularly interested to see my fiction/non-fiction ratio and my male/female ratio.

 

I'm glad you had a good reading year. Bring on 2012!

 

Haha! Well, I did get four new books at the library. Three were from the free book exchange trolley, and one was on library sale. So I was only 12 behind my 2010 total But you are so blameable!! You've sent me like 152 books this year!! You and Australia!

 

I'd love to hear how your stats were this year, if you ever decide to write about them. Please do!

 

Bring on 2012!! Or should I say, bring on 2013! *whistles*

 

 

Fantastic post Frankie. What a wonderful experience re the author.

I hope you go on New Year's Eve, it'll be a wonderful experience.

Love the fact Hemingway makes both best and worst lists...gives me hope. I've only partially read A Farewell to Arms, and couldn't finish. I'll certainly pick another one up now.

 

Thanks pontalba In the end I didn't/won't go, I have this, let's say medical condition, that hinders me from going out to town this evening. It makes walking very painful. But I don't mind, there will be other nights!

 

Do give Hemingway another go! The Old Man and the Sea was great, but I liked the other novel better. And why is it that I can't remember the title now Hemingway's titles are so forgettable. Because the Finnish titles aren't always straight translations. That messes with my mind.

 

That post is amazing, frankie. I've started keeping a few more statistics this year, and was planning to type up '2011 in review' thoughts myself, but I don't think they'd have been as in-depth and articulate as yours.

 

I must get myself a copy of Crippen!

 

Thanks Janet! I guess I was still feeling bad from not doing a post to finish off my reading log last year, that I thought I'd go all in this year It took me long to compose the post, I spent some lovely moments during Christmas, thinking about what I should write.

 

I hope you do write something, maybe you already have, I haven't been looking at the reading logs for a couple of days.

 

I hope you like Crippen, I fear I might be over-selling it and people will be disappointed with it..

 

Another here who thinks that post is pretty amazing. Makes me want to sign off my 2011 log with a summary too, or maybe start the 2012 log with it - good to take a bit of a step back and look at the overall picture at this time of year. One thing I will do this year that I haven't before - keep a record of books acquired. Whatever it is now, it has to come down next year, if the house is to be liveable in, and if I'm to have any sort of relationship with my OH (!!). and I think keeping a record will help. We'll see!

 

It was very illuminating and in a way cathartic to write the summary, I fully recommend doing it

 

Amazing post Frankie. You have had a really good bookish year it seems. Have a really good bookish 2012

 

Thanks Laura, I hope you have a fab bookish 2012 as well!

 

That was a really interesting post, frankie. Enjoy your books - and your dating! - in 2012

 

Thanks Ooshie, I dare say I will Have a great reading in 2012!

[frankie]

One more post, me thinks!

 

I have a few more updates concerning my latest book acquirements. Who knew there'd be more since I last posted, not me.

 

On 23.12.2011 I got a Birthday present from Kylie. It was from BookDepository, and I know how well Kylie knows what I like, so I knew it had to be something great, but I really had no idea what it might be. Absolutely no idea. She'd told me it would be something a bit more special because it was a special Birthday, but that only made me more confused. So. Bloody hell. It was H. L. Mencken's My Life as Author and Editor!! Roryites should know what it is It's a book I've been coveting for a long time, well, I've been coveting all of Mencken's books for a long time but this is the perfect place to start! Superb! Thanks again Kylie

 

On 23.12.2011 I also received a package from poppyshake! It was a Christmas present so I tried to be the good girl my parents raised me to be and didn't open it until Christmas Eve (when us Finns open our pressies). There were a whole lot of amazing things, but as this is a reading log I'll keep to the topic of books. There was a most adorable book called The Christmas Truce by Carol Ann Duffy, with illustrations by David Roberts (the mastermind behind the illustrations on Tales of Terror!). I can't wait to read it, unfortunately I've been too busy with Rankin, Nenäpäivä and Hustvedt that I haven't been able to start it yet. I also got a lovely cross stitched bookmark made by poppyshake herself, it's got 'frankie' cross stitched on it, and it'll always remind me of poppyshake and this awesome forum! Thank you so much poppyshake!

 

I also received a package from Charm a week before Christmas, I was really in stitches trying to restrain myself from opening it before Christmas Eve. What a tease! Inside was an adorable kitten bookmark calender! The kitties are all so endearing, I want to cuddle them all and make them mine! Thanks Charm!

 

Moving on to books I acquired on Thursday. I went to the library with a friend and brought with me a lot of books for the free book exchange trolley. In return I got these:

Pirkko Helenoro: Tuntemattoman sotilaan tytär (never read anything by her)

James McBride: The Color of Water (the title seemed familiar)

Kari Aronpuro: Terveydeksi (never read anything by him, it's a book of poems)

 

Then I bought Steinunn Sigurðardóttir's Heart Place for 20cnt at the library sale. She's an Icelandic author, I've never read anything by her, but it sounds great and I should read more Nordic books.

 

There's also something I want to write about. I've been dating this guy for maybe 1,5 months now. He likes to read, but he usually only reads fantasy and sci-fi. Due to his recommendations I read my copy of Robert Rankin's The Book of Ultimate Truths this month, it probably would've gathered dust for a lot longer period of time if he hadn't recommended Rankin so heartily.

 

Anyhow. This one time we talked about libraries and I was shocked when he said he's only visited the local library once. That was such an odd thing coming from a guy who likes reading! He noticed my bewilderment and said that maybe he could consider visiting the library if he had a guide So anyways we went to the library a few weeks ago, and he got himself a valid library card (!! about time) and he borrowed Trainspotting. Wohoo! Shows good taste in my opinion. And, have I told you he likes to read books in the original language? Meaning he likes to read in English. Another wohoo!

 

Last time when we were at the library (this Thursday) he wanted me to recommend some book to him, as he'd already finished Trainspotting. I spotted The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde and gave it to him. He accepted the challenge. I told him that of course, he couldn't get 100% out of the book if he hasn't read Jane Eyre. So I searched for a copy of that and gave that to him as well. And he took it! He didn't say 'no, it's too much! Too old, too classic, too boring!'. Wohoo!

 

Then I got a whole lot of books for myself. We ended up at a cafe and I wanted to read, so started reading my own book and shoved a copy of Dan Rhodes's Gold to his hands and he started reading it. He's also a fast reader, much faster than me. He managed to read the first chapter and liked it fine. He then escorted me home, and came in for a coffee. My Dad called me on my cell and I talked with him for 20 minutes, during which time the guy continued reading Gold. When I was finished with Dad, he was already on page 54! And when he was leaving he asked me if he could borrow the book, he would read it soon and give it back to me next week You have to admire him, right?

Edited December 31, 2011 by frankie