Paul

It was, Athena. Actually I decided to try chopping at the TBR pile by sneaky "alternative means." To finally read To Kill a Mockingbird I downloaded a 100-page summary by Trisha Lively to my kindle. For shame, I know. It only took a day to read and had a condensed but detailed, clearly written version of the plot, with additional chapter by chapter analyses and key points. It was really very informative and I am glad to have read it. It corrected some of my misimpressions of the book, and I can now see why the book is so well thought of. Somewhat sorry that I didn't read Harper Lee's original words, but that will be for another time and be more like a reread. Anyway that still only makes 6 for the year so far.

Thanks Julie, Athena, We are doing our best. I'm posting, she's reading. Starbucks in a bit -- we both read. Enjoy your day.

H Julie, Would that it were so. Man o man you should see her fly through books, she reads so much faster than I do. She recommends them faster than I can finish them. And poor Cicero is still waiting. (Actually she stays awake longer than I do too.) Hi Kate /waves/

Just finished Bangkok Haunts by John Burdett. Picked it up on impulse for detective "escape" reading from the classics. It ended up more like "avoidance" reading by the time I was done -- a dingy view of the underside of the underside of the international porn racket in the oldest profession in Bangkok. No stars. No recommendation.

Hi Julie, I'm not sure what people call it, except that many have said (over the past several years) that it is the best book they have ever read. In looking at a "read me" page on Amazon it looked like gentle fantasy to me. Not as thick and heavy as The Hobbit, which is quite fine by me. But so many people have raved that I decided to give it a try. (I tend to look at Amazon reviews both good and bad and go from there, reading between the lines and matching against my own tastes. I find that much more reliable than reading blurbs.). PS: I haven't the faintest idea, yet, what the title means. PPS: I think it is also supposed to have an existential twinge, to make one "think about life." We shall see.

Just slipped in another book, even though it is not necessary. The decade 1980 has already been checked off with Clarice Lispector, but Little, Big by John Crowley just crossed my mind and it would be a shame to lose the thought for another long time. So now it is on the list and whizzing through the Whispernet for my Kindle. Never again to be forgotten, it will get read someday. Perhaps in breaks from Daniel Deronda, which is going slow.

That survey of answers makes the book sound even more interesting. Re no Reformation, et al, I think it best I keep a judicious silence, but historically it certainly seems so.

Ethan, Immediately post 9-11, I came across some books asking those same questions, without significant answer. It sounds from your review like From the Ruins of Empire will be very well worth reading. Thanks again for another informative review. Paul

Thanks all, Ethan, Kidsmum, Julie, for your kind reactions. It is an overwhelming favorite on another forum, so I guess it continues to spread. It is just so lifelike, for better and worse.

Very nice reviews, Ethan. Waverly is still ahead of me and I still think I'll do it, but I'll be finding a different book for the road to 1914. Your reviews are on the mark for answering questions of reader interest and are therefore very helpful. Many thanks for sharing your reactions, Paul

Stoner by John Williams. This is the story of a life from A to Z. It is the story of one William Stoner's life, from his beginning as a boy on a farm, through college, marriage, and lifelong career as Professor of English Literature, to his eventual retirement and passing from the scene. It is a shining example of Robert Graves' "only story worth telling," (from To Juan at the Winter Solstice) -- the only story of universal interest, the one story of how a person lives life and copes with the ups and downs of the human condition in which they, and we, all find ourselves. There have been "romance" stories (Eyre), "marriage" stories (Karenina), "college campus" stories (Admission), and "Professor" stories (Ravelstein) -- all different stories with elements told many times, and all examples of the "one" story. But this story is different. It shines out in its clear and beautifully descriptive narrative style. It has utterly real characters with virtues and faults drawn from modern society. It has situations so real that they will twang at your heartstrings. You may even recognize characters and situations that you know, or have experienced. And it has a conclusion which captures the truth of life, even at the moment of departing. It surpasses the other novels I have mentioned -- even Eyre -- and any other novels I can remember reading. I know it does, from the number of times it has gripped my heartstrings. So it gets five stars, and I recommend it strongly to anyone who reads novels

Have just finished Stoner by John Williams. Five stars, and already a definite Best Book for 2014. Twelve months from now it might even survive to be the Best of Best for 2014. Organizing a review.

Me too, but I gasped when I saw the pile. Just turn my back for a minute . . . But OK, as you say. They will all get read. Twice.

Adding two more, from pontalba's recent recommendations: Crossing to Safety - Wallace Stegner Stoner - John Williams And, though I jest about difficulty staying with Victorian novels, Madame Bovary has now hooked me (after 20%) and I think I am with it to the end. Wonderful characters, wonderful, story, wonderfully written. No higher praise, so far.

To Muggle, through Kate: Heh heh. I have a new theory that applies to me -- lists are useless. They only define where I will never get. the way for me to get to a book is "just do it." Hah! But I am making progress in Madame Bovary and I think I have the stamina to finish it. Then, Lonesome Dove. Howzzzat? Or maybe even sooner, if Victorian really gets to me.

Oops, Poppyshake and Chrissy, Happy reading to you also in the New Year. Been slow getting back here to update with a few more books. I'm figuring that starting one per month should get me through the list, in among my regular reading. Happy and Successful New Years to you both.

Hi Kate! Oh boy! The added attraction of a Nabokov translation. I didn't know that. Now it is definitely on the to-read-next list! Hi Julie! You hit the nail square on the head. That is one of my most general reading goals -- to try to read widely across all years, genres and authors. Impossible and visionary, of course . But there is always something interesting and different out there to be found. And well wishes to you also for your reading year.

In case anyone is interested in what was going on in the early 1800's, here's my highly selective view of it:. Candidate Reads 1800-1849 1808 - Wolfgang von Goethe - Faust (part 1) * 1811 - Jane Austen - Sense and Sensibility 1813 - Jane Austen - Pride and Prejdice 1814 - Walter Scott - Waverley * 1815 - Walter Scott - Guy Mannering 1817 - Walter Scott - Rob Roy 1819 - Water Scott - Ivanhoe 1821 - Wolfgang von Goethe - Wilhelm Meister's Journeyman Years * James Fenimore Cooper - The Spy 1826 - James Fenimore Cooper - The Last of the Mohicans 1830 - Stendahl - The Red and the Black * Edward Bulwer - Paul Clifford. "It was a dark and stormy night. . ." 1831 - Victor Hugo - The Hunchback of Notre Dame 1832 - Washington Irving - Tales of the Alhambra Alexander Pushkin - Dubrovsky 1834 - Honore de Balzac - Pere Goriot 1836 - Charles Dickens - The Pickwick Papers 1839 - Stendahl - The Charterhouse of Parma 1840 - Mikhail Lermontov - A Hero of Our Time * 1844 - Alexandre Dumas - The Count of Monte Cristo Alexandre Dumas - The Three Musketeers 1847 - Charlotte Bronté - Jane Eyre Emily Bronté -Wuthering Heights William Makepeace Thackeray - Vanity Fair My selections for my extended Decades Challenge list have been starred and now appear also on my Challenge List in the first post above. I think they sound interesting, or at least noteworthy.

Hi Julie, I must admit the pickin's are gettin' pretty slim, especially trying to push back before 1800. But there are some that have always intrigued me, even though I have been putting them off for many years now Have to make a list of candidates and then choose, carefully.

Just two more to go! Finished Washington Square by Henry James. An easy read with very exasperating characters who come to no good end, any of them. What a shame! Now it is on to Madame Bovary (currently in progress) and Daniel Deronda. And already I am wondering what to do next. The thought occurs to keep on appending decades on the front and working back into literary history one decade at a time. In among my other reading that should be doable, although a preliminary scan doesn't reveal an abundance of appealing titles. So the quest will end someday, somewhere.

Hi Muggle! I too am convinced. Lonesome Dove will go onto the list -- right after late Victorian. And then probably some of the others we already own Thanks for the suggestions for good reading. Paul

Hey Will! Glad to have a friendly companion traveling along on this difficult road. From just now looking at your Reading 2014 list, I am very impressed with your structured approach to reading and I am convinced that, if anyone can accomplish this goal, you are the one. I shall run along in your dust. Perhaps we should start a list of Books Not Bought This Year, just to have something to look at for positive motivation, ya know. Best wishes for the New Year in all categories Paul

Acquired taste it seems to be. I have heard that his sentences are impenetrable. On the other hand, from my own scanning he seems to write in different styles. The opening pages of Turn of the Screw seem to be rather different from The Wings of the Dove (I think). And I had a colleague who had read all of his novels and read no other author. When he was finished with the last novel, he just started rereading with the first one all over again.(!) It was he who recommended Washington Square for a beginner like me. So I have hope I'll find a way. Happy New Year to you too, All you could wish for.

Indeed, willoyd. That seems to be exactly what they did. So maybe the revisions have slowed down and my reading will diversify. That will be a boon all around. This year I am resolved to take a different path. (That's a formal resolution!) I'm going to cut way back on buying new books and, instead, start reading from our shelves here. So many new books that are published are irresistible to me that they defeat any attempts of mine to stay on-list (any list!). I think the thrill of purchasing must outweigh the thrill of reading for me, so I am going to try to turn off the faucet and stick to reading what I already have. That should help -- especially since I bought the books, in the first place, because I wanted to read them. And, believe me, Frankie, Julie, Kylie and Alexi, all of your sympathetic thoughts too will be on my mind this coming year. Thank you so much for reading my post and lending support.

Hi Muggle, Happy New Year! You are right. Someday I really will have to start mining the Westerns vein. Maybe late Victorian will drive me to it.