willoyd
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Posts posted by willoyd
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A one-evening read for Ira Levin's The Stepford Wives, the book for Connecticut on my tour of the USA. The first disappointing choice for the tour too, now half-way completed. Relieved it was such a quick read, because, satirical though it was meant to be, it felt horribly dated, and lacked credibility. For just 138 pages and one sitting, it felt remarkably tedious. 2/6.
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8 hours ago, Brian. said:
I
- Islands of Abandonment - Cal Flyn
- English Pastoral - James Rebanks
In my defence I did donate a big pile of books to the local charity shop so I am net zero in terms of sheer numbers. I had a notion to try and read more fiction this year but I just can't help myself when it comes to interesting sounding non-fiction titles.
And they are particularly interesting sounding books - I've read Rebanks's first book, and have EP on my shelves. Islands of Abandonment has been recommended to me by several people.It was on BOGOHP at Waterstone's - presume that came into play?!
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On 23/01/2022 at 2:21 PM, Brian. said:
Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe (2/5)
The first category includes books that I find straightforward to read, for me a book like Pride and Prejudice is the perfect example. The other category includes books that require effort due to their language but that I enjoy enough that the effort is worthwhile, A Christmas Carol fits this description for me. Sadly, as much as I wanted to like this book I just couldn't get on with it and I found it a real plod most of the time. ... Although there is a definite timeline, the plot feels quite frenetic and disjointed. I have been looking forward to reading this for years so I feel more disappointed that I perhaps should do.
I was equally disappointed with Moll Flanders: a real plod describes it exactly: I gave it a 2 star rating too, finding the writing quite wooden. I know it's very early in the genesis of novels, but it didn't wear well IMO, although I'd be interested to try some of his other work to compare.
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Finished Bright Days this evening - superb read. My first JB Priestley, and am going to seek out more. 5/6 stars.
Have started my first Read Around The World book, The Promise by Damon Galgut (South Africa).
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Had to put the two books I'm currently reading (Bright Days - JB Priestley, The Burgundians - Bart van Loo) aside to read Mr Wilder and Mei - Jonathan Coe - in time for a book group meeting next week. A quick read - essentially two sittings on two consecutive evenings, eminently readable, with some interesting points, but for some reason never really, deeply, engaged me. Fuller review later on my blog thread once I've had a chance to think that through.. 3/6 stars.
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On 14/01/2022 at 8:26 PM, lunababymoonchild said:
Currently reading P'ere Goriot by Honoré de Balzac, A. J. Krailsheimer (Translator)
Read that last year for book group - will be interested in reading what you think of it. I've not read any Krailsheimer translations - I gather that's a relatively new one from Oxford World's (relatively, as I know he died in 2001).
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#24 Wisconsin: American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld ****
(copied across from my reading blog thread)
My first book of the year, a book group choice, but one that nicely satisfies one of my aims this year, to read some bigger books. At over 600 pages it certainly counts as one of those! Having said that, it proved a fairly rapid read - more to do with the readability than any physical aspect of the book!
With the main character, Alice, modelled on Laura Bush, the wife of George W Bush, it opens with the couple in bed in the White House, and Alice contemplating her marriage: she's betrayed the President (we don't know how) and is not certain how her marriage is going to progress - we then move into flashback and Alice tells the story of her life and how she got to this point. Whilst Alice is modelled on Laura Bush, it becomes fairly quickly apparent that Alice is not actually Laura Bush: there are enough differences, not least that the story, until it reaches Washington, is set in Wisconsin rather than Texas - which meant that rather neatly but unexpectedly, I found I could slot it in as my Tour of the USA book for that state!. However, there are some key aspects where the 2 lives coincide, aspects, or events, which inevitably impact massively on the women's respective lives. It would be too much of a spoiler to itemise them all, but one which has been well-flagged in reviews, and occurs early on enough not actually spoil, is that it's well documented that Laura Bush, at the age of 19, drove through a stop sign one evening, and collided with a car coming along the other road, killing the driver, a boy who she knew well. A similar incident occurs to Alice, but the circumstances and the aftermath are pure fiction.
I initially thought that a lot of this book would be about the rise to the Presidency, but in fact that barely features. Three quarters of the book is about the Alice's life before Charlie (her husband) runs for political status, whilst the last quarter (there are 4 parts) jumps to a couple of years after they reach the White House. But the parts are all strongly connected. What the book does focus on is Alice's relationship with Charlie: they love each other, but they are political opposites - Alice is a signed up Democrat. There social background is also very different (as were the real-life couples'). So, how does Alice work this, how does she compromise her political beliefs and principles to handle that relationship. Or does she? I have to admit, I did find the book quite hard going at times, not because of its readability (as we know), but because of of the extent of the navel-gazing, or internal monologue, and, to be honest, some of the repetition. The challenge and its resolution, the moral hurdles Alice has to negotiate make for fascinating reading, but a good editor would have made this even better (interesting to hear only the other day the presenters of the Book Club Review podcast saying exactly the same about Sittenfeld's latest, 'Rodham', another alternative history biography). I never felt the desire to abandon the book, but I did find myself skimming on occasions.
When we came to the book group discussion, I think I was the most positive about the book. Most felt it overlong, a good proportion found Alice frustratingly annoying ('Why was she such a doormat?' was one's question that summed this up neatly), but I have to say that I never once thought that: rather the opposite: this was very much a woman trying to balance her obvious love for her partner with the fact that they were such diametric opposites in so many areas - how did she handle this. It may have been the life of an American First Lady, but so much of it reflected the questions pretty much every couple must face at one time or the other. In her own way, I found Alice to be a rather strong character.
In summary: a generally engaging read, with a few patches of longeuse that would have benefited from a stronger editor, asking some very human questions. It certainly made for a good book club read. A promising start to the year, with the added bonus that I've taken my Tour of the USA score up to 25 - one off half way! : 4 stars out of 6.
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American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld ****
My first book of the year, a book group choice, but one that nicely satisfies one of my aims this year, to read some bigger books. At over 600 pages it certainly counts as one of those! Having said that, it proved a fairly rapid read - more to do with the readability than any physical aspect of the book!
With the main character, Alice, modelled on Laura Bush, the wife of George W Bush, it opens with the couple in bed in the White House, and Alice contemplating her marriage: she's betrayed the President (we don't know how) and is not certain how her marriage is going to progress - we then move into flashback and Alice tells the story of her life and how she got to this point. Whilst Alice is modelled on Laura Bush, it becomes fairly quickly apparent that Alice is not actually Laura Bush: there are enough differences, not least that the story, until it reaches Washington, is set in Wisconsin rather than Texas - which meant that rather neatly but unexpectedly, I found I could slot it in as my Tour of the USA book for that state!. However, there are some key aspects where the 2 lives coincide, aspects, or events, which inevitably impact massively on the women's respective lives. It would be too much of a spoiler to itemise them all, but one which has been well-flagged in reviews, and occurs early on enough not actually spoil, is that it's well documented that Laura Bush, at the age of 19, drove through a stop sign one evening, and collided with a car coming along the other road, killing the driver, a boy who she knew well. A similar incident occurs to Alice, but the circumstances and the aftermath are pure fiction.
I initially thought that a lot of this book would be about the rise to the Presidency, but in fact that barely features. Three quarters of the book is about the Alice's life before Charlie (her husband) runs for political status, whilst the last quarter (there are 4 parts) jumps to a couple of years after they reach the White House. But the parts are all strongly connected. What the book does focus on is Alice's relationship with Charlie: they love each other, but they are political opposites - Alice is a signed up Democrat. There social background is also very different (as were the real-life couples'). So, how does Alice work this, how does she compromise her political beliefs and principles to handle that relationship. Or does she? I have to admit, I did find the book quite hard going at times, not because of its readability (as we know), but because of of the extent of the navel-gazing, or internal monologue, and, to be honest, some of the repetition. The challenge and its resolution, the moral hurdles Alice has to negotiate make for fascinating reading, but a good editor would have made this even better (interesting to hear only the other day the presenters of the Book Club Review podcast saying exactly the same about Sittenfeld's latest, 'Rodham', another alternative history biography). I never felt the desire to abandon the book, but I did find myself skimming on occasions.
When we came to the book group discussion, I think I was the most positive about the book. Most felt it overlong, a good proportion found Alice frustratingly annoying ('Why was she such a doormat?' was one's question that summed this up neatly), but I have to say that I never once thought that: rather the opposite: this was very much a woman trying to balance her obvious love for her partner with the fact that they were such diametric opposites in so many areas - how did she handle this. It may have been the life of an American First Lady, but so much of it reflected the questions pretty much every couple must face at one time or the other. In her own way, I found Alice to be a rather strong character.
In summary: a generally engaging read, with a few patches of longeuse that would have benefited from a stronger editor, asking some very human questions. It certainly made for a good book club read. A promising start to the year, with the added bonus that I've taken my Tour of the USA score up to 25 - one off half way! : 4 stars out of 6.
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After quite a lot thought, I've decided to go ahead with a new challenge this year, even if I haven't finished (and am really enjoying) my Tour of the United States. In some ways, they could be regarded as complimentary. So, I've set up a new thread in Reading Challenges, Willoyd's Read Around the World, the aim being to read a book (preferably novel) from every country in the world (plus one or two places that might not be regarded as 'countries' in their own right) - 202 in total. It's a bit daunting, and indeed it may never be finished, but just as my American tour has hugely helped diversify my reading, so my main aim is for this to do that even more. A couple of book group choices in the past year or two have really made me appreciate how narrow my reading was getting, and how much I have enjoyed the variety and different insights these new authors and books have provided. I suspect that it won't be long before I add non-fiction books to the challenge, which really would sort out my reading for the next few years!
On a slightly different tack, I'm going to keep a record here also of books acquired for reading this year. Just a prompt to me to actually read some of them, rather than let them merge into my overlarge TBR shelves. To that end, I've acquired the following books since New Year, not all for immediate reading admittedly, as one or two are adding to series or sets of which I'm reading earlier books
Ice Rivers by Jemma Wadham
Restoring the Wild by Roy Dennis
Mistletoe Winter by Roy Dennis
Matrix by Lauren Groff
Beak, Tooth and Claw by Mary Colwell
What Is History Now? by Suzannah Lipscomb and Helen Carr
The Devil's Cathedral by David Fairer
The Malice of Waves by Mark Douglas-Home
J.B. Priestley by Vincent Brome
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On 07/01/2022 at 11:33 AM, Brian. said:
Thin Air: A Ghost Story by Michelle Paver (4/5)
I was inspired to read this by a short review from one of our members, Willoyd.....
I'm both pleased and relieved you enjoyed it! I can also recommend her other ghost novel, Dark Matter, although a word of warning, in that several reviewers feel the two books are far too similar. I can certainly see why, but actually found I enjoyed them both, Dark Matter perhaps slighly more than Thin Air. But then I'm a sucker for anything set in the Arctic, or in the Himalaya for that matter! I'd suggest it worth a try anyway.
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South America (2/12)
Argentina: The Tango Singer - Tomas Eloy Martinez; Heartbreak Tango - Manuel Puig; Eleanor Knows - Claudia Pineiro' The Invention of Morel - Adolfo Bioy Casares
Bolivia: Our Dead World - Liliana Colanzi (shorts); Fresh Dirt from the Grave - Giovanna Rivero (shorts); The Fat Man from La Paz - Rosario Santos (shorts)
Brazil: Macunaima - Mario de Andrade; The Violent Land / Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon - Jorge Amado; Hour of the Star - Clarice Lispector
Chile: The House of Spirits / Eva Luna - Isabel Allende; When We Cease To Understand the World - Benjamin Labatut
Colombia: One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Ecuador: The Pot-Bellied Virgin - Alicia Yanez Cossio; Jawbone - Monica Ojeda; Gabriela Aleman - Poso Wells
Guyana: My Bones and My Flute by Edgar Mittelholzer; Frangipani House - Beryl Gilroy
Paraguay: I, The Supreme - Augusto Roa Bastos
Peru: Red April - Santiago Roncagliolo; Aunt Julia and the Scrptwriter - Maria Vargas Llosa
Suriname: The Cost of Sugar - Cynthia McLeod
Uruguay: Who Among Us - Mario Benedetti
Venezuala: Dona Barbara - Romulo Gallegos
Oceania and Antarctica (2/15)
Antarctica: Antarctic Navigation -Elizabeth Arthur
Australia: Voss - Patrick White; Cloudstreet - Tim Winton
Fiji: Kava in the Blood - Peter Thomson (NF)
Kiribati: Nuanua - Albert Wendt (ed) plus readings from Indigenous Literatures of Micronesia, Pacific Island Legends
Marshall Is: Marshall Islands Legends and Stories - Daniel Kelin II
Micronesia: Indigenous Literatures of Micronesia - Evelyn Flores and Emelihter Kihleng (eds), plus readings from Pacific Island Legends
Nauru: Stories from Nauru - Bam Bam Solomon and others; readings from Indigenous Literatures of Micronesia
New Zealand: The Garden Party and Other Stories - Katherine Mansfield; Potiki - Patricia Grace (Maori)
Palau: Pacific Island Legends - Bo Flood et al (eds)
Papua NG: Maiba - Russell Soaba
Samoa: Where We Once Belonged - Sia Figiel
Solomon Is: Being The First - Pollard and Waring (eds)
Tonga: Tales of the Tikongs - Epeli Hau'ofa
Tuvalu: Tuvalu, A History - Simani Faaitu (ed - NF)
Vanuatu: Sista, Stanap Strong - Mikaela Nyman (ed)
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North America (4/23)
Antigua and Barbuda: Annie John - Jamaica Kincaid
Bahamas: Thine is the Kingdom - Garth Buckner
Barbados: In the Castle of My Skin - George Lamming
Belize: Beka Lamb/The Festival of Sain Joaquin - Zee Edgell
Canada: Alias Grace - Margaret Atwood; Runaway by Alice Munro
Costa Rica
Cuba: Oscar Hijuelos? Dirty Havana Trilogy - Pedro Juan Gutierrez
Dominica: Wide Sargasso Sea - Jean Rhys
Dominican Republic: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao - Junot Diaz, Tentacle - Rita Indiana; Julia Alvarez
El Salvador: One Day of Life - Manlio Argueta:
Grenada: The Bone Readers - Jacob Ross
Guatemala: The President - Miguel Angel Asturias; The Art of Political Murder - Francisco Goldman;
Haiti: The Dew Breaker - Edwidge Danticat
Honduras
Jamaica: Augustown - Kai Miller, The Hills Were Joyful Together - Roger Mais; The Book of Night Women - Marlon James
Mexico: Down the Rabbit Hole / Quesadillas - Juan Pablo Villalobos; The Death of Artemio Cruz - Carlos Fuentes, Like Water for Chocolate - Laura Esquivel; Pedro Paramo - Juan Rulfo
Nicaragua: Infinity in the Palm of Her Hand - Gioconda Belli
Panama
St Kitts and Nevis
St Lucia
St Vincent and Grenadines
Trinidad and Tobago: Minty Alley - CLR James; A House for Mr Biswas - VS Naipaul; Salt - Earl Lovelace
United States: Beloved - Toni Morrison
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Asia (5/48)
Afghanistan: The Patience Stone / Earth and Ashes - Atiq Rahimi; The Wasted Vigil - Nadeem Aslam
Armenia: Three Apples Fell From The Sky - Narine Abgaryan
Azerbaijan: Ali and Nino - Kurban Said, Days in the Caucasus - Banine
Bahrain: Yummah - Sarah A. Al Shafei
Bangladesh: A Golden Age - Tahmima Anam; The Book of Dhaka - shorts
Bhutan: The Circle of Karma - Choden Kunzang
Brunei: Written in Black - KH Lim
Cambodia: In the Shadow of the Banyan - Vaddey Ratner
China: The Garlic Ballads / Red Sorghum - Mo Yan
Georgia: Flight From The USSR (Jeans Generation) - Dato Turashvili; The Book of Tblisi (shorts)
India: A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry; The God of Small Things - Arundhati Roy; Tomb of Sand - Geetanjali Shree
Indonesia: The Earth of Mankind - Pramoedya Ananta Toer
Iran: Reading Lolita in Tehran - Azar Nafisi (NF), Touba and the Meaning of Night - Shahrnush Parsipur, Savushun - Simin Daneshvar
Iraq: Prophecy of Pharaoh - Maysalun Hadi; God 99 / The Iraqi Christ - Hassan Blasim (inc shorts)
Israel: Judas - Amos Oz, More Than I Love My Life/To The End Of The Land - David Grossman
Japan: Snow Country - Yasunari Kawabata; Tokyo Express - Seicho Matsumoto
Jordan: Times of White Horses/others - Ibrahim Nasrallah
Kazakhstan: The Silent Steppe/Surviving the Silent Steppe Mukhamet Shayakhmetov
Korea, North: The Accusation - Bandi
Korea, South: The Vegetarian - Han Kang
Kuwait: Mama Hissa's Mice - Said Alsanousi
Kyrgyzstan: Jamilia / The White Ship - Chinghiz Aitmatov
Laos: Mother's Beloved: Stories from Laos - Outhine Bounyavong
Lebanon: The Prophet - Khali Gibran, The Tiller of Waters - Hoda Barakat
Malaysia: The Night Tiger - Yangsze Choo
Maldives: Dhon Hiyala and Ali Fulhu - Abdullah Sadiz
Mongolia: The Blue Sky - Galsan Tschinag
Myanmar: Smile As They Bow - Nu Nu Yi
Nepal: The Tutor of History/others - Manjushree Thapa; Samrat Upadhyay; Karnali Blues - Buddhisagar
Oman: Celestial Bodies - Jokha Alharthi
Pakistan: The Wandering Falcon - Jamil Ahmad, Basti - Intizar Husain, The Crow Eaters - Bapsi Sidhwa
Palestine: Wondrous Journeys in Strange Lands - Sonia Nimr; Minor Detail - Adania Shibli
Philippines: Illustrado - Miguel Syjuco; Noli Me Tangere - Jose Rizal
Qatar: The Corsair by Abdulaziz Al-Mahmoud
Saudi Arabia: The Ruins Of Us - Keija Parssinen; The Dove's Necklace - Raja Alem; Girls of Riyadh - Rajaa Alsanea
Singapore: Fistful of Colours / The River's Song - Suchen Christine Lim; How We Disappeared - Jing-Jing Lee
Sri Lanka: The Story of a Brief Marriage / A Passage North - Anuk Arudpragasam; The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida / Chinaman - Shehan Karunatilaka
Syria: The Frightened Ones - Dima Wannous
Tajikistan: Hurramabad - Andrei Volos
Taiwan: The Stolen Bicycle / The Man with the Compound Eyes - Wu Ming-yi
Thailand
Timor-Leste: Eyewitness - Seno Ajidarma
Turkey: 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World - Elif Shafak
Turkmenistan: The Tale of Aypi - AK Welsapar, Unknown Sands - John Knopf (memoir)
UAE: Temporary People - Deepak Unnikrishnan; The Sand Fish - Maha Gargash
Uzbekistan: Heirs to the Great Sinner San'On - Erkin A'zam
Vietnam: The Sorrow of War - Bao Ninh
Yemen: The Hostage - Zayd Mutee' Dammaj; They Die Strangers - Mohammed Abdul-Wali (shorts); A Land Without Jasmine - Wajdi Al-Ahdal
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Africa (9/54)
Algeria: What the Day Owes the Night - Yasmina Khadra; Fantasia - Assia Djebar
Angola: The Book of Chameleons - Jose Eduardo Agualusa
Benin: books by Florent Couao-Zotti (in French)
Botswana: A Question of Power / When Rain Clouds Gather - Bessie Head
Burkina Faso: The Parachute Drop - Nobert Zongo
Burundi: Baho! - Roland Rugero; Small Country - Gael Faye (or Rwanda)
Cameroon: Mission to Kala - Mongo Beti
Cape Verde: The Last Will and Testament of Senhor da Silva Araujo - Germano Almeida
Central African Republic: Daba's Travels from Ouadda to Bangui/Princess Mandapu (in French) - Makombo Bambote
Chad: Told By Starlight in Chad - Joseph Brahim Seid
Cormoros: A Girl Called Eel - Ali Zamir
Congo, DR: Before the Birth of the Moon - Valentin Y Mudimbe
Congo, Rep: Black Moses - Alain Mabanckou
Cote d'Ivoire: Standing Heavy - GauZ
Djibouti: In the United States of Africa - Abdourahman Waberi
Egypt: Palace Walk (Cairo Trilogy v1) - Naguib Mahfouz
Equatorial Guinea: By Night the Mountain Burns - Juan Tomas Avila Laurel, Shadows of Your Black Memory - Donato Ndongo
Eritrea: The Consequences of Love - Suleiman Addonia, Gratitude in Low Voices - Dawit Gebremichael Habte (NF)
Eswatini: Weeding the Flowerbeds - Sarah Mkhonza (NF), When the Ground Is Hard - Malla Nunn (YA)
Ethiopia: Cutting for Stone - Abraham Verghese
Gabon: Mema - Daniel M Mengara
Gambia: Reading the Ceiling - Dayo Forster
Ghana: The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born - Ayi Kwei Armah
Guinea: The Dark Child - Camara Laye (NF)
Guinea-Bissau: The Ultimate Tragedy - Abdulai Sila
Kenya: A Grain of Wheat - Ngugi wa Thiong'o
Lesotho: Chaka/Traveller To The East - Thomas Mofolo
Liberia: She Would Be King - Wayetu Moore
Libya: The Bleeding of the Stone - Ibrahim al-Koni; In the Country of Men - Hisham Matar
Madagascar: Beyond the Rice Fields - Naivo
Malawi: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind - William Kamkwamba (NF)
Mali: The Fortunes of Wangrin - Amadou Hampate Ba
Mauritania: The Desert and the Drum - Mbarek Ould Beyrouk
Mauritius: The Last Brother - Nathacha Appanah
Morocco:: The Sand Child - Tahar Ben Jelloun, The Year of the Elephant - Leila Abouzeid:
Mozambique: Woman of the Ashes - Mia Couto
Namibia: The Purple Violets of Oshaantu - Neshani Andreas; Born of the Sun/Troubled Waters - Joseph Diescho
Niger: The Epic of Askia Mohammed - Thomas Hale/Nouhou Malio
Nigeria: Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe
Rwanda: Small Country - Gael Faye (or Burundi); Our Lady of the Nile - Scholastique Mukasonga
Sao Tome and Principe: Equator - Miguel Sousa Tavares
Senegal: So Long A Letter - Mariama Ba, God's Bits of Wood - Ousmane Sembene
Seychelles: Voices (shorts) / Kolony - Glynn Burridge
Sierra Leone: The Last Harmattan of Alusine Dunbar - Syl Cheney-Choker; The Memory of Love - Aminatta Forna
Somalia: Crossbones / From A Cracked Rib - Nuruddin Farah
South Africa: The Promise - Damon Galgut
South Sudan: There Is A Country - Nyuol Luoth Tong (ed-shorts); Eddo's Souls - Stella Gaitano (due out 2022 - Dedalus)
Sudan: Season of Migration to the North - Tayeb Salih
Tanzania: Abdulrazak Gurnah
Togo: Michel the Giant, An African in Greenland - Tete-Michel Kpomassie (NF)
Tunisia: The Pillar of Salt - Albert Memmi
Uganda: Kintu / The First Woman - Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi
Zambia: The Old Drift - Namwali Serpell
Zimbabwe: The House of Hunger - Dambudzo Marechera; We Need New Names - NoViolet Bulawayo, Nervous Conditions - Tsitsi Dangarembga
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Europe (13/48)
Albania: Broken April / Chronicle in Stone/A Girl in Exile/The Traitor's Niche - Ismail Kadare
Andorra: The Teacher of Cheops - Albert Salvado
Austria: Chess Story - Stefan Zweig; The Exiles' Return - Elizabeth de Waal; The Tobacconist - Robert Seethaler; Peter Handke, Vienna Passion - Lilian Faschinger; Frozen Time - Anna Klim
Belarus: King Stakh's Wild Hunt - Uladzimir Karatkevich, Svetlana Alexievich (NF), Alindarka's Children - Alhierld Bakharevich
Belgium: The Sorrow of Belgium - Hugo Claus; Invitation to a Voyage - Francois Emmanuel
Bosnia and Hezorgovina: The Bridge over the Drina - Ivo Andric
Bulgaria: Time Shelter - Georgi Gosposdinov
Croatia: Our Man in Iraq - Robert Perisic, The Ministry of Pain/Baba Yaga Laid An Egg/The Museum of Unconditional Surrender - Dubravka Ugresic
Cyprus: Margarita's Husband - Andriana Ierodiaconou, Ledra Street - Nora Nadjarian (shorts); The Silent Patient - Alex Michaelides
Czech Republic: Closely Watched Trains - Bohumil Hrabel
Denmark A History of Danish Dreams - Peter Hoeg; We The Drowned - Carsten Jensen, The Angelic Avengers - Isak Dinesen
England: The Good Companions - JB Priestley; White Teeth -Zadie Smith
Estonia: The Autumn Ball - Mati Unt, Border State - Tonu Onepalu, Treading Air - Jaan Kross
Finland: The Year of the Hare - Arto Paasilinna
France: Life, A User's Manual - Georges Perec; The Mandarins - Simone de Beauvoir
Germany: Measuring the World - Daniel Kehlmann
Greece: The Murderess - Alexandros Papadiamantis, The Scapegoat - Sophia Nikolaidou, Why I Killed My Best Friend - Amanda Michalopoulou, Zorba the Greek/Report to Greco - Nikos Kazantzakis
Hungary: The Door/Katalin Street - Magda Szabo
Iceland: History. A Mess. - Sigrun Palsdottir
Ireland: Ulysses - James Joyce
Italy: The Leopard - Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa
Latvia: The Book of Riga - various (shorts), Flesh-Coloured Dominoes - Zigmunds Skujins
Liechtenstein: Die letzte Reise der Hindenburg - Armin Ohri; Stamping Grounds - Charlie Connolly (NF).
Lithuania: White Shroud - Antanas Skema, Tula - Jurgis Kuncinas, Vilnius Poker - Ricardas Gavelis, The Last Book Smuggler - Birute Putrius
Luxembourg: The Pleasure of Drowning - Jean Burlesk
Malta: In the Name of the Father (and of the Son) - Immanuel Mifsud, Children Come By Ship/others - Oliver Friggieri; The Lives and Deaths of K. Pensa - Clare Azzopardi
Moldova: The Good Life Elsewhere - Vladimir Lorchenkov
Monaco: Making Monte Carlo - Mark Braude (NF); Monaco Cool - Robert Eringer (NF)
Montenegro: The Son/The Coming - Andrej Nikolaidis
Netherlands: Tomorrow Pamplona - Jan van Mersbergen;The Dark Room of Domocles - Willem Hermans, The Assault / The Discovery of Heaven - Harry Mulisch, The Evenings - Gerard Reve;The Twin - Gerbrand Bakker
Northern Ireland: Travelling in a Strange Land - David Park
North Macedonia: My Husband - Rumena Buzarovska (shorts); Freud's Sister - Goce Smilevski
Norway: The Ice Palace - Tarjei Vesaas
Poland: The Books of Jacob/Flights / Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead - Olga Tokarczuk, The Issa Valley - Cselaw Milosz. Isaac Bashevis Singer
Portugal: All The Names / The Stone Raft / The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis by Jose Saramago; The City and The Mountains - Jose Maria de Eca de Queiroz
Romania: Nostalgia - Mircea Cartarescu, Life Begins On Friday - Iona Parvulescu
Russia: Stalingrad/Life and Fate - Vasily Grossman
San Marino: The Republic of San Marino - Giuseppe Rossi (NF)
Scotland: O Caledonia - Elspeth Barker
Serbia: The Tiger's Wife - Tea Obreht; Iron Curtain - Vesna Goldsworthy
Slovakia: Rivers of Babylon - Peter Pistanek, Night Circus and other stories - Ursula Kovalyk (shorts)
Slovenia: Alamut - Vladimir Bartol, The Harvest of Chronos - Mojca Kumerdej
Spain: Nada - Carmen Laforet; The Hive - Camilo Jose Cela; Javier Marias
Sweden: To Cook A Bear - Mikael Niemi; The Saga of Gosta Berling - Selma Lagerlof; The Red Room/The People of Hemso - August Strindberg
Switzerland: I'm Not Stiller - Max Frisch. The Assistant - Robert Walser
Ukraine: Death and the Penguin - Andrey Kurkov
Vatican City: When In Rome: A Journal of Life in Vatican City - Robert Hutchinson (NF)
Wales: One Moonlit Night - Caradog Prichard
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As June said in the first post of her trip round the world's nations, I've been thinking about this for some time. Given that I've only just reached the half-way point of my Tour of the USA, it's probably a bit precipitate to start a new challenge, but I think I can handle too, and having seen June complete her journey recently, I'm inspired to get going on mine, so two challenges it is!
In terms of places I've decided to start with:
+ the 193 full member countries the United Nations
+.the 2 observer countries: Vatican City, Palestine
+ an ex-member: Taiwan
+ the United Kingdom split into its 4 constituent countries (I've read loads of English literature, but little from the others)
+ the only continent otherwise not represented in this tour: Antarctica
which takes me to 200, a good starting point, although that may well change as things progress.
As for criteria in choosing each book, I'm going for aims rather than rules, simply because I suspect, from reading others' challenges, it would be nigh on impossible to find books which I can read (eg most will need to be available in translation) that satisfy similar conditions to those I used in my Tour of the USA. So, my main aim is to read an example of post-1920 (ie last hundred years) adult literature set by an author born in or a citizen of that country (or resident as next best), set in that country - books regarded as 'classics' preferred. I will generally go for fiction, but, again unlike my Tour of the USA, non-fiction is allowed; it may even, on occasions, be preferred if I think it gives more insight into the country and/or its literature. If all else fails, a book about the country written by someone who is neither from nor a resident (eg, a history of...). As well, whichever 'criteria' are satisfied, it will have to be a book I haven't read before.- this is about expanding my literary experience after all!
To keep posts manageable, I'm splitting countries up by continents in the checklists below: Europe; Africa; Asia; North America; South America and Oceania/Antarctica. Books in blue are those that have been read - I may list more than one book if I think later books are 'worthy' enough! Books in black are suggestions, either considered or to be considered.
Read to date: 35/ 200
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On 09/01/2022 at 3:15 PM, France said:
Otherwise I'm reading Night Trains by Andrew Martin about the demise of night trains (though since he wrote this in 2017 they're coming back in Europe). Some of it is wonderful, I'd really like to do the Nordstrom sleeper in Norway but he's got more knowledge than skills as a writer so it's worthy and interesting and misses out on being fascinating which it could so easily have been.
That's interesting, because he's quite a well-regarded fiction writer too.
It's good to see night trains making a comeback: we've long used trains as our main means of transport in Europe, and it was really saddening to see all the overnight routes that we used to use being struck off one by one. They were/are particularly useful for us as cyclists! That was particularly so as the ferry routes were being destroyed too - and they've not started coming back, rather the reverse continues, the latest being Hull-Zeebrugge.
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Completed I Belong Here by Anita Sethi - her account of walking (parts of) the Pennine Way as part of her therapyafter a traumatic experience of racial abuse whilst travelling by train. I so wanted to like this, but....whilst she has important things to say, and some valuable insights, I found her writing dreadful: a real chore to read. Interestingly, it's had some rave reviews in the press, featuring in end of year recommendations (which is how I came to it), but now browsing Good Reads reviews, I see I'm definitely not alone. I read it to the end only because there were those important moments, and almost felt I ought to, but all it did was convince me that this was in desperate need of a good editor. 2 stars out of 6 (it would have been 1 star for the writing alone).
Continuing with The Burgundians, which I am thoroughly enjoying. Finding that I'm enjoying it most in relatively small bites and then reviewing what I've read - so much to take in!
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Finished American Wife this morning. A fascinating book, 4/6 stars. Most of the book was set in Wisconsin, so have replaced the incumbent title(The Art of Fielding) that I was going to read for this state, with this, a worthy replacement. Takes my Tour of the US to 25 states now.
Have moved on to a Christmas present: The Burgundians by Bart van Loo, a chunky history tome. This could take some time!
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On 16/12/2021 at 9:00 PM, Talisman said:
I have finished - I completed the last country on my list last night!
Wow well done! I see it's almost exactly 10 years since your first post on this thread - a super achievement and well sustained!
I'm part way through my tour of the USA; like you I will almost certainly feel a bit of 'what next?' (I certainly did after English Counties, and that was only a fraction of this commitment). However, this looks like a fascinating challenge to take up. Your list will be invaluable! Thank you for keeping us all in touch.
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On 04/01/2022 at 8:26 AM, KEV67 said:
I enjoy buying books, but when I buy them I intend to read them. I may as well leave my anti-library in the bookshop where I have not paid any money for them.
From my perspective there are several reasons why that doesn't work for me: I buy a lot of hardbacks, particularly for non-fiction, as I find print sizes in the paperbacks too small to read pleasurably. They often go out of print or unavailable quickly. If they are available they are often far more expensive even second hand (most of my buying of new books is in sales etc). I also buy a lot from specialist charity bookshops and 2nd-hand shops, and those books aren't there when I go back. IN terms of paperbacks, I read a fair amount of series and, being the sort of geek/nerd I am, I like to have them in uniform bindings - and publishers have a habit of changing them, so I tend to buy several books in a series at one go, or as soon as the next one in that series is out, ready to read later. I also dip into books a lot - not easy to do if they are in the bookshop. And I enjoy sitting in a room with lots of full bookshelves (would love a proper library!). So, having a library/anti-library works at several levels for me; it won't of course for everyone (my wife thinks I'm mad - she's probably at least partly right, she usually is!).
On 04/01/2022 at 8:26 AM, KEV67 said:Umberto Eco was definitely a clever fellow. Reading Focault's Pendulum convinced me of that, although I found it exasperating. Not as exasperating as The Island of the Day Before, after which I stopped reading him. The Name of the Rose was good.
I'd agree with all of that!
On 04/01/2022 at 8:26 AM, KEV67 said:I am reminded of the bit in The Great Gatsby in which Gatsby shows his bookshelf full of great books which he has not read. I took it as a criticism: that he was trying to pretend he was more learned and cultured than he was. Not that I am accusing you of any of that.
I think your interpretation of that is spot on. For me, it underlined the fundamental shallowness of Gatsby - showing off all those books, which he's got for display not to read. My book storage is very similar to luna's. We don't even have the book wallpaper, although I do have a large cushion on one sofa in the sittingroom covered in a booky fabric!
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9 hours ago, KEV67 said:
I feel relatively virtuous compared to most of you. My TBR list was relatively under control.
Hmmm. There's quite a value judgement there. Why is it 'virtuous' to have a TBR list 'under control'? I adore reading and having books around me - why wouldn't I have a huge TBR pile? What's virtuous about having a small list? As I said in my earlier post, I long ago abandoned any idea of keeping my TBR list 'under control', simply because that didn't work for me - I have a philosophy that means a fairly large unread library of books is a good thing (virtuous)!
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16 hours ago, Brian. said:
They've taken out a restraining order! Your author of the year, 2021!
To change things up a little I am going to pick Michael Palin. I have read quite a few of his travel books this year and thoroughly enjoyed all of them. I really like the way he doesn't look down on people from different cultures and usually talks about how he has managed to put his foot in it or made himself look foolish. He also talks a lot about the production team and camera people who were part of the journey. Most importantly he makes it out the experience and not all about him.
Great choice! I've also just acquited a copy of his diaries (1988-98) for very much the same reasons.
16 hours ago, Brian. said:I'll read it again, I'll tell ya! Your overall book of the year, 2021!
Once again A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles.
We read this as a book group read in 2020 - took us a bit by surprise as nobody had read either this or his previous book before, and without exception we loved it. Can see why it featured so prominently in your awards. Will be intrigued to see if The Lincoln Highway lives up to these standards!
Willoyd's Tour of the States.
in Reading Challenges
Posted · Edited by willoyd
#25 Connecticut: The Stepford Wives by Iran Levin **
Well, it took until almost half-way through the tour, but I finally reached a book that was genuinely disappointing. There have been a couple which were 'alright', and about which I couldn't get particularly enthusiastic, but none, until now, where I came away thinking that was a distinctly unsatisfactory read. Supposedly this was a satire, and I suspect it was in its day, but reading this fifty years on, it just felt horribly dated, with wooden characters and a plot line lacking in any credibility. And no, unlike many other books, I found myself unable to suspend my disbelief, not least because it was such an unpleasant read. In fact, I'm almost talking myself into 1 star, but perhaps better to leave it at that, and just walk away, relieved that it was only 138 pages long, barely an evening's read. A tedious evening, it has to be said. 2 stars out of 6.