willoyd
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Posts posted by willoyd
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Sixty Up!
Finished A Christmas Carol last night (this could become a regular reread!), which means sixty books this year, only the second time I've hit that figure as an adult. I know it's not a big total compared to some on here, and numbers are nowhere near as important as the quality of reading*, but there's still something very pleasing about setting a new best total, not least because there's been some biggies in that list (and some shorties too!), and there are times of year when reading definitely has to take second place. However, I do seem to have clocked up more consistent reading than usual since the beginning of August especially, in spite of the regular hiatus at the start of the academic year.*In fact, I'm going to aim at reducing the number of books read next year to focus more on those doorstoppers which I still haven't fully got my teeth into yet.
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That's a monumental effort ethan - especially as there are some pretty substantial (both in terms of volume and content) books there. Wow! I love your reviews too - they are proving a great resource.
Just a couple of notes jump to mind from books I've read as well:
The Ballad of Peckham Rye - Muriel Spark
Reads like a ballad. An odd fellow descends on a Scottish village, does odd things, stirs up lingering discontent, and is perceived by some to be the Devil. There's an emptiness, more an incompleteness, in Spark's fictional world, which may perhaps indicate the absence of a Savior.
I loved this - one of the best of hers I've read so far - even if I was never quite sure what she was aiming at, other than the (obvious?) satire. Peckham Rye, by the way, is in fact in Southwark, in London. Her Peckham Rye is very much how I recollect the place when a child, but it's nothing like it is today!
The Bookshop - Penelope Fitzgerald
This is my second Fitzgerald (Human Voices the other) but I haven't yet made a connection. Some post-reading research yielded an insight that Fitzgerald's work is a nod to the defeated in life, a notion that certainly applies to The Bookshop as just about the whole community conspires to deprive the bookseller of her moment of significance. Not much cheeriness then, but I'm still looking forward to her later The Blue Flower even though from what little I know of Novalis (it's real life tragic hero) there probably won't be much there either.
This, for me, is the weakest of those of hers I've read. My first was The Blue Flower, which I found fascinating. By far my favourite so far is Offshore, one of her first phase based on life experience. More than a nod to the defeated in life! She is definitely growing on me, and I need to go back and reread some once I've got through the first round.
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Started The Book of Human Skin by Michelle Lovric, but I'm going to have to put it to one side and pick up something else. It's so difficult to follow largely due to the writing style (phoenetic rather than proper English), which is really disrupting the flow.
That was one of the reasons I never finished it, in spite of loving The Floating Book.
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Your favourite read of the year?
Without a doubt, this was Far From The Madding Crowd. Brilliant in every sense, and up there with the very best.
Your favourite author of the year?
Trickier one this. Obviously my most read author has to be up there, but the one that has made the most impact on me has been Penelope Fitzgerald. Several close runners-up, including Thomas Hardy, Georges Simenon, and Charlotte Higgins. If I'd read her earlier in the year, it might have been Dorothy Sayers, but it's hard to base this award on only one book.
Your most read author of the year?
Georges Simenon. Penguin are reissuing all his work, one book a month, and I'm steadily and enjoyably working through them.
Your favourite book cover of the year?
The Folio Society edition of Dorothy Sayers's The Nine Tailors. Close runner-up: again an FS cover, this time Possession.
The book you abandoned (if there was more than one, the one you read least of)?
Don Fernando by W Somerset Maugham. Dull as ditchwater. It wasn't anywhere close to the book I disliked the most though, which I only completed because it was one for my Reading Group. This was Herman Koch's The Dinner, a book with few, if any, redeeming features.
The book that most disappointed you?
Cider with Rosie. A classic, perhaps, but to my mind overwritten,repetitive, and surprisingly tedious for such a short book.
The funniest book of the year?
The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion, with A Bear Called Paddington a close runner-up! It seems I'm not alone at rating The Rosie Project! Another popular nominee here is Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops - definitely enjoyable, but I found this raising more smiles than out and out laughs, whilst the other two definitely made me laugh (rare for a book)!.
Your favourite literary character this year?
Bathsheba Everdene in Far From The Madding Crowd, one of the great heroines for me.
Your favourite children's book this year?
Only one read, but it was a six star book, so a worthy winner: A Bear Called Paddington by Michael Bond.
Your favourite classic of the year?
Same as my overall favourite read, Far From The Madding Crowd.
Your favourite non-fiction book this year?
The Pursuit of Glory by Tim Blanning. Outstanding history, and would have been overall winner but for Ms Everdene!
Your favourite biography this year?
Thomas Hardy, The Time-Torn Man by Claire Tomalin.
Your favourite collection of short stories this year?
None read
Your favourite poetry collection this year?
The Complete Robert Frost
Your favourite illustrated book of the year?
Charles Keeping's illustrations for the Folio Society's Nicholas Nickleby: the perfect illustrator for Dickens, far better than the originals!
Your favourite publisher of the year?
Penguin, for starting their reissue of the entire Maigret series. I like the covers too!
Your favourite audiobook of the year?
None listened to.
Your favourite re-read of the year?
A Christmas Carol. This book grows on me with every read, and has now become a firm favourite.
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Finished reading Penelope Fitzgerald's The Gate of Angels this morning. I can't say that any one book of hers stands out sufficiently to get amongst my favourites, but I do find her writing somewhat addictive, as with Muriel Spark and, to a lesser extent, Beryl Bainbridge; she is definitely amongst my favourite writers. She's not one to waste words either, and this has to be one of the most succinct endings I've read in ages!
So, the next book is my sixtieth of the year, only the second time I've reached this figure as an adult. I think it's going to have to be a reread of A Christmas Carol! -
The Franchise Affair by Josephine Tey ***
More of a 'Howdunnit' than a 'Whodunnit', although even the 'how' was fairly obvious long before the end, this was a mildly interesting if slightly dated read that left me rather flummoxed wondering what all the fuss is about. I can't really think of much else to say about it.....
Beyond The Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo **
The result of four years research, in some respects this is a massively impressive book, describing, in intimate detail, the lives of a small group of Muslims living in a slum on the perimeter of Mumbai Airport. This is no Slum Dog Millionaire - life in the slums is unremittingly grim and subject to the vagaries of a massively corrupt system. The picture may be grim, but it is also clearly drawn.
So why on earth only 2 stars? Because, ultimately, I found this a profoundly disappointing book, one which the author had effectively turned into a piece of fiction, losing the impact that rawer non-fiction would have provided. In particular, the decision to tell us precisely what the characters were thinking, thus making the author omniscient, had the reverse effect of what I think was the desired one: rather than bringing me closer to the characters, I felt distanced from them: these were no longer real people being observed or reported on, but fictional characters, simply existing in the mind of author and reader. I just couldn't get to grips with the fact that this was about real people, and with that, most of the point of the book was lost for me. Given the reviews, I suspect I'm in a small minority and certainly, if you can handle this aspect of the book, there is much to learn and appreciate. It just wasn't for me, which is what the star system is about - how I engage with the books.
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Read A Bear Called Paddington in pretty much one sitting last night. I've got very fond memories of this, as it was one of my most treasured books as a child, and, with the film hitting the cinemas, thought I'd give it a quick rewhirl. It's brilliant! Simply told but with a humanity and poise that other more 'literary' writers would do well to learn from. It's also still laugh out loud funny!
I've also been reading Dorothy Sayers's The Nine Tailors as part of the English Counties Challenge, finishing the second half in one sitting this morning. I was sure I'd read this before, but the more I got stuck into it, the more I realised that I must have seen it on TV or dipped in (I had a vague recollection of the solution which turned out to be accurate in what I remembered, but was missing much). I can see why some people say it's the best detective story ever: I've not read any Sayers before, and the depth of story takes her writing way, way beyond the bounds of a mere 'crime' novel. The climax (and I'm not talking about the solution here) is superbly told - real heart in mouth stuff, and one of the best pieces of writing about a setting within a novel I can recall. I really must tackle the rest of her work soon. -
Raced through Muriel Spark's The Ballad of Peckham Rye yesterday and today in a couple of sittings. Definitely one of the more quirky reads of the year. I have a real soft spot for this lean style of writing espoused by the likes of Spark and Beryl Bainbridge. Equally, if in somewhat different styles, Georges Simenon and Virginia Woolf. Either that or the complete opposite: big, meaty, Victorian style fiction.
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Willoyd means his school term ended for the holidays so he's finished for Christmas - although I guess he might have some marking to do?!
Correct on all counts Alexi!! Worry ye not Athena - I've been happily married for some 30+ years now, and intend to stay that way! Sorry to be so obscure - too used to 'school speak', especially as OH works in schools too. There is a particular pleasure appreciated by all those who work in schools,whether you love it or hate it (and I love it), of waking up on the first morning after a term ends, and realising, however much marking, planning or other admin there is to do, that you can actually organise your time in your own way, a feeling that no other job I've had has induced in quite the same way!
On the book front, I did slip in The Longest Afternoon, which I finished this evening. Cracking read too.
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Brighton Belle by Sarah Sheridan ***
A fairly conventional whodunnit featuring a fairly feisty female tyro private detective, set in the early 1950s. Not exactly an awful lot else to add: the plot was fairly standard, the reading fairly enjoyable if you don't want anything to taxing (and I didn't). Fairly forgettable too.
Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte ****
The shortest of the Bronte sister novels, at barely 200 pages, the plot screams out autobiography. It is a deceptively simple story too, told in straightforward, direct prose, covering a multiplicity of themes, including the treatment of servants, parenting skills, love matches versus arranged marriages, the importance of morality etc etc. For me it didn't really take off until after Agnes leaves her first appointment - I saw little point in much of the section leading to this point - but then the characters become vastly more interesting, being much more strongly nuanced, whilst there is a direction to the plot.
Overall, whilst not in the same league as the likes of Wuthering Heights or Jane Eyre, Agnes Grey was a distinctly enjoyable, quietly thought provoking novel. -
Completed Behind The Beautiful Forevers whilst sat up in bed this morning (we broke up yesterday, so revelling in the gentle start to the day!). I can see why it's received such good reviews, almost universally, but I have to say that, however much I admire the work that went into it and the quality of the reportage, I just couldn't get on with it, found it a real struggle to keep going to the end, and sighed with big relief on finishing.
I started The Nine Tailors yesterday, a reread from some years ago for my English Counties Challenge, although am keen to get stuck into a slim history volume on the Battle of Waterloo (The Longest Afternoon) which I might slip in first.
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Great idea!! From books read in the past year or so:
My Day in Books
I began the day with Christmas Pudding.
On my way to work I saw A Commonplace Killing
and walked by The Late Monsieur Gallet
to avoid A Very Long Engagement
but I made sure to stop at The Little House in the Big Woods.
In the office, my boss said, "It's All Greek To Me,"
and sent me to research The Romans Who Shaped Britain.
At lunch with Agnes Grey and Nicholas Nickleby
I noticed Acts of Union and Disunion
under King Solomon's Carpet (!),
then went back to my desk Far From The Madding Crowd.
Later, on the journey home, I bought A Case of Exploding Mangoes
because I have A Month in the Country.
Then, settling down for the evening, I picked up The Poisonwood Bible
and studied When God Was a Rabbit,
before saying goodnight to The Last Viking and The Glass Painter's Daughter. -
You're probably not the same age as me (mid-50s)!Though the font I have set to the default I believe, and I hardly ever change it...
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I'm in full agreement with you, I much prefer the e-ink screen for reading, vs. a normal tablet screen.
Though paperbooks I love the best
.Raven, I also bought a Kindle specifically because I wanted to read some books that were only available on Kindle. I still read most books in paperbooks, if available, but I've read some great books on the Kindle that I otherwise couldn't have read. There are also quite a few free books to be found, some of which are rubbish but some of which I've really enjoyed.
Hope you don't mind my barging in: speaking as someone who continues to buy loads of paper books, there are some other big advantages with a Kindle. You can vary the font size: too many paperbacks have print sizes way too small for me nowadays, or text running into the gutter. The Kindle fits much better into a bag - I carry mine round with me all the time, without any danger of running out of books! I've got a paperwhite, which means I can read in bed at night without disturbing OH with a bedside light on (book lights can be just as bright!). A Kindle means more space on bookshelves. I use the search tool a lot to help me refer back and remind myself about characters etc. And so on and so on.
I still prefer reading a book,and there are times when there is no doubt they are better, but the Kindle is brilliant alongside them.
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Completed Josephine Tey's The Franchise Affair today. Pleasant enough, but a bit mystifying as to why it's regarded by so many as a classic.
It's also Jane Austen's birthday today! (No. 239)
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Jane Austen's 239th birthday today. Isn't she wearing well??!!
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Having finished Possession on Thursday, have galloped through a couple of fairly short, quick novels. Firstly Brighton Belle, the first in a female detective series set in the early 1950s by Sarah Sheridan, and then Anne Bronte's Agnes Grey.
Brighton Belle was enjoyable if fairly predictable fare. Agnes Grey wasn't in the same league as some of the other Bronte canon, but, after a slightly unpromising first 50 pages or so, it grew on me a fair bit. Certainly somewhat more coolly written than either Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights! -
Possession by AS Byatt ****
I have had Possession sitting on my shelves, unread, for some years now. It's one of those books where, once read, you wonder why it took so long to read, but, before you read it, the time never see quite seems propitious. Finally, finally, I got stuck in, and I do wonder why it took so long to settle down to it.
Actually, I don't really, it's fairly obvious. Possession is, to put it mildly, a big book, a somewhat daunting book. It's not the size per se that is daunting, but the anticipation from preliminary browses.
At the heart of the novel lies Roland, an impecunious researcher whose lifework is centred on the fictitious Victorian poet, Randolph Ash. He comes across a previously unknown letter written by Ash, which suggests a previously unknown relationship with another slightly less well-known poet, Christabel LaMotte. The main plot is thus his investigation into the relationship, and the relationships he himself develops, some of which strongly echo the Victorian thread.
So, what's so daunting about that? After all, this sort of plotline is not unknown! The answer is in the fact that a fair amount of the investigation isn't straightforward detective work. Ash and LaMotte are both poets, and the story involves their poems. Clues lie in the text, and are dependent on textual analysis (which is, after all, Roland's metier). Equally, central to the investigation is the correspondence between the two, and much of it is 'reproduced' here. The language is not easy, and the poems are somewhat obscure. I certainly found the latter hard to read, whilst other reviewers found the letters similarly difficult.
Indeed, they are sufficiently so that several Amazon reviewers have suggested skipping both correspondence and poetry. Hmmmm. I certainly didn't read all the poetry (far from it), and, whilst the story read well, I do feel in hindsight that I might have missed something there. Having said that, I didn't read them because I simply didn't understand them, so maybe I would have missed it anyway! As for the correspondence, for me it was vital for understanding. Again, one can pick up the story from the rest of the novel, but reading through provides a gradual reveal that feels strongly revelatory, and certainly adds to the reader's sense of involvement: Roland (and Maud Bailey, another academic who joins with Roland in his investigations) are not the only detectives! Not reading the letters would leave the reader to rely on being told by the investigating duo, and a degree of removal.
I certainly found myself deeply involved in the story. However, there were times when Byatt's own language was somewhat beyond me: it's not often that I need a dictionary alongside me whilst reading a book, but this was one of those occasions. I equally found some of the literary discussion between characters unintelligible, and found myself skimming through that (for instance, LaMotte is meant to be a significant figure in women's studies, and not being familiar with the gender politics this addresses, some of the concepts and language was well outside my sphere of experiece and understanding). As a result of all this, my handle on the detail, detail that provides much of the richness of such a novel, was rather tenuous, and thus I felt at times a mite less engaged that perhaps I would have otherwise been.
I also found that, whilst the central characters were painted in very 'real' terms, some of the other characters were perhaps rather too cartoonish to fit comfortably into such a novel: they would perhaps have been much happier in one of David Lodge's campus comedies. The contrast was just sometimes a bit too jarring, exacerbated by a denouement played out during the great storm of 87. Drama, or melodrama? Hard to tell (and maybe deliberately melodramatic?).
Having said all that, I really enjoyed Possession. Like the Victorian classics that I'm sure it's designed to mirror, it demanded extended reading, and, having reached around page 200 through rather too many short stints that were starting to induce an element of frustration, I finished the next 300 or so pages in two enthralling evenings (curled up next to the Aga - the weather outside wasn't the sort to encourage departure!), allowing one time to chew contentedly on one of the meatiest novels of the year. It's not difficult to see why this was a Booker winner, why it's been suggested as a potential future classic, and why it remains on the 1001 Books To Read Before You Die list - incidentally my 130th completion.
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Why are we supposed to get Brazilians? Should you get Botox? Do men secretly hate us? What should you call your vagina? Why does your bra hurt? And why does everyone ask you when you're going to have a baby?
Not qualified to answer most of these, but in answer to the third one: most definitely not!! So, another question - I've enjoyed some of her other writing, so is this one for a man to read?
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Just over 200 pages into Possession by AS Byatt. Took a bit of getting into - a lot of literary discussion that flowed straight over the top of my head, but starting to gather momentum.
Some book buying:
The first six Morse books, 99p each in the Kindle sale
Foxglove Summer by Ben Aaronovitch
The Flemish House by Georges Simenon
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Have been having fun browsing the newspapers' books of the year reviews; they all seem to come out around now. Quite a few books mostly non-fiction, added to my wish lists (and Christmas present list)!
Had a good discussion in our book group on this month's book, Sense and Sensibility. It wasn't my choice, but I was the only one who raved about it (but then it's one of my top three or four books). Others very luke warm, barely tepid in one or two cases. Mostly an issue with 'being too wordy'. Austen, too wordy??!! Left me almost speechless!
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I wonder what everyone thought of the finale?
There were bits of it I loved (The nods to Gerry Anderson, Missy) and bits I wasn't so keen on (not as much resolution of some questions as I would have liked) but on the whole, I did like it.
Coming in almost a month late, having just caught up on i-player.
I like Capaldi enormously as the Doctor, but was really disappointed with the finale. The action was messy, and for me Danny Pink has been a disaster, ruining the Claro Oswald character development. I got to the stage where every time I heard the words "I love you", I wanted to scream, whilst the last scene in the graveyard was just tedious. Comfortably the worst series since the revamp for me.
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Bring up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel
It’s a while since I read Wolf Hall, but Mantel does a good job of filling in gaps in my memory...... Historical fiction at its best.
9 out of 10
A great reminder, thank you. I absolutely loved Wolf Hall, which went straight onto my all-time favourites list, and can't imagine why I haven't got stuck into this yet: I have a hardback copy sitting on my shelves waiting to be read.
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Will you re-read any of the English Counties challenge that you read before this year, or maybe an alternative, or are you happy to leave them ticked off because you have read them?
I'm in two minds what to do about the ones I've read before as I wasn't keen on some of them, and also I'm not keen on re-reading books due to the number of unread ones I have!
If I took the list as it stands, about 21 of the counties would be rereads. However, quite a few of these are books I read 20 (or more!) years ago, so rereading them isn't a problem (rather the opposite), but some are too recent to reread or books I have no desire to revisit.
I've thus gone for a few alternatives, so am scheduled to read a book per county as of the start of the challenge. I'm up to 13 at present.
The substiture books I've used are:
Devon: instead of The Hound of the Baskervilles I've listed To Serve Them All My Days. I love Sherlock Holmes, but was so intensely brought up on him (my father was a London guide specialising in Sherlock Holmes) that I could probably reproduce the book verbatim, and I want something fresh. I might still reread the Agatha Christie, but I can sort of remember the twist, which is a bit of a spoiler.
Greater London: instead of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, for the same reasons as above, I've listed Mrs Dalloway, which I think makes a better book in that slot anyway.
Hertfordshire: instead of Pride and Prejudice, I've listed Howard's End. Again, I could probably quote P&P chapter and verse, and really don't need to reread it, however good a book it is.
Lancashire: instead of Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, I've listed Mist Over Pendle. Would just much rather read the latter.
Nottinghamshire: instead of Lady Chatterley's Lover, I've liste Sons and Lovers. I just found LCL thoroughly tedious first time round, and have no intention of wasting my life further! LCL is only famous because of its notoriety. I reckon it would have largely sunk into oblivion otherwise.
My full list is on both my English Counties Challenge thread, and the first page of my book blog.
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I'm determined next year that I'm going to target more of my bigger books, both classics and non-fiction. I started on this year, and whilst I've made some headway, haven't really got stuck in as much as intended.
I'm happy enough with progress on the English Counties Challenge (six read so far this year, thirteen in total), although want to pick the pace up a mite.
I'll add to this as things strike me.
Frankie reads 2014
in Past Book Logs
Posted · Edited by willoyd
Interesting to see we share two recent reads in common - doesn't seem to happen to me very often! I have to admit with this one, I gave it another go, having read it for our book group and thoroughly disliked it, but had a thoroughly interesting discussion with others who were rather more positive. Turned out rather the opposite from your experience - if anything I disliked it even more intensely, and couldn't get through more than 70-80 pages before binning it for good! As you say, it's definitely a book that polarises!
I also enjoyed reading your comments about The Rabbit Back Literature Society. You'll be pleased it was a rather more positive reading experience (!). Even if not quite the 5/5 experience you had, it was definitely very different to anything else I've read lately, with much provocation of thought! I'm certainly glad that I read it, especially given that I only picked it up on a complete off-chance.