Claire's book list 2012

[chesilbeach]

I'm full of admiration only 20 books on your TBR pile you're the very picture of restraint Claire. I can't remember the last time I had such a tidy pile but it was definitely before I joined the BCF

I can't quite believe I've achieved it myself! I don't think I've ever had such a small TBR pile, and the shelf is starting to look pretty empty now

[chesilbeach]

Thought it was going to be a slow progress week with only one book finished, but for reasons I won't go into here, it's been a long night, and I've managed to finish another couple of books this morning. That means after 15 weeks of my challenge, my TBR list is down to 19 books! I'm going to have to buy Cloudstreet for next months reading circle, but I have my local book group selection to read first, so I should now have beaten the 20s for good.

 

Roll on the next target ... single figures!

[chesilbeach]

It's late afternoon in JUNE and I've got to PUT THE LIGHT ON TO READ!!!!!

[vodkafan]

It's late afternoon in JUNE and I've got to PUT THE LIGHT ON TO READ!!!!!

 

yes I noticed too that it was weirdly dark today

[lauraloves]

Just popping in to say thank you very much for The Welsh Girl and the lovely bookmark and the postcard I've always wondered where you got your username from and now I know lol is it a favourite spot of yours?

[chesilbeach]

Thanks for letting me know it got there safely, Laura.

 

Yes, we spent many childhood holidays along that piece of coastline, and now I'm all grown up, my OH and I go there regularly for daytrips and holidays.

[lauraloves]

Thanks for letting me know it got there safely, Laura.

 

Yes, we spent many childhood holidays along that piece of coastline, and now I'm all grown up, my OH and I go there regularly for daytrips and holidays.

 

it looks like a beautiful spot I think id like to go their at somepoint

[chesilbeach]

All this week I've been reading The Children's Book for my reading group meeting coming up in a few days, and I'm still only just over half way through. I'm sort of enjoying it, but there are too many characters and the story meanders through all of them, but I just feel like it doesn't have much direction most of the time. In a way I guess that's good, as I have no idea what's going to happen, but on the other hand it worries me that maybe it's not going to build to a satisfactory conclusion. Going to use my Sunday to try and make a big dent in it today, and hopefully finish it in time for the discussion!

 

This means, however, that there is no progress on reducing the TBR books I have, but on the positive side, I haven't added to them either. I know in the past when I've come across a book like this where it's taking a long time to read, and isn't completely captivating me, it's the time when I start to wander in to bookshops or onto the internet and buy far too much in order give myself an incentive to finish the book I'm reading, and would normally expect to find five or six more books on the TBR list by the end of it, so I'm pleased my will power is holding out so far.

[vodkafan]

Good gives me a chance to catch up after my slip on holiday !

[chesilbeach]

Good gives me a chance to catch up after my slip on holiday !

I've dedicated a whole Sunday to finishing The Children's Book and have downloaded Cloudstreet so I'm hoping to be back on track soon - don't let it slip any more if you want to keep up!

 

Realised I haven't written reviews of the last couple of books I've read, so will make a start on those this evening while the football's on

[chesilbeach]

It's no secret that Ali Smith is probably my favourite author, but she's not that prolific, so I was delighted last year when she published a new novel. In fact, I was lucky enough to go to an event at a bookshop where she read some of the book to a captive audience, and my copy is a beautiful signed hardback edition with a personal dedication to me. I don't have many treasured books, but I can assure you now, this will be one of them forever. The problem was, I didn't want to ruin it, so I decided to download the ebook version to actually read, but it was quite expensive (on top of the full price hardback edition), so I waited for the price to come down a bit before I decided to buy it when I went on holiday a few weeks back.

 

The book is called There But For The and tells the story of what happens when a guest at a dinner party leaves the table partway through the meal, goes upstairs and decides to lock himself in the guest bedroom then refuses to leave. The narrative comes from various people both directly and indirectly involved in the drama.

 

I loved this book. I love the way Smith is inventive with language and style, I love the picture she paints with her words, and I love her engaging characters. One of the narrators remembers when she first met Miles and how the acquaintance was formed, while another is the dinner party guest who brought Miles along as his guest, and then there's the incredibly precocious daughter of two of the guests whose mixture of intelligence, insightfulness and naivety is a joy to read. And as the story enfolds, we also get snippets of how the dinner party hosts deal with their unexpected guest and glimpses of the reaction from the wider society to this story.

 

The standout element of the story for me, was the way the conversation at the dinner table is recounted within one of the characters narrative. It's told in the higgledy piggledy way conversations take place with people talking over each other, mixing politics and personal stories and the revelations of those who may have had a bit too much to drink. It's funny, and beautifully observed, and although not conventional dialogue that you would expect in a novel, it just flows of the page as if you were there listening to this funny and at times ridiculous, overlapping conversation.

 

It's odd, but I like my novels to have a plot to move you through the story, and I normally complain when books don't have them, but I'm going to have to eat my words on this book. There is very little plot, but I guess it's a testament to how much I love Ali Smith as an author that I just don't care. The writing is unique and unusual, and there is enough to love in that and the characters she has created on the page, but I know it won't be to everyone's taste, and I would imagine it might end up being a love it or hate it type of book, but I know that I loved it. Having said that, I would still say that Girl Meets Boy is better, and I would also say that in general I prefer her short stories to most of her novels, but I would still choose any of them over most other books I've read in the last ten years.

Edited June 17, 2012 by chesilbeach

[chesilbeach]

I love travel writing, and have had quite a few travel books on my TBR that I've been enjoying working my way through, so I was happy to start The Factory of Light by Michael Jacobs where he rents a house in a small village in Andalucia. I should start out by saying I read most of it while trying to stay awake on a long sleepless night last week so it probably wasn't the best conditions for reading but I was disappointed with it. I felt I couldn't see the Andalucia, or even Spain, I've read about in the past, and I was actually a bit bored through most of it. There's nothing wrong with Jacobs writing, it just didn't speak to me, and there was no-one I could really connect with in it.

[chesilbeach]

I've just finished Cloudstreet for the July Reading Circle, and I thought it was a wonderful book. I'm not going to write a review, as I'm going to save it for the discussion, but instead, here's a collection of some of the Australian words I had to look up!

 

Akubra - the brand name of a type of hat

grousest - coolest/most awesome

chiack - to taunt or tease in jest

snags - sausages

jarrah - a type of wood

gilgies - the Noongar name for a small freshwater crayfish of the South West

Aquadhere - brand name of a type of glue

Carn - short for "come on"

"it's as yeller as Tojo" - reference to Japanese Prime Minister during WW2?

polony - type of processed meat (looks a bit like Spam?)

hosco - ??? No idea!

mallee - a type of woody shrub like eucalyptus

Edited June 23, 2012 by chesilbeach

[vodkafan]

Hopefully Kylie or Devi will see these and translate for us

[chesilbeach]

That's what I'm hoping!

[Kylie]

I can't help you with 'hosco', but 'grouse' means that something is cool (e.g. 'That's a grouse book you're reading!') So 'grousest' means that it is the coolest/most awesome. It's not often used nowadays. Bogans would be most likely to use it, in my opinion.

 

'Chlack', 'polony' and 'gilgies' aren't words I've heard of, although I guess the reason I haven't heard of the latter is because it's native to the other side of the country. 'Carn' also isn't really used these days - certainly not in cities, anyway.

[Roland Butter]

"Gilgies" sound like they might be the same as "yabbies". Do they use that term in NSW, Kylie? I certainly heard it when I was down in South Australia.

[Kylie]

Yep, we have yabbies.

[chesilbeach]

Thanks Kylie I've updated my glossary

[chesilbeach]

On the face of it, not much has changed with my TBR since last week, but in my head, it's all downhill from here! My TBR remains at 19, because despite having finished another book, it was my reading group meeting this week, so another go added. The reason I think it's downhill is that we don't have a meeting in August, so once I've read the book for this month, I won't be reading the next book until September, by which time I hope to have finished my TBR challenge.

 

In fact, it's four months today since I stopped buying books to add to my TBR shelf. Looking at the numbers, when I started I had 61 books to read, and since then (excluding my holiday books) I added another 5 to the list with reading circle and my local book group choices, bring the total up to 66. I now only have 19 left which means, I've read over 70% of the books on my TBR. I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel!

[Janet]

You have done amazingly well - I am very impressed at your willpower.

 

Can you bottle it and sell me some, please?!

[chesilbeach]

You have done amazingly well - I am very impressed at your willpower.

 

Can you bottle it and sell me some, please?!

Thanks Janet. I can honestly say, I don't know how I'm doing it. I never thought I would seriously be able to achieve it at the start. The only thing I can think that is keeping me going is maybe that this time, because I'm documenting the process on here in quite a detailed way, that maybe it's making me stick to it (a)so as to not lose face, and (b)because everyone's been encouraging and supportive! I know I've suggested it's the (getting bigger) space on my shelf, and various other things, but I'm genuinely starting to think that without this forum, it would have been a pipe dream that disappeared in a puff of smoke as all previous attempts had done.

[frankie]

I read your review on There But For The and I really liked the sound of it. I'm one of those people you've convinced to try an Ali Smith novel and while I think it should be Girl Meets Boy, I think that I really want to read this one, too, no matter how I get along with GMB. The way the story is told reminds me of The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas: something unexpected happens when people are gathered around and then the thing is told over from different people's perspectives. Not that I've read the book yet, but I do have a copy and it's one of those books I think I shall really enjoy.

 

Oh, I almost forgot: That's so great that you got to see Smith and also have a signed copy! What a treasure

 

In fact, it's four months today since I stopped buying books to add to my TBR shelf. Looking at the numbers, when I started I had 61 books to read, and since then (excluding my holiday books) I added another 5 to the list with reading circle and my local book group choices, bring the total up to 66. I now only have 19 left which means, I've read over 70% of the books on my TBR. I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel!

 

For a book lover such as yourself, the fact that you've managed to go without buying one single book (minus the book club reads etc.) for four months is really amazing. And on top of that, you've reduced your TBR pile by an incredible 70%, and you are so close to hitting zero TBR! I think years from now we'll be still remembering this quest and conquest of yours, full of admiration. Amazing!

[chesilbeach]

I read your review on There But For The and I really liked the sound of it. I'm one of those people you've convinced to try an Ali Smith novel and while I think it should be Girl Meets Boy, I think that I really want to read this one, too, no matter how I get along with GMB. The way the story is told reminds me of The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas: something unexpected happens when people are gathered around and then the thing is told over from different people's perspectives. Not that I've read the book yet, but I do have a copy and it's one of those books I think I shall really enjoy.

 

Well, I have my fingers crossed that you enjoy them, but like I say to everyone (when I remember ), they're not going to be everyone's cup of tea. You have to accept her style is not traditional, but if you're prepared to expand your horizons, then I truly believe there is joy to be had in reading her work.

 

Oh, I almost forgot: That's so great that you got to see Smith and also have a signed copy! What a treasure

I've just got it down off the shelf again to have a look, as if to make myself believe it actually happened! And it did! Seriously, if I ever get the chance to see her at an event again, I'll jump at it. She read an excerpt from her book with such life and sincerity (not something all authors seem to be able to do), talked with great enthusiasm and was attentive to each individual who had the courage to ask questions (not me).

 

For a book lover such as yourself, the fact that you've managed to go without buying one single book (minus the book club reads etc.) for four months is really amazing. And on top of that, you've reduced your TBR pile by an incredible 70%, and you are so close to hitting zero TBR! I think years from now we'll be still remembering this quest and conquest of yours, full of admiration. Amazing!

Like I said earlier though, I don't think I could have achieved this much without the people here, so thank you.

[frankie]

Well, I have my fingers crossed that you enjoy them, but like I say to everyone (when I remember ), they're not going to be everyone's cup of tea. You have to accept her style is not traditional, but if you're prepared to expand your horizons, then I truly believe there is joy to be had in reading her work.

 

Always up for a bit of expanding the good ole horizons! Eventhough you've been recommending her books and I sort of expect them to be good, I don't have any other expectations which is kind of rare because I feel it's normal to have preconceived ideas about whether one is going to like something or not and what the books are going to be like. I believe I shall have a fairly open mind when I get to the titles.

 

I've just got it down off the shelf again to have a look, as if to make myself believe it actually happened! And it did! Seriously, if I ever get the chance to see her at an event again, I'll jump at it. She read an excerpt from her book with such life and sincerity (not something all authors seem to be able to do), talked with great enthusiasm and was attentive to each individual who had the courage to ask questions (not me).

 

I can't blame you for wanting to look at the book over and over again She sounds like a really likable and friendly person.