75 Books...More or Less! discussion
Archive (2014 Challenge)
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Kat's 75 book Challenge for 2014
Glad to have you, Kat! Welcome to the group!
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Thanks! Totally read it, especially if you're into modernist writing. It's lyrical and gorgeous, and I think she may have been half crazy when she wrote it <3
Also finished a book yesterday: Iran Awakening by Shirin Ebadi : Five Stars, hands down.
I finished this book in one day, I couldn't put it down. It's utterly engrossing, compelling and shocking, even more so because it's a memoir. Her perspective about the events of the 1979 Islamic Revolution are pretty similar to Marjane Satrapi's, if you've read Persepolis, except Satrapi was just a child when the revolution happened whereas this woman was an ex judge, and had more of an active and cognizant part in the revolution. Parts of the book literally made me cry, although I won't give any spoilers. Totally recommend it...
Finished another one this week:The Little Stranger - Sarah Waters : two stars.
One of my all-time favorite novels is Sarah Waters' Tipping the Velvet. This one was a bit of a disappointment. It was beautifully written in terms of the naturalness of the situations and conversations that take place in the story, and Waters' eloquence in depiction. One doesn't so much read the story as watch it unfold.
However, the story trudges on at a glacial pace, the protagonist/narrator is a patronizing misogynist whose perspective makes the events of the tale unpleasant and uncomfortable to read, and save for a few redeeming pages here and there, the suspense and horror elements are too drawn out and anti-climatic to be enjoyable.
Biography of "Joe" Carstairs, an American-English binational heiress who was briefly famous for boat racing. Her fame for being the "fastest woman on water"- a professional boat racer at a time when women didn't do that sort of thing- was probably the least interesting thing about her. I casually picked this book up because it was in the bargain bin and looked kind of interesting, but holy sh*t this biography was phenomenal. The caption for this biography is "life is stranger than fiction", and in this case, it's totally true. The events of her life almost seem unreal.... Though it's a biography it reads like really interesting fiction. I totally recommend it. #13 The Queen of Whale Cay by Kate Summerscale four stars
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I really liked The Little Stranger so I will have to give Tipping the Velvet a try!
Andrea wrote: "Kat,I really liked The Little Stranger so I will have to give Tipping the Velvet a try!"
Tipping the Velvet is reeeally different from Little Stranger, though, just to warn you... although both novels are flavorful period pieces. :) Tipping the Velvet really is fantastic, though! They made a BBC TV movie out of it too.
#15 Anything We Love Can Be Saved - Alice Walker 3.5 stars. I LOVE Alice Walker's writing. No matter what the topic, whether it's actual poetry or an article about dreadlocks, her writing is always lyrical and, well, pretty. Her tone, at times in this book, is a little bit too new-agey and ridiculous. But she reminds me a lot of my mom with her totem animals and whatnot, and I love it all the same. Not so fond of the way she trashes Marilyn Monroe in "Giving the Party".. I understand the sentiments, the reactionary trouncing against a beauty/sex symbol against whom all women, of colour or otherwise, are held up to, and made to feel unworthy. I totally get it. But she really lays into this poor woman she never knew. I get the anger, but it's too easy to dismiss her as a vacant vessel valuable only as a white man's sex fantasty. She was a woman of flesh, blood, and tears the same as any, and i feel for the poor woman, who was so abjected by what she was reduced to that she ultimately killed herself.
other than that, I thought it was brilliant. Her article about hugging Fidel Castro was hilarious, and her bit about her work on the documentary "warrior marks" was touching, and her article about religion was spot on.
#19 Ash by Malinda Lo - Four StarsAwesome. This is hands down my favorite rendition of the Cinderella story - it's certainly the most creative and unique interpretation I've read so far. My only complaint is that the writing, while lucid, polished, and enjoyable to read, was at times a bit flat. The story is about Love with a capital L, but we don't really feel the characters fall in love. there were so many potential moments for sexual or even strong, romantic tension, but instead Ash's feelings just come out of left field. other than that, it's perfect. I won't say more, except that people should read this!
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Awesome. This is hands down my favorite rendition of the Cinderella story - it's certainly the most creative and unique interpretation I've read so far. My ..."
It's in my TBR!
Elyse wrote: "Kat wrote: "#19 Ash by Malinda Lo - Four StarsAwesome. This is hands down my favorite rendition of the Cinderella story - it's certainly the most creative and unique interpretation I've read ..."
Totally go for it :)
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#20 Unbearable Lightness - Portia De Rossi three starsLOVED this. I didn't know very much about Portia De Rossi, or about anorexia/bulimia before reading this memoir, but I'm glad I got to know more about this very interesting woman, and about the trauma that fuels eating disorders. It's very easy to be judgemental of celebrities and models, particularly gorgeous ones, whose lives seem impossibly glamorous and unattainable. Part of me still cries, "poor bourgeois pretty girl", but honestly after reading this I would not have wanted to trade places with her for the world. Hopefully this book has made me a little more compassionate.
Also, I get really, really sappy when it comes to DegeneRossi, so I loved hearing about how the met and fell in love.
I'm not a big fan of celebrity memoirs, but this one has always looked interesting to me.
Charleen wrote: "I'm not a big fan of celebrity memoirs, but this one has always looked interesting to me."Yeah, ditto. To be honest, in retrospect, the storytelling - as with most celebrity memoirs i imagine - wasn't fantastic. It jumped around a bit in ways that were at times confusing. But her story's nonetheless pretty exceptional, and it was still a pleasure to read.
#21 The Kindness of Strangers: anthology of travel-related stories. Editor: Don Georgefour stars
This collection of short stories, from a diverse set of amateur and professional writers, revolves around an act of kindness experienced by a person while traveling. I'm a globe-trotting addict, so this book was right up my alley. Despite the large amount of amateur writing, all of the stories were well written. Though all of them were supposed to have been based on actual experiences, some of the stories were so incredible i have a hard time believing they're not fiction. But lived reality or embellished fantasy, the stories still had the effect of inspiring me and making me want to travel more. My favorite stories were "Serendipity" about a woman hitchhiking in Israel, "Arab Music" also about a woman in Israel, Jewish, who befriends an Arab family, and "Ascension in the Moonlight" about a guy at sea who makes an impromptu stop on a lonely Island in the middle of the Atlantic to catch a plane home, but who unexpectedly has a profoundly beautiful experience.
Kat wrote: "#21 The Kindness of Strangers: anthology of travel-related stories.This collection of short stories, from a diverse set of amateur and professional writers, revolves around an act of kindness experienced by a person while traveling..."
Kat, I love to travel too, although most of mine has been in the U.S. (I have 8 states to go before I've visited all 50). Sounds like a perfect read for a road trip!
Karol wrote: "Kat wrote: "#21 The Kindness of Strangers: anthology of travel-related stories.This collection of short stories, from a diverse set of amateur and professional writers, revolves around an act of ..."
wow, 42 states?! Jealous! I've done a lot of world travel, but the more time I spend abroad the more nostalgia I get for America. Anyway, yeah I strongly recommend it. The stories are quite short, so they're perfect for quick reads during commute and whatnot.
Yeah - I still need to see Alaska, Hawaii, Montana and a few others that I can probably pick up on one trip to the northeast. My new husband and I are planning to go to Alaska in summer of 2014 . . . but I won't wait that long to read this volume of short stories. Thanks for the recommendation!
#22 Cities of the Interior - Anais Nin four starsFinished! This is actually a monster of a Roman Fleuve (think Proust), consisting of five novels (Ladders to Fire, Children of the Albatross, The Four-Chambered Heart, A Spy in the House of Love, Seduction of the Minotaur) originally published separately. Took me a while to get through, especially because of the density and surrealism of Anais Nin's writing. But I loved it all the same. I would have given it five stars, except "The Four Chambered Heart" really got on my nerves. Also, though she can be forgiven for being the product of an earlier age, her fetishism of racial others is still a bit disturbing to a contemporary reader.
The stories, as the title suggest, deal with "cities of the interior" or inner worlds - microcosms. All five novels explore the relationships between a set of repeating characters. Nin, rather than focusing on external events that drive the plot, concentrates on the way events and relationships impact emotions, traumas, and conjure up the past of the characters. She does this in a modernist literary way that conjures mythology, art, and alchemy. And like the alchemist, she really knows how to turn ink to gold.
#23 Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? - Jeanette Winterson Five StarsThis book broke my heart. I LOVED it. My only gripe is that it was too short.
#25 Emma - Jane Austen two and a half stars. Oh, the five-star rating system. It's really not that useful at all. I gave this bit of classic literature two stars because, according to the goodreads rating system, two stars means "It was ok". Ok sounds like ambiguity, so it's an apropos rating for my feelings about this novel. it was an absolutely TEDIOUS read. Vapid monologues about baked apples and manners, CHAPTERS long. This novel literally gave me a headache with its dullness. There isn't a single character in the entire novel, including (especially) Emma who is likable. But, as others have mentioned before, that's part of what also makes the novel great. If Emma had been a paragon of virtue, I'd never have made it a quarter into the novel. It's social satire if I've ever read it. It's at times hilarious (everything with poor Mr. Woodhouse!), the shrill rants of the self-important Mrs. Elton, Ladies panicking with fear at the sight of impoverished gypsy children, etc. Austen's caricature of the genteel society of her day is funny in a way that is deadpan, scathing, and subtle. You can't really deny the novel's genius. But I wouldn't call it a pleasurable read.
#26 The Devil's Pool - George Sand three starsA cute, uncontroversial story about a farmer looking for a new wife. Romanticization of peasant life of the 19th century. It was a sweet little short novel, but I was a little disappointed. This was my first go at George Sand's writing. She herself was such a controversial character, I was expecting her writing to be a little more intense. But her powers of description are beautiful all the same - or else the translator was a talented embellisher.
#27 Mathilda - Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Three stars.Wow. Move over, Poe. This novella was DARK, but beautifully written. I would have gone nuts over this story years ago in my high school/ early college years, but I'm not quite so goth as I used to be and now found it a bit whiney and hyperbolic. Still an enjoyable read, if you like gothic literature.
Plot: A young girl named Mathilda, after suffering a lonely childhood, reunites with the estranged father she idolizes. After a brief period of intense happiness, the father begins developing incestuous feelings for her which drive him to suicide. Having lost everything she loves in the world, the young girl is left trying to navigate the grief of her father's death while carrying the unbearable burden of his awful secret.
Kat wrote: "#26 The Devil's Pool - George Sand three starsA cute, uncontroversial story about a farmer looking for a new wife. Romanticization of peasant life of the 19th century."
Kat, wasn't George Sand a friend of the composer Chopin? I don't know very much about her.
Yup! She was his lover, in fact. :) She's also famous for being outspoken, smoking cigars in public and dressing in men's clothes, all despite being a "genteel lady".
#28 Oscar Wilde: Art and Morality Three Stars. This book is a compilation of publicized criticisms and defenses of Wilde's novel "The Picture of Dorian Grey". Think: Victorian flame wars. It's hilarious to listen to as a contemporary reader, and quite amazing to think how such an innocuous book like "Dorian Grey" could have caused such a scandal. Some of his critics were really, really viscous! Granted, there were no, "Your mama was a ho"'s, but there was a bit of "YOR BOOK IS GAY. AND YOU ARE GAY TOO. NOBODY LIAKZ YOU"... expressed a bit more eloquently perhaps. If you find reading the comment section of Youtube videos amusing, or if really pompous and self-righteous English guys make you smirk, this book might just be for you.
also btw: the last few books I've "read", I found for free on librivox.org. they're all public domain audiobooks, so they're free and LEGAL. Just thought I'd spread the word, if anyone is interested in the classics.
Kay, I second your plug for Librivox! I listened to both Pride & Prejudice and Jane Eyre using Librivox and was very impressed. In fact, the sly humor in P&P came across better in audio than on the page and listening to the formal language wasn't as tedious as reading it.
Yeah! the book about oscar wilde I just finished was made particularly amusing by its haughty but silly narration... I doubt I would have enjoyed it as much if I were just reading the language. It can be hit or miss though.. :)
#29 Angry Women - V. Vale Four and a half stars. In this book, V. Vale interviews sixteen writers, poets, and performance artists whose work deals with feminist issues. Artists included are Bell Hooks (!<3), Annie Sprinkle, Kathy Acker, Sapphire, Avital Ronell, Karen Finley, etc. etc.
The book is from the early nineties so a lot of the issues they cover are really dated - they talk about the gulf war, the heyday of ACT UP, and the Jessie Helms/NRA debacle pretty frequently. Some of the theory feels pretty dated as well, as our culture has so changed post 9/11 thanks to the prevalence of information technology and social media. But a lot of what they talk about seems really relevant, even today: Kerr and Malley's activist work, Karen Finley and Sapphire (author of Push/Precious) fight against sexual violence, etc.. I didn't agree with everything that was said, particularly by Diamanda Galas and Lydia Lunch. I didn't like their approach, though they said some things that struck true. But Bell Hooks writing, as always, is phenomenal. They included an essay by Hooks called "Challenging Patriarchy Means Challenging Men to Change" about making feminist allies out of men instead of waging a war of the sexes, which i found so spot on that i couldn't help verbalizing my assent to the air.
The book introduced me to some artists and theorists I had never heard of, some of whom I'll definitely have to look into more. All in all, I really enjoyed it.
#30. Destroy All Monsters -Niagara four starsThis was cheating, but only slightly. Most of the book is artwork from the self-published zines of the art/music collective "Destroy All Monsters", but there was a lot of poetry included, from members as well as from other poets such as Baudelaire. There were also some articles, including a long essay by Antonin Artaud. It took several hours to really absorb, so Im going to count it. ;)
Kat wrote: "#30. Destroy All Monsters -Niagara four starsThis was cheating, but only slightly. ..."
Definitely count it, Kat!
#31. Management strategies for women -Ann Thompson. Three starsOld but surprisingly relevant... Most of it, save the tech bits. It was on my bookshelf, so I figured waste not want not
Karol wrote: "Kat wrote: "#30. Destroy All Monsters -Niagara four starsThis was cheating, but only slightly. ..."
Definitely count it, Kat!"
Thanks :)
#32 Just 5 Things three stars. I actually read this one through and jotted down the recipes I'll actually make, since I'm not taking an enormous cookbook with me to Germany!
Kat wrote: "#32 Just 5 Things three stars. I actually read this one through and jotted down the recipes I'll actually make, since I'm not taking an enormous cookbook with me to Germany!"I LOVE cookbooks! I'm not sure I've ever read any of them all the way through, but I have come close. I used to collect them . . . which was odd because I did that during a time in my life when I did not cook at all!
Karol wrote: "Kat wrote: "#32 Just 5 Things three stars. I actually read this one through and jotted down the recipes I'll actually make, since I'm not taking an enormous cookbook with me to Germany!"I LOVE..."
Me too :) My favorite is Alice B Toklas' cookbook, which you can actually read through like a novel without it being a chore. she shares the recipes she used at the dinner parties she and Gertrude Stein hosted for Picasso, Hemingway, etc. and also shares anecdotes about those salons. there's also the recipe for her famous *eherm* brownies, which is entertaining to read about even if you don't risk actually making the recipe.
#34 Green Smoothie Diet - For Happy Beauty by Yamaguchi Chouko and Nakazato sonoko グリーンスムージーダイエット Ｆｏｒ Ｈａｐｐｙ Ｂｅａｕｔｙ - 仲里園子, 山口蝶子 two starsYaay! my first book in Japanese that isn't about Japanese (not including manga) it was relatively easy kanji since it's essentially a recipe book for green smoothies. The authors really broke down what produce has what kind of nutritional value, but with a focus on how that nutritional value relates to beauty. Who cares about bodily health?! A bit more disturbing is the fact that the first half of the book makes it seem like you can subsist on green smoothies alone. They give you "meal plans' which include four 'meals" a day consisting of two smoothies for breakfast, a smoothie "soup" and pudding for lunch, a smoothie snack, and some other kind of "soup" plus "smoothie' plus drink for dinner. this is meant to be a detox, but the caloric intake is waaay too low. it's more like starving yourself for 7 days. they do make up for it at the end by giving a proper meal plan that shows how to incorporate green smoothies into a healthy diet to maximize the nutritive value.
I also enjoyed some of the recipes. some. Smoothie recipes in English are usually geared towards people living in the UK or north america, and don't typically talk about japanese produce or ingredients. so, i found it really useful to see recipes that include stuff i can get at a normal supermarket. very helpful. however, some of the recipes were gross.. especially the bitter gourd and pear smoothie. ag. haven't tried all the recipes yet so it remains to be seen...
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#35 Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit- Jeanette Winterson four starsEssentially the same as her autobiography, but slightly fictionalized with less emphasis on her literary life and more focus specifically on her relationship with her adopted mother. Great read anyway.
Gloria Steinem – Revolution From Within Five stars
The Woman Warrior – Maxine Hong Kingston Five Stars
The Oracle’s Queen – Lynn Flewelling Four Stars
Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen Four Stars
Butch Fatale – Christina Faust Five Stars, even though it's cheesy pulp and should be three stars. It's like pizza: not really that good for you, but soo delicious
Mrs. Dalloway – Virginia Woolf Five Stars
Me Talk Pretty One Day – David Sedaris Four Stars
Agatha Christie: Sad Cypress: A Hercule Poirot Mystery Three stars
Justice: What’s the Right Thing To Do: Michael Sandel Three stars
Asking For It – Joan Taylor Three Stars