Readers and Reading discussion

Please post here about the books you read in January 2012. Any description would be welcomed.

I read a lot of books this month....10 in all. Some winners and losers....

I read three books that I rated 1-star this month. I must have been crazed. These books had no redeeming features:

The Odds by Stewart O'Nan
The only reason this book is in my "read" list is because I skimmed it to the end. I had such high hopes since I loved O'Nan's last book, Emily Alone.

I should have known that when The Odds was compared to his other book, Last Night at the Lobster, I would not like it. I really did not like Lobster at all. I cannot believe the same author wrote these books. Emily Alone was so wonderful, so insightful, and the reader cared so much about Emily. I could have cared less about the characters in "The Odds" or "...Lobster". They should have been published as short stories.

The Night Bookmobile by Audrey Niffenegger
Only good thing about this was the title! Illustrations were amateurish and repetitive. Story was ....not really a story. It was all doom and gloom. Depressing

Lethal by Sandra Brown

AWFUL. I was listening to the audio and if I had had another DVD in the car, I never would have listened to this. It was boring with corny dialogue and the excruciating sex scenes were embarrassing to listen to. Just plain terrible.

I also read two 5-star books:

American on Purpose by Craig Ferguson
EXCELLENT memoir - and I am not a fan of memoirs! This was heartbreaking and funny and most of all, inspirational. I loved how he reflected on his checkered past and how humble he remains about his success. What a guy!

An added treat was that I "read" the audio and Ferguson was the reader!

The World of Downton Abbey
Not only incredibly interesting but gorgeous too. I would recommend this to any fan of the show/series and anyone looking for background information about this time period and WW I, especially in England.

I really enjoyed these two 4-star books:

The Drop by Michael Connelly
I am so glad Harry Bosch is back - Connelly's last book was disappointing....this one was the old style that I really like. This was an excellent police procedural and showed how a case is investigated and built.... and I enjoyed every word, finishing it in record time.

The Underside of Joy by Seré Prince Halverson
This book had an incredible amount of advance press, starting last fall. I read this in one day....it has been a long time since I did that. To say that it grabbed me and sucked me in is an understatement. Lots of advance rave reviews which I must say that the book DID live up to. Good story, good characters, and I learned something interesting (Italians were put in internment camps during World War II and forced to move away from the coastal areas in CA).

Ending seemed a bit rushed. Why do authors do this? Do they just get tired of writing?

Then there were the 2 and 3-star books:

The Next Always by Nora Roberts
First of a trilogy that I will not be reading. It was just ok-----too dragged out. But I do love books that talk about building and construction and design.

The Language of Secrets by Dianne Dixon
Good idea for a story but was poorly executed. I really disliked the way there were flashbacks within flashbacks. Totally unnecessary and awkward at best. Some things were "out of time" in the story and did not fit in with the time in which they were written. The characters were shallowly drawn and the dialogue was amateurish and it was repetitive. Not a good read.....2 stars only because I finished it.

Georgia's Kitchen by Jenny Nelson
Not bad for a light book about food and restaurants (two of my favorite genres!). The author does not seem to have a background in these areas, but still did a pretty good job portraying the NY restaurant scene, before moving the main character to Tuscany (be still, my heart) and then back to NY again.

The book ended in a satisfactory way, but no recipes were included ;-(

A decent enough book, although it did drag a bit in places.

JoAnn, I like that you put your least favorites first in the list. I hadn't heard of The Underside of Joy, but it does sound like a good book. I'll look for it when I'm able to get any significant reading done again.

Libyrinths wrote: "JoAnn, I like that you put your least favorites first in the list..."

I have no idea why I did it that way. Maybe I was in shock that I finished three 1-star books! Usually I would abandon books like these.

JoAnn/QuAppelle wrote: "Libyrinths wrote: "JoAnn, I like that you put your least favorites first in the list..."

I have no idea why I did it that way. Maybe I was in shock that I finished three 1-star books! Usually I would abandon books like these..."

I'm shocked to see that you finished 3 one star reads too. I've always admired how you are able to quit books that are not working for you.

Bad sex scenes on audio are definitely the worst.

I'm glad to see you enjoyed American on Purpose. My library has the audio download and I will have to check it out.

Sandi wrote: "JoAnn/QuAppelle wrote: 'm shocked to see that you finished 3 one star reads too. I've always admired how you are able to quit books that are not working for you...."

Exactly! Which is why I must have been crazed.

Of course, I skimmed one of those books, another was a short graphic novel, and the other was an audio that I was stuck with due to the fact that I had no others in the car.

So it is not as bad as it seems! Maybe.

Just in case you think I am a totally lost cause, I did abandon 4 books this month. Some were fairly highly regarded, too!

Had a great start to the year reading wise though I am sure things will slow down since I am starting to work more.

Here are my January reads:

Top Read

Pyres
Derek Nikitas
A very impressive debut novel. The action was tense, the characters (especially the females) were well drawn and memorable, and the small sprinkling of Swedish folklore throughout the plot was well integrated and never overdone. A worthy Edgar nominee for best novel of 2008.

Good Reads

Funeral in Berlin
Len Deighton
Published in 1964, I found this deftly plotted cold war suspense tale to be an enjoyable read.

The Last Werewolf
Glen Duncan
While the prose style was a bit exaggerated for my taste and some of the sexual interludes could have excised, I did ultimately end up enjoying both the plot and the characters in this story about the last living werewolf. I listened to the audio version and the first person narration of the book was handled very well by, a new to me narrator, Robin Sachs.

White Nights
Ann Cleeves
An enjoyable read but not quite as good as the previous book in the series Raven Black. The highlights of this book for me were the Shetland Island setting and the author's insight into how insular communities work and are affected by crime. I found the ending to be a bit abrupt though and perhaps not in keeping with the pace of the rest of the book.

Walking the Perfect Square
Reed Farrel Coleman
Set mostly in 1978 New York City this book introduces Moe Prager a former NYC policeman who has been invalided out of the force with a bad knee. The author is one of my favorite Bouchercon panelists and I was a bit worried that his work would not live up to my expectations but I ended up really enjoying it and look forward to continuing on with the series.

One on One: Behind the Scenes with the Greats in the Game
John Feinstein
I found this to be a mostly enjoyable listen. Feinstein recounts his early career as a sportswriter, how he came to write Season on the Brink, and how its success led to his other books on various sports. The book needed better editing though. There were a couple of rather big errors early on and Dan Dakich's name was mispronounced throughout the audio. The narration was done by David De Vries.

Ghost Hero
S.J. Rozan
Much better than the previous book in the series. A quick, light read and while I did have a couple of problems with the plotting I really enjoyed having both Bill and Lydia working together and on the same page.

Valediction
Robert B. Parker
Spencer is a bit out of sorts during this book and the body count seemed particularly high but I found it to be an enjoyable listen. So far, after eleven books, I have not yet felt that the series has lost steam. The audio was read by Michael Prichard with his usual workmanlike style.

Dark Summer
Jon Cleary
Another fine entry in this consistently good series featuring a Sydney police inspector. I especially enjoy how the author weaves in Australian culture and politics into the plots without being heavy-handed.

The Making of a Chef: Mastering Heat at the Culinary Institute of America
Michael Ruhlman
I thought this book did a great job of showing how intense being a student at the CIA is. The writer started out trying just to observe but quickly got caught up in the first skills class and decided he really wanted to be a real cook.

OK Read

Scavenger Reef
Laurence Shames
I really enjoyed the two previous books that I have listened to by this author but this one was a bit of a chore to get through. The premise of a lost at sea artist from Key West whose work soars in value sounded good but quite a lot of the book was rather depressing. The narration was done by Richard Ferrone who did his usual excellent job.

Sandi said: Funeral in Berlin
Len Deighton
Published in 1964, I found this deftly plotted cold war suspense tale to be an enjoyable read.

Sandi, I used to devour Len Deighton's books. He was my favorite cold war spy novel author -- more than LeCarre. When the Soviet Union turned into disUnion, I actually thought: no more Len Deighton books -- what will I do? LOL! There are no political thriller writers today who can come close to his skill and subtlety.

Sandi wrote: "Had a great start to the year reading wise though I am sure things will slow down since I am starting to work more.
."

Sandy, that is a really long list!!!

I read the Ruhlman book and enjoyed it but thought it was over-long. Did you know that he has a few others with the word "chef" in the title?

What I Read in January 2012

4892. In a Sunburned Country, by Bill Bryson (read 2 Jan 2012) This is the fourth book by Bryson I have read. This tells of his quite extensive travels in Australia. The book is often funny, especially in its early chapters. But he spent a lot of time telling of travels with nothing to be seen. I did not think I would enjoy Australia travel since so often it is devoid of much to see and an unwelcome climate. But Bryson usually asserts he liked what he saw but one often thought he said it so people in Australia would buy the book--even though he has negative comments often. I was kind of glad to get to the last page.

4893. Major Pettigrew's Last Stand A Novel by Helen Simonson (read 6 Jan 2012) This is a 2010 novel sited in Sussex, England, and written by a woman born in England but who has lived in the U.S. for 20 years. It tells of a retired Army major living in a village whose wife has died, and he is attracted to a widow who runs a shop in the village, said widow being of Pakistani descent. The major has a potty son, Roger, and the major is much attached to a gun his father left him and seeks the partner gun given by his father to his brother, after the brother dies. There is a village dance, to which the major takes the shopkeeper. Things go on, and the major eventually marries the woman. I thought the story was pretty silly and often drug boringly. I cannot think it is significant work and while the character of the major is deftly drawn and he is usually admirable, it all seems minor and contrived and most of the characters do stupid things. The book is not a winner

4894. The Art of Fielding A Novel by Chad Harbach (read 10 Jan 2012) This is a 2011 book which has gotten a lot of hype. The New York Times listed it as one of the five best novels of 2011. So I read it. As I read there were times I was extremely annoyed by it, and after a detailed account of a homosexual encounter between Owen Donne and the president of Westech College (a fictional college in northeast Wisconsin) I was determined to give it only a half star--the lowest possible rating. Thereafter though the story line became more interesting. Henry is a junior who is a shortstop and a total machine on the diamond. Mike Schwartz is a towering giant driving Henry to be a great player. Henry begins having problems, hits bottom, and returns to the game in a championship final in South Carolina. So there are peaks of excitement and the book ends well. I was appalled by the student behavior and the total immorality as usual. But putting that aside, the book has power and is riveting at times.

4895. Conservatives Without Conscience, by John W. Dean (read 13 Jan 2012) This is a very good book. It starts out rather turgidly, defining conservatives, and showing how some conservatives are really not moral people. Dean vigorously shows the dangerousness of some conservative people, and thoroughly deprecates Bush, Cheney, Gingrich, and Bill Frist. Dean contrasts the honest behavior of conservatives like Goldwater with today's mean-spirited conservatives, who have effectively silenced moderate Republicans. The book was published in 2006 and I kept being grateful for the elections of 2006 and 2008 which averted a total takeover of the Federal government by the people who put Bush-Cheney in power. Dean says 20 to 25% of adult Americans are so right-wing, so authoritarian, so scared, so self-righteous, so ill-informed, and so dogmatic that nothing one can say will change their minds. And that percentage is so fervid that they have a disproportionate influence in today's politics, sad to say.

4896. France in the Age of Louis XIII and Richelieu, by Victor-L. Tapie translated and edited by D. McN. Lockie (read 18 Jan 2012) This book by a French historian. It was first published (in France) in 1952 and published in English in 1974. It is a thorough study of the time from 1610 when King Henry IV was assassinated and Louis XIII, age 8, became king. Richelieu came to power in 1624 and continued to dominate France till he died Dec 4, 1642. Louis XIII died May 14, 1643 (his son and successor, Louis XIV, was 3). Some of this book was not too entrancing, since it is not 'popular' history, but much of it is of interest, since it tells of extremely important years in European history. In general the author speaks favorably of the king and the Cardinal--and it does seem the Cardinal's course--which many disapproved because it saved the Protestant cause in the 30 Years War, was the best thing for France, else Spain and Austria would have dominated Europe. This was a book well worth reading and a good refresher for my knowledge of the time--which I still remember pretty well from the excellent Modern European history course I had from Father Bill Green at Loras in 1946-1947.

4897. Where's Harry? Steve Stone Remembers His Years with Harry Caray, by Steve Stone with Barry Rozner (read 20 Jan 2012) This is a 1999 book . It is not too well organized, but tells lots of stories about Harry Caray. I used to watch Harry a lot and much in the book is interesting, although one is sad that the Cubs enjoyed so many disappointing seasons. The book is very pro-Harry, though one wonders whether at times Steve Stone did not find him trying. The closing chapter of the book was quite poignant for me and it was a fun book to read, even though it is not baseball time.

4898. The Ballad of Tom Dooley A Ballad Novel by Sharyn McCrumb (read 22 Jan 2012) This is a 2011 novel solidly based on the facts known of the case of Tom Dula, but is fiction because of the facts not known but expertly deduced by the author. The book is laid in western North Carolina. Tom
Dula was born June 22, 1845, in Wilson County, NC, was a confederate soldier, and after he got out of the army he was convicted of the murder of Laura Foster, who was indeed murdered about May 26, 1866. Zebulon Vance (whose biography I read Sept 25, 1982) was appointed to defend him. The story is told mostly thru the voice of Pauline Foster, with some told thru the voice of Vance. The book is unfailingly riveting and one comes to believe it may be essentially true, though not the usual take of the event. The court case is State v. Dula, 61 N.C. 213. But in State v. Vestal, 278 N.C. 561, 180 S.E. 2nd 755 (N.C. 1971) the case was almost overruled. The North Carolina Supreme Court gave Dula a new trial, but he was convicted again in the 2d trial.. This is an excellent book, even though the trials are not discussed with the detail I would have preferred. The sociological .aspects of the case are supremely well done, and the comparison to Wuthering Heights is fascinating.

4899. The Greater Journey Americans in Paris, by David McCullough (read 26 Jan 2012) I have read seven books by McCullough and enjoyed them all, so I decided I should read this, his latest. For a long time as I read this book I felt it was not nearly as enthralling as his other books. It starts with Americans who went to Paris in the 1830's to study--Oliver Wendell Holmes to study medicine, Charles Sumner to study everything, Samuel F. B. Morse to study painting, inter alia. There is a lot about painting--not a subject of intense interest to me--but much is of interest. The account of Elihu Washburne, U.S. minister to France, and his work in the 1870-1871 siege of Paris is of high interest, even though I have read much of that period previously. John Sargent and Augustus St. Gaudens are prominently discussed in the later part of the book. The book ended well and I am glad I read it. McCullough has a sweep and power to his books which makes them impressive and very readable.

4900 The Unredeemed Captive A Family Story From Early America, by John Demos (read 29 Jan 2012) (Parkman Prize for 1995) This is the 21st winner of the Parkman Prize I have read. It is really quite an amazing book. It tells of the Feb 29, 1704, Indian raid on the town of Deerfield, Mass.and of the large group of town inhabitants captured and taken to Canada. In the group were John Williams and some of his children,including his 4-year-old daughter Eunice. John and his sons got back, but Eunice was held and married an Indian and never did return to live in Massachusetts. She visited there several times (after her father died in 1729) but refused to stay, though much urged by her brother. She had become a Catholic and this drove her bigoted father and brother nuts, but admiringly, she refused to renounce her Faith. Some of the book is not too interesting, but the later chapters, telling of the years before Eunice died in 1785 and of her descendants, culminating in a visit of some of them to Deerfield in 1837, are of great interest. It is a great story, and evidences superlative genealogical and historical research by the author, a Yale professor. It well deserves the prize it won and while some of the bigoted ranting of the woman's brother are hard to take I rejoiced that Eunice resisted his urgings.

Libyrinths wrote: "Sandi, I used to devour Len Deighton's books. He was my favorite cold war spy novel author..."

I think all of the authors who wrote spy thrillers back in the sixties and seventies were much better writers than the ones of today. The current thrillers are just so bloated and long.

JoAnn/QuAppelle wrote: "I read the Ruhlman book and enjoyed it but thought it was over-long. Did you know that he has a few others with the word "chef" in the title?"

You are right it would have been a better book if he had cut down a few sections. No I did not know about his other books and will have to check them out. I don't actually cook but I do enjoy reading about it.

My January reads were

The Sunday Philosophy ClubAlexander McCall Smith Rating 4
This was the first of series set in Edinburgh. It was quite enjoyable. I will read more in the series.

HangmanFaye Kellerman
rating 3+ This was a visit with old friends. I enjoyed it

My Reading LifePat Conroy
rating 4
I enjoyed this book however it made me feel very underread.

I know we are no doing this but since I do not post often I felt like putting this up.
BTW,really disliked State of Wonder by Anne Patchett. I felt it was much ado about nothing. So far I am like The North Shore Limited by Sue Miller.



1. An Available Man - Hilma Wolitzer

2. The Soldier's Wife - Margaret Leroy

3. Forbidden Places - Penny Vincenszi

4. Emily Alone - Stewart Nan

5. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest - Steig Larsson

6. The Weird Sisters - Eleanor Brown

7.The Glass Castle - Jeanette Walls

8. In The Garden Of Beasts - Eric Larson

9. Maine - J. Courtney Sullivan

10.Turn Of Mind - Alice LaPlante

I did not read as many books this past year as usual(36). I confess to being a DVRing fool. Already this year I have really liked Left Neglected by
Lisa Genova. I actually liked it better than her highly praised Still Alice as it had a much more upbeat theme to it. Currently reading State Of Wonder by Anne Patchett. So far I am really enjoying it. Next up,The Lake Shore Limited by a favorite author,Sue Miller.

Sandi said: I think all of the authors who wrote spy thrillers back in the sixties and seventies were much better writers than the ones of today. The current thrillers are just so bloated and long.

I agree. Or else they're just mono-dimensional. Lots of violence, little intrigue, predictable characters.

January Reads









My Race: A Jewish Girl Growing Up Under Apartheid in South Africa

An embarrassingly late recounting of my "recent" reads. Some of these go back to the beginning of December!

11/22/63- Stephen King. A man goes back in time to 1958 with the goal of stopping the Kennedy assassination. But there's so much more to this story than just that one plot line, and in spite of my claims about not liking long books, I enjoyed every page of this 850+ page novel. Not the typical Stephen King book, but one of my favorites of his. A

Wishin' and Hopin': A Christmas Story- Wally Lamb. A friend recommended this to me when I wasn't feeling well and I remember liking it, and that it made me smile, but I have no recollection of what it was about! (Can't grade what I don't remember!!)

A Prayer for the Dying- Stewart O'Nan. Set in a small Wisconsin town shortly after the Civil War, the main character who is the local sheriff, pastor and undertaker, must deal with a diphtheria epidemic in the town. His three professions all make different demands on him, demands that are frequently at odds with each other. Although this was a very grim, depressing book, I enjoyed it. And I am becoming a huge Stewart O'Nan fan, the more books of his that I read. A

American Boy- Larry Watson. I've enjoyed reading Watson in the past, but this book, not so much. Two teenage boys become obsessed with a young woman who was shot by her husband and who comes to live with the town doctor, the father of one of the boys. This wasn't a bad book, but it just didn't do much for me. B

Too Close to the Falls- Catherine Gildiner. A mostly charming memoir about growing up in a small town near Niagara Falls during the 1950s and 60s. There are charming moments, heartbreaking ones and very thoughtful insights too. I've known about this book for years but just got around to reading it, and I'm glad I did. A-