A Work in Progress

Last New Books of the Year

This is what happens when your family (and a friend or two) very generously gives you gift cards to bookstores for the holidays.  Is it really so obvious what I like?  (No, no need to answer that).  The scary nice thing is I still have a few left to spend (and then my birthday is just around the corner and I can expect one or two more...).  Needless to say I went book shopping this week.  A few had already been ordered online and happened to come in the mail, so I am swimming in lovely new books at the moment.  It's been ages since I browsed in a bookstore (I seem to get most of  my books from the library or online these days), so it was fun to pick up books at random--many passed through my hands, but these are what I finally decided to buy: 

The Dancing Years by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles -- I'm still at the beginning of the Morland Dynasty books, but as CHE lost her publishing contract, I expect the books will eventually go out of print.  At the rate I'm reading them they may very well be hard to come by so I will  have the complete set on hand.

The Man in the Iron Mask by Alexandre Dumas -- I didn't realize that this is actually the third book in the Musketeer cycle, so I'll have to look for the second book at some point.  I'm planning on reading The Three Musketeers soon.

At Home: A Short History of Private Life by Bill Bryson -- After reading Stefanie's take on At Home I checked it out from the library, but as it is a chunky book (and they have a cloth edition at that) and not one I want to carry around, I decided the paperback would be well worth owning.

The Informer by Craig Nova -- This is a thriller set in 1930s Berlin--right up my alley.

The Devil of Nanking by Mo Hayder -- I've heard that Hayder's books can be a little on the gruesome side so have not yet picked up any of her work, but I liked the sound of this.  It's set in contemporary Tokyo but moves back in time to Nanking during WWII.

City of Veils by Zoë Ferraris -- I've heard very good things about Ferraris's books.  Since I've been trying to read books with more varied settings (preferably books that have been translated--Ferraris is American though she lived for a number of years in Saudi Arabia), I thought this would be interesting.  I'd like to read more books about or set in the Middle East in general--and would be very appreciative of suggestions of good books (fiction or nonfiction).

The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas -- So I own the hardcover edition of this, the Pevear translation, but again it is a big heavy book and I hate dragging hardcovers around with me on the bus.  I saw the paperback discounted by more than half so added it to my pile.  It was a steal and I will appreciate having spent the money later when I'm lugging it about.  I had no idea, by the way, that a new film version has been made (see the trailer here--not sure about the 3D, but it could be fun).  I can't wait to read the book and it might have to be next after Emma!

The Faces of Angels by Lucretia Grindle -- A mystery set in Italy.  Need I say more?

Emily of Deep Valley by Maud Hart Lovelace -- Like L.M. Montgomery I have also never read any of the Betsy Tacy books by Maud Hart Lovelace.  I think I'd like to, though I couldn't find the first book so decided to try this standalone.  I have a feeling the Betsy Tacy books were quite popular but I missed them (too) as a child.

Bomber by Len Deighton -- This is one of the books on Caroline's War and Literature Readalong list.  His books caught my eye so I thought I might as well grab my copy while I had it in hand, though I won't be reading it until next summer. 

So, there you have it.  I have plenty of reading material to get me started in the new year (and for all the rest of it, too, actually).

Happy New Year everyone.  And Happy Reading in 2012!

Favorite Reads of 2011 & Other Miscellanea

My favorite reads of 2011?  Ask me this question in a week and the composition of my list might change just slightly because I can never choose just a few.  There is a handful of books that I loved unequivocally.  And then another handful that at the time of reading were really exceptional (and I would happily reread).  And since I decided to keep the list to a mere ten, I thought it would be fun to tack on a few other 'awards' inspired by other readers' creative lists--see here and here.

My top three reads:

The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham -- I was captivated by this story when I read it.  It's about one woman's spiritual and moral awakening set against the backdrop of 1920s Hong Kong.  Maugham's prose is absolutely exquisite.

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell -- I loved the book, loved the film adaptation, and now am enjoying it once again on audio.  I suppose really this is a love story, but of course it is so much more than that--there's a bit of politics, economics, religion, class strife and questions on women's roles in Victorian society.  Margaret Hale and John Thornton representing England's north and south clash on nearly every regard.  Of course their tempestuous relationship only masks a deeper attraction. 

The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien -- This is a set of interlinked short stories about O'Brien's experiences in Vietnam.  He plays on perception and reality, as you never know what actually happened and what is fictional, but it's all very moving.  I was surprised how much I loved this book as he wasn't someone I had even planned on reading.

My other favorites:

What Was She Thinking: Notes on a Scandal by Zoe Heller -- This book totally blew me away and I think I must have consumed it in only one or two sittings.  It's a disconcerting character study of two women--both obsessed--one for the other and one for her student.

Strange Meeting by Susan Hill -- This is a World War I story about the friendship between two very different young men.  Predictably tragic, but beautifully told.

Ghost Light by Joseph O'Connor -- Yet more gorgeous prose.  A fictional account of the love affair between playwright J.M. Synge and actress Molly Allgood, this was another book where I had no expectations and no experience with the author's work and walked away totally impressed.

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote -- Considering how much crime fiction I seem to be reading these days this was surprisingly shocking to me, probably because it was a true crime and Capote made it all too easy to imagine.  It's a classic and deservedly so.

This is How by M.J. Hyland -- This was both painful to read yet oddly compelling.  It's a disturbing story about a man who commits a senseless act of violence, but Hyland somehow makes you feel compassion towards him nonetheless.

Across the Common by Elizabeth Berridge -- After I read this I told myself I was going to read my way through her work and next year I will start to make good on my promise.  This is a  novel of middle class domesticity with a fine veneer of suspense laid on top.  And she creates some marvelous characters, too.

The War in Val D'Orcia by Iris Origo -- Born in America to an American father and English mother, Origo was raised in Europe and married an Italian.  She was living in Tuscany when the Second World War broke out and her diary is a riveting account of what the Italians endured living first under Mussolini and then under German Occupation and their many acts of courage and generosity towards the Allied POWs.  This is an excellent introduction to learning more about the Italian Front during the war.

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Best comfort read:

This could easily be a three way tie between Georgette Heyer's Sylvester, Helene Hanff's 84, Charing Cross Road and The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett.  All delightful and/or charming.

Bleakest read:

Another tie between The Sea and Poison by Shusaku Endo and Survival in Auschwitz by Primo Levi.  Both excellent but both difficult emotionally.

Most disappointing read:

Bath Tangle by Georgette Heyer -- A rare misfire (for me anyway) when it comes to Heyer's usually enjoyable Regencies.

Book I can't believe I waited until 2011 to finally read:

The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway -- I expected to like it and I did, but I also found it surprisingly hard considering his 'simple' prose style.  Why did I wait so long to read him and how long will I wait to pick up another?

Book that sat on my night table (and on my sidebar to right) longest unread:

Mad Puppetstown by Molly Keane.  I swear I'm going to read it next year.  Really.

Book I had no clue what was going on:

The Transit of Venus by Shirley Hazzard -- Glad I read it, but I totally missed some 'oh, I see' moments.  I never really understood what an elliptical prose style was until I read this one.  Elliptical prose incarnate.  Good thing I read it in a group.

Most interesting character:

Katey Kontent in Rules of Civility by Amor Towles (I wish I were as clever as she!). 

Most obnoxious character:

Oh, lordy, hands down Anunciata Morland in The Long Shadow by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles.  I've rarely wanted a character to exit the stage (permanently) as much as I've wanted her to leave.  One more Morland novel with her in it to go (can't wait to move from Restoration England to Georgian England).  Three books with Anunciata as a main character is far too many.

Character I wish would step out of the pages of a book into real life:

John Thornton in North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell.  Am I really so obvious?  Apparently so.

Best new find of the year:

Rose Macaulay.  I loved The World My Wilderness.  Must read all her books now, too.

And now onwards to 2012!

A Few Numbers from 2011

I gave up early on my reading plans for this year, though that never stops me from making them.  And that list I made?  In the end I read four of the books (in one case I didn't read the title I chose but did read another one by the same author) and a fifth I've just started and will carry over into next year.  So maybe that didn't turn out quite as bad as I was expecting.  Plans and lists are really only jumping off places anyway, right?  I like having an idea of what I might like to read but then give myself wiggle room to read at whim and let the books lead me in their own serendipitous direction.  I do like looking back over the course of the year, however, and see how the books fell (so to speak).   

• Books read:  88 -- I'm not sure I'll ever reach 100 but I'm pleased to get in this many. 
• Audio books: 1 -- And I'm listening to another right now.  I never actually count an audio book as one of my 'books read'.  Even though the book is new to me, it doesn't feel like quite the same experience.  In this case the book in question was Georgette Heyer's Venetia, which I greatly enjoyed.
• eBooks:  4 -- A new category!  Can you tell I still prefer paper books far more than ebooks?
• Fiction (not mysteries or short stories and I'm counting classics separately, too): 43
• Nonfiction: 7 -- This is such a paltry number (which might be bumped up by one if I finish one last memoir I started ages ago) made all the more disappointing since several of the books were very slim volumes.  As a matter of fact all the books with the exception of Capote's true crime story were all memoirs, so nothing really very meaty either.
• Classics: 8 -- Another sad number considering two of the books were closer to novellas than full length novels.  I want to read more classics next year.
• Mysteries/Crime/Suspense: 27 -- Now you see where I spent so much of my reading time! 
• Science fiction: 0 -- Unless I count the novel I read by Molly Gloss for the Slaves, which is sort of literary science fiction...then I can say 1.
• Espionage: 1?  So much for my Season of Spies, though I am reading Helen MacInnes right now.  I've decided to pick up where I left off from that list and read a few more books this winter.  Along with the MacInnes I have one book waiting in the wings, which is quite short and will perhaps be my first book read of 2012. 
• YA novels: 1 -- My niece urged me to read a book she was reading for school and was so excited about that I couldn't say no. 
• Books written by women: 63 -- I always read more women authors than men.  I don' set out to do so, but it just happens that way.
• Books written by men: 25
• Books written by more than one author: 0
• American authors: 19
• British authors: 41
• Canadian/Australian/Irish authors: 5
• Books in translation: 24 -- I tend to be very predictable when it comes to reading more British authors than American, but those numbers decreased considerably this year since I read far more books in translation than I ever have before (due to reading so much crime fiction as well as the German Literature readalong).  Original languages include: Catalan, Swedish, French, Turkish, Spanish, Italian, German, Japanese and Icelandic.  I'm quite pleased by this and hope the trend continues next year.
• Short story collections: 1
• Graphic novels: 0
• Plays: 0
• Virago Modern Classics: 4
• Persephone Books: 0 -- Oops.  Must rectify this next year, since I am still collecting these books.
• Books read that were checked out from the library: 27 -- Down ten books from last year.  Does this mean I read more from my own shelves? 
• Rereads: 5
• Book club books (Slaves of Golconda, Cornflower's Book Group, my Postal Reading Group and the Literature and War Readalong): 18 -- This number more than doubled, which hopefully means I am reading more outside my comfort zone (at least on occasion).
• Multiple books by the same author: 5 -- E.M. Delafield, W. Somerset Maugham, Helene Hanff, Liza Marklund, Georgette Heyer, and Andrea Maria Schenkel.  Not so much of this this year, which surprises me.  There are a number of authors I've read whose works I want to explore more of, however.
• Books by Nebraska authors: 0

I realize it's probably silly to keep track of these things, but it's more out of curiosity (and so I can put that Excel spreadsheet I keep to use).  I should mention that only three books I read this year were written prior to 1900, and those three books were 19th century novels.  All in all I am pretty predictable considering last year's statistics.  Since I tend to read about the same number of books each year, it's very tricky trying to plan any sort of reading as there are only a certain number of books I can squeeze in and as I like to read mostly at whim--how they all fit together at the end of the year never looks like how I expected it to at the beginning!  Not that that stops me from making a very few plans for the new year . . .

Books in Brief: Capote and Bridge

Before the clock runs down for 2011 I wanted to squeeze in a couple more quickie book mentions.  I've finished several others that I'd still like to write about in a little more detail so I'll save those for next year, and then there are a few others that will unfortunately go unmentioned as too much time has passed and I don't think I can do them justice at this point--so sad to think how quickly books I've read start to lose shape in my mind and simply become impressions (which is why I like to write something briefly about the books I'm reading).

I really didn't expect to be shocked when I read Truman Capote's In Cold Blood this past summer.  Unfortunately murder and violence has become so commonplace that I was sure I was inured to hearing about such a crime--the murder of a midwestern farm family back in the 1950s, but Capote proved me wrong.  Maybe this is in part why I've put off writing about the book, but I'm also not sure if I can convey how masterfully Capote writes about the Clutter family and about their murderers as well as the community of Holcomb, Kansas.  Although In Cold Blood was written more than forty years ago, it's as fresh and moving as if it had happened yesterday.  And my shock comes from the utter lack of remorse and brutality the killers displayed and their heartless premeditation to leave no witnesses.  This isn't what you expect to happen in Midwestern America in the prosperous 1950s.

The Clutter family was indeed prosperous.  They were well liked and respected in Holcomb, the kind of family you wouldn't expect anything bad to happen to, so it was a totally shocking crime.  I'm of two minds about the killers, Perry Smith and Dick Hickock.  They were cold-hearted and calculating and showed no pity towards their victims or remorse through the course of the crime and subsequent capture and trial.  I don't know how Capote manages then, to make me feel the slightest bit of sympathy towards Smith, but he had such a horrible upbringing I had momentary twinges of sadness for such a wasted life.  Hickock was just as slimy as he seemed, despite having a good upbringing he chose a poor path in life.  Given two people of such varying circumstances choosing to carry out such wicked deeds, it makes you believe evil truly does exist (rather than wondering about the nature/nurture question).

In Cold Blood is such an interesting book.  It's really a page turner and utterly gripping in the way the crime is presented--at once both factual yet written as though it were a novel.  Everything is very matter of factly presented and Capote doesn't try and mess about with the reader's emotions, but it's hard not to get caught up in the lives of these people--if even as a spectator looking in from the outside.  I only wonder that I waited so long to read this book, which will likely end up as one of my best reads of the year.  If you've not yet read Litlove's take on the book, do check out her post.

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I picked up one of Ann Bridge's Julia Probyn novels earlier in the fall not realizing that she had written a series of suspenseful stories featuring Julia, all with exotic settings à la Mary Stewart.  Happily the books are being reissued as ebooks from Bloomsbury Reader, so if you read one and find yourself sucked into the story (like I've been) you'll be able to read the whole lot (or if you prefer book format you might also still be able to find the books in a well stocked library).

The Light Hearted Quest is Julia's first adventure and likely what has whet her appetite for getting involved in so many (to come) mysterious and challenging undertakings.  This first venture really does begin as a light-hearted quest.  At the behest of her aunt, Julia agrees to go to travel to Morocco to find her cousin Colin.  After the death of a relative he's needed back home in Scotland to pick up the reigns of running the family's estate, there being no one else who can shoulder the responsibility.  The family hasn't heard from Colin for weeks.  He was last known to be sailing off the coast of Africa, so Julia agrees to travel there and bring him back. 

It all begins as something of a lark.  As Julia is a freelance journalist she's able to move about on whim and looks on her journey as something of an adventure.  Once she arrives and begins her "investigation" however, she realizes that the locals are very tight-lipped and not at all forthcoming as to the exact whereabouts of her cousin.  She begins to wonder just what Colin is up to as there are whispers he may be tangled up in smuggling goods into and out of Morocco.  Despite appearances to the contrary (Julia is an attractive, stylish and ver poised young woman), she's able to hold her own intellectually and has a particular talent for getting information from the most unlikely sources and piece together just what Colin has gotten himself tangled up in.  She also has a certain fearlessness that might just be dangerous to her own health, but somehow manages to always come away from difficulties unscathed (or nearly so).

There's a colorful cast of characters and a liberal sprinkling of exotic atmosphere.  Bridge doesn't stint on writing about local, contemporary politics either.  The book was written in 1969, but the setting is post-WWII when Morocco was still divided into French and Spanish protectorates.  There are some interesting (though perhaps not surprising) Colonial attitudes bandied about in the story.  And it's always interesting to read about post-WWII England and the restrictions and shortages that had to be dealt with.  For a more complete overview of the story check out Lyn at I Prefer Reading's post (she's already several novels ahead of me!).

Although my library has most of the Julia Probyn novels, it's missing the second book in the series, The Portuguese Escape, which sounds equally as exotic and thrilling as was The Light Hearted Quest.  I've already got it loaded onto my Nook and at the ready.  If you enjoy books by Mary Stewart or Helen MacInnes, you might give Ann Bridge a try, too.

The Greenhouse by Audur Ava Olafsdottir

Audur Ava Olafsdottir's The Greenhouse (Afleggjarinn) is a thoughtful, introspective story about a young man dealing with several life-altering events.  It's a quiet sort of story where not a lot really happens, but it turned out to be perfect reading during a season of hustle and bustle.  It makes the reader slow down and contemplate not so much the greater outside world but more so the closed inner world of the human heart.  I suppose in a sense this is a coming of age tale, though the protagonist is on the cusp of adulthood, but over the course of the story he grows and takes on more responsibility both for his own life and for those he loves.  Olafsdottir is an Icelandic author who has published three novels, a book of poetry and a play.  The Greenhouse (translated by Brian FitzGibbon) has won or been nominated for all sorts of awards, and after being quite swept away by the story, I'm not at all surprised.

The family greenhouse is central to this story.  It's the place Lobbi loves most, where he spent so much of his time with his mother, learned the art of horticulture and conceived his small daughter.  At the opening of the story, however, Lobbi is preparing to go away from his home in Iceland to travel to a remote Medieval monastery in Southern Europe where he'll undertake the task of renovating their once famous rose garden which has fallen into a state of disrepair.  It's a dream job, but the timing is bittersweet since his mother has only recently died in a tragic automobile accident.  And now Lobbi is leaving behind not only his septuagenarian father and autistic twin brother but also his new daughter.

Flóra Sól is the result of an unplanned amorous evening he spent with a friend of a friend.  Lobbi barely knew Anna when he passed less than half a night with her only to discover after his travel plans are made that she is pregnant.  Slipping a photo of his daughter into his wallet he sets off with three cuttings of a rare eight-petaled rose that his mother teased from the rocky barren ground to transplant in the monastery's garden.  It's a long journey that takes Lobbi across several borders and includes detours when he suddenly takes ill and must remain in hospital and then later must repay the hospitality of an innkeeper by driving his daughter to another village, but it gives Lobbi the opportunity to reflect on his life.

The reader is never told exactly where the monastery is located but it is far up in the mountains and difficult to get to.  The village is small and most of the inhabitants are older, but they are welcoming to Lobbi who tries to assimilate into the community by learning their language, a language spoken by even fewer people than those who speak his own native tongue.  He's something of a curiosity to the locals, but they seem equally quirky.  He's befriended by one of the monks who has a passion for movies and can liken almost any situation or difficulty to those he's seen on film, and they often end up as an inspiration for advice he gives to Lobbi.  Just when he gets into a rhythm of village life and work in the garden, Anna calls and unexpectedly asks him to take care of Flóra Sól while she prepares for an important examination as part of her studies.

Although Lobbi's life was already in an upheaval, everything changes when Flóra Sól and the mother of his child arrive.  He had been trying to understand his own conflicting emotions--his constant thoughts of the body (and the bodies of the few young women around him) and death (no doubt brought to the fore by his mother's death), though both were slightly tempered by his work with his beloved roses.   And now he must learn how to become a father as well.  There is something angelic and calming about the even tempered Flóra Sól who helps put Lobbi's life back into perspective.

There's so much to like about this story.  It's beautifully written and seamlessly translated.  It's a simple but heartfelt story that flows yet has hidden depths to it.  The imagery can be taken at face value, but if the reader cares to mull it over there is so much more to consider--death yet a new life, a journey for one who is seeking answers and truths, the simple joy of transforming a rose garden and nurturing its contents but that simple act also helps nurture the gardener, too (if that makes sense).  And then there is the juxtaposition of places and people; Olafsdottir contrasts Lobbi's home in Iceland and his family beautifully with the lushness of this unnamed city and the eccentricities of the various characters in the story.  Perhaps at its most basic it is about finding beauty in everyday life, which is certainly an important thing to contemplate with the new year (and new beginnings) so close at hand.

My copy came courtesy of the author's publicist.  I only wish her other books were available in English.

Happy Holiday Wishes!

Warmest holiday wishes to everyone, however you will be celebrating! 

It's sunny and mild here, which makes it feel not very  holiday-like, but I'm not complaining.  I'm very content to curl up in a sunny spot with my books (cats really do have the right idea I think).  I'll be spending time with my family this weekend but will be back on Monday to wrap things up for the year.  I've finished several very good books and there's one in particular that I do want to write about, but time seems to be quickly slipping away from the rest.

I hope your holiday is filled with family and friends and much good cheer and laughter.  I'm hoping for a good dose of cheer and laughter myself!  (And hopefully something in the way of a book-shaped present for us all as well)!

Bookish Procrastination

Today is my first official day of vacation.  The first day is always the best since the promise of so much free time is spread out before me--many, many hours of unplanned activity (or maybe no activity at all) to think about.  I do have a stack of books set aside that I might well begin reading (at the time I wrote that post I was sure those were the chosen books, but my reading mood might well take me in other directions...we'll see), and I hope to catch up on blog reading (I've been a terrible/absent visitor for the most part of late I'm sorry to say), maybe do a little needlework and watch a movie or two.  Mostly I want to read, or at least finish, a few good books.  I've been lax about writing about those I've just completed and now I wonder if I can manage to write about them properly at all before complete torpor sets in. 

As I am such a good procrastinator I thought I'd share a few new books that I've bought or borrowed recently.  I'll save the more thoughtful posts I need to write for after the Christmas holiday, so I can kick back and relax for a few days, since that's what vacations are all about, right?

Let me start with these lovely used P.G. Wodehouse novels.  You wouldn't think they were secondhand would you?  I'm sort of thinking I need to read one of these now since there are so many of them.  Why hoard?  I was looking for a gift to give someone and bought four for myself.  Typical.  I didn't find the book for  my friend by the way, so had to settle for something else.   But I was very cheered to find these, as not so long ago I was looking for some light-hearted reads.  Now I'll have a few in reserve. 

From top to bottom there is The Girl in Blue about a missing Gainsborough painting that sounds like a delightful romp filled with butlers, tight-fisted uncles and a love triangle.  I'll start with this one I think.  Then there is Piccadilly Jim who falls in love with the wrong girl.  Summer Moonshine is set in one of the "least stately homes of the country".  And The Clicking of Cuthbert, which sounds like it takes place mostly on the golf course!  These are not Jeeves and Wooster novels by the way (I'm a Wodehouse newbie I'm afraid, but these all appeal).  There were more Wodehouse novels to be had at my favorite used bookstore, but I made myself stop at four.  Now I wonder if I should have left with the entire pile?

I think you might know I like Susanna Kearsley.  Since I've read all I own it was time to stock up on more.  Good excuse, right?  These are all earlier books, so I'll be curious to see how they compare with her most recent novels, all of which I loved.  The Shadowy Horses came recommended, and with a Scottish setting I fully expect to love it as much as her other books.  I think Season of Storms is set in Italy (doesn't Il Piacere sound Italian?), so it was a shoe-in.  And Every Secret Thing was actually written under the name Emma Cole and is a mystery, and I am always up for a mystery or suspenseful story.

And then there are a couple of library books (because there are always library books in amongst the rest).  Edith Pearlman's short story collection Binocular Vision arrived on my last day of work and it looked so good I thought I might try a few of her stories.  As you can see it was a finalist for the National Book Award.  I'm completely unfamiliar with Pearlman, but I love short stories and wish I could get back into the habit of reading them.

I also picked up Reif Larsen's The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet for the upcoming Slaves read, though I don't expect to begin reading until January.  It's kind of cool as it is oversized and filled with drawings and footnotes, which accompany the text. 

As always, spoiled for choice chez A Work in Progress.

Oh, and can I just direct you to this post?  If you like Matthew Macfadyen you really need to watch the Marks and Spencer (M & S) Christmas food commercial he narrated.  I'm not sure which is more tempting--his voice or the food!

A Day in Books Meme

I can't resist a good meme, especially when I feel like being lazy and not writing a proper post (I'm already in vacation mode I think).  Following the virtual paper trail....I lately saw this done by Simon at Stuck in a Book, and he got it from Karen at Cornflower.  A few others who've shared: Harriet, Claire and Jane. 

The books in this meme are books I read this year.  It's fun thinking back to what I've read and enjoyed.  I'll be writing about my favorites soon.

I began the day with Cakes and Ale.

On my way to work I saw Effi Briest

and walked by The Bookshop

to avoid My Brother Michael.

But I made sure to stop at 84, Charing Cross Road.

In the office, my boss said, "What Was She Thinking?",

and sent me to research The Last Letter from Your Lover.

At lunch with The Reluctant Widow

I noticed A Demon in My View

under The City and the House

then went back to my desk, In Cold Blood.

Later, on the journey home I bought Ghost Light,

because I have A Covenant with Death

then settling down for the evening, I picked up The Painted Veil

and studied The Summer Book

before saying goodnight to One Fine Day.

Do have a go, it's fun.

December 20: More Reading Notes

Is this not the cutest little gift box?  As you can see it's in the shape of a book, but can you guess what's inside?  A coworker very kindly gave me a B&N gift card, which fits perfectly in it.  I had never seen these before, but it is the coolest idea.  It opens just like a book and has a small raised cardboard platform for the gift card.  You don't know how tempted I am at the moment to go and start shopping, but I'm going to wait and contemplate which book I most want and save it for a splurge after the holidays.  It takes so little to please me.  I'm almost more excited about the box than the card.  Almost, I said.  

It's been reasonably nice out (well, for the midwest in winter anyway), so I've been able to listen to my MP3 player on my walk home from work.  It's a brisk walk these days in the dark evenings, but it goes much faster if I can listen to something good. I chose three books to download (many thanks for the input), and am listening to Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South at the moment.  I read it not too long ago and loved it (still need to write about it), so it seemed a safe book to listen to.  I mentioned that I am a picky listener, but this has been a good fit so far as the reader, Juliet Stevenson, is excellent.  It's unabridged and lasts a whopping 18-1/2 hours, so I'll be spending the rest of the month (and likely into January) with it.  In case you're curious, the other two books (there was a three for the price of two deal going on) I decided on are Vincent Bugliosi's Helter Skelter and Anthony Powell's Dance to the Music of Time: First Movement.

With the year quickly winding down and my attempts at reducing my reading pile already underway I'm beginning to think of next year's reads.  Caroline has announced the titles for her continuing Literature and War Readalong.  This year she had a dozen books that dealt with WWI & II, the Vietnam War and the American Civil War.  I've read nine of the twelve so far and still hope to finish at least one other, though it may end up being a holdover to next year.  She's kicking off 2012 with Helen Dunmore's Zennor in Darkness, which I've just ordered.  This is Dunmore's first novel which is set in Cornwall during WWI.  It's about D.H. Lawrence and his wife Frieda who leave London for a cottage in Zennor.  I was completely unfamiliar with it until I saw it on the list, but I like the sound of it and am looking forward to reading it.  You can see the rest of the titles here.  It will fit in nicely with my own WWI reading list and I have only just discovered a related readalong, War Through the Generations, which is focusing on WWI next year as well.  Reading opportunities abound as you can see.

The Slaves of Golconda have chosen their January book.  Reif Larsen's The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet is next up.  Another new one to me.  The blurb reads: "A brilliant, boundary-leaping debut novel tracing twelve-year-old genius map maker T.S. Spivet's attempts to understand the ways of the world."  It's experimental and a bit longer than the last few Slaves choices, so I will be looking for a copy now.  It's good to try new things--something I hope to do more of in 2012.

And I have my next postal reading group book waiting for me on my reading pile.  I'll be reading this book in January (sorry for the secrecy but I don't want to ruin the surprise for any of the other readers in the group).  I read the book years ago, along with quite a few others by the author, but it's been ages since I have picked up anything since.  It will be a good opportunity to revisit her work. 

April in Paris by Michael Wallner

Michael Wallner's April in Paris was an entertaining book as I was reading, but I've found it's not been the sort of story that's lingered long after I turned that last page.  It was promoted as a "dramatic story of an impossible love between a German soldier and a French Resistance fighter", but it turned out to be less a passionate love story and more along the lines of a thriller.  This isn't necessarily a bad thing (and I love thrillers), but somehow the story felt a little thin on both counts.  I bought it when it was first published in 2007 since I have long had an interest in the period, though I was a little trepidatious about starting it (hence that four year lag before I actually cracked it open to read).  The combination of French Resistance fighter and German soldier doesn't really promise happy endings, does it.

The setting is Occupied Paris late in the war.  Corporal Roth, a young soldier in the Wehrmacht, is called in to translate for the SS during interrogations of captured French Resistance fighters.  It's an unpleasant job that Roth isn't particularly cut out for, but as he speaks flawless French his services are necessary and in any case he can't decline the assignment.  He's told to translate the prisoners' words but forget what he sees when he leaves Gestapo Headquarters on the rue des Saussaies.  It's not here, however, that Roth meets the Frenchwoman with whom he falls in love. 

For the Germans, living and working in Paris during the war is a fairly cushy situation.  Decent, if not downright comfortable living conditions and the opportunity to partake in Parisian nightlife which continues almost as if there were no war makes for an easygoing lifestyle.  But Wehrmacht soldiers must always be in uniform, and Roth has the inexplicable habit of strolling the streets of Paris in the guise of a Frenchman named "Antoine".  From the first Roth has not been comfortable in the role of 'occupier'.

"The people I'd seen on the Pont Royal had been lounging on the sun-warmed stones, their eyes shut and turned toward the light.  Should someone wearing military boots pass by, they'd open their eyes.  I feared those moments, when they turned away or withdrew into their homes, when they murmured curses I heard and understood.  If I didn't have to look different from them, I was someone who could blend in anywhere, in any city.  I wanted to disappear among them, to be part of them; no one had a right to see the other in me.  Since the glorious days when we marched into Paris, I'd felt nothing but anxiety."

There is an ambiguity to Roth that makes him interesting but also confusing.  One day he sees a beautiful Frenchwoman sitting outside a bookstore reading and is intrigued by and attracted to her.  Thereafter he slips out of his rooms in uniform and in a bombed out passageway hides his clothes and turns into a civilian, but one who can blend in with the French population.  He returns to the spot where he first noticed Chantal and discovers she is the bookseller's daughter.  What he doesn't realize until it's too late is that she is part of the French Resistance.  What's worse, while he's living a life of fantasy, Chantal is involved in something far more real and serious.

"Never in my romantic euphoria had I wondered about Chantal's motives or taken into consideration the reasons that counted for her.  Now I saw that she had acted tactically from the first moment on.  She'd played me, delivered me into her people's hands, and later, although she recognized my infatuation, she hadn't hesitated to translate their plan into action.  Chantal had always been engaged in the struggle, while I, tangled up in the idyll of my imaginings, had merely been fleeing reality.  She'd kept the enemy in her sights while I was trying to shuttle back and forth between the lines.  She changed something, All I'd changed were the terms of my comfort.  I'd wanted to escape Reich and Führer, and so I'd fled to the Frenchman, to Monsieur Antoine."

Roth's behavior becomes suspect to his fellow officers and superiors, and after a bombing leaves a number of high ranking German soldiers dead yet he survived unscathed, he finds himself the object of an interrogation on the rue des Saussaies.  If it was unpleasant translating what he heard previously, it is infinitely worse to be in the seat of the victims.  Now it is Roth's motives and actions that come into question, and he himself isn't even sure where his loyalties lie.  From here the story turns quite suspenseful, as it's just one bullet that stands between Roth and an ignominious death.

April in Paris is well written and doesn't feel as though it's been translated, which is a nod to John Cullen's abilities, yet I feel ambivalent about it.  Roth is an interesting, if curious, character.  I wouldn't have minded knowing him better and understanding why and how he became the way he was.  The story has all the right elements, but there was something lacking.  It was a good, suspenseful story, but the relationship between Roth and Chantal weak.  I had a hard time believing in their "impossible love".  A note on the two covers.  The cloth edition (top right) reflected the contents of the story much closer than the paperback.  The paper illustration is a little misleading, which makes it look as though this is purely a love story, which it really isn't.  Roth's infatuation with Chantal and their subsequent relationship is the vehicle with which Wallner seems to explore the choices people make in some of life's most difficult situations and the repercussions when what's in the human heart is unknown or misunderstood.

By the way, this is the last book I read for the German Literature Month (am finishing a little tardily).  I managed to read six books, which for me is not too shabby at all.