State of the Blog, Part Three: The Authors

Spring has sprung.  The pink trees are blooming and Easter is on the way. It is time to assess what bookery bloggery progress I've made in the first quarter of 2010.

This is a three-part assessment. The Part One addressed the book lists. Part Two covered the challenges I joined this year. 

This Part Three looks at progress on my author lists. Links to each author post are listed in the right hand column.

THE AUTHORS


Kingsley Amis
Books read so far: 5/48
Books read in 2010: one (One Fat Englishman, reviewed here)
Books I hope to read in 2010: at least one more, probably Everyday Drinking
Books on my TBR shelf: 6

Kate Atkinson
Books read so far: 2/8
Books read in 2010: one (Case Histories, for the Typically British Challenge)
Books I hope to read in 2010: 2

• One Good Turn
• When Will There be Good News?

Books on my TBR shelf: one

Cara Black
Books read so far: 2/9
Books read in 2010: zero
Books I hope to read in 2010: one, if the one on my TBR shelf is the next in order
Books on my TBR shelf: one

William Boyd

Books read so far:3/16
Books read in 2010: one (The New Confessions, reviewed here)
Books I hope to read in 2010: one more (A Good Man in Africa)
Books on my TBR shelf: 3

James Lee Burke
Books read so far: 13/17 (Dave Robicheaux series only)
Books read in 2010: zero
Books I hope to read in 2010: 2 or 3 -- I'm almost done with them
Books on my TBR shelf: 3

Lee Child
Books read so far: 12/14
Books read in 2010: zero
Books I hope to read in 2010: 2

• Gone Tomorrow
• 61 Hours

Books on my TBR shelf: zero

A. J. Cronin

Books read so far: 1/25
Books read in 2010: one (Three Loves, reviewed here)
Books I hope to read in 2010: that may be it for this year
Books on my TBR shelf:5

M. F. K. Fisher
Books read so far: 4/27
Books read in 2010: zero
Books I hope to read in 2010: 2, but I have not decided which ones
Books on my TBR shelf: 4

F. Scott Fitzgerald
Books read so far: 8/13
Books read in 2010: zero
Books I hope to read in 2010: probably zero, this is a future goal
Books on my TBR shelf: zero

Penelope Fitzgerald
Books read so far: 2/9
Books read in 2010: zero
Books I hope to read in 2010: one (The Bookshop, for the Bibliophilic Books Challenge)
Books on my TBR shelf: 2

Richard Ford
Books read so far: 5/10
Books read in 2010: zero
Books I hope to read in 2010: undecided
Books on my TBR shelf: 3

Jim Harrison
Books read so far: 19/20 (prose only)
Books read in 2010: zero
Books I hope to read in 2010: one (his new Farmer's Daughter)
Books on my TBR shelf: one

Nick Hornby
Books read so far: 2/11
Books read in 2010: one (The Polysyllabic Spree, reviewed here)
Books I hope to read in 2010:2

• Housekeeping vs. the Dirt
• Shakespeare Wrote for Money

Books on my TBR shelf: 3

John Lescroart
Books read so far: 16/17 (Dismus Hardy series and spin offs)
Books read in 2010: zero
Books I hope to read in 2010: one (A Plague of Secrets)
Books on my TBR shelf: zero

Elinor Lipman
Books read so far: 4/10
Books read in 2010: zero
Books I hope to read in 2010: one (Then She Found Me)
Books on my TBR shelf: 2

David Lodge
Books read so far: 2/15 (fiction only)
Books read in 2010: zero
Books I hope to read in 2010: at least 2, but I don't know which ones
Books on my TBR shelf: 8

Ian McEwan
Books read so far: 5/13
Books read in 2010: zero
Books I hope to read in 2010: at least one, but I do not have any on my TBR shelf
Books on my TBR shelf: zero

Jack Ohman
Books read so far: 5/10
Books read in 2010: zero
Books I hope to read in 2010: one (Angler Management)

Books on my TBR shelf: one

Anthony Powell
Books read so far: 13/32
Books read in 2010: zero
Books I hope to read in 2010: one (Venusberg)
Books on my TBR shelf: one

Philip Roth
Books read so far: 8/30
Books read in 2010: zero
Books I hope to read in 2010: at least one, but I haven't decided which one
Books on my TBR shelf: 5

Martin Cruz Smith
Books read so far: 6/6 (Arkady Renko series only)
Books read in 2010: zero
Books I hope to read in 2010: zero, unless I get my hands on Three Stations, which hasn't been released yet
Books on my TBR shelf: zero

Julia Spencer-Fleming
Books read so far: 5/7
Books read in 2010: zero
Books I hope to read in 2010: one (I Shall Not Want)
Books on my TBR shelf: zero

William Styron
Books read so far: 2/10
Books read in 2010: zero
Books I hope to read in 2010: probably zero
Books on my TBR shelf: 3

Anne Tyler
Books read so far: 4/18
Books read in 2010: zero
Books I hope to read in 2010: one (Breathing Lessons, for my Pulitzer pick for the Battle of the Prizes challenge)
Books on my TBR shelf: 5

John Updike
Books read so far: 8/26
Books read in 2010: zero
Books I hope to read in 2010: at least one, but I do not know which one
Books on my TBR shelf: 9

Andrea U'ren
Books read so far: zero/2
Books read in 2010: zero
Books I hope to read in 2010: hopefully both of them
Books on my TBR shelf: zero

Simon Winchester
Books read so far: 5/16
Books read in 2010: zero
Books I hope to read in 2010: two

1. The Map That Changed the World: William Smith and the Birth of Modern Geology
2. Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded

Books on my TBR shelf: one

Teaser Tuesday: Cold Comfort Farm

"Had she not enough to do at Cold Comfort without there being a genius named Mybug staying a mile away from the farm who would probably fall in love with her? For she knew from experience that intellectuals and geniuses seldom fell for females of their own kidney, who had gone all queer about the shoes and coiffure, but concentrated upon reserved but normal and properly dressed persons like herself . . ."

Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons.

There are so many good teasers I could have picked. My copy is positively bristling with book darts.


Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by Should Be Reading, where you can find the official rules for this weekly event.

Mailbox Monday

I am still in trial (which means I am still whining about being in trial), but a couple of books still managed to make it into my house in time for Mailbox Monday. Funny how there is always some excuse to buy a book!

Fraud by Anita Brookner (because I liked her Incidents in the Rue Laugier, reviewed here, and want to read more)



Mysteries of Pittsburgh by Michael Chabon



A friend saw this at my house, said she had read it in college a few years back and really liked it, but didn't think it was a book that "old people" would read. I threw her in the dungeon.

List of the Day: Favorite Series

I can't resist a list. So when I saw this "Top 10" event on Random Ramblings, I was sucked in. 

I enjoy a good series, usually a mystery, sometimes a literary series. I'm not a fan of sci-fi or fantasy, so several more popular series will never make my list. And I limited this to adult books, so my all-time favorite Trixie Belden series didn't make the cut, no matter how many times I read it as a child.

Here is my list of favorite "series" in alphabetical order by author's name.

Kate Atkinson's Jackson Brodie mysteries

James Lee Burke's Dave Robechiex cop mysteries (reviews here and here)

Lee Child's Jack Reacher mysteries

Lawrence Durrell's Alexandria Quartet 

John Lescroarte's Dismas Hardy lawyer mysteries (discussed here)

David Lodge's academia trilogy (review here)

Anthony Powell's Dance to the Music of Time (discussed here)

Philip Roth's Nate Zuckerman books

Julia Spencer-Fleming's Clare Furguson priest mysteries (reviews here and here)

John Updike's Rabbit books

Review of the Day: City Limits

There is a line around the Portland metropolitan area called the Urban Growth Boundary – a controversial land use tool designed to control sprawl and protect Oregon’s farmland and scenic beauty. It’s one of those things that sounds like a terrific -- if somewhat utopian -- idea but that gets messy in practice.

Inner city yuppies, me included, tend to like the idea of the UGB because we can live in old, established neighborhoods with tree-lines sidewalks, but drive to a vineyard tasting room in 30 minutes. For families looking for an affordable house in the exurbs, or the grandchildren of farmers unable to subdivide just because they are on the other side of the line from a new strip mall, the UGB can seem like an arbitrary, unfettered exercise of government interference.

In City Limits: Walking Portland's Boundary, David Oates explores the UGB line – physically and metaphorically. He spent two years walking and kayaking around the entire boundary and writing essays inspired by his explorations. He also includes essays by some of the people he invited on his journeys, and dialogs with a few of his favorite dead environmentalists, such as John Muir.

Oates is definitely in the pro-UGB camp, sometimes waxing rhapsodic about the glories of centralized urban planning. But he shows a libertarian streak that chaffs at capricious and heavy-handed government action. While he bemoans -- with the drama of Chicken Little -- voters’ attempts to dismantle the current land use system, he acknowledges that a “system which seems immune to logic, above explanation, and insulated from individual citizens’ rights, complaints, and questions” will inspire revolt. If not evenly balanced, City Limits at least recognizes that there are two sides to the debate.

The book is best when Oates writes about what he sees and the people he meets while walking the boundary. He has a lyrical style that brings life to his subject, especially his musings on how people chose to live together. His poetic imagery occasionally overwhelms his ideas, and his imagined dialog with Italo Calvino is downright mystifying, but overall, reading his essays is like walking and talking with a thoughtful friend.

NOTES

Published by the Oregon State University Press.

OTHER REVIEWS

Oregon Historical Quarterly

(If you would like your review listed here, please leave a comment with a link and I will add it.)

State of the Blog, Part Two: The Challenges

Spring has sprung.  The pink trees are blooming and Easter is on the way. It is time to assess what bookery bloggery progress I've made in the first quarter of 2010.

This is a three-part assessment. This first part addressed the book lists. Part Two, here, deals with the challenges I joined this year. Part Three will take a look at the author lists.

I am hosting two "Battle of the Prizes" challenges this year and working on several others.  All are listed in the right-hand column.

CHALLENGES HOSTED BY ROSE CITY READER

Battle of the Prizes: American Version

National Book Award winners v. Pulitzer Prize winners, rules here. There is still plenty of time to sign up!

Books read so far: zero

Books I'm going to read for this challenge: 3

• Them by Joyce Carol Oates for my National winner;
• Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler for my Pulitzer winner; and
• The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter for my double dipper choice.

Battle of the Prizes: British Version

Man Booker Prize v. James Tait Black Memorial Prize, rules here. Again, there is still time to sign up!  

Books read so far: zero

Books I'm going to read for this challenge: 3

• The Sea, the Sea by Iris Murdoch for my Booker winner;
• The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry for my James Tait Black winner; and
• G by John Berger for my double dipper choice. 

CHALLENGES I AM PARTICIPATING IN

Bibliophilic Books Challenge



A challenge to read books about books. The home page is here.

I signed up for the "Bibliomaniac" level, which means I have 12 to read by the end of the year. I do not have a final list yet, but I have several in mind.

Books read so far: 2

• The Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby (reviewed here) 
• The Flaneur: A Stroll Through the Paradoxes of Paris by Edmund White (reviewed here)

Books I may read for this challenge (so many to chose from):

• Housekeeping vs. the Dirt by Nick Hornby;
  
• Shakespeare Wrote for Money by Nick Hornby; 
• Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader by Anne Fadiman;
• Rereadings: Seventeen Writers Revisit Books They Love, edited by Anne Fadiman; 
• 99 Novels by Anthony Burgess;
• The Well-Educated Mind by Wise S. Bauer;
• How to Read and Why by Harold Bloom;
• Studies in Classic American Literature by D. H. Lawrence;
• The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald;
• The Club Dumas by Arturo Perez-Reverte; 
• Wonder Boys by Michael Chabon;
• At Home with Books: How Booklovers Live with and Care for Their Libraries by Estelle Ellis;
• The Most Beautiful Libraries in the World by Guillaume de Laubier;
• Literary Essays by Mark Twain;
• Speak Memory by Vladimir Nobokov;
• Saul Bellow: A Biography of the Imagination by Ruth Miller;
• Oscar Wilde: A Certain Genius by Barbara Belford;
• Capote by Gerald Clarke;
• Greene on Capri: A Memoir by Shirley Hazzard; and
• Walks in Hemingway's Paris: A Guide To Paris For The Literary Traveler by Noel Fitch

Birth Year Reading Challenge 

This challenge is to read one or more books published in the year you were born, hosted by Hotchpot Cafe. I signed up, but I haven't created a post yet. I really want to read The Valley of the Dolls by Jaqueline Susann (what a great excuse!), but I don't have a copy yet.

Book Awards Challenge

The challenge involves reading ten books that won ten different prizes by November 1, 2010. The home page is here. Many of my picks overlap with other challenges.

Books read so far: 2

• The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz (National Book Critics Circle winner;
• The Well and the Mine by Gin Phillips (Discover Award winner; reviewed here)

Books I may read for this challenge:

•  Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler (Pulitzer winner);
• Them by Joyce Carol Oates (National winner);
• The Sea, the Sea by Iris Murdoch (Booker winner);
• G by John Berger (James Tait Black winner);
• The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry (Costa winner);
• Citizen Vince by Jess Walter (Edgar winner);
• Small Island by Andrea Levy (Orange winner);
• Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset (Nobel winner); and
• Seaview by Toby Olson (PEN/Faulkner winner)

Chunkster Challenge

I signed up for the "Mor-book-ly Obese" level, meaning I will read six 450+-page books (or three 750+-pagers). Caribousmom hosts this challenge.

Books read so far: one (Three Loves by A. J. Cronin; reviewed here)

Books I may read for this challenge: 

•  Them by Joyce Carol Oates (which I am reading for my Battle of the Prizes: American Version challenge); 
• The Sea, the Sea by Iris Murdoch (which I am reading for my Battle of the Prizes: British Version challenge);
• The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie (on the Radcliffe list); and
• Up in the Old Hotel by Joseph Mitchell (because it has been on my TBR shelf forever.

100+ Challenge

I signed up for this because I am pretty sure I'll read more than 100 books this year. But I do not have my own post for it. The challenge home page is here.

I keep a book cover list of the books I've read this year in the right-hand column of this blog. There are 28 books on the list so far and I think that is about accurate. Sometimes books don't show up over there because they are missing a cover picture on my LibraryThing library.

Typically British Challenge



I signed up at the "Cream Crackered" level to read eight "Typically British" novels. I will blow through those eight pretty quickly, since probably half of the books I read would qualify. The challenge home page is here.

Books read so far: 6

•  One Fat Englishman by Kingsley Amis (reviewed here);
• Case Histories by Kate Atkinson (finished, not reviewed);
• The New Confessions by William Boyd (reviewed here);
• Three Loves by A. J. Cronin (reviewed here);
• Where Angels Fear to Tread by E. M. Forster (reviewed here); and
• The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells (reviewed here)

Books I may read for this challenge:

• The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry;
• The Sea, the Sea by Iris Murdoch;
• Bolt by Dick Francis; and
• Orlando by Virginia Woolf

Opening Sentence of the Day: Cold Comfort Farm

"The education bestowed on Flora Poste by her parents had been expensive, athletic and prolonged; and when they died within a few weeks of one another during the annual epidemic of the influenza or Spanish Plague which occurred in her twentieth year, she was discovered to possess every art and grace save that of earning her own living."

Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons.

That is one of the best opening sentences I've read in forever. It is a whole short story in one sentence. I want to live in this book for a long, long time.

Cold Comfort Farm is one of my all-time favorite movies (I think it is actually a British TV show patched together into a movie). It is the source of several "lines" in my household, including the best, "I saw something nasty in the woodshed," always said in a quavery, sepulchral voice. So far, the book is just like the movie, which is fine by me.


NOTE
Book Beginnings on Fridays is a new "opening sentence" event hosted by Becky at Page Turners. 

Review of the Day: The War of the Worlds

The War of the Worlds is a perennial favorite. Every couple of decades, its popularity is regenerated with a new adaptation, most famously with Orson Wells’ 1938 radio production that convinced listeners that Martians were invading in real time, and most recently with Steven Spielberg’s 2005 blockbuster. But there is something to be said for revisiting the original – H. G. Wells’ 1898 novel.

The book is a monumental work of science fiction, both for its science and its fiction. The story itself is particularly exciting in the original because of its historical setting. Martians land in the suburbs of London and proceed to massacre the inhabitants with a terrifying heat ray and smothering toxic smoke. But this is the 1890s – the people have to fight back with infantry and cavalry troops. There are no tanks, no planes, no nothing.

The science gives the book depth beyond the adventure story. Wells provides a roadmap to late-Victorian popular issues, covering Darwinism, Marxism, microbiology, planetary science, military advancements, and even that Victorian favorite, botany. Discussion on these topics gives the reader ideas to mull over after the excitement fades.

NOTES

This counts as one of my books for the Typically British Challenge.

OTHER REVIEWS

(If you would like your review listed here, please leave a comment with a link and I will add it.)

State of the Blog, Part One: The Lists

Spring has sprung.  The pink trees are blooming and Easter is on the way. It is time to assess what bookery bloggery progress I've made in the first quarter of 2010.

My List of Lists is over in the right-side column. These are Prize Winners, Must Reads, and other lists of books I have read or intend to read for some reason or another. Also in the right-side column is a list of my favorite authors. I add to both lists from time to time.

This is a three-part assessment. This first part addresses the book lists. Part Two, coming soon, will deal with the challenges I joined this year. Part Three will take a look at the author lists.

THE LISTS

1899 Top 100
Books read so far: 7/100
Books read in 2010: zero
Books I hope to read in 2010: 2

1. The Moonstone by Willkie Collins
   
2. Quo Vadis by Henryk Sienkiewicz

Books on my TBR shelf: 13

All-TIME Top 100
Books read so far: 75/100
Books read in 2010:

• The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler
• Play It As It Lays by Joan Didion (reviewed here)
  

Books I hope to read in 2010: those two, plus two-thirds (I really hope to finish The Lord of the Rings.)
Books on my TBR shelf: 14

Anthony Burgess
Books read so far: 28/99
Books read in 2010: 2

• A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood (reviewed here)
• Titus Groan by Mervin Peake (reviewed here)

Books I hope to read in 2010:one more (Strangers and Brothers by C.P. Snow)
Books on my TBR shelf: 20

BBC's Big Read
Books read so far: 52/100
Books read in 2010: one (Black Beauty, Anna Sewell)
Books I hope to read in 2010: one more (Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake)
Books on my TBR shelf: 10

Book Club
Books read so far: 15/16
Books read in 2010: one (The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz)
Books I hope to read in 2010: 5 (but The Red Tent is the only one I know so far)
Books on my TBR shelf: zero

College Board
Books read so far: 75/101
Books read in 2010: zero
Books I hope to read in 2010: one (The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath)
Books on my TBR shelf: 15

Costa Book of the Year
Books read so far: 3/24
Books read in 2010: zero
Books I hope to read in 2010: 2 

• The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry
• Small Island by Andrea Levy
  

Books on my TBR shelf: 2

Easton Press
Books read so far: 56/100
Books read in 2010: one (The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan)
Books I hope to read in 2010: only the one
Books on my TBR shelf: 25

Edgar Award
Books read so far: 6/55
Books read in 2010: one (New Orleans Mourning by Julie Smith)
Books I hope to read in 2010: only one
Books on my TBR shelf: 3

Erica Jong
Books read so far: 29/100
Books read in 2010: zero
Books I hope to read in 2010: several, including

1. Orlando by Virginia Woolf
   
2. Rebecca by Daphne duMaurier
   
3. The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein
   

Books on my TBR shelf: 19

French Connection
Books read so far: 43/109 (and counting -- there are more books to add to the list)
Books read in 2010: one (The Flaneur by Edmund White)
Books I hope to read in 2010: one more (The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein)
Books on my TBR shelf: 20

Guilt List

Books read so far: I don't keep track, because I delete them after I read them
Books read in 2010: same
Books I hope to read in 2010: 15 more (I'll be busy)

1. The Night Gardener by George Pelecanos
2. The Art of Disappearing by Ivy Pochoda
3. The Evolution of Shadows by Jason Quinn Malott
5. The Mermaid and the Messerschmitt by Rulka Langer 
6. Soldiers in Hiding by Richard Wiley
7. Leaving Brooklyn by Lynn Sharon Schwartz
8. Saving Stanley: The Brickman Stories by Scott Nadelson 
9. Clown Girl by Monica Drake 
10. The Farmer's Daughter by Jim Harrison 
11. Jumptown: The Golden Years of Portland Jazz 1942-1957 by Robert Dietsche
12. Another Way the River Has: Taut True Tales from the Northwest by Robin Cody   
13. An Architectural Guidebook to Portland by Bart King 
14. The Grail: A Year Ambling & Shambling Through an Oregon Vinyard in Pursuit of the Best Pinot Noir Wine in the Whole Wild World by Brian Doyle  
15.  The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott by Kelly O'Connor McNees

Books on my TBR shelf: 15

James Tait Black Memorial Prize
Books read so far: 8/96
Books read in 2010: zero
Books I hope to read in 2010: one (The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry)
Books on my TBR shelf: 9

LT Early Reviewers
Books read so far: 25/27
Books read in 2010: two

• A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood (reviewed here)
• Maimonides: and the Biblical Prophets by Israel Drazin
• Homer and Langley by E. L. Doctorow (reviewed here)

Books I hope to read in 2010: two more

1. The Wall in My Head: Words and Images from the Fall of the Iron Curtain, published by Words Without Borders Anthologies
2. Short Stories, Book I by Anton Chekhov

Books on my TBR shelf: 2

Man Booker Prize
Books read so far: 21/43
Books read in 2010: zero
Books I hope to read in 2010: at least one, but I don't know which
Books on my TBR shelf: 13

MLA's 30
Books read so far: 22/30
Books read in 2010: one (The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver)
Books I hope to read in 2010: just the one
Books on my TBR shelf: 4

Modern Library
Books read so far: all of them!
Books read in 2010: zero (finished this list a couple of years ago)
Books I hope to read in 2010: none
Books on my TBR shelf: zero

National Book Award
Books read so far: 24/63
Books read in 2010: zero
Books I hope to Read in 2010: 2 (for the Battle of the Prizes Challenge)

• Them by Joyce Carol Oates
• The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter

Books on my TBR shelf: 15

NBCC Award
Books read so far: 16/33
Books read in 2010: one (The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz)
Books I hope to read in 2010: one more (Counterlife by Philip Roth)
Books on my TBR shelf: 8

Nobel Laureates
Authors read so far: 19/105
Books read in 2010: zero
Books I hope to read in 2010: one (Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset)
Books on my TBR shelf: 30 (but most by authors already read)

Observer's Top 100
Books read so far: 55/100
Books read in 2010: 2  

• Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan
• The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler

Books I hope to read in 2010: two-thirds (the last two book in The Lord of the Rings)
Books on my TBR shelf: 19

Orange Prize
Books read so far: 1/13
Books read in 2010: zero
Books I hope to read in 2010: one (Small Island by Andrea Levy)
Books on my TBR shelf: 4

Oregon Books
Books read so far: 3/20
Books read in 2010: zero
Books I hope to read in 2010: maybe none
Books on my TBR shelf: 2

PEN/Faulkner

Books read so far: 7/29
Books read in 2010: zero
Books I hope to read in 2010: 2

• Soldiers in Hiding by Richard Wiley (also on my Guilt List)
• Seaview by Toby Olson

Books on my TBR shelf: 12

Pulitzer Prize
Books read so far: 40
Books read in 2010: one (The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz)
Books I hope to read in 2010: at least 2 (for the Battle of the Prizes Challenge) 

• The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter
• Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler

Books on my TBR shelf: 15

Radcliffe's Top 100
Books read so far: 86/100
Books read in 2010: tqo

• Where Angels Fear to Tread by E.M. Forster (reviewed here)
• O Pioneers! by Willa Cather

Books I hope to read in 2010: 4+

• the rest of The Lord of the Rings
• Orlando by Virginia Woolf
• Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
• Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner
• Schindler's List by Thomas Keneally
  

Books on my TBR shelf: 9

RCR Top 10
Books read so far: 10/10 (it's my list)
Books read in 2010: zero (the list has not changed -- so far)
Books I hope to Read in 2010: maybe a new book will make it to the list
Books on my TBR shelf: zero

Well-Stocked Bookcase
Books read so far: 35/60
Books read in 2010: zero
Books I hope to Read in 2010: one (The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath)
Books on my TBR shelf: 14

I want to concentrate on the Radcliffe list because I have a shot at finishing that one once and for all. But my Guilt List is in danger of toppling over, so is claiming my immediate attention.

Teaser Tuesday: City Limits

"That's what I crave: meaningful places.  No one like a convert -- poor li'l L.A. boy, I'm a big fan, an aficionado, of this Portland thing because it offers me an alternative to the dilute life of the endless suburbs."

City Limits: Walking Portland's Boundary by David Oates (published by the Oregon State University Press).

Although this book is about Portland's "Urban Growth Boundary," it would be interesting for anyone who contemplates what makes a city "livable" and how they think about their own life in relation to their city.  I don't agree with everything Oates writes, but his book is thought-provoking.


Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by Should Be Reading, where you can find the official rules for this weekly event.

Mailbox Monday

I had such a hectic trial week last week that I comforted myself with an order from amazon that arrived in time for Mailbox Monday.

I saw Death in the Truffle Wood on Kittling Books and impulse purchased it on the spot, along with the sequel and a P. G. Wodehouse book to bring the order up to $25 so I could get free shipping.

Death in the Truffle Wood by Pierre Magnan.  Published in 1978, this is the first of two Commissaire Laviolette mysteries, both set in Provence. I get a kick out of vintage mysteries, so I am looking forward to reading both of these. The are also going on my French Connections list.



The Messengers of Death by Pierre Magnan (the second Commissaire Laviolette mystery).



Jeeves in the Offing by P. G. Wodehouse

Cookbook Library: New Casserole Cookbook

I love my 1968 edition of the New Casserole Cookbook! It gives a little description of the dish or tells a story about it, then tells you what to serve with it to make a complete dinner (along the lines of “serve with a butter lettuce salad; dinner rolls; and sliced peaches”).

I tried the recipe for “Poulet Marengo” and it was pretty tasty. I’d make it again. I used more basil and more garlic than the recipe called for. Also, I couldn’t find a 2 1/2 pound chicken, so I used a normal grocery store chicken (around 4 pounds) and just added a little more liquid, tomatoes, and mushrooms to make enough sauce.

1/2 c. flour
salt and pepper
t. dried basil
2 1/2 lb. chicken, cut into parts
1/4 c. butter
1/4 c. olive oil
1 c. dry white wine
1 jigger (1 1/5 oz.) brandy
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 1/5 cups chopped canned tomatoes
1/2 lb. mushrooms, sliced

Mix the salt, pepper, basil, and flour. Dredge the chicken parts. Save the remaining flour mixture. Sauté the chicken in the butter and oil until well-browned on all sides. Transfer chicken to covered casserole.

Add the remaining flour to the butter and oil and stir with a whisk until it is dissolved. Slowly add the wine and brandy, stirring until well mixed and thickened. Add the garlic, tomatoes, and mushrooms. Stir well.

Pour sauce over chicken. Cover casserole dish. Cook in 350 oven for 30-40 minutes* or until the chicken is done.

The books said to serve with noodles, a Belgian endive salad, and wine sorbet with sliced strawberries.

* I left it in the oven for 90 minutes because I don’t like undercooked chicken. It was delicious. The leftovers will probably be even better because the flavors will really have soaked in and melded.

Beth Fish Reads hosts a weekly event called Weekend Cooking.  It dovetails nicely with my goal of making one new recipe from all the books in my Cookbook Library.

Announcements

Thanks go to Art Scatter for giving me the Prolific Blogger Award. Mr. Scatter managed to write a clever and engaging post about a blog award, which should be worth some kind of award in its own right. For those who haven't visited Art Scatter, please do -- it is a real star among arts and culture blogs.

The March issue of the Internet Review of Books is up now.  It looks particularly tempting, packed as it is with reviews, including reviews of a new Winston Churchill biography and Ian McEwan's latest novel.  They have also added a section for reviews of poetry books.

My Second Blogiversary!

Review of the Day: The Well and the Mine

Few debut novels are as polished and engaging as The Well and the Mine by Gin Phillips. Set in the 1930s in Depression-ravaged Alabama, the book is the story of the hard-working Moore family. Their home is the center of attention after daughter Tess sees a woman throw a baby in their well.

Narration moves among the five family members: father Albert, a supervisor in the local coal mine, mother Teva, daughters Virgie and Tess, and son Jack. Phillips does not hide much from the reader, and narrative switches are indicated with the name of the speaking character. Only Jack tells his story from the perspective of his adult self, providing information about what happened to the family in the future.

The characters maintain distinct personalities – something authors using multiple perspectives often fail to accomplish. The precocious Tess is the most charming because she has an impish spark but an angel heart. She definitely brings to mind Scout from To Kill a Mockingbird. Although she observes life through a child’s eyes (“Jack had gotten me thinking about why we didn't ever see fairies in the woods. I figured something ate them.”), the story moves forward through the life lessons she learns.

These lessons involve the power of generosity, hospitality, and grace in the face of poverty, racism, hardship, and heartbreak. There is little in the way of cynicism, but neither is there schmaltz. The Well and the Mine has all the makings of a new classic, perfect for a book club discussion or a high school English class.

NOTES

Gin Phillips won the Discover Award for this book.

Fannie Flagg wrote the introduction.

I recommend getting the original edition published by the super cool Hawthorne Books & Literary Arts because it has the beautiful, thick, matte-finished cover with French flaps. 

The cover photo is credited to Eudora Welty.

OTHER REVIEWS

The Stones Inside My Shoes

(If you would like your review listed here, please leave a comment with a link and I will add it.)

In Trial

I had hoped to keep up with daily posts while in trial, but things are going so fast and furious that blog posts are going to be sporadic. Please check back.

Opening Sentence of the Day: City Limits

"I walked all the way around Portland, along the invisible line called the Urban Growth Boundary."

City Limits: Walking Portland's Boundary by David Oates (published by the Oregon State University Press).


I like to walk. I live in Portland. I'm intrigued by the idea of walking the whole way around the city's raggedy boundary.  For non-Oregonians, the idea of an "Urban Growth Boundary" may seem wacky, but we've got one. And I'm about to experience all of it -- at least second hand.

Teaser Tuesday: The Well and the Mine

"Jack had gotten me thinking about why we didn't ever see fairies in the woods.  I figured something ate them."

-- The Well and the Mine by Gin Phillips (Discover Award winner; introduction by Fannie Flagg; published by the super cool Hawthorne Books & Literary Arts).

This is an excellent book. It's a great story, rips right along, includes all the life-lessons of a Hallmark made-for-tv movie, but has none of the schmaltz.  Unless it falls off dramatically in the last third, this has all the makings of a new classic -- perfect for a high school English class.


Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by Should Be Reading, where you can find the official rules for this weekly event.

Mailbox Monday

Thanks to a terrific give-away on Book Dilettante, I got something in time for Mailbox Monday. I have read a little about this one and it caught my fancy. Also, it was the only book that came into my house last week, so I am extra pleased. Thanks, BD!

Corked by Katheryn Borel



My law firm is starting a big trial today. We've been going all-out for weeks getting ready and it is going to keep us busy. But I am planning a little wine tour weekend getaway for as soon as we are finished. I am going to take this book with me, along with this one:

The Grail: A Year Ambling & Shambling Through an Oregon Vinyard in Pursuit of the Best Pinot Noir Wine in the Whole Wild World by Brian Doyle



I'll be ready some reading, relaxing, and wine drinking!

Author of the Day: C. P. Snow

Strangers and Brothers is a series of novels by C. P. Snow, published between 1940 and 1974. Set in England, all eleven novels in the series are narrated by Lewis Eliot and follow his life and career from humble beginnings to a reasonably successful career as a London lawyer and Cambridge don, through wartime service in Whitehall, to a later career as a senior civil servant and, finally, retirement.

I have not read any of these books yet, but they have been on my radar for quite a while and several are on my TBR shelf. My plan is to read them in narrative order rather than publication order, so that is the way they are listed below.

Those on my TBR shelf now are in blue.

Time of Hope (1949)
George Passant (first called Strangers and Brothers) (1940)
The Conscience of the Rich (1958)
The Light and the Dark (1947)
The Masters (1951)
The New Men (1954)
Homecomings (1956)

The Affair (1960)

Corridors of Power (1964)
The Sleep of Reason (1968)
Last Things (1970)

OTHERS READING THIS SERIES

Books Do Furnish a Room (a thorough review of the series)

(If you are also reading this series and would like me to list you here, please leave a comment with a link to your progress reports or reviews and I will add them.)

Review: An American Map

An American Map is a collection of essays by Anne-Marie Oomen about and inspired by particular spots across America. It is more memoir than travel guide, as Oomen writes less about the facts of a place than what she thinks about when she is there.

Her words are beautiful and she writes with poetic flourish with phrases that describe a cabin retreat that “eddies with chill” or a waterfall with “the look of a million feathers tipped to catch the force of motion.” Her essays inspired by hikes on the Appalachian Trail and to the top of El Yunque in Puerto Rico are particularly lovely.

Readers who may find Oomen’s prose a little too purple for their tastes will enjoy the more action-oriented essays, like “Squall” about learning to flyfish with her sisters in Colorado, or the title essay about going to New York city to promote a documentary about Michigan asparagus farming.

Book lovers and writers will enjoy “Finding (My) America” in which Oomen describes her thoughts and experiences while on a mini-book tour to small public libraries in rural Michigan. In it, she examines the importance of books and reading and discusses the community between authors and readers:

I sense that when I am reading [aloud] or being read to, if it is done with skill, the energy shifts and flits between the reader and the read to, and evolves into something just short of reading each other's minds. Do a group of people all listening to the same story -- a story that has taken them not to spirituality like a prayer might, but to the internal realm of imagination where all of us, through language, enter another world -- create a unity there, in that place, that we find in no other communal experience?

It is this way Oomen has of bringing a big idea out of a simple experience that makes traveling through her essays so pleasurable.

NOTES

This book is part of the Made in Michigan Writers Series.

OTHER REVIEWS

(If you would like your review posted here, please leave a comment with a link and I will add it here.)