Annbury's Reads

Just starting up here -- May 25th, 2011. I am rearranging my books so I was inspired to make my "to read" shelf (shelves, actually) into a challenge. When time permits I will go back and add what I've already read this year, but for now am just making it a "to read" list. Rule One: I must read one fiction book for every non-fiction book.

1. 1861 -- finished May 30
2. Room -- finished May 30
3. Less is More -- finished June 2
4. The Tragedy of Arthur -- finished July 5
5. Spousonomics-- finished June 22
6. The Killer Angels -- finished June 21
7. The German Genius -- (finally) finished August 19
8. Germania -- finished August 26
9. Scoop -- finished September 6
10. Austerlitz -- finished September 24
11. 1493 -- finished September 28
12. To The End of the Land -- finished October 21
13. Race and Reunion -- finished October 15
14. Cutting for Stone -- finished October 28
15. Apostles of Disunion
16. Goodbye to Berlin
17. History of the World in 100 Objects -- finished December 2
18. Civil War Hospital Sketches -- finished October 26
19. The Yellow Wind
20. Mao II
21. The Holocene: An Environmental History
22. Ghostwritten
23. Climate Change in Prehistory
24. The Leftovers
25. What's Eating You
26. The Namesake
27. Population: An Introduction
28. Chronic City
29. The Glamour of Grammar
30. Under the Net
31. The Conquest of Bread
32. The Crying of Lot 49
33. Deadly Spin
34.Oscar and Lucinda
35. Unmaking the West
36. The Secret Agent
37. Cleopatra
38. The Sound and the Fury
39. Endgame: the End of the Debt Supercycle
40. Crime and Punishment
41. Reset
42. Native Son
43. Big Girls Don't Cry: The Election That Changed Everything for American Women
44. Super-Cannes
45. The Disappearing Spoon
46. The French Lieutenant's Woman
47. The Mind's Eye
48. The Postman Always Rings Twice
49. In Tearing Haste
50. The Trial
51. Islam
52. Things Fall Apart
53. The Memory Chalet
54. If This is A Man
55. Have A Nice Doomsday
56. Wolf Hall
57. The Case For God
58. The Return of the Soldier
59. The Architecture of Happiness
60. Agnes Grey
61. All You Have to Do is Listen
62. The Call of the Wild
63. Music Theory for Dummies
64. Madame Bovary
65. How Music Works
66. The Good Soldier Svejk
67.Listen to This
68.Cakes and Ale
69.Music, The Brain, and Ecstasy
70.Rabbit, Run
71.What to Listen for In Music
72.The Black Dahlia
73.The Elements of Music
74.Love in a Cold Climate
75 Music in the Late Twentieth Century
75a. The Last of the Imperious Rich

Welcome to the group, Ann! You are certainly challenging yourself, and I'll be interested to hear how it's going. If I were up to it (but I'm not), my challenge would be to read one non-f for every f that I read. ---- The Glamour of Grammar...really??? I'm off to have a look!

Welcome!

Welcome to the group, Ann!

Thanks for the welcome messages!! OK, here I am on Day 2, already adding a book -- but it's not on the list since I was already listening to it when I drew up the list. Anyway, I recommend "Redemption" by Nicholas Lemann, which focusses on a specific but very significant set of events during Reconstruction. This makes me want to read a) Foner's book on Reconstruction, and b) Lemann's "The Promised Land". Clearly I need discipline, which is why I started the list! Now I just have to finish up a few others that are in process --

I wish you the best of luck in disciplining your reading. I have found that approach does not work for me - it makes reading feel too much like a job, rather than a pleasure. I started out the year with a great list of goals for my reading and in February, I chucked them :)

Day 3 of The List, and I get to check one off. Today I finished (and reviewed) Adam Goodheart's "1861: The Civil War Awakening". Great read, and very different from most CW history I have read. That means the next book has to be fiction. I have already started "The Sound and the Fury" (listening to it on audio) but am finding it very heavy going and may switch to a physical book. Meanwhile, I will read "The Room".

#7: I will have to look for the Goodheart book. Thanks for the recommendation, Ann!

Do -- I am recommending even to people who aren't Civil War buffs.

Have read "Room" and reviewed it today. It's a compulsive read -- started in the late afternoon and could not stop until I had finished it. It is also a wonderfully crafted novel. Very glad I read it.

June 2- read and reviewed "Less is More". It's nice for fashion addicts.

#10: I loved that one! I am glad to see you enjoyed it too.

#11: It's nice for fashion addicts.

Well, that lets me out. My idea of fashion is wearing clothes :)

Have been away for three weeks touring the beautiful Pacific Northwest, but did manage to read one book on my list -- the great Civil War novel "The Killer Angels". Wonderful novel, and good history as far as I know; it certainly reinforces the view that Lee should have listened to Longstreet. On travels saw another interesting looking Civil War history -- "America Aflame"'. But will stick to list discipline, ignoring such blandishments------

Update on "Killer Angels". There's an interesting podcast on the book on Slate's "Audio Book Club" for May 30th (available free at the iTunes store). The discussion is joined by David Blight, the Yale historian, who wrote the impressive "Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory", and several other books about the Civil War.

Finished "Spousenomics", and was disappointed. As an economist (previous life) and a spouse, had hoped for an interesting read, but found it very repetitive and not very useful as a guide to the difficulties of married life. Didn't review it, suggesting a non-maximizing desire to avoid any controversy. Ah well, back to fiction.

Finished "The Tragedy of Arthur" July 5th, and enjoyed it very much -- see review. Some Bardophiles may be offended, but I found it all Nabokovian good fun. Have got very bogged down in my reading program, for three reasons
1) travel for almost all of June -- Pacific NW and San Fran,
great trip but it did interfere with my reading.
2) problems post-cataract, which will be resolved but currently
make reading difficult
3) "The German Genius" -- very interesting book but heavy
going. The style is suitable to the subject, perhaps.
Also getting nowhere with "The Sound and the Fury". Shall probably start again, on audio. In any event, I shall persevere.

#13: The Killer Angels is one of my all-time favorite books. It is the first book I remember reading that I stopped and said 'I wish I could write like that.'

#15: I hope that the cataract problems are corrected quickly so that you can get back to your books soon!

Many thanks for the kind thought, I'll know how long the problems are likely to persist at the end of August, when I see the Great Specialist. Meanwhile, thank heavens for audiobooks, and for my IPad on which I can make the text AS BIG AS I LIKE.

As to Killer Angels, have you seen "Gettysburg", movie made from the book? Not nearly as good as the book, but not bad. Good enough so that I took "Gods and Generals" out of the library, but didn't like it at all.

Finally finished "The German Genius"! As noted in my review, i found this a) eminently worth reading, and b) a very ponderous read. History buffs (especially modern history buffs) are likely to find it very informative, but read the warning lable -- This is A Project. I have been at the same time reading "Germania" (a far more frivolous approach to things Teutonic) which was a welcome offset. That means that I have not stuck to my "one non-fiction, one fiction" vow, so I shall have to read two novels in a row. "Austerlitz" would be appropriate, I suppose.

#17: I have seen the movie Gettysburg. I prefer the book myself, but you are right - the movie is not bad (except for the horrific casting, IMO, of Martin Sheen as Robert E. Lee)

One of the things I love about my Nook is the ability to change the font sizes. I am glad you have the same capability on your IPad!

#18: I already have The German Genius in the BlackHole. I just need my local library to get a copy!

Forward to fiction! Have finished "Germania", an odd and in some ways frivolous contemplation of German history, which I started reading as a counterweight to the wildly informative but totally non-frivolous "The German Genius". Was more impressed with "Germania" than I expected to be, as noted in review. Now, I have to do two fiction books in a row, and withstand the temptation of "1493".

I hope you enjoy your fiction books, Ann!

Finished "Scoop" -- a very funny book, but so racist that it was hard to read at times, no matter how much I reminded myself that the book was written in 1938. "Presentism", according to Wikipedia, is "a mode of literary or historical analysis in which present-day ideas and perspectives are anachronistically introduced into depictions or interpretations of the past". Generally, I try to avoid it, because a presentist approach prevents one from understanding and enjoying an enormous amount of great literature. But with some books I can't avoid it, and "Scoop" is such a book.

Now on to "Austerlitz", a far more serious endeavor. After that, I have diddled with my list a bit, putting "1493" in slot 11 because I really want to read it (heard the author on NPR, and it sounds fascinating. "The Last of the Imperious Rich" has dropped to 75a, partly because the Imperious Rich still seem to be very much with us.

At this rate, I shall have completed 20 of my _targetted 75 books by year-end. Humbling, but it will give me plenty to work on in 2012.

#22 - I have not read Scoop, but I read Brideshead Revisited this summer and was (surprisingly) completely blown away by it. However, I may avoid Scoop, due to your (and other) reviews. Anyway, I'm not really sure which Evelyn Waugh novel to read next. From what I understand, Brideshead Revisited is sort of an anomaly and the rest of his novels are more comedy/satire. Oh well.

Wouldn't avoid "Scoop" unless you feel that reading some racist language and being exposed to racist attitudes would make you so uncomfortable that the game wouldn't be worth the candle. I did read it and enjoy it and don't feel that this makes me complicit in those views, but it's a matter of what makes an individual reader uncomfortable. Not fair to say that it's the same dilemma as is posed by "Huckleberry Finn", since Twain conveys great sympathy with Jim, but the problem is in the same area.

I'm afraid part of my level of discomfort in reading things where one group or another is demeaned may be about which identity group is being demeaned. My husband wanted me to read Mencken, but as soon as I read some of what Mencken had to say about women, I returned the book.

The only other Waugh I have read is "The Loved One", which certainly qualifies as comedy/satire. That one, I loved. When I finish my list, I expect I will try another Waugh, though probably not "Black Mischief".

By the way, I noticed that you are a librarian. If you haven't read Larry Beinhart's "The Librarian", it is VERY funny and very chilling -- a political thriller.

I think it just depends on the context, I suppose. Obviously, I understand that racist language can't be avoided in a lot of older literature. If it's worth reading, I typically just wince and soldier on. There was even a racist comment or two in The Jungle, which bummed me out, but what can you do?

I read Scoop last year, and was extremely disturbed by the racism. I liked the concept, the beginning and the end of the book, but during the meat of the novel, I felt that so much of the humor depended on the reader's acceptance of the inferiority (thus making their actions laughable) of the Africans, that I couldn't overlook the racism. While Huckleberry Finn includes racist language, I don't think that Mark Twain had the same acceptance of the inferiority of Blacks as did Waugh, although it has been many years since I read that book.

I agree with you on the Twain/Waugh comparison. Twain's Jim is a positive and morally powerful figure whereas Waugh's Africans are -- as you say -- presented as inferior. This is what I couldn't get past when I was reading "Scoop", and why I started the whole thread about presentism. It's not just Waugh, of course -- can any modern day watcher or reader of "The Merchant of Venice" NOT bring knowledge of the Holocaust to bear in considering the character and treatment of Shylock? But shall we avoid "Merchant" because it is anti-Semitic? In considering such works, presentism is unavoidable for me at least; I try to suspend it when it is not central, and to think about it when it is.

Slowly, slowly, slowly -- finished "Austerlitz" far later than I had hoped to do. This is NOT because it isn't wonderful: it is, as noted in my review (and more eloquently in other reviews). But it's not an easy read, and my vision problems make it harder. It's not available in Kindle, and even if it were available on Audible I don't know that that would be ideal).

Also, I have allowed myself to be lured away by competing books and booklike things. A friend recommended Thurber's "Dog Department" which I had to read, because it has a story about a talking black standard poodle (guess what I have). As to booklike things, have been listening to a series of podcasts called "The History of Rome" which is really very good, and goes on and on and on.

Clearly, this list will have to transmute into a "75 books for 2012" before long -- or maybe 100, though that's clearly way too many.

Why 100? The list of want-to-reads is growing fast. My husband loved "The Myth of the Rational Market" and says I must read it immediately. The New York Times is starting a book club, first topic books about New York, first "meeting" October 18th, first book "Let the Great World Spin". Then there are books out this year ("Confidence Men", "The Tiger's Wife", "In the Garden of Beasts", "Please Look After Mom") and books due out before year end ("Cain", "The Marriage Plot", "1Q84").

In the words of the immortal tee-shirt "So many books, so little time". Now, on to "1493".

Finished "1493", and enjoyed it a whole lot, as discussed in my review. Had previously read the same author's "1491", and was on that basis looking forward to this book. My high expectations weren't disappointed. Back to fiction.

Finished "To The End of the Land" and "Race and Reunion", having switched back and forth between the two while reading them. I thought that both were excellent, as reported in my review. Moreover, both added to what I know about the world; "To The End of the Land" showed me that being an Israeli is complex and difficult in ways I hadn't understood, and "Race and Reunion" was an excellent illustration of just how mutable history can be.

Note for those interested in the Civil War -- David Blight, the author of "Race and Reunion", has an EXCELLENT series of podcasts on "The Civil War and Reconstruction Era, 1845-1877" which is available free at I Tunes U at the ITunes store. It comprises 27 lectures, each about 50 minutes long, of which about a third are on pre-war developments, a third on the war itself, and a third on reconstruction. If this series were a book, it would be one of the best I have ever read on the Civil War. It isn't a book, but it is a great listen.

Only 10 weeks left in the year, and I have only read 13 of the books on my list -- which leaves 62 unread! Ah well, on to the 2012 challenge. In the meantime, onward with "Cutting for Stone".

Finished "Civil War Hospital Sketches", Lousia May Alcott's brief but compelling account of her short stint as a Civil War hospital nurse (see review). I am having to Break My Order, because for a short while I am much better off listening to books or reading them on Kindle than doing it the traditional way. Now finishing up "Cutting for Stone".

Finished "Cutting for Stone", and loved it (see review) -- a great read for those who want to be transplanted to another reality. Now doing three at once -- "Mao II" (why do I dread this?), "History of the World in 100 Objects" (good for dipping into) and "What's Eating You?". Valiantly resisting Pinker's "Better Angels of Our Nature" and Saramago's "Cain", since they are Not On The List, but they will be near the top of the 2012 list. Otherwise, the 2012 list will be mostly the 2011 list.

Broke out from the list with Jill Lepore's "The Whites of Their Eyes", an interesting look at the Tea Party version of the American Revolution (see review). Still slogging away at the list with "History of the World in 1000 Objects" and "Goodbye to Berlin". With most of the list unread, however, my focus is rapidly shifting to "75 Books in 2012"

As the year winds down, so does my 2011 list, with all too many books unread. Finished "History of the World in 100 Objects" which I found disappointing as per my review -- wonderful pix, but the text doesn't really live up to them. Have read half of "Berlin Stories", up to the point where Sally departs, but am having trouble getting any forwarder. Once again, have been pulled outside the list, by "Pakistan, a Hard Country". And will be pulled again, with PD James "Death Comes to Pemberly" due on Kindle today. Have never read a "sequel" to an Austen novel, but will in this case make an exception. Looking forward to the 2012 list, so I can get serious about this once again.

New group will be up sometime in the last half of December, but I'm not telling when just yet... :)