avatiakh (Kerry) continues to read beyond 75 - part 4

A Peter Sis illustration from the picturebook Madlenka

Currently Reading:

Here are my 11 in 11 categories:
1) Science Fiction/Fantasy 11/11
2) Spotlight: Bernice Rubens 11/11
3) Conflict 10/11
4) Young at Heart 11/11
5) Jewish writers 11/11
6) Wanderlust 11/11
7) The Grand Tour 11/11
8) LT Challenges & Theme Reads 11/11
9) Meandering 11/11
10) Down Under 11/11
11) Magic in the Air11/11

My 11 in 11 thread is here

My first 2011 75 book challenge thread is here
My 2nd 2011 75 book challenge thread is here
My 3rd 2011 75 book challenge thread is here

Some of what I've read this year for my 11in11:

Science Fiction/Fantasy
1: The Chrysalids by John Wyndham
2: The Heir of Night Bk1 Wall of Night by Helen Lowe
3: The Marbury Lens by Andrew Smith
4: The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold
5: Native Tongue by Suzette Haden Elgin (Group read)
6: Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld
7: To Say Nothing of the Dog: How We Found the Bishop's Bird Stump at Last by Connie Willis
8: A Game of Thrones by George RR Martin
9: Perdido Street Station by China Mieville
10: Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovich
11: The Borribles: across the dark metropolis by Michael De Larrabeiti
12: The Dark lord of Derkholm by Diana Wynne Jones
13: Clash of Kings by George RR Martin
14: WWW.Wonder by Robert J. Sawyer
15: Moon over Soho by Ben Aaronovich
16: Chasm City by Alastair Reynolds
17: Storm of Swords by George RR Martin

Spotlight on Bernice Rubens
Mr. Wakefield's Crusade
The Elected Member
The Ponsonby Post
Sunday Best
Brothers
I, Dreyfus
I sent a letter to my love
Nine Lives

Conflict - Books about conflict, war, survival
A Thread of Grace by Mary Doria Russell
The People by Jean Raspail

Young at Heart - YA and Children's fiction
1: Alone on a wide wide sea by Michael Morpurgo
2: The Various Bk 1 Touchstone Trilogy by Steve Augarde
3: The double life of Cassiel Roadnight by Jenny Valentine
4: Plain Kate by Erin Bow
5: Please ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King
6:
7: Dash and Lily's book of dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
8: Flora Segunda by Ysabeau S. Wilce
9: The Undrowned Child by Michelle Lovric
10: The Death Collector by Justin Richards
11: Letters to anyone, letters to everyone by Toon Tellegen
12: One Crazy Summer by Rita Garcia-Williams
13: Bloody Jack; Being an Account of the Curious Adventures of Mary "Jacky" Faber, Ship's Boy by L.A. Meyer
14: Sophie's Misfortunes Fleurville Trilogy Bk1 by Comtesse De Ségur
15: The Last Dragonslayer by Jasper Fforde
16: Fall-out by Gudrun Pausewang
17: Dealing with Dragons by Patricia Wrede
18: Dust by Arthur Slade
19: Billionaire Boy by David Wallaims
20: My sister lives on the mantelpiece by Annabel Pitcher
21: No and Me by Dalphine de Vigan - finished 12 Jul
22: White Crow by Marcus Sedgwick - finished 12 Jul
23: Witch Hill by Marcus Sedgwick - finished Jul
24: A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness - finished Jul
25: Jeremy Visick by David Wiseman - finished Sep
26: Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin
27: The Devil Walks by Anne Fine

Jewish writers
1: Suite Francaise by Irène Némirovsky - May group read
2: Fatelessness by Imre Kertész
3: How to understand Israel in 60 days or less by Sarah Glidden
4: Hush by Eishes Chayil
5: The Contract with God trilogy: Life on Dropsie Avenue by Will Eisner
6: The Lead Soldiers by Uri Orlev
7: Mr Rosenblum's List by Natasha Solomons
8: The Periodic Table by Primo Levi
9: All-of-a-kind Family by Sydney Taylor
10: The Slave by Isaac Bashevis Singer
11: Minotaur by Benjamin Tammuz

Wanderlust
Just as well I'm leaving:To the Orient with Hans Christian Andersen by Michael Booth
As I walked out one midsummer morning by Laurie Lee
Monsignor Quixote by Graham Greene

The Grand Tour - Books set on the European continent
1: Les Miserables by Victor Hugo (France)
2: Under the Frog by Tibor Fischer (Hungary)
3: The Vanishing of Katharina Linden by Helen Grant (Germany)
4: The glass-blowers by Daphne du Maurier (France)
5: Nemesis by Jo Nesbø (Norway)
6: Montenegro by Starling Lawrence (Serbia)
7: The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi Di Lampedusa (Italy)
8: Visitation by Jenny Erpenbeck (Germany)
9: A Room with a View by E M Forster (Italy/UK)
10: Jean de Florette and Manon des Sources by Marcel Pagnol (France)
11: From the Land of the Moon by Milena Agus (Italy/Sardenia)
12: Pereira Maintains by Antonio Tabucchi (Portugal)
13: August Heat by Andrea Camilleri (Sicily)
14: The Redbreast by Jo Nesbø (Norway)

LT Challenges, Group & Theme Reads
1: The Siege by Helen Dunmore - Orange January
2: Beowulf by Seamus Heaney - 75 Book Challenge group read
3: The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West - TIOLI Feb embedded word challenge
4: In a strange room by Damon Galgut - Journeys theme (Reading Globally group)
5: Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey - TIOLI Mar 17 letter title challenge
6: The General in his Labyrinth by Gabriel García Márquez -Journeys theme (Reading Globally group)
7: Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell - TIOLI TBR pile challenge
8: Hotel Bemelmans by Ludwig Bemelmans - TIOLI Workplace challenge
9: Just my type: a book about fonts by Simon Garfield - TIOLI Fiction/NonFiction challenge
10: The Long Song by Andrea Levy - TIOLI Caribbean Heritage Month challenge
11: Granta 113: The Best of Young Spanish Novelists ed John Freeman - TIOLI Typography on cover

Meandering Reads - Books that I have discovered from blogs, LT, other books, writers etc
1: Snared Nightingale by Geoffrey Trease (Farah Mendlesohn's The Trease Project)
2: The Buenos Aires Quintet by Manuel Vázquez Montalbán (Andrea Camilleri's inspiration for Inspector Montalbano)
3: Brighton Rock by Graham Greene (referenced in King Dork)
4: Travel Light by Naomi Mitchison (acknowledged by Kevin Crossley-Holland in Bracelet of Bones)
5: Falling Angel by William Hjortsberg (rec by Carlos Ruiz Zafon)
6: On elegance while sleeping by Viscount Lascano Tegui (found while browsing net)
7: Wings over Delft by Aubrey Flegg (found on Irish publishers website
8: Anya's Ghost by Vera Brosgol (found on a blog)
9: A Method Actor's Guide to Jekyll and Hyde by Kevin MacNeil (found at the library)

Down Under - Australian and New Zealand fiction
A catchall for all Australian and New Zealand fiction published in the past 50 years,
1: August by Bernard Beckett (NZ) YA
2: The Bone Tiki by David Hair (NZ) YA
3: Guardian of the Dead by Karen Healey (NZ) YA
4: Electric by Chad Taylor (NZ)
5: Just Jack by Adele Broadbent (NZ) children's
6: Sorry by Gail Jones (Australia)
7: The Conductor by Sarah Quigley (NZ)
8: Departure Lounge by Chad Taylor (NZ)
9: The Wednesday Wizard by Sherryl Jordan (NZ)
10: A Man Melting by Craig Cliff (NZ)
11: Wulf by Hamish Clayton (NZ)
12: The Mangrove Summer by Jack Lasenby (NZ)
13: Dark Souls by Paula Morris (NZ)

Magic in the Air: Folklore, fairytale, myths: retellings, anthologies, academic etc
1:There Once Lived A Woman Who Tried To Kill Her Neighbor's Baby: scary fairy tales by Ludmilla Petrushevskaya - finished 20 Mar
2:Lips Touch by Laini Taylor
3:Cloaked by Alex Flinn
4:The Door in the Hedge by Robin McKinley
5: Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman
6: Little Black Book of Stories by A.S. Byatt
7: Once upon a time in Aotearoa by Tina Makereti
8: Sweetly by Jackson Pearce
9: A Tale Dark and Grimm by Adam Gidwit

174) Minotaur by Benjamin Tammuz (1980)
fiction, Israel

After reading this I found that it fit September’s TIOLI challenge #5: Read a book by an author who has never been read for any TIOLI challenge, I was hanging out for the October Monster in the title challenge but the story drew me in. I found this unusual story of obsessive love quite captivating. A secret agent falls in love with a young woman he sees on a London bus, he’s always carried an image of her in his heart, and he starts sending her anonymous letters declaring his love. The book is divided into four parts, the first from the girl’s viewpoint, the other three are the stories of the men in her life.
My copy came from the library stacks but it is also published by Europa Editions.


175) The Devil Walks by Anne Fine (2011)
children’s fiction

After reading this I found that it also fit September’s TIOLI challenge #5: Read a book by an author who has never been read for any TIOLI challenge and also Mac’s Halloween reads.
I’m a fan of Anne Fine’s books and especially enjoyed The Tulip Touch, this one is similarly creepy though probably aimed at a younger reader. A suitably gothic setup with young Daniel, who has till now spent all his life as an invalid, hidden from others and under the lonely care of his protective mother. When he is finally discovered and fostered by the local doctor and his family, his mother ends up in the local mental asylum crying and screaming that she was protecting him from evil. The only clue to his family’s past is an intricate doll’s house, an exact replica of his mother’s childhood home of High Gates. Creepy and sinister pageturner.



176) Dark Souls by Paula Morris (2011)
YA fiction, New Zealand

Another for the Halloween reads and for October’s TIOLI challenge for 150 or less LT conversations.
This is a great ghost story set in present day York. Miranda has been able to see ghosts since she and her brother were involved in a traumatic car accident a few months earlier that took the life of her best friend. Now they are visiting York with their parents for a short holiday and ghosts are everywhere. Morris has written an engaging ghost mystery that reveals the history and culture of York. I enjoyed it as much for the chance to relive my own short visits to York as for the story itself.
The title ‘Dark Souls’ is from a quote by John Milton:
But he that hides a dark soul and foul thoughts benighted walks under the mid-day sun; Himself is his own dungeon.

Glad you liked Minotaur! That's on my list of Europas to read by year-end...

Also, very cool illustration to open the thread with; forced me to stop and think for a few secs.

Hi Suzanne - yes, it's a walk around a Manhatten block. I'm about to post on a few of his picturebooks which I've been looking through lately.
Minotaur was quite different which is always good.

Hi Kerry, cool picture. I'm on nightshift and it's 4am here and that picture is kind of trippy to look at too long!

I like the sounds of Dark Souls! I might add it to my lengthy Halloween to-read list if I can find it :)

I've been looking through a few picturebooks lately:


Grandpa Green by Lane Smith (2011)
picturebook, USA

From the popular It's a book writer/illustrator here's a topiary themed book about a grandfather and the memories of his life. There's lots to point to and share with a young child here and the colour is suitably green with lots of white background.


Hairy Nose Itchy Butt by Elizabeth Frankel, illustrated by Garry Duncan (2011)
picturebook, Australia

Part of the proceeds from the sale of this book will support wombat conservation. There is a stilted conservation message in this story of lost habitat, but what a struggle to read and I dislike these books that push the cruder elements of behaviour into the title - I know children enjoy toilet humour but well....
The bold artwork is quite cool though. For those wanting a classic wombat story try Diary of a wombat by Jackie French.


Tarantula Boo! by Lucy Davey, illustrated by Philip Webb (2011)
picturebook, new zealand

A lonely tarantula spider at the zoo would love to find someone to play his tarantula boo! game with, and a cracked glass pane on his enclosure gives him the chance to explore. The rhyme almost makes it, and with an ending that ties everything in nicely this isn't so bad. This was launched at the recent Storylines Festival and Lucy was part of the speed-date-a-writer area I helped run, she is a delightful person (with an impressive resume) and I always enjoy Philip Webb's illustrations.


The Bear with the sword by Davide Cali, illustrated by Gianluca Foli (2010 Eng) (2008 Italy)
picturebook, italy

This fable like story is delightful. A bear has a sword that can cut through anything and he cuts down all the trees in the forest to prove it. When water starts coming into his fortress, he sets off on a journey to find the cause. What he finds is that his actions in a long roundabout way have caused the problem as well as upsetting the habitats of numerous other creatures. Interesting illustrations with lots of white background. This book was included in the White Raven's Selection of the International Youth Library.


The Sea King's Daughter: a Russian Legend retold by Aaron Shepard, illustrated by Gennady Spirin (1997)
illustrated story
I got this mainly to look at Spirin's illustration style. Very beautiful, sumptuous images, lots of detail and nothing like the Bilibin illustrations I looked at last month. The story was good too, a retelling of the Sadko legend. Shepard's noted at the back of the book were interesting and tied the story to my recent reads of Bracelet of Bones and Travel Light.

More of Spirin's images can be seen here.

Gennady Spirin was born in the small town of Orekhove-Zuyevo, near Moscow, on December 25, 1948. His artistic talent was identified at an early age. He graduated from Surikov School of Fine Art at the Academy of Arts in Moscow and Moscow Stroganov Institute of Art. Over the years he developed his own unique style, combining traditional Russian contemporary art technique with the great traditions of the Renaissance.


Vampyre by Margaret Wild, illustrated by Andrew Yeo (2011)
sophisticated picturebook, australia

I am Vampyre.
I live in darkness.
I long for light.

This has been getting lots of praise in the press/blogosphere lately. A young Vampyre boy rejects his heritage and strives to live in the light. Very few words are paired with emotive and at times stunning acrylic illustrations to create a fairly impressive book that should be used with older readers. I love how the colouring moves from moody blue to muted orange through the book. I still prefer Wild's other picturebooks including her Fox, Our Granny, Pocket Dogs, There's a Sea in my Bedroom, Let the Celebrations Begin etc etc...

I still have a few fantastic ones by Peter Sis to post and one by Květa Pacovská, both are from the Czech Republic though Sis now lives in the USA. Now I can't wait for Pacovská's The Little Match Girl to come from the library.

#7: Hi Chell - Yes, the picture does tend to play with your eyes.

Kerry found and starred your latest thread. My you have had a busy day!

Wow Kerry, where do you find these gorgeous picture books. I really enjoy looking at all the lovely illustrations in your threads.

Found you! I love those Spirin images - you can certainly see the Renaissance influence in those rich colours and full compositions, but they have something different as well...

Hi Kerry, I just love that image at the top of the thread, it really pulls you in. I think you and Ilana have been a good influence on me as I've also just started getting some picture books out form the library to admire the incredible artwork. The stories are good but these illustrators are quite incredible - I wish I had that much talent.

Just peeking a nose in to drop off a star. :)

Dangerous, as always, to visit here!

Ditto what Roni said

Hi everyone - just want to report in that i've finished my Banned Books week read of Slaughterhouse 5 which was interesting and will continue on and read Meg Rosoff's There is no dog, a YA novel that upset a UK Christian school last week so they cancelled Rosoff's appearance with fellow YA writers Melvin Burgess and David Almond. Burgess has also written controversial books in the past though not blasphemous as the school maintains Rosoff's is.

Rosoff: "It’s disappointing that some schools feel that the subject of my book is unsuitable for their pupils as I consider it part of my job as a writer to explore sensitive issues, and to let my adolescent readers find hope, humour and redemption in a world full of danger and loss."
Penguin, Rosoff’s publisher, said it was “a great shame that a school would see fit not to give their pupils the opportunity to explore their beliefs and to engaged with such universal issues as religion with a hugely popular author of Meg’s calibre”.
There is no dog imagines God as a feckless, sex-mad 19-year-old called Bob who carries out Creation in six days because he can’t be bothered with a seventh, and spends most of his time dreaming about girls.

Also have just been on publisher Taschen's website after looking through one of their Icon books and noticed they have published a compendium of Grimm's Fairy Tales, newly translated and featuring many vintage illustrations from the past. The link takes you to their website where you can flick through 100 of the 300 pages of the book.

hi Kerry

Found your latest thread and starred it.
Trying to catch up with LT friends.

There is no dog sounds good, I hope it will be translated soon :-)

YA novel that upset a UK Christian school - so sad to hear that. As a Christian I feel this sort of reaction gives Christians a bad name. Can't understand banning books, or un-inviting speakers - I think God is big enough to take care of him/herself and we should be opening doors, not shutting them...

177) Madame Sousatzka by Bernice Rubens (1982)
fiction
Read for my 11in11 Bernice Rubens category and TIOLI challenge for 150 or less LT conversations. I saw the movie starring Shirley MacLaine years ago and finding out that Rubens wrote the original novel was one of the reasons I decided to focus on her books this year. This story about a child musical prodigy is based loosely around Rubens' own brother, as was The Elected Member. Sousatzka is a piano teacher who specialises in teaching gifted young pianists with her special method. She lives in a dilapidated old London home with three eccentric tenants, they all grow to love Marcus but gradually the love and hold they have on him comes up against his mother and the need for him to perform in public and grow as an artist. Just wonderful, Rubens again excels with her characters.
I'll be reading her Kingdom Come and memoir When I grow up before the end of the year.

178) Slaughterhouse Five or The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death by Kurt Vonnegut, , a Fourth-Generation German-American Now Living in Easy Circumstances on Cape Cod and Smoking Too Much, Who, as an American Infantry Scout Hors de Combat, as a Prisoner of War, Witnessed the Fire Bombing of Dresden, Germany, ‘The Florence of the Elbe,’ a Long Time Ago, and Survived to Tell the Tale. This Is a Novel Somewhat in the Telegraphic Schizophrenic Manner of Tales of the Planet Tralfamadore, Where the Flying Saucers Come From. Peace. (1969)
fiction

I'm still looking for a TIOLI category for this one. Based on Vonnegut's experiences as a POW in Dresden when during February 1945 it was destroyed by Allied bombing. This is a fairly inspiring reading experience with the narrator telling the story of Billy Pilgrim, who experiences his time as a POW inbetween time travel to the future and the past as well as episodes off-planet when he is kidnapped by green aliens. Weird but it sort of works, the story winds in and out of itself.

From wikipedia because I don't feel like reinventing the wheel tonight: The story continually employs the refrain "So it goes." when death, dying, and mortality occur, as a narrative transition to another subject, as a memento mori, as comic relief, and to explain the unexplained. It appears 106 times. Slaughterhouse-Five explores fate, free will, and the illogical nature of human beings.

wikipedia: The Bombing of Dresden was a military bombing by the British Royal Air Force (RAF) and the United States Army Air Force (USAAF) and as part of the Allied forces between 13 February and 15 February 1945 in the Second World War. In four raids, altogether 3,600 planes, of which 1,300 were heavy bombers, dropped as many as 650,000 incendiaries, together with 8,000 lb. high-explosive bombs and hundreds of 4,000-pounders. In all more than 3,900 tons of high-explosive bombs and incendiary devices were dropped on the city, the Baroque capital of the German state of Saxony. The resulting firestorm destroyed 15 square miles (39 square kilometres) of the city centre.
In March 1945, the Nazi regime ordered its press to publish a death toll of 200,000 for the Dresden raids. Death toll estimates as high as 500,000 have been given. An independent investigation commissioned by the city council in 2010 reported a maximum of 25,000 victims. Dresden was not the only city destroyed by the Allies. The bombing of the larger city of Hamburg in 1943 created one of the greatest firestorms raised by the RAF and United States Army Air Force, killing roughly 50,000 civilians in Hamburg and practically destroying the entire city.

Edit: Forgot to mention that I read this for Banned Books Week and added as per Lucy's suggestion to TIOLI books set between 1910 and 1950 challenge.

Buenos Aires Style ed. Angelika Taschen
photography/style

Just a beautiful small book of photographs showcasing interiors and exteriors of desirable buildings and residences from the province of BA. My eye was drawn to a duet of paintings in one photograph of a luxurious salon, they were by an Italian surrealist artist, Fabrizio Clerici, whose work I had not come across before.




Back to BA Style:

179) The Rainbow Bridge by Aubrey Flegg (2004)
Louise trilogy Bk 2
children's fiction

Added to the TIOLI 150 or less LT conversations challenge. This is set in the late 18th century when a young French soldier, Gaston, rescues the portrait of Louise from falling into a canal. The story follows the political fallout from the French Revolution and how it affects the lives of those living in Gaston's home village. Louise's spirit lives on in the portrait and she appears to those few characters who have a certain empathy with her. I ended up enjoying this one more than I thought I would, and I'll definitely read the last book in the trilogy though I have to return the books to the library and re-request book 3.
Flegg mentions a number of books that referenced his writing, including Hilary Mantel's A place of greater safety, The adventures of Brigadier General by Conan Doyle, The memoirs of Madame de la Tour du Pin and Vintage: the Story of Wine by Hugh Johnson

180) Lunch in Paris: a love story with recipes by Elizabeth Bard (2010)
memoir

I added this to TIOLI 150 or less LT conversations challenge. This won the 2010 Gourmand World Cookbook Award for Best First Cookbook (USA) though I read it more for the Paris content than the recipes. Bard has lunch with a Frenchman, falls in love and eventually ends up living in Paris. Her Paris is not one that dreams are made of, she struggles to sort out her priorities in life, adjusting from the career/success oriented goals of New York to the joie de vivre attitude of her husband. Mixed in with all this is her love of food, cooking and her daily shopping at food markets. While I wasn't that taken with the memoir, it held my interest in parts. The recipes at the end of each chapter range from simple to quite classical French, with some Moroccan and Jewish ones. Bard has a blog and has moved to Provence since writing the book.

181) There is no dog by Meg Rosoff (2011)
YA fiction

Read for TIOLI 150 or less LT conversations challenge and Banned Books Week as Rosoff was uninvited from a school in the UK because of this, her latest book. I found this rather a fun read. Imagine that the universe is looked after by a large motley crew of gods (think Greek), and when Earth's number comes up, the job to be it's god creator ends up being won in a poker match. The winner gives it to her teenage son, Bob, who is accompanied by a No.2, the guy who should have been given the god job. So a few thousand years after creation, Bob, still a teenage slob, falls for Lucy, a gorgeous girl, the most beautiful on earth. While he lusts after her, earth suffers from famine, storms, floods...can No.2 bring Bob back on task.
I haven't always enjoyed Rosoff's books but this one hits all the right notes for me.

182) Sweetly by Jackson Pearce (2011)
YA fiction

Read for the Halloween theme read and TIOLI Spooky Cover challenge. This is the second book in Pearce's Sisters Red series, but is a standalone read, a retelling of Hansel and Gretel. I wasn't that impressed, though I'm not the _target audience. It turned into a bit of a paranormal romance sort of read that just didn't agree with me. Say no more, I'm hoping the other YAs I have lined up will be better, I'll still read her Sisters Red just not straight away.

183) Imperial Woman by Pearl S. Buck (1956)
historical fiction

Read for Paul's Nobel Prize Winners theme and TIOLI 150 or less LT conversations challenge. I listened to an audiobook narrated by Kirsten Potter and enjoyed this marathon telling of the life of Tzu Hsi (1835-1908), the last Empress in China. From the day she is taken alongside sixty other Manchu girls to the Forbidden City to be chosen as a concubine for the sickly Emperor to her old age, Buck tells in vivid detail the life of the court as well as the political history of China as the country enters the modern world. There is a fictional love story at the centre of the plot, I'm not sure how much is based on fact but it helps humanise the character of Tzu Hsi.

Binky the space cat by Ashley Spires (2009)
junior graphic novel

Recommended for catlovers by fannyprice over in Club Reads. This is one of 3 Binky GNs for young readers that will appeal to everyone in a warped sort of way.

Kerry - impressive reading; good reviews, interesting photos! Must get more Bernice Rubens and look up the Pearl Buck - read quite a few of hers but not this one.

I won't to pretend to have caught up, but at least I'm on the current thread again.

Ouch ouch ouch ouch ouch!!! I've taken so many book bullets on your thread tonight, it's kind of ridiculous.

Have added Minotaur to the WL, even though they don't have it at the library (mind you, they have it in French and since it's translated either way, I guess that would work). I'll be checking out the Gennady Spirin book from the library sometime soon, and while I looked him up on the catalogue, saw that they had a whole bunch of others illustrated by him. Will be looking up There is No Dog when they make it available as I see they've ordered a copy. Your review of Madame Sousatzka encouraged me to look up Bernice Rubens at the library again—I swear they didn't have any recently—and found a whole bunch and added those you'd given a good rating to the WL too, though of course they didn't have Madame Sousatzka, which I could have sworn was the ONLY BR book they had before (they only have the movie. How come your reviews for those aren't on the work pages by the way? I've got several Pearl S. Buck books on my Audible WL, including Imperial Woman, so managed to avoid that particular bullet, but then went and reserved Binky the Space Cat right away; looks like lots of fun and yes, obviously I'm a cat lover.

#13 Leonie, acutually, the credit goes 100% to Kerry since she was the one who got me started on picture books again in such a big way and the reason I made a theme of them this summer was because she'd given me so many suggestions, I figured may as well plunge right in!

eta: Oh, and... as if I really needed that link to Taschen books. I'll have to steer clear of that one because it spells big trouble for me!

hi Kerry
>21 avatiakh:: I just read Slaughterhouse-five too. Synergy?

>25 avatiakh:: saw There Is No Dog on an other thread too, waiting for the Dutch translation!

>21 avatiakh: I wanted to read Slaughterhouse-five for the same reasons, but my library doesn't have it. Go figures.

Kerry just stopping by. Hope all is well - no reading update from you in ten days

Sorry everyone, I've been awol on my own thread lately. I'm reading lots and posting on other threads but haven't been back here to update. The longer you leave it the more there is to post about.

#29&34: Paul, thanks for prodding me back into life! I have to say that I've really enjoyed reading Rubens this year and while I said a few posts ago that I was going to read Kingdom Come next which is about a 17thC Turkish Jew who thinks he's the Messiah, I'm now considering bumping it for her Booker Prize shortlisted novel A Five Year Sentence which sounds too good not to read.

#30: Hi Jeanne - good to see you here, you probably noticed that I took the Peter Carey off the TIOLI list. I noticed today that he wrote a children's novel a few years ago, The Big Bazoohley, so I'm going to read that next month instead.

#31: Ilana - sorry about the book bullets. The structure of Minotaur was quite unusual, I think it's worth reading eventually, one of those books you read fairly quickly. As far as Bernice Rubens goes, some have a Jewish theme and others are quite dark comedies, they all have great characters.

#32: Anita - must have been synergy, it was on my tbr for a few years. I picked up Departure Time / Vertrektijd by Truus Matti today at the library, it will be my second chance to read it as I always take too many books out of the library. Have you come across this one at all?
Are any of Meg Rosoff's books available in Dutch? The other of hers that I liked was Just in Case which won the Carnegie Medal.

#33: Nathan - I'm sure you'll come across a copy of Slaughterhouse in a used bookstore or whatever, it is a classic.

I'm due an update but as my back is playing tricks on me today I don't want to sit at the computer for too long a period.
How it stands at present -
My TIOLI reads for October:

1. Read a novel assigned in an English class
Franny & Zooey by J.D. Salinger

3. Read a book by or about an artist for National Arts & Humanities Month
Mervyn Peake: the man and his art - Sebastian Peake & Alison Eldred
Metamaus by Art Spiegel - looks really good

5. Read a book with a spooky cover
Sweetly by Jackson Pearce - finished

8. Read a novel or non-fiction work that has some kind of civil war as a major theme/plot element
A Moment of War by Laurie Lee (Spanish Civil War memoir) - finished
Soldiers of Salamis by Javier Cercas (Spanish Civil War 1936-39)

9. Read a book by an author whose first and/or last name begins and ends with a vowel
The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter - hope to
The Concert Ticket by Olga Grushin - want to
Götz and Meyer by David Albahari - finished
The Land at the End of the World - António Lobo Antunes - hope to
The Wings of the Sphinx - Andrea Camilleri - finished this morning

11. Read a book by an author whose first and last names have the same number of letters
Kim by Rudyard Kipling - finished
The Pendragon Legend by Antal Szerb - finished
The Sense of An Ending by Julian Barnes - finished

15. Read a book whose author has an alliterative name
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson - reading

18. Read a book that has been mentioned in 150 conversations or less
Dark Souls (0) by Paula Morris - avatiakh - finished
Daughter of Smoke and Bone (6) - Laini Taylor - reading
The Freedom Maze (1) - Delia Sherman - my first ER, I don't usually request
Islands of Silence (11) - Martin Booth - unlikely this month
Imperial Woman by Pearl S. Buck - finished
Kingdom Come (0) - Bernice Rubens - more likely a Nov read
Lunch in Paris: a love story with recipes (10) - Elizabeth Bard - finished
Madame Sousatzka (7) - Bernice Rubens - finished
Only Yesterday (2) - S.Y. Agnon - hope to start at least
The Outsiders of Uskoken Castle (2) - Kurt Held - finished
The Rainbow Bridge (0) - Aubrey Flegg - finished
A Stricken Field (25) - Martha Gellhorn - unlikely
There is no dog (2) - Meg Rosoff - finished

19. Read a book that you've planned to read for 2 or more 2011 TIOLI challenges
The Seeing Stone - Kevin Crossley-Holland (Arthurian themed book-August #3, Read a book with an opening sentence of five words or less, Sept #1) - reading now

21. Read a book set between 1910 and 1950
Between shades of gray (1941) - Ruta Sepetys - unlikely
The coldest winter : a stringer in liberated Europe (1946) - Paula Fox - reading
Loitering with Intent (1949-50) - Muriel Spark - finished
Slaughterhouse Five (1945) - Kurt Vonnegut - finished

I too am looking forward to Metamaus. I first read the Maus books in grad school and was impressed that a "comic book" could be so meaningful. Shows how ignorant I was of the genre. Then I had the chance to hear Art Spiegelman speak about his books, his parents, and about graphic novels. I was very impressed (plus he autographed my books with a signature maus :-) Despite that encouragement, I didn't read graphic novels again until this year when Mark got me to read Persepolis. Another amazing book. I don't know why I remain so reluctant to embrace the genre.

Oh, I do hope you get to read The Concert Ticket this month. (Personally I prefer the title The Line because it adds to the ambiguity of the beginning of the book.) She is now one of my favorite new authors. I'm looking forward to your views.

And because I've been reading about the Spanish Civil War it was amusing to read about the reception that Munro Leaf's The Story of Ferdinand which has just turned 75 got when first published. One of my favourite all time stories and I just have to link to the 1938 Disney short film.

Kerry, I have Binky the Space Cat now waiting for me at the library. Will add it to the growing pile of other graphic novels awaiting my perusal.

Am almost halfway through Kim and really enjoying it. As I mentioned before, I'll try to match a few more reads with you, possibly with Imperial Woman and Loitering with Intent, which are both standing by on my iPhone.

The Complete Maus has been sitting on the corner of my coffee table for longer than I care to admit. Will get to it eventually. I really have a mental block as far as reading any material directly to do with the holocaust, but I'll get over it. Eventually.

#36: Lucky you to get to hear Spiegelman in person and get your books signed. I got to see the original artwork of Maus and lots of other Jewish comic art at an exhibition in Amsterdam back in 2008. Once I read the Maus books I realised that his mother's family came from the same towns in Poland as my husband's family so he got in touch with Spiegelman who put him on to his brother to compare genealogy notes. I've watched an interesting interview of Spiegelman on youtube.
There are lots of excellent graphic memoirs - well worth investigating. Also not a memoir but pretty outstanding is Will Eisner's New York GNs.

My problem with getting to books is that I'm always bumping my own books for the library books that are due back. I really need to change how I use the library. I currently have the full 35 books allowed out on my card plus lots of children's books out on the three other family cards I make use of. Definitely a problem.

#38: Crossposted with you Ilana. You should make an exception with Maus, and I took about 12 months to start reading it after I purchased it. I've just read a Holocaust book, Götz and Meyer, while excellent was also a depressing experience, took me forever to read 157 pages. Definitely needing a break from this type of literature.

Isn't Kim a delight! Imperial Woman is quite a lengthy, detailed listen, Loitering with Intent was more fun.
Binky = cute.

Ilana - I forgot to mention that the link in post #22 isn't to Taschen, just to a google images page of Fabrizio Clerici artwork.
I did bring home Yes is more: an archicomic on Architectural Evolution from the library today, a Taschen graphic 'novel'.

Kerry I also adore Kipling especially some of his verse - why is it nobody seems to write poems that rhyme anymore?
Have put Gotz and Meyer in the TBR forest. What would you place at the pinnacle of holocaust related 'fiction'. Personally Night by Elie Wiesel followed by If Not Now, When? by Primo Levi would top my list?

I'm with you on those two books but they are autobiographical? I'd add Ann Frank's Diary to the nonfiction greats. As far as fiction goes probably Fatelessness which comes close to Kertesz own story, as do Uri Orlev's excellent novels, The Island on Bird Street & The Man from the other side which are for older children. I thought Cynthia Ozick's The Shawl was quite powerful, both Jonathan Safran Foer's Everything is Illuminated and David Grossman's See Under: Love are complex, difficult reads but worthwhile. Schindler's Ark needs a mention. I feel that I still haven't read many of the truly great novels, I seem to have read many children's and YA books along these themes and avoided adult fiction, turning more towards nonfiction/memoir. I read Mary Doria Russell's A thread of grace earlier this year which was really interesting especially once I realised it was based on real people. No Jewish theme, but Suite Francaise is wonderful, especially as it's written during the war before Irène Némirovsky was sent to a camp. And I have so many more still on my tbr pile.

Wow, you must be organized to have so many library books out at once! I took out 8 recently and almost missed a due date

Kerry thanks for that I haven't read anything by Orlev but must begin. btw don't think that the Primo Levi is autobiographical as it is about partisans mainly. The Elie Wiesel I'm not sure, but I did put the fiction in inverted commas as it is a very touchy subject with me. Malaysia as a majority muslim country have a very small minority who spout the radical anti-semeitic rabid nonesense that comes from part of the middle east. Had a huge argument last week with a potential client who seeing my BBEC History Magazine (The Fall of Hitler was the lead story) proceeded to regurgitate the David Irving line that the holocaust was invented. Judging by my reaction which covered my visits to Auschwitz and the Anne Frank house I think I can safely say it is one commission that I have not won - he can stick the money where the sun doesn't shine!

#44: I'm a mess, not organised at all! A lot of those library books are picturebooks as I try to keep up with what is new in the children's literature world. I manage my library books online as my local library is quite small and almost all my books are requests that come in from other libraries around the city, it's a free service that I take advantage of.

#45: Paul: I was getting mixed up with If this is Man and now I see a glaring space in my reading history, so a copy of If not now, when has already been ordered from BD and I'll be reading it pronto. I can understand the need for stepping carefully around subjects such as these in Muslim countries, but the need to say something when confronted with denial of historical events must be overwhelming. I hope never to have to deal with Holocaust deniers.

Now I should work on my reviews, cook dinner and then the game.

I just got Binky the Space Cat out of the library today and read it while sitting at a café. It made me smile throughout. Really enjoyed it and have already reserved the next in series. I just love the illustrations and all the little details she puts in. If you list it in challenge #11 as I did we'll have a shared read!

I'm halfway through Kim and really enjoying it, though I admit there are bits that go right over my head. But as this isn't taking away from my enjoyment, it hardly matters.

I'm really slow as far as reading and listening this month, not sure what's going on with that, so it remains to be seen what other books I'll be able to get to.

Re: Holocaust material, when I lived in Israel as a child for 4 years, we were confronted with so many documents and footage of how the Jews were treated that it pretty much traumatized me for life. But I don't want to miss out on great literature because of my monsters under the bed, so I'll get around to Maus, Suite Française, etc. I read The Diary Anne Frank a couple of times when I was a girl and absolutely loved it, so there's no question that I can actually face these things. It just never seems like the 'right moment', that's all.

#45 It makes me sick that so many people on this earth choose to conveniently believe that the whole thing was an invention. It's just... I have no words for that. It's sick. Good for you for standing up for what you believe and for truth Paul. There are plenty of people who would have played nice and agreed with such nonsense for the sake of added revenues.

Kerry, I was typing up my response when you posted. I have the exact same situation as you when it comes to library books and services. The ease and convenience of their services sure makes it hard to get to my own books.

Ilana: I should read the other Binkys too, I'll add it to the wiki as well. Very cute and undemanding read.
I'd recommend Suite Francaise as it is about the French population and how they cope with the sudden occupation by German soldiers, I don't think there is any mention of Jews in the book.

Yes, the library is great here in Auckland, especially since the city amalgamated from 5 separate entities to just 1 'supercity' last year and I suddenly had access to heaps more titles, especially older books.

Paul: There is a lot of youth fiction about the holocaust and some I'd recommend if not for you then maybe your daughters.
Briar Rose by Jane Yolen - powerful, a Holocaust story woven into a retelling of Sleeping Beauty
Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli - Warsaw ghetto
Run, boy, run by Uri Orlev - Poland during the war
Stones in Water by Donna Jo Napoli - Italian Jewish children taken to work camps
The Final Journey by Gudrun Pausewang - very sad

Kerry thanks for the recommendations - will all go straight into the TBR forest. Yasmyne my eldest was quite affected by our visit to the Anne Frank huis in March - she is the same age Anne had been at the time of incarceration.

Re Holocaust literature...

I feel compelled to read Holocaust literature from time to time but try not to read such books too close to one another.

Although Holocaust books (both fiction and nonfiction) are painful reading, I recommend the following books (some of which have already been mentioned above):

1. Maus I and Maus II by Art Speigelman - This set of two graphic novels is truly amazing and not to be missed.
2. Night by Elie Wiesel
3. Gotz and Meyer - by David Albahari
4. The Pianist by Władysław Szpilman - and see the film adaptation of this book starring Adrienne Brody
5. Fatelessness by Imre Kertesz
6. Fragments: Memories of a Wartime Childhood by Binjamin Wilkomirski - This book was exposed as a fraud after it was published as nonfiction, but it was a riveting read nonetheless.

Madeline great list -thanks so much

You're welcome, Paul. I hope you get to read them all. Each is excellent - in its own way.

Thanks for visiting Madeline, I have The Pianist in the tbr pile, I thought the movie was excellent. I watched the documentary, 'The Long Way Home', today. It's about politics and the plight of Jewish refugees after the war.

184) Kim by Rudyard Kipling (1901)
Fiction
Read for Paul's Nobel Prize winners theme and a shared read for TIOLI challenge #11: Read a book by an author whose first and last names have the same number of letters. This had been lurking on Mt tbr for a while, probably since I read Kipling’s Choice, the fantastic YA novel about Kipling’s son. I listened to an audiobook narrated by Simon Vance and really enjoyed the story. Now that I’m finished I can see how this wonderful adventure story has been mentioned as a favourite childhood book by so many.
Kim is an orphan growing up on the streets in India in the late 19thC, but he’s not Indian, he’s British. His big adventure begins when he decides to accompany a Tibetan Lama who is on a quest to find a hidden river. What a great cast of characters. This has to be one of my best reads of the year.


185) A moment of war by Laurie Lee (1991)
memoir
Read for my 11in11 challenge and TIOLI challenge #8: Read a novel or non-fiction work that has some kind of civil war.
Earlier this year I read the second book in Lee’s memoir quartet, As I walked out one midsummer morning which was about his time walking and working his way around Spain in 1934. This third book covers the months in 1937 when Lee travels to Spain to join the International Brigade.
I can’t say better than this: "He writes like an angel, and conveys the pride and vitality of the humblest Spanish life with unfailing sharpness zest and humour."
‘He has a nightingale inside him, a capacity for sensuous, lyrical precision’

186) Loitering with Intent by Muriel Spark (1981)
fiction
Read for TIOLI challenge #21: Read a book set between 1910 and 1950. I listened to the audiobook narrated by Jilly Bond. I enjoyed this Booker prize shortlisted novel, sort of a black comedy. A young would-be novelist takes a job as secretary for the strange Autobiographical Association, but finds that the members actions seem to be imitating her work-in-progress. Written in the style of a memoir.

187) The Pendragon Legend by Antal Szerb (1934)
fiction, hungary
Read for my 11in11 challenge and TIOLI challenge #11: Read a book by an author whose first and last names have the same number of letters. First I love my Pushkin Press edition of this book, with it’s compact size and beautiful thick paper, it was an act of love to read it. This is a wonderful play on the gothic novel, with mysterious occult happenings in derelict castle ruins in the wild depths of Wales. A London-based Hungarian academic is invited to Pendragon Castle by the reclusive Earl and quickly finds himself in the middle of a number of intrigues.
Antal Szerb was an assimilated Jew who died in a workcamp in 1945 at the age of 43. He was a noted Hungarian scholar and writer. He is recognized as one of the major Hungarian literary personalities of the 20th century.

188) The Outsiders of Uskoken Castle by Kurt Held (1941)
YA fiction, Germany

Read for my 11in11 challenge and TIOLI challenge #18: Read a book that has been mentioned in 150 conversations or less. This is included in 1001 children’s books you must read before you grow up and it is a timeless classic.
This is about a group of homeless children who form a gang, the Uskoken (after a band of pirates from 16th C Senj). They are forced to be scavengers who have to fend for themselves especially as most of the townsfolk are set against them. The setting is the Adriatic town of Senj in Croatia. Led by redheaded Zora, the children (Branko, Nicola, Duro and Pavle) live in a ruined castle tower above the town. Held based it on a real life group of street children he met when travelling in Yugoslavia in 1940.
This is a great children’s story with lots of action and adventure.

From Wikipedia: Kurt Kläber was a German Jewish communist living in exile in Switzerland after his arrest for suspicion of involvement with the Reichstag Fire in 1933. Kläber devoted himself to writing, the conditions of his exile prohibited him from publishing under his own name, so he adopted the pseudonym Kurt Held. He wanted to take Branko and Zora back to Switzerland with him, but his refugee status made that impossible. Instead he wrote the story of the children with the intention of making the book a political tool to call attention to marginalized people in Europe. He saw children as the true victims of war, class struggle and injustice. His books portrayed children realistically and conveyed messages of morality.

Ling and Ting: not exactly the same by Grace Lin (2011)
children's fiction / beginner reader
This was a (Theodor Seuss) Geisel Award Honour Book which is an annual award for the most distinguished American book for beginning readers published in English in the United States. Lin wrote Where the mountain meets the moon which was one of my favourite reads last year so I was interested in looking at how she'd write for this specific audience. It's 6 very short stories about twin sisters using very simple language and humour with the illustrations giving helpful clues to the action. The winner of the award was Kate deCamillo's Bink and Gollie.


189) Götz and Meyer by David Albahari (1998)
fiction, serbia
Read for my 11in11 challenge and TIOLI challenge #9: Read a book by an author whose first and/or last name begins and ends with a vowel, and also for my 11in11 challenge. This was a Madeline recommendation and I have to admit that it's a really good novel but as I started it around my reading of Slaughterhouse-five I found it heavy going and the 157pgs were a fair slog for me. The main character is a teacher of literature in a Belgrade university, a solitary man. He begins to investigate his family background, most of his relatives died in the Holocaust and he discovers that most were incarcerated in a camp in the fairgrounds of the city, and in just a few weeks were killed by carbon monoxide poisoning in a truck that was driven into the nearby forest where the bodies were buried. He starts to dwell on statistics, specifications and all the specific details of the past, especially on the two German soldiers, Götz and Meyer, whose job was to drive the truck. Incredibly interesting narrative but also very sad.


190) The sense of an ending by Julian Barnes (2011)
fiction
Read for my 11in11 challenge and TIOLI challenge #11. Read a book by an author whose first and last names have the same number of letters. How could I not read this when it just won the Booker Prize and I had it home from the library. The copy I purchased is lost in transit somewhere between the UK and New Zealand and should have arrived 2-3 weeks ago.
Anyway, I read this little gem over two afternoons, delighting in this story of memory, of looking back into the hazy past to reread events in new lights. I haven't read any other books from the longlist or shortlist but am delighted that Barnes won.


191) The wings of the sphinx by Andrea Camilleri (2006)
Inspector Montalbano #11
fiction, italy
Read for TIOLI challenge #9: Read a book by an author whose first and/or last name begins and ends with a vowel. Wow, I can't believe I've already read 11 of these books already and I picked up his latest one, The Potter's Field yesterday, so have that to look forward to. Nothing to say about this, either you are a fan or you aren't.


192) Jamilti and other stories by Ruti Moden (2009)
graphic novel, Israel
Added to TIOLI challenge #18: Read a book that has been mentioned in 150 conversations or less. This is a quirky collection of Modan’s early work from before the publication of Exit Wounds which won her much acclaim. I enjoyed all the stories in the collection, she is very talented.

Hi Kerry- Wow, you are a busy reader over here. I'm impressed. I just requested The Sense of an Ending from the library and since it's a shorty, I should be able to squeeze it in.
I have still not read an Inspector Montalbano book, although I have the 1st one in the stacks.
I have not read The Pianist but the film version was wonderful.

> 54

Kerry, it's really good that you saw the movie before reading the book of The Pianist. You'll remember the scenes as they actually look in the movie. You'll find that the screenplay was an incredible adaptation from that book (and also won an Oscar for best adapted screenplay). You will also read some fascinating trivia (but not trivial information at all) at the end of the book. It's an experience.

> 59

I have not read The Pianist but the film version was wonderful.

Mark, don't let the fact that you've seen the movie stop you from reading this particular book.

#59: Hi Mark - Yes, I do manage to read a lot of books, a lot are YA and children's books so the count does get rather high. I really enjoy Inspector Montalbano, though Rebus still remains my first love. I came to the Montalbano books when I stumbled across the Italian tv series and fell for a few of the lead actors!

Madeline: I saw scenes of Warsaw after WW2 in the documentary I watched yesterday and thought immediately of the movie. I'll have to move my copy of The Pianist up the tbr and read it early next year. Adrian Brody was wonderful in the movie, though it's been several years since I watched it. I might watch the movie of Fatelessness again as it's been a few months since I read the book and I thought the film adaption was excellent.

Kerry I have to echo Mark what a fantastic and impressive reading spurt. The Gotz and Meyer has already gone into the TBR forest and you do yourself an injustice by downgrading the YA books as that one was the one you struggled with the most!
Huge fan of Laurie Lee whose memoirs are the most poetic I have ever readand of course Camilleri who is a friend and fellow glutton! His latest is not available here in Malaysia yet but my beady eye always goes to the shelves in the bookstore occupied by Montalbano in the hope and expectation of its arrival.

Thanks Paul, I'm lucky living in Auckland, our library system is to be envied as we get almost instant access to everything newly published in the UK, US, Canada, Australia and NZ. I just have to remember to request the more popular titles early on. Lee Child's latest is an example, I'm 440/1200 in the queue, and as I no longer buy his books I don't mind the wait.
Hint: My favourite source for out of print/obscure books is betterworldbooks.com which now ships internationally for free, most are ex-library but I don't mind.

Good to find another fan of Laurie Lee, I still have A Rose for Winter about his 1950s trip through Andalucia to look forward to and a reread of Cider with Rosie is due. The 'travel' writer I was meaning to indulge in this year, Norman Lewis, has been bumped for now.

First a quote from Kipling that was on a pamphlet, 'Auckland Literary Heritage Trail' that I picked up at the library.
'Last, loneliest, exquisite, apart..." Kipling on Auckland, 1891.

A catch-up on some of the children's picturebooks I've been reading lately. I have been reading a few issues of Horn Magazine and found I just had to have a look a so many of the books they mention in their articles, at least picturebooks can be read in a few minutes:


Stringbean's trip to the shining sea by Vera B. and Jennifer Williams (1988)

Quite a neat setup, the story unfolds as a series of daily postcards, as Cesar (Stringbean) travels from Kansas to the Pacific Ocean with his older brother, Fred who drives an old truck that they've customised with a 'house' on the back. This is a little treasure trove of details, you can get a glimpse using amazon's look inside feature.


The astonishing secret of Awesome Man by Michael Chabon (2011)

Not everyone is going to like this one, but it's a fair bet that younger children will love having a picturebook story read to them about a superhero. Quite retro in look, I'm not a total fan of this style of illustration, the story just scrapes by but then I'm not the _target audience. The story deals with how Awesome Man has to cope with his anger issues among other things so a tad too didactic for my taste.


Fair Monaco by Brock Cole (2003)
I quite liked the busy illustrations in this one, but the story was a tad weak. Three young sisters must stay with their grandma in a busy rundown inner city apartment. Grandma says 'no' to all their suggestions of things to do, she's always afraid things will turn out badly.


Little old big beard and big young little beard: a short and tall tale by Remy Charlip (2003)

This is quite a fun read, a clever use of repeating phrases and absurd opposites, it all starts to twist your tongue. The language is simple but fun. Two cowboys, who seem to eat beans at every meal, lose their cow, Grace, and as they can't be cowboys without a cow they have to go look for her. The illustrations grab your attention too.


a bus called heaven by Bob Graham (2011)
I'm always excited when I find a new book by Australian Bob Graham and this is a gem for slightly older children. An old abandoned bus displaying the destination "Heaven" is taken over by residents in a street and quickly becomes a hub of the community, a meeting place and a place to play. Unfortunately the front wheels stick out onto the footpath and the council has bylaws.
While there is quite a bit of text, the story is able to be followed using the pictures alone which makes it a fairly versatile book to use with a group of children


It's a secret by John Burningham (2009)
I've put up both covers as I can't decide which I like more. I'm a fan of Burningham's work, I have his memoir John Burningham on my tbr pile and should have read it by now. A little girl asks her mother where the cat goes at night that makes it sleep all day. The mother says, outside somewhere. One night the girl comes downstairs to find the cat in fancy dress about to go out, she can come too, but has to keep what happens a secret from everyone else. Delightful but not my favourite. I do very much love his Hushabye.

Need to take a break to cook dinner.

Thanks to your and Madeline's Holocaust lists, my must read list has grown to enormous heights. I feel as though I have read a considerable amount on the Holocaust, then I run into a thread like yours and realize how many gaps I have.

#66: Don't worry, I have gaps too. I should post a list of the holocaust fiction I still have to read.

Back to the picturebooks.


Me and You by Anthony Browne (2009)

This is a Goldilocks retelling that works well. Browne uses strikingly different styles on opposing pages, a wordless and dark hued graphic novel style to follow Goldilocks's story thread (the 'You' of the title) and opposite full page gentle illustrations in soft pastels that showing the bears leaving the house to spend time in the park while their porridge cools, this story being narrated by Little Bear, the 'Me' of the title. The threads meet at the climax and then disperse again as Goldilocks runs from the house. Very clever, it works, and there's lots to look at.
On my Mt tbr is Anthony Browne's memoir/art book Playing the shape game which came out earlier this year. Browne was the 6th UK Children's Laureate for the past two years and won the Hans Christian Andersen Award (Illustration, 2000) among other awards. While he was writer-and-illustrator-in-residence at the Tate he published The Shape Game.




and from Little Beauty

...Willy's Pictures in which Browne pastiches Winslow Homer's "The Herring Net" (1885), with added bananas



The Village Garage by G. Brian Karas (2010)
This story focuses on the changing seasons and the various jobs that need to be done by the town's Village Garage workers - from collecting leaves, using a wood chipper to driving the snow plough. Of especial appeal to little boys.


I know here by Laurel Croza (2010)
A young girl living in a remote part of Canada while her father helps construct a dam talks of what she knows about here where she lives. All the housing, school etc for this tiny community of workers and their families is in a temporary camp surrounded by natural beauty. The groceries are trucked in. The dam is almost finished and the girl's family is about to move on to Toronto. This is based on the writer's own childhood experiences of growing up in similar environments and always being on the move. Quite charming.

The Rabbit Problem by Emily Gravett (2009)

I've loved everything Gravett produces and this is no exception. Each double page spread is done like a calendar and as we journey through the year we begin to see how two rabbits in a field can produce an explosive number of rabbits in a few months. The last pages incorporates an unexpected marvel of paper engineering that jumps out into the air as if the rabbits are escaping the very book. Just wonderful....like all her other work.





And here are two slideshows of Gravett's illustrations with her comments.
emily-gravett 1
emily-gravett 2


Dave the Potter by Laban Carrick Hill (2010)
Illustrated by Bryan Collier whose work I'd like to see more of. This was a Caldicott Honour Book for illustration, won the Coretta Scott King Award and tells the true story of Dave an African American potter, poet and slave. It examines the life of a craftsman in the early 1800s in South Carolina.
To us
it is just dirt,
the ground we walk on...

But to Dave
it was clay,
the plain and basic stuff
upon which he formed a life
as a slave nearly 200 years ago


The artist who painted a blue horse by Eric Carle (2011)
A beautiful picturebook, a celebration of the power of art, that encourages a child's creativity....why not a blue horse or purple fox. The book is a homage to artist Franz Marc (1880-1916) whose work impacted on Carle when a young boy in Germany. Marc's expressionist work was considered 'degenerate' by the Nazis and banned from public viewing.

Eric Carle talks about his book in this short youtube clip.
Franz Marc 's Blue Horse I

Franz Marc is one of three leaders of the German art group, the Blaue Reiter, and was noted for his paintings of animals. His name was on a list of notable artists to be withdrawn from combat in World War I. Before the orders were carried out, he was killed instantly when he was struck in the head by a shell splinter.

I've also been flicking through Taschen's large and beautiful 50 Photo icons: the story behind the pictures, quite an impressive journey through the history of press photography.


Also on the coffee table is the most beautiful publication I've seen for a while, A food lover's pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela: food, wine and walking along the camino through southern France and the north of Spain. Big, luscious and jam packed with stunning photography, I'm hoping to read the text before it's due back to the library.


193) The Seeing Stone by Kevin Crossley-Holland (2000)
Arthur trilogy Bk 1 / children's fiction

I read this for TIOLI challenge #19:Read a book that you've planned to read for 2 or more 2011 TIOLI challenges. I got this trilogy when it first came out for one of my sons and I've always meant to read it as well. I loved the companion novel Gatty's Tale which I picked up in Hay-on-Wye a couple of years ago.
It's 1199 and 13 yr old Arthur, the younger son of Lord Caldicot is facing decisions about his future. He wants to be a knight, but his father seems to be favouring other options. He's been given an obsidian seeing stone by Merlin, who lives on his father's estate and through the 'magic' of the stone he is seeing events in the life of another boy called Arthur being played out. Quite a neat plot device and we are also given a realistic look into life on the Welsh Borders around the time of the Fourth Crusade. And we get to meet the irrepressible Gatty.

I'm glad that you also enjoyed The Sense of an Ending, Kerry. I've added Loitering with Intent to my wish list.

#67 Hmmm, that sounds like a group project! I read We are On Our Own last night. It was very good.

I've been lingering here on your thread enjoying the wonderful illustrations, cover artwork and book discussions. I am planning on reading Gatty's Tale for my 12 in 12 next year, and since I have heard that it is very good, it's great to hear there is a companion story.

And, of course, as I read both Kim and Fatelessness this month for Paul's Nobel Month it was interesting to see them being talked about as well.

Oh, SO dangerous here, Kerry!

I'm so far behind on your thread.... but starting with Kim -- I LOVE what you've been reading! So varied!

Couldn't agree more with Roni, Kerry. I was actually feeling pretty smug, thinking I was impervious to bullets today—some days I'm just more resistant than others—until I hit on #68 with Me and You by Anthony Browne as now of course I MUST investigate this artist (and yes, they have this title at least at the library, and probably lots more!). Then The Rabbit Problem by Emily Gravett will probably make it's way to my home eventually not too long from now (I'll be checking out the slideshows after walking poor patient Coco). The last three books sound greatly appealing to me too, all for very different reasons of course. And looking back, I may need to add The Outsiders of Uskoken Castle to the wishlist too, now I think about it.

Whether I'm feeling open to suggestion or not, there's always plenty of interesting stuff happening in your world, or at least the aspect of your world I'm most familiar with, or course!

Wow, I'm so behind!

#19 I'm with Genny on that one I think...

#20 Madame Sousatzka sounds interesting and has just been released for kindle so I've added that to the wishlist.

#21 I've wanted to read Slaughterhouse Five since seeing it was a banned book.

#28 Binky the cat looks very cute :-)

#35 That is a lot of TIOLI reads, but then half the fun is thinking of all the possibilities :-)

I got The Complete Maus out of the library earlier this year but ran out of renewals because I somehow wasn't quite up to facing it. I will definitely get it back out at some point, perhaps if the library gets a copy of Metamaus.

#55 It feels like everyone's hitting me with BBs for Kim at the moment! Glad to see you enjoyed it too.

#57 The Pendragon Legend and The Outsiders of Uskoken Castle have also both gone on the wishlist. I love the cover for the Uskoken Castle book.

#68 &69 Love the drawings from the Anthony Browne books as well as Emily Gravett and Eric Carle. That last picture of the blue horse is very striking.

#70 And The Seeing Stone sounds like an interesting take on the Arthurian legend (although I have several Arthur tales on my shelves that I need to read first).

#71: smart move Darryl
#72: I wouldn't mind having a collaborative wiki list of Holocaust fiction - there's so much out there
#73: Judy, great to see you visiting here. Gatty's Tale is great, you don't have to have read the 3 Arthur books first. It's about Gatty's pilgrimage from Wales to Jerusalem.
#74/75: Hi Roni & Lucy. must read more Kipling.
#76: Hi Ilana - at least Browne and Gravett make picturebooks so it's always fun to explore their work. Browne is quite surreal and has a thing about gorillas. Gravett just does exceptional books for the very young.
I hope your library has a copy of The Outsiders of Uskoken Castle as secondhand copies in English start at $350USD. I was able to do an interlibrary loan.
#77: Hi Heather, good to see you here. I'm always overenthusiastic with TIOLI, though this time I tried to list books that would help finish my 11in11 challenge.

Kerry, Me and You is already waiting to be picked up at the library. I'll also request The Rabbit Problem. No such luck with The Outsiders of Uskoken Castle though. :-(

TIOLI is up!!!

I'm pretty sure you are going to love Mr Browne.

Me too Kerry. I'm going ahead and adding Me and You to the wiki as suggested by you in October. Will probably do the same with Emily Gravett's book too. :-)

194) Sydney: haunted city by Delia Falconer (2010)
nonfiction / audiobook

Added to TIOLI challenge #18: Read a book that has been mentioned in 150 conversations or less. This is described as part memoir part travel guide and was just brilliant. I listened to it on my iPod and thought the narrator, Jane Nolan was excellent. It's part of the Cities series by NSW University Press and so far they have also published Hobart, Brisbane, and Melbourne, each a series of essays by a local writer.
I learnt so much about Sydney's history both aboriginal, colonial beginnings and the postwar years of Falconer's childhood and adolescence. I ended up getting the actual book out from the library as well as there were so many references to writers, books, artists and episodes in the history that I need to flick through the hard copy and note a few things down. For anyone looking for a slice of what makes Sydney tick, you could do no better than this one. As with Gail Jones' novel Five Bells, Falconer uses Kevin Slessor's haunting poem Five Bells to introduce us to the city:

I looked out my window in the dark
At waves with diamond quills and combs of light
That arched their mackerel-backs and smacked the sand
In the moon's drench, that straight enormous glaze,
And ships far off asleep, and Harbour-buoys
Tossing their fireballs wearily each to each,
And tried to hear your voice, but all I heard
Was a boat's whistle, and the scraping squeal
Of seabirds' voices far away, and bells,
Five bells. Five bells coldly ringing out.
Five bells.

Sydney was shortlisted for the 2011 Australian Prime Minister Awards:
Falconer wanders the streets and suburbs of the past and present, in her imagination and in those of others. She variously calls upon the writing and lives of such quintessential Sydney figures as Kenneth Slessor, Ruth Park, Arthur Stace, Lt Dawes, Patrick White and even Dr Geoffrey Edelsten, to bear witness to the place she ambivalently loves. Most poignant and central to Falconer’s reckoning is one who is now no longer famous, but should be: Rev William Branwhite Clarke. He sailed into Sydney in 1839 “with his wife and two surviving children” (what vivid grief is contained in those last three words) and the author’s gentle yet clear-eyed recounting of his part in the city’s story is one of the finest parts of a consistently fine and absorbing book.

The melancholy, joy, secrets, beauty and ugliness of Sydney’s 200-plus years have never been better celebrated nor so unsentimentally dissected.

195) Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger (1961)
fiction
Added to TIOLI challenge #1: Read a novel assigned in an English class. Two vignettes featuring Franny and Zooey, the youngest members of the Glass family. Franny is suffering from some sort of emotional upset and in the first sketch, we see her on a date with her boyfriend. In the longer second story, Mrs Glass, their mother, is imploring Zooey to find out what's up with Franny. Salinger gives us detail on detail of Zooey taking a bath, reading a letter, talking with his mother, all of which backgrounds the family, their upbringing and slowly builds towards the conversation between Zooey and Franny.
I found the second story quite a slow read, I could only handle very few pages at a time, so it took at least a week before Zooey left the bathroom. I'll read Nine Stories which is also about the Glass family.

"It's everybody, I mean. Everything everybody does is so--I don't know--not wrong, or even mean, or even stupid, necessarily. But just so tiny and meaningless--and sad-making. And the worst part is, if you go bohemian or something crazy like that, you're conforming just as much as everybody else, only in a different way."
- Franny and Zooey

Like like like your opening picture. Really interesting to look and look at :)

>70 avatiakh: those iconic pictures are that much better with a blurb about them I reckon. Backstories make them way more interesting.

196) The Coldest Winter: a stringer in liberated Europe by Paula Fox (2005)
memoir
Added to TIOLI challenge #21: Read a book set between 1910 and 1950. US writer Paula Fox spent a year in London and Europe just after WW2 when she was 23. She travelled to Paris, Poland and Spain as a stringer for an obscure newspaper in London and wrote general interest articles. The blurbs on the back of the book are so positive, but I found it quite uninteresting and only finished the book because it was a short read.
I will read her childhood memoir, Borrowed Finery, her childhood sounds unusual to say the least.


197) Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell (1960)
children's fiction / audiobook

Also added to TIOLI challenge #18: Read a book that has been mentioned in 150 conversations or less. I kept imagining Brooke Shields and that Blue Lagoon movie whenever I came across this title, but eventually I succumbed and decided to listen to it so I could finally take it off my iPod. This Newbery Award winner is NOT the Blue Lagoon story but a survival story based on a true story. I really enjoyed it.
Set on the Channel Islands just off the Californian coastline, a small community of native people live simply on a fairly inhospitable island until a party of Aleuts, led by a Russian sea captain arrive hunting sea otter. A disagreement over payment leads to a deadly fight as the Aleuts leave. When the surviving islanders are rescued and taken by sailing ship to California Karana and her younger brother are left behind and have to fend for themselves.

#84: Hi Megan, I enjoy looking at my opening pic too! I need to do my post on Peter Sis, I have about 4 of his picturebooks to write up.
Definitely helped getting a back story on some of those photos.

Thanks for the warning about Coldest Winter: I would have read it otherwise. I'm glad you enjoyed Island of the Blue Dolphins. It is one of my daughter's favorite books (along with Julie of the Wolves, do you see a theme here?). She has tried to make all the things Karana does and bought a bow and arrow with her allowance. She wants to know when I will drop her off in the wilderness for a week. She's eight. I said solo camping was a skill you need to build toward. So she slept out back in a tent by herself. I'm going to run out of excuses soon! LOL

Hi Lisa, I'm an easy-to-please reader, adjusting my expectations with each book I pick up, and I usually enjoy this type of memoir. Maybe it was because she was writing about events six decades later, but it was almost all about uninteresting encounters with other journalists or the people she was staying with. This was the first book of hers that I've read but I have some of her children's fiction on my tbr pile.

Love hearing about your daughter. She might like to read Michelle Paver's Wolf Brother which is the first in a series (I haven't read it yet, but it has been wildly popular and won awards). I remember reading about one of Paver's book launches where she had real wolves (friendly ones) in the London bookstore! Here's an article about Paver, who seems to have been just like your daughter when she was young.
My daughter also loved Julie of the Wolves. Now that I've been thinking of all the wolf books I've read and loved I'm reminded that I still have to read Daniel Pennac's Eye of the Wolf and better bump up the Paver books as well..

Thanks, Kerry. I just put holds on both books for my daughter. Both youth survival and wolf stories are sure to please. The trick is trying to find ones featuring a strong female heroine. The article about Michelle Paver was great. Sounds like Jean Craighead George.

I'll try to think of some other good outdoorsy survival ones with or without wolves or dogs.
Not on this theme but if she likes animals she might like to try The Underneath by Kathi Appelt.

Survival:
(you might have to check whether age appropriate)
The Kin by Peter Dickinson - set in Africa's prehistory
Floodland by Marcus Sedgwick - I've not read this but love his work, on my tbr
A girl named Disaster by Nancy Farmer - another I haven't read but love her work too, on my tbr. This could be YA.
Nim's Island by Wendy Orr - I haven't read this but it's on Mt tbr, there's a recent movie made from the book
The music of dolphins by Karen Hesse - read this ages ago, definitely one for you to read first and decide about
Kensuke's Kingdom by Michael Morpurgo - castaway story about boy and his dog
Walkabout by James Vance Marshall - plane crash survival in Australian desert - on my tbr
Hunter by Joy Cowley - plane crash survival in New Zealand bush with timeslip to early Maori, very good

Strong females:
Uncommon traveller: Mary Kinglsey in Africa by Don Brown
Not one damsel in distress: world folktales for strong girls by Jane Yolen

Wow! This is a great list, Kerry. Thank you! I have put a couple on hold already. And bookmarked the post. :-)

I appreciate that list too, Kerry. I am a big fan of survival books. My grandson and I read Island of the Blue Dolphins together last year and we both liked it. I've also read and loved The Kin from your list as well.

Kerry your lists are always a delight - you are definitely a to go to person for a whole genre of books and also proof that there is a heck of a lot in the YA section that we all should be reading,

Oh thanks, I love putting together lists as it also helps me remember either great reads or books still languishing on my Mt tbr and sets off a new enthusiasm for said books.

I'll keep looking out for others. Another strong female book for that age group is Patricia Wrede's Dealing with Dragons series, I only read that this year and it is very good. I'd also recommend Gatty's Tale which was published in the US as Crossing Paradise.

You all might know this already, but there is a sequel to The Island of the Blue Dolphins, which I know I also read as a kid. I think it is called Zia.

Hi Kerry! I think Island of the Blue Dolphins was one that my grade 5 teacher read out loud to us. I remember loving those story times!

#95: Cait - I noticed that when I was on the book page. It looks as adventurous as the Blue Dolphin book. I'm going to read more of O'Dell's books.

#96: Hi Chelle - I remember my teacher reading Emil and the Detectives, I so wanted to know what was going to happen next!

In other news, my long awaited and long overdue box of goodies from amazon.uk finally arrived today. I was about to contact them about it. I still have to, as several books are water damaged, apparently the box disintegrated in transit. So I finally got my copy of The Sense of an Ending, though I already read a library copy as I had given up on this one ever arriving.
Also arrived today:
Gillespie and I by Jane Harris
The Observations by Jane Harris - ruined
Heartstone by CJ Sansom - ruined
A sort of life by Graham Greene - ruined
The Magic of Reality by Richard Dawkins, illust by Dave McKean
Kill all Enemies by Melvin Burgess - almost ruined
On Brick Lane by Rachel Lichtenstein
The Tartar Steppe by Dino Buzzati - almost ruined
Ragnarok: the End of the Gods by A.S. Byatt

Now I have to find time to read them all.

Oh how frustrating to have to wait so long for your books and then have most of them turned up damaged :-(

Yep! Still I was pleased that it arrived at all...I've had enough mishaps with mail already this year.

Well I'm finished with October TIOLI, I had to take a few off the wiki but I'm happy enough, especially as I finished my first Angela Carter, The Bloody Chamber, this evening. I'll post a list of my planned November reads tomorrow, now I'm off to bed to read another tale in My mother she killed me, my father he ate me.

Kerry- Sorry to hear about the damaged books. That's terrible. Hopefully they get replacements out for you soon.

Oh Kerry! So sorry to hear about the long transit time of your books, only to have them arrive ruined! How terribly disappointing!!! I'm so sorry! And you've got some great books in there! I've got Gillespie and I and The Observations in my TBR pile. OH I am so terrible sorry. Hugs.

Hi Kerry, I was falling behind on your thread, but all is well and I've fed the wishlist a little bit thanks to you. God forbid it should go hungry, but there's hardly any danger of that around here!

Sucks about the books arriving damaged. I'm sure they'll send you replacements, or at least, I really hope they do for your sake.

I can't wait to start on the Matthew Shardlake series. I keep hearing great things about it.

>97 avatiakh: how awful getting a box of late and mostly ruined books! Will they replace them?

I've contacted them for replacements, they are usually very receptive about replacing lost or damaged items. I just don't like looking at damaged books, especially new ones.


198) A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson (1998)
nonfiction

Read for TIOLI alliterative author's name challenge and my 11in11 challenge. Several years ago I read an article in National Geographic about the Appalachian Trail, so once I knew this book was about hiking the AT I was interested. I haven't read Bryson before and liked his laidback commentary which comes with a wealth of extra bits of info. Once he decides to tackle the Trail which is over 2000 miles of hiking, Bryson looks around for someone to do it with, and finally at the last minute he's joined by an old friend he hasn't seen for years. It's a huge undertaking, it sounds like you really don't know what you are in for until you get underway. I enjoyed this and will probably pick up another of his books.


199) The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter (1979)
short stories

Read for TIOLI authors name begins & ends with a vowel and my 11in11 challenge. These deliciously dark stories are retellings of well known fairytales. Carter's prose sparkles on the page, these are not the watered down versions of the tales that we heard as children, but sensual, romantic adult versions. I have been meaning to read her work for a few years now and am so glad I started with this collection. The title story, The Bloody Chamber, is a particularly intense retelling of Bluebeard:

“When I saw him look at me with lust, I dropped my eyes but, in glancing away from him, I caught sight of myself in the mirror. And I saw myself, suddenly, as he saw me, my pale face, the way the muscles in my neck stuck out like thin wire. I saw how much that cruel necklace became me. And, for the first time in my innocent and confined life, I sensed in myself a potentiality for corruption that took my breath away.”

My proposed reading for TIOLI November & my 11in11 challenge:

My mother she killed me, my father he ate me edited by Kate Bernheimer - Reading 1 story per day

Challenge #1: Read a book with at least one animal mentioned on page 50
The Big Bazoohley (actual: grub, butterfly, swallow - embedded: chicken(pox)) - Peter Carey
Five Year Sentence (embedded: hawk, ant) by Bernice Rubens
Goliath(actual: lizards; embedded: ass, hen) - Scott Westerfeld
The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern (embedded - bat)
The Road (actual - Buffalo) - Jack London
The songlines - Bruce Chatwin (embedded: horse)
The story of a ship-wrecked sailor (actual: sea gulls) - Gabriel García Márquez
Young Fredle (actual: cats, dogs, mice, chickens, foxes, raccoons, weasels) - Cynthia Voight - Reading
The Potter's Field (embedded: ass) - Andrea Camilleri
When I grow up: a memoir - (embedded: hen) - Bernice Rubens

Challenge #3: TagMash: Read a book found - mashing 2 tags (one seldom-used tag; one much-used tag) from any 75er's tag page
An infamous army - Georgette Heyer (regency, history)
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Briggs (photography, young adult)
These Old Shades - Georgette Heyer (British author, regency)
The Track of Sand - Andrea Camilleri (fiction, Italy)

Challenge #4: Read a book where the author's name is a profession
Mister Creecher - Chris Priestley - Reading
Snowdrops: A Novel - A.D. Miller
Fallen Grace - Mary Hooper

Challenge #6: Read a book that someone has written in
Outside of a Dog: a bibliomemoir - Rick Gekoski (autographed by author) - abandoned for TIOLI but will read at a slower pace

Challenge #7: Read a book with a musical instrument in the title
The Novel in the Viola - Natasha Solomons - Reading

Challenge #9: Read a book Reviewed and Recommended by a Fellow 75r during the month of October 2011
Memento Mori - Muriel Spark (Smiler69) - Reading
Devil's Cub - Georgette Heyer - (Delta Queen50)

Challenge #10: Read a book originally written in a language that is NOT a lingua franca.
Scenes from Village Life - (Hebrew) - Amos Oz

Challenge #11: Read a book with a flower in the title
Flowers for Algernon - Daniel Keyes - Reading
A Rose for Winter - Laurie Lee

Challenge #13: Rolling Series Challenge
Revelation Space (#1/7 - Revelation Space series) - Alastair Reynolds
The Loblolly Boy and the Sorcerer (2nd/last Loblolly Boy) - James Norcliffe

Challenge #16: Read a novel or novella with titled chapters
Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

> 35: hi Kerry
No I haven't heard of Truus Matti ever before, I will look up.
Yes, there are some Meg Rosoff books available in our library will put them on the TBR pile, thanks.

200) The Big Bazoohley by Peter Carey (1995)
children's fiction

Added to TIOLI challenge #1: Read a book with at least one animal mentioned on page 50. (actual: grub, butterfly, swallow - embedded: chicken(pox)).
When I noticed that Peter Carey had written a children's book, I just had to have a read of it, and the icing on the cake for me is that it is beautifully illustrated by one of my favourite illustrators Stephen Michael King.
The story was inspired by Carey's son, who wandered out of their hotel room when he was very young and couldn't get back in. In this story Sam has arrived at a poncy $453-a-night Toronto hotel and he knows his parents only have $53.20 between them. His mother has a painting to sell but the client's home has disappeared, his father keeps talking about winning the big bazoohley and the hotel is crammed with a bunch of snooty children and their even more awful parents, in town for a Perfecto Kiddo competition. When Sam sleepwalks out of the hotel room in the middle of the night, he begins to see his own chance to win the big bazoohley. A fun junior grade read.

Kerry - awesome! 200 up at the beginning of November. Congratulations. Like Peter Carey very much and I think this one is on Yasmyne's shelf (my eldest) purloined from her daddy's room some time ago. Made the mistake of organising a lot of the stuff (when there was still space) alphabetically and it must have been observable from the Roald Dahl section of books!

Thanks Paul, a lot of those are children's books. I'm meant to be slowing down but I keep reading in preference to my other activities. And, yes, I know that feeling about gaps in the shelves, my youngest daughter seems to have grabbed quite a few from my Neil Gaiman collection.

I keep reading in preference to my other activities.
I hear you !

Kerry- A Walk in the Woods was also my 1st Bryson and I loved it! That's quite a Challenge you got for yourself! Good luck!

Great to see a positive review for Bryson, I'll be picking up one of his for my 11 in 11. I just keep changing my mind about which one I want to get!

#110: Hi Megan.
#111: Mark - I believe in the 'Leave It' part of the TIOLI.
#112: Alana - I'll have to check your challenge to see which one you go with. I have 4 left to read for my travel category, I'm now looking for the skinny books on my tbr to finish off the rest of my 11in11.

lol I'm not looking for the skinniest books yet Kerry, although I'm starting to only consider reasonably easy reads :-)

You are so organized with your reads, Kerri! Congrats on being so close to your goal! I'm a person that reads the book that grabs me at the moment, though I admit to disciplining myself to certain reads. I'm one book away from my goal of 75 books -sigh -what a relief! I think I can fit one more book in between now and December 31!

Glad to hear that they are replacing your books.

>115 vancouverdeb:, I grab what ever book I'm into at the time too Deb, it seriously mucks up my intentions list!

#78 The Outsiders of Uskoken Castle is sadly not available even on ILL. Ah well, I have enough to read.

#85 I've got The Island of the Blue Dolphins wishlisted already but it's good to get a second recommendation as well as a reminder :-)

#90 Just favouriting that list for future reference...

#97 Water-damaged books/ruined books :-( I hope they replace them (they certainly ought to) and send them with better packaging next time!

#104 I love Bill Bryson's snarky/grumpy commentaries. I read A Walk in the Woods ages ago and still remember his advice on what to do if you get attacked by bears.

And The Bloody Chamber sounds interesting. I'm starting to really get into fairytale retellings.

#107 The Big Bazoohley sounds fun and the library have a copy! Although it's not illustrated by Stephen Michael King though.

Hope you had a good meet-up yesterday.

#114: Alana - I spend so much reading time not reading for the 11in11 that I just have to go for the skinny ones at this time of the year.

#115: Deborah - that's not organisation, that's wishful thinking!

#116: Megan - I'm a fairly easy going reader, I don't stick to my intentions either, but I like having an overall focus that I slowly work towards through the year. I'm so happy that I've stuck with my intention of reading at least 11 books by Bernice Rubens for my 11in11 challenge, I only have 1 left to read to reach my goal and there are still at least 6 more of hers that I want to read.

#117: Heather - Pity about the Uskoken book, strange that there are so few copies available.
Amazon.uk are sending me replacement books. They are insisting I send back the ruined ones, I've costed it at NZD48 or GBP24, and suggested just sending photos and the letter from the post office, but send them back I must. Seems a waste of environmental resources but rules are rules and I do get my postage costs refunded.

We had a lovely meetup. Lisa kiwiflora, Leonie kiwinyx and I met Deborah arubabookwoman who has been touring Australia and New Zealand. We chatted for ages and had a mini-bookswap. Deborah is now on her way home via a couple of days in Fiji.

WHERE are the PICTURES?????

lol, Deborah has a couple on her camera, so we'll have to wait a few days as I'm sure she won't be thinking about computers and the internet while in Fiji.

#118 Returning the damaged books does seem pointless although I suppose they feel otherwise it might be too easy for people to claim books were damaged and get duplicates otherwise. Jolly glad to hear they're refunding the postage for you to send them back though. I still can't believe that so many books in your package were damaged. What did they do - throw it into the sea on the way over?

#121: The packaging fell apart in transit to New Zealand and NZ Post collected up all the books, the pieces of cardboard that survived and put it in a stronger box and sent it all on to me. I had photographed the books and the damaged cardboard, plus a letter from the PO so I thought I could save them a few dollars/pounds.

Kerry must be great having a veritable contingent of LTers in the same city. KL may be exotic but it is also isolated. Glad you all had a great discussion and exchanged books as well as ideas.

Just stopping by to say hi! I was able to get in that TIOLI challenge as well - The Virgin Cure has the word " horse " on page 50.

Oh how wonderful - an LT meetup! Sounds wonderful !

Yes - it's great being able to chat about books with fellow enthusiasts.

I'm forced to put Bruce Chatwin's The Songlines aside for a few days as it has become quite philosophical. I could bulldoze through but I feel I would not be doing his ideas justice, so I'll sit back and mellow out on his thoughts so far and pick it up again when I'm ready.

I'm dipping into fairy tale retellings with My mother she killed me, my father he ate me, but after reading Angela Carter's collection last week, I'm finding most of them quite pale in comparison, so the dipping is slowing down as well.

I think tonight I'll just relax with Scott Westerfeld's Goliath and maybe try another chapter of Snowdrops.

Our cat, Reggae, died this morning, she was 16yrs old and was the last of the four felines we brought to this house 16 yrs ago. She'd been on the decline for the past few weeks so we knew it would be inevitable.

Sorry about Reggae!! Hope you are doing ok

Oh that's so sad Kerry. I'm really sorry for your and your family's loss, inevitable or not. I'm sure she had an amazing life and is in kitty heaven now.

I'm so sorry about your kitty! she looks like such a sweetie. We've lost two cats this year (actually, within the last four months!) so I can empathize with you. It's not easy, is it?! I hope your good memories of Reggae will help you through this time.

Karen O.

Thanks everyone, she was a fun cat and a good hunter. We've all accepted it but it's a strange feeling not having a cat in the house anymore.

Kerry- I had My mother she killed me, my father he ate me on my WL. It really sounded good. I still need to get to Behemoth. Bad Mark.
Sorry about the cat!

Kerry sorry about you losing the four legged member of the family. My children have three cats about our place in our fifth floor (top floor) condominium. Two of the three, being failed gymnasts, have managed to fall from the balcony but on all occasions have appeared none the worse for their adventures. Always been a dog person to be honest but not possible to keep one in our condo, but the three cats give plenty of joy to the children and they are the only individuals in the entire menagerie (myself included) allowed to signify any dissent to SHE-WHO-MUST-BE-OBEYED.

So sorry to hear about Reggae, Kerry. We lost our oldest a few months ago. Over the years, we have certainly lost many (we averaged 10 cats for over a decade) to old age and cancer, but never have we lost THE last one--there have always been others in the house to comfort us. That must indeed feel strange.

>118 avatiakh: great news on the LT meetup down under! Sorry I missed it all.

((((((((((((((Kerry)))))))))))))) I had no idea it was so imminent. Sounds like the end of an era. 16 years is a good long life.

Thanks again everyone. We still have our beagle, Ginny, who can no longer steal cat food.
Paul - your cats sound delightful, and lucky with their falls.
Roni - it will be strange, we will get used to being catless I suppose. We have beautiful native birds that visit our trees so I will prefer to be cat free.
Lisa, we got Reggae and her sister just before we moved house, couldn't choose between them so brought both home! Mitzi died last year. Reggae was a great cat and will be missed, she went downhill very fast these past couple of days.

Kerry, so sorry to hear about Reggae. She does look like a very cute cat in the photo.

Hi, Kerry, I'm sorry about your cat.

Condolences on your loss of Reggae.

I'm sorry about Reggae.

And I'm happy that you'll now be able to do more birdwatching. I love to sit and watch the birds while reading with a cup of tea at hand. I have several feeders and a birdbath. What's funny is that my old black lab lies in front of the glass doors and watches with me. :-)

Oh so sorry to read of the loss of your dear cat. Many hugs.

Thanks again everyone.

I'm sorry to hear about Reggae's passing, Kerry.

So sorry Kerry. Reggae looks like a dear, a 'shadow' cat, as we call our gray. I'm very much w/you.

Back in a new message to say that I am envious you've begun your Angela Carter adventure!

I'm so sorry to hear of the loss of your cat. I know how difficult that is. Take care.

Kerry, I'm so sorry to hear about Reggae. {{hugs}}

A bit belated, but I'm sorry to hear about Reggae

201) A Five Year Sentence by Bernice Rubens (1978)
fiction
TIOLI challenge #1 Embedded animal on pg 50 & my 11in11 challenge. This was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1978. I was going to read Rubens' Kingdom Come next but after reading a synopsis of the plot for this decided to track down a copy. Another great black comedy by Rubens with a despicable set of characters, even the lamentable main character Miss Hawkins. You do start out with some sympathy for Miss Hawkins, though that does not last.
We meet Miss Hawkins on her retirement day, she intends to go home and 'do herself in'. After a life following orders she has no intentions of living without direction, however her co-workers gift of a five-year diary gives her the obligation of continuing her life for at least five more years.

I have quite a few more reviews to come, hopefully I'll get some more done this evening. Just want to thank everyone again for posting about Reggae.

I have a record number of books on the go...I'm reading The Night Circus for a group read but have two similar fantasy novels on the go that I want to finish asap, Daughter of Smoke and Bone and Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.
I opened Flowers for Algernon today and read a good 30 odd pages, I'm well into Young Fredle, an enjoyable children's book about a mouse.
I wanted to love The Cheshire Cheese Cat: a Dickens of a tale as it is set in London's Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese pub on Fleet Street just along from El Vinos where I used to work when I lived in London, but the story failed to spark...so has been abandoned. Also abandoned is Hotel Bosphorus, a crime novel set in Istanbul that I picked up from the library's new books shelf, just too light though I did start off enjoying it.
I'm currently reading Bernice Rubens' memoir When I grow up, a fairytale retelling compendium My mother she killed me, my father he ate me, Snowdrops, Jack London's essays of his life on The Road (really good), Rick Gekoski's Outside a dog: a bibliomemoir, Mister Creecher, Fallen Grace etc etc

I picked up from the library today Steve Amsterdam's latest novel What the family needed and can't wait to start as I loved his debut short story collection from last year. I read Peter Sis's The Conference of the Birds while having a coffee after the library visit. It's based on a 12th century Sufi epic poem of the same name written by Farid ud-Din Attar and Sis has produced an inspired set of illustrations. I'm going to have to get my own copy eventually.

My replacement Amazon books arrived today along with a (huge) box of books from Betterworld books - I love this, the books are cheap to buy though most are unavailable here in NZ, and the postage is free. It's a treasure trove of books, I hope to slip a few into my reading over the summer. They are mostly reading copies, not copies to keep, but that can be a good thing when you have as many books as I do.
A sampling:
Jitterbug Perfume by Tim Robbins
Snow in August by Pete Hamill
Love Life by Zeruya Shalev
The King's Daughter by Christie Dickason
The Sharing Knife by Lois McMaster Bujold
Territory by Emma Bull

Anyway back to the reviews

202) A Rose for Winter by Laurie Lee (1955)
memoir
Read for TIOLI challenge - a flower in the title & my 11in11 challenge. In this book Laurie Lee returns to Spain a few years after WW2 has finished and spends several months travelling around Andalusia, revisiting the towns that he first traveled through in the 1930s as the country was on the brink of civil war. Lee and his wife live very simply and mix with the less fortunate in these communities and truly experience the real Spain. They are welcomed into many extended family groups and it makes rewarding reading.
I've now read his three books about travelling in Spain and plan to read his childhood memoir Cider with Rosie which I've owned for a few decades and can't remember if I've ever read it.

203) The Songlines by Bruce Chatwin (1987)
travel
Read for TIOLI challenge#1 - embedded animal (horseflesh) & my 11in11 challenge. Took me a while to get through this one though it covers some fascinating material. Chatwin travels to the interior of Australia, to find out more about the songlines of the aborigine. These ancient tracks are part of creation myth of the various tribal groups and the land must continue to be 'sung' to keep it alive. When stranded in a tiny settlement for some days, Chatwin pulls out his notebooks from previous travels and starts to consider aspects of human nature, attachment theory, the nomadic lifestyle and what it all means. This is quite hard to read as it is in the form of many pages of quotes and thoughts from different travels - a potpourri of ideas and themes that needs time to assimilate.

204) Scenes from Village Life by Amos Oz (2011)
fiction
Put in TIOLI #10. Read a book originally written in a language that is NOT a lingua franca.
A series of stories roughly interlinked set in a small village somewhere in the north of Israel. Each one deals in some way with loss or strife and overall the tone is quite melancholy, but as usual with Oz, the writing is excellent. The stories don't end with full resolution leaving a discordant note and an unsettled feeling. The last story is a total contrast to the others, it really does feel like a cuckoo in the nest, increasing the discord felt throughout the collection.
'Relations' has an anxious aunt waiting and wondering about the non-arrival of her nephew, her escalating worry and hidden panic, along with reminiscing about when he was a young child. So effectively portrayed.

I want my hat back by Jon Klissen (2011)
picturebook

An especially excellent picturebook with a surprise ending that will appeal to the child in everyone. No review from me but Elizabeth Bird, NYPL children's librarian extraordinaire does a sublime review here:
If I were to sum up this picture book in one word I think I would go with this: Deadpan. And deadpan picture books are rare beasts indeed. They can be done (Edward Gorey’s work comes to mind) but pulling them off so that they’re as appealing to children as they are to adults is no small feat. I think Klassen got away with it here, though. It’ll be the wry child that takes to I Want My Hat Back but the world is full of wry youth. So equally consider both the five-year-old in your life as well as the irony-filled college grad when looking for the right gift. Klassen is straddling the market and we end up the winners.

205) Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds (2000)
scifi, audiobook

TIOLI challenge #13. Read a book in a series that's next in number to the book above.
I listened to Chasm City a few months ago which is part of this series but can be read at any time. Revelation Space is officially book #1 and I'm enjoying listening to these as the narrator is really good. This is a truly big space story and at the end there are really big ideas about time, space, black holes, aliens etc etc that I could barely grapple with but the plot is interesting & exciting. I enjoyed the two main female characters, Ana Khouri and Volyova.
Next up is #2 Redemption Ark

206) After the War by Carol Matas (1996)
children's fiction

At the end of the war, Ruth is alone, her family has been wiped out in the camps and there are still brutal acts against returning Jews in Poland. She is encouraged to join the underground Brichah movement and travel with a group of young children across Europe so they can be smuggled into Palestine. Based on true accounts.
A quick, exciting read along the lines of The Silver Sword and I am David.


207) Goliath by Scott Westerfeld (2011)
children's fiction
Read for TIOLI challenge#1 - embedded & actual animal on pg50. This is the last of Westerfeld's steampunk trilogy for young readers that everyone is enjoying reading. Quite a good finale, I did get a bit bored from time to time, though that was more me than the book - it is over 500 pgs long and is chock full of interesting tidbits from history.

edited to remove spoilerish content from Goliath comments

208) These Old Shades by Georgette Heyer (1926)
(Alastair Trilogy Book 1)
fiction, audiobook

Added to the TIOLI tagmash challenge. My mother is a huge GH fan and has a big collection of her books, most of which I read as a teenager so thought it might be time for a re-read. In the end I went for the audiobook option as my library has all three of the trilogy available as digital downloads. This was fun, I couldn't remember the plot at all, and I just loved getting back into the world of Regency romance.


209) Devil's Cub by Georgette Heyer (1932)
(Alastair Trilogy Book 2)
fiction, audiobook

Added to TIOLI Recommended by Oct review by LT5er (Delta Queen50). Again I flew through this audiobook which has another delightful heroine and a tangled set of circumstances to work through before the inevitable ending. Charming.

I was able to download book 3 An Infamous Army tonight, so will be listening to it asap.

210) The Track of Sand by Andrea Camilleri (2007)
Inspector Montalbano #12

TIOLI challenge tagmash challenge. Waking from a strange dream, Montalbano finds the body of a dead racehorse on the beach just outside his home. Possibly a little weaker than other outings, still enjoyable.


211) The Potter's Field by Andrea Camilleri (2008)
Inspector Montalbano #13

Read for TIOLI challenge#1 - embedded animal on pg50. This instalment felt like vintage Montalbano, with Salvo truly landing himself feet first into several funny predicaments.

What an eclectic selection of reading Kerry! Camilleri is of course one of my faves and I'm jealous that The Potter's Field is not available in my area yet. Cider With Rosie sings with Laurie Lee's lyrically poetic prose. He was a lovely writer and always a joy to read.

What great reading! Camilleri and Reynolds -- wonderful stuff. I liked Redemption Ark even better. In fact, I loved it.

A caveat--although Babs is a descendant of Vidal and Mary, the nature of this book is completely different from the first two books. An Infamous Army is much more serious in nature, and Heyer's discussion of the battles is much respected by military types. So just don't expect it to be the fun that the first two are. It is still good, but different, and very barely connected.

I am going to have to start putting blinders on when I visit here! You've caught my attention with a number of books, Cider With Rosie, After the War, and, of course, I will have to track down my own copy of An Infamous Army. Actually I would like to try an audio of Georgette Heyer, so perhaps this would be a good place to start. As for the Camilleri series, they have been on my wishlist for far too long.

#160: Lucy - I'm looking forward to meeting the inhibitors.

#161: Roni - I knew that because petermc was the one who recommended it. I just thought I should read the first two in the trilogy beforehand. And now I'll have to read/reread a few more of Heyer's romances as they've proved to be so much fun.

#162: The narrator was fairly good for these, and I appreciated hearing all the French phrases.

Now I'm going to edit my comments on Goliath as I think I might have added a little too much information.

#159: Hi Paul - One thing about doing the category challenge is that you don't get stuck in a reading rut. That said, I'm trying to finish up 2 neglected categories for this year - conflict and wanderlust. I'm almost done.
Hmmm, An infamous army would fit in my conflict category, I'll hurry up and try to start it this weekend.

Hi Kerry- Wow, what a flurry of reading going on over here! You are totally book-busy. I have yet to get to a Inspector Montalbano book, Bad Mark, but I do have a couple in the stacks.
I have also, yet to read Behemoth, it's on the To Read List! Oh, brother you wouldn't think I was reading anything!

Three more additions to The List. I love the variety of your reading.

Wow, Im overwhelmed by all your reading! Your reviews make good reading for me, but are about as much as I can read in one sitting when I really should be doing house stuff *cry cry*

I agree with everyone else - overwhelming and eccletic reading!! I started the Leviathan series liked the first one but did get a wee bit bored at the same time. I haven't been inclined to pick up the next two yet.

I love Georgina Heyer and her romances. I have quite a few old copies I picked up at the last Monster Book Fair. One thing I've learned is to be patient with Heyer's books. Typically for the first 50 pages the story will go nowhere then all of a sudden I'm committed and racing through it.

I just reserved I Want My Hat Back from the library—was very happy to see they had it, but then again they're quite quick to get newly published books, and all the more so when they're children's books.

I cannot believe you actually got me to add a Georgette Heyer book to my wishlist Kerry... I've long resisted the Romance genre, and when Judy reviewed one of these books on her thread last month I believe I made a sardonic comment about them, but when I saw that the third book of the Alastair trilogy, An Infamous Army, is actually on the Guardian 1000... WELL! I also listened to a very long sample on Audible—over eleven minutes for These Old Shades!—and I quite like the narrator, Cornelius Garrett. Am listening to another long sample from Devil's Club, which is narrated by another reader, Michael Drew, also pleasant to listen to. Unfortunately they don't have any audio versions at out library system, but the DO have lots and lots of large print copies. I wonder what that means... ? :-)

stopping by to say from this point forward I hope to follow your thread more closely. You and I share similar tastes in books and I always obtain such great recommendations from you.

#165: Mark - I tend to post about my reading in batches so my thread is fairly quiet and then I drown it in reviews. Just finished Daughter of Smoke and Bone today so I can turn my full attention to The Night Circus.
#166: Lisa - I'm due a visit to your thread which is always dangerous for me!
#167: Megan - my mantra: housework is overated
#168: Lisa - I do jump around with my reading because I read several books simultaneously and like them to be from different genres.
Westerfeld's Leviathan trilogy is _targeting the younger YA end of the market. I did like the alternative history aspect of it though.
#169: Ilana - I enjoy the odd romantic read from time to time especially when it is in the hands of a great storyteller. Heyer manages to make her characters interesting and/or so likeable that the books become fairly irresistible. I haven't managed to start An Infamous Army yet but I think that it isn't quite like her others.
I believe that Garrett and Drew were the narrators of the audiobooks I listened to. The third book is narrated by a woman. I would say that the large number of LP copies of her books at your library is because she is reread over and over by her fans from their teen years to old age.
My daughter who is almost 15 loved I want my hat back.
#170: Hi Linda - I'm always interested to see what you've been reading especially the children's books. I'm about to go back through my threads to check which 1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up books I've read this year.

Heyer loved her historicals, but they weren't as popular as her romances. She combines them in The Infamous Army and The Spanish Bride.

212) Fallen Grace by Mary Hooper (2010)
YA fiction, audiobook

Added to TIOLI Author's name is an occupation. This was another excellent audiobook experience for me, I've read a few of Hooper's historical YA books and thought they were pretty good. This one is probably the best so far. It has a Dickensian feel to it, as it focuses on Victorian working class and Charles Dickens even makes a brief appearance. What I liked is that Hooper has given the main character, Grace, the difficulty of having an older but simple-minded sister that she must look after, the two girls are orphans and barely making a living by selling cress on the streets. She also notes the Victorian's love of advertising notices in the daily newspapers to great effect.
There is a great range of loveable characters, rogues and despicable villains in this story, I also learnt a lot about Victorian funerals and mourning customs. The story starts with impoverished Grace travelling to a cemetery for a funeral, her baby is a stillborn and the midwife has advised how she can avoid a pauper's burial.

213) The Road by Jack London (1907)
essays/memoir

TIOLI Challenge #1: Animal on pg 50 (Buffalo) & my 11in11 challenge.
First a celebration - we can now force touchstones again.

Brilliant selection of essays by London about his youthful days spent as a hobo, travelling around the US and Canada catching trains, cadging meals, sleeping rough etc etc. He was 16 or 17 when he hit the road and while life could be harsh it was also a big adventure.

214) Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor (2011)
YA fantasy

TIOLI challenge: chapters with a heading not just a number. This is a really well crafted fantasy involving ....angels and chimaera in a fantasy world of conflict that sits just a portal away from our own world. Karou is just not your average art student in Prague, she's been raised by Brimstone, an otherworldly chimaera, and still runs errands for him. On one such errand she meets an angel looking for revenge. At the heart of the story is a wonderful tale of forbidden love...and there will be a sequel or more.
I know there are a lot of angel paranormal romances out on the market at present, I haven't read any of them. My last angel story was probably Elizabeth Knox's The Vinter's Luck and before that L'Engle's Many Waters. This was highly enjoyable escapism, conjuring a world that I'm already looking forward to re-entering.

Kerry I like Jack London but haven't read this one yet - will certainly look it up. Just read an extract of White Fang to Kyran and he loved it.

I have his Star Rover to read as well, it looks interesting but I never seem to make time for it. I read both White Fang and Call of the Wild when I was young so good to hear of another fan in the making.

Ducking and dodging the book bullets Kerry!

#175 I saw you'd given Daughter of Smoke and Bone a high rating which made me add it to my library list. The phrases paranormal romance and forbidden love have made me slightly more hesitant but I suppose a library book is fairly low risk so I will probably try it at some point.

>176 PaulCranswick:/177. I have had White Fang and The Call of the Wild in my library for years. I also have The Sea Wolf. They are all in the Reader' Digest The World's Best Reading Collection. I will get around to reading them one day!

Kerry, I was so far behind - what a lot I've been missing! I'm sorry you lost your feline friend Reggae - but glad to hear there is still an animal in the house - homes seem so empty without a pet when they've been with you for years.

I loved the sound of that book on the Camino de Santiago way back up the thread. I harbour unrealistic ambitions of one day making that journey, but had never thought of it as the potential for a gourmet experience! And thanks for reminding me of the Crossley-Holland Arthur books: I read the first one in the trilogy about 8 years ago, and I think I have a copy of the second, but unread. I met the author round about that time too - I sat next to him when he was the after-dinner speaker at a formal dinner in the place I was working then. Have you read any others of his besides Gatty's Tale? I've read one or two, and have a few more of his including folk tale collections, translations and poetry - all uncatalogued as yet.

Oh, and Jack London! I too read White Fang and Call of the Wild in my teens and loved them...

I've added Fallen Grace to my wishlist and while they have the paper version at the library, I quite like the sound of the narrator on the audiobook, so will get it via Audible eventually.

Dodged more bullets this time.

I figured out very recently that I'm very limited as far as my appreciation for fantasy goes, with American Gods, which overall just made me uncomfortable. Which doesn't mean I won't delve into fantasy anymore, because I do appreciate quite a bit of what I've read in that genre so far, but suspension of disbelief is an unreliable feature in my current OS.

#178: Heather, DoSaB starts off in a fairly typical YA manner but becomes more complex a story as you progress, and is so easy to read. I really like her storytelling which I first met in Lips Touch.

#179: Hi Alan, it's a long time since I read White Fang and Call of the Wild but they were firm favourites at the time and books I've pushed on to my children with some success.

#180: Hi Genny - you remind me that I have to go back to your thread and talk 'Portugal' with you. Thanks for your thoughts on Reggae. I just had an online survey to do and for the first time I had to tick the 'no cats' box.
I haven't picked up A food lover's pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela since writing about it, but fully intend giving it a couple of hours of my time before the due date. After a few minutes with the book and a couple of Laurie Lee's memoirs under the belt I think I'll also be hankering to hit the trail, I love Spanish food so...
I have quite a few of Crossley-Holland's books and read his The Norse Myths a couple of years ago and the first of his new series, Bracelet of Bones, earlier this year. That book put me in the way of Naomi Mitchison, another whose books all sound too interesting, I read her Travel Light soon after. I also have his memoir, The Hidden Roads, on my tbr pile. He's one of those writers whose work I collect with the intention of reading it all at some point. I'd love to hear him talk, you were so lucky.

#181: Ilana - Quite a few people haven't found American Gods to be their cup of tea and you also took the hit of the additional word count. Do try Anansi Boys after you've had a breather, especially the audio option, as it is quite different and really entertaining. I'm glad to hear that you are sticking with a little fantasy, there is so much variety and a lot of it is fun or intriguing rather than difficult or mindbending.
How are you enjoying The Night Circus? I'm just over halfway and enjoying it, though I can see there'll have to be some sort of confrontation eventually.

215) The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor by Gabriel García Márquez (1955)
non-fiction

This was first serialised in a national Colombian newspaper, and is the true account of a 20 year old sailor's survival at sea after being washd overboard. Based on a series of in depth interviews and written in the first person, this novella-length story makes riveting reading.
TIOLI challenge #1: animal on pg 50 (actual: sea-gull).

Kerry - interesting review of a most difficult writer. Marquez is normally worth the trouble but his work is not so accessible for me. Will try to get to Love in the Time of Cholera soon which has been on my shelves unattended for an undeservedly long period. Will also get round to The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor which is somewhere among the ruin of my reading room.

Hi Paul - I adored Love in the Time of Cholera, struggled with One hundred years of solitude and have read a couple more of his books which I'd say were quite good. I'd seen a few reviews on here for The Shipwrecked Sailor so had it on my tbr list and was lucky to find an old copy at a recent book fair. The publishing history of the story is quite interesting, I just read up on it over on wikipedia.

And I should have added that it was one of my Nobel Prize Winners books that I didn't get round to reading in October. I've still got to find time to make a start on the Israeli one, just that it doesn't match my unfinished 11in11 categories, so will have to wait.

216) The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (2011)
fiction, fantasy

TIOLI Challenge #1: animal on pg 50 & group read led by msf59 (Mark). I really enjoyed this magical fin de siecle story. Two dark menacing magicians set up a challenge that pits their two apprentices against each other in a wonderfully inventive circus. This is Morgenstern's debut novel and it's a stunner. As others have mentioned on the group read I hope that this is left as a stand alone novel and she is allowed to dream up another wonderful world for her readers to enjoy.

Oops, I came lurking, saw you had written a message to me, was going to come back the next day and... time does fly, doesn't it?

I don't know if I'll even write a review for American Gods, because I haven't got much good things to say about it. That being said, I do intend to give Anansi Boys a chance, and I've already wish listed it both here and on Audible.

And... OF COURSE I'll continue reading fantasy! I've read a lot of fantasy that I've found delightful this year, so one disappointing experience isn't going to turn me off a whole genre that has infinite options to explore. That being said, I'll listen to my instincts in terms of how far I'm willing to stretch.

I've got 100-odd pages left to Night Circus. It's such a treat, and yes, I do hope it's a stand-alone. I don't normally read reviews of books I'm reading or about to read, but yours are always so short that I read it without even trying! ;-)

217) Snowdrops by A.D. Miller (2011)
fiction

TIOLI challenge #4: the author's name is a profession. This novel came in for a lot of criticism when it made the Booker longlist and then shortlist. I decided to leave the hype aside and read it at face value. Overall I quite enjoyed the story and the setting of Moscow in the mid-'noughties' was truly interesting. The novel is narrated as a confession by Nick, a lawyer who worked in the world of banking in Moscow for a few years. He becomes embroiled in two corrupt schemes, one is more personal than the other. He acts foolishly and with unprincipled behaviour, his head is overruled by his lust for the predatory Masha. The heartbreaking consequences for an old woman become an inevitable outcome of his refusal to act on his conscience.

Kerry - enjoyed your succinct reviews of Night Circus which I have just bought and Snowdrops which I recently read. Agree with you on A.D. Miller's debut it was readable and I wasn't as scandalized as many with it being put up for awards on the premise that I generally disagree with the selections anyway. Not my best of the year certainly but not the worst by a long chalk.

#187: Ilana, I'm pleased to hear that you're savouring the last few pages of The Night Circus, I did too.
I think you have to read American Gods at the 'right' time, I had tried once before and abandoned it after 100 or so pages. I had to google a few of the gods in the book as I read it.

Good to see some positive comments about Snowdrops. I have it lined up to complete my 11 in 11 Prize Winners category but because it's a Booker nominee I've been nervous about picking it up.

#189: Hi Paul, yes, the longlists etc always seem to disregard many worthy books in favour of the less worthy. I can't find the webpage anymore, but there was an excellent interview with one of the judges from each of the previous Booker Prize juries a couple of years ago and to be honest from reading their comments I lost most of my respect for any awards - there is no best book, just many good ones.

#191: Alana: I seem to be one step behind each comment today. Yes, Snowdrops is a quick read and best to draw your own conclusions on. I decided to read it because Suzanne (chatterbox) really liked it and Darryl detested it!
If you visit Deborah's thread you'll see pics of our LT meetup in Auckland earlier this month. We met for an afternoon at Mecca Cafe and talked non-stop about books, travel, & rugby for 2 hours. Deborah was visiting from Seattle so we just had to organise a meeting.

L. to R. Leonie (kiwinix), Lisa (kiwiflowa), Deborah (arubabookwoman) and Kerry (aviatakh)
photo courtesy of arubabookwoman

Nice photo, lovely to put some faces to names :-)

Great pic!

How I envy you quartet of lovely ladies being close enough in proximity to be able to meet up for coffee, cakes and book/sports talk. Now Caro, Darryl and a whole gang are doing the same thing in NYC whilst here am I stranded here in hot and humid Kuala Lumpur surrounded by books and starbucks but without a friend in sight! Great photo and nice to put faces to names as Alana rightly points out.

What a great picture, Kerri! How wonderful it is that you're having meet-ups now in Auckland.

Aren't they so much fun?! If Auckland were closer, I'd have stopped by as well. :)

Fell behind a bit, Kerry, so my comments are dated. I read and enjoyed many Jack London stories as a youngster, but none made so great an impression on me as To Start a Fire, one of his short stories. It reminds me of The Overcoat by Gogol. Sympathetic, suspenseful, and devastating. I will never forget either.

My bookmark got stuck halfway through American Gods, but I have read and enjoyed lots of other fantasy. There are some sub-genres that just don't appeal to me.

I've read four or five Gabriel García Márquez books and think The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor is my second favorite (behind One Hundred Years of Solitude). I found Shipwrecked Sailor to be an abrupt reminder of GGM's career as a journalist before he became a novelist.

What a great LT meetup!

Joining others in saying how nice it is to see faces.

I read both One Hundred Years and Love in the Time of Cholera over twenty years ago and felt like I'd discovered a whole new continent (I guess I did in a way). Read the first again in 2008 and couldn't see past all the warring, so didn't enjoy it much the 2nd time around, but I think (hope) it'll be a different story when I revisit Cholera, which I think I may have had a preference for.

#174 - I really should try some more Jack London. The only work of his that I've read is The Iron Heel, which is rather terrible, although kind of endearing. There's a special place in my heart for early twentieth century leftist propaganda novels, so I can't stop reading them.

Great photo. I also like having faces to go with the names.

Awww you all look like avid readers!!!!

#194-202: It was fun to talk nothing but books for a couple of hours with other LTers who are just as enthusiastic.

#198: Lisa - I'll have to track down the Jack London short story as I'll be reading Sue Orr's From under the Overcoat collection next year and will also be reading the original story each one of hers is based on and that includes Gogol's The Overcoat.
I enjoyed The shipwrecked sailor and probably didn't make it clear that it was a piece of journalism. As I say below to Ilana, I found 100 Years of Solitude a bit of a slog, though possibly I was pushing myself to read it at a time when I wasn't 'open' to the prose.

#199: Ilana - Love in the time of Cholera is one of my favourite books, though I'm scared to do a reread now in case I reassess it. I found 100 years of solitude a bit of a slog, but pleased to make my way through it.

#200: Kerri - you'll have to recommend some of the better ones for me to try.

I've finished a couple more books and have two more at least to try and finish for the November TIOLI but here's my 'as always over ambitious' reading plans for December.
I have three 11in11 books to read in order to finish that challenge so they have to be my first priorities.

Challenge #1: Read a book whose author’s first and last initials are “stepped”
The Sleeping Army - Francesca Simon (F/S)
Northwood by Brian Falkner (B/F) - Reading

Challenge #2: Angels & Demons:
Greater than Angels - Carol Matas

Challenge #3. Read a book by Anne McCaffrey
No one noticed the cat by Anne McCaffrey

Challenge #4: Read one of the oldest books on your TBR
Cider with Rosie - Laurie Lee (since 1984) - Reading

Challenge #6: Read a book that has the exact same title as another book on LT
How it all began - Penelope Lively (How it All Began - Nikolai Bukharin)
Kingdom Come- Bernice Rubens (Kingdom Come - J G Ballard)
Velvet - Mary Hooper (Velvet - Jane Feather) - Reading

Challenge #7: Read a book with "last" or "final" in the title
The Last Werewolf - Glen Duncan

Challenge #9: Read a book about books
Girl Reading (fiction) - Katie Ward - Reading

Challenge #12: All In the Family
My Russian Grandmother and her American Vacuum Cleaner - Meir Shalev - Reading
My mother she killed me, my father he ate me: 40 new fairy tales - ed. Kate Bernheimer (11in11)
The things a brother knows - Dana Reinhardt

Challenge #13:Read a book by an author with a surname of four syllables
The inquisitor's apprentice- Chris Moriarty
Twelve minutes of love: a tango story by Kapka Kassabova - Reading

Challenge #15: Read a book with 5 or fewer reviews
The novel in the Viola- Natasha Solomons (5 as of 01Dec) - Reading
11700448::People's Republic - Robert Muchamore (0)
What the family needed - Steve Amsterdam (0)

Challenge #16: Read a book published after 1900 about authors, works or characters in 19th century literature
War & Peace and Sonya - Judith Armstrong - (Leo Tolstoy)

Challenge #18: Read a book for your 11 in 11 challenge
The Brigade: An Epic Story of Vengeance, Salvation, and WWII(Conflict)- Howard Blum
The tomb in Seville (Wanderlust) - Norman Lewis

Challenge #19: Read an Early Reviewers Book that You Did NOT Win
The Concert Ticket (The Line- US title) - Olga Grushin - (01/10) - Reading

#204 - I can't wait to read The Concert Ticket! I'm saving it for a 12 in 12 challenge.

Regarding recommendations: Of course there's a huge pile of Upton Sinclair novels to choose from. Other than that, my favorites are Out of This Furnace by Thomas Bell, The Disinherited by Jack Conroy, and Youngblood by John Oliver Killens.

Oh thanks for those titles, I'll have to find out what I've got from Australia and New Zealand that also fits this type of fiction. Maybe a future TIOLI challenge in there?!?

And The Concert Ticket, I've been meaning to read it for at least 12 months and have kept bumping it. It's my first priority once I finish those 3 11in11 books.

#206 - Ha! "Read your favorite leftist propaganda novel." I can see it! I was probably being a little goofy when I said "leftist propaganda novel." "Radical novels" is probably the better term.

Anyway, I would love to hear of anything you find from Australia and New Zealand. When looking for working-class novels (some of which are related, to some degree) for my 12 in 12 challenge, I was looking for some non-American titles and didn't have much luck. I found the Raymond Williams, but that's about it. I plan to do some more research on that subject though.

ETA: Regarding Olga Grushin: The Dream Life Of Sukhanov was one of three 5-star reads for me this year. I loved it!

Ok. Confession time. I just shamelessly copied several of your Dec TIOLI to put on my TBR. And, lucky bonus, they will work for my TIOLI too. :-)

Yeah! Olga Grushin is one of my favorite authors. I hope she continues writing novels; I don't see any indication of it on her personal website. Boo.

#182 Thanks Kerry, I think I will try DoSaB, but I don't think I will fit it in this month so I will hold fire on that library reservation!

#188 Snowdrops and The Sisters Brothers were the most appealing on the Booker list to me, probably because neither of them sounded like Booker novels. I don't know why I feel so much more intimidated by the Booker prize than I do by any other prize.

#193 Nice photo - it's always nice to put faces to names :-) (just realised everyone else has used exactly the same phrase!)

#204 Quite a few on your December list that sound interesting but I have already had to do some serious weeding with my December hopes and I am still overcommitted. I really liked the sound of Girl Reading when Luci mentioned it earlier this year.

Great shot of the LT meet up in NZ- love it!

And will you pu-lease stop with all the great books? I've got 3 more I have to add now, grrr ;-)

Hi Kerry - thanks for putting the photo up :)

Your December reads are very ambitious... but in the busy-ness that is December imagining what we could read is just as pleasurable as actual reading lol :) Are you getting a good Christmas break this year? If so I wish you many hours of reading in the sun!!

Northwood looks very interesting - will have to look out for that one! I have a niece turning 6 in March and a nephew who will be 5 next year... finally it's almost time I can buy some quirky fun books.

The Line has made it on to my wishlist.

Hi Kerry, just saw the photo, that waiter (or was it the girl at the next table) did a good job with this picture and the meet-up was so fun. We'll have to do it again soon after the silly season is over.

Guess I'll just have to fly back to New Zealand for the meetup! :)

218) When I grow up: a memoir by Bernice Rubens (2005)
nonfiction

Read for November's TIOLI Challenge #1: Read a book with at least one animal mentioned on page 50 (embedded: hen).
This completes my 11in11 Bernice Rubens focus category. I've read 10 of her novels this year and now her memoir which was completed just before she died in 2004. Rubens tells of her girlhood growing up Jewish in Wales, the war years, her musical family and her eventual move to London where she lived most of her years. Fairly standard stuff though we meet up with a few characters from her novels and from her work as a documentary maker and her travels for the UN and women's rights you can see how she developed the ideas for The Ponsonby Post and the Soviet refusenik section of her novel Brothers.

One interesting anecdote - Elias Canetti long overstayed his welcome at their home, I think he rented a room from them. Rubens found him insufferable, boastful etc etc and couldn't wait for him to be gone.

I have a few more of her novels on Mt tbr and can't wait to get to them, Kingdom Come and The Waiting Game are next in line.

#209: Lisa, my apologies for adding to your Mt tbr.
#210: Heather, I hope you enjoy DoSaB as much as I did, it does start off quite YA, but then moves on. You'd probably like her Lips Touch three times too.
Girl Reading is also on my list because of Luci's review, I should get to it soon, though priority has to go to The Concert Ticket as I've been trying to read it for several weeks now. I have a copy of The Sisters Brothers so that will get read next year some time.

#211: Megan, apologies for adding to your tbr pile.
#212: Lisa - Lately I've been adding a huge number of books to the TIOLI wiki, next year I'll have to restrain myself as it does add a little stress even though I opt for the 'Leave It' fairly easily.
I've just started Northwood and it seems to be fun read for a younger reader. I know his agent and she loves this one (she was a children's librarian for many many years before entering the world of literary agents)
His new series, Recon Team Angel, is meant to be very exciting YA too.
#213: Hi Leonie, good to have you back online and reading. You took home a copy of The novel in the Viola which I pushed on you and I hope you end up liking it more than I currently do. I loved her first novel, Mr Rosenblum's List but have not much liking for this one, I need to push myself to pick it up and keep reading, so boring....
Helen Baker and I are talking about meeting up during the Writers and Readers Festival in May, though we could squeeze one in before that.
#214: Deborah, you are welcome back anytime!

Newsflash: I finished my 11in11 challenge today but am many reviews behind so the last book won't show up for a while yet.

Congratulations on finishing your challenge Kerry!

Thanks, I feel pretty good about that. My last book was a 5 star nonfiction read, a good one to go out on - The Brigade: An Epic Story of Vengeance, Salvation, and WWII by Howard Blum.

219) An Infamous Army by Georgette Heyer (1937)
Alastair family trilogy bk 3 & Worth family sequel
audiobook

Read for November's TIOLI Challenge #3: TagMash - (regency, history)
The third Alastair family novel following on from These Old Shades and Devil's Cub and the one that I was looking forward to as a complement to Victor Hugo's account of the Battle of Waterloo in his epic Les miserables. I found out after finishing this that Regency Buck could also be considered a prequel to this.
This is at heart a romance but a lot of the book is taken up with an outstanding account of the Battle of Waterloo. petermc recommended it last year but it took a while for me to get to it.
The novel opens in 1815 Brussels, on the verge of war. Napoleon has escaped from Elba and is assembling an army in France and advancing to the border. Brussells is full of English aristocracy, the social life of balls and theatre is in full swing. When dashing Colonel Worth, aide-de-camp to the Duke of Wellington, arrives from Vienna he falls for Lady Barbara Childe, an Alastair and a young widow with a reputation for the risque.
I really enjoyed this and then had to go on to listen to Regency Buck to get the backstory on the Worths.

edit: Added to my 11in11 conflict category - 10/11 read

220) Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs (2011)
fantasy fiction/YA-ish

Read for November's TIOLI Challenge #3: TagMash (photography, young adult).
I wasn't as enraptured with this novel as I thought I'd be, I found it a little too weird. Riggs has incorporated a number of bizarre antique photographs into the book and based characters and events around them. While some people have been enamoured with this idea I found it at times awkward and contrived.
When Jacob's grandfather dies in bizarre circumstances, Jacob becomes obsessed with finding out the truth about his stories. This leads him and his father to a desolate island off the coast of Wales. The story keeps changing direction and there is a horror element just waiting offstage ready to pounce. Don't be put off by my reaction to the book, it's one we have to all try for ourselves.
You need the real book for this, I was saved by reading a review just a day or so before I was going to listen to the audio version. The photographs are fairly integral to your understanding of the plot and add to the element of unease and peculiarity.

221) Memento Mori by Muriel Spark (1959)
fiction

Read for November's TIOLI Challenge #9: Read a book Reviewed and Recommended by a Fellow 75r (smiler69)
An enjoyable romp of a story about old age, death, blackmail and the past catching up with you. Lots of memorable characters. Who is the mystery phone caller with his unwelcome message, always the same, Remember you must die.

Decided to start a new thread for the last couple of weeks of the year so.....