January, 2014--what smart, fat books are you reading to start the new year?

Got a couple of chunky history books for Christmas, kicking my year off with them. Will I make it to 100 books in 2014 too?

How about the rest of the group?

Happy New Year, Cliff, and all ships at sea! As to massive tomes, DO recall Samuel Johnson's dictum "One never wished it longer." I find myself saying that more and more with each passing read, and perhaps you will too. Case in point, Peter Ackroyd's immense bio of Dickens.
We're going lean and mean here. with significant trips to our own shelf of Neglected Old Friends. My partner is savouring much Willa Cather, while I am digging Dead souls in the quirky translation by Bernard Guilbert Guerney. Next up for me, catching-up with PDF texts sent to me by LT's own Rick Harsch and Ellen Ekstrom. I have also lately become aware that an old school-friend of mine, Deborah Eisenberg, has been declared a "Genius" by the MacArthur Foundation. Anybody have any experience with her stories? I have the shortest of fuzes in re modern fiction -- with the obvious exception of Harsch, Ekstrom, and myself -- but I really am curious. Write, 'phone, or visit. If you visit, dress warmly, and bring either logs or hot soup -- it's colder here than a mud-wrestle between Barak Obama and Stephen Harper.
PS: to return to the original proposition, about big books, I really AM going to try to go through the entire Companion to the Hymnal of 1982. That should keep me out of trouble -- or drive me from the Church!

Harry, I have the Ackroyd/Dickens bio, bought a first edition hardcover when it first came out--using my bookstore employee discount of 40% or I never would've been able to afford the thing. It sits right next to another huge bio (causing my shelf to sag noticeably), Jeremy Wilson's authorized biography of T.E. Lawrence, clocking in at over 1100 pages. Talk about doorstops.

My reading tastes are definitely "lean and mean" when it comes to fiction but there's something about a big, juicy history book that makes me rub my hands together in gleeful anticipation.

Congratulations to Ms. Eisenberg--I'm not familiar with her work but if she's nabbed a "genius" grant, she's definitely someone I'll watch for.

Reading LAWRENCE IN ARABIA: WAR, DECEIT, IMPERIAL FOLLY AND THE MAKING OF THE MODERN MIDDLE EAST by Scott Anderson.

In-teresting...

I'm starting the year with some slim, casual reading. The Bloody Chamber (I've wanted to read Angela Carter for years and am delighted to find her meeting all my expections) and This Enchanted Isle, an introduction to the Neo-Romantics of Britain that should be more lavishly illustrated than it is.

Im starting the year out with a classic Bleak House by none other Dickens.

Just finished Cleopatra, am still reading Harmony Junction and expect to start on She pretty soon (I got an H. Rider Haggard collection). Inspired by a re-read of Northanger Abbey a few years ago, I decided to read a portion of the oeuvre of one gothic Victorian a year. Last year was Wilkie Collins. This year is H. R. H. Next year, maybe Ann Radcliffe?

Finished ANARCHY: A GRAPHIC GUIDE (Clifford Harper). Originally published in 1986 and no longer in print and that's unfortunate--it's a concise and excellent introduction to the principals (and principles) behind a deeply misunderstood philosophy/ideology.

I know this will upset Cliff but I'm reading Alice Munro's Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage. Also The Flowers of the Forest: Scotland and the First World War.

Hey, I like Alice--a CanLit author with chops. There are a few of 'em, y'know...

I am gonna try to read some auto/biographies!

Partway through Ivan Bunin's Collected Stories; liking it quite a bit.

>10 CliffBurns: - that reminds of this:

Homer: "Lisa, honey, are you saying you're never going to eat any animal again? What about bacon?"
Lisa: "No."
Homer: "Ham?"
Lisa: "No."
Homer: "Pork chops?"
Lisa: "Dad! Those all come from the same animal!"
Homer: chuckling "Yeah, right, Lisa. A wonderful, magical animal."

Most CanLit authors are so dry you have to marinate them a long time before tucking in.

You can't say this stuff anymore, Cliff, since you became a CanLit insider with that ReLit nom.

Good God. "CanLit insider".

What an odious thought.

Aside from a heck of a lot of light reading, I've begun Eleanor Catton's The Luminaries, which won the booker last year. So far I'm intrigued by the mystery and quite drawn in by the prose. Good stuff so far!

I have that on my TBR. I wasn't quite as taken with The Rehearsal as some of my friends, but The Luminaries sounds like it might appeal more.

About a third of the way into Leila Aboulela's Minaret. Good, so far.

Well, WWI is about 100 years ago. Although to me it doesn't seem that ancient. My next door neighbour, when I was a kid, say 14/15, gave me his SamBrown belt. He had landed at Gallipeli on the 2nd week and was there till the end.

Currently started one of many causes of WWI books I will read in the next few years

Guido.

ETA. And France as well, of course, with Gas as well of course.

I think I'm going on a Houllebecq bing. Starting with The Elementary Particles aka Atomised.

>20 guido47:: Massie's 'Dreadnought' is a good starting point, though it is a little bit over-focussed on the Dreadnought question as a cause of war. I would make sure that Christopher Clark's The Sleepwalkers; how Europe went to war in 1914 is on your list, because I have found that to be a clear and comprehensive study of the subject that taught me things I didn't know. I'm currently reading David Fromkin's Europe's last summer, which is a very easy read (coming over at times like some undergraduate's study guide), but in the first few chapters it summarises a number of issues and has suggested some new lines of enquiry for me.

Barbara Tuchman's THE GUNS OF AUGUST is also worthy re: tracing the causes of WWI.

20, 22 and 23: I read the Guns of August a few years ago and the following year (2010? 2011?) I read A World Undone which is a very well-done overview of WWI.

Reading Islandia, a nice big fat 1,000-plus page tome.

2,3> I read The Collected Stories of Deborah Eisenberg a few years ago, when it came out, and zipped right through it. Was definitely impressed by her talent.

#21 Probably best not to read his stuff in succession. Just reading one of them will leave you feeling totally misanthropic for days.

#21: Loved EP-- even after reading it a second time and consequently feeling like things couldn't get any worse-- so why not watch "Dancer in the Dark" again? The odd emotional states one purposefully delves into...

Just finished Iphigenia (Teresa de la Parra), and was pleasantly impressed.

#26 Yeah, I'll probably break it up with some 'happy time' stuff. Cormac McCarthy maybe.

>25 absurdeist:, You found Islandia! I've been hoping to accidentally trip across a copy, but I'm beginning to resign myself to the fact that it's not going to happen and I'll have to order one.

Sped through The Bloody Chamber and loved it. Will certainly read more Angela Carter.

Just finished The Old English Baron, the second Gothic novel ever written and am still recovering from its bland prose and vapidity. No lost gem here - what didn't read like a pious sermon read like a legal brief. It did seem to invent the locked, haunted wing of the castle which has been used ever since. That and its shortness (150 pages) are really all it had going for it.

29> Wish I could say I accidentally tripped across a copy at Goodwill or the $1 shelves at The Bookman, but no such luck. Powell's was selling off their remainders of the Overlook Press ed. (2006) for a paltry $10 & change, and I just happened to be perusing their site at the right time, day after Christmas. Ten bucks was a steal, considering any copy of any ed. listed for less than $25-$30 is hard to come by online.

Finished Ted Kooser's collection DELIGHTS AND SHADOWS.

Wonderful. Worthy of its Pulitzer Prize.

Read 5 or 6 of the poems to Sherron this evening and she loved them too.

I finally cracked open my NYRB copy of John Williams's Stoner.

It is transcendent. I may be spoiling the rest of my year by reading this one in January.

Stoner is quite good.

Just finished Robert Stone's latest, DEATH OF THE DARK-HAIRED GIRL, and must confess I found it a big disappointment. It takes at least 4-5 chapters for the novel to find its narrative engine and then it does all right for awhile...until falling apart at the end, a finale that strains credulity and utterly fails to satisfy.

I've a HUGE fan of the man but his last couple of efforts haven't been close to the level of his best books.

Give this one (a generous) three stars out of five.

#33: Loved Stoner. I knew nothing about it when I grabbed it off of a used bookstore shelf, and it's remained at the top of my surprise purchases list since reading it.

Thanks #22+ and all the rest. :-)

I read Tuchman's Medieval writings many a year ago. Had read Guns of August .
Recently got (but have not yet read) The proud Tower

I guess WWI is still a puzzle.

Guido.

Rereading Herzog's Conquest of the Useless, one of my favorites.

4 Stars for Hrabal's Dancing Lessons for the Advanced in Age. So much like anything you'd see published in America. Makes big 'realist' novels seem ridiculously square.

Started The Man Who Was Thursday by G.K. Chesterton. I had been meaning to sample his work for the longest time and am liking it very much so far. Completely reactionary and not very persuasive but mischievous, and good fun.

39: I agree he is an old reactionary curmudgeon but I love his little mysteries. I am fond of both Father Brown and the guy in the Thursday stories.

40: Now I'm looking forward to read Father Brown stories soon, yes.

Halfway through THE GOSPEL OF ANARCHY, a novel by Justin Taylor--pretty good but it strains credulity in places.

I read James Fenton's The Strength of Poetry, a collection of lectures. Fantastic. Now I'm reading Glyn Maxwell's new book On Poetry, which is exhilarating. Check out the review of it in the NYRB.

Also, Pierre Manent's Metamorphoses of the City, a smart, challenging book of intellectual and political history.

Finished The Elementary Particles. Taking a break from Houellebecq by reading The Sea before going on to Platform.

Not sure The Sea is cheerful enough to qualify as a break between Houellebecqs :-)

Prose style is a lot better though.

CONVERSATIONS WITH EDWARD SAID--disappointing even though it featured two of my favorite Middle East commentators, Said and Tariq Ali.

The discussions are slight and while some might be interested in Said's views on American or British literature or classical music, I wanted them both to focus on Palestine and related matters.

Italo Calvino The Road to San Giovanni
Aldo Leopold Sand County Almanac

Love the Sand County Almanac. Always worth a reread, and great book to take with you on camping trips.

Ah, yes. I think I'll go re-read that.

Right after I finish The Brothers Karamazov, which I started on the weekend and at this rate should finish in autumn, 2027.

Just finished Lynn Coady's story collection Hellgoing, which I don't think is her best book but is the one that won the Giller. A rare instance of the Giller jury choosing the right book. Also Jim Harrison's The River Swimmer.

Just picked up THE RIVER SWIMMER at our local library.

Looking forward to new Harrison. The man's a treasure.

Finished The Sea. After such iridescent prose I don't think I can face another Houllebecq yet. Going on to Sebald's Austerlitz instead.

Just started 11/22/63. My first Stephen King.

Been reading mostly science fiction this month, partly for review for SF Mistressworks but also to catch up with 2013 genre releases so I can nominate something for the Hugo. So after Minaret, which I liked more than Aboulela's The Translator, it was Brunner's The Squares of the City, which has a plot apparently based on a chess match though you wouldn't know it if Brunner hadn't mentioned it. Then for SF Mistressworks, Marta Randall's Journey, which was disappointing. Then The Violent Century, which felt a bit worn, and the ending was weak. Followed by Fireflood and Other Stories by Vonda N McIntyre, good post-New Wave feminist sf, also for review on SF Mistressworks. Currently reading my first 2014 publication, Europe in Autumn, a near-future thriller, for a review in Vector.

Yesterday it was THE DUEL: PAKISTAN ON THE FLIGHT PATH OF AMERICAN POWER.

Pakistan is one of the world's flashpoints and author Tariq Ali gives us an overview of a country sick right down to its soul. Very little investment in education or health, the lion's share of the money goes to the elites and military who have run the country since partition in 1947. Pakistan has never had a chance to develop a civil society because of the machinations of a small core of self-interested individuals--basically 22 families control 40% of the arable land and most of the wealth in the country. There's been little by way of land reform or income distribution. Those who can flee the country, especially the professionals; which is why we see so many Pakistani doctors, at least in my part of the world.

There are some depressing statistics, including the harrowing revelation that 60% of Pakistani children born today are moderately or severely stunted because of poor nutrition and health. They are, as a race, getting smaller with each succeeding generation. And meanwhile the elites do...nothing.

I came away from the book depressed but also with new respect and appreciation for the ordinary, much abused Pakistani citizen who has endured so much. The fact that more of them haven't gone the radical/crazy route shows just what a fundamentally decent and clear-headed people they are. Given a chance, released from bondage, they would thrive in the world, adding their special genius and perspective to the global scene, making us all that much wiser.

Finished Eleanor Catton's The Luminaries and I'm on to Doris Kearns Goodwin's Team of Rivals. Can't say I'm going for the short books this year...

Finished Jim Harrison's THE RIVER SWIMMER. Not prime Harrison; the title novella meandered like an ancient river valley. Not nearly as tight editorially as some of his best books but the music is still there (in places).

Now I'm working on Friedrich Reck's DIARY OF A MAN IN DESPAIR. Frequently verbose but when Reck rants about the stupidity of the Nazis and the bovine nature of the German people, it's pure vitriol...and devastating stuff.

Read DIARY OF A MAN IN DESPAIR.

Windy, but Reck rages right to the end.

** This is the last day of the month so everybody try to squeeze in a post about what they're reading before midnight.

Tick...tick...

Finishing up More die of Heartbreak. I'm finding it pretty interesting and studded with amusing gems:
"You can't help but wonder whether the real purpose of some enterprises is not to make money but to borrow plausibility from money as a cover for your crazy thoughts."