2010 Book List

2010 Book List


Nonfiction

1001 children's books you must read before you grow up
Off the Tourist Track: 1000 unexpected travel adventures
Concord Quartet, Alcott, Emerson, Hawthorn, Thoreau.
Mortimer Adler, Charles Van Doren. How to Read a Book 1940, 1976
Sharon Begley Train Your Mind, Change your Life
Blogging for Dummies / iPhone for Dummies
Bill Bryson Seeing Further: Science, Discovery, and the Genius of the Royal Society, At Home
Nick Bunker Make Haste from Babylon
Caleb Carr The Lessons of Terror
Celtic Wisdom
Bruce Chatwin Far journeys : photographs and notebooks
Nick Collins The End of the Line 2005
Bernard DeVoto Western Paradox
David Hackett Fischer Champlain’s Dream
Atul Gawande. The Checklist Manifesto
David Grann The Devil and Sherlock Holmes
Claire Harman. Jane’s Fame 2009
Charley Hopper (art books/environmental posters)
Bill Holm Poles in Minnesota.
Matthew Mark Jacob What the Great Ate
PD James Talking about Detective Fiction
Henry James: A life in letters Ed Philip Horne,
Sam Kean. The Disappearing Spoon (periodic table)
William Bryan Logan Oak, frame of civilisation 2008
Leonard Maltin 151 Best Movies You’ve Never Seen
John McPhee Giving Good Weight
John Medina Brain Rules: 12 principles for surviving and thriving at work, home, and school
Sy Montgomery Birdology (adventures with a pack of hens, a peck of pigeons, cantankerous crows, fierce falcons, hip hop parrots, baby hummingbirds and one murderously big living dinosaur (emu)
Philip Mould The Art Detective: Fakes, Frauds and Finds and the Search for Lost Treasures
Diana Norman 1970 Tom Corbett’s Stately Ghosts of England.
Stephanie O'Dea Make it fast, cook it slow.
Nancy Pearl Book Lust to Go: recommended reading for travelers, vagabonds, and dreamers
A passion for books (ed Dale Salwak) 1999
A passion for books : a book lover's treasury of stories, essays, humor, lore, and lists on collecting, reading, borrowing, lending, caring for, and appreciating books (1999) Eds Harold Rabinowitz and Rob Kaplan.
Eric Pooley The Climate War
William Powers Hamlet’s Blackberry: life in digital age
Eva Rice The Lost art of Keeping Secrets
Sarah Rose For all the tea in China : how England stole the world's favorite drink and changed history
Amy Stewart Flower confidential. The good, the bad and the beautiful in the business of flowers 2001 Wicked Plants 2009
Tom Slayton The Beauty of Vermont
Mark Strand. Hopper
Suzanne Strempek Shelf Life: Romance, Mystery, Drama: a year in a Bookstore 2004
Robert Sullivan The Thoreau you Don’t Know 2009
J. Maarten Troost Lost on Planet China
Abraham Verghese Cutting for Stone
Donald Worster A Passion for Nature: the life of John Muir 2008
Donald Worster Rivers of Empire: Water, Aridity and the growth of the American West 1985
Zagat Ann Christenson Chicago Restaurants

Poetry/Short Stories

TS Eliot Four quartets
Will Weaver - new book! MN press
James Lenfestey (ed) Low Down and Coming on



Mysteries, Fiction
DM Annechino They Never Die Quietly
M Gannon ed. Blood Bedlam Bullets and Badguys
Emily Arsenault The Broken Teaglass 2009
Stephanie Barron. A Flaw in the Blood, The White Garden, Jane and the Madness of Lord Bryon
Lorna Barrett Bookmarked for Death
Lauren Belfer A Fierce Radiance
Vanora Bennett The Queen’s Lover (Henry VI)
Jane Borodale The Book of Fires
Gyles Brandreth Oscar Wilde and the dead man's smile
James Buchan The Persian Bride
Andrea Camilleri The Shape of Water (novel of food wine and homicide in Sicily, first Insp Montalbano)
Jennifer Lee Carrell Haunt Me Still
Kate Carlisle If Books could kill, Homicide in Hardcover
Sarah Caudwell The Sibyl in her Grave 2000
Barbara Cleverly Strange images of Death, Darker God
John Connolly The Whisperers
Martin Davies The Conjurer's Bird, Mrs. Hudson and the Malabar Rose
Catherine Delors For the King
Mathew Dicks Something Missing
Gerald Elias. Devil's Trill
George Eliott Silas Marner
Carolly Erickson Memoirs Mary Queen of Scots
Charles Finch Stranger in Mayfair
Marina Fiorato Glassblower of Murano, The Botticelli Secret
Dick Felix Francis Crossfire
Ariana Franklin Mistress of the Art of Death, Serpents Tale, Grave Goods, Murderous procession, City of Shadows
Tana French Faithful Place
Juliet Gael Romancing Miss Bronte
Andrew Gross Dark Tide
Elly Griffeths The Crossing Places, Janus Stone
Martha Grimes The Black Cat
CS Harris What Remains of Heaven
Erin Hart Haunted Ground 2003 Lake of Sorrows 2006 False Mermaid
Georgette Heyer Duplicate Death
Homer Hickam The Dinosaur Hunter
Quintin Jardine Fatal Last Words 2009
Kathleen Kent The Wolves of Andover
Kathleen Kent The Heretic's Daughter 2008
Elizabeth Kostova. 2010 The Swan Thieves
Hilary Mantel Wolf Hall 2009, Fludd 2001 The Giant, O'Brien, Beyond Black 2005
Peter May Virtually Dead, Extraordinary People
Archer Mayor Price of Malice, Red Herring
Sharyn McCrumb The Devil amongst the Lawyers
Caroline Miniscule An Unpardonable Crime
Diana Norman Taking Liberty 2003
SJ Parris Heresy
Anne Perry The Sheen of the Silk
Elizabeth Peters Rivers in the Sky 2009
Ian Rankin. Doors Open
CJ Ransom. Dark Fire, Sovereign
Cornelia Read Field of Darkness, Crazy School, Invisible Boy
Kathy Reichs Spider Bones
Peter Robinson The Price of Love, Bad Boy
John Sandford Storm Prey, Bad Boy (Virgil)
Cathleen Schine Three Weissmanns of Westport.
Olen Steinhauer Victory Square 2007 The Tourist 2009, The Nearest Exit
Andrew Taylor Bleeding Heart Square 2009Roth Trilogy, the Lyndmouth Series, Blaines Trilogy and Dougal Series, A Stain in the Silence, The Barred Window, Raven in the Water, The American Boy.
World of Gerard Mercator.
Charles Todd The Red Door, A Lonely Death: An Inspector Ian Rutledge Mystery, An Impartial Witness



Biography

Confucius Sayings
Rusty Dewees Scrawlins (Vermont)
William Fiennes The Snow Geese (2002)
Claire Harman. Jane’s Fame: How Jane Austen Conquered the World 2009
Woody Holton. Abigal Adams 2009
St Clair McKelway Reporting at Wit’s End: Tales from the New Yorker
Alice Munro The View from Castle Rock 2006
Edna O’Brien Byron in Love: a short daring life
Val Ross Robertson Davies Portrait
Andrew Taylor The World of George Mercator
Mark Twain Autobiography



Science Fiction

Dave Duncan Monster War
Richard Morgan The Steel Remains, Altered carbon
Paul Hofman. The Left Hand of God
Terry Pratchett I shall wear Midnight
Kim Stanley Robinson Galileo's dream

Literature/Fiction

Peter Carey Parrot and Olivier
Barbara Cleverly Tug of War 2006
Tracy Cheveliar Remarkable Creatures
Justin Cronin Passages
Catherine Delors For the King
Tatiana De Rosnay Sarah’s Key 2007
Joshua Ferris Then We Came to the End 2007
Adam Gopnik The Lost Estate
Einar Mar Gundmundsson Angels of the Universe 1993 (winner Nordic Council Lit Prize)
Paul Harding Tinkers
Barbara Kingsolver The Lacuna
Sandor Marai Casanova in Bolzano 1940, translated 2004 The Rebels
Kate Morton The Distant Hours
Julie Orringer The Invisible Bridge
Ali Shaw The Girl with Glass Feet 2009
Alexander McCall Smith, Corduroy Mansions
AMS Double Comfort Safari Club
Lost Art of Gratitude, The Charming Quirks of Others
Helen Simonson Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand
Rebecca Stott The Coral Thief 2009
Elizabeth Strout Abide with Me 2006, Olive Kitteridge (2008 Pulitizer)



Romance

Amanda Quick Burning Lamp
Gail Carriger Soulless, Changeless, Blameless
Deanna Raybourn Silent on the Moor 2009
Julia Quinn What happens in London
Emma Wildes My lord Scandal
Joann Sfar and Emmanuel Gulbert The Professor’s Daughter (graphic 1997)

Childrens

GA Aiken What a Dragon Should Know
Kate DiCamillo Louise, the Adventures of A Chicken
Neil Gaiman Wild Hair
Maurice Sendak Where the Wild Things Are
Brandon Mull Fairhaven series
Lemony Snicket Thirteen Words
Lane Smith It’s A Book!



Movies/DVDs

Iron Man
Robin Hood
Climate of Change
Shrek 3D
Nanny McPhee
Secretariat
Fantastic Mr Fox
Blindside
Sherlock Holmes
Crazy Heart
From Paris with Love
Young Victoria
How to Train Your Dragon
Foyle’s War MI-5
King’s Speech
Avatar
Girl who played with Fire/Dragon Tattoo

Amandine by Marlena deBlasi

I have been a fan of de Blasi since reading her first memoir 1000 days in Venice. I think this is her first venture into fiction (she has also written cookbooks!). Amandine is lovely novel in many ways - the prose is stunning, evocative, brutal, poignant; the characters are innocent, strong, cruel, amazing, normal, heroic, challenging and endearing. The story is amazing, while feeling real, with character development, war atrocities, true friendship, dysfunctional families, and with more than a dollop of hope. The latter I am still not sure about (the ending is a cliff hanger really, perhaps she meant for you to think ah ha, of course, but I am more cynical in this world and it could break my heart). So much of this novel/story is steeped in sadness already.
I think this was an interesting novel because the major characters are all great women (smaller voices with some equally wonderful men) - interesting, great depth, character development, challenges with society, religion, cliques, poverty, war, ..... The more you think about what was packed into the book, the better the book becomes.
It starts off in 1931, Krakow Poland with a princess becoming an unwed mother; she is told her baby dies, but in fact the grandmother sends the child to a convent in Montpelier, expecting the child's death. How this innocent child precariously survives with an endless bright spirit and enchanting soul makes the life all the more tragic. The portrayal of abandonment and loss are very sincere and touching. And countered with the kindness of strangers and the development of strong bonds. A great summer read.

Vermont Reading

I have been reveling in the Green Mountains of Vermont, in the glory of summer. And enjoying the a/c in the local libraries while we have heat wave after heat wave. At least my husband is home watering the plants!
So I thought it appropriate that I read some of the local authors, or work that was IN Vermont. Some interesting stuff from the last blog including:
Archer Mayor Price of Malice - this is the 19th?!! in a Vermont mystery series with Joe Gunther and his crew. I find them to accurately represent the state, although I try not to remember the murder, rape, drugs, mayhem that they deal with on a regular basis. This is such a beautiful state that I used to call home, would like to call home and am very glad to visit again! and often. Each mystery seems to get better, I do think they need to be read in order simply for the character development.
Rusty Dewees Scrawlins - I am a Dewees fan, always have been from the first moment I saw him in Judevine - a great Vermont play (wonderful book and poetry). He has been in a couple of other productions that I was lucky to see (Hydepark, Stowe and in Burlington) and I knew he was a friend of another friend of mine in Elmore. I had no idea all the other things that he has done in his life! This is a collection of his 'essays' / writings for a radio show that are simply stunning. Moving, intricate, funny, tragic, thoughtprovoking, sad, homespun while profound. A Vermont soul and a world human being. This was published a couple of years ago, but had not come across it. I need Vermont bookstores!
Images of America, Caledonia county VT - I love these historical books - mostly photographs of another era, any era that has photographs! I am not sure they have been done for all counties yet, but I found several that were great to flip through and absorb. Fascinating to compare with what i am seeing now, as I drive by, as I remember what it was like 30 years ago. Many changes, BUT, so much is the same. Thank heavens. Long may the mountains remain.

2010 Reading List

I am travelling for a period, and finally getting time to look through the diary, check the emails, look over the lists, sort out my paper life! As it happens, with the invention of the iphone and built in camera, I have used the camera to take snapshots of books I want to read. In the last week, in various bookstores (Vermont has 55 wonderful used bookstores, and LOTS of libraries which are having summer book sales - and yes I am shipping books home out of the luggage) I have photographed a number of books: the list looks like this:
Julie Orringer The Invisible bridge
Georgette Heyer Duplicate death
Where the wild things are
Tinkers Paul Harding
AMS Double Comfort Safari Club
J. Maarten Troost Lost on Planet China
Eva Rice The lost art of keeping secrets
John McPhee Giving good weight
Archer Mayor Price of Malice
Rusty Dewees Scrawlins
Images of America, Caledonia county VT
Marina Fiorato The Botticelli secret
Juliet Gael Romancing Miss Bronte
Tana French Faithful Place

Yes I have read a couple of these years ago, but revisiting is also fun, sometimes in a different format (dvd or audio). Sometimes it is the republication cover that attracts attention and reminds you what a wonderful book that was. Or reminds you of where you were when you read it.

That plus another list, means I have alot to catch up on! But I have actually read a few books lately, and listened to a couple more travelling the back roads of Vermont. I am typing this in the Stowe Public Library, where I was a patron 25 years ago. I read through their entire collection of books on tape (and it was cassette tape then!) during my commute to Burlington, or to Huntington (Camel's Hump research site). This was where I learned to listen to children's books on tapes and can still recite some of the wonderful lines by incredible voices (and people!). And here I listened to hours of poetry, especially Robert Frost and Emily Dickinson, as well as radio programmes, that connected me again with my parents "the shadow knows!". This is a wonderful library, and community, and state. Tomorrow I head to Montpelier for two of my favourite bookstores: Rivendell and Bear Pond Books. With a couple of PO mailing boxes in hand.... ;-)

Diana Norman, Taking Liberties

Diana Norman, Ariana Franklin is a journalist, now novelist because she loves historical detail. Reviews of all her books are excellent. There is so much detail, you can reread these books. There are nuances and great detail, but galloping reads as well.
My heart broke for the woman in this story - married at 18 within the aristocratic England; incredible descriptions of family, duty, life. She never forgave her parents for her marriage yet accepted her duty. The arrival of her son was her deepest joy and worst hurt as her husband removed all joy and and beat out all happiness. But she finds herself free at 39 with his death. Only to have her son and his wife cripple her (financially) - and yet she gives her son what he needs, clinging to his wife for support and affection. BUT she escapes by 'visits' - and the arrival of a letter that awakens the dream of the only happy time in her life when she was 13/14.
Then comes the crusade to save the 'boy', to help a friend, to have an adventure and 'live'. She falls in love, what a magical relationship that is. What astounding characters/people. (a slave is given his freedom, and gives it back to save the cause - prisoner exchange. the second woman Makepeace - so very different, so alike and the tale that combines the two lives, making a social history). Profound on so many levels.

(She is also the author of the Mistress of Death series which I love)

Kate Carlisle Beach Reads

Homicide in Hardback by Kate Carlisle
Just finished a library book which was a bibliophile mystery - start of a new series (murder is always a best seller!) Great summer fun read- light easy, description of amazing books (Faust)...and off to the Edinburgh Book Festival in the next one!! I did like the dedication: "Books have the same enemies as people: fire, humidity, animals, weather and their own contents." - Paul Valery.
Brooklyn Wainwright is the main character who lives and breathes book restoration in San Francisco. She has an interesting set of friends to say nothing of the 'far out family', and has a quick wit, convoluted past (three engagements?!) and a new possibility (Derek Stone, british security who drives a bently continental for heaven sakes!) So much is completely far fetched, but you will laugh. Light entertainment with a few heart strings. This was nominated for an RT First Mystery award. The author's blog: katecarlisle.com is also very entertaining, and reveals that alot of what was written, was actually personally lived. Her next book has been published: If Books could kill and she is at work on her third bibliophile mystery.

EO Wilson, Anthill

June 10 (1929) is the birthday of the biologist E.O. Wilson, born Edward Osborne Wilson in Birmingham, Alabama. There have recently been several book reviews of his novel Anthill (2010)(not his usual forte, his 22nd book but first fiction, but brilliant nonetheless) by Klinkenborg and Kingsolver.

A biology major at the University of Tennessee and Harvard (later professor), he developed an interest in Ants. He spent years researching ants all over the world (which makes fascinating reading!). One of his first books The Theory of Island Biogeography (1967), was a cornerstone in my own ecological career. The book remains influential in the fields of ecology and conservation biology.

Then, he wrote Sociobiology (1975), describing the biological foundation for behavior from ants to humans. The book was and remains controversial because some people believed that it justified racism and sexism. His book On Human Nature(1978) was a rebuttal, developing the concepts of sociobiology into a more fair and just society, not the opposite. It won the Pulitzer Prize. Other favourite books include Biophilia (1984), The Ants (1990), and his autobiography, Naturalist (1995). I love reading Bernd Heinrich's nonfiction books as well (ravens, bees, Maine Woods). Edward Hoagland still writes the best nature essays.

Wilson said, "Destroying rainforest for economic gain is like burning a Renaissance painting to cook a meal."

2010 booklist (so far)

2010 Book List
Nonfiction
Caleb Carr. The lessons of terror : a history of warfare against civilians : why it has always failed, and why it will fail again
Henry James : a life in letters Ed Philip Horne,
Leonard Maltin 151 Best Movies You’ve Never Seen (on my kindle)
A passion for books (ed Dale Salwak)(1999)
A passion for books : a book lover's treasury of stories, essays, humor, lore, and lists on collecting, reading, borrowing, lending, caring for, and appreciating books.
(1999) Eds Harold Rabinowitz and Rob Kaplan.
Amy Stewart (2001)Flower confidential. The good, the bad and the beautiful in the business of flowers. (2009) Wicked Plants
Donald Worster A Passion for Nature: the life of John Muir. (2008) \
Donald Worster Rivers of Empire : Water, aridity and the growth of the American west. (1985).
Poetry
TS Eliot Four quartets

Mysteries, Fiction
Emily Arsenault (2009) The Broken Teaglass
Stephanie Barons. A flaw in the blood. The White Garden
Martin Davies. The conjurer's bird. Mrs. Hudson and the Malabar rose.
Gerald Elias. (2009)Devil's Trill.
Quintin Jardine (2009) Fatal Last Words.
Elizabeth Kostova. 2010. The swan thieves.
Hilary Mantel. 2009. Wolf Hall
CJ Ransom. Dark fire, Sovereign
Olen Steinhauer (2009) The Tourist
Andrew Taylor (2009) Bleeding Heart Square.
Roth Trilogy (four last things, Judgement of Strangers, Office of the Dead), the Lyndmouth Series, Blaines Trilogy and Dougal Series.
A stain in the silence, The Barred Window, Raven in the water, The American Boy.

Biography
Edna O’Brien Byron in love: a short daring life


Science Fiction
Richard Morgan (1995) The Steel Remains,13 thirteen, Altered carbon “ the Future isn’t what it used to be since Morgan arrived on the scene.”

Literature/Fiction
Barbara Cleverly (2006) Tug of War.
Ali Shaw The Girl with Glass Feet (2009)

Sandor Marai Casanova in Bolzano (1940, translated 2004)

DVDs
MI-5 (season 7)
Big Ban Theory (season one)


2010 Book List
Nonfiction
Henry James : a life in letters Ed Philip Horne, who is a James scholar in England. I loved reading such articulate letters, starting with those to people I knew (RL Stevenson, Edith Wharton etc) , then went to the letters that mentioned people I knew (Hopper, etc) then just read them for the sake of the sentence construction, argument, sense of time and historical value, then for the human insights.
Caleb Carr. The lessons of terror : a history of warfare against civilians : why it has always failed, and why it will fail again. I had had no idea that he was so involved in military history, various journal articles/editor. Perhaps that was why there were only four novels, but I sincerely hope he continues with Sherlock Holmes!

A passion for books (ed Dale Salwak)(1999) 19 essays on books – the future of books, a celebration of the value and importance of reading, role of collectors in the preservation of books. Salwak also has a long list of books ‘reference guides’ to other authors (e.g. Kingsley Amis, Braine and Wain), Cronin, Pym, Carl Sandburg, and others). There are enough book quotes in here to last me a decade. “People find the books they need, writes Lance Morrow: (he could have stopped there, but went on) ‘to escape, to edify and impress, to keep sane, to touch other intelligences, to absorb a litte grace.’ Well said.
I need to buy this book. (Kindle?) Ruined by Reading (Lynne Sharon Schwartz) Literature without Books? Laurence Lerner The Sad Demise of the Personal Library (James Shapiro) The Pleasures of Reading Joseph Epstein, Other Worlds to Inhabit John Bayley. Books in my life G Thomas Tanselle.
Anatole Broyard, life in Greenwich Village: ‘it was as if we didn’t know where we ended and books began. Books were our weather, our environment, our clothing. We didn’t simply read books; we became them. We took them into ourselves and made them into our histories….books gave us balance….books steadied us….they gave us gravity.’
(this title was from Lawrence Clark Powell’s 1958 volume; Rabinowitz/Kaplan have also used it 1999).
Old books like old friends are always the best of companions Michael Korda.

A passion for books : a book lover's treasury of stories, essays, humor, lore, and lists on collecting, reading, borrowing, lending, caring for, and appreciating books.
(1999) Eds Harold Rabinowitz and Rob Kaplan.
It is always nice to meet people for whom buying a book is a necessity not a luxury.
60 essays on various books and authors, by authors themselves, telling their stories of creating the book/plot/story. I love that Ray Bradbury wants to be buried with books “Sharkespeare as a pillow, Pope at one elbow, Yeats at the other and Shaw to warm my toes. Good company for far travelling.” Onward we go. Fellow sufferers of bibliomania (?)! suffering?? Robertson Davies!! ‘my real admiration is reserved for people who collect books because they love them.’ But he loved to talk about the people who were ‘weak’ and stole the books they coveted! I was intrigued by his transportation back to the time of the book – how valuable, important that was as he was reading ancient texts. (this essay was from his Enthusiasms). “There are 10,000 books in my library, and it will keep growing until I die. This has exasperated my daughters, amused my friends, and baffled my accountant. If I had not picked up this habit in the library long ago, I would have more money in the bank today; I would not be richer.’ Pete Hamill, D’Artagnan on Ninth Street.

Amy Stewart (2001)Flower confidential. The good, the bad and the beautiful in the business of flowers. (noted columnist and author) narrative style, easy to read, very informative – feel her love of plants, which only falters a few times in the industrial wasteland of the business. Disillusioning to say the least. Loved the history of her flowers and people, interspersed with her flower bix.
CA has 60% of all American Roses, but Valentines Day has 110 million roses imported from South America over this three day buyout.
5% of farm workers in CA were born in America, and 95%rest only 5% have health insurance.
Visiting a flower farm is like visitng a chocolate factory. In many ways, it’s the most ordinary run of the mill operation, with warehouses and machinery and people…looking forward to their coffeebreaks. But the products itself is magical, transcendent and utterly distracting. A lot of her writing needs editing ‘like’ is everywhere.
Wicked Plants (2009) “200 plants that have damaged, killed, intoxicated, with menacing botanical illustrations and splendidly ghastly drawings” – how could you not read this? Quite entertaining, but mostly just snippets (short book) – history, medicine, science and legend about a page a piece.

Donald Worster Rivers of Empire : Water, aridity and the growth of the American west. (1985). I can’t believe I missed this book 25 years ago. I have since learned all of its contents in various other journals, magazines, etc. But he wrote this, not just as history or a retelling of events, but as a warning. Unheeded, drastically so. Appallingly so. Water is the commodity of the 21st century – but always has been beyond the 100th meridian of the USA. The politics are appalling, the wealth and greed, the local struggle, the inhumane arguments are all categorized here. We aren’t going to listen to the global warming cry now (Fox news says let’s wait 25 years! We have in this book and it is so much worse. He says let us assume that the nest stage is not a mere continuation of the present…. well, that didn’t happen…. Water or oil, the results seem the same. Inevitable? I begin to understand why old people aren’t afraid to die, you can’t take any more of what we do to the planet. Hope yes, but it will never be the planet it was, especially in our lifetime. I wish (almost) that I couldn’t remember the ancient stands of trees and the smell of fresh air, or the peace of a quiet plain or forest or ocean.) I am just depressed. Well researched, as are all his books.

Poetry
TS Eliot Four quartets I loved the Burnt Norton. “time present and time past are both perhaps present in time future. ….only through time time is conquered…. Of timeless moments. So, while the light fails On a winter’s afternoon, in a secluded chapel History is now and England.” In the Week, this was recommended by Ian Rankin, and one of the best 10 books he was reading. Poetry can be so short/thin book, and so profound, moving, absorbing, challenging. Deep thoughts for days on passages, images and comparisons in my life. I need to live more.

Mysteries, Fiction
CJ Ransom. Dark fire, Sovereign I so continue to enjoy the story of Tudor England and the hunchback lawyer. Intrigue, mystery, history, and human fraility is to…. Unpleasant too.

Stephanie Barons. A flaw in the blood.
This is a very interesting account of ‘what if’ – It is an extremely unflattering portrait of Queen Victoria, but full of British/Royal/Aristocracy pretension. Lovely portrait of the youngest son, Leopold, who was also hemophiliac. The story races between several of Victoria’s children with insight, affection, …. Based on an idea that Alfred committed suicide (not typhoid, tho possibly stomach cancer or perforated ulcer). He was aghast at the genetics of the disease (wonderful description of the first woman doctor!) that possibly meant Victoria’s hereditary rights belonged to someone else and his family would have to abdicate. She could never tolerate that, her ‘peculiar childhood to the role she must fulfill/her only purpose in life’ driving her to be a ruthless ruler, and then deceptively lead a ‘sad life’ waiting for her children to take their ‘rightful places among the kingdoms of the world…holding sway for centuries to come’…. Interesting picture, and completely believable!
Martin Davies. The conjurer's bird. I just loved this picture. Joseph Banks, great name of my botanical history, plus a modern day piece of a puzzle together to create a new story. I liked that it was a story well known within one family, but of course not available to history. It is only by connecting dots, and seeing some coincidences, that a possible truth is discovered. And what a lovely story. I liked all of the characters (although the back and forth between centuries is not always the best venue for readability).
Reminded me somewhat of Andrea Barrett’s short story of Linneaus. Both tragic, both romantic, both atmospheric. And such beautiful prose or turn of phrase.
Mrs. Hudson and the Malabar rose He is writing Sherlock Holmes, with the housekeeper as crime solver! I loved the time frame – these are light, fast reads, not meant to be Holmesian. Delightful. She isn’t flustered by anything (of course not, she’d have to be intelligent to put up with Holmes or to be kept by him).
Gerald Elias. (2009)Devil's trill This was a debut novel, written by an amazing violinist, who is also an avid mystery writer! Concert Master for Utah Symphony, Music Professor, Violinist with the BSO. Graduate of Yale. The first, but will be a series. Almost a bit formulaic in having the tragic antihero, the twisted plot, the race to prove innocence, the locked room of course! the florid writing that nearly gushes at some of the musical passages (but I loved it-imagine other music lovers will also like the descriptions), with all the history, the revelatory insiders view of musical exploitation of children (like beauty pageants)… lurid musical underworld, shady violin dealers, venal patrons, backstabbing teachers and parents.
The writing is thoroughly engaging – you know he (author) is setting you up too.
Daniel Jacobus, blind, young, bitter, chainsmoking, reclusive violin teacher (went blind at pinacle of career when offered concertmaster to BSO but rare genetic eye disease permanently blinded him.) But many of his students ‘love’ him, and eventually go on to become amazing musicians. Every description of playing, notes, scores is both instructive and moving (I would close my eyes and listen to the words/music). Jacobus attends the Grimsley Competition held every 13 years at Carnegie Hall to children/prodigies younger than 13; the winner gets cash, symphonic appearance and use of the world’s only ¾ size stradivarious legendary Piccolino. And the plot begins. After the winner plays it the violin goes missing, the teacher is murdered and the finger points to Jacobus of course.
Quintin Jardine (2009) Fatal Last Words. Edinburgh Book Festival in August, with fantastic descriptions. I have always wanted to return to this event (only went once when I lived there). Murder of an author, the 19th Skinner novel; not my favourite character anymore, but the detail was important to me. Pity I didn’t like the people who live there in his world.


Elizabeth Kostova. 2010. The swan thieves.

Hilary Mantel. 2009. Wolf Hall [compact disc : a novel] Booker Prize I enjoyed the novel, but liked listening to it more. Perhaps because it was SO graphic on the page. I could distract myself visually with the everyday life while still listening to the story. I can see where it won the awards, and was glad of the dense numerous pages to keep me in winter reading. A perfect escapist book, but a brutal portrayal of English life. It dragged in places, she is extremely descriptive. I read it twice.

Olen Steinhauer (2009) The Tourist. Previously nominated (finalist) for Edgars, (as well as all sorts of other awards) so have to find the rest of his Eastern European crime series/ books! He was raised in Va now lives in Budapest. What a find. Complex, fast paced, classic espionage. Great plotting, dark unusual intelligent characters. Very reminiscent of LeCarre but totally modern/ contemporary in Eastern Europe. Milo Weaver is an undercover agent CIA, now retired from the ‘field’ to a NYC desk. So many intricacies, and unexpected twists, I still wonder if he really knew who is father was. I for one will never understand his mother! Clever portraits of previous life, current state, and what could have been. Not pleasant upon thinking through the plot, actual story (e.g. our governments, global politics and general spying!). Absolutely compelling read. George Clooney has options the film rights!

Andrew Taylor (2009) Bleeding Heart Square. 1934 England. Mrs Lydia Lanstone seeks refuge in 7 Bleeding Heart Sq, London because her father lives there and she is fleeing her husband. But a story that seems decades older begins to unravel (only four years) with her arrival. We know of the next war, the fascist/Nazis and the hardships that are about to come. We see the loss of class structure and the thin veneer of aristocracy, as well as human decency. This book is enveloped in historical detail, quite convoluted plot, presence of true evil in the world. Yet. Yet, we have the future hope and we are living in the present. The story is more about Rory Wentwood too = his struggle to get a job, after returning from India, without an anchor in a country he doesn’t recognise. The writing is compelling and the first account is horrifying (esp as he writes of mobs, the changes in england, and begins to find his vocation). Society isn’t pretty. This reminds me of PDJames (not quite as well written, but historical atmosphere, intricate people, decisions have far reaching consequences). His first novel won the John Creasey Award, shortlisted for the Gold Dagger and Edgar. He is the only author to receive CWA Ellis Peters Historical Dagger Award twice. Lives in England and has so many more books published:: Roth Trilogy (four last things, Judgement of Strangers, Office of the Dead), the Lyndmouth Series, Blaines Trilogy and Dougal Series. Can’t wait!!
A stain in the silence, The Barred Window, Raven in the water, The American Boy.

Emily Arsenault (2009) The Broken Teaglass
This reminded me of the Secret History – (Donna Tartt’s first book) This is also a first book, but that might prejudice the reading of this novel. Set in New England, and the old NE façade, but also an academic façade. 2 recent college graduates work in a dictionary company as lexicographers, with a dry sense of humour and budding romance. Numerous dark twists to each character, some completely out of place or unnecessary (you can tell it is a first novel). Oh, to have a job looking for new expressions, new words, same words but new meanings, and just write them on chits, to pile up the number of chits, to eventually put it into the dictionary. Paid to read newspapers, magazines, etc. Not at all sure I would recognise the words/phrases if I saw them, but then, they are solving a mystery, hunting for the clues hidden in the chits – citations from a book that doesn’t exist. Billy Webb seemed too young, esp with the Billy, not Bill, not Will, and it didn’t fit at all with his run in with mortality; so unusual with teenagers. Off beat mystery cum coming of age novel. ‘Sweet and charming’ – not really my description of it. I found myself laughing, but also shaking my head feeling old. These kids have no concept of what they need to do to survive, live and thrive. Wake up!

Biography
Edna O’Brien Byron in love: a short daring life I am still surprised I can write about this short book. I was hoping for fewer of the lurid details and perhaps a greater understanding of why he did some things. She was extremely fair and concise, but I learned more of Byron then I ever wanted to know, and I already knew too much. Worse that it was all true. (I was hoping for some exaggerations). It has been one of the reasons I don’t read a lot of biography – I would rather lead a full life than have too many details (which I hope no one ever wonders or reads about my life!). I am appalled at how much detail some people find necessary to write about/discuss a person. It feels like dirty laundry of the literary type. Was it necessary to know to read his literature? Hunger for love; manic depressive, stage show. Died in the Greek fight for independence of malaria, helped by supposed medical care (bleeding). Still, her writing was astonishing: ‘fierce intelligence trapped in child’s magic and malice’ a destructive genius. ‘Embodiment of everyman, human, ambitious, erratic, generous, destructive, dazzling, dark and dissonant’ ‘ something that eludes us they buried a poet and resurrected a legend’.
‘the other guests were frightful, facetious, and frivolous’. So many lines with wonderful alliteration.
Donald Worster A Passion for Nature: the life of John Muir. (2008) This was a prize winning nonfiction last year (09), which is how I noticed it. This was a great bio, analytical, detailed, interesting, riveting in places, providing a good perspective, informative for our age and well researched. Captures some of the essence of what must have made this man – he was so well liked, so well known, although only later in life. He dedicated his life to making people see the beauty of nature and the absolute desperation to preserve/conserve the natural environment, against huge odds even then. I read this book with a sigh, a what if, all the time….think of what places would look like, if we had saved them, if we had started water conservation back then, if we had NOT put the automobile in so many places, if we had educated more people…. He was also truly a scotsman and made things up to suit him. I liked his daughter Helen ;-)
Yes, I will now start, and read all that Worster had written. How did I miss him? Prof of American History at Univ Kansas. A River Running West, The wealth of Nature: Environmental history and the ecological imagination, Dust Bowls: the southern plains in the 1930s (won Bancroft Prize).

Science Fiction
Richard Morgan Altered carbon
Richard Morgan (1995) The Steel Remains – stunning re-invention of the fantasy that ‘a dark lord will rise’ – Ringil Eskiath (Gil), one time war hero or washed up mercenary, definitely cynic/world weary, with quick temper and quicker/swifter sword (ravensfriend), squabbles with his aristocratic family, but inevitably / honourably does the right thing and helps. Has two sidekicks Egar and Archeth (female) almost the three muskateers ;-) But these are people I know, would like to know.
Reminded me of Dave Duncan; perhaps faster, more violent. Incredibly graphic, but fascinating imagination.
I laughed when the corpse mites attacked and one particularly got to his jerkin ‘that was clean on today you little shit’ as he kills it. An odd sense of humour throughout. I would like to read more about the author, especially ‘brooding excesses and antisocial abandon of Morgan the Barbarian’ as he described himself.
Richard K Morgan
13 (thirteen) “ the Future isn’t what it used to be since Morgan arrived on the scene.” How true that is; all-purpose anti-hero Takeshi Kovacs (Altered Carbon, Broken Angels, Woken Furies; won Philip K Dick Award). Market Forces introduced Chris Faulkner, ‘war for profit’ and wasn’t that a bite into our times? Won the John Campbell Award). 13, however, combines all the previous books/concepts. Genetic engineering (taking the primal survival skills civilisation has supposedly erased; softer maybe but I haven’t noticed a nicer generation(s). 13s the ultimate military fighting force; of course exiled, but then wanted when things get out of hand. It was kind of hard to think that they were ‘the last true humans, not a variant’. I liked the space shuttle details (need to tell Scott). So many sentences I laugh, enjoy the detail, love the wit/satire. In any world, this works.

Literature/Fiction
Barbara Cleverly (2006) Tug of War. 1926 in Britain and France. Wonderful story of French woman who husband goes to war and she takes on the vineyard – and has to make a go of it when he goes missing (presumed dead for 10 years). I liked Scotland Yard Joe Sandilands too (traveling with his niece this time) – my first introduction to him although he has many other novels that take place in India (and won Historical Dagger awards).
Reminded me of the recent Anne Perry novel, plus the Charles Todd. Women coming into their own, against historical expectations. I loved that it was Reims, one of my favourite places and champagne! Full of intrigue, detailed places and a long lost morality (?) that sense of time and place. It was him afterall, ‘he smiled a smile worth waiting for.’
Couldn’t believe that Gail had recommended this to me the day before, and I opened my box from Daedulous Books and there is was (the 99cent trade ppk).

Ali Shaw The Girl with Glass Feet (2009)
I loved this book. It reminded me so much of the Elegance of the Hedgehog. I was captured at the first chapter with the photographer who understands that he is chasing light to capture image. Midas, then Ida, then the real and imagined world. You believe in the fairies that changed her life – killing her by degrees, changing her to glass. A race against time, ending tragically, yet unbelievably hopeful. So destined for tragedy, yet transformed by it. So sudden an end, yet a possibility.
For a first novel, this was amazing. Absolutely breathtaking, magical descriptions. I kept thinking it must be in the Hebrides because of the island isolation, the local superstitions, but it is so very English.

Sandor Marai Casanova in Bolzano (1940, translated 2004) library book
Another rediscovered masterpiece from the author of Embers: an erotically charged novel; written within the framework of historical reality -about Casanova ‘s fateful encounter with the woman who finally defeats him. In 1756 Giacomo Casanova escaped from the dreaded cells of Venice’s most infamous jail. The Lead, from the lead roof ducal Palace.
Stopping to rest at the Italian village of Bolzano, Casanova secures (extorts 6 gold pieces!) a loan to rebuild his life, and resumes his art of seduction. But there is another reason he has come to this particular village: the memory of a duel he fought long ago with the duke of Parma over a girl named Francesca. Casanova lost the fight; Francesca became the duke’s wife; and the duke spared Casanova’s life on condition that he never set eyes on her again. Now an old man, the duke arrives at the inn with a love letter he has intercepted from his wife to Casanova. He could kill Casanova on the spot but instead makes him an irresistible offer, one that will ultimately be the downfall of the notorious lover. Brimming with the richness and psychological tension
October 31, 1756: the incorrigible playboy and roving gambler Giacomo Casanova escapes from a pestilent Venetian prison. Aiming for Munich, he stops near the Austrian border at an inn in Bolzano. The imperious septuagenarian duke of Parma, Casanova's victorious former rival for the hand of Francesca then a teenager, now the duchess of Parma, and still in love with Casanova just happens to live nearby. To prevent another duel, the duke blackmails the legendary womanizer: either he seduces Francesca, breaks her heart and leaves, thereby curing her of the "infection" that is Casanova, or he risks being killed or turned in to the authorities. The fervent colloquy echoes the centerpiece that structures Embers, Marai's only other novel to be translated into English. Unlike Embers, however, this book fizzles out; an austere and poignant exposition on the inexorability of fate that has been building for over 200 pages collapses into an intolerably tedious, long-winded rant by Francesca as she tries to persuade Casanova to run away with her. The harangue makes it hard to believe that anyone would fight over her and makes the reader wonder why another Marai (1900 -1989) work was not translated before this one.
151 Best Movies You’ve Never Seen (on my kindle)
By Leonard Maltin
Film critic, historian and USC film-studies Professor Leonard Maltin has published his famous Movie Guide annually since 1969, but it isn’t a place to go for selectivity. So now Maltin has written Leonard Maltin’s 151 Best Movies You’ve Never Seen. In this new book, Maltin unearths 151 films that he thinks have been unfairly under-rated, and he explains why. Reading this book will inspire you to see all of the films described here and you won’t be disappointed in any of them.
Maltin’s still king of the succinct review, making this book a handy reference for cineasts who think they’ve seen it all.
I have his 2008 movie guide (for the dvds) but it is SO dense. I truly need the 100 best, or the 10 best in each genre, or the 10 best per year! This is a perfect book for Kindle, a reference book that you can bookmark, put on your phone (e.g. when buying access!) and also just look up when you are ‘wasting time’. I also sampled a couple of others – e.g. for the best extras on dvds etc. I await digital downloads, but I love the extras too.

Sarah Blake The Postmistress

I loved my husband's comment on the dilemma of birthday shopping - that he went into the bookstore and requested 1) only the latest publication, preferably this week but March 2010 would do, 2) only hardcover (for greater chance combined with 1) that I hadn't read it) and 3) that it have style over substance, although substance was equally important (to exclude the mystery/romance/horror genres perhaps). He could have said literature ;-)
But I did get a lovely book, that I haven't read! and can't wait to read. Somehow it will be at least two days before I can pick it up but I will be sure to tell you all about it. Especially as the advance praise for the book includes the comment: "...belongs in what Gellhorn called the 'permanent and necessary' library." The first chapter alone is beautifully written and makes me impatient to know the characters and the rest of the story!
It is a perfect present that will give me hours of enjoyment.

Bleeding Heart Square Andrew Taylor

OH OH OH
New Author!!
I feel like setting off sirens. Reading the Bas Bleu catalogue, I was intrigued by their review, of a mystery writer I hadn't heard of. Thought perhaps a new book/ author, but when I got the book, discovered he has written 4 novels, and FOUR TRILOGIES! (Roth, Lydmouth BLanes and Dougal). Oh my, there are so many more books to read. This Bleeding Heart Square book was published 2009, is an actual place in London, has a great opening chapter, and looks like it will be an atmospheric/ historical read (1934). The author has won numerous awards; first novel won the John Creasy Award, shortlisted for Gold Dagger and Edgar. He is also the only author to receive the CWA Ellis Peters Historical Dagger Award twice. I am hooked. Hooray! Plus there are 15 more books to read ;-)I am sure there are alot of these in the 50cent to $1 mystery section in the Bookstore.

The Broken Teaglass turned out to be an acceptable read. I liked the characters much more by the end of the book although I had sorted it all out (surprised later to find many readers had no idea or didn't expect the plot ending). Not quite the literary mystery that sends me in raptures, but this was a fun read.

Emily Arsenault The Broken Teaglass 2009

Has anyone else out there read The Broken Teaglass by Emily Arsenault? I recently started this and have been laughing ever since. I don't suspect it was meant to be this funny, but it is great fun in so many ways. Again, the jacket cover brought me in: her debut novel of a venerable dictionary publisher, ...teasing literary puzzle, suspense novel, New England flavour, and "an exploration of definitions: of words, of who we are, and of the stories we choose to define us." I was also intrigued by the author blurb that states she was also a lexicographer, english teacher, children's librarian and a Peace Corp volunteer. She wrote this to pass long quiet evenings in her mud brick house in rural South Africa.
100 pages into it, I am intrigued by the story, but find the characters are definitely just out of college. I hate feeling like an old fogey, but we are doing our children/adults no favours if they can't boil water and balance a checkbook, to say nothing of socially interact! More later, when I finish and figure it all out!

CIty Secrets: Books Ed Robert Kahn and Mark Strand 2009

I just stumbled across this book and love it. The start "By recommending a book to someone, we extend its life. If the book has been neglected or forgotten, we save it from sure oblivion. It is easy, therefore, to imagine this collection of short personal essays as a kind of rescue operation".... is perfect. This is how I feel about so many books I recommend. And a partial reason why this blog has come into being. But here is an unusual literary guidebook that covers a wide array of authors, presented by other poets, novelists, editors, critics, etc. In short, people you would want to recommend a book to you! I also looked up a couple of reviews and loved the "best literary gift to travelers since Baedeker and Henry James' from the Financial times! And also discovered that they have a series of City Secret Books, which are next on my list to review/read/own. None appear to be on Kindle yet though. And that is an ideal spot for this type of information. I have requested purchase for the Library.

Henry James: A life in Letters Philip Horne (ed)

We were reading Henry James in our Literature into Film bookclub at the Library, and as complimentary reading I got this out of the library. What a delightful find, especially with footnotes! I liked the fact that this is a 'real and best biography'. I hunted for the people he corresponded with that I knew and liked (RLStevenson, Edith Wharton, HGWells) before heading to read about people he knew and discussed (e.g. Hopper). Horne is also a wonderful biographer of James, and has a series of books on him.
This was also 'appropriate' reading selection because Henry James was of scottish and irish ancestry, and last week was the Burns Supper all around the world, in recognition of Robert Burns, Scotland's national poet. So I was of course reading Burn's poetry, reciting some as well. Haggis was even made for the occasion.

BOOKSALE

The Friends of the Library and the Friends Bookstore are having a Book Sale in two weeks, as part of WINTERFEST in Rochester MN. SAVE the dates (February 11, 12, Thurs and Friday).
This is an overstock sale so there will be fabulous books at great prices. Perfect for cozy readings on these freezing nights! You will find alot of books to create your own reading lists, as well as many that are on mine. ENJOY!

Mail order books

I am often asked where I find my books. The Rochester Public Library is often first stop (both the website and general browsing), then the Friends bookstore (because I love owning books, and at those prices can share with the 'you must read this book') and the Amazon site, using the Friends portal (which donates money to the Friends, and therefore the Rochester Public Library. Then of course, I have several favourite 'booksellers-by-post' : the first is Bas Bleu (Fr for bluestocking, e.g. a literary woman). Their catalogue is fabulous and the online site is easy to negotiate (www.basbleu.com). I also receive the Daedalus catalogue where items are displayed by category, and have publication dates. Sale prices can excellent, and they have dvd movies and cds. Ordering online is through salemusic.com. If you have plenty of time to search the catalogue, Edward R Hamilton Bookseller also has great deals. Catalogue is usually packed, some have photos of covers, various editions come as newspapers with rock bottom prices. EdwardRHamilton.com provides a mechanism to search online, but I generally print the order and post it. These three have very different inventories, but I generally cross reference: I have found as much as $10 difference per title. For example, Chasing Spring, new was $22 at Amazon, 6.99 at Daedalus, and 3.95 at Hamilton.
Happy Booking!

Joshua Kendall Roget's Thesaurus (2008)

I love my thesaurus, but after reading this book, decided I needed to update mine (third edition) and then thought ah ha, perfect Kindle book, expecting it to be free (see below).
Background from my 2008 reading list:: Joshua Kendall published a biography of Roget called The Man Who Made Lists: Love, Death, Madness, and the Creation of Roget's Thesaurus (2008)
Peter Mark Roget worked on a project classifying words for almost 50 years, amassing over 15,000 words, finally publishing his manuscript as Roget's Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases Classified and Arranged So as to Facilitate the Expression of Ideas and Assist in Literary Composition (1852). Roget, born in London Jan 18th, 1779, had a long and distinguished career as a doctor; he lectured, he invented a slide rule that did complex mathematics, he studied optics and made an important breakthrough about how the retina perceives images. When he retired, he returned to the thesaurus, a compilation of words arranged in categories. Roget's Thesaurus has never been out of print, is now in it's 6th Edition (2002) and contains more than 330,000 words in 1075 categories. It was part of the Gutenburg project, and is available for free as a download. On Kindle and Nook, however, you will pay $10, if you don't know about pdf files.