Friday Finds (Oct. 31)

This is my first time with Friday Finds. To see what other books were found this week, click here.

I post my entire list of weekly discoveries on Sundays, but I thought I'd pick out a couple of books to highlight for this meme.




My Lady of Cleves by Margaret Campbell Barnes is the story of -- duh -- Anne of Cleves, Henry VIII's fourth wife. I found this book through a review at Alabama Book Worm (click here). I love reading both fiction and nonfiction that covers the period of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I in England. I hope to get to it in 2009.









My next find is a series of medieval mysteries (A Mortal Bane is the first one) by Roberta Gellis. Our hero is a 12th-century madame (as in house of ill-repute) in London. I learned about these books from an audiobook mystery list I subscribe to. I plan on starting the series sometime after the holidays.




For my entire list of new-to-me books for the week, please check back on Sunday morning.

EDIT: Couldn't wait for next year! I started A Mortal Bane 10 hours after posting!

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Booking through Thursday

Here is this week's BTT. For more answers click here.

Mariel suggested this week’s question.

Are you a spine breaker? Or a dog-earer? Do you expect to keep your books in pristine condition even after you have read them? Does watching other readers bend the cover all the way round make you flinch or squeal in pain?

I hate a broken spine (yow! wouldn't it hurt?) on any book. I am careful not to do it.

The rest depends on the book and the binding. I'm fairly careful with hardback books. I don't dog-ear them or write in them. I don't even like to use the cover flap as a bookmark. Nicely bound paperbacks often get treated the same way, but generally I'll dog-ear a paperback, and sometimes I might even make a small tick or mark in the margins.

I used to be more careful of my paperbacks, but now that I see how poorly some of them hold up over time (for example, yellowed pages that fall right out when you open the book), I have eased up.

I am respectful of other people's books. So much so, it can be difficult to read them. I almost never lend books, because I find that other people just don't treat my books well. I've gotten books back that look like they were dipped in the bath, that have coffee stains on the covers, that have broken spines, and more. Sometimes I don't get the book back at all.

What other people do to their own books is their own business. I don't flinch.

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Wordless Wednesday

A fountain in Montreal.

For more Wordless Wednesday photos click here.

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Review: The Hippopotamus Pool, by Elizabeth Peters

This is the 8th entry in the Amelia Peabody mystery series. The series must be read in order because the main characters age and change and new ones are introduced, disappear, and reappear.

Amelia Peabody, a self-sufficient, forward-thinking Victorian, met her dashing husband, Radcliff Emerson, in the first book of the series. Emerson is an Egyptologist, and the pair return to the banks of the Nile almost every year to resume their search for a untouched royal tomb. No field season would be complete without a little murder and mayhem.

In this entry, Amelia and Emerson take their son, Ramses, and their ward, Nefret, with them to Thebes, where the family hopes to excavate the tomb of Queen Tetisheri. They are soon joined by Emerson's brother, Walter, and his wife, Evelyn, as well as a handful of other characters whom we've met in previous books.

The books are told from Amelia's viewpoint, and her exaggerations about her own and Emerson's abilities and intelligence are part of the fun. Ramses, always precocious and often reckless, is now an adolescent and beginning to mature. The beautiful Nefret has entered into competition with Ramses on almost every level. Walter and Evelyn are having marital trouble.

The mystery part of this book was not what I've come to expect from the series. The kidnappings, murders, stolen artifacts, and various attacks on our heroes -- and even the archaeology -- seem to have taken a backseat to the activities of the family, their friends, and their workers. Peters waits until almost the last quarter of the book to remind us that this is a mystery, and the action then picks up. It's too late and not enough. Furthermore, the solution is a bit unsatisfying. The book is not typical of Peters's abilities.

I was disappointed. In fact, I was almost relieved when the book ended. My understanding is that the series returns to its familiar excellence and humor in the next book, Seeing a Large Cat.

I want to stress how much I love Amelia and Emerson, their family, and their adventures. There are now (as far as I can tell) 18 books in the series, and I believe this is the only dud. It is important to get through Hippopotamus Pool in terms of keeping up with the characters; just don't expect a good mystery.

I listened to the book via digital download from NetLibrary. The unabridged version I borrowed was read by Barbara Rosenblatt, who is a master with this series. The voices are terrific and identifiable, but more pleasurable is Robenblatt's ability to create tension, drama, and humor in her reading. For me, there can be no other narrator for the series.

This book was part of Katrina's Fall into Reading challenge. To see what others have read, click here.

Audio published by Recorded Books (1996)
ISBN: 9780788761454
Challenge: Fall into Reading
Rating: C

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Weekly Discoveries #1

Ok, so I've stolen this idea from other bloggers, but I like the idea of posting my book discoveries for the week. Many come from other bloggers' book reviews, but others are my own finds. I'm going to try to make this a regular Sunday addition to my blog. I'm aware that there is already a Friday Finds meme, but for now, I'll do it my way!

So, in no particular order here's what I've come across this week:

Book Suggestions

• A Splintered History of Wood by Spike Carlsen
• The Rest Falls Away by Colleen Gleason
• Civil and Strange by Clair Ni Aonghusa
• Lydia Bennett's Story by Jane Odiwe
• Old Friends and New Fancies by Sybil G. Brinton
• Raven Black by Ann Cleeves
• Cicadia Summer by Andrea Beaty
• Galileo's Daughter by Dava Sobel
• Inside Job by Connie Willis
• Inkdeath by Cornilia Funke

Authors to Check Out

• Carrie Bebris
• Dorothy Bonavia-Hunt
• Christopher Fowler

Books Borrowed or Bought

• The Name of This Book Is Secret by Pseudonymous Bosch
• A Terrible Glory by James Donovan
• Clash of Kings by George RR Martin
• Stern Men by Elizabeth Gilbert
• His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik

Books Rediscovered

• Queen Lucia by EF Benson (audio)
• In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson (audio)

I know that I've forgotten some because I didn't keep track. Starting today, I'm going to maintain lists so nothing gets lost.

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Booking through Thursday

Here's today's Booking Through Thursday. See the BTT site (here) for the full explanation and for other people's responses.

Name a favorite literary couple and tell me why they are a favorite. If you cannot choose just one, that is okay too. Name as many as you like--sometimes narrowing down a list can be extremely difficult and painful. Or maybe that's just me.

Hummm, this is fun. And I know that with my first entry I'm beginning to sound like a broken record!

1. Elizabeth Bennett and Fitzwilliam Darcy -- just because!
2. Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane -- because I like the way their relationship developed.
3. Roarke and Eve Dallas -- maybe because they need each other.
4. Amanda Peabody and Radcliff Emerson -- because I love reading about them.
5. Claire and Jamie Fraser -- need I say more?
6. Sookie Stackhouse and Bill the Vampire -- because I seem to keep coming back for more.

Can't wait to read the other responses. I know I left out some good couples.

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Review: To Say Nothing of the Dog, by Connie Willis

If you could travel back in time, would your very presence change the future? Connie Willis's novel To Say Nothing of the Dog, Or How We Found the Bishop's Bird Stump at Last addresses this question and more. The book is almost impossible to describe: It's a farce, a mystery, and little bit sci-fi. And one of the mysteries is, Just what the heck is a "bird stump"?

In mid-21st-century England, historian Ned Henry is sent to the 1940s to track down the bishop's bird stump, which was lost during a World War II air raid. Because he begins to suffer time lag (similar to jet lag) as a result of making too many trips to the past, Ned is sent to the Victorian era for some R&R. But a good night's sleep and peaceful days are hard to come by in any time period.

Willis has written a brilliant take-off on Jerome K. Jerome's Three Men in a Boat (which I reviewed here). Ned Henry's misadventures begin with what should have been a relaxing boat trip up the Thames. The adventures of another time-traveling historian, the beautiful Verity Kindle, begin when she takes a cat through time to contemporary Britain. Ned and Verity must return the cat to its Victorian owner, Tossie Mering, before the whole course of history is changed.

At the Merings' country home, Ned and Verity do their best to set history back on track, but they can't seem to get it right. While trying to break up a mismatched couple, fit in to Victorian society, manipulate seances, and force the Mering family to visit Conventry, Ned finds himself getting hopelessly tangled in the nuances of the space-time continuum. Along the way, he uncovers the mystery of the bird stump, revealing the surprising source of the unraveling of history.

I loved To Say Nothing of the Dog. Willis's book is the perfect blend of madcap adventure, mystery, and history. The humor doesn't overwhelm the story, and the relationships and action kept me interested throughout. Although the frame story takes place in the future, this is not science fiction in the traditional sense, and although there is a mystery, the book is not a "detective" novel. The book will keep you laughing (or chuckling), guessing, thinking, and well entertained.

I read Jerome's Three Men in a Boat before reading Willis's book, but there is really no need to do so. Some scenes in Willis's book are derived from the earlier book, and familiarity with Jerome enhances the humor in those places. On the other hand, To Say Nothing of the Dog stands firmly on its own. I highly recommend it.

I listened to the Recorded Books version of this book. Steven Crossley did an amazing job: Each voice was distinct and recognizable, and the inflections, pauses, and expression were near perfect.

This book was part of Katrina's Fall into Reading challenge. To see what others in this challenge have read, click here.

Published by Bantam Books, 1998
ISBN-13: 9780553575385
Challenge: Fall into Reading
Rating: A

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Musing Mondays

Here's today's Monday Musings (for the complete question, see Should Be Reading):

I recently read an article (here) that I found through BiblioAddict's blog that talked of "why women read more than men." In it, author Ian McEwan is quoted as saying: "When women stop reading, the novel will be dead." Do you believe this to be true? Why or why not?

No, not true at all. Most of the men I know read novels. I've discovered many good novels of all genres through recommendations from men.

The article goes on to say:

One thing is certain: Americans--for either gender--are reading fewer books today than in the past.

That may be true, but the growth of audiobooks has increased. I wonder what the numbers are when audiobooks and ebooks are counted.

And then there is this:

Among avid readers surveyed by the AP, the typical woman read nine books in a year, compared with only five for men.

As others doing this musing said, I would hardly call the people surveyed avid readers. I, too, wonder about the survey population and who defined the word avid.

The article goes on to discuss theories of why women read more fiction than men. I really don't believe that men are less emotionally capable of engaging with fiction than are women.

I'd be curious to see the gender breakdown for authors of fiction. If men are so incapable of relating to fiction, why are there so many male authors?

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Which Jane Austen Character Are You?

I found this at Strangegirl's blog. It's fun. And I'm glad that I'm my favorite Austen character! Which one are you?

Take the Quiz here!

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American Civil War: Books

In today's Wall Street Journal, James McPherson lists his picks for the five best books on the American Civil War. Apparently he has a new book out: Tried by War: Lincoln as Commander in Chief.




Here's his list:

1. This Republic of Suffering, Drew Gilpin Faust
2. Southern Lady, Yankee Spy, Elizabeth R. Varon
3. Civil Wars, George C. Rable
4. The Imagined Civil War, Alice Fahs
5. Team of Rivals, Doris Kearns Goodwin

Any of these would be great for Marny's American Civil War Challenge. For the rules, see her blog (here).

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Booking throughThursday

Here's today's Booking through Thursday. Full description can be found on the BTT blog.

. . . there is also a category of titles that I've clung to for years, as they survived numerous purges. . . . I've yet to read them, but am absolutely certain I will. And should. When, I'm not sure, as I'm constantly distracted. . . .

So the question for BTT is this: What tomes are waiting patiently on your shelves?

This is a fun one, because I do have these sorts of books. I took a look at some of my unread "but I'm not giving up on them yet" books and thought, "These don't really count yet, there not old enough." But I guess 20+ years does count! So here's a handful, in no particular order, that I acquired before 1990. I really do intend to get to them . . . someday!

1. Life before Man, Margaret Atwood
2. Breathing Lessons, Anne Tyler
3. The Book of Ruth, Jane Hamilton
4. The Lost Continent, Bill Bryson
5. Field Days, Roger Swain
6. Voss, Patrick White

And I have more that are older and newer. I like the hope that comes with the unread books. Hope that I'll have the time and my eyes will hold out and I'll live long enough to get to them all.

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Review: Salt, by Mark Kurlansky

Next time someone tells you to eat rocks, reach for the salt shaker. Yes, salt is a rock! Mark Kurlansky takes readers on a voyage of discovery into the economic, political, religious, and culinary world of salt--from antiquity to our own times.

The introduction discusses all the ways in which salt has been used for preservation. And many of these uses go far beyond making pickles. In the Hebrew Bible, salt is a symbol of binding covenants and contracts (preserving the agreement); in some cultures, salt is used in the marriage ceremony (preserving the bond); and throughout the world, salt has been used to protect babies (preserving life).

Kurlansky takes us around the world and through time so we can learn how the search for and control of salt led to new technologies, shaped governments, started rebellions, and brought diverse peoples into contact (sometimes peacefully and sometimes not). Along the way, we see how fish, cheese, ham, pickles, olives, bread, and much more rely on the preserving powers of salt. Kurlansky shares ancient recipes and introduces us to some of the modern people behind the labels of contemporary food staples (Morton salt, Tabasco sauce).

The book also takes us away from the table to give us a glimpse into non-culinary uses of salt. For example, different salts are used for gunpowder, bleach, and deicing our roads.

This is the second book by Kurlansky I've read. I loved his book Cod and had trouble putting it down. Salt didn't quite live up to my expectations. It was interesting, and I learned a lot about the importance of salt in human affairs. I think the problem is that salt turns out to be such an incredibly broad subject that it is difficult to organize a discussion of its many aspects. And to delve into any one of those requires a bit of background information. Kurlansky does an admirable job of condensing such information; however, I think the complexity of the subject matter got in the way at times.

I recommend this book with some reservations, and I urge you to pick up one of Kurlansky's other books instead. I thought Cod was amazing. Several people have told me that Salt is their least favorite Kurlansky book. I want to stress that least favorite does not mean "bad" or "don't read"; it just means, read his other books first.

I borrowed this book from OverDrive, a digital download service from the library. It was read by Scott Brick, one of my all-time favorite readers. He did a nice job here, and to my untrained ears, his pronunciations of the scattering of non-English words were spot on.

This book was part of Historia's Books about Food Challenge. I have a summary post on her blog (here).

Audiobook published by Phoenix Books (2006)
ISBN-13: 9781597770972
Challenge: Books about Food
Rating: B-

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Musing Mondays

Today's Musing Mondays asks this: Could you narrow down your reading to a favorite genre and author? Why, or why not? (For more on Musing Mondays, visit Should Be Reading.)

When I looked over my database of the last 250 books I read, the principal thing I noticed is that I'm an eclectic reader. No one genre or author stands out more than any other. My top categories (I didn't run a count, this just my impression) are as follows:

1. History (grouping nonfiction, autobiography, biography)
2. Novels about other places, other times (grouping literary fiction and historical fiction)
3. Fantasy (lots of YA here)
4. Mystery (mostly cozies)
5. Literary & contemporary fiction (other)
   

What's missing? How-to, self-help, inspirational, religious (except where it falls into history), business, horror, short stories, and romance. That's not to say that I never read those genres (well, I basically never read religious inspiration or horror -- and don't even begin to analyze that combination!), it's just that I rarely read them.

What was the question? Oh, yeah. The answer is no; my tastes are just too varied.

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Challenge: American Civil War

I've signed up for this great challenge for 2009. I've committed to several upcoming challenges (see the sidebar), but this one sounds so great I can't resist. It is being hosted by Marny, and the rules can be found here.

Here's the challenge: Read 12 books in 2009 that deal with the American Civil War. This happens to be one of the time periods that I am most interested in. Not just the Civil War, but the mid-1800s in general: Transcendentalism, Darwin, pioneers, the California Gold Rush. Fascinating time. Anyway, here is an alphabetical list of 19 books that interest me. I plan to read only 12 (one a month), and I may stray from this list when I see what others are reading.

1. Battle Flag: Nathaniel Starbuck Chronicles Book III, by Bernard Cornwell
2. The Black Flower, by Howard Bahr
3. Bloody Ground: Nathaniel Starbuck Chronicles Book IV, by Bernard Cornwell
4. Candle in the Darkness, by Lynn Austin
5. Copperhead: Nathaniel Starbuck Chronicles Book II, by Bernard Cornwell
6. Crossroads to Freedom: Antietam, by James M. McPherson
7. Grant: Great Generals, by John Mosier
8. In the Hands of Providence: Joshua L. Chamberlain and the American Civil War, by Alice Rains Trulock
9. Jordan Country, by Shelby Foote
10. Landscape Turned Red: The Battle of Antietam, by Stephen W. Sears
11. Last Flag Down: The Epic Journey of the Last Confederate Warship, by John Baldwin and Ron Powers
12. The March: A Novel, by E. L. Doctorow
13. On Agate Hill, by Lee Smith
14. Rebel: Nathaniel Starbuck Chronicles Book I, by Bernard Cornwell
15. The River between Us, by Richard Peck
16. They Called Him Stonewall: A Life of the Lieutenant General T. J. Jackson, C.S.A., by Burke Davis
17. This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War, by Drew Gilpin
18. The Twentieth Maine, by John J. Pullen
19. With Lee in Virginia, by George Alfred Henty

This is a mix of fiction and nonfiction (and even one YA book). I've been wanting to read the Cornwell series, so I know I'll read the first one, Rebel. If I like it, I'll read the others. On Agate Hill takes place just after the war, I believe, so I'm not sure that it counts in the strictest sense--but because I own it and it's on my TBR pile, I'm counting it here.

Thanks so much, Marny!

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Booking through Thursday

This is my first time at this meme, but it looks like a great one. Click on the button to see links to other blogs.

What was the last book you bought?

Crosscut, by Meg Gardner.

Name a book you have read MORE than once

Lord of the Rings trilogy, Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, Walden, and others. Can't think of anything else at the moment.

Has a book ever fundamentally changed the way you see life? If yes, what was it?

Emerson's Essays (both series plus Nature).

How do you choose a book? eg. by cover design and summary, recommendations or reviews

I admit that I am sometimes swayed by the cover design. Sometimes I look at book jacket summary. Mostly I choose books from reviews -- from all sorts of sources. I also take recommendations.

Do you prefer Fiction or Non-Fiction?

Tough call. One of my favorite genres is nonfiction historical biography, but I also really love fantasy, mystery, and novels. I read a bit of history as well. If I had to choose, I guess I'd pick fiction.

What’s more important in a novel - beautiful writing or a gripping plot?

Beautiful writing can compensate for a less-than-perfect plot. So I'll go for beautiful writing here. But if the plot is truly bad, the writing won't save it.

Most loved/memorable character (character/book)

Oh, um, many: Elizabeth Bennett (isn't she one for zillions of people?), Jamie and Claire from the Outlander series, many characters from LOR, Captain Aubrey and Dr. Maturine (from the Patrick O'Brian novels).

Which book or books can be found on your nightstand at the moment?

These are the books that are at the top of the pile:

• Love and Louis the XIV (Antonia Fraiser)
• Heat (Bill Buford)
• Genghis: Lords of the Bow (Conn Iggulden)
• To Say Nothing of the Dog (Connie Willis)
• Hippopotamus Pool (Elizabeth Peters)

What was the last book you’ve read, and when was it?

Dawn on a Distant Shore, by Sara Donati. Finished it a couple of days ago.

Have you ever given up on a book half way in?

Yes, two that I can think of: A Hundred Years of Solitude and Gravity's Rainbow. I tried them each about 3 times. And no go for me.

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Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA)

Tuesday was the last CSA pickup for the year. More than turning on the heat or watching the leaves turn color, this event marks the end of summer for me.

What is CSA? Community-supported agriculture is a great program that was introduced in the United States in the 1980s from Europe and Asia. Basically, a farm pre-sells shares of vegetables to a limited number of members. Each member pays the farmer a fee at the beginning of the year. In return, the members get a "market share" of produce each week of the growing season. What and how much you get depends on the farm and the weather. Cost for membership differs among farms as well.

But more than just getting fresh food, members guarantee the farmer a certain income each year, which helps keep the small farmer farming, which in turn helps keep green areas green. And, of course, the money paid into the farm stays local. The program is pretty much a winner for all involved and gives added benefits to the surrounding community.

A CSA is not a co-op. You do not have to work for your veggies and fruit -- that's what your dues are for. The only caveat is this: Members are also buying into the risk that the farmers take every year. So if it is a cold year or a flood year or a drought year, you won't get as much food as you will in a "perfect" year. For more on CSAs, including a database for finding a CSA near you, visit Wilson College's website here.

My CSA farm is organic, but not all such farms are. This week, I got winter squash, kale, Swiss chard, all kinds of peppers, red cabbage, apples, eggs (not pictured), all kinds of herbs, white potatoes, red potatoes, and sweet potatoes. Plus flowers and a nice-size pumpkin! If you'd like to see photos of or read about the farm I support, visit Full Circle Farms's website here.

One thing I particularly like is not knowing what I'm going to get each week. It's so much fun to pick up my food and then plan our week's meals around our vegetable share. We have an added bonus: Our pickup takes place at the local weekly farmers market, so I can buy any "fillers" right away.

The good news is that our local farmers have decided to try to start a year-round market. This is wonderful. There are several organic cheese producers and meat producers that I know will be at the winter market. There are a few great bakers as well. I'm hoping that there are enough greenhouse owners so that locally grown vegetables will find their way to our table throughout the winter.

As long as Full Circle Farms maintains their CSA program, we'll be members.

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Review: Dawn on a Distant Shore, by Sara Donati

Note: This review contains a very minor spoiler for those who haven't read Into the Wilderness, the first book in this series. It also contains a loose summary of the set up for the book being reviewed but no actual spoilers. Skip to the paragraphs below the asterisks if you simply want my opinion.

This historical novel is the second in a series about Elizabeth and Nathaniel Bonner, who live in upstate New York in the late 1700s. Elizabeth was born in England and was raised to take her place in society and at court. Her husband was born in the New World and, though of Scottish heritage, was raised as a Mowhawk. And, as can be expected, their personal histories color their outlooks on life and their relationship as a couple.

The book opens as Elizabeth is giving birth to their twins. Soon after, Nathaniel learns that his father has been arrested and is jail in Montreal. He thus must leave his family and travel to Canada to retrieve his father. Unfortunately, Nathaniel himself ends up in jail, and he, his father, and their companion find themselves in deep trouble. In an effort to save the men, Elizabeth decides to go to Albany to speak with her cousin, who is an attorney trained in British law. Because she can't leave her children behind, Elizabeth travels with her father's housekeeper, who can help take care of the babies.

Of course, nothing is ever as easy as it seems, and the family finds that its troubles have a deeper source than they had ever expected. Through a series of adventures, they find themselves far from home wondering how they will ever manage to return to the people and land they love. Solutions come from unexpected sources.

* * * * * *

Sara Donati's ability to create full and believable characters is one of her strong points. Another is the subtle way in which she helps the reader capture a sense of place and ambiance in many scenes throughout the novel. Furthermore, the story line is complex, and not all the subplots have obvious conclusions. Because the stories are intriguing and the characters have come alive for me, I will continue to follow the Bonners' adventures.

However, I don't understand why I am not compelled to rush right out and get the next book immediately, even though I do want to read it. I like the time period, I like the setting, I like the good people, I don't like the bad people, and I care about what's going to happen next. Yet I don't feel a deep and impatient need to stay in that world . . . though I will return to it in the coming months.

Fun fact: You'll recognize characters from other novels as well as a few historical figures when reading about Elizabeth and Nathaniel.

I listened to the unabridged audio edition (Random House) read by the fabulous Kate Reading. Her characterizations and inflections greatly added to an already good novel.

This book was part of Katrina's Fall into Reading challenge. Are you wondering why this book was not on my original list? Click here to learn why. To see other reviews in the Fall into Reading challenge, click here.

Published by Bantam Books, 2001
ISBN-13: 978-0553578553
Challenge: Fall into Reading
Rating B+

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Banned Book Week

I'm bit late on this, but I just ran across this banned book exercise on Alessandra's blog (click here for more details). Here's the key: Boldface means I've read the book; italics means I've read at least part of it; and stars mean I own the book but haven't read it.

1. The Bible
2. Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
3. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
4. The Koran
5. Arabian Nights
6. Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
7. Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift
8. Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
9. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
10. Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
11. The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli
12. Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
13. Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
14. Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
15. Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
16. Les Misérables by Victor Hugo***
17. Dracula by Bram Stoker
18. Autobiography by Benjamin Franklin
19. Tom Jones by Henry Fielding
20. Essays by Michel de Montaigne
21. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
22. History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon
23. Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
24. Origin of Species by Charles Darwin
25. Ulysses by James Joyce
26. Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio
27. Animal Farm by George Orwell
28. Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
29. Candide by Voltaire
30. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
31. Analects by Confucius
32. Dubliners by James Joyce
33. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
34. Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
35. Red and the Black by Stendhal
36. Das Capital by Karl Marx
37. Flowers of Evil by Charles Baudelaire
38. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
39. Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D. H. Lawrence
40. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
41. Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser
42. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
43. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
44. All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
45. Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx
46. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
47. Diary by Samuel Pepys
48. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
49. Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy
50. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
51. Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak***
52. Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant
53. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
54. Praise of Folly by Desiderius Erasmus
55. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
56. Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X
57. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
58. Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
59. Essay Concerning Human Understanding by John Locke
60. Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
61. Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe***
62. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
63. East of Eden by John Steinbeck
64. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
65. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
66. Confessions by Jean Jacques Rousseau
67. Gargantua and Pantagruel by François Rabelais
68. Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes
69. The Talmud
70. Social Contract by Jean Jacques Rousseau
71. Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
72. Women in Love by D. H. Lawrence
73. American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser
74. Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler
75. A Separate Peace by John Knowles
76. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
77. Red Pony by John Steinbeck
78. Popol Vuh
79. Affluent Society by John Kenneth Galbraith
80. Satyricon by Petronius
81. James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
82. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
83. Black Boy by Richard Wright
84. Spirit of the Laws by Charles de Secondat Baron de Montesquieu
85. Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
86. Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
87. Metaphysics by Aristotle
88. Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
89. Institutes of the Christian Religion by Jean Calvin
90. Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse
91. Power and the Glory by Graham Greene
92. Sanctuary by William Faulkner
93. As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
94. Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin
95. Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig
96. Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
97. General Introduction to Psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud
98. Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
99. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Alexander Brown
100. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
101. Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman by Ernest J. Gaines
102. Émile Jean by Jacques Rousseau
103. Nana by Émile Zola
104. Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
105. Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin***
106. Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
107. Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein***
108. Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Peck
109. Ox-Bow Incident by Walter Van Tilburg Clark
110. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
111. Are You There God, It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
112. The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
113. The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare
114. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’Engle
115. The Witches of Worm by Zilpha Keatly Snyder

I'm surprised to see just how dangerous my reading habits are. A quick count says I've read or sampled all but 33! As for the books in italics: many of these were sampled in various college classes or in literature anthologies (such as the Norton series).

Question: I can see the reasoning behind many of these books (not that I in any way agree with banning books), but can somebody please explain why Little House on the Prairie would be banned? I really don't get that one at all!

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Thinking of Summer

I love autumn, especially the crisp days when the sky is that special fall blue and the mountain is gloriously yellow and orange. Today is not one of those days. It's gray and chilly. I think I need a reminder of summer to get me over the hump until the trees and sky bring me delight.



This was taken when we were on a camping trip in July 2008. I love dragonflies and was pleased that I could get one to hold a pose for me.

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Challenge: 25 Books (Monthly Update)

These are the 11 books I read in September. All count toward meeting the 25 Books challenge sponsored by my local library. The letter in parentheses is my rating for the book.

1. Breaking Dawn, by Stephenie Meyer (C+)
2. The Time Paradox, by Eoin Colfer (B-)
3. Living Dead in Dallas, by Charlaine Harris (B)
4. Genghis: Birth of an Empire, by Conn Iggulden (A-)
5. About Alice, by Calvin Trillin (A+)
6. Austenland, by Shannon Hale (B)
7. Murder in the Museum, by Simon Brett (B)
8. Immortal in Death, by J. D. Robb (B+)
9. Three Men in a Boat, by Jerome K. Jerome (C+)
10. The Eye of the Jade, by Diane Wei Liang (B+)
11. The Lady Elizabeth, by Alison Weir (A)
    

My list for September highlights my eclectic tastes! If pressed, I'd say my favorite genres were (in no particular order) biography/autobiography, fantasy, mystery, food, and history/historical fiction.

I have reviewed some of these books in separate posts. (Click on any label that ends in Review under "Labels" in the left sidebar.)

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Challenge: Books about Food

I'm joining a book challenge hosted by Historia (read about it here). The challenge is to read five books about food over the next six months. I've provided an alphabetical list of the books I've decided to read for this challenge. Of course, I may change my mind if something else comes to my attention before March 31, when this challenge ends. I'll review each book here, and I'll also write at Historia's blog.

1. The Apprentice, by Jacques Pepin
2. Heat, by Bill Buford
3. A History of the World in 6 Glasses, by Tom Standage
4. The House of Mondavi: The Rise and Fall of an American Wine Dynasty, by Julia Flynn Siler
5. Salt, by Mark Kurlansky
   

I have to confess that it was challenge to find five food-related books that I haven't read! This is one of my favorite genres. I think I have a good group here, and I'm hoping that I'll add to my TBR pile when I see what others reading.

I have a sister post to this one on Historia's blog (here).

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