REVIEW: The Body Artist by Don DeLillo

The Body Artist by Don DeLillo is just strange. I'm not sure I entirely get it. I've never read any of DeLillo before, this was my introduction, and it was a little confusing. I've had the book for more than a year now, I picked it up because it's on the original 1001 Books to Read Before You Die and, if I'm being honest here, it's just over 100 pages. I figured it'd be an easy book to read to cross off the list to fulfill my 1% well-read challenge. But the book seemed to languish on my shelves. Something about it screamed that it wouldn't be an easy book to read.

I loved the first chapter, this breakfast scene between Lauren (the body artist of the title) and her husband Rey. They have this weird dialogue going and you view it from Lauren's perspective and see into her inner mind-workings. It's sort of amusing and a little odd. From there, it skips to an article of Rey's suicide in his first wife's house that happened immediately after this breakfast. And the rest of the novel is with Lauren and her grief and suffering. She returns to a holiday home she shared with Rey and meets a strange man.

And this strange man is really at the centre of everything that I found strange about the book. Is he just a man? Is he a ghost? Is he something out of Lauren's head? I guess it doesn't matter. It's really a little novel about loss and sorrow. At the same time as feeling completely unconnected to this novel and its characters, I always felt like the writing and the scenes sent me into a melancholy state. I don't know how or why. But there's more to this book than just the mystery of this odd ghost-man.

And it was only 100+ pages. *shrugs*

1% well-read challenge

(Sorry for the boring posts. I'm still getting back into the swing of things! I am reading lots, soon I will tell you about it.)

I'm doing it again. Here are the books I'll be choosing from:

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
Unless by Carol Shields
The Body Artist by Don DeLillo
Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson
The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood
Moon Palace by Paul Auster
Schindler's Ark by Thomas Keneally
The Child in Time by Ian McEwan
Saturday by Ian McEwan
Atonement by Ian McEwan
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
Family Matters by Rohinton Mistry
On Beauty by Zadie Smith
The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien
Nineteen Eighty Four by George Orwell
Blindness by Jose Saramago
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters

I own all of these books, so hopefully with this challenge I can clear some of my TBR shelves. That'd be nice. Here are the books I read for this challenge in previous years: here and here.

I hope everyone had fun reading from the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die list.

Even if you didn’t complete the challenge, if you read any books at all from the list, you are at least a little more ‘well-read’ than you were before!

There has been yet another update to the list in 2010, so this time the challenge has only one option:

Read 13 titles from the combined list (of 1294 titles) from April 1, 2010 through April 30, 2011.

Overlaps with other challenges are allowed, and you may change your list at any time.

Fellow book blogger Arukiyomi has formulated an excellent spreadsheet that contains the 2006, 2008, and 2010 versions, and I highly recommend giving a small donation for all his hard work. He has lists of what has been added and subracted for each edition as well as a master list of all books ever listed on the 1001 list. I’m using the master list the most because if you put ‘r’ for read in the column, it also automatically puts the ‘r’ in any list that the book is on. Please check it out!

Alternatively, I have also begun to update the 1001 list HERE, however, it is definitely a work in progress. Hopefully at some point I’ll have all the titles listed noting which edition(s) the books were in.

Happy reading, and may you be more ‘well-read’ this year than last!

(Another) 1% well-read challenge - FAIL.

So, it's the end of the 1% well-read challenge, and I wasn't able to finish it successfully. I made a good effort though, with 10/13 books read. I'm pleased with that. There were others (Unless by Carol Shields to name just one) that I started and never finished though. The challenge is continuing for the third time and I'm contemplating signing up again. I do love how I write out a list of books I'd like to finish for the challenge and when it comes down to it I read almost none of them. So I guess I will be signing up again, after all there is still all those books that I'd still like to read! It's been fun reading these books though, I do love how the list widens my reading habits . My favourites from this year from the challenge? It'd be between A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry, Small Island by Andrea Levy and Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day by Winifred Watson.

How about you? Are you still reading books off of the 1001 Books To Read Before You Die list?


I don't do well with challenges. Last year I signed up for a few reading challenges but the only one I finished? The one challenge that I'd already taken up at a personal level. Reading books off of the 1001 Books to Read Before You Die list.

According to the ever useful spreadsheet HERE I'm at 117/1001 or 11.69% of the list complete. I need to read 16 of the books a year to finish the list before I die. Here's where the 3M's 1% well-read challenge comes in...

Last year, I finished these books. Plus at least four more (15 in total). This year, I'm hoping to read at least the same amount. Even possibly reading the required 16 titles for this year? Here are some books that I'm throwing around as possibilities, mostly because I own all of these books. Obviously subject to change.

1. Saturday by Ian McEwan
2. On Beauty by Zadie Smith
3. Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
4. The Colour by Rose Tremain
5. Unless by Carol Shields
6. Atonement by Ian McEwan (started for the last 1% well-read challenge)
7. The Body Artist by Don DeLillo
8. The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
9. The Master of Petersburg by JM Coetzee
10. Possession by AS Byatt
11. Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres
12. The Child in Time by Ian McEwan
13. A Pale View of Hills by Kazuo Ishiguro
14. Schindler's Ark by Thomas Keneally
15. The Once and Future King by TH White
16. Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Kesey

Bah. I'll have to stop there. I know I own a lot of these books, but I can't bring myself to read my own books sometimes. I will not be surprised when I finish this challenge (because I will) that my completed list looks nothing like this. Instead it will be all the books that I can find in the library. We'll see how it goes.

EDITED TO ADD: I'm updating my progress on this same page. After a lot of humming and hawing, I've decided that I will no longer deny the existence of the Updated list of 1001 Books To Read Before You Die and have now taken that list on as well. I won't give up on the original list but I am also ticking off numbers for the new list as well.

Currently, I'm at 118/1001 of the original list and 96/1001 of the updated list.

Books Read for the 1% Well-Read Challenge:

1. The Cement Garden by Ian McEwan (original list)
2. Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka (updated list)
3. Small Island by Andrea Levy (updated list)
4. Falling Man by Don DeLillo (updated list)
5. A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry (original list)
6. An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro (original list)
7. Sexing the Cherry by Jeanette Winterson (original list)
8. A Pale View of Hills by Kazuo Ishiguro (original list)
9. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
10. Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day by Winifred Watson

REVIEW: Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day by Winifred Watson

Can I just start by saying how much I absolutely adored Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day by Winifred Watson? Yes? Yes. Because I did. I adored it. I had a big smile on my face all the way through it. I'd tried to read it a few years ago, but it wasn't the right timing. I wasn't really sure where the characters were coming from. And then I saw the film, which was really cute, and saw them all and the book in a different light.

Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day is a retelling of Cinderella, and it's absolutely charming. Miss Pettigrew is a middle-aged woman, lonely and alone who keeps being fired as a governess. She doesn't really like children anyway, and she's kind of a stick in the mud about what's proper. At the start of the novel she is homeless, without a job and hungry. A misunderstanding leads her to the door of Delyssia LaFosse, a glamourous cabaret singer, with a string of beaux and the complete opposite of Miss Pettigrew in terms of morals and background. And yet, they get on like a house on fire. And so the transformation of Miss Pettigrew has begun.

This is such a wonderful little fairy tale. And apart from a few minor anti-semitic comments, I loved everything about it. I loved Miss Pettigrew, I loved Delyssia. I loved the interaction between the two and how their friendship grows throughout the novel. Miss Pettigrew is really thrown into the deep end here, with the drinking and the swearing and smoking and the boyfriends, but she has a wonderful common-sense that saves poor Miss LaFosse's day and she is able to lighten up a little bit and have fun on this magical day in a different world. It was also quite a sweet little love story as Delyssia tries to figure out which of the three men she's been seeing is the right one for her.

Seeing the film first did leave me with the permanent image of Amy Adams as Miss LaFosse, but that was OK. I still enjoyed the book better (the ending and one of the side-stories was done much better in the book) especially because of the cute little illustrations in my Persephone edition. Gorgeous little book. And this book comes highly recommended from me, as it is funny and charming and heart-warming all at the same time. You won't be disappointed.


Other Opinions:

Reading Matters
In the Shadow of Mt TBR
another cookie crumbles
Trashionista

Read For: 1% well-read challenge, 100+ reading challenge, Support Your Local library challenge

REVIEW: The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

I have to admit it, I don't always GET Ernest Hemingway. The stripped-back writing style he uses often distracts me and I generally have to walk away halfway through one of his novels and come back to it so I can fully appreciate his prose and the characters he creates. And once I do that, I find it easier to continue. While I find the blatant anti-Semitisim throughout the book difficult to read, I did enjoy this book. After a six month break though.

I started The Sun Also Rises last summer. I made the mistake of trying to rush into it too quickly. I don't think Hemingway can be rushed, I actually missed a major detail the first time around and had to re-read for things to make sense. The Sun Also Rises focuses on a group of expatriates living in Paris after the destruction caused by WWI, as they drink and sleep around and lead generally purposeless lives. They then head off to Spain and fish and watch the bull-fighting.

At first glance, I thought, why should I care? These people aren't hugely sympathetic characters, drinking their lives away, saying things like 'swell' and 'darling' too often for my tastes. But once I understood more of the characters and had read further into the book I realised that my emotional investment in these people had crept up on me out of nowhere. I'm still surprised.

The main focus of the novel surrounds the main character, Jake Barnes and the woman he loves, Brett Ashley. Because of a wound sustained during WWI, Jake is impotent and though Jake and Brett love each other, this lack of physical consummation means that they are unable to have a relationship together. Instead, Brett flits between men but these relationships lack an emotional connection and soon end. This trip to Spain sees Brett surrounded by Jake, a fiance, and a former lover and things start to heat up when Brett falls for a teenage bull-fighter, Pedro.

All in all, I enjoyed this book. I'll definitely seek out other Hemingway novels. But not in any great hurry, as the endings of his books always seem just that little bit too sad for me.

Read for: 1% well-read challenge, 100+ book challenge.

Have you read this book? What do you think of Ernest Hemingway - love him? hate him? Do you have a favourite Hemingway novel?

REVIEW: A Pale View of Hills by Kazuo Ishiguro

It's taken me awhile to finish reading A Pale View of Hills and it's certainly taken me awhile to mull over what I should write in this review about the book. I like Kazuo Ishiguro, I really do. He has great skill in adding depth to his characters and he sets a scene wonderfully. And while I've enjoyed everything of his that I've read, I have noticed that a lot of the same themes emerging. Unreliable narration, the concept of memory, the calm surface of characters that lies a hidden guilt.

In this, his first novel, we are introduced to Etsuko, a woman living in England who is dwelling on the recent suicide of her eldest daughter, Keiko, whilst spending time with her younger daughter, Niki. A dream prompts Etsuko to reminisce about the events that occurred in Japan 20 years earlier when she still lived in Nagasaki, as she is pregnant with Keiko, when she befriended Sachiko and her daughter, Mariko. Sachiko is at the time preparing to leave Japan for America and asks Etsuko for some help.

Etsuko herself seems quite detached and a little cold as a character. And Sachiko is absolutely cringe-worthy - her complete disregard for her daughter's well-being and the extreme neglect is difficult to read. In fact, I was forced to walk away from this book for many months before I returned to it. Ishiguro's writing style is quite sparse and the whole book has quite a melancholy feel to it. The suicide of Etsuko's daughter, Japan after the bombs had dropped during WWII, the mistreatment of Mariko.

And yet, I couldn't quite abandon this book entirely. It isn't entirely clear, but there is a sense towards the end of the book that the similarities between Sachiko and Etsuko are not just mere coincidence and that in fact Sachiko represents Etsuko and how she behaved with her own daughter Keiko so many years ago. I believe Etsuko's memories and dreams of Sachiko are her own ways of handling her guilt towards how she handled events in her daughter's life and how that may have led to Keiko's suicide.

It's not my favourite Ishiguro novel, it's slightly confusing and more than a little disturbing in parts. But I'm not sorry that I've read it.

Other Opinions:

Jenny's Books
Books, Time and Silence
dovegreyreader
Plays With Needles

Read for: 1% well-read challenge, 100+ reading challenge

REVIEW: Sexing the Cherry by Jeanette Winterson

Sexing the Cherry by Jeanette Winterson is set in 17th century London. It's the stories of Dog-Woman, a massive and hideous woman who finds a baby in the Thames, adopts him and names him Jordan. On their travels, they search for the meaning of love, the ponder what is true and meet the 12 dancing princesses and hear their stories. Winterson really plays with time and fairy tales and imagination in this short, weird little book. She even rewrites some of history. Some of it is confusing, some of it is uncomfortable to read, but it's all really written in such a beautiful way, if somewhat choppy and fragmented.

Awhile back I read another of Jeanette Winterson's books, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, and thought it was a bit of fun. When I saw Sexing the Cherry in a charity shop last year, I picked it up thinking 'why not?' It's quite a slim book I thought, even if I hate it it's still less than 150 pages. And soon after buying this book, I read a negative review of it. Vivienne over at Serendipity (link to review below) couldn't make it through the book and that really put me off for awhile. And it's worth mentioning here. Reading this book did make me feel uncomfortable in parts, especially as I read so many instances of anti-male writing. I'm all for equal rights, but I don't believe that tearing down one sex in order to raise the other is the right way to go about things.

Despite all of my misgivings with this book, the part I enjoyed the most was the relationship between the Dog-woman and Jordan. They have such a wonderful connection to each other, but they don't really understand how the other feels for them. There's a great scene towards the end where the Dog-woman struggles with her emotions after seeing Jordan after such a long time. And instead of embracing him, telling him how much she missed him and loved him, she says nothing. And they walk down the beach together. It's a really beautiful scene, I wish I'd written it down to share with you here.

This book really did make me think. I was left wondering what it all meant, what was Winterson's purpose in writing this book? I think I touched on some of the main themes, of love and truth and imagination. I think Winterson wanted readers to see the world differently, to see the difference in gender roles and to think of history in a new way. To be imaginative. That's what I got out of reading this book anyway. Sexing the Cherry is not a book for everyone, I don't think. But it's one that I'm glad to have read.

Other opinions:

So Many Books
Tales from the Reading Room
A Work in Progress
Serendipity

Read for: 100+ reading challenge, 1% well-read challenge, GLBT reading challenge.

More mini-reviews

I get now why people rush to review the books they read in 2009 IN 2009. It feels a bit of a chore when done the following year. Even though it may only have been a few weeks later. I was hoping to spend more time reviewing some of these books, but I'm falling behind.

Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman - Wow, I'm really rubbish at reviewing short story collections. What I find wonderful about Neil Gaiman, is that everything he writes is different but everything is infused with his own brand of awesomeness. Reading each story was a treat, almost everything made me smile. It just made me happy reading Neil Gaiman's words. I also appreciated that the stories were all of varying length. I don't know about you, but I feel weighed down reading short stories where each story is very long. Fragile Things had a nice mix. And best of all, my copy at least, had a fantastic introduction by Neil Gaiman describing the thought processes behind each piece. Wonderful, highly recommended.


Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman - Another gem from Neil Gaiman. I wouldn't say this is a sequel as such to American Gods, but the character of Mr Nancy is in both of them. I read American Gods last March or so and really enjoyed it. But Anansi Boys blew me away. There is such weirdness to Neil Gaiman's books. I love that. Fat Charlie doesn't really get on with his dad, as his dad is always embarassing him in one or another - he's the one who nicknamed him 'Fat Charlie' after all. But when his fiancee convinces Fat Charlie to invite his dad to the wedding, Fat Charlie learns not only is his father dead, but he's also the trickster god, Anansi and that Charlie also has a brother, Spider (also a god), whom he's never met. And it only gets weirder and better after that, as Spider enters his life and tries to take it over! Honestly, I just feeling clapping in happiness at Anansi Boys. I love the characters that Neil Gaiman invents, the situations that he puts them in. I love the importance in this book on story-telling and how children are utterly embarassed by their parents. There's funny bits and scary bits and when I was finished with this book I wanted to read it all over again. One not to miss!

What I Was by Meg Rosoff - Oh Meg Rosoff, you write such beautiful books! What I Was is sort of a coming of age story and there's sort of a love story, but not really. Our narrator is a 16 year old school boy in a private school in the 1960s. He's quite unhappy with the whole school situation until he stumbles across another boy, Finn, who's living alone in a hut on a crumbling bit of beach. He really wants what Finn has, complete control and freeom in his life. Together they form a strange little friendship which eventually leads to a heartbreaking end. I do so love Meg Rosoff's writing. She sets the scene brilliantly and I was swept away a bit by the the whole story. I can see how she isn't for everyone, but I'll always be a fan!


Jackdaw Summer by David Almond - David Almond is just brilliant, isn't he? I loved Jackdaw Summer but I'm having a hard time reviewing the book. It's hard to describe how simply David Almond writes, but at the same time he's filling his prose with so much more than words. This story starts as two boys follow as a bird leads them to an abandoned baby during the hot summer. It's a summer in which violence of different varieties seep into these two boys' lives, but mostly about the violence of war. As I was reading this book, I found myself to be quite unsettled by it. I had this terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach, and that's what I love about David Almond: his ability to invoke such strong feelings with his writing.


An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro - This is the last book that I read in 2009. I think with every Ishiguro novel I've read, I probably missed a lot of the subtleties of the book. I didn't always understand the main conflict of the story, but I do so enjoy Ishiguro's style of writing. An Artist of the Floating World is the story of a man, in his retirement, in post-war Japan. He's spending his days out in the garden, or with his two grown-up daughters. He spends a great deal of time reminiscing about his life as an artist during the war years. The friends he had, the choices he has made throughtout his career. A great glimpse into post-war Japan and of a man struggling with his life choices. A beautiful little book.

This book is on the 1001 Books To Read Before You Die list and I have read it for the 1% well-read challenge.

And that's it for today! What I love about these books is that the authors are all included on my list of favourite authors. Kazuo Ishiguro and David Almond sneaked onto the list almost without my knowledge, where as Meg Rosoff and Neil Gaiman have held onto their positions there with some fantastic writing. I've now read all of Rosoff's novels, but I love that I still have books to read by the other three.

Have you read any of these books? What did you think?

REVIEW: A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry

I've had my copy of A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry for many, many years. I bought it while still in America, in fact. It was a book that I carried with me in my suitcase when I moved here 9 years ago. At the time I was reading all of Oprah's book club picks, but until very recently I don't ever remember even cracking the cover of this book. I'm sad now that it took me so long to read this beautiful book.

A Fine Balance is set in India around The Emergency, a period of time in the 1970s where a lot of freedom and choices were eliminated from the common people as India struggled with political unrest and the economic times were hard. This book describes in detail a lot of the unjustices and abuse that went on during this time. And it's very heartbreaking. As one character points out, 'it's a fine balance between hope and despair' And these characters really are walking that line, dealing with such atrocities. Police corruption, forced sterilisations, whole neighbourhood's homes knocked down to 'beautify' the city.

The four main characters include Dina, a woman in her 40s who is struggling to remain financially independent after the death of her husband. In order to do this, she takes in a lodger, Maneck, who is a sensitive student living away from his home, and also hires two tailors, Ishvar and Omprakesh, both of the 'Untouchable' caste. I think what's wonderful about this book, apart from opening our eyes to the cruelties of life during this time, but also how many different topics are touched on during the scope of this novel. The four main characters are all very different from each other in terms of gender, class, religion and over the course of the book transform from people unsure and untrusting of each other to becoming friends, family even. Mistry manages to say something about the true meaning of families and community and loyalty as well. He gives us a sympathetic view of beggars and shows us the power that lies within the human spirit.

It really is a heartbreaking book. One not to miss.


Other Reviews:

Farm Lane Book Blog
Vulpes Libre
The Compulsive Reader
Ramblings of a Bibliophile

Sunday Salon: Favourites so far

I'm currently reading both The Lottery by Beth Goobie and Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult. I very rarely read more than one book at a time, but I'd left the Picoult book downstairs and I had The Lottery on my bedside table! So this is a case of sheer laziness :) I've never read anything by Jodi Picoult and so far, and I'm not sure of Change of Heart yet.

For today, I thought I'd share with you my favourite reads of 2009 so far. I think that this sums me up my reading habits fairly well, as it has two YA titles and a chick-lit book represented alongside some of my all-time favourite authors.


The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Everyone's heard of this one already, but I only read it a few weeks ago and I'm still in that stage of mind where I want to talk about it with everyone because I'm so excited about this series.








What I Loved by Siri Hustvedt

Read my review for full gushiness about this book. Have recently tried Sorrows of an American though and couldn't get into it, which I'm hoping was just bad timing, as What I Loved knocked me over.







If I Stay by Gayle Forman

Look for a review of this one coming up soon, possibly followed by a giveaway. I hadn't heard of all the hype surrounding this book before I read it, which is always a good thing, I think







The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster

My favourite author. Ever. (my review)








Fingersmith and Affinity by Sarah Waters

I heart Sarah Waters. After Affinity, she became my favourite new author, even before I read Fingersmith. And then I read Fingersmith and that just cemented it for me. Am now reading Tipping the Velvet slowly. (my review of Fingersmith)






Unsticky by Sarra Manning

I really did love this one. I've read it twice already. And now, I'm just discovering Manning's YA novels, which are so good. I finished Let's Get Lost recently and now have my eye out for Guitar Girl and the Diary of a Crush series. And I hear she's writing more adult novels! Squeeee!






Honourable mentions? American Gods by Neil Gaiman and Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones. I am a bit shocked that at least two of the books on my list were published in 2009.

Which books would be on your list so far?

Regeneration by Pat Barker

Pat Barker has melted fact with fiction in Regeneration, the first book in a trilogy about World War I, as she combines historial events and figures such as Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon and the psychiatrist that treated them during their stay in a psychiatric hospital. Dr Rivers uses a new technique, psychoanalysis, to 'cure' soldiers of their traumatic experiences during their war and prepare them to return to the front.

Regeneration by Pat Barker is just one of those books for me. I read it and it wasn't enough. I wanted to know more. About World War I, the poetry that was written during and about the war, the lives of Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen, the psychology. It really inspired me to just find out more.

It is not an easy book to read. I found it quite grim in parts, and Barker really didn't shy away from the atrocities, both physical and psychological, that these men faced during the war. But of course it goes beyond that as well and looks at how class and gender factored into the treatment the soldiers were recieving as well as the morality of both war and the rehabilitation of the wounded.

This book really appealed to me on all levels. Well-written, thought-provoking, moving. Highly recommended to all.

The Cement Garden by Ian McEwan

"It was not at all clear to me now why we had put her in the trunk in the first place. At the time it had been obvious, to keep the family together. Was that a good reason? It might have been more interesting to be apart. Nor could I think whether what we had done was an ordinary thing to do..."

I have a kind of love/hate relationship with Ian McEwan. I can tell that his books are well written and I appreciate that he does symbolism well and he covers a wide range of interesting themes, in this book particularly gender identity. Also, the relationships in his novels, especially sexual relationships are done very bizarrely and I did feel a little uncomfortable with the incestuousness in the book. However, I continue to come back to Ian McEwan. Even if I hate the story-line or don't particularly connect with the characters. I always go back. The Cement Garden is McEwan's first published novel and I think it's a chilling little book. I think this is one that crept up on me, it got a little under my skin, which I'm starting to think is a common trait with McEwan's novels.

The Cement Garden is the story of four children who are left to fend for themselves after the deaths of their father and then shortly after, their mother. In order for the children to remain together, they don't report their mother's death and instead they bury her in cement in a trunk in the basement. Each child handles these deaths in different ways, hiding in books, regressing to early childhood. It has a very Lord of The Flies feel to it, the ways in which these children seem to separate themselves from society without the supervision of any adults. A dark little novel.

Library Loot 5

I actually went to the library twice this week. I'm not sure why, as I'm still reading American Gods by Neil Gaiman. Currently only 400 pages into it. I'm enjoying it, but it wasn't what I was expecting. Anyway, the other books that I picked up are:

1. 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke
2. The Chocolate Way by Robert Cormier
3. The Time Machine by HG Wells
4. The City of Ember by Jeanne duPrau
5. The Cement Garden by Ian McEwan
6. Another World by Pat Barker
7. The Light of Day by Graham Swift
8. The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing by MT Anderson
9. The Regeneration Trilogy by Pat Barker (renewed)

Library Loot is hosted by Eva at A Striped Armchair and Alessandra at Out of the Blue. Go find out what other bloggers have checked out from the library this week.

I feel a bit all over the place with this stack of books. Three YA titles, two scifi/fantasy. Apart from the YA, they're all 1001 books. Signing up for the 1% well-read challenge again has made a difference in my book selection. I did the same thing last year, reading 5 books from the list in one month and burnt myself out. We'll see how these books go. Meanwhile, back to Neil Gaiman.

What are you reading at the moment? What're you reading next?

REVIEW: What I Loved by Siri Hustvedt

I'm having a difficult time reviewing this book because I feel that in no way will I do this beautifully written novel justice. What I Loved is told through the point of view of Leo, an art historian who befriends an artist, Bill in 1970s New York, and the relationships that Leo and Bill form over the span of 25 years with each other, their wives, their two boys. As tragedy strikes, the tone of the novels switches from that of a chronicle of relationships to a creepy psychological thriller.

I found Hustvedt's writing style to be very similar in tone and the themes covered to her husband, Paul Auster: love, loss, identity, which added to my enjoyment of the novel. I thought that the four adults, Leo and Erica and Bill and Violet were utterly fascinating, cultured people and I wanted in on their inner circle as they discussed modern art, art history, literature, Violet's medical research. I loved the detail in which Bill's artwork is discussed and how it progresses throughout the novel, especially his fairy tale phase. Violet's research though is what stole the show for me. Eating disorders, hysteria, the decline of popular culture. I hung mesmerised by everything that Violet said or did.

I thought the second half of the novel was very subtle and disturbing. This slow feeling of creepiness and foreboding of what happens next left me unable to put this book down. Everything in this book felt authentic, real. I felt like I knew the characters in this book, I could relate to them, and as each event takes places I felt myself reeling by each loss, each betrayal. I will certainly be reading Hustvedt's other novels.

REVIEW: The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster

Three postmodern, dream-like tales of urban paranoia on the subject of the nature of identity. In the first a crime writer is drawn into a mysterious investigation; in the second a man spies on someone from an apartment; and in the third the childhood friend of a disappeared man is made his literary executor. Auster's prose glitters and beguiles, but does not offer anything as mundane as objective truth.

I'm sure it comes as no surprise by now that I love Paul Auster. This is one of those books that have stayed with me long after I've finished reading its last page. I'm left with a lot of questions and uncertainties. I'm left feeling completely perplexed and unsure of what I've just read but I find that the journey to that point is something I can't give up.

Initially, I was a little put off at the fact that the three books in this trilogy (City of Glass, Ghosts, and Locked Room) are detective stories but of course, it being Auster, they aren't typical detective stories. He turns the classic detective story and spins it so that this is a study of identity. Both of the characters in the books, the relationship between reader and author, the pursued and the pursuer.

The subtlety of the writing, the depth of themes and the way in which each story is connected, the darkness of the subject matter, the books within the books. The combination of all these continue to make Paul Auster my favourite author ever. You haven't read anything by Paul Auster then you are sorely missing out.

REVIEW: Fingersmith by Sarah Waters

“My name, in those days, was Susan Trinder. People called me Sue. I know the year I was born in, but for many years I did not know the date, and took my birthday at Christmas. I believe I am an orphan.”

This first sentence pulled me straight into this beautifully crafted novel by Sarah Waters. This is only my second novel of Waters that I've read and already she's becoming one of my favourite authors. Fingersmith is such a wonderful novel, with with fun characters, a complex and twisted plot, and her writing style is so rich and full of detail.

Sue is an orphan living in Victorian London in a houseful of thieves and petty criminals. After Sue's mother was hanged for murder, Sue has been raised and protected by Mrs Sucksby, a woman who takes in unwanted babies and sells them on. I adored the various characters in this London house. There's Mr Ibbs who buys stolen goods and then melts down the silver and gold. There's John Vroom who steals dogs and has his girlfriend Dainty sew the dog skins together into a coat a la Cruella de Vil. And then there's the well-known conman, Gentlemen, who comes to Lant Street with a proposal.

He has heard of a rich young woman, Miss Lilly, in an isolated estate in the country who can only come into her fortune by marrying. He wants to Sue to become her maid and nudge her into marrying Gentleman so that they can take her money and place Miss Lilly into a mental asylum. Sue agrees and off he go on a wonderfully twisty, turny storyline.

As I've said, I love the characters, not just the poor criminals, but Miss Lilly, her mad old uncle, Gentleman. Sarah Waters paints each setting, both in London and out in the country with such vivid detail that I could picture myself alongside Sue picking locks and feel the isolation of Maud Lilly. Sarah Waters wrote these characters so well and so convincingly, that even whilst the villains did horrible things, and the other characters make surprising choices, I still felt sympathetic towards them. I liked Sue and Maud's unlikely friendship slowly that slowly built over the course of the novel, their guilt and helplessness of both of their situations.

Until the very last page of this 500+ book, I was hooked. It took me three days to read this and I hated it everytime I had to put it down and carry on with my day-to-day activities. I wish I was the type of person who wrote down memorable passages of a book to share with you, but I don't. You just have to take my word that this is a wonderful read. Highly recommended.

Library Loot 4

1. The Regeneration Trilogy by Pat Barker
2. The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham
3. M Is For Magic by Neil Gaiman
4. The Chocolate Run by Dorothy Koomson
5. Prom by Laurie Halse Anderson
6. Surfacing by Margaret Atwood

Plus three Thomas the Tank Engine books and one Postman Pat book for Elliot. I still have out Saffy's Angel by Hilary McKay and What I Loved by Siri Hustvedt (which is what I'm currently reading)(Did you know that Siri Hustvedt and Paul Auster are married? I didn't until yesterday.)

I almost picked up Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood and Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell, but I didn't. They are both books I'd like to read and that I think I'd enjoy reading. The problem is that I own both of those books and I'm really likely to put off reading them forever because I know that they will always be there but that I have to return library books by a certain date. Maybe in a more desperate situation I'll resort to checking those books out.

I was hoping for a better selection of children's books. I really need them as a buffer between the serious books. That's why I went back for the Dorothy Koomson book. I'd read My Best Friend's Girl last year and really enjoyed it. And I was very excited with the Neil Gaiman.

(Incidentally, What I Loved, The Regeneration Trilogy, Surfacing, The Midwich Cuckoos, The Blind Assassin and Cloud Atlas are all on the 1001 Books To Read Before You Die, which I've taken up again. I'm feeling a little competitive and want to boost up my numbers. (Currently 114/1001) Ms Mac had mentioned it to me absolutely ages ago, but there are quite a few titles on the list that are short stories that could be viewed online. She'd mentioned The Yellow Wallpaper and I'd already read it so I didn't really look into any further until last night. I managed to read all three of the Edgar Allen Poe stories on the list (The Purloined Letter, The Pit and the Pendulum, and The Fall of the House of Usher) so if you're interested (like me) that might be something to look into more... Apparently A Modest Proposal by Johnathan Swift is only a few pages long and there are others.)

I'll tell you, these last few days were hell-ish. I really wanted to go to the library and it snowed so I wasn't able until this morning. I hate being stuck indoors, especially when I'm running low on books. Even though I'm only 100 pages into What I Loved and still had another book to read after that (though I know once I start Saffy's Angel it won't take me long to read it), I start to panic a little bit. I get this weird jittery feeling and everything just doesn't feel right. It's amazing what books, or lack of books does to my mental health. Luckily, the roads looked clear this morning. And Elliot is back in pre-school this afternoon.

We did have fun for a little while, in the snow.

1% well-read challenge completed

1. The Drowned World by JG Ballard
2. Candide by Voltaire
3. Legend by David Gemmell
4. The Third Man by Graham Greene
5. The Invisible Man by HG Wells
6. The Music of Chance by Paul Auster
7. I, Robot by Isaac Asimov
8. Mr Vertigo by Paul Auster
9. The Book of Illusions by Paul Auster
10. Interview With The Vampire by Anne Rice
11. A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway


YAY for me! Reading books off of the 1001 Books To Read Before You Die was something I have kept at the back of my head for awhile. I even carry around the list with me in case I pop in unexpectedly at the library. I'm entirely sure I won't read all of them before I die, but it's an interesting list and points me in a direction I might not normally have chosen. I would have never picked up Legend or The Drowned World without this list.

But there is such a thing as too much. I read 6 of these books in one month and it was overload. I got to where I wasn't enjoying the books I was reading so I backed off a bit and now I can come back to it again slowly. Hopefully in the next year I'll read even more than these 11, but if I don't then that's OK too. This next year I hope will see me finish 1 or 2 titles off this list that I already own that have been sitting on my shelves for awhile.

Favourite from the 11 this year? The Book of Illusions by far. Paul Auster has quickly become one of my favourite authors ever. I also enjoyed A Farewell to Arms more than I thought I would. And very surprising was liking Legend as well as I did.

Least favourite? The Invisible Man by HG Wells. Poorly written, I thought. I didn't care much for any of the characters and didn't care where the story ended up. There are other books by Wells on the list, and I will surely skip them.

Did you participate in this challenge? Are you reading books off of the 1001 list? What're your favourites? I'm currently at 103/1001.

A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway

In 1918 Ernest Hemingway went to war, to the 'war to end all wars'. He volunteered for ambulance service in Italy, was wounded and twice decorated. Out of his experiences came A Farewell to Arms. Hemingway's description of war is unforgettable. He recreates the fear, the comradeship, the courage of his young American volunteer and the men and women he meets in Italy with total conviction. But A Farewell to Arms is not only a novel of war. In it Hemingway has also created a love story of immense drama and uncompromising passion.

I think Hemingway is one of those writers that most people love or hate. I can see why. The only book I've previously read of his was The Old Man and the Sea in high school and I only read it because a boy I liked said he loved it. To be honest, I don't remember much about it and the boy I liked? Yeah, he wasn't impressed that I'd read it.

Hemingway's writing is so bare and to the point that I almost stopped reading A Farewell to Arms before I really began and I did have to put it down halfway through and come back to it a month later. But after that break, I really enjoyed it. I thought the images of war in the book were fascinating and despite the sparcity of the language I did really feel like I was in Italy along with the characters in this book and I liked how Hemingway coupled the scenes of war with his romance of Catherine. I think I will tentatively try some of his other books...

Interview With the Vampire by Anne Rice

This is the story of Louis, as told in his own words, of his journey through mortal and immortal life. Louis recounts how he became a vampire at the hands of the radiant and sinister Lestat and how he became indoctrinated, unwillingly, into the vampire way of life. His story ebbs and flows through the streets of New Orleans, defining crucial moments such as his discovery of the exquisite lost young child Claudia, wanting not to hurt but to comfort her with the last breaths of humanity he has inside.

This book surprised me. I thought it would be trashier. I've seen the film, but didn't take much from it. Or at least I thought I didn't until I started reading this and ended up with Brad Pitt's voice in my head narrating. I enjoyed the book, but I found Louis's incessant philosophising a little tedious in some parts. Rice explores some interesting themes, and I loved the rich detail of New Orleans but it felt a little flat sometimes. Maybe I've read this book too late and after too much saturation in books and movies about vampires and morality.

Read an interview here with Anne Rice including study questions, if you so wish.

(On other vampire book news, who else is counting down the days until Breaking Dawn is released?!)

This completes the required 10 books to be read for the 1% well-read challenge, but I'm having too much fun to stop now...