And now the End is Near... December book thread

[scrubb]

107) "Philida" by Andre Brink. Based on some historical documentation the author found about a slave in the Cape (South Africa) in the early 1800s, who belonged to one of his ancestors - and bore 4 children to him before being sold up country. Also, his ancestor's bankruptcy when he lost his vineyard.

I didn't know much about slavery in SA - it seems it was more Indonesians/Malaysians than local blacks. They were all freed at the same time - I think it was 1834? - and this is set right before that time. It was well written and a reasonably good story with good background characters and events.

108) "Butcher's Crossing" by John Williams. He's a great writer, so it's a shame he only ever finished 3 books. They are each quite different from each other and this one is set in the days of the wild west and the great buffalo hunts. I've seen it referred to as a Western, and it has all the events of one, but it's got a ton of words about what the main character is seeing and feeling and wondering. Almost too much narrator discussing his thoughts/feelings, in my opinion, but it's still excellent overall and very worth reading. I'm sorry I've finished all Williams' books now.

109) "My Invented Country" by Isabelle Allende. A short book, it's her nostalgic attempt to define Chileans/their country, from her perspective after being an exile for 25 years (and having changed her self-definition to immigrant/American). She's a great writer and it is extremely readable and interesting and frequently very funny.

[scrubb]

My last few are nowhere near as good as the ones above:

110) "Postcards from Nam" by Uyen Nicole Duong. Again a novella, written by a Vietnamese immigrant to the US, telling the story of someone the main character knew as a child and the hell he went through after the fall of Saigon. The writing is awkward a lot of the time and although the concept was reasonable, overall it wasn't very good.

111) "Skios" by Michael Frayn. Don't read it. It's a stupid farce that has nothing creative or original. I don't know why I finished it - I did skim a LOT.

112) A pair of novellas/collections of short pieces by Margaret Atwood - "Murder in the Dark" and 'The Tent'. They both have some really good bits, but I didn't LOVE either.

And on the plane home I started "The Essex Serpent" but I'm not too far into it yet, as I spent more time watching Rogue One again than reading.

[Liiisa]

54. Jeff Kricher, The Neotropical Companion

Nonfiction that I've been reading before bed for the last couple of months; it's a 300-ish page book that gives an overview of Neotropical ecosystems (i.e., Central and South America). A nice reference book for people who like to hike around in the tropics.

The last chapter is gross, though; all about the nasties you might encounter down there, so my Christmas 2017 ended with me reading an essay about bot flies.

And:

lol scrubb, I've read "Skios." It definitely didn't make my top books of whatever year that was, but I didn't hate it THAT much. (I do recall it being kind of stupid, though.)

[Liiisa]

55. Fiona Mozley, Elmet

Aaaah! I didn't look at this book before reading it, just picked it up on the merit of its Man Booker listing and reviews on here... had expected some quiet country story about quiet country people... ok then. Definitely on the best-of-year list.

For folks who've also read this: my only objection is that this is another of those books that I think could have ended earlier. I think it should have ended just as the boy runs from the fire, and killed the two short tying-up chapters that follow. I think that would have been more taut; to me those things were sufficiently explained earlier, and they break the mood. But that said, an amazing novel nonetheless.

[lillielangtry]

(89) Susan Cooper, The Dark is Rising
The things Twitter gets you into... Robert MacFarlane, who is an author himself, started a mass rereading of The Dark is Rising starting on 21 December, midwinter day, which is when the book itself starts. I loved this book as a child but I'm not a big rereader of children's books (Harry Potter aside) so I didn't plan on joining in. But somehow I found myself downloading it for my Kindle and racing through it, I couldn't pace myself for the relevant days, I just read the whole thing in a day. It is really well-written, exciting and fast-paced but also well-researched with traditional British beliefs and countryside description. Some parts of it I remembered well and others part came back as I was reading.
(It's actually the 2nd in a 5 part series. This doesn't matter, it stands alone).

(90) Ferdinand von Schirach, Carl Tohrbergs Weihnachten
This was just a little book of 3 short stories, one of which was Christmas themed. I enjoy Schirach's style.

[lillielangtry]

Dec 26, 2017 10:08:17 GMT -5 Liiisa said:

55. Fiona Mozley, Elmet

Aaaah! I didn't look at this book before reading it, just picked it up on the merit of its Man Booker listing and reviews on here... had expected some quiet country story about quiet country people... ok then. Definitely on the best-of-year list.

For folks who've also read this: my only objection is that this is another of those books that I think could have ended earlier. I think it should have ended just as the boy runs from the fire, and killed the two short tying-up chapters that follow. I think that would have been more taut; to me those things were sufficiently explained earlier, and they break the mood. But that said, an amazing novel nonetheless.

I'm pleased you read this! Yes, I've heard others say they were disappointed with the ending. It was a debut novel and it will certainly be interesting to see how Mozley hones her craft. I wasn't disappointed, but I wonder... I really enjoyed several books in 2017 which came from very different backgrounds but shared a sort of menacing atmosphere (I'm thinking for example of Samanta Schweblin's Fever Dream) and perhaps that sort of carried me through. I read of those books very fast as well, in a day (Schweblin's is very short, while for Mozley's I had a long journey). It would perhaps be worthwhile to pick both of them up again and see if they stand up to a second reading.

[Liiisa]

Thanks for reading it first and giving me the impetus - it really was very good.

I need to find "Fever Dream," then! I like menacing things. In art, that is.

[Queen]

#55 Manhattan Beach

Jennifer Egan

Loved it. One of my favourite reads this year... although slightly disappointed by the ending.

It's a different take on the WW2 period, and the characters are on the grubby side of society. Just trying really hard to get by, not behaving ethically because it's just not possible in their circles. It's really good.

#56 Falling Skies

Philippa Gregory

Set between the world wars, it's a tale of broken people. It's hopeful and tragic. Because I was busy at work I wanted something lightweight to read so choose this... it was about OK. I think I like Gregory better when she's writing about Tudor times.

[Liiisa]

Q, I'd been wondering if I'd read that new Jennifer Egan - guess I will!

[Liiisa]

56. Sabina Murray, Valiant Gentlemen

Wow! I didn't know what I was getting into with this novel, since it was another thing pressed on me by my mom, who as I've said before doesn't entirely share my taste. I raced through it (and not just because it's been too damn cold to do anything other than sit inside and read). Another for the best of year list.

This is the story of two men who become friends in the Congo in the late 19th century - one of whom is gay, and loves the other, but never tells him or does anything about it because of the constraints of the times. It's not entirely about that, though; it traces their interweaving lives through the WW1 period. It's historical fiction - I have to admit that I had no idea about these people. It's filled with well-written characters, not just the men but also the wife and children of the straight character. The end was sad.

[scrubb]

113. The Essex Serpent, by Sarah Perry. Most likely my last book of the year, because I am sick, tired, and going to bed as early as possible tonight so will only have a couple hours tomorrow evening to read anything else, and I'm just at the beginning of my current book.

Really enjoyed this book after a sort of slow start. Historical fiction set in late Victorian times, I think. About the relationships between men and women, about collective hysteria, about monsters, illness, and natural phenomena.

It wasn't perfect - the behaviour of the autistic child at the end seemed unrealistic based on previous behaviours; and I think the author might have gone off in too many directions, based on her own enthusiasm to show the VIctorian era differently from how it has been done before. Which resulted in a couple characters who seemed sort of extraneous.

But I still liked it a lot and it might be on my best of the year list, not sure yet.

[sophie]

Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson. This is a HEAVY book, printed on some sort of premium paper (possibly because of the prints) which makes it difficult to hold. I cannot hold it an read it comfortably or for very long and certainly not in my favourite place to read, the bathtub. I read parts of it, and skimmed other parts, just because of the physical nature of the book.

[sprite]

Currently reading 'pompeii' by mary beard, but fear i won't finish before the new year. on the plus side, years ago, my partner gave his dad another of her books, and he's borrowed it. odds are, i'll finish current book and that one before he finishes his current read.

[sprite]

i follow 'medievalPOC' on twitter, and as a result often get recommends for POC queer fantasy, some of which looks really good. i clearly need to read more.

[scrubb]

As an annual summary:
- exactly half of what I read was by women. 56 male authors, 56 female, plus one anthology from the New Yorker (genderless).
- didn't read much non-fiction - only 19, which was 17% of the total. Might make it my goal to read more next year
- for some reason I read 3 books that I ranked as "bad" and not worth reading. I think I blame Bookbub for that - they were all cheap things that I thought looked ok, but turned out not to be.
- authors from 15 different countries
- 2 were re-reads
- 5 were childrens books (2x Terry Pratchett, Watership Down, the new Harry Potter (Cursed Child), and an Ian McEwan that I didn't know was a kids' book till I started it)
- my rating system has 6 levels - Excellent, Very Good, Good, Ok-Good, OK, and bad. 87 were in the top 3 categories and 26 in the bottom (but only 9 were ok or bad; the other 17 were better than ok). The majority (42% of the total) were "very good". So I feel like I've done a pretty good job of not reading mediocre books, which is why I started tracking.

[Liiisa]

Oh, I like the annual summary idea. Here, roughly based on scrubb's:

Read 56 total
21 of them were by women
1 was a play
4 nonfiction
55 in English, 1 in Spanish
12 countries maybe? not sure
8 extra-good
1 extra-bad (i.e., abandoned)

[HalcyonDaze]

4 non fiction for me last year - all bookclub choices. The sets the library hold have a lot of biographies.
15 childrens/middle grade novels. Generally excellent books with interesting characters.
About 16% were male authors.

[HalcyonDaze]

Hm, only two books last year that had been translated from another language into English. I usually manage a few more than that.

[scrubb]

Just counted - I think 5 of mine were in translation.

[Liiisa]

I think 5 of mine were in translation, too? (Well, plus the Harry Potter that was translated into Spanish.)

[lillielangtry]

92 books read, 62 of them by women and 1 mixed anthology, from 19 countries. 22 read in German, the rest in English.

Not sure how many were in Translation, I'll have to check my reading spreadsheet at home, fellow reading geeks :-)

[mei]

pffft, just had a look at my booklist.

14 books read :-(
only 2 non-fiction
6 by women
mostly English-language authors, I think, but also 1 Chinese and 2 Dutch

[Queen]

54 books read

9% non fiction (lower than usual)
40% by women (lower than usual - but I did read a lot of Trollope)
85% by US/UK writers (higher than I'd like, and since all three of my fav books are by non UK/US writers I need to up my game)

Best books - tough call I loved most of what I read this year.
Philida - Andre Brink
The Guest Cat - Takashi Hiraide
Em and the Big Hoom - Jerry Pinto