Wood -

Yes, The Sea won the Booker Prize in 2005 (perhaps - that was the date it was published, at least)... It's a wonderful read, and has some truly excellent turns of phrase (or should that be turn of phrases?). Can't read it in a hurry though - too dense for that.

If your library doesn't have the Bates, perhaps you could ILL it if they offer it? It shouldn't be that hard to find, I would think, but then I just picked mine up at the FoL library sale so perhaps I was lucky... If you have trouble finding it, I am happy to send this copy to you. It will only go to the FoL book sale otherwise...

Lemonhead,

Thanks for the review of Fair Stood the Wind for France. Reading it, the novel (read so many years ago) came back to me: the slow tempo, the poignant descriptions, and the characters. I love his descritions. As you say, it is a book to be enjoyed slowly.

Siobhan,

Thanks for the heads up on The School of Essential Ingredients. When I get around to read it, I'll compare notes with you.

I'm powering through The Social Animal by David Brooks. A great book but very dense and to read it properly would take weeks - since I have to have it back to the library soon I am doing a lot of skimming and reading more intently the bits I find most interesting.

I took The School of Essential Ingredients back to the library where it was received rapturously by the volunteer at the desk. When asked I said I had liked it very much, which is true but kept my churlish comments to myself.

I just brought home Salmon Fishing in the Yemen which is mentioned on this thread, can't wait to start it.

lemonhead, thanks for your kind offer. If you are going to donate the book to the FOTL sale, then If you don't mind mailing it to me, I will pay postage. (I think there is a cheaper media rate). Can you send me your e-mail and then I can send you my address? Thanks so much!

Siobhan, Salmon Fishing ... is a most unusual book but quite enjoyable for being 'different'.

Have been reading a wide variety of books recently. The Devil and Miss Pym was a strange 'moralistic' tale about a young woman living in a primitive mountain village who is befriended by a stranger who tests both her and the villagers beliefs in right and wrong.
Zennor in the Dark Helen Dunmore. The small Cornish village of that name during WWI when writer D H Lawrence and his German wife come to live on a run-down farm hoping to set up an 'alternative' community and the interaction between the suspicious locals, the Lawrences and a young girl who gets to know the pair. An OK read; nothing more.
Testimony Anita Shreve. How is AS regarded in the US? I seldom see her work mentioned here.
Set in a New England private school where a video is made of an 'orgy' between a group of boys and an underage girl. The story is told from many angles, the school head, the parents, various students, the townsfolk etc. At the end of the day the whole affair/problem can be traced back to the attitude/behaviour of the adults.
Am reading at night, a collection of short stories by Louis de Berniers Notwithstanding. The unlikely name of a small village in rural Surrey (South of London and now mostly wealthy commuter-belt).
I get the feeling L de B is writing about an area he knows/knew well as a boy. Most of the stories are inter-connected and are a gentle look at eccentric English characters with the odd extra touch of 'nature notes' . . .fishing, caring for injured birds etc. An enjoyable before sleep read.

I just finished Salmon Fishing.. just the other day and thought it was a fun book.... Here is what I wrote about it in my blog:

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen - Paul Torday

A fun epistolary novel which satirizes British government (much like other Western governments, I would imagine) as a fisheries scientist comes to work side by side with a Sheikh from the Yemen in order to introduce the sport of salmon fishing to this desert country. Initially, of course, people decry this project as unnecessary and a bad use of resources, but as the scheme continues and things seem to going according to plan, the project becomes much more of a reality.

As I mentioned, it's an epistolary novel which means that it is made up of letters and other communication detritus: emails, government reports, police interrogations... All this adds up to an effective way to show multiple points of view from the various characters without it being heavy handed. It also works to weave together the various strands of the different plots that occur throughout the novel.

The author is an avid angler and seems to be well versed in the industry of governmental work and although I generally think that both of these topics can be extremely boring, this novel elevates the plot to the level of it being difficult to put the book down. Additionally, there is a big surprise at the end (although there have been hints earlier in the novel), an unpredictability that I really enjoyed.

The overall message of optimism is effectively woven throughout the story, and although the ending is not a All�s-Well-That-Ends Well type of snuggly ending, it does work.

I really enjoyed this - a fast read, believable characters who do believable actions, and an unpredictable ending.

Thumbs Up!

Oh, sorry. Forgot this for Wood:

Happy to send you Fair... my email is as follows: -

liz i paulk at hot mail dot com

(except without all the spaces...) :-)

Since we are having an almost full moon, I am reading Enchanted Night by Steven Millhauser. A novella set in a southern Connecticut small town in a hot summer night under a moon that "it's almost perfectly round except for one side that looks a little flat and smudged". A gang of high school girls that breaks into houses at night, a failed writer living with his mother, the Woman Who Lives Alone, a mannequin, and dolls forgotten in attics are some of the characters, not necessarily interacting with each other.

To paraphrase Mark Twain, readers attempting to find a plot in Enchanted Night will be disappointed (hopefully, not shot, as Twain intended). Not much happens, but is almost impossible not to fall under Millhauser's moon spell. 109 pages, some of them have just a paragraph. Not recommended if you don't like fantasy elements.

Liz, got your message. Thanks so much!

I just finished "The Paris Wife." What a sad, sad, true story. And none of it needed to happen. It's loosely based upon Hemingway's own memoir: "A Moveable Feast."

I'm now perusing Pat Conroy's "My Reading Life." I am familiar with some of the persons and places mentioned therein. Conroy write such "purple prose" that I am going to be adding some new words that I had to look up to our thread here, e.g. "helot", "obsequious", and "amanuensis." Yikes!

I finished Far To Go by Alison Pick. I just checked the reviews at Amazon and they were all 4s or 5s. I was not so impressed.
It deals with a family living in Czechoslovakia in 1938/9. They are secular Jews who employ a Gentile nanny, and send their only son on the Kindertransport to Britain when Hitler invades first the Sudentland and then Prague.
There are several instances where the author uses untranslated Czech and in my opinion, it interferes with the story as it is not obvious what is meant. The nanny is conflicted about the 'Jewish question' because of her involvement with a Nazi sympathiser and her love for the family she works for. However, at one point this nanny, the daughter of a farm worker, is said to have read Mein Kampf!
I am always interested in WWII/Holocaust stories, and this was good as it was a bit different from most, but I thought there were deficiencies that warranted only a 3.

Just finished Salmon Fishing in the Yemen by Paul Torday. Loved it - odd, wickedly funny, unusual, tragic. Somehow expressing great truth in the guise of absurdity.

On the back cover is a recommendation from the author of a book called A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian. I really must read this also.

I have just finished "Sons and Lovers", it was very special.

My latest is "A Jest Of God' by Margaret Laurence, a movie was made of this novel "Rachel Rachel" starring Joanne Woodward, this I have ordered online

I set aside The Witch's Daughter and flew through three short cozy mysteries of a similar ilk: Second Hand Spirits, A Cast-Off Coven and Hexes and Hemlines by Juliet Blackwell. These feature a charming witch who runs a vintage clothing store in San Francisco and the murder investigations she repeatedly stumbles into. Add three potential love interests and it's a bit like (a much more sensible) Stephanie Plum meets Bewitched. Fluffy, but quite enjoyable.

Based on everyone's reviews of Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, I've requested a copy from the library.

Siobhan, A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian is delightful - I think you'll like it.

Siobhan, I'll second Sheri for A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian. A very 'different' theme and quite amusing.
Have now finished Louis de Berniers Notwithstanding, a gentle read and on the recommendation of a couple of you here am about to start Out of Africa by Karen Blixen (Isak Dinesen).

Junek, I read (and enjoyed) Jest of God a while ago; different from Stone Angel, but a good read. I will be interested to hear what you think of it.

Finished up The Sea by John Banville - a very good read, satisfying to finish up, but all in all, a bit of a broccoli book. (Good for you, but doesn't taste that great.)

So, wanting to read something a little more bubblegummy, I picked up No Time to Say Goodbye by Linwood Barclay, a fast and intriguing thriller novel about a daughter who wakes up only to find her entire family (mum, dad, bro) gone with no trace of why. Twenty-five years later, a clue to this long-gone mystery emerges - but why the long delay? And what happened?

Really enjoying this novel. I am not usually one to pick up books with lots of action and easy vocab, but after reading Banville, this one is like a hot knife through butter (reading-wise).... It's so effortless and actually really riveting. Just a thoroughly good read.

Lemonhead...I loved No Time to Say Goodbye. It's definitely one of my favorite books ever. An especially (since you already said thoroughly) fantastic story. I read it when it first came out, and have recommended it to a lot of people who have liked it as much. A good story is such an exciting find.

Finally finished "Caleb's Crossing". I was slow getting through all the preaching and chafing at all the restrictions imposed by the Calvinists. It was a well written and interesting story, but so bleak that I can't really say I enjoyed it. But I am glad I read it.

"Girl In Translation" by Jean Kwok is a fascinating look at the immigration experience. 11 year-old Kim and her Ma come to America with the help of Ma's sister, who gives them jobs in her sweatshop and finds them a condemned apartment with no heat and lots of roaches. (Definitely a 'with family like that, who needs enemies' situation) Kim is incredibly smart, and wants to fit in but doesn't understand the social rules. The story goes through her teen years, dealing with first love and adapting to American life while still keeping Chinese culture. A very moving story.

Another great book is "Between Shades of Gray" by Ruta Sepetys. The story is told by 15 year-old Lina, a Lithuanian who's family is deported by Russian soldiers during WWII. Separated from their father, the family is put on a train to be taken to Siberia. Lina records their experiences in drawings An amazing story, it's heartbreaking and hopeful and horrifying, all at the same time.

Started "Stiff: The Curious Lies of Human Cadavers" by Mary Roach. A surprisingly entertaining look at the ways your body can have a life after death. She's done her research and includes historical uses as well as modern ones. As someone who intends to go to The Body Farm at UT, I find her information riveting.

For a lighter read I started Jennifer Crusie's "Maybe This Time". It's actually more of a ghost story involving two kids. Not what I expected, but still has the romance and whacky characters she's so good at.

Finished Conroy's "My Reading Life", as well as a nonfiction work by di Silvestro about the aftermath of the Battle of Wounded Knee.

I like to re-read old favorites, so am re-visiting "The Go-Between" which we discussed at least a decade ago on this forum.

I picked up Anthill by E.O. Wilson and The Shadow Year by Jeffrey Ford. The Later is a class read. "Anthill" was a birthday gift. Like input on these books. Did you like them? or not?

I have started The Land of Painted Caves by Jean Auel. I've read about 150 pages of the 750-page book, and so far nothing has happened except descriptions of their inventions and knowledge of medicines from plants. It's been a really long time since I read the others, but I don't remember them as being so, well, boring.

carolyn ky,

You deserve a medal if you are able to finish this looong book."the Land Of Painted Caves".

I have been reading very little lately, and mostly re-reads.

I did finish Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson in one sitting, and am now making my way through Pax Brittanica by Jan Morris, the second book in a trilogy about the rise and fall of the British empire.

Putting 'Pillars of the Earth' aside for a bit - a great story but needed a break - I recently finished Janet Evanovich's 'Two for the Money' for a nice, light read. Never thought I would enjoy the Stephanie Plum novels as much as I do as so many times when people would say a novel is hilarious and so on, I would find the humor was too contrived. These books are the first fictional novels that have made me laugh out loud. Although, now that I think of it I guess Douglas Adams' novels also made me chuckle and then there was the Adrian Mole series...

I am now reading "The Ferguson Affair", a noir novel by Ross Macdonald (real name: Kenneth Millar). I keep seeing them at the library and I imagine it's because, although he was born in the U.S., he was raised in Ontario, Canada. I am hooked and will now read all of his novels. There is not a wasted word, every action or conversation moves the plot/mystery forward. Very much in the vain of a Chandler or Hammett novel, I can just picture someone like Humphrey Bogart in the lead role.

Siobhan, I third Sheri and Veer re 'A Short History of Tractors in the Ukraine'. I would love to have a book discussion on it as there was an "a-ha" moment but I was not sure if I was correct in what I was thinking. It is a novel you will remember.

I am only a few pages into A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian but I am loving it - one of those books that manages to be both charming and deep. As I have a few days off work, I am sure it will be finished very soon.

I've just picked up Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, and after skimming the first few pages I can tell I will enjoy it.

I've also been on a fluffy-witchcraft-fantasy-type book binge and just finished Hounded the first book of the Iron Druid chronicles by Kevin Hearne. The main character is a 2,100 year old Druid, last of his kind, who has managed to irritate several gods and goddesses during his long life and is now about to be attacked by same -- he comes complete with a vampire/werewolf legal team, an Irish wolfhound he can talk with, and a smattering of witches, monsters, demons, and, of course, a magic sword and serious tattoos. Fun stuff, and perfect light reading for this heat wave! I have the next two books, Hammered and Hexed lined up before I get back to SFitY.

Finally got around to reading The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle. Have to admit that it was much better than I thought it was going to be, and now I am looking forward to reading another one or two of his...

Also read the truly delightful Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery. Have heard an awful lot about this novel, but for some reason had not read it before which is a shame as it would have been lovely for me to read as a young girl. I was v like Anne in many ways and would have been good to see that I wasn't the only one with good intentions who made mistakes. Plus Anne was just hilarious when she used big words. Are the other volumes as good?

And now on to Under the Banner of Heaven - Jon Krakauer (see Utah thread). Really enjoying this, although a bit alarming in some ways in how people can seriously mis-read lit when they try (to their own benefit, of course.)

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by W. Kamkwamba. I am liking it very much.

Liz, I came to the Anne of Green Gables books late, as well. I only read them last year. I loved every single one! I even went back and re-read some of the series. I, too, wish I had discovered them when I was much, much younger. There is an excellent biography of M. Montgomery which title escapes me now. There are some parallels with the reality of the author's less than happy adult life.

I also was fascinated by the Krakauer book you mentioned, as well as rather shocked by its content....

My husband is a non-reader (loves television). We once took a bus tour to Eastern Canada; and on the long rides, the tour director showed all the Anne videos. When we got to Prince Edward Island and saw the house that Green Gables was based on, and he found out that it was all fiction, he was crushed. He had fallen for Anne hook, line, and sinker, thinking it was all true.

lemonhead,
I did enjoy "Jest Of God" by Margaret Laurence, not as good as "Stone Angel" however wonderful writing. I just loved the closing paragraphs regarding what the future could hold for her, very touching. My copy contained wonderful afterwords by Margaret Atwood.I am looking forward to watching the movie,"Rachel Rachel", I hope that it is not too hashed up.

My latest is "The Resurrectionist" by James Bradley,at the moment it is set in London 1826, the atmosphere is fascinating, it reminds me of "Jack Maggs", "Rose" and "The Potato Factory" all for me very special reading.

In between times I am reading short stories from "Alice Munro", she is a wonderful writer, Canadian again, as is Margaret Laurence and Margaret Atwood.

Another Anne fan here! I reread all the books a couple of years ago. They are just as good for an adult as for a child. I was lucky enough to find an annotated and illustrated edition of the first book, I pored over that for hours.

Stayed up very late to finish A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian. Will confess I didn't understand the denounement. I liked it very much and look forward to reading more from this author. I did enjoy Salmon Fishing in the Yemen more though. (I mention that because I have been talking a lot about both books.)

I have just started Corrag by Susan Fletcher, a novel based on the Jacobite rebellion. So far it is very, very promising.

I finished a uncorrected proof of Jeffery Eugenides book, The Marriage Plot, due out in October. Sadly, I was not impressed. College students, early 80s. He loves her, but she loves him. Said him is a manic depressive (term bipolar not used then). Original he flirts with religion. That's about it, without giving away the ending.

I have now started Fun & Games by Duane Swierczynski, which comes highly recommended by others at work.

Last night I finished my second Margery Allingham mystery, The Case of the Late Pig, originally published in 1937. This slim novel (a mere 137 pages) has a bit of a cult following among fans of the British "Queens of Crime".

Allingham's eccentric hero Albert Campion attends the funeral of a man who sadistically bullied him as a boy at boarding school. Campion is later summoned to a murder at an exclusive county house/hotel. The victim turns out to be the same man whose funeral Campion attended five months earlier. Mayhem ensues.

I enjoyed The Case of the Late Pig very much, though Allingham's books are not as tightly-plotted as a typical Agatha Christie mystery. Allingham's books, however, are bracingly unsentimental and are enlivened with a breezy sense of humor.

An example:

"I don't want to interfere," she said, using the tone and the phrase to mean its exact opposite, ...

I will take a break from British mysteries for the moment, but they have certainly made bearable an unbearably hot summer.

I have struggled in vain with my book club's selection for July, To the End of the Land by David Grossman. I'm just not going to be able to keep on reading it. It tells the story of a divorced Israeli mother who fears learning about the death of her soldier-son, so she goes on a hike with her former lover, tortured in a previous war. I found it paralyzingly dreary, and in the end, decided that reading it would do me more harm than good. It's hard to describe how a book can be both horrifying and mind-numbingly boring at the same time, but this one succeeded. Mine is a minority opinion. The critics and many readers love it. The author's own son was killed in the was as he was finishing up the novel, which perhaps illuminates the tone of the book.

Rosefolly

Just finished this morning "The Water is Wide" by Pat Conroy. Finished over the week end "I Still Dream About You" by Fannie Flagg--loved it. Earlier this month read "What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day" "War and Peas"--kinda silly. "The 3 Weissmans of Westport" also kinda silly, and "Serena". Now, to choose one from my too big TBR pile Hmmm.

I have finished The Land of the Painted Caves by Jean Auel. I would like to state that I read every word in it and found it to be mostly a prehistoric tour of the painted caves of France. Only the last 150 pages or so had any story to them. It's a good thing this is the last of the series; I think she has run her course.

I have finished reading "The Resurrectionist" by Australian author James Bradley, it was a wonderful read, very dark and most enjoyable!!!.

My latest is "Idle Curiosity" by Martha Bergland, I purchased this online after reading her first novel "A Farm under a Lake", so far I am really enjoying it.

I am reading very little this month and took back Lisa Lutz "Heads You Lose" because it needed more concentration than I could manage. I picked up a large print mystery and found it had a cast of millions! So that went back too. I have a theory that these books are written by people like teachers who are used to remembering lots of names! I cannot!
Timallen, I have picked up 4 of Gladys Mitchell's mystery novels, reprints from the 1930s onwards. Probably because of the popularity of Diana Rigg as Mrs. Bradley. The fictional character is quite different in appearance and some behaviour. Again I found the first book had a large cast and was very bewildering. I like Austens idea of a book with 'a few families in a country setting' suits me regarding murders!
Has anyone read "Go the **** to sleep"? I nearly got it for my grand-daughter, who has just had a premmie baby and sleepless nights. I decided on a baby bracelet instead!

With house guests, hot weather, gardening and quilting going on, I ditched being intellectual and have fallen back on a couple of my favorite authors, and light weight summer reading:
The Union Quilters Chiaverinni
The School of Essential Ingredients Bauermeister,
Blackbird House Hoffman,
The Search Norah Roberts
Wicked Prey Sandford
Marine One Huston

The Chiaverinni was a disappointment, the Bauermeister less than I though it would be. It was fun to read the Roberts, I hadn't read anything of hers for a couple of years. And I am enjoying the Sandford now. I will soon be sitting on the porch with my second cup of coffee and reading that. Maybe a little quilting if I need a little break, or when the sun comes around and makes it too warm.

Hi all,
The summer has been hot, extremely hot. Nothing like a cold glass of lemonade and a book in the shade. My eyes are stronger every day but still get tired long before bedtime. No worries, this, too, shall pass.

Veer, a belated thank you for your helpful post about Hotel du Lac. It is sitting between my forearms as I type this note. (The lemonade is also waiting...)

Wood, a belated thank you for your help re: Margery Allingham. My old paperbacks are yellowed... my eyes cannot yet read dark print on darkish paper so Allingham will wait for another day.

Finished:
World Without End by Ken Follett: a good tale, but not as good as Pillars of the Earth. I felt WWE was not much more than a Medieval Soap Opera.

Red Jade by Henry Chang: a mystery set in Chinatown. This is the third in the series. I thoroughly enjoyed the descriptions but it seems the series should be read in order for there was quite a bit of content from previous books that I didn't understand. It was a short easy read, but I am not entirely sure I am interested enough to read the first two in the series.

The Janus Stone by Elly Griffiths: Janus was the Roman god of beginnings, and endings, and doorways. So when Roman ruins are found, then a body buried under the doorway of an old house, things get a bit confusing. An enjoyable mystery... kind of fluffy, but also fun.

Life in Ancient Rome by F. R. Cowell: Non-fiction, a non-scholarly very readable overview of everyday life in Rome. I enjoyed, and learned from, every page.

Lost Horizon by James Hilton: mesmerizing. Loved it, loved it, loved it. I read about it in another book... J. Maarten Troost's Lost on Planet China (which I did not really enjoy too much). I read the library's copy but must now buy a hardcover edition for my own library. A fantastic tale.

Next up: Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner and The Sweet Life in Paris by David Lebovitz (reccommended by YoYoBon). My kids are away for the week, I cannot yet do heavy work or lifting or gardening or mowing. Looks like I shall eat popcorn, drink lemonade and tea, and read.

PAM

I spent the past week in New Hampshire dividing my time between the porch and the beach and I flew through the three Kevin Hearne 'Iron Druid Chronicles' books (Hounded, Hexed,and Hammered) all of which made my Inner Geek very, very happy. I was even happier to find he has two more books lined up for 2012 -- Tricked and Trapped. Can't wait.

I also read Julia Child's My Life in France, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I'm a mediocre cook at best, but there's something about Julia Child that fascinates me.

I have The Case of the Late Pig by Margery Allingham, finding it most enjoyable. The characters are wonderful and I enjoy the lightness of the writing.

Well, I have to get off to work. I hope everyone is having a good weekend.

I have devoured S. J. Bolton's Now You See Me and can't stop thinking about it. The ending was a total surprise to me. Modern copycat Jack the Ripper killings, so be warned, except they are not.

Annpann, I am ashamed to admit that I had never heard of Gladys Mitchell. Having just read her Wikipedia page, I think I will keep an eye out for some of her more well-known titles. Thanks for bringing her to my attention.

Siobhan, I am so glad to hear that you are enjoying The Case of the Late Pig. I enjoyed it very much. It seems so breezy and "modern" compared to many other mysteries I've read.

I loved A Jest of God when I read it as a young adult. As a child, my dream was to live in a funeral home. (I was not a typical child.) The film adaption of this novel really captured the intense claustrophobia of a thwarted young woman trying to find love in a small town, whilst being at the beck and call of her aging mother.

AnnPann -

I have read that book Go the F*** to Sleep, and laughed out loud about it. It seems to sum up the desperation that new parents may feel when their lovely little darling won't sleep...

However, I read an interesting article that asked if the book would have been so funny if it had been written by a mother/woman. Would people still think it was funny if the mum had written it or would she (the author) be considered whiny?

Quite interesting to think about, really. It seems that a lot of new fathers in this day and age are patted on the back for being "involved" and taking their kids to the grocery store, when, in fact, this is an everyday occurrence for many of the mothers.

Just an interesting point to think about.

I still liked the book tho.

Siobhan, I would be interested what you thought of The Case of the Late Pig once you finished it.

I loved it, tim, thought it was clever and stylish. I laughed through most of it. Mystery-wise just so-so, but who cares when the writing is so entertaining? I will be reading a couple more, they are available on ILL.

I had the same reaction, Siobhan. I found myself laughing throughout the book, and wondering if Allingham was actually sending up the classic British mystery novel. The ridiculous names of the some characters seemed to poke fun at the the culture of the irreverent "Bright Young Things".

There was a BBC production of this book, have you seen it? I requested it from the library. I hope they captured the humor.

I haven't seen the BBC production, but it sounds interesting. I hope they caught the tone of the original book.