Category: Books

I got this from Lisa’s blog. I don’t do these quizzes much, but this one somehow struck a chord.

1. Favorite childhood book?
A Wrinkle In Time, by Madeleine L’Engle. This is one of those terrific books that is just as good to read for adults as for children. Maybe better even.

2. What are you reading right now?
I’m partway through Drums of Autumn, by Diana Gabaldon (Outlander series), and just started a biography of Catherine de Medici by Leonie Frieda.

3. What books do you have on request at the library?
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. I think I’m eleventy-billionth in line, so it’s a good thing I have lots of books at home.

4. Bad book habit?
None really, unless you count buying way more books than I can possibly read.

5. What do you currently have checked out at the library?
None. I just returned The Tudors, by G. J. Meyer. It was OK, but not as good as his A World Undone, a history of WWI. That was a great book.

6. Do you have an e-reader?
Nope. I’m a Luddite, I like the feel of a “real” book in my hands.

7. Do you prefer to read one book at a time, or several at once?
I usually have at least one fiction and one non-fiction book going. Sometimes I get carried away and start a bunch of things, but I usually only am actively reading one or two.

8. Have your reading habits changed since starting a blog?
I don’t think so. I don’t read as much since I started knitting, though.

9. Least favorite book you read this year (so far?)
Hmmm. I can’t really think of one.

10. Favorite book you’ve read this year?
Probably the last Outlander book before this one. They are just thoroughly enjoyable books.

11. How often do you read out of your comfort zone?
Not all that often. I tend to get bored with stuff that I’m not comfortable with, and it sits on the nightstand till I get tired of looking at it.

12. What is your reading comfort zone?
I tend to read a lot of historical fiction recently. I got sucked into a bunch of Philippa Gregory novels earlier this year. Somewhat fluffy, but fun. I like reading the “classics” as well. There are a surprising-to-me number of them that I’ve never read, so I’m trying to correct that. I also tend to buy and read a bunch of books by the same author. I’ll read one, get sucked in, and go out and buy everything they ever wrote.

13. Can you read on the bus?
I don’t ride the bus, but I’d guess that my motion sickness issue would prevent that. I can’t read in the car, either.

14. Favorite place to read?
Big comfortable chair in my kitchen, big comfortable chair in my living room, bed, the deck, you name it.

15. What is your policy on book lending?
I don’t have a policy. If someone wants to read a book out of my collection, they’re welcome to it. I’ve been known to force copies of books on people. I’ve been trying to get rid of books once I’ve read them, so I either give them to someone I know to read, or take them to the library and leave them. I try not to get personally attached to them.

16. Do you ever dog-ear books?
On occasion. I have some Levenger Page Points that I generally use, but sometimes I dog ear if I don’t have one.

17. Do you ever write in the margins of your books?
Not usually, but not because I’m opposed to it, I just don’t take the time to write notes, since I tend to get rid of books once I read them.

18.  Not even with text books?
I do sometimes highlight in text books.

19. What is your favorite language to read in?
The only one I read, which would be English.

20. What makes you love a book?
Great characters, first of all. A story that keeps you wondering what’s going to happen next helps, too. I also love writers who have a command of the English language and use just that perfect word that keeps you going back and re-reading the sentence just for the sheer pleasure of it. Wallace Stegner is an example. His Angle of Repose is one of my all-time favorite books.

21. What will inspire you to recommend a book?
See number 20. Probably the two books I’ve pushed on more people are 1) Soldier of the Great War, by Mark Helprin, and 2) Undaunted Courage  (the Lewis & Clark adventure), by Stephen Ambrose. I’ve bought several copies of both and given them away. I should start getting a commission.

22. Favorite genre?
Probably historical fiction, but general literary fiction is also on the top of the list.

23. Genre you rarely read (but wish you did?)
Science fiction. I try to like it, but just don’t get into it much. I like sci-fi TV and movies, so I can’t explain that. I also wish I liked fantasy fiction more than I do. I love multi-book series, which is common in that genre, but I just can’t get into it much.

Favorite biography?
No Ordinary Time, by Doris Kearns Goodwin, about the Roosevelt years in the White House. It’s not technically a bio, but close enough. And Undaunted Courage (see number 21).

25. Have you ever read a self-help book?
Not if I can help it. Not unless you count knitting books. On the rare occasion that I’ve read them in the past, I usually end up hurling them across the room by page twenty. Silly faux-psychology drives me to drink. Oh wait, I already drink. Never mind.

26. Favorite cookbook?
Oh dear. My cookbook collection is even larger than my knitting book collection. If I had to pick just one it would be Julia Child’s The Way To Cook. Or maybe the Joy of Cooking. We tend to improvise recipes a lot around here, so a general technical cookbook with basic recipes I can use as a framework is quite helpful.

27. Most inspirational book you’ve read this year (fiction or non-fiction)?
I don’t know if I have read anything this year that I’d call inspirational. I’ll get back to you on that one. Perhaps my Bible counts, though. Which reminds me of a funny text message from the website Texts From Last Night. This one really cracked me up.

“i got kicked out of Barns and Nobles cuz i put all the bibles in the fiction section”

28. Favorite reading snack?
I tend to not eat and read, but a glass of wine and some cheese wouldn’t be out of the ordinary.

29. Name a case in which hype ruined your reading experience.
Can’t think of one at the moment.

30. How often do you agree with critics about a book?
Usually, though on occasion I think “they” might have a screw loose. John Grisham comes to mind. Why those books hit the best seller list is beyond me.

31. How do you feel about giving bad/negative reviews?
Not a problem. If I hate a book, I’ll let you know.

32. If you could read in a foreign language, which language would you chose?
French. One of those life goals I’ve had is to read Les Miserables in the original. I better get on that.

33. Most intimidating book you’ve ever read?
Oh Lord. Gravity’s Rainbow. It took me forever to wade through it, and I loved it, but it was a major challenge, as is everything Pynchon writes.

34. Most intimidating book you’re too nervous to begin?
Infinite Jest, by David Foster Wallace. It’s been sitting here forever, taunting me. I’m pretty sure I won’t understand any of it.

35. Favorite Poet?
I don’t actually read a lot of poetry. One that’s currently on my nightstand is Wendell Berry, I dip into it from time to time.

36. How many books do you usually have checked out of the library at any given time?
Usually only one. I generally try to read either from the vast stash of books I already have, but if something comes out that I just have to read NOW, I try to get it from the library.

37. How often have you returned book to the library unread?
Not often.

38. Favorite fictional character?
Frances Crawford of Lymond, from the Dorothy Dunnett Lymond Chronicles. Best series of historical fiction books, ever. If you haven’t read them, do.

39. Favorite fictional villain?
Hmmm. I’ll have to get back to you on that one. Can’t think of one right now.

40. Books I’m most likely to bring on vacation?
Anything and everything. Usually fiction, though. I’m a sucker for big 800 page novels, which is really a pain for packing.

41. The longest I’ve gone without reading.
Not long. A few days to weeks, maybe.

42. Name a book that you could/would not finish.
For some reason that escapes me, I tried to read the first book in the dismally written Left Behind series. I might have gotten 20-30 pages into it before I wanted to burn it in the backyard.

43. What distracts you easily when you’re reading?
Noise. I like to have quiet when I read. It didn’t bother me much when I was younger, but it’s gotten worse as I’ve gotten older. I think my ability to multi-task isn’t as good.

44. Favorite film adaptation of a novel?
Lord of the Rings, easily. I loved the books, so was skeptical about the movies, but I’ve watched them all several times.

45. Most disappointing film adaptation?
Hmmm. Perhaps the Mists of Avalon. I loved that book so much. The movie wasn’t bad, but it just didn’t live up to the book.

46. The most money I’ve ever spent in the bookstore at one time?
I refuse to answer that on the grounds that it might incriminate me. Let’s just say that the book spending rivals the yarn spending around here.

47. How often do you skim a book before reading it?
Not usually. I’ll glance at the first few paragraphs when I’m buying a book or checking it out at the library, but I generally read from beginning to end.

48. What would cause you to stop reading a book half-way through?
If I don’t like it, I don’t get to half way. Silly writing, boring characters, plot that doesn’t seem to go anywhere, all of those things will make me banish a book. I don’t give a book more than 40-50 pages if I don’t like it.

49. Do you like to keep your books organized?
Yes. All the unread fiction books are alphabetized by author, the non-fiction section by general topic. Of course there’s that pile by the bedside that is totally disorganized, but I like to think of that as the on-deck circle.

50. Do you prefer to keep books or give them away once you’ve read them?
I used to save absolutely everything except the total rejects. Now I get rid of them as I read them. The “library” in my house is the loft over the living room, and it’s in danger of collapsing if I don’t purge now and then. I keep a box in my office, finished books go in it, and when it’s full it goes to the library.

51. Are there any books you’ve been avoiding?
The Twilight books. I bought the first one, and I’ve actually picked it up a few times to read, but never started. I’m pretty sure I will hate it, so I don’t know why I don’t just read 20 pages and make a decision.

52. Name a book that made you angry.
Can’t think of one. Oh yes, maybe that Left Behind crap I mentioned.

53. A book you didn’t expect to like but did?
I didn’t really think I’d like Don Quixote for some reason, but it’s a great book. Very funny in a lot of places, really.

54. A book that you expected to like but didn’t?
Can’t think of one of these either. I’m usually good at guessing what I’ll like or not. I might give it a try anyway, but my instinct is usually fairly good. Oh I do know one. Confederacy of Dunces. I really hated that, and expected to like it.

55. Favorite guilt-free, pleasure reading?
Historical fiction. I read a lot of non-fiction history, so it’s great fun to read a novel set in the same time period as a history book I’m reading.

By Diana Gabaldon

Now, this is a novel. I’ve read this one before, but have never gotten around to reading the rest of the series. I decided that this whole set of six books would make good summer reading, and decided to start over with the first one. The seventh in the series is due to be published this fall, so I need to read faster.

If you haven’t read these, and like historical romance, I’d highly recommend this. The main heroine, Claire, is poking around a set of standing stones in 1945 Scotland. When she accidentally touches one of the stones, she’s whirled back through time to 1743, in the Scottish Highlands right before the rebellion of Bonnie Prince Charlie. She has loads of perilous adventures, and due to her smart-ass personality, gets in a lot of trouble along the way. She meets rogues and outlaws, and ends up marrying into a large Highland clan for protection.

The whole thing is completely preposterous, but Gabaldon writes it so well that it ends up being a real page-turner. This is a terrific book, and I’ve already gotten well into the second book of the series.

627 pages.

By Rosalind Miles

Hmmm. What to say about this one? I sort of liked the story, though it’s been done a few too many times. It’s part of a trilogy of Guenevere stories, and I’m a sucker for trilogies.

In the end, I’d have to say that I wouldn’t buy the rest of the set. So many books, so little time to read those that don’t grab me by the throat. I liked Mists of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley, much better.

515 pages.

You might have noticed that there’s been a gap between the last post and this one. One might think that reading that last book threw me off for months, but I just forgot to post. I’m not even going to try to catch up. I’ll try to do better in the future, but there have been a few hundred or so pages that missed getting counted because I was too lazy to put them in here.

By Robin Cook

This was one of the worst books I’ve read in a long time. One of my patients in the hospital finished it right before he was discharged, so he gave it to me. The plot surrounds a medical student and his pretty nurse sidekick, who discover an evil scheme involving faked research, intentionally-caused cancer, and a conspiracy to extort research money from the unsuspecting victims. The plot is as thin as water, and there is not one believably-written character. Don’t waste your money.

445 pages

By Philippa Gregory

This was an enjoyable read. It continues the story of Henry VIII’s many wives, this time as he marries and discards Anne of Cleves. It’s relatively predictable, given that the story is well known and has been told many times, but Anne is not one of his more famous wives, so it’s interesting. As romantic historical fiction goes, Gregory writes some of the best. I have several of her other novels in the queue.

592 pages

by James Michener

Lordy, where to start with this one. I liked this in some ways, hated it in others. I learned a lot of Hawaiian history that was new to me, but Michener’s writing style drives me a bit nutty. Any book that starts off with “millions upon millions of years ago” and ends in the 1950’s is guaranteed to get on my nerves after awhile. It ends up being a bunch of short family stories within the grander epic story, which left me feeling like I really didn’t care about any of them very much. Michener handles this format by making apparently everybody who ever lived in Hawaii related to the same three or four families, which I’m sure isn’t quite the case.

At any rate, I finally finished it. I almost threw it into the recycle bin a few times, but now I can move on to something more enjoyable, preferably less epic.

937 pages.

by G. J. Meyer

I actually started this one in 2008, but what the heck. It’s my blog. It’s also close to 800 pages, so I’m counting it.

This is the story of the 1st World War, and Meyer manages to cover a complex period of world history in a style that is easy to read and understand. In each section, he provides background stories of the major players in the war, enabling the reader to follow the complicated politics of Europe that led to the bloodbath called the Great War. Once you finish reading this account of the “war to end all wars”, you will more easily realize how the world was set up for a second great disaster in World War II.

Meyer includes a helpful chronology in the beginning of the book, as well as a list of the major characters. There are a handful of photographs, and only a few maps. Probably my only criticism of the book is that more maps would have been helpful.

The last sentence in the book follows a background section entitled “The Fate Of Men & Nations”, in which Meyer describes what happened to the major characters in the Great War over the next decade and a half. After discussing Winston Churchill’s eventual warnings about the rearmament of Nazi Germany, he ends the story by saying, “But that is another story.” I can only hope that he plans to write that story as well.

777 pages.

by Charlaine Harris

This is the official first book of 2009. Dead Until Dark is the first in a series by Charlaine Harris. If any of you watched True Blood on HBO this past fall, you’ll recognize this story. It’s the story of a cocktail waitress named Sookie Stackhouse in Bon Temps, Louisiana, and of her adventures with vampires and murderers. It’s a great story, there are some hilariously funny moments, and Sookie is an entertaining heroine. There are 8 books so far in the series, and I’m looking forward to reading the rest of them.

292 pages.

I finished the first book in the TBR list that I came up with a few posts ago. I’ve decided to do “book reports” to keep a record of what I’ve read, as well as my thoughts on the individual books. If you’re interested in a knitting post, check back next time. It will just be more pink knitting, anyway.

All Souls’ Rising, by Madison Smartt Bell, is the first of a trilogy of novels about the slave revolt in Haiti in the 1790’s. I found this to be a difficult read, for a number of reasons. First, it deals with a period of history that I knew little or nothing about. The book just jumps into the story, without a lot of expository passages to tell you what’s been going on. In Bell’s defense, he includes a chronology in the back of the book, but for those of us not familiar with this event, it involves a lot of flipping back and forth. The story takes place at the time of the French Revolution. Haiti was a French colony at the time, and slavery was a central part of the economy. From the accounts in the book, it was also an extremely barbaric place. The revolutionary fervor spread to the colony of Haiti, and ultimately led to an uprising of all people of color on the island, slaves and free mulattos alike. The history is rather convoluted, and even after finishing the first book in the series, I’m not entirely clear as to all the events that took place. I’m also unfamiliar enough with the history to know how much of the book is factual, and how much fictional license Bell took with the story. This article clears up some of the historical confusion, and will be very helpful in keeping up with the narrative.

The other difficulty I had with the book is the level of violence. There are some horrific passages describing both the actions of the rebellious slaves as well as the colonial planters and how they treated their slaves. At times I had to set this book aside for a few days, and I’m not really a wimp when it comes to blood and gore in books or movies. Having made it through the first volume, I’d have to say that his portrayal of the violence is probably necessary, as it really is an essential part of the story line.

A third thing that was more of an annoyance and a personal preference than a “difficulty” was Bell’s use of foreign phrases. He uses both French and Creole terms fairly liberally throughout the book. There is a “Devil’s Dictionary” in the back, but again, it involves some annoying flipping around to define terms in the text. A lot of the French passages aren’t translated, which frustrates me in general.

Having said all that, I would recommend this book. It’s generally well-written, and the characters are interesting. Toussaint, the slave who ultimately becomes the leader of the revolt, was probably the character who seemed the most wooden to me, especially early on in the book. His character reads more like a legend (which he was) than a real flesh-and-blood human.

Another slave, Riau, was far more riveting. He seems to be a more sincere character, if rarely likeable. The charactor of Antoine Hebert, the French doctor caught up in the events of the revolution, was my favorite. He travels to Haiti, right as the slave revolt is beginning, to straighten out the affairs of his deceased plantation-owner brother-in-law. He also is on a mission to find his sister, who has disappeared from the plantation with her young child.

The first volume in the trilogy ends during the summer of 1793, when the town of Le Cap is looted and burned by the slave rebels. I am interested enough in the fictional characters in the first volume to have already started the second in the series, “Master Of The Crossroads”. My “one-a-month” reading plan is probably going to get off track fairly quickly. Not only is this one a three-volume series, but the next on my list is “Niccolo Rising“, the first volume in an 8-volume series, “The House Of Niccolo”, by Dorothy Dunnett. While I’ll certainly get 12 books read this year (historically I read many more than that in a year!), it may not end up being the 12 from the list.

Next time: pink knitting, maybe some not-pink knitting, Madrona, and knitting in public!

I’m blogging this from Arizona, where it hasn’t rained in, oh, at least 24 hours. The sun is shining, I haven’t had a wool sweater on since I got here, and there has been plenty of bourbon consumed. I suppose I might get bored living someplace where the weather stayed the same all the time, but at least it wouldn’t be rain all the time.

I joined TBR (To Be Read) as part of my NY resolution to read more. Here’s my list.

TBR List for 2007

Madison Smartt Bell, All Souls’ Rising
Dorothy Dunnett, Niccolo Rising
Louise Erdrich, The Master Butchers Singing Club
Margaret Atwood, The Robber Bride
A. S Byatt, Babel Tower
Carolyn Chute, Merry Men
Sebastian Faulks, Birdsong
Guy Gavriel Kay, Sailing To Sarantium
Peter Matthiessen, Lost Man’s River
Nuala O’Faolain, My Dream Of You
Joyce Carol Oates, The Falls
Orhan Pamuk, Snow

12 books, 12 months. These were chosen randomly from my shelves. I would note that a few of them are “firsts” in their series (the Bell, Dunnett, and Kay books), so I may end up sidetracked. Whatever. (Deb, note that Niccolo made the list!)

And,
An Alternate List, in case of fast reading, or if I despise a book and can’t finish it.
Italo Calvino, If on a winter’s night a traveler
John Updike, In the Beauty Of The Lilies
Ahdaf Soueif, The Map Of Love
Jane Smiley, Moo
John Cowper Powy, A Glastonbury Romance
Sarah Orne Jewett, The Country Of the Pointed Firs
Wallace Stegner, All The Little Live Things

If you want to join, there’s a Yahoo group. The rules are that you choose 12 books that have been hanging around your house collecting dust, and read them over 12 months. There are prizes along the way for those who keep up. They have to be new-to-you books, not re-reads. I think I can find 12 from that list that will work for me in the coming year.

Oh, and you have to sign up by the end of this month, or you’re out of luck.

And now it’s cocktail hour. Until next time…

There is another of those book memes going around, and it was sent to me by Justine, of Adventures in Asia. I have indeed had a lot of time on my hands to read since my injury, though I have been doing some medical reading to catch up, so haven’t gotten a lot of novels read. Nonethless, here are the questions and my answers.

Q: You’re stuck inside Fahrenheit 451, which book do you want to be?

Not sure I would want to be a book at all, in that world. If I had to be, it would be one of the banned/challenged ones. Maybe Darwin’s “Origin of Species”; one of the most revolutionary scientific books of the past few centuries. It amazes me that there are still people who can say with a straight face that they don’t “believe” in evolution. It’s not a religion, it’s a scientific fact. Saying the world is flat doesn’t make it so. My alternate choice would be “A Wrinkle in Time”, by Madeleine L’Engle, one of my favorite books of all time, and also on a variety of banned books lists. It’s a wonder that humans have survived as long as we have, as stupid as we can be at times.

Q: Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character?

Not really. If I had one, it would probably be the swashbuckling Francis Crawford of Lymond, from Dorothy Dunnett’s Lymond series. Handsome, brilliant, daring, dangerous. My kind of guy.

Q: The last book you bought is: “Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine”. Oh, you probably meant NON-medical reading. That would be Stephanie Pearl-McPhee’s bookbookbook “At Knit’s End”.

Q: The last book you read: “Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell”, by Susanna Clarke.

Q: What are you currently reading? “Snow”, by Orhan Pamuk, and “East of Eden”, by John Steinbeck. And the “Collected Stories of Grace Paley”, by Grace Paley. (And Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine. Pretty exciting reading.)

Q: Five books you would take to a desert island. Most of these I have never read. I’ve read parts of Twain, parts of Trevor, and Tolkien once, but certainly could re-read it. They’re all big books that would last until I was rescued.

1. “Collected Works of Mark Twain”, the unabridged edition
2. “Collected Stories”, William Trevor
3. “Remembrance of Things Past”, by Marcel Proust
4. “Make Way for Lucia, the Complete Lucia”, by E.F. Benson
5. “Lord of the Rings Trilogy”, by J.R.R. Tolkien

Q: Who are you going to pass this stick to (3 persons) and why?
1. Laurie, of Etherknitter. She also has lots of time on her hands to read after surgery.
2. Cara, of January One. She is a librarian, a reader, and started Knit One Read Too.
3. Wendy, of The Bookish Girl. How could I not, with the name of her blog?

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Every so often I check out the Google search strings that got people to my blog. Here are a few favorites from this week:

“things that could be worse”
“bourbon girl” (my favorite)
“one handed knitting”
“one handed zipping technique”
“internal pictures doctor ass” (I can only imagine what this person was really looking for.)

I’m not making those up.

The Rock Chick tagged me to do this one. Hoo-ray! The only thing I like to collect more than yarn and knitting gadgets is books, books and more books. I can’t pass a bookshop without falling in, then stumbling out hours later with my arms loaded down.  One of these days the ceiling of the dining room is going to collapse from the sheer weight of all the books in the loft above. At least when that happens I won’t have to get up from dinner to get a book to read with my tea.

Last book read: Philip Roth’s The Plot Against America, for the Knit One, Read Too group.

Where it came from: Amazon

Books read per year: It’s hard to know.  I usually have multiple books going at any one time, so it’s hard to keep track. I sometimes dip in and out of books; read part, move to something else, especially with non-fiction. I also listen to books on my Ipod. Probably in the 15-25 range, not counting medical reading.

Favorite genre: That’s a little like asking a parent which one is their favorite of their children. In fiction, I like the obvious: memorable characters, difficult situations, great scene descriptions. But I love writers who are able to do this in a fresh way; who write the kind of scenes that make you stop and re-read, and go back even years later to find just that perfect passage that brought a character or place alive. In non-fiction I am a sucker for history books. I’m not much into traditional romance novels or spy stories. Or horror. I can live without Stephen King quite happily.

Five favorite books: This is another difficult one. It shifts with time and life-changes. Only five??

Soldier of the Great War, by Mark Helprin. I keep buying this book and giving it away to people to read; I’m like an evangelist coming to your door pushing religious tracts with this one.

Undaunted Courage; Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West, by Stephen Ambrose. This is the story of the famous Lewis and Clark Expedition, but told in a way that makes you feel like a part of the adventure, except no bugs and sand in your food.

Young Men and Fire, by Norman Maclean. Though the subject matter is depressing (the Mann Gulch fire in Montana in 1949 that killed thirteen smoke jumpers), this is written in such a riveting fashion that you can’t put it down. It’s even more eerie when you hike up to the site of the fire after reading the book. Maclean also wrote A River Runs Through It.

A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L’Engle. I love everything she has written, but this is my favorite.

Angle of Repose, by Wallace Stegner. Anything of his could be on this list.

The Lymond Chronicles, by Dorothy Dunnett. Now this is really cheating. Not only is this number six, it’s actually a series of six books. If you like historical fiction, pick up the first of these novels and settle in for the winter. Or summer, whatever. These books have adventure, romance, history, great characters, and are whole flights of stairs above what passes for historical romance by most writers. Maddeningly addicting!

Who’s tagged now?
Laurie, Kristen, Kerstin and Margene. Just because I don’t think they’ve been tagged, and I want to see what they’re reading!