Ordinary Love & Good Will
by Jane Smiley
1989 / 208 pages / Kindle

Two different novellas with the same theme – Ordinary Love is the first person tale of a woman who destroys her marriage because she wants to have a love affair with a neighbor.  She has five children including  one pair of twins.  Their father is a very ambitious doctorwith exacting demands.

Good Will is about a Vietnam vet who  MORE >>>>> 

Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid that Sparked the Civil War
by Tony Horwitz
2011 / 384 pages
non-fiction / history
rating 9.5

I’ve read quite a number of Horwitz’ books,  Confederates in the Attic,  On the Road,  Blue Latitudes,  but this one, Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid that Sparked the Civil War,  is his best.  MORE >>>>>>>>>

Still Midnight
by Denise Mina – 2009
audio – 11h. 3m.  narrated by Jane McFarlane
rating – 6/10  – fairly high for crime fiction

Interesting book takes place in an immigrant community in Scotland where an Asian family’s home is invaded by hoodlums who demand £2 million, shoot the hand of a daughter and then kidnap the dad.  The police suspect one of the sons but newcomer to the force,   MORE>>>>>

  by Karen Russell
2010 / hard-cover – 316 pages
fiction/ 
  rating – 7

I really didn’t particularly like this book either –  that’s two in a row,  I think.   Swamplandia is simply kind of silly although I did get involved about 1/2 way through.  Chief Bigtree and his children Kiwi, Ava and  MORE>>>>>

I don’t know what’s happening but i’m in a slump – no interest.  This is probably due to the gaming where I had to kill a dragon who didn’t really have to be killed if I’d done it right – something went wrong.

Another possible reason is that I currently have too many books going –  The Pioneers by James Fenimore Cooper,  Byzantium by Judith Herrin, Elizabeth the Queen by Sally Bedell Smith,  A Conflict of Interest by Adam Mitzner,  and Middlemarch by George Eliot.  And then I’m supposed to lead a discussion of A Tale of Two Cities in a history group.   I really want to read all of them except A Tale of Two Cities because I’ve read that one more than once.  I love Middlemarch but I’m listening to Conflict of Interest.  Byzantium is quite interesting and I feel like just barreling through.  Elizabeth the Queen looks intriguing.  I probably shouldn’t have started The Pioneers.

Third – maybe this is a normal after Christmas slump.

Sigh – more later …

The Woodcutter by Reginald Hill
2010 / 528 pages
rating 5

Interesing concept – a man is arrested, tried, found guilty and spends 15 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. There is really no way to get those years back so Wolf Hadda’s really wants to find out who set him up on child pornography charges. Alva Ozigbo, the prison psychologist, helps but she has multiple issues as she helped to put him behind bars, she observed him as she would a criminal. She’s black – he’s white. And she’s not sure of his innocence. The book was a bit too gritty for me.

The Ministry of Special Cases
Nathan Englander   (Argentina)
2007 – Kindle – 342 pages
rating – 9.5

The story of Jews in Argentina where life was not easy – not only did the officials make it difficult but the Jews themselves made it difficult for themselves. There was a very strict observation of hierarchy in the churches and cemeteries. The “bad” Jews were buried in a separate cemetery but as time went on their descendants were “good” so the names on the gravestones in the “bad” cemetery sometimes had to be erased. That is the job of our protagonist, a guy named “Kaddish” (prayer of mourning) Poznan, … MORE >>> 

Sometimes Lewis is reminds me of an economic Bill Bryson – he comes off as arrogant in general and quite condescending about Iceland’s difficulties. I’m not a fan of Bryson although some of his books are quite good, imo, too often, he mean spiritedly pokes fun at people. But he’s loved by many – and so is Lewis – we’ll see where this one goes…. MORE >>>> 

Here’s to looking forward to a great  year!  First up on the Kindle/iPad  is The Ministry of Special Cases by Nathan Englander – I’m about 1/3 done and so far it’s quite good.    And I’m listening to Michael Lewis’ Boomerang:  Travels in the New Third World.

Other books to be read soon are listed on the “Upcoming” page – see top menu.   I seem to have some open reading time so I want to hit the tbr shelf for about one book a month.  Other than that I really have no particular resolutions/  Well,  maybe one –  to not read books I don’t think I’ll enjoy just because a group has picked them,  but I’ve been doing that anyway.  Picking my own books is a bit harder but  …   the Lewis book (above) is a self-pick.

I’m looking for a way to keep track of my 2012 reads – the stats on this blog are for the whole blog,  2011 – ?.  I started to set up a new blog for 2012 but what’s the point of that other than to restart the stats?   It’s kind of nice to have this cumulation through the years, too.    I may resort to a Numbers (Mac) spreadsheet for the 2012 stats,  but maybe a Google one would do.

The Trinity Six
Charles Cumming
mystery/spy –
2011 / 368 pages
audio 11: 23 – read by John Lee
rating 7.5

Almost John Le Carre – not quite.  But when the old Cold War animosities, intrigues and scandals are extended into the  post-9/11 era the fun continues.  The story is based on true events,  the outrageous conversion of 5 Cambridge boys/men into a Soviet spy network –  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambridge_Five  . They were active after .. MORE…

• by Patricia Wentworth
• 1942 / 268 pages / audio 7h 58m read by Diana Bishop
• rating – 6

At a a family New Year’s Eve party, James Paradine the patriarch, announces that someone has betrayed the family and that he will wait until midnight for a confession. But the next morning his body is found – he’s dead and likely been murdered by someone who was at the party.  There are no less than 10 possible suspects.  The family thinks that the police will manipulate a suspect so they hire their own investigator.  This book is totally Agatha Christie vein.   Fun but somewhat dated.

• by Halldor Laxness
• 1957 /246 pages
• finished 12/28
• rating – 9

Mostly this is a delightful book,  a wonderment,  but there are places it’s confusing and draggy, too.   At first it really didn’t seem like it was going to come together but as the characters built on top of each other and as the fantastical elements intertwined with the reality the reader becomes aware that the book is about frauds and heros and what we believe… MORE >>> 

The Sense of an Ending

I was bored for most of this book – it’s way to philosophical for me, too many generalities about human nature with emphasis on how we make memories to suit ourselves – make up reasons for the behavior of other people. Typical Julian  MORE >>>

I haven’t read much this month because I’ve been busy getting Christmas together and playing a new game just out (last week) by Spiderweb Software – an old, old favorite company.   The game is Averunum: Escape from the Pit and it provides way more enjoyment than it cost –  very well worth the money if you’re into this kind of thing.  Spiderware Games have been said to be like thinking woman’s “Doom.”  I don’t know as I agree but there’s a lot of strategy and problem solving involved  – Rating a solid 10!

• by Sean B. Carroll
• 2009 / 352 pages – paperback
• rating – 6 (mixed)

This was a really dry book for me,  not a subject I have much interest in nor knowledge about.   I suppose some of the chapters,  some of the main subjects, Darwin,  Wallace , Bates,  Walcott, Leaky, Pauling had pretty interesting lives – but the book just fell flat for me.  I don’t even know what those geological formations Carroll just mentions in passing are!   I suppose if you’re interested in the development of today’s theories of evolution this book might be fascinating.

Starting with Alexander von Humboldt,  a highly influential scientist of the early 19th century,  Carroll outlines the history of the ideas and discoveries of the explorers and scientists who worked on the “search for the origins of species,”  as the book is subtitled.… READ MORE >>>