Mini Review: Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel

Title: Bring Up the Bodies
Winner of the 2012 Man Booker Prize

Author: Hilary Mantel
Publisher: Henry Holt and Company (2012) 432 pages
Alternate format: Macmillan Audio 14hr, 35 min
Narrator: Simon Vance
Genre: Historical Fiction
Subject: Oliver Cromwell
Setting: England in the reign of Henvy VIII
Series: second book in Wolf Hall trilogy 
Source: personal purchase of audio -through Audible, contest win of Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies from Henry Holt
Why did I read this book now? arrival of the winning hard copies made them too appealing to resist

I really enjoyed Wolf Hall, the first of Hilary Mantel's trilogy about Oliver Cromwell, but this one is even better.  I can't possibly say anything in a review that hasn't been said by the hundreds of reviews posted.  Continuing the technique she employed in Wolf Hall, Mantel has the story told from the point of view of Cromwell, as he threads his way through the intrigues of Henry VIII's court, the maneuverings of rival families to maintain control through the women closest to Henry, and the ultimate downfall of Anne Boleyn.

The historical detail and the dialogue ring so true to the period.  Mantel shows us Cromwell as he manipulates people and opportunities to advance Henry and himself.  She does not spare the sensitivities of her readers, giving us an unvarnished glimpse of the brutal, bloody, and traitorous mores of the Tudor Court.  It is historical fiction at its best.

If you haven't had the chance yet to read these books, run out and grab them. 

Sunday Shout-out - January's abandoned books

As I get older and have more time to read, I am also finding it easier to abandon books that are not holding my interest. I used to feel that I was morally responsible for completing every book I started.  However, there are just too many good to outstanding books on the shelves (both physical and virtual) for me to feel anyway obligated to complete something that I'm going to end up labeling a big "MEH."  So far this month, I've completed 11 books ( 5 audio, 6 print) and am more than 1/2 way through another three.  The ones I've completed have all been fun to read, and two of them are going onto my definite keeper shelf. The others I'd describe as "glad I read them", and I wouldn't be uncomfortable recommending any of them to the right person to read, but none were jumping out screaming "Pulitzer!"

And then there were those that got "Pearled" - after Nancy Pearl's rule that says read the first 50 pages if you're under the age of 50, but as you get older you may subtract your age from 100 to find the number of pages you must plod through before abandoning your reading.  I always try to read 50-75 pages, so I can be sure that I'm truly not enraptured.  Here are two that didn't make the cut for me this month.



1. The Solitude of Prime Numbers by Paolo Giordano. I suspect this is one of those books not meant for me to read in the dead of the dark dark cold cold winter. It's very dark, very depressing story of two different children with troubled (very troubled) childhoods, who, if I read the reviews correctly meet up in adulthood and >>>>>blah, blah, blah. I gave it 65 pages and it wasn't working for me. I confess I picked it up at the library because of the interesting title (remember I was a math major). Maybe later.....

2. The Master Butchers Singing Club by Louise Erdrich. This may be one worth pursuing, but not until I have time and can find it in print. I downloaded the audio from the library and while I normally like this format, the author chose to do her own narration, and I suspect she does a great injustice to the story. I wish authors who are not trained readers/actors would stick to writing and let the pros do the talking. It was painful for me to listen, so I decided to stop after just one disc (about 40-50 pages) and keep my eyes open for a print/e copy.

Perhaps I should, like Will Schwalbe's mom in The End of Your Life Reading Club" jump to the end of these about to be Pearled books to see if the ending is OK enough for me to push through. What do you think? Do you ever read the ending first to see if it's going to be worth your while? Does that make reading the book (particularly a mystery) less inviting?

There was another book I abandoned mainly because of a formatting and file problem with a Net Galley download.  When I complained and filed my non-review with the publisher, the author was as distressed as I was, and has offered to send me a copy so I can read it and do a decent review.  As we used to say in my family: "The squeaky door gets the oil."  I always say it does no good to be irked at someone or something if the person with the problem isn't given a chance to correct it.

It's been wicked cold up here in Maine for the past week, so I've not been going out much.  However, those projects I mentioned at the beginning of the year, particularly the High School reunion project, have really eaten into my reading time.  I'm hoping to settle in today and finish "Bring up the Bodies" by Hilary Mantel.  I am really loving this one (it will most certainly go onto the keep it shelf) and want to finish this part of the trilogy.  Next week I hope to have a few reviews for you of some of the Net galley ARCs I've been leafing through.

Stay warm friends.

A Missing Piece to the Puzzle? Crawlspace by Sarah Graves

During the week I've been listening to audio books while I was scanning photos for our high school reunion memory book. I really enjoy Sarah Grave's Home Repair is Homicide series set in Eastport Maine, so I settled in to listen to this one.  It was a bit scary for me since it involves people being trapped in small dark spaces, and I'm extremely claustrophobic, but it's still well done enough and  just cozy enough that one knows it will all work out in the end, so I soldiered on.  Sarah Graves not only knows her old houses, she is also well-versed in boating, tides, and off-shores islands.

HOWEVER,.....there is one small item that doesn't make sense to me, and I had to go get a print copy to make sure I hadn't missed something while I was listening to this.  In fact, one of my on line fellow Mainers over on LibraryThing, looked it up for me and reported that yep!  There is a huge discrepancy about the rescue of one of the characters who is captured and restrained by the bad guys.  I really can't go into it without posting a HUGE spoiler and I don't want to do that, but Sarah Graves,  if you're listening,  could you post a comment on how I can ask you what happened?


Title: Crawlspace
Author: Sarah Graves
Publisher: Bantam -hardcover, 288 pages, 2009: Audio - Audio Go
Genre: Cozy mystery, amateur sleuth
Subject: psychotic killlers
Setting: Eastport Maine
Series: Home Repair is Homicide Mysteries
Source: Public library download
Why did I read this book now?  I am a fan of this series and was in the mood for a cozy.

Sunday Shout-out - some great reads off the shelves.

It was a quiet week, started with lots of fog as the temperatures really warmed up and melted some of the snow but the warm air meeting the cold ground always causes lots of fog for us.  HOWEVER, by Wednesday, the temperature plummeted and the snow fell again....all day.  It was glorious.  A heavy snow that prettied up all the ugly car-exhausted snow banks and made driving just iffy enough to postpone our book club and close the library early, so we could all go home and read.

Then I got hit by the nasty flu bug, although the case I had was is probably considered  fairly mild...I'll spare you the details.  Just felt "icky" and off my feed for several days. I'd had a flu shot back in early November, so I'm sure that helped keep the really bad symptoms down. I did choose to stay home for a few days so I didn't spread it to anyone else, and that gave me a good chance to do some wonderful fun reading from my own shelves.

I finished my ARC of Elizabeth Strout's newest book, The Burgess Boys and enjoyed it immensely. She so captures the ethos of living in Maine, her characters are so believable, and her prose is stark and descriptive. I just can't get enough of her.  Like her earlier Olive Kitteridge, this one will make a wonderful discussion book for our book club.  Watch for my review in the coming weeks.  Publication date is March 26, 2013.

I'm a huge fan of Alexander McCall Smith's 1st Ladies Detective Agency series and have read and listened to every one of the books in the series.  On the other hand, I never really got bitten by the bug to read some of his other series, but decided last fall to have another go at two of his series.  So I loaded the first of each of these onto my MP3, intending to listen to them while we were at the beach.  As time would have it, I just never got to them.

While I was lying in bed, not wanting to open my eyes for fear I'd get dizzy and nauseous again, I tuned into 44 Scotland Street, and reacquainted myself with all the delightful characters living in that flat. I'd forgotten how delightful McCall Smith's writing is.  The gentle, slow pace of his writing is perfect for a slow afternoon when nothing else is going to happen.  He develops his characters slowly, tantalizing us with the psyches of a very disparate group of residents.  I'm particularly fond of little Bertie, the precocious saxophone playing, train loving 5 year old with an absolutely obnoxious mother. Bertie just wants to find another 5 year old friend, and detach from his momma - not learn Italian and all the other silly things his mom has in store for him.  I definitely want to follow these adventures to see what happens to Bertie.   I finished this in two afternoons, and am now anxiously awaiting my next trip to the library to pick up the second in the series.

In the meantime,  I've started listening to another series of his, the Sunday Philosophy Club.  I'm not sure this bunch is ever going to "click" with me, but I'm determined to finish the first book, and then take a stab at the second before declaring them "not for me."  McCall Smith is just too good a writer to give up too soon.

To top off the week, I  finished a short Chick-lit book for TLC book tours (review to be posted on Feb 6th) - The GodDaughter by Melodie Campbell,  and a wonderful Maine cozy, Crawl Space from Sarah Graves' Home Repair is Homicide series

Finally, I spent a few hours looking through a preliminary list of 2012 books to be featured in a Maine library program later this year.  It was a fun project, even if it did add another 15 books to my reading pile for the spring!!  More to come on this one.

In the meantime, I'm settled in for a winter of good reading.

Review: Dinner with Churchill by Cita Stelzer

Title: Dinner with Churchill
Author: Cita Selzer
Publisher: Pegasus Books, 2013, 336 pages
Genre: Biographical sketch 
Setting: various locations, mid 20th century
Source: Net-galley, ARC from publisher
Why did I read this book now? Interest in Churchill and the period

Dinner with Churchill, published last week, is a delightful look at one of the world's most powerful figures.  Volumes have been written about Winston Churchill: his official biography with all the relatives, his education, his life adventures in the military, as a journalist and as a politician; his philosophy; his politics, etc.  In this book, Cita Stelzer chooses to present Churchill in one of his most eloquent and oft experienced roles - at the dinner table.  In fact, the sub-title, Policy Making at the Dinner Table explains her focus perfectly. 

Spotlighting Churchill's diplomatic conferences and meals during the World War II period, she takes us to the sight of  many meetings of Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin as they planned and executed their countries' responses to Germany's ongoing military attacks.  Many of these gatherings included the top military and diplomatic minds of the day.  She quotes heavily from notes made by personal secretaries and aides, by translators, and then gives us even more insight from butlers, cooks and housekeepers.

We are shown the elegant printed menus from events such as the secret meeting of Churchill and Roosevelt on the USS Augusta off the coast of Newfoundland in August 1941; we catch glimpses of personal railroad cars, small intimate dining rooms, large dining tables both circular and rectangular.  We visit the White House where Churchill stayed for several weeks after Pearl Harbor, spending Christmas with the Roosevelts (somewhat to Eleanor''s chagrin I suspect), meeting Stalin in Moscow in August 1942, traveling and dining in Adana, Tehren, Potsdam, Yalta, and Bermuda.  In each visit, Selzer shows us the preparations, the meal, and the personalities attending.

After these chapters, she then focuses on the food itself (and Churchill's predilection for beef), the wines (particularly Churchill's love of champagne,) the signature cigars, and the whole subject of rationing.  She also gives the reader a clear understanding of Churchill's background so that we come to see how Winston viewed good food and camaraderie as a part of the diplomatic life.  At the same time, we see a Prime Minister who is emphatic about making sure that he is gathering and using ration coupons to obtain needed items, making substitutions if the course he wants is not available, and making sure that the ordinary people of Great Britain share equally in the food that is available.  Of course, he accepts gifts from friends and admirers (even the King sent him some birds shot on his estate).  In the end, however, Churchill never allows his preferences for good food and wine to interfere with the main emphasis of his dinner parties: that of good conversation, bonhommie, and choosing the correct mix of people to meet and become better acquainted.  The food and wine acted simply as the fuel to stoke the engine of his hospitality.

This is a short, enjoyable book that gives the reader a touch of history, an insight into a fascinating giant of public life, and some interesting menus not normally seen by Americans in this day and age.  It's certainly worth the read.  The photographs of the dining scenes, the menus, and the historic figures add much to the enjoyment of the read.

Many thanks to Pegasus books for making the e-galley available through the Net Galley program.

Sunday Sound-off: World War I Challenge Wrap-Up

Merriam Webster: 
 Sound off: to voice one's opinions freely with force;
Synonyms: pipe up, shoot, sound off, speak out, spout (off), talk up 
Related Words:  bawl, bay, bellow, call, cry, holler, roar, shout, sing (out), thunder, vociferate, yell; articulate, enunciate  Did they forget my favorite "Bloviate"?  

Welcome to Sunday Sound-Off, a regular weekly posting about my reading life, my other than reading life, and life in general in Maine. I also encourage you to drop a comment sounding off about your week, your gripes, your reading life, etc.

As many of you know, last year I participated in a very challenging read sponsored by the wonderful owners of the War Through the Generations blog, Anna Horner of Diary of an Eccentric and Serena of Savvy Verse and Wit : the World War I reading challenge.  I had just gotten started reading the Maisie Dobbs books by Jacqueline Winspear and those books had piqued my interest in the period, so I accepted the challenge and embarked on one of the most gratifying years of reading in my lifetime.  History has always interested me and having the incentive to delve into a period about which I knew all too little was too good to pass up.  I ended my challenge  last week when I finished Vera Brittain's glorious memoir Testament of Youth.

Here's the list of what I read (links are to my  previously posted reviews).  Items marked with an * also made by Best of the Year list.
 
Non-Fiction
*The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman
*The Beauty and the Sorrow by Peter Englund
*To End All Wars by Adam Hochschild
World War I: History in an Hour by Rupert Colley
Singled Out: by Virginia Nicholson
George, Nicholas and Wilhelm by Miranda Carter
***Testament of Youth (finished in 2013)

Fiction:
 The Paris Wife by Paula McClain (in my mind not necessarily a WWI read, but good for period setting)
Messenger of Truth by Jacqueline Winspear               
Among the Mad by Jacqueline Winspear               
Mapping of Love and Death by Jacqueline Winspear               
Elegy for Eddie by Jacqueline Winspear               
Incomplete Revenge By Jacqueline Winspear               
A Lesson in Secrets by Jacqueline Winspear       
An Unmarked Grave by Charles Todd               
*Fall of Giants by Ken Follett
*Light Between Oceans by M. L. Stedman

I will be continuing my reading this year by looking at some books that cover the period between the two World Wars.  

Review: The Invisible Ones - Stef Penney

 Finally!!!   this is another one I've been listening to for two weeks.  It was interesting enough, but slow on the uptake.  I kept "getting lost" and having to rewind and listen again.  This is one of the few books I suspect I'd have preferred in print.

I originally was notified that I had won this from the Early Reviewers program back in Nov 2011, but never received my copy.  I loved Penney's earlier book The Tenderness of Wolves and was really anxious to read this one.

Invisible Ones is about gypsies, their peripatetic life style, and the myths and prejudices that have built up around this ancient group of people.  It's fiction, there's a mystery (and a rather good one at that) that had me guessing until the end when I discovered I had figured it out all wrong.  It is difficult to tell how much research Penney did before writing this, so one doesn't know whether to take on board any of the issues, traditions, life styles portrayed, etc as the way things really were.

The story is told by two voices - Ray Lovell is a private detective who is hired by a father to find his missing daughter.  The daughter had married a gypsy.  Lovell's mother was from 'the family' so he had an entrè into the trailer court of the family where the missing girl had lived.  The other narrator is "JJ" a young teen living with all his extended family in the trailors.  There are many secrets, many many characters each with a story that is often told from both narrator's perspectives.  I think the huge number of characters and the telling /re=telling was what made it difficult to follow in audio, a format I normally like. 

Finally, not only do we have two different voices giving us the story, we have Ray Lovell's recollections wavering between a drug-induced coma in the hospital and the pre and post events of his hospitalization.  The book clearly indicates at the beginning of each chapter who is talking and where they are, but it required some real mental gymnastics to keep up with what was happening.

I'd love to read this in print later when I have more time.  The mystery in the story is really a good one, so I would recommend it, just not in audio unless you have 11 1/2 straight hours to sit and listen.

Title: The Invisible Ones
Author:Stef Penney
Publisher: Penguin Audio 2012
Narrator: Dan Stevens
Genre: Mystery
Subject: gypsies, missing persons
Setting: England
Source: Audible audio books (my own files)
Why did I read this book now? I liked the author's first book and was interested in the subject matter.
Rating ★★★ 1/2

Review: Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain

A staggering work of beauty, sadness, insight, introspection, and intelligence, Vera Brittain's memoir, Testament of Youth, ended my year of World War I reading on a pinnacle. As a relatively privileged member of pre-war Society (her parents had servants, she had lovely clothes and the opportunity to advance her studies), she still had to win a battle with her parents to allow her to attend Oxford and study English Literature.

While I didn't quite understand all the different ins and outs of the British educational system, it was still clear enough that this entailed quite a bit of extra study and effort on her part to be accepted into the program.  She settled in to her studies, and to a world of philosophical explorations with her brother Edward and his cronies.

When war broke out, Vera's generation was caught up in the emotional hysteria of the time.  Those like herself, her brother ( a talented musician) and Roland Leighton, her about to become fiancè, suddenly faced decisions that would affect not only their own lives, but the lives of their loved ones, and ultimately their nation.  Edward and Roland immediately presented themselves for service.  Vera was left behind, wondering if she would ever see them again, and whether her studies of English literature were really what the world needed.

Ultimately, she left school, joined the V.A.D. nursing corps and worked overseas in field hospitals as a nurse. Her sense of accomplishment and achievement as a female in a still very constricted society was immense. After Roland is killed early in the war, she stoically continued her nursing, and in her descriptions of that life she offers us some of the most poignant and descriptive writing of the era. When her mother is no longer able to cope at home because of war shortages and a lack of servants, Vera's father insists she return to the family home to take over running the household. While that move may not have been the seed of her later support of the women's movement, it certainly provided the impetus to make it grow. Shortly thereafter, Edward's death in Italy was the final blow to her emotional balance.

Brittain published this memoir of those war years (and those immediately before and after) in 1933, after she'd had the opportunity to reflect and process her feelings about the events she writes about, and after she'd become very active in the peace movement (speaking often on behalf of the League of Nations) and in the drive for women's rights.  The book is so powerful  because she kept very detailed diaries and had access to letters of the principles, thereby giving us a look into her soul at the moment the thoughts were captured.  She did not need to try to re-create the feelings.  As she writes this, she is still young enough, and wounded enough to give us a raw glimpse inside her psyche. She writes from her soul, and includes lyrical passages of poems from her own, her brother's and her fiancè's writings.

After the war, she returns to school and studies History in an attempt to come to grips with the cataclysm that has befallen her world. She finds herself in the generation of single women not necessarily interested in marriage, but still being pushed by family and tradition to aspire to a "normal family".  Her poem, "The Superflous Woman" is a masterpiece.  In fact, the whole book is.  It's a must read for anyone wanting to understand war and the havoc it wreaks on human beings.

 The Superfluous Woman
Ghosts crying down the vistas of the years,
Recalling words
Whose echoes have long died,
And kind moss grown
Over the sharp and blood-bespattered stones
Which cut our feet upon the ancient ways.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *   *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *
But who will look for my coming?

Long busy days where many meet and part ;
Crowded aside
Remembered hours of hope ;
And city streets
Grown Dark and hot with eager multitudes
Hurrying homeward whither respite waits.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *   *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *
But who will seek me at nightfall?

Light fading where the chimneys cut the sky;
Footsteps that pass,
Nor tarry at my door.
And far away,
Behind the row of crosses, shadows black
Stretch out long arms before the smouldering sun.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *   *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *
But who will give me my children?
V.B. July 1920
pg. 535

There are hundreds of quotable thoughts in this book.  I have over 7 pages of notes to remind me of the beauty and the sorrow of her experience.  Many thanks to my daughter for lending me her copy of this best of the best books.  It was a great way to end my World War I reading, and an even better way to post the first book of the New Year.

Author: Vera Brittain
Publisher: Penguin Books, 1989,  661 pages
Orig publisher: Victor Gallancz, London, 1933
Genre: Memoir
Subject: personal reflections on war and women's roles/rights
Setting: Europe 1914-1925
Source: borrowed from my daughter
Why did I read this book now? part of my War Through the Generations challenge.

Sunday Sound-Off - Jan 6th- The Reading Life

Merriam Webster:  Sound off: to voice one's opinions freely with force  
Synonyms:pipe up, shoot, sound off, speak out, spout (off), talk up

Related Words:  bawl, bay, bellow, call, cry, holler, roar, shout, sing (out), thunder, vociferate, yell; articulate, enunciate

Did they forget my favorite "Bloviate"?

Welcome to Sunday Sound-Off, a series of  regular weekly postings about my reading life, my other than reading life, and life in general in Maine. I still plan to post reviews for much of my reading but will probably confine that function to books provided by publishers, or those I find so compelling that I must shout out.  I also encourage you to drop a comment sounding off about your week, your gripes, your reading life, etc.

To help me in organizing my life, this year my family decided NOT to get me any more books or gift certificates for Christmas.  Instead I got tools.   There were new nibs for my favorite fountain pen.  I'm still a fan of fountain pens, and must confess that it's really the only writing instrument I feel physically comfortable with if ink is required.  I'm a mechanical pencil addict for crosswords, sudokus, and plain old notes (not to mention the occasional sinful 'tick' in a book that I may own).

My darling daughter--she who inherited my reading lust and tastes--also gave me some refills on my book checkout kit, so I have actual date due cards and pockets to keep track of books I loan to friends and family,  and two packs of Levenger's wonderful bookmark note cards.  I'll be going through these by the time Mother's Day rolls around I'm sure (hint, hint family). Not sure if you can see all the topics, but there's even a row across the bottom to select a rating.  I filled four of these for the Vera Brittain book.

Since we returned,  I've gotten the library's annual budget submitted, got the template set up for my HS reunion booklet, and spent an exasperating 4-6 hours trying to get my Nook re-linked with the Adobe Digital Editions(ADE) on my computer.  It wasn't a NOOK problem. Somehow ADE got "unauthorized" and after trying everything suggested on Adobe's distinctly UN-user friendly web page "help", I bit the bullet and clicked on the "live-chat" button where a very helpful Adobe person got my logon reset within half an hour.  Of course, I then had to reload all those Net Galley and library books still available for download,  thus my actual reading time was almost non-existent this week.

So today I'm luxuriating in a slow day off.  I finally finished my first book of the New Year (although I started it way back on December 1st) and will get you all a review of Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain sometime later this week. I'm determined this afternoon to finish the 2 hours I have left on the audio of Stef Penney's The Invisible Ones while I sit in front of the fire, smell a nice stew bubbling away on the stove and finally get to some cross-stitching all the while watching the pretty snow fluffies provide some comfy gorgeous scenery. And I'll get a chance to try out the awesome clip on magnifying glasses I got in the Christmas stocking.

Enjoy your Sunday......and don't forget to "sound off" about anything that floats your boat.

2013: A New Year, A New Reading Paradigm

 
Tutu is looking forward to a very active 2013 but I'm not thinking there's going to be too too much organized reading because in 2013 I have the following challenges to take up my time:

1. Editing and supervising the production and printing of a memory book for our high school's 50th reunion scheduled for April 20th. Gathering information and pictures from 67 women (over 1/2 of whom don't even have an email address) is going to be a huge challenge.

2. Planing and executing a WEST COAST (central California) family reunion for Mr. Tutu's 70th birthday this summer. Remember we live in Maine, and have to round up family from Virginia, Oregon, Washington State, Maine, and California and find a spot we can all (or most) afford that is within driving distance of the old homestead in the San Joaquin valley.

3. Shameless pimping here!!!! Help Mr. Tutu with marketing his first book due out in April. Stay tuned for more details, but Tutu actually likes it!!! We may even be doing a giveaway so keep in touch.

4. Continue working as town librarian.

5. Continue 3-4 weekly pool sessions.

5. Juggle other travel to two different ship reunions in April and October.

Somewhere in there, I'm supposed to find time to read??????

So - my current plans are to do a weekly post, usually on Sunday. If you're afraid you'll miss the fun, why not subscribe to the email feed. Then you'll be sure to keep up with all Tutu's adventures. I'm hoping to hit my blog reader every Sunday and stop by each of you wonderful followers at least once a month. How else will I know what terrific books you'll have found for me to add to my TBR pile?

In the meantime, many best wishes to everyone for a wonderful 2013.

End of a Great Reading Year

What a year!  I finished 147 books! 

I had a wonderful year reading about World War I - 16 in all. I'm also 1/2 way through my 17th - "Testament of Youth" by Vera Brittain. I'm not picking up another print book until I finish this one. It's excruciatingly beautiful and heartbreaking. I can see why it is considered a classic. A wonderful book my daughter insisted I read. ( I raised a very intelligent daughter)

I definitely proved that I am more comfortable with electronics than I ever thought I'd be. But if listening to audio books is what it takes to keep me healthy and working out three to four times a week, I may become the best read person in town. My totals don't always add up because several books I read in both audio and eye format (either print or Nook/Kindle) but here's the break down:

37 Print
79 Audio
36 E books

118 Fiction (80 mysteries)
27 Non-fiction (16 WWI, 12 Bio or Memoir)

95 came from the library
43 came off my shelves (both wooden, audio or electronic)
29 were ARCs

My Best reads of  the year: Fiction

Beautiful Mystery by Louise Penny
Light Between the Oceans by M. L. Stedman
Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
Pocketful of Names Joe Coomer
Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes

The Best of the my reading year : Non-Fiction
The Beauty and the Sorrow  by Peter Englund
Destiny of the Republic by Candice Millard
To end all Wars: A story of Loyalty and Rebellion by Adam Hochschild
The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman
The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe

It was a wonderful year, and I'm looking forward to another good year of reading and other fun activities.  My blogging will be much less frequent in 2013.  Tune in tomorrow morning to see how Tutu plans to spend the New Year.  In the meantime, if you're stopping by, let us know what some of your best reads of the year were.

Review: The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe

Will Schwalbe's mother was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in her early 70's. An activist all her life, she embraced a fairly aggressive treatment regimen in an attempt to lengthen the quality days she had left.

Her son Will, recently retired from a publishing job as Editor-in Chief at Hyperion Publishers, often volunteered to accompany her to various doctors appointments and medical procedures during the almost 2 years she lived after her diagnosis.  As they rode buses and subways, and sat in waiting rooms or "treatment booths", they found themselves not only following their life-long habit of reading, but also trading books and discussing their impressions, likes and dislikes of various books.  As they discussed the books, stories of their previous adventures in life became intertwined and personal details were allowed to percolate to the surface.

I chose the book for the book club related subject matter.  In the end however, I discovered a treasure of a tribute to an emancipated woman, a loving mother and a courageous family.  It was heartwarming without being maudlin, and gives the reader a glimpse of a rich and varied reading life that both of them enjoyed.  Even MaryAnn's penchant for always reading the end of the book first, a habit I normally find abhorrent, did not produce a negative feeling toward her.  The appendix gives a complete list of books   the two discussed - as you can see, the range was wide, deep and eclectic.  There were quite a few I had read, and several other that popped right up as candidates for our local book club.  It was an exceptionally good ending to a great reading year and a loving tribute to an incredibly well-read woman.

Title: The End of Your Life Book Club
Author:  Will Schwalbe
Publisher/format: audio from Books on Tape, 9 hrs, 37 min
Narrator: Jeff Harding
Genre: Memoir
Subject: end of life, books
Source: Public library
Why did I read this book now? The subject intrigued me

The Sins of the Father by Jeffrey Archer

Title: The Sins of the Father
Author: Jeffrey Archer
Publisher: St Martin's Press (2012), 352 pages
Genre: Historical fiction
Subject: World War II, family dynamics
Series: Clifton Chronicles
Source: Barnes & Noble (Nook)
Why did I read this book now?  I enjoyed book #1 in the series and wanted to see what happened next.


Sins of the Father is book #2 in this family saga, and picks right up where the first one, Only Time will Tell, left off.  It covers both American and British involvment in World War II, seen from the point of view of aristocrats and working class. It's not great literature, but it is an enjoyable read. I'd put it in the cozy category of family war sagas. Archer has a knack for leaving the reader hanging at the end of each chapter, and then really leaves the reader hanging at the end of the book. It's the only reason I'll get #3, Best Kept Secret, when it comes out because I can't stand not knowing what the answer is to #2.

Not a full review, but there are plenty of them online if you feel you really want one.

Review: Fall of Giants by Ken Follett

Title: Fall of Giants
Author: Ken Follett
Narrator: John Lee
Publisher: Books on Tape, audio - 30 hrs, 38 min
Genre: Historical fiction
Subject: World War I and social/political issues of the times
Setting: England, Russia, Germany
Series: Century Trilogy  
Source: purchased from Audible
Why did I read this book now? It was part of my World War I reading challenge.

This was an exceptionally enjoyable read especially since I read it immediately following the George, Nicholas, and Wilhelm biography reviewed yesterday.  After seeing  the war from the perspective of the high rulers,  it was quite a turn-around to read  Follett's story of the era from the perspective of working class participants:  the soldiers who slogged through the mud and trembled in the trenches,  the peasants who starved in the frozen acreage of Mother Russia, the ruthless ne'er-do-wells who used the circumstances to better their own lives while trampling on others, and the mid-level aristocracy who saw their world of privilege crumbling and could do little to stop the disintegration of their way of life in spite of their seemingly heroic efforts.

Follett chooses the coal miners and upper class gentry of Wales to tell Great Britain's story.  He shows us Russia from the point of view of two brothers, disillusioned peasants, who had witnessed the brutal murder of their mother while the Russian aristocracy stood watching stonefaced.  He shows us German and American aide-de-camps working at upper level government  jobs gathering intelligence, trying to shape opinion, and ultimately trying desparately to stop a war before it got started. 

Women characters play large roles in the story, fighting restrictions designed to bind them to men (either fathers, brothers or husbands). From a parlor maid seduced by the master of the household, to an upper-class Englishwoman fighting for peace and women's rights, to war widows, maiden aunts, and de-throned Russian royalty, they all must face changing social mores and paradigms. There are appearances from actual historic figures (e.g., Winston Churchill) as well as a host of fictional personalities who bring the troubles of the era to life.

This is a long book....over a 1000 pages in print, and 30 hours in audio.  Like all of Follett's works, it can get a bit long-winded in parts, but the story is well told, extremely well researched, and ultimately enjoyable.  I especially found the sections on the Russian revolution very enlightening.  Not only did I enjoy the read, I learned a lot about the various factions and causes of the many different aspects of that country's government(s) during those years.

This one was a great way to tie together the other 14 books set around and about World War I which I read throughout the year.  The carnage that mankind can inflict on itself was well documented, and told in chilling detail, but the fictional characters who told their stories (through John Lee's masterful narration in the audio version) kept it interesting and left us wanting to get on with life after the war.  I also purchased the 2nd in the trilogy, which begins  with Hitler's coming to power in 1933.  I hope to read it early in 2013. 

More World War I Reading: George, Nicholas and Wilhelm by Miranda Carter

Title: George, Nicholas, and Wilhelm: Three Royal Cousins and the Road to World War I
Author: Miranda Carter
Publisher: Vintage Books, division of Random House, 2009, 498 pages
Alternate format: Audio, Books on Tape, 21 hours, 10 min
Narrator: Rosalyn Landor
Genre: History, biography
Subject: Influence of monarchs who participated in World War I
Setting: Europe, approx 1870-1920
Source: my own book, audio from public library download
Why did I read this book now? It was part of my World War I reading challenge.

Most of my World War I reading this year has been either straight history - the story of the various political chess moves made by the principal governments involved and the often devasting impacts those players set spinning across the world- or historical fiction as told through a variety of genres- romance, mystery, fictional agents.  In this book, Miranda Carter takes an in-depth look at the three nominal rulers of the most powerful entrants into the war arena.  In each case, they emerge as befuddled, impotent, and thoroughly under-educated figure-heads who were unable or unwilling to take steps that may have averted the disaster that was World War I.

In my mind, much of the blame can be laid at the feet of their grandmother and aunt - Queen Victoria, who felt that royalty was sufficient unto itself, needed no education, and was simply there to be obeyed and waited upon.  Unfortunately, many of her subjects disagreed with her.  Victoria's dictates about what was proper dress, behavior, food, language, etc, conspired to ensure that these three men (George and Wilhelm her grandsons, and a cousin married to her grand-daughter) were rigid, unimaginative, severely un-educated, and almost clueless about the social, economic, religious, and labor issues boiling in their respective countries.

This is a fascinating study of the three men whose governments pushed them aside, ignored them, or in Wilhelm's instance, tried to work around his pomposity to win a war that should never have been started.  I have this book in both audio and print formats.  The print book was especially useful for the family trees and photographs and it was wonderful to have the audio to be able to continue "reading" while I was driving, baking cookies, or working out.

And still More WW I - Review: The Light Between Oceans

Title: The Light Between Oceans
Author: M. L. Stedman
Publisher: Scribner (2012)  342 pages
Alternate format: Audio - Simon and Schuster, 10.5 hours
Narrator: Noah Taylor
Genre: Fiction
Subject: Child stealing, guilt
Setting: Lighthouse off western coast of Australia
Source: public library
Why did I read this book now?  I saw reviews, it sounded interesting and it was available at the library.

A stunning read.  Not only is the story compelling, but the setting is luminous and the character development some of the best I've read this year.  Stedman's prose is crystal clear, crisp, and often has the reader gasping at it's beauty.

The story itself is heart-breaking. Tom Sherbourne returns to his native Australia from fighting in World War I where he witnessed and participated in  incredible carnage.  Determined to make up for his part in all the killing, he joins the lightkeeping force, and trains as a lightkeeper.  Eventually, he takes his young and vivacious bride Isabel to Janus Light, 100 miles off the western shore of Australia where they are the only human inhabitants of the island.  As the months, and then years pass, Isabel suffers several miscarriages, and the couple begins to lose faith in their chosen life.

Suddenly a baby washes ashore in a boat....where did the baby come from?  What should Tom do about reporting this to the authorities?  Can they possibly hope to keep the babe for their own?  The story is too deep, phsychologically intense, and ultimately emotionally draining for me to spoil it by telling how it progresses from there.

Stedman's story-telling keeps the reader glued to the book.  His descriptions of the vast ocean scenarios, the loneliness of life on the island, and the weather events are spectacular.  The decisions faced by all the characters involved are morally complex and take the reader on a roller coaster of emotions.  It will be a popular book club discussion choice.  Ultimately, there are no good answers to many of the questions, and no character escapes the angst resulting from decisions made.

One of my best of the year reads.

A Holiday Reading Wish

     copyright 2012 Susan Glover Rizzo, used with permission of the artist.



I could never have found anything more special than this beautiful handmade greeting from one of my LibraryThing.com online friends. Sus lives overseas and sent this to all her friends. She was gracious enough to allow me to "borrow" it from her to help pass on the happiness that reading brings to each of us. I wish each of you a beautiful and blessed Christmas holiday and prosperous and Happy New Year.  I pray that each of you can find beauty and comfort in memories of 2012 and look forward to more wonderous adventures (real and fictional) in 2013.  May your TBR pile be high enough so you never run dry but low enough to keep from tumbling over.

May the blessings of Christmas peace come to all of you, your loved ones, and our entire troubled world.

Monday Mailbox - Christmas Eve

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house recently. Created by Marcia at The Printed Page, Mailbox Monday, now has its own blog. Hosting duties are rotated every month. Suko  at Suko's Notebook is our host for December. Be sure to drop by to see what everyone else got this week.

Last week, I was thrilled to receive a package and note from Henry Holt and Company saying that I had won the Hilary Mantel sweepstakes.  They enclosed a copy of Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies.  I was gobsmacked.  I read Wolf Hall last year, but had borrowed it from the library.  I have Bring up the Bodies as an audio in my personal collection, but I really enjoy having the print copy to refer to if I fall asleep (ok....it happens!) and to verify the spelling of names, look at illustrations etc.  So much fun.

Thank you Henry Holt publishers.  You made this a wonderful Christmas.

Weekend Cooking - Christmas Cookies

These past weeks I've been baking several batches of traditional Christmas cookies and pastries, many from old family recipes. As I get older, and arthritis makes life more interesting, I marvel at how my grandmother used to make our favorite cinnamon raisin buns with no labor saving devices. She did of course, have grand-daughters who were enlisted as they got old enough to crack an egg and roll out dough, but until then, she kneaded, rolled, sliced and baked hundreds of these goodies with only a rolling pin and a knife and spoon.

In my case, I had the advantage of four very helpful tools: the sifting shaker for spreading 10x sugar and cinnamon sugar in an even layer, the gorgeous flat pastry scraper (greatest tool since the gas stove), the pastry brush for spreading melted butter (Nonna used a spoon and it worked ok, but the brush is much more fun), and the heavy duty electric mixer with dough hook.

I just made a batch of Nonna's raisin buns at my mom's yesterday.  She did have a pastry brush,  but she kneaded the dough by hand.  Her 88 year old hands still do a much better job that mine do.  We mixed the cinnamon and sugar in a bowl and spread it by hand.  A metal spatula worked almost as well as my pastry scraper.  In the end, the goodies were just as good, and we had just as much fun.

I almost forgot the other fantastic invention for baking:  PARCHMENT PAPER.  I suspect this has been around for a long time, but no one in my family started using it until just a few years ago.  The amount of time it saves in cleaning up cookie sheets is worth every penny spent.  Mom had not used it before but is now a convert.

So here's some of the goodies we made. I hope yours are just as gorgeous, delicious and fun.  Have a great holiday weekend.

Beth Fish Reads sponsors this weekly meme where we foodies can chat about cookbooks, cooking gadgets, recipes, or anything else gustatory. Be sure to stop over there to find other terrific weekend cooking posts.

Mailbox Monday - December 17th

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house recently. Created by Marcia at The Printed Page, Mailbox Monday, now has its own blog. Hosting duties are rotated every month. Suko  at Suko's Notebook is our host for December. Be sure to drop by to see what everyone else got this week.

The Burgess Boys 
by Elizabeth Strout

Again this week, I only got one new one, but it's another WOW! This was an ARC from the Early Reviewers program at LibraryThing.com.  I love Strout's  writing, and definitely will be leading off the new year with this one.  Here's what the publisher said to tempt me:

Haunted by the freak accident that killed their father when they were children, Jim and Bob Burgess escaped from their Maine hometown of Shirley Falls for New York City as soon as they possibly could. Jim, a sleek, successful corporate lawyer, has belittled his bighearted brother their whole lives, and Bob, a Legal Aid attorney who idolizes Jim, has always taken it in stride. But their long-standing dynamic is upended when their sister, Susan—the Burgess sibling who stayed behind—urgently calls them home. Her lonely teenage son, Zach, has gotten himself into a world of trouble, and Susan desperately needs their help. And so the Burgess brothers return to the landscape of their childhood, where the long-buried tensions that have shaped and shadowed their relationship begin to surface in unexpected ways that will change them forever.

With a rare combination of brilliant storytelling, exquisite prose, and remarkable insight into character, Elizabeth Strout has brought to life two deeply human protagonists whose struggles and triumphs will resonate with readers long after they turn the final page. Tender, tough-minded, loving, and deeply illuminating about the ties that bind us to family and home, The Burgess Boys is Elizabeth Strout’s newest and perhaps most astonishing work of literary art.