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READ IN 2009

1. A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick
   
2. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
   
3. Fragment by Warren Fahy
   
4. Heart Shaped Box by Joe Hill
   
5. A Crack in the Edge of the World by Simon Winchester
   
6. Blue Diary by Alice Hoffman
   
7. Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult
   
8. The Plague Maker by Tim Downs
   
9. People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks
   
10. Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane
    
11. The Sweetgum Knit Lit Society by Beth Pattillo
    
12. The Year of Living Biblically by A. J. Jacobs
    
13. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
    
14. Good Omens by Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
    
15. The Songs of Distant Earth by Arthur C. Clarke
    
16. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
    
17. In the Woods by Tana French
    
18. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
    
19. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
    
20. Fool by Christopher Moore
    
21. Eight Great Tragedies: King Lear by William Shakespeare
    
22. Best Friends by Martha Moody
    
23. Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas by Elaine Pagels
    
24. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
    
25. The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry
    
26. God Came Near by Max Lucado
    
27. Word Myths: Debunking Linguistic Urban Legends by David Wilton
    
28. The Italian Secretary by Caleb Carr
    
29. Mildred Pearce by James M. Cain
    
30. A Wind in the Door by Madeleine L'Engle

Twice as many as last year! And I still got a lot of knitting/crocheting done. Balance: it can be achieved. Except, I think I bought more books than I read. Mt. TBR has not been reduced one iota.


(Books without links were borrowed from spouse's online store or from a member of my book group.)

Spouse took this week off work. And so it's been spring cleaning of a sort around here. Thus far this week we have, either individually or in consort:

( Lists! I have lists! )

( Alli is my new friend. I hope. And musings on the cost of food. )

Yesterday, I submitted my application for the Technical Expert position in Oroville. I'm not holding my breath, but we'll see.

This month's QPB selections sounded promising.

( New books! )

I didn't decline the selection as is my usual practice. My copies arrived in the mail day before yesterday. I can't decide which one to read first.

I just realized I never posted the list of books read last year.

READ IN 2008
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain
A History of the End of the World by Jonathan Kirsch
The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly
The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle (didn't finish)
Rebel Angels by Libba Bray
A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray
The Great Mortality by John Kelly
Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
Coraline by Neil Gaiman
Splintered Icon by Bill Napier
Vinegar Hill by A. Manette Ansay
World Without End by Ken Follett
The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

NOTE: Books without links have been borrowed from spouse's Half.com store.


A pitiful showing, isn't it? Apparently I couldn't be bothered to write many reviews, either. Knitting and crocheting took up most of my down time and I've never cared for audio books; therefore, no listening to books while my hands were otherwise occupied. So there you have it. Maybe this year I'll achieve more balance.

Winner of Canada's prestigious Governor-General's Award, this is an incredibly intricate novel about a small town and its people. West Gull is in Ontario but could be anywhere in the world where small towns survive. Protagonist Carl McKelvey, who is reminiscent of Richard Russo's characters, particularly Sam Hall in The Risk Pool, returns to West Gull for reasons seemingly unknown to him and others in town. In West Gull, Carl had left an ex-wife and a daughter, a dead mother, an old father, and a reputation as a violent drunk. Hoping to rebuild his life, he reestablishes contact with his seven-year-old daughter, Lizzie, but finds that the memory of his mother, Elizabeth, who touched everyone in town to some degree and who died in a car crash when Carl was at the wheel, is a strong impediment. Now, Carl must put that memory and guilt to rest before moving on. Cohen's novel is packed with humor, desperation, and romance. (Library Journal)

A marvelous jewel of a novel, spare and beautiful and haunting and lush. Carl's efforts to rebuild his life and be a parent to his daughter are presented without filter, with all the joints and seams and ugly places exposed. A very human story, well worth reading. Highly recommended.

A wonderful story told in straightforward language. The author gives us a window into the world of servitude, where choices were few and rights were unknown.

Griet becomes a maid in the household of a wealthy family after her father is blinded and can no longer work to support their family. She captures the eye of the master of the household, the painter Vermeer, for her attention to detail and her sense of color. He soon pays her special notice, creating tension with the other servants, and arousing jealousy in her mistress. Throughout the intrigue and manipulation surrounding her, Griet endeavors to maintain her virtue, her contact with her family, and perhaps even to find a little happiness for herself.

A lovely haunting story, well told. Highly recommended.

38 books read so far this year, with just over 2 1/2 months to go.
Last year I read a total of 43. That's probably going to be the total for this year as well.
Nice to know I'm consistent!

( The List )

X-posted to bookcrossing

As Robins' novel begins, a near-future New York is essentially under armed guard. Citizens are subject to ID checks as they traverse from neighborhood to neighborhood. Gangs roam the night freely and without consequence; law enforcement is minimal and ineffective. Central Park is no man's land. The homeless population has exploded -- although Robins never gives an explanation, she leaves the impression that middle-class families have been priced completely out of adequate housing. Those with sufficient means often barricade themselves into fortresses they call apartment buildings in certain "safe" sections of the city.

John Tietjen, a divorced father of two, has an uneasy relationship with his ex-wife and children, but a passionate relationship with New York. He frequently roams the streets at night without care, trusting that "his city" will not let anything happen to him.

He reluctantly accepts a construction contract out of the city, and while he is gone, devastation strikes. In desperation, Tietjen rushes back to New York, only to find it in ruins and virtually depopulated. After a number of strange encounters, he rescues a woman, Barbara McGrath, from a madman and together they begin establishing a safehouse for other survivors.

But there are many oddities, most of them dangerous, in this new New York. As Tietjen's and McGrath's sanctuary becomes more populated, it becomes a target for other survivors, malevolent and strangely changed.

Robins writes of New York with a gift for description. The city comes alive, and dies, and comes alive again under her pen. Her characters, particularly Tietjen, are well-drawn with satisfying inner lives.

Although I enjoyed the novel overall, I have a couple of quibbles. I wanted to know how New York became an armed camp nearly overrun with the homeless and the lawless -- even a hint or a throwaway reference would have sufficed. And I was dissatisfied with the final revelation of how the city was destroyed. Perhaps I missed the foreshadowing that would have made the denouemént more sensible. The chief quibble, however, isn't the author's fault. A post-9/11 world robs this story of some of its power, particularly when Robins discusses buildings that no longer exist. It's a jarring note, and a sad one.

I finished this last night, and expressed a deep sigh of satisfaction as I laid it on the bedside table and turned out the light.

Vintage Tepper. And a lovely piece of work it is.

Jubal, a planet in the process of colonization by humans, is a world full of strange and wonderful things, some amusing, some dangerous. The Presences, large crystalline structures scattered throughout the land, are dangerous, and they are everywhere, preventing easy travel between settlements. They can be passed only with the aid of a Tripsinger, a trained vocalist and musician who accompanies a group of travelers and, in essence, sings the party past the fragile crystal mountains. Each structure requires a different song; the song seems to set up some sort of counter-resonance peculiar to the individual structure that prevents the crystal from fracturing due to the vibrations made by the mules, wagons, and humans as they pass. Even one wrong note could cause a potentially fatal shatter. One structure, called Enigma, has thus far proven impassable: no one has discovered the proper song which will allow safe passage. Except, perhaps, one person.

And then there are those who want to see the Presences destroyed because they hinder free trade and easy commerce. A strange cult which worships the Presences has also arisen. Amid much intra-planetary politics, money grubbing, and, umm, a few alluded-to deviant sex games, the fates of Jubal and the Presences will be decided.

In this early novel, Tepper establishes some of her touchstone themes which she continues to develop in her later work: responsible use of natural resources; religious fanaticism; tolerance of differences; human (and non-human) rights.

Tepper's vivid imagination stands her in good stead here. As a trained vocalist myself, I was intrigued by the notion of literally singing for one's life. How would the knowledge that one wrong note could kill affect the quality of my song? I was captivated by the viggies, small indigenous mammalian-like creatures, who are so much more than they seem. As are the Presences themselves, beautiful and deadly and awe-inspiring.

My only quibble with the story is insufficient information on the cult of the Crystallites. Did they want to preserve the Presences? Or were they allied with those who wished to destroy them? Either I missed it or Tepper never made clear what precisely was their purpose, their agenda. The agenda of the leaders was made quite obvious, but not the purpose of the cult they established -- what was the propaganda they preached? At any rate, it's a relatively minor quibble in an otherwise wonderful read.

While surfing about the internet, I discovered this book has an alternate title. It is also known as The Enigma Score. A rose by any other name, etc. etc. [grin]

Many thanks to fellow BookCrosser, heysquid, who so generously shared this hard-to-find, out-of-print gem with me. I am in her debt. (And I'm mailing it back to her in short order.)