It occured to me the other day that I had forgotten to write up my reading list for last year. I typically do this early in the new year. I suppose the fact that I am getting around to this in July somehow indicates what kind of life I’m living this year.

All books are listed in the month in which they were finished. Notice the missing months? First time EVER that I have not finished a book at least once a month. In fact there are two consective months missing a finished book. Baby birthing and moving sure take up a bunch of time. Not to mention the paltry numbers in 2007. Again with the Baby.

January 2007

1. Travels with Charley in Search of America by John Steinbeck **

2. White Teeth: A Novel by Zadie Smith

March 2007

3. Blue Shoe by Anne Lamott

4. March by Geraldine Brooks **

April 2007

5. The New York Trilogy: City of Glass; Ghosts; The Locked Room by Paul Auster **

May 2007

6. The Memory of Running by Ron McLarty

7. Plum Lovin’ (A Stephanie Plum Novel) by Janet Evanovich

August 2007

8. Water for Elephants: A Novel by Sara Gruen

9. The Yiddish Policemen’s Union: A Novel by Michael Chabon

September 2007

10. Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith by Anne Lamott

11. The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai

12. Lean Mean Thirteen (Stephanie Plum Novels) by Janet Evanovich

October 2007

13. Eragon (Inheritance) by Christopher Paolini

14. Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer **

November 2007

15. Crazy Aunt Purl’s Drunk, Divorced, and Covered in Cat Hair by Laurie Perry

16. The Thirteenth Tale: A Novel by Diane Setterfield **

December 2007

17. The Emperor’s Children by Claire Messud **

** books read for bookclub

Past Years

Thar She Reads – 2006 (34 Titles Finished)

Thar She Reads – 2005 (33 Titles Finished)

I didn’t do an entry for 2004 – Stinkers!

2007 stats – 17 titles or 1.42 books a month or about half of my “normal” reading load. Not too bad considering. I am just about back to my normal rate of reading (2.79/month). So far this year I’ve read 14 titles, and I am just about to finish 2 more! Go speed racer go!

Ravelry has grown to epic proportions.  I hardly take advantage of all it has to offer.  One aspect that I have enjoyed is the groups.  There are specific threads that I constantly check because the information there is just so. good.

One of these threads is the YarnWords Group, Books you Love that No-one Else has Heard of.

If you’re interested in a good read check out some of the titles.  They look wonderful.

Any other’s to add?  I listed The Bone People by Keri Hulme.

……not paraphrase and only use direct quotes.

When I wrote yesterday I did not have the book I was quoting in front of me. I stated the following:

This one mentioned the basic premise of the book. Not in so many words it said – ‘After returning from the hospital room of their now dead daughter the author’s husband dies.’

As it turns out some of you took what I wrote as a direct quote. I apologize, I most definitely should have been clearer and explicitly stated that I was paraphrasing.

However, some interesting and thought provoking comments came through as a result and many made me second guess my memory of the synopsis. (Which – in the interest of full disclosure I had initially read well past my bedtime). When I got home from work yesterday I pulled out the offender and read the passage again. I think you all may be right. After my initial reading, my brain took what I head read and instantly allowed my soul to react without checking itself. When I wrote yesterday I was writing from a biased brain and, I now realize, a brain that swirled my memory a bit.

As it turns out the factual accuracy of the synopsis is correct. Each sentence by itself represents actual fact. However, I believe that the presentation misrepresents the book’s spirit and spoils the book.

Judge for yourself:

“In December 2003, Didion’s only daughter died from a runaway pneumonia infection. After returning from the hospital, Didion’s husband, author John Gregory Dunne, died so suddenly of a massive heart attack that Didion at first mistook the event for a failed joke. As the initial numbness wore off, she realized, “Widows did not throw themselves in the burning raft out of grief. The burning raft was instead an accurate representation of the place to which their grief (not their families, not the community, not custom, their grief) had taken them.” This unsparingly honest, often funny and surprising memoir of grief never reaches for cliche or banality.”

The magic of this book is watching it unfold. At the start you know her daughter is sick, you know her husband has died. The book is primarily about her husband’s death and the following year of grief and coping. You learn about her daughter’s illness and it is prominently featured throughout the narrative. It is never clear the illness if fatal and it is never the focus of the book. It is used more as a lens through which to see how the author’s grief and hope has manifested itself in her everyday life. In any case….the summary while factually correct misrepresents the book and, in my mind, takes away from a beautifully written story. So, I’m still pissed…albeit for different reasons. And I still believe that a fact checker would have worked to edit it so that the words and sentences landed a bit differently on our psyche.

Your comments also have me questioning my memory of the book itself. Unfortunately I do not own a hard copy of the book, just the audio file (a situation that needs to be corrected!) so I cannot review the ending. In my head I remembered an ending that did include the death of her daughter. However, now I think that I may have done what Jane did and googled to determine her daughter’s fate after I finished. (This book really moved me.) The knowledge I gained may have rooted itself in my mind as part of the ending of the book.

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{Day 13 – Wanted fact checker and/or Copy Editor: Did the memoir include the death of her daughter? Only those with an actual copy of the book in hand need apply. Temp to perm position as this blog could really use a copy editor and a permanent fact checker. Apply Within. Pay sucks. Benefits are better. Hypocrisy seems to run rampant if the author is left unchecked.}

WSBGD = What should Bookish Girl Do?

I attended my monthly bookclub meeting last night at our local big-box bookstore. Which, incidentally, is not all that bad. This is not to say that I am not still a staunch supporter of locally owed establishments and will ALWAYS seek them out first. However, the empty local bookstore niche created by this big-box bookstore has, in some cases, been adequately filled by its very existence. Which, I suppose is the point but not always the case.

In any case. I picked up a book that guides you through suggested books to read for specific topics. I enjoyed the topics; I thought the titles were well balanced. I noticed a typo in the table of contents. I bought it anyway. I am a sucker for these types of collections. What to read… What you should read… The X,XXX best books for blah blah… I find them stimulating and fun and they get my reading juices flowing.

The typo I forgave. Copy editing is hard. Things fall through the cracks. Too many hands in a pot etc, etc. Otherwise – shit happens. Typos get through to final published books. No one knows this better than a knitter.

I brought the book home and spent the rest of my evening going through the 1,001 titles checking off those that I had read with a pencil. There were brief descriptions under each title summarize the plot, salient points, and / or the merit of the book. Most of these I skimmed through. I had read the books and in most cases loved the books. I did not feel compelled, for the most part, to read what someone else had to say about them.

Toward the end of the book I came across an entry for The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion. I listened to this memoir via ipod during my commute while still living in Boston. I believe it is a book better listened to than read. The author narrates the audio book and she does it more justice than the voices in my head could ever do. (This is the case for most anything – my voices are a bit loco). It is a lovely story, one that I was deeply touched by and often recommend. In a fit of nostalgia I read the summary under the title. This one mentioned the basic premise of the book. Not in so many words it said – ‘After returning from the hospital room of their now dead daughter the author’s husband dies.’

I almost cried. This was wrong. wrong. wrong. The daughter was not dead – she was ill, very ill. This fact establishes a main plot line through this memoir. A very important poignant fact was blatantly wrong. The author of this fun new book of mine clearly did not read A Year of Magical Thinking nor did she (or anyone) fact check. The summary then went to on to say what a wonderful book it was.

I was really pissed. I hate being lied to. I hate paying for something that wasn’t properly researched. It is not hard to do good work…so why wouldn’t you?!! (This is totally not a James Frey type issue, this is a different beast. This isn’t someone’s recollection of reality.)

Now the question.

I have marked this book with pencil. I am mad about supporting this book financially and REALLY want to vote with my pocket book. Which, in this case, would involve returning the book. But – I marked it up?! Can I return it?

Now I realize that my purchase and return of the book is not a strong message to anyone. But I feel as though the universe receives all of these actions and balances them appropriately. So this is an important action in my view.

What would you do?

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{day 12 – The Bookish Girl Should… take a deep breath and untwist her panties.}

The annual wrap-up for my reads during the last year. All books were finished in the month they are listed.

January

1. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell by Susanna Clarke
2. Devil in the White City by Erik Larson

February

3. The Code of the Woosters by P.G. Wodehouse

March

4. Random Family by Adrian LeBlanc
5. Yarn Harlot: the secret life of a knitter by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee
6. The Club Dumas by Arturo Perez-Reverte
7. Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell

April

8. Dewey Decimated by Charles A. Goodrum
9. What’s a girl gotta do? by Sparkle Hayter
10. Watermelon: a novel by Marian Keyes
11. Freakonomics by Steven Levitt
12. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez **

May

13. Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood **
14. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
15. A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore
16. Little Children by Tom Perrotta

June

17. Heat by Bill Buford
18. I Know This Much is True by Wally Lamb **
19. The Eight by Katherine Neville

July

20. A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
21. Eventide by Kent Haruf
22. The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver
23. Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichl **

August

24. Twelve Sharp by Janet Evanovich
25. The Grave Maurice by Martha Grimes
26. Bel Canto by Ann Patchett **
27. The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl

September

28. Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom **

29. The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
30. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by David EggersOctober

October

31. My Life in France by Julia Child

November

32. In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson
33. The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

December

34. Hogfather by Terry Pratchett **

The total number of books read is somewhat on par with last year’s accomplishment – 33 books. In 2006 I finished 34 (you can see all of them as a group here), this calculates to about 2.75 books/month. I am a bit surprised that I didn’t plow through more as I always have an audio book going. However, I also read a crap load of pregger’s books that I did not keep track of. So, in reality I have upped the ante a bit. I also have made a habit of not counting knitting books as “reads”. There were many of them digested in 2006.

I read a bunch of 1/2 books. Books that I read half of and just could not keep it up. Bee Season was one of these, Some Lie and Some Die another. My approach to reading is pretty organic. I cannot work off of a list, if I am not into a book I just can’t read it. No ifs ands buts about it. Sometimes there are great books that I just never get off the ground. Other times they are not great and I will never tackle them again. Either way I have taught myself not to feel bad about it. For surely, it is not my responsibility to allow every book into my head!

Of those listed above the titles I would call “Highlights” are:

- Random Family by Adrian LeBlanc

- Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

- Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood

- A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore (audiobook)

- Eventide by Kent Haruf

- The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver

- The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion

- The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

Happy Reading in 2007

** = books read for bookclub. If there isn’t a title for a month than it means I hated it and didn’t read it.

The time has come to catch up on some book happenings over here.

First off – I must peddle the Stitchy’s fab book. It truly is worth a gander. I love it all, with the strong exception of the clowns. I still have not forgiven her for that chapter. As I said in my last post – I’m proud of Debbie. She has a unique and stunning talent. Turn of phrase and subtle humor are her specialty and I am so glad that she was able to get it out into a printed format.

Fall has started in my psyche – years of the commencement of the school year has ingrained that in me. At the turn of this season, in particular, I have a craving for a certain type of book. Complex, strong sense of place, usually a dark place with dry cool weather. Perhaps a spooky, gothic book. A few years ago I asked for recommendations from friends. Two books were recommended. Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind and Harvest Home by Thomas Tryon. I started both of them and, for whatever reason, never really got into either. Both went unfinished.

The other day I was over at Michelle’s site and she posted about the Reader’s Imbibing Peril (R.I.P) 2006 Autumn Challenge. (click on imagine to get to site). This group exactly describes the type of novel I seek…

Really, I just love the button. Edward Gorey is the coolest. While I probably will not formally join the challenge (the surest way to get me NOT to read). I love the lists compiled there. Full of great recommendations, in which I hope to find my next book.

In the meantime…. An update on finished stuff since the last reader wrap up (the first week of July)… all books are linked on the sidebar.

Heat by Bill Buford
Verdict: Made me want to eat Italian food and support the slow food movement. Food is awesome. Italian food is better. I was not so interested in the restaurant side of the story. Although, having worked in restaurants I did have to note that his descriptions of the type of people who find the career appealing was dead on. This is worth reading (or listening to, as I did) if you’re a foodie and interested in the origins of the Italian cuisine.

The Grave Maurice (A Richard Jury Novel) by Martha Grimes
Verdict: First Grimes book. It was lying around my parents house and I needed something brainless to read. Entertaining but I won’t seek out the rest of the series.

Heartbreaking work of Staggering Genius by David Eggers.
Verdict: This book bored me. The writing style was exactly what I don’t like about some contemporary writers. Long sentences with 600 adjectives all describing nothing. You’re not writing if you need to use every word in the Thesaurus to describe something. Now, I’m not one for writing, thinking, or talking in minimalist sentence structures…however, I’m not a writer.

Twelve Sharp by Janet Evanovich
Verdict: You all might remember my obsession with this series which manifested itself into an epic marathon reading of all titles in publication. This left off with #11. I downloaded the latest book the day it was released. It is really fun to listen to these books. I enjoyed this story as I did the other. Total brain candy, makes no pretense that it will save the world and delivers.

A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
Verdict: I read this is on a Saturday sitting in my hammock outside. This was my first Bryson. I was entertained although ultimately underwhelmed and particularly disappointed in the ending. I suppose, for some reason I wanted it to follow a predictable path and it did not. Demanding Damn Reader.

Garlics and Saphires by Ruth Reichl
Verdict: This was read for my bookclub. I read Tender at the Bone a few years ago and really enjoyed it. This book was very different but cleaver in its construction. Another foodie book. The thing I find amazing about Ruth Reichl is that her writing is so humble. She is so humble about herself and her accomplishments. She built an believable career as a chef, food critic, and now – editor of one of the premier food magazines in the world and, if she is to be believed, she had really little to do with it…it was luck. I should try and find some other writings about her and not by her.

The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl.
Verdict: It took me a LONG time to get into this book (almost 150 pgs!) once I got past the initial boredom (too many characters not enough plot). I was hooked. This is a fun mystery book with a lot of history, a strong sense of place (Boston!) and literary references galore. Totally my kind of book. I think the fault is the first part. Pearl has to establish the setting and characters and it gets a little stuck here…once he’s past it the novel flows.

Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
Verdict: Ann Patchett is one of my favorite authors and this book follows suit. All of her books are so incredibly different. She is an incredibly talented writer and I love reading her stories.

Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
Verdict: Another bookclub book. I was pissed that I had to read this…I’m such a book snob. However, it was a sweet story and not at all a waste of my time. It took all of a few hours to read and leaves you feeling a bit warm.

There have also been a butt load of preggers books. But I’ll spare you those.

The only book left on the stand is A Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion….I am listening to this one and so far really enjoying it…

Inspired by Cathi and her new Pen and Pink endeavor, I am going to start posting more in depth posts about my reading. While knitting may be my buoy, reading is my anchor. I love to read, absolutely love it. I cannot take books out of the library (eh, hem…I STILL have the Knitters Guide to finishing techniques and two Plum books out. We get DAILY phone calls from the Boston Public Library. They have a scary recorded system. “This – is — the — Boston —- Public — Library. —- Wen–day—Blah blah blah.” I swear, it is almost enough to scare me in to returning them!) because I must own them. I prefer used to new. In my opinion used books have more of a soul and I almost always find a relic of the book’s former life in its pages. A picture, airline stub, a grocery list. Finding these pieces of life left in a book makes the whole experience of finding and reading a used book so romantic. I love to give books as gifts and have yet to determine if it is tacky to give a used book. My gut tells me yes, only because others do not necessarily feel as I do. However, if I know you like them you will most certainly get one from me!Reading is a very organic process for me. I used to have a section on my sidebar – “On the bookshelf” – a list of books that I was going to read next. Try as I may I cannot prescribe to this mode. My desire for a book changes with the wind. As I get into a book I become consumed and rarely stray from book monogamy (this past year has been one huge frustrating exception to this rule.) When I finish a book the taste in my mouth, the smell in the air, or the feeling in my body makes me choose a book. I cannot stick to a list. The one time this rule does not apply is to my book club books. I belong to a local book club and I love that these talented woman tell me what to read when.

What can I say? I am a picture of contradictions.

In 2005 I read quite a bit. Here is the short list, as far as I can remember it:

Something Rising (Light and Swift) by Haven Kimmel

** – Books read for my real-life Book Club.

I’m pretty sure I’m forgetting some there. There are about 32 titles there or 2.5 books a month. Wow. That is quite a bit more than I had thought. However, the Janet Evanovich Books don’t count in my book (ha! puns are fun!) so, in reality, I read 20 books or about 1.5 books per month. What a good little Bookish Girl I am.

My favorite of the bunch? Hmmm, cannot pick one. They are like my babies each with their own personalities and quirks. I would say that reading Murder on the Orient Express brought me to a new place in my reading. It started me off on a quest for mystery type novels with quirky characters. The Plum novels totally brought that thirst to a very serious disease. I enjoyed reading these but the last one brought a lot of eye rolling in its general direction. Not because it was any worse than the others, or less interesting. It just finally got old, and predictable, and irritating. I will still seek out another series of book-candy but will try to steer clear of the “I have a template that I’m using for every book and you’ll like it dammit” authors.

As far as book-candy goes. This is the first year in my reading career that I have sought out such a thing. It is a strange beast and I need to process it more before I can define or understand the appeal. For now, it is defined as a book I know will leave me feeling light, a sure bet, something that won’t throw a punch or leave me aching (A Million Little Pieces is the opposite of book-candy. The book is blatant in its gut hitting angst, it doesn’t hid from it and will leave you groggy.) As I get older I find more of a need for these sure-bets. I am not entirely sure why. It has happened with my movie watching as well.

On to the first finished book of 2006 (the bulk of this was read in 2005):

The first book that I finished in 2006 was Devil in the White City (borrowed from the lovely Elisa.) I listened to the first half of this courtesy of my ipod and aubible.com (love that site.) I like listening to books, but have discovered that only the book-candy books are really good this way (another reason why book-candy needs to find a way into my reading list, I love to listen to books during my commute.) Devil in the White City is non-fiction written like fiction. It was meticulous in its facts and scenes set during the Chicago World’s Fair in the late 19th century. I found it interesting and would recommend it to someone who enjoys history or who has lived in or around Chicago. However, I did not love it and would not read it again (in the book’s defense, there are only about a dozen books that I would ever read again. I’m not a big re-reader.) It was a bit dull in places and repetitive. It did present a wonderful sense of place (one of the qualities I love to see in my books) and made me wish that our world still had the wonder of discovery. Such as the wonder found in riding, or seeing, the first Ferris Wheel. It also made me thankful that although our world may be a bit heavy on the communication (phones, newspapers, Internet) at least it’s easy for us to figure out if someone is “missing”, “dead”, or “on vacation in Europe.”

The book that I’m finishing right now is Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. As I mentioned above, 2005 was also the first year that I fell prey to the multiple book on the night stand syndrome. I guess that I thought if it worked with my knitting maybe it would work with my books. Not. so. much. Jonanthan Strange was a victim in this arrangement. He kept getting pushed aside. Only 75 pages left!