The White Nile, by Alan Moorehead

 Great book! What is it about these adventure books, about those Brits and Germans and Americans in the 1800's who struck out with not much on their bodies and tons of sherpas. This book is about the discovery of the source of the Nile. So many men went looking for it, and when they went, they would walk hundreds of miles in search. Through other people's kingdoms, and if they were diplomatically lucky, they'd make it. But none of this was quick. 

Some of them took years to move from Zanzibar to Lake Victoria. Many (Emin anyone?) spent years and years in Africa. Truly understood Africans. Still, in a minute they could be felled, laid out in front of what passes for a city hall, missing their heads. Communications took weeks, if they got through at all. 

Since I had read The Journals of Major-Gen C.G. Gordon, I knew "the ending" of this book. Still hurt in the heart.

This is what this book covers. And it was a great ride. 

I borrowed this book from my boss, then of course I spilled something on the dj, so I bought a replacement for him. Hopefully it'll be here soon. As I finished this today, I borrowed another book form the boss, which I'll start soon: The Kaiser's Holocaust, by David Olusoga and Casper Erichsen. 

My CC Spin number is...

 ...TWELVE!

That's means I'll be reading The Penguin Book of Modern Short Stories for the Classic Club's CC Spin #28. I have till 12 Dec to finish, which shouldn't be a problem. Will probably read it after I finish Maynard's House, by Herman Raucher, which was my choice for our family book club. 

#ccspin #ccwhatimreading

CC Spin #28

 Now that I've joined the Classics Club, I can take part in the CC Spin #28! What's that, you ask? A CC Spin consists of 20 books chosen from your 50 classics list. On a particular day, the CC blog will pick a number, and whatever number they pick, you have about eight weeks to read that book.

Therefore, here are 20 books from my list of 50:

1. Dark Star Safari

2. For Whom the Bell Tolls

3. Solaris

4. Hadji Murad

5. Endurance

6. Empire of the Sun

7. The Death of the Heart

8. King Lear

9. The Guide

10. Wuthering Heights (reviewed here) 

11. In Patagonia

12. The Penguin Book of Modern Short Stories  <--- CC Spin #28 selection

13. A Grain of Wheat

14. Wuthering Heights

15. Kidnapped

16. Dead Souls

17. Cakes and Ale

18. King Soloman's Mine

19. The Talented Mr. Ripley

20. The Professor

Tomorrow I'll see what book I'm reading. So exciting! #ccspin

The Classics Club

 I've decided to join The Classics Club. I like classics, and have plenty I should read. Part of the requirements for joining include listing 50 classics you'd like to read (or reread, as that's allowed). Fifty is a bunch, but you have up to five years to read them all. Ten a year isn't much, especially since I'm reading 70-ish books every year anyway. 

So here goes, 50 classics I'd like to read over the next five years. (No links this time as that'll take me forever; I'll link them as I read them. And they're in no particular order. If in a foreign language, English follows in parens, and yes, it means I want to read it in the original.) Let's just round up: I'd like this list to be read by 31 Dec 2026:

1. Out of Africa

2. Of Human Bondage

3. The Turn of the Screw

4. Pride and Prejudice

5. The Penguin Book of Modern British Short Stories (reviewed here)

6. Wuthering Heights (reviewed here) 

7. Orlando (reviewed here)

8. The Monk

9. Семнадцать Мгновений Весны (Seventeen Moments of Spring, in Russian)

10. Dark Star Safari

11. The Fellowship of the Ring (reviewed here)

12. Kidnapped

13. The Guide

14. Dead Souls

15. Parade's End

16. The Emperor: Downfall of an Autocrat

17. Tender is the Night (reviewed here)

18. The Groves of Academe

19. Homage to Catalonia

20. Maskerado ĉirkaŭ la morto (Dancing around death, in Esperanto)

21. Rebecca

22. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists

23. Beowulf (in Old English)

24. For Whom the Bell Tolls (reviewed here)

25. American Pastoral

26. A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland and The Journal of a Tour of the Hebrides

27. The Mosquito Coast (reviewed here)

28. From Here to Eternity (reviewed here)

29. Solaris

30. In Patagonia

31. The Name of the Rose

32. The Good Soldier Schweik

33. Cakes and Ale

34. A Grain of Wheat

35. King Lear

36. Hadji Murad

37. Na Drini ćuprija (Bridge on the Drina, in Serbo-Croatian)

38. King Soloman's Mines

39. Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage

40. The Death of the Heart

41. The War of the End of the World

42. The Talented Mr. Ripley

43. The Stories of J.F. Powers

44. Мастер и Маргарита (The Master and Margarita, in Russian)

45. Empire of the Sun (reviewed here)

46. Black Lamb and Grey Falcon

47. Catcher in the Rye (reviewed here)

48. One Hundred Years of Solitude

49. The Professor

50. Love's Labour's Lost

I really suck at this

 I know I promised this already, but this time I mean it! OK, maybe not, but who knows. Without further ado, here's what I've been doing since my last post way back in August: 

For one, we moved. Back in northern Virginia. w00t! I also observed the first annual DC Marathon Swim for a friend of mine, Elaine. She did great, through what was a brutal swim. She was right when she said (at the end) that the race only began at the Woodrow Wilson bridge (after she already swam 11.3 miles and had another 9.2 to go). She's a beast.

Did a bunch of reading, to.

Life After Life, by Kate Atkinson. Outstanding. Part of the Todd Family of (currently two) books. This woman can write. I am almost scared to try any of her other books. Could the Todd stories be one-offs? There's also a war theme to them, which is a favorite of mine. Whenever someone in my many booky FB groups asks for a novel recommendation, I suggest this one or her A God in Ruins.

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, by John Berendt. Love the movie, everyone in it is great, and the story! The book is even better. Must see Savannah!

Bright Lights, Big City, by Jay McInerney. Would never had read this if my wife hadn't picked it for our family book club. I had seen the movie when I was younger, and the only thing I remember is a very high Michael J. Fox saying no to two beautiful women he found in a bathroom stall, making out with each other, when they asked him, "Want to join us?" That's when I knew drugs made you stupid. What man would say no to that question? Anyway, the book is in 2nd person and Wow, it works. In fact, it is probably so far in our multi-year family book club history the best book. 

War Music: An Account of Homer's Iliad, by Christopher Logue. My wife had read this many years ago and raved. I knew I'd read it someday, and last month seemed the right time. She was right, as usual. This is a great translation and the anachronisms are so good, they should be used in a writing class on how to effortlessly slip these things into stories. 

The Illustrated Diary of a Nobody, by George Grossmith. Interesting? SIL choice for the club. Strange I'd never heard of it, considering my fav author Waugh described it as the funniest book he'd read. It was funny, in a very British way, but hardly something I'll ever read again. 

Schlump, by Hans Herbert Grimm. Great book in the Schweik or Forrest Gump kind of way. This one from a German POV. Quick read with a great ending. 

The Fall of Arthur, by J.R.R. Tolkien. The master's take on Arthur, in verse. Love the metre and alliteration. 

The Book of Blam, by Aleksandar Tišma. I came to this one because the NYRB book club sent out #3 in Tišma's series about the Hungarian occupation of Yugoslavia during WWII. Great book. I will read numbers two and three soon. 

Wolves Eat Dogs, by Martin Cruz Smith. Dear reader(s) will remember how much I love Arkady Renko. Probably my favorite book detective. This one is very good, maybe #3 after Polar Star and Havana Bay. Scary. How many rads does a man need? Six feet? 

The Yiddish Policemen's Union, by Michael Chabon. Reread as I read this, what, 10 years ago? Is it that old? Loved it then, still love it. My #2 fav of Chabon after The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. 

Browsings: A Year of Reading, Collecting and Living with Books, by Michael Dirda. Another reread, this time on Audible, for free with our membership. Thankfully, the books I got interested in, when I looked at my Kindle copy, were highlighted from when I read this book about 3-4 years ago. What's changed are some of the books he mentioned I'd since (or am currently) read(ing), like The White Nile, which I am about 60% through.

Piccadilly Jim, by P.G. Wodehouse. October read for the FB P.G. Wodehouse Book Club. I'd never read this one before, so that was nice. Also interesting (spoiler follows) that one of the characters in it is the main kid in The Little Nugget, which I read (and forgot about) years ago!

Language-wise, I studied Swahili for a couple months. I've decided not to DLPT in it. Weird policy at work: If I DLPT in a language, but don't score at least a 1+ in all three proficiencies, then I can't get any training in the language (paid by employer). I'd rather not have an attempt listed so that if I ever want to get training in Swahili in the future, they can't say No due to my sad scores. (Though they can say No for so many other reasons!)

I've also gotten back into the Old English book I used a couple years ago for a short (4-week) challenge over the Christmas holidays. TY Complete Old English is pretty great, I like it better than the traditional intros out there (Intro to Old English by Baker and The Cambridge Old English Reader by Marsden). I'm on unit 5 now, which is as far as I got during the challenge, so everything from here on out is new! Already reading some sections of Beowulf which helps with my ultimate goal of reading the poem in the original.

I'll start back at Russian soon, and a new section of Middle Egyptian is starting Nov 1 with Glyphstudy, so I'll probably jump in on that. Maybe this time I'll actually finish! 

3zekiel

 Haven't read much since the last update. Check that: haven't finished much. We're in moving mode as we're transferring to DC soon. Days filled with organizing and getting rid of crap. DD and I did a garage sale to get rid of clothing, books and junk (~1000 pounds? Let's hope). Made almost $500, so that's nice, too. 

I got to pick the latest book in the family book club and I chose 3zekiel (yes, that's a 3). I've been looking around for new (to me) sci-fi authors and found this guy, whose schtick is first contact. This was his first first contact novel so thought I'd give it a try.

Very interesting take on first contact. I'd give it 4 1/2 stars. Some issues with it, like his insistence on the main character calling and thinking of the Seal as a soldier. Also, AFRICOM covers the Congo, not CENTCOM. But otherwise a nice read. 

After that, I wandered a bit trying to find a book to read. Started Dark Star Safari, and while it is very well written, just not in the mood for a travel book now, so moved on. Then tried Greg Iles' Black Cross, which started okay, then within a couple dozen pages got stupid. Read something I've read before (Smilla's Sense of Snow)? Nah. What to read, what to read...

Finally settled on Life After Life, by Kate Atkinson. I loved her A God in Ruins last year and this one is just as good. Her writing is just so perfect, I'll go back to her often.

On the audiobook front, I got SPQR from the library. Been a while since I've read any Classics (subject, not type of lit) and this one is good. I also have a sample by Mary Beard (Confronting the Classics) which may be a future read. 

Kiel Akvo de l'Rivero is going well, if slowly. Again, the move is getting in the way, but I'll keep it going. A bit more than halfway done. 

Swahili is fun. I'm on chapter 2 of Colloquial and it's already getting hard. Which I love. Hate those books where you spend 5-6 lessons just saying hi and ordering a drink. We're already doing a variety of fun things with possessives and verbs. I also got Mpiranya's Grammar book and did the first application exercise. Got a 100%!

Catch-up

  Holy crap, I keep doing this. Sorry. I'm at 46 books for the year so far. 

The Caves of Steel by Asimov. This was chosen in our family book club. I'd read it back in 1989 or so. Aged. A bit simple. Not as bad as Ringworld (oy) or Stranger in a Strange Land (oh God). But good parts to it, especially setting the stage for rules of robotics. And the wonderful pair of a robot and human. Oh where did you go Almost Human, how I miss you. 

The Stone Face by William Gardner Smith. Interesting. This was the NYRB Book Club pick for July I believe, maybe June. Experience of an African-American in Paris in the 1950's. Interesting. 3 stars. A bit preachy. Not sure how much of this is autobiographical. I've read less obvious books about the black American experience. 

An Ice-Cream War by William Boyd. I read Boyd's A Good Man in Africa last year and loved it, and same here. Still don't know why the title. Where's the ice cream? 

King Leopold's Ghost by Adam Hochschild. What a horrible human being. Raped and destroyed the Congo. Burn in Hell.

The Glass Bees by Ernst Jünger. A year or so ago I read his A German Officer in Occupied Paris. Incredible writer, this one had an intro by Bruce Sterling, so I knew I had a good book coming. This could fall under Dystopia. Strange dystopian story, unlike any of the others I've read during my year (2019?) of dystopias. Zapparoni = Bezos or Musk? 

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, by William Kamkwamba. Great book. If we were still homeschooling this would be required reading. This kid didn't let anything stop him. And I'm not talking pathetic first-world "anythings," I'm talking about famine FFS. And talk about recycling, this kid did it. Turned out great for him too. Spoiler alert: in 2014 he graduated Dartmouth. 

In the House of the Interpreter by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o. This memoir was great to read, not just for the history of Kenya in the late 1950's during the (British) state of emergency. But especially fun was seeing mention of the father of one of my dear friends, with whom I served in Berlin. This guy took advantage of the opportunities he was given, and went through some hell. Will read more from him. 

In the language game, I've begun studying Swahili. I might get opportunities to visit East Africa in my job, so wanted to have some language that I could use there. Interesting and fun language, especially with the noun classes. Using Pimsleur along with Colloquial and Teach Yourself. 

For Esperanto still reading the book I started during the July Sumoo: Kiel Akvo de l'Rivero by Schwartz. Set in the early days of WWI. In fact, our main character, a Frenchman, just moved to Berlin to tutor "cretins" in French. It is early 1914. Uh-oh!

Orde Wingate, by Christopher Sykes

 There are biographies that I will never forget, written by incredible authors who bring their subject to life. I can think of two in particular: Benjamin Franklin by Carl van Dorn and The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt by Edmund Morris. Two great books.

I can now add to this duo Orde Wingate, by Christoper Sykes. Wingate is probably best known as the originator of long range penetration groups and The Chindits, a caconym for chinthe, a spiritual lion in Burmese culture. The Chindits arguably aided in the destruction of the Japanese Army in Burma, which led to their defeat in WWII. A unit I used to fly with is the successor of the American contingent of The Chindits, the 1st Air Commando, and the famous (to USAF Airmen) Colonels Cochran and Alison. 

But he did so much more. He personally led the Army in Ethiopia, running out the Italians and escorting Haile Selassie into his empire. He also was a Zionist of some repute. His death was premature; he was memorialized by Winston Churchill: "[Wingate] was a man of genius who might well have become also a man of destiny. He has gone, but his spirit lives on in the long range penetration groups, and has underlain all these intricate and daring air operations and military operations based on air transport and on air supply." 

Sykes does a masterful job of engaging the reader, keeping his interest. I have the first edition and it is good, but lacking in end notes or a bibliography. Its copyright is 1959 and footnotes are at the bottom of the page. Unfortunately, once a book is mentioned, it is short-titled under the author's name for the rest of the book. If one wants to find the book, one has to find the first footnote, instead of simply look in the back for the biblio. So many good book recommendations!

I read a book...

 ...and I'm blogging about it!

I just finished Atenco by Julian Modest. Written in Esperanto, it is a novel about a Bulgarian spy working under journalist cover in France. Pretty poorly written. The story was too easy. Turned out perfect. Too perfect. Too many news articles about spies being caught, especially during the Cold War. Too many bodies in the basement of Lubyanka.

Novel had other issues, too. Weird quotes. First off, most East European novels use dashes for dialogue. They sometimes use quotation marks, a la Anglo literature, and in this case, the author used it for the narrator's thoughts. And here's where he confuses the reader. He'd use quotation marks like this:

"I wonder if she knows I'm a spy, he thought." 

Why keep he thought in the quotations? Further, he sometimes forgot to close quotes. Ugh. 

I gave it 3 stars due to it being a fast read and the Esperanto being strong. But, unfortunately for Mr. Modest, I'm reading at the same time The Secret Pilgrim by John Le Carre, the master of spy novels. Mr. Modest is simply too amateur in the world of spies. 

To add to the also reads section of my blog:

Orde Wingate, by Christoper Sykes. I started this bio almost two years ago. Got it out of the library after reading the Journals of Maj-Gen C.G. Gordon at Khartoum. It was due so stopped about half-way through. Found it recently in a great bookstore here in Boston for only $10! Bought it and been reading through it. I'll finish it soon. Reading a little per day. 

The Secret Pilgrim, by John Le Carre. As stated above, I'm reading this one, George Smiley #8 I believe. Great, as expected. I love his writing. The minute I'm done with it, I'll continue reading...

A Sunday at the Pool in Kigali, by Gil Courtemanche. Just started this. Incredible. Wonderful writing. Kudos to the translator, Patricia Claxton. The English is elegant and moving. This is my train-read until I'm done with the Le Carre. 

African History: A Very Short Introduction, by John Parker. I love the Short Introduction series. This one was recommended by a Naval Postgrad professor I had a class with a decade ago. Got this in Audible.

Here I go again

 I'm really bad at this. 

German class ended the third week of May, Gott sei dank! I'd had enough Zoom for one lifetime. Took the DLPT and got a 2 in the Listening and a 1+ in the Reading. Happy with that. 

Books I've read since the last update:

Mozart, by J.W. Dyck. An easy little German reader about the composer. Great level for me. Quick read. 

The Skull Mantra, by Eliot Pattison. Inspector Shan #1. My wife's choice in our family reading group. Very fun detective story, set in Tibet. Why do I love these foreign detective stories so much? (c.f. Arkady Renko.) I will read other Inspector Shan novels.

The Right Sort, by L.H. Bradshaw. Got this old book (copywrite 1921) from an auction for 5 pounds. Fun English public school story with, of course, a happy ending. Wodehousian. If you can find it, read it.

Translation: A Very Short Introduction, by Matthew Reynolds. Very short. Good, but if you want an intro to modern-day translation, instead read Is That a Fish in your Ear? 

Warlight, by Michael Ondaatje, the author of The English Patient. Just as good. Man can write. Why don't I just read all his books? OK, I will. 

The Mother Code, by Carole Stivers. Great concept, an AI "mother" who can raise human newborns. Good, readable book, but the author rushed the ending. Unfortunately.

Medalionoj, by Zofia Nalkowska. Book about what the Nazis did to the Poles. Horrible. Not the book. The Nazis. Read this in Esperanto. 

Six Four, by Hideo Yokoyama. Best detective novel as far as the Japanese are concerned. And I have to agree. Incredible story. Great translation by Jonathan Lloyd-Davies. Long book, but well worth the time. Top 5 I've read in the last 1-2 years.

Currently I'm reading:

Atenco, by Julian Modest. Story about Eastern European spies during the Cold War. In Esperanto. Originally. 

The Secret Pilgrim, by John Le Carre. Another Smiley novel. I'm a sucker for them. Sadly, this is the penultimate novel. 

Slowly but surely:

A Century of Humour [sic], edited by PG Wodehouse. I got this from an auction. I think 20 pounds? Maybe 30? Unsure, but it is over 1000 pages of British humor (not humour), short stories all. So stinking good. I'm reading a story a night, 3-4 nights a week. It will be a while till I'm done with this one. So many stories, I'll be reading this for a while, so of course it was worth 30 pounds, right?!

The 99% Invisible City, by Roman Mars. Great book about all the things we walk by in a city and don't really pay attention to. You know those painted symbols and lines on sidewalks? This book explains them. Again, will read a chapter or so every once in a while. 

I won't promise to write more this time as I'll probably forget again. But I hope you all are doing well. 

Where'd the time go?

 Holy shit. I totally forgot about this blog. Jeez Louise, I need to catch up. So...

...German. The class is going ok. I've learned that 8 weeks is long enough for me for online/virtual 5 hours/day training. Unfortunately, the class is 10 weeks long. Sigh...  But German is still on-going. Not sure how I'll do on the DLPT/OPI. I'm guessing 1+R, 1L, 1S. We'll see. 

So, the books I've read since last I've updated this blog:

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secret/HP und die Kammer des Schreckens. So since we last talked, I've read Harry Potter #2 in English, then followed it up with reading it in German while listening to it in German. Way over my head. But figured, this is part of the L-R process, so we'll see how it goes.

The wife has been bugging me for years to read more Lovecraft, so I "read" At the Mountains of Madness. (Italics because it was Audible.) Very creepy and good. I could imagine listening to it while being stationed in Antarctica while watching The Thing. 

The Big Hello, by Morris Renek. I read a great review of this author, purportedly the most dedicated writer (finished a book, then immediately started working on the next novel). Loved this book. About the "divorce market" in the '60s, at the start I thought it would be an apologetic to men, but it turned out to be a great "family first" story. A love story. I loved it and will read more of his, if I can find them.

I listened to Edmund Morgan's Benjamin Franklin bio (thanks Hoopla!). My main character of the novel I'm writing is Franklin-esque, so I considered this study. Great bio. Every few years I read a bio of this, one of my favorite (two) Americans.

Trip of the Tongue, by Elizabeth Little. A tour through the variety of America's languages. I wish I'd investigated my Goodreads first. I already read this 4-5 years ago. I hated it then, I hate it now. What an f'-ing whiner. So narcissistic. 

The Next 100 Years, by Friedman. Suggested by the other student in my German class. Pretty good. The author tagged Russia: he wrote it in 2009 or so and said Russia would be moving west and would try to take land from Ukraine, and possibly Crimea. Wah....?!  But some of his other predictions? Not so sure. But who knows.

Never Cry Wolf, by Farley Mowat. Read this 20+ years ago in Alaska. Loved it then, love it now. Great book. If you want to know about wolves, this is the first book you should read. (FWIW, if you want a great book about coyotes, read God's Dog by Hope Ryden.

The Body Builders. Again, thanks to Hoopla and the Melrose Public Library. This one was good, along the lines of The Sports Gene and Endure. But I wanted more on bionics/prosthetics. (Read Endure for a great scientific-sports book.)

Perdido Street Station. This is the third China Mieville I've read. This is not to say that the novel was bad, but it is my third favorite of his. He is a master of world-building. Holy shit, he had all the answers. Totally new world. Great. And third person except for two chapters at the end!

Wow, that's a lot of books since my last update. Sorry! I promise to write more in the future!