July 2022

Dang. Only three books read in July. My lowest ever. Granted, add an inter-city move to it, burying you in boxes, as well as an 8-day business trip, and maybe you'll slow down a bit. Also, start and stop a couple books, that probably affects your reading numbers. Right now I'm reading From Here to Eternity (Audible) and an Esperanto book (see below). 

• Proportional Response, by Tim Enright. Written by my neighbor and friend. His first book. Great story but needed some serious editing. I gave him notes. 
• Transcription, by Kate Atkinson. Out-freaking-standing. I'm not sure she can write a bad book, but I aim to find out.
• Tender is the Night, by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Meh. But it was on my 50 Classics list for the Classics Club.

But I did buy some books:

• Fortunes of War: The Balkan Trilogy, by Olivia Manning.
• Words on the Move: Why English Won't - and Can't - Sit Still (Like, Literally), by John McWhorter. Love the title and the author. His linguistics books are great.
• The River Between, by Ngugi wa Thiong'o. Need to read more African authors. $2 Kindle deal.
• Transcription, by Kate Atkinson. See above.
• Life with Picasso, by Francoise Gilot. Have always wanted this, the NYRB version, and no-shit it came up in Kindle deals one day for two bucks. Started it and it is great so far.
• Futility: A Novel, by William Gerhardie. Read in some booky blog that Gerhardie was loved by Evelyn Waugh. Had never heard that, but this book was cheap on Kindle so I got it. Will probably start it soon.
• Wampeters, Foma & Granfalloons: (Opinions), by Kurt Vonnegut. I can't not buy a Vonnegut book when it's a two dollar Kindle deal.

Language-wise I finished my BLTS with Serbian/Croatian. Have a 6 week break then I'll start it up again, but for only 8 weeks. Then the DLPT. Hoping for a 2/2. We'll see. 

Middle Egyptian going well. I skipped one homework as I had just returned from Florida and didn't have the time to do it, but we did just submit the last homework for the penultimate chapter. Now on to chapter 8. Do I see the end in sight?

And reading Esperanto again. I started La memoraĵoj de Julia Agripina, which is good so far. It's long, so I'll be reading it for quite a while, but it's nice to have on Kindle. It's part of Stafeto's Esperanto series.

Transcription, by Kate Atkinson

 Again, I must ask why I don't simply read everything by this woman, one after the other. This one was awesome. Got it on a Kindle deal ($3 I think) and it drew me in from page 1.

Spoilers below

Juliet works for MI5 during WWII. Does all kinds of fun things, as well as horrible things, witness or actor. Yes, in my wheelhouse: Between the wars and British. And like my previous Atkinson reads (A God in Ruins and Life After Life), jumping through time. Expertly. The ending. Phew. Unexpected. I won't even talk about it here with the spoiler warning, 'cause I want you all to experience the joy. 

Everything is here that you'd find in a JLC Smiley novel. The case officers, the officious work colleague, the secretly gay gentleman, the mata hari, peer offspring. Everything I love in a novel. Wonderful, wish it had been twice as long. 

Spoilers done.

I encourage everyone who likes well written novels with solid and well thought-out plots to read Atkinson. Start with Life after Life and immediately follow it up with A God in Ruins. Two of the best books I've read in the last 10 years, hands down.

Tender is the Night, by F. Scott Fitzgerald

 OK, read it. Not just for the Classics Club #ccspin, but also because it is a classic and his The Great Gatsby is incredible. This one, meh. While I love Brit lit between the wars, not as hip to jazz age setting in American lit. 

Not that it was bad. Great writing, of course. But my cares for a man who screws around on his wife, or wives that do on their husbands, it's just not that interesting. I don't understand how I can watch Midsomer Murders and marvel at the seemingly ubiquitous affairs British husbands and wives have, and be entertained by it, yet when I read it in American lit, not too interested. Not sure why. 

Maybe I prefer it in comedic works? Evelyn Waugh has plenty of affairs (again, British) but they're not the point of the story. Perhaps that's it? Rosemary and Dick and Nicole and...who cares. I was, however, shocked at the relationship between two characters in Tender is the Night; didn't expect that in something written in 1934. 

Like I said, great writing. Won't argue that. The guy knew how to write. But finishing this one...not sure I'll rush out to read another by him for a long while.

Still here

 The family and I have been moving this month, so my reading has slowed down. I just finished a friend's novel. It's his first and I've promised him some constructive criticism. I edit/copyedit at work, and it is hard for me to read books with typos, fragments, or other grammatical issues. My friend's novel is a good story, but is hurt by a lack of editing. 

Separately, I'm going to ask him if he'd be willing to do an interview with me, to then be published on this blog. We'll see!

Middle Egyptian is still going well. As is BCS. I didn't do any class last week, and didn't on Monday this week because we were still drowning in boxes. I sucked during Wednesday's class, but not as sucky as I thought. 

I'm also listening to Tender is the Night, and jeez what a story. Great writing, and wow, the situation between Nicole and her father. Holy crap!

June 2022

 Eight books in June. Publishing this post early as I won't finish the book I'm currently reading before Friday:

• Stars and Bars, by William Boyd. Great book of his. Which one is next?
• Harry Potter i kamen mudraca, by JK Rowling. Working on my Serbian/Croatian. Thankfully I know the story because my language isn't sufficient yet.
• Cluny Brown, by Margery Sharp. Love me Margery Sharp. She was a master storyteller. I will continue to read her till I've read all of her.
• Serbo-Croatian Grammar and Reader, by Oton Grozdić. Got this years ago at a used bookstore for a dollar or so. Great grammar review.
• The Eiger Sanction, by Trevanian. Great book. 50/50 I'll read more of him.
• Uncertain Glory, by Joan Sales. Another great book, but I'm done with the Spanish Civil War for a while.
• Young Men in Spats, by PG Wodehouse. Great book by the Master. Blandings sightings. For the FB Wodehouse Book Club. Wonder what July's book will be?
• The Vikings, by Else Roesdahl. Quick and easy history.

And my purchases:

• The Vikings. Got this one and the next one at Salvation Army for, IIRC, two bucks each. 
• Viking Age Iceland, by Jesse Byock. 
• The Galaxy, and the Ground Within, by Becky Chambers. Bought this based on reading previously her The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, which was great. Two bucks, Kindle deal.
• SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome, by Mary Beard. Bought this based on her Confronting the Classics.
• The Circle of Reason, by Amitav Ghosh. Kindle deal. Looked intriguing. 
• Winterkill, by Ragnar Jonasson. One of these days I'm going to read these books from the Dark Iceland series.
• The Eiger Sanction. You pick it for the family book club, you should own it. But, actually, bought it for the wife. I read it with Audible.
• It's Our Turn to Eat, by Michela Wrong. This one is for the book club at work.
• Tales of Al: The Water Rescue Dog, by Lynne Cox. Yes, that Lynne Cox of ultra-swimming fame. Met her years ago and have stayed in touch. She's wonderful.

June was BCS heavy, and I think it is coming along. Not sure I'll be ready for an OPI this year, so I redirected the instructor to concentrate on listening and reading for the DLPT in November. In C&M, we had a mid-term (second mid-term, technically), wherein we translated a stele from 1870 bc, currently housed in the Louvre (Louvre 272). I did pretty well, considering my several-weeks auditing of the course in December-January while prepping for my Russian DLPT. Granted, the midterm covered areas we'd already studied in the C&M course, but still, the only help the moderator gave us were some names we hadn't learned yet. I dorked up while submitting my homework by missing some of the offerings; there they are in my notebook, but when I was transposing from my notebook to the email submission, I skipped them. I also missed some xrw 'justified' at the ends of some of the "his brother/sister/dad/mom" rows (top right in picture below). 

The Vikings, by Else Roesdahl

 Picked this book up at Salvation Army for a buck, along with Viking Age Iceland. Read this one first. Very good history, broken into thematic chapters. Very enlightening. 

I've always had a fascination with this area of history, especially the intersection of Celtic, Anglo-Saxon, Norse histories, contact, war, language. The languages are incredibly interesting, thus my past attempts at Norwegian, Danish, Old Norse, Old English, Middle Welsh, Cornish, Irish. You get the idea. 

This is a quick read, despite me taking over a week to read it; got busy during the work week. Good illustrations throughout, but B&W only. The maps are great, and really allow the reader to envision why the Faroes are a natural stop for the Vikings en route Iceland (and Greenland, and Vinland, aka America). Not to mention the Orkneys and Shetland, all locations I now have on my "cold places" visit dream list. 

Originally published in Danish (I believe) in the late '80s, this revised English-language edition I read was copyright 1998. I'm assuming there are more updated histories out there, but this one is recommended for the lay reader. 

Great cover, too.

Uncertain Glory, by Joan Sales

 Good book, war book, Spanish civil, again. Originally in Catalan. 

Spoilers commence:

The book is divided into three parts, each one in 1POV. I usually don't like book in that point of view but it started out so well. 

Main players are Lluis (in Catalan the ll is not pronounced like a y), Trini, and Cruells. A love triangle of sorts. The three parts are from their points of view, respectively. Yet, another main character, and the hub around those three spokes seem to rotate is Soleras, a difficult man, depending upon which part of the book you're reading.

The republicans aren't doing so well against the fascists, at least in the year-plus that this book covers. In the field or in Barcelona. Neither are relationships going well. Doctors, commanders, captains, lieutenants, they all have weird relationships with their wives. Ugh..

It just got to be too much by the end. Still, great writing and translating. (Trans by Peter Bush.) But I just wanted it done at the end. It dragged...

Spoilers complete.

Probably done with the Spanish Civil War for a while. 

The Eiger Sanction, by Trevanian

 This is such a good book, by Trevanian, if that is his or her real name. 

Spoilers below:

Jonathan has a problem. He owes a sanction. To pay back the sanction of a friend of his. How about a mountain climb? Sure, why not?! 

He's an art professor. He's a lover. He's an owner of a church. Oh, and he's a contract killer. And he prefers that. He doesn't even like teaching. Even with all the coeds he could have sex with. Hell, his virgin neighbor is ready and willing, blonde and randy, yet he's got standards. Really?

Still, throughout the reading of this, all I saw in my mind's eye is Clint Eastwood. The first half of the book, IIRC, isn't even in the film. The angry gardener. The virgin/slutty neighbor. I don't even remember the sexy black woman. But I'll have to re-watch the movie.

IIRC, the movie revealed the killer differently, but I think I like the book version better. And the Audible narrator was great, the voices he did (Joe Barrett) were spectacular. 

Spoilers complete.

I'm looking forward to watching the movie this weekend. 

Classics Spin #30

 Time for another Classics Spin. Dear reader(s) recall that I have to list 20 books from my classics list, then they "spin" and come up with a number, and I read that book by 7 August. So here's my list this time:

1. Homage to Catalonia
2. American Pastoral
3. The Stories of J.F. Powers
4. Love's Labour's Lost
5. Tender is the Night <----
6. Orlando
7. Dead Souls
8. Solaris
9. King Soloman's Mines
10. In Patagonia
11. Kidnapped
12. The Mosquito Coast
13. King Lear
14. The Turn of the Screw
15. The Fellowship of the Ring
16. The Groves of Academe
17. Endurance
18. One Hundred Years of Solitude
19. Cakes and Ale
20. The Death of the Heart

I think tomorrow is when we get the number. #ccspin 

Cluny Brown, by Margery Sharp

 Another wonderful book by Ms. Sharp and I'm left wondering why I don't only read her books. (Yes, I know the answer: there'll be no more once I'm done, so space them out.) She is just the perfect author. This is my third of hers; I have yet on my bookshelf: Britannia Mews and The Stone of Chastity. 

Spoilers down there:

This one has an English country home, staff below stairs, a chemist's, a labrador, parlor-maids, a Pole, even mention of Nazis and the RAF. Everything one would want in good Brit-lit. And Cluny Brown. Cluny, short for Clover, as if that weren't evident. (What is it about Anglophones and their inexplicable nicknames: Jack for John; Betty for Elizabeth?) Cluny is the ingenue, but not annoying like Holly Golightly (although Capote did proffer quite the competition to Sharp in the naming department). Don't get me wrong, I liked Breakfast at Tiffany's, at least I remember liking it; I read it maybe 15 or more years ago. And I love Audrey Hepburn, but it's not about who played the ingenues in the movies, but the characters in the books, and I'll take Cluny over Holly any day.

I haven't seen the Cluny Brown movie yet. 

People keep asking Cluny what she's all about, what she's going to do with her life, what's her deal. She doesn't know, and her uncle, in loco parentis, decides for her, which is what brings her into service in the country. She has no liking for the job, but does it to the best of her ability, because that's what uncle Arn asks of her. She cherishes her Wednesday afternoons off, romps with the dog, and eventually walks with the chemist. 

There's much else going on in the country, to include an heir trying to decide his future, a Pole writing a book and falling in love left and right, and a peer (or not) wishing for the old days. But all this pales in what fate has in store for Cluny. With a marriage proposal virtually on the front step, hours away, she makes a rash decision which, in the end, seems to come out alright. 

Spoilers, alas, complete.

I loved this book, and read its 270 pages quickly; of course, bacterial conjunctivitis keeping one away from work gives one plenty of time to read. Onward!

Harry Potter i kamen mudraca

 Finished, for the second time, the first Harry Potter book in Croatian. (I "read" it the first time in 2020 prior to my deployment.) Harry Potter i kamen mudraca was tough. My Croatian is still coming along, but my vocab is still weak. Thankfully I know the story. And I'm sure my dear reader(s) know the story as well. 

Why did I listen-read this book in Croatian? I'm following a program called Listening-Reading (L-R). Theory is you listen-read to the book in the foreign language three times, then you move to L1 for one of the modalities. For instance, if I want to work on my listening, I'd listen in Croatian and read in English. 

Not sure if I'll listen-read it again in Croatian, perhaps L-R Hunger Games (Igre Gladi), which I also have. But who knows. For now I'm going wait a bit till the next Croatian read.