The Zen Leaf

Cakes and Ale, by William Somerset Maugham

Posted on February 13, 2012 by Thistle

I have read quite a few books by Maugham in the last decade or so, maybe 15-16 in all. He’s one of my favorite authors. Having said that, I must admit that Cakes and Ale didn’t live up to his normal standard. The book is very muddled. The back of the book description says that this is about a writer named Alroy Kear who is tasked with writing a biography of the late author Edward Driffield, with the complication that Driffield’s second wife is determined to wipe away all trace of his first wife in the process. Instead, this book is about Willie Ashenden, a colleague of Kear’s, who knew Edward Driffield and his first wife in his youth. Kear and the second Mrs. Driffield are hardly in the book at all, there’s no real hint of wife #2 trying to eliminate wife #1, and most of the story is told in a series of flashbacks.

Normally Maugham is very straightforward and to the point, but not so in Cakes and Ale. There are long sections of the book that meander pointlessly, that have nothing to do with the central story, especially in the beginning, almost as if Maugham wasn’t quite sure where he was going yet. There are sections in the middle when the story is interrupted in order for the narrator (ie Maugham) to question whether he’s gone about writing this novel the right way. The book lacks Maugham’s normal confidence and surety. The result was unsatisfactory, and downright boring in many places.

On the other hand, I will give Maugham credit where it is due. Even at his worst, he always gives me something to think about. Hidden in all the muddle here was an interesting discussion on appearance and judgement. All sorts of people were judged by their appearances and reputation, rather than on their behavior. Take, for instance, a man by the nickname of Lord George. In reality, he’s a poor coal merchant, not a lord, but he wears suits and hats, and he treats everyone equally no matter what their station. People despise him because they think he ought to stick to his place in society, rather than acting “above his station.” Despite the fact that he is kind, generous, and friendly, people shun him. One quote about him in particular stood out to me:

They could not forgive him because he had always been so noisy and boisterous, because he had chaffed them and stood them drinks and given them garden parties, because he had driven such a smart trap and worn his brown billycock hat at such a rakish angle.

Whereas the one person who really sees Lord George for who is he says the following:

He was always such a perfect gentleman.

The issue of appearance is also brought up via the book Kear is supposed to write about Driffield. Driffield had many faults, and Kear is keen to cover them all up. There is a difference, he says, between private life and public image, and it’s important to keep the private faults hidden so that the public image can remain untainted and unflawed. He says to Ashenden:

Of course, all this is between ourselves; I’m merely telling it to show you that in writing his life I shall have to use a good deal of tact…I don’t want to say anything that’s untrue, but I do think there’s a certain amount that’s better left unsaid.

Maugham explores the question of appearances all throughout Cakes and Ale, and it was the one thing that really kept me interested all the way through. Otherwise, I’m afraid, the book just didn’t impress me. It certainly won’t be added to my favorites among Maugham’s works.

Posted in 2012, Adult, Prose | Tagged classics | Leave a comment

Mindless Eating, by Brian Wansink (audio)

Posted on February 8, 2012 by Thistle

I have been fascinated by mindful eating and food psychology for a long time. Back when I first began my weight loss journey at Thanksgiving of 2009, I started with only two ideas in mind: eat only when I was hungry, and exercise more. Eventually that bloomed into a few more guidelines, but the general principles of my weight loss journey remained constant: eat healthier-but-reasonable food only when my body needed fuel, and spend some time up off my butt every day. I never saw any reason to eliminate foods from my diet completely, or to cut my calories so much that I was perpetually hungry, and that has enabled me to keep going for over two years.

Mindless Eating is based on those same general principles. It doesn’t talk about how to diet, but instead tries to make people aware of how our environment affects how much we eat. People are fooled into eating larger portions by all sorts of things: short glasses, big bowls, big boxes, label wording, etc. We may think we aren’t fooled, but time and time again, studies have shown that even people who know and study this material for a living can be fooled into eating more by specific cues.

Brian Wansink walks us through study after study of all the ways people can be fooled, and then offers tips to help us redesign our personal food environment so that we can eliminate those cues. His book is not designed to help people lose 100 lbs in a year, but instead to help reverse the obesity trend. Most people do not gain weight in giant bursts, but in a slow trend over many years by overeating in what Wansink calls the mindless margin. A person can eat a couple hundred calories more or less than what their body requires to maintain its weight without noticing it by hunger or feeling too full. If you’re overeating those couple hundred calories every day, you may add 10-20 lbs in a year. If you undereat those couple hundred calories, you may lose the same, without ever feeling like you’ve been on a diet. This is what Wansink stresses.

One of the most interesting things in the book to me was a fact that he puts out near the beginning of Mindless Eating. Since I listened to this on audio and don’t have a print copy in front of me, I can’t give the exact quote, but to paraphrase: If you lose more than about half a pound per week, your metabolism will go into some form of conservation mode. This blew me away. I’ve always known my body was sensitive to starvation mode. If I try to lose more than about a pound a week, I start holding steady instead, or gaining, despite eating less or exercising more. I figured about a pound per week was okay to hold off starvation mode, but apparently, even losing at that rate can mess with your metabolism, at least according to studies. Of course, most people who need to lose a lot of weight aren’t going to be interested in losing roughly 26 lbs per year. At the same time, painlessly losing half a pound a week by making a few tweaks to your eating habits is better than making major overhauls to your diet that you’ll give up on after a month, which is how many people approach weight loss.

There is a lot of really good information in this book, both about food psychology in general and in practical tips for helping people reverse the trend of slow, mindless weight gain. There is not a lot of information about mindful eating, which is one of the things I’d hoped for when I began it. Instead, it focuses on turning mindless eating to our advantage, and helping us to lose weight without ever realizing we’re losing it.

Performance: This audiobook is narrated Marc Cashman, who does a great job with the reading. I do wish I’d read the print version of this, however, because there seems to be a lot of tables, charts, and visual representations in the book that were read out to me. I would have preferred to see them, and I’m thinking about getting my hands on a print copy just for those parts.

Posted in 2012, Adult, Prose | Tagged audio, food, health, nonfiction, psychology | 1 Comment

Je L’Aimais, by Anna Gavalda

Posted on February 3, 2012 by Thistle

Chloe’s husband has just abandoned her and their two daughters for another woman. Lost and reeling, Chloe ends up staying at a remote farmhouse with her father-in-law. He tells her a story from his own life, which brings into question duty, love, relationships, and happiness.

I read this book in its original French, and I want to talk a little bit about that experience before moving on to my thoughts on the book as a whole. It was one of my goals this year to read at least two books in the original French, one modern, and one classic. It’s been about eight months since I finished reading the Harry Potter series in French, and I didn’t want to let my semi-passing competence in the language drop. I also picked up the English version of the book to refer back to, in case I had difficulty with the French.

I’m pleased to say that I understood about 90% of the book in the original. Periodically there would be vocabulary that I didn’t recognize, or phrases/idioms, or some of the grammar structure would trip me up, but for the most part, I could read through the book fluidly. I read each chapter/section in English after the French to verify that I was catching everything, and I was! The book was remarkably easy to read, and easier as I got back into the rhythm of the language. I started by translating to English in my head, but ended by just reading the French – it was easier to understand that way. I am very happy about this! I know there’s little chance I’ll ever be completely fluent, what with living no where near anyone else who speaks French, but I’m glad I have a few ways to keep on going with this.

As for the book, it was beautiful. This turned out to be a really good choice. I tried to get my hands on tons of modern books in French, and this was one of the only ones available from the library. So it’s a really good thing that it turned out to be so great. The synopsis I gave above can’t really do it justice. This is a story within a story, the story of an affair, but most important, it explores the complex question of what makes an action “right” or “wrong.”

The story is one you hear all the time – a man, caught between a wife and a lover. A situation that may seem very clear-cut, but isn’t. A person can rationalize and moralize all they want, but when you break down those arguments, you find that nothing is so black and white. Is there ever a time when leaving is justified? Can it be better for the wife if her husband cuts ties? Would she prefer to stay with a man who does not love her, or suffer the pain of his leaving? Can great pain and breakage lead to happier lives for all parties, in the long run? Does happiness trump duty, and if not, what comes of duty to oneself? There is no clear-cut answer given in this book. It’s just an exploration, showing that there are multiple answers, and that no one way is right. There were a few passages of the book that I just loved so much, and I wish I could quote them in French because they’re better in the original, but I know most of my readers don’t read French so here they are in English:

…I would rather see you suffer a lot today rather than suffer a little bit for the rest of your life. I see people suffering a little, only a little, not much at all, just enough to ruin their lives completely… People who are still together because they’re crushed under the weight of that miserable little thing – their ordinary little life. All those compromises, all of those contradictions… Regrets, remorse, cracks and compromises that don’t heal over, that never heal. Never!

And then this one:

Happiness had been mine, and I had let it slip away in order to not complicate my life.

This book hit me on such a personal level, not because of my own marriage, but because of marriages of people I’ve been close to over the years, including my own parents’ marriage (which ended when I was a teenager). I won’t divulge the details of any of those, of course, and so therefore can’t really pinpoint in this review exactly why the book touched me so much, but I hope it will be enough to say that I have seen situations like this enough times to understand that there is always more than one side to every story, and that even the person who looks most like the bad guy isn’t necessarily bad. In an ideal world, there wouldn’t be situations like this. We wouldn’t fall in love with someone other. We wouldn’t fall out of love, or marry for duty, or live in silent pain. But ours is not an ideal world, and I love that this book sits right in the messy center of it.

Posted in 2012, Adult, Prose | Tagged gender studies, psychology | Leave a comment

House of Many Ways, by Diana Wynne Jones (audio)

Posted on January 22, 2012 by Thistle

House of Many Ways is the third book in the Howl series, and like Castle in the Air, it is more a companion novel than a direct sequel. Once again, this book takes place a couple years after the last book, and we get to see where several of our favorite characters have gotten to in the last little while. There is more of Sophie, Howl, and Calcifer in this book, which made me happy. The setting is High Norland, a small country in the same world as Ingary. The royal wizard of High Norland has become ill, so his great-great niece, Charmain, comes to look after his very strange house while he is away being treated. Charmain is a big bookworm and doesn’t know anything about magic or taking care of houses, which makes her life in this house quite interesting.

I think I liked this book almost as much as the first book, and definitely better than the second. I adored Charmain and several of the other new characters, and I laughed all through the sections with the old characters. There seemed to be less mystery to this book than the others, so I didn’t spend as much time playing guessing games with the plot, though there was, of course, some good reveals at the end. I do think some of the end was wrapped up a bit too quickly. I would have liked to explore a few more things, like how/why the rocking horses were “protection,” and how Charmain’s magic worked, and maybe a resolution for Charmain and Peter’s friendship. In general, I just wanted more more more at the end. It makes me sad that there are no more books about all these characters.

These are such fun books. I’m really looking forward to reading others by Diana Wynne Jones now, and I’m bummed that only one other of hers (Enchanted Glass) is available in audio from my library, as I’ve really enjoyed listening to these three. But by now, I’m willing to read the print versions too, so I have a large selection to dig into!

Performance: Jenny Sterlin, as usual, did a fantastic job with the narration of this book, especially with Howl’s rather odd vocal choices. These have definitely made my top audiobooks list, and she had become one of my favorite narrators!

Posted in 2012, Prose, Young Adult | Tagged audio, humor, multi-read, speculative | Leave a comment

Cinder, by Marissa Meyer

Posted on January 20, 2012 by Thistle

Cinder is a retelling of Cinderella, set in future-world China on a background of cyborgs and plague and intergalactic politics.

I’ll be short with this review. I wasn’t sure I would like this book. It seemed everyone was reading it, and I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. Since Cinder was YA, a fairy tale retelling, and the first book of a series, though, it had quite a few personal marks against it before I began. I sort of expected to pick it up from the library, read a few pages, and turn it back in unread. But I didn’t. I was hooked right from the first chapter.

The writing is good, far better than I expected it to be. I loved the world-building, and the careful way the original fairy tale unfolded in this format. I liked that it was set in future-world China, which is not something I’ve ever read before, and I do hope more of that is explored in future installments. I loved the cyborgs and learning about the prejudices that evolved in this world.

There were things I didn’t like as well. I thought the book would have been ten times better if 1) it was a standalone novel with a straight-forward ending, and 2) the whole lunar people part of the plot had been left out completely. I found the lunar people plot to be both superfluous and extraordinarily predictable. There’s a small detail mentioned in the first 50 pages of the book that is obvious instantly, but turns out to be the “big reveal” at the end of Cinder, which was a let-down because it wasn’t really a reveal at all. All the lunar stuff bogged down the ending and made it both rushed and confusing, not to mention the grates-on-my-nerves-by-now lack of any closure. If that subplot had been left out and Cinder had been a standalone focusing on plague and cyborg prejudice, I personally think it would have been a more solid book.

But that’s just my opinion, and I know others will disagree. And regardless of my irritation at all of that, I do plan to read the next book in the series when it comes out. I really liked the story and the characters and the world that Cinder was set in. I do wonder how the rest of the books will pan out since nearly all of the Cinderella tale is told in this one…

Posted in 2012, Prose, Young Adult | Tagged Asia, POC, revisiting, speculative | 2 Comments

Castle in the Air, by Diana Wynne Jones (audio)

Posted on January 16, 2012 by Thistle

In Zanzib, a city in a land south of Ingary, a carpet merchant named Abdullah dreams of meeting and falling in love with a princess. He buys a magic carpet from a stranger one day, and that night, finds himself improbably in the night garden of just such a princess, Flower-in-the-Night. As soon as he’s realized that this is actually happening, rather than a dream, a djinn kidnaps Flower-in-the-Night, and Abdullah sets off to rescue her.

Castle in the Air is a companion novel to Howl’s Moving Castle, and is loosely based on stories from Arabian Nights. I was told by many other bloggers, before I started this book, that 1) it was not as good as the first book, and 2) not to expect much of Howl or Sophie in it. I still wanted to listen to it, though, so I went into it without high expectations. The result was that I ended up enjoying the book much more than I might have otherwise. While it was not as good as Howl and I doubt I will obsessively read through it multiple times, it was still a very fun book.

Like with the last book, this one was fast and easy to listen to, and it caught my interest right away. I liked the characters and the way the story twisted and turned. Also like the first book, I found some things in the story very predictable, while also finding some completely surprising. I admit, I enjoyed the book much better in the second half, especially once I started meeting up with characters I’d known from the last book. It was great to see them from Abdullah’s point of view and to learn more about where they ended up several years after the last book ended. But I didn’t like the book solely for Sophie and Howl. I really liked the way Abdullah’s character evolved throughout the novel, and the way his and Flower-in-the-Night’s story went. I particularly love that she was an intelligent, thoughtful kind of girl that was strong in a crisis and could think her way out of trouble, rather than relying on someone else.

Really, my only big problem with the book was the way it drew on cultural stereotypes. I understand that it was just the retelling and fairy tale nature of the story, and that it was super exaggerated on purpose, but it still made me cringe to see the way the culture of Zanzib was portrayed. I’m very sensitive to that sort of thing. The book wasn’t entirely defined by these stereotypes, which was good, but they still made me uncomfortable. Other than that, though, I really enjoyed it. I’m looking forward to the next book!

Performance: Once again, Jenny Sterlin narrated this book, and she did an excellent job with all the characters, including ones that existed in many disguises.

Posted in 2012, Prose, Young Adult | Tagged audio, humor, Middle East, POC, revisiting, speculative | 1 Comment

Howl’s Moving Castle, by Diana Wynne Jones (audio)

Posted on January 9, 2012 by Thistle

Sophie Hatter is the eldest of three girls in a land where fairy tale is the norm. She doesn’t expect much from herself, since nothing ever happens for the oldest daughter in fairy tales, and is resigned to a life of dull loneliness. That all changes when an unexpected visitor enters the hat shop where Sophie works.

This book is the perfect example of why timing and media really matter in books. My friend Karen from Books and Chocolate has been trying to get me to read Howl’s Moving Castle for two years now. Considering I don’t really like fairy tales or fantasy all that much, I was reluctant to try it, but Karen spoke so highly of it that I decided to give it a chance. I picked it up from the library, read a couple pages, and turned it back in. Over two years, I did this four times. I kept thinking maybe I was just in the wrong mood, but every time I tried, I never made it longer than a few pages. Eventually, I gave up.

But something kept drawing me back to this book, and in late December, I picked up the audio version from the library. I figured I might as well try it again. I tend to be far more tolerant of books out of my comfort zone in audio for some reason. When I finally got around to starting it this past Saturday, I was hooked instantly. I spent three days neglecting everything else I wanted to do in order to listen to it. Now that I’m done, I’ve ordered the sequels and the movie version. I think I might be just a wee bit obsessed.

Howl’s Moving Castle was a fantastic book, the first book I’ve really loved since reading The Night Circus in late September. It was creative and interesting and well-crafted. It was like a fairy tale, without trying to copy the feel of old fairy tales. There was so much quirk! I adored the characters. Sophie, Howl, Michael, Calcifer, all of them. Even if I didn’t like them when I first met them, they grew on me, until even their flaws were adorable. I found myself grinning and laughing out loud so many times, and already I want to reread the book. And of course, it had the perfect ending.

If I had any complaint at all to make – and I don’t – it would be that so much of this book was extraordinarily predictable. However, I don’t feel like that was a negative point at all in this case. While that normally bothers me a lot, it fit the fairy tale quality of this story, like the reader was meant to see in advance what the characters couldn’t. I liked that. I kept waiting to see how it would all come together, even as I knew a lot of what would inevitably come up. It helped that there were also some real surprises, things I never would have guessed in advance. The predictability, therefore, felt intentional. So – no complaints!

I’m glad I gave this a fifth or sixth or whatever-it-was chance. I’m glad Karen kept pushing it on me. And I’m really glad to read something so great so early in the year! This is the sort of book that makes me excited about reading and reviewing again (even if my review is pretty pathetic). I highly recommend it, even if it’s outside your comfort zone. It really was such a fantastic book.

Okay, and I admit it. I fell in love with Howl, just a little bit. 😀

Performance: The audio version was read by Jenny Sterlin, and it was fantastic. As usual, I listened to this on double-speed (I rarely, if ever, listen to books on normal speed now), and didn’t have any trouble following along that way. Sterlin did a great job with the narration and all the character voices. She drew me into this world in a way all my attempts to read the print version didn’t. I’m very happy that she also narrates the two sequels!

Posted in 2012, 2013, 2016, 2020, Prose, Young Adult | Tagged audio, favorite, humor, memorable, multi-read, reread, speculative | 8 Comments

The Dream, by Émile Zola

Posted on January 4, 2012 by Thistle

In a small town outside of Paris, a nine-year-old orphan named Angelique sits outside a cathedral the night after Christmas. It’s snowing, and she has nothing on but rags. She stares up at the images carved into the cathedral’s wall, images of virgins and saints. She expects to die there that night, but is rescued in the morning by the two poor embroiderers who live near the cathedral. They take her in, shelter her, and keep her cloistered from the world, until all she knows is fairy tales and Catholic legends.

I adore Zola. He is one of my very favorite authors, and this is the sixth work by him that I’ve read. Every single book has been masterfully crafted – exquisite writing (even in translation), amazing characterization, fantastic exploration into the particular culture of each novel, and engaging storytelling. The Dream is no different. In fact, from the beginning, it had potential to rival my very favorite Zola, Germinal, because it starts (or seems to start) with a theme that is very dear to me: the contrast between reality and fantasy, and the moment when one replaces the other. This is, at least, what I expected from it.

As a kid, I was one of those people who wanted my life to be like in a fairy tale, book, or movie. I remember once, at ten years old, wanting to throw myself onto my bed and cry when I was very upset, and how disappointed I was that I couldn’t, because it would look ridiculous having to crawl up to the top bunk bed to get there first. I remember wanting to have an imaginary friend but being too self-aware to have one. I remember wishing on stars, and dreaming about first kisses, and all sorts of things. I think in a way, it’s symbolic of youth that we dream detached from reality. One day, we grow up. We reach the point of disillusionment – the negative side to a coming of age story – and this fascinates me. This is what The Dream seemed to be about from the beginning, and why I instantly loved it. I wanted to see exactly how Zola approached that moment of disillusionment.

This was not a tale of disillusionment, however. I was wrong. In The Dream, Zola weaves Catholic symbology and mythology together with the art of embroidery to spin his own fairy tale or saint story. It isn’t only Angelique’s story, though she is definitely the heart of the book. It is also the story of her adoptive parents, Hubert and Hubertine, who have spent their entire adulthood suffering under the weight of guilt, having married against Hubertine’s mother’s wishes. It is also the story of Saint Agnes, a virgin saint who ascended to Heaven to marry Jesus. Lastly, it is the story of the Monseigneur, with his troubled past and the passion for his dead wife renewed after he brings his adult son home. These stories all interlace to create something as far-fetched, fantastical, and mythical as the saints’ Legends that Angelique reads and loves so much.

I have noticed in previous books I’ve read by Zola that there is always a touch of sentiment to contrast with the ever-present realism. In Germinal, there is one touching scene at the climax amidst a nightmare background. In Thérèse Raquin, there is a moment of connection before utter destruction. These moments pop up, brief and touching and sentimental, almost incongruent with the rest of the story, more visible because of the horror with which they are contrasted. In The Dream, there isn’t one moment of sentimentality. The entire book is sentiment, and I’m not sure there was any irony to it.

The Dream surprised me. I expected a crashing, a destruction, a slow soul-crushing fall. I did not expect Zola to retain the whimsical, dream-like prose all throughout the book, until it is almost as surreal as Angelique’s fantasies. It is so different from Zola’s other books. While I understand the direction he took this book – symbolically, thematically, it makes sense – I admit I was unprepared for it. Despite my surprise and mild confusion, though, I did love the book. It was beautiful. Strange, surreal, but beautiful. It didn’t quite conquer Germinal as a favorite, but it is definitely loved. It was a great book to start off 2012.

Posted in 2012, Adult, Prose | Tagged atmospheric, classics, comfort, divinity, psychology, translation | Leave a comment

2011 in Books

Posted on December 31, 2011 by Thistle

It’s been a pretty good year for books for me. It didn’t start that way. While I had some good books from time to time, 2011 started a lot like the way my entire year went in 2010 – mostly duds, with a gem that popped up every once in awhile. All my worst books of the year came from the first 4 months. I’m pretty sure that’s because for the first 4 months of the year, I was still averaging 17 books a month. That’s just too much for me. Since I got rid of my virtual and physical TBR, dropped all reading-related challenges, and stopped reading so fast, I’ve enjoyed my reading year much more!

Now it is time to wrap up my 2011 book journey! I’ll start with Jamie’s End-of-Year Book Survey, which I love. Then I’ll talk a bit about my favorite books of the year, and put up some quick stats for the number-lovers (like me) out there!

1. Best Book You Read In 2011?
There are six, and I won’t name them here because I want to talk about them in more detail below. 😀

2. Most Disappointing Book/Book You Wish You Loved More Than You Did?
Habibi by Craig Thompson. I loved Blankets and had looked forward to this one for a long time, but while the art was beautiful, the cultural portrayal made me very uncomfortable, and I felt like Thompson got off on the juvenile humor way too much. I was incredibly disappointed.

3. Most surprising (in a good way!) book of 2011?
The Host by Stephenie Meyer. I had read the first two Twilight books and hated the second one so much that I never finished the series. I expected The Host to be equally lame, but it ended up being much deeper than I would have ever guessed and left me thinking for a long, long time.

4. Book you recommended to people most in 2011?
The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan, which is just an incredible look at where our food comes from. I would recommend it to everyone!

5. Best series you discovered in 2011?
Not sure if this counts, because I didn’t really “discover” it as “read it as soon as the first book came out,” but I will have to go with the London Shades series by Maureen Johnson. I adored The Name of the Star.

6. Favorite new authors you discovered in 2011?
Michael Pollan, Erin Morgenstern, Justin Evans, and Selma Lagerlöf

7. Best book that was out of your comfort zone or was a new genre for you?
The White Devil by Justin Evans. I never, ever read horror novels and there are some scenes in there that really creeped me out, but it was fantastic! I really admired the author’s guts in ending the book the way he did.

8. Most thrilling, unputdownable book in 2011?
Well, despite the fact that I had a LOT of problems with this book, I’d have to say my most unputdownable book was The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer. So unputdownable that I read it a second time, despite taking many, many issues with the writing, characters, and plot.

9. Book you most anticipated in 2011?
Habibi again. Sadly.

10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2011?

11. Most memorable character in 2011?
Does the circus in The Night Circus count? Because that one was by far the most memorable, and I would argue that the circus is the most important character in that book…

12. Most beautifully written book read in 2011?
The Inferno by Dante (especially as translated by Robert Pinsky) and The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.

13. Book that had the greatest impact on you in 2011?
Two in this category. First, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, which changed the way I thought about food and has helped me so much on my nutritional journey. Second, The Night Circus, which really got me excited about writing again after taking almost an entire year off and thinking I might give up completely.

14. Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2011 to finally read?
I’ve meant to read The Nun by Diderot for 12 years now, and finally did. It wasn’t amazing, though, so it didn’t really matter that I waited. None of the really amazing books I read this year were ones I’d put off for a long time.

15. Favorite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2011?
I’m really bad at remembering passages, but this one that I quoted in one of my reviews was gorgeous. It’s from The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist:

And when Elsa was finally unable to control the sobs she had suppressed until now, when her cries became louder and more piercing and persistent, first one of the diners got up, then another, and a few more, and the hostess hurried over to the buffet table and put down the dish so that her hands were free. The next moment a crowd of people surrounded Elsa in a semicircle, some sitting on chairs they had dragged along with them, others standing. Those who could reach were touching her. With steady hands they held her shoulders, or stroked her arms, her back or the nape of her neck. As if they were holding her together.

16. Book That You Read In 2011 That Would Be Most Likely To Reread In 2012?
The Night Circus. In fact, I’m already on the hold list at the library for the audio version. Can’t wait to revisit!

17. Book That Had A Scene In It That Had You Reeling And Dying To Talk To Somebody About It? (a WTF moment, an epic revelation, a steamy kiss, etc. etc.) Be careful of spoilers!
The climax of Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy, with Little Father Time. Oh my gosh. That’s one of the most powerful, disturbing, memorable, and shocking scenes I’ve ever read.

Best Books of 2011

And now that I finished up the survey, I want to talk about my best books of 2011. In the past few years, it’s been really difficult for me to narrow down my top books, but for some reason, this year it was really, really easy. There are six that stand out far above the rest. Here they are, in the order that I read them.

The Host by Stephenie Meyer

This was the very first book I read in 2011. Technically, I listened to it, and finished 3/4ths of it in December 2010. It hardly counts as a 2011 book. As I said in the survey above, I really didn’t expect much from this book. I have not liked Meyer’s writing in the past, or her characterization and stories, and when I began to listen to this one, I went into it with a very cynical mind. Quickly, though, I found myself carving out extra time to spend with the audiobook, dreaming about what might happen next, and thinking about the ethical dilemmas of the book. I fell in love with many of the characters, and after I was done, the book stayed in my mind far longer than I ever expected. For anyone who was turned off of Meyer by Twilight, I really recommend giving her another chance, because this book is worth it.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

This was actually my second read of Jane Eyre, the first being in early 2008, right before I started blogging. When I read Jane Eyre the first time, I’d somehow avoided all spoilers about the book, and went into it blind. I expected to dislike the book (this is a frequent theme among my favorite books, I find), but ended up loving it so much that it became a thematic element in one of the books I was writing. Revisiting it three years later was amazing, especially as a second read, knowing the spoilers already, and with a Dame Darcy illustrated version. Jane Eyre remains one of my favorite books of all time, and I admit to being completely and utterly in love with Mr. Rochester.

The Inferno by Dante

Like Jane Eyre, this was a reread. I first read The Inferno in college, and we spent weeks discussing it. I don’t think I would have gotten nearly as much out of it without those college classes, and I’m incredibly grateful for them. I wish we’d done Purgatorio and Paradiso as well! I’ve never read them and I feel lost when I try. Revisiting The Inferno after 13 years was an incredible experience. I loved the Robert Pinsky translation. I read it three cantos per day, breaking up the experience, and savouring all the footnotes. That makes me a total geek, I know, but I just adored this book so much, even more the second time around. I know some people are really afraid of this book, but it really is so beautiful and wonderful! You shouldn’t be afraid. Especially if you get the Robert Pinsky translation, because it’s incredibly easy to read.

The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist

A lot of the dystopia I’ve read over the last few years has been frustrating to me. However, when I read The Unit, I knew – THIS is what dystopia should be!! There is so much depth, and so much conflict. So many dystopias are completely straightforward – good versus evil – but nothing was that clear-cut in this book. It is beautifully written and incredibly thought-provoking. I adored the ending, though I know some people despise it. I adored it because it felt far more realistic than if it had ended any other way. It also reminded me in some ways of my own dystopian novel, and gave me hope that there might be a market for mine some day.

The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan

I said above that the Omnivore’s Dilemma had a huge impact on my life. I can’t describe just how big that impact was. You know how some people, when they read about the abuses of animals that take place in the food industry, go vegetarian or vegan? I had a very similar reaction to this book, except against processed food. I’ve never been one to eat tons and tons of processed food, but I’ve never been actively anti-processed food either. After reading this book, I gave up fast food completely, and started eating far cleaner than I ever had before. I increased my produce intake and got more interested in cooking. I started going with my husband and kids to the grocery store, and trying new foods. I looked into CSAs and farmer’s markets, and even have the desire to garden. Me!! This is a literal 180 shift for me, and that impact hasn’t worn off with time. Michael Pollan’s writing is easy to read, informative, unbiased, and non-judgemental. It looks at facts and history. It is journalism in its best form, and I would recommend this book to anyone.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

I read this one at the end of September, and since then, no book has been able to live up to its standard. This book is incredible in writing, tone, world-building, characterization, everything. I was completely blown away by it, and since I finished it, I’ve wanted to revisit. I haven’t yet, but I will soon. Now this book was always going to be one of my favorites with how incredible it was, but it became even more so because it revitalized my own writing. I decided early in the year to take a sabbatical from writing, and to possibly quit altogether, after writing for my entire life. Late in the summer, I had a few twinges of potential writing inspiration, but nothing that really got me writing again. The Night Circus did. It got me excited about words and projects. It made me see writing differently. Because of it, I decided to do NaNoWriMo again this year, and I’ve been writing nonstop ever since. I have a WIP that I’m more excited about than any I’ve written since 2008, and I’m so grateful that The Night Circus got me motivated and inspired again.

Honorable Mention: Lady Audley’s Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon – This one wasn’t quite good enough to end up in my top books, but it certainly stands apart from the rest of the books I read this year, so I had to give it a quick mention. If you’re looking for good RIP-quality sensationalist nineteenth-century fiction, this one is fantastic!

And lastly, book stats:
(Feel free to skip these if you’re not a numbers person!)

Total books: 128
New reads: 112
Rereads: 16

As usual, my new reads vastly outweighed my rereads, and I’m okay with that. I’m very happy with how few books I read compared to 2009 and 2010 (184 and 217 respectively), and I’m hoping to decrease that number even more in 2012. Under 100 would be great!! I think under 100 is a good pace for me to really enjoy the books I read.

Novels/Novellas: 96
–Speculative: 44
–Realistic: 52
Nonfiction: 15
Collections/Anthologies: 8
Plays: 6
Poetry: 3

Again, no surprises there… I’m glad my play count is up from previous years!

Text/E-text: 98
Graphic/Photo/Art: 7
Audio: 23

My audio didn’t increase as much this year as I expected.

Classics: 49
Contemporary: 79

I’m so glad the classics are still up! I like this balance – about 40/60.

Adult: 91
YA: 23
Children’s: 14

And my YA and children’s book counts keep getting lower and lower. I rarely enjoy these now, unfortunately, especially children’s books. The Harry Potter series is the only reason that children’s number is as high as it is.

By men: 53
By women: 73
By both: 2

For the last couple years, I’ve read nearly twice as many women authors as men, so I’m glad this is at least closer to 50/50.

Chunksters (450+ pages): 21
In translation: 25
Translated from: English (7), French (5), Russian (4), Swedish (3), German (2), Finnish (1), Spanish (1), Italian (1), Norwegian (1)

Note: The seven books translated from English were the Harry Potter books that I read in French.

Longest Book: The Complete Stories of William Somerset Maugham – 1,636 pgs
Shortest Book: The Lost Thing by Shaun Tan – 32 pgs
Longest Audio: The Host by Stephenie Meyer – 23 hrs
Shortest Audio: The Pearl by John Steinbeck – 2.5 hrs

Most read author(s): JK Rowling, as usual, with 8 books (7 in French, 1 in English). There were no other high authors this year, the next one down being Nabokov with 3 books. I read many authors twice.

Best book-related discoveries: I’ve been answering this question since 2008, and this year, it’s difficult to answer. I didn’t make any great discoveries in authors or genres or media like in the last few years. After thinking really hard, I think my best discovery is that it’s okay to go weeks without reading a book if I don’t feel like it. It’s okay to wait and savour a book’s effect on me, rereading it or just thinking it over, for a long time, before diving into the next book. It’s also okay not to be slave to a book list or TBR pile, to read only what I want, and to abandon books if they aren’t speaking to me. I guess my best discovery, then, is that I can read how I want, when I want, what I want, and that’s okay. I like that.

Posted in Book Talk | Tagged end of year | 1 Comment

You’re (Not) the One, by Alexandra Potter

Posted on December 15, 2011 by Thistle

I’m not really big into chick-lit. In fact, I think I can count on one hand the number of chick-lit novels I’ve read, and still have fingers left. I can only recall one other one off the top of my head. Compared to that other one (Austenland), this book was awesome.

It was still only a middle-of-the-road book for me, though, because despite enjoying the story, I have issues with a lot of things in chick-lit in general: “plucky” main women characters, “zany” sidekick women characters, the general chattiness of the writing style, the extraordinary predictability of the plot, and the utter unbelievability of all the happily ever afters.

This book had all of them. I would have LOVED this story as a regular, non-chick-lit love story, which I was hoping it would be when I came across it randomly at my library. It wasn’t, of course, but I still read it, because I love so many of the elements of the story: Venice, particularly in 1999 (when I was there), soul mates, love legends.

It was a fun book, an enjoyable read, but nothing life-changing, which is perfectly okay, because it wasn’t meant to be. I haven’t read anything in a few weeks now, and it was a great book to pick up and throw myself into on a rainy afternoon.

Posted in 2011, Adult, Prose | Leave a comment