Ivy's reading log

IvyTheTerrible

The ABC Murders: Agatha Christie. Poirot receives a letter from someone (ABC) promising a murder on a certain date in a particular town. Low and behold, the murder is committed and another letter is received. A serial killer is on the loose. I found this one of the best Poirot myteries I have read. Written in 1936, it seemed to be ahead of it's time, with a serial killer and profiling all playing a part. Very enjoyable.

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The Hotel New Hampshire: John Irving. Reading this made me realise why I haven't read any John Irving books for more than a year. Repetitive plots (short man, bears, Vienna, New England, seduction by older woman, infidelity. If Iowa Bob was made a wrestling coach, I would have thrown this book out the window). While the writing itself is very good (as usual from Irving), I couldn't care about any of the characters and the story was tiresome. Stick to Garp, Eoin Meany or The Cider House Rules. Very disappointing.

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Three Act Tragedy: Agatha Christie. Poirot attends a cocktail party where an unassuming vicar drops dead, poisoned. More deaths occur before Poirot can solve the case. Liked this.

A Thousand Splendid Suns: Khaled Hosseini. Set in Afghanistan from the Russian occupation til the present, this novel tells the interlinked stories of Mariam, the illegitimate daughter of a rich man, and Laila, the daughter of an intellectual. This is beautifully written, and the story is moving, without being maudlin. It's a fantastic portrait of ordinary life, and particularly the life of women, in wartorn Afghanistan. I couldn't put this down, absolutely recommended.

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The Cloths of Heaven: Sue Eckstein. This novel is set in a West African country among a community of ex-pats. Daniel arrives from England as a new member of the Foreign office and has trouble adjusting. He becomes fascinated by a mysterious white woman called Rachael. This story was interesting, however I felt that Eckstein had too many stories in the pot and as a result none of the characters or stories was really developed. Entertaining enough.

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The White Woman on the Green Bicycle: Monique Roffey. This novel is set in Trinidad, and the white woman of the title is Sabine, a French woman who moves there with her English husband not long before the Caribbean island gains it's independence. Sabine seems to hate the island, and her husband, and we learn as the novel goes on why. This is a history of how a relationship can go wrong, both between a couple of lovers, and also the relationship between a politcal hero and his people. Recommended, if somewhat negative.

Indignez-Vous: Stephane Hessel. Stephane Hessel is a 93 year old French Jew, who escaped from Buchenwald during the war, became a member of the Resistance committee and was one of the co-writers of the universal declaration of human rights. This slim book (or really, pamphlet as it's only 20 pages long) explains how Stephane Hessel's own resistance was formed, and why we should resist, in non-violent ways, to what is going on in the world. 500,000 copies of this have already been sold in France, and I can see why. We could do with reading this in Ireland, I think, so I hope it comes out in English translation soon. Recommended.

Lord Edgware Dies: Agatha Christie. Lord Edgware is not, by all accounts, a very nice man. When he is murdered in his living room, the killer could be any one of a number of people: his estranged wife, his frightened daughter, his cash-strapped nephew. Loved this whodunnit, lots of red herrings and I didn't know who the murderer was right till the end.

Gents: Warrick Collins. Ez, a Jamaican immigrant in England, gets a job as a janitor working in a public toilet somewhere in the centre of London, with two other West Indian men as colleagues. The workers are under pressure from the council to put a stop to the gay sex that is going in the toilets. It sounds like a strange subject for a novel, but I enjoyed this, especially the way the author deals with the relationships between the workers and their families. Recommended.

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The Pitmen's Requiem: Peter Crookston. This is ostensibly a biography of Robert Saint, who wrote a piece of music called "Gresford" in reaction to a mining disaster in 1934, but it is actually a lament for the miner's way of life, their communities and the miner's strikes of 1984/1985. Mainly told through miner's own accounts, this is a very interesting look into a life that has all but disappeared. Recommended if you have any interest in mines and miners.

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The Hogfather: Terry Pratchett. It's Hogswatchnight, the hogfather has gone missing and Death has decided to take his place. Other strange things are afoot, and Death's grandaughter, Susan, investigates. This is a great satire of Christmas, the class struggle and children's fairytales. Very funny.

Zero, a Biography of a Dangerous Idea: Charles Seife. Seife describes very clearly the story of how humans discovered, rejected, and rediscovered the concept of zero, and of how zero is tied up with infinity. Very interesting popular science book, the maths is very clearly laid out. Recommended.

The Plague and I: Betty MacDonald. The third installment of MacDonald's comic autobiographies (described in the blurb before I bought this as the "sequel", I assumed incorrectly that this was the second in the series, only realising my mistake several pages in), this tells the story of MacDonald's discovery that she had contracted TB and must go to a Sanatorium, leaving her family and daughters for an unknown length of time. Considering that this happens in the 30s, when TB was often a death sentence, MacDonald describes her experiences with good humour (I often laughed out loud reading this). She doesn't shy away from the difficult side of things though: the apparent coldness of the nurses (needed because so many of the patients die), the boredom of spending months lying down in bed (the start of treatment involved lying down all day, not even allowed to sit up, and not even being allowed to speak for hours at at time) and the deaths of fellow patients. I would recommend this for anyone interesting in TB, or someone who needs a good laugh (it sounds incongruous but this was a very funny book).

IvyTheTerrible

Ok it's been AGES since I've updated this and I've read a ton of books since!

Brooklyn: Colm Toibin. Eilis is bored in Enniscorthy in the 50's, and she gets the chance to emigrate to Brooklyn to work in a department store. This noveltells the story of her trip across the Atlantic,and her eventual settling in to American life. Family tragedy calls her back home, and Eilis has to struggle with the decision to return to America or to stay in Ireland. Very little actually happens in this novel, it is more concerned with Eilis' own thoughts and indecisiveness. I loved this, it was beautifully written and really got me gripped by Eilis' life.

The Book of Fame: Lloyd Jones. This is a fictionalized account of the All Blacks tour to the British Isles in 1905. While there are descriptions of the rugby matches (a really brutal schedule considering the players were all amateurs), this is more about the developing relationship between the men, and their attitude to their developing and unasked-for fame. Loved this.

About the size of it, the commonsense approach to measuring things: Warwick Cairns. This slim volume describes how common units of measurement came about (the inch, the foot, the builder's hand, the barleycorn in shoe sizes), and also defends the "imperial system" from the onslaught of SI units. While the former is very interesting, I felt the second aspect was too biased towards the imperial system and Cairn's explanations of why some imperial measures are more logical than their metric equivalents are scanty at best. Interesting enough but perhaps a more balanced book about weights and measures would be more satisfying.

The Man Who Disappeared: Clare Morall. Kate's husband disappears after he is revealed to be involved in a money laundering scandal, and this novel deals with the impact this disappearance on Kate and her two children. It was hard to care about the impact on them, as it did not involve "real" hardship (oh the poor darlings can no longer go to public school, and I must *gasp* find a job). And how many people who work 3 hours a day as a cleaner can afford to buy a 3 bed house? Fine to while away a few hours but not if you are looking for something deep.

The Haunting of Hill House: Shirley Jackson. Doctor Montague is a scientist who tries to find evidence of paranormal events. One summer, he events several people to Hill House (which is thought to be haunted and is linked with several suicides and mysterious deaths) to assist him in his research. From the start, the "strangeness" of the house is evident. Nicely scary horror, I enjoyed this.

If a Pirate I Must Be: Richard Sanders. This is the history of Bartholemew Roberts ("Black Bart"), one of the most successful 18th century pirate captains. It's a fascinating account of the period, and of pirate life, as well as describing life on slavers and in the colonies. Great.

Swapped by a Kiss: Luisa Plaja. Rachel is a "gothically-inclined" American teenager, who arrives at a festival in England with the intention of surprising her on-again off-again boyfriend David, but insteads finds him kissing her friend Jo. In the shock, Jo and Rachel somehow switch bodies (a la Freaky Friday). This is very funny, but also touching in parts, especially about relationships and family secrets. Fun.

Jingo: Terry Pratchett. An island suddenly appears between Ankh-Morpork and Klatch, and the debate over who owns the island makes war almost inevitable. Sam Vimes is convinced that someone wants a war, and he sets out to find out why and to try to stop them. Another discworld novel featuring the Watch, this is very enjoyable and funny.

Murder in Mesopotamia: Agatha Christie. The wife of renowned archaeologist, Dr Leidner, is murdered, and Hercule Poirot is on the spot to solve the crime. Wonderfully complex mystery.

Cards in the Table: Agatha Christie. Mr Shaitana hosts a bridge party, and invites for detectives and four people he thinks have previously committed murders, for the entertainment value, and ends up being murdered himself. Who could have thought bridge could be so dangerous!

Murder in the Mews: Agatha Christie. This is a collection of four novellas involving Hercule Poirot, 3 murders and an international incident.

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Confessions of an English Opium-Eater: Thomas de Quincey. This is an autobiographical account of de Quincey's experiences with opium and his addiction. He gives the history of his early life, and what lead him to opium use, and the pleasures and pains of it. This was fascinating, the style of writing was impressive and interesting in a historical way. Even though de Quincey gives more weight to the pleasurable side of opium use, it is clear that he suffers, especially when he describes his attempts to give up.

Human Croquet: Kate Atkinson. It is 1960, and Isabel Fairfax is a teenager whose mother disappeared 10 years ago without a warning. Her family is supposedly under a curse, and Isabel also involuntarily slips through time. I just loved this novel, it was a fascinating story, lots of twists and turns, and the language was gorgeous (this is the first time in ages I've had to use a dictionary for a modern novel). Recommended.

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A Tale of Two Cities: Charles Dickens. "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...", the opening line of this classic novel, which tells the intertwined stories of Charles Darnay and Sydney Carton before and during the French Revolution. It's a fascinating story, and really illustrates Dicken's social commentary, with his descriptions of the poverty of French peasants, and his criticism of the brutality of The Terror. This is a re-read for me, but I was still very moved with the ending!

The Understudy: A Novel: David Nicholls. Stephen McQueen is a failed actor and divorced father of one girl who is still looking for his big break. His current job is that of understudy to Josh Harper, the "next big thing" in a West End play. Things are complicated by McQueen falling in love with Josh's American wife. As a story it's entertaining enough but fairly predictable, and some of the characters are a bit cardboard. I enjoyed this though.

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How to talk to a Widower: Jonathan Tropper. This is the story of Doug, 12 months after his wife has died. Funny and sad at the same time, I thought Tropper dealt really well with the shock of an unexpected death, and the difficulty of moving on afterwards. I especially loved how Tropper describes Dougs relationships with the other members of his family. Great.

Dumb Witness: Agatha Christie. Rich old lady Emily Arundel dies, ostensibly by falling down stairs after tripping over her little dog's ball. However, before her death, she sent a letter to Hercule Poirot and when he learns of her death, he goes on the trail of the murder. Good fun as usual.

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Lady Susan: Jane Austen. This is an early work by Jane Austen that was never submitted for publication (it is available free for download on the Project Gutenberg website). Lady Susan is a beautiful, selfish schemer who is trying to trap suitably rich husbands for herself and her daughter, while having a relationship with a married man. It took me a little while to get into this, but it was enjoyable enough, quite funny in parts too.

When will there be good news: Kate Atkinson. When Joanna Hunter was 5, her mother and siblings were killed by a knife-wielding maniac. 30 years later, Joanna is a doctor married with a child, and the murder is being released from prison. This mystery sees Joanna's path cross with Jackson Brodie (a former soldier and detective) and Reggie, an orphaned teenager. I really loved this book, language Atkinson uses is beautiful, she unfolds the mystery slowly and you are left guessing right to the end. Something I really like about her novels is the symmetry of the characters lives...great, recommended.

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The Secret Adversary: Agatha Christie. An early Christie novel, this is the first of the "Tommy and Tuppence" series. Tommy and Tuppence are a young couple of friends at a loose end who get drawn into a mystery with international effects. Full of cliches and twists, this is not as sharp as some of Christie's better known novels but it is entertaining enough (and it was free on the Project Gutenberg website).

Love and Freindship [sic]: Jane Austen. This is a collection of the early writings of Austen. The stories were written to entertain her family and at times are hilarious. It was very interesting to see what her style of writing was before her famous novels and also some of the themes that recur later in her writing.

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The Last Continent: Terry Pratchett. Rincewind the wizard has accidentally been sent to the continent of XXXX. This discworld novel is a satire on time traveling and Australia. Very very funny.

Colomba: Prosper Merimee. Orso is a young Corsican who is returning to Corsica after several years in France serving in the Napoleonic armies. On his return, his sister Colomba encourages him to seek vengeance on the family believed to have killed Orso's father. This 19th century novella is the best known story about Corsica and defined continental French people's opinions of Corsica, the Corsicans, and the culture of "vendetta". Having just returned from a trip to Corsica, I found this fascinating. The ending was a little bit too tidy but otherwise I would recommend this.

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Appointment with Death: Agatha Christie. The Boynton family are on holiday in the Middle East, lead by their controlling and dislikeable mother. She is murdered and Poirot is on hand to solve the mystery.

The Chrysalids: John Wyndham. This is set in the future, on the island of Labrador. The people live by agriculture and have vague memories of a technologically advanced people who lived many years before but who were destroyed by the "Tribulation". They believe that this was a punishment from God and that to avoid another tribulation, they must maintain strict normality among themselves, and their plants and animals. Thus all mutants must be reported and destroyed or cast out. David Stromm, the son of one of the community leaders, discovers that he and some other children can communicate telepathically, and this talent leads them into conflict with the rest of the community. I really enjoyed this, I like Wyndham's writing and I thought that his description of people's reaction to "difference" fascinating.

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Started early, took my dog: Kate Atkinson. Tracy is an ex-policewoman working as a security guard in a shopping centre in Leeds. One day she sees a small child being mistreated and makes a decision that changes the direction of her life. At the same time, ex-policeman turned detective Jackson Brodie is trying to find the biological parents of New Zealand woman Hope McMaster. Both these storylines come inexorably together. Once again, Atkinson has crafted a very interesting mystery, full of coincidences and literary references. As always, I love her writing, and really enjoyed this story. Recommended.

American Notes for General Circulation: Charles Dickens. This is Dicken's account of his visit to the United States in 1842. This has moments of Dicken's humour (his description of the hellish Atlantic crossing, and of the filthy river steamboats, particularly) and his social commentary (his praise of American's prisons and hospitals), but also of intense criticism of a society built on slavery (and the mistreatment of slaves), money, bad press and bad manners (his disgust for tobacco-chewing spitters is evident). Fascinating description of an America long gone.

cailinoBAC

I'm reading 'Started Early' too. Didn't warm to it at first but I'm half way through now and really stuck in!

IvyTheTerrible

cailinoBAC wrote: »

I'm reading 'Started Early' too. Didn't warm to it at first but I'm half way through now and really stuck in!

I find Atkinson's stories are slow burners but they are generally worth it!

IvyTheTerrible

Carpe Jugulum: Terry Pratchett. A send-up of vampire stories, this is the account of Count Magpyr's attempt to take over Lancre. Very funny, I especially like the young vampire characters, who rebel by dressing in bright clothes, changing their names ordinary ones, and staying up til midday.

Hercule Poirot's Christmas: Agatha Christie. Simeon Lee is an aged multi-millionaire, who, typically of Christie mysteries, is generally disliked by his family. He invites his entire family home for Christmas (including long estranged members, and illegitimate children) in order to manipulate them. The tables are turned however when he is murdered.

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Christine: Stephen King. Arnie Cunningham is a nerdy high school student who buys a beat-up old 1950's Plymouth Fury called Christine and quickly becomes obsessed with the car. His friend Dennis becomes more and more disturbed by Arnie's change in personality and the hold the car has on him. It seems that the car is possessed. It is quite chilling for a while but I found the novel a bit too long, and I couldn't continue to be afraid of a driverless car. Ok but not great.

Behind the Scenes at the Museum: Kate Atkinson. Atkinson's first novel, this is the story of Ruby Lennox and four generations of her family. Chapters told from the perspective of Ruby are interspersed with flashbacks ("footnotes") from the point of view of her female relatives. The main themes seem to be the death of children in the family, and the women of the family's unhappy marriages. Really enjoyed this.

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Dangerous Liaisons: Choderlos de Laclos. This is a story, told in the form of letters between the protaganists, of the Marquise de Merteuil and the Vicomte de Valmont, who are rivals and have been lovers, and how they toy with other people. Valmont wishes to seduce a married woman, Mme de Tourvel, who is famously virtuous, and Merteuil wants vengeance on a former lover. Their plans go awry when Valmont falls in love with Tourvel. Great story, which is much more graphic sexually than I had expected and it is an indictment of the shallow aristocracy of the 18th centure in France.

How to be a Woman: Caitlin Moran. This is part-memoir, part-feminist manifesto from comedian Caitlin Moran. In between describing her working-class childhood, she addresses issues such as weight, fashion, porn, sex, marriage, children, and abortion and how the affect woman. I found this great, I literally laughed out loud in several places, and also nodding in agreement with a lot of her opinions. Moran thinks a lot of things that I also think but have never been able to articulate about being a woman. Recommended.

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The Clocks: Agatha Christie. A young lady finds the body of a unidentified man in the livingroom of a blind woman. All the clocks in the room are set to 4.13, which is the wrong time, and there may be a connection to espionage. Poirot investigates. Entertaining.

A Game of Thrones: George RR Martin. The first book in the "Song of Ice and Fire" series. I'm not hugely into "fantasy" but I have heard a lot of good things about this series, and I wanted to read the book before watching the tv adaptation. Really enjoyed this, the world building and language was very convincing (perhaps because Martin did not "invent" a language, but made his world very like a medieval scene.

Caleb's Crossing: Geraldine Brooks. A fictionalised account of the first Native American (Caleb) to graduate from Harvard, told through the eyes of Betha, a white girl living in Martha's vineyard. Didn't warm to this, I felt it was more about Betha than Caleb.

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Water for Elephants - Sara Gruen. Jacob is 90 years old and is looking back over his life. As a young man during the depression, his parents died and he was forced to abandon his veterinary studies. He ends up, by accident, on a circus train. There, he meets Marlena, one of the stars of the circus, her brutal husband August, the circus master, and Rosie, the seemingly untameable elephant. I really like the descriptions of the circus, and the depression. Loved this story.

A Visit from the Goon Squad - Jennifer Egan. This novel is a collection of chapters each dealing with seemingly unrelated characters living in New York. The chapters jump forward and back in time, which is disconcerting at the start but I did get used to it. Very funny and poignant, and very interesting structure. I enjoyed this a lot.

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Whose Body? - Dorothy L Sayers. Lord Peter Whimsey is intrigued by the sudden appearance of a naked dead body in the bath and investigates. A financier has also gone missing under strange circumstances and it becomes clear that the two events are linked in some way. A hired man has just found a corpse in the bath in his flat: a body wearing nothing but a pair of pince-nez. In the meantime, the financier has apparently disappeared into thin air from his own bedroom. Ignoring the clumsy efforts of the official investigator, Lord Peter starts his own enquiry. Quite entertaining but I found it a bit dated.

The Fifth Elephant - Terry Pratchett. The scone of stone (used to crown new Dwarf kings) has been stolen, and the watch must find the culprit. Sam Vimes travels as ambassador to Uberwald, and realises that the theft may be linked to the upcoming decision of the dwarves on a new Low King. Very funny.

They Shoot Horses Don't They? - Horace McCoy. This novel begins with Robert being convicted of murder, and continues with the description of the relationship he had with the girl (Gloria) he murdered. Set during depression-era LA, Robert and Gloria take part in a dance marathon, where couples dance non-stop hoping to be the last couple standing to win a big cash prize, and elusive fame. I really enjoyed this novel, it showed the desperation people can be brought to in troubled times.

Emotionally Weird - Kate Atkinson. On a weather-beaten island off the coast of Scotland, Effie and her mother, Nora, take refuge in the large, mouldering house of their ancestors and tell each other stories. Nora, at first, recounts nothing that Effie really wants to hear--like who her real father was. Effie tells various versions of her life at college, where in fact she lives in a lethargic relationship with Bob, a student who never goes to lectures, seldom gets out of bed, and to whom Klingons are as real as Spaniards and Germans. But as mother and daughter spin their tales, strange things are happening around them. Is Effie being followed? Is someone killing the old people? And where is the mysterious yellow dog? This was average, not as funny or original as other Kate Atkinson novels, and quite confusing at times.

Confessions of a Prairie Bitch - Alison Arngrim. Alison Arngrim played Nellie Olsen in The Little House on the Prairie. She tells, hilariously, what it is like to be continuously recognised as one of the best known bitches in tv history. Describing her turbulent early life, with an alcoholic mother, gay father, and an older brother who sexually abused her for years, she recounts how The Little House on the Prairie was a godsend and an escape. Both moving and hilariously funny, I loved this and would recommend it to anyone who ever watched an episode!

Cat Among the Pigeons - Agatha Christie. In an exclusive girls boarding school, teachers are dropping like flies. Is it linked to a recent revolution in the Middle East? Poirot investigates. Entertaining.