Thanks, Matt - Wow, that's some great stuff you read in July! I haven't read any of those books, but have read others by some of the same authors (Doctorow, Bellow, Lee, Dumas, McMurtry). I have Robert Graves' THE GREEK MYTHS on my to-read shelf, and WHALEFALL sounds intriguing. Thanks again for sharing!
Every time I see one of these posts I shake my head - I wish I had time to get through ONE book a month! I buy them regularly but reading them all is another matter. Impressive! I'm currently slogging through 2 months of New Yorkers after having finally finished Cryptonomicom.
I totally understand, Jeffery. I just read all the time! I didn't plan it this way, but I've gotten in the habit of reading from one book at breakfast, another during lunch, another before bed, etc. Plus I count audiobooks. (And I'm a librarian, so I *have* to read a lot to keep up! :)
I've tried Cryptonomicon twice, one reading and once on audiobook. My problem is that if I set it down for very long, I can't remember everything that's happened up to that point. But I'll try it again. I'm not giving up!
Well done, Andy! I started Paradise Lost and haven't quite made it through, but I also wanted to tackle Dante in the near future! I've had a pretty slow, distracted month, but I went through Alissa Wilkinson's We Tell Ourselves Stories. Currently, I'm trying to finish Sculpting in Time by Tarkovsky and Bowling Alone by Robert Putnam.
Thanks, Tynan! I'm so glad Alissa Wilkinson's book. I hate that I missed her when she was in the area. That book also inspired me to read Joan Didion's The White Album, which I really enjoyed. I hope to read another Didion book soon.
Hang in there with Paradise Lost! I actually got to teach parts of it at a local Christian school last year as a substitute teacher, so that's where I fell in love with it. I hope to read it again in a couple of years. Dante is enjoyable in a different way. I'd recommend watching some of the videos from the 100 Days of Dante project on YouTube:
I've watched about half of them so far. Some are better than others, but if you skip the notes in your edition, the videos are a good "crash course." I read a few of the notes during Purgatorio, and I plan to take my time reading the Paradiso notes (hopefully in September).
Wow, Sculpting in Time and Bowling Alone have both been on my list for a few years! You'll have to tell me what you think.
I'm glad you liked the Good Soldier. I had the same feeling that I wanted to read it again. It's not that long so maybe it will be sooner than I think. I have the Norton volume kicking around and I want to read some of the essay about it now that I have read it.
In July I read
- The Woman In White - Wilkie Collins - this took a while since it is a long one (June + July). I've been reading in my random way some of the antecedents of the detective novel. This is considered one of the first. I really liked it, despite the occasional coincidence that is a little much, it is well plotted, and has some memorable characters. Count Fosco is the best of them.
- The Return of Sherlock Holmes - I'd always heard that Holmes fans considered these lesser stories, and I refused to believe, what with classics like the Solitary Cyclist. But now that I have read them all, I have to agree. Story to story they are more consistent (where were the wives of Watson that seem to come and go on a whim in the first set), and there is quite a bit more detection with Holmes, instead of him telling us what he did by himself, but the crimes are weak and Holmes and Watson lack a spark. And I got so tired of Watson telling us how important Holmes is and how he even solved a case for the Pope--enough with the bragging. I will eventually read them all but it may be a bit before I tackle Hounds.
- War in the Vale d'Orcia: 1943 -1944 - Iris Orgio - A war time diary of a British woman married to an Italian land owner in Tuscany (south of Sienna). A fascinating account of her life in the rural area as the front lines advanced. She interacts with partisans, fascists, Germans, allied escaped prisoners, and allied plan that strafe and bomb on a regular basis. All the while she runs a nursery and refuge for 25 children from Turin. With the amount of detail in the journal she was sure lucky no one found it.
I read Dante's Inferno in 2023. Very colorful. Are the other two sections similar? And are they veiled sociopolitical commentary, as well?
The Bryant book looks intriguing. Do you think it would be useful for someone with ADHD?
The last Stephen King I read was Sleeping Beauties, co-written by Owen King. That had quite an original set-up and plot (at least to me). The characters behaved realistically (i.e., often badly), and I was tensely rooting for my favorite characters to extricate themselves from the odd situation they were in.
Of the 17 books I listed to read in July, I finished 5 of them and am currently reading 2 others. But I read 7 that weren't on the list (originally of 15 books), so I'm only going to count myself 3 short.
The ones I finished from the list are:
1. The Shack, by William Paul Young. I tend toward the sentimental in books, music, and film, so I loved this book. Don't read any reviews of it (or of ANY book!) before reading. Take it for what it is, and you will experience a heartwarming story coming out of tragedy.
2. The Ocean at the End of the Lane, by Neil Gaiman. The author's great gift is to write believably from a child's point of view. The ideas are original in their combination and not yet fantasy tropes. I enjoyed it.
3. Men Don't Read, by Andy Wolverton. Creating -- and sustaining -- a men's book club is no easy task! I don't like to generalize, but as you say in the book, most average men don't read for pleasure. I empathized with you running a meeting where few -- or even only one -- showed up! When I ran reading groups at Borders Books and Music 25 (or more) years ago, I had to do all the advertising, shilling, and reminding. At least my supervisor did the P.A. announcement when it was time for the meetings to start. The science fiction group never really took off. After that one meeting with one person in it, I was too embarrassed to continue. The eclectic group had up to 8 people in it at various times. I always hoped that the readers would do all the talking, but I had to be prepared to jump in at uncomfortable silences. (And I'm a would-be-writer, not a talker.) So I know you did a yeoman's job (even a chief yeoman's job!), and you broke it down in the book in a logical manner that was easy to follow. And that is the only book about book clubs I have ever seen. So, thank you so much for your contribution. Crofton is only 29 miles from me (I drive 45 miles each way to work). Do you run a club now?
4. My Man Jeeves, by P. G. Wodehouse. Very humorous. Highly recommended.
5. The Haunting of Hill House, by Shirley Jackson. This is my favorite fiction book of the month. Inhabiting the main character's mind with all its flights of fancy made me question what was real and what wasn't. Loved the subtlety, the haunting menace, the characters, the tone. Didn't like what happened at the end, but it was a perfectly logical conclusion -- almost required in the situation. Great book. Immediately upon finishing it, I watched the 1963 film -- very close, but it left out a couple of characters, condensed some plot points, and totally changed Mrs. Montague's role (but she was quite a character either way). I was enchanted by the Netflix mini-series a while ago, and it took pains to portray both the present AND what happened in the past, unlike the novel. And I want to see it again.
Not on the list:
6. I don't know how many people read reference books (I've only ever made it a few pages into a dictionary), but I finished the second edition of Anatomy of Wonder: A Critical Guide to Science Fiction. I had read the first edition, so I only read what was different in this one -- which wasn't much. The book is a bibliography of the best science fiction books from ages ago to 1975, broken down into (a) From the Beginning to 1870, 1870-1926, 1926-1937, 1938-1975, plus a section on Juvenile Science Fiction. Each title is annotated with publication information. The book is a guide for librarians and anyone else interested in gathering a core collection of the best and/or most representative science fiction published in the given periods. My father co-curated the Modern Period.
7. The Aeronaut's Windlass. I wanted to read Jim Butcher, so I chose this. Maybe not a good choice for a first exposure. Pirate ships and trading ships flying through the sky and fighting, based in spire cities that are miles high (but not that wide). Interesting concept. Entertaining.
8. Future Tense, Richard Curtis, ed. Anthology of 1940s and 1950s stories presaging difficult things happening in the future. Includes Wells, Ballard, Heinlein, Gernsback, Clarke, Leinster, Kornbluth, and Wollheim.
9. Nilsson: The Life of a Singer-Songwriter. My favorite nonfiction book of the month. Meticulously detailed with many primary sources, including unfinished autobiographical notes and interviews with the wife, children, fellow musicians, producers, etc. My favorite singer-songwriter had some personal issues that made for some great music, but contributed to some awful behavior, which probably contributed to his early death. Coincidentally, I just watched "Experience The Revenge of Alice Cooper | Live Event" to promote the new Alice album (which I received Friday and listened to Saturday), and they had a (not too complimentary) Harry Nilsson story to tell. But you can see my book review on Goodreads. https://www.goodreads.com/review/edit/17070423 This is the only book-length biography of Nilsson.
10. Camp Concentration by Thomas S. Disch. I'll say this about the New Wave of Science Fiction in the 1960s: Depressing. In this story, a conscientious objector is taken to a secret research facility and experimented on along with his other inmates so the researchers can develop a drug that will make genius soldiers. You become brilliant, then die of the side effects. Written in epistolary style (not one I usually like).
11. The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison. OK, I need a new category: This is the best first novel I read this month. Heartbreakingly realistic recounting of life among a few black families in Lorain, Ohio, in the early 20th century. Doubtless using much of what the author saw when growing up, but specifically based on one girl telling her she wanted to have blue eyes so she would be pretty. The failings of so many adults have a profoundly negative -- and occasionally devastating -- effect on children, especially in their self-perception. Being raised by such parents, they often become the same. A must-read.
12. The Jewels of Aptor, by Samual R. Delany (autographed!). I started and finished this book while home sick with an indeterminate respiratory infection last week. Delany wrote this at 19 and published it at 20. Interesting concepts with a kind of fantasy storytelling style, placed in a far-future post-apocalyptic world, involving telepathy, jewels of power, a sailing ship, a pagan priestess or two, a hidden society, and the reintroduction of electricity and mechanical devices. And don't forget the mutants.
Thanks for sharing, Joe! I've still got Paradiso to go, but Purgatorio contains the same sociopolitical commentary. It's compelling, especially to me, a non-Catholic who knows little about purgatory.
Thanks for reading my book! I no longer run the group since I retired from the public library, but a couple of the guys are keeping it going and doing a great job. It's no longer a "library program" since I was a staff member running it, but they meet privately at various library branches wherever they can book a room.
You read some great stuff! I don't read much science fiction these days. I went to Clarion (when it was still at Michigan State) in 2004 and learned what I *didn't* know about sf, which was (and is) a lot. I figured out while I was there that what I really enjoy is stuff like Jeff VanderMeer, Jeffrey Ford, sometimes Kelly Link, etc. So I don't read much sf. Maybe I'll get back into it. It's mainly classics, literature, and crime as far as my fiction tastes go these days.
I'll add the Nilsson book to my list. There's a good section about him in Shooting Midnight Cowboy by Glenn Frankel if you'd like to check that out.
I forgot to answer your question about the Bryant book. Yes, I think it would be helpful for someone with ADHD, although Bryant's issues are more OCD-related.
Thanks, Andy. I added Shooting Midnight Cowboy to my list between Sharon Lee and "Short Story". And I added the Quiet Mind book between "Psychological Novel: Henry James" and R. A. Lafferty. (In case you're wondering, I think I have OCD listmaking and random-choosing in my DNA, which includes randomly choosing first or last names or book titles, subjects, etc.)
The books I finished this month:
E.L. Doctorow, HOMER & LANGLEY
Saul Bellow, THE VICTIM
Chinua Achebe, NO LONGER AT EASE
Harper Lee, GO SET A WATCHMAN
Jason Polan, EVERY PERSON IN NEW YORK
Robert Graves, CLAUDIUS THE GOD AND HIS WIFE MESSALINA
Alexandre Dumas, TWENTY YEARS AFTER
Daniel Kraus, WHALEFALL
Larry McMurtry, TEXASVILLE
Thanks, Matt - Wow, that's some great stuff you read in July! I haven't read any of those books, but have read others by some of the same authors (Doctorow, Bellow, Lee, Dumas, McMurtry). I have Robert Graves' THE GREEK MYTHS on my to-read shelf, and WHALEFALL sounds intriguing. Thanks again for sharing!
And now I'm off to buy What Is Cinema?
I didn't think it was that great, but a friend says it's his all time favorite!
Every time I see one of these posts I shake my head - I wish I had time to get through ONE book a month! I buy them regularly but reading them all is another matter. Impressive! I'm currently slogging through 2 months of New Yorkers after having finally finished Cryptonomicom.
I totally understand, Jeffery. I just read all the time! I didn't plan it this way, but I've gotten in the habit of reading from one book at breakfast, another during lunch, another before bed, etc. Plus I count audiobooks. (And I'm a librarian, so I *have* to read a lot to keep up! :)
I've tried Cryptonomicon twice, one reading and once on audiobook. My problem is that if I set it down for very long, I can't remember everything that's happened up to that point. But I'll try it again. I'm not giving up!
Well done, Andy! I started Paradise Lost and haven't quite made it through, but I also wanted to tackle Dante in the near future! I've had a pretty slow, distracted month, but I went through Alissa Wilkinson's We Tell Ourselves Stories. Currently, I'm trying to finish Sculpting in Time by Tarkovsky and Bowling Alone by Robert Putnam.
Thanks, Tynan! I'm so glad Alissa Wilkinson's book. I hate that I missed her when she was in the area. That book also inspired me to read Joan Didion's The White Album, which I really enjoyed. I hope to read another Didion book soon.
Hang in there with Paradise Lost! I actually got to teach parts of it at a local Christian school last year as a substitute teacher, so that's where I fell in love with it. I hope to read it again in a couple of years. Dante is enjoyable in a different way. I'd recommend watching some of the videos from the 100 Days of Dante project on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIgOjeO1UMUfM7hbaMUDcE9NJdrDV45oY
I've watched about half of them so far. Some are better than others, but if you skip the notes in your edition, the videos are a good "crash course." I read a few of the notes during Purgatorio, and I plan to take my time reading the Paradiso notes (hopefully in September).
Wow, Sculpting in Time and Bowling Alone have both been on my list for a few years! You'll have to tell me what you think.
Thanks again for sharing!
I'm glad you liked the Good Soldier. I had the same feeling that I wanted to read it again. It's not that long so maybe it will be sooner than I think. I have the Norton volume kicking around and I want to read some of the essay about it now that I have read it.
In July I read
- The Woman In White - Wilkie Collins - this took a while since it is a long one (June + July). I've been reading in my random way some of the antecedents of the detective novel. This is considered one of the first. I really liked it, despite the occasional coincidence that is a little much, it is well plotted, and has some memorable characters. Count Fosco is the best of them.
- The Return of Sherlock Holmes - I'd always heard that Holmes fans considered these lesser stories, and I refused to believe, what with classics like the Solitary Cyclist. But now that I have read them all, I have to agree. Story to story they are more consistent (where were the wives of Watson that seem to come and go on a whim in the first set), and there is quite a bit more detection with Holmes, instead of him telling us what he did by himself, but the crimes are weak and Holmes and Watson lack a spark. And I got so tired of Watson telling us how important Holmes is and how he even solved a case for the Pope--enough with the bragging. I will eventually read them all but it may be a bit before I tackle Hounds.
- War in the Vale d'Orcia: 1943 -1944 - Iris Orgio - A war time diary of a British woman married to an Italian land owner in Tuscany (south of Sienna). A fascinating account of her life in the rural area as the front lines advanced. She interacts with partisans, fascists, Germans, allied escaped prisoners, and allied plan that strafe and bomb on a regular basis. All the while she runs a nursery and refuge for 25 children from Turin. With the amount of detail in the journal she was sure lucky no one found it.
Andy, that's an impressive list of books!
I read Dante's Inferno in 2023. Very colorful. Are the other two sections similar? And are they veiled sociopolitical commentary, as well?
The Bryant book looks intriguing. Do you think it would be useful for someone with ADHD?
The last Stephen King I read was Sleeping Beauties, co-written by Owen King. That had quite an original set-up and plot (at least to me). The characters behaved realistically (i.e., often badly), and I was tensely rooting for my favorite characters to extricate themselves from the odd situation they were in.
Of the 17 books I listed to read in July, I finished 5 of them and am currently reading 2 others. But I read 7 that weren't on the list (originally of 15 books), so I'm only going to count myself 3 short.
The ones I finished from the list are:
1. The Shack, by William Paul Young. I tend toward the sentimental in books, music, and film, so I loved this book. Don't read any reviews of it (or of ANY book!) before reading. Take it for what it is, and you will experience a heartwarming story coming out of tragedy.
2. The Ocean at the End of the Lane, by Neil Gaiman. The author's great gift is to write believably from a child's point of view. The ideas are original in their combination and not yet fantasy tropes. I enjoyed it.
3. Men Don't Read, by Andy Wolverton. Creating -- and sustaining -- a men's book club is no easy task! I don't like to generalize, but as you say in the book, most average men don't read for pleasure. I empathized with you running a meeting where few -- or even only one -- showed up! When I ran reading groups at Borders Books and Music 25 (or more) years ago, I had to do all the advertising, shilling, and reminding. At least my supervisor did the P.A. announcement when it was time for the meetings to start. The science fiction group never really took off. After that one meeting with one person in it, I was too embarrassed to continue. The eclectic group had up to 8 people in it at various times. I always hoped that the readers would do all the talking, but I had to be prepared to jump in at uncomfortable silences. (And I'm a would-be-writer, not a talker.) So I know you did a yeoman's job (even a chief yeoman's job!), and you broke it down in the book in a logical manner that was easy to follow. And that is the only book about book clubs I have ever seen. So, thank you so much for your contribution. Crofton is only 29 miles from me (I drive 45 miles each way to work). Do you run a club now?
4. My Man Jeeves, by P. G. Wodehouse. Very humorous. Highly recommended.
5. The Haunting of Hill House, by Shirley Jackson. This is my favorite fiction book of the month. Inhabiting the main character's mind with all its flights of fancy made me question what was real and what wasn't. Loved the subtlety, the haunting menace, the characters, the tone. Didn't like what happened at the end, but it was a perfectly logical conclusion -- almost required in the situation. Great book. Immediately upon finishing it, I watched the 1963 film -- very close, but it left out a couple of characters, condensed some plot points, and totally changed Mrs. Montague's role (but she was quite a character either way). I was enchanted by the Netflix mini-series a while ago, and it took pains to portray both the present AND what happened in the past, unlike the novel. And I want to see it again.
Not on the list:
6. I don't know how many people read reference books (I've only ever made it a few pages into a dictionary), but I finished the second edition of Anatomy of Wonder: A Critical Guide to Science Fiction. I had read the first edition, so I only read what was different in this one -- which wasn't much. The book is a bibliography of the best science fiction books from ages ago to 1975, broken down into (a) From the Beginning to 1870, 1870-1926, 1926-1937, 1938-1975, plus a section on Juvenile Science Fiction. Each title is annotated with publication information. The book is a guide for librarians and anyone else interested in gathering a core collection of the best and/or most representative science fiction published in the given periods. My father co-curated the Modern Period.
7. The Aeronaut's Windlass. I wanted to read Jim Butcher, so I chose this. Maybe not a good choice for a first exposure. Pirate ships and trading ships flying through the sky and fighting, based in spire cities that are miles high (but not that wide). Interesting concept. Entertaining.
8. Future Tense, Richard Curtis, ed. Anthology of 1940s and 1950s stories presaging difficult things happening in the future. Includes Wells, Ballard, Heinlein, Gernsback, Clarke, Leinster, Kornbluth, and Wollheim.
9. Nilsson: The Life of a Singer-Songwriter. My favorite nonfiction book of the month. Meticulously detailed with many primary sources, including unfinished autobiographical notes and interviews with the wife, children, fellow musicians, producers, etc. My favorite singer-songwriter had some personal issues that made for some great music, but contributed to some awful behavior, which probably contributed to his early death. Coincidentally, I just watched "Experience The Revenge of Alice Cooper | Live Event" to promote the new Alice album (which I received Friday and listened to Saturday), and they had a (not too complimentary) Harry Nilsson story to tell. But you can see my book review on Goodreads. https://www.goodreads.com/review/edit/17070423 This is the only book-length biography of Nilsson.
10. Camp Concentration by Thomas S. Disch. I'll say this about the New Wave of Science Fiction in the 1960s: Depressing. In this story, a conscientious objector is taken to a secret research facility and experimented on along with his other inmates so the researchers can develop a drug that will make genius soldiers. You become brilliant, then die of the side effects. Written in epistolary style (not one I usually like).
11. The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison. OK, I need a new category: This is the best first novel I read this month. Heartbreakingly realistic recounting of life among a few black families in Lorain, Ohio, in the early 20th century. Doubtless using much of what the author saw when growing up, but specifically based on one girl telling her she wanted to have blue eyes so she would be pretty. The failings of so many adults have a profoundly negative -- and occasionally devastating -- effect on children, especially in their self-perception. Being raised by such parents, they often become the same. A must-read.
12. The Jewels of Aptor, by Samual R. Delany (autographed!). I started and finished this book while home sick with an indeterminate respiratory infection last week. Delany wrote this at 19 and published it at 20. Interesting concepts with a kind of fantasy storytelling style, placed in a far-future post-apocalyptic world, involving telepathy, jewels of power, a sailing ship, a pagan priestess or two, a hidden society, and the reintroduction of electricity and mechanical devices. And don't forget the mutants.
My mistake: The List of 15 was for the summer, not for July! I'm ahead of the game! :)
Thanks for sharing, Joe! I've still got Paradiso to go, but Purgatorio contains the same sociopolitical commentary. It's compelling, especially to me, a non-Catholic who knows little about purgatory.
Thanks for reading my book! I no longer run the group since I retired from the public library, but a couple of the guys are keeping it going and doing a great job. It's no longer a "library program" since I was a staff member running it, but they meet privately at various library branches wherever they can book a room.
You read some great stuff! I don't read much science fiction these days. I went to Clarion (when it was still at Michigan State) in 2004 and learned what I *didn't* know about sf, which was (and is) a lot. I figured out while I was there that what I really enjoy is stuff like Jeff VanderMeer, Jeffrey Ford, sometimes Kelly Link, etc. So I don't read much sf. Maybe I'll get back into it. It's mainly classics, literature, and crime as far as my fiction tastes go these days.
I'll add the Nilsson book to my list. There's a good section about him in Shooting Midnight Cowboy by Glenn Frankel if you'd like to check that out.
I forgot to answer your question about the Bryant book. Yes, I think it would be helpful for someone with ADHD, although Bryant's issues are more OCD-related.
Thanks, Andy. I added Shooting Midnight Cowboy to my list between Sharon Lee and "Short Story". And I added the Quiet Mind book between "Psychological Novel: Henry James" and R. A. Lafferty. (In case you're wondering, I think I have OCD listmaking and random-choosing in my DNA, which includes randomly choosing first or last names or book titles, subjects, etc.)