Of Parades and Plans

So, I went to London. Not for the first time, no, there has been this love affair between me and the British capital since I was seven years old and visited for the first time, and that was -well, quite a few years ago. I have since returned many times, not so many though as my partner in crime this time, my friend M, who has been to London maybe 25 times. I have some catching up to do to beat her in the number of visits, but I'm sure I'll manage that with time. :)

And what a bookworm does when in London? She goes to Foyles, of course! I spent a lovely afternoon browsing their fiction section, before moving to the history section and back to fiction again and ended up buying four books:
1. Willful Impropriety: 13 Tales of Society, Scandal and Romance edited by Ekaterina Sedia and with a forword by Scott Westerfield. (I already read this one and absolutely loved it! I will post a review in a few days.)
2. Affinity Bridge by George Mann. (This is a steampunk mystery and the first in a series.)
3. The Strange Affair of Spring-Heeled Jack by Mark Hodder. (Another steampunk mystery and also the first book in a series. And yes, I'm quite intrigued by steampunk novels at the moment.)
4. Fun Home by Alison Bechdel. (I read this in Finnish back in 2009, but they had signed copies at Foyles, so of course I had to buy one! :))

I also bought some dvd:s at HMV including two seasons of the 1970s hit show The Bionic Woman and got a bit crazy at Desigual (I loove their clothes and bags!), but my excuse is that they had a sale and a girl never has enough bags -or lovely shirts with butterfly patterns in them!:)

One of the highlights of my trip was a visit to The British Library to see The Mughal India exhibition. It was simply wonderful! Beautiful artifacts, beautiful books and book art, interesting history. In one word: perfect!

At New Year's Eve we did what (according to The Times the next day) hundreads of thousands of others did and went to see the fireworks. Unfortunately we did not get a very good place to watch and did not see much. I was surprised that there were so little fireworks, almost only the official show, but I guess it must be forbidden to use them elsewhere.

January 1st we went to see the New Year's Parade. That was fun and this time we found a very good place to watch. I also managed to take quite a few photos of the parade.

All in all it was a lovely trip. And it was very nice to spend a few days somewhere where there was no snow! There was some rain, but hey that's London :), and mostly the weather was nice, temperatures up to double digits and there was even some sunshine.

Now I'm back home and Sunday will be the last day of my two week vacation. It's back to work on Monday. These few days after returning from London I have been very busy reading :), but I have also pondered a little on what my reading goals for 2013 will be. I would like to join some challenges, but taken my previous total fails with many of the challenges I had joined, I'm in no hurry to choose any just yet. I feel I want to be as free as a bird with my reading and don't want to bind myself to any strict plans. I am reading for fun after all!

What I would like to do in 2013 is:
- to continue reading Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot mysteries in chronological order (I read the first one last year (and just noticed that I had forgotten to include it to my list of books read in 2012!). This is a personal challenge with no time limit.)
- to continue reading books with LGBT themes (This is another personal challenge. Last year my goal was 10 books. Let's make it 15 this year.)
- to read a good number of e-books (I only started reading e-books during the latter half of 2012, but now that I have an iPad I really love using it to read books and most probably the number of e-books I will read this year is going to be quite high.)
- to read more steampunk and fantasy novels (As I already mentioned I'm really into steampunk novels at the moment, but I would also like to broaden my knowledge of fantasy. I've never been a huge fan of classical fantasy novels, but some of the books or stories with fantasy elements I've read recently have really piqued my interest.)

Here's a few touristy photos I took in London. The park is St. James Park, my favorite park in London, because of all the birds and squirrels! :) The last few photos are from the New Year's Parade. I hope you like them! :)

Ann Veronica by H. G .Wells

To be honest before 2010 I thought H. G. Wells was "only" a science fiction writer. I don't mean "only" as something inferior (I love science fiction), only that I did not know he had written also other kinds of books. I knew Wells as the author of The Time Machine, The War of the Worlds and The Island of Dr. Moreau. I had seen the movie The Time Machine and had -and still have- every intention of reading the book one of these days. I also thought that The Island of Dr. Moreau was definitely not for me. Then, while browsing some non-fiction book, name of which has escaped me, I saw mentioned this women's rights novel by Wells called Ann Veronica! I was intrigued and as my library had a copy I immediately borrowed the book. At that time I had some other books I had to read first and in the end Ann Veronica was returned unread. Some time later I saw this fabulous Orion Books edition of Ann Veronica at the book store and simply had to buy it. Isn't that dust jacket gorgeous?

I have since learned that Wells was a prolific writer. Yes, many of his novels were what back then were called scientific romances, but he also wrote contemporary novels and non fiction. He is also considered the inventor of the first recreational wargame! Reading Margaret Atwood's essay on The Island of Dr. Moreau I was already converted into wanting to read that book, now I'm very interested in reading more contemporary novels by Wells and also some of his less known scientific romances.

Herbert George Wells was born in 1866 into a lower middle class family. He tried a few things before finally getting into teaching. His personal life was rather unorthodox. He divorced his first wife after falling in love with one of his students Amy Catherine Robbins, whom he then married. Later he started an affair with Amber Reeves, who bore him a child. Wells and his second wife seem to have had an agreement that he could have extra marital affairs. Among his mistresses was writer Elizabeth Von Arnim. In 1912 feminist writer Rebecca West had reviewed Marriage, one of Wells' novels, for Freewoman. The review was not too favorable. West called Wells "the Old Maid among novelists" and mentioned that "even the sex mania on Ann Veronica...was merely Old Maids' mania". Wells responded by asking West to lunch. An affair ensued and in 1914 West bore Wells' a son. Learn more about Wells here, here and here.

Ann Veronica tells the story of a young woman, Ann Veronica Stanley, one of the "New Women" of the early 20th century. Outraged by her father's overprotective behavior towards her, she decides she cannot stay under his roof any longer and escapes to London. Ann Veronica goes to London full of determination, but at that point she is still very innocent and ignorant of many facts of life. In London she has to face a number of tribulations and go through lots of self-reflection before she is ready to return to her parental home. At this point I thought, oh no, this is going to be one of those moral tales where the heroine returns chastised and meekly accepts her destiny as a someone to be married to the highest bidder. I'm happy to tell I was completely wrong! Ann Veronica returns on her own terms and is able to continue her studies. She studies biology in an institution very much like the school were Wells himself studied in the 1880s and she falls in love. And like Wells' Ann Veronica's love story is not a typical one.

Ann Veronica, subtitled by Wells "a modern love story" was published in 1909. Its publication created a storm. Wells' usual publishers feared a scandal and declined to publish it. Another publisher, Unwin's, did publish the book and made good money of it, but the book did cause a scandal. Some of the reform groups (Fabians, suffragettes) did not like how they were depicted in the novel and parts of the plot outraged so called respectable people.

I enjoyed reading Ann Veronica. Keeping in mind that it was first published in 1909 the story felt amazingly modern -and, luckily,  also partly old fashioned. We women have come a long way since the beginning of the 20th century! I'm not sure whether I would call Ann Veronica exactly a feminist novel. If anything, the heroine of the novel end up beling rather critical about suffragettes, but it is a novel about the rights of women, the lack of them and finding ways to broaden them. If you like to read stories about strong, independent women or unconventional stories set in the beginning of the 20th century, I strongly suggest adding Ann Veronica into your TBR list.

I read Ann Veronica for Room Beam Reader's TBR Pile Challenge.

2012 Challenges

I did extremely poorly with the challenges I joined this year. I read only one book for the TBR Pile Challenge and two for the One, Two, Theme Challenge. I completely forgot I had signed up for the Year of Feminist Classics!! How could I forget something like that!?! I did rather well with both the GLBT and Historical Fiction Challenges and also with the Steampunk Challenge when it comes to reading, but I failed miserably with reviewing and linking my reviews to the challenge sites. Well, it can only be onwards an upwards from here!

I do love challenges and I want to join some also in 2012. And, really,  it can only be onwards an upwards from 2011! Here are some challenges I'm joining for 2012:

The TBR Pile Challenge hosted by Roof Beam Reader

Yes, I did not manage to read more than one little book from the list I made for this year's TBP Pile Challenge, but I love the idea of this challnege and I have more than enough books at home waiting for their turn and waiting and waiting...
The goal of this challenge is to read 12 books within 12 months from one's TBR pile. The books should have been waiting for their turn for at least a year. For more details click the link or the button above.
 
Hopefully I'll do better with this pile than I did with my choices in 2011: 
 
1. Karen Blixen: Seven Gothic Tales (read 9.1.2012)
2. A.S.Byatt: The Children's Book
3. Wilkie Collins: The Moonstone (read 19.1.2012)
4. Lewis Crofts: The Pornographer of Vienna
5. Emma Donoghue: Still Life
6. Sarah Dunant: Secret Hearts
7. Madeleine Gagnon: My Name is Bosnia (read 14.4.2012)
8. Adolus Huxley: Brave New World
9. Hilary Mantel: Wolf Hall (read 29.4.2012)
10. Kate Pulliger: Mistress of Nothing
11. H.G.Wells: Ann Veronica (read 28.1.2012)
12. Simon Scott: Pretty Birds
Alternates:
+Virginia Woolf: Jacob's Room
+Stefan Zweig: Twenty-four Hours in the Life of a Woman & The Royal Game

Back to the Classics 2012 Challenge hosted by Sara Reads Too Much



I've been craving for classics for some time now, so, this challenge is just the perfect excuse to read more classics! Like one would need an excuse...

The aim of Back to the Classics Challenge is to read one book from nine different categories i.e. all together 9 classics. Click the link or the button above for more details.

My list:

• Any 19th Century Classic: Emile Zola: Women's Paradise
• Any 20th Century Classic: Aldous Huxley: Brave New World
• Reread a classic of your choice: Virginia Woolf: Mrs. Dalloway
• A Classic Play: Aristofanes: Lysistrata or The Parliament of Women or Ibsen: A Doll's House
• Classic Mystery/Horror/Crime Fiction: Wilkie Collins: The Moonstone (read 19.1.2012)
• Classic Romance: Jane Austen: Northanger Abbey
• Read a Classic that has been translated from its original language to your language -if your native language is NOT English, you may read any classic originally written in English that has been translated into your native language: Homeros: Odyssey
• Classic Award Winner: F. E. Sillanpää: Hurskas kurjuus (Meek Heritage) (Sillanpää won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1939) or Ursula Le Guin: The Left Hand of Darkness (Nebula Award 1969)
•  Read a Classic set in a Country that you (realistically speaking) will not visit during your lifetime: Anthony Hope: Prisoner of Zenda (Set in the fictional country of Ruritania)

Greek Classics Challenge hosted by Howling Frog

As I've already decided on reading Odysseus by Homeros in 2012 there's really no reason not to join this challenge! I'm joining on Sophocles -level (=1-4 books). I might also read Aristophanes and some other playwrites and maybe also some poetry. (Too bad I've read If Not, Winter by Sappho twice already...)

In addition to these challenges I will participate in the LGBT Challenge also next year and will aim to read 10-12 books for the challenge.

Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down -Two Reviews

Finally I have an opportunity to post! I still have one books sales post to write, but as I'm totally lagging behind in reviewing the books I've read this year, I'll start with two reviews. (I'm also totally lagging behind in visiting all your wonderful blogs, but I hope to remedy that very soon, too. :))

Murder in Mesopotamia by Agatha Christie

I read numerous Agatha Christie mysteries while growing up. Back then they were sort of transitional books. When the books in the library's children's department started to feel too childish Christie's mysteries were for many the first adults' books they read. Christie's mysteries are also useful when as a non-native speaker one wants to start reading books in English. So, I first moved towards adults' books with Christie and then again moved onwards towards reading books in English by reading her mysteries. By the way, reading Christie in other languages works, too. :) The first and only novel I've ever read in Italian was a Christie mystery.

It has, however, been a long while since I read anything by Christie. When choosing themes for The One, Two, Theme Challenge,  I ended up choosing Mesopotamia as one of my themes. As we are supposed to read both non-fiction and fiction, Christie's Murder in Mesopotamia immediately came to my mind as a possible fiction choice. I'm not quite sure whether had I read it before, I think I had. I had seen it on TV, though, as part of the wonderful Hercule Poirot series starring the brilliant David Suchet. I had never before reread a traditional mystery (I don't really count The Woman in White as a typical mystery). Even though I was not hundred procent sure if I had read this one before, I did remember parts of the story and I had always thought that as a hindrance for really enjoying rereading a mystery. I was willing to give this book a chance, though.

I was not dissapointed. Murder in Mesopotamia is set in 1930s Iraq. Something is not quite right at an archeological dig in Hassanieh, and when the worst happens Hercule Poirot, who is travelling in the area, is asked to investigate. In this book the narrator was not Captain Hastings, but Amy Leatheran, a nurse appointed to take care of Mrs. Leidner, the wife of the archeologist heading the excavations in Hassanieh. I'm a great fan of Poirot. He's my absolutely favorite private detective, and I enjoyed Nurse Leatheran's comments on the little Belgian a lot. :)

Reading Murder in Mesopotamia put me in the mood for more Christie and especially more Poirot stories. It would be great fun to read all Poirot's cases in chronological order, but that might be a bit too great a challenge to incorporate into all my other reading. I might read some more Poirot stories this year, though. And I have another Agatha Christie mystery (sans Poirot) for The One, Two, Theme Challenge, namely They Came to Baghdad, waiting for it's turn.

This was my first read for my Mesopotamia theme in The One, Two, Theme Challenge.

Grand Slam by Samantha Brenner

Unfortunately this supposedly satirical lesbian romance set in the world of professional tennis has been my most dissapointing read this year. The story follows former corporate lawyer Stephanie Alexander during her year of being the girlfriend of first one and then another professional tennis player. I love tennis and I am an enthusiastic follower of especially women's professional tennis, and so, I was pretty excited to find a novel set in that world. However, this book did not live up to my expectations at all. The narrative was in parts incoherent and would have needed quite a bit more editing and the satire was mostly lost on me. For example Stephanie's thoughts on her first tennis player girlfriend Sydney Foster were often so mean that I started feeling sorry for Sydney and that surely was not the effect the writer was aiming for. All in all a huge dissapointment. :(

I read Grand Slam for The GLBT Challenge.

Teaser Tuesday 25.1.2011

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.


The rules are:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two teaser sentences from somewhere on that page
• Be careful not to include spoilers
• Share the title and author too so that other Teaser Tuesday participients can add the book on their TBR lists, if they like your teasers!

I've been terribly busy with both work and dancing this past week and will continue to be so for a few more weeks, so I'm afraid I will not be able to post as often as I would like to. I will try to get the remaining two parts of Going Grazy in the Books Sales posts up soon, though, and hopefully at least one or two reviews, too, but just in case I go a bit missing in action during the coming weeks, know that everything is just fine. I promise to be back posting more regularly after the two first weeks of February.

I finished reading Mark of the Lion, a historical mystery by Suzanne Arruda a few days ago. I liked the book, but that's all I'll say now, as it's one of the two books I hope to review soon. :) Mark of the Lion was not on my original list for the books I want to read for the Historical Fiction Challenge, but I think I'll count it towards the challenge as it surely qualifies for it.

After Mark of the Lion I started another challenge book: Grand Slam by Samantha Brenner. This book actually is on my list for this year's GLBT Challenge. :) All too often I read books that qualify for some challenge I'm participating, but that I have not listed in my book lists. Not that it matters really, but anyways. :) Grand Slam is a lesbian love triangle set in the world of professional tennis. As a huge fan of tennis, when I found out about this novel, I simply had to get it! However, about 1/4 down the story my inner jury is still out on the book. I love the tennis tid bits, but am undecided on some other aspects of the story. We'll see how it turns out. My teaser is from page 94. Lawyer-turned-realtor-turned "professional girlfriend" Stephanie Alexander's relationship with tennis champion Sydney Foster is not going smoothly:

"Sydney, I'm dead-tired and this is not open to discussion. You have two choices -put your clothes on and stay here or put your clothes on and go home."

What are you reading at the moment?

Teaser Tuesday 18.1.2011

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by LizB of Should Be Reading.

The rules are:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two teaser sentences from somewhere on that page
• Be careful not to include spoilers
• Share the title and author too so that other Teaser Tuesday participients can add the book on their TBR lists, if they like your teasers!

I'm fast falling into the "read-too-many-books-at-once" trap this January. I would like to read all my library loans and my new acquisitions simultaneously! This means that while I'm still only 1/3 into Pinkerton's Sister I got impatient and wanted to read a shorter book before continuing with the junkster. I was in mood for a nice historical mystery with a likable and maybe a bit unconventional heroine. I seem to have found just such a book in Mark of the Lion by Suzanne Arruda. I'm almost half way through this mystery set in 1919 in colonial Africa and enjoying the book very much. Young American Jade del Cameron, who rode an ambulance in the Great War and can kill a hyena with a clean shot, is rapidly becoming one of my favorite sleuths. :) My teaser is from page 67.  Jade has just suggested Lord Colridge that she would like to join a hunting party trying to eliminate a hyena problem.

"'You forget, sir, that I was raised out west. I'm accustomed to hunting.'
'We are not going after rabbits, Miss del Cameron,' he exclaimed with a snort.
'When I was sixteen, a mountain lion took some of our stock. We lost several lambs.'
'And I suppose your father took you along on the hunt, did he?'
Jade looked directly at the aristocrat until he felt the weight of those emerald eyes boring into him. She kept the tone of her voice very factual, careful to omit any trace of bragging. 'No, sir. My father was gone at the time. I took out that cat myself.'"

As Mark of the Lion is first in a series I'm already looking forward to reading more about Jade's adventures in the future.

Library Loot 6.1.2011 & Giveaway Winner

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted my Marg of The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader and Claire of The Captive Reader. Mister Linky is this week at Claire's blog.

I have tried to be pretty prudent in my borrowing and book buying these first few days after New Year, as I still have quite a few books from my previous loot waiting for their turn. Still, I wanted to get a good start with the challenges I'm participating this year and most of the books above will qualify for one challenge or another. There are 6 library books and 2 new purchases I'm going to introduce here. Let's start with the library books:

Jean Bottéro: Religion in Ancient Mesopotamia
When I was a university student majoring in history, my main interest was 19th century -early 20th century, only later have I become more and more interested in older history, and by older I mean really old, I mean millenniums BC, I mean Egypt and Mesopotamia. This book is an easy to follow account of one of the oldest known religions, the religion of  Ancient Mesopotamia. I'm reading this at the moment, alternating between this book and Pinkerton's Sister, and I'm totally enjoying both books, and I have already learned some fascinating stuff about the ancient Mesopotamian culture. I'm reading this book for the One, Two! Theme Challenge, and I have a hunch that Mesopotamia as a theme might get an upgrade in my list, especially as Religion in Ancient Mesopotamia wasn't even on my original list.

John Dickinson: We
My mood for some scifi continues. This is a psychological thriller as well as a science fiction novel about a man sent from Earth to a far away icy moon on the fringes of the solar system on a no-return mission. On the lonely station manned by only four persons he has to confront some truths he has never even suspected. Sounds intriguing, and the layout of the text is very reader friendly.

Carolyn Graves-Brown: Dancing for Hathor. Women in Ancient Egypt
This, too, is nonfiction for the One, Two! Theme Challenge, and judging by the contents the book covers well different spheres of women's life in Ancient Egypt.

Mary Hooper: At the Sign of the Sugared Plum
This is a slim YA historical novel telling the story of young Hannah, who is excited for her first trip to London. She is to go and help her sister, who runs a sweetmeats shop. Only this is AD 1665 and the Plague is threatening London. This might end up being one of the books I'll read for the Historical Fiction Challenge. Yet another book that is not on my original list.

Michael Moorcock: Behold the Man
Some more science fiction and a veritable classic this time. This is the story of Karl Glogauer, time traveller and an unlikely Messiah in Palestine in AD 29! Cannot wait to read this!

Adam Thirlwell: Miss Herbert. An Essay in Five Parts
I noticed this book at work and was intrigued. It says in the spine that this is "[a] book of novels, romances and their translators, containing ten languages, set on four continents and accompanied by maps, portraits, squiggles and illustrations." Who could resist that?? The book also contains Thirlwell's translation of Mademoiselle O by Valdimir Nabokov.

That was the last book of my library loot, but I also have these two new books of my own:

Daisy Goodwin: My Last Duchess
I had a coupon giving me 20% off of one purchase from Stockmann's departmant store, and I actually decided to buy something else than a book, but, well, you know how it goes. :) I ended up buying this historical novel. This is a story of a rich New York heiress, whose mother is determinate to marry her daughter into the English aristocracy. It's set in 1890s, a time period that is always a plus for me. My Last Duchess is Goodwin's first novel.

The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister. Ed. by Helena Whitbread
Anne Lister was an independent, landowning woman, who lived 1791-1840. She loved women and kept an honest diary, written partly in code, where she wrote also about her love life. Lister's diaries are an important part of women's history. It's great that Virago has made them easily available with this new paperback edition. I will read this book for the GLBT Challenge. There is also a nice British drama film made last year based on the diaries.

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Last but not least, earlier today I draw the winner of my signed copy of Purge giveaway. Thank you everyone who showed interest in this amazing novel! The winner is Judith of Leeswammes' Blog from The Netherlands. Congratulations Judith! I hope you will enjoy the book as much as I did. I have already contacted Judith and the book will be on its way hopefully already tomorrow.

More Challenges

There are so many interesting reading challenges popping up all around the blogosphere just now! It's hard to resist joining all too many of them, but I'm trying to choose a manageable number I will have a chance to finish, too. I've alreadty posted my lists for the TBR Pile Challenge and the One,Two, Theme! Challenge. Here come's my reading lists for the GLBT Challenge, the Historical Fiction Challenge, and the Steampunk Challenge. Both GLBT & Historical Fiction Challenges run from January 1st to December 31st. The Steampunk Challenge actually started already in October this year and will run until October 2011.

GLBT Challenge

Even though there is no required amount of books to read I have made a list of 12 books that I hope to read for this challenge in 2011:

1. Avery, Ellis: The Teahouse Fire
2. Boock, Paula: Dare Truth or Promise
3. Brenner, Samantha: Grand Slam
4. Daggett, Gina: Jukebox
5. Donoghue, Emma: Slammerkin
6. Garden, Nancy: Annie on My Mind
7. Jansson, Tove: Fair Play
8. Koja, Kathe: Under the Poppy
9. Murakami, Haruki: Sputnik Sweetheart
10. Sappho: It Not, Winter
11. The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister ed. by Helena Whitbread
12. Strachey, Dorothy: Olivia
 
Historical Fiction Challenge
 
My aim is to read 10 books (Struggling the Addiction -level):
 

 
1. Vladimir Bartol: Alamut
2. A. S. Byatt: Children's Book
3. Moyra Caldecott: Daughter of Amun
4. Emma Donoghue: Slammerkin
5. Sarah Dunant: Sacred Hearts
6. Ken Follett: Fall of Giants
7. Richard Harvell: The Bells
8. Kathe Koja: Under the Poppy
9. Hilary Martel: Wolf Hall
10. Kate Pullinger: Mistress of Nothing
 
Steampunk Challenge
 
I aim to read 5 books.
 

 
1. Meljean Brook: The Iron Duke
2. Cassandra Clare: Clockwork Angel
3. Kate Elliott: Cold Magic
4. William Gibson: The Difference Engine
5. Michael Moorcock: The Dancers at the End of Time (an omnibus of 3 novels)

Can't wait to start reading books for these challenges! :) 

ps. There's still time to enter my giveaway.

One, Two, Theme! A Very Geeky Reading Challenge

Alexandra from The Sleepless Reader and Joanna from It's All About Me have come up with a very interesting idea for a reading challenge. One, Two, Theme! -Challenge will run from 1 January until 31 December in 2011. The purpose of the challenge is to read books, both fiction and nonfiction, on various themes. Every participant should choose at least three themes. For the first theme you only have to read one book, for the second two, for the third three etc. From your second theme up, at least one of the books chosen should be fiction and one nonfiction.


I first learned about this challenge through Alexandra's blog some weeks ago and immediately wanted to join. Choosing my themes have, however, taken some time. Here, finally, they are. I'm aiming for at least six theme blocks, so will post my tentative lists from which to choose the books for six different subjects. The lists include also books I have already read, if I think that those books might be of interest to someone else who might want to choose the same theme. Here goes:


1. Vietnam
For this theme I will read The Beauty of Humanity Movement by Camilla Gibb. This is Gibb's upcoming novel. I've read all her previous books and really like her writing. Sweetness in the Belly was one of my top reads a few years ago and I have been rather impatienly waiting for her next book. The Beauty of Humanity Movement will be published in March 2011.


2. Mesopotamia
I'll read Murder in Mesopotamia by Agatha Christie as my fiction book for this theme. The nonfiction book will be one of these:

• Women of Babylon: Gender and Representation in Mesopotamia by Zainab Bahrani
• Return to Babylon: Travelers, Archeologers, and Monuments in Mesopotamia by Brian M. Fagan
• Babylon and the Birth of Civilization by Paul Kriwaczek
• Mesopotamia: The Invention of the City by Gwendolyn Leick
• Daily Life in Ancient Mesopotamia by Karen Rhea Nemet-Nejat
• From Mesopotamia to Iraq: A Concise History by Hans J. Nissen
• Ancient Mesopotamia: Portrait of a Dead Civilization by A. Leo Oppenheim
• Ancient Mesopotamia: The Sumerians, Babylonians, and Assyrians by Virginia Schomp

3. Napoleon Bonaparte and the Napoleonic Era
I've always found Napoleon Bonaparte a fascinating figure, but have actually not read much fiction featuring him. I hope to improve on that by choosing this theme. And I might even upgrade this theme highter up on my list in the end.

 Fiction:

• The Napoleon Series by Max Gallo (The Song of Departure, The Sun of Austerlitz, The Emperor of Kings, The Immortal of St. Helena)
• Vienna Waltz by Teresa Grant
• The Josephine Bonaparte Trilogy by Sandra Gulland (The Many Lifes and Sorrows of Josephine B.; Tales of Passion, Tales of Woe; The last Great Dance on Earth)
• The Napoleonic Trilogy by Patrick Rambaud (The Battle; The Retreat; The Exile)
• The Wellington and Napoleon Quartet by Simon Scarrow(Young Bloods; The Generals; Fire and Sword; The Fields of Death)
• Désirée by Annemarie Selinko

Nonfiction:

• Napoleon & Josephine: An Improbable Marriage by Evangelina Bruce
• Napoleon: The Path to Power 1769-1799 by Philip Dwyer
• Venus of the Empire: The Life of Pauline Bonaparte by Flora Fraser
• The Last Years of Napoleon: His Last Years on St. Helena by Ralph Korngold
• Napoleon in Egypt: The Greatest Glory by Paul Strathern
• Terrible Exile: The Last Days of Napoleon on St. Helena by Brian Unwin
• Napoleon: Man of War, Man of Peace by Timothy Wilson-Smith
• Rites of Peace: The Fall of Napoleon and the Congress of Vienna by Adam Zamovski

4. Books about, or by writers from, the region of former Yugoslavia
This is a long time reading interest, but there's still quite many novels about former Yugoslavia I have not read. I'll also include here books by writers from the region, even if they don't write about the disintegration of Yugoslavia.

Fiction:

• Alamut by Vladimir Bartol
• My Nime is Bosnia by Madeleine Gagnon
• The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway
• Guarding Hanna by Miha Mazzini
• Pretty Birds by Scott Simon
• Stilness by Courtney Angela Brkic

Graphic Books:

• The Fixer and Other Stories by Joe Sacco
• Safe Area Gorazde: The War in Bosnia 1992-95 by Joe Sacco

Nonfiction

• Bosnia: A Short History by Noel Malcolm
• Questions about Slovenia
• Slovenia and the Slovenes: A Small State in the New Europe by James Gow and Cathie Carmichael

5. Egypt
One geographical area more! Egypt, especially Ancient Egypt, is another subject that has more or less always interested me. I saw the British Museum's Egyptian collections when I was just seven years old and it was love at first sight. I remember my Mom feeling uncomfortable among the mummies, but I was fascinated! I even thought to study some Egyptology while at the university and even sat on a few lectures, but I didn't ever take any exams on the subject. I have, however, read quite a few nonfiction books about Ancient Egypt, and then there is Elizabeth Peters and her one of a kind heroine Amelia Peabody! This challenge will be a good reason to read the one Amelia book I still have sitting unread in my book shelf.

Fiction:

• The Yacoubian Building by Alaa Al Aswany
• Our Horses in Egypt by Rosalind Belben
• Any of P. C. Doherty's mysteries set in Ancient Egypt
• Any of Christian Jacq's books set in Ancient Egypt
• The Cairo Trilogy (Palace Walk, Palace of Desire, Sugar Street) by Naguib Mahfouz
• The Heretic Queen, Cleopatra's Daughter and/or Nefertiti by Michelle Moran
• Mamur Zapt mysteries by Michael Pearce
• Any of Elizabeth Peters' Amelia Peabody mysteries or any other of her mysteries set in Egypt
• Mistress of Nothing by Kate Pullinger
• Any of Wilbur Smith's novel's set in Egypt
• The Egyptian by Mika Waltari

Nonfiction:

• The Keys of Egypt: The Race to Read the Hieroglyphs by Lesley Adkins
• Anhenaten: King of Egypt by Cyril Aldred
• The Discovery of the Tomb of Tutankhamun by Howard Carter
• Amarna Sunset: Nefertiti, Tutankhamun, Ay, Horemheb, and the Egyptian Counter Reformation by Aidan Dodson
• A Thousand Miles up the Nile by Amelie Edwards
• A Passage to Egypt: The Life of Lucy Duff Gordon by Katherine Frank
• Dancing for Hathor: Women in Ancient Egypt by Carolyn Graves-Brown
• The Golden King: The World of Tutankhamun by Zahi E. Hawass
• Exploring the World of the Pharaohs: A Complete Quide to Ancient Egypt by Christine Hobson
• In the Valley of the Kings: Howard Carter and the Mystery of Tutankhamun's Tomb by Daniel Meyerson
• Splendor That Was Egypt by Margaret Alice Murray
• Ramesses: Egypt's Greatest Pharaoh or Hatchepsut: The Female Pharaoh by Joyce Tyldeslay
• Howard Carter And the Discovery of the Tomb of Tutankhamun by H. V. F. Winstone

6. Nuns and Sisters
Since my late teens/early twenties I have been very interested in religious life, not as an option for myself, but as a life choice in general. I have read lots of books, mostly fiction but also some nonfiction, about nuns and sisters. There are many more books out there, though, so I thought to choose this as one of my themes, too. The list below is long (I have already read many of the books there), but I hope it will also serve others, who maybe want to read some nun books. :) And can you believe how many mystery series there are where the sleuth is a nun or a sister? Just take a look below. Many!

Fiction

• Going In and Life Class by Jenny Newman (one should start with Going In, as Life Class is a sequal to it)
• Body & Soul and/or Sacred and Profane by Marcelle Bernstein
• Secret Hearts by Sarah Dunant
• Black Narcissus, In This House of Brede and/or Five for Sorrow, Ten for Joy by Rumer Godden
• Marietta in Ecstasy by Ron Hansen
• Nun's Story by Kathryn Hulme (together with In This House of Brede this is a must read for anyone wanting to read some nun-fiction (no pun intended:))
• The Convent by Panos Karnezis
• Amata Means Beloved by
• Angelology by Danielle Trussoni
• Frost in May by Antonia White

Nonfiction:

• Through the Narrow Gate by Karen Armstrong
• Nuns by Marcelle Bernstein (a classic study)
• The Habit: A History of the Clothing of Catholic Nuns by Elizabeth Kuhns
• New Habits: Today's Women Who Choose to Become Nuns by Isabel Losada
• Sisters in Arms: Catholic Nuns Through Two Millennia by Jo Ann Kay McNamara
• Unveiled: The Hidden Life of Nuns by Cheryl R. Read
• Building Sisterhood: A Feminist History of Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary by Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary,Monroe,Michigan Sisters

And this book is not about nuns but monks, but it is such a treat that I'll list it here as an extra :) : An Infinity of Little Hours: Five Young Men and Their Trial of Faith in the Western World's Most Austere Monastic Order by Nancy Klein Maguire

Mysteries:

• Quiet as a Nun by Antonia Frazer
• A Nun in the Closet by Dorothy Gilman
• A Force of Habit by Christine Hilger
• Farewell to the Flesh by Gemma O'Connor
• The Nun's Tale by Candace Robb

Mystery Series:

• Sister Pelagia mysteries by Boris Akunin
• Sister Joan mysteries by Veronica Black
• Sister Frevisse medieval mysteries by Margaret Frazer
• Christine Bennett mysteries by Lee Harris
• Sister Agnes mysteries by Alison Joseph
• Sister Mary Helen mysteries by Sister Carol Ann O'Marie
• Sister Mary Teresa mysteries by Monica Quill
• Sister Cecile mysteries by Winona Sullivan
• Sister Agatha mysteries by Aimee and David Thurlo
• Sister Fidelma mysteries by Peter Tremayne

Phew! That's a long list! There are at least two, maybe three more challenges I want to join, so stay tuned for a few more challenge posts in the coming days.

The 2011 TBR Pile Challenge

Here we go! One of my favorite, if not the favorite, times of the blogging year is here: The time to decide which challenges to do next year! I've already decided to join a few challenges and have been compiling my book lists. I'll be posting various challenge posts in the coming days, but I'll start with a very useful challenge: The 2011 TBR Pile Challenge hosted by Adam at Roof Beam Reader. 

I'm very good, I mean v-e-r-y good, in adding books to my TBR pile. However, I'm not so good at reading the books I've bought. All too often, no matter how interesting the books are, they are left waiting while library books take priority in my reading. Books from the library have to be returned, my own books are not going anywhere, so they wait for their turn, and wait, and wait... :) Joining this challenge is the perfect reason to read some of those books that have been sitting on my bookshelves for longer than a year.

The goal of the challenge is to read 12 books from one's TBR pile during 2011.

The books must have been on your bookshelf or TBR list for at least 1 year. That means they cannot be published 1.1.2010 or later. Two alternate books are allowed.

To join this challenge go to Roof Beam Reader.

This is my list:
1. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantell
2. The Children's Book by A. S. Byatt
3. Tomb of the Golden Bird by Elizabeth Peters
4. The Laughter of the Dead Kings by Elizabeth Peters
5. Olivia by Dorothy Strachey
6. Sacred Hearts by Sarah Dunant
7. Pinkerton's Sister by Peter Rushforth
8. Command Decision by Elizabeth Moon
9. Twenty-four Hours in the Life of a Woman & The Royal Game by Stefan Zweig
10. The Future is Queer. A Science Fiction Anthology. Ed. by Richard Labonté and Lawrence Schimel
11. Jacob's Room by Virginia Woolf
12. An Elegy for Easterly by Petina Gappah

Alternates:
+Victory Conditions by Elizabeth Moon
+And Only to Deceive by Tasha Alexander

Which one should I read first?

Teaser Tuesday 30.11.2010

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by LizB of Should Be Reading. 

The rules are:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two teaser sentences from somewhere on that page
• Be careful not to include spoilers
• Share the title and author too so that other Teaser Tuesday participients can add the book on their TBR lists, if they like your teasers!

After I finished reading The Holy Machine, an interesting scifi novel by Chris Beckett, I was once again faced with the delightful problem of what to read next. :) I finally found my copy of The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins. (Is it a sign that one owns too many books, when the book you are looking for is actually on the book shelf and you still have trouble finding it??) I read the Finnish translation of The Women in White many years ago as a teenager, but I bought the original version last year in order to reread it in English. It's been so long since the first read that I don't remember any particulars about the plot, only that I liked the book a lot. And it seems that also this time around the story has got me hooked from the start! My teaser is from page 18.

"We set our faces towards London, and walked on together in the first still hour of the new  day -I, and this woman, whose name, whose character, whose story, whose objects in life, whose very presence by my side, at that moment, were fantomless mysteries to me. It was like a dream."

I've been browsing the net for info on 2011 reading challenges. I've already decided on joining the GLBT Challenge also for 2011. On Sunday I read a post about Alex and Joanna's One Two Theme! Challenge, which sounds like great fun and I immediately started pondering on different themes I would like to read books about. At the moment I have for example nuns and Egypt as my themes, but that may change yet. I'm not posting my "official" challenge posts until later.

Have you found any other interesting reading challenges for 2011?