The Book List: 3 Favorite Eras to Read About

 

This week the Book List- meme asks us to name our three favorite eras to read about. My three favorite eras to read fiction about are:

1. Late 19th -early 20th century ca. 1860/1880-to WWI. This is simply my favorite historical period. I love the history, the fashions, the architecture, the optimism of the era -and I love to read novels, especially mysteries, set in this time period.
Some of my favorites mysteries set in this era include the Amelia Peabody -series by Elizabeth Peters and the Dr. Max Liebermann -series by Frank Tallis, but there are many others, too.

Sarah Waters books set in Victorian England are great, though my least favorite of them is the favorite of many, namely Fingersmith. Tipping the Velvet is my favorite.

2. Late 18th- early 19th century ca. 1790-1830. The French Revolution, the revolutionary wars, the rise and fall of Napoleon Bonaparte, the Russian conquest of Finland and the birth of the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland all make for interesting topics for novels. And then of course this was the time when Jane Austen wrote her books.
My favorites include anything by Austen, Désiréé by Annemarie Selinko, A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, and a novel by Mika Waltari that is not available in English.

3. This was a tough one! I could have chosen for example Ancient Egypt, but when it comes to Egypt I really enjoy reading non-fiction more than fiction. I was spoilt with The Egyptian by Mika Waltari when still quite young and no other novel about Ancient Egypt compares to The Egyptian! I could have chosen the Middle Ages or Ancient Rome or the 16th century with the Reformation, WWII and after, or, or... But after pondering this for a while my choice for my third favorite era to read about is...the future.
I love space opera! :) Elizabeth Moon is one of my favorite science fiction writers. I also love alternative history set in the future. My favorite alternative history novels are Sophie McDougall's Romanitas-trilogy (the third part is not yet published) where Rome never fell and Jon Courtenay Grimwood's books, especially the Pashazade-trilogy.

Visit Lost in Books for Rebecca's post on this subject and to add your own post to Linky Tools.

The past few days I have been reading my first ever Persephone book Little Boy Lost by Marghanita Laski and tonight I finished it. It is simply my favorite of all the books I have read this year this far! What a brilliant novel!:)

Two Little Reviews and One Little Wrap-Up

I've been in kind of a reading slump for since beginning of March thanks to one (really good) junkster that took quite a few days to read, some not so succesful attempts on novels and non-fiction that ended up not being as good and/or interesting as I had hoped for, and for being generally busy with work and dancing. During Easter I actually spent a few lovely days in Sitges, Spain (near Barcelona) where we participated in two dance competitions. It was strictly a competition trip, so I only saw Barcelona from the plane window and the lights of the city from afar on our way to Sitges & my only shopping was done at the airport on my way home! :) But it was wonderful. Everything was very well organised, we did well in the competitions, food was great, weather was nice. :)

But, back to books... My wrap-up for March is long overdue and quite short, but here comes:

Books read:6

Books read in English:3

Books read in Finnish: 3

Books by Finnish writers read: 0

Fiction:6 of which 2 GN

Nonfiction: 0

Books reviewed: 3 (the third review is below)

List of books read in March with links to my reviews:

-Gaiman, Neil: Death: The Time of Your Life

-Grenville, Kate: The Lieutenant (see the review below)

-Love Letters of Great Women ed. by Ursula Doyle 

-Marani, Diego: Viimeinen vostjakki

-Molina, Antonio Muñoz: Sefarad

-Satrapi, Marjane: Pistoja (Embroideries)

The Lieutenant by Kate Grenville was my Australia read for the Reading the World Challenge. I had wanted to read something by Grenville for a long time and had also thought to start with The Lieutenant. Now I finally did read the book.

The Lieutenant tells about a young British navy officer and astronomer Daniel Rooke, who is among those reaching Australia in 1788 with the First Fleet. In New South Wales Rooke separates himself from his comrades, setting up his observatory on a secluded hill. On his own he succeeds in what the other settlers fail: he befriends a group of aboriginals, especially a young girl named Tagaran, and tries to learn their language and to really understand them. Unfortunately there is no happy ending for his attempts for understanding and peaceful co-existance. Something happens that causes the governor to send a group of soldiers, Rooke among them, on an expedition to punish the aboriginals. Rooke manages to warn Tagaran, but after the expedition he himself must make some hard choices.

I liked Grenville's writing, and I especially liked the refreshing view of the friendship between Rooke and Tagaran. The novel is a work of fiction, but it's based on the diaries of navy officer William Dawes. If only there had been more men like Rooke/Dawes! I will definitely read more Grenville in the future.

My North America read for the Reading the World Challenge was Happenstance by Carol Shields. Shields draws an interesting picture of an American marriage in 1978 telling the story first from tha point of view of the husband then changing to the point of view of the wife. Jack and Brenda Bowman are a happily married fortysomething couple with two children who have never really been apart until Brenda, a quiltmaker, now travels to Philadelphia for an arts and crafts conference. During the following days both Jack and Brenda and their marriage face some unexpected trials and tribulations.

I had read Unless by Shields some years ago, so this was my second Shields novel. I love her eye for detail. I actually read this book for a book club meeting and what was really interesting was that all the participients that were about my age liked the book a lot, but those that were older, those who had actually been in their forties in the 1970-80 thought the book was too ordinary and too full of petty little details. It was clearly a generation thing!

The Book List: 3 Books I Should Love, But Actually Hate

I just recently found Rebecca's blog Lost in Books. She hosts a short and fun weekly meme The Book List. This is the first time I'm participating. This week's topic is: 3 books I should love, but actually hate. Well, hate is a bit strong word here, but these three I do not especially like:

1. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
This I really feel I should love, but just don't. I love Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, but Emily's masterpiece really leaves me cold, leaves me shivering with disgust really! I find the story rather sick. I have tried to read the novel a number of times, but have always had to put it aside as I simply could not continue. I did watch a movie version once, but that just confirmed my view that this simply is not a book for me. Still, I have every intention of reading Wuthering Heights one day. I kind of feel that it is a book I should read.

2. The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

Another novel loved by many, another one I thought I would love, but didn't. I found this Dracula story really boring.

3. What I Loved by Siri Hustvedt

Did not love this one. Maybe I expected too much or something different or it was just not the right time to read this book.  Before reading the book I thought I would love the fact that there were so much about art in the story, but no, this, too, was a boring read.

Visit Lost in Books for Rebecca's post on this subject or this Linky Tools page for others participating in this meme.

GLBT Mini-Challenge 3: Graphic Novels

I do not read graphic novels in any way regularly, but every now and then a GN catches my eye in the library and I end up borrowing it. Most often I enjoy my graphic reads. When I realised that the March mini-challenge over at the Challenge That Dare Not Speak Its Name aka the GLBT Challenge was graphic novels I was somewhat at a loss. I knew about Alison Bechdel's graphic novels, had even read two of them, but that was it. My knowledge of GLBT graphic novels was very limited, to say the least. And even though I had loved Bechdel's books I wanted to read something else this time. Thanks to the wonderful lists available at the GLBT Challenge page I found out that Neil Gaiman had written a GN with a lesbian couple as main characters. I have not read a lot of Gaiman, but ever since I heard him speak at the Finncon here in Helsinki in 2000 I have been interested in his work. Luckily, my library had the graphic novel in question.

Death: The Time of Your Life tells about Foxglove, a successful young singer with a girlfriend Hazel, who for the outside world is her secretary. Foxglove wants to come out and finally her manager Larry agrees to it, but then he dies. This far the story seems more or less realistic, but now it moves to more mythical and magical dimensions. Larry appears to Foxglove after his death and makes her promise that even if Hazel says something that sounds grazy, Foxglove should listen to her. Well, I think I shall leave telling the plot here. ;) I'll just say that something has happened to Foxglove and Hazel's little baby boy and that Death is a gorgeous goth girl who loves everybody!

I really liked this graphic novel. The story was gripping and the illustrations were beautiful. An added bonus was a foreword by Claire Danes, one of my favorite actresses. She, by the way, stars in Stardust, a film based on Gaiman's book with the same name. Hmm, maybe I should watch that film again... :)

A Challenge Completed

'Lastly, do I vow,

that mine eyes
desire you above
all things.'

The words above form the last sentence of Katherine of Aragon's last letter to King Henry VIII. The letter was written in 1535. Katherine died the year after. She maintained till the end that her marriage with Henry was valid, she was queen , and that she loved her husband.

Love Letters of Great Women is an anthology edited by Ursula Doyle. In addition to some letters by Katharine of Aragon it includes letters from 1399 to 1917 written by almost 30 other women. Some of the most touching being the very last letters in the anthology written by a woman living in Walthamstow (in London) to her soldier husband fighting in the first World War. 

Not all letters were stricktly love letters. The anthology includes also a freezingly polite note by Katherine Mansfield to a rival for her husband's affections:

'Dear Princess Bibesco,
I am afraid you must stop writing these little love letters to my husband while he and I live together. It is one of the things which is not done in our world.

You are very young. Won't you ask your husband to explain to you the impossibility of such a situation.

Please do not make me have to write to you again. I do not like scolding people and I
simply hate to having to teach them manners.'

That is an icy letter, isn't it? Mansfield really knew how to use words for great effect. ;)

Love letters of Great Women was an easy and interesting read. In addition to the letters it includes a short biographical introduction of each of the women, plus some background info on the letters. This book was my third non-fiction read and the eight and final book to be read for the Women Unbound Challenge. Last year I entered my first two reading challenges but did not finish either one of them. Women Unbound is the first reading challenge that I have actually completed! Yay for me! :)

Teaser Tuesday 23.3.2010

What a bad blogger I have been this month! Not a single post since my February wrap up! Well, I have been very busy with other things, work and dancing to be more exact, and I have also tried to read all too many books at once. I should know already that that only leads to my not being able to finish any of those books!

I did finish Sefarad by Antonio Muños Molina, though, all 500+ pages of it. Muños Molina is from Spain and the book is originally written in Spanish, but it has been translated into many languages. I read the book in Finnish, but it is also available in English. It is a collection of 17 stories, both separate and somewhat intertwining, and has been said to map the mental changes of 20th-century Europe. It is an excellent book. Please, read it! :) Here's a link to a few reviews.

During the weekend I started reading a book I have wanted to read for a long time: The Lieutenent by Kate Grenville. Here is a link to a short YouTube video, where Grenville talks about the book. My teaser this week is from page 51.  It is year 1788 and the First Fleet has just arrived at New South Wales.

"As Sirius rounded a rocky island, Rooke saw men running along the shore, shaking spears. He could hear them on the wind calling the same word over and over: Warra! Warra! He did not think that they were calling Welcome! Welcome! He suspected a polite translation might be something like Go to the Devil!"

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly event 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 participiants can add the book to their to be read lists if they like your teasers!

February Wrap Up & What I'm Reading Now

During the shortest month I still managed to finish eight books. Here's the wrap up:

Books read: 8

Books read in English: 7

Books read in Finnish: 1

Books by Finnish writers read: 1

Fiction: 7

Nonfiction: 1

Books reviewed: 4

Books read in 2010: 19

List of books read in February with links to my reviews:

-Ali, Tariq: Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree

-Ebershoff, David: The 19th Wife

-Godden, Rumer: Greengage Summer

-Langley-Hawthorne, Clare: Consequences of Sin

-Mahfouz, Naguib: Before the Throne: Dialogs with Egypt's Great from Menes to Anwar Sadat

-Mulisch, Harry: Two Women

-Taylor, Marianne: The Nature Book: What It Is and How It Lives

-Åsbacka, Robert: Urkujenrakentaja (originally written in Swedish, the author is a Swedish speaking Finn)

The most memorable of the books I read in February were no doubt The 19th Wife which I found really interesting and Two Women which ended up being a simply amazing story. Urkujenrakentaja, a lovely story of a solitary old man and the goodness of neighbours, was a close third in the most memorable list. And if anyone wants to read a funny little book about nature, Marianne Taylor's The Nature Book is the one for you.

At the moment I have so many books waiting for their turn that I hardly know where to start. I'm over halfway through The First Man-Made Man by Pagan Kennedy which is the story of Laura, later Michael, Dillon, the first known case of female to male sex change  which I'm reading for the GLBT Challenge. I have also read about 150 pages of John Dickinson's first adult novel The Lightstep, a historical epic set in a small German state in 1797. And I've started reading The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova, The Book of Saladin by Tariq Ali, and Letter to My Daughter by Maya Angelou. The last of the three I'm reading for the Women Unbound Challenge and Ali's book will probably qualify for the World Religion Challenge. For one of my book clubs I'm reading Sefarad by Antonio Muños Molina. Soon I have to choose and concentrate on a couple of these otherwise I will not be able to finish them, at least not in time (book club meeting, due dates -and more lovely books waiting in the wings! :))