January Roundup

Every January millions take part in Burns Night on the 25th, Scottish or not. There is haggis, whiskey and bagpipes to celebrate the birthday of Scotlands favourite poet. If you would like to know more about Burns Night and its traditions, then use the link.
On to the books...
Read - one and a quarter books
Completed - Generation X by Douglas Coupland
Currently Reading -
We Need To Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver
Notes from Walnut Tree Farm by Roger Deakin
The Organic Year by Patricia Gallimore
TBR Pile - currently at 119 (according to GoodReads) with 2 added...
The Unfortunates by Laurie Graham
The Lost and Forgotten Languages of Shanghai by Ruiyan Xu
Challenges -
Generation X by Douglas Coupland was actually one of the books that I was challenged to read last year by my colleague AR.
I haven't bought any books (#1 of my own challenges). Both books acquired this month were either given to me, or bought for me with book tokens.
All books read are off my TBR pile to comply with the TBR Double Dare running until April (see my sidebar).
Wishlist Additions - None this month! Just as well.
Discoveries - The British Library Online has the original handwritten copies of classics by a number of well known authors including Geoffrey Chaucer, Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, Charles Dickens and Virginia Woolf among others. Use the link to have a look for yourself.
Events - I have been getting the ball rolling for this years literary holiday. There are going to hopefully be two this year, our week in August, but also a mini weekend trip in April. More details will be coming up in the next few weeks.
Already one month into a year that feels so new. February is on the doorstep...

A Vegetable Gardeners Year by Dirty Nails #2

I spoke about A Vegetable Gardeners Year back in 2009 because I borrowed it from the library as part of the 2009 mini challenges. Back then I only read parts of it with a view to buying it in the future to read all the way through. I did this throughout last year. The book is set into weekly chapters that correspond to the weeks in the year, so I read it in real time and finished it in December.

I covered why I liked it back then, and you can use the link above to read my thoughts at the time.

This time around, in its complete state, it is a pleasant companion that offers practical advice with personal musings from Mr Nails, and delightful drawings to accompany the prose. On completing it last month I thought it was worth a mention again.

I used it as a calming and lovely book to read before I went to sleep and I am happy that I read it all the way through. You can use it as a dipping in book as well though.

Recommended for gardeners, nature lovers and anyone who loves the outdoors.

Dirty Nails has a Facebook page (use the link)

Another blog that I follow, The Cottage Smallholder, has also mentioned Dirty Nails's book On The Plot.

The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende

I picked up my second hand copy of this book for £1 at the Liverpool Bluecoat Book Fair, quite a while ago. I had tried to read The Infinite Plan by this author over 10 years ago and could not get into it at all. It was abandoned about a third the way through it.

I currently own 4 Allende titles, all have made their way to me through various routes, but it is not until now that I have attempted another. The high regard for this author led me to add her onto my list of 2011 challenges and I finished this book on the 31st December, just in time to count.

Spanning 4 generations of the eccentric Trueba family in Chile, South America, we follow all of the colourful stories and adventures of the various members. This is an epic story that reminded me, in scope, of East of Eden by John Steinbeck, covering various episodes in the countries history.

The narrative, however, is slightly different to Steinbeck, with 2 members of the family relaying their experiences in the first person, by Esteban Trueba, the patriarch who lives through all of the events depicted, and what seems to be a third person but later is revealed as the granddaughter, Alba, who relays the family history through the notebooks of her grandmother, Clara the Clairvoyant. It is here where the book is at its most quirky, when describing the spiritual life of the house and Clara's connection to the other world beyond this one, adding a whole new dimension to this families story.

Every character is relayed with love and affection, for their strengths and their weaknesses, and it feels as if the author has relished telling you about them. A lot of the stories, especially during the first half, are humourous, narrated with a twinkle in the eye of the teller. Some stories are fantastical, others tragic, none are dull or run of the mill. Observations on life and the human condition are told in such an interesting way so that the pages fly by without noticing.

I was immediately engulfed by the warmth that emanates from this book, enjoying it from the first page. The language is uncomplicated, with an irresistable clarity. There is poetry, but the main draw is the characters. It is not a series of episodes or short stories, but a long narrative with detailed links holding every generation together. Each generation flows into the next so that by the end you carry all of them with you and view the family as a whole, made up of very distinct characters, some of whom are not altogether likeable, and it is the women who come over strongest.

The last chapters of the book deal shockingly with the effects of political unrest, revolution and dictatorship, and how individuals can be swept up by this, with horrific and tragic consequences, adding yet another angle to the history of this family.

I really enjoyed this book. It took me a long while to read, not because it was difficult or any way laborious, but I am a slow reader and the type was quite dense on the page. I can see why it is considered one of the authors masterpieces and a prominent title from fiction of recent times.

Highly recommended for fiction readers generally, and particularly for those who love epic family stories and Latin American fiction.

You can visit Isabel Allende's Website by using the link.

A study guide for The House of the Spirits can be found by using the link.

There is a movie of The House of the Spirits made in 1993 starring Jeremy Irons, Meryl Streep, Glenn Close, Winona Ryder and Antonio Banderas. I have not heard great things about it sadly, but I may look out for it for comparison.

Previous book reviews at The Octogon - 2010

This very colourful map illustrates all of the countries that I visited during my reading life in 2010. A lot of travelling has been done between the words on the page and my imagination, without moving from a comfy armchair, country bench, deckchair or waiting room, wherever I find the time to pick up a book.

Previous book reviews at The Octogon during 2010...
A Month in the Country by J L Carr
An Awfully Big Adventure by Beryl Bainbridge
Atonement by Ian McEwan
Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell
Emma by Jane Austen
Ship Fever by Andrea Barrett
Tethered by Amy Mackinnon
The Blue Fox by Sjon
The Girls by Lori Lansens
The Iron Book of British Haiku
The Magic Apple Tree: A Country Year by Susan Hill
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
The Mystery of Grace by Charles de Lint
The Suspicions of Mr Whicher by Kate Summerscale
The Vagrants by Yiyun Li
The Zahir by Paulo Coelho
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

The Octogon Challenge 2012 - updates

I am using this post to keep updated with my progress through the resolutions that I have set myself throughout 2012.

1. To not buy any new books, only acquiring them as gifts, borrowing, or second hand if I have to. This is to get my TBR pile under control and ties in with the The TBR Double Dare run by Ready When You Are, C.B. (see my sidebar)
TBR Double Dare now completed and passed.
The rest of this challenge is ongoing

2. To read Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte Completed March 2012

3. To read 1 or 2 titles that came up during our lit hol discussions
Completed The Summer Book by Tove Jansson in April, which came up in our Jane Austen holiday in Hampshire in 2010.
Currently reading The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad which was my lucky dip title from CS on our Thomas Hardy holiday in Dorset in 2011.

4. To read 3 literary articles and blog about them

5. To compare 3 book to film stories
North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell (Feb post)
We Need To Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver (March post)
The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald (June post)

6. To read at least one dystopia novel
Completed The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist in March 2012

7.To read the Zola I have wanted to read since 2009 (this is the 3rd year it has made it on this list)

8.To read another George Eliot if possible

We will see how many I complete by the end of the year.

There are also the books recommended by my work colleagues which I will mark in red when they are completed. We only have to read at least one of the 3, but may well read more.

AR - The Dubliners by James Joyce, Seize the Day by Saul Bellow and August: Osage County by Tracy Letts
BD - The Portrait of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, Trick or Treat by Richie Tankersley Cusick and Kane and Abel by Jeffrey Archer

I am looking forward to reading as many of those as possible. Completed sections are marked in red.

Looking back and looking forward...

This contemplative painting (by Isabel Cortade Obrero) seemed appropriate for the time of year where I revisit the books and stories encountered during 2011 as well as share some plans for 2012.

I didn't read as many books as I would have liked during 2011, clocking up a total of 15 books altogether. I am a much slower reader than other bloggers but this is 4 down on last year. It may be my commitment to the Lit Theory book that I wanted to make notes on each month, taking up novel reading time, or that I chose a couple of longer books later on in the year. Also there were 5 non-fiction books in that total, more than usual. There were also much more male authors, at 9, as opposed to female writers at 4, with 2 sets of short stories with various authors. This is a complete reversal of male/female ratio compared to last year. While interesting this is always coincidental, the sex of the author does not determine what I read.
The Nationalities of the authors was as follows...
English - 5
American - 4
Portuguese - 1
Scottish - 1
Peruvian - 1
- 2 of these titles were in translation.
The genres of the titles read in 2011 were as follows...
Historic Drama - 4
Gardening (non-fiction) - 3
Drama - 2
Modern drama - 2
Short Stories - 2
Apocalyptic/dystopia - 1
Literary History - 1
- 3 of these titles were prizewinners
- 4 of the titles were known classics
- 1 of the titles was by a new writer
Favourite reads during 2011 were...
Blindness by Jose Saramago
The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald
Tinkers by Paul Harding
The Woodlanders by Thomas Hardy
Oldest and Newest...
Oldest - The Woodlanders by Thomas Hardy, 1887
Newest - Ox Tales: Water by various authors, July 1999
Favourite cover design...
The Great Gatsby from the Oxford World Classics range, use the link to have a look.
Unexpected disappointment...
Whit by Iain Banks
Favourite character...
The hobo requiring dental attention in Tinkers by Paul Harding, one of my favourite passages from a book this year. I laughed and cryed within the space of a few pages, then had to read the passage again. Pure magic.
Challenges for 2011...
My 8 resolutions (and their result in red) were...

1. Read another Bronte not yet, but I have Shirley and Wuthering Heights


2. Read Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton Completed


3. Read an Eastern European writer Uncompleted


4. Read an Isabel Allende The House of the Spirits


5. Read a short story collection Ox Tales: Water


6. Read an Iain Banks Whit


7. Read another Carson McCullers Uncompleted


8. Read another Zola (carried from 2009) not yet, but I have L'Assomoir

Not as good as last year, but as I always say, they are guidelines and not set in stone.

I also found an unread Literary Theory book, The English Novel in History 1895 - 1920 by David Trotter, on my shelf and set myself the task of blogging about my progress each month, which I did complete.

My work friend AR and I set each other 3 books each, of which we had to read at least one during the year, and we both read one of them. Mine was The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald, his was Moments of Reprieve by Primo Levi. I have just started Generation X by Douglas Coupland which was one of his other titles for me.

Other events for 2011 included my 2nd Novel Holiday based on Thomas Hardy in Dorset.

So what about 2012? My 8 resolutions this year are...

1. To not buy any new books, only acquiring them as gifts, borrowing, or second hand if I have to. This is to get my TBR pile under control and ties in with the The TBR Double Dare run by Ready When You Are, C.B. (see my sidebar)


2. To read Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte


3. To read 1 or 2 titles that came up during our lit hol discussions


4. To read 3 literary articles and blog about them


5. To compare 3 book to film stories


6. To read at least one dystopia novel


7. To read the Zola I have wanted to read since 2009 (this is the 3rd year it has made it on this list)


8. To read another George Eliot if possible

We'll see how I get on.

My work friend AR and I are swapping some titles again to challenge each other, and we have another friend in the loop this year too. So AR and BD between them have given me The Portrait of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, Trick or Treat by Richie Tankersley Cusick, Kane and Abel by Jeffrey Archer, The Dubliners by James Joyce, Seize the Day by Saul Bellow and August: Osage County by Tracy Letts. I really enjoyed doing this last year.

Mainly I hope I fit in more books than I did last year. Other things coming up in 2012 will hopefully be another lit hol, as well as a sort of lit weekend, details to follow shortly. All very exciting.

Wishing you all lots of lovely books and lots of reading time during 2012

December Roundup

Hard to believe that the madness of Christmas has come and gone for another year. It has been a full on month, but how did the reading go...

Read - 2 books

Completed -

The English Novel in History 1895 - 1920 by David Trotter

The House of the Spirits by Isabelle Allende

Currently Reading -

Generation X by Douglas Coupland

Notes from Walnut Tree Farm by Roger Deakin

The Organic Year by Patricia Gallimore

TBR Pile - currently at 117 according to GoodReads with 9 added over Christmas...

The Last Kestrel by Jill McGivering

Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

Trick or Treat by Richie Tankersley Cusick

Kane and Abel by Jeffrey Archer

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

The Dubliners by James Joyce

Seize the Day by Saul Bellow

August: Osage County by Tracy Letts

The last 6 of these are for some new challenges for 2012 which will be covered in detail in my next post.

Challenges -

Finished The House of the Spirits by Isabelle Allende for #4 of my own 2011 challenges

Finished The English Novel in History 1895 - 1920 by David Trotter which I wanted to make notes on each month.

Wishlist Additions -

Dark is the Sky by Jessica Chambers

Divergent by Veronica Roth

Miss Peregrines Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

Discoveries -

An interesting new blog...Ready When You Are, C.B.

Events -

Seeing Hugo at the cinema, Martin Scorcese's cinematic version, in the best 3D film that I have seen, of The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick, reviewed here at The Octogon in July 2009