The Secret Book Society

Finished July 19

The Secret Book Society by Madeline Martin

This historical novel focuses on a group of women struggling for control in their own lives in 1895. A widow, Lady Duxbury, has invited select women to tea at her home. She has sent a separate note via private means letting them know that it will involve more than tea, and that they have been asked for a reason. 

Eleanor Clarke is a young woman from a titled background, whose American husband wanted her to elevate his standing in society. He is brutish and cruel, limits her time with their young son, and controls almost everything in her life. The one thing she still has some autonomy for is her clothing. He also beats her in private, leaving marks mostly hidden by her clothing. 

Rose Wharton is an American woman from a loving family and married her husband, the second son of an Earl for love. But now his elder brother, the present Earl, is ill and Rose's husband will become the Earl soon. The current Earl is, for lack of a better word, training his brother for his duties and sets expectations on Rose as well, none of which she meets. It doesn't seem to matter how hard she tried, the Earl is always disappointed and Rose feels her husband is also disappointed in her. He has begun to limit her reading material, and be critical of her. Rose has struggled to be accepted in English society, due to her being American, and longs to make friends and have a happier life. She also suspects that she might be pregnant and is worried about telling her husband. 

Lavinia Cavendish is the oldest daughter in a titled family. She is emotional and bookish, and her grandmother was sent to a madhouse. Her father has been critical of her strong emotions lately, and has limited her reading material, and also her mother's reading material. It was her mother who was invited to tea, but she feels Lavinia will benefit from the opportunity. Lavinia's younger sister is soon to be presented and her father is worried about reputation. There is the threat of sending Lavinia away, similar to how her grandmother was treated. 

As the women open themselves to each other, connect through reading books, and begin to have that external support system, they also become more confident in themselves. Lavinia, in particular, finds writing poetry lets her express her emotions safely on the page and lets her be more calm in her daily life. She also attracts a suitor who is more progressive and understanding in nature than her father. 

This was an interesting study of women's lives in high society at a certain time, and emphasizes how little control they had over their own activities. I enjoyed it, and the ending seems to open the possibility for future books. 

The Cat Who Saved the Library

Finished May 25

The Cat Who Saved the Library by Sosuke Natsukawa, translated by Louise Heal Kawai

This thoughtful novel follows thirteen-year-old Nanami Kosaki, a girl who loves to read. Her mother died when Nanami was young and she and her father live a quiet life. She suffers from asthma, which means that physical activity is often tiring. She spends a lot of time at the library and lately she's observed that there are some blank spots on the shelves. She knows that books get taken out and returned, but this seems different. One day she sees a strange gray man near a section of books and goes there after he's moved on, only to discover the first ten books of a favourite series gone. After talking with Tiger, a nearby cat, she and Tiger follow the man. The hallway begins to glow and extends into another world, where she finds herself following him to a castle  As they follow past armies of gray blank-faced soldiers, they see evidence of book burning and book theft. When faced with danger, they find an unexpected exit manned by Rintaro that takes them into Rintaro's bookstore, Natsuki Books. 

With mentions of classic titles from east and west, this book offers lots of ideas for future reading. It also takes us into the benefits of reading from learning to empathy and connection. Issues we face now, such as censorship, authoritarianism, lack of respect for learning, and self-interest as a guiding force for those in power all come into the story in a thoughtful and meaningful war. 

The Book Witch

Finished May 2

The Book Witch by Meg Shaffer

This novel started slow with me, but then became hard to put down. The main character here is Rainy March, who is one of many book witches. Her mother and grandmother were/are as well. Rainy showed early aptitude and has been active since she was fifteen. She is now twenty-five. She lives with her grandfather and their housekeeper, Mrs. Turner, in an old house called Pilcrow House in Fort Meriwether, Oregon. Rainy's mother disappeared for around a year just before she was born, but died shortly after her birth without revealing anything about her father. The only memento she has is an old copy of the first Nancy Drew mystery, The Secret of the Old Clock. 

This novel has an interesting structure. It is split into seven sections: romance, mystery, fantasy, nonfiction, young adult and horror, thriller, and science fiction. These names are suited to the actions in that section. I liked this sentence from the job description of a book witch "Ideal candidate should be willing to jump into and out of books, short stories, and the occasional epic poem." She travels into and out of books using an umbrella, using the phrase "Our revels are now ended" to exit the book, and is accompanied by her familiar, a Russian Blue cat named Koshka. The leader of her cover is Dr. Regina Fanshawe, who is described as a taller, angrier Judy Dench, and she is very critical of Rainy, often holding up Rainy's mother as an ideal to strive for. 

Like many readers of his books, Rainy has a crush on a book character known as the Duke of Chicago, whose noir mystery stories are set between the World Wars in Chicago. He is an actual English Duke, who came to his title after the death of all three of his brothers in World War One, and he fled his home to deal with his trauma and now works as a private detective. The fans call themselves Duckys. When a situation arises in one of Duke's books requiring a witch to enter the book and resolve it, Rainy insists on going. 

There are eight Black and Whites or rules that witches are expected to follow. These rules include include no eating, drinking, or sleeping within the books they enter as these activities can cause them to forget their own identity and purpose. 

As Rainy breaks one of the rules and becomes romantically attached to the Duke, she is discovered and becomes restricted until her grandfather becomes absent for an extended period and she is determined to find him. Her adventures take her into many other books from Through the Looking Glass, to The Great Gatsby, and to closed theme parks, book burnings, and many more interesting situations. 

There is so much fun and quirkiness in this book that it is definitely one of my favourite reads. Other things I love, such as: Plan C in a situation means crying. 

Other quotes I loved: "Pencils down" and "All stories are love stories if you love stories".

The Memory Library

Finished November 30

The Memory Library by Kate Story

Year before this story started Ella had a falling out with her mother, of which we gradually learn the details as the story unfolds. She went to college and then emigrated to Australia, and as the book opens, she learns that her mother has suffered a fall, and there has been a bathroom flood at her mother's home. Reluctantly she returns to London, intending to stay for the duration of her mother's convalescence, but she finds the situation somewhat different than she expected. Her mother seems frailer and less independent than she thought. 

She also finds the room that has borne the brunt of the damage is one that her mother had curated carefully for years. As Ella renews old friendships and digs into the past, she finds that her younger self had been quick to pass judgement. She also finds herself looking at the city with fresh eyes.

This is a story of books, books carefully chosen, for specific insights into life. It is books that offer a path forward to a possible reconciliation and to a better understanding of her own situation as well. This is also a book about community and the lives we touch as we live our own life. 

I enjoyed this book, for the growth that we see Ella take, for the books that are important to her, and to the community that she becomes a part of. 

The Library of Borrowed Hearts

Finished September 17

The Library of Borrowed Hearts by Lucy Gilmore

This contemporary novel is set in small town Washington state, where main character Chloe Sampson had to give up her dreams to leave college to look after her younger siblings when her mother abandoned the family. Chloe loves her siblings and is close to them all, and loves her work at the local library, where she works with best friend Pepper. When she finds a book in the library's basement with messages between two people written inside, she finds herself drawn into this historical mystery. She wants to know the story of the two young lovers who used the book as a way to leave messages for each other. 

Her grouchy hermit of a neighbour Jasper Holmes also takes an interest in the book, and this draws her and her family into his life. 

When Chloe finds that this isn't the only book the couple used, she finds herself on a search for other books. She also finds herself looking for clues to the identity of the young people in question. She finds the identity of the young man first, but struggles to figure out who the young woman is. When a young man enters her life through the escapades of one of her brothers, she finds herself opening herself up to new dreams. 

I enjoyed this book-centred novel, and the story of both the historical lovers and the current day characters. Chloe's siblings are interesting, particularly her brother Aloysius (aka Noodle) who has his own struggles. The book offers up plot surprises and new opportunities for many of the characters. Very enjoyable. 

The Lost Book of Bonn

Finished May 28

The Lost Book of Bonn by Brianna Labuskes

This historical novel has two timelines. The one the story starts with is that of Emmy Clarke, an acquisitions librarian with the Library of Congress. It is 1946, and she has been sent to Offenbach tasked with going through books at the Archival Depot looking for anything that could be deemed 'enemy literature' in an effort to learn more about why and how all this had happened. As a precaution she would be going as a US Army soldier in uniform.

Emmy was raised in Montana by a single mother who ran a travelling library through logging camps. She later moved east and worked in public libraries before taking her current job. Her husband Joseph died in the Normandy invasion and she holds anger towards the German people for it. Emmy is met by Major Wesley Arnold, of the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives unit who has been part of the group searching for cultural works taken by the Nazis. 

As they travel from the train station to the Depot, they drive through rubble and see the hunger in the people along the way. She finds her feelings towards the Germans becoming more complex, and doesn't feel good about the suffering she is observing. In conversation with the Major, Emmy says that she doesn't think this is what justice looks like. Her first visit to the depot she finds overwhelming with the volume of material there. When she randomly opens a box and finds a book of poetry with an inscription written with love, she feels that she must return it to the owner. Despite her desire to put books back into the hands of the owners, that is not her mission. She is only allowed to work on books, documents, and films that originated in Germany or were created or owned by Nazi Party leaders. This is to guard against any accusations of looting. The book that she picked up does not fit in this category, but her emotional reaction to it leads her to take it and try to find the Annelise the book is inscribed to. 

The second timeline begins in 1937 in Bonn, and follows Annelise Fischer, a young woman who is part of a group of teens who enjoy outdoor pursuits like hiking and camping, but who have also started acting against the groups of Hitlerjugend (HJ) increasingly present in their town. They call themselves the Edelweiss Pirates. We see the friendships, the teamwork, and the worries of these young people. Annelise in particular worries about her younger sister Christina who has recently joined the HJ to try to fit in, but who is naive and doesn't understand the full ramifications of what she is part of. As the war begins and the teens move into adulthood, their actions become more serious and the risks become more dangerous. As Annelise falls in love with a young Jewish man, she tries to protect him, and avoid the eye of a German soldier who desires her. Christina ends up in the middle, and we see her growing into understanding and her own way of dealing with her situation. 

As we follow the three women: Emmy, Annelise, and Christina, and learn their stories, this novel takes us into their lives and the decisions they make. Each will find their heart pulled by someone, and each will have to make choices that are sometimes uncomfortable. This book draws these characters with depth and empathy, and the plotlines both fit real history and the lives of these women. A great read. 

The Bordeaux Book Club

Finished February 5

The Bordeaux Book Club by Gillian Harvey

This novel follows a group of mostly British ex-pats living in or near Bordeaux, France. Leah and her husband Nathan working in journalism before giving it up to live a dream life of owning and living off a small farm. The life is not as the dream, with the vegetables they grow not doing well, and Leah working part-time as a copy editor to help sustain them. Their daughter, Scarlett, now fourteen has thrived, easily learning the language and making friends. Now she is into her teen years where she spends a lot of time in her room and seems to resent her parents, particularly Leah. 

Leah has made a friend of a slightly older woman named Grace. Grace has thoroughly involved herself in the community, running a variety of clubs, and helping those who need it. Now she is starting an English book club, and convinces Leah to join. Along with Leah are George, a man who works construction and who has come over for a few months to work on a house for a man he's worked for before; Monica, who has an infant daughter, and whose husband, Peter, is a pilot who is often away for long periods of time; and Alfie, a young man in his twenties who is in college and living with his mother. 

They start with classics, with the first read being Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, which Grace has chosen and has enough copies in her home library to provide one for everyone. Going forward, they will take turns picking books. 

As they discuss the books and their thoughts, they share a lot with each other, from pasts to dreams of the future and secrets about the present. Even though they only meet once a month, they become close friends, and are there for each other when some of them struggle with deeply personal issues and change.

I really enjoyed this novel. All the characters are interesting, yet we really see depth for Leah and Grace. We grow to understand what brought Grace to where she is now, and why she behaves the way that she does. And we see Leah struggle with her marriage and her daughter, working her way through deep emotions and fears. A very enjoyable read. 

Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts

Finished December 23

Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts: Twelve Journeys into the Medieval World by Christopher de Hamel

This is a fascinating look at a selection of manuscripts, each with its own story. Some have well-documented histories, others much less so. The author is a paleographer, one who studies such rare items as a profession, and you can sense the passion he has for what he does. Here is an effort to share this passion beyond his peers, with others of us who love books and history. 

He has chosen twelve manuscripts to discuss. In his introduction, he says that he thinks of them as celebrity interviews. These rare items are mostly inaccessible to the average reader, with access limited to experts who apply to view them. He talks about the things that those who do access them in person can notice, with every interaction bringing new details to light. He has deliberately chosen a variety of types of books, all ones that he has been able to see in person for the purpose of this book. Some he had accessed before, but he remained open to new revelations from them. 

His writing style is very conversation for the most part, speaking to the reader and describing his experiences with the manuscripts as well as what he has been able to learn about their origins, histories, and travels. There is some specialist language that he uses when talking about books that have portions missing or otherwise changed. 

The manuscripts he includes are:

* The Gospels of Saint Augustine, written in the late sixth century, located at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge University.

* The Codex Amiatinus, c. 700, located at Biblioteca Laurenziana, Florence. This is the oldest known surviving Latin Bible.

* The Book of Kells, late eigth century, located at Trinity College Dublin. This is a manuscript of the Four Gospels immersed in the Celtic world.

* The Leiden Aratea, early ninth century, located at Universiteitsbibliotheek, Leiden. This chapter looks at the practice of copying manuscripts.

* The Morgan Beatus, mid-tenth century, located at the Morgan Library and Museum, New York. This chapter looks at ideas looking forward to the year 1000 millennium.

* Hugo Pictor, late eleventh century, located in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. This chapter looks at the effects of the Norman Conquest of 1066.

* The Copenhagen Psalter, third quarter of the twelfth century, located at the Kongelige Bibliotek, Copenhagen. This is one of the finest psalters of the time.

* The Carmina Burana, first half of the thirteenth century, located at Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Munich. This is a small book of love songs of students and scholars.

* The Hours of Jeanne de Navarre, second quarter of the fourteenth century, located at the Bibliothéque nationale de France, Paris. This is a delicate book of hours created for a king's daughter and that became a political pawn.

* The Hengwrt Chaucer, c. 1400, located at the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth. This copy of The Canterbury Tales is the beginning of recognizable English literature.

* The Visconti Semideus, c. 1438, located at the National Library, St. Petersburg. This manuscript is about warfare and armaments and modern Russia.

* The Spinola Hours, c. 1515-20, located at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles. This book of hours is an object of luxury and money.

The book includes many colour illustrations from the book that show details of the manuscripts and their unique illustrations. It also includes an extensive bibliography and numerous references to other manuscripts that may interest the reader. 

I learned a lot from this, and read this book over many months, pausing to reflect on and enjoy the contents. 

The Starless Sea

Finished September 24

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

This enthralling novel is split into sections: Sweet Sorrows, Fortunes and Fables, The Ballad of Simon and Eleanor, Written in the Stars, The Owl King, The Secret Diary of Katrina Hawkins, and an Afterward called Something New and Something Next. Some of these are books within the novel, some are elements within tales. 

The novel starts with three tales from Sweet Sorrows, and then moves to a university library in Vermont, where the central character of the novel, Zachary Ezra Rawlins is engaged in a regular activity of browsing the shelves for a fiction book or two to read for pleasure. He comes across the book Sweet Sorrows, a book with some missing pages and that he finds is not in the system. Zachary is almost twenty-five and a graduate student at the university working on a thesis on video-game design with a focus on psychology and gender issues. Zachary is the son of a fortune-teller, and grew up in New Orleans and upstate New York.

As he begins to read the book, he reads the chapters that we've already read, and is shaken by the third chapter, one which he is sure is about him as a boy, although the book appears much older than he is. As he looks at the book more closely, he notices a series of symbols, a sword, a key and a bee. 

As the novel continues, the events of Zachary's life are given in some of the chapters, interspersed with chapters from the book he reads. After reading the book a few times, he decides to get out of room and on a winter walk meets Kat, an undergrad that he has become friendly with. She runs a video-game-themed cooking blog. She also runs a couple of classes, one that is a discussion oriented one called Innovation in Storytelling and asks for his help for that week's class which is focused on gaming. This discussion is quite interesting, including multiple possible endings, collaborative storytelling, and what makes a story compelling. All of those relate to this novel in important ways. He also encounters Elena, the librarian that helped him check out the book and she has done some sleuthing to where the book came from and leads him down a path that reappears later in the novel. As his search leads him to a masquerade party on New Year's Eve, an attractive woman who dances with him, an unseen man who tells him a story in the dark, an invitation to a meeting later that night, and a stranger who asks a big favour of him, he finds himself entering that strange world that he read about, or a version of it that is lonelier. 

As the novel unfolds, other books within this novel are introduced, as are the characters attached to them. There are also interludes that tell of other times and events, and words from folded papers. All of these move the story forward, as we watch Zachary and other characters make choices that lead them to each other and to endings and new beginnings. 

I found this book fascinating, a superb example of innovative storytelling in itself. 

A Death at Seascape House

Finished August 13

A Death at Seascape House (Jemima Jago Mystery, #1) by Emma Jameson

This is an intriguing mystery set in the Isles of Scilly off the Cornish coast in southwest England. It is part of a series featuring special collections librarian Jemima Jago. As the book opens, Jemima (Jem) has returned to the Isles to do a special project regarding a private collection of books on the island. Jem hasn't been to the Isles since she left after her grandmother's death when she was a teenager. That loss occurred shortly after another tragedy that we gradually learn about through the course of the novel. 

Jem is waiting to meet a friend at a pub, but her friend Pauley is late, and she subsequently engages in a new friendship with the bartender Micki. 

Pauley is also the owner of the large collection that Jem will be cataloguing, and has recently told Jem that one of the unique books in the collection has gone missing. When she finds out that the main suspect is Edith a woman who she hated back when she was a kid, she decides to go to Edith's house to try to recover the book. Instead she finds a crime scene, with Edith dead and the place ransacked. With the chief of police prejudiced against her, Jem must try to find the true culprit of the crime to clear her own name. 

As she encounters the locals, she must also deal with her own past there, and the tragedy that she was blamed for back then. 

I enjoyed the main character, as well as many of the supporting ones, from Micki and Pauley, to Jem's old boyfriend Rhys, and the new sergeant heading the local police force. 

This looks like it will be an interesting series. 

Bookworm

Finished July 30

Bookworm by Robin Yeatman

I picked up this book at my local library based on the title and the fact that it is this year's book choice for Markham Reads. Because I hadn't read anything about the book before starting it, I found myself getting drawn into the story of a submissive wife, who has an inner life that is very unexpected. Victoria is a massage therapist who works at a local spa in Montreal and spends most of her free time reading. She doesn't socialize much, just with one friend from high school, Holly. Victoria also likes watching people. She believes that she can "read" them as well, sensing information about their lives that is surprisingly detailed. 

As the book begins, Victoria is seated at her local cafe, reading, when she notices an attractive man reading the same book. She is immediately captivated by him, but he doesn't seem to notice her and leaves soon after. Victoria is unfamiliar with the feelings that he aroused in her and is a bit unsettled, finding her thoughts wandering to him despite what else she does. 

We soon find that Victoria is married to Eric, a lawyer hoping to be offered a partnership. She is Eric's second wife, his first having left him for someone else of a lower class, and we see that he is a controlling figure. Their condo is decorated to his tastes, the food she makes is for his limited palate, and the clothes she wears are mostly his choices. 

As we learn the background of how they came to be married, despite the lack of real interest in each other, we also see how Victoria's inner life is her escape. She often gets ideas from the books she reads, and she often fantasizes about her husband's death. 

She also commonly experiences an out-of-body sensation at night just before she sleeps, where she looks down on herself and her bedroom from above. But this experience soon grows to allow her to float beyond her home and observe others that she senses strongly, in particular the man from the cafe. 

Victoria's thoughts are hers alone, not shared with her ambitious lawyer parents, her critical mother-in-law, or her friend Holly. And they are often dark and plotting. 

But when those thoughts begin to have real shape in her daily world, she finds she might actually get what she wants. 

This book is disturbing and my opinion of Victoria changed radically as the book unfolded. This is a unique and startling tale of desire. 

Book Love

Finished June 26

Book Love by Debbie Tung

I was looking for a graphic novel, and this one jumped out at me. Tung is someone that I can definitely relate to. Books are a big part of my life, and obviously they are to her as well. 

The character she draws here, from the way she gets immersed in a book, to how she relates to reading, to how she prioritizes books in her life are all things I do as well.

When I'm reading a book, it can sometimes take a moment for me to respond as I have to make my way back to the real world to respond. The cover gives a good sense of her drawing style, realistic with the use of emphasis on features to express emotion. 

This is a lovely book for any reader. 

The Book Collectors

Finished October 16

The Book Collectors: A Band of Syrian Rebels and the Stories That Carried Them Through a War by Delphine Minoui, translated by Lara Vergnaud

The author, Delphine Minoui, is a journalist who has covered the Middle East, and lives in Istanbul. She also directed a documentary on the same subject as this book. During her work, she heard about a group who had created a library from books they found in the rubble of their town, Daraya. Daraya is a town outside of Damascus which fell under a siege in 2012 and became cut off from the outside world for four years. 

The young men who found the first batch of books and began actively collecting them in one place, where they built shelving and provided studying, reading, and meeting space, had a collection of fifteen thousand books within a month of their start. The collection had range, from poetry to plays, history to science. 

First Minoui tracked down one of the library's founders, Ahmad Muaddamani, twenty-three, who was studying civil engineering before the war. He told her the story of the library, but also the story of this small community, its history of discourse and democracy, the effects of the siege, and the others who supported and used the library. Residents from children through seniors visited and borrowed material, and they even arranged Skype lectures from a variety of speakers. Other men that she spoke to were Omar Abu Anas, a soldier in the Free Syrian Army, who kept a small collection of books protected by sandbags at the front lines; Shadi Matar, who joined the media center of the town and documented the war through photographs; Hussam Ayash, who launched a small local magazine during the siege; Abu Malek Al-Shami, who painted graffiti and murals on the ruins to keep spirits up; Abu el-Ezz, another co-founder of the library; and Ustez, a slightly older man who served as a mentor for the others.

As Monoui tracks the ongoing siege, she also documents the types of attacks they endured, including barrel bombs, sarin gas, and napalm. 

With limited access to internet, most of the communication was through media such as Whats App, with reliance on short messages, and video. 

A book that brings this group of men to life and highlights the situation that they lived in during this difficult time. She also includes a list of the most popular books in the collection and ones mentioned in her conversations with the men. 

Wrap-Up Post for TBR Challenge 2016

Well, I definitely did not meet this challenge. I had the goal of 50 books from the ones I already owned before 2016, but only made it to 34. I did read and pass on some of the books I acquired in 2016, but somehow managed to up my total book holdings by more than one hundred volumes despite that. The battle continues.

Here is the hosting page for this challenge. Here is my sign-up page.

This challenge runs the 2016 calendar year. Books have to have been published in 2015 or earlier. All genres, lengths, and formats are allowed.

My previous challenges had you specify which books from your piles you were going to read. This challenge does not require that, instead we are choosing how many books we already have that we are going to read.

There are 6 levels for this challenge. I went for the highest level, Married with Children, which is 50+ books. Because I really have to stop adding to my collection, I made the additional commitment that for every book I brought into the house, 2 had to leave the house. Instead it worked the other way around.

Books I already owned that I read:
1. The Summer of Dead Toys by Antonio Hill. Finished January 3 [This book has now been given away]
2. Huntress Moon by Alexandra Sokoloff. Finished January 9 [This book has now been given away]
3. Tigers in Red Weather by Liza Klaussmann. Finished January 11 [This book has now been given away]
4. Rosemary Cottage by Colleen Coble. Finished January 14 [This book has now been given away]
5. The Risk of Darkness by Susan Hill. Finished January 16 [Kept]
6. The In-Between Hour by Barbara Claypole White. Finished January 19 [This book has now been given away]
7. 13 rue Therese by Elena Mauli Shapiro. Finished January 30. [This book has now been given away]
8. The Far End of Happy by Kathryn Craft. Finished February 13 [This book has now been given away]
9. Do Not Disturb by Tilly Bagshawe. Finished February 18 [This book has now been given away]
10. Where Secrets Sleep by Marta Perry. Finished February 19 [This book has now been given away]
11. Little Green by Walter Mosley. Finished March 1 [This book has now been given away]
12. Anomaly by Krista McGee. Finished March 12 [This book has now been given away]
13. The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly by Sun-Mi Hwang. Finished March 13 [This book has now been given away]
14. Future Crimes by Mark Goodman. Finished March 17 [This book has been given away]
15. Tell Everyone by Alfred Hermida. Finished March 19 [This book has been given away]
16. This Is Why by Leland Spencer. Finished March 27 [This book has been given away]
17. The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers. Finished April 2 [This book has been given away]
18. The January Dancer by Michael Flynn. Finished April 6 [This book has been given away]
19. The Sandalwood Tree by Elle Newmark. Finished April 7 [This book has been given away]
20. Rings of Passage by Karla Tipton. Finished April 12 [This book has been given away]
21. Satisfying Clicking Sound by Jason Guriel. Finished April 22 [This book has been given away]
22. Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese. Finished April 26 [Kept]
23. The "Natural Inferiority of Women, compiled by Tama Starr. Finished May 23 [This book has been given away]
24. Liar by Justine Larbalestier. Finished June 28.[This book has been given away]
25. Joy Comes in the Morning by Jonathan Rosen. Finished July 8 [This book has been given away]
26. Harriet Beamer Rides the Bus by Joyce Magnin. Finished August 11 [This book has been given away]
27. Lauchlin of the Bad Heart by D.R. MacDonald. Finished August 22 [This book has been given away]
28. The Accidental Empress by Allison Pataki. Finished September 15 [This book has been given away]
29. BiblioTech by John Palfrey. Finished September 16 [Kept]
30. An Officer and a Spy by Robert Harris. Finished October 18 [This book has been given away]
31. The Undertaker's Wife by Dee Oliver. Finished November 17 [This book has been given away]
32. Read This! Finished November 23 [Kept]
33. Tolstoy and the Purple Chair by Nina Sankovitch. Finished December 14 [Kept]
34. Quality of Care by Elizabeth Letts. Finished December 17 [This book has been given away]

Status of book pile.
Books that have left: 54 (read and given away) + 3 (duplicates given away) + 26 (books from my past read shelves given away) + 9 (thrown away [mostly old textbooks]) = 92
Books arrived: 4 (won in contests) + (9+9+14+14+7) bought + 20 (from OLA conference) + 6 from co-worker + 3 sent by author +23 (from subscriptions) + 81 (from PLA Conference) + 2 (giveaway) + 8 (from vendor) + 8 (from mom) = 208
(Definitely in the red here!)

Read This!

Finished November 23
Read This! Handpicked Favorites from America's Indie Bookstores, introduction by Ann Patchett.

This small book has staff from 25 independent bookstores recommend books. The bookstores are arranged alphabetically and each one has a short description of the bookstore, a short interview with the staff member from the bookstore, a list of their 50 books, and a shorter list of 4 or 5 with more detail on why they picked each of them.
These are followed but a short section of random statistics about the books and bookstores, then a very short description of the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE) to whom all royalties from this book go, a blank section for the reader to write in 50 favorite books, and a checklist for which bookstores the reader has visited. I've been to a few independent bookstores in the U.S., but only one of the ones here, and that one I visited earlier this year.
There are lots of great books listed here, and my to-read list has grown as a result. It's fun to see which staff have picked books I've read and liked and then to think about how that may mean their list will provide others I'll like. It's also interesting to see how many books I've never ever heard of before.
This will definitely be a book I refer back to often.

The Readers' Advisory Guide to Genre Blends

Finished August 20
The Readers' Advisory Guide to Genre Blends by Megan M McArdle

This short guide gives an introduction to the topic of genre blendings, discussing the issues that arise with books that blend genres, the primary one being where to put things on the shelf if you have a collection that separates genres.
My library doesn't separate genres, but we do use spine labels to help guide patrons, and because we don't use multiple labels, this can result in similar issues.
Following the introduction and issues, this guide focuses on seven genres and the blends between them. A chapter is devoted to each genre, with an overview of the genre, a discussion of genre blending with that genre and sections discussing the blending with each of the other six genres. These sections include a look at three books that blend the two genres, sometimes with a third genre as a bonus, and two books that deflect readers back to the genre that most interests them of the two blended ones.
Genres covered here are Adrenaline, Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Horror, Mystery, Romance, and Science Fiction.
This is followed by a chapter on Whole Collection blends. This chapter looks more at format and offers genre blends in the formats of TV, Film, and Graphic Novel. For each of these formats, it looks at three examples, offering suggestions for the other formats and then gives a short list of other genre blends in the format discussed.
The next chapter is advice on how to do readers' advisory for genre blends, including suggested questions to ask readers, promotion ideas, and finding aids.
The last chapter is a discussion of genre blending with literary fiction, an interesting viewpoint on varieties of literary fiction. For me, this would be a path to guiding readers to books they may have classified as literary and therefore not of interest to them. By emphasizing the genre element in these literary or classic novels, we can expand readers' range and introduce them to new authors. McArdle gives 6 examples for each of the seven genres.
There is also an appendix of authors who are particularly adept at writing genre blends..
This is a good addition to any public library collection of readers' advisory tools, and a good resource for readers' advisory training for staff.

Bizarre Books

Finished December 10
Bizarre Books by Russell Ash and Brian Lake

This book has been sitting on my shelves for a while, and it was one of the books I'd challenged myself to read in my TBR Challenge this year.
It is essentially a book of lists, some more interesting than others.
There are 16 chapters and many of them have multiple lists.
The book begins with books with unintentional double entendre titles, one I found less interesting than others. Some titles were only here because words in the title had adopted new meanings since they had been published.
The second chapter lists extraordinary author names, and again I found this less interesting. It seems like making fun of people's names, not something I am comfortable with.
The third chapter was again around author names, this time in terms of how they related to the title of the book they'd written. An example is The Cypress Garden by Jane Arbor.
The fourth chapter is sheet music titles, and again a lot of these only sound funny to us now because of a change in time, many of them dating from the 19th century.
The fifth chapter was more interesting to me. It lists books that are extremely specific in the subject they cover. One that struck me was Busted Tractors and Rusty Knuckles: Norwegian Torque Wrench Techniques and Other Fine Points of Tractor Restoration.
The sixth chapter was along the same lines, but scientific in nature. Titles include ones such as The Diseases of Electrical Machinery.
The seventh chapter covers books on dirty topics, mostly around bodily functions, or dirt.
The eighth chapter covers odd books on plants and animals from Bean Spasms to Carnivorous Butterflies.
The ninth chapter covers medical titles, including some fiction titles that sound a bit odd. From The Romance of Proctology to Coma Arousal, these were sometimes amusing.
The tenth chapter included titles involving love, marriage, and sex. It includes titles such as Literature of Kissing and How Can I Get Married.
The eleventh chapter covers odd pastimes from How to Vamp Without Music to Original Tricks with Cigars.
The twelfth chapter covers odd-sounding fiction titles from We All Killed Grandma to The Fangs of Suet Pudding.
The thirteenth chapter covers titles that sound incredibly dull or unlikely such as Songs of a Chartered Accountant or I Was a Kamikaze.
The fourteenth chapter covers religious books such as My Invisible Friend Explains the Bible.
The fifteenth chapter covers publishing curiosities such as unusual bindings, strange dedications, and books that challenged the writer such having all the words begin with a particular letter of the alphabet.
The last chapter takes on odd books about death or beyond. Titles run from Reusing Old Graves to Do-it-Yourself Coffins.
I found the chapters from five on most interesting, and the book over-all mildly amusing.

The Man Who Loved Books Too Much

Finished January 22
The Man Who Loved Books Too Much: The True Story of a Thief, a Detective, and a World of Literary Obsession by Allison Hoover Bartlett, read by Judith Brackley

This book I picked to fulfill one of my reading challenges for the year, a book on True Crime. Of course, I had to pick one with a literary slant!
Bartlett is a freelance journalist who grew interested in the world of book theft when a friend was left a book as part of an estate that came with an instruction to return it to its rightful owner. The task wasn't as easy as she might have thought, and it led her to wonder who stole books and why. This led her to the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America (the ABAA) and bookseller Ken Sanders, who took his job as security officer for the organization seriously, setting up online alerting processes and other tools to help quickly disseminate information about stolen books and people suspected of such crimes. Sanders told her about the different types of thieves: those who steal for profit, those who steal for a specific purpose, and those who steal for love.
This led her to John Charles Gilkey, a man who has stolen hundreds of rare books from book sellers across the United States, seemingly for love. Gilkey rarely resells his books, although he doesn't necessarily steal them to read either. He steals them for the image of himself owning rare books of literary merit portrays to him, that of an esteemed gentleman. He is a charming, polite conman and came up with innovative ways to steal the books that he thought "it wasn't fair" that he couldn't afford. His methods and the fact he didn't resell them often are what made him harder to catch.
But Sanders was instrumental in catching him, and when Bartlett approached him in jail, he was willing to talk. However after a while, she began to realize that instead of merely telling the story, she was becoming part of it, and had to consciously take a step back and remove herself from it to complete this book.
Her book explores the reasons people steal, the world of rare books and book collectors, and the temptations within that world.
A very interesting book.

The Library of Unrequited Love

Finished April 28
The Library of Unrequited Love by Sophie Divry, translated by Siân Reynolds

This short novel is the first novel for Divry. It takes place on the lower level of the public library in a unnamed provincial town in France. The librarian goes into work one morning to discover a patron who had been locked in overnight. She then says she can't let them out before the library opens as it would alert others to the patron had been in the library after hours, and proceeds to talk about the library, her life, her dreams, and other matters. The text is one long monologue by the librarian, although there are a few points where the patron obviously commented or reacted in some way, but we only get the librarian's words.
There are points where she seems to fall into an unhappy and untrue stereotype of librarian:

"Being a librarian isn't an especially high-level job, I can tell you. Pretty close to being in a factory. I'm a cultural assembly line worker. So what you need to know is, to be a librarian, you have to like the idea of classification, and to be of a docile nature. No initiative, no room for the unexpected; here, everything is in its place, invariably in its place."

But other times she seems to be more progressive. She espouses the views of Eugène Morel (a man I was admittedly ignorant of until now) a Frenchman who had the following view demands of libraries:

"...make it easier to borrow books, have longer opening hours, keep the collections up to date, have comfortable seats, special areas for children, and the underpinnings of the whole thing, the idea, the supreme aim, was that the people should be able to read."

and she feels that:

"...in my job, there's nothing more exciting, to make you feel wanted, than to be able to size up the person in front of you, guess what they're after, find the book they need on the shelves and bring the two together. Book and reader, if they meet up at the right moment in a person's life, it can make sparks fly, set you alight, change your life." 

She has dreams of more for herself, both professionally and personally, but lacks the hope or will to make these dreams come true.
This is a gem of a book, and I have to thank Ben McNally for introducing me to it.

TBR Pile Book Challenge

This challenge is hosted by Roof Beam Reader and is called the TBR Pile Book Challenge.

The Goal: To finally read 12 books from your “to be read” pile (within 12 months).

Specifics:

1. Each of these 12 books must have been on your bookshelf or “To Be Read” list for AT LEAST one full year. This means the book cannot have a publication date of 1/1/2011 or later (any book published in the year 2010 or earlier qualifies, as long as it has been on your TBR pile – the host WILL be checking publication dates). Caveat: Two (2) alternates are allowed, just in case one or two of the books end up in the “can’t get through” pile.

2.  To be eligible, you must sign-up with the Mr. Linky on the challenge blog – link to your list (so create it ahead of time!) and add updated links to each book’s review.  Every listed book must be completed and must be reviewed (doesn’t have to be too fancy) in order to count as completed.

3.  The link you post in the Mr. Linky must be to your “master list” (see mine below).  This is where you will keep track of your books completed, crossing them out and/or dating them as you go along, and updating the list with the links to each review (so there’s one easy, convenient way to find your list and all your reviews for the challenge).  See THIS LINK for an idea of what the host means.  Your list must be completed by December 31st, 2011.

4. Leave comments on the challenge post as you go along, to update everyone on your status. Come back if/when you complete this challenge and leave a comment indicating that you CONQUERED YOUR 2012 TBR LIST!  Every person who successfully reads his/her 12 books and/or alternates (and who provides a working link to their list, which has links to the review locations) will be entered to win a $50 gift card from Amazon.com or The Book Depository!

5. Crossovers from other challenges are totally acceptable, as long as you have never read the book before and it was published pre-2011!

*Note – You can read the books on your list in any order; they do not need to be read in the order you have them listed. As you complete a book – review it, and go back to your original list and turn that title into a link to the review - that will keep the comments section here from getting ridiculously cluttered.

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My 2012 TBR Pile Challenge List:

1. Miss Pettigrew lives for a Day by Winifred Watson

2. Memoirs of an Infantry Officer by Siegfried Sassoon

3. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski

4. The Perfect Summer by Juliet Nicolson

5. Due Considerations by John Updike

6. Cities of Refuge by Michael Helm (finished July 9)

7. Darkmans by Nicola Barker (finished November 26)

8. The Broken Shore by Peter Temple (finished January 6)

9. The Journal of Helene Berr by Helene Berr and David Bellos (finished December 15)

10. Silas Marner by George Eliot (finished December 31)

11. Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott

12. The Patience Stone by Atiq Rahimi, translated by Polly McLean (finished November 24)

Alternates:

1. Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie

2. Howards End is on the Landing by Susan Hill

I  have tried to pick some books that I know will count towards other challenges, and hopefully increase the chances of success.