TBR@53 part 2

Part 1

My review of Diarmaid MacCulloch's A History of Christianity:

Starting with a millennium of the Hebrew and Greek background to Christianity, this book takes the story down to our own day, not only through the usual history of the Western churches, but also following developments in the Eastern Orthodox churches and churches even less frequently mentioned such as those that developed outside the territories of the Roman Empire

Very well written with a fluid, easy-to-read style, although with a few idiosyncrasies. I thoroughly enjoyed it and learnt a lot. Even at 1000-odd pages plus 100 pages of notes, I wanted more.

Found you! Most people seem to like the MacCulloch book. I will have to get to it one of these days.

Wow! A chunkster that big leaves you wanting more? I'm impressed.

Starting my no. 78 Peter Salway's Roman Britain: A Very Short Introduction. This is not from the TBR pile but is part of a series of 8 books adapted from a one-volume history of Britain, some of which are in the TBR pile.

My review of the Gormenghast Trilogy:

I read the trilogy back in the early 1980s and am now re-reading it.

Titus Groan
Events surrounding the birth and first year of life of Titus Groan, the 77th Earl of Groan.

I remember that the first time I read this I was fascinated by the rituals surrounding the life of the inhabitants of the castle. I didn't find that aspect so prominent this time round, and found the florid descriptive passages rather heavier going. But there are still some great characters and the idea of someone being sent insane by the loss of his library is something to send a chill down the spine of any sensitive reader.

Gormenghast
Titus Groan's boyhood and coming of age.

The 50 or so pages describing Irma Prunesquallor's Soiree is one of the funniest things I've ever read. I enjoyed this one much more than "Titus Groan". More fascinating rituals. I wasn't so taken with the subplot about Keda's daughter, but there were some genuinely horrific parts in the main story of Steerpike's continued rise and eventual fall.

Titus Alone
Titus Groan leaves Gormenghast and travels in the outside world, reaching a city where no-one has heard of him or of Gormenghast.

This last volume in the trilogy was rather disjointed and only really came together in the last 50 pages or so. Mervyn Peake only managed some revisions of a first draft before his last illness made it impossible for him to carry on, and it shows.

I missed the ritualised life of Gormenghast Castle and none of the characters in this part seemed to behave in a way that really made sense to me.

I just bought this trilogy. All the reviews are intriguing.

We had some rain and the temps dropped below 100F. Heavenly.

Starting my No. 79, John Blair's The Anglo-Saxon Age: A Very Short Introduction. A re-read rather than one from the TBR pile.

They're not kidding when they say very short (The Anglo-Saxon Age was only 75 pages), so onwards to my No. 80, John Gillingham and Ralph A. Griffiths's Medieval Britain: A Very Short Introduction.

Next up, John Guy's The Tudors: A Very Short Introduction (my No. 81).

Let me know what you think of it - it's on my TBR pile too!

Moving on to John Morrill's Stuart Britain: A Very Short Introduction which is my no. 82 and brings the TBR pile to 60.

My review of The Tudors: A Very Short Introduction from when I read it before in 2008, and which I see no reason to change:

The first chapter is on economics and was difficult to follow. It might have been easier to follow if it had come at the end of the book rather than at the beginning. We then go through the Tudor monarchs reign by reign. I felt the author was trying to cram too much into what was billed as a short introduction, making it difficult to follow. The approach worked better with Henry VIII and Elizabeth I where he sensibly confined himself to a few topics from long reigns. Tempted by their shorter reigns perhaps, he tried to fit everything into the accounts of the other monarchs, which left me disorientated. I would have liked to hear more about Mary I, in particular.

Thanks, Robert!

Started Paul Langford's Eighteenth-Century Britain: A Very Short Introduction (my no. 83)

My review of Stuart Britain: A Very Short Introduction:

Not quite what it says on the tin. It only covers the Stuarts down to the Glorious Revolution in 1688. A good mixture of a reign by reign description of what happened and chapters following economic, social, artistic, and religious themes.

You have really zoomed through the reading while I have been out of town!

I have been reading quite a bit of manga lately, and it goes by pretty quick. My daughter tells me that I am now officially a geek.

Have you read Nineteenth-Century Britain: A Very Short Introduction before? I have that in my pile too.

A very timely question! Started last night while my internet connection was down, Christopher Harvie and H. C. G. Matthew's Nineteenth-Century Britain: A Very Short Introduction, my no. 84, and bringing the
TBR pile down to 59.

I was going to buy Twentieth-Century Britain: A Very Short Introduction but it had sold out at my local bookshop. Since I lived through nearly half of it, I'm not that bothered. I expect I'll get it some time. Now starting my no. 85 Terry Pratchett's Equal Rites, not off the TBR pile.

My review of Nineteenth-Century Britain: A Very Short Introduction:

Chronologically confusing, following themes rather than a reign by reign or government by government approach.

My overall impression of this British history series is that they work better as refresher courses rather than introductions, despite the titles.

Moving on to my no. 86, Terry Pratchett's Wyrd Sisters (not from TBR pile).

My no. 87 is Terry Pratchett's Witches Abroad, which brings the TBR pile down to 58.

Starting my no. 88 Terry Pratchett's Lords and Ladies, which is an ebook and not from the TBR pile.

My review of Witches Abroad:

When Emberella's fairy godmother, Desiderata Hollow, dies, she leaves her wand and the position of fairy godmother to Magrat Garlick. Magrat decides to accept the position and flies off to Genua, accompanied by Granny Weatherwax, and Nanny Ogg and Greebo, to make sure that Emberella does not marry the prince.

Very, very funny. A story about stories and the differences between stories and real life. Our witch heroines meet a vampire, a werewolf (who wants to eat the grandmother of a little girl with a red cloak), and Gollum. One of them gets a farmhouse dropped on her head while she's walking along the yellow brick road. They eventually team up with a swamp-dwelling voodoo queen and her zombie to prove that life goes on while stories end.

Nice review! It made me want to read the book. :)

Ah, I've been meaning to read Lords and Ladies for a long time.

Starting an online book from Questia, Anthony A. Barrett's Caligula: The Corruption of Power, my no. 89. Not from the TBR pile.

My review of Lords and Ladies:

When the witches return to Lancre, not only is Magrat going to marry the King, but there is the little matter of elves breaking through into the Discworld. And no-one ever said elves were nice.

A curious mixture of laugh out loud humour and horror, which doesn't always quite come off. But still waaaay better than many other writers can manage when they're on the top of their form.

Good review of L&L. I'll have to read it some time.

Reading this online and flicking back and forth between text and endnotes is too difficult with a heavy cold so I'm starting my 90 Anne Perry's Long Spoon Lane, which brings the TBR pile down to 57.

Hope you are able to shake that cold off soon, Robert.

Yes, get well!

Yes, Speedy Recovery!

Thank you, all. I'm basically over it now, just a bit clogged up.

Starting my No. 91, Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels and Other Writings, which brings the TBR pile down to 56. I'm only intending to read 'Gulliver's Travels', after watching the film last year. I did attempt to read the Project Gutenburg version of Gulliver over Christmas, but it was a heavily bowdlerised version and only included Lilliput and Brobdingnag anyway.

My review of Long Spoon Lane:

When a group of anarchists blows up a row of houses in the East End in 1893, they are soon caught. They claim they only meant to blow up one of the houses, owned by a policeman they claim is corrupt and living off the proceeds from extortion. Special Branch agent Thomas Pitt decides to investigate whether their claims are true.

I didn't really like this book. As the characters argued about whether the police needed greater powers to deal with the anarchist threat and rising crime, I felt I was being hit over the head with the contemporary resonances rather than being told a story. It did have an exciting finish, which confirms my opinion from having read one of the author's other books. She's good at action, but really rather dull in her world building and setting up of situations.

Oh, too bad on Long Spoon Lane. Without world building, what's the point?

I've got a week off work for Idul Fitri so I've finished off Gulliver's Travels and also my No. 92 H G Wells's The Time Machine, which was a sample ebook I didn't know was on my phone.

Have read some more chapters of Caligula: The Corruption of Power on my computer, but it's a bit heavy going and does rather feel like work, so I'm probably only going to read a chapter or two a day, if that.

In between I'm starting my no. 93 Charlaine Harris's Poppy Done to Death, which brings my TBR pile down to 55.

Your TBR pile is getting dangerously short. What will you do when you finish it off?

My birthday is coming up next month. I'm sure the TBR pile will get replenished, especially as I'm going back to England (my Dad's 80th is a week afterwards).

Ohh, can't wait to see what you get for your birthday!

I can't wait either. You read a great mix of books.

Starting my No. 94, Sophie Kinsella's Confessions of a Shopaholic. I bought this book because it was on the LibraryThing anti-recommendations. I get something from there every so often that's not too expensive, just to broaden my horizons.

There was one book in my TBR pile that I read part of many years ago (C. V. Wedgwood's The Thirty Years War) but didn't finish. I put it in the TBR pile to have another go but realised recently that I was probably never going to read it and there was a good home waiting for it, so I passed it on. So the TBR pile now stands at 53.

My review of Poppy Done to Death:

Aurora Teagarden goes to pick up her stepbrother's wife for a lunch date and finds her dead body in the kitchen. She follows up on a few bright ideas and discovers whodunnit.

There was a large and confusing cast of subsidiary characters from Aurora's extended family and her ex and current boyfriends. I had some problems sorting out who was who, but this would be probably not be a problem for someone who read the series in order.

It was a fun read. I had my doubts at first but after the first 20 pages or so I was hooked. I'll definitely being putting the first in the series on my wishlist.

LOl! I look at the antireview once in awhile too. I didn't think Shopaholic sounded like your taste! Mostly, it's dead on for me... a list of books I wouldn't be caught dead with. But it did list Marley and Me, which being a dog person, I've read and cried.

& I just looked. # 12 is 'The Essential Calvin & Hobbes" What has a kid & a stuffed tiger ever done to me?

Starting my no. 93, Anne Rice's Pandora, which brings my TBR pile down to 52.

My review of Confessions of a Shopaholic:

Rebecca Bloomwood, a 25-year-old who writes for a personal finance trade journal, learns to bite the bullet and take control of her own finances.

At first the main character's inanity got on my nerves, but she gradually grew on me a little. Not enough to make we want to read the others in the series, however.

I realise I'm probably not the author's target audience and my sense of humour is rather different. But I suppose if that's the sort of thing you like, you'll like it.

Well, that's a good review for an Unrecommend. I ain't reading it.

Starting my no. 94, William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, which brings the TBR pile down to 51.

My review of Caligula: The Corruption of Power:

Biography of Caligula. It takes us through his life, and then has chapters on his relations with the Jews, his building programme, and a final assessment.

Barrett stresses the paucity of the written sources. Unfortunately, there are big gaps in the texts of both Tacitus and Cassius Dio at this point.

Caligula's alleged lunacy is put down to misunderstood jokes and witticisms taken out of context plus a severe lack of tact and empathy.

Very scholarly to the point of being quite heavy going in places.

My review of Pandora:

The story of how Pandora became a vampire during the reign of Tiberius.

The main body of the story was good, but the introductory chapter where Pandora narrates how David Talbot asked her to write down her life dragged a bit. The epilogue dealing with the 2000-odd years after she became a vampire was rather rushed and tended to hop about in a disconnected way so that I was often not quite sure when events were taking place.

I've never thought of Pandora as a vampire before. Kind of interesting.

It's not the Pandora, but a vampire character from some of Anne Rice's other books who calls herself Pandora.

Oh!

Starting my no. 95 Agatha Christie's Nemesis, which brings the TBR pile down to 50.

My review of Much Ado About Nothing:

Although it's not so apparent on the stage/film, when one just gets swept forward, I found the whole Benedick/Beatrice plot unconvincing while reading the play.

I didn't realise Nemesis was a sequel to A Caribbean Mystery until I read the inside blurb. So, I've downloaded "A Caribbean Mystery" to read first. So, they will be nos. 95 and 96.

I bought a Samsung Galaxy Tablet over the weekend and have started reading "A Caribbean Mystery" on that. It shows two pages per screen, and is a much better reading experience than on my iPod Touch, which can only show a paragraph or so at a time.

My review of A Caribbean Mystery:

Miss Marple investigates a series of murders in the hotel where she's holidaying in the Caribbean.

Much what you'd expect. Good fun. I certainly didn't guess who the murderer was.

Samsung makes good stuff. I find that I buy more and more things from them.

I find that when I read Agatha Christie I don't even try to work out "who done it", I just relax and enjoy. I most particularly like the atmosphere that she sets, and her eccentric characters.

Starting my No. 97, Rose-Marie and Rainer Hagen's Egyptian Art. This brings down the TBR pile to 49.

My review of Nemesis:

Jason Rafiel dies and leaves Miss Marple a mission, without actually telling her what it is but it involves going on a coach tour of stately homes and gardens. Miss Marple discovers her mission and rights old wrongs.

Not as atmospheric as I was expecting. Miss Marple in the social changes of the 1960s doesn't quite work, but good fun all the same.

Starting my No. 98, Stephen Benatar's A Christmas Story, which brings my TBR pile down to 48. I met the author last Christmas Eve when he was doing a book signing in the Reading branch of Waterstones. He didn't seem to be getting that many takers, so I bought one of his books just to try.

My review of Egyptian Art:

This book has 45 pages of gorgeous full page illustrations of ancient Egyptian art objects from 2700 BC to 24 AD, each page accompanied by a page of text.

Nice pictures, but the mentions of reincarnation in the text worry me. I'm not sure, but I don't think the Egyptians believed in reincarnation.

Starting my No. 99 William Shakespeare`s The Winter's Tale, which brings the TBR pile down to 47.

My review of A Christmas Story:

Odin recruits Richard Semple, a homeless drunk, to subvert the spirit of Christmas and make it a time children hate and fear.

I found this book difficult to get into because the writing doesn't really flow but I'm glad I persevered because the ending, although quite predictable, was moving and left me quite tearful.

Sounds like a book I would like. I was just at our Catholic Book and Gift shop buying books for my sister-in-law's birthday, and they had some Advent items out already. I think I am going to go back and get some next week before they sell out. I think these are items on sale left over from last year.

Starting my No. 100, P. D. James's The Private Patient, which brings the TBR pile down to 46.

My review of The Winter's Tale:

Probably makes more sense on stage. I couldn't really see where Leontes's jealousy was coming from.

Starting my No. 101, Ruth Rendell's Wolf to the Slaughter. This is an ebook, not off the TBR shelf.

My review of The Private Patient:

Investigative journalist Roda Gradwyn books herself into a private clinic to have a childhood facial scar removed. The operation goes well but she is murdered the night after. Adam Dalgleish and his team investigate.

A little difficult to get into at first but well up to P D James's usual high standard. A sense of farewell and tying up of knots in the team's personal lives at the end. Is this planned to be her last book?

Starting my no. 103, Allan Massie's The Caesars, borrowed from my father.

My review of Wolf to the Slaughter:

The sister of a famous but rather scatty artist has gone missing and Chief Inspector Wexford receives an anonymous letter which says a murder has been committed. Are the two connected?

Wexford's first outing and I felt Rendell hadn't quite found her feet yet with very abrupt transitions between scenes. This may have been due to the formatting of the ebook and not noticeable in the print version with more white space to guide the reader.

Also read on long flight: ebook version of George Orwell's Animal Farm.

Congrats on passing 100!

Moving on to no. 104 (2 a week, yay), Ben Goldacre's Bad Science, not off the TBR pile.

My review of The Caesars:

Brief biographies of the Caesars from Julius to Domitian.

Described by the author as a companion to Suetonius, it's most interesting as a background to the author's biographical novels. The illustrations are black and white and often with no info about source.

Another year older, another thread.