Poquette's Greater Trumps

My name is Suzanne,
It's my first time here,
Let's see if I can
Get anywhere near

Rising to the challenge
Posed by this group,
But I'll have to scavenge
To be in the loop.

The problem is this:
There are too many Trumps,
But to 2022
We cannot jump.

So please bear with me
Though I'm way out of step,
This concept's so dreamy
I just want to schlepp

My way through a page count
That will meet the test,
And you'll bless the amount —
Twenty thousand one fifty — no jest!

Ratings

★★★★★ A+ — Sent me over the moon!
★★★★½ A — I really, really liked the book!
★★★★ A– — Kept my interest, well-done but didn't quite reach the A level.
★★★½ B+ — Mixed feelings; good book but is uneven or contains serious flaws IMHO
★★★ B — Not memorable.
★★ C — Why did I read this?
★ F — Why the @! did I read this????

Book Bullets

December
The Sherlockian by Graham Moore 12/17/14 (***mamzel)

I happ'd upon a profusion of cards,
Thrilling enough to please the bards . . .

First emblazoned bright is a motley Fool,
Whose world is his to rightly rule.



These books — I am such a Fool —
Didn't quite take, so it's back to school!

To Reread
1
2
3

Probabilities:
Aegypt by John Crowley
Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy by Jacob Burckhardt
Metamorphosis by Ovid

Now appears a fearsome Magician,
Yet of the soul an awesome physician.



It takes a Magician to understand
Postmodernism's intricate headstands!

Postmodern Fiction
1 Flanders Road by Claude Simon (1960), 193 pp., 3/31 (Review)
2
3

Possibilities:
Life: A User's Manual by George Perec
Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov

Following close the divine High Priestess,
Instructing neophytes is her business.



The Great Man Theory is alive and well
As our High Priestess may compel.

Biography and Memoir
1
2
3

Possibilities:
Beatrice d'Este, Duchess of Milan by Julia Mary Cartwright
Handel by Edward J. Dent
A.E. Waite: Magician of Many Parts by R.A. Gilbert
George Sand: A Biography by Curtis Cate
Galileo's Daughter by Dava Sobel
Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff

Bedazzling in her glory comes the Empress,
Our courage and virtue are hers to butress.



The virtues of our literati
Are parsed by the Queen of verity.

Literary Criticism
1 Seven Types of Ambiguity by William Empson (1966), 256 pp., 3/31
2
3

Possibilities:
How to Read and Why by Harold Bloom
Essaying Montaigne: A Study of the Renaissance Institution of Writing and Reading by John O'Neill

I see her consort, a magnificent Emperor,
Who in his youth was a great conqueror.



To conquer literary theory
Leaves one very weary.

Literary Theory
1
2
3

Possibilities:
Literary Theory and Criticism by Patricia Waugh
Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory by Peter Barry
Literary Theory: The Basics by Hans Bertens
Oulipo: A Primer of Potential Literature by Warren Motte Jr.

A solemn procession accompanies the Hierophant,
Who swings his censor with an air triumphant.



A higher order is the subject here
No smoke and mirrors may interfere.

Religion
1 Heresy: A Thriller by S.J. Parris (2010), 450 pages, 3/26 ★★★★
2
3

Possibilities:
The Sacred and Profane: The Nature of Religion by Mercea Eliade
The Theological Origins of Modernity by Michael Allen Gillespie
The Stillborn God: Religion, Politics and the Modern West by Mark Lilla
Melville's Quarrel with God by Lawrance Thompson

Shocking to see are a pair of naked Lovers,
Who someone hastens to drape under covers.



Adam and Eve left their shady nooks
To seek the delights of learned books.

Books about Books
1 Bound to Please by Michael Dirda, 525 pages 1/30 ★★★★½
2
3

Possibilities:
The Book in the Renaissance by Andrew Pettegree
Classics for Pleasure by Michael Dirda
The Idea of the Book in the Middle Ages by Jesse M. Gellrich
A Literary Collage: Annotating My Commonplace Book by Richard Katzev
A Passion for Books by Harold Rabinowitz
This is not the End of the Book by Umberto Eco

Wondrous to see is a magnificent Chariot,
Reined sphinxes leading a diademed laureate.



Chariot legions penetrate into many a realm
where wondrous tales can overwhelm.

Novels Other Than American, British and French
1
2
3

Possibilities:
The Castle by Frane Kafka
Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol
The Map of Time by Felix T. Palma
Celestial Harmonies by Peter Esterházy
The Cairo Trilogy by Naguib Mahfouz
Landscape Painted with Tea by Milorad Pavic
The Discovery of Heaven by Harry Mulisch
The Betrothed by Alessandro Manzoni

The cardinal virtue Fortitude, or Strength,
Toys with a lion of unfathomable length.



The dream of Paris soars
As we hear the lion's roars.

Paris/French Language
1
2
3

Possibilities:
The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris by David McCullough
Paris to the Moon by Adam Gopnik
A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway
Seven Ages of Paris by Alistair Horne
Legendes pour les Enfants by Paul Boiteau

Look ye there, a kindly hooded Hermit,
Whose lamp and habit bespeak an abbot.



The Hermit has the ultimate truth,
He will share with all but the uncouth.

Books with "Gnostic" in the Title
1
2
3

Possibilities:
The Gnostic Scroll by Patricia Owens
The Gnostic Prophecy by Mike Vasich
The Gnostic Religion by Hans Jonas

Suspended in air turns the Wheel of Fortune,
Mere thought of which creates tension.



Fortune's Wheel turns inexorably,
Brief tales reveal this verity.

Short Stories
1 A Loeb Classical Library Reader (2006), 234 pages, 3/30
2
3

Possibilities:
Collected Stories of Colette
Collected Short Stories of Jean Rhys
The Human Comedy: Selected Stories by Honoré de Balzac
Sixty Stories by Donald Barthelme
Where I'm Calling From by Raymond Carver

A relief it is to see lady Justice,
Whose renown bespeaks her lack of bias.



Whenever I chance to dream of Venice,
I marvel at the Serene Republic's sense of Justice.

Venice
1 The Floating Book by Michelle Lovric (2003), 1/9, ★★★½ 490 pages
2
3

Possibilities:
The City of Fallen Angels by John Barendt
Jacopo Sensovino: Architecture and Patronage in Renaissance Venice by Deborah Howard

Upside down is suspended a haloed Hanged Man,
From a strange tree, behind his back a talisman.



The Hanged Man has unique visions
Permitting him more creative conclusions.

Philosophy
1 Gorgias by Plato (5th C. BC), 206 pp., 2/23 ★★★★½
2
3

Possibilities:
The Garden of Epicurus by Anatole France
Lives of the Mind by Roger Kimball
Persian Letters by Montesquieu
Symposium by Plato
Timaeus by Plato

Upon a pale horse rides frightful armored Death,
Mere peeks at which verily squelch the breath.



Poetry may be the Death of me,
That's to explain this anomaly.

Poetry
1 Stay, Illusion by Lucy Brock-Broido (2013), 1/3 ★★ 100 pages
2
3

Possibilities:
The Nature of Things by Lucretius
The Aeneid by Virgil

Hopeful sunrise accompanies angel Temperance,
To the stressful scene restoring balance.



A balanced essay is a thing of beauty
Where style and content must not be empty.

Essays
1
2
3

Possibilities:
A Collection of Essays by George Orwell
Essays by Thomas Mann
Slouching Toward Bethlehem by Joan Didion
Selected essays, 1917-1932 by T.S. Eliott

But no, here is a terrifying beast, the Devil,
Returning a dreadful morose sense of evil.



This creature belongs in the Twilight Zone,
In our fancy we command him to leave us alone.

Science Fiction/Fantasy
1 Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick (2008), 256 pages, 3/5 ★★★★
2
3

Possibilities:
The Greater Trumps by Charles Williams
The City and the City by China Mieville
Kingdom Come by Mark Waid

Oh no, there's more, the lightning-struck Tower,
Causing all to shrink again and cower.



The Tower is a medieval place
Where too many good people found disgrace.

Medieval Literature and History
1
2
3

Possibilities:
Parzival by Wolfram von Eschenbach
The Convivio of Dante Alighieri
The New Life by Dante Alighieri

At last the twilight brings the Star,
A pleasant unearthly sight from afar.



The promise of America can be found in her fiction
Where the novelist's great gift is his perfect diction.

American Novels
1
2
3

Possibilities:
Lord Byron's Novel: The Evening Land by John Crowley
Aegypt Quartet vols 2-4 by John Crowley
Omoo by Herman Melville
Typee by Herman Melville
The Ambassadors by Henry James
The Garden of Allah by Robert Hichens

Dogs are howling at the fullness of the Moon,
Manna rains down, a welcome boon.



Our boons are many thanks to British authors
Whose inspirations come from the Moon's ethers.

British Novels
1 A Place of Greater Safety by Hilary Mantel (1992) 868 pages, 3/17 ★★★½ (Review)
2
3

Possibilities:
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell
The Antiquary by Sir Walter Scott
The Magus by John Fowles
The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot
Middlemarch by George Eliot
Pompeii: A Novel by Robert Harris

After a night of restful sleep the Sun
Restores the hopes and dreams of everyone.



The Sun King inspired many great stories,
Some were follies but most were glories.

French Novels
1 The Charterhouse of Parma by Stendhal (1839), 502 pp., 3/1 ★★★★
2
3

Possibilities:
Les Misérables by Victor Hugo
Jean Christophe, 3 vols., by Romain Roland

One more warning sign appears: Judgment
Reminds us each that we must be prudent.



The Renaissance spawned the Inquisition,
Which put Judgment in a terrible position.

Renaissance
1 The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio (1353) 2/14 ★★★★½ 1072 pp.
2
3

Possibilities:
Book of the City of Ladies by Christine de Pizan
Urbino: The Story of a Renaissance City by June Osborne
Power and Imagination: City States in Renaissance Italy by Lauro Martines
The Renaissance: A Short History by Paul Johnson
The Book in the Renaissance by Andrew Pettegree
Two Renaissance Book Hunters: The Letters of Poggius Bracciolini to Nicolaus de Niccolis

And through it all we have seen the World,
The dreams of which in our memories swirled.



The World is our Oyster, source of great adventure,
Through travel we also discover our truest nature.

"Atlases," Geography, Travel and History
1 Maps of the Imagination: The Writer as Cartographer by Peter Turchi, (2004), 240 pp., 2/26 ★★★★
2
3

Possibilities:
Atlas of the European Novel by Franco Moretti
You are Here: Personal Geographies and other Maps of the Imagination by Katharine Harmon
Empires of the Indus: The Story of a River by Alice Albinia

The cards are shuffled, see how they lie,
Now books and authors they will signify.

Welcome to the Challenge! You had me laughing with the poem at the top :) I love the theme and I'm looking forward your comments.

Nice categories, welcome aboard :)

What a great theme! I'm so impressed!

Welcome and congratulations on your clever set-up. You're planning some serious reading!

Very nice challenge! Oh so many erudite books, good luck with all of them. :)

Beautiful cards! Clever poems! Welcome to the group!

Welcome to the Challenge, you have a great set-up and look to have a very full reading year planned.

Thanks everyone for your warm welcome and kind comments! I have already marked many of your threads for future reference.

BTW, I have never tracked page count before. Can one of you tell me: Do you count the published number of pages or do you take the trouble to count merely the text pages?

Really interesting theme!

I often note the number of pages and usually take the trouble to figure out the number for the text plus anything like forewords if I actually looked at them.

I tried counting page numbers last year but just forgot one time too many so gave up on it. I checked what number the last page was and deducted the number before the book really started (most books seem to start at pages 7-13). I didn't bother deducting pages with images or blank pages before new chapters, etc.

Like >34 hailelib: I note it all; I will look at the beginning page to see what number it starts on, so if it begins on 7 I'll subtract 6 from the final page, but will also add on introductions and whatever else there may be to read that is not paginated. I don't go so far as to pay attention to the number of blanks like when new chapters begin and such, which does bother me but is too much a nuisance to stop and note down when reading so I just let it go. But I prefer to have the exact number that I read! It's entirely up to you what your own preferences are, though, certainly no one would judge whatever method you choose to count by! :)

Wow, fantastic setup! Welcome aboard and good luck with your challenge! :)

Love your theme, the cards, the quotes and poetry!

Since I do a lot of reading on my Kindle, which doesn't provide page numbers, I use the publisher's page count.

>34 hailelib: Thanks!

the text plus anything like forewords. Good idea!

>35 PawsforThought: I didn't bother deducting pages with images or blank pages before new chapters, etc. Yeah, that would be a bit much. Thanks!

>36 .Monkey.: I prefer to have the exact number that I read! I feel the same way. I would prefer to get as close as possible to the number of pages without being obsessive about it.

>37 rabbitprincess: Thank you so much!

>38 LoisB: Thank you as well! I was wondering about the Kindle problem since many books lack pagination. I'll do what you do in that case. Even in books that have pagination, often introductions are excluded and it is difficult to estimate length.

I guess the bottom line is that you have to adapt your strategy to any given case.

I appreciate all your suggestions, everyone!

Re: page counts, I think I'm a lot lazier than everyone else on this thread! I just find the number of the last page of the book (excluding things like afterwords, appendices, author interviews, etc.) and say that's how many pages I read. I know most books start after page 1, but I don't bother to subtract it out...close enough for me! :)

The number of words on a page varies so much. A book by James Paterson or the average YA author will have a much lower average word/page count than an author like Neil Stephenson. I just use the number of pages shown on the book's page and figure it averages out in the end.

>40 christina_reads: I think am going to deal with it on a case-by-case basis given all the variables.

>41 mamzel: You are right about the variance in number of words per page. The book I am reading right now has 500 words per page. Another book I recently read with the same physical dimensions has only 300 words per page! It's not fair!

Maybe I should count words! But then I'd have to rethink my whole schtick!

Welcome!! Nice categories - looking forward to following along!

Thanks Eva! It's great to be among all you creative and well-read people!

Wow, your challenge is super creative!

Beautiful theme and set-up. Lots of good titles up there too. I look forward to following along.

Thanks Tazoh and Vivienne! I'll be watching your threads as well. ;-)

Wow, that is a very creative set up. I really like your opening poem too.
I am going to give page counting a go this year too. I was planning to go with whatever the publisher states is the number of pages for any ebooks I read. For actual books I will go with the page number on the last page of the book that I actually read.
I hope you enjoy your reading next year. I'll be keeping my eye out for any A+

Thanks for your kind words, Roro! I had already starred your thread even though I did not comment. Love the games idea!

I hope there will be some A+ books in 2015 as well, but one never knows. There are usually two or three every year that are real standouts, and by that measure, I have reached my quota for this year.

Dead Souls and The Charterhouse of Parma. This should be good.

Hopefully not in the same week. There are a few antidotes! ;-)

I love your poems and categories, I look forward to reading your posts.

Thanks so much and I appreciate your stopping by!

Interesting set up and quite a few books I'm hoping to get to in the new year.

Welcome!!

Forgot to star my own thread! Thus the delay in responding.

>54 lindapanzo: Thanks for the welcome! Hopefully we can exchange our views on mutual reading when the time comes.

Love the photos that go with your categories. Looks like some heavy reading. I've been thinking of page count too. I noticed that when you set up your viewing style for your library, there is a column for page count. Not sure exactly where the number comes from ( I suspect publisher information), but I've been using that as a general guide especially for ebooks. Anyway - welcome.

>56 dudes22: Thanks much! If you are not familiar, the photos are from a commonly available deck of Tarot cards.

The "Publication" column does include page count in most cases (except most ebooks, of course). I have noticed that the "Book Details" page, which shows page count, is not viewable if the book is not actually in one's library. I usually just click over to amazon to find the page count if I need it.

Great choice of books, Suzanne. I will not join the Category challenge, but have starred your thread as an inspirational guide. I hope to read about your progress on Club Read 2015.

What a surprise to see you here, Edwin! I decided to try this challenge to add a new dimension to my LT participation. I will indeed continue to have my Club Read thread in 2015.

I am "shopping" for ideas, what to read. I may join the Jane Austen challenge, still hoping to read Mansfield Park before the end of this year, as a Literary Centennial.

I am still very interested to follow your reading in Medieval and Renaissance Literature.

I just caught my first book bullet and it's not even 2015 yet!

Dying to get started but am determined to wait till the 1st.

Forgot to say -- thanks -- I think -- to mamzel for The Sherlockian by Graham Moore.

Good luck this year! You've got a lot of interesting possibilities listed!

>61 Poquette: You're welcome!

>62 mstrust: >63 mamzel: Thanks for stopping by. Hoping it will be interesting!

Welcome to the challenge Suzanne! I love your opening poem and brilliant job in creating your theme!

Wow. Loved your poetic Tarot card set-up. Very cool!

#16 poetry may be the death of me...LOL

Don't know how your book reading is going to pan out but your introduction to the categories is a work of art.

>65 lkernagh: Thanks so much! Everyone here has been so welcoming. I am looking forward to actually getting around to reading! Just keeping up with this group is going to be a full-time job!

>66 avidmom: Thanks for taking the time to visit. Now you are seeing the real me! ;-)

>67 zenomax: poetry may be the death of me...LOL That may be even funnier than you think! I have a very checkered career with poetry, especially modern poetry, and so it is rather ironic that I found myself creating a pile of doggerel! But I appreciate your kind words very much!

Welcome to the challenge. I like your tarot challenge and your tarot deck. I used the tarot for my 2013 challenge categories. Looking forward to seeing your 2015 reads, esp your poetry category.

>69 VioletBramble: Thank you! I'll have to go back and look at your 2013 challenge. I scoured 2014 looking to see whether anyone else had used the tarot theme and thought I was pretty safe. Of course, there are many ways to do it.

Speaking of poetry, my first book of the year is a book of poems. Review to follow . . .

Stay, Illusion by Lucie Brock-Broido (2013) 100 pages

Category: Poetry
Tarot Trump: Death

At my age I should know better than to judge a book by its cover, but the fact is that the only reason I bought this book was because I not only liked the cover, I was enchanted by it. But to say that I am less than enchanted by the contents is an understatement.

Stay, Illusion is a collection of poetry. There are so many things to like about the physicality of the book, beginning with the title which is a scrap from Hamlet of all places (Act 1, Scene 1) in which Horatio addresses the ghost, to the Rapunzel-like photo on the back cover of the author with her golden mane, and of course the truly enchanting cover reproduction of the iconic white buck in repose. Leafing through, the individual poem titles seem to give hope of more enchantment inside: "Infinite Riches in the Smallest Room," "A Meadow," "You Have Harnessed Yourself Ridiculously to This World," "Currying the Fallow-Colored Horse," "Dove, Interrupted," "Dear Shadows," "For a Clouded Leopard in Another Life" — to name a few. If this were a menu, the fare must surely be sumptuous.

After this build-up, it is with great sadness that I report the poetry herein falls somewhat short of my expectations.

In the interest of full disclosure, I must admit that poetry is not my favorite genre, although I am not a total Philistine in that department. What is not to like about Shakespeare's Sonnets, or various poems by Keats, Wordsworth, John Donne, or even Baudelaire? And you may be thinking that I am a fine one to criticize someone else's poetry in view of the pile of doggerel I dreamed up to introduce my challenge! Doggerel is one thing. It doesn't pretend to compete in the realm of serous poetry. And Lucie Brock-Broido has certainly not written a book of doggerel, and this is not her first published collection. She is obviously a serious poet.

She is admittedly capable of producing evocative imagery, and there is quite a lot of it here. But it is hard to find a poem that takes a theme and carries it through to the end. The poems seem disjointed. A single disjointed poem is not a bad thing. But a whole book of them is a bit much. There is a sameness to it all that is wearying in the end. The stream-of-consciousness is carried too far. Yet, still, some of the poems are quite like dreams that move from one image to another.

The Pianist

Ivory sailcloth of the nuptial bed, the last fantasia, pulsing, lit.
I was besotted with the fever of the setting free.
Feedbag of meal, the feeling of oats, so soft at the muzzle of me.
Then they moved me to a sow-shaped exurb; I did not prosper there.
If you would leave at daybreak, by night I'd wait for you, at everywhere.
    Your licensed massage therapist
Loves you more concretely than I do. I, abstract, adoring, distant
And unsalvageable. She said, Give up, be palpable—all Hand.
I took to the tawny river and swam into the theater
    Of the darkened chamber music hall.
    I loved with all my heart my fear.
You were just an hallucination on my own slow way to sea.
    On the common, there were swans
Pretending to be boats that carried people
      Who imagined they felt joy.

The indentations are inexplicable, and there are many throughout that seem meaningless. If a poem is read aloud, does such preciousness even matter? But perhaps these poems are meant to be seen and not heard.

There is actually one poem in the book that I think I understand: "Currying the Fallow-Colored Horse." It is not ostensibly about what the title states, but rather I believe it represents the kinds of random thoughts one might have while doing something else. And it is one of the few poems, along with "The Pianist," that doesn't deliver an unpleasant jolt amidst all the flowery language.

And to the curious I say, Don't be naïve.
The soul, like a trinket, is a she.
I lay down in the tweed of one man that first frost night. I did not like the wool of him.
You have one mitochondrial speck of evidence on your cleat.
They can take you down for that.
Did I forget to mention that when you're dead
You're dead for a long time.
My uncle, dying, told me this when asked, Why stay here for such suffering.
The chimney swift flits through the fumatorium.
I long for one last Blue democracy, which has broke my heart a while.
How many minutes have I left, the lover asked, To still be beautiful.?
I took his blond face in my hands and kissed him blondely on his mouth.

As these examples show, it is difficult to connect the poem titles with the actual content.

Poetry is a very personal affair, and so the fact that I do not relate to much of Brock-Broido's poems should not be a deterrent to others for whom references are less obscure or even unappealing. I read many of the poems more than once to give them every chance, but the truth is that this poet does not really speak to me. It may be that I am too much stuck in pre-modernity.

I might have given it 1 star!

>71 Poquette: - I tend to struggle with poetry at the best of times so it sounds like one I should avoid, if I ever do get the urge to read some poetry.

>72 LoisB: I considered giving it one star but decided to award an extra point for presentation!

>73 lkernagh: Stay, Illusion is probably not a good choice for people like me and possibly thee who are not into contemporary poetry. Obviously I am not and while Brock-Broido gets off some good lines, overall her poems don't appeal to me. We can remain hopeful and try again at some point. ;-)

That is a great cover indeed - I have a postcard from (I think) the National Gallery of that exact image! I'll pass on the book, though. :)

>75 -Eva-: Yes, there are better books out there, sad to say.

* * * * *

Unfortunately, I am not getting off to a very good start this year. My second book of the year is only marginally better. Review to follow.

The Floating Book by Michelle Lovric (2003) 490 pages

Category: Venice
Tarot Trump: Justice

In 1470 Venice everyone was unhappy in his own way. At least that is the impression left by The Floating Book. A finer collection of miserable, unhappy, unpleasant characters could not be found gathered in one place than reside here.

Ostensibly a novel about Wendelin of Speyer and his brother Johann, the first printers in Venice, that is merely one of the frames that hold this otherwise rather sordid book together. Couched in elegant prose, the base affairs connecting historic figures Wendelin Speyer and artist Giovanni Bellini to a fictional sideshow of emotional dwarves, psychological cripples and other misfits dominate the narrative.

Purported letters of Catullus, the Roman poet whose star shone briefly at the time of Julius Caesar and Cicero forms the other frame, the two stories overlapping around the initial publication in Rome and the first printing in Venice fifteen hundred years later of his voluptuous poetry which had somehow survived in manuscript form the totalitarian ravages of Church dominance.

The Floating Book contains a combination of elements that interest me a great deal — the history of printing, the Renaissance, Venice herself and her art and customs — and I was therefore prepared to like the book and looked forward to reading it. However, although it represents a massive amount of research and polished writing and is replete with a surfeit of factoids and Renaissance lore, it fell short of expectations. The fact is, the story Michelle Lovric has written is filled with people who are not only flawed, but they commit the most egregious literary sin of all: they are boring.

I could go on, but why bother? Aside from the stylish writing and the historical setting, and Catullus's poems that serve as chapter epigraphs, I found little in the way of enjoyment in these pages.

Boring is no bueno, but thanks for the review. And better luck with your next one.

Oh dear, thanks for your reviews anyway.

>78 mstrust: >79 Roro8: Thanks for stopping by. I am not off to a great beginning this year. No way to go but up!

I'm certainly glad I decided to drop by and find out what you're up to, because I love you're Categories and how you introduced them. Not are your Categories ambitious, but your list of possibilities are very impressive as well. It will be interesting to keep an eye on what you're reading.

I have to say, I probably would have been seduced by the cover of that book of poetry, too, lol.

It sounds as though your first two books of the year haven't been great - I hope the situation improves quickly!

That's the great thing about books, a better one is always waiting on the shelf! Hope you manage to pull that better one down next time. :)

>81 Dejah_Thoris: >82 DeltaQueen50: Nice to see you both here! Thankfully, book three is sizing up to be a winner. I am reading a collection of marvelous literary essays and book reviews by Michael Dirda called Bound to Please: An Extraordinary One-Volume Literary Education. So far, it is living up to its advance billing!

Meanwhile, I am having a hard time keeping up with all the hyperactive threads in this group. I have been in Club Read for the past few years, and this year it is starting out at a hectic pace as well and just keeping up there is a full time job. It may have been a mistake to try to fully participate in two such active groups. I hope things settle down to a reasonable pace pretty soon!

>83 Poquette: Honestly, things usually slow down a bit once the excitement of the new year has worn off…so I do hope you stick around! :)

>84 christina_reads: Thanks, Christina! I definitely plan to stick around, but keeping up with all the other threads is the problem! That's what I was looking forward to in this group, but I can't seem to keep up with two groups. I'll catch up eventually, but When do I find time to actually read a book??? ;-)

>85 Poquette: Maybe add a category for thread reading? ;)

>86 rabbitprincess: Next year! Why haven't we thought of this!

Sorry to see the Lovric book was just okay. I read and rather liked her historical fiction story The Book of Human Skin, but I haven't read any of her other books yet.

Like Christina said, the threads do start to slow down but it takes a couple of weeks. Come summer, they are super slow! ;-)

>88 lkernagh: Lovric's prose is magnificent. Somehow her characters lacked dynamism and I just did not like them. Too bad.

Eventually I will catch up here, but I have too much going on just now, so bear with me.

Meanwhile, I am in the middle of a big fat wonderful collection of book reviews/essays by Michael Dirda called Bound to Please. Hope to finish soon!

Popping in to see your thread. I love the categories you chose and the way you set everything up.

>90 luvamystery65: Thanks so much! Am so bogged down with RL just now. Reading is taking a back seat but the light at the end of the tunnel is visible. Will catch up soon I hope.

>91 Poquette: RL has a tendency to do that. It's good to hear that you can see the light, though. We'll be here when you're ready.

>92 Dejah_Thoris: Thanks!

Bound to Please: An Extraordinary One-Volume Literary Education by Michael Dirda (2005) 525 pages

Category: Books about Books
Tarot Trump: The Lovers

Clearly, any illusion that I am a fairly well-read person has been severely tarnished. This is a collection of reviews by a columnist for The Washington Post Book World. Many books and authors Dirda reviewed are now well established on my "To read" list, but there are a surprising number that left me cold. So I will not be setting this book up as a list of books to read before I die. As a tour through the highlights of literary output during the 1990s and give or take half a dozen years on either side, this collection of reviews has a great deal to offer the literary minded reader. The bottom line is that this collection of reviews has made for some very enjoyable and enlightening reading. I highly recommend it.

And that's an excellent title, too! :)

The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio (1353), translation, Introduction and Notes by G.H. McWilliam, 2nd edition (1975), 1072 pages, Kindle Edition

Category: Renaissance
Tarot Trump: Judgment

Giovanni Boccaccio stated in his prologue to The Decameron that these hundred stories were meant for the entertainment of ladies due to the fact that they had nothing better to do than assuage their boredom by indulging in the sometimes lascivious narratives. After all, a woman's role in the Renaissance was exclusively domestic, unless she had either chosen or been relegated to a nunnery. Not only as an entertainment, it was offered as a solace to those who were pining away as a consequence of Love:

I intend to provide succour and diversion for the ladies,
but only for those who are in love, since the others can
make do with their needles, their reels and their spindles.

If Boccaccio is to be believed, romantic love was like an epidemic, a scourge upon the earth, not unlike the plague that The Decameron's storytellers were in the act of avoiding.

These storytellers — ten in number, of which seven were young ladies and three young men — had fled the city of Florence in 1348 due to the plague that eventually reduced the population by half, to a locus amoenus — literally "delightful locale" — where the young people were transformed into nymph-like maidens and sylvan swains who entertained themselves by telling stories, ten a day for ten days over a two-week period. But the young women also represent the seven virtues (Prudence, Justice, Temperance, Fortitude, Faith, Hope and Charity) and the men, according to the introduction, reflect the "tripartite division of the soul" into Reason, Anger and Lust.

One could go on and on about the frame alone. But as to the stories themselves, they reflect many things that are common in medieval literature. Boccaccio's sources for the stories were fables, old French fabliaux and histories. All but a handful were mere sketches with stock figures and farcical situations. He embellished them and converted various elements to suit his own purposes. The major themes that appeared in the stories concerned Love, Intelligence and Fortune.

Most of the stories are eminently forgettable, not much more than inflated jokes. A Renaissance reader would have seen them in an entirely different way than we inevitably do. For instance, the names of Boccaccio's characters in many cases were those of real people or at least referenced well known families. Many of the episodes would have read like a gossip column to a contemporary reader. Adversaries often reflected the contemporary conflicts between Church and State, Guelphs and Ghibellines, the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor, or their various representatives. A 14th century reader would have read much into each story based on familiarity with distinguished family names and colorful local characters, and locales from Florence to Naples, Palermo to Athens. The notes are very helpful in identifying much of the lore underlying each story, but the facts still seem remote and the individual episodes seem improbable.

Readers who are caught up in medieval and Renaissance literature will find much to enjoy in The Decameron. Others may find it a bit bewildering and may not want to invest the time to read the 140-page introduction and the copious notes. Doors are open to a lifetime of study in this comprehensive Penguin Classics edition, if one so desires. A thoroughly enjoyable and absorbing read for those who are intrigued by this sort of historical literary artifact.

The Decameron sounds good. Sometimes I am just in the mood to dip into a short story. I rather enjoyed the Lang version of 1001 Nights and Chaucer's Canterbury Tales so I think this one will work for me.

I love Decamerone with all my heart!

>97 lkernagh: The Decameron stories are more like fables than the kind of short story we are accustomed to. But the Penguin Classics edition with all the notes gives a lot of background that make them more enjoyable than they otherwise would be, IMO. I loved Chaucer and may reread him soon. Have not made my way through the entire 1001 Nights. Something to look forward to.

>98 -Eva-: There is a lot to enjoy, to be sure! ;-)

I have gotten a bit behind here, but here are some catch-up comments regarding my last three books:

Gorgias by Plato, translated with introduction and notes by Robin Waterfield, 206 pages

Category: Philosophy
Tarot Trump: The Hanged Man

I especially appreciated Robin Waterfield's excellent introduction and very helpful notes. He explains Plato's approach to dialectic, which is known as the elenchus, and this is important to know about to read and understand Plato's other dialogues. It would have been good to have read Gorgias before I read the Republic, because in some ways it is a precursor as both have as a premise that virtue is the highest good. Each dialogue approaches the discussion from an entirely different point of view, but that is the underlying assumption.



Maps of the Imagination: The Writer as Cartographer by Peter Turchi (2004), 240 pages

Category: "Atlases," Geography, Travel, History
Tarot Trump: The World

I don't know what I was expecting when I purchased this book, but it delivers something quite other than the vague thoughts I might have had. Essentially, this is a book for writers, so it is in the wrong category, but that's where I had it originally, and it is sort of about maps. There are many good ideas regarding approaches to writing, style and generally thinking outside the box. It is heavily illustrated with many kinds of "maps," from a simple chess board to a highly schematic way finder for an urban metro system, from a highly imaginative Renaissance mappa mundi to a modern highway map. Turchi tries to relate ways of delivering a story to the functions of the many types of map. He has lectured to writers' workshops about imaginative approaches to writing, and in fact this book arose out of just such a lecture. The book is very interesting for readers interested in getting inside the fictional writing process.



The Charterhouse of Parma by Stendhal (1839), 502 pages

Category: French Novels
Tarot Trump: The Sun

Having recently read and thoroughly enjoyed The Red and the Black, I couldn't help that it was at the back of my mind while reading The Charterhouse of Parma. These are completely different stories, so they really have nothing to do with each other aside from their common authorship and the post-Napoleonic period in which they were written. Charterhouse got off to a slow start — for me anyway — which was disappointing because Italo Calvino in The Uses of Literature had made such a point of how thrilling the beginning was. But by the middle I was thinking that it ranked right up there with Ivanhoe and The Count of Monte Cristo in my own personal pantheon of great nineteenth century novels. But it ended with rather a thud for me. Not the shock that The Red and the Black delivered, thankfully, but kind of a disappointing ending all the same. The characterizations were interesting, better developed and seemed more human in some ways than in The Red and the Black, and insights into the milieu of the Catholic clergy and court society in northern Italy as it functioned under a mildly despotic prince were all fascinating and at times truly delightful. On balance, it was a very good read.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick (1968), 256 pages, Kindle

Category: Science Fiction/Fantasy
Tarot Trump: The Devil

One day in the life of an android bounty hunter — that is the frame of this witty, philosophical science fiction novel, which was written in 1968 but is set in the year 2021. By 2021 colonization of Mars has been underway for several years — even before World War Terminus, which has turned planet Earth into an irradiated dust bowl. People who qualify as to age and intelligence are lured into migrating to Mars by the promise of being provided with a fully functioning almost human android upon arrival at the red planet.

It is illegal for an android to be running around free on Earth. They are made strictly for use on Mars. Androids have reached such a high level of development that the only way to distinguish them from humans is by administering a highly sophisticated empathy test or a postmortem bone marrow examination.

Inevitably, androids on Mars who are the functional equivalent of slaves, will occasionally go rogue, kill their "masters" and anyone else who gets in their way and commandeer a ship back to Earth. Thus the need for bounty hunters.

A group of six of these fugitive androids have made their way back to Earth and are on the loose in the San Francisco area, and it is the duty of our hero bounty hunter to find, test and destroy these creatures. Many ethical questions are raised in the course of this intriguing novel, and it is not surprising that the bounty hunter would be transformed in the course of carrying out his mission.

This is an engrossing exploration of the many questions raised in a post-nuclear holocaust environment where an artificial being whose intelligence makes it competitive with human beings must be dealt with. It is left to the reader to come up with answers.

>101 Poquette: This is on my short list to read this year. Can't wait.

>102 luvamystery65: SF with humor — quite unusual and enjoyable!

A Place of Greater Safety by Hilary Mantel (1992), 868 pages, Kindle Edition

Category: British Novels
Tarot Trump: The Moon

Review posted here

I have A Place of Greater Safety pencilled in for December's British Author Challenge, so I'll take your review into consideration.

As you can tell, I am very conflicted. Bottom line, the book seemed unfinished to me. But the basic contents of the novel were quite compelling, although I needed to keep a time line of the French Revolution at hand just to keep everything straight! Hope you enjoy the book!

>104 Poquette: Excellent review! I am glad to see a review differing from the raves. It means I can better weigh up whether it is a book I'd like to read or not.

My topic is my thai cat written by pratoomrtha zeng? your help us.

Heresy: A Thriller by S.J. Parris (2010) 437 pages, Kindle

Category: Religion
Tarot Trump: The Hierophant

Of all the historical figures one might pick to be the protagonist in a medieval thriller, Giordano Bruno is not the name that would have first come to mind. However, since his life on the run from the Catholic Inquisition was something of a thrill a minute, perhaps he is not so unlikely after all.

S.J. Parris's Heresy opens with Bruno at age 28, having to escape from his Domenican monastery in Naples or face the Inquisition. His crime: reading forbidden books. Some seven years later, he turns up in London, having most recently been in residence at the court of Henri III of France as tutor and philosophe du jour. As an excommunicated monk, he is enlisted on behalf of Queen Elizabeth to serve as a de facto spy to help ferret out suspected papists, many of whom are believed to be a threat to the life and realm of the Queen. The papal bull Regnans in Excelsis ("reigning on high") of Pius V declared Elizabeth to be a heretic and released all her subjects from any allegiance to her and excommunicated any that obeyed her orders. It further encouraged overthrow of Elizabeth. Thus, the lingering presence of Catholicism in England was seen and treated as a real threat.

Bruno goes to Oxford in the company of poet and courtier Sir Philip Sidney for the purpose of engaging in a disputation with one of the college rectors, but while a guest at the college, a brutal murder takes place, to be followed by two more, which have anti-Catholic implications. Bruno is one of the first to arrive at the scene of the crime, and he is recruited on the quiet to help find out who the killer is. Many intrigues follow and suspicion is cast far and wide. When the guilty party is finally unmasked, it is unexpected and yet certain clues were there all the time.

As a bit of well written escapist reading with a historical setting that provides a personal view of the ongoing religious unrest during the reign of Elizabeth I, Heresy is not bad although I would not call it a page turner until the last quarter of the book. Parris has written three more Bruno thrillers, so if this one intrigues, there is more available to whet the appetite.

A Loeb Classical Library Reader (2006), 234 pages

Category: Short Stories
Tarot Trump: Wheel of Fortune

Somehow I neglected to fit this book into my categories, probably because I should have finished it last year. I am going to stretch and include it with "short stories" for want of a better place.

The point of the Loeb Classical Library, a series of almost 500 books published by Harvard University Press, is to provide ancient Greek and Roman texts in their respective original Greek or Latin with English translation on the facing page. These are, of course, very useful to students or anyone interested in exploring materials found in the Loeb Classical Library. The present volume consists of excerpts from 33 of the most famous ancient authors and works.

Here we have an introductory sampler of what the editors call "lapidary nuggets . . . including poetry, dialogue, philosophical writing, history, descriptive reporting, satire and fiction — giving a glimpse at the wide range of arts and sciences, styles and convictions" of sixteen Greek and seventeen Roman writers in five or six pages each.

Most of these are very interesting for what they reveal about the ancient life and mind, and also for the brief exposure they provide to various pieces of literature, which are more interesting than their variously musty reputations may have led us to believe.

As I typically do, I made brief notes as I read hoping to capture the essence of each item. If interested, you can see them in my Club Read thread here.

The Flanders Road by Claude Simon (1960), 193 pp.

Category: Postmodern Fiction
Tarot Trump: The Magician

My Review is posted here.

Seven Types of Ambiguity by William Empson (1966), 256 pages

Category: Literary Criticism
Tarot Trump: The Empress

My review is posted here.