The Real James Herriot: I don’t think I would recommend this book to anyone who isn’t a James Herriot fan, although it does give some fascinating insights into life in Glasgow in the years between the two great wars, and into veterinary practice and education in the years just before, during and after World War II. For the most part you really have to have read Herriot’s autobiographical fiction/fictionalised autobiographies (they are rather difficult to classify) in order to enjoy reading about his life. Jim Wight shows promise as a writer, but if he ever decides to start writing books like his father, he should take a course in creative writing. He has a tendency to repeat himself, and his overuse of some cliches is really annoying (I didn’t count how often the phrase “the happiest time of his life” and versions thereof occurred, but it was too often). However, biographers are not expected to write beautiful prose (although it is a great bonus when they do).
Rating: An interesting look at the life of the world’s most famous vet. 3 stars for content, 2 for literary merit = 2,5 stars.
Well, that’s the last of the 52 books. I plan to continue with the blog, but the reviews may not be as detailed as they have been. I will also post recommendations for books I have already read and feel are worthy of mention. Once I finish the semester and unload my essays, class lectures and translation assignments, I plan to go back to writing short literary essays for the blog and I also plan to start actively looking for covers for the bad cover art gallery. Until then, I will mostly post reviews of the books I’m reading. In the future, I may even do another 52 books challenge, perhaps on a theme, like “52 novels by women”, “Nobel prize winners of the last 52 years” or “52 Icelandic books that have been translated into English”. The possibilities are endless.
Finished the last of the short stories today. They are skilfully written glimpses into the lives of ordinary people. Several have in common a sort of longing or wistful nostalgia for something that is never defined in words and which the characters sometimes don’t seem to know themselves. Three out of the nine stories are told in the first person, each of them in a different voice, and the remaining six are 3rd person narratives, each told from the point of view of one person, often someone who doesn’t quite know what is going on with the other character(s). There is subtle humour in some of the stories, while others are serious. Some portray kindness, others cruelty. The unifying theme, apart from most of the characters being Indian, is that of human relations, interactions, cross-purposes and misunderstandings. Out of the stories, the final two are my favourites. Both are funny, although in quite different ways. One, which is a kind of parable, made me smile, the other made me laugh out loud. All in all, I liked all the stories, although of course some are better than others.
Rating: An excellent collection of short stories about Indians and being Indian, home and abroad. 4 stars.
I have been reading 1-2 stories from Interpreter of Maladies per day, and now have four left. The stories belong to the "slice of life" school of short story writing, and describe chapters in the lives of the characters. They are very well written and explore all kinds of issues and feelings. Some are about Indian expatriates in America, others are about Indians in Calcutta.
Also reading: The Real James Herriott, the biography of the famous author, by his son, Jim Wight. And Persepolis: The story of a childhood by Marjane Satrapi. It's her memoir of growing up in post-revolution Iran. It's drawn as a collection of comic strips, which make it very visual. Like Interpreter... I am reading it little by little.
Author: Jhumpa Lahiri Year published: 1999 Pages: 198 Genre: Literature, short stories Where got: Second hand
I picked this book up nearly a year ago, mostly because I was intrigued by the title. It has been waiting on my TBR shelf ever since. To tell the truth, I had forgotten about it until last week when I visited the Lonely Planet online forum, the Thorn Tree, like I do 2-3 times a week. On the Women’s Branch there was a book discussion going on, and the original poster and several others highly recommended this book. I thought, “Hey, I have this!” and decided there and then that it was about time I read it. Looking over the list of books in the 52 books challenge, I realised I had not read any short stories, so it was perfect to end the challenge with this short story collection. It won the Pulitzer Prize for literature in 2000.
This is a gorgeous book, an eccentric, rambling and captivating nature study. As the title suggests, the theme is plants. Instead of concentrating on one aspect or type of plant life, Koch has chosen to go for the pick-and-mix method, and has produced a book that jumps from one plant type/species to the next, while still managing to convey the basics of plant biology in simple and concise language. The book is hand lettered, which may make it difficult for younger children to read, but children and adults of any age can enjoy the glorious pictures. The main text is written in capital block letters, while the names of plants and other things in the pictures are written in near-illegible longhand that sometimes is so faint that coupled with the bad handwriting it is almost impossible to read (probably a printing error). This is the only real complaint I have about the book.
Rating: A gorgeous book for nature and art lovers. 5+ stars.
Author: Jaryjo Koch Year published: 1998 Pages: Not numbered Genre: Art, nature study Where got: Bookstore
This week’s read is another coffee-table book, but of a completely different character.
I first came across Maryjo Koch’s nature study books on a visit to the USA. All four books, Bird Egg Feather Nest, Seed Leaf Flower Fruit , Pond Lake River Sea, and Dragonfly Beetle Butterfly Bee were available, but I had already spent all my shopping money on Christmas presents and decided to put them on my whish list and buy them later. Sadly, since then they have all gone out of print, which is why I was happy to find Seed Leaf Flower Fruit and Bird Egg Feather Nest at a second-hand store recently, in near perfect condition and at a great price. I bought them both. I had to flip a coin to decide which one I would review here, but I will review the other one after the challenge ends. I hope I will be able to get my hands on the other two before too long. They come up occasionally in auctions on ebay, and I have every intention of aquiring them both.
Seed Leaf Flower Fruit is a sumptuous collection of beautiful illustrations, information and thoughts about plants, all hand-lettered and looking like the sketch book of an artistically talented gardening enthusiast.
First of all: I was unable to read the entire book. Some #$%&$ biblioclast has torn out several pages, which is always a risk with library books.
The book is a museum catalogue of sorts, a description of fashions in clothing and accessories as seen in the V&A’s costume collection. The photographs are beautiful and the text describes the general fashions of each time period and specifically the clothes in the photos. What I missed were close-ups of details in the clothes, like stitching, embroidery and trimmings, but the book is not meant to be a precise costume history, but merely an overview. I have learned a whole new vocabulary from reading it, all words descriptive of clothing and parts thereof.
This book is interesting for people who would like to know more about costume history in general, and may be of some help to people who like to make accurate recreations of historical costumes, as there is information on the fabrics and materials used for the clothing. The best thing about the book (in my opinion) is the photographs of the costumes. They are shown to advantage, but unfortunately each costume is only shown from one angle, so that while you can admire a dress from the front, back or side, you don’t get to see it from other angles. The manikins the clothes are hung on are a bit spooky: expressionless and ivory white, they stare into space with empty eyes, but they do add verisimilitude by filling out the clothes and displaying the appropriate accessories, such as shoes, fans, parasols, hats and jewelry, and also hairstyles. It’s a pity they are so ghostly - but they do look slightly more normal in the black and white photos.
Rating: A beautiful coffee-table book for costume enthusiasts.
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About me
What this blog is about:
Reading and books.
If you’re wondering about the name 52 books, it stems from a book-a-week reading challenge I set myself. The challenge is over, but I'm still reading, and will continue to blog about the books I read and my reading experiences, and other stuff connected with books and reading.
I rate the books (if I feel like it), giving them stars ranging from zero to 5.
Books I have already read (sporadically updated):Cover gallery
Note: Some of the entries are linked to the months the reviews appeared in, because I made several entries for each book. I have marked those reviews with an asterix (*). If you want to read the whole review from beginning to end, you must scroll down and read from the bottom up (but you probably already knew that ;-) >
