The December 2023 Reading List

 

Today is the last day of December and the time has come to list the e-books I read this month. It appears that I've settled into a book-a-week habit.
In other months I'd managed to write a bit about the book I had just finished and link to that post when I did my monthly list. I haven't done that for some time, so I'll write something about each book now.

The Last Children of Tokyo is a dystopian sci-fi novel written by Yoko Tawada. The novel was originally published in Japanese as Kentoshi. The Last Children of Tokyo is the translated title published in the U.K., with The Emissary being the title in the U.S.. I prefer the British title.

In the novel, we're told that the world has suffered a man-made, global catastrophe, although the exact nature of that catastrophe is never specified. Personally, I feel the novel suffers by this omission. There is a certain vagueness throughout the novel. I suppose that was the writer's intention, but I didn't care for it.

The English Governess at the Siamese Court is the original memoir upon which The King and I was based. In 1862, Anna Leonowens accepted a post as teacher to the children and wives of King Mongkut of Siam (Thailand). Leonowens' memoir looks at the life and customs of the people of Siam. In Margaret Landon's 1944 fictionalized retelling of Leonowens' story she concentrates more on the personal relationship between the King and Leonowens and it is Landon's version that would ultimately lead to the various films and stage productions.

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Written by Herself is the autobiography of Harriet A. Jacobs. Jacobs composed the autobiography after her escape to New York and details the added suffering that female slaves endured. 

Blood From A Stone is #14 in Donna Leon's series featuring Commissario Guido Brunetti. This series continues to remain a favorite of mine.
Here is the completed list for December -

The Last Children of Tokyo   by Yoko Tawada
The English Governess at the Siamese Court   by Anna Harriette Leonowens
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Written by Herself   by Harriet A. Jacobs
Blood From A Stone    by Donna Leon

The November 2023 Reading List

 

The reading list for November is, in many ways, similar to the reading list for this past October.- books by Donna Leon and Elizabeth George, with a different writer thrown in for a change of pace.

Comparing the two I'd have to say that I prefer Donna Leon's novels. My only complaint about George is her veering off the detective/mystery story to give us way too many details on the personal lives of the characters. I'm sure she does this to flesh out the characters, but details on the love affair between DI Thomas Lynley and Lady Helen Clyde can get a bit tedious. In For the Sake of Elena, George brings in Helen's sister into the story - her character does help move the story along, but the discussion on the lawsuit involving the artist James Whistler and art critic John Ruskin put on the brakes, as it were.

My original plan was to read through the works of Leon and George every month. I'll continue getting into Leon's novels but will read no more than one of George's works per month.

As I mentioned in earlier posts, a few of the books making my reading lists have been recommended by someone on the Commentary Magazine podcast. One of the books on this list was recommended by that podcast - Scattered All Over The Earth by Yoko Tawada. Tawada had been recommended to me earlier and I had downloaded everything I could find of her work. The first book to make it to next month's list will be Tawada's The Emissary (AKA The Last Children of Tokyo). Before reading Scattered All Over the Earth I hadn't realized that it was the first in Tawada's Border Crossing Trilogy. The 2nd and 3rd books have been written but have not, as yet, been translated into English. Had I known that, I would have put off reading this book until I could download the complete trilogy.

Now, for the list:

Willful Behaviour         by Donna Leon
Uniform Justice            by Donna Leon
Doctored Evidence       by Donna Leon
For the Sake of Elena   by Elizabeth George
Scattered All Over the Earth  by Yoko Tawada

When Cycling in Philippines........

......it's good to know where the vulcanizing shops are located.

 

The October, 2023 Reading List

 

Upon finishing The Twelve Chairs earlier this month, I decided to go back to reading mystery/detective novels with the work of Donna Leon. Counting the three I read this month, I've managed to read 10 of her 32 Guido Brunetti novels. Her 11th in the series,Willful Behaviour will be the first on my November book list. Leon's novels take place in Venice, and although I really enjoy her work, I was feeling a bit "water-logged" after #10 and decided to take a break and go back to Elizabeth George's Inspector Lynley series.

I read George's first novel, A Great Deliverance in February. I can't recall my reason for not reading more in her series then, but better late then never I suppose. I've managed to get back up to speed with the complicated lives of Lynley, Havers, St James (and wife) and Lady Helen Clyde.

I'll be sticking with Leon and George for the time being. I've only 39 novels to go.

The list for October, 2023 -

The Twelve Chairs     by Ilya Ilf & Yevgeny Petrov
Fatal Remedies      by Donna Leon
Friends In High Places    by Donna Leon
A Sea of Troubles      by Donna Leon
Payment In Blood     by Elizabeth George
Well-Schooled in Murder    by Elizabeth George
A Suitable Vengeance      by Elizabeth George

The Return of VW#77

 

While out on my morning bicycle ride, I spotted this Volkswagen Beetle as I passed Asian College on Locsin Street. This particular VW is actually the last Beetle I photographed on Palm Sunday of this year..

 

The Twelve Chairs by Ilya Ilf & Yevgeny Petrov

Anyone familiar with this blog should know that I'm of a fan of the Commentary Magazine podcast. Two of the books on my Reading List for September 2023 were recommended at one time by one of the podcasters.

I've just finished reading The Twelve Chairs by Ilya Ilf & Yevgeny Petrov, and while this novel was not recommended by the podcast, I would not have read this book had it not been for the podcast. The music at the beginning of each podcast episode comes from the 1970 film adaptation of the novel by Mel Brooks. Hearing the music five days a week, it was only a matter of time before I searched for and downloaded the book.

The novel has been adapted several times - there's even an unfinished operetta based on the novel by Dmitri Shostakovich. According to wikipedia, Brooks' version follows the novel more closely than most of the other adaptations, but even Brooks wanders from the original story. The book is humorous, although not nearly as slapstick as Brooks' film.

In both, the main character is Ippolit Matveyevich Vorobyaninov, an impoverished aristocrat from the days of Tsarist Russia who now lives in the Soviet Union of 1927. At the death of his mother-in-law, Vorobyaninov learns that she had hidden a fortune in jewels in the seat cushion of one of the twelve chairs that made up a dining room set owned by her family prior to the Russian revolution. The book tells of Vorobyaninov's quest to find the chair that holds the jewels.

Another big difference in the book and Brooks' film is the ending. I'm not going to give spoilers, but I'll say that Ilf & Petrov's original ending would probably follow the Stalinist censors views better than Mel Brooks' ending.

The New App

After posting about yesterday's flat tire adventure I realized that it had been far too long since I last posted anything about my bicycle rides through Dumaguete and Sibulan and I haven't made any comments on the new bicycle app I installed on to my phone.

As I mentioned in a post from March of this year, I purchased a traditional odometer for my bicycle sometime around April, 2022. This odometer has a part connected to a spoke on the front wheel which sends a signal to another part attached to the bicycle frame whenever the wheel makes a revolution. The computer in the odometer uses π (pi) and tire size to calculate the distance traveled with each revolution. This worked well until around July of this year when the bike computer began to malfunction. Although the clock on the device works fine, the odometer was way off in it's measurement of speed and distance. It might show me traveling 80 or 90 kph when it was obvious that that number was impossible.

My first thought was that the battery needed replacing. Replacing the battery did not fix the problem.

In August of this year I installed a phone app which would provide the data I want using GPS. I began using the app on August 3. I've found this app to be so helpful that it has pushed me to ride farther every morning.

As seen in these screen shots, my distance for August was slightly more than 400 miles. My distance for September was just over 404 miles.

This app not only measures distance traveled, but the duration of the ride, the average and maximum speeds, calories expended, the elevation gain (and loss) and the average pace. It even records a video of the ride using Google Maps.

 

Today's Flat Tire Adventure

 

After my bicycle ride yesterday morning, I determined that I only needed about 36 miles, spread over the three remaining days, to achieve 100 miles for the week. My average daily ride for the first half of the week was just over 15 miles. I wasn't certain that I wanted to do 45 miles in the last 3 days, but 12 miles a day shouldn't be a problem.

This morning, about 8 miles into my ride I got a flat rear tire. I think it's been six or eight months since I last got a rear flat. I turned off the bike app I was using and started pushing the bike in search of a vulcanizing shop. Fortunately, I only had to walk 1/4 mile.

As it turned out, there were 2 pin-prick punctures. Two patches. The cost for the repair was ₱60 ($1.06 USD). I felt it was worth a ₱40 tip (0.71 USD).

With my tire repaired, I turned on the bike app and continued my ride, getting a total of 13.7 miles for today.

The Reading List for September 2023

 

Reviews for two of the books read in September - The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle and Harlem Shuffle - can, of course be read by clicking on their respective links.

As I mentioned in the post on Harlem Shuffle, I had come across that book by following a link to the 9 Books you Must Read in 2023. I had already placed that book into the queue for September when I heard a recommendation for the sequel, Crook Manifesto on the Commentary Magazine podcast. Finding Harlem Shuffle one of the best of the "nine books", I put the sequel next in line in the queue. Colson Whitehead is a wonderful writer and I highly recommend both books.

Book # 4 for September is another recommendation from the Commentary Magazine podcast. - Social Justice Fallacies by the incomparable Thomas Sowell. Sowell is an important figure in the conservative movement, having written more than fifty books. Social Justice Fallacies was published this year. An amazing accomplishment for someone in his 90s.

I can recommend three of the four books that I read this month - The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle wasn't horrible. I just felt it didn't live up to the hype.

The list for September, 2023.

The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle               by Stuart Turton
Harlem Shuffle                                                  by Colson Whitehead
Crook Manifesto                                               by Colson Whitehead
Social Justice Fallacies                                    by Thomas Sowell

Harlem Shuffle

Back in May of this year, I came upon a list of  the 9 Books you Must Read in 2023. Although I was unfamiliar with six of the nine writers, I was determined to read those books - I would not read exclusively from the list however; I'd venture off to other books as the feeling struck me.

So far, I've read seven of the nine books with  Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead coming in at #7. I had already placed the book into the queue for upcoming books when another of Whitehead's novels made the "Commentary Recommends" list on an episode of the Commentary Magazine podcast. In that episode, Whitehead's most recent novel, Crook Manifesto was given a thumbs up. Naturally, I had to bump up Harlem Shuffle and then download his newest work.

The wikipedia article covering the novel describes the novel as "a work of crime fiction and a family saga that takes place in Harlem between 1959 and 1964".

The Wikipedia synopsis:
In 1959, Ray Carney lives in Harlem with his wife Elizabeth, with whom he is expecting a second child. Although descending from a criminal family, Ray makes his living working as an upstanding furniture salesman on 125th Street. However, he occasionally fences stolen goods through his furniture store, including those from his cousin Freddie. Whereas Ray has steered his way toward an honest living, Freddie is descending into Harlem's criminal underworld. Freddie orchestrates a robbery of the Hotel Theresa with his associates and volunteers Ray to fence what is stolen. The heist goes wrong and a cast of criminal figures enter Ray's life, forcing him into a personal struggle between aspects of his fractured self. The novel is divided in three parts and covers three separate capers, set in 1959, 1961 and 1964. It culminates with the Harlem riot of 1964.

Harlem Shuffle most definitely belongs on a list of books to read this year. It is one of the best novels I've read in the past few months - only being surpassed by the works of Patricia Highsmith or Donna Leon.

I'll be going on to Crook Manifesto before going on to the final two books on the "nine books" list.

The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

I recently came upon an ad on Facebook for an audio book version of  The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton (also known as The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle in the U.K.) I immediately did a web search and found quite a few good reviews for the book. The wikipedia article of the book says the novel won the Best First Novel prize in the 2018 Costa Book Awards and reached number one on The Saturday Times Bestseller list and number five on The Sunday Times Bestseller list.

 Seeing such high praise, I went to my "go to" place for free e books and downloaded a copy.

Sadly, I was not impressed with the book. I found the book unnecessarily complicated and the writer's use of multiple character incarnations gimmicky. There were interesting parts, but overall, I thought the book was not worth my time (as they might say on the The Dispatch Podcast). I'd recommend you skip this one.

The Reading List for August 2023

 

First on the list of books read in August is Georges Simenon's Pietr the Latvian. I learned of Simenon with his Maigret and the Yellow Dog. As I mentioned in a post from that time, a Facebook friend had mentioned listening to an audio book of Maigret and the Yellow Dog; I did a web search and came across several good reviews of Simenon's novels. That particular book is #6 in the Maigret series. I enjoyed the book well enough to download everything I could find by Simenon with the idea of one day starting on the first book in the series, Pietr the Latvian. Sadly, I was not impressed with this one...Simenon seemed unable to get to the point - he just rambled on. I might possibly return to the Maigret series one day, but frankly, that doesn't appear to be likely at this time.

Second on this month's list is The Uninvited by Dorothy Macardle. While looking around for movies of the 1940s, I came upon an adaptation of the book from 1944 starring Ray Milland. I'd never heard of Macardle prior to this, but I was impressed enough with the film to download and read the book. The film makes a few changes - in the film, Milland's character ( Rick Fitzgerald ) is a musical composer. In the book, he's a writer. Some of Fitzgerald's friends in the book don't appear in the movie, but all in all, both versions are entertaining.

#3 for the month was another by Donna Leon, The Death of Faith. This was the sixth book I've read in Leon's Commissario Brunetti mystery series, so it would be right to assume that I've become a fan of Leon's work. Unfortunately, this is my least favorite of her books, so far. A bit too much Catholic Church bashing for me. The book contains all the obvious anti-Catholic tropes. This very nearly put me off the series, but I was willing to give Leon one more try.

Fortunately, her next in the series, A Noble Radiance was much better.

While reading A Noble Radiance I would switch back and forth between it and Aldous Huxley's The Perennial Philosophy . I finished both on the same day, so it's really a tie as to which one is #4 and which is #5.

Huxley's book isn't a quick read. He explores similarities between certain aspects of Eastern and Western religious teachings. I've come across many of these ideas before, but having written the book in 1945, Huxley was way ahead of his time.

So, here's the list for the Month of August (2023)

Pietr the Latvian       by Georges Simenon
The Uninvited             by Dorothy Macardle
The Death of Faith   by Donna Leon
The Perennial Philosophy by Aldous Huxley
A Noble Radiance     by Donna Leon

The Reading List for July 2023

 

Today is the last day of July, so the time has come for me to post a list of the books I've read this month. Regular readers will notice that there was no posted list for June. I'll start by explaining the reason for that.

I had come across several recommendations for a book by Gabriel García Márquez - One Hundred Years of Solitude. According to these recommendations, this particular book was considered by many to be one of the best books written in the 20th century. Last October, I had read two books by Márquez -Love in the Time of Cholera and In Evil Hour and had enjoyed both, so I had no reason to doubt these recommendations.

Márquez wrote his novels in Spanish and I know sometimes translations can fail to live up to the original, but in my view, the accolades for One Hundred Years of Solitude are overblown. I struggled with the book for nearly a month and found it unreadable. I hate to say this but I could not finish it - and I really struggled to do so. I realize I'm not the smartest person I know, but anyone looking at my book lists would have to agree that I'm fairly well read. I think it's the book, not me.

Four of the books I read in July are from "the nine books you must read in 2023". Those four are Half a Yellow Sun-The Midnight Library-Death at La Fenice and Sea of Tranquility. I can recommend all four.

One book not on the "nine books list" is America, a Redemption Story by Senator Tim Scott from South Carolina. The book was published before Senator Scott officially announced his run for POTUS. It's a very interesting book - Scott may not be the professional writer some of these others are, but I think the book is well written for all that.

The other four books on the list were all written by mystery writer Donna Leon. After reading her first book -Death at La Fenice - I knew I'd be reading more of her books. I've downloaded all 32 e-books in her Commissario Brunetti mystery series.

One book that I started in July which won't be finished in time to make this list is the first in Georges Simenon's detective Jules Maigret series. Simenon was a well respected Belgian mystery writer, but I can't get into his mysteries as I do Donna Leon, Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers or Elizabeth George. Perhaps it's another case of losing something in the translation.

So now....the list for July 2023.

Half a Yellow Sun     by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
The Midnight Libray     by Matt Haig
Death at La Fenice        by Donna Leon
Death in a Strange Country      by Donna Leon
The Anonymous Venetian          by Donna Leon
Sea of Tranquility        by Emily St. John Mandel
A Venetian Reckoning     by Donna Leon
America, a Redemption Story    by Senator Tim Scott
Acqua Alta      by Donna Leon

Five Books

In May, I came upon a list of "the nine books you must read in 2023". As I write this post, I've read five of the nine books and reviewed two - The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith and I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy .

I suppose I should say something about the other three - Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - The Midnight Library by Matt Haig - and Death at La Fenice, by Donna Leon.

Half of a Yellow Sun tells the story of the Biafran War (6 July 1967 – 15 January 1970). I was a teenager at the time and have some memories of the war from news reports, but I was more preoccupied with the Vietnam War. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was not yet born at the time of the war and obviously her information regarding the war is second hand. The book is no less powerful for that.

The Midnight Library tells of a woman who is able to experience alternate versions of her life. It's all explained by "Quantum mechanics".

Death at La Fenice, is the first in Donna Leon's Commissario Brunetti mystery series. I don't know why I've never heard of Ms.Leon before now. I've begun reading the 2nd book in the series -I've downloaded all 32. I'm not sure how many I'll read in the series before returning to the "nine books" list.

I can recommend each of the five books I've read so far.

The Dumaguete Airport Road Bridge

I mentioned on one of my blogs that Google Maps Can Be So @#%$ing Lame. At that time, I had attempted to add a couple of local bridges to Google Maps only to be told that the edits could not be verified. As it turned out, those bridges were eventually added to the Map without my getting credit. At least I was finally able to upload some photos of the bridges.

Now today, I found myself in a part of Dumaguete where I had never ridden my bicycle, and came upon Dgte. Airport Road Bride. I took photos of the bridge and attempted to add its location. The edit was not accepted.

I don't understand how Google Maps can reject an edit when photographic proof is provided. At any rate, I'm posting the photos here. Maybe one day Google Maps will "aggregate its fecal material".

 

The Reading list for May, 2023

Well, today is the last day of May and I'm not likely to finish another book before the month is out, so I'll go with the five I've managed to finish this month.

I was able to post a review of sorts for four of the five:
The Talented Mr. Ripley  by Patricia Highsmith
The Lost World  by Arthur Conan Doyle
A Game for the Living  by Patricia Highsmith
and  I’m Glad My Mom Died  by Jennette McCurdy

The only one that I didn't review was another Patricia Highsmith novel, The Blunderer.

I've already started on the first two books that will be on the list for June. I found one of the books - Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie on the list of  The 9 Books you Must Read in 2023. The other is a book by Gabriel García Márquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude. I'd already read two books by García Márquez and liked what I'd read. I've come upon several lists where One Hundred Years of Solitude is named as one of the greatest novels of all time. Of course, I had to put it into the queue. I give the book high marks, although I would hardly classify it has the best thing I've ever read. It's good, but overrated in my opinion.

I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy

As I mentioned in an earlier blog post [Nine Books] I recently happened upon a list of The 9 Books You Must Read In 2023. Being ever on the lookout for books to read, I made note of the list and downloaded the six books which I had not previously downloaded to my PC. As a matter of fact, one book on the list, The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith was already in the queue to be read this month.

Once I had read nearly all the books I had planned for May, I began to read from the "9 books" list. I've gotten into the habit of having one book in progress on my Kindle with another on the e-book reader installed on my phone. I'll switch back and forth.

For the 2nd book on the list, I decided to go with I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy. When my son was younger, he was a fan of the Nickelodeon TV series iCarly so I was familiar with Ms McCurdy. After seeing it on the list, I read a little about her book and I was interested in learning of her experiences as a child actor.

As one might suspect from the title, I’m Glad My Mom Died isn't a pleasant read. McCurdy writes of her abusive mother who manipulated her into an acting career as a young child. From an early age, she was sexually abused by her mother which would aggravate her OCD, and lead to her alcoholism as well as a number of eating disorders (anorexia and bulimia).

For the sake of her own mental health, McCurdy has retired from acting. After years of therapy, she is on the mend, so there is a somewhat positive ending.

Of course, I can't say that the book was an enjoyable read, but it is one that I'm glad to have read.

A Game for the Living by Patricia Highsmith

Continuing on in my exploration of the work of Patricia Highsmith, I've just finished her 1958 mystery, A Game For The Living. Although wikipedia describes the novel as a psychological mystery, the novel is very different from her work that I've read so far.

I'm sorry to say that this is my least favorite novel by Highsmith. I'm in good company, however. In her non fiction book, Plotting and Writing Suspense Fiction, she says that A Game For The Living is her least favorite as well.

I had tried to do something different from what I had been doing, but this caused me to leave out certain elements that are vital for me: surprise, speed of action, stretching the reader's credulity, and above all the intimacy with the murderer himself. I am not an inventor of puzzles, nor do I like secrets. The result, after rewriting the book four times in a gruelling year of work, was mediocrity. I always say to foreign publishers, and to publishers who contemplate a reprint, "This is my worst book, so please think twice before you buy it."

I was aware of her opinion of the novel before going in. I suppose it is the "mystery" aspect that she and I dislike about the novel. Like reading Dostoevsky, a Highsmith novel is best when she focuses on the psychology of the killer and less on the "who-done-it".

The Lost World - Arthur Conan Doyle

 

As I mentioned in an earlier blog post, Kindle is my e-book reader of choice, although I've downloaded a different e-reader app to my phone to use when the Kindle isn't the optimum choice (like when there's a brownout and it's too dark to read the Kindle's screen). I have transferred e-books to my phone on occasion but I'm more likely to read one of the free public domain books included with the app.

I read one of these pubic domain books in April (A Journey to the Center of the Earth. by Jules Verne) Actually, I found this particular e-book disappointing. That being said, you'd think I'd steer clear of another public domain adventure novel, but I decided to take a chance on Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World.

Published in 1912, the book tells of an expedition to a plateau in the Amazon basin of South America where prehistoric animals were alleged to have survived. Two scientists (Professor Challenger - Professor Summerlee) a newspaper reporter (Edward Malone) and an "adventurer" (Lord John Roxton) make up the group.

Of course, we know there are no pterodactyls, dinosaurs or "ape men" in South America, but the story is better than you might imagine. I certainly enjoyed it more than Jules Verne's book.

Ok, it is hardly the greatest Sci-fi novel of all time, but it's entertaining in a lighthearted way.

The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith

 

Let's start at the beginning.

At some point during the month of March, while looking for books to read, I came upon the name of Patricia Highsmith. She is best remembered for her 1950 psychological thriller, Strangers on a Train, which was adapted to film in 1951 by director Alfred Hitchcock. As I mentioned in an earlier blog post, I located the Hitchcock film online and re-watched the movie and began reading the e-book.

For those familiar with the film, note that Hitchcock made several changes to the story. Never the less, I became an immediate fan of Highsmith, downloading everything she had written.

I went on to read Highsmith's Deep Water in April and so far this month, I've read two additional e-books -The Blunderer and The Talented Mr. Ripley. It was after I had put The Talented Mr. Ripley into the queue for this month that I came upon The 9 Books you Must Read in 2023 of which The Talented Mr. Ripley is one. As I am a fan of Highsmith, I knew I'd enjoy that particular book, although frankly I wasn't sure that it belonged on a list of the 9 books that really had to be read before the year was out.

That was, of course, before I'd actually read the book. Now that I've finished reading it, I'd have to say that it may be the best book I've read so far this year. Highsmith was a master of the psychological thriller; each of the four books written by her, that I've read so far, have not failed to surprise me at every turn.

Highsmith wrote five books within the , so-called "Ripliad". Having finished the first, I'm naturally looking forward to finishing the "Ripliad". However, I began with the idea to read Highsmith's novels in pretty much the order that they were written. The second in the Ripley series, Ripley Under Ground, was published 15 years after the first one. I'd have to skip over eight of her books - breaking the order. I'm going to stick to my original plan and read her 1958 novel, A Game for the Living next (even though Highsmith herself said "This is my worst book, so please think twice before you buy it").

Nine Books

 

When I opened the Chrome browser on my phone recently, I was greeted with a link to the following article - The 9 Books you Must Read in 2023. Being ever on the lookout for interesting books to read, I clicked on the link. Here's the list, according to the article:

Sea of Tranquility       by Emily St. John Mandel
The Midnight Library   by Matt Haig
The Talented Mr. Ripley    by Patricia Highsmith
I’m Glad My Mom Died   by Jennette McCurdy
Carrion Comfort         by Dan Simmons
Death at La Fenice     by Donna Leon
Half of a Yellow Sun   by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Dune                          by Frank Herbert
Harlem Shuffle          by Colson Whitehead

Of the nine, three were already in my e-book library; as a matter of fact, The Talented Mr. Ripley was already in my queue of books to read this month.

Of course, I had to download the remaining six.

I'm currently alternating between a book on my Kindle and a book on my phone. Following those two, I have two additional books in the queue, so I'm not at all certain when I'll begin on the above list (other than the Highsmith novel) and I'm not certain in what order I'll read the books. I suppose reading each in the order they fall on the list would work.

Book List for April, 2023

The time has come around once again for me to post onto this blog a list of the books I've read this month. April being a relatively short month, it would be expected that the number of books read would not be particularly high, but this April the list is considerably smaller than usual. The list is exactly half the number of April 2022.

Part of the blame can be placed upon the Internet. I've come upon websites that have old television shows of which I'm found. Yes, place the blame on Sgt. Bilko, Lt.Columbo and Dr. Who.

The first book on the list is Deep Water by Patricia Highsmith. I was impressed with her first novel, Strangers on a Train. This novel did not disappoint. As a matter of fact, a Highsmith novel will be first on the list for May.

Next on April's list is another of David Lagercrantz' continuations of Stieg Larsson's Millennium series. Sadly, I am not as big of a fan of Lagercrantz as I am Stieg Larsson.

Book number three came to me as a pleasant surprise. Bullets and Bolos: Thirteen Years in the Philippines Islands by John R. White was recommended to me by a friend and I appreciate the recommendation. The book is a memoir of an American who served in the Philippine Constabulary under Gov. Taft, beginning in 1901. The fact that most of the events he wrote about happened on the island where I now call home is certainly a plus.

I've been thru a number of Kindles over the past few years and I've prepared for the day when my present Kindle will fail me by downloading an e-reader app onto my phone. The Kindle is still my first choice but I have used the phone app a couple of times. The e-reader on my phone came with a few e-books pre-loaded. Of course, these are books found in the public domain. 

Having the book on my phone was the reason I began reading Jules Verne's A Journey to the Center of the Earth. Jules Verne is one of those writers I heard of all my life but had never actually read. After a couple of chapters in, I did a little research on the book. As it turned out, the English translators of Verne's novels weren't always faithful to the original French novel. It seems the first English translation in 1871 was a "drastically rewritten version of the story" pretty much created out of thin air. The 1877 translation by Frederick Amadeus Malleson is considered a much better translation, although it is far from perfect. It's the Malleson translation that's on my phone. Frankly, Jules Verne might have been a wonderful writer (as far as style goes) but the story is absolutely unbelievable. It's hard for me to imagine that readers in the 19th Century could be so incredibly ignorant regarding science. Sure, scientific knowledge has advanced quite a great deal in the 150 plus years since the original French publication, but the story is totally absurd on its face.

So, without further ado, here is my April 2023 reading list.

Deep Water     by Patricia Highsmith
The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye     by David Lagercrantz
Bullets and Bolos:Thirteen Years in the Philippines Islands     by John R. White
A Journey to the Center of the Earth    by Jules Verne

Palm Sunday VW

We were on our way to attend Palm Sunday serves this morning when I spotted this VW parked near the church.

 

Book List for March, 2023

 

It's the final day of March and the time has come for another list if the books I've read since the posting of my last monthly reading list.

The first in the list is The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara by David I. Kertzer. I first learned of the book and the story it told was from my reading of Richard Dawkins' book, The God Delusion. Kertzer's book tells the true story of the the Vatican's kidnapping seizure of a six-year-old boy from his Jewish family in Bologna, Italy, on the basis of the family's former servant's testimony that she had secretly baptized the boy as an infant.

Prefecture D is a collection of novellas by Hideo Yokoyama dealing with the internal politics of a large metropolitan in Japan.

In The Girl in the Spider's Web, David Lagercrantz continues Stieg Larsson's Millennium series.

Metropolis is a 1925 science fiction novel by the German writer Thea von Harbou. The novel was the basis for and written in tandem with Fritz Lang's 1927 film of the same name. Oddly enough, reading the novel makes the film more understandable....and vice versa. Each one helps the other.

In Just Babies, psychologist Paul Bloom explores our innate sense of morality.

For my thoughts on Highsmith's novel, check out my earlier blog post.

The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara     by David I. Kertzer
Prefecture D         by Hideo Yokoyama
The Girl in the Spider's Web    by David Lagercrantz
Metropolis    by Thea von Harbou
Just Babies: The Origins of Good and Evil    by Paul Bloom
Strangers in a Train     by Patricia Highsmith

"Strangers on a Train" - Novel by Patricia Highsmith

 

While searching for books to read, I came upon the name of Patricia Highsmith. Highsmith is best remembered for her 1950 psychological thriller, Strangers on a Train which was adapted to film in 1951 by director Alfred Hitchcock. I was familiar with Hitchcock's film and decided to put Highsmith's novel into the queue.

Having read just the first few pages, I became aware that Hitchcock had made changes in the story when bringing it to the screen. In the film, the story takes place in the Northeast corridor, between Washington, D.C. and New York while the novel begins in Texas. In the novel, Guy Haines is an architect - in the film, Haines is an amateur tennis star. In the novel, the other "stranger on the train" is named Charles Anthony Bruno later changed to Bruno Anthony in the Hitchcock version.

Before finishing the novel, I located the film online.

The changes in the film become more dramatic. I'm not going to give spoilers to the novel, except to say it is very different from the movie......completely unexpected.

I'll be moving on to other novels by Patricia Highsmith in the days ahead.

2,500 Miles

I mentioned in my blog post from Sunday, that during that morning bicycle ride, the odometer on my bicycle passed the 4,000 kilometer point. I also noted that when my odometer reached 4024 km that number would translate to 2,500 miles.

So, to commemorate that....um.....milestone, I'm posting a photo of the odometer at 4024 km and a photo of where I was when I reached that number. Metro Dumaguete College on E.J. Blanco Dr.

 

4,000 Kilometers

While out on my morning bicycle ride today, my odometer went past the 4,000 kilometer mark. This is not the distance I've ridden the bicycle since I bought it two years ago, but the distance ridden since I purchased the odometer. I don't have an exact date on when I bought the odometer, but as near as I can calculate, that would have been at the time I replaced my tires. That would put the date at around the last week of March or first week of April, 2022.

So, the 4,000 kilometers were put on in about one year's time.

The first photo is, of course, the odometer reaching the 4,000 kilometer mark. The other photos are of my location when I hit the mark. I'm making an effort now to keep track of the date.

In a couple of days, I'll be reaching another milestone, if you will. I'll soon be passing the 4024 km mark which will translate to 2,500 miles. I'll blog on that as well.

 

Two Volkswagens in One Day - Part Two

As I mentioned in my previous blog post, I hadn't come upon a "new" VW in the area since November 2022 when I came upon an orange VW on E J.Blanco Dr. As luck would have it, I came upon two this morning while out on my bicycle ride thru Camanjac.

I felt that each VW deserved it's own blog post.

After photographing the blue VW, I headed back to the Diversion Rd. to continue my ride. I was nearing the intersection with the Dumaguete-Palinpinon Rd where I intended to turn around, when I spotted a white VW on the opposite side of the road. I travel this area several times a week and this was the first time I'd seen this particular car, so unlike the blue one I discovered moments before, this one did not appear to be derelict.

I crossed the road and proceeded to photograph my discovery.

When I had finished my photo-shoot, the owner of the VW appeared from out of nowhere. As can be seen from my photos, the owner isn't seen. He appeared to be disturbed that I was photographing his car. His English was only slightly better than my Bisaya so I had a difficult time explaining my hobby to him. I even showed to him the photos of the blue VW I had just taken, but he seemed to think from what I said that I lived in Katrina Homes 2 Subdivision. We talked for a few minutes. I don't know how much of our conversation he finally understood, other than my name and that I lived near the Magatas Barangay Hall.

At any rate, here are the photos of VW Beetle #76.