2018 50 Book Challenge

[California Dreamer]

68. The Red-Haired Woman, by Orhan Pamuk

Cem, a bright teenager, takes a job as a well-digger's apprentice prior to going to college. In the evenings he spots an older red-haired woman involved in an acting troupe, and becomes infatuated. This leads to jealousies with his master and, ultimately, disaster.

In this novel, Pamuk plays around with the tensions in inter-generational relationships: father and son, master and apprentice, older woman and younger man. The book regularly draws on the myths of Oedipus and of Rostam and Sorhab. The first is a cautionary tale of patricide, the second of filicide, and Pamuk's plot makes us to wonder which of these he is leading up to.

This was a pretty good novel, but I didn't really like the way that Pamuk chose to wrap it up, trying to recast the story through another viewpoint, but coming across only as facile and unconvincing.

 

[Geoffrey Firmin]

@California Dreamer You ever read The Black Book?

 

[California Dreamer]

69. Dictatorland, by Paul Kenyon

* I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to review this book *

British journalist Paul Kenyon delivers a compelling slice of contemporary history in Dictatorland. The book looks at the men who led African nations out of colonial exploitation, only to betray their people and enrich themselves. The post-colonial history of countries such as Zimbabwe, Congo, Libya, Nigeria, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Equatorial Guinea and Eritrea are covered, as well as the exploitation of various resources: diamonds, gold, oil, chocolate and slavery.

Kenyon's account of what these men did to their people is chilling and the sheer indifference of Western companies to the human suffering their business causes, to this very day, is horrifying. The rampant greed and savagery on display defies belief, and this is by no means in the past; it continues to this day.

If this book lacks anything, it would be the lack of a unifying theory underlying these horrible histories. Why is post-colonial Africa "Dictatorland"? Why have these savage dictators thrived in some African countries but in others, such as South Africa, similar experiences have not arisen, or at least not to the same degree. However this is still a first-rate piece of journalism and modern history, thoroughly worth the read.

 

[LonerMatt]

Spoiler: List

1. Roadside Picnic
2. Fifth Head of Cerebus
3. You are not a Gadget
4. Is the future going to be a better place?
5. The Three Body Problem
6. A Cold and Common Orbit
7. A Gathering of Shadows
8. Laurinda
9. Short Stories inspired by Laurinda
10. The Pier Falls
11. A Darker Shade of Magic
12. A Blade of Black Steel
13. Naveed
14. Terra Nullius
15. True Girt
16. A Conjuring of Light
17. The Grace of Kings
18. Porno
19. The North Water
20. Jasper Jones
21. That Thing Around Your Neck
22. Divergent
23. Wall of Storms
24. Insurgent
25. The Messenger
26. When the Night Comes
27. Glow
28. Shot in the Heart
29. Common People
30. Walk Away
31. Name of the Wind
32. Wise Man's Fear
33. Infomocracy
34. Borne
35. Art Can Help
36. The Museum of Modern Love
37. The Fifth Season
38. Underground Airlines
39. The Emperor's Blades
40. Everywhere I look
41. 10.04
42. Sleeping Giants
43. The Providence of Fire
44. Last Mortal Bond
45. What Technology Wants
46. Shadowboxing
47. The Promise

47. The Promise

This was a ripper story. Two children live with their mother Gwen who is always moving around, picking up a new man, getting drunk, getting high and basically a useless human. The children see a glimmer of change when they go and live with their Pop, but then Mum rocks back up and turmoil begins again.

The kids end up with Gwen at a Motel while she's doted on by a man called Ray - a meth dealer and peodophile. As Gwen's relationship with Ray deteriorates the children become increasingly hostile towards their mother and their living situation. As Gwen flees Ray, taking the children with her, one steals a bag full of money, complicating the plot significantly.

I'd hesitated to read this for awhile, something about the over-stressed 'family' theme in the blurb or just the way it was presented made me assume I'd dislike it, but it's a great book and very, very accurate to how some people in Australia live: hand to mouth, take take take, and sick to death of what life is.

 

[California Dreamer]

Another one to add to my list. There's a lot to like about Tony Birch.

 

[California Dreamer]

70. Stranger No More, by Annahita Parsan

* I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to review a pre-publication copy of this book*

“Stranger No More” would be an inspirational book for some readers.

Annahita Parsan’s story is a heart-rending tale of a child bride trapped in an abusive marriage in Iran, a country where divorce is almost impossible. When her husband is forced to flee the regime, Annahita is presented with an appalling Sophie’s choice decision - one of her children must be left behind.

After a terrible time in a Turkish prison, the family makes it to Scandinavia, but the abuse continues, and escalates. While there, Annahita receives occasional help from Christians, and she starts to seek help from Jesus.

The last quarter of the book is about Parsan’s deepening commitment to Christianity as the solution to her problems. This section will mostly appeal to like-minded readers. I personally found the multiple claims that she makes to be incredible, but one cannot deny her the succour that extricated her from the hair-raising situation she describes earlier.

 

[California Dreamer]

@California Dreamer You ever read The Black Book?

Not yet. I've read quite a few of Pamuk's, but not that one; My Name Is Red would be my favourite.

 

[LonerMatt]

Spoiler: List

1. Roadside Picnic
2. Fifth Head of Cerebus
3. You are not a Gadget
4. Is the future going to be a better place?
5. The Three Body Problem
6. A Cold and Common Orbit
7. A Gathering of Shadows
8. Laurinda
9. Short Stories inspired by Laurinda
10. The Pier Falls
11. A Darker Shade of Magic
12. A Blade of Black Steel
13. Naveed
14. Terra Nullius
15. True Girt
16. A Conjuring of Light
17. The Grace of Kings
18. Porno
19. The North Water
20. Jasper Jones
21. That Thing Around Your Neck
22. Divergent
23. Wall of Storms
24. Insurgent
25. The Messenger
26. When the Night Comes
27. Glow
28. Shot in the Heart
29. Common People
30. Walk Away
31. Name of the Wind
32. Wise Man's Fear
33. Infomocracy
34. Borne
35. Art Can Help
36. The Museum of Modern Love
37. The Fifth Season
38. Underground Airlines
39. The Emperor's Blades
40. Everywhere I look
41. 10.04
42. Sleeping Giants
43. The Providence of Fire
44. Last Mortal Bond
45. What Technology Wants
46. Shadowboxing
47. Blood
48. The Promise

48. The promise

Ok so the #47 book I read was 'Blood', not 'The Promise'. I got confused trying to remember the title at work.

Now I HAVE read the Promise which is short stories, not a novel, and quite good. A lot of coming of age work, a lot of working class and a lot more rural life than is usual for Tony Birch.

Just smashing through some Aussie fiction to round out the year.

Gotta see if I can finish DH Lawrence's 'The Kangaroo' before heading to the USA in a week.

 

[Geoffrey Firmin]

52 TWO KINDS OF TRUTH by Michael Connelly

The new Harry Bosch book is as ever an entertaining read and topically timely as it deals with prescription opioid addiction amongst other matters. The characters are fully realised, helped along by the recent third instalment of the TV series.

In terms of story it contains the usual police procedural dramas and opens up the next instalment in a great series.

 

[California Dreamer]

71. Photographic, by Isabel Quintero and Zeke Pena

* I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to review this book *

Isabel Quintero and Zeke Pena have come up with a clever application of the graphic novel form - an account of the life of Mexican photographer Graciela Iturbide. Iturbide is known for her work capturing the lives of indigenous people, and also her empathy with birds.

This short book includes many reproductions of Iturbide's photos and sets out the circumstances in which some notable works were created, as well as exploring Graciela's philosophy and process. The book sticks to black-and-white, reflecting its subject's preferences. The illustrations are well done and evocative of the work that they celebrate, but the accompanying text gets a bit over the top at times. I'm afraid that I find the "Dear Reader" style clunky and twee.

I think, though, that my major quibble about this book is that I would have liked it to be longer and to go into more detail about Iturbide, who is a really fascinating subject.

 

[Geoffrey Firmin]

53 House of Spies A Gabriel Allon Thriller by Daniel Silva

Above average airport style thriller well written and with a fast paced narrative. Interesting in its style structure and narrative with well developed characters. Have read a few of the series over the past couple of years and found them highly entertaining.

 

[Geoffrey Firmin]

54 Life Lessons From Bergson by Michael Foley

A School of life primer which is an interesting read as he makes the most of Bergson's connection to William James. Not a great introduction to Bergson bit too lite for my tastes but has primed me to reengage with one of the (personally) more interesting and influential French philosophers of the 20th Century.

 

[noob in 89]

Looks interesting. Is there a better introduction for someone interested in his connection to Proust?

 

[Geoffrey Firmin]

Looks interesting. Is there a better introduction for someone interested in his connection to Proust?

Not that I know of I’ve only one book that draws on that connection but its focused on Memory and not the personal relatoinship. Foley states that the only biography of Bergson isnn’t all that good.

 

[California Dreamer]

72. Whiteley on Trial, by Gabriella Coslovich

* I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review an advance copy of this book. *

Journalist Gabriella Coslovich's book is an account of a notorious Australian art fraud trial. Two leading figures in Melbourne's art world - dealer Peter Gant and conservator Aman Siddique - were tried on 2016 on charges of forging two paintings and passing them off as Brett Whiteley originals. This was a gigantic, multi-million dollar fraud but, as Coslovich shows, the legal system found itself almost incapable of prosecuting it effectively, or conducting a fair trial on the matter. The evidence-based realm of the law and the subjective judgment of the arts were just too far apart, with lawyers and judges wanting forensic proof that the works were fakes, and not willing to accept seemingly subjective judgment based on decades of familiarity with the artist's work.

Coslovich seems to drift away from her journalistic intentions at times and can't help taking sides as the story progresses, and this may colour the reader's assessment of the fairness of the process. However it is abundantly clear that many extraordinary steps were taken in this trial that render the final outcome exceedingly dubious.

The final appeal process was concluded in early 2017, so Coslovich has got this book together very quickly and given us a cogent and illuminating account of this significant case. She does an excellent job of bringing arcane details from both the legal and art worlds together and presenting them in a pacy and informative manner.