New York Times - The Ten Best Books of 2010

As printed December 12th, they are:
[Fiction]
Freedom, Jonathan Franzen - on my list, haven't read yet
The New Yorker Stories, Ann Beattie - probably
Room, Emma Donoghue - SO amazing
Selected Stories, William Trevor - eh
A Visit from the Goon Squad, Jennifer Egan - meh
[Non-Fiction]
Apollo's Angels: A History of Ballet, Jennifer Homans - have been considering
Cleopatra: A Life, Stacy Schiff - on my list, haven't read yet
The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer, Siddhartha Mukherjee - maybe when mom's better
Finishing the Hat: Collected Lyrics (1954-1981) With Attendant Comments, Principles, Heresies, Grudges, Whines and Anecdotes, Stephen Sondheim - no interest, really
The Warmth of Other Suns: the Epic Story of America's Great Migration, Isabel Wilkerson - on the list, waiting for it to be available

Additionally, the "100 Notable Books of 2010" have a bunch I read, have been meaning to read, or now want to read!

UMass Amherst History Department publications

Just some housekeeping posts today - first, I finally got around to reading the History Department newsletter, and there are some books, etc. I want to keep tabs on.
-the current working title of Carlin Barton's third book is Between the Axe and the Altar; can't wait!!!
-Dick Minear has a book review on http://www.japanfocus.org/, which I definitely need to read
-Barry Levy recently published Town Born: the Political Economy of New England from Its Founding to the Revolution (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2009)
-Anne Broadbridge is working on her next book which is going to be about imperial women of the Mongol Empire - so cool!!!

SO behind...part 2

Yikes - okay, the books I've been reading since shortly before Thanksgiving:
I started Lauren Willig's latest, The Mischief of the Mistletoe, while I was on the bus back from Plymouth (Hatherly Family Reunion) to Boston (Charlesmark night with E).  Perfect for the bus, and then even MORE perfect for the world-class hangover I had the following morning.  Partied hard, J & E style, at Cmark (and before, and after), and for some reason known only to God, or maybe Satan, I DIDN'T EAT before going to bed.  Don't know what the f*** was wrong with me, but I woke up with the worst hangover I have had in years and years Sunday morning, and could just barely drag myself back and forth between the couch and my bed throughout the day.  The only thing that added any happiness to my day, or made my head/stomach/limbs hurt any less, was Willig - a particularly light, silly, and sweet Willig.  Jane Austen even makes a cameo, which was cute - and respectfully done [weird - feeling like I've written this before...].  And the "hero," such as he is, is "Turnip" Fitzhugh, from some of the other books, and he was written pretty adorably funny.  Obviously Willig had to man him up a little, but this story was a nice change from some of her other ones - the heroine wasn't privileged and confident, the hero wasn't dashing and strong.  I think this might actually be one of my favorites of the series, even though it's meant to be something of a side project.
The next stop on the book-train was The Savage Garden by Mark Mills.  I didn't love it, but it killed time well enough without feeling like it was dumb or a waste of time.  Set in the 1950s, at a villa in the Florence environs, it's about an English graduate student (I think...undergrad?  English academic systems confuse me) who is sent to research a unique Renaissance garden and who ends up stumbling onto a contemporary mystery (of course) that mirrors elements of one surrounding the garden's creation, and stumbling onto some romance (of course) with a free-spirited Italian girl.

What was kind of a waste of time was Gail Carriger's Blameless - and I should have
 known it.  In fact, I did know it, even before I started.  It's the third book in a really unimpressive series, but I wanted to learn the "science" behind the surprise pregnancy of the second book, and I saw it the other day at the bookstore, and it was cheap, and I have a coupon, so... sh*t happens.  This one was actually the best of the three, I think, though; at least, I don't really remember the first one at this point (it's been almost a year), but I definitely think this one was better than the last one (although I don't really remember the second one either).  Carriger digs into the "mythology" behind the whole soulless thing, with her heroine travelling to Italy (Florence, again!) to get more information about her situation and tangles with some Templars.

Went from a steampunk, alternative Victorian England to 14th century England with Susanna Gregory and
The Mark of a Murderer.  I mostly grabbed it from the library because I had decided to try and sell a copy of another book in the series that I had at home, and I remembered vaguely that I had enjoyed it, so I figured I'd find the earliest one in the series that the library had and see if I still liked it.  I guess the answer is yes?  It's okay, but not great.  Reminds me of all the other ye-olde-murder-mysteries, you know?  Brother Cadfael, or any of the others set in medieval Oxford and Cambridge.  Even that one I read a while ago about Giordano Bruno, Heresy, had a similar feel, but less of the cozy-vibe.

Last but definitely not least, after taking some time with it, last week I finished Russell Menard's Sweet Negotiations: Sugar, Slavery, and Plantation Agriculture in Early Barbados.  Such an enjoyable book.  Interesting and easy to read.  If I have a complaint, it's that it was too high-altitude - there was a lot of surface, and not a ton of depth.  It also lacked in "stories" and material/cultural history and social history, but over all, definitely very decent.  I wouldn't recommend it to people who aren't used to reading strictly history books, it's definitely not popular history, but it's not super academic or hard to digest by any means.

SO behind...part 1

I've been reading a decent amount since before Thanksgiving, and now it's December, and I haven't written anything down.  And I will, but before I forget, sold the following books to the Used Books department at the Harvard Bookstore today - only half of the ones I dragged in, but hey, it's $10 and change in store credit, and a slightly less teetery tower of books (that I'll never read again) on the floor of my apartment.

Quickly:
Fingersmith, Sarah Waters - not exactly my cup of tea, but I have to say, it was well-written.  A little confusing in places, but that is as it should be.  The more I think about it, the more I think I liked it / it was good, but I don't need to own it, either.
The Constant Princess, Philippa Gregory - I think this might be one of my favorites of the Gregory Tudor books; it's certainly not as "exciting" as The Other Boleyn Girl (which I think was the first one of hers I read), but Katherine of Aragon makes for an appealing protagonist, as I recall.
The Last Camel Died at Noon, Elizabeth Peters - I feel like I SHOULD like these books and their protagonist (Amelia Peabody) better than I actually do.  But I find the main characters more annoying than anything...wish Harvard Bookstore had taken the other two I had off my hands as well!
Tyrannosaur Canyon, Douglas Preston - dumb, but funny.  Read it on a plane, I think.
Shutter Island, Dennis Lehane - talked about this book here when I read it, so no need to go back over it here.  Saw the movie with N and Dad a while ago, that was kinda fun.  Totally different from the book, though, as much as I remembered of the book at the time.  And RATS.  UGH.  Had to close my eyes.

Interesting that two of the five here have movie adaptations (and a third if you count references) - I should check out Fingersmith & The Other Boleyn Girl, in its various incarnations. 

Books my baby bro is recommending

Apparently N is taking a sci-fi lit class and he really likes the book Odd John, also RUR, and The Forever War













  ("bad start but then got much, much better" - i.e., don't give up).  Skeptical: this came up when I was like "who the f is reading a book about gender-switching aliens - Ursula Le Guin - and it was N, for class.  But BECAUSE I TRUST HIS JUDGMENT (and he's watching as I type this), I will give the ones he likes a chance.  And "awesomely fantastic" is a hell of a recommendation.  And apparently the recommendations go in order of the listing here.  The first two are novels, with the first being monologue heavy, the other more action-packed; the third is a play with some Luddite themes.

MY BEST FRIEND IS STILL ENGAGED!!!!!

And today I bought The Knot Bridesmaid Handbook: Helping the Bride Shine Without Losing Your Mind; I also spent most of the last 5-6 hours at CMark telling people (repeatedly) "my best friend is engaged!!!"  Haha, whoops.  People might hate me now.  But I totally cornered a guy about high-quality South Asian wedding photographers.  So, all in all, point JENN.

MY BEST FRIEND IS ENGAGED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So I didn't get that much reading done.  Because I was busy celebrating.  BECAUSE MY BEST FRIEND IS ENGAGED!!!!!!! 
In between celebrating R & M's engagement and doing research on being a MAID OF HONOR (BECAUSE MY BEST FRIEND IS GETTING MARRIED!) I did do a little reading.
Finished Phil Rickman's The Prayer of the Night Shepherd; usual Rickman stuff.



Also read The Cry of the Dove by Fadia Faqir, which T gave me a while ago when she was moving and deaccessioning.  I liked it, although it took me a little while to get into it.  It was definitely sad - the main character, Salma, is a Bedouin refugee in England, driven from home after getting pregnant while unmarried.  But it was well-written.  Faqir weaves strands from a variety of different times in Salma's life together, so one page might see memories spanning decades and continents.  It was a little uneven at first, but the author hit her stride fairly early on, and once she did, I really liked the effect.




Less impressive was The Owl Killers by Karen Maitland.  Set in a small village and beguinage in 1320s England, it was an interesting topic, but not particularly engaging.  Maitland tells the story from several different points of view, sort of like Faqir's overlapping time lines; also sort of like with Faqir, I wasn't sure it would work at first.  And, honestly, not sure my mind changed.  I was worried initially there would be too much going on, too many viewpoints, and it would be distracting or get in the way of the narrative.  It did and didn't.  It wasn't an insurmountable problem, but it wasn't the best reading experience ever, either.  I'm willing to give her another shot, though - just put her first novel on my to-read list, so we'll see.





MUCH more of a priority though: The Bridesmaid Guide: Etiquette, Parties, and Being Fabulous; The Bridesmaid's Guerrilla Handbook; the Fall 2010 issue of South Asian Bride (whoo!!!  so excited I found it!); and the Fall 2010 / Fashion Issue of Martha Stewart Weddings