Category: Book Club
Book Club 2025: The Paris Review #13
(April 26, 2025)This is from 1956, when the Paris Review was still being published in Paris. It was a much slimmer affair back then — just 140 very thin pages. The longest piece here is “Letters From An American Prisoner” by James Blake. It’s a series of letters from Blake (who was incarcerated at the time) to … Continue reading Book Club 2025: The Paris Review #13
Book Club 2025: Løvens gap by Anne Holt and Berit Reiss-Andersen
(April 20, 2025)OK, I’ve respected the Norwegian ancient tradition of reading mysteries all Easter long, but this is the last one (even if there’s one more day to go). But I’m ending this Easter on a really strong book. It’s 400 pages long, and there’s not a single boring paragraph in here. Holt was a minister of … Continue reading Book Club 2025: Løvens gap by Anne Holt and Berit Reiss-Andersen
Book Club 2025: On the Other Hand, Death by Richard Stevenson
(April 18, 2025)I read a book by Stevenson many, many years ago, and then I didn’t read any more of his books. So either that book was just awful, or I just plain forgot? In any case, I bought this book four years ago, and then forgot to read it. This book is quite good! Much better … Continue reading Book Club 2025: On the Other Hand, Death by Richard Stevenson
Book Club 2025: The Paris Review #122
(April 18, 2025)I finished this book today (I’ve been reading it over the past few weeks), and that means that I can tell you my story about American customer service! A few years back I ran out of new issues of The Paris Review to read, and as I was in the US at the time, I … Continue reading Book Club 2025: The Paris Review #122
Book Club 2025: A Presumption of Death by Jill Paton Walsh
(April 17, 2025)I stumbled across this while doing some testing of the “missed books” command in bookiez.el. It’s one of those “… and FAMOUS DEAD AUTHOR” books, so I assumed it was going to be totally awful. But I saw that it had positive reviews, so I gave it a shot. It’s pretty bad. I mean, it’s … Continue reading Book Club 2025: A Presumption of Death by Jill Paton Walsh
Book Club 2025: Djevelkysset by Unni Lindell
(April 16, 2025)The week of mysteries continues… Lindell is one of the most successful mystery writers in Norway, and reading this, it’s both obvious and a bit confusing why this is the case. At the same time. The story is told in extremely short scenes — if this was a TV series, it would be one of … Continue reading Book Club 2025: Djevelkysset by Unni Lindell
Book Club 2025: 1222 by Anne Holt
(April 14, 2025)Easter is mystery book time in Norway. It’s been speculated that it all started because people went off to do skiing in the mountains, and they needed some light reading for the evenings (or when they were snowed in), but I guess it’s just One Of Those Things: A thing happens randomly, and then it … Continue reading Book Club 2025: 1222 by Anne Holt
Book Club 2025: The Rays Of Light That Did Not Illumine by Jandek
(April 9, 2025)I’m reading a big fantasy omnibus, and as is my wont when doing that, I’m reading separate short, short books in between the novels in the omnibus. Because reading several novels in a row in an omnibus is just oddly offputting to me. (But I have no problems reading several novels from the same author … Continue reading Book Club 2025: The Rays Of Light That Did Not Illumine by Jandek
Book Club 2025: A City of Strangers by Robert Barnard
(April 8, 2025)I wanted to read something entertaining today, so I first tried a new, well-reviewed mystery book, gave up, and then went with yet another old Barnard mystery. It’s pretty entertaining! The only annoyance this time around was that Barnard was so strongly hinting at one specific character as being the guilty one — by making … Continue reading Book Club 2025: A City of Strangers by Robert Barnard
Book Club 2025: Nothing Ever Happens Here by Seraphina Nova Glass
(April 8, 2025)The main mystery here is how I ended up with this book. I have no recollection of why I bought it, but perhaps I saw some glowing reviews and gave it a shot? I’m always on the lookout for some well-written mysteries. I mean, just the name — Seraphina Nova Glass — should have been … Continue reading Book Club 2025: Nothing Ever Happens Here by Seraphina Nova Glass
Book Club 2025: FIRE!! edited by Wallace Thurman
(April 4, 2025)Some years back, I watched a movie set during the Harlem Renaissance, and the characters were putting together this literary magazine called FIRE!!. So naturally I wanted to read it… and it turns out that somebody (in 1982) did a facsimile edition of this 1926 magazine. So for today’s book club reading, we don’t have … Continue reading Book Club 2025: FIRE!! edited by Wallace Thurman
Book Club 2025: Penric’s Labors by Lois McMaster Bujold
(April 2, 2025)A new book in mass-market paperback format — you don’t see that often these days, do you? Or perhaps you do, and it’s just me that never stumbles onto these paperbacks any more. Anyway, this book collects three novellas, all around 150 pages long, and all previously published separately as e-books. It’s an interesting way … Continue reading Book Club 2025: Penric’s Labors by Lois McMaster Bujold
Book Club 2025: The Moon and The Echo edited by Richard Porter
(March 31, 2025)I don’t really know how I come to have this… I guess I bought it in 2022? Anyway, this is subtitled “Responses to The Moon and The Melodies”, which is an album I quite like. It’s by Cocteau Twins with Harold Budd, but not titled that way, because that would have led to higher sales, … Continue reading Book Club 2025: The Moon and The Echo edited by Richard Porter
Book Club 2025: L’été 80 by Marguerite Duras
(March 28, 2025)I apparently picked this up at a sale in 2021. I quite enjoy Duras’ books, but I’ve only read a handful. I think I’ve seen most of her hit movies, though. This book is quite short, and you have to admire the lengths they’ve gone to to make this into something that can be sold … Continue reading Book Club 2025: L’été 80 by Marguerite Duras
Book Club 2025: The Luck of the Bodkins by P. G. Wodehouse
(March 27, 2025)I was feeling both under the weather and down in the dumps, so I reached for a Wodehouse book. And this one, from 1935, is top notch. This ticks along like extremely complicated clockwork in an almost hypnotic manner. There’s three (3) romances that have to come true, and there’s also a pearl necklace to … Continue reading Book Club 2025: The Luck of the Bodkins by P. G. Wodehouse
Book Club 2025: The Bad Samaritan by Robert Barnard
(March 25, 2025)Today was a perfect day for an old mystery novel. And as usual with Barnard, half of the book is about stuff that happens before The Crime, and then we get half a book of sleuthing. The problem with this kind of structure is that you have to have sufficiently interesting characters to pull it … Continue reading Book Club 2025: The Bad Samaritan by Robert Barnard
Book Club 2025: Fakkelen er tent! by Tor Eystein Øverås
(March 23, 2025)I frequently read several books in parallel — usually different types of books. Like, a musician autobiography, a short story collection and a novel — or in this case, I’ve been reading a book about the history of the “quality paperback” market in Norway. And it took me two and a half years to get … Continue reading Book Club 2025: Fakkelen er tent! by Tor Eystein Øverås
Book Club 2025: Deeds of Honor by Elizabeth Moon
(March 22, 2025)This is a slightly odd grab-bag of stuff. It’s got three proper short stories, one thirty page deleted sequence from one of the books, several things that I can only describe as “scenes”, and some “myth” recounts. None of these pieces would make much sense to somebody who hasn’t already read all the Paksenarrion books. … Continue reading Book Club 2025: Deeds of Honor by Elizabeth Moon
Book Club 2025: Numero Zero by Umberto Eco
(March 22, 2025)I got If on a winter’s night a traveler by Italo Calvino as an Xmas present when I was seventeen, and I loved it to bits. Absolutely amazing book. But why am I talking about Calvino? Because I think I’m suffering from some obscure disease probably called something like calvinoecotrepidatioensis, wherein every time my eyes … Continue reading Book Club 2025: Numero Zero by Umberto Eco
Book Club 2025: London 2084 by Bing & Bringsværd
(March 21, 2025)I guess this author duo has a special place in the hearts of all Norwegian nerds of a certain age. Not only did they champion science fiction in Norway in the 70s, but they edited a number of anthologies, got a bunch of classics translated, wrote sci-fi TV series… and also wrote a bunch of … Continue reading Book Club 2025: London 2084 by Bing & Bringsværd
Book Club 2025: De romantiske hundene by Roberto Bolaño
(March 20, 2025)Of all the things I opine on that I’m utterly unqualified to opine on, poetry is the thing that I’m unqualifiediest (that’s a word) to opine on. But I’ve never let that stop me before, so: Eh, it didn’t grab me. I have no idea, of course, whether it’s the translation that’s the problem (this … Continue reading Book Club 2025: De romantiske hundene by Roberto Bolaño
Book Club 2025: Line Up For Murder by Marian Babson
(March 20, 2025)Oops! I was hung over today, so I decided to read a mystery. This is a quite original concept — it’s about a bunch of people in line for days for a huge sale, and the “mystery” bit is about whether the people in the queue have other motives for sleeping on the sidewalk than … Continue reading Book Club 2025: Line Up For Murder by Marian Babson
Book Club 2025: Ned til hundene by Helle Helle
(March 18, 2025)Helle Helle is a Danish author, and I’ve seen her books around for years, but never actually read any of her books. I guess the main intriguing thing for me has been her cool name — yes, I’m that shallow. I guess I bought this book at an airport in December 2014, but then never … Continue reading Book Club 2025: Ned til hundene by Helle Helle
Book Club 2025: The Snow Queen by Michael Cunningham
(March 17, 2025)Like everybody else, I loved Cunningham’s book The Hours — it had a certain something very special going on. So I continued reading his books, but by the time I bought this one, I’d grown somewhat weary of his style. But I’ve got this strange habit of continuing to buy books from authors I’ve gone … Continue reading Book Club 2025: The Snow Queen by Michael Cunningham
Book Club 2025: McSweeney’s #17
(March 15, 2025)This was published in 2005, but I apparently bought this in 2013 — at The Strand! I think this was after I stopped my subscription to the magazine, but apparently this format was irresistible to me. As it is to this day. Some of the “mail” in this package is just bizarre fun, like this … Continue reading Book Club 2025: McSweeney’s #17
Book Club 2025: Finding My Elegy by Ursula K. Le Guin
(March 14, 2025)The first half of this book has poems from most of her previous collections… … and I skipped that half, because I’ve already read them. Yes, OK, sure, perhaps I’m a teensy bit fanboyish about Le Guin? Anyway, the last half of the book is poetry written in the years before 2010, and I’ve been … Continue reading Book Club 2025: Finding My Elegy by Ursula K. Le Guin
Book Club 2025: King Rat by China Miéville
(March 14, 2025)I’ve read most of Miéville’s books, and they’re a bit hit or miss. He’s a talented writer on a sentence by sentence basis, and that’s sometimes a problem: He gets so enthusiastic about how good he is that he has a tendency to go on and on, conjuring forth an exciting miasmatic milieu just by … Continue reading Book Club 2025: King Rat by China Miéville
Book Club 2025: Daybreak Zero by John Barnes
(March 12, 2025)Barnes wrote some moderately entertaining space opera books back in the day, but this is book two in a post-apocalyptic series. I bought the two first books in 2012, but I only read the first, and I wasn’t quite sure why. But reading this now, it’s kinda coming back to me: The book is competently … Continue reading Book Club 2025: Daybreak Zero by John Barnes
Book Club 2025: The English Understand Wool by Helen DeWitt
(March 10, 2025)This is a very short book — it’s part of a series called “Storybook ND” with the motto “the pleasure of reading a great book from cover to cover in an afternoon”. And it really succeeds at being a satisfying little book. It’s almost a short story, really, but it’s sly and witty and feels … Continue reading Book Club 2025: The English Understand Wool by Helen DeWitt
Book Club 2025: The Emperor’s Soul by Brandon Sanderson
(March 9, 2025)I think this is probably the third Sanderson book I’ve read. Sanderson is, of course, one of the most-selling fantasy authors in the world, so I’ve avoided his books, but I picked up one last year and though “well, this isn’t that bad”, so I got two more. This is a novella, and again, it’s … Continue reading Book Club 2025: The Emperor’s Soul by Brandon Sanderson
Book Club 2025: The Paris Review #250
(March 8, 2025)This is the latest issue, so I’m finally caught up! I mean, I’ve got a whole stack of old issues I bought the other year, but I’ve caught up with the more recent ones. I’ve been reading this over the past couple weeks… It’s an unusually topical issue, but slyly so. The interview with Hanif … Continue reading Book Club 2025: The Paris Review #250
Book Club 2025: Lyorn by Steven Brust
(March 7, 2025)This is the seventeenth book in the Vlad Taltos series which has been going since the early 80s, so… 40 years? I think that’s pretty unique — I mean, there’s been many fantasy book series that have gone on for decades, but not quite this coherently. It’s basically the story of one single guy over … Continue reading Book Club 2025: Lyorn by Steven Brust
Book Club 2025: Parade by Rachel Cusk
(March 5, 2025)I don’t read reviews of book I might read, but I’ve seen some mutterings about this book — well, first of all, that’s it’s not as good as Outline, but then again, very few things are. So I was approaching this with some trepidation. Front-loading books with the most “difficult” material seems to be a … Continue reading Book Club 2025: Parade by Rachel Cusk
Book Club 2025: The Thief Who Couldn’t Sleep by Lawrence Block
(March 3, 2025)I quite enjoyed Block’s later Bernie Rhodenbarr books — they were repetetive, but well-written and amusing. So I went ahead and bought all of his earlier Tanner books, and this is the second of those I’ve read. And as before, he’s got the patter going, and it’s amusingly written. But the book has the structure … Continue reading Book Club 2025: The Thief Who Couldn’t Sleep by Lawrence Block
Book Club 2025: Tales from the Folly by Ben Aaronovitch
(February 28, 2025)The worst mistake an author can do when writing short stories in between a series of novels is to try to “fill in” stuff from the backstory. That is, when creating a universe, good authors know a lot about their world that they never actually write (extensively) about. So for instance, if one of the … Continue reading Book Club 2025: Tales from the Folly by Ben Aaronovitch
Book Club 2025: The Unnamable by Samuel Beckett
(February 27, 2025)I bought this (at a sale) back in 2009 along with either Malone Dies or Molloy. I read the other book at the time, but not this one. I’m really culturemaxxing here — this edition was translated by Norway’s foremost poet, Jan Erik Vold, in the late 60s. And it flows really well; I wasn’t … Continue reading Book Club 2025: The Unnamable by Samuel Beckett
Book Club 2025: School for Murder by Robert Barnard
(February 27, 2025)I had a hangover over today from all that jazz yesterday, so I read another mystery. This is pretty solid — lots of interesting characters and a brisk pace. The only problem was that I took a five minute time out to think about who the murderer could be, and there was really only one … Continue reading Book Club 2025: School for Murder by Robert Barnard
Book Club 2025: Arkansas by John Brandon
(February 24, 2025)I bought this in 2008 — for a handful of years back then I bought basically everything published by McSweeney’s. I had a subscription to the quarterly, of course, but I also snapped up the other books they published. Half of the charm was the humour surrounding McSweeney’s, even if the books themselves weren’t “funny … Continue reading Book Club 2025: Arkansas by John Brandon
Book Club 2025: In the Teeth of Adversity by Marian Babson
(February 24, 2025)I started this book last week while I had a cold, but then I suddenly got all better, and found it rather a chore to finish this book. It’s not that it’s bad on sentence by sentence basis, but Babson here really goes for a P. G. Wodehouse-style farce, but also featuring cats, several dentists … Continue reading Book Club 2025: In the Teeth of Adversity by Marian Babson
Book Club 2025: Station Eternity by Mur Lafferty
(February 17, 2025)“Despite this solve…” Oh my gerd! This is awful! On a sentence by sentence basis, this is gruelling. “The kettle screamed its achievement of boiling water and Adrian jerked it off the element, wincing.” This is torture. I got to page 30 before giving up, because the concept here sounds like it could be fun. … Continue reading Book Club 2025: Station Eternity by Mur Lafferty
Book Club 2025: In the Company of Cheerful Ladies by Alexander McCall Smith
(February 17, 2025)I’ve got a strange kind of cold this week — it doesn’t seem to get better or get worse, but just remains at a stage of me feeling slightly cruddy, so I’m picking books to read that go down easily. I’m not up for reading anything challenging. I bought this book in 2005 and then … Continue reading Book Club 2025: In the Company of Cheerful Ladies by Alexander McCall Smith
Book Club 2025: A Conventional Boy by Charles Stross
(February 16, 2025)This book collects one novella and two short stories, so, er, “A Laundry Files Novel”? Well, OK, perhaps Stross considers this to be a very short novel, and not a novella… Or perhaps the publishers think “novel” sells better than “novella”, and they should know. As usual with Stross, his style is burbling — it’s … Continue reading Book Club 2025: A Conventional Boy by Charles Stross
Book Club 2025: Cetaganda by Lois McMaster Bujold
(February 15, 2025)I’ve got a cold. Boo! But whenever I have a cold, I get to re-read old science fiction novels. Yay! I mean, I could do that even if I didn’t have a cold, but somehow I prefer reading new books when I’m well and books I’ve read before when I’m poorly. And this is just … Continue reading Book Club 2025: Cetaganda by Lois McMaster Bujold
Book Club 2025: The Sandcastle by Iris Murdoch
(February 13, 2025)Looks like I bought this book at a sale back in 2004 and then didn’t read it. I guess that happens more often with books on sale than other books. This is a slightly over-the-top satire of the “middle aged academic meets pixie dream girl” genre: The main character, Mor, is the head of a … Continue reading Book Club 2025: The Sandcastle by Iris Murdoch
Book Club 2025: Heavy Weather by P. G. Wodehouse
(February 4, 2025)I’ve gotten to 1933 in my chronological read of P.G. Wodehouse novels, and I was wondering whether there’s a general drop-off in quality in his books… so I googled what people thought, and the rough consensus is that yes indeed, after 1940 his books suck or something? And that this is almost his final top … Continue reading Book Club 2025: Heavy Weather by P. G. Wodehouse
Book Club 2025: The Red and the Black II by Stendhal
(January 31, 2025)I read the first volume of this last year, and then I started this one a week ago. The Norwegian translation is by Paul René Gaugin, the more famous Gaugin’s son, and it was originally done for a 1944 translation (even if my edition is from the 70s). And… it’s almost wilfully archaic. That is, … Continue reading Book Club 2025: The Red and the Black II by Stendhal
Book Club 2025: Past Regret by Marian Babson
(January 30, 2025)Still in the mood for something easy on the brain. Unfortunately, this isn’t one of Babson’s best books — her main strength (after being a pretty decent writer on a word by word basis) is that she’s good at keeping amusing patter going. And this is a more “serious” thriller than anything else, and it’s … Continue reading Book Club 2025: Past Regret by Marian Babson
Book Club 2025: Paws For Alarm by Marian Babson
(January 30, 2025)I was feeling in the mood to vegetate today, so I rooted out this old book that I probably read 20 years ago. It’s hard finding good trash. There’s an endless amount of solid serious literature, but finding books that are easy on the brain but still marginally well-written is hard. This was originally published … Continue reading Book Club 2025: Paws For Alarm by Marian Babson
Book Club 2025: Powder and Patch by Georgette Heyer
(January 26, 2025)I’ve read most of Heyer’s classic books (i.e., the regency romances and her crime novels), and a handful of years ago I made I final sweep to buy her remaining books. The remaining books were mostly her “serious” historic books and her very serious contemporary novels (and in particular the latter aren’t regarded very highly … Continue reading Book Club 2025: Powder and Patch by Georgette Heyer
Book Club 2025: The Paris Review 234
(January 26, 2025)Is this a book even? It’s a literary magazine, but it’s book like, and this is my book club, so there! I’ve almost read the entire backlog of Paris Reviews that built up during Corona and stuff, so this is from 2020. Happier times. It’s a good issue. More experimental than usual, perhaps. Anyway! Class! … Continue reading Book Club 2025: The Paris Review 234
Book Club 2025: Here Comes A Hero by Lawrence Block
(January 22, 2025)I’ve read quite a few books by Lawrence Block — they’re a bit hit or miss. That is, he writes well, but his plots often leave much to be desired. This is from an early series, and I haven’t read any of these books before. Well, yes, this is wittily written as usual. You can’t … Continue reading Book Club 2025: Here Comes A Hero by Lawrence Block
Book Club 2025: Still Life by Louise Penny
(January 22, 2025)I was in the mood to read some cheesy detective novel today, and this was recommended for fans of Agatha Christie, etc… … but my god! The horrors! The writing here is so awful. It’s not just that she’s heavy handed with the adjective and adverb sprinkling, but the way pronouns don’t always match up … Continue reading Book Club 2025: Still Life by Louise Penny
Book Club 2025: Memory’s Legion by James S. A. Corey
(January 20, 2025)This is a collection of short stories from the Expanse universe. They were published concurrently with the novels, but I haven’t read them before this. And I was thinking… “yay! an opportunity to spend some nostalgic time with all those characters I loved!” And this is not that at all. Instead we get the backstories … Continue reading Book Club 2025: Memory’s Legion by James S. A. Corey
Book Club 2025: Poems 1918-1975 by Charles Reznikoff
(January 11, 2025)Heh, looks like I bought this book at a sale around 1998 (for like $7) and never got around to reading it. It’s not that I don’t enjoy Reznikoff, but I just don’t like omnibus books… I prefer reading the books separately for some reason or other. Anyway, this is the stuff. THE STUFF. There’s … Continue reading Book Club 2025: Poems 1918-1975 by Charles Reznikoff
Book Club 2025: In the Country of Last Things by Paul Auster
(January 6, 2025)I bought this book in 1998, at the tail end of my Auster obsession. In the 90s, I read everything he published — the novels, of course, but also the essay collections, the plays, the juvenalia… and watched all movies he’d been involved with. But I grew increasingly… er… overly familiar with his storytelling ticks? … Continue reading Book Club 2025: In the Country of Last Things by Paul Auster
Book Club 2025: Doctor Sally by P. G. Wodehouse
(January 5, 2025)I’m reading Wodehouse sorta chronologically, and I’ve now reached 1931. This is a short novel based on one of Wodehouse’s plays. And it is, of course, very witty, but like all of the books that Wodehouse wrote that were based on his plays, it’s just not as good as his other novels. It retains the … Continue reading Book Club 2025: Doctor Sally by P. G. Wodehouse
Book Club 2025: Mitt Abruzzo by Pet Petterson
(January 5, 2025)I’ve been reading this book for over a year before falling asleep, and it works well as that. Er, I mean, it’s not that it’s boring or anything, but it’s a journal and I can read a couple of pages, or read a dozen pages, and it’s fine — I don’t have to remember much … Continue reading Book Club 2025: Mitt Abruzzo by Pet Petterson
Book Club 2025: Arkhangelsk by Elizabeth H. Bonesteel
(January 3, 2025)I started reading this book a week ago, but then stopped and read some other books in between. It’s not that it’s a bad book — and Elizabeth H. Bonesteel should surely win the coveted “Most Real-Sounding Name For An Author” prize of 2025 — it’s a pretty exciting mystery set on a far-away planet. … Continue reading Book Club 2025: Arkhangelsk by Elizabeth H. Bonesteel
Book Club 2025: Some Memories of Drawings by Georgia O’Keeffe
(January 2, 2025)Hm, why did I buy this one again…? Oh, right, I read Andrew White’s comics piece on O’Keeffe, and I think he recommended this book in the commentary or something? It’s a very handsome book. And I didn’t realise she worked in all these different styles… O’Keeffe’s comments are quite amusing, too. Some Memories of … Continue reading Book Club 2025: Some Memories of Drawings by Georgia O’Keeffe
Book Club 2025: Death of an Old Goat by Robert Barnard
(January 2, 2025)Am I doing this? Hm… Well, I thought it might be slightly amusing to log books I’m reading… but I don’t want to review books, because if you’re reviewing books, you start reading them in a different way, and I don’t want to do that. So, like, perhaps just a couple sentences about each book? … Continue reading Book Club 2025: Death of an Old Goat by Robert Barnard