October 2013 reads

Very productive reading month in October, aided by a two-day car trip during which I read nearly a dozen books, as I finished/read 52 books for the month.  20/52 were written/edited by women and 25/52 were read in a language other than English.  Some re-reads as well, but mostly first-time reads.

257  Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Printze txikia (Basque; read for linguistic comparison, but story is a personal fav)

258  Joan Silber, Fools (longlisted for the National Book Award; short fiction collection; very good)

259  Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Quyllur llaqtayuq wawamanta (Quechua; see note above)

260  Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, El principe picinin (Venetian; understood it more unaided than others above)

261  Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Mažasis Princas (Lithuanian; see above note)

262  Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Inkosana Encane (Zulu; see above)

263  Jésus Torbado, Las corrupciones (1965 Premio Alfaguara winner; very good)

264  Dacia Maraini, Donna in guerra (Italian; very good)

265  Jean Stafford, Collected Stories (short fiction collection; good, but some stories were dated)

266  Jhumpa Lahiri, The Lowland (2013 Booker Prize and National Book Award finalist; review forthcoming)

267  Donna Tartt, The Secret History (excellent)

268  Elsa Morante, Arturo's Island (excellent)

269  Wendy Lower, Hitler's Furies:  German Women in the Nazi Killing Fields (National Book Award finalist in Non-Fiction; already reviewed)

270  John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell, March:  Book One (non-fiction; graphic novel; outstanding)

271  J.M. Sidorova, The Age of Ice (good)

272  Al Gore, The Future (non-fiction; decent but could have been stronger in its presentation of ideas)

273  Thomas Pynchon, Bleeding Edge (National Book Award finalist in Fiction; review forthcoming)

274  László Krasznahorkai, Seiobo There Below (may review fully in future, but this was a great read)

275  Therese Anne Fowler, Z:  A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald (very good)

276  Denise Kiernan, The Girls of Atomic City (non-fiction; very good)

277  Karen Joy Fowler, The Jane Austen Book Club (excellent)

278  Mircea Cărtărescu, Nostalgia (Romanian; very good)

279  Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Malý Princ (Czech; see above note)

280  Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, O Pequeno príncipe (Brazilian Portuguese; better than the continental Portuguese translation)

281  Walter Siti, Resistere non serve a niente (Italian; Premio Strega winner; very good)

282  Andrzej Sapkowski, Il Sangue degli Elfi (Italian; already reviewed in English)

283  Andrzej Sapkowski, Le Sang des elfes (French; already reviewed in English)

284  Andrzej Sapkowski, Das Erbe der Elfen (German; already reviewed in English)

285  Dacia Maraini, Darkness (excellent)

286  Jyrki Vainonen, The Explorer & Other Stories (short fiction collection; review later this month)

287  Tiziano Scarpa, Stabat Mater (Italian; Premio Strega winner; very good)

288  Adrian Matejka, Big Smoke (National Book Award finalist in Poetry; review forthcoming)

289  Gene Luen Yang, Boxers (National Book Award finalist in Young People's Literature; graphic novel; review forthcoming)

290  Gene Luen Yang, Saints (National Book Award finalist in Young People's Literature; graphic novel; review forthcoming)

291  Mary Szybist, Incarnadine (National Book Award finalist in Poetry; review forthcoming)

292  Leena Krohn, Datura (review forthcoming)

293  Zelda Fitzgerald, Save Me the Waltz (uneven but often good)

294  Liliana Bodoc, Los días de la sombra (Spanish; re-read; good)

295  Lucie Brock-Broido, Stay, Illusion (National Book Award finalist in poetry; review forthcoming)

296  Andrzej Sapkowski, La sangre de los elfos (Spanish; re-read; already reviewed)

297  Andrzej Sapkowski, Blood of Elves (re-read; already reviewed)

298  Andrzekj Sapkowski, Tiempo del odio (Spanish; already reviewed)

299  Maria Bennedetta Cerro, La Congiusa degli Oppositi (Italian; poetry; very good)

300  Natalia Ginzburg, Lessico famigliare (Italian; good)

301  Donna Tartt, The Goldfinch (review forthcoming)

302  Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Vuelo nocturno (Spanish; very good)

303  Andrzej Sapkowski, The Time of Contempt (already reviewed)

304  Andrzej Sapkowski, Il tempo della guerra (Italian; already reviewed)

305  Andrzej Sapkowski, Le Temps du mépris (French; already reviewed)

306  Andrzej Sapkowski, Der Zeit der Verachtung (German; already reviewed)

307  Andrzej Sapkowski, Bautismo de fuego (Spanish; re-read; already reviewed)

308  Andrzej Sapkowski, Le Baptême du feu (French; already reviewed)


Update on Yearly Goals: 

Total:  308/366 - 4 books ahead of pace

Women writers:  108/308 (nearly 35%, above 33% minimum goal; 20/52 in October)

Foreign Language: 120/100 (exceeded goal, which now will be extended to 150)

Spanish:  43/50 (ahead of goal by 1 book; 6/52 in October)

Italian:  17/25 (roughly on pace; 6/52 in October)