I have what we Brits call a 2:2, a Lower Second or a Desmond (think South African bishops).

UK university degrees were awarded as Firsts, Upper Seconds or 2:1, Lower Seconds, Thirds or passes in the early 1990s when I graduated, might still be for all I know. For some reason, nearly all British degrees are awarded with honours, as mine was, I know this is not the case at most US institutions.

Basically, my grades were slightly below par, partly because there were certain books and periods of history which never really engaged me, but mainly because I spent a little bit too much time having a good time and not enough studying.

However, Manchester, where I studied, was generally considered to be the best university in the country for the subject at the time. Subsequently, the American Studies department has been absorbed into the English department, which might have saved money but can only have affected academic standards adversely.

Graham

posted by Grammath at 5:06 pm (EST) on Aug 20, 2008

Hi, Deborah.

My pleasure. I'm a Londoner born and bred, and if I still took a newspaper it would be "The Independent", for what that's worth. Do they include Mark Steel's columns in your bundle? He's a very funny man.

I hope your subscription gives you what you need. From what I've seen of the US media recently, I understand why you feel the need to read a newspaper from elsewhere.

Also nice to meet another Patrick McGrath fan.

TTFN,
Graham

posted by Grammath at 12:10 pm (EST) on Aug 20, 2008

Hi Deborah, I have added The Congressman's Daughter, and look forward to reading it. These aren't books I've read recently, so I didn't add to the group discussion: A Fine Balance by Mistry and Crossing to Safety by Stegner. I gave both of them 5 stars and recommend them to everyone. Isn't this a wonderful (and addictive) site? Take care, Pat

posted by pdebolt at 10:55 am (EST) on Aug 11, 2008

Re: Luc Sante - Low Life is a great book and I also have the book of police photos he discovered in the NYC archives, Evidence. I also bought the recent NYRB editions of Simenon because he and Wm. T. Vollman write forewords in them. I've been meaning to pick up Factory of Facts, but there's always something else I'm more interested in when it comes to buying time.

Now I'll have to check out Nik Cohn!

posted by slickdpdx at 11:44 am (EST) on Jul 14, 2008

Unknown Masterpieces (NYRB) looks good, but they oughta give that away free with a book purchase since its all one big advertisement for NYRB books!

posted by slickdpdx at 6:27 pm (EST) on Jul 10, 2008

P.S. After perusing your latest, I am checking out Elizabeth Jolley.

posted by slickdpdx at 5:08 pm (EST) on May 27, 2008

I see from member reviews that someone bought the right to make a movie out of Dogs of God. Can't imagine what happened. The story seems highly film-able, even if it will lose the beautiful but direct writing. Too bad it wasn't the Coen brothers (assuming it wasn't them who optioned the book) it turns out they would have done a better job than I would ever have expected with similar material. There are a few others that could do a good job too...

posted by slickdpdx at 4:54 pm (EST) on May 27, 2008

Hi!
Yes, we do have PETA, and the RSPCA (like your ASPCA) but they are both, unfortunately bound by stupid laws. I have, on several occasions, reported dogs to the RSPCA that are left tied up outside in all kinds of weather, never exercised or given any human contact etc, only to be told that the law says they must have food and shelter and, that being the case, there is 'nothing we can do'. Our animal cruelty laws have recently been tightened up just a little and I believe the new laws are intended to cover situations like the one I have described, but I'm not sure that anything has been done for the animals that are used in so-called 'sports'. It seems to be okay to cause suffering to animals as long as the rewards (through commerce or betting) are high enough. All the rest of us can do is keep battling away, I guess.

I couldn't tell from your photo what make of dog Taco is (I know now) but he would be a darling whatever he was with that dreamy expression!

posted by Booksloth at 6:11 am (EST) on May 6, 2008

Glad you are enjoying The Intuitionist!

How to Get Ahead in Advertising is better than Withnail (or Killing Fields). I woudn't read the screenplay without seeing the film first. I gather from the conversation below that you liked the Tristram Shandy movie too. You will most likely enjoy HtoGAinA. A lot.

Bruce Robinson (the screenwriter/director) also has a novel that is quite good, The Peculiar Memories of Thomas Penman.

posted by slickdpdx at 1:49 pm (EST) on May 5, 2008

Hi DeBorah,
I must find the Picasso book, thanks for your tip. I know two Finnish writers who owned dachshunds. One of them wrote a short story called "pig's ID". His dachshund was greedy for food and the writer told the dog that he needs to get new identity. I know David Hockney has made a book called Dog days. I've never seen it, I should probably get it online, they don't sell it in local book stores.
Greetings from global warmed springly Finland again. ( some years we have snow this time, now it's 20 celsius)
Erja

posted by iiris6 at 9:55 am (EST) on Apr 29, 2008

Hi Dedorah, Taco and Fanny!
An LT dachshund circle would be a good idea, I would join immediately! My dachshund Milla is seven and she has a companion, Pirre, a portuguese podengo, 2 years. Before Milla I had Alli the dachshund who died at the age of 14 something. I also have some porcelain dachshunds. How about you, how deep into these creatures are you?
Erja

posted by iiris6 at 5:59 am (EST) on Apr 27, 2008

Hi!
A lovely picture! Something familiar about it...could it be a dachshund? I have a wirehaired miniature dachshund and of course she enjoys taking a nap in a warm place. Greatings from springly Finland!
iiris6

posted by iiris6 at 6:12 am (EST) on Apr 25, 2008

Thanks for the kind words! I should have given that topic a longer title, so people would know what I was aiming to get posts about.

I enjoyed Whitehead's op-ed. The Intuitionist is spectacular. Apex was merely really good.

Great library! Moves suck, don't they? I keeping hoping those lost books are ones I just haven't found yet. Your profile pic reminds me of Auster's Timbuktu (his least good book, I think.)

posted by slickdpdx at 1:53 pm (EST) on Apr 24, 2008

Hi Deborah,

Been reading NYT for years on-line, but I’ve never noticed 'paper cuts' – so thanks for the tip - it looks good.

Have you seen 'August, Osage County'? I guess San Diego is many thousands of miles from either Chicago or Broadway. I'm hoping it comes to London - one or two of the jokes wouldn't work - taking the proverbial ‘p’ out of some locales/areas of the States - but otherwise no problems.

Glad you liked the review - almost felt it was a bit superfluous with all the Reading Room material - but at the time I was the only person with a copy - but now Librarything has 3 copies!

Best wishes,

Peter

posted by peterbrown at 3:53 pm (EST) on Feb 26, 2008

Thank you for your nice response this morning. I was probably being overly cautious, nothing like swinging from one extreme to the other eh?.

posted by bereader at 10:23 am (EST) on Dec 25, 2007

You're welcome. Your book selection makes an interesting library. Also, you have a great picture of your dog, smiling!

posted by smcwl at 10:14 pm (EST) on Nov 3, 2007

>"controlled releases" (sounds like medication)

LOL!

I think there are just as many controlled releases as there are wild releases. It's whatever way one chooses to distribute books to others.

Today was a tough day for me. I try not to accumulate too many books, but went to a "bag" sale. I ended up taking home over 50 books for less than 14 cents each. I'm now registering them at BC and planning to distribute some at the National Book festival in downtown DC next weekend.

My "creature" on BookCrossing is a(n unnamed) baby hamster we once had. My "creature" on LT is Bandit, a male Teddy bear hamster I once had.

posted by SqueakyChu at 5:14 pm (EST) on Sep 23, 2007

Feel free to bug me all you want. I certainly don't mind.

Nice to know about your pen pal in Iran. There are two very active BookCrossers who live in Tehran who frequently participate in my bookrays. I'm always amazed that my books get into Iran and that books from Iran get to me (albeit packaged very tightly). It's nice to be able to communicate on a person-to-person level with people from other countries which have fallen out of current favor with the U.S. Basically, our needs are all the same.

posted by SqueakyChu at 2:28 pm (EST) on Sep 23, 2007

Edited previous message to read:

I do ship occasionally "overseas". I know that Australia and Iran are not in Europe! :D

posted by SqueakyChu at 10:25 am (EST) on Sep 23, 2007

I'll look for Mr. Dirda's book discussions. Thanks for the heads up.

A bookring is a book that's passed from person to person (usually by mail but not neccesarily) that ends up with the originator of the bookring. A bookray is the same thing except that it does not end up with the originator. For a bookray, the last person on the list gets to decide what to do with the book. There is a complete forum on BookCrossing with offers of bookrings, bookrays, and bookboxes. I myself have a list of my own bookring and ray offers on my BC profile.

These books are mailed to you for free, but you will need to pay to ship the book to the next in line. Shipping (I do trade paperbacks) within the U.S. can be done cheaply by media mail ($2.13 for books under one pound). Shipping to Canada is about $5-6. The cost of shipping to Europe has increased dramatically since the recent U.S. postage rate increase. I find it best two ship two trade paperbacks at once overseas in an $11 flat rate envelope. I usually include the bookring book and a RABCK. You may specify to where you are willing to mail (US only, Canada OK, or international) when you sign up for each bookray or ring. I generally specify I'd prefer to ship within the U.S. but am willing to ship to Canada if needed or internationally if desperate! :-) I do ship occasionally to Europe as I've received some wonderful books from people in Finland, Bulgaria, France, Australia, Iran, etc. It's very exciting and fun (albeit expensive) to ship and receive books to and from people all over the world.

I'll probably be joining the Out discussion late as I have several other books I need to read in the meantime. I'll probably catch you at the discussion at the end of the month! :-)

posted by SqueakyChu at 10:22 am (EST) on Sep 23, 2007

I probably would love the Dirda discussion. Unfortunately, I'm at work at that time and cannot participate. :-(

BookCrossing, for me, is very much fun. I highly recommend participating. I've had the wonderful opportunity to meet some local BookCrossers, and they are *crazy* in a good way. They love to laugh and have fun. Not really the serious people I'd imagined to meet. They're only serious about their love for books.

I'm so glad you joined BookCrossing! As a treat for joining, I'd love to mail one of my available books to you. You can pick one of the books listed below. Just send me your mailing address via the private messaging system on BookCrossing. Let me know if you need help doing this. There are no strings attached. It's a RABCK (random act of BookCrossing kindness) which BookCrossers do all the time.

1. Death of Vishnu by Manil Suri (trade paperback)
2. Sixty-Six by Barry Levinson (hardback)
3. Saturday by Michael McEwan (trade paperback)
4. The Blue Bedspread by Raj Kamal Jha (trade paperback)
5. The Fisherman's Son by Michael Koepf (trade paperback)

I'm going to be reading Out with The Reading Lounge. I'd be delighted if you joined us in that discussion. It will start in October (coming very soon!).

posted by SqueakyChu at 12:23 am (EST) on Sep 23, 2007

Thank you for stopping by Art is Life!

posted by TheresaWilliams at 3:15 pm (EST) on Sep 18, 2007

saw your comment on blueacademia, "some entrepreneur could do something like this for music (if they haven't already)."

Last.fm is pretty much that :)

posted by colllapse at 4:03 pm (EST) on Feb 26, 2007

I was astonsihed to find another person with a copy of Malcolm de Chazal's Plastic Sense. He was living on the island of Mauritius where I bought an autographed copy in 1974. How did you get your copy?

posted by onymous at 11:31 am (EST) on Jan 4, 2007

Hi, Deborah!

Oh, I do love playreading! And The Norman Conquests (indeed, pretty much anything by Alan Ayckbourn) is a favourite of mine. (In fact, I've worked with Alan quite a few times, as he's been good enough to direct my own plays at his theatre in Yorkshire!)

Other really good modern reads I'd recommend would be Patrick Marber, Joe Penhall and Yasmin Reza - all of whom write fascinating (and wonderfully readable!) plays. And you can rarely go wrong with a bit of Tom Stoppard either.

Have fun!

Rob

posted by shearrob at 7:09 pm (EST) on Sep 10, 2006

I'm afraid Sweet Adversity is one of the many, many books I own but haven't gotten around to reading. Actually, I'm amazed I still have it after the several moves I've been through in the last few years; it was given to me by a fellow employee whose literary taste I had no great reason to trust, and I deaccessioned a lot of books to avoid having to box and move them. I guess it was such a nice compact paperback I couldn't bring myself to get rid of it. Anyway, if you try it again and think it's fantastic, let me know and it will move up the list of Books I Intend to Get Around to Someday! ("You go first!" "No, you go first!")

posted by languagehat at 11:17 am (EST) on Aug 25, 2006

Listening to a book is a little different from reading it yourself, but I don’t find it distracting. The process of listening is slower than reading, since I read faster than narrators can speak coherently, but comprehension isn’t unduly effected.

posted by geemont at 6:01 pm (EST) on Aug 20, 2006

Hi Deborah:

I think Woodrell is the total king of white-trash lit. In his earliest works (Bright Lights, Muscle), he tried to be a mystery writer, but later he found his true calling.

By all means read 'The Death of Sweet Mister'. 'Tomato Red' and 'Give us a Kiss' ain't half bad either. But 'Sweet Mister' will tell you whether you love him or hate him.

I guess there's a fuss cuz he has a new book coming out any day...

Denton

posted by denton at 3:14 pm (EST) on Aug 10, 2006

I haven't seen the Tristram movie. I think I'm displaying the typical bibliophile's hesitancy to see favorite books made into movies. Can you greenlight the movie for me? Does it do the book justice and/or compliment the book (since I know it goes a little pomo-ishly away from the book's plot)?

Good luck with matching your book collection's numbers to to your ipod's.

posted by blueacademia at 9:58 pm (EST) on Aug 8, 2006

Oh, I ABSOLUTELY remember shopping at Kroch's & Brentano's! Those were the days. :) Growing up here in the 70's and 80's (esp. the 70's) one had to shop at K&B or Barbaras---gentrification hadn't overtaken all of the neighborhoods and the chain bookstore phenomena was in its infancy with Crown, Waldenbooks, and the like (heh, remember when those guys were the baddies before B&N and Borders?). I do remember going to the K&B on Wabash but as we lived in Lincoln Park my mother more often took me to the one in Water Tower Place. You'll be happy to know, that if you take any of the El train lines heading northbound, you can still see the Kroch's and Brentano's name in the stonework of that Wabash store as the train goes by---it's long since been gone, other businesses have moved come and gone in the space as well, and I belive the bldg. is being rehabbed but I like that permamnent vestige of K&B's place in Chicago booklore.

posted by bookjones at 7:18 pm (EST) on Aug 8, 2006

Your comment about 'books that no one else has' got me wondering what might be right or wrong with the ones that are unique on my list. Most are either the handful of books I kept from my parent's library or used books picked up many decades ago. Part of a 'gone and inevitably forgotten' category that grows every day as the steady flood of new media competes for our time and attention. 'Bancroft' is my middle name (from Ohio Bancrofts)and I think no connection to the Bancroft Library at Berkeley.

posted by michaelbancroft at 6:04 pm (EST) on Aug 7, 2006

"Thanks for the encouragement on At Swim Two Birds. I have in fact abandoned ship a couple of times!"

So did I. That's the main reason I inserted that remark; I figured if a sesquipedalian word-wonk like me can be turned off by it, there must be many others who would get the same roaring belly-laughs I finally did if they could just get far enough to perceive that the pomposity of the early pages is meant to prepare the reader for the uproarious mockery of pomposity that will ensue. Go for it!

posted by Fogies at 9:34 pm (EST) on Aug 6, 2006

No worries. I figured it was a lack-of-tone-on-the-internet type thing:).

You have an awesome contemporary lit collection. Plus, I love that you loved Gosse's Father and Son. It's one of my favorites, and it's sad that almost nobody reads it anymore.

posted by blueacademia at 12:22 am (EST) on Aug 5, 2006