Chatterbox's Fourth -- and Final? -- 75 Books in 2010 - Episode the Third

Racing to beat the Thread Police before dire consequences follow...

Having now finished three batches of 75 books, and read about 400 plus books so far this year in total, I'm forging ahead with what will probably be my final 75-book challenge. Final, because as well as the books I read for this challenge, I've got a passel of them still to read for my 1010 Challenge and my off-the-shelf Challenge. As before, I'll list the latter books here along with the "75" reads, but there's no overlap on my lists. And as before, I'm going to try to balance my reading for this challenge between fiction and nonfiction -- my goal is to make somewhere about a third of the books non-fiction, although it may fall to about a quarter in this final challenge.

For anyone who's curious, here is a link to the the most recent thread for this challenge, which is my fourth 75-book challenge of the year. You can use the links to back to earlier threads and see what I've been reading as well as my comments on each book.

The counter for the fourth 75-book challenge is here:




And, since I've still got a lot of reading to do for my 1010 Challenge and the off-the-shelf challenge, the one for my total year-to-date reading is here:




And here's the list!

1. Under the Dragon's Tail by Maureen Jennings, ***1/2, STARTED 10/22/10, FINISHED 10/24/10 (fiction)
2. Must You Go? by Antonia Fraser, ****1/2, READ 10/25/10 (non-fiction)
3. The Birthday Party by Veronica Henry, ***1/2, STARTED 10/23/10, FINISHED 10/26/10 (fiction)
4. Education of a British-Protected Child by Chinua Achebe, ****, STARTED 10/24/10, FINISHED 10/26/10 (non-fiction)
5. Operation Napoleon by Arnaldur Indridason, ***, STARTED 10/22/10, FINISHED 10/26/10 (fiction)
6. The Siege by Helen Dunmore, *****, STARTED 10/26/10, FINISHED 10/27/10 (fiction)
7. The Quickening Maze by Adam Foulds, ***, STARTED 10/25/10, FINISHED 10/28/10 (fiction)
8. The Shape of Water by Andrea Camilleri, ****, STARTED 10/27/10, FINISHED 10/28/10 (fiction)
9. The Dead Travel Fast by Deanna Raybourn, ****, STARTED 10/26/10, FINISHED 10/28/10 (fiction)
10. Stradivari's Genius by Toby Faber, ****, STARTED 10/25/10, FINISHED 10/29/10 (non-fiction)
11. The Betrayal by Helen Dunmore, *****, STARTED 10/29/10, FINISHED 10/30/10 (fiction)
12. A Rule Against Murder by Louise Penny, ****, STARTED 10/28/10, FINISHED 10/30/10
13. What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman, ***, STARTED 10/29/10, FINISHED 10/31/10 (fiction)
14. A Corpse in the Koryo by James Church, ***, STARTED 10/28/10, FINISHED 10/31/10 (fiction)
15. Beachcombers by Nancy Thayer, ***1/2, READ 10/31/10 (fiction)
16. Miss Buncle Married by D.E. Stevenson, ***1/2, READ 11/1/10 (fiction)
17. An Attempt at Exhausting a Place in Paris by Georges Perec, ***1/2, STARTED 10/31/10, FINISHED 11/2/10 (non-fiction)
18. The Last White Rose by Desmond Seward, ****, STARTED 10/28/10, FINISHED 11/2/10 (non-fiction)
19. The Waitress Was New by Dominique Fabre, ****1/2, READ 11/2/10 (fiction)
20. The Brutal Telling by Louise Penny, ****, STARTED 11/1/10, FINISHED 11/3/10 (fiction)
21. Sacred Treason by James Forrester, ****, STARTED 11/2/10, FINISHED 11/4/10 (fiction)
22. Bridge of Spies by Giles Whittell, ***1/2, STARTED 10/31/10, FINISHED 11/4/10 (non-fiction)
23. The Blind Contessa's New Machine by Carey Wallace, ****, STARTED 11/4/10, FINISHED 11/5/10 (fiction)
24. Moonlight in Odessa by Janet Skeslien Charles, ***, READ 11/6/10 (fiction)
25. The Twelve Days of Christmas by Trisha Ashley, ****, STARTED 11/6/10, FINISHED 11/7/10 (fiction)
26. The Masque of Africa by V.S. Naipaul, ****, STARTED 11/5/10, FINISHED 11/10/10 (non-fiction)
27. Dangerous to Know by Tasha Alexander, ***1/2, STARTED 11/6/10, FINISHED 11/9/10 (fiction)
28. The Flesh Tailor by Kate Ellis, ****, STARTED 11/3/10, FINISHED 11/12/10 (fiction)
29. The Dud Avocado by Elaine Dundy, ***1/2, STARTED 11/5/10, FINISHED 11/13/10 (fiction)
30. Manna From Hades by Carola Dunn, ***1/2, STARTED 11/12/10, FINISHED 11/13/10 (fiction)
31. The Tower, the Zoo and the Tortoise by Julia Stuart, ****, STARTED 11/13/10, FINISHED 11/14/10 (fiction)
32. Every Man in This Village is a Liar by Megan Stack, *****, READ 11/14/10 (non-fiction)
33. A Gentleman of Fortune by Anna Dean, ***1/2, STARTED 11/15/10, FINISHED 11/16/10 (fiction)
34. The Attenbury Emeralds by Jill Paton Walsh, ****, STARTED 11/14/10, FINISHED 11/17/10 (fiction)
35. A Colorful Death by Carola Dunn, ***, STARTED 11/17/10, FINISHED 11/18/10 (fiction)
36. Dark Road to Darjeeling by Deanna Raybourn, ****, STARTED 11/18, FINISHED 11/19/10 (fiction)
37. Proust's Overcoat by Lorenza Foschini, ***1/2, READ 11/20/10 (non-fiction)
38. Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny, ****1/2, STARTED 11/19/10, FINISHED 11/20/10 (fiction)
39. American Subversive by David Goodwillie, ****, STARTED 11/20/10, FINISHED 11/21/10 (fiction)
40. Minding Frankie by Maeve Binchy, ***1/2, READ 11/21/10 (fiction)
41. Still Alice by Lisa Genova, ****1/2, STARTED 11/20/10, FINISHED 11/22/10 (fiction)
42. The Last Day by Nicholas Shrady, ****, STARTED 11/21/10, FINISHED 11/22/10 (non-fiction)
43. The Envoy: The Epic Rescue of the Last Jews of Europe by Alex Kershaw, ****, STARTED 11/22/10, FINISHED 11/23/10 (non-fiction)
44. The Dangerous Otto Katz by Jonathan Miles, **** FINISHED 11/26/10 (non-fiction)
45. The Way to a Woman's Heart by Christina Jones, ***1/2, FINISHED 11/27/10 (fiction)
46. Red Mandarin Dress by Qiu Xiaolong, ****, FINISHED 11/28/10 (fiction)
47. Dead Like You by Peter James, ***1/2, STARTEd 11/23/10, FINISHED 11/27/10 (fiction)
48. Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winnifred Watson, ***, READ 11/29/10 (fiction)
49. The Post-Office Girl by Stefan Zweig, ****1/2, STARTED 11/26/10, FINISHED 11/27/10 (fiction)
50. Zoo Station by David Downing, ***1/2, READ LATE NOV.
51. Doomsday Book by Connie Willis, ****1/2, STARTED 12/1/10, FINISHED 12/3/10 (fiction)
52. Homer's Odyssey by Gwen Cooper, ****, STARTED 12/3/10, FINISHED 12/4/10 (non-fiction)
53. The Memory Chalet by Tony Judt, *****, READ 12/5/10 (non-fiction)
54. Divine Comedy by Elizabeth Pewsey, ****, STARTED 12/5/10, FINISHED 12/6/10 (fiction)
55. Chess Story by Stefan Zweig, ****, STARTED 12/5/10, FINISHED 12/6/10 (fiction)
56. The Terrorist by Peter Steiner, ***1/2, READ 12/5/10 (fiction)
57. Royal Blood by Rhys Bowen, ***, STARTED 12/7/10, FINISHED 12/8/10 (fiction)
58. A Novel Bookstore by Laurence Cosse, ****1/2, STARTEd 12/6/10, FINISHED 12/9/10 (fiction)
59. The Mischief of the Mistletoe by Lauren Willig, ***1/2, STARTED 12/8/10, FINISHED 12/9/10 (fiction)
60. Running the Books by Avi Steinberg, ****, STARTED 12/8/10, FINISHED 12/10/10 (non-fiction)
61. What Now? by Ann Patchett, ***1/2, READ 12/10/10 (non-fiction)
62. Rival to the Queen by Carolly Erickson, **, STARTED 11/24/10, FINISHED 12/11/10 (fiction)
63. A Lonely Death by Charles Todd, ****, STARTED 12/11/10, FINISHED 12/11/10 (fiction)
64. The Golden Prince by Rebecca Dean, *1/2, STARTED 12/10/10, FINISHED 12/12/10 (fiction)
65. Death and Judgment by Donna Leon, ****, READ 12/12/10 (fiction)
66. Sister by Rosamund Lupton, ****1/2, STARTED 12/13/10, FINISHED 12/14/10 (fiction)
67. Christmas Odyssey by Anne Perry, **, READ 12/16/10 (fiction)
68. The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths, **** 1/2, STARTED 12/15/10, FINISHED 12/16/10 (fiction)
69. The Janus Stone by Elly Griffiths, ****, STARTED 12/16/10, FINISHED 12/17/10 (fiction)
70. A River in the Sky by Elizabeth Peters, ***, STARTED 12/17/10, finished 12/18/10 (fiction)
71. A Piece of Justice by Jill Paton Walsh, ****1/2, STARTED 12/18/10, finished 12/19/10 (fiction)
72. Not My Daughter by Barbara Delinsky, **1/2, STARTED 12/17/10, FINISHED 12/20/10 (fiction)
73. The Wave by Susan Casey, ***, STARTED 12/19/10, FINISHED 12/21/10, (non-fiction)
74. Blackout by Connie Willis, ***1/2, STARTED 12/17/10, FINISHED 12/21/10 (fiction)
75. Atlantic by Simon Winchester, ****1/2, STARTED 12/22/10, FINISHED 12/24/10 (non-fiction)
76. Field Grey by Phillip Kerr, ****, STARTED 12/23/10, FINISHED 12/24/10 (fiction)
77. So Wild the Heart by Geoffrey Trease, ****, STARTED 12/25/10, FINISHED 12/27/10 (fiction)
78. All Clear by Connie Willis, ****, STARTED 12/21/10, FINISHED 12/30/10 (fiction)

I am first? Wow, that has not happened in a while!

Is it books du jour, when I'm reading them overnight? Hmmm....

1. The Novel Bookstore by Laurence Cosse. (I have no idea why, but the only touchstone option I am given is for a Nelson DeMille book with a completely different title??)
I'm so glad I spotted this at the Harvard Coop way back in September, and only sorry it took me until now to get around to reading it. This fresh and intriguing novel isn't literary or highbrow enough to end up on the shelves of the bookstore that it celebrates, but it isn't the kind of 'bad' book, about which one of the characters opines, "there is a pleasure to be found... a sort of hasty reading, not unlike gluttony." If Jean Echenoz is oysters and foie gras, and Dan Brown is a McDonald's hamburger, this book is a very respectable entrecote Bearnaise or a nice cassoulet -- filling and oddly comforting. A lot of other folks here have read it and commented on it in the last few weeks; what I liked about it was the adroit insertion of a quasi-mystery and a not-really-love story into the mix, to prevent the book being all about the endless debate over what makes a book a GOOD book. That's still at the heart of this novel, just as it's at the heart of the bookstore that Ivan and Francesca launch (in my favorite little corner of Paris, the carrefour Odeon, no less!!!), but happily that debate never hijacks the plot entirely. I will say that I don't entirely agree with the methodology -- after all, I'll read "good novels" and still relish something altogether fluffier, and I don't think that means I'm brain dead, but rather that I can't go from one intense read to another. Still, a niggling discomfort with that slipped away as I got further into this book, and I laughed out loud when I ran across many of the inside literary jokes (Le Figaro becomes Le Bigaro; La Nouvelle Observateur becomes Le Vieil Observateur; Audrey Tatou becomes Audrey Doudou and so on; I'm sure there were scores of these that I missed.) I never got to the point where I felt the characters were real people (so this isn't a 5-star book), but I enjoyed it as much as many better books I've read this year. Like most works of literature, you have to take it on its own terms, however. 4.5 stars, recommended to anyone who is even mildly anxious that people increasingly see a book as "a product that can make a lot of money and that literature can be a rich seam." (Oh, and check out the accompanying website, which is amusing -- www.thegoodnovel.com. It's fun, although it doesn't have a complete list of the books mentioned in the novel, so I'll be going back through the pages to see if there is anything here that might interest me...) TIOLI for ghost of past TIOLIs (French novels in translation.)

2. The Mischief of the Mistletoe by Lauren Willig. This is the kind of book from which Ivan and Francesca might recoil in horror; well, perhaps not completely, because it doesn't take itself too seriously. It's a very funny, completely anachronistic and utterly unrealistic historical novel/romance, a kind of special Christmas feature in the ongoing Pink Carnation series. I happen to think it is the author's best, perhaps because she doesn't dart back and forth between silly romances in the present as well as the past, and can concentrate on creating a Regency-era romp (this one even features a walk-on by Jane Austen). There is absolutely no meat here at all, but for anyone with a tolerance for goofiness and frivolity, well, it would be a good book to grab from the library. 3.4 stars, mildly recommended, eminently forgettable, but a fun read. TIOLI for a Christmas book.

I would just add that I enjoyed the Laurence Cosse book so much that when the book ban is over I'll be ordering a few more of hers from Amazon.france.

How many books do you think Suzanne will buy on the day after she ends her book ban?

I think reading Cosse would be too hard for me to tackle in French, but I am eager to read A Corner of the Veil in translation. It's a delight to find something so witty where the translation preserves that delightful quality!

I really liked A Corner of the Veil last year - it was a random library find! I think I have already put this one on the WL - off to check now.

#4 -- LOL! I figure that I will either go hog-wild, or else lapse into a new book buying pattern on a much lower level. I rather hope the latter, for the sake of my finances. That said, there is a degree of pent-up demand for books that aren't available via the Brooklyn library (which is actually much easier to use than it was a few years ago, and far easier than the Manhattan version).

I am glad I bought the Cosse book, as it's a keeper, however.

For those interested in Jasper, he seems to be doing well. Blood glucose today at 194 -- hurrah! Now to keep it there, or get it even lower...

ONE NINETY FOUR!!

This is *excellent* news! From over 400, it's damn close to a miracle. In celebration, I shall suspend cat-torture activities until the New Year.

Excellent news indeed. Well done Jasper (and Suzanne).

194? Outstanding. Great news.

Hope that continues.

That's fantastic news about Jasper!

I'm here I'm here! I loved a Novel Bookstore . . .Waves! Yay for Jasper!

Well, Mittens and I are just tickled pink that Jasper's numbers are way down.
I believe that I have Novel Bookstore on wishlist, but I'll double check.
BTW, your review of The Memory Chalet was amazing. I've got to look for that one too.

great news about Jasper Suzanne. Excellent review of The Memory Chalet which I am adding to the teetering tower along with The Novel Bookstore.

I see you, Tamara! *waving back, unbalancing, falling over on face*
Whoops.

Narcolepsy struck again this evening; fell asleep on the sofa. sigh.

Happy to hear Jasper's good news!

Joining in with the cheers for Jasper!

Book du jour:
The Englishman's Daughter by Ben Macintyre. I've had this book sitting on my shelf since I bought it, and decided to pick it up and read it after really enjoying Macintyre's Operation Mincemeat earlier this year. The author has a knack for ferreting out quirky stories from history that shed a broader light on the events and personalities of the time about which he is writing. In this case, that is World War I -- not the war that people tend to be familiar with, life in the trenches, etc., but rather in the occupied zone of France. Again, when people think about "the German occupation of France", the mind flies to 1940-44, not 1914-18, when big chunks of Belgium and France were behind enemy lines. And those lines were lines of steel -- while in the second great war, escaping soldiers or downed airmen had at least a fighting chance of reaching neutral territory, the trenches made that virtually impossible in WW1. And yet the penalties for concealing enemy soldiers were nearly as draconian as they would be under the Nazis. The story is that of a motley group of British and Irish soldiers left behind by their regiments in the chaotic retreat of the opening months of the war, and left stranded behind enemy lines. Taken in and made virtual members of a tiny village in Picardy, they survived two years -- until they were betrayed. Macintyre tells the story through the tale of one of the soldiers, Robert Digby, who fell in love with a local girl and fathered a child with her. It's a tragic story, and Macintyre tries to make sense of the betrayal, doing a wonderful job of bringing an isolated community of nearly a century ago to life, with all its characters and petty feuds, while setting the tale within the broader sweep of the truly horrific first world war. Recommended; 4.2 stars; TIOLI for the all in the family challenge. This is another book for my 1010 challenge done -- only 10 more to go!!

#18: Another Macintyre book for me to be on the lookout for! Thanks for the mention, Suz.

I have every confidence you will make your 1010 challenge!

Hmmm, I may make the 1010 challenge, but probably not also the "off the shelf" challenge. Story of my life...

I did not get anywhere close to the books I wanted to read off the shelf this year, but I am still in there fighting. I am scaling back my expectations next year though.

Am putting that one onto my wishlist - and great news about Jasper!! I can't remember a number below 300 in ages!

Edited because I typed too fast in my rush to get off LT and clean the apartment up...

The Englishman's Daughter sounds fasinating! Duly wishlisted. Can't be thumbs-upped and that's only because SOMEONE is being dilatory in posting her review....

Because SOMEONE doesn't automatically post reviews for every book she reads, that's all... :-)

I wish the "real Jasper" would materialize. This morning's blood glucose was 360. WTF???

I have finished my Xmas shopping, with the exception of the stuff that still has to arrive from Amazon. Man, that feels good... Even if it did mean a visit to the hell of American Girl and dropping megabucks on doll toys for 8 year old niece.

I also wishlisted The Englishman's Daughter.

a visit to the hell of American Girl--can't even imagine what that must have been like at Christmas time. You're a good aunt!

The books du jour:

1. Running the Books by Avi Steinberg. This is one of those books that is already making the rounds among LTers, and there probably is little I can add to what has already been said. "The adventures of an accidental prison librarian" is the subtitle of this book, which is far less about books than it is an inside glimpse at prison life through the eyes of the librarian of the title, blended with Steinberg's own de facto coming of age story. I'm not big on memoirs, but every so often you run across one that is well-written and manages to convey something more than just navel-gazing, and this is one of those times. It's almost impressionistic in nature, with four long and occasionally rambling chapters which, it becomes clear, all revolve around some kind of central existential issue, explored indirectly by Steinberg looking at his past, his present, the lives of the inmates and the prison world. (One example is names -- a banal enough topic, you'd think, until Steinberg starts exploring what it is to have a name that is respected.) He looks at the essence of what is sacred (although never explicitly -- perhaps from the cons he works with, Steinberg has become a master at sneaking up on his readers), and writes, "I thought about Fat Kat, the man who refused to desecrate a paperback, but willingly beat a man’s face in. To him, there was no contradiction in this: the sacred must be defended. In my yeshiva upbringing, books were not considered mere objects but beloved living things, treated with honor and affection." His prose style varies from the really eloquent (describing an inmate pursuing a passion for cooking without ever having tasted the ingredients in his recipes, he writes "ingredients made of sound and syllables, not taste or smell") to witticisms that are far less funny the second time around (such as "It would probably take years of therapy to determine why I turned to the Talmud instead of, say, pyromania, at this point in my life"). I ended up enjoying this quite a bit, although it doesn't rise to being one of my fave books of the year -- and, as a warning to those who want it to be about books, it isn't. Still, this is far better than many memoirs (I'm allergic to the flood of these books now spreading throughout the world; let's face it, most peoples' lives are NOT interesting enough to be transformed into a book), and I'm rating it 4.1 stars. TIOLI for the "former TIOLIs revisited" challenge.

2. What Now? by Ann Patchett. I just heard about this little book from one of those Amazon marketing blurbs ("you might like this...") and sure enough, I do. (I love Patchett's non-fiction writing, although I so far have not had any luck with her novels, meaning that I'll have to try again in the New Year with those on my shelves. This qualified for the TIOLI "thinster" challenge, and it's actually thinner than its 97 pages by extremely repetitive/tedious pictures that try to hammer home the theme of mazes and young people facing forks in the road, until I wanted to shriek, "OK, I GET IT, STOP NOW." The prose -- basically an expanded commencement address -- is intriguing and commonsensical enough. At heart, Patchett is reminding her listeners/readers that life is what happens when we are making other plans; that we never stop having to decide what comes next, and offering up some thoughts on how to make those choices based on her own experience. It's moderately interesting; I hoped it might speak as much to the way those choices keep recurring in middle age as to their occurrence when you are young, but it doesn't. To someone in her 40s like me, it's a book that while well-written and somewhat interesting, leaves you with a feeling "yeah, I had kinda figured that out by now, even though I couldn't put it so eloquently." So, 3.3 stars, and for heaven's sake, don't buy it. You'll read it in less than 2 hours, and feel annoyed at how much you spent. Get it from a library (that's what I did.)

I do like Patchett's novels, but I think I will skip What Now? I am sure I could spend those 2 hours doing something else :)

Sounds like you and I had similar impressions about Running the Books; you expressed my thoughts much better than I did! Lovely review.

Taking a pass on What now? simply because I do not wish to be hammered. The prison book Running the Books has possibilities.

I enjoyed Running the Books; it made me think and it wasn't as predictable as I feared it might have been. (eg stunt memoirs -- some 20something goes somewhere quirky/does something quirky and writes a book about it -- yawn.)

Catching up on my mini-book reports...

1. For my 1010 challenge, Pauline Bonaparte: Venus of Empire by Flora Fraser. Sadly, Fraser doesn't appear to have inherited the biographical writing gene of her mother (Antonia Fraser) or grandmother (Elizabeth Longford). This is a brisk recounting of the life of Napoleon's favorite sister, but it's only marginally interesting. Fraser's interest in Pauline was piqued by the famous Canova sculpture of her nearly-nude torso (Pauline was a famous beauty), and much of this biography is limited to recounting details of her lovers, her clothes, her travels, her medical travails and her caprices, such as requiring her ladies in waiting to lie prone on the ground so that she could rest her feet on them. Pauline never emerges from these pages as a real person or an interesting person; I was left wondering why on earth she was chosen as a subject at all if this was to be the result. The squabbling, larger-than-life Bonapartes might be an interesting group subject, but perhaps any of Napoleon's siblings (individually selfish, grasping and poorly-educated) would probably not make for much more compelling biography. The worst is that it's hard to discern all the massive events that were going on in the background. I'm not a big fan of military history, and certainly Pauline played little or no role in that arena, but it certainly would have been possible to flesh this out by setting it in a broader context. Readable, but only in a desultory way. Not really recommended unless, like Fraser, you became fascinated by Pauline, Princess Borghese, in some other context. 2.8 stars, TIOLI for "ghosts of past TIOLIs" and for my 1010 challenge.

2. My other bad read of the weekend so far was less of a surprise, Rival to the Queen. On a whim, I picked up Carolly Erickson's latest "historical entertainment" when I spotted it at the library. While its historical errors are as egregious as in her other books, at least in this case she at least confines them to less major issues than in past books (in one, she had Mary Queen of Scots escaping and visiting the Pope in Rome, fighting against the English in Flanders and then raising a mythical daughter in a Normandy farmhouse before returning voluntarily to be beheaded.) This time around, she tackles Lettice Knollys, Elizabeth I's cousin and possibly her niece. (Lettice was the granddaughter of Mary Boleyn, Anne Boleyn's sister; there was a rumor that her grandfather was Henry VIII, although he never acknowledged paternity.) The two were rivals for the love of Robert Dudley. If you know the story, this is a dull retelling. If you don't, there are better books to read (eg one by Jean Plaidy/Victoria Holt; My Enemy the Queen). I've been reading historical novels since I was a child, but found this one so tedious that although probably a quick read, it took nearly 2 weeks of picking up and putting down before I finished it. Not sure why I bothered. 1.8 stars, TIOLI for the same "ghosts" category.

3. At least I've encountered one good book this weekend! A Lonely Death by Charles Todd is the 13th in the series featuring Ian Rutledge, the Scotland Yard inspector who is still haunted by his experiences during the trench warfare of WW1. Literally haunted; his sidekick is invisible to anyone but him; Hamish, his friend, sergeant and ultimately the man he was required to shoot after a court martial for refusing to obey orders. Hamish now lives inside his head, and Rutledge must solve crimes while not being driven around the bend by Hamish's comments and reproaches, on everything from the past to the present, and not disclosing his mental condition to his superiors or even to the woman he is coming to love. This is much better than several of the most recent books in the series, and far better than the authors' (a mother/son duo) rival series set during WW1 and featuring a nurse/sleuth heroine. In it, the authors blend the main plot with the suicide of one of Rutledge's friends and his erstwhile superior's "haunting" by an unsolved case dating back to 1908, with some unexpected results. Many of the crimes that Rutledge must solve have their roots in the war, and when three men are murdered in the space of a week in a Sussex town, all of whom served in a battalion together on the Western Front, it initially seems as if that is the case once more -- especially since the men are found with wartime ID discs in their mouths. But soon Rutledge starts wondering if this time, the roots of the crime might lie further back, in another kind of traumatic experience. This is a thumping good read and a suspenseful mystery; the climactic scene when Rutledge finally confronts the murderer, had me turning the pages faster and faster. This was an ARC from the Amazon Vine program; the book will be out in January and I recommend it highly to anyone who has been reading the series. If you haven't, I recommend the series itself! I'm not a big fan of ghostly characters, but Hamish's presence really works, and Rutledge is a complex and fascinating character. I'm glad to see both back on form. 4.2 stars, for the TIOLI 'coming soon' challenge.

Since I seem to have lost the ability to sleep more than 4 hours at a stretch, I'm off to do some more reading on a rainy Sunday. But at least it's warm enough that I don't need to wear a sweater to bed!

#31: Well, I am glad you had at least one good read in the bunch! Sounds like the first two listed are not worth the time or trouble.

Bummer about Pauline Bonaparte. I would have enjoyed reading it had it contained a little more meat to it. Still, if I come across it at a good price, I may pick it up.

Rival to the Queen sounds like it comes from the Philippa Gregory genre of historical fiction. I'll pass, thank you.

Alas, A Lonely Death is too far along in the series for me to even consider. Soooo, doing the Jingle Bell Hop here too as your book bullets do me no harm.

Darn, Lynda -- well, stay tuned and I'll see what damage I can do in the next few days! ETA, the other Flora Fraser bio I have read was much more interesting -- about the little-known daughters of mad George III, most of whom never married. I have her bio of Emma, Lady Hamilton sitting here from the library -- her period is obviously the late 18th/v. early 19th century, but I find her choice of subjects a bit hard to understand. For instance, I think there's a crying need for a good, non-academic bio of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. Or what about Hester Piozzi, Doctor Johnson's close friend? Or Fanny Burney? Or... I'm think of 18th century women who were known for more than beauty or eccentricity here. Sigh.

Actually, Carolly Erickson is several notches below Philippa Gregory. The latter can write a novel; Erickson just puts some skimpy flesh on a book outline. Sigh. At least I didn't spend any money on this one...

#18, Have you read Agent Zigzag by Macintyre? I liked that even better than Operation Mincemeat.

I did, Rebecca; I didn't like it quite as much, perhaps because I was more familiar with the story Macintyre was re-telling (it's much better known than the subjects of his other books). That said, I'm certainly thinking about re-reading it, and it's got a permanent place on my bookshelf. There is one he has written that I may look for at the library -- The Man Who Would be King, about an American in Afghanistan during the Raj, I think.

Maybe that's why I liked Zigzag better -- that story was less familiar to me than Mincemeat, although of course the real story of Mincemeat differed from the movie version in The Man Who Never Was.

hi i am reading the doll in the garden i am loving it it is so good that i love the auther who wrote thisit ismary downing hahn

Hi Suz. Nice mention of Chasing Goldman Sachs in WaPo Book World's Best Nonfiction of 2010. It's described as "an exceptionally lucid, well-written account of how and why the financial system broke down."

Just in case anyone hasn't seen it yet.

in one, she had Mary Queen of Scots escaping and visiting the Pope in Rome, fighting against the English in Flanders and then raising a mythical daughter in a Normandy farmhouse before returning voluntarily to be beheaded

...no. C'mon, you're totally makin' that up. You are, aren't you, sly boots, just to make sure we're reading the entirety of your reviews, yeah that's it! NO ONE could publish that! I mean, not as historical fiction! Right? Oh, of course right! *leaves satisfied with his reasoning*

Linda, thanks for pointing that out to me!! The comments are drawn from their wonderful review of the book, which ran in mid-summer, which really saved my sanity when it came out. The inclusion in the "best books" should help me get through the revisions process -- I hope!

Richard, I could NOT POSSIBLY invent that. Really. What bothers me nearly as much as the fact that she did it was that many readers/reviewers don't seem to CARE. Indeed, some seemed to assume that that WAS the real story.

Just finishing another bad book, though not in the Mary Queen of Scots league. Just dreadfully predictable. Sigh. This is what happens during a month in which you can pick six books instead of four via Amazon Vine, and this is your sixth pick.

Indeed, some seemed to assume that that WAS the real story.
raising a mythical daughter in a Normandy farmhouse before returning voluntarily to be beheaded

The FORMER QUEEN OF FRANCE raising a child in a Norman farmhouse miraculously undetected by English **or** French spies. Not ratted out by peasants who hated her.

No. Really, Suzanne, you did not see anyone take this twaddle seriously anywhere, did you? Is it time to commit seppuku in shame at the state of Murrikin larnin'?

#39 A well deserved mention and oh so accurate description. Congrats, Suzanne.

#42 -- From real, live Amazon reviews:
"We all know the major points of what happened to poor Mary but the author decided to fill in the blanks with some fun, made up stories. I read this book in two days and thoroughly enjoyed it. If you're looking for historical fiction then this book is for you. If you're looking for factual history look somewhere else and prepare to be bored."
"Erickson skillfully uses her insights and imagination to illuminate these gray periods in a way that is natural, appropriate and, best of all, entertaining for her readers. History tells us that Mary Stuart was a prisoner in England for over twenty years. Erickson tells her readers maybe not for the whole twenty years."
"It may even have benefitted from expanding on some events, as Mary's story is indeed a complicated and tragic one."
'nuff said.

#43 *blushes* Thanks! But even authors have to scrub kitchen floors. Which is what I must do now.

Wow! How did I miss all of this for so long??
Some wonderful sounding books. Not a good thing for my towering
WL. Glad to have a jasper update! Give him a smooch for me okay?

eta

Oh and well deserved kudos btw..
well done!!

>44 Chatterbox: *fans self weakly* Bad, but not quite as horrifying as my imagination was painting them. But vay izmir, as my bubbe said a lot. (I really don't know what that means, since "izmir" is Arabic. She had a lot of this sort of hybrid Yiddish-English-Hebrew-German-whatnot stuff goin' on. Her family owned a circus, they weren't...you know...quite like others.)

not being quite like others can be a good thing..

And how would *you* know, vanilla white-bread cookie-cutter lady?

*flees flung curses and knives*

pulls out rd voodoo doll and large sized pins

Smooch duly delivered, Kath. Had to pull him out of large cardboard box to deliver it, though. I think he's hiding from insulin shots, not smooches, but still...

Wow, the level of violence on this thread just escalated dramatically.

That's because Kathleen and I are LT's version of Punch and Judy.

But at least it's warm enough that I don't need to wear a sweater to bed!

I wouldn't put away the sweater just yet. The cold weather will return tomorrow, and it's supposed to drop down to 23 F in Philadelphia tomorrow night.

You're welcome, Suz.

I really want to read the new Simon Winchester book about the Atlantic Ocean. I dare not buy it, however, with book(s) from Richard, my Mark's Book Exchange santa, and from my Santa Thing santa, on the way soon.

Message #31

Suz, I agree with you regarding the book My Enemy The Queen. I read this a long time ago. I wonder if I still have it...

Congratulations on your book placing in one of the top ten of 2010 listed by the Washington Post. You must feel very good about this major accomplishment!

Congratulations Suz!

Suzanne, congratulations on having your book included in The Washington Post's Best Non-fiction Books of 2010. Well-deserved!

Also, thank you for recommending The Memory Chalet. I just started it tonight and went back to re-read your review. I totally agree with your comment about slowing down to savor it. I'm going to take it with me on my trip to Tucson tomorrow to visit my mother. I'm actually looking forward to the time on the plane so I can read it.

Echoing 'congratulations' given above! Very well-deserved honor for you, Suz.

Tks, all...

Linda, I know how you feel about Simon Winchester's book -- I am having the same covetuous feelings about the dead-tree book version of Peter Ackroyd's book about Venice, and trying to remind myself that when the book ban is over, it will still be there!

Books du jour, one dreadful, one OK:

1. The Golden Prince by Rebecca Dean. I am not a book snob. Not at all. Really. But I don't know what I was thinking when I made this my sixth and final Amazon Vine pick of last month. I can only rationalize it by saying that I was eager for something mindless -- a cotton candy novel -- and Dean's prior book, Palace Circle had been appealing enough that I thought a new one might just make it closer to 'thumping good read' status. But nope. It's trite, the story of an imagined love affair between a teenage Edward VIII (still Prince of Wales) and a fictional girl, the youngest of four sisters. It's basically a Harlequin without a happy ending (well, we know that Edward abdicated for Mrs Simpson) and with fancy dress. Just trite and dull. I plodded through, because I owe Amazon a bunch of reviews (or I won't be allowed to pick new and better books this month!) but oh, how dreary. Maybe it will appeal to a 16 year old who has a crush on Prince William? 1.5 stars, do NOT bother with this book. TIOLI for the "coming soon" category.

2. Death and Judgment by Donna Leon helped clear my palate slightly. It's a very straightforward police investigation -- well, the model that the plot follows is straightforward, even if Commissario Brunetti gets drawn off the path by red herrings. I'm not sure what number this is in the series, but it's the second of hers that I've read, and while not overwhelmed, I quite like them. (Minor quibbles -- I wouldn't mind if they were a bit longer, so that I'd get a better sense of character, motivation and the city of Venice itself -- there is description, but I feel it's added for the sake of having it there; it doesn't really convey a sense of place.) This story features human trafficking and skulduggery among the lawyers and accountants, moderately recommended. I'd love to be jumping up and down with enthusiasm about the series, but I can't reach that level; I will, however, keep reading them. (with thanks to Stasia for the loan of some of her books in the series!) TIOLI for the " x and x" challenge, 3.8 stars.

#59: The Rebecca Dean book sounds horrible! I will definitely give that one a pass.

Some good, some bad and some ugly in those recent reads: I've never read any Charles Todd, but I do have that series wishlisted and I think I shall have to make an effort to get to it soon. I shall definitely be steering clear of that historical fiction, though.

Congratulations on having your book reach the Washington Post 2010 top ten.

Caty, thanks -- though it wasn't the top 10 (that would have been amazing) but rather a longer list. Still, it's the only book about finance or Wall Street on that list as far as I can see -- no The Big Short, no All the Devils are Here.

Here's a link (there's some good reading on here -- I added two other books to my wish list...):
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/10/AR2010121005588....

Why do starred threads get unstarred?? Lost you for a couple days Suz; now caught up. Congrats on the Washington Post recognition. Excellent.

Found you again! I'm so glad Jasper is doing better...I would have been SO worried, and I can just imagine your relief.

A few of your recent reads have made it to my Kindle wishlist!

Thanks for the Washington Post link, Suzanne. I've not selected the best NF books off the WSJ bestseller list this year.

Congratulations on the Washington Post thing, Suzanne! It IS a good book, and it's nice to see it get some well deserved recognition.

Thanks, Janet!

I haven't looked at the WSJ list yet. From the Washington Post list, I added Thieves of Manhattan from the fiction list, by Adam Langer, and from the non-fiction list, Magic and Mayhem by Derek Leebaert and Tocqueville's Discovery of America by Leo Damrosch. I have Damrosch's bio of Voltaire lurking around, and it seems good, so I'll trust him on the 18th century...

Very unproductive day here, whether reading or work. Oh well, there is always tomorrow...

There is, indeed, always tomorrow.

And it will be *C*O*L*D*, so who the heck wants to go out in it?!? Perfect to make cocoa with fortifications, a grilled cream cheese sammy with preserves, and keep cashews and Scotch next to your readin' chair.

Yes, and tomorrow I have to go out. Bah humbug. Ditto Wednesday -- TWICE. Sigh.

Hiss! Boo!

My Dewar's rocks and whole salted cashews and I will toast you.

Just checking in, Suz, and offering well-deserved congratulations.

BTW - books are heading your way in the next day or two.

#67, I confess I was very disappointed with Thieves of Manhattan -- I hopeyou enjoy it better than I did.

And congratulations on the Washington Post listing!

Richard, you may need to pour your cocoa over me to defrost me when I return this afternoon... But I appreciate the thought!

Stasia, shall look forward to the books eagerly -- thanks!

Rebecca, oh well, maybe I'll just grab it from the library; there seem to be a bunch of copies out there. That way I won't feel too bad if I share your feelings.

Oooh, just answered the door to FedEx, figuring it was one of the gifts I'd ordered to be shipped out to their recipients. But it was for "moi"! Contents: some After Eight chocolates, hot pepper cheese, crackers, smoked salmon, seasoned pretzels, chocolate bonbons, pistachios, all in a pirate chest with -- a bottle of Moet. Wowza. OK, no books, but I'll live with that! :-)

A pirate chest? The contents of it sound yummy, though.

Well, a fake one. Fake leather with a hinged top. I knew it wasn't from pirates because it was tied with a ribbon... ;-)

NY weather update: it is about 22 degrees F outdoors -- and 51 in my bedroom. Downstairs, in the office, where my heat works, it's a balmy 66. Glad I bought new fleece PJs, put the flannel duvet cover on and added a lightweight blanket last night. I hate sleeping under heavy covers, but this was just the right combination. Until I had to get up!!

#73: For your own safety I would be opposed to the hot chocolate dip idea (four cats + chocolaty owner = disaster).

#74: Arrr! Nice booty chest, me hearty!

#74: What a present to open the door to!

#76: Staying in bed sounds like a real good idea right now, Suz!

Sadly, must soon go out into the Arctic wilderness, aka NYC. Meeting at Barron's, joining editors to interrogate, ahem, schmooze with future profile target/subject.

My cats are indifferent to chocolate. If I draped myself in raw fish, I would have a problem. Well, actually, several problems...

I do somewhat envy the cats. They have all found warm, cozy spots to curl up in; I can even hear Molly snoring.

#79: Be careful in your travels and try to stay warm, Suz!

A long ride on a toasty warm subway sounds like a good idea!

I assume you survived the icy blasts of the city, Suzanne, and are now ensconced under as many cats as you can find to stay warm! I strongly suggest getting a Vornado heater. Our mostly glass sunporch, with two of them on medium settings, was a postively tropical 64 this morning. *Imagine* what your four-wood-walled bedroom would be!

This is the little marvy in question. We now own three.

I can't get warm, despite hot shower and layers of clothing. Might need to go to bed with 5 pets and a book. Act of desperation, you see. Hope you are home and warm .

May have to look into that one, Richard.
This one is in my bedroom, and doing a half-hearted job: http://www.target.com/Holmes-Energy-Saver-Heater/dp/B000I0YWQK
This one is in my living room, though I have to finish putting it together & getting rid of the bits of styrofoam stuck to it before I can see how it will work.
http://www.target.com/Holmes-Oil-Filled-Heater/dp/B003XKI8TO
The downstairs (office and kitchen) is warm enough, within reason (mid 60s). I don't like being too hot, so the only real problem is how to get the bedroom warm enough to sleep in and the living room warm enough to sit in. I'm getting a discount-priced blanked from Brookstone which the cats love, so I'll have two: http://www.brookstone.com/nap-blankets_nap-lite-all-season-bed-blanket-queen.htm...
And I stocked up on the warm & cozy fleece PJs at Century 21 (2/3 off...)

Fleece PJs sound heavenly :)

It's mean of me to say, but those oil-filled things are a flippin' nightmare and useless into the bargain. I've never been a fan, and when the one we had bit the dust (it was 9mos old at the time) I got the first Vornado. Since they double as fans, they're aces in my book, and they are stunningly efficient. The whole room is warm! All of it! And the place I ordered from via Amazon got them here *precisely* on time and even the delivery guy (who wore a leg warmer on his head to keep his dreads from flopping everywhere) brought them in, saw I had hand troubles, and opened the box for me.

I know that's nothing to do with the heaters per se, just letting you know that good things seem to happen in the wake of these machines.

Well, Amazon sent my full book order for Xmas gifts to me via the notorious A-1 courier service. The latter claims to have delivered multiple boxes yesterday. They didn't. Needless to say, as no fewer than 50% of my A-1 deliveries never materialize at all. Which now means I'm going to have to find a way to replace them all tomorrow in my "free time" so I can mail packages.

Customer service, meanwhile, is skeptical. And it's not possible to ask them never to send something via a specific delivery route. "Trust us", they say. UPS is great, FedEx is fine, even the US postal service is better than the A-1 guys (who can also be extraordinarily offensive in their behavior -- I was once told to f*ing hurry up and answer the door. Amazon just doesn't seem to give a damn.

Aarrrgggh courier companies can just be such a pain. I'm sure it doesn't work but I've actually tried asking Amazon not to use certain companies, and also asking when they did that they contact the company to sort it out as they just didn't pick up the phone to me.

That's exactly what I've tried to do by selecting 2-day shipment -- they told me they used A-1 only for one-day shipments. Turns out not to be true; turns out we're not allowed to say "no, I don't want to deal with these people."

Of course, the odds are about 70% that a replacement shipment would ALSO come via A-1. So that's not an option. I'm absolutely furious, which at least has the side effect of raising my body temperature! The cats, however, look slightly alarmed.

Sorry to hear about the shipment troubles, Suz.

I've got the Amazon Prime membership so I also get my packages delivered in 2 days.

I understand that some guy jumps out of his car to deliver them so I'm assuming it's a courier service then (we weren't sure). No complaints about ours though.

Boo hiss on A-1! Hope it gets straightened out soon...with minimal stress.

Still fuming. But I did manage to finish reading one of my 1010 books, Erevan by Gilbert Sinoue. I've known about the Armenian genocide for about the same length of time I've known about the Holocaust; my parents told me about it a few months after we had visited Anne Frank's house (I was 7) because two sisters on my school bus route in London were Armenian. And yet, this novel, hewing very closely to what is known to have happened, brought me to tears. Sinoue, who was born in Egypt and now lives in France, is obviously passionate about shedding more light on this still under-recognized crime (dating to 1915, and which most Turks still refuse to acknowledge today), and this novel does an excellent job. It's the chilling story of a fictional family, the Tomassians, whom Sinoue ties to other major characters and events. Like reading about a Jewish family in the 1930s, there's a feeling of disaster looming ever-closer, and yet remaining something amorphous; like the Holocaust, although it had been preceded by countless pogroms, the Armenians had survived more minor atrocities and believed they could ride out the storm again. They were wrong. This book is not for the squeamish, but it's high time that the story was told in a way that is accessible to the general public, whether a novel or a film. Sinoue adeptly draws some parallels (subtly) between the way the Young Turks running the remnants of the Ottoman Empire viewed their own "enemy within" and Hitler's Germany. As a novel, it isn't Sinoue's best, but as a book about these events, it's excellent. 4.1 stars. TIOLI for ghosts of past TIOLIs.

Another book that I finished yesterday is just as scary, but in a more conventional way. Sister by Rosamund Lupton, marks the debut of a new British thriller writer, and if this book is an indicator, she's going to be very, very good. The story unfolds in the mind of Beatrice, as if she is telling her younger sister Tess, in a letter or some other narrative, of the events that followed Tess's disappearance. We know there is a trial about to start, as some of this is also recounted by Beatrice to the crown prosecutors, but only slowly do we discover what crime has been committed, Beatrice's role in uncovering it, and the complex background that led to the disappearance of Tess. Each revelation comes smoothly, and is like a sucker punch to the gut. The story does bog down a few times, but not very often, and there are some astonishingly good twists -- particularly in the last few pages, which had me almost howling -- I think I actually yelled "no!" and frantically read to the end. Can't remember when I last did that. This isn't literature, but it earns 4.3 stars from me as a "thumping good read" and an excellent thriller. I just hope the author can avoid falling into a rut in terms of either style or plot, as I feel authors like Sophie Hannah doing a bit. (Indeed, Sophie Hannah would be the closest comparison in terms of approach, but I found this novel much more appealing on many levels.) TIOLI for family ties category.

#92: The only book I have read to date on the Armenian genocide was nonfiction. I will have to look for the Sinoue book. Thanks for that recommendation. The Lupton book looks good as well, so I will add it to the BlackHole as well.

Good luck with your deliveries and your heating situation! I hope both improve soon!

>92 Chatterbox: Many long years ago, when I was a literary agent, I shopped a novel about the Armenian Genocide around, and was told no one would care. I'm glad someone finally did care!

A-1 earns a special corporate voodoo dolly all their own for the 'tude. My *great* delivery experience was with Eastern Connect, of whom I had never heard one second prior to meeting the driver.

Auntie's been having a bad night, but it sounds like it's over at last. I really feel so sorry for her. The world is just not the place she, in her confusion, thinks it is. Mother and sisters and cousins all gone, despite the fact that she just talked to them. It must be like being trapped in a circus funhouse.

Well, off to see if I can catch some sleep myownself.

Of course, if you're cheap like me and always opt for free delivery, everything comes UPS or US postal service. Just saying . . .

Stasia, the Sinoue book is still only in French, sadly. His books deserve translation, this one among them. Sorry, didn't make that clear. I can pop the Lupton book into the mail for you, in the "inter-LT loan" program, as long as it comes back to me.

Richard, sadly, you are probably right. I suspect the reason for the relative apathy is that in Europe, there is still a debate over Turkish membership in the EU. The Turks claim that one reason they aren't already members is discrimination against Muslims; other Europeans point to the fact that they indulge in their own form of Holocaust denial and the rest of the world lets them slide on it. Orhan Pamuk has spoken out -- he said in an interview that “thirty thousand Kurds and a million Armenians were killed in these lands and nobody dares to talk about it” only to be charged with "insulting Turkishness", prompting his books to be burned and himself to face death threats. The case was dropped on a technicality -- the same week that an EU group was scheduled to start examining Turkey's justice system (with respect to EU accession -- are the institutions "robust" enough.) The Armenians lionize Pamuk for his willingness to speak out and describe the genocide as a fact, but Pamuk has never, to my knowledge written about the genocide and his has said his comments were directed at Turkish censorship, primarily.

It's interesting to think about this. About 80% of the Armenian population simply vanished during these year -- evaporated. And yet the US government still has never formally recognized this as a genocide. It's only in recent years that the Anti-Defamation League has admitted that these events rise to the level of genocide (I still have one Jewish friend who insists that to speak of this in the same breath as the Holocaust is being anti-Semitic; I think this is becoming a more uncommon argument, but it's still definitely present). Israeli academics have mostly been active in campaigning for recognition of the genocide, however, in contrast to many US academics, who have taken Turkish grants and then denied the facts that are emerging.

I'm going to try to see what the reaction was to the publication of this book in Europe.

ETA: Rebecca, true. I had signed up for Amazon Prime, so I get free two-day delivery, which was a blessing when I needed to be sure the books got here in a timely manner. Until recently, picking free 2-day delivery was OK, as almost always the stuff came via UPS. I think A-1 is undercutting them, though, as that is changing and I can't count on it. (I would never request 1 day delivery even on something urgent, because then it is always A-1) So now it's a tradeoff between speed and reliability. Amazon USPS takes about 10 days to Brooklyn; SmartPost two weeks or more. Barnes & Noble is about a week, and more expensive.

#96: Well, rats about the Sinoue book. I know my French is not up to it. Yes, I will take the Lupton book and will return it in good fashion. Thanks for the offer.

Earlier this year I read Skylark Farm by Antonia Arslan which is also about the Armenian genocide. I thought this was a very moving book, not in the least because the author is a descendant of an Armenian family that was murdered. It was an eye-opener to me too.

Turkey is heir to many ills not of their own making. The later Ottoman Empire was a shambles and its horrible decisions haunt the Turkish republic mercilessly.

The Kurdish situation, however, is entirely their own modern horror. But where are the culture police when it comes to the rights of the Rom? Or the Muslims in France? Or the Turks in Germany? Every country has its own dirty cultural laundry....

I myownself support Turkey's EU accession because I think it's in the long-term best interests of that confederation; and over time, Turkey's democratic institutions have grown stronger and stronger, so integration with the EU would only strengthen and hasten a process already begun.

The New York Times had an interesting article last week about Spain's comparative success at integrating the Rom into the wider society.

Well I guess I've never had Amazon or anyone else use A1 since I've never heard of them. But I received two deliveries yesterday from Amazon, one delivered by UPS and one by USPS. Hmmm, interesting.

There are also many Western Europeans who are very uncomfortable with racist practices by governments and some rather dubious myths as justification.

We have a newspaper here, the Daily Mail, which is aimed at a certain section of the middle class, possibly also the aspirational working class, which loves to print stories whipping up prejudice against immigrants (including legal ones as well as well as those who don't have the benefit of legal status - I think it's wrong to call people seeking asylum illegal immigrants when you don't even know the circumstances of their migration). The Daily Mail also hates gay people. And women (the last is ironic because it markets to a female readership but it hates women - female journalists on the paper seem to be recruited for their dislike for others of their sex). When I read any such stories, in the paper or online, I want to know why these stories are (often) made up and retold.

Stepping off my soapbox to deal with storytime, settling to bed and stuff.

In general I support Turkey's accession -- assuming it won't turn into another Greece. I'm not sure about that at the moment, though. Frankly, I think expanding the EU at this point in time would be utterly disastrous. If Spain and Portugal hit the skids, then there just won't be enough tax revenues left in Germany and elsewhere to support the Euro, and the whole edifice crumbles. EU accession, I would guess, is at least a decade away.

I do think that the Armenian issue is different, even from the Kurds. (There's perhaps an analogy between the Kurds and the treatment of the Rom in countries like Hungary, where there is systematic discrimination of a high order.) But history does show that the Armenians were targeted for outright elimination/annihilation. Yes, it is now history, but I would worry about a country in which the right to discuss historical facts does not exist. (Does Germany deny the Holocaust? Do we here in the US claim that slavery or Jewish quotas in colleges were benign?) This is of a very different order to the discrimination against Muslims in France (which is extreme; but a legacy of colonialism not a result of the EU), and Turks in Germany (less extreme; a consequence of economic and political decisions re workforce & migration postwar). This is discrimination, and Europe will have to find a way to deal with it, just as the US has had to and continues to struggle with this issue vis a vis Latin America.

I definitely agree that the best long-term solution is one in which economic disparities are addressed so that the incentive to migrate only to earn a living wage, or in which political conflicts and discrimination are dealt with so that people of different faiths and ethnic groups can coexist without fleeing, is the best long-term solution. But that may be a bit utopian. Certainly, for every step forward we take 3/4 step back again. I think European and US authorities are going to have to find a way to cope with the reality that they confront, rather than deny it (or deprive people of rights.) I was horrified on a trip to France a few years ago to see a young Muslim girl in Paris have her headscarf ripped off her head by a bunch of obnoxious boys; I was just as horrified that all the locals in the 18eme were laughing and pointing at her. My then-bf and I ended up being the only ones to offer help. I find the reported surveys that show someone named Mohammed with top grades from a good French graduate program is turned down for a job. That said, though, it's not the same as closing off the banlieues outside the "peripherique" and sending in the gendarmes to slaughter them, or sending them on forced marches to nowhere.

OK, off my soap box now! Rebecca, thanks for the link; that was fascinating and I'm forwarding it to a friend of mine who works with Rom communities in Hungary on exactly this kind of issue. (They get funding from Soros's Open Society org.)

Hey! New 75er Group is up! A whole new soapbox forum!!

BTW, your advocacy writing is *stellar*.

Richard, flattery... but thanks. Odd, because I'm not really an argumentative person. I just have opinions! LOL...

Read another bad book, but will update tomorrow. I'm taking refuge for now in Teh Itteh Bitteh Book of Kittehs. God bless lolcats, sez I.

THANK YOU! to Book Angel, aka Angela, who lived up to her moniker! I got my first Kindle gifts!!! Tocqueville's Discovery of America by Leo Damrosch and the new biography of Cleopatra by Stacy Schiff. I'm very excited! Especially after an hour today spent buying book gifts (replacing missing Amazon delivery) for other people. Ended up with different books for sis-in-law, in a couple cases, because I couldn't find stuff, and spent more, but at least I have them. Now they just need to be wrapped and mailed...

Tired, tired, tired. Going to eat tuna melt sandwich, then head for bed.

#107: Rest well, Suz. I hope tomorrow is a better day.

Congrats on the gifts from Angela!

Angela and I are doing a mini Santa swap! She should have her gifts by now, too....

Kindle gifts?!?!?

Yes, Ms. Linda; it is now possible for people to "gift" you items directly to your Kindle, if put the Kindle version of the book on your Amazon wish list! Check it out -- just be careful, as it's a bit too easy to accidentally buy the book for yourself. You have to do it directly from the wish list, not from the product page.

Stasia, it's not that today was bad; just feel as if I'm being nibbled to death by ducks.

Ducks, begone!

I had the duck feeling myself yesterday, just couldn't put it into words.

#111 Thanks, Suz. I knew about that.

I guess I was confusing "gifting" with loaning. I am eager to lend books to my sister and others. Don't believe they've started on that yet.

Thanks so much for my books, Suz! I'm very excited to read them, but I'm trying to wait, since I have two other books going at the moment, plus I have some group reads to do in January. But I don't think I'll be able to wait too long...

Suz got me:
My Reading Life by Pat Conroy
Murder with Peacocks by Donna Andrews
Homer and Langley by EL Doctorow

Angela, you're welcome!

Just realized how behind I am in listing my books. Headache, too much work, blah blah blah.

The worst of the bunch, by a long shot, was Anne Perry's latest Christmas special book. The first of these were interest, featuring peripheral/minor characters from her two main series. Now they've become ponderous, an excuse for her characters to expound philosophical points about love, human frailty, ethics, etc., to the point when I feel like I'm being hammered over the head. This one was no exception, without even the benefit of a heart-warming or interesting puzzle at the heart of the book to compensate for it. So, Christmas Odyssey, in which Henry Rathbone delves into the nastiest parts of the mid-Victorian underworld of London will be the last of these that I read, and given my recent losing streak when it comes to Anne Perry's books recently (I just can't stomach pages of characters declaiming rather pedestrian moral opinions in the place of either real character development or action) possibly my last novel by Perry, as well. 1.8 stars, not recommended, TIOLI for a Christmas book (and a shared read.)

2. Happily, I then went on to read The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths. This mystery was the beginning of what promises to be a great new series for me, featuring Ruth Galloway, a forensic archaelogist in Norfolk. Ruth is a fab character -- she is 40-something, weighs too much but doesn't really care, lives with her cats on the edge of the marshlands that lead out to the sea (look up pics of East Anglia to get a sense of the place) and is fascinated by Iron Age excavations. She's the bone person, so when the local detective's team is trying to figure out whether some bones buried in the peat are the remains of a long-missing girl and Harry Nelson summons Ruth to make a decision, it turns out to be a life-changing moment. Almost without realizing it, Ruth is drawn into the world of investigating crime and begins to look at all those around her with new eyes. This is a fresh new entry in the mystery sweepstakes, and I loved it - great, vivid characters; a real sense of place, solid writing and intriguing plot twists and pacing. I finally got around to reading this because I had the ARC of the second book (see below), and was kicking myself for not reading this first book sooner. Highly recommended. 4.3 stars, TIOLI for ghost of a past TIOLI (police investigation).

3. I moved straight on to read The Janus Stone, the second book in this series. It didn't quite measure up to the first, perhaps because the impact of "new characters, new series" wasn't there, but it was still very good. Ruth is unexpectedly pregnant and grappling with looming single motherhood; she's also roped into the investigation of a dead child's body found under the doorway of a former orphanage in the midst of redevelopment. There's a plot link to Roman beliefs about sacrifice (hence the title) that is intriguing, although not always convincing. A very solid mystery; as soon as the book ban is over I'll be ordering #3 from the UK (it comes out in January.) 4 stars, TIOLI for the "coming soon" category.

4. For my 1010 challenge, finished Parle-leur de batailles, de rois et d'éléphants by Mathias Enard. This novel won the Prix Goncourt des Lycéens this year; it's like the junior cousin or baby brother of the Prix Goncourt -- a longlist of candidates is developed by the same panel who vote on the big prize, and then about 2,000 high school students read them and decide on the winner. Past winners include Dreams of My Russian Summers by Andrei Makine and The Elegance of the Hedgehog, as well as Brodeck's Report by Philippe Claudel. (Sorry the touchstones appear to be on strike.) This is a "what if" historical novel -- what if, in the interval between the time that Michelangelo fled Rome in 1506, after another spat with Pope Julius, and his reconciliation some six months later, he had accepted the invitation of the Ottoman Sultan Bayazid to go to Constantinople and design a bridge across the Golden Horn? Enard imagines an entire voyage, the creative process Michelangelo follows -- and more intriguingly, his unwitting immersion in the world of Ottoman politics, as he becomes the pawn of the sultan, the vizier and their critics. Michelangelo, in Enard's imagination, is even, hundreds of miles away, conscious of the Byzantine plotting in the Vatican and his rivals' machinations, but is unable to penetrate the different Ottoman world that confronts him, most importantly in the characters of the poet Mersihi and a beautiful and androgynous young singer, a refugee from Granada and the world of al-Andalus. It's an intriguing "culture clash", yet Enard deals with the theme gracefully and indirectly -- indeed, the novel itself is written in an almost dreamlike manner, with a contemporary omniscient narrator recounting, as if in a fairytale, Michelangelo's experiences. That may drive some readers nuts, but I liked it. The title (Tell them stories of battles, of kings, of elephants) is drawn from Kipling, and refers to the idea that it's possible to distract the public through the art of story and spectacle. Recommended to anyone looking for a book in French; to get the full impact of the language and style was a bit more work for me, however. 4.1 stars, for my 1010 challenge.

Sorry to hear about the headache, Suz. I hope it is gone now.

Adding the Elly Griffiths books to the BlackHole. Skipping the Anne Perry one. I have only read one of the books in that series and it does not sound as if I am missing much!

Yes, I am going to try Griffiths, too. Like I need another series to start....

With recommendations like that, the Griffiths series is a must. On the wishlist it goes!

#116 Suz, I've enjoyed that Anne Perry Christmas series in the past but this last one. Ugh!!

Next year, I'd like to start her World War I series.

I'm going to wishlist The Crossing Places. It sounds good and I just finished Penelope Fitzgerald's The Bookshop which seems to take place in the same general area. I took a quick look at the East Anglia description on Wikipedia but will have to investigate further. Thanks for the recommendation.

I hope you all like Ruth Galloway! I liked the complexity of the characters (relatively speaking, given that it's a mystery, and a series mystery, at that.)

My migraine is still banging away, so book updates will have to wait for tomorrow. (So, too, will reading, I suspect.)

Cassie-the-kitten-who-isn't-technically-a-kitten-but-who-is-still-the-youngest has discovered that it's possible to drink out of my new water goblets. Deeply annoying.

I suspect that the 2 books I got from my brother and sis in law for xmas (still wrapped; hey, I have some discipline) include the coveted Venice by Peter Ackroyd. Fingers crossed.

Admit I'm bemused that I'm sending 14 wrapped gifts to their household for 5 people (the short kids' wish list was made of items that cost $70 plus each -- and now I must ship via FedEx), plus stuff to my mother. And have two books in return. Does even pondering the mathematics behind that make me a Grinch???

Ouch. I bought 16 gifts for my best friends and their kids earlier today (with free shipping on Amazon that will arrive by the 24th), along with a renewal of Dave's New York Review of Books, but I spent less than $70 total for each of them.

I assume that the two books you received are expensive antiques worth $500 each, right?

I'm pretty good at not minding the cost of gifts I buy but I really get upset at what it costs to ship them by UPS, FedEx or even USPS. Of course, I never manage to get them out early so I don't have much choice.

Hope the migraine is gone soon.

**drive by waves Suzanne**

Hope the migraine lets up soon.

*quietly waves at Suz so as not to jar the migraine*

Your parcel is on its way. ;-)

Suz

So sorry you are experiencing another migraine. Are they happening more frequently than usual?
I'm impressed that you are able to function at such a high level despite the incredible pain.
Gentle hugs.

Hugs from me too, Suz. I hope the headache clears soon!

I swear, I wanted to KILL Theo, the hyper-bouncy child upstairs (thud thud thud thud) AND the woman outside by the subway station who had such a loud conversation in Cantonese that I could hear every word of it -- for two hours and 15 minutes. I think her cell battery died... Oh yes, and Tigger is utterly convinced of the presence of another mouse under the bed. Where there is a lot of other stuff for him to rustle through, knock over and generally make noise/mess with as I try to sleep on the upper side of the mattress.

In other words, the migraine is still there.

Thanks for the hugs, esp the gentle variety. Nope not more frequent, really; I suspect this is a combination of the weekend migraine that I used to get a lot when I was working in a newsroom, with a weather and hormonal one. It's just the ones when I wake up in the morning feeling like hell that are hard to deal with -- you know they aren't getting better that day, and as the day goes on, the anxiety builds that you'll wake up feeling as if gremlins with power drills are excavating your skull the NEXT morning. Still unclear on that. This is an ice pack swapover period now.

#129: This is an ice pack swapover period now.

Sounds more like a glacier is warranted. Sorry you are still having to deal with the migraine, Suz.

((very gentle hugs))

This quiet moment is brought to you by Lynda, who is hoping you'll feel better very soon.

Love that Lynda!

Hope today is better, Suz.

Sorry to hear about your rough night, Suz. I hope today is a better one for you.

Tks all... I'm still here, but so is the migraine. Lynda's gif gave me a brilliant idea -- I'm downloading some peaceful water sounds on iTunes, then will have them on my iPod to help me relax. One thing that makes it worse is that the pain makes me clench my jaw, so I get to add muscle & joint pain to the mix...

So when that's done, it's back to bed...

Will catch up on threads tomorrow. Hopefully.

I hope the peaceful water sounds helped ease the migraine away, Suz.

Hope you're feeling better, Suzanne.

Hope you feel better soon.

That migraine must be awful. Hope it vanishes soon...or now...

The migraine is now vanishing, slowly. It should be completely gone by morning, if I can get a good night's sleep. (Big "if", that one...!) Tks for all the good wishes... it's always just a matter of time, and no matter how many of these I get, when I'm in the throes of them, it never feels like I'm gonna make it to the other side.

Reporting on my rather meager reading:

A River in the Sky by Elizabeth Peters is the latest installment of many, many in the long-running series featuring Amelia Peabody. You know a series is past its best-before date when the author has to go backward in time in the series and "fill in a gap" in the narrative -- and, to boot, has to take us to new territory. In this rather underwhelming mystery, Ramses is already excavating in what in 1910 was known as Palestine, and the rest of the entourage show up, chasing German spies. Only for major-league fans of the series who can't get enough. 3.2 stars. TIOLI for a title with "sky" or "earth".

A Piece of Justice by Jill Paton Walsh was a nice follow-up to that! It was a re-read, for my own "sentimental favorite" category, and I can only urge you all to rush out and find this series of mysteries (it's a short one) featuring Imogen Quy. She's a nurse at a (fictional) Cambridge college, and this mystery revolves around a former mathematics scholar and the fate of those biographers who have tried to chronicle his achievments, of whom Imogen's lodger is only the latest... It's no surprise that Paton Walsh was picked (after the first three books in the series were written) to craft follow-ons to PD James's Lord Peter Wimsey books; in many ways the tone of this one is a tribute to James's Oxford, with an updated twist. It nicely walks the line between being a cozy and a "real" mystery -- cozy readers will like the emphasis on character and the lack of grittiness, and yet there's enough meat here to keep the puzzle-junkies happy. Highly recommended; 4.4 stars.

Sigh, made little progress on my 1010 books. Must focus on that this week!!

Already read the Peabody book, so I am just adding the Walsh book to the BlackHole. Thanks for the rec, Suz.

I am glad to hear that the migraine is starting to ease up for you! Get some rest tonight!

Oooh, just answered the doorbell, and it was UPS with my ER book for November -- The Trinity Six by Charles Cumming. May just have to allow it to derail my reading plans...

Glad to hear that the migraine is easing up, Suz. I hope that you sleep well tonight, with no loud Cantonese women or bouncy toddlers.

Woot for ER books!

Thanks to the following:

Madeline/SqueakyChu -- for the Washington Post Book World!
Caro -- for the wonderful Thai silks!
and Stasia, for a new book to read! (Revolution, by Jennifer Donnelly, originally Mark's, and available, once I've read it, to be passed on to whoever asks politely first! Will post this in the kitchen eventually, but you guys get first dibs...)

All of which arrived today!!

Tigger sends an extra special thank you to Stasia for the box. Why, he asks me, get so excited about some books, when there is a BOX to jump in and out of, to hide in and beat into submission and fall asleep in?? Humans, he sez, disgustedly...

ETA: I also got my Vine books, but they weren't anything to be overwhelmed by -- I am incapable of passing up free books, so I opted for things that were somewhat palatable from a very bad bunch. We'll see... Hoping this week will be better. Mind you, wouldn't have read the Elly Griffiths series had it not been for Vine, so....

*smooch* to migrainey Madame

I am so so so tired of Amelia and Emerson and I can't imagine ever reading another *syllable* about The Cat Bastet or Ramses without decompensating all over the State of New York with biological weapons.

*whammys super Solstice Eclipse sleep for Suzanne*

I am glad Tigger enjoyed the box! Anything to keep him happy, right?

Hoping you are feeling better today, Suz. Enjoy Revolution!

Catching up on the books -- and the reading!

Started reading Not My Daughter by Barbara Delinsky during the migraine weekend when I couldn't stand anything more demanding. I had downloaded it a year or so ago I think, as a Kindle free book -- I was curious about it in the context of the teen pregnancy spike in Gloucester, Mass. that got a lot of press. The novel wasn't bad, it was just trite -- three 17 year olds form a pregnancy pact; there are complications in their small New England town, including the fact that the main character is the mother of one, herself a teenage mother and now the school principal whose job ends up in jeopardy. Everything is just very obvious -- the nature of the issues, the development of the relationships, etc. I suppose this would actually be a great book to hand to a teenager in class to get them to discuss the issue, but it made for a rather boring book. 2.7 stars, TIOLI for a family relationship.

Blackout by Connie Willis is a book that I'm going to have to reserve final judgment on because rather than being the first of two books, it's really just the first half of a single long book. (If I had read this when it first appeared, and had to wait months for the sequel, I would have been very annoyed.) The good part? It's an intriguing look at different parts of ordinary English life during various parts of World War II. The bad parts, alas, so far outweigh that: the story is choppy -- we get a look at what Merope is up to with the evacuees, then jump to Michael's story, and on to Polly in London as the Blitz roars away, and then back to Merope... The story never goes back to Oxford in 2060, home base for these three time-traveling historians, nor is it explained why they are having such difficulty connecting themselves to their home base -- that question is left dangling, as well as the more existential one about whether they are really unconsciously changing history, or whether history wasn't properly recorded in the first place. The story is fast-paced, Willis has some great characters and descriptive scenes, but so far this is perhaps 3.3 stars. Hoping that reading part two will bring a kind of order to the whole project. TIOLI for ghosts of past TIOLIs (January, color in title; November, time travel)

Finally, The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks and Giants of the Ocean by Susan Casey. Sigh. This was another book that could have been soooo much better than it was. As it stands, Casey is obviously deeply enamored with surfing and surfers, and turned half of a book ostensibly devoted to the fascinating question of why such giant waves are wreaking havoc into a paean of praise to extreme surfing, the people who seek out those massive rogue waves in order to ride them. That's a problem on two fronts: she assumes that everyone is as fascinated by surfing as she is and forgets to tell the reader the basic facts of the sport (I had to go to Wikipedia to figure out what she was talking about); and it has obviously distracted her attention from the meaty and fascinating part of the book -- waves that swallow boats and cities and render the world a more dangerous place. Casey shows in some segments of the book that she's got what it takes to make science fascinating reading, yet it always felt as if she was in a rush to get back to the surfing scenes, and gave the science short shrift. The result is a 3 star book; if you're not interested in surfing, about 60% of it can be readily skipped. I ended up feeling as if she should just have played it straight with readers and focused only on the extreme surfing part of the story and not bothered trying to convince us of her "serious journalist" credentials. TIOLI ghost of past TIOLIs (June: meant for someone else but not me -- a borrowed book.) Don't bother if you aren't fascinated by surfing; I'm tremendously intrigued by oceans (even thought briefly at the age of 12/13 of becoming an oceanographer) but this book left me underwhelmed. Oh well, I still have Atlantic to read -- hopefully it will be better!

Of these, the only book with potential is Blackout, but I'll have to wait and see what happens in All Clear to render a final verdict. In the meantime, off to read some more WW1 books for my 1010 challenge!

I already have both Blackout and All Clear lined up to read in January, so I am good.

I have Doomsday Book on my WL after someone recently recommended it. I didn't realize it was a series.

Too bad about The Wave. I see that book all over the bookstores and was hoping it would be good.

A friend of mine recently recommended the Ameila Peabody mysteries so I need to check those out.

#149 I've read one Amelia Peabody once and didn't like it at all.

However, I picked up the first one, Crocodile on the Sandbank and will probably read that next year, thinking I might like these more if I start from the beginning.

Linda, if you start at the beginning, the odds will definitely rise in your favor. That said, you need to be in the mood to appreciate the occasionally annoying Amelia as a narrator. If you don't like #1, I would just suggest moving right along to the next series!

Doomsday Book isn't a series per se, Pat -- it's the first book (I think) of what are now 4 revolving around the lives and adventures of time-traveling historians based in Oxford. I really liked it as a "thumping good read"; in contrast, Blackout underwhelmed me, partly because it was more "same old, same old" in terms of time travel, partly because of all the jumping around from character to character, place to place, era to era. Very hard to track. I've just started All Clear, which picks up immediately after Blackout ends; you really NEED to read those two books together as one. It's not like Winds of War and War and Remembrance where there is enough of a break and enough context given to make it possible to read them and follow the plot even with years in between.

The Wave is reasonably well-written for the most part, but I found the surfing/surfer obsession very annoying. It wasn't what I wanted from this book -- and, for that matter, it wasn't the way the book was pitched to potential readers.

Thanks, Suz. As I look back, I read Amelia Peabody book #9, Seeing a Large Cat because I was attending Malice Domestic that year and wanted to read all of the Agatha nominees before I voted.

I did not care for it at all.

I shall have to try A Piece of Justice: I quite liked The Bad Quarto.

Hope the migraine is gone.

BTW, how is Jasper doing this week?

Jasper is OK; his blood glucose readings all over the map, but at least not solidly bad. He is, however, a VERY happy cat, thanks to the Xmas gift from the 2 1/2 year old upstairs (he of the thumpy bangy noises). Theo, you see, is absolutely in love with Tigger, one of my other cats. They have long conversations in my office window each day. When Theo is away, he apparently talks about Tigger nonstop. "Tigger has a good tail," he has been known to tell complete strangers, very seriously. So Theo gave Tigger (and Tigger's feline companions) some extra-superlative stuffed catnip mice for Xmas. Well, three stuffed mice and one stuffed candy cane. The candy cane has become Jasper's "baby", coddled, protected and cherished. These are Porsche-caliber catnip mice, big, well-made and stuffed with high-grade 'nip. Tigger has corralled the other three...

ETA: Caty, there are two others in the same series -- The Wyndham Case and Debts of Dishonour. All equally good, IMO.

Headache lurking once more. Alas and alack. But just lurking. Not enough to stop me reading...

Loved that story about the cats and their Christmas presents! Hope the headache stays away.

Theo sounds like a bouncy yet endearing young lad. Really cute the way he took to Tigger and Tigger to his Christmas gifts.

Too bad about The Wave that's one I had in mind to read someday. I think that kind of storytelling would be better in the hands of Jon Krakaur.

Well, Lynda, have finally started reading my ARC of Atlantic by Simon Winchester and so far it's looking good... No giant killer waves, but lots of interesting stuff about oceans.

I hope that by the time you finish All Clear, you will think it worth the journey! The reason for all that jumping around should become "clear"!

The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks and Giants of the Ocean I agree with you completely. I was disappointed .

I have Atlantic too. I am saving it for after jan 1 sometimes.

I can sort of deduce the reasoning -- to do with slippage and problems with the mechanics, right? -- but I'm still not convinced she couldn't have done it more simply. And these two books really should be one book.

She agrees, but the publishers insisted on doing it this way. (I went to the local booksigning for All Clear and had her sign both books--All Clear was one of my Thingaversary books.)

I am reading Winchester's Atlantic right now too, Suz. So far, so good.

Sorry the headache is lurking again. I hope it never de-lurks :)

Bad migraine! Leave Suzanne alone! Shoo! Shoo!

xoxo

I hope the headache improves soon.

I shall look out for all of those Imogen Quy books. Thanks.

Glad the cats are happy, even if Jasper's blood sugar is still misbehaving.

I am eager to hear what you and Stasia think of the Winchester book. I've never read anything by him and am eager to read this one.

For now, though, I'm mainly curling up with mysteries.

So far, I'm loving it. Although the mysteries are calling to me, too. (Just not the cozy ones; there, we will have to differ...)

I need a new head for Christmas. Headache-free. Bah humbug.

For anyone with a kindle or nook who likes historical fiction, The Traitor's Wife is now free. It's quite good -- I think her best book so far.

I am so sorry that you suffer so from these headaches. I know how terrible you feel both during and after. :(

One head transplant for Suz coming up for Christmas!



Hmm, that did not work out to well. Maybe next year?

Sorry to hear that the migraine is continuing, Suz. I do hope you feel better soon.

Merry Christmas Suzanne, to you and your furkids! I wish a happy, healthy and prosperous year to come, too!

Wishing you a very merry Christmas, Suzannne! Cheers!!!

Merry Christmas, Suz

Hope you're feeling better.

Just wanted to stop by and wish you a Merry Christmas, Suz!

Hope the migraine clears soon...

Must be all the good wishes, and Lynda's rippling stream gif, that banished the headache demons. Feeling significantly better now, for the first time in a week. Plan to stay that way so I can enjoy eating roast beast with Richard and the Divine Miss tomorrow, and then with Blythe & Gareth on Boxing Day out in NJ. So tonight I plan to just curl up with books and cats and music. Will update reading later (yes, I have been doing some!!)

Merry Xmas all -- would put a fancy wreath gif here, but I don't know how, so you'll have to imagine it! :-)

Wishing you a very merry Christmas, Suz.

Caro -- lovely! Is the puppy hiding from the resident felines in terror? LOL!

OK, a quick book update:

1. Atlantic by Simon Winchester. This was an ARC that I got from Amazon's Vine program, and one I was very happy to get hold of -- and it lived up to expectations. Winchester has a real knack for delving into long, involved stories and making them immensely readable. Coming so soon after I had read Susan Casey's underwhelming book, this was a big relief and that much more enjoyable. All the usual bases are covered: the Vikings, the Portuguese explorers, the slave trade, the demise of the Newfoundland cod fishery, hurricanes, whale fishing, wars and battles, etc. etc. But this being Winchester, the reader gets taken to some more unexpected places as well, such as the Faroe Islands and St. Helena, the Skeleton Coast of Namibia, the battle to save the south Atlantic fishers, and the telling odd details, like the penguins bemusedly washed ashore in Rio one year and taken home by sun-bathing bikini-clad Brazilians to put in their refrigerators to cool off. (It didn't work...) I'll post a detailed review on the book's page in a few days, but it's safe to say this is an excellent and entertaining book. My only vague quibbles are that nothing was truly unexpected here, although Winchester has come up with an intriguing format in which to present his "biography" of an ocean. (He uses Shakespeare's "seven ages of man" speech from As You Like It to frame the story.) Also, his final chapter felt a bit like a rehash of everything that has been said in so many places and so many ways about global warming. I wish he had found a fresher approach to the subject, which is unquestionably important. Overall: Winchester laments the death of our "romance" with the ocean, which has become an obstacle to cross or a source of profits from fish or oil; that attitude, he warns, leads us to take it dangerously for granted. Recommended; 4.5 stars, TIOLI for a "coming soon to a bookstore near you" book.

2. Field Grey by Phillip Kerr is the latest installment in the misadventures of Bernie Gunther. Happily for the reader (if not for Bernie), this book sends him back almost immediately to postwar Europe, the natural stomping ground for a noir-ish former Berlin detective, police investigator, and resolutely independent-minded curmudgeon. This time, Bernie has to outwit the divergent interests of three different intelligence sources -- the Soviets/nascent East German, the French and the Americans -- and try to escape being dictated to again. He had to do what Nazis like Heydrich told him -- but only up to a point. And then he found himself in a Soviet prisoner of war camp, in exile in Argentina and under the thumb of the Perons, and most recently subject to the whims of the mob in pre-Communist Cuba. He's sick of it and wants out -- on his terms. But he seems to have little to bargain with -- or does he have an ace in the hole? This is very deftly-written, with lots of twists and turns and plot surprises; it also fills in some of the background, with flashbacks focusing on Bernie's wartime experiences. Recommended to anyone who likes noir narratives and has read the previous books -- this isn't the one to start with, though you could easily skip over the last two in the series and go to this one. 4.3 stars, TIOLI for ghost of past TIOLI challenges.

3. Mon vieux et moi is for my 1010 challenge, by a Quebecois author. It's more of a novella than a novel, and in some ways really captures some of the essence of the Christmas spirit without all the ersatz warm and fuzziness cheap feel-good stuff. The narrator, a middle-aged retiree, "adopts" a 99-year-old man named Leo who had lived in the same retirement home as his aunt. Life with Leo is a bit like life with a child -- full of unexpected rewards and challenges. And yet Leo's life is closing in, and the narrator has to deal with that, both existentially and practically. It's poignant and so moving in parts that I had tears in my eyes; the writing is spare and punchy; very vivid and sounding almost as if the author were dictating his words rather than writing them. Should be translated... *sigh* 4.6 stars, TIOLI for the "thinster" challenge.

Happy Christmas Suzanne!

Have a lovely Christmas, Suz! If you see Richard today, please give him a hug from me.

Wow, Suzanne, all of those books sound good. So sorry the last one is not in English.

Hope you have a great Christmas. Did you get the books you wanted?

I forgot to mention that I finished The Memory Chalet by Tony Judt the other day and thought it was fantastic. Thanks for recommending it.

ditto what Stasia said in post 177

Merry Christmas, Suz!

Delivered the hug(s) to Richard, had a delightful Christmas feast with he and the delightful Divine Miss and a hodge podge of other interesting guests and, thanks to Richard, added some fascinating books to my French library! Cinq-Mars by Alfred de Vigny, Anatole France's novel, Jocaste et le chat maigre and Francois le Champi by Georges Sand!

My brother and sis in law sent me volume 3 of Virginia Woolf's collected essays, which had been languishing on my wish list forever, and thanks to some very heavy hints, a copy of Ackroyd's new book about Venice, which I greatly coveted and will be reading next month!

This week is all about cleaning up the house (which is in disastrous shape), organizing my life, etc. etc. Then focusing on a few weeks of heavy lifting to get the paperback revisions done for my book.

Tomorrow, off to NJ to see the horse lady-banker friend and her family, back home Monday to deal with the aformentioned organizational challenge.

Safe travels tomorrow, Suz! Thanks for delivering the hug for me :)

Happy St. Stephen's Day! Or Boxing Day! Whichever you prefer, my dear, may it be a happy, happy occasion...and PRIVATE! Everyone still here might become a roommate what with this blizzard bearing down on us.

Oh well, there are worse fates, no? Did they get out, are will you all be eating leftover ham and roasting Stella over a fire?? Not sure about escaping from NJ tomorrow -- I was informed, reassuringly (???) that "it's ok, we have a tractor". Ummm, yes... that's one solution! So, not terribly private -- friend, her husband, daughter belonging to each from first marriage, elder daughter's boyfriend, friend's mother and her partner and three dogs! All of whom are now sacked out, nearly comatose, after binging on food (turkey and trimmings) and presents.

xox to all!

You're going to New Jersey tomorrow? Um...how are you planning to get there??? Does NJ Transit have dogsled service from Penn Station to NJ? The last report I read indicated that the NYC area will receive 15-20 inches of snow by tomorrow.

ETA: Oh, wait; I misread your post. You're in NJ now, right? So, how are you planning to get back to NYC? (NJ Transit Dogsled Express from NJ to Penn Station?)

Hmmm, yes, dogsled express. Or the tractor.
Actually, I'm counting on the fact that Gareth has to take his daughter to her mother -- was supposed to today, but it will have to be tomorrow. So I will hitch a ride back with them. 4WD. Their neighbor (former NJ Devils star) took an hour to get as far as Newark for tonight's hockey game, but did make it all the way in.

I don't know about your plans for tomorrow but umm.... are you looking out the window now? There's a blizzard out there! I think you may be safer staying put in NJ for another day. Tuesday is supposed to be sunny and fine, so travel will probably resume then.

We just got home from visiting FIL and running a few minor errands, and the roads are awful, and there's a message from Nassau County for everyone to stay indoors. Plows working overtime but everything they clean is covered again in less than a minute. There's already about a foot of snow, and it doesn't look like it's abating any time soon. I have my snuggly socks on (smooches to my dear niece who gave them to me), a comfy sweatshirt (who cares? we're not getting any visitors today in this weather) and old jeans. I'm pulling the gender card and leaving all the shoveling outside to the menfolk! Ha

Oh yeah, in fact, the dogs just came in covered with the white stuff. But I have cats at home who need food & water... :-) Will make it safely.

Here's wishing you safe travels tomorrow then Suz. Do you have a neighbor or someone who can feed and water the cats for you?

Nope -- I have no extra keys, alas. I did make sure I had extra food down before I left, but still... Gareth learned to drive and drove for years in the mountains in Switzerland, so I think it's just the other nutcases on the road that we need to worry about. Fingers crossed!

Hope your trip home is uneventful, Suzanne! The television reports of the blizzard tonight looked pretty wild.

Travel safely, Suz! Fingers crossed here too!

Eek, have a safe trip home!

Safe travels, Suzanne.

I am very tempted my Mon Vieux et Moi, despite the rustiness of my French. I really ought to stop complaining that my French is rusty and apply some linguistic sandpaper to buff it up. (Amazon France has it: I reckon if I can manage to read the reviews and order it in French, I stand a chance of reading it in French.)

Suzanne.........Where are youuuuuu?! Just saw NYC on the Today show and looks as if at a standstill. Hope you're ok and in a safe warm place.

Suzanne, from looking out my window last night I have no idea how you got into NY (if you did). I hope you are safe and warm, wherever you are, but I am afraid you may be stranded somewhere!

Made it!!! We got almost to the Garden Parkway on I-78, then the NJ troopers turned us around and set us all the way back up again. Eventually made it through the Lincoln tunnel and into the city that way. It wasn't too bad until the last 10 or 15 miles, when there was more snow and more blowing. Very, VERY pretty out in the rural parts of NJ (up near Bedminster, Gladstone, where I was).

Very decorative also when I got out of the subway to find my street is completely snowed in -- unplowed and waist-deep. So the hardest part of the trip (for me, as the non-driver) was walking the 30 feet or so from the subway exit to the front gate, shoving the front gate open and wading through waist-deep snow to my front door -- then to FALL down the three stairs leading to it, which I couldn't see under all the white stuff! Am waiting on the shoveling until my upstairs neighbor gets home. He's on a train from DC after visiting in-laws, pulling out of Philly. We'll tag team the shoveling; more fun that way.

Caty, Mon Vieux et moi is very straightforward (and a short book). There is bit of jargon/slang, but if you take it slowly, it will be fine!

The roads are not too bad this morning here in NY and the snow has stopped, so I hope you're able to get on your way. It's terribly windy though. Are you taking the train back? If so, I just saw on the news that train service has resumed, although they are operating on weekend hours.

So so glad you're safe and sound! I got everyone out the door almost *exactly* as the LIRR was shutting down, but they're all home and happy.

Isn't it fantabulous outside in the snow? I took pictures for the next year's Xmas card. Then my camera batteries died, and there are NO double A batteries in the house! Ha, fooled me, I was planning to go and shop for basics today *snort*.

Our neighbor Byron, two houses down next to the World's Ugliest Church, came over with his snowblower and now we have a completely clear driveway. He never asks, or waits, he just fires it up and does our drive whenever he does his own. Such a lovely guy.

Glad to hear you're home safe.

Maybe you can ponder your January TIOLI choices. Get those brain cells warmed up after your adventure.

Saw your pics on fb ... glad you are now safe and sound at home, Suz ... and hopefully dry too. Kitties happy to see you, I'm sure. I hope you have enough food at home so you don't have to go out in all that snow for a few days ... another storm is coming in, I hear.

Had I been counting on the train, I think I would have been in trouble!

I confess I did go out to play in the snow for a little bit -- which, at my age, means wandering around for a couple of blocks. Great fun, trying to leap tall snowbanks in a single bound. The wind is actually strong enough to hold me upright! (I know; I tried...) Now, exhausted, so it's cats and a book. And takeout, which my neighbor will order when he finishes his share of the shoveling. Tigger got outside three times while I was working on mine, and we collapsed in fits of laughter -- he was so distressed to find himself paw deep in this cold white stuff and yet each time, he'd try to get out again, convinced that THIS time, it must surely have gone away. Alas, Richard, I'm in the same boat as you are. If it were just double A batteries, I'd be fine, but I need the bloody chargers, which have a nasty tendency to VANISH when needed.

And Richard, since you are precisely the same kind of person as your helpful neighbor, you should NOT be surprised by his behavior!

Chargers! Bah! Don't even get me started on chargers and their selective ability to walk, slither, teleport, or whatever into places there is *no* conceivable reason for a normal person to have put them.

As for your last sentence, either I owe you an extremely substantial amount of money and you are now prepping me for the bite, or your crack addiction is truly out of hand. Whichever, I appreciate your craziness. It feels nice.

Richard, am just storing up warm and fuzzies among my friends while I'm feeling upbeat, so I can draw on the accumulated balance later on! :-) And craziness often does feel nice!

Question du jour: will I make it to the end of the year without hearing the dreaded sound of the thread police rapping on my door???

Suz, I am glad you made it home safely!

I confess: I have not been reading (or very little). I have been idling, listening to music, sleeping, doing a bit of work (must do more of that tomorrow) and generally being a good-for-nothing! Mea culpa...

Sounds like fun! :)

Down time.. jammie time.. play time.. all under appreciated these days.
That is why so many people are depressed!
Enjoy every minute :) It sounds like you have had a lovely day :)

Oh, I have been cleaning up and "winter cleaning". It's always at this time of year that I get fed up with the clutter!!

Suzanne is being polite: It was spending hours and hours trapped here at Martini Manor, eating bad food (that ham was not good, to my disgust, and even the glaze helped it too little to raise it about ~meh~) and staring at WAAAY too many little teensy breakable useless knick-knacks and gewgaws made her *need* to declutter her space.

'Fess up!

Richard, before you comment about too many breakable knick-knacks, you should see my space. Highlights include a set of Lao-made opium weights, tiny rabbits that the cats love to swipe at and send flying from the mantle in many directions. But it's the sheer number of stacks of books that have me defeated.

Do not believe his protestations re food; they are calculated to ensure he never has too many guests descending on him and demanding to be fed at the same time. It was a thoroughly delightful evening, the ham was just right. Other factors are precipitating the decluttering.

#213 *snortette* It is in the blonde rulebook that we do not actually snort

Suz and Richard
It sounds like you two had a lovely holiday!

Happy New Year to all!

I knew there was a reason I was glad to be brunette. I would HATE to give up the right to snort (or guffaw, for that matter.)

I had a lovely holiday; I hope Richard did, though he spent a giant chunk of it in the kitchen and later being forced to listen to the Divine Miss and I singing along to Ella Fitzgerald. Me, of course, out of tune.

...holiday...? You mean that wasn't just Saturday dinner? Oh! Dear me, I'd've done something special if someone'd told me!

Suzanne, your adoption papers are in the mail. TDM overruled my protests and you're officially included in the merry menagerie we've built ourselves as a family. Oh, and have I already told you what you got me at the 'zon? Cahokia, which I have wanted since I dunno like forever, and Counterclockwise, which I loved the instant I saw it this year. *smooch*

A trip to Buns and Nubile is forthcoming...stay tuned....

#198 Having read some of the reviews on Amazon France, I'm definitely going to buy Mon Vieux et Moi. It's sitting in the Amazon basket and I shall buy it as soon as I am feeling wealthy (or reckless) enough to pay for international postage.

Sounds like you had a great time chez Richard. :)

Adoption papers -- hmmm... to be part of a dog-owning, cat-despising family that hangs multiple tiny French horns from the chandeliers at the dinner table? Hmm, let me ponder this.

Oh, what the hell, yeah. Then you guys will have to take me to that village sing-a-long piano bar for my birthday, right?

Caty, I don't think you'll regret it. It's definitely more novella than novel, but I think the author does a good job of conveying a sense of the characters. The outcome is not unexpected, but the emotions are, to the narrator, at least.

Suz, speaking of birthdays, please post yours on the following link:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/105833

One birthday trip to Marie's Crisis, comin' up!

Actually, the chandelier is much calmer than last year. And the mirror was completely undecorated. I exert what tiny braking forces I can.

Though I *am* responsible for the double tinsel swag over the back garden window....

Piano bar? interesting ...
Glad to see that you two are enjoying each others company :)

Finished two more books; will update them tomorrow along with anything else I may happen to wrap up (odds are slim for this evening; better for tomorrow as I have just finished my year's work!) Yes -- no more work THIS YEAR!

Suz
Even though I'm still on short-term disability, I went into the office yesterday to write letters of recommendation for students who are applying to grad school. The building was quiet and it actually was good to sit at my desk. I'll return January 10th, but needed to dip my toes in the water before diving in.

You have accomplished quite a bit this year! Congratulations again on your huge accomplishment of writing a thoughtful, insightful book.

All the best to you for a Happy New Year filled with love and laughter. It was good to meet you at Richard's party.

That lendable books link I sent is already obsolete. I think this one works though: www.amazon.com/kindle-lending

Whoohooo.... how exciting. Lendable Kindle books! Thanks for the link Linda. I can't wait to try this out. I'm already over the moon because I've been happily downloading free books from www.gutenberg.org this evening after dinner ..... I think I've made a nice dent in my obese wish list and it's starting to look less like a Jabba the Hut and more like a champion sumo wrestler.

We ought to start a 75er trading site or something.

My sister gets first dibs (she's sending me her list) but there are probably only a handful of books we both read every year.

Absolutely, let's set up a wish list/offered list on the new year's 75 site, perhaps? One for Kindle, one for Nook? We can post there what we know our nearest and dearest aren't interested in and thus what is available for our cyber-nearest and dearest.

I'll take a look at what's available from my list when I'm not tired, am in my right mind and can focus (in other words, not this evening). I assume that there is a way to do this from your own Kindle library -- i.e. to winnow out those that are lendable?

Linda, good for you, going into work while still in recovery -- lucky students!! Yes, gradual re-entry is the best policy.

Happy 2011 to all of you!

Happy New Year, Suz.

That sounds like a good idea. I need to look into the "which books are lendable" issue. I'd hate to have to go book by book.

good idea Suz. I am still learning my way around the whole download thing..
Caro.. what books have you downloaded?

oh, and how is the famous Jasper doing??

Am slightly worried about Jasper. His blood glucose has crept higher, into the high 300s and to 419 last night. I may need to send him back to spend 48 quality hours with his fave vet. He's a bit lethargic, and I don't think it's just the weather. This CAN be managed, I know, it's just a chore finding the right way to do it (amidst many other chores...)

Happy New Year, Suz. Hope you have a great year of reading again in 2011.

We had about 10 inches of snow on the ground and yesterday's 40s and today's 50's have melted it all. It seems odd to see bare ground again, after over a month with snow-covered ground.

Cheers to a happy new year, Suzanne! Hope Jasper levels out in the new year too!

#230 : The books I've downloaded on my Kindle are all free books, Kath. Most from Amazon but some are from www.gutenberg.org

What I've got so far free from Amazon on my Kindle are:
The Life of Abraham Lincoln by Henry Ketcham
A Dog Named Slugger by Leigh Brill
Wish by Alexandra Bullen
The Legends of King Arthur and His Knights by St James Knowles

From gutenberg.org I've downloaded:
The Sarva-Darsana-Samgraha : Review of the Different Systems of Hindu Philosophy by Madhava Acharya
Underground by Sulette Dreyfus (touchstone not working)
My Man Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse (my favorite re-read)
Peace on Earth, Goodwill to Dogs by Eleanor Hallowell Abbott

Jasper is back at 423 as of late morning... Off to give him more insulin now. Bah humbug.

Great free books, Caro, although I think the only one I have is the Jeeves!

Yes, Linda, the snow piles here are diminishing as well. Which means we're in for a flood. And my multiple pairs of boots are all soaked through. Piffle.

Suz, I've decided to try and only download free books on the Kindle ... as much as possible, so that I won't feel guilty if I can't share them with other people, like I do with dead tree books.

I've also signed up to volunteer to proof-read ebook conversions for gutenberg.org so that they can add more books to their database for us to download.

Poor Jasper ... do you think the weather has any impact on his glucose levels? i know.. this is probably a silly question.

Hope you're going to enjoy the last day of the year and watch it go out with a bang .. do you get to see the fireworks that are shot on the Hudson from your building? My in-laws used to go on a NY's Eve party cruise every year but they haven't since last year when they were both starting to suffer from poorer health and wobbly legs.

I'm looking forward to talking to you, reading your reviews and girding up my obese wish list to withstand more additions from your recommendations next year.

Wow, spectacular fireworks, Caro!! Thank you, my dear!

Normally I can see bits of the East River fireworks from here -- and hear a lot more going off everywhere. This evening I'm heading up to the Upper West Side later on to see in 2011 with a friend, but dunno exactly what the plans are.

Shall do my best to fire off many book bullets in your direction in the new year (and duck yours); convincing you to download non-free books on the Kindle as well!

Happy New Year, all! I will, I promise, catch up on my book listing before I head out for the evening. The sad news? Despite having read more than 500 books this year, I will not manage to finish either my 1010 challenge OR my "books off the shelf" challenge. I blame this on poor planning (mine, of course...) as I got derailed by all your recommendations later in the year. Oddly, in the 1010 challenge, I will fall short by 2 books -- and yet I ended up reading bonus books in 4 categories. So I did read more than 100 books, just not in the proper categories. Harumph.

Happy New Year, Suz!

Have a great New Year's celebration, Suzanne. I sometimes think I should create a LT collection called "Books recommended by Suzanne" since I first hear of so many good books on your thread. Looking forward to following your reading in 2011.

I haven't gone through my Kindle books yet to see which are lendable but, if you look in my profile, anything with a Kindle tag is something I've read on my Kindle. If I own it on Kindle but haven't read it yet, there's no Kindle tag.

Happy New Year Suzanne! I'm like Pat in that I add a lot of books to my wishlist based on your recommendations. Keep 'em coming.

*evil chortle*
I look forward to doing MUCH damage to your book buying budgets in 2011!

OK, here's the final update of the year, of books finished since Christmas.

1. All Clear by Connie Willis. Well, this took a lot of time to finish, mostly because I kept getting frustrated by the endless struggles of the trio to extricate themselves from their plight -- stuck in London circa 1940/41, with dire consequences looming. I also got a bit fed up with the endless "what if" thinking that the characters get involved in. Did they really alter history? Was this a good or bad thing? And so on... I just kept wanting to holler at them to do something other than race around the country in search of (a) a functioning drop (b) another time-traveling historian or (c) a rationale for their plight. Still, by the final quarter of the book, I was sufficiently hooked to race right through to the end. The final pages made it about a 3.8 star book for me, but it REALLY should have been a book on which an editor exerted some discipline and shortened into one moderately long volume. This was too much, without anything (other than some intriguing glimpses at ordinary life in London during the war) to justify it. That's fine, but... Glad I read both books, but won't be racing to re-read them. TIOLI for ghosts of a previous TIOLI category.

2. Four Weeks in the Trenches by Fritz Kreisler. I thought this might be an intriguingly different look at the Great War, given Kreisler's status as a marvellous violinist. Instead, it's just a different but still predictable first-person account of warfare. I preferred Max Arthur's oral history compendiums, such as Forgotten Voices of the Great War. Not much to say as it's a short book, and fits nicely into the TIOLI "thinster" category. 3 stars.

3. So Wild the Heart by Geoffrey Trease. This was in my own "sentimental favorites" category of the TIOLI challenge, and Trease will always be a sentimental fave author of mine. Yes, lots of writers dealing with more complex and significant themes, but Trease nailed the art of the "thumping good read". First published in 1959, this is the story of a young Oxford don, a former poacher coaxed and coached by his local rector until he gets to Oxford, circa 1817. Now he's there, looked down on by the social snobs and trying to carve out an independent future for himself with his translation of an obscure Roman poet, Antonian. He figures that a trip to Italy will help him resolve some puzzling scholarship issues, and of course that trip turns his entire world upside down in any manner of different ways, all for the better, of course. Trease is witty, slightly sentimental by today's tastes but still has a knack for crafting a sympathetic character. 4.2 stars.

4. The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman. Here's the conundrum: I love Tuchman's ability to take history and make it fascinating. I dislike military history. Tuchman almost made this book interesting from cover to cover, as the story of just how World War I ended up as a massive quagmire to end all stalemates, so to speak. (Hence the title: she's focusing on the manoeuvering that produced the stalemate, before the trenches were dug, and telling us how that happened.) I found the beginning part fascinating; her exploration and explanation of the shifting alliances and military strategy and thought; I could care less how many divisions attacked Namur. So I got as bogged down as the troops in the mud midway through, and so it took longer to read than I hoped or expected. 3.5 stars, worth pursuing & finishing as she has an interesting thesis, if you have a greater tolerance than I for the military history stuff. TIOLI for ghost of past TIOLIS (November's world war challenge.)

I look forward to reading your threads in 2011, Suz!

Yep, I think it would be great if we set up threads for lending Kindle and Nook books. I will have to check and see which of my books are lendable.

Hugs to Jasper...

I guess I like the military stuff, Suzanne, because I loved The Guns of August, and when I reread War and Peace is my 40s I loved all the war sections (which I had skipped when I read it as a teenager). So maybe it's an acquired taste that you haven't acquired.

Perhaps I'll have to wait for my 50s, Rebecca! That said, it hasn't changed my view of Tuchman and I did like the book.

I'm in the process of putting together a list of my lendable Kindle books. There are some good books on there, and it's turning into quite a long list. When I'm ready, I will either post it on the 2011 site as a thread, or add it to an already-started "e-book swap thread".

ETA: grammar alert...

Suz, I started a thread in the 2011 75er group.

http://www.librarything.com/topic/105933

I'll be seeing my sister on Sunday and will put together my lendable list, too.

My lendable list can be found on Linda's link in 246 as well. But I can't get the touchstones to work and I don't know WHY. Oh, well. I'm so excited that we've started a sharing thread.

Happy New Year, Suz! I am so glad we had the opportunity to meet and chat in 2010. I hope you have a wonderful 2011!