ffortsa reads in 2011

Ah, finally have time to set this up for 2011.

The ticker resets at midnight, January 1, 2011:




and I've set up a deaccessioning ticker this year.




Check my profile for my reading preferences and why I might want to bat the books to
the outfield.

So far my to-read list for 2011 includes:

(more to come)

So far I've read:

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
A Rule Against Murder by Louise Penny
As I Lay Dying by Faulkner
Beowulf in the Heaney translation
Shantaram by Roberts
Case Histories by Kate Atkinson
The Winter Queen by Boris Akunin
Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson
The Black Cat by Martha Grimes
U is for Undertow by Sue Grafton
The Golden Spur by Dawn Powell
The Brutal Telling by Louise Penny
Fathers and Children by Turgenev (Norton Critical Edition)
Borderline by Nevada Barr
In the Bleak Midwinter by Julia Spencer-Fleming
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Shaffer
Died in the Wool: A Knitting Mystery by Mary Kruger
The House in Paris by Elizabeth Bowen
A Fountain Filled With Blood by Julia Spencer-Fleming
Out of the Deep I Cry by Julia Spencer-Fleming
To Darkness and to Death by Julia Spencer-Fleming
The Big Short by Michael Lewis
The Broom of the System by David Foster Wallace
Indulgence In Death by J. D. Robb
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson

deaccessioned:
T is for Trespass by Sue Grafton
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Shantaram by Roberts
The Allergy Cookbook
The Death of the Adversary by Hans Keilson
The Hedgehog, the Fox and the Magister's Pox by Stephen Jay Gould
Gulliver’s Travels by Swift
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Perennial Library Edition) by Mark Twain
Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Madame Bovary by Gustav Flaubert
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov
The Broom of the System by David Foster Wallace

Welcome back!

Well, *here* you are at last! What kept you? The forum's almost an hour old!

I almost didn't get even that much in. The powers that be actually had me working all day today. But I'm off the next two. Reading time!

#4: The powers that be actually had me working all day today.

The audacity of those people!

ok. for about three seconds, if I type faster than Richard, I can say I've caught up on all the posts for this group. Don't expect it to happen again1

It's really a fleeting moment, isn't it?

*sigh* Already flown. It was lovely, for about six seconds, to see *all* the threads in the forum read.

Well, tempus do fugit, so dig we must. (If I could think of one, I'd mix another metaphor here.)

Thanks for the twinkling star!

I'm away an hour and a half and there are 85 new posts and it's not even 2011 yet. Sheesh. I'm going to stop this nonsense and read a book.

#10: I'm going to stop this nonsense and read a book.

Good for you, Judy!

Caught up again!

Maybe I'll just wait until December 31 and open up all the threads, so that I start fresh on the 1st. Otherwise I'll spend my life at the keyboard at home as well as at work.

Of course, then I would miss all the wit and wisdom (ahem) of this crowd.

#12: Oh, you describe us perfectly - the witty and the wise! lol

No wit or wisdom to offer Judy; I'll leave that to Richard :)

Ah, caught up again in the 2011 threads. Only took me an hour.

Tomorrow is a work day. Not that I'm complaining, but sometimes I would rather stay home and read. Three days this week, and then no more until January! Ah.

#15: sometimes I would rather stay home and read.

I find that to be true all the time, Judy!

I'm looking forward to winter break from my job...about a week of not much to do but finish up some books.

Synched up again. Now don't add anything until tomorrow morning, ok?

Me too, Jasmyn, although it's only a week or so. Tomorrow is the last working day of the year for me. I'll be somewhat busy with family stuff, of course, but should have time to get a jump on the books due for or before January. So far, that means Death in Venice, Shantaram, and a Faulkner -can't remember which one just now. Also, I'm interested in the Beowulf group read. And since I spend FAR too much time here instead of reading, that means an all out push through January 1.

It's just so nice to chat.

I wish I got a winter break! How am I going to fit 50 or so more books in before the end of the year? lol

I have every confidence that you can do it!

>#19 You may just have to get by with only 45min of sleep per day until the end of the year.

>18 ffortsa: As I Lay Dying

Can't WAIT!!

#21: Bite your tongue!

Judy....just checking in and putting stars on my favorite friends from last year. I'm looking forward to more exciting give and take in 2011.

Thanks, Tina. I hope the storm gave you just enough snow for fun. On to 2011!

#1 The Phantom Tollbooth I won't review this, since I'm probably the last person on earth to read this book. I'll just say I enjoyed it very much, both the wordplay and the Feiffer drawings.

No, you're definitely not the last person to read Tollbooth. That will be me. It's been on the wish list for ages.
Happy New Year!

@26 Wait, I thought I was the only person on earth who hasn't read it yet. How nice to know I have company!

Judy

ditto what Tina said in message #24. All good wishes for a wonderful year of reading.

#26: I read it for the first time in 2010, Judy, so I am not all that far in front of you :)

Thank you for welcoming me. I see you are advanced, with the graphics and all.

Oh no, not nearly advanced! I rely on others here to explain how to post almost everything but messages. Don't hesitate to look at source and steal what you can, or ask questions. Tad has set up a thread on this site where he provides instructions in HTML to all us novice posters. He's a very good teacher.

Ah, so I have these books to read, and what do I do? Go buy another, of course. #2 for the year, Louise Penny's A Rule Against Murder. And I ate the whole thing in one day.

Oh well. It was quite good. I was interested in the topics she drew on: a financial disaster that reminded me of Lloyds of London's terrible insurance pool for some pharmaceutical problem that bankrupted so many people, and also what I saw as her tribute to Julia Child. Again, Gamache is there to analyze a disfunctional family, and we see the problems secrets cause.

Oh well, Judy, you can't get indigestion from a book.
And book buying simply seems like rational behavior to me when faced with the challenge of a WHOLE NEW YEAR ahead!
Have you started Faulkner yet? Mine just arrived yesterday...

Hi Judy, love the correlation between Julia Child and A Rule Against Murder; never thought of that when I read it but you're right.

Which Faulkner are you going to be reading? I have Light in August on my shelf.

Haven't started the Faulkner yet - As I Lay Dying. I'm glad it's not a tome, since I also have to read Shantaram for February.

I will be interested in seeing what you think of Shantaram, Judy. It has been in the BlackHole for far too long.

Now I've started the Faulkner. It shouldn't take me too long to get through it, even if I pay scrupulous attention. And it counts as a book off the shelf - published, or at least printed, in 1964, with a remainder punch in the cover, and lightly toasted pages throughout. After I read it, I'll probably let it go, no matter how much I like it, just because of condition.

Death in Venice is haunting me somewhat. After not reacting much to it when I read it last month, I must say the RL book group discussion sparked an interest in rereading it. It suddenly struck me how closely it follows the pattern of The Bacchae, and I'd like to look at it from a structural point of view. But probably not this month!

But probably not this month!

Sensible. I must learn to emulate you in this.

>38 ffortsa:. Found you here. I'll be interested to see what you have to say about As I Lay Dying. It would be hard to call it one of my "favorites," but I love the complexity and multiple pov's.

The multiple pov are definitely interesting, especially as they contradict each other almost from the beginning. It requires more strenuous attention, but that's ok.

I think Faulkner uses the multiple pov technique in a lot of his novels and his novels do really require strenuous attention because of it. I have not read them all though, so I could be wrong.

I finished As I Lay Dying last night. The multiple points of view are very effective - allowing the reader to see each character's attitudes and worries, rather than believing or not believing one viewpoint or omniscient narrator. And some of the inner thoughts are so heartbreaking.

We hear Addie's voice just once, recounting her life, letting us in on her sin. We hear Darl the most, and for this reason I think I need to reread this book to follow him more closely. And Vardamam's child's point of view illustrates the almost dreamlike associations children make at times of great stress.

I'm very interested in what my RL book circle will choose to discuss regarding this book - I'll report back later.

eta the second half of the sentence on Vardamam.

>43 ffortsa:. Great stuff. You make me want to read it again.

I've started Shantaram, a huge book that I might have passed on except that it's my RL bookclub selection for February. So far, I can say that it moves fast but is somewhat unbelievable - the protagonist gets so lucky and is so trusting in Bombay. I assume he'll get into jams, otherwise what woud be the point of the next 900 pages?

Judy...you are a better woman than I undertaking a 900 page chunkster. They'd have to promise me an all expense paid trip around the world before I could commit to that!

It seems to be the kind of book that moves rather quickly, so I'll probably finish it - unless it becomes exasperating. The recommender declared that we'll all be sorry when it's over because it's so good - no evidence of that yet.

I saw your contributing opinion on Sense and Sensibility, which I may read along with the group. I do agree that Persuasion is a better book - but I seem to recall liking S&S, even though the plot devices are similar to P&P. The only one I found aggravating was Mansfield Park.

Almost forgot. My darling SO downloaded and installed the driver that allows me to turn off the touchpad on my otherwise wonderful Lenovo laptop, so I should be able to write without wild jumps and deletions caused by waving my thumbs a little too close to the pad. What a relief.

Good for you, Judy! Good for Jim too.

Hmmmm I wonder if that's what happens with my Toshiba....

Well, check to see if you can turn off the touchpad at all. Some systems and computers make it convenient - the Lenovo didn't. Everyone kept telling me 'just turn it off!' until they took a look, and then I went online and found it is a common complaint. Are you on Windows 7? I'm not sure if it was the computer hardware or the new opsys that made it so difficult.

*thinking twice about adding a Lenovo to the household*

LOL re your comment on Shantaram! I don't know why I have yet to feel tempted to read it, but... Must start As I Lay Dying this weekend; everyone is waaay further ahead than I am and I've been dithering around reading other stuff instead.

I have no regrets about the Lenovo - much more stable than my last laptop (an HP), and so far nothing but a pleasure - except for the touchpad, which has now been hogtied.

As for Shantaram, I don't much like or believe the narrator, for no other reason than things seem to work out for him with relative ease, but then I'm not even up to page 100 yet. The portrait of Mumbai (here called Bombay), on the other hand, is wonderful, an extended description of a train trip in third class is so detailed I could almost smell it. So I'll have to be patient and see if it remains worthwhile.

#53: So I'll have to be patient and see if it remains worthwhile.

Well, has it?

I am considering giving up reading, in order to keep up with threads :P
I haven't read the "Dying" book.. and I know I won't, at least not this year :)
and I am very grateful that you do not have blue text that I must dodge.

>53 ffortsa: It's getting better - more complicated. I'm still aware that the narrator is praising everyone for whatever they are good at. No villains have shown up yet - although we've met the head of the Bombay mafia, and even he is shown in his redeeming qualities.

Judy, you are making it difficult for me to muster up any further desire to read Shantaram. It's been in my dream book since the beginning, but I can't get over the immensity of the project. Most books over 500 pages are a little bloated imo. For your sake, I hope it gets better -- but not so much better that I have a burning desire to read it!

My book club read Shantaram in 2008. I quit reading at around 100 pages. It bothered me that it was categorized as fiction when it was clearly based on the authors life and read like a memoir. I also did not like or believe the narrator. Things came too easy for him. It was obvious from early in the book that he is a possessor of the risk taking gene ( supposedly the gene that leads to risk taking and addictive behaviors with drugs, alcohol, sex, gambling, collecting, etc). Every time he would buy something on the street and eat, drink, chew or smoke it without knowing what it was, just for the experience - I would practically scream at my book "What are you doing? I can see how your life choices have led you to where you are now." It was making me a little crazy, so, I stopped reading. I'm sure I missed some fabulous descriptions of India. One person in book club said it was worth reading the book just for the section on how to get black market forms of identification - in case you need to run away and need a new identity. I tried to make it to that part of the book. Hey, you never know when you might need that kind of information.

The whole time I was reading Shantaram I was going back and forth in my mind how much was or wasn't made up -- at some point I think I decided I didn't care, it was too much fun to read..... the story seems utterly fabricated - as in, made up of a patchwork of many things researched or read about in the newspaper - and the protag. was unlikeable and unbelievable but I couldn't help the sense that there was something utterly genuine at the core of it, maybe just about the India and Roberts absolute love of it? I think that's what I read it for in the end, couldn't get enough of. Does that make any sense?

Eeek! I can't believe this is the first time I've visited your thread this year, Judy. Let me just mention, that I have not read The Phantom Tollbooth but now it's finally wishlisted so that's a step in the right direction.

Hi There Judy!

I noted from your home page that you recently added Skelig by David Almond. It is a wonderful book and I'm very interested in your impressions.

By the way, is Jim joining us in the group? Or, has he done so already and I missed his thread. Please say hi to him.

Hugs to you from me.

Jim is one of us - check out Magicians_nephew. He hasn't posted much yet, but says he's reading through the threads to identify those he'd most like to follow. That should take him until March, don't you think?

sibyx, I have the same feeling about Shantaram - it's a good yarn and an unbelievable narrator.

2/5th of the way through Shantaram, enjoying it but wishing it weren't so long.

I've decided to look for audiobooks, so that I might be entertained while doing chores and keep up with my reading. I listen to podcasts at the gym, but they are short, about the same length of time as any of the exercise activities I do, so it's a good fit. When it comes to sorting laundry, rearranging the wardrobe, sewing open seams, etc. an audiobook would do fine.

I've also learned that I can't JUST listen to an audiobook - snoring commences almost immediately!

ROTFL re audiobooks! Yes, they are great for housework, especially those long tedious tasks like -- gasp, horrors -- decluttering. Which I should be doing. Except I should also be working on book revisions. And instead, here I am, posting...

Dear Friend! Tomorrow is your birthday. May it be as bright and shining as you are Judy!

Oh, I'm so glad I stopped by, Happy Birthday! (a little bit early!).

I can ONLY do audiobooks when driving or am busy with something, if I sit there, I conk out in no time too! Weirdly, when driving the audiobooks keep me awake and focussed better on the driving than I would be if I was allowing my thoughts to wander.

Happy Birthday Judy!

Have a wonderful birthday tomorrow, Judy. I hope you get to do something special.

Well, it's 26 minutes past the hour here in NYC, which makes it officially your birthday!! Hope it's a good one -- and a great year!!

Have a terrific birthday, Judy!

Happy Birthday ff!

Felicem Natalem!! Happy Birthday!!

Happy birthday! Hope your day is a great one! :)

Many happy returns of the day, Judy!

Thank you all! I celebrated yesterday by taking the afternoon off work, getting my hair colored andbuying a new pair of boots. The big surprise netbook present happens tonight!

Lucy, I think the falling-asleep thing may be a leftover from when our parents read us a story at bedtime. I can read myself until my eyes can't stay open, but the comfort of having someone else read to me is too much to resist.

Happy birthday, Judy!! Have a wonderful day. Can't wait to hear about the big surprise netbook.

Happy Birthday , and I hope you enjoy your netbook present.

My netbook has arrived! I write, dear reader, from the very thing.

Jim got me a Lenovo netbook to match my Lenovo laptop. It's like having a mini-me for my computer. Much easier to handle while lounging in bed, and the angle is such that the dreaded touchpad is not in the way, thank goodness. What's particularly nice is that the Lenovo netbook has a keyboard that is 98% the size of a standard keyboard. I really don't notice the difference at all. A few of the side keys are in different places, I think, but that's the only problem so far.

On the other hand, I got my first audiobook from the library, and while I could download it to my computer, I couldn't import it to iTunes to put on my iPod, and I can't burn it to a CD, because it has copy protection built in, so in order to listen to the book I'll have to stay home and do housework or something. No exercising to the likes of As I Lay Dying. Bummer. Maybe it's on Audible or Vox. Oh well. I can see their point, but it's a disappointment.

What wasn't a disappointment was the lamb tenderloin, apple martini and blueberry crumble I had for my birthday dinner. Yum.

Can you download audiobooks to the netbook? Is there enough memory?

I need to talk to my dauntless tech advisor about netbooks. I would like something more portable than my Mac, and a windows system. Even if it meant having an external hard drive. I'd need to get Word on there to make it worthwhile, since at least half of what I use any device for is writing.

I'm glad you had a lovely birthday Judy! Your birthday dinner sounds scrumptious.

Just stopping by to say Hi. Hope you had a lovely B-day. I'm going to check out the Lenevo. "Exercising" to As I Lay Dying--sort of hilarious. Have a nice weekend.

We have very close birthdays. Isn't it lovely to be a cuspy Aquarian? or are you still a Capricorn on the 21st?

I got my hair cut and colored for my birthday as well. How funny.

Enjoy your boots and netbook! I think I'm getting gas logs.

Under the most recent adjustments to the zodiac, I end up an early Capricorn! Phooey! I sort of like being first day Aquarius. Jim says all the 'shock' of the zodiac changes is well known to those who actually adhere to that system of thought, and he promised to get someone he knows to do an 'up-to-date' analysis of me - hah. Cusp of Aquarius explains everything about me - why should I want to change?

And as I seem to have missed your birthday, Happy Birthday, Nancywhite!

There's a whole campaign in the city to de-romanticize woodburning fireplaces as they are ecologically evil, but I grew up with them and don't think I could get cozy with a gas or electric fireplace. Not that I have the privilege of a woodburning one now, alas. But if I ever get my country place, applewood in the fireplace for sure.

>84 ffortsa: *snort*

I type this in front of a blazing sweet-gum log. Ecologically evil, my lily-white one. What's ecologically evil is coal-fired powerplants. What's ecologically evil is "diet soda". What's ecologically evil is encouraging vegetarianism.

The Precession of the Equinoxes has been known and discussed for quite a long time. Astrology, that is the fun newspaper kind, really doesn't need to account for this since it's all twaddle anyway. But the actual, serious astrologers I have known, several in fact, have worked their own mysterious magic with the signs we've inherited and modified the descriptions of each one. No one seems to have published anything on this, which I think is odd.

Part of the general clean-up of London air quality was the banning of coal fires, so I sort of understand the 'carbon footprint' argument for woodburning fireplaces. I just don't care. They can't possibly pollute enough to count, considering, as you mentioned, coal-fired powerplants, zillions of cars on the roads, etc. I don't know what to do about the cattle methane, however. And I can't see myself as a vegetarian. But I'm curious as to why you say it's ecologically evil.

Because I don't like preachy religious nuts gassing at me about their idiot theories, that's all. Cattle methane is a problem, very true. Gonna tell the Hindus what to do about their cattle, for example? Can't! It's a religious thing, so it's impossible to discuss in ecological terms. Hence my resistance to being preached at by veggies/vegans.

How's it going with Shantaram? I have to say it's a favourite book of mine, or at least the first half is - I don't like the second half as much.

Mostly as I reread it, I suspend disbelief and let myself enjoy the language and descriptions. It's easier for me to imagine it as a fiction/alternate life than anything remotely real. But the use of words and some of the ideas that come through are worth it to me.

Uh-oh. I'm half-way through. It's hard for me to sustain interest in a first person narrative this long. Jim said the same thing. We enjoy it when we are reading it, but we can put it down at any time.

And I am so dying to read something else - almost anything else. But - over 400 pages due by February 1, so I'll keep plugging along.

Oh dear. Perhaps you could read something light, just for a day or two to give yourself a break? I'm not sure you'll survive the second half otherwise, if this is how you're feeling now!

I think it's one of those books where some people give it almost cult like status, and others go 'eh'. And perhaps it's something you have to read at the right stage of your life for it to make an impact.

>90 lunacat: such a good point!

And yes Judy -- my mother's reading voice could put me to sleep anywhere -- I'd hear her reading to my nieces or my daughter and be in danger of collapsing narcoleptically on the floor...... Esp something like 'Stuart Little," "Charlotte's Web', "The Enormous Egg," those were perennial favorites and she must have read them fifty times.

We have a wood burning fireplace and wouldn't think of giving it up. There's nothing cozier. I'm a civil libertarian when it's convenient and resent being told what to do all the time. I've never been a smoker but when they say people can't even smoke outdoors, I'm wondering if something is going crazy in this country. And the food police telling McDonald's they have to stop making their Happy Meals happy, with a toy in them?? Come on. Enough's enough.

I have a wood burning fireplace -- with books in front of it and cats too eager to jump into it. (Those screens are expensive things...) However, it's gotten so cold, I may just have to succumb to the allure of a fire in the next week or two. I do have stacks of wood just begging to be thrown on top of one...

As long as no one smokes near me... even outdoors! seriously, the workers doing construction next door stand just outside the front door and puff away, one cig after another. Even with the windows closed and locked, the smoke filters in. I'll start coughing away; my eyes get irritated and then I realize that I've been subjected to hours of second hand smoke seeping in. I'm also having to wash my smoke-smelly clothes. Technically, they are outdoors, but... But obviously, I've become an intolerant and bitchy NYer!!

I hope the fireplace adds some warmth. The pitfalls may be two-fold. First, most fireplaces built in NY, or in modern buildings, don't have the advantage of air ducts on the sides that allow smoke-free indoor air to be heated and recirculated in the room. Second, when the fire dies out and before you can close the flue, an enormous amount of heat can go up the chimney, unless you have something like glass doors that can be closed. Not to discourage you, but you might not want to try it tonight, considering how cold it's supposed to get.

Judy == I agree on the fireplace being not a good thing if it's open. We broke down three years ago and had an enclosed wood burning stove insert put into our fireplace...it heats our whole house now - heat comes out into the room via a very quiet blower, and there is no smoke smell because it burns so efficiently. It was expensive, but so is oil to burn up in the furnace.

Before we had that, everytime we'd light a fire, the room got colder, because the fireplace pulled all the cold air through the house into the fireplace. Yuck. Now we have a warm house --

Sounds great. I still like a roaring fire, but if I had a fireplace, I'd invest in glass doors for the post-fire experience. And I'd put those heat registers in the fireplace surround. Ah, dreams of the country.

Wonderful cosy photo! Not that different from my house!

I agree with sibyx - such a cozy-looking room!

What a great, warm room. I can see a lot of comfortable reading space in that room....

I have a big giant metal THING that sits in front of the fireplace and blocks cold air. In the past, when I have had fires, they have warmed the room up slightly and at least haven't made it any cooler. So when the fire dies down, I just block it up again. I haven't tried it yet, because I've been too headachey and generally fed up to fuss with it, but may do so later in the week. It's not as if the cold weather is about to vanish...

zodiac changes ??? what? I know nothing of this travesty :-O

eta

cozy room tutu

Not to worry. Check out the latest (or next to latest) edition of Time magazine, where the whole kerfluffle is explained and we all keep our sunsigns. tThe article is called 'Zodiac Switcheroo'.

I finished Shantaram, but won't write my comments until my book club discussion next Tuesday. Sometimes these discussions have a significant influence on my opinions. What I can say is that it is a TOME. Wish I could have counted it twice!

103: Convert to a page count challenge? Sometimes I want a non-fiction multiplier -- e.g. in the time it took to refresh my memory or get a slightly different explanation of a concept from Wikipedia, I could've read 25 pages of a novel.

lol - page count is an idea.

I certainly know the feeling concerning non-fiction. It takes quite a lot of brain time sometimes to absorb math or science text. Even some of the social science books I've read have been much slower reads than a good yarn.

I had my own little readathon today, coming home from work early and reading Case Histories cover to cover. Quite peaceful. It reminds me very much of What Was Lost by Catherine O'Flynn, although the latter was as much social commentary on a dissolving village life as it was a mystery.

Case Histories has all the typical elements - a damaged detective, various damaged families, but rather than lace the threads of the story with red herrings, the author allows her detective and the reader to simply not know the answers until enough accidents accumulate. In the process, we meet some very real characters who grieve and live as best they can.

I did guess the answers to several of the component mysteries, and found one of them unexpectedly funny, but I will leave these as exercises for the reader.

One of these days I will get to Case Histories which I have owned for an age now :)

Glad you liked the Atkinson -- you are certainly on a reading roll!

Hi Judy

Case Histories is a book on the tbr pile that is also on my shelf. How I wish I had lots and lots of time to read all these wonderful recommendations.

Hugs to you and Jim.

report from the front (otherwise known as books):

My book circle did have a lively discussion of As I Lay Dying, and as usual after a really interesting discussion, I was moved to go through it again. This time I did listen to a download from the library - about half-way through. It's amazing what different things I notice when a book is read to me rather than directly from the page. Addie seems much more emotional, although the reader wasn't really 'acting' it. Darl is much more omniscient than I realized he was the first time through. Definitely a book I will read, and maybe listen to, again.

My Yahoo book meet-up did finally meet to discuss Shantaram this past week. Most people liked it more than I did. But then that might be because 'a rollicking good yarn' is never quite enough for me. I will have to read the essay Roberts put up on the related web site, as he seems to reveal a very schematic symbology that might illuminate some dark corners.

My own experience was that the middle dragged, but the last third of the book was quite compelling until almost the end. Lin is ultimately a peculiar kind of innocent - not innocent of crime, but innocent of his own relation to ethics and motive and the philosophy he is constantly spouting. His vision of Bombay (Mumbai) is truly magical, and we were lucky enough to have a native of that part of India at the discussion who confirmed the deep, vivid details of that vision. But it is a long 'boy's adventure' - someone in the group who has dealt with men incarcerated for a time says the kind of wonder and magic Lin expresses is pretty typical. I'll be interested in the prequel and sequel Roberts has planned, if they ever come out. And let's hope his editor is a little better at ejecting the purplest prose if he does.

Someday, if I need a story like this, I might reread this book, but at 930 pages there isn't shelfspace and time enough to plan for that now. I've passed it on to a friend who loves reading about India - we'll see what she thinks of Lin and co.

And, before I forget, let me say that I seldom rank books, even the ones I review, because reading is such an individual taste. Were I to rank them, there might be quite a few that get no stars at all - a star, IMO, indicates some worth aside from ink on paper. Of course, there have been times that I was enthusiastic and clicked a few stars in LT. But no rhyme or reason aside from that immediate enthusiasm.

I'm still in a bit of a mystery mode, and luckily The Winter Queen was in my mailbox this week. So far, very enjoyable.

I've already done the laundry and eaten dinner, so now I can read the evening away. While in the laundry, I contributed my redundant copy of Huckleberry Finn to the swap shelves, but didn't get away unscathed. How dare anyone leave a Mankell mystery AND a Bukowski book of short stories right there where I could find them!

Hi.

It sounds like you have great fun with your book clubs.

Stay warm, dry and snugly. It is a cold, icy winter's night.

The Winter Queen just arrived in my mailbox, too!

Yes, tsk tsk on the Mankell and Bukowski. Some people have no taste at all... or else they're sabotaging you. You know, trying to lure you into a fugue state where all you'll do is read, and ignore "real" life.

#110: Congrats on getting the Mankell and Bukowski books, Judy!

A fugue state - my main fear for retirement. And if I were working for myself, I'd probably starve rather than stop reading to do work!

#114: if I were working for myself, I'd probably starve rather than stop reading to do work!

I need to be on that kind of diet :)

drive-by hug, Judy

back at you RD. I hope you got some sleep and read time.

Have been known to skip meals in order to read; and oddly enough to fail to stop reading in order to work... Speaking of which, must haste myself back to my desk... (where I will doubtless lapse into the wrong kind of fugue state!)

Finished The Winter Queen today. Quite a charming book, I thought. Not a lot of surprises for me - much of the big mystery was telegraphed by the middle of the book, but it was still a lovely read. The ending, of course, sets up the series according to Raymond Chandler's rules in The Simple Art of Murder - do I have that right? I'll be looking for the next in the series soon.

110 (ffortsa): I'm catching up on LT this weekend, fell woefully behind and it's just seemed too daunting all week. Thanks for your review of Shantarum. I am partial to India, lived there for awhile as a child, and although a 900+ page novel is not something I'm inclined to take on just now, it's nice to have a glimpse. You have an interesting bunch of folks in your book group.

#119: Glad you enjoyed the Akunin book, Judy!

I've started Winesburg, Ohio for one of my RL bookgroups. But what I really need is a mystery - maybe Jim will remember to bring The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest from Queens tomorrow.

I know the feeling, Judy! I'm not going to start Winesburg for another week or so, I think... I do have a great thriller waiting for me, and a few mysteries, to boot!

Although Charles Isherwood of The Times sniffed at it, Jim and I thoroughly enjoyed the production of "Lost in the Stars" as part of the Encores series at City Center on Sunday. And that led me to pull down my ancient copy of Cry, the Beloved Country,thinking I'd reread it. Alas, somewhere along the way it looks like it got wet, and there's no saving the last 20 pages or so from the black mold. Out it goes.

Oh, too bad about the book. I hope you can get another copy soon, Judy. It is a great book.

I might opt for a library read, part of my slow, slow desire to reduce my physical bookshelves.

Still haven't decided on an e-reader. There are supposed to be some new ones coming out in the spring, so I'll wait until the next wave.

#126: Well, I hope whatever e-reader you decide on, that you enjoy it as much as I do my Nook.

Hi Judy

I was going to add The Winter Queen to my tbr list and discovered that it is already there. How I wish I had time to read all these lovely books.

Judy, if I locate my copy of Cry the Beloved Country do you want me to bring it along to the book circle? I'm fairly sure I know where it is. Just don't dunk it in water... :-)

Thanks for the offer, but I'm a little oversubscribed these days. When I have more time to read, I may read one of the 563 other books on my shelves.

Judy 563 books on your shelves? I certainly can relate. Wait till you visit in the spring/summer, you will see the books have taken over in my house. They have babies at night when I turn the lights out. I swear it!

Oh, well, I guess I need to confess that I bring them in the door and then they reside here for a long, long time.

Gentle hug to you and Jim. How I long for spring! It is another cold evening with patches of black ice on the sidewalks and streets.

I've been able to dispose of an old old cookbook through BookMooch. Funny, I don't often get requests from them. This book has been up a long time. Anyway, out of my home and off my shelf! Alas, though, it wasn't listed among my 'to read' books, so it doesn't cut that down any.

Linda, I just randomly chose 563 as the number to cite - turns out it's 564! That doesn't count the Dawn Powell I just got from the library.

I might not be checking in quite as often as I have been, as I now have two assignments at work. Whew. It was either that or retire, I think, and I'm not quite ready. Of course, that might change any minute.

#132: Retire, Judy! Just think of all the reading you could get done :)

ah, the siren song of books books books, as they call to me off the shelves - 'Juuuuuudy, reeeeaaad meeee'.

I finished Winesburg, Ohio and will write more about it after the book circle discussion. I should be reading the Dawn Powell book now for the meetup book club, but I just had to start one of the mysteries I bought yesterday, The Black Cat by Martha Grimes.

note: touchstone troubles for the Grimes

I finished The Black Cat this afternoon in one great run. Not the best Jury mystery by any means, but it continues the story of Lu Aguilar and Phyllis Nancy and Jury. As usual, there is a child, but she doesn't figure prominently. Mungo and Johnson are back. And, warning to RD, there are cats. Three cats.

#134: I bought Winesburg, Ohio after Mac's excellent review of it either last year or the year before. I really need to read it one of these centuries!

It's a quick, easy read in terms of language - a series of vignettes of townspeople. The selection of the populace is probably the most interesting question to ask of the author. It is definitely of its time, which is rather foreign to us, I think.

#137: Thanks for the input, Judy. Maybe I will finally get to the book this year.

There's a small package coming your way. A present for the 'completist' in you.

#139: Thanks, Judy!

I would retire so quickly that it would cause a small whirl wind ..if I could.

What I'd like best is a part-time job. Doing what I do either on a project-by-project basis with lots of time in between, or maybe a 3 day week, would be heaven.

Seriously, that would probably be the best way to segue into retirement. So much of my social life is related to my work day - it will take some time to create a retirement life as socially comfortable as this one.

I managed to read U is for Undertow these last few days. Typical Grafton, with a bit more of the villain's point of view again. A nice read, but probably not her best.

#142: it will take some time to create a retirement life as socially comfortable as this one.

You have a nice 'socially comfortable' retirement life, Judy. I think that is a goal for which we all aspire.

judy....your thoughts on project work to ease into retirement is a great idea. It's exactly what I did when I "retired" from my F/T job in DC area back in 2004. My entire social life was in that area, so when we moved to Maine, I was able to make a deal with my former employer that I would take early retirment, but they would hire me as a consultant to complete a big project they wanted to get done. So I've telecommuted from Maine since then, cutting my hours back each year as I became more involved in the community up here. I'm down to 5 hours a week and will finish up in May at exactly the same time as my social security kicks in. it worked out perfectly. I was able to keep in touch with all my friends, and now that most of them are retiring also, I'm much more settled into full retirement and looking forward to completely cutting the strings.

We all need to be a creative as you and your former employer were, to provide that non-traumatic segue. I hope I can do the same with my employer - although I'd be happy to stay face-to-face over that time. Something tells me I'm not leaving New York City any time soon.

I started The Golden Spur by Dawn Powell yesterday. It's set more or less in the neighborhood in which I live - Jim and I decided the bar of the title was probably the Cedar Tavern in real life - just about the right location, and the description recalls the interior shape and decor a little.

It's an interesting book to read after Winesburg, Ohio, showing the naivete of a young man in the big bad city, along with the good and bad behavior of the people he encounters. I'll write more after I finish.

Hey Judy, thought I'd stop in and say hello. I know everyone does that sort of thing in early January, but I'm slow. Sounds like you've been reading some interesting things, quite different from my usual fare.

Well, I'm not in a reading funk, but I must be in some kind of funk because I walked over to Borders at lunchtime to take advantage of their store-closing sale and couldn't find even one book to buy. Not one. Every title was either something I had read already, something on my TBR pile at home, or something I wouldn't read if paid to do it.

There must have been something there to tease me, but I couldn't find it. The same thing happened last night at Barnes and Noble - Jim had a coupon to spend and I went along for the walk, and walked out again as rich as when I went in.

And the day before that, I hit the thrift-store I like the most to find they were having a pre-inventory sale and couldn't find anything there either.

Is an asteroid looming? Or have I just talked myself into reading my TBR stacks for the next four years?

Maybe to make up for it, you'll find a half-dozen must-haves next week...

148: I had a similar experience recently. I went into B&N looking for a specific book, but it wasn't there, which put me in a somewhat disgruntled state, and I departed with nothing. Highly unusual. February doldrums? Usually I pick up a book, then I pick up another couple of books in the vicinity, then I pick up several books from the bargain section, then I remember a book and go traipsing across the store for it, collecting books along the way, and I'm done when I can't carry any more.

I guess my bookbuying funk is over, since I bought two last night. One was for the next meetup - Turgenev's Fathers and Children, which I thought I had (maybe in my deep dark past), but didn't. Then, having broken the curse, I bought the next Three Pines mystery, the one that makes everyone unhappy.

It's a good thing I stopped there. I was contemplating buying Middlemarch, but while surveying the books Labwriter (Becky) and I have in common, I discovered I already owned it!

And I thought I'd catch up on the Stephanie Plum bubblegum mysteries, but when I picked up Ten Big Ones from my shelf, I realized I'd already read it. I have three more in the series on the shelf, in hardcover (gifts, I think). The hardovers I'll read and pass along. As for the rest of them, can't decide if I want to deaccession them or save them for a good laugh once in a while.

Hi Judy

I enjoy hearing the stories of you and Jim. I can envision the two of you walking to the book store, laughing and having a great time.

One day I want the book circle to read Sketches from a Hunter's Album. I've meant to finish it for about 20 years. I love reading it, and I hate to think of it being over.

I went to the liberry sale recently. I bought all six Elizabeth George books they had. Cost: $3. When I go into B&N, though, I get paralyzed at the idea of paying $25+ for a new book. Money is *just* enough of an issue that it hurts me to turn loose of that much speculatively.

Middlemarch! o.O

I do own a copy of The Hunting Sketches which I assume is just a different translation from the title you quote. Wouldn't mind reading it. Why don't we suggest it tonight?

Good idea!

I love love love Turgenev.

And I resonate totally with your book-buying experience. Most of the time when I go to a bookstore, literally ANY bookstore I find things I want (even if I don't buy them) - but maybe ten percent of the time I walk in and nothing suits. It feels like it has to with state of mind and how the brain works -- like it's a completely internal matter, the brain is not in the mood to make choices today, thank you very much-- It happens with me even more often the rare occasions I go shopping for new clothes....although more often I KNOW I don't want anything.

Uh-oh. Once the book-buying funk is over, the impulse is unleashed! I stopped by the closing Borders store again today. This time, I found Atkinson's One Good Turn - they don't consider it a mystery - I found it in the 'literature' section! Hooray.

And, since I seem to be eating everything in sight except my books, I bought The Paleo Diet, yet another tome exhorting me to eat in a way I know works, but is hard to accept. My weight has become more than just an aesthetic worry - and besides, the book was on sale.

What I need to do is find a way to put a treadmill in my apartment, and walk on it whenever I read or watch TV. Or want to eat. yeah, right.

passing through and catching up..

passing through and waving hello....

I'm heading to the Natural History Museum next week with my grand daughter.

Better than a treadmill is an elliptical machine. More expensive if you're buying, but they do work. And yes, it's possible to read on them... *grin*

Ellipticals are good exercise, but I don't see how I could read on them - I've tried, and then switched to my iPod or the gym's TV, if anything reasonable was on to watch. And I bet they take more room than my only-relatively normal-sized apartment would provide.

Also, they are often too big for me - although I would guess I could find a brand that is ready-to-use for the size-challenged.

The Golden Spur is done - nicely written, sort of picaresque, a view of the Village scene in the 50s. I wouldn't go out of my way to read it again. But then, that's what library books are for. I even returned it on time.

I read The Brutal Telling these past two days. Oh my, how painful. And a beautiful story, I think. It's interesting how Penny leaves so many story lines open for the next book, and the next after that. I can certainly see some changes coming - some of the clues are not so subtle. I couldn't find the next book in the Borders near me that is closing - I'll have to look in Barnes and Noble this week.

HELP. BOOK MADNESS IS UPON ME!

I read the threads and say - oh, yes, I have that book, or oh, yes, I read that book a long time ago and really should read it again, or oh, yes, that sounds like a really interesting book.

And here I am at work, with not too much pressing, but unable to just sit and READ A BOOK.

Aaaaauuuuuurrrrrrgggh.

Welcome to the club. There seem to be a lot of members hereabouts these days.

>163 ffortsa: There is no help. This is, I fear, a life sentence to the Madhouse Library at Hotel California...you can check out any(thing) you like, but you can never leave.

Because of that 'third shelf, seventh from the left' challenge idea, I pulled out The Tale Bearers by V.S. Pritchett. I don't think I'll be able to read it straight through, because Pritchett discusses a lot of authors I haven't read. His essay on Graham Greene is a real spoiler, for instance, even though I've read some Green. On the other hand, his essay on H. Rider Haggard is a hoot for anyone who has read She, or his other rollicking and preposterous yarns. Here are just a few choice quotes:

"E. M Forster once spoke of the novelist sending down a bucket into the unconscious: the author of SHE installed a suction pump. He drained the whole reservoir of the public's secret desires. Critics speak of the reader suspending unbelief; the best-seller knows better; man is a believing animal. So, in the age of religious doubt, Rider Haggard tapped the mystical hankerings after reincarnation, immortality, eternal youth, psychic phenomena. He tracked down priestesses and gods. So, in a peaceful age, he drew on preoccupations with slaughter; and, in an empire-building age, on fantasies of absolute, spiritual rule in secret cities. ...The journey into mysterious Kor comes flawlessly out of the agonies of sexual anxiety....

"But the remarkable visions of Rider Haggard would have got him nowhere without three other qualities. One of these cannot be praised enough: he is a constantly inventive storyteller. The other two, paradoxically, support it: his stories are so tall that only bad grammar and slipshod and even vulgar writing can get him round the difficulty; and he dare not go in for more that pasteboard character. Anything in the nature of a human being would stand in the way.... Finally, Haggard has the enviable gift ... of pouring it all out in a great gush in a few weeks. He has the confessional form of genius. He never corrected a line."

I almost want to read that ridiculous book again.

Many of the essays seem sparked by a biography of the author in question, so the author's life figures in the evaluation. Pritchett's ideas about the origins of homosexuality are pretty much hogwash, but probably believed in his day. Push them aside, and he has very interesting observations about T.E. Lawrence and E.M Forster, Evelyn Waugh and Rudyard Kipling. I may not finish this book for the TIOLI challenge, but I may use it as a reading guide for quite a while.

Hi Judy, haven't strolled through your thread since January so I've just caught up. Do you still like your mini-me? I've kicked the idea around but never followed thru.

Just passing though, and once again finding reason to be relieved that I have taken on no challenges more pressing than this one.. !

>167 Carmenere: The netbook (as I assume you are referring to) is quite nice, but I think its main value will be for travel. It was handy also when I had a guest who needed access to my main laptop, and I could retreat to my netbook.

I suggest you really think about what you would use it for, because the tablets (iPad, etc.) might be more to the point. They are rather pricey, however, and the netbooks are not. My friend bought an Asus just Thursday at Best Buy, and with a case it cost her just over $300. Jim says it's rated very highly and is very sturdy.

eta to correct an 'it's' to its. OOOh, fingernails on the blackboard for that one.

I had decided to send a small collection of books to a young woman in New Zealand, choosing based on her wishlist on BC. While gathering them up, I found - or rather didn't find - books I know I read and retain vividly in memory. I seem to have given them away before joining LT.

Rats. How could I have given away The Tin Drum? I think the Vanity Fair was falling apart, so maybe it was gone before I catalogued. And how many more are missing from the shelves?

I didn't realize I had this problem - books I know I read but didn't capture. Of course, I've been reading almost all my life, so there are lots of books lost in the mists of time, but I had intended LT to be a record of books I read, not books I own.

Meanwhile, of course, I've got a huge TBR to wade through. It's not like I'm bereft of books. And I don't really care that I haven't catalogued all the Perry Mason mysteries from my adolescence. But something has been lost.

#166 I loved the quote about Rider Haggard and She - I read that back when I was about 14. Not sure I'd rush to read it again even after that description but I know what you mean!

I've started reading Fathers and Children by Turgenev. It's a critical edition, with lots of footnotes. Usually I appreciate the information, but these footnotes, so far, are so obvious I'm annoyed at the interruptions. Nevertheless, I find it hard to pass them up. Maybe that's why the book is not enchanting me.

Jim and I just got back from watching the National Theater's NTLive telecast (in movie theater) of an amazing production of 'Frankenstein' from London. Tonight was the first of the theatrical 'recorded live' showings - there are two more in NYC and it may be shown in a theater near you this next week. DO NOT MISS THIS SHOW!!!! Not only is the new play beautifully written, staged and directed, it has one of the most amazing performances by an actor I've ever seen. Buy tickets in advance online. The place was packed tonight.

For those of you who don't know the series, some four to six times a year, the National broadcasts a stage production from London in selected movie theaters in the cities in the US. College campuses are a good bet - in NYC it will be shown twice more at the Skirball Center at NYU. We paid $20 a ticket - unbelievably worth it. GO!

On June 30, the last of this season's shows will be broadcast - 'The Cherry Orchard' with Zoe Caldwell. Keep an eye out. We're hoping we might catch it in Portland.

What Kind of Reader Are You? Your Result: Dedicated Reader  

You are always trying to find the time to get back to your book. You are convinced that the world would be a much better place if only everyone read more.

Obsessive-Compulsive Bookworm   Literate Good Citizen   Book Snob   Fad Reader   Non-Reader   What Kind of Reader Are You?
Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

I think they got that right!

Yikes! I just evaluated my current reading status. Aside from the books marked 'currently reading', I've got The House in Paris up for April 15th and several possible entries for the TIOLI for March. And it's already March 18th.

I don't have too much scheduled this weekend. Maybe I can get some reading done then. April, on the other hand, should be good for reading, since I have a round-trip flight to Atlanta scheduled, and in May I have a round-trip flight to Las Vegas scheduled, and in June I'm flying to Portland!

Still, I'm falling behind. Too many threads, I think.

I've sent those books to NZ - or rather, I've sent THESE books to NZ:
Gulliver’s Travels
Huckleberry Finn (Perennial Library Edition)
Ivanhoe
Lord of the Flies
Madame Bovary
Moby Dick
Of Mice and Men
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

Unfortunately, the flat rate mailing box that would have been so economical within the US was a fortune to send to NZ - I should have sent the money instead and let my acquaintance buy these books new, instead of shipping so many old paperbacks. Oh well. Once I got to the post office, I wasn't inclined to interrupt the flow.

Still, 8 books off the shelf. They are classics and I'll read them again some day, but maybe on an e-reader or a copy from the library. In the meantime, they are no longer collecting dust. Whoopee!

I finished Fathers and Children, but I couldn't quite face the 250 pages of notes and criticism that follows the 163 pages of novel. I'll call it finished, however. The novel was what I was after.

I read Borderline over the weekend, in spite of having another book due for another book club. At least it fits one of the challenges! Nice book, although at first it put me off. Can't Anna Pigeon go anywhere without complications?

Just catching up, Judy. And thanks for reminding me about Anna Pigeon - or maybe not. I'm awfully far behind in that series with no time set to catch up because of all the new things that flood in thanks to cruising the 75 threads.

Isn't it a killer? I admire those folks who read the new stuff, but I have so much on that TBR pile. Sometimes I will myself to just give something away without reading it. Not often!

Thanks for stopping by.

Judy- Finally found you! I like the variety of books you read, with a nice dose of classics mixed in. That's something I need to do more often.

>178 ffortsa:: Can't Anna Pigeon go anywhere without complications?

Apparently not. I marvel at her apparent ability to cause mysterious deaths just by showing up. You'd think by now the National Park Service would pay her to take a vacation to, say, Canada. A long vacation. Like a "meet-a-Mountie-and-consider-your-national-loyalties" vacation.

Ah well, as long as she stirs up trouble I'll keep reading. I haven't read "Borderline" yet but will soon: I'm up to #14 and it's #15.

re mailing: I occasionally send sf books to a bro in Australia -- when he's desperate from summat that hasn't come out there, or might even never come out there for one reason or other and every time I gasp. Just one lousy paperback is usually twice what I paid for it. Ten, if it was a one center. But I do it anyway.

I try to support readers anywhere, and I've got some margin to do it with. So I was pleased to send my books to someone who really, really wanted them. Too bad the post office discontinued those media bags.

Hi Judy, just wanted to let you know I've ripped off your "What kind of reader are you" quiz and placed it in my thread. No surprise, I'm a dedicated reader too :)

that's what it told me too.. dedicated :)

Just visiting, Hi Judy. I'll have to check out the Anna Pigeon series.

I'm a dedicated reader too. I was surprised to find that I wasn't the worst (or best, depending on your pov), but I guess I have a little life still outside books. Therefore! I think "dedicated reader" is best for a relatively normal person.

Hi Judy - have just caught up here. Was that mailing to NZ on Bookmooch? I used to **love** it when people would mail to me in NZ - I'm sure she will be really grateful! But ow to the postage.

Actually, it was a thank you for a BC book-ray book mailed to me. I was quite shocked at the cost of mailing to me from NZ, and touched that the young lady would do that, so I checked her BC wishlist and began pulling books off my shelf. She has really good taste, and didn't mind that my books were ancient. But the cost did sort of make my eyes cross.

Thank you everybody for stopping by. When I saw 5 unread posts on my thread at the same time, I was flabbergasted - so nice to hear from you all.

Judy.....I still ship media rate - just put the book in a padded envelope and tell the postal person it's a book. Much cheaper and it doesn't take much time at all. Most of them go for under $3.00

Even to NZ?

#193 -- AH---that doth make a difference. I don't it works going to NZ but I will check with our nice postmistress person and see what she can suggest.

Ouch. I ordered a book from PBS, but didn't check the author, and sure enough, instead of a mystery story, what arrived was a terribly written, ungrammatical, soupy Christian novel! Yikes! I started to read it, and when the grammar got really bad I checked the author. Idiot. So now I will have to go buy the right book In the Bleak Midwinter by JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING.

Oh, what a shame, re the Spencer-Fleming. All of her titles are taken from hymns--they're probably all from the Episcopal hymnal, as they're all familiar to me, so be forwarned when you order the others as well.

The title of the first one is what pulled me into her books from the beginning. It's from one of my favorite Christmas hymns. The text is actually from a Christina Rossetti poem. I've heard all sorts of versions of this, both as hymn and song, one particularly that I love by James Taylor. That's a lot of mileage from one poem--and probably TMI. ha.

P.S. I just finished her 6th book in the series, I Shall Not Want, the best of the lot, IMO. She has one more that's coming out in April (I think already obtained by some here in the early reviewers program or whatever it is).

Hi Judy, ouch about getting the wrong book from PBS. I managed to get that one out of the library and hope to read it this month. Everyone who talks about this series seems to really like it.

Hey, Judy. I will add my kudos for the JSF series too. I am starting a re-read of it, since I received the latest book from the Early Reviewers.

ouch indeed! Too bad about the book..
too bad the mistake didn't work the other way around, and
have you get a same name book that was fabulous :)

Not to worry. I indulged myself last night and bought the 'real' book - and well worth it. I'm about half-way through, and the characters are interesting and detailed and the community well-established. Can't wait to see what happens.

In the Bleak Midwinter - a lovely first in a series with all the right elements - good mystery, interesting community, new and complicated love interest, reckless amateur, manly rescuer. I'll be reading more of these. Wonder how long the unrequited love will remain unrequited?

I've got myself an ER bok! In Earshot of Water a book on the natural world of the Columbia plateau by Paul Lindholdt. I've never gotten an ER book before. What's the drill?

#202: The ER drill: Read said book (and hopefully do not fall too far behind like I have done with 5 of them dolefully looking at me). Review said book. That is all :)

So glad you enjoyed the Spencer-Fleming book. You will love how the unrequited love story develops over the rest of the series. I'm already waiting for #8.

I did find a new series this past month by Margaret Coel, that is somewhat similar: The Wind River Reservation mysteries. The first one is The eagle Catcher. I've read the first three. There's a priest and a lady lawyer, a great setting, some good plots, lots of interesting people.

Not sure yet if the romance has reached unrequited love, but it's getting there and it's fun!

201 Okay. I give up. I read some other reviews about books by this author and I am sunk. :( I picked this one up and added 492,805,434,567,890,986,541 of hers to the wish list.

Stopping by to say hello to you!

Happy Sunday!

Hi Judy, I have In the Bleak Midwinter up next so I am happy to see your take on it.

Hi Judy, just stopping by to say Hi. I started following your thread recently after seeing your name pop up on other threads (mostly Becky's I think). I'm also glad you liked In the Bleak Midwinter. I've seen alot of other LTers who have liked it but I think your recommendation has finally pushed me over the edge to actually read it.

So I was casting about trying to decide what to read next, and finally picked up The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, fully prepared to find it as twee as its title. Right. Picked it up and didn't put it down until 1AM. Delightful. No sudden unexpected twists, no shocking revelations - just a good story, well-told, with a minimum of villains and a lovely set of interesting, quirky, individuated characters. I thought the epistolary form would irk me, but it didn't (a liberal use of telegrams helped - sort of like text messages today!). Even finding two pages torn didn't put me off - I could just fill in the missing text from the syntax still showing. Now, of course, I want to go to Guernsey.

eta to try to put more spaces between the sentences. But it doesn't work. Sigh.

I'm so happy to get yet another affirmation that *PPP* is worthy of one of my precious PBS credits. I also had avoided it, but my friend that I trust to know what I like said, "Get it NOW!" and you have added to my excitement to read it. I have it in hand, and will put it on the bloated "currently reading" list - but I can't stay up until 1:00.

Hm. Someone was asking about a new translation of the Inferno, but i don't recall which thread it was on. I'll just store in info here until I have time to do a search.

The Inferno of Dante, a new verse translation by Robert Pinsky, bilingual edition, illust. by Michael Mazur.
New price of book: $20. Amazon has it new for about $14 -- and less for used. Can save shipping charges if your order is over $25.
Be sure to get the edition with the illustrations if you're going to use the pagination in a common thread. The translation comes with and without (without is a little cheaper), but the pagination is of necessity different.

I thoroughly enjoyed Guernsey too, Judy! If you go to the island, take me with you!

>211 ffortsa:. That was me. Thanks for the tip about the Pinsky. I have AmazonPrime, so shipping never costs extra if it's 2-day shipping. I'll go check it out right now. --OK, I found a nice used copy. It looks good!

Hmmm.....Guernsey sounds like something that should go onto the cruise itinerary when we all go to Sicily (Montalbano) and Venice (Brunetti)....keep buying those lottery tickets!

LT meet-up on Guernesey?

#216: That would be phenomenal!

OOO OOO OOO Shetlands meetup! In August! Any August, they're all hot and miserable.

Speaking of Shetland, I just finished Died in the Wool: A Knitting Mystery while stalling my required reading. Too bad it doesn't fit a challenge.

Back from Atlanta! Whew. I so wanted to be home.

One of my RL book groups meets on Thursday, and I haven't read the book yet, but it's not too long - The House in Paris by Elizabeth Bowen. I've just stuck my nose into it this morning, and I should have enough time to finish.

Of course, while in Atlanta we couldn't resist the bookstores. One was a little corner store that seemed to be geared to students. I picked up an edition of Frankenstein and something else I can't recall right now. Then we drove out to the suburbs and found ourselves across the highway from a Books-a-Million, which we'd never been to. So we went over to just take a look - of course. I came away with two more books. So much for cutting down, right?

Glad you and Jim made it home safely, Judy!

Thanks, Stasia.

Just to complete the list, in addition to Frankstein (which it turns out I had a copy of!, I bought
Jarhead,
The Numerati, and
Cheating at Canasta.

Also a mystery titled Died in the Wool, which I read and left in Georgia for the next lucky reader.

Just trying to catch up on threads. I noticed you purchased Jarhead. I read this in college and thought it was amazingly well-written. It reminded of books that came out of the Vietnam-era. I hope you enjoy it!

Thanks for stopping by, Brit. I'm hoping I'll like it - it's been on my mental wish list for quite some time.

I finished The House in Paris yesterday over lunch. Quite a wonderful book, with extremely evocative and unusually apt language. I'll write more after my RL book circle meeting on Thursday.

I've never read Bowen before - now I'm curious to see if her style varies with her subject.

I hope you like Cheating at Canasta more than I did, Judy. I was disappointed in that one.

Ah, I've subverted my book club reading to continue with the Spencer-Fleming series. Both A Fountain Filled With Blood and Out of the Deep I Cry were terrific reads that I could not put down. Now I must emulate Clare and do what I'm supposed to do before I go on to the next one!

Well, if what you're supposed to do leads you to someone as wonderful as Elizabeth Bowen, you need have no fear!

I agree. I hope Foster's The Broom of the System is as good as The House in Paris!

I just started David Foster Wallace's The Broom that Sweeps the System for my May 3rd book club meeting. Yikes - May 3! and it's already April 21st! I guess I'm making no side trips this week, as the Wallace book is 467 pages long.

I have The Broom that Sweeps the System in audio (won it from a blog contest) but so far I've been less than inspired. Like many other good books, I shall wait for fellow LTers to chime in and push it one way or the other in the queue.

Well, side trips have proven to be a necessity, as the Wallace is - well - a little too PoMo for my taste. I will persevere - but slowly.

In the meantime, and how very unlike me, I'm reading The Big Short about the financial meltdown of recent years, and To Darkness and to Death, in the Spencer-Fleming mystery series. This one is proving a little more complicated than her previous ones, and - dare I say it - with too many good people doing bad things. I'm about half-way through, and if one more upstanding citizen messes up, I will be very annoyed. I know it's a mystery, but most people behave rather well. In this story, people get desperate a bit unnecessarily, and mess themselves up. I'm sure it will come untangled in the end, but so far.... oh well.

Tina, I'm not sure if 'Broom...' would be more or less understandable in audio than in print. There are a lot of different characters and threads, a lot of switching back and forth in very short chapters and subchapters, and very little overt character identification. So it would depend on the skills of the reader, I suppose.

As usual, the mysteries don't last too long! I finished To Darkness and to Death this afternoon, and then took a look at the preview of the next book. I'm a little dismayed to see how S-F is resolving the romantic conundrum. And I'll be surprised if it doesn't take the course I expect. But naturally I will read it as soon as possible!

The Foster Wallace is still hanging over my head like a dull sword. Is it worth finishing? Only on page 200 out of 467 - I'll see how far I can get by the weekend.

Oh, look at that. The touchstones are back in my deaccessioned list.

It is so hard to finish a "have to" that you are not enjoying, instead of
burrowing into a "want to" that is next to your chair.. much luck to you!

I think the Foster Wallace is getting better. At least, it's holding my attention more.

BTW, the science fiction short story collection I couldn't name before is Nine Hundred Grandmothers by R. A. Lafferty.

It looks like a busy time at least until Saturday, but I hope to have the Foster Wallace and The Big Short finished by the end of the month. Lewis's book is simply fascinating - such characters and such nefarious doings! If it hadn't affected so many people as badly as it did, I'd say the story of the sub-prime mortgage debacle was delicious.

Well, I finished Lewis's book on Thursday night - very satisfying. Then, yesterday, I plowed through the end of The Broom of the System - less satisfying. I'll have to say something more about it after my book club meets - sometimes a discussion enlightens me.

ETA: taking some don't-think-too-much time to read Indulgence in Death, catching up on the J.D. Robb series. Just about what I can handle now. But in a week or so, Jim and I are off to Las Vegas to see family, and the plane trip should provide good reading time.

ETA again for spelling.

Hi Judy, good to hear that Julia Spencer-Fleming's second and third books are unputdownable as I have Book 2 scheduled for this month.

In The Bleak Midwinter... is still sitting here looking at me hopefully...

Members of my book club agreed that the Foster Wallace was a failure, although some interesting attempts were made, and some scenes were worth reading. The youngest of us, practically still in school, loved it, said it was a light read. Yikes. Maybe you have to be under 30 to ignore its self-consciousness.

Now that I've finished the Wallace and the J.D. Robb Indulgence in Death, I'm at an impasse. Wandering through my many unread books, I couldn't actually decide on which to read. I'm carrying Major Pettigrew because I bought the book last night - maybe that's the best shot. But I'm a little grumped by my unwillingness to read what's at hand. Oh well.

Ah. Finished Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson, last night, because I couldn't put it down. I'll be interested to see what my book club thinks of it next month, if it's discussable, if there are varied opinions. It's very English, I think, with the sharp class distinctions - or maybe I'm just in the vast American middle class and don't notice. More after I hear the discussions the first week of June.

I confess that I'm in the minority of folks that really couldn't get into that book, Judy. It struck me as more elegant and better written chick lit; none of the social commentary felt new or fresh. It might resonate more with an American audience because it's kind of a 21st century novel of the kind that Austen might have written, with a focus on race (immigrants) as well as class.

ETA: actually, this makes me wonder what we here in the US mean when we talk about 'class'. Is it pedigree? wealth? education? Some combination of these? In the UK, it's breeding -- background and a bit of education. But education and wealth alone aren't enough, at least in the short term. Hence a lot of the sneers at Kate Middleton, whose family have wealth but had no coat of arms prior to the royal wedding.

I was worrying that it was no more than chick lit, and I do think the class-based prejudice may be a little last-year, even in Britain. But I did enjoy it more as it went along, especially one or two very funny scenes in the second half of the book.

I'll see what my meetup book club thinks of it. We just finished Broom of the System - this will be more to people's liking, I'm sure, although some will think it a little lightweight.

eta: I think there is a class distinction based on occupation, sliding scale, here, that tends to show, especially among prospective in-laws, for instance.

I can divide my extended family by class - not fashionable to admit, but I know where everyone sits in terms of professionals, executives, white collar workers, etc. The children don't necessarily turn out like the parents. Every so often an offspring turns out surprisingly bright or ambitious; two more than plain people produce a matinee idol. Come to think of it, that happened in the far reaches of the family - the son is bright, ambitious, handsome as anything, even nice - it's a miracle!

It's less often that a child of professionals ends up a car mechanic, so much so that it made the Times Magazine section last year when an educated man decided to specialize in motorcycle repair. The classes may be more mobile than in Britain, at least below the level of inherited title, but we are nothing if not conscious of how people make their living.

Yes, I think we're more conscious of what people do and how much people earn -- for instance, a hedge fund millionaire is automatically accepted to the upper stratum of society here, to a far greater extent than is possible in England, even today. After a certain point, whether you were Ivy League or not ceases to matter, whereas I know 40-something Brits who still feel shunned because they weren't Oxbridge, and at least two Oxford grads who take tremendous pride in this as part of their identity -- because of the status they believes it confers. On the other hand, another friend of mine who attended Cambridge on scholarship, and still has a slight Midlands twang, has a big chip on his shoulder about his lower middle-class upbringing. His father was a vicar, but an inner-city vicar, not dean material. How much of this is real vs perceived is imposs. to tell, but it certainly factors into the way he sees himself. And I do know some Brits who, on hearing that I briefly attended St. Paul's School for Girls, were reassured (visibly) that they knew they could "place" me socially -- in my mid/late 30s!!!! I know one woman -- now married to a Scottish baron and resident in a drafty castle -- who takes great pride in figuring out what "class" people she meets belong to. She is sad about the demise of defineable accents (much easier, that made her task...) and so has a raft of trick questions that she asks.

Speaking as a Brit, we are extremely conscious of class, although usually on a subconscious level. I automatically make assumptions on first meeting people, dependent on accent, job, wealth etc, but also on appearance, language they use and behaviourisms.

Of course, it doesn't always work. I have been helping out my best friend by painting her boss's fences - that family are most definitely upper class and their son went to Eton. Because I didn't go to Uni, and do a menial labour job working with horses, I was automatically placed into the higher end of working-class (I speak with a non-area specific English accent). When they discovered that my grandfather was an eminent professor, this immediately switched my class upwards to middle-class, and so their topics of conversation immediately changed.

I don't think they would have been aware of this if called on it, and they don't flaunt either their status or wealth - they are SO comfortable in their wealth and it's old money, so they are shabby rich and have no pretensions. But the class system definitely still exists in full force over here, if not QUITE as exclusionary and structured as it was even 20 years ago.

Your on-the-ground view is very welcome. Have you read the book in question (Major Pettigrew's Last Stand)? Did it seem historical or overstated to you?

I haven't read it, but I know my mum owns it, so I might borrow it off her. I'm intrigued now. I do enjoy thinking about the world around me from an outside or foreign point of view - it definitely illuminates things I hadn't noticed before and LT, populated mostly (but of course not entirely....perhaps 65%?) by Americans gives me plenty of opportunity.

It's a fairly quick read - slow in the beginning setting things up, then accelerating into both the comedy and catastrophy. I'm wondering if it's xenophobic even as it's overtly for tolerance and inclusion. So if you do read it, I'd love your reflections.

Enjoying this discussion!

Thanks, Sibyx. I'm glad other people are throwing in their thoughts.

I am officially on vacation (whew). Jim and I are flying to Las Vegas on Wednesday to meet with family, but I'll be taking my netbook, and will try to stay in touch. I don't like very run-around vacations, so I should have time to look in.

Problem is, I can't decide on what books to take. I'll have the plane rides, and the poolside time (I hope), and the escape-from-the-family time. I may just download some stuff with the Kindle app, although I prefer not to read on the computer screen. Jim has his Kindle, but then, he'll be reading that, won't he? Except when he falls asleep at 9PM and I steal it from under his pillow.

I'm finishing up 900 Grandmothers - the problem with short story collections like these is that the stories get predictable after a while. And the book, purchased in 1982 or so, has gone the way of most paperbacks of the era, brown-edged and broken-spined, so it won't stay in either my or Jim's collection.

So many books - why doesn't anything appeal to me? I think I need something more substantial than a mystery story, maybe even non-fiction (horrors). I'll decide tomorrow.

I remember having a huge verbal battle with a coworker who
spoke with disdain about people who did menial work.. and she
specifically referred to the people who picked up her trash. She felt that
they were "less" than she ( a receptionist ). I asked her where she would be if there was no one who was willing to do that job? I guess that I naturally have the opinion that money doesn't enter into my opinion of a persons value. Nor does their employment. Maybe this is partly due to the fact that I am from
a blue collar area?

I look for the goodness of a persons spirit, not what they do for a living, or where they went to school, or even how much money they have..because it just makes no sense to me. to see it any other way.

Back to books! I am reading a murder/mayhem/vine book..

I just read a short story by Lafferty in which the culture being studied paid menial workers MORE than what we would call executive workers, because their work was more onerous, and the executives were perceived as having more fun!

I hope you have a wonderful time away!

#251

Please don't assume that just because a subconscious/conscious class system exists, that this changes the way we treat people. I wouldn't think any differently of someone doing a 'menial' job, or one who earned millions of pounds, and most other people I know don't either. Class doesn't particularly have anything to do with money, but is a lot more mixed up than that, at least this side of the pond.

Here I think it's a bit more straightforward. People tend to assume that if you're working in McDonald's or whatever, or even if you don't go to college, it has more to do with lack of effort. There is enough social mobility, that if people don't succeed, I think generally (vs in specific instances) it is seen as personal failure. It tends to get carried to extremes, to the point where even someone who goes into carpentry can end up with a college education. There are certainly exceptions -- respected specialist professions for which advanced education isn't needed and where skill speaks for itself (jewelry design, maybe?), but too often doing a menial job is seen as a reflection on the person in question's intellect, diligence, self respect, etc. Probably because education and jobs can make people v.v. mobile and transform someone born to a single mother in the "projects" into a superachiever. Sadly, I see lots of examples of people in those menial jobs (subway booth clerks) being treated badly. Perhaps because of that, I also see people in those jobs feeling disgruntled and taking it out on other people (like the mother who couldn't get the pushchair through the electronic subway gate in time and was refused access for a second try.) It can get ugly here -- both ways.

Of course not 254 :) I wouldn't assume that. I think I have an idea of what you mean by it being more mixed up than that, too. No worries.

I have to agree with Suzanne.. it can get ugly here..
but some of it has to do with where you live. Since I live
in a blue collar area, there is not much of that.. If I go to one of the
wealthier communities, there it is..

It certainly isn't across the board, but it happens too often. I don't imagine
it will ever get better. There will always be a class system of one sort or another.

I have decided that I am in a class by myself :)

I remember being absolutely flabbergasted when a friend from Canada came home between semesters at Oxford and told me all about how the "class system" mentality still existed over there. She had quite a hard time getting used to it at first, being "placed" based on her family's situation and whatnot, and I'm still trying to wrap my head around it. On the whole, I find that this mentality still exists absolutely fascinating.

I agree that in North America we tend to consider others based on a perceived lack of effort or ambition, rather than their family background. There is so much social mobility here that for someone to stay working at McDonald's or being a 'lifer' serving at a restaurant isn't valued as highly as someone who is thought to be trying to make something more of themselves.

Notions of worth, value, and class are so interesting, the way they vary from place to place... and how subtly it can creep into a society (like ours).

LoL stas :)

I'm with Stasia!!

The interesting thing in the US is that we tend to believe there to be much more social mobility than exists in reality (according to stats). So our judgments about McDonalds lifers et al may be slightly askew.

I've been reading some bits about Soviet-era Russia, where factory workers got paid more than "intellectuals" -- doctors or university professors, etc. A different measure of utility... In a weird way, I suspect it worked because some of those intellectuals could reassure themselves that they were still an elite, even if not one recognized in a monetary sense.

new thread! here