avatiakh (Kerry) settles down to read 75 books in 2011

Here's my thread. Welcome, I'll be back in a few days to unpack, put up some shelves, hang a few pictures and arrange a few chairs around the place.

Here are my 11 in 11 categories:
1) Science Fiction/Fantasy
2) Spotlight: Bernice Rubens
3) Conflict
4) Young at Heart
5) Jewish writers
6) Getting Around
7) The Grand Tour
8) LT Challenges & Theme Reads
9) Meandering
10) Down Under
11) Magic in the Air: folklore, fairytale, myths: retellings, anthologies, etc...

My 11 in 11 thread is here

My last 2010 75 book challenge thread is here

I do not want to end up like this: You only have too many when you can no longer move.

Highlights of 2010:
I read over 200 books so it's hard to keep these lists concise and I'm still reading good books.

Best of the Best - Fiction Top 3:
Adjusting Sights by Haim Sabato (Israel)
The White King by György Dragomán (Hungary)
The Ministry of Special Cases by Nathan Englander (US)
Highly Commended:
To the End of the Land by David Grossman (Israel)
Flaubert's Parrot by Julian Barnes (UK)
The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas (Fr)
Nada by Carmen Laforet (Spain)
Tu by Patricia Grace (New Zealand)
Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey (Australia)
Decline and Fall by Evelyn Waugh (UK)
The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver (US)
The Bone People by Keri Hulme (New Zealand) -
Le Grand Meaulnes by Henri Alain-Fournier (France)
Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier (UK)
World Cup Wishes by Eshkol Nevo (Israel)

Best of the Best: Scifi & Fantasy
American Gods by Neil Gaiman (UK)
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson (US)
Curse of the Wolf Girl by Martin Millar (UK)
Consider Phlebas by Iain Banks (UK)

Best of the Best - Short Stories:
Things we didn't see coming by Steve Amsterdam (US/Aus)
Highly Commended:
Apples from the Desert by Savyon Liebrecht (Israel)
Love Songs for the Shy and Cynical by Rob Shearman (UK)
The Shawl by Cynthia Ozick (US)

Best of the Best - nonfiction:
The man who fell into a puddle: Israeli lives by Igal Sarna (Israel)
Highly Commended:
The Motorcycle Diaries: a journey around South America by Che Guevara (Argentina)
Tschiffely's Ride: Southern Cross to Pole Star by AF Tschiffely (Argentina)
School Blues by Daniel Pennac (France)
Backroads: Charting a poet's life by Sam Hunt (New Zealand)

Best of the Best - Children's:
Where the mountain meets the moon by Grace Lin (US)
Highly Commended:
Kestrel for a Knave by Barry Hines (UK)
The Last Elf by Silvana De Mari (Italy)
Toby Alone by Timothee de Fombelle (France)
Factotum by DM Cornish (Australia)
The Naming of Tishkin Silk by Glenda Millard (Australia)
Spirit Wind by Max Fatchin (Australia)

Best of the Best - YA fiction:
Chaos Walking 3: Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness (UK)
Highly Commended:
Brigands MC CHERUB by Robert Muchamore (UK)
Will Grayson Will Grayson by David Levithan and John Green (US)
Over a thousand hills I walk with you by Hanna Jansen (Germany)
Centre of my world by Andreas Steinhöfel (Germany)
Ancient Appetites by Oisin McGann (Ireland)
The Borribles & The Borribles go for broke by Michael De Larrabeiti (UK)
The Inferior by Peadar O'Guilin (Ireland)
and many many more

Hey Kerry! I read your thread intermittently last year but couldn't seem to find any rhythm. Hope to keep up with you this year!

Hi Kerry, I'll be interested to see what you read this year.

*finds her own chair and sets it up*

I am so glad to see Adjusting Sights and The Ministry of Special Cases among your top three fiction reads of this year. Those two are both simply outstanding books and not widely enough read. I most heartily recommend both of these.

The only problem I have with your thread is that you read too many books that I want to read (...and I don't want to read about them before I actually read them). Other than that, I love to follow your thread! :)

#4&5> Stephen & Fiona, welcome to my shiny new thread

#6>Madeline - the father in The Ministry of Special Cases has stayed with me all year. Adjusting Sights gave me my most emotional response to a story. The White King is outstanding and not a widely read book. I also skim reviews of books I know I really want to read, I usually read the first & last sentences.
I'll be reading Isaac Bashev Singer and Bernice Rubens work this coming year, not so many Israeli writers. And I hope to be more active in the Reading Globally group too.

LOL ... great picture, Kerry.

Ditto what Madeline said about you reading too many books that I want to read myself, and I end up adding them to my now unwieldy obese wish list.

Glad you are rejoining us, Kerry! I always look forward to your recommendations despite the increase in the girth of the BlackHole.

Welcome back!

Have found you and starred you :)

I'll be interested to see what goes in your folklore, fairytales, and myths category. I almost put that on my list.

I'm starring you. With almost 75 books in common I'm pretty sure I might like your selection of books you may read.

Whew. I wondered when you'd show up, or if I'd have to go all Thread Police on you. *smooch*

Hi everyone - I didn't see the point to wait till January to make my thread, but didn't want to get distracted by making one too soon either.
Tanglewood: My proposed first reads for that category will be Laini Taylor's Lips Touch and A.S. Byatt's Little Black Book of Stories, mainly because I still haven't read a book by Laini Taylor and I've been following her blog for about 3 years.
DragonFreak: we have a few in common, and now I feel an urge to read some books with dragons in them for some reason! My last dragon book was Where the mountain meets the moon which was a really good children's book, probably not what you're after though.
Richard: I was always going to turn up here, you know that. No games with me, just procrastination. :)

Sorting out my January reads for the TIOLI monthly challenges, I only want to list books I've been considering for a long while, so far I've got:
First book in new series: Steve Augarde's The Various - I've been wanting to read this trilogy for a few years and keep bumping it.
Madeline's Challenge: Popular Book: Mary Doria Russell's A Thread of Grace - I've wanted to read this all year
Dark Matter is Michelle Paver's latest and is getting good reviews.
Migration Challenge: Alone on a wide wide sea by Michael Morpurgo - I usually get round to reading his work, but have wanted to read this since MsMoto gave it a rave on my thread. It's about a Home Child sent to Australia, his granddaughter and a boat (I think).
Vowels challenge: Black Swan Greenby David Mitchell - I really need to read one of his books finally finally.
The Elected Member by Bernice Rubens - I'm hoping to read most of Rubens books this year
Before the Printing Press: Beowulf, the Seamus Heaney edition. This is a January group read as well.
Art Nonfiction: The Hare with the Amber Eyes - on my reading radar this month anyway.
Hungary: Fateless, Prague, Under the Frog - hopefully I'll get one of these read

Orange January: I'll be reading The Seige by Helen Dunmore
Reading Globally January-March Theme: Journeys: The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles
Personal Challenge: Les Miserables by Victor Hugo - I need to make a good start in January as I failed in 2010.

I hope you like Lips Touch!

Maybe I'll try to read The Various in January as well, though I probably have too many books lined up already.

I love I.B. Singer, and can't wait to see what you read of his this year. My favorites are The Manor and the Estate and The Family Moskat.

Hi Zoe - we all seem to excel at lining up interesting books to read. I'm keen to clear a backlog of YA this year.

Deborah - The Family Moskat is on my list along with The Slave and his Collected Stories. I won't be getting to any of these in January though.

I really enjoyed Byatt's The Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye and The Matisse Stories, but I somehow missed the Little Black Book of Stories (and as Amazon tells me Elementals). Lani Taylor is new to me, but I see Lips Touch is getting great reviews, so I'll have to check it out.

I loved The Various and it's sequels. They have an old-fashioned, magical, folklorish feel to them that appealed to me.

Hi Kerry!

3- Does anyone else think that the pile of books behind him is just seconds from crashing on his head?? Ouch!
It looks like the pile behind him is leaning forward...or maybe I just need my eyes examined... :)

I think he must never have lived in an earthquake zone or he wouldn't have chosen this nook to cozy into.

Well, I've already said it to you, Kerry, but for your followers I'll repeat that Ministry of Special Cases has really stuck with me too. And I read it clear back in January. Thanks for reminding me that The Siege is an Orange Prize winner--maybe I'll read it then too.

Hi Kerry, I'll be back to look at that impressive list of yours up there! I'm just settling in to new threads and arranging the furniture around also, not to mention tying loose ends to finish off 2010 nicely.

Kerry, we have 69 books in common. For me, that is a lot in common, because the average for me is like 10. For a minute, you made me forget why I starred you.

Hi Nathan - you are right, I was thinking how many of the books we shared featured dragons. I have you starred as well.

Just dropping by to wish you a very happy New Year and all the best for 2011

Happy New Year Kerry! Did you have a good one? I'm nursing a headache with tea, apricots and choc. The weather was great; I thought we (Auckland) would have showers but instead we had a beautiful sunset.

Hi Kerry, I just found your thread. Happy New Year! I really hope you enjoy Alone on a Wide Wide Sea. I can't claim much for the literary merit of The Darcys and the Bingleys but I do love reading these continuations with the memory of my secondary school English teacher (an ardent feminist with a whole convent-school of young minds to convert) and imagining the essay titles she'd set. Best enjoyed in sunshine with sugar, methinks!

Happy New Year, Kerry! I'm looking forward to sharing your reads this year.

Sigh, hit by a Kerry-book-bullet already and you haven't even started reading properly!! Wishlisted The Ministry of Special Cases...

Happy New Year to everyone.
Sally - thanks
Lisa - the weather couldn't be better. I'm about to put up the sun umbrellas and spend a good part of the day outside in the garden.
Eimear - I'm looking forward to both books. Having caught P&P on TV the other night I'm all refreshed and ready for some light entertainment. I don't think I've read a continuation, I almost read P&P with zombies but didn't. Do you have a thread this year?
Luxx - love having your monsters lurking here. I better add some horror books to my reading list.

Wishing you a very Happy New Year with plenty of good reading, and looking forward to our continued exchanges!

Found you Kerry, Happy New Year!

1a) Layla Queen of Hearts by Glenda Millard, Stephen Michael King (illustrator) (2006)
Kingdom of Silk Book 2
children's fiction, australia
I'm going to read all four books about the Silk family because I'm finding the writing so superb. Another delightful gentle story, this time Layla befriends Miss Amelie, an elderly lady who suffers from memory loss. Also gentle are the wonderfully whimsical illustrations by Stephen Michael King on the cover and throughout the chapter book. He's one of my favourite illustrators, having first met him in The Man who loved boxes. These books are little treasures.


1b) The Beloved Dearly by Doug Cooney (2003)
children's fiction
Enterprising Ernie has just lost his mother, but rather than dwell on that or the money-making schemes that have brought him nothing but trouble, he decides to open a pet funeral business in the large empty lot in his street. He hires Tony, to dig the holes, Dusty to make the burial boxes and Swimming Pool, a real tomboy, to be the official mourner as she's able to cry on cue.
Yes, that's right a girl named Swimming Pool! (all her older brothers wanted was a pool, not a baby sister). Needless to say, Ernie has a lot of unresolved grief to work through, while he deals with temperamental clients as well as bolshy Swimming Pool. Absolute delight, and I have to read the sequel as Swimming Pool gets sent to Charm School.


2) Trickster: native american tales by Matt Dembicki (2010)
graphic novel
Each story has a different storyteller/illustrator pairing resulting in a diverse collection of Native American trickster folktales. Visually appealing across a wide variety of styles and many fascinating tales of how our world came to be. Recommended for lovers of folktales.

Amazon: Contributors include well-known author Joseph Bruchac, Pueblo storyteller Eldrena Douma, cartoonist and Smithsonian Institution employee Evan Keeling, and many who have not worked in comics heretofore as well as cartoonists with no previous allegiance to telling Native stories with their art.

#37: Why is it that all the books you recommend, which always sound so wonderful, are never available at my local library?! Argh!

My first two SantaThing books arrived a couple of days ago and I'm fairly sure I'll get one more:
The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi
The Dragonbone Chair by Tad Williams
I'm happy with these and will probably receive a YA fantasy or Soulless by the sounds of the comments. My Santee was very happy with my choices, I chose The Seige & Sentimental Education, she wanted hardback, and that really limited my options.
I've also been doing my own birthday shopping in the 50% off sale at my local bookshop before I hunker down to a year of buying less, borrowing less, reading more off my own shelves, though I am putting in an online order so I can join in Ronincat's Future Women group reads.
So my New Year buys are a mixed bag:
An Object of Beauty by Steve Martin
The Weekend by Bernhard Schlink
Immortal Beloved by Cate Tiernan
Surface Detail by Iain Banks
That they may face the rising sun by John McGahern

I'm participating in the 24 hour read-a-thon organised by Ellie, for me it kicks off at 9am, Tues as I'm 13 hours ahead of Ellie's 8pm start time. What better way to celebrate my birthday than reading for 24 hours?!?

Sounds like a great birthday present to me! Happy Birthday!

#40> Thanks, my family already know that I prefer to buy my own books!

#41: Mine does too which is why I get gift cards from them at Christmas.

I am so happy since discovering that wiki will find folks threads for me!
at least once found they are easier kept track of !
*waves*

You have an interesting selection of books there! It looks like we have a lot of books in common, so I look forward to seeing what you read this year.

Trickster: Native American Tales sounds really interesting and love the cover. I might have to track this one down.

Hello Kerry, hoping to keep up with your thread this year. I share your ambition to be buying less, borrowing less, reading more off my own shelves, which does not fit very well with reading other people's threads and hearing about so many interesting books...

>37 avatiakh: Trickster: Native American Tales looks fantastic. That one is totally going on the TBR pile!

>39 avatiakh: I'm a huge Steve Martin as novelist fan and I can't wait to read An Object of Beauty. I'm waiting to see if our book club picks it for one of our monthly reads this year before I start it. I'll be watching to see what you think of it.

Happy birthday Kerry! Hope you like A Thread of Grace - I loved it. It was one of the first books I remember buying because of recommendations in the forums on here.

Tricster sounds lovely. Happy birthday Kerry!

Happy Birthday, Kerry! Lots of great reads already--I'll have to see if they are available here.

Oo, I popped in just in time - happy day!

Happy Birthday, Kerry! if you can't read 24 hours, nonstop, guilt-free on your birthday, when can you? Great plan! This is my last dY of vacation, so I plan on doing the same. Happy reading!

Happy birthday!

Sounds like you've got plenty of interesting reading to keep you going. I ordered The Windup Girl from BookDespository and just waiting for it to arrive. Was my first year participating in SantaThing and I loved it! Still waiting for some books to arrive and don't know if my Santees got them yet either (plural, since I participated twice), but I'm sure I'll do it again next year.

Happy birthday and enjoy the read-a-thon!

>37 avatiakh:: Ever since Charles de Lint introduced them to me in his stories, and then other modern fantasists used them as background, I've loved the Native American stories of Trickster, Raven, et al. I'll definitely give that book a try.

Happy Birthday!

Happy birthday!!!! (I will refrain from singing, purely out of consideration for everyone in my vicinity...)

Thanks for the birthday wishes everyone, just got off from a long birthday call to my mother and am now plunging into the 24 hour read-a-thon.
First up - more of The Elected Member, the winner of the 2nd(?) Booker Prize way back in 1970. Bernice Rubens is my feature writer this year and I'm hoping to read at least 10 of her novels and her memoir When I grow up.
I'm enjoying this book about addiction and insanity, all wrapped up in a 1960s London Jewish family.

#55> Tad - I must read some Charles de Lint.

Happy Birthday, Kerry ... I love the book haul you received.

I've not managed as much this first hour, got sidetracked for a while.
Hour 1 (9am-10am)
Pages read this hour: 30
Total pages read:30

Hour 1 Meme:
1. Where are you reading from today: mostly at home, I have a few comfy reading spots around the house.
2. Three facts about you: I'm a Capricorn, my first job was in a lab on an animal research farm, I hate housework
3. How many books do you have in your TBR pile for the next 24 hours? 12 books looked out for reding today
4. Do you have any goals for the read-a-thon (i.e. number of books, number of pages, number of hours)? I've stuck postit notes on each book setting a goal of either pages or chapters.
5. If you’re a veteran read-a-thoner, any advice for people doing this for the first time? First time for 24 hrs

Posting all this has taken up a bit of the next hour - so I'm behind again!

Don't panic! Everyone needs a break every hour, call it brain-resting time and you won't feel like you're behind... Go you!

A Thread of Grace Mary Doria Russell cannot write a bad book. Really, she can't.

Happy Birthday and enjoy the Readathon!

Thanks Genny and Caroline.
Kath - I do enjoy her books and looking forward to this one, I should crack it open sometime during this readathon.

Coming by to cheer you on! *waves pompoms* Keepeth going!

Thanks, still going strong,

Happy birthday!

Birthday? It's a birthday too? HAPPY BIRTHDAY! *waves pompoms even more energetically and adds a party popper or two to the celebration*

Still getting on okay over here, but my eyes hurt!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Thanks again for the birthday wishes. Having a fun day here, reading like crazy!

oh,no...Kerry...your reading like crazy means many more books will be added to my tbr pile.

You're doing better than me right now, I suspect! *rubs eyes blearily and tumbles back off cosy chair to continue reading*

The timing is good for me at present, but I've got the evening and small hours to get through. Sipping an Argentinean red wine at the moment, watching Masterchef, cooking steak for dinner and will pick up my book in a short while.

Sounds delicious! Mmmm, steak... I'm trying to decide what calorific treat I can retrieve from the kitchen to celebrate making it through the night in one piece. It's not actually light yet, but it's 7am, so what the heck... It's so nice to feel I'm actually getting some reading done too, I've spent so much of the holidays catching up on movies instead! Nearly at the halfway mark now!

Ok, back to reading for a while. The fillet steak was good, we had just enough chimmichurri sauce left to give it a zing. Roast potatoes, yoghurt/mint dressing, salad. My son (19yrs) is bugging me to dish up the tiramisu, but I'm adamant that it spend 4 hours in the fridge, 80 mins left, he's counting down. I'm onto my second glass of red wine and Jamie is cooking omelettes in south of France on tv in the background to my reading.

Sounds like good times - reading and red wine followed by tiramisu, enjoy.

Yeah, makes my choc chip muffin and cold pizza seem sinfully student-like... Ah well, at least I don't have to do any washing up! ;-)

How's the reading coming on? It's 8am here, the night's over, hallelujah!

I've finally finished my 60pgs of The Undrowned Child, took me 3 hours of interrupted dinner time to achieve that.

Happy birthday Kerry - enjoy the readathon!

"a year of buying less, borrowing less, reading more off my own shelves"

I'm noticing that's a fairly common goal across the group this year!

Yup, me too... Not sure it'll happen, and a few people (*cough*Richard*cough*) nearly wet themselves laughing when I mentioned it as a year goal, but hey! It never hurts to start the year with good resolutions, does it... *disappears to play in her Amazon basket* ;-)

Happy belated birthday :)

I seem to end up reading books from my tbr pile - but it seems that nature hates a vacuum because for every book that goes - 3 seem to take its place :)

#81> I know that feeling!

Happy birthday!!

sounds like a perfect evening..

You know, if we all manage to stick to our goals of buying less and reading more off of our shelves.. I am pretty sure that the stock market will be affected.

El husbando seems to think that I should jump on this book-buying ban bandwagon (try saying that ten times fast!) too... *pffffft*... silly man, just because we no longer have space at the dinner table, coffee table, side tables, or on the floor (umm, anywhere)... but but but... books!!! *sigh*

Oh, I hear ya...

Happy New Year Kerry! As there is absolutely no way I'm going to catch up on eighty five posts in 1.5 mins, I'm just checking in to star you, but will be back to catch up soon!

Happy Birthday!

"a year of buying less, borrowing less, reading more off my own shelves"

This was my goal last year this year. I learned my lesson. This year all of my goals are about skin care. :-)

See Fliss, you've fallen into the middle of the read-a-thon too, I'm following your round the read-a-thoners threads and they've all bloomed over the last 20 hours!

Ellie, it's eveeel!!! I've given up trying to catch up on half these threads already! and I have to leave the library now (it's a bad sign when you're on the library computers for an hour and then have to take out your own netbook for another hour to finish what you started, but only brush the surface and it's ONLY THE 4th JAN!!!). *takes a deep breath to quell the panic* ;o)

Ooops. *smiles hopefully*

I missed Masterchef?!?! DANG! And your dinner menu made my mouth water. Yum! Is the read-a-thon finished yet?

2 hours to go until the final bell rings... :-)

Just managed 70pgs of my Camilleri, The Paper Moon, will keep reading this one for the last hour of the readathon.. It's light enough for a morning read after only 3 hours sleep.

#87 LOL

Wishing you a belated Happy Birthday, Kerry.

Congrats on finishing this thing Kerry - and thanks for reading along, it's been a really nice group to read with. I'm off to find some food and conk out somewhere cosy!

Final Update:
Hours reading: not sure, maybe approx 16hrs, I got 3 hrs sleep.
Total Read: 620pgs
Books finished: 1
Books Read: 8 different books sampled
The Elected Member - 75pgs
A Tale Dark & Grimm - 250pgs
Les Miserables - 55pgs
The undrowned Child - 60pgs
How to understand Israel in 60 days or less - 10pgs
The Hare with amber eyes - 10pgs
A Thread of Grace - 40pgs
The Paper Moon - 125pgs

The End-of-Event Meme

1. Which hour was most daunting for you?
Just after midnight, about 15 hours into the challenge.
2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a reader engaged next time?
The Inspector Montalbano novel was my last read and proved the most engaging apart from the children's book.
3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the next read-a-thon?
Need to think about this.
4. How many books did you read?
I had a selection of 12 books and read from 8.
5. What were the names of the books you read? see above list
6. Which book did you enjoy most? Tie between: A Tale Dark and Grimm, The Paper Moon and The Elected Member
7. Which did you enjoy least? Les Miserables & The Undrowned Child, mainly because these were read during the most distracting parts of the day.
8. How likely are you to participate in another read-a-thon? Yes, when?

I say 16hrs reading, but this probably includes lots of small breaks, I didn't keep a stopwatch. I was reading for various intervals in 21 out of the 24 hours.

I'm off to the gym now

eta: no touchstones

Happy birthday! Although it is still the 4th here, I think I am running late where you are. Hope it was a good one.

I'm so impressed with your readathon stats, Kerry, and that you spent much of your birthday reading. Happy Belated Birthday to you. Actually, I can't think of anything better to do on a birthday than to spend a good part of it with a good book.

I'm caught up with you...and I'll try to stay that way!

Edited for typo.

Thanks for the birthday wishes. Sounds sort of silly to just read on your birthday, but apart from a nice birthday dinner at home there wasn't anything else planned and at this time of year I like to relax.
I've finished The Elected Member which was great and will finish The Paper Moon this evening. Comments to follow later as I still haven't been to the gym, but we are leaving in a few minutes.
I'm reading Smoking in Antarctica by Steve Braunias while I wait.

I'm so impressed! Congrats on finishing the read-a-thon in one piece. My only regret now is that I didn't look into it sooner as I would have loved to participate...

I'm glad you enjoyed the The Paper Moon as my mum has been telling me about this series and has already sent me one of her own books from the Montalbano series from France (where she currently lives). Since she couldn't locate the first in the series, I've ordered The Shape of Water so I can start at the beginning. I'll be reading it in French as my mother is an English-French translator (and vice-versa) and says the French version is closer in spirit to the original Italian, which I guess makes sense since they are both Latin languages. Details, details, but it's nice to have the option of choosing nonetheless.

I hope you'll get all the rest you need after that marathon... that is unless 3 hours is enough sleep for you!

Happy belated birthday :) Your readathon sounded like great fun. When I first heard of it I instantly thought 'I could never do that' but just two nights ago I found myself going to sleep at 6am (the hours 2 - 6 flew past) after a night of reading - ahh summer holidays :)

#100> Ilana - I discovered Montalbano through the Italian tv series, and fall in love with the characters (very good looking Italian detectives on film!) and have since been reading through the series, but taking my time to spin them out. The writing style is really good and spare.

#101> Lisa - yes, too hot to sleep, so might as well read, especially while the holiday atmosphere is in full swing. If a book is proving riveting reading I often sacrifice a few hours sleep.

Move over telethon- its a read-a-thon. Cool! Happy new year. It's been too hot to sleep here too lately, makes for good evening reading and cool drinks though :-)

I don't know - doing nothing but reading for my birthday sounds heavenly to me!

Oooh. I didn't know there was a tv series. I'd love to watch it if we got it here, especially if there are good looking detectives. Nice!

I've started reading A thread of grace by Mary Doria Russell which looks promising, however and I hate when this happens the beginning is quite similar to JMG Le Clezio's Wandering Star in that a number of Jewish refugees are crossing the Alps into Italy from France and it is suffering in comparison at this point.

I read the first two Montalbano books, then ordered the TV series on DVD. I loved it. It's in subtitled Italian which, after some intensive hours of viewing, made me feel like I could in fact speak Italian. Sadly I didn't learn much more than 'pronto'. I will probably get around to reading more of the books at some point.

Ooh, another fan. We had a bit of a swoon fest on Montalbano last year especially when Richard discovered them. I loved the TV series and agree, my Italian improved quite a bit. Wasn't the scenery and Montalbano's villa by the sea just perfect.

I didn't know there was a Montalbano tv series either. I love this series ... the books that is. Hmm... good looking detectives? Can't say I'm surprised ... when I've been in Italy, there weren't all that many men who were shabby looking. ;-)

Glad you'll be joining us Kerry!



Welcome one and all! I've just posted our new thread for our Jan 7-8 read-a-thon
so come on over and join the discussion there!

Readthon stats:

Start time 10am (GMT13+)
Hours participated: 1st,2nd,7th,8th,10-18, 23 & 24th
Statistics for the hours 23 and 24 at 10am (GMT13+):
Books finished: 1
Pages read: 90
Reading time: 60 minutes
Posting time: 10 minutes

Total books read: 4
Total books finished: 1
Total pages read: 584
Books:
The Death Collector by Justin Richards 318pgs - finished
Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh 170pgs
Beowulf intro - 23pgs
A Thread of Grace by Mary Doria Russell 73pgs

Looks like you got a lot of good reading done during the Readathon, Kerry!

I've enjoyed these readathons, though won't read for as many hours in any others I participate in from now on. I'll try more for quality reading hours with less distractions.

I was glad you participated Kerry, that was quite the turnout eh? I was pleasantly surprised about that!

Hi Kerry, it's taken me a while to catch up with you but now that I am I hope to keep caught up (Yeah, sure, hahaha). The Ministry of Special Cases and I've wishlisted The Bone People and Remarkable Creatures and The White King.

Hi Bonnie - I know the unread thread count rises every minute! Those were all great reads so I hope you can get to them eventually. I have a few reviews to post, a readathon to recover from and some shopping to do, after that I'll be playing catch up myself.

Hello! Just a little shameless advertising since you're signed up again... :-)

Roll up, roll up, for another 24 hour read-a-thon! Call me a stickler for punishment, but I'm liking the way those pages are mounting up, so I'm doing it again! Monday to Tuesday, kick-off 8pm GMT, come join us at the new thread!

A tale dark and Grimm by Adam Gidwitz (2010)
children's fiction, USA
Once upon a time, fairy tales were awesome.
I know, I know. You don't believe me. I don't blame you. A couple of years ago, I wouldn't have believed it myself. Little girls in red caps skipping around the forest? Awesome? I don't think so.
But then I started to read them. The real ones. The ones from that dusty, clothbound book way off in a neglected corner of the library. Those are darker. Very few little girls in red caps in those.
Well, there's one. But she gets eaten.
This book was awesome.AG takes Hansel and Gretel and puts them in the starring role of 8 more Grimm tales linking the stories to make a dark narrative full of blood and gore but with lashings of humour supplied by an interjecting narrator, in the style of Lemony Snicket, in the manner of warnings, I told you soes etc etc. Very clever and quite riveting reading.
This also makes you keen to pull out the original Grimm and read some dark and bloody folktales.
I readthis during the first 24hr readathon.

my post seems to have disappeared which means I'll have to retype everything all over again.

#119 ARgh! Don't you hate when that happens. I feel your pain woman.

3) A Tale Dark and Grimm by Adam Gridwitz (2010)
Children’s fiction, USA
Once upon a time, fairy tales were awesome.
I know, I know. You don't believe me. I don't blame you. A couple of years ago, I wouldn't have believed it myself. Little girls in red caps skipping around the forest? Awesome? I don't think so.
But then I started to read them. The real ones. The ones from that dusty, clothbound book way off in a neglected corner of the library. Those are darker. Very few little girls in red caps in those.
Well, there's one. But she gets eaten.
This book was awesome. AG takes Hansel and Gretel and puts them in the starring role of eight more Grimm tales linking the stories to make a dark narrative full of blood and gore but with lashings of humour supplied by an interjecting narrator, in the style of Lemony Snicket (not up to the master’s standard though), with numerous warnings, I told you soes and cries for a babysitter for the younger readers etc etc throughout. Very clever and quite riveting reading that kept me going through the darkest hours of the first 24 hr readathon.
This will make you keen to pull out the original Grimm and read some more dark and bloody folktales.

#121 I don't often think of reading children's fiction and YA novels, but now that I've joined the 75ers I'm certainly feeling like I'm missing out. This book sounds great, but you've also reminded me that I need to look into Lemony Snicket. Wouldn't know where to start though. Suggestions?

ETA: Good review, btw.

4) The Elected Member by Bernice Rubens (1969)
fiction, UK

This year as part of my 11 in 11 challenge I'm focusing on reading Bernice Ruben’s works and hope to complete one novel each month, plus read her memoir When I grow up. I started with this one as it fitted the TIOLI consecutive vowel challenge. The Elected Member won the second Booker Prize in 1970 and I found it an absorbing read. Ruben creates really interesting flawed characters, and the individuals in this traditional Jewish family are no exception. Living in London in the 1960s, each family member has failed to make a success of their life, their actions influencing the life of the others to create one big tangled mess.
Norman is in his 40s and verging on insanity, brought on by his addiction to pills that have him imagining his bedroom overrun with silverfish. He’s taken to an asylum, and as his father and sister visit him, we revisit the past through their guilt and begin to understand how it all came to be. The other inhabitants of the asylum are also of interest and this section of the book makes great reading. The sad and dark moments are lifted by wonderful hints of humour throughout.

I recently read Charlotte Mendelson's When we were bad which is a more contemporary look at a less tragic Jewish family and I’m looking forward to reading The Finkler Question and comparing all three books/writers.

5) The Paper Moon by Andrea Camilleri (2005) (2008 English)
fiction, Italy
Inspector Montalbano book 9
Montalbano still has his personal crisis of growing older and this time has two beautiful women, the sister and the lover of the deceased, both giving suspect evidence in the ongoing investigation.

6) The Undrowned Child by Michelle Lovric (2009)
YA fiction, UK
First, I have to say I love this book cover.
This didn’t get off to a great start for me, I’ve had it out of the library a couple of times, really wanting to read it but needing to finish other books, and so when I started reading I only read a few pages at a time and wasn’t getting drawn into the story. That problem was soon solved once I gave the book my full attention and I was soon wrapped up in the story and loving every minute of this YA fantasy which is set in an alternative 1890s Venice.
Lovric has written several nonfiction books about Venice as well as setting a couple of novels there. She brings her knowledge to the fore here, bringing alive the spirit of one of Venice’s most notorious villains, the traitor Bajamonte Tiepolo. This is a rich literary adventure in a world full of ghosts, winged lions, mermaids (ooh the mermaids) and their printing presses, ghosts seeking redemption, Syrian cats, political intrigue, saints, statues, the children of Venice, an island cemetery, the plague, masks, vampire eels, floods etc etc. There is a strong environmental element too as adopted Teo arrives in Venice with her scientist parents who are attending a conservation conference.
The book comes with two informative glossaries:
1) Places & things from the book you can still see in Venice
2) What is true and what is made up
I added this to the TIOLI popular challenge.
The sequel, The Mourning Emporium, is set in London just after the death of Queen Victoria.

7) The Death Collector by Justin Richards (2006)
YA fiction, UK
JR is a Dr Who writer and has written the Invisible Detective series which I’d like to have a look at now I’ve read this book.
This is an entertaining caper with liberal doses of gothic scifi, mystery, and adventure set in a foggy Victorian London. The action opens with widowed Mrs Sykes answering a knock on the door to have her newly dead husband walk in. In another part of London our three young protagonists come together to solve a mystery that threatens their very lives. George, a horologist at the British Museum has thwarted a break in that ends in his workmate's death. Eddie, a streetsmart pickpocket, sees a monster in the grounds of a mansion, and Elizabeth, a fan of the theatre, is able to reunite George with his stolen wallet and the item that a mysterious industrialist is keen to own.

122> Ilana - Lemony Snicket is a great place to start, the humour is excellent. Phillip Pullman's Dark Materials trilogy or David Almond's work is all impressive, Sherman Alexie's The absolutely true diary of a part-time Indian or MT Anderson's Octavian Nothing.
With your interest in art it would be worth investigating Shaun Tan's The Arrival, or Brian Selznick's The Invention of Hugo Cabret.

edit: I just noticed your great review of Regeneration so have to add Michael Morpurgo's soulful War Horse and Private Peaceful to this list.

#121: Added to the BlackHole.

#123: Already in the BlackHole.

#124: I will get to that series eventually.

#125: Already in the BlackHole.

#126: Added to the BlackHole.

Actually not too much damage this time around - for once! :)

>121 avatiakh: Ohh! I just ran over and ordered this from amazon. This is just the sort of thing I love. Thanks for the great review!

>125 avatiakh: *thwappp* A solid hit! That book bullet is lodged in, it sounds like something I shall ADORE.

Ooh, lots of books. Glad your readathon was so productive!

I had never heard of Bernice Rubens before seeing your 11 in 11 category so I will be following your reviews of her books with interest.

#125 I also love the cover of The Undrowned Child and I love Venice so that one sounds like a must read.

>122 Smiler69: Ilana, you might also enjoy the children's books by Blue Balliett, which are mysteries with an artist's work incorporated into them--lots of fun and very well done. The Calder Game is the first.

Okay, Kerry, you got me with The Undrowned Child--I've never even heard of it before. Onto the wishlist it goes!

>121 avatiakh: That one sounds fabulous. Onto the TBR list it goes.

>121 avatiakh: Sounds kind of cool. Folktales, gore, humor: sounds like a good book to me.

ooo my wishlist just grew by 2 :) Fantastic books and reviews :)

#127 & 132 Wow, those are FANTASTIC recommendations. Since I have virtually no YA or childrens's books (well, a few of those), I'm putting an order through right away, but everything you've suggested is already on my wishlist. I saw the movie version of The Golden Compass last year and while I found it excellent, the story itself was so good that I'm almost certain I'll enjoy the book that much more. As it happens, my mother sent me an email just over a week ago telling me about this great book she had seen that day by the name of The Arrival and included a link to the website. The Invention of Hugo Cabret is in my shopping cart right now and The Calder Game is a soon-to-be-purchased selection for sure. And I'm so glad that you pointed out War Horse to me Kerry because I happen to love animals in general, but I ADORE horses and the fact that the story is narrated by Joey himself makes it absolutely irresistible to me. I can't thank you enough for these recommendations. You've just made my inner child very happy indeed. :-)

Ilana, first I second Roni's recommendation for the Blue Balliet books, the illustrator also does the Unfortunate Events books. With your passion for horses I just have to recommend one of my more memorable YA reads, I am the great horse, which is the story of Alexander the Great narrated by his horse, Bucephalas. I really loved this.

Oh, yes yes yes! Sounds great! It's on the WL.

wow.. Get behind a little and see what happens? You have been a very busy reader :)

A Tale Dark and Grimm sounds fantastic. :D

#128> Stasia - I think you'll love those

#129,133,134 &140>Tanglewood, MickyFine, DragonFreak & Faith, I liked this a lot, though do warn you it is a children's book so blood and gore is delivered on a junior level.

Richard, Heather & Roni - I liked this quite a lot, I'm quite the sucker for books set in Venice and this delivered oodles of enchantment. Definitely will be reading the sequel when I can fit it in.

#131> Heather - I only came across Bernice Rubens last year, but after reading her obituary and a few other articles about her after I read her The Sergeant's Tale I was intrigued enough to read some more of her work. I've also seen the film of her book Madame Sousatzka.

#135> Lisa, one of the penalties of visiting other people's threads!
#139> Hi Kath, lately I haven't read much at all and fumbled my way through the readathon.

I did finally finish Flora Segunda which has been glaring at me for a few weeks and is due back at the library so overall a few paltry hours on yesterday's readathon did get a result. And it's a great story.

A Tale Dark and Grimm is now on the tbr pile. Somehow I just knew visiting here would mean another book on the pile.

Hi Kerry, just thought I'd stop by to let you know that I've moved onto my second 75ers thread and it's right here!

I think I'll have to try A Tale Dark and Grimm, though I admit I'm not a Lemony Snicket fan--I couldn't deal with the definitions and never made it past the first book.

The Undrowned Child also sounds very good, but I must not get it because I already have two of Lovric's other Venice novels sitting unread on my shelf!

So you are all ready to read Flora's Dare now, right? Even better than Flora Segunda.

Hi Kerry, can't believe how many tempting books you've read already this year, I'm trying so hard to be good and stick to my own shelves but good YA fiction is amazing and your reviews are so good.

Kerry, (finally discovered your name), very belated New Year and Birthday greetings! I am impressed by your reading total for 2010. I once hit 104 but haven't gotten there since. Maybe after I retire? Or stop knitting? I'll be interested in your review of the Mary Doria Russell because I have two of her novels which came highly recommended.

#145> Thanks for the link Ilana, I visited earlier but thought i'd wait till you'd decorated before leaving a comment.
#142 & 144> Linda & Zoe - it's a good read, especially if you are interested in the Grimm's tales. Putting Hansel & Gretel into all the stories was a great idea.

Zoe - I've added Lovric's adult fiction to my 'will read one day' list. She seems to know Venice inside out. The other Venice book I really loved was Daughter of Venice by Donna Jo Napoli.

#145> Roni - I'm keen to read the next one. I see book 3 is due out in September, so I might wait a bit, I have so much YA to get through. One that I'm waiting for is The Marbury Lens, I've seen it really slammed by one blogger and loved by all the others.

#146> kiwinyx - I'm hit by book bullets on a daily basis. Most of the YA I read is recommendations from LT and blogs.

#147> Kate, Hi, thanks. I read too much and want/need to read less, but the desire to read so much YA/children's fiction keeps boosting my book count. I don't work at present either so no daily distractions, just 3 teenagers to look after.
I've enjoyed the other two Mary Doria Russell books I've read, but this one is going a bit slow for me as it started off reminding me of a book I really liked that I read last year.

Kate #147 you will not be sorry to read anything Russell writes, I am pretty sure.
The Sparrow is on my top ten list of all time favorites.. I have read all of her books.. and liked them.

I am feeling a little jealous that you are not working at present kerry :P
so snowy out there today!

I'm all settled in now along with my kids and everything Kerry. You're welcome to come over for a cup of tea, also happen to be a 'woman of leisure' so to speak, so anytime is good for me! :-)

>148 avatiakh: Oh, thanks for reminding me about Daughter of Venice! That's another one that I have sitting on my shelf unread. I've enjoyed a few of Napoli's other books but was so disappointed with Beast that I haven't read anything else since.

In message 132, I said The Calder Game was the first of Blue Balliett's children's art mysteries, but I was wrong. It's the third, and Chasing Vermeer is the first.

Thanks Roni, I'll go add that one to my wishlist too AND add it to my shopping cart for the next time I get an itch to put an order through (I try to limit that to once a week but not always successfully!)

Chasing Vermeer is a favorite of mine. I'm not quite as crazy as the teacher but see her as a role model. :-)

I guess there are no coincidences, but someone reviewed a book on Vermeer's paintings and reminded me how much I'd love to have a book of his work as well and then you gave me that suggestion Roni. Maybe I should order the two books at the same time, i.e. the 'grownup' and the 'kid' versions so I can read them side by side! That said, I have no idea how much room Vermeer's work takes up in Blue Balliett's book, but I'm not really all that concerned about it as it looks like so much fun.

If you haven't read Girl With the Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier, you should also read that. It is excellent - better than the movie although the movie did do justice to the novel.

#156 I don't go to the cinema very often, but I do remember seeing this one on the big screen and how beautiful it was. I also happen to have the book on my huge TBR pile, but I'll move it towards the top of the pack!

Hey Kerry, thought I'd try to stay current with you here this year, but I'm starting behind! LOL

Girl with the Pearl Earring is a excellent read as is The Virgin Blue though I found it more depressing/disturbing.

In great part because of things that we've shared on your thread Kerry, I'm getting a new project started to get together great recommendations for books by themes. I've called it Books By Themes (BBT) and I'd love to have your suggestions! Here's the link.

#159> I liked both those books, The Virgin Blue was the first Tracey Chevalier that I read.

Ilana - that sounds like an excellent idea. In the Reading Globally group we are reading across four themes this year. We have a 'Journeys' thread running at the moment which has many suggestions and now reviews.
Last year I did a Prague and Golems challenge for TIOLI and got lots of excellent recommendations from other people's picks for that, I'm still making my way through the list. It was a theme that I had wanted to read around all year.

I think it's really neat that theme reads are getting started in the TIOLI challenges. If they provoke some fun discussion, that's all the more reason to move them to the longer-termed BBT threads.

By all means please do go ahead and post a link to reviews of The Virgin Blue on the BBT: Vermeer thread. Simple comments are good too.

#161 Kerry, I'm seeing that this project could grow exponentially over the year and really, I just wanted to launch the idea and encourage other members to start up BBT threads as well. I really think BBT themes need to be as specific as possible. So 'Journeys', while it's a good theme, would be too broad for our purposes. The Prague and Golems theme on the other hand, is great so if you're up to starting a thread on that and including some of the suggestions you already have, that would be awesome!

#162 I completely agree with you Madeline.

I feel like a terrible person today. I'm not really enjoying The Bad Beginning and finding Jane Austen too idealistic at this point in S&S. Will you still talk to me?

That's ok, Snicket is possibly an acquired taste. I loved it but you might be better off trying something more cerebral such as the Pullman or the Octavian Nothing.
I only reread Jane Austen when I'm in the mood for historical chicklit which isn't that often but happens every few years. I've actually just finished an entertaining fanfic followon of Pride and Prejudice, The Darcys and the Bingleys: a tale of two gentlemen's marriages to two most devoted sisters.
I'm about 12 books behind on reviews and now that this latest readathon has ended I must do some writeups.

uh oh... you're 12 books behind on reviews? I'll take a deeeep breath and gird my poor obese wishlist for probable additions.

gird my poor obese wishlist for probable additions

Heh, I love it! I'll gird my wishlist as well.

Sorry girls, but I've been doing some serious reading and avoiding most of the threads for a few days. I'll be posting a recipe as well!

I guess with Lemony Snicket I was both expecting it to be darker and have more ghoulish humour or something. 'Ghoulish' isn't the word I'm looking for. Some wordplay maybe? That's not it either.

I look forward to those reviews Kerry. And Octavian Nothing has been on my wishlist since you recommended it in #127!

I'll have a think for something a bit darker but still fun. I'm trying not to give too many options as I don't want you hating me when your tbr piles start toppling in on you and your pets.

I've idled a few hours here on the laptop and now have to cook dinner so I'll be doing my reviews this evening. Time is flying...

8) Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh (1930)
fiction, audiobook

I read Decline and Fall about a year ago and always meant to go on and read Vile Bodies but never did. I finally saw my chance when I spotted the audiobook at the library. This was a treat to listen to as the narrator did a wide range of upper class English accents, though most had slurred drunken speech as the Bright Young Things seemed to lurch from one party to another. Adam, a young impoverished writer, is always on the verge of making his fortune, which makes his long awaited marriage to Nina possible. But his hopes are continually dashed as the unpredictable, the impossible, the absurd happens on almost every page. It's almost a relief that war breaks out and everyone has to get serious. Lots of fun for lovers of satire.



9) Flora Segunda : Being the Magickal Mishaps of a Girl of Spirit, Her Glass-Gazing Sidekick, Two Ominous Butlers (One Blue), a House with Eleven Thousand Rooms, and a Red Dog by Ysabeau S. Wilce (2007)
children's fiction

I picked this up from a recommendation on Laini Taylor's blog. It took me ages to get going and when I compare the difference in covers I can see why it didn't appeal to me so much.
My UK edition has a young childish cover that doesn't convey the darkness in the story at all (see US cover below, LT won't let me post it beside this one for some reason).
I read most of the book during one of the recent readathons, and have to say it's a highly enjoyable story, I loved the original world she created, along with the humour and the enchantment.
Impetuous Flora lives in an enchanted castle of 11,000 rooms, the decaying Crackpot Hall. But for some reason the family is crammed into just a few rooms. Her mother is a General and away a lot of the time on army business. Her father is a raving loony locked up in one of the house's towers. Flora is left to care for the house, the dogs, her father, as well as prepare for her graduation, her coming of age ceremony and upcoming army service. Then a forbidden trip in the house's elevator takes her to a dusty library where she finds their house spirit, a sort of magical Butler, who has been marooned there for the past few years. Should she help him? Will he help her? Flora is impetuous, her friend, Udo, should know better, together they have some great fun, a few narrow escapes and one big dark dark adventure.
Book 2: 5516612::Flora's Dare: How a Girl of Spirit Gambles All to Expand Her Vocabulary, Confront a Bouncing Boy Terror, and Try to Save Califa from a Shaky Doom (Despite Being Confined to Her Room) is already available and book 3 is due out in September. I'll be reading both.


10) The Darcys and the Bingleys: a tale of two gentlemen's marriages to two most devoted sisters by Marsha Altman (2008)
fiction
What a romp! This was an entertaining sequel to Pride and Prejudice and my very first venture into Austenesque novels. MsMoto mentioned it last year and I was intrigued enough by the blurb to try it. I probably wouldn't read other sequels, but I did like this one for the humorous touches. It starts a few weeks before Darcy and Bingley are to marry, and Bingley is in urgent need of marital advice as he's led a fairly sheltered life. I liked that a lot of the book is from the POV of Bingley and Darcy rather than the Bennett sisters. It's not perfect, but is a lot of fun. Altman has followed this with two more.

Marsha Altman is a historian specializing in Rabbinic literature in late antiquity. She's also an expert on Jane Austen sequels.

edit: I can't add the second cover for Flora Segunda so adding it here:

I have several more reviews to write but will have to post them in the morning.

Hi Kerry, glad you enjoyed The Darcys and the Bingleys - it's a bit of a make-or-break recommendation, one is either horrified or intrigued, I don't think there's much of a middle-ground with these sequels. I, too, thought the gender-related choices made were interesting, especially in terms of the representation of men in modern chick-lit vs the construction of a 'foreign' gender in Austen's work. But then I gave myself a strict talking-to and treated it like the frothy concoction it is.

(I haven't gotten around to setting up my own thread yet this year, but I'll be sure and let you know where I am when I do so!)

*thwap*

The sound of two book bullets striking their innocent bystanding target, ME, directly in the Borg Organ (resistance is futile).

Off to BookMooch.

uh oh.. very dangerous thread :P

MsMoto - it was a perfect light and frothy read for me at the time as I've also been making my way through several novels set in war zones. And I didn't mention 'the book' in my review, which was the cause of my being intrigued in the first place! I loved how they dealt with Wickham on the wedding day.
And Altman, I can't get over the contrast of her being a serious historian of rabbinic literature and writing these books.

Hi Richard - always glad to help.

Hi Kath, I've a few more coming up too.

Here are a couple that I've been browsing through, they were mentioned on mstrust's thread last year and I couldn't resist getting a look at them too.


The Gallery of Regrettable Food by James Lileks - Lileks has taken all those icky food product recipes from the 50s, 60s and added in some spiced up commentary so you too can enjoy a hilarious afternoon and make your family sick of you continually saying 'Listen to this.."
I loved his introduction to the world of canned salmon, everyone in my family knows that I loved it too. My dog and cat know I loved the intro to canned salmon.
There is a website too -

What were they thinking? How did they eat this bilge?
Good questions, but you won't find them answered here. This is a simple introduction to poorly photographed foodstuffs and horrid recipes... They're not really recipe books. They're ads for food companies, with every recipe using the company's products, often in unexpected ways. (Hot day? Kids love a frosty Bacon Milkshake!) There's not a single edible dish in the entire collection. The pictures in the books are ghastly - the Italian dishes look like a surgeon got a sneezing fit during an operation, and the queasy casseroles look like something on which the janitor dumps sawdust. But you have to enjoy the spirit behind the books - cheerful postwar perfect housewifery is taught in every book. Sure, you'll fall short of the ideal. But what's an ideal for if not to show up your shortcomings?.

http://www.lileks.com/institute/gallery/


Decorating with Books (House Beautiful) by Marie Proeller Hueston

Another from mstrust's thread. I haven't read any of the text, just looked at all the pretty pictures. The ideas are great but you probably need a bit of a cash injection and new home to achieve some of the shelving ideas. But there are photos of artfully arranged stacks of books on tables, on the floor, by the bed that look just great in these beautiful homes.
You can see similar book love at http://bookshelfporn.com/

Kerry, worry not about making recommendations. I joined this group knowing perfectly well that I was doing so at my own—and my cats and dog's—risks. What would life be without a bulging wishlist?

The Gallery of Regrettable Food sounds like something I'd probably really enjoy. I can see why your whole family would be familiar with sections of the book. Did you tell them they should be grateful to you that the extent of your sharing of the hilarity didn't go as far as you actually making them any of the recipes and expecting them to eat such ghastly foodstuff?

As for Decorating with Books books... one never quite tires of looking at beautiful homes gorgeously crammed with beautiful books. One can always dream, right?

11) Alone on a wide wide sea by Michael Morpurgo (2006)
children's fiction

I read this for my 11 in 11 challenge and the TIOLI challenge on migration.
I'm interested in the subject of the forced migration of children since attending the book launch of Stefania's Dancing Slippers a few years ago and hearing about the journey hundreds of Polish children were forced to make to Siberia, then to Iran and finally to New Zealand during World War 2, many ended up as orphans and stayed on in New Zealand after the war, others were finally reunited with family.
This book is based on the UK Home Child policy of sending poor or orphaned children to British settler colonies. Many of these home children were treated as little more than slaves and struggled in the harshest of conditions in Canada and Australia especially. Beginning in 1618 with a a group of 100 vagrant children sent to the US Virginia colony, the last shipment of children to Australia was as late as the 1960s. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_Children

Morpurgo's book follows the journey of six year old Arthur Hobhouse, sent out to Australia in 1947. All he has to link him to his past is a key, a parting gift from his sister, Kitty, who he now can't remember at all and wonders if he ever had a family. The key becomes a symbol of hope and remembering as life in Australia descends into the harshest of conditions. The group of boys on Cooper's Station are treated like slaves by a religious bully. They can't run away, there is nowhere to run to.
The second part of the book is about Arthur's daughter, Allie, who sails to England on their boat, Kitty Four.
Morpurgo is a master storyteller and once again has us in the grips of a great story where all the threads tie in beautifully. I so enjoyed both parts to this book. I especially liked that we get to see Arthur's struggles as an adult, how he can't settle, never fits in anywhere as home children were second class citizens in the country they ended up in - they have no family, no knowledge of who they are, no birth certificate, no self esteem and found it almost impossible to form lasting relationships etc etc and were often discriminated against by the local community who considered them to be the dregs of British society.

12) A thread of grace by Mary Doria Russell (2005)
fiction

I read this for my 11 in 11 Conflict category and also the TIOLI challenge #1.
This didn't engage me as well as I thought it would, I think there were just too many characters in the story. It's based on true events of how the Italian rural communities in Piedmont and Liguria hid the many Jewish refugees who arrived over the French Alps as well as the local Jewish families. Russell was inspired by a story, The priest, the rabbi and the paratrooper in Benevolence and Betrayal: Five Italian Jewish Families Under Fascism and these characters all appear in the novel.
The beginning has similarities to the start of Le Clezio's Wandering Star and I loved the writing so much in that book especially the story of the Alps crossing that even 12 months later I just couldn't help comparing the two different approaches to storytelling. Le Clezio gives you everything from one perspective, whereas with Russell you are darting from one character to the next and I was constantly flipping to the (greatly needed and much used) character list at the front of the book.
But overall this is well worth reading, once I realised that the priest and the rabbi were based on real people I found it more 'enjoyable' (hard to say 'enjoyable' when the book is full of fighting, injury and death). The book also covers the infighting between the various partisan groups, the fascists, the communists etc etc. The help given to the Jewish families by the religious orders is also covered really well in the story. I hadn't read much about the German occupation of Italy before apart from Donna Jo Napoli's excellent YA book Stones in the water and the sequel Fire in the Hills which is based on partisan resistance.

I've had to add Benevolence and Betrayal to my tbr list as well.

13) Plain Kate by Erin Bow (2010)
YA fantasy

A highly enjoyable fantasy with interesting magic set in an alternative medieval world where witches are burned, a plague is falling on the land and people are suspicious of anything different. Plain Kate is a wood carver, taught from a young age by her late father, but ousted from her home and business on his death by the strict rules of the wood guild, she is now on her own. The local people sense something magical about her carving ability and she is forced to enter a pact with a stranger who wants her shadow. In return her cat receives the ability of speech and together they leave the town and enter a dark adventure.

>181 avatiakh: Darn it! I had just told myself I was not going to read anymore posts today because I've been hit with too many book bullets. . .Just one more... Sigh, how can I resist a medieval world and a talking cat?

I agree, I'm not supposed to be requesting books from the library this year but I'm still sneaking a few in there. Good reviews.

More from The Kingdom of Silk:

14) Perry Angel's Suitcase by Glenda Millard (illustrated by Stephen Michael King) (2008)
Book 3, children's fiction, australia
The Kingdom of Silk (aka the Silk family of mother, father, five girls (the Rainbow sisters - Indigo, Amber, Scarlet, Violet & Saffron), one boy (Griffin), his friend Layla and Nana Nell) have enough love to share with one more child, Perry, a seven year old who arrives clutching an old battered suitcase crammed full of his feelings. Slowly he begins to understand that he might just be staying longer than a few days and Ben, the father, has something to share that eases this transition. Another wonderful soulful little story, and one that has the father again knowing exactly how to deal with the troubles of the various children.
We are also introduced to Amber's Armenian Love Cake.


All the colours of paradise by Glenda Millard (illustrated by Stephen Michael King) (2009)
Book 4, children's fiction, australia
Continues Perry's story and introduces more characters from the community including Mr Kadri from the Colour Patch Cafe who all use their wisdom to help Perry settle and grow. Perry has a learning disability as well as had an unsettled childhood spent in various foster homes.
The family continues to be so unusual, with successfully unorthodox methods of solving problems, usually with oodles of kindness and love, and memorable family meals under the cox's orange apple tree in the backyard.


Plum puddings and paper moons by Glenda Millard (illustrated by Stephen Michael King) (2010)
Book 5, children's fiction, australia
A little bit of worldly politics gets injected into the Cameron Creek community with the arrival of Anik to the Colour Patch Cafe. He tells his story of life as a refugee and war in his home country to Scarlet, and she decides to declare peace on Cameron Creek. Amber rallies by baking more of her Armenian Love Cake.
In the afterword Millard explains that her story is based on a similar real life peace march in her own small community where she got to try an authentic Armenian Love Cake and shared the recipe with readers. I made this the other day and it is a really lovely simple cake that would be easy to make with young children - bonus is that it doesn't need icing. The nutmeg flavour is quite unusual too.

Armenian Love Cake
2 cups plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 cup brown sugar
Pinch salt
125gms butter, chopped
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
½ cup roughly chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 180 C
Line a cake tin with baking paper (heart shaped tin if available).
Sift flour, bp, brown sugar, salt into a large bowl. Rub the butter into the dry ingredients with your fingertips until the mix is crumbly. Place half of this mixture in the cake tin.
In a separate bowl, dissolve the baking soda in the milk, then add the egg and nutmeg. Combine the remaining dry mixture with the wet ingredients and mix thoroughly. Pour this on top of the dry mixture in your cake tin. Cover the top with the chopped walnuts.
Bake for about an hour.
Serve warm or cold.


Applesauce and the Christmas Miracle by Glenda Millard (illustrated by Stephen Michael King) (2008)
picturebook, australia

As I've always enjoyed the illustration work of Stephen Michael King, I was delighted to see that he'd paired up with Millard on a picturebook story as well.
This is a different Christmas story. Told from the POV of Applesauce, a pig, who is looking towards an old shed, all that is left of the buildings on the farm after it was ravaged by bushfire. It's Christmas Eve, and the neighbours, the Shepherds, arrive with their children to check up on Joe and Marigold, who are living in the shed. They camp overnight and in the morning three old aunts arrive bearing gifts of food, and Joe and Marigold finally come out from the shed with their newborn baby.
The story is simple and true to the spirit of Christmas, the setting so unusual and stripped entirely of tinsel and glitter. King's illustrations are superb and at the end there are a few green shoots just beginning to appear on the old tree.

edit: I hope these jpegs work this time

I've had Plain Kate on my wishlist, but you've inspired me to place it on hold in my library system!

182 & 183> I couldn't resist Plain Kate either once I learnt there was a talking cat companion in it.
185> Roni
I enjoyed the atmosphere that Bow created for the story of Plain Kate, I stayed up all night to finish it. Taggle, the cat was a fun addition, helpful at times. The creepiness of losing your shadow was an interesting element to the story and it owes a lot to ageold folktales from dark forests in Eastern Europe somewhere.
Plain Kate is a Cybils finalist in the YA Fantasy and Science Fiction category alongside
Brainjack by Brian Falkner
Guardian of the Dead by Karen Healey
Pod by Stephen Wallenfels
Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry
Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi
The Wager by Donna Jo Napoli

Cybils = Children and Young Adult Bloggers Literary Awards
Winners are announced on 14 Feb.

Kerry, a good story that involves a shadow--don't know if you can find it down there--is The Wizard's Shadow by Susan Dexter. I'm looking forward to reading Plain Kate--it should be in to my local branch mid-week.

>181 avatiakh: Out of all those recent reviews, I would say Plain Kate is the most intrigueing. Being me, I like almost anything that's medieval. The Dark Ages are my favorite period of history. That and the ages where the Egyptions, Greeks, and Romans were particularly strong.

Yup, Plain Kate is the most appealing to me too. Especially since someone else (Mary?) had just recommended it as well.

Plain Kate sounds good - I may have to check it out!

15) Letters to anyone and everyone by Toon Tellegen (1996) (2009 English edition)
children's fiction, Holland

This is a delightful little book, it would make a perfect gift for an emerging child reader, one to be treasured alongside Winnie the Pooh and suchlike.
Here are letters written by squirrel to ant, ant to squirrel, elephant to squirrel and mole's letters to himself etc. They are all delivered by the wind, arriving to where they are needed in no time at all.
What makes this Boxer Books edition particularly charming are the lovely illustrations by Jessica Ahlberg, daughter of the marvellous children's writer Alan Ahlberg & illustrator, Janet Ahlberg. (Jessica is the baby featured in her parent's classic book Peepo! which I just bought for my new grandniece). I wonder how the Dutch editions look, the book is a classic in Holland and Tellegen is a wellknown poet and writer.

There are at least three more books in this series: The Squirrel's Birthday and Other Parties, Far Away Across the Sea, A Great and Complicated Adventure.
I'm wishlisting a copy for my permanent collection.


Please ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King (2010)
YA fiction
This was recommended highly by Stormraven who usually reads scifi/fantasy and it picked up a Michael L. Printz Honor Award recently as well.
A book with really excellent characterisation, one that makes you really care for the main character, a lot. This was another book that I stayed up all night reading, the writing is excellent.
The narrative is quite unusual, we start at the funeral for Vera's ex-bestfriend and neighbour Charlie. Going into the future and exploring the past with occasional kickins from Vera's Dad and Charlie, the plot gives the deterioration in the friendship as Charlie spirals into the bad crowd and also how Vera is dealing in the aftermath (not so well at times). The most interesting part is possibly Vera's relationship with her father and his conviction that she mustn't turn out like he did, or pregnant at 18 like her mother, who is now out of the picture.
Life at home is sad and lonely but Vera is also a worker, her job in pizza delivery and her dealings with co-workers is really spot on and I wasn't surprised to see that King has done a stint of this work herself.


Dash & Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan (2010)
YA fiction

Another combo writing effort from Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist duo Cohn & Levithan. This is a fun lightweight read about two bored New York teens who manage to wrangle a parent-free Christmas. They meet through a notebook with a dare in it, that Lily places between some Salinger books in the Strand Bookshop. And so the red moleskin notebook to's and fro's between them before they finally get to meet. Both step a little out of their comfort zones as they are dared by the other to pick up the book from unlikely NY venues/people etc. They also get to know each other through their writing and love for literature - basically they are soul mates.
This book celebrates good literature, love for words and also features the Strand Bookshop and its staff prominently. What more do you need for a romantic geeky teen read.

Wow, quite a few reads so far! :) And I agree: A Tale Dark and Grimm by Adam Gidwitz was awesome. I read that one, too, this month.

Harking back to message 177--I bought The Gallery of Regrettable Food for a friend of mine years ago, but I laughed so much browsing through it that I decided just to keep it for myself! I am going to dig it out and have a laugh.

Sandy K

Kerry, you have definitely got me interested in Plain Kate and The Gallery of Regrettable Food, but I am most intrigued by the Glenda Millard series. I'll need to find the first two as I'm a bit obsessive about beginning at the beginning.

And to smiler69, I've read all of the novels by Tracy Chevalier. I've enjoyed some more than others but she is one of my favorite authors. Someone mentioned Remarkable Creatures. I read that one last year, and it makes me want to plan another trip to England.
Kate

#171 I forgot to say earlier that I'd love to discover Evelyn Waugh via audiobooks. Must be wonderful!

#194 I also read Remarkable Creatures last year, thanks to ER. Interestingly enough, that was my first novel by Chevalier and I'm pretty sure I'll enjoy the rest of her work based on that experience.

18) The Siege by Helen Dunmore (2001)
fiction

Read for Orange January, 11 in 11 and a TIOLI challenge#1 shared read.
There's been lots of discussion on this book and its sequel The Betrayal over the past few months so I knew that I'd be reading this one for the Orange January reading challenge.
The Siege tells the story of first winter of the Leningrad Blockade in 1941, as German troops surrounded the city, and with the food, fuel & other supplies to the civilian population cut, the population were forced to survive on the barest of rations leaving most starving and freezing through a harsh winter. Dunmore focuses on one family's fight to survive.
This was a much quieter story than I expected, as the fighting and bombardment don't play a prominent part, just the ongoing story of desperate survival, where every crumb of bread is going to count. Wonderful story.


19) Under the Frog by Tibor Fischer (1992)
fiction

Read for the 11 in 11 challenge and TIOLI Hungary challenge.
wikipedia: a Rabelaisian yarn about a Hungarian basketball player surviving Communism. The title is derived from a Hungarian saying, that the worst possible place to be is under a frog's arse down a coal mine.

This was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1993 and I found it a great read. It's based loosely on the experiences of Fischer's father, growing up in Budapest during WW2 and his life under Stalin. Gyuri is part of a semi-pro basketball team that travels around Hungary playing against other teams put forward by various industries and he leaves Hungary in the aftermath of the 1956 uprising.
There is a lot of humour in this book, it's full of adolescent pranks and cocky behaviour in the face of the bleak life they can expect under communism. It looks back on the last days of war when the civilian population was caught between the Nazis and the invading Russian troops, who stripped down anything that could be moved out of the homes. An early highlight is the eating competition in a remote hamlet between a Jesuit and a local communist heavy. Highly recommended for lovers of black comedy.
The powerful depiction of a young man lost in a big revolution makes Gyuri in Budapest, in 1956, appear as the literary descendant of Frederic Moreau in Paris, in 1848, in Flaubert's Sentimental Education. NYT review

I was forced to add the book about decorating with books to my wish list... Maybe one day they can look as elegant and wonderful as their contents merit...

Any 'artfully arranged' stacks of books in my house at the moment will look like what they actually are - books in need of a good bookshelf!

#194> Kate - I started the Millard series last year and loved the writing so much. It's for younger children, and the first book won a few awards and is in the 1001 children's books you must read before you grow up.

Well, I have one review outstanding for The Chrysalids, but I'm off to finish Snared Nightingale and watch a movie of Witi Ihimaera's Nights in the Gardens of Spain.

wish that I could FIND Snared Nightingale... I'm sure with beautifully decorative book decor, I could easily lay hands on it...

Oh, and you prompted me to join NetGalleys. Now the only problem will be if I get one, and have to read it on my computer!

I have quite a bunch of mislaid books here and have to resort to borrowing a few that I own from the library as it's faster than actually looking for my copy. I hope you find your copy of Snared Nightingale as it's a pricey item to replace. My copy is due back at the library so I must get it finished.

What a lot of very lovely and covetable books you've been reading!

Plain Kate has gone onto the wishlist. It only seems to be available in hardback at the moment (in the UK anyway) so I will looking out for the paperback.

The Kingdom of Silk books sound and look delightful! I am quite disappointed that they do not seem available on Amazon.co.uk. Will have to search a little further afield!

Decorating with Books and Regrettable food also very, very tempting!

Fortunately I already have The Siege! I haven't read it yet but I am a Dunmore fan -she does tend to be bleak and beautiful in her writing!

I picked up a P&P sequel, but it isn't the one you read. Hope I enjoy it as much as you did. That is to say, I'm not expecting Austen, and just wanna have some fun with chars I already know and love :)

You have read some really good books lately. The Siege and Under the Frog both look really promising and have been added to the TBR mountain. Thanks Kerry.

A large thud as three books hit my wishlist! (Flora Segunda, Alone on a Wide Wide Sea and Please Ignore Vera Dietz). And a couple you mentioned are already in my TBR piles or wishlist (The Siege and Plain Kate).

20 books read so far is no mean feat!

#202> soupdragon - the Millard books are quite juvenile but have that lovely old fashioned appeal, shame they aren't available in the UK. I got a comment from Lisa, an Australian teacher (also here on the 75group) over on goodreads that even her tough 12yr old boys have enjoyed them.
I follow quite a few book blogs and request many interesting YA books from the library because of them.
Up to now I'd only read Dunmore's children's books - the Ingo ones and her first book Going to Egypt.

#203> suslyn - I hope your sequel is as enjoyable as mine was.
#204> Hi Diane - I enjoyed both books a lot.
#205> sorry about that Heather, I've just been trawling the threads this morning and added a few to my tbr list as well.
20 books, I know but it is a holiday month here so I've had more reading time.

>206 avatiakh:: What are the Ingo books like, Kerry? I've been wondering about giving them a try.

They are pretty good, I still haven't read the last one. They're set in Cornwall and based on folktales about the sea. A brother and sister find they have some link to the mer people when they lose their father to the sea. They seem to be at the centre of an age old rift between land and sea. I should read the last one I just got sidetracked and probably was a bit waterlogged after 3 books of swimming in the deep.

Under the Frog sounds like I might enjoy it. The title alone is the kind of humour I just love!

20) The Chrysalids by John Wyndham (1955)
scifi, 11 in 11

This was a reread for me though I didn't realise that when I started reading and I only vaguely remembered the storyline. I listened to most of the book on my iPod but got the book from the library to race through the last 50 pages during last week's readathon. Highly recommended.


21) Snared Nightingale by Geoffrey Trease (1957)
fiction - probably YA

I came across this on Farah Mendlesohn's The Trease Project where she is reading and commenting on all Trease's work as well as comparing it to his contemporary writers. Snared Nightingale is hard to come by but well worth reading if you can find a copy.
The story begins in Renaissance Italy, where Nicholas, a young scholar, has been brought up in Florence by his English mother & Italian stepfather, his father having died in Italy many years before. He is living in the Duke of Urbino's household when he is sought out as the lost heir to an earldom in England. The modern and civilised young man travels to his backwater estate near the Welsh borders in order to secure the inheritance. Once there he meets a rival, a distant relative, Lady Marcle, who covets the earldom for her grandson and sees Nicholas as an imposter. She plays a hard game, but Nicholas is up to it, numerous plots are uncovered and dealt with by the wily Nicholas. When he falls in love and wants to marry he finds himself yet again embroiled in intrigue.

Trease slows the pace of the novel allowing us to enjoy Nicholas as he acclimatises to the very different English world and finds himself gradually charmed with life in the countryside, earns loyal friends and works on his plan to bring European culture to his corner of England. The action then ramps right up for the last third of the novel leading to a thoroughly enjoyable climax. I will be reading more of Trease's work.

The snared nightingale, symbol of desire in Boccaccio’s bawdy Decameron, becomes the signature for a suave, witty tale of romance, intrigue and culture-clash set in Renaissance Italy and the England of Yorkist king Edward IV...A rare Trease adult novel, Snared Nightingale is a gem, full of romantic contretemps, double-dealing and wonderful characters, a masterpiece of sly humour well worth tracking down. Historical Novels Info

edit: whoops I published this before finishing my comments on the Chrysalids.

#209> Ilana - If you google the title you'll find lots of positive reviews for it. I really like this style of book, sort of edgy and subversive, but with humour.

I'm simply skimming on top of the water....water skis flying over the waves....not wanting to fall in the deep water of all your books that I know I want to add to the tbr pile.

I'll be back ...I'm asking the driver of the boat to turn around and go slower...oh, now...four, five, six to add..............................

Oh I agree. So many great books here. I especially think I shall torture myself and single out the Trease one that is very hard to find.

I am going to pretend I read all 50 unread posts :) I hope you will forgive me and allow me to catch up from here on out, Kerry.

edgy and subversive, but with humour

Sounds like just my thing!

#180 - I enjoyed Thread of Grace, but not as much as the Sparrow & Children of God. It is a complex story, and I liked the way she handled the end where not everyone got "what they deserved."

I'm adding Please ignore Vera Dietz to my TBR list.

I loved The Sparrow and still haven't read Children of God. Yes, the end of Thread of Grace is a bit harsh but probably gels with reality.
I hope you enjoy the Vera Dietz book.

I'm doing the current readathon, though haven't got off to a brilliant start as my FB account was hacked this morning and fixing that all up took up a bit of time and made me late for everything today. I'm posting on the readathon thread but thought I'd put the memes here. We're up to the 10th hour so I'm a bit behind doing this.

Well, everything is conspiring to interrupt my reading so far today.

First Meme - Hour One
I've been reading: The Various by Steve Augarde
Books finished: 0
Pages read: 40
Posting time: 20
Reading time: 30 minutes

Total books read: 0
Total pages read: 40
Total time read: 30 minutes

The Menu: Tomato and cream cheese sandwich. I had to make a second one as the dog made off with my first one when I was on the phone.
Comments:
Not much reading, I've had to do a phone survey as part of government research project that I was selected for a couple of years ago, they ring me up once a year and ask about my physical activity and diet. Then my son insisted I watched the youtube extended trailer for Game of Thrones. Plus had to refriend my husband on FB as the hackers blocked him when they took over my account this morning!

THE OPENING MEME

1. Where are you going to be reading today?
At home and at the gym

2. What book have you chosen to kick off the read-a-thon?
The Various

3. If you could interview any author, alive or dead, who would it be? Neil Gaiman

4. Do you have any books already lined up for the next 24 hours? Or maybe a few possibilities in mind?
A few graphic novels, Beowulf and a couple of novels: Fatelessness & Les miserables
5. Do you have any goals for the read-a-thon? Anything you particularly want to finish, or a target number of hours?
Finish a graphic novel or two. Make progress on Beowulf

6. If you're an old hand at this read-a-thon lark, what's your top tip for a great read-a-thon? If you're a newbie, what do you hope to get out of the day?
Enjoy

Hour 13&14 (9-11pm)
I've been reading: Beowulf & Les Miserables
Books finished: None
Pages read: 80
Posting time: 5 minutes
Reading time: 70 minutes

Total books read: 3
Total books completed: 0
Total pages read: 242
Total posting time: 1 hr 15 mins
Total reading time: 3 hour and 45 minutes

The Menu : 1/2 fruit smoothie and a coffee.
Comments: Listened and read about 60pgs of Beowulf until it started to blur, so switched back to Les Mis. I have the illustrated Beowulf so 60pgs=30pgs of text. They are celebrating Grendel's downfall.
I'll keep on with Les miserables for a bit and will then try a graphic novel.

THE MIDWAY MEME

1) Which books have you been reading from so far?
The Various, Fatelessness, Beowulf, and Les Miserables

2) What are you reading right now? What is it about? Les miserables, oh gosh, 19th century reformed French convict does good, the Battle of Waterloo, lots of unrelenting poverty, bad things keep happening to good people and so on...

3) Do you have a book you're particularly looking forward to for the second half of the read-a-thon? Not really, I'll probably go back to The Various or Fatelessness. I'd like to start one of the library books I picked up a couple of days ago but I better finish my TIOLI reads.

4) What else have you been up to over the hours, in between reading time? cooking, gym, internet stuff, washing dishes, talking, laundry, listening to music.

HOUR 18-24 (2-9am)

I've been reading: Unshelved by Gene Ambaum & Bill Barnes & The Various
Books finished: 1
Pages read: 85
Posting time: 20 minutes
Reading time: 90 minutes

Total books read: 5
Total pages read: 433
Total time read: 11 hours 5 minutes
Total time posting: 4 hours 20mins

The Menu: breakfast - cereal, banana & lowfat milk, coffee
Comments: Hours 19-22 were spent sleeping. I woke up in time to fill in one last hour of reading, though it took a good 30 mins before I could even focus on print. And I think I've made some addition error with my total time read, I sure that I haven't read for 11 hours.
Unshelved was fun, I worked in a library for a couple of years and can relate to the front desk humour, you do get asked some extraordinary questions. Went back to The Various for the last 10 or so minutes.

Ellie - Thanks for hosting this one.

THE END-OF-EVENT MEME

1. What turned out to be the most difficult part of the day for you?
This time it was just getting started. My morning fell to pieces when my facebook account was hacked and I lost a few hours making sure all my computer security was back in place. Then distracted by phone call and dog racing off with my lunch!

2. Did you read any book that were particularly suitable for a read-a-thon like this?
Unshelved, a graphic novel/comic strip collection was just right when tiredness set in.
Also listening to the audio while reading Beowulf helped keep the concentration.

3. What were your final stats for the day, if you kept them? (How many pages did you read, how many hours did you spend reading, etc?)
see above

4. What books did you read from over the day?
The Various by Steve Augarde - TIOLI new series challenge
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo - finished my January quota
Beowulf
Fatelessness by Imre Kertesz - TIOLI Hungary book challenge
Unshelved by Gene Ambaum & Bill Barnes - graphic novel - finished

5. What did you enjoy the most? Maybe a particular book or part of the experience?
I read a really enjoyable part of Les Miserables. Unshelved was fun.
I also got to discover a new artist/illustrator whose work I'm keen to explore - Lynd Ward, he illustrated a stunning version of Beowulf in the 1930s - thanks to online chitchat with Ellie..

6. Did you hit any duff/dud books during the day?
no

7. Deep breath - do you think you'll be up for another one of these sometime?
I'd love to do another, but I'll be busier now that January is drawing to an end.

You might be interested in the two volume Lynd Ward set that Library of American published on last year. It's excellent.

Yes, I read the review for that and it looks fab.

Kerry, I was sorry to hear about your troubles on FB this morning. What a major drag! I get spam sometimes via FB that is supposedly from friends of mine, but it's obvious those friends have no idea that their accounts are being hijacked as it's for products that they would never try to sell themselves. I hope you've got it all sorted out!

Hi Ilana, it was all sorted very quickly, luckily I had only left my laptop for a few minutes and had the FB page open so could see all the chat messaging they had been doing on my behalf, and a friend had immediately emailed me to ask what was going on. When they first got control of my a/c they blocked my husband, and set all my profile settings to 'only me' so no one could see my profile/info pages. I had to re-friend my husband later on!

I've had a lovely morning, picked up my birthday book parcel from the post office and also got some interesting reading from the library that I shouldn't be doing as I have enough to read at home here.

Library:
Books Burn Badly by Manuel Rivas
There once lived a woman who tried to kill her neighbour's baby: scary fairy tales by Ludmilla Petrushevskaya
The Swimmer by Zsuzsa Bánk
Zone by Mathias Énard - a one sentence book
Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch - police detective cum trainee wizard (alternative title: Midnight Riot)
The Possessed: adventures with Russian books and the people who read them by Elif Batuman
The Wager by Donna Jo Napoli

Birthday books:
A House for Mr Biswas by V.S. Naipaul
Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada
When I grow up: a memoir by Bernice Rubens

22) Unshelved by Gene Ambaum & Bill Barnes (2004)
graphic novel/ comic strip collection

A hilarious look at the life of librarians in a public library via a daily comic strip. I worked for a couple of years in a library and have to say I recognised many of these moments. Great fun.

Book blurb: Some of the stories are made up, some of them are based on real life, and some are absolutely true stories sent to us from our readers. And the stranger the story, the more likely it is to be true.

Geoffrey Trease is an utterly wonderful author. I'd put Snared Nightingale down as a book intended for adults of the 1940s, ergo something that could easily be YA today. He helped turn me into a book addict, with historical novels like Cue for Treason, The Red Towers of Granada, Crown of Violet, etcetera. I still own many of the editions I read as a child, and have sought out copies of all those that were out of print then (early 1970s) and are still hard to find now. Two great things about these books -- while the lead character maybe male, there's almost always a female companion who plays just as significant a role. Secondly, the characters are ordinary people, not princes and princesses. They may find themselves caught up in extraordinary events, but they are regular folks. Trease came of age in the post WW1 environment that honed people like Orwell, and was of that political persuasion.

A different note -- was talking to a source today who mentioned his library. I commented how I'd love to have a room that could be a designated library. He said he has a hard time convincing his wife not that leaving piles of books on the stairs isn't a decorating strategy -- so I referred him to the "Decorating with Books" tome you noted earlier... :-) (Oh, and suggested he tell her about LT)

>224 avatiakh: I loved the Unshelved comic strip. I've been following it for years.

>224 avatiakh: I also follow Unshelved. I get it every day on my RSS feed.

I love Unshelved too!

#223 Glad to hear it was relatively painless.

I had that The Possessed: adventures with Russian books and the people who read them book in my hand standing in the library just last month. I was reading Tolstoy at the time and thought it was maybe taking the genre too far but after reading the reviews for it I'm thinking I should have held on to it. Am looking forward to hearing what you think about it.

Sorry to hear about your Facebook woes, Kerry. I hope everything gets worked out.

Actually about 30 hours after I had it all sorted, having worked through their security measures for this particular problem, and was using my account with no problem, FB suddenly disabled my account. So I now have to wait to get it back after applying to be reinstated.
Life without FB isn't a problem.

#232: Life without FB isn't a problem.

For me either. Life without LT is another matter altogether.

My presence on FB is spotty at best. When I'm there it's lots of fun but I find it to be a huge time drain more than anything else.

ditto what Stasia said.

By the way, I just finished one of the 2011 Newbery honor books Turtle in Paradise; you might be interested in this one.

I'm also reading another 2011 Newbery honor book One Crazy Summer. I highly recommend both.

Stasia, you cheated, skipping all those posts and missing a thousand book bullets! I feel like I just came out of a gangland war, I got hit with so many book bullets. The people at Amazon are drooling over the prospect of me buying even half of what I just wish listed. Great job of reading and sharing so many amazing books with everyone, Kerry!

#236: Self-preservation wins out sometimes, Regina :)

#230> kiwinyx, I'm reading The Possessed: adventures with Russian books and the people who read them for the TIOLI February 12 words in the title challenge, so be patient I will get to it.

#234> Ilana - I find FB a huge time drain too, but it's the only way I keep up to date with numerous people. Oh well, not at the moment!
#235> Linda, thanks. I have One Crazy Summer out from the library at present.
#236> lol, sorry about the BBs but I do garner a few myself from everyone else's reading!

Once again I'm doing the readathon as it's the weekend here anyway so I can read and need to clear my January TIOLI books.

Link to santathing2010 library: http://www.librarything.com/profile/SantaThing2010

2nd Hour: 11-12noon

I've been reading: Fatelessness
Books finished: 0
Pages read: 12
Reading time: 20 minutes
Posting time: 25 minutes

Total books read: 0
Total pages read: 36
Total time read: 50 minutes
Total time posting: 30 minutes

The Menu: a peach
Comments: I spent a bit of time posting, then had kitchen time, making sushi and fruit smoothies for family lunches.

First Hour Meme:

1. Where are you reading from today?
On the sofa in my family room, in my home, on the edge of the city in Auckland, New Zealand.
2. How many books do you have in your TBR pile for the next 24 hours?
3 or 4.
3. Tell us about the cover of the book you are currently reading--or about a favorite book cover.
My current book has a depressing cover so instead will post others that I'll be reading later on today.

4. Do you have any goals for the read-a-thon (i.e. number of books, number of pages, number of hours, or number of comments on threads)?
I'd like to finish my current read, continue with my current fantasy read and make a start on another TIOLI January book - 15945::Meditations
5. If you’re a veteran read-a-thoner, any advice for people doing this for the first time?
Relax, enjoy. Don't expect to read a lot every hour. It's sometimes a good strategy to read for 2 hours without the distraction of posting.

There's another read-a-thon going on, huh? Yawn...makes me tired just to think about it. Good luck! :-)

Well, I'm definitely not staying up all night for this one.

12th Hour 9-10pm

I've been reading: The Heir of Night
Books finished: 0
Pages read: 34
Reading time: 40 minutes
Posting time: 5 minutes

Total books read: 1
Total pages read: 198
Total time read: 4 hours 10 minutes
Total time posting: 1 hr 15 minutes

Halfway (12 Hour) Meme:

1. What are the titles of the books you have read so far?
Fatelessness and The Heir of Night
2. What are you reading right now?
The Heir of Night
3. If you were to write a book, what would it be about?
Gosh, not sure. Maybe fiction based on a family story.
4. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-Thon?
Enjoying my current book quite a lot, also looking forward to reading a graphic novel later on.
5. What have you been doing during breaks?
Cooking, cleaning
6. Background music: yes or no? If yes, what kind?
Yes, Jazz by Chet Baker & flamenco guitar by Manolo Sanlucar
7. What surprises you most about the Read-a-Thon, so far?
large number of participants coming and going - it's great, there's a lot of new 'faces' too
8. Do you have any tips for other readers, something you think is working well for you that others may not have discovered?
Not this time, I'm encountering lots of distractions.

I've seen references to these LT readathons before and will need to locate more info and sign up for one sometime. Right now I'm doing a much less ambitious Bookcrossing readathon - we try to read a total of 24 hours in one week.

#242> Kate - the main readathon link is on the group wiki.

Hours 23-24 8 - 10am

I've been reading: The Heir of Night
Books finished: 0
Pages read: 58
Reading time: 60 minutes
Posting time: 5 minutes

Total books read: 1
Total pages read: 357
Total time read: 6 hours 35 minutes
Total time posting: 1 hr 50 minutes

The Menu: water
Comments: Managed a full hour of reading while at gym, now fully engrossed in the story with lots of interesting fantasy elements developing. I'll have to keep reading this one today.

The End-of-Event Meme:

1. Which hour was most daunting for you?
No daunting hour, I opted for a good night's sleep instead.

2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a reader engaged next time?
I'd also suggest short stories or an engrossing YA

3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the next read-a-thon?
No.

4. How many books did you read?
5 books

5. What were the names of the books you read?
Fatelessness by Imre Kertész 120pgs - finished
The Heir of Night by Helen Lowe - 138pgs
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius - 7pgs
Smoking in Antarctica by Steve Braunias - 24pgs
How to understand Israel in 60 days or less by Sarah Gidden - 60pgs

6. Which book did you enjoy most?
The Heir of Night & Fatelessness

Another thankyou to Deborah for hosting this event. Loved the jpegs.
Thanks to everyone else for sharing their reading.

Since the readathon finished I've gone on and completed reading The Heir of Night.

Just some brief comments on my latest books.


23) The Various by Steve Augarde (2003)
Book 1 Touchstone Trilogy
children's fiction

Read for my 11 in 11 challenge and the TIOLI First in Series challenge.
This has been on my tbr pile since it first came out and I have kept ignoring it despite reading many good reviews. So why did I wait so long for such a great magical story.
Midge comes to stay at her Uncle's farm, it's been in the family for generations though it's no longer economically viable. In the nearby forest are the Various, the various tribes of faerie who are also finding it harder to survive. For fans of The Spiderwick Chronicles.


24) Beowulf translated by Seamus Heaney (2008)
classic
Group Read and also TIOLI precedes the Printing Press challenge.
The tale of the heroic Beowulf and his fights against legendary beasts and demons was a riveting read. Full of mythic elements, Beowulf appears to be our first superhero, one who fights a demon with his bare hands. Throughout the verse are stories of older heroes, brave warriors who also faced fearsome enemies with courage and might. Epic and awesome. I expected to read this with difficulty as it is an ancient poem, but the lines just flowed.
Here is the
link to some Lynd Ward illustrations from a 1939 edition of Beowulf.



25) Fatelessness by Imre Kertész (1975) (2004 Eng ed)
fiction, Holocaust

Read for my 11in11 and TIOLI Hungary challenge
This autobiographical novel is about Kertész's own experience of concentration camps during World War 2. I saw the movie of this novel a couple of years ago and found the images in it to be very powerful and these images almost overpowered the novel for me. I'm really keen to read more work by Kertész, probably his Kaddish for a Child Not Born which looks at his adult decision not to bring a child into this world, a decision affected by his experiences of the Holocaust.


26) The Heir of Night by Helen Lowe (2010)
fiction, fantasy
I added this to the TIOLI 3.8-4.2 rating challenge and also my 11in11 challenge.
I loved the darkness of the world that Lowe created for this fantasy that hints at scifi. Malian is the Heir of Night, a warrior family steeped in tradition. They guard the Wall of Night against the blackswarm, their age-old enemy. The attack when it comes is vicious, deadly and targeted directly at Malian. Lots of magical elements, mythical lore and great powers at play. This is the first of a new series, book 2 will come out later this year.


27) How to Understand Israel in 60 days or less by Sarah Glidden (2010)
graphic novel

This is about New Yorker Glidden's Birthright tour of Israel, a tour that gives young Jewish people from around the world a chance to experience Israel in the company of other young Jewish people. Glidden went with a negative view of Israeli politics but found herself confused and constantly questioning her ideals throughout the trip as she sees the country and its people for herself. This is a very honest look at one person's experience. The artwork is excellent, full of detail and colour.

Adding The Various to the BlackHole. Fateless and The Heir of Night are already there.

I would add How to Understand Israel in 60 days or less if I thought my local library had a snowball's chance in Hades of ever getting it in!

I so want to read a Beowulf book. It's one of my favorite myths, but I have never actually read it. Watched a movie, but I know they changed it from the percise telling of the myth.

Thanks, Kerry, for sharing the link to the Ward illustrations. They remind me of a cross between some of William Blake's illustrations and Russian socialist realism posters. I've read the Kalevala and enjoyed it, so I really should try Beowolf since you say it too is very readable.

I'll be interested to see what you think of Kaddish for a Child Not Born. It was not what I was expecting. I really should try some of his other works.

How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less sounds interesting. I haven't read many graphic novels, just Maus I and II and, more recently, The Night Bookmobile. It's becoming such a popular genre (if that is the right word, maybe format?) that I really should try more of it...

Kerry, I just finished Plain Kate (message 181) and cried like a baby, great big sobs. I couldn't help it, Taggle was such a vital character to me. The story had a lot of power as well, and I realized the source when I read the acknowledgments. Did you see that the author's younger sister died of drowning?

Yes, it was very sad to read that.
I once went to a book launch for a YA novel that deals with a near drowning, and the writer told us that her husband had drowned at the same beach several years after she first wrote the manuscript. It was a very sad moment. The manuscript sat in a drawer for several years after this before she worked on the final edits.

I also loved Taggle, he reminded me at times of Puss in Boots, he had such feline attributes and yet had that instinct for dealing with the magical elements.

edit: adding title as it bugged me that I couldn't remember and had to do some sleuthing in my files. In Too Deep by D.C. (Dawn) Grant.

My sequel to P&P was very good. But it wasn't really a sequel - it was a retelling from Darcy's POV. Glad I read it.

Grilled cheese and cream of tomato soup. fav lunch!

I was sick and that's what I wanted. THe husband fixed dinner and there was grilled bread and red soup. Turned out to be bread for pate and red pepper soup, but ... it was still good :)

Hi Susan - Roni is going to read the P&P with zombies, not sure I could do that! Hope you are feeling better. Lovely that he made dinner for you.


28) One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia (2010)
children's fiction

Another impressive book from Williams-Garcia, this has recently been awarded a Newbery Honour Book Award and the Coretta Scott King Award. This one shows us the people involved in the Black Panther Movement through the eyes of Delphine and her two young sisters. They have flown across the US to spend a summer in Oakland with their estranged mother. She soon makes them aware of how unwelcome they are.
I loved the dynamics between the sisters and how Delphine slowly finds out about her mother.
I also recommend her No Laughter Here.

>245 avatiakh:. I read Fatelessness last summer. A scorching Andalusian sun kept some of the heartbreak at bay, but I've been meaning to look out the film since then. I'm teaching a course this semester with a number of YA Holocaust narratives included and it may be the cure for an over-exposure to The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas.

I'm so behind on your thread... how did that happen? I will come back to read your reviews very soon!

#253> Ms Moto, The movie of Fatelessness is Hungarian and beautifully filmed, from memory there is minimal dialogue/subtitles. I'm going to watch it again.

#254> Ilana - on your thread you asked about my Shaun Tan drawing.



29) Bloody Jack; Being an Account of the Curious Adventures of Mary "Jacky" Faber, Ship's Boy by L.A. Meyer (2002)
Bloody Jack Adventures (Bk1)
YA fiction, iPod audio

A girl's own adventure. Street urchin, Mary (Jacky) Faber, poses as a boy and gets taken on by the British Navy as one of six new ship's boys. Vivid tale of life on board ship in the early 19th century as the HMS Dolphin chases pirates across the Mediterranean and then the Caribbean. I loved this, Mary is a great heroine, showing bravery, daring and resourcefulness. I'll continue with this series, but do need to think about finishing a few others first.
There are touches of romance in this, but overall the story is strong on adventure, maybe a little 'overthetop' plotwise but entertaining and fun. The descriptions of life on board ship are interesting and I presume authentic.
The narrator was excellent, though I switched to a hard copy of the book for the last 70 or so pages. Audiobooks are so slow and I have several to get through due to my over-enthusiastic borrowing of e-audio from the library.

Thanks for posting the drawing Kerry. I keep wanting to listen to a bunch of audiobooks, but since I'm buying from iTunes and not borrowing, have to curb my enthusiasm since most of them are certainly not cheap! Also, once I've listened to them, I can't pass them along.

You could look at a subscription to audible.com, it's possibly cheaper than iTunes, I haven't done a comparison. I mainly borrow the audios on cd from the library and then copy them into my iTunes, this can be annoying when a longer book ends up on 12 or so cds. I really like the narration on a lot of the audiobooks now that I've tuned my ear to actually listen and not zone out all the time.

Don't forget to try librovox.com which is free, I'm listening to their Return of the Soldier at the moment.

I've just signed up for a trial subscription and audible.com, and yes, should definitely try librovox.com as well. Thanks for the suggestions!

Kerry, I'm thinking I'd like to discover more of Shaun Tan's work. Have you seen his other books and if so, which do you suggest most?

He has a compilation coming out in April Lost and Found - Now for the first time, The Red Tree, The Lost Thing, and the John Marsden classic The Rabbits are presented in their entirety with additional new artwork and author's notes
Tales from Outer Suburbia is both story and illustration and is his most recent work and probably the one I'd recommend, I'm not sure how available the others are. I like all his work and find it hard to single out a particular book, especially as I haven't looked at them for a long time.

You'd do best to visit his website, where you can look at some of his work. There is a short film made from his The Lost Thing which is a finalist in this year's Oscars for short animated film.
Eric is a small hardcover gift book of one of the stories from Tales from Outer Suburbia.

I just finished listening to the librovox recording of The Return of the Soldier and I found the narration very good, so am recommending it as a good one to start with if you want to try a free recording.
I hope you enjoy your audible.com trial.

I just went searching all over the internet to get an idea of his other books and couldn't resist—ordered Tales from Outer Suburbia—probably as you were typing this! While I was surfing around I saw that Lost and Found Three was coming out, but thought initially that it was part of a series. All the better if it contains the three stories grouped together, I'd say that's well worth waiting for!

I also ordered Sandman: Preludes and Nocturnes while I was at it. Hard to believe that I hadn't really fallen into graphic novels before. I'm quickly becoming a Neil Gaiman fan as I listen to The Graveyard Book and remember that a couple of years ago, I had somehow picked out American Gods as one I'd like to read before I had any idea who he was, so back on the 'high priority' WL it goes! :-)

I'll download Return of the Soldier Rebecca West is yet another new to me author I look forward to discovering. Thanks for the great recommendations Kerry, you alone have probably doubled my WL already (in just one month, yikes!)

Oh well, I'm sitting here starting to look like the guy in the pic at the top of my thread. This is the evil plan of every member of our group, try to add more to other people's tbrs before they add to your own! Sorry about adding to your WL, but we are all passionate about books!

I'm meant to be making my way through Gaiman's Sandman series, but stalled around vol 5, I should get back to them. Here's a link to an interview with Dave McKean, who is one of the main illustrators of Gaiman's work, with lots of examples of his artwork to enjoy. I hope to read his Anansi Boys this year.

That was my first Rebecca West and I'm definitely going to be reading more of her work.

I'll come back to get that interview. I've been meaning to read all day but got all caught up with other bookish things somehow. The recording of The Return of the Soldier does sound quite good, you're right. And it's a short one too!

I just now figured out that you can listen before downloading. duh! That was one of the things keeping me from trying the free recordings. I saw that there is a good selection of Elisabeth Gaskell novels too. Will do more searching once I've gotten through this latest batch of audiobooks I've downloaded these past couple of weeks, which should keep me going for a good while!

That's it. I'll just have to give up sleeping altogether! (I wish)

drive-by hug, dear Kerry

Wooo! Caught up finally

#121 A Tale Dark and Grimm - definitely one for me there ;o)

I can't remember if you have read Angela Carter's The Bloody Chamber? Definitely think you'd enjoy it...

#125 The Undrowned Child - sounds intriguing - is it wrong that the glossaries appeal to me even more than the sound of the story?

#171 Oh I am glad you enjoyed Vile Bodies - it's wonderful isn't it? Hmmm. I haven't read any Evelyn Waugh for a little while, time to find a new one I think...

Re The Darcys and the Bingleys - it sounds like you had fun with this, but I'm afraid I just can't bring myself to read it. Pemberley just burnt my fingers too badly...

#191 Letters to anyone and everyone - oh that sounds lovely! Definitely going on my list of future-books-for-my-niece ;o)

#198 "Any 'artfully arranged' stacks of books in my house at the moment will look like what they actually are - books in need of a good bookshelf!" - snicker! Me too...

#210 Woo for The Chrysalids!

#223 Birthday books? Did I miss your birthday?! Very belated celebrations!

#245 Loved the Lynd Ward Beowulf pics...

#262 "I'm meant to be making my way through Gaiman's Sandman series, but stalled around vol 5, I should get back to them." - Definitely. Some of the later ones are the best (I think the penultimate is my favourite). Thanks for the Dave McKean link - I love his work...

Right. Now I can keep up properly... ;o)

Where did you go? I can't find your next thread...

#264> Hi Richard

#265> Nice to see you here flissp. Bloody Chamber is on my tbr pile, still haven't got there.
I sort of agree with you on the Austen sequels, if I read another it will be in the same series, I like her humour. I also liked the tv miniseries Lost in Austen - silly but fun.
Yes, The Chrysalids - great story, good timeless scifi.
Looking through the pics on the Dave McKean link, I saw that he illustrated Heston Blumenthal's The Fat Duck Cookbook, which petermc has been reading lately and exclaiming/drooling over. So I just got it from the library and it looks like a really interesting foodie book, not just recipes.

#266> I haven't made a new thread yet! I have a couple of reviews to do, so will set one up in a day or so.

Catching up - the Geoffrey Trease review caught my eye. I read Red Towers of Granada as a child and loved that, have never read any others. I liked the sound of Snared Nightingale.

New thread happening here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/109909

As usual, I'm way behind on everyone's thread - I'll catch up with your new one in just a mo, but thought I'd reply to #267 here ;o)

Definitely reckon you'll enjoy Bloody Chamber - so slush there!

I also enjoyed Lost in Austen (actually, I rewatched it just the other day as my mum has it on DVD). Funnily enough, I quite like the way they mess with the plot in it - probably because it's not even trying to be accurate but is deliberately playing with your perception of the characters, so the fact the characters don't follow your image of their personalities works quite well (I particularly enjoyed Mr Wickham). Silly, but fun, I agree.

Oooh, I shall go off and investigate The Fat Duck Cookbook right away...