Smiler: Speedier than Lightning in 2011. Part Trois.

I rarely put any spoilers in my reviews and if I absolutely can't get around them, I will always include a very clear disclaimer first.

My 1st thread, Part Un, is here. (Books 1-5)
My 2nd thread, Part Deux, is here. (Books 6-29)
11 in 11 Challenge

Currently Reading:
The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James
Sandman: The Doll's House by Neil Gaiman
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Three Men in a Boat: To Say Nothing of the Dog by Jerome K. Jerome

My rating system:
★ - hated it (suffered through 100 pages & listing it for the trouble)
★★ - it was just ok
★★★ - enjoyed it (good)
★★★★ - loved it! (very good)
★★★★★ - all-time favourite (blew me away—will read again)

Books completed in February:
21. Through a Glass Darkly by Donna Leon ★★★ (review)
22. Skellig by David Almond ★★★ (review)
23. The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman ★★★★★ (review)
24. Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe ★★★½ (review)
25. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman ★★★★★ (review)
26. The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West ★★★★½ (review)
27. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins ★★★★⅓ (review)
28. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll ★★★★½ (notes on the audiobook version)
29. Three Seconds by Roslund & Hellström ★★★ (review)
30. The Turn of the Screw and The Aspern Papers by Henry James ★★★★ (review)
31. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie ★★★½ (review)
32. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski ★★★★ (review)
33. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman ★★★★¼ (review)
34. La Fortune des Rougons by Émile Zola ★★★★ (review)
35. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins ★★★★ (review)
36. The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton ★★★★ (review)
37. The Eye in the Door by Pat Barker ★★★⅘ (review)

Books completed in March:
38. Cocaine Blues by Kerry Greenwood ★★★⅘ (review)
39. Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T.S. Eliot ★★★★¼ (review)
40. The Help by Kathryn Stockett ★★★★⅓ (review)
41. Sandman: Preludes and Nocturnes by Neil Gaiman ★★★¾ (review)
42. Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko ★★★¾ (review)
43. The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie ★★★ (review)
44. Coraline by Neil Gaiman ★★★★ (review)
45. Tales From Outer Suburbia by Shaun Tan ★★★★ (review)
46. Dead Souls by Ian Rankin ★★½ (review)
47. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules by Jeff Kinney ★★½ (review)
48. Already Dead by Charlie Huston ★★★¾ (review)
49. The Ruby in the Smoke by Philip Pullman ★★★★⅓ (review)
50. Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene ★★★½ (review)
51. Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices by Paul Fleischman ★★★¾ (review)
52. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen ★★⅚ (review)
53. My Reading Life by Pat Conroy ★★⅚ (review)
54. Tripwire by Lee Child ★★★★ (review)

Cat photo: source unknown, insects from The How and Why Wonder Book of Insects cover image.

Ok, so this message is sort of an ongoing *note to self* because I have countless book lists in my head that I need to get down somewhere. Which doesn't mean I'll actually stick to any of these lists in any way! So:

Books I'd like to complete in March
1. *Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko - (library book, TIOLI #1)
2. *Coraline by Neil Gaiman - (library book, TIOLI #1)
3. *Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen - (group read, TIOLI #15)
4. *The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James - (group read) - Reading
5. *My Reading Life by Pat Conroy - (library book, TIOLI #1)
6. *Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T.S. Eliot - (library book, TIOLI #1)
7. *Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules by Jeff Kinney - (library book, TIOLI #14)
8. The Help by Kathryn Stockett - (audiobook)
9. Tales From Outer Suburbia by Shaun Tan - (TIOLI)
10. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón (TIOLI #1: group read) - Reading
11. Already Dead By Charlie Huston - (Read for Mystery March)
12. *Dead Souls by Ian Rankin - (BM, TIOLI #4, (Read for Mystery March)

*****

Books I'd like to read in April
1. Beware, Princess Elizabeth by Carolyn Meyer
2. *Invisible River by Helena McEwen - (ER)
3. *♫ Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë - (group read, TIOLI, 11 in 11)
4. *Apollo's Angels : A History of Ballet by Jennifer Homans - (library book)
5. *The invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick - (library book)
6. *Mockingjay (Hunger Games 3) by Suzanne Collins - (library book)
7. A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway - (TIOLI)
8. *The Paris Wife by Paula McLain - (library book, TIOLI)
9. *The Rehearsal by Eleanor Catton - (library book)
10. La Curée by Émile Zola - (TIOLI, 11 in 11)
11. Le Ventre de Paris by Émile Zola - (11 in 11)
12. The Subtle Knife (His Dark Materials, Book 2) by Philip Pullman
13. The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan
14. After Dark by Haruki Murakami - (TIOLI)
15. ♫ Across the Nightingale Floor by Lian Hearn - (TIOLI)
16. ♫ Mildred Pierce by James M. Cain - (TIOLI, 11 in 11)
17. ♫ Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson - (Audiobook, TIOLI, 11 in 11)

*=must read ♫=audiobook

*****

11 in 11 Challenge

Category #1: The Classics 5/11
Category #2: Émile Zola's Rougon-Macquart Series 1/11
Category #3: Mysteries & Crime Fiction 6/11
Category #4: Visual Arts 3/11
Category #5: Books Published Since 2009 3/11
Category #6: New To Me Authors 5/11
Category #7: Big and Scary: books over 400 pages 2/11
Category #8: The Two World Wars and the Time In-Between 3/11
Category #9: En Français 1/11
Category #10: Sooner Than Later: Recent Acquisitions 6/11
Category #11: The Film Might Be Good But the Book is Better 2/11

*****

Books I'd like to read this year (the short list)

1. Prodigal Summer and/or The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver
2. Polio: An American Story by David M. Oshinsky
3. Of Mice and Men and Cannery Row by John Steinbeck
4. The House at Riverton by Kate Morton
5. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
6. Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
7. A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
8. The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
9. La Fortune des Rougons by Émile Zola (Rougon-Macquart 1)
10. La Curée by Émile Zola (Rougon-Macquart 2)
11. Le ventre de Paris by Émile Zola (Rougon-Macquart 3)
12. The Moment of Seeing by Stephanie Comer
13. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
14. The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett
15. The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
16. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski
17. Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh
18. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
19. A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
20. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
21. The Beautiful and Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald
22. Suite Française by Irène Némirovsky
23. Samarcande by Amin Maalouf
24. La vie devant soi (The Life Before Us) by Romain Gary
25. Stupeurs et tremblements (Fear and Trembling) by Amélie Nothomb
26. L'enfant de sable (The Sand Child) by Tahar Ben Jelloun
27. The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
28. Crete by Barry Unsworth
29. Blindness by José Saramago
30. Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey
31. Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh
32. The Difference Engine by William Gibson
33. The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi
34. One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson
35. The Complete Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
36. The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan
37. The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman
38. La Curée by Émile Zola (Rougon-Macquart 2)
39. Le Ventre de Paris by Émile Zola (Rougon-Macquart 3)
40. La Conquête de Plassans by Émile Zola (Rougon-Macquart 4)
41. La Faute de l'Abbé Mouret by Émile Zola (Rougon-Macquart 5)
42. Son Excellence Eugène Rougon by Émile Zola (Rougon-Macquart 6)
43. L'Assomoir by Émile Zola (Rougon-Macquart 7)
44. Une Page d'Amour by Émile Zola (Rougon-Macquart 8)
45. Nana by Émile Zola (Rougon-Macquart 9)
46. Pot-Bouille by Émile Zola (Rougon-Macquart 10)
47. Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones
48. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
49. Apollo's Angels: A History of Ballet by Jennifer Homans
50. Cleopatra : A Life by Stacy Schiff
51. The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman
52. The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman
53. The Shadow in the North by Philip Pullman
54. L'élégance du hérisson by Muriel Barbery
55. La forme de l'eau by Andrea Camilleri
56. l'Excursion à Tindari by Andrea Camilleri
57. L'enfant de Noé by Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt
58. La reine Margot by Alexandre Dumas

(ongoing editing)

I am trying to read between the lines (tried like 5 times) and I have to confess that I don't get it...haha
I must be horrible at reading in between the lines. :)

#4 Worry not. It's just a placeholder and I couldn't think of anything clever to put there for now. :-)

LoL...now THAT I get...haha :)

They say the apple never falls far from the tree... ;-)

Found you again!

Ilana- Got you starred, my friend! No luck receiving those books? It feels like I sent them out weeks ago. Let me know!

Hello Ilana, that last thread was taking a very long time for me to load, so I'm glad you got a new space here. :)

Finally caught up with you - you have been busy reading! :)

#8 Hi Stasia, good to have you!

#9 Mark, I wrote you a message a short while ago. They got here safe and sound. Thanks my friend!

#10 Stephen you little devil, you must be a lurker because I had no idea you were trying to upload my thread or I would have made things easier for you much sooner! Always glad to hear from you! xx

#11 Yes, to tell you the truth, I haven't been doing much else!

I finished The Story of Edgar Sawtelle in the wee hours of the morning yesterday. I couldn't put it down towards the end, even though that was very foolish of me because I was then too tired to get up for my drawing class today. Was it worth it? I'll have to take a couple of days to decide that. I'm off to start Catching Fire now. Some people have said it wasn't quite as good as The Hunger Games, and I'm not very surprised, since the first book was quite astounding, but still, I'm dying to know how Katniss and Peeta fare in the next instalment.

I have you starred now!

I've heard varying opinions about Edgar Sawtelle, so I am eager to hear your comments.

Ilana: Oh yes, I've been reading, just not posting a whole lot. I do that. >:)

Hope you are enjoying Catching Fire.

#14 I still need to digest Edgar Sawtelle which, as it happens, is a good thing since I have a few reviews to write before I can get to it. I can say that it made a strong impression on me. I felt like I was right there along with Edgar and my emotional investment in the story has left me reeling a little bit.

#15 It's good to know you stop by Stephen. I do SO enjoy getting comments here, so don't be shy and let me know you've dropped by once in a while. :-)

#16 Catching Fire has sucked me right in Kerry. I'm about halfway through and will have to force myself NOT to finish it tonight into the wee hours so I can be rested enough to get to my watercolours class tomorrow.

Ilana- I'll be curious to see your final thoughts on Edgar Sawtelle. I had mixed feelings about that one too! I loved the 1st half and was somewhat disappointed in the 2nd half. Did not care for the ending either.
Glad you are "sucked" into Catching fire. It's another fun read! Enjoy!

I'll eventually find something to say about Sawtelle. For now, I'm just mostly conflicted about it but can still say I thought it was a great read. I'm behind quite a few reviews as you may or may not have noticed Mark and starting to get a bit antsy about that, but then again, it's not like I'm getting paid for them or have deadlines either, so I'm off to do some more reading for now. ;-)

I tried to post something from Photobucket...it was so HUGE..i can't figger how to shrink it...

Hello Anyway

;=)

Found you! Edgar Sawtelle made a real impact on me, too. I find it difficult to "move on" after a book like that. My last read, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance had a similar effect. I had to spew out a review before I was able to get back to Huckleberry Finn. Talk about two very different kinds of books!

Finally I figured the "whatever"...changed my Profile Pic.....

;-}

Ilana, I'm sorry I messed with your thread..I found a lovely pic on Photobucket..but it was HUGE and i'm such a cyber-dolt...couldn't figger how to down-scale...so I gave you nothing

am i forgiven?

Jude, I'm dying to see what it was you were trying to post here. All you have to do is indicate width="400" before the closing bracket. I wrote '400', just as an example. To give you an idea, the top image in this thread is 800 pixels, so you can use that as a gage when deciding the width you want. You can also play with it until you get it as you like.

Here's an example:

This is a reduced version of the top image



The code I used to make it smaller is:
<img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii266/Smiler_Pics/how_and_why_insects_LT_image.jpg" width="300">

The only way I'll forgive you for "messing up my thread" :-O
is if you post the pic here. I am kidding of course, but still, I WANT TO SEE IT!!! :-)

Thank you so Much, Ilana

I tend to get a case of THE STUPIDS.....age doesn't always equal Wisdom....though i try to fake it

;-}

#23 Hi Donna! Nice to see you in these parts! It's funny isn't it how some books, no matter how good, hardly leave a trace while others continue to live on is one's mind. I don't know about Zen and Motorcycle yet, as it's on my tbr as you know, but Sawtelle definitely haunts me. Mark mentioned not liking the ending and I felt the same way when I was actually reading it, but now with a little bit of distance it seems to me like the story wouldn't have had quite the same impact had it ended on a more *reader friendly* note. Not sure if that makes sense? as I'm still working it out.

Love the pictures on your new thread, Ilana.

I couldn't quite get into Edgar Sawtelle and was quite glad to give away the book when I finally finished it.

Jude, don't worry about it. Nothing to do with *the stupids*, as you say. HTML code isn't intuitive, and if you don't know how to give a command, it hasn't got anything to do with intelligence! There IS a thread here... let me find the link... ah! here we go, it's the Basic HTML thread, which is on the group's main page. Has some tips and tricks that might be helpful.

I've been feeling quite out of since this afternoon. Dizzy and disoriented, mouth drier than ever (as soon as I've gulped a sip of water, it's parched again)... it all feels like I'm on a bad drug trip or something. Yesterday I had a brief period where it felt like I was high or something. And yes, I have inhaled in the past, and no, haven't done so in a good while, but I do take lots of meds and I'm not sure if it's a side-effect or some kind of reaction because I'm especially fatigued, or what. Thankfully my dad lives close by so I was able to ask him to come over and walk Coco a bit earlier because going down stairs (I live on the 3rd floor) and walking around without much bearings is a bit daunting.

#28 Thanks Caroline. I tend to collect images I find as I'm surfing around (I do lots of image searches). I just stick them into a folder in case I find some use for them and I thought those top two pics went well together. My idea of a joke, though I'm not sure if anyone else sees it that way.

I loved Sawtelle from the first first because the dogs are such an intrinsic part of the story. I just love animals, so that may have coloured my outlook.

Hope you start to feel better soon. Take care.
I'm recovering from a daunting spin class at the gym.

#33 Thanks Kerry. The good thing is I can still read and write, so all's well! :-)

Jude, darling, you've got to stop deleting your posts all over the place! lol Maybe if posting your image doesn't work, you can at least write a joke instead or something. At this rate I'll have to start up a new thread again by next week! ;-)

Point taken, Ilana!

30. The Turn of the Screw and the Aspern Papers by Henry James ★★★★
(Read for 11 in 11 challenge: Classics)

Both short stories by James are included in my edition, though I found it difficult to comment and rate them as one work, since they have little in common save for the theme of obsession. In The Aspern Papers, a young American publisher arrives in Venice with the intention of acquiring some letters left behind by Jeffrey Aspern, a deceased fictional poet of whom he is a devotee. The papers belong to a Miss Bordereau, a very old eccentric woman, who is rumoured to have been Aspern’s mistress in her youth. Since he knows the old woman jealously guards her treasure and refuses to let anyone see the letters, he takes on an assumed identity and offers the destitute woman a large sum of money to rent rooms in the large palace she inhabits, and slowly builds up a relationship with the lady's niece, all the while displaying an absurd fixation on the papers.

The Turn of the Screw is about a young woman who is hired as a governess by a very wealthy and handsome man who presumably seduces her. She is to look after his orphaned nephew and niece at his country home, his only requirement being that she not contact him under any circumstances. The children, Miles and Flora, seem too good to be true; they are beautiful and display angelic behaviour, though there is troubling evidence that things are not as they seem since Miles has been expelled from his school with no explanation. Soon, the governess becomes convinced that the children are under the spell of the malicious ghosts of two former servants of the house, and she takes it upon herself to save her charges from these evil spirits all the while not daring confront the children with any of her suspicions.

For some reason, I ended up preferring the first story to the more famous Turn of the Screw. This could be because I found the object of obsession in the Aspern story more relatable, whereas the gothic tale involving the ghosts seemed unlikely to me. I couldn't help question the governess' sanity and motives, though I discovered to my great satisfaction through the introduction in the opening pages, which I had saved for last, that James left room for interpretation entirely on purpose.

This review is also on the book's main page.

#35 I still want to see that picture. Please let me know what I can do to help you Jude.

31. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie ★★★½ (audiobook)
(Read for 11 in 11 challenge: Mysteries & Crime Fiction)

I had read this murder mystery in the mid-80's and remember it had made a very strong impression on me at the time. Roger Ackroyd, a very wealthy man living in the small town of King's Abbot is found murdered in his study. Hercule Poirot, who has just moved to King's Abbot to retire out of the public eye, is asked to investigate. He takes on Doctor Shepperd, the town physician, one of the last people to have seen Ackroyd alive, and the narrator of the story as his associate. There was something very comforting about the storytelling, but it had been decades since I'd read anything by Dame Christie and I couldn't help thinking of the game of Clue every time a butler or a maid or a Major or a Colonel or poison, daggers or jewels were mentioned, which very much amused me, but was also too distracting to allow me to enjoy the ride as much as I had the first time around. The relatively low rating this time around is more a reflection of my own idiosyncrasy as I would still highly recommend this great classic.

This review is also on the book's main page.

I'll be interested in your thoughts on The House of Mirth. I loved The Age of Innocence and her Ghost Stories.

BTW, posted a review of Parade's End

Hi Ilana, just dropping by - I hope you are feeling better than you were earlier.

#39 It's my first Edith Wharton novel, although I've had The Age of Innocence on my shelves for a while. I got this one as a free audiobook from LibriVox.org. I saw you were on Hot Reviews with Parade's End. I'll be sure to read it shortly.

#40 Hi Judy, yes, I am doing better today, though still a bit woozy. I think I've been letting fatigue accumulate, which is prone to happen at this time of year. I'll have to make a big effort to get to bed at a more reasonable hour. Thanks for your concern.

Greetings, Ilana, from Jude's House of Pouting!!!

The picture i wanted to post on your thread is now on mine...toward the bottom of the posts..."Girl on the Ledge, Reading"

Liked your review of The Turn of the Screw and The Aspern Papers..I am Old School and prefer The Turn...., simply because i have never read Aspern. Have read quite a bit of Henry James, though...and can't understand why people detest his novels....sure he's wordy and can be obscure...so what?

;-}

#42 Jude, I'll go have a look at your photo this evening. Have got to spew out a few reviews or I fear I will get completely discouraged with the backlog. I hadn't read Henry James before and liked the experience so far. I'll be joining a group read in March for Portrait of a Lady. Should be interesting!

In other news, I've added a nice little selection of audiobooks to my tbr list today, thanks to a visit to pick up reservations at the library, and a little sale on Audible.com, where I also used up my monthly credit. Here are the latest arrivals:

Across the Nightingale Floor (Tales of the Otori, Book 1) by Lian Hearn
Three Men In A Boat (To Say Nothing Of The Dog...) by Jerome K. Jerome
Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh
The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie
Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
The Help by Kathryn Stockett (audio from Library)
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules by Jeff Kinney (tree book from library)

I'm curious re. your feedback of Diary of a Wimpy Kid via audiobook. I liked the written text because of the neat cartoons.

I enjoyed your review of The Turn of the Screw and the Aspern Papers

Ilana- Another terrific haul! I'm a big fan of Cutting for Stone! I also loved the audio of The Help. It might be one of my favorites in that format! Enjoy!
BTW- I read Portrait of a Lady a few years ago and really enjoyed it.

32. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski ★★★★
(Read for TIOLI: Traveling Animals and 11 in 11: Big and Scary: books over 400 pages challenges)

Edgar Sawtelle is a mute boy who lives in a symbiotic relationship with the dogs his family has been breeding since his grandfather's time. The first half of the novel describes the struggles of Edgar's parents Trudy and Gar to have children, and their loss of a baby before Edgar's birth. Almondine is his constant companion, and she is the only Sawtelle dog living in the house with the family, though she also has an active role in helping train the younger dogs. The dogs are not only the the Sawtelles' source of income, but are also loved much like extended members of the family. We gradually learn how this unusually perceptive breed of canines came into being through the devotion of Edward's grandfather, who had a vision of the ideal companion for man. When he is old enough, Edgar is given his own litter of pups to deliver and care for, a task which he takes to heart.

The first sings of trouble arrive when Edgar's uncle Claude comes back to the family home, freshly out of prison. A hard drinker, he and his older, more responsible brother Gar constantly fight and bicker, and Claude leaves after a physical altercation. Things take a tragic turn when Gar dies very suddenly while Edgar helplessly looks on. Shortly after, Trudy falls very ill, leaving Edgar with all the responsibilities, and though he struggles to make things work, a serious incident forces them to call Claude to help care for the dogs. To Edgar's utter dismay, Trudy and Claude quickly become lovers, even as Edgar has reasons to suspects his uncle of murder. Things go from bad to much, much worse, until Edgar has no choice but to flee the farm along with a number of dogs from his litter. Together they embarks on a long and difficult journey, during which the fugitives must hide away in the woods and are constantly on the brink of starvation. Edgar's journey with the dogs constitutes the better part of the second half of the novel, and seemed at times overly long. But with hindsight, I now feel that it was necessary to establish just how deeply the boy and his dogs come to rely on each other while Edgar encourages the dogs to make their own choices.

While I was initially disappointed with the denouement, it also made the tale that much more poignant, and revealed, if there was still any lingering doubt, that these dogs were not mere companions, but characters in their own right. I should say that I decided I liked this book before I even read the first line, simply because I knew that dogs were prominent in the story, and in that sense I was amply gratified. This is the kind of tale that stays with you and leaves countless affecting moments to savour long after the last words have been read.

This review is also on the book's main page.

What an incredible review!!! Please post it to the review thread so that I can give it a thumbs up!

#47 Done! Thanks so much for the encouragement Linda! :-)

33. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman ★★★★¼
(Read for Fantasy February)

One day, Richard Mayhew is running around London with his beautiful, demanding, career-oriented fiancée who is about to have the most important moment in her life as she drags him to an exclusive restaurant to meet with her powerful boss. Then Richard stumbles upon a young girl who is obviously injured and in need of help, and forsaking his beautiful Jessica, brings the girl, called Door, to his place to give her a chance to recuperate and hide away from two sadistic killers who are on her heels. Suddenly, Richard becomes invisible to everyone, can't seem to get a taxi or get into the subway station to get to his job, and when he does, discovers his desk is being removed and his coworkers can't see him. He rushes to his apartment to take a bath and calm down and is appalled when a real-estate agent appears with a couple who decide to take the flat, even as Richard is standing stark naked and dripping right in front of them. Richard then plunges into London Below which is peopled with strange inhabitants who abide by different rules of physics (among other things) in search of Door. He finds Door at a floating market as she is auditioning for a bodyguard before embarking on a perilous journey. Door's family has been brutally murdered and she must find a key for the angel Islington as a bargain in exchange of which he will reveal the identity of those who killed her family.

An adventure filled with surprises and satisfying plot twist, with a cast of memorable characters that seem to be delightfully real, even as they display behaviours that are strange, when not downright deranged. This was a satisfying romp, made all the more delectable in the audiobook version narrated by the incomparable Neil Gaiman. Do I sound like a smitten fan? That's because I am.

This review can be found on the book's main page.

I read Neverwhere last fall. It was my first Neil Gaiman and so I too became a smitten fan!

Glad you enjoyed Neverwhere!

Edgar Sawtelle was one of my favorites last year. Nice re-telling of the Shakespeare story. And the dogs were wonderful.

Excellent review of Edgar Sawtelle, Ilana. I was so in love with the rapport between Edgar and his dogs that I tended to overlook some of the flaws of the book. Thumb from me!

Nice review! I read it this month too. This one's my favorite Gaiman's by far.

#50, 51, 54 I wasn't sure I'd enjoy it as much as I did since I had read The Graveyard Book first and absolutely adored that one. It's still my favourite of the two but I was certainly not disappointed. Next up by Gaiman will be Coraline and then probably American Gods.

#52-53 Had I been considering only my enjoyment of the role the dogs played in the story, then I would have given the book a five-star rating, but I decided I needed to be a bit more objective and take the whole into consideration.

Ilana- You are kicking book-butt, my friend! You have 2 Hot Reviews! Yah!

Thanks Mark, though I'm not sure how that's possible since they're only got a couple of thumbs each. I wonder what the criteria are for reviews to make it on that list, do you know?

I will second #56....

I don't like "animal books"....but your review of The Story of Edgar Sawtelle was better than best!!

I love everything Neil Gaiman...have, since I read the first SANDMAN book

Portrait of a Lady is my favorite HENRY JAMES..

J

#58 Awww, your comment warmed my heart Jude. What else are friends for, right? ;-)
Feel free to join the group read of Portrait of a Lady if you like Jude. That is, if you *do* group reads and you're up to it. We'll be starting March 15.

It's sure is a good thing that there are 31 days in March because otherwise, I'd be overbooked for sure. Check out my MUST READ/WANT TO READ list below. For someone who reads at a rate of 2 mins/page, *ambitious* doesn't even begin to cover it!

Books I'd like to read in March
1. *Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko - (library book)
2. *Coraline by Neil Gaiman - (library book)
3. *Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen - (group read)
4. *The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James - (group read)
5. *My Reading Life by Pat Conroy - (library book)
6. *Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T.S. Eliot - (library book)
7. *The Difference Engine by William Gibson - (BM)
8. *Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules by Jeff Kinney - (library book, TIOLI #14)
9. The Help by Kathryn Stockett - (audiobook)
10. The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery - (TIOLI #1)
11. The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak (TIOLI #7)

Mystery March possible reads:
Caught Stealing By Charlie Huston
*Dead Souls by Ian Rankin - (BM, TIOLI #4)
*Fleshmarket Close by Ian Rankin (BM, TIOLI #9)
*The Hanging Garden by Ian Rankin (BM)
*The Naming of the Dead by Ian Rankin (BM, TIOLI #1)
The Shape of Water by Andrea Camilleri
Cocaine Blues by Kerry Greenwood (audiobook)
The Kill Artist by Daniel Silva
Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett
The House at Riverton by Kate Morton
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett (TIOLI #4)
One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson (TIOLI #1)
Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón (TIOLI #1)
The Complete Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Smilla's Sense of Snow by Peter Høeg (TIOLI #4)
* must read

>59 Smiler69: Yeah, sure....maybe my comment did "warm your heart"...for real.

I have "trust" issues....your review of Edgar Sawtelle is one of the best I have read...for a book I don't want to read...how's that for waffling?.....you have earned my "trust" vis a vis Reviews!

I don't do Group Reads...especially not for Portrait.. which i read, the last time,maybe 25 years ago....and couldn't defend my opinions beyond "i love the book"

I hope you do read Coraline....it's one of my favorites..and a wonder, in its own right

J

Jude, I meant that comment in all earnestness. I tend to put much more energy than I should into writing a good portion (but not all) of my reviews so I'm always happy when they're well received, and especially so if I manage to sway someone who's not sold on the books to begin with.

Group reads aren't for everybody. I did my first with Sense and Sensibility last month and really enjoyed all the discussions around it, as it helped me think of and appreciate the work in ways I probably wouldn't have otherwise.

I'll definitely be reading Coraline. As a library book it's a *must read* anyway, but I wouldn't want to miss it regardless.

Oh, Ilana

Oh!! I was serious as well...your review of Edgar Sawtelle is Better than Best...and my Dainty Thumb has...made her mark..

I don't do Group Reads because i can't "keep up" the pace with most of them...I am a "slow children" (the signs one sees along the roads here...along the school bus routes)

Have you seen the movies of Neverwhere and/or Coraline???

J

No, I have not seen either of those movies, but I'll look them up on iTunes to see if they're available there. Actually.. now I think of it I HAVE seen Coraline there, but I just wasn't sure it was *the one* because I thought it would be an animation but isn't? Someone on another thread mentioned the Neverwhere BBC version, would that be the one you're referring to as well?

I'll also add here that I enjoyed reading your latest two reviews, though I did not allow my eye to linger too long on the Edgar Sawtelle one in case of spoilerage, if ever I pick it up.
I also find it hard to participate in group reads, I'm usually enthusiastic until about the week before we have to start, though this year I've already managed to complete two, so maybe I'm improving!

>63 Smiler69: Yes, the Neverwhere...BBC? i don't know...my copy, is a "copy" from a friend..probably BBC...I'll have to check

I would suggest (not in a Bossy way) that you READ Coraline first...in my opinion....the movie wasn't necessary..... a nice addition..Gaiman did such a wonderful job of "story-telling"

J

Yep, BBC. It's on my Netflix queue...

#64 Kerry, I try to keep my reviews spoiler-free and not mention more than what you'd find out by reading the back of the book or inner flap or whatever. Though someone said that the inner flap gave too much away for this one, and I'd have to say I agree in this case. I don't like to read reviews of books which I know I'll be reading soon anyway. Don't want that to colour my own impressions!

#65 I completely agree with what you suggest Jude. I've found it's always best to read a book before seeing the movie when that can be helped. I actually went ahead and reserved the DVD from my library, where they also have the audiobook as read by... you guessed it, Gaiman himself and though I'll have read the book by the time it's available, I just love his voice so much that I've reserved that as well.

#66 Thanks for confirming this Jim. I was hoping they'd have this at the library also, but nope. They DO have the first 6 episodes on iTunes... is there more to it than that?

Ilana- I think Neverwhere is only 6 episodes. It's a pretty good production. Very low budget. I started a Charlie Huston. You know he's my guy!

#68 Mark, I saw it was low budget just from the short preview on iTunes. I don't mind that though. I'll probably just get the first of the six episodes and if I like that then I'll get the rest. Will be interesting to see how it was adapted to screen. I saw you mention a Charlie Huston somewhere else. I so badly overbooked myself for March... I hope I can make room for him, but at least I don't have to worry about whether you'll still talk to me or not if I don't. I've got the book now, so it's just a matter of time!

It was pouring rain a few minutes ago and now it's snowing. Looks like it's going to be an interesting day.

I'm just a few pages away from completing another book for February (The Eye in the Door by Pat Barker), which makes me very happy considering how many books I want to get through in March! Won't be able to do any reading right now as I'm off to my drawing class. Tough life, I know.

You asked on Stasia's thread what GoodReads offers that LT does not. I finally broke down and started a GR account because it shares to facebook. I also enjoy browsing some of the polls and lists but mainly I use it to post books I enjoyed (with a cover) to fb. I have no idea why this is such a low priority for LT but I got tired of waiting.

Ok I see, that makes sense. I don't need that feature because I post my reviews to my blog so that people who aren't on LT (or FB) can read them and those in turn get posted to FB - with cover. Double the work, but I'm ok with that.

LT does post your reviews to Facebook. When you put your review on the book's page it automatically posts it to my Facebook page.

#73 Yes, of course you're right, but I think elfchild meant specifically that LT doesn't post them with the visual for the cover. I wouldn't know since I don't need to post directly to FB one way or the other as prefer to post from my blog where I spend more time editing.

Well I'm quite glad to say I spent the whole day away from the computer today working on some homework for my watercolours class tomorrow. The theme was "paint a night landscape from your imagination". I'm quite happy about how a couple of them came out. I might come by and post them here soon. Now off to catch up with the threads!

eta: ugh... I'm so many reviews behind! Will have to tackle that in the next couple of days before it becomes completely out of hand!

Hey Ilana,
I saw your post on bonniebooks & popped over to read your review of Edgar Sawtelle. I had 2 book clubs read it, one group loved it, the next loathed it. I enjoyed it greatly. Did you happen to catch the little movie Hachi: A Dog's Tale? They touched on it in Sawtelle.
I noticed with dog books it is hard for me to give lower scores, however that is with fluffier books like my recent What A Difference A Dog Makes. This was not the case for Sawtelle at all.

I suppose I will be stalking you now...nicely though, don't fret! Your March reads...The Help evoked emotion from fury to laughing out loud. The Book Thief is one of my few all time favorites. The Elegance of the Hedgehog I could not invest another day in that one!

I am reading The Forgotten Garden & Sarah's Key while I have The House at Riverton within an arms reach!

Now I suppose I will try to look up this Neverwhere book, though I have never been able to moch anything from the Neil Gaiman fellow.

Do pat your furbabies for me. My world is crawling with my little loves! Ben sends a woof your way as well!

**GASP** how does one become a Watership Down I want to know? = ) my favorite of all time and I'm not one to have many favorites!

well, I hope this finds you snuggled up comfy in your warrren with Hazel & Fiver reading a good folklore munching on sweet berries!

#73> I'm awful about actually writing and posting reviews though I hope that participation here will help me get better about that. Ilana understood however - with GoodReads I can post a star rating and a picture of a cover, which might actually entice friends to comment. Many of my real-life friends are avid readers but virtually none of them are on LT or GR

Ilana - somehow blogging and reading blogs is something that always falls by the wayside with little ones underfoot. I like the idea but haven't come up with a good way to keep up with either (writing or reading) so it's merely an "I'd love to do that someday" thing.

#77> Watership Down is one of my very favorite books as well. It is the only book I can recall that upon finishing it for the first time, I turned back to the beginning and started re-reading it again immediately.

#76 Hi Bonnie! Oooh, how exciting—a stalker—yay! :-D
I started listening to The Help today and am totally hooked. What an awesome book and such interesting characters too! I just discovered audiobook very recently and when they're well narrated, the stories come alive in the most delightful way and this one is VERY well done. Got it from the library too (free!) so it can't get much better, really.

DO. You MUST. Get Neverwhere. Even if you have to beg, borrow or steal it. This is another one that is AMAZING on audio because Gaiman is a fantastic narrator and his voice is just... scrumptious. Can't recommend it highly enough. A total delight. As for Watership Down, I saw the movie when I was a kid and then read the book and it made an indelible impression on me, though I'll have to go back and read it because it's been more than 30 years and my memory isn't all that good. But yes, I was VERY happy to BE it. I did sort of do the test twice because didn't like the first book that came out and found out the questions change depending on your answers. By all means try the test, it's fun!

Had a look at your furbabies too and they're a most charming bunch. I left a couple of comments too, couldn't resist. Ben looks like such a fun character to hang out with, for some reason having seen those pics, I have a hard time thinking of him as a dog because he just seems like a *person* to me. In the best way of course! :-)

Hugs to your lovely gang of fourpawz.

#78 Writing reviews can be very time consuming, so I totally understand. I probably give them too much importance when really I could just as well write 2-3 lines and be done with it. But I enjoy the process of spending several days mulling over the books and deciding what parts I want to talk about.

I used to spend all that time on blogging and that can be an all-consuming activity as well. But then, I don't have a toddler following me around and needing all my attention either.

La Fortune des Rougons (The Fortune of the Rougons) by Émile Zola ★★★★
(Read for 11 in 11 challenge: The Rougon-Macquart series)

Zola, basing himself on the works of thinkers of his time, including Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution, believed that heredity and environment were the two most important factors in determining the course of a person's life. He set out to demonstrate this theory in the 20-novel Rougon-Macquart series subtitled The Natural and social history of a family during the Second Empire, which examines the lives of five generations of the respectable (and legitimate) Rougon branch and of the dissolute (and illegitimate) Macquarts. As preparation for this huge undertaking, he first charted out an elaborate family tree as depicted below. La Fortune des Rougons, the first novel, establishes the origins of the two clans and presents a vast cast of characters, of which several will figure as leading protagonists in consecutive novels.

The story opens on the clandestine meeting of two virginal young lovers, Miette and Silvère, just outside the fictional Provençal town of Plassans, relating their love story leading up to this night—the eve of the 1851 coup d'état—during which Napoleon III came into power, the events of the day forming the central motif of the novel. The two idealistic adolescents are about to join a vast gathering of republicans to storm Plassans and nearby towns along the way to Paris, on a doomed journey to oppose the coup. Plassans is also the hometown of Silvère's grandmother Adelaide Fouque, commonly known as Tante Dide, the matriarch of the Rougon-Macquart dynasty. She is an eccentric and a pariah who, after losing her husband the late Rougon, who fathered her only legitimate child Pierre, then takes up with the notorious alcoholic and trafficker Macquart, a union from which two more illegitimate children are born.

We follow the progress of Pierre Rougon, while he takes his first steps as a young man to secure the family fortune by conning his mother out of her ancestral home and property and taking away his siblings' inheritance. Pierre Rougon and his wife Felicity see their limited fortune spent away on their children and floundering business and all the while, Pierre's half-brother Antoine Macquart continually harangues the Rougons for money as compensation for begin cheated out of his legacy. Much like his father, Antoine is a profoundly lazy man who contrives to marry a hard-working woman and sponge off her and his children while claiming to have republican ideals. The Rougons, after decades of vain struggles, finally seize their opportunity on this night in 1851, putting in place a series of Machiavellian schemes involving Antoine, and putting the lives of men on the line to finally come into wealth and power, all the while playing power games among themselves to determine who will have the upper hand in this old couple. A fascinating read and a very promising start to a great literary saga.

This review can also be found on the book's main page.

I love your review of the ZOLA....did you, by chance, read it in French (living in Montreal as you do..)? Just curious. The last Zola I read was Therese Raquin....my very favorite. Dark and twisted, yes! but what characters! what atmosphere!

I gave your review my Dainty Thumb.

;-)

35. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins ★★★★

I found out the hard way that there's no way to review this book without giving away serious spoilers to someone who hasn't already completed Book 1 of The Hunger Games trilogy. NO spoilers however if you haven't read this 2nd book yet, and that's a promise! CONSIDER YOURSELF WARNED!

It's fair to say that I more or less could not take my eyes away from this book. I'm trying hard to figure out whether the violence in the Hunger Games in gratuitous, or whether it is, as it were, a vital reminder of the fact that we humans are still only another animal form and that in desperate situations, we are all potential predators. I tend to lean on that side of the argument, and what I think makes this reading so compelling is that Katniss, while she is still just a young girl trying to come to grips with her own identity and her place in the world, is a profoundly good person at heart and while she often misreads cues around her, she is a keen observer who sometimes makes us smile with her naiveté and firm belief that she's nothing special after all. This quality becomes all the more important in this second book. Now that she is a victor, Katniss and her family have been moved to a large house in the Victor's Village and they are wanting for nothing. But serious trouble is brewing. The president of Panem has paid her a visit and warned her that she must make her love affair with Peeta believable since there are signs of potential uprisings in the various districts. He expects her to tone down her spunky flair for flouting the rules which might be just the kind of attitude to encourage rebellious elements to act up.

But then, a special Hunger Games is declared for the 75th anniversary of the games, and the rule for that year is that the Tributes will be chosen among past victors. Katniss and Peeta are once again forced to enter the arena with others who have already proved themselves to be adept and vicious killers, and this time, while she and her would-be lover have each other's back, there seems to be another plot underfoot, and Katniss is the last one to find out where that plot is leading to...

This review can also be found on the book's main page.

Ilana- I loved both reviews! Good job!

Love your review of Catching Fire. You are so right - it's hard to review books in a series and not give something away. Easpecially the middle book of three! I love the whole Hunger Games series and I can't help but wonder what's next for Suzanne Collins?

Congratulations on reading 35 books thus far!

#84 Mark, you're my toughest critic. I'm not sure I can take it anymore. ;-)

#85 I was so disappointed when I read the little blurbs on Amazon (or wherever) about the second and third books. I hadn't finished the first book yet and would have preferred not knowing anything, but curiosity got the better of me. Thankfully I remember nothing about book 3, which I'll probably read next month. I know you reviewed it, but I don't remember that either (sometimes having a bad memory can be quite convenient!) As for Suzanne Collins, the sky is the limit I guess, and as I was suspecting, the film rights have already been acquired with the adaptation written by Collins herself, so based on that alone, it looks like she'll be set for life. Or at least a little while, depending on how big a spender she is! Have you read her first series?

#86 Linda, thanks for pointing that out. I hadn't even realized! That's already a heck of a lot more books than I ever read while I was a busy corporate-ladder-climbing career woman, that's for sure!

Doh! I didn't realize that she had written a series before The Hunger Games. I will definitely be on the lookout for them.

You make me want to read the Zola book - it sounds very interesting. (gave you a thumb) so I am off to add it to the Giant Freaking Wishlist. 35 books already! I am lagging far behind that number, I'm afraid. I enjoyed the whole Collins series, but I won't say anything about the books until you are done.

#88 Judy, I will look forward to you comments on the Underland Chronicles series when you get around to it.

#89 Charlotte, I have read several of the books in that series over the years and they have all been excellent. Which is why I've decided to read the whole series chronologically. My only reservation about Zola in English is that the translations are a bit questionable. But I don't want to discourage you, especially since this book really is quite great. I saw on the Best of January thread that you had mentioned that The Grapes of Wrath had been your favourite read that month and must say I felt a little glow of pride when I saw that. You'd think I'd written the book myself! Ha.

Well, I just finished participating in the read-a-thon, which is ongoing until tomorrow at 5pm but since I have a painting class on Sundays, that's here for me.

Here are my final stats:

I've been reading:
The Help by Kathryn Stockett (audiobook)
Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T.S. Eliot (finished it)
Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko
Tales From Outer Suburbia by Shaun Tan
Sandman: Preludes and Nocturnes by Neil Gaiman
Dead Souls by Ian Rankin
Total books read from: 6
Total books finished: 1
Total pages read: 389
Total time read: 547 mins (9 h 13)
Total time posting: 142 minutes (3 h 17)

Off to read more in bed and then calling it a night.

Hi Ilana, looks like you got quite a bit of reading done! Congrats. :)

Thanks Stephen. I kind of spread it around all that reading material, but it was fun.

36. The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton ★★★★
(Read for TIOLI and 11 in 11 challenges)

Set in and around New York in the 1890's, The House of Mirth tells the story of the beautiful and charming Lily Barth, who at 29 is still unmarried, but has hopes of making a brilliant match. Lily's friends are all members of New York high society, a well-heeled crowd made up of Wall Street financiers and their wives, such as Judy Trenor, who takes great pride in entertaining crowds as the most fashionable hostess at her summer residence Bellomont, where one of the preferred activities is playing bridge for large sums of money. Lily's biggest problem is keeping up with these big spenders, and though she is a regular at Bellomont, where her good looks and well-honed social skills are well received, she finds it demeaning that Judy should make her pay her way by giving her little jobs to do, such as helping her keep guest lists in order.

While she has been brought up wanting for nothing, Lily's now-deceased parents have left her destitute following her father's bankruptcy. She has since been living with her old aunt Julia Peniston, and while Mrs. Peniston gives Lily money here and there so that she can keep herself in the latest fashions, she isn't so generous as to allow her niece any financial independence, and Lilly soon finds herself in trouble with a huge bridge debt to pay off. But this is only a temporary setback, since Lily and her friends look forward to her making a brilliant match. But shortly after learning that her latest rich prospect has plans to marry to another woman, Lily makes an appeal to Judy's husband Gus Trenor, a Wall Street financier, who promises her that a few smart transactions by him on the stock market with a modest investment will give her good returns. This arrangement proves to be very profitable for the young woman, but things soon start unravelling for her as Gus becomes more and more pressing, then demands that Lily put herself at his disposition.

I enjoyed the wonderful writing in this novel of manners—my first by Edith Wharton—and it was clear that Mrs. Wharton was writing about a world that she knew well. The prevailing attitudes of the time and the class of people she describes were meticulously rendered, though about halfway through I started feeling things dragging along, until quite suddenly a scene with Gus Trenor indicated the beginning of a much steeper downward slide for the lovely Lily. As much as I hate to say it, the worse things got for her, the more interesting the novel became, despite the fact that—or perhaps because—I knew all too well what kind of distress Wharton's heroine must have suffered.

This review can also be found on the book's main page.

37. The Eye in the Door by Pat Barker ★★★★
(Read for TIOLI and 11 in 11 challenges)

The 2nd book in Pat Barker's Regeneration Trilogy takes place in 1918 London. The main protagonist in this novel, Billy Prior, is a young officer who, when we met him, was suffering from shell shock in the first book, Regeneration. Here, Billy is trying to put the pieces of his life together and is working for the Ministry of Munitions. That Billy is leading a double life is amply clear from the first chapter of the book. After having been turned down for sex by his date, a girl who has put out for him once before, he proceeds to follow a man to his home for a romp in the sack which is described in great detail, clearly reminding us that this is a most contemporary historical novel. Billy has no qualms about his bisexuality, but what he does have a problem with is the increasing frequency with which he experiences loss of time which he can't account for, and although Dr. Rivers (one of the main protagonists in the first book) tries to convince him that he doesn't necessarily turn into a Mr. Hyde when he loses consciousness of his actions, Billy fears the worst.

There were plenty of interesting themes in this novel, though I can't say I enjoyed it as much as I did the first one, which instantly became one of my all-time favourites. Billy isn't necessarily a sympathetic character, though his plight is interesting to witness, and one wonders if and how he'll find his way out of it all. I look forward to reading the last book in the trilogy to see how Barker has tied together all the loose ends.

This review can also be found on the book's main page.

38. Cocaine Blues by Kerry Greenwood ★★★⅘
(Read for Mystery March and 11 in 11 challenge)

This is the first of Greenwood's Phryne Fisher Mysteries. We are introduced to Phryne Fisher, who might at first be mistaken for a wealthy English aristocrat, though we learn she was born in Australia where she lived in poverty with her parents until the passing of a rich relation. Phryne, who now has more money than she knows what to do with, is wondering what she should do with her life. After she uncovers a jewel thief during a dinner party, a couple then asks her to investigate their son-in-law, as they suspect he might be poisoning their daughter who lives in Melbourne. Phryne doesn't hesitate to leave boring London society behind and make her way to the colonies for a bit of adventure and excitement. She finds plenty there when she encounters a communist taxi driver, meets a gorgeous Russian dancer and is on the trail of a cocaine ring that seems to be operating out of a Turkish bath house.

This series might appeal to anyone who enjoys being taken back to the roaring 1920s. But there's no mistaking that it was written in modern times. The doctor friend heading the women's hospital in Melbourne is a feminist who isn't afraid to use language to describe female troubles and anatomy that would have made a 20s female author blush. Phryne isn't afraid to use her feminine allure with an attitude that might be reminiscent of the flapper girls, but probably owes more to our modern day femme fatales. But you can't help but like a girl with attitude who is also kind and caring, especially when she's dressed to perfection for every occasion, and Greenwood obviously takes great pleasure delighting us with detailed descriptions of Phryne's ever-growing wardrobe. It's all good fun and good times, with just the right amount of cheek and naughtiness, though I'd probably pass if women's fashion really isn't your thing.

This review can also be found on the book's main page.

I enjoy visiting here...great books and wonderful reviews. I'm thumbs up #4 for your excellent review of House of Mirth. I really need to read that book soon!

Really enjoyed your reviews. I have heard of Edith Wharton, never read any of her books. The other 2 authors sound like something I would enjoy. On the list they go.

#97 Thank you Linda, you know I enjoy comments like that and that you're always welcome here!

#98 Hi Cindy, you couldn't really have three more different books and authors, but I tend to like mixing things up like that.

Hello, Ilana....."drive-by" here....Later, maybe...

;-}

Ilana- Still kicking Book-Butt, I see! I loved House of Mirth too! I read the 1st book in Pat Barker's trilogy some time ago, but never followed through with the others. I should start over, they do sound very good. Nice job on the reviews too!

Making my way around the threads Ilana! Looks like you've been tearing through the books! Great reviews as well! :)

I checked the library for Pat Barkers books. The trilogy is there plus four others. Have you read any of them ?

#100 Hey Jude, I've been spending more time reading, less time on the threads lately, and much like you, doing plenty of drive-bys. Always nice to hear from you!

#101 Thanks Markster! I finished a couple more today so have plenty of work ahead with more reviews. That's the thing isn't it? The more I read, the more work I create for myself... but who's complaining?

#102 Yes, it's the only thing keeping me more or less sane lately, so I tend to do quite a lot of reading. Glad you like the reviews!

#103 The two first books of the Regeneration Trilogy are the only ones I've read of hers so far, but I've added several others to my wishlist (and I see they seem to have a good selection at my library too). I'm hoping the other work is equally satisfying...

Hey Ilana,
Ditto on the great reviews girl! I love the 75 group. So friendly and look at my wish list grow.

I'm here on meds for pneumonia and Seem to have the attention span of a gnat so my reading has hit the brakes. There's a reason for all of us that think they have to go in to work sick! You can't read if you get sicker!

Ilana your artwork reflects talent and is it patience too? Maybe a lively soulfulness? Love the sprouting onion and The Star Gazer is adorable. I truly could feel the night in this playful piece.

Hi Bonnie, sorry to hear you're not well. Pneumonia is serious stuff so I hope you're taking good care of yourself. I'm flattered that you enjoy my reviews and even more so that you've taken the time to look at my artwork. I have loads of new stuff I need to post on that blog but I guess I'm procrastinating. Patience is something I'm developing over time. For some reason, I don't mind spending hours and hours on a painting but if someone ahead of me is blocking the escalator I want to explode. Go figure. Does help that I have lots of time on my hands though, otherwise there wouldn't be much artwork to speak of. It's therapeutic for me and really, I need to be doing a lot more, but my hobbies are always vying for my time. BIG problem, I know... don't you feel sorry for me? ;-)

Sometimes I can paint or draw while listening to an audiobook, so that way, it's works out as a twofer. Gotta love that!

Attention one and all just thought I'd mention that Audible.com is having a $4.95 sale on 250 of their titles until March 15th. There are loads of great titles. I just now downloaded the following:

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
Mildred Pierce by James M. Cain
A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk
The Prestige by Christopher Priest
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson

If you decide to get anything, I'd love to know what titles you've purchased!

39. Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T.S. Eliot ★★★★

What's there not to like? It's poetry about cats with names such as Rumpleteazer, Deutoronomy and Skimbleshanks, with wonderful illustrations by Edward Gorey. I was enjoying it enough, but then started reading aloud to my little menagerie and our combined enjoyment was tenfold. Now I'm wondering if I should rename my own cats. 'Mimi' and 'Ezra' just seem so ordinary and are missing a few syllables besides... But how could I forget? Mr. Eliot has already provided the answer:

"The Naming of Cats is a difficult matter,
It isn't just one of your holiday games;
You may think at first I'm as mad as a hatter
When I tell you, a cat must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES."

Oh, I will have to put that one on my list.

Nice review of House of Mirth I really want to read it one of these days... hopefully soon!

Many thanks. Both books are certainly worth your while.

For those interested, I've created the thread for the Pride and Prejudice group read, which we're officially starting on March 15th: http://www.librarything.com/topic/111738

Wonderful review of The House of Mirth. Almost made me want to re-read it! I admit, I read it when I was about 20 years old and I was so angry at Lily Bart that I thought I hated that book. I just couldn't understand why Lily and Lawrence Selden couldn't get together. Then I saw the film version starring Gillian Anderson years later, and I loved the film. Maybe age and experience made me understand Lily better.

Sandy K

#113 Hi Sandy, I always find it interesting to re-read great works of literature over the years. As we mature and gain experience, we interpret the books and the actions of the characters differently. Romantic notions certainly evolve over time, don't they? I'll try to see the film, I'm curious to see how they interpreted the book.

I thought that the film was quite a faithful adaptation of the novel. All of the actors are very good, especially Laura Linney as Judy Trenor. Plus, the film is just gorgeous looking.

Sandy K

#114> I sometimes wonder how many kids are put off of reading literature because English classes have them read literature they haven't the life experience to appreciate. I know that my mother (who has a masters in English and American literature) succeeded in turning me off to anything she told me I *should* read by putting Silas Mariner in my hands at age 9 or so. That was on the very short list of books I have not completed until I was in my 20s and living in Japan where books (especially books in English) were terribly expensive and I bought and read anything I could find that was affordable. I believe now that she did it because there was a girl character in the story, but why she didn't choose something more appealing, like Little Women, I have no idea.

#115> I think that needs to go on my books to film list both to read and to watch.

elfchild, I hear what you're saying about not having the life experience to enjoy certain books. I love to return to books that I read in my 20's, now that I am in my 40's, and have a deeper reading experience the second (or third) time around.

Really, Little Women would have been ideal for a 9 year old girl! My mother took me to a showing of the 1949 version of the film at the Cleveland Museum of Art when I was 9 and I promptly read the book and its sequels. Happy memories.

Sandy K

#115 I found they have the DVD for The House of Mirth at my library, so will borrow it soon. You make it sound very appealing! Interestingly enough, they also have Les Misérables on the same disk. I don't think I'll watch that, or else, will wait until I've read Victor Hugo's book, because I always prefer reading the book before seeing the film adaptation. There are exceptions of course, but rarely.

#116 I know what you mean about being exposed to literature that is too mature for a child, and 9 is probably much too young, unless the child happens to be very precocious. I read Anna Karenina at age twelve the first time of my own volition and felt terribly sophisticated doing so, and was bored with Little Women a year or two later. But then, tweens are often in a hurry to be considered grown ups. I know I certainly was! Never read Silas Mariner, will have to look it up.

40. The Help by Kathryn Stockett ★★★★⅓

It's 1962, and we're in Jackson, Mississippi. Aibileen, our first narrator, is a black maid working for the Leefolt family. She recently lost her one and only grown son, an aspiring writer, and the grief has changed something in her. The favourite part of her job is looking after little Mae Mobley, the Leefolt's two-year-old little girl with whom Aibileen has a strong maternal connection, which is a good thing since Elizabeth Leefolt mostly ignores her daughter. Aibileen has looked after 17 white children so far, and she's moved from one household to another as the children got older. She's a soulful woman and very sincere, and you can't help but feel sympathy towards her.

The next narrator is Minny Jackson. She's close friends with Aibileen and also works as a maid, but unfortunately keeps getting fired because she can't help but speak her mind and sass anyone—including her white employers—any time she feels like it, which is very often. Her saving grace is that she's one of the best cooks around, and her caramel cake is famous throughout Jackson. When we meet Minny, she is working for Hilly Holbrook, who is Elizabeth Leefolt's childhood friend. Hilly takes a lot of place in this story, because she has definite opinions about where the help does and does not belong, and she makes it her mission to ensure every white person in Jackson define the boundaries likewise.

Finally, our third narrator is Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan. She's also a childhood friend of both Elizabeth and Hilly's and the three meet regularly to play bridge and gossip. Skeeter has just graduated from Ole Miss, and on her return home, is constantly pressured by her mother to find a husband and start a family. But Skeeter has other aspirations and wants to become a writer. On her return, she's discovered that Constantine, the maid who has raised her and been her closest confidante has been replaced, and Skeeter is desperate to get in touch with Constantine again and find out why she's moved away to Chicago with no explanation.

These three memorable women take turns telling us their story in which their lives are intertwined. Together, they decide to redefine the limits placed by the likes of Hilly Holbrook and Jim Crowe and his supposedly "separate but equal" laws for black Americans. It's a gripping story and one can't help but feel strongly for all three women as they face their daily challenges and struggle to work together and make a difference. Along the way there are many other interesting characters, and plenty of family secrets are revealed. I absolutely loved this book, which I listened to on the excellent audiobook version which is narrated by three different women. The only reason I didn't give this novel a higher rating is that there was a minor technicality and something also bothered me about the ending, though I couldn't describe exactly what that is. The movie version is due out this summer and I can't wait to see it.

This review can also be found on the book's main page.

The sadness that struck me in The Help was the children became so close to who actually raised them and was a part of their daily lives. But how torn as they became older and was pressed upon to treat their servants as lesser humans. My husband was raised in the delta of Mississippi and remembers how confusing much of this was for a child to understand.

Great review for The Help! It is another book that I am waiting to come out into softcover before I purchase it. :) So glad to see that you enjoyed it.

Just in response to your earlier post regarding those E-books that were on sale. Are those purchases compatible with all E-readers? I am looking into them but really have no clue what the difference is between what is available out there.

#120 Bonnie, I too was saddened by how difficult it must have been for both the children and their caregivers to come to terms with the thinking of the time. But then to me as a Canadian especially (but as a human being first and foremost!), it's hard for me to understand anything to do with slavery and the way the servants were treated later. It's so bewildering! The relationship between Aibileen and Mae Mobley was incredibly touching. And the woman who was reading Aibileen on the audibook did a fantastic job conveying the nuances of fragility and defeat along with the strength and courage of the character.

#121 I'm glad you enjoyed my review Valerie! Sorry if I didn't make this clearer, but Audible.com is a resource specifically for Audiobooks. All you need is a computer or some kind of device you can download the sound files to. I don't know the first thing about E-readers either since I haven't ventured there yet. I'm hoping the iPads will become much more affordable as that's the only e-reader I'm interested in.

Thanks Ilana! It really shows what a noob I am because I know nothing of Audiobooks or E-books. I have been really tempted by E-books since joining LT since it is cheaper to buy the e-books and some books aren't worth the price of buying the actual books. I haven't ever listened to an audio book and again LT might be changing that soon. :) For some reason, if I am not the one doing the reading, I feel like I'm cheating somehow. If you're nice, it's called being silly, but truthfully I think that I'm just OCD..haha

Oops! Posted twice. :)

41. Sandman: Preludes and Nocturnes by Neil Gaiman ★★★¾

This graphic novel is a collection of issues #1-8 of the cult classic comic book series The Sandman. Dream (aka Sandman) is captured and imprisoned for decades and once he finally breaks free, he goes out in search of his power totems: a pouch of sand, his helmet and a ruby. Things get seriously twisted when he enters the gates of hell and confronts millions of beasts to recover his helmet. And they get downright gruesome when he comes face to face with the man who has appropriated the ruby and uses it to make people commit horrible acts. All along, the stories have a hallucinogenic quality which is in keeping with the fact that the Sandman is, after all, the god of dreams. In an afterword, Gaiman himself writes that he wasn't entirely satisfied with this first series, as after all, he was then a newcomer to the comic book genre, but I enjoyed it with all it's imperfections and for the sheer creative energy and already look forward to the next instalment Sandman: The Doll's House.

This review can also be found on the book's main page.

#123 I too thought that audiobooks were a sort of 'cheat' until just a few short weeks ago, when I realized that they wouldn't replace my reading of physical books but instead, allow me to more or less DOUBLE my 'reading' time. I listen to them when I'm out walking my dog, or commuting or even in the kitchen preparing my meals or baking. I'd suggest you have a look at the selection they have on sale at Audible. I promise I don't get a cut or anything! It's just that for just under $5, it's a great deal and a small investment to try it out. I started with a short and cheap children's story and haven't looked back since!

42. Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko ★★★¾

Moose Flanagan's family has just moved to Alcatraz. It's 1935 and his father has been employed there as an electrician and a guard and the family is living on the island because it's cheaper than living in San Francisco, and also because it's what the warden decrees. His parents really need to save up all they can because they are desperate to send Moose's sister Nathalie to the Esther P. Marinoff school for children with special needs. Moose tries to balance his love for his sister (who has been ten years old for the past five years) with the task of making new friends both on Alcatraz and at his school in the city. Most of all, he wants to play baseball after class, but between his mother deciding that Moose needs to look after his sister every afternoon, and the warden's daughter coming up with schemes that are sure to land everybody in trouble, playing ball proves to be a difficult thing to do. But Moose still benefits from special status at school because after all, he's living right next to Machine Gun Kelly, and of course, Al Capone, who truly does work in the laundry room.

This review can also be found on the book's main page.

# 123 hey Jolerie, I posted to your profile page regarding audios!

#126> I love listening to audiobooks while in the car and I would love to listen to them more during the day. My problem right now is that I have a 5-year-old and an almost 21-month-old and I need to find things that they can (and will) listen to without boring myself to tears.

Ilana- Excellent review of The Help. You summed it up very well. Yes, the audio was terrific, one of my favorites.
I'm really enjoying Dolls House. I was a bit lukewarm about the 1st Sandman though.

Hi Valerie, I had a look to see what Bonnie had to say to you about audiobooks (curiosity did NOT kill the cat this time!) and I totally agree with her that audiobooks, when they're read by really good narrators, come to life in a way that the traditional book (or e-reader) version cannot.

#130 Have you listened to The Graveyard Book yet? I don't have kids, so I'm not sure if it's age appropriate, but it's definitely a story that would be suitable for both parents and children, and as I've said many times now, Neil Gaiman is a fantastic narrator with a wonderful voice. It's now one of my all-time favourites too. Just a thought, though perhaps other parents (or grandparents) with small (grand)children could advise you better than me.

#131 Hey Mark, I'm always happy when someone who's already read the book confirms to me that I've managed to capture the spirit of the book somehow (whether they agree with me or not on the likeability of the book itself).
I'll be borrowing the Doll's House from the library very soon. In fact, may go reserve it online right now.

I was going to tell you on your own thread, but might double-post: I found Already Dead by Charlie Huston at the $4.95 sale on Audible and downloaded it last night. I wasn't originally going to start with the Joe Pitt series before reading Caught Stealing because there are just too many vampire stories out there to my liking, and I tend to steer clear of fads on principle. But I'm at chapter 3 right now and absolutely LOVING it (great narrator again!). What an awesome writer! And just naughty enough to satisfy my darker side too. I believe I'm an insta-Charlie Huston fan as well now. Guess we can remain friends forever based on this new development! ;-)

Thanks Ilana and Bonnie! I will for sure look into it more now since you guys love it so much. :)

The Graveyard Book is appropriate for children. However, sensitive children may find it a bit scary because a bad man has killed the boy's family and is now after him and we don't really find out why. The graveyard characters are charming and very devoted to the boy.

#134> G is the sensitive type. I made the mistake of trying to show her Beauty and the Beast a couple of years ago and she is only now willing to give it another try (the wolves chasing the carriage scared her). But I will try it. Currently, Just So Stories is going over very well and does not bore me.

Ilana- That is great news about Already Dead. My first was Caught Stealing but that was the one that truly sold me. I wasn't sure if you would like him because you mentioned that you didn't care for strong violence. The next 2 books are incredible as well!

I loved the Graveyard Book so much that I'm sure I'll listen to it again many times over the years, AND I want to purchase the book version with illustrations. That's saying a heck of a lot and explains why the five star rating.

Mark: I'm kind of unreliable about violence. Sometimes I'm completely fine with it. Other times not. I guess it all depends on context. I was going to start with Caught Stealing too as you know, and it's right the in the March book pile, but then I found the audio of Already Dead for such a bargain, which frees me up to read other 'written' books since I've got much more in that pile than I can realistically finish in one month, and I figure I can read Caught Stealing another time but at least get my first experience with Huston.

ETA: What word to use for "non-audio books", which encompasses traditional books and ebooks exactly please? Migraine is preventing me from finding precise or less frequently used words and even writing is painful right now...

43. The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie ★★★
(Read for Mystery March and 11 in 11 challenge)

A serial killer sends Hercule Poirot a letter telling him about the murder he plans to commit in Andover. The victim turns out to be an old woman by the name of Alice Ascher, and an ABC train guide is found near her body. The next letter tells Poirot the murder will take place in Bexhill-on-Sea, where the young Betty Barnard is found strangled, and again the ABC guide is found near her person. While the police force and Poirot are scrambling to find the identity of the madman before he gets through the entire alphabet, two more people are killed, and while the case is complicated enough, things are not at all what they seem.

This was a good, solid Poirot mystery, but I can't say I was enthralled. Is it because I was passionate about Agatha Christie novels as a teenager and devoured them like so many chocolate bonbons that the second time around doesn't seem quite as sweet? Might I have sated my hunger then? or have my memories of those first discoveries failed to evolve along with me over the years? Have I become too jaded? I don't know, maybe all of the above. There's no denying that the dame knew how to write a great crime novel, but she's influenced so many generations of writers since that it's hard for me to appreciate the originality of her work anymore without feeling like the whole deal has grown a bit stale with age. An image of precious antique lace doilies and trinkets covered with a fine coating of dust comes to mind. Apologies to Christie's unerring fans. Perhaps I might grow to appreciate her fully again in another quarter century or so.

This review can be found on the book's main page.

Ilana, I've been reading Christie since I was about 12. Every few years I give some of them another try. Some, perhaps a dozen, still hold me totally entranced, not necessarily because of the mystery, but because of the whole ambience. The rest leave me feeling as you do: they're old and a bit time-worn. Still, one has to admire her inventiveness and influence.

Very nice review, btw, a thumb up.

Thanks for the thumb Gail, always appreciated!

I am sad to say that I've never read anything by Agatha Christie. How can this be? I'm not certain I'd like her books, but I should definitely read one or two to bolster my literary experience.

You've been a busy reader and reviewer, Ilana. Have a good week.

I have to admit as well that I've never read anything by Agatha Christie either... Am I totally losing out??

I made it a kind of goal a couple of years ago to read all of Christie in order. It's been almost exactly one year since I read my last Christie (Horrors!) - I must dig out The Mystery of the Blue Train since it is the next one up. Think I have been avoiding it - it sounds super obscure. Wish I were in the area of The ABC Murders, Ilana. I think I remember reading it a long long time ago at Granny's house. She had a bunch of Christies around the place back when I was in high school. I wonder where they went....

What happens if you cheat and jump ahead Charlotte? Will Dame Christie herself jump out of her grave and try to choke you? Just wondering. Looks like you've got your work cut out for you. A that rate, you'll be at it for the rest of your life! So how are you going about it? Are you reading all the Poirots, and then all the Miss Marples separately or literally going by order of publication for all her novels? I read so many at one point, it's a shame I can't remember most of the titles I've already read since it was so long ago.

Oops! Looks like I skipped a couple of messages.

#141 Donna, the only way to know whether you'll like her or not is to try reading one of her books. It's such a personal matter. And not only personal, as I've discovered, but also depends on where you are in your life, as is the case with most books. I'd try one of her most famous novels, like The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, for example. I remember loving And Then There Were None, which is apparently her most popular novel here on LT, and plan on re-reading that one as well, even though my reaction to the other two was lukewarm.

And you're right, I guess I have been keeping busy. Might be another explanation for why I'm feeling so run down lately. Hope you have a great week yourself Donna!

#142 Valerie, see my comment to Donna above. If you're into mystery novels, I'd say reading at least a couple of Agathe Christies is a must since she's one of the great classics in the genre, along with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle of course. There are quite a few others of course, some of which you can discover over on the Mystery March thread, if you're interested.

eta: fixed touchstone

Thanks for the recommendations Ilana! I haven't really dipped into the mystery genre but if I do, why not go with a powerhouse. :)

My husband and I have been watching Michael Palin's Pole to Pole and while he is in Turkey, he's given the room in which Agatha Christie stayed when she wrote Murder on the Orient Express, then when he is in Egypt he's reading Death on the Nile. I'm pretty sure I read Orient Express when I was on my Christie kick but that was middle and high school so I am tempted to revisit. I've read many Poirots but very few, if any, Miss Marples.

Does order matter for Christie? I know that it does for some authors but not so much for others.

#146 Christie is definitely a classic choice, but you should know that at the period, the things were kept very tame, for obvious reasons. Contemporary crime novelists tend to be quite a bit more graphic, but then again it depends on the writer as there is a huge range in styles within the genre.

#147 I'm not familiar with Michael Palin's Pole to Pole, but it sounds interesting. When I was on my Christie kick in early high school, I read Poirot and Miss Marples mysteries willy-nilly, never paying much attention to publication order. It has never bothered me, but then I might not be the right person to ask. If I were you I'd put my question forth on the Mystery March thread, where there are Christie afficionados who'll be happy to advise you I'm sure.

#144 - Funny, funny, Ilana!

I'm supposed to be reading in publication order. Why that is, I don't quite remember, but I think that the idea was that if I did it that way I wouldn't be tempted to skip directly to the Miss Marples and then just forget about the rest of the whole thing because I really like her the best. For some reason I thought that these books would be better than I've found them to be so far. I still haven't gotten up to even the first Miss Marple, but it is in sight. *sigh*
That decides it - I am going violate The Rule of the Shelf, track down the next book and read it out of order. The heavens may fall.

Clearly, I have too many rules.

Drive-By "Wave & Hug"

.......i've got some computer chores to do.....might be back this evening

;-)

#148> Pole to Pole is one of Michael Palin's travel documentaries. In this one he travels form the North Pole to the South on a particular longitude. Some of what makes it interesting is that he traveled through the Soviet Union just days before it fell (not to mention his quirky humor). We're slowly watching them in order (the first was Around the World in 80 Days in which he followed the Jules Vern route). Good idea...I shall ask on Mystery March

#149> I read a lot of things in publication order due to fantasy series often depending on knowing what happened.

#149 Glad I've inspired you to break your own rules Charlotte! I haven't read a Miss Marple mystery since the days of old, but I'll have to revisit her soon enough.

#!50 Hug right back at you Jude.

#151 I saw you already got quite a few replies. I did suspect that Christie doesn't need to be read in any specific order.

44. Coraline by Neil Gaiman ★★★★
(Read for TIOLI and 11 in 11 Challenge)

Coraline and her parents have just moved into a new home. It's in a large ancient house that has been divided into separate flats and though there are some unusual neighbours to meet in the other flats, nobody is paying much attention to her and she's bored silly. When her father suggests she explores the new house, she follows his advice and is intrigued to discover a door leading to a walled-in passage. Curiosity turns to wonder when this passage leads to an alternate reality where her 'other', more fun and attentive parents have been waiting for her.

This another great story by Neil Gaiman which combines ingredients of the classic (un-Disneyfied) fairy tales, where the heroine is offered a chance at what seems like a better life with the 'others', only to find that she must make an abominable sacrifice. Like all good coming of age stories, Coraline takes on a challenge that seems impossible in order to find her way to her real home again, and wins it through her own inner resources and ingenuity—and in this case, along with the help of a stone and a talking cat too. I watched the movie version after having read the book and found that the latter, while it was exciting and visually striking, had been altered from the original story in ways which compromised the more subtle and ultimately more satisfying elements of the story. I don't know that I would recommend this one for small children, but this big kid just loved being scared out of her wits.

This review can also be found on the book's main page.

45. Tales From Outer Suburbia by Shaun Tan ★★★★
(Read for TIOLI: Short Stories)

A masterpiece like The Arrival must be a tough act to follow, even for one as hugely talented as Shaun Tan, which is probably why he wisely chose to go down a different path as a follow-up with this amusing collection of illustrated short stories. Based on this book, one could be excused for thinking that Australian suburbs are that much weirder than the North American kind, which is something I have no way of verifying for sure as a city-dweller. For all we know, maybe they do use inter-continental ballistic missiles as BBQs in their back yards, and men might walk the streets in antique diving suits, and their foreign exchange students could very well come from outer space. After all, who knows what happens over there down under? With an artist this creative, the endpapers alone might be worth the price of the book.

This review can also be found on the book's main page.

46. Dead Souls by Ian Rankin ★★½
(Read for Mystery March and TIOLI #4)

The son of an old flame of Rebus' goes missing and he's asked to find the young man. Rebus 'outs' a pedophile recently released from prison to the media when he finds out his apartment faces as children's playground. A dangerous killer called Carry Oakes makes his way back to Edinburgh to settle old scores after having been held in prison in the States. These cases may or may not be related, but the only thing that's absolutely certain is that Rebus takes all of it very personally, though even with all the pressure, he's somehow managing to keep his drinking in check.

It's hard for me to say whether the book itself was lacking or if I might be the one getting a bit bored with the formula. I've had to read several Rebus novels under pressure recently because I had promised to send them to someone, which is NOT the best way to read a book in the best of circumstances. All I know is that this one felt like it dragged on and on and on... and on, and I've rarely felt more relieved to finally reach the end. I'll be taking a break from Rankin for a while, and hopefully get back to him inspired anew. If not, it's not as if there was a shortage of other crime series to discover out there, is it?

This review can also be found on the book's main page.

47. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules by Jeff Kinney ★★½

The first book was hilarious. It had lots of laugh out loud moments for me and I found the storylines clever, compelling and memorable. This one? Meh.

I just picked up Coraline this weekend! I haven't seen the movie or anything but really excited when I get the chance to read this one. :)

I don't know that I would recommend this one for small children, but this big kid just loved being scared out of her wits.
Sometimes I read these books that are supposed to be for the younger crowd and I think to myself...how is this appropriate? Either I am too old and I don't really get what the kiddos are into anymore, or our kids are growing up way too fast! :)

I know for a fact that I DON'T KNOW what kids are into, but it's also a fact that they're growing up much too fast. It must be mind-boggling raising kids in the internet age! You're in for a tread with Coraline. Enjoy!

Hi Ilana

I really enjoyed reading Al Capone Does My Shirts. I agree with you regarding the Diary of a Wimpy Kid. The first book had me laughing right out loud, the following one was a disaster and I am not inclined to read others.

Hi Ilana- I see you have been busy! I saw and enjoyed the film Coraline, but I will have to give the audio a try at some point.
The Tan book sounds good too! I will have to ad it to the WL. Are you going to try reviewing Already Dead?

#156, #159> It's good to hear that about Diary of a Wimpy Kid. I had feared that it might be like Junie B. Jones which a friend of mine banned from their house. I'm not much for bad behavior books until kids are old enough to really understand that the behavior is not to be mimicked.

#159 I won't be bothering with any more of the Wimpy Kid books either. Not when there's so many other great books out there vying for attention!

#160 I'll be reviewing Already Dead real soon Mark. I just like to give myself a couple of days after I'm done reading to mull over what I've read and decide what I want to say about a book.

#161 There's plenty of bad behaviour in the Wimpy Kid books. Easier to enjoy when you don't have to worry about setting a bad example.

#162> I quite agree with you. It's why we never did Mo Willems' Pigeon books though lots of people love them. The Wimpy Kid books sound like something I will let her discover on her own though I will probably pre-read the first one sometime in the next several months.

ETA - corrected touchstone

I just linked up my review to the second book with the one I wrote for the first of the Wimpy Kid series, if you're curious to see what I had to say about that one.

I love Coraline-the book...have not seen the movie...If you want a further treat, try Wolves in the Walls......a wonderful (?) picture book.

I might have to check out Tales From Outer Suburbia!!!

;-}

Thanks for the recommendation for Wolves in the Walls Jude, I've added it to my library wishlist. I think it's very likely that I'll be working my way through all of Neil Gaiman's bibliography. Haven't hit a snag so far!

You bet! I haven't hit a Stinker in Gaiman's work yet...........

;-)

Hi, just dropping by, saw your wishlist of 50 for this year, what great plans you have! Good luck

#168 It'll be interesting to see how many of those I've actually read by year's end. Not to mention the fact that I keep adding to that list!

I just finished listening to Philip Pullman's The Ruby in the Smoke, the first of the Sally Lockhart mystery short series and really enjoyed it. I'll be looking up The Shadow in the North which is the follow-up book, and on the strength of The Golden Compass and this latest book, will add Philip Pullman to my favourite authors, if I haven't done so already.

You are having a very busy reading month! I have added Coraline to my wish list. Neil Gaiman is rapidly becoming one of my all time favorite authors!

I have been feeling a little overwhelmed this month as well, I haven't been able to read as many mysteries as I wanted to for March Mystery Month. Hope to get to some mysteries toward the end of the month.

#171 I'm so much into Neil Gaiman at this point that after having read Coraline in traditional book form, then seen the movie last week, I've now borrowed the audiobook so I can have Neil's voice sweetly purring in my ear as he tells me his story all over again.

We're still just barely past the halfway point this month, so you'll have plenty of time for mysteries. I've been listening to them on audio to make time for my more classical reads right now.

I read Coraline and thought it was well written and envisioned but a little too gothic for me (just not a genre that I particularly like).

If, Ilana, you get around to reading the graphic novel of Stardust, I will be very interested in what you think of it compared to the novel. I've only read the graphic novel though I have the novel sitting on my shelf somewhere.

I suppose you're right about Coraline not being to everyone's tastes. I suppose it appealed to me because it reminds me so much of those truly scary fairy tales of old, before Disney made them tame so that nobody should suffer from nightmares.

Stardust is one of the few Neil Gaiman books that wasn't yet on my wishlist. I'll remedy to that right away and add it to library tbb (to be borrowed) list, along with the graphic novel if they have that as well.

ETA: I just checked at the library, and they don't have the graphic novel unfortunately. Our selection of books tends to be more limited here since they have to carry both English and French titles (with translations going both ways). I consider it lucky that they have any English titles at all seeing as French is the official language in Quebec.

Bummer that they do not have the graphic novel. Charles Vess is probably my second favorite fantasy artist (after Thomas Canty).

I love fairy tales (there is a series of boxes in the garage labeled Fairy Tales, more Fairy Tales, still more Fairy Tales and yet another box of Fairy Tales...awaiting the construction of our wall of bookcases) but I have a very low tolerance for horror and the horrific. A Series of Unfortunate Events hit that same sort of creepy note with me and I stopped after the first one.

48. Already Dead by Charlie Huston ★★★¾
(Read for Mystery March and 11 in 11 challenge)

Joe Pitt is a reluctant vampire. Since he's been infected with the virus which forces him to feed on human blood and stay out of the sun, he's had to work hard at retaining his independent status in a New York filled with vampires all belonging to different clans. The Coalition is especially powerful and with unlimited blood supplies, they're able to recruit armies of vampires, but Joe refuses to join them, and they let him remain a free agent as long as he agrees to do freelance jobs for them. His latest mission is to clean up the scene of a recent gruesome zombie killing spree and find a rogue agent who's been infecting victims with the zombie bacteria. As if this mission wasn't difficult enough, he also must find a fourteen year old goth girl who's taken to camping out in the streets. She's the daughter of a powerful, shady business man, and Joe's not at all sure that returning her to her dysfunctional parents will make her any safer from what she's likely to encounter in the urban jungle of New York City.

I've never been that keen on vampires and zombies, and more or less gave up on vampire novels after reading a few Anne Rice novels back in the early 90s; little did I know that pop culture was only beginning to flirt with what was to become an unquenchable thirst for tales of the undead, and that the market would be flooded, pandemic-like, with unlimited variations on the shiver-inducting sagas of the bloodlusty twilight creatures. Charlie Huston's take seems original though. There's a decidedly noirish twist on the way Joe Pitt gives his first-person account of what seems like an almost plausible interpretation of how these creatures come into being and go about their business. The copious and astoundingly sickening violence is not for the faint of heart, and while I have a high tolerance for such things in the right kind of context, there were several times when I felt my already generous boundaries being stretched to the outer limits. But Joe Pitt, at the end of the day, is believable to me. I've met his kind in my former life as and out-and-about creature of the night. He's bad, there's no doubt about it, but he's a good kind of bad, and I have sympathy for his cause. I'll be back for more.

This review can also be found on the book's main page.

49. The Ruby in the Smoke by Philip Pullman (on audiobook) ★★★★⅓
(Read for Mystery March and 11 in 11 challenge)

1872, London. "Her name was Sally Lockhart; and within fifteen minutes, she was going to kill a man." Hard not to be immediately pulled into a story with a sentence like that! In the first of the four Sally Lockhart Mystery novels, having been recently orphaned with her father's ship sinking somewhere in the Orient, sixteen year old Sally finds herself drawn into a saga filled with suspense and mystery. When she asks her late father's associate to explain to her what "the seven blessings" means, he keels over and dies. Soon, an unsavoury woman by the name of Mrs Holland is hot on Sally's trail, though Sally doesn't yet have any idea why. We know of Mrs Holland that she wears too-big brown and grey dentures—having, just before her late husband's casket was closed, reached out to take said dentures out of his mouth, claiming "there's still plenty of wear in those!"—we also know that she's holding a sailor (who's recently nearly escaped sure drowning) prisoner by keeping him drugged with opium. There's a huge ruby in the stakes and the only way Sally can put all the pieces together before it's too late is by literally confronting her worst nightmare in a way no sane parent could ever approve of. With a smart and resourceful heroine and filled with a cast of wonderful, highly coloured characters and non-stop action, this is a very well written tale by the creator of His Dark Materials that keeps you on the edge of your seat from start to finish. I couldn't wait for the follow up, and immediately ordered it from the BookDepository as soon as I'd finished listening to this very well made audiobook.

This review can also be found on the book's main page.

You certainly are reading like lightning! Love it : ). Great review for The Help.

Thanks Nancy! My highest-ever record before was 56 books in 2010. I don't know if I'll be able to keep up this pace all year, but it's a pretty sure bet I'll be beating my previous record pretty soon! :-)

Ilana- Terrific job on the Already Dead review! I think you nailed it and I hope that you can convert a few of your faithful followers into trying out a Huston book. This guy kicks butt!
Good review of the Pullman book. I have only read His Dark Materials trilogy and had never heard of this one. I'll have to check it out.

I don't know about 'faithful followers' Mark... look who's talking! I look forward to starting Huston's other series, though that won't happen this month. But I think I've already secured the follow-up Pitt audiobook from my library! You MUST read the Sally Lockhart book. It's a whole different universe of course, but I'm sure you'll enjoy it. xx

eta: I noticed the Sally Lockhart mysteries when I was quickly perusing the 1001 Children's Books list here on LT, and as I'm already a Pullman fan... and they had the audiobook at my library, I of course jumped on it.

Hi Ilana - I'm tempted to try Already Dead as I don't mind the occasional vampire book as long as it's gritty rather than winsome, I'm not a fan of paranormal romance. Your description reminded me a little of Scott Westerfeld's YA book, Peeps.
Have you read Dracula? Much better than Ann Rice.

Ilana- I'll be curious how the audiobooks of the Pitt series work. I've read them all.

Kerry- If you are looking for grit! Already Dead has a surplus of it! Give it a shot!

Good review of The Ruby in the Smoke...I haven't read any of the books in that series, but saw dramatizations on PBS several years ago...those were quite good...don't know if they're available on DVD..

And yes...Charlie Huston does Kick Butt!!!!

;-}

Nice review of Already Dead....thumb. I haven't read that series yet. I read the first in the other series byHuston. You're right about his noirish style though. Glad to see it translates in the vampire series.

Oh pooh, the library has The Ruby and the Smoke but only in paper form. The audio sounds lovely.

#184> Netflix has it on dvd.

#182 It's funny Kerry, because just as I was about to press 'submit' for my review of Already Dead, I literally thought to myself "I should put in the word 'gritty' in there, because it certainly is gritty, and I should also mention that it's not one of those paranormal vampire stories". I swear! So there you have it. I can never remember whether I've actually read Bram Stoker's Dracula or not. I know for sure I saw the movie, but the book has been on my wishlist for some time so I'll get to it sooner or later. That said, I'm pretty sure you'll like Charlie Huston's take on the genre.

#183 The narrator for the Joe Pitt series is Scott Brick, who has the right kind of voice for it and is generally altogether convincing. Worth trying out!

#184 That's right... he sure does kick butt! I look forward to starting his Hank Thompson series and have Caught Stealing waiting it's turn on my bookshelf.

#185 Thanks for the thumb Mac. I really enjoy the noir approach. I was deeply immersed in noir movies as a teenager. I love camp, and that style will always appeal to me.

#186 The audio version is just a bonus... I'm sure the book will be brilliant too. Unfortunately, we don't get the TV version on Canadian Netflix here. Phooey!

>153 Smiler69: : re 'Coraline'.
Ah - I'd forgotten the sacrifice she had to make; it was mentioned only once or twice, and I kind of glossed over it when I read it - that would make me shudder!

When you decide to read Dracula look for the Books of Wonder edition. It has terrific illustrations.

#188 Yes, that aspect of the story was never far from my mind as I was reading the book, and really made the Other Parents beastly for all their geniality. The illustrations by Dave McKean really drove that point home too. Brrrrr....

#189 Hopefully my library will have that edition, otherwise I might be tempted to splurge and purchase it, since great classics are meant to be read more than once anyway. Thanks for the tip! eta: it doesn't seem to be quite so easy to find however.

It’s a sad day indeed when even my dear books are no consolation to me. I’m slogging through the last part of Pride and Prejudice and am coming to the conclusion that Jane Austen and I don't see eye to eye. Which of course is not hardly likely since I’d have to understand what she’s talking about to even be able to disagree with her. I can barely make out one out of every two sentences she writes. And everybody agrees about how delightful she is. Makes me feel like a dunce. I’ll force myself to finish this book because I’ve pushed myself on this far, but may I just say that I don’t give a flying fuck what happens to Lydia at this point? (pardon my French) It's sad to say I know, but Jane Austen makes me feel like giving up reading altogether. There. I've said it.

And then Portrait of a Lady, though I do understand Henry James’ English far better and even enjoy it, is just seeming more and more ominous and depressing. Oh dear. Maybe I need to find some lighter fare to get me through this patch.

Finished Pride and Prejudice. I don't know what to say else that I most definitely have a love/hate relationship with Jane Austen, strange as that may sound.

Lol, I love to read Jane Austen from time to time, but I'd say that you need to get into something more modern for a while. Try a good scifi.

There is no reason at all that you should enjoy Austen just because others do - I would stay away from her if I felt like that! Personally, I have found Henry James' prose impenetrable, not hers, but we are all different, thankfully. But some modern reading does sound like a good idea next.

I've been listening to Sense and Sensibility now and again this month. I must say that it helps to have seen the film first and read dozens or regency romances at an earlier point in my life. It pleases me to discover that the 5-year-old doesn't mind having S&S on though I am reasonably certain that it's mostly a wash of words to her rather than a coherent story.

Ilana, I loved The Ruby in the Smoke and sequels, though I've only ever listened to them in audio, read by Anton Lesser. He did a fantastic job on the women's voices, especially Mrs. Holland, I thought. Just the right amount of creepy for the characters and the story.

Sorry you were disappointed in Pride and Prejudice; personally, it's one of my all-time favorites, but like everyone else said, don't feel like you should love it because others do. Maybe you should read The Shadow in the North. ;)

#193 I've started the audio of Tripwire by Lee Child and also picked up The Shape of Water, since have been wanting to start the Montalbano series for so long now. It also has the distinct advantage of being a very short book, and in the French translation which is a welcome change as well.

#194 Prose is a funny thing, isn't it? Like different languages we have varying degrees of ability to pick up. In Austen's case, it just seems like she's universally adored, which is fine, but there doesn't seem to be a middle ground, which annoys me—I've been participating in group reads for S&S and P&P and there is nary a voice of dissent, which bothers me, because surely I can't be the only one who is conflicted about her writing. I'm thinking I should start a support group for those who aren't completely gaga over Austen. I'll read her again because I have a couple of other books of hers, but at least now I know that she pushes my buttons!

#195 There are times when Austen's prose makes complete sense, but others when, much like your 5-year-old, it all just seems like a wash of words to me too!

#196 I agree with you that Anton Lesser did a great job on the audio, and yes, his Mrs Holland was particularly creepy, but then he had plenty to work with thanks to Pullman's brilliant writing. I've ordered The Shadow in the North in book format this time, but hopefully I'll have Lesser's voice in my mind still doing all the characters! :-)

#197> I'm curious about Lee Child and what his writing is like. One of the things I like is characters who read and I'm pretty sure one of Sue Henry's characters was reading Lee Child which piqued my curiosity.

Ilana- I was one who really liked P & P. It was my first Austen. I followed that up with S & S and was less pleased with that one. I also loved Portrait of a Lady.
Hey, if an author isn't cutting it, move on, there are plenty others to fill that gap.

#198 I'm curious too. I'm still at the very beginning so will take a while before I can form my opinion. This usually happens well after I've actually read (or listened to) a book.

#199 If it was just a question that I don't like Jane Austen's books, then I would absolutely move on. But somehow, it seems to be more complicated than that. Doesn't help that I'm in a not so great headspace I guess. In any case, I'm happy I finished it and will probably re-read it sometime as it just might grow on me. Maybe.

Ilana - you might prefer Bronte's Jane Eyre on P & P.

#201 I guess I'll find out soon enough Kerry since we're doing a group read of Jane Eyre in April. I did read it once back in high school, but that's too long ago for me to remember much.

I read it again a couple of years ago so too soon for a reread for me but I'll probably go see the film when it comes out.

>197 Smiler69:: Ilana, I'm one who is firmly in the middle ground of liking Jane Austen.

...seems like she's universally adored, which is fine, but there doesn't seem to be a middle ground, which annoys me—I've been participating in group reads for S&S and P&P and there is nary a voice of dissent, which bothers me, because surely I can't be the only one who is conflicted about her writing.

My memories of Pride and Prejudice are good ones which is why I didn't take part in the ongoing group read of it. A few years ago I took it upon myself to read the Austen books I had missed - which turned out to be most of them. I overdosed and have been in recovery ever since! Emma is probably my favorite Austen 'heroine' but most people can't stand her.

I'm sorry you are on hiatus with The Portrait Of A Lady. It is a bit slow and a bit of a downer right now, but I'm enjoying it quite a bit. I don't think I'd be up for it, though, if I'd just come off Sense & Sensibility. I have to have plenty of space around these English soap operas!

#203 The reason I want to re-read it now is precisely because I'd like to see the film, but I want to have the book fresh in mind fist.

#204 I have to have plenty of space around these English soap operas

That made me smile, but essentially, that what they are, aren't they? Just... much better productions and writing (goes without saying) than the daily fare you'd see on tv. Thanks for sharing your own feelings about Jane Austen with me. As for Portrait of a Lady, I know I said I'd hold off for a bit, but that only lasted for about a day. I'm enjoying Henry James' writing too much to stay away much longer. I'm just very emotional lately and find that whatever I read affects me much more than it would otherwise.

I too am going to try to re-read Jane Eyre before seeing the film though over time I have slowly realized that I much prefer regencies to gothics. It's ironic that I have read neither Jane Austen nor Georgette Heyer but I plan to work on that.

#206 I must admit that I'm still discovering the finer points of the different categories, i.e. Regency vs. Gothic. Might sound silly since I can see the differences the more I become aware of them, but before I joined LT and up to a point, the 75ers, books were all just... BOOKS to me. With maybe a distinction between Literature and Thrillers. And oh yeah, Self-Help and Trash Novels (though some would say those last two categories are one and the same)! lol.

On Ambition...

every month, I can't help but put together an over-ambitious list of books I'd like to read. Between the great selections on my own shelves and all the awesome recommendations I come across here in the 75ers group, how can I resist? Here are 'a few' books I've reserved at the library lately. Note that most of these are audiobooks (unabridged, always) which I can copy to my iPod and listen to any time I want, so it's not as bad as it looks...

The Rehearsal by Eleanor Catton.
Apollo's angels : A History of Ballet by Jennifer Homans.
The invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
Mockingjay (Hunger Games 3) by Suzanne Collins.
The Paris wife by Paula McLain

Audiobooks:
The girls of slender means by Muriel Spark
Dubliners by James Joyce
Once upon a time in the North by Philip Pullman.
Birds without wings by Louis de Bernières.
The scarecrow and his servant by Philip Pullman.
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
Blaze by Stephen King writing as Richard Bachman.
Unbroken: a World War II story of survival, resilience, and redemption by Laura Hillenbrand
On the road by Jack Kerouac
The Roald Dahl audio collection by Roald Dahl
The big over easy by Jasper Fforde
Live and let die by Ian Fleming
Gros-câlin by Romain Gary.
Ape house by Sara Gruen
The devotion of suspect X by Keigo Higashino
No Dominion by Charlie Huston
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo
Shanghai Girls by Lisa See

Ilana- That's a nice wide-ranging list you got there. You have a few amazing reads heading your way! A friend just lent me Ape House, which I plan on squeezing in next month. I also plan on DLing the audio of The Paris Wife. I'm currently listening to A Moveable Feast, which follows the same time period.

Mark, I think we were just now cross-posting on each other's threads! The list is diverse, which reflect my wide-ranging tastes and also the fact that I'm trying to find all the audiobooks that interest me from the library, since I don't really have to plan time for audios; they're just bonus reading time in my mind.

With the recent talk of A Moveable Feast, on your thread as well as here, you're making me think I should probably read it again (such a quick read) before starting on The Paris Wife, just so I can have it fresh in my mind since, as you say, they both cover the same time period. Guess I'll just *have* to order that hardcover version of the new restored edition I was just mentioning immediately, now that my paycheque's come in. *Aw shucks, what a drag!* :-)

50. Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene (on audiobook) ★★★½

I could spend an hour trying to describe what the book is about, but I don't have the energy and would rather spend some of that time reading besides; so I'm basing myself on a portion of the wikipedia's summary, which I found very good (relatively spoiler-free).

This black comedy is set in Havana between 1952 and 1959, during the Batista regime. James Wormold, a middle-aged vacuum cleaner retailer is approached by Hawthorne, who recruits him to work for the British secret service. Wormold lives with his sixteen going on seventeen year-old, beautiful and devoutly Catholic daughter, Milly. Wormold business isn't going well enough to finance Milly's extravagances, so he accepts the offer, but he has no information to send London, so he starts faking his reports, invents a fictitious network of agents, and also sends sketches of vacuum cleaner parts, claiming they represent a secret military installation being built in the mountains. In London, nobody suspects anything, except Hawthorne so they decide he needs a bigger staff and send Wormold a secretary, Beatrice Severn, along with a radio assistant, which is when real complications ensue.

This is the first time that I've regretted choosing the audio version instead of a physical book. The narrator was very good, but the producers ought to be shot. Someone decided that it would be really amusing to dump loud Salsa music sequences between sections to add an additional Cuban flavour. Dozen of times. I really enjoyed the first Graham Greene book I read, The Tenth Man, and found him to be a deeply sensitive and insightful writer; so I've learned my lesson and will take the time to actually read his books from now on. Of course, these distractions seriously curtailed my enjoyment of what is really quite a funny plot. I would probably have given the book four stars, but would rate the overall production 1.5 star at most, considering I was ready to give up the first time I heard that blasted music. I finally came to what I think is a reasonable compromise. I'll revise my rating as needed if and when I do read the actual book.

This review can also be found on the book's main page.

51. Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices by Paul Fleischman ★★★¾

A lovely collection of poems and the Newbery Award winner of 1989, this book is made to be read aloud by two people as in a musical duet to "verbally recreate the booming/boisterous/joyful noise of insects". This one was recommended by Linda (Whisper1), who said it was just as fun to read alone, and I have to agree with her. The book is illustrated with beautiful pencil illustrations by Eric Beddows throughout and is a companion to I Am Phoenix by the same team, also for two voices, which "celebrates the sound, the sense, the essence of birds."

Looking forward to hearing what you and Mark think about The Paris Wife. Mark and I are big Hemingway fans, and one of my all-time favorites is A Moveable Feast.

Nice review of Our Man in Havana. Greene grows on me the more I read him.

Nice new profile pic, too.

#213 Thanks Mac! I don't know if you saw the little story I wrote on Mark's thread regarding my romantic night with A Moveable Feast?, but I just ordered the copy of the restored edition to read again so I can have it fresh in my mind before starting on The Paris Wife. Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald are two authors that I really admire—The Great Gatsby is one of my all-time favourites that I plan on reading over and over again. Had seen the movie many times before reading it and was astounded on how well they interpreted the book. No denying it's a great movie in it's own right. I have quite a stack of books by both these Lost Generation contemporaries that I want to get through, but there's no big hurry either. I'd rather savour them slowly anyway.

greenegraham::Graham Greene is another author that I have deep respect for, and I hope that I'll make my way through a good portion of his massive bibliography over the years.

Thanks for the compliment on the profile pic. I really hesitated about making it that visible (a bit shy that way), so we'll see how long it actually stays up there! :-)

I finished listening to Tripwire by Lee Child this afternoon. I really enjoyed it overall. A few minor technicalities that bugged me a bit, but I'll definitely be looking out for other books in the Jack Reacher series. What's interesting is that this book is the third, but in many ways it seemed like it was the beginning of the series, since there was a lot of talk about Reacher's origins and so on.

Stopped by for a HELLO...then saw Mac's reference to your new Profile Pic.....ahem.....we could possibly be "sisters" with the dark hair parted..the glasses? my frames are thinner but still black...this is getting eerie.....

A Moveable Feast & The Sun Also Rises are the only Hemingways that I have read...i refused to to Old Man and the Sea in school...because I was deep into the RUSSIANS at that time....Dostoyevsky, to be exact.Must have been hell for my teacher....since it was 8th grade!!

Graham Greene's work i have loved forever...read much way before I joined LT...The Comedians....is not "funny"

.......you see, how you get me started after a seriously Bad Day!!!

{{{hug}}}

I am impressed by your ambitious list. I look forward to hearing what you think of all the audio and am grateful that you usually mention who the narrator is since I know that sometimes there are differences in what is available in the US and other countries. I'm trying to expand what we listen to since the daughter seemed to like the audio version of Sense and Sensibility and wasn't bothered by the brief bit of Percy Jackson that she heard. I like good juvenile/middle grade books as much as anyone but sometimes I want more variety than that really aimed at 6-9 year olds.

Joyful Noise was part of our library haul this past week. I'm hopeful that the 5 year old will be able to read some of the poems with me.

I like your list in #208, I loved The Rehearsal which I read a couple of years ago.
I read most of Graham Geene's books a long time ago but I'm about to reread Brighton Rock because it was referenced so much in King Dork and I got curious. (I loved the audio version of King Dork).
Good to see your positive comments of Tripwire, I started reading them out of sequence to start with, it doesn't matter that much. I love a good actionpacked thriller from time to time.

#216 Jude, I'm sorry to hear you've had another bad day. This time of year is really challenging for lots of people for all kinds of reasons, so at least we're in good company. :-)

Now I'm REALLY curious to see a picture of you. I don't usually wear my hair parted. I'm just not taking care of myself these days and have too many bad hair days to mention so it's always just tied back in a pony tail. I really need a haircut but haven't seen my fabulous hairdresser in a year and am ashamed to show myself looking so scraggly! It's kind of a posh salon, otherwise I guess I wouldn't mind, but I don't know too many hairdressers that are so good that your hair stays beautiful 6 months after the cut.

I read a bit of the Russians as a teenager, and really enjoyed them. My mother also started reading them at a very young age and I think she's read them all! I do plan on reading much more, but will start with a re-read of Anna Karenina since I haven't read the translation by Richard Pevear & Larissa Volokhonsky and then will have to conquer my fear of big books and finally get around to reading War and Peace! For starters, anyway. Dostoyevsky scares me a little. I did read some decades ago and liked it back then but can't remember what I read now.

DO read The Old Man and the Sea. It really is a masterpiece which deserves to be read several times and it's a short book too, and filled with drama.

#217 You've reminded me with your comment that I really need to be more assiduous about including the narrator's name and publishing house in my reviews when it comes to audiobooks as those are such important factors that can make or break the experience. I need to do a re-read of Pride and Prejudice because I came away really perplexed with my recent experience of it. Jane Austen intimidates me for some reason. I think I'll watch the movie on Netflix tonight and then get an audiobook version of it because for the first time this year, I have no idea what to say in my review. It bothers me because I've been wanting to read P&P for a long time and was told by so many people that I'd love it... oh well. I'm not familiar with Percy Jackson. Should I get acquainted with him do you think? I'm started listening to Matilda by Roald Dahl this evening and love it already. Talk about terrible parenting! :-o

#218 Kerry, I was really excited to find The Rehearsal at the library. I've been wanting to purchase it for over a year but for some reason the paperback versions were always out of stock...

I'm just now listening to a sample of the King Dork audio and it sounds like I'd really like it too. I COULD borrow the book from the library but might splurge on the audio from Audible because the narrator, Lincoln Hoppe, definitely works for me. I just looked up other recordings by him and found that he also did Marcelo in the Real World. Very tempting!

Tripwire certainly did it for me as far as thrillers go. I'll borrow The Killing Floor next, just because I'm so curious to see how he presents Jack Reacher to us in the fist book.

#219 It's late...i can only say "OY"

I am my own Hairdresser..I need a cut if I can find the scissors. Yes, I cut my own.....after shampoo...whack off an inch or so...don't flinch..my hair is very thick wif a lotta body...a simple whack doesn't hurt..

and I still like your Pic...

my reading as a "youngster' was probably my Salvation as a person...thankfully, i re-read the Russians as an "adult" and they still feed my soul...I have War and Peaceon my Kindle...the Peaver/Volokonsky translation....and dip my toe in periodically...WOW!

;-}

Jude, one of my first real jobs when I left home just shy of 18 was working as a receptionist for a highly reputable hair salon belonging to a French hairstylist extraordinaire and his wife. Of course I got my hair cut free, and it was styled every day, since I was the first person the customers saw when they came into the salon. That pretty well spoiled me for life when it comes to haircuts. I have hair that is very fine and kind of wavy and if it's not cut perfectly right, it just looks awful. I'm very loyal to my hairdressers and I've been with my current one for 10 years. I usually just plop myself into her chair and say "do whatever" and I'm always, always happy with the results. Not necessarily when I step out of the salon, because she insists on styling it perfectly, when I want it as natural as possible, but after the first wash, I feel like a whole new, better version of me. I really need to call up the salon and make an appointment. I've been feeling like something the cat brought in for months and month... and months now. About time I did something about it. I took the pic with my 'puter late last night as an exercise to show myself that even at my absolute worst (exhausted, dirty hair, not a trace of makeup-not that I wear any these days), I can still manage to be photogenic if I show all the right angles. ;-)

When I get to War and Peace it will be FOR SURE the Pevear/Volokhonsky translation.

eta: fixed spelling for names of translators

I was hoping to finish The Shadow of the Wind and The Portrait of a Lady this month because they're both group reads on TIOLI, but it looks like that's unlikely to happen. I could focus on just one of the two and finish it, but I'm enjoying both of them very much and if I put one aside for more than a couple of days, I'll lose the thread of the story and forget who all the characters are. Big, big problem I know. ;-)

Ilana- You are running an interesting thread here, from hair-styles to Tolstoy. We should plan on reading War and Peace at some point. After reading Conroy's thoughts about it, I need to finally get to this classic.

Mark, from hairstyles to Tolstoy indeed! I don't know what I was thinking posting that long message about haircuts. Makes me cringe now. It's Jude's fault, I swear! :-)

I'd love to read War and Peace along with you. I know there's been a group read of it going on, but I wasn't prepared for it when they started it. It's a pretty big commitment of a book, that's for sure!

I'm yearning for trees and flowers to do their Spring thing so we can finally get out of all this grubby greyness. In the meantime I started a painting in my class today that gave me a nice colour boost. It'll probably change quite a lot over time, but here it is in it's initial state:

How lovely, that would make a great screen saver. 22 degrees with sun in Indiana this morning, sure brightens the morning.

Nice painting!

Chiming in late on the Jane Austen discussion -- I never got very far reading her. Just not my cup of tea. I don't "get" why she's considered so wonderful, and sometimes that makes me feel a little dense. I'm glad I'm not the only one who doesn't enjoy her.

Charlotte Bronte, however, is another story. I LOVED Jane Eyre -- one of my favorites from the moment I first read it as a teen. I re-read it within the past year, and still loved it.

#227 Thanks Cindy! By 22 degrees, I'm assuming you mean celcius, right?

#228 I know exactly what you mean regarding Jane Austen—you took the words right out of my mouth. However, I don't completely not enjoy her, it's just that it's all very foreign to me in almost every conceivable way. But I decided this week that there's no reason for me at all to feel dense about that, since I'm very much enjoying Portrait of a Lady, and plenty of people find Henry James difficult to read so... so there! :-P

We're doing a group read of Jane Eyre in April. You're most welcome to participate with your comments if you like.

Ilana- I like the painting. A nice burst of color. You'll have to give us updates.
Sorry, I am being such a dud, over on your Mystery March thread. I really haven't read any mysteries this month, which is very rare for me. They are beginning to really stack up. Yikes!

Mark, I have a site where I post some of my artwork and I often wait till I've gone through several steps to show it all at once. I'll let you know when I post this one on there so you can have a look when I'm more or less happy with it.

No worries about Mystery March. I'm sure you know there's no obligation—and I know you've had plenty of interesting stuff to read. I didn't read nearly as many mysteries as I thought I would for precisely the same reason.

Ilana, no 22 degrees Fahrenheit. We are having a cold spring. It did get up to about 38 degrees F. this afternoon.

52. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen ★★⅚

What can I say? At the beginning of the book, I felt like I was reading Sense and Sensibility all over again, only without all the amusing bits about John and Fanny Dashwood. I failed to be captivated by the hysterical Mrs Bennet and her indifferent husband, and the arrival of Darcy on the scene was underwhelming at best. Jane and Elizabeth's time at Bingley's became more interesting by degrees and I was especially thankful for the arrival of Mr Collins, a wonderful caricature of obnoxiousness which livened things up quite a bit for me. By the time Elizabeth was off visiting Charlotte and her cousin, I finally started to understand what all the fuss about this novel was about, and thought that Austen's portrayal of the unbearable Mrs Catherine de Bourgh was simply perfect. Followed Darcy's letter to Elizabeth explaining himself, in which the cardboard cutout with the word "Pride" printed on it, finally started becoming a man. All things went quite well after that, until all the fuss about Lydia began.

I understand perfectly well that early 19th century England had vastly different moral standards than our own. I frequently read authors from (admittedly later) in that century and never question that fact, but I couldn't help becoming more and more annoyed about all the fuss that was being made about Lydia, and all the talk about the unbearable shame brought on to the family. At this point, I made a comment on my thread which was perhaps a small cry for help; it was something along the lines of not giving a flying *you-know-what* about what happened to the girl. Shortly after that, aggravation became complete exasperation when I tried with great difficulty to wade through several passages of prose so convoluted that I couldn't make heads nor tails of it, which is when my temper got the better of me and I promptly hurled the book across the room, only to have it bounce right back at me. So I picked it up again and made myself finish the book in one sitting. By the end, I was willing to make peace with Jane Austen again.

All's well that ends well, right? Wrong. Because seriously, do I need yet another dysfunctional relationships in my life, and with an author who's been dead for nearly two hundred years at that? I guess the only way to know for sure whether or not I'll ever get complete satisfaction from her books is to keep trying again and again until I either: a) Become a hard-core Jane Austen devotee and earn the approval of her legions of adoring fans or b) Throw myself off a bridge, because really, is life worth living if I don't have it in me to enjoy such a fantastic author? or c) Decide once and for all to stop trying so hard; I doubt Jane Austen will be spinning in her grave because this humble reader doesn't get what all the fuss is about.

This review can also be found on the book's main page.

Liked the review - thumb up from me! Frankly, I liked Pride and Prejudice and Zombies quite a bit more. :)

53. My Reading Life by Pat Conroy ★★⅚

What I liked about this book:
- it made me really want to read Gone with the Wind. Or maybe get the audio version. Or at least watch the movie again.
- The chapter about Paris, because interesting things are always bound to happen in Paris.
- It made me really want to read War and Peace. Which is nothing new, but still.

What I didn't like about this book:
- Why say something in a few sentences when you can say it using ten thousand words instead?
- His emotional and mental distress must have been catching, because it was making me more upset than I already was.
- I quite admire Ernest Hemingway for the directness and simplicity of his language.
- Pat Conroy on Thomas Wolfe: "His art is completely overdone and yet I find it incomparably beautiful."
- It put me off reading Thomas Wolfe, and sort of put me off reading more Pat Conroy too for that matter.

This review can also be found on the book's main page.

54. Tripwire by Lee Child (audiobook) ★★★★
Narration: Dick Hill
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
(Read for Mystery March and TIOLI)

Jack Reacher is living out in Key West digging out swimming pools for a living. When a stranger in a bar asks Reacher where he can find this man, 'Jack Reacher', he pretends he doesn't have a clue, but before taking his leave, the stranger tells him his name is Costello and that he's been sent by his client, a Mrs. Jacob from New York city, to find him. Later than night, while Reacher is working at his second job as the doorman in a strip club, two more strangers come looking for Jack Reacher, and again, our man tells them he doesn't know who they're talking about. But later, when he finishes his shift, Reacher finds Costello dead with his fingerprints cut off and decides he needs to go to New York and find out who this Mrs. Jacob could be and why a man has lost his life after asking around about him.

I didn't know what to expect from my first Lee Child book, but I can say it certainly won't be my last. Tripwire is actually the third in the Jack Reacher series, but I wouldn't have known from the story, since there's plenty of background information on Reacher and his origins here. This novel combined thriller elements, including sadistic businessmen with hidden agendas, and the search for a soldier who disappeared in the Vietnam war without a trace, along with a passionate romance that wasn't too sappy for my tastes. It soon becomes obvious that this book was written pre-9/11 since the twin towers feature prominently as a location. Good pacing and buildup, with a twist near the end which sneaked up on me which was an added bonus.

The narrator does a great job in the audio version, and while at first I found the sound quality to be wanting, it quickly stopped being an issue.

This review can also be found on the book's main page.

Jim, I definitely plan on trying out Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. I'm not that crazy about zombies, so if I prefer that one to the original, I guess I'll know the score! :-)

One of Jane Austen's legions of adoring fans here, weighing in to the discussion a bit late. I'm saddened that you don't seem to get on too well with our Jane.

I agree you do have to be in the right headspace to get to grips with the different flow of language of her time - it took me a while to get into S&S, so I do understand.

And there's an almost alien culture (coming from a family that seems almost ringed around by immutable, indecipherable customs, I can follow that, too). I mean, so what if Elizabeth wanted to walk 3 miles in the rain by herself (I'd have taken the car, personally) - but part of the horror of it for the Bingley sisters was that she was unchaperoned. I know we can backpack around the world by ourselves if we want, but it was different in that society. As recently as Prince Charles marrying Lady Diana, the bride-to-be had to be a virgin.

What I love about Austen's writing is the humour; the opening sentence of P&P, for example - 'it is a truth universally acknowledged that a young man ... must be in want of a wife'- the poor young man doesn't have a say, but it's up to the old biddies in his new neighbourhood to choose his life partner for him!

But if you can stand to pick up Austen again, I'd recommend trying an annotated version (though not on the first read, because that distracts from the flow of the story), which would explain all these mysteries far better than I can.

Ilana- I always appreciate the honesty in your reviews. We have different opinions on both P &P and the Conroy. I loved them both. I think a person's state of mind can also color their opinions. I know it has happened to me.

Oh, I am so late...here

Never mind that you weren't captivated by Jane Austen...the only one of hers I still like is Emma...my brother paid me $20 to read it for him...for an English Lit class when he was in college..I was 11...he passed the class on the "strength" of my "notes"...go figure...I still like Emma for her clueless bitchiness...that's it, for my Austen

Pat Conroy?? I love his novels...haven't read My Reading Life...so can't really comment

maybe you need more books like Tripwire...because I have never read anything by Lee Child...but you have "piqued my interest"...no mean feat..

>226 Smiler69: I love the painting!!! Am seriously in need of Spring Colours!!

;-}

#238 Thanks for sharing your impressions with me. I'm most definitely willing to keep trying with Jane Austen (see my note to #239 below), and I guess I didn't make myself clear in my review, because I can fully appreciate that the mores and mentalities of the period which Jane Austen was living in and writing about were very different from our modern-day views (though in some ways, not so very different after all). I read quite a few classic works at any given time and generally do make plenty of allowances for that, and can appreciate the context in which events are described. For instance, in the example you gave, I did understand that Elizabeth's walking by herself in the rain would have been completely shocking in her day and could appreciate how that would have been perceived. However, understanding things intellectually doesn't preclude that I may feel annoyed or exasperated sometimes. For instance, as much as I love Anna Karenina and fully understand what was at stake for her and why she was driven to end her life, this doesn't mean that I necessarily agree with her decision. What's clear to me is that my issue isn't so much with lacking understanding about the vast social differences between our present day and the past, as much as having issues with Jane Austen herself. There are times when I find her wit and irony very amusing, and completely *get it*, and other times when it simply doesn't amuse me at all, that's all.

#239 I think a person's state of mind can also color their opinions

You're absolutely right about that Mark. What I didn't say in my review is that I do plan on reading P&P again later and that I've also rented the movie to see if all that might sway me more in favour of it. However, I also decided that to be truly honest about my impressions, I have to rate and review books as I feel about them at the time I've read them. I'm always open to changing my mind about them down the line.

I've also got the audio for Conroy's South of Broad which I got from the library and will be listening to with an open mind when I feel so disposed.

#240 Jude, Tripwire is certainly no great literature, and doesn't try to be either. It's just a well-made thriller that satisfies plenty if that's what you're after. That said, I would definitely NOT be happy with reading that kind of book all the time. I do love great literature too, but in the case of Jane Austen's first two books, which I've read recently, and during a time in my life when I'm most definitely not at my best, even allowing for that, I'm just not prepared to pretend something pleases me just to make myself look good! I'm sure you get that, right?

Woo Hoo! Against all expectation, out of 15 copies for 1430 requesters, I got The American Heiress by Daisy Goodwin from Early Reviewer. I often feel left out because so many books aren't accessible in Canada, but I'll never complain again. I wasn't so keen at first to read about "Beautiful, vivacious Cora Cash, the wealthiest debutante in America, [who is] is spirited away from the glamour and comfort of her Park Avenue mansion and suddenly finds herself Duchess of Wareham, mistress of Lulworth Castle, married to Ivo, the most eligible bachelor in England." but what cliched it for me was: "a dazzling debut novel from Daisy Goodwin, whose brilliant new voice is reminiscent of Henry James, Edith Wharton, and Kate Morton." Now I just hope I really enjoy it, but most especially that it actually gets here because 2 out of 10 ER books were lost in the mail in the past couple of years.

Other books I'm expecting in the mail (for BookDepository.com) are:

Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter by Mario Vargas Llosa (recommended by Donna828)
What Alice Knew: A Most Curious Tale of Henry James and Jack the Ripper by Paula Marantz Cohen (recommended by lkernagh)
Henrietta's War by Joyce Dennys (after requesting, and not getting the 2nd book Henrietta Sees it Through from ER)
Soulless by Gail Carriger (recommended by drneutron)

and of course, a fresh new copy of

A Moveable Feast: The Restored Edition by Ernest Hemingway

#242....via #240 Oh yes..Ilana...never "read to impress"...the entire process sucks....especially when Life is Fragile

Pat Conroy's novels are very good...but, emotionally trying...be warned...

Double "Whoo Hoo" on your LT ER win.....i always feel good at that prize.

{{{{hug}}}} to you, my friend...

*fixed for spelling*

I need to get my thread updated sometime...I finished Bad Luck and Trouble, the 10th (?) Reacher book. That series has been one of my faves for a while!

I look forward to getting back to Sense and Sensibility to see where I fall on the Austen debate. Given that I was an avid reader of regencies, I would expect to enjoy her but one never knows. I've seen the film versions of S&S, P&P and Emma and I specifically wanted to read something that I had seen thinking that it might make the reading a bit easier.

I think I might have to try a Jack Reacher novel.

It has been my intention to read more books set in and around Charleston since moving here. South of Broad is on my TBR list but had a long waiting list when I originally checked on it last year. Perhaps I will get to it this summer (along with Lords of Discipline which is required given that my husband is a professor at The Citadel). As it is, I got stalled halfway through Charleston somewhere in the middle of the Civil War. I'll get back to that at some point. Probably after I read some Laura Childs. Death by Darjeerling is in the TBR pile.

#241 : I see; I was assuming, sorry. More often than not, it's the social gulf between our time and Jane's that causes confusion - last year, there was a thread on why Charlotte would marry Mr Collins, knowing all his faults. (In this day and age, of course not, but in those times, a necessity)

I do love her humor, but sometimes you have to concentrate to follow the language. I love P.G. Wodehouse, too. His humour is easier to get, partly because (being rather closer to our time) the language is easier to follow.

No matter. Onward and upward! What's next; Mansfield Park?

#245 Jim, I just clicked on the touchstone and it looks like you'll be reading #12 next, that is, if you're reading them by publication order. That's what I'll try to do from this point on, in any case.

#246 Makes sense to me that you would want to read about Charleston. I can't even picture what it looks like down there. I've traveled around the States some, but never in the South, save to pass through on a couple of drives down to Florida. You've just made me reflect that it's interesting that I've never thought of seeking out books with Montreal as the main location. Don't know why that would be. Probably something to do with the fact that we Canadians are NOT known for our patriotism. Many French Canadians are keen on having Quebec being a sovereign state, and are Quebec-centric to the point of ignoring (and being ignorant) about anything that takes place outside the province, but I am most definitely not one of them. I'm happy to read about Charleston, but it's a shame that I can't summon on mental images of it.

#247 No problem. Perhaps you weren't completely off the mark when you assumed that the social differences were part of my reservations about Austen. For instance, I complained bitterly to my mother (an avid reader all her life and one of the few RL people I talk to about books) about the fact that S&S is all about finding husbands and the whole romance aspect annoyed me to no end. She reminded me that women didn't have many other options than marriage (something I was well aware of), but also that the notion of romantic love between two partners was something that the majority of people never experienced, and indeed only read about in books, which helped me appreciate that aspect of the novels better.

I've got the first two P.G. Wodehouse books patiently waiting for me to get around to them. I've heard so much about them that I really must discover them for myself. I've got The Inimitable Jeeves in audio version and the sample I heard very much appealed to me.

As for the Austhenathon, Mansfield Park is indeed next in line. The group read begins in mid-May. I'll be joining in with what I hope will be an open mind.

I love the colors in your picture, out here on the west coast we are probably a little ahead of you regarding Spring but so far it is still rather chilly. I scored with The American Heiress as well - we'll have to compare notes.

Tripwire sounds good. I believe the Jack Reacher series is already on my wishlist - must check into that.

I, too, love your painting, Ilana. Colorful and lush. I feel tropical breezes. (In July I will hate tropical breezes, but right now, in chilly March, they sound like a good idea.)

I suspect that in some quarters the admiration of Jane Austen is mere toadying by folks who are afraid to admit that they don't really like her all that well. After all she's been extra 'hot' these last few years and a lot of people don't have the courage to throw cold water on hotness. I realize that while I own a few Austens and have read P&P about 3 times (and seen the Colin Firth film version twice), I haven't actually read any of those others even once. I passed up Persuasion just this morning, presumably because I can't do two classics at the same time (the other classic being The Mill on the Floss, which I am enjoying). Persuasion will get read as soon as I am done with TMotF because the Rule of the Shelf cannot be ignored lest chaos ensue and then I may know a little better myself if I really like JA or not.

>226 Smiler69:: I admire your talent, Ilana. Be sure and post the "after" picture, too! I think we're all in the mood for some bright colors after the dreary winter most of us have experienced.

>233 Smiler69:: Congrats on finishing Pride & Prejudice. And I'm glad you're liking Portrait of a Lady more than your recent Austen experiences.

>235 Smiler69:: I'll be the first to admit that Pat Conroy is the king of flowery language. He tends to overwrite all his books so if you didn't like his reading memoir, you probably won't care for his books either. He's among my favorite authors mainly because he loves reading and writing so much. I guess I can identify with him.

I'm caught up with you now. You've been busy this month with reading and painting. Don't forget to stop and smell the roses...if they ever get a chance to bloom!

I think I lost track of you with the year change, milles pardons. I'll try to do better.

The painting is gorgeous, all kinds of things going on in it. In fact, wow.

Ilana..hey girl,
I've been traveling for a family wedding but so glad I popped over to catch up. Look at that painting! Vibrant and detailed, glad you shared it here as well although I will go look at your site if only to see star gazer again! = )

So, Pat Conroy huh? I live in Atlanta, we travel to near-by Savannah and Charleston several times within the year. It's difficult to not be a Pat Conroy or Nicholas Sparks fan in this area. South of Broad just depressed me. Yes, Conroy makes Charleston come alive almost like a main character, I will give him that. Truly though, when I read Conroy I find myself with a sinking mood, regardless of which title. Will be anxious to read your review from your audio.

#250 After all she's been extra 'hot' these last few years and a lot of people don't have the courage to throw cold water on hotness

Thanks for that Charlotte. You said what I daren't. I felt that just coming out and saying I wasn't 100% into P&P was already quite controversial. I know many people do genuinely love Jane Austen's books, but I did always think that there were plenty of sycophants in the JA camp, especially since the 1995 S&S movie came out I guess. All I know is that I was quite the tortured rebel in those days, and I do recall that Emma in particular with Gwyneth Paltrow absolutely made me want to vomit. lol. I've mellowed out quite a bit over time obviously, but sometimes that rebellious streak pipes up and I have a hard time fully appreciating 'frothier' types of literature, if I may put it that way.

Haven't read any of George Eliot's work yet, and I plan on starting with Silas Mariner for the simple reason that it's a short novel. Something tells me I'll really enjoy her, but considering my fear of big books, I figure it's probably best I not start with Middlemarch or The Mill on the Floss right away, though I'll look forward to reading what you have to say about the latter.

#251 Thanks for the comment on my painting Donna. I'll be happy to post the 'after' version, only judging by my past experiences, I rarely seem to actually finish a painting... I either lose interest or I keep working on them and rarely seem to feel they're good enough to be left alone and considered finished. 'Flowery' is a great word to describe Pat Conroy's writing and I WILL read at least one of his novels before I make up my mind about whether he's for me or not. Thanks for taking the time to catch up, I know you've got lots of threads to keep up with!

#252 No worries, we've all got plenty going on in our own lives and keeping up with the threads around here can often be a daunting task. Glad you were able to join in and thanks for the encouragement on the painting.

#253 Bonnie, nice to see you in these parts! Hope you had a great trip. Your description of Pat Conroy's writing is pretty much as I suspect it might be like. When I was reading My Reading Life, I just had to step away from it for a few days because it was doing nothing to improve my mood (a slight understatement). South of Broad is waiting for me at the library right now, but honestly, I'll have to listen to it when I think I can handle it emotionally. Mr. Conroy makes no bones about the fact that he's been battling with his demons over the years, and as a person who also suffers from clinical depression, I often need to steer clear of depressing material. But then, who knows, maybe it'll make my life seem like a picnic?!

Hi Ilana- Did you start Hugo Cabret? I'm anxious to hear your thoughts. I truly loved that book!

Mark, I took it out of the library this evening and started reading it right away. I'm loving it - it's everything I was hoping for and... more? Thanks for the recommendation Mark!

Moving on to a new thread right here