kidzdoc: 75 from the shelves #4

Romare Bearden, Watching the Good Trains Go By, 1964, collage of various papers on cardboard







Thread #1
Thread #2
Thread #3

Currently reading:

     The Collaborator by Mirza Waheed
     White Egrets by Derek Walcott
     The Three Christs of Ypsilanti by Milton Rokeach
     The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna

Completed books:
January:
     1. Angel of Death: The Story of Smallpox by Gareth Williams (review)
     2. A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore (review)
     3. The Memory Chalet by Tony Judt (review)
     4. The Gospel According to Jesus Christ by José Saramago (review)
     5. The Tenant and the Motive by Javier Cercas (review)
     6. Who Killed Palomino Molero? by Mario Vargas Llosa (review)
     7. An African in Greenland by Tété-Michel Kpomassie (review)
     8. The Elected Member by Bernice Rubens (review)
     9. The Good Doctor by Damon Galgut
     10. Blind Man with a Pistol by Chester Himes (review)
     11. Yalo by Elias Khoury

February:
     12. Match Day: One Day and One Dramatic Year in the Lives of Three New Doctors by Brian Eule (review)
     13. Monument Eternal: The Music of Alice Coltrane by Franya J. Berkman (review)
     14. Egypt on the Brink: From Nasser to Mubarak by Tarek Osman
     15. Métaphysique des tubes (The Character of Rain) by Amélie Nothomb (review)
     16. The Seine Was Red: Paris, October 1961 by Leïla Sebbar (review)
     17. The Secret History of Costaguana by Juan Gabriel Vasquéz (review)
     18. Staying On by Paul Scott (review)
     19. Hygiène de l'assassin (Hygiene and the Assassin) by Amélie Nothomb
     20. Autism's False Prophets: Bad Science, Risky Medicine, and the Search for a Cure by Paul A. Offit, M.D.
     21. Jonah's Gourd Vine by Zora Neale Hurston (review)
     22. The Latino Challenge to Black America by Earl Ofari Hutchinson (review)
     23. Fear and Trembling by Amélie Nothomb (review)

March:
     24. In the Country of Men by Hisham Matar (review)
     25.The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje
     26. Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball's Last Hero by David Maraniss (review)
     27. The Book of Proper Names by Amélie Nothomb
     28. A History of the African-American People (Proposed) by Strom Thurmond (A Novel) by Percival Everett & James Kincaid
     29. I Shall Not Hate: A Gaza Doctor's Journey by Izzeldin Abuelaish (review)
     30. Memory of Departure by Abdulrazak Gurnah (review)
     31. Little Mountain by Elias Khoury (review)
     32. Chinese Dreams (Kindle Single) by Anand Giridharadas (review)
     33. Harlem Is Nowhere by Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts (review)
     34. Morning and Evening Talk by Naguib Mahfouz (review)
     35. Redemption in Indigo by Karen Lord
     36. The Anatomy of a Moment by Javier Cercas (review)
     37. Pakistan and the Mumbai Attacks (Kindle Single) by Sebastian Rotella
     38. Chopin's Move by Jean Echenoz

April:
     39. A Savage War of Peace: Algeria 1954-1962 by Alistair Horne
     40. Annabel by Kathleen Winter
     41. Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell
     42. Dubliners by James Joyce
     43. A Murder of Crows by Larry D. Thomas
     44. The Carpenter's Pencil by Manuel Rivas
     45. Send in the Idiots: Stories from the Other Side of Autism by Kamran Nazeer
     46. On Elegance While Sleeping by Viscount Lascano Tegui
     47. Being Abbas el Abd by Ahmed Alaidy

My 11 in 11 challenge:

A. Read a book I already own by 11 different Nobel Prize laureates
     1. The Gospel According to Jesus Christ by José Saramago
     2. Who Killed Palomino Molero? by Mario Vargas Llosa
     3. Morning and Evening Talk by Naguib Mahfouz

B. Read a New York Review Books book that I already own
     1. An African in Greenland by Tété-Michel Kpomassie

C. Read a nonfiction book (that doesn't fit in category H, I or K) that I already own
     1. The Latino Challenge to Black America by Earl Ofari Hutchinson
     2. A Savage War of Peace: Algeria 1954-1962 by Alistair Horne
     3. Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell

D. Read a Booker Prize winner that I already own
     1. The Elected Member by Bernice Rubens (1970)
     2. Staying On by Paul Scott (1977)
     3. The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje (1992)

E. Read a novel by an African-American author that I aleady own
     1. Blind Man with a Pistol by Chester Himes
     2. Jonah's Gourd Vine by Zora Neale Hurston
     3. A History of the African-American People (Proposed) by Strom Thurmond, as told to Percival Everett & James Kincaid (A Novel) by Percival Everett & James Kincaid

F. Read a novel from the 2011 Booker Prize longlist (or from longlists of previous years)
     1. The Good Doctor by Damon Galgut (2003 shortlist)
     2. In the Country of Men by Hisham Matar (2006 shortlist)

G. Read a novel from the 2011 Orange Prize longlist (or from longlists of previous years)
     1. A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore (2010 shortlist)
     2. Annabel by Kathleen Winter (2011 longlist)

H. Read a medicine or science book that I already own
     1. Angel of Death: The Story of Smallpox by Gareth Williams
     2. Autism's False Prophets: Bad Science, Risky Medicine, and the Search for a Cure by Paul A. Offit, M.D.

I. Read a biography or autobiography that I already own
     1. Monument Eternal: The Music of Alice Coltrane by Franya J. Berkman
     2. Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball's Last Hero by David Maraniss

J. Read a book published by Archipelago Books in 2009-2011
     1. Yalo by Elias Khoury

K. Read a novel by a public intellectual that I already own
     1. The Memory Chalet by Tony Judt

I enjoy following your posts, and even ordered one of your recent reads for my son (3rd year med student) for his birthday. (Match Day.

#2: Thanks! Please let me know how your son likes Match Day.

Hi Darryl. You've read twice as many books as I have this year and, for the most part, of much better quality! I'm off to a slow start this year.

Hi, Pat. It seems that I'm not reading as much as I did in 2010, but I had only finished 31 books by the end of last March.

I finished the LT Early Reviewer I received in the mail this weekend, Harlem Is Nowhere by Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts, which was uneven and disjointed but ended well. I'll review it tomorrow.

Hi Darryl, just stopping by to commiserate about talented basketball teams that lose (following Purdue's loss to VCU).

Sorry about the Boilermakers, Laura. Believe it or not, my bracket for the Southwest Region is perfect*: #1 Kansas, #12 Richmond, #11 VCU and #10 Florida State, which is why I'm still in first place in my group. However, I have far and away the least number of Possible Points Remaining of anyone, so I'll get passed by nearly everyone starting with the next round, like a race car that has run out of gas. The Pitt loss killed me, along with Texas' loss to Arizona (as UT was one of my Final Four teams), Marquette's upset of Syracuse (I had the Orange in my Elite Eight), and UNC's comeback win over Washington.

*That bracket is almost perfect; I had Louisville beating Morehead State, but then losing to Richmond in the third round.

The Big East has played like rubbish so far. Only two teams are left (UConn and Marquette), and both beat another Big East team in the third round to advance to the Sweet 16 (*hangs head in shame*).

I finished another disappointing book in the recently completed Read-a-thon, Morning and Evening Talk by Naguib Mahfouz. However, the book I chose after it, Redemption in Indigo by Karen Lord, is vying to become my third soapbox book of the year. I'll finish it later today.

Book #33: Harlem Is Nowhere: A Journey to the Mecca of Black America by Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts



My rating:

Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts, a native Texan who graduated from Harvard in 2000, moved to Harlem two years later to pursue professional opportunities in New York City. In 2004 she wrote an article about her experiences living there, and was encouraged to write this book, which is named after a 1948 essay by Ralph Ellison about the psychological and existential aspects of life in Harlem.

Rhodes-Pitts introduces us to several of her older neighbors, who have experienced the dramatic changes of this now resurgent section of Manhattan that counts Bill Clinton and other whites as new residents. Despite these recent changes, a culture of respect and camaraderie, based on mores of African Americans who migrated to New York from the Jim Crow South decades ago, still exists. We also learn about past residents of Harlem, including familiar ones such as Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Marcus Garvey and Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., and less well known but no less important figures, including George Young, whose bookstore was known as the "Mecca of Literature Pertaining to Colored People", and Victoria Earle Matthews, the founder of the White Rose Home, which aided female emigrants establish a foothold and learn basic skills necessary to survive in a metropolis that existed beyond the imagination of the daughters of slaves and sharecroppers.

The book is divided into thematic chapters, which include the literature of Harlem, the neighborhood as a place of refuge, written signs and messages with overt and hidden meanings, and past and current efforts to keep the neighborhood from becoming gentrified or unduly commercialized.

The book ends with the author's observation of the African American Day Parade in Harlem, which serves as a celebration of life in the neighborhood but also as an account of the tension and stress that exists there, as peaceful residents are caught between hostile city police officers and young men who seek an outlet for their passions and frustrations.

Harlem Is Nowhere does not provide a comprehensive history of the neighborhood, particularly its founding and the story of the people who lived there before the Great Migration of blacks from the South in the early 20th century, and the personal stories are limited to the sections where the author has lived and knows best. Several key aspects of Harlem life are also excluded, most notably key figures in the entertainment industries of jazz and modern dance, and the vibrant nightlife at legendary spots such as the Cotton Club and Minton's Playhouse. However, the book does serve as an appealing and interesting set of observations about the famous and every day people who have influenced and contributed to the life of Harlem over the past century.

Book #34: Morning and Evening Talk by Naguib Mahfouz



My rating:

This is an experimental novel written toward the end of the Nobel Laureate's career, which consists of brief stories about 67 people in three Cairo families spanning five generations over two centuries, from the years preceding Napoleon's invasion of Egypt to the aftermath of Anwar Sadat's assassination and the ascension of Hosni Mubarak to power. The short biographies are arranged in Arabic alphabetical order; as a result, the stories do not have a linear or historical flow. Apparently Mahfouz expects the reader to link these disjointed stories together, in order to weave a tapestry that would represent the complexity of Cairinese society over two centuries. I viewed this as a homework assignment from hell, and sped my way through the stories, which seemed to consist mainly of people in miserable marriages, tormented by their relatives and children and frustrated by societal limitations. Mahfouz is one of my favorite writers, but I would avoid this book like a plague of locusts.

I was at Borders yesterday and managed to get a copy of Match Day which was on my wish list after I read your review, Darryl. Now I can't wait to get to it.

Good job, Caroline! I'm eager to get your take on it.

Please let me know when you read the Archipelago tomes we've received in the past few months, Stone Upon Stone by Wieslaw Mysliwski, and A Time for Everything by Karl Knausgaard. I probably won't read either one until the summer, but I'd be willing to tackle them sooner if you, Rebecca, Deborah or Suz are interested in a group read.

Thanks for the heads up on the Mahfouz -- I like him so much I would have mindlessly picked it up......

Although I am back to add that I think it is good for writers to experiment even when it fails. If you're already famous though, nobody will tell you that, so some unfortunate books get published.

You're welcome, Lucy. This is the only work by Mahfouz that I haven't liked, so I'll continue to read him. Other reviewers liked this book better than I did, though.

I agree with you; it is good for writers to experiment.

Happy Almost 50th Birthday Darryl! May the 24th be as special as you are!

Thanks, Linda! I have to work that day, so it will probably be just like any other day. I'll celebrate with my family at the end of next month, though.

I did buy myself a birthday present, a 42 inch Sharp LCD HDTV that Dell was selling online at a deep discount.

Darryl
What a great birthday present to yourself. Enjoy!

Thanks, Linda. I don't watch much TV, except for the morning news, The NewsHour on PBS, and occasional sporting events, and I still have a cathode ray tube set. I learned about the sale from today's CNET Cheapskate Tech Deal Alert, and decided to take the plunge and get it.

March 24th is also the birthday of Lawrence Ferlinghetti, the beat poet who co-founded City Lights Books and will celebrate his 92nd birthday on Thursday, and our own Cait (Cait86), who is a wee bit younger than that. Happy birthday to them, as well!

I have to look at that Cheapskate site! Jim has been campaigning for a new flat-screen TV forever, but it will take rearranging (make that redecorating) the livingroom to find the right place for it. But we'll get there.

Happy Birthday in advance, in case I forget on the 24th. Hope to see you in Atlanta next month.

I'll wish you an early Happy Birthday while I'm checking out your new thread, Darryl. I hope you have a good day at work on Thursday - and enjoy that new TV. I don't watch much TV either but now I enjoy it more with my new(ish) set.

Book #36: The Anatomy of a Moment: Thirty-Five Minutes in History and Imagination by Javier Cercas



My rating:

February 23rd, 1981. The Congress of Deputies, Spain's lower house of the legislative branch of government, is in the process of electing Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo as President of the Spanish government and Prime Minister of the country, replacing the controversial and almost universally reviled Adolfo Suárez, the first Prime Minister elected after the end of Franco's dictatorship. Calvo Sotelo needs a simple majority, which is all but guaranteed after he failed to win an absolute majority in an election held on February 20th.

There is a commotion outside of the chamber, causing the deputies to hold their breaths. Suddenly, armed members of the Guardia Civil, led by Lieutenant Colonel Antonio Tejero, rush into the room, and demand that the deputies duck for cover. Tejero stands before them and announces a coup d'état in opposition to democracy and the election of the new Prime Minister, as bullets fired by the Guardia Civil fly aimlessly about. Three men remain seated or standing throughout the chaos: Adolfo Suárez, who resigned a few weeks earlier; General Manuel Gutiérrez Mellado, the Deputy Prime Minister, who unsuccessfully attempts to order Tejero to drop his weapon and surrender, and is led to his seat by Suárez; and Santiago Carrillo, the leader of the Communist Party, whose organization was incorporated into the government by Suárez in 1977, an act that drew the ire of the military and led to the beginning of the opposition to Suárez that ultimately led to the coup.

The King of Spain, Juan Carlos I, gave a televised address before the country denouncing the golpistas. By that evening the bloodless coup fell apart, and the hostages were released the following morning. Calvo Sotelo was elected Prime Minister on February 25th, and the young democracy was preserved.

Radio coverage of the coup by the golpistas was broadcast throughout the country, and cameras captured the event as it happened, although it was not shown on television until the next day. The story of the coup d'état remains incomplete 30 years after it took place, despite numerous investigations and literature written about it. (A video of the coup as it takes place can be seen here.)

Javier Cercas, one of the most highly regarded contemporary Spanish novelists, aimed to write a novel about the coup, known as 23-F for the date of its occurrence, which was the last coup that has taken place in Western Europe. He completed a first draft, then realized that it was not sufficient, as it was not based on detailed factual information. Cercas then researched the event in great detail, reading everything he could about the events leading up to the coup, interviewing participants and investigators, and repeatedly watching the entire television coverage of the event. The result was this book, an exquisitely detailed work of nonfiction based mainly on four key actors: Tejero, Suárez, Gutiérrez Mellado, and Carrillo. Cercas uses his literary skill to link the stories into a coherent whole, which also provides a interesting analysis into the workings of politics and the government and military of Spain following Franco's death.

The Anatomy of a Moment is a major accomplishment, which deservedly won four major book awards in Spain upon its publication. However, it is not one written for the casual reader, and would be best appreciated by those interested in the history of post-Franco Spain or Western democracy.

Great review, Darryl. And thanks for the link to the video of the coup. I'm going to favorite your message so I can find it again. I need to get to this book because I got it as an ER book too.

"Book" #32: Chinese Dreams by Anand Giridharadas



My rating:

N.B. I'm not sure whether to count this as a "book" or not, as it is a Kindle Single, which is a document that is shorter than a traditional book but longer than a typical magazine article. However, it does have a unique identification number (ASIN), and LibraryThing recognizes it as a book, so I'll count it as one.

Having said that...

Anand Giridharadas, an author and columnist for the International Herald Tribune and the New York Times, traveled to China last summer to obtain a first hand view of the latest developments toward democracy there. He visited Shanghai, Beijing, Chengdu, and Ningbo, and spoke mainly to the young urban elite in a wide variety of industries, compiling their thoughts and his observations into this account. Giridharadas notes that a common theme among the people he interviewed is a concern that China may be developing far too quickly with an overemphasis on Western capitalism, as the country's older values and traditions are buried and forgotten. They express themselves politically and socially within the confines of the government and its censors, and their values and beliefs are uniquely their own, and not completely in line with the older generations, the Chinese government, or Western society. This was a very interesting document, which was short on analysis due to its short size, but a worthy read nonetheless.

#18: Judy, here's a link to today's Cheapskate alert: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13845_3-20045865-58.html?tag=nl.e796

I hope to see you & Jim here next month!

#19: Thanks, Donna. It will be easier for me to look at a larger screen TV than the relatively tiny CRT model I have now. I doubt that I'll look at TV programs more often, though.

#21: Thanks, Pat. I found The Anatomy of a Moment easier to read in smaller portions, rather than try to read it all at once.

Thanks for that tip about reading Anatomy of a Moment Darryl. I'm hoping that I'm going to like it since developing an interest in the Spanish Civil War in my Hemingway class last Fall.

My husband was all gung-ho on getting a flat screen TV a couple of years ago and I couldn't figure out what the fuss was but when we got it I understood.

Several of the Club Readers, particularly Jane (janepriceestrada), Lois (avaland) and Ellen (EBT1002), are posting summaries of the literary magazines and journals that they are reading. I love this idea, and I'll start doing the same on Club Read and here, since I have several years' worth of back issues of The Paris Review, the Bellevue Literary Review and Callaloo that I haven't read. I'll try to read at least 1-2 of these every month, starting with the Winter 2010 issue of The Paris Review (#195), since I read the excellent Art of Fiction interview of Louise Erdrich in that issue this weekend.

#20. Nice summary Darryll. I've been meaning to buy this book but kept postponing it- your comments tilted me towards getting it (iin Spanish for me of course).

As a side note. Prior to the attempted coup, King Juan Carlos used to be referred derisively as Juan Carlos "the brief"- on the pressumption that he'd last only a short time and the monarchy would disappear. His strong leadership and support for democracy at that moment gave him the stature and earned the respect of most Spaniards from then on.

Thanks for the link, Darryl. And two very interesting reviews.

When I joined Club Read (in a rush of enthusiasm called 'eyes bigger than stomach'), I posted the occasional New Yorker article from my 5 year old trove (I'm reading April 2006 now). Unfortunately, the issues that were written during the Bush years don't seem to have the staying power of prior years. But I've restarted my reading, so I might find something interesting to post.

I also have quite a few issues of Granta, none of them recent. Like the New Yorkers, they just piled up when I was a subscriber, and I finally pulled the plug on them. But some of the work is fascinating. If I get to them, I'll post on Club Read, and maybe here. I think each of them gets a book id.

I enjoyed that snippet from the Erdrich interview, Darryl. She is one of my favorite authors these days.

Because I have reached the half century before you did, Darryl, and because my memory is not quite as good as it was when I was 49 I am sending you my birthday greetings a wee bit early.............

glitter-graphics.com

Darryl, I'm going to add my birthday wishes early too since I'll be out a good part of tomorrow. I hope you have a wonderful day and an ongoing celebration.

Darryl - I hope you have a wonderful birthday!!!

Darryl, happy birthday early !

My gosh, Darryl, 50?

A happy, easy day at work and a wonderful evening for you. Best wishes for a very healthy and happy year ahead.

Happy Birthday Darryl!!!

Happy Day to you dear one!

Happy birthday!

Covering my eyes and peeking to see if I can avoid adding to the TBR pil - no, I can't. Anatomy of a moment and Chinese dreams both sound interesting, but the very first thing I'll look at is the Erdrich link.

Happy birthday Daryl! I'll be hitting the big 5-0 myself later this year.

Many happy returns, Darryl! I hope your day is splendid, that you get as feted and spoiled as you deserve (which is amply).

p.s. you deffo do NOT look fifty, you young whippersnapper

Happy birthday!!!! :-)

Happy Birthday Darryl!! Hope the next fifty are just as great as the first fifty:)

Hope you have a great Birthday, Darryl!

Joining in on the happy birthday wishes. Hope you have a wonderful day and year, and I'm living proof that getting to be 50 doesn't mean you're old!

Have a great day on your 50th birthday!

Fiftieth. HA! More like thirtieth. Man looks like his own little brother. *hatehatehate*

Oh yay - Happy Birthday!!!!

Have a fantastic birthday, Darryl

Thanks for the birthday wishes, everyone! One of my partners bought a BIG birthday cake, and a couple of dozen doctors and nurses gave me a surprise birthday party. However, I knew that something fishy was up when I was paged STAT to see one of my patients in room 338, and 5 minutes later one of my partners texted me to help him with a patient in room 339. It was a LONG day, and I didn't leave the hospital until 10:30 pm, so I'll celebrate a bit more over the weekend.

I received my best present of all in the mail today: my new AARP membership card!

Off to bed...

Belated happy birthday

Congratulations on the AARP membership, Darryl!

Belated happy birthday Darryl

Happy Birthday Darryl. Here's to a great celebration this weekend!

#17 - Happy Birthday to you too, Darryl! Sorry you had to work yesterday, but enjoy your weekend. :) LOL, and yes, I am just a bit younger than 92 (67 years younger, to be exact).

#48-52: Thanks for the birthday wishes! I was zoned out yesterday, but I did manage to finish another Kindle Single, Pakistan and the Mumbai Attacks by Sebastian Rotella, which described the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai at the Taj Hotel, one of the city's major train stations, and a synagogue. It was a superb and eye-opening piece of journalism, one of the better ones I've read recently. I'll review it later today or sometime during the week.

I'll have brunch with a friend later this morning, and I'll probably see the play "Superior Donuts" this afternoon (although I'm still pretty worn out).

Happy 50th Birthday, Darryl! Sorry for the delay. I know we have lost touch, but I see you are still reading some fascinating books. Keep it up, sir!

#54: Thanks, Mark! I need to relocate your thread, too.

I just finished Chopin's Move by Jean Echenoz, a spoof on the spy novel genre, which was pretty good. I'll review it later this week.

I was saddened to learn last week that one of the two Atlanta Borders bookstores that I frequently visit (Buckhead) will be closing at the end of May. This bookstore wasn't on the original hit list, and I thought it was doing well, so this news came as a complete (and unpleasant) surprise, as I stopped there on the way from work once or twice a month. The store is having a going out of business sale, and I bought seven books tonight:

The Street of Crocodiles and Other Stories by Bruno Schulz
Visitation by Jenny Erpenbeck
The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates by Wes Moore
Step Across This Line: Collected Nonfiction 1992-2002 by Salman Rushdie
The Heart of the Matter by Graham Greene
Swamplandia! by Karen Russell
Great House by Nicole Krauss

Nice haul, Darryl, but sorry about the store going out of business.

With deepest sympathy on the loss of your Borders, Darryl. I need to see if the status of my local Borders has changed. When I asked about a month ago, they were to remain open but your case proves that things can change with little notice.

Yes, it's too bad and sad to see all those stores closing. The one I used to visit quite often, in north Milwaukee, is also closing. I hope my favorite Border's in Skokie does not close- I try to stop there sometimes when on my way to Chicago.

Let's hope that Barnes & Noble does not succumb too. Although i think it's inevitable with the greater reliance on Amazon and on line ppurchases as well as the inroads that ereaders are making (Even I, hard-core lover of books, ended up buying a Nook a couple of months ago)

#56 Bruno Schulz is an interesting writer. I'll look forward to seeing your review. He was also an artist, and some of his works can be seen online. There was some controversy about his art a couple of years ago, and the NYT wrote an interesting piece about it.

Edited to fix link.

Arrgghh.... Darryl, I was just bemoaning Suzanne adding Jean Echenoz's Piano to my OWL after she had added Ravel to it last year, and now you've mentioned Chopin's Move. I'm hoping I won't like your review.

Have you read his Running (hmm..touchstone not working)? It's a slim memoir, but I found it amazing and so inspiring.

Hi, Caroline! I loved Running; I read it in 2009 and reviewed it here. It's my favorite book by Echenoz, and I'm eager to read more of his books, especially I'm Gone.

I liked Chopin's Move, but I'll probably give it 3-1/2 stars (compared to 4-1/2 stars for Running).

My planned reads for April:

A Savage War of Peace: Algeria 1954-1962 by Alistair Horne (Reading Globally) - COMPLETED
The Collaborator by Mirza Waheed (Reading Globally)
To the End of the Land by David Grossman (Reading Globally)
Mania: A Short History of Bipolar Disorder by David Healy (Medicine)
Annabel by Kathleen Winter (2011 Orange Prize longlist) - COMPLETED
The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna (2011 Orange Prize longlist) - Reading
Swamplandia! by Karen Russell (2011 Orange Prize longlist)
The Line by Olga Grushin (birthday gift!)
White Egrets by Derek Walcott (National Poetry Month) - Reading
Lighthead by Terrance Hayes (National Poetry Month)
One With Others by C.D. Wright (National Poetry Month)
A Murder of Crows by Larry D. Thomas (National Poetry Month) - COMPLETED
The Pages of Day and Night by Adonis (National Poetry Month)
Emerging Arab Voices: Nadwa 1: A Bilingual Reader (LT Early Reviewer book for March)
Thinking in Pictures: My Life with Autism by Temple Grandin (Autism Awareness Month)
The History of the Siege of Lisbon by José Saramago (Author Theme Read mini author)
The Street of Crocodiles and Other Stories by Bruno Schulz

I probably won't finish all of these, especially the last two or three books.

#57: Thanks, Rebecca. Several of my partners and colleagues at work were bemoaning the loss of the Buckhead Borders, since many of us buy books there. There has been a small uproar about the news on several Atlanta online forums, and one commenter nailed the cause for the store's closing, IMO:

Probably the major factor in Borders deciding to close this location was the fact that (and this is just a guess from going to this location frequently) about 85% of the people who walk through the doors never purchased a thing. The staff (who I feel the worst for) are super nice and never really bothered anyone about loitering unless it got out of hand.

But, people took advantage of that. The{y} would go in, grab a stack of books, plop down in the cafe, and read for hours. Then proceed to leave said stack of books on the table and walk out with not even so much as purchasing a book light. It's hard to justify to corporate to stay open in this economy when traffic is high but sales are low. That's just the way the economic cookie crumbles unfortunately.

This is absolutely right, and I am annoyed by these people, who make up the vast majority of the people who go to the Atlanta Buckhead and Midtown Borders stores. Can't they at least buy one book or magazine???

#58: Right, Lynda. Now I'm worried about the Midtown Borders, which is the one closest to where I live.

#59: There are several Barnes & Noble stores in Atlanta, including one in Buckhead, but none of them are convenient to where I live or work.

#60: Thanks for those links, Lisa! I'll check them out later today.

Happy birthday! I hate bookstore closings -- although -- this kind of closing may leave a vacuum for a small independent store in case you're thinking of a career change......

Impressive list of books to read for April, Darryl. I've been meaning to read A Savage War of Peace for some time, but doubt I will get to it at the same time as you. I have also been planning to read The History of the Siege of Lisbon and am more likely to get to that. I've read another collection of stories by Bruno Schulz, Sanatorium under the Sign of the Hourglass and found some of them quite remarkable.

By the way, I just noticed yesterday the only Borders I ever went into, at 57th Street and Park Avenue, has gone out of business. I am guilty of the very behavior you described because I only dropped in when I was on the way somewhere else and had a little bit of extra time and never had time to browse anywhere except the current titles. The last time I was there they had very few titles on the shelves, so I could see the handwriting on the wall.

The finalists for the 2011 Man Booker International Prize were announced yesterday:

Wang Anyi (China)
Juan Goytisolo (Spain)
James Kelman (Scotland)
John le Carré (England)
Amin Maalouf (Lebanon)
David Malouf (Australia)
Dacia Maraini (Italy)
Rohinton Mistry (India)
Philip Pullman (England)
Marilynne Robinson (United States)
Philip Roth (United States)
Su Tong (China)
Anne Tyler (United States)

The winner of the £60,000 prize will be announced in Sydney on 18 May.

The finalists page on the Man Booker Prize website has more information about each author, and the Guardian has an even nicer section with brief synopses of each author.

BTW, John le Carré has asked that his name be withdrawn from the competition, since he does not "compete for literary prizes", although he was "enormously flattered" to be considered for the award.

I love Bruno Schulz I meant to say.... I even know someone who named her child Bruno because she loves Bruno Schulz so much. Now that is intense!

#65: Thanks, Lucy! I think I would enjoy working in an independent bookstore such as City Lights or the London Review Bookshop, although I don't think I'd want to manage one.

#66: Thanks, Rebecca. A Savage War of Peace has been at the top of my TBR list for at least 5 years, and I'm committed to reading it next month. I started it last night, and it's good so far. I'll read it and at least one or two of Assia Djebar's books about the Algerian War for the upcoming 2nd quarter Reading Globally theme read.

I corrected the touchstone for The Collaborator, a novel about Kashmir that I ordered from The Book Depository after Kamila Shamsie's glowing review of it in the Guardian earlier this month. I'll probably start reading it today.

#68: I suppose there could be worse names to give to a child than Bruno...

The Guardian Books section features an article about author Jacqueline Howett, who went just a wee bit overboard in responding to a negative review of her latest novel The Greek Seaman by an online reviewer. This is recommended reading for future authors and those needing a good laugh (hint: using four letter words and grammar unbecoming of a 5th grader is not the best way to respond to your critics).

How not to handle bad reviews

I've just been reading the blogpost and the initial comments on that same case.

I put a historical mystery author on my never read list a few years ago as a result of her response to a generally positive critical review, one which didn't include a rating but if it had would probably have been 3.5 - 4, I might well have considered reading the book based on the review, though maybe I wouldn't have gone searching for it.

Another interesting prize longlist for you to pore over, the Orwell Prize for political writing:

I think I've read two of these - Hitchens and Dunmore - and would like to read several more.

http://www.thebookseller.com/news/forensic-and-furious-books-orwell-prize.html?u...

#72: Thanks, Luci! I read and reviewed We Are a Muslim, Please for Belletrista earlier this year (and highly recommend it), and I'm sure that I'll read The Betrayal later this year. I'll check out the other books on the longlist later this week.

Hello, Darryl. I am going to try and keep up with you from this point forward. . .

#74: Hi, Stasia! It's good to see you here. Don't feel any obligation to keep up with my thread; it's hard for me to keep track of all the threads I would like to follow on a regular basis.

Hey ho, Darryl ... I saw a copy of Chopin's Move when I casually walked into a used bookstore on my way to a meeting, so I took it as fated that I should take it home with me ....and I did! ;-)

I'm glad that you found Chopin's Move, Caroline; I hope that you enjoy it.

The shortlist for the 2011 Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction, the largest annual UK literary award to be judged outside London, was announced yesterday:

The Long Song by Andrea Levy
C by Tom McCarthy
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell
Ghost Light by Joseph O'Connor
Heartstone by C.J. Sansom
To Kill A Tsar by Andrew Williams

According to the article in Scotsman.com, Ghost Light is the story of the Irish playwright JM Synge's affair with his leading lady, To Kill a Star is set in 1880s Russia, and Heartstone is the fifth of a series of novels featuring Matthew Shardlake, a hunchbacked investigative lawyer in the reign of England's King Henry VIII. The first three novels were longlisted for the 2010 Booker Prize.

The winner will be announced in June as part of the Borders Book Festival in Melrose, Scotland and will receive £25,000.

More info: Plantation slaves, Russian anarchists and a Tudor lawyer battle it out for book prize

#78: I own The Thousand Autumns and really need to get it read. To Kill a Tsar sounds right up my alley, so I will need to look for that one. Thanks for posting the list, Darryl!

Two books I've read there - The Long Song and Ghost Light - I liked Ghost Light, did I post my review on LT?

Darryl, I am de-lurking for a moment to say that I very much enjoy your thoughtful reviews and comments on your reading, as well as the interesting articles you link to. I am trying to read more international (non-American, British, Canadian, etc) authors and have added several to my wish list thanks to your threads. I am also hoping to read Swamplandia this month. I have a copy of To the End of the Land and look forward to your thoughts on it.

#79: The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet was one of my favorite novels of 2010. I think you'll enjoy it, Stasia. The other books sound interesting, but I think I'll wait until I (almost certainly) return to London later this year to check them out.

#80: Luci, you did post a very nice review of Ghost Light here, which I didn't see before now.

#81: Hi, Katie; thanks for the compliments! I'll definitely read both Swamplandia! and To the End of the Land this spring if I don't get to them this month.

I started reading Annabel by Kathleen Winter yesterday from the 2011 Orange Prize longlist, and I have five other longlisted books waiting to be read after that: Lyrics Alley, The Memory of Love, Great House, Swamplandia!, and The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives. I'd like to read two or three of them every month for the next 2-3 months, and I'll probably also read The Swimmer by Roma Tearne, (since I loved her previous novel Brixton Beach) The London Train, and The Tiger's Wife. I'll wait until the shortlist comes out next Tuesday before I buy any more Orange books; I'd like to read half or more of the longlisted books, and all of the (six?) shortlisted ones.

BTW, if I haven't mentioned it already, Deborah (arubabookwoman) and I are co-hosting the Reading Globally 2nd quarter group read on Wars and Regions in Conflict. We've posted recommended books for these topics, and other members have added to our lists. Many of the books I'll read for the 2nd quarter will be linked to these themes, starting with A Savage War of Peace: Algeria 1954-1962 by Alistair Horne, which is a comprehensive look at the Algerian Civil War. I'll read at least two of the three books I own by Assia Djebar about Algeria during and after the war, Algerian White, Children of the New World: A Novel of the Algerian War, and The Tongue's Blood Does Not Run Dry: Algerian Stories. I thought I owned The Last Summer of Reason by Tahar Djaout, the Algerian secularist author that was murdered by Islamic fundamentalists in 1993, but apparently I don't.

The Guardian Books gang is engaged in a four week literary journey of Europe, which began in Germany, followed by France, Spain and Poland. I listened to last Friday's Guardian Books Podcast on Spain earlier this morning, which gave several good recommendations for novels about the Spanish Civil War, which I also want to focus on for the Wars and Regions in Conflict theme. I was already planning to read Soldiers of Salamis by Javier Cercas, Lizard Tails by Juan Marsé, and Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell, but I also ordered two books in the podcast from The Book Depository, The Carpenter's Pencil by Manuel Rivas, and The Frozen Heart by Almudena Grandes. I'll listen to the other podcasts later this week.

I just finished watching a fascinating and inspiring story on PBS' The Charlie Rose Show in which Rose hosted an interview about the teaching of writing and construction of a sentence, featuring two teachers and authors who have written two recent books about the craft of writing: Stanley Fish (How to Write a Sentence: And How to Read One), and Roger Rosenblatt (Unless it Moves the Human Heart: The Craft and Art of Writing). The video is available online; after watching it I wanted to drop everything and become a writer!

ETA: I have Fish's book, and will read it in the near future.

wow. Sorry I missed that one, and glad it's available after the fact. Thanks for the links!

#82 Darryl, I'm super impressed with the work you and Deborah have done on the Reading Globally 2nd Qtr group read of Wars and Regions in Conflict. I've starred it and will go back later and look at it more carefully. It seems like this could easily be a year long group read. Right now I think I'm going to read Matterhorn and Homage to Catalonia, both books on my shelves. I have a feeling I'll be looking at this thread alot!

Thanks also for mentioning Roma Tearne's book The Swimmer. I didn't even realize this was out and it looks great.

And I also need to come back and listen to the Guardian podcast about books on the Spanish Civil War. Suzanne had recommended a good one that I bought but haven't had a chance to get to and can't remember the name of at the moment. I'm going to favorite Msg. 82.

ETA: Love the artwork at the beginning of your thread!

I also have How to Write a Sentence: And How to Read One on my TBR pile and also hope to read it soon.

Darryl, the lists on the Wars and Regions of Conflict thread are a powerful collection. I'm not sure of my willingness to read too much about war just now - aside from the various news sources, of course. But several of the more recent books have been on my mind. If I do head in that direction, I'll make sure to post.

#84: You're welcome, Judy. The Charlie Rose Show is one of my two favorite TV programs (the other being the PBS NewsHour).

#85: Thanks for the compliment, Pat. I hope that you join and contribute to Reading Globally. I just ordered The Swimmer from Amazon US, as it continues to be "out of stock" from The Book Depository. Oddly enough, the book will come from The Book Depository through Amazon, and I'll pay $3.99 shipping on top of the $8.32 selling price, which is still cheaper than the list price of £7.99 ($12.78 US).

ETA: Romare Bearden is one of my favorite artists, and I especially love his collages. I'll follow the trendsetters and post a new work of art by one of my favorite artists with each new thread.

#86: I'll look for your comments on How to Write a Sentence: And How to Read One if you read it before I do, Rebecca. I have it on my Kindle, and I may read it as soon as the end of this month.

#87: Thanks, Judy. I had proposed the Regions in Conflict theme for Reading Globally last year, as I was interested in reading more about the world's most troublesome regions. At that time I was thinking mainly about Kashmir, Chechnya, Palestine, the Koreas and central and southern Africa; now, of course, northern Africa and other Middle Eastern countries have become more important. For the Wars theme I'll focus on the Algerian War, the Spanish Civil War, and possibly the Sri Lankan Civil War.

Crap. My new TV is behaving poorly today. The picture quality is horrible, and the colors are way off. I'm hoping that this is a temporary problem, but I suspect that this is something more serious. Has anyone else had problems like this with the new digital TVs?

The shortlist for this year's JQ Wingate Prize, which 'recognizes Jewish and non-Jewish writers resident in the UK, British Commonwealth, Europe and Israel who "stimulate an interest in themes of Jewish concern while appealing to the general reader"', was announced yesterday:

· To the End of the Land by David Grossman (Jonathan Cape)

· The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson (Bloomsbury)

· Hare with the Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal (Chatto)

· The Dove Flyer by Eli Amir (Halban)

· Trials of the Diaspora by Anthony Julius (OUP)

· Visitation by Jenny Erpenbeck (Portobello)

The winner will be announced in London on June 6th. More info:
http://jewishquarterly.org/wingateprize/wingate-prize-2011/

#89: The only one of those I have read is the Jacobson book although I know I have at least 2 more of them in the BlackHole already. *sigh* One day back and you are adding substantially to the BH. Shame on you, Darryl :)

>89 kidzdoc: - I just picked up a copy of Visitation a week or so ago. It looks excellent.

#89: Right, Stasia. I've read The Finkler Question (as you know), and I'll read To the End of the Land and Visitation this quarter.

One day back and you are adding substantially to the BH. Shame on you, Darryl :)

*evil cackle*

#90: I agree, Katie. Two 75ers, Cait86 and mks27, have highly recommended it, as well.

I am currently reading Erpenbeck's "The Book of Words", in The Old Child and the Book of Words, which is excellent, and thinking I will move straight on to Visitation, which I bought my husband for Christmas (he liked it). I probably won't get round to reading any of the others, though.

Wow Darryl more prizes that I've never heard of but I've actually read some of the books listed. The Reading Globally group looks really interesting and I'm going to head over and check it out. Thanks for making all this info so accessible.

#92: Especially since I know I will not be recriprocating this year! Next year though. . .watch out!

#93: I'll look for your review of The Old Child and the Book of Words, Janet. I'll probably read Visitation next month.

#94: Hi, Bonnie; I hope to see you in the Reading Globally group!

#95: Are you and Linda still keeping to your goal (less than 10 books purchased in 2011)? I did well in January, but fell badly off the wagon after I bought my Kindle. I'll have to do better in the coming months.

I finally finished A Savage War of Peace: Algeria 1954-1962 by Alistair Horne, a comprehensive and balanced study of the Algerian War for Independence, which I read for the Reading Globally quarterly theme (Wars and Regions in Conflict). I'll review it later today or tomorrow.

Yes, Linda and I are still keeping to our goal. Thus far, I have purchased 2 books this year. I have no idea where Linda is. I am saving up some for the KC and Joplin trips.

drive-by hug

#98: Thanks, bro!

I just finished Annabel by Kathleen Winter, a novel longlisted for this year's Orange Prize about a hermaphrodite who grows up in a small town in Labrador (northeastern Canada). The story was good, but there is a lot of medical misinformation which strongly affected my enjoyment of the book. I'll give it 3 stars for now; I'm supposed to participate in a conversation of the book for Belletrista, so I won't say anything more for the moment.

LT member micapam has set up a new group, the BTBA 2011 fiction shortlist book club, in which members are encouraged to read books from this year's Best Translated Book Award shortlist. The group is just getting started, and it has already gotten notice from Three Percent at the University of Rochester, which sponsors this award (http://www.rochester.edu/College/translation/threepercent/index.php?id=3209). It's an open group, so I'd encourage you to join us if you're interested.

Here's the 2011 BTBA fiction shortlist:

The Literary Conference by Cesar Aira
The Golden Age by Michal Ajvaz
A Life on Paper by Georges-Olivier Châteaureynaud
The Jokers by Albert Cossery
Visitation by Jenny Erpenbeck
Hocus Bogus by Romain Gary (writing as Émile Ajar)
The True Deceiver by Tove Jansson
On Elegance While Sleeping by Viscount Lascano Tegui
Agaat by Marlene Van Niekerk
Georg Letham: Physician and Murderer by Ernst Weiss

Hello, Darryl. I've missed your thread while I've been away.

I'm very interested in Annabel and look forward to the Belletrista conversation as well as your additional comments afterward.

Well, I ordered the Williamson book from the historical novel contest shortlist (anything that ends up in the company of Shardlake and David Mitchell has to be good, by definition); something from the romantic comedy Melissa Nathan contest shortlist and something from the Orwell Prize shortlist! (The book by Tim Butcher -- his first book about Africa was gripping; fabulous, so I don't mind paying postage for #2 rather than wait months for it to be published here.)

All this despite the stacks of books demanding my attention right now...

#102: Hi, Nancy! I'm glad to see you back. After talking with Nickelini on Club Read I'm still planning to participate in a Belletrista conversation about Annabel, so I won't say too much more about it until then. Many people, including Nickelini, liked the book, so I wouldn't want to dissuade anyone from reading it based on my opinion of it.

#103: Suz, I'll be interested to get your opinion of To Kill a Tsar (I assume that's the book you meant, from the Walter Scott Prize shortlist). I'm not familiar with the Melissa Nathan Award for Comedy Romance, so I just looked it up; here's the shortlist for those who are interested:

Foursome, Jane Fallon (Penguin)
Getting Over Mr Right, Chrissie Manby (Hodder)
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, Helen Simonson (Bloomsbury)
Obstacles to Young Love, David Nobbs (HarperCollins)
A Perfect Proposal, Katie Fforde (Random House)
Sweet Temptation, Lucy Diamond (Pan)

The winner will be announced in London on June 21st.

I need to take a closer look at the Orwell Prize 2011 longlist (I have to get ready for work soon, so I won't post the 18 novels here). From that list I've read We Are a Muslim, Please by Zaiba Malik (highly recommended), and I still haven't read The Betrayal by Helen Dunmore (must get to that soon). Death to the Dictator!: A Young Man Casts a Vote in Iran's 2009 Election and Pays a Devastating Price by Afsaneh Moqadam would be perfect for our Reading Globally 2nd quarter read (Wars and Regions in Conflict), so I'll probably get this soon.

Speaking of George Orwell (and the Wars theme), I've started Homage to Catalonia, which describes his experiences fighting against Franco in the Spanish Civil War. I'm also reading On Elegance While Sleeping by Viscount Lascano Tegui for the BTBA shortlist book club.

The Iran book is available via the Brooklyn library, so I'll put in a request later this month. Still trying to limit (if not eliminate) my book purchases!

Sometime we should have a chicklit TIOLI challenge, for all us readers (not you, Darryl) who like to range from high- to middle- and right on down to low-brow! I have read the Simonson book, have the Jane Fallon and Chris Manby ones, and tried to read the Katie Fforde book. She's a long-term fave of mine, but the last book was just too sappy. Her newest is on order. The other two authors I haven't heard of.

And yup, it's To Kill a Tsar that I ordered.

Hi Darryl, love the Reading Globally concept. awaiting your review before going for the Kashmir book.

Hi Darryl

I finished writing a major proposal, went to Disneyworld with my family, attended a funeral for a beloved Aunt, came home and rec'd. word that my excellent assistant is leaving in August to move to NY with her boyfriend.

I'm far behind on threads and wanted to stop in to say hello to you this morning.

Thanks for posting the lists of potential award winners!

As always, you continue to read such interesting books.

Hi Darryl! I realized it's been ages since I posted here but I have been lurking so I just thought I'd poke my head out and say hi. How about those Phillies ?!

#105: I'll guess that you'll read Death to the Dictator! before I do, so I'll look for your review of it. I'll probably read it during the summer or fall.

You can definitely count me out of any chicklit TIOLI challenges!

I haven't done as well with my plan to read 75 pre-2011 books (hence the name of my thread) over the past couple of months. I had meant to include a ticker that marked the number of these books that I've read; I'll do that later today.

#106: I'm hoping to finish The Collaborator by tomorrow. With a good effort today I should finish my two current books, On Elegance While Sleeping by Lascano Tegui, and Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell; if not I'll finish it during the week or next weekend, at the latest.

#107: Hi Linda! Thanks for the compliment. I'll catch up on your thread and what you've been up to later today.

#108: Hi Laura! The Phillies have gotten off to a good start, despite yesterday's loss to the locals (Atlanta Braves). Today's game will start shortly (1:10 pm EDT), and it will be on FOX TV here (and in Philadelphia, I'm sure).

Brianah, the cutie pie who is in my profile photo, is very sick at the moment. Her mother just let me know that she's been transferred to our ICU, as she has an abdominal abscess that developed after she had surgery last week. She was in the hospital all week, and I just missed seeing her yesterday, as she went home that morning. Unfortunately she developed a high fever last night and looked bad, so her parents had to rush her back to the hospital last night. She'll undergo emergency surgery shortly. I'd appreciate it if you would say a prayer for her.

Prayers are going out from Missouri. Please let us know how Brianah is doing.

Hi Darryl, I'm woefully behind, but I'll be back!

Love the collage by the way.

Mi Shebeirach

Lyrics by Debbie Friedman and Drorah Setel

Mi shebeirach avoteinu
M'kor habracha l'imoteinu

May the source of strength who blessed the ones before us,
Help us find the courage to make our lives a blessing
And let us say: Amen.

Mi shebeirach imoteinu
M'kor habracha l'avoteinu

Bless those in need of healing with refuah sh'leimah
The renewal of body, the renewal of spirit
And let us say: Amen.

Prayers going up from Texas for Brianah too, Darryl.

Thanks for your prayers, everyone. Brianah is out of surgery, and is back in the ICU. She developed a post-surgical leak, which caused stool to leak into her abdominal cavity, which led to peritonitis (intra-abdominal infection, as stool normally contains good bacteria that help us digest food). She's still on mechanical ventilation, a form of life support where a tube is inserted into her trachea (windpipe) to assist with breathing. I would assume that she'll be extubated later today and taken off of mechanical ventilation. She'll probably be in the hospital for the rest of the week, and I'm working all week starting tomorrow. I'll definitely see her, God willing, and will let you know how she's doing.

I couldn't concentrate on reading yesterday; hopefully I'll do better today.

Please do keep up posted about Brianah, Darryl. Thanks.

My prayers go for Brianah and her parents to have faith and courage on this extremely difficult and painful time.

Same here in Maryland. If you get a chance, let her and her parents know folks from all over the world are thinking of her!

I'll be thinking of both you and Brianah this week, Darryl. Hope all goes well.

Prayers for Brianah! Thanks for the wonderful person you are! The world needs more like you Darryl!

>115 kidzdoc:: I'm glad Brianah will have her favorite doctor around while she is recovering this week.

And also more prayers from Maryland for Brianah. Being in the health care field too, I know how terrible these things are for both her and her parents. I'm sure that you give them the strength to face them.

Thanks again, everyone. This is the latest update from her mother, which she sent about 45 minutes ago:

"Brianah had a good night last night and is resting well. They are not gonna remove the breathing tube due to her still being in too much pain. They reduced the sedation to check her pain and her heartrate and blood pressure went up. The bre...athing tube being in lets them keep her heavily medicated and they dont have to worry about her not taking deep enough breaths due to being sedated with pain meds."

#121: Donna, her mother posted this comment yesterday, before her surgery: "Brianah has been asking everyone she sees if you are here :)"

I'll wait to see her in person until she has been extubated and is awake and alert, which won't be before tomorrow. The news is good so far, all things considered, but it will probably be another day or two before she is safely out of the woods.

I'm nearly finished with Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell, and I should finish On Elegance While Sleeping by Viscount Lascano Tegui later this afternoon.

Thinking of Brianah, her family, and you Darryl.

More prayers for Brianah from Maryland.

Thanks for letting us know how Brianah is doing, Darryl. I'm glad things are going well so far.

Hope she continues to improve, Darryl, and am thinking of her and her family from over here. It's great that you are working this week.

Thanks again, everyone. Brianah's mother hasn't posted any new information about her condition, so I assume that she is still in a stable condition.

Today was my most productive reading day of the year, as I finished three superb books: Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell, an account of his experiences fighting alongside a Socialist army against the Fascists (and sometimes the Communists) in the Spanish Civil War; Dubliners by James Joyce, a collection of short stories set in Dublin in the late 19th and early 20th century; and A Murder of Crows by Larry D. Thomas, a collection of poems about birds(!). I'll review them later this week (as the only thing I'm capable of reviewing at the moment is the inside of my eyelids (yawn)).

I am hoping that it is a case of 'no news is good news' with Brianah, Darryl. I look forward to your first-hand report tomorrow.

#129: I think that's right, Stasia; her mother normally lets us know all the news about her, good or bad.

One of the nurses I work with posted a link to a blog posting on Facebook called
Why Cats Are Not Doctors; here are a couple of photos from the link:

The shortlist for this year's Independent Foreign Fiction Prize has just been announced:

Red April by Santiago Roncagliolo (Atlantic Books)
Kamchatka by Marcelo Figueras (Atlantic Books)
The Sickness by Alberto Barrera Tyszka (Maclehose Press)
Visitation by Jenny Erpenbeck (Portobello Books)
The Museum of Innocence by Orhan Pamuk (Faber)
I Curse the River of Time by Per Petterson (Harvill Secker)

The winner will be announced on 26 May.

More info: http://www.foyles.co.uk/Public/Biblio/PrizeDetails.aspx?prizeId=1000

>130 kidzdoc:: oh Darryl, that blog post is too funny! I'm going to share it ... :)

#130: Love that - especially the last one.

I just finished seeing Brianah with her mother in the ICU. She is still on the ventilator, but looks comfortable. She won't be extubated until her pain is improved, which may happen as early as tomorrow. Her mother was touched when I mentioned that people from my book club were posting prayers on my thread for Brianah, and she asked me to tell you to keep praying for her. I'll visit her and her mother every day this week, and keep you guys posted on her progress.

Prayers continue for a little girl who needs good health!

Hi Darryl, been following your patients progress report.
I'm an intensivist in India. Just out of curiosity what's your first line antibiotic choice for fecal contaminated abdominal sepsis?

#135: Thanks, Linda!

#136: Gautam, I would guess a combination like vancomycin (Gram positive bacteria) and meropenem (Gram negative bacteria) would be a typical regimen, +/- metronidazole for anaerobic coverage, but patients like this don't end up on our service (General Pediatrics). Let's see...Brianah was given one dose of gentamicin and one dose of meropenem preoperatively, and postoperatively she's been getting vancomycin and Zosyn (piperacillin-tazobactam).

OK, this is a complete digression from the Brianah discussion (and I hope she continues to stabilize and do well) ...

Darryl, looks like Tastykakes may be coming someday to a store near you: Tastykake sale

The shortlist for this year's IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, the richest literary award for a novel written in English, was announced earlier this evening:

Galore by Michael Crummey (Canadian) Doubleday Canada
The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver (American) Faber & Faber, HarperCollins, USA
The Vagrants by Yiyun Li (Chinese / American) Random House, USA
Ransom by David Malouf (Australian) Random House Australia
Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann (Irish) Bloomsbury, UK, Random House, USA
Little Bird of Heaven by Joyce Carol Oates (American) Ecco Press, USA
Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey (Australian) Allen & Unwin
Brooklyn by Colm Toíbín (Irish) Viking UK, Scribner, USA
Love and Summer by William Trevor (Irish) Viking, UK
After the Fire, a Still Small Voice by Evie Wyld (Australian) Pantheon Books, USA

The winner of the €100,000 award will be announced on 15 June in Dublin. More info:
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/features/2011/0412/1224294471315.html

#138: Thanks for that article, Laura. However, Thomasville, GA is nowhere close to Atlanta; it's probably 4 or more hours south of us.

Just spamming your thread as my favourite awards junkie:

Orange Prize shortlist is out, I thought it was announced in the evening but that must just be the prize!

There are 3 debuts on it - Henderson, Obreht and Winter. I believe there were 9 first novels on the list though at least 2 - Russell and Orringer - were not first books.

Room by Emma Donoghue (Picador)
The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna (Bloomsbury)
Grace Williams Says It Loud by Emma Henderson (Sceptre)
Great House by Nicole Krauss (Viking)
The Tiger’s Wife by Téa Obreht (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)
Annabel by Kathleen Winter (Jonathan Cape)

I've only read Room on it but am currently reading The Memory of Love and have just said to Sue I would do a Bookbag review (we've done all the other 5 and just have that one and one other longlist title without a review).

I have The Tiger's Wife on order as it was suddenly only £5.98 - which is close to the actual price I pay for new paperbacks - the other night, and I will probably buy Grace Williams Says It Loud because it is in paperback.

139: That's a long shortlist - I've only read The Lacuna and Brooklyn - liked both a lot. I have a copy of Jasper Jones.

I'm pretty excited about the Orange short list ! Like you Darryl, I've only read Room but all of the others sound interesting.

Taskycakes are well known in my area. If anyone would like me to send some to them, let me know!

That's a disappointing shortlist for me. I can't believe The Invisible Bridge isn't on it. I've only read The Tiger's Wife so I guess I'll need to get cracking.

> 139

I'm going to root for Brooklyn, the only book on the list that I've read so far.

>139 kidzdoc: That is a huge prize! Certainly it would set up a writer for life (if lived modestly).

I've actually read one of the books on the list (Let the Great World Spin) - quite unusual for me, since I'm generally at least 10 years behind the publication date.

I'm a big fan of Let the Great World Spin, but that came out about three years ago, so I don't understand why it's on this year's IMPAC list. As for the Orange, I've read Great House, which was one of my favorite books of last year, and Room, which wasn't.

Thanks for the Brianah update, Darryl. I will keep checking to see if there is any more news.

#141: Yes, I saw the Orange Prize shortlist this morning, but didn't post it as I was getting ready for work. Thanks for posting it here!

I've read Room (excellent), Grace Williams Says it Loud (excellent) and Annabel (fair, good story but lots of medical misinformation), and I own Great House and The Memory of Love. I'll have to pick up (or download) The Tiger's Wife soon. I'll definitely read the shortlisted novels in the next month or two, and the longlisted ones that I already have later in the year.

#142: I've read half of the books on the IMPAC Dublin shortlist: The Lacuna, The Vagrants, Let the Great World Spin, Brooklyn and Love and Summer. I liked them all, but I'd put The Lacuna and Brooklyn ahead of the others.

#143: I like this shortlist, Laura, especially because Grace Williams Says it Loud is included. Lois (avaland) isn't interested in a review of it for Belletrista at this time, so I'll review it here later this month. I don't think it's available in the US, though; I bought my copy from The Book Depository last year, as it was shortlisted for the 2010 Wellcome Trust Book Prize (for medicine in literature).

#144: I used to have a severe and seemingly incurable addiction to Butterscotch Krimpets, but I haven't had any in awhile. I'll have to try them in a couple of weeks, when I return home.

#145: Bonnie, were there other longlisted books other than The Invisible Bridge that you wanted to see on the shortlist?

#146: I think that Brooklyn has a good chance to win, but it does have stiff competition.

#147: Judy, did you read Let the Great World Spin in part because it's set in NYC?

#148: According to the prize's website, books eligible for the 2011 IMPAC Dublin Literary Prize must have been published in English in 2009.

#149: Brianah update: She is doing much better today, with less pain and improved labs (decreased white blood cell count and C-reactive protein (CRP), which are markers of infection and/or inflammation). She is still on the ventilator, and her mother says that she may be extubated as early as tomorrow. She is still receiving medicines to support her blood pressure and to keep her comfortable on a frequent basis, so I wouldn't be surprised if she isn't extubated until Thursday. I'll head to my local Borders shortly to pick up a couple of books by Pseudonymous Bosch for her, as she also loves to read.

Thanks for the update Darryl.

I would have loved to see Swamplandia! make the shortlist, of those I've read. However, I'm not really surprised that neither it nor The Invisible Bridge made the cut. It was such a strong longlist, I think, and I'm impressed by a lot of things about the longlist which I think have been reflected in the shortlist - coverage of a variety of issues, some quite controversial, a lot of books by African and Asisan writers and about the countries that they or their families come from (a lot of the writers concerned live in the West and some were born here, but have close links with those countries), European and Jewish history, lots of books by new writers, and others by writers who deserve to be better known. I will still try to fit in the books I've borrowed and bought that haven't made the shortlist from the longlist, and I expect I will read most of them over the next few months.

I went to the Borders store that is closing (Buckhead), as I pass it on the drive home from work and the books there are discounted by 30-50%. Good news: it did have the two Pseudonymous Bosch books I wanted to get for Brianah, This Book Is Not Good for You and This Isn't What it Looks Like. Bad news: 12 other books somehow made their way to the cashier as I bought Brianah's books:

The Silence of Mohammed by Salim Bachi (hadn't heard of it before, but it looked interesting)
Waiting for the Barbarians by J.M. Coetzee (wish list)
Being Abbas el Abd by Ahmed Alaidy (a book I was seeking for the current Reading Globally theme read)
The Jokers by Albert Cossery (2011 Best Translated Book Award shortlist)
The Ark Sakura by Kobo Abe
Enduring Love by Ian McEwan (wish list)
Possession by A.S. Byatt (1990 Booker Prize winner)
The Leopard by Guiseppe di Lampedusa (wish list)
Red April by Santiago Roncagliolo (2011 Independent Foreign Fiction Prize shortlist)
Agaat by Marlene van Niekerk (2011 Best Translated Book Award shortlist)
The Empty Family by Colm Tóibín (wish list)
Luka and the Fire of Life by Salman Rushdie (wish list)

Ah, those creeping, ambushing books!

I read Let the Great World Spin because someone suggested it for one of my RL book clubs. It was nice to read about New York - many of the places were very familiar to me on a daily basis.

I got the flyer about the PEN World Voices Festival in the mail today. Lots of stuff to see, hear, do. I noticed they even have an event planned for the High Line.

>153 kidzdoc: Darryl, your list of "guerrilla" books is great! I read The Leopard in college and have been meaning to re-read it.

Wow, some really good shopping has been going on here! Brianah very much in thought and prayer too, Darryl.

Thanks for the Brianah update. I'm still snickering about those guerilla books!

Hi Darryl, your thread has become the source of current read book choices for me. Thanks.

#154: I could have easily bought five times as many books as I did, just from the fiction section. To my surprise the store is still well stocked, with multiple copies of best selling and highly regarded books such as Lord of Misrule, Great House, A Visit from the Goon Squad and Freedom. Unfortunately it didn't have The Tiger's Wife, the only Orange Prize longlisted novel I don't own, but it did have several books that I wanted and didn't expect to find there, namely Agaat, Being Abbas el Abd, The Jokers and Still Red. I'm still holding out hope that Borders' reorganization team will reconsider and keep the store open, as there aren't any general bookstores nearby in this very highly trafficked part of Atlanta.

I'm looking forward to the PEN World Voices Festival later this month.

#155: Thanks, Katie; I've had The Leopard on my wish list for awhile, and I'm eager to get to it.

#156: Thanks, Tui. Brianah is doing better today, although she still remains on the ventilator (as I suspected). Her nurse told me that she is nearly completely off of her pressors (medicines used to support heart and blood vessel function), and there is a good chance that she will be extubated tomorrow. I'll definitely see her tomorrow and Friday, and the days next week that I'll be working (Mon-Wed, Sat & Sun).

#157: I have a feeling that this won't be my last trip to Borders, especially if the discounts increase to 50-70%, as they have at other Atlanta area Borders stores (e.g. the Cumberland Mall store). However, I'd be much happier if it was able to stay in business.

#158: You're welcome, Gautam. As you can tell I'm a big fan of the major literary prizes in the US and abroad, and for the past few years I've been reading books long- and shortlisted for these prizes. You may also be interested in the Wellcome Trust Book Prize, a relatively new award from the UK that "celebrates the best of medicine in literature by awarding £25 000 each year for the finest fiction or non-fiction book centred around medicine." I've read three books from last year's shortlist, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (winner), Grace Williams Says it Loud (which has been shortlisted for this year's Orange Prize), and Angel of Death: The Story of Smallpox; all three books were excellent.

And I'm baacck.... Darryl.... did ya miss me?! ;-) Are you going to be in NYC for the PEN Festival? I'm going to be in NY for the Easter weekend and may stay a few extra days. If I do, my husband and I were thinking of seeing if we could check out some of the events at PEN.

I've been lurking and been meaning to say I loved the "why cats are not good doctors" post. Your thread is always very dangerous for me, but in a good way. Today I used much restraint and only added The Tiger's Wife. Some of the others are already on my WL such as Let the Great World Spin and The Lacuna. Unlike you, I was not a fan of Brooklyn, but I look forward to reading Tóibín's The Master. Have you read it? In any case I'm sure I'll be back to for more book bullets soon enough!

#160: Welcome back, Caroline! Yes, I definitely missed you. I am planning to go to the PEN World Voices Festival, on April 29th and 30th (I'm visiting my parents from April 27th to May 5th). I'm planning to go to the Amélie Nothomb and Buket Uzuner talk at noon on Friday 4/29, followed by the Great Global Book Swap at 2 pm and Catalan Literature’s Modern Tradition at 4 pm, and to the WORD FROM ASIA: Contemporary Writing from Japan, Korea, and Pakistan series of talks on Saturday 4/30.

#161: I'll definitely pick up The Tiger's Wife soon; I'll probably buy the hardback copy from the Borders store in Atlanta that isn't scheduled to close (yet). I haven't read The Master yet, but I definitely plan to; that was one of the books that I chose not to buy yesterday.

Just waving as I pass through the threads, Darryl. Thanks for another Brianah update!

I'm especially interested in reading The Master now since I just discovered Henry James for myself this year. It was the book that put Tóibín on the map for me a few years ago when I heard about it. Why did you choose to leave it behind?

I know the recommendation for The Tiger's Wife came from somewhere else, but for some reason I thought I had seen you'd read it already. I'm quite into audiobooks of late and might go that route with this one.

Still bummed about the closing of your Borders but at least you're taking advantage of the discounts. Have you got another bookstore lined up for your ride home?

#163: You're welcome, Stasia. I'm just getting home after a brutal day at work, but I did see Brianah today. She's now awake and alert, but her endotracheal tube is still in place, so she can't talk at the moment (she was trying, but we couldn't read her lips). Hopefully she will be extubated tomorrow, but she still has a long recovery ahead of her.

#164: I decided to download The Tiger's Wife to my Kindle tonight, while I was typing my progress notes on the computer, in case I want to read it when I visit my parents in a couple of weeks.

#165: There isn't another good bookstore between work and home other than the Borders in Buckhead (the one that's supposed to close next month), but the Midtown Borders is less than 10 minutes by car from where I live.

Off to bed...

Sleep well, Darryl!

The Leopard!!! Yes!! It is one of my top top top (you get the idea?) books. I will be so interested to hear how it strikes you!

>168 sibylline: What Lucy said...The Leopard is an all-time reading high for me. Doesn't hurt that The Divine Miss's mama almost married Il Principe.

Darryl, I love the list of events at PEN ... so tempting. I've got to try and make it on the 25th or 26th if I can. Looks like I'll just have missed you because I'm definitely going to need to be back in MA by the 29th. :-( What will I do without my crepe buddy?

#167: I did sleep well on Thursday night, but not long enough (5-1/2 hours). We were super busy yesterday at work, as we had a boatload of patients and were trying to leave the hospital before the bad weather reached us (there apparently was a tornado in a nearby suburb, but there weren't any deaths or serious injuries in the Atlanta metro area). I did leave at 6 pm, but I didn't get to see Brianah unfortunately; her mother said that she is now extubated, and talking up a storm to make up for lost time.

#168, 169: Clearly I need to read The Leopard ASAP. I'll get to it no later than next month.

#170: Rats. I'm sorry that I won't be there when you are (I'm on backup call for my group on the 26th, so I definitely can't leave Atlanta before the 27th). Hopefully we can share crepes or other delicacies in the near future.

More books came in the mail from The Book Depository yesterday:

The Carpenter's Pencil by Manuel Rivas: A novel about the Spanish Civil War, which was made into a movie (El lápiz del carpintero) and is the most widely translated Galician novel in history. It was recommended by the Guardian Books editors in their recent analysis of Spanish literature, and I'll read it this weekend for our Reading Globally quarterly theme read (Wars and Regions in Conflict).

The Frozen Heart by Almudena Grandes: Another Spanish novel recommended by the Guardian Books editors, which is set during the Spanish Civil War and Russia during the Second World War. Ceri (cerievans) reviewed it in a recent issue of Belletrista, as well.

Shanghai Nights by Juan Marsé: Another Spanish novel (despite the title), which is set in post-civil war Barcelona in the 1950s.

Darryl, I'm glad to hear Brianah is able to talk now. She will have much to tell you I'm sure. I hope the rest of her recovery goes smoothly.

I clearly need to reread The Leopard after Lucy and Richard's comments. I knew when I wasn't totally moved by it that my timing was a factor so I kept it off the shelf and on the reread pile. It's been sitting there for over three years now...long enough to start fresh and give it the attention it deserves.

Prayers for Brianah's continued recovery as well as for ease for her caregivers especially you and her mother...

Funny, I've been hit twice by the same book bullet; when I clicked on one of the touchstones for The Leopard, it led to the default which is Peter Matthiessen's The Snow Leopard which also sounded great. First time that happens to me, and most probably not the last...

Yaay to Brianah's recovery ... I bet her mother is ecstatic that she's a regular chatterbox again.

Are you intending on going on another book buying ban this year, Darryl? Have I told you how impressed I was with you and Suz last year for sticking to your pledge (despite finding a few loopholes ... like purchasing books as gift exchanges with others)?

Like your Spanish haul from Book Depository. You pick some fascinating reads. Have you read anything on General Francisco Franco? I'm trying to learn more about him, partly because from the little know, I don't quite understand how some of my Spanish friends' parents and grandparents continue to raise toasts in his name on his birthday anniversary and still consider him an admirable person. So perhaps I'm missing something, hence my search for a good autobiography of the guy...... in English. ;-)

#172: I don't remember who first made me aware of The Leopard (maybe deebee?), but so many people have praised it that I had to get it. I'll bring one or two DTBs (dead tree books) along with my Kindle when I go to Philadelphia next week, and I suspect that this book will be one of them.

#173: Thanks, Nancy; I'm not directly involved in her care during this hospitalization, although it's possible that I might be once she is transferred from the PICU. She's doing better every day but is still quite sick and bedridden, with a couple of Penrose drains coming out of her skin to drain fluid from her abdominal (peritoneal) cavity, where the infection was. I would imagine that she'll be in the hospital for another week, at least.

#174: Hmm, The Snow Leopard does look interesting, but I'll pass on it for now; I've bought way too many books in the past couple of months. I do need to get to his book Shadow Country sometime in the near future.

#175: Yes, Brianah's mother was deeply grateful once the endotracheal tube was removed on Friday and she could hear her daughter's voice again. When I saw her on Thursday she was awake but the endotracheal tube was still in place, so she couldn't make any sounds and neither her family nor I could understand what she was saying.

Yes, I really should go on another book buying ban, or at least cut back my purchases significantly until the Booker Prize longlist is announced. On the other hand, I do want to support my local Borders that has so far survived the cuts, by purchasing a couple of books a month there, and the Borders closest to me continues to slash its prices, making it very tempting to go there to buy books that I'm intending to read. My massive stacks of unread books are glaring at me with malice at the moment, as I continue to ignore them in favor of new books, despite my heartfelt promise to them earlier this year.

Loopholes? What loopholes?

Once again I have the Guardian Books gang to thank for new books, as I read about those three Spanish books from the web site. I did finish one of them just after midnight, The Carpenter's Pencil by Manuel Rivas, which was very good. I'm waaaayy behind on book reviews, so I'll try to get to this later today.

I haven't read and don't own any books about Franco, although I have two books that are completely or largely about the Spanish Civil War and Franco's dictatorship: The Spanish Civil War, the Soviet Union, and Communism by Stanley G. Payne, and Ghosts of Spain: Travels through Spain and its Silent Past by Giles Tremlett. I'll almost certainly read Tremlett's book later this year. If you run across or anyone else knows about a good biography of Franco please let us know.

I'm finally starting to feel back to normal, as I was exhausted and in a mental fog throughout the day yesterday despite sleeping for at least 10 hours (including two long naps in the morning and afternoon). Today I'd like to finish two books, Send in the Idiots: Stories from the Other Side of Autism by Kamran Nazeer, and either On Elegance While Sleeping by Viscount Lascano Tegui or Visitation by Jenny Erpenbeck.

I read The Snow Leopard years ago, but I can't recommend Shadow Country highly enough. It is a time commitment, but well worth it, and was one of my outstanding reads of last year.

Brianah's mother just posted on Facebook that the surgeon will have to take her back to the OR today(?), for a leak in her intestine. She will require general anesthesia for this, so she'll have to be intubated again while she's in surgery. Hopefully she can be extubated to room air or placed on a simple nasal cannula (supplemental oxygen via small prongs that fit in the nostrils) when she is taken to the PACU (post-anesthesia care unit). This is definitely a setback, but hopefully it's not a major one. Please say a prayer for her and her family.

>178 kidzdoc:: That's very discouraging news, although I'm glad to hear it's not a major setback. Poor little girl. My prayers are continuing.

#179: Donna, I'm hopeful—but not certain—that this won't be a major setback. Her mother hasn't posted any new updates since that announcement, but I would assume that she will be going to surgery today. I'll breathe easier once she's out of surgery and back in the PICU. I'll check for updates from her mother later this afternoon and post any new information here.

Brianah update: She's out of surgery, and back in her room in the PICU in stable condition. The repair of the original surgical procedure was also flawed, as she still had leakage of fecal material into her abdominal cavity with pus. Hopefully they have it right this time. She looks good in the photos that her mother posted on Facebook, and, to my relief, she was extubated in the PACU without difficulty.

Books update: I'm almost finished with Send in the Idiots, but I won't complete On Elegance While Sleeping tonight. Despite two more afternoon naps today I'm still dog tired, so I'll probably turn in early tonight after I finish my current book.

I've just finished Send in the Idiots: Stories from the Other Side of Autism by Kamran Nazeer, which was quite good. The author is a highly functioning autistic adult with college degrees in law and philosophy, who attended a small school in NYC for autistic children in the 1980s and decided to reconnect with several of his former classmates and two of the teachers at the school. I'll review it later this week. BTW, Nazeer was interviewed on National Public Radio's Weekend Edition in 2006:

Memoir Offers an Inside Look at Autism

That little girl is going through much too much. My hopes with all the others that this is the last of this crisis.

183- My thoughts exactly.

#183, 184: I agree, too. During yesterday's surgery she was found to have two leaks in her intestine, and more stool was pouring into her abdominal cavity. Since stool contains bacteria, she had a lot of pus in her abdomen, which had to be washed out.

Her mother says that she is doing well today, although she continues to have a moderate amount of abdominal pain. I didn't see her, as I didn't finish seeing patients until nearly 8 pm and didn't leave the hospital until almost 9 o'clock. One mother kept me in a room for nearly three hours, which was beyond painful, especially since it was at the end of the day and I hadn't had anything to eat since 7:30 am. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.

The Pulitzer Prize winners for 2011 were announced today:

FICTION - A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

DRAMA - Clybourne Park by Bruce Norris

HISTORY - The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery by Eric Foner

BIOGRAPHY - Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow

POETRY - The Best of It: New and Selected Poems by Kay Ryan

GENERAL NONFICTION - The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee

Hey there Doctor Teardrops, I have the perfect four-hankies-and-a-pistol book for you, that's an ER book for this month: The Storm at the Door by Stefan Merrill Block. Answers the age-old question, "how can mental illness destroy lives and suck the joy out of the world, yet still be transmuted into art?"

It's really well-written, and it's about the author's maternal grandparents. Just amazingly interesting! And hugely depressing! I thought of you often as I read it.

Thanks, Richard; I've just added The Storm at the Door to my Kindle wish list. I see that it will be released on June 21st.

I received one more book from The Book Depository today: The Swimmer by Roma Tearne, which made this year's Orange Prize longlist (but not the shortlist).

Hey Darryl - I'm holding Brianah and her family in the Light!

Thanks, Brit!

I am happy that A Visit from the Goon Squad won; it was one of my favorites of last year.

Just posting to say that I was impressed by The Memory of Love (I need to write a proper review of it as The Bookbag doesn't have one) - did you know that several of the main characters are doctors and/or work in a hospital? (Forna's father was a doctor too) I need to find a place to squeeze in her other two books (first novel and a family memoir re what happened to her dad - which would fit in to TIOLI this month but I don't think I can fit it in).

Hi Darryl

Poor Brianah! I'm glad you are there to lend support!

I hope you are able to rest today/tonight.

Hi Darryl, drpped in to say hi.

Poor Brianah, she is in my prayers. What a terrible ordeal for a little girl to have to go through ....actually it sounds like a terrible ordeal for anyone, but I think it's always harder for children when they are so sick.

Darryl, you have Borders near you that are still in operation?! Wow, the Borders near me completely closed down and it's now an empty large building. I'm so sad ...and while I do love my Barnes & Nobel, I liked having an alternative in Borders too.

#191: I guess I'll read A Visit from the Goon Squad after all, since I had planned to read this year's Pulitzer Prize winner. Your recommendation also makes me want to read it.

#192: I didn't know that about The Memory of Love, Luci, so thanks for that info. I'm planning to read it this month, too. Hmm...I'm off from work on Thursday and Friday, so I think I'll start it tomorrow.

#193: Unfortunately I haven't been able to visit Brianah or her parents yet this week. It's been crazy busy at work this week, and I haven't left before 9 pm yet (it's after 10 pm, and I'm still finishing up my progress notes and billing). I could visit her now, but it's past normal visiting hours and I don't think anyone would appreciate a visit this late. I will work this weekend, so I'll probably see her Saturday afternoon. I've been too busy to check Facebook for updates yesterday or today, so I'll check it later and post an update here later tonight or tomorrow.

#194: Good to see you here, Gautam.

#195: This has truly been a trip from Hades for Brianah. This surgery was an elective procedure, and she was supposed to have gone home the day afterward. She's been here nearly 3 weeks now, and she is nowhere near ready to go home.

The Midtown Atlanta Borders is still open, which is about two miles from where I live. The Borders Café is always busy, particularly during the school year when students use it as a place to study (Georgia Tech, Emory University and Georgia State University are nearby), and there are plenty of young (or, like me, not so young) urban professionals that live and work nearby. There is a Whole Foods store next to it, so the plaza is very heavily trafficked. I think it will be the last Borders store to close in Atlanta; of course, I hope that it remains open, but I'm not optimistic about Borders as a company.

Darryl, maybe someone should start a TIOLI challenge with some kind of Pulitzer Prize angle in May so we can get points on group reads? I plan on reading Goon Squad as soon as the library will let me have it!

eta: sorry, just notice the typo on your name (how does one leave out the "L" exactly?? Unforgivable! Will you forgive me? :-|

#197: Good idea, Ilana. Maybe the challenge could be to read a book that has won a Pulitzer Prize, regardless of the year or category. I probably won't read A Visit from the Goon Squad next month, but I would like to read Tinkers, last year's winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

Maybe we can restrict it to the last decade or whatever, just so it's not *too* wide open, in accordance with Madeline's request to make the challenges tougher. I can't believe I'm already thinking about next month's challenges! By the time the thread goes up, I'll probably want to do another challenge altogether! lol

(see my eta above)

#197: I didn't notice the typo of my name; did you spell it "Darry"? If I had a dollar for every time someone misspelled my name (mostly not on LT, and including that spelling) I would have been able to retire by now. "Darryl" can be spelled a dozen or more different ways, so I hardly notice when my name is misspelled.

#199: That makes sense, to restrict it to the last decade (or maybe books published in the 21st century). I already have a challenge in mind for May...oh, and I just thought of another one, which would be more appropriate for the month of May. I think I'll choose the one I just thought of.

I'm not sure why I'm still wide awake at 2 am (it couldn't possibly have been that 20 oz cup of Starbucks coffee from the hospital café I had at 8 pm), but I'm glad that I don't have to work later today! A line of strong thunderstorms will roll through Atlanta in the next hour or two, so I probably won't be going to sleep anytime soon.

#199: After thinking about it a bit, my May TIOLI challenge will be in honor of Cinco de Mayo, the Mexican/Chicano holiday that celebrates Mexico's victory over French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. Participants will have to read a book by a Mexican or Chicano (Mexican-American) author. I'll plan to read Friction by Eloy Urroz, and possibly Ex Mex: From Migrants to Immigrants by Jorge Castañeda, two books that I bought last year.

Good news for Kindle owners: Amazon announced yesterday that it will permit books from 11,000 public libraries to be read on its e-reader, beginning later this year:

Kindle Users to Be Able to Borrow Library E-Books

Amazon bows to reality. And, I wonder, will they make the masses of self-published books available to liberries? If I'd self-published a BookSurge book, I'd let liberries have it for $1.99 and unlimited uses, just to get SOMEone hooked!

Right. I'm sure this was strictly a business decision, as I know of several people that decided to buy the Nook instead of the Kindle so that they could read library e-books. Your comment about self-published books makes perfect sense, although I wonder if BookSurge/Amazon will follow HarperCollins' lead and limit the number of circulations of each e-book.

Quite probably...though as an author, I'd really fight them on that. Isn't it sad and amazing how much business is done based on greed and greed alone?

Yes; what's best for the author and the reading public is secondary to corporate profits.

Um...I'm feeling a bit hypocritical, since I continue to download Kindle books on at an alarming rate. Last night I bought The Three Christs of Ypsilanti by Milton Rokeach, a newly reissued book by New York Review Books Classics about three paranoid schizophrenics in a mental institution in Ypsilanti, Michigan whose lives together over a two year period (1959-1961) are documented by the author, a social psychologist. Each man believes he is Jesus Christ, hence the title of the book.

I also downloaded a free copy of Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands by Mary Seacole, an influential Jamaican nurse during the Crimean War who was a contemporary of Florence Nightingale but was ostracized and excluded by her, and died in obscurity. I had never heard of Seacole, but I read something about her, and her book, yesterday (I can't remember from where, though).

Oh, I'm all in favor of profits! No profits, no next book. I oppose the concept of *not enough* profits to make something worthwhile to do. That's a short trip from there to GoldmanSachsLand.

I had a copy of the Seacole book once! Used it as a doorstop for my bathroom on Maiden Lane. Worked a treat.

Seacole was discussed in a recent New Yorker. You probably saw it there, although I'm not sure that it was a book review.

Yes, you're right Judy; it was in the Talk of the Town section in this week's New Yorker, which I read last night. Here's a link to the piece, if anyone is interested:

Bedside Manner: Two Nurses

I love the idea of what happens in Canada -- every time a library book is checked out, a few pennies of royalties flow to the publisher/author. Margaret Atwood is apparently responsible for that innovation. Strikes me that would solve the publishers' issue, no?

Do I KNOW any Mexican authors?? I'm going to the Overseas Press Club awards dinner next week and sitting at a table with a bunch of Mexicans, so I'll ask for recommendations for your challenge, Darryl.

Not sure about the Goon Squad book, though...

We have Public Lending Right here too. I think though that publishers also sell a lot of books to libraries. There are publishers which really publish for the library market here rather than individual buyers, eg Robert Hale and Severn House.

# 210 : Suz, do you know if these flowing pennies come out of the library's budget or from the patrons' pockets? I'm thinking with the number of libraries suffering from shrinking budgets, this may be difficult to implement here without the libraries not having any funds left to buy new books

#210: Do I KNOW any Mexican authors??

Sure you do. I know you've heard of Octavio Paz, the 1990 Nobel Prize winner, and Carlos Fuentes, one of the leading figures of the Latin American Boom of the 1960s and 1970s (which also include Julio Cortázar, Mario Vargas Llosa and Gabriel García Márquez). The authors I'm interested in are the members of the Crack Manifesto, who are "dedicated to breaking with the pervading Latin American tradition of Magical Realism in favor of a return to the complexity of plot and style found in the works of Jorge Luis Borges and Julio Cortázar." These authors are Jorge Volpi, Eloy Urroz, Ignacio Padilla, Pedro Angel Palou and Ricardo Chávez Castañeda. I've only read one book from this group, A Season of Ash by Jorge Volpi, but I definitely want to read more of their works.

I've wanted to read more novels by Chicano authors, especially ones who write about the lives and struggles of Mexican immigrants living in the US. I have several nonfiction books, but I have very few novels by Chicano authors; only Caramelo by Sandra Cisneros comes to mind. I'll research this over the next few days, and post a list of contemporary Chicano and Mexican literature when Madeline posts the May TIOLI challenge.

ETA: I forgot about Luis Alberto Urrea, the author of The Hummingbird's Daughter (owned but not yet read) and The Devil's Highway, a true account of the tragic deaths of several illegal immigrants in the Arizona desert which was very good.

I've just downloaded Amigoland by Chicano author Oscar Casares to my Kindle; that book was high on my wish list, and I'll read it for my challenge next month.

I know I started it, but I can't believe we're talking about our TIOLI challenges AHEAD OF TIME!!! Are we TIOLI nerds, or what?! :-D

That being said, I'll check out a few Mexican authors based on your recommendations.

Caro, I think it comes from the library budgets -- but then, the libraries are far more heavily subsidized by various levels of government. I'll check on this, though, and let you know. It was my mother who mentioned it to me, in the context of lots of people on the waiting list in Toronto to read my book -- and trying to figure out whether as a non-resident Canadian, I or my publisher benefit from this.

#201, 206 For your Mexican challenge, I can recommend no book more highly than Murder City: Ciudad Juarez and the Global Economy's New Killing Fields, a brilliant, horrifying, poetic book that I read last year. I can also recommend Terra Nostra by Carlos Fuentes, but it is not specifically about Mexico and is very long and very complex, and of course 2666 (ditto for length and complexity). I also have Pedro Paramo but haven't read it.

#214: I guarantee we aren't the only ones thinking about TIOLI challenges for next month, so we're in good company.

#216: Thanks for those recommendations, Rebecca. I read Pedro Paramo a few years ago, but probably didn't give it the attention it deserves, so I'll give it another go in the near future (but not next month). I do want to read Murder City and Terra Nostra, but I don't own either one yet.

I finished two books today: On Elegance While Sleeping by Viscount Lascano Tegui, one of the books on this year's Best Translated Book Award for Fiction shortlist, which was quite good, and Being Abbas el Abd by Ahmed Alaidy, a short novel about contemporary Cairo that was a massive disappointment. I think I'll take a quick nap, and then review these two books.

Darryl, is there a migration/immigration thread on Global reading later this year? I, too, am interested in reading more Chicano authors, as well as reading about immigration from Mexico & points south. (Personal interest and my church has made it a study theme for the next two years.)

Have you ever been to the Decatur Book Festival over Labor Day weekend? Last year there were some interesting books/presentations regarding Chicano literature and immigration.

#218: You're right Ardene, the 4th quarter theme for Reading Globally is Migration.

I still haven't made it to the Decatur Book Festival; I'm usually either working that weekend or out of town. I would have liked those presentations on Chicano literature.

BTW, it will be interesting to see what the fallout is from the new Georgia immigration law, assuming that Governor Deal signs it as he recently promised.

I'm intrigued with In Search of Klingsor by Jorge Volpi, which sounds really interesting to me. I'll try to fit it in during my already overflowing May reading list, but if not then, I'll definitely keep my eye out for it. Not a book I would likely have run into if you hadn't mentioned those Mexican writers Darryl!

Ignore Richard's rants about The Hummingbird's Daughter, Darryl - I thought it was a good read. I've got his Into the Beautiful North in my TBR Tower waiting for me.

#220: I'm definitely interested in reading In Search of Klingsor, though I probably won't read it next month. I'll look for your thoughts about it when you get to it.

#221: I always ignore Richard's rants.

#219 BTW, it will be interesting to see what the fallout is from the new Georgia immigration law, assuming that Governor Deal signs it as he recently promised.

Yes it will! From what I hear the business community has been opposing it "behind the scenes," but the governor seems to be gung ho.

> 214

Are we TIOLI nerds, or what?!

Aha! I've spotted an official TIOLI nerd or two on this thread!! :P

#223: That's my understanding, as well.

#224: I guarantee that we're not the only ones.

Happy Easter, everybody! I'll be at work until ~10 pm, so I hope all of you enjoy your day.

I was just at my Kaiser clinic to pick up some prednisone for a horrible poison ivy rash that has almost swollen one of my eyes shut. Thank heavens for doctors that work on Easter!

Have a happy Easter, Doc! :)

Interesting about the Kindle.

Happy Easter to you Darryl.

Poison ivy...... scary..... glad you got medicine!

#226 Ooh, that sounds horrible Madeline, hope you get better very soon!

> 228

Thanks, Ilana. With the meds (and the Easter-working doctors!), I'm starting to improve.

We love those doctors who sacrifice their holidays for the wellbeing of all, don't we? :-)

Oddly enough, two more of my friends ended up in the urgent care/ER today. One friend needed three stitches to a knee injury; the other friend (an LTer) needed to be splinted and put on crutches due to an ankle sprain.

Love those docs who give of their time on the holidays...as I was saying!

It was a busier day than I expected yesterday, although it was manageable with the help of the family practice intern and our nurse practitioner. I'm glad to be off today, but there were several extraordinarily cute (and not too sick) babies and toddlers that I would like to have seen today. I'll probably work tomorrow, but that will be my last work day of the month.

I still haven't seen Brianah this week, as I didn't leave the hospital until 9 pm on Saturday and 10:30 pm yesterday. Hopefully I'll see her tomorrow before my afternoon emergency car service appointment. I'm flying to Philadelphia on Wednesday for a week long visit with my parents.

#226: Ouch. I hope you're feeling better today, Madeline.

#227: Happy Easter (+1), Lucy!

#231: Holidays seem to be fraught with injuries and other maladies. Our ER was a madhouse this weekend, and we had our fair share of admissions (I admitted eight kids to the hospital on my 12 hour shift yesterday).

> 232

I am feeling better. Thanks, Darryl.

Have a great trip to Philadelphia Darryl!

Darryl - you might want to pack some summer-ish clothes as it's been very warm here (I'm about an hour outside Philly) the last couple of days!

#233: Great; I hope that you continue to improve, Madeline. Hmm, can I bill you for a follow up online consultation? (*checking CPT codes*)

#234: Thanks, Ardene. There's a small chance that some car trouble may put a monkey wrench in my plans, though. My headlight knob isn't depressing completely as of yesterday, so my parking lights stay on after I turn the car off. Starting the car and letting it run every few hours is keeping the battery alive, but I couldn't leave it in a MARTA garage for a week and a half without it dying. I have a service appointment tomorrow afternoon at Nalley BMW in Decatur; if it is a quick fix, as I think it will be, then I'll be able to make my flight on Wednesday. If it can't be fixed tomorrow, then I'll have to switch my flight to Thursday or later.

#235: Thanks for the heads up, Brit. I checked the National Weather Service forecast, and, as you said, it will be warm today through Wednesday, but the temps will drop to the mid 60s to upper 70s after that (which is perfect weather, IMO). We're supposed to get strong and possibly severe thunderstorms here on Wednesday, which will hopefully take place after I've left town.

Couldn't they keep the car while you're away and you could take a taxi to/from the airport?

#237: Possibly, although I'd have to have someone drive me from the dealership back to Midtown (20 minute trip by car), which should be doable.

Hi Darryl, looking forward to your reviews of both the books, the three jesus and memory of love.

Pedro Paramo was one of the best books I read last year. It does have an element of magical realism, but I believe it was one of the first Latin American books to use this. Gabriel Marquez named Rulfo as one of his influences.

2666 is also a great book about Mexico, although technically Bolano is Chilean.

Have a great trip north. I always worry about flying when thunderstorms are predicted, so I hope they stay away long enough for you to avoid them.

#239: Will do, Gautam. I should finish The Memory of Love either tomorrow or Thursday, and The Three Christs of Ypsilanti sometime next week, I think.

#240: My car battery died again this morning, as it did yesterday afternoon, even though I started it and drove for 15-20 minutes late last night and at 2 am. Fortunately I can get to work pretty easily on the subway (MARTA), but I wasn't able to make it back home in time to make the service appointment. So, I won't leave town until Friday, so that I can get my car repaired, and I won't have to worry about flying in severe weather tomorrow.

Does that mean you'll miss the Friday PEN events??

Unfortunately it does. I am planning to go on Saturday, though.

The shortlist for this year's Orwell Prize, which is named for George Orwell and is "Britain’s most prestigious prize for political writing", has been announced:

The Rule of Law by Tom Bingham
Let Our Fame Be Great: Journeys Among the Defiant People of the Caucasus by Oliver Bullough
The Betrayal by Helen Dunmore
Hitch-22 by Christopher Hitchens
Death to the Dictator! by Afsaneh Moqadam
Supermac: The Life of Harold MacMillan by DR Thorpe

The winner of the £3,000 award will be announced on 17 May.

Helen Dunmore novel shortlisted for Orwell prize

Orwell Prize web site: http://theorwellprize.co.uk

Darryl, I didn't get to make it to a PEN event while I was in NY after all. I had to rush back home early Monday morning for a meeting at the office that ... while I was on the road... got cancelled. arrrgghh!

I posted an Orwell Prize challenge for this month's TIOLI; however, I'm not going to be participating in TIOLI any more. I'll still probably read some of the books, but not for the challenges. Interesting that a novel made the shortlist!

Wow. I am horrified and saddened by the extent of the destruction and loss of life from the tornadoes that ravaged the South yesterday and early this morning (the current death toll is 173, including 128 confirmed dead in nearby Alabama and 11 in Georgia; this number will almost certainly rise over the next several days). I'm also incredibly grateful that Atlanta was apparently spared from any significant damage (although I'm just waking up and haven't watched the local and national news coverage yet). In Midtown we had heavy rain for about 20 minutes, and I lost power for less than a minute; that was it, as far as I know. I hope that other LTers in the South are also okay.

>247 kidzdoc:: oh I know, Darryl. It's really awful. One of my Facebook friends lives near NYC now but is originally from Alabama. He was posting regularly yesterday. Thankfully his family is all safe, but it was very scary for him.

My mother's family is originally from south Alabama (Troy and Enterprise), but I have relatives throughout the state, including the hard hit cities of Birmingham and Tuscaloosa. I'm sure my mother and her sisters will be in touch with our relatives there later today).

The damage and death toll in Georgia has mostly been in the far northwest corner of the state, about 75-100 miles away from Atlanta, but a town as close as 35 miles away (Cartersville, GA) has significant tornado damage.

Good news: My car's headlight knob is now fixed. It wasn't depressing properly, which caused my parking lights to stay on and led to my battery's discharge twice this week. I wasn't charged for the fix, and it took me longer to drive to the dealer than to have it repaired (and I didn't finish half of my complimentary tall Starbucks coffee at the upscale BMW service center).

Bad news: Because this happened just as I was about to leave town, I had to change my departing flight, which cost $500. Argh!!!

New thread here.