Chatterbox Indulges Her Bibliomania: The Fifth Episode

Welcome back to regularly-scheduled book mania...

I'm now on my second batch of 75 for 2011; for those curious about what I read in batch one, you can turn to my fourth thread
here; the full list of the books, along with my ratings, can be found there.

Here's a running tally of the total number of books I've read so far in 2011:




Last year's tally hit 506 books; you can see the highlights on my profile page, along with the highlights of this year to date (a shorter list, sadly, at least thus far.)

And here's the number read for the second challenge of 2011; you can find them listed below and see my comments on my fourth thread (link above):




I'll discuss every book that I read on this thread, even if it doesn't count toward this challenge but belongs over in my 11 in 11 challenge. The number above and the list below refer only to the 75-book challenge, which doesn't include the "11 in 11" books.

As always, my reading is going to be eclectic: brain candy, novels by Nobel winners, mysteries, serious history tomes, current affairs tomes, "chunskters" and short stories. All I want is something that captures my interest and is well-written for its genre. So a "thumping good read" may get as high a rating from me as an acclaimed work of immense literary merit.

I rate my reading using fractions (eg 1.7, 3.9, etc.) and it's basically to try and capture the nuances. Some guidelines:
1.5 or less: A tree gave its life so that this book could be printed and distributed?
1.5 to 2.7: Are you really prepared to give up hours of your life for this?? I wouldn't recommend doing that...
2.8 to 3.3: Do you need something to fill in some time waiting to see the dentist? Either reasonably good within a ho-hum genre (chick lit or thrillers), something that's OK to read when you've nothing else with you, or that you'll find adequate to pass the time and forget later on.
3.4 to 3.8: Want to know what a thumping good read is like, or a book that has a fascinating premise, but doesn't quite deliver? This is where you'll find 'em.
3.9 to 4.4: So, you want a hearty endorsement? These books have what it takes to make me happy I read them.
4.5 to 5: The books that I wish I hadn't read yet, so I could experience the joy of discovering them again for the first time. Sometimes disquieting, sometimes sentimental faves, sometimes dramatic -- they are a highly personal/subjective group at the top of the pile in my judgment.

Here's the second 75:

1. In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson, ****1/2, STARTED 4/3/11, FINISHED 4/6/11 (non-fiction)
2. Thinking in Pictures by Temple Grandin, ***, STARTED 4/2/11, FINISHED 4/7/11 (non-fiction)
3. Afraid of the Dark by James Grippando, ***1/2, STARTED 4/4/11, FINISHED 4/6/11 (fiction)
4. Silent Mercy by Linda Fairstein, **1/2, STARTED 4/29/11, FINISHED 4/7/11 (fiction)
5. The House in Paris by Elizabeth Bowen, ****1/2, STARTED 4/5/11, FINISHED 4/8/11 (fiction)
6. When Christ and His Saints Slept by Sharon Penman, ****, STARTED 4/4/11, FINISHED 4/10/11 (fiction)
7. By the Time You Read This by Giles Blunt, ****, STARTED 4/9/11, FINISHED 4/11/11 (fiction)
8. The Magicians by Lev Grossman, ****, STARTED 4/11/11, FINISHED 4/12/11 (fiction)
9. When Will There Be Good News? by Kate Atkinson, ****1/2, STARTED 4/12/11, FINISHED 4/14/11 (fiction)
10. The Taste of Sorrow by Jude Morgan, ****1/2, STARTED 4/14/11, FINISHED 4/15/11 (fiction)
11. The Beginning of Spring by Penelope Fitzgerald, ****1/2, STARTED 4/15/11, FINISHED 4/17/11 (fiction)
12. A Writer's Diary by Virginia Woolf, ****1/2, STARTED 4/17/11, FINISHED 4/20/11 (non-fiction)
13. The Memory Palace by Mira Bartok, ****1/2, STARTED 4/18/11, FINISHED 4/19/11 (non-fiction)
14. April in Paris by Michael Wallner, ***1/2, READ 4/20/11 (fiction)
15. The Panic Virus by Seth Mnookin, ****1/2, STARTED 4/21/11, FINISHED 4/22/11 (non-fiction)
16. The Uncoupling by Meg Wolitzer, ***, STARTED 4/20/11, FINISHED 4/22/11 (fiction)
17. Rosa by Jonathan Rabb, ****, STARTED 4/19/11, FINISHED 4/24/11 (fiction)
18. Started Early, Took My Dog by Kate Atkinson, **** STARTED 4/16/11, FINISHED 4/24/11 (fiction)
19. The Black Tower by Louis Bayard, ***1/2, STARTED 4/22/11, FINISHED 4/25/11 (fiction)
20. Destination Unknown by Agatha Christie, ***, STARTED 4/25/11, FINISHED 4/26/11 (fiction)
21. When I Am Playing With My Cat, How Do I Know That She Is Not Playing With Me?, ****, STARTED 4/24/11, FINISHED 4/28/11 (non-fiction)
22. Time Was Soft There by Jeremy Mercer, ***, STARTED 4/28/11, FINISHED 4/29/11 (non-fiction)
23. The Garden Party by Sarah Challis, ***, STARTED 4/24/11, FINISHED 4/29/11 (fiction)
24. Through Black Spruce by Joseph Boyden, *****, STARTED 4/26/11, FINISHED 4/30/11 (fiction)
25. Love You More by Lisa Gardner, ***1/2, STARTED 5/1/11, FINISHED 5/2/11 (fiction)
26. A Covert Affair: Julia and Paul Child in the OSS, ***, STARTED 5/1/11, FINISHED 5/3/11 (non-fiction)
27. Persona Non Grata by Ruth Downie, ****, STARTED 5/2/11, FINISHED 5/4/11 (fiction)
28. Death to the Dicatator by Afsaneh Moqadam, ****1/2, READ 5/4/11 (non-fiction)
29. Tolstoy and the Purple Chair by Nina Sankovitch, ***1/2, STARTED 5/4/11, FINISHED 5/5/11 (non-fiction)
30. Treason at Lisson Grove by Anne Perry, ***1/2, STARTED 5/2/11, FINISHED 5/6/11 (fiction)
31. The Informationist by Taylor Stevens, ****, STARTED 5/6/11, FINISHED 5/7/11 (fiction)
32. The King of Diamonds by Simon Tolkien, ****, READ 5/7/11 (fiction)
33. America Pacifica by Anna North, ***, STARTED 5/7/11, FINISHED 5/8/11 (fiction)
34. Carbonel, King of the Cats by Barbara Sleigh, ****, STARTED 5/9/11, FINISHED 5/10/11 (fiction)
35. Now You See Me by Joy Fielding, **, STARTED 5/9/11, FINISHED 5/10/11 (fiction)
36. The Beauty of Humanity Movement by Camilla Gibb, ****, STARTED 5/8/11, FINISHED 5/11/11 (fiction)
37. Crime Machine by Giles Blunt, ****, STARTED 5/10/11, FINISHED 5/12/11 (fiction)
38. The Kingdom of Carbonel by Barbara Sleigh, ****, STARTED 5/11/11, FINISHED 5/12/11 (fiction)
39. Gossip by Joseph Epstein, ****, STARTED 5/12/11, FINISHED 5/13/11 (non-fiction)
40. Carbonel and Calidor by Barbara Sleigh, ***1/2, READ 5/13/11 (fiction)
41. Tragedy in Crimson by Tim Johnson, ***, STARTED 5/13/11, FINISHED 5/15/11 (non-fiction)
42. My Korean Deli by Ben Ryder Howe, ****, STARTED 5/14/11, FINISHED 5/15/11 (non-fiction)
43. Blood Count by Robert Goddard, ****, READ 5/15/11 (fiction)
44. Chasing Fire by Nora Roberts, *1/2, STARTED 5/17/11, FINISHED 5/19/11 (fiction)
45. Dreams of Joy by Lisa See, ****, STARTED 5/20/11, FINISHED 5/21/11 (fiction)
46. The Instigators by David Wolman, ****, READ 5/21/11 (non-fiction)

Followed you and starred the new thread! Love your mix of books and the excellent reviews.

Oh yeah. I'm a follower. Many thanks for your many reviews and comments...... Let's see: vaccines cause autism and Obama was not born in the USA and homosexuals are organized in a vast conspiracy to take over the world and ---- I'm giving up and going to bed.

¡Hola! I missed the vaccine discussion, but I did want to mention that pertussis is definitely still around, and causing severe illness in young infants, particularly those less than 2 months of age who haven't received their first DTaP (diphtheria, tetanus, acellular pertussis) vaccine. I took care of a 3 week old baby last week who tested positive for pertussis, who almost certainly got it from her paternal grandmother, who had a bad cough for several weeks. She scared the pants off of her primary care pediatrician on the day she was admitted, as she had a severe coughing episode in her office, stopped breathing and turned blue, and had to receive CPR before she was transferred to us. She was in the hospital for a little over a week, until her coughing episodes improved to the point that her mother, maternal grandmother and I felt comfortable sending her home.

I've taken care of probably 40-50 babies with pertussis; all of them recovered successfully, but most of them stayed in the hospital for 5-7 days or longer. The coughing episodes are scary to watch, even in the hospital where all necessary support and supplies are available, and I've seen plenty of kids turn blue and drop their oxygen saturation to the 50-60% range with severe episodes (normal saturation is 93% or higher). It can be a fatal illness, and one of my patients nearly died from it despite being in the hospital and receiving appropriate treatment in the PICU. Cases seem to be on the rise; last year's outbreak in California was the largest one in the US since 1945.

The problem with pertussis vaccination is that the current vaccine does not provide lifelong immunity. So, older kids, adolescents and adults can get the infection, and pass it on to young infants who haven't received the vaccine or are not yet fully protected, as was the case for the baby I took care of last week (actually the past two weeks, as I admitted her to the hospital the week before last).

I'll tell families of babies with pertussis that it is referred to as the "100 day cough" in China and other countries, as it often lasts for 3 months or longer. I also tell them that I contracted pertussis in my last year of residency, and was sick with it for 3-1/2 months, with severe cough that was sometimes followed by vomiting (posttussive emesis). For about a month I couldn't sleep lying down, as I would wake up every 10-15 minutes and have a bad coughing spell. No medicines made any significant difference, and by the time I knew what I had and received a Z-Pack (Zithromax) for it, it was too late for anything to help.

BTW, Andrew Wakefield, the disgraced British physician who made the original claim that the MMR vaccine causes autism, is still around, and he continues to espouse his beliefs publicly. I haven't read it yet, but yesterday's New York Times Magazine has an article about him:

The Crash and Burn of an Autism Guru

Well, I hope I don't contract whooping cough; still, it would be better than another whooping cough vaccination! I'm far from opposed on principle, but am not going to risk my own life. Discussed this with docs when my niece and nephews were born, and there was unanimous agreement that based on my medical history, I shouldn't repeat the experiment. But there's a vast difference between knowing that I'll have a life-threatening reaction of the kind that is extremely rare and refusing to run the risk at all on the basis of no scientific evidence. I'd always said that if I had a child, I would vaccinate for everything. To do anything other is inexcusable, IMHO.

The tragic thing about the whole debate is the utter and complete absence of logic; the way that facts seem to have a counter-productive impact. Sigh.

Oh well, book du jour:
The Black Tower, by Louis Bayard, turned into an intriguing "what if" historical novel regarding the fate of the Dauphin, the son and heir of Louis XVI of France. With his parents executed, young Louis-Charles was left to rot in the Temple prison, and horribly abused. (The story is well told in The Lost King of France, a fascinating history/science book about his fate.) Bayard does a decent job of presenting an alternative hypothesis -- or is it an alternative? One of his central characters is Vidocq, the famed detective, who, in the early days of the Bourbon restoration (after Napoleon's final defeat), decides to tackle the mystery of what happened to the king who would have become Louis XVII. It's a bit formulaic but fun reading for history buffs. 3.7 stars, mildly recommended, TIOLI for the book set in Paris challenge.

Reading two v.v. good non-fiction books right now, Peter Ackroyd's new book about Venice, and an excellent one about Montaigne, "When I am Playing With My Cat, How Do I Know She is Not Playing With Me?" by Saul Frampton. Yes, it lives up to the title! even if there isn't a touchstone for it... For brain candy, dipping into a historical fiction tome about Marguerite d'Anjou.

When I Am Playing with My Cat, How Do I Know That She Is Not Playing with Me by Saul Frampton. Now I have seen this in bookstores over and over and thought it would be just another half baked reflection on reflexiveness or self-reference, but I may have to look more closely at it now. There is another Montaigne book out now that I have to put in my waiting-for-the-paperback wishlist; I have to remember what it is first.

Robert

Robert, are you thinking about the Sarah Bakewell book -- How to Live: Or a Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at an Answer? I read that last year, and it was very good. Frampton's book is generally a smoother read (despite a handful of overdrawn metaphors here and there) but so far am not ready to opine on whether it's better overall.

That is it. I just tried to add it to my w-f-t-p wishlist on BN.COM, and it was already there. Thank you for both the link and the evaluation.

Robert

I'm about halfway through the Montaigne book, and nearly finished the Venice opus. But in the meantime, I digressed to re-read Destination Unknown by Agatha Christie. I used to like all her non-series books, and recently found a deep discount Kindle copy of They Came to Baghdad, which I enjoyed re-reading. But am beginning to suspect they haven't stood the test of time for me. This has echoes of other plots -- mysterious fascist/communist conspiracies, left deliberately vague in nature beyond some kind of ersatz utopian appeal, in which some Christie characters become entangled. Very stock plot & characters; underwhelming. 2.9 stars, a shared read for TIOLI's "mirror tag" challenge.

The good news is that Swamplandia! and Time Was Soft There both showed up at the library today. Picked them up, and put a hold on The Beauty of Humanity Movement by Camilla Gibb, which got a rave review on NPR. The funny thing is that when I checked later, five more people had put holds on the same book in the following hours! Group think at work??

Just checking in. Lots of interesting books and more to come:)


glitter-graphics.com

9: Lots of people hearing the rave review. I have 2 other books by Camilla Gibb which somehow found their way into my house last year.

Luci, they were probably roaming the streets helplessly, seeking a haven, when they saw the sign on the front door, invisible to all except books, "refuge for all good books can be found indoors". They then snuck in and hid themselves on your TBR stack...

That's exactly what happened. Is that not what homeless books do round your way?

#9 Suz, I feel that way about Agatha Christie, too. Thirty plus years ago, Christie was my absolute favorite.

Now, while I think her books are okay, there are so many that are much better.

Ditto Linda .... Christie remains my favorite too.

Christie for nostalgia, for sure, but I don't read the ones from her later years much anymore. Well, I guess now that I think about it, I haven't read a Christie of any kind in ages. Sayers! Tey! Marsh. (And I think the roaming books are ignoring my signs.)

I'm beginning to think I may only be able to read a small # of Christie books again. I'm going to have to try the Miss Silver books by Patricia Wentworth to see if they also have passed their "best before" date/I have outgrown them.

For the record, I'm not going to be participating in TIOLI after the end of this month. One or more rather mean-spirited folks (it's hard to tell as he/she/they appear to use troll accounts) have decided that to use any element of my participating in TIOLI as the basis for an obnoxious PM. I'm fed up, and so I'm going to "leave it". For now, at least, I'll stick around LT although I'll probably be posting on fewer threads.

That said, the book du jour (yes, I know, it's either v. early or v. late, but I'm making the best of the fact there is some idiot parked outside the house playing BBC News at top volume since 2:30 am -- 2.5 hours now) was "When I Am Playing With My Cat, How Do I Know that She is Not playing with Me?" Yes, the world's longest title, and NO touchstone! This is another book about Montaigne and his essays, appearing hard on the heels of one by Sarah Bakewell that was published last year -- intriguing, as there's no big Montaigne birth/death anniversary that I can see. There's considerable overlap between the two books, given that they are drawing on the same basic material -- Montaigne's life and his famous essays. That said, Saul Frampton is trying to do something different in this book, and draw a distinction between Montaigne's philosophy of life/living and the metaphysical philosophy of Descartes. He also does an excellent job of showing how Montaigne's preoccupations shifted over the course of his writing life -- from a Stoic stance to something more humanistic. That, to me, makes this on the margin the more intriguing book; that, and the fact that Frampton's goal is less ambitious than Bakewell's -- he is not trying to provide an uber-literary self-help book. (Bakewell's title was of the "how to live" variety -- and she based her narrative on core existential questions and Montaigne's answers to them.) Frampton takes a thematic approach as well, but it's more a narrative device than a way to lure readers. Recommended to anyone interested in the author despite some rather florid turns of phrase, mostly involving the overuse and abuse of metaphors. At some point I will have to do battle with the 16th century French and read the "essais" themselves. 4.2 stars, TIOLI for a book beginning with who, what, where, etc.

Hallo Suzanne! Thank you for starting a new thread, it means I can pretend that I'm all caught up... ;o)

#4 I'm also sorry I missed the vaccine discussion as I'd almost certainly have had something to say (I'll have to go back and read it when I'm better caught up) - Andrew Wakefield makes me sooooo angry (and the sensationalist press too) (BTW Darryl, thank you for the article link, I shall have to trot along to read it in a mo).

#5 "The tragic thing about the whole debate is the utter and complete absence of logic; the way that facts seem to have a counter-productive impact." - yep. Grrr.

Agatha Christie, I overloaded on when i was about 14 - I read everything I could lay my hands on and then reached a brick wall. I do actually still own a couple of nice old penguin editions of my favourites, but I've never been able to pick them up again. One day I'll give her a go again.

#17 The last Montaigne book you read looks fascinating, but I'm a bit worried about he "overuse and abuse of metaphors" - it's something that particularly annoys me (and one of the many reasons why I've never fully made it through The Selfish Gene) - I take it that it's possible to get beyond this though?

>17 Chatterbox:: For now, at least, I'll stick around LT although I'll probably be posting on fewer threads.
Oh, please do! It wouldn't be the same here without you. Remember the motto in The Handmaid's Tale:
nolite te bastardes carborundorum

I think you've read that book but if you haven't, I bet you can translate and if you can't do that ... well, there's always Google.

Have you considered reporting the trolls to the LT gods?

#19 Ditto! (re sticking on LT)

Re the TIOLI stalker, how unpleasant! Why do people do these things?

Sorry to hear about the LT troll(s), Suz. I'm with Linda Laura and Fliss; LT wouldn't be the same without you.

Grr at the trolls - I appreciate the name changing problem but can you not block them? Some websites allow users to opt in to receiving private messages or not, I take it this isn't possible on LT?

I'm angry that this is happening to you or any of our members. Is there anything we can do, or ask LT to do?

>21 kidzdoc:: or Laura, as the case may be. LOL.
ETA: Thanks Darryl !!! :)

I'm really sorry you had a bad experience with an LT member or members, Suzanne. Your presence is a big part of LT for me and I hope it always will be.

#23: Oops. Can I claim old age for my miscue?

Suz, you can block members from sending PMs to you from their profile pages. Some 75ers had a problem with a troll in 2009, who would create several new accounts with names similar to well known members, and spread poisonous comments on several threads (I'm sure you guys will remember this person!). Several members notified Tim, and ultimately that person was able to be removed. I think it sends a bad message if we allow people like this one to silence or inhibit legitimate LT members, so I hope that you will contact Tim and let him know what problems you're having (and please let us know if we can help you in any way).

Seconded!

This started early in the year, and whoever is doing this is using new free accounts once or twice and then changing them so blocking alone, or reporting them, won't work. Since it's confined (at the moment) to what I do/say re TIOLI, I'm going to back away from that. Several comments on my reading there, in terms of quantity, etc. or targeting challenges so that I can read more than anyone else, etc. I've had one or two similar comments from "real" posters in PMs, again all TIOLI related, since I started reading for those challenges. C'est la vie!

>25 kidzdoc:: Can I claim old age for my miscue? No, because then I'd have to be old, too.
Honestly it's no problem, I just felt like yanking your chain. I am also thinking about changing my LT name to something beginning with "Laura. Open to suggestions ... no, not Laurareads because Cushla just did that.

#27 I'm sorry to hear you've been targeted this way. There was an issue earlier this year where an author had been using multiple free accounts to recommend their books and give them five star reviews and Tim & co. were able to stop them (I think they could tell that all the accounts were from the same IP address) so I think reporting the abuse is worth a try.

We'll miss you on the TIOLI challenge if you decide to 'leave it'. Personally, I like seeing your name at the top of the TIOLI meter every month.

they're just jealous ;o)

Heather, thanks, but it seems not everyone shares that view! You will still find me posting away over here happily.

Going to a press awards dinner tonight, fancy dress. *blech* Still, free dinner and probably good food!! But it does diminish my time for reading...

Meanwhile, dithering over which mindless book to pick as my second Amazon Vine option. I've got some more or less serious fiction backlogged, and there are several authors whose past works I've found entertaining enough to read, if not to buy. It's boiling down to a choice between a thriller and a chick lit tome...

>30 flissp: Absolutely! I think we all understand that part of it, but what makes a person target another for that kind of abuse just makes me mad and sad. Don't let the mean-spirited twit drive you too far, please Suzanne. You're important!

Hi Suzanne, I lost track of your thread but hope to keep it in my sight this time around. I'm really sorry to see about the TIOLI troll. It's such a fun venue and how rude of someone to ruin it for you. Take heart, there's more good folks here than not and I hope after some time has passed I'll see your name in the TIOLI challenges again. :)

Enjoy your gratis dinner tonight. Please share with us tomorrow.

I want also to favor your reporting your abuser. If that person is using the same internet service provider for each attack that whole provider can be blocked; it has been done, and I think it should be done in this case.

Robert

Suzanne, don't give the TIOLI troll the satisfaction of driving you away! I'm with Robert...there has got to be a way to block this loser. Oh oh, I've just made myself a target. I meant to say, "misguided person" instead of loser.

I saw you'd removed a book from my challenge. I thought it was something I'd said. :)

I'm with the others, Suzanne, these pathetic little trolls who can only be happy making other people hurt shouldn't be allowed to prosper. We could do a group protest, perhaps, if you're uncomfortable tackling it on your own?

Oh Suz, I'm so sorry to hear that you're the victim of an insane and malicious TIOLI troll. I think you ought to report this creep too. What a loser indeed! I hope he/she breaks out in a bad case of chicken pox.

Suz,

I'm horrified at what is going on with the person that is "trolling" you.

I strongly encourage you to report this directly to Tim for several reasons. If someone is doing this to you, that person could be doing the same thing to others. The only way we can identify the person who's doing this is for LT "admin" to put a tracer on the person who's doing this. How many IP addresses can one user have anyway?

Just an FYI: When there are "issues" on TIOLI (as there are in any group), I always strongly advise against the use of private messages. I think it better to talk about what we don't like aloud on the threads and in the wiki and work together to figure out solutions to things that bother us.

It makes me so sad that my most prolific reader is going to be missing from the TIOLI challenges, but I understand your need not to be hassled. I 100% agree with you.

Please let me know if I can be of any help in any way. This is whether or not you choose to rejoin the TIOLI challenges at a later date. I hate to see a person being targeted so unfairly.

Anyway, I'll stop by your thread to say hi if I don't bump into you on any other thread in the meantime. Take care, Suz.

I agree with everyone else. If you're being harassed, you should report it to see if Tim and company can put a stop to it. I hate to see something like this happen!

Just another thought, though I wish you'd stick around for all of the TIOLI fun because not just the impossible competition but the reading ideas you come up with for all the challenges will be really missed. Could you participate in TIOLI including listing books/completed books but not add the public count of how many you've read?

Troll, if you're reading this, what's wrong with you?

On another subject, did you choose anything good on Vine tonight? I'm very excited now because the UK list included a book I've been looking forward to for about 18 months, and I found it very hard to choose which other book to go for too.

I don't want to feed the troll; either trolls feel persecuted, or validated by the attention they get. I did report a couple of abusive messages earlier this year, but any troll who is determined is going to find a way to be obnoxious, even if it's subtle.

Madeline, I appreciate your approach to "issues", but troll aside, I do think a tiny handful of people are using PMs to express their impatience or irritation with posters. Generally, LT and TIOLI are great environments, and my decision on how to handle this is aimed at keeping it as friendly as poss.

Re Vine, I'm still dithering -- hours later -- over my second choice. (I was really hoping this would be one of those four-book months. I opted for the new Lisa See novel, but then was stumped. I have several novels requested from ER (that closed today), including the new books by Morag Joss, Nancy Thayer and Andrew Gross -- the latter two nice mindless stuff. All are also available on Vine. There's the third Amish mystery by Linda Castillo, an intriguing looking dystopian novel called America Pacifica, and a historical novel by Marina Fiorato -- her first novel I enjoyed; the second I loathed. So that's six books -- and I can only pick one! Anyone have any suggestions?? I'm definitely looking for something mindless... I have several "serious" novels -- or non-fluffy books -- from Vine awaiting my attention, and a memoir, so I want something different.

I'll probably wait and see what, if anything, I get from ER and then decide. With so many potential picks, I'm sure there will be something left next week!!

Oh, went to the Overseas Press Club awards dinner. V. interesting; Lesley Stahl presenting this year's awards; saw a few people I knew. But definitely overshadowed by the deaths this week of two photojournalists, Tim & Chris, in Libya. The friend who invited me was a close friend of Chris's and I had to get her out of the room during the tribute when she broke down. Two award winners couldn't finish their speeches because they were in tears -- tough war correspondents & photographers. A reminder of the price people pay to bring us all the news in the comfort of our homes and offices -- and how little separates us from the chaos and anarchy and violence of the world.

Just wanted to say I'm sorry about the harassment and I'm glad you are not going to let him/her drive you away from LT altogether - I would miss you! :)

I chose two books from Vine yesterday, but like you, I had trouble choosing. There wasn't anything that seemed like a "must read" to me at first glance. I chose a historical fiction and a nonfiction. Good news is I'm really enjoying my Vine book from last week. Haven't gotten to try the Hoover steamer yet. Did your treadmill arrive?

Add me to the disgusted LTers who think you should definitely report this Suzanne. I'm certainly going to miss your input on the TIOLI thread. Last year someone sent me a PM lambasting a review I wrote but he was an actual LTer and wasn't trying to hide at all. He was just downright mean and nasty so I just ignored him. I hate to see you be pushed around by someone who doesn't even identify themselves.

Tks for all the moral support...

I did pick the dystopian novel by a writer I'd never heard of for my second book -- "America Pacifica" by Anna North. Finished two more books, but I'm headachey and waiting for my treadmill (delivery window is between 1 and 5 today) so I'll update my reading list later!

smooches to all (to borrow a phrase from Richard!)

Zap those mean spirited trolls!

a href="http://www.glitter-graphics.com">
glitter-graphics.com

I quit posting reviews on Amazon after an onslaught of VERY nasty messages from the author.

I kind of expect that from Amazon, and it's really not personal there. What bugged me about the troll(s) is he/she/they are people who have perused my profile & threads, and it does seem personal. LOVE the graphic!

The treadmill just arrived, hundreds of pounds and still encased in a giant box. Tigger the cat is thrilled. My upstairs neighbor is going to help me put it together tomorrow. Also arrived: two books from Canada -- the fifth Giles Blunt book, Crime Machine and Alone in the Classroom by Elizabeth Hay.

So sorry to hear about your troubles with the TIOLI troll. I don't understand why people have to ruin others enjoyment. I hope you are back soon, you will be greatly missed.

I see you are continuing on with the Giles Blunt series, I must try to push the next book of his up my TBR as i really liked the first one that I read earlier this year.

The treadmill is for ..... Tigger? ;-) Do be careful of your back, Suz, when you're putting the treadmill together.

Caro, Tigger is having a lot of fun with the box. It gives him a place to lurk and look menacing; a box to scratch; a starting point from which to try to leap up at the coats hanging from a hook on the door and attack them.

Books du jour:

Time Was Soft There by Jeremy Mercer was a bit of a disappointment. Part of it was become I assumed that this would be to some extent about books. Not so, even though it's about a bookstore, whose eccentric grab-bag of residents are required by its owner to read a book a day as part of their "rent" for rooms in the fiction room, the library or the antiquarian room, where beds make up part of the furniture. Instead, it's about those individuals, who are less appealing on the page than they might have been to Mercer in person. He does succeed in making George Whitman look quirky and intriguing, but the rest of this motley crew of characters aren't people I could really imagine having an interesting discussion about anything much at all, at least based on this book. Oh, that includes Mercer, who flees to Paris after getting threats in the wake of publicly identifying a criminal source whose identity he had promised to protect, and then runs out of money. This is, I suppose, a kind of bookstore-oriented Down and Out in Paris and London but it didn't work for me on any level. 2.8 stars, TIOLI for a book set in Paris. If you want a book about Paris or bookstores, there are MANY better alternatives.

Whoops, forgot to add:
"The Garden Party" by Sarah Challis is classic chick lit/Aga saga (and another one with no touchstone...) A materfamilias wants to hold a garden party to celebrate her 60th birthday and 40th wedding anniversary; the preparations are the backdrop against which dramas involving various family members spill out. Very predictable material, but well written and involving enough that I kept reading -- brain candy. It's a pity that it wasn't better, as Challis has written some above-average books in this genre, like Killing Helen. Now she's becoming indistinguishable from the crowd. 3.1 stars, TIOLI for a book about flowers and gardens.

I'll finish Peter Ackroyd's Venice book tonight, and also perhaps Through Black Spruce by Joseph Boyden, which is excellent. Tomorrow will be devoted to finishing another mystery and reading the last poems by Al Purdy in the new anthology I ordered with my Amazon.com windfall last month.

>50 Chatterbox: Ohh, that's too bad. Time Was Soft There is on my TBR list, and it'll stay there for now, but it's good to know going into it that it's not really about books.

Love your description of Tigger and the box. :)

Oh, meant also to add that I won the Nancy Thayer book from ER, so that's one book I won't need to get from Vine. (It's not one that I would spend real money for, ditto most of the others I was pondering.) Now I just have to hope that this year's Thayer novel arrives -- last year's didn't.. *eyes roll*.

Also -- got a massive influx of library books today, all of which had been on hold for varying lengths of time. Six of 'em!

Next book report:

Finished reading Venice: Pure City by Peter Ackroyd, a Christmas gift from my brother & sis in law. It's not up to the standard of his books on London and the Thames, but is still excellent -- a thematic look at this unique city through the eyes of its residents and visitors over the centuries. It's not a straightforward history -- he explores themes and ideas, jumping back and forth in time to address the issue of light, of food, of justice and the family, as they evolved in the unique environment of Venice, which remained a medieval state until Napoleon walked in and took it over in 1797, but which also was a city-state one of whose occupants could declare as early as the 16th century that he saw himself as a free man in a free country. Ackroyd draws on a lot of other well-known Venice observers -- Jan Morris, Ruskin, Mary McCarthy, to name only a few -- as well as the obvious literary commentators, from Byron to Henry James and some lesser known figures of the early Renaissance. For me, it was the tiny details that abound here that made this book fascinating to read, rather than the scope itself -- to those who know a lot about Venice, there's probably very little tremendously new beyond Ackroyd's rather unexpected view of the city as both literally and metaphorically "insular" and one that has always relied on being able to command the attention of outsiders (through trade, or today through tourism). Recommended; 4.2 stars, TIOLI for outstanding cover art. (Rather than a dust jacket, the book's binding is itself the illustration; combining ancient and contemporary iconic Venetian images in a suitably rococo fashion.) For my 11 in 11 challenge.

Stayed up all night (it's 5 a.m....) to finish reading Through Black Spruce by Joseph Boyden. A sequel of sorts to Three Day Road, but involving the son and the granddaughter of Xavier Bird, and can certainly be read on its own. Like the first novel, this involves the Cree community of the James Bay region; one narrative tells the story of Will Bird, who as the novel begins is lying in a coma in a Moosonee hospital. At his side is his niece, Annie, the other narrator. As their stories unfold and converge, we learn what has happened to place Will in the hospital bed and of his time in the bush; we also hear of Annie's odyssey into the white world of Toronto, Montreal and New York in an attempt to find out what had happened to her sister, Suzanne. It's a brilliant depiction of the experience of Canadian First Nations people, but also a brilliant novel that juxtaposes Will's return to his hunting and trapping roots with Annie's experiences in a wider world that has destroyed so many of her peers. Has it devoured Suzanne, and will it also permanently damage Gordon, her mute 'protector'? There really aren't words to do justice to this novel -- you'll have to read it for yourself. You know how picky I am, but this is a 5-star book IMO...

I'm bummed that Time Was Soft There isn't better -- my daughter loves that bookshop fervently and was so intrigued that people were actually living there. If it was decent it would have been a great gift for her.

Well, if she adores the bookshop, she'll probably look past the flaws. I'm intrigued by it -- have been in countless times since the 80s -- but really wasn't interested in the people bunking there. Had this been about their relationship to books, ideas, etc. I would have found it more interesting. But the fact that Mercer struggles to get food, the lack of a clean bathroom, the battles between the residents, the late night bull sessions under the bridge -- just not as exciting as the author believes they are, at least to me. I found Sixpence House by Paul Collins more interesting -- about another iconic book place.

OK Suzanne couldn't agree with you more about Through Black Spruce. Boyden is an unbelievable talent and now we can just sit waiting impatiently for his next book. He does have a website right here and he's looks to be fairly young so we have years of looking forward to his books :)

Hmm, the nitty gritty might interest her, although it might also take the romance out of it!

Suzanne, I've had the two books by Joseph Boyden on my wish list since they were published. Five stars from you means that I'll put them on my library hold list - pronto! Thanks for the nudge.

Adding accolades re Through Black Spruce and Three day road. They were both excellent, though I read them in "backward" order.

I think you could read those two in any order!

Just realized I haven't been updating my reading list at all...

Here are the two final books of April, and the first book of May:

To End All Wars by Adam Hochschild is, not surprisingly given the author's identity, a tour de force. I got a first version of this from NetGalleys, then went out and purchased a hardcover copy for my own library... Yes, it's yet another look at WW1, but not surprisingly, Hochschild (author of King Leopold's Ghost has taken a different angle, looking at the way the war divided ordinary people. Did the war need to happen? Did it need to be directed by foolish generals? Why did so many resist the overwhelming tide of patriotism and propaganda, at such a cost? The author tackles all those questions through the stories of stalwart believers in the British empire, socialists and suffragettes, and odd characters like lion tamers and coal miners turned politicians, all of whom came to conflicting positions via different routes. There are well known supporters of the war who paid a terrible price in these pages -- like Rudyard Kipling, who never recovered from the death of his son and yet who continued to support the war to the bitter end -- and well known opponents, like Bertrand Russell. But there are also the obscure figures, like conscientious objectors shot or imprisoned and brought to life in these pages. It's not a military history, although there are enough general details of the campaigns (and the way the generals ignored the ramifications of new technologies like the machine gun and barbed wire) to enable anyone unfamiliar with the war to follow the chain of events. It may not be a definitive history, but it's an accessible one that clearly lays out the causes and consequences, and focuses on the people caught up in the conflict for more than four years. A must-read; while not as brilliant as Paul Fussell's iconic book The Great War and Modern Memory, I'd recommend it as a one-stop book on the war for anyone who doesn't expect to be interested. Hochschild is a marvellous storyteller at his best here. 4.8 stars, TIOLI for the prepositional phrase, for my 11 in 11 challenge.

Also for my 11 in 11 challenge, I read Treasury of Regrets by Susanne Alleyn. Set in the French Revolution, in the immediate aftermath of Robespierre's terror, this is a somewhat interesting procedural mystery. It's solid, but never really gripped me to the point where I couldn't put it down, and it didn't really tell me much beyond the facts of what it was like to live in this interregnum, between Robespierre's rule and the rise to absolute power of Napoleon. Instead, there's a crime -- the death of an old miser and head of a family all of whom may have had motive and opportunity to bump him off -- and an investigator who follows a pathway through the clues to find the culprit. A bit predictable, but those who adore procedural mysteries will probably find more to enjoy than I did; I wonder if I might have enjoyed this more had I started by reading the first book in the series. (I realized about halfway through this wasn't it; that's the point where I figured out whodunnit, too.) 3.4 stars, TIOLI for a book set in Paris.

Finally, the first book of the new month was pure brain candy, a library read -- Love You More by Lisa Gardner that turned out to be much better than I had expected. Tessa Leoni is found marks of a brutal beating beside the body of her dead husband, shot with her service weapon (she's a Mass. state trooper) and her daughter is missing. From that puzzle, Gardner deftly steers her way through twin narratives, that of frequent protagonist D.D. Warren, a Boston detective, and Leoni's own gradual revelation of what really happened. On one level, it's predictable "woman in peril" novel kind of stuff, but I actually forgot to get off at my subway stop because I was so caught up in the plot. Hardly great literature, but roller-coaster style fun reading. 3.6 stars; for this challenge; recommended for those who enjoy women's suspense novels.

I'm now caught up in "A Covert Affair: Julia Child and Paul Child in the OSS" by Jennet Conant, and am finding the story so intriguing (who knew???) that I am able to get past some of the most egregious typos and uncorrected slip ups I've ever seen recently. Happily, these aren't on every page, but they are very obvious -- eg, spelling Marseilles three different ways in less than two pages. Probably will finish that tomorrow.

>61 Chatterbox: I've added To End All Wars to the ever-growing TBR list. It sounds really engaging and a good broad overview for someone like me who hasn't read much about WW1 since high school. I have A Covert Affair on the list already...too bad it has so many typos. Looking forward to seeing your final thoughts on it!

I'm not adding Beyond Remembering, the collection of all the poems written by Canadian poet Al Purdy, to the list of books I've read this year, as I pretty much turned to this volume to read all those I hadn't yet read -- his works from the late 80s through the 90s and up to his death in 2000 -- a few hundred pages of the 600 or so here.

But I did want to note some excerpts from some of these, such as the one he wrote about Canada on the occcasion of the millennium:

"I suppose it's like a kid growing up
to see the parts of your own country
like a jigsaw that suddenly comes together
and turns into a complete picutre
you've touched nearly all the parts
you've become a certain kind of adult
and the ordinary places become endearments
that slip into your mind and grow there
and you change into what you already are
in a country you can wear like an old overcoat
Joseph's coat of many colours "

Purdy was a high school drop out; self educated; worked at all kinds of odd jobs into his 40s. He was resolutely opposed to taking himself too seriously, as noted in an epilogue included, written in 1986: "And it occurs to me that if I were aboard a rowboat floating in the middle of all the beer I've drunk in a lifetime, I'd never be able to see the shore. At which point the high gods of serious things throw up their hands in horror."

He wrote some hilarious poems, some poignant ones, and some that describe the odd feeling of what it means to be Canadian. I discovered a poem written about Herodotus (he likes heroes, both those like Herodotus and his personal heroes) and one about Macchu Pichu (which has echoes of earlier ones written about l'Anse aux Meadows, site of Viking settlements in Newfoundland/Labrador.

There is a tribute to a friend and Canadian personality, F.R. Scott, in which Purdy writes:

"citizens remain calm in non-emergencies
for we exist in a special geography
of isolation from each other
and fear of emotion
prefer to keep a reasonable distance
from one of our number
betraying any sings of intelligence"

And to end on a humorous note, from "Insomnia":

"I wake up dammit at six and five
and four a..m. all spring and summer
the noisy birds haunt my sleep
lecture me about early rising
expound the benefits of foreign travel...

Bobolink home from the Amazon
strums his banjo at Ameliasburg
and his mate cusses humans
("Damn that plate glass window!"
-- nearly whapped herself last week
when she saw her own spittin image
flying toward her singing and
wants those people to post warnings)"

Read this for Darryl's TIOLI poetry challenge last month.

I've added To End All Wars (can't seem to find the right touchstone). I recently read Solzehnitsin's August 1914, and it deals with similar issues--whether the war was necessary, the stupidity of the generals, etc.--but with a much narrower focus--one battle that occurred over several days shortly after Russia entered the war. I'm interested in a broader perspective.

Hochschild stretches his narrative over the entire war, and tells it through the eyes of those involved, a bit like a scholarly version of a magazine article from Atlantic or Harper's, if that makes sense! He's not trying to test out new scholarly theories about the war in the way that Niall Ferguson and some other historians have done, but more to take a deep dive into the events, and shed new light on the way the war transformed people and attitudes. It's a side of the story that we forget...

To End All Wars sounds interesting. I need to read more about the war itself; my knowledge comes from The Guns of August and books about the results of the war like A Peace to End All Peace and Paris 1919. I am an admirer of Hochschild and King Leopold's Ghost

Rebecca, have your read Paul Fussell's book yet? If not, I urgently recommend it -- I think it would be right up your alley.

I did finish the Jennet Conant book before I left for the theater (Donmar Warehouse's production of King Lear, with Derek Jacobi in the title role; free tix thanks to a friend, and free dinner -- and strawberries dipped in chocolate and mini-red velvet cupcakes in the interval!!) and have to report that while it's a good story, it's a flawed book. For starters, although "A Covert Affair" (touchstones on strike) is ostensibly about Julia and Paul Child and their time in the OSS, it's only about 30% about them; the rest of the story is about a woman named Jane Foster who was suspected of being some kind of Soviet agent during the McCarthy era and who (thanks to the Venona transcripts being released later) does actually seem to have been complicit to some extent. Jane worked with both Julia McWilliams (as she was then) and Paul Child in the OSS in wartime, but the nature of that work wasn't of overwhelming interest in any enduring fashion, it seems to me -- and that's about half the book. Sure, it's people being eccentric in exotic places, but that ain't enough. The book needed more focus and a better structure -- was it about the OSS as the title claims? or about how wartime contacts could put peoples' lives under the microscope in the 50s? Conant can't seem to decide. That might have left it at a 3.6 star book or so -- but then there were the typos and other errors. In two pages, the author has Marseilles spelled three different ways -- possibly a record. A few chapters later, she has Julia simultaneously aboard a ship bound for Ceylon and waiting for word of her friends aboard that ship back in Washington. (She forgot, it seems, that Julia and Jane are spelled differently, and it was Jane who was still in DC.) Then Conant describes "The King's Pavilion" in Kandy as being built should Queen Victoria decide to visit Ceylon, in 1829. Problem was, in 1829 Queen Vic was ten years old, and not queen. And, when I checked, it seems that it was actually built in 1834. Then she is describing an OSS operation that involved seizing people from fishing boats, and says that "the captors" were brought back to be questioned. Well, I suspect she means the captives... And so it goes, but after this point (the first 100 pages) I stopped noting these examples. The book is mostly well written and lively, but I kept wondering "why is this story important" and never got an answer; these tiny but annoying errors were just the icing on the cake. 2.8 stars, meh. I wouldn't recommend it, but if you're really interested in the period/issues, you may find it fun. I'm glad it was a library book and I didn't spend real money on it.

What did you think of the Lear production?

Robert

It was v.v. good, Robert; I wasn't crazy with the Edmund the Bastard, but other than that the acting was good to excellent and the staging/lighting/direction superb. The fool did a superb job, and Jacobi was impressive, even though Lear has always struck me as one of those "carpet-chewing" roles.

#67, Thanks for the recommendation, Suzanne. I haven't read the Fusell. Am I right that it focuses on the British experience and isn't about WWI more broadly?

Also, re the Conant, what put me off reading it was that it allegedly "revealed" that the Childs had been in the OSS when everyone knew that already.

Only marking my place, and watching the conversation..

Sooo jealous of you seeing Jacobi in that role. We learned about the production too late to get tickets.

I was lucky to get tix -- thanks to a friend whose company is a backer of Donmar's productions in London, and who got a big block of tix for last night...

Rebecca, what Fussell is looking at is the experience on the Western Front, the trenches, and yes, focuses mostly on the British experience, as they were there from 1914 until the first Americans got there three years after the war started and confronted some of the worst carnage (Ypres, the Somme and Passchendaele). What he does is illustrate the transformation of everything from language, literature and ultimately society over the course of the war years -- with consequences that were felt throughout "European" society for decades (arguably still today). So I'd argue that it is probably a VERY broad look at WW1, but just not from a military pov; he's examining the unparalleled transformation of society that occurred during the war through the prism of the English experience and the way it was processed and reflected by a segment of the population. I've read a lot about the war, and I think it's easily one of the best books -- the one that gives you a sense of what the war DID. (For military history, you can look at John Keegan's book, Martin Gilbert or Hew Strachan, all of which have slightly different areas they emphasize or overlook.) The other "big picture" book that I love and that I'd recommend is by Modris Eksteins, Rites of Spring.

The Fussell has gone on my wishlist anyway. Thank you, I'm pretty sure.
And I won't bother being envious of your *Lear* night; I'm glad you got to go since I couldn't.

Thanks, Suzanne, onto my wishlist too.

Thank you for responding about Lear. I've seen it, but I didn't want to prejudice your response with my own. The producers emphasized that it was a hot ticket in London. How is it that I'm the only one who thought that other performances are just more real than that one? I didn't find it bad, only uninspiring in comparison, say, to the DVD that I have. With the array of folk liking it, I can't help but think I'm not getting something.

Robert

It might be the Donmar "mystique", Robert -- and the fact that many of the actors are skilled/veteran Shakespeareans. I did like it, as I said, and I'm always glad to see Jacobi on stage, although I don't think he shed any new light on the role. (I'd love to see someone who made me see Lear in a new light -- there were elements of that here, but they came more from direction than acting, I think.) It's one of the better productions I've seen, but not "transformative". I'm v. glad I had the chance to go, although, as I said, Lear ain't my fave Shakespeare play. (I'm a big fan of the Tempest, the histories and love some of the comedies. The Big 3 -- Macbeth, Lear and Hamlet -- don't move me as much as some of the others, so my response to the plays is filtered through that.)

Book du jour, definitely on the lowbrow side: Persona Non Grata by Ruth Downie, the third of four (so far) books in a series of mysteries featuring Ruso, a doctor who toils in the Roman legions in the era of Emperor Hadrian. In this book, easily the best of the lot so far, Ruso takes his slave/housekeeper/mistress Tilla (a British "barbarian") off to "civilized" Gaul, in response to a plea from help from his brother. Sure enough, the family has all kinds of woes, from massive debts to the love between Ruso's silly stepsister and a gladiator about to go into the arena. Then the man who wants to bankrupt the family dies suddenly -- at their villa. Aside from a rushed and somewhat artificial end, this is a rollicking good read, and a fun look at Roman Gaul at the height of the empire. (It's set in today's Provence). Perhaps because the plot involved Ruso's family, I found it easier to be caught up in both the story and with the characters, so it turned into a 3.8/3.9 star read for me. I got the fourth in this series as an ER book earlier this year, so will move on to read it and try to get caught up on those.

Got a bunch more books from my library holds today, including a novel by Jean Echenoz that I haven't yet read and Colm Toibin's new short story collection. Gotta finish some more library books, or they'll hunt me down and confiscate the ones I have -- the number is creeping steadily higher...

And one more book to note today: finished one of the shortlisted books for the Orwell Prize, Death to the Dictator by Afsaneh Moqadam. It's absolutely brilliant, a very vivid look at the push for democracy and reform on the streets of Tehran in 2009, and the crackdown that followed. Its most valuable contribution, IMO, is the way it takes us inside the head of the "typical" Iranian reformist; how people could tolerate electing subpar leaders but not blatant unfair play, such as not having their votes counted and the election "stolen". Very highly recommended; 4.6 stars; I've posted a review on the book's page as there wasn't one there already.

I'll probably end up reading several more of the shortlisted books. I'd like to read the Oliver Bullough book, Let Our Fame Be Great; he won the best book award at the Overseas Press Club awards dinner I attended last week and spoke v. eloquently about the Caucasus (another part of the world about which most of us are ill-informed. I've already read Dunmore's two novels (The Betrayal is on the shortlist) and may even try Hitch-22 despite my aversion for memoirs. I'm definitely going to be reading the book by Tim Butcher, Chasing the Devil, as his first book about Africa was so damn good. (I ordered it from Amazon.co.uk...)

Visited Book Culture with Darryl (kidzdoc) today before he heads back to Atlanta; I emerged with only four books. I'll leave him to inform y'all of his depradations! I got Fatelessness by Imre Kertesz, Lunar Men by Jenny Uglow (on sale; the paperback was half price), an interesting-looking book that deals with national, sub-national and trans-national identities in Europe -- "The End of the West" by David Marquand (begging the question of why I can get a guide to a roleplaying game called paranoia as a touchstone option, but NOT the book itself???) -- as well as a novel at random -- Appassionata by Eva Hoffman, about which I have heard nothing. So I was relatively restrained, until I spotted a cool box full of postcards featuring Penguin/Pelican book covers -- classic ones, ranging from Brighton Rock by Grahame Greene, the old orange cover editions, to the green ones on the Margery Allingham mysteries -- 100 of them for $25! All on excellent thick card stock. They will make WONDERFUL bookmarks, and maybe I'll succumb to the temptation to use them to wallpaper a wall with them one day!!

There's a collection of Puffin postcards similar to the one of Penguin postcards.

Hitch-22 is quite a good read.

There's a lot of books on this challenge I'd like to read, I have quite a few of the older ones (pre-2011) including Palestinian Walks - unfortunately we moved them all to the shed the other day so I can't look for books in the middle of the night any more.

Oooh, Luci, you just cost me another 8 quid -- I ordered the Puffin postcards from Amazon.co.uk. Managed to rationalize it by combining it with an existing order of books/DVDs, so at least the shipping won't be punitive, and the Amazon discount means that even after the shipping, it will cost about half what the Penguin cards did... How I loved my Puffin books as a child; I was even part of the Puffin readers club, and had a little badge with a Puffin on it!!

I found my collection of Puffin Post in the shed a few months ago and brought it back into the house - I've had my eye on the Puffin postcards for a while, since I read a biography of Kaye Webb (editor of Puffin Books in the 1960s and 1970s) and reviewed it for the Bookbag: Valerie Grove, So Much To Tell - it also made me more interested in looking at my Puffin Post collection.

My Puffin Post disappeared eons ago, during one of our myriad moves. It was definitely gone by Japan in 1980. I remember Kaye Webb's name -- it was probably the first time in my life I became aware of an editor's name in the context of books.

Can't wait to see what's on the postcards!!

Suzanne

I've added the Adam Hochschild book to the TBR list. I note your comment about Kipling. I recommend the book Kipling's Choice by Geert Spillebeen.

Death To the Dictator sounds incredible and thus I'm adding this one to the tbr pile as well.

I just purchased a copy of Death to the Dictator from bookcloseouts.com. They have both hardcover and paperback for under $5...

The End of the West by David Marquand, I suppose not to be confused with The Decline of the West.

I was enchanted by The Lunar Men, and I hope you get as much from it as I think that I did.

Robert

Robert, I hope Marquand's book isn't too Spenglerian! I'll keep you posted on that and on The Lunar Men about which I've heard nothing but good stuff. It's the kind of book I love to read, so was delighted to find a clean, new-looking copy at Book Culture yesterday.

Sigh. I wanted today's book to be enchanting, and it didn't quite make it there. Amusingly, considering my "book du jour" mantra, Tolstoy and the Purple Chair (yo, touchstone, where are you??) was a memoir by Nina Sankovitch about reading a book a day for an entire year, as a way to cope with her grief at the premature death of her sister and find her way back to life. The books are a means to an end, rather than an end in themselves; the observations verge on the banal far too often: "my reading, sometimes painful and often exhausting, was pulling me out of the shadows and into the light." I think that while all her reading and writing this book was probably very cathartic for the author, the insights she gleans may feel meaningful to her, but aren't terribly surprising to anyone else. Or, to be frank, that compelling. I feel like a curmudgeon, but honestly, had this book been about coping with grief by following favorite sports teams around for a year, or even designing and making a quilt (something I'd actually enjoy!) I wouldn't have read it at all, or I would have given up partway through. The 'highlights' were some reading ideas, but the rest of this just wasn't memorable. I'm not unhappy I read it, but unlike some of the books the author mentions, I wouldn't feel compelled to re-read it. Some book people might enjoy it more; some who have less of an aversion to self-help style memoirs might find more to appreciate than I did. It was a 3.25 star book for me; I suppose it could be 4 stars for a different reader. Not really recommended. This was an Amazon Vine ARC; the book itself will be published in June sometime.

One more book finished before day's end: The Queen of Last Hopes by Susan Higginbotham. I'm a fan of historical novels; have been since I was a child. And I loved the author's first book. But I'm increasingly recognizing that the historical novels I enjoy most are those narrated from different/non-traditional perspectives (i.e. not kings and queens) or those that explore ideas instead of just dressing up historical facts with dialogue. Unfortunately, this book meets neither test. It's an intriguing book, a revisionist version of Marguerite d'Anjou, one of the warring queens in the Wars of the Roses (wife to Henry VI). But by now I know the broad story so well that while I can marvel at the depth of research, I needed more than that in this book -- the story isn't new, the way it's told is very plain vanilla. Perhaps the research overwhelmed the issue of turning it into a novel?? Anyway, I'm rating this 3.1 stars (it's for my 11 in 11 challenge) and hoping that my next few books will make up for today's disappointments. Only for really avid historical fiction buffs.

I have been wondering what you picked up at Vine..
sorry it didn't work for you. I read arms wide open.It
was a slow starter for me, but it finished up well.

Re 86 -- it does seem as though there is this genre of 'grief' books where the person sets him/herself some task or other -- one could make a study of the ones that work and why. Mostly they don't work so well.

I saw your review of Death to the Dictator and thumbed it and I've also got it on hold at the library. Hopefully, I'll be able to get to it this month.

I loved your description of the book store visit with Darryl and have been trying to decide whether I want to order the Penguin or the Puffin postcards. I've never seen those before and they look great.

Great review of Death to the Dictator!, Suz; I've just purchased the Kindle version, and I'll read it for the quarterly Reading Globally theme (Wars and Regions in Conflict) either this month or in June.

Excellent job on the review of Death to the Dictator Suzanne. It sounds fascinating and i'll add it to the teetering tower.

#89, Lucy, I call those "stunt memoirs" -- people decide to perform a task or mission that will cause people to open their eyes really wide and go "ooooh", and then write about it. I sometimes think it's because they think that anything that fascinates them should automatically fascinate a broader audience -- if only they could find the right gimmick. They fail to realize that the need for a gimmick invalidates the premise...

#90 -- I'm usually very resistant to all those little goodies that bookstores and other folks pile up near the cash register hoping to tempt me into an impulse buy. But not these postcards... Some of the covers I remember from books my mother or grandfather owned; a few are for the original paperbacks of books I know and love; one or two I even own! They aren't cheap, but if you price it out, it's about 25 cents for each postcard, which is a deal -- if you like book design or a bibliomaniac as I am. I'm using them as bookmarks in everything I'm reading! The Puffin ones will get here from Amazon.co.uk whenever -- late this month, in a jumbo order of books & DVDs. I ordered a book about the battle of Towton (the aforementioned wars of the roses), a historical novel by Stella Tillyard (she wrote the excellent Aristocrats as well as a bio of Edward Fitzgerald, the aristocratic revolutionary of the 1798 Irish rebellion) and one or two other things.

I get a monthly e-mail from Goodreads telling me about new releases by authors whose books I already own -- it's a gem! I've added about five books to my library wish list today alone based on that...

I read & reviewed Tolstoy and the Purple Chair from last month's Vine and I liked it only slightly better than you did. I was really hoping for more book talk. She focused only on those books that helped her with her grief, and I wanted to hear about what ELSE she was reading. I agree that the things she learned over the year were not very profound, but I was mildly interested in seeing how her books helped her cope.

And there was an annoying repetition - a scene that she described twice (about her sister's sweater) in two different chapters. I didn't mention that in my review because Amazon says that ARCs might have some repetition. Hopefully they've fixed that in the final edition.

That wasn't the only repetition I caught, Angela; there were a few instances of that kind, such as when her sister mentions the unfairness of her illness and some details about her parents. I can understand how that happens; I had to winnow a few instances of that out of my own MS and hope that she had a careful editor who caught them and got her to write around it. But it is a sign of a skimpy MS when it happens frequently...

95- Yep, that's the one I meant. (When her sister says "it's not fair" and they hug, and she buries her face in her sister's sweater, and then she talks about how she still wears the sweater.) I didn't catch the other repetitions but I can also understand how it can happen. I just expected it would have been caught on the 1st or 2nd re-reads, or by the editor.

I still have 2 more books to review for Vine, and of course I have to review the Hoover portable steamer. Haven't even tried it yet! Is the treadmill put together yet? :)

Treadmill is still in its box, which Tigger is delightedly clawing to bits, leaping on and perching on while glaring down at other, lesser cats. The plan is to tackle it sometime this weekend; it is a two person job and my neighbor has volunteered to help. I'm hoping he's better at following printed directions than I; I find that I need to DO something to learn it, if it involves mechanical operations. True of everything from knitting to computer stuff. Muscle memory apparently beats brain memory!

Meanwhile, The Aristocrats has gone on my wishlist. Looks like an antidote to the Mitfords.

Maybe they were the 18th century equivalent, Lizzie? LOL! More interesting to me, in any event -- everyone gets excited about Sarah, the youngest, who was briefly wooed by George III, but I'm intrigued by Caroline, the eldest, who eloped with a politician, the elder Fox. The 18th century is such an intriguing time frame, I am discovering now that I'm older and able to appreciate things beyond beheaded queens and rebellious peasants!

#93 Thanks for the encouragement about the Penguin postcards. I'm going to go ahead and order them! After which I'm going to check out that Goodreads newsletter.

cool that you got a treadmill!

It will be cooler still if I have the discipline to use it on a regular basis and shed some excess poundage!

Book du jour: Treason at Lisson Grove is the 20-somethingth of Anne Perry's mysteries featuring Thomas and Charlotte Pitt and by now I'm reading them out of habit and curiosity rather than profound interest. After all, I started reading them around 1985 and have kept up with the series since then; it may be one of those that I've kept up with the longest in my life! The series has long since left its "oomph" behind, but this installment is better than most, perhaps because Perry (addicted to vast conspiracy theories as backdrops to her plot; her hapless hero has had to battle such a number of these it's amazing he hasn't donned a cape and started flying through the air) this time is making the conspiracy a major plot element and bringing it out in the open. Pitt goes haring off to France in pursuit of a socialist subversive who has murdered a Special Branch informant; his boss, Narraway, is forced out of his job, leaving the conspirators in a position to run the show at Special Branch unless Pitt and Narraway can figure out what is going on and coordinate a response. Set in late Victorian London, this episode gives the reader a glimpse of Queen Vic herself. Full of Perry's turgid, florid and lofty prose (one character says something while displaying "a deep and hurting compassion" (WTF???); another comments "they don't understand what it is to answer only to your conscience rather than to the voice of the people, which comes regardless whether or not they have the faintest idea of what they are talking about.") Unfortunately, the overblown sentiments make the characters less "real" to a reader. Adequate, primarily for fans of the series, 3.3 stars.

I'm now reading The Informationist by Taylor Stevens (brain candy; the main character is no Lisbeth Salander, contrary to PR) and Brandys's Rondo, which is shaping up to be so good I may be forced to buy it anyway, just so that I own a copy!

A bit of sadness here today; my last surviving great-aunt died yesterday evening in Canada, after a short illness. She was 90. I'm so glad I got the opportunity to see her last summer at the Burchell family reunion and she had the chance to meet my nephews and niece -- the next generation -- then. They may not remember her, of course, but the reunion pictures show how much she enjoyed seeing them.

Been focusing on reading light and not terribly demanding stuff today. Finished two books that would fall into the "good enough for what they are" category, and make it into the bottom end of the "thumping good read" section of my virtual library. Both have their flaws, but for different reasons ended up being a notch better than the sum of their parts, and I'm giving both 3.8 stars.

The King of Diamonds (no touchstone) by Simon Tolkien is the third mystery novel by this author (yup, he's the grandson of "Hobbit" Tolkien) and easily his best. In 1960, a young man imprisoned for the murder of his rival in love escapes from an English jail; the same night, the woman who had spurned him is found shot to death in her bed. But is what seems to be a straightforward case of unrequited love and revenge really all that straightforward?? William Trave suspects not -- but he has his own, personal demons to deal with, ones that may make his superiors in the Oxford police department question his judgment. The bad guys are a bit obvious, etc., but the story has a good pace and it's a big improvement on Tolkien's two mediocre offerings so far. Mildly recommended.

The other book finished today was The Informationist, one of those books about which there seems likely to be tremendous buzz. As I noted yesterday, the book's "heroine", Vanessa Michael Munroe, is no Lisbeth Salander. She is a tortured soul, sure, but she's not as complex and her world isn't as carefully crafted as Stiegg Larsson did for Salander. Nor are the plots as intricate and complex. This is one of those novels that is like riding a rollercoaster -- you go along for the thrills and chills, even when you are able to figure out exactly what some of the biggest twists are and even when the author doesn't devote as much attention as she should to making her characters absolutely believable, vs. just plausible enough to keep the reader turning pages. And it is a page turner, true; helped by unfamiliar setting of Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea, which rarely feature in novels as backgrounds! Recommended to anyone who likes a page-turner and doesn't need to fuss about it being literary or having some transcendent merit.

May wait until Monday to pick up Rondo again; I'm really not in the mood right now.

ETA: The good news -- returned home from the Union Square greenmarket today with bunches of lily of the valley (muguet des bois!) and the first peonies. This time of year is when all my faves bloom, from the ruffled tulips to the lilac, and the muguet and peonies. Not to mention the rhododendrons...

Sorry to hear about your great-aunt, Suzanne. That's great that you got to see her relatively recently, especially in a setting where she was surrounded by extended family.

The Informationist sounds like good escapist fare and I'm looking forward to what your final thoughts are on Rondo (which I never heard of before you mentioned it but what little you've said so far makes it sound worth reading).

Sorry to hear about your great-aunt, Suz. I am glad that she was able to spend some time with the 'next generation,' as you say.

Since both my parents are only children, the only aunts/uncles I knew are the great-aunts and great-uncles, and this side -- my maternal grandfather's siblings -- were the ones I knew best and felt closest to. There were six of them, my grandfather being the second-eldest, and now all of them and their spouses have died -- the last of a generation. Similarly, the only cousins I have are my parents' cousins and their children -- my first cousins once removed and second cousins. It has always felt a bit weird to be this much of a "nuclear" family, and I'm glad that my niece and nephews will grow up with an aunt on one side (me) and aunts and uncles and cousins on the other side.

I never thought too much about the size of my family growing up. My father was an only child and my mother had two siblings but only one had children so I just have two first cousins. But when I met my husband (who has 27 first cousins) and started to go to his family reunions I came to appreciate all those connections (much more than he does as it turned out). Also, not having children myself, I often will see family resemblances between friends and their children and get an inkling of how satisfying that must be. I sometimes think about getting into genealogy but so far haven't been compelled to do it but I'll be interested to hear about your new book as it progresses. The passing of your grandfather and all his siblings is a sad milestone.

Suz, sending my condolences. I had about a dozen cousins growing up but they all lived clear across the country so we rarely saw each other and I don't have adult relationships with them. I only have 1 sibling and my husband has 2; my daughters have only 4 cousins, 2 on each side ... and unless they marry someone from a large family, this trend will continue into the next generation. My brother married an only child so their extended family is even smaller than mine.

Really sorry to read about your great-aunt, Suzanne. Are you going to go home to Canada for her funeral?

Good that the flowers are looking beautiful in the greenmarket (I loved that market when we lived there but especially the jams!). Am off to google a muguet...

Condolences Suzanne... I am sorry to hear about your aunt..
I agree that big families are very nice. I remember the days when
my own family was much bigger.. but each generation has seen
it narrow more and more.

Sorry to hear about your great-aunt, Suzanne.

I'm sorry to hear about your great-aunt, Suz.

Thanks, all. I'm not planning to head north for the funeral, as the trip to Ottawa is a little pricey, especially on short notice. (the funeral is this Thursday.) I don't think my mother's health is good enough for her to make the trip, either, although I haven't talked to her about it. She had a long life and a good one -- four children, even more grandchildren and in the last few years, two great-grandchildren.

It's odd to think that of that family -- six siblings, five of them boys -- in the next generation (i.e. not mine, but my nephews and nieces) -- the name is dying out. My grandfather had 1 daughter, his next youngest brother had two daughters; my uncle Howard had four daughters. Uncle Lloyd died young and childless (the same heart condition that my mother has managed to live with, thanks to medical advances). Uncle Herb did have two sons, but only one of them has a son. That son -- sole carrier of the family name! -- just became father to his first child -- a daughter! Having done work on the family tree, it's astonishing to see that happen. My grandfather's father was one of six boys (and five girls, most of whom had died before they were 30, and two v. young.) HIS father was one of seven boys (all of whom survived to adulthood) amid a total of 11 children.

Was going to spend today doing a blitz clean of the apartment, but can't face it. So I'm going back to the books!

I add my voice to those of the others. The ebb and flow of family life is an amazing thing.

When in doubt, always curl up on the sofa with a book.

My condolences for the loss of your great-aunt to your family, Suz. {{Hugs}}

So sorry to hear about your great aunt Suzanne. The talk about families and cousins is interesting. I had skads of cousins on my mother's side--she was one of eight--and we all lived within fifteen minutes of each other. We actually pretty much grew up together (Grandma's house every Sunday).
Unfortunately we're scattered all over the country now and only see each other at weddings and funerals. Since I was one of two and so was my husband, my children have only three cousins. They're upbringing is so very different from mine and my hubby's who had a huge number of cousins on both sides of his family.

I figured one good turn...and all that

Condolences on your loss...I've dealt with a couple in the past month (if my old cat counts??) and it's no picnic..

Touchstones?? If you click on the title here on LT...you get a number...then you do (number::title) in brackets and it should work...I got tired of searching through irrelevant titles, myself..

;-}

Tks for the tip, Jude, will give it a try...

Book du jour: Death in a Scarlet Coat, the latest installment of the Lord Powerscourt mystery series by David Dickinson. It's now 1909, and Lord Powerscourt, intrepid sleuth, is asked by a doctor on his deathbed to investigate the truth behind the death of the 15th earl of Candlesby, a man nearly everyone was delighted to see dead. The book is a decent, if formulaic mystery; the series has lost the charms of novelty but I still enjoy the rather archaic writing style and Dickinson's characters. 3.9 stars, for my 11 in 11 series. Only for those who have read (and enjoyed) previous books in the series, but a good way to pass a few hours!

#118: I am not familiar with the Dickinson series, Suz. I will have to look for it. Thanks for the recommendation.

The practical consequences of falling educational standards in schools:

A few months ago, my neurologist dealt with what is usually a routine request for new prescription pads. Sadly, the woman taking his order struggled with basic spelling issues. After three or four proofs (all of which contained errors), the new pads arrived -- with more errors. That rendered them unusable. For three weeks, he was without the ability to write a legal prescription in the state of NY. Happily, my pharmacy agreed to accept a phoned-in Rx for my migraine meds, on his promise to mail in a copy when the new pads arrived. I have eked out my 5 days' supply to cover 2 1/2 weeks, and have been battling toxic migraine since late yesterday afternoon (almost no sleep). Now I'm stuck because the mail hasn't yet delivered the paper versions of the prescriptions to the pharmacy that were mailed this week!! And must battle on... all because some silly person couldn't spell. Multiply me by all his other patients... And this is a doc who has been practicing for decades and knows to allow lots of time for this stuff to get printed & sent; in 17 years, this has never happened before. Gahhhhh.

That is really annoying; unfortunately, it's probably more common than you think. One of the things I hate most about my job is talking to the front office staff of the primary care pediatricians and family practitioners by phone whenever I send one of their patients home from the hospital. Most of these people are poorly trained, and not very smart, which leads to frustrating "conversations":

Woman in doctor's office: "Dr. X's office, can I help you?"

Me: "Hi, this is Dr. M____ from Children's Healthcare. I'm taking care of one of Dr. X's patients in the hospital who is going home today, and I'd like to speak with Dr. X or one of her nurses about the patient."

Woman (mildly annoyed at my request): "Oh. And what's your name?"

Me (also becoming annoyed): "Um...Dr. M____"

Woman: "And where are you calling from?"

Me (now smacking myself in the head, and speaking slowly to the village idiot of the day): "Children's Healthcare"

Woman: "And you want to talk to who?"

Me (now stabbing myself in the eye with a sharpened pencil, as it is the only thing that will divert my attention from this painful conversation): "Look, can I just speak with one of the nurses, please?"

Repeat conversation once or twice daily, every day.

I'm sorry to hear that your migraine has worsened, and I hope that you're able to get your medication soon. I also hope that this bimbo is fired ASAP.

These people are definitely in wrong jobs!

Oh, talk about getting screwed...without benefit!! As much as I dislike living here in the ass end of nowhere...at least my doctor's office can phone in my prescription renewals without the hassle.

I really sympathize with your plight. I didn't get the migraines in our family...My brother did....and I've heard his tales of woe and idiocy...Me, I got the sinus trouble...and the borderline insanity (a joke..that's a joke...I think)...

Sending positive thoughts and a {{{hug}}} (if you like hugs....some folks don't)

;-}

hugs hurt too much when my head is this bad, Jude, but thanks for the intent!

Darryl, I'm amazed you have two functioning eyes/any vision left after this kind of run-around. It makes me beserk too, but when I get snippy, I end up with a reputation for being a bitch rather than assertive or demanding.

Finally got sorted out, but now the pharmacy doesn't have the meds and will have to order them in. I got the last 3 capsules, so keep yr fingers & toes crossed that it will all kick in.

Quick note on the book du jour:

73019196::America Pacifica by Anna North (the touchstone still doesn't work, Jude...) is a dystopian/science fiction novel that doesn't quite work, although it has many interesting elements. Instead of global warming, a new ice age has swept across North America and some refugees have ended up on a tropical island, where they are trying to live just like they did at home, from forcing the land to produce strawberries to driving cars. They have even exported income inequality, with "last boaters" being at the bottom of the economic and social scale. Darcy's mother may have been one of the early arrivals, but she's drawn the short straw, working as a pearl diver, and Darcy is no better off. Then her mother disappears, and things get decidedly strange. The plot twists and turns are a bit forced and while North's portrayal of this "new world" is intriguing, it's also presented to the reader on a silver platter, while the best dystopian novels allow the real horror of the world that has been created to sneak up on the reader. There's nothing remotely appealing about this world, and perhaps it's just too bleak for me -- I got tired of constant references to people being sweaty and smelly. Not enough other stuff to offset all that, so this was a 3.2 star read. Maybe a sci-fan nut will find more to like here than I did. This was an Amazon Vine pick, and it was a dud, but I'll owe them a full review.

Now reading a mindless library book because aching heads can't digest even middlebrow books!

I figured as much....

I will now creep, quietly, away

*shhhhhh*

America Pacifica: a novel. You got caught by the trap. 73019196 is probably your book's number, but you have to use the work number. In this case it is 9609432.

My migraines have not involved much pain (I've had other disconcerting symptoms), but I think I can sympathize and wish you prompt improvement.

Robert

Sorry to hear all of that Suz

This is what happens when doctors hire kids out of high school.. cute chicks that are ornamental in the office, do not take time to train them, and make unreasonable demands on their ( usually understaffed) support staff.

Just try getting a job with a doctor after spending 25 plus years doing front desk work, and tech work .. if you are grey, round and over fifty. Been there.. and believe me, much if it is the fault of the doctor and or his practice manager.

I am so sorry you have so much trouble with migraines. The prescription pad fiasco is almost too ludicrous to be believed!!! I'm surprised they are so fussy about having 'the piece of paper' -- in VT anyway, the docs can phone in to the pharmacy, no problemo.

Suzanne, I'm late with the sympathy but it's no less sincere for that. My father was fussing at me 40 years ago about high school grads who couldn't take a legible phone message, "What are you doing with them all day?" Not my fault, I swear.

I'll figure out this touchstone nonsense when my head doesn't hurt..

Kath, actually this has nothing to do with the doc's office (which is run by his wife, in her 60s, and his daughter, in her 40s), but rather with whichever agency or office takes orders for Rx pads.

Lucy, there are obsessed about the prescription & # because it's technically a controlled substance (containing codeine) and it's illegal to dispense without at least a Rx #. Even then, without the actual paper, they can only give me a 5 day supply. But without the #, it's illegal to dispense anything, technically. Luckily, I've been with my pharmacy for 8 years, since they opened, so they are a little flexible, and they know my doc isn't spinning them a yarn.

A note for anyone who read Matterhorn: Marlantes has a new non-fiction book due out in September. It just became available on NetGalley.com, "What It's Like to Go to War". Thought I'd note this as I recall a # of people really loved the novel (which I haven't read yet.) OK, off to bed with an ice pack...

Another good wish that your headache is gone soon.

I'm planning to read Matterhorn soon for Reading Globally war theme.

#121 that all sounds very familiar..... having been one of the poorly trained (in that job) medical receptionists the over-riding memory I have of training was "Dont put anyone through to the Drs unless you are 100% sure that the Dr will speak to them". Ooooo Kaaaay.
We were so terrified of the wrath of the (certain) Dr that only the very select got through. I even bounced the captain of the All Blacks once! That's practically like telling the Prime Minister he'll have to take a message!
Needless to say , on account of my actually being smart, I left the job pretty quickly.

Sorry to hear of the migraine and script nonsense....:(

#132, happily, this wasn't the medical receptionists' doing (that is actually pretty good, particularly when the doc is in the office, because he has family members working in his small office) but rather, the doing of some obscure bureaucrat somewhere.

Got up to switch ice packs; trying the sleep thing one more time...

I'm going to have to give up another author whose books I once enjoyed for what they were after reading several tedious novels -- Joy Fielding -- but happily, so far am having fun with The Beauty of Humanity Movement. Not a Great Novel, but interesting and well written.

Migraine is at last deserting me, I think, but I'm about to take another painkiller and try and nab 2 more hours' sleep to make sure of the fact. Then it will be back to business as usual. Thankfully, because I get really weird dreams when I'm headachey. In one, I was living in a cave (bin Laden??); in another, I'd started working for a big investment bank (name will go unmentioned) and was assigned a desk in a very large room that looked like a secretarial pool of the 1950s (without the typewriters) or an examination hall, with long rows of single desks. Very bizarre. But I apparently impressed the CEO with my thoughts on the arbitrage opportunity between the price of uranium and that of shares in uranium mining companies. Go figure.

Bah, false alarm on migraine leaving.

Could it be your brain is hinting there is a gap between what it can handle (price) and all the many things you want to do with your, uh, cranium power? That kind of jumped out at me!

Forgive me -- I'm an inveterate puller-aparter of dream stuff -- esp word play.

Rest! Oh, like, that's so easy to do!

Lucy, undoubtedly!

I've stopped trying to analyze my dreams; some of them are deeply bizarre. The most recent one certainly triggered by the fact that Cassie the kitten was trying to sleep crosswise on the bed while I was trying to sleep lengthwise. Sleeping at crosspurposes, literally.

Some lendable Kindle books:

Usual rules apply - first come, first served; you can "reserve" delivery for a specific day in the future; each book can be loaned once for a 2 week period and that's all. PM me if you're interested.

Born with a Tooth by Joseph Boyden (short stories)
Three cups of Deceit by Jon Krakauer (Kindle single)
The Emperor's Winding Sheet by Jill Paton Walsh
The Wire in the Blood by Val McDermid
Safely Buried by John Pesta (mystery by father of friends of mine)
Sea of Poppies by Amita Ghosh
To Heaven by Water by Justin Cartwright
A Fountain Filled With Blood by Julia Spencer-Fleming
Eight White Nights by Andre Aciman
Molotov's Magic Lantern by Rachel Polonsky
Crash Into Me by Liz Seccuro
Murder, by the Book by Stephen Budiansky

There will be more in a month or two's time, when I've sorted out what I've already loaned via some of the other sites.

Hey Suz, just stopping by to wish you well. I saw on Darryl's thread that you've been suffering with the mother of all migraines. Hope today finds you feeling much better and once again functional.

After the equivalent of 60 to 65 hours, yes, the migraine is FINALLY clearing! (touch wood, repeatedly....) It was one of those multi-day killers, which aren't as common as they used to be, but still leave me wondering how I ever held down an office job with inflexible work hours.

Mindless books consumed during headache madness:

Now You See Me by Joy Fielding (no touchstone, at least not without spending more time than I can spare trying to find it) -- in this case, now you don't. Or at least, this author, whose books I have been reading off and on since the mid-80s, won't be seeing me any more. Another good example of someone who should have hung up her pen a long time ago. I got this from the library hoping it would be at least a decent suspense novel, but I ended up rolling my eyes and my pulse never sped up an iota. Marcy is on holiday in Ireland; her husband has left her; her manic-depressive daughter apparently drowned canoeing but Marcy struggles to believe that as no body was found. So, in the streets of Cork, she sees someone she convinces herself is her daughter, and all kind of "suspenseful" stuff follows. Except it's not. I ended up feeling sorry for Marcy's ex-husband, the Cork cops that keep having to cope with the mayhem she leaves in her wake, and questioning her sanity. This is a genre that is borderline at the best of times (the 'woman in peril' saga), and this AIN'T the best of times. 1.9 stars (because I did finish it out of stubbornness) -- not recommended.

Carbonel, the king of the cats by Barbara Sleigh -- for various reasons, was pondering my childhood faves and when I realized this book and its two sequels had been reissued by NYRB as a children's series, I ordered all three for my niece and nephews. And of course, I had to test drive them first... Originally written in the mid-50s, this is a bit dated -- children don't have cellphones, iPods or rap music, etc. -- but I don't see any reason why it would spoil a young reader's fun. Rosemary, on the first day of her summer holidays, buys a broom in the local market to help her mother by earning $$ cleaning. For an extra three farthings (I told you this was dated!) the elderly woman throws in the big black cat as well -- which happens to be a cat that talks if you are holding what turns out to be a witches' broom. The adventure involves Rosemary and her new friend John restoring Carbonel, who is a royal cat trapped by a spell, to his rightful place as king of the cats. Delightful. I read it first around the age of 8 and think it would be a great book for those with an interest in magic and who don't need Harry Potter-level stuff. Anyone with a taste for E. Nesbit or even the Melendy children books would like this. 4.2 stars. Followed by The Kingdom of Carbonel and Carbonel and Calidor.

Hmm, I wonder if my niece would like Carbonel, the King of the cats. I'll have to give this a test drive, too.

The Carbonel books were favorites when I was small but I couldn't remember the names or author. The "Name That Book" group helped me identify them just a couple of years ago.

Darryl, I think they were among the books I mentioned in my kidzbooks PM of last week.

Other older books that I adored included Arthur Ransome's books, such as We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea.

#144: Ah, yes...I missed your mention of the Carbonel books the first time I read it. It's my old age kicking in, again...

>138 Chatterbox: Working at cross purrrrr poses I think......

glad you are better!

Wow, I'm not sure I remember you ever giving a book a 1.9! I will happily give Joy Fieldings' books a wide berth.

On the other hand, I love the NYRB's Children's Collection and will be looking for the Carbonel books.

I'm glad your migraine is easing up. This one sounded particularly nasty.

Btw, yesterday I got my copy of Erik Larson's new book--In the Garden of Beasts--which I pre-ordered when I read your recent review. I want to start it now but have too many other things I'm currently reading.

Pat, some of Fielding's earlier books are better, although the only one I'd give more than 3.5 stars to is See Jane Run, which I recall as being very suspenseful and chilling. Not tremendously literary or compelling, but borderline thumping good read, and I could certainly recommend it as a "woman in peril" genre novel for poolside or beach reading.

OUCH, Lucy! Very, very punny indeed...

#145, Give a man an AARP card and stand back as he starts whining about his age. *sigh* Not until you are all hunched over, shuffling like a nonagenerian, or until someone tells you you are too old to read and takes away your books, do you get any age-related sympathy around here, my friend!!

As long as I don't move around too much, the head is better. Another day, fingers crossed.

Tomorrow is the day I hear about the Loeb shortlist and whether my book made it on. I'm betting that there's a less than 50/50 chance; I'll be ecstatic but surprised if it makes it; there may be as few as three books on the list... I do NOT expect it to win.

#120: I can spell! Maybe they will give me a job :)

Frankly, I find that appalling. What is worse, I find it unconscionable that it happens so often.

Book du jour: The Beauty of Humanity Movement by Camilla Gibb was a library book that I picked up after hearing a good review on the radio. It was good, but just not very memorable, which is a shame as the characters -- taken individually -- were intriguing and the setting an uncommon one. The central character around whom the plot revolves is old Hu'ung, the vagabond pho (noodle soup) vendor, who one day sets up his cooking stand in an unfinished swimming pool in the new Hanoi; the next underneath a bridge. One day a young woman named Maggie -- an "overseas Vietnamese" -- comes to him in search of information about her father, an artist who may have been part of a circle of writers and other intellectuals in the late 40s and early 50s. A story unfolds that probably says something meaningful about the nature of humanity, but it kind of never really registered with me. I'm rating it 3.9 stars, but more for the pieces than for the whole thing, which wasn't very memorable. I suspect it's another one of those books like Major Pettigrew's Last Stand that others will find more significant or moving. Sadly, I found the characters flat and unconvincing, although the story should have been interesting. A side note: there wasn't much info on how Camilla Gibb ended up writing a novel set in Vietnam from the pov of Vietnamese, when she's English-born and living in Canada. I have no idea if she reflected Vietnamese society accurately or not, but I would have appreciated some kind of end note on the subject. Don't take my ambivalence about this as a "don't touch" sign; it's just that this is already shaping up to be a forgettable book.

#134, sorry about that, I was having an "its all about me" moment there. I get what you meant up there in #120, it is silly things like that that can have a really big impact on peoples lives and you wonder why it is let to happen. Glad you're on top of things again :-)

No worries, Megan! Yes, life feels a little bit more under control. The biggest remaining source of angst will be resolved sometime today (Thurs) when I hear whether my book made the shortlist cut for the Loeb. Fingers and toes crossed, puhleeeezz??? I know it won't win; there are several excellent nominees, but I would like to be among the finalists, and I know it's a longshot since there may only be three of them.

OK, a final book du jour: Crime Machine by Giles Blunt is the fifth and most recent in the John Cardinal mystery series that I discovered this year thanks to someone on LT (can't remember whom; it's awful...) Again, this is good to very good (though not excellent), with the strength being the characters and setting rather than the plot. Blunt likes to give the POV of his evildoers as well as his detectives, so the whodunnit is rarely much of a surprise; but he does an excellent job of keeping the reader in suspense on the "why" and the full ramifications of the evildoing in question. This is just out in paperback in Canada (you can get it easily from Amazon.ca) and will be available in the US eventually, I assume. While not an awe-inspiring series, it's one I can see reading for a while because of my fondness for Blunt's characters, especially the all-too-human Cardinal, who in this episode is still grappling with the impact of his wife's death as he tries to solve murders that seem to be connected to the fur auctions/sales held in Algonquin Bay. Blunt has a real ability to deliver a sense of life in Northern Ontario and the folks who populate it. Recommended, 3.9 stars.

I do seem to be reading a LOT of mysteries this year. I'm not grumbling about it; indeed, I'm glad that I've found several new series that I really enjoy such as this one, the Jackson Brodie novels by Kate Atkinson; the mysteries by Elly Griffiths, etc. Have just (finally) started reading the second in a series of four (so far) by Swedish writer Camilla Lackberg, so will report back on that soon. And now that my head is better, I can return to reading Rondo by Kazimierz Brandys!

#148: Hmph. Youngins have no respect for their elders these days...

ETA: Good luck on today's Loeb Awards announcement! Keep us posted.

Fingers and toes crossed for the Loeb!

Just realized I was going by the Twitter post on May 10, saying the finalists would be made public on the 11th. Which was yesterday. But there's still no list! Grrrrr....

I understand about working with migraine.. I used to get three day hormonal killers. I remember driving home with my eyes closed.. or it seemed as if I had... Glad to hear that yours is gone ..

oh and ditto 154

They are now releasing the finalists on Twitter -- one name at a time, about 2/3 mins apart. With multiple categories to get through, it's going to take longer than the awards dinner itself....

I've decided that CGS didn't make the cut.

... and indeed it didn't. Michael Lewis's book did, as did that by Bethany McLean and Joe Nocera -- the latter, I think, a vote for the establishment rather than the book's merits. Greg Farrell's book about Merrill Lynch also didn't make this final cut. There were 4 books on the shortlist.

Drat! Sorry Suz... but you are always an award winner to us, you know..

I admit I'm puzzled. Leaving aside my book entirely, there were several very good books that didn't make the shortlist. Of those that did, one was boring, repetitive and tedious, and only one really said anything new or different about the world, IMO. (David Kirkpatrick, The Facebook Effect). The Big Short was a good read, but it had no footnotes, no endnotes, no bibliography -- and the subject matter was almost a replica of a book published the prior year. Either I'm completely losing my sense of what makes a good business book, or the jurors are making safe picks. Pity, because Greg Farrell's book was excellent; so was Sarah Ellison's book about the WSJ. Wouldn't in the least mind losing to either of those, or Kirkpatrick's book.

I'm sorry Chasing Goldman Sachs didn't get the nod. I'll still be looking for the paperback in October.

Robert

Dang it, Suz. As you know, I've read both CGS and TBS and although both are very good books I thought yours required more research as it encompasses many different facets of the financial meltdown. And I'm not just saying that 'cause you're a 75er.

Rats. Sorry to hear that Chasing Goldman Sachs wasn't selected as a finalist, Suz.

Me too. I have to say that this year it was obviously an honor to have been nominated. If the committee continues to play it safe, they may lose that cachet.

Sorry to hear that you missed out on the prize, Suz.

I did make the (not publicly announced) longlist; I never expected in the least to win the prize (that would have been a big aberration for a book that didn't get a good NY Times review, from a rather conservative group that nominates the same people every year for the same prizes) but I confess I did want to be a finalist. Oh well...

Finished The Kingdom of Carbonel, another retreat into childhood for me! Next up is Carbonel and Calidor, which I don't think I ever read as a child, so it will be a discovery. In this episode, Rosemary and John meet Carbonel's kittens, must save them from a dire fate at the hand of "retired" witch Mrs. Cantripp and preserve Carbonel's throne. But to do it all, they must sacrifice something very important... A great series for any child who loves magic and animals, although the books should be read in order. NB: the magic is much more mild than Harry Potter books, etc.; indeed, mild/gentle is a good word for these books. Probably ideal for a non-jaded 8 year old, if such a phenomenon still exists!

Reading an advance copy of Joseph Epstein's upcoming book about gossip; v. amusing; also the second Camilla Lackberg mystery novel. Dipping into Chasing Aphrodite by Jason Felch; not yet sure if it says something new enough about the whole looted antiquities scandal to merit a thumbs up.

Too bad my local library only has the first book in the Charbonel series. I have never heard of that particular series, so it would be new reads for me rather than a 'retreat into childhood.'

Suz, I'm really sorry you didn't make the short list and that they have picked safe books - at least you're in good company with the others who missed out. (I am *still* looking for the WSJ book based on your rec last year but haven't seen it in any bookshops over here.) I too enjoyed your book more than The Big Short, and would have if I'd never talked to you on here.

Aww, shucks, Cushla; thanks!! I'm rooting for The Facebook Effect; it really is an excellent, excellent book, and a decent read, to boot. I need to read Sebastian Mallaby's book; it's already on my Kindle.

Stasia, I'd be willing to bet that you could find ultra-cheap paperback copies of at least the first two online. I know there have been several editions prior to the fancy new hardcover ones I bought, which I would loan you were it not for the fact that they are bound for my niece and nephews in Toronto... as soon as I have finished the third volume, that is!!!

#170: No buying books for me this year, Suz, but I will check PBS for the second and third books as soon as I read the library's copy of the first one.

Yes, my sympathies. Selection processes are indeed byzantine.

Well, let's just say that I'm glad this week is over!

Books du jour:

Gossip by Joseph Epstein: This was a NetGalleys read and the book itself won't be out for several months. Nonetheless, worth hunting down and reading as Epstein, the master of a deft phrase or two, takes on the subject of gossip (private and public) the same way he has Snobbery and Friendship. He digs into the hows and whys of gossip; doles out some tantalizing snippets of his own, and ruminates on what this all means for popular culture. I'll need to review this book, so I'll save my more detailed comments for that. (Which reminds me, I'm waaay behind on NetGalley reviews...) No massive conclusions reachable -- the nature of the subject -- but it was a fun 4.1 star book for me.

The Preacher by Camilla Lackberg is the second in a still-promising Swedish series. It was available on my Kindle while I was in Canada last summer; but it's just out in hardcover here -- odd. Anyway, I liked The Ice Princess enough to buy the remainder of the series, and this one pretty much holds up. In it, Patrik Hedstrom must solve the disappearances/murders of young women that seem to be connected to two similar cases in 1979, and that may be tied to a rather dysfunctional family, children and grandchildren of Ephraim Hult, the preacher of the title, who lucked into a big legacy on the strength of his revivalist ministry, which included faith healing by his two young sons. This second book has a few flaws, included an overly complex family structure that a reader needs to figure out; the fact that Patrik's wife/partner is too preoccupied with her advanced pregnancy to be more than a side character and some odd stylistic hiccups that I think are the fault of the translator. (They don't disrupt the ability to get engaged in the book, but occasionally niggle at the consciousness). So this is a 3.7 star book rather than 4 or 4.2 stars. Still recommended if you've read the first book, and I'll keep reading the series. ETA: the latter is for my 11 in 11 challenge.

No luck at all with Camilla Lackberg being available at the local library. *sigh*

Well, here's one I can lend you, Stasia...

Finished (also for my 11 in 11 challenge) The Crow Trap by Ann Cleeves. I thought this was an excellent mystery novel; a bit like a novel that just happens to revolve around a mystery. It's on the long side (535 pages), which may put some readers off, especially since the author has also chosen to tell the story from multiple points of view, particularly in the initial section. Indeed, it isn't until the final 120 pages or so that we see the crime & investigation from the POV of Vera Stanhope, the detective who heads up the investigations in Cleeves's latest series. There are oodles of red herrings and secrets in this story of a mysterious suicide followed by a murder in a remote corner of Northumberland; the plot revolves around three women doing an environmental survey at the site of a proposed gravel pit, and the characters involved in that project on all sides. Or do the roots go back further in time? I found it easy to follow wherever Cleeves led, and was grabbed by the story from the first to the last page. Not brilliant literary tome, but a fun & lively mystery, rich in characters and descriptions, that would be a great rainy weekend book. 4.3 stars, recommended.

Also wrapped up the final book in Barbara Sleigh's trilogy, Carbonel and Calidor. I'm not sure whether it's because this volume was not one that I read as a child (it wasn't published until 1978, almost 20 years after the previous two) or because the author was elderly when she wrote it (she died in 1982), but I didn't enjoy this one nearly as much. Part of it was that the plot repeated too many of the elements in the Kingdom of Carbonel; partly that where continuity was important, it didn't exist. (Why didn't Calidor remember John and Rosemary when they had saved his life the last time around?) It's still fun, and rounds out the trilogy, but it's only a 3.3 star book for me.

Trying to battle my way through an underwhelming but interesting book about Tibet and China. Hmmm.

The Crow Trap sounds terrific! Off to see if the library has that one. . .

I have The Crow Trap sitting here just waiting to be read along with the second book in the series. The size is what's put me off but I promised myself I'd read it by this summer. So glad that you liked it - I like fun and lively mysteries!

I would say this is more intense and intriguing than fun and lively, but the experience of reading it is fun & lively! It's got a lot of idiosyncratic characters, including a chief detective who calls her interview subjects "pet" (an endearment), tells them to make tea for her and dresses like a squat middle-aged woman in fabric more often seen on sofa covers. I've ordered a DVD of the first season of mysteries featuring Vera, starring Brenda Blethyn, and I'll be curious to see how the British TV fared with such unpromising fare!

Meanwhile, I'm about to check out Rufus Sewell in a dramatization of Michael Dibdin's detective, Aurelio Zen. Picked up My Korean Deli (where is the touchstone???) and realized I MUST read it, because the deli in question is oh, only about six blocks from my apartment and I know I've been in there, probably while the author and his family were running the place!

[10677922::My Korean Deli] ==> My Korean Deli

Robert

The Crow Trap sounds great, Suz ... I love Ann Cleeves anyway for her Shetland Island series. Is this a standalone or is it part of a series? You mention ordering a DVD of the first season, so I'm assuming the latter?

Thanks, Robert; I did try that, but will try again later tonite when I post my comments on the book.

This is the first book in a new series (the Vera Stanhope series). Not sure if they are out in the US as yet, but the fourth book is just out in hardcover in the UK. I read #2 first, and thought it was OK, and then read this one and loved it. So the test case will be #3!!

The TV series is an unknown as yet. It's called "Vera", and I'll be waiting to see if it's based on the novels or standalone stories (akin to the way the Lynley series by Elizabeth George has been dramatized.)

btw, I loved Rufus Sewell in "Zen". Apparently the BBC canceled it after one season but there is scuttlebutt that another network may pick it up. Fingers crossed! Fun characters, great scenery (Rome & Sicily in the first episode). Enough to make me give the Dibdin novels another shot.

The Crow Trap sounds really interesting. I am currently reading Raven Black, and I think I'll probably want to read through this series also. It is always fun to find a new author that you like.

The books du jour: I'm really hoping the touchstones work!!

Tragedy in Crimson by Tim Johnson (I'm trying desperately here... hoping it will 'stick') -- this was a very mediocre book about a very interesting subject, and thus I forged ahead to the end through often painful writing and puzzling structure. Johnson, a former China-based newspaper journalist, seems to have no sense of what kind of narrative arc is required for anything longer than a magazine story, so the book as a whole has no coherent flow, and rambles from one topic to another, seemingly without direction. The writing is often cliched (sorry, my French accents aren't working either!) and sometimes just bad. There are issues of good judgment: I don't care for multiple pages of descriptive prose about how people look (less is more?) or about the author's not terribly serious run-ins with Chinese authorities (show, don't tell.) There are also phrases that are just not well-written or puzzling -- eg -- "the lama's fate might have come to an earlier end." Huh??? I suppose he means the lama's life, but who knows? There's lots of that. The broad outlines of this story were known to me, but what intrigued me was that it was set in the context of China's growing global power and in the context of minority relations (eg Uighurs and Mongols) and the the ways that combining national and religious minority status seems to be the trigger for confrontation with the Chinese regime. Johnson also introduced me to some intriguing personalities, such as a young lama whom the Dalai Lama is mentoring, and the daughter of the previous Panchen Lama, the so-called "Tibetan Princess". Still, a battle to read it. 3 stars, only because of the underlying themes; the merits of the book as a book would only be 2.5 stars. Recommended only for the truly curious.

My Korean Deli by Ben Ryder Howe was a book that I found to be much better written and much more fun to read, albeit a bit lightweight and sometimes too glib at the expense of some of the folks he encounters while running a neighborhood deli and of his Korean immigrant in-laws. Howe was an editor at George Plimpton's Paris Review when his Korean-born wife insists that they use their savings from living in her family's basement to buy a deli for her mother to run -- a repayment of sorts for all her mother's sacrifices to bring up her children. Turns out the deli they end up buying (of all the thousands of these corner stores in NYC) is one that is about five or six blocks from where I live, and that I would have walked past and probably nipped into during the two years they were running it. (Nope, I've got no memory of it... though I know the exact building, and could identify it even without checking the map... I patronize other delis a few blocks closer on a regular basis, the most common of those being one run by a Pakistani man and his Hispanic wife, who has converted to Islam; they always ask about Jasper after I stopped off there en route home from the vet one day.) Anyway... I think the local connection turned this from a 3.5 star to a 4 star book for me; I also enjoyed the apparently oddball comparison that Howe ends up drawing between life at the Paris Review and the deli -- two very different organizations, one run by a scion of the Establishment, one by a new immigrant family, but both entrepreneurial and run on a shoestring, always, it seems, on the edge of turmoil. It helps that Howe knows how to spin a yarn and keeps the pace moving. It's not revelatory in any major sense, but it's a glimpse into part of the New York subculture. 3.9 stars.

Moving on... I have to read Snow Country for the book circle meeting this week; Swamplandia! and The Four Ms. Bradwells because they are due back at the library, and Blood Count by Robert Goddard because he's a fave author and I'm already hooked on it. Sigh. So many books, so little time. Also have agreed to go to the Deadline Club dinner tomorrow nite, so must locate clean respectable clothes.

Just stopping by to say hey. I've escaped the flying book bullets on your thread but I must say they came pretty darn close.

Damn; my aim must be deteriorating... (old age, ya know...)

The Crow Trap sounds fascinating. I hope my local library has a copy.

I also hope you are headache free today!

I've read Snow Country twice and have a lot of affection for it. I'm looking forward to any correctives to my reaction you have in your take on it.

Robert

Have been mostly headache free for a few days, thankfully. (touch wood...)

Finished Blood Count by Robert Goddard. I've been reading Goddard steadily, buying his new books in hardcover, since long before I could afford to do so (circa 1988/89...) Admittedly, some are better than others (Past Caring, his breakthrough novel, is one of those) and I'm not sure that this is one of those. Also, Goddard's formula is very clear: he takes a man (usually middle aged, with some kind of secret in his past or a dysfunction in his present) as his main character, and puts him in an impossible situation in which he must embark on a quest -- for truth, for an object, for a person. Except that the nature of the quest changes as he proceeds with it, and no one and nothing is what it first seems to be, with twists and turns multiplying as the pages fly past. And the pages do fly! Whatever might be missing from a Goddard novel in terms of innovation, literary skill or even precise character development, is made up for by some great suspense, which has the advantage of -- even when dead bodies are involved -- being as much present in the reader's head as anywhere else. In other words, Goddard doesn't take the easy path to creating suspense by having gunmen stalk his heroes. It's always more complicated -- and that complexity keeps me coming back for more. This one is 4 stars; but I'd recommend starting with Past Caring, Into the Blue or Hand in Glove, which I think are his best -- all three are Thumping Good Reads.

Must pick up Swamplandia! now. I have an inexplicable aversion to writers under the age of 30 being anointed as the next great thing -- they are just cutting their teeth. They may be clever and witty -- but great?? enduring?? I'm immensely skeptical, and think all the buzz is even more suspect than usual.

I know what you mean about young writers but I look forward to seeing what you make of Swamplandia!. I think she might be turning 30 now, or have done so, since her first book was published in 2005.

Susanne, you are consistently a source of interesting and great reads! Oh, and re: #188--your aversion is understandable, not inexplicable.

Just keeping up with you Suz :)

Glad to hear you say what you did in 188 -- all that hype is often death to those young writers, bad for them and distracting, plus, as you say, the proof is in the pudding. Very few writers are ..... deep enough.... so that they can write a succession of sufficiently interesting novels over a long lifetime. Off hand one person I can think of who was touted and is, so far, surviving is Jennifer Egan -- her books have gone from good to better and better, in my view.

Suzanne, I missed your thread change--it was the day I flew out of San Diego, and I've spent the time since I got back mid-week last catching up on threads. Yours was a big one--192 messages! I'm sorry that Chasing Goldman Sachs didn't make the short list--I enjoyed it so much and am giving a copy to my financial advisor, and maybe to my Congressional rep--if only I could be sure someone there would actually READ it.

Also sorry to hear about the migraine(s) and the prescription mess-up--one thing about Kaiser is that everything is computerized and in-house. I am seeing my doctor tomorrow--I switched back to him this year when I retired and changed my primary doctor from a site close to work to one close to home--and when my Maxalt came up for renewal, he switched me to Imitrex, which I have used before but isn't nearly as consistent for me. I had a couple of migraine-onset days while back in Kansas so now have used up all my hoarded Maxalt and need to get him to switch me back. I wish you could find something as effective for you as that is for me--I remember the years before it was developed (not fondly, as I ended up in the emergency room a number of times for cyclic vomiting).

I'm sorry to hear about your great-aunt, but glad you were able to see her last year.

I also remember Carbonel fondly from childhood, but don't think I ever realized there were sequels--I shall have to check my library.

So many interesting reads in your thread, so little time...

Hi Suzanne, you manage to read all the most interesting books. I had *My Korean Deli on my list then hesitated and now I think I will look for it.

*dratted Touchstone

How are you feeling today, Suz? Migraine gone? I've gone and ordered my copy of The Crow Trap. All 3 are available on Amazon, but I think I'll start with this and see how I like it.

So glad to find out about Through Black Spruce. I have Three Day Road and think it's beautifully written. I've checked several times for newer books by Joseph Boyden but hadn't yet seen this one. I just put it on my Amazon wishlist. Thanks!

Just a quick wave -- no more books completed after this weekend's binge. Just back from the Deadline Club awards where Bryan Burroughs and Michael Lewis scooped up awards and NO ONE nominated that I knew won. At the adjacent table was a former colleague who insists I know owe him a lunch, because none of the reporters at his mag (he edits Smart Money) won in their nominated categories, breaking a multi-year streak. It's official -- I'm a jinx!!

Off to try to finish Swamplandia!, which is getting excessively over-the-top for me (the Bird Man???), before I have to take it back to the library tomorrow.

#196 -- There's also a book of short stories that is sitting on my Kindle, still unread, apparently featuring some of the same characters. I can't say how much I loved Through Black Spruce; I thought it was brilliant.

Migraines have been behaving themselves, mostly, for nearly a week! My sleep pattern still isn't back to normal, though -- and I hope that the torrential rain due here in the next two days doesn't make the head situation worse.

#193 -- I know your moniker means Roni 'n cats, but I still get a great chuckle out of imaging a bunch of masterless samurai felines roaming the world... Thanks for dropping by! Don't you hate doctors that unilaterally decide what is good for you? The sole benefit of being without insurance is that I don't have to argue about taking something that I know has bad side-effects or that simply doesn't work for me. And my neurologist has no interest in insisting I remain a guinea pig.

#192 -- Lucy, it's interesting, because so many authors do write great books in their 20s or 30s. But they aren't usually (or haven't been) anointed as the great writers of a generation until later in life, when it's clear that they can generate a few truly seminal works or a significant body of novels/stories that grow and develop and are really important. I'm quite prepared to say something is the great novel of the year, etc., but the NYer 20 under 40 or whatever kinda got on my nerves. Maybe it will be #27 or # 103 that prove to be really the voice that matters in 50 years. How much of what generates buzz (forget the issue of bestsellers) endures? Sure, Pride and Prejudice has, but nothing by Fanny Burney is widely read today, or by the early Gothic novelists who were immensely popular in their day. This pre-emptive canonization is rapidly getting on my nerves.

Catching up...

Nice review of My Korean Deli; I think I'll pass on it, though.

I'm eager to read your review of Snow Country. Beauty and Sadness is high on my TBR list, and I think Snow Country is in a box of older books that I haven't entered into my LT library yet.

I'll read Swamplandia! later this year; I lent my copy to our practice manager a few weeks ago.

#197: It's official -- I'm a jinx!!

Not to us!!

My understanding of the 20 under 40, and I do feel sort of envious etc now I'm over 40, is not that these are being said to have written the great works but that they are writers to watch, ones with a promising future.

Luci, I understand that's the intent, but it's also a de facto anointing of the next generation -- that's the unspoken part of it (publicly, at least). Behind the scenes --not so covertly -- the NYer is/was very focused on maintaining its leadership in the eyes of the general public as the home for literary fiction, and this was the way they chose to do it. I would have loved to see a collection of "Exciting Young Writers", or something of that ilk, but they opted for a more hard-edged label and thus more buzz.

Finished Swamplandia!. A very difficult novel for me to pass judgment on. I'll dash off some comments later in the day -- right now I'm battling another nascent migraine (probably weather triggered) and the fact that I'm on call today, as back-up editor for a friend who oversees an ecumenical religion website content, while she collects a master's from NYU in educational theater. (She wants to write about theater when she grows up, not religion; she is older than I am, so I just hope that pans out for her!)

Tea Obreht was at our writers and readers festival this past weekend, she's on that NYer List and I have to say that list must, at times, feel like more of a curse for those young writers. Their work is subject to more intense scrutiny along with the pressure to live up to the hype.

It's interesting, because I felt that The Tiger's Wife was equally difficult to evaluate. I don't feel it succeeded as well as a novel -- it was less engaging; less well structured -- but both of them are eloquent and elegant writers. In some ways, their ability to deal with their material may be lagging their skill with language/words and even the very ambitious ideas behind them?

I haven't read either book though I'll read The Tiger's Wife sometime soon. She wrote it out of chronological order and then blended the story together, not from the sounds of it, an ideal way to work. Kostova's The Swan thieves was also written like this and she said that she wouldn't write another book this way, once was enough.

I quite enjoyed The Swan Thieves, although it wasn't nearly as ambitious a novel as The Tiger's Wife. The former was just a thumping good read; a novel telling a great story. The latter is self-consciously literary. I'll be interested to hear your thoughts on this when you get to it! But that does explain a lot about my problems with Obreht's novel.

Don't misunderstand -- I think both are hugely talented writers. But I don't think my issues with their novels (which are different in the two cases) are just disappointment in the wake of a lot of the buzz. I'm always ready to have my socks blown off by a new book/author.

OK, some thoughts on Swamplandia! As I've mentioned, I think Russell's writing skills are amazing, as are her inventive powers. These made the novel an easy and often an entertaining read. But it never really transcended that -- a superb novel or even a "thumping good read" is one where I am almost absorbed by the narrative (literally) to the point where I can forget that I'm reading. With this book, I was always conscious of the process of reading and of the author herself -- almost as if she was one of the Bigtree alligator wrestlers showing me what she could do with one of the "Seths" in the alligator pit. She can do a lot, but sometimes what is more impressive is stepping back after reading a book and reaching that conclusion for myself. The other issue I had with this book -- and it's not one that will bug everyone, but any means -- is just the sheer unreality of it, which just seems to get more acute with each passing page. She may be trying to make a point here, about literary style, or whatever, but none of the characters here were people I could in any way relate to, with the very occasional exception of Kiwi. I didn't feel Osceola was a three-dimensional character at all, and Ava was just too far up in the clouds. When I hit the Bird Man, I threw my arms up in the air and began to wonder whether Russell was ABLE to write a character that wasn't a grotesque or an eccentric -- because here, even the mainlanders that Kiwi encounters in his gig at the "World of Darkness" are all eccentric/absurd to the extreme; Russell exaggerates human characteristics to the breaking point. I'm not a reader that demands a character to identify with or like; but I like to recognize and understand at least one of them; that they be human in some way. Even when Ada was battling human emotions such as grief, she was doing so in such bizarre ways that I found myself distanced from the novel -- again, I reverted to being a spectator. I wanted to love the book; instead, I ended up admiring it. 3.75 stars; I'll round up to 4 stars but really this was probably closer to 3.5 in terms of pure enjoyment. This was for my 11 in 11 challenge.

Moving on to Snow Country and Young Romantics by Daisy Hay, about the lives of Shelley, Byron, Leigh Hunt, etc. etc. It's due back at the library (it's on hold, and I've been hogging it for months). Thankfully, based on the first chapter, it's going to be fab. I also have a mindless brain candy fluff of a book due back at the library, which I may or may not end up finishing by Friday. Oh yeah, and some work...

>206 Chatterbox: I agree with you on that one Suzanne. Add in that totally unnecessary act of violence toward the end of the book and it turned on a dime for me. But she is obviously a very talented writer and I will look for more of her books but she needs to get her imagination in check. You don't often say that about a writer. The Kiwi part of the book was actually the part I liked best because it was laugh out loud funny. (to me anyway)

Great review of Swamplandia, Suz. I've had that on my obese wish list for a while and I'm still waiting for my brother to finish it so he can send me his copy. He claims he's close to finishing it ...but he's also a multiple book reader, so I can only hope he's not distracted with the other 5 or 7 books he's in the middle of as well.

How's the migraine?

I completely agree about the Kiwi side story, Bonnie. In that context, the grotesqueries were funny and a great comment on life. And I definitely agree with you about the last minute out-of-the-blue violence -- I can kind of see that she was trying to point out the line between self-delusion as a way to cope and as something dangerous, but really...

Caro, you need to nag him! The migraine is just lurking for now, and I'm hoping when I wake up in the a.m. it will be GONE!

Interesting comments on Swamplandia!. I bought it a few months ago, full of excitement, but my enthusiasm has been tempered by some of the mixed reviews I've read on LT (including yours). I will definitely read it sooner rather than later, but my expectations will be more realistic, I think.

Count me in with those who were less than engaged by Tiger's Wife....

I hope the migraine is gone, Suz!

>210 katiekrug: It is less than perfect -- but worthwhile -- her evocation of Old Florida is sublime, I think. And it is a very good read, just not a great one.

Thoughtful and right on target, Suzanne.

Hope the migraine doesn't come on.

Migraine is fine; sun is trying hard to appear.

I'll post some thoughts on Snow Country later; I gather Richard has placed a curse on my head!

Got two boxes of books from Amazon UK yesterday -- yummy! They include the book of Puffin postcards. I'm thinking of setting aside half a dozen and have them framed in a fun way -- books that I absolutely loved as a child and where event the glimpse of a cover brings back a memory.

Meanwhile, with two library books due back tomorrow (gah!) and WORK to do, I'd better get moving...

VINE DAY! That is Amazon Vine Day. I scored a free ARC of the upcoming memoir by Saramago, making this officially Saramago Day, as I also got approved for an ARC of Cain, his final novel. For my other book, chose one set in India circa 1970, a coming of age mystery I'd never heard of, Miss Timmins' School for Girls. So far, the reviews are that it's very mediocre, but I'm still curious enough to take a flyer. Most of my other options were either v. predictable or underwhelming.

Oh, well, no visitors today... (at least to my thread!)

but I do have some books to report on:

Snow Country was a re-read of a book by Yasunari Kawabata that I first read many years ago, in the early 1980s, when I moved to Japan and ended up living in a student dorm in the area that Kawabata writes about (albeit more than 40 years after he had begun the series of sketches that eventually went to make up the novel. Re-reading it I found it far less impressive as a novel, but more interesting as a reflection of changing Japanese society. The protagonist, if one can use that word of such a consummate dilettante as Shimamura, is SUCH a dilettante that he switches his area of focus (he's of independent means) to western ballet from Japanese dance, so that he's never really going to have to live up to his expertise; he can consider to ruminate on esoterics in isolation. The novel itself deals with romantic dilettantism: it revolves around Shimamura's contacts with two women he meets at a hot springs resort on three separate visits, their very different characters and yet his very similar response to both -- engagement, but then a pulling back when things begin to involve real emotion on at least one side. One is a young woman who, over the course of his visits, formally becomes a geisha; the other, a mysterious woman whom he first sees reflected in the train window en route to the resort, as she tends to another passenger, a dying man. It's a frustrating novel as so much is left unsaid and unspoken, requiring the reader to read between the lines very extensively. It also helps to have some knowledge of Japanese culture and society, as well as the history of Japan's contacts with the West in the first half of the 20th century. That irked a lot of people in my book circle; particularly the inability to even relate to Shimamura or Komako, the geisha, as characters. I had a different perspective, and found Shimamura reflective of the landscape in which he found himself -- frozen. Unlike Komako -- there's a lot of language revolving around color and cold/heat in the book -- whose head is at one point described as being hot and overheated underneath her geisha headdress, Shimamura is emotionally cold, however well shielded he may be from the elements. Even Komako's warmth can't touch him. I'd still rate this as a 4 star book, but going forward I'd certainly be more cautious about recommending it to others! For my 11 in 11 challenge.

Sigh. I like the occasional light fluffy read, and in the past have enjoyed some of the chunkster suspense novels by Nora Roberts (not the romance novels, which are deeply silly.) The element that makes them work, or not, for me is the background/context and the setting. I thought a hero and heroine of Chasing Fire, working for the Missoula (Montana) "smoke jumpers", battling forest fires, would be intriguing, especially since Roberts can generate a good suspense story at times. Alas, both elements fell apart in this book. The "smoke jumpers" story was too crammed full of unexplained jargon to be interesting and the suspense story was anaemic at best. Yawn. The only thing left was the romance thread, which isn't a reason for me to read this kind of fluff. The humor is forced, etc. etc. Avoid at all costs; I'm glad it was a library book. I did make it to the end, so I'll give it 1.7 stars because I was curious enough to know whodunnit, but that's it.

To take the taste of that out of my mouth, I'm reading Young Romantics by Daisy Hay, an absolutely fascinating and deftly written story of Shelley's broader circle -- going beyond Mary Shelley and Byron and that famous summer in Switzerland that gave birth to Frankenstein to lesser-known characters (to most) like Leigh Hunt and Hazlitt, the latter being my all-time fave essayist. There are figures about whom I know even less, like Thomas Love Peacock and Leigh Hunt's intellectual sister-in-law, so this is shaping up to be not only extremely well-written but revelatory. Am also trying to finish up Mr. Chartwell by Rebecca Hunt, which seems to me to be pulling off what Karen Russell didn't manage in Swamplandia! -- the creation of a convincing surreal character in the form of Esther's 6'7" canine lodger. Need to wrap this up tomorrow before the library cyber-removes it from my Nook... (On the Kindle, as long as I keep the wi-fi turned off, I can keep the borrowed book for longer, if need be, but not on the Nook...)

Young Romantics looks like a book in which I would be interested. I look forward to your thoughts on it when you are finished with it, Suz.

Glad to hear that the migraine is gone!

I started Mr Chartwell a couple of months ago and then put it down again. Looks like I better go hunt it down again. Have to agree that Young Romantics looks good.

I visited yesterday but didn't post, Suzanne. I also think Young Romantics sounds intriguing.

I've put Young Romantics on my wishlist too. The subtitle is different for British and American editions, but I assume it's the same book.

Congrats on the Vine books. I didn't like any of my book choices again, so I'll wait until next week to choose books. I did get a $25 mp3 player, and I really needed one because mine is slowly dying, so that's good.

I liked Mr. Chartwell, just having trouble coming up with something to say about it without giving too much away.

#200, the 20 under 40

I'm just catching up after several days mostly away from LT, so I may have missed something, but if you're referring to the New Yorker's "20 under 40" last year, I was seriously underwhelmed by most of them. I don't know if I'm too old to "get it," or if they just aren't that good . . . even if they do have a "promising future."

#216 Don't let Chasing Fire turn you off books about forest fires in Montans; instead, if you haven't read it already, look for Young Men and Fire by Norman Maclean, a fabulous, fascinating, and well written book about the real and devastating 1949 Mann Gulch fire.

Thanks for the tip, Rebecca! I'll definitely check it out; I'm very intrigued by the whole phenomenon of fighting forest fires & protecting the environment -- curious about the people that would voluntarily undertake this.

Yes, I was referring to the New Yorker "list" of anointed young writers. I'm so averse to the whole idea of admitting ANYONE to the canon at the age of 35, that even if I met the next Dostoevsky, I'd probably run a mile. I'm perfectly prepared to be blown away by an individual work (as I was with Joseph Boyden's novels) but NOT to extrapolate that into deciding that this author will be the one whose works will survive the centuries. Utter balderdash, IMO, to assume that anyone can devise such a list and get it right, which is the implicit claim. Hubris maximus...

One young writer that I'll definitely be keeping track of is the author of Mr. Chartwell, Rebecca Hunt. This was even more bizarre and esoteric than Swamplandia!, and more uneven in terms of writing and characterization, but at the same time a tighter, more focused and more intriguing narrative. It all revolves around the name Winston Churchill gave to his recurrent fits of Depression -- the Black Dog. Hunt has simply imagined the dog in question as real, if visible only to the dog's "clients" and not most of those 'normal' folks around them. The Black Dog makes his first appearance not at Chartwell, Churchill's home in Kent, but AS Mr. Chartwell, when he shows up to rent a room in Esther's home. To Esther's astonishment, Mr. Chartwell turns out to be a 6'7" ugly, smelly and eerie kind of black dog -- and yet she ends up allowing him to live there. Hunt does a terrific job of showing the reader the rather repugnant nature of living with a human-like dog -- and the shifting nature of his nascent relationship with Esther as well as his long-standing persecution of Churchill. There are bits and pieces of wonderful writing here ("the lonely monotony of the ghost days") and the story is elegantly constructed, leading up to an intriguing meeting between the dog -- now known to Esther as "Black Pat" -- Churchill and Esther herself. Extremely clever in plot -- how many people would choose to make manifest, literally, the phenomenon of depression? -- and structure; the writing is uneven and the characterization sometimes distant, but I didn't mind those flaws. Admittedly, I grimaced with distaste at some of Black Pat's antics and Hunt's descriptions of his smells, eating habits, etc., but that was also a sign of how engaged I was in the book. Creepy but fascinating; recommended, although it's not a book everyone will like. 4.2 stars; here's an author to watch, not least for her imaginative powers.

Had to go meet the Saudi billionaire prince today; found him amusing in his ADD way but quite liked the princess, Ameerah, who is probably half his age (and significantly more intelligent and less self-involved.) I now have a formal invitation to visit Saudi Arabia this winter. Hmmm....

OK, off to read something light, like the ARC of Dreams of Joy by Lisa See.

I'm glad to see you liked Mr Chartwell, Suz! I really like it and Swamplandia but agree that Mr Chartwell was much more and better focused. Hunt's descriptions were fabulous. Swamplandia started to get strung out and really needed to be reined in a little bit. I assume that's her editor's job (?) and wondered what happened there.

eta - Hanging out with a billionaire prince and princess, wow, impressive! I have no interest in visiting Saudia Arabia, but that's just me (not to mention, no invites!).

>224 Chatterbox:: Donna828 just reviewed Mr Chartwell too, Suz! What a coincidence...

I read your thread just about every day Suzanne -- but don't always have anything sufficiently, uh, worthy to contribute, so then I stay quiet.

Loved your review of Mr Chartwell, Suz. *sigh* another one for my obese wish list today. I've got a few Netgalley and Lendles to read before I can get to some of the other ones I also want to read. I wish I had more time to read and that I could read as fast as you, Suz.

Hi Suzanne, I have no hope of catching up here, but just earlier today, was reading up about Mr Chartwell, which I had heard about before and was very intrigued about, and will probably be picking up in the coming weeks.

I know one or two things about depression firsthand, and always thought Churchill's Black Dog image was a clever way to describe it—from there to embodying it as an actual living creature seems like the next logical step to me—I'd be surprised if it hadn't already been done before. I went to see what The New York Times Sunday Book Review had to say about it and didn't like what I saw there, so promptly decided to ignore that critique. I liked your review better.

The Saudi prince that blinked a lot?
Impressive.
And here I go to hunt Mr. Chartwell.

Heavens, Lizzie, yes! Did you see him on CNBC or something? (He does really enjoy watching himself on CNBC and talking about how many journalists are interested in talking to him...) There might be some stories in this, so I'm interested -- and it would be something different.

Ilana, thanks for the link to the NYT review. I can quite understand the reviewer's specific criticisms, but not his conclusion that the only real story is that of Esther's romantic reawakening. I agree that I don't think it's a work "of art", but that doesn't mean it's nothing more than "well packaged chick lit"! To me, it was that middle territory; it didn't achieve what it set out to do, but no chick lit novel would tackle this kind of theme in this kind of manner. And while I don't know what the reviewer's experience of depression is -- and while mine certainly isn't as interactive and garrulous as Black Pat -- the physical symptoms can certainly be extrapolated. As for the havoc he wreaks on Esther's home, to me, that stood for the lack of attention that a depressed person has available to maintain her surroundings. (The reader also hears that Esther arrives at work with her cardigan buttoned the wrong way, for instance.)

I find myself curious to see what the reviewer might think about Swamplandia!. another over-ambitious book, but of course, we don't know... That book was reviewed by Emma Donoghue, whose worst criticism of it was
"The plot of “Swamplandia!” is nothing special — dysfunctional family pull apart, then pull together — but the execution is. This family, wrestling with their desires and demons, will neither succumb nor triumph, but survive in their scarred way, and will lodge in the memories of anyone lucky enough to read “Swamplandia!” If the gothic whimsy of this novel is sometimes too self-conscious, the pleasures it offers are unforced." I found a lot more to criticize in Swamplandia! than the reviewer did and a lot more happening in Mr. Chartwell than the Times reviewer did. Which goes to show either just how subjective the whole review process is, or how out of touch I am with what makes a great book.

I do think that if you put them together, they could make one very good book -- one's flaws are the other's strengths. Plot vs writing, for instance.

Stayed up late to finish reading Dreams of Joy by Lisa See, although I'll probably regret it later on today! Still, it was a "thumping good read", and a much better book than its predecessor, Shanghai Girls. This was an ARC from Amazon Vine, and I was a bit worried, having been disappointed by the first book in the series. (In much the same way, I really enjoyed Snow Flower and the Secret Fan but couldn't even finish Peony in Love.) The bad news? You really need to read the first book to follow this one, and get the most out of the plot. At the end of the first book, Joy discovers some family secrets and, already attracted to the propaganda of her parents' Chinese homeland, decides to return to 1958ish Shanghai. Pearl, one of the two Shanghai girls of the first book, and her mother, follows her; it's essentially a story of how idealism both within the nation and outside it fares when confronted with the ugly realities of Mao's Great Leap Forward. Anyone who has read histories of the period, or the excellent recent bio of Mao by Jung Chang and Jon Halliday knows what is in store for Pearl and Joy, roughly speaking, but See brings the era vividly to life. There's nothing revolutionary (sorry about the pun!) about the nature or structure of this novel; it's a very plain vanilla story about two women and their experiences, with love and politics and all that you'd expect in the way of historical detail. But it's an insightful fictional look at what can happen when a country and a people succumb to worship of a single leader or idea, and I found myself turning the final pages anxiously trying to find out what happened next. (which is why I kept reading much of the night...) Recommended to those who like this kind of novel -- it will be out at the end of the month. 4.1 stars.

*sigh* I guess I really must read Shanghai Girls.

>229 Smiler69:: Thanks for the link to the NYTimes review, Ilana. I had this vague recollection of having read something less-than-favorable about Mr Chartwell, and yep, that was it. But that review also annoyed me back when I read it, I just didn't care for its tone (does anyone write reviews of reviews?!). Suzanne's thoughts have more cred with me !!

Very nice write up of Mr Chartwell. Like you, I'm looking forward to see what she writes next.

As always, interesting conversation here..!

Which goes to show either just how subjective the whole review process is, or how out of touch I am with what makes a great book.

I'd go with subjectivity. Both in the reading process, and in the reviewing process, not to mention the space between the two!

#234 Laura, I agree with you, I didn't care for the tone either. I just thought it was overall snarky and reeked of intellectual elitism. This was a prime example that seemed to give credence to the notion that critics are just frustrated and/or blocked writers and artists at heart.

I'm adding Mr. Chartwell to the wishlist--I'd been on the fence about it, mainly because of the NYT review. (And my dislike of Lives of the Monster Dogs, which I read recently, though I don't know why I should have let that influence my choice.)

Also adding Jung Chang's bio of Mao--I absolutely loved her Wild Swans.

#232, 238 I had a very mixed reaction to Jung Chang's biography of Mao. On the one hand, it was fascinating to learn more about Mao; on the other hand, her obvious hatred of Mao and his actions colored so much of the book that I couldn't help wondering what different perspectives and interpretations there might be. After I finished it, I bought two other books about Mao: Mao: A Life by Philip Short and Mao Zedong by Jonathan D. Spence. Several years later, I still haven't read either of these.

I'd be interested in reading Philip Short's Mao bio. I've dipped into his Pol Pot biography; never managed to read it cover to cover because the tale he tells is so disturbing.

The reason I found Jung Chang's bio intriguing wasn't so much the hatred that came through, but because it put the facts I knew in a new perspective. I don't accept it as gospel, but there were certainly well-documented anecdotes and incidents that gave a fresh perspective to the basic plot line. I admit I tend to be more averse to biographers who are in love with their subjects and thus want to bury anything critical than I am to hyper-critical biographers, whose biases usually do filter through. But Jung Chang's essential criticism -- that Mao was even worse as a leader than the anarchy that preceded him -- I found compelling, because at a time when he could have used the imposed stability to create a greater degree of prosperity than the average Chinese had ever known (as his successors have done, albeit not in as balanced a way as might have been possible), he chose to indulge in egomaniacal projects like the Great Leap and the Cultural Revolution. The biggest unknown, IMO, that remains is whether Mao had strong ideological convictions, or whether he was simply gratifying a lust for power. Jung Chang opts for the latter; this is where I'm not willing to go with what she asserts. There simply doesn't seem to be enough firm evidence.

I have to say that another thing that turned me off about Jung Chang's bio was her obsession with Mao's bodily functions.

"...Mao's bodily functions"?????
I'm already turned off without reading a word of it.
(And yes, I saw the blinking prince on CNBC.)

I admit I had blanked out those details about bodily functions... What was more interesting to me was the question of whether Mao was really a peasant leader or whether that was an image he chose to project. (I also recall some rather unappetizing details about his taste for v. young women when he was elderly...)

Books du jour:

Finished The Instigators, a short book (a Kindle single) lent to me by Darryl (kidzdoc). It's an intriguing and very timely look at the Egyptian revolution of early this year, told through the eyes of Ahmed Maher, one of the main characters involved in using social networking (particularly Facebook) to promote democratic resistance to Mubarak's regime. Its edge is also its chief flaw: it may be very timely and thus intriguing, but it's a bare bones account and I finished it hungry for more. 3.9 stars, recommended nonetheless as it provides some context for at least one of the region's upheavals. I'm now eager to figure out who will be writing full-length books on all this, none of which can really be expected before next year (or at least, not any good ones...)

Also finished Young Romantics by Daisy Hay, which is a wonderful addition to the literature available about the younger generation of Romantic poets (Shelley, Keats and Byron, rather than Wordsworth and Coleridge). While their heirs chose to view the poets as toiling in romantic solitude, the reality was very different, as Hay shows in this immensely readable history of their lives and works. Indeed, the central point of the book isn't a household name, but rather the poet and newspaper publisher Leigh Hunt, who maintained friendships of various durations and strengths with virtually all the main and the peripheral players and who always aspired to form a kind of Platonic academy with men of genius surrounding him. Of course, real life and strong personalities intervened -- and it wasn't only the men who had the genius. (Viz. Mary Shelley...) Hay does a superb job of blending life and literature and despite the incredible number of books on the group, collectively and individually, I thought this was a remarkable addition. A great introduction to the poets and their importance, as it is set in the context of the times and there is plenty of background about the main characters, the political and social environment in which they wrote and which shaped their ideas and concerns. Highly recommended; onto my best books of the year list. 4.5 stars.

ETA: the latter is for my 11 in 11 challenge; it also reminded me to put in a plug for the v. good historical novel by Jude Morgan, revolving around roughly the same group of people, which I read at the beginning of 2010: Passion. Despite the potboiler-esque cover illustration, it's an impeccably written historical novel and very accurate.

I will have to look for The Instigators. I doubt my local library will carry it, but one can always hope. Like you, I will be interested in reading a full-length historical treatment of the situation in Egypt. I hope you run into a good book or two about it, Suz, when they come out so that I can steal your recommendations.

I put Young Romantics into the BlackHole yesterday. I am glad to see you thought so highly of it.

ETA: I cannot seem to get Touchstones to work anywhere all of a sudden! Sorry about that.

I think the Wolman piece is only a Kindle item, but it's noted in the credits that it was issue #4 of the Atavist, and gives the address www.atavist.com -- you may be able to read it online, Stasia.

Thanks for the link, Suz. I will take a look.

ETA: Tried the link, but it did not go anywhere, so maybe the website is no longer available.

My bad -- it's atavist.NET. Sigh.

OK, it's about that time again; I've moved "house" and you can find me here.

This thread has now closed its doors...

#247: Ah, OK. Off to try again. . .

Nope, you have to purchase the book for either Kindle or Nook, you cannot just read it online.