Genny's Hymn to Books, Verse 2

Spring is sprung, and the days are lengthening - and my first thread was more than long enough, so it's time to start another to continue my reading journey through the year.

As for the title of my thread, I don't know any actual hymns about books, but here's a quotation about libraries using religious (and other) imagery:

"The library is not a shrine for the worship of books. It is not a temple where literary incense must be burned or where one's devotion to the bound book is expressed in ritual. A library, to modify the famous metaphor of Socrates, should be the delivery room for the birth of ideas - a place where history comes to life." — Norman Cousins (1915- )

Verse 1 of my 2011 thread can be found here, and here's a link to what I said about myself on the introductions thread, and to my third and final thread from 2010 with links to previous ones for that year.

I am making good progress towards the 75 goal, and indeed hope to manage over 100 books this year. I am thinking about creating a separate thread to record my (so far rather excessive) book buying habits this year, but for now there is a ticker here to record this and I will note new acquisitions as they arrive.

Some tickers to keep track of things:

Reading from May 2011

May
37 Lost in a Good Book - Jasper Fforde - finished 2.5.11 - TIOLI off TBR pile
38 Southern Discomfort - Margaret Maron - finished 4.5.11 - TIOLI off TBR pile
39 Shooting at Loons - Margaret Maron - finished 7.5.11 - TIOLI birds
40 Unnatural Death - Dorothy L Sayers - finished 10.5.11 - TIOLI repeating vowels
41 Mr Campion's Farthing - Youngman Carter - finished 13.5.11 - TIOLI off TBR pile
42 Bury Your Dead - Louise Penny - finished 14.5.11 TIOLI library
43 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee - finished 16.5.11 - TIOLI birds
44 The Deep Range - Arthur C Clarke - finished 17.5.11 - TIOLI library
45 Andromeda Veal - Adrian Plass - finished 20.5.11 - TIOLI off TBR pile
46 Mr. and Mrs. God in the Creation Kitchen - Nancy Wood - finished 21.5.11 - TIOLI outsize books
47 Dark Fire - C J Sansom - finished 24.5.11 - TIOLI set in London
48 The Shape of Water - Andrea Camilleri - finished 28.5.11 - TIOLI repeating vowels
49 Like Water for Chocolate - Laura Esquivel - finished 31.5.11 - TIOLI Mexican author

June
50 Guards! Guards! - Terry Pratchett - finished 6.6.11 - TIOLI ! in title
51 Remnant Population - Elizabeth Moon - finished 11.6.11 - TIOLI new-to-me author
52 Sea of Poppies - Amitav Ghosh finished 18.6.11 - TIOLI flowers on cover
53 Pies and Prejudice - Stuart Maconie - finished 21.6.11 - TIOLI fact/fiction
54 A dedicated man - Peter Robinson - finished 22.6.11
55 Go the f*** to sleep - Adam Mansbach - finished 27.6.11
56 The thousand autumns of Jacob de Zoet - finished 29.6.11 - TIOLI name beginning Z

July
57 A short history of nearly everything (Audiobook) - Bill Bryson - finished 1.7.11 - TIOLI guilty book
58a The tale of Mr Todd - Beatrix Potter - finished 1.7.11 - TIOLI re-read childhood book
58b The Tailor of Gloucester - Beatrix Potter - finished 2.7.11 - ditto
58c The tale of Mrs Tiggy-Winkle - Beatrix Potter - finished 4.7.11 - ditto
58d The tale of Peter Rabbit - Beatrix Potter - finished 5.7.11 - ditto
59 Miss Marple and the thirteen problems - Agatha Christie - finished 8.7.11TIOLI typeface-only cover
60 The Death Maze (Audiobook) - Ariana Franklin - finished 9.7.11
61 The Enchanted April - Elizabeth von Arnim - finished 11.7.11 - TIOLI title ending with middle name initial
62 The Jewel Seed - Joan Aiken - finished 12.7.11 - TIOLI juvenile fantasy
63 Just My Type - Simon Garfield - finished 12.7.11 - TIOLI typeface-only cover
64a The Tale of Tom Kitten - Beatrix Potter - finished 13.7.11 - TIOLI re-read childhood book
64b The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin - Beatrix Potter - finished 13.7.11 - ditto
64c The Tale of Mrs Tittlemouse - Beatrix Potter - finished 13.7.11 - ditto
64d The Tale of Jeremy Fisher - Beatrix Potter - finished 13.7.11 - ditto
65 The Body in the Library - Agatha Christie - finished 15.7.11 - TIOLI typeface-only cover
66 Purple Hibiscus - Chimananda Ngozi Adichie - finished 20.7.11 - TIOLI woman-authored prize nominated
67 Waterbound - Jane Stemp - finished 21.7.11 - TIOLI YA fantasy
68a The Tale of Two Bad Mice - Beatrix Potter - finished 19.7.11
68b The Tale of Timmy Tiptoes - Beatrix Potter - finished 18.7.11
68c The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies - Beatrix Potter - finished 21.7.11
68d The Tale of Johnny Town-Mouse - Beatrix Potter - finished 29.7.11
69 The Moving Finger - Agatha Christie - finished 22.7.11 - TIOLI read a book you should borrow from person below
70 The Outcast - Sadie Jones - finished 25.7.11 - TIOLI 'hot' author
71 The Inimitable Jeeves - P G Wodehouse - finished 27.7.11 - TIOLI title words consecutive alpha order

Reading January-April 2011

January

1 The White Witch - Elizabeth Goudge - finished 3.1.11
2 Come dance with me - Russell Hoban - finished 5.1.11
3 The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch - Philip K Dick - finished 8.1.11
4 84, Charing Cross Road - Helene Hanff - finished 21.1.11
5 The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street - Helene Hanff - finished 22.1.11
6 Beyond Black - Hilary Mantel - finished 22.1.11
7 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen - finished 27.1.11
8 Roman Blood - Steven Saylor - finished 29.1.11

February
9 Flowers for the judge - Margery Allingham - finished 5.2.11
10 Moon Tiger - Penelope Lively - finished 17.2.11
11 Native Tongue - Suzette Elgin - finished 18.2.11
12 Wyrd Sisters - Terry Pratchett - finished 23.2.11
13 A Glass of Blessings - Barbara Pym - finished 25.2.11
14 The Ghost of Thomas Kempe - Penelope Lively - finished 26.2.11

March
15 The murder in the vicarage - Agatha Christie - finished 4.3.11
16 Jar city - Arnaldur Indridason - finished 8.3.11
17 Hypothermia - Arnaldur Indridason - finished 9.3.11
18 Bruno, Chief of Police - Martin Walker - finished 10.3.11
19 Dissolution - C J Sansom - finished 11.3.11
20 The Moving Toyshop - Edmund Crispin - finished 12.3.11
21 The China Governess - Margery Allingham - finished 17.3.11
22 The Eyre Affair - Jasper Fforde - finished 26.3.11
23 Whose Body? - Dorothy L Sayers - finished 26.3.11
24 Clouds of Witness - Dorothy L Sayers - finished 29.3.11
25 Murder in Mesopotamia - Agatha Christie - finished 30.3.11

April
26 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen - finished 3.4.11
27 The Murder of Roger Ackroyd - Agatha Christie - finished 4.4.11
28 The Homeward Bounders - Diana Wynn Jones - finished 5.4.11
29 The Help - Kathryn Stockett - finished 9.4.11
30 Pyramids - Terry Pratchett - finished 11.4.11
31 Mr Campion's Lucky Day - finished 13.4.11
32 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon - finished 18.4.11
33 The House in Norham Gardens - Penelope Lively - finished 19.4.11
34 Fingersmith - Sarah Waters - finished 27.4.11
35 Fire and Hemlock - Diana Wynne Jones - finished 28.4.11
36 Journey into Joy - Andrew Walker - finished 28.4.11

Books acquired during 2011

I've already (by end of May) overshot my target of a maximum of 100 new books into the house. I really don't need to buy any more for the rest of the year...




Here's a list of books acquired in May: I will make a note when these are read.

1st May - From my sister's church book sale (25 pence each)
92 Loyalty in Death - J D Robb
93 The Liar - Stephen Fry
94 Sheepfarmer's daughter - Elizabeth Moon
95 The riddle of the sands - Erskine Childers
96 Franny and Zooey - J D Salinger
97 A perfect spy - John le Carre
98 The history man - Malcolm Bradbury
99 Like water for chocolate - Laura Esquivel READ
100 The True Darcy Spirit - Elizabeth Aston
101 A dubious legacy - Mary Wesley
102 Fatherland - Robert Harris

11-12th May - from Amazon marketplace/eBay
103 The female man - Joanna Russ
104 Up jumps the devil - Margaret Maron
105 Home fires - Margaret Maron

13th May - from public library
The haunting of Hill House - Shirley Jackson
Bury your dead - Louise Penny - READ and returned

18th May - from eBay
106 Parker Pyne investigates - Agatha Christie

20th May (LT London meet-up)
from Persephone Bookshop
107 Flush: a biography - Virginia Woolf
from The Lamb Bookshop
108 La's orchestra saves the world - Alexander McCall Smith
109 Melted into air - Sandi Toksvig
110 The price of love - Peter Robinson
Chaucer's Canterbury Tales - Marcia Williams (picture book for a gift)
111 Mr and Mrs God in the Creation Kitchen - Nancy Wood - READ
from Oxfam bookshop, Bloomsbury
112 The wandering fire - Guy Gavriel Kay
113 Selected poems - U A Fanthorpe
114 The Virago book of Victorian ghost stories - ed Richard Dalby
115 The weather in the streets - Rosamond Lehmann
116 Precious bane - Mary Webb

21st May - from second hand bookshop, Sheffield
117 Invitation to the waltz - Rosamond Lehmann
118 Guards! Guards! - Terry Pratchett READ
119 Moving Pictures - Terry Pratchett
120 Reaper Man - Terry Pratchett

27th May - from Amnesty bookshop, Newcastle
121 Lucy Gayheart - Willa Cather
122 A lost lady - Willa Cather
123 The republic of love - Carol Shields
124 The heaven tree - Edith Pargeter
125 The tenderness of wolves - Stef Penney

(Loan) A place of secrets - Rachel Hore

June
126 Lord Peter Views the Body - Sayers (ebay)
127 Ordinary Thunderstorms - William Boyd (ebay)
128 Newcastle: a short history and guide - Frank Graham (eBay)

From market bookstall 3/6
129 The Time Traveler's wife - Audrey Niffenegger -
130 Our Spoons came from Woolworths - Barbara Comyns (VMC)
131 Thirteen moons - Charles Frazier

From church Summer Fete 4/6
132 The life and death of Mary Wollstonecraft - Claire Tomalin
133 The hungry tide - Amitav Ghosh
134 Brooklyn - Colm Toibin
135 Life Class - Pat Barker
136 Frequent Hearses - Edmund Crispin
137 Eats, shoots and leaves - Lynne Truss
138 Diary of an ordinary woman - Margaret Forster
139 In the kitchen - Monica Ali

140 The hare with amber eyes - Edmund de Waal - (Gift)

from Oxfam bookshop 10th June
141 The time of the hero - Mario Vargas Llosa
142 The time traveller's guide to medieval England - Ian Mortimer
143 The Pyramid: the Kurt Wallander stories - Henning Mankell
144 The emigrants - W G Sebald
145 Austerlitz - W G Sebald

from Scope charity shop, 10th June
146 Clan of the Cave Bear - Jean M Auel

from Amazon marketplace
147 Mr Campion's falcon - P Youngman Carter

from Oxfam shop, 17th June
148 The enchanted April (VMC) - Elizabeth von Arnim READ
149 A sudden wild magic - Diana Wynne Jones

from Bookmooch
150 Poseidon's Gold - Lindsey Davis
151 Soul Music - Terry Pratchett -
152 The magic toyshop (VMC) Angela Carter
153 Rebecca (VMC) Daphne du Maurier

from Audible - free download
154 Go the F**k to sleep (Audiobook)

eBay bulk order received 29th June
155 Jane Fairfax - Joan Aiken
156 Eliza's daughter - Joan Aiken
157 The last slice of the rainbow - Joan Aiken
158 A bundle of nerves - Joan Aiken
159 The winter sleepwalker - Joan Aiken
160 The Jewel Seed - Joan Aiken - READ

Amazon new
161 Presiding like a woman - ed Nicola Slee

In July:

AbeBooks
162 Quicksilver - Neal Stephenson

Audible subscription
163 The death maze - Ariana Franklin - READ

eBay
164 The Tale of Mr Tod - READ
The Tale of Mrs Tiggy-Winkle - READ
The Tailor of Gloucester - READ
The Tale of Peter Rabbit - READ

Oxfam Gosforth
165 Indemnity Only - Sara Paretsky
166 Killing Orders - Sara Paretsky
167 The age of innocence - Edith Wharton

ebay
168 The moving finger - Agatha Christie - READ
169 The case of the sleepwalker's niece - Erle Stanley Gardner

Gosforth Library
The water's edge - Karin Fossum
The old man and the sea - Hemingway
Sisters of Sinai - Janet Martin Soskice

Oxfam Gosforth
170 The world's wife: poems - Carol Ann Duffy

ebay
171 The Wolves of Willoughby Chase - Joan Aiken (replacement copy)
172 The memoirs of Sherlock Holmes
173 The body in the library - Christie - READ
174 The tale of Squirrel Nutkin - B Potter - READ
The tale of Mr Jeremy Fisher - READ
The tale of Mrs Tittlemouse - READ
The tale of the pie and the patty pan

Gift
175 Mr Golightly's holiday - Salley Vickers

Bookmooch
176 Eric - Terry Pratchett

ebay
177 The tale of Timmy Tiptoes - READ
The tale of Pigling Bland
The tale of Johnny Town-Mouse - READ
The tale of two bad mice - READ
178 The tale of the Flopsy bunnies - READ
Appley Dapply's nursery rhymes - READ
179 The other British Isles - Christopher Somerville

Bookmooch
180 O pioneers! (VMC) - Willa Cather
181 The ladies of Lyndon (VMC) - Margaret Kennedy
182 Dead right - Peter Robinson
183 Their eyes were watching God (VMC) - Zora Neale Hurston

ebay
184 Crooked House - Agatha Christie
185 Duet of Death - Hilda Lawrence

Books acquired January-April: (numbering does not include library or other loaned books as these are not permanent acquisitions, but I'll still list them here)

January
1 A Glastonbury Romance - John Cowper Powys - READING
2 Sir Thursday - Garth Nix
3 Lady Friday - Garth Nix
4 Just my type - Simon Garfield - READ
5 Beowulf - transl Heaney - READING
6 Everyday Easy Chicken - Andrew Roff (cookbook)
7 84 Charing Cross Road - Helen Hanff - READ
8 Unnatural death - Dorothy L Sayers - READ
9 Vulnerable communion - Thomas E Reynolds
10 The Bodleian Murders - Jane Stemp
11 Mr Ives' Christmas - Oscar Hijuelos
12 Murder in the mews - Agatha Christie
13 Death comes as the end - Agatha Christie
14 Miss Marple and the thirteen problems - Agatha Christie - READ
15 Murder in Mespotamia - Agatha Christie - READ
16 Remnant Population - Elizabeth Moon READ
LIBRARY: Purple Hibiscus - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie READ
LIBRARY: Native tongue - Suzette Haden-Elgin - READ and returned

February
17 Love lies bleeding - Edmund Crispin
18 The two heroines of Plumplington & other stories - Anthony Trollope
19 Jar City - Arnaldur Indridason - READ
20 Framley Parsonage - Anthony Trollope
21 The Greek Myths - Robert Graves
22 Moon Tiger - Penelope Lively - READ
23 The earth hums in B flat - Mari Strachan
24 Phineas Finn - Anthony Trollope
25 Can you forgive her? - Anthony Trollope
26 Arms of Nemesis - Stephen Saylor
27 Dry bones that dream - Peter Robinson
28 Innocent graves - Peter Robinson
29 The seven dials mystery - Agatha Christie
30 The house at Norham Gardens - Penelope Lively - READ
31 The ghost of Thomas Kempe - Penelope Lively - READ
32 A stitch in time - Penelope Lively
33 Always coming home - Ursula K Le Guin
34 The Help - Kathryn Stockett - READ
35 Good omens - Terry Pratchett

March
36 Christian roots, contemporary spirituality - Lynda Barley
37 Community value - Lynda Barley
38 Five little pigs - Agatha Christie
39 The murder at the vicarage - Agatha Christie - READ
40 Lord Edgware dies - Agatha Christie
41 Hand in glove - Ngaio Marsh
42 Journey into Joy - Andrew Walker - READ
43 - Fingersmith - Sarah Waters - READ
LENT: Sovereign - C J Sansom
44 Shade's Children - Garth Nix
45 John Diamond - Leon Garfield
46 The labours of Hercules - Agatha Christie
Music from Taize Vol 1 - Jacques Berthier (Replacement of missing Music/Hymn book)
47 Whose body? - Dorothy L Sayers - READ
48 Snow Crash - Neal Stephenson
49 The mists of Avalon - Marion Zimmer Bradley
50 Daughter of earth - Agnes Smedley
51 The return of the soldier - Rebecca West
52 Intervention - Julian May
53 The homeward bounders - Diana Wynne Jones - READ
54 Detection unlimited - Georgette Heyer
55 The hanging valley - Peter Robinson
56 Clouds of witness - Dorothy L Sayers - READ
57 Glimpses of the divine - Gemma Simmonds
58 Stations of the resurrection - Raymond Chapman - READ
59 The thousand autumns of Jacob de Zoet - David MItchell - READ
60 Started early, took my dog - Kate Atkinson
61 The broken sword - Poul Anderson

April
62 The murder of Roger Ackroyd - Agatha Christie - READ
63 The unbearable lightness of scones - Alexander McCall Smith
64 Wednesday's child - Peter Robinson
65 Reconnecting with confirmation - Peter Maidment
66 A necessary end - Peter Robinson
67 A dedicated man - Peter Robinson - READ
68 Past reason hated - Peter Robinson
LENT Revelation - C J Sansom
69 The history of Danish dreams - Peter Hoeg
70 From the holy mountain - William Dalrymple
71 Summer cooking - Elizabeth David - Reading
72 The white tiger - Aravind Adiga
73 Depths - Henning Mankell
74 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
75 The scent of the night - Andrea Camilleri
76 Restless - William Boyd
77 Divinity Road - Martin Pevsner
78 Samuel Pepys: the unequalled self - Claire Tomalin
79 A murder on the Appian Way - Stephen Saylor
80 Set in darkness - Ian Rankin
81 Dead souls - Ian Rankin
82 A thousand splendid suns - Khaled Hosseini
83 Mervyn Peake - John Watney
84 Hildegard of Bingen - Fiona Maddocks
85 All passion spent - Vita Sackville-West
86 Murder must advertise - Dorothy L Sayers
87 The unpleasantness at the Bellona Club - Dorothy L Sayers
88 Grave mistake - Ngaio Marsh
89 City of the mind - Penelope Lively
90 Next to nature, art - Penelope Lively
91 Judgement Day - Penelope Lively

Following along! :)

That's a wonderful quote you have at the beginning of your thread. Looking forward to see what you will be reading!

Happy new thread, Genny!
I love the Norman Cousins quotation too. In fact, I simply adored Norman Cousins and was a long-time subscriber to Saturday Review.

Great quote!

Found you again, Genny! Love the quote!

Thanks all for visiting my new thread. Glad you all like the quote. I have to confess I found it on the internet in a collection of quotes about libraries, rather than through my own reading, indeed I hadn't heard of Norman Cousins before. He sounds like a very interesting person.

I've just returned from my monthly book group. This month, instead of all having read the same book to discuss together, we each had about 15 minutes to talk about a book we've read from our shelves. Some interpreted this as something that has been on their shelves for years, decades even, remaining unread. Some decided this meant rereading something read years ago; others read newer books on their TBR shelf. Between us we discussed:

Started early, took my dog - Kate Atkinson (which is on my TBR pile)
Cranford - Elizabeth Gaskell (which I read last year)
Justine - Lawrence Durrell (which I've never read)
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee (my choice, read a few days ago for first time)
The Cruel Sea - Nicholas Monsarrat (which I've never read)
The Hare with the Amber Eyes - Edmund de Waal (I've heard this heavily abridged on the radio but not read)
Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel (which I read last year)

An interesting mix. Nearly everyone recommended their choice quite highly, from 6/10 up to 9.5 out of 10, though The Cruel Sea was given a much lower rate for character development, although the plot and subject matter rated higher.

Of the ones I've not yet read, I was already intending to read Started Early. I was never very interested in reading Lawrence Durrell, probably because I read lots of his brother Gerald's books in my teens and picked up Gerald's portrayal of Lawrence as being very pretentious. But I might be interested to give him a try now I know a little bit more about it. I won't rush to read The Cruel Sea, but for anyone wanting a depiction of the nature of life on the navy-protected convoys during WWII it sounds a good read. And I might seek out a copy of The Hare as the person who read it really rated it highly though she does not usually enjoy biography.

Off now to finish various work tasks before packing ready for my LT London meet up and weekend away with friends.

Have a great time at the meet up, Genny! Post tons of pictures!!

Will do! On the train heading south as I type this. Rendezvous in just over 2 hours...

Safe travels! Give everyone hugs from me!

I will. It's really exciting to be meeting up with people in real life for the first time!

Yes, it is!

We've had a great day and are heading home well laden with books. Took a few photos but only one on my phone, which i've uploaded. Here's an attempt to post it from my phone. I don't have the pointy brackets on the keyboard so I can't insert the photo here, but you may be able to follow this link. removed...
It shows Luci, Heather, Cushla and me. We do also have photos with Janet and with Katie, to be posted soon.

How wonderful!!!!
Post the book list!!! I can't wait for the pictures!!! (The link to picasa shows some beautiful swans and traffic at night but no Luci, Heather, Cushla, and Genny. Did I say I can't wait for the pictures???)

>17 LizzieD:: me too! I love seeing LT meetup pix.

Me three! Pictures, pictures!

Me also -- couldn't get to the pix of you guys; it seems to be just the main Picasa site...

I think it doesn't work trying to do the photos from my phone. Will try to borrow my friends' computer this weekend. Otherwise it will have to wait till I get home.

Hi, Genny, just to say how happy I am that I got to meet you yesterday. Glad you had a nice rest of the day. Hope you are enjoying the weekend.

Enjoying the weekend indeed. While out with friends in Sheffield this afternoon, I found - guess what!- another second-hand bookshop. Lots to tempt me, and only the fact that the shop did not take cards prevented me from buying twice as many!

Ok, now using friends' PC, and I hope that the following will be a successful upload of the aforementioned photo...



Yes! it worked this time. That's Luci, Heather, Cushla and me, from left to right. Luci's the only one who thought to display one of the books purchased...

Yay! A meet-up picture. And a very nice one at that...look at those smiling faces. I may never get back to England, but if I do, I'll try and plan it around an LT gathering.

>10 gennyt:: I must say, I love that idea for a book group. Everyone can give a pitch for a favorite book and add to the others' wish lists. Kind of reminds me of LT! Your choice, To Kill A Mockingbird is one of my all-time favorite books.

#25 thanks Donna - yes, I'm glad we all managed to smile at the same time!

Re the book group, it did work well, with a mixture of some people having read the chosen books and enjoying remembering them, and others not having read them and getting ideas to add to the wishlist.

I can't believe it has taken me until I'm 46 to read To Kill a Mockingbird - although it is not a standard high school choice here as it is in the US, still a lot of people would have read it before now. Anyway, I loved it, and am very glad I finally read it. I was teaching a confirmation class the day after I finished it, and it struck me that the book is a very good illustration of the parable of the Good Samaritan which we were discussing in the class - especially as a response to the question "Who is my neighbour?"

Great picture, anxiously awaiting more!

Lovely picture! Is that a Persephone bag you're clutching there, Cushla? I'm feeling nostalgic about Luci's picture book! I love good quality picture books but now my boys have passed that stage and I have given up primary school teaching they are no longer part of my life :(

Thanks for posting the photo, Genny. Please keep them coming!

Wonderful photo! Thanks for posting it, Genny. Looks like everyone had a wonderful time.

Hi! I've starred your thread. Great photo!

Great picture! I love being able to put faces with the names. Thanks for sharing it, Genny!

Lots more photos now over on the London meetup thread.

It was so nice to meet you on Friday. I hope your train journey home was as uneventful as the one down and that you weren't too laden down with books by the time you headed off!

Found your new thread - was lovely to see you on Friday. Hope your journeys up to Sheffield and then back across to Newcastle went smoothly.

I also like that idea for a book group (and I've never read To Kill a Mockingbird either but I think we had this conversation on Friday!)

I'd like to read The Hare with Amber Eyes but I didn't reserve a copy from the library in time and now the reservation lists are so long.

Well I've finally caught up with adding new books acquired in the past week or so, including those bought during the London LT bookshopping spree and meet up last Friday. At the same time, I've managed to list all my new acquisitions at the top of this thread (see the books acquired in May here and those acquired Jan-April here).

Total number of new books since January this year: 125 (not counting library loans or loans from friends - but there are only a few of those).
Total number of books read so far this year: 47.

Thus I have acquired nearly three times as many books as I have read. Some of this has been due to me trying to line up series ready to read them in order, but most of it is simply out of control, compulsive book collecting!

My London purchases were quite varied:

My first ever Persephone edition, from the Persephone Bookshop: Flush: a biography - Virginia Woolf.

From The Lamb Bookshop (new/discounted books): La's orchestra saves the world - a standalone book by Alexander McCall Smith; Melted into air a comic novel by comedian Sandi Toksvig (I enjoyed her children's book Hitler's Canary); The price of love short stories by crime writer Peter Robinson - all for £2 each, and two picture books: Chaucer's Canterbury Tales a retelling in comic strip form (including snippets of Middle English by Marcia Williams, which will probably be a gift for one of my nieces, who will enjoy the naughty bits of the Miller's Tale... and Mr and Mrs God in the Creation Kitchen by Nancy Wood - an unusual version of the Creation story.

From Oxfam bookshop in Bloomsbury, several Viragos: The weather in the streets - Rosamond Lehmann, Precious bane - Mary Webb and The Virago book of Victorian ghost stories; also The wandering fire by Guy Gavriel Kay - the second part in a trilogy (I read the first book last year, had some misgivings about it, but would like to see how it continues). And a book of poetry: Selected poems U A Fanthorpe because I like the few of her poems I've come across.

In the London Review Bookshop, I managed not to buy any books, but could not resist a mug with a Penguin Classic Crime design, which will be useful when serving tea at meetings in the vicarage, especially when people are being awkward:



The following day, as reported above, I found another bookshop in Sheffield this time, and bought the following (which was all I could afford since the shop only took cash): a lovely VMC copy of Invitation to the waltz, which will make a nice pair with The Weather in the Street bought the previous day, and three Pratchetts to fill in some gaps in my collection - all in very decent condition: Guards! Guards! which is next up in my read through, Moving Pictures and Reaper Man.

As if that were not enough, I have acquired another 5 books today while passing by the Amnesty bookshop in Newcastle - two more Viragos (both by Willa Cather), The republic of love by Carol Shields book, The heaven tree, first book in a medieval trilogy by Edith Pargeter (alias Ellis Peters), and The Tenderness of Wolves which many have rated highly on here.

So now it's time to get on and read some of these!

I have recently finished reading Dark Fire, the second C J Sansom book, which I enjoyed and will say a bit more about shortly, and I'm currently in the middle of The Shape of Water, the first Montalbano mystery.

Love how appropriate that Penguin Classic mug is.
I hope you enjoy the Montalbano, I'm a fan of that series and am saving up the few I haven't yet read. I love all your book purchases - you did very well! I'm also one who likes to collect a series in order to start reading, sometimes my library only has the more recent books in a series which can be annoying. I collected up the Edith Pargeter books last year and must now find time to start reading them.

Oh, I love the mug, Genny! Your haul was not bad either :)

Love the mug! (I have a Pride and Prejudice one, but yours is better!)

The haul, the mug, the Viragos ... ooh la la! Nice stuff, Genny.

I am ***finally*** catching up on your thread. It was lovely to meet you and I had such a great day!!

I didn't see the mug when you were buying it - that's so funny. You'll have to save it for particularly sticky meetings.

We're reading in parallel - I got a few hundred pages into the 5th Shardlake book while I was in London, and I started the 2nd Montalbano one as soon as we came home from our day out and finished it on the plane home. Now I don't have the 3rd but there is no way I am buying anything else for ages!

Glad you all like the mug! I have one which says "More tea, vicar?" which my sister gave me - I don't know why people always say this, they say it to me sometimes when I visit, but self-consciously as a joke - but this one is funnier.

#41 I've just finished the first Montalbano, but don't have the next few (I've picked up no. 5 a while back) so will have to wait a bit to continue.

This is the most recent read - I may get round to some more reports for a few earlier books, but I'm doing this while it is fresh in mind:

Book no. 48 - The Shape of Water - Andrea Camilleri



Acquired: Bookmooch from Cushla, November 2010
Why read now: May Murder and Mayhem - a good excuse to start a new crime series
Recommended by: richardderus initially, and several others

A quick read, and despite a fairly considerable amount of violence, sex and political corruption going on in the background, this had an almost cozy feel. Inspector Montalbano is a sympathetic character, an honest man amid the complicatedly corrupt world of Sicilian policing and politics - though not above bending the official rules in the interests of his personal idea of justice. His concern for victims and those vulnerable to being abused by the system is part of what makes him attractive, I think. The depiction of Sicily - landscape and food as well as politics and matter-of-fact violence - brings the location to life very vividly. I found it helpful having a few notes by the translator unpacking a few cultural & political references, and pointing out some word-play which was not easily translated.

I'd like to read more in this series, particularly to find out whether the good Inspector continues to 'play god' in his approach to justice, and whether we get to see more introspection or soul-searching as per the Scandinavian crime novels, or whether plenty of good food, sunshine and frequent walks on the beach are enough to keep him at peace with himself and his world.

Posted this review on the book page since it's the fist time I've managed to write any kind of review for ages!

3.5 stars

Does anyone else keep going to press the 'top of page' arrow every time they want to edit a post? I can't get used to the edit button being at the bottom of the post rather than on the right of the header bar. Loving the preview button though.

#43: *sigh* I still have not read that one despite having owned it for at least 2 years now.

How can it be 2pm already, and I've not started on all the work I meant to do today? Too much time spent on the threads, I guess...

Another book report, just to procrastinate from work a bit longer....

Book no. 46 - Mr and Mrs God in the Creation Kitchen - Nancy Wood, illustrated by Timothy Ering



Acquired: new book (bargain price) from The Lamb Bookshop, London, May 2011
Why read now: because it only took 5 minutes to read and I was showing it to my friends!

This short picture book tells an interesting version of the Jewish/Christian creation story. The title gives you the premise: God is portrayed as a couple busy in their kitchen, cooking up new creations in some very large pots and pans. They start with planets and all is well. When they move on to creatures, there are some problems, and at one point Mrs God stops speaking to Mr God for a thousand years. Dinosaurs feature, also pelicans, blue whales, beautiful fish and eventually some primitive-looking human beings. The illustrations are rich, swirling, with a great sense of exciting things emerging from the creative process.

Not recommended for those who have a very literal understanding of the story-telling at the beginning of Genesis, but I enjoyed this little tale and could see it being enjoyed by young children. It might even open up some interesting discussions with children about whether God is male or female/both/neither, and about how we understand creation and evolution.

I bought this as a possible gift for my god-daughter last week, but decided it was not quite right for the occasion. So I'm keeping it for now, and I'm sure I will find another good use for it.

4 stars

I have always posited that God is both Father and Mother, but I am probably the only Baptist that thinks that way :)

>47 alcottacre:: LOL, Stasia, I bet you are!!

#48: The idea comes from too much reading, lol. I know that comes as a shock :)

It's a bank holiday, so of course it is raining. And of course I have some overdue work that I have to do, before I can consider doing some bank holidayish things, like gardening, or (given the weather, more likely) reading a good book!

But before getting on with work, I'm distracting myself by making a list of all the books I'm proposing to read for the June TIOLI challenge, so that they are in one place to refer to easily.

Challenge 1 Marking the Hours Low book challenge (book on low shelf on coffee table)
Challenge 4 The Great North Road book about your locale (about Newcastle)
Challenge 6 Remnant Population by Elizabeth Moon - new to me author of whose books I have 2 or more on TBR - completed
Challenge 7 Sea of Poppies flower on cover challenge - completed
Challenge 8 Ordinary Thunderstorms by William Boyd (Grand)father's name challenge (William was my grandfather)
Challenge 10 Catch-22 Title with a number or letter in it
Challenge 12 Just My Type My own nonfiction challenge
Pies and Prejudice Nonfiction challenge - completed
Challenge 13 Nineteen Eighty-four book swapped on a swapping site (this is the book I've had for longest, unread, that I got from Bookmooch
Challenge 14 Guards! Guards! Exclamation mark challenge - completed

That's 10 already listed on the wiki, and probably more than enough.

Late addition:

Challenge 22 The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet - book with a name beginning with z - - completed

Thanks for the reminder, Genny: I need to get a list of my TIOLI books together for June too. Maybe when I am home from work. . .

Sounds like some good challenges there. Remnant Population is one of the better books I read this year - I think you will really like it.

Love the mug, Genny!

I'm joining you with Just my type, very pleased to be pushed to get this off my shelf, I was so keen to put it there last year.

Love the mug and the great haul! You show unfailing good taste! (And let me speak as a die-hard G.G.Kaye fan: the Finovar trilogy is my very least favorite of his writings. In fact, I've read only the first. Everything else is MUCH better!)
ETA: And I'm constantly clicking the page-up arrow and wondering how I got there.... (Didn't do it this time though!)

What a fantastic mug! It will make for some slightly sinister cups of tea, I'm sure.

Book no. 49 - Like Water for Chocolate - Laura Esquivel



Acquired: church book sale, 25p, May 2011
Why read now: TIOLI challenge - read a book by a Mexican author

I found this book ultimately not very satisfying, although the concept was interesting. It's a love story that reads like a fairy tale, in which cooking and food play a central part, and in which the often turbulent emotions of Tita, the main character and main cook in the story, are infused into the dishes she cooks and are experienced by those who eat them - often with drastic consequences.

The twelve chapters of the book - one for each month of the year - each begin with the ingredients for a recipe, and the instructions are woven through the chapter as Tita goes about preparing the dish in question. The recipes themselves are fascinating (for readers unfamiliar with traditional/festive Mexican cuisine) and demand very large quantities of strange combinations of ingredients. The passing comments on methods of food preservation and preparation in early twentieth century Mexico (eg how to keep large quantities of eggs fresh at the same time) were also interesting.

One of the things that I found less than satisfying however was the structure; there seems to be no reason why the recipes are linked to 12 months: the story takes place over many years not one year, and recipes associated with a particular time of year (eg the Three Kings cake) are not necessarily used in the relevant month. The writing of the book, at least in translation, is not particularly noteworthy either, and although the story is about deeply-felt emotion, the exaggerated magical elements (often quite comical) had the effect of distancing me from the emotional plight of the characters.

I gave this 3.5 stars because I was interesting in the cooking aspect.

#53 I'm looking forward to finally getting to Remnant Population, Janet, since you and others were recommending it earlier this year.

#55 Glad to have company in reading Just my type, Kerry - I saw it in Waterstones just after Christmas, and got myself a copy from Amazon a couple of days later even though I rarely buy new hardbacks, because I couldn't resist the idea of it. And then I've ignored it since then!

#56 Peggy, I don't know about good taste, but it's certainly eclectic! And I guess I share that with quite a lot of people on here... As for GGKaye, I wasn't in a rush to read more of the Finovar trilogy, and if I'd spotted one of his other books I'd certainly have got that instead, but I do hate leaving a story unfinished, so I may read this one one day. But I look forward to discovering his better works soon.

I'm still waiting for the best moment to introduce the new mug in a meeting...

Genny, I read your review of Like Water for Chocolate with interest as I have had a very tatty copy on my shelf for some time and have never felt remotely motivated to read it. Your review has confirmed my suspicions that it's not really one for me. Thank you!

Oh, and I too love that mug. I felt compelled to show the picture and your little explanation to my husband who also had a little chuckle!

A summary of the past month's reading is in order (I've not managed to do this yet this year!)

MAY READING

13 books read - a very high number for me (several were quite short, and only one longer than average, which helped).

**** Lost in a Good Book - Jasper Fforde - TIOLI off TBR pile
***1/2 Southern Discomfort - Margaret Maron - TIOLI off TBR pile
***1/2 Shooting at Loons - Margaret Maron - TIOLI birds
**** Unnatural Death - Dorothy L Sayers - TIOLI repeating vowels
*** Mr Campion's Farthing - Youngman Carter - TIOLI off TBR pile
***** Bury Your Dead - Louise Penny - TIOLI library
***** To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee - TIOLI birds
***1/2 The Deep Range - Arthur C Clarke - TIOLI library
***1/2 Andromeda Veal - Adrian Plass - TIOLI off TBR pile
**** Mr. and Mrs. God in the Creation Kitchen - Nancy Wood - TIOLI outsize books
**** Dark Fire - C J Sansom - TIOLI set in London
***1/2 The Shape of Water - Andrea Camilleri - TIOLI repeating vowels
***1/2 Like Water for Chocolate - Laura Esquivel - TIOLI Mexican author

2 library books, 1 borrowed from friend, 2 new, 8 used (from charity shops, Bookmooch, Amazon marketplace etc)
9 on TBR shelves before 2011; 4 acquired this year

Best of the Month: according to the star ratings I gave at the time (and summarising them like this makes me realise how very arbitrary that process is) Bury your Dead and To Kill a Mockingbird
Worst of the month: Mr Campion's Farthing - though it wasn't bad really, and I wonder how much I was influenced by knowing it wasn't written by Allingham herself.

Genre Summary
Nonfiction: 0!
Science Fiction: 1
Youth/Children: 1
Mystery: 7 (including 1 historical mystery)
Fantasy/mystery/comedy (how on earth do you classify Fforde!?): 1
General fiction: 2 (including one 'classic')
Christian epistolary comedy/satire: 1

Books by male authors: 6
Books by female authors: 7 (6 different authors)
Books by non UK, USA or Canadian authors: 2
Rereads - none
Books fitting TIOLI challenges - all 13

Reading plans for June:

In addition to the hopeful list of TIOLI reads at post 51, I also hope to get to:

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet (now also a TIOLI challenge contender
Mansfield Park - keeping up with the group (re)read of Austen

But I may read something else altogether from any of these!

Nice summary, Genny. You are TIOLI crazy, aren't you?! I've fallen off the TIOLI wagon, myself, so I'm impressed. And two 5-star reads in a single month is pretty good, too.

Thanks Laura, I did go a bit TIOLI crazy last month! More than usual, though I tend to alternate between fitting loads in one month and not managing any the next month.

#61 - Are you joining the group read of Thousand Autumns? I considered it, but not sure I will be ready by the 15th.

Hope you have a great month of reading in June Genny! :)

Thanks for the review of Like Water for Chocolate. Like Dee, I have a copy sat on my shelves and will no doubt read it eventually, but your review has reassured me that I don't need to rush to get to is any time soon.

#64 I hope to Janet, but I'm not very good at sticking to group read schedules, so I don't know how well I'll do. Never read any Mitchell yet so I'm keen to read it soon.

#65 Thanks Valerie; I don't know if I'll manage as many as last month, but I hope for some quality if not quantity!

#60, 66 I'm glad you found the review of Like Water helpful, Dee and Katie - but don't be put off it for ever- you might enjoy it more than I did. In any case, it is a short read. My edition has over 200 pages, but there are 5 or 6 pages taken up in each of the 12 chapters simply with recipe title, ingredients and blank pages in between, so there are probably not more than 150 pages of actual text. It's magical realism-lite not -heavy!

Very true! If I had to choose between the two, I would definitely choose quality. There is nothing worse than reading a bad book than reading A LOT of bad books. :)

Excellent list! I've pretty much decided to set aside an entire category for next year's version of the 11 in 11 challenge (12 in12??) for Viragos. There are so many wonderful, little known authors there -- some of whom have been residing on my shelves since the 1980s...

And there's also a lovely VMC group. I know, more to keep up with but the VMC group is as manageable as following just one busy thread here.

More than usual, though I tend to alternate between fitting loads in one month and not managing any the next month.

Ha! I just got through saying almost the same thing, while I was chatting to Stasia. :)

>69 Chatterbox:: Oh! Very glad to see another Virago aficionado. And I second elkiedee's invitation to join the VMC group. We're a kind and friendly bunch.

#69, 70, 72 Yes, hooray for Viragos. And I have joined the VMC group, though only recently. I've also had some copies since the 1980s, some read, some still unread, and I've yet to read any of my recent purchases, but am now shelving them all together in a nice green row, and hope to tackle one of them soon.

#71 I'm glad I'm not the only one! There's only so much being organised and planning ahead that I can manage!

>73 gennyt:: some still unread, and I've yet to read any of my recent purchases... Me too, but I'm getting pretty good at ignoring that. I just like to shelve them in nice green rows, then stand back and admire. I read about 1 VMC a month, and I'm perfectly OK with that!

My goal for the summer is to lure my 18yo daughter over to the green shelves. She likes historical novels about women, and English lit in particular. My only concern is that she will not re-shelve the books properly :)

#74 One a month sounds about right, if I concentrate on it. I will need to go through my general A-Z fiction shelves to remove existing VMCs to add to the new shelf next - I've got quite a few lurking there.

I'm sure you'll manage to train your daughter re shelving, sounds as though she has the right kind of interests to start with...

>67 gennyt:: I never really fancied Water for Chocolate anyway and your review has confirmed that it's not my sort of thing. I think it was recommended by a friend of mine who owns a restaurant and is much more into foodie-lit than me!

>74 lauralkeet:: Laura, I was around your daughter's age when I started reading Viragos and one of my first favourites was Olivia Manning's The Doves of Venus. It's not a historical novel but it does have a certain "vintage" charm. I know it's considered one of her lesser novels and I haven't read it recently so not sure what I would think now but reading it in my late teens, I loved it!

Another new book arrived in the post today - an old 1960s green penguin edition (I obviously have something about green books) of Lord Peter Views the Body, to add to my collection that I'm slowly reading through. This one is short stories, but next in sequence to read as far as Lord Peter is concerned though I'n not sure if all stories involve him.

#77: Congrats on that one! I do not think I have ever read those short stories before. Maybe this year?. . .

#58 Nice review of Like Water for Chocolate. Given the mixed reviews I've seen and the fact that it has magical realism, I think I'm probably safe in not adding that one to my wishlist.

#61 "Fantasy/mystery/comedy (how on earth do you classify Fforde!?)" - I've never been able to figure it out and neither have any of the bookshops I've looked for his books in. They're always in a different place!

#77 Glad you got another green cover to add to your collection :-) I just read that one and I'm pretty sure all the stories involve Lord Peter. I found a handy website where someone had set out where each short story fits chronologically in Lord Peter's life. I seem to be on a Lord Peter streak and having just finished Strong Poison, I'm very tempted to launch straight into Five Red Herrings.

Genny, that was a very nice summary of your May reading.

I must get to that Margaret Maron series sometime. (I read one from the middle of the series some years ago.) Someone just donated the first in that series to our library, so I can go back and start at the beginning.

Never mind my aversion to short stories; that doesn't apply when it comes to Lord Peter. THANK YOU for that very handy website, Heather!
And, Terri, it's great to see you and to think that you may read Margaret Maron, another favorite. If you're not impressed with Bootlegger's Daughter (very much a set-up of the series), do at least read Southern Discomfort. I like it better than Genny does!

#78 Thanks Stasia.

#79 Yes, adding my thanks too, Heather for that website. I've added your post to my 'favourites' so I can find it again (except that they seem to have made favourite messages harder to find currently with the Talk changes).

I may read those short stories next before going on to The Unpleasantness.

#80, 81 Terri, nice to see you. Do try the first couple of Margaret Marons; I think it may have been Peggy who first recommended them to me too. I certainly enjoyed the first enough to seek out the next few, and read the second and third straight after each other, and have a couple more lined up. My ratings are perhaps not quite a fair indication of what I thought - I do find it hard to have any consistent way of awarding stars. I think the writing is unremarkable (as in, nothing flashy, but nothing irritating either, so it does not get in the way of telling the story) and I like the central character. The setting is for me alien in almost every way, both geographically and culturally, and the idea of having large numbers of siblings living nearby and living in a community where everyone knows all of your business is so different from my experience that I find it fascinating. The only thing I can directly relate to personally is the main character being a female professional in a world that is still pretty male-dominated.

Book no. 50: Guards! Guards! - Terry Pratchett



Acquired: second-hand bookshop, Sheffield, May 2011
Why read now: next in series, fits TIOLI challenge for title with '!'

It took me a week to finish this - not because it is hard-going or because I was not enjoying it, but because I have had several very busy days at work which have left me too tired for much reading.

The odd thing is, I can't remember whether I have read this one of Pratchett's Discworld series before, or not (it would have been about 20 years ago if so)! I heard a radio adaptation a few months ago, and it did not ring any bells then. But certain elements seem very familiar when reading it.

The disreputable and practically-redundant Night Watch of the City of Ankh-Morpork receives a keen new recruit in the form of the dwarf-raised six-foot-six Carrot (who has a naive and unstoppable belief in following the rule of the law and an inability to recognise metaphor), about the same time as an apparently impossible dragon begins terrorising the city. Whose evil mind is manipulating the dragon? What will happen when the dragon starts manipulating in its turn? Who has been stealing books from the Unseen University Library? Will Captain Vimes remain sober long enough to solve these and other burning questions, lead his ramshackle team to rescue the city, and cope with the unexpected and overpowering advances made by swamp-dragon-breeding Lady Ramkin? This is Pratchett's take on a police-procedural, and very funny it is too.

I remembered Carrot, but not much about the dragon and the rest of the plot, oddly. Maybe I am remembering Carrot from later books featuring the Watch, but I thought I remembered the bit about his first arrival in the city, and the consternation caused by him actually arresting the head of the Thief's Guild and other unwise interventions in the normal workings of Ankh-Morpork's underworld. I love the contrast between his naive yet oddly successful approach and the cynical streetwise attitudes of the rest of Watch (and the positive impact they have on each other). It reminded me a bit of the relationship between the Mounty Benton Fraser and the Chicago cop Ray Vecchio in the TV series Due South, one of my favourite shows.

This book also features the Librarian quite a bit, another of my favourite characters (apparently able to continue in his role quite happily despite being turned into an orangutan earlier in the series). And there are some great silly/serious reflections on the nature of libraries and books tucked in here.

"Knowledge equals power...

People were stupid, sometimes. They thought the Library was a dangerous place because of all the magical books, which was true enough, but what made it really one of the most dangerous places there could ever be was the simple fact that it was a library."

"Books bend space and time. One reason the owners of those ... little rambling, poky second-hand bookshops always seem slightly unearthly is that many of them really are, having strayed into this world after taking a wrong turning in their own bookshops in worlds where it is considered commendable business practice to wear carpet slippers all the time and open your shop only when you feel like it. You stray into L-space at your peril."

Great fun, and Pratchett has really got into his stride in the series with this one. I've given it 4.5 stars.

I've now started reading Remnant Population, also Pies and Prejudice for my non-fiction challenge, though have not got very far with the latter so far. I've also managed to acquire a few more books already, which I'll report on soon - I need to tidy up before hosting a meeting next.

Guards! Guards! was one of my first Pratchetts and the one that really got me hooked on him--I still love it!

I hope you enjoy Remnant Population, Genny. I love Ofelia!

I'm suffering from my second really bad cold in as many weeks. Could barely sleep last night because of stuffed up nose, and I've not been able to think/work/do anything much this evening with painfully congested sinuses and head like cotton wool. I don't know whether going to bed and trying to distract myself with reading more of Ofelia's adventures will help, but I'm going to try - accompanied by a nightcap of whisky mac, I think, and some more de-congestants and painkillers. Summer colds seem worse than winter ones, somehow!

Oh, I HATE colds when you can't breathe and then you can't sleep so you feel three times as bad!! Hope you get over it soon.

Sorry to hear about the cold Genny! I can handle quite a bit of discomfort but I am an absolute BABY when it comes to sinus or cold infection. I just can't handle a congested nose because I can't fall asleep if I can't breathe through my nose, so I feel your pain. Hope you feel better soon!

Guards! Guards! is one of my favourite Pratchetts, too.

Hope the cold is soon better.

Thank you, well wishers for the cold - I am still feeling completely wretched after getting very little sleep last night, and running out of boxes of tissues in the house today!

Glad to see fellow Pratchett fans and Guards! enthusiasts. Looking forward to Moving Pictures next, which I'm pretty sure I have not read. But that will have to wait till next month I think - I'm trying not to rush through too quickly, especially as I have lots of other books and series to be getting on with.

I'm about half way through Remnant Population now, between sneezes, and enjoying it.

If there's anything worse than having a bad cold, it's having a bad cold and running out of tissues. Hope you've managed to stock up with tissues/vick/menthol/olbas oil/sudofed/chicken soup/whatever works for you - and that you start to feel better soon.

I will be interested to hear your final thoughts on Remnant Population. I thought I'd like to read it after reading Peggy's review but was less sure after reading someone elses. I'm assuming (and probably should really know) that it's a group read somewhere!

Sorry to hear the cold is hanging on, Genny! I hope it goes away soon.

Hi Genny - hope your cold is better. I'm enjoying dipping into Just my type, not a book I could read all at once but a chapter every second day is quite enjoyable.

Genny - 2nd cold in two weeks!! Are you sure it's not allergies instead? Whatever it is, I hope it goes away soon so you can continue reading all those great books on the TBR pile.

It's definitely not allergies - I have none of the itchy eye/back of throat symptoms of hayfever, and all of the stuffed nose/infected sinuses and feverish feeling of a bad cold. Grrrr.

I have absolutely no will-power - I've proved it yet again. Popped into my local Oxfam shop telling myself I was only looking to see if they had any Viragos. They didn't, so I came away with 5 other books instead, and one more from the neighbouring charity shop. I have still to enter the books I bought on my day off last week. Considering I've only managed to finish reading one book so far this month, the ratio of books bought to books read will be horrendous.

Off to rustle up a late lunch and sit down to do some actual reading!

#96: the ratio of books bought to books read will be horrendous.

Ah, well. They were bought for a good cause!

#97 True, I don't mind giving the money to Oxfam! (Just posted on your thread as you posted here... we mid meet in mid-air!)

Not only were they for a good cause, but they made you happy in spite of the cold, and they'll make you happy again (I hope) when you read them and when you look at them. That said, I am not looking at my ratio of books bought to books read or books unread in the house to books read. I do feel your pain!

#99 Also true, Peggy.

Somehow, I have managed not to read anything all day apart from posts on here - perhaps just feeling too bunged up and uncomfortable to settle down with a book properly. I hope this phase passes soon - although it has been fun catching up a bit on a number of threads.

You know I realize that most book lovers have a serious case of denial syndrome. We always say we are just going to go in and take a "look" or just "browse" around but of course we always end up coming out with 1 book if we are lucky, but it usually ends up being an armful. :) I am so guilty of that that my husband just gives me that look that says..as if you aren't getting anything..hehe

#101 You are right about that! Not having a Significant Other to notice or comment on my behaviour re book buying, I feel compelled these days to use my thread as a confessional - knowing I will receive ready absolution from fellow addicts!

>102 gennyt:: we absolve you of your "sins," Genny!!

Genny
I hope you are feeling better.

You are literally preaching to the choir when you confess book addiction. I vow to read my own books and then because I have an extreme love of libraries, stroll down the aisles and pick and choose and wham, before I know it, I've checked out ten-twelve books to take home.

Hugs to you gentle one!

Woke this morning with only 1 nostril blocked. That's progress!

#105: Woot!

Hi, Genny, I hope you are feeling better. Just wanted to say how much I enjoyed reading your post on Cushla's old thread about Dawkins, and about your own spiritual journey. She set up a new thread before I could reply there. I'd love to hear what you think about his book if you do read it.

Thanks Janet. I really must read it, I guess. I think I've been avoiding it if anything because there has been so much hot air about it one way or another. And because I have many interesting sounding books about religion/theology/church already waiting, unread, in my study, which I buy but then don't make time to read during work time. And as previously discussed, when reading to relax I read mainly fiction.

It would be a perfectly legitimate use of my work time to read Dawkins as much as any of the unread books already in my study, but I mostly seem to be overwhelmed with admin or pressing pastoral matters, and am not good at forcing myself to set aside the important and necessary time for reading and reflection as part of my daily/weekly work routine.

It would be great if gentle nudges from the LT community could help me achieve what my own lack of self-discipline cannot. I can't promise to get to it this month (which seems to be a very slow reading month for me anyway), but I will try to do so before the end of the summer!

Genny, goodnews about the other nostril! and here's another gentle nudge - I really would love to hear what you think of it - but only if it's not going to add to your stress levels. Your job sounds relentless sometimes.

Janet it was bad timing on switching threads, sorry. The conversation's moved on to horse meat. I would love any recs of books that put the liberal Anglican case - I really enjoyed John Spong's Here I Stand. I have quite a few close friends who are members of a very liberal Anglican parish at home, and wouldn't rule out that I end up there one day either. I saw Karen Armstrong's Bible history book in the library this morning and nearly got it out but was rationing myself to 1 book.

So are you going to tell us what the 5 books were?!

Good deal!
I'm not implying that this is your case, dear Genny, but I do know about trying to water a desert from a pipe rather than a deep well. (That's a belittling of an idea of Bernard of Clairveaux, I think.) In fact, you do seem to be able to keep yourself refreshed, and that's good all around!

#109 I've switched nostrils now, and head is very achy, but surely this can't go on much longer?! Meant to be working on getting stuff ready for tomorrow but I'm procrastinating as usual on a Saturday (or indeed most of the week!).

I remember the delight I felt in my early 20s when I discovered there was more to Christian theology than the rather narrow/shallow forms of it I'd hitherto encountered. I remember searching my local public library for books on religion and finding among the very eclectic mix there some interesting works of Christian and post-Christian feminism which opened fascinating new areas for me. I also discovered lots of accessible but thoughtful non-specialist theology books published by Darton Longman and Todd in particular - I've just had a look at their website to see what kind of thing they are currently publishing and found this blurb describing one of their latest books (The Body of Christ by Sebastian Moore) - no touchstone yet:

In a world that is always online and in touch, relationships seem to be breaking down all around us. We need real connection to each other more than ever, and yet it’s even further out of reach. How is it possible to remain full of hope when church and society seem to have lost it? How to find a stable centre within ourselves, and still be part of a meaningful, loving community? ... Sharing food creates community as nothing else can. Jesus shared food with friends in the family tradition, but he was doing something much more radical. He was creating a table at which everyone was welcome; the people on the social, sexual and economic margins were his chosen family and closest friends. Yet his death blew that apart. ...

Don't know if the book is any good, but it sounds likethe kind of thing that got me more interested 25 years ago and wanting to explore further. I will give a bit of thought to listing some of the books/authors I would recommend - as well as trying to get on and read some of the many unread ones that may or may not be worth recommending also!

I'm about to go and list not just the most recent 5, but all the books acquired in the past 2 weeks - but first I have to add them to the catalogue.

#110 Peggy, I'm not sure where the well/pipe image first came from, but I do know the danger of letting the well run dry, and fear I get too close to it too often. I know I don't do enough 'spiritual' reading really, or I certainly feel I could benefit from more, but I believe the saving grace is that all reading is potentially grist to the mill (to switch metaphors) as one engages with the world and human experience and finds much food for thought in different ways. And certainly much refreshment!

On my tax return I can claim as part of working expenses for books purchased to aid in the writing of sermons. I have tended only to include theological books in that category, but each year I say to myself that nearly all the books I buy could count - and the DVDs and music too for that matter!

Ok. Confession time Part I. Books bought/acquired in June up to last weekend:

Lord Peter Views the Body - Sayers (ebay) - short stories, next in series
Ordinary Thunderstorms - William Boyd (ebay) - for RL book group read in July
Newcastle: a short history and guide - Frank Graham (eBay)

From market bookstall a week ago Friday, £1 each
The Time Traveler's wife - Audrey Niffenegger
Our Spoons came from Woolworths - Barbara Comyns (a VMC)
Thirteen moons - Charles Frazier

From vast selection at neighbouring church Summer Fete last Saturday,while sheltering from rain! (8 books for £5)
The life and death of Mary Wollstonecraft - Claire Tomalin - to add to my collection of interesting unread biographies!
The hungry tide - Amitav Ghosh - I enjoyed The Glass Palace and have had Sea of Poppies out from the library forever...
Brooklyn - Colm Toibin - keep hearing about it on here
Life Class - Pat Barker - haven't read any of hers for ages
Frequent Hearses - Edmund Crispin - nice Penguin Classic Crime edition to match others
Eats, shoots and leaves - Lynne Truss - can't believe I've never read this
Diary of an ordinary woman - Margaret Forster - read a n-f book of hers last year, never tried her novels, which this is despite title
In the kitchen - Monica Ali - I enjoyed Brick Lane, so...

Oh yes, and:
Arrived in the post on Thursday - a gift from my mum who has just read it
The hare with amber eyes - Edmund de Waal - I'd never have expected my mum to read or enjoy this but she did. How one's parents can continue to surprise even when you think you know them so well!

>111 gennyt:: I'd love to be able to get credit for books bought on my tax return. I'll have to check with my CPA (my husband) to see if that's possible. Since I don't have a paying job, I think I know the answer.

>112 gennyt:: This is for one week then? Good going, Genny. I'm planning to read Brooklyn for TIOLI this month. I've heard good things about it here, too.

I hope the cold ups and leaves you as quickly as it came on. Wouldn't it be great to be able to breathe through both nostrils?

#113 This is for one week then? Yes, and I've only finished reading one book in that time. A ratio of bought to read which is not ultimately sustainable...

Looking forward to getting both nostrils back, indeed. Currently both are half blocked, so still only 50% functionality!

>112 gennyt:: Well, I think you can justify the summer fete purchases because a) for ecumenical reasons it was advisable to support another church's efforts, and b) it was raining and you had to do something to keep yourself occupied. :)

I've been absent from your thread Genny, so sorry to hear about your nasty cold.

#111 I've enjoyed the Darton, Longman and Todd books I have read (mainly by Henri Nouwen) and like the look of many others written by a variety of authors that have been languishing on my shelves or wishlist for years... The Sebastian Moore book sounds very interesting as does his earlier book The Contagion of Jesus.

#112 I'm afraid rather than calling you to account I can only drool over such a great list of books. I really enjoyed Claire Tomalin's biography of Jane Austen and have since been on the lookout for all her other biographies. And The Hare with Amber Eyes is one I have been eyeing on amazon for some time because the library reservation lists are the longest I've seen since Wolf Hall.

So will confession time part 2 be the books acquired since last weekend?

Given your cold, I should think those bought while sheltering from the rain can be reclassified as preventatives against pneumonia, rather than books. ;)

I hope you enjoy Lord Peter Views the Body - I thought there were some wonderful stories in there, especially the two about eccentric wills and the one about the antique book.

#115 Yes indeed Laura! I was actually participating in a pilgrimage drawing together members of the local churches in the Deanery, which ended up at this particular church and was due to finish at 4pm with Songs of Praise with the Bishop. But we got there early and had about an hour and a half to hang around getting cold. I thought I was safe as I could see no book stalls outside on the green, but when I went into the hall to get a cup of tea and get out of the drizzle, I found a whole room set aside for the books... After I'd bought my 8 they started selling them off at half price, and I nearly went back for more, but I was on foot and could not carry anything else!

#116 Sorry to make you drool, Heather... I haven't read any of Tomalin's biographies yet, but I know they are very well thought of. I think the Wollstonecraft was her first. This is a revised edition. As for The Hare, if you want to read it sooner without buying a copy, I can lend you this one - you are likely to get it read faster than I am!

Nouwen is a favourite of mine too - it's been too long since I read one of his books. I had a look at the 'About Us' page on DLT's website, and I liked this statement, which rings true to the kinds of books I've known them to publish over the years:

DLT is not a Catholic publisher or a Protestant publisher or an Anglican publisher. We don’t think of ourselves as traditional or progressive, conservative or liberal. Our books come from many different backgrounds and traditions, but they all share a relish for opening up argument and debate, a realisation that all are invited to celebrate the things of God, and a desire to reach people and to learn from them, not to exclude them. At DLT, we’re always looking for writers with freshness, inquisitiveness, faithfulness and passion. The world is fragile. And it is impossible to understand the world if you do not understand religion. DLT books will not tell you what to think. But they might change the way you see the world, and they might even change the way you live.

#117 Yes indeed Caty! I gave in again yesterday when walking past the local Oxfam shop. Just checking for Viragos... Somehow bought some other things since there were no VMCs.

I like the idea of books as pneumonia-preventers. As long as I don't have to use them as umbrellas and have them go soggy on me...

Looking forward to Lord Peter views, when I can get on with some reading for a change.

Right, I'm closing down the LT tabs on my browser now, as I really MUST MUST MUST start getting various things ready for tomorrow morning else I'll be up all night. Will catch up again with everyone tomorrow some time.

#111: I believe the saving grace is that all reading is potentially grist to the mill (to switch metaphors) as one engages with the world and human experience and finds much food for thought in different ways.

Yes!!

Hope today goes ok Genny. It's very kind of you to offer to lend me The Hare but there's nothing really stopping me from buying it except the long list of books I've bought this year and not read yet and the knowledge that if I did buy it, I probably wouldn't read it straight away...

Hi Genny. Hope the cold is a bit better today, and that your Sunday service(s) went well despite the cold and the procrastination!

#121, 122 - Thanks, today has gone well, but heaving a big sigh of relief at the end of it, and about to go and get some supper and put my feet up.

Today is the feast of Pentecost, which meant a special morning service at which I was preaching (and also leading the 8 am service which means being in church at 7.15am to set up). But in addition to that, we had a meeting for the whole congregation about plans for our 125th anniversary celebrations next year. It was a leaflet for that meeting which I was putting off completing yesterday; in fact I finished it at 7 am this morning, and printed out 100 copies between the 8 am and the 9.30 services.

The meeting went well, lots of creative ideas for a period of celebration next year which will involve the wider community, former members, those interested in the history and architecture of the building, local schools, community groups and users of our church hall, and will include a series of concerts, a flower and art festival, a time capsule, some special services and pilgrimages and study days and lectures, some Olympics-related events - all around a theme of diversity and unity.

Thankfully it was one of my colleagues, not me, who was leading a baptism service this afternoon with 5 families. Instead I fell asleep and missed going to our local hospice for a simple service there. But I did wake up in time to participate in another special service to launch a week of activity in our church where local schools are sending classes for a session or two each day. They'll be exploring aspects of the story of Moses with workshops, songs, craft activities etc. I have not been involved in the planning of this at all, but had to be there to encourage the team at the start, and am looking forward to seeing it all in action tomorrow morning. The church is transformed: the Scouts have built Mount Sinai at the front of the South Aisle, and Pharaoh's throne is up at the East end, while the font has become the well at Midian where Moses will stand up to the bullying shepherds who are stopping Jethro's daughters fetching water. I also spotted a burning bush and a golden calf in apparently random locations. And there seem to be a lot of frogs everywhere...

Interesting coincidence - my mum gave me her copy of The Hare With Amber Eyes as she'd somehow acquired 2 of them.

#121 Well if you want to feel belatedly good about not adding to the list of books bought, the offer still stands!
#124 That is an odd coincidence! Is it the sort of thing your mother usually reads? Does she often give you books? Mine does rarely, and the last novel she gave me was I think the then latest Iain Banks - she had noticed that I had a number of his on my shelves.

I'm enjoying one of my non-fiction reads currently: Just my Type, about fonts, their designers and their usage. Different views about whether typefaces/fonts should be 'invisible' ie not draw attention to themselves at all but simply let the text speak, or how much the design of the font itself is important in colouring the text. The author has not made this point yet, but it reminded me of different approaches in writing style, with some favouring a plain, unobtrusive style that simply gets the story told, while others use language that draws attention to itself rather more.

My mum reads all sorts of things - she and her husband love books but they're better at not hoarding than me. The Hare With Amber Eyes has a strong historical content. I lend her some of my review books if I think they're the sort of thing she'd like (and at the moment, if there's not too much about major surgery and/or cancer - if she wants to read it, I'm sure she will but I prefer to be cautious about recommendations - I'm a bit wary of death and disease in fiction myself at the moment - I will buy books if they're the sort of thing I like but they might stay unread for a while.)

#127 I think of my mum as reading mostly Catherine Cookson type books, family sagas with a fairly recent historical setting, but she clearly branches beyond that from time to time at least. She buys and sells a lot at car boot sales, and her bedroom is piled so high with stuff from sales, including piles of paperbacks, you can hardly see the bed. I tried to get her onto Bookmooch but I don't think she's got the hang of it yet.

I have to finish some work tasks, do some washing and packing, and get ready for going on a conference in Edinburgh tomorrow. I'll be away until Thursday evening. I won't take the laptop, so will only have LT access via my phone which is a bit limited (can read posts but it's fiddly to enter much). I hope to get some reading done at least on the train there and back (I've opted to go by train rather than in the coach laid on as I hate coach travel, makes me queasy and I can't read).

So, as always, the big decision is what book(s) to take with me? There won't be much time for reading during the conference programme, but I still will want a choice of reading matter for those late night/early morning moments, and for the journey. I just finished Remnant Population a couple of days ago, and have got into Just My Type as mentioned above, but that's a hardback and I'd rather not carry it on a journey. Perhaps I should concentrate on Sea of Poppies which is one of my TIOLI challenge books, and it's a library book which I've had out longer than I can remember so it's high time I finished it.

So the remains of my purchasing confessions will have to wait until I get back, also my comments on Remnant Population.

#123 I would love to see photos (if there are any) of your church decorated for the school sessions!

#126 I've had my eye on Just my Type for a while and my husband would love it as he does a lot of editing for his job and can get a bit obsessed with fonts. Perhaps I could buy it for him (and then it wouldn't count as a book bought for me!)

Hope your conference goes well and you get some good reading done.

Happy Conference for sure!!! And congratulations on some wonderful acquisitions. I'm very happy that you're reading Sea of Poppies....and now I have to check to see whether/when the sequel is out. I loved it, and I didn't have a glossary for the pidgin English either. I'm also waiting eagerly for your comments on Ofelia in *RP*. And I'm an old Crispin fan and also a lover of Brooklyn. AND I had thought of some way to tie together the metaphors in re grist and well/fountain --- probably that the mill might very well be run by water power, but I'll let it go having said that much.
Hope you're feeling 100% so that you can enjoy your time in Edinburgh!

ETA: The next Ibis novel is River of Smoke, coming out in September!

Oo, I liked Sea of Poppies a lot. I hope you do too, Genny!

I hope the cold has left you for good by now!

I've had Sea of Poppies on my wishlist for ages. All this enthusiasm for it is making me think I should get it out of the library and read it...

Cold still hanging on but not so bad now, and I'm on the train and on my way!

Well, I am glad to hear that there is at least some improvement on the cold front!

It's a while since I've checked into my own thread so I'll just give a little update.

I got back from the conference in Edinburgh about 10 days ago and have been both very busy and very tired since then. Haven't finished adding my account of books purchased this month, or added any reviews recently, so here's a brief summary of the reading at least:

During the last couple of weeks I've managed to finish Sea of Poppies, which I really enjoyed - loved all the melting pot of languages especially. The next volume is already out in the UK Peggy: I've reserved it at the library and it's now waiting for me to collect it!

Since then I've also read Pies and Prejudice - a book about the North of England and about the North South divide by an English comedian and broadcaster (who is a northerner). As a southerner living in the north, I found this interesting, sometimes irritating, and it did give me a couple of ideas for places to visit on holiday.

I've started reading The thousand autumns of Jacob de Zoet and loving it, but it is so beautifully and densely written it is taking a while and I doubt I'll finish it before the end of the month. In between I've completed a quick mystery read: A dedicated man, second in Peter Robinson's series about detective Alan Banks - nothing particularly remarkable but some north-south observations which followed well from the Maconie read.

And currently I'm being distracted by heavy summer thunderstorm, while last night it was three baby hedgehogs in the garden. Here's one of them:

so cuuuuuuute! I love hedgehogs!!

Oh, how very adorable! I know so little re. hedgehogs and now I want to know more.

Oh I adore hedgehogs!!

They were doing the classic thing of rolling themselves into little prickly balls when I (and especially when my dog Ty) tried to approach them last night. I saw just one at first, looking like an abandoned scrubbing brush at the corner of the lawn. When I went out to have a closer look, I noticed another making its way slowly from under the hedge, and then a third creeping along by the blackberry bushes. I assume they were young ones - I can't quite remember how large an adult is, but they looked quite small, only about 15 cm long when uncurled, and with three of them together I imagine they were fairly young ones out for an explore together away from their nest.

I've just gone and looked them up myself, here, and as it says they usually produce litters in May/June, and the adults are about 20-30 cm long, I think I'm right to assume those were young ones.

And for those who love hedgehogs and books, the classic work of course is Mrs Tiggywinkle.

Don't think I've ever seen a real hedgehog, but Beatrice Potter's "Mrs. Tiggy Winkle" is still one of my 40 year old daughter's favorite memories of our reading together.

And then there's Tiggywinkles Wildlife Hospital, caring for sick and injured hedgehogs !

I looked and looked for a hedgehog the two visits we made to England when my daughter and her husband lived there almost a decade ago. I wish I had known to look for an "abandoned scrubbing brush"! Loved Mrs. Tiggy Winkle! That seems like the perfect name for a hedgehog.

Thanks for sharing the picture, Genny. It made me smile.

Oh, that really is a very cute hedgehog.

Must get round to finishing Jacob de Zoet, and starting Sea of Poppies.

Hope you soon manage to find some time to relax.

I'm glad the hedgehogs have brought a smile to so many faces! I was very excited to see them - they can be quite common visitors to suburban gardens but I've only seen the odd one at a distance before in this garden, certainly not three at once!

Having reminded myself of Mrs Tiggy Winkle, I've also now gone and bid for several Beatrix Potter story books, including that one, on Ebay, since while I read them all in childhood I don't have any copies of my own, and they are such lovely little books, with Potter's own exquisite illustrations (and very fine use of language).

>145 gennyt:: when my firstborn was a baby I bought a set of the little story books and I'm so glad I did! They are mine, mine, mine and she's not allowed to take them with her when she moves away. :)

I didn't realize that I've never seen a hedgehog before! What a charming little animal - at least on the screen!!! Thank you, Genny. And I am envious of your reading River of Smoke which isn't out here until September. I'll keep an eye out for imported, used copies before that. I hope it's at least as good as *Poppies* and trust you to let us know!!!
I'll be glad to hear that you've got your energy back. Take care and do it!

Hi, Genny! The hedgehog photo is great!

Add me to the "love hedgehogs" gang! And I also love the eclectic book selection in part I of Genny's confessions!!!
I have to confess that I found a box of books put out for people to pick through on a local stoop (reasonably common in my 'hood) and found it full of classic mysteries, including several hardcover PD James books. I picked up five paperbacks, Michael Innes, et al. All FREE!!! (Compensates for the two books I added to my Kindle...)

I'm catching up at last Genny and loved the hedgehog picture and stories. We have a big Beatrix Potter treasury and I really love it - the pictures are so lovely, even if I have to look up funny words (like "tucker" from either Two Bad Mice - our favourite at the moment - or Tom Kitten.) I hope you win the ebay auction!

#150 I've won two so far: The Tale of Mr Tod and The Tailor of Gloucester, and was pipped at the post for another (The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies). I've another 7 awaiting the end of auction. I can see that I won't rest happy now until I've collected them all (I think there are 23 of them?).

#149 I think eclectic book selections applies to most of us on here - that's what's such fun in reading each other's threads and seeing who else shares our weird combinations of reading interests, and finding new things to explore also... My confessions are no-where near finished yet, and more books keep entering the house so I'd better get on with them soon.

#148 Hi Terry, I'm glad you like the photo!

#147 They are charming, Peggy - though rumoured to harbour fleas. Gardeners are fond of them because they tend to eat slugs and other garden pests.

Sadly, at least one of my visiting baby hoglets (that is apparently the name for the juveniles), has already lost the battle for survival. I was excited though surprised to see a little rounded brown shape in the middle of my front lawn yesterday afternoon - surprised because they don't normally come out in broad daylight. When I went for a closer look, I found it was a stiff little body lying on its side, probably the victim of a magpie (magpies are glossy and beautiful in their black and white plumage, but dreadful scavengers) or the occasional urban fox that I've seen loping through the garden at night. I hope the other two have survived and are learning how to keep hidden and safe.

#146 I don't blame you Laura! I think my parents must have had the same attitude to the copies I read when growing up - I think I've seen them still on my mother's shelves.

I'm making good progress with Jacob de Zoet and may after all finish it by the end of tomorrow, which means I can count it for the TIOLI challenge. I'm into part 3 and wondering how it will all end, and finding it a fascinating window into a time and culture I know little about.

I love hedgehogs. We used to see them often (sadly, sometimes flattened on the road), but I haven't seen one in our area (best described as inner suburban) for years - yet another species in decline in the city, like sparrows, I fear.

#153 Yes, now you mention it I'm sure I've seen more of them squashed flat on the roads in the past than alive. If they are on decline in suburban gardens, it must be because people are being too tidy, or filling their gardens with patio, paving or decking rather than planting and wild areas where they can hide and forage.

My local library sends out a monthly email newsletter. In the latest one they reported on an event celebrating the language and dialect of the North East of England. Part of this was inviting people to submit their favourite Geordie word; these have been turned into a word cloud which looks like this:



The library website gives definitions of the 20 most popular words, which are the largest ones in the image. I am pleased to see that, despite being an incoming southerner, I'm now familiar with all of these top 20. But there are quite a few of the others which I don't know, as well as a few (like 'gob') that I would not have thought of as specifically Geordie, unless they have a particular meaning here different to elsewhere. I just looked up 'bullet', which apparently means a sweet (candy).

genny...for us uneducated Yanks, was is the meaning of "Geordie"? the word cloud is mystifying to me tho...I think I could only guess at about five words on there.

#156 - Sorry, should have explained that. It's the nickname used locally and through the UK for people who come from the North East of England, or more specifically from Newcastle upon Tyne and other parts of Tyneside; also therefore the name of the local dialect and the distinctive local accent.

Ooh, Genny, I might have a few spare Beatrix Potters you could have, as I started collecting them for Danny, (before Conor) and then The Book People offered the set for £30 for all 23 or something.

#158 Thanks Luci - do let me know which ones you have spare when you have a chance, and I'll avoid bidding for those on eBay if I haven't already started!

Hey Genny! Trying to catch up on everyone's thread after a couple of days away from LT. I feel like I've done a marathon and I'm not even half way done all the threads yet... :)

#160 Hey Valerie, thanks for visiting!

Recovering from another busy weekend. Yesterday was actually a very moving day - a dear friend of mine was being ordained priest in our local cathedral, and I was able to attend the service, the official parish lunch afterwards, and the informal friends and family gathering back at the house later on. I've known Michelle since just before I was ordained myself, 15 years ago. At that point I met her because she was (and still is) married to my 'training incumbent', ie the more experienced parish priest with whom I was about to start working for an 'apprenticeship' period as a curate, before moving on to being responsible for my own church. I got to know Michelle very well in the five years I was with them, and became god-mother to their third child who was born in 1997; and have remained in touch while I was working in a different part of the country. Now we are living just a couple of miles from each other again, and I've had lots of conversations in recent years with Michelle as she was trying to work out where her life was going and whether to take this step.

Michelle now also has her own 'training incumbent' who is responsible for her ongoing training - but she and I continue to have conversations about our experiences in (and sometimes struggles with) church and church communities. As her gift to mark her ordination, I gave her a book: Presiding like a woman - a collection of essays, poems and other explorations of the concept of 'presiding' in worship and in other contexts, from a feminist perspective. I've bought myself a copy too, so hope we can have some good conversations about it, and maybe provoke some interesting discussions with her (male) incumbent.

I'm counting this book as one of my July TIOLI reads: read a themed anthology. I have at least made a start on this one, unlike most of my other TIOLI possible reads so far. I think I've pencilled in about 21 of them - far too many to manage in the month!

Hope to add very soon:

rest of my book acquisition confessions - the list keeps growing longer
reports on recent reading
June summary and planned TIOLI and other reads for July.

But not now - time for an earlier than usual bed, I think.

What a great experience, Genny! So, did you have such interesting dialogs with your own training incumbent??? :-)

What a good day!
Looking forward to your book stuff!!

>161 gennyt:: sounds like a wonderful day, and an excellent gift for your friend (and for you !!)

Book acquisition updates - here's a report on the other books I bought or acquired in June.

from Oxfam bookshop on my day off, 10th June
The time of the hero - Mario Vargas Llosa - I still haven't read Death in the Andes, now I can add this to the waiting list...
The time traveller's guide to medieval England - Ian Mortimer (intrigued by the title)
The Pyramid: the Kurt Wallander stories - Henning Mankell
The emigrants - W G Sebald
Austerlitz - W G Sebald

and from Scope charity shop nextdoor (cheaper prices, less good selection)
Clan of the Cave Bear - Jean M Auel

From Amazon marketplace, a nice used copy of the last book to complete my Allingham/Campion collection:
Mr Campion's falcon - P Youngman Carter

From Oxfam shop, 17th June (another day off, another visit to charity shops - just to check if they had any Viragos - and they did this time)
The enchanted April (VMC) - Elizabeth von Arnim - reading
A sudden wild magic - Diana Wynne Jones

A crop of bookmooches arrived, including some VMCs:
Poseidon's Gold - Lindsey Davis - I own some of this series and borrowed the rest when I first read them: now collecting so I can re-read as these are good comfort reads for me.
Soul Music - Terry Pratchett - one of the ones I've not yet read
The magic toyshop (VMC) Angela Carter
Rebecca (VMC) Daphne du Maurier - here's one that I'm amazed I have not read yet - now at least I own a copy so that's a start!

And from Audible.co.uk - a free download:
Go the F**k to sleep Audiobook read - a very short diversion in the middle of reading Jacob de Zoet

A bulk order of Joan Aiken titles from eBay arrived 29th June - mostly collections of short stories for younger children but also including two of her Jane Austen-inspired novels for adults.
Jane Fairfax
Eliza's daughter
The last slice of the rainbow
A bundle of nerves
The winter sleepwalker
The Jewel Seed

And finally, as mentioned above, two copies of a brand new book (from Amazon) one given as a gift to a friend:
Presiding like a woman - ed Nicola Slee reading.

This makes a total of 36 books bought/acquired during June, and a year total so far of 161.
Whereas by the end of June after a slow month, I'd only read 56 - so I have been buying books three times fast than I've been reading them this year.

I fear that July has started in similar vein, though some of the books I've been buying most recently are very tiny, so maybe they don't count?

. . . some of the books I've been buying most recently are very tiny, so maybe they don't count?

LOL, Genny!

Presiding like a Woman actually sounds interesting to me. I'm curious what the authors have to say on the subject.

#165: Great haul, Genny!

I love the hedgehog picture up thread. My daughter's first pets were hedgehogs, believe it or not. My sister raised them at one time and gave each of the girls one for their very own.

Well I haven't written a book report since 7th June, though I have been reading some...

Book no. 51 - Remnant Population - Elizabeth Moon



Acquired: Bookmooch November 2010
Why read now: fits June TIOLI - book by new-to-you author with at least 2 books on your TBR pile

An older woman decides to stay behind on a planet when the rest of the colonists are ordered to evacuate. This is the story of her encounter with herself in solitude and also with reviously unknown others, the native inhabitants.

Like most other readers, I loved the character of Ofelia, and I'm sure, as others have commented, that her appeal partly rests on the fact that that we don't very often have an old woman as the central character in any narrative, let alone within the genre of science fiction. Ofelia seems to embody 'wisdom' as opposed to 'science' - both entail knowledge but the former is humane understanding based on her experience and inquisitiveness, while the latter is portrayed as cold and inflexible, based on theory and on acquisitiveness and a desire to control. The theme of encounter with an alien race inevitably brings with it the issue of communication, and I liked the contrast between Ofelia's and the other humans' approaches to communicating with the aliens and learning/teaching each other's languages.

I wished the other human characters besides Ofelia had been given more depth and complexity, however. I think Moon is more than a little bit guilty of doing to them what they do to Ofelia and the aliens in this book, that is, not seeing them as three-dimensional beings with real depth, complexity and value. In order to make the point of how often 'little old women' are overlooked, ignored and patronised, she has made the contrast a little too black-and-white between Ofelia and the other humans, giving the latter very few redeeming qualities.

Despite those misgivings, there was so much to enjoy with Ofelia herself and her interaction with her new friends that I did enjoy the book very much and have given it 4 stars.

#162 - I did have many an interesting discussion with my training incumbent while I was training, and still do, as we see each other quite often still. He had difficulty recognising the (to me and to many) all too obvious concerns about patriarchal attitudes and behaviour in the church - but his own style of working was very collaborative and enabling, so he was not guilty of this himself.

#163 - Making a start on the book stuff, Peggy, as you can see. One down, several more to go...

#164 - Thanks Laura, it was a good day - can't believe it was a week ago already.

#166 - It is proving interesting so far... I have only read the first couple of chapters - there is a good poem at the beginning that explores the many different ways women do 'preside' at different kinds of gathering from chairing board meetings to hosting meals or conducting an operation or an orchestra, as well as presiding at the eucharist. I guess the question which the book will explore is whether women can/should do these things differently from men, or bring a new approach which epxands the repertoire for both women and men in how they conduct themselves as 'presiders' over a community or an event. I'll try to comment as I go along, as I imagine the various different authors will have very different takes on this.

#167 Pet hedgehogs must have been delightful! I'm sorry to say that two of the three I saw in my garden have definitely died; I'm hoping the third one survived and is hiding away during daylight hours as it should be.

Book no. 52 - Sea of Poppies - Amitav Ghosh



Acquired: Library book, borrowed April 2010
Why I read it now: It fit the TIOLI flowers on cover challenge, and I was embarrassed at how long I'd had this from the library!

I loved this book! Why did I delay so long in reading it? I picked it up from the library last year, because I'd very much enjoyed another book by the author, The Glass Palace, some years ago. I read a few pages back last May, but didn't continue then for some reason, and it has taken me over a year (and lots of renewals with the library) to get round to it.

Sea of Poppies is a riot of a book, immersing the reader in a melting pot of cultures, languages and characters who are brought together via many different routes, all connected in some way to the opium trade in the early nineteenth century. The poppies of the title are opium poppies (which, as the opening pages of the book make clear, are white not red like those depicted on the cover of my copy) - the crop which was grown in vast tracts of India under British rule, and processed and exported in a lucrative (for some) trade with China and other countries. The sea brings a ship - the Ibis - into Calcutta ready to play its part in that trade but destined first to transport indentured workers to Mauritius. The novel tells the story of a number of characters, from a poor widow of an opium factory worker who is seeking a new life, and a bankrupt raja, to an American sailor of mixed race who has risen to officer status. From their different starting points, the stories converge until all find themselves aboard the Ibis, as passengers, crew, prisoner or a kind of human cargo. The book ends somewhat abruptly - the story is not finished, as this is the first in a trilogy. Though I did not do this deliberately, the advantage in having waited so long to read this first book is that the second has just been published and I don't have to wait too long to find out what happened next.

The plot is engaging, if rather slow moving at first, gathering momentum as the characters gradually arrive on board the Ibis, and the satisfaction in seeing how they all come together offsets the frustration of not having the whole story wrapped up in this first volume. The background is fascinating, and it makes for some uncomfortable reading to realise how much the wealth of the British Empire was built on the opium trade and what suffering was involved.

But it is the language above all that made this such a great read. Ghosh is depicting a time and a place where many different languages and dialects meet and mingle - and we are often immersed in dialogue which conveys some of the oddness and richness of the resultant linguistic hodge-podges. There is the strange pidgin of the lascars - sailors of many races and backgrounds who have their own nautical language; and the fascinating Anglo-Indian language, full of anglicised forms of adopted words derived from one of the Indian languages, as documented in the Hobson-Jobson Dictionary. When reading these passages, you will probably not recognise a large proportion of the vocabulary. Some of it can be guessed from context, and some of the words you may not have any difficulty recognising are among the surprisingly large number of those adopted Indian words which have become fully integrated into standard English (from bungalow and calico to dinghy and shampoo, to name but a few). But many words wash over the reader in a colourful, barely understandable stream. I think it would be a mistake to painstakingly look up every unfamiliar word - even if you could find a definition for each of them - because the effect Ghosh was trying to convey - very successfully I think - is of being somewhat at sea in a confusing linguistic world and doing your best to understand enough to get by.

There is a lot of humour to be found in this medley of languages - not just in the salty richness of the unfamiliar vocabulary and alliterative expletives (think Captain Haddock in the Tintin books, with his "Billions of bilious blue blistering barnacles" and add half a dozen unfamiliar but probably very rude additional words!) - but also in the misunderstandings that frequently take place as characters only half grasp what others are saying to them. Most of the characters are hiding something, or pretending to be something they are not, and the slipperiness of language is one of the ways in which the theme of hiding and revealing is conveyed throughout the book.

I'd love to quote some passages to illustrate some of this better - but I've now returned the book to the library so I can't. But I highly recommend this book, as long as you are not someone who likes to understand every single word you encounter while reading.

4.5 stars.

Oh, I really must get around to Sea of Poppies: it's been in my TBR pile for a good 18 months.

Sad about the hedgehogs. :( Hoping that third one is safe.

Nice to have us in agreement about both Ofelia and The Ibis. I can't wait for the next one finally to get here! I read *SoP* in an edition that had no glossary, so I was awash in words even when I would have preferred to look them up. And that language business was a large part of the appeal, I think.

Dodging book bullets right and left! I have read both Remnant Population and Sea of Poppies already. Whew!

I'm mostly impressed that your library allows you to renew books so many times! My library only allows 2 renewals. Perhaps they just trust you because of your profession :)

#172 No glossary in my copy either - I don't think I'd have wanted one. But I have my copy of River of Smoke fresh from the library and ready to go!

#173 I'd better get on with some more book reports then, Stasia, to see if I can catch you with one of those...

#174 No, it seems that indefinite renewals for a month at a time are possible - unless someone else has requested it meanwhile. They've recently introduce a fee for reservation (50p, so not very much) but otherwise everything is free - we're lucky to have such a good system here.

#175: Oh I have no doubt you will catch me soon enough, Genny!

Hi There!

What a great review of Sea of Poppies. I loved your story of the ordination of a very dear friend.

All the best to you dear one!

Hi Genny! The last time I was here was after being off LT for awhile and here I am again trying to catch up on everyone's threads. :)

I've got to get to Sea of Poppies soon... I'm beginning to feel guilty!!

I'm also feeling the Sea of Poppies guilt.

Hi Genny,

I'm way behind again on your thread but wanted to say how much fun I've had looking at the list of recommended books I should borrow from your library. I've picked The Warden to read for the challenge because I can try out my kindle on my new ipad - so far, it's really good! It's the first Trollope I've read.

The good news: three parcels containing books arrived on my doormat today.

The bad news: one of them, a job lot of 4 Beatrix Potter books bought on eBay, contained the wrong edition. Now that I'm trying to collect a full set of this series, I want them in matching editions - the little hardbacks with a cover like the very first editions (these were reprinted in in 1980s/90s and are readily available). What I got was 4 slightly larger hardbacks, still with all the original drawings etc inside, but with brightly coloured covers and no jacket. Not right at all! But the stories are as delightful as ever - it has been a joy reading them as they arrive, the language is so precise and slyly funny too, and the paintings are exquisite.

From Squirrel Nutkin, here's the eponymous (and rude) Nutkin taunting Old Mr Brown - and now that red squirrels are so rare in Britain, it is all the more precious to see these images again.

Genny, please post your review of Sea of Poppies on the book page so we can give it a well-deserved thumb!

#183 Well as you ask - I hesitate to add them when there are lots already...

I got to be the first thumb! That rarely happens! Happy, happy dance :)

Hi, Genny! Thanks for stopping by my (first) thread! Cute thread you have here! And so very organized! I'll have to come back when I have more time and look around a bit more. I see you are a Potter fan too. (Beatrix, that is.) I love all her stories, but I think Mrs. Tiggywinkle is my favorite.

I've been eying Sea of Poppies for awhile now. After reading your great review, I don't want to put off reading it any longer.

Hi Genny

I'm just catching up with your thread. I was very interested to read about those popular Geordie words. In East Yorkshire, you used to hear "bonnie lass", "bairns" (and grand-bairns) and "tansad" used very regularly but it only seems to be the older people using them now.

I suppose dialects generally hold on for longer in areas where there is less geographical mobility but I wonder if social networking sites and the internet in general are making our country (and world) more homogenised?

Thanks to Caty, Peggy, Stasia, Laura, Linda, Valerie, Suzanne, Kerry, Cushla, Roni, Mary and Dee for recent visits!

The review for Sea of Poppies is now on the work page, thanks to Roni's encouragement. Those of you who have not read it yet, no reason to feel guilty, but I hope you enjoy the experience as much as I did when you get to it. I really must make a start on book 2 soon if I'm to read it before the end of the month (it fits one of the TIOLI challenges, for a book recently published).

Valerie, I am behind with almost everyone's threads too, as well as my own book reports - we all struggle don't we! Look forward to visiting yours again soon.

Cushla, I'm glad you've found something among the 'should borrow from' list. Some of the ones on there are only wishlist items for me, and some are owned but not read - but the one you've chosen, The Warden is a real favourite that I've read a couple of times. It is shorter than most Trollope, but a nice introduction to the Barchester world and if you like that there is plenty more to come! The Warden has a particular significance for me now because in my previous post I worked at a Cathedral, and indeed held the post of 'Precentor' which is Septimus Harding's role. As most of my friends and relations quite understandably had no idea what a Precentor did when I was first appointed, I was able to tell them - if they'd read The Warden at least (which sadly most of them had not) that it was sort of what Harding did. Though actually, life in a 21st century cathedral is rather different for better or worse than what Trollope depicts in the early 19th century!

(For anyone who is curious, the Precentor in a cathedral is the member of clergy who has particular responsibility for the liturgy and music. They often do most of the singing where singing is required of clergy - the name comes from Latin prae cantor - 'head cantor'. Some cathedrals also have Succentors (ie subcantors)).

#186 Mary, I'm just loving re-reading all the Potters. I'm not quite sure which my favourite is. I tend not to like the ones with human figures in as much as those with just animals. I read The Tale of Tom Kitten yesterday - that is so funny, with the pretensions of the mother cat Mrs Tabitha Twitchit to having a sophisticated and smart tea party being undermined by her playful and unruly kittens who (quite naturally) prefer not to be dressed up in clothes and kept clean and tidy.

Mrs Tabitha ... took all sorts of elegant uncomfortable clothes
out of a chest of drawers, in order to dress up her son Thomas.



Tom Kitten was very fat, and he had grown; several buttons
burst off. His mother sewed them on again.

#187 Hi Dee - I'm glad you found the Geordie words thing interesting. There would probably be quite a bit of of overlap with East Yorkshire dialect I guess. Certainly words like bonny/bonnie and lass and bairns are found generally in the north east and in Scotland too of course.

I'm sure the lack of mobility in previous generations in some areas has helped the dialects to remain strong - but yes, I wonder what effect our modern communications and networking is having on this local distinctiveness, probably is helping to erode it. But there is a lot of pride in local traditions here, and I do hear lots of younger people still using many of the dialect words here, and using the broad accent, even though they can switch in and out of it and use a more standard-sounding English when they choose.

>189 gennyt:: I'm just loving re-reading all the Potters.
For a nanosecond there I thought you meant Harry, having seen the film last night (brilliant, btw).

But I adore Beatrix as well and am enjoying the illustrations in your posts. Tom Kitten is a favorite of mine.

#191, no, not those Potters! :) But I am off to see the new film in a few hours, having gone also last night to see Deathly Hallows Part One in a special late night showing just before the new film opens. I never got to see part 1 when it came out - I think I was waiting to see it with my mother when she was staying, but she said she always goes to see them with a certain friend back home and she wasn't interested in seeing it again with me. So I went on my own last night. Could have stayed and seen Part Two immediately after in a midnight showing, but I didn't think it was wise to stay up so late and get over-tired. Hence going back tonight to see the new one. Glad to hear it is good!

I hope you enjoy HP, Genny!

My son just returned from seeing the new HP film and said it was great. Have a great time!

I am still waiting for it to come out on DVD so then I can watch both of them all at once. :)

#195: I am doing the same thing, Valerie.

#188 Genny, how cool that you were a Precentor yourself! I think I'm a new Trollope fan. I'm 40% through the Warden now (Kindle!!!) and reading it whenever I can get the ipad off my son. I bought a hard copy for $1 years ago at the annual book fair, picked it up to try a few times, but always gave up after a page or two because it seemed very dense. I'm used to the writing style now though and really love the narrator's ironic tone.

And Tom Kitten is one of our favourites too. Have you found Two Bad Mice yet? I must have read that one 30 times now.

Thanks Stasia, Michelle - I did have a good time, apart from the people rustling very loud sweet packets or something in all the quiet bits. I saw the 3D version, which probably didn't really add anything - and I don't like having to wear glasses all evening - but it was a good conclusion to the series. I've only read the last book once and can't remember enough detail to comment on how well it was adapted or any changes, but it worked well.

Valerie and Stasia - you may have a point about watching on DVD - at least then I'd be spared the popcorn crunchers! But there's something to be said for the big screen, even with distractions, and seeing parts 1 and 2 on consecutive evenings almost gave me the 'all at once' experience.

Hi Cushla, it was cool indeed (some of the time anyway). So glad you are enjoying Trollope - it does help once you 'get' someone's style I think. I really want to get round to trying some of his other books besides the Barchester ones, though I'd love to re-read all of those too...

Two Bad Mice are eluding me so far. Had a bid on eBay but someone went higher. I'm not planning to spend too much on each book, so am prepared to wait until I win one without over-bidding. I don't recall the story of that one as well as some of the others so am looking forward to re-visiting. One of the great things about all the books is the streak of mischief/ naughtiness/bad behaviour running through, without moralizing.

I've just finished another Agatha Christie last night - The Body in the Library. I'd read only one or two of hers ever before this year, though many stories seem familiar from film, TV or radio adaptations. I read this one mainly so that I can read the next in the Miss Marple series, The Moving Finger, for the TIOLI challlenge 'Read a book you should borrow from the person above you on the sign up list' - which introduced the new LT Books you should borrow feature. This was about the only book suggested from crazy4reading's library that I hadn't read already (but not yet catalogued) and already had in my TBR pile.

Now just started Purple Hibiscus for the Orange July challenge. Just a few pages read last night before I fell asleep, but so far, good.

Glad to hear that you had a good time at the movie, Genny!

Good luck on collecting the Beatrix Potter's, that's one of the things from childhood that I remember fondly ... but not enough to want to go back to them:)

Another one waiting for the Harry Potter DVDs:)

It will be interesting to see your thoughts on Purple Hibiscus.

The only HP movie I've seen is the first one - I am a bit behind!

Oh, B.P. My husband carved a wonderful little statue of Mr. Benjamin Bunny which I adore!

So much going on! So glad you enjoyed Sea of Poppies and it has definitely been bumped up on my wishlist. And glad to hear you are also enjoying your BP reread :-)

All the Trollope talk has made me download The Warden and Barchester Towers to my kindle (love the Gutenberg freebies - I must remember to make a donation at some point because they have all been well formatted so far). I read The Warden several years ago and liked but didn't love it, but I have some friends who adore Trollope and I think a reread is in order before trying Barchester Towers.

>>198 gennyt: I really like The Moving Finger. It has a couple of my favourite Christie characters and scenes in it, but I'll let you discover them for yourself. :)

Neglecting my own thread again...

I've finished Purple Hibiscus (vivid, intense, moving account of tyrannies national and domestic in Nigeria; proper review to follow I hope in due course); read a YA book - Waterbound - which takes a look at disability issues through a story set in a distopian future society, and have just finished my latest Christie - the above-mentioned The Moving Finger, a quick enjoyable read, which left me wondering what, if any, significance there is that Christie's title is a quote from a verse in the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayam: 'The Moving Finger writes, and, having writ, / moves on...'.

#199 Stasia - thanks - I hope you enjoy it too when you eventually get to see it.

# 200 Nice to see you here Calm - you may have to wait a while for any coherent thoughts on Purple Hibiscus, as I am behind with my reviews again!

# 201 - Hi Cushla! No reason why you should be ahead with them. I guess the children have been a little too young for HP - you'll probably have all that to read/watch with them in future, unless they are more into the next Big Thing whatever that may be.

#202 - When did he do that, Peggy? Is he wont to carve things, or was that a one-off?

#203 - Yes Heather, am loving re-visiting Mr Jeremy Fisher, Mrs Tittlemouse et al, and long-forgotten familiar little turns of phrase from having the books read to me, or, I suspect, from listening to a recording of some of the tales, because I can hear the exact inflection of a voice as I read the words. And the subtle complement of the illustrations is brilliant, adding a silent commentary on the text. Re Trollope, I hope you do get into The Warden more this time round, but if not, there are plenty of other things to read so you are not required to love it, or even to read it!

#204 I wonder if Megan is one of the favourite characters you refer to Liz - Christie says in a foreword that she was one of hers.

I am meant, yet again, to be spending today catching up on my finances, expenses claims and tax forms etc. I tell myself this every Friday on my day off, and each week find better, more interesting things to do (like reading more books!), so each week it all gets a bit later and the task gets bigger. Having finished one book and had a little dose of LT, it is time to at least attempt a couple of hours of this tedious task - then I can reward myself by starting another book, probably one of the Orange shortlisted ones I'm hoping to read, like The Outcast.

I'll look forward tot he review of Purple Hibiscus - I thought it was an amazing book.

I must get back to Trollope's Barchester series: I seem to have been stalled in The Small House at Allingham for ages, and I really want to get it finished and on to The Last Chronicle of Barset.

Checking in Genny! Hope things are going well. :)

Oh so many book reviews behind...

Getting ready for a wedding, and I shouldn't even be looking at LT. Hope to do some updates tomorrow. More still when the holiday starts, Thursday 4th for a fortnight.

Hooray for a holiday. Hope the wedding goes well.

Happy holiday, Genny. Will you be reading or is it a book-free vacation?

#210: Is it a vacation if you do not take books on it?

# 211 - No, indeed, that would be more like prison-camp to me, but you never know. So maybe the right question would be: "which books are you planning to read, Genny?"

#212: I am with you on the prison-camp thing, Monica. I cannot imagine going on vacation without a single book!

Hope the wedding goes well and Genny, and great that you have a holiday coming up!

Wedding went fine; couple and guest off to the reception; church all tidied up and put back to normal; lunch cooked and eaten; now I really should be getting on with a vast pile of admin which needs tackling before I can escape on holiday. There is the mountainous email backlog, the minutes that need writing and circulating, some visits to organise, various phone calls to make....

All I really want to do at this point is read another book. Of course I've got lots of reading lined up for the holiday: book-free vacation is a contradiction in terms! Especially as I'll be staying again at my favourite place, Gladstone's Library (in the north west corner of Wales, just inside the border from England, and close to Liverpool and Manchester). You've heard me talk about it before - a library that has accommodation and catering laid on, and a comfortable common room with newspapers, and other people staying there who I can talk to at meal times or over a coffee in front of the fire... And plenty of books to read, alongside any that I bring with me (and I will be bringing plenty!).

I mention a fire in the common room: my usual time for visiting the library is in October or November for a week, but it occurred to me this year that it would make sense to go in the summer when I usually have my longer holiday, because the dinner, bed and breakfast rate is very reasonable and does not increase in the high season. So I'm staying for almost a fortnight; and this time there may not be a fire to sit around - though on the other hand, if our summer continues as cold and wet and miserable as most of July has been, I'll be glad to see it.

As a concession to the fact that it's a summer holiday, I am hiring a car and will be planning a few days out, rather than staying put and reading all day every day. I plan to visit Liverpool, which I've never seen before, and maybe a drive along the North Wales coast, and searching out any National Trust or English Heritage (or Cadw, the Welsh equivalent) properties to visit - armed with book(s) in my bag of course, so I can find a nice coffee shop and sit and read as long as I like...

As for books, I had planned to take River of Smoke with me - the second in the Ibis trilogy by Amitav Ghosh - but someone has requested it at the library and it's due back on 4th August, the day before I leave. I doubt I'll have time to read that before I go, as it's a chunkster.

Other plans: well, for the August TIOLI I have lined up quite a few more than I'll actually manage, already:

-both Cloud Atlas and Catch-22 have been tagged 'weird' and so fit Challenge 1
-Sheepfarmer's daughter fits Challenge 2, pig-boy or pig-girl (a term I'd not heard before, except as applied literally to those who care for pigs)
-for Challenge 3 - Arthurian theme - I have lots of options and haven't yet decided. Maybe Peter Ackroyd's new retelling of Mallory's Morte D'Arthur. Or Mists of Avalon which I've never read. Or even the two side-by-side?
-for Challenge 4 - 3 word title with 'of' as middle word - River of Smoke if I can read it by 4th, also Arms of Nemesis and Daughter of Earth, the first of several Virago Modern Classics which will fit into 'All Virago, All August'.
-for Challenge 5, titles with a word sounding like a letter of the alphabet, I have several choices: Journey to the River Sea and The Old Man and the Sea, also O Pioneers!, another VMC.
- for Challenge 7 Unusual location - I'm still checking my TBR pile and transferring location details...
- nothing for the friend challenge yet - anyone want to read anything with me?

My own 19th century biography challenge was inspired by the fact that I am visiting Gladstone's library, so I'm hoping to read a biography about him; I hope also to read Linda Lear's recent book on Beatrix Potter, and my very first Persephone Books purchase, Flush: a Biography by Virginia Woolf, which is actually about E Barratt Browning's pet spaniel.

I've several options for Peggy's music challenge, including The earth hums in B flat and Invitation to the Waltz - another VMC. I'm sure I'll be adding a few more to the wiki in other challenges, but the ones I've mentioned amount to more than one book a day for the duration of my holiday, so I shall be kept nicely busy.

Now I really must go and work for a bit!

Wow, Genny! Vacation and books sound wonderful!!! I had never heard of Daughter of Earth, so that's another VMC to add to the list. Sheepfarmer's Daughter wasn't as good to me as the other two books in the trilogy. They both come as close to capturing the high elves as anything I've read since Tolkien. I'm not saying *SFD* bad at all!
If I can get to it, I'll join whoever else is reading The Young Romantics for your challenge. I'm looking forward to it, but I am realizing that if I'm going to do a good job on Harry Truman for my study club in October, I need to get on him. He was born in the 19th century, but I doubt I can read that McCullough bio by the end of August.
>205 gennyt: DH doesn't carve much anymore to my great regret. For a 20 year period he did lots of duck decoys and little cherry-wood bird pins that I adore and other pieces. His first was Andy Capp for one of our early anniversaries. (I was a great fan.) I also have an absolutely wonderful rather fierce Nast-type Santa with a dark green bag of 19th century toys which poke out the top.

I love Daughter of Earth - maybe I should reread it. I'm just a bit wary of committing to things at this point because I suddenly have a stack of review books to read again - I have lots of read books to review still but I had more than a week when I'd read everything that was for review, although of course we were away for a lot of that period, and I came home to 2 more review books on Tuesday.

Genny, your holiday plans sound fantastic - I hope you enjoy every minute of it!

Young Romantics is an absolutely fab biography -- I loved it...

I'd be up for a shared read, depending on what you've got to hand that you really want to read this month. I posted a few of mine, but pretty much anything I've put in my library over the last six months that hasn't been starred, is up for grabs at this point. Especially if it's a library book... the librarians are starting to look at my quizzically and ask, "you already have a number of books out, don't you?"

I hope you have a wonderful trip! Sounds like you have quite a collection of books to take along with you.

#219 Thanks for the offer of a shared read, Suzanne. I checked the books we have in common that we've not yet read, and the one that seems most apt is August Folly by Angela Thirkell. Seems especially appropriate to read it in August! I've not yet read any of hers and this is the first one I've managed to get hold of. It's not the first in the series but I get the impression that does not matter too much. I see you've read some of the Barchester Trollopes at least which give her the setting for her novels. What do you think?

Other options (thinking of Trollope) are Can you forgive her? - I've never read the Palliser series of Trollopes so this might be time to start. Or I see you have Gilead too - I really want to read that soon.

I'll put these suggestions on the shared read thread in case any one else wants to go for them as well/instead. I think I can probably only manage to commit to one of these though.

Not doing much reading, let alone updating of thread, as I'm busy trying to finish 1001 overdue tasks and clear 315 emails from my inbox before my holiday starts on Thursday. I don't actually set off until Friday, but Thursday is meant to be a non-work day at home to get the packing done, deliver dog to dog-sitter etc. But I imagine as usual I'll still be fighting emails to the last minute.

Anyway, I'm really excited about getting back to Gladstone's Library very soon, however much I need to focus on work in the meantime. I'm only sorry that I wasn't there a week earlier: last week they held a book launch for a new book called The Hanging Wood by Martin Edwards.



I've not read any of this author - he writes a mystery series set in the Lake District - but Suzanne (Chatterbox) has mentioned and recommended the series. Anyway, this latest book, no. 5 in the series, uses the setting of a fictional residential library inspired by the author's own stay in Gladstone's library for the launch of his previous book. See news article on the Library's website.

Although I'll have missed the launch, I'm sure there will be copies of the book available to buy when I get there - what better way to start my holiday reading?

Hope you have a great holiday and get lots of reading done!

What Roni said!

Safe travels tomorrow - hope you managed to get some of those emails cleared as well as some packing done.

Thanks for all the holiday good wishes. I am gradually ticking off the list of thing that need doing before I go.

At least the packing will be simple - a few clothes and lots of books, and which books to take is already partly decided by TIOLI plans, though I'm sure I'll throw in a few more for good measure. Never mind that I'm going to be staying in a library, still have to be surrounded by my own books!

Have a good holiday!

#226: Never mind that I'm going to be staying in a library, still have to be surrounded by my own books!

I understand that!

Having a wonderful time reading your thread, Genny! Sea of Poppies sounds wonderful, as does Beatrix Potter, whom I've not read at all. Love the discussion on Trollope - I'm just starting Framley Parsonage, Bk 4 of the Barchester Series - fabulous stories and characters! I've also not read the Palliser novels, but I hear great things about them, and look forward to doing so.

Genny -- I lost you there for a bit -- read yr. review of Remnant Population and agree utterly. Loved the meet-up photo too!

Happy travels.

I've started a new thread, for my reading from August onwards over here - do come over and visit me there.

However, I haven't finished with this one yet - I've got lots of reviews/reports still to write up from the past couple of months so I'll continue to post these here. I aim to catch up with myself while I'm on holiday!

#228 Surrounded by my own books - here's a photo of my desk and bookshelf all unpacked and sorted out, at my holiday destination St Deiniol's Gladstone's Library. I will spend some time sitting and reading in the library itself, but today I've been happy in my little room, settling in.



Can you make out all the books I'm hoping to read while I'm here? There are about 35 of them, hope to manage about 10-12 if I don't have lots of days out, which will partly depend on what the weather is doing.

#229 Hi Nancy, thanks for visiting. Sea of Poppies is certainly worth the time to read, in my opinion. I'm only sorry I had to return the second volume in the trilogy to the library on Thursday, because someone else wanted it. I must learn to read highly-sought-after library books immediately as I'm unlikely to be able to renew them. Glad you are enjoying the Barchester novels.

#230 Hello Lucy, glad you found me again - now I'm going to confuse you by having two threads on the go for a while! Meet up was good - seems like a long time ago now...

I love it when people post pictures of books on a shelf because then I spend endless amounts of time squinting my eyes to try to figure out which books they are. :)

I give up....haha

#233 Sorry to tantalise you! You might just be able to make out Cloud Atlas towards the left end of the shelf, and Gilead just a few books in from the right end... You might find out what some of the others are when I list them on my new thread, if I get round to reading them!

Ok, now for some reading updates, going right back to June.

Book no. 53 Pies and Prejudice - Stuart Maconie

Acquired: October 2010, Oxfam shop
Finished 21.6.11
TIOLI fact/fiction challenge

A sort of travel book about the North of England, and at the same time a bit of a rant about the North/South divide and about southerners misconceptions about the North of England. The author is a radio DJ whose interests in rock/pop music and in football are strongly reflected in this account of his travels around various parts of the North.

As a southerner currently living far in the north, I was interested in what he had to say about the north/south thing, but didn't find it particularly profound or enlightening - although it is certainly true that many people in the south do have some pretty strange perceptions about 'up north' and that the British media has too strong a southern (or rather, London) bias. Maconie demonstrates his own kind of regional prejudice though. As a Lancashire man he devotes a disproportional amount of this book to describing the part of 'the North' that is west of the Pennines, and Yorkshire gets fairly short shrift - as I recall York itself is not mentioned at all. Durham and Newcastle fare better, and indeed he acknowledges a sneaking suspicion that that is where the 'true North' is after all. It's all relative!

As a quick and fairly light-hearted tour round some (if not all) of the main cities and regions 'north of the Watford Gap' this does its job, and it did give me some ideas of what to look for while on holiday in the North West this summer. But the particular brand of humour and the constant references to football were not my cup of tea. 3.5 stars.

Book no. 54 A dedicated man - Peter Robinson

Acquired: Amazon marketplace April 2011
Finished 22.6.11

Second book in the police procedural series about Inspector Alan Banks. I first came across this series with no. 10 and have read most (all?) of them since then. Now going back to the beginning to see how it evolved. This, like the first book, felt a little light-weight compared with the later ones. The chief interest, following on from my previous read, was in some of the reflections about northerners and southerners. The series is set in Yorkshire, but the detective Banks is from London and at this stage in his life has only fairly recently moved up north; he is still very much an outsider, seeing the beauty of the Dales with fresh eyes, and reflecting on the very different cultural environment he is experiencing away from the capital city.

Recommended probably only for completists - it does no harm to read the later books without having read this one. 3.5 stars

Book no. 55 Go the f*** to sleep - Adam Mansbach

Audiobook: acquired free, from Audible June 2011
Started and finished 27.6.11 (it's only 6 minutes long).

This free-download audio version, read by Samuel Jackson, was a brief entertaining interlude while in the middle of reading heavier stuff. A parody of children's bed-time rhyming books, this one is definitely not for children, but may amuse parents who know the stress and frustration wrought by a child who just won't get off to sleep. The repetition of one expletive so frequently as the punchline to each verse began to wear thin: I wouldn't want this to have gone on much longer than the 6 minutes it lasted, but it was well read by Jackson.

A travel book called Pies and Prejudice. I think I'm going to have to see if I can locate a copy of that one. Unfortunately, our public library doesn't have it.

#235 I should have mentioned, the author talks about food quite a bit as well as pop music and football, hence the 'pies' of the title; the home-made pies of his home-town are highly praised.

I was able to get a used copy through Amazon Prime for less than $4. I probably won't get around to reading it until next month.

I really need to get back to the Peter Robinson series one of these days.

I've spent all evening reading other people's threads, and posting a bit on them, instead of catching up on my own reviews. I'm still not finished with the threads (when is anyone ever) but I've read all those that were last posted on in July or earlier.

So perhaps I can manage one quick review before I go to bed.

Book no. 56 - The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet - David Mitchell



Acquired: supermarket special offer, March 2011
Why read now: Group read in June 2011, also TIOLI title with a name beginning with Z.

I've been pondering what I can say about this next book all evening. It was my first book by David Mitchell, so I did not come with any particular idea of what it might be like, though I knew that many think very highly of Cloud Atlas in particular.

For those who have not yet read it: this novel is set at the very end of the 18th century, in the trading post of Dejima, an island just offshore from Nagasaki. It's about the experience of one young Dutchman, an employee of the Dutch East India Company, who is sent out to Dejima as a clerk to assist in rooting out some corrupt practices and straightening out the company's affairs. Japan at this period is a closed country - the Dutch are the only foreign nation with whom they have agreed to trade, and contact between foreigners is strictly controlled and limited. Despite these restrictions, Jacob - who loves books and is an able linguist - makes a tentative friendship with the most able of the official translators who shares his enthusiasms. He also meets and becomes drawn to an unusual Japanese woman who is studying with the foreign doctor on Dejima. The novel explores the connections between these characters, against the bigger political backdrop of empires rising, crumbling, falling.

Considered as a historical novel, I found this very interesting. I already knew a reasonable bit about the Dutch Empire and East India Company, but hardly anything about Japan at this period, so was interested to find out more about the lengths the Japanese went to keep foreign influences out of their country. I wasn't quite so sure in this respect about the middle section of the book, which moved inland from Dejima to depict a religious order with very sinister undertones - not sure if that was based on anything historical, it seemed more like a fantasy novel at times. Aside from the plot and historical detail, what was most impressive about the book was the language. Mitchell clearly enjoys making words do interesting things - there were many many passages and sentences that were striking and poetic. I guess for some people his writing may draw attention to itself rather too much, but I think that a heightened use of language is appropriate in a novel which seems to be all about communication and translation (how do individuals and empires express themselves across the gulf which divides them from their neighbour, and how much do them allow themselves to be changed in that process of communication?).

I read this shortly after reading Sea of Poppies, another novel with a historical setting and an interesting approach to language. In that book, language is a melting pot. In Jacob de Zoet (which literally, by the way, means Jacob the Sweet) language is strictly controlled, and the nuances, complexities and sometimes deliberately produced misunderstandings and mis-translations between Dutch and Japanese are all beautifully conveyed in an English which none of the main characters actually speak.

To sum up, I found this fascinating, funny sometimes, moving at others, beautifully written, and I'd have given it 5 stars if I wasn't just a bit unsure about what he was up to in that middle section. And I want to go on to read his other books, in particular Cloud Atlas, as soon as I can. 4.5 stars.

Genny...fantastic review of Jacob de Zoet. I think you will also like Cloud Atlas although it will probably be a bit tougher sledding that Jacob. I have Sea of Poppies sitting here on my NOOk as a library download, and am happy to here you compare it favorably to the Mitchell book. I love big historical fiction that gives me a glance into other cultures.

If you post your review to the book, I'll definitely be giving it a thumb.

#240: I'm still not finished with the threads (when is anyone ever)

I can personally attest that the answer to that question is 'Never!'

I am glad to see that you enjoyed Thousand Autumns more than I did. I cannot wait to see what you think of Cloud Atlas.

Great review Genny. I haven't read it but am more likely to now. I liked cloud Atlas but not as much as lots of LT friends seem to, and have seen lots of good reviews of Black Swan Green too.

Ok, I'm going to do some shorter reports/brief comments, else I'll never get caught up on updates on this, my old thread, ready to move on to reviews on the new thread!

Book no. 57 A short history of nearly everything (Audiobook) - Bill Bryson
Finished 1.7.11 - TIOLI guilty book
I made a concerted effort to finish this, which I'd started listening to on 1st January. I don't really have a routine for audiobooks, and I tried a few times listening at bedtime, but I just fell asleep amid talk of stars and galaxies. Eventually listened properly while doing lots of tidying up and housework - maybe if I did more of this, I'd get more audiobooks read!

This is a fascinating scamper through the history of science and development of understanding of 'life, the universe and everything', in Bryson's characteristic humorous style and highlighting the often bizarre life-stories, including scholarly rivalries and feuds, of the scientists involved in our evolving understanding of the world around us.

4 stars

Book no. 58 - 4 books by Beatrix Potter - as they are very short and I read a lot of them in July, I'm counting four as one book!


The tale of Mr Todd - fox and badger battle over territory, intended baby bunny victims are rescued!
The Tailor of Gloucester - not the Tale of Gloucester but the Tailor - and his cat Simpkin, and some friendly mice... a fairy tale for Christmas Eve
The tale of Mrs Tiggy-Winkle - washerwoman to the other animals - but surely they don't really wear clothes?
The tale of Peter Rabbit - the one that started it all. Peter's adventures in Mr McGregor's garden. Contrary to what most of the reviews on LT say, I don't think this is a morality tale about listening to your parents at all. Peter is the one who has fun, albeit of the narrow-squeak variety, and although he goes supperless to bed, I'm sure he'll be up to his antics again the next day, unlike the docile Flopsy, Mopsy and Cottontail.

These all fit the TIOLI challenge to re-read a book you first read before you were 21.
After my adventure with some real live baby hedgehogs in my garden, I thought of Mrs Tiggy-winkle and the rest of these books and wanted to read them again. I'd first read them/had them read to me when I was very little, and had another time of enjoying them with my first boyfriend when I was about 18 - we spent ages reliving our childhoods and sharing books we'd really enjoyed. So I could hear his voice reading the text of these perfect miniature stories.

I don't have the books with me, which is a shame because I'd really like to write a proper (though preferably short) review for each one. Most apart from Peter Rabbit don't have many LT reviews. The language is exquisite, the illustrations are a perfect complement, sometimes showing what is implied but not stated in the writing. Beatrix's detailed observation of real wildlife and natural habitats mean that the paintings and the verbal descriptions of the animals (if not the plots) have a realism about them, including a recognition of the fact that some wild animals are on the dinner menu of other animals or humans. The use of human clothing for her animals at least some of the time makes them appear superficially 'cute' anthropomorphisms - but looking more closely at how clothing is used, I get the impression that Potter is using this and the plots of many of the stories to convey express the tensions between 'civilisation' and 'nature', or perhaps between the restrictive conventions of her Victorian upbringing and the more liberated, down-to-earth life she yearned for and eventually achieved as a Lakeland farmer and businesswoman.

And of course they are great stories too! 4.5 or 5 stars for each of these for examples of miniature perfection!

#241 Thanks, Tina, added my review of Jacob de Zoet to the reviews page. I wasn't going to as there are over a hundred reviews already...
#242 I'm looking forward to it, Stasia, but although I brought a copy away with me on holiday, I don't think I'll get to it this month after all.
#243 Hi Cushla, thanks for visiting - high time I got back to your thread too! From those who have read both, it sounds as if Cloud Atlas and Jacob are quite different kinds of book, so you may find you enjoy the latter more if you were not quite so enthusiastic as some about the former!

I'm still not finished with the threads (when is anyone ever)
LOL! Never have been, never will be.

Eventually listened properly while doing lots of tidying up and housework - maybe if I did more of this, I'd get more audiobooks read!
Me, too.

Great review of The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, Genny! You've tweaked my interest in the book, which I'd never considered reading before.

#240 Enjoyed your review of Thousand Autumns and you've confirmed that I definitely do want to read that one.

Thousand Autumns might be my next serious book after I finish Wolf Hall - you've got me convinced!

Thanks Terri and Heather - edited to add: and Lucy too (you posted while I was composing the reviews below) - I hope if/when you do read Jacob de Zoet that you will enjoy it. In the recent group read it had a slightly mixed response, especially from those who had already read Cloud Atlas, but if you enjoy interesting historical settings and slightly-unusual-at-times writing, you should hopefully get something good out of this.

Now for a few more book reports.

Book no. 59 - Miss Marple and the thirteen problems - Agatha Christie



I'm trying to collect the early Penguin Classic Crime editions with their plain green and white covers. So cover-wise, this was perfect for the July typeface-only cover TIOLI challenge.
Having read almost no Christie before this year, I'm now trying to work my way through the various series in order. This collection of short stories is the second published work to feature Miss Marple. One by one, dinner guests each recount a problem or mystery they have encountered - little Miss Marple is the only one who is able to solve all the problems, by finding parallels in village life to most situations, by believing that human nature is pretty much the same everywhere, and by refusing to accept that anyone or anything is quite what they seem.

I became interested while reading this and the first Miss Marple book, The Murder the Vicarage, in when and where the idea of the 'spinster sleuth' first originated. I think I am right that Miss Climpson in D L Sayers Unnatural Death (first published in 1927) pre-dates Miss Marple (but there may have been earlier cases still). In that book there is some discussion about the 'problem' of all the surplus women left after WWI, and Miss Climpson and her army of fellow spinsters are examples of such women who have put their energies and intelligence quietly to use as a kind of crime research agency. Both in the case of Miss Climpson and Miss Marple, it is the ubiquity of little old (or middle-aged) women which leads to them being ignored or accepted as un-threatening presences, and their apparent ordinariness and presumed lack of understanding which makes witnesses and criminals alike feel free to talk and gossip freely in their presence, allowing them to gather vital clues.

As well as for the puzzles of the mysteries, these Christie books are an interesting insight into attitudes to gender and class difference taken for granted in the early 20th century. My impression so far is that Christie is more conventional than Sayers in her (or her characters') attitude to gender roles, marriage etc. Anyway, 4 stars for a fun read.

Book no. 60 - The Death Maze - Ariana Franklin - (Audiobook)

I certainly think I find it easier listening to fiction than non-fiction in audiobook format. I rattled through this one quickly while working on a craft project for church which kept my fingers busy while my brain was engaged elsewhere.

However, I found the book a disappointing one. This is the second in the series by Franklin about Adelia, a Sicilian woman doctor (pathologist) in 13th century England, called upon by the King to solve a mysterious poisoning and help prevent a possible outbreak of civil war. Unlike the first book, this one seemed extremely heavy-handed. There was far too much clumsy re-iteration of back story from book 1 in the first few chapters. And while the involvement of Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine in the plot brought in an interesting strong female character, I found the plot - centred on the rumour that Eleanor had poisoned her husband's mistress Rosamund - far-fetched and the role of Adelia within it especially so. Also, Franklin makes far too much use of the device of having Adelia, as an outsider to English society and customs, comment on them as a mouthpiece for more 'enlightened' views, principally on the role of women. Adelia's naivete about the choices available to a young woman refusing the husband chosen for her by her parents was unbelievable.

Having very much enjoyed the first book, I was sorry to have such a different experience here, but Franklin really does seem to have forgotten the knack she had in Mistress of the Art of Death, of conveying the background and history in a subtle way that does not intrude upon the story-telling or force people to speak out of character. I gave this one 3.5 stars.

#249: I agree with you about the second book in the Franklin series. I think the third book is an improvement over book 2.

Ooh, I'm reading The Thirteen Problems at the moment. So far (110 pages in) I'm agreeing with everything you've said. :)