LizzieD: 2011*4

"Reading in bed is a self-centered act, immobile, free from ordinary social conventions, invisible to the world, and one that, because it takes place between the sheets, in the realm of lust and sinful idleness, has something of the thrill of things forbidden."
~ Alberto Manguel (A History of Reading)




LizzieD: 2011*1
LizzieD: 2011*2
LizzieD: 2011*3

Well, that is short and sweet, I must say, Peggy! :)

BEST FROM THE FIRST THIRD OF '11
All Clear
Ex Libris
Devices and Desires
Cloud Atlas
A GLASTONBURY ROMANCE
Oryx and Crake
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Our Tragic Universe
Dissolution
Brooklyn
The Seas

(* = a review on the book page)

MAY
28. The Female Man - feminist scifi - a bit dated - a lot plotless
29. The Misses Mallett* - Virago - a woman's book of family and love
30. The Invisible Bridge - a heart-wrencher - a Hungarian Jew or Jewish Hungarian in WWII
31. Dark Fire - #2 in the Matthew Shardlake mystery series - Cromwell falls but our men survive
32. Among the Missing - literary thriller - unsettling - false hope vs. a tiny thread of hope
33. Letters Between Six Sisters - the Mitfords in their own words - shrieks and floods
34. Remnant Population - feminist science fiction feel-good - first contact on the human side is a 70+ year-old woman

JUNE
35. Whose Body? - Lord Peter Wimsey - first in the series, and I'm starting again
36. Evil for Evil - #2 *Engineer Trilogy* - sensitive, brutal fantasy
37. Clouds of Witness - Lord Peter Wimsey - two - All in the Family
38. The Memory of Love - Orange shortlist (probably should have won) the aftermath of Civil War in Sierra Leone
39. Sovereign - Matthew Shardlake mystery - three - Henry VIII's Progress into Yorkshire - treachery and treason Tudor style
40. Faceless Killers - Kurt Wallander, police procedural #1 - brutal murder in Sweden; flawed but able police officer - I'll read #2 another day
41. Natural History - scifi - 11-D, Forged vs Unevolved or Old Monkey, and Stuff - Lots of ideas and good characters; maybe too many, but very enjoyable reading

JULY
42. Cold Comfort Farm* - rural Sussex and a sensible woman - as funny as everybody claims
43. Unnatural Death - Lord Peter Wimsey - three - We have the body and the suspect, but was it murder?
44. Pagans and Christians* - a macrocosm - Western religion, second through fourth centuries C.E.
45. A Visit from the Goon Squad - for Orange July - Life's a network and Time's a goon - clever and beyond

So is that one. . .

(But I'm working on it! I'm working on it!!!!}

NEW BOOKS IN MAY
(ordered in April)
1. Feed ✔ - AMP
2. Loving - Living - Party Going - AMP
3. Author, Author - PBS
4. The Crowded Streets - AMP - Virago Green
(and in May itself)
5. Sinai & Zion: An Entry into the Jewish Bible - AMP
6. The English Assassin - Edward McKay Used Books
7. When All the World Was Young ✔ - Lori's Used Books (a replacement for a lost book which I will now surely find)
8. Firewall - Lori's
9. Among the Missing - ER
10. Tulip Fever ✔ - PBS
11. Memory of Love ✔ - a generous 75'er!
12. Revelation ✔ - AMP
13. Passion
14. The Spanish Bow - Kindle (93¢)

Faster! Faster! Andale! Andale!

#5: I will be interested in seeing what you think of Sinai and Zion. It looks interesting!

It does....I'm reading it for a local discussion group that won't meet until August, so it will be a bit before I start.

Well, rats. I will have completely forgotten about it by August!

I will be proud of having read it and will report!

Good! I will hold you to that :)

Ok I'll clock in as the second visitor even though I'm the 12th poster :)

Love, Love, Love that opening quote and pic!

>12 brenzi:. Ditto from me, Peggy. Love it.

Yay - new thread! I love reading in bed. It's almost 9:30 pm in my place, so that's what I am going to do now. Hm - which book will I take?

A new thread and new features, to boot! Starred...

Most of the "new" features seem to be purely cosmetic in nature. The only thing I've noticed so far is that there doesn't seem to be a page reload on posting.

Edit: Darn! They still haven't gone ahead with my enhancement request to have the "Reply" item under a message auto-link to that original message in your reply. Oh well...I'm mostly posting here so that this shows up on my home page. :-)

Hi Peggy. I'm another fan of your opening picture and quote. And, your book comments!

Great picture!

Oh wonderful visitors, welcome!!! I didn't have a chance to do anything classy in art or poetry for the beginning of this thread. When I saw the gentle reader, I cackled and knew she was it.
Did you know that these changes were coming? Did I maybe neglect to read a newsletter?

Oh, Peggy ... I just LOVE the pic and the quote at the top of your new thread!! hehe

I did not know these changes were coming; still not sure what all the changes entail besides this new manner of posting messages.

Hi Peggy. I just stopped by to let you know your influence is spreading far and wide! DH was intrigued by my recent read of A Dance to the Music of Time (first movement, the first 3 novellas), which of course you inspired. He did some Googling, and when he saw it compared to Proust's A la recherche, decided he had to read it. He's read Proust (in English); I haven't. He went off in search of a used copy and I made him buy the second movement for me as well. Because I can't let him get ahead of me, now can I? :)

Well, Nancy, you make me feel better about my clueless state.
Laura, I think that you will both want all of *Dance*! I hope your husband likes it too. I read the first 2 of Proust (also in English) so long ago that it really doesn't count. I'm not sure how to compare the two except that *Dance*, being modern, "reads like a novel." I do love the way that characters circle and weave, disappear and come back over the course of the series. If we could stand far enough away, we might be able to see a pattern. And I think it's splendid that your DH was amenable to buying the second movement for you!

Your opening picture and quote made my day, Peggy. I'm due for a new thread, and there is no way I can top yours. I won't even try. I found myself smiling and nodding as I read through your list of best books of the year thus far. I haven't read them all, but I'm familiar with them from your reviews and comments.

I thought I was behind on your old thread.. and then I realised there was a new one!

Glad you enjoyed The Invisible Bridge - hooray for thumping good reads I say. And glad to hear Dark Fire is even better than Dissolution. I have some good reads to look forward to!

And I love your opening picture and quote.

Did you hear that Blackout and All Clear won the Nebula?

Hi Donna and Heather! Did I hear that the Willises won the Nebula? I don't think I did. Thank you for the information. I'm very pleased!

I did not know about the Nebula either! Fantastic news!

Hi Peggy

I love the picture and quote at the beginning of your thread!

(Thank you kindly, Linda!)
And Now --- At LAST --------

THE MITFORDS: LETTERS BETWEEN SIX SISTERS

Anyone who is interested in the Mitford Industry should read Becky's perceptive comments as she was reading this whale of a book (her 3rd thread) and also find her *ALL THINGS MITFORD* thread, again here at the good old 75.
So. They had such rich, sad, wonderful lives. I think that I would have had most in common with Diana except her politics, which would have been a detriment to any relationship. I liked Debo and Decca, who would have exhausted me. I didn't like Nancy although she had the saddest life, so I ended up pitying her which she would have hated. Unity, I couldn't understand at all. I loved Pamela! She was so much her own person that she might have been the happiest of them all. It's hard to say. I don't think I would have enjoyed being around her, but she was lovely to look at and a rock even when she was the butt of their jokes.
I loved lots of their talk about language....."inter-esting." I can hear the screams if they had heard today's nearly ubiquitous "inter--resting." Thanks to Nathalie, I knew exactly what Debo was talking about when she mentioned the Halflingers that she bred.
I was amused by Jessica on reading: " 1) Get a supply of books you had always meant to read, but never had time, such as Plutarch's Lives, War & Peace, Bacon's Essays etc. You'll find your attention unaccountably wandering - you seem to have read the same paragraph several times & still can't quite get its import. Put the books on a chair to be read sometime later. 2) Next, fetch up some novels that you know one ought to have read in childhood but never did- Hardy, Conrad, the lesser-known works of Dickens. Same, alas, as in 1) above. 3) Find some books that you know you like, as you've read them before - Catch 22? Catcher in the Rye? Pride & Prejudice? --- This is far easier going, far more pleasurable...." (She goes on to mention short stories, "the shorter the better," and a huge supply of mags, "the more trivial the better, & leaf through them languidly while waiting for your cup of tea.")
And Diana on reading: "It's true my world is peopled by characters in books, & it's a mystery how you, {Debo} so interested in human nature, can do without it seen through eyes of genius. But perhaps it's clever nature at work which gave you a task far more important than just loving to read. ---in fact reading is selfish & would probably waste your time..."
Well, I don't feel that my time was wasted, but I am going to give sisters a little rest for now.

Interesting, Peggy. My only exposure to the Mitfords was reading Pursuit of Love and frankly I was left wondering, what's all the fuss? I guess I missed some things in my formative years because I really wasn't aware of them, let alone interested. And your review only reinforces that feeling!

I've read only one book by Mitfords (it was by Nancy but I can't remember the title off the top of my head) and I didn't quite enjoy it. They seem one of those families that are much more enjoyable when a bit distant.

>28 LizzieD:. Peggy, I have only one word for you: Screaming!

One of the reasons I want to read something about the Mitfords is to understand the reference to Screaming!. ;-)

My lifelong takeaway from Nancy was 'the thin edge of the wedge' and 'the/a bolter' (for someone who has run off and remarried multiple times).

I really can't explain the lure of the Mitfords - I haven't even read one novel all the way through, Laura & Ruth, and I certainly didn't know anything about them before Becky got me started (Do admit). Ah, Pat, I'll never tell! And yes, Lucy, I got as far as the bolter too - but that is only the thin edge of the wedge with the woman. She was witty, witty, witty - but so badly hurt somehow that she was also bitter and mean. Very sad.

#28: Woot! Congratulations on finishing it!!

>34 LizzieD:. I guess what drew me to the Mitfords was the idea of the interaction among the six sisters. The thought of reading a biog of one of them wouldn't particularly interest me, not that much. But six sisters--all so articulate and variously involved in the seminal events of the day. Plus there's the fact that I don't have even one sister, so I hugely enjoyed the gossip and the backbiting, the infighting and the taking of sides that went on for decades with these women.

There's a book I would stand in line to buy--one that doesn't exist, but who knows, maybe someday--and that would be the letters between the mother and the daughters. The mother, Sydney, is the biggest missing piece to the puzzle of the Mitford sisters phenomenon. We interact with her only at a slant in the sisters' letters to each other. Also, she's an interesting person in her own right--she would have to be, to have raised six such daughters. Of course she appears in the biography, but again only in a somewhat subordinate role--as "mother" rather than as a more rounded person. The biographer says Sydney's ambition was "to have had seven boys." Ouch.

I've read A Talent to Annoy by Nancy Mitford and would say that she'd did, indeed, have such a talent.

I remain curious about the family because it seems so eccentrically interesting when taken as a whole. The Mitfords has idled around on the Wish List in the lower half for some time but it never seems to percolate up.

Well Peggy you have managed to whet my appetite even more for the one Mitford book that I own---The Sisters: The Saga of the Mitford Family. I don't know if it will answer any of the questions you raised but I am definitely interested. Then I'll read the other Mitford book I have The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate

YAY! RAH, Stasia! Now I'm ready to go with Lord Peter!
Becky, you are so right about Sydney - how she could go from running her father's (eccentric) household at 17 to being Farv's yes-woman is more than I can quite grasp. I also had the feeling time and time again that the daughters couldn't get a handle on her either.....a very elusive subject. Tad and Bonnie, I'm not sure why any of us read about them except that they make such good copy! I have The Sisters: The Saga of the Mitford Family too, but since I read The House of Mitford earlier this year, I can wait for it.

REMNANT POPULATION by Elizabeth Moon
I love this book! It certainly has its flaws, but I enjoy Ofelia the hero of the story so much that the rest doesn't matter. She has endured an average life as a company colonist on a remote planet with a husband and children that she didn't feel any particular kinship with. When the company shuts down the colony, Ofelia decides to stay. Then the People, the indigenes arrive. Other 75'ers have praised it more or less according to their taste, but I enjoyed it as much this time through as the other readings.

I believe Janet recommended Remnant Population and I placed the book on the tbr pile. Your comments prompt me to want to read it soon. Oh, drat! So darn many books to read and I have awhile before retirement, so I have to chug away a bit at a time.

I enjoy reading about the Mitfords; reading their letters might amuse me for a while but probably not keep me going for long. That said, some of the first books of theirs I read were bios of Frederick the Great and Madame de Pompadour, by Nancy -- both VERY good, in their distinctive way.

#40 - Yes, Linda, I highly recommend Remnant Population - the main character is a very strong (I don't mean physically, but you know, emotionally, morally, etc.) older woman, something you don't often see in books. But I have to say that my reading of it was actually prompted by Peggy to begin with, so we are coming full circle!

Well Peggy, I'd fallen behind on your old thread, so have caught up with the latest one instead. Love the lady in your first post, and the quote (I do a lot of my reading in bed).

I know next to nothing about the Mitford sisters, and have never read anything by any of them - but it has been fascinating to follow your reading about them and reactions to them.

Linda, Suz, Janet, and Genny! It's a lovely thing to find visits. I don't know, Suzanne....the letters are fascinating in a voyeur-y way. They read fast: it's just that there are so many of them, and Mosely quotes from ones that she doesn't include. My greatest fatigue came from holding that monster book. On the other hand, Nancy's biographies are relatively short as are her novels. I'll tuck them away in the poor old memory box.
And I'm off to a funeral, a bridge game, and a fish fry: not exactly my preferred occupations, but I'll enjoy seeing people.

I haven't read any sci-fi for years (is it even called sci-fi any more or should I say speculative fiction or something instead?!) but I like the sound of Remnant Population and it has joined the ever-expanding wishlist.

#44 Funerals I'm all too familiar with, and bridge games I understand the idea of though have never played - but what on earth is a fish fry? Presumably fish and frying are involved, but I can't imagine that as a social event!

Sounds like a busy day! It's been years since I read Remnant Population, but Moon is one of my favorite authors and I keep all her books, so one of these days I'll re-read it.

New Hello to Roni and Dee!!! Dee, I don't say "speculative fiction" although I suppose I should. Really, there's no science to speak of in it - the book is all about a woman valuing herself and, as I said, first contact with an alien species!
Genny, you make me laugh! The fish fry is a church event. The men fry huge mounds of flounder (no vinegar, no chips) and somebody (not me this year) makes the sides (cole slaw, baked beans, cornbread with hot dogs for the kids and non-fish eaters) and desserts. Since it's already so hot, we're inside to stay cool, and the program is to eat a lot and talk to folks. That's what I like about the South!

NEW IN JUNE!!!
(ordered in May)
Nightingale Wood - PBS
Young Romantics - a gift from a dear one!
Heidegger's Glasses - Kindle for $1.99
The Brothers of Gwynedd - Kindle ditto
Faceless Killers - PBS
Winter Sea ✔ - Kindle Sunshine
The Forever Queen - Kindle again with the Sunshine Sale
Keeping It Real - AMP
Natural History ✔ - AMP
(The real June)
Lucie Duff Gordon in England, South Africa and Egypt - from a dear friend
Letters from Egypt - free on Kindle
Letters from the Cape - free on Kindle too
The Valleys of the Assassins - PBS
Deep State - PBS
The Hummingbird's Daughter - AMP
The Magicians and Mrs. Quent ✔ - AMP (I'm on a roll!)
The Passion of New Eve - a VMC friend!
Children of Chance ✔ - AMP
My Own Country - PBS

#48 Eating a lot and talking to folks sounds fine to me - I've just never heard of such an event themed around fish in particular. Does the cooking happen outside (the men doing the frying makes me think of BBQs, when men always seem to like taking over the cooking) or is it all inside? It's not very hot here, by the way. April was hotter than average, but May was cold, very windy with occasional rain and even a bit of hail. Hoping we will get more of a hint of summer now June is here...

You can have more than a hint of my summer, Genny.... Yesterday was 99°; today a few degrees cooler.
I'm back, having eaten my yogurt and ravenously hungry, and this year the fish was cooked elsewhere, so my hair doesn't smell like grease.
I'm off to read a little in a book - a thing I've missed this whole day long!

I want to give my summer (all five days of it) back to the Floridians. Hoping we have a big thunderstorm tonight...

Here in the deep south, a fish fry involves catfish...all the rest of it seems identical to your menu, Peggy. We hit 100 today 8>( Miserably hot; plants and self wilting slowly...

Ah, the Mitfords. Amazing family that could produce every part of the political spectrum in one generation: a duchess, a communist, a Nazi, a fascist, a British homemaker, and a famous, witty, intelligent author. The Mum is a person in her own right; I read The Sisters: the Saga of the Mitford Family a few years ago; you get a much more complete picture in that book. So very, very odd: makes our own little pecadillos seem very run-of-the-mill, don't you think?

Oh, and I was sorry about the funeral. I hope it wasn't it anyone too close.

Oh #2: the pic at the top made me snort tea on the keyboard again!

Hello again to Suz and Gail. This sudden hammering of summer is a bit scary since it's only June 1.
No, the funeral was for a lovely man, who at 89 had one day sick and died. His wife said, "It's O.K.," and I believe that it really is. They live in a little town south of here and have been coming to my church for 4 years or so. I taught their sons in the 70's, so, thank you, but we were not close. I did like and respect him.
In case anybody is interested, or maybe that's inter-rested, I downloaded The Spanish Bow about Spanish cellist Feliu Delargo to Kindle for 93¢! It looks really good to me and has good reviews here and at Amazon.
And so to bed to make a little headway into Mayflower. I want to read it now, so doggone it, I'm going to make a start. (And, Gail, you know just exactly what I'm going to look like within the next 15 minutes!)

#51 Holy, you are already baking for the first of June, Peggy! Yikes!

We've been flirting with the high 90s, even broke 100° briefly a couple of days ago. It's certainly an interesting year with record rains, flooding and then a switch to sweltering. Well, we've got the pool opened and I think we'll be living in it!

We usually have sunny, warm and dry days at this time of year in SW Idaho but the last two springs have been cloudy, cool and wet. We won't get out of the 50s today and normally it would be 20 degrees warmer. I can't say I wish we were sweltering but a little warmth would be nice.

I'm over the halfway mark in Matterhorn Peggy and still loving it. I'd have to say it's my favorite book this year and maybe for the last couple of years. You're in for a treat.

Hi Peggy, it was close to 90 here a couple days ago, pleasant 70s yesterday and chilly low 60s today. Don't like the weather, wait a minute. That's a local motto.

Fishfrys in Western NY are traditionally haddock, beer battered and deep fried with a side of french fries (in a restaurant/bar) or potato salad at a church function and cole slaw. Very, very, very popular year round, but crazy popular during Lent.

The Roman Catholic parish down the road has a fish fry every Friday during Lent where they sell complete dinners to the community as a fundraiser. They've gotten so smart about it, even offering drive through. They make a boatload of $$ and they also seem to have a lot of fun. They use some sort of white fish--no point in looking too closely at what it is, exactly--and it's delicious.

Hi Peggy. Happy reading today, and stay out of the heat!

I like all this fish fry talk. What I remember from my Western NY state days are the pig roasts..... Here in Vermont, well, probably the local food event you do not want to miss are the Hunter's Breakfasts, served Sat and Sun at the church every weekend during November. They start early 5:30-6:00- and the actual hunters go then -- but it is served until about 10.

It's all about the syrup, of course.

Weather and Food!!!
96.5° at 5:30 this afternoon when I got home from swimming laps. Low to mid-90's on into the middle of next week with high humidity. This is NOT what I like about the South.
Local big-group food is interesting. Our fish fry is an annual event, but you can find a pig picking (barbecue) almost any day.
(Hi and thanks for dropping in Nancy, Tad, Pat, Bonnie, Becky, and Lucy. I'm off to read a book so that I'll have something from the written page to say to you. Actually, I could mention that I've picked up Pagans and Christians again --- still looking at oracles and how they changed over the couple of hundred years that the book covers. When moneyed, educated people got into the interpretation business, the gods began to speak again in clear, Homeric stanzas. )

It was 96 this afternoon when Beth and I were out running around, Peggy, so I can sympathize. Nine PM here now and it is still 88. I hate Texas.

I know. I know. I'm sorry and it's only June.

Don't remind me!

We've finally got some heat over here in the UK, without it apparently diminishing yours. I always have to look up Fahrenheit as it does not make a lot of sense to me, but I was quite hot enough, and very glad to get back into the cool of my house, after being out in the city centre in 23degrees C (apparently about 73F). This is heatwave weather for the NE - everyone suddenly out in strappy tops and shorts, and either basking in the unexpected sun, or complaining about the sudden heat. No doubt by next week we'll be back to jackets and cold feet at around 18C!

The mid 20s/mid 70s are my idea of bliss -- warm enough to go out and do stuff without layers of clothing; cool enough to have energy and not end up feeling miserable!

>The mid 20s/mid 70s are my idea of bliss -- warm enough to go out and do stuff without layers of clothing; cool enough to have energy and not end up feeling miserable

Chatterbox, here in Scotland, we all start to die off around the mid-20s! Like gennyt - we all go a bit crazy, then start to wilt. How you all manage with such temperatures amazes me - I would be living in the fridge :0)

I'm afraid you would adjust..... My ancestors (with the exception of one branch that's English/Irish) were all Highland Scots who settled here in N.C. and stewed just the way I'm stewing now. I do wonder how they made it through those first few summers.

At 8:02 p.m. it's an even 100. Bleah.

>61 LizzieD:: Laughed aloud at the "clear, Homeric stanzas". Ha!

Oh horrors, Gail!!! I hope your AC is ready for summer!
Well - clear as opposed to convoluted evasions of actually saying anything at all......

Athabasca, I suppose that in the 175 years since the last of my ancestors left Scotland, the genetic mutations have enabled us to survive! *grin* (The first arrivals were Highland Scots circa 1770; the last were two branches, one from Ayr and the other from Edinburgh, that showed up between 1820 and 1840.) But then they did move to the Great White North (aka Canada) o rupstate NY.

You just don't have the clothes or the buildings for it, I think.

>60 sibylline: and 71 OOOH - I've got genetically-enhanced friends! Can I be the THING? :o)

As predicted (#65) summer's over again in the UK, at least in the North East. We stood around shivering at a church summer fete and outdoor Songs of Praise, in 13C/55F, with occasional hints of rain, making the Pimms stand and the icecream stall less popular than the burgers and hotdogs, or the tea and scones inside in the warmth of the church hall. Can we have some more of your heat, please?

>61 LizzieD: and 70: I was laughing at the probable difference between the message for, oh, say "Nick the Shepherd" and that for "Drusus Claudius Caesar". BTW, at the beginning of I, Claudius is a terrific oracular message (one presumes it was created by Robert Graves) supposedly given to Claudius about Hairy Men. Funny and fascinating. Imagine sitting there trying to decipher what on earth the oracles were saying to you. By the time you figured it all out, your fate was no doubt already upon you!

#73

Please PLEASE send the cold and rain down to East Anglia. We are suffering such a drought. I'm dreading what is going to happen from here on in - we haven't had proper rain since the middle of March *sigh*

#75 We've no real rain to send, alas, just a chilly slight hint of a drop from an overcast sky. But we did have plenty in May.

Weird and Whacky Weather for sure, Genny and Jenny! You could gladly have some of our heat. We got nearly 3 inches of rain last weekend, and today we're as dry as a bone in the dirt but humid like a hot, wet towel in the air. We used to get regular thunderstorms in the summer every Sunday afternoon (without tornadic activity, I might add). Sure could use one tomorrow!
Gail, the oracle stuff is fascinating. Apparently, for Nick the Shepherd, they had a book of general answers that might come up by lot - sort of like the Magic 8-Ball. For cities and emperors and others of that ilk, there was the priest/priestess who received the god's words and another person who wrote them out. I do well remember the hairy man from Graves, and I'm pretty sure that is his own creation. Fox is most interested in the questions about the gods' preferences (name, worship, hierarchy), which were apparently often asked and sometimes chisled with the answers into the rock of the temples at various oracular shrines. More than you wanted to know, I'm sure.
Athabasca, I'm also sure that you're THE Thing if you want to be!

WHOSE BODY? by Dorothy L. Sayers

Lord Peter Wimsey's first adventure has been reviewed several times lately - hence, my eagerness to reread the series now. It was actually better than I remembered, and I'm in love again!

The fish fries in Louisiana were usually of catfish. When my son from NYC was visiting last week, at his request I cooked up a bunch of fried catfish, made some cornbread and cole slaw, and called it good.

Hi Peggy, I am trying to catch up on your thread. I read one (Nancy) Mitford novel, Love in a Cold Climate, and though I liked the writing, I was underwhelmed by the non-existing plot and didn't feel like reading another one. But now you really got me interested into that "Letters" book, so I'll put it on my watchlist.

Glad you like Whose Body?. I haven't decided yet when and how to proceed with the series. Once again I'd have to buy them all, my library doesn't offer any Sayers books in any language. Maybe I'll get one every 2nd month.

#78: I have finished it (again) now too, Peggy. I am anxious to continue on!

I love the Sayers. I'm trying to decide whether to start the Walsh continuations. I don't want to spoil one of my favorite series of all times but I also wouldn't mind a few more adventures.

Hi Peggy, was just checking your profile page. Aha, War and Peace ... hope you enjoy. I consider it one of my finest accomplishments, hehe.

Tad, I found I really liked the Walsh novels -- The Attenbury Emeralds a bit less than the other two, but... Jill Paton Walsh is an excellent novelist in her own right. She does a decent/above average job of hanging on to Sayers's "voice", but I still wouldn't suggest leaping from one straight into the other. I really enjoyed both of those -- enough to download them onto my Kindle even though I had hardcover editions.

>84 Chatterbox:: Maybe I'll give them a try. It wouldn't be leaping directly—I think the last time I re-read Gaudy Night was 5 or 6 years ago.

I'm glad to hear a positive about JPW, Suz. I bought at least the first one but could never muster the courage to try it. When Stasia and I finish our trek through the canon, I'll wait a bit and then go for it especially if Tad likes it.
Nancy, you won't have noticed that *W&P* has been on my current list for at least a year now. I WILL get back to it; I really will. I like my "new" translation so much more than I did the Modern Library one that I fought my way through 30 years ago!
Meanwhile, I am making slow progress through Pagans and Christians. I think I've never offered a sample? Here's a very clear example about Christians and reading:
"As a 'religion of the book,' Christianity had a particular relationship with texts.* In Rome, several paintings in the burial chambers of the catacombs show Christians arriving at the Last Judgement clutching their books. When the governor of Africa asked a group of Christian prisoners what they had brought with them to court, they replied, 'Texts of Paul, a just man.' One of the fundamental contrasts between pagan cult and Christianity was this passage from an oral culture of myth and conjecture to one based firmly on written texts. In the first communities, there had already been a significant break with contemporary habits of reading: Christians used the codex or book, for their biblical texts, whereas pagans still vastly preferred the roll. The Christian codex was made of papyrus, not parchment. It was more compact and better suited to people on the move, and it was an easier form in which to refer to and fro between texts...."
*The only end note for this whole paragraph.... I find the the book fascinating, but often the details pile up so quickly that I have to reread to understand what's going on.

#86 The 'particular relationship with texts' of Christians (also, though in different ways of course, Jews and Muslims) was the theme underlying my doctoral thesis, during which I discovered the following about St Patrick: when he went around Ireland baptising people, building churches, and ordaining people, it is stated in the various accounts each time that he also 'gave them an alphabet'. It is debated what this 'alphabet' actually refers to: possibly a primer (or ABC) of Christian faith (perhaps in the alphabet acrostic form used by Psalm 119 in Hebrew), possibly more simply a piece of parchment or something else with an alphabet written out, either as a teaching aid, or as a symbolic representation of the importance of the written word.

Similarly, in building new churches throughout the early period of Christianity, it was part of the rite that the bishop would trace an alpha and omega onto the floor and walls of the building (this seems to be in reference to Jesus as Alpha and Omega, the beginning and end, also the Word).

I really ought to have a look at Pagans and Christians myself. I find that early period fascinating...

#86 - In my readings about Islam/Arabs, I have learned that the Koran was the first book ever written down in Arabic, and the religious leaders required all Muslims to learn enough Arabic to be able to read it. Once they actually started writing things down in Arabic, there was no stopping its spread - it became the language of scholarship in Muslim countries, and as the scholars translated older works from Greek, Latin or whatever (Aramaic or Hebrew or Persian I guess), they had to invent a lot of new words which Arabic never had, for scientific and philosophical concepts. The power of the book was really something in those days.

Thank you both, Genny and Janet! I'm very glad to have chosen that particular passage now. Genny, I think that you will find that the book repays the time spent with it. RLF's knowledge is amazing; it's hard for me to believe that there is an ancient document that he hasn't hunted down, read, and digested. It's all here, and it was apparently difficult for him to pull out and consider how overwhelming his knowledge is for an average educated reader. I read what I thought was a fair amount of early writing in college (my friend who went to Princeton Seminary sailed through her first church history course because she had already read more in college than was required there), but I consider myself to be somewhere in the first grade as I compare what I read with what Fox has read.

Enjoying this discussion hugely! And Genny this is exactly what I meant on my thread about the way the convo moves around from thread to thread!

EVIL FOR EVIL by K.J. Parker

Because I read this one a few pages at a time (except for the rush at the end) over several months, you might conclude that I didn't find it particularly interesting. Wrong!! If anything, this second in the Engineer Trilogy is even more exciting than the first. These are brilliant, unique fantasies. The rationality of engineering substitutes for magic, but the level of the machines has barely reached steam punk standards. The writing is always brisk and sometimes stellar. The plot is convoluted and almost completely character-driven. I'm a fan!
So I'll say that in this one Vaatzes, the first engineer, continues his quest to return to his wife and child by destroying another kingdom and finding allies who will attack the third. He is joined by another engineer, the psychopath Daurenja, who is his equal. Vaatzes is probably (!) a psychopath too, but the reader cares about him and cheers him on. Together they move the whole Vadani population toward the even greater numbers of the Cure Hardy, who live across the uncrossable desert.
As a reviewer here noted, it's not a good thing to be a character in a K.J. Parker novel. She gets rid of people we have come to care about casually and brutally and continues to write about the killers with sensitivity, humor and even affection. I'm not jumping straight into the third one, but I so easily could.
Highly recommended!

I just found this in Pagans and Christians and thought it was worth repeating here for - shock? irony? - value.
"When Christians were brought to die in the arena, the crowds, said Tertullian, would shout, 'Look how these Christians love one another.' Christian 'love' was public knowledge and must have played its part in drawing outsiders to the faith."

I am keeping an eye on the Engineer Trilogy with caution--I love character-driven stories and don't like extreme violence.

I'm here to report that at the White House dinner last night for the German Chancellor Merkel, on the menu was "Wild Ramp Puree." End of report.

Pretty creative chef, I'd say!

One of these days I will get around to the Engineer Trilogy. I have only had the books in the BlackHole for what? 2 years or so?

What on earth IS Wild Ramp, to be pureed???

I've always been intrigued by the Benedictine insistence (later in church history, of course) on learning/scholarship. No wonder that their monasteries tended to be repositories of ancient books.

Speaking of which, I need to make room on my reading schedule for the Greenblatt book about Poggio Bracciolini and the rediscovery of ancient texts, an ARC of which I scored at BookExpo.

>97 Chatterbox:: What on earth IS Wild Ramp, to be pureed???
Leeks, I think. I Googled it and the first item was Wikipedia on allium tricoccum, "also known as the ramp, spring onion, ramson, wild leek, wild garlic, and, in French, ail sauvage and ail des bois"

mmm, I love leeks.

Confused about wild ramp now - Spring onions = Scallions in my book, and thes are definitely not the same as wild garlic, and neither of those = leeks. But leeks does make sense as the most likely of all of these to work as a puree.....

A ramp is a like a wild leek, and tastes (to me, anyway) like a cross between a garlic and an onion. What I don't know is if they used the whole ramp in the puree, including the leaf, or if it was just the bulb. I found a picture of "ramp puree" that looked pretty green, so I'm imagining that some of the leaf is used. We found these in the woods in the spring when we were in northeast Tennessee on a fishing (DH) and genealogy (me) vacation. They were also selling them at the little grocery store down the road from where we were staying, with a hand-lettered sign: "Ramps Is Up!"

>99 JanetinLondon:: leeks does make sense as the most likely of all of these to work as a puree
I agree! I didn't say it specifically but that's why I went with leeks in #97.
>100 labwriter:: mmm, they sound rather yummy.

Well, that makes more sense now I see the picture! Thanks.

All I know about them, being a coastal plain rather than a mountain type, is that they are STRONG!

Yes, I will amen that -- I find the stuff I pick out in the woods, like fiddleheads and the three or four mushrooms I am super-confident about are all very strong, best eaten in small amounts. Wild food is.... wild!

We have them in our woods here -- You can almost smell them when you get into the right area. Certainly if you start trampling around in them.

I have a chef friend who goes ramp bonkers this time of year -- he gets obsessed with words to do with culinary matters at the best of times but at this time of year the word 'ramps' looms omnipresent in his conversation. However, if you get to eat one of his concoctions you too will walk around saying 'ramps, ramps, ramps, more ramps.'

Amen!

CLOUDS OF WITNESS by Dorothy L. Sayers

I'm having such fun reading the Lord Peter canon again with Stasia. Suffice it to say that this one doesn't fail to please in spite of many rereadings! We're reading the short stories in chronological order to thanks to the website provided by ---- Heather? ---- somebody. Thank you!

Oh dear, there you go Peggy, dangling some enticing books in front of me that I haven't experienced yet. When in the world am I supposed to read all these new possibilities?? Oh, yes after June 30th ;-)

#106: I finished that one this afternoon too - my internet was down :(

I liked Clouds of Witness more than the first book. Glad to see that it held up in your re-read, Peggy.

I believe that Sayers was one of those blessed writers who worked on improving from book to book. On the other hand, I don't remember Unnatural Death as being particularly strong. We'll have to see, won't we? Anyway, glad you had time to finish it, Stasia!

So am I - I think. I hate when my internet is down though!

Peggy, you've got quite a culinary thread going here : ). LizzieD's Iron Chef? hehe

Hi, Bonnie and Stasia and Nancy! Books and ramps!??? If I stay here much longer, I'm going to need a ramp to get to the top of Mt. Bookpile.

THE MEMORY OF LOVE by Aminatta Forna

Other 75'ers have written such fine reviews of this lovely book that I don't feel compelled to add to the book page. It is a wonderful book with characters who breathe from the page and with a sense of place that breaks the reader's heart. The survivors of civil war in Sierra Leone don't talk about their experiences, but they are all damaged by what they suffered. This is a book that explores both unspeakable pain and the indomitable human spirit that keeps us living as well as we can.
My only quibble really ---MILD SPOILER ---
is a couple of coincidences that are not surprising in a place the size of Freetown, but that made me wince anyway.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Even though Forna deals in tragedy, she does it with such a soft and compassionate touch that I was never depressed, and though I stretched it out because it was so beautiful, I read eagerly to the end.
I join the chorus that says, "READ this book!"

>113 LizzieD:: Yes ma'am! I will ! I'm really looking forward to reading it in July.

Hi Peggy

I was able to obtain The Memory of Love from my local library but had to get it back before I read it. I'll try again.

Happy Saturday to you!

Hi Peggy, I have this one lined up for July and so I love seeing READ this book!

Peggy, I know there has already been a lot said about The Memory of Love but I think you sum it up perfectly in your few lines.

It is a wonderful book with characters who breathe from the page and with a sense of place that breaks the reader's heart.

That says it all for me and reminds me why I loved this book so much!

#112 Glad you enjoyed The Memory of Love Peggy. I'm also hoping to read it next month.

#106 I think it was me - no problem!

Hi, Peggy, happy Sunday (and Father's Day).

I'm looking forward to The Memory of Love. It sounds wonderful. Clouds of Witness is one of my favorite Wimseys. Another is Murder Must Advertise because it's so very funny and the picture of the advertising world remains timely and accurate all these years later.

I'm most happy to have greetings from Laura and Linda, Bonnie and Dee, Heather and Gail! Happy Fathers' Day to you all!!! I hope you get to be with one - your own or your husband. See, Dee and I agree about The Memory of Love and I agree with Gail, especially about Murder Must Advertise. I've read the 3 earliest LP short stories, and while they make a pleasant few minutes of reading, they are pretty much forgettable.
I was going to be so good and not add anything to my currently reading list, but Sacred Hunger reached out and grabbed me today, and I don't think it's going to let go. I also need something completely different, so Cold Comfort Farm goes on the list too. But I was good! I read some Pagans and Christians today, and his contrasting pagan oracles with the workings of the Spirit in the early centuries was fascinating. And now I'm into the martyrs - such uncomfortable people!

Oh, oh, oh, I read Sacred Hunger back in the 90s and remember little about it except it took place on a slave ship. Oh, and I loved it :)

Oh I really liked Sacred Hunger!!

Hi, Bonnie and Laura! I knew I was onto a good thing. Naturally, I learned about it here!

>120 LizzieD:: The only short story with Wimsey that I remember is "In the Teeth of the Evidence". The others are, as you say, pleasant but forgettable.

I seem to be in the middle of a mild reading funk and keep shifting from book to book to book, finishing nothing. Bleah.

#120, 121 & 122 And Sacred Hunger has gone on the wishlist. There's just no hope for me.

Gail, is shifting from book to book the sign of a reading funk? That's my usual M.O. I guess it's different for different folks. Or maybe the difference is that I do it with glee.....
Heather, if you're coming around the 75 thread, I think your hope is in the wrong place. ( Actually, we all know what you mean and wish you joy in your addiction!)

Just saying Hi! Thanks for the reminder that I really need to get back to the Lord Peter series. I only read the first two or three and I really liked them. I've heard the series only gets better.

Oh, it does, Angela, it does! In fact, only #2 makes it to my frequent reread list.
Meanwhile, I'm breathing many gasps of relief - thought I had lost my little changepurse/wallet with my credit card, etc. Whew. DH found it in the car where I couldn't see it in my panic. Admonitions to be more careful!!!!!!!

I'll heed your advice and read The Memory of Love. It looks like it will be an even more popular book around LT in July. Thanks for the kind words about Haley on my thread.

>126 LizzieD:: Well, Peggy, you have a point. Typically I've several books going at once, but sometimes I get powerfully stuck on a particular title and just can't seem to finish it, which then makes me dissatisfied with myself and I get impatient...never mind, you get the drift. Of course, it may just possibly be that I suffer from an embarrassment of riches...nah. That couldn't be it. o.O

Peggy, here's something I thought you might find interesting. I left a comment on a blog the other day because the author was considering reading Dance. Later another blogger left this comment:

If you want a steer on Anthony Powell, visit my friend Lindsay's blog (which, sadly, is currently dormant as his life has become madly busy recently). He has read the complete 'Dance to the Music of Time' every year since goodness knows when, and writes beautifully about the books: http://booksdofurnisharoom.typepad.com/books_do_furnish_a_room/anthony_powell/

I'm looking forward to reading these posts myself.

Wow! Thanks, Laura. I'll read that gladly. I've read other Powell, but DANCE is the one!

#113 Peggy, I've added Memory of Love to my list. I should start adding an asterisk to all the books I've read on your recommendation. Thanks!

Hi, Peggy! I've managed to read through all your threads over the last week, as a way of saying hello. Interesting discussions.

I tried to interest my book club in Memory of Love, but they are gun shy after a couple of my recs were not well received. Oh well. I'll just have to read it myself.

Next week, Jim and I are flying to Portland Or., and I hope to get lots of reading done, chiefly Moby Dick but also whatever I happen to find at Powell's. I'll have my netbook along, so i should be able to stay current.

#134 Have fun at Powell's! It is my favorite way to spend the day when I'm up in Portland. Thank goodness they have a map of the store to help you find your way.

Hi, Jan and Judy! You both make me beam! Portland and Powell's!!! I've never been farther west than Kentucky, but it all sounds delightful. I should be rereading Moby-Dick too. It's time, but I still have a few years left in this decade. I need it about every 20 years.
You sound like the real reader in your book club, Judy. I can't imagine somebody not being touched by *MoL* though.

Ah, they've just been burned a bit. I suggested they read a John Hawkes book, but the one we picked was Adventures in the Alaskan Skin Trade, a very un-Hawkes-like book, and not what I had in mind at all. Then I suggested we read Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, which most people in the group thought felt like a 'first novel' and not realistic enough or deep enough or something. Oh well. I liked it. So I won't push 'MoL' for a while.

Jim has the same problem with them, for other reasons. He really wanted the group to read The Hunger Games, but all they have to hear is YA and they say no.

On the other hand, we've read books I might never have picked up otherwise, and either/both the books and discussions have been worthwhile.

Hi, Peggy; I didn't realize that the "D" is for Dickens. I'll be starting a re-read of Pickwick Papers very soon...one of my favorite books. I'd like to go through all of Dickens novels, but I'm not sure that I've got the tenacity it would take. The only Dickens I've read that I didn't like at all was A Tale of Two Cities. It seemed completely out of his usual stream. Of course, that may have been just me; I see that it's a huge, huge seller.

Even so, Judy I envy you a local reading group. I read theology sometimes with a group here, depending on their choice, but they meet only quarterly. My "study club" is sort of a book club, but the reading is done for the programs by the presenter. It's never a discussion. We're doing Presidents' Families this year, and I think I'm going to find something about Truman since I already own the McCullough bio and his letters to Bess. Time I was started on my research! Anyway, that's why LT is such a blessing to me. I could never find people here who would read what I read and talk to me about it!
Oh Yes, Gail! I am a true Dickens Disciple. I have read all the novels at least once and many of them twice and Bleak House three times! LT has messed up my piety because I am currently not reading any Dickens - a thing that had never happened for 40 some years before. I will return though. I agree that *To2C* and Barnaby Rudge are less successful and less Dickensian than his other novels. *BR* is one that I've read only once, and I really should fix that. I'll bet I'd enjoy it if I were to try it again now. *BR* and Oliver Twist are my two least favorites, but *OT* was a pleasure when I reread it. Did you notice? You just pulled one of my heavy, long chains!
Since I'm here, I'll report in that I continue to read Pagans and Christians in 20 or so page increments as many days as I can set aside time for it. I'm about to finish his section on the martyrs, the most venerated Christians of the period. And I'm close to finishing Sovereign, and I agree with the other Sansom readers who say that this is the best so far.

I have my mother's full set of Dickens, which she received as an engagement gift from some ostentatious relative who didn't know she detested the author. Nevertheless, she kept the set until I took it off her hands about 20 years ago. Small, reddish books printed on real letterpress - you can see the indentations on the pages! The spines are disintegrating, alas, but the paper is still unfoxed and unyellowed.

That said, I've only read a few of the books. When Nickolas Nickleby was in the theater, I read that one. To2C, David Copperfield, Bleak House, Oliver Twist (I think), and the Christmas stories at some time or other. I tried The Pickwick Papers but didn't get too far. So I've got lots of reading ahead of me!

>139 LizzieD:: I love my face-to-face book group. It meets at the local library and has evolved into a smallish group of dedicated readers frequently led by a literature professor. I've learned much through these people and their wonderful insights. We real all sorts of things from Leo Tolstoy to Anne Tyler.

I'd love to be a Dickens Disciple. I've enjoyed every single one of his that I've read - including A Tale of Two Cities. I have plenty of his books to look forward to before I start rereading them. Maybe we need a Dickens group here on LT. There's one for Faulkner, although it's not very active.

It would be nice if my f-2-f groups had a lit professor as leader occasionally. The members are quite smart and articulate, but sometimes our own preferences and prejudices get in the way of a more interesting or in depth analysis. Sigh. I should go back to school, I think.

There is at least one Dickens group here (What the Dickens?) that has a flurry of activity every now and then, followed by nothing. Maybe if we all joined, we could spark it.
Back to school --- I used to think about it a lot. Now I'm happy noodling on with what I read as I want to read it, so farewell rigor!

#138 Ooh Gail, I hope you enjoy The Pickwick Papers. I reread it recently and it was so much better than I remembered; I think I may have been a bit too young to properly appreciate it the first time around.

Being completely overambitious, I have set myself the challenge of rereading all his novels and I would then like to read some of his other works after that. So far I have reread The Pickwick Papers and I'm currently halfway through Oliver Twist. At my current rate it could be a 4/5 year project...

I'm ashamed to admit I've never read a single Dickens. Though I've seen the usual Christmas fare a zillion and one times.

Well, Ruthie, CD is a prose stylist beyond compare as far as I'm concerned. You should give him a try! And as we say, Heather, how much time will pass in 4 or 5 years if you don't read Dickens? (I think we say something like that.....) That's always my experience when I read one of my lesser favorites: it's great! Just beware of his young women --- late discussion on the Dickens thread about which of them is the most slap-worthy. Bella Wilfer of Our Mutual Friend is my nominee.

SOVEREIGN by C.J. SANSOM

This is the best one so far!!! Our Matthew Shardlake, lawyer of Lincoln's Inn and hunchback, is tapped for a mission with Henry VIII's Progress into the rebellious North by Cranmer. Soon Matthew and Jack Barak are in the middle of conspiracies in high places and low. It's long, but the plot twists guarantee that it doesn't drag at all, and the recreation of the Tudor world is fascinating, horrifying, and probably as authentic as a novelist can make it.
I want to read other stuff right now, but I don't know how long I can keep the next Shardlake adventure on Mt. Bookpile.

Those Sansom's sound mighty tempting, but I am going to resist for now -- I'd love to find those on audio.

#146 Glad to see another glowing review of Sovereign!

Lucy, since you're reading Tey, I'll forgive you for not jumping right on the Sansom wagon. It's nice to have strong opinions affirmed, eh Heather?

FACELESS KILLERS by HENNING MANKELL
In this, the first of the Kurt Wallander, police procedurals, an old farming couple are brutally murdered outside a little Swedish village. Wallander, acting police chief, is in charge of the investigation and has nothing to go on but the dying woman's last word, "Foreign," and a noose with an uncommon knot. Wallander's wife is divorcing him. His daughter won't visit him. His father doesn't want his visits. For nearly 8 months he works on the case, and the reader follows logical false leads and fidgets with him when he comes to yet another dead end. Finally, perseverance pays.
This is a pretty good first novel, and I'll definitely read at least the next one to see whether Mankell masters pacing and writes better. The things I object to (and we all know what a boring pedant I am) seem to me to be authorial rather than translatorial (!). I confess to being unhappy when a consistent 3rd person limited POV turns for a couple of sentences into 3rd person omniscient. Sometimes transitions are rough, and some sentences just bump along. I'm further amazed at a police force that can commit a senior officer to one case, however heinous, for almost 8 months with no progress. On the other hand, enough is going on here to lure me back in a few months.

>149 LizzieD:: Peggy, have you seen any of the Wallander dramatizations starring Kenneth Branagh? I enjoyed those and then read the first book ... thought the book was just OK and DH has urged me to read more because he says it's not his best. I have yet to do so however. Anyway just popping in to recommend Branagh as Wallander.

Delurking to say, "Kenneth Branagh? Did someone say Kenneth Branagh?"
*Scuttles off to Netflix to search for Wallander series*

Oh, and, Hi Laura!

Hi Peggy. I read Faceless Killers last year and liked it mostly because it seemed realistic. I've been meaning to get to the next one but haven't done so yet. I'm also stalled with the Three Pines mysteries. I've only read the first two. I think I have trouble committing to series.

Tey is definitely a treasure. I like Mankell - the hubster adores him, Mankell is probably his favorite mystery writer.

>151 scaifea:: ha ha ha!! Yeah even though he's a middle-aged and somewhat pudgy guy in the series, I like him. I like him in pretty much everything he's done.

>153 sibylline:: Mankell must be the fave of hubsters everywhere; mine likes him too.

*sigh* Not mine. He never, ever reads anything that I suggest. I believe that some of you have mentioned this phenomenon in regard to your children. (I'm probably leaving you with a false assumption here, so I'll say that if anybody in the marriage is the child, I am the one.)
I vaguely knew that a series exists. Middle-aged, pudgy sounds right for Wallander in the first book anyway. Kenneth Brannagh? Yep. That's him.
(Hey, Laura, Lucy, Pat, and Amber who absconded.)

oops. Jim says the same about me (that I never read anything he recommends). It's mainly true that I let the recommendations age a long time. Hard to explain why - Jim has good taste in reading.

Hi Peggy, there you go tearing through the Shardlake series while I sit with Dissolution still waiting for me to get to it. **sigh** The same can be said of Faceless Killers but I don't seem to have the longing for that one. Anyway, I aimed to get to at least two Dickens books this year yet here we are almost to July and I haven't read a single one. I somehow think that july may open up an opportuntiy for me ;-)

>146 LizzieD:: I finally got Dark Fire from the library. It may be awhile before I catch up with you on the Sansom books... but I'll have fun making the effort!

I downloaded Our Mutual Friend on my new iPad because I loved the first paragraph. Dickens' writing always grabs me even if he does have a few "slappable" characters. Lol.

Hi, Judy, Bonnie, and Donna!
I don't think that DH has bad taste in reading, and I have expanded his reach because I own books. Theoretically, I guess I have recommended almost everything that he reads for pleasure simply by owning it.
You will like each Sansom book better than the one before, at least through the first three. Tui says that the third is her favorite of all.
*OMF* is my second-favorite Dickens of all. In fact, my Lizzie is from Lizzie Hexam, the only one of his young women that doesn't make me want to be ill.
I'm off to the pool at last! Can't wait to get in the lap lane to see whether I can still swim, and if so, how much I can still swim.

My, I've been rather presumptuously and fairly stupidly presuming that "Lizzie" was from P. and P. You've a creative screen name, Peggy.

I'd be delighted to be Miss Lizzie Bennett too; nothing stupid about that.... It's a long story which you may skip - I probably would. When I joined The Readers' Vine years ago, the screen names were authors' last names. I joined as Lizzie Dickens in the Victorian community. Then I became editor of the mystery community and had to choose a mystery writer's name, so I became LizzieD Sayers. Here I have dropped the Sayers, but happily enough, I still run into folks here who knew me way back then.

Hi Peggy. I had to look to see when I read Faceless Killers, and I guess I finished it in February. My notes say that the plot was "good enough," the setting was "thin," and all the men that Wallander works with were pretty interchangeable. I wrote that I hoped in the second one he would come up with one more interesting character, since I didn't think Wallander could carry a series by himself. I made myself a note that it was good enough that I would read the second in the series, although "I probably won't immediately run out and get it." I didn't--still haven't read it. Is the next one The Dogs of Riga? I'm ready for something like this about now. Has anyone read it?

P.S. Another note that I made to myself--that I found Mankell's social commentary to be at least as interesting as the crime. I don't remember exactly what I meant by that. Heh.

I'm glad to hear of someone else who swims. I finally got over my swimsuit phobia ("just get over it") and started lap swims last week. I've gone twice and found that I enjoyed it hugely. It's great exercise (I don't have to tell you that), and I already notice a difference in my leg strength. DH tells me I'm dreaming, but I think I'm right. So far I've decided to swim on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I'd be happier if it were an outdoor pool, but since it's indoor, not many people use it, so that's a plus for me right now.

I am always enthusiastic about swimmers! I do a little over a half mile three times a week and walk the other days, so I feel as though I'm in pretty good shape for the shape I'm in. Swimsuit phobia is long gone.
I do know what you mean about Mankell and social commentary. The reactions to immigrants was fascinating - at least, to me. Dogs of Riga is the second one.
I guess my news is that we broke down and bought a cheap desktop which is my preference. I hate the laptop keyboard although I'm doing fairly well with it right this minute. Maybe I'll be excited a little later.

I commend you both for keeping as fit as you do. I've been terrible of late. Just terrible. I do keep up the Tai Chi, feebly, and take walks and I've swam around the pond a bit, but nothing steady.

I definitely admire swimmers, since I demonstrably cannot swim (I've an absolute phobia of water). My current exercise regime consists of runner around after a 2.5 year-old boy. Seems to be exhausting enough for now. :)

>161 LizzieD:: That is a neat story about your screen name, Peggy. I'll think of you as I read Our Mutual Friend.

I am so surprised that I like reading on a machine. I like that I can still take notes to myself and go back and find them easily. The dictionary function is good for me because I'm too lazy to put down a book and look up a word that I'm curious about.

I need to get over my swimsuit phobia. I have a good friend who has a pool that I can "borrow" anytime. She's not a swimmer either so what fun is that? I probably wouldn't be swimming laps... my idea of a good time at the pool involves an inner tube and a book!

Well, Donna, if you could see me flailing around, you would know that I'm not there for a "good time"--ha.

Lucy, Amber, Donna, and Lucy - I love visitors!!!! As do we all....
Here I am just getting to know the new computer and finding it good. I was awake from 1:00 to 3:00 last night thinking, among other things, that my documents saved in WordPerfect were not going to open in this computer loaded with WORD. (I hate, loathe, abominate, and despise WORD. Maybe when I've disabled everything once, it will be O.K. When I had to use it at school, I had to do the disabling every single day because the system went into deep freeze every night. At least I won't have to jump through hoops to get info to people now.) But when I put it all on here, it came out in WORD and it's working!!! The format is wonky, but I can fix that as I have to. YAY!!!
Donna, don't take the machine into the water!!! Have you tried water aerobics? That's how I started years ago --- you don't have to work as hard as you do on land to get the same effects, it's kind to your joints, and you don't have to feel yourself sweat!
Now I'm off to do some stuff so that I can continue Natural History which I'm liking a lot. I'll even finish it in June if nothing out of the way happens.

I was a XyWrite fan (yes that dates me) and hated Word when it first came out. However I've gradually adopted it over the years and become quite enamored of it.

Anyway, just stopping by to say hello.

I started out with WordPerfect long ago with my Mac, had to use Word at work, and so got it at home (all of Microsoft Office actually) on the Mac as well so I could transfer files easily, and have been very happy with it. NO crashes--I'll bet they've improved it since you used it, and hope you'll find it much easier to use.

I've been trying to motivate myself for a year now to get to the water aerobics classes over at the gym in the morning. I actually love them--it's just getting over there. I keep saying, NEXT week! Shall I commit to tomorrow here in front of people?

Sigh, I still quite like the way Kenneth Branagh looks! But then, I'm middle aged and pudgy, too! Must read the Wallender mysteries, instead of just watching it.

I don't think I could live without Word. Thankfully, there's a version for Mac.

The best word-processing program I ever encountered was on a Minolta PC, I kid you not, in mid-late 80's -- they flirted briefly with PC's.... it was indescribably brilliant. After that WordPerfect which I liked OK although it was hard, for awhile, to get used to it after the beautiful simplicity of the Minolta program. It got less usable when it became CorelwordPerfect. I loathe Word; had to use it for ages, it is a stupidly conceived program. Sadistic, even. Only someone who isn't a writer and has no conception of what writer's needs are could have dreamed it up. I'm sure one can come to terms with it, find ways around the stupider things, but it takes effort. Now I use the new Apple program, Pages and while it isn't perfect, it has some of the WP features I like and none of the worst Word offenses and a couple of cute features of its own, that I don't use as much as I should.

I'm trying to think -- I had something else on my Kaypro -- that was my first 'real' home computer.... oh..... Perfect Writer? Something like that???

Sorry, it's a little nutty to list all of this stuff that is barely even interesting even to me!

I'm trying to think when I first started using Word. It's been forever, and like Suzanne, I can't imagine life without it. We've always had PC's in our house because DH is a programmer. I think people tend to like whatever they get used to. I imagine that I would like a Mac, but I don't see myself ever having one.

Hi Peggy, trying to catch up after a week's absence from LT.

I read several Wallander books some years ago, but don't remember any details.

I might get to reading Sovereign some time this summer. I didn't really get into the Shardlake books so far, but I want to read this one, as it seems to be everyone's favorite.

And your thread reminded me of my Dickens tbr. I'll try and get through at least one more this year, maybe Nicholas Nickleby.

What I object to in WORD if I didn't make it clear is all the automatic stuff that the program assumes I want to do when I don't. Is it too much to hope that they've fixed it in the past few years so that I can add what I like as opposed to stopping what I'm doing to get rid of what I don't like?
Hi, Nathalie! Always glad to see you, and I look forward to my next reading of *NN*. This will have to be the year for some Dickens, and that with *W&P* and at least one volume of Shelby Foote's history of the Civil War look like polishing this year off. Crud. I like to leave myself lee-way.

I could go on -- one of the biggest problems w/ Word is getting rid of formatting you've changed yr. mind about. It's like gum on your shoe, 90% will go away quietly, but something is always there glitching up everything.

I've used quite a few programs over the years and Word is the only one that I truly loathe. As I say, I've found ways around it, but you shouldn't have to do that.

Lucy, I have Pages on my Mac (for the last 3 years now), but, because all of my work files were Word from way back, have never explored it. Maybe I should. Of course, now that I've retired I'm doing minimal WPing...

Wallander..... I've never read the books, but seen all the Branaghs, and I really like them. There are also, though, two other series based on the books, both Swedish, shown with - shock, horror - subtitles. I liked those better, especially the ones with Krister Henriksson, of which there are 26 episodes.

I guess I am used to Word; don't think I've ever used Word Perfect or anything else. I'd be dead in the water without the thesaurus that's part of Word. I don't know if Word Paerfect or any of the others had that feature.

Roni - You can zap anything you want from Word into Pages and back to Word easy-peasy. If you bring up Pages, File and Export there are your choices. PDF, Word, Basic etc.

I think they've all had Thesaurus type features for awhile -- in fact they are all somewhat similar; the way cars can seem similar, steering wheel here, stick shift there -- but the driving, the way it handles etc. is what is different. Some cars, say, have very user friendly dashboards others you are always fumbling around trying to figure out where the headlights or wipers are.

WORD formatting does tend to drive me nuts, especially as I am forced to use templates at work and what happens when you mess with them is not to be believed.

What's worse, my company has gotten upgrade-happy, so last year we moved to Office 2007 and this year we are moving to Office 2010. And all of it conflicts with other programs I don't want to give up, so I get special (read - inadequate) solutions. Oh well.

I remember XYWrite too - although not until you mentioned it. Long ago in a galaxy far away.

When I had a bad back, I swam every night, not for any considerable distance, but until the muscles got to the point of release. Backstroke almost exclusively, because of the nature of the problems I had. Haven't done that for a long time, partly because my pool is also indoors, and partly because I've been very undisciplined in getting to the gym. I will attempt to be inspired by this thread!

Greetings to Lucy, Bonnie, Janet, Roni, and Judy! I'll simply report that I arrived at the Fitness Center today in my swim suit, and they had no towels and didn't know when they might get some. So I didn't swim. I did walk twice, but it's not the same although we had an old hometown friend whose devotion to our dog, and hers to him, has to be seen to be believed. I think that Frank is some kind of animal whisperer anyway. Not only does May adore him, but Chibby, the cat who hides when the doorbell rings, suffers him to pet her.
I have the "I was comfortable and useful with the old version" syndrome fairly often. I do not like the improvements that do everything but scratch where it itches for me. Oh well.

So sorry about the towels. Sounds like my house ha ha.

I'm going back today with a towel from home just in case!

NATURAL HISTORY by Justine Robson

This is good hard scifi with entertaining characters of all kinds and lots of ideas and questions about what it means to be human. I enjoyed it after the first 3 or 4 chapters which I found a bit confusing. Both Tad and Lucy wrote excellent reviews, so I don't have to. I wish that she had taken time and space to write a stronger ending, but I'm definitely glad to meet Ms. Robson!

Now I can go on to Orange July with a clear conscience!!! (And I have a last-day TIOLI entry for the challenge about equal number of letters in the title's key words.)

So glad you ended up liking it. So many writers write books that are too long these days that I can't believe I'm saying this, but the Robson could have been longer -- it feels very unfinished to me.

Just coming by to say that I won Fasting for Ramadan from the June ER list. I knew to ask for it from Lucy's review, so that's something else for my currently reading list!

+100

I'm comfortable with Word. But I never really used another software. I went straight from typewriter to Word somewhere in the late 1980s.

On to books.........

I skipped the Robson read because of school work but hope to get back on track with reading now that summer is really here - even though I'm taking a course this summer, it's only 1. Your review of the Mankell left me uncertain but your review of the Sansom has me hunting down the first. I used to read a lot of mysteries but got out of that groove. I have a hankering to get back into it.

HI, Ruthie!
People here whom I respect swear by Mankell, so I'll certainly give him another chance or two. I hope you'll find Sansom as satisfying as I have. I have also gotten out of the mystery groove, but I just acquired several boxes of them from a friend whose mother, a great mystery reader, died last year. I'm especially excited to find British writers whose names I never saw before. I'll keep you posted.

NEW IN JULY
(Please note that I have "inherited" seven (7!) big boxes of books from a friend's mother. I am not going to list them here since most of them are ones that I wouldn't have bought for myself. Somehow that makes sense to me.)
(Ordered in June)
Ink and Steel - AMP
Instruments of Darkness - AMP
(Truly July!)
The Little Stranger - PBS

I don't normally list my TIOLI attempts here, but I think I will this month to keep up with them without hunting challenge numbers....

Challenge 9 - a book I should already have read - Pagans and Christians Yes, Girls and Boys, I'm going to finish this monster this month!
Challenge 16 - nominated for an international prize and written by a woman - A Visit from the Goon Squad
Challenge 20 - borrowed from the person below (using the new "Borrow a Book" option) - The Wise Man's Fear

COLD COMFORT FARM by Stella Gibbons

I don't think that this is the funniest book ever written as claimed by a blurb from the back cover of my copy, but it is funny. Not having read Mary Webb perhaps prevents my getting all the fun, but I've read enough Hardy to appreciate Gibbons's efforts. In case I'm not the very last person at LT to take this trip, I'll write a tiny review since the best one on the book page contains some spoilers.

I will only add here, "--- but did the goat die?"

ETA: I did. You can find it here

Yikes, How did I get 78 posts behind on your thread. I believe Cold Comfort Farm is one of Stasia's favorite books. I haven't read it yet, but hope to do so soon.

Inheriting seven boxes of books sounds wonderful!

Hi, Linda! That's a good piece of information to have. And I'm off almost as I type to inventory those books before I enter them here.

Peggy

Have a lovely, lovely time going through all the books. Hopefully there will be some real gems in the boxes.

Oh yes, have fun with those boxes of books! What a great haul. And isnt' it nice--what a great thing for your friend to do--to pass her mother's books onto someone like you who would appreciate them.

Thank you, Linda and Becky!!! Yep. That whole family is top-notch.

I remember XYWrite! Although it was only at journalism school, for a few months...

I did get a Mac, and admit that since I'm not a graphics junkie, I prefer doing some things on my PC... I don't necc find the Mac easier, though it certainly seems much more robust. Nearly 18 months old and (touch wood) not a problem with it yet. No keys falling off the keyboard, no defunct motherboard, etc. etc.

#193: one day, when I am through all the Hardys and Lawrences I'll give this book a second try, as most of the humour was lost on me when I read it last year.
And as the others already said: enjoy your new old books!

7 boxes of books! *drool drool*

Back up the #163 and #164....great to get rid of the swimming phobia. I love that there are always heaps of body types at the pool- that's real life isn't it. I used to swim 1km twice a week but haven't for ages, its such a great way to feel good.

>199 Chatterbox:: As an IT geek I will weigh in here and say that studies have shown the Mac to have a lower total cost of ownership vs. a Windows laptop. What that means is, the initial purchase price is higher but the system is more reliable therefore far less maintenance, and it's easier to use therefore lower support costs (the latter more relevant in a corporate environment than a personal one). Now I'm running my own unofficial test of this theory. Having gone through several Windows laptops for my daughters (including the keys falling off, defunct motherboards, and a disturbingly short lifespan), I bought my eldest a Mac to take with her to college.

Hello to Laura, Megan, Nathalie, and Suzanne! Computer maintenance? I don't think that we do any......... DH is the laptop lover, but I still prefer the keyboard of my desktop, and I need a mouse. It's funny to me that I'm curmudgeonly about something that doesn't reflect even 20 years of experience.
The books are mostly mysteries or chick lit. My reaction to the first was knee-jerk even though I'm reading them less and less often. I was curious about the latter, so we'll see. I said somewhere, maybe here?, that when I took a pile over to my 89 year-old mother, her first choice was one by somebody touted on the cover as "The Queen of Chick Lit." She's enjoying it, so I'll have to report what it is later.
I'm having such a good time dipping into this and that, a reflection of my random mind, I guess. I am finally within a few days of finishing Pagans and Christians at long last. Usually, at this point I push on through the book, but I still can't read more than 20 or so pages a day. I'll get to Constantine today, and that's very near the end. Besides that, I read a little Unnatural Death, Sacred Hunger (such a good book!), A Visit from the Goon Squad, The Magicians and Mrs. Quent, and The Prefect every day. That pretty much covers my bases except my need for a Virago.

Peggy, somehow I lost you for this whole thread until now. I think I'm caught up.

176 What I object to in WORD if I didn't make it clear is all the automatic stuff that the program assumes I want to do when I don't. Is it too much to hope that they've fixed it in the past few years so that I can add what I like as opposed to stopping what I'm doing to get rid of what I don't like?

That is exactly my problem with Word! And the latest incarnation -- in Office 2010 -- is worse, worse, worse! It wants to skip a line every time I hit "enter." I have to manually change the setting for each document -- can't seem to find a way to change the default setting. Grrrr......

I have the same kinds of problems with our "smart" photocopier at work. It scans documents before it prints them, and decides how they should be laid out and on what size paper.

I like machines that DO WHAT I TELL THEM TO, not machines that think they are smarter than their people.

*End of tech rant.* ;)

I am not bothering to catch up, just checking in :)

Hey, Peggy! How ah yuh, as we old New Englanders say.

I intensely dislike the WORD auto settings, which are most annoying. Other than that persistent bugbite, I love it; of course I've been using it forever and so have accustomed myself to its quirks. We had Apples at work (world's smartest marketing idea: sell computers in bulk at substantial rake-offs to school systems--voila, an instant reliable client base for decades) and I liked them fine, but just somehow prefer the pc at home.

Your current reads are intriguing. I've added Natural History to the WL. And thumbed your review of Cold Comfort Farm; that was spot on. It was fun, but didn't have me helpless with laughter.

ETA: I took a college course which devoted a full half semester to mastering Microsoft Office. Very, very helpful.

Hi, Terri, Stasia, and Gail. When I finish here, I'm going to do my first work with WORD. You may hear the screams of frustration anywhere on the east coast. I just hope they don't delay the launch! (Thank you for the thumb, Gail. I love 'em!)

UNNATURAL DEATH by Dorothy Leigh Sayers
This is a reread for me as Stasia and I work through the Lord Peter books and stories in chronological order. I guess because BBC never filmed this one, I thought of it as being less good. I really enjoyed it this time! I also see why it does not lend itself to film because too much of the plot depends on keeping two separate strands in the story separate until the eleventh hour. Laura wrote a good review, so I refer you to it on the book page. It's notable for the first appearance of Miss Climpson, whose underlinings in her letters are too close to my chat style for comfort!

I loved Miss Climpson! Really, other than the racism against Hallelujah, which I guess was pretty prevalent at that time, I enjoyed this book more than the first two we have read.

OK, off to bed now. I really must get some sleep so that I am worth something tonight at work :)

207 - Oh boy I am going to hide somewhere - duck and cover?

Just checking in. I finally made it to the pool today for aquacise. Good luck with Word today.

Greetings to Stasia, Lucy and Roni with thanks for the visit. I made it through a couple of thank-yous on WORD without throwing the keyboard although it was close. On the documents that I had saved from the old computer, I had no trouble. However, I'm still gnashing my teeth about the envelopes which show single space as the default, but are really 1.5 spaced. I can increase the spacing and see results, but nothing changes whether I set it to 1.5 or 1. Any help?

Not from this quarter. Sorry, Peggy!

Did you try setting the 'paragraph' options? Generally WORD sets 6 points between paragraphs, and since you are likely to have hit the enter key at the end of each line, it thinks (if that's the word to use) that each line is a new paragraph. you can set the points before and after to 0, and the lines should close up. Let me know if that helps.

Peggy, I just had to share this with you! Today we received a book my husband ordered from Alibris, which to my astonishment is not in your library: Invitation to the Dance, published in 1977. Yes, it's about Dance! As the foreword states:

The purpose of this book is twofold. I hope it will serve both as a work of reference and as a pleasant bedside companion for readers who simply want to refresh their memories, fill in gaps or check up on the career of an individual character outside his or her fictional framework.

It looks fabulous, and includes a character index (more than 200 pages!!), indices of books, paintings, and places that appear in the novels, and a novel-by-novel synopsis.

Hi, Stasia!
Thank you, Judy. That never crossed my tiny little mind, but I'll try it before the next go-round.
Laura!!!!! I had no idea that such a thing existed! It's available on Kindle, and now moves up to second on my Kindle shopping list. I was thrilled that you were enjoying the books, but I'm double-thrilled that your husband enjoys them enough to find this.
And NOW ------

PAGANS AND CHRISTIANS by Robin Lane Fox
After only 20 years of being haunted by this book, and after only 18 of having read most of it and then of putting it down, I started at page 1 and have finished *P & C*!!!! I'm so glad that I did!
I even had the temerity to put a review on the book page, so check it if you feel like it. I've written so often about this one and about the curious details that it contains that I won't add anything else here. It's a monster. I'm now off in a general kind of way to discover what RLF's reputation is among Christian intellectuals. One member whom I encountered here while reading it has suggested that it's not as high as I think. I'll keep you posted.

Peggy - Try Format, then Formatting palette. It has a line-space option....... but first make sure the whole document is 'included' in the change you want to make.......

I think the paragraph solution will work for you, Peggy. I've had to use it numerous irritating times.

Congrats on finishing P & C! I love how one book leads to another, and then three more...

*sigh* The person who has P&C on PaperBackSwap is supposed to get back home next week. Hopefully they will re-offer it and I am still first in line. Btw, I finally made it to the pool yesterday!

GOOD for you on both counts, Roni! I swam today too. Yay for both of us! I surely hope you get the book!!! My last experience with an academic book about Rome was unhappy.....the person accepted my wish but then never even printed my address, so the powers eventually canceled the order, and I'm still waiting. I'll tell you: it's a real commitment.
Hi to Lucy and Gail. I think the paragraph may be the solution, Gail, since the format says that I'm getting single space. Monday will be soon enough to experiment.
Tomorrow aside from church and reading, I will make a tuna salad recipe for a church supper. That's enough for one day for me. (Retirement is still great!)
Reading A Visit from the Goon Squad is great too. I've just discovered that Time is the Goon. I can relate to that!

>215 LizzieD:: yay! I'm glad the book is available on Kindle. It's perfect for the eBook format.

Roni -- I've had to put P&C down as it simply is not summer reading, but sometime this fall, I'll tackle it with you, if you're interested. Hi Peggy...... you can come and cheer us on!

Well I'll be durned, I didn't ever quite figure out what the Goon Squad was all about, I just figured it was...... just the way life is...... things getting in the way all the time, interruptions, although I suppose time could be involved in that, eh? How'd you deduct that?

Yay indeed!
Lucy, when Stephanie and Jules go to see Bosco and learn about his Suicide Tour, he says, "Time's a goon, right? Isn't that the expression?" So I didn't really deduct anything..... *sigh*

Just dropping by to say an enormous WELL DONE for finishing P&C. I thumbed your review and also noticed a review from our very own Mr Spalding underneath it - great minds eh?

re: Word

Hardly a day working with Word goes by without a curse word or two from me! What I did for my patience was to set up a page with my formatting choices (getting rid of that extra line after each paragraph is paramount) and choice of font and save it as AATEMPLATE so it's the first choice on the list of docs.

224 That's an excellent idea! I should do that.

Okay, I sort of remember that goon part - but so what is the 'squad' then???

I saw the TS review too, Heather; that's about as close to "in common" as the two of us will ever be. Thanks for the thumb.
Hi to Mazel and Terri. I think that sounds like a great idea too. I suspect if my memory of this beast is correct that it will be a week or so before I get everything formatted to suit me.....many cursings to come, I fear.
Lucy, I don' t have a clue about the squad. I'm only now reading Jules's article about Kitty Jackson. This is another one that I just have to jump into and hold on, trusting that Egan will let me wash up on some solid shore in the end.

>202 lauralkeet:: I consider a Mac periodically but the real objection is simply that a lot of the software I use doesn't run on it unless I opt for one expensive enough to support dual-boot or an emulator. I'd rather not have to re-buy applications—actually, some don't even have an analog on Macs. Too bad, I like the workmanship of them.

>204 tymfos:: Change your styles on one document, save it as a template, then make that template your default when you hit File/New.

Hi Peggy, catching up. Mwwahhhhaha! Yeah that's not possible so just mark and move on.

Hi to Tad and Bonnie! I've never even considered a Mac since we go low-end. I've given up catching up too, alas. We are a chatty group.
Just spent a pleasant hour adding new books here!!! LOTS of mysteries, especially British mysteries I've never heard of. (AND from the same family I got another couple of huge boxes today. I have no idea where they're going. Isn't that too bad?)

What fun! I'm sort of sorry I've entered the majority of my/our books!

Hi Peggy!

Long time no visit. Hope you're doing well - I'm just going to try to pick up here (from 3 threads ago!).

Hi, Lucy and Karen!
I just was lurking on your thread yesterday, Karen.......Great minds or something!
I do love entering books, Lucy. I adore doing something that I can point to and say, "See? I accomplished this much! Look! You can see it!"

Yes, great minds! I thoroughly enjoyed my re-read of LPW. (Or DLS).

I just read an extremely well written mystery, the first of a long series by Elizabeth George called A Great Deliverance - the Lynley/Havers series. It was powerful and shocking and the characters were very well drawn. Have you read this series?

I'm in the process of bookmooching the other 15 in the series.....

Hi Peggy. I'm just dropping by to say hello. I'm so far behind on the threads that I can't even contemplate catching up.

Karen, I was an E. George DISCIPLE until What Came Before He Shot Her, which is pretty much out of genre even though we see brief glimpses of the regular cast. Maybe I was even less enthusiastic before that one, but since then, she has not been on my "Must Have As Soon As It Comes Out" list, and I haven't even gotten around to her latest, already in mass pb. I'd love to think that she is getting back into her groove. I also thought that her #2 was not nearly as good as *GD*, but the next ones seemed to get better and better. I developed a real affection for Havers over the series.
Hi, Ruthie. I know what you mean about catching up...... I try to read one or two a day and get very discouraged when I go back the next day and there are already 40 new posts.
Read More Books! Read Fewer Threads! Nope --- it's not going to happen with me.

I also read E. George years ago, but I got tired of the soap opera component. Havers is the best thing in the series, no question. Lynley and his friends just got too overheated. But I might try them again some time.

I broke down and ordered the last one in mass pb, so we'll see, Judy.

A VISIT FROM THE GOON SQUAD by Jennifer Egan

Clever, clever, clever Jennifer Egan! She's done it again - written an emotionally and intellectually satisfying book while flattening boundaries and going her own sweet novelistic way. A couple of the reviews on the book's page are good, so I'm going to spout off a bit here and move on to more Orange July.
The novel skips through and around 20 years or so in the lives of its characters. Except for the psychologist Coz and Sasha's family, there really are no minor characters. Every one has his place and is at least once the focus of Egan's searching eye. These people, Sasha and Bennie and Scotty and Lulu and Dolly and Kitty and Stephanie and Jules and all the rest are loosely connected by the pop music industry. They move in and out and around each other's lives. Winners lose and failures succeed and the lost winners win again. The reader believes that time is a goon and is intimidated and reflects on making his own peace.

Now I'm off to see what Lucy said about the book! Even though I wasn't in the mood for it, I loved it!

Hi Peggy, *waving*. Love your new profile picture - the cats are precious! Appreciate another vote for Memory of Love. And I enjoyed the conversation about Mankell's Faceless Killers and Dogs of Riga ... I've still only read the first one of these. At one point, Dogs of Riga was here on my dining room table, but as sometimes happens (more often than I like), it went back to the library unread. I'll get to it ...

PS - I also love the story of how you came to be LizzieD : )

Oh dear, now I have to go see what I said! Glad you enjoyed it!

Whatever I said I didn't post it as a review -- I'm supposed to be working so I'll have to look later......

Hi, Nancy! Welcome back!!!
I know, Lucy, I looked everywhere - no comments anywhere.

Peggy, I see you have also just added Case Histories ... hard to avoid that bug! I've done the same : ).

Yes, it is, Nancy although I've read it and it's been on my shelf. I'm afraid that I have a lot more stuff that I inadvertently skipped in my mad cataloguing when I first came here. As much as I enjoyed it, I haven't gotten back to the second of the series much less the rest. So read on, my friend! I'll get there one day.

215: Super congrats for finishing P&C! Your review is useful. I'm curious about the time period, but don't have the overview knowledge to deal with lots of detail, so I'm hesitant.
234,236: I didn't get past maybe a few dozen pages in What Came Before He Shot Her, though I've read all the others in the series.

Peggy, I've just started When Will There Be Good News?, the third Jackson Brodie novel. I finished the first two a long time ago and it's taken awhile to get back into the series but I'm so glad I did. I assume you've heard that PBS will be showing the BBC series based on the first three books starting Oct. 16th.

>245 phebj:: I'm planning to read When Will There Be Good News in August, exactly for that reason!

HI Pat and Laura! I guess I need to get cracking then. I wonder....has anybody read any other of the K.A.'s? It was just my good luck that I tried Case Histories first.
Many thanks, qebo, for the congratulations and the compliment. Although I had read some of the primary material in school (martyrologies, Irenaeus, Tertullian and very little Roman history), I certainly can't claim to be grounded in the period. The details reinforce each other; I was just uncertain to what end that was so.
I was teaching when I read *WCBHSH* and dealing with teenagers in similar conditions to the shooter. It depressed me completely. I could see so many of my kids headed down that road with no hope of concrete help.

So glad you guys are going to get to see the BBC Jackson Brodie programs fairly soon. I loved them. I have read all the Brodie stories and most of Atkinson's other books, too - she is one of my favorite authors.

What is the BBC series called? Is it called Case Histories? Jackson Brodie?

>247 LizzieD:: Peggy, I've read Kate Atkinson's debut novel, When Will There be Good News? as well as the second Jackson Brodie, One Good Turn. I read that one first, before realizing it was part of a series. I felt I got to know Jackson much better in Case Histories and have sometimes thought I should read One Good Turn again to read them in order. But I'm not likely to do that, especially with the TV series coming up soon.

HI! to Janet, Nancy, and Laura. I'm excited about the BBC Brodies, but I don't know the name of the series. If it's in October, we'll have time to read the rest before it starts.
Stasia and I are reading The Magicians and Mrs. Quent, and neither of us is particularly happy with it. I was engaged in the Jane Eyre/"Turn of the Screw" section, but otherwise, like Stasia, I think she's all over the place. I found this one from a good friend here who enjoyed it, but I'm sorry to say that it's not for me. de gustibus. I continue to be enthralled and appalled by Sacred Hunger. When I finish it, I'm looking forward to Matterhorn!!!!! I've also started Fingersmith for my second of Orange July, and The Wise Man's Fear continues; those are my main four of the moment! The itch for non-fiction will get me back into Mayflower soon, I predict. And that is my reading report for the day.

Oh dear. It seems to be time for a new thread in the middle of the month again. I'll be setting up shop here. Do come visit!

Oh I simply cannot wait for the Brodie mysteries on the tube!